Deck Creation and Card Choices
This deck started as a turbo-cycling deck aiming to get Cryptic Serpent cheap and Enigma Drake powered up quickly. After testing the list I found that neither of those cards are actually great pay-offs and the power level was just not there. But I did learn that I loved Bedlam Reveler and Curator of Mysteries in this style of deck. Reveler gets super cheap very quickly and Curator turned out to be just a great card, a 4/4 flier when you need it or the next card on top of your library when you don't.
I really liked how the deck played out with all the options that cycling gives you. It makes the deck really great at finding lands when you need them and lets us cut on the land count to prohibit flooding in the late game. I was pretty set on all of the instants/sorceries in the deck.
Dissenter's Deliverance
proved to be great against all kinds of decks (Heart of Kiran, Aetherworks Marvel, Torrential Gearhulk). Censor is extremely diverse. The removal is great with Magma Spray hitting so many relevant things in this format (Scrapheap Scrounger, Relentless Dead) And we even have the Attune with Aether + Harnessed Lightning combo. So I went about trying to find what the best payoffs are for being in Temur colors and having a lot of cycling. Drake Haven stuck out immediately so I began to test with it.
Drake Haven did not disappoint. Suddenly the deck went from quickly cycling cards into it's graveyard, into a control deck that wanted to go long. Once this shift was made Pull from Tomorrow started to look attractive, along with Kefnet the Mindful for the control and grindy match-ups. Both of these cards have shown they are worth the inclusion. Bedlam Reveler is still great as a one-of, especially with it's synergy with Drake Haven (don't forget discarding cards also triggers it), and so the deck began to take shape.
In testing it was clear that 8 removal spells wasn't quite where we wanted to be. It worked great when
Dissenter's Deliverance
also counted as a removal spell for artifact creatures, but without it, it was very easy to fall prey to a swarm of creatures. I didn't want to simple add more 1-for-1 removal spells though, as that would lead us to run out of gas in some games. Sweltering Suns was basically tailor made for this deck. None of our creatures die to it, AND it has cycling. I started with 1-copy and eventually landed on 2 being correct.
Next, we needed more threats to end the game. We can't just rely on Curator of Mysteries beatdowns to get the job done. Games when we get a Drake Haven online we aren't short of ways to win the game, but I don't like running more than 3 copies because of how slow your game plan is when drawing multiples. Kefnet the Mindful and Bedlam Reveler are good threats but I don't want to run more than one of each for the same problematic situation when drawing multiples of them. I also still wanted more ways to interact with my opponent's board, so ideally they would be threats that could both end the game, but also act as pseudo-removal. Eventually, I settled on two copies of Glorybringer and a copy of Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Both of these threats fit the bill perfectly.
Manabase
The mana has been great overall, I've been happy with 20 lands and 4 Attune with Aethers, I even tested 18 lands like a madman and while I liked it for the turbo version with Cryptic Serpent, it wasn't enough for the control deck that it became. I'm still unsure on how many Botanical Sanctums and Spirebluff Canals are ideal. There are A LOT of come into play tapped lands after turn 3 in the deck which hasn't been a big issue but with some further tuning I could see lowering it. Sheltered Thicket is really awesome and can be a super clutch top-deck in the late game with a Drake Haven in play.
Sideboard
The current sideboard is a work in progress. It'll take a little more fine-tuning but I think it's pretty close to what I'll end up with.
Arlinn Kord
might be too cute, I just want to live the dream with her and a Glorybringer.
General SB Plan:
vs. Gearhulk Control (U/R, U/W, U/x/x):
-4 Magma Spray, -2 Sweltering Suns, -2 Glorybringer, -1 Bedlam Reveler
+2 Negate, +2 Void Shatter, +2 Dispel, +2 Kefnet the Mindful, +1 Summary Dismissal
Pretty general "take out dead removal, bring in counterspells" plan. Kefnet is great here and Dismissal is another counterspell that can also take care of a
Sphinx of the Final Word
from your opponent. Discarding a full hand with Reveler can be rough so I take him out.
vs. Zombies (MonoB, B/W):
-4
Dissenter's Deliverance
, -1 Kefnet the Mindful
+2 Incendiary Flow, +1 Chandra, Flamecaller, +1
Radiant Flames
, +1 Baral's Expertise
More removal and board wipes come in. A second copy of Flamecaller might be correct in this match-up but six mana is a lot. Baral's Expertise has shown to be pretty good, allowing you to cast a Curator of Mysteries or Drake Haven for free to catch-up when behind.
vs. Mardu Vehicles:
-1 Kefnet the Mindful, -1 Glorybringer, -1 Pull from Tomorrow
+1 Baral's Expertise, +2 Negate
This match-up can vary a lot when it comes to the sideboard. If they go the walkers plan then your counterspells look better. Glorybringer lines up less than ideal against Archangel Avacyn
and Heart of Kiran (although you can usually deal with a Heart before you cast your dragon) while also lining up great against a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar so I take one copy out. Negate will almost never be dead so it's not going to be a bad call no matter how they sideboard. Unsure of what else is good here.
vs. Aetherworks (G/U/x):
-4 Magma Spray, -1 Bedlam Reveler
+2 Kefnet the Mindful, +2 Void Shatter, +1 Summary Dismissal
This requires testing, but I think Kefnet is a great way to approach this match-up. You need a resilient way to close out the game quickly and a 5/5 indestructible flier should be able to do the trick. It's likely they side in a bunch of stuff that Negate is irrelevant against, so I like Shatter more here.
