Another thread of people who this deck is NOT for, c'mon guys.
Really?
I've bought several of these in the past.
I *definitely* won't be buying this one.
right? i snatched up the birthing pod one like they were hiding birthing pods in there. i think the phyrexian arena demon was in there. i didn't even mind the grim backwoods.
aetherspouts is great if you have walkers and beaters to force attacks. it's a tempo card. if a sizable chunk of your opponents creatures are hasty or big enough to seal the deal on their own then it gets bad. perilous vault is much more thorough. quiet contemplation obviously gets exiled by the vault, but can bait a lot of things onto the board.
Clocks don't have to be fast if you have strong control. (Nephalia Drownyard was a valid win-com back in the day and that was slower than 3 damage per turn.
But for a win-con at the moment I'm more interested in the XXBBBB instant delving zombie maker.
i like it. it's just so... all or nothing. if you go all-in with it you can't utilize the best draw and removal available. supporting it with supplemental damage might be the way to go. two beats with dragons means 8 cards you don't need to exile. i'm really digging quiet contemplation, though. it's the closest i can find to a reliable 2 for 1 (even if you have to work for it) against midrange and anything that helps justify 4 despise and 3 thoughtseize in the main is good with me.
edit and disclaimer: i know that quiet contemplation is bad. it just seems less bad than aetherspouts, perilious vault, whelming wave and extinguish all hope. vault is the most appealing out of that bunch. nailing 'walkers is always fun and it keeps the commitment to blue light.
maybe, even probably. it does seem to do what i want vs. midrange. it ain't syncopate, it's terrible early and i'll want to filter it if i see it before i hit 7 mana. that said, it can stop a big threat from hitting the board and/or keep me from dealing with 2 scary topdecks. at instant speed. i'll try out 1 or 2, and it might be sub-optimal. i'll see. 'tis the season for testing jank and it ain't like we're spoiled for counters. disdainful stroke and dissolve are the only ones that are straight up better in a control shell.
also, draw package: i like tormenting voice because it's cheap. weave fate is instant, but it can't smooth out draws and tormenting voices' cost means you can cast it and hold up mana for removal starting at turn 5. steam augury is still steam augury. janky as hell, but interesting. might be better than weave fate if we're trying to exploit delve. dig through time is a house and will probably be better than jace's ingenuity. treasure cruise ain't as good and we need murderous cuts.
so,
3 tormenting voices
2 steam augury
3 dig through time seems like a starting point. might be too much, but i always like to get started on the greedy side and it gives me a chance to see how heavily i can lean on quiet contemplation.
damage? i'm going for the grind with prognostic sphinx and mindswipe until it gets too humiliating. quiet contemplation seems like what i need to live that long. well, that plus all the draw, anger of the gods, as many discard spells as i can get away with, a pair aetherspouts and all of the luck.
evolving wilds isn't a bad thought. especially considering that you'll need to extremely timely with your despises, angers, dissolves and downfalls. who knows if any control has a chance if the knucklehead sees as much play as it looks like he will, though.
with 8 fetches, augury, tormenting voices and the new mind rot+ this deck has a lot of ways to get real greedy with delve. empty the pits is probably out, because murderous cuts seems essential and this deck could manage 3 of those and 2 or 3 delve draw spells.
cracking the nut of jeskai 3 drops will be done by someone smarter than me. i still can't figure out whether the ascendancy is playable. it's potentially a straight up tempo loss in a deck that can't afford that, but the possibilities with stoke the flames and triplicate spirits are serious business. plus, it makes a flurry of spells off of treasure cruise a real threat.
Wild Guess was always just a bit under the mark, but a lot of that had to do with no Red based decks really wanting that kind of filtering/card advantage. Without a massive draw spell like Revelation to support control decks, more incremental card advantage spells might be the way to go. This supplements your draws in the early game to make sure you hit your land drops, and fuels Delve for your late game powerful draw spells. It's nice to see Red getting in on more card advantage, as between this and Steam Augury it has two acceptable ways to get you extra/better cards, making the chances of Red-based control or mid range being more of a thing.
That being said, for one extra mana you can always get Divination if you are in Blue (which is better).
savage knuckleblade and anger of the gods are telling me that tormenting voice might have some advantages over divination.
The reason wild guess wasn't good enough won't be solved by being more splashable
probably true, but the splashability makes testing in varied bad r/x decks compulsory. if it gets me closer to a viable dig through time in temur, i'll be happy.
mana dork> this> hooting mandrills sounds like fun. jeskai tempo gets closer to playing dig through time and beefs up their dudes for a turn. might be good.
right? i snatched up the birthing pod one like they were hiding birthing pods in there. i think the phyrexian arena demon was in there. i didn't even mind the grim backwoods.
i like it. it's just so... all or nothing. if you go all-in with it you can't utilize the best draw and removal available. supporting it with supplemental damage might be the way to go. two beats with dragons means 8 cards you don't need to exile. i'm really digging quiet contemplation, though. it's the closest i can find to a reliable 2 for 1 (even if you have to work for it) against midrange and anything that helps justify 4 despise and 3 thoughtseize in the main is good with me.
edit and disclaimer: i know that quiet contemplation is bad. it just seems less bad than aetherspouts, perilious vault, whelming wave and extinguish all hope. vault is the most appealing out of that bunch. nailing 'walkers is always fun and it keeps the commitment to blue light.
so,
3 tormenting voices
2 steam augury
3 dig through time seems like a starting point. might be too much, but i always like to get started on the greedy side and it gives me a chance to see how heavily i can lean on quiet contemplation.
savage knuckleblade and anger of the gods are telling me that tormenting voice might have some advantages over divination.
probably true, but the splashability makes testing in varied bad r/x decks compulsory. if it gets me closer to a viable dig through time in temur, i'll be happy.