Here's a curveball for you - a non-wedge, 3 color deck. The mana is certainly good enough to support this deck. The question is whether or not a deck without the powerful 3 color cards can compete in this format. It's also missing out on powerful 2-color spells. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but there are no spells that are ally colors - it's either enemy or wedge. Where a wedge deck would get two sets of two-color spells, this deck gets just one.
The reason to run this deck is that it can play wrath, dig through time, strong removal, and a planeswalker. No wedge can do that. This deck aims to protect sorin until he can ultimate, which should essentially lock your opponent out of the game. The deck also has excellent mana.
That being said, this deck was hard to build. I really wanted to play Dig through time and Murderous Cut. That's a lot of delve. Ideally I'd be playing cards like Pillar of flame - 1 mana spells that hit the yard after they do their job. However, I think Sorin is important to this deck as well - and he needs at least a few creatures to support him. Wingmate Roc has the same requirements. Creatures don't usually die the moment you cast them.
To fuel delve, I maindecked despise. It's no thoughtseize, but I think the only relevant cards it doesn't hit are burn spells and ascendancies. Ruthless ripper can trade to fuel delve early, or act as a body for Sorin later. He seems like the man for the job. After that, I think that Seeker of the Way is the best control creature. I mean, it's a 3/3 lifelink for 2! If he trades, that's good. If he trades and gains you 3 life, that's great. And if he swings for 3 every turn after you wrath, that's amazing!
The deck is hard to balance, but I think it can be a contender. The sideboard would include counterspells, pearl lake ancient or empty the pits, another Sorin, and maybe kill shot? Extending the deck to 4 colors seems good as well. It gains a lot from either green or red.
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
I'm pretty sure this is a real deck, and I think I'm the only one who's actually tried it. I'm going to run it through a daily event tomorrow and (computer willing) record some matches. Here's the list:
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
I thought about this deck, but just assumed Mardu was better because you had access to both Sorin and Sarkhan, although Sarkhan isn't proving to be as powerful in most block decks as we thought. (He seems to really only be strong in Temur).
Let me know
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I went 2-2 in the daily with one bye. So, not a stellar performance for the deck. I couldn't get the recording to work this time, but I'll try again next time. I made some changes to the deck before I registered.
My first match was against Temur Aggro. I lost in two games - I was on the play and mulliganed to 6 in both. The first game was close. He led with heir of the wilds into rattleclaw mystic into Knuckleblade. I answered heir with debilitating injury. The turn he played knuckleblade, I took 6. During his next turn cast utter end on the savage. Post combat he dropped a sagu mauler. I answered with a wrath. He pressed on with another knuckleblade and hit for another 4. I answered it, maybe with another wrath. He played a third knuckleblade and swung in for another 4. At this point I'm at 7 life and out of good answers. I play a ruthless ripper and pass. He fights it with temur charm, pumps and kills me.
Game two I get rolled pretty well. It was like he never ran out of gas. I was able to 1-1 him for a while, but his early heir of the wilds that I didn't answer kept getting in for 2 or 3. Eventually I ran out of answers and he played two ashcloud phoenixes (I had countered one earlier). My deck couldn't really answer them.
I didn't mention it, but I'm playing a lot of draw, digs, and other cards as well as the removal spells. Debilitating injury was not very useful in this matchup, and it was basically impossible to land a sorin. In both games Surrak Dragonclaw allowed him to waste my mana by playing around cancel. I think that Despise needs to be maindeck if this deck is popular. I'm not sure if this is a bad matchup, or if he just had good draws and I had bad ones.
The third round I played against Mardu control with sorin and sarkhan. The games went long, but I eventually I came out on top. I took some damage while I answered all of his threats and cast draw spells. This deck should beat mardu control everytime.
Surprisingly, in the fourth round I lost against mardu control. In the first game, I drew too many Taigam's Scheming and the singleton Quiet contemplation I wanted to test. I wasn't able to make up the card disadvantage and he killed me with a sarkhan while I was digging for an utter end. I cast two digs in this game - the first put two utter ends on the bottom (I had to grab plains and end hostilities) - so once sarkhan resolved I had no real answers. This game makes me want despise main deck as well. The second game felt like round 3. The third game I mulliganed to a weak six, and he curved out with Seeker of the way, hordeling outburst, mardu charm (take your wrath), sarkhan. My debilitating injury and weave fate couldn't handle it.
The deck can compete, but I think it needs some changes. More testing!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
The deck is better without creatures or non-land permanents. You can blank all the removal in opponents decks, and you can't get blown out by a removal spell when you're planning to block. I found myself trying to add creatures to make sorin and wingmate roc good, and that deck was just a worse version of abzan. Here's my last iteration of the deck
This deck is very good against Abzan and mardu control, but struggles against BW and mardu aggro. (Raksasha's secret is very good against abzan! Try it in the mirror!) Jeskai is an OK matchup as long as you remember that you want to counter their draw spells and the crater's claws for 12 they'll try to play on turn 24.
There are two reasons this deck doesn't work. Bloodsoaked Champion is especially difficult to beat - you need to use utter end to really get rid of it, but by then it's hit you for 6-8 damage. Also, This deck can have a hard time against decks with a lot of burn. There's no good way to gain a bunch of life to put yourself out of burn range besides the life lands. Sorin is the only good option, but he requires a lot of creatures, and like I said before, you might as well play abzan at that point.
My assessment: Don't play this deck until the meta is full of abzan or the next set gives us some new tools to beat bloodsoaked champion and burn spells.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Even then, crackling doom would still get you! I was really close to running Sidisi's Pet. It's a very strange situation...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
3 temple of deceit
1 dismal backwater
3 temple of enlightenment
1 tranquil cove
4 temple of silence
2 caves of kolios
2 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
1 evolving wilds
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 swamp
2 plains
2 islands
2 thoughtsieve
2 negate
1 glare of heresy
2 bile blight
1 nyx - fleece ram
2 ashiok, nightmare weaver
2 perilous vault
1 stain the mind
1 drown in sorrow
1 pearl lake ancient
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
I saw the decklist appeared in the DE with a result of 3-1. Would that be you?
I am happy to see the results of this deck, but do you really think this viable against the sheer pressure from Mardu decks and Abzan decks? The body-weight and card-advantage seems too overwhelming for an Esper deck in it's current form to handle. I've watched some practice play and noticed that a player resolved 4 End Hostilities (that gives you an idea how long the game actually goes) but still aren't able to stabilize, and proceeded to lose the match.
Also... will it be very stressful to play this deck? It seems to me a single mistake can send the pilot to oblivion.
It wasn't me! I've only crashed two dailies 2-2 with this deck. It's hard to play. If you play this deck for a while, then you switch to abzan, it's very obvious that abzan is a lot easier to win with (against mardu, jeskai, and temur, anyway), and probably just the better deck.
With abzan at 35% of the meta though... this deck might be worth a second look. (On second thought, abzan would just board 4 bloodsoaked champion if this deck ever caught on, so maybe not.)
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
4 Ruthless Ripper
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Cancel
3 Murderous Cut
4 Utter End
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Wingmate Roc
3 Dig Through Time
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tranquil Cove
3 Scoured Barrens
3 Dismal Backwater
3 Island
4 Swamp
3 Plains
The reason to run this deck is that it can play wrath, dig through time, strong removal, and a planeswalker. No wedge can do that. This deck aims to protect sorin until he can ultimate, which should essentially lock your opponent out of the game. The deck also has excellent mana.
That being said, this deck was hard to build. I really wanted to play Dig through time and Murderous Cut. That's a lot of delve. Ideally I'd be playing cards like Pillar of flame - 1 mana spells that hit the yard after they do their job. However, I think Sorin is important to this deck as well - and he needs at least a few creatures to support him. Wingmate Roc has the same requirements. Creatures don't usually die the moment you cast them.
To fuel delve, I maindecked despise. It's no thoughtseize, but I think the only relevant cards it doesn't hit are burn spells and ascendancies. Ruthless ripper can trade to fuel delve early, or act as a body for Sorin later. He seems like the man for the job. After that, I think that Seeker of the Way is the best control creature. I mean, it's a 3/3 lifelink for 2! If he trades, that's good. If he trades and gains you 3 life, that's great. And if he swings for 3 every turn after you wrath, that's amazing!
The deck is hard to balance, but I think it can be a contender. The sideboard would include counterspells, pearl lake ancient or empty the pits, another Sorin, and maybe kill shot? Extending the deck to 4 colors seems good as well. It gains a lot from either green or red.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
I'm pretty sure this is a real deck, and I think I'm the only one who's actually tried it. I'm going to run it through a daily event tomorrow and (computer willing) record some matches. Here's the list:
4 Ruthless Ripper
3 Taigam's Scheming
4 Debilitating Injury
4 Cancel
4 Utter End
4 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3 Weave Fate
4 End Hostilities
3 Dig Through Time
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Plains
2 Island
3 Swamp
4 Tranquil Cove
3 Dismal Backwater
2 Scoured Barrens
4 Despise
4 Singing Bell Strike
4 Disdainful Stroke
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Pearl Lake Ancient
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
Let me know
My first match was against Temur Aggro. I lost in two games - I was on the play and mulliganed to 6 in both. The first game was close. He led with heir of the wilds into rattleclaw mystic into Knuckleblade. I answered heir with debilitating injury. The turn he played knuckleblade, I took 6. During his next turn cast utter end on the savage. Post combat he dropped a sagu mauler. I answered with a wrath. He pressed on with another knuckleblade and hit for another 4. I answered it, maybe with another wrath. He played a third knuckleblade and swung in for another 4. At this point I'm at 7 life and out of good answers. I play a ruthless ripper and pass. He fights it with temur charm, pumps and kills me.
Game two I get rolled pretty well. It was like he never ran out of gas. I was able to 1-1 him for a while, but his early heir of the wilds that I didn't answer kept getting in for 2 or 3. Eventually I ran out of answers and he played two ashcloud phoenixes (I had countered one earlier). My deck couldn't really answer them.
I didn't mention it, but I'm playing a lot of draw, digs, and other cards as well as the removal spells. Debilitating injury was not very useful in this matchup, and it was basically impossible to land a sorin. In both games Surrak Dragonclaw allowed him to waste my mana by playing around cancel. I think that Despise needs to be maindeck if this deck is popular. I'm not sure if this is a bad matchup, or if he just had good draws and I had bad ones.
The third round I played against Mardu control with sorin and sarkhan. The games went long, but I eventually I came out on top. I took some damage while I answered all of his threats and cast draw spells. This deck should beat mardu control everytime.
Surprisingly, in the fourth round I lost against mardu control. In the first game, I drew too many Taigam's Scheming and the singleton Quiet contemplation I wanted to test. I wasn't able to make up the card disadvantage and he killed me with a sarkhan while I was digging for an utter end. I cast two digs in this game - the first put two utter ends on the bottom (I had to grab plains and end hostilities) - so once sarkhan resolved I had no real answers. This game makes me want despise main deck as well. The second game felt like round 3. The third game I mulliganed to a weak six, and he curved out with Seeker of the way, hordeling outburst, mardu charm (take your wrath), sarkhan. My debilitating injury and weave fate couldn't handle it.
The deck can compete, but I think it needs some changes. More testing!
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
The deck is better without creatures or non-land permanents. You can blank all the removal in opponents decks, and you can't get blown out by a removal spell when you're planning to block. I found myself trying to add creatures to make sorin and wingmate roc good, and that deck was just a worse version of abzan. Here's my last iteration of the deck
1 Cranial Archive
4 Debilitating injury
2 Disdainful stroke
2 Cancel
4 Rakshasa's Secret
3 Murderous Cut
4 Utter End
4 End Hostilities
1 Empty the pits
3 Dig through time
4 Flooded strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Swamp
2 Island
3 Plains
3 Scoured Barrens
3 Dismal Backwater
4 Tranquil Cove
This deck is very good against Abzan and mardu control, but struggles against BW and mardu aggro. (Raksasha's secret is very good against abzan! Try it in the mirror!) Jeskai is an OK matchup as long as you remember that you want to counter their draw spells and the crater's claws for 12 they'll try to play on turn 24.
There are two reasons this deck doesn't work. Bloodsoaked Champion is especially difficult to beat - you need to use utter end to really get rid of it, but by then it's hit you for 6-8 damage. Also, This deck can have a hard time against decks with a lot of burn. There's no good way to gain a bunch of life to put yourself out of burn range besides the life lands. Sorin is the only good option, but he requires a lot of creatures, and like I said before, you might as well play abzan at that point.
My assessment: Don't play this deck until the meta is full of abzan or the next set gives us some new tools to beat bloodsoaked champion and burn spells.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
2 thoughtsieve
3 nyx - fleece ram
2 raise the alarm
2 distainful stroke
1 bile blight
4 heroes downfall
2 divination
2 sorin, solemn visitor
2 utter end
4 end hostilities
2 prognostic sphinx
1 murderous cut
1 liliana vess
1 jace's ingenuity
2 elspeth, sun's champion
3 dig through time
3 temple of deceit
1 dismal backwater
3 temple of enlightenment
1 tranquil cove
4 temple of silence
2 caves of kolios
2 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
1 evolving wilds
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 swamp
2 plains
2 islands
2 thoughtsieve
2 negate
1 glare of heresy
2 bile blight
1 nyx - fleece ram
2 ashiok, nightmare weaver
2 perilous vault
1 stain the mind
1 drown in sorrow
1 pearl lake ancient
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
I am happy to see the results of this deck, but do you really think this viable against the sheer pressure from Mardu decks and Abzan decks? The body-weight and card-advantage seems too overwhelming for an Esper deck in it's current form to handle. I've watched some practice play and noticed that a player resolved 4 End Hostilities (that gives you an idea how long the game actually goes) but still aren't able to stabilize, and proceeded to lose the match.
Also... will it be very stressful to play this deck? It seems to me a single mistake can send the pilot to oblivion.
With abzan at 35% of the meta though... this deck might be worth a second look. (On second thought, abzan would just board 4 bloodsoaked champion if this deck ever caught on, so maybe not.)
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/block#online
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic