EBA

[vex]

After becoming interested in EBA decks, I decided to try and throw one together. I haven't gotten to play this yet, but wanted to get a little input before I run it.

I just took a pre-posted list and modified it a little. My meta is made up of some rogue aggro decks, which really arn't that good but can still swarm pretty well, a handful of combo decks (dragon mostly...in increasing numbers. Almost makes me think I should be running graveyard hate), and one or two good control decks. Of course, there are other deck types, but not too many are seen. Also, there is no power in this metagame, due to local tournament rules, not lack of commitment on any of the players part

Thanks for Taking a Look!

Creatures:
2x Morphling
3x Orphiden

Support:
4x Force of Will
4x Counterspell
4x Accumalated Knowledge
4x Brainstorm
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
2x Cunning Wish
3x Duress
1x Mind twist
1x Balance
2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Demonic Tutor
3x Isochron Scepter
2x Stifle

My mana base is actulay horrible, so don't really look at that. Most of what is here I'm borrowing (seems like I'm the only person having a hard time getting thier hands on fetchlands) so it gets jumbled up.  

Mana Sources:
1x City of Brass
2x Underground River
1x Strip Mine
3x Flooded Strand*
3x Polluted Delta*
4x Tundra*
2x Underground Sea*
1x Plains
3x Island
3x Swamp
                                         *borrowed land

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

[VarienTanafres]

This deck is almost entirely the same as my EBA deck once was. So I know how well the deck works out.
- 3x Isochron Scepter
- 1x Enlightened Tutor

M/D the 4x Mages.

More often then not, Balance isn't used. So I cut mine, but you might want to keep yours.

-2x Morphling
+ 2x Exalted Angel

Morphling is nice, don't get me wrong, but for the more aggro decks, Exalted is better. My Morphlings are in my S/B for now, as are 2x Decree of Justice for alternate kill methods.
Abyss isn't as good as Moat is for control. I ended up cutting mine entirely and replacing with better S/B card.

I'd try to find a way to M/D the negators, as they are powerful force in this type of deck.

But that's all the help I can offer I suppose, I hope I helped you out.

Here's my decklist for comparison.

Creatures:
2x Exalted Angel
2x Phyrexian Negator
3x Orphidian
4x Meddling Mage

Support:
4x Force of Will
2x Counterspell
2x Thwart **Am just testing these out in place of 2x Counterspell for now, see if it works out better by allowing myself to tap out.
4x Accumalated Knowledge
4x Brainstorm
1x Future Site
2x Cunning Wish
3x Duress
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Demonic Tutor  

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

Sideboard:
1x Moat
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Disenchant
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Stifle
2x Misdirection
2x Morphling
2x Decree of Justice
2x Persecute

I have no Mind twist, (I took it out) not enough mana acceleration to run it properly.
No Balance b/c as I said above, I almost never used it, so I'm using a more helpful card in it's place.
Persecute is a great S/B card that have been devesating when I used them, so therefore I'm using them until they aren't as helpful.

[Godot]

Ok, first off, since you're not running Drains it would be better to run Shadowmages instead of Ophidians.  

Second, Exalted Angels kick ass. Personally, I think they'd fit better than the Scepters(and possibly one of the Morphlings), but then again Im just biased against Scepters.  I'd try to find room for at most 3 maindeck.

Why are you running Enlighted Tutor?  If you want another tutor at least  use Vampiric instead of limiting yourself with Enlightened.

I dont like Accumlated Knowlege in here.  Maybe if there is no Hulk/GAT in your meta it'd be cool, but otherwise I'd try some mixture of Skeletal Scryings and Impulses.

As for the manabase....you might consider going up to 24 sources especially an extra white source if you decide to use some Angels(which you should).  Also, I would think that it would be better to run basic lands instead of Underground Rivers since they are at least fetchable.

Does your metagame not warrant running Wastelands?

[Ric_Flair]

I am not sure exactly what metagame this was designed for, but first:  proxy 1 Lotus, 2 Moxen, 1 Ancestral, and 1 Walk.  There is no reason not to.  Almost all events are proxy events so you may as well use these cards.  Second, the reason this deck can even hang in the metagame is because of Mana Drain.  It really needs Drain to power out huge threats like Negator and Angel.  Third, Morphling is just not good enough to justify a slot or two in this deck.  Angel is simply better.  Cunning Wish is unnecessary in a good EBA build.  The philosophy of the deck is utility.  Every card has to be a) as efficient as possible; or b) always useful.  This leads to lots of double duty spells like Meddling Mage and Duress (acting as a control card or disruption).  With so much utility Cunning Wish is essentially an unnecessary middle man.  The deck really needs to run Wastelands.  They help the deck beat control and are great against Workshop.  The deck traditionally does not run AKs because the list is too tight.  Here are cards that I see as the core to the deck:

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Duress

4 Meddling Mage
2-4 Negators
2 Angels

4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Yawg Will
1 Balance
2 STP
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vindicate

1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Sapphire
1 Pearl
1 Jet

This leaves very little room for extra spells.  Stifle is probably too narrow right now, especially in this deck.  Vindicate as a 1 of is amazing.  It is so useful and in a deck based on utility, I have never found myself wishing it was something else.  Isochron Scepter is an okay card, but it does not pull its weight in this deck.  One of the things that makes EBA good, is that every spell is always useful, with the exception of Negator.  The lack of dead spells makes EBA good against the field.  

So this leads to the big issue I have with EBA right now:  lack of good draw.  You could change everything around and add the AK/Intuition engine, but I think that would a) take away from the flow of the deck by spending quite a bit of cards and mana on drawing cards, and b) if added, why not go all the way and just play Tog?  The advantage EBA has is that its spells are REALLY cheap (STP, Brainstorm/Fetch, Negator) or maximally useful.  Ophidian is the traditional draw spell, but as aggro has risen in popularity the usefulness of Ophidian has waned.  Shadowmage is similarly problematic.  

As such I have been playing around with [card]Sword of Fire and Ice[/card] as a 2 or 3 of in the deck.  At first glance it may seem like a bad Isochron, but it really does pull its weight.  Here is my decklist:

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Duress

4 Meddling Mage
2 Exalted Angel
3 Negator
2 Ophidian

4 Brainstorm
2 STP

1 Balance
1 Yawg Will
1 Ancestral
1 Timewalk
1 Vindicate
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

2 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Sapphire
1 Pearl
1 Jet
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Island

The mana base is 23 mana sources and I would like to boost that to 24, but I can't figure out what to cut, the proverbial problem with EBA.

I have done very limited testing, but using the old testing trick of draw 6, plus the test card, I have found that the Sword is REALLY strong.  First, it makes all your creatures Tog blockers for life.  Second, it boosts the draw far more the Ophidian does.  Third, Sword on Angel is GAME OVER.  That is a lot of mana, but with Drains it is quite possible.  Fourth, they are great mana sinks for Drains.  I did not test the deck against Welder decks, but the Sword would undoubtedly help there as well.  I am sure this is not the definitive build of EBA, but the Sword seems to fit in more than Scepter does.  Final note: Sword on Negator v. Red decks is AWESOME.

[Phele]

I really look forward testing the swords. Seem to be a great fit in any creature heavy deck. But this leads to a point on your list I really dislike: the Balance. With Meddling Mages maindeck plus Angels, Negators and Ophidians I cannot imagine many situations where you benefit from this.

[vex]

Thanks for the help so far. Sorry this response is kind of late, but I haven't had alot of time. I guess when building this I didn't really keep true to the philosophy of EBA. Hopefuly I"ll be able to throw together another list and post it a little later.

Thanks again!

[Machinus]

I would definitely run a full set of Ophidians over Negator. With two angels, you should be equipped to serve well enough. Three duress and four mages also provides enough stalling to raise your counter wall and mana to get the angel moving. Also I would consider one misdirection in addition to the four drains and four forces, as you have ten creatures, all of which are serious threats.

[VarienTanafres]

I would definitely run a full set of Ophidians over Negator. With two angels, you should be equipped to serve well enough. Three duress and four mages also provides enough stalling to raise your counter wall and mana to get the angel moving.

Ophidians are a nice little power draw, but for 3 mana, I'd rather draw the negator as he can seal the game better then Ophidan. EBA is an aggro-control deck. You should have enough draw power in cards you put in your deck to get what you want.

[spankweasel]

I recently just ran an EBA deck in a 64-player tourney.  I took 7th place.

My meta consisted of
-a lot of aggro (both good (sui black, sligh) and very bad (slivers))
-a little bit of combo (dragon, Trix)
-a little bit of control (Keeper, Tog)

Here's the decklist that I used.

// Mana
1 Plains
2 Island
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
4 Flooded Strand
1 City of Brass
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria

// Critters
2 Exalted Angel
3 Phyrexian Negator
2 Meddling Mage
3 Shadowmage Infiltrator
2 Masticore

// Control
4 Force of Will
3 Duress
4 Mana Drain
1 Balance

// Draw / Tutor
3 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall

// Utility
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vindicate
1 Mind Twist
1 Time Walk

// SB
2 Stifle
2 Exalted Angel
2 Meddling Mage
2 Disenchant
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Vindicate
1 CoP: Red
1 CoP: Black
2 Tormod's Crypt

Here's what I got out of the deck:

Masticore is fantastic against the aggro.  Against the control and the combo decks, he's pretty much a pile.
The Vindicate was mostly crummy and I wouldn't use it again.  
I really liked using Shadowmage Infiltrator, because against all of the aggro, he would usually be able to hit and draw me a card.  Sometimes the 'Phid just can't do it.
The Mages were pretty weak in my meta.  Sometimes they worked, but most of the time, they were fodder for FoW
Since this was sanctioned, we couldn't use proxies.  This is why a Lotus and the YawgWill are not included in this deck.  If I had the Lotus, I would have run the Will with no problem.

The deck has a VERY serious problem with opposing wastelands.  In Top8, I got crushed both games by multiple (3+) strip effects.  I don't think my build ran enough mana sources.

For the most part, this is a pretty good deck.  I have since moved on to full-blown Keeper but I really liked playing this deck.

[Methuselahn]

Also, there is no power in this metagame, due to local tournament rules, not lack of commitment on any of the players part

This makes it kind of hard to offer suggestions, but here goes,...

EBA isn't all that great vs aggro swarms.  It fares very well vs budget combo and control, in general.  Keep this in mind if you are SURE you want to use this archetype.

Negators are bad in this deck.  They wreck your already fragile mana base, easily cutting off one of the 3 colors in the deck.  Why play Negators at all if you can't play moxen AND you meta is all scrubby aggro?

If you play with mana drain, use cunning wish.  it's good.  EBA is really an aggro deck first, so it can be difficult putting too many reactive type cards such as pure counters in the deck.

Since there is no moxen acceleration in the environment, Vindicate and Finklemage become VERY good.


my version as posted here on tmd

[warlocker19]

i run skeletal scrying in my build, it helps a lot

[Echo]

If you use Exalted instead of Morphling you can use the almighty hoser Damping Matrix. If you play in an aggro metagame, I found 2 Scrying 1 Future Sight > 3 Ophidians.

[AggressiveDude]

Sorry call me a Jackass but isnt EBA without Mana Drain a Extended Dumptruck deck?
I think that the drains are the key in this deck since they allowe you to drop good threats asap.