I'm running 2 in my Norin's Sisters deck. It's a decent source of cards, and it gives Norin something to do during combat, instead of sitting every combat step out.
I think that there is a real argument to be made that without Probe Become Immense loses a lot of it's value. Both Infect's and Death's Shadow's redundancy has always proven to be one of their greatest strengths, so they aren't decks that will just shrug off this banning without feeling it. Git. Probe will undoubtedly be replaced by something very strong, but whatever it is, it will not allow either Infect or DS Zoo to plunge all in knowing that the road was clear to end the game with remarkable quickness. Peek is an option, sure, but it slows the deck down by an entire turn to get the same effect. And yes, these decks could also adopt another 1 phyrexian mana spell like surgical extraction to feed a quick Become Immense, but without the knowledge of what's in hand, it becomes more dangerous to do so. (Although printings like Blossoming Defense made things much easier in this regard.)
If we were to use the commonly used car analogy that gets tossed around then I'd argue that Wizards has looked at these decks and banned the headlights. Git. Probe did exactly what Wizards stated it did, and while the banning does seem a bit arbitrary as a glance, when you consider what Probe allowed these decks to do (freely enable an overwhelming all in method play) it starts to make sense.
At the risk of going too deep with the analogies, I'll use one last one--Git. Probe created a sort of "insider information" scenario that benefited 2 already very powerful decks. And there's a reason why we've outlawed insider trading, it's just not copicetic with what Wizards (and many players) wants from the format.
While I fully understand the perspective that Become Immense is, in many eyes, the bannable card, I think you have to consider what made it so. Git. Probe was that enabler.
Pros are people with questionable judgment at best (they are trying to make a living playin MTG).
Think for yourselves guys, don't be a lemming.
Best thing I've read all day, thanks.
Regarding Rabblemaster, we're one great Goblin away from tribal goblins being a cool fun deck. I personally think that R/B is the way to go, but that's just me.
I've been on cockatrice for a few months tuning a version of our deck and I think I've come up with an optimal list. The thing is, we're not a control deck so much as we are a tempo deck. Quellers and displacers are where we want to be. The interactions between the two with a processor is just too much for many decks to take on. Displacer provides a repeatable counter/exile spell in both quellers and the nullifier (in the case of the nullifier it even becomes cheaper). I'm using a pair of spellskites to keep quellers alive until a processor comes down. Add in some control and disruption elements and I think we've really got something here. I'm not so sure we need quite as many exile effects as I've seen in your list, D-spheres and journey seem solid, but once the card is processed off, there's nothing for it to do. I toyed around with Brain Maggot because of the interaction it has between displacer and processors, but I found it was just a bit too cute. I've opted to keep Ashiok instead. After going back and forth on him for months I've come to realize that his +1 alone can just win games.
My list included two snapcaster mages until recently, I've dropped them to fit in two 2 engineered explosives to help against go wide strategies and hyper-fast aggro decks like death's shadow and infect, which can give our deck fits. I'm still having issues against Jund and Merfolk however, and I've yet to work those two out. My hope is that Engineered Explosives in the main will do some work. It's no mystery that right now the meta is linear, our control beats linear combo no problem, linear aggro on the other hand can be an issue.
Right now, I don't see another tempo/control deck (if you want to call our deck a control deck) that can hold a candle to us. I routinely play against jeskai online and routinely we win out. U/W control is solid, but quellers take away supreme verdict and can usually aim to pick apart their removal with counters and disruption. Drowner of Hope serves as our nail in the coffin, it may be a win more card, but I think we need to win more sometimes, particularly in grindy match ups.
Out of the board we need a way to deal with GY based decks like Dredge, and we need a way to slow down fast aggro. I've opted for relics, rest in peace, and a single extirpate. I'm up in the air about Lingering Souls or Timely Reinforcements. I believe it's probably a meta call.
Finally, Runed Halo is our best defense against single minded decks like R/G Valakut, Infect, and Ad Nauseum. It's also a solid hate card against decks that rely on beaters like Gurmag Angler/Tasigur and Tarmogoyf. Worship may be better in some metas, but for me, I think Runed Halo is where I want to be.
I hope this helps,
Ely.
P.S. If your having issues with blood moon (I know I am) i'm considering swapping Engineered Explosives for Ratchet Bombs. Just a thought.
Good luck out there! and here's to our deck, the Spaghetti Menace!
Do you really need the manlands? You have a quite high creature-count, and the combination of Drowner+Displacer is capable of taking the game on it's own. I know this is more a control type deck, but I think the more untapped sources you have the better, because if you have an opener with some creatures, IoK, creeping tar pit and cavern, your opponent is able to play his bogle and you can only take a lame rancor the next turn.
Hey there, sorry it took me so long to respond, I have been away on vacation. I visited GenCon Indianapolis last weekend and had a blast. While I played mostly merfolk there, I did play a few games with the Esper Spaghetti Monsters and took most of them. Regarding man lands, I think that Creeping Tar Pit has proven to be the stronger man land, I've won a few games on it's back as it's cheaper to activate which lets me leave mana open for counters or quellers. I think 2 is where I want to be, it doesn't really hurt to have it come into play tapped and I've adjusted the mana base a bit in order to free up some more colorless mana.
I've altered the deck a bit more since Gencon and I've made a few more changes, but they're pretty drastic. I'm not sure how they'll pan out, as they are still in the testing phases, but this is where we are right now.
Most of the changes were in the sideboard, I found that dredge was a bad match up so I put in some adequate GY hate that doesn't hose my snapcasters. Burn also presented some problems so I upped my Timely Reinforcements. To make up for the losses in sweepers I put in 2 engineered explosives.
The changes to the main deck are the downgrade to 2 cryptic commands from 3. I just found that the deck couldn't support the 3. I also thought that I was a bit short on 2 mana spells, and I thought that Flippy Jace could fill that spot well, smoothing out draws and giving me something to do with cards in the GY when snappy isn't present.
I'm still playing with Drowners, but I think that Reality Smasher is going to be put in here soon. Drowners are good, but at 6, even with multiple temples out, he's really expensive.
The deck seems wildly different each time I play it. Sometimes it's a dedicated hand disruption deck, other times its a draw go style control deck, and every once in a while it's a monster beats deck. Which is fun, but the variance is greater than I'd like it to be.
If anyone out there has any ideas about how I might do this, or would like to comment on the deck more generally I'm always looking for advice or help on it. Please, don't hesitate to drop a line or two with your thoughts.
You know, I didn't think about that until you mentioned it. Now that you have, I believe that I can accomplish more with Spellskite. In fact, I've had the chance to put it to work online, and it's proving to be awesome. Redirecting a kill spell to spellskite to save a queller and then flickering it with a displacer is pretty awesome. Additionally, if you really need to process something of a queller, a spellskite can take the -3/-3.
I've made a few other changes to the list. Here's what I'm currently working with.
The changes
No more Ashiok: I found that ashiok, while awesome flavor, just never came up when I wanted him. When he did come up early game, I was usually leaving mana open for counters or a queller.
2 Thoughtseizes in main: Here, I just wanted some more turn 1 plays, 3 IoKs were good, I figured it was safe to take it down to 2 Ioks and up to 2 Thoughtseizes.
Cavern of Souls x3: This was actually something i wanted to do to minimize the reliance on painlands for colorless mana, but it's worked out nicely because it allows me to name both spirit and eldrazi.
The Man lands: Besides being blue mana sources, I thought having a way to sneak in there for damage on off turns would be good. I haven't settled on which one I like more so I'm just running both for now.
Personally, I would change the Mana Leak either to Spell Pierce, Stubborn Denial or maybe Negate, as creatures shouldn't be a problem when you are playing wasteland stranglers and displacers.
I've been experimenting with different counters too an I think I've settled on 2 leaks an a spell snare. But your thoughts on creatures are spot on. Negate is a good option
In the sideboard, Curse of Death's Hold has a quite high mana cost, maybe Zealous Persecution is an option here.
that's not a bad idea at all.
I'm trying to find s place for Kira, Great Glass Spinner, her synergy with spell queller seems great. Any thoughts?
Context
So I'm a Merfolk player at heart, but I enjoy brewing up new ideas whenever I find a card or a mechanic that I believe can shake things up. I believe Spell Queller may just be what esper control has needed to reach it's potential, but the card isn't a silver bullet in and of itself. It still comes with that pesky downside. But what if we can mitigate that downside? Eldrazi to the rescue. Let's dive into some brewing.
In the early frosts of Eldrazi Winter, many were using Wasteland Strangler to process cards and remove threats and chumps from the board. The card was largely ditched for its larger spaghetti cousins as the winter deepened, but now, thanks to Spell Queller, we've found a reason to reexamine the eldrazi in a different context.
We can look to our Bant cousin for inspiration here, particularly it's abuse of Eldrazi Displacer and when we see what Displacer can do with a Spell Queller that has been processed. There's lots of room for customization here, let's take a look at the deck. (*this list is limited to what I actually have access to in paper, but there's all sorts of ways you could customize it to your own play)
Spells
A pretty typical esper package here, Manaleak and Remand serve as our standard counters, with Inquisition of Kozilek and Path to Exile serving to take out any threats that slip through our counters. Esper Charm and Cryptic Command serve as our Swiss Army Knives, removing threats, drawing cards, and doing just about everything short of doing the dishes.
Ashiok
Ashiok is great, but he's a flex spot. Good for making sure there's a card to process for Wasteland Strangler and great when you're able to snag a tarmogoyf off the top of an opponent's deck. I like the card for flavor purposes, but he may not be exactly what your local meta demands you play.
Lands
The manabase is, in a word, greedy. Don't let Blood Moon resolve. That's about it.
Match ups
I've played the deck online quite a bit, but I don't know every match up inside and out. I've had good luck against combo decks and grindy decks. The control mirror is really fun and spell queller shines in it. If you are a seasoned control player (I'm not) you probably know your match ups and I imagine that you know what's a strong match up and what isn't.
Feedback
The deck is fairly new for me, and I'm always looking for feedback and help. I still have a lot of testing to do, I'd like to test Reality Smasher in particular. If you have any advice or insights, please leave us a comment. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
If you displace the Strangler when they have no creatures, you have to weaken your own. Do you ever have to decide between processing the Quell'd spell or letting it sit in exile?
What Cantspeak is talking about here has happened to me in my testing, albeit only once. But, it is a solid argument for the inclusion of Lingering Souls. I've generally been hanging on to stranglers to maximize value and get a critter off the board, but sometimes the stronger play is to get an exiled card off of one of your quellers.
I've had the chance to do some more testing and I have been able to steal wins from both Eldrazi Taxes and Kiki-Chord online. The deck really rewards tight play, one single mistake can really set you back, so perhaps there's an argument to be made for some more removal/bounce effects to take the pressure off. In this way, Snapcaster Mage has been great, but I only have access to 3 so that's all I can play (should I decide to build it in paper).
that's actually a sweet deck, you tested it much against the meta?
does it have some good matchups?
Thanks! Yeah, I've tested a bit. I've played about 10 matches on cockatrice with it and so far it's solid. I haven't played any heavy hitters really, so it's tough to say what my good match ups are or are not. But so far I've had some great matches against U tron, Abzan midrange, infect, and suicide zoo. I imagine that it's solid against most midrange and combo oriented decks. I've also played a few odd ball decks like Deathcloud, 8 rack rats, and some others.
I can't say enough about how great Spell Queller has been. That card is just bonkers good. It nabs everything from coco, to supreme verdict. Saving your Displacers from abrupt decay and then slamming the strangler to get rid of the abrupt decay and a Bob feels great--especially when you flicker the queller again the next go around to snag a Kalitas out of mid air.
So far I've been really pleased. I did alter the land base a bit though, I swapped out 3 pain lands and added in three of the shadowmoor filter lands.
Biggest lesson so far.... Don't let blood moon resolve
yikes, that was bad.
I am a fish player at heart, after playing testing Spell Queller in fish I realize now how amazing the card is. I thought about ways to abuse it, and I think I've stumbled on one: Eldrazi Displacer and Wasteland Strangler
Now, I'm not a control player, but after a few games with the following list, I can really see the appeal. Once displacer and spell queller were online, it seemed that there was little my opponents could do to shut it down. I was allowed to choose what was played when, and processing off threats was particularly crippling.
What I've whipped up looks like a hot mess to me though, so I was hoping that some more experienced control/esper/eldrazi players could help me out.
There are a few cards like Lingering Souls and Thoughtsieze that feel like they are solid plays, but seem out of place. Although, in testing I was never sad when they popped up. I don't know if Reality Smasher has a place in here, but I didn't think so, but I could be wrong. Any advice and feedback would be great.
Hmmm, Preordain?
If we were to use the commonly used car analogy that gets tossed around then I'd argue that Wizards has looked at these decks and banned the headlights. Git. Probe did exactly what Wizards stated it did, and while the banning does seem a bit arbitrary as a glance, when you consider what Probe allowed these decks to do (freely enable an overwhelming all in method play) it starts to make sense.
At the risk of going too deep with the analogies, I'll use one last one--Git. Probe created a sort of "insider information" scenario that benefited 2 already very powerful decks. And there's a reason why we've outlawed insider trading, it's just not copicetic with what Wizards (and many players) wants from the format.
While I fully understand the perspective that Become Immense is, in many eyes, the bannable card, I think you have to consider what made it so. Git. Probe was that enabler.
That's just my reading of the situation.
Best thing I've read all day, thanks.
Regarding Rabblemaster, we're one great Goblin away from tribal goblins being a cool fun deck. I personally think that R/B is the way to go, but that's just me.
Here is my list.
3 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Adarkar Wastes
3 Eldrazi Temple
3 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Island
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Mystic Gate
1 Underground River
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Godless Shrine
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
3 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Spell Queller
2 Spellskite
2 Ulamog's Nullifier
2 Drowner of Hope
Spells
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Path to Exile
3 Remand
3 Serum Visions
2 Delay
Planeswalker
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Artifacts
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Stony Silence
2 Runed Halo
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Extirpate
2 Rest in Peace
2 Lingering Souls
My list included two snapcaster mages until recently, I've dropped them to fit in two 2 engineered explosives to help against go wide strategies and hyper-fast aggro decks like death's shadow and infect, which can give our deck fits. I'm still having issues against Jund and Merfolk however, and I've yet to work those two out. My hope is that Engineered Explosives in the main will do some work. It's no mystery that right now the meta is linear, our control beats linear combo no problem, linear aggro on the other hand can be an issue.
Right now, I don't see another tempo/control deck (if you want to call our deck a control deck) that can hold a candle to us. I routinely play against jeskai online and routinely we win out. U/W control is solid, but quellers take away supreme verdict and can usually aim to pick apart their removal with counters and disruption. Drowner of Hope serves as our nail in the coffin, it may be a win more card, but I think we need to win more sometimes, particularly in grindy match ups.
Out of the board we need a way to deal with GY based decks like Dredge, and we need a way to slow down fast aggro. I've opted for relics, rest in peace, and a single extirpate. I'm up in the air about Lingering Souls or Timely Reinforcements. I believe it's probably a meta call.
Finally, Runed Halo is our best defense against single minded decks like R/G Valakut, Infect, and Ad Nauseum. It's also a solid hate card against decks that rely on beaters like Gurmag Angler/Tasigur and Tarmogoyf. Worship may be better in some metas, but for me, I think Runed Halo is where I want to be.
I hope this helps,
Ely.
P.S. If your having issues with blood moon (I know I am) i'm considering swapping Engineered Explosives for Ratchet Bombs. Just a thought.
Good luck out there! and here's to our deck, the Spaghetti Menace!
Hey there, sorry it took me so long to respond, I have been away on vacation. I visited GenCon Indianapolis last weekend and had a blast. While I played mostly merfolk there, I did play a few games with the Esper Spaghetti Monsters and took most of them. Regarding man lands, I think that Creeping Tar Pit has proven to be the stronger man land, I've won a few games on it's back as it's cheaper to activate which lets me leave mana open for counters or quellers. I think 2 is where I want to be, it doesn't really hurt to have it come into play tapped and I've adjusted the mana base a bit in order to free up some more colorless mana.
I've altered the deck a bit more since Gencon and I've made a few more changes, but they're pretty drastic. I'm not sure how they'll pan out, as they are still in the testing phases, but this is where we are right now.
2 Drowner of Hope
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Wasteland Strangler
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Spell Queller
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Spellskite
Spells
3 Path to Exile
2 Mana Leak
3 Remand
2 Thoughtseize
1 Logic Knot
2 Cryptic Command
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Island
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Mystic Gate
1 Underground River
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Adarkar Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Stony Silence
2 Runed Halo
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Pithing Needle
1 Dispel
1 Thoughtseize
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
Most of the changes were in the sideboard, I found that dredge was a bad match up so I put in some adequate GY hate that doesn't hose my snapcasters. Burn also presented some problems so I upped my Timely Reinforcements. To make up for the losses in sweepers I put in 2 engineered explosives.
The changes to the main deck are the downgrade to 2 cryptic commands from 3. I just found that the deck couldn't support the 3. I also thought that I was a bit short on 2 mana spells, and I thought that Flippy Jace could fill that spot well, smoothing out draws and giving me something to do with cards in the GY when snappy isn't present.
I'm still playing with Drowners, but I think that Reality Smasher is going to be put in here soon. Drowners are good, but at 6, even with multiple temples out, he's really expensive.
The deck seems wildly different each time I play it. Sometimes it's a dedicated hand disruption deck, other times its a draw go style control deck, and every once in a while it's a monster beats deck. Which is fun, but the variance is greater than I'd like it to be.
If anyone out there has any ideas about how I might do this, or would like to comment on the deck more generally I'm always looking for advice or help on it. Please, don't hesitate to drop a line or two with your thoughts.
Thanks!
I've made a few other changes to the list. Here's what I'm currently working with.
1 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Adarkar Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Island
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar pit
2 Drowner of Hope
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Spellskite
4 Spell Queller
Spells
3 Path to Exile
2 Mana Leak
3 Remand
1 Spell Snare
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Cryptic Command
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Runed Halo
2 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Pithing Needle
1 Dispel
1 Thoughtseize
1 Supreme Verdict
The changes
No more Ashiok: I found that ashiok, while awesome flavor, just never came up when I wanted him. When he did come up early game, I was usually leaving mana open for counters or a queller.
2 Thoughtseizes in main: Here, I just wanted some more turn 1 plays, 3 IoKs were good, I figured it was safe to take it down to 2 Ioks and up to 2 Thoughtseizes.
Cavern of Souls x3: This was actually something i wanted to do to minimize the reliance on painlands for colorless mana, but it's worked out nicely because it allows me to name both spirit and eldrazi.
The Man lands: Besides being blue mana sources, I thought having a way to sneak in there for damage on off turns would be good. I haven't settled on which one I like more so I'm just running both for now.
I've been experimenting with different counters too an I think I've settled on 2 leaks an a spell snare. But your thoughts on creatures are spot on. Negate is a good option
that's not a bad idea at all.
I'm trying to find s place for Kira, Great Glass Spinner, her synergy with spell queller seems great. Any thoughts?
Awesome, thanks for commenting on my list. I hadn't thought of Ulamog's nullifiers that's a good idea. Any thoughts on what you would cut for it?
Knowledge Pool and Curse of Exhaustion You opponent can't cast spells
Harmless Offering and Aggressive Mining Your opponent can't play lands
War's Toll and Ghostly Prison your opponent can't attack if they choose to play a spell during a main phase, or they can't play a spell if they choose to attack.
Karma and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Oh the pain...
So I'm a Merfolk player at heart, but I enjoy brewing up new ideas whenever I find a card or a mechanic that I believe can shake things up. I believe Spell Queller may just be what esper control has needed to reach it's potential, but the card isn't a silver bullet in and of itself. It still comes with that pesky downside. But what if we can mitigate that downside? Eldrazi to the rescue. Let's dive into some brewing.
In the early frosts of Eldrazi Winter, many were using Wasteland Strangler to process cards and remove threats and chumps from the board. The card was largely ditched for its larger spaghetti cousins as the winter deepened, but now, thanks to Spell Queller, we've found a reason to reexamine the eldrazi in a different context.
We can look to our Bant cousin for inspiration here, particularly it's abuse of Eldrazi Displacer and when we see what Displacer can do with a Spell Queller that has been processed. There's lots of room for customization here, let's take a look at the deck. (*this list is limited to what I actually have access to in paper, but there's all sorts of ways you could customize it to your own play)
The Deck (see further posts for deck changes)
2 Polluted Delta
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Adarkar Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Island
1 Sunken Ruins
2 Drowner of Hope
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Spell Queller
3 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Spells (13)
3 Path to Exile
2 Mana Leak
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Remand
2 Esper Charm
3 Cryptic Command
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Runed Halo
2 Thoughtseize
2 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Pithing Needle
Creatures
As discussed above, the interaction between Spell Queller, Eldrazi Displacer, and Wasteland Strangler is the glitz of the deck, but like most control decks, Snapcaster Mage serves as the backbone of our deck. The other creatures, Thoughtknot Seer and Drowner of Hope serve as the bombs of my version of the deck, but you could just as easily slip in Reality Smasher comes to mind.
Spells
A pretty typical esper package here, Manaleak and Remand serve as our standard counters, with Inquisition of Kozilek and Path to Exile serving to take out any threats that slip through our counters. Esper Charm and Cryptic Command serve as our Swiss Army Knives, removing threats, drawing cards, and doing just about everything short of doing the dishes.
Ashiok
Ashiok is great, but he's a flex spot. Good for making sure there's a card to process for Wasteland Strangler and great when you're able to snag a tarmogoyf off the top of an opponent's deck. I like the card for flavor purposes, but he may not be exactly what your local meta demands you play.
Lands
The manabase is, in a word, greedy. Don't let Blood Moon resolve. That's about it.
Match ups
I've played the deck online quite a bit, but I don't know every match up inside and out. I've had good luck against combo decks and grindy decks. The control mirror is really fun and spell queller shines in it. If you are a seasoned control player (I'm not) you probably know your match ups and I imagine that you know what's a strong match up and what isn't.
Feedback
The deck is fairly new for me, and I'm always looking for feedback and help. I still have a lot of testing to do, I'd like to test Reality Smasher in particular. If you have any advice or insights, please leave us a comment. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ely
What Cantspeak is talking about here has happened to me in my testing, albeit only once. But, it is a solid argument for the inclusion of Lingering Souls. I've generally been hanging on to stranglers to maximize value and get a critter off the board, but sometimes the stronger play is to get an exiled card off of one of your quellers.
I've had the chance to do some more testing and I have been able to steal wins from both Eldrazi Taxes and Kiki-Chord online. The deck really rewards tight play, one single mistake can really set you back, so perhaps there's an argument to be made for some more removal/bounce effects to take the pressure off. In this way, Snapcaster Mage has been great, but I only have access to 3 so that's all I can play (should I decide to build it in paper).
Thanks! Yeah, I've tested a bit. I've played about 10 matches on cockatrice with it and so far it's solid. I haven't played any heavy hitters really, so it's tough to say what my good match ups are or are not. But so far I've had some great matches against U tron, Abzan midrange, infect, and suicide zoo. I imagine that it's solid against most midrange and combo oriented decks. I've also played a few odd ball decks like Deathcloud, 8 rack rats, and some others.
I can't say enough about how great Spell Queller has been. That card is just bonkers good. It nabs everything from coco, to supreme verdict. Saving your Displacers from abrupt decay and then slamming the strangler to get rid of the abrupt decay and a Bob feels great--especially when you flicker the queller again the next go around to snag a Kalitas out of mid air.
So far I've been really pleased. I did alter the land base a bit though, I swapped out 3 pain lands and added in three of the shadowmoor filter lands.
Biggest lesson so far.... Don't let blood moon resolve
yikes, that was bad.
I am a fish player at heart, after playing testing Spell Queller in fish I realize now how amazing the card is. I thought about ways to abuse it, and I think I've stumbled on one: Eldrazi Displacer and Wasteland Strangler
Now, I'm not a control player, but after a few games with the following list, I can really see the appeal. Once displacer and spell queller were online, it seemed that there was little my opponents could do to shut it down. I was allowed to choose what was played when, and processing off threats was particularly crippling.
What I've whipped up looks like a hot mess to me though, so I was hoping that some more experienced control/esper/eldrazi players could help me out.
3 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Adarkar Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Island
1 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Underground River
2 Flooded Strand
2 Drowner of Hope
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Spell Queller
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Cryptic Command
2 Esper Charm
2 Lingering Souls
3 Path to Exile
2 Mana Leak
3 Remand
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Runed Halo
3 Thoughtseize
2 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Timely Reinforcements
There are a few cards like Lingering Souls and Thoughtsieze that feel like they are solid plays, but seem out of place. Although, in testing I was never sad when they popped up. I don't know if Reality Smasher has a place in here, but I didn't think so, but I could be wrong. Any advice and feedback would be great.
Thanks