Mardu Walker Control (KLD Standard)
Standard
SCORE: 40 | 53 COMMENTS | 7187 VIEWS | IN 9 FOLDERS
Mardu Counterspells? —Oct. 4, 2016
So, I've been toying around the idea of adding in Warping Wail as a way to counter removal spells and at the very worst its bad removal or ramp. If I were to add it in, it'd take a Fumigate and both Kambal, Consul of Allocations out of the side for 3 slots. I'd also add either Warped Landscape or Blighted Fen as a 2 of for two basic swamps.
Am I completely off on this? Are sorceries no longer relevant? Or do you guys think this is a good idea?
My buddy has a similar deck, since the begging of shadows, through play testing I have 3 things
Oath of lili is nasty for your wallet number
Dark-dwellers and recursion, nuff said
New Chandra sucks in this type of deck, I've seen it, better to have more removal or the dark-dwellers
September 24, 2016 9:43 a.m.
@Lockphs:
Oath of Liliana doesn't do enough for the deck. The first ability is mediocre and I don't need the zombies to protect the walkers. I'd sooner run Oath of Gideon than Oath of Liliana.
There are 12 targets for Goblin Dark-Dwellers, none of which are super vital to recast. If it recurred my walkers then sure, but it doesn't so this isn't the type of deck that it needs to go in, it belongs in a more spell focused deck.
Uh no? This is exactly the kind of deck that she is amazing in. The deck was literally built around her so she would always be relevant.
September 24, 2016 7:43 p.m.
flyingninjakitty says... #5
Noxious Gearhulk might be a beater choice then the read one giving an opponent a choice is never good.
September 28, 2016 11:15 a.m.
KingOfZendikar says... #6
I would recommend Deploy the Gatewatch. You have 15 planeswalkers so on turn 6 you will have about a 77 percent chance to hit one planeswalker and about a 55 percent chance to hit 2 or more.
September 28, 2016 11:39 a.m.
@flyingninjakitty the reason I picked the red one over the black is because both outcomes are really good for me. I either draw 3 cards which is always good or they take an average of 10 damage which is absolutely insane. I don't need the life gain or the kill spell so the black one just isn't as relevant. Giving an opponent a choice is usually bad, but when they choice is kill yourself or give me more ways to kill you, its good.
@KingOfZendikar 55% to hit 2 walkers is too low. For me to play the card I'd need to reliably hit 2 or it just isn't worth the mana as all but one walker is cheaper than 6 mana.
September 28, 2016 12:01 p.m.
My apologies Zaueski, I kept playtesting this deck but forgot that you wanted feedback about it!
You are absolutely SPOT ON with 25 lands. Also you are right to run Fumigate in the Sideboard. It is a wasted card against a Control deck, and is best subbed in once you have seen your Opponent's play.
Your deck is quite strong, but can take some time to set up. If your Opponent has a Creature or removal heavy deck it does struggle. I know you're aware of that second scenario.
I think that you could either do with some early Creatures to act as chump blockers, while your super friends are setting themselves up, or some early removal. Declaration in Stone springs to mind, as it can act as a board wipe or get rid of an Indestructible threat later on. I like it better than Blessed Alliance, as it can get rid of the biggest threat.
If your Opponent is Vehicle heavy then Revoke Privileges would be a good Sideboard option to replace Declaration in Stone. I would remove either Lost Legacy or Transgress the Mind for it. Probably Transgress for 3x Revoke Privileges, then add an extra Angelic Purge to ones I suggest in a moment.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar could help you out with some blockers. When I played a Control deck I would always sub him in against aggro, and he worked really well. I like him better than Nahiri, the Harbinger, for this deck. The option to make all of Liliana's Zombies +1/+1 is no small thing. I know Nahiri is there to search for the Gearhulk, but she does squat apart from that. Just let the Gearhulk enter the field in its own good time.
By the way, the Red Gearhulk is totally the one to go with. Although your Opponent hardly EVER lets you have the draw, a damage hit that late in the game is a BIG DEAL.
I like Angelic Purge much better than Fragmentize. It has more flexibility as it can Exile three types of cards. It can take down Ulamog and Emrakul, the latter especially because you will have few Creatures an Opponent can play it against.
You have to sac something but, to be honest, that has never turned out to be much of a problem when we've tested it. If your Opponent gives you a Clue you can just sac that. A land will do, or one of your Tokens.
You are on track with 4x Chandra, Torch of Defiance. In playtesting she has been amazing and last night I had the chance to take her to FNM. She won three games for me that I would have lost, two of them winning me the match. She is so freaking good that it's scary. Her ability to Exile a card that you can choose to cast or let do 2 damage is what won me games.
Hope these notes are helpful and good luck with your future tweaks.
October 1, 2016 5:46 a.m.
I've been flipping back and forth between Declaration in Stone and Blessed Alliance a lot lately, as they both do really nice things. I may end up going back to Dec Stone but for now being able to bluff away some attacks is super nice so I'm unsure how I want to procede with those two.
Nahiri, the Harbinger was originally lower on the count and I thought she'd get cut but as I've been testing she is so useful especially if I have Authority of the Consuls out. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar actually ended up being cut simply because of how few his options were. His 0 and -4 aren't usually relevant unless I'm already winning from a Lili emblem as you pointed out. And so since the most he could do for me is force bad chumps on an opponent, it was always so disappointing to top deck one when any of the others would've let me stabilize because of their board control abilities. Whereas to me Nahiri's ult is actually lowest on my priority list far under the removal and card advantage. Then when I'm nice and ready searching the gearhulk either gets me a lot of cards or I can often deal 10+ damage that turn.
Transgress the Mind and Lost Legacy have done a lot of work for me, so I don't think I'd cut them. However, in testing, Kambal, Consul of Allocation has really underperformed... So I could definitely see cutting him for Revoke Privileges.
Angelic Purge doesn't seems as good in this shell because usually I'd either have to sacrifice a land or a walker. Occasionally I'll have a token out but that'd be too rare to rely on.
Thanks for the feedback and I'll definitely think about putting Gids back in along with Dec Stone.
divinagon says... #1
Not at the moment. Fragmentize is great and is much better than Natural State even if it's a sorcery, and you can't use the latter anyways.
September 23, 2016 11:04 a.m.