Braid's and Taxes (Aka, HumansAreInControl)

[thefreakaccident]

This is an offshoot from D&T, somewhat going deeper into the legends theme, and I feel it is enough of an offshoot to warrant a new thread. It is a control deck that utilizes creatures, made uncounterablce via Cavern of Souls and Aether Vial, as lockpieces to control the board. It plays like stax, but a good number of the cards used to stabilize/achieve control also tend to turn sideways.


Lands//23
4 Wasteland
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Flooded Strand
1 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
4 Scrubland
2 Plains
1 Flags of Trokair
3 Karakas

Spells//10
4 Aether Vial
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

Creatures//27
4 Mother of Runes
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Mangara of Corondor
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 braids, cabal minion

Sideboard//15
3 containment priest
2 zealous persecution
4 swords to plowshares
6 undecided slots


I eventually took out the swords to plowshares, because they always seemed to be the weak part of my deck in the games I lost game1. Spells are just pro-dominant right now, hence the thorns mainboard. Combo and control have issues with that, but I still needed a way to deal with creatures. This is where brimaz, stoneforge, and mangara allow me to maintain parity. Mangara usually sucks, but with thalia+thorn, sometimes he shines.

[pfiremc13]

You are evil. Braids + karakas + vial on 4 would make me quit magic.

I like ophiomancer in this deck (maybe as a 2-of) because the snake is a nice jitte holder as well as braids sac fodder.

[Mirrislegend]

Dark Confidant is probably an auto-include in the SB. It's a card advantage engine against control (I've seen control decks that have spent their spot removal actually use a board wipe, just to get rid of Bob) and keeps you fueled with hate and pressure against combo. It also tends to beat Maverick and Death and Taxes, which have no sources of true card advantage.

[Daize]

Ugh, lesser known cards and no card tags. ;_; haters gonna hate.

I like the deck though, I was thinking about Smokestack but that kind of goes against the whole creature theme I guess. As for pressuring early, what do you think of Smallpox? It would be great with that Flags of Trokair, even though it produces white mana...

Also, where are the marsh flats? 0_O. Considering Wastelands, popping one (1) Swamp in it wouldn't hurt...

[mistercakes]

maybe consider Athreos, God of Passage. sorry for lack of tag. forgot the format for that. could be a good sb card for decks with a lot of removal (maybe vs bug and rug decks?)

[thefreakaccident]

I'm glad you suggested the confidants in the board mirris, they were really vying for brimaz/mangara's slots when I was testing him in the mainboard. They were very strong.

I think Brimaz is a better token generator than Ophiomancer. There's a c ouple reasons for it. He hits for more, and has the potential to produce tokens on the opponent's turn. His vigilance also makes him great with equipment.

Just looked at Atheros, he seems cool, but I don't know how he would fit in. At least he doesn't cost extra under thorn effects.


Is there anything I could board, other than more taxing effects, that would significantly add to my ability to react to Show+Omniscience? Could land destruction be the answer? I hope this is the case.

[Daize]

I would say Engineering Plague on Humans against delver oh wait.

Spirit of the Labyrinth might help... Also might wanna go down one Brimaz, after the first one (which you can protect with Karakas) they get pretty abundant..

And without more "braids effects", I feel like it's playing some sub+par death and taxes... braids joins the party pretty late, so I would consider e.g. smallpox for speed, spirit of the labyrinth for preventing search for answers... it'll be sacrificing beating aggressiveness for more consistent disruption..

[owerbart]

Nice to see someone else give Braids some love :)

I like the deck. Ophiomancer would work nicely here as is a human too, and makes you less Karakas-dependable on Braids.