HI babassoonist Thanks for the feedback.

You mean Solemn Offering? Hmm that could be a possibility but as you've stated I'm already low on creatures I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

I also thought having two Gideons would be too much but they've been really useful. I rarely draw both of them and most of the times I do, it really sets back my opponent to have to deal with not one but two of them. Besides if I already have Gideon, Ally of Zendikar on the battle field Kytheon, Held von Akros is an indestructible blocker or can swing for the win depending on the situation. You should try having both in a deck it's much more useful than you might think. I'm actually surprised that people don't do this more often and just got rid of one for the other.

When I started testing this deck I had 3 copies of retreat to hagra, then 2, then 1 and finally 0 I don't know, most of the times I just ended having it in my hand and not playing it because I had other things to cast. I might give it another try but till now I wasn't convinced.

Sideboard:
Solemn Offering
Archangel of Tithes
Erebos's Titan
Kalastria Nightwatch
Nirkana Assassin
Tainted Remedy (if this deck will become meta or heavy healing meta)
Bitter Revelation
Kor Bladewhirl
Elite Vanguard
Hero of Goma Fada (with Retreat to Emeria and not used Evolving Wilds op combo)
Emeria Shepherd (SLOW, in most cases a dead draw and also hard to use)

For the record, terramorphic is not a thing in Magic Duels - They tossed in Evolving Wilds.

I'm guessing he might have figured that out, sometime in the last 5 months and 5 days. Not sure though. Possibly not.

he might have also figured that out around the time he stopped playing the game and coming to NGA

Yeah.. where'd he go? I really liked HenWen. I guess he didn't get onboard the Origins train.

Hi, first time poster. Quick introduction: I'm a long time legacy/modern/limited player who has recently picked up magic duels. With the release of battle for zendikar, the card pool seems like it has expanded enough to allow for some interesting deckbuilding. I'm a control player at heart and so I immediately looked to build around languish and planar outburst. Here's my list:


[ deck]
4 perilous myr
2 knight of the white orchid
3 consul's lieutenant
1 liliana, heretical healer
2 graveblade marauder
3 fleshbag marauder
1 archangel of tithes
1 gideon, ally of zendikar
1 ob nixilis reignited
1 oblivion sower
2 emeria shepherd

2 reprisal
1 gideon's reproach
1 celestial flare
2 reave soul
1 solemn offering
1 suppression bonds
2 languish
1 cruel revival
2 planar outburst
1 tragic arrogance
1 angelic edict

11 plains
5 swamp
2 shambling vent
2 isolated citadel
4 orzhov guildgate
[/deck]


What the deck wants to do:
Play tapout control. Most of your cards either trade 1 for 1 or x for 1 so you're looking to trade resources favorably until your late game engines (gideon, ob nixilis, emeria shepherds) kick in.

Card choices:
At the 2 slot, I'm hoping to gum up the board in order to stop the aggro decks. Perilous myrs were easy auto-includes. I initially had 4 felidar cubs to round out the 2 drops but I found that while they did give extra insurance against enchantments, they barely slowed down aggro at all and the red decks could just attack into you without fear. The fact that the knights and consul's lieutenants have first strike make them amazing at grinding aggro to a halt and they were both better at attacking if the opponent wasn't developing a board. Knights are extra value on the draw and can sometimes set up insane plays with emeria shepherd in the late game.

At 3, again I'm looking to slow the game down with good blockers. Liliana is great at playing defense and the lifelink is actually very welcome in the deck to negate those aggro hits and help to pay for ob nixilis. I rarely try to flip her in the early game as she's more valuable as a 2/3 lifelink body. Of course, flipping her in the late game can be brutal for the opponent. Graveblade fits perfectly with our plan of blocking, killing big threats and attacking for value if they're not developing a board. Fleshbags are removal spells pretending to be creatures, plus they feed graveblade.

At 4 and above, I'm looking to drop huge value threats that can end games. Archangel of tithes continues the theme of slowing them down for you to stabilize as well as providing a decent evasive clock. She also survives languish. Oblivion sower is a huge body that can further develop your mana, allowing for multiple plays a turn. If your opponent is playing white, sower can also flip some plains for emeria. And then, we have the huge engines: gideon, ob nixilis and the two emeria shepherds. Gideon can provide huge value with the tokens and can very quickly kill someone by himself. Ob nixilis buries your opponents in cards and having unconditional removal at your beck and call is amazing. And finally, emeria shepherd is probably my favorite creature in duels so far. She converts all those dead land topdecks in the lategame into constant value. Also, she enables some of the most absurd plays like using ob nixilis's removal ability twice in a turn or using gideon's emblem ability twice in a turn!

The removal package looks random at first blush but can be easily divided into spot removal, sweepers, and utility removal. I'm running 5 sweepers, maxing out on the two best board sweepers in duels (languish and outburst) and adding a singleton tragic arrogance which can help to answer boards with multiple enchantments or planeswalkers. As for spot removal, there was no clear best and so I went for a mix because mise. I prioritized cheap removal with the reprisals and reave souls and rounded them out with gideon's reproach and flare that are both more conditional. Flare answers hard to remove creatures, punishes players who don't respect the possibility of flare and gets better with first strike damage. At first, I thought that reproach would just replace reave soul as the go to removal for small threats but I found that there were a lot of instances where I wanted to just reach out and kill a creature like jace or remove blockers so that I can aggro out. Solemn offering is to mise against enchantments/artifacts and the lifegain is very welcome. Targetting your myr to trigger his shock is tech. Bonds is amazing at answering planeswalkers, ulamogs, and can theoretically be reattached to plated crushers and gaea's revenge with emeria recursion though I have yet to live the dream. Cruel revival is instant speed, near unconditional removal that has synergy with our fleshbags. And edict can answer any threats, ulamog, and problem enchantments.

The manabase leans heavily white so that I can cast my 2 drops on curve as well as to feed the emeria shepherds. The shambling vents are a godsend for this deck as the lifegain is amazing and they increase your threat density while improving the mana base. Consider using gideon's emblem to allow the vents to cause bigger life swings in races.

Cards that didn't make it:
Felidar cub: It's a tradeoff between answering enchantments and aggro. If tutelage decks are popular, they should come in.
Sheer drop: Too expensive and conditional. Can cause awkward sequencing.
Hixus, prison warden: Big blowout potential but too easily answered and anti-synergistic with our other sweepers. I prefer tragic arrogance.
Vamp rites/bone splinters/altar's reap/smothering abomination: The deck doesn't run enough creatures that you are willing to sac to enable these.
Complete disregard: Reave soul is better since you don't care about exiling. The deck plays tap out control so instant speed is not a huge bonus like in drawgo.
Erebos's titan: Too heavy in black for this deck.
Rising miasma: Not as good as the other sweepers though if aggro is popular, they can come in.
Kothophed, soul hoarder: He was initially in the deck but he's an awful threat to stabilize with at low life totals. If control is popular, he can come in.
Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger: The deck does not consistently hit 10 mana like ramp decks do.

Cards that I'm considering:
Mire's malice: Looks very tempting and is very powerful vs control and other late game decks.
Necromantic summons: Trading late game engines for a more powerful mid-late game could be strong.
Shadows of the past/read the bones/bitter revelation: As it stands, the deck has no card draw/card filtering. Of these three options, shadows looks the most interesting to me as it costs the least, provides constant scrys (the deck revolves around killing any creature on the board), and can provide life gain and a resilient win condition in the late game.

And that's my bw control deck. I welcome all feedback, suggestions, and criticism. Hopefully you guys test it out and enjoy it. Once I was able to get the list to its present configuration, I took it for a 20 game test run going 14-6 but results may vary.

Looks interesting, but most importantly welcome to NGA! Great to have some new experienced builders around.

I've been trying to crack Orzhov control too, but so far no luck. Normally, I'd be trying to gain more card advantage using black in the deck. So I'd definitely be looking at more draw effects/scry to get me ahead in the long games. I agree with your thought process on 2 drop creature, but I think you need to fit 1-2 Cubs in here somehow all the same. Enchantments are just so dangerous in our slow speed meta. Your deck, I think, might just fold to from beyond, evolutionary leap, and possibly a few other cards. Cubs would shore you up nicely. So I'd consider them over Myrs given that I like your other 2 drops better - I'm a bit of a myr hater though, lol - or maybe taking the solemn offering slot.

I might also cut Reave souls for complete disregard, pending curve constraints. In case you missed that card.

I have a question: so I see a lot of this, and your deck is a good example. Why so much variety of removal? Especially without the draw. Do you typically find the Swiss Army knife approach better? Or are you often in a position where you have the wrong answer in hand?

I'm really trying to make this deck a thing so I can play something besides Esper, but it just isn't working as well. I could use some help. Statistically, this deck should have plenty of synergy, but in practice it feels slow and clunky. Maybe there are still some key pieces missing that will make it better in Oath, but theoretically this deck should be working.

Deck
3x Serene Steward
3x Kor Bladewhirl - I was playing Kalastria Healer, but it lacked board presence where this guy helps push offensively.
2x Shadows of the Past
2x Lantern Scout
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3x Malakir Familiar - I considered Fleshbag Marauder instead, but the bat synergizes with the deck and can pump to impressive numbers while still blocking creatures if need be.
3x Drana's Emissary
3x Blood-Cursed Knight
4x Read the Bones - Besides Ob Nixilis, it's the only way for this deck to refuel.
3x Bloodbond Vampire
3x Valor in Akros - This was Retreat to Hagra, but Hagra was way too slow and the deck greatly improved after the switch.
2x Retreat to Emeria
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Hero of Goma Fada
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited

Lands
8x Plains
8x Swamp
2x Shambling Vent
2x Isolated Chapel
4x Evolving Wilds

I have been fiddling with a similar deck but I didn't have a lot of key Ally cards when I first built it, so I committed more fully to the life gain/drain theme with Child of Night, Retreat to Hagra, some white/black removal (including Tandem Tactics, Gideon's Reproach, and Unholy Hunger), and biggies like Priest of the Blood Rite and Kothophed, Soul Hoarder as finishers. It works okay as a fun mid-tier deck, but an Ally-based build may ultimately be better. I will probably try something closer to your Ally version when I get a chance.

After some more games with the list, here are some changes I'm making: -4 perilous myrs, -1 solemn offering, +4 felidar cubs, +1 shadows of the past.

DJ, I agree with you that there are way too many powerful enchantments in the meta right now that need to be answered right away before they take over the game. I like that the cubs can be more aggressive than the myrs in the early game. Also, the myrs have been underperforming. They will occasionally 2 for 1 but that's more the exception to the rule. And with four more answers to enchantments, I felt comfortable cutting the solemn for shadows. All the scrys have been great and the deck has won every game that the drain two has come online.

As for complete disregard, I prefer reave soul. The deck doesn't really benefit from exiling or the instant speed much so the cost of paying one more is a real downside. On turn 4, the deck will often want to curve 2 drop + reave soul.

The variety of removal in the deck stems from the lack of a clear top tier removal spell. Coming from eternal magic where swords to plowshares/path to exile/lightning bolt/abrupt decay are so dominant, that doesn't seem to be the case in duels. It is slightly awkward to draw reprisal in the early game and reave soul in the late game but that's the price we pay to put cheap removal in the deck. The more expensive removal (suppression bonds, cruel revival, angelic edict) are all fairly unconditional and are there to answer specific hard to deal with permanents like planeswalkers, ulamog, etc.

Also, thanks for the welcome!

And, if anyone can tell me what I did wrong when attempting to link the cards, I'd appreciate it.

Should have been no space before deck in the first brackets.

Like this:



Hit the quote button on my post to see the difference.

I'm going to try it later today, with the new edits you mention.

Hi,

I want to build a deck with cards I enjoy playing with and cards I hate to see played against me. Not sure if the deck would be a beast but i want to see if a deck could be built around cards i like to play with..

2 Reprisal
3 gideon's reproach
1 liliana, heretical healer
3 fleshbag marauder
3 drana's emissary
1 archangel of tithes
3 Gravediggers
1 Gideon, alley of zendikar
3 Cruel Revival
1ob nixilis reignited
1 oblivion sower
2 Emeria shepherd

Lands
2 Shambling Vent
2 Isolated Chapel
2 Mortuary Mine
2 Orzhov Guildgate
3 Evolving wilds
6 Plains
7 Swamp


That leaves me 12 cards open. Currently Im running
2 vampiric rites Not sure how i like this.. It shines at times other times its useless.
2 Graveblade Marauder Card is great defense great late game but pretty horrible mid game
2 Kytheon's irregulars Most of the time the card sits in my hand but when it comes out it normally means game over
2 Aligned heron network only in for ulamog really.. although i have never seen one on the board against me so not sure if i should keep it in. i know suppression bonds is a site favorite but wanted to use something else as a catch all
2 priest of the blood rite I like the synergy the card has with fleshbag marauder vampiric rites
2 gilt-leaf winnower card is ok at worse and great when its rolling with Mortuary Mine

Thanks for your help.

So.. I'm trying to make a 2HG centric deck.. one with a lot of spells that affect both opponents. Black seems to have most of these, so I started there.. then saw some of the ally synergies white offered. Orzhov allies doesn't excite me in the least, but Orzhov Pain/Drain does. I've tested this a bit in both 2HG and 1v1. It rocks in 2HG, and it hasn't lost in 1v1 yet, but it's only winning by the seat of its pants. This is certainly optimized for 2HG play, and I wouldn't recommend it for competitive 1v1. So anyway.. here goes:

Orzhov Two-Headed Pain Drain

4 x Thornbow Archer

4 x Kalastria Healer
1 x Shadows of the Past

2 x Lantern Scout
3 x Malakir Familiar
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
3 x Drana's Emissary
3 x Retreat to Hagra

3 x Bloodbond Vampire
3 x Retreat to Emeria
3 x Bitter Revelation
1 x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

2 x Cruel Revival
1 x Ob Nixilis Reignited

6 x Plains
10 x Swamp
2 x Shambling Vent
2 x Isolated Chapel
4 x Evolving Wilds


Just look at all that glorious 2HG synergy. Thornbow dings for two, Kalastria Healer dings for two and is easy to trigger multiple times in a turn, Shadows of the Past dings for four (I wonder if I should put in another copy, I haven't drawn it yet), Lantern Scout.. yeah.. I don't really know what else to put in that spot. I had Blood-Cursed Knight but they were kinda meh. Malakir Familiar and Bloodbond Vampire get triggered often. Fleshbag is double removal, Drana's Emissary is an MVP dinging for two and getting in lots of evasive hits, triggering Familiar and Bloodbond. Retreat to Hagra dings for two, and makes opponents not want to block if you put death touch on something. Retreat to Emeria keeps the ally triggers coming and buffs the team, ditto for Gideon. Bitter Revelation digs nicely, and the life loss is insignificant, especially in 2HG. Cruel Revival kills bombs and let's us spam Fleshbag.. Ob is Ob.

Overall.. it's a super sound 2HG strategy IMO.

Can't say I like Bloodbond Vampire. Also they bloat your 4 drop spot.

My suggestion:

_ Cut em and add 1 Shadows of the Past; 2 Kalastria Nightwatch (evasion bro)

_ I'd try to squeeze in at least a singleton Defiant Bloodlord as well.

_ You are running 3 Bitter revelation, -4 swamp +4 Mortuary Mire (or -3 +3)

Bloodbond is the only creature that keeps opposing fatties from swinging into your face, and it grows passively. It's actually performed really well. I scoped out those 4/5 flyers and I like the look of them.. I wanna test them.. probably instead of Lantern Scout.. who really isn't doing much. It's a super slow format, I can probably get away with it. I had both Bloodlords in originally.. but never drew them, and won without them.. so I cut them. I like the Mortuary Mire suggestion.. I completely missed the Bitter Revelation synergy.. I'll probably slot in 3 of them.

Yeah but since you start at 30 life in 2hg, and spot removal tends to be twice as common, AND you have a lifegain theme, are you certain the Bloodbond vamps are needed ?
I haven't played 2hg at all in this iteration, so maybe I should refrain from giving format specific advice, but I used to be a huge fan of it in 2013 and 2014. A 4 mana valueless 3/3 that gets a bit bigger but has 0 evasion sounds horrible in that format.

Does bloodlord work if your ally gains life too ?

No it doesn't. I was wrong about that.. I thought it would. I finally got paired with a guy who had lifegain, but it didn't trigger anything on my side. I guess that's what happens when you assume. In that particular game however.. he had a Rogue's Passage that he used on my 8/8 Bloodbond for us to win the game. Most of the opponent's spot removal is going to my Emissaries and Familiars believe it or not. The Bloodbond Vampires aren't really for attacking, and neither were the Blood Cursed Knights.. they're for keeping opponents from attacking me, knowing that I can favorably block. This gives the drain effects and the fliers time to do their thing. I also made another version of this deck for 1v1 that's been doing pretty well. Had to put some more early creatures in bc aggro.. but it's been getting there all the same. If you stick a Retreat to Hagra, an Emissary, a Healer and a Retreat to Emeria.. that's 4 uncounterable damage and a 1/1 token per turn (if you play a land). It's actually a pretty fun little archetype.. and I haven't seen anyone playing it before.