Alright, PTQ'ing with the deck today. Tried splashing black, similar to the GP Brisbane decks, but it just didn't feel right. Going back to the standard UW build that I'm comfortable with, see how it works out today. I'll try to edit this post as I go today and let you know how it goes
Ugh, such bad beats. I started the Rayburn hitting a pothole and doing a number on my front passenger tire. Not a good start.
Round 1 was vs RW. He started with a Phoenix, which hit a few times before it got Wrathed away. I started to cast a Rev, he went for Skullcrack mana, so I held off until I had Dissolve mana, at which point I Dissolved it. I cast Elspeth, make dudes, he kills Elspeth and a dude, but 2 soldiers and Mutavaults are more than enough to win. Game 2 I mulled to 5 and just couldn't hit my land drops. Game 3, he got out to a quicker start than I did and I couldn't keep up. In retrospect, I sided incorrectly and that didn't help any
Round 2 was vs Mono Blue vs one of the better grinders here. I took game 1 with Elspeth, earthing and dsphering away a Thassa. Game 2 he got Bident out while I continued to stumble on lands. Game 3 I made a critical error. I dsphering his T3 Thassa. On T5 or 6, he casts Revoke Existence on the DSphere. He then casts Bident. I had a Dissolve in hand for the Bident, and anothe DS for the Thassa, but I didn't counter and paid for it. He crushed me with MutVaults and card advantage.
Round 3 was vs UWb. Game 1 he stumbles a little so I take advantage. I Jace twice, land Elspeth and make 9 tokens for the win. Game 2, he Thoughtseizes me T1, taking Rev. He tries again but I Dissolve. My critical error was him Revving for 3 and I countered. He untapped and cast Elspeth. That's pretty much lights out. He drops Aetherling just to make sure I was dead. G3 I mulled to 4 with one Temple, only to get Thoughtseized and my Verdict was dumped. I bricked for a few turns, he drops Blood Baron and Aetherling, and I extend my hand.
On the bright side, I only need to replace 2 of my tires, not all 4
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admittedly, i showed up with very little tuning. my testing partner flaked on me a whole bunch, but the basic theory of the deck went back to saito: a consistent deck with modular boarding design to combat the expected meta. i moved down to 6 counters because i felt that with rg and black being so prevalent, a counter is the last card i want to draw in a top deck war. one-of fated retribution in the main was an excellent card, and i attribute a fair portion of my success against rg monsters (5-1 rounds, 11-1 by games) to that card. one-of nullify was a huge blow out; i caught like 2 different underworld connections on two mana with it. it felt pretty bad in my control mirror though. i was basically at 5 counters to his 7 (draw).
i have a lot of experience with this match up from a thune-less cuneo standpoint. she is probably the best card to bring in for this match up, but i felt the presence of blue shrinking, so i adjusted my sideboard accordingly. as it was, i didn't see a single blue on my way.
brimaz seems weird, but on curve and on the play, he absolutely hoses rg. he also is a great board-in against unexpected aggro, and can really put control on a clock. his cat even interacts favorably with jace! t3 brimaz, t4 detention sphere can really throw their game plan off against you. they'll be fishing for a t3 domri, and he comes into play so unexpectedly early that rg often has no interaction with him. he makes t3 domri t4 xenagos awkward for them, and gives you a bit of efficient board presence to deal with incoming mistcutters.
Got my first top 8 at FNM with this deck last night, feels like I was due considering I finished between 9th-15th the last 3 weeks. Went 4-0-1 in swiss, lost in the first round of top 8. Here's my decklist, and a quick matchup recap:
I do understand that my deck has a lot of one-ofs, but I feel it's a pretty solid way to run. One of the changes I am going to make is dropping the flare main board, and maybe throwing another Azorius Charm or Last Breath in it's place. Also, I'm looking to add more Blood Baron of Vizkopa in the sideboard, just don't have them at the moment.
Anyways, onto the matchups:
Round 1 - Mono Black Devotion - 1-0 (2-0)
Pretty easy win this round, he's a little bit of a younger kid and doesn't seem 100% confident in some of his plays.
Round 2 - Mono Blue Devotion - 2-0 (2-0)
Another easy win, he overextended into a verdict game 1, and in game 2 I landed a quick elspeth which took over the game.
Round 3 - RGw Monsters - 3-0 (2-0)
This match actually worried me, because I had seen him win the gameday a few days before. He splashed white for Voice of Resurgance and Archangel of Thune. Game 1 I stabilized at 1 life with an end of turn sphinx which drew me another sphinx and a verdict, plus a couple of cards I can't remember. Game 2 I chained together multiple sphinx's and put the beatdown on with elspeth.
Round 4 - Maze's End - 4-0 (2-1)
I offered the draw at the beginning of the round to my opponent, because I knew we could both double draw in and make top 8.
Game 1 I had no answers, and he got his 10 gates with a maze's end and that was that.
Game 2 I dug hard to find a DSphere for his Crackling Perimeter and a Pithing needle for his Maze's End.
Game 3 he had 8 or 9 gates in play with no maze's end in sight. I found pithing needle for the Maze's End for security, and beat him down with aetherling.
Round 5 - Jund Monsters - 4-0-1 (ID)
Top 8 - Mono Black Devotion - 4-1-1 (1-2)
Game 1 He scooped them after I went elspeth, next turn big revelation.
Game 2 He beat me to death with mutavaults, as I couldn't find an answer to them.
Game 3 I was just short of stabilizing, and again a nightveil and mutavault killed me.
Things to note for me, is that if I don't see my own mutavaults or Last Breath's, I end up in a lot of trouble taking damage from mutavaults. Also, might consider upping Elspeth to 3. I'm never sad to see an Elspeth of the top of the deck.
I played essentially Patty Robertson's build from GP Brisbane with the exception of an extra Last Breath instead of Elspeth #3 at a 30 man FNM last night. I went 5-0 only dropping 1 game to a topdecked Aetherling. The deck felt very strong the whole night and felt very much in control. Doom Blade was incredible. Thoughtseize is very strong, and Blood Baron gives you some real power in the SB. Having access to 4 Doom Blade, and 2 Ultimate Price after boarding makes Mistcutter Hydra feel very weak.
Cards like Slaughter Games are always perceived as better than they actually are. I normally laugh on the inside when somebody spends their entire turn doing nothing. That being said, if you are able to hit a card they are actually holding in their hand then it's a lot better.
If you insist on playing it what you call will vary whether you are playing against an Elixir Build or Saito's/Esper list.
Slaughter Game Targets in Order of Importance
1. Sphinx's Revelation
2. Elspeth Sun's Champion
3. Aetherling
You could make an argument to call Aetherling second instead of Elspeth, but you have a higher probability of hitting an Elspeth in hand than hitting Aetherling so I value that higher, however, if they resolve Aetherling the game ends almost immediately so pick your poison. Some Elixir builds only play Elspeth as their win condition so if you know that calling Elspeth first and Elixir second is the game plan, but beware because they can still beat you with a Jace ultimate.
Round 1 Mono Black devotion - Game 1 was fairly straightforward. He had active Connections for a few turns before I found a detentions sphere to deal with it, but their's just so many dead cards game 1 that it didn't really pull him that far ahead. I was able to generate a long game and started chaining sphinx's revelations. 3 dissolve 3 azorius charm out, 3 Archangel of Thune 2 revoke existence 1 Opportunity came in. Game 2 I got stuck on 3 lands and was run over by multiple Desecration Demons with multiple verdicts in hand. Game 3 he leads off with thoughtseize into duress-thoughtseize and plucks an elspeth, detention sphere, and revelation. He follows it up with connections which eats a top decked revoke existence. He beats me down with mutavaults for a while i attempt to rebuild my hand. I find and play an elspeth which eats a hero's downfall during my opponents following turn. I set up opportunity the following turn and cast it in response to durress. Drew mostly crap and a verdict. He takes the verdict and casts DD. I draw Fated and pass. He activates three mutavualts after i tap demon down with a soldier token and I blow them up with the demon. The blowout set him back quite a bit, and I rebuilt and assumed control with a resolved elspeth after a fairly large sphinx's revelation. Win 2-1
Round 2 Mono Black devotion w/ Blue Splash Didn't really know what I was up against after game 1. His starting play was Thoughtseize, he cast Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver on turn 3 and connections on turn 4. I try to keep ashiok from ultimate with a pair of mutavaults but both eat removal spells ashiok obliterates my hand. he starts beating down with a Nightveil Specter, and I concede shortly thereafter. I hedge with my sideboard as I'm not really sure if he's B/U Control or a Black devotion list. Game 2 suffers from this because he comes out of the gates with a more traditional Mono Black start and he knows exactly what I'm playing. I was however able to stick a jace memory adept and wipe out his library. I change my sideboard, but game three was a mull to five that got stuck on two lands. Lose 1-2. Current record 1-1
Round 3 U/W Control - Game 1 was tricky. My build was more focused on dealing with monsters and mono-black variants, and decimating the mirror with more efficient countermagic post board. Game 1 was hard because he had more countermagic then me, but it was fairly even until he was able to resolve an AEtherling. I wasn't able to race or chain revs to keep ahead so I lost. 3 Gainsay, 2 Negate, 2 Dispel, 1 Opportunity, 1 Jace Memory Adept, 2 Revoke Existence, 3 Archangel of Thune in. 3 Azorius Charm, 3 Celestial Flare, 3 Last Breath, 4 Supreme Verdict, and 1 Detention Sphere came out. Games 2 and 3 were very similar. His post board countermagic was very similar to his pre board countermagic, which was a lot less efficient then mine. I was able to force through large draw spells while keeping him shut out of his. He fell behind in land count as a result, and I overwhelmed him by attacking from multiple angles. Won 2-1 Record 2-1
Round 4 U/w Ephara Devotion This matchup was fairly easy. All of my one for answers line up spectacularly to his threats, and the fact that he had numerous non creature devotion enablers was actually detrimental as I was able to Celstial Flare his Gods on multiple occasions. 3 Archangel of Thune, 2 Revoke Existence, and 3 Gainsay in, 2 Divination, 1 Elixir of Immortality, 1 Fated Retribution, 3 Azorius Charm and 1 Dissolve came out. The Mono blue sideboard plan is very diverse, but generally they try to be a bit more tempo. I was expecting him to take out his less efficient creatures that are just bad in the match for countermagic and a big blue win con like big Jace or Aetherling, So I wanted to cover those bases. He got stuck on 2 and I ran him over with a pair of Archangels, so i guess we won't really know what his plan was. Won 2-0 Record 3-1
Round 5 Bant Midrange - The combination of Voice or Resurgence and Loxodon Smiter, powerful planeswalkers like Kiora, the Crashing Wave and Elspeth, Sun's Champion, flash creatures like Advent of the Wurm and Boon Satyr, and Sphinx's Revelation made this a very frustrating match. Game 1 was almost all about answering his Planeswalkers before they went boom, as both elspeth and Kiora were one away from ultimate before I found the appropriate answer. I was eventually able to pull ahead, but doing so was difficult. I don't really remember how I sideboarded, I do remember that I had trouble figuring out how to sideboard, because countermagic had the potential to be both good and bad, and the only thing I was positive i wanted was Archangel of Thune. If anyone has any idea what would be a good sideboard plan for this deck please let me know, because this match was very difficult to board for. Game two he was able to build up kiora to an ultimate rather quickly and I just couldn't find a way to deal with it. Giant 9/9 krakens were a pain and a detention sphere on elspeth collapsed my house of cards. Game 3 was very similar to the back and forth of game one, which Archangel helped with immensely. I had ultimately decided that a little bit of countermagic was worth the risk a bit as I saw countermagic and Revelation in game two. We both managed to resolve a fairly large Revelation at about the same time, but I was the first to untap and had a window to work while he was tapped out. I think that was the first time I cast a sorcery speed Retribution. The back and forth continued for a very long time until I ultimately was able to run his hand and board out of threats. I kept countermagic up for subsequent revelations, and finally beat him down with archangel to win the game. Won 2-1. 4-1 Record.
Round 6 R/w Devotion - I was not expecting this at the PTQ, but my pre-board plan was pretty favorable, and post board it was very difficult for him to deal with Archangels. The higher density of threats that my deck ran in concert with extensive early disruption made this match really easy. 3 Dissolve, 1 Fated Retribution, 1 Elixir of Immortality, 1 Divination out. 3 Archangel of Thune, 2 Revoke Existence, 1 Blind Obedience in. Won 2-0. 5-1 Record.
Round 7 RUG Monsters-My tiebreakers were bad so I couldn't draw into top eight, which sucks cause this was my second loss. The blue splash featured kiora, cyclonic rift, and Aetherling out of the board. Game 1 I was a dominant force throughout the course of the match. His early pressure died to spot removal, so he tried to play the planeswalker game, which I was actually able to pressure with elspeth tokens and detention sphere. He conceded to a revelation for eight and we went to game 2. Again, I wasn't entirely sure how to board because the blue splash had me considering multiple sideboard plans from him. I brought in Archangels and Negates, and cut Azorius Charm and Divination. Game 2 was a mull to six that looked like a reasonable 3 land hand, that didn't draw into more land. I was stuck on three for quite a while and just couldn't deal with all the threats. I did see a negate on D-Sphere so I know he brings in countermagic. Game 3 was an uphill battle against multiple planeswalkers that I think was winnable, but I think I miscalculated on a few important turns. I find answers to Domri Rade, his first Stormbreath Dragon, and a Mistcutter Hydra, but they knocked me around a bit before hand. Despite the fact that he successfully ultimates Kiora, I was very close to establishing control with a resolved Elspeth clearing his board. I actually know most of the contents of his hand thanks to courser, but he had gotten one free draw since then. Turns out that it was Cyclonic Rift that overloaded my board away. I proceeded to die to a stormbreath dragon off the top. Lost 1-2 Record 5-2. (I saw an Aetherling off of courser, but he never got the third mana to cast it with protection, after rift I was effectively dead to blue source or stormbreath).
Notes - Felt that Last Breath and Fated Retribution were both a little iffy. Flare was amazing, but was made better by the additional spot removal. The matches I lost I felt were fairly winnable, but not finding lands was an issue. I think I would take fated out for 27th land, probably another Island. I also think I could also afford to add three copies of temple of silence in place of three plains. Seven Sources of black should support three copies of Ultimate Price which I think look better in this meta then last breath. Outside of these changes though, I love how the deck performed and look forward to playing it some more. I would like a little advice from other people on the Bant deck, if they have experience against it, as I wasn't really sure how to board and I've seen it a few times.
Decklist seems pretty stock and good for an open metagame.
I think you could try to play faster? That could mean planning out your turns in advance and using your opponent's turns to do some thinking, thoroughly understanding the high-level match-ups in your metagame, or even conceding a rough game 1 (i.e. in the mirror match) when you are obviously behind. On the flip side of that last point, some opponents don't realize that you've effectively won when you are casting Sphinx's Revelation for a quarter or third of the remaining deck and keep putting out Elixir of Immortality as you dig for a win condition. This usually happens in game 1. Sometimes it helps to reveal a hand full of countermagic and card draw while they are top-decking. Most opponents will get it and the reality is most decks have improved post-board matchups against control.
I understand you want to play Slaughter Games and won't try to deter you otherwise, but Rest in Peace is a wasted SB slot. Elixir builds are not the most popular at the moment and reanimator is virtually non-existent.
One of my buddies is interested in playing this deck, and we were discussing about the mutavaults. For some reason, I couldn't get through his head that they are so so important to the deck. So, that got me thinking - Actually how important are the mutavaults to the deck?
They are incredibly important. The deck itself is very weak to Mutavault and it's not uncommon for somebody to just get you by attacking with 2 Mutavaults for muliple turns. Mutavaults of your own are one of the best defenses against this. The other primary importance is that you cannot pressure Planeswalkers effectively without them. Playing Verdict and being able to deal 1-4 damage to a planeswalker with Mutavault can be the difference between winning and losing.
Managed to go 5-3 at at PTQ on Sunday, although I really can't claim that my record was that good, as I'll explain... In all three losses, I can point to playing mistakes I made that might have cost me each of the matches. I did also learn some essential sideboard tweaks I'll be trying. Here is what I brought with me:
Round 1 was against Gruul Midrange. I knew it would be a tough match, and it was my first loss. Made a critical error in game 3. I was at 7 and he had Boon Satyr out. I had 6 mana available. I could have played Elspeth, or I could have played Supreme Verdict and Blind Obedience. I went with the former, concluding that an Elspeth token could block the Boon Satyr and then I'd be on my way to building the victory army. Unfortunately, I forgot that bloodrushed Ghor-Clan Rampager also gives trample, which was just enough to get the 7 damage past one of the tokens. The other option would have been better. It would have at least been impossible for him to kill me on his next turn, as the blind obedience would stop any haste worries.
Round 2 was against A biomancer deck. It was a fairly easy 2-0 win, being somewhat combo oriented I just had to make sure I took out the biomancers with counters or Last Breath.
Round 3 was against UW Devotion (basically monoblue but with Ephara as well). This is a good matchup for me, as Last Breath works on almost everything in the deck. This was a 2-1 win.
Round 4 was against some kind of UBR control deck. I remember he got me once with Rakdos Return, but I won the match 2-1.
Round 5 was against Red Deck Wins. This turned out to be my 2nd loss, on game 3. I sideboarded really badly against this deck (I took out my Verdicts seeing only 1 creature each of the first two games, and then lost the ability to get rid of his creatures on game 3), and realized I didn't really have what I needed in the sideboard to begin with (Fiendslayer Paladin).
Then it got kind of silly. Round 6, my opponent didn't show up. So I got a win. Then in round 7, the same thing happened. I was now 5-2, where one more win would earn me 1/2 booster box.
Round 8 was a mirror match. I sideboarded very badly here, falling for the old mistake of sideboarding against the maindeck rather than sideboarding in preparation for opponent's sideboarding. I took out Celestial Flare, Nullify, and Supreme Verdict, and he played 2 blood barons. He was also much more skilled at playing the control archetype than I currently am.
In spite of the losses, I still feel pretty good. I had hoped no better than 50/50. And I was able to identify the mistakes I made, which hopefully will help in avoiding them in the future.
A few changes to the sideboard after this event. I took out the 2 extra Quicken, and I'm replacing those with Fiendslayer Paladins, which should be good against RDW, Rakdos Aggro, and the newcomer deck monoblack aggro. Quicken is great, but I will just have to play it differently. It's good when facing Stormbreath Dragon, Mistcutter Hydra, and especially Obzedat, but I will have to stop cycling them for draw and just hold onto them until I need them (and have the verdict in hand). Only 1 Jace Memory Adept now, and bumped the Council of the Absolute up to 2. So I know this card is not a popular choice, but here's what happened. I played it against the mirror match (for Rev), the biomancer deck (for the biomancer), and the UBR Control (in fear of Slaughter Games). It got countered every time, so it never really got to do what it was meant to do, however if it seems to invoke that much fear in my opponent then I think playing it is the right choice. I'll try it for a while before I make up my final opinion on the card. Also, the deck was supposed to have 5 Islands and 3 Plains. That's been corrected.
EDIT: And I only just now noticed that Council of the Absolute cannot name creatures, so my plan for the biomancer would not have worked even if it had not been countered.
@Ruxin Mutavault is as close as Standard gets to the good creature lands. Those are huge wincons in other formats and not surprisingly powerful in Standard. They act as offense, defense, and mana all wrapped up in one. Play 2-4 (depending on your mana base) and love it.
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@Ruxin Mutavault is as close as Standard gets to the good creature lands. Those are huge wincons in other formats and not surprisingly powerful in Standard. They act as offense, defense, and mana all wrapped up in one. Play 2-4 (depending on your mana base) and love it.
finally bit the bullet and bought 2 of my own, playing tonight and I'm sure I'll love them. I played with them some when a buddy of mine wasn't using his full set, but not long enough to get used to it.
no one likes revoke existence in the main? It deals with so much stuff...
I've played 1x mainboard and 1x in my sideboard in my last list and liked it. It's rarely expected mainboard and almost every deck has something it can hit. Don't forget that it hits Courser of Kruphix.
no one likes revoke existence in the main? It deals with so much stuff...
I think it's a great card and I had a couple in my sideboard until recently. The main issue I ended up having with it is that creatures are really the big threat against UW Control. If I really , absolutely must deal with a non-creature enchantment or artifact, I can use a Detention Sphere for that (to the best of my knowledge, no enchantments or artifacts in Standard have hexproof or protection from blue/white).
I'm interested in knowing if running 3-4 Archangel of Thune in the side is still viable and what its strengths are against each matchup. Along with that how does running Archangel of Thunes compare to throwing in black and running the same amount of Blood Barons along with Doom Blade/ Ultimate Price.
I'm aiming to go with one of these two options with my sideboard, just trying to figure out which would be better to cover an average and even spread meta.
I've been pondering over archangel vs blood baron as well!
I play exclusively magic online, but I'm pretty sure blood baron is slightly better right now
because they play similar roles but baron can't be d-sphered or helixed from Burn (though honestly either is probably good here anyway). And it also would have utility against monoblack variants. Then again angel has flying so im not entirely sure. I've just been a cheapskate (not budget, just lazy :P) but because burn is so prevalent im ready to invest.
As far as the doom blade splash I have three in the sideboard and they are gas!
vs. RW Devotion (using Chained to the Rocks and Warleader's Helix) +BBoV, -AoT (without Chained and Helix) -BBoV, +AoT (AoT blocks Chandra's Phoneix and get's out of their removal range quickly, plus can't itself be blocked on the ground and accelerates with Blind Obedience extort triggers)
vs. RW Burn (using Chained to the Rocks and Warleader's Helix) +BBoV, -AoT (without Chained and Helix) -BBoV, +AoT (AoT blocks Chandra's Phoneix and get's out of their removal range quickly, plus can't itself be blocked on the ground and accelerates with Blind Obedience extort triggers)
vs. Control (using D-Sphere and possibly Doom Blade, but also with and against Elspeth) +BBoV (vs. non-Elspeth targeted hate), +AoT (with your Elspeth and against theirs)
vs. Mono-B +BBoV, -AoT
vs. Mono-U -BBoV, +AoT
vs. GR Monsters -BBoV, +AoT
vs. GW/Naya Aggro +BBoV, +AoT
vs. UW/Esper Humans +BBoV, -AoT
So out of 8 match-ups: 4 for BBoV, 4 for AoT, 2 tied (the RW matches are very conditional).
It really, really depends on what you expect to face. I think the B commitment also has to go from a splash to a major Black mana commitment. At that point, you may as well go full-on Esper.
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Sam Pardee and Josh McClain both made top 8 of TCGPlayer Diamond events (Sam made the top 4 in Santa Clara, Josh got 2nd in Chicago) with the following list:
Anybody else feel like the sudden shift towards Esper is really advantageous for us? I feel like that deck has a lot of trouble with us and RW Burn.
I think UW is especially well positioned against both of those decks. Also, I have gone 2-0-1, split the prize and 3-1 Top 4 split for prize two weeks in a row with my list. I am dropping all 3 Dark Betrayal and 1 Doom Blade and adding 1 Negate, 1 Ultimate Price, and 2 Revoke Existence. Revoke is really good right now, Ultimate hits almost everything I care about, especially with Nightveil losing steam, and additional counter for Burn and the mirror feels right.
BTW, still absolutely loving main deck Pithing Needle and Fated Retribution. All the decks you bring them in against never see it coming and you just steal a game from them quite often. Fated just blows out GR game 1. Elixir of Immortality is still excellent in the mirror and fine against grindy Mid-Range decks like Mono-B Devotion.
Right now my strategy is to shore up Game 1 in the meta and then try and keep at 50% or better game 2 and let them have to over-adjust, which seems to be working as I am playing a bit loose but still taking people down.
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I don't think more people playing U/W/b is advantageous to U/W at all. 4 Thoughtseize, Notion Thief, Blood Baron or Nightveil Specters are huge advantages that U/W doesn't have.
Esper Control is going to make Midrange Beatdown decks, especially GR Monsters, harder to play, and fast burn weakens Midrange Control decks because Burn cares less about the board state and Chandra's Phoenix's recursion from burn dilutes their removal quality. Some people didn't like the Boros Reckoner in the deck that topped Seattle, but he is a blocker that is 1+ burn spells on a stick. If Naya Aggro becomes a deck, then a proper aggro deck will return to the format. It has combat tricks for days and would be a real pain in the tuchus for any control deck. It still just folds to Mono-U and probably also to UW Devotion, so it may not have legs. It is one thing to have a bad match. It is another to have like a 15% win chance again a major archetype.
As for our game versus Esper...
Hand destruction is less good if I can just draw new cards and if I run a lot of 4-of, that is, redundancy. Played against it last night, just overwhelmed it with draw quality. However, if you keep a sketchy hand and they can Thoughtseize you 2x in a row, yes, it is a Sad Panda moment and you will have to recover. Of course, assuming they made land drops, they are now at 16, and have 5 cards in hand. You are at 20 with 5 cards in hand. As long as you still have a couple of viable cards and some lands, that is fine.
Notion Thief is cute, but not played that much because control is the only match where it is any good and their sideboard has limits.
I haven't seen Nightveil Specter in Esper Control, but maybe I missed something. It also dies like flies to our vast removal. Great in a creature deck like Mono-B and Mono-U, not so good here.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa is obviously a fine reason to play Esper, but we currently have access to up to 9 sweepers (2-3 Elspeth, 1-2 Fated Retribution, 4 Supreme Verdict), so even a resolved one scares me not much. I am far more worried about a resolved Aetherling in the mirror.
So what it comes down to is a deck that runs less draw, more main deck targeted removal for our tiny number of targets, possibly some extra maindeck creatures to we actually have some targets Game 1, and less counter magic against... Better mana, capacity for more counters main, more card advantage (potentially), Elixir. All of that is, for my money, more important in the control matches.
The deck I lost to last night? An even more UW deck than mine (he ran a few xB Temples for scry, but I don't think I ever saw Black spells) where he got me with Jace, Memory Adept because I misplayed and could never resolve an answer to it after that. I lost the other game because his mana was more consistent and Divination is good in that match (as well as the Mono-B match.) I would side Opportunity if I had room, but I am not letting go of my three Archangel of Thune unless Burn goes away.
The Control deck I beat? A real Esper deck (Vizkopas and Thoughtseizes and Hero's Downfalls), where even when I was mana-screwed for a couple of turns game I, he had a hand full of dead removal and I had counters, Jaces, and Revs.
@Everyone
What do you think about the idea that you don't do Aetherling and Elixir of Immortality together in the same deck?
Keep in mind, I run maindeck Pithing Needle and Fated Retribution, so I am a freak.
I like them together and they even offer certain tricks. For example, if you resolve Elixir, you can feel free to play out Aetherling with a couple mana open and make your opponent make mistakes. If they do manage to kill Aetherling, you can recycle Elixir, gain 5, and start digging again. I am far less afraid to run things into counter-magic if I have Elixir around.
This is Wafo-Tapa's list. It runs it's essentially the same as U/W except it runs 12 scrylands instead of U/Ws 4-8 and has 2 Thoughtseize in the main instead of any number of Last Breaths/Flares. It has a clear advantage in Game 1 of Control Mirrors thanks to Thoughtseizes ability to push through threats and the filtering from the addtional scrylands, in my opinion.
Game 2 and 3
It's expected that they will go up to 4 Thoughtseize and board in 2 Gainsay, 1 Revoke Existence, Notion Thief, 2 Nightveil Specter. Specter fills a similar role as Blood Baron except it comes down much earlier and is easier to play post game with protection back-up. UW often will leave in 1 Verdict, and some number of Detention Spheres as there only answers to Specter which leaves more openings for Jace and Elspeth to do more damage. Thoughtseize functions as proactive countermagic that gives you perfect information.
I can't see anyway that UW is favored in any of these games. I played the Esper vs UW Elixir matchup monday with a good friend of mine. We played 2 Game 1s which both went to Esper and then 8 sideboarded games with Esper winning 7 of the 8.
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Ugh, such bad beats. I started the Rayburn hitting a pothole and doing a number on my front passenger tire. Not a good start.
Round 1 was vs RW. He started with a Phoenix, which hit a few times before it got Wrathed away. I started to cast a Rev, he went for Skullcrack mana, so I held off until I had Dissolve mana, at which point I Dissolved it. I cast Elspeth, make dudes, he kills Elspeth and a dude, but 2 soldiers and Mutavaults are more than enough to win. Game 2 I mulled to 5 and just couldn't hit my land drops. Game 3, he got out to a quicker start than I did and I couldn't keep up. In retrospect, I sided incorrectly and that didn't help any
Round 2 was vs Mono Blue vs one of the better grinders here. I took game 1 with Elspeth, earthing and dsphering away a Thassa. Game 2 he got Bident out while I continued to stumble on lands. Game 3 I made a critical error. I dsphering his T3 Thassa. On T5 or 6, he casts Revoke Existence on the DSphere. He then casts Bident. I had a Dissolve in hand for the Bident, and anothe DS for the Thassa, but I didn't counter and paid for it. He crushed me with MutVaults and card advantage.
Round 3 was vs UWb. Game 1 he stumbles a little so I take advantage. I Jace twice, land Elspeth and make 9 tokens for the win. Game 2, he Thoughtseizes me T1, taking Rev. He tries again but I Dissolve. My critical error was him Revving for 3 and I countered. He untapped and cast Elspeth. That's pretty much lights out. He drops Aetherling just to make sure I was dead. G3 I mulled to 4 with one Temple, only to get Thoughtseized and my Verdict was dumped. I bricked for a few turns, he drops Blood Baron and Aetherling, and I extend my hand.
On the bright side, I only need to replace 2 of my tires, not all 4
Check out my blog and help me improve my game
Currently playing:
Standard BUG Control
Modern :UAffinity, GNyxWave
Legacy UBTezzAffinity
My Cube
1 AEtherling
PLANESWALKERS (7):
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
ENCHANTMENTS (4):
4 Detention Sphere
SORCERIES (4):
4 Supreme Verdict
INSTANTS (17):
2 Syncopate
3 Dissolve
1 Nullify
3 Last Breath
3 Azorius Charm
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Fated Retribution
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Deceit
3 Mutavault
5 Plains
5 Island
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Gainsay
3 Doom Blade
2 Dark Betrayal
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
admittedly, i showed up with very little tuning. my testing partner flaked on me a whole bunch, but the basic theory of the deck went back to saito: a consistent deck with modular boarding design to combat the expected meta. i moved down to 6 counters because i felt that with rg and black being so prevalent, a counter is the last card i want to draw in a top deck war. one-of fated retribution in the main was an excellent card, and i attribute a fair portion of my success against rg monsters (5-1 rounds, 11-1 by games) to that card. one-of nullify was a huge blow out; i caught like 2 different underworld connections on two mana with it. it felt pretty bad in my control mirror though. i was basically at 5 counters to his 7 (draw).
mono blue: +2 gainsay +3 doom blade
-1 aetherling -1 fated retribution -2 syncopate (play/draw) -1 azorius charm
i have a lot of experience with this match up from a thune-less cuneo standpoint. she is probably the best card to bring in for this match up, but i felt the presence of blue shrinking, so i adjusted my sideboard accordingly. as it was, i didn't see a single blue on my way.
mono black: +2 negate +2 dark betrayal +2 blood baron
-1 fated retribution -3 azorius charm -2 syncopate
i expected a good bit of this match up, but instead of straight black, i saw mostly bw control. i think all board-ins here are obvious.
rg: +3 brimaz, +2 negate +3 doom blade
-3 azorius charm, -2 jace, -3 last breath
brimaz seems weird, but on curve and on the play, he absolutely hoses rg. he also is a great board-in against unexpected aggro, and can really put control on a clock. his cat even interacts favorably with jace! t3 brimaz, t4 detention sphere can really throw their game plan off against you. they'll be fishing for a t3 domri, and he comes into play so unexpectedly early that rg often has no interaction with him. he makes t3 domri t4 xenagos awkward for them, and gives you a bit of efficient board presence to deal with incoming mistcutters.
control: -4 verdict, -3 last breath, -1 nullify, -2 azorius charm
+3 brimaz, +1 dispel, +2 negate, +2 gainsay, +2 blood baron
pretty straightforward.
the deck as-is helped me into 36th place. my updated list is:
1 AEtherling
PLANESWALKERS (7):
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
ENCHANTMENTS (4):
4 Detention Sphere
SORCERIES (4):
4 Supreme Verdict
INSTANTS (17):
2 Syncopate
4 Dissolve
2 Doom Blade
4 Azorius Charm
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Fated Retribution
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Deceit
3 Mutavault
4 Plains
4 Island
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Revoke Existence
1 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Gainsay
2 Doom Blade
2 Dark Betrayal
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Silence
2 Mutavault
6 Island
5 Plains
1 Ætherling
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Detention Sphere
2 Azorius Charm
1 Fated Retribution
1 Revoke Existence
1 Celestial Flare
2 Last Breath
4 Dissolve
2 Syncopate
2 Dark Betrayal
2 Doom Blade
1 Blind Obedience
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Negate
1 Opportunity
1 Pithing Needle
1 Celestial Flare
1 Fated Retribution
1 Ratchet Bomb
I do understand that my deck has a lot of one-ofs, but I feel it's a pretty solid way to run. One of the changes I am going to make is dropping the flare main board, and maybe throwing another Azorius Charm or Last Breath in it's place. Also, I'm looking to add more Blood Baron of Vizkopa in the sideboard, just don't have them at the moment.
Anyways, onto the matchups:
Round 1 - Mono Black Devotion - 1-0 (2-0)
Pretty easy win this round, he's a little bit of a younger kid and doesn't seem 100% confident in some of his plays.
Round 2 - Mono Blue Devotion - 2-0 (2-0)
Another easy win, he overextended into a verdict game 1, and in game 2 I landed a quick elspeth which took over the game.
Round 3 - RGw Monsters - 3-0 (2-0)
This match actually worried me, because I had seen him win the gameday a few days before. He splashed white for Voice of Resurgance and Archangel of Thune. Game 1 I stabilized at 1 life with an end of turn sphinx which drew me another sphinx and a verdict, plus a couple of cards I can't remember. Game 2 I chained together multiple sphinx's and put the beatdown on with elspeth.
Round 4 - Maze's End - 4-0 (2-1)
I offered the draw at the beginning of the round to my opponent, because I knew we could both double draw in and make top 8.
Game 1 I had no answers, and he got his 10 gates with a maze's end and that was that.
Game 2 I dug hard to find a DSphere for his Crackling Perimeter and a Pithing needle for his Maze's End.
Game 3 he had 8 or 9 gates in play with no maze's end in sight. I found pithing needle for the Maze's End for security, and beat him down with aetherling.
Round 5 - Jund Monsters - 4-0-1 (ID)
Top 8 - Mono Black Devotion - 4-1-1 (1-2)
Game 1 He scooped them after I went elspeth, next turn big revelation.
Game 2 He beat me to death with mutavaults, as I couldn't find an answer to them.
Game 3 I was just short of stabilizing, and again a nightveil and mutavault killed me.
Things to note for me, is that if I don't see my own mutavaults or Last Breath's, I end up in a lot of trouble taking damage from mutavaults. Also, might consider upping Elspeth to 3. I'm never sad to see an Elspeth of the top of the deck.
If you insist on playing it what you call will vary whether you are playing against an Elixir Build or Saito's/Esper list.
Slaughter Game Targets in Order of Importance
1. Sphinx's Revelation
2. Elspeth Sun's Champion
3. Aetherling
You could make an argument to call Aetherling second instead of Elspeth, but you have a higher probability of hitting an Elspeth in hand than hitting Aetherling so I value that higher, however, if they resolve Aetherling the game ends almost immediately so pick your poison. Some Elixir builds only play Elspeth as their win condition so if you know that calling Elspeth first and Elixir second is the game plan, but beware because they can still beat you with a Jace ultimate.
4 Detention Sphere
4 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Celestial Flares
3 Azorius Charm
3 Last Breath
3 Dissolve
2 Divination
1 Fated Retribution
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Deceit
8 Plains
4 Island
2 Mutavault
3 Archangel of Thune
3 Gainsay
2 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Opportunity
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Blind Obedience
2 Revoke Existence
Here's the tournament report
Round 1 Mono Black devotion - Game 1 was fairly straightforward. He had active Connections for a few turns before I found a detentions sphere to deal with it, but their's just so many dead cards game 1 that it didn't really pull him that far ahead. I was able to generate a long game and started chaining sphinx's revelations. 3 dissolve 3 azorius charm out, 3 Archangel of Thune 2 revoke existence 1 Opportunity came in. Game 2 I got stuck on 3 lands and was run over by multiple Desecration Demons with multiple verdicts in hand. Game 3 he leads off with thoughtseize into duress-thoughtseize and plucks an elspeth, detention sphere, and revelation. He follows it up with connections which eats a top decked revoke existence. He beats me down with mutavaults for a while i attempt to rebuild my hand. I find and play an elspeth which eats a hero's downfall during my opponents following turn. I set up opportunity the following turn and cast it in response to durress. Drew mostly crap and a verdict. He takes the verdict and casts DD. I draw Fated and pass. He activates three mutavualts after i tap demon down with a soldier token and I blow them up with the demon. The blowout set him back quite a bit, and I rebuilt and assumed control with a resolved elspeth after a fairly large sphinx's revelation. Win 2-1
Round 2 Mono Black devotion w/ Blue Splash Didn't really know what I was up against after game 1. His starting play was Thoughtseize, he cast Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver on turn 3 and connections on turn 4. I try to keep ashiok from ultimate with a pair of mutavaults but both eat removal spells ashiok obliterates my hand. he starts beating down with a Nightveil Specter, and I concede shortly thereafter. I hedge with my sideboard as I'm not really sure if he's B/U Control or a Black devotion list. Game 2 suffers from this because he comes out of the gates with a more traditional Mono Black start and he knows exactly what I'm playing. I was however able to stick a jace memory adept and wipe out his library. I change my sideboard, but game three was a mull to five that got stuck on two lands. Lose 1-2. Current record 1-1
Round 3 U/W Control - Game 1 was tricky. My build was more focused on dealing with monsters and mono-black variants, and decimating the mirror with more efficient countermagic post board. Game 1 was hard because he had more countermagic then me, but it was fairly even until he was able to resolve an AEtherling. I wasn't able to race or chain revs to keep ahead so I lost. 3 Gainsay, 2 Negate, 2 Dispel, 1 Opportunity, 1 Jace Memory Adept, 2 Revoke Existence, 3 Archangel of Thune in. 3 Azorius Charm, 3 Celestial Flare, 3 Last Breath, 4 Supreme Verdict, and 1 Detention Sphere came out. Games 2 and 3 were very similar. His post board countermagic was very similar to his pre board countermagic, which was a lot less efficient then mine. I was able to force through large draw spells while keeping him shut out of his. He fell behind in land count as a result, and I overwhelmed him by attacking from multiple angles. Won 2-1 Record 2-1
Round 4 U/w Ephara Devotion This matchup was fairly easy. All of my one for answers line up spectacularly to his threats, and the fact that he had numerous non creature devotion enablers was actually detrimental as I was able to Celstial Flare his Gods on multiple occasions. 3 Archangel of Thune, 2 Revoke Existence, and 3 Gainsay in, 2 Divination, 1 Elixir of Immortality, 1 Fated Retribution, 3 Azorius Charm and 1 Dissolve came out. The Mono blue sideboard plan is very diverse, but generally they try to be a bit more tempo. I was expecting him to take out his less efficient creatures that are just bad in the match for countermagic and a big blue win con like big Jace or Aetherling, So I wanted to cover those bases. He got stuck on 2 and I ran him over with a pair of Archangels, so i guess we won't really know what his plan was. Won 2-0 Record 3-1
Round 5 Bant Midrange - The combination of Voice or Resurgence and Loxodon Smiter, powerful planeswalkers like Kiora, the Crashing Wave and Elspeth, Sun's Champion, flash creatures like Advent of the Wurm and Boon Satyr, and Sphinx's Revelation made this a very frustrating match. Game 1 was almost all about answering his Planeswalkers before they went boom, as both elspeth and Kiora were one away from ultimate before I found the appropriate answer. I was eventually able to pull ahead, but doing so was difficult. I don't really remember how I sideboarded, I do remember that I had trouble figuring out how to sideboard, because countermagic had the potential to be both good and bad, and the only thing I was positive i wanted was Archangel of Thune. If anyone has any idea what would be a good sideboard plan for this deck please let me know, because this match was very difficult to board for. Game two he was able to build up kiora to an ultimate rather quickly and I just couldn't find a way to deal with it. Giant 9/9 krakens were a pain and a detention sphere on elspeth collapsed my house of cards. Game 3 was very similar to the back and forth of game one, which Archangel helped with immensely. I had ultimately decided that a little bit of countermagic was worth the risk a bit as I saw countermagic and Revelation in game two. We both managed to resolve a fairly large Revelation at about the same time, but I was the first to untap and had a window to work while he was tapped out. I think that was the first time I cast a sorcery speed Retribution. The back and forth continued for a very long time until I ultimately was able to run his hand and board out of threats. I kept countermagic up for subsequent revelations, and finally beat him down with archangel to win the game. Won 2-1. 4-1 Record.
Round 6 R/w Devotion - I was not expecting this at the PTQ, but my pre-board plan was pretty favorable, and post board it was very difficult for him to deal with Archangels. The higher density of threats that my deck ran in concert with extensive early disruption made this match really easy. 3 Dissolve, 1 Fated Retribution, 1 Elixir of Immortality, 1 Divination out. 3 Archangel of Thune, 2 Revoke Existence, 1 Blind Obedience in. Won 2-0. 5-1 Record.
Round 7 RUG Monsters-My tiebreakers were bad so I couldn't draw into top eight, which sucks cause this was my second loss. The blue splash featured kiora, cyclonic rift, and Aetherling out of the board. Game 1 I was a dominant force throughout the course of the match. His early pressure died to spot removal, so he tried to play the planeswalker game, which I was actually able to pressure with elspeth tokens and detention sphere. He conceded to a revelation for eight and we went to game 2. Again, I wasn't entirely sure how to board because the blue splash had me considering multiple sideboard plans from him. I brought in Archangels and Negates, and cut Azorius Charm and Divination. Game 2 was a mull to six that looked like a reasonable 3 land hand, that didn't draw into more land. I was stuck on three for quite a while and just couldn't deal with all the threats. I did see a negate on D-Sphere so I know he brings in countermagic. Game 3 was an uphill battle against multiple planeswalkers that I think was winnable, but I think I miscalculated on a few important turns. I find answers to Domri Rade, his first Stormbreath Dragon, and a Mistcutter Hydra, but they knocked me around a bit before hand. Despite the fact that he successfully ultimates Kiora, I was very close to establishing control with a resolved Elspeth clearing his board. I actually know most of the contents of his hand thanks to courser, but he had gotten one free draw since then. Turns out that it was Cyclonic Rift that overloaded my board away. I proceeded to die to a stormbreath dragon off the top. Lost 1-2 Record 5-2. (I saw an Aetherling off of courser, but he never got the third mana to cast it with protection, after rift I was effectively dead to blue source or stormbreath).
Notes - Felt that Last Breath and Fated Retribution were both a little iffy. Flare was amazing, but was made better by the additional spot removal. The matches I lost I felt were fairly winnable, but not finding lands was an issue. I think I would take fated out for 27th land, probably another Island. I also think I could also afford to add three copies of temple of silence in place of three plains. Seven Sources of black should support three copies of Ultimate Price which I think look better in this meta then last breath. Outside of these changes though, I love how the deck performed and look forward to playing it some more. I would like a little advice from other people on the Bant deck, if they have experience against it, as I wasn't really sure how to board and I've seen it a few times.
I think you could try to play faster? That could mean planning out your turns in advance and using your opponent's turns to do some thinking, thoroughly understanding the high-level match-ups in your metagame, or even conceding a rough game 1 (i.e. in the mirror match) when you are obviously behind. On the flip side of that last point, some opponents don't realize that you've effectively won when you are casting Sphinx's Revelation for a quarter or third of the remaining deck and keep putting out Elixir of Immortality as you dig for a win condition. This usually happens in game 1. Sometimes it helps to reveal a hand full of countermagic and card draw while they are top-decking. Most opponents will get it and the reality is most decks have improved post-board matchups against control.
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
4 Plains
4 Mutavault
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Aetherling
2 Divination
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Detention Sphere
4 Dissolve
2 Nullify
2 Syncopate
2 Last Breath
2 Celestial Flare
2 Quicken
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Blind Obedience
2 Celestial Flare
2 Last Breath
1 Council of the Absolute
1 Pithing Needle
2 Quicken
2 Divination
2 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Negate
Round 1 was against Gruul Midrange. I knew it would be a tough match, and it was my first loss. Made a critical error in game 3. I was at 7 and he had Boon Satyr out. I had 6 mana available. I could have played Elspeth, or I could have played Supreme Verdict and Blind Obedience. I went with the former, concluding that an Elspeth token could block the Boon Satyr and then I'd be on my way to building the victory army. Unfortunately, I forgot that bloodrushed Ghor-Clan Rampager also gives trample, which was just enough to get the 7 damage past one of the tokens. The other option would have been better. It would have at least been impossible for him to kill me on his next turn, as the blind obedience would stop any haste worries.
Round 2 was against A biomancer deck. It was a fairly easy 2-0 win, being somewhat combo oriented I just had to make sure I took out the biomancers with counters or Last Breath.
Round 3 was against UW Devotion (basically monoblue but with Ephara as well). This is a good matchup for me, as Last Breath works on almost everything in the deck. This was a 2-1 win.
Round 4 was against some kind of UBR control deck. I remember he got me once with Rakdos Return, but I won the match 2-1.
Round 5 was against Red Deck Wins. This turned out to be my 2nd loss, on game 3. I sideboarded really badly against this deck (I took out my Verdicts seeing only 1 creature each of the first two games, and then lost the ability to get rid of his creatures on game 3), and realized I didn't really have what I needed in the sideboard to begin with (Fiendslayer Paladin).
Then it got kind of silly. Round 6, my opponent didn't show up. So I got a win. Then in round 7, the same thing happened. I was now 5-2, where one more win would earn me 1/2 booster box.
Round 8 was a mirror match. I sideboarded very badly here, falling for the old mistake of sideboarding against the maindeck rather than sideboarding in preparation for opponent's sideboarding. I took out Celestial Flare, Nullify, and Supreme Verdict, and he played 2 blood barons. He was also much more skilled at playing the control archetype than I currently am.
In spite of the losses, I still feel pretty good. I had hoped no better than 50/50. And I was able to identify the mistakes I made, which hopefully will help in avoiding them in the future.
A few changes to the sideboard after this event. I took out the 2 extra Quicken, and I'm replacing those with Fiendslayer Paladins, which should be good against RDW, Rakdos Aggro, and the newcomer deck monoblack aggro. Quicken is great, but I will just have to play it differently. It's good when facing Stormbreath Dragon, Mistcutter Hydra, and especially Obzedat, but I will have to stop cycling them for draw and just hold onto them until I need them (and have the verdict in hand). Only 1 Jace Memory Adept now, and bumped the Council of the Absolute up to 2. So I know this card is not a popular choice, but here's what happened. I played it against the mirror match (for Rev), the biomancer deck (for the biomancer), and the UBR Control (in fear of Slaughter Games). It got countered every time, so it never really got to do what it was meant to do, however if it seems to invoke that much fear in my opponent then I think playing it is the right choice. I'll try it for a while before I make up my final opinion on the card. Also, the deck was supposed to have 5 Islands and 3 Plains. That's been corrected.
EDIT: And I only just now noticed that Council of the Absolute cannot name creatures, so my plan for the biomancer would not have worked even if it had not been countered.
Mutavault is as close as Standard gets to the good creature lands. Those are huge wincons in other formats and not surprisingly powerful in Standard. They act as offense, defense, and mana all wrapped up in one. Play 2-4 (depending on your mana base) and love it.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
finally bit the bullet and bought 2 of my own, playing tonight and I'm sure I'll love them. I played with them some when a buddy of mine wasn't using his full set, but not long enough to get used to it.
I run one main, is useable nearly every matchup.
Also, @redtwister / everyone : mutavault rules so so so hard.
I think it's a great card and I had a couple in my sideboard until recently. The main issue I ended up having with it is that creatures are really the big threat against UW Control. If I really , absolutely must deal with a non-creature enchantment or artifact, I can use a Detention Sphere for that (to the best of my knowledge, no enchantments or artifacts in Standard have hexproof or protection from blue/white).
I'm interested in knowing if running 3-4 Archangel of Thune in the side is still viable and what its strengths are against each matchup. Along with that how does running Archangel of Thunes compare to throwing in black and running the same amount of Blood Barons along with Doom Blade/ Ultimate Price.
I'm aiming to go with one of these two options with my sideboard, just trying to figure out which would be better to cover an average and even spread meta.
I play exclusively magic online, but I'm pretty sure blood baron is slightly better right now
because they play similar roles but baron can't be d-sphered or helixed from Burn (though honestly either is probably good here anyway). And it also would have utility against monoblack variants. Then again angel has flying so im not entirely sure. I've just been a cheapskate (not budget, just lazy :P) but because burn is so prevalent im ready to invest.
As far as the doom blade splash I have three in the sideboard and they are gas!
vs. RW Devotion (using Chained to the Rocks and Warleader's Helix) +BBoV, -AoT (without Chained and Helix) -BBoV, +AoT (AoT blocks Chandra's Phoneix and get's out of their removal range quickly, plus can't itself be blocked on the ground and accelerates with Blind Obedience extort triggers)
vs. RW Burn (using Chained to the Rocks and Warleader's Helix) +BBoV, -AoT (without Chained and Helix) -BBoV, +AoT (AoT blocks Chandra's Phoneix and get's out of their removal range quickly, plus can't itself be blocked on the ground and accelerates with Blind Obedience extort triggers)
vs. Control (using D-Sphere and possibly Doom Blade, but also with and against Elspeth) +BBoV (vs. non-Elspeth targeted hate), +AoT (with your Elspeth and against theirs)
vs. Mono-B +BBoV, -AoT
vs. Mono-U -BBoV, +AoT
vs. GR Monsters -BBoV, +AoT
vs. GW/Naya Aggro +BBoV, +AoT
vs. UW/Esper Humans +BBoV, -AoT
So out of 8 match-ups: 4 for BBoV, 4 for AoT, 2 tied (the RW matches are very conditional).
It really, really depends on what you expect to face. I think the B commitment also has to go from a splash to a major Black mana commitment. At that point, you may as well go full-on Esper.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Azorius Charm
4 Detention Sphere
4 Dissolve
2 Divination
1 Fated Retribution
1 Last Breath
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Syncopate
4 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
3 Mutavault
5 Plains
1 Temple of Deceit
4 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Silence
3 Archangel of Thune
1 Blind Obedience
3 Gainsay
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Last Breath
2 Negate
1 Pithing Needle
2 Revoke Existence
Seems like a fairly stock list. I expect that one or both of them will write about it sometime this week.
I think UW is especially well positioned against both of those decks. Also, I have gone 2-0-1, split the prize and 3-1 Top 4 split for prize two weeks in a row with my list. I am dropping all 3 Dark Betrayal and 1 Doom Blade and adding 1 Negate, 1 Ultimate Price, and 2 Revoke Existence. Revoke is really good right now, Ultimate hits almost everything I care about, especially with Nightveil losing steam, and additional counter for Burn and the mirror feels right.
BTW, still absolutely loving main deck Pithing Needle and Fated Retribution. All the decks you bring them in against never see it coming and you just steal a game from them quite often. Fated just blows out GR game 1. Elixir of Immortality is still excellent in the mirror and fine against grindy Mid-Range decks like Mono-B Devotion.
Right now my strategy is to shore up Game 1 in the meta and then try and keep at 50% or better game 2 and let them have to over-adjust, which seems to be working as I am playing a bit loose but still taking people down.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
As for our game versus Esper...
Hand destruction is less good if I can just draw new cards and if I run a lot of 4-of, that is, redundancy. Played against it last night, just overwhelmed it with draw quality. However, if you keep a sketchy hand and they can Thoughtseize you 2x in a row, yes, it is a Sad Panda moment and you will have to recover. Of course, assuming they made land drops, they are now at 16, and have 5 cards in hand. You are at 20 with 5 cards in hand. As long as you still have a couple of viable cards and some lands, that is fine.
In fact, thoughtseize is apparently droppable in Esper... Silvestri on New Esper at Channel Fireball
Notion Thief is cute, but not played that much because control is the only match where it is any good and their sideboard has limits.
I haven't seen Nightveil Specter in Esper Control, but maybe I missed something. It also dies like flies to our vast removal. Great in a creature deck like Mono-B and Mono-U, not so good here.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa is obviously a fine reason to play Esper, but we currently have access to up to 9 sweepers (2-3 Elspeth, 1-2 Fated Retribution, 4 Supreme Verdict), so even a resolved one scares me not much. I am far more worried about a resolved Aetherling in the mirror.
So what it comes down to is a deck that runs less draw, more main deck targeted removal for our tiny number of targets, possibly some extra maindeck creatures to we actually have some targets Game 1, and less counter magic against... Better mana, capacity for more counters main, more card advantage (potentially), Elixir. All of that is, for my money, more important in the control matches.
The deck I lost to last night? An even more UW deck than mine (he ran a few xB Temples for scry, but I don't think I ever saw Black spells) where he got me with Jace, Memory Adept because I misplayed and could never resolve an answer to it after that. I lost the other game because his mana was more consistent and Divination is good in that match (as well as the Mono-B match.) I would side Opportunity if I had room, but I am not letting go of my three Archangel of Thune unless Burn goes away.
The Control deck I beat? A real Esper deck (Vizkopas and Thoughtseizes and Hero's Downfalls), where even when I was mana-screwed for a couple of turns game I, he had a hand full of dead removal and I had counters, Jaces, and Revs.
@Everyone
What do you think about the idea that you don't do Aetherling and Elixir of Immortality together in the same deck?
Keep in mind, I run maindeck Pithing Needle and Fated Retribution, so I am a freak.
I like them together and they even offer certain tricks. For example, if you resolve Elixir, you can feel free to play out Aetherling with a couple mana open and make your opponent make mistakes. If they do manage to kill Aetherling, you can recycle Elixir, gain 5, and start digging again. I am far less afraid to run things into counter-magic if I have Elixir around.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
5 Island
4 Temple of Silence
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Deceit
3 Godless Shrine
2 Mutavault
1 CREATURES
1 Ætherling
23 INSTANTS and SORCERIES
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Azorius Charm
4 Dissolve
2 Divination
2 Syncopate
2 Thoughtseize
1 Fated Retribution
4 Detention Sphere
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Thoughtseize
1 Fated Retribution
1 Blind Obedience
1 Notion Thief
2 Nightveil Specter
2 Dark Betrayal
1 Revoke Existence
1 Pithing Needle
2 Gainsay
2 Doom Blade
This is Wafo-Tapa's list. It runs it's essentially the same as U/W except it runs 12 scrylands instead of U/Ws 4-8 and has 2 Thoughtseize in the main instead of any number of Last Breaths/Flares. It has a clear advantage in Game 1 of Control Mirrors thanks to Thoughtseizes ability to push through threats and the filtering from the addtional scrylands, in my opinion.
Game 2 and 3
It's expected that they will go up to 4 Thoughtseize and board in 2 Gainsay, 1 Revoke Existence, Notion Thief, 2 Nightveil Specter. Specter fills a similar role as Blood Baron except it comes down much earlier and is easier to play post game with protection back-up. UW often will leave in 1 Verdict, and some number of Detention Spheres as there only answers to Specter which leaves more openings for Jace and Elspeth to do more damage. Thoughtseize functions as proactive countermagic that gives you perfect information.
I can't see anyway that UW is favored in any of these games. I played the Esper vs UW Elixir matchup monday with a good friend of mine. We played 2 Game 1s which both went to Esper and then 8 sideboarded games with Esper winning 7 of the 8.