Agreed, make a change Matt.

I second Elk’s suggestion regarding Emissaries (they feel out of place here), Disciple of the Ring (she’s a must have in any Ux control) and Sire of Stagnation. Sire may have a slot in Sultai builds if you have some ways to ramp into him but without ramping he could be too late to have any real effect. Also, plenty of decks don’t rely on lands at all (RDW, boros aggro, most of aristocrats), especially past turn 6 when you cast him.

I’d suggest Emeria Shepherd or Alhammarret, High Arbiter instead – they are much more valuable as bombs and have instant effect on the battlefield. Kothoped is also not bad as you don’t run a lot of life loss spells like Read the Bones or Bitter Revelation.

And regarding Gideon's Reproach – it is the bee’s knees against aggro or midrange but can do sh*t about unflipped planeswalkers, so I’d suggest keeping these Reave Souls to stop Jace or Nissa just in time.

Also, my suggestion would be adding more enchantment hate besides 2xAngelic Edict. A few Felidar Cubs, may be? I don’t know what platform are you playing on but on Steam there are currently more enchantments in high rank matches than ever. Evo Leaps, Retreats, From Beyond, etc. And they really hurt control decks. I don’t know about you but I’d like to have an answer to them besides counter spells.

Planeswalkers also might be a problem with only 1xSuppression Bonds and no Disperse. Disperse is currently very underrated, IMHO, and I’m planning to run 2x or even 3x of it my own Esper which is currently in progress. Seriously – it can deal with enchantments, PWs, Ulamog (to counter it later if you don’t have any other answer), creatures with counters on them, etc. I totally love this card.

All in all - nice list, please contribute more

Hey, give Hakeem a break, guys...he doesn't even post lists anymore, unless it is for Force.


On a more serious note, the list doesn't look bad necessarily, and I'd have to test it to be sure, but it doesn't look like it really does anything well from an initial look. I have been wrong before, but it looks like it relies on putting out an early Sphinx's Tutelage and reanimating for the win. Not a whole lot to keep you alive in the meantime. You're not likely to beat out a ramp deck's Acid Moss with 4 total counters, 2 of which require 2 to cast, and without an early Tutelage, they will just bury you most games. RDW really doesn't care about Tutelage...you're deck is into sweeper or die mode against them (as is a lot of decks, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing).

The current meta is not conducive for control decks in the traditional sense right now. The targeted removal is pretty conditional and/or expensive, and draw is restrictive, and it is more finely aligned with mid-range and ramp. Maybe this will change next season?

Again, I could be wrong, but those are my observations at this time.

I have tried Kothoped, I just didn't like the life loss. Many things i do with this deck are only for diversions my main mission is to mill and many times a win or loss is determined by one more turn.

Much of what I do with the deck is scan and scheme, I also play living end in live tournaments, so instinctively I am constantly scanning the graveyard browser. I do this both to see what I can exploit and to see the other players game plan.

As far as Drana's Emissary I use her mainly to mitigate life-loss and for her evasion. She also makes a hard target to hit for the opponets removal if they are not playing mountains. I also have a thing for goth chicks.

I do like the feildar cub vs. enchantments but the software for steam many times won't let me sac it in response to my opponents actions. They really need to do some bug fixing. Last night the server went catatonic due to 4 cards on the stack mid-combat. I got to watch as the system replayed it 5 times in a row without resolving any of the spells.

Another bug they need to fix:
If you reanimate Ulamog and attack an opponents planeswalker the software won't mill 20.

Keep up the good fight people and let's keep it positive around here folks,
-f

Hmmm...never saw a software bug where you can't sac the Cub in response. Nor have I heard of it yet. Have you sent a report to Wizards?

As far as Ulamog, that is not a bug. You have to attack the player. When you attack the Planeswalker, you are not attacking the player, you are attacking his minion.

are you sure? I thought you were attacking the player and redirecting damage to the planeswalker. I thought that's how the rules read on PWs

Look at it when you attack...you have to choose which one.

There is the possibility I am wrong, of course. But I have not read anything about it being a bug in any threads, so I stand by this for the moment.

TBH I have never tried to attack a planeswalker with Ulamog, not much point as it game over in 2 turns anyway.

I thought the same thing last night when I had a few cards left in my deck and he had no more creatures. He just had Ob Nix with 1 life left and he couldn't kill ulumog so I figured he was dead the next turn so I attacked the player instead of Ob Nix. He had two Tutelage out which I forgot about. Ob Nix draws a card and I get decked. dammit.

Today I learned that you can't fork a Twin Bolt at a player's face and a Planeswalker with one loyalty.

the game is not over in two turns at all. many things can happen when Ulamog goes by by. also the card reads when Ulamog attacks exile 20. It does not matter who he attacks.

I am going with solemn offering vs. enchantments/artifacts.

Actually, it kind of does matter who he attacks. Since Walkers are representations of players such as yourself, when Ulamog attacks you, you exile 20 cards. When Ulamog attacks your Walker, your walker exiles 20 cards (which is silly since they don't have any, but hey).

Same thing applies here with Hakeem's Twin Bolt.

Weird, and I don't have the time currently to delve into the rules. But that is how I see it (and the game as well).

declaring attackers has a whole set of messy rules that really need to be revised

Wizards does need to clear the rules up a bit but i think they are busy with the whole colorless mess.

now i am thinking that it does matter. I will ask my friend who is a judge on Tuesday.

thanks for the feedback errryone.

also don't bother playing with my deck. it is not very good....

back to the drawing board or just join everyone else and play ramp vs. ramp.

All offering does is giving your 3 life while Cub can both chump block or hit opponent's face. But choice is yours, of course

Also, I still don't get Emissaries - flying 2/2 is usually not something a control deck (especially running Tutelages - in other words, slow) usually wants. So, I'd cut them for more utility spells and/or removal. More counter spells wouldn't hurt either.

Hope you don't abandon your deck - we need to fight that Ass Moss!

Offering grants 4 life, not 3. And the deck in its current incarnation doesn't fight moss well.

Not a big difference, still not worth running, IMHO

I know, not many decks are fit to fight it I wanted to say that Moss-heavy meta shouldn't stop people from playing control decks. You still have a lot of other opponents.

You also can't do it with Rolling Thunder either. I guess you can only choose one 'face' target.

Wait a second.
Ulamog's text reads "When Ulamog attacks, defending player exiles the top 20 cards of his or her library".
Aren't you still the defending player even if he attacks a Walker you control? I mean, the walker himself does not count as a player; otherwise Hakeem's Twin Bolt should easily resolve.

On Hakeem's Twin Bolt: Do you guys know if you can target two Planeswalkers under the defending player's control? Should be pretty much the same rule-wise...

EDIT: Googled a bit for rules.

(Source: http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Declare_attackers_step)


So yeah; from my point of view Ulamog should still exile cards since the player controlling the planeswalker should still be the defending player. EDIT2: babassoonist cited a more to-the-point rule the post after this one that I was too dumb to find.

On Hakeem's Twin Bolt: That resolved correctly.
(Source: http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Planeswalkers)


Basically, Hakeem's Twin Bolt has to deal two damage to the player; and these two damage can be redirected to a planeswalker he controls; but the damage can't be redirected partially (which is why Hakeem's scenario as well as the ones megabeast and I outlined do not work.)