,I present to you my Temur control deck. It is still version 1.0 but has been testing very well against other decks(abzan mid, jeskai aggro, mardu mid)
Break down of cards and interactions:
Hornet nest is a house against aggro and most mid range decks. It is not dead against anything however. Some nice tricks with this card are: Anger of the gods can sweep the board and leave behind 3 1/1 deathtouch fliers. Temur charm can fight another large creature and create many insects which can wall off against any deck. Against control decks I can Lightning Strike is EOT and go on the offensive with an army of insects.
Bident of Thassa is a test card that I'm pretty happy with so far, not only can i draw cards or have their flying creatures die in blocks but i can also make them come all in with their large or utility creatures only to block with Hornet Nest.
Steam Augury and TC are amazing at refueling my hand, will try Dig Though Time, seems like the better of the two
Burn Spells are there for obvious reasons, not sure if 3 is the right amount of Anger of the Gods but i am still messing with the numbers
Finishers, I think 4 finishers are too many right now and I'm not sure if I should be playing both Pearl Lake Ancient and Prognostic Sphinx.
The weakness i found with testing so far has been not closing out the games fast enough and that small amounts of damage add up after a while. Sarkhan, Dragonmaster is the only threat i have come across but its hard for them to land one through my wall of counters. I will try out Bow of Nylea for gain life ability or maybe i should just accept i cant be great against all match ups game one.
Strengths of the deck: Combat gets real scary for the opponent, will i end up with many insects, strike my nest and just deathtouch their attackers. 10 counters makes it hard for anything to land against me, early threats are no big deal against this deck.
I would love any advice for this deck. All of the losses were close but all of the wins were blow outs. There are so many lines of plays with this deck and it is very fun to pilot.
Tested something similar, the Hornet Nest really shores up against most of the creatures burn can't deal with. I do however play 4 Savage Knuckleblade instead of the Sphinxes/Ancient. He does a really good impersonation of Aetherling in addition to being great earlier. I also play miser's Chandra (great with Nest), Sarkhan (mostly as 4 to problem creatures) and Crater's Claws (situationally great with Knuckleblade, possible late game finisher).
I was literally sitting here thinking...I really want to make a Temur control deck, I wonder how I would go about it. Then BAM! this pops up. I agree with the previous comment, I would LOVE some savage knuckleblades in there. Chandra would also work well. With the knuckles and pearl lake I would probably also run a stubborn denial or two, gotta love them 1 mana hard counters =P
LOL.. Hornets Nest + Anger of the Gods... take me now, sailor. I can see them setting up for an alpha strike, then Xenagos just runs up and shakes the nest off a branch and throws it at them.
Really cool deck idea. How has Steam Augury been treating you?
I worry about your ability to deal with non-creature permanents. Clearly the plan is to lean on counters, but you may want to seek out a few broad answers. May also want to test plainswalkers. Nissa, sarkhan and kiora could really shore up some weaknesses.
Also, may want to start digging through some time ASAP.
I like the idea. Flying Sphinx is a value creature in the long game. Aetherspouts is the sweeper this deck needs. Back to Nature sweeps enchantments. Are there artfacts we fear!?
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
I like the idea. Flying Sphinx is a value creature in the long game. Aetherspouts is the sweeper this deck needs. Back to Nature sweeps enchantments. Are there artfacts we fear!?
Perilous Vault is also a nice sweeper. It has a nice synergy with Nissa.
I like the plainswalker plan, but I'm not sold on the creatures. You definitely need control elements more than an assortment of one ofs and caryatids. Maybe some sweepers in the maindeck so you can deal with decks not looking to comply with a 1 for 1 burn/counter plan (ie: half the decks in standard). Sphinx seems pretty good, though.
Also, just go with Dig Through Time. Steam Augury can't compete.
Consider adding Stubborn Denial. Even if you can't turn it on to make it a hard counter as much as you'd like (unless you add Knuckles), it can still have value in the early/middle game, or at the very least, it would make them play around it and buy you time to get the hard counters online. I also feel that Disdainful Stroke in the main would be good in some number, but that's very meta-dependent, I think.
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Yesterday was all I had. Today is all I have. Tomorrow is all I want.
If you're going to play temur control Surrak dragonclaw seems a lot better than pearl lake ancient and prognostic sphinx. As does stormbreath dragon. I feel like the sphinx and the ancient are only really good in decks that don't have access to proper beaters. They're just so slow.
But honestly I actually think the best of all worlds is savage knuckleblade. Seems strictly better than the ancient if you have acess to all 3 colours.
pearl lake ancient has the very distinct advantage of inevitability. surrak just dies to countless standard removal spells. pearl lake ancient plays the attrition game. plus, control has a small number of reliable finishers and, as i mentioned, plays them when winning has become inevitable. making your non-existant other creatures uncounterable does very little.
that said.. i prefer temur's ability to play aggressive control, and i'd definitely be knuckleblading folks. there are plenty of matches where knuckleblade will just outclass them on curve and beat down, where pearl lake ancient would rot in hand. knuckleblade also plays the pearl lake role for cheaper, although slightly less reliable.
I'd check out what Kibler is up to. Not specifically control, but kind of an aggro control in the vein of old school madness decks. looks like a lot of fun.
I dunno how I feel about Nissa. Everything just simply out powers her right now in the 4-5cmc slot. Honestly I like prog. Sphinx and keranos together that just sounds like wombs combo goodness especially with Courser in the mix.
As a controlish deck, I think you would be better served by cards that aren't easily removed. Specifically, -Rattleclaw +Caryatid, -Boon Satyr +Courser. It makes the game slower, but that suits the rest of the cards you play.
Also Dig Through Time is better than Treasure Cruise.
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
definitely not a control deck at all, but looks like a fun list. personally, i'd do -1 mauler, -2 surrak, -1 jace's ingenuity, +4 heir to the wilds. shores up your aggro match and gets in chip damage against control. synergy with your 3 drops and opens up the possibility to aggro slow decks out of the game with the right draw.. ie: t2 heir. t3 knuckleblade, swing 3. t4 swing 7, claws for 5.
I've been looking at building a new standard deck. I have Jeskai Aggro right now, but I want to play more control and have half the cards for Temur so.
This is the list I've been working on for a couple days. Ive just been gold fishing with it, but so far I'm happy with the way it draws. I think ramp creatures arent what we want. we're playing control so we want the long game.
Stubborn denial in this shell is freaking amazing. The deck has a lot of disruptive power and can play mostly at instant speed, which also gives a lot play to knuckleblade'a abilities.
Fated conflagration is a necessary evil to deal with stuff like rhinos and walkers. Plus the scry 2, in addition to magma jet and the digs gives the deck ridiculous card selection. 18 red sources have been plenty with all the scry. There are only 6 sources in the deck that don't provide red, so at the worst you're casting it on 5 mana and can often also hold up a denial as well anyways so it's not a waste. Polukranos works great in conjunction with the other burn to take out larger threats. The deck does a great job of changing gears post board to deal with the threats it needs to deal with.
@sting what if we went with something like this? http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-11-14-Ztu-temur-control/ We get 15 u, 15 r, and 9 g. Drop Polukranos and the bow. I added 2 more digs because a friend of mine said if I'm playing control I should be running 4 dig for extra card draw. I actually like the looks of this list better. If the mana is still bad, how would you change it?
If you look at my mana above I have 18 red, 17 green, and 13 blue with only 10 CIPT lands and minimal pain lands. You can easily adjust if you don't need all the red.
4 dig can be good, and you want at least 3- but 4 can be too much for some decks it depends on how much mana you plan on generating and how many cards you're going to be getting into your yard, as well as how fast you plan on closin the game and how much of your deck plays at instant speed.
If you like that list you should really take a look at mine above- it makes much better use of stubborn denial and the mana is not as strenuous- you won't need UU early and both lists run conflagration. I find to Disdainful Stroke to be better than a 3 mana counter most often because you're generally not going to counter a spell at less than 4cc with it and your burn and blockers should take care of cheap threats. Obv stroke isn't great vs a deck like heroic- so don't load up on all 4 mb. Dissolve is bad vs cheap aggro decks anyway.
4 fetch lands do not thin your deck to any sort of statistically relevant degree. 24 lands should also be fine in most RUG decks- even though it is control- the curve is more like a typical midrange deck. There are no spells in most lists that cost more than 5- and even then there are maybe 2-3 5 drops only. and you also have help from magma jet. 25 is obviously also fine, but I would definitely not run more than that unless you are jamming Hornet Queens or something.
Any less than 4 wooded foothills is just wrong if you are running dig through time.
You probably shouldn't run caryatid if you are playing mb angers.
Break down of cards and interactions:
Hornet nest is a house against aggro and most mid range decks. It is not dead against anything however. Some nice tricks with this card are: Anger of the gods can sweep the board and leave behind 3 1/1 deathtouch fliers. Temur charm can fight another large creature and create many insects which can wall off against any deck. Against control decks I can Lightning Strike is EOT and go on the offensive with an army of insects.
Bident of Thassa is a test card that I'm pretty happy with so far, not only can i draw cards or have their flying creatures die in blocks but i can also make them come all in with their large or utility creatures only to block with Hornet Nest.
Steam Augury and TC are amazing at refueling my hand, will try Dig Though Time, seems like the better of the two
Burn Spells are there for obvious reasons, not sure if 3 is the right amount of Anger of the Gods but i am still messing with the numbers
Finishers, I think 4 finishers are too many right now and I'm not sure if I should be playing both Pearl Lake Ancient and Prognostic Sphinx.
The weakness i found with testing so far has been not closing out the games fast enough and that small amounts of damage add up after a while. Sarkhan, Dragonmaster is the only threat i have come across but its hard for them to land one through my wall of counters. I will try out Bow of Nylea for gain life ability or maybe i should just accept i cant be great against all match ups game one.
Strengths of the deck: Combat gets real scary for the opponent, will i end up with many insects, strike my nest and just deathtouch their attackers. 10 counters makes it hard for anything to land against me, early threats are no big deal against this deck.
I would love any advice for this deck. All of the losses were close but all of the wins were blow outs. There are so many lines of plays with this deck and it is very fun to pilot.
1x Pearl Lake Ancient
3x Prognostic Sphinx
4x Hornet Nest
Spells
4x Lightning Strike
2x Magma Jet
4x Temur Charm
4x Dissolve
2x Disdainful Stroke
3x Anger of the Gods
4x Steam Augury
3x Treasure Cruise
1x Bident of Thassa
Lands
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Frontier Bivouac
2x Shivan Reef
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Mana Confluence
4x Temple of Epiphany
1x Temple of Mystery
1x Temple of Abandon
1x Forest
5x Mountain
Really cool deck idea. How has Steam Augury been treating you?
Also, may want to start digging through some time ASAP.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
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I like the plainswalker plan, but I'm not sold on the creatures. You definitely need control elements more than an assortment of one ofs and caryatids. Maybe some sweepers in the maindeck so you can deal with decks not looking to comply with a 1 for 1 burn/counter plan (ie: half the decks in standard). Sphinx seems pretty good, though.
Also, just go with Dig Through Time. Steam Augury can't compete.
Standard: N G A W Y R A
Commander: G U B Damia
But honestly I actually think the best of all worlds is savage knuckleblade. Seems strictly better than the ancient if you have acess to all 3 colours.
that said.. i prefer temur's ability to play aggressive control, and i'd definitely be knuckleblading folks. there are plenty of matches where knuckleblade will just outclass them on curve and beat down, where pearl lake ancient would rot in hand. knuckleblade also plays the pearl lake role for cheaper, although slightly less reliable.
I'd check out what Kibler is up to. Not specifically control, but kind of an aggro control in the vein of old school madness decks. looks like a lot of fun.
Also Dig Through Time is better than Treasure Cruise.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12209
2 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Savage Knuckleblade
2 Surrak Dragonclaw
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Disdainful Stroke
3 Fated Conflagration
4 Lightning Strike
3 Magma Jet
2 Temur Charm
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Frontier Bivouac
4 Mountain
2 Shivan Reef
3 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Epiphany
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Arc Lightning
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Burn Away
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Fated Conflagration
2 Negate
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Sagu Mauler
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
4x Frontier Bivouac
3x Mountain
3x Shivan Reef
2x Temple of Abandon
3x Temple of Epiphany
1x Temple of Mystery
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2x Dig Through Time
2x Disdainful Stroke
3x Dissolve
2x Fated Conflagration
4x Lightning Strike
3x Magma Jet
2x Stubborn Denial
3x Temur Charm
2x Polukranos, World Eater
4x Savage Knuckleblade
2x Surrak Dragonclaw
1x Bow of Nylea
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Back to Nature
2x Burn Away
2x Fated Conflagration
1x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Negate
2x Sagu Mauler
1x Stubborn Denial
This is the list I've been working on for a couple days. Ive just been gold fishing with it, but so far I'm happy with the way it draws. I think ramp creatures arent what we want. we're playing control so we want the long game.
"Death & Taxes"
Legacy:
"Death & Taxes"
4 savage knuckleblade
4 Polukranos, world eater
2 Sarkahn, the dragonspeaker
4 stubborn denial
2 disdainful stroke
3 magma jet
3 lightning strike
3 anger of the gods
3 fated conflagration
1 steam augury
3 dig through time
3 temple of abandon
2 temple of epiphany
1 temple of mystery
4 wooded foothills
3 Shivan reef
3 yavimaya coast
2 mountain
2 forest
1 anger of the gods
3 magma spray
2 disdainful stroke
1 fated conflagration
1 steam augury
1 dig through time
1 Stormbreath dragon
1 negate
2 surrak dragonclaw
2 destructive revelry
Stubborn denial in this shell is freaking amazing. The deck has a lot of disruptive power and can play mostly at instant speed, which also gives a lot play to knuckleblade'a abilities.
Fated conflagration is a necessary evil to deal with stuff like rhinos and walkers. Plus the scry 2, in addition to magma jet and the digs gives the deck ridiculous card selection. 18 red sources have been plenty with all the scry. There are only 6 sources in the deck that don't provide red, so at the worst you're casting it on 5 mana and can often also hold up a denial as well anyways so it's not a waste. Polukranos works great in conjunction with the other burn to take out larger threats. The deck does a great job of changing gears post board to deal with the threats it needs to deal with.
"Death & Taxes"
Legacy:
"Death & Taxes"
4 dig can be good, and you want at least 3- but 4 can be too much for some decks it depends on how much mana you plan on generating and how many cards you're going to be getting into your yard, as well as how fast you plan on closin the game and how much of your deck plays at instant speed.
If you like that list you should really take a look at mine above- it makes much better use of stubborn denial and the mana is not as strenuous- you won't need UU early and both lists run conflagration. I find to Disdainful Stroke to be better than a 3 mana counter most often because you're generally not going to counter a spell at less than 4cc with it and your burn and blockers should take care of cheap threats. Obv stroke isn't great vs a deck like heroic- so don't load up on all 4 mb. Dissolve is bad vs cheap aggro decks anyway.
Any less than 4 wooded foothills is just wrong if you are running dig through time.
You probably shouldn't run caryatid if you are playing mb angers.
If you aren't running angers main though, I wonder if black wouldn't just be better than red for superior spot removal spells.
2x Disdainful Stroke
4x Dissolve
1x Fated Conflagration
4x Lightning Strike
2x Magma Jet
2x Stubborn Denial
3x Temur Charm
3x Hornet Nest
2x Prognostic Sphinx
4x Savage Knuckleblade
1x Forest
4x Frontier Bivouac
3x Mountain
3x Shivan Reef
4x Temple of Epiphany
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Yavimaya Coast
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Back to Nature
2x Burn Away
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Negate
2x Sagu Mauler
2x Xenagos, the Reveler
"Death & Taxes"
Legacy:
"Death & Taxes"
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Genesis Hydra
2 Clever Impersonator
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Sarkhan, Dragonspeaker
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
4 Lightning Strike
3 Dissolve
2 Dig through Time
4 Frontier Bivouac
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Mystery
1 Shivan Reef
1 Yavimaya Coast
3 Forest
2 Island
3 Mountain
3 Hornet Nest
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Crater's Claws
2 Reclamation Sage
3 Nylea's Disciple
2 Negate
1 Destructive Revelry
He hasn't played it a lot yet and wanted me to get some 'non-Dad' opinions, so any suggestions are appreciated.