Embracing the Planeshift - Battle for Zendikar
Features
zandl
2 October 2015
2915 views
2 October 2015
2915 views
Embracing the Planeshift
Six New Decks from zandl to Get You Hyped for Rotation
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U/B Control (BFZ) Creatures: 5 2 Dragonlord Silumgar 2 Silumgar, the Drifting Death 1 Icefall Regent Planeswalkers: 2 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon Instants: 20 4 Anticipate 4 Dig Through Time 4 Silumgar's Scorn 3 Scatter to the Winds 2 Foul-Tongue Invocation 2 Murderous Cut 1 Silumgar's Command Sorceries: 6 3 Languish 2 Ruinous Path 1 Crux of Fate Lands: 27 4 Dismal Backwater 4 Polluted Delta 4 Sunken Hollow 2 Flooded Strand 2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon 1 Blighted Cataract 1 Skyline Cascade 5 Island 4 Swamp Sideboard 3 Duress 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Displacement Wave 2 Negate 2 Virulent Plague 1 Dispel 1 Dragonlord's Prerogative 1 Orbs of Warding 1 Self-Inflicted Wound |
Here be dragons; a Blue/Black Control deck which utilizes the board-balancing strength of Dragonlord Silumgar, the stabilizing power of Silumgar, the Drifting Death, and the raw force behind Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. The vast majority of these cards aren’t new but haven’t necessarily been given their full time to shine in control decks yet. A friendly-yet-perhaps-unfamiliar face I’ve decided to add belongs to Icefall Regent. In future-Standard testing, Icefall is far more dependable in a format without Lightning Strike and Bile Blight, where the new removal is more expensive and tends to be slower. Icefall counts as a Dragon for our themed spells and lands hard on turn-5 to lock down a threat, often forcing the opponent to use up his or her next turn to deal with it (if even possible). Another card I previously did not care for but am steadily growing fond of is Silumgar's Command. With the unfortunate loss of Hero's Downfall at rotation, control decks lose much of their ways to deal with resolved Planeswalkers. With this Command, we can take them out alongside a mid-sized creature or a noncreature spell. Many times in testing, this card felt strikingly similar to Far / Away (R.I.P.) due to its ability to completely turn the tides of the game on its own. It does butt heads with an already-top-heavy curve, but the one-of aspect of the spell here would likely serve us well as an “oh-crap” card that can pull us out of some pretty deep holes. I sincerely hope people set aside their negative statements regarding Ob Nixilis Reignited’s complexity and just RTFC to see its implications. Ob Nixilis (a) kills stuff and (b) draws you cards, usually in that order. On a board with a lone Siege Rhino or any other single threat, Ob has the capability to take a firm hold of the game, generating value and Murdering anything you grimace at. Combine this value-engine on a slow board with a turn-6 Silumgar, the Drifting Death as a guard and I’m no longer sure how someone can realistically claw back into that game. The other part of the deck I wanted to focus on is the land-base. Sadly, Radiant Fountain is no more and our 2 life goes away with it. Haven of the Spirit Dragon is a shoo-in since nothing is worse than sitting across from a Haven behind a Dragonlord you already can’t deal with once, let alone twice. It’s obvious we wouldn’t need an entire playset of Havens, though, considering we have but 6 targets in the entire list (and they won’t always be great to get back anyways). This leaves us with a few open slots. Blighted Cataract was an immediate first choice because things that can draw you cards without taking up spell slots are always good. After 1 copy, though, I’d be getting nervous about our chances of hitting 2 Blue mana on the second turn for Silumgar's Scorn. Since colored mana is a thing and the deck is already somewhat lacking in early-game control (turns 1-3), why not check both boxes with Skyline Cascade? Imagine you’re on the draw against RDW and start at 19 life from a Monastery Swiftspear, but your turn-1 land is this into Scorn on the following turn - I like that, too. Sideboard is basic stuff for now; after all, control decks need to know what to react to in order to do well, but the format is still being pioneered. We’ll stick with simple tools that we at least know are already effective and do their jobs well. Displacement Wave would appear to be the only odd man out here, but I fear G/W Hardened Scales will be tier-1 post-rotation and Languish just doesn’t cut it there. A well-timed D-Wave for 2 or 3 will wipe their board and give you at least 1 free turn to get something going. It’s also really handy against a Hangarback Walker that has recently been felled. -shrug- |
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U/R Mill (BFZ) Creatures: 3 3 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip Enchantments: 6 4 Sphinx's Tutelage 2 Monastery Siege Artifacts: 2 1 Alhammarret's Archive 1 Pyromancer's Goggles Sorceries: 19 4 Magmatic Insight 4 Radiant Flames 4 Tormenting Voice 4 Treasure Cruise 3 Roast Instants: 3 2 Send to Sleep 1 Dig Through Time Lands: 27 4 Shivan Reef 4 Swiftwater Cliffs 2 Bloodstained Mire 2 Polluted Delta 1 Blighted Cataract 1 Frontier Bivouac 1 Mystic Monastery 1 Skyline Cascade 1 Smoldering Marsh 1 Sunken Hollow 5 Mountain 4 Island Sideboard 4 Negate 3 Fiery Impulse 2 Dispel 2 Talent of the Telepath 2 Smash to Smithereens 1 Orbs of Warding 1 Seismic Rupture |
Since the addition of the card to Standard, Sphinx's Tutelage has been garnering a swell amount of success and has ingrained its imposing self in the back of the mind of every Standard player out there. Most typically, by the time you realize what’s going on in your game, it’s too late to fight back. Blue/Red Tutelage certainly made a name for itself with some high-profile wins and roguish takedowns of the strongest decks in Standard, but it wasn’t consistently winning events because everything else in Standard was just too well-oiled and fluid. Good thing the deck literally only loses 1 spell (Anger of the Gods) at rotation and gets a near-carbon copy of it in BFZ. The premise of the deck, in case you’ve been living under a Rock Hydra for the past 3 months, is to drop a Sphinx's Tutelage. From there, you literally tap out to cast as many spells and draw as many cards as you possibly can to win through mill. If it sounds really janky, consider that I’ve both watched it and played it against RDW on the draw, only to win both games on turn-5; hardcore stuff. Some variants were trying to fit Pyromancer's Goggles in for added value, but many decks last Standard season were too quick and had too many efficient answers to choose from for it to be fully viable. With most decks’ card pools shrinking (or drying up entirely), now is the time to put the Goggles on. Tap Goggles, cast Magmatic Insight, discard 1 land, draw 4 cards, and mill at least 8 cards (probably 12-14). ... I just checked; that’s pretty good. Though Anger of the Gods was a godsend (har-har) for Red-based control decks and managed to fight off the Hangarback menace fairly well, I think Radiant Flames will get the job done in all the same places. Having many weeks of experience myself with U/R Toots to draw from (har, again), Hangarback was never a problem for the deck with or without Anger. When you’re generally winning the game by the fifth or sixth turn, Hangarback is way too slow to pressure you. Therefore, Radiant Flames is essentially going to be the exact same card (and, to boot, one you don’t need double-Red mana for). Note our land-base with its agglomerated Crayola Watercolor Palette of color options to ensure we reach just the right amount of colors for Converge each time (even with matching Tango lands for fixing and Fetches for delving). I know you’re wondering why I included 1 Bivouac and 1 Monastery, and I’ll tell you that the difference between 1 & 1 or 2 & 0 of the other is negligible. Either one you use is a U/R dual-land that turns on Converge. I guess you could boast that you’re really trying to out-meta everyone by playing around Crumble to Dust, when really, you’re just being saucy. Beyond the most obvious card choices, Roast is poised to become an important piece of tech against the looming Abzan Aggro menace (and its army of big butts). That, and it just kills every first-three-turns creature you’ll play against. Sideboard is pretty straightforward, though I like the addition of Smash to Smithereens to deal with opposing Orbs of Warding. Orbs makes you auto-lose and Smash still has the chance to hit an opposing Planeswalker for 3 damage at the same time. Talent of the Telepath and the countermagic come in over the burn spells against control decks and you have a few more toys in the sideboard to help your aggro matchups. Unfortunately, Dromoka's Command is going to become even more popular than it already is, though patience (and Dispel) while firing off everything at once is still a solid strategy. It’s worth mentioning that, although it’s a nuts card in this deck, I’ve never had a tremendous amount of luck with Jace in U/R Tutelage during the old Standard format. What would typically occur was his death before doing anything since my opponent’s removal spells weren’t being used elsewhere. In the very few times he’d managed to flip, he won me the game, but I’m telling you this because I don’t think you’d really miss having him if it means buying them for $50 apiece. Without the Jaces and if you tweak the land-base a bit, this deck easily falls into budget range at ~$40 total considering most of the cards are commons and uncommons. |
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Temur Mid (BFZ) Creatures: 18 4 Ashcloud Phoenix 4 Rattleclaw Mystic 4 Thunderbreak Regent 4 Woodland Wanderer 2 Dragonlord Atarka Planeswalkers: 4 2 Kiora, Master of the Depths 2 Sarkhan Unbroken Enchantments: 4 4 Temur Ascendancy Sorceries: 4 2 Crater's Claws 2 See the Unwritten Instants: 7 4 Draconic Roar 3 Stubborn Denial Lands: 23 4 Frontier Bivouac 4 Shivan Reef 4 Wooded Foothills 2 Lumbering Falls 2 Yavimaya Coast 1 Cinder Glade 3 Forest 3 Mountain Sideboard 3 Feed the Clan 3 Roast 3 Shaman of the Great Hunt 2 Icefall Regent 2 Twin Bolt 1 Stubborn Denial 1 Surrak Dragonclaw |
You may recall my article, Swept Under the RUG, in which I raved about Temur Ascendancy and its underrated power level. While you could argue I was playing it in a combo deck (and you’d be right), I have toyed with the card’s non-combo implications for the past few months. I’ve come to determine that playing a set of Ascendancies alongside sets of every good 4-power creature in Standard happens to be effective, as well. While my attempts to 4-0 weekly events at my LGS with a nearly identical list to the one on the left were alright, I wasn’t convinced I necessarily broke a new deck into tier-1 territory. Similar to how U/R Tutelage isn’t losing much at rotation, Temur Ascendancy Mid also loses very little in terms of card quality. Ashcloud Phoenix and Thunderbreak Regent are already fantastic Magic cards without haste or netting you an extra card, but they aren’t exactly game-winners. I’ve found that Temur Ascendancy can give them the push they need to really impact the board and get the pressure going before my opponent has a chance to figure out how to approach the problem. A card I originally intended to include but wound up cutting was Savage Knuckleblade. It seemed it would be an auto-include when I set out to build a post-roation deck, but the new kid on the block, Woodland Wanderer, is simply the stronger of the two. For those of you playing at home, with Temur Ascendancy online, the Wanderer is a 5/5 Vigilance Trample Haste that draws me a card, all for 4 mana. Knuckleblade is a still a 4/4 that can get chumped and give itself... haste, again? It’s true that Knuckleblade is obviously still a good card with its multitude of uses, but it would be stronger in a slower, more controlling shell, where your mana is free to roam and graze as it pleases in lieu of being aggressively used up each turn. As soon as she was spoiled, Kiora, Master of the Depths snagged my attention and lured me in. Upon some preliminary testing with this deck, Kiora is 100% exactly what this deck needed. Her +1 untaps a land and either Rattleclaw for even more mana or a creature to use as a blocker. Her -2 has something like a ~%60 chance (I did the math) to find both a creature and a land at the same time, further fueling the Temur flames. Finally (yet least importantly), let the lols ensue when if you somehow manage to fire off her ultimate ability with a Temur Ascendancy on the board. Let it be known, however, that for as much as I love Temur Ascendancy, I do understand that you won’t always have it out when you need it. Pretending we don’t have it on the board, look at all the potent spells we still have to choose from and realize that the deck still plays like a more traditional ramping midrange deck without it. Ramp, drop a big guy, kill stuff, cast a Planeswalker, then play a game-winner and profit. See the Unwritten nets 2 creatures almost every time (you should’ve seen the face of the guy who was suddenly staring down 3 Thunderbreak Regents while at 8 life). That, combined with Sarkhan Unbroken, offers an enticingly powerful high-end from turns 4-7 - and one that likes to keep generating value. Toss in a few one-mana Negates to keep the cruise afloat and now you’re playing real midrange. |
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Abzan Aggro/Mid (BFZ) Creatures: 24 4 Warden of the First Tree 4 Rakshasa Deathdealer 4 Hangarback Walker 4 Anafenza, the Foremost 4 Drana, Liberator of Malakir 4 Siege Rhino Planeswalkers: 4 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor Instants: 8 4 Dromoka's Command 2 Abzan Charm 2 Valorous Stance Lands: 24 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Llanowar Wastes 4 Sandsteppe Citadel 4 Windswept Heath 3 Shambling Vent 1 Canopy Vista 2 Forest 1 Plains 1 Swamp Sideboard 4 Wingmate Roc 3 Arashin Cleric 3 Duress 1 Blossoming Sands 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer Flip 1 Surge of Righteousness 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang 1 Valorous Stance |
For those of you not bound by such earthly restraints as money, I present to you what may very well become the next deck to beat. While losing Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Hero's Downfall is enough to shut down the Abzan Mid/Control deck for good, it’s certainly no secret that Abzan retains a significantly powerful early-game curve through rotation. The difference between pre-rotation Abzan Aggro and post-rotation Abzan Aggro is miniscule (or, mathematically, equal to or less than Fleecemane Lion). What we’re left with as BFZ rotates in is a deck loosely based on +1/+1 counters and firmly positioned to kick some ass. Curve and consistency are Abzan’s strongest selling points, much like your typical Red Deck Wins but with less burn and bigger butts on the creatures. The ideal curve in your game is Warden of the First Tree into Hangarback Walker into Anafenza, the Foremost, then swing on turn-4 for a counter on the Walker with removal/Warden abilities open (or just a Siege Rhino, which I’ve heard works, too). From there, you’re open to casting Planeswalkers to continue the pressure or build back up quickly should you somehow lose a creature in the process. Unlike your average RDW, though, Abzan starts strong and stays strong. With cards like Rakshasa Deathdealer, Warden of the First Tree, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, there’s really no specific turn you need to win by. As time and your land-base progress, these cards simply become better and will easily take over a game uncontested. Throw in the fact that Drana, Liberator of Malakir has some terrific synergies with your Planeswalkers’ tokens and Hangarback Walker and it’s not difficult at all to see how this deck will be a very real threat to the Standard meta. I assume that many people will have sprung for the Abzan Aggro idea post-rotation, so if you plan to take this puppy (or similarly adorable littermate) out for a spin, know that you need answers for the mirror match. Ground combat is going to be a bust considering each creature’s relative resilience and the potential for a blow-out via combat tricks/removal. What you need to do is get into the air. What better way to do that than with a creature I believe will see a triumphant return to tier-1 status: Wingmate Roc? By adding the 25th land into the mainboard from the side, you can safely increase the height of your mana-curve and assume the position as the control deck of the match. In my mind, that’s exactly where you want to be when ground combat is awful and the game goes long due to that. Wingmate generates 6 flying power and 8 toughness for a scant 5 mana, then nets you significant life to help you stay ahead. Unlike other creatures we could be adding, Wingmate Roc and its buddy require two separate pieces of removal to be eliminated, allowing you more time and flexibility as the game starts to go late. This is where our one-of Nissa comes in, as well. On a clogged board, she’ll have plenty of protection to allow her to tick up and generate obscene amounts of value while threatening to turn your lands into an army. Another big-time threat we can employ is Tasigur, the Golden Fang. For as little as 1 mana, you get a large creature with the ability to keep your spells in business. Similar to how Wingmate Roc is strong on a stalled board, Tasigur just sits and nets you a card every turn. Looking at all of our spells to choose from, there aren’t any I can even say would be completely dead at some point in the game. Even recurring a copy of a Legendary creature would suit you well, allowing you to take a more reckless approach with the one you already have out. |
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R/G Mono-Red (BFZ) Creatures: 14 4 Monastery Swiftspear 3 Abbot of Keral Keep 3 Zurgo Bellstriker 2 Firemantle Mage 1 Goblin Heelcutter 1 Zada, Hedron Grinder Instants: 13 4 Atarka's Command 4 Titan's Strength 4 Wild Slash 1 Become Immense Sorceries: 12 4 Dragon Fodder 4 Exquisite Firecraft 4 Hordeling Outburst Lands: 21 4 Wooded Foothills 2 Bloodstained Mire 1 Cinder Glade 13 Mountain 1 Forest Sideboard 4 Roast 3 Impact Tremors 3 Scab-Clan Berserker 2 Prism Ring 2 Rending Volley 1 Act of Treason |
Though I’m fairly vocal with my personal disgust in piloting highly aggressive decks, I’m not going to leave all you die-hard Red fans hanging. Red decks received almost nothing in BFZ; no playable burn, almost 0 aggressive creatures, etc. What we still have after rotation, however, still seems potent. Atarka's Command is sticking around for awhile and so are its besites, Dragon Fodder and Hordeling Outburst. Intersperse those spells with tried-and-true powerhouses (Monastery Swiftspear, chiefly) and I don’t really see how you can go wrong. Bile Blight, Drown in Sorrow, and Anger of the Gods (Radiant Flames is close but likely won’t see widespread play for awhile) are all gone and your Goblin tokens now have far less to fear. Needless to say, this deck is acutely straightforward in its mission: attack, evade, pump, burn, and win. Between Goblin Heelcutter and the new Firemantle Mage, you should be able to speed right past slower aggro decks and midrange strategies without too much of an issue. Zada, Hedron Grinder is a funky one-of that can give any surviving Goblin tokens a massive boost with Titan's Strength or even (should the planets align properly) Become Immense. Fetches fuel the Delve spell and help us find our Cinder Glade to get the Green splash online. The sideboard here is unsurprisingly simple with the usual suspects: more specialized burn spells (have I mentioned how good Rending Volley is against Dragonlord Ojutai?) and ways to deal damage from different angles. Prism Ring is a solid mirror-match card that will keep you far ahead of your opponent’s efforts. Scab-Clan Berserker harkens back to Mindsparker but actually has a good anti-control ability in haste. |
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Mardu Aggro (BFZ) Creatures: 21 4 Bloodsoaked Champion 4 Butcher of the Horde 4 Flamewake Phoenix 4 Soulfire Grand Master 2 Drana, Liberator of Malakir 2 Smothering Abomination 1 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury Planeswalkers: 3 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar Instants: 11 4 Wild Slash 3 Crackling Doom 2 Kolaghan's Command 1 Murderous Cut 1 Utter End Sorceries: 1 1 Ruinous Path Lands: 24 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Nomad Outpost 2 Shambling Vent 1 Smoldering Marsh 2 Mountain 2 Swamp 1 Plains Sideboard 3 Arashin Cleric 3 Duress 2 Arc Lightning 2 Outpost Siege 1 Crumble to Dust 1 Kolaghan's Command 1 Ruinous Path 1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor 1 Surge of Righteousness |
I initially began the design here with the intention of making a punishing and relentlessly aggressive deck, but what eventually turned out was a highly synergistic and complex midrange/aggro hybrid. For all you fans of more... “dude-based” and complex aggressive strategies, eat your heart out. If your cursory glance to the left hasn’t yet yielded the information, Flamewake Phoenix and, to a lesser extent, Bloodsoaked Champion are the links holding everything together. Butcher of the Horde + Flamewake Phoenix is already a fantastic combination and one we know and love. I’m more interested in this new card, Smothering Abomination, and its implications with creatures we can recur each turn. With a Phoenix out, the Abomination essentially has “: Draw a card” during your upkeep. Further Phoenix support arrives in the form of both Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker becoming large creatures to turn on Ferocious for no additional mana. The plan, once you’ve got your board up and going, is to turn everything sideways and spot-remove anything that gets in your way. In keeping with the recursion theme, Soulfire Grand Master can gain us some pretty significant life and start recycling cards if/when the game goes late. Should you get to the point of the game where you have 7 mana, using the Grand Master’s Buyback ability to recycle Kolaghan's Command is a dream come true for midrange players. Our options for the sideboard are certainly diverse, so I’ve narrowed it down to some choices we already know will work well. Arashin Cleric likely comes in over Bloodsoaked Champion against aggro to net us life (and block a lot better than the Champion |
Happy tapping, players.
Get out there and support corporate America your local game shop! With a newfound enthusiasm for the post-rotation card pool and equipped with a formidable arsenal of strategic weapons, you are sure to fight well and emerge victorious in this weekend’s launch events. Hopefully, this gave you not only a few different lists to sleeve up but also provided you a decent jumping-off point to really sink your teeth into the course-ground sausage that is our five humble Standard sets smashed together and enveloped in the snappy, salty casing that is time.
zandlducttapedeckbox says... #4
Good read.
What other control lists do you think we'll see popping up? I only recently played at FNM over the summer where I piloted the janky Mindswipe list. Not overly competitive and I can't see it working post-rotation, but a hell of a lot of fun. I tried brewing with Demonic Pact control lists as well, but didn't get anything working with the BFZ cards.
As you can tell, I like unusual control lists. Do you have any suggestions for something (moderately) budget-friendly?
October 2, 2015 11:59 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #5
The X value for convoke is a value you cannot copy. Meaning your copy of Radiant Flames, if you copied it with anything, does 0 damage. Sorry, that part of your description doesn't work.
October 3, 2015 1:51 a.m.
OOF. That control deck. Hard.
I really like this. Makes me /almost/ want to play standard.
October 3, 2015 6:39 a.m.
Yea, that control list is actually pretty legit. I like it.
October 3, 2015 4:49 p.m.
You should put a budget deck somewhere in there. And also are you going to add the other 3?
October 4, 2015 8:05 p.m.
Was thinking about budget, but I was aiming to be as competitive as possible.
Also, other 3 what?
October 5, 2015 2 a.m.
If it isn't too much to ask, is there a chance someone can look at my control/eldrazi list:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/21-09-15-grixis-good-stuff/
It is not bad, but plays very differently to most other decks, as it works with a more even split of counter spells and removal. I'm wondering if anyone thinks that this deck may be relevant in tier two maybe? Cheers and thanks to anyone who can take the time to review the list.
October 5, 2015 9:56 a.m.
That U/R mill deck is so janky I absolutely love it. I might try to run a variation of that with my own collection (3 Jace's will bankrupt me...nevermind the rest of this deck).
I just have one question though. What are the sets in standard now? Like what cards are allowed for this format?I know the new blocks will only be 2 sets instead of 3 and there will be no more core sets, but since this is the new format from now on, there is a weird rotation for our previous 3 set blocks.I know Theros and M15 are out of the rotation for standard, but what about Khans and Fate Reforged? I've been looking online but keep reading other things.
Great read I loved it!
October 5, 2015 11:21 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #14
KTK and FRF will leave when the block after Oath comes out. Then the block after that will kick DTK and ORI out, and then the rest is pretty self explanatory.
October 5, 2015 11:41 a.m.
To elaborate on the above post, here is Standard now:
Khans of Tarkir
Fate Reforged
Dragons of Tarkir
Magic Origins
Battle for Zendikar
Once "Oath of the Gatewatch" is released, it will simply be added to that list without other changes.
At the release of whatever set comes after Oath, Khans and Fate will be knocked out of Standard.
Standard will always be either 5 sets or 6 sets, with the would-be seventh set knocking out the two oldest.
October 5, 2015 1 p.m.
Nice article. Covers a lot of ground. Very informative.
October 6, 2015 12:17 a.m.
Gorgosaurusrex says... #17
Anyone else think the Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper/Jeskai Ascendancy combo deck will be playable? I've been playing with brews so far and it's been very fun to pilot.
October 7, 2015 7:31 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #18
No, but I do think UW Noyan Dar control is viable. Very powerful.
October 7, 2015 7:35 p.m.
@ zandl - The Control list looks great. I'm curious though why no Aligned Hedron Network? If you play 1 in the side nobody is going to side in 3x Smash to Smithereens. I feel like nobody has realized this card exists yet. It's the new Perilous Vault.
Another card that is very good when building midrange with Nissa, Vastwood Seer Flip is Dragonmaster Outcast.
You can also use the Dragonmaster Outcast in a butcher deck but you have to understand that if you play it on T1 you chump for maximum value. Never hesitate to sacrifice it to swing with Butcher of the Horde on a tapped out opponent if it's all you have left on T4 when you cast the Butcher. That's just the kind of suicidal aggro the Butcher needs to win.
I have heard at least a dozen people tell me how bad Dragonmaster Outcast is because he dies to every kind of removal. The thing is he's a freaking 1 drop. He should die to every kind of removal. But by cutting down on a couple of 4 drops in my Temur mid-range for this guy I now have a lot more power because I curve effectively and dangerously starting T1.
October 8, 2015 8:42 a.m.
I like that UB control deck. seems a bit more fun to play than my UW brew I'm working with.
miracleHat says... #1
So... does this mean that you will be writing more?!
Interesting read...
October 2, 2015 7:22 p.m.