So my LGS is doing another sealed league akin to the official one from last month. ($10 entry, get 3 packs, minimum of 30 cards, add one pack each week, or each time you get 3 losses). As of tonight, I just got my 6th pack, and it was a doozy. While this league is being run for fun, so the LGS is allowing use of ANY packs for the league (expect for Masters packs). There's some really weird combinations out there, but I've been sticking with Amonkhet for now. I've been running a grixis deck that looked like this. Our cards are kept at the store, so I'm doing this from memory.
I've really been liking this deck (and I'm a control player at heart). The blue cards give me some draw/filter, and there's always stuff to do with my mana. However, after the last pack I opened, I got some insane green stuff. I'll list some of the other things I have.
The white cards aren't even worth mentioning compared to all this. It's pretty hard to ignore green after I pulled Rhonas, 2nd Colosapede, and 2nd Charioteer from the same pack. The black cards have been all stars though, between the Cartouche (especially with 2 Trials), Bone Picker, removal, and Wander in death. The 3 color manabase hasn't hurt me too much, and the blue just prevents me from running out of gas. At this point, I'm not sure if I should go R/G, Jund, R/B, or Grixis. Another factor is how many cards to play. With so much good stuff, should I keep the deck at 30 cards? The R/G list I crafted up is lacking in any sort of 4 drops, which concerns me a bit, as does potentially running out of gas. I do also have Rhonas's Monument and Hazoret's Monument that can be considered. What would you guys do in this situation? Also, should I keep going for more Amonkhet booster packs (maybe to get a Black Trial or more Cartouches)?
I've always been a fan of Izzet Charm as a 2-of in pretty much any URx control deck I play, and here it's no exception. The filter lets you get rid of extra blood moons you don't need later on (or mana leaks, lands, etc), and early game it kills most creatures or can counter something like a Liliana.
My build was actually pretty good against Merfolk. Tidehallows were really nice in that matchup since they're light on removal, and their counters typically only hit non-creatures, plus they gave me something to process. Blood Baron out of the board also helps in that matchup by being a body that's difficult to deal with and immune to Dismember.
The tidehallows might not have always been online by turn 2, but you also don't always have them on turn 2 either, and most of the time when I did, the manabase to play it on turn 2 wasn't as inconsistent as I thought it would have been. Besides, you can't always rely on Reshaper or Strangler being a turn 2 play. Generally, if an eldrazi wasn't happening on turn 2, then a tidehallow probably was. But meh, I do need to cut something for some fatal pushes and more Smashers if I'm going to be playing this deck again.
So you think this would be a good choice for my meta, or should I try something else (I'm a heavy control player btw)?
It's been a while since I played this deck. Right now I'm looking for something to deal with my crazy meta, it's all over the place. Lately I've been losing to Grixis Delver, various control decks with Ancestral Vision, Breach Titan, Abzan Coco, but I also have merfolk, tron (GR and U varieties), infect on a regular basis, and the occasional affinity, burn, zoo, Jund, and Ad Nauseum. I've been playing a really off the wall Saultai artifact gifts control, but it's only been doing good against half the stuff I run into. With such a diverse meta, I feel I need a versatile deck choice. Would this be a good deck to run? Here's the last list I played, which dates back to around Septemberish of last year.
Looking at the list, I recall liking the Tidehallows against combo and heavy creature decks, and decks that didn't have tons of removal. They were generally sided out against control decks or jund/abzan that can just remove it easily. Can't remember why there's only 2 Smashers, other than space issues. I didn't care much for Mind Stone either, and just opted for a 25 land, 1 Expedition Map set up instead.
So I played Sultai control for my first time at FNM, and did pretty well, taking 1st place and going 3-0-1. The deck is pretty wonky, and might just be a product of my meta right now. There's people that play burn, Merfolk, Infect, and Boggles pretty much every week. Tron shows up more often than not, as do some combo decks like Ad Nauseum. Honestly, my meta is pretty random overall, and while the decks listed have been showing up consistently, pretty much everything that's an archtype will show up, except for lantern control. This was the pile I played (don't own any Lilianas or Goyfs), and there were some people glancing at my games and they still couldn't figure out what my deck was doing by the end of the night, but hey, it worked, so I must be on to something here.
The manabase and Fink are there to help keep my life total up against the aggro decks, while a Gifts package of Ghost Quarter, Raven's Crime, Life from the Loam, and Urborg can just bury control, combo, and tron. I can also use Gifts to get some artifacts with Life from the Loam and Academy Ruins, or sometimes I just use it as a value removal package, or a finisher package. There is a lot of graveyard interactions, but when my opponent boards in graveyard hate, I can just turn into a midrange value deck with the discard, Finks, planeswalkers, and finishers. Here's a quick summary of how things went down at FNM
vs. Jeskai flicker (2-1)
He had Young Pyromancer, Blade Splicer, and Restoration Angel along with typical bolts, paths, helix, and serum visions that you'd expect. Game 1 Inquisition and Abrupt decay keep him off creatures for a while, he paths my Finks and throws some bolts at my face. I gifts for Life from the Loam, Raven's Crime, Urborg, and Academy ruins, and eliminate his hand with Raven's crime and follow that up with a grave titan that he cannot answer or race with his angel. Game 2 I had to mulligan to 5 to get more than 1 land. Despite that, it was still somewhat close, I just couldn't answer his angel quick enough and a bolt finished me off as I was about to stabilize. Game 3 went much like game 1, except replace Grave Titan finishing the game with Batterskull racing against his Restoration Angel.
vs. Ad Nauseum (2-0)
Game 1, gifts at the end of turn 4 for the Loam/Crime package and rip his hand to shreds. Game 2 went much the same, except I Sultai Charmed a Leyline the turn before playing gifts.
vs. Elves (1-1-1)
Game 1 went back and forth for a while. He passed with open mana and 2 cards in hand, with only an archdruid on the field. I made the mistake of using Inquisition with my last mana on my turn, instead of using raven's crime. He responded by casting Chord of Calling, then revealing Collected Company, which he then cast on his turn, getting an Ezuri, and was able to hit me for 15 which was just a couple points more than I had. Game 2 also went on for a while, lots of back and forth with my Engineered Explosives and Academy Ruins doing a ton of work. He was eventually able to exile them with a Scavenging Ooze, I dropped a Wurmcoil Engine which got destroyed by a Reclaimation Sage I knew he had, but that allowed me to drop my 2nd Explosives. Both of those things ended up exiled by another Ooze, then a Thragtusk joined my side, and I eventually overwhelmed him. Game 3 we went to time, but the board state at the end was in my favor. He had 2 tokens, a Dewyn's Elite and another elf, and nothing in hand while I had a Visionary, Dewyn's Elite, an elf token, and a Finks, and was about to cast the 2nd Ashiok.
vs. GR Tron (2-0)
Both games ended up the same. Game 1 my opponent got tron but nothing to do with it against me, so I used Gifts for Loam/Crime/Ghost Quarter/Urborg and proceeded to Ghost Quarter him every turn. Game 2 was kinda the same, except he played a Worldbreaker before I could shut him off of tron, which complicated things a little bit. I ended up keeping him at 5 lands, chump blocking his Worldbreaker a couple turns before stabilizing at 8 life with his Tower's Surgicaled and Hissing Quagmire holding off his Worldbreaker while Ashiok kept plusing.
I noticed with the deck I was having some issues dealing with larger creatures. Would it be feasible to put in 2 Glissa, the Traitor, 1 Noxious Gearhulk, and 2 Filigree Familiar in place of the 3 Kitchen Finks, Grave Titan, and Cryptic Command? I could move the Finks to the board in place of some of the planeswalkers for when I need more lifegain, and the changes would bring some more synergy to the deck.
If it gets reprinted and the price drops a decent amount I might. Honestly I went into gifts because all I needed to collect for this deck were the Gifts, Birds, Raven's Crime, and Elesh Norn. The rest was already in my collection. What would you recommend I do with Gifts if I don't have Lilianna?
Hi, I'm new to playing this deck. Played it for the first time last night and it mostly did not go well. My meta right now has a lot of burn, zoo, goblins, boggles, U/R prowess, Merfolk, infect, tron (of all varieties), and some control decks. This is where I'm at right now.
Zen fetches, Lilianna, and Creeping Tar pit are out of my budget right now, hence their exclusion. I know the sideboard looks wonky, but my meta is also insanely varied. The decks I listed have been showing up almost every week, but literally every archtype will show up at least once or twice a month. Sometimes no one is playing dredge, then one FNM 3 people show up with it. Same goes for Affinity, Jund/Abzan, Ad Nauseum, Abzan Combo, Skred Red, heck, anything but Lantern Control pops up.
I felt the mana base was pretty painful. Would using 3 of the tango lands over the ally colored shocks be viable?
Seems people got interested in this deck. It's been a few month since I played it, but here's where my list is at. I'll probably pull this deck out to play once in a while, as it is quite a blast.
Ghost Quarter is just so bad for this deck, running a couple more basics helps, and I always struggled to find a good time to play the Relics, as I found myself wanting to play other multicolor spells to interact with the board or set up a wish. Crumbles are for Tron, which is kinda sad for this deck. What we really need is a multicolor version of Crumble. I cut some of the fluff from the sideboard, as I just really wasn't using some of it. Sphinx's Revelation replaced the All Suns' Dawn in the main deck. All Suns is cute, but even people who didn't know I ran it, still brought in graveyard hate when they saw Snapcaster, K-Command, and Seige Rhino doing silly things together, and what the deck really wanted was card draw at that slot (and more main deck life gain never hurts). The Detention Sphere is supposed to be a Maelstrom Pulse to act as a catch all answer, but I don't own a Pulse yet. I've also toyed around with the idea of having Sigarda, Host of Herons in the board as well as a win con.
Been a while since I played standard, but looking at some of these new cards got me excited for these energy counters, and I wonder if I can make some kind of control deck to break them. I preordered the cards I needed for this deck, since most of them were really cheap and I didn't want to spend more than $30 on this anyways, so things worked out nicely. Here's my starting draft. Do you think this has potential? If it works, we can call it the energizer bunny deck.
The deck is meant to be kinda like a counter burn deck, except the burn doesn't go to the dome. Then using the towers with our instants to generate a ton of energy, and with multiple towers out the energy generated will just get silly. The payoff cards either make a bunch of thopter tokens, or permanently steal our opponent's creature/artifact, or just blast them a lot with the tower.
I run a midrange version of the deck myself. Being able to run 4 Ghost Quarters makes Shadow of Doubt a good card to run, not to mention that screwing with your opponent's fetchland and following up with a Kitchen Finks is very solid. I've had this same maindeck list since summer 2015, with the exception of Elspeth. It can be a Sun Titan (and was for the longest time), but I found in control mirrors when I have the opening to resolve a Sun Titan, I would rather just have Elspeth.
You have way too much main deck discard and not enough card draw/filtering. Actually, I started brewing my own version of this esper token/planeswalker control. Here's what I would run for a main deck. Also, mostly a personal opinion but I think having 6 man lands is too many.
I haven't put together a full sideboard yet, but this is the list I would personally start with (except I would put 2 Snapcaster Mage in play of the Jaces because I own 2 Snapcasters). I opted for the full playset of Mana Leak over running any remands since Leak goes a bit better with using Esper Charm's discard mode to empty your opponent's hand. On the flip side, Remand goes a bit better with the Inquisition/Thoughtseize. And you could probably get away with running more Thoughtseize since you have life gain from Sorin and Vents, but I only own 1 Thoughtseize atm.
For sideboard choices, I would probably start with something like this:
Hi, heavy control player here, glad to see others playing control. Personally, I've struggled with Esper for a variety of reasons,the biggest being not having a way to deal with Tron very well. In my experience, tron is best dealt with when you can take them off of tron completely and permanently, meaning using either Crumble to Dust or a combination of Ghost Quarter and Surgical Extraction. 3 color decks can't really afford to run a bunch of Ghost Quarters, but you could throw in a 1-of Steam Vents as a fetchable red source and sideboard 3 Crumbles.
For the deck itself, it doesn't look too bad. You will want some mass removal either main or side, like Supreme Verdict, 3-4 copies. In modern, when you want mass removal, you really need it. For your planeswalkers, you shouldn't need more than 2-3 Jace, and 2 Gideon. Planeswalkers tend to stick around better in modern than in standard, and with card filtering like Serum Visions you don't need a ton of copies of them. This let's you diversify your walkers, and you can get 2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor and 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion in there. I tried an esper deck similar to yours once, and I just didn't like having all the counters with sorcery speed Lingering Souls and Planeswalkers. Your number of counters for a control deck is ok. I typically run 4-5 counters that cost 1-2 mana and 3-4 Cryptic Commands. But perhaps you should forgo some of the counters with the lingering souls/planswalker plan and just have some counters in the sideboard for certain matchups.
For cards to add in, I highly recommend 1 Vault of the Archangel in decks with Lingering Souls, it's amazing. Esper Charm is pretty good card advantage. In my UW/x decks, I like to run a single Sphinx's Revelation, it's a great late game mass draw that just seals games for you. If you want to keep a bunch of counters, I recommend going with Raise the Alarm and cutting back on Lingering Souls. Flashback is nice, but trying to play a 3 mana sorcery that wants to be played as early as possible while holding up mana for counters just clashes too much. Speaking of instant speed token generation, get 2 Secure the Wastes in there, it's really amazing. If you want to get really daring, throw in a 1-of Dictate of Heliod (yes, I'm serious). I run it as a 1-of in my jeskai tokens deck, and the flash is worth the higher cost (also, strange things happen with it in modern, like it doesn't trigger Eidolon of the Great Revel and can't be removed by Abrupt Decay). It can just win games out of no where.
For sideboard cards, most of my control decks follow these guidelines:
At least 2 copies of mass graveyard exile (Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus).
2 Dispels for counter wars, burn, and certain combo decks like Ad Nauseum.
2 Sacrifice effects (Blessed Alliance, Tribute to Hunger). These cards in invaluable against Bogles, Infect, Trun, the Last Troll, and bonus points for gaining you life, as that makes them usable against burn too.
Mass removal, if it's not in the main deck. I can't stress this one enough. There are so many decks that can just spew a bunch of creatures on the field and you need to sweep them away. Supreme Verdict, Flaying Tendrils, Anger of the Gods, Engineered Explosives, whatever fits your colors, just play at least 2-4 in the 75.
I swapped out the Hallowed Moonlights for Flaying Tendrils, figured I'd rather topdeck Tendrils if there was stuff already on the board that I needed to deal with than to topdeck Hallowed Moonlight. Took 1st and went 4-0, still not missing the Blight Herders.
Round 1 vs. Merfolk (2-0)
Inquisition, Sculler, and TKS ripped apart his hand, and it was quite easy to stomp in from there. Game 2 was much the same. His Cursecatchers just didn't match up with Matter Reshaper, TKS, and Strangler.
All Stars: Inquisition, Sculler, Strangler, TKS.
Round 2 vs. Affinity (2-1)
It's amazing what happens when I actually get my lingering souls in this matchup. Souls delt with a lot of stuff he had, after that I assembled a board of Matter Reshaper, Displacer, and Strangler (which I was able to blink at one point to kill his Etched Champion). Added a Sorin to the mix and that was that. Game 2 he got a turn 1 Steel Overseer, so that wasn't good. Turn 2 I opted to use my Engineered Explosives to kill 2 Ornithopters and an Opal, which took him off of colored mana. In the end, I just couldn't overcome that Overseer, as he got more stuff to pump, and I never saw any more removal for it. Game 3 we got to a board state of me having 4 spirit tokens, a Matter Reshaper, 2 Ghost Quarters, and Vault of the Archangel. I had to mulligan down to 5 this game too, and he never did damage to my life total. He had a Ravager, a few man lands, a couple Ornithopters, and a Signal Pest. The Vault was active, so I just kept swinging in with the Reshaper and holding back the spirits. He even managed to find 2 Platings, and it just didn't matter. When he finally did decide to trade his equiped ornithopter for my reshaper, it got me a Stangler, so that was amusing. Meanwhile, I draw a couple extra lands and a ton of gas with TKSs and Smasher, should I have needed it.
All Stars: Strangler, Lingering Souls, Reshaper, Displacer, Disenchant, Vault.
Round 3 vs. U-Tron (2-1)
Game 1 I had to trade a couple Paths with his TKSs. When things settled down I had 2 spirits and 2 Stranglers atempting to push damage through. He got a Wurmcoil Engine and then an Ugin, and I just could not ultimately combat that stuff. Game 2 and 3 played out similar. Hand disruption was key, especially Scullers, Thoughtseize, and TKS. With his hand decimated and pressure on the board, he wasn't able to find any lasting answers. I also did a trick game 2 where I had Displacer, Sculler, and Strangler on the field and swung in with Displacer and Sculler. He blocked with his TKS, then I blinked my Strangler, processed the card exiled by Sculler, and gave his TKS -3/-3 to kill it in combat. That was pretty neat.
All Stars: Sculler, Thoughtseize, TKS, Path
Round 4 vs. Jeskai Control (2-0)
Game 1 I made so many mistakes but still ended up winning. At one point I had Displacer and TKS, but I screwed things up because I didn't Path his Spellskite first. This was also after ramming a 2nd TKS into a snapped Mana Leak when I knew he had the Snap in hand from a Thoughtseize (and I'm pretty sure I screwed up and forgot to relic some stuff out of his graveyard). When the dust cleared and we were both topdecking, I had 3 spirit tokens and a Reshaper, he had a Wall of Omens and Niblis of Frost. He topdecks nothing but lands, and I pull a Strangler off the top and beat him down will the spirits and eldrazi. Game 2 I wasn't playing nearly that bad, except I did flashback Souls early, and all four spirits met an end of turn Kozilek's Return. Still, TKS brought disruption, and Smasher brought some beats. Pithing Needle had his Colonnades locked down. Lots of back and forth in this matchup. Game 2 I also kept a hand with 2 lands and a map, using the map to get a much needed 3rd land (Eldrazi Temple).
All Stars: TKS, Expedition Map.
Overall, I really like where this list is at. Not too sure about the All is Dusts in the board. They're primarily for midrange decks like Jund/Abzan, and B/W tokens to clear away creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers. I suppose I didn't use them all night because I didn't run into those matchups, but that U-tron felt like it could have gone much worse than it did.
I tried a U/B processor deck a while back and didn't like it at all. I frequently ran into trouble with the Nullifiers and Herders that needed 2 things to process, and if I didn't have a relic, it was basically not going to happen. I was running Ashiok, Delays, and some Reality Shifts, but it never felt like enough, and there was so little space for card draw/filering. I would have liked to add white to the deck for Paths, but I was so disgusted with the deck I moved on to other things.
Fast forward and now I'm playing a B/W processor deck, which I am really enjoying. With dredge becoming popular at the 2 lgs's I play at, I want to be on processors right now for the main deck relics. A couple things I like about the B/W deck is not being so reliant on processing in order to win. Right now I'm only running 4 Stranglers as the processors, and as such I don't feel bad when I don't draw the "right half" of my deck. I also have to wonder if you miss not having Thought Knot Seer and Lingering Souls, as those are 2 major players for me.
Your deck has me intrigued because I am missing having counterspells and card draw (I do run Sea Gate Wreckage but us control players always want more). However, I also feel it just misses out on a lot of the things the B/W version has to offer. How are your matchups against the likes of Affinity, Infect, Jund, Abzan, Coco, Kiki Chord, and BW tokens? Those are a lot of the common decks I'm up against. Also, I only own 2 Ancestral Vision. Is there an alternative I could use for the other 2 slots?
1 Festering Mummy
1 Battlefield Scavenger
1 Dune Beetle
1 Thresher Lizard
1 Minotaur Sureshot
1 Bone Picker
1 Naga Oracle
2 Glorybringer
1 Cartouche of Zeal
1 Trial of Zeal
1 Cartouche of Ambition
1 Never // Return
1 Reduce // Rubble
1 Wander in Death
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Trial of Knowledge
1 Final Reward
1 Painted Desert
2 Island
5 Mountain
4 Swamp
I've really been liking this deck (and I'm a control player at heart). The blue cards give me some draw/filter, and there's always stuff to do with my mana. However, after the last pack I opened, I got some insane green stuff. I'll list some of the other things I have.
Green:
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
2 Colossapede
2 Khenra Charioteer
2 Haze of Pollen
2 Spidery Grasp
1 Naga Vitalist
2 Bitterblade Warrior
1 Manglehorn
1 Scaled Behemoth
Other relevant red cards:
1 Insult // Injury
1 Tormenting Voice
Other relevant blue cards:
2 Illusory Wrappings
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Winds of Rebuke
Other relevant black cards:
2 Blighted Bat
1 Grim strider
1 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Merciless Javelineer
The white cards aren't even worth mentioning compared to all this. It's pretty hard to ignore green after I pulled Rhonas, 2nd Colosapede, and 2nd Charioteer from the same pack. The black cards have been all stars though, between the Cartouche (especially with 2 Trials), Bone Picker, removal, and Wander in death. The 3 color manabase hasn't hurt me too much, and the blue just prevents me from running out of gas. At this point, I'm not sure if I should go R/G, Jund, R/B, or Grixis. Another factor is how many cards to play. With so much good stuff, should I keep the deck at 30 cards? The R/G list I crafted up is lacking in any sort of 4 drops, which concerns me a bit, as does potentially running out of gas. I do also have Rhonas's Monument and Hazoret's Monument that can be considered. What would you guys do in this situation? Also, should I keep going for more Amonkhet booster packs (maybe to get a Black Trial or more Cartouches)?
I've always been a fan of Izzet Charm as a 2-of in pretty much any URx control deck I play, and here it's no exception. The filter lets you get rid of extra blood moons you don't need later on (or mana leaks, lands, etc), and early game it kills most creatures or can counter something like a Liliana.
The tidehallows might not have always been online by turn 2, but you also don't always have them on turn 2 either, and most of the time when I did, the manabase to play it on turn 2 wasn't as inconsistent as I thought it would have been. Besides, you can't always rely on Reshaper or Strangler being a turn 2 play. Generally, if an eldrazi wasn't happening on turn 2, then a tidehallow probably was. But meh, I do need to cut something for some fatal pushes and more Smashers if I'm going to be playing this deck again.
So you think this would be a good choice for my meta, or should I try something else (I'm a heavy control player btw)?
3 Tidehollow Skuller
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Reality Smasher
Other Spells (19)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Lingering Souls
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Godless Shrine
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Shambling Vent
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Disenchant
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 All is Dust
1 Blood Baron of Viskopa
1 Curse of Death's Hold
Looking at the list, I recall liking the Tidehallows against combo and heavy creature decks, and decks that didn't have tons of removal. They were generally sided out against control decks or jund/abzan that can just remove it easily. Can't remember why there's only 2 Smashers, other than space issues. I didn't care much for Mind Stone either, and just opted for a 25 land, 1 Expedition Map set up instead.
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Eternal Witness
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Thragtusk
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Other Spells (26)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Mana Leak
2 Remand
1 Echoing Truth
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Sultai Charm
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Cryptic Command
1 Raven's Crime
1 Life from the Loam
1 Batterskull
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Executioner's Capsule
4 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Island
3 Botanical Sanctum
2 Drowned Catacomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Academy Ruins
1 Nature's Claim
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Duress
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Hangarback Walker
The manabase and Fink are there to help keep my life total up against the aggro decks, while a Gifts package of Ghost Quarter, Raven's Crime, Life from the Loam, and Urborg can just bury control, combo, and tron. I can also use Gifts to get some artifacts with Life from the Loam and Academy Ruins, or sometimes I just use it as a value removal package, or a finisher package. There is a lot of graveyard interactions, but when my opponent boards in graveyard hate, I can just turn into a midrange value deck with the discard, Finks, planeswalkers, and finishers. Here's a quick summary of how things went down at FNM
vs. Jeskai flicker (2-1)
He had Young Pyromancer, Blade Splicer, and Restoration Angel along with typical bolts, paths, helix, and serum visions that you'd expect. Game 1 Inquisition and Abrupt decay keep him off creatures for a while, he paths my Finks and throws some bolts at my face. I gifts for Life from the Loam, Raven's Crime, Urborg, and Academy ruins, and eliminate his hand with Raven's crime and follow that up with a grave titan that he cannot answer or race with his angel. Game 2 I had to mulligan to 5 to get more than 1 land. Despite that, it was still somewhat close, I just couldn't answer his angel quick enough and a bolt finished me off as I was about to stabilize. Game 3 went much like game 1, except replace Grave Titan finishing the game with Batterskull racing against his Restoration Angel.
vs. Ad Nauseum (2-0)
Game 1, gifts at the end of turn 4 for the Loam/Crime package and rip his hand to shreds. Game 2 went much the same, except I Sultai Charmed a Leyline the turn before playing gifts.
vs. Elves (1-1-1)
Game 1 went back and forth for a while. He passed with open mana and 2 cards in hand, with only an archdruid on the field. I made the mistake of using Inquisition with my last mana on my turn, instead of using raven's crime. He responded by casting Chord of Calling, then revealing Collected Company, which he then cast on his turn, getting an Ezuri, and was able to hit me for 15 which was just a couple points more than I had. Game 2 also went on for a while, lots of back and forth with my Engineered Explosives and Academy Ruins doing a ton of work. He was eventually able to exile them with a Scavenging Ooze, I dropped a Wurmcoil Engine which got destroyed by a Reclaimation Sage I knew he had, but that allowed me to drop my 2nd Explosives. Both of those things ended up exiled by another Ooze, then a Thragtusk joined my side, and I eventually overwhelmed him. Game 3 we went to time, but the board state at the end was in my favor. He had 2 tokens, a Dewyn's Elite and another elf, and nothing in hand while I had a Visionary, Dewyn's Elite, an elf token, and a Finks, and was about to cast the 2nd Ashiok.
vs. GR Tron (2-0)
Both games ended up the same. Game 1 my opponent got tron but nothing to do with it against me, so I used Gifts for Loam/Crime/Ghost Quarter/Urborg and proceeded to Ghost Quarter him every turn. Game 2 was kinda the same, except he played a Worldbreaker before I could shut him off of tron, which complicated things a little bit. I ended up keeping him at 5 lands, chump blocking his Worldbreaker a couple turns before stabilizing at 8 life with his Tower's Surgicaled and Hissing Quagmire holding off his Worldbreaker while Ashiok kept plusing.
I noticed with the deck I was having some issues dealing with larger creatures. Would it be feasible to put in 2 Glissa, the Traitor, 1 Noxious Gearhulk, and 2 Filigree Familiar in place of the 3 Kitchen Finks, Grave Titan, and Cryptic Command? I could move the Finks to the board in place of some of the planeswalkers for when I need more lifegain, and the changes would bring some more synergy to the deck.
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Thragtusk
1 Grave Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Other Spells (26)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Mana Leak
2 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Sultai Charm
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Raven's Crime
1 Life from the Loam
1 Unburial Rites
1 Batterskull
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Polluted Delta
3 Windswept Heath
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Shambling Vent
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Academy Ruins
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Terastodon
1 Platinum Angel
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Dispel
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
Zen fetches, Lilianna, and Creeping Tar pit are out of my budget right now, hence their exclusion. I know the sideboard looks wonky, but my meta is also insanely varied. The decks I listed have been showing up almost every week, but literally every archtype will show up at least once or twice a month. Sometimes no one is playing dredge, then one FNM 3 people show up with it. Same goes for Affinity, Jund/Abzan, Ad Nauseum, Abzan Combo, Skred Red, heck, anything but Lantern Control pops up.
I felt the mana base was pretty painful. Would using 3 of the tango lands over the ally colored shocks be viable?
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Siege Rhino
Other Spells (30)
3 Path to Exile
4 Remand
3 Lightning Helix
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Glittering Wish
2 Izzet Charm
4 Esper Charm
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Counterflux
1 Sphinx's Revelation
Lands (26)
4 Pillar of the Paruns
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Creek
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plain
1 Detention Sphere
1 Slaughter Games
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Jund Charm
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Crackling Doom
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
1 Sarkhan Unbroken
1 Keranos, God of Storms
3 Crumble to Dust
Ghost Quarter is just so bad for this deck, running a couple more basics helps, and I always struggled to find a good time to play the Relics, as I found myself wanting to play other multicolor spells to interact with the board or set up a wish. Crumbles are for Tron, which is kinda sad for this deck. What we really need is a multicolor version of Crumble. I cut some of the fluff from the sideboard, as I just really wasn't using some of it. Sphinx's Revelation replaced the All Suns' Dawn in the main deck. All Suns is cute, but even people who didn't know I ran it, still brought in graveyard hate when they saw Snapcaster, K-Command, and Seige Rhino doing silly things together, and what the deck really wanted was card draw at that slot (and more main deck life gain never hurts). The Detention Sphere is supposed to be a Maelstrom Pulse to act as a catch all answer, but I don't own a Pulse yet. I've also toyed around with the idea of having Sigarda, Host of Herons in the board as well as a win con.
3 Whirler Virtuoso
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Artifacts (4)
4 Dynavolt Tower
Instants/Sorceries (26)
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Anticipate
4 Revolutionary Rebuff
3 Spell Shrivel
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Confiscation Coup
4 Highland Lake
3 Wandering Fumarole
4 Aether Hub
7 Mountain
7 Island
The deck is meant to be kinda like a counter burn deck, except the burn doesn't go to the dome. Then using the towers with our instants to generate a ton of energy, and with multiple towers out the energy generated will just get silly. The payoff cards either make a bunch of thopter tokens, or permanently steal our opponent's creature/artifact, or just blast them a lot with the tower.
3 Wall of Omens
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Restoration Angel
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Other Spells (22)
4 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
3 Shadow of Doubt
2 Think Twice
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Cryptic Command
1 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Flooded Strand
3 Celestial Colonnade
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Temple of Enlightenment
3 Island
2 Plains
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pithing Needle
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Trinket Mage
2 Dispel
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Blessed Alliance
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/678769-uw-control
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/603567-grixis-control
That should give you ideas about what other control decks in modern are doing.
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Other Spells (28)
4 Serum Visions
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
4 Mana Leak
4 Esper Charm
4 Raise the Alarm
2 Lingering Souls
1 Dictate of Heliod
2 Secure the Wastes
2 Celestial Colonnade
2 Shambling Vent
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Island
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Glacial Fortress
I haven't put together a full sideboard yet, but this is the list I would personally start with (except I would put 2 Snapcaster Mage in play of the Jaces because I own 2 Snapcasters). I opted for the full playset of Mana Leak over running any remands since Leak goes a bit better with using Esper Charm's discard mode to empty your opponent's hand. On the flip side, Remand goes a bit better with the Inquisition/Thoughtseize. And you could probably get away with running more Thoughtseize since you have life gain from Sorin and Vents, but I only own 1 Thoughtseize atm.
For sideboard choices, I would probably start with something like this:
2 Dispel
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Blessed Alliance
2-3 Negate
I'd probably add some more spots for mass removal. I've also been running a Trinket Mage tutoring package in some of my control sideboards that would likely make its way in here. It runs one Mage, 2 Engineered Explosives, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Hangarback Walker, 1-2 Relic of Progenitus/Nihil Spellbomb. I'd also run some more targeted spot removal in the side, maybe Doom Blade or Smother.
For the deck itself, it doesn't look too bad. You will want some mass removal either main or side, like Supreme Verdict, 3-4 copies. In modern, when you want mass removal, you really need it. For your planeswalkers, you shouldn't need more than 2-3 Jace, and 2 Gideon. Planeswalkers tend to stick around better in modern than in standard, and with card filtering like Serum Visions you don't need a ton of copies of them. This let's you diversify your walkers, and you can get 2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor and 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion in there. I tried an esper deck similar to yours once, and I just didn't like having all the counters with sorcery speed Lingering Souls and Planeswalkers. Your number of counters for a control deck is ok. I typically run 4-5 counters that cost 1-2 mana and 3-4 Cryptic Commands. But perhaps you should forgo some of the counters with the lingering souls/planswalker plan and just have some counters in the sideboard for certain matchups.
For cards to add in, I highly recommend 1 Vault of the Archangel in decks with Lingering Souls, it's amazing. Esper Charm is pretty good card advantage. In my UW/x decks, I like to run a single Sphinx's Revelation, it's a great late game mass draw that just seals games for you. If you want to keep a bunch of counters, I recommend going with Raise the Alarm and cutting back on Lingering Souls. Flashback is nice, but trying to play a 3 mana sorcery that wants to be played as early as possible while holding up mana for counters just clashes too much. Speaking of instant speed token generation, get 2 Secure the Wastes in there, it's really amazing. If you want to get really daring, throw in a 1-of Dictate of Heliod (yes, I'm serious). I run it as a 1-of in my jeskai tokens deck, and the flash is worth the higher cost (also, strange things happen with it in modern, like it doesn't trigger Eidolon of the Great Revel and can't be removed by Abrupt Decay). It can just win games out of no where.
For sideboard cards, most of my control decks follow these guidelines:
At least 2 copies of mass graveyard exile (Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus).
2 Dispels for counter wars, burn, and certain combo decks like Ad Nauseum.
2 Sacrifice effects (Blessed Alliance, Tribute to Hunger). These cards in invaluable against Bogles, Infect, Trun, the Last Troll, and bonus points for gaining you life, as that makes them usable against burn too.
Mass removal, if it's not in the main deck. I can't stress this one enough. There are so many decks that can just spew a bunch of creatures on the field and you need to sweep them away. Supreme Verdict, Flaying Tendrils, Anger of the Gods, Engineered Explosives, whatever fits your colors, just play at least 2-4 in the 75.
3 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Wasteland Stangler
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Reality Smasher
Other Spells (19)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Lingering Souls
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Shambling Vent
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 All is Dust
2 Disenchant
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Curse of Death's Hold
I swapped out the Hallowed Moonlights for Flaying Tendrils, figured I'd rather topdeck Tendrils if there was stuff already on the board that I needed to deal with than to topdeck Hallowed Moonlight. Took 1st and went 4-0, still not missing the Blight Herders.
Round 1 vs. Merfolk (2-0)
Inquisition, Sculler, and TKS ripped apart his hand, and it was quite easy to stomp in from there. Game 2 was much the same. His Cursecatchers just didn't match up with Matter Reshaper, TKS, and Strangler.
All Stars: Inquisition, Sculler, Strangler, TKS.
Round 2 vs. Affinity (2-1)
It's amazing what happens when I actually get my lingering souls in this matchup. Souls delt with a lot of stuff he had, after that I assembled a board of Matter Reshaper, Displacer, and Strangler (which I was able to blink at one point to kill his Etched Champion). Added a Sorin to the mix and that was that. Game 2 he got a turn 1 Steel Overseer, so that wasn't good. Turn 2 I opted to use my Engineered Explosives to kill 2 Ornithopters and an Opal, which took him off of colored mana. In the end, I just couldn't overcome that Overseer, as he got more stuff to pump, and I never saw any more removal for it. Game 3 we got to a board state of me having 4 spirit tokens, a Matter Reshaper, 2 Ghost Quarters, and Vault of the Archangel. I had to mulligan down to 5 this game too, and he never did damage to my life total. He had a Ravager, a few man lands, a couple Ornithopters, and a Signal Pest. The Vault was active, so I just kept swinging in with the Reshaper and holding back the spirits. He even managed to find 2 Platings, and it just didn't matter. When he finally did decide to trade his equiped ornithopter for my reshaper, it got me a Stangler, so that was amusing. Meanwhile, I draw a couple extra lands and a ton of gas with TKSs and Smasher, should I have needed it.
All Stars: Strangler, Lingering Souls, Reshaper, Displacer, Disenchant, Vault.
Round 3 vs. U-Tron (2-1)
Game 1 I had to trade a couple Paths with his TKSs. When things settled down I had 2 spirits and 2 Stranglers atempting to push damage through. He got a Wurmcoil Engine and then an Ugin, and I just could not ultimately combat that stuff. Game 2 and 3 played out similar. Hand disruption was key, especially Scullers, Thoughtseize, and TKS. With his hand decimated and pressure on the board, he wasn't able to find any lasting answers. I also did a trick game 2 where I had Displacer, Sculler, and Strangler on the field and swung in with Displacer and Sculler. He blocked with his TKS, then I blinked my Strangler, processed the card exiled by Sculler, and gave his TKS -3/-3 to kill it in combat. That was pretty neat.
All Stars: Sculler, Thoughtseize, TKS, Path
Round 4 vs. Jeskai Control (2-0)
Game 1 I made so many mistakes but still ended up winning. At one point I had Displacer and TKS, but I screwed things up because I didn't Path his Spellskite first. This was also after ramming a 2nd TKS into a snapped Mana Leak when I knew he had the Snap in hand from a Thoughtseize (and I'm pretty sure I screwed up and forgot to relic some stuff out of his graveyard). When the dust cleared and we were both topdecking, I had 3 spirit tokens and a Reshaper, he had a Wall of Omens and Niblis of Frost. He topdecks nothing but lands, and I pull a Strangler off the top and beat him down will the spirits and eldrazi. Game 2 I wasn't playing nearly that bad, except I did flashback Souls early, and all four spirits met an end of turn Kozilek's Return. Still, TKS brought disruption, and Smasher brought some beats. Pithing Needle had his Colonnades locked down. Lots of back and forth in this matchup. Game 2 I also kept a hand with 2 lands and a map, using the map to get a much needed 3rd land (Eldrazi Temple).
All Stars: TKS, Expedition Map.
Overall, I really like where this list is at. Not too sure about the All is Dusts in the board. They're primarily for midrange decks like Jund/Abzan, and B/W tokens to clear away creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers. I suppose I didn't use them all night because I didn't run into those matchups, but that U-tron felt like it could have gone much worse than it did.
Fast forward and now I'm playing a B/W processor deck, which I am really enjoying. With dredge becoming popular at the 2 lgs's I play at, I want to be on processors right now for the main deck relics. A couple things I like about the B/W deck is not being so reliant on processing in order to win. Right now I'm only running 4 Stranglers as the processors, and as such I don't feel bad when I don't draw the "right half" of my deck. I also have to wonder if you miss not having Thought Knot Seer and Lingering Souls, as those are 2 major players for me.
Your deck has me intrigued because I am missing having counterspells and card draw (I do run Sea Gate Wreckage but us control players always want more). However, I also feel it just misses out on a lot of the things the B/W version has to offer. How are your matchups against the likes of Affinity, Infect, Jund, Abzan, Coco, Kiki Chord, and BW tokens? Those are a lot of the common decks I'm up against. Also, I only own 2 Ancestral Vision. Is there an alternative I could use for the other 2 slots?