Maybe I will think about playing 4 when the current meta switches to a more Control dominated theme or even Combo.

Thanks for posting this article.

Don’t you know? Grixis Control is a Midrange deck because it doesn’t only run one wincon. There are FOUR Delve creatures and TWO manlands that can be used to end the game.

And sometimes, it gets that creature down on turn TWO!!! And then it proceeds to use said creature to ATTACK and sometimes win the game. It then has time to play a second and even a THIRD game if required.

It is clear that the only true control deck is UWx and wins with Celestial Colonnade. Anything else is definitely NOT control because we define control in the narrowest sense possible.

(In case it wasn’t apparent, this post is full of sarcasm).

I play this deck, and honestly it feels like draw-go to me.

I essentially never tap out on my turn, ever. Everything is an instant and the only threats you play you usually cast for 1-2 mana with mana left open on your opponent’s turn.

How is this not a control deck? It plays counterspells, removal and card draw.

Michael did great with the deck and I was able to watch him play multiple matches. Will definitely be talking about this in next weeks’ article!

I think Thought Scour (or Black Lotus, you choose) is uncuttable, but I could see trimming the Electrolyze for it. I wouldn’t mind another dredge effect. 🙂

Remand was my latest addition for the mirror, as it’s excellent against Delve. I rarely devote multiple slots to the mirror, I just rely on practice and a trump or two if I can use them elsewhere to bump my opponent off his lane. Still like Duress the best but could change depending on the metagame

Thoughtseize, mostly to board it in against the mirror match. Gotta discard those fatties.

It’s definitely better in a shell that doesn’t mind casting its spells at sorcery speed.

Not completely sold, but the deck is performing at the open.

Having played sultai delver, I can say that in general the gain of goyf+decay is not worth the loss of bolt+command+terminate. The sultai version can struggle versus an early opposing threat backed up by a path to exile.

I am not sure how these grixis decks beat a t0 leyline of the void though. Practically all of the decks value is derived from the graveyard – delve, snap, scour, command.

Combative is what Nickolay Krumov does, for whatever reason.

That said, I think it was unnecessary – Trevor described facing up against Mentor in the general sense, and only mentioned the Esper Mentor deck as a side note.

As someone who has experience with Esper Midrange (Mentorless build), some thoughts:

Mentor is in the current format a bad choice. Either the opposing decks can “ignore” him (aka Combo and Aggro) or have access to Bolt (rest). He was great after the bannings, because of Junk and Infect, where he really shines. We (a friend of mine and myself) replaced him with more Delve creatures and 2 Plainswalker (same amount of threats, 5 Delve creatures and 2 Walkers).

The list is a lot better now and it feels like the Jund/Junk comparison. Esper has access to Lingering Souls and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (which is an awesome card in this deck), whereas Grixis has K. Command and Bolt. Grixis has a better match-up against non-fair decks, and Esper has a better match-up against all other decks (main reason is Souls).

Some match-ups for non Mentor Esper Midrange:
Good: Midrang (Grixis, Jund)
Decent: Junk (Siege Rhino is a pain), Twin
Even: Affinity (Souls is great here and 10 removal spells help too), most Aggro decks
Bad: Burn (you need Sorin/Vault here, and/or an early Delve creature)
Nearly unwinnable: Tron

Greetings,
Kathal

What’s your opinion on a more proactive shell with 4 jace and 4-6 discard spells? Jace is better suited with proactive spells than countermagic and curves out nicely with a turn one Inqusition or thoughtseize. This would require the mana base to be changed with darkslick shores/blackcleave cliffs in order to spare some pain on turn one. Then beeing able to recast discards spells through out the game seems tempting.

Iv’e been toying twith this idea since casting jace on turn two wich i generelly want to do if i draw him, often seems wrong when also wanting to hold up countermagic/removal. Discards also brings perfect information of our opponents hands wich is never wrong.

He’s trying to be helpful dude, don’t be combative.

That’s a fair assessment of the situation. But the power of assumption strikes again – nowhere did I mention anything about Esper or what colours the deck is in.

Monastery Mentor is an extremely powerful card, as long as the Mentor deck can shift the game to the point where it is good. The downside to Monastery Mentor has always been it’s 2W casting cost and weakness to Lightning Bolt on the turn it’s cast, but you know that. The point I’m trying to make is that as the Grixis Control player, I try and focus the game to a point where I’m minimizing the amount of damage Mentor can do once it hits the field. Gurmag Angler can be a solid roadblock, but is easily overwhelmed if Mentor is allowed to go crazy. Similar to Lingering Souls, Grixis is weak to multiple “free” creatures, which means I rely heavily on sideboard options like Anger of the Gods and Izzet Staticaster to stay in the fight.

As a side note, I have always been a fan of Esper Mentor’s ability to be the best Slaughter Pact deck. That card should see more play.