An excuse to play Meddling Mage: Another EBA

[WhiteMage05]

The rise in EBA has been great over the past several months. It did very well at many of the bigger northeast tournaments. My favorite deck quickly became EBA when I got back into magic two years ago becasue it played my three favorite colors. Since then, I've been trying to make my own version that might actually win a match or two. This is what I finally came up with, though it will probably be under construction within days.

Hard-Core EBA - Andrew Valainis

//Win
2 Decree of Justice
1 Exalted Angel
1 Masticore
3 Meddling Mage
3 Ophidian

//Counter
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Duress

//Draw + Tutors
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Skeletal Scyring
4 Brainstorm
1 Cunning Wish
1 Fact or Fiction

//Removal
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vindicate

//Tempo + Wicked Good
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk

//Mana Base
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 City of Brass
1 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring

Sideboard: (As if I were going to a very diverse meta)
2 Damping Matrix
2 Energy Flux
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ebony Charm
1 Coffin Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Serenity
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Skeletal Scrying

Comments on the build:

Decree of Justice:
This card is terrific. It's just plain good. It works incredibly well with Mana Drain and with EBA's mana base, there is a very good chance of getting off a large Decree. This card is also good when looking Standstill in the face. TECH!!

Masticore:
Honestly, I put this card in my deck because I was without another Exalted Angel. However, I began to love it as soon as I dropped it. This card has so much potential that I had to MD it. It's abilities yell "I can help you beat Landstill!" You can even Regen a Masticore after a Nev's Disk goes "boom". Taking out 6/6's against Aggro is no longer a huge issue. Although 6 mana is a lot to take out a 6/6, two *pings* and a regen can go a long way.

Cunning Wish
Playing one is a little strange, and many people might drop it to make the deck an even 60 cards. I, however, love having that warm fuzzy feeling that I might just topdeck that Wish that I need. Also, it allows you to alter your sideboard a little in order to get those instants that you might need in game one. Taking this out is quick easy. You just de-sleeve it. However, remember that if you do so, you might want to change your sideboard accordingly. I simply play it for the security.

Swords vs. Vindicate
The rise of more creature efficient decks like EBA, The BigO, Landstill, and others cause more want for Swords to Plowshares over Vindicate. Many EBA's variations play 2 Swords and 2 Vindicates, but I feel as though that 3rd Swords will be not only easier to cast, but will come in handy more often. The insanst vs. sorcery battle must also be taken into consideration. Vindicate: "Destroy target anything, but on your turn."

Where's the Library!!
In Andy Stok's hands now. But I needed cash! So why not proxy it? Right now, I'd rather have the City. Some might say that City of Brass is bad because of the ping and a Fire/Ice on a stick can be hell to you with a city. But remember that you're playing Exalted Angel!!! Gaining life is the mizor. Other than that, I often find myself with less than 7 cards in almost all of my games. How so with 3 maindecked Ophidians? EBA, remember, is an Aggro-Control deck and it likes to play things. It has many an answer for opponents' spells and has many a win condition to drop.

Sideboard issues

Ebony Charm vs. Coffin Purge
The never ending battle! MixingMike posted a for/against on this topic a little while ago and I decided that I like both. So I use both. It's as simple as that.

Balance
Why is this not in the maindeck? Notice that EBA plays many creatures and the ideal board position is an Angel, at least one Ophidian, and 1-2 Meddling Mages. Balance is no doubt one of the most powerful cards in magic, and I would love to flash my FBB pimpness in the maindeck, but it would kill my main draw engine and my Meddling Mages which are a permanent counterspell.

Circle of Protection: Red
The one thing I hate is Sligh, in any form. Other than that, at my tournaments there is normally one or two jank speed decks that like to drop a Rancor on a Gorilla Shaman. Wha?? It hurts, trust me.

Circle of Protection: Green
The BigO + Madness. That's it really. I fear those decks, even with an Exalted angel and 3 Meddling Mages. They are quite fast and hard to stop.

I think the rest of my sideboard is self explanatory, but if you have a question about something that I should have addressed, feel free to ask.

AS ALWAYS:
Please keep your comments and questions clean, unprofanitized, and helpfull.

Tell me what you think!!!

[Mixing Mike]

CoP:Green > Fork for the best SB cards ever (right Ben?)

Maindeck Damping Matrix is pretty cool.  Espically with the rise of Slaver, and it shuts down Disk, which seems important to you.  If you do MD Matrix, say buh-bye to Masticore...

I'd LOVE to see MD Scrying #2 in there, try to squeeze room, seriously, you'll love me.

[Methuselahn]

I think the deck looks alright overall, it mostly comes down to metagame decisions with EBA.  The deck looks a little spread thin, imo.  Decks like Tog can afford to rely on one-of's alot more because there is a heavier amount of search/draw.  Your build doesn't have as much and therefore makes the 1 Exalted, 1 Wish, 1 Vindicate, 1 Scrying seem a bit too random.

I would really have to disagree that bastardizing your sideboard for ONE wish is really worth it.  If you upped the Wishes to 2, you could move fact to the SB, cut the MD scrying and possibly Vindicate.  This may make room for another Exalted or two, which I think you need.

You don't need a coughin purge and a charm, pick just one.  Energy Flux in a deck with white just seems wrong.  Workshop players can work around Flux enough to lock you down.

[Nantuko Rice]

i would maindeck damping matrix... 1/3 of the decks iwith the rise of slaver play with goblin welder. matrix stops FCG's secondary kill condition and stops mongrels. it also shuts down disks.

if your worried about losing your ophidian, play shadowmage infiltrator, they're better. Get more exalteds and cut the masticore imo.

[Fëanor]

I have come to love EBA as well. Some suggestions:

Nantuko Rice: I think in this build Ofidios would be much better off than Shadowmages. Mana Drain works easier on it, you can get it out easier with Sol Ring, 1/3 is pretty beefy, so chances are if your opponent is trying to find a way to kill it, you've made a few swings and drawn a few angels already

Damping Matrix is good, but not good all the time. I don't know how MD-ing them would be, but if I did, I would still play the 'Core cause he kiks!

1 damage = 1 damage, every point counts. Not to mention the City is a Wasteland target, and damn good at it. I would love to see a plains in there, as it is very possible to get white-screwed. Plus i dont see a good reason to play scrying at all. id rather Will those spells than draw potential crap.

That said, i dont see why you would be running so much black mana producers, you could take the Sea count down to 2-3 and it would still be safe, just fill the spaces with Islands or Plains or even a lone Swamp. A lot of people try to take advantage of your duals, when they do, you wish you had played mono-U

You got 8 counters. Is it effective enough? I know you consider Duress another counter and the Mages of course, but theyre less effective, sometimes, than a plain old Counterspell. I fully support Mages. they can be dropped turn 1 with the right accelleration, and i support the Duress as a combo card and obviously just because it's Duress. Misdirection has a lot of uses still, so I would suggest you consider it if you haven't already.

IMO, you need more fetch, maybe just one or two more. Stifle is seeing less play, including in your deck, for whatever reason, so safety isnt a concern. I usually played with 5 fetch, but with tri color EBA i'd suggest 6, four U/W, two U/B.

Hope that helps somewhat, thanks to the mixer for introducing the deck to me.

Peace

[WhiteMage05]

Methuselahn:

Energy Flux in a deck with white just seems wrong.

Why? Please explain your thinking...

Nantuko Rice:

if your worried about losing your ophidian, play shadowmage infiltrator, they're better

I agree with Feanor. As much as I love the "fear" ability, Ophidian is easier to cast (one U + Sol Ring) and you can mana drain into it, which gives it a huge advantage by at least this:  [___________________] much...

Feanor:
I agree that the " one of's " seem quite random. There should be at least two angels.

I decided to cut the Masticore in order to allow for another Angel. I also cut the Cunning Wish and the Skeletal Scrying in order to maindeck two Damping Matrix. They are way too good to leave out. Especially since one can still morph the Angel. It stops many a deck from going off.

As far as the mana base, I also agree about the City of Brass. However, I like playing as many duals as possible, though they can very easily be owned. If I were to cut the City, which basic land should I play: Swamp or Plains? Stifles are seen less and less, but 4 fetches has always seemed to work out. I normally don't get mana screwed, and because of the high dual count, one can always obtain the colors needed.

I still stand firm with the 8 counters. One reason is that this count always seems good enough especially with 3 duress and 3 Meddling Mages. However, another issue of adding the suggested straight up Counterspell would be what to cut. There is very little room for more counterspells. Cutting Duress, I think, is out of the question because it causes way too much disruption and allows you to plan for future turns. Cutting Meddling Mages would defeat much of the purpose of the deck. Meddling Mage is one of your key defences, especially right after a Duress, which is another reason to leave the Counter-Count at 8.

Keep the suggestions coming!!

[FireFall26]

Damping matrix doesn't shut down ophidian FYI.

[kirdape3]

He means that you can just use Seal of Cleansing, but he's horribly wrong.  Damping Matrix (and to an even greater extent, Null Rod) deals with whole classes of annoying permanents, not just one.

[WhiteMage05]

Agreed. Null rod is ownage, but in EBA it would be quite silly to play. Moxen and the Ring are very essential to the deck's speed.

[CSeraph]

Can't speak about Madness, but COP:Green is some bad vs. Oshawa. Mongrel ignores it, and tutored for zealots kill it. Bleh.

As a more general deck philosophy question, could someone explain to me which matchups EBA handles better than Keeper and/or Tog? It has always rubbed me as a deck that didn't know what it wanted to be... less broken+flexible than Keeper, and a much weaker set of win conditions than Tog.

Understand that I'm not doubting that it has some advantages - I'd just like to hear them from players of the deck.

[Gothmog]

Since you're not playing any artifacts/enchantments yourself other than Moxen, if Damping Matrix doesn't do it for you, I'd seriously consider Serenity.

If arifact decks are heavily played, its pretty tough to argue with it.

[InsaneScrub]

I have found Exalted Angel to be a top notch card, even superior to masticore in some ways.  First Masticore cost 4, 3 then 2WW for Angel, which is like ehco, so thats a draw back, but it's not, you still get a 2/2 for 3 mana, even it if is killed.  But it seems to be you will be hard casting it since you play 1.  More importantly, against red, Angels rule.  Against Aggro, Angels rule again.  Exalted Angel is able to ignore weenie decks, while smacking around the opponent, that 4 life gained is enough for you to ignore 2 baskings and a wild mongrel all day.  

I would seriously suggest running 2-3 Exalted Angels, she is way too good to play just 1.  I think Decree is another card that definitely fits the format.  Also, Energy Flux is very very powerful vs any artifact heavy deck.  Say Cheese.

[BreathWeapon]

I don't think Decree of Justice belongs in EBA. The deck can't afford to run a large portion of off colored Mana and the Decree isn't as good against Aggro as the Angel. I question the more controlish builds of EBA because they tend to incorporate the worst draw engines possible and play too reactively.

[wuaffiliate]

Decree isnt included to deal with aggro, its inclusion is to deal with control, with so many standstill being played now and generally a higher ammount of control decree is very very good in EBA.

[WhiteMage05]

I don't think Decree of Justice belongs in EBA. The deck can't afford to run a large portion of off colored Mana

EBA doesn't play off colored mana. Where do you see that in the build?
--See wuaffiliate's comment--

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. As I said, I bumped the Angel count back up to two, and cut a Cunning Wish/Skeletal Scrying for 2 Damping Matrix. This deck is shaping up pretty nicely.

I knew I forgot something! Matchups. Some people have already posted about some of the good matchups, for example, aggro, and also many control decks. Anything that one Mage can stop is pretty much owned by EBA. Naming "Psycatog" can win games, especially if you can get off another one and name REB or Swords. With the "12" counters in the deck, one should be able to keep the Mage on the board. EBA also has a great matchup against Sui. Again, meddling mages seem to house that deck. Masticore also houses that deck, if it is MD'd or maybe even in the Sideboard??? (comments? Should I move Masticore to the Sideboard or drop it completely?) Pinging their peremanents away versus a Negator won me a game the other day. Mize. EBA also has a pretty good matchup against combo decks IF a Mage can be dropped quick enough. It's all about the IF's. If I forgot any, let me know...