Lino Burgold
About Lino Burgold
Lino is the 2009 Rookie of the Year from Germany and he has a number of high-profile finishes under his belt:
- Level 6 Pro Players Club member
- Winner Grand Prix Hanover
- Two Grand Prix Top 8
- 32 Lifetime Pro Points
Hello everybody
Welcome to my first deck analysis!
The Task
Blackborder.com user "CplPunishment" won my latest deck analysis auction.
Congrats on winning the auction and thanks for submitting your decklist and your questions:
"I liked your take on Jund, so I'd like to see what you can do with
this deck. Pretty much just my take on Grixis Control as well as
adjusted to my Meta-game. I hardly face Jund at all, only two players
play it at FNM. I face a lot of Vampires, B/R burn, and U/W control
which is why Flashfreeze and Deathmark are in the side.
I'd also like to see what Worldwake will add. Here's the deck:"
| Colors |
|---|
| Blue | 18 |
|---|
| Gold | 10 |
|---|
| Land | 25 |
|---|
| Red | 7 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 10 |
|---|
| 2 | 14 |
|---|
| 3 | 5 |
|---|
| 6 | 3 |
|---|
| 7 | 2 |
|---|
| 8 | 1 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 4 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 11 |
|---|
| Creature | 3 |
|---|
| Instant | 17 |
|---|
| Land | 14 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 1 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 10 |
|---|
Deck Analysis
Okay, first of all, I
really like the way your deck looks. There are only a few changes I would make
pre-Worldwake, like cutting the Planeswalker for a third Cruel Ultimatum. This
is very close to the list I used to play with. I didn’t play as many Terminates
though, as they used to clog up your hand against control decks
too often.
However, I assume you are
not really interested in an analysis for a format that is not played anymore…, but
keep in mind that it is a lot harder for me to suggest Worldwake changes, as I
myself have not tried to build a UBR Control deck since the release…
The problem of the UBR
color combination (in contrast to UWR) is the lack of fetchlands, so you need Crumbling Necropolis, therefore having a hard time including the Halimar Depths
– Treasure Hunt engine in the deck. However, there are other ways to make Treasure Hunt profitable. Treasure Hunt is, by the way, in my opinion the most
powerful in Grixis, even if not optimized to the fullest, just because Grixis
can convert spare mana so well.
Creatures
But let’s start with the
creatures, as they are pretty much a no-brainer.
This is a solid base that I
would take for granted. There are people who are not a big fan of the sphinx,
but, well, I am. Calcite Snapper is exactly what this deck needed as it is a
decent Wall of Denial equivalent.
Removal Spells
Now let’s continue with the
removal spells. Besides the granted set of Lightning Bolts, there’s Earthquake
and Terminate up for debate. We don’t need as many of those anymore, because we
have Calcite Snappers. Also, one of the problems of Grixis was very often to be
removal flooded or screwed. Calcite Snapper solves this problem quite well.
If you face a lot of Baneslayer Angels, you definitely need to correct those numbers a bit, since,
although you gain some solutions with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, you overall are lacking
outs if you fail to counter it.
Counterspells
As for the counterspells, I
like your mix, it makes sense and seems powerful. Especially with Worldwake, I
wouldn’t recommend Flashfreezes maindeck anymore anyway.
Card Advantage
Now we have tons of cards
that trade one for one. It’s time to generate some card advantage to catch up,
right? ;)
Three Cruel Ultimatums
seems fine, as it is the main reason to actually play this deck. Four Treasure Hunt also seem quite adequate, although we have nothing yet to take full
advantage of it. This means we have three to four slots left, depending on
whether we add Ponder or not. These cards could either be two Ponder and two Jace, the Mind Sculptor, or three Jace, the Mind Sculptor and a land. I opt for
the first option for now.
Lands
This leaves us with 25
lands.
This is the core that
should be included in every Grixis deck. Now, the question is: Does this deck
allow for some Halimar Depths? Let’s try.
2 Halimar Depths
Eleven slots left. I would
add about three Swamps, using the rest to even things out.
Sideboard
As for the sideboard, yours
looks pretty good…Four Flashfreeze is a no-brainer, Deathmark is solid if you
face a lot of GWx Junk decks. Otherwise, you might consider running Burst Lightning in this slot, as it helps a lot more against aggressive red and/or
white decks. Dragon’s Claw is a card that has really shown its value whenever I
played Grixis, because mono-red is a really hard matchup. If you don’t face it
though, there is no reason to play it, of course. Both Haunting Echoes and Thought Hemorrhage seems like a lot just for random decks. I’d cut the Haunting Echoes and just play 3 Thought Hemorrhage instead – they are awesome in the
control mirror. Into the Roil looks like it has no application whatsoever. I
would use the slots to fill up the removed Terminates. The last two cards can
be either Swerve against decks with Blightning, or Agony Warp, as additional
instant removal is always good and important against Vampires.
The Deck
So, now let’s see how this
deck looks completed.
This deck forms part of my deck analysis:
Rookie of the Year Lino Burgold looks at a deck idea of our auction winner, analyzes it and tells you how he would build such a deck for the current Standard format with Worldwake.
| Colors |
|---|
| Blue | 21 |
|---|
| Gold | 8 |
|---|
| Land | 25 |
|---|
| Red | 6 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 8 |
|---|
| 2 | 12 |
|---|
| 3 | 7 |
|---|
| 4 | 2 |
|---|
| 6 | 3 |
|---|
| 7 | 3 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 9 |
|---|
| Creature | 7 |
|---|
| Instant | 15 |
|---|
| Land | 16 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 2 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 11 |
|---|
As for your list, it looks
really good. Now with the rotation, there are a few things that need to be
fixed once you tested a bit with the deck. For example, Terminate might prove
to be better than Essence Scatter most of the time because of many manlands.
Also, the Manabase might need some additional Blue, since this is already a Ubr
deck, which makes things like Cruel Ultimatum pretty hard to cover by the manabase. Earthquake is another card that might prove to be not worth it anymore in the
maindeck, again because of manlands and similar stuff. There are also some
additional options for the sideboard (as written above) that you should
definitely keep in mind when the metagame changes again. I don’t know whether
Cruel Control will be able to compete with UWR-Control, but only time will
tell.
Thanks for reading,
Lino
The following winning bids were featured on this page:
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25 lands in a deck like Grixis with Treasure Hunt is a piece of sh*t
I agree 25 lands is a bit light. Probably, cutting a sphinx for another land - even with the few ponders - wouldn't hurt the deck.
Thanks a ton! This was a real great write-up (and I'm not saying that 'cause it's my deck being looked at).
I gotta give Chad and icniv some credit for helping me put together my original build. :) Thanks guys!
"...there’s Earthquake and Terminate up for debate. We don’t need as many of those anymore, because we have Calcite Snappers..." There has been a ton of talk about Snapper or no Snapper Grixis and I feel this quote sums it up really nice. I was skeptical about the Turtle at first, but now I see how it fits in the deck.
Treasure Hunt comes as no surprise, as well as the new Jace, but what I'm surprised you never mentioned was Mysteries of the Deep. I prefer Treasure Hunt and I like the draw set-up you listed. Ponder and 25 lands is fine with me, that's what I was running before and I've never had a problem with a land drop or a turn 7 Cruel. Especially with Treasure Hunt, I believe that the other Grixis decks will cut down to 25 as well.
Thanks so much for your help! I can't wait to try out your list and recommendations! :)
"25 lands in a deck like Grixis with Treasure Hunt is a piece of sh*t"
I can tell this guy is an expert because he censored himself and didn't use punctuation at the end of his sentence. I've read many members of the Pro Tour have no time for such things as punctuation. I'll have to trust his opinion.
Solid article. I've wanted to play a Cruel deck since rotation but I've never been able to put together a solid land base to be able to cast the Cruel on turn seven or at least eight. This looks like it's as close you could really get though I wish there was some more utility in the land bases available right now. At least it doesn't die to Spreading Seas.
No B/U manland?
Great article. I like playing Cruel Control and this gives out tons of information. I do have one question. Would adding Pyromancer's Ascension (say in place of the earthquakes or terminates) aid or hinder the deck?
Adding Pyromancer's Ascension is greedy and not needed. Copying a counter spell seems pretty bad. If you want to play Pyromancer's Ascension then run it in a deck that has timewarp.
The way I figured is the counterspells would add counters to the Ascension until you get the counters needed to activate the Ascension. Then you hit your opponent with the Cruel Ultimatum. If you couldn't or don't have Cruel in your hand, then you could still benefit from the double ponders, terminates, treasure hunts, and/or Thought Hemorrages. I know copying the counterspells is counterproductive (hehe thats punny) but it seems the doubling of your other instants and sorceries would be more advantageous.
And now that you mentioned it, why not have a couple of Time Warps in this deck? Would 2 Time Warps in this deck hurt it? Would 2 Time Warps with 2 Pyromancer's Ascension really be too much to add to this deck or would it just end up changing the deck all together?
Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to get feedback on the topic but these are some questions that entered my head when I saw the deck.
I don't know how much it could help or hurt but I do know that the wording on the cards says "may" copy the spell so you don't have to copy a counter if you don't want to. But in the case of Jund and it's horrid card advantages with Cascade I could see making a copy of a counter and getting a two for one.
Again I see the principle at work and doubling a Cruel is amazing but I don't know how practical it would be.
It is true there are a lot of different options how to build a Grixis deck, and I am sure my route is not the ideal one, but it would take tons of testing to actually determine it.
There are some things that are not in the list but that could very well be. Mysteries of the Deep is a powerful card and I like it, but you really need the full 8 fetchlands or at least 6 to make it run. Of course, you could integrate about up to 6 fetchlands into a grixis deck, but it would come to at least a slight disadvantage. Mind Spring could be a contender as well, but I think it is more needed in an UWR Deck, as we already have our swingy sorcery that we're very happy with, right? ;)
Creepy Tar Pit is another excellent card. But you cant play it together with Halimar Depths. But maybe this is the wrong route to go as well, and the Tar Pit is better. It has nice synergy with the Snapper (you can apply A LOT of pressure on an empty board in no time, swinging for seven a turn!), and it also takes care of planeswalkers. Maybe it is better to just make more space for Ponders, and then cut Halimar Depths and start adding Tar Pits.
Pyromancer Ascension is a funny card, but really, it is no good at the moment. Especially because most of the instants and sorceries don't want to be 4-ofs in this deck (Essence Scatter, Negate, Double Negative, Earthquake, Terminate...you really dont want four of any of those in your deck). If you want to build an Ascension deck, it has to be heavily geared towards it, and this was not the point here. Pyromancer Ascension is not strictly bad, but it is very narrow and most often you wont end up with a good deck. But one thing is sure: It sure isn't a little extra that you add to your control deck ;)
Mr. Burgold, sir, I like the way you think. Good deck review. Great points on your take on all of it. I especially enjoyed this last comment you made about Pyromancer's Ascension, as that makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks.
Great article. but I strongly disagree with the idea that Into the Roil has no use. The first example that comes to mind is the fact that your list has zero outs to a turn 2 Luminarch Ascension on the draw and only 3 Negates when on the play (assuming you have two lands that are untapped).
Into the Roil gives you the option to deal with any major threat that manages to get through your counters.
Well, yeah, I mean, Into the Roil is definitely not...useless, and I never really disliked it when I played it maindeck, but in the Sideboard, it seems a bit off. And as for Luminarch Ascension...well, yeah, thats a pretty good card against us. But now we at least have Calcite Snappers. I already won against Turn two ascensions with bolt, earthquake to the dome, Sphinx... :)
That's the only reason I had Into the Roil in the sideboard. What would happen is my hand would clog with Terminate and Essence Scatter and I'd have no way of dealing damage. With Snappers and a thinner removal package, Luminarch shouldn't be an issue :)
Thanks Lino and everyone for the insight. Nuff said.
good read.
Deathmark is going to become more useful with the addition of Kor Firewalker to white based decks, both because you actually need an answer for it (which burst lightning wont provide nor will any of your maindeck removal) and because it lowers the amount of mono red decks in the format, which makes burst lightning significantly less valuable...
Does Sorin have a spot in this deck?
yes
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