@Gemini - I haven't been watching the videos but I agree with some of what you said... are you suggesting you want to go to 4 colors for Nahiri?
Planeswalkers are the least interactive win conditions there are aside from stuff like brain in a jar into zombies. And Abbey.
You are talking about win conditions but I think you can find huge room for improvement in improving your control shell. For example, Dispel is just too highly specialized. The premiere removal in the format is a sorcery (declaration).
Also I have to share my thoughts about the Xbox tourney. I am happy and not too surprised to see Esper performing well, but I am QUITE surprised to see that things ended up with PureSynesthasia on top. I am going to post his list here for a conversation starter.
This violates a number of rules of what I consider control deckbuilding! Is Synesthasia lucky or is there something I am missing?
The mana curve isn't really a curve... it is nearly a straight line 0-9-9-6-9-2. With only 25 lands to support this, and the deck will probably have to sac a land in order to cast Angelic Purge. Overall the answers are reasonably powerful, but there is so much sorcery speed and such high mana costs. I did not expect this deck to perform so well. Average CMC is 3.6 vs for example me with 3.333 and two more lands.
I am not going to watch all the matches on twitch, I am mainly interested in this from a deckbuilding perspective.
I haven't spent too much time looking at the Xbox tourney setup - maybe very little aggro to punish this sort high CMC decklist? Anyone else have thoughts?
_Most of the decks submitted violate a ton of rules, especially Pure's control deck. Not saying my deck was perfect example of a control shell either. I'm still learning how to play control within Duels with little to no real world experience in MTG. That being said, looking back at my games and criticizing myself, if it weren't for a few misplays I would be 5-0 right now.
_I knew I was too impatient to play a control deck before going into this tournament. I naturally thrive on decks that force me to be creative to win. This includes crappy decks other people have constructed that force me to become creative OR a cool combo deck with many non-interactive and unpredictable methods of winning. I've play-tested match-ups with many decks and people tell me I play the deck better than the creator of the deck and they love play-testing with me for this reason. Part of playing MTG is knowing your archetype and what you thrive on. Folks like Covertgo Blue will play the dominant meta deck with mana. Peepy would play the most unorthodox & fringe deck in the meta. Barney will play a "swarm" style deck. I, seem not be able to pilot an aggro, midrange, or control deck...but instead a combo deck with Retreat to Emeria, Geistblast + Fall of the Titans, Nantuko Husk + Chandra's Ignition, or a single-turn prowess kill woven together over the past 6 or so turns. My Hakumite tournament deck was poorly built but I put up good results because the deck was right up my ally. Pure's deck might be trash...but it's probably right up his ally.
Agree with Vert and HenWen. If I want to win, I'll queue up with either Esper Control or Superfriends (especially after one of my wonkier deck ideas didn't work out), and more often than not Esper gets the nod.
One of the reasons I included it in my Library even though I did not do much to invent/refine the list. I just play it more than most Library decks.
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Here's my argument. It's the 5 minute video I was trying to post yesterday. It's 5 minutes of me ripping the soul out of another player. Now, while I agree it wasn't fun FOR HIM, it was a blast from my end.
He quit while I was in Game DVR making this video, btw. (Xbox really needs to fix the whole "Xbox Record That" to include videos longer than 30 seconds so I don't have to be a dick and maneuver over to Game DVR and waste 20 seconds of this guy's time)
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I only pull up Esper if I want to piss off the other guy. My record with it is no better than Azban, Superfriends, or most of my go-to decks; in fact, it's probably a bit worse, but still pretty good.
Oddly, I pulled up Mega's Gruul Landfall deck he posted to get my record back to 40 after a few consecutive losses with Esper.
I only pull up Esper if I want to piss off the other guy. My record with it is no better than Azban, Superfriends, or most of my go-to decks; in fact, it's probably a bit worse, but still pretty good.
Oddly, I pulled up Mega's Gruul Landfall deck he posted to get my record back to 40 after a few consecutive losses with Esper.
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KLD Season King of the Hill Winner. EMN Season King of the Hill Winner.
The one true King of NGA Magic Duels on Xbox One.
You want some? Come get some. You don't like me? Bite me.
Agree with Vert and HenWen. If I want to win, I'll queue up with either Esper Control or Superfriends (especially after one of my wonkier deck ideas didn't work out), and more often than not Esper gets the nod.
One of the reasons I included it in my Library even though I did not do much to invent/refine the list. I just play it more than most Library decks.
Modulo the ranks of draw go players are so thin that no one really cares if you did not invent every card in your list. I am glad to have received feedback from you and a handful of other people. We are the few, the proud, the players who incite rage and hatred among other players using . With the decks that require the utmost strategery and skill to design and pilot. But somehow we are all so modest! Amirite guys?
Here's my argument. It's the 5 minute video I was trying to post yesterday. It's 5 minutes of me ripping the soul out of another player. Now, while I agree it wasn't fun FOR HIM, it was a blast from my end.
He quit while I was in Game DVR making this video, btw. (Xbox really needs to fix the whole "Xbox Record That" to include videos longer than 30 seconds so I don't have to be a dick and maneuver over to Game DVR and waste 20 seconds of this guy's time)
I only pull up Esper if I want to piss off the other guy. My record with it is no better than Azban, Superfriends, or most of my go-to decks; in fact, it's probably a bit worse, but still pretty good.
Oddly, I pulled up Mega's Gruul Landfall deck he posted to get my record back to 40 after a few consecutive losses with Esper.
I know I used to see Kryder on Steam before he became tournament master man and at rank 40 it is a bit more of a challenge than that guy you recorded on Xbawks. I have played probably 100ish games and I know that I have suffered three losses in a row once and two losses in a row a few other times.
Arguably it is even more fun to "crush the soul" of a moderately skilled player who is running yet another 4 color planeswalker list... jam packed with mythic after mythic. His card quality may be much higher than Mr. Level Two Starter Box, but doesn't distinguish between Greenwarden of Murasa and Yavimaya Wurm, neither one is going to hit the board.
Agree with Vert and HenWen. If I want to win, I'll queue up with either Esper Control or Superfriends (especially after one of my wonkier deck ideas didn't work out), and more often than not Esper gets the nod.
One of the reasons I included it in my Library even though I did not do much to invent/refine the list. I just play it more than most Library decks.
Modulo the ranks of draw go players are so thin that no one really cares if you did not invent every card in your list. I am glad to have received feedback from you and a handful of other people. We are the few, the proud, the players who incite rage and hatred among other players using . With the decks that require the utmost strategery and skill to design and pilot. But somehow we are all so modest! Amirite guys?
Here's my argument. It's the 5 minute video I was trying to post yesterday. It's 5 minutes of me ripping the soul out of another player. Now, while I agree it wasn't fun FOR HIM, it was a blast from my end.
He quit while I was in Game DVR making this video, btw. (Xbox really needs to fix the whole "Xbox Record That" to include videos longer than 30 seconds so I don't have to be a dick and maneuver over to Game DVR and waste 20 seconds of this guy's time)
I only pull up Esper if I want to piss off the other guy. My record with it is no better than Azban, Superfriends, or most of my go-to decks; in fact, it's probably a bit worse, but still pretty good.
Oddly, I pulled up Mega's Gruul Landfall deck he posted to get my record back to 40 after a few consecutive losses with Esper.
I know I used to see Kryder on Steam before he became tournament master man and at rank 40 it is a bit more of a challenge than that guy you recorded on Xbawks. I have played probably 100ish games and I know that I have suffered three losses in a row once and two losses in a row a few other times.
Arguably it is even more fun to "crush the soul" of a moderately skilled player who is running yet another 4 color planeswalker list... jam packed with mythic after mythic. His card quality may be much higher than Mr. Level Two Starter Box, but doesn't distinguish between Greenwarden of Murasa and Yavimaya Wurm, neither one is going to hit the board.
Yeah, I didn't notice his rank but it became pretty apparent when his turn 3 play was slamming down Reclamation Sage vs. my empty board that he was probably going to have a bad time.
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What are some good hosers to Esper? The obvious one is Gaea's Revenge, but what other ones exist? I'm likely to not be running Esper for the next tournament and I'm trying to think of potential control or even aggro options that could severely hurt an Esper strategy.
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Celestial Flare gets around GR tho.
I think, without giving it too much thought, that mono-white packing those global pumps that give everyone indestructable would be really good. Eventually you can pump everyone out of Languish range too so if Languish shows up late, you're ok. If you can get Bishop to stick to have some draw power, all the better.
Red aggressive strategies might pose a problem; they play most of their threats before your counters are online and can find burn late when you think you stabilized. Also, Firecraft on Spell Mastery are 4 uncounterable damage when you think you stabilized. Either Mono-R or Prowess can definitely hurt Esper; their match-up vs. other strategies is not good though.
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I'd be very skeptical that Prowess could hurt Esper, especially in a boarding game. Grasp of Darkness or Celestial Flare would blow that archetype out way too easily.
Hyper aggression from red is good, but I don't know if that's even fast enough without the Denison.
What are control options that could get around counter decks? Flash creatures?
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The one true King of NGA Magic Duels on Xbox One.
You want some? Come get some. You don't like me? Bite me.
Simic flash is so rarely played that I am not even sure what the archetype "usually" looks like. I would expect to lose 80% of my games against Zerris' simic flash deck though. The combination of flash creatures + counterspells is very difficult, almost the entire deck is instant speed except for a few 2 drops, whereas Esper has to make a number of important plays at sorcery speed only.
Revenge is great, but lets not forget Lumbering Falls. Not only is it immune to removals and counters, also dodges sorcery speed board wipes.
Revenge and the falls are both rares, it is the commons and uncommons that make simic flash so hard to deal with.
Among commonly played deck types, white weenie is the scariest. Mono R in general is usually strong, but in this particular cardpool mono R is truly lacking compared to mono W.
Red aggressive strategies might pose a problem; they play most of their threats before your counters are online and can find burn late when you think you stabilized. Also, Firecraft on Spell Mastery are 4 uncounterable damage when you think you stabilized. Either Mono-R or Prowess can definitely hurt Esper; their match-up vs. other strategies is not good though.
I have never lost to a prowess deck, I think I have only had one game that was even remotely close.
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mana. Peepy would play the most unorthodox & fringe deck in the meta. Barney will play a "swarm" style deck. I, seem not be able to pilot an aggro, midrange, or control deck...but instead a combo deck with 
. With the decks that require the utmost strategery and skill to design and pilot. But somehow we are all so modest! Amirite guys?