Game 1: won vs atarka red. I got lucky that my opponent flooded out game 1, and game 2 the dragon package, dispel and the life gain sb cards (surge, foul-tongue) did the trick.
Games 2-3: won vs Esper Dragons. After last weeks fnm i saw that for some reason people liked this deck (I think its a worst version of esper). The infinite obliterations were in the SB for ulamog decks, but stripping away their Ojutai's and Silumgars (jace flashback oblitaration? makes you feel dirty... the right kind of dirty!)
Game 4: won 2-1 vs dark jeskai. This was the match that i tried to beat games 1, and the mainboard surge really surprised my opponent. Horribly awry in game 3 was fantastic. I had 2 in hand, he goes jace -> rider, both get countered (and exiled, which is very relevant!) By turn 5 he was out of steam, I get the window for digging and boom. Game over. The only problem i ran into is that, in game 2, not being able to flashback surge was a problem (I had one in the yard from a previous rider, but he followed up with another), but i think the benefits of answering a rider efficiently overcome the costs of playing a clunky answer like disregard. It was definitely hard matchup to beat, but it seemed doable.
I intentionally drew game 5 and that's all she wrote. I think this is the "paper" deck of the format. Dark jeskai is definitely the most powerful deck, and it pushes lots of decks out of the winner's bracket. And Esper plays really well vs Dark Jeskai. I would not say it's an easy matchup, but you certainly have a fighting chance, which many other decks don't.
You did not generate the entire deck, you took Reid Duke's list and toyed with it. And I really don't like what you've done with it. 3 Horribly Awry is way too much in a field dominated by Gideon. 1 Surge of Righteousness main is ok I guess, but it screws up your sideboard. 1 Treasure Cruise main has been tested countless times, never proved to be worth the sacrifice of delving 7 cards : Anticipate does a slightly better job. I would play Languish over Planar Outburst everyday, just because of 4-color Rally and GW. With 4 Ojutai's Command, i'd play Negate over Disdainful Stroke.
This is what I'll most likely run this WE to GP Quebec. This is Shota Yasooka's list from the PT, tweaked a little bit to my own taste. I've had great success with it.
Hey guys, in preparation for the standard Grand Prix in Quebec the 23-25th of October, I ran this tweaked list of Esper Dragons yesterday, 4-0'ing the WNM.
Round 2 : Atarka red. 2-1
G1 : I got utterly raped, was dead by turn 5. Sided in Clerics, Orbs, Command and Negate.
G2 : T2 Cleric, T3 Cleric, T4 Command (counter, gain 4 life), GG.
G3 : Was a much longer game, didn't see any dragons until turn 15-ish, managed to stabilize thanks to Shambling Vent and Cleric. Then I drew Ugin for the win.
The deck was overall a blast to play, if you have any questions regarding my list, I'd be glad to answer it
May I ask what cards u usually side out when vs atarka red?
Thanks for any advise.
Hey guys, in preparation for the standard Grand Prix in Quebec the 23-25th of October, I ran this tweaked list of Esper Dragons yesterday, 4-0'ing the WNM.
G1 : He mulliganed down to 4, I kept a perfect hand, kept playing on curve while fending off his plays, couldn't do a thing.
G2 : He got mana screwed, and again, I played Ojutai T5, Narset T6 with Scorn in hands, he scooped.
Round 2 : Atarka red. 2-1
G1 : I got utterly raped, was dead by turn 5. Sided in Clerics, Orbs, Command and Negate.
G2 : T2 Cleric, T3 Cleric, T4 Command (counter, gain 4 life), GG.
G3 : Was a much longer game, didn't see any dragons until turn 15-ish, managed to stabilize thanks to Shambling Vent and Cleric. Then I drew Ugin for the win.
Round 3 : Jeskai Midrange. 2-0
G1 : I managed to soft-lock him with Narset on board and a tons of removal in hand, the Rebound of Narset was just amazing on Utter End and Ruinous Path.
G2 : He got mana screwed (hard to believe considering all the fetches), and didn't draw enough threats to outweight my board presence.
Round 4 : Bring to Light Control. 2-0
G1 : I trully think the match-up is in our favor. I kept a hand with 3 lands and 4 removals. I managed to kill a jace on turn 2 and turn 3 from him with Price and Path. I countered everything he would cast from Bring to Light, and managed to stick a Narset and Ojutai on board.
G2 : Sided in Infinite Obliteration, played it on turn 4 naming Rhino, he scooped several turns later.
The deck was overall a blast to play, if you have any questions regarding my list, I'd be glad to answer it
I had the previous primer (BUG Control) in last standard, so I'm glad to see this archetype still alive
I'm here to report my decklist, which I top 8'ed the Super Sunday Series Standard with, in the GP Ottawa (sadly, didn't get into top 4 )
Aetherspouts is just really, really good, and when I wanted to cast Believers with strive, I actually wished that I had Spouts instead. Even without strive, Spouts costs only 1 more mana and deal with an entire board (and can time walk multiple times).
Also considering -1 Thoughtseize (terrible topdeck in the lategame, and we have already terrible topdecks in the name of Sylvan Caryatid) and adding maybe +1 Dissolve.
I think this list was a private joke, and the intended goal was to play cards that are bad. I think he encountered only control decks, therefore poping him to 4-0.
Ashiok is very effective against any Control Deck.
Against Aggro, this is a different story. He'll basically act as a fog for 3 mana. Not that powerful.
However, what people seems to forget, is that his +2 is actually a removal/disruption ability, yes random, but still.
Mono-Blue Devotion is boring to play and is a bad deck in the current state of standard.
Mono-Black Devotion is boring to play (and auto-play) and is one of the best deck in the current state of standard.
Seriously, M-Black-D is probably the most consistent deck because of how every card it runs will always have a significant impact on the board, while M-Blue-D needs to grind things up before showing an actual threat.
Hey, welcome to the Dega Midrange Primer. As mentionned on the previous "WBR Midrange", Kamahl suggested that someone make a new Primer about this archetype, so here it is. In this Primer, you will learn the essentials of this powerful and very versatile archetype. The purpose of this Primer is mainly to learn something new, share decklists and discuss about it.
As soon as Mogis, God of Slaughter and Brimaz, King of Oreskos were spoiled, I just knew I had to go Dega. This is my personnal favorite god, and I think it's one of the most powerful, along with Xenagos, God of Revels that Born of the Gods brought us. We will see here how Born of the Gods changed this archetype, and also how it improved it.
II. What is Dega Midrange ?
Now that's a good question, and I think there's a couple of viable answers.
Pre-BNG, the goal of Dega Midrange was to control the early game via one-spot removal (such as Dreadbore, Hero's Downfall, Doom Blade) or mass removal (Anger of the Gods, and in rare cases, Merciless Eviction).
However, the deck was very weak to a brutal early aggresion, where "one-for-one" removal wasn't good enough. Why ? Because the deck wanted to ramp into fatties, such as Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Stormbreath Dragon or Obzedat, Ghost Council. Therefore, the mana curve was very high (with an average mana cost between 3 and 3.5) without any real agression until at least turn 4 or 5. We didn't have any real 4-drop, nor 3-drop except for Boros Reckoner and in the Sideboard, Lifebane Zombie.
I managed to pilot this deck to a 4-0 last night at FNM, winning against Boros Burn, Azorius control, American Control, and Mono-white Aggro. A friend of mine fully watched my last round, and told me in the end "It's amazing how consistent and reckless your deck is. I just feel like, every drop you have (2-drop, 3-drop,...) is somehow powerful and needs to be answered." It's only after going through my deck that I realized he was kinda right.
Let's now see what makes this list works.
IV. Card Choices
Creatures :
Spike Jester : RB for a 3/1 haste ? Yes please ! I had in the first place 2 Pain Seer, but I realized soon enough that it doesn't belong in this list. Spike Jester is an instant and powerful threat that needs to be dealt with rather quickly. A simple follow-up such as Gift of Orzhova and you find yourself with a 4/2 Flying and Lifelink by turn 3. Also, provides 2 devotion to Mogis.
Boros Reckoner : I don't think there's something to say about him that hasn't already been said. Solid 3-drop, a real pain for aggro to deal with. Consider it as our Nightveil Specter. Provides 3 devotion to Mogis.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa : Again, he's rising to be an all-star (if he isn't already) in Standard. Very powerful 4-drop, decimates aggro, and is one of the "finisher" of the deck, even if this deck doesn't really contain a "finisher" per say.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos : Well, this card didn't disappoint me at all, au contraire. It's a powerhouse against aggro and control. Bless him with Gift of Orzhova, and he becomes monstrous. However, I only play 2 copies for 2 reasons. First, he's legendary and requires WW. Second, he doesn't provide any devotion to Mogis.
Mogis, God of Slaughter : Oh oh I have so much to say about him. I knew at first glance he was brutal. 2BR for a 7/5 indestructible, with a fusion of Sulfuric Vortex and Chainer's Edict attached to it ? Yes please. We finally have a powerful 4-drop to play with, and can be active pretty easily with this build on turn 4. I did multiple times : T2 Spike Jester -> T3 Boros Reckoner -> T4 Mogis, God of Slaughter. Mogis is a pain for Control, active or not, and they HAVE TO deal with it. Against Aggro, he's less impressive until he's active, but still a very decent threat. In the end, Mogis is just a powerhouse. I play 2 copies of him, and don't want to play more than 2, or less than 2. I was never disappointed to draw him, considering the fact that he'll give me a free Shock or Chainer's Edict.
Obzedat, Ghost Council : He's mainly here against Control, and most of the time, he helps close game.
As you'll notice, I don't play Stormbreath Dragon. Why ? Because I expect the metagame to become very Monoblack Devotion heavy, and Blood Baron of Vizkopa is just so much better against it than the Dragon.
Spells :
Hero's Downfall & Dreadbore : Easy solution to deal with creatures and Planeswalker. I originally played 2 copies of each, but ended up playing 1 more Downfall. The Instant effect is very important.
Thoughtseize : Best hand disruption spell printed. Nothing more to say. I consider that if you play black nowadays in Standard, you have to play Thoughtseize.
Rakdos's Return : My favorite card in Standard. It's a powerful topdeck, maybe one of the best in this deck. It's a good follow-up to a huge Sphinx's Revelation. Can also be considered as a finisher on its own.
Gift of Orzhova & Whip of Erebos : Our life gain sources. Gift has just been exceptionnal to me, wether it hits Brimaz, a Reckoner, Mogis, or even a Spike, it's always amazingly good. Plus, gives 2 devotion to Mogis. Concerning the Whip, there's the sweet interaction with Obzedat.
Lands :
I'm currently playing 25 lands, with 10 Scry lands. I didn't have any problem whatsoever regarding colordeath or tapped land issues. However, I can understand how high 10 Temple is, and might change it in the future.
You did not generate the entire deck, you took Reid Duke's list and toyed with it. And I really don't like what you've done with it. 3 Horribly Awry is way too much in a field dominated by Gideon. 1 Surge of Righteousness main is ok I guess, but it screws up your sideboard. 1 Treasure Cruise main has been tested countless times, never proved to be worth the sacrifice of delving 7 cards : Anticipate does a slightly better job. I would play Languish over Planar Outburst everyday, just because of 4-color Rally and GW. With 4 Ojutai's Command, i'd play Negate over Disdainful Stroke.
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
2 Shambling Vent
4 Island
3 Swamp
1 Blighted Fen
Creatures : 10
4 Dragonlord Ojutai
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
Spells : 22
4 Silumgar's Scorn
1 Languish
2 Crux of Fate
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
4 Dig Through Time
2 Utter End
2 Clash of Wills
2 Ojutai's Command
1 Horribly Awry
2 Complete Disregard
3 Arashin Cleric
3 Dispel
2 Silkwrap
2 Duress
1 Despise
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Languish
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Virulent Plague
I'm still not sure if I should run 26 or 27 lands, but if I'm going down to 26, I'd probably remove 1 Sunken Hollow for 1 Ruinous Path.
Sided in : 4 Cleric, 1 Orbs, 2 Command, 1 Negate.
Sided out : 1 Dragon Silumgar, 2 Narset, 3 Utter End, 2 Ruinous Path.
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
2 Shambling Vent
4 Island
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Blighted Fen
Creatures : 5
3 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Narset Transcendent
Spells : 25
4 Silumgar's Scorn
2 Languish
2 Crux of Fate
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
4 Dig Through Time
3 Utter End
2 Scatter to the Winds
2 Despise
2 Ultimate Price
2 Ruinous Path
4 Arashin Cleric
1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
1 Orbs of Warding
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Dragonlord's Prerogative
2 Ojutai's Command
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Virulent Plague
Round 1 : Vs Esper Dragons. 2-0
G1 : He mulliganed down to 4, I kept a perfect hand, kept playing on curve while fending off his plays, couldn't do a thing.
G2 : He got mana screwed, and again, I played Ojutai T5, Narset T6 with Scorn in hands, he scooped.
Round 2 : Atarka red. 2-1
G1 : I got utterly raped, was dead by turn 5. Sided in Clerics, Orbs, Command and Negate.
G2 : T2 Cleric, T3 Cleric, T4 Command (counter, gain 4 life), GG.
G3 : Was a much longer game, didn't see any dragons until turn 15-ish, managed to stabilize thanks to Shambling Vent and Cleric. Then I drew Ugin for the win.
Round 3 : Jeskai Midrange. 2-0
G1 : I managed to soft-lock him with Narset on board and a tons of removal in hand, the Rebound of Narset was just amazing on Utter End and Ruinous Path.
G2 : He got mana screwed (hard to believe considering all the fetches), and didn't draw enough threats to outweight my board presence.
Round 4 : Bring to Light Control. 2-0
G1 : I trully think the match-up is in our favor. I kept a hand with 3 lands and 4 removals. I managed to kill a jace on turn 2 and turn 3 from him with Price and Path. I countered everything he would cast from Bring to Light, and managed to stick a Narset and Ojutai on board.
G2 : Sided in Infinite Obliteration, played it on turn 4 naming Rhino, he scooped several turns later.
The deck was overall a blast to play, if you have any questions regarding my list, I'd be glad to answer it
I had the previous primer (BUG Control) in last standard, so I'm glad to see this archetype still alive
I'm here to report my decklist, which I top 8'ed the Super Sunday Series Standard with, in the GP Ottawa (sadly, didn't get into top 4 )
Here is my list :
4 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Mystery
4 Polluted Delta
4 Opulent Palace
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Planeswalkers : 4
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Prognostic Sphinx
Spells : 20
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
2 Disdainful Stroke
4 Sultai Charm
2 Bile Blight
2 Dig Through Time
1 Silence the Believers
1 Aetherspouts
1 Empty the Pits
1 Liliana Vess
1 Hornet Queen
1 Despise
2 Dissolve
2 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
4 Drown in Sorrow
2 Bile Blight
I felt pretty comfortable with this list, but I'd do some minor changes :
-1 Silence the Believers, +1 Aetherspouts
Aetherspouts is just really, really good, and when I wanted to cast Believers with strive, I actually wished that I had Spouts instead. Even without strive, Spouts costs only 1 more mana and deal with an entire board (and can time walk multiple times).
I'm also considering moving Empty the Pits to the main, removing 1 Prognostic Sphinx, and putting 1 Villainous Wealth in the sideboard.
Also considering -1 Thoughtseize (terrible topdeck in the lategame, and we have already terrible topdecks in the name of Sylvan Caryatid) and adding maybe +1 Dissolve.
Against Aggro, this is a different story. He'll basically act as a fog for 3 mana. Not that powerful.
However, what people seems to forget, is that his +2 is actually a removal/disruption ability, yes random, but still.
Mono-Blue Devotion is boring to play and is a bad deck in the current state of standard.
Mono-Black Devotion is boring to play (and auto-play) and is one of the best deck in the current state of standard.
Seriously, M-Black-D is probably the most consistent deck because of how every card it runs will always have a significant impact on the board, while M-Blue-D needs to grind things up before showing an actual threat.
Hey, welcome to the Dega Midrange Primer. As mentionned on the previous "WBR Midrange", Kamahl suggested that someone make a new Primer about this archetype, so here it is. In this Primer, you will learn the essentials of this powerful and very versatile archetype. The purpose of this Primer is mainly to learn something new, share decklists and discuss about it.
As soon as Mogis, God of Slaughter and Brimaz, King of Oreskos were spoiled, I just knew I had to go Dega. This is my personnal favorite god, and I think it's one of the most powerful, along with Xenagos, God of Revels that Born of the Gods brought us. We will see here how Born of the Gods changed this archetype, and also how it improved it.
Now that's a good question, and I think there's a couple of viable answers.
Pre-BNG, the goal of Dega Midrange was to control the early game via one-spot removal (such as Dreadbore, Hero's Downfall, Doom Blade) or mass removal (Anger of the Gods, and in rare cases, Merciless Eviction).
However, the deck was very weak to a brutal early aggresion, where "one-for-one" removal wasn't good enough. Why ? Because the deck wanted to ramp into fatties, such as Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Stormbreath Dragon or Obzedat, Ghost Council. Therefore, the mana curve was very high (with an average mana cost between 3 and 3.5) without any real agression until at least turn 4 or 5. We didn't have any real 4-drop, nor 3-drop except for Boros Reckoner and in the Sideboard, Lifebane Zombie.
Post-BNG, this is a different story. What did BNG brought us then ? A very powerful 3-drop in the name of Brimaz, King of Oreskos. A absolute bomb in the 4-drop slot, with Mogis, God of Slaughter, and even Flame-Wreathed Phoenix. We also get very decent 2-drop with Pain Seer and Spirit of the Labyrinth as an answer to Sphinx's decks.
But most importantly, Mogis, God of Slaughter is entirely modifying the Dega Midrange original build. But how ?
3 Spike Jester
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Mogis, God of Slaughter
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
Spells : 14
3 Hero's Downfall
1 Dreadbore
2 Read the Bones
3 Thoughtseize
2 Magma Jet
1 Devour Flesh
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Underworld Connections
2 Gift of Orzhova
1 Whip or Erebos
Lands : 25
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Blood Crypt
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Temple of Malice
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Sin Collector
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
1 Pithing Needle
2 Slaughter Games
I managed to pilot this deck to a 4-0 last night at FNM, winning against Boros Burn, Azorius control, American Control, and Mono-white Aggro. A friend of mine fully watched my last round, and told me in the end "It's amazing how consistent and reckless your deck is. I just feel like, every drop you have (2-drop, 3-drop,...) is somehow powerful and needs to be answered." It's only after going through my deck that I realized he was kinda right.
Let's now see what makes this list works.
Creatures :
As you'll notice, I don't play Stormbreath Dragon. Why ? Because I expect the metagame to become very Monoblack Devotion heavy, and Blood Baron of Vizkopa is just so much better against it than the Dragon.
I'm currently playing 25 lands, with 10 Scry lands. I didn't have any problem whatsoever regarding colordeath or tapped land issues. However, I can understand how high 10 Temple is, and might change it in the future.
Coming Soon ! -- With analysis of Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow
Coming Soon !
I suggest you to read the article by PV talking about the pre-release, explaining what involves each color and what are the best one.
--> http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/pvs-playhouse-born-of-the-gods-pre-release/
4 Felhide Spiritbinder
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Voyaging Satyr
2 Aurelia, the Warleader
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Loxodon Smiter
1 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Domri Rade
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Warleader's Helix
2 Mizzium Mortars
Lands: 24
4 Temple Garden
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
3 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Triumph
3 Forest
2 Plains
Why did you even post ?