Hello guys, after watching shoota rocking the Protour I decided to go back to my favorite color combination, GRIXIS, and i started using the same List as shoota's.
After a few weeks playtesting y learned why shoota said "don't play this deck" its extremely sensitive and there's tons of decision making in every move, and you cant miss one or you will loose.
Obviously i Started to make some meta changes to the deck, the main cuts where Painful Truths and Essence Extraction, the first one its simply just too painful (pun intended) to cast and the second one its not needed without the first one. I added extra negate,Sphinx of the final word and unlicensed disintegration. I Started testing out Sphinx Of the Final word, and even tough it won me plenty of matches, still was a sorcery-speed, too high cmc card with no instant impact on table. And so on i tested many cards and finally got to this.
OK. Lets Clear the differences.
The toughest decks for me in my local meta are UW and emerges(BR and BG), and lately Jeskai. I have pretty good matchup to every other thing.
Important thing is to never resolve a Gideon, Ally Of Zendikar, thats GG for this deck, Thats why I main-boarded one Ruinous Path finally. Considering those treats i changed several stuff.
OUTS
2x Thing In The Ice : The removal and anger is very strong in this standard, and Thing In the ice dependency of the deck made it less strong. switched to two and gaining two slots for answers.
3x Painful Truths : Said it before, to painful to cast and sorcery speed and no card selection.
1x Ceremonious Rejection: Too particular, negate works better and the marvel-vehicle type decks are controlled already.
1x Essence Extraction: I think shoota used this one to gain back the painful truths life, still not a removal that kills the most important decks, so i don't think we need it.
2 Evolving Wilds : Too many tapped lands, need to improve my speed, one swamp and free slot instead. (yes, down to 25 lands, several floods made the call)
INS Chandra, Flamecaller: Huge wincon, his versatility makes it great to play in almost every match. u need new hand ?, hi chandra, swing for kill ? hello chandra, whipe the board ? welcome chandra. In control its a go card. Dragonmaster Outcast : Good card in g2, because against this deck they sideout removal, and against fast decks, control them in early turns and if you manage to have the dragonmaster two upkeeps is most of the times your game. Kalitas, Traitor Of Ghet: Kalitas comes to delirium decks but the lifelink is really usefull since you recieve a few hits in early game. Ruinous Path : Anti gideon card, usually a resolved gideon was GG, now i depend on this little guy to have a chance.
I would love your feedback and questions about the deck, today im making pretty reasonable standings in my local stores. but i would like to take the deck on to a higher level.
why don't you go up in the count of main transgress? seems like it'd solve your madness and gideon problems easily
Its not i bad idea, but i hope to solve those problems with kalitas and ruinous, on g2 there should be better odds for me also. Unfortunately i havent faced those decks since i made the changes, after that i will post the outcome.
that's my main board, can't remember what my sideboard is as I'm at work with no cards on me. so I can post that later. Part of me wants a 2nd transgress the mind in the main to deal with planeswalkers and flash stuff
Hey, new to playing Grixis Control, but I just started. Began with taking Shoota's deck, and looking online for improvements that can be made to it. Some of my testing indicated that Thing In the Ice was just too slow and vulnerable to the removal being tossed around. So, I cut the Things and made the swap to add in Goblin Dark-Dwellers. In addition, I also added in another Gearhulk to keep threat density, and also one copy of Chandra, Flamecaller. Cut Painful Truths also, due to expecting an aggro-heavy meta, and also added another Essence Extraction and a Ruinous Path. I am still looking to find another copy of two of Wandering Fumarole, and a 4th copy of Glimmer of Genius. Thoughts are welcome, and I would like any advice on how to play vs the various matchups.
The deck as it stands is:
FNM results were a disappointing 2-2, although I think that was often due to my inexperience with the deck. Made some major punts in multiple games, but won vs UB Metallurgic and Mardu Vehicles, and got crushed by GB Delirium and UWb control.
Thoughts are that Succumb can be used more reactively against control, along with being able to be flashed back with both Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Torrential Gearhulk. The addition of another Transgress is for more power against GB delirium and control, along with being another strong target for Dank-Dwellers. Keeping 1 Essence in, but am still on the fence about maybe swapping in To the Slaughter over Ruinous Path. Delirium is reasonably hard to enable it seems with the deck, so ruinous is just more reliable vs Walkers.
pretty bad PPTQ today. went 1-4, the deck just seemed off
lost a tight match to UW control. I lost game 3 because I wasn't expecting him to have fumigate still in his deck and I cast a sphinx of the final word with no protection
round 2 I got ran over by GR energy
round 3 I lost to mardu vehicles pretty quickly
round 4 I got the bye
then I lost a tight match to mono black eldrazi because I ran out of gas game 3
I have another PPTQ tomorrow so I'll be back with how that goes. the deck felt pretty bad today though
So, to try to pump some life and hope back to this thread, I've been having reasonable success with Grixis Control recently. My list is included below:
I started with Shota's list from the PT and I've been adjusting over time ever since. I find that I tend to do well against other midrange and control decks, including both UW flash, Jeskai control, and Delerium, but struggle against aggro decks such as R/W(x) vehicles and GR Energy, although adjustments I have been making have been improving those matchups. The deck definitely isn't T1, but I think its competitive in metas light on aggro.
I'll post my my notes from my past two tournaments below, but I'll share some general thoughts here.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is definitely one of the missing pieces from a lot of Grixis Control lists. It does a little bit of everything, gaining life and blocking vs Aggro, and exiling to slow down Delerium and Scrapheap Scrounger decks. Making tokens is also extremely relevant, since it means that every time you kill one of your opponents creatures, at the worst you make another chump blocker and at the best it adds to your clock. I've been extremely happy with him, and I've been finding that 2 main 1 side works pretty well.
Chandra, Flamecaller is another missing piece. She stabilizes quite well against a lot of the decks (in the worst case scenario she dies right away to wipe most of their board), but you can keep the board safe for her she presents a very fast clock and quite a reasonable engine to dig for answers. You rarely want multiples, but when she comes down she can quite often change the flow of the game in your favour.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is less 'high-impact' than Chandra, but is important because he very rapidly gets you to the point where you have inevitability. He can dig you quite deep when you are looking for answers, and being able to bounce threats can gum your opponent down for long enough that you can actually find a way to answer them. He's expensive, but if you can get a moment where you can safely tap out for him, he will probably push you ahead.
Torrential Gearhulk is a great card, and being able to ambush and get a ton of value off of either Glimmer of Genius or a removal spell is key. That being said, I've moved away from playing 4 in the maindeck, since I personally found that I too often had them gumming up my hand and that having a diversity of expensive threats also provided a significant advantage.
Thing in the Ice is probably the worst card in the deck, but I am still hesitant to cut it. Despite being continually disapointed with it in both this standard and the last standard (where I played UR Burn-al Alchemist), there are a lot of games where the card can be quite key, walling for turns and then eventually turning into a threat. I'm not convinced the card is mandatory and I'm pretty sure starting with 4 is wrong for the deck, but I like having 2 in the main and am consindering trying to find a way to at least one in the side.
Ruinous Path is another contender for the worst card in the deck, but even though I've only recently added it I'm very happy with it thus far for one reason - it can nuke a planeswalker. Before adding this card, if I couldn't go over the top of a resolved Gideon or Nissa, I would just lose the game to either their walkers, or because I put so many reasources into not losing to their walkers. Negate wasn't cutting it, so I added one Ruinous Path main and the second to the side. Both were extremely useful and I've won games I otherwise would have lost by timely nuking a troublesome walker. As soon as we get a better kill spell for walkers (ideally an instant speed one - please Aether Revolt), this will be cut, but until then its a card we have to live with.
As promised, some results from some recent Standard Tournaments I went to. In my area, PPTQ's are few and far between, especially right now, so the Standard Showdown events are the main game in town, attracting most of the grinders who otherwise wouldn't be playing constructed on Saturdays. Between the past two events (a 5 round and a 4 round) I'm 6-2-1 with the deck. Once again, these are results from essentially FNM level standard events, but there are mostly real decks and reasonable players at them.
For the event on December 3, I was playing the list posted above. For the November 26 event, I was playing a less refined list, with fewer walkers, no Ruinous Path, 4 Thing in the Ice maindeck a worse sideboard (more Essence Extractions and Ceremonious Rejections).
Nov-26 (Match Record - 4-1)
Match 1 - VS GR Energy (Loss 1-2)
This was a tough start. Round 1 I am on the draw and my opponent curves Attune with Aether to a series of threats. I misplay on a key turn by not killing his creature when he's tapped out, I instead wait and get blown out by double Blossoming Defense. Game 2 I'm more careful and am able to hold out until I can drop a couple of Gearhulks. Game 3 he resolves Nissa, Vital Force turn 5, and I'm unable to interact with it, struggling before getting run over by 5/5 lands.
Match 2 - VS UW Flash (2-0)
Both games were fairly uneventful. My opponent plays creatures, I kill them while they are tapped out, and we eventually got to the point where I was able to start developing my board while holding answers. Spell Queller can be played around rather easily by prioritizing spells that will still have targets after you answer Queller, and playing around Archangel Avacyn by making sure that you either keep a counterspell or instant speed removal that can kill Avacyn before her 'indestructible' shield resolves. If they ever tap out, punish them hard. Board out any Radiant Flames, since Queller counters it hard, but Painful Truths upside is so strong that it is worth trying to create a situation where you can safely tap out to cast it (mainly when your opponent has tapped out or you know they have no countermagic in hand).
Match 3 - VS RG Energy (2-1)
An energy rematch, this time built more around Electrostatic Pummeler than the version I faced before. This was a tougher matchup, but since they had fewer planeswalkers I had an easier time stabilizing. I had enough effects that said destroy that I wasn't worried about Verdurous Gearhulk, but Bristling Hydra was easily the most painful card to face. I won games 1 off of stalling behind Thing in the Ice (including flipping two of them), and game three my singleton Kalitis manages to make enough chump blockers to stall a very large Hyrda until it gets to the point wherecast he can no longer risk attacking with it, before I finally cast and flip a Thing in the Ice to seal the deal.
Match 4 - UW Flash (2-1)
Another flash deck, this one better than the earlier one since it was packing a set of Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Games 1 and 3 play out similarly, where I play around Queller, Avacyn, and selfless Spirit, and game 2 he resolved Gideon with a Smuggler's Copter on the battlefield and crushed me quite quickly. Bring in all your counter-magic against planeswalker decks, you'll need it.
Match 5 - UR Thermal-Alchemist (2-1)
The least 'metagame' deck I played that day, but still quite reasonable considering that the pilot was 3-1 at the time. In each game whenever she dumped Fevered Visions I was able to dump my hand quickly enough to play around it (including casting Harnessed Lightning for zero damage multiple times), and my game loss came from a Chandra, Torch of Defiance that I couldn't interact with and eventually went ultimate (see a pattern here).
Overal a 4-1 finish was good enough for 3rd and I was happy with the deck, but had some changes in mind to improve it (basically by upping my Kalitas count, trimming the cards that were rarely played or did nothing like Thing in the Ice, and finding more ways to kill planeswalkers like Chandra, Flamecaller and Ruinous Path. Some light testing later and its the next tournament.
Dec 3 - 4 Rounds, 2-1-1 record.
Round 1 - UW Flash (2-0)
The first round went on for a while, but the game was decided long before it ended. We had a good game 1, but I was eventually able to set myself up to cast multiple Painful Truths and pully slow ahead, then ultimate Jace leaving my opponent unable to play the game as I wiped his remaining board out and grinding out a kill with my Wandering Fumeroles. Game 2 he gets stuck on two islands and by the time he draws a white source land I have a hand full of interaction and a hand full of interaction.
Round 2 - RGu Energy - Tie (1-1)
A rematch with my round one opponent from the previous week, I'm a bit better prepared for him. Game one is intense and grindy. Key turns include me flipping Thing in the Ice, only to get it stolen by Confiscation Coup, with me killing the Thing in response to avoid giving him the energy. I respond to his attempts to rebuild his board with Chandra, Flamecaller and am able to kill him and his walkers with 3/1's. Round 2 I make the mistake of shipping Ruinous Path to the bottom with Anticipate, to immediately run into more planeswalkers than I can answer. Round 3 I'm able to get both Jace and Chandra out, but we run out of turns. Game 3 likely would have been mine, but it could have gone either way.
Round 3 - 4 Colour Delrium (Win 2-1)
An interesting take on the Delrium deck that adds in more colours to play better removal, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar & Nahiri, the Harbinger. Game 1 I think I'm safe until my opponent drops 1 too many blockers, which allows Nahiri to ult and dome me for 13 in the air. Game 2 and 3 I'm much more in control, having more answers for Nahiri and Summary Dismissal for her late-game attempts to hard-cast Emrakul. I feel this was a less-optimal build for Delerium than straight GB or maybe 3 colour (playing Abzan for Gideon seems interesting), but I felt favoured enough against it that I feel relatively confident against GB.
Round 4 - Mono-Colourless Eldrazi (Lose 1-2)
It's not a metagame deck, but the deck (piloted by a good friend of mine) has been doing quite well in our metagame (going 5-0 the week before and 3-1 this week). The deck jams a bunch of powerful effect lands and creatures (Ruins of Oran-Rief, Sea Gate Wreckage, Thought-Knot Seer, etc) into a rather effective midrange shell. Game 1 my opponent curves Eldrazi Mimic into Matter Reshaper into Fleetwheel Cruiser. I'm able to hang on, but miss killing the Reshaper on my opponent's upkeep which lets him cast Distended Mindbender, grabbing two removal spells and taking me out of the game. Game 2 I play better, giving him no good targets for his mind-bender to Emerge from and managing his threats fairly efficiently. Game 3 I miss my third land drop, then later draw a ETB tapped land at the wrong time end end up 1 mana short of stopping his alpha strike.
Overall, across 2 events with a largely similar decklist I went 6-2-1 (W/L/T). The deck isn't crushing it, but it's competitive, and each time I play it I find more things to tweak to make it run better. I'm debating a few different cards that I could try to cover some more of the decks weaknesses, and I think that the sideboard needs a bit more refinement (I wish there was a better edict effect in standard than To the Slaughter). I might try running some card-advantage alternatives to Painful Truths, but overall I'm happy with how the list is evolving.
Shaheen is probably a better player than I am, and most definitely plays more than I do and against better players so take what I say with more than a grain of salt.
Although I don't have any Liliana, the Last Hope in the deck, and haven't tested any since I don't own any copies, I'm not convinced that she's needed. Yes, she's good against Selfless Spirit and Rattlechains occasionally, but otherwise she doesn't do much other than slow them down. I agree that she looks like she'd be good against UW Flash, but I'm not sure that she's needed, since I've found that with a list closer to Shota's we are already favoured (although Shaheen seems to disagree, or feels that we aren't favoured enough for how big a part of the metagame it is).
I've tried Dark Dwellers but every time I cut them. There are quite a few reasons for this. Having 4 toughness instead of 6 is big, making it more susceptible to Grasp of Darksness, Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Harnessed Lightning (its surprisingly easy to end up with just 1 energy lying around). Sorcery speed is also a big disadvantage, as it creates a 'shields down' moment for us that a lot of other decks can abuse. Finally, I feel that one of the big ways that Grixis control loses is by just running out of steam, so being able to flash back Glimmer of Genius with Gearhulk is huge, arguably better than being able to flashback Ruinous Path. I dislike him not running Painful Truths for the same reason.
I'm also much more on the Evolving Wilds + Zen-Land mana base than the Aether Hub plus Shadows Lands. Realistically speaking a lot of the time you just wont have one of your 5 basics in your hand, and I've found with the instant speed build it is significantly more punishing to have a land ETB tapped in the late game than in the early game (the sooner you can cast a Gearhulk or Chandra, the better).
I feel that exiling is relevant far more frequently than awaken, so I take Void Shatter over Scatter to the Winds all day, but I see the argument for both if you are running a lot of counterspells. I do think that he wants at least some copies of Negate in the main or the side.
I'm also not particularly fond of Grasp of Darkness, but that is admittedly because I run less black than he does. If you are running a lot of black its fine, but I don't feel that it is 'better enough' than our easier to cast removal to make it worth slanting your mana base that way. If it could kill an attacking Gideon I would be running 4 all day every day, but as is I'm not convinced its worth it.
In general, the big point where I agree with him is that the deck's weakness is a resolved planeswalker, and that I've lost more to Gideon, Ally of Zendikar than to any other card. Where I disagree is where he attacks UW flash (I don't think its a bad matchup as long as we avoid giving them a chance to resolve Gideon), but he likely plays against better players than I do, so if your opponents are aggressively mullaganing into Gideon, his list might be worth looking into.
I actually prefer his mana-base to an evolving wilds mana-base. I thought it would be worse until I started testing it. Aether Hubs have also helped take down bigger creatures with harnessed lightning.
Liliana is great! Its a win-con, removal spell, or soaks up dmg to give us time to stabilize.
I agree that Void Shatter is better than Scatter. Doesnt really need an explanation.
GDD started off as a 2-of for me but is now a 1-of. Keeping it in as a 1-of for now as i sideboard cards like transgress and lost legacy. Still not sure if it's worth the slot.
There was a smaller turn out this weekend due to a modern tournament in the area, so only 3 rounds, where I took the deck to a 2-1 finish
Round 1: UW Flash (Loss 1-2)
I was playing the better of the UW flash opponents at my store, and I won a tight game 1 where I was on the play. Game 2 I lead with Transgress the Mind T2 and see 2 lands, 2 Sqell Queller, and 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. I take one of the Gideons, but don't draw an answer to the second on my next turn and he resolves it T4 and just kills me. Round 3 I kept a kinda sketchy 7, stumble a bit and just eventually end up losing a counter war over Gideon, which spells the beginning of the end.
I will re-iterate that my opinion on UW Flash is that as long as they don't resolve a Gideon we are heavily favoured. I'd say that games where they don't resolve a gideon before turn 7 we are 70% to win, and games where they resolve a Gideon on turn 4 we are maybe 20% to win. I don't like Ruinous Path, but I'm not sure what else we could do. Additional Negates might just be the better choice, or potentially even bringing in some burn like Flame Lash.
Round 2: UB Metalurgical Summonings (Win 2-0)
A buddy of mine got bored jamming an mono-colourless aggro deck every week (rather successfully I should add), and swapped to UB Metalurgical. I won, but barely, and I think that UB is actually favoured here since it does a better job of being a control deck. Game 1 we have a grind fest and although he's eventually able to stick a metalurgical summonings, its too late since I'm able to race it with Chandra and a Gearhulk. Game two we both keep 3 land hands and fail to find lands for several turns. I aggressively counter his first Anticipate which lets me resolve Painful Truths to dig for lands, and I'm able to get ahead of him on mana and begin to completely lock him out. I feel these games were atypical. We jammed a lot of games with the decks and we feel that he is probably 60% to win game 1 and 55% to win post-board games.
Keeping counter magic up is tough, but needed since a resolved summonings can be quite bad if we aren't actually winning. It makes our planeswalkers much worse when one resolved. Remember that they only have 8 ways of actually winning the game (4 Gearhulk and 4 Summonings), so save your counter magic for the summonings and your Unlicenced Disintigrations for the Gearhulks.
Round 3-Grixis Control Mirror (2-0)
Not much to say here other than that the pilot was running something closer to the Shota list and got run over. Planeswalkers were key here since they let me out-value my opponent. Game 1 was decided by a Jace ult, and even though I got to Jace Ult in game 2, even without it he would have just died a turn later to Chandra tokens.
All in all, I still think that the deck is fine, but the glaring weakness to Gideon needs to be addressed. I'm advocating running more Negates in the main and side, particularly with Marvel becoming a more popular deck.
I'm not sure if I'll play the deck next weekend. I might try switching to the U/R build with Dynavolt Tower to give me a better answer to planeswalkers. To those few of you still grinding the deck - good luck.
Anyone try grixis control with dynavolt tower? Joe lossett to played it in magic championships awhile back and u/r tower is somewhat popular. Does this deck compete with g/b, u/w flash, or marvel?
Honestly, for the build of Grixis that I am playing, I'm not really sure what 'problem' Dynavolt Tower solves. Yeah it does tack a bolt onto every third spell, but in order to get the most value out of it you have to drop it early, which gives your opponent a window to resolve something that you can't deal with. Plus, I personally find that Grixis doesn't struggle to kill creatures, particularly creatures with 3 toughness or less. It also doesn't struggle to actually win the game after you stabilize, between Torrential Gearhulk and the suite of planeswalkers we have available we do just fine. The deck's real issues are with stabilizing against aggressive decks, particularly RWx Vehicles, where Dynavolt Tower seems like it would be too slow, and vs early planeswalkers (Particularly Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, but also Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Nissa, Vital Force, and to a lesser extent Liliana, The Last Hope), where it again doesn't seem to do much (late planeswalkers are less of a concern since we have Torrential Gearhulk EOT and Chandra, Flamecaller to just bash them). I'm not saying don't test it, but I suspect that Dynavolt works better in a deck that's more built around it, using a ton of cheap cantrips and burn.
As an aside, something that is worth testing further is using To the Slaughter as an anti-walker card. Delerium is hard to turn on in Grixis, but I'm considering trying out Cathartic Reunion and/or Vessel of Paramnesia as enablers (Reunion can get rid of early Gearhulks/Planeswalkers, and Vessel adds enchantments to the deck that can help turn it on). It might not be good enough, but it could be a way to solve the Gideon problem.
I'm trying to make grixis work with the new tools as well. With the tokens & counter based decks on the rise, does moving towards a suite with TIIT + Baral's expertise and cutting back on hard removal (push + murder) make more sense? Trying that as well as a shell similar to yours, both with somewhat mixed results.
The main is fairly strong against everything I've gone up against so far, with the exception of Gideon. I think Baral and Contraband Kingpin can be better served by other spells (at least in my local meta), that counteract the planeswalker issue. I've found that Weaver of Lighting is a superstar against aggro overall, so I may go up to 3x in the board. Ceremonious Rejection has been falling flat as I haven't brought it in in a single game lately due to the banning of Emmy. I'm open to a few sideboard ideas, however I think that I may go:
Totally open to suggestions and any critiques of the deck. This is a minor modification of Eastside Rock's deck on Tapped Out seen here - AER - Grixis Control A good bit of credit goes to him for this design, and it holds up really well from what I've seen of the current meta in testing both in store and online.
I made a thread about this in the Deck Creation forum, but I thought it would be interesting here too.
For awhile now, Metallurgic Summonings has been a pet card of mine. Before Aether Revolt, I was playing a UR list but after getting crushed with GB counters after Aether Revolt came out, I went back to the drawing board. I felt I needed to go to a more control based approach and I felt the removal in red wasn't enough. To fix this, I ended up going Grixis. The list I came up with is something I've been tinkering with for a month or so now and its finally to a point where I am winning multiple FNMs and went undefeated in my Game Day.
Card choices: Metallurgic Summonings
The main win condition of the deck. Learning when you can play this card safely is really the trick with this deck. Once its down, it is hard to remove and generates insane amounts of value. Against aggro decks, your removal spells can become 2-for-1's by destroying a creature and blocking another. At some point the advantage becomes insurmountable and we just win.
Baral, Chief of Compliance
In control decks, I would normally not run creatures for my opponent's removal to hit, but Baral is an exception for me. My meta tends to run on the aggressive side and he acts as a good early blocker or stops a big hit late game. The most important part is he lets you keep up with the board. Harnessed Lightning for R, Anticpate for U. Unlicensed Disintegration is now a Terminate with a bolt attached, and Disallow becomes a better Counterspell that loots (you can loot away multiples of him which make the legendary rule not hurt as much.) This cost reduction becomes even better once your spells are making constructs. Honestly, without the mana advantage this card gives, I don't think I would have done as well as I did and I feel that Baral has earned his place in the deck.
Torrential Gearhulk
An obvious include in this deck. He brings back counter spells or removal and with Summonings on the field he makes another creature. In most games if I can make it to 6 lands, I win the game. Gearhulk beats are not to be ignored. I don't think I need to say anymore about this card.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Another win condition, but more importantly she is card advantage or removal in a pinch. Her mana ability is also amazing. On turn 5, you can cast Summonings and leave open 2 mana for a removal spell. She is also fairly easy to protect in this deck and her emblem has won me multiple games.
Ruinous Path
This deck has problems with resolved Planeswalkers. This card is in here to hedge against that and is more unconditional creature removal. The Awaken clause if largely irrelevant. I've only used it once and my land was immediately Fatal Pushed...
Brutal Expulsion
This card is my fun-of in the deck. It helps against Planeswalkers and Scrapheap Scrounger and does a number on Gideon. Once they activate him, you can bounce him to their hand and kill a knight token. I don't like seeing this card in my opening hand, but its a built in 2-for-1 and I am almost never sad when I draw it.
All in all, this deck has very good match-ups against BG Snake decks and other midrange/aggro decks. Other control decks, such as U/B or Grixis Dynavolt, haven't given me trouble. Once I stick a Summonings the game is over. My local meta doesn't play much with the Saheeli combo, so I'm not sure how it matches up there. My sideboard is mostly tuned to go against very aggressive decks such as Mardu Vehicles or RG energy. One great play in post sideboard games is Baral's Expertise to bounce all of their creatures and play Chandra into an empty board. The tempo swing from this card alone can really turn games around.
I'm really happy with how this deck runs and performs. The mana can be a little weird sometimes and I am still working on optimizing it. I'd like to hear suggestions and ideas for improving or ideas for variants of the deck.
@MAPKinase How do you find your Gideon match-ups tend to go? I know that with one resolving on the board it's one of those things that I find almost insurmountable.
@arglebargles Gideon is probably the card I fear most in all of my matchups. He is the reason I put Brutal Expulsion and Ruinous Path in the main board. If I know they are running Gideon or I suspect one, I either hold a counter or represent one. I also prioritize finding planeswalker removal or counter spells off of Anticipate and Glimmer of Genius in those matchups. Baral is good at chump blocks if you are desperate and Brutal Expulsion is nice to bounce him back to their hand and kill one of their tokens at the same time or finish Gideon off if he only has two counters. If they play a late game Gideon, I am much less concerned. At that point, I have unlimited chump blockers or I can just straight up kill Gideon with beats and Unlicensed Disintegration. Post board I bring in Negates and Shocks if is the GW tokens deck.
Started with Shoota's list and have been tweaking since AER came out. Ended up on this, trying to put more win-cons in the deck than Gearhulks (thus the PWs). Thoughts? I feel like it needs a bit of focus, for sure.
I've been trying to settle on a control deck that I like for some time and I've narrowed it down to plain UW and grixis. UW has the downfall of relying on the combat step to kill things and can get blown out with stasis snare and quarantine field occasionally so I'm trying out grixis and this is where I'm at.
25 lands. In every variation of control I've played, and I have tried them all, I would constantly end up getting flooded and losing on turn 12. Without a proper mana sink like sphinx's revelation or colonnade, I really don't have a huge use for land drops 8-14 so I cut one in favor of another cheap interactive spell in the form of collective brutality. It can still kill stuff against most decks while being a discard spell for control mirrors or saheeli to see what's up.
Jace has been an absolute house in every match. If it weren't for curve considerations I'd want to have access to a third. Even when I go bounce, bounce, lose it to a shock I've gained so much time to durdle with draw spells that I'm still noticeably ahead. Not to mention every time that I can cast it and plus with protection I get the emblem without issue.
Ruinous path while slow is still too important to have against walker heavy saheeli decks and an answer to a resolved gideon and is one of the best reasons to go black after push.
Complete disregard also falls in the same category as path in that it is slow and clunky while still being a necessary tool to have available. I can't in good faith expect my only answers to a scrounger be block it with manlands or kill it 11 times. It is also not a dead card against other decks being able to interact with the saheeli combo and exile most threats you expect to face. If it was CMC 2 I'd consider running several, but as is two is the limit.
Void shatter > disallow. In so many games I've had the exile effect be relevant far more often than the stifle effect. This is also due to being able to bounce a scrounger with jace and tag it on the way back down while also exiling a glimmer to prevent it from being flashed back and handle the colossus and any grapple with the past nonsense.
The mana base is serviceable while having access to wilds to turn on revolt and has yet to burn me to the point of losing a game I would otherwise have won. Admittedly though it is a source or two shy on black mana for a reliable turn 3 path ()and very short on turn 1 sources for push), but I believe that is a fine trade off for the revolt on push. Having the 14 untapped sources for a turn 1 push would stretch the mana far too much to be reliable at doing anything else on curve so I don't think that is a good basis, especially if you want to be able to double spell before turn 7.
Private Mod Note
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
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1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Creature
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Thing in the Ice
Sorcery
2 Radiant Flames
3 Painful Truths
1 Transgress the Mind
Instant
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Harnessed Lightning
3 Void Shatter
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Negate
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Essence Extraction
3 Anticipate
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sunken Hollow
3 Smoldering Marsh
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
5 Island
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Negate
1 Radiant Flames
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Transgress the Mind
2 To the Slaughter
2 Confiscation Coup
3 Weaver of Lightning
2 Summary Dismissal
After a few weeks playtesting y learned why shoota said "don't play this deck" its extremely sensitive and there's tons of decision making in every move, and you cant miss one or you will loose.
Obviously i Started to make some meta changes to the deck, the main cuts where Painful Truths and Essence Extraction, the first one its simply just too painful (pun intended) to cast and the second one its not needed without the first one. I added extra negate,Sphinx of the final word and unlicensed disintegration. I Started testing out Sphinx Of the Final word, and even tough it won me plenty of matches, still was a sorcery-speed, too high cmc card with no instant impact on table. And so on i tested many cards and finally got to this.
1x Jace, Unraveler Of Secrets
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
Creature
1x Dragonmaster Outcast
2x Torrential Gearhulk
2x Thing In The Ice
1x Kalitas, Traitor Of Ghet
Sorcery
2x Radiant Flames
2x Trangress The Mind
1x Ruinous Path
Instant
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Galvanic Bombardment
3x Harnessed Lightning
3x Anticipate
2x Negate
3x Void Shatter
2x Unlicenced Disintegraton
1x Summary Dismmisal
2x Wandering Fumarole
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Sunken Hollow
3x Blodstained Mire
5x Island
3x Swamp
2x Mountain
2x Evolving Wilds
2x Flaying Tendrils
2x To the Slaughter
1x Ruinous Path
1x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Negate
3x Weaver Of Lightning
1x Lost Legacy
2x Confiscation Coup
OK. Lets Clear the differences.
The toughest decks for me in my local meta are UW and emerges(BR and BG), and lately Jeskai. I have pretty good matchup to every other thing.
Important thing is to never resolve a Gideon, Ally Of Zendikar, thats GG for this deck, Thats why I main-boarded one Ruinous Path finally. Considering those treats i changed several stuff.
OUTS
2x Thing In The Ice : The removal and anger is very strong in this standard, and Thing In the ice dependency of the deck made it less strong. switched to two and gaining two slots for answers.
3x Painful Truths : Said it before, to painful to cast and sorcery speed and no card selection.
1x Ceremonious Rejection: Too particular, negate works better and the marvel-vehicle type decks are controlled already.
1x Essence Extraction: I think shoota used this one to gain back the painful truths life, still not a removal that kills the most important decks, so i don't think we need it.
2 Evolving Wilds : Too many tapped lands, need to improve my speed, one swamp and free slot instead. (yes, down to 25 lands, several floods made the call)
The Sideboard suffered the most changes.
1 Ceremonious Rejection : Same Reason that MB Ceremonious
1 Radiant Flames: Changed for flaying tendrils, no need for more.
1 Transgress the Mind: Passed to main. really good card
2 Summary Dismissal : Passed To main as well.
INS
Chandra, Flamecaller: Huge wincon, his versatility makes it great to play in almost every match. u need new hand ?, hi chandra, swing for kill ? hello chandra, whipe the board ? welcome chandra. In control its a go card.
Dragonmaster Outcast : Good card in g2, because against this deck they sideout removal, and against fast decks, control them in early turns and if you manage to have the dragonmaster two upkeeps is most of the times your game.
Kalitas, Traitor Of Ghet: Kalitas comes to delirium decks but the lifelink is really usefull since you recieve a few hits in early game.
Ruinous Path : Anti gideon card, usually a resolved gideon was GG, now i depend on this little guy to have a chance.
I would love your feedback and questions about the deck, today im making pretty reasonable standings in my local stores. but i would like to take the deck on to a higher level.
U R B Control
Frontier its coming to town
Best Card Ever
Searing Blood
Its not i bad idea, but i hope to solve those problems with kalitas and ruinous, on g2 there should be better odds for me also. Unfortunately i havent faced those decks since i made the changes, after that i will post the outcome.
U R B Control
Frontier its coming to town
Best Card Ever
Searing Blood
4x thing in the ice
2x torrential gearhulk
1x Kalitas, traitor of ghet
planeswalker
1x jace, unraveler of secrets
sorceries
3x painful truths
2x radiant flames
1x transgress the mind
4x void shatter
4x galvanic bombardment
3x anticipate
3x harnessed lightning
2x glimmer of genius
2x unlicensed disintegration
2x negate
5x island
4x evolving wilds
4x sunken hollow
4x spirebluff canal
3x smoldering marsh
2x swamp
2x mountain
2x wandering fumarole
that's my main board, can't remember what my sideboard is as I'm at work with no cards on me. so I can post that later. Part of me wants a 2nd transgress the mind in the main to deal with planeswalkers and flash stuff
The deck as it stands is:
3 Torrential Gearhulk
3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Planeswalkers
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Instants
4 Galvanic Bombardment
3 Anticipate
3 Harnessed Lightning
3 Glimmer of Genius
3 Scatter to the Winds
2 Negate
2 Essence Extraction
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Transgress the Mind
2 Radiant Flames
1 Ruinous Path
1 Collective Defiance
Lands
1 Wandering Fumarole
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Mortuary Mire
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sunken Hollow
3 Smoldering Marsh
Sideboard is:
3 Weaver of Lightning
2 Summary Dismissal
1 To the Slaughter
1 Negate
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Essence Extraction
1 Fevered Visions
FNM results were a disappointing 2-2, although I think that was often due to my inexperience with the deck. Made some major punts in multiple games, but won vs UB Metallurgic and Mardu Vehicles, and got crushed by GB Delirium and UWb control.
As a result of this, deck edits include:
-1 Collective Defiance
-1 Essence Extraction
+1 Transgress the Mind
+1 Succumb to Temptation
Thoughts are that Succumb can be used more reactively against control, along with being able to be flashed back with both Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Torrential Gearhulk. The addition of another Transgress is for more power against GB delirium and control, along with being another strong target for Dank-Dwellers. Keeping 1 Essence in, but am still on the fence about maybe swapping in To the Slaughter over Ruinous Path. Delirium is reasonably hard to enable it seems with the deck, so ruinous is just more reliable vs Walkers.
lost a tight match to UW control. I lost game 3 because I wasn't expecting him to have fumigate still in his deck and I cast a sphinx of the final word with no protection
round 2 I got ran over by GR energy
round 3 I lost to mardu vehicles pretty quickly
round 4 I got the bye
then I lost a tight match to mono black eldrazi because I ran out of gas game 3
I have another PPTQ tomorrow so I'll be back with how that goes. the deck felt pretty bad today though
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Sunken Hollow
2 Wandering Fumarole
1 Mountain
4 Island
3 Swamp
Creatures - 6
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Thing in the Ice
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Instants - 21
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Anticipate
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Void Shatter
2 Negate
1 Essence Extraction
3 Painful Truths
1 Radiant Flames
1 Ruinous Path
Planeswalkers - 2
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
3 Weaver of Lightning
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Radiant Flames
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Summary Dismissal
1 Ruinous Path
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Ceremonious Rejection
I started with Shota's list from the PT and I've been adjusting over time ever since. I find that I tend to do well against other midrange and control decks, including both UW flash, Jeskai control, and Delerium, but struggle against aggro decks such as R/W(x) vehicles and GR Energy, although adjustments I have been making have been improving those matchups. The deck definitely isn't T1, but I think its competitive in metas light on aggro.
I'll post my my notes from my past two tournaments below, but I'll share some general thoughts here.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is definitely one of the missing pieces from a lot of Grixis Control lists. It does a little bit of everything, gaining life and blocking vs Aggro, and exiling to slow down Delerium and Scrapheap Scrounger decks. Making tokens is also extremely relevant, since it means that every time you kill one of your opponents creatures, at the worst you make another chump blocker and at the best it adds to your clock. I've been extremely happy with him, and I've been finding that 2 main 1 side works pretty well.
Chandra, Flamecaller is another missing piece. She stabilizes quite well against a lot of the decks (in the worst case scenario she dies right away to wipe most of their board), but you can keep the board safe for her she presents a very fast clock and quite a reasonable engine to dig for answers. You rarely want multiples, but when she comes down she can quite often change the flow of the game in your favour.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is less 'high-impact' than Chandra, but is important because he very rapidly gets you to the point where you have inevitability. He can dig you quite deep when you are looking for answers, and being able to bounce threats can gum your opponent down for long enough that you can actually find a way to answer them. He's expensive, but if you can get a moment where you can safely tap out for him, he will probably push you ahead.
Torrential Gearhulk is a great card, and being able to ambush and get a ton of value off of either Glimmer of Genius or a removal spell is key. That being said, I've moved away from playing 4 in the maindeck, since I personally found that I too often had them gumming up my hand and that having a diversity of expensive threats also provided a significant advantage.
Thing in the Ice is probably the worst card in the deck, but I am still hesitant to cut it. Despite being continually disapointed with it in both this standard and the last standard (where I played UR Burn-al Alchemist), there are a lot of games where the card can be quite key, walling for turns and then eventually turning into a threat. I'm not convinced the card is mandatory and I'm pretty sure starting with 4 is wrong for the deck, but I like having 2 in the main and am consindering trying to find a way to at least one in the side.
Ruinous Path is another contender for the worst card in the deck, but even though I've only recently added it I'm very happy with it thus far for one reason - it can nuke a planeswalker. Before adding this card, if I couldn't go over the top of a resolved Gideon or Nissa, I would just lose the game to either their walkers, or because I put so many reasources into not losing to their walkers. Negate wasn't cutting it, so I added one Ruinous Path main and the second to the side. Both were extremely useful and I've won games I otherwise would have lost by timely nuking a troublesome walker. As soon as we get a better kill spell for walkers (ideally an instant speed one - please Aether Revolt), this will be cut, but until then its a card we have to live with.
For the event on December 3, I was playing the list posted above. For the November 26 event, I was playing a less refined list, with fewer walkers, no Ruinous Path, 4 Thing in the Ice maindeck a worse sideboard (more Essence Extractions and Ceremonious Rejections).
Nov-26 (Match Record - 4-1)
Match 1 - VS GR Energy (Loss 1-2)
This was a tough start. Round 1 I am on the draw and my opponent curves Attune with Aether to a series of threats. I misplay on a key turn by not killing his creature when he's tapped out, I instead wait and get blown out by double Blossoming Defense. Game 2 I'm more careful and am able to hold out until I can drop a couple of Gearhulks. Game 3 he resolves Nissa, Vital Force turn 5, and I'm unable to interact with it, struggling before getting run over by 5/5 lands.
Match 2 - VS UW Flash (2-0)
Both games were fairly uneventful. My opponent plays creatures, I kill them while they are tapped out, and we eventually got to the point where I was able to start developing my board while holding answers. Spell Queller can be played around rather easily by prioritizing spells that will still have targets after you answer Queller, and playing around Archangel Avacyn by making sure that you either keep a counterspell or instant speed removal that can kill Avacyn before her 'indestructible' shield resolves. If they ever tap out, punish them hard. Board out any Radiant Flames, since Queller counters it hard, but Painful Truths upside is so strong that it is worth trying to create a situation where you can safely tap out to cast it (mainly when your opponent has tapped out or you know they have no countermagic in hand).
Match 3 - VS RG Energy (2-1)
An energy rematch, this time built more around Electrostatic Pummeler than the version I faced before. This was a tougher matchup, but since they had fewer planeswalkers I had an easier time stabilizing. I had enough effects that said destroy that I wasn't worried about Verdurous Gearhulk, but Bristling Hydra was easily the most painful card to face. I won games 1 off of stalling behind Thing in the Ice (including flipping two of them), and game three my singleton Kalitis manages to make enough chump blockers to stall a very large Hyrda until it gets to the point wherecast he can no longer risk attacking with it, before I finally cast and flip a Thing in the Ice to seal the deal.
Match 4 - UW Flash (2-1)
Another flash deck, this one better than the earlier one since it was packing a set of Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Games 1 and 3 play out similarly, where I play around Queller, Avacyn, and selfless Spirit, and game 2 he resolved Gideon with a Smuggler's Copter on the battlefield and crushed me quite quickly. Bring in all your counter-magic against planeswalker decks, you'll need it.
Match 5 - UR Thermal-Alchemist (2-1)
The least 'metagame' deck I played that day, but still quite reasonable considering that the pilot was 3-1 at the time. In each game whenever she dumped Fevered Visions I was able to dump my hand quickly enough to play around it (including casting Harnessed Lightning for zero damage multiple times), and my game loss came from a Chandra, Torch of Defiance that I couldn't interact with and eventually went ultimate (see a pattern here).
Overal a 4-1 finish was good enough for 3rd and I was happy with the deck, but had some changes in mind to improve it (basically by upping my Kalitas count, trimming the cards that were rarely played or did nothing like Thing in the Ice, and finding more ways to kill planeswalkers like Chandra, Flamecaller and Ruinous Path. Some light testing later and its the next tournament.
Dec 3 - 4 Rounds, 2-1-1 record.
Round 1 - UW Flash (2-0)
The first round went on for a while, but the game was decided long before it ended. We had a good game 1, but I was eventually able to set myself up to cast multiple Painful Truths and pully slow ahead, then ultimate Jace leaving my opponent unable to play the game as I wiped his remaining board out and grinding out a kill with my Wandering Fumeroles. Game 2 he gets stuck on two islands and by the time he draws a white source land I have a hand full of interaction and a hand full of interaction.
Round 2 - RGu Energy - Tie (1-1)
A rematch with my round one opponent from the previous week, I'm a bit better prepared for him. Game one is intense and grindy. Key turns include me flipping Thing in the Ice, only to get it stolen by Confiscation Coup, with me killing the Thing in response to avoid giving him the energy. I respond to his attempts to rebuild his board with Chandra, Flamecaller and am able to kill him and his walkers with 3/1's. Round 2 I make the mistake of shipping Ruinous Path to the bottom with Anticipate, to immediately run into more planeswalkers than I can answer. Round 3 I'm able to get both Jace and Chandra out, but we run out of turns. Game 3 likely would have been mine, but it could have gone either way.
Round 3 - 4 Colour Delrium (Win 2-1)
An interesting take on the Delrium deck that adds in more colours to play better removal, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar & Nahiri, the Harbinger. Game 1 I think I'm safe until my opponent drops 1 too many blockers, which allows Nahiri to ult and dome me for 13 in the air. Game 2 and 3 I'm much more in control, having more answers for Nahiri and Summary Dismissal for her late-game attempts to hard-cast Emrakul. I feel this was a less-optimal build for Delerium than straight GB or maybe 3 colour (playing Abzan for Gideon seems interesting), but I felt favoured enough against it that I feel relatively confident against GB.
Round 4 - Mono-Colourless Eldrazi (Lose 1-2)
It's not a metagame deck, but the deck (piloted by a good friend of mine) has been doing quite well in our metagame (going 5-0 the week before and 3-1 this week). The deck jams a bunch of powerful effect lands and creatures (Ruins of Oran-Rief, Sea Gate Wreckage, Thought-Knot Seer, etc) into a rather effective midrange shell. Game 1 my opponent curves Eldrazi Mimic into Matter Reshaper into Fleetwheel Cruiser. I'm able to hang on, but miss killing the Reshaper on my opponent's upkeep which lets him cast Distended Mindbender, grabbing two removal spells and taking me out of the game. Game 2 I play better, giving him no good targets for his mind-bender to Emerge from and managing his threats fairly efficiently. Game 3 I miss my third land drop, then later draw a ETB tapped land at the wrong time end end up 1 mana short of stopping his alpha strike.
Overall, across 2 events with a largely similar decklist I went 6-2-1 (W/L/T). The deck isn't crushing it, but it's competitive, and each time I play it I find more things to tweak to make it run better. I'm debating a few different cards that I could try to cover some more of the decks weaknesses, and I think that the sideboard needs a bit more refinement (I wish there was a better edict effect in standard than To the Slaughter). I might try running some card-advantage alternatives to Painful Truths, but overall I'm happy with how the list is evolving.
What u think about this list?
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/34068_Control-At-SCGKNOX.html
Although I don't have any Liliana, the Last Hope in the deck, and haven't tested any since I don't own any copies, I'm not convinced that she's needed. Yes, she's good against Selfless Spirit and Rattlechains occasionally, but otherwise she doesn't do much other than slow them down. I agree that she looks like she'd be good against UW Flash, but I'm not sure that she's needed, since I've found that with a list closer to Shota's we are already favoured (although Shaheen seems to disagree, or feels that we aren't favoured enough for how big a part of the metagame it is).
I've tried Dark Dwellers but every time I cut them. There are quite a few reasons for this. Having 4 toughness instead of 6 is big, making it more susceptible to Grasp of Darksness, Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Harnessed Lightning (its surprisingly easy to end up with just 1 energy lying around). Sorcery speed is also a big disadvantage, as it creates a 'shields down' moment for us that a lot of other decks can abuse. Finally, I feel that one of the big ways that Grixis control loses is by just running out of steam, so being able to flash back Glimmer of Genius with Gearhulk is huge, arguably better than being able to flashback Ruinous Path. I dislike him not running Painful Truths for the same reason.
I'm also much more on the Evolving Wilds + Zen-Land mana base than the Aether Hub plus Shadows Lands. Realistically speaking a lot of the time you just wont have one of your 5 basics in your hand, and I've found with the instant speed build it is significantly more punishing to have a land ETB tapped in the late game than in the early game (the sooner you can cast a Gearhulk or Chandra, the better).
I feel that exiling is relevant far more frequently than awaken, so I take Void Shatter over Scatter to the Winds all day, but I see the argument for both if you are running a lot of counterspells. I do think that he wants at least some copies of Negate in the main or the side.
I'm also not particularly fond of Grasp of Darkness, but that is admittedly because I run less black than he does. If you are running a lot of black its fine, but I don't feel that it is 'better enough' than our easier to cast removal to make it worth slanting your mana base that way. If it could kill an attacking Gideon I would be running 4 all day every day, but as is I'm not convinced its worth it.
In general, the big point where I agree with him is that the deck's weakness is a resolved planeswalker, and that I've lost more to Gideon, Ally of Zendikar than to any other card. Where I disagree is where he attacks UW flash (I don't think its a bad matchup as long as we avoid giving them a chance to resolve Gideon), but he likely plays against better players than I do, so if your opponents are aggressively mullaganing into Gideon, his list might be worth looking into.
I actually prefer his mana-base to an evolving wilds mana-base. I thought it would be worse until I started testing it. Aether Hubs have also helped take down bigger creatures with harnessed lightning.
Liliana is great! Its a win-con, removal spell, or soaks up dmg to give us time to stabilize.
I agree that Void Shatter is better than Scatter. Doesnt really need an explanation.
GDD started off as a 2-of for me but is now a 1-of. Keeping it in as a 1-of for now as i sideboard cards like transgress and lost legacy. Still not sure if it's worth the slot.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/2820-tradesies
C Long Live Eldrazi C
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/2820-tradesies
There was a smaller turn out this weekend due to a modern tournament in the area, so only 3 rounds, where I took the deck to a 2-1 finish
Round 1: UW Flash (Loss 1-2)
I was playing the better of the UW flash opponents at my store, and I won a tight game 1 where I was on the play. Game 2 I lead with Transgress the Mind T2 and see 2 lands, 2 Sqell Queller, and 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. I take one of the Gideons, but don't draw an answer to the second on my next turn and he resolves it T4 and just kills me. Round 3 I kept a kinda sketchy 7, stumble a bit and just eventually end up losing a counter war over Gideon, which spells the beginning of the end.
For sideboarding I took out my Radiant Flames (completely dead if hit by Spell Queller, one copy of Painful Truths (I didn't want to draw multiples, but this is a key card if you can set up a safe turn to cast it, particularly if you can jam it on turn 3 on the play), both Thing in the Ice (they do nothing in the matchup) and all 4 Galvanic Bombardment (The first copy does not kill a surprisingly large number of his creatures). I brought in the Weaver of Lightnings, Ruinous Path, Transgress the Mind, Chandra, Flamecaller and the extra Torrential Gearhulk in my board. In retrospect, I should have not brought in the extra gearhulk, and sided out my Jace, Unraveller of Secrets for both Summary Dismissal (the card isn't great in the matchup but its another way to counter Gideon), and gone down to 1 or maybe 0 Painful Truths in game 3 where I'm on the draw.
I will re-iterate that my opinion on UW Flash is that as long as they don't resolve a Gideon we are heavily favoured. I'd say that games where they don't resolve a gideon before turn 7 we are 70% to win, and games where they resolve a Gideon on turn 4 we are maybe 20% to win. I don't like Ruinous Path, but I'm not sure what else we could do. Additional Negates might just be the better choice, or potentially even bringing in some burn like Flame Lash.
Round 2: UB Metalurgical Summonings (Win 2-0)
A buddy of mine got bored jamming an mono-colourless aggro deck every week (rather successfully I should add), and swapped to UB Metalurgical. I won, but barely, and I think that UB is actually favoured here since it does a better job of being a control deck. Game 1 we have a grind fest and although he's eventually able to stick a metalurgical summonings, its too late since I'm able to race it with Chandra and a Gearhulk. Game two we both keep 3 land hands and fail to find lands for several turns. I aggressively counter his first Anticipate which lets me resolve Painful Truths to dig for lands, and I'm able to get ahead of him on mana and begin to completely lock him out. I feel these games were atypical. We jammed a lot of games with the decks and we feel that he is probably 60% to win game 1 and 55% to win post-board games.
I sided out most of my dead removal for anything that wasn't dead. I sided out Galvanic Bombardment, 3 Harnessed Lightning, Radiant Flames and Ruinous Path for Chandra, Flamecaller, Jace, Unraveller of Secrets, Torrential Gearhulk, Transgress the Mind, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Ceremonious Rejection (which can win counter wars since Void Shatter has devoid). I thought about siding in Weaver of Lightning, but I decided that being able to kill a Summonings token was probably better than beating for 1 a turn.
Keeping counter magic up is tough, but needed since a resolved summonings can be quite bad if we aren't actually winning. It makes our planeswalkers much worse when one resolved. Remember that they only have 8 ways of actually winning the game (4 Gearhulk and 4 Summonings), so save your counter magic for the summonings and your Unlicenced Disintigrations for the Gearhulks.
Round 3-Grixis Control Mirror (2-0)
Not much to say here other than that the pilot was running something closer to the Shota list and got run over. Planeswalkers were key here since they let me out-value my opponent. Game 1 was decided by a Jace ult, and even though I got to Jace Ult in game 2, even without it he would have just died a turn later to Chandra tokens.
All in all, I still think that the deck is fine, but the glaring weakness to Gideon needs to be addressed. I'm advocating running more Negates in the main and side, particularly with Marvel becoming a more popular deck.
I'm not sure if I'll play the deck next weekend. I might try switching to the U/R build with Dynavolt Tower to give me a better answer to planeswalkers. To those few of you still grinding the deck - good luck.
As an aside, something that is worth testing further is using To the Slaughter as an anti-walker card. Delerium is hard to turn on in Grixis, but I'm considering trying out Cathartic Reunion and/or Vessel of Paramnesia as enablers (Reunion can get rid of early Gearhulks/Planeswalkers, and Vessel adds enchantments to the deck that can help turn it on). It might not be good enough, but it could be a way to solve the Gideon problem.
4 Disallow
4 Fatal Push
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Negate
2 Metallic Rebuke
2 To the Slaughter
4 Anticipate
2 Murder
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Sunken Hollow
2 Wandering Fumarole
2 Island
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Dark Intimations
3 Baral's Expertise
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Fevered Visions
3 Dispel
1 Negate
2 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Lost Legacy
1 Release the Gremlins
Solid write up^^^
2x Chandra, Flamecaller
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
Creatures
2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
3x Torrential Gearhulk
Sorcery
1x Radiant Flames
2x Yahenni's Expertise
2x Transgress the Mind
Instants
1x Void Shatter
2x Harnessed Lightning
2x Disallow
2x Negate
2x Grasp of Darkness
2x To the Slaughter
3x Anticipate
3x Glimmer of Genius
3x Unlicensed Disintegration
1x Foreboding Ruins
1x Choked Estuary
2x Wandering Fumarole
2x Aether Hub
2x Evolving Wilds
3x Smoldering Marsh
4x Sunken Hollow
3x Mountain
3x Swamp
5x Island
1x Radiant Flames
1x Weaver of Lightning
1x Transgress the Mind
1x Metallurgic Summonings
1x Ruinous Path
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Release the Gremlins
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Contraband Kingpin
2x Dispel
2x Baral, Chief of Compliance
The main is fairly strong against everything I've gone up against so far, with the exception of Gideon. I think Baral and Contraband Kingpin can be better served by other spells (at least in my local meta), that counteract the planeswalker issue. I've found that Weaver of Lighting is a superstar against aggro overall, so I may go up to 3x in the board. Ceremonious Rejection has been falling flat as I haven't brought it in in a single game lately due to the banning of Emmy. I'm open to a few sideboard ideas, however I think that I may go:
1x Radiant Flames
3x Weaver of Lightning
1x Transgress the Mind
1x Metallurgic Summonings
1x Ruinous Path
3x Lost Legacy
1x Release the Gremlins
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Dispel
Totally open to suggestions and any critiques of the deck. This is a minor modification of Eastside Rock's deck on Tapped Out seen here - AER - Grixis Control A good bit of credit goes to him for this design, and it holds up really well from what I've seen of the current meta in testing both in store and online.
For awhile now, Metallurgic Summonings has been a pet card of mine. Before Aether Revolt, I was playing a UR list but after getting crushed with GB counters after Aether Revolt came out, I went back to the drawing board. I felt I needed to go to a more control based approach and I felt the removal in red wasn't enough. To fix this, I ended up going Grixis. The list I came up with is something I've been tinkering with for a month or so now and its finally to a point where I am winning multiple FNMs and went undefeated in my Game Day.
First the list:
3x Baral, Chief of Compliance
3x Torrential Gearhulk
Enchantments:
3x Metallurgic Summonings
Planeswalkers:
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Instants:
3x Anticipate
1x Brutal Expulsion
4x Disallow
2x Fatal Push
4x Harnessed Lightning
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Unlicensed Disintegration
2x Ruinous Path
Land:
4x Aether Hub
3x Evolving Wilds
4x Island
2x Mountain
3x Smoldering Marsh
2x Spirebluff Canal
3x Sunken Hollow
2x Swamp
2x Wandering Fumarole
2x Baral's Expertise
3x Negate
1x Radiant Flames
2x Shock
1x Sphinx of the Final Word
2x Transgress the Mind
2x Weaver of Lightning
2x Yahenni's Expertise
Card choices:
Metallurgic Summonings
The main win condition of the deck. Learning when you can play this card safely is really the trick with this deck. Once its down, it is hard to remove and generates insane amounts of value. Against aggro decks, your removal spells can become 2-for-1's by destroying a creature and blocking another. At some point the advantage becomes insurmountable and we just win.
Baral, Chief of Compliance
In control decks, I would normally not run creatures for my opponent's removal to hit, but Baral is an exception for me. My meta tends to run on the aggressive side and he acts as a good early blocker or stops a big hit late game. The most important part is he lets you keep up with the board. Harnessed Lightning for R, Anticpate for U. Unlicensed Disintegration is now a Terminate with a bolt attached, and Disallow becomes a better Counterspell that loots (you can loot away multiples of him which make the legendary rule not hurt as much.) This cost reduction becomes even better once your spells are making constructs. Honestly, without the mana advantage this card gives, I don't think I would have done as well as I did and I feel that Baral has earned his place in the deck.
Torrential Gearhulk
An obvious include in this deck. He brings back counter spells or removal and with Summonings on the field he makes another creature. In most games if I can make it to 6 lands, I win the game. Gearhulk beats are not to be ignored. I don't think I need to say anymore about this card.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Another win condition, but more importantly she is card advantage or removal in a pinch. Her mana ability is also amazing. On turn 5, you can cast Summonings and leave open 2 mana for a removal spell. She is also fairly easy to protect in this deck and her emblem has won me multiple games.
Ruinous Path
This deck has problems with resolved Planeswalkers. This card is in here to hedge against that and is more unconditional creature removal. The Awaken clause if largely irrelevant. I've only used it once and my land was immediately Fatal Pushed...
Brutal Expulsion
This card is my fun-of in the deck. It helps against Planeswalkers and Scrapheap Scrounger and does a number on Gideon. Once they activate him, you can bounce him to their hand and kill a knight token. I don't like seeing this card in my opening hand, but its a built in 2-for-1 and I am almost never sad when I draw it.
All in all, this deck has very good match-ups against BG Snake decks and other midrange/aggro decks. Other control decks, such as U/B or Grixis Dynavolt, haven't given me trouble. Once I stick a Summonings the game is over. My local meta doesn't play much with the Saheeli combo, so I'm not sure how it matches up there. My sideboard is mostly tuned to go against very aggressive decks such as Mardu Vehicles or RG energy. One great play in post sideboard games is Baral's Expertise to bounce all of their creatures and play Chandra into an empty board. The tempo swing from this card alone can really turn games around.
I'm really happy with how this deck runs and performs. The mana can be a little weird sometimes and I am still working on optimizing it. I'd like to hear suggestions and ideas for improving or ideas for variants of the deck.
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells
3 Shock
4 Anticipate
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Horribly Awry
2 Negate
1 Disallow
2 Dynavolt Tower
1 Radiant Flames
3 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Void Shatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
1 Confirm Suspicions
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Lands
4 Aether Hub
5 Island
2 Mountain
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sunken Hollow
2 Swamp
2 Wandering Fumarole
2 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
2 Thing in the Ice
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Fatal Push
1 Negate
2 To the Slaughter
1 Summary Dismissal
2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Removal
2 Complete Disregard
3 Fatal Push
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Collective Brutality
2 Radiant Flames
3 Ruinous Path
Permission
2 Negate
4 Void Shatter
3 Anticipate
4 Glimmer of Genius
Mana Base
4 Aether Hub
2 Choked Estuary
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Smoldering Marsh
2 Spirebluff Canal
3 Sunken Hollow
3 Swamp
3 Wandering Fumarole
1 Disallow
2 Dispel
2 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Fatal Push
1 Negate
2 Painful Truths
2 To the Slaughter
1 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Unlicensed Disintegration
Things of note.
25 lands. In every variation of control I've played, and I have tried them all, I would constantly end up getting flooded and losing on turn 12. Without a proper mana sink like sphinx's revelation or colonnade, I really don't have a huge use for land drops 8-14 so I cut one in favor of another cheap interactive spell in the form of collective brutality. It can still kill stuff against most decks while being a discard spell for control mirrors or saheeli to see what's up.
Jace has been an absolute house in every match. If it weren't for curve considerations I'd want to have access to a third. Even when I go bounce, bounce, lose it to a shock I've gained so much time to durdle with draw spells that I'm still noticeably ahead. Not to mention every time that I can cast it and plus with protection I get the emblem without issue.
Ruinous path while slow is still too important to have against walker heavy saheeli decks and an answer to a resolved gideon and is one of the best reasons to go black after push.
Complete disregard also falls in the same category as path in that it is slow and clunky while still being a necessary tool to have available. I can't in good faith expect my only answers to a scrounger be block it with manlands or kill it 11 times. It is also not a dead card against other decks being able to interact with the saheeli combo and exile most threats you expect to face. If it was CMC 2 I'd consider running several, but as is two is the limit.
Void shatter > disallow. In so many games I've had the exile effect be relevant far more often than the stifle effect. This is also due to being able to bounce a scrounger with jace and tag it on the way back down while also exiling a glimmer to prevent it from being flashed back and handle the colossus and any grapple with the past nonsense.
The mana base is serviceable while having access to wilds to turn on revolt and has yet to burn me to the point of losing a game I would otherwise have won. Admittedly though it is a source or two shy on black mana for a reliable turn 3 path ()and very short on turn 1 sources for push), but I believe that is a fine trade off for the revolt on push. Having the 14 untapped sources for a turn 1 push would stretch the mana far too much to be reliable at doing anything else on curve so I don't think that is a good basis, especially if you want to be able to double spell before turn 7.