Iron Buddha
02-13-2011, 11:22 AM
My paragon is Antoine Ruel's Psychatog from 2005 Extended Pro Tour Los Angeles. What I want is to play a Legacy-variant of that deck. So you know where I'm coming from.
I consider the deck control, but it's just as closely related to Tempo Thresh Aggro-control as it is to conventional control. The deck plays rather like "control-aggro". The term indicates that the control part is more dominant. The aspects of control I have adopted are specifically the heavy land base and the 4C bombs. Aggro-control only adopts the disruption part of control. Cards like Psychatog, Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Vedalken Shackles, Decree of Justice, Mishra's Factory are clearly in the sense of aggro.
In the MUC thread you can find a MUC variant that is called stack-oriented MUC, which is actually exactly the kind of deck I have in mind. However, as this is the MUC thread, people have always been opposed to the much needed splash.
Additionally the permanent-based version has always been more popular than the stack-oriented version and finally the deck disappeared.
In the established decks forum there once was a thread for an U/G/B control deck utilizing Pernicious deed, Tarmogoyf, and Tombstalker. The author said that the deck had been strictly developed from old Psychatog control, but Tarmogoyf and Tombstalker had surpassed Psychatog as the best cheap big beatstick. The deck used the Intuition-Loam-engine instead of Fact or Fiction, but it was questioned by posters if the Intuition-Loam-engine is actually better than FoF. One of my builds is very similar to the deck posted there. However, I can't find the thread anymore.
The deck is by definition blue based. The most promising splashes seem to be white and black, because these are the only colours with good spot-removal. (Green has no spot-removal and red's spot-removal is even worse than blue's) Green has Tarmogoyf. Red has ?!
This is my shell (I think that's a good starting point):
16-18 (roughly said, this is my early-game package)
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell (Counterspell is a mid- and lategame Daze, you know Daze is good)
4 spot-removal (Swords to Plowshares or the black equivalent: my favourites are Smother and Ghastly Demise. I don't think more than 4 spot-removal is necessarily needed, as this deck has a lot of digging power)
4-6 disruption (Force Spike, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Path to Exile, Thoughseize, Spell Pierce, Ghastly Demise, Smother,...)
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
1 land + 2 Impulse OR 3 Ponder (only 4 BS + 4 FoF is very low)
23 lands
4 Mishra's Factory (I think it must be)
3+ answers to Vial and Counterbalance (full sweeper vs. low costed suboptimal sweeper, but my testing points that Disk and Deed > EE)
5+ Win-cons (It is necessary that the win-cons have a certain powerlevel, because slots are so tight. You must culminate as much power into one card as possible; this is why I'm opposed to cards like Vendilion Clique. The other reason why the powerlevel of the win-cons must be so high is Fact or Fiction and Impulse/Ponder)
some card-choices:
Nevinyrral's Disk: 3x Disk main and 3x EE in the SB is tech; I think preboard Disk > EE, and postboard I like to run both depending on the matchup. 3 is the minimum number for answers against Vial and Counterbalance, additionally I have one Academy Ruins.
Vedalken Shackles: Vedalken Shackles is bigger than everything else. It's bigger than Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Decree of Justice, Baneslayer Angel, Meloku, Elspeth, or Knight of the Reliquary. Awesome creature! If you need board-control, but don't have space, take Vedalken Shackles.
Decree of Justice: Decree of Justice is an updated Nimble Mongoose for mana heavy decks.
Tombstalker: Tombstalker is the black update of Nimble Mongoose.
Force Spike and Mana Leak: I prefer Force Spike and Mana Leak over Spell Snare and co. for two reasons: 1. They fight Planeswalkers; Planesalkers are one of the reasons why one want to run EE (with 4 counters) over Disk or Pernicious Deed. 2. They have more quality in the early-game.
Not included:
Counterbalance Top: I've tried to fit it in, but Counterbalance Top would change the deck completely. It would turn the deck into another type of deck. It would change the soul of deck for two reasons: 1. SDT + Counterbalance are 8 cards to fit in. That's a lot. 2. The mana-curve is not perfect for the engine, so it would require to be adjusted. That once again changes the deck and finally the deck undergoes a complete change.
Jace TMS, Intuition-Loam and Crucible of Worlds: They belong to another line of thought: being slow (incremental), but generating endless card-advantage. But why acting so slow? Just go for the win after stabilization and chain Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Shackles, Decree of Justice + Mishra's Factory. That being said, I think it's a matter of playstyle. You cannot say per se that Jace TMS, Intuition-Loam or Crucible of Worlds is better than Fact or Fiction. Apart from that Fact or Fiction, Tarmogyf, Decree of Justice, etc. have certain advantages over Jace TMS, etc in terms of flexibility. That is very important to note. But I don't go into detail for now.
I have three versions at the moment. Every one complys with my shell.
U/w/g
23
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Island
11
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
7
3 Decree of Justice/Vedalken Shackles
4 Tarmogoyf
3
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
16
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Force Spike
2 Mana Leak
SB: 15
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Path to Exile
4 Spell Pierce
U/w
24
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
1 Plain
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
8 Island
10
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
2 Impulse
5
2 Decree of Justice
3 Vedalken Shackles
3
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
18
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Force Spike
3 Mana Leak
SB: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Path to Exile
3 Spell Pierce
3 Vendilion Clique
U/b/g
23
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Swamp
2 Island
11
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
16
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Smother
2 Ghastly Demise
2 Force Spike
2 Mana Leak
6
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tombstalker
4
4 Pernicious Deed
SB: 15
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Spell Pierce
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Ghastly Demise
2 Smother
Other interesting cards:
Wrath of God
Eternal Dragon
Cunning Wish
Sensei's Divining Top
I consider the deck control, but it's just as closely related to Tempo Thresh Aggro-control as it is to conventional control. The deck plays rather like "control-aggro". The term indicates that the control part is more dominant. The aspects of control I have adopted are specifically the heavy land base and the 4C bombs. Aggro-control only adopts the disruption part of control. Cards like Psychatog, Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Vedalken Shackles, Decree of Justice, Mishra's Factory are clearly in the sense of aggro.
In the MUC thread you can find a MUC variant that is called stack-oriented MUC, which is actually exactly the kind of deck I have in mind. However, as this is the MUC thread, people have always been opposed to the much needed splash.
Additionally the permanent-based version has always been more popular than the stack-oriented version and finally the deck disappeared.
In the established decks forum there once was a thread for an U/G/B control deck utilizing Pernicious deed, Tarmogoyf, and Tombstalker. The author said that the deck had been strictly developed from old Psychatog control, but Tarmogoyf and Tombstalker had surpassed Psychatog as the best cheap big beatstick. The deck used the Intuition-Loam-engine instead of Fact or Fiction, but it was questioned by posters if the Intuition-Loam-engine is actually better than FoF. One of my builds is very similar to the deck posted there. However, I can't find the thread anymore.
The deck is by definition blue based. The most promising splashes seem to be white and black, because these are the only colours with good spot-removal. (Green has no spot-removal and red's spot-removal is even worse than blue's) Green has Tarmogoyf. Red has ?!
This is my shell (I think that's a good starting point):
16-18 (roughly said, this is my early-game package)
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell (Counterspell is a mid- and lategame Daze, you know Daze is good)
4 spot-removal (Swords to Plowshares or the black equivalent: my favourites are Smother and Ghastly Demise. I don't think more than 4 spot-removal is necessarily needed, as this deck has a lot of digging power)
4-6 disruption (Force Spike, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Path to Exile, Thoughseize, Spell Pierce, Ghastly Demise, Smother,...)
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
1 land + 2 Impulse OR 3 Ponder (only 4 BS + 4 FoF is very low)
23 lands
4 Mishra's Factory (I think it must be)
3+ answers to Vial and Counterbalance (full sweeper vs. low costed suboptimal sweeper, but my testing points that Disk and Deed > EE)
5+ Win-cons (It is necessary that the win-cons have a certain powerlevel, because slots are so tight. You must culminate as much power into one card as possible; this is why I'm opposed to cards like Vendilion Clique. The other reason why the powerlevel of the win-cons must be so high is Fact or Fiction and Impulse/Ponder)
some card-choices:
Nevinyrral's Disk: 3x Disk main and 3x EE in the SB is tech; I think preboard Disk > EE, and postboard I like to run both depending on the matchup. 3 is the minimum number for answers against Vial and Counterbalance, additionally I have one Academy Ruins.
Vedalken Shackles: Vedalken Shackles is bigger than everything else. It's bigger than Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Decree of Justice, Baneslayer Angel, Meloku, Elspeth, or Knight of the Reliquary. Awesome creature! If you need board-control, but don't have space, take Vedalken Shackles.
Decree of Justice: Decree of Justice is an updated Nimble Mongoose for mana heavy decks.
Tombstalker: Tombstalker is the black update of Nimble Mongoose.
Force Spike and Mana Leak: I prefer Force Spike and Mana Leak over Spell Snare and co. for two reasons: 1. They fight Planeswalkers; Planesalkers are one of the reasons why one want to run EE (with 4 counters) over Disk or Pernicious Deed. 2. They have more quality in the early-game.
Not included:
Counterbalance Top: I've tried to fit it in, but Counterbalance Top would change the deck completely. It would turn the deck into another type of deck. It would change the soul of deck for two reasons: 1. SDT + Counterbalance are 8 cards to fit in. That's a lot. 2. The mana-curve is not perfect for the engine, so it would require to be adjusted. That once again changes the deck and finally the deck undergoes a complete change.
Jace TMS, Intuition-Loam and Crucible of Worlds: They belong to another line of thought: being slow (incremental), but generating endless card-advantage. But why acting so slow? Just go for the win after stabilization and chain Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Shackles, Decree of Justice + Mishra's Factory. That being said, I think it's a matter of playstyle. You cannot say per se that Jace TMS, Intuition-Loam or Crucible of Worlds is better than Fact or Fiction. Apart from that Fact or Fiction, Tarmogyf, Decree of Justice, etc. have certain advantages over Jace TMS, etc in terms of flexibility. That is very important to note. But I don't go into detail for now.
I have three versions at the moment. Every one complys with my shell.
U/w/g
23
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Island
11
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
7
3 Decree of Justice/Vedalken Shackles
4 Tarmogoyf
3
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
16
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Force Spike
2 Mana Leak
SB: 15
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Path to Exile
4 Spell Pierce
U/w
24
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
1 Plain
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
8 Island
10
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
2 Impulse
5
2 Decree of Justice
3 Vedalken Shackles
3
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
18
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Force Spike
3 Mana Leak
SB: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Path to Exile
3 Spell Pierce
3 Vendilion Clique
U/b/g
23
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Swamp
2 Island
11
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
16
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Smother
2 Ghastly Demise
2 Force Spike
2 Mana Leak
6
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tombstalker
4
4 Pernicious Deed
SB: 15
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Spell Pierce
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Ghastly Demise
2 Smother
Other interesting cards:
Wrath of God
Eternal Dragon
Cunning Wish
Sensei's Divining Top