What is your opinion about mainboarding Banishing Light in this kind of build? I'm looking into building this deck and was wondering if you ever playtested with Banishing Light.

Utter End accomplishes the same job as Banishing Light. The permanence and instant speed are well worth the extra cmc.

I really like how you sorted everything! How do you do that? Also, love the Deck GL!

@Palkyon

Thanks! You can find out how to sort decks like this on the "Custom Categorization" thread in the site updates section of the forums.

2 questions.

1) Have you tested Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in this build? I'mm having trouble fitting him in and really want to.

2) How is 3 Narset Transcendent working for you? Personally I thought I drew into to many of her, was just wondering your opinion on that.

Love the build though, and nice work fitting Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver back in.

How would you handle Plummet? All I would have to do to take out your ojutai is wait for you to attack and then instant him, and he's gone for two mana.

I am just curious because I want to use dragons as a wincon in a black/green mana ramp deck that I am working on.

Tfthoresen...whereas it would be hard for you to protect your dragons in a black/green deck, it is quite easy to protect them in this build. Yes, once you attack with Dragonlord Ojutai it becomes vulnerable to removal...that's why you don't attack the turn you put it out there unless you have at least two blue mana open for Silumgar's Scorn...counterspells are what keep Ojutai alive...black/green doesn't have access to that so it would be harder to protect your dragons unless you splashed white for Gods Willing or something along those lines.

Not the turn you put it out there because it doesn't have haste...what I meant was you don't attack until you have some sort of protection...

rochdalekilla9 I don't know yet if I want to splash white or not in my black/green deck or not. I haven't play tested it enough and there are a few cards I'm still waiting for to make it better. I run a play set of gods Willing though in a jeskai deck that I am running, and it does really well. I do love that card. I am still new at building decks though, which is why I asked. I am very much a novice.

Not a problem...hope my explanation helped you a bit!

Hey man I'm also playing around with Shaheen's list! If you care to have a look : click here.

I've taken out 1 Narset for a Dragonlord's Prerogative (god that is hard to pronounce!). I like seeing the card as a win con, drawing four is a lot of times game ending. I've also left out the Radiant Fountain for a more consistent mana base and an extra fetch land. To make up for the loss of life gain, my sideboard has two Ojutai's Command and two Foul-Tongue Invocation to face burn decks.

One thing I'd like to mention about Radiant Purge... The mana base is not really optimal for the card (only 8 white sources). I think that is why we do not see the card in Shaheen's 75. Asking for white mana by turn 4 is not so bad, but asking for it on turn 2 to answer abzan aggro is kind of pushing it. We had a discussion about Bile Blight this morning, I just made a quick hypergeometric calculation and dual black has 76% probability by turn two (16 sources), simple white has 75% (8 sources). It's kind of the same, unless you do opt for a more consistent mana base like mine, dual black can go up to 79% turn two probability.

Anyways, lets figure this out together!

I would strongly consider either of these for the sideboard: Haunted Plate Mail - Grindclock - Perilous Vault - Raise the Alarm.

Haunted Plate Mail is good against abzan and because even when it's activated it dodges Ultimate Price, Bile Blight, and Radiant Purge. When it's not activated it dodges Dragonlord Silumgar's ETB effect. Not to mention that less people are running Perilous Vault in the side.

Grindclock - Because if you are on the play against anything but control resolving an Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver T3 against an empty board state after your opponent's have tapped out and you killed/countered usually means you win. At least I haven't lost yet when i've done that. Grindclock has a similar effect if you're on the draw. You can play it before the opponent has a chance to get out of hand and nobody is main decking artifact hate unless they play Kolaghan's Command. It's also very easy on your lands.

Perilous Vault - Because it dodges Dragonlord Silumgar and most decks can't do anything about it once it resolves.

Raise the Alarm helps you survive by getting you a 2-for-1 in many situations early. It's phenomenal against something like Martin Dang's almost mono and still great against . Often when has nothing else going on they will attack with Elvish Mystic and Rattleclaw Mystic. Just cast this bad boy and watch them cry as a precious mana dork bites the dust.

Something I could use your advice on is how to deal with G/W token/Morph decks. The one running 4x Deathmist Raptor, Fleecemane Lions, Dromoka's Command, Avatar of the Resolute, Servant of the Scale and multiple Den Protectors. Against us the deck sides into Mastery of the Unseen, Ainok Survivalist, Whisperwood Elemental and Inspiring Call which is one of the greatest tempo cards of this set.

I cannot stress enough how important Foul-Tongue Invocation is. You have one in your main and you should have 2 in your SB. I went 3-1 last night with pretty much the same build as yours. My loss came from a series of stupid misplays on my part...otherwise I would've gone 4-0. 2-0 vs Mono Red Aggro. 2-0 vs Naya Dragons. 2-0 vs Temur Dragons and 1-2 vs Mardu Tokens. Foul-Tongue Invocation was a godsend. The life gain it provides is essential and making them sacrifice the one creature they were able to stick is amazing. I also run 2 Bile Blights and 4 Drown in Sorrows in my SB. Anticipate is a good card, but I found myself sideboarding them almost every game. I would reconsider Encase in Ice. I feel other cards may be better like an additional Utter End, possibly a Tasigur, the Golden Fang and another Drown in Sorrow. I've been attempting to play a control deck for awhile now and after playing with this deck last night I am in love with it!

Yeah foul tongue is worth running 3 total I think. I myself ran 2 and 2 Dragonlord Ojutai against my last burn match last night and it helped me stabilize.

This deck looks great, very similar to the deck Shaheen Soorani played in the Richmond invitational. I'm glad to see that Esper is regaining it's momentum as a competitive deck.

Dragonlord Ojutai is not a wincon. Im tired of people thinking this. It looses to EVERY other flyer in competitive magic. And doesn't even get a trade with other dragonlords. Most overrated card in Magic.

rjphilla - Apparently all the pros disagree with you, because DL Ojutai is seriously the real deal.

It looses to EVERY single other flyer in competitive magic. All of them. Waste. Of. Time. How many pro games has it won? Zero. As soon as you attack, it's stoked. Or blocked by stormbreath. And stormbreath has protection from it. You want mine? Selling them.like hot cakes.

How much you want for them?

Any large creature seems good when you have board control. It does nothing in an even board state. Stormbreath Dragon is still the king of all flyers in standard. Dragonlord Silumgar will dethrone her though.

$18.

I am being slightly facetious but in all honesty it doesn't even come close to Silumgar Or Stormbreath. Again, U/W Control clears and maintains boardstate. Any creature on a controlled board is good.

It's the draw function rjphilla. The hexproof and flying are just icing on the cake. It's the fact that it procs an Anticipate when it deals damage that makes it such a good control card.

I sold both of my Ojutai's for over $20 a piece. I am just going to buy them back later when they drop to $10.