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Current Meta: Esper Dragons Control Mardu Dragons GR Devotion UB Control Abzan Control Abzan Aggro
Keep hands with at least one removal card and three lands. Mulligan two none double blue lands with no removal. Marginal keeps are ands with none double blue lands with removal/counterspell.Stall early with Pacifism and Silkwrap. Keep in mind what creatures are Silkwarp for furture Ugin, the Spirit Dragon use. Pacifism should be used on bigger non dashed, non Stormbreath Dragons creatures. Anticipate early if you need lands, late when you need a specific card. Remember it's really awesome to tap out for Elspeth, Sun's Champion when you have Devouring Light. Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are your only win conditions(win con).Sideboard usages:Against non ramp midrange decks, swap Silkwrap/Pacifism for Suspension Field as needed. midrange decks with Stormbreath Dragon need to side in 3 Encase in Ice, in situation where you feel the need to side in more than 5 cards, it's ok to take use Anticipate slots.Control decks, swap out 3 Silkwrap 2 Pacifism, and 2 End Hostilities for 2 Negate, 2 Swan Song, and 2 Banishing Light. Swan Song and easily be Disdainful Stroke to deal with Esper Dragon Control, but I prefer countering any and all opposing counterspells and draw spells on the cheap.Mono colored aggro/burn decks should swap out 4 Dig Through Time and 2 Jace's Ingenuity for 3 Arashin Cleric and 3 Encase in Ice (if mono red), seems drastic to drop all your draw spells, but in my experience they are less relevant when trying to one-for-one the opposition to get to your win cons. Swap 1 End Hostilities for 1 AEtherspouts as well.******************************UDATE(07/29/2015)*******************************Started playing with no Anticipate and took to playing Encase in Ice main while adding the 27th land. Looked at Pacifism and decided it was perfect, but then Oppressive Rays is the same thing yet makes cards like mana dorks, monsterous, and other activated abilities. It's funny to think you could disrupt Whisperwood Elemental sacrifice effect by 3. Also decided to give Reality Shift a try as an attempt to combat Haven of the Spirit Dragon buy back ability. It certainly can backfire, but I would much rather have cards like Dragonlord Atraka Manifest with no ETB effect then it rain down death on my Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Going to see how Whelming Wave fares against the field in the SB. It's worth a try considering how awful 5 mana sweepers function against mono color decks. Just one more turn right.********************************************************************************
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This is very impressive deck shell and I love how it's so out of the range of everything for maybe a early thoughtseize/duress (what doesn't though). The only thing that is grabbing my attention is having a match up against u/b control who sides out creatures for thoughtseize and more noncreature wincon (PW's) Being that you have 4 counters and two on the side, gives you 6 outs to take out a noncreature wincon. A bit risky for me. But other than that, I love the deck! 1+
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Even an early Thoughtseize would have issues from poor selection, but yeah Thoughtseize with an average hand is always a killer. More often than not I've watched the forehead rubbing opponent pondering what to take. Don't forget Banishing light is a very efficient way to deal with PW/enchantments. It's become a forgotten piece of removal for control in a era of folks fearing Dromoka's Command. This would up my outs to 8 after board against PW/enchantments. I like my chances in those scenarios. I played and lost to a very morph centric deck making Ugin less effective and Whisperwood Elemental is hard to deal with if it hits the board or you never get End Hostilities before you opponent starts untapping.
Hmm...I see your point and totally miss that banishing light.........well other than thoughtseize or maybe a turn three ashiok(if she is still relevant in u/b). The sorcery speed is kind of scaring me still, But still that is a meta contingent. What would you peg G/w devotion or bant with this tech in terms of difficulty be for this deck? (typical elvish-to courser-to-surrak stuff) But I like this shell alot nonetheless.
Whisperwood can be a problem, but it's a problem for any control deck not main boarding Perilous Vault. I like my chances main board against any midrange deck in this format to include any multi colored aggro decks.
I just don't know about this deck shell in a mirror control match up where if they run esper dragons or some other variant where silkwrap. pacifism and devouring light are essentially not good cards and nothing to board except negate and jace's. Being that card advantage and cost effectiveness is key to winning mirror matches , that is where scorn WILL shine because a counterspell to stop a cantrip? and raw draw spell? dig through? plus having creatures that when resolved are staying(hexproof) there until you wrath, which is not helpful when behind or not having card advantage. That is why I feel thoughtseize is this deck biggest's fear since you run most of your core post-resolve removal at sorcery speed, it's not about taking it but more about knowing you have it and planning accordingly.
Everything you say is true. Thoughtseize is an unfair card, Pacifism and Devouring Light are dead against Silumgar, the Drifting Death, but not against Dragonlord Ojutai. If anything game 1 is a huge advantage for me since Pacifism is not completely dead. Esper Dragons has roughly 7-10 dead cards game 1 from Foul-Tongue Invocation, Crux of Fate, Bile Blight, and, until I play a PW, Hero's Downfall while I'm stuck with 3 unplayable Silkwrap. The worst card to play against is a turn 3 Ashiok, which are in less than half Esper Dragon decks. Post board is a 5-7 card swap with 2 Negate, 2 Swan Song, 1 Jace's Ingenuity, and 2 Banishing Light(depending on PW use). Remember, in the mirror, Scorn is a completely worthless card without a dragon while most of those same decks run 2 or less Dissolve betting on Scorn being Counterspell. Nullify is really good against Esper Dragons considering how reliant they are on them to win. The mirror, for me, is really fun and usually ends up being 1-0-1 in my favor.
You're really missing the Silumgar's Scorn, Oujatai/ regent package- its what has put control from tier 2 to tier 1
I disagree. The Dragon/Scorn package was good when there were less fliers. Right now a Nullify runs a high percentage of counterspell opportunities without the reliance on dragons. Plus not having dragons in the deck list frees up 5 slots for things like silkwrap. Plus I'm not running B to play Crux of Fate which would allow me to play dragons and still boardwipe. I could argue why esper dragons is still tier 2 for days, but some of why it's not good I just described.
Silkwrap and Nullify are poor cards- they see no tier 1 play, Oujatai/scorn packageis tier 1 as shown by the pro tour, when the meta changes as it currently is with the bump in green when less Mardu is played it will hit back to top tier 1 rather 1.5
They see no current tier 1 play because everyone is satisfied with Esper Dragons as is. I have no interest in playing dragons/scorn thus the reason for the debate about this deck and not about your personal belief on dragons/scorn being tier 1 or 1.5.
I think with the dilemma with silkwrap is that it's just kinda slow and can be punished accordingly like said above(with whisperwood, den protec/ deathmist combo) Plus being a sorcery speed doesn't allow you to exile at their turn, hence allowing them to plan accordingly and pulling a draw.Nullify is just underrated. Narrow but still effective. Scorn with a dragon is still tops because it's a flat counter for two that at worse can be a force spike.
Even when iti s a force spike, people are trying to be so on curve in current standard, its basically a hard counterspell anyway- they were saying that constantly on the pro tour, also Oujatai is just an amazing end game which can also help you get other stuff, he is the main reason to play U/W
Again, I'm not here to debate your blind love for esper dragons. If you want to talk about this deck in it's current form then I'm all ears. End Hostilities and Ojutai do not mix. Forced Spike is still a poop card in standard even with the upside of Counterspell. Plus 5 slots wasted on dragons instead of Elspeth. Finally, no need for dragon lands mucking up UU spells. I can see why Silkwrap would bother most, but here are my targets and the main reason why to play silkwrap: Fleecemane Lion Raksasha Deathdealer Deathmist Raptor Savage Knuckleblade Anafenza, the Foremost Any mana dork not named Sylvan Caryatid Any morph creature Most creatures in any mono color aggro build.Just to name a few. It's also a reliable 2 drop to keep you on the removal game while keeping much needed mana up for counterspells. I would guess there is a correct number of them. Maybe 3 is too many, so far they are wonderful tempo plays and the exile effect is also great. I'm surprised the hubbub is about Silkwrap and not Pacifism. LOL. The dragons/scorn package are great when they are not being feasted upon by all the sac effects in the game. It's my main reason for going a different direction with U/W control.
The number of stuff silkwrap misses though means its frankly a bit useless- if you play Mardu dragons you hit maybe a rabblemaster if you're lucky which they really don't care about and then you get pounded by the dragons, frankly control needs black to be a tier 1 deck. Its simple as that.
It doesn't need black. I have zero problems with 4-5 drop dragons getting Nullify and Dissolve not to mention End Hostilities and Elspeth. Plenty of answers for mid rangy decks you speak of. Mid range is my best matchup anyway so many dead cards game one. If they(Silkwrap) don't hit game one then Suspension Field/Banishing LIght/Encase in Ice will. Your main deck doesn't always win game one matchups, this is what sideboards are for.It will also hit from the Mardu Dragons list: Soulfire Grand Master Seeker of the Way Goblin Rabblemaster Flamewake Phoenix(seen it in a couple of lists) Monastery Mentor(SB usually)Nothing lucky about choosing cards for the current meta. Those listed creatures makes up over a 3rd of all their creatures. Silkwrap does a fine job dealing with early threats on an extensive list of targets. You must be fine with the rest of the list if you are only arguing Silkwrap. You haven't given a legitimate reason for hating on Silkwrap other than it doesn't deal with things outside its design.
Then why isn't your deck tier 1?
Never claimed tier 1 status. Won't know till a PPTQ, IQ, GP or SCG Open comes near by. Until then I'll continue to rack up store credit with this non tier 1 deck, according to you...the authority on tier 1 decks.
If U/W was a tier 1 deck, pros would be playing it, I'm basing my views from the current top decks in standard, of which U/W isn't.
Tier 1 rating is an arbitrary nomenclature created for people like you who need a system to net deck from. Where do you think these decks come from...WotC gives them a list, a tier 1 list? By your logic this deck will never be a tier 1 list unless a pro plays something like it...what a joke.
An update. With the resurgence of GR Devotion, I'm more confident now than ever Silkwrap will shine main board. GR Devotion Tragets (18 of 34 creatures): All mana dorks not named Sylvan Caryatid Courser of Kruphix Genesis Hydra Den Protector Deathmist RaptorLove this card and where the meta is headed. Can't wait to stall the board with Pacifism and Silkwrap into an Elspeth, Sun's Champion tonight.