Orzhov, Abzan, or Esper?
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on April 1, 2016, 8:52 p.m. by Ovelence
I'm currently trying to make a post-rotation standard toolbox deck which I've been thinking about since spoilers started that uses Bygone Bishop and a lot of low-cost high toughness creatures to flood the field with clues and slow down the opponent until I can get a Tamiyo's Journal on the field and use it to fish out a finisher such as Archangel Avacyn Flip or Linvala, the Preserver.
I decided I wanted to play white-black because of Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. With the kind of creatures this wants to play I believe she's a very good control outlet and exactly what this deck needs. But now that I've done some thinking and realized that the really good investigate colors are blue and green. Now I'm not sure if I want to play Orzhov, or if I want to splash one of the other two colors and play either Abzan or Esper. I decided it was probably best to get the community's opinion on the matter.
GrandHussar says... #3
I don't play standard, but looking at the spoilers, I think you're better set in some sort of Dimir control, although of the three options, I'd say Esper. Black still has good tools. Blue has, and is getting crazy stuffs if you want a secondary win con, and White has removal and keyword soup.
April 1, 2016 10:43 p.m.
Billy10987 says... #4
I'd say if you're looking to stall the board play Esper as it allows for much more control over the board and blue has many cards that can help you fish for Tamiyo's Journal.
April 2, 2016 3:48 a.m.
As shifty as the mana is, you could go esper to give you access to countermagic, Ojutai and more clues.
Alternatively, if you go abzan, you could have Assualt Formation as a secondary strategy with your 'low-cost high toughness' creatures - as well as cards like Briarbridge Patrol and Ulvenwald Mysteries.
I think that with Bygone Bishop especially however, you should be a more aggressive deck - with lots of low drops to allow you to pay for all the clues you are generating. Possibly an aggressive bant build utilizing all three clue colours?
Lots of options but I think that it's worth remembering that Bygone Bishop is best in an aggressive shell, and Tamiyo's Journal is best with Briarbridge Patrol to tutor out a fatty such as a dragonlord or ulamog.
April 2, 2016 4:59 a.m.
Thanks for all the comments! I'll definitely keep all of these in mind!
I'm aware the Bygone Bishop is best used in an aggressive build, but I believe (It might just be a vain hope and everything will wind up falling to shreds when I build the deck and start playtesting) that he can be a cornerstone to any kind of deck, which is why I'm running him in control. In short, I'm running him because I want to try and utilize any amount of flexibility that Bygone Bishop may have.
April 2, 2016 10:16 a.m.
The biggest problem with it in control is that (other than jace) control doesn't run any <4CMC creatures - at which point it's just a vanilla flyer. What creatures were you planning to trigger it with (in any archetype)?
April 2, 2016 10:27 a.m.
Creatures like Sidisi's Faithful (Or Yoked Ox if I choose not to go esper). Ones that can chump block well and also act as good feed for Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim that can stall the game while giving me clues so I can get out the journal and then start tutoring up cards like Linvala, the Preserver, Westvale Abbey Flip, Archangel Avacyn Flip, that kind of stuff.
April 2, 2016 10:54 a.m.
I put together an Abzan human deck for pre-release and went 4-0 with only 1 game loss. It was more of a GW Human deck I guess, but it could actually be a thing. Clues turned out to be better than I thought and I ended up with a bunch of hexproof, flying, lifelink, vigilance humans and sacrificing clues gaining me 3 life and putting 1/1 counters on my Tireless Tracker which combos nice with Bygone Bishop and lots of 1-3 CMC creatures.
wasianpower says... #2
Play WB, standard can't really support 3 color mana bases well right now. Plus, there are a bunch of WB control lists that you can look at on this site to give you ideas.
April 1, 2016 10:27 p.m.