T2 - BR Control

A few weeks back I saw John W. playing a really cool BU control deck that used the cycling creatures to generate massive card advantage, hold the game-state with a bunch of counters, and finish things off with Vampire Nighthawks and Sphinx of Jwar Isle. I thought it was a pretty damn cool deck, but with all those cycling creatures then running Crypt of Agadeem could be a natural include. Here's my run on the deck:

Creatures: 17
4x Architects of Will
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Viscera Dragger
3x Vampire Nighthawk
2x Sphinx of Jwar Isle

Spells: 17
4x Countersquall
4x Soul Manipulation
4x Hideous End
3x Consume Spirit
2x Grim Discovery

Enchantments: 4
4x Soul Stair Expedition

Lands: 22
3x Crypt of Agadeem
4x Jwar Isle Refuge
4x Drowned Catacombs
6x Swamp
5x Island

Deck can win with either a Crypt powered Consume Spirit or stall out the game state to win with the flyers. I'm running Countersquall and Hideous end since I like the concept of paying a bit of extra black to deal damage to my opponent, but they can easily become Flash-Freeze or Doom Blade (I could move the Countersqualls to the SB and make Flash Freeze MD).

I'm still working on the SB to make this deck a better match-up versus Jund, though I'm not sure what options I have outside something like Agony Warp and Flash Freeze. Please, take a look and give me any suggestions, thanks.

First, where's Viscera Dragger?

Now, seeing as I know next to nothing about Type 2 currently, I wouldn't be shocked if my ideas aren't worth anything. But here goes anyway...
Would Duress be worth using, even if only as a sideboard card?
How about Slave of Bolas? Seems like it would be good to use on something like a Sprouting Thrinax.
Might be an odd idea, but what about Ice Cage to pacify the things you can't or don't want to kill?

What specifically is your stalling plan? 8 conditional counters and 8 pieces of very conditional removal may not be enough. Right now it doesn't seem like you have many answers to Putrid Leech or Sprouting Thrinax except for "dear god, I hope I can counter these" and Nighthawk.

And what is your deck's answer to a quick Vampire rush? Maybe an Infest in the board?

suggestions:

Fleshbag Marauder
Wretched Banquet

Mind Shatter seems good also

Yeah, Dan, I was thinking the same thing. I like the concept, but the deck doesn't have anything to slow down Jund in the main. Infest would be good for the sideboard, but that couldn't stop Putrid Leeches or anything with 3 or more toughness. Any ideas on how I could increase the stall potential while staying BU?

Edit: Might want to actually run Mind Control in the SB, apparently it's good a against a variety of beat-down decks in the format, including Jund.

I could also splash red for Earthquake, which I can easily power up using the Crypt. Maybe replace the Refuges with Crumbling Necropolis instead, or adding some Dragonskull Summits. I could also play terminate instead of Doom Blade or Hideous end as well.

Deck, Take 2.5:

Creatures: 18
4x Architects of Will
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Fleshbag Marauder
2x Sphinx of Jwar Isle

Spells: 17
3x Flashfreeze
3x Soul Manipulation
2x Deathmark
3x Wretched Banquet
3x Consume Spirit
2x Mind Shatter
1x Grim Discovery

Enchantments: 3
3x Soul Stair Expedition

Lands: 22
3x Crypt of Agadeem
4x Jwar Isle Refuge
4x Drowned Catacombs
1x Gargoyle Castle
6x Swamp
4x Island

Sideboard: 15
2x Pithing Needle
3x Infest
3x Countersquall
2x Deathmark
2x Mind Control
3x Doom Blade

I added in the Marauders and 2 copies of Mind Shatter (and some other changes). I've also been thinking of splashing red for Earthquake and Terminate. Let me know what you think.

Edit: Updated

In my Grixis build, after reviewing the top decks and articles on Grixis match ups, im going to run 2 flashfreeze and 2 deadthmark MD instead of 3 or 4 flashfreeze and deathmark in the SB.

Almost everything you go against is going to be either red, green, or white. Top decking a flashfreeze with a BSA staring you down blows though, so deathmark offers a MD answer to her as well as a bajillion other critters. (BSA, Cobra, Reliquary, Rhox, Birds, Hierarch, etc... etc...).

Depends on the meta you play in though obviously, just my 2 cents.

I've updated the deck with James' suggestion, adding Deathmarks to the main along with Wretched Banquet, which should work pretty well considering I only run 2 creatures that actually stay on the board. I've also added my sideboard, let me know what you think.

I'm debating having 1 or 2 Mindshatters in the deck, 2 seems like overkill, but at the same time it's an absolute killer against Jund decks.

with all your cycling and potential card draw you are likely to draw into 1 but if you draw 2 its really a wasted card so youll have to wait and playtest to see if you are drawing both often or not.

I'm tempted to replace the Infests with Agony Warps, since they can really hose agro decks, and it seems like a lot of agro decks in standard right now have creatures with a possible toughness over 2. Still, Infest does wreck vampires, so I guess it's a meta choice.

Okay, I built the deck this afternoon (with a couple proxies) and it seems pretty damn fun. I ended up bumping up the count of Soul Star Expeditions to 4 (and removing a Flashfreeze) because it's critical I always keep my hands loaded. I usually spend the first couple of turns playing Marauders and Banquets before finishing things off with the Sphinx, Garolye Tokens, or hitting for a 10-14 point Consume Spirit.

I'm going to pull the Doomblades out of the SB and replace them Agony Warps, to give me something to play side Vampires (along with the infests). Deathmarks just seem better most of the time, and when I side them out I don't think the Doomblades are going to be good enough in the current meta.

Of course this is all gold fishing, I need to play against someone first.

If anyone wants to bring a Standard Deck either Friday or Sunday that would be awesome. I want to playtest this a bit before I commit any money to buying the cards I need.

Well... the BU version this deck didn't work as expected, I found out it's kind of hard to keep a bunch of counters in hand and play big sorceries at the same time. After a bit of discussion I've come up with a RB version of this deck:

Creatures: 18
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Architects of Will
2x Viscera Dragger
2x Igneous Pouncer
3x Gatekeeper of Malakir
3x Vampire Nighthawk

Spells: 15
4x Blightning
2x Mind Shatter
4x Terminate
2x Consume Spirit
2x Earthquake
1x Banefire

Enchantments: 4
4x Soul Stair Expedition

Planeswalkers: 1
1x Sorin Markov

Lands: 22
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Lavaclaw Reaches
4x Akoum Refuge
2x Quicksand
8x Swamp
3x Moutain

I have no idea if it'll work, I'll proxy it up this weekend. And yes, before anyone says it, I know, I've got like 10 deck idea currently floating around. What can I say, I'm a complete fanboy for standard at the moment!

Edit: Updated Deck. I know the Igneous Pouncers are a bit weak, but since I only run 22 lands it really helps having a way to tutoring up the land I need in a pinch. I'm looking forward to playing this deck at Redcap's on Sunday!

I lost to an esper-type deck like this at the Dallas 5k. It had all the artifact creature cyclers, Sphinx of Lost Truths, and Open the Vaults.

Both games he played Sphinx on t5, discarding 3x Sphinx of the Steel Wind, then t6 Open the Vaults.

Against my mono-green deck.

I lost.

-AA

Okay, here's the updated deck list as of today:

Creatures: 11
4x Malakir Gatekeeper
4x Vampire Nighthawk
3x Malakir Bloodwitch

Spells: 23
3x Duress
4x Blightning
2x Mind Shatter
4x Sign in Blood
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Terminate
2x Earthquake

Planeswalkers: 2
1x Chandra Nalaar
1x Sorin Markov

Lands: 24
2x Lavaclaw Reaches
4x Akorma Refuge
2x Tectonic Edge
1x Gargoyle Castle
4x Mountain
11x Swamp

Sideboard: 15
4x Goblin Ruinblaster
1x Tectonic Edge
3x Nemesis Trap
1x Duress
2x Earthquake
2x Pithing Needle
2x Relic of Progenitus

I ended up ditching blue and the whole Crypt of Agadeem idea, it just didn't work out. I'm not pretty much running a modified Bloodquake deck, which is BR control with a discard suite and a lot of removal. I've recently added Malakir Bloodwitch as a win condition/mid-range threat, and I've started figure out the SB (Ruinblaster for Valakut and Jund as well as a 3rd Tectonic Edge, Nemesis Trap and Pithing Needle for Junk, etc).

Do remember that as much as I love my Valakut deck, it wouldn't say it's tier 1. Plan for Jund, Vampires, Grixis, UWR Control, etc over Valakut. Don't skew your SB to beat me.

Well, I've been reading how MD Tectonic Edge is good against Jund as well. I figured I'd take out the Gargoyle Castle and bring in the 3rd Edge and maybe take out the Sign in Bloods for Ruin Blasters. It also seems to be after watching a couple standard games on Sunday that a lot of decks are running stretched out mana bases, like some Ally decks, Jund, Junk, etc. I figured an aggressive LD sideboard could really help.

Also Dan, my deck exists only to beat yours. Beating other decks is just a bonus!

I'm tooling my deck to beat yours too. It now solely consists of Dovescape, Aether Flash, and Glorious Anthem. Good luck, fucker.

I'm making a deck that consists of 99 Relentless Rats and a single swamp!

But yeah, I think going for some LD in the side could be very useful against Jund and some of the more color intensive decks right now. Junk could be tough since they have a lot of creature based mana acceleration, but that's why God invented Lightning Bolts and Terminate.