[Deck] tweaking EBA

[Ozma]

I haven't had a lot of time to test yet, with school and all, but over the summer I plan on getting to some local Type I events.  A buddy and I are going to try to make the drive to the New England area to play a time or two, but from Georgia it's going to take a while.  

Anyway, on to the deck.  Based on experience from a few months ago, I'm expecting a partially powered metagame (Tog, Slaver, etc), with some random aggro stuff (Yes, maybe even .. *gasp* .. sui black!).  The build I'm working with is a more control type, since I don't think anything I do can make me go pure speed and outrun the likes of TNT or Mas.  Here goes..

Counter:
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain

Draw/Search:
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Skeletal Scrying
4x Brainstorm

Broken stuff:
1x Mind Twist
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Time Walk

Disruption/Removal:
1x Damping Matrix
3x Swords to Plowshares
1x Dismantling Blow/Seal of Cleansing
4x Meddling Mage

The Win:
3x Exalted Angel
1x Decree of Justice

Mana:
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
5x Moxen

4x Tundra
4x Underground Sea
4x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
2x Plains
4x Island

Possible SB:
1x Damping Matrix
3x Energy Flux
1x Decree of Justice
1x Exalted Angel
1x Swords to Plowshares
2x Stifle
2x Maze of Ith
4 open

Card Choices (I'm only going into the possibly questionable stuff, since things like Mana Drain need no explanation)

Damping Matrix - I fear Slaver ang Tog, probably because I have little experience with Slaver, and Tog is just Tog and you have to prepare for that.

Meddling Mage - Quick threat, albeit not terribly threatening, and stopping AK or Welder or something early on can be good.

Dismantling Blow vs. Seal of Cleansing - Seal is some good, there's no debating.  One mana less is good, but the kicker on Dismantling Blow is nice.  
 

What about Library?  I don't have one, and I'm not sure it would really help much.  I could probably get one, but I'd rather not it it won't help anything.

I was also thinking about Vindicate, but I don't own any, so I haven't tested them yet.

SB possibilities:

Damping Matrix - see above

Maze of Ith - Helps stop Tog/Mask/FEB

Energy Flux - If I can get it quick, this thing has smashed up Stax and MUD and isn't too bad against TNT

StP - Dragon or aggro stuff

Stifle - Dragon or Slaver in case I can't get Matrix

extra Angel/Decree are really just because I'm still fiddling with numbers of each MD

I've been thinking of anything else for SB.  Tormod's Crypt?  Moat?  Smother/Edict?  Duress?  Negators?

So far in testing, I've been able to handle most aggro stuff fairly well.  I haven't had any really horrible matches, although Madness is a rough one sometimes.  

Thanks very much for any input!  I'll come back with anything else I find out, changes I make, testing/tournament results, etc.

[Bahza]

I like your build of EBA, it is similiar to a build I placed 5th at Hadley with, which can be seen here.

http://www.morphling.de/coverages/top8decks.php?id=111

I like this deck with the basic lands as it helps the battle against wastes.
But recently I have been testing a more black heavy version with 3 Skeletal Scryings and 3 Negators instead of Decree of Justice. The Negators are great agaisnt any control deck and the scryings help the deck have a draw engine, which I think is EBA's main weakness. So that being said I think more skeletal scryings would help your build.

Also even with the basics do you have trouble finding WW for the angel sometimes? I know I lost my game in top 8 and some more at Waterbury with a morph creature on the table I couldn't flip due to Wasteland ownage... So I have also tryed running 2 City of Brasses in place of an island and the 4th Underground sea, which helps a lot.

Library is a must include in this deck, it helps too much in the control match up not to run.

All in all I believe EBA is a strong deck, it just needs to adapt a good draw engine as decks like GAT, Hulk and Slaver which have good engines roll right over you.

[Gabethebabe]

I recently won (well, split for 1st) a tourney with the following EBA version:

Creatures (8)
4 Meddling Mage
4 Exalted Angel

Spells (27)
1 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Stifle
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist

1 Damping Matrix

Mana (25)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt

4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 City of Brass
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Some random comments:

Your version lacks disruption. No strips and no Duress. You will lose vs Tog. Your only chance vs tog is to quickly get a threat out (an Angel) and beat them up before they find an answer (deed for 6). If you try to outcontrol Tog, you´ve got it all wrong.

Your mana base is much more stable, cutting the Duress makes it less reliable on the black mana and running basic plains is very good in this deck. It is vital to be able to flip your Angel. My mana base is a fucking disaster. The price I pay for being able to disrupt more.

I´m not particularly fond of LoA in this deck. You have a rather active deck, especially if you run Duress. LoA is too slow vs Combo, too slow vs aggro, a joke vs sui and your only chance to outcontrol a card-drawing control deck like Tog.

In your Duress-less version I would certainly play LoA. Also at least one strip. 1 Basic Plains should be enough.

I would like to have a little more white mana in "my" version of the deck. I´m still guessing between cutting an Underground Sea for a City or for a basic Plains.

I would run Mana Crypt before the off-color moxen. Theoretically that is. In the tourney I played, the Crypt didn´t do anything good for me. But it SHOULD be a good card in this deck. You know what I have been considering? To cut the Mana Crypt and add LOTUS PETAL. In your version a joke but in my version it can actually be quite worth a card to get the crucial W (or B) you need.

I would not play Dismantling Blow. The choice between Seal and Disenchant is close. Note that Seal isn´t as good as it used to be, because of Stifle.

Damping Matrix is a natural fit in this deck. It is that my meta does not call for it, otherwise I would have run 2.

I think Negators are an excellent sideboard card. You can bring them in against combo and control.

Also Serenity needs to be in the SB. Slaver decks has got stuff to get rid of Matrix, current slaver versions run Mogg Salvage and Rack and Ruin, somewhere around 6 of them between MD and SB, and you can´t just rely on Matrixes (Matrices?).

BEB are never dead in the SB. Gobbos and Sligh, Dragon, Welders, Blood Moon (which my mana base hates intensely)

[Ozma]

I proxied up the Library and tested some, and it's working quite well.  Even if I can only get a card or two off it, that's still nothing to scoff at.

Vindicate wasn't so hot, since black is really my off color and it's at sorcery speed.  Most of the time, it was something of a win-more card.
I find the mana base to be remarkably stable, with as many basics as I run.  I originally ran two Cities of Brass, but I've decided to cut down on the pain stuff as much as possible since every point is less that a Tog player has to deal.  If I can't get the angel going, City damage adds up quickly.  That's also why I cut to one Scrying.  I haven't ever had a time that I wanted to cast another one, unless I was already well ahead from Angel gains.  With the loss from six fetches, 4 Forces and a Scrying already, I'm working on minimizing any more.

The basic land count is insurance against Blood Moon and Back to Basics as well as Wasteland.  With 6 white-producing lands, 6 fetches, Pearl and Lotus going, I haven't had any problems getting the WW to turn Angel up.

As far as a drawing engine, I've been fiddling around with running 3-4 Shadowmage Infiltrators.  They're slow against a lot of things, but between  evasion, dealing damage with drawing (not hindered by Damping Matrix like Phid) and being pitchable to Force of Will, they seem worthy of consideration.

I'm still debating on those.  I'm testing running three, cutting one Swords to Plowshares, the one Scrying and a Meddling Mage.  I'll post on how that works out.   Alas, would that Finkel could dodge the infernal Tog.    

[Gabethebabe]

You are not aware of the current Oracle text of Ophidian

Ophidian
2U
Creature -- Snake
1/3
Whenever Ophidian attacks and isn't blocked, you may draw a card. If you do, Ophidian deals no combat damage this turn.

Ophidian laughs at Damping Matrix.

Ophidian and Finkel are too slow for the current environment. Also with the Angels you have made this deck less control and more aggro. You´re not interested in outdrawing your opponent. You want to get an Angel down pronto and smack face. Clearing her path and protecting it with the rest of your deck.

[Ozma]

Latest version is testing much better against Tog and Slaver both.  Still haven't made the move to Duress/Wastelands, but I'm testing those some as well.

Counter:
4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will

Draw/Search:
4x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
2x Skeletal Scrying

Disruption/Removal:
2x Swords to Plowshares
2x Damping Matrix
4x Meddling Mage
1x Mind Twist
1x Strip Mine

Brokenness:
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Time Walk

The Win:
3x Exalted Angel
1x Decree of Justice

Mana:
7x SoLoMoxen
4x Tundra
4x Underground Sea
4x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
2x Plains
4x Island

The mana base is still rock solid.  The one Strip does come up often enough to be of some use, but I've found with a little testing that adding Wastelands leaves me woefully unable to find the WW to flip Angel up at the worst possible times, and City of Brass just rubs me the wrong way.  

The second Scrying has worked out quite well.  Rarely do I end up with both of them in hand, and it has helped quite a bit in keeping up draws.

The extra Damping Matrix has been HUGE in a lot of matches, but limiting it to two doesn't make it a terrible nuisance in matches when I don't need it.  Definitely staying.  

I haven't posted another sideboard because I've been reworking it, based on the changes MD.  There are few things I ever want to board out, so I'm trying to find a few silver bullets for bad matches and keep the boarding each round to a few very strong cards.

[BreathWeapon]

Why bother with STP in the MD? Most of the nuisance creatures in the environment are kept in check with Matrix and Exalted will fly over the rest and gain you 4 life. I really don't see the point in wasting space on creature removal. Any of the Artifact FAT in Slavery the Angel can't deal with can be answered game two with Serenity.
 
Skeletal Scrying is just the BOMB in EBA. I'm up to 3 and i'm never looking back, EVAR. I think the only controversial issue left is whether or not Wastelands belong in the deck at all, along with the off color Moxen.

[xzero]

Skeletal Scrying is just the BOMB in EBA. I'm up to 3 and i'm never looking back, EVAR. I think the only controversial issue left is whether or not Wastelands belong in the deck at all, along with the off color Moxen.

I also LOVE 3 Skeletal Scrying.  I do play Wastelands, but not with off-colored moxen.  The Wastelands are just so good against so many decks. </obvious>

[Razvan]

I think the only controversial issue left is whether or not Wastelands belong in the deck at all

Yes. In a control mirror-match, often, the guy with more wastelands wins. Even against random other decks (such as occasionally Dragon), Wastelands are important.

I think the 4 Wastelands, 1 Library, 1 Strip Mine are almost set in stone. I can't envision cutting either, which means:

along with the off color Moxen.

This is a hard choice to make. It really depends on the build. Since the above 6 colorless mana sources are trully important, and there is still vast need of blue mana (as well, as the other colors), having an off-color source sometimes doesn't help.

The off-color moxen help to cast the more flavorfull spells (even Angel), but I can't justify taking it over the aforementionned 6.

[wuaffiliate]

i just want to ask what the advantage is of playing EBA over something such as exaltedkeeper. the following control deck gets to run red filling alot of the blanks EBA has.

the draw engine is superior, i dont see why you would not run more scrying since you do run many angels. i dont think non phid eba has enough draw at, there is no reason not to run 2-3 scrying.

i just really see no reason at all to play EBA over exaltedkeeper.


//GermBus ZherbMans
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
2 City of Brass
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

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

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Skeletal Scrying

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Time Walk

2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Balance

2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Exalted Angel

SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Flametongue Kavu
SB: 2 Rack and Ruin
SB: 1 Damping Matrix
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Gush
SB: 1 Vampiric Tutor
SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Skeletal Scrying
SB: 1 Blue Elemental Blast

[LizardKING]

Hi everyone,

first of all, I am not currently a EBA player, so if my comments and questions are pointless, please accept my apologies.
This deck arouses my interest a few times ago and there are several questions I would like to ask.

1- Criticism focus on the draw engine. Skeletal scrying really worth 3 slots I think because 1) the deck packs a lot of instants along with 5 to 9 fetch+strip, and 2) the deck packs up to 4 Angels with have a really good synergy with Skeletal. 5 Fetch is the number currently advocated by Tog players to optimize the use of Brainstorm and I think it is also the right number in EBA. By the way, has someone ever tried Future Sight ? The casting cost is high but Mana Drains can help and the deck runs the 7 SoLoMoxen.  

2- Angels are the core of this deck, and neutralize aggro strategies as well as can really bother HS for its smash. 4 is a good number as it can put the pressure on the control player very soon in the game, and it dykes the loss of life due to Skeletal. But like the other critters in the deck (Meddling, eventually Soldier Tokens,...), they are fragile and can die to the popular Fire/Ice until they «demorph». How good will be the old-fashioned Morphling in this deck ?

3- The counterbase along with removal is one of the strengths of EBA compared to control decks like HS, but I think this key of this deck lies in tempo mastery. So how good would it be to emphasize the mana denial aspect ? I am referring to the inclusion MD of Stifle (which is not as circumstancial as the legend says) along with a full set of Waste/Strip. I haven't any MisD too, whereas the card has showed its intrinsic strength in GAT builds. Perhaps it will be interesting to include it.

Thanks for your responses and feedback.

[BreathWeapon]

What are the advantages? EBA has a stronger Manabase because it doesn't run 4 colors. EBA has 8 more cards that disrupt the opponent's game plan in Duress and Meddling Mage. EBA doesn't waste space with creature removal, and everything I would use Cunning Wish for in Keeper Damping Matrix deals with just fine. Honestly, short of having 2 Mox Monkey there is nothing in Keeper MD I envy at all. Losing REB for the SB sucks, but its really not that big of a deal when you already have 4 Duress to resolve your spells and 4 Mages to lock things down. As far as the Draw Engine, for me they are identical so its really not a point of contention.

To be honest, I don't see the point of playing Germbus in comparison to EBA. You have some cool Red cards, I can live with that in the mirror.

[Zherbus]

EBA doesn't waste space with creature removal, and everything I would use Cunning Wish for in Keeper Damping Matrix deals with just fine.

Huh?

Germbus:

2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Balance

Various EBA:

2x Swords to Plowshares
2x Damping Matrix

or

1 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Stifle
1 Damping Matrix

or

1x Damping Matrix
3x Swords to Plowshares
1x Dismantling Blow/Seal of Cleansing

Except Balance is good against creatures, lands, and hand and Fire/Ice can cycle. Seems not too far off even if you have Keeper builds with Matrix maindecked.

To be honest, I don't see the point of playing Germbus in comparison to EBA. You have some cool Red cards, I can live with that in the mirror.

As with most deck choices, you can always boil it down to what you want to be better against. For example, fundimentally EBA is Keeper minus Shamans, Fire, and Balance plus 4 Meddling Mage. While this is likely either worse or better in various matchups by the slightest amount, the SB options of REB, FTK, and Rack and Ruin exchange power for mana stability. I would say that this is a negotiable trade-off since decks are running fewer mana denial methods on the whole and it's not as if EBA is immune to those same mana denial strategies somehow.

[Ozma]

Thanks for all the attention and advice everyone!

I think I've basically decided on the build.  I've tested several suggestions, and I've pretty much settled on a build:

Counter:
4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will

Disruption:
4x Meddling Mage
4x Duress
1x Mind Twist
2x Damping Matrix
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland

Draw/Search:
4x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
2x Skeletal Scrying

Broken:
1x Time Walk
1x Yawgmoth's Will

The Win:
4x Exalted Angel

Mana:
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
4x Tundra
4x Underground Sea
4x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
3x Island
1x Plains

This one is a big departure from where I started, but in testing it's proven to be much better against a lot of decks.  The mana base is still fairly solid, and either Damping Matrix or an Angel or two seems to solve most any problem I have with opposing creatures, so the loss of StP isn't a big one.  Duress and the Strip Mine and Wastelands have helped shore up against the Tog match.

I never thought I'd go up to four Angels, but during testing I found out that lack of one was the thing that killed me the most.  Hence, the full set.

I plan on building a sideboard to help against Stax/Mud variants, although Matrix and Workshop killers are doing their part.  The Dragon match is weaker now, with my lack of Stifle or Swords main deck, but Duress and counters are often enough to hold them off.

I miss having Fact or Fiction main deck, but I found that if things were going my way with the Angel beats, I just pitched FoF to Force most of the time anyway, so better to add Duress for preventative medicine.

I'll keep posting updates, and anyone else feel free to throw in your two cents.

[xrizzo]

By the way, has someone ever tried Future Sight ? The casting cost is high but Mana Drains can help and the deck runs the 7 SoLoMoxen.  

Future sight costs 2UUU.  Mana Drain can only help with 2 colorless of that.  6/7 SoLoMoxen contribute to the colorless aspect.  Future sight is tough to play in a 3+ color deck because of the necessary UUU in the CC.  If you want to dump FS into a deck, it is best to do it with the combo like play in mind.  

---

As for EBA / GermBus [Keeper], this is really a delicate difference.  Having the red splash makes you so much more resiliant to artifacts at all levels: shaman, r&r, etc.  It also helps with Tog and other blue decks with REB...  White can handle artifacts, just not nearly as efficiently.  

I personally thing GermBus could be better with 4x Duress as a pro-active solution, but it is a totally different deck when you add 4x Meddling Mage.  The manabase of EBA is not much more stable than Keeper - but is worth something.  Both decks are focused on resolving an exalted angel, and riding it to victory - but keeper does so with a fall back plan of balance or yawgwin.  (and a superior draw engine in 3x Scrying main, and 1x SB)  EBA falls back on, what mage beatdown?  I think EBA is a good deck, but its means of winning don't seem nearly as focused as Keeper's.

My personal build (of keeper) includes: (notables listed)
4 Duress
3 Exalted Angel
2 Decree of Justice
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Strip Mine

0 fire / ice
0 Damping matrix (main)
0 Meddling Mage
0 Wasteland

[BreathWeapon]

Thats more or less my list with -1 Angel for FoF and Manabase differences -2 Island for LOA and Sol Ring, nice to see you've joined the darkside Before you give your list the stamp of approval tho', try removing the Waste/Strip for Sol Ring, Mana Crypt and the Off Color Moxen. I find more and more often all I want to do is lay down that Angel ASAP and roll my opponents over. With 4 Angels, 2-3 Scrying, 2 Damping Matrix and 1 FoF, you'll sink all of that colorless Mana easily. Being able to flip an Exalted Angel over on turn 2 is just completely nuts vs Aggro. I really think EBA can afford to simply leave the opponent's manabase alone and go for the throat like GAT and HULK. With out Stifle and Gorilla Shaman, there simply isn't any reason to stick with the Mana Denial plan when the Angel begs for abuse. Yes, it weakens the Dragon match up ... but with 4 Duress and 4 Mages and 2 Matrix it should still be winnable, and who plays Dragon right now?

Here is what i'm thinking of,

"I <3 Exalted"

Blue Count (20)

4xForce of Will
4xMana Drain
4xMeddeling Mage
4xBrainstorm
1xFact or Fiction
1xTime Walk
1xAncestral Recall
1xMystical Tutor

Black Count (10)

3xSkeletal Scrying
4xDuress
1xMind Twist
1xYawgmoth's Will
1xDemonic Tutor

White Count (4)

4xExalted Angel
*xMeddling Mage

Meta Slots (2)
2xDamping Matrix

Mana (24)
2xCity of Brass
5xFetch Lands
4xTundra
4xUnderground Sea
1xIsland
1xPlains
6xLoMoxen
1xMana Crypt

Its fast and disruptive beat down, I want Scry #4 so bad, but I just don't have room for 1 more.

EDIT: LoA and Sol Ring suck, 2xCity of Brass is just INSANE in this deck. Be careful with the off color Moxen and Crypt, with out an Angel around they aren't worth much. At best, they keep UU open for Drain while you perform a small Scrying EOT or a Damping Matrix. The deck has significant trouble sinking colorless artifact mana.

[Gabethebabe]

I see that some GermBus discussion from the T1 forum has leaked out to here. People were asking why play EBA over Keeper? My answer is: because Exalted Angels are better in EBA than in GermBus.

Keeper/GermBus is a reactive deck. Exalted Angel is not reactive.

EBA is pro-active: Duress is pro-active, Meddling Mage is pro-active. The Angel fits the deck like a glove. EBA can afford to quickly lay an Angel and tap out, because Duresses and Mages have done their disruptive work.

Angels in GermBus may be good, but the synergy between EBA-Angel is better than GermBus-Angel.

[Machinus]

Doesn't this deck have lots of mana problems? Duress, Mage, Drain, double white for Angel, on top of that you are running LoA, sol ring, crypt, and off color moxen. If the point of this deck is to smash with exalted, why keep running so much black?

[Ozma]

I haven't got the Library or Mana Crypt in mine, but I don't own either of them, so I'm making do.  The rest of it is surprisingly stable, especially with Brainstorm/fetch to smooth out the mana.  Opposing Strips can be a problem obviously, but that's true of almost any deck.

As far as running all the black, it's simply because all of it is insane and can be fit in fairly easily.  Without Duress and Twist, the disruption would fall to just Mage and strips, which would force the deck to turn more into Keeper and play reactive.  And I don't think there any explanation necessary for Demonic Tutor or Yawgmoth's Will.

Simply put, you keep running so much black just because you can.  

[BreathWeapon]

How do you guys feel about Cunning Wish in the Deck? I keep eye balling the 2 MD Damping Matrix and seeing Wish in their place. Now, I know its a little ludacris, Matrix deals with all of the problem creatures (Welder, Shaman, Wild Mongrels/Aquameeba/Rootwalla, Sliver Queen/Ambassador Laquatos, Psychatog) and numerous artifacts, but Cunning Wish gives us flexible spot removal as well as a few additional tricks.

With -2 Damping Matrix +2 Cunning WIsh we get:

1xSkeletal Scrying
1xVampiric Tutor
1xCoffin Purge (AK ownage)
1xDismanteling Blow (For Chalice=2)
1xHurkyl's Recall
1xSwords to Plowshares
1xBlue Elemental Blast

Thats a reasonable list of reactive removal cards for the opponent's gameplan. The Scrying and Tutor put us on par with Germbus' Draw Engine, and access to Plow can clear the road vs large Artifact Fat game 1 (Which is only relevant vs Pentavus) and Xantid Swarm. All of the same bases are covered and despite Cunning Wish being less powerful game 1 vs most decks ... it will probably be better games 2 and 3 vs the Field for the most part. Its also ups the U count to 22, which can't hurt with the deck's dependance on FoW. My only problem with the Wish is that unlike Damping Matrix, its only a temporary answer to any given problem while the Matrix is total lock down. You also don't want ReActive measures against Belcher, Disk or Slaver.

Thoughts?

[xrizzo]

This is actually the direction I think both EBA and Keeper can go to improve... (mixing good flexibility and reaction through wish with proactive solutions like duress)

Here is the Keeper / EBA deck I am working on right now:
61 cards in testing - will cut back to 60 soon.

// Mana (24)
    4  Tundra
    4  Underground Sea
    4  Flooded Strand
    2  Polluted Delta
    1  Strip Mine
    1  Plains
    2  Island
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Sol Ring
    1 Mana Crypt

// Win (5)
    3  Exalted Angel
    2  Decree of Justice

// Must run 4 (16)
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Duress
    4  Force of Will
    4  Mana Drain

// Utility / Draw (9)
    2  Cunning Wish
    3  Skeletal Scrying
    3  Swords to Plowshares
    1  Nevinyrral's Disk

// Broken (7)
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1  Balance
    1  Demonic Tutor
    1  Time Walk
    1  Vampiric Tutor
    1  Mystical Tutor
    1  Yawgmoth's Will

Some notes:

-SB includes answers like 4th swords, scrying, coffin purges, disenchant, BEBs, matrix, etc...

-Nev's disk is my own janky tech.  It is better than deed because it is resiliant to stifle and helps me re-set the board better.  Since neither keeper nor eba run green, it helps to have an extra oh-shit card.  

-Vamp helps find these oh-shit cards: nev's disk, and balance / yawg.  It doesnt help from the SB nearly as quickly.  In addition, it can also help find your win conditions.

-The lack of red does hurt against artifacts, and the loss of REB against Tog is significant.

-Lets face it, the whole mana denial strategy is not tier 1 in magic, and hasen't been since the netscape IPO.  I dropped the 5 strip plan for a better mana base more resiliant to hate (and could even add more basics) and less pressed to find and keep colors available.

-This deck likes explosive mana, thus both sol ring and crypt are included.  (in place of off colorled moxen)

[BreathWeapon]

The more I see STP in EBA lists, the more I want to pull my hair out. The entire point of using 4xExalted Angel is to avoid wasting space MD on creature removal. Anything Exalted Angel can't deal with, Damping Matrix will neutralize or Meddling Mage will pre-empt.

I think people seriously misunderstand EBA, or my "vision" of EBA, on a fundamental level. People keep asking me, "How is this better than Germbus?" I tell them, "Why are you comparing it to Keeper instead of HULK?" Thats right, despite the superficial resemblance to GERMBUS (Exalted/Scrying), the decks are almost nothing alike. What EBA really resembles, is HULK.

When you think about it, the comparison makes perfect sense. Instead of using 3xPsychatog to establish a Threat/Answer, EBA uses 4xExalted Angel. Instead of Pernicious Deed/Gorilla Shaman(s), EBA uses 2xDamping Matrix to deal with the same problems, Damping Matrix being far superior. The most notable difference between the two decks is the use of 4xMeddeling Mage over 3xCunning Wish, objectively the two cards seek to perform the same function albeit differently. The final comparison to make is the Draw Engine itself, 3xSkeletal Scrying and 1xFact or Fiction vs the 4xAccumulated Knowledge, 2xIntuition and 2xDeep Analysis. You'll notice that both Tog and Exalted enable the deck's Draw Engines. Tog can "recycle" an AK for additional card draw, while Exalted generates life to enable Scrying.

The key difference between HULK and EBA is not the decks' strategies, but their Tempo. HULK first establishes its Draw Engine, and then seeks to play PsychaTog and "Wish Away" any of its obstacles. EBA works in the reverse order, it attemps to play Meddeling Mage as quickly as possible to disrupt the opponent, followed by Exalted Angel to establish a threat and then play Scrying or FoF to replenish its hand. This explains why EBA over emphasizes its "Threats and Pre-Emptive Answers" with 4xExalted Angel and 4xMeddeling Mage instead of the more conservative 3xPsycahtog and 3xCunning Wish, and why EBA uses a Draw Engine thats half the size of HULK's. The only Tempo qualities the two decks share are the timing of their Duress and Damping Matrix or Deed/Shaman.

At any rate, I hope my "unique" view points on EBA stimulate some serious debate on the deck (EBA should be taken seriously). The deck should not be compared to Keeper, but compared to HULK. And to already answer your first question, "Why should I play EBA over HULK," because EBA doesn't scoop to Mindslaver or lose significant momentum to REB. What are the draw backs? A greater weakness to CoTv and Trinisphere, and a much more demanding manabase.

Let the Flames begin!

[Arvid]

@Breathweapon
I've read this topic and I've got a lot of nice information out of it. Perhaps you could comment on my decklist. I've done some discussion of the deck and the most comments have been on the card drawing, meaning that EBA has less card drawing than control slavery and hulk, resulting in losing against them, but I'm not convinced. Anyway...

4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
2 Island
2 Plains
4 Wasteland
1 Strip mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
(26)

4 Meddling Mage
4 Exalted Angel
(8)

4 Brainstorm
3 Skeletal Scrying
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Duress
1 Mind Twist
3 Damping Matrix
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Vindicate (It's nice to have access to one maindeck removal)
(26)

[xrizzo]

At any rate, I hope my "unique" view points on EBA stimulate some serious debate on the deck (EBA should be taken seriously). The deck should not be compared to Keeper, but compared to HULK. And to already answer your first question, "Why should I play EBA over HULK," because EBA doesn't scoop to Mindslaver or lose significant momentum to REB. What are the draw backs? A greater weakness to CoTv and Trinisphere, and a much more demanding manabase.

I think that Meddling Mage falls into the same boat as Chalice of the Void.   Both cards require knowledge of what the opponent is running to be of maximum effectiveness.  This margin in T1 will be exploited by good decks and will make any deck that runs them less effective.  (excluding workshop decks running chalice)

A deck like EBA that is so committed to aggro control with no other play options will prove to be inferior to a deck which can take multiple play routes.  Tog has the flexibility to play combo, aggro, or control - and this versatility helps the Tog player assign roles correctly.  EBA will always need to play the 'beatdown' without a more multidimensional attack.  

If a deck drags EBA to the late game they had a heavy advantage because dropping an angel is no longer very effective. (6 turn clock - including sickness)  Keeper can just play decree and win, and Tog drops a tog and wins.  

The more I see STP in EBA lists, the more I want to pull my hair out. The entire point of using 4xExalted Angel is to avoid wasting space MD on creature removal. Anything Exalted Angel can't deal with, Damping Matrix will neutralize or Meddling Mage will pre-empt.

Stp is the best removal available in many cases.  Fire has a tough time dealing with Arrogant Wurm, dragon, and a boatload of other creatures.  If you think that dragon gives a damn whether you attack with the angel, you are mistaken.  The angel helps shore up decks which use creatures to put the game a little further out of reach.  Normally Tog only has to do 15-17 damage because players inflict 3-5 points per game on themselves.  One hit with angel moves this number back to around 20 which requires many more cards...  Two hits and you require a berserked tog to go lethal.  Angel is not the end-all be-all of creatures, and is not a late game star.  

The versatility to win the early-mid-late game is key to developing and improving an archtype.  Angel and Mage alone will not cut it.

[BreathWeapon]

@Xrizzo

I don't agree with your view of Meddling Mage, if you can't figure out what your opponent is playing after his first 2 Land Drops your simply a bad player. Besides, thats the reason why the deck runs 3-4 Duress.

And every creature you just mentioned is PWNed by Damping Matrix. Wow STP deals with a Shaman, Welder and Madness Creatures after the fact ... Damping Matrix makes sure they never contrinbute to the game. Arrogant Wurm? Last time I checked Angel had 5 Toughness. Dragon? Laquatos watches the Matrix. With the single exception of Pentavus, Damping Matrix does everyting STP does and much, much more.

HULK may be more "flexible" than EBA, but it also has significant weaknesses to other environmental decks that EBA does not have, Dragon and Mindslaver. Yes, EBA is ALWAYS the Beat Down, but that isn't exactly detrimental to the deck in and of itself. EBA is a very flexible deck, it either looks to disrupt the opponent's game plan early with Duress/Mage, play a quiet game with Brainstorm/Drain or go for the throat with Angel beat down. Can EBA just drop its win condition and walk away with the game in hand? No, it can't ... but that doesn't make it a bad deck by any stretch of the imagination. Besides, dropping an Angel in the late game is not a 6 turn clock vs Control or Combo, if you haven't drained your opponent's life total with Meddling Mages and Morphed Beat Down by the time you would play a "Late Game" Angel, your not playing the deck right.

Even if what you say is true, and I think I disagreed with almost everything you said, EBA has 15 cards of Side Board and the ability to fall back on classic Mana Denial.

@Arvid

The key to winning the Control Mirror is to neutralize the opponent's Draw Engine altogether. Drop a Mage and protect it with everything you have. At a glance i'd say your probably better off playing Landstill if you don't have access to, Walk/Ancestral. Your U count is really low to be using FoW effectively, and thats one of EBA's bigger problems. For me, the Library never payed off. EBA has to be super aggressive vs Tog, and it simply doesn't have the time to sit on LoA when it should be playing Duress and Mage. If your "under accelerated," consider using Null Rod in the MD or the Board. The more I find myself playing EBA, the less aggressive I am with my Angels vs anything but Aggro. I've fallen into the habbit of feeding all of the deck's colorless requirements with Drain Mana. Colorless Mana Producers are only useful vs Aggro, when you can just concentrate on resolving the Angel and taking the game home.

[xrizzo]

@Xrizzo

I don't agree with your view of Meddling Mage, if you can't figure out what your opponent is playing after his first 2 Land Drops your simply a bad player.

This has nothing to do with what I wrote:

Both cards require knowledge of what the opponent is running to be of maximum effectiveness. This margin in T1 will be exploited by good decks and will make any deck that runs them less effective. (excluding workshop decks running chalice)

Like you said above, you have to wait for 2 land drops from your opponent to play your 3rd turn Meddling Mage.  All I claimed is that you need to get information from your opponent to make him optimal.  Angel and Decree don't care what your opponent is playing, they are good to go whenever.

And every creature you just mentioned is PWNed by Damping Matrix.

Really?  Arrogant wurm?  And you won't have WW available before the wurm is beating down.

Goblin Lackey?  matrix doesn't do jack crap.

Xantid Swarm?  dragon just laughs.

Wow STP deals with a Shaman, Welder and Madness Creatures after the fact ... Damping Matrix makes sure they never contrinbute to the game.

 
Matrix is good, I acknowledge that.  I am only moderately comfortable relying on an artifact in a heavy artifact hate environment to shut down like my problems.  If it works for you, leave it...

Dragon? Laquatos watches the Matrix. With the single exception of Pentavus, Damping Matrix does everyting STP does and much, much more.

A good dragon player can kill with more than just laquatos.  STP F's dragon.

HULK may be more "flexible" than EBA, but it also has significant weaknesses to other environmental decks that EBA does not have, Dragon and Mindslaver. Yes, EBA is ALWAYS the Beat Down, but that isn't exactly detrimental to the deck in and of itself. EBA is a very flexible deck, it either looks to disrupt the opponent's game plan early with Duress/Mage, play a quiet game with Brainstorm/Drain or go for the throat with Angel beat down. Can EBA just drop its win condition and walk away with the game in hand? No, it can't ... but that doesn't make it a bad deck by any stretch of the imagination. Besides, dropping an Angel in the late game is not a 6 turn clock vs Control or Combo, if you haven't drained your opponent's life total with Meddling Mages and Morphed Beat Down by the time you would play a "Late Game" Angel, your not playing the deck right.

So basically, you agree with the whole premise of my post...  EBA is more one dimensional than Hulk as it is forced to play beatdown.  You will steal your fair share of games with this deck because it plays so many powerful cards - but I think in a varied metagame, it would be optimal to have a deck which is flexible.  (especially if it doesn't have insane brokeness to fall back on, like long.dec had)

Even if what you say is true, and I think I disagreed with almost everything you said,

Huh?

[Zherbus]

Wow STP deals with a Shaman, Welder and Madness Creatures after the fact ... Damping Matrix makes sure they never contrinbute to the game.

STP is at least on par with the CC on Shaman and Welder and cheaper than most Madness critters. Matrix costs more which means in a perfect world, Matrix resolves later.

[BreathWeapon]

@Zherbus

A shaman will do its damage regardless of any answer in hand short of a Counterspell, while the Matrix should have equal speed against Welder roughly. Thats atleast my experience with the deck.

@Xrizzo
I assume you meen 2nd turn Meddling Mage?

Goblin Lackey has never been an issue for this deck, you can just chump block with a Mage or a Morphed Angel. The only way i'd ever sweat a Lackey is if my opponent went first and dropped the Lackey and I had no FoW in hand. Thats an incredibly narrow time period for Lackey to present a problem.

Yes, Damping Matrix stops Arrogant Wyrm, how do you get it into play with a Matrix on the table? As far as the speed factor of Angel vs Wyrm, Angel doesn't have to be as fast as the Wyrm. Once the Angel hits play it will immediately make up for 1 or 2 turns of lost time. Finding WW is almsot a non issue now, 5 Fetch Lands, 4 Tundra, 1 Plains and 2 City of Brass plus Lotus/Pearl gives all the W you need. Game 1, Damping Matrix is game vs Dragon. Game 2-3 just side them out for Plows, which are suboptimal MD material for EBA. Xantid Swarms aren't directly dealt with in EBA. You drop a Mage and name Trendrils or a Matrix to hold off Dragon. Each one of the deck's answers is intended to cover the weak spots of the others.

", and I think I disagreed with almost everything you said," is an indepedant clause in that sentence. Read it again, and ignore the text placed in between the commas. EBA has a 15 card side board to make it a more flexible deck. I can side almost anything I want to into this deck. Negators, Decrees, Plows, Balance, Wastelands, Stifles etc. Unlike HULK, EBA's MD has nothing to do with its SB. So, it "could be" significantly more flexible than HULK if it chooses to ommit hate.

Do I agree with the premise of your post? For the most part, yes. I simply don't think that one dimentional decks are invalidated in comparison to Tog simply because they are one dimentional.

[xrizzo]

A shaman will do its damage regardless of any answer in hand short of a Counterspell, while the Matrix should have equal speed against Welder roughly. Thats atleast my experience with the deck.

But the shaman comes out on turn 1, probably much earlier than the matrix - so it does its damage either way - stp or matrix, no?

I assume you meen 2nd turn Meddling Mage?

The mage would be 2nd / 3rd turn depending on whether you play or draw.  (if you wait for their 2nd land drop)

Do I agree with the premise of your post? For the most part, yes. I simply don't think that one dimentional decks are invalidated in comparison to Tog simply because they are one dimentional.

Fair enough.  EBA is fairly well diversified between aggro components and control comments card by card... but as a whole, the need to play the beatdown in some matchups just make the deck less versatile.  (now that point is beat into the ground)

[Arvid]

After some playtesting I have to share my thoughts with you, I'm quite sure at least one of you won't agree with me.

Removal
First, I felt that the theory saying no removal is needed since you've got angels, didn't quite work in practice. Secondly, in the non-aggro matchup being able to, for example, StP a welder was something I really missed. The angel isn't a clock fast enough against Control Slavery, anyway.

Draw
The deck really didn't have enough draw spells. Dropping a Meddling Mage naming Accumulated Knowledge or Thirst for Knowledge would be good, but then I want to name welder. Control Slavery has so much more card drawing that they almost always seemed to draw into that Fire/Ice for the Meddling Mage, and even though they only plays circa 2 Cunning Wish they drew so many cards that they always could wish for a Mogg Salvage for my Damping Matrix. For the moment I'm playtesting 4 Standstill with factories (could be DoJ).