Esper Absolute Control FNM (Old Standard)

Standard* Izzet

SCORE: 19 | 74 COMMENTS | 4908 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS


Izzet says... #1

How do people feel about Liliana of the Veil ?

May 25, 2013 1:25 p.m.

I don't like the idea of playing Liliana unless you have more synergies with her. Unburial Rites is a huge archetype these days.

May 25, 2013 1:43 p.m.

Izzet says... #3

I think it's a great discard/sac engine but I need to keep my instant/sorcery counts up and I can't see anything to remove for it. It might be bad against an Unburial Rites deck but I can always side it out and I doubt it'll have too much impact. I Thought Scour myself by the way so that won't help an Unburial Rites deck. Plus it helps me flashback things.

May 25, 2013 2:12 p.m.

StormZing says... #4

If you're going against a deck that punishes you with Cavern of Souls , you could always sideboard Ghost Quarter to help get rid of that, so you can continue to counter cards.

May 25, 2013 3:53 p.m.

Izzet says... #5

Sadly Ghost Quarter is no Wasteland . Losing my land drop to give my opponent free land doesn't sound very appetising to me. I suppose I'll give them a go but I'm not too keen.

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

May 25, 2013 3:55 p.m.

firerunner36 says... #6

I noticed that your mana curve tops out at 3, have you ever thought about using Duskmantle Seer s? I know a lot of people dislike him because he also gives your opponents cards, but more often than not he's helped me quite a bit. Then again that may just be me :P

May 25, 2013 10:32 p.m.

Izzet says... #7

Duskmantle Seer isn't a bad idea but I need to keep my instant/sorcery count very high to use Delver of Secrets  Flip and Snapcaster Mage to full effect and I don't see what I could remove for it. It's something to keep in mind though so thanks!

May 26, 2013 2:22 a.m.

I think you could lose a Think Twice and a Thought Scour for 2 Turn / Burn or some other more impact-full card?

May 26, 2013 2:27 a.m.

Izzet says... #9

Card draw is really important in this deck for making sure I always have an answer for whatever my opponent plays but Turn / Burn is definitely going in my sideboard against cards like Thragtusk and Voice of Resurgence . Thanks!

May 26, 2013 2:36 a.m.

tomorsomthing says... #10

Why not Guttersnipe ? with 25 instants/sorcerys you'll be dishing out plenty of damage with him. I'd suggest taking out the delvers for him id you choose to take that route, as he has synergy with Snapcaster Mage , and Vampire Nighthawk has so very many uses, while delver just kinda falls flat as time goes on.

May 26, 2013 5:17 a.m.

Izzet says... #11

Hmm... my initial feelings are that Guttersnipe means I have too many 3-drop creatures. What if I have a handful of 3 drop creatures and no counters early in game? Delver keeps the pressure up start to finish. I'm going to try Guttersnipe instead of Vampire Nighthawk and I suppose if it works out, that's great and if it doesn't I'll switch back to Nighthawk or replace Delvers with Guttersnipe .

May 26, 2013 5:30 a.m.

shadowkaze says... #12

I like Nephalia Drownyard in this deck just because it adds value at the end of your opponent's turn when you have three mana open. I also really like Duskmantle Seer in this deck because your costs are so low. I would sideboard it though not mainboard. If you play another fast deck then you pretty much help your opponent otherwise.

May 26, 2013 10:31 a.m.

I would use Mind Rot instead of Liliana of the Veil .

May 26, 2013 11:40 p.m.

Izzet says... #14

I like Nephalia Drownyard but I'm worried about being colour screwed by using it. I guess I'll try a couple and see. If I'm going to use Duskmantle Seer , I need to remove something. Does anyone have suggestions?

As for Mind Rot , I would be using Liliana of the Veil for it's sac ability more than discard. If I badly wanted discard, I'd use Rakdos's Return which is much better than Mind Rot .

Thanks for the feedback!

May 27, 2013 5:37 a.m.

belligerence says... #15

I looked at your deck, seems similar to mine, i was considering putting snapcasters aswell but not sure. can you take a look?

May 27, 2013 5:45 a.m.

GriffinRider says... #16

I've playtested this several times, and I've found that around turn 7 (when you typically want to be drawing lots of burn, counters and removal) you keep top decking lands. For this reason, I'm suggesting dropping one or maybe two lands, for absolutely anything. I think Duskmantle Seer would fit nicely, as mentioned, or maybe you could throw in some extra copies of Vampire Nighthawk or Guttersnipe .

Besides that, it looks absolutely horrible. To play against. +1 from me, good job.

May 27, 2013 5:49 a.m.

Izzet says... #17

@belligerence: Sure, can you link me to the deck?

@griffinrider: I think you're right; especially considering my mana curve tops out at 3 at the moment. I'd rather put in Nighthawks than Seers for the moment because I still feel Nighthawks are more useful. If I find something to remove for Seers, I'll add them in.

May 27, 2013 9:36 a.m.

meecht says... #18

One thing to keep in mind: For Duskmantle Seer , Far / Away has a CMC of 5.

As a control deck, you shouldn't care so much about your opponent gaining life because you're in for the long haul. If you're worried about Sphinx's Revelation , then Notion Thief is what you want instead of Skullcrack .

May 29, 2013 11:06 a.m.

Izzet says... #19

That's true; it isn't that important if my opponent gains life. Drawing cards is more important. I will replace Skullcrack with Notion Thief in sideboard.

May 29, 2013 12:27 p.m.

I'm not sure how I feel about Duskmantle Seer in this deck. I love that card, but you if have higher converted mana costs than 4 in your deck, he has the potential to seriously harm you. If you were to consider taking him out, I would replace him with either Jace, Architect of Thought or a card like Index .

May 29, 2013 6:48 p.m.

Izzet says... #21

I am okay with risking taking 5 damage from Far / Away - my opponent is likely to be running many more expensive cards especially if it's something like Junk Reanimator or Bant Control. I suppose it's not that great vs aggro but it's still a 4/4 flier and it still has the ability to deal a lot of damage. I should hopefully be able to stabilise with the lifegain from Nighthawks anyway. I guess I'll test it and see how it does.

I wouldn't add Index as it doesn't draw you a card. I probably wouldn't run Jace because while it's awesome, it lowers my instant/sorcery count.

May 30, 2013 4:53 a.m.

Ok. I see your angle.

May 30, 2013 6:17 p.m.

This is a good deck, but it isn't cruel control, because that requires you to play Cruel Ultimatum .

June 2, 2013 6:24 p.m.

Izzet says... #24

Huh. I looked into that and it seems you're right. Sadly Cruel Ultimatum is not an option for me so I'll remove that as a hub.

June 2, 2013 7:26 p.m.

TheHerc says... #25

Have you ever considered running Ghost Quarter ? I ran it in my BUG control deck and it was really useful. It got rid of Cavern of Souls and Kessig Wolf Run if it came down to it. I ran 2 since the mana curve was funky.

June 2, 2013 8:16 p.m.

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