Zandl's Misthollow Control
Standard*
SCORE: 16 | 73 COMMENTS | 3177 VIEWS
Spring cleaning... —March 15, 2013
Went to FNM last night and got ninth place out of forty-something players. I was down-paired all night long, so my Opponent-Match-Win Percentage was garbage and had to play in the sixth and final round. I got knocked out by some Boros Aggro deck with incredibly narrow, nearly-unplayable cards in the main-board, that just happened to stop all of my removal right when I cast it. Also, I had to mulligan to five cards in both games. shrug
I need to improve my anti-aggro strategies. Blind Obedience in the main surely helps (especially when I can keep Extorting a Misthollow Griffin from exile), but I need more. I played six aggro decks last night (out of six rounds, mind you), so it's safe to say that I could do with main-boarding some more narrow hate. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage would have been good, but she's awful against aggro (unless I can Wrath and they play just one more creature). So she's out of the main-board, at least.
I'm also considering removing one copy of Rest in Peace from the main-board to the side and adding in another Moorland Haunt in place of Ghost Quarter. My one-of Moorland Haunt did work last night, mostly because I saw it in almost every game and my opponents were packing a lot of copies of Abrupt Decay and stopping Rest in Peace. The Haunt keeps my Misthollow Griffin going and gives me a chump-blocker/mini-beatstick to boot. Rest in Peace is critical to my Griffins working for me, but by figuratively replacing it with Moorland Haunt, I'm not losing any of the utility. And Rest in Peace is dead against aggro decks, unless I stabilize to at least turn-six and start using Misthollow Griffin - though it's harder to stabilize that far into the game against Boros or Gruul aggro when one of the cards I have does nothing to help.
So. My suggested changes?
-2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage -1 Rest in Peace -1 Ghost Quarter
+1 Moorland Haunt +1 Terminus ?? +2 ???
I need your help, now, deciding what I should add in and anything else I could take out. I've thought about adding in some main-board Essence Scatter to give me more early-game options against aggro, as well as adding Aetherize to the mix. I'm hesitant, though, with Aetherize since a lot of the creatures I would bounce would likely just come back to the battlefield the same turn (I'm looking at you, Burning-Tree Emissary). Then I might as well just be using Safe Passage, which isn't exactly a fantastic main-board option.
Thoughts?
Ohthenoises says... #2
FYI that first part was non-accusatory. Just curious as to the spark of inspiration.
January 28, 2013 6:43 p.m.
Nope. I had always liked Misthollow Griffin and just wanted a good place to use it. I had also been wanting to play U/W Control for the longest time. Rest in Peace just happens to hose a good deal of decks in my meta.
January 28, 2013 10:58 p.m.
Considered Curse of Exhaustion ? with jace's -7 it could be pretty hilarious, here, draw 20 cards and play one, but Just 1. :)
January 28, 2013 11:04 p.m.
Jace, Memory Adept will never use his -7. He wins the game by repeatedly using his 0.
January 28, 2013 11:12 p.m.
Gigglestomp says... #6
I noticed you play a lot of different types of control decks. I'm working on an aggro deck that attempts to counter control long enough to win with haste creatures. Mind playtesting the two against each other and give me some tips? Most of the people at my local shop that place at FNM use control decks.
Negate and Dimir Charm to fight board clears.
Simic Charm to save individual haste creatures (Pull to hand, or buff them vs resto flash)
The only thing not obvious with the deck is that I try to not put out more than 2 creatures at any 1 time, to leave some in reserve.
Game 1: Nutshot to Control
Game 2, After Sideboard: Nutshot v Control Full Sideboard Vs Control
January 31, 2013 11:01 p.m.
The only problem with trying to counter board-wipes is Supreme Verdict . Unless you use Golgari Charm or Boros Charm , there's really nothing that can be done about it.
I would have to update this deck to include Gatecrash cards before playtesting. I'll get around to it this weekend.
January 31, 2013 11:05 p.m.
What is your response to someone casting Detention Sphere or any other removal on your Rest in Peace ? Once those are gone you seem screwed?
February 1, 2013 12:12 a.m.
Counter it, play Oblivion Ring , win with Tamiyo, win with Jace, ... and this is all game-1. Game-2, after side-boarding against Control, I don't foresee any issues with finding a win-condition.
I appreciate the scrutiny, but do you actually have any constructive criticism?
February 1, 2013 12:39 a.m.
Gigglestomp says... #11
If your only playing a few creatures I'd think supreme verdict could be "countered" by Simic Charm . Pull Dreg Mangler to hand. Play it then attack. That's what I'm trying to pull off.
February 1, 2013 2:43 p.m.
dantares25 says... #12
Gigglestomp. Blind Obedience will slow that down a lot
February 1, 2013 3:30 p.m.
Simic Charm on your own creature to save it from a board-wipe is a big mana-investment, especially when you can only save one of your creatures. And I wouldn't be using Supreme Verdict on just one Dreg Mangler .
Blind Obedience is going into the sideboard of the deck and, possibly, main-board if it works out well after tonight.
February 1, 2013 6:55 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #14
Hey man, have you thought about Gideon, Champion of Justice with all of your board wipes? I have been using him, and due to everyone saying that he sucks, they overlook him often until he bashes their face in for 9 or something. I started using him in deck:tactical-nuke-gtc-ready and he is one of my win-cons and helps a ton.
February 8, 2013 8:53 a.m.
I thought about adding Black to this for Dimir Charm , Merciless Eviction , and whatever else.
The more I thought about Merciless Eviction in this deck, the less I liked it. If I'm exiling all the creatures, it's no better than Supreme Verdict with Rest in Peace . I won't be exiling Enchantments, as that would most likely screw me over. Planeswalkers can be a pain, but that's what Detention Sphere and Oblivion Ring are for. And no one plays enough Artifacts to really ever warrant using Eviction for them.
Gideon could do the trick, but I likely wouldn't use him until late-game, at which point my Griffins would take over in a hurry. Once my opponent is top-decking or out of options, a Misthollow Griffin or two are more than enough to end the game securely.
February 8, 2013 1:07 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #17
true... You make good point against eviction. Enough to make me want to take it out of my SB. I have never needed to bring it in yet, and probably won't. I may add another Blind Obedience just to make certain that aggro gets slowed. Naya aggro has been causing problems for me lately, I can overcome it, but if they drop the turn 3 thunder maw, i usually end up taking the hit.
February 8, 2013 2:05 p.m.
Blind Obedience on turn-2 is one of the best (and only) things you can do in Control to give yourself a fighting chance against all of these retarded-fast aggro cards they keep printing.
February 8, 2013 2:19 p.m.
Wolfsage13 says... #19
Slaughter Games for the griffon =S maybe a nevermore if they are running jund
March 3, 2013 3:28 p.m.
Wolfsage13 says... #20
ah never-mind, the jaces in side should be enough to get through that.
Ohthenoises says... #1
Seems like a virtually identical list to one I had on here for a while. Any chance you got the idea from me?
I would think you'd have more "destroy" sweepers here, thoughts on Planar Cleansing or something similar?
Then there's my favorite white removal: Smite . Always good v.s. aggro. Declare blocks then smite it.
January 28, 2013 6:41 p.m.