MTG Salvation

Hi all,

First off, I'm new to this forum and relatively new to Magic in general (less than a year of playing very casually and infrequently), so my apologies if this post isn't in the right place or if I'm missing out on regular nomenclature and/or obvious cards.

I was looking for a control deck and upon realizing that Esper would probably be my best bet. When looking through generals, I got super excited by an older card by the name of Dakkon Blackblade. The playgroup I'm rather fond of at my LGS enjoys games that last as long as possible, so I thought Dakkon would be a good fit as a commander who can come in and end a game. He also has plenty of land, so he can even be recast a couple times.

I'd love to get some more experienced players' opinions on what this deck needs more of (I feel like I'm neglecting my card draw, but that's just me), but I'd ask you to keep a couple things in mind:

1. I'm a casual player. I'm not adverse to spending money, but if an individual card is more than $10, it's going to take some serious justification to sell me on it
2. I play both in a group formats and 1v1
3. As a casual player, I aim to follow Wheaton's law. As such, no MLD please. However, I'm quite happy to play plenty of counterspells and removal. It's been done to me enough, I'd like to get in on the action.

Without further ado, let's get to the deck:



I'm thinking it needs more sweepers, some protection, and probably something to give Dakkon haste, as well as get more land drops. I could also get more basic lands into the mix, to take better advantage of the cards that fetch them. Please let me know what you think!

I run a Dakkon Blackblade deck pretty succesfully in my play group. You need a lot more basic lands for sure. In my Dakkon deck I have about 13 islands, 9 plains, and like 3 swamps, and the rest of my 12 lands cover my other bases. For other lands I have a Thawing Glaciers and a Terrain Generator to help me mana ramp. Other sources you can run include Sword of the Animist, Solemn Simulacrum, and burnished hart. Actually, I would cut the Armilary Sphere for the Hart. It costs 2 more mana overall, but it puts the lands into play instead of into your hand. A Rhystic study will help a lot with your card draw, and can do wonders. At first your opponents might just let you draw cards with it because they don't recognize how powerful that card advantage can be, if they do and pay the 1 per spell you've non-agressivelly taxed them, slowing them down. Other equipments that you should run include trailblazer's boots, whispersilk cloak, and swiftfoot boots. The new card from Zendikar vs Eldrazi, Oblivion Sower, would also be helpful. If they haven't added the card to the database, it's a 5/8 for 6 mana, and when you cast it, exile the top 4 cards of target players library and put all lands exiled like that into play under your control. I don't know how much he'll go for, but you can just get one out of the duel deck. Also, pick up an arcane lighthouse to rip hexproof and shroud off your opponents creatures for when you need to get rid of them. Hope that helps

EDIT: Fixed card tags and grammar

it looks like you're gonna be stocking your hand back up quite a lot over the course of the game.. i think it might even be worth having dreamscape artist in there, and possibly knocking out some of your guildgates for basic lands to make it even better.

and possibly something like Somnophore to replace Tideforce Elemental? im not really sure what you normally end up using it for, but i imagine its mostly just a tapper, and somnophore doesn't let the guy untap so long as its still there, and doesnt require mana.

While a bit higher budget, Sphinx's revelation would help in the card draw department. Especially since your games go long and you have a land focus.

Thank you tremendously, everybody, for the welcome and the advice.

I've added nearly everything suggested, with the exception of Somnophore (since he didn't fit the deck's theme, though I am dropping Tideforce Elemental, @schweinefett) and Oblivion Sower (currently out of my price range for what it does. Maybe once it cycles out of Standard it'll drop), much appreciated. A couple of them were even cards I already had, so that was nice. I also added Nephalia Smuggler and Cloudshift to add to the flickering.

Dropping cards was of course, as painful as actively murdering my (hypothetical) firstborn child. I dropped all the ETBT land cards, except Arcane Sanctum, Glacial Fortress, Halimar Depths, and the three Temples, replacing them with the recommended lands above and basic lands to fill the rest of the slots (though I did drop down by one to 37 lands). My other drops were as follows:

- Dismal Failure (Too highly costed
- Dissipate (Not enough people play with their graveyards in my meta)
- Rewind (Too highly costed)
- Diabolic Tutor (I don't have enough tutors to make this one worthwhile, I think)
- Grim Discovery (I don't intend to have too many creatures in the graveyard, frankly)
- Merchant Scroll (Instead of having a card that finds me counterspells, I added more counterspells)
- Drogskol Reaver (He'd get hated out, methinks, as well as tell other players that I'm ready to attack and should be attacked myself)
- Necropolis Regent (I wouldn't attack enough to make her worth it. I don't plan to attack until I'm ready to bring Dakkon out and end the game)
- Tideforce Elemental (Just not really a very good card)
- Armillary Sphere (Burnished Hart, which @tombstone312 recommended, was already in there, but I tossed this one per their recommendation anyway)

That's where it stands now, I continue to appreciate further input if anyone is interested, on the list as a whole or on the drops specifically. Other cards in there that aren't necessary would be taken under advisement gladly, as it's always easier to add than take out. Currently I'm a bit worried about not having a back up win-con or enough creatures to protect myself, so if you agree or disagree with me, let me know!

Best,

Snarglefrazzle

Quote from Snarglefrazzle »

- Armillary Sphere (Burnished Hart, which @tombstone312 recommended, was already in there, but I tossed this one per their recommendation anyway)

My mistake, I didn't see that burnished hart was already in the list. If that's the case, an expedition map would be another good replacement for the Armillary Sphere since it can fetch any land in your deck, not just basic lands.

On the drops, personally I like Rewind, it allows you to counter a spell and leave mana open for another counter if it's necessary, or to do other shenanigans at the end of turns. But that's a matter of preference and play style.

Dissipate is good just as a 3 Mana counter in general, and doesn't have to be run specifically to deal with graveyard-specific decks. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and his friend Kozilek, Butcher of Truth are popular cards in general, and you never know when you're at a local gaming store and someone happens to cast one of them. A dissipate can keep them from shuffling everything back into their library. Same goes for Blightsteel Colossus, dissipate is one of the spells that can make sure that he doesn't come back for round 2. Anyways I'm glad that we could help even a little with your deck