I started working on this build a couple weeks ago, and with a couple good FNMs & some positive testing I think it's got legs going into post-M19 Standard.
Right now the maindeck's weakest Game 1 is vs control, but I've got a solid sideboard plan where I get to take out dead removal for more interaction which makes those games better. Looking for critique and suggestions for improvement. Particularly M19 additions - My first look through the spoiler yielded only a few cards that feel good enough to maybe play. Not saying what cause I don't want to influence ideas!
Interesting deck! It seems like you are kind of threading the needle between midrange, Superfriends and control. I played something like this for a couple of weeks and thought it was fine, but I am concerned about your mana.
According to Frank Karsten, you need 1 more W source for a 90% chance at History or Gideon on T3, 2 more B sources for t4 Gonti or Contempt and a bunch more U for 90% Teferi on t5. I recommend you look at the manabase in the linked deck, as your needs are comparable, though lighter on the U.
Otherwise, that seems like a lot of Walking Ballistae to me and I'm not sure about Gideon in the mainboard.
Thanks for your feedback! You're about right in your assessment of the deck's personality, tho in practice I've found it tends more to aggro-midrange on the back of a slightly higher number of Knight+History draws. I have won my share of games off the walkers (to nobody's surprise, the longer grindy ones), but it's turning guys sideways and managing board presence that gets me there most of the time.
So far the mana has been acceptable - I count 18W, 16B, 8U (as opposed to the deck you linked which shows 17W, 16B, 13U with one more land). I built this off a WB list I found elsewhere that had made T64 at a recent event, and I kept the W and B source numbers the same while adding the extra blue for my tweaks.
I'm deliberately much lighter on blue sources because I have no expectations of needing it early, and except on very rare occasions I only need to see 1 at any given time. I would like to make room for one more, I'll admit, but at the same time I'm trying to limit my ETB tapped lands so I have a reliably playable early curve.
As far as your card choice concerns go, so far I've been happy with the WBs. They're an extra piece of removal and a mana sink in the late game when I'm more likely to be on the walker plan. As for the random Gideon, he's been fine when I draw him, tho I don't necessarily miss him when I don't. More testing vs M19 lists will tell me if he still deserves a spot or not.
Once I get more reps in and see how much things have changed, if at all, I'll post more concrete data. For now I'm just looking for viability suggestions. I will definitely be filing away your advice on blue sources and give more consideration to the Gideon slot. Thanks again!
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2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Fetid Pools
1 Forsaken Sanctuary
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Irrigated Farmland
4 Isolated Chapel
5 Plains
3 Swamp
1 Cast Out
4 History of Benalia
3 Ixalan's Binding
2 Seal Away
1 Settle the Wreckage
3 Vraska's Contempt
1 Doomfall
1 Gideon of the Trials
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
4 Knight of Malice
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
3 Walking Ballista
4 Duress
2 Dusk // Dawn
1 Essence Extraction
1 Fumigate
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Negate
1 Skywhaler's Shot
1 The Scarab God
1 Yahenni's Expertise
According to Frank Karsten, you need 1 more W source for a 90% chance at History or Gideon on T3, 2 more B sources for t4 Gonti or Contempt and a bunch more U for 90% Teferi on t5. I recommend you look at the manabase in the linked deck, as your needs are comparable, though lighter on the U.
Otherwise, that seems like a lot of Walking Ballistae to me and I'm not sure about Gideon in the mainboard.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
So far the mana has been acceptable - I count 18W, 16B, 8U (as opposed to the deck you linked which shows 17W, 16B, 13U with one more land). I built this off a WB list I found elsewhere that had made T64 at a recent event, and I kept the W and B source numbers the same while adding the extra blue for my tweaks.
I'm deliberately much lighter on blue sources because I have no expectations of needing it early, and except on very rare occasions I only need to see 1 at any given time. I would like to make room for one more, I'll admit, but at the same time I'm trying to limit my ETB tapped lands so I have a reliably playable early curve.
As far as your card choice concerns go, so far I've been happy with the WBs. They're an extra piece of removal and a mana sink in the late game when I'm more likely to be on the walker plan. As for the random Gideon, he's been fine when I draw him, tho I don't necessarily miss him when I don't. More testing vs M19 lists will tell me if he still deserves a spot or not.
Once I get more reps in and see how much things have changed, if at all, I'll post more concrete data. For now I'm just looking for viability suggestions. I will definitely be filing away your advice on blue sources and give more consideration to the Gideon slot. Thanks again!