Teferi's Sacrament
Standard*
SCORE: 12 | 6 COMMENTS | 1183 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS
Competitive Constructed Queue: 5-1 —Oct. 9, 2018
Just went 5-1 in the Best-of-3 queue. Super happy. Ended up ripping a Scapeshift and Dreameater as mythic rewards, and a rare I've forgotten. The 3k-ish gold is nice too.
I didn't pay too much attention to my matchups so I don't have a solid recap, but I'll probably start paying more attention as we go and keep an updated log.
I can confirm however that Sanguine Sacrament is freaking staying in this deck forever. That card pulls me out of so many bad situations it isn't even funny. Even a cast for = gets you 6 life and that can be a lot to an enemy who's been progressively starved of resources.
One game in particular tonight, game 1 took me 40 some odd minutes (I didn't actually count but God it felt like it). It was a Reanimator deck (actually well built too). 4x The Eldest Reborn mainboard was interesting. And part of the reason we got to this situation, but basically coming down to the end all 4 of my Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and my Nezahal, Primal Tide were in the graveyard and/or exiled. (I don't have Chromium yet, though I still think Nezzy has a place where he's better than Chrome. The card draw can be insane.) Anyway, opponent is slowly filling his board with dudes from hand and creatures from graveyard. I'm essentially on nothing but a Sanguine Sacrament in hand. I proceed to cast that damn card for the next 16 turns every end step until he eventually draws out. He fills the board as much as he can but can't manage to outpace the 32 (YES I SAID THIRTY-TWO) life i was gaining every turn. Even if he had managed to outpace, it would be slow and I'd only be at a net loss of a few life every turn.
We ended the game with him drawing out. Him at 27 life and myself at like 397 or something like that. (Not exaggerating). Game 2 went smooth as silk for me as I answered all his crap and he concedes about 20 turns in.
I also beat a Sultai midrange despite a mulligan to 5 on game 2. That felt good.
My only loss was to a Boros Angels deck and that's in part cause I had rough hands and draws. I feel like this deck is standing solid in the current Arena environment though.
I'm going to start keeping a log of my attempts in Arena and we can watch me rise and fall together. Make changes as needed.
Thanks to any and all keeping tabs. I'm loving this deck and plan to try out either Grixis or Jeskai Control next.
Flooremoji says... #2
Hey, Thought Erasure is pretty good, you should it out! Besides, one of the biggest reason to play esper control (IMO) is the discard.
October 6, 2018 2:37 p.m.
Thanks for the suggestion Flooremoji. I've considered Thought Erasure a good bit, but it leaves the question of what I would remove. The maindeck is unfortunately at the point where almost everything feels necessary.
My logic to this point for avoiding it has been the specific mana cost and the Sorcery speed. I reasoned it would just be better to have a counterspell up to stop whatever they try and cast and make them burn their time and resources. Open to any suggestions as where you think it would serve better though.
It could prove a great sideboard card. Is it worth playing over the Duress for the extra mana though is the question.
October 6, 2018 2:59 p.m.
Made some edits to the deck for any of those monitoring. Filled out more of the sideboard. Switched Nezahal, Primal Tide for Chromium, the Mutable cause Flash is nice in control. Especially the mirror. While I enjoyed Nezahal and while it did pull me out of some control matchups, tapping 7 on my turn also felt super bad and also lost me some games. I'll miss holding an absurd amount of cards in my hand in Arena though.
Added some more cards to my Maybeboard after watching Jonathan Rossum's interview and victory against Mono Aggro at SCG Columbus just a while ago.
I found his use of Vona, Butcher of Magan in the side very interesting, and also the fact that all his life gain was single target removal based. Cards such as Moment of Craving, which I'm not currently running, and of course the Invoke the Divine, which I keep two of side.
I'm surprised he wasn't making any use of Sanguine Sacrament. The card seems built just for control. Like an arguably weaker Sphinx's Revelation. I think that's something I have to help make my deck more consistent in a variety of situations.
Anyway, I'm enjoying watching the deck evolve. Please continue to check in on it and share your feedback.
Thanks again Tappedout.
October 6, 2018 7:01 p.m.
I love the concept, but is 27 lands needed? Could run Anticipate as a 3 of? Or Thought Erasure as Flooremoji mentioned. I saw you had concerned about the mana base for it, but you can eliminate the threat that you would use the counter spell for, and TE can be more useful in the mirror match up. Also Surveil allowing you to sculpt your next turn is worth the extra mana alone imo.
TMBRLZ says... #1
Also - by the way yeaGO, I noticed the art for the promo Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is off balance as the focus picture for the deck. Is it possible to raise the center of the image a little bit on a card per card basis for the site? O_o
October 5, 2018 11:48 p.m.