Zaueski humans aren't popular around where I am. Electrostatic Pummler, burn, vehicles, and other non-human decks are popular, making Repel a white fog on my turn.
Avacyn is mostly there as an anti-board wipe or to buff blockers, so idk I'll see how she does.
January 12, 2017 7:23 p.m.
Now that Emrakul, the Promised End and Smuggler's Copter are gone, Ceremonious Rejection is less awesome. Always Watching doesn't do much for you so maybe throw the rejections into their slot in the sideboard and fill the gap with Skywhaler's Shot -it's a more pro-active removal than Blessed Alliance and let's you scry, which is pretty clutch for a control deck. I also think Fumigate might be a mistake, since you only have 6 win conditions and wiping even half your own creatures off the board would significantly fuck your clock up. Have you considered Baral's Expertise or Crush of Tentacles instead? They also act as boardwipes but with other added bonuses and bouncing your gearhulks is just awesome. I woud also suggest going to mtgtop8 and looking at currently successful control decks; they all run a balance of Anticipate to Glimmer of Genius at 3/4 copies respectively. Thraben is ok but glimmer is bonkers, especially when you can flash it back with the gearhulk. Just some thoughts from another lover of control shenanigans, good luck and +1.
January 13, 2017 11:51 a.m.
Ramtaru What do you think now? I found room for two anticipates (and I've changed other things around), but I think I'd like to keep Baral as the main draw engine. Also as a note lot of decks I've been facing are turn three and four hit hard aggro decks (that aren't human) with players excited about furthering their deck this set so I'm comfortable with my Blessed Alliances and Repel the Abominable.
January 13, 2017 12:51 p.m. Edited.
I like your changes, especially Jace and Authority of the Consuls. Authority breaks the new Saheeli Rai combo that everyone's hyped about, and when I was playing Jeskai control I was always amazed at how often I was able to emblem Jace....which is a back-breaker.
January 13, 2017 2:46 p.m.
Ramtaru I think the Saheeli combo is entertaining but is going to crash and burn really fast before people know it. Already main stream removal is all it takes to stop the combo, even if it's just a simple negate on Saheeli.
January 13, 2017 3:53 p.m. Edited.
I think both the Jeskai infinite combos are 'glass cannons', but that doesn't mean we won't all have to deal with it at our local shops/tourneys. And even in the case of regular decks it'll gain you life...the guy who taught/teaches me says when you play control you have to resolve yourself to games where you feel like you start at 15 instead of 20. Anything you can use to come back up in life feels real nice.
January 16, 2017 10:53 p.m.
Ramtaru True... Also Disallow can stop Saheeli Rai 's -2 ability from going off lol
January 17, 2017 8:19 a.m.
Purple_Mage says... #10
This deck seems solid and gains a +1 from me :).
The only thing I do not like is the amount of conditional counter cards aka Spell Shrivel and Revolutionary Rebuff (the Rebuff even more so as an opponent only needs to tap 2, and it says only non-artifact) personally I'd rather have more unconditional counter spells like Disallow's or Void Shatter's. I know these are both double blue cost. But considering your mana base you should be fine.
Also I would consider swapping out 4 Evolving Wilds for 4 Port Town's. It gets you both colours and can possibly come in untapped. Whereas EW can only fetch you one colour and always comes in tapped.
Hope this helps!! Also check out my deck Summoning Metal as I'll be updating the deck to include Baral as I really really like him!!
January 21, 2017 1:28 a.m.
I think the Copy Cat combo will be something like the Pummeler deck. It can steals matches, but everyone will have sideboards/mainboard to answer it so it might not be tier 1.
Nice deck, +1 from me.
January 26, 2017 4:47 p.m.
Athraithe They're just place holders for utility lands I want to run.
January 31, 2017 8:38 a.m.
Camel-Senpai, looks like there are 8 counter spells to break up the Saheeli combo, plus Authority of the Consuls shuts that down, but no hard removal for the cat.
Authority of the Consuls would be great, then let them go off on the combo, then drop a Fumigate...infinite life.
February 2, 2017 9:50 a.m.
Geo67, there wouldn't be a need for Fumigate; the tokens Saheeli creates exile at the end of turn, so Authority of the Consuls would completely shut it down lol
Also, Stasis Snare would shut it down if you target Felidar Guardian on the stack, at least I think so
February 2, 2017 10:32 a.m.
you could also stasis snare in response to the saheeli - ; the - would have no legal target then and just make her lose loyalty without a benefit
February 2, 2017 10:52 a.m.
Blume17 Athraithe Geo67 Camel-Senpai the following non-counterspell cards mess with the Saheeli combo: Authority of the Consuls Stasis Snare and Repel the Abominable and Thing in the Ice Flip flipping into Awoken Horror.
Disallow is a counter spell, but it also can counter triggered or Activated abilities. With this you can either counter an enter the battlefield effect from Felidar Guardian or Saheeli's activated -2 effect. To not immediately lose, you should counter Saheeli's -2 effect or Felidar Guardian still gets it done.
February 2, 2017 2:20 p.m. Edited.
Just so you know, there are far stronger counterspells in the set than what you have in the mainboard. I would definitely cut the mainboard Dispel. You need to put Ceremonious Rejection in the sideboard. Run more Disallow. Void Shatter is strictly better than Spell Shrivel.
February 2, 2017 3:33 p.m.
AiryNeon I have a lot of mana fixing but Spell Shrivel is in there before Void Shatter because I'm running two colors. I have a lot of mana fixing but I don't want to be caught early game without the ability to counter, and with Baral out I can use any mana and a blue to cast Spell Shrivel but I'd still need two blue to cast Void Shatter. I feel this frees up my blue mana to cast creatures like Thing in the Ice Flip early game or to cast more spells without having to think about what I'm using it for, possibly allowing me to cast an anticipate and then still having the right colored mana for casting a counter spell.
Negate generally gets what I'd want out of Ceremonious Rejection and with Emrakul, the Promised End gone I'm not particularly afraid of any colorless spell now. I used to have 3x Ceremonious Rejections on my sideboard, but I felt like I needed to use my sideboard to deal with more different situations rather than to change my counterspell game.
For now I'm seeing how Disallow runs as a two of. I love Disallow and may include more in the future. I may cut out a Dispel main board and swap it for a Disallow and if I find that I'm having zero mana problems after being able to play this deck for a while I might replace Spell Shrivel with Void Shatter
February 3, 2017 10:16 a.m. Edited.
Rasanck That is a fair point. Now I have a couple of other questions for you. I really dislike Revolutionary Rebuff. Considering how many instants you have, you may want to consider Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper. You need to have a body which can be a wincon. If your budget will allow, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Archangel Avacyn Flip are both amazing finishers in white. Consider Cataclysmic Gearhulk as well. Also, the blue-white signpost uncommon in AER is definitely worth running. In case you don't know, it is called Spire Patrol. All in all, I like this deck. I'd love to help you further with this and/or other decks in the future.
February 3, 2017 11:49 a.m.
AiryNeon I've actually got multiple spares of Gideon, Archangel, and the white Gearhulk but I wouldn't know what to take out because the plan is to flip thing in the ice which should clear the board and swing.
February 3, 2017 1:08 p.m.
Rasanck I agree. The thing about TITI is that it doesn't hit walkers, so if you wait to flip it and then +1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, then you hit for way more. Plus, with Archangel Avacyn Flip, bouncing her is not detrimental, because she can anthem indestructible again. Or, if she has already flipped, you can bolt the board. Cataclysmic Gearhulk is simply a fallback. Spire Patrol is nice for after you have bounced everything, because they play something again, and you tap it down. As for what you should take out, I can analyze your deck a little bit more.
Zaueski says... #1
Archangel Avacyn Flip doesn't do anything here... You'd benefit more from straight counterspells than running her.
Humans is a very popular deck, so Repel the Abominable is a bad card outside of humans decks...
You have too many creatures and not enough spells for this to work consistently.
January 12, 2017 6:37 p.m.