MTG Combo: Duress + Duress

Odyssey on Keywords.deck (EMN Standard)

8 years ago

michael921, no problem, glad it was well received =).

For the Duress vs Dispel/Negate question, unless you have a deck that is more of a draw-go style control deck, having a mix of the the three in the sideboard is good. There will be times where you'll want to land an Odric, but only have 4 mana and a Dispel in hand to deal with counterspells. In these cases, having Duress + any CMC3 or less creature is clearly better. Duress also lets you know when you should hold up mana for counterspells, in case you have both. Duress + Negate in hand is almost always better than Duress + Duress or Negate + Negate .

Dispel is the most narrow, so you probably want the least of it in your sideboard. If you have Negates and Duresses as well, you can probably get away with only 1 Dispel unless the control matchup is truly abysmal. Just keep in mind that a lot of removal now is sorcery speed or attached to a permanent (like Ob Nixilis Reignited). So if for example you decide that you want 5 cards in your sideboard specifically for the control matchup, a split of 1 Dispel, 2 Negate, and 2 Duress would seem optimal to me.

I like Hidden Dragonslayer in the deck since, unlike most decks which play morphs, you can represent both Dragonslayer and Stratus Dancer with yours. It'll make life difficult for midrange decks. But you probably don't need 4 Dragonslayers since he's best when morphed and there are only so many large creatures you'll be able to slay in a single game of magic. Against aggro decks he's very lackluster, but if you're playing against a white-based aggro deck that runs Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip, he can at least be used to kill Avacyn in response to her indestructible trigger. 2 Dragonslayers is probably doable.

You could replace the remaining 2 Topan Freeblades with 2 Always Watching . You have enough nontoken creatures to justify it, and it will occasionally help a creature survive that otherwise wouldn't, such as you playing Odric when the opponent has a Radiant Flames or Fiery Impulse in hand with spell mastery turned on. Languish will still be good against you unless you have an unmorphed Stratus Dancer or a Duress/counterspell in hand, but Always Watching takes your many 3 toughness creatures out of Radiant Flames range without requiring you to have any of these cards, and also improves your clock, given all the flyers you have.