The Apprentice's Workshop - Episode 10
The Apprentice's Workshop
KrazyCaley
1 March 2013
1549 views
The Workshop is Open
1 March 2013
1549 views
The Workshop is Open
Today we have Zandl's Misthollow Control (FNM tonight!) under the microscope. Let's have a look.
The Decklist
Land (25)
7x Island
6x Plains
Instant (11)
4x Dissipate
Sorcery (10)
4x Terminus
Enchantment (10)
Creature (4)
Sideboard (15)
3x Negate
2x Staff of Nin
Thoughts
So here we have a lot of the normal pieces of a W/U control deck in standard these days, only our win condition is awesome and hilarious. We just keep wrathing the board and bringing back all of our Misthollow Griffins. Rest in Peace basically results in the Griffins playing Contra and entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. We just keep killing all of our opponents' stuff and not particularly caring if we hit our own griffins in the process because we can always, always bring them back.
The deck also has the incidental benefit of completely ruining every reanimator deck without having to even sideboard against it. Indeed, this deck is already very well put-together and doesn't need too much in the way of changes. But there are a few things we can fine-tune. Let's take a closer look.
Problematic Cards
Most of the cards in this deck make a ton of sense and are obvious, sensible choices. Some warrant at least a little bit of examination though:
1x Amass the Components - The only draw spell in the deck other than Sphinx's Revelation and Azorius Charm, although the charm nets no card advantage. It's an an awkward one-of. It costs a heavy four mana and is sorcery-speed, which is a real problem for a control deck, although this one is going to be doing most of its controlling with sorceries anyway. Still, Think Twice is instant speed and gets you just as many cards, albeit of a slightly lower quality. But really Sphinx's Revelation, a fantastic card, should be more than sufficient. I'm going to scratch this for now and see where we're at.
4x Terminus - Yep, it's a wrath. However, it absolutely KILLS us because if it hits even one Misthollow Griffin, that's terrible for us. Our 4x Misthollow Griffin are our only win conditions! The only way they can be dealt with is to send them to the graveyard OR to get them back into the library. Terminus puts them at the bottom of our library, which is bad. If we have, say, 2 griffins out, but our opponents have a big board that's going to kill us, we're going to draw this and gulp. Cut; it's a great wrath, but not for us.
1x Temporal Mastery - I very often see Temporal Mastery thrown randomly into decks because hey, who doesn't like taking extra turns? But that's not a reason to put the card in the deck. This card will help us most when we have board superiority and need to swing quickly with griffins. But one copy is not really generating a lot of enthusiasm for me; I think we'd rather have this be a control piece to make our victory more certain. Let's cut it.
Additions
So we now have 6 spots to fill. I like where the land is at, no need to mess with the NUMBER of lands, anyway. Here's how I want to start:
Oblivion Ring remains an excellent card and a very serviceable replacement for Terminus that won't, of course, wrath the board, but which will keep us in excellent shape nonetheless.
Rest in Peace is mandatory. Without this card, our Misthollow Griffins are extremely vulnerable; we have no way to retrieve them from the graveyard if they get there. We need four copies; our opponents will start to target this card if they have answers for it, once they figure out how our deck works.
This leaves two spots. There are three rather high-dollar suggestions that seem obvious/included everywhere: Snapcaster Mage brings back our wraths, our counterspells, our Sphinx's Revelations, and so forth. Jace, Architect of Thought is a backup win condition and, of course, does all the other fine things he does. More or less the same thing goes for Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
If our deckbuilder doesn't have the pockets for these common suggestions, though, there's always Think Twice to draw some more, although again, the Revelation should be more than enough.
Angel of Serenity is an interesting possibility. She can be used for two purposes - 1: to retrieve Griffins that have gone to the graveyard, and 2: to temporarily (or in some cases, permanently) render some of our opponents' creatures on the board incapacitated, perhaps until we can get a more permanent answer ready. She also, of course, hits people in the face, which is always nice.
AEtherize provides a possible partial replacement for Terminus, and is highly effective against the currently-popular token archetypes. This would probably be my main choice. Really any of the above cards would serve about an equally-valuable role, but I suspect that AEtherize will be the most frequently-useful.
Let's have a look at the sideboard.
Sideboard Issues
Our sideboard really, really hoses Red Deck Wins, which is a good idea, in addition to the usual anti-control selections. RDW these days tends not to hit you so hard on turn 1, but then hit you DOUBLE hard on turn 2, so us going first and casting Blind Obedience or an Essence Scatter seems good. But we do already have 2x Blind Obedience in the mainboard, and we also have 3x Righeous Blow in sideboard. We might be excessively hosing fast aggro. Why not cut the 2x Blind Obedience and replace it with 2 more Essence Scatter? The scatter is still good against fast aggro, but gives us a bit more flexibility against anything that casts fatties, hexproof creatures, and so forth.
Really that's the only change I can think of. The rest of it makes a ton of sense. However, I have one more change...
The Last Change
-1x Island
+1x Haunted Fengraf
Mark my words. This will occasionally be incredibly important in this deck. Another Ghost Quarter instead of the Fengraf would also be a very respectable choice, what with all the Drownyards around these days.
KrazyCaley's Recommended Build (60)
Land (25)
6x Island
6x Plains
Instant (13)
4x Dissipate
2x AEtherize
Sorcery (4)
Enchantment (14)
Creature (4)
Sideboard (15)
3x Negate
2x Staff of Nin
That's what I think. What about you?
KrazyCaley says... #2
@buffy - Cyclonic Rift would also be an excellent choice, good call.
March 1, 2013 8:53 p.m.
http404error says... #3
Snapcaster Mage and Think Twice seem a bit unfriendly with Rest in Peace, especially being a 4-of. I really wish there were at least one other card that synergizes with RIP in Standard.
The changes seem pretty good, although I might side a couple Terminus anyways as a precaution.
March 1, 2013 9:23 p.m.
what about Moorland Haunt as a way to exile any Misthollow Griffin that get in the graveyard?
March 1, 2013 9:28 p.m.
MagnorCriol says... #5
Yeah, I second Iehovah's thoughts on Moorland Haunt. I've seen that in a number of Misthollow builds, and it's a way to not feel so bad if we have to Wrath away a griffin without a Rest in Peace. The downside is that with only four creatures, the Haunt is going to be generally dead most of the time - but when it's not it's crucial. Perhaps putting in one would be a good idea, under the same general principle as the Haunted Fengraf.
March 1, 2013 9:37 p.m.
KrazyCaley says... #6
@ Iehovah and MagnorCriol - Awesome idea. Basically flat-out better for this deck than my Haunted Fengraf idea. Consider that replaced as far as I'm concerned.
March 1, 2013 9:41 p.m.
http404error says... #7
Ok, I'm totally sold on Moorland Haunt. Do we even need RIP now?
March 1, 2013 10:43 p.m.
MagnorCriol says... #8
I think RiP is still useful, since with it you skip the middle step of having to pay WU to get the Griffin back.
March 1, 2013 10:46 p.m.
http404error says... #9
It's pretty much a dead draw against aggro, and okay against control. Griffin isn't going to die THAT much, I hope.
March 1, 2013 10:52 p.m.
Rest in Peace is essential. If you only used Moorland Haunt, you'd have to pay essentially 3 mana to do what Rest in Peace does for free, which hoses most forms of control and every reanimator deck ever. The Haunt could go in as a one-of, though. There's really no downside in using it.
Temporal Mastery and Amass the Components were really just placeholders while I searched for permanent replacements. I've always enjoyed Terminus as a Wrath and never really had issues with erasing my Griffins. My only problem with O-Ring as its replacement is that it's not too efficient against aggro. Ripping Terminus turns 2 through 4 can end games on the spot. I'm just too afraid of being overwhelmed by creatures and having to go one-for-one on removal.
March 2, 2013 2:32 a.m.
SupremeAlliesCommander says... #11
Rest in Peace not only drives this deck, it is a fabulously destructive card for anyone playing a graveyard strategy. Like me... :(
March 2, 2013 11:40 a.m.
Moorland Haunt, as I was thinking when I was trying to fall asleep last night, also helps me get over my worst fear with this deck - someone using Slaughter Games on my Rest in Peace.
I've only ever had one person use Slaughter Games on Misthollow Griffin once. Aaaand he dropped from the tournament after doing so.
March 2, 2013 2:51 p.m.
Also, I'm very hesitant to make Rest in Peace a true playset. Any copies that I draw after the first are completely dead (which secretly was what Amass the Components was in here to prevent). If my opponent destroys it, though, I still have a fairly good chance of drawing another.
But if I add a copy of Moorland Haunt, that's really like having four copies of Rest in Peace, one of which is far more difficult to remove (if you can even count Enchantments being easy to remove in this meta).
March 2, 2013 3:09 p.m.
GureiSeion says... #14
Playing with Hollow Control myself, I can agree with that hesitance to lose those Terminus. In my experience it alleviates early game often enough to make up for times where Griffin can't be "suicided" before a wrath.
March 2, 2013 3:37 p.m.
Made some variants that splash a third color. Thoughts?
Zandl's Esper Misthollow Control
Zandl's Bant Misthollow Control
zandls-american-misthollow-control
March 2, 2013 4:06 p.m.
out of the three splashes, i think that the Esper one is the best. But i am not sure how much better it is over the original.
March 2, 2013 9:53 p.m.
http404error says... #17
I concede that RIP is relevant often enough to be justified in two or three copies.
March 2, 2013 10:11 p.m.
Thoughts on the U/W/R deck? I'm inherently drawn to Izzet Charm because all 3 modes are perfect for Standard's rowdy meta right now (not to mention getting to discard Griffins, which really doesn't even count as discarding).
And, well, then there's Bonfire. Which needs no explanation.
March 4, 2013 2:08 a.m.
I would personally add either Jace, Memory Adept or Sands of Delirium or both to add another win con. I find only having one a bit rough.
Wabbbit says... #1
It' hard to take out Terminus, as it is really an amazing card. I would agree pretty well with AEtherize, but seems like Cyclonic Rift would be a good choice as well.
I'm also the first one to comment on this article! Woohoo!
March 1, 2013 8:30 p.m.