[DTB] Blade Control

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Artlee

An esper list finally made it to 10th place at the SCG event this weekend


[/FONT][/COLOR]Aside from the single Council's Judgment and Painful Truths in the Sideboard, this deck looks pretty much like esper decks did before Treasure Cruise and DTT, right?

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It does. Telemin's Performance is interesting in the sideboard, but it also existed pre-DTT.

I have something else to bring on. The list isn't mine, it's from a Legacy side-event in GP Nagoya. Made top 8 in 121 player event.

Judge it as you want, but the allegedly called it Esper Stoneblade. I say allegedly because it's what I was told, and I don't read Japanese to confirm on my own. So here it goes...

スイス7位
Nagaya Takenori

土地19
3《湿地の干潟/Marsh Flats》
3《汚染された三角州/Polluted Delta》
3《血染めのぬかるみ/Bloodstained Mire》
3《Underground Sea》
3《Scrubland》
3《不毛の大地/Wasteland》
1《Bayou》

クリーチャー10
4《墓忍び/Tombstalker》
3《石鍛冶の神秘家/Stoneforge Mystic》
3《死儀礼のシャーマン/Deathrite Shaman》

呪文31
4《暗黒の儀式/Dark Ritual》
4《渦まく知識/Brainstorm》
4《Hymn to Tourach》
4《ヴェールのリリアナ/Liliana of the Veil》
3《目くらまし/Daze》
3《思考囲い/Thoughtseize》
2《剣を鍬に/Swords to Plowshares》
2《思案/Ponder》
2《未練ある魂/Lingering Souls》
1《殺し/Snuff Out》
1《梅澤の十手/Umezawa’s Jitte》
1《殴打頭蓋/Batterskull》

サイドボード
2《仕組まれた疫病/Engineered Plague》
2《呪文貫き/Spell Pierce》
1《仕組まれた爆薬/Engineered Explosives》
1《真髄の針/Pithing Needle》
1《解呪/Disenchant》
1《外科的摘出/Surgical Extraction》
1《暗黒破/Darkblast》
1《寒け/Chill》
1《呪われた巻物/Cursed Scroll》
1《水流破/Hydroblast》
1《Karakas》
1《沼/Swamp》
1《虚無の呪文爆弾/Nihil Spellbomb》



I changed it a bit to suits my need, for instance I replaced the 4th Liliana with a Jace, removed the Chill and Cursed Scroll (might test the latter, later) from the sideboard, but else is... I mean, it's... fun? Refreshing? I don't know how it would feel or play in a GP, but so far the testing are fun and indeed, the deck work. Tombstalker avoid the Abrupt Decay like nothing else.

I also was skeptical vs Dark Ritual, so with the games I played, I took time to write how I was using those. I'm now convinced.

1) T1 Liliana of the Veil

2) T1 DRS/Thoughtseize + Hymn to Tourach

3) As said earlier, I was missing a Liliana so I went with 3 Lili 1 Jace, Dark Ritual allowed me to play Jace turn 2 with a Thoughtseize in protection as I played DRS turn 1. The feel was awesome.

4) Fueling Tombstalker with mana + extra Delve

5) Hardcast Batterskull

6) Cast/Equip Jitte


Thoughts??

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Originally Posted by LDX

Thoughts??

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Very interesting and I kind of like it, but I don't think I can get behind Daze in a deck that only has 3 Islands...

I might try this out one day soon, just massage the numbers a little bit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Artlee

An esper list finally made it to 10th place at the SCG event this weekend

Creatures (9)

• 2 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic
• 2 True-Name Nemesis
• 1 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers (3)

• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (22)

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

Spells (26)

• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 4 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Esper Charm
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 1 Council's Judgment
• 2 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 2 Lingering Souls
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 2 Thoughtseize

• Sideboard
• 2 Containment Priest
• 1 Notion Thief
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Disenchant
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Zealous Persecution
• 1 Cabal Therapy
• 1 Painful Truths
• 2 Perish
• 1 Telemin Performance

Aside from the single Council's Judgment and Painful Truths in the Sideboard, this deck looks pretty much like esper decks did before Treasure Cruise and DTT, right?

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I also made top 3 in the Premier IQ attached to the Denver Open with a very similar list:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=95877

I do think I am moving towards more Lingering Souls in the future as Shardless BUG feels like a rough matchup overall.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by t3hdh

I also made top 3 in the Premier IQ attached to the Denver Open with a very similar list:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=95877

I do think I am moving towards more Lingering Souls in the future as Shardless BUG feels like a rough matchup overall.

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I have been playing with you list for a short time, and I can easily get behind Lingering Souls being great. Because you have answers for almost any situation in the deck, all you need is time, and Lingering Souls gives alot of time.

When im playing vs rug delver I often have problems sticking threats to the table, and TNN is often met with REB. Batterskull is also met with Ancient Grudge. Do you bring in Nahiri in those matchups even though it can be a struggle to reach the 5 mana?

Also: what matchups do you bring in Notion Thief against? Any deck with Brainstorm or mostly the grindy matchups like Shardless BUG, Miracles etc.?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Artlee

I have been playing with you list for a short time, and I can easily get behind Lingering Souls being great. Because you have answers for almost any situation in the deck, all you need is time, and Lingering Souls gives alot of time.

When im playing vs rug delver I often have problems sticking threats to the table, and TNN is often met with REB. Batterskull is also met with Ancient Grudge. Do you bring in Nahiri in those matchups even though it can be a struggle to reach the 5 mana?

Also: what matchups do you bring in Notion Thief against? Any deck with Brainstorm or mostly the grindy matchups like Shardless BUG, Miracles etc.?

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Nahiri was an experiment that failed, it was for against discard grindy matchups like BUG but it did not seem good enough.
Notion Thief is mainly for grindy matchups but I ended up bringing it in vs grixis Delver as I don't want forces against them and did not have enough good cards to bring in. It ended up being impressive when I drew it but unsure if it should come in there or not.

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Originally Posted by Awake91

thank you. that is the list i was looking for also it misses Supreme Verdict.

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Originally Posted by HSCK

I really enjoyed playing the deck, but I desperately wanted another land in there. I will be playing just this deck for at least another 40-50 games.

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Did you get to test the deck yet? I've put up another article about it. Let me know what you think and where your testing has left you! :)

Greetings

I'm curious to know whether anybody else finds Jace a bit underwhelming in this deck? Perhaps I'm paired up against aggro too often, but it seems like the deck lacks the board control that Miracle offers. Too often, my opponent has multiple threats on the table and there's only so much removal in this deck. With just one board sweeper in the main (typically), I find it hard to protect Jace and get good use out of the card. I'd like to test out some form of card drawing in its place, but I don't know what. Fact or Fiction came to mind but doesn't sound all that great. Anything else that might be worth trying?

Elspeth has always been my second choice of PW in this deck. It's good against Miracles, can protect herself to a point with soldiers, makes them solid threats or helps your other "real" creatures become major threats, something Snapcaster and SFM both hugely benefit from. Also, good against Miracles.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee

Elspeth has always been my second choice of PW in this deck. It's good against Miracles, can protect herself to a point with soldiers, makes them solid threats or helps your other "real" creatures become major threats, something Snapcaster and SFM both hugely benefit from. Also, good against Miracles.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

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I've tried Elspeth before. It's a viable card, but suffers from the same problems as Jace, being a Planeswalker. I think what the deck lacks is a source of card advantage. Brainstorm and Ponder are great, but provide card quality more than card advantage. I tried Sword of Fire and Ice for a while, but too rarely I had no threats on the table to equip it with and it would just end up being a dead card.

If you're having trouble with aggro decks, how come you don't add more cards like supreme verdict or ensnaring bridge?

Could you share your decklist?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Artlee

If you're having trouble with aggro decks, how come you don't add more cards like supreme verdict or ensnaring bridge?

Could you share your decklist?

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Sure, here's what I have at the moment:

4 SFM
4 TNN
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique

4 FOW
3 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 STP
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Council's Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict / Engineered Explosives (I keep switching these)

2 Jace, Mind Sculptor

1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

4 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Arid Mesa
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
2 Island
1 Plains

SB:
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 REB
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Wear / Tear
2 Rest in Peace
1 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Meddling Mage


I have tried running 2 copies of Supreme Verdict in the main but I didn't like it. It's too difficult to cast with 3 coloured mana and too slow because of its high casting cost. I added a fourth TNN instead for the moment to test out. The deck doesn't do particularly well against combo game 1 either. I think UWB is the way to go with this deck but I don't have access to Underground Seas, so that is probably my biggest issue.

Kinda put up togheter the following list and I'm planning to take it to a local Legacy Friday. Can I get any comments or suggestions?

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

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

Spells [28]
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
3 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Lingering Souls
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives

Sideboard [15]
3 Meddling Mage
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Pithing Needle
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Disenchant
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Hey all,

how come Monastery Mentor does not appear in the recent lists?

Cheers
j

Mentor competes with TNN and Lingering Souls, and those align with our gameplan much better. We don't run 4 Sensei's Divining Top, so we can't do the double-top thing like Miracles does. What really puts the nail in the coffin is that Mentor doesn't have evasion.

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Originally Posted by Vandalize

Kinda put up togheter the following list and I'm planning to take it to a local Legacy Friday. Can I get any comments or suggestions?

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I ran a list very similar to yours and won the legacy tourney! https://twitter.com/HBSTnipponbashi/...06743923748864

It performed very well! Here's how it went!

Round 1 vs GBx infect:
Game 1 - He mulls to 6, i get a turn 2 SFM and grab jitte. He's got two knight of infamy out by turn 4, i play a clique at the end of his turn, cast jitte, equip it, and he doesn't find a decay to deal with the jitte. I win pretty easily.
Side out - 1 stp, 1 narset, and 2 fow. side in - 2 zealous persecution, 1 pithing needle, 1 supreme verdict
Game 2 - He duresses me turn 1, takes jace. I set a land and pass, he hymns turn 2, I brainstorm and put my only 2 lands on top and let him hymn, he hits lingering souls and FOW, perfect! I cast lingering souls turn 2, TNN turn 3, and he can't kill me before tnn beats him down.

win 2-0, record 1-0

round 2 vs jund:
Game 1 - he mulls to 6, i thoughtseize him and see bob, bloodbraid and 4 lands. I take the bob. he sets a land and passes for 2 turns. I draw another thoughtseize and take the BBE and see that he drew a decay and some lands. I cast narset the next turn and uptick her until she hits 9. He bolts her, so she goes back down to 6, but he doesn't draw any threats, so I get her back to 9 and ultimate her, at which point he scoops.
Side out 4 fow, 1 spell pierce- side in 3 surgical extraction, 1 supreme verdict, 1 pithing needle

Game 2 - He plays sylvan library turn 2, i play sfm turn 2, his turn 3, he decays SFM, and I surgical extract the decay. I set a land (3 lands) and pass, he draws and i clique him, revealing 2 goyfs and a kolghans command. I make him bottomdeck the command and he taps out for 2 goyfs. I take my turn, set a land, play EE on 2 and then explode it killing both his goyfs and his library. I proceed to beat with clique for 6 turns after playing a jace the next turn and fatesealing him. he tries to play a bob at one point, but I use academy ruins to get EE back and kill bob.

Win 2-0, record 2-0

round 3 vs ANT:
Game 1 - He git probes me and i reveal my hand of 2 fow, 3 lands, sfm, and snap. He ponders and passes. I play turn 2 SFM. he tries to go off but i have the nut draw thanks to a snap -> brainstorm (2 fow, 2 blue cards, spell pierce and one open blue mana source) and he fizzles.

Side out - 4 stp, narset, jace, 2 lingering souls, jitte, TNN, and EE. Side in 3 surgical extraction, 2 flusterstorm, 2 duress, 2 meddling mage, and 2 zealous persecution (against xantid swarm/young pyro/empty the warrens, also not completely dead if it can get a few extra points of damage).

Game 2 - He ponders turn 1, passes, i set a land, pass. His turn 2, he duresses me, i brainstorm in response and end up with 2 fow, surgical, 2 flusterstorm, lands and a zealous persecution. I set both flusters on top, he takes surgical extraction and passes. I draw flusterstorm 1 and pass my turn 2. He goes off with LEDs into tutor and past into flames in his graveyard. I fow pitching fow to his tutor. He tries to play past into flames and i flusterstorm it. He passes. I draw flusterstorm 2, set land #3, play SFM (grabbing batterskull) and pass. He draws an infernal tutor (he has 0 cards in hand and 2 mana), he casts it and i flusterstorm it. I activate SFM and get in batterskull. He draws lands and passes. I draw a counterspell, then a fow. I attack for a 3rd time and cast zealous persecution, bringing him down to 1 and me up to 30. He draws and concedes, revealing an empty the warrens and something irrelevant at that time.

Win 2-0, record 3-0

The deck drew very well. Every maindeck card was useful at some point (except Karakas, but that's not a terrible thing, just means i didnt play vs decks its good against). I personally just like Narset so thats why she's in the deck and I feel like top as a 1 of wasnt super necessary (not that it's bad, but it's the easiest thing to cut), so I cut top for narset. I don't own marsh flats (sold when they were high, i can wait until they're reprinted) so I just stuck with 8 fetches and added in 2 wastelands in it's spot (against certain land decks, wasteland -> surgical is game winning). I cut creeping tar pit for underground sea because having less than 3 seas makes me uneasy tbh. I chose 2/2 pierce vs counterspell because counterspell, while needing 2 blue, is still so much more useful and less dead late-game. Overall though, it's just a lot of good cards all together, which is really fun!

Sideboard: I prefer duress to cabal therapy if I'm not running git probes. I chose to run 2 flusterstorms because when the card is good, it wins games, which proved to be the right choice. Even a deck like jund, where i would bring in the sword of feast and famine, i didnt really miss. I feel like 1 pithing needle was enough, and I upped disenchant to 2 because when I need a disenchant, 2 is so much better than just 1. Meddling mage, i also lowered to 2 because it's sometimes just not that great of a sideboard card. 3 Surgical extraction was amazing! I can see adding in a 2nd EE somewhere because of how good it is with academy ruins, too!

So yeah, thanks for the deck idea! Obviously some of the changes are meta-based/personal preferences but overall, I really liked it!

Oh well, nothing much going on here these days.
Just slacked of a bit at work and tinkered on a UW take, featuring some unconventional choices.

C/Q + C/A
4 BS
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
2 Predict (neat C/A with 10 cantrips + SCM)
2 Jace Beleren (yup! crucial Mentor C/A, works better with a low landcount, comes down earlier, somewhat a wincon, but not really..)

"NO"
4 FoW
2 CS
2 Snare

NON-U "NO"
4 STP
2 Disenchant (Eldrazi, etc. etc., also with all the cantrips: we'll never draw unless we want to. Also: much easier to flashback with SCM than CJ)

DMG
4 Mentor (3 might be the ideal number, but since he's our #1 threat, why not max him out?)
3 SFM
3 SCM
2 Clique
1 Jitte
1 Batterskull
(-40-)

LAND
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
1 Windswept Heath
3 Tundra
5 Island
1 Plains
2 Wasteland
(-20-)

SB
3 Flusterstorm
2 Canonist
2 RiP
4 Vapor Snag (needs to be tested, but I figured we'd simply use it to stall against creature decks until Mentor tokens eat there face for brunch.)
2 BEB (common targets: Bolt, Burning Wish, REB, YP, Goblins)
2 B2B (Eldrazi, greedy 3+color decks, Lands, etc.)

Let me know your thoughts!
^_^

What is the strategy of Esper Blade (Alex Smith 75) vs Eldrazi?

Many of the mainboard cards do very little. Engineered Explosives for 0 takes care of Chalice and Endless one, but Thought-knot Seer and Reality Smasher are out of reach. Swords to Plowshares is always good, but they have so many creatures, that you need to draw more than one or have Snapcaster.

The only card that I am certain to side in is Disenchant for Chalice. Perhaps Spell Pierce also, if I am on the play.

Is the 75 good enough for this matchup, or is the Sb in need of adjustments? Cards that come to mind are:

• Ensnaring Bridge (they only have ratchet bomb for this)
• Back to Basics (Could be too slow, and does not stop them entirely)
• Sower of Temptation (kind of a long shot, but it dodges the Reality Smasher protection)

If you're on Esper and really want something for Eldrazi, I think the best thing is to take a page out of Shardless BUG's book and run some baleful strix. My shardless buddy says they're the MVP card in that matchup.

Hi everyone,

I'm mainly a miracles player but as I own all the cards for Jeskai stoneblade (and Esper, though only on mtgo), I've been playing some leagues and FNMs with the deck when I didn't feel like playing miracles.

I have some questions for stoneblade "specialists", that I have not been able to find a satisfying answer yet.
First: is anyone still playing UW(r)? Most lists I've seen post-DTT ban seem to be esper, and after reading the 10~ last pages of this thread, everyone seems to be on Esper.

From what I've understood, Esper gains some sweet cards from black, even if not going the full "deathblade" route, where red only gives access to sideboard red blasts and blood moon. Do you think Jeskai is still a viable choice for the current metagame? Or is Esper the superior choice for the moment? Do you guys usually change between the 2 builds depending from the meta?

Another question, specifically about card choice: could you recommand a good Jeskai build (if there is one "stock" list?). I've been building the deck more or less myself getting inspiration from various but old lists.

Lands:
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Island
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Mishra's Factory
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted delta (MTGO)/4 Scalding Tarn (IRL)

Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 TNN
4 SFM

Spells:
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to plowshares
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 FoW
2 Jace, the mind sculptor
1 Council's Judgement
1 Batterskull
1 Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

Some of the more unusual choices I've made are the SDT, the bolt and the sword MD. First, I don't really understand why SDT isn't played in this deck: I get that you would rather hold up countermagic in the first few turns or play cantrips rather than spend mana on a top, but the single top has been great in the few games I've played, giving me great game selection in the late game, and even sometimes making my opponent put me on miracles and sideboard incorrectly.
The bolt is more to justify running Jeskai, as well as general utility (5th STP or can kill a Jace, or give unexpected reach with snapcaster to close out a game). I have always felt Sword of Fire and Ice to be one of the best equipments available, but on the other hand I don't run that many creatures. Maybe I should cut it?

About the side, I also have some questions. I don't have a very fixed sideboard (nor remember it for the moment :) ), and I also find myself lost on how to sideboard in some matchups.

My side looks something like:
1 Elspeth Knight-Errant/ Nahiri the Lithomancer: a big top-end spells for grindy games, Elspeth being really good against miracles too
2-3 Vendilion Clique
2 REB
2 Wear-Tear
2-3 Supreme Verdict + Pyroclasm + Izzet Staticaster
2-3 Graveyard hate: usually split surgical extraction/RiP
2 Flusterstorm
Maybe a hatebear or 2 if I have some room: canonist, meddling mage, containment priest
1 Pithing needle if still room

First, if someone has suggestions of best cards to put in the side, I could use some advice :)
I would also like to know how you side against miracles: my main plan is to board out most of my removal, if possible still respect mentor, with izzet staticaster for instance.
I like the additional PW (mostly if it's Elspeth), all my cliques and additional counterspells.
What I don't really know is what to cut: I don't really want to cut FoWs, as miracles looks like a pseudo-mirror, and I don't want them to resolve a counterbalance ever. I would never cut FoWs in a miracles mirror, but maybe it's right to do it in stoneblade?

I was also wondering about the eldrazi matchup: I've not had the opportunity to test, but having batterskull and TNN seem to make it ok. What do you think of the MU? Any specific tips on how to play against this deck using stoneblade?

Sorry for the long post full of questions, I'll be gratefull if someone can help me!

UWB is the build of choice nowadays, basically because of the reasons you mentioned. The Jeskai build also has a really bad G1 against many combo decks. If you are intent on playing a Jeskai build though, the list you posted is pretty close to stock, though it is a bit light on removal. You could probably cut down on the Spell Snares (weakest card in the deck, IMO) and add in another Bolt and an Engineered Explosives (or another Supreme Verdict). I also suggest removing Sword of Fire and Ice. In my testing it doesn't work well in a deck packing so few creatures. It might be worth replacing it with a Vendilion Clique to help against combo. I like your addition of a single SDT though. I don't see why it wouldn't be useful.

As for boarding against Miracles, I would substitute the Lightning Bolts with REB and a combination of Snapcaster Mage / Ponder to board in Vendilion Cliques. Elspeth works well also. Haven't tested the Eldrazi matchup, but Blood Moon sounds like it's worth a try. Hope this helps.