Does not seem like there is a whole lot of hype about The Locust God for UR focused Control decks, and I am honestly not entirely sure why. The deck has access to Fevered Visions out of the board and cards like Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illumination. The card can really start closing out a stable board and sometimes more efficiently than Torrential Gearhulk.
I am curious why people seem to be so hard on for Censor. I get that it can cycle mid to late game, but splashing for something like Failure // Comply seems like it is just better at buying time throughout the course of an entire game. Splashing W or B can really give the deck some legs when it comes to flexing. I am not entirely sold on the idea of Grixis and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh though, and suspect Jeskai is just a better way to go. Bolas is nutty strong, but I question the overall value of B over W when you can have extra tempo swinging cards like Spell Queller and Gideon of the Trials. I also think Cast Out is another strong talking point here.
Something I have also been working with was Reduce // Rubble. This card has continued to buy me a pretty incredible amount of time, especially when paired with Failure // Comply. Against most midrange and control decks, these two can make for really strong Fevered Visions plays to help you set up for The Locust God. The card has been shockingly powerful as a midgame play when you are looking to get out that 1 extra land or get into your next turn to untap a land that may have entered tapped. My list has been running both Reduce // Rubble and Supreme Will and I have found the aftermath option to be preferred over the digging option, the majority of the time. I do however, think a split is probably correct to a degree.
So far, I have been running a Grixis list and a Jeskai list and I tend to favor the Jeskai list over the Grixis list, despite really trying to force Nicol Bolas... because I am a sucker for him.
I think the problem with Locust God, Spell Queller and Gideon of the Trials is that none of them really play nice with Hour of Devastation which is just so good. Plus, unlike the minor black splash for Bolas (it's not really a Grixis deck at this point), having lots of taplands to play Jeskai really can make some games awkward, especially if Temur decks and their zillion cantrips are still popular. I am probably gonna try out 1x Locust God in URb though cuz he really does look nice in theory.
Also regarding Reduce // Rubble (and more specifically Rubble) it's nice midgame but it's only truly potent if it's backed up with either a drawspell or threat. Otherwise it just seems like a tempo play in a deck that's fine going to the late game, and is a terrible draw at that point too compared to Supreme Will. I think it might be better in Jeskai variants that run more tempo cards than UR or URb ones. I like it a lot as a sideboard card against ramp decks though, since generally speaking control decks actually try to become more aggressive against them.
Does not seem like there is a whole lot of hype about The Locust God for UR focused Control decks, and I am honestly not entirely sure why. The deck has access to Fevered Visions out of the board and cards like Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illumination. The card can really start closing out a stable board and sometimes more efficiently than Torrential Gearhulk.
Gearhulk has three important factors over Locust God.
1. It has flash, allowing you to hold up mana for counter magic during your opponent's turn.
2. It is nearly always 2-for-1 even if opponent kills it right away. Locust God doesn't generate that kind of immediate value.
3. It survives Hour of Devastation.
Also, if the black splash for Nicol Bolas ends up being the way this deck goes, then the mirror matches are going to be really stupid. Both players will sit there with hands full of counters knowing that they can't let the opponent land that card because it's likely game over. And they will sit with their own Nicol Bolas in hand knowing that they can't afford to tap out and play it and have it get countered, since then they are also screwed. So it will be a lot of both players sitting around doing nothing.
I never said busted like Marvel or Copycat. I mean that cards like Hour of Devastation, Abrade, Supreme Will, etc. gives U/R Control too many new tools and too much a push into tier 1 territory. Essentially I think it will become the best deck in HOU standard, and that is the problem: Standard is extremely bad when the best deck is a hardcore control deck like U/R.
BBD's testing videos made me think - which lands are better if you're looking for a 5-6th black land splash, cycling or Battle for Zendikar lands?
Is cycling that much better than a chance to play the dual lands untapped?
That's a good question, not really sure what the best lands are. If I'm switching to the battle lands then I'll probably go back down to the 25 land count with 4 censor and 4 illumination. With the cycle lands I'd feel comfortable at 26, but again it's a double edged sword if you cycle away your only black source.
I'm already tweaking his list, I'm putting abrade in the SB, so I'll test out a 25 land version with the battle lands too.
I never said busted like Marvel or Copycat. I mean that cards like Hour of Devastation, Abrade, Supreme Will, etc. gives U/R Control too many new tools and too much a push into tier 1 territory. Essentially I think it will become the best deck in HOU standard, and that is the problem: Standard is extremely bad when the best deck is a hardcore control deck like U/R.
It won't, trust me. While it may even become a tier 1 deck, the other t1 are perfectly able of adapting to it.
That's a good question, not really sure what the best lands are. If I'm switching to the battle lands then I'll probably go back down to the 25 land count with 4 censor and 4 illumination. With the cycle lands I'd feel comfortable at 26, but again it's a double edged sword if you cycle away your only black source.
I'm already tweaking his list, I'm putting abrade in the SB, so I'll test out a 25 land version with the battle lands too.
I know cycling is there for the really long game when you want something besides a land, but in this Standard format, when do you really not want to have as much land as you can get, and need 7 to cast Bolas?
I see many people not playing Pull from Tomorrow at all even though Control Master Shaheen Soorani recently called it "The future of Control in Standard". I personally won't go below 1 and think that 2 would be correct if not playing Bolas. That said, we do have a plethora of great draw spells right now. I do see many playing 4 Hieroglyphic Illumination and I think that has to be wrong. It is more flexible, but I don't think you want to be cycling that aggressively in the early turns and it's power level when cast for 4 is far below that of Glimmer and Pull which is why I'm happy with 2.
That's a good question, not really sure what the best lands are. If I'm switching to the battle lands then I'll probably go back down to the 25 land count with 4 censor and 4 illumination. With the cycle lands I'd feel comfortable at 26, but again it's a double edged sword if you cycle away your only black source.
I'm already tweaking his list, I'm putting abrade in the SB, so I'll test out a 25 land version with the battle lands too.
I know cycling is there for the really long game when you want something besides a land, but in this Standard format, when do you really not want to have as much land as you can get, and need 7 to cast Bolas?
Flooding out is a considerable problem for control. Having late game lands that can cycle into gas is a huge boon. Even early game the cycle lands justify keeping 7s that have 5-6 lands in them. I'm a huge fan of cycle lands in general for control as they're similar to manlands in the sense that they turn into something useful end game when you have enough land
26 lands is a lot. Drawing 4-5 lands in a row happens and that can loose a game
Dovin Baan is terrible. Can't beieve this deck took it.
Terrible based on what? On a meta he was released in with how many cards in the current pool missing?
It is not like people continue testing cards every day after their release until the day they rotate. He was released into a super ****ed up meta where... almost everything was terrible unless it was Emrakul, Gideon, Smuggler's Copter, or Aetherworks Marvel.
While I do agree that the card is nothing amazing, I think discounting cards at this point in standard is pretty ridiculous.
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STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
I'm planning on getting back into standard after being away for a while. Does this deck survive rotation in September? Just checking before I invest in a deck and have it rotate out in two months.
Interesting that these guys are using cycle lands on colors they aren't using.
It's because we only got the ally cycle, no enemy pair...
Another point versus the new deserts (like Desert of the Mindful or Desert of the Fervent) is the easier cycle cost ( 2 vs 1U or 1R)
It's more of them viewing having 1-2 not so great cycling lands is worth putting in over basics.
I'm planning on getting back into standard after being away for a while. Does this deck survive rotation in September? Just checking before I invest in a deck and have it rotate out in two months.
In my opinion... the U/R version will survive until Torrential Gearhulk rotates (unless something good replaces it). There's really not much pre-Kaladesh that is essential.
I'm planning on getting back into standard after being away for a while. Does this deck survive rotation in September? Just checking before I invest in a deck and have it rotate out in two months.
Biggest loss will be Wandering Fumarole (pretty much the only loss actually). The reason it will be a huge loss is that it allows you to have extra slots for non-creature spells (i.e. draw/counter) without taking away from the number of potential creatures. Without it, the deck will need one of the following things to survive:
1. A new man-land to play (unlikely)
2. A decent blue flash creature to go with Gearhulk, and it might already be possible with Nimble Obstructionist since that can be of value as limited disruption and draw in addition to being a creature worth attacking with.
3. The version with Nicol Bolas will be the only competitive version to survive (most likely). Probably 1, or 2 max, in the deck, because the deck needs to maintain a high number of disruptive and card advantage effects.
You can go all the way back to the Pro Tour Kaladesh where he made it to the finals got to ult and still ended up losing because that's just how terrible he is. He's the kind of planeswalker you could negate but don't because you're happy your opponent used mana to play a bad card giving you a higher chance to resolve an actual good card.
What does dovin baan do better than 4 mana chandra? His ult doesn't end the game, he doesn't accelarate you, he doesn't go up for card advantage, doesn't permamently deal with *****. The only upside he has is costing UW instead of RR
In my opinion... the U/R version will survive until Torrential Gearhulk rotates (unless something good replaces it). There's really not much pre-Kaladesh that is essential.
it actually loses half its wincons with wandering fumarole nothing else pre kaladesh is important but you can't replace the manland, if UR survives it's going to look very different.
I gotta disagree with you on a both points.
First of all, I've experimented around with Dovin Baan quite a bit, and I would describe him as a high value, but slow, planeswalker. His ultimate is not game winning along the lines of say Liliana, the Last Hope, but he offers a ton of value and defense. His minus gives pure card advantage which no other walker at or below 4 mana does, Chandra, Torch of Defiance doesn't let you keep countermagic and not even removal sometimes. Not only that, but if you can curve into something like Gideon of the Trials, Dovin Baan, and maybe then Fumigate you basically force your opponent to over commit into the sweeper, then get to gain even more card advantage as you can sit behind him and gain life and draw cards. The problem ins't that Baan is weak, it's just defensive walkers in general haven't been doing well in standard recently. Little Gideon is essentially not played, and some old favorites like Ob Nixilis Reignited, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets and Sorin, Grim Nemesis are never played because they all fall into the same category of slow but powerful. With the format returning to a more mid range, girndy, kind of meta it could be the time for these kinds of slow, powerful, planeswalker strategies to make a comeback and Baan fits perfectly into this kind of strategy.
As for Wandering Fumarole being "half the win cons", that's just wrong. Yes, there are 4 copies of Fumarole in the deck and 4 copies of Gearhulk, but no one is winning half their games on the back of Fumarole. In some MU's, I'd say 25% and that's being generous, Fumarole shaves a turn off the clock and you get to bash in with him when you attack with Gearhulk so you win in 3 turns instead of 4. But this is only happening in a somewhat small percentage of games, and of those games where you do this, odds are you were going to win anyways, and all the fumarole does is prevents the opponent one last chance of a top deck. There are a lot of other factors that will determine whether or not U/R control stays relevant with the next rotation, but losing Fumarole is most certainly not one of them. Most likely some form of blue based control will be the default control in standard so long as Torrential Gearhulk is still around.
I think it's probably a bit too early to be talking about what happens post-rotation, but that said I think the loss of fumarole and the gain of the new fastlands will make Grixis or Esper a bit more viable. We'll have to see until the rest of Ixalan spoilers drop, but my guess is the deck shifts to Grixis control.
If you think 26 lands is too many for Standard control, you probably shouldn't be playing Control. I was playing 27 in UW before this set and always felt like I should be playing 28. You really want to hit your first 6 land drops in Gearhulk Control.
I think it's probably a bit too early to be talking about what happens post-rotation, but that said I think the loss of fumarole and the gain of the new fastlands will make Grixis or Esper a bit more viable. We'll have to see until the rest of Ixalan spoilers drop, but my guess is the deck shifts to Grixis control.
Heads up: Talk about future sets and formats isn't allowed until the entire set is spoiled.
Dovin Baan isn't high value, yeah he'll eventually generate an overwhelming amount of card advantage
Not really sure what your point is here? A spell that eventually generates an overwhelming amount of card advantage is, at least in my opinion, a high value spell.
but having to alternate modes and not being a particular threat when having high loyalty drastically reduced the amount of pressure he puts out.
I never said Baan was a decent threat or that he puts out pressure. I said he was a slow, high value walker. In a control deck he's not meant to win the game or be considered a threat, he's a support spell that can control the board and force the opponent to over commit into a sweeper, and he also gains life and card advantage when the board state is under control. This is all in response to you calling Baan terrible, I'm just pointing out that using him in the right control shell can really leverage out some of his power, and he's actually not terrible at all.
On Nixilis has 2 relevant abilities and an ult that's at least a small clock. He's also been seeing copious amounts of play since his release both in BW tap out control decks, won PT EMN, and sideboard strategies for BG decks. I guess you mean unconditional card advantage with pure since you mentioned Liliana but didn't count her. Gideon slots into the same deck a better Gideon does which makes him a hard sell. Baan doesn't fit with these, he's just not a real threat especially with so many answers that don't care about fumigate.
I'm not really sure how anything written here suggests Baan is terrible. He offers more card advantage than the other 3-4CMC walkers, but isn't quite as good as the 5-6CMC walkers. Working as intended as far as I can tell. Yes, B/W walkers was a powerful control deck for a while, but the fact is that type of archetype has been doing poor in standard recently. If a more tap out, walker heavy control deck is possible then Dovin Baan absolutely fits into this strategy nicely. Put another way, I'd rather Gideon of the Trials into Dovin Baan as opposed to Liliana the Last Hope into Gideon Ally of Zendikar if I'm playing control right now.
As to fumarole it's literally half our winconditions. Yeah Gearhulk wins more often and is more essential but this deck simply doesn't work w/o fumarole. I'd put the games closed out with fumaroles closer to 40% personally and I don't want to know just how many PWs they stopped from coming down because of threat of activation.
I'm not denying the use of Fumarole, But the fact of the matter is you could replace 4 copies of Fumarole with 4 copies of Highland Lake, and still win games and be somewhat successful with U/R control. Is the list optimized with out Fumarole? Of course not, the land has a lot to offer, including stopping an unthinkable number of PW's from landing. But to claim we're losing half our wincons when the card rotates out is misleading. Torrential Gearhulk is THE wincon for the deck, and while Fumarole offers a strong supporting role, the deck can still function just fine with out it.
If you think 26 lands is too many for Standard control, you probably shouldn't be playing Control. I was playing 27 in UW before this set and always felt like I should be playing 28. You really want to hit your first 6 land drops in Gearhulk Control.
I never said 26 lands is too many. I said 26 lands is a lot, and that flooding out is a very real issue for control. If you think flooding out is not a problem for Standard control, you probably shouldn't be playing Control. I'm well aware of how critical it is hitting the first 6 land drops.
I can see you still think Dovin Baan is terrible, but thanks for taking the time to at least consider some of my points for him. At the end of the day though it was the deck with 2 copies of Baan in the list that won the SCG open, so regardless of your opinion of Baan compared to other walkers, the facts show he is very much so standard playable and has a lot to offer in the right shell. Maybe there are better options for the 4CMC walker slot in a dark Jeskai walker list, but either way, Baan is a power in his own right.
I'm not denying the use of Fumarole, But the fact of the matter is you could replace 4 copies of Fumarole with 4 copies of Highland Lake, and still win games and be somewhat successful with U/R control. Is the list optimized with out Fumarole? Of course not, the land hasimic s a lot to offer, including stopping an unthinkable number of PW's from landing. But to claim we're losing half our wincons when the card rotates out is misleading. Torrential Gearhulk is THE wincon for the deck, and while Fumarole offers a strong supporting role, the deck can still function just fine with out it.
I disagree, Gearhulk is THE wincon for the deck but that is something most decks in standard can deal with. The added pressure provided by fumarole, soaking up removal here or there is what holds the deck together. You'd be seeing much more success for other blue based control variants relying on Torrential Gearhulk of it were just fine with no access to a manland.
Ah but you're wrong here. While Izzet is the most popular Gerhulk control list, both Dimir and Azorius are out there and each has a modest amount of success. There's actually a thread for a Dimir list in the established section, while Azorius draw go is only in the creation. What you don't see, anywhere, is a Simic Gearhulk control list. If the manland really is the glue holding U/R control together as you suggest, then there's no way Dimir or Azorius lists would be as successful as they are, and Simic Gearhulk control would be the 2nd most popular control list on the back of Lumbering Falls which is simply not the case.
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If I am running Jeskai, I am just running Fumigate and maybe an off Hour of Devastation. I don't think all in on Hour of Devastation is correct, even in Grixis.
I have had better results overall with Jeskai than Grixis, but it also seems that I am the only one even looking at Jeskai.
STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
Gearhulk has three important factors over Locust God.
1. It has flash, allowing you to hold up mana for counter magic during your opponent's turn.
2. It is nearly always 2-for-1 even if opponent kills it right away. Locust God doesn't generate that kind of immediate value.
3. It survives Hour of Devastation.
Is cycling that much better than a chance to play the dual lands untapped?
Modern - Living End
Main EDH Generals
- Mayael the Anima Fatty Fun - Zedruu Political Multiplayer
- Jeleva Oops All Spells - Roon the Bouncing Rhino
That's a good question, not really sure what the best lands are. If I'm switching to the battle lands then I'll probably go back down to the 25 land count with 4 censor and 4 illumination. With the cycle lands I'd feel comfortable at 26, but again it's a double edged sword if you cycle away your only black source.
I'm already tweaking his list, I'm putting abrade in the SB, so I'll test out a 25 land version with the battle lands too.
It won't, trust me. While it may even become a tier 1 deck, the other t1 are perfectly able of adapting to it.
I know cycling is there for the really long game when you want something besides a land, but in this Standard format, when do you really not want to have as much land as you can get, and need 7 to cast Bolas?
Modern - Living End
Main EDH Generals
- Mayael the Anima Fatty Fun - Zedruu Political Multiplayer
- Jeleva Oops All Spells - Roon the Bouncing Rhino
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Flooding out is a considerable problem for control. Having late game lands that can cycle into gas is a huge boon. Even early game the cycle lands justify keeping 7s that have 5-6 lands in them. I'm a huge fan of cycle lands in general for control as they're similar to manlands in the sense that they turn into something useful end game when you have enough land
26 lands is a lot. Drawing 4-5 lands in a row happens and that can loose a game
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Instants
2 Abrade
3 Censor
3 Disallow
3 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Magma Spray
3 Supreme Will
3 Hour of Devastation
Basic Lands
9 Island
4 Mountain
Lands
4 Aether Hub
1 Fetid Pools
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
2 Dragonmaster Outcast
3 Thing in the Ice
2 Dispel
2 Magma Spray
3 Negate
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Sweltering Suns
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Instants
2 Abrade
2 Anticipate
3 Censor
3 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
2 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Sweep Away
2 Chandra, Flamecaller
Sorceries
2 Hour of Devastation
Basic Lands
7 Island
5 Mountain
Lands
4 Aether Hub
1 Fetid Pools
1 Irrigated Farmland
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
3 Glorybringer
3 Thing in the Ice
1 Essence Scatter
1 Magma Spray
2 Negate
1 Summary Dismissal
2 Release the Gremlins
2 Sweltering Suns
Here's Michael Hamilton's SCG Open winning 4-color control list.
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Dovin Baan
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
2 Island
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Aether Hub
1 Fetid Pools
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Irrigated Farmland
2 Port Town
2 Spirebluff Canal
3 Wandering Fumarole
2 Abrade
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Censor
2 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
2 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Supreme Will
2 Fumigate
1 Radiant Flames
3 Spell Queller
1 Chandra's Defeat
1 Dispel
1 Essence Scatter
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Jace's Defeat
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Confiscation Coup
1 Radiant Flames
Modern - Living End
Main EDH Generals
- Mayael the Anima Fatty Fun - Zedruu Political Multiplayer
- Jeleva Oops All Spells - Roon the Bouncing Rhino
STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
Terrible based on what? On a meta he was released in with how many cards in the current pool missing?
It is not like people continue testing cards every day after their release until the day they rotate. He was released into a super ****ed up meta where... almost everything was terrible unless it was Emrakul, Gideon, Smuggler's Copter, or Aetherworks Marvel.
While I do agree that the card is nothing amazing, I think discounting cards at this point in standard is pretty ridiculous.
STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
Biggest loss will be Wandering Fumarole (pretty much the only loss actually). The reason it will be a huge loss is that it allows you to have extra slots for non-creature spells (i.e. draw/counter) without taking away from the number of potential creatures. Without it, the deck will need one of the following things to survive:
1. A new man-land to play (unlikely)
2. A decent blue flash creature to go with Gearhulk, and it might already be possible with Nimble Obstructionist since that can be of value as limited disruption and draw in addition to being a creature worth attacking with.
3. The version with Nicol Bolas will be the only competitive version to survive (most likely). Probably 1, or 2 max, in the deck, because the deck needs to maintain a high number of disruptive and card advantage effects.
I gotta disagree with you on a both points.
First of all, I've experimented around with Dovin Baan quite a bit, and I would describe him as a high value, but slow, planeswalker. His ultimate is not game winning along the lines of say Liliana, the Last Hope, but he offers a ton of value and defense. His minus gives pure card advantage which no other walker at or below 4 mana does, Chandra, Torch of Defiance doesn't let you keep countermagic and not even removal sometimes. Not only that, but if you can curve into something like Gideon of the Trials, Dovin Baan, and maybe then Fumigate you basically force your opponent to over commit into the sweeper, then get to gain even more card advantage as you can sit behind him and gain life and draw cards. The problem ins't that Baan is weak, it's just defensive walkers in general haven't been doing well in standard recently. Little Gideon is essentially not played, and some old favorites like Ob Nixilis Reignited, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets and Sorin, Grim Nemesis are never played because they all fall into the same category of slow but powerful. With the format returning to a more mid range, girndy, kind of meta it could be the time for these kinds of slow, powerful, planeswalker strategies to make a comeback and Baan fits perfectly into this kind of strategy.
As for Wandering Fumarole being "half the win cons", that's just wrong. Yes, there are 4 copies of Fumarole in the deck and 4 copies of Gearhulk, but no one is winning half their games on the back of Fumarole. In some MU's, I'd say 25% and that's being generous, Fumarole shaves a turn off the clock and you get to bash in with him when you attack with Gearhulk so you win in 3 turns instead of 4. But this is only happening in a somewhat small percentage of games, and of those games where you do this, odds are you were going to win anyways, and all the fumarole does is prevents the opponent one last chance of a top deck. There are a lot of other factors that will determine whether or not U/R control stays relevant with the next rotation, but losing Fumarole is most certainly not one of them. Most likely some form of blue based control will be the default control in standard so long as Torrential Gearhulk is still around.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Heads up: Talk about future sets and formats isn't allowed until the entire set is spoiled.
Modern: UW Spirits
I never said Baan was a decent threat or that he puts out pressure. I said he was a slow, high value walker. In a control deck he's not meant to win the game or be considered a threat, he's a support spell that can control the board and force the opponent to over commit into a sweeper, and he also gains life and card advantage when the board state is under control. This is all in response to you calling Baan terrible, I'm just pointing out that using him in the right control shell can really leverage out some of his power, and he's actually not terrible at all.
I'm not really sure how anything written here suggests Baan is terrible. He offers more card advantage than the other 3-4CMC walkers, but isn't quite as good as the 5-6CMC walkers. Working as intended as far as I can tell. Yes, B/W walkers was a powerful control deck for a while, but the fact is that type of archetype has been doing poor in standard recently. If a more tap out, walker heavy control deck is possible then Dovin Baan absolutely fits into this strategy nicely. Put another way, I'd rather Gideon of the Trials into Dovin Baan as opposed to Liliana the Last Hope into Gideon Ally of Zendikar if I'm playing control right now.
I'm not denying the use of Fumarole, But the fact of the matter is you could replace 4 copies of Fumarole with 4 copies of Highland Lake, and still win games and be somewhat successful with U/R control. Is the list optimized with out Fumarole? Of course not, the land has a lot to offer, including stopping an unthinkable number of PW's from landing. But to claim we're losing half our wincons when the card rotates out is misleading. Torrential Gearhulk is THE wincon for the deck, and while Fumarole offers a strong supporting role, the deck can still function just fine with out it.
I never said 26 lands is too many. I said 26 lands is a lot, and that flooding out is a very real issue for control. If you think flooding out is not a problem for Standard control, you probably shouldn't be playing Control. I'm well aware of how critical it is hitting the first 6 land drops.
Ah but you're wrong here. While Izzet is the most popular Gerhulk control list, both Dimir and Azorius are out there and each has a modest amount of success. There's actually a thread for a Dimir list in the established section, while Azorius draw go is only in the creation. What you don't see, anywhere, is a Simic Gearhulk control list. If the manland really is the glue holding U/R control together as you suggest, then there's no way Dimir or Azorius lists would be as successful as they are, and Simic Gearhulk control would be the 2nd most popular control list on the back of Lumbering Falls which is simply not the case.