EBA Deck?

[vex]

Does anyone know what an 'EBA' deck is? I've seen a few references to it but can't seem to find a primer or overview about it.

Thanks

[Roxas]

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6435&highlight=waterbury+decklists

It's the #2 decklist.  

EBA is essentially a disruption-based aggro-control deck.  It is particularly effective non-Psychatog control, while Exalted Angel also gives it a decent game against aggro.  With the ability to play effective creatures, disruption, removal, and counters, it is a highly effective and versatile deck.

[Smash]

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6435&highlight=waterbury+decklists

It's the #2 decklist.  

EBA is essentially a disruption-based aggro-control deck.  It is particularly effective non-Psychatog control, while Exalted Angel also gives it a decent game against aggro.  With the ability to play effective creatures, disruption, removal, and counters, it is a highly effective and versatile deck.

I have always found it a fun little deck, but too awkward to really be a force in T1. Definately a fun deck to play though.

[Kowal]

It's important to note however that the deck lacks a strong resource engine.  For example, in the card draw department, it only has phids, and without a very heavy counterbase such as UrPhid's and MonoU's, getting phids to stick is tricky business.  Thus, if you can remove the first threat or two through the early disruption, you're pretty much smooth sailing.  The deck has a great midgame but it lacks potency in the early and the late.

This deck was especially good against GAT when Gush was unrestricted, since it had a more resiliant counterbase and had more than enough removal for the threats they dropped every turn.

[vex]

Thanks! I'd love to hear some more discussion about the deck, but this is a great start.

[Kowal]

I'd love to start some discussion, I was actually pre-occupied with this deck a little while ago, so I think I have some good points to raise once I'm no longer feeling lazy.

[Phele]

Well I thought a bit about the deck too and found out that it is a real flexible one and also real fun to play. It has many tools keeper has either, but is lacking a bit more controling elements as mentioned for the late game. Another weakness is its strong reliance on creatures what leaves the deck vulnerable to mass removal like Balance and Deed.

But maybe lets start with something like a skeleton for the deck:

Draw and search:

4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral
1 Fact or Fiction

Disruption and Counter:

4 Mana Drain
4 FoW
4 Meddling Mage
3 Duress

Duress and Pikula is what gives the deck strong weapons for smart players knowing their metagames

Broken cards:

Time Walk
Yagmoth's Will

Removal:
2 StP
1 Vindicate

Mana:

5 Solomoxes
4 Fetches
4 Tundra
4 Underground
1 Island
1 Plain
1 Strip Mine
4 Wastelands

These are the cards that seem to be fixed for the deck in my eyes

Creature Base:

Here is where the discussion could start. 2-3 Exalted Angels seem to be fixed somehow.

Other slots could be filled up with Ophidians, Finkels, Negators. Ophidians seem superiour in my eyes, because of their casting cost. Negators are great against control/combo, Exalted Angels are better in the Aggro-Matchup.

The Waterbury list included both and could so handle many different deck types. But I think that it was just a great metagame call. In general the deck should decide which way to go or be developed in a way not having dead cards in hand. For example: Negators are kinda bad against mono red or madness for an Aggro/Control deck, and that's exactly what this is.

Other Cards to think about:

Mind Twist: Could fit in the control element of the deck

Balance: Too many creature on your side

Mystical Tutor: Too much card disadvantage without enough draw

Cunning Wish: More flexibility, tempo loss

Isochron Scepter: This could be exchanged with the Ophidians. Together with two Wishes and two Impulses it could take over the draw part without relieing too much on creatures. It even gives you a late game control element. Its weakness: It makes you more vulnerable. Without one the decks advantages is: It's not that easy to hate.

I don't present a decklist, because I think this could just give some points to discuss

[Kowal]

My initial impression is that the deck can't support three colors (of which two end up being doubled in costs, such as morphing the angel with WW and draining with UU) and five strips at the same time.  Likewise, a resiliant card to use as a draw engine needs to fill at least four legitimate slots, and should not be reliant on any other card in the deck.  With the mountains of spot removal this deck can utilize, Ophidian seems like a natural choice, despite the immense lack of speed (and lack of aforementioned resiliancy unfortunately.)  I believe the first step towards making this deck respectable is to find something better.

[Phele]

So Scepters seem to be a good fit

[Kowal]

Likewise, a resiliant card to use as a draw engine needs to fill at least four legitimate slots, and should not be reliant on any other card in the deck.

[raye]

EBA is also one of my pet decks. I enjoy playing it a lot more than my other control deck: Keeper. It is much more aggressive and I still play the older version sans Brainstorm and with Negators instead of Angels as the kill. Playing with Negator makes every game exciting.

As Kowal noted, you often will not have consistent draw power. I ran 2 Skeletal Scrying to help with this but that is far from reliable.

The mana base for this deck is also rather miserable. Blood moon is really really bad. Your maindeck solutions for a resolved Blood moon are Vindicate. And W and B are not really central colors.

I am currently playing other decks but when I return to this deck, and I expect to after I discover I don't like Landstill, I will try the Exalted Angels and Brainstorms. I don't know if I will like the Brainstorms but I did put down cold hard overpriced cash for 2 Angels.

Duress is really good with Mage and I do not think I would ever play less than 4. It effectively ups the deck to 12 (16 with mages if you know it will hit a card) counterspell.

[Hi-Val]

I think that this deck can foolishly be written off, without accepting that it placed second in a 190-odd person tourney. This is like the unpowered monogreen that took Turnhout recently.

The deck lacks a strong early game, that is pretty noticable. Ophidians seem really clunky as well, but apparently they do the trick. I could see scepter and a set of AKs in the deck, however.

As a lategame SB tech card, what about Silent Specter? Hear me out here! Against Control, a significant threat like the Specter that cannot be Mana Drained and wrecks house as soon as it hits cannot be ignored. It seems better than Exalted in my mind here, as its effects are far more devastating. Keeper sometimes packs it because the opponent will side out their Swords, but is it worth it to stick in with so many creatures, and thus, STPs, staying in?

It may be too late at night for me to think straight, but one hit from the specter could be enough to win the game when people are holding onto good cards and they'll let an "Exalted" slide by morphed. The surprise factor is strong.

[VarienTanafres]

I have an unpowered form of this deck, which I've been tinkering with for a lil while.

Creatures:
2x Morphling
3x Orphiden

Support:
4x Force of Will
4x Counterspell/Mana Drain
4x Accumalated Knowledge
3x Brainstorm
2x Intuition
2x Cunning Wish
3x Duress
1x Mind twist
1x Balance
2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Demonic Tutor
3x Isochron Scepter


Mana Sources:
1x Sol ring
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
3x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
4x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
1x Plains
2x Island
4x Swamp

Sideboard:
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Orim's Chant
1x Disenchant
1x Moat
1x Blue Elemental Blast
3x Phyrexian Negator
4x Meddling Mage
3x Misdirection

This version isn't as aggro as the ones that have been posted,. but after seeing these versions, I am contemplating about changing it up a lil. considering Balance is 8/10 times a dead card in my hand. The fact that it's unpowered doesn't hurt it too much, but then no one in my metagame are powered.

[Ric_Flair]

Exalted Angel is required in the deck.  It is better than Morphling because this deck is not as mana flush as Keeper was when Superman was good.  Furthermore, it is better than Silent Specter because after the first 1 or 2 hits from Specter its ability is worthless, whereas Angel's ability is always good.  Angel gives the deck game against TnT style aggro decks, a sizable and dangerous threat to aggro-control.  If your metagame is primarily aggro I would go with EBA over GAT because of the better removal and the Angel.  The Angel is THE center of the deck.

[cssamerican]

My initial impression is that the deck can't support three colors (of which two end up being doubled in costs, such as morphing the angel with WW and draining with UU) and five strips at the same time.  Likewise, a resiliant card to use as a draw engine needs to fill at least four legitimate slots, and should not be reliant on any other card in the deck.  With the mountains of spot removal this deck can utilize, Ophidian seems like a natural choice, despite the immense lack of speed (and lack of aforementioned resiliancy unfortunately.)  I believe the first step towards making this deck respectable is to find something better.

The only viable replacement I can think of is Skeletal Scrying. It has good synergy with counters, removal spells, and fetchlands all of which would be in the deck. This could also be accomanied by Ancestral Recall, Fact or Fiction, and Brainstorms. I also noticed no one here is talking Mana Leak. This would definitely make it easier on the mana base if these were used instead of Mana Drain (I know that sounds insane). You will lose some explosivenes, but you would be better equiped to handle the speed of other decks. Lets face it, against most decks if you can hold them off and stabalize they will have a hard time busting through against a deck with this many control elements.