Grunt Control

[DS2]

Hey guys (and girls maybe:tongue: )

A year ago i played a fun control deck,But with the new series of cards, i would like to know if some people have some ideas to makes this deck better

Here is my first list

Lands

3 volcanic island
3 tundra
1 plains
4 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
5 plains
1 mountain

Creatures

4 jotun grunt

Spells

4 intuition
4 merchant scroll
4 fire/ice
3 Swords to plowshares
2 pyroclasm
4 accumulated knowledge
4 brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 counterspell
2 mana leak
2 isochron scepter

SB

didn't think of it much ,but i think shattering spree is a must to have a chance against COTV on 2

I didn't test this deck quite good,but i have to say that it is a deck,with some adjustement, could be a very solid deck

It is pure control based with actually 1 game winner (grunt)
I played this deck against threshold( went 2-2) once i got a grunt going it was going easy,but most of the time it was a counterwar.

Somebody some tips?

Thx anyway for looking :smile:

[rufus]

You could look at the Scepter/Chant or MUC lists for inspiration.

[arsenalpow]

I guess you made this before tarmogoyf was released. He is the creature of choice in most aggro control lists now. Check out some of the current threshold lists to see how they utilize him.

[DS2]

i would like to stay with the grunts,intuitions,AK's

I build this just after tarmo was released.
But green is not the colour to use here i think

this deck draws so many cards (4-6 cards a turn)

Chant maybe to be considered

[Zinch]

I'd cut the 4th intuition for the 4th StP.
Also, cut the pyroclasms, and replace them with burning wish or wrath of god (the first can search for the second or pyroclasm but maybe is not a good card in a control deck...)
And play another win con: you don't want to lose to a extirpate or a leyline... Maybe some mishra's factory or a morphling...

[Benie Bederios]

Hey guys (and girls maybe:tongue: )

A year ago i played a fun control deck,But with the new series of cards, i would like to know if some people have some ideas to makes this deck better

Here is my first list

Lands

3 volcanic island
3 tundra
1 plains
4 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
5 plains
1 mountain

Creatures

4 jotun grunt

Spells

4 intuition
4 merchant scroll
4 fire/ice
3 Swords to plowshares
2 pyroclasm
4 accumulated knowledge
4 brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 counterspell
2 mana leak
2 isochron scepter

SB

didn't think of it much ,but i think shattering spree is a must to have a chance against COTV on 2

I didn't test this deck quite good,but i have to say that it is a deck,with some adjustement, could be a very solid deck

It is pure control based with actually 1 game winner (grunt)
I played this deck against threshold( went 2-2) once i got a grunt going it was going easy,but most of the time it was a counterwar.

Somebody some tips?

Thx anyway for looking :smile:

Wasn't this originally a Vintage deck? I remember encountering it a couple of times. In Vintage this deck is a lot stonger. You have Mana Drain and Tolarian Academy to generate enough mana to matter. On top of that keeping Grunt alive is much easier.

About your list...



1 plains
...
5 plains
...


Hmm I should play some Islands.

18 blue-producing/fetching lands is enough for supporting double blue, so I would go +1 Counterspell anyway. On top of that I believe 8 Counters is enough, because they are quite slow.

Your removal lacks also. Why go for Pyroclasm, with so many x/3 creatures. Sure you have Grunts to shrink Thresholds creatures, but it's unreliable. Wrath of God would do the trick much better and Engineered Explosives do the trick much better. Also 3 Plow and 4 Fire // Ice is the wrong way around, eventhough FI can draw cards with Scepter.

I wouldn't even play the red splash. Black has far better options like Extirpate and Smother.

I have worked on this list too, but after alot of testing, I just came up with a worse version of UWb Landstill. I will seach for the list though... Maybe it can help. Some things I can remember.

- Play 22 or more lands. 20 is to few... If you want to draw some cards you need atleast 4 mana.

- There is no reason not to Play Wrath of God and Engineered Explosives.

- Black( nice SB options) and Green( Life from the Loam/ Intuition thingys) are the best colors to splash. Red doesn't do anything in the modern metagame.

- 4 Intuition/ 4 Merchant Scroll is to much. I would play 3/2 at max, but removed the Scrolls for Mystical Tutors.

Well if I find the list I will post it. But ask your self the question, why play this over Uw Landstill...

BB

[Wiw]

Well, Grunt is the anti-goyf. Grunt will always be 4/4 and make goyf smaller each turn it's out there. Similarly the creature is strong against Ichorid, loam-aggro, and fit.
I'd cut pyroclasm from your maindeck and play atleast one other alternate win condition such as Morphling or decree of justice. Exalted Angel isn't a bad choice, either.

Ophidian is also feasible since you have so much burn and removal.
And I'd also strongly consider Vedalken Shackles and the engineered explosives/academy ruins pairing.

Or you can make this a landstill deck that plays Jotun Grunts, not dissimilar to the landstill decks that play tarmogoyf.

[Mordenkaynen]

Yeah, with this lack of finishers.. since you have many controlish/removal cards, ophidian/shadowmage infiltrator/dimir cutpurse can be relevant; though I'm not sure that those controlish cards do the job properly. Of'course, counter-top+bob impose themselves)