Isperia 1.0 is so cool. Her new version is nice if you want a 6 mana Propaganda that draws removal, but old Isperia is so good she is like a bad Zur the Enchanter!
-Costs 1 more than Zur
-Gives you access to 1 fewer color than Zur
-Only triggers when she connects instead of when she attacks like Zur
-Asks you tough questions to see if you even deserve an attack trigger like Zur
-Makes you cast the tutored card at sorcery speed, instead of cheating it into play like Zur
Quick Deck Statistics
Preferred Environment: 1v1 or Multiplayer
Casual/Competitive: Competitive
Average CMC: 2.21
Deck MVP: Consecrated Sphinx
You might like this deck if:
+ You enjoy decks that are challenging to pilot
+ You are interested in exploring the line between control, tempo, and combo
+ You like winning with an unconventional general
+ You want a deck that can hold its own in a variety of settings
You will probably find this deck in bad taste if:
- You don't like seeing some of the same spells every game
- Your playgroup is very outspoken against lock strategies
- You would rather win with politics than playskill or power
- You think blue players are mostly douchebags (hint: they are)
Why?
I wanted to build around Isperia 1.0 when I figured out she could single-handedly tutor up the Erayo lock. However, I learned Isperia is poorly suited for a dedicated "suicide combo" approach, and to make it worse, Erayo lock is easy to disrupt before it comes online. The intial builds durdled around with too many flying guys and an unclear game plan, but lately the deck has been coming into its own. I am sort of walking the middle ground between multiplayer and 1v1 with this deck, which is why I am playing cheap tempo-based removal and still hardcasting some giant dudes.
How?
You win 1v1 games with tempo and disruption; you win multiplayer games by amassing lots of resources (politics notwithstanding). I will be totally honest here: over the last year, this has become a Consecrated Sphinx deck. I think it might jam CS harder and more consistently than any other deck in the format. Sphinx bridges the gap between 1v1 spot removal and multiplayer haymakers, so it should show up nearly every game. And if you decide to play a similar deck, don't worry about someone Cloning your Sphinx -- you should welcome the idea! We are well equipped to win the ensuing countermagic war, and drawing half your deck puts you in a great position to seal up the game. And if your Sphinx dies, you have Karmic Guide, Timetwister, and Misteveil Plains to try again!
Medomai the Ageless is a new addition that plays extremely well with Isperia, and he is the second best way to accumulate resources so you can race to your endgame. Sword of Feast and Famine is a bit older, but it does a decent Medomai impression as well. If these stick around for any amount of time, it becomes increasingly difficult to lose.
The other flyers in the deck are just protection and utility. Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Glen Elendra Archmage are safe targets the first time Isperia connects. They keep your general safe from harm and basically set up a subsequent haymaker like one of the other Sphinxes. Aven Mindcensor, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and Gilded Drake can shut down entire strategies for relatively little investment. Drift of Phantasms gets to join the fun by digging up graveyard hate (Timetwister), Medomai #2 (Sword of Feast and Famine), or the final piece of Erayo lock (Arcane Laboratory). Even though toolboxes like these can be great, however, try to keep these slots to a minimum -- it can be very awkward to draw into Linvala, Keeper of Silence when you don't need her, for example.
How does it end?
In tears. In a duel, you are usually swinging with your commander and other value guys, or occasionally using the ultimate on JTMS. In multiplayer, your endgame typically involves Arcane Laboratory or Forbid in conjunction with a flipped Erayo or some kind of mass bounce, like Tidespout Tyrant or Cyclonic Rift. Ideally that buys enough time to swing for the fences with whatever big flyers you have on the table at the time. The general idea is to effectively take several turns while making your opponents waste theirs.
Helpful Advice
This deck demands a lot of its pilot. You have to make some difficult decisions all the time and choose your battles wisely. And for goodness sake, pay attention to information tracking! Isperia should have no problem triggering on nearly every hit if you are attentive. What did that Peek four turns ago show you? What did that hairy fellow bounce with his Azorious Chancery? What will be on top of your library when you pop your Sensei's Divining Top? This may not be the absolute most technically challenging deck in the world, but you can't autopilot this thing and expect to do well.
In striving to be playable in multiple formats, this deck has a few shortcomings. It is not very good at politics (I don't think there is a way to be nice when you cast Tidespout Tyrant) and it is probably a bit too slow to best a top 8 of tier 1 generals like Zur, Geist, and Animar. Still, it is a strong, flexible choice for any pickup game you might play and can present some unique challenges to yourself and to your friends. Thanks for reading; any thoughts or comments are appreciated!
After you have set up some sweet top of the library bounce you should run Jethro aka Forget
CUT CHAFF CARDS TO INCLUDE EVEN CHAFFIER CARDS
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if you see me playing edh on modo I am always running badcards.dec http://offcolorcast.com For people that wanted a second EDH podcast to listen to each week.
Peek also should be a good option. I love how it is cheap to use and instant speed while replacing itself in hand. The probe is nice in the fact that it can cost you 0 mana but I find Peek to be almost the same power.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
After you have set up some sweet top of the library bounce you should run Jethro aka Forget
CUT CHAFF CARDS TO INCLUDE EVEN CHAFFIER CARDS
I LIKE THE WAY THIS GUY THINKS
Quote from Ziquallx »
Steelshaper's Gift right now seems kinda week but i think that it is worth trying to pick up a stoneforge mystic and a couple of good equipments like sword of body and mind and lightning greaves
D'oh, Lightning Greaves was somehow omitted from the list in the OP. I fixed it. In any case, Steelshaper's Gift is just fine. It's a 3-mana Lightning Greaves in most cases, with the option of grabbing Grafted Wargear if I need damage or a sac outlet, or maybe even Sword of Feast and Famine if I ever get my hands on one. It's my budget version of Stoneforge Mystic. I think I would actually cut Idyllic Tutor before Steelshaper's Gift.
Quote from ISBPathfinder »
Peek also should be a good option. I love how it is cheap to use and instant speed while replacing itself in hand. The probe is nice in the fact that it can cost you 0 mana but I find Peek to be almost the same power.
I was trying to avoid Peek for one reason or another, but now that you mention it, it really isn't that much worse than Gitaxian Probe. Sounds good to me! Peace out, Idyllic Tutor. Hello, additional cantrip!
Thanks for the responses, everyone. Please keep the good suggestions coming!
Did you run the sickest Conundrum Sphinx in the last deck, think of the tense situations you can bring about if you attack with both it and Isperiaz , well if they know their top card anyway
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if you see me playing edh on modo I am always running badcards.dec http://offcolorcast.com For people that wanted a second EDH podcast to listen to each week.
If you want to, Glasses of Urza for repeatable peeking. Not really a good card, but fun nonetheless, and not has annoying as Telepathy.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'll take a pass on these. In other decks, they are largely underpowered. In this deck they are slightly better because of Isperia, but still:
1. We know our opponent's hand after the first swing with Isperia;
2. We have sufficient peeking abilities with bounce and, well, Peek;
3. We can blindly guess a card if we have to, and it works alright;
4. Lastly, missing the first trigger isn't really the end of the world. At least we gained some information from it.
Quote from nathones »
The deck looks great and I can see where you rely a lot less on toolbox fliers. However, I really like Linvala, Keeper of Silence in Isperia decks.
You're right that I've tried to keep away from the toolbox approach, but you're also right that Linvala is really good. I'm not sure how I overlooked her, but I will try to find room for testing.
Quote from boel »
Did you run the sickest
Conundrum Sphinx in the last deck, think of the tense situations you can bring about if you attack with both it and Isperiaz , well if they know their top card anyway
Lol! That's actually quite the conundrum. Probably not good enough to make the cut, but it certainly is an interesting scenario.
So this is the first deck I have liked enough to actually purchase in quite a long time. I haven't been able to take it for a spin IRL just yet, but I am excited. From what I can tell so far, the deck is able to transition fluidly from offense to defense and back, which will prove extraordinarily useful when navigating the dynamics of multiplayer.
It is in these transitions that most of the mistakes will be made. Knowing what to tutor for (or even knowing when to hold back with Isperia) is going to tax my threat assessment skills. And when Isperia connects, what do I tutor for? Unlike most other control-ish EDH decks I have built and faced, there aren't any huge haymakers per se that drastically swing the game in your favor -- no Praetor's Counsel, no Time Stretch, no braindead infinite combos. When this deck takes control of the game, it usually does it in increments: here's a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, there's an active Erayo's Essence, and things keep getting worse and worse with Tidespout Tyrant and Forbid until creature beats go the distance. Pile on top of it all Scroll Rack, Thawing Glaciers, Sensei's Divining Top, and lots of hand/library information tracking, and this could turn out to be another skill-intensive monstrosity. Me likey!
Consecrated Sphinx is sort of borderline braindead, I'll admit, but when it doesn't draw you into any instant-wins it's forgivable. Comboing with Lark is also possible, but it is so unusually sluggish here (and a bit more complicated and restrictive with Grafted Wargear) that I won't really feel bad if it happens.
To sum up, it took me a while to figure out how to play my Pauper Dreamcrusher deck correctly, and I may have to invest a similar amount of time into this deck to tweak it and play it closer to perfection. In any case, here's a start:
It is naive of me to think Isperia will always have someone to favorably attack once we go into the mid- or late-game, and added protection for mildly expensive creatures is a bonus. Vengeance was good, but with so much removal, countermagic, and bounce, I'm not sure it is necessary. Next to go is probably Azorius Aethermage for Linvala, Keeper of Silence, but I want to give Aethermage a chance before I send it to the chopping block.
Not a big fan of Thought Reflection in this deck -- except for a few bombs I can tutor up with Isperia, I'm trying to keep mana costs nice and lean. You are absolutely right about Oblivion Ring, though... I was hoping to do some fun Capsize shenanigans, but that's just way too slow when you're not playing Pauper. To fix it, here are my recent changes:
+Stonecloaker (Some kind of tutorable graveyard hate, pulls double duty for Shrieking Drake and maybe ETB triggers)
+Pongify (less mana than Oblivion Ring, no-questions-asked removal
+Portent (Ponder that lets me peek at their hand, stack their deck, or shuffle away a Lapsed general? Yes please!)
+Jace, the Mindsculptor (Better than all. I'll trade everything I have for one at the next SCG Open.)
But seriously, Jace fits this deck perfectly. His first ability works with the deck's "fateseal" theme and compliments Isperia's requirement, his second is just good and works well with Isperia and the plethora of shuffle effects, and the bounce mechanic removes a blocker and gives a guaranteed Isperia trigger. The ultimate will likely never happen, but it seems the first three are catered specifically to this deck.
Other cards I am considering removing: Reveillark -- is this really that good here? It just doesn't seem all that useful most of the time. Riftwing Cloudskate -- this ability on a flier is nice, but with Lark gone, this just seems wildly inefficient at what it does. Grafted Wargear -- with no sac outlet needed for Lark, this is relegated to mediocrity. Capsize -- the buyback is so expensive, I'm wondering if I would be better off with Cryptic Command, Withdraw, or something.
Forgive the double-post, but I would like to get these ideas out in the open so I can get some useful feedback. This deck has been through a huge update, and I have added a visual spoiler to the OP.
I have actually gotten to pilot the deck in several real games at this point. Out of three multiplayer games, I won one. Out of a single one-vs-one game, I won none. However, two of these losses resulted directly from my own play mistakes.
The games I lost were typically punted because I forgot what to name with Isperia or because I overlooked crucial Merchant Scroll into Mirrorweave plays or something. Without any obvious ways to gain life, I eventually succumbed to creature beats before taking over. I still feel that while some life gain would be nice to have, it is yet largely unnecessary since tighter play would have given me a 75% win ratio instead of a 25% win ratio (which admittedly is still is acceptable in multiplayer).
I have noticed that you really have to fight to gain the initiative, but once you do, you can build layer upon layer of disruptive elements to cement your victory. In other words, the longer you can retain the "beatdown" role, the harder it is for you to lose. Because of the subtle (mostly tempo-based) removal spells this deck employs, you have to really work to create a window of opportunity -- once you seize the initiative, Lightning Greaves + Glen Elendra Archmage + Tidespout Tyrant, for example, start making it difficult for your opponent to interact meaningfully.
Here is what I have found to be unimpressive:
-Reveillark (too narrow, not abusable enough)
-Riftwing Cloudskate (too clunky without Lark)
-Grafted Wargear (the Lark package is gone)
-Whispersilk Cloak (upgraded significantly)
-Sunblast Angel (I never wanted to tutor this up, and I rarely wanted to cast it)
-Arcane Denial (letting your opponent draw cards is not very synergistic with top-of-the-deck tempo spells)
-Oath of Lieges (not bad, but I dedicated this slot to actual card advantage)
-Psychic Surgery (never actually did anything, sadly)
And here are their replacements:
+Snapcaster Mage (always great)
+Glen Elendra Archmage (useful answer, and another layer of available resistance)
+Linvala, Keeper of Silence (simply all-around useful, and essentially locks out some generals)
+Sword of Feast and Famine (a centerpiece of the deck, I am finding)
+Cryptic Command (all modes are useful, and all are on-theme with what we are trying to do)
+Submerge (I have yet to play in a game where this wouldn't have been free to cast)
+Land Tax (we need card advantage, we need to hit land drops, and this has absurd synergy with Scroll Rack, Jace, the Mindsculptor, etc.)
+Counterbalance (as an experiment -- it could be great)
As always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.“
with all your deck manipulation have you considered djinn of wishes if he sticks and uses up all his counters you can bounce him and start over again
in this deck you can scroll rack tidespout tyrant where you want it then drop it in play for a total of 5
You know, I actually considered Djinn of Wishes for this deck. I came to the conclusion that without Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, the "discount" that Djinn provides just isn't worth the card slot -- most other times he will be a glorified draw spell with an Air Elemental attached, sort of like a wacked out Mulldrifter.
As a matter of fact, I'm trying to trim down the curve even more, and this time I am leveling my harsh, critical gaze at Sun Titan. Usually, the only thing he can ever get back are a handful of dinky creatures (although rebuilding the Erayo combo was nice) and more importantly the occasional equipment. Without the money to sink on fetchlands to make him better, I will give him the axe and replace a land with Academy Ruins. Between that, Mistveil Plains, and Expedition Map, I think it will suffice.
But now what to add? Some efficient artifact/enchantment hate would be nice, but I don't really know what I want in this slot yet, so I'm going to try various oddball utility stuff like Voidstone Gargoyle, Voidmage Husher, Umezawa's Jitte, etc. We will see what becomes of it.
Interesting deck, I'm considering building an Isperia deck. How would it do without the lock stuff?
Countermagic and removal spells that don't send the target to the graveyard (Hinder, Path to Exile, etc.) help some in that regard. But when it comes to actually removing threats from graveyards, Stonecloaker is pretty much it, but that has been enough so far because we can reliably tutor for Stonecloaker whenever we need it. If it ever becomes necessary to add more, I will probably look to Timetwister or one of its cousins for a graveyard reset button that is flexible enough to be useful in other situations.
My experience with Isperia has been a good one. If you wanted to build it without the Erayo lock, I would simply take out Arcane Laboratory, at which point Erayo is just fair. I guess the various Forbid locks would still be in the deck, so maybe take that out as well, but those are incredibly resource-hungry and are only soft locks at best. Most of my creature selection would remain the same.
To replace the cards you take out, I would consider some larger fliers to help close out the game. Although, most of the best large fliers (Reveillark, Yosei, the Morning Star, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Consecrated Sphinx, Tidespout Tyrant) are typically geared toward locking opponents out in one way or another. Isperia is not overpowered by any means, but if you or your playgroup decides she needs to be chopped off at the knees, even if it is still fun to play, it might not be strong enough to hold its own.
Thank you for the explanation. Tell me about counterbalance. Worthwhile? Seems like a mana drain or something might be better.
Counterbalance was added as a sort of experiment, just to see how well it would work. By itself (using it "blind"), it doesn't actually gain much card advantage at all because of the big variance of mana costs in EDH. It will occasionally make people make awkward plays when you Counterbalance on another opponent's turn and they realize they can't do what they wanted to do after they untap.
But yes, Mana Drain would be better -- too bad it costs so much money. You could easily fill this slot with some other countermagic or removal and be just fine, because Counterbalance is more fun than anything. Well, fun for some, I guess.
Thanks Dosu. Any chance you'll post your land base?
Yes, I should probably do that. I am at work on lunch break, so I will try to do it off the top of my head.
In other news, we have our first deckbuilder's spotlight in Episode 5 of OffColorCast. It's a short-and-sweet, high-level Q&A covering the background/basic premise of the deck and a handful of card choices. It is good to note that the deck had no direct form of lifegain at the time of the recording, but as of the SCG Open in Richmond, we now have Umezawa's Jitte to fill that role, courtesy of Macius.
I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but Glen Elendra Archmage is a house. When you play it, you're like, "Yeah, it's pretty good I guess," but when you're playing against it, you're like "GAH, can I even win this?" So glad I added it. Also, Submerge can be such a blowout. My friend was piloting this deck, and I had my Child of AlaraSubmerged for free when he was tapped out in response to my Sakura-Tribe Elder activation. That play definitely won him the game.
Deck slots I am not 100% sold on: Linvala, Keeper of Silence (sometimes just plain dead) Long-Term Plans (it is nice to have a tutor chain, but I haven't played it enough to tell if it is worth it) Counterbalance (acceptable, and fun, but not great) Into the Roil (I want versatile removal for this slot, but it is hard to tell which card is optimal) Pongify (Is great, but should I run Swords to Plowshares instead? Do I run both?) Sapphire Medallion/Pearl Medallion (sometimes amazing, sometimes not that great at all)
I have a Isperia deck as well. Two cards that I run that you do not are Wispmare and Theiving Magpie.
Wispmare is tutorable Enchantment spot removal, and is cheap on the curve. Cloudchaser Eagle can do the same, but for more mana. Cloudchaser Kestrel is another similar card with a negligible other ability.
Theiving Magpie is great in the games I've played with it. It just isnt all that scary to most people so it gets left alone. Meanwhile, you poke somebody with it and you get an extra card.
Some exciting new additions are on their way! It is no secret that I am not a fan of Telepathy and such because I simply do not thing it is necessary to invest a card to gain the information it provides. However, Peek and Gitaxian Probe have been great because they actually replace themselves in your hand and cost little to nothing to cast. To that end, Clairvoyance and Sorcerous Sight will be making their way into the deck when I get my hands on them. Long-Term Plans and the Medallions are probably going to be the first cuts.
But what's this? People have replied and I somehow let it fall by the wayside? Whoops! Apologies.
Quote from nutterbutter »
Tell me about mirrorweave. What's it used for?
Mirrorweave is just general utility and is easily one of my favorite cards in the deck. The tricks you can pull with Mirrorweave are limitless. Last time, I saw it used to get rid of a problematic Progenitus swing away from the kill (turning it into something else, getting rid of protection from everything). It does something different each game, but it is consistently great.
Quote from RedPanda »
Hmm, two cards I enjoyed in Isperia:
Reito Lantern put away your toys when you're done using them. Or, just hate someone's yard.
Sigil of Sleep. Auras may be terrible, but, well, so what?
Edit: couple more. Why not? Sunder or Armageddon seal the game with all this bounce.
Chancellor of the Spires, because having access to your opponent's yard at any time is neat. High on the curve, though.
Lantern would be a shoo-in if the mana cost was not so prohibitive. Mistveil Plains does a good job with recursion when necessary, and I feel Timetwister or one of its variants would be a stronger supplement that provides graveyard hate.
Sigil of Sleep is actually kind of cool. I can see the bounce effect being very annoying indeed! It is worth a shot.
Sunder and Armageddon are powerful, but they really cripple this deck more than they help because Isperia is so mana hungry. I also play very little artifact accel, which are normally the all-stars when paired with mass LD.
Chancellor of the Spires is expensive to cast by is on my short list for inclusion, along with Aven Mindcensor et. al. A solid piece of utility for which I just need to find room.
Quote from ThePeople"sHero »
I have a Isperia deck as well. Two cards that I run that you do not are Wispmare and Theiving Magpie.
Wispmare is tutorable Enchantment spot removal, and is cheap on the curve. Cloudchaser Eagle can do the same, but for more mana. Cloudchaser Kestrel is another similar card with a negligible other ability.
Theiving Magpie is great in the games I've played with it. It just isnt all that scary to most people so it gets left alone. Meanwhile, you poke somebody with it and you get an extra card.
Hmm, I am not sure I need Wispmare at the moment, but you bring up a good point with Thieving Magpie. It is good, but somehow I can't see myself tutoring for it very often when I could get Glen Elendra Archmage, Gilded Drake, or Consecrated Sphinx instead. It's a shame, too; Magpie is one of my favorite creatures.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Sigil of Sleep looks like it holds serious promise, if I can get it to work. I am still exploring how to build and play this deck "optimally," so thanks for bearing with me while I go through my learning experience.
After some more testing, I have been sadly disappointed in Sigil of Sleep. The whole disadvantage of being an Aura is obvious of course, but more importantly: if we can already get through unblocked, we usually don't need to bounce guys anymore.
Some significant overhauls have been made to the deck. Lots of the fun stuff like Counterbalance and Sapphire Medallion is now gone in favor of more boring stuff like Talisman of Progress and Clairvoyance, but MAN, the difference these changes have made is extraordinary. Everything seems to flow much smoother, we aren't quite so bottlenecked on mana in the early turns, and the deck is starting to settle into a groove instead of behaving unpredictably every game.
-Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Not useful often enough. Shuts down some generals, but is dead against others, and Gilded Drake is a powerful blow against even more generals anyway.
-Long-Term Plans
Too expensive for what it does. The fact we could tutor for anything via Isperia into Drift of Phantasms into Long-Term Plans was more cute than good.
-Trickbind
Was good, but it was replaced with Stifle. Two mana is twice as much as one mana.
-Counterbalance
Too unpredictable and mana-intensive. I think it has a home in heavily tuned metas, but in random pickup matches this slot is better used elsewhere.
-Vivid Creek
-Vivid Meadow
More mana rocks and cantrips lets us make some sacrifices on the land count, and subpar ETBT lands seemed like good candidates.
+Stifle
Yes, one mana is half as much as two mana.
+Swords to Plowshares
Uh huh. Collector's Edition lets me get sweet art, old frame, and black border for a 95% discount.
+Ancestral Vision
We need some cheap raw card advantage to make up for cheap 1-for-1 spells, and this seems to do the trick. This is still experimental.
+Clairvoyance
+Sorcerous Sight
I thought these would just be cute with Isperia, but the information is actually genuinely useful. Huzzah.
One last thing: at this point, this feels less like a multiplayer deck that can do 1v1 than a 1v1 deck than can do multiplayer. I will ask the mods to move it to the 1v1 subforum, even if this means the discussion in this thread dies out...
I'm going to attack your dis-inclusion of Linvala. You don't run it to attack generals, you run it to attack everything else. It does hit relevant generals as well (namely arcum, sisay) but it's the rest of the field that Linvala is great against as a toolbox target.
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
-Costs 1 more than Zur
-Gives you access to 1 fewer color than Zur
-Only triggers when she connects instead of when she attacks like Zur
-Asks you tough questions to see if you even deserve an attack trigger like Zur
-Makes you cast the tutored card at sorcery speed, instead of cheating it into play like Zur
HOW CAN I LOSE?!
1 Isperia the Inscrutable
Flying Guys (11)
1 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
1 Gilded Drake
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Hushwing Gryff
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Karmic Guide
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Medomai the Ageless
1 Tidespout Tyrant
Other Guys (3)
1 Mother of Runes
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
Library Manipulation (14)
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Portent
1 Preordain
1 Clairvoyance
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Sorcerous Sight
1 Peek
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Timetwister
1 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Mental Misstep
1 Spell Pierce
1 Stifle
1 Counterspell
1 Memory Lapse
1 Remand
1 Forbid
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Cryptic Command
Other Removal (8)
1 Oust
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Into the Roil
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Terminus
Equipment (4)
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
Other Artifacts (1)
1 Isochron Scepter
Enchantments (2)
1 Land Tax
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Mana Rocks (5)
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Azorius Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Talisman of Progress
Lands (38)
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Academy Ruins
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Halimar Depths
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Mystic Gate
1 Skycloud Expanse
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Tundra
15 Island
8 Plains
Quick Deck Statistics
Preferred Environment: 1v1 or Multiplayer
Casual/Competitive: Competitive
Average CMC: 2.21
Deck MVP: Consecrated Sphinx
You might like this deck if:
+ You enjoy decks that are challenging to pilot
+ You are interested in exploring the line between control, tempo, and combo
+ You like winning with an unconventional general
+ You want a deck that can hold its own in a variety of settings
You will probably find this deck in bad taste if:
- You don't like seeing some of the same spells every game
- Your playgroup is very outspoken against lock strategies
- You would rather win with politics than playskill or power
- You think blue players are mostly douchebags (hint: they are)
Why?
I wanted to build around Isperia 1.0 when I figured out she could single-handedly tutor up the Erayo lock. However, I learned Isperia is poorly suited for a dedicated "suicide combo" approach, and to make it worse, Erayo lock is easy to disrupt before it comes online. The intial builds durdled around with too many flying guys and an unclear game plan, but lately the deck has been coming into its own. I am sort of walking the middle ground between multiplayer and 1v1 with this deck, which is why I am playing cheap tempo-based removal and still hardcasting some giant dudes.
How?
You win 1v1 games with tempo and disruption; you win multiplayer games by amassing lots of resources (politics notwithstanding). I will be totally honest here: over the last year, this has become a Consecrated Sphinx deck. I think it might jam CS harder and more consistently than any other deck in the format. Sphinx bridges the gap between 1v1 spot removal and multiplayer haymakers, so it should show up nearly every game. And if you decide to play a similar deck, don't worry about someone Cloning your Sphinx -- you should welcome the idea! We are well equipped to win the ensuing countermagic war, and drawing half your deck puts you in a great position to seal up the game. And if your Sphinx dies, you have Karmic Guide, Timetwister, and Misteveil Plains to try again!
Medomai the Ageless is a new addition that plays extremely well with Isperia, and he is the second best way to accumulate resources so you can race to your endgame. Sword of Feast and Famine is a bit older, but it does a decent Medomai impression as well. If these stick around for any amount of time, it becomes increasingly difficult to lose.
The other flyers in the deck are just protection and utility. Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Glen Elendra Archmage are safe targets the first time Isperia connects. They keep your general safe from harm and basically set up a subsequent haymaker like one of the other Sphinxes. Aven Mindcensor, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and Gilded Drake can shut down entire strategies for relatively little investment. Drift of Phantasms gets to join the fun by digging up graveyard hate (Timetwister), Medomai #2 (Sword of Feast and Famine), or the final piece of Erayo lock (Arcane Laboratory). Even though toolboxes like these can be great, however, try to keep these slots to a minimum -- it can be very awkward to draw into Linvala, Keeper of Silence when you don't need her, for example.
How does it end?
In tears. In a duel, you are usually swinging with your commander and other value guys, or occasionally using the ultimate on JTMS. In multiplayer, your endgame typically involves Arcane Laboratory or Forbid in conjunction with a flipped Erayo or some kind of mass bounce, like Tidespout Tyrant or Cyclonic Rift. Ideally that buys enough time to swing for the fences with whatever big flyers you have on the table at the time. The general idea is to effectively take several turns while making your opponents waste theirs.
Helpful Advice
This deck demands a lot of its pilot. You have to make some difficult decisions all the time and choose your battles wisely. And for goodness sake, pay attention to information tracking! Isperia should have no problem triggering on nearly every hit if you are attentive. What did that Peek four turns ago show you? What did that hairy fellow bounce with his Azorious Chancery? What will be on top of your library when you pop your Sensei's Divining Top? This may not be the absolute most technically challenging deck in the world, but you can't autopilot this thing and expect to do well.
In striving to be playable in multiple formats, this deck has a few shortcomings. It is not very good at politics (I don't think there is a way to be nice when you cast Tidespout Tyrant) and it is probably a bit too slow to best a top 8 of tier 1 generals like Zur, Geist, and Animar. Still, it is a strong, flexible choice for any pickup game you might play and can present some unique challenges to yourself and to your friends. Thanks for reading; any thoughts or comments are appreciated!
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D'oh, Lightning Greaves was somehow omitted from the list in the OP. I fixed it. In any case, Steelshaper's Gift is just fine. It's a 3-mana Lightning Greaves in most cases, with the option of grabbing Grafted Wargear if I need damage or a sac outlet, or maybe even Sword of Feast and Famine if I ever get my hands on one. It's my budget version of Stoneforge Mystic. I think I would actually cut Idyllic Tutor before Steelshaper's Gift.
I was trying to avoid Peek for one reason or another, but now that you mention it, it really isn't that much worse than Gitaxian Probe. Sounds good to me! Peace out, Idyllic Tutor. Hello, additional cantrip!
Thanks for the responses, everyone. Please keep the good suggestions coming!
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Conundrum Sphinx in the last deck, think of the tense situations you can bring about if you attack with both it and Isperiaz , well if they know their top card anyway
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Thanks for the suggestion, but I'll take a pass on these. In other decks, they are largely underpowered. In this deck they are slightly better because of Isperia, but still:
1. We know our opponent's hand after the first swing with Isperia;
2. We have sufficient peeking abilities with bounce and, well, Peek;
3. We can blindly guess a card if we have to, and it works alright;
4. Lastly, missing the first trigger isn't really the end of the world. At least we gained some information from it.
You're right that I've tried to keep away from the toolbox approach, but you're also right that Linvala is really good. I'm not sure how I overlooked her, but I will try to find room for testing.
Lol! That's actually quite the conundrum. Probably not good enough to make the cut, but it certainly is an interesting scenario.
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It is in these transitions that most of the mistakes will be made. Knowing what to tutor for (or even knowing when to hold back with Isperia) is going to tax my threat assessment skills. And when Isperia connects, what do I tutor for? Unlike most other control-ish EDH decks I have built and faced, there aren't any huge haymakers per se that drastically swing the game in your favor -- no Praetor's Counsel, no Time Stretch, no braindead infinite combos. When this deck takes control of the game, it usually does it in increments: here's a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, there's an active Erayo's Essence, and things keep getting worse and worse with Tidespout Tyrant and Forbid until creature beats go the distance. Pile on top of it all Scroll Rack, Thawing Glaciers, Sensei's Divining Top, and lots of hand/library information tracking, and this could turn out to be another skill-intensive monstrosity. Me likey!
Consecrated Sphinx is sort of borderline braindead, I'll admit, but when it doesn't draw you into any instant-wins it's forgivable. Comboing with Lark is also possible, but it is so unusually sluggish here (and a bit more complicated and restrictive with Grafted Wargear) that I won't really feel bad if it happens.
To sum up, it took me a while to figure out how to play my Pauper Dreamcrusher deck correctly, and I may have to invest a similar amount of time into this deck to tweak it and play it closer to perfection. In any case, here's a start:
- Akroma's Vengeance
+ Whispersilk Cloak
It is naive of me to think Isperia will always have someone to favorably attack once we go into the mid- or late-game, and added protection for mildly expensive creatures is a bonus. Vengeance was good, but with so much removal, countermagic, and bounce, I'm not sure it is necessary. Next to go is probably Azorius Aethermage for Linvala, Keeper of Silence, but I want to give Aethermage a chance before I send it to the chopping block.
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-Vedalken Aethermage (too cutesy, didn't do enough)
-Momentary Blink (same)
-Oblivion Ring (same)
-Words of Wind (etc.)
+Stonecloaker (Some kind of tutorable graveyard hate, pulls double duty for Shrieking Drake and maybe ETB triggers)
+Pongify (less mana than Oblivion Ring, no-questions-asked removal
+Portent (Ponder that lets me peek at their hand, stack their deck, or shuffle away a Lapsed general? Yes please!)
+Jace, the Mindsculptor (Better than all. I'll trade everything I have for one at the next SCG Open.)
But seriously, Jace fits this deck perfectly. His first ability works with the deck's "fateseal" theme and compliments Isperia's requirement, his second is just good and works well with Isperia and the plethora of shuffle effects, and the bounce mechanic removes a blocker and gives a guaranteed Isperia trigger. The ultimate will likely never happen, but it seems the first three are catered specifically to this deck.
Other cards I am considering removing:
Reveillark -- is this really that good here? It just doesn't seem all that useful most of the time.
Riftwing Cloudskate -- this ability on a flier is nice, but with Lark gone, this just seems wildly inefficient at what it does.
Grafted Wargear -- with no sac outlet needed for Lark, this is relegated to mediocrity.
Capsize -- the buyback is so expensive, I'm wondering if I would be better off with Cryptic Command, Withdraw, or something.
Any thoughts on these changes?
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I have actually gotten to pilot the deck in several real games at this point. Out of three multiplayer games, I won one. Out of a single one-vs-one game, I won none. However, two of these losses resulted directly from my own play mistakes.
The game I won, I landed a turn-3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor and rode the Brainstorm action while I attacked with Isperia and assembled a Consecrated Sphinx + Forbid setup. Gilded Drake and Rite of Replication made an appearance, but the Forbid lock was the main dish.
The games I lost were typically punted because I forgot what to name with Isperia or because I overlooked crucial Merchant Scroll into Mirrorweave plays or something. Without any obvious ways to gain life, I eventually succumbed to creature beats before taking over. I still feel that while some life gain would be nice to have, it is yet largely unnecessary since tighter play would have given me a 75% win ratio instead of a 25% win ratio (which admittedly is still is acceptable in multiplayer).
I have noticed that you really have to fight to gain the initiative, but once you do, you can build layer upon layer of disruptive elements to cement your victory. In other words, the longer you can retain the "beatdown" role, the harder it is for you to lose. Because of the subtle (mostly tempo-based) removal spells this deck employs, you have to really work to create a window of opportunity -- once you seize the initiative, Lightning Greaves + Glen Elendra Archmage + Tidespout Tyrant, for example, start making it difficult for your opponent to interact meaningfully.
Here is what I have found to be unimpressive:
-Reveillark (too narrow, not abusable enough)
-Riftwing Cloudskate (too clunky without Lark)
-Grafted Wargear (the Lark package is gone)
-Whispersilk Cloak (upgraded significantly)
-Sunblast Angel (I never wanted to tutor this up, and I rarely wanted to cast it)
-Arcane Denial (letting your opponent draw cards is not very synergistic with top-of-the-deck tempo spells)
-Oath of Lieges (not bad, but I dedicated this slot to actual card advantage)
-Psychic Surgery (never actually did anything, sadly)
And here are their replacements:
+Snapcaster Mage (always great)
+Glen Elendra Archmage (useful answer, and another layer of available resistance)
+Linvala, Keeper of Silence (simply all-around useful, and essentially locks out some generals)
+Sword of Feast and Famine (a centerpiece of the deck, I am finding)
+Cryptic Command (all modes are useful, and all are on-theme with what we are trying to do)
+Submerge (I have yet to play in a game where this wouldn't have been free to cast)
+Land Tax (we need card advantage, we need to hit land drops, and this has absurd synergy with Scroll Rack, Jace, the Mindsculptor, etc.)
+Counterbalance (as an experiment -- it could be great)
As always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
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in this deck you can scroll rack tidespout tyrant where you want it then drop it in play for a total of 5
You know, I actually considered Djinn of Wishes for this deck. I came to the conclusion that without Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, the "discount" that Djinn provides just isn't worth the card slot -- most other times he will be a glorified draw spell with an Air Elemental attached, sort of like a wacked out Mulldrifter.
As a matter of fact, I'm trying to trim down the curve even more, and this time I am leveling my harsh, critical gaze at Sun Titan. Usually, the only thing he can ever get back are a handful of dinky creatures (although rebuilding the Erayo combo was nice) and more importantly the occasional equipment. Without the money to sink on fetchlands to make him better, I will give him the axe and replace a land with Academy Ruins. Between that, Mistveil Plains, and Expedition Map, I think it will suffice.
But now what to add? Some efficient artifact/enchantment hate would be nice, but I don't really know what I want in this slot yet, so I'm going to try various oddball utility stuff like Voidstone Gargoyle, Voidmage Husher, Umezawa's Jitte, etc. We will see what becomes of it.
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Interesting deck, I'm considering building an Isperia deck. How would it do without the lock stuff?
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Countermagic and removal spells that don't send the target to the graveyard (Hinder, Path to Exile, etc.) help some in that regard. But when it comes to actually removing threats from graveyards, Stonecloaker is pretty much it, but that has been enough so far because we can reliably tutor for Stonecloaker whenever we need it. If it ever becomes necessary to add more, I will probably look to Timetwister or one of its cousins for a graveyard reset button that is flexible enough to be useful in other situations.
My experience with Isperia has been a good one. If you wanted to build it without the Erayo lock, I would simply take out Arcane Laboratory, at which point Erayo is just fair. I guess the various Forbid locks would still be in the deck, so maybe take that out as well, but those are incredibly resource-hungry and are only soft locks at best. Most of my creature selection would remain the same.
To replace the cards you take out, I would consider some larger fliers to help close out the game. Although, most of the best large fliers (Reveillark, Yosei, the Morning Star, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Consecrated Sphinx, Tidespout Tyrant) are typically geared toward locking opponents out in one way or another. Isperia is not overpowered by any means, but if you or your playgroup decides she needs to be chopped off at the knees, even if it is still fun to play, it might not be strong enough to hold its own.
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Counterbalance was added as a sort of experiment, just to see how well it would work. By itself (using it "blind"), it doesn't actually gain much card advantage at all because of the big variance of mana costs in EDH. It will occasionally make people make awkward plays when you Counterbalance on another opponent's turn and they realize they can't do what they wanted to do after they untap.
However, it is really easy to make Counterbalance "live" with Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Brainstorm, Jace, the Mindsculptor, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Ponder, Preordain, Portent, and to some extent Long-Term Plans. I almost always have either Top or Scroll Rack active for a soft lock, and we almost always know what is in our opponents hands so we can rig the Counterbalance at sorcery speed and have it be effective. It has actually been at least acceptable the 3 or so times I have cast it.
But yes, Mana Drain would be better -- too bad it costs so much money. You could easily fill this slot with some other countermagic or removal and be just fine, because Counterbalance is more fun than anything. Well, fun for some, I guess.
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Thank You Rivenor/Miraculous Recovery Studios!
GGGSKamahl's Band of Monstosities SGGG
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BBGGNath, Raper of Hands and Spewer of Tokens!GGBB
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On Break
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Yes, I should probably do that. I am at work on lunch break, so I will try to do it off the top of my head.
In other news, we have our first deckbuilder's spotlight in Episode 5 of OffColorCast. It's a short-and-sweet, high-level Q&A covering the background/basic premise of the deck and a handful of card choices. It is good to note that the deck had no direct form of lifegain at the time of the recording, but as of the SCG Open in Richmond, we now have Umezawa's Jitte to fill that role, courtesy of Macius.
I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but Glen Elendra Archmage is a house. When you play it, you're like, "Yeah, it's pretty good I guess," but when you're playing against it, you're like "GAH, can I even win this?" So glad I added it. Also, Submerge can be such a blowout. My friend was piloting this deck, and I had my Child of Alara Submerged for free when he was tapped out in response to my Sakura-Tribe Elder activation. That play definitely won him the game.
Deck slots I am not 100% sold on:
Linvala, Keeper of Silence (sometimes just plain dead)
Long-Term Plans (it is nice to have a tutor chain, but I haven't played it enough to tell if it is worth it)
Counterbalance (acceptable, and fun, but not great)
Into the Roil (I want versatile removal for this slot, but it is hard to tell which card is optimal)
Pongify (Is great, but should I run Swords to Plowshares instead? Do I run both?)
Sapphire Medallion/Pearl Medallion (sometimes amazing, sometimes not that great at all)
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Reito Lantern put away your toys when you're done using them. Or, just hate someone's yard.
Sigil of Sleep. Auras may be terrible, but, well, so what?
Edit: couple more. Why not?
Sunder or Armageddon seal the game with all this bounce.
Chancellor of the Spires, because having access to your opponent's yard at any time is neat. High on the curve, though.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Wispmare is tutorable Enchantment spot removal, and is cheap on the curve. Cloudchaser Eagle can do the same, but for more mana. Cloudchaser Kestrel is another similar card with a negligible other ability.
Theiving Magpie is great in the games I've played with it. It just isnt all that scary to most people so it gets left alone. Meanwhile, you poke somebody with it and you get an extra card.
But what's this? People have replied and I somehow let it fall by the wayside? Whoops! Apologies.
Mirrorweave is just general utility and is easily one of my favorite cards in the deck. The tricks you can pull with Mirrorweave are limitless. Last time, I saw it used to get rid of a problematic Progenitus swing away from the kill (turning it into something else, getting rid of protection from everything). It does something different each game, but it is consistently great.
Lantern would be a shoo-in if the mana cost was not so prohibitive. Mistveil Plains does a good job with recursion when necessary, and I feel Timetwister or one of its variants would be a stronger supplement that provides graveyard hate.
Sigil of Sleep is actually kind of cool. I can see the bounce effect being very annoying indeed! It is worth a shot.
Sunder and Armageddon are powerful, but they really cripple this deck more than they help because Isperia is so mana hungry. I also play very little artifact accel, which are normally the all-stars when paired with mass LD.
Chancellor of the Spires is expensive to cast by is on my short list for inclusion, along with Aven Mindcensor et. al. A solid piece of utility for which I just need to find room.
Hmm, I am not sure I need Wispmare at the moment, but you bring up a good point with Thieving Magpie. It is good, but somehow I can't see myself tutoring for it very often when I could get Glen Elendra Archmage, Gilded Drake, or Consecrated Sphinx instead. It's a shame, too; Magpie is one of my favorite creatures.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Sigil of Sleep looks like it holds serious promise, if I can get it to work. I am still exploring how to build and play this deck "optimally," so thanks for bearing with me while I go through my learning experience.
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After some more testing, I have been sadly disappointed in Sigil of Sleep. The whole disadvantage of being an Aura is obvious of course, but more importantly: if we can already get through unblocked, we usually don't need to bounce guys anymore.
Some significant overhauls have been made to the deck. Lots of the fun stuff like Counterbalance and Sapphire Medallion is now gone in favor of more boring stuff like Talisman of Progress and Clairvoyance, but MAN, the difference these changes have made is extraordinary. Everything seems to flow much smoother, we aren't quite so bottlenecked on mana in the early turns, and the deck is starting to settle into a groove instead of behaving unpredictably every game.
-Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Not useful often enough. Shuts down some generals, but is dead against others, and Gilded Drake is a powerful blow against even more generals anyway.
-Long-Term Plans
Too expensive for what it does. The fact we could tutor for anything via Isperia into Drift of Phantasms into Long-Term Plans was more cute than good.
-Pongify
Not sure about this one. My reasoning is that Swords to Plowshares is still just better, but Pongify was strong and gave us solid removal tutorable via Merchant Scroll.
-Trickbind
Was good, but it was replaced with Stifle. Two mana is twice as much as one mana.
-Counterbalance
Too unpredictable and mana-intensive. I think it has a home in heavily tuned metas, but in random pickup matches this slot is better used elsewhere.
-Pearl Medallion
-Sapphire Medallion
Wouldn't these just be better as Azorius Signet or something? I thought so, and fortunately the theory turned out to be true.
-Vivid Creek
-Vivid Meadow
More mana rocks and cantrips lets us make some sacrifices on the land count, and subpar ETBT lands seemed like good candidates.
+Chrome Mox
+Azorius Signet
+Talisman of Progress
+Fellwar Stone
Boring mana rocks apparently make all the difference. Chrome Mox isn't boring at all I guess, but it feels like these made the deck level up or something.
+Stifle
Yes, one mana is half as much as two mana.
+Swords to Plowshares
Uh huh. Collector's Edition lets me get sweet art, old frame, and black border for a 95% discount.
+Ancestral Vision
We need some cheap raw card advantage to make up for cheap 1-for-1 spells, and this seems to do the trick. This is still experimental.
+Clairvoyance
+Sorcerous Sight
I thought these would just be cute with Isperia, but the information is actually genuinely useful. Huzzah.
One last thing: at this point, this feels less like a multiplayer deck that can do 1v1 than a 1v1 deck than can do multiplayer. I will ask the mods to move it to the 1v1 subforum, even if this means the discussion in this thread dies out...
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EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary