A deck like this could be made today. There is a decent equivalent for each card in this deck. Rainbow Efreet is just a bad Aetherling. Granted, there are more high-quality counterspells/draw spells in this deck, but those are nothing more than cards used to control the game. No different than Doomblade or Sphinx's Revelation.
.
You say there was never a point in time where control decks didn't have to run creature removal, and as you liken the effects of cards such as counterspell to doomblade I can only assume you would mean a time where a control shell could not operate on 4 pieces of creature removal. And yet you post a list with only 4 Nev Disk and a couple quicksands as the only way to answer resolved creatures. There are zero maindeck single target answers for resolved threats.
You liken the effects of cards such as Dismiss, Counterspell, Forbid, and Force Spike to those such as Doom Blade and other pieces of single target removal. These cards are not equivalents, they are indeed far from it. Cards closer to equivalency with the cards in the list that are in the current standard environment are Cancel, Dissolve, Essence Scatter, Negate, etc.
Single target creature removal is a far more narrow in what it is allowed to interact with in any given game. It is allowed to do one thing, destroy creatures. The counterspells listed allow the deck list to interact with a great many other things, for the most part these cards are allowed to interact with any card in the game, but only at a certain time (while the spell is on the stack.)
So why is it that the control elements of any given deck today are forced to play with more narrow cards (single target elimination spells). After all there is no tier 1 list that is able to thrive in the standard environment that is able to depend on 4 supreme verdict (or your sweeper of choice) followed by the likes of a suite of counters.
What is different? What has changed? Are the counterspells that much worse than the ones in the decklist you listed? The list has 4 counterspell, 3 mana leak, 1 memory lapse, and 4 force spike in it. The other 9 counterspells have a converted cost of 3 to 4 mana. The current standard offers Cancel and Disperse to easily fill the counters at 3+ mana, and has Essence Scatter and Syncopate to fill the lesser CMC counters. So while the available counter magic is slightly worse than what was had then, it isn't back breaking.
The thing that is different, the thing that has changed... Creatures are better, creatures are more threatening then before. They're cheaper, hit harder, it's harder to prevent them from entering play or dealing with them once they enter play. A single unchecked threat threatens to end the game in a fast manner if not corrected swiftly. Look through the past couple years, the last few blocks, and those blocks before that. It is easy to see that the power curve of the creatures has been steadily increasing each year while the power curve of spells has remained stagnant, if not decreased in some areas throughout the years.
What does this mean? With the growing power of creature cards, each deck must use whatever the best possible method is that they have available to keep said cards in check. So while the available cards are present for a near draw go style deck to appear in standard, filling a list with far more narrow single target creature removal cards is a necessity in a creature dominated format (because of the level of threat each single creature is able to provide). The creatures are so much better than they were before that they are easily fitting into every format, and in some large, and some small ways, warping the format around them.
So yes, the decks of today are all indeed creature focused, even the control oriented decks (as they are forced to make card choices largely in part of the threat/clock, aggression, and inherent card advantage many creatures provide).
He has dropped a Knight, though, and double Wastelands his Savannah to get exactly lethal. I Cunning Wished for my Ravenous Trap and exiled his graveyard, going to 5 life.
You shouldn't have been able to Rav trap him, even if you are able to pay 0 for Rav Trap, it's CMC is still 4.
Nearly everything will be a mid~rangeish sort of deck as the cardpool stands right now.
Day of Judgment will be your friend.
Also with mana leak as the only good 2 drop counter I'd go for more of a tap-out control deck. Especially in a meta of slower midrange aggro decks. Meet their threats with a couple spot removal/Board wipe then play huge hard to deal with threats of your own. (Cons Sphinx, Sun/Grave Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Gideon)
Liliana may also have a 2-3 of spot in here... especially if you're running think twice and forbidden alchemy.
I could see a BWG rockish deck that could utilize Heartless Summoning.. and maybe birthing pod as well to chain up to sheoldred/elesh norn relatively quickly. It sounds more cute than competitive though...
Hum I see, it makes sense. Control will always be advantaged when casting DoJ then
Active player can retain priority after casting a spell; this is true.
However the imprint ability is a triggered ability so they will be assigned to the stack in APNAP order (Active player Non-Active Player). Whoever's turn it is (active player) will put their trigger on FIRST, with the other player (non-active player) putting theirs on last.
The stack resolves in LIFO order (Last In First Out), meaning that the Non-Active player will be able to choose which creature to imprint before the active player as their trigger will resolve first.
On my field: Two Magus of the Tabernacle, two Chainer, Dementia Master that have been Artificial Evolutioned to replace Nightmare with the creature type you have on your Conspiracy. On my upkeep, allow the Chainers to die - you can trickbind one, the other gets through and clears your board.
I'm confused as to how this does anything other then wipe the board... You're supposed to win! haha =P
Have Humility out (so that the +20/+20 doesn't work) and cycle at least 3 Decrees of Pain? You can only counter one triggered ability with your Scepter. I can get the mana from 2 Braid of Fires and a red Celestial Dawn.
Lattice makes everything an artifact... and march makes everything a creature... Then you play Humility and everything loses their abilities because they're all creatures..?
.. everything ends up being a 1/1 with no abilities due to layering...and timestamp order
You should state that you have like 20 lands out or something as well as having Coat and Conspiracy now too. Otherwise technically you only have 4 different creatures in your list atm
Also:
I control a face-down Vesuvan Shapeshifter; I flip it face up and choose Plat Angel. Shapeshifter doesn't target, and its ability is not triggered. (It's "as" it comes into play/turned up, not "when".)
I have Hive Mind, 2 face down Bane of the Living, and a few Vineyards and Magus of the Vineyard.. I flip up a Bane to kill your angel, you counter it with trickbind, so I use the other one to kill the angel anyways.
I pitch 2 Simian Spirit Guides and play Final Fortune. Erayo counters mine, and Hivemind has you copy it, you take your extra turn and lose.
Several other cards aren't on the list simply because they're are quite a few other cards that seem just as strong. Other cards are strong but without a home for them (Awakening zone) yet; while other may bring back old archetypes but are quite narrow (Prophetic Prism). Other cards just missed the list because I could only put 5 on it lol (Kargan Dragonlord)
For people who are playing with Temples/Eye of Ugins in their list I've been finding that Mind Shatter is better the Mind Sludge; especially if you're also running Chalices (which you should be doing ;3).
Dropping a chalice on T2 and a Mind Sludge on T4 with all swamps nets you a T4 Mind Sludge for 4 discards for 5 mana. Doing the same thing on T4 with a Mind Shatter nets you 3 random discards on turn 4 for 5 mana.
However if you have a Temple in play instead of 4 swamps Sludge will hit for 3 discards for 5 mana while Shatter will hit for 3 random discards for 5 mana.
You say there was never a point in time where control decks didn't have to run creature removal, and as you liken the effects of cards such as counterspell to doomblade I can only assume you would mean a time where a control shell could not operate on 4 pieces of creature removal. And yet you post a list with only 4 Nev Disk and a couple quicksands as the only way to answer resolved creatures. There are zero maindeck single target answers for resolved threats.
You liken the effects of cards such as Dismiss, Counterspell, Forbid, and Force Spike to those such as Doom Blade and other pieces of single target removal. These cards are not equivalents, they are indeed far from it. Cards closer to equivalency with the cards in the list that are in the current standard environment are Cancel, Dissolve, Essence Scatter, Negate, etc.
Single target creature removal is a far more narrow in what it is allowed to interact with in any given game. It is allowed to do one thing, destroy creatures. The counterspells listed allow the deck list to interact with a great many other things, for the most part these cards are allowed to interact with any card in the game, but only at a certain time (while the spell is on the stack.)
So why is it that the control elements of any given deck today are forced to play with more narrow cards (single target elimination spells). After all there is no tier 1 list that is able to thrive in the standard environment that is able to depend on 4 supreme verdict (or your sweeper of choice) followed by the likes of a suite of counters.
What is different? What has changed? Are the counterspells that much worse than the ones in the decklist you listed? The list has 4 counterspell, 3 mana leak, 1 memory lapse, and 4 force spike in it. The other 9 counterspells have a converted cost of 3 to 4 mana. The current standard offers Cancel and Disperse to easily fill the counters at 3+ mana, and has Essence Scatter and Syncopate to fill the lesser CMC counters. So while the available counter magic is slightly worse than what was had then, it isn't back breaking.
The thing that is different, the thing that has changed... Creatures are better, creatures are more threatening then before. They're cheaper, hit harder, it's harder to prevent them from entering play or dealing with them once they enter play. A single unchecked threat threatens to end the game in a fast manner if not corrected swiftly. Look through the past couple years, the last few blocks, and those blocks before that. It is easy to see that the power curve of the creatures has been steadily increasing each year while the power curve of spells has remained stagnant, if not decreased in some areas throughout the years.
What does this mean? With the growing power of creature cards, each deck must use whatever the best possible method is that they have available to keep said cards in check. So while the available cards are present for a near draw go style deck to appear in standard, filling a list with far more narrow single target creature removal cards is a necessity in a creature dominated format (because of the level of threat each single creature is able to provide). The creatures are so much better than they were before that they are easily fitting into every format, and in some large, and some small ways, warping the format around them.
So yes, the decks of today are all indeed creature focused, even the control oriented decks (as they are forced to make card choices largely in part of the threat/clock, aggression, and inherent card advantage many creatures provide).
You shouldn't have been able to Rav trap him, even if you are able to pay 0 for Rav Trap, it's CMC is still 4.
Day of Judgment will be your friend.
Also with mana leak as the only good 2 drop counter I'd go for more of a tap-out control deck. Especially in a meta of slower midrange aggro decks. Meet their threats with a couple spot removal/Board wipe then play huge hard to deal with threats of your own. (Cons Sphinx, Sun/Grave Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Gideon)
Liliana may also have a 2-3 of spot in here... especially if you're running think twice and forbidden alchemy.
Elesh Norn
Sheoldred
Frost Titan
Inferno Titan
Sun Titan
Solemn Simulacrum
To a lesser extent..
Acidic Slime
Viridian Emissary
Cute things..
Glissa + Necropede
Myr Superion.
I could see a BWG rockish deck that could utilize Heartless Summoning.. and maybe birthing pod as well to chain up to sheoldred/elesh norn relatively quickly. It sounds more cute than competitive though...
T2 Heartless Summoning
T3 Solemn/Viridian Emissary
T4 Elesh Norn / Sheoldred
Seems pretty backbreaking though...in magical christmas land.
Bottle Gnomes
Oh damn...
Active player can retain priority after casting a spell; this is true.
However the imprint ability is a triggered ability so they will be assigned to the stack in APNAP order (Active player Non-Active Player). Whoever's turn it is (active player) will put their trigger on FIRST, with the other player (non-active player) putting theirs on last.
The stack resolves in LIFO order (Last In First Out), meaning that the Non-Active player will be able to choose which creature to imprint before the active player as their trigger will resolve first.
Which can be done with Djinn Illuminatus vineyards/thran turbine/veldaken orrery i guess? haha
I'm confused as to how this does anything other then wipe the board... You're supposed to win! haha =P
Oh lord humility.....
Lattice makes everything an artifact... and march makes everything a creature... Then you play Humility and everything loses their abilities because they're all creatures..?
.. everything ends up being a 1/1 with no abilities due to layering...and timestamp order
Also:
I control a face-down Vesuvan Shapeshifter; I flip it face up and choose Plat Angel. Shapeshifter doesn't target, and its ability is not triggered. (It's "as" it comes into play/turned up, not "when".)
So now no one wins
I pitch 2 Simian Spirit Guides and play Final Fortune. Erayo counters mine, and Hivemind has you copy it, you take your extra turn and lose.
..I don't really see them printing a card that basically hoses a set that they've worked so hard to develop and make work mechanically.
..in no real order...
Inquisition of Kozilek
Consuming Vapors
Vengevine
Wall of Omens
Student of Warfare
Several other cards aren't on the list simply because they're are quite a few other cards that seem just as strong. Other cards are strong but without a home for them (Awakening zone) yet; while other may bring back old archetypes but are quite narrow (Prophetic Prism). Other cards just missed the list because I could only put 5 on it lol (Kargan Dragonlord)
Dropping a chalice on T2 and a Mind Sludge on T4 with all swamps nets you a T4 Mind Sludge for 4 discards for 5 mana. Doing the same thing on T4 with a Mind Shatter nets you 3 random discards on turn 4 for 5 mana.
However if you have a Temple in play instead of 4 swamps Sludge will hit for 3 discards for 5 mana while Shatter will hit for 3 random discards for 5 mana.
Just something to think about