This thread is an esper/superfriendish agrro control deck i´ve come up with and i really like it(if the deck isn´t super synergistic it´s a big nono). If you like crazy interactions and hate mono colored decks, i suggest you try this out.
Intro:
A few weeks ago, i was searching for something fun to play in type 2. I only just began playing this format and i got a bit tired of the deck i was using before.
I started out looking at the Sun titan/Phantasmal image combo, but found it was not good enough for me. Too simple and too repetitive.
About 2 weeks after that, still searching for something cool to play, i ended up finding a "venser and friends" deck here in salvation, and then it struck me. I ended up trying to mix these 2 things together.
Eventually black made it´s way in, and the deck was more consistent, better and more fun to play. And i was looking for something that could at least make the people in my local say: "dude, have you seen that deck? Wtf is it?" so i can get some respect around here (sheesh...)
Being a long time fan of the blink decks, i just couldn´t resist asking for opinions in making it better
The Core:
The idea is pretty straightforward: Beat the &3%! out of every EtB ability there is, using venser to blink splicers, titans wall of omens and planeswalkers.
The fun part about this deck is trying to make every card good on it´s own and unstoppable when it´s all together.
Every card in the deck tries to get at least some advantage either replacing itself, ramping, making tokens filtering drawing etc and every planeswalker will work as a way to stop the game enough to let you overwhelm the board with little combinations.
Therefore, 4 wall of omens seem a standard. Splicers also offer another body and is welcome to get dismembered if later you get see a sun titan.
3 Solemn. Solemnemn is a 3 for 1. Lets you search your basics when needed. Usually either the second WBU to be able to have mana to play anything in this deck.It fixes mana, ramps into an earlier titan, a planesalkwer backed up with a duress or just thins the deck
4 Preordain are an obvious choice here. Mana is a big issue in this deck, beeing able to see more cards is very important, and as long as you have 4 mana, 2 of which are WW you´re almost certaintly good to go.
3 Day of judgment are very important against aggro, sided out against control matchups. You´ll almost never have to kill too many of your dudes since they don´t get there utill later in the game, and you can get almost everyone back.
2 Divination are solid. Even with all the advantage, you want to be sure you´ll have a land drop every turn and something else to do to stall the game and hit in if possible.
Adding black, gives this deck, early hand disruption in the form of 4 duress and 2 dispise key against control matchups and against any sort of deck actually. The fact that it lets you see their hand too is pretty important even if you don´t hit anything because you´ll be able to know what to do from there, plus this deck has more trouble dealing with the planeswalkers... than the creatures, so 2 dispise are ok. And even if creatures get through your hand disruption and day, o-ring is still there to hopefully save the day
with the ONLY exception being consecrated sphinx. That thing is THE REASON there are 2 go for the throat in the side board. Instant removal is important, i know. There is no way to deal with collonades or tar pits (which actually laugh their way through) but better in the sideboard than nowhere i suppose.
PLANESWALKERS
The sub-theme of the deck, although most of the wins will be brought to you by theses guys. Most are good alone and together they´re unstoppable.
Venser: the man of the deck, adding advantage with almost every card in the deck, one activated ability at a time.His -1 is exremely important here, and his -8 is a win condition. Had to cut him from 2 to 1.
Gideon: He smashes, he protects he kills, he is huge, he stalles the game... he does it all.
Elspeth: The only "lady" in the deck and the only maindeck source of life gain. She protects herself and can deal with unnecessary permanents. Her -5 is a bit worse with your o-rings on the field, but that doesn´t happen too much.
Karn: If this dudes hit´s play and survives even 1 turn... it´s usaully over. Extremely powerful.
Baby jace: Card advantage and the only planeswalker that can return with the sun titan.
Combos/Interactions:
Other than the fact that each card virtually gives you another card and has is arguably good on it´s own, there are some typical combinations such as:
Venser
Venser on it´s own= win condition (by forfeit)
Venser + wall= card draw
Venser + Gtitan = 5 dudes, 14 power total potential kill in the next turn or 2 if you use the -1
Venser + STitan= getting aditional triggered abilities (see sun titan)
Venser+ Espeth= Unlimited army of 1/1´s (whilst charging venser´s ultimate); If you +2 venser out and -5 elspeth you get a non token killing pernicious deed, and your 2 planeswalkers survive
Venser + Solemn= Insane amounts of ramp
Venser + O ring= get rid of those pesky permanents
Sun titan
can get back:
marsh flats
splicer: + 4/4 worth of power on the board
wall: protect planeswalkers + draw
jace: keep drawing cards
phantasmal image: copies sun titan, gets back everything else. Can copy solemn if you have one. Does chain into anything mentioned above if you have both images in the graveyard
Elspeth
Elspeth + grave titan/splicer/= life gain; if in a hurry -5 and your tokens live
Elspeth + venserr= see venser; imagine the former situation but with venser in, you could now blink the titan -5, you kill venser, but you´ve got a lot of dudes out and are going to gain around 6 life with elspeth next turn
Elseth + other walkers= protection
additionally:
phantasmal image: for 2 mana copies you titans, solemns walls splicers et all, and their titans and other creatures. Returns with sun titan for more shinanigans
Blade splicer: 3/3 first stike + 1/1 body for 3 is advantage. Returns with sun titan and can be copied by the image
Wall of omens: Additional card draw, and protects. Will eventually have to leave for something else, and is probably sided out for 4 mana leak against control.
Obviously the combinations are just sick, and i think you get it by now. Mana Base
This deck is very mana greedy and is 3 colored after all. Mainly you will want all 3 colors by turn 2. And specially U/B on turn 1 for the first turn duress/despise or preordain, thus the 4 darkslick shores.
2 Marsh flats are therefore a great addition, i only had those at the moment but it has been working just fine.
You´ll almost always need double white as soon as possible, to play elspeth day or gideon (but maily day of judgment)
Even though the deck is mostly BW blue is still present in the best U cost spell right now, preordain.
I haven´t been having too much trouble in getting the mana, i´ve been having trouble in getting lands (which is pretty obvious since i´m playing two 6 drops, one 7 drop and three five drops, but don´t forget this deck does contain 3 solemn 4 wall and 4 preordain hopefully assuring the 4th land minimum needed.
The sideboard
Timely Reinforcments: Against really agressive decks, probably sided in for the splicer.
Mana leak: I´ve been thinking i´ll side these in for the walls against U/B control or control in general.
2/3 Spellskites: Could protect my walkers or dudes, not sure what to take out but probably 2 walls or a day of judgment depending on the game
go for the throat: Side in against control, against that sphinx or manlands that are unlockable (tar pit... im looking at you) or carry swords (i´ll leave you alone collonade... i can take care of your sword). But instant removal might be the only thing i feel is missing
Revoke existance: Fillers, might change them for something else (open to suggestions here :D)
So the deck would have 2 major directions to take, 1 would be creature wise, and the other would be planeswalker-wise, both of which interact with each other and with themselves is really sick and unheardof ways.
So there you have it. Thank you for your time. i Tried to make this thread as attractive, understandable and convincing as i could. I hope you´ve hyped as much as i have about this deck. It is really fun to play once it goes off Any suggestions whatsoever are extremely welcome, regarding either the deck or the thread.:p:p
This is what I've been tinkering with, and it does fantastic against aggro. Tempered Steel and Mono black specifically. I took and aggressive approach with cards that net me multiple creatures. I'm not sold on the Vampire Nighthawks yet but we'll see.
Yeah. 2 vensers were the original idea. Actually everything just works better with him, but ok without him. Putting 2 in, i think will make the curve step up even more.
And another sun titan would give me the same problem, too many high cost cards. And plus the wall is never the target i would bring back unless it´s the only one. The sun titan idea is just as a little combo within the deck.
@muffludwig: I think your idea is completely different from mine. I see your cards working alone, whereas mine work together. It´s a different deck
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A huge thanks to Argetlam and the guys at Hakai studios for this awesome banner
divination could be tezz's gambit in a deck with planeswalkers. It just seems like it should be there, and can be cast on t3 if needed.
Also with all the talk about sun titan synergy I dont see any. There are 9 non land targets in your deck, and 4 of those you state that you would never bring back unless they were the only choice... For the record sun titan with image(s) in yard should mean I play Sun Titan, I grab Image copying Titan, grab image repeat until out of images, then pull out another target. Tec Edge works great with titan but not in 3 colors :(. The black seems almost unnecessary, as you could cut discard for counters and the removal shouldnt be necessary (plus dismember could still be run). Also if you are set on running black, why no inquisition of kozilek? this card snags their early plays which is what you are most worried about. Unless you land Wall of Omens you have nothing to thwart the early game, which is what you need in a control shell because late game is yours already.
Why are all of the Planeswalkers 1 ofs? Gideon and Venser can both be put to 2, and Jace Belerens can definitely replace those Divinations, as that is some pretty nice synergy with Sun Titan, and just better. Tezzeret's Gambit is also a better option if you aren't into more Jaces.
If you're worried about your curve being too high, I would add another Simulacrum, and a 25th land. 4 Marsh Flats is definitely the way to go.
Counterspells seem like an obvious addition here.
Day of Judgment should probably only be a 2 of since you are running quite a few creatures yourself. Liliana Vess would be excellent in here. Her tutoring is awesome, especially with all of your low counts in individual cards, and her discard can get pretty out of control.
Elspeth doesn't really seem to fit the deck in my opinion.
Why 4 Duress and 2 Despise? I would suggest a 3/1/1 split of IoK/Duress/Despise. Or any combination you go with should have a minimum of 3 Inquisition of Kozilek, though 4 is great.
yeah getting 2 planeswalkers is important IMO. That would take out the superfriends part of the deck though, unless you can do 1 Vesner, 2 Gideon, 2 Jace. Idk if that would work though. Also I'm not feeling divination in this deck.
i didn´t put inquisitions because i had no money to buy them at the time and well... i bought everything else. 1 of planeswalkers because a: no money to buy 2 gideons 2 vensers elspeths and karns, and b: it makes eveything more expensive. this deck is running 3 day 3 solemn 2 titan... how will it affect the deck if i added more 5+ drops before i even have lands enough to play all of them?
i also didn´t want to invest too much in liliana or more jaces since they´ll be leaving soon. And gambit is better than divination of course, but once again, i didn´t have any so i kept the divinations.
Elspeth does fit. how else could i gain life (exluding timely reinforcements)? Shes awesome with grave titan too and protects the walkers.
Im not really too concerned about the day of judgment... you´ll almost always win by your opponent giving up =P and the creatures that actually attack are the splicers, couse you don´t want to day with your titans out.
The sun titan combo is just like a slice of tomato in a sandwich, just a tiny piece of the puzzle just in case. It´s not like i desperately have to dig into it.
---
I´ll have to consider 2 vensers, maybe jace and inquisition then
This thread is an esper/superfriendish agrro control deck i´ve come up with and i really like it(if the deck isn´t super synergistic it´s a big nono). If you like crazy interactions and hate mono colored decks, i suggest you try this out.
Intro:
I started out looking at the Sun titan/Phantasmal image combo, but found it was not good enough for me. Too simple and too repetitive.
About 2 weeks after that, still searching for something cool to play, i ended up finding a "venser and friends" deck here in salvation, and then it struck me. I ended up trying to mix these 2 things together.
Eventually black made it´s way in, and the deck was more consistent, better and more fun to play. And i was looking for something that could at least make the people in my local say: "dude, have you seen that deck? Wtf is it?" so i can get some respect around here (sheesh...)
Being a long time fan of the blink decks, i just couldn´t resist asking for opinions in making it better
Behold my next deck :
3 Blade Splicer
1 Grave Titan
1 Sun Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Wall of Omens
2 Phantasmal Image
SUPER FRIENDS 5
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Karn Liberated
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace beleren
1 Elspeth Tirel
3 Day of Judgment
4 Preordain
2 Despise
4 Duress
2 Divination
3 Oblivion Ring
LANDS 24
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Plains
3 Island
2 Swamp
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Marsh Flats
3 spellskite
4 mana leak
3 timely reinforcements
2 revoke existance
The Core:
The idea is pretty straightforward: Beat the &3%! out of every EtB ability there is, using venser to blink splicers, titans wall of omens and planeswalkers.
The fun part about this deck is trying to make every card good on it´s own and unstoppable when it´s all together.
Every card in the deck tries to get at least some advantage either replacing itself, ramping, making tokens filtering drawing etc and every planeswalker will work as a way to stop the game enough to let you overwhelm the board with little combinations.
Therefore, 4 wall of omens seem a standard. Splicers also offer another body and is welcome to get dismembered if later you get see a sun titan.
3 Solemn. Solemnemn is a 3 for 1. Lets you search your basics when needed. Usually either the second WBU to be able to have mana to play anything in this deck.It fixes mana, ramps into an earlier titan, a planesalkwer backed up with a duress or just thins the deck
4 Preordain are an obvious choice here. Mana is a big issue in this deck, beeing able to see more cards is very important, and as long as you have 4 mana, 2 of which are WW you´re almost certaintly good to go.
3 Day of judgment are very important against aggro, sided out against control matchups. You´ll almost never have to kill too many of your dudes since they don´t get there utill later in the game, and you can get almost everyone back.
2 Divination are solid. Even with all the advantage, you want to be sure you´ll have a land drop every turn and something else to do to stall the game and hit in if possible.
Adding black, gives this deck, early hand disruption in the form of 4 duress and 2 dispise key against control matchups and against any sort of deck actually. The fact that it lets you see their hand too is pretty important even if you don´t hit anything because you´ll be able to know what to do from there, plus this deck has more trouble dealing with the planeswalkers... than the creatures, so 2 dispise are ok. And even if creatures get through your hand disruption and day, o-ring is still there to hopefully save the day
with the ONLY exception being consecrated sphinx. That thing is THE REASON there are 2 go for the throat in the side board. Instant removal is important, i know. There is no way to deal with collonades or tar pits (which actually laugh their way through) but better in the sideboard than nowhere i suppose.
PLANESWALKERS
The sub-theme of the deck, although most of the wins will be brought to you by theses guys. Most are good alone and together they´re unstoppable.
Venser: the man of the deck, adding advantage with almost every card in the deck, one activated ability at a time.His -1 is exremely important here, and his -8 is a win condition. Had to cut him from 2 to 1.
Gideon: He smashes, he protects he kills, he is huge, he stalles the game... he does it all.
Elspeth: The only "lady" in the deck and the only maindeck source of life gain. She protects herself and can deal with unnecessary permanents. Her -5 is a bit worse with your o-rings on the field, but that doesn´t happen too much.
Karn: If this dudes hit´s play and survives even 1 turn... it´s usaully over. Extremely powerful.
Baby jace: Card advantage and the only planeswalker that can return with the sun titan.
Combos/Interactions:
Other than the fact that each card virtually gives you another card and has is arguably good on it´s own, there are some typical combinations such as:
Venser
Venser on it´s own= win condition (by forfeit)
Venser + wall= card draw
Venser + Gtitan = 5 dudes, 14 power total potential kill in the next turn or 2 if you use the -1
Venser + STitan= getting aditional triggered abilities (see sun titan)
Venser + Splicer= army of 3/3
Venser + jace= draw ftw
Venser + Karn= free vindicate (whilst charging vensers ultimate)
Venser + Gideon= 6/6 unblockable (whilst charging vensers ultimate); free asassinate; protection
Venser+ Espeth= Unlimited army of 1/1´s (whilst charging venser´s ultimate); If you +2 venser out and -5 elspeth you get a non token killing pernicious deed, and your 2 planeswalkers survive
Venser + Solemn= Insane amounts of ramp
Venser + O ring= get rid of those pesky permanents
Sun titan
can get back:
marsh flats
splicer: + 4/4 worth of power on the board
wall: protect planeswalkers + draw
jace: keep drawing cards
phantasmal image: copies sun titan, gets back everything else. Can copy solemn if you have one. Does chain into anything mentioned above if you have both images in the graveyard
Elspeth
Elspeth + grave titan/splicer/= life gain; if in a hurry -5 and your tokens live
Elspeth + venserr= see venser; imagine the former situation but with venser in, you could now blink the titan -5, you kill venser, but you´ve got a lot of dudes out and are going to gain around 6 life with elspeth next turn
Elseth + other walkers= protection
additionally:
phantasmal image: for 2 mana copies you titans, solemns walls splicers et all, and their titans and other creatures. Returns with sun titan for more shinanigans
Blade splicer: 3/3 first stike + 1/1 body for 3 is advantage. Returns with sun titan and can be copied by the image
Wall of omens: Additional card draw, and protects. Will eventually have to leave for something else, and is probably sided out for 4 mana leak against control.
Obviously the combinations are just sick, and i think you get it by now.
Mana Base
This deck is very mana greedy and is 3 colored after all. Mainly you will want all 3 colors by turn 2. And specially U/B on turn 1 for the first turn duress/despise or preordain, thus the 4 darkslick shores.
2 Marsh flats are therefore a great addition, i only had those at the moment but it has been working just fine.
You´ll almost always need double white as soon as possible, to play elspeth day or gideon (but maily day of judgment)
Even though the deck is mostly BW blue is still present in the best U cost spell right now, preordain.
I haven´t been having too much trouble in getting the mana, i´ve been having trouble in getting lands (which is pretty obvious since i´m playing two 6 drops, one 7 drop and three five drops, but don´t forget this deck does contain 3 solemn 4 wall and 4 preordain hopefully assuring the 4th land minimum needed.
The sideboard
Timely Reinforcments: Against really agressive decks, probably sided in for the splicer.
Mana leak: I´ve been thinking i´ll side these in for the walls against U/B control or control in general.
2/3 Spellskites: Could protect my walkers or dudes, not sure what to take out but probably 2 walls or a day of judgment depending on the game
go for the throat: Side in against control, against that sphinx or manlands that are unlockable (tar pit... im looking at you) or carry swords (i´ll leave you alone collonade... i can take care of your sword). But instant removal might be the only thing i feel is missing
Revoke existance: Fillers, might change them for something else (open to suggestions here :D)
So the deck would have 2 major directions to take, 1 would be creature wise, and the other would be planeswalker-wise, both of which interact with each other and with themselves is really sick and unheardof ways.
So there you have it. Thank you for your time. i Tried to make this thread as attractive, understandable and convincing as i could. I hope you´ve hyped as much as i have about this deck. It is really fun to play once it goes off Any suggestions whatsoever are extremely welcome, regarding either the deck or the thread.:p:p
A huge thanks to Argetlam and the guys at Hakai studios for this awesome banner
1x Celestial Colonnade
3x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Darkslick Shores
3x Drowned Catacomb
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Island
6x Plains
2x Seachrome Coast
3x Swamp
4x Day of Judgment
4x Preordain
Enchantment (3)
3x Oblivion Ring
Creature (11)
4x Blade Splicer
1x Grave Titan
1x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Condemn
3x Dismember
2x Into the Roil
1x Jace's Ingenuity
Planeswalker (4)
1x Gideon Jura
3x Jace Beleren
This is what I've been tinkering with, and it does fantastic against aggro. Tempered Steel and Mono black specifically. I took and aggressive approach with cards that net me multiple creatures. I'm not sold on the Vampire Nighthawks yet but we'll see.
And another sun titan would give me the same problem, too many high cost cards. And plus the wall is never the target i would bring back unless it´s the only one. The sun titan idea is just as a little combo within the deck.
@muffludwig: I think your idea is completely different from mine. I see your cards working alone, whereas mine work together. It´s a different deck
A huge thanks to Argetlam and the guys at Hakai studios for this awesome banner
Also with all the talk about sun titan synergy I dont see any. There are 9 non land targets in your deck, and 4 of those you state that you would never bring back unless they were the only choice... For the record sun titan with image(s) in yard should mean I play Sun Titan, I grab Image copying Titan, grab image repeat until out of images, then pull out another target. Tec Edge works great with titan but not in 3 colors :(. The black seems almost unnecessary, as you could cut discard for counters and the removal shouldnt be necessary (plus dismember could still be run). Also if you are set on running black, why no inquisition of kozilek? this card snags their early plays which is what you are most worried about. Unless you land Wall of Omens you have nothing to thwart the early game, which is what you need in a control shell because late game is yours already.
If you're worried about your curve being too high, I would add another Simulacrum, and a 25th land. 4 Marsh Flats is definitely the way to go.
Counterspells seem like an obvious addition here.
Day of Judgment should probably only be a 2 of since you are running quite a few creatures yourself.
Liliana Vess would be excellent in here. Her tutoring is awesome, especially with all of your low counts in individual cards, and her discard can get pretty out of control.
Elspeth doesn't really seem to fit the deck in my opinion.
Why 4 Duress and 2 Despise? I would suggest a 3/1/1 split of IoK/Duress/Despise. Or any combination you go with should have a minimum of 3 Inquisition of Kozilek, though 4 is great.
Standard
UR Control
Modern
Merfolk
Burn
Avacyn did nothing wrong!
Purify Innistrad!
#Purge
i didn´t put inquisitions because i had no money to buy them at the time and well... i bought everything else. 1 of planeswalkers because a: no money to buy 2 gideons 2 vensers elspeths and karns, and b: it makes eveything more expensive. this deck is running 3 day 3 solemn 2 titan... how will it affect the deck if i added more 5+ drops before i even have lands enough to play all of them?
i also didn´t want to invest too much in liliana or more jaces since they´ll be leaving soon. And gambit is better than divination of course, but once again, i didn´t have any so i kept the divinations.
Elspeth does fit. how else could i gain life (exluding timely reinforcements)? Shes awesome with grave titan too and protects the walkers.
Im not really too concerned about the day of judgment... you´ll almost always win by your opponent giving up =P and the creatures that actually attack are the splicers, couse you don´t want to day with your titans out.
The sun titan combo is just like a slice of tomato in a sandwich, just a tiny piece of the puzzle just in case. It´s not like i desperately have to dig into it.
---
I´ll have to consider 2 vensers, maybe jace and inquisition then
A huge thanks to Argetlam and the guys at Hakai studios for this awesome banner