My current take on mono-red. Very slight Madness sub-theme, but one would probably run the cards in mono-R anyway. I'd maybe give this list a write-up if EMN wasn't so close.
Original discussion can be found here. It's your next-door Zombie deck: Get stuff in the yard, do stuff to profit. More in-depth analysis might be coming at some point.
Original post can be found here. Guide to the deck can be found here. Midrange "smalldudes" strategy.
EDIT: -1 Reprisal -1 Forest, -1 Plains, -3 Foundry of the Consules; +1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer, +1 Declaration in Stone, +4 Tranquil Expanse
Declaration over Reprisal was a change I intended to do a while back. Nissa vs. the 25th land is not 100% clear, but seeing how Nissa doubles down as the 25th land I think it's correct. Added 4 Tranquil Expanse to try and have more solid mana; it does make the decklists a bit more vulnerable in the air and a bit more prone to being flooded though. Might re-add Foundries over some basic lands (something like -2 Plains, -1 Forest) or even Tranquil Expanse.
An in-depth guide to this deck can be found here The link to the original post can be found here. This list is almost done; still missing the second Fevered Visions (which will definitely be included) and the second Thing in The Ice (which I'm not sure whether I'll run the Things or Jace, running both would mean going down to 20 lands which I don't think this deck can afford).
UPDATE: Opened the second Thing in the Ice, running it over the 22nd land currently. I also believe I've made up my mind to cut Jace once I open the second Fevered Visions.
UPDATE2: The games in between changed my mind about Jace; he is the best turn 2 play for this deck and I felt it was a mistake to cut him. Ended up going down to 20 lands; seems to work out so far though you have to mulligan more aggressively.
UPDATE3: -4 Fiery Impulse, -3 Grip of the Roil; +4 Rush of Adrenaline, +2 Exquisite Firecraft, +1 Mountain. Facing less aggro decks currently, so I decided to cut down on the interactive spells and focused on ways to push damage against 1/1 chumpblockers and after boardwipes. Testing for this change is not completed yet, but so far I like it.
EMN Mill version. Basically, this is Mad Mill taking out the Madness cards for EMN goodies. This way, the deck becomes a tad more linear (it focuses more on milling the opponent), but it also becomes a LOT more efficient at it. It's very possible that Brutal Expulsion will get cut in the final version of this deck, but I know it's gonna do work and until I know what's going to replace it it'll stay in. EDIT: -2 Brutal Expulsion; +2 Imprisoned In the Moon Found what I wanted to replace it with. Hard-removal for anything that poses a clock too fast to handle.
More concise and pro-active Ramp list; which matches up better against the current meta I think. EDIT: -1 Ulvenwald Hydra, -1 Drownyard Temple; +1 Wastes, +1 Explosive Vegetation
Original post can be found here. Bant might be the new Superfriends color of choice. A more tempo-based approach works really well with both the Walkers in these colors and the new toys obtained with Eldritch Moon. Will likely write an in-depth guide about the deck later.
My current take on Esper control; mostly based off HenWen's and divinevert's Esper Control lists (in fact, it's like 3 cards away from HenWen's list). Main difference is the increased number of win conditions/cards that pressure the opponent (baby Jace, Avacyn) instead of tech cards (bounce spell, Bone To Ash).
Alliance is a strict upgrade over Flare; and not needing WW anymore means I can skew the manabase a bit more towards Black for Grasp; which is just better than Reproach. Lili replaces the Abbey as she can kill pesky 1/1s or even 2/1s without any life- or manaloss. Her -2 is useless in this deck, but that shouldn't stop her from being good enough as her ult is a serious threat. Going creatureless seems good considering many decks tech heavily against creatures; also the slots can go to the very flexible Imprisoned in the Moon, which is better than Declaration in Stone most of the time because it doesn't give the opponent a draw and it can hit Walkers as well.
Jeskai list that aims to defeat the opponent using a combo finish to mill them. Mill is the primary wincon for this deck; but it can also take a control deck's stance: softening the opponent with Fevered Visions and finishing him with threats like TITI, Chandra and Ulamog. Original post can be found here, where I've explained my basic idea behind the deck and the card choices.
I'd love to hear your input on these lists!
Edit history:
Spoiler
April 20th: Added Izzet Prowess/Surge. April 23rd: Minor adjustments to Izzet Prowess/Surge. April 25th: Added a guide to Izzet Prowess/Surge May 1st: Added Selesniya Tokens. May 2nd: Final version of Izzet Prowess/Surge for now. Will update the guide soon as well. May 8th: Updated Selesniya Tokens, close to the final version now. Also added a guide for the deck. May 10th: Moved Drazi Ramp from Selesnya to Golgari. May 19th: Added Superfriends, updated Selesniya Tokens. May 24th: Added Drazi-less Superfriends. May 31st: Added Jeskai Mill and Blue Superfriends June 6th: Minor adjustment to Drazi-less Superfriends' manabase; started to denote outdated decks. June 14th: Added Esper Control June 16th: Updated Izzet Prowess (former Prowess/Surge). June 25th: Added Izzet Mad Mill July 2nd: Minor adjustment to Drazi-less Superfriends July 3rd: Much needed update to mono-R.
EMN: Jul 21st: Removed all Superfriends lists for now; the abscence of Sylvan Ranger means they're ill suited to beat aggro currently. Removed RU Thopters (because horribly outdated and not likely to become a thing in EMN) Added Izzet EMN Mill (not sure whether I should delete or update Mad Mill) Added Dimir Zombies Jul 23rd: Added Orzhov Brisela Control Minor adjustment to EMN Mill Jul 26th: Added Bant Superfriends Jul 27th: Updated Esper Control for EMN. Aug 2nd: Added Abzan Midrange
I made a deck very similar to this, with emeria shepard and a few other differences. Reflector mage and bounding krasis being 2. I actually found getting my walkers out and +1 for as mucu card draw as poasible while completelt controlling the field and also using the walkers as chump bait themselves till i get my bigger creatures out, then using emeria shepard as a means to landfall them back in. Decks undefeated so far and causes alot of rage quites. Also a good engine between gisela, bruna and emeria.
I assume you're talking about Bant Superfriends here?
The deck can definitely be adapted to play a slower game, adding the Angel package as well as some Bounding Krasis. What did you take out for them? I could imagine cutting stuff like Deathcap Cultivator and Oath of Gideon, which were some tech cards I was experimenting with. Haven't really visited that list in a while; it might warrant an update.
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Been some time, and since I will be on holiday starting tomorrow I figured I'd push out an update before I go.
Abzan Midrange and Esper Control warranted updates. Due to the meta being slower, Grasp of Darkness is not as good in these lists currently. Also, Abzan can definitely use Grapple with the Past for some pretty nice ideas. The new Abzan list was pretty much based on Zerris' list while adding Grapple shenanigans (the idea is implemented by TainteD in the Steam Showdown); and I feel confident enough to put it up despite only having seen limited testing. Esper is pretty much Vert's new list with a slight adjustment to the manabase. I might make an adjustment to the list soon; one card feels a bit off to me but I haven't found a great replacement for it so far. Once I do I might change the list around a bit more.
Also, Superfriends is not dead. I'll add my list here, which is basically 4CW splashing the fifth colour (Blue) for Tamiyo. There might be some improvements for the list actually; but again I'm not sure about them.
Lastly, I added my version of Selesniya Angels, which might be the best Ramp deck currently available. The list might warrant some fine-tuning, but overall it looks like a pretty promising start to build from. Credits for this idea go to Zerris once again.
Sorry for not updating Bant yet again; I haven't played it much and haven't had great ideas to update it; also it feels like it currently is not incredibly well placed in the meta (I might be wrong here; I have read people claim the exact opposite).
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I fiddled around with Rakdos Vamps due to having the "transform" and "alternate cost" quests, thought I might as well take some notes - and the deck went 9/10. Granted, I faced mostly good match-ups for me, but still. The loss was due to a bad pilot error, but on the other hand there was one game I should have lost; so all good.
1(play) Win vs. Izzet Mill This turned out to be a pretty long game as he had removal for days. However, he never found his Tutelage while my Call the Bloodline overwhelmed him with tokens; and I was able to finish him off with a Fiery Temper.
2(draw) Win vs. Izzet Mill Same opponent, this time he had a t3 Tutelage. What he did not have was an answer to my perfect Madness curve (Dragoon - Bloodhall Priest - Condemned+Bloodmad - Masquerade+Asylum), which made him concede turn 5.
3(draw) Win vs. Bant Tempo This one started out awful - I played Call the Bloodline t2, but he Spell Quellered my 3-drop only to follow it up with a Tireless Tracker, setting the tone for me being behind on board all game. I somehow managed to stay in the game trading two Incorrigible Youths for his Tracker and a Krasis; as well as keeping my life total at an okay state by discarding a couple Alms of the Vein to my Bloodline. It came down to me having five or six 1/1 lifelink tokens, an Heir of the Night (which managed to get in some damage) as well as a Stromkirk Condemned against two fliers (Queller and Bygone Bishop), the second Tracker, a Krasis and a bunch of cards in hand. Here, my opponent made the decisive mistake trying to swing for lethal - perhaps not thinking about the lifelink on my many tokens as well as my Stromkirk Condemned being able to make them bigger, as I survive the attack and he dies on the crackback. despite three creatures being played on his turn.
4(draw) Win vs. 4-colour-something T2 Ainok Guide on his end should tell you enough about why this match-up wasn't completely horrendous for me. I managed to kill his Gideon with two Neonates as well as a Fiery Temper in hand; he never found his wipe and I could attack through his big butts (Kalitas + Ishkanah) with impunity thanks to Stensia Masquerade's first strike.
5(draw) Loss vs. Izzet Burn This would've been a good match-up for me, had I not made a completely stupid pilot error. Instead of casting a card off Madness, I just discarded it thanks to a misclick. I surrendered afterwards due to only having 4 lands in hand - not a catastrophy considering his Fevered Visions and my Call the Bloodline, but the mistake lost me the game.
6(draw) Win vs. Selesniya something My opponent seemed to have been on mana problems as he only had 1 Plains in play for the whole game. His cards I saw were flip Nissa, Declaration, Sylvan Advocate as well as an Eldritch Evolution into Gisela. I won off the back of an Insolent Neonate, who kept getting Stenia Masquerade buffs - he ended the game being a 6/6.
7(play) Win vs. Izzet Mill T2 Call the Bloodline mannaged to give me a wide board he couldn't handle, a Bloodhall Priest sealed the deal quickly.
8(play) Win vs. GR Werewolves I had the nut draw of Neonate - Dragoon - Stensia Masquerade; which -coupled with a little burn- rode the game to a t6 win for me. Silverfur Partisan into Kessig Forgemaster + Waxing Moon - not good enough.
9(play) Win vs. Izzet mill Again that stupid error; this time I had more gas in hand though and managed to win easily.
10(draw) Win vs. Jeskai Mill I don't think this match-up is too great and I had to keep a pretty clunky hand. Unfortunately for him, he got stuck on 3 lands while I managed to draw out of the clunkiness; which ended up in him forfeiting t5.
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Joined: Nov 25, 2015 Posts: 1431
Preferred Pronoun Set: Xhir/xhim, depending on Moon phase
Looks as the best that Vamps can achieve...I'd just change 2 masquerade (or 1 and 1 CtB) for 2 I Devils...try that, man...not only for the LBall efect, but the ability to force a block let's your Bloodmads etc survive...a really good, fast inclusion here imo...almost exactly my best Vamp deck
Devils is definitely a card that is on my radar, did not include it in this first version. They would put some strain on the red mana, but if I can't cast them I can always discard them so that's not the biggest of deals.
I believe the card I'd cut for it would be Incorrigible Youths; maybe the third youth would go for the 22nd land (just to make sure we can cast that 4-drop more often).
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Esper is pretty much Vert's new list with a slight adjustment to the manabase. I might make an adjustment to the list soon; one card feels a bit off to me but I haven't found a great replacement for it so far. Once I do I might change the list around a bit more.
What was the card?
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KLD Season King of the Hill Winner. EMN Season King of the Hill Winner.
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The card was Comparative Analysis. The instant speed draw is good, but it felt to me like it was out of place at times - when I could afford to cast it it wasn't necessary anymore because I had resolved a Confirm Suspicions or a Walker already; and sometimes I needed some more immediate action. However, there are a few times where you need that instant-speed draw 2 and I haven't found a great replacement still, so I think I'll stick with it for now.
@decklists: Pushed out an EMN update for Jeskai Mill. Testing is still in process, but the list feels very good - adds some stability to Izzet without losing too much speed (if any); has a slightly worse manabase though.
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Wow, haven't updated here in a while. Mostly because these Archives seem to not be used too much, but also because I mostly played new decks due to the giant shake-up the meta has experienced since Kaladesh. Right now that the meta is starting to settle down and I don't adjust my lists every two days, it's a good point to start updating again.
I believe I'll start fresh by putting the old decks in spoiler tags and post my versions of KLD decks, but it will take some time for me to post the decklists I'm confident with; I also have quite some lists that didn't live up to what I expected from them.
Will take some time, but stay tuned for updates!
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I've found myself playing many different decks the last evenings; and it's really tough to gauge which deck is which tier currently. Lots of decks seem to perform well for some time only to be completely stomped later. I've fallen to low 30s earlier this week using the Jeskai list I posted here, which had been my most reliable list for quite some time. I climbed back up using Grixis mostly, but if there is one thing I hate about my current iteration it's that it's really hard to beat a t3 Liliana or Tutelage; additionally it fares poorly in most draw-go mirrors and I miss some exile removal against recursive decks.
The solution I came up with is a more black-centered Esper Control list:
By no means a finished list, but I like where it's going. Essence Extraction feels like a powerful 1-of for aggro match-ups. Maybe some of the hardcounters should be Spell Shrivel to be easier on the mana and have the exile upside, but I'm not sure about the numbers there. Notable omissions are double-white cards; mainly for the sake of the mana being consistent as this allows me to run only 1 Plains, leaving more room for Swamps and Islands (which are needed to meet our tough double-costed cards t2 and t3). This does mean that this list has a harder time pressuring opposing Planeswalkers (something that Gideon and Avacyn excel at). On the flipside, the list gets to run better removal than a White-centered Esper list (Grasp of Darkness > Gideon's Reproach, Murder > Skywhaler's Shot, Essence Extraction) as well as Ob Nixilis and Liliana.
Would like to hear your input on this list; as I do intend to finalize it and put it up on here.
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Adding Gideon is something I could get behind. I would have to adapt the manabase (really want that second Plains) and thus replace Broken Concentration with Spell Shrivel. I don't love adding Gideon over Murder though, and would likely cut Essence Extraction to be more consistent in my removal spells. If Gideon gets added and the manabase gets adapted, I could also easily see re-adding Avacyn over baby Jace.
I'll try it out later.
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Made the aforementioned changes (-1 JVP, -1 Extraction, -3 Broken Concentration, -1 Island; +1 Avacyn, +1 Gideon +3 Spell Shrivel +1 Plains); so far it has been doing well.
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