[DTB] Blade Control

I stumbled upon this interesting decklist on tcdecks:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/dec...5&iddeck=83545

Esper Faerie Blade

Creatures [14]
1 Restoration Angel
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Stoneforge Mystic

Instants [12]
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries [2]
1 Ponder
1 Vindicate

Enchantments [3]
3 Bitterblossom

Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Artifacts [2]
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Lands [24]
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Plains
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Scrubland
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
3 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mutavault


Sideboard:
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Meddling Mage
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Rest in Peace
1 Disenchant
1 Detention Sphere
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Moat


What do you think about the Faerie plan? I like how Restoration Angel can blink a Spellstutter Sprite to counter a spell. I also like how Riptide Lab comboes with most of our deck. Do you think Spellstutter Sprite could work in a UWR shell? The deck has no discard, and less counterspells, but it's also a lot more aggressive...

Do you guys find it practical to run swan song in place of the spell pierces?

THe decks that run grim, it can answer the bird pretty easy and it does get to protect our main weapon

I think that Faeries list is pretty neat. I've been trying to figure out now to make Restoration Angel work in Legacy. Pretty tough though...

I think Swan Song is generally very good in the Stoneblade decks, especially the red ones since the have so much removal. In either version, Jitte and Batterskull really don't care about Swans.

Interestingly, SoFI seems like a great fit for using Swan Song since your guy just slips past the Swan and burns it away with the sword.

I think Swan Song is a lot better in UW Miracles, since you have Terminus to destroy the bird token. It's even better when you use it to protect a Terminus (e.g. Terminus --> Stifle/FoW --> Swan Song), since the Terminus you just protected will take care of the bird token immediately.

I could see 1-2 Swan Song in the SB for specific matchups, like combo (especially OmniTell) or control (I'd rather counter Miracle's CounterBalance and give them a bird token).



About Restoration Angel, I think it would be cool in an Esper list that runs multiple Baleful Strix. Something like this:



Creatures [13]
4 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Restoration Angel
4 Stoneforge Mystic

Instants [13]
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries [6]
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Ponder
1 Vindicate
2 Thoughtseize

Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Artifacts [3]
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Engineered Explosives

Lands [22]
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Marsh Flats


Sideboard [15]
1 Darkblast
1 Disenchant
1 Disfigure
1 Force of Will
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Perish
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Rest in Peace
1 Spell Pierce
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Zealous Persecution


In such a decklist, you can use Restoration Angel to save a Baleful Strix from a bolt / decay, drawing a card in the process. You can also use Academy Ruins to recur Baleful Strix and block turn after turn, still drawing cards.

I would probably play another land. Being able to hit four mana in that deck seems important

Has anyone tried and had success with regular Esper Stoneblade lately?

It seems like everyone's on the Deathblade wagon, and while I can see why it's awesome to be able to ramp into a Jace a turn earlier with Deathrite Shaman, the mana base is an abomination and you lose one of your best tools in grindy matchups in Lingering Souls.

I had a lot of success with a UW list not long ago. It was about like so:
4 Brainstorm, FoW, StP
4 Spell Snare
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 SFM
2 Equipment (Jitte, Batterskull)
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Ponder
4 Walkers (3 Jace 1 Elspeth)
2 Spellstutter Sprite
19 the lands you'd expect
2 Academy Ruins
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island

Having two EE and two Academy Ruins basically meant I could count on setting that up every game. Post board you got to bring in 4 Path to Exile against aggro and anything playing Tarmogoyf. Against control you were already way ahead before you added the additional damage of Nihil Spellbomb and Pyroblast. Combo was pretty favorable whenever Spell Snare wasn't bad, which was perfect at the time because S&T players were playing Burning Wish.

As far as Spellstutter Sprite is concerned, I've seen that card do a lot of work. It was kind of weak in the above list, but I've seen people play 4 to great effect. The key thing you need to have is Mutavault, as having the ability to up your Faerie count for 1 mana makes it very difficult for your opponents to react favorably to the card.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lordofthepit

Has anyone tried and had success with regular Esper Stoneblade lately?

It seems like everyone's on the Deathblade wagon, and while I can see why it's awesome to be able to ramp into a Jace a turn earlier with Deathrite Shaman, the mana base is an abomination and you lose one of your best tools in grindy matchups in Lingering Souls.

---

I'm (still) playing esper for a pretty long time now,and I have VERY good results with it,only missed one top8 this year.. I dont like the deathblade deck at all. The blue count is either incredible low or they decide to completely cut FoW. It also drops on alot of countermagic making ur combo mu's significantly weaker. Not saying its a bad deck- it is actually pretty good but I like the consistency of the UWb mana base and lingering souls is still MVP(so is Perish^^).
I like UWr too, I have played it alot in the past. But I still prefer having access to discard, souls and perish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Koby

4 SFM
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser Shaper Savant

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Izzet Charm
1 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 StP
3 Lightning Bolt

3 Jace TMS
1 EE
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

1 Dust Bowl
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Arid Mesa
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island

SB:
2 Meddling Mage
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Pyroblast
1 REB
1 EE
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Sword of Feast & Famine
1 Detention Sphere
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wear/Tear

---

Played this list at the MTG Deals Legacy open last nite, going 4-2 and 10th place. Losses were to RUG Delver [0-2], and Esper Blade [1-2]. I beat TES [2-0], Maverick [1-0], OmniDerp [2-1], and Shardless BUG [2-1].

Izzet Charm was instrumental in filtering into a Bolt to kill off Maverick in Game 1. Game 2 was an unfortunate series of shuffling and unintended "extra cards". Was not happy about winning like that, esp vs a friend, but the Head Judge was unrelenting. I wasn't happy about losing to RUG and even after getting Wastelanded twice, and Stifle-fetch twice, I still have 5 lands out. Unfortunately, I also still had 2 lands in hand. Flooded to the max, and could not find a cantrip to find any removal for a lone Delver. Likewise, in G2, I succumbed to triple Gooses without drawing a creature or EE/Verdict. Some really bizarre variance. Vs Esperblade, a series of 1 land-mulligans resulted in a 4 card hand with 2 lands, SFM, and Izzet Charm. Two Thoughtseize later, I was with 2 lands in play, and 3 more on top of my deck. Variance.

Felt very comfortable against the combo decks thanks to REB.

Would still like to find room for a 3rd Vendilion Clique, but can't decide what to cut. Finally, I feel like I could cut the Dust Bowl for a 2nd Ponder.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malakai

I had a lot of success with a UW list not long ago.

---

Interesting. The old-school UW lists with Spellstutter Sprites even predate my experience with Blade. It looks like you've made some changes, but I'm wondering if you feel advantaged in grindy matchups like Miracles, Deathblade, Shardless BUG, etc. Those matchups are actually a big reason I want to go back to the Esper versions that run Lingering Souls.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rancOr_

I'm (still) playing esper for a pretty long time now,and I have VERY good results with it,only missed one top8 this year.. I dont like the deathblade deck at all. The blue count is either incredible low or they decide to completely cut FoW. It also drops on alot of countermagic making ur combo mu's significantly weaker. Not saying its a bad deck- it is actually pretty good but I like the consistency of the UWb mana base and lingering souls is still MVP(so is Perish^^).
I like UWr too, I have played it alot in the past. But I still prefer having access to discard, souls and perish.

---

Do you have a decklist? I'd like to find something that can run Lingering Souls, has a decent blue count, but still packs a reasonable amount of spot removal and combo hate, since you have to answer everything from Dark Confidant to Sneak Attack in this format. I'm thinking of dropping the discard count and playing some Meddling Mages in the board to improve that combo matchup while still keeping the topdecks live.

Here is my list:

3 underground sea
3 tundra
1 scrubland
1 karakas
4 polluted delta
4 flooded strand
2 marsh flats
2 island
1 swamp
1 plains
4 snapcaster mage
4 stoneforge mystic
1 vendilion clique
3 jace, the mind sculptor
4 brainstorm
2 ponder
3 force of will
2 spell pierce
1 counterspell
3 lingering souls
4 swords to plowshares
1 vindicate
3 thoughtseize
1 inquistition of kozilek
1 batterskull
1 umezawa’s jitte

Sideboard:
1 nihil spellbomb
1 surgical extraction
1 sword of feast and famine
1 engineered explosives
2 perish
1 darkblast
1 supreme verdict
1 force of will
2 duress
2 flusterstorm
1 meddling mage
1 notion thief

Greetings-

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lordofthepit

Interesting. The old-school UW lists with Spellstutter Sprites even predate my experience with Blade. It looks like you've made some changes, but I'm wondering if you feel advantaged in grindy matchups like Miracles, Deathblade, Shardless BUG, etc. Those matchups are actually a big reason I want to go back to the Esper versions that run Lingering Souls.

---

Miracles was pretty favorable because they basically can't ever beat EE + Academy. As for Deathblade and Shardless, any time my starting hand had a Spell Snare in it I felt unbeatable, and the only card that was really scary / hard to deal with was Liliana. Post-board I brought in 4 Path to Exile; having that much removal ensures you don't have to hold yours, generally making it impossible for them to defend their walkers.

The thing about Shardless BUG is their Ancestral Visions don't matter. It's more important to concentrate on taking out their threats, as Snapcaster Mages and your equipment will let you grind them out.

After switching back and forth between Miracles and Stoneblade, I was wondering how come Miracle was a DtB and Blade Control wasn't? Admittedly Esperblade is in a category of it's own in terms of similarities between the two archetypes mainly due to its discard suite (proactive disruption vs. reactive disruption). It is quite obvious when you compare a UWr Miracle list to an Esperblade list that one could be inappropriate given a specific metagame (PFire is my main concern). However, what about a UWr stoneblade list? They both benefit from similar removal and counterspells. What puzzled me the most is how CB/Top + Entreat as main win conditions somehow were superior to SFM + equipments in a Abrupt Decay format? The main trade-off here seems that Blade Control produces more CA while Miracle has access to more manipulation. However, Blade decks do not forfeit one of their main pillars to one of the most widespread removal spells in the format. As far as aggro strategies go, I feel much more in control when I trade Terminus for SFM.

Then it occurred to me that I might have been looking at the issue from the wrong perspective. What if Miracle had access to better metagame tools? As I looked through my Miracle deck lists it struck me: Deckbuilding conventions of Blade decks make you dependent on your graveyard for card value. My point is the following: I think RiP has a lot more to do with Miracle's success as a DtB than it seems. It is quite obvious that Snapcaster doesn't pull his weight in terms of CA when faced with BBE and Shardless Agent. How about reducing Snapcaster to a card-selection tool first and a CA tool second? What if UWr Stoneblade adapted to use RiP as a main SB strategy against every GY-centric deck?

Here is my attempt, I will test it soon enough:


Creatures (8)
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique

Spells (20)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Izzet Charm
2 Supreme Verdict

Others (8)
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of World
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (24)
3 Wasteland
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
1 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
2 Island
1 Plains

Sideboard
2 Flusterstorm
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Wear // Tear
3 Pyroclasm
3 Rest in Peace
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Venser, Shaper Savant


The plan here is to replace Snapcaster and Crucible for RiP postboard and prey on GY strategies that derive more advantages from their GY than I do. In today's metagame, landing a RiP is akin to a one-sided Humility (Goyf, Mongoose, DRS). Also, Pyroclasm is just great right now against all the cascade swarms I have been experiencing lately. It becomes even better when coupled with RiP as it now clears KotR, Goyfs, and Mongeese. The concept is pretty clear, I think that the manabase will have to be put through the most work though. I don't like relying on 4 BS and 3 Jace for manipulation and would like to see 1-2 Ponders in there. I am still unsure on minor details like having a basic mountain, or the need for a Plateau at all vs. a 3rd Volcanic. Cutting down to 2 Wasteland is also possible. Perhaps I could get away with 1 less Verdict and 23 lands, however I would have to find a good reason to do these changes in the first place.

Thoughts?

You are asking why this thread isn't moved to DtB? Maybe because we have dozens of threads evolving around Delver or SFM and everyone claims to belong in the DtB section with this being one of the most generic ones atm.

Why should SFM be any better than Counterbalance against Decay? By the time you can hardcast your Batterskull, Miracles can present 12 flying power or create 4/4 Walls against Delver/Goose/etc. long before SFM.dec can come up with anything alike.

So I took a break from the UWR list I had been playing for awhile to fiddle around with other decks, but there's a SCG coming up in about a month, so I figured it's time for me to start getting back into shape again and UWR Lightningblade is the deck I've been most comfortable / best success playing these past few months.

Brushed off the last list I had been working on with a small update to the sideboard:

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
1 [OV] Mountain
1 [7E] Plains (1)
1 [LG] Karakas
2 [ARC] Island (2)
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
1 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
2 [B] Volcanic Island
4 [U] Tundra
1 [R] Plateau
1 [TSP] Academy Ruins

// Creatures
3 [MOR] Vendilion Clique
3 [TO] Grim Lavamancer
4 [ISD] Snapcaster Mage
4 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic

// Spells
4 [5E] Brainstorm
4 [AL] Force of Will
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 [OV] Swords to Plowshares
3 [MPR] Lightning Bolt
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
1 [NPH] Batterskull
2 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
1 [RTR] Izzet Charm
1 [FD] Engineered Explosives

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [NPH] Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 [RTR] Detention Sphere
SB: 1 [6E] Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 [DK] Blood Moon
SB: 2 [A] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 [THS] Swan Song
SB: 1 [DGM] Wear / Tear
SB: 2 [PS] Meddling Mage
SB: 1 [RTR] Supreme Verdict
SB: 1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus

Took it to the weekend local Legacy tournament and T4'd with it. Drew with Dredge (for some reason, I ran across the slowest combo players this weekend) and Elves (I had my opponent dead on board on the last turn of extra turns), beat BUG Landstill, Hypergenesis, RW Angel Stompy, and the UB Tezzeret deck to make T4.

Again, the obscene amount of removal was pretty sick although it's pretty gross how Elves can sometimes just overwhelm you even through it (I lost G1 to them after landing a T1 Lavamancer and Cliquing them on their T3 draw step to see double Natural Order...). As always, getting to play things on your opponents turn (dropping in Equipment, flashing in Clique / SCM), removal) always feels great as it almost always feels like you're totally in control. I don't know about other people, but I also often tend to use JTMS to aggresively Fateseal to 1) put more pressure on my opponent 2) maintain my lead ahead of them.

Sideboard changes:

I love Swan Song and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. As a sideboard card, it did so much work for me as a hard counter against those combo decks that can generate mana (fuck you, Elves!) through Spell Pierce. I'm not certain I'm ready to cut Spell Pierce from the main yet, but Swan Song has felt a lot better than my previous Spell Pierce / Envelop split I had in the board.

The RIP, while just a dicking to so many decks, became a Relic of Progenitus simply because I can control it better to prevent too much damage to my own yard. Thinking further on this though, maybe this should be a Tormod's Crypt since I can recur that with the Academy Ruins? Relic does cantrip and temporarily shrink Goyfs though (although I don't think Tarmogoyf should generally be that big of a problem for us?).

Some thoughts:

- Sometimes I wished I had a 3rd piece of equipment, but I'm not quite certain what I'd cut or what it'd be. At times, I've wished I could just plop down some additional damage equipment, which leads me to believe SoFI would be great, but SoBM keeps us fed with bodies to keep equipping as well.

- Izzet Staticaster has been suggested to me as a solution to all those X/1's running around the format, especially things like Elemental tokens, but do we really need it? Again, what to cut?

- I've been less and less happy with both the eTutor and the Detention Sphere, especially the eTutor since we don't really have anything like Ethersworn Canonist to get against super fast combo like Storm. Detention Sphere at least acts as a catchall for problematic permanents as well as helps in those pesky Show & Tell matchups.

As always, thoughts and suggestions are welcome!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Qweerios

After switching back and forth between Miracles and Stoneblade, I was wondering how come Miracle was a DtB and Blade Control wasn't? Admittedly Esperblade is in a category of it's own in terms of similarities between the two archetypes mainly due to its discard suite (proactive disruption vs. reactive disruption). It is quite obvious when you compare a UWr Miracle list to an Esperblade list that one could be inappropriate given a specific metagame (PFire is my main concern). However, what about a UWr stoneblade list? They both benefit from similar removal and counterspells. What puzzled me the most is how CB/Top + Entreat as main win conditions somehow were superior to SFM + equipments in a Abrupt Decay format? The main trade-off here seems that Blade Control produces more CA while Miracle has access to more manipulation. However, Blade decks do not forfeit one of their main pillars to one of the most widespread removal spells in the format. As far as aggro strategies go, I feel much more in control when I trade Terminus for SFM.

Then it occurred to me that I might have been looking at the issue from the wrong perspective. What if Miracle had access to better metagame tools? As I looked through my Miracle deck lists it struck me: Deckbuilding conventions of Blade decks make you dependent on your graveyard for card value. My point is the following: I think RiP has a lot more to do with Miracle's success as a DtB than it seems. It is quite obvious that Snapcaster doesn't pull his weight in terms of CA when faced with BBE and Shardless Agent. How about reducing Snapcaster to a card-selection tool first and a CA tool second? What if UWr Stoneblade adapted to use RiP as a main SB strategy against every GY-centric deck?

Here is my attempt, I will test it soon enough:


Creatures (8)
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique

Spells (20)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Izzet Charm
2 Supreme Verdict

Others (8)
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of World
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (24)
3 Wasteland
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
1 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
2 Island
1 Plains

Sideboard
2 Flusterstorm
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Wear // Tear
3 Pyroclasm
3 Rest in Peace
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Venser, Shaper Savant


The plan here is to replace Snapcaster and Crucible for RiP postboard and prey on GY strategies that derive more advantages from their GY than I do. In today's metagame, landing a RiP is akin to a one-sided Humility (Goyf, Mongoose, DRS). Also, Pyroclasm is just great right now against all the cascade swarms I have been experiencing lately. It becomes even better when coupled with RiP as it now clears KotR, Goyfs, and Mongeese. The concept is pretty clear, I think that the manabase will have to be put through the most work though. I don't like relying on 4 BS and 3 Jace for manipulation and would like to see 1-2 Ponders in there. I am still unsure on minor details like having a basic mountain, or the need for a Plateau at all vs. a 3rd Volcanic. Cutting down to 2 Wasteland is also possible. Perhaps I could get away with 1 less Verdict and 23 lands, however I would have to find a good reason to do these changes in the first place.

Thoughts?

---

I've had similar, while slightly less crystallized, thoughts. My main thinking was that RiP is the best anti-graveyard bomb ever printed, and since we play white, it would be dumb not to abuse RiP post-board. But playing RiP means that we need to rely less on the graveyard. UWR blade lists use the graveyard with Snapcaster Mage, Academy Ruins, and (sometimes) Grim Lavamancer. Esper Blade lists use it with Snapcaster Mage, Academy Ruins, and Lingering Souls.

To make Esper Blade less GY-reliant, I thought about replacing a number of Lingering Souls and Snapcaster Mage with Baleful Strix. Souls and SCM are bad against DRS anyway. I would also play 2 Engineered Explosives, and use Academy Ruins to recur E.E. and Strix. The only GY-dependency would be Academy Ruins. I posted a deck like this a few posts earlier. I searched for "Baleful Strix" in this thread, and saw a few discussions, as well as a mention of the following deck, which ended 3rd at a Trial during the last BoM: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=4925&d=228443

It's harder to make Lightning Blade less GY-reliant. Removing Grim Lavamancer is the first step. Some people have already removed it anyway, for various reasons. Lowering the number of Snapcaster Mages is the second step. But I like having creatures to equip, and going down to 8 creatures (9 including Elspeth) seems very low. I think I would play a 3rd Vendilion Clique and 1 Restoration Angel. I also want to try a few Spellstutter Sprites, but I don't know how good they are without Bitterblossom / Mutavault. I'm interested in other suggestions :) Maybe Geist?


About your decklist, I don't like the Crucible. I know some players were successful with Crucible in UWR Blade lists (e.g. Jared Boettcher: http://www.starcitygames.com/article...one-Blade.html ), but it is still a little non-standard, and Jared himself wrote it underperformed. I don't understand why you would add a Crucible if your goal is to make your deck less GY-dependant. You said you might want to go down to 23 lands, and I tend to agree. I would remove the Crucible and a Wasteland, going down to 23 lands. I think I would add 1 Clique and 1 Ponder in their place. I also wonder if you can reliably get WW mana to play the 2 Supreme Verdict and 1 Elspeth. I love Supreme Verdict and Elspeth, but I think they are easier to cast in UW blade lists with a smaller splash.

I'm also wondering why you removed all the lightning bolts? Do you think Izzet Charm is better?

I'm planing on going to a 50-80 person tournament soon and can't decide between 2 lists. I am expecting a lot of blue based decks, with a more than normal amount of TES, and turbo eldrazi. I have a lot of experience with esperblade, but little with lightning blade.

EsperBlade:
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
2 Marsh Flats
3 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Scrubland
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
3 Force of Will

2 Lingering Souls
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate
1 Supreme Verdict

3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vendilion Clique


Sideboard:
1 Cabal Therapy
2 Flusterstorm
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Disenchant
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Perish
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Notion Thief
1 Force of Will



Lightning Blade:
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
1 Plains
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Engineered Explosives
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

2 Ponder

4 Brainstorm
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Counterspell
3 Force of Will

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Restoration Angel (might turn into Elspeth)
1 Venser, Shaper Savant


Sideboard:
1 Flusterstorm
3 Pyroblast
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Wear // Tear
2 Blood Moon
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Force of Will

This Lightning blade deck in particular is nice because the only maindeck card you ever have to tap out for is Jace. Everything else is reactive. Have REB is nice for Jace or S&T matchup. Having Moon is nice for the GBx decks and eldrazi. Resto might become elspeth though. I want something thats good against lily/decay decks in that slot.

Esper trades moon for perish in the SB against Goyf decks. And gets to do Snap + discard against fair decks. Trinket mage and top have been awesome. Its also worth noting, esper has an addition situation land (tarpit) and has more non blue than UWR so I am considering going to 23 with esper, but am unsure what to cut.

The esper list has a better storm matchup, but a worse S&T and elves matchup. In my testing at least, esper seemed way better against RUG, while the red was better against BUG.

I am having a hard time deciding which would be better and leaning towards esper simply because of familiarity. Any help deciding, or improving the lists would be appreciated.

I think Restoration Angel is fine against Liliana and AD. She can flash in and ambush most Planeswalkers in general and is fairly resistant to most of the common removal of the format.

Here is the Esper Blade list I'm considering for the BoM. Like in the Lightning Blade list I'm working on (which I'll post later), I'm trying to minimize graveyard interaction to bring RiP from the board.


// Esper StrixBlade

// Creatures [12]
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Restoration Angel

// Instants [13]
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares

// Sorceries [6]
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Ponder
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Vindicate
2 Thoughtseize

// Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

// Artifacts [3]
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Engineered Explosives

// Lands [23]
1 Academy Ruins
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Karakas

2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp

3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland

4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats


// Sideboard [15]
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Notion Thief
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Rest in Peace
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
1 Disenchant
1 Flusterstorm
1 Force of Will
1 Disfigure
1 Perish
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Zealous Persecution


In this list, I remove some Snapcaster Mage and Lingering Souls, adding 3 Baleful Strixes. Academy Ruins can recur Equipment like in other lists, but it may also recur Baleful Strix (for infinite blockers + CA) and Engineered Explosives. In G2 / G3, I can bring RiP against GY-dependent matchups, since I use my GY very little aside from 2 SCM and 1 Academy Ruins.

I included the Restoration Angel tech mainly for BGx decks, but it does work in other matchups, saving creatures from removal, bouncing a blocker before damage to save it and avoid lifelink, and triggering ETB effects of Strixes, Clique, SCM, and SFM.

Strix is a nice wall for Jace too :)

To make this list, I researched other lists in this thread that feature Baleful Strix, and scoured tcdecks and mtgtop8. This list was very similar to what I had in mind, though I don't like the double-black mana requirement of Liliana: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=4925&d=228443

What are your thoughts? I'm thinking of trying to fit a second Inquisition of Kozilek in the main, as well as a 1-of Lingering Souls. I'm also considering replacing one or both Spell Pierce with Counterspell...

i played this brew at my local weekly, going to play it at a 70+ man this weekend.

Esper "Delver Deathblade"
Main Deck:
Creatures (12)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Stoneforge Mystic

Spells (26)
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
3 Force of Will
2 Ponder
2 Spell Pierce
3 Stifle
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize
1 Jace, the Mindsculptor

Equipment (2)
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Land (20)
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
3 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Detention Sphere
1 Force of Wil
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Lingering Souls
2 Meddling Mage
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Dismember
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Surgical Extraction


4 rounds, went 3-1

0-2 dredge
2-0 UWR delver blade
2-1 TES
2-0 Metal worker

Theory behind the deck.
Combo decks are faster and run more disruption than others.
Tempo Control shell is the better control model right now.
Jam the 2 best one drops + stoneforge, lean out the top end.