EMN Sultai Control: Seriously Delirious

Standard BUG (Sultai)

dogtailer

Creature (12)

• 1x Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1x Emrakul, the Promised End
• 2x Grim Flayer
• 1x Ishkanah, Grafwidow
• 4x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip
• 3x Mindwrack Demon

Planeswalker (3)

• 3x Liliana, the Last Hope

Land (25)

• 2x Choked Estuary
• 3x Evolving Wilds
• 4x Forest
• 2x Island
• 4x Llanowar Wastes
• 2x Sunken Hollow
• 8x Swamp

Enchantment (5)

• 2x Dead Weight
• 2x Oath of Jace
• 1x Sinister Concoction

Instant (9)

• 2x Grapple with the Past
• 3x Grasp of Darkness
• 1x Silumgar's Command
• 2x To the Slaughter
• 1x Ultimate Price

Sorcery (7)

• 2x Dark Petition
• 2x Languish
• 2x Pick the Brain
• 1x Seasons Past

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Sideboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Grim Flayer
• 1x Mindwrack Demon

Instant (6)

• 3x Natural State
• 2x Pulse of Murasa
• 1x Ultimate Price

Sorcery (7)

• 3x Duress
• 2x Flaying Tendrils
• 1x Languish
• 1x Pick the Brain

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Ishkanah, Grafwidow

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited

Instant (2)

• 1x Scour the Laboratory
• 1x Unsubstantiate

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Traverse the Ulvenwald

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My attempt at capitalizing on some of the delightful things delirium has to offer. Overall, this deck pilots like something between midrange and control. Still going through drafts.

The overall goal is to control the board and fill your graveyard until you can get your Mindwrack Demon s out, and from there it's a matter of time. Emrakul, the Promised End is a wonderful finisher. While I can't get her down to 6, a turn 6 Seasons Past will ensure that you can always cast her on turn 7.

This deck offers a lot of flexibility and versatility throughout the game, and I've found it quite difficult to run out of gas. So far, the earliest I've hit delirium is turn 3. You can usually flip Jace, Vryn's Prodigy   around then as well.

However, there's a certain x-factor I'm missing. I think I need to ensure that I have better bombs, which this current build attempts to rectify. I think Dragonlord Silumgar sockets in quite nicely. I may also exchange Grim Flayer for Hangarback Walker but we'll see how it performs.

The sideboard is in need of serious work. Ever After might be nice, as would Pulse of Murasa for aggro matchups. This deck detests Declaration in Stone , so be careful with your creatures. Invasive Surgery can really mess with strategies like that.

Mainboard

One Drops:

• Sinister Concoction : While jank in most decks, this is an amazing turn 1 play. You can use it immediately to kill off a Sylvan Advocate and start priming delirium, or you can simply have it sit and use it when you need it. It's extra nice that it's a unconditional and non-negotiable kill effect too.

Two Drops:

• Grapple with the Past: I underestimated this common when I first saw it at prerelease. The fact that you can retrieve any creature or land from your graveyard means this only gets stronger as the game drags on. Helpful for cheaply retrieving a dead/milled Emrakul, the Promised End.

• Grasp of Darkness: One of my current removal faves. While not perfect, it can slay an Archangel Avacyn   no sweat, and deals with most of the midrangey threats in the format. If you're playing against a deck without any dual colors or indestructibles, you may board these out for Ultimate Price.

• Grim Flayer: Seriously awesome. You can start applying pressure early if you get turn 3 delirium, and in a control matchup he can set it up himself. It's hard dealing with a 4/4 for 2 at any point in the game. When dropping your lands, always be sure to have BG by turn 2 for this dude. One more thing--I realize Flayer is not a traditional control piece by any stretch. The deck's initial incarnation was in fact midrange, and this is something of an artifact of that. However, I still like it in control for a few reasons:

• Draw Fixing: From the very get-go, you can use its Divining Top effect to control what you're going to get next turn. You can "scry" before dropping an Oath. Also, once you've hit 6 or 7 lands, you can basically just draw nothing but gas from there on. This somewhat obviates the need for a Read the Bones.

• Early Pressure: Few control decks can claim to be able to do this. Against aggro matchups, you can completely stonewall them. You can also give yourself an early lead against control and stay competitive with midrange.

• Late Game Utility: Mindwrack is still way better, but in a mana hungry format it can be nice to drop a Languish followed by this guy, or to leave mana open for responses. A 4/4 trampler for 2 is always tough to deal with.

• Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  : As always, a great turn 2 play for hand sculpting. If you have a Concoction on deck, you can flip him quite early and start mezzing their creature. Conversely, you can wait and sculpt your hand. Useful for retrieving a milled removal spell or for grabbing that key Seasons Past. Don't worry about his ult.

• Ultimate Price: Not much to say. Great removal spell in this format, all things considered. Less useful against the Dragonlords and if you spot The Gitrog Monster.

Three Drops

• Liliana, the Last Hope: I had initially used Kiora, Master of the Depths in this build, but I was fortunate enough to pull a few Lilis at prerelease. She does everything I wanted to do with Kiora and then some, not the least of which is being able to kill 2/1s and weaken bigger guys. Sorry Kiora. The -2 is dripping with versatility, fueling delirium, retrieving a finisher, or giving Jace more food.

• Oath of Jace : Works tremendously with delirium, and with the two walkers. You should always be getting some sort of value off the scry effect.

• Pick the Brain: Often key to surviving against white. Be sure to grab Gisela, the Broken Blade or Declaration in Stone , both of which hate hard on this deck. You can use it without delirium, but you don't need to. I included one in the sideboard for the all-important control matchup.

• To the Slaughter : Like Concoction, this is an otherwise sub-par removal piece that puts in serious work in this deck. This spell gets extremely ugly with delirium, allowing you to hobble Tamiyo, Field Researcher and other shenanigans.

Four Drops

• Languish: Weenie was by far my worst matchup. While this kills your Grim Flayers, between Grapple, Lili, and Seasons, they won't be gone for long. Everything else in the deck handily survives the -4/-4.

• Mindwrack Demon : Now we're talking. The main beatstick of the deck. I've playtested a bunch and I've never gotten hit by the life tax. A lot of strategies have serious trouble dealing with a 4/5 frampler, as it evades Grasp, Languish, and Radiant Flames . It loses the scare factor as the game drags on, but it's a fierce turn 4 play.

Five Drops

• Silumgar's Command: A great 1-of. I like being able to kill a walker and creature, and you can generate some tempo by bouncing a pricey dude. I suppose you could counter a spell as well, like Ever After or Seasons Past.

Six Drops

• Dragonlord Silumgar: Added this at the behest of my brother, and I think it was a great choice. Since a you may not always have a Concoction to kill an Eldrazi, a Frog, or an Ormendahl, Profane Prince  , why not just take it instead? A good alternative to playing Seasons on turn 6, and remains pretty relevant from there on.

• Seasons Past: I'm a little on the fence about this card, but I think it will work. Since this deck mills so much, you should be able to use it to its fullest capacity while also maintaining delirium. It's a pricey target for Jace's -3, but still good if you accidentally mill it. I'd prefer to play Silumgar on turn 6 in most matchups, but the extra fuel provided by Seasons cannot be underestimated.

Thirteen Drops

• Emrakul, the Promised End: I had to, I really did. You will be able to cast her for 7 at the cheapest, but this deck has the longevity and the mill to make it realistic. She is a great discard target for Concoction and Oath, as she can be retrieved using Grapple and Seasons. If you have been pummeling them with Flayers and Demons, she will end the game quite quickly. Plus, I think "control target player" is straight hilarious.

Sideboard

• Duress: You can't outcontrol a traditional control deck. Duress will allow you to attack their hand early and often so that you can beat them down with your ample card advantage. Board out the two Languish cards and a piece of spot removal for this.

• Flaying Tendrils: Tendies helps a lot for an early token sweep. With the prevalence of white weenie and humans, this is great.

• Creatures: I had initially cut one each of Grim Flayer and Mindwrack Demon , but I think it'd behoove us to have them for the control matchup. Gotta beat em down fast.

• Languish: An extra for when decks come too hard. Ideally for Bant Company.

• Pulse of Murasa: I added this in for weenie and aggro matchups. They'll do the same work as Grapple with the Past while helping put you out of range. I may also consider Foul-Tongue Invocation for the same purpose.

• Natural State: Another card to deal with white's prevalence in the format. You absolutely have to destroy Always Watching when it comes down.

• Pick the Brain: Another piece for control matchup. Let me reiterate that its delirium effect is banging.

• Ultimate Price: I included this for when you meet decks where Grasp won't cut it, but I'm still not sure. Most things that can't be Grasped are dual-colored. I'll figure it out.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 1 Mythic Rares 19 - 2 Rares 4 - 6 Uncommons 10 - 6 Commons
Cards	61
Avg. CMC	3.31
Tokens	Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Emblem Liliana, the Last Hope, Spider 1/2 G, Zombie 2/2 B