FEEL FREE TO ADD ME ON ARENA: ApolloPaladin#83413
This is an Explorer deck I've been messing with on & off for a while now and I think it could use some more input.
The main focus of this deck is to utilize Drannith Magistrate along side conditional exile cards: Aven Interrupter, Invasion of Gobakhan
, Soul Partition, and Elite Spellbinder to grant some pretty brutal & versatile control - all while benefiting from Human creature synergies.
It's been doing pretty well in unranked Explorer so far, though it's still early testing vs. the meta so it still might require some tweaks.
Previous Considerations:
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Thalia, Guardian of Thraben was one I ran initially since the Aven Interrupters function as control but don't have their cost increased. As the deck developed more (and I filled out wildcards) it became such that there are enough non-creature spells worth running here that Thalia is just too double-edged to keep in.
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High Noon is another one I considered here simply because they're nice limitations against speed builds. However, with such a low CMC in my own deck here, plus Recruitment Officers fishing out creatures, and then needing to "Cast" Lightshield Array off of Invasion of Gobakhan
, I've found them equally as limiting in this build as they are for the opponent. Also, splashing R/W Dual Lands just to make full use of High Noon seems a waste given the other options Still, they could be worth a revisit maybe on the Sideboard for BO3's.
The win Condition is pretty straight forward; use some flying creature damage plus synergies off of Thalia's Lieutenants, Coppercoat Vanguards, and the Lightshield Arrays (from Invasion of Gobakhan
) to pump up & protect the team.
Hand Control:
- Invasion of Gobakhan
(Multiples of these in play is great passive team growth)
- Aven Interrupter (Great even against "can't be countered" effects; Flying great for attacking Invasion)
- Elite Spellbinder (Additional Hand-viewing/control; Flying great for attacking Invasion)
Board Control:
- Lay Down Arms (Exile and CMC-based primarily for mono-red threats)
- Sheltered by Ghosts (New favorite that's great in many different builds; give Magistrates Ward 2)
- Soul Partition (Most versatile 2-mana white control on Arena; best pairing with Magistrates IMO)
Protection:
- Helping Hand (Can grab any creature in the deck, but primarily Drannith Magistrates if they get killed)
- Invasion of Gobakhan
(Pretty easy to kill off with only 1 creature; Lightshield Array great for creature decks)
Threats:
The main threats I've run into are Temporary Lockdowns, Sunfalls, and Farewells - all of which are fairly widely-used in different deck builds. The only real answer I have to these are the Aven Interrupters, banking on having a Drannith Magistrate in play to keep it at bay before it can be re-cast.
Usually I try to save the Interrupters if an opponent is playing another White or Azorius control variant, but there really isn't a ton of options to combat these unless I add in Guardian of Faiths -- but not being human or direct control, they feel kind of off-the-mark for this deck.
Mono-red similarly can be problematic, but between Lay Down Arms and Soul Partition red creatures aren't that hard to deal with. As an added bonus against Mono-red, Drannith Magistrate also shuts off their ability to exile additional cards off their library to play (which a LOT of mono-red decks rely on to keep going).
Help with...
I'd be eager to hear anyone's thoughts on the deckbuild so far, particularly as it applies to the ranked Explorer meta since I do intend to try and ladder climb with it.
I've also been looking at possibly making this a Best-of-3 Deck and including a couple Aven Mindcensors, Archon of Emerias (though the Archons hold the same reservation as High Noons), and/or some other disruption-type spells to the Sideboard, but I'm interested to hear other sideboard considerations since I'm not that familiar with BO3 Explorer meta.
