This deck is capable of going down a few different paths based on your preference.
1- Run oaths and planeswalkers and defend them with efficient removal
2- You can focus on Goblin Dark-Dwellers synergy and run more instants and sorceries for him and Liliana. A lot of the cards that work well with GDD also work with Yahenni's Expertise
3- Tapout Control - some versions eschew running many instants and instead just look to tap out and curve out into powerful threats and Fumigate
4- Aggro/Midrange - Run the Gideon's, Heart of Kiran, Thraben Inspector, Unlicensed Disintegration, and Fatal Push
This deck has been able to transition quite well into the new Aether Revolt Meta. Emrakul and Smuggler's Copter being banned have made the deck even better positioned. Now we can cast our planeswalkers and not worry as much about them being used against us or blown up by cheap helicopters.
This is a control deck that tries to deploy and defend planeswalkers. The new Chandra made me want to try adding red instead of running just BW planeswalkers. Access to Radiant Flames, Painful Truths, and burn is nice as well. Once thing I'm unsure of is if I want 4 Galvanic Bombardment or 4 Incendiary Flow. I went with Galvanic Bombardment to have ways to hit vehicles and man lands on my opponents turn. I originally had Emrakul instead of Noxious Gearhulk but decided not to go full on spaghetti and instead play a more consistant card
I don't think nahiri is that good here. Her ultimate does nothing in your deck her plus 1 provides no real card advantage and her removal.is conditional.
Plus the best walker in your colors isn't even in your deck and that's Gideon.
Maybe drop the nahiri and a sorin for Gideons and maybe find a place for liliana. She's quite good with Noxious Gearhulk and stops early aggro plus makes you oath of chandra and Galvanic Bombardment better.
If I was to make a mardu superfriends/control deck this would be my take obviously not tell you to stray from your build just something I'd play personally
Gideon would just make chump blockers for me and allow me to kill my opponent a little quicker, however I like that all of my planeswalkers can come down and kill something and then tick up for value. Being able to exile enchantments and artifacts in addition to creatures seems important now in the artifact set. Nahiri will give me another way to deal with a vehicle after it attacks. I could see making some room for Filigree familiar and liliana, however I'm not sure what I'd cut or if Liliana will even be good. We'll have to wait and see what some of the top decks are, however I assume having access to maindeck Radiant Flames will help immensely against the boros vehicle/dwarf deck, g/r energy beats, gw tokens w/ gearhulk, and CoColess bant which are all bound to be decks considering how pushed they are.
You play 6 sweepers Gideon into Fumigate is back breaking for any opponent
I have to agree here. Even if it doesn't take care of vehicles, it should still put you ahead to the point where you can just keep dropping even more walkers and ride the advantage to a win.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Yesterday was all I had. Today is all I have. Tomorrow is all I want.
Exactly. Gideon is the only walker that I've seen is at least decent against every match up. Midrange, and control he is fantastic also is ungodly against any ramp strategy they can't keep up with him and puts on way to much pressure for them.
Aggro is is a little worse but even then if it's small aggro he pumps out 2/2 blocks that at times can trade profitably or even just ahlt they're assault all together. Gideon is really the ultimate walker for these strategies. He can be defensive or aggressive.
The build I am currently on is more of a R/B splash white for nahiri, 3rd color for radiant flames and for anguished unmaking mainbord, and then some other sweet white sideboard cards.
You have WAY too many cards for your top end, and not nearly enough removal spells to make it so your planeswalkers don't die. This is a one for one removal deck so I would like to see more non-planeswalker card draw in the deck, maybe cutting down on the number of chandra, torch of defiance and the oath of chandra, for cards like succumb to temptation or cathartic reunion which works well with galvanic bombardment. Additionally, if you want to go down the energy route, you can run Harnessed Lightning and Live Fast, which would mean your 2 mana removal spells can now kill things bigger than X/3s. I would also up the number of ruinous path because planeswalkers are going to be a huge problem for you.
Plus the best walker in your colors isn't even in your deck and that's Gideon.
I'm not entirely sure Gideon is the best choice for this kind of deck, he is very good but I think that having more kill spells or board wipes would just be more beneficial. You will certainly have no trouble ending games with the planeswalkers you already have, you just need to make it so you don't die or get close to dying before you start casting the heavy hitters in your deck.
Playing Oath of Liliana essentially turns every Planeswalker in my deck into Gideon. All of the walkers in my deck can kill creatures. I have the most efficient draw spell in the form of draw 3 from painful truths in order to hit board wipes and follow them up with a walker to close the game. I'm running 14 spells I can cast turns 1-3 to remove creatures which I think is more than enough. While Gideon is sweet making chump blockers isn't as important imo as card advantage or destroying things.
After playing in some events the past few weeks I have noticed that my sweepers have not been effective as they once were. Also I was always discarding to my Painful Truths when I cast it so I noticed that some energy synergy might help give me better results with slightly less powered cards. So I cut truths for live fast and some sweepers for harnessed lightning. Changed the mana base a bit to have more untapped lands like aether hub at the cost of less white mana and evolving wilds.
It really should be 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance and 1 Chandra, Flamecaller, but I want to see what the Pro Tour does to prices before I buy another. I've been testing it against my mono-red Smuggler's Copter deck and having 12 ways to deal with vehicles in the main shuts it down pretty well. Pretty even game one, but seems highly favorable post board with the 2 Immolating Glare making a big difference.
I think you may want to trim some planeswalkers for some more card draw and instant speed removal. I found Blessed Alliance to be really mediocre and cut it for harnessed lightning since it kills copters and fleatwheel cruisers more consistently. Also run at least 2 creatures for Nahiri if you're gonna play her.
I think you may want to trim some planeswalkers for some more card draw and instant speed removal. I found Blessed Alliance to be really mediocre and cut it for harnessed lightning since it kills copters and fleatwheel cruisers more consistently. Also run at least 2 creatures for Nahiri if you're gonna play her.
I'd heed his advice. I'd suggest a Spaghetti and maybe a Dr. Death. I'd also as far as number's go play around with....
If you insist on keeping the number of walkers I'd suggest running a few Tormenting Voice, Cathartic Reunion. Maybe even Nahiri's Wrath so the multiple copies wont hurt so bad late game (or more so even early).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
BGUSULTI ELEVENSBGU
hatred
I will flay the skin from your flesh,
the flesh from your bones,
and scrape your bones dry,
and still you will not have suffered enough!
Quote the Ryxsyn;
NeVeRMoRe!
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain!
-Harvey Dent
Match 1: Bant Control 0-2
I specifically wanted to avoid blue-based control, so I wasn't expecting too much. I wound up stuck on 3 lands the first game and only drew 3 walkers all game 2, so I only resolved one threat in both games. Shambling Vent did get them down to 10 life game 2, though.
Match 2: WR Vehicles 2-0
Killed all their creatures, played a bunch of walkers, and convincingly won both games.
Match 3: BW Control 1-2
Game 1: Transgress the Mind hit my Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and then he cast his own. I didn't have a direct answer, but had Oath of Chandra out and just kept playing walkers that drew me a card and immediately died to slowly whittle him down with the oath. Once he was off the board I was able to get a few walkers to stick and finished the game.
Game 2: I made the mistake of boarding out my Nahiri, the Harbinger and got a Gideon and Chandra, Flamecaller hit with Quarantine Field. I then proceeded to draw mostly lands until I died.
Game 3: On turn 3, he cast Lost Legacy naming Gideon, hitting one in my hand. He'd play a creature, I'd play a walker to kill it, then he'd kill the walker with a Shambling Vent. Eventually I just drew way more lands than him and he was able to take over the board.
Match 4: GR Pummeler
Game 1: Killed all his things, played a bunch of walkers, ran him over with Oath of Liliana.
Game 2: Blossoming Defense stopped my Unlicensed Disintegration from killing his Electrostatic Pummeler on turn 3, my 3rd Inspiring Vantage came into play tapped on 4, preventing me from casting Gideon or Chandra to try to kill it again or generate a blocker, and he dealt exactly 20 trample damage with the Pummeler the next turn.
Game 3: I played an Oath of Liliana to kill a Servant of the Conduit and then he dropped 2 Bristling Hydra while the rest of my hand was targeted removal. I kept playing walkers and chumping with zombies while playing removal whenever he got too much energy until I pulled Fumigate, which he wasn't able to come back from. I probably would have lost this game, but he kept sending one hydra at each walker I had, which let me pick which one to keep. There's also a good chance he could have just killed me if he had been swinging at me instead of my planeswalkers.
Conclusions:
I'm cutting a land. The deck wants to curve out and play threats quickly, so it wants a higher land count, but I don't feel like the threat density is high enough when games go long. Swapping some basics for another planeswalker and a manland gives me two more threats (one uncounterable), but reduces the velocity of the deck. I only lost one game to tempo, but lost three to lack of threats.
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +1 Needle Spires, -1 Mountain, -1 Plains
Getting more than 2 copies of Inspiring Vantage sucks:
-1 Inspiring Vantage, +1 Needle Spires
Already planned:
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, -1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Oath of Liliana is, by far, the best card in the deck. Except when I was playing blue and couldn't resolve any walkers, I won every game where I had one on turn 3, even if it didn't kill anything.
I never really felt bad about +ing Nahiri, the Harbinger instead of ulting her, because at that point I was usually top-decking, looking for another walker to chain. If she was that high, I also feel like ulting her would just be win-more.
There wasn't a single instance where the planeswalker uniqueness rule was relevant, because Nahiri can pitch duplicates and Gideon has such a huge target on his forehead. If I go up to 4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, I could see some issues with her, though.
With Grixis Control doing well at the pro tour, I need to improve the match against blue-based control. Adding 2 manlands should help, but I'll need to look at the exact list and do some testing to see what I can do to play around it. There's no uncounterable threats in Mardu, but maybe I could use Archangel Avacyn to play around the timing when they cast Glimmer of Genius.
While adding card draw spells would increase the consistency of the deck, likely allowing me to cut another land and reducing the chance of just flooding out, I feel like, starting at turn 4, you want to be the aggressor because someone on the defensive isn't able to effectively attack down your planeswalkers. I'm playing it more as a midrange deck, rather than control. I also have quite a bit of card draw off of the planeswalkers themselves, as well, with only Gideon unable to get me more cards.
I've been testing against the guesstimate of Grixis Control that was on mtggoldfish.com (which apparently had more counterspells and draw than the real version) and it's a little bad preboard, but bringing in all the hand disruption makes it feel favorable, with the assumption that they brought in the full playset of Negate. I'll retest once the full desklist is out.
I played a Mardu Control deck (actually more of a BR splash W) at SCG Regionals in Plano, TX. I finished in 12th place, losing in the last round to fall out of the Top 8.
R1: WR Vehicles, won 2-0
R2: Esper Control, won 2-0
R3: UW Spirits, won 2-0
R4: GB Delirium, won 2-0
R5: GB Delirium, lost 0-2
R6: UW Spirits, won 2-0
R7: UB Zombies, won 2-1
R8: GB Delirium, lost 0-2
Yes, the deck is 61 cards. I originally had 26 lands, but the night before I was getting mana screwed so I just added another land. The mana base held up very well until the last match, when I mulliganed to 5 in G1 but still almost won the game (G2 was not close).
I do not think anyone needs to worry about having duplicate planeswalkers in hand -- they are magnets for removal and attacks by the opponent, and if any of them stay around for longer than a few turns you are getting so far ahead on card advantage that it doesn't matter if you have extra copies in hand.
I loved the deck, but I will certainly need to determine a better plan for the GB Delirium matchup. I was expecting more aggro and stacked the maindeck in that fashion, but those dead cards never really posed much of a problem except in the mid-rangy Delirium matches.
I think your deck and my current version have a lot of similarities. I found that Goblin Dark Dwellers madey sideboard cards ten times better and was fine game one so I went up to two. Here's my current list. Took first in a win a box last week beating Mardi vehicles, Boris vehicles, Saitos grixis control, and g/R ramp
What about mana ramp in this build? Fumigate and Desend upon the Sinful are the main draws to playing this style of control, but the high casting cost are a little bit of an obstacle for a deck with no counters. I have been thinking about using Cultivator's Caravan as a four of to smooth color issues and give this deck a hasty threat to utilize. Curving a caravan into a Gideon allows you to roll up to crew or turn tokens into profit, allow you to cast sweepers (Fumigate, Planar Outburst) on turn 4 and Allow back breaking plays (Desend upon the Sinful on 5 then using the angel to Crew the Caravan, or Chandra, Flamecaller swinging for 8 with a plus 1) It has been working so well that I have been also testing a singleton Skysoverign in the main as well. The fact that cards like kalitas, and dark dwellers can
I can get on board with that plan so that we can utilize Unlicensed Disintigration. Seems pretty backbreaking in a build with Gideon Jura and 3 or 4 Goblin Dark Dwellers. Problem is that might just be too slow. A lot of the big sorcery spells don't kill vehicles and that's a huge problem if you are trying to defend walkers. That's why I went the energy route so I had multiple cheap burn spells to hold up as protection if I have say 5 or 6 mana and have a walker to cast with that as back up. Hoewever, with the addition of the ramp then you can cut down to 25 lands which is pretty sweet. One problem I see right off the bat though is none of my zombie tokens, man lands, or gideon tokens can crew it. The upside though is with that and Aether Hub you could probably splash blue for the colorless counter
I updated my decklist (mostly just moving a Collective Brutality to the main and replacing an Oath of Chandra with a Combustible Gearhulk in the board) and tested some sideboard games against Shoto's Grixis Control. I won all 4 without really feeling in danger of losing any of them and even tried stacking the control deck's hand in the last game. There's just too much creature removal in the deck and not enough suitable replacements in the board to get rid of all of it, plus they just don't have enough answers to deal with every one of my planeswalkers now that Nahiri ulting is a real problem for them. The aggro matchup was already good and I don't think there's anything more I can do about combo decks, so this is probably what I'm taking to FNM and Game Day.
Has anyone done any testing against the PT top 8 UW Flash deck? My testing has been extremely unfavorable against it (0-3 preboard, 2-4 post-board). Spell Queller hits my 4-drop walkers and all my instant-speed removal, Archangel Avacyn prevents me from attacking with manlands and eats my walkers and non-sacrifice removal, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is really hard to get off the board because of that.
You beat that deck by casting Sorin or Fumigate. Transgress the mind gets boarded in to clear the way. Cheap burn like galvanic bombardment, and harness the lightning let you blow them out midgame.
Doesn't Fumigate just lose to Avacyn and Selfless Spirit and leaves Copter and Gideon on the table? I didn't draw either in my limited testing yet and the one time I cast Sorin he got countered. I'll give it another go later and see how some of these other lists play against it.
I beat it twice at my local store 2-0 I had way too much removal for them to plow through and my walkers all helped clear the way. Oath of Chandra keeps Gideon in check and you can board into anguished unmaking. One thing I'm thinking about now is testing Deadlock Trap in my more energy based build
It is a difficult matchup. With this style of deck you may have to diversify your sideboard for this. I do not know why exile based removal isn't popular, but cards like Anguished Unmaking has been a all star against copter and Avacyn and if you can hit delirium, To the Slaughter is another strong option. Selfless spirit comes down to just putting strong creatures in front of it, which may involve putting a few creature threats in (always welcome by Nahiri and Liliana).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
1- Run oaths and planeswalkers and defend them with efficient removal
2- You can focus on Goblin Dark-Dwellers synergy and run more instants and sorceries for him and Liliana. A lot of the cards that work well with GDD also work with Yahenni's Expertise
3- Tapout Control - some versions eschew running many instants and instead just look to tap out and curve out into powerful threats and Fumigate
4- Aggro/Midrange - Run the Gideon's, Heart of Kiran, Thraben Inspector, Unlicensed Disintegration, and Fatal Push
My Current Amonkhet List:
3x Canyon Slough
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Evolving Wilds
3x Foreboding Ruins
1x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
2x Plains
4x Shambling Vent
3x Swamp
Instant (6)
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Grasp of Darkness
Creature (3)
3x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Planeswalker (12)
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x liliana, death's majesty
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1x Descend upon the Sinful
3x Painful Truths
2x Sweltering Suns
2x Transgress the Mind
Enchantment (5)
2x Oath of Chandra
3x Oath of Liliana
1x By Force
1x Flaying Tendrils
2x Fragmentize
1x Fumigate
1x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
3x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Sweltering Suns
2x Transgress the Mind
2x Unburden
1x Cut / Ribbons
1x Glorybringer
1x Never / Return
1x Thraben Inspector
1x Unlicensed Disintegration
Planeswalkers
- Gideon of the Trials
- Liliana, Death's Majesty
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance
- Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- Liliana, the Last Hope
- Nahiri, the Harbinger
- Ob Nixilis Reignited
- Sorin, Grim Nemesis
- Chandra Flamecaller
Removal Options:Creatures:
Draw/Discard/Utility:
This deck has been able to transition quite well into the new Aether Revolt Meta. Emrakul and Smuggler's Copter being banned have made the deck even better positioned. Now we can cast our planeswalkers and not worry as much about them being used against us or blown up by cheap helicopters.
Aether Revolt List:
2x Anguished Unmaking
4x Grasp of Darkness
Sorcery (4)
2x Painful Truths
2x Transgress the Mind
Enchantment (6)
3x Oath of Chandra
3x Oath of Liliana
Planeswalker (15)
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
2x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1x Noxious Gearhulk
Land (26)
4x Concealed Courtyard
3x Evolving Wilds
4x Foreboding Ruins
2x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
1x Plains
4x Shambling Vent
2x Smoldering Marsh
4x Swamp
3x Authority of the Consuls
2x Fumigate
3x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Lost Legacy
2x Mind Rot
1x Ruinous Path
2x Transgress the Mind
This is a control deck that tries to deploy and defend planeswalkers. The new Chandra made me want to try adding red instead of running just BW planeswalkers. Access to Radiant Flames, Painful Truths, and burn is nice as well. Once thing I'm unsure of is if I want 4 Galvanic Bombardment or 4 Incendiary Flow. I went with Galvanic Bombardment to have ways to hit vehicles and man lands on my opponents turn. I originally had Emrakul instead of Noxious Gearhulk but decided not to go full on spaghetti and instead play a more consistant card
1x Concealed Courtyard
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Foreboding Ruins
4x Inspiring Vantage
3x Mountain
1x Needle Spires
2x Plains
4x Shambling Vent
2x Smoldering Marsh
3x Swamp
Planeswalker (11)
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
2x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2x Fumigate
3x Painful Truths
4x Radiant Flames
Creature (4)
3x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1x Noxious Gearhulk
Enchantment (6)
3x Oath of Chandra
3x Oath of Liliana
Instant (4)
4x Galvanic Bombardment
2x Anguished Unmaking
3x Fragmentize
1x Fumigate
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Lost Legacy
1x Painful Truths
4x Transgress the Mind
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Update 4: Rewrote main post for Amonkhet
Update 3: Rewrote the description to reflect Aether Revolt meta changes and added my most recent decklist.
Update 2: Typed up a list of optional cards that seem to be common between all lists.
Update 1: Looking for feedback and which cards I should replace and with what. not sure if the manabase is correct or the sideboard.
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Plus the best walker in your colors isn't even in your deck and that's Gideon.
Maybe drop the nahiri and a sorin for Gideons and maybe find a place for liliana. She's quite good with Noxious Gearhulk and stops early aggro plus makes you oath of chandra and Galvanic Bombardment better.
If I was to make a mardu superfriends/control deck this would be my take obviously not tell you to stray from your build just something I'd play personally
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Oath of Liliana
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Ruinous Path
2 Painful Truths
2 Fumigate
3 Transgress the Mind
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Ob, Nixilis Reignited
1 Sorin, Grim Nemisis
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
4 Shambling Vent
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Inspiring Vantage
4 Smoldering Marsh
1 Foreboding Ruins
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
3 Plains
2 Lost Legacy
3 Radiant Flames
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Fumigate
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Kambal, consul of allocation
1 Quarantine Field
2 Collective Brutality
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
I have to agree here. Even if it doesn't take care of vehicles, it should still put you ahead to the point where you can just keep dropping even more walkers and ride the advantage to a win.
Standard: N G A W Y R A
Commander: G U B Damia
Aggro is is a little worse but even then if it's small aggro he pumps out 2/2 blocks that at times can trade profitably or even just ahlt they're assault all together. Gideon is really the ultimate walker for these strategies. He can be defensive or aggressive.
You have WAY too many cards for your top end, and not nearly enough removal spells to make it so your planeswalkers don't die. This is a one for one removal deck so I would like to see more non-planeswalker card draw in the deck, maybe cutting down on the number of chandra, torch of defiance and the oath of chandra, for cards like succumb to temptation or cathartic reunion which works well with galvanic bombardment. Additionally, if you want to go down the energy route, you can run Harnessed Lightning and Live Fast, which would mean your 2 mana removal spells can now kill things bigger than X/3s. I would also up the number of ruinous path because planeswalkers are going to be a huge problem for you.
I'm not entirely sure Gideon is the best choice for this kind of deck, he is very good but I think that having more kill spells or board wipes would just be more beneficial. You will certainly have no trouble ending games with the planeswalkers you already have, you just need to make it so you don't die or get close to dying before you start casting the heavy hitters in your deck.
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
New deck I will be testing:
1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Demon of Dark Schemes
1 Noxious Gearhulk
Spells:31
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Oath of Chandra
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Live Fast
2 Oath of Liliana
2 Radiant Flames
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Fumigate
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
4 Aether Hub
2 Concealed Courtyard
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Foreboding Ruins
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
1 Needle Spires
1 Plains
4 Shambling Vent
2 Smoldering Marsh
2 Swamp
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
3 Fragmentize
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Lost Legacy
1 Fumigate
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2 Chandra, Flamecaller
Spells
4 Oath of Chandra
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Oath of Liliana
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Shambling Vent
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Aether Hub
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Fumigate
2 Immolating Glare
4 Transgress the Mind
3 Lost Legacy
3 Collective Brutality
It really should be 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance and 1 Chandra, Flamecaller, but I want to see what the Pro Tour does to prices before I buy another. I've been testing it against my mono-red Smuggler's Copter deck and having 12 ways to deal with vehicles in the main shuts it down pretty well. Pretty even game one, but seems highly favorable post board with the 2 Immolating Glare making a big difference.
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
I'd heed his advice. I'd suggest a Spaghetti and maybe a Dr. Death. I'd also as far as number's go play around with....
If you insist on keeping the number of walkers I'd suggest running a few Tormenting Voice, Cathartic Reunion. Maybe even Nahiri's Wrath so the multiple copies wont hurt so bad late game (or more so even early).
hatred
I will flay the skin from your flesh,
the flesh from your bones,
and scrape your bones dry,
and still you will not have suffered enough!
Quote the Ryxsyn;
NeVeRMoRe!
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain!
-Harvey Dent
Match 1: Bant Control 0-2
I specifically wanted to avoid blue-based control, so I wasn't expecting too much. I wound up stuck on 3 lands the first game and only drew 3 walkers all game 2, so I only resolved one threat in both games. Shambling Vent did get them down to 10 life game 2, though.
Match 2: WR Vehicles 2-0
Killed all their creatures, played a bunch of walkers, and convincingly won both games.
Match 3: BW Control 1-2
Game 1: Transgress the Mind hit my Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and then he cast his own. I didn't have a direct answer, but had Oath of Chandra out and just kept playing walkers that drew me a card and immediately died to slowly whittle him down with the oath. Once he was off the board I was able to get a few walkers to stick and finished the game.
Game 2: I made the mistake of boarding out my Nahiri, the Harbinger and got a Gideon and Chandra, Flamecaller hit with Quarantine Field. I then proceeded to draw mostly lands until I died.
Game 3: On turn 3, he cast Lost Legacy naming Gideon, hitting one in my hand. He'd play a creature, I'd play a walker to kill it, then he'd kill the walker with a Shambling Vent. Eventually I just drew way more lands than him and he was able to take over the board.
Match 4: GR Pummeler
Game 1: Killed all his things, played a bunch of walkers, ran him over with Oath of Liliana.
Game 2: Blossoming Defense stopped my Unlicensed Disintegration from killing his Electrostatic Pummeler on turn 3, my 3rd Inspiring Vantage came into play tapped on 4, preventing me from casting Gideon or Chandra to try to kill it again or generate a blocker, and he dealt exactly 20 trample damage with the Pummeler the next turn.
Game 3: I played an Oath of Liliana to kill a Servant of the Conduit and then he dropped 2 Bristling Hydra while the rest of my hand was targeted removal. I kept playing walkers and chumping with zombies while playing removal whenever he got too much energy until I pulled Fumigate, which he wasn't able to come back from. I probably would have lost this game, but he kept sending one hydra at each walker I had, which let me pick which one to keep. There's also a good chance he could have just killed me if he had been swinging at me instead of my planeswalkers.
Conclusions:
I'm cutting a land. The deck wants to curve out and play threats quickly, so it wants a higher land count, but I don't feel like the threat density is high enough when games go long. Swapping some basics for another planeswalker and a manland gives me two more threats (one uncounterable), but reduces the velocity of the deck. I only lost one game to tempo, but lost three to lack of threats.
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +1 Needle Spires, -1 Mountain, -1 Plains
Getting more than 2 copies of Inspiring Vantage sucks:
-1 Inspiring Vantage, +1 Needle Spires
Already planned:
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, -1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Oath of Liliana is, by far, the best card in the deck. Except when I was playing blue and couldn't resolve any walkers, I won every game where I had one on turn 3, even if it didn't kill anything.
I never really felt bad about +ing Nahiri, the Harbinger instead of ulting her, because at that point I was usually top-decking, looking for another walker to chain. If she was that high, I also feel like ulting her would just be win-more.
There wasn't a single instance where the planeswalker uniqueness rule was relevant, because Nahiri can pitch duplicates and Gideon has such a huge target on his forehead. If I go up to 4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, I could see some issues with her, though.
With Grixis Control doing well at the pro tour, I need to improve the match against blue-based control. Adding 2 manlands should help, but I'll need to look at the exact list and do some testing to see what I can do to play around it. There's no uncounterable threats in Mardu, but maybe I could use Archangel Avacyn to play around the timing when they cast Glimmer of Genius.
I might already have enough removal. Unlicensed Disintegration was very good, but I feel like in pretty much all the matches where I wanted it, Immolating Glare would be better, with the exception being for cards like Thermo-Alchemist and Thing in the Ice. I might cut one disintegration for another threat and swap another with a glare in the board. I'm not sure what I'd bring in, though, as the changes above already max out my 4-mana walkers, so I think I'd be considering Ob Nixilis Reignited, Chandra, Flamecaller, or getting Nahiri a Combustible Gearhulk which are kind of slow, or maybe Gonti, Lord of Luxury or Oath of Gideon.
While adding card draw spells would increase the consistency of the deck, likely allowing me to cut another land and reducing the chance of just flooding out, I feel like, starting at turn 4, you want to be the aggressor because someone on the defensive isn't able to effectively attack down your planeswalkers. I'm playing it more as a midrange deck, rather than control. I also have quite a bit of card draw off of the planeswalkers themselves, as well, with only Gideon unable to get me more cards.
EDIT: Taking out the basics made Smoldering Marsh come in tapped much more often. -1 Smoldering Marsh, -1 Inspiring Vantage, +1 Evolving Wilds, +1 Mountain.
I've been testing against the guesstimate of Grixis Control that was on mtggoldfish.com (which apparently had more counterspells and draw than the real version) and it's a little bad preboard, but bringing in all the hand disruption makes it feel favorable, with the assumption that they brought in the full playset of Negate. I'll retest once the full desklist is out.
The deck:
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
2 Needle Spires
3 Smoldering Marsh
2 Foreboding Ruins
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Concealed Courtyard
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Aether Hub
Creatures
1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Harnessed Lightning
2 Blessed Alliance
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Radiant Flames
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Live Fast
2 Oath of Liliana
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Deadlock Trap
1 Radiant Flames
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Noxious Gearhulk
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2 Lost Legacy
1 Fragmentize
2 Descend upon the Sinful
1 Painful Truths
1 Essence Extraction
R1: WR Vehicles, won 2-0
R2: Esper Control, won 2-0
R3: UW Spirits, won 2-0
R4: GB Delirium, won 2-0
R5: GB Delirium, lost 0-2
R6: UW Spirits, won 2-0
R7: UB Zombies, won 2-1
R8: GB Delirium, lost 0-2
Yes, the deck is 61 cards. I originally had 26 lands, but the night before I was getting mana screwed so I just added another land. The mana base held up very well until the last match, when I mulliganed to 5 in G1 but still almost won the game (G2 was not close).
I do not think anyone needs to worry about having duplicate planeswalkers in hand -- they are magnets for removal and attacks by the opponent, and if any of them stay around for longer than a few turns you are getting so far ahead on card advantage that it doesn't matter if you have extra copies in hand.
I loved the deck, but I will certainly need to determine a better plan for the GB Delirium matchup. I was expecting more aggro and stacked the maindeck in that fashion, but those dead cards never really posed much of a problem except in the mid-rangy Delirium matches.
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Noxious Gearhulk
Spells:31
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Oath of Chandra
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Live Fast
2 Oath of Liliana
2 Radiant Flames
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Fumigate
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
4 Aether Hub
2 Concealed Courtyard
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Foreboding Ruins
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
1 Needle Spires
1 Plains
4 Shambling Vent
2 Smoldering Marsh
2 Swamp
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
3 Fragmentize
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Lost Legacy
1 Fumigate
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Spells
3 Oath of Chandra
1 Collective Brutality
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Oath of Liliana
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Shambling Vent
1 Needle Spires
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Aether Hub
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Fumigate
2 Immolating Glare
4 Transgress the Mind
3 Lost Legacy
2 Collective Brutality
1 Combustible Gearhulk
I'm not sure how to best improve the matchup or even board against it. I've tried dropping the 6-mana walkers and a land and tried trimming 4-mana ones because they are most vulnerable to Spell Queller, bringing in Transgress the Mind, Immolating Glare, and Liliana, the Last Hope.
Right now I'm considering just dropping Lost Legacy to try to fix this matchup, but I'm not sure what to replace it with. Harsh Scrutiny? Grasp of Darkness? Descend Upon the Sinful?
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog