How much testing have you done with this deck, and what results do you have for it? I'm especially concerned about Disrupting Shoal and Commandeer vs. decks packing countermagic. Getting either one of those Remanded sounds miserable.
How much testing have you done with this deck, and what results do you have for it? I'm especially concerned about Disrupting Shoal and Commandeer vs. decks packing countermagic. Getting either one of those Remanded sounds miserable.
well since it packs so many spell snares its a little less susceptible to remand blowouts. I mean, that is something you want to watch out for definitely as it would be miserable. The 2 maindeck cliques and another in sb. help a little to see if there's a remand in their hand though. In counterwars generally you can play the shoal when you know they will lose the counterfight. They are bottlenecked by mana a lot of the time, while you are less bottlenecked by this. Another thing that helps win counterwars on the cheap are the logic knots since these can be cast a lot of times for just 2 mana.
Finally, we have of course some disruption in the Sb. to try and strip their hand of these troublesome cards. I initially tried a UWR version of the deck out because I thought being able to pitch the already powerful supreme verdict for 4 and sphinx's revelation for 3 would be really good for this type of deck. It was but in the end I missed some of the discard from grixis and figured that this deck had enough 3's and 4's to still fight the good fight with the shoals. (also having to path so many threats was really annoying since we could abuse the bottlenecking issue a lot less).
My overall testing with the deck is not incredibly exhaustive because it's a fairly recent design to cruel control. In the matches I've played so far with it seemed rlly promising. I think there is still room for improving it that I haven't thought of yet, if anyone wants to test it out and notices a really strong new element to add I'd love to hear it. I can imagine teferi, mage of zhalfir being pretty good though if you are concerned about decks packing a lot of remands. I definitely have to say that the deck is very easy to fall in love with since it's just so much fun to play :). It took me a bit to figure out when exactly I needed to pitch a card, and how exactly to approach counterwars with multiple counters and shoals in hand, as far as which counters to use first. After that initial hardship though it just becomes so much fun pitching cards to win counterwars where I'm tapped out and they extend into my shoal :).
Commandeer is mainly for tron/faeries/liliana decks (so thats why I don't have sowing salts, and instead just have commandeer) because when they get to 7 mana they usually just slam down their threats like karn etc. Also with so many shoals cliques and thoughtseizes you can tend to keep them off of tron assembling, and then they don't have mana for things like remand etc when you commandeer their tapped out threat.
Oh and one thing that I noticed was that if a blood moon happened to land having shoals in the deck helped a lot in order to still play, being able to still counter things making use of potentially dead cards through a blood moon is a really interesting benefit. I also managed to still be able to commandeer with 1 mana in play after getting sun titan'd out of mana.
I want a Tezzert, agent of bolas package anyone have any ideas how to make it work?
Idk man that seems trickier to manage, but can you really turn down that amazing art on commandeer alone? The guy looks like he is a follower of nicol bolas !
I myself realized a similar thing w.r.t. the desire to interact while tapping out. I love shoals so much, but after playing both Disrupting and Sickening shoals, I ended up settling on sickening. It's a lot less constraining on deckbuilding as sickening only cares that you're pitching an "expensive"(lol, delve, phy mana) black spell, not a spell with a specific CMC like disrupting does. Also, at least locally, I tend not to have to deal with things that don't just Die To Removal, so a counter and a creature kill spell mostly amount to the same thing so Sickening ends up significantly more reliable.
If you are really into the Disrupting Shoal plan, though, I would totally recommend putting in a couple of far//away. It's super sweet to pitch for either 2s or 3s.
IMO I'll reiterate that lightning bolt is secretly the worst card in these decks and I'm far happier having cut them. What makes lightning bolt good for the aggressive tempo decks is when Lava Spike is a legitimate mode for it. For us, it's really win-more, since in classic control deck style we don't really care about our opponent's life total that much. Dismember, dreadbore, and hero's downfall are waaay more effective at actually killing the things we need bolt to kill, whether it's creature or planewalkers.
Something to consider for those that are running EE/Ruins - maybe try trinket mage! Relic of Progenitus is a nice target as well, and Basilisk Collar with Olivia Voldaren is just dirty, though on the mana-heavy side (3+4+1+2+2=12, fortunately can pay them in some nice easy installments while going about the business of not dying).
I'll have to double check how disrupting shoal works, but for reference Wear//tear flipped off of dark confidant is 3; I think fuse/dual faced cards count their combined mana cost when pitched to shoal.
Edit: NVM, you're golden--as long as any of the characteristics on either part of the card return a yes, the answer is yes, so when querying as to whether it's cmc 2 or 3, the answer is always yes, so when disrupting shoal queries for the CMC of your blue spell, it can see either 2 or 3 (but not 5).
Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Yea I had to look that one up too, I wanted to see if playing a split card was worth it since I really really really wanted to have both cmcs in 1 card. The issue I think is they're just not that powerful if you're not pitching them. (If they make new ones in the future I'll Definitely be looking closely at them ). I guess far and away is likely the best option and not entirely unreasonable. I don't know if I'm that desperate though. (Maybe in like a teachings build? lol idk.)(also I still think its really weird how u can pitch the black half of the split card and have it still count as blue. I guess apparently it is multicolored while not on the stack really Bizarre).
On lightning bolt, this card is so good in control decks not just because it can kill creatures And deal damage to players, but it is its mana cost!
It only costs 1 red. Against aggressive decks its really easy to lose important tempo by playing things like dreadbore to remove their creatures, lightning bolting an early aggressive creature is a lot better. It isn't at its best in the sense that you usually don't want to have your plan be lava spiking your opponent in a control deck, you're right. I just think that dealing with early aggressive creatures is something that's important enough to be able to do that I just had to include 4 in the deck even if they aren't blue cards.
Great post MagicVanory. Deck looks solid, now you can just play with number and test oddball cards like Soul Ransom.
I always like playing the fourth Creeping Tar Pit, but sometimes I feel like too many lands coming into play tapped is a problem.
Keep being a coolCruel kid.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Great post MagicVanory. Deck looks solid, now you can just play with number and test oddball cards like Soul Ransom.
I always like playing the fourth Creeping Tar Pit, but sometimes I feel like too many lands coming into play tapped is a problem.
Keep being a coolCruel kid.
Wait wtf? Soul ransom? thats a card? How did I never hear about that lol. Actually seems alrite, though I never played with it. I would've definitely played it in the last standard cycle if I knew it was a card :/. I missed out big time lol.
I only know all the cards because I judge standard so much lol.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
This is my current list. Been having success with it on Cockatrice, but I still feel like there is plenty to tweak. I would like to maybe play a second spell snare. Not totally sold on Keranos in the main. Izzet charm has been pretty good, though. How are you guys trying to beat burn?
I kinda like it since its a 4 cmc blue card =p. I like to time it as a last resort when they are low on cards in hand :). Sb material tho for sure. Seems better vs decks like jund that play abrupt decay since it doesn't die to that.
This is my current list. Been having success with it on Cockatrice, but I still feel like there is plenty to tweak. I would like to maybe play a second spell snare. Not totally sold on Keranos in the main. Izzet charm has been pretty good, though. How are you guys trying to beat burn?
The deck isn't great vs. burn. At least compared to UWR control. Negate, Dispel, and the like are your friends and you can play Dragon's Claw (which you have), Sun Droplet, or even weird stuff like Palace Siege to try and gain life. I've tried Murk Lurker but it's just a tad too mana intensive. I personally think you have a pretty good sideboard and I wouldn't change much but, if you're having trouble with the deck, you could even try stuff like Augur of Bolas. He's not incredible but he does provide some amount of a road block for cards like Goblin Guide. Monastery Siege is a tad weak for my preference (it really just slows them down, it's sort of like a Rule of Law against burn) but people here seem to think it's ok. Idk, I haven't played much with it.
Keep in mind that you only have 14 R sources for Anger of the Gods, so it's not a sure thing t3 postboard.
_____________________________________________
Soul Ransom is going to be a 4 cmc Mind Rot 80-90% of the time. When it works, you'll remember it as the best card in your deck. However, most of the time you're going to be better served just playing another Terminate or something. You can play Sower of Temptation for the same cost as well. Or, heck, just play Bribery.
well it draws you two cards, adding 2/3 of an ancestral recall is a far cry from just being mind rot. It seems like this card confuses a lot of people though, even me at first. The way its worded anyway is tricky.
Bribery is another mana added on :/. slow. Doesn't deal with a threat on the board either (although it snags a really big fatty).
sower dies to almost everything, but I mean it is still really good.
the draw 2 on it is the only reason i gave this card any consideration. That and its added resilience above sower.
So here is my updated deck list after not playing for months...I did come in first at a small local tournament, but it is a pretty diverse field. My only match up I am ever unsure of is Burn but I got to dodge it this week.
problem I have with blue suns is that the turn u cast it for something meaningful you often die from life loss / something similar. Theres a decent amount of games where you cast it and it is gameover for the opponent, but also theres a lot of games where you just die from having to leave that much mana open in the later game. There does seem to be a big power gap between BSZ and Sphinx's rev.
if u need land destruct btw, ghost quarter isnt the worst.
My Question is does everyone really think Condescend is that good? I also really wonder is anticipate that much better than say Forbidden alchemy? it seems alchemy would be much better with your chosen counter sweet also selectively fueling snapcaster, tasigur, logic knot and Murderous cut seems really strong.
for me personally, I've not been a big fan of anticipate so far or condescend. scry 2 is actually pretty nice but the card itself is fairly weak. If it ends up doing nothing, id rather it be an actual card and scry nothing. If it scry'd for like 5 + now we're talking. It is best in tron of course because they actually can make it work more reliably as a counter. It also seems like think twice's card advantage might be better than anticipate. I just don't know if anticipate digs you deep enough, like 3 is ok, but 4 would be a lot better and 5 would seem a ton better. I think if its not providing card advantage it seems to me that it has to be digging suuper deep to be worth it. I just don't know if those dig deep enough.
My Grixis Cruel Control list is based off the Grixis lists that I've seen making the Top 8 of SCG:Opens over the last few weeks.
You got a slew of Grixis Twin, Grixis Delver, Grixis Conrol lists making it; and although Twin and Delver decks are very very different then what a Cruel List would be doing; there's still alot of similarities when comparing those lists to other Control lists.
I've also compared the Grixis Control lists with other successful Control shells like UWR(Jeskai) and even the 4CC/5CC Cruel Lists.
So my list is similar to some degree to those whilst the win conditions are Cruel and Nicol Bolas.
WHY Cruel & Bolas???
Well I told myself that if I am going to get back into Modern, it's for the following reasons: #1 I wanted to play my FAVORITE ARCHTYPE --> GRIXIS #2 I wanted to play my FAVORITE CARD in Magic --> Cruel Ultimatum #3 I wanted to play my 2nd FAVORITE CARD in Magic --> Nicol Bolas
...so win or lose; I'll have a great time doing it, and I feel I'm pretty good at Meta Gaming; so I feel that after a few outtings, I should be able to tune my list to make it successful more often then not
So my list is my list; I'm very unlikely to be willing to budge off Cruel or Bolas when it comes to suggestions.
I played Cruel Control a ton when it was STD Legal; and my feel is if our plan is to resolve CRUELS; what's 1 more mana for a bomb like Bolas; so the argument that he costs too much is a moot point for me when the goal is to get to Cruel range.
1.) So the Mainboard is based heavily off the Grixis Control shells that feature Blood Moon and Shackles; I HATE Blood Moon, so I wouldn't ever play a card like that... So I tweeked up the Win Conditions in that list; added some extra lands; and my Shell very much mirrors alot of what that deck is doing. And I have to say; it works.
2.) Sideboard: I'm anticipating Burn, Zoo, Affinity, and Combo decks for my local meta. I am sure there's plenty of other Tier 1 decks and other nice rogue decks.
3.) Keranos -- Draw; no bad draws when this card is out... Land? Get an extra card; Non Land; deal 3 Damage. I like the utility off this card in Cruel Control. And I would suspect it's hard to remove.
4.) Gurmag Angler -- I really enjoy this option; Patrick Chapin and Michael Majors of SCG both wrote great Modern Articles; and highlighted Grixis with Gurmag Anglers. Gurmag Angler has the ability to come down very early and just blank big fatties like Tarmogoyf. Early on it's generally fatter than Tarmogoyf for a few turns atleast and Gurmag also helps to keep the Grave Yard clean for Tasigur to really shine and have control over what Tasigur is bringing back to us.
5.) Tasigur -- Just love the option here; alot of our spells are very good; some are "OK"; but none of them seem super bad that we wouldn't just want them back. With Gurmag; and Snapcaster; both of those guys do a great job at keeping the GY Clean and helps to really control what Tasigur is giving us back.
6.) Serum Visions + Thought Scour Draw Engine -- It's just really cheap and really flexible... I know there's alot of other spells we could use; the Grixis decks that have made the top 8 lately all seem to be playing either 4-4 splits; or 4-3/4-2 splits of these spells. Having these spells makes it viable to run Cruel in a 25 land deck. They're powerful spells as well that really feed into the rest of the deck. Thought Scour fuels Delve Spells and Fuels Snapcasters. While Visions helps to mana fix and keeps the cards coming.
7.) Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker -- As I already mentioned; the likelihood that I'll be willing to budge on this card is pretty low. It's my 2nd Favorite card ALL TIME; and it's the 3rd reason why I am playing Grixis Cruel Control in getting back into Modern. If we have our Top End planned for Cruel; 1 more mana isn't going to be Make or Break when it comes to Bolas 8 CMC range. I feel that in some situations in Modern; Bolas is going to be very very good. Bolas comes down and kills a really bad Land; a really bad Permanent that finally got through the Permission package. Or Bolas comes down to steal a really powerful threat that somehow got through the Permission and Removal... I really like what Bolas brings to the table.
8.) Jace, Architect of Thought -- I'm not sure how I feel about this card; but I know I'll be up against Affinity; Zoo decks; and Burn decks. So I suspect that the Jace +1 mainboard will be pretty solid; but of course the -2 is also just as good when you're digging for Answers or Win Conditions when the coast is clear. Just seems like a good option to have in the main.
I think everything else pretty much explains itself...
SIDEBOARD NOTES:
Anger of the Gods --> Weenie Zoo types of decks; hits alot of things in Affinity; Tokens; pretty good catch all VS alot of creature strategies.
Pyroclasm --> Just a backup to Anger of the Gods... Easier to cast; plays better with Snapcaster.
AEtherspouts --> Honestly; I'm not sure how I feel about this card; but it's mostly here for Affinity. There's other options; but alot of people I've notice play Bounce ALL to Owners Hand; and VS Affinity I don't really like a card with that kind of effect... because as we know Affinity generally can re-cast most of that stuff anyways. So we don't really gain the advantage. With AEtherspouts; they're forced to put their entire board and all they've worked for on the Top or Bottom of their Library. Of course they'll choose top; but that means for the next few turns; they are top decking 1 of each of their Affinity Synergy over the next few turns; so they take a few turns to rebuild that board.
Flashfreeze --> VS Burn and Green/X Zoo Decks. I'm going to see alot of Burn and Tarmogoyf I'm sure... Flashfreeze just seems like a solid option VS alot of top Modern decks IMO. Perhaps 3 isn't necessary; but BURN really scares me. And so I feel that the best way to beat Burn is to Counter their Burn spells; or Counter their spells that destroy the Dragon's Claws or Batterskull. Also; let's consider that CoCo decks are on the Rise and so Flashfreeze also hits that.
Vandalblast --> Another VS Affinity; but also VS any decks that run problematic Artifacts that hurt us; IE The Cage. Just some extra support just in case.
Slaughter Games --> VS Combo strategies; or VS decks that have cards that really wreck us and we have no answer for.
Dragon's Claw --> VS Burn; might go with a 2 / 1 split. 2 Claws 1 Batterskull.
Personally I think Condescend is really bad when you are on the draw...I don't think cruel control cares so much about card quality as it does card quantity. I'd rather have manaa leak over condescend in almost any situation I can think of. Granted mana leak can become dead, but that is a rare scenario at best compared to when it is good it is ultra good. I also think that Mulldrifter is underutilized in these sorts of decks. I think if you have nothing else going on that is an okay plan to evoke a mulldrifter to draw two and potentially clean the board up with a damnation the following turn.He also is a target for cruel control and kolaghan's command which is seeing a home in these style decks.
URW Control
WBG Abzan
GRW Burn
EDH
GR Rosheen Meanderer
Cruel Control
Niv-Mizzet EDH
Cruel Tezz
well since it packs so many spell snares its a little less susceptible to remand blowouts. I mean, that is something you want to watch out for definitely as it would be miserable. The 2 maindeck cliques and another in sb. help a little to see if there's a remand in their hand though. In counterwars generally you can play the shoal when you know they will lose the counterfight. They are bottlenecked by mana a lot of the time, while you are less bottlenecked by this. Another thing that helps win counterwars on the cheap are the logic knots since these can be cast a lot of times for just 2 mana.
Finally, we have of course some disruption in the Sb. to try and strip their hand of these troublesome cards. I initially tried a UWR version of the deck out because I thought being able to pitch the already powerful supreme verdict for 4 and sphinx's revelation for 3 would be really good for this type of deck. It was but in the end I missed some of the discard from grixis and figured that this deck had enough 3's and 4's to still fight the good fight with the shoals. (also having to path so many threats was really annoying since we could abuse the bottlenecking issue a lot less).
My overall testing with the deck is not incredibly exhaustive because it's a fairly recent design to cruel control. In the matches I've played so far with it seemed rlly promising. I think there is still room for improving it that I haven't thought of yet, if anyone wants to test it out and notices a really strong new element to add I'd love to hear it. I can imagine teferi, mage of zhalfir being pretty good though if you are concerned about decks packing a lot of remands. I definitely have to say that the deck is very easy to fall in love with since it's just so much fun to play :). It took me a bit to figure out when exactly I needed to pitch a card, and how exactly to approach counterwars with multiple counters and shoals in hand, as far as which counters to use first. After that initial hardship though it just becomes so much fun pitching cards to win counterwars where I'm tapped out and they extend into my shoal :).
Commandeer is mainly for tron/faeries/liliana decks (so thats why I don't have sowing salts, and instead just have commandeer) because when they get to 7 mana they usually just slam down their threats like karn etc. Also with so many shoals cliques and thoughtseizes you can tend to keep them off of tron assembling, and then they don't have mana for things like remand etc when you commandeer their tapped out threat.
Oh and one thing that I noticed was that if a blood moon happened to land having shoals in the deck helped a lot in order to still play, being able to still counter things making use of potentially dead cards through a blood moon is a really interesting benefit. I also managed to still be able to commandeer with 1 mana in play after getting sun titan'd out of mana.
Idk man that seems trickier to manage, but can you really turn down that amazing art on commandeer alone? The guy looks like he is a follower of nicol bolas !
If you are really into the Disrupting Shoal plan, though, I would totally recommend putting in a couple of far//away. It's super sweet to pitch for either 2s or 3s.
IMO I'll reiterate that lightning bolt is secretly the worst card in these decks and I'm far happier having cut them. What makes lightning bolt good for the aggressive tempo decks is when Lava Spike is a legitimate mode for it. For us, it's really win-more, since in classic control deck style we don't really care about our opponent's life total that much. Dismember, dreadbore, and hero's downfall are waaay more effective at actually killing the things we need bolt to kill, whether it's creature or planewalkers.
Something to consider for those that are running EE/Ruins - maybe try trinket mage! Relic of Progenitus is a nice target as well, and Basilisk Collar with Olivia Voldaren is just dirty, though on the mana-heavy side (3+4+1+2+2=12, fortunately can pay them in some nice easy installments while going about the business of not dying).
Twitch channel
Edit: NVM, you're golden--as long as any of the characteristics on either part of the card return a yes, the answer is yes, so when querying as to whether it's cmc 2 or 3, the answer is always yes, so when disrupting shoal queries for the CMC of your blue spell, it can see either 2 or 3 (but not 5).
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
On lightning bolt, this card is so good in control decks not just because it can kill creatures And deal damage to players, but it is its mana cost!
It only costs 1 red. Against aggressive decks its really easy to lose important tempo by playing things like dreadbore to remove their creatures, lightning bolting an early aggressive creature is a lot better. It isn't at its best in the sense that you usually don't want to have your plan be lava spiking your opponent in a control deck, you're right. I just think that dealing with early aggressive creatures is something that's important enough to be able to do that I just had to include 4 in the deck even if they aren't blue cards.
I always like playing the fourth Creeping Tar Pit, but sometimes I feel like too many lands coming into play tapped is a problem.
Keep being a
coolCruel kid.Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Wait wtf? Soul ransom? thats a card? How did I never hear about that lol. Actually seems alrite, though I never played with it. I would've definitely played it in the last standard cycle if I knew it was a card :/. I missed out big time lol.
I only know all the cards because I judge standard so much lol.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
1x Batterskull
Creatures
1x Keranos, God of Storms
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendlion Clique
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instants and Sorceries
3x Cryptic Command
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Terminate
1x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Electrolyze
1x Spell Snare
2x Think Twice
2x Remand
2x Mana Leak
1x Logic Knot
1x Kolaghan's Command
2x Damnation
1x Izzet Charm
1x Go for the Throat
3x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Watery Grave
2x Steam Vents
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
1x Mountain
3x Island
3x Sulfur Falls
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Drowned Catacomb
Planeswalkers
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Counterflux
1x Slaughter Games
1x Flashfreeze
1x Duress
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Dragon's Claw
1x Thoughtseize
1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
1x Spellskite
1x Negate
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Dispel
1x Olivia Voldaren
1x Anger of the Gods
I'd fit in another Spell Snare by either dropping Go For the Throat or Izzet Charm. Your call.
The deck isn't great vs. burn. At least compared to UWR control. Negate, Dispel, and the like are your friends and you can play Dragon's Claw (which you have), Sun Droplet, or even weird stuff like Palace Siege to try and gain life. I've tried Murk Lurker but it's just a tad too mana intensive. I personally think you have a pretty good sideboard and I wouldn't change much but, if you're having trouble with the deck, you could even try stuff like Augur of Bolas. He's not incredible but he does provide some amount of a road block for cards like Goblin Guide. Monastery Siege is a tad weak for my preference (it really just slows them down, it's sort of like a Rule of Law against burn) but people here seem to think it's ok. Idk, I haven't played much with it.
Keep in mind that you only have 14 R sources for Anger of the Gods, so it's not a sure thing t3 postboard.
_____________________________________________
Soul Ransom is going to be a 4 cmc Mind Rot 80-90% of the time. When it works, you'll remember it as the best card in your deck. However, most of the time you're going to be better served just playing another Terminate or something. You can play Sower of Temptation for the same cost as well. Or, heck, just play Bribery.
Bribery is another mana added on :/. slow. Doesn't deal with a threat on the board either (although it snags a really big fatty).
sower dies to almost everything, but I mean it is still really good.
the draw 2 on it is the only reason i gave this card any consideration. That and its added resilience above sower.
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Mountain
3 Polluted Delta
1 River of Tears
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Watery Grave
// Creatures 7
1 Mulldrifter
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, The Golden Fang
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Cryptic Command
2 Damnation
3 Electrolyze
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
1 Terminate
1 Thoughtseize
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Batterskull
1 Counterflux
2 Dispel
1 Keranos, God of the Storms
3 Molten Rain
1 Monastery Siege (flex slot)
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Vendilion Clique
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
- Nicol Bolas
if u need land destruct btw, ghost quarter isnt the worst.
Logic knot is like my favorite. I really like it.
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
- Nicol Bolas
I haven't played Modern in quite a long time; so my knowledge is based on all the research I've been doing the last few weeks...
Articles I've read; Tournament Reports I've seen; Twitch Streams watched...
My Grixis Cruel Control list is based off the Grixis lists that I've seen making the Top 8 of SCG:Opens over the last few weeks.
You got a slew of Grixis Twin, Grixis Delver, Grixis Conrol lists making it; and although Twin and Delver decks are very very different then what a Cruel List would be doing; there's still alot of similarities when comparing those lists to other Control lists.
I've also compared the Grixis Control lists with other successful Control shells like UWR(Jeskai) and even the 4CC/5CC Cruel Lists.
So my list is similar to some degree to those whilst the win conditions are Cruel and Nicol Bolas.
WHY Cruel & Bolas???
Well I told myself that if I am going to get back into Modern, it's for the following reasons:
#1 I wanted to play my FAVORITE ARCHTYPE --> GRIXIS
#2 I wanted to play my FAVORITE CARD in Magic --> Cruel Ultimatum
#3 I wanted to play my 2nd FAVORITE CARD in Magic --> Nicol Bolas
...so win or lose; I'll have a great time doing it, and I feel I'm pretty good at Meta Gaming; so I feel that after a few outtings, I should be able to tune my list to make it successful more often then not
So my list is my list; I'm very unlikely to be willing to budge off Cruel or Bolas when it comes to suggestions.
I played Cruel Control a ton when it was STD Legal; and my feel is if our plan is to resolve CRUELS; what's 1 more mana for a bomb like Bolas; so the argument that he costs too much is a moot point for me when the goal is to get to Cruel range.
My List:
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Gurmag Angler
Spells: 25
1 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Terminate
2 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Cryptic Command
2 Mana Leak
1 Remand
3 Spell Snare
4 Serum Visions
2 Thought Scour
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
Lands: 25
3 Watery Grave
4 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Pyroclasm
3 Dragon's Claw
1 AEtherspouts
1 Vandalblast
2 Spellskite
1 Counterflux
3 Flashfreeze
1 Slaughter Games
NOTES:
1.) So the Mainboard is based heavily off the Grixis Control shells that feature Blood Moon and Shackles; I HATE Blood Moon, so I wouldn't ever play a card like that... So I tweeked up the Win Conditions in that list; added some extra lands; and my Shell very much mirrors alot of what that deck is doing. And I have to say; it works.
2.) Sideboard: I'm anticipating Burn, Zoo, Affinity, and Combo decks for my local meta. I am sure there's plenty of other Tier 1 decks and other nice rogue decks.
3.) Keranos -- Draw; no bad draws when this card is out... Land? Get an extra card; Non Land; deal 3 Damage. I like the utility off this card in Cruel Control. And I would suspect it's hard to remove.
4.) Gurmag Angler -- I really enjoy this option; Patrick Chapin and Michael Majors of SCG both wrote great Modern Articles; and highlighted Grixis with Gurmag Anglers. Gurmag Angler has the ability to come down very early and just blank big fatties like Tarmogoyf. Early on it's generally fatter than Tarmogoyf for a few turns atleast and Gurmag also helps to keep the Grave Yard clean for Tasigur to really shine and have control over what Tasigur is bringing back to us.
5.) Tasigur -- Just love the option here; alot of our spells are very good; some are "OK"; but none of them seem super bad that we wouldn't just want them back. With Gurmag; and Snapcaster; both of those guys do a great job at keeping the GY Clean and helps to really control what Tasigur is giving us back.
6.) Serum Visions + Thought Scour Draw Engine -- It's just really cheap and really flexible... I know there's alot of other spells we could use; the Grixis decks that have made the top 8 lately all seem to be playing either 4-4 splits; or 4-3/4-2 splits of these spells. Having these spells makes it viable to run Cruel in a 25 land deck. They're powerful spells as well that really feed into the rest of the deck. Thought Scour fuels Delve Spells and Fuels Snapcasters. While Visions helps to mana fix and keeps the cards coming.
7.) Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker -- As I already mentioned; the likelihood that I'll be willing to budge on this card is pretty low. It's my 2nd Favorite card ALL TIME; and it's the 3rd reason why I am playing Grixis Cruel Control in getting back into Modern. If we have our Top End planned for Cruel; 1 more mana isn't going to be Make or Break when it comes to Bolas 8 CMC range. I feel that in some situations in Modern; Bolas is going to be very very good. Bolas comes down and kills a really bad Land; a really bad Permanent that finally got through the Permission package. Or Bolas comes down to steal a really powerful threat that somehow got through the Permission and Removal... I really like what Bolas brings to the table.
8.) Jace, Architect of Thought -- I'm not sure how I feel about this card; but I know I'll be up against Affinity; Zoo decks; and Burn decks. So I suspect that the Jace +1 mainboard will be pretty solid; but of course the -2 is also just as good when you're digging for Answers or Win Conditions when the coast is clear. Just seems like a good option to have in the main.
I think everything else pretty much explains itself...
SIDEBOARD NOTES:
Anger of the Gods --> Weenie Zoo types of decks; hits alot of things in Affinity; Tokens; pretty good catch all VS alot of creature strategies.
Pyroclasm --> Just a backup to Anger of the Gods... Easier to cast; plays better with Snapcaster.
AEtherspouts --> Honestly; I'm not sure how I feel about this card; but it's mostly here for Affinity. There's other options; but alot of people I've notice play Bounce ALL to Owners Hand; and VS Affinity I don't really like a card with that kind of effect... because as we know Affinity generally can re-cast most of that stuff anyways. So we don't really gain the advantage. With AEtherspouts; they're forced to put their entire board and all they've worked for on the Top or Bottom of their Library. Of course they'll choose top; but that means for the next few turns; they are top decking 1 of each of their Affinity Synergy over the next few turns; so they take a few turns to rebuild that board.
Flashfreeze --> VS Burn and Green/X Zoo Decks. I'm going to see alot of Burn and Tarmogoyf I'm sure... Flashfreeze just seems like a solid option VS alot of top Modern decks IMO. Perhaps 3 isn't necessary; but BURN really scares me. And so I feel that the best way to beat Burn is to Counter their Burn spells; or Counter their spells that destroy the Dragon's Claws or Batterskull. Also; let's consider that CoCo decks are on the Rise and so Flashfreeze also hits that.
Vandalblast --> Another VS Affinity; but also VS any decks that run problematic Artifacts that hurt us; IE The Cage. Just some extra support just in case.
Slaughter Games --> VS Combo strategies; or VS decks that have cards that really wreck us and we have no answer for.
Dragon's Claw --> VS Burn; might go with a 2 / 1 split. 2 Claws 1 Batterskull.
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
- Nicol Bolas