Enlightenment of the Dragonclaw | Temur Aggro
Standard*
SCORE: 207 | 258 COMMENTS | 62699 VIEWS | IN 111 FOLDERS
The Last Straw —Nov. 2, 2014
I have some disappointing news for all the fans of this deck...
It doesn't work.
I don't mean that you won't ever win a game with it. I don't mean it isn't fun or creative or interesting. But I have been trounced by midrange decks for the last time. Allow me to discuss the issues this deck faces so we can look to the future.
The biggest reason why this deck does not have a good game against midrange is the lack of a solid boardwipe or a good spot removal spell. Perilous Vault is a great card and I tried it out many times in here, but the fact remains that it takes 2 turns to go off, is vulnerable during those turns, and sometimes isn't even enough. I tried out the technique of burning early threats until I can drop the vault and then just countering the rest of the threats until I drop a Hornet Queen to stabilize and attempt a win, but the amount of threats in both Mardu and Abzan lists that NEED answers immediately makes this strategy super fragile. In this colors, I still lack a Hero's Downfall or Banishing Light. I can't do anything to a big threat once it's on the battlefield unless it's in burn range.
Because of the fragility of the kill spells, countersspells, and wipes -- in addition to the restraints it put on the colors and mana -- I furthermore found myself mulliganing incredibly frequently. Not only do I need a certain number of lands, I also need specific colors, and those colors can change based on it I need burn or counterspells or if I need green for stabilization in the form of Courser of Kruphix and/or Bow of Nylea. Similarly, I needed cards like Dig Through Time in order for the deck to do well, but that adds to the bad hand frequency since having an 8-drop in hand to begin with is pretty much a dead card to matter what. Having such fragile opening hands left me dead just as of as the times that I had a "good" hand but got outed by bigger creatures/more card advantage.
I have decided that control is not dead, but that it isn't for the Temur colors. Going into this I felt like I had a solid chance at making control work, but I have learned a great deal along the way -- enough to know when to fold. I will be switching into Temur Aggro (with my own twists!) until the metagame changes and we get new cards. Until then, I do not feel control is a good way to go about playing these colors.
I apologize if this makes anyone upset. Feel free to ask any further questions!
Comment clear.
GlistenerAgent says... #3
I think the reason you do better against aggro than midrange is that your burn spells don't answer Siege Rhino or Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker . Most of them don't answer Butcher of the Horde , Stormbreath Dragon , or Wingmate Roc either. Your only answers to those are counterspells, of which you only play six. I might play some number of Fated Conflagration for this purpose out of the sideboard or possibly maindeck.
October 22, 2014 5:02 p.m.
I still stand by my decision to not run Fated Conflagration . It's very easy to just add counters with Abzan Charm in response or monstrous the creature in response and wingmate usually has a buddy by its side.
I still think the best thing my colors can do in a control shell outside of counters is Perilous Vault , of which I run 2 at the moment, but would consider going to 3 or 4 depending on a given meta.
October 22, 2014 5:52 p.m.
BlatantLizard says... #5
Love the deck but why no Kiora, the Crashing Wave ?
October 22, 2014 7:55 p.m.
Kiora is a fantastic planeswalker. I've tried her out in here before but she didn't do what I needed her to. Maybe in the future!
October 22, 2014 10:08 p.m.
I'm not sure if anyone or yourself talked/thought about running Sagu Mauler hexproof and trample on a 6/6 is pretty good in a control type deck. If not I would like to know what you think of it?
October 23, 2014 1:08 p.m.
raven1man: Sagu Mauler is great. I love the card and I think a hell of a lot more people should be running him. The fact that he can go toe to toe with other big creatures is good, and he's really only vulnerable to board wipes and counterspells.
The main reason why I don't run him in this build is that there are a limited number of slots for win-con creatures. Prognostic Sphinx dodges Elspeth, blocks well, scrys a ton, and flies. It's also 5 mana versus 6 and can protect itself -- albeit at a worse rate. My other win con creature I'm running right now is Savage Knuckleblade , which also does well to protect itself, but does not have the means to push through damage much like sphinx and mauler do. The difference, however, is that knuckles is so much better at handling double to triple-duty, but being great against midrange and control while also coming out early enough to slow down aggro a bit. the mauler cannot do the same, unfortunately.
Spootyone says... #2
I have made some changes that I've been testing with on Cockatrice and IRL. I'm happy with them so far. Savage Knuckleblade does a lot more double-duty than Soul of Shandalar or Monastery Swiftspear did, and I debate going up to another copy or two in the sideboard. I've also adjusted things to be prepared for a metagame full of midrange. This is just one of those metagames where control decks need to be specifically prepared to face either aggro or midrange, and the number of Lightning Strike , Negate , Disdainful Stroke , Magma Jet and Perilous Vault s are all things you should adjust for yourself to better fit your own personal meta. This is what I am currently going with for this week and you should expect it to change even on a weekly basis.
Oh yeah, and I kept getting mana screwed consistently (or just couldn't consistently make land drops) so I added another land.
Thanks again!
October 22, 2014 4:59 p.m.