Control Mill

1 Mana Cost
1xKytheon, Hero of Akros

2 Mana Cost
1xJace, Vyrn's Prodigy
4xAlchemist's Vial
1xDisplacement Wave
3xSigiled Starfish
3xPerilous Myr

3 Mana Cost
4xArtificer's Epiphany
4xCalculated Dismissal
2xEsperzoa
3xSphinx's Tutelage


4 Mana Cost
4xCountermand
2xThopter Spy Network

5 Mana Cost
2xTragic Arrogance
2xHixus, Prison Warden

Land
24 to be determined later

My suggestions:

-4 Countermand, +4 Bone to Ash - card draw equals mill in this deck and you already have Calculated Dismissal against other kinds of spells.

-4 Guardians of Meletis, -2 Talent of the Telepath, +3 Sigiled Starfish, +3 Runed Servitor - Better chances for a useful 2-drop before you keep your mana open turn 3+. Servitor can trade, draws, can draw off the Spy Network and enables Artificer's Epiphany on curve. Starfish is a good blocker and improves your draws. The Guardians are just too weak at the valuable 3cmc-spot and Talent of the Telepath most likely won't hit anything against aggro decks. It's basically a very expensive mill card - imo it's strictly worse than a draw card with tutelage out.

Not so sure about Esperzoa. It's a decent blocker for 3 mana and I see the synergy with Alchemist's Vial, but it's also a huge mana sink to recast an artifact every turn and I don't think you can afford that early on.

I agree with most of your suggestions except the - countermands. They hit any spell whereas the other card is creatures only

I actually quite like the Esperzoa. In dotp 2015 Esperzoa was weak, but the creature power level in this set is far lower. Esperzoa is massive in comparison and it blocks everything for a turn. Against Aggro it will eat a creature, trade, or Fog, and against control it's a draw engine. The worst case scenario is that the opponent decides not to attack and all you get is a 3 mana Fog that comes back to your hand. I'm ok with that in a deck running Hixus, Tragic Arrogance, and Displacement Wave. Really clever idea.

Edit: I'm not actually sold on the Runed Servitors. The dangerous early game creatures have first strike or otherwise get around your standard 2/2, so it doesn't do as good a job defensively as I think you'd like. If you want a 2 drop artifact I think you'd rather have Perilous Myr in this sort of deck. There are two types of mill decks:

The first includes cards like thought scour, Traumatize, and various cards with massive mill effects but have little effect on the board state. It plays like a burn deck that targets your library rather than your life total. It often has effects that force both players to draw extra cards, and then puts it's own cheaper cards to use immediately.

The second is a pure control deck that aims to survive an early game onslaught and win a battle of attrition, eventually winning the game when the opponent runs out of cards. It has the tools to survive against aggressive decks, and beats control/midrange by having a win condition that ignores their removal and invalidates their cards.

This deck is the second type. It would be ideal if we could go entirely creatureless in a deck like this, but the pool doesn't support it. Anyway, the reason you don't want Servitor is because he fits better in the first type of mill deck. He gives each player more resources, forcing them to draw, and the mill player then uses that draw to make the opponent draw more. That isn't our game plan. We would much rather have the shock effect when the Myr dies and not let our opponent draw a card. We're trying to starve them out. Looking at the combo between Tutelage and Servitor is a bit superficial IMO.


For that same reason I agree with replacing at least some number of the Countermand with Bone to Ash. Even if it's just a miser's one of swap, so that if you have multiples in your hand you can choose to counter their creature spell with your Bone to Ash instead of your Countermand, I think it's worth it.

3 x divine favor
3 x dauntless river marshall
1 x auramancer
4 x heliod's pilgrim
4 x suppression bonds
2 x sigil of the empty throne
2 x hixus, prison warden
2 x tragic arrogance
1 x knightly valor

3 x telling time
3 x sigiled starfish
4 x claustrophobia
3 x dehydration

25 x Land


IMO Sigil of the Empty Throne is one of the strongest cards in the meta, but it is hard to build a deck around. We have access to relatively few enchantments and they mostly suck. What does not suck are the 12 pacifism-esque enchantments we have access to. Heliod's Pilgrim is just another card that begs to be abused in a proper deck. With Sigil and the pilgrims you have a total of 6 ways to get Sigil into your hand (plus starfish and telling time to help find necessary pieces). Once you land Sigil, it should be pretty hard to lose. When you are locking down the 11 best creatures in an opponent's deck your 4/4 angel tokens should swing to victory pretty easily.

This deck does skimp somewhat on early defense, but with Hixus and Arrogance you should be able to stabilize reasonably well. The deck has 11 creatures at 3 CMC or less, and they tend to be pretty weak (except river marshall) but you can slap divine favor on them to make them reasonably sized.

Despite being in Blue I don't think it makes any sense for this deck to try for countermagic. I would have added negate but apparently that is only available in paper magic.

I may not be able to test this deck out for a LOONG time since I don't even have the game and I don't intend to drop $50+ on unlocks.

This deck is kinda jank but I can see it being really powerful. I love the pilgrim of heliod + empty throne combo. I would love to hear feedback from anyone able to test this deck.

This is what I get for coming up with a deck in my head without having any way of testing it.

Heliod's Pilgrim only fetches auras

Like all my decks, this is intended as a basis for discussion more than a finished decklist. This is intended as a tempo / evasive beatdown deck. In the end I only have 15 fliers, although thopter foundry could bulk that count up. Perilous myr, hydrolash, hixus and tragic arrogance are meant to contain aggro. Soulblade djinn would also fit well in this deck but I wanted to keep the curve low.
4 x Faerie Miscreant
1 x kytheon, hero of akros

2 x Harbinger of the Tides
4 x Welkin Tern
4 x perilous myr
1 x jace, vryn's prodigy

4 x stalwart aven
3 x calculated dismissal
3 x anchor to the aether
3 x hydrolash

3 x thunderclap wyvern

2 x tragic arrogance
2 x hixus, prison warden
24 x lands, including 2 thopter foundries

I want to love this deck, but I felt like I was struggling to fill out a solid list. I think one of the big things going for it is the semi-flash theme that you get near the top end. Sticking some cheap threats early and then using the later turns to hold up protection, tricks, and the flash creatures has some appeal.

Tragic Arrogance seems debatable and just seems like the general mistake I see used for a lot of creature focused decks. People play the wrath because it's good when they're behind, but I think ideally you'd rather focus build up of your own creatures and control the tempo of the match with cheap instants and the flash creatures. I'd be curious to find out if Hixus ends up being more than enough to play the "sweep" role while increasing your threat density. I won't push the point too hard though, because I know a lot of people are pretty seated on playing this way because it sometimes works, especially with the excuse of playing in a no sideboard environment. However, I will say Tragic Arrogance is a little more exciting than most wraths since you get some more control over it instead of a full hard sweep.

I'd love to test out Soulblade Djinn since it pumps everything on your side, but that's entering the realm of turn 6+ plays. I almost feel he'd play better in the right kind of Izzet Thopter deck at the moment, but a single copy here could be alright. Might have to manipulate the deck a bit to trigger his prowess-like ability more often though. One idea I had when I browsed this color combination was using some of the enchantment removal spells. That also opened up the idea of playing Blessed Spirits, but I really wish we had something closer to a Pacifism in terms of cost (gimme Temporal Isolation actually).

An enchantment focus could be an interesting tangent in some ways though, at least in terms of maybe utilizing Heliod's Pilgrim to fetch something like Claustrophobia in a pinch. Maybe even use Nimbus Wings as a flying enabler. I don't know, it's something to consider but at the same time sort of disrupts the power of the flash theme.

It's somewhat a shame that blue is a major early color too. I think Celestial Flare could've been interesting if it wasn't WW, otherwise I guess there is always Reprisal which hinges more on how big opponents plan on getting. I also considered Skyhunter Skirmisher because of the benefit alongside pump effects. Any thought on Dauntless River Marshal, by the way? Cheap threat early and the ability is something to sink mana into later in the game. This guy and Kytheon's Irregulars could aid in the game plan a bit, either stalling attacks or clearing the way for the rest of your team.

Small shout out to Whirler Rogue as well. Not sure how deep you'd want to go at 4CMC, but it's certainly a quick way to get some bodies on the board especially since two have flying.

I'll probably test a few iterations of this deck over time, but part of me thinks this deck concept is waiting for an expansion or two to really take off.

Brodo -
Thank you for your thoughtful post.

Tragic arrogance - I am not sure that this is necessary either, but I want to at least start with it as a panic button. I am worried about aggro decks getting too much of a lead - I don't really have substantial blockers. I am also worried about losing too much tempo to something like a twin bolt taking out my early drops. I just like having the ability to stall with hydrolash and then reset the board.

You mentioned a lot of solid 4+ drops, but for the time being I want to stick with my plan of early evasive creatures and the top of my curve is flash / instants.

Re: dauntless river marshall - not a bad card, if he was a 2/3 I would be all over him, but as a 3/2 he will just trade with a bear. The tap ability is nice but very very mana intensive. If I ran him he would probably occupy perilous myr's slot.

I don't like faerie miscreant or welkin tern very much, but there are just so few options at that point on the mana curve.

I am sure someone can improve on this deck, but no one had posted a U/W tempo deck and it seems kinda obvious given the pool. I don't think UW will be great at standard control or aggro functions, I think this is probably the best archetype for UW.

Angels and Auras
( Control?)

2x Celestial Flare
4x Cleric of the Forward Order
2x Knight of the White Orchid
3x Sigiled Starfish

4x Claustrophobia
4x Heliod's Pilgrim
2x Auramancer

1x Archangel of Tithes
4x Suppression Bonds
3x Inspiration

2x Hixus, Prison Warden
2x Sigil of the Empty Throne
1x Tragic Arrogance

Lands
4x Azorius Guildgate
2x Glacial Fortress
14x Plains
6x Island

Manabase
20 = 90% turn 2
12 = 85% turn 2

Might be difficult to cast Claustrophobia on curve sometimes.

Manacurve
6-11-10-8-5

Tappedout.net to simulate hands and statistics.
http://playtest.tappedout.net/22-07-15- ... and-auras/

Looks good, I'll try it out.

I really love Sigil of the Empty Throne. I forgot I scrapped together a deck like this after I saw the cards spoiled too. It's actually very similar to Rattleclaw's posted deck when I look at it. I think I flipped the numbers on Hixus and Tragic Arrogance, included Telling Time, put in Tower Geist over Inspiration. I probably passed on the Archangel by looking at its cost though.

Fun stuff. Can't wait to start testing.

I've been doing really well with this list for the past couple of weeks without any coin purchases.

UW Tempo

Lands (22)
10 x Plains
7 x Island
2 x Glacial Fortress
3 x Azorius Guildgate

Creatures (33)
3 x Elite Vanguard
3 x Dauntless River Marshal
4 x Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 x Relic Seeker
2 x Topan Freeblade
2 x Consul's Lieutenant
1 x Knight of the White Orchid
4 x Welkin Tern
3 x Skyhunter Skirmisher
4 x Frost Lynx
1 x Scrapskin Drake
3 x Separatist Voidmage
1 x Whirler Rogue
1 x Thunderclap Wyvern

Other (5)
2 x Reprisal
1 x Throwing Knife
1 x Kytheon's Tactics
1 x Strider Harness


Curve is 3-20-10-5, with the main point being able to trade in a couple of lands for more creatures. I've been really impressed by Frost Lynx, since it usually blanks a blocker for two turns. Most control decks rely on Perilous Myr, which the Lynx and then Voidmage shut down handily. The singleton Strider Harness is quite good with flyers off the top towards the late-game. The Reprisals are a cheap way to deal with Hixus and the higher end renown creatures.

A lot of draws are weak against Twin Bolt and multiple Eyeblight Assassins, and will lose against mass removal. Luckily, those are rare.

My deck, testing yet, but seems that it works fine. Take a look.

/ Flyggro Control

22 Creatures
4 x Faerie Miscreant
4 x Welkin Tern
4 x Perilous Myr
4 x Scrapskin Drake
3 x Razorfoot Griffin
3 x Thunderclap Wyvern

1 Planeswalkers
1 x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

15 Instant/Sorcery
4 x Disperse
3 x Telling Time
2 x Calculated Dismissal
2 x Anchor to the Aether
4 x Claustrophobia

22 Lands
4 x Azorius Guildgate
2 x Glacial Fortress
5 x Plain
11 x Island


Suggestions are accepted.

Greetings

Edit1- (+4 x Scrapskin Drake -3 x Skyhunter Skirmisher -1 x Razorfoot Griffin and lands adjust.
Edit2- ( -1 x Kytheon, Hero of Akros -2 x Calculated Dismissal -2 x Countermand +4 x Claustrophobia +1 x Island)

Crazy list right here. Still experimenting with it but.. it shows GREAT promise.

1x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3x Elite Vanguard

2x Knight of the White Orchid
3x Consul's Lieutenant
3x Dauntless River Marshal
4x Topan Freeblade
4x Grasp of the Hieromancer
3x Disperse

3x Jhessian Thief
4x Frost Lynx
3x Claustrophobia

2x Kytheon's Irregulars

2x Willbreaker

10 Plains
5 Islands
2 Rogue's Passage
2 Azorious Guildgate
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Evolving Wilds

It started as just a 'tap all the things' Azorious aggro deck, but having Willbreaker in here just takes this deck into the stratosphere.

Let's count all the things that trigger Willbreaker:
Dauntless River Marshal's tap ability
Grasp of the Heiromancer, both by playing it on an opponents creature, or selecting them to tap while attacking.
Frost Lynx when it enters the battlefield
Claustrophobia (this one isn't as advantageous for us though)
Kytheon's Irregulars tap ability
Rogues's Passage grant unblockable ability
I suspect, but haven't tested.. that Kytheon's Planeswalker abilities will.

That is a ton of interaction, and possibly, a lot of stolen creatures ON THE CHEAP.

The deck doesn't need Willbreaker to win.. it beats face evasively and controls the opponent just fine on it's own. Those white two drops (Consul's Lieutenant, Topan FreeBlade, Grasp of the Heiromancer) could go in any attacking shell with White mana and thrive. With all these tapping abilities, they get in turn after turn with ease.

I really, really like this deck.. it feels extremely powerful.

Edit: Took out 2 Islands and replaced them with two Evolving Wilds.

I like willbreaker more in an aggressive list, where the 2 power is less of a liability. If your opponent is still alive when you play, it is probably because they have removed a lot of your creatures. Creatures with 3 or less toughness. So they should have less removal. She is castable with 23 land and you have some good mana sinks in irregulars & river marshall.

Glad you like it HenWen. Your Rakdos sac/steal deck inspired me to make one of my own. The archetype seems stronger this time around.

I 'll need to try this one too, it seems very good to me as well.

I'm NOT 100% sold on the claustrophobias. maybe Anchor to the aether ? Doesn't deal with a threat permanently and you don't get to Willbreaker the dude, but it gets the thieves/freeblades/luits through + denying drawsteps is gud + easier to cast in a deck that seems it wats a **** of plains.

Hakeem mentioned Claustrophobia too.

Here's where I'm at with it: Sometimes I need to PERMANENTLY deal with something.. where tapping it or bouncing it isn't good enough. What are my other options? Reprisal.. that's not good enough. Angelic Edict.. maybe.. but I wouldn't want 3. Celestial Flare? It could be decent. Suppression Bonds is easier on the mana but it's more expensive. But basically, Claustrophobia hits everything not named Gaea's Revenge. I typically don't need a turn 3-4 Claustrophobia, because I have other tap abilities then like Frost Lynx and Grasp of the Heiromancer. My first strikers can swing into most boards anyway. Claustrophobia gets cast later on usually.. when I've been drawing for awhile. That said.. I've been able to cast it on turn 3 if I wanted to pretty much every game. Hell.. the only mana issue I've been having is drawing too many islands.