Chandra Ima Winner vs KLD - Grixis Control just ran a playtest between these decks. Intresting matchup.

Ol_man haha cool, care to share the testing parameters and results? :)

Sure! Chandra Ima Winner holds its own with KLD - Grixis Control!! 4-2 in my testing!! Lol

I don't know about you guys but i'm getting really excited about grixis control in standard again, Im loving dark intimations!

DarkAngel367 It never really left! ;)

But yeah some new toys like Saherni's Expertise and Fatal Push will also surely have a place in our build! Can't wait for full spoiler so that I can update the deck with a first AER draft list and immediately do some testing! :D

Shock is in aether revolt which is decent.

In a Grixis list you probably want something like Fatal Push over Shock though.

I'm looking at a more aggressive build, Running Aether Meltdown, Electrostatic Pummeler, Harnessed Lightning, and Tezzeret's Touch. Idly you will enchant the Pummeler with tezzeret's touch then use the three energy to pump him to a 10/10 or even a 20/20, provided you have 6 energy.

So far with the preview cards we've seen, I'm looking at;

• A split between the new PUSH, and our Grasp + Harnessed suite
• A split between Radiant Flames and Saheeni's Expertise
• Baral's Expertise will probably make the cut as a 1 or 2-ofs, main/sideboard, depending on the decks to beat really
• Perhaps Baral himself, most likely in the side against Control/Combo decks
• Dark Intimations is cute, will probably at least do some testing with a copy in the side, but obviously it will be even more interesting once we see the BOLAS spells!!! OMG can you believe it: FRICKIN BOLAS SPELLS are coming!!! :D

What about Disallow?

necromosh, I like it a lot but I just don't have the space for it, I rather keep my counters as low CMC as possible, hence the current suite I have. I think that modes 2 and 3 are very very fringe, will not happen often unless you are a very dedicated counter deck, something like the UB deck I just faced with counters to the gills than yeah for sure. Because of this, the only 3 CMC I'm running is the one Void which I think is better because Graveyard hate is inexistant in this meta!!!

why not more aether hub?

bafromme Many people have asked me this question, I'm happy to answer it again. Keep in mind that beside the Hubs themselves, our deck only has 5 cards that provide energy!!...And you also have to take into account that two of those are from Harnessed Lightning and they also sometimes get boarded out! This means that two Hubs, on average one per game on the board is fine. Two Hubs in early game can be disastrous, 3 is practically game over.

TLDR: Our deck is very mana-intensive so we cannot risk having more than 2 energy-depleted Hubs, especially in early game.

The bannings in standard are looking good for control decks

DarkAngel367 For sure! Although Copter and Mage weren't really issues for us, I did lose a lot of games to Emrakul. The only change it had on my list so far is replacing a Dismissal in the side for a Void Shatter, I might get rid of the other copy too if I don't see the need (which seems likely because other cards with cast-triggers aren't really being played atm, unless I'm forgetting something?).

EastsideRock Flickering, Planeswalker abilities, etc.

Griffinag15 yup for sure, but not sure it's worth carrying on the extra CMC...definitely a meta call, but I'm thinking I might switch the last copy for another Dispel or 3rd Void

necromosh Decided to give Disallow a go! The Emra ban provided me with two empty Summary Dismissal slots, so I added a second Dispel and Disallow. I also dropped Baral's Expertise for a 2nd copy of Baral, been really impressed with him!

Play more Disallow, cut mainboard Negates

ablock No way I'm cutting negates, but now I have 2 Disallows Main :D. Where are all the creatures decks at!!? I easily cut 2 Kalitas and 2 Push for both Disallows, one more Anticipate, and one more Transgress. Doing great VS all the field now :) Bring it on Cat Combo!!

I would run Push over Grasp, in a 3 color shell the demand for double black on turn 2 is less demanding.

Negate is going to be a very important card in the incoming meta. A very important card.

cdunn92483 I've been running Grasp for as long as its been legal, it's just too good and too important. Now that we actually have way more other good options I'm running only two, but the past Standard I was running 3, and 4 for about the past year before. Dropping BB early is also very rewarding for that turn-3 Lili. Again, the manabase can be tricky, but you just gotta know the deck, your draws and what you are facing. I wanted to love Push so much but it just doesn't do enough in our deck. Now, if ever aggro gets enough steam and early-game survival IS a problem, definitely Push will be mandatory, but it's just not the case right now. (Don't get me wrong I had to fight hard against myself and other people on reddit to have them convince me to drop them but I did, and I haven't been needing them AT all, the 3rd Anticipate and 2nd Disallow proved to be WAY more needed!!)

Noctem Yes! These two copies are SO important. Very best card VS PWs and artifacts. Loooooove me some Negates.

Negate is likely the number one most underestimated card of all time. MY theory on that is because it is just terrible in modern the curb is so low, Spell Pierce or Spell Snare are just way better.

ArmyJM07 That's for sure, and as of Standard; in a creature-heavy meta it is obviously lackluster but in this current meta with lost of Vehicles, Artifacts, PWs, Combo decks...it is really over-performing!