Azorius, be arrested until you rot away!
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 26, 2012, 7:02 p.m. by Demarge
So far my current standard deck Jace, Stealer of Staffs seems to be playing extremely well as a deck that will keep it's opponent from doing anything of real importance until I mill them out or occasionally torture them to death with pinging.
So far my only problem with the deck (aside from those games I strangely get mana screwed with a 26 land deck...) is when I'm up against a hyper aggro's nut draw, sometimes I have the 3 land Feeling of Dread Supreme Verdict hands, but any suggestions to improve that matchup would be great.
Color fixing isn't really an issue for this deck, sure I'd gladly replace various Evolving Wilds and basics for Hallowed Fountain s as I get them, but the 4 Ghost Quarter s are epic against annoying utility lands like Gavony Township and Cavern of Souls , they stop black decks from out drawing me with Underworld Connections , with the 3 and 4 color decks that are going around they sometimes are just Strip Mine (which is very funny with a Tamiyo emblem), and sometimes they will color fix. Also you are aware that 4 utility spells isn't uncommon for only a 2 color control deck, some high placing bant control lists run 2 utility lands (or even more if you consider Cavern of Souls a utility land in a deck with 6-12 creatures of mostly different types).
As for Feeling of Dread it's actually perfect for a control deck in a meta that has no effective 2 mana sweepers, has decks where getting creatures off the field doesn't usually amount to anything anyway, and has a huge massive overrun beast that just recently almost hit $20. Also you are aware that a turn 3 Feeling of Dread (I will rarely care about their turn 2 attack), turn 4 flashback, into a Supreme Verdict or a lucky miracle Terminus on turn 5 will often mean I spent 2 cards to almost empty my opponent's hand of threats and if they kept their threats in their hand to avoid a board wipe and just weather out the double Fog they'll have entered the endgame which is where my deck will win if they start the fight that late. Out of curiosity what cards in the current standard do Feeling of Dread 's job better?
November 27, 2012 2:48 a.m.
With Inkmoth Nexus out, there's honestly not any lands I hate that much to put myself back a land drop, but that might simply need to be chalked up to a difference of opinion.
As someone that enjoys running a lot aggro, I can say for certain that cards like Azorius Charm , which you do have 3 of, or any bounce are a lot more effective at slowing me down. Feeling of Dread leaves a chance if you don't draw into a sweeper, most aggro decks will have have easily developed lethal on the board if you're only tapping them down. Where as getting them off the field grinds most aggro decks to a halt by forcing them to recast and gives you valuable extra turns to find your sources of card advantage and win conditions.
November 27, 2012 3:20 a.m.
with 6 sweepers it's highly unlikely I will not draw one in time to wipe a board the aggro deck overextended into. As for bounce being better than Feeling of Dread I feel very differently on that matter With bounce or charm the aggro player will have one creature out of combat, with dread I can knock out two creatures from 2 combats. The opponent will lose a draw step with charm unless it's a token, flashback on dread means I'd have cantripped another card to slow the aggro down. The opponent will likely just recast their creature with a bounce or charm, with dread they can use that mana to cast another creature or two and overextend further instead. After all that in either event and I don't draw a sweeper I only see myself in a better position still with dread than a bounce spell or charm as my opponent will likely have only 1 or two more creatures on the field, I'll be at a higher life total since I stopped 2 creatures from hitting me twice, and I'll probably have more cards in my hand since 1 dread did the work of 2-4 bounce spells or charms also most creatures used in even aggro have decent etb triggers or have haste which makes bounce and charms weaker.
Now for a list of lands a control deck would enjoy having a Ghost Quarter for:Kessig Wolf Run : most games with this control deck (and meta in general) run extremely long, long enough for any creature and this to prove to be deadly.Cavern of Souls : would a deck with 5+ counterspells like them to be able to counter annoying creatures, yes!Gavony Township : I would like to stop my opponent from turning every mana dork or Lingering Souls into a legitimate threat.Moorland Haunt : sometimes I would like them to not have any gas after I took care of that gas the first time!card:Alchemist's Refuge: I would preffer to be the only draw go deck in the game.Nephalia Drownyard : With Bant control now running this mainboard it'd be nice to inform them only I will be milling.Any land with Underworld Connections : quite often extra draw can mean a loss, it'd be nice to not have a loss over that.honorable mentions: Grove of the Guardian and Desolate Lighthouse . Also if I ever get a Tamiyo emblem online Ghost Quarter suddenly has a lot more utility in me never missing another land drop (I just hit one of my lands then play either the land I hit or the Ghost Quarter again) or hitting my opponent's lands until they no longer have basics (which happens a lot sooner than you'd expect due to milling and greedy 3-4 color mana bases), then Ghost Quarter becomes a Strip Mine with Crucible of Worlds .
Slycne says... #2
For starters, improving your mana-fixing would certainly help. 4 Ghost Quarter is not helping. I'd be hesitant to run more than 2 colorless mana producers. Personally, I'd rather more consistently be able to cast say a turn 2 Azorius Charm than occasionally color screw someone or shut down a specific special land, and it still leaves you down mana, which is often where you don't want to be for control.
Feeling of Dread , while by no means unhelpful, is not as good as other cards for holding off aggro. It's a better tempo card than a control card in my opinion because you need to do your tapping before attackers are declared, and it doesn't address soul-bonding and exalted in many cases. You really need to be taking the creature off the field to slow them down with how aggressive aggro can be.
November 27, 2012 2:08 a.m.