[DTB] Blade Control

[The Duck!!]

This past weekend at the Tales of Adventure Baazar of Moxen trial I went 6-2 coming in 12th with the following list. The synergies between Liliana, Intuition, Lingering Souls, and Cabal Therapy were amazing all weekend with my only losses coming to Ross Merriam playing elves (he played well and never gave me good opportunities to get value from my removal) and I lost to Team America which I think if I'd taken a few different lines I'd of won. I beat reanimator, goblins, death and taxes, miracles, jund, and uwr delver. Main 4 Flooded Strand 3 Polluted Delta 1 Marsh Flats 1 Creeping Tar Pit 1 Karakas 1 Riptide Laboratory 4 Tundra 3 Underground Sea 1 Scrubland 2 Island 1 Swamp 1 Plains 4 Stoneforge Mystic 3 Snapcaster Mage 1 Vendilion Clique 1 Batterskull 1 Umezawa's Jitte 3 Lingering Souls 1 Intuition 1 Cabal Therapy 1 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Thoughtseize 3 Force of Will 1 Vindicate 3 Jace, TMS 1 Liliana of the Veil 2 Supreme Verdict 4 Swords to Plowshares 4 Brainstorm 1 Ponder SB 1 Zealous Persecution 1 Liliana of the Veil 1 Cabal Therapy 3 Surgical Extraction 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Manriki Gusari 2 Spell Pierce 1 Path to Exile 1 Venser Shaper Savant 1 Duress 1 Force of Will 1 Disenchant

I'd like to ask,in which of the MU's did you side-in Venser? Also,how did you find the 2 supreme verdicts MD? Was it too much?

[BVB09]

What are people's thoughts on adding a couple Tropical Islands for 2-3 Abrupt Decay?
I have always thought that the most problematic cards for us are permanents, we're already very prepared against combo, specially post SB.
Decay serves as StP 5-6, sometimes 4 spot removal seems tight against creature decks.
Decay kills Equipments, Sylvan Library, Vial, Choke, Counterbalance and Top (some utility against miracles), liliana, even blood moon if you add mana in response... All of this cards are an auto-fow/discard, and that's not always posible.
We can still run 4 basics maindeck! Just cutting the Creeping Tar and the 10th fecth.
I do think the beneficts are much higher than the loses.
Any one has tried it? Any thoughts?

[TheArchitect]

What are people's thoughts on adding a couple Tropical Islands for 2-3 Abrupt Decay?
I have always thought that the most problematic cards for us are permanents, we're already very prepared against combo, specially post SB.
Decay serves as StP 5-6, sometimes 4 spot removal seems tight against creature decks.
Decay kills Equipments, Sylvan Library, Vial, Choke, Counterbalance and Top (some utility against miracles), liliana, even blood moon if you add mana in response... All of this cards are an auto-fow/discard, and that's not always posible.
We can still run 4 basics maindeck! Just cutting the Creeping Tar and the 10th fecth.
I do think the beneficts are much higher than the loses.
Any one has tried it? Any thoughts?

Ive tried it in esper blade control with deathrite shamans and 2 green producing lands and it is not even close to worth it. Run some combination of vindicates, EE and detention sphere (the latter being the worst) if you want a catchall removal spell.

[mike1987]

I was waiting to respond because I wanted to go to the next tournament so I could get some data, rather than trying to remember. I play legacy every tuesday with 30-40 players. Yesterday I went 5-1 with the following list:

Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 True Name Nemesis
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique

Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Ponder
1 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Detention Sphere
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
2 Scrubland
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard
3 Meddling Mage
2 Rest in Peace
2 Duress
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Reanimate
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
2 Zealous Persecution


My matches were: Miracles (2-1), Merfolk (2-1), Death and Taxes (2-0), Sneak and Show (2-1), ANT (1-2), MUD (2-0). Jace was quite good throughout: Miracles was won thanks to him, I won one game against Merfolk off of Jace too (landing him after discard + STP on a board with no Islandwalk lords). My game 2 against Sneak and Show he showed in an emrakul with an empty hand and I had Jace and 3 lands in play, topdecked academy ruins and only had 1 blue source =(. Against ANT on game 3 I played Jace after an EoT clique which showed me that he needed an infernal tutor. I fatesealed, saw tutor and put it in the bottom, then he topdecked another. Finally, against MUD I won both games by playing control until Jace could land, and then protecting him with a TNN while making him draw only lands and metalworkers. The only game where Jace didn't come into play much was Death and Taxes, but I won both of those with equipped TNN

So all in all, he was good to great throughout. I didn't meet any Delver decks yesterday, though there certainly are a bunch. I think Jace is even better with delver decks tending towards Team America and away from UWR (and very much away from RUG), since TA has a much harder time dealing with Jace.

Since GP Paris, miracles have been ran by many people again. What do you usually board in and out against miracles?

[Jim Higginbottom]

I'd like to ask,in which of the MU's did you side-in Venser? Also,how did you find the 2 supreme verdicts MD? Was it too much?

I sided Venser in vs Reanimator, Miracles, and the uwr delver/blade deck. It and karakas very much helped vs miracles as I don't think i'd of won without it. I lost game 1 to reanimator and while we're very much favored in sideboarded games already the venser just made it even more so which is always nice. The 2 md supreme verdicts were great all day and definitely made the death and taxes matchup even easier as combined with lingering souls it's really hard for them to ever really get anything going. Venser'ing a permanent back to my opponents hand followed up by a cabal therapy happened several times that day and always felt really sweet.

[SansSerif]

I am getting ready for a local tournament this weekend and plan to play Esper Stoneblade. I have been playing UWR Delver for the past few months with success, but want to try a deck with a better game against fair decks. I based my list off of Charles Gordon's decklist from SCG Oakland. This is my current decklist, but it is subject for change:

Lands - 23
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Marsh Flats
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Scrubland
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Karakas

Creatures - 10
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 True-Name Nemesis
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique

Other Permanents - 6
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Instants & Sorcery - 21
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterspell
2 Thoughtseize
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Lingering Souls
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Ponder

Sideboard - 15
3 Meddling Mage
2 Rest in Peace
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Flusterstorm
1 Lingering Souls
1 Venser Shaper Servant
1 Disenchant
1 Vendilion Clique

I am trying to improve the Combo and Control matchups without giving up too much against Delver Decks. I switched Manriki-Gusari out for Disenchant because I think it is a more versatile card. I do worry about giving up Vindicate, and the 4th copy of Meddling Mage, but I think Venser and Clique are more impactful cards that do more against a wider range of decks.

My current thinking for Sideboarding:

Sneak and Show
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Lingering Souls
-2 Supreme Verdict
-2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Venser Shaper Servant
+3 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Flusterstorm (=7)

ANT
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Lingering Souls
-2 Supreme Verdict
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Vendilion Clique
+2 Rest in Peace
+3 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Grafdigger's Cage
+1 Flusterstorm (=9)

Stoneblade
-4 Force of Will
-1 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 ???
+1 Disenchant
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Venser Shaper Servant
+1 Lingering Souls
+2 Zealous Persecution (=7)

Deathblade
-4 Force of Will
-1 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Umezawa's Jitte (????)
-1 Supreme Verdict (????)
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice (????)
+1 Lingering Souls
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Venser Shaper Servant
+1 Disenchant (=7)


Team America
-4 Force of Will
-1 Vendilion Clique
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Karakas
-1 Jace (against stifle)
+2 Rest in Peace
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Lingering Souls
+1 Flusterstorm (against stifle)
+1 Supreme Verdict (=7/8)

UWR Delver
-4 Force of Will
-1 Umezawa's Jitte (????)
-2 Counterspell
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Disenchant
+1 Lingering Souls (=7)

Jund
-4 Force of Will
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Engineered Explosive
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Lingering Souls
+2 Rest in Peace
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Vendilion Clique (=6)

Death & Taxes
-4 Force of Will
-1 Counterspell
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Disenchant
+2 Zealous Persecution
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Lingering Souls (=6)

I have not had a chance to playtest this deck yet, so I am looking for some input on my list and sideboarding strategies.

[losada]

Sneak and Show
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Lingering Souls
-2 Supreme Verdict
-2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Venser Shaper Servant
+3 Meddling Mage
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Flusterstorm (=7)

I'd side out the four copies of Swords to plowshares (is a dead card in this matchup). Also, Disenchant is (sometimes) good to destroy Sneak Attack. My recommendation:

-4 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Supreme Verdict
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
+3 Meddling Mage
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Venser Shaper Servant
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Disenchant

[BVB09]

I'd side out the four copies of Swords to plowshares (is a dead card in this matchup). Also, Disenchant is (sometimes) good to destroy Sneak Attack. My recommendation:

-4 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Supreme Verdict
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
+3 Meddling Mage
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Venser Shaper Servant
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Disenchant

I feel like that matchup is almost imposible pre-board. Specially if you don't know what your opponent is playing.
Any tips? Do you guys use the counters on the cantrips or in the Show/Sneak? Do you always leave 2 mana open to play around pierce? Even if that way you can't cast a creature?

[SansSerif]

I feel like that matchup is almost imposible pre-board. Specially if you don't know what your opponent is playing.
Any tips? Do you guys use the counters on the cantrips or in the Show/Sneak? Do you always leave 2 mana open to play around pierce? Even if that way you can't cast a creature?

Coming from UWR Delver, that decks does look to counter S+T's cantrips to get value out of daze and spell pierce. With only Force of Will and Counterspell, I think Stoneblade wants to save it's counters for the "I win" spells. This will force a S+T player to wait for protection before he can "Go off" and hopefully allow our discard and softer counters to come into play.

But to your larger point, I think you are right and it is a tough match. I'm thinking that maybe I should leave SoF&I in the main deck so I can give my Stoneforge Mystics some way to help against combo.

[GreenShorty]

I've started considering a UWr stoneblade control list. Has anyone tested it yet?

It adds basically lightning bolt main deck, but the red adds a lot of options to the sideboard. I guess it's better in a field that has more fair decks (which is my case).

For reference, this is the list I've been trying:

Land (22)
2x Arid Mesa
4x Flooded Strand
4x Island
1x Karakas
2x Plains
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Tundra
2x Volcanic Island

Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Planeswalker (4)
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Instant (20)
4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
4x Force of Will
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Spell Pierce
4x Swords to Plowshares

Sorcery (1)
1x Ponder

Creature (10)
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stoneforge Mystic
4x True-Name Nemesis

Sideboard (15)
1x Detention Sphere
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Humility
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
2x Rest in Peace
1x Sulfur Elemental
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Wear / Tear

[Arsenal]

Red splash doesn't seem bad. Lightning Bolt, REB and Wear/Tear are all pretty relevant and the fact that you can Snapcaster all of them is just icing on the cake.

[DragoFireheart]

Red splash doesn't seem bad. Lightning Bolt, REB and Wear/Tear are all pretty relevant and the fact that you can Snapcaster all of them is just icing on the cake.

Being able to Snap REB/Pyro seems really good in the current meta. Pull a Miracles and main deck one of each.

[BVB09]

Coming from UWR Delver, that decks does look to counter S+T's cantrips to get value out of daze and spell pierce. With only Force of Will and Counterspell, I think Stoneblade wants to save it's counters for the "I win" spells. This will force a S+T player to wait for protection before he can "Go off" and hopefully allow our discard and softer counters to come into play.

But to your larger point, I think you are right and it is a tough match. I'm thinking that maybe I should leave SoF&I in the main deck so I can give my Stoneforge Mystics some way to help against combo.

Thanks. But they alway seem to have an extra counter/treat for my counters. Even discard gets nullified when they brainstorm in response.
Yesterday I lost 0-2 in a local tournament against S&T after testing hard that MU the previous day...

I have been also considering the red splash. However I thought of Izzet charms rather than lighting bolts not to be so weak against combo pre-sb. But it any case it seems S&T is already a dificult MU pre-board even with discard, and Lighting bolt helps against the other 2 major combo decks: Elves and ANT.
I will be testing red splash with lightning, probably adding a couple Mishra's Factories now that the manabase is better.
However I would like to play a couple Blood moon in the SB, but it's already very tight. To many good SB options for UWR.

[ivanpei]

If you are splashing red, you need some Lavamancers. I'm currently running UWR blade with 3 Grim, 2 bolts md.

Sb REB and Wear//Tear has been really good.

Lavamancer is an extremely powerful 1 mana bomb that is really good against Deathrite, Delvers, SFM and Bobs which are all over the format at the moment. If unanswered, a Grim can win you the game. Due to this, I've gone down to just 1 Snapcaster so I don't get as many awkward not enough junk in graveyard moments.

[Qweerios]

I threw together a last minute UWr Stoneblade deck together and went 3-1 at a local tournament. I wanted to play Jaces, Verdicts, and Blood Moons so here's what I used:


Creatures (10)
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 True-Name Nemesis
2 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (19)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
3 Supreme Verdict

Others (9)
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Blood Moon
1 Detention Sphere
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull

Lands (22)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Arid Mesa
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 Plains
6 Island

Sideboard (15)
2 Meddling Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pyroblast
1 Disenchant
2 Rest in Peace
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sword of Feast and Famine


2-0 vs. MUD
2-1 vs. Team America
1-2 vs. Jund
2-0 vs. Goblins

The deck came out quite well except against Jund where I kept two 1-landers with 1-2 Brainstorm and bricked twice (hence 2 losses). I definitely think Jund is easier than Team America. I often found myself siding out SoFaI and Detention Sphere for Explosives. I would definitely include a pair of Ponders to add shuffling effects and virtually increase land availability in the first 4 drops without having to add additional lands to the deck. A card I would have loved to have in my SB would have been Celestial Purge for Liliana, DRS, and Bob.

[ivanpei]

Im actually playing 24 lands, with 2 of them being wasteland. They're pretty relevant these days in taking down Groves, Dark Depths etc.

I find 22 pretty risky. I would never dip under 23 unless you are playing Deathrites.

[serendib]

I'm playing a original controlish list based on Blood Baron (because I like lifegain) and Esper Charm which is a very veratile card to my view
I like basic lands manabases so that I can play my high converted mana costs without being waste-landed and wasting time.
If is a more controlish build than an aggro-control one .. an it is terribly fun to play.


4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa

4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
3 Esper Charm

4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Supreme Verdict

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Body And Mind

Lands (22)
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Marsh Flats
1 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Underground Sea
1 Karakas
1 Swamp
3 Plains
6 Island

Sideboard (15)
2 Meddling Mage
2 Flusterstorm
2 Tsabo's Web
2 Peacekeeper
1 Disenchant
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Gideon Jura
1 Vindicate
1 Extirpate


Esper Charm can:
make card advantage
make opponent discard istant in different key situations such as:
- make combo decks discard 2 when LED is on stack
- make aggro decks discard 2 eot and in my turn I verdict alla creatures
- make control or tempo decks discard 2 eot so that you can play a Key spell in your turn possibly with opponents not having counterspells left in his hand
make annoying enchantments disappear such as:
- counterbalance
- the 3/1 creature which do not allow me to draw more than 1 card each turn
- sylvan library and rings

what do you think of it ?

[Deckerator]

Is it worth to play the blood baron. I never tested him, so what are your experiences?

Imo he seems really slow because of the cmc 5. Never saw a creature played in a deck like this with such a high cmc.
it is good that he has power and thoughness 4 and protection from white.
how often does he get +6/+6?

I would miss creatures like TNN, Clique and some other valuable

[serendib]

Is it worth to play the blood baron. I never tested him, so what are your experiences?

Imo he seems really slow because of the cmc 5. Never saw a creature played in a deck like this with such a high cmc.
it is good that he has power and thoughness 4 and protection from white.
how often does he get +6/+6?

I would miss creatures like TNN, Clique and some other valuable

blood baron never becomes 10/10
he races more or less everything legacy has and he is so difficult to kill
with sword or elspeth he become huge
sure he is slow

[TheArchitect]

blood baron never becomes 10/10
he races more or less everything legacy has and he is so difficult to kill
with sword or elspeth he become huge
sure he is slow

Another batterskull, or even baneslayer angel, seem infinitely better than blood baron if a big stupid life gaining beater is what you want. Also, he can't get bigger with elspeth, she can't target the blood baron.