Erayo Control (not SS)

[MirariKnight]

So I tried playing Sullivan Solution for quite a while and I love the deck for the most part, but the problem is that while it does have good matchups against a lot of things, It pretty much scoops to creatures. After playing it I realized how good Erayo can be, and tried to make a control deck from there. I thought that Affinity might be a good place to start, but try to build it as a more controlling version that while it doesn't "combo" with Ravager, it doesn't scoop to Kataki either. I knew I was in blue for Erayo and I thought that the strongest other color is black, it gets you Demonic and Vamp, Duress, and YawgWill. I'm still unsure of using any of these cards but YawgWill might prove too good not to use, although I dropped black. I also toyed around with the possibility of a secondary storm kill with Tendrils. As far as blue goes, Drain fits perfectly in this deck. The deck should also allow you to drop a threat/Erayo and still leave Drain mana up, which is quite good as we know.

This is what I came up with:
Erayo Control v1.0

Mana: 21
8 SoLoMoxenCrypt
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Lotus Petal
7 Island


Creatures: 12
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
3 Erayo
1 Darksteel Colosssus

Control:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Chalice of The Void
2 Misdirection
1 Echoing Truth

Draw:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Thoughtcast
3 Thirst for Knowledge (I'll explain later)
1 Timeswister
1 Fact or Fiction

Win: 1
1 Tinker
1 Mind's Desire

I didnt start a sideboard yet but it should begin something like this:
Tormod's Crypt
Engineered Explosives
Echoing Truth (I want one main deck)
etc.


Explanations:
Mana:
No fetches needed because its one color, no brainstorm. The thinning is insignificant (I'm sure this has been done before)
I wanted to have Strips/Wastes but I didnt see a place to put them, but if I did find room I'd love to add a few Crucibles as well. That would be quite a lock, especially with Erayo as well. No Shops/Tombs because well, this deck needs it's blue mana. There isnt even that much to drop off a shop.

Creatues:
Frogmite? Doesn't he suck. I'd have to agree but there is simply nothing that sucks less in his place that I could think of. Please suggest away (Factory? It doesn't help with Erayo though). Enforcer on the other hand is probably just past the borderline of good enough. I do like being able to drop either of them and still leave Counter mana up though. Even considering how cool Erayo is in here I'm not sure he deserves 4 spots just because he is legendary.

Control:
Chalce is really nice in this deck. Chalice at 0 isn't too horrible to drop sometimes, Chalice at 1 is nice (it only hits Ancestral and Sol Ring), and it can be dropped at 2 if need be.
Other stuff is pretty standard.

Drawing and such:
Hand dumping is to affinity as first turn triple counter backup kills are to Flash, so a lot of draw is needed, especially for a more control deck. I know my choices are pretty weird, but I'll explain. Thoughtcast isn't as bad as it would seem. It's often "Sorcery - U, Draw 2 cards." Rush of Knowledge is sick, and it's not that hard to cast. Even with just a Frog out its pretty sick. I Know I will be answering why I dont have Thirst in here, but I just dont like the card. I have no use for the graveyard here unlike CS and I for less mana with Thoughtcast you get the same deal, and Rush for 2 more mana can be gamebreaking CA. I know it's probably a bad idea to not use Thirst, especially since it's instant, but as os now this works quite well.

Once I cut black I realized that Mind's Desire is really just about the same as Tendrils wins. It flips Eyaro (win more I know) but it is a nice secondary condition. Might be a bad idea.

Let me know what you think, good or bad.

BTW I really want to do matchups and such but I don't have anyone to playtest with
If anyone wanted to test do serious testing on MWS or something let me know.

[Implacable]

I really, really like the concept of this deck.  Abusing Erayo is an inherently powerful strategy, and the cards that you have around him both compliment and fuel his brokenness.  I haven't tested this list (yet), so I obviously can't say that this deck is viable or meta-breaking, but the principle is sound.  That being said, I would definitely trade Leaks for Misdirections and Rushes for Thirsts.  Misdirection gives you Turn 0 interaction, something that is more important than it has every been in today's Vintage metagame.  While I read your argument for Rush over Thirst, I simply believe that five mana is too much to pay, and that Thirst smooths out your deck very well.  Finally, I'd cut the Desire for an Echoing Truth (I can't see Desire in a deck with 10 counterspells) and make sure to have Leyline of Singularity in the sideboard (it stops Flash and Ichorid nicely).

[MirariKnight]

I'd have to agree with you I pretty much just theorized the list as I don't have anyone to play with. My "testing" is pretty much based on goldfishing it, which I know doesn't help too much. But after doing it alot, I  agree with the Thirst vs. Rush. Rush was just a card that I always wanted to be good, and Thirst is a card which I hate, but it didn't work out, so I'm going to switch it up. Misdirection was something I was contemplating as well, and I think I will try it out. I'm not sure if Leak is the best option but I'm also not sure if MisD is the best option either because sometimes I found that I didn't even have enough to pitch to force despite running 24 blue cards. I think the problem lies in the sorcery speed drawing and drawing into artifacts, which maybe Thirst would solve. I tried Mind's Desire because I wanted to see how storm worked in this deck because it is designed to drop a lot of spells at once. I never wound up casting it though. So that will come out. The other switch I've made is I've taken out Library of Alexandria. This deck LOVES to cast drain and I needed a little more blue. I also never had enough cards in hand except post Twister.

Edit: This may seem trivial but Thirst also has the added benefit of getting Colossus back into the library from your hand since I don't run Brainstorm.

[squeegee]

Ok, this is just my opinion, but I think that every control deck should run LoA.  It just wins games.  I play Bomberman, and in any control matchup I have played, the player who gets Library wins 90% of the time.

If you really don't want to run it that's up to you, but I think it is a must play.