ZoaBlu Boogaloo

[Ten-Ten]

Greetings!
What I have here is a monoblue control/aggro deck.
list then I will explain card choices.

maindeck:

creatures:10
1 blightsteel colossus
3 master of etherium
4 esperzoa
2 phyrexian revoker

draw:7
1 gush
1 brainstorm
1 ponder
4 thoughtcast

tutors:2
1 mystical tutor
1 tinker

disruption:18
4 chalice of the void
1 pithing needle
4 force of will
3 mana leak
3 counterspell
2 mindbreak trap
1 echoing truth

mana:23

artifact:6
2 mox opal
1 chrome mox
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt
1 sapphire medallion

land:17
3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
1 tolarian academy
1 stripmine
1 wasteland
9 island

sideboard:15
4 annul
4 null rod
4 propaganda
1 echoing truth
1 sower of temptation
1 hurkyl's recall
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Alright, so, I wanted to play a budget deck capable of going head to head with the big boys..and use a card I have been wanting to play for a while.
Thats right I'm talking 'bout Esperzoa/Master of etherium. The deck is pretty straight forward really, counter or disable any threats and lay the smackdown!

Thoughtcast/Gush: cheap draw, 'nuff said
Phyrexian revoker: Against steel hellkite, Karn,Qasali pridemage and Planeswalkers. Love this against the Turbo Tezz lists going around also.
Chalice of the void: for the powered decks and great against tinker/bot.
stripmine/wasteland: for annoying lands Revoker cant touch.
Tinker/bot: fish decks hate it. not sure if it should be Inky though.
minbreak trap: Great against gush.dec and anything trying to outrace you or trying to play around your counters.
Pithing needle: answers all things from Bazaar to welder and anything random like Seal of primordium.
Sapphire medallion: speeds up the deck quite significantly.

Sideboard:
this is where I need the most help.
I have the Propaganda there for aggro and Dredge.
I'm not sure if I need Null rod here or if this should replace chalice in the main.
Annul takes care of Oath and Shop decks as well as seals and other troublesome enchantments like necro and Yawg;s Bargain. Question is do I not have enough counters/Needle effects main to handle this already?
Echoing truth,Sower and Hurkyl's recall are the only ones Im sure of.

I been short on time and players willing to test so, Testing has been limited to mostly aggro which is why I havent really figured out the correct formula for my SB.
 I would really like feedback from people that have more experience playing chalice/null rod decks against tier1 decks.
All help and feedback will be greatly appreciated.

[Dr.KnowMaD]

I used Tangle Wire with esperzoa before.  Having someone tap four every turn and you nothing is good.  I did have a bit more mana production, but it can still be budgeted somehow. (mana vault!!)  There is also a creature that makes your stuff cheap. 

Ghost Quarter is a budget land that could help.

The needle effects are really good with zoa. 

Spell Pierce is another card to consider.  Annul seems too situational.

Sorry if that doesn't help, lates.

DrKnowMaD

[serracollector]

Drop Gush for Merchant Scroll, which can find you a counter, or a Mystical, or a Brainstorm.

I would drop the 3 counterspells for mana drains, not sure if you got them, if u did I would imagine you would be using them.

Mana Vault should be somewhere in your 75, with esperzoa its a free dark ritual every turn.

I noticed no seat of synod.  Afraid of waste or null rod or both?  Otherwise should be a 2-4 of, really helps power out thoughtcasts.

Your tinkerbot should be Myr battlesphere.  It pumps Master, makes a bunc of 2/2 tokens, and makes Thoughtcast 1 mana.

If you play with Drains and Mana Vault, don't be scared to have 2 Myr Battlesphere maindeck.  With drains and mana vault its actually easy to cast.

I like the deck good luck with it.

Also instead of Sapphire Medallion you could play Etherium Sculptor, does the same thing pretty much and swings for 2 with a Master in play.

[Ten-Ten]

I used Tangle Wire with esperzoa before.  Having someone tap four every turn and you nothing is good.  I did have a bit more mana production, but it can still be budgeted somehow. (mana vault!!)  There is also a creature that makes your stuff cheap. 

Ghost Quarter is a budget land that could help.

The needle effects are really good with zoa. 

Spell Pierce is another card to consider.  Annul seems too situational.

Sorry if that doesn't help, lates.

DrKnowMaD

-I like the tangle idea. would try it out. What would I be taking out? How would it be more consistent than the disruption I have now?
how about Vault/key instead?

-Ghost quarter is nice against decks that pack City of Brass, Shops or Bazaar. Against everything else though it hurts me more than it would help.

-Spell pierce is good but not great. I would probably splash black for thoughtseize before going back to spell pierce. IDK yet.

Drop Gush for Merchant Scroll, which can find you a counter, or a Mystical, or a Brainstorm.

I would drop the 3 counterspells for mana drains, not sure if you got them, if u did I would imagine you would be using them.

Mana Vault should be somewhere in your 75, with esperzoa its a free dark ritual every turn.

I noticed no seat of synod.  Afraid of waste or null rod or both?  Otherwise should be a 2-4 of, really helps power out thoughtcasts.

Your tinkerbot should be Myr battlesphere.  It pumps Master, makes a bunc of 2/2 tokens, and makes Thoughtcast 1 mana.

If you play with Drains and Mana Vault, don't be scared to have 2 Myr Battlesphere maindeck.  With drains and mana vault its actually easy to cast.

I like the deck good luck with it.

Also instead of Sapphire Medallion you could play Etherium Sculptor, does the same thing pretty much and swings for 2 with a Master in play.

-Gush just seems better than MS. More like instant speed thoughtcast#5. I havent had a problem with getting a counter in hand..yet.
 
-Drains make sense. I do not have Drains and I try not to play proxies if I can help it but would definitely do so in a tourny that allowed them. They were on my mind the whole time building this deck. Plays out smoother with them.

-Mana vault was in but didnt remember if it was that or chrome mox because at some point I ran both.

-Seat of the Synod is not in for that exact reason: null rod,wasteland and Ancient grudge. but one won't hurt seeing how many basics I am running.
 
-Blightsteel went in based on speed alone. I thought of Inky and Sundering Titan but forgot about Myr Deathstar. Makes sense since Jace,TMS won't answer him as easily as he would BSC. Any thoughts on Sundering Titan in the Sideboard?

-Etherium sculpter would have gone in but seems bad as a one-of. Sapphire medallion allows me to drop a Master of Etherium/Esperzoa and keep up mana for Mana leak or echoing truth in cases where I either don't have a Mox in hand  or can't accelerate due to a chalice or rod in play.

Here's what a non-budget version would look like:
*=proxy

main:
1 black lotus*
1 mox sapphire*
2 mox opal
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 sol ring

3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
1 tolarian academy
1 seat of the synod
1 strip mine
4 wasteland*(3)
5 island

1 echoing truth
1 time walk*
4 mana drain*
4 force of will
1 pithing needle
4 chalice of the void
1 timevault
1 voltaic key

1 tinker
1 mystical tutor

1 ponder
1 brainstorm
1 Ancestral recall*
4 thoughtcast

2 phyrexian revoker
3 master of etherium
4 esperzoa
1 myr battlesphere
.
.
.
SB:?

Also, would a white splash for enlightened tutor, swords to plowshares and Ethersworn canonist improve the budget deck?

I appreciate the replies. Keep 'em comin' 

[TinkerRobot]

How often are you able to achieve metalcraft with Mox Opal when you have it in your opening grip? For a deck that doesn't need the color fixing and doesn't have the original moxen available to power it out turn one, it strikes me as an odd inclusion.

[Purple Hat]

If you're staying mono blue back to basics might be a valuable disruption piece as well.

If you added black new tezz might be good here.

[madmanmike25]

I used Tangle Wire with esperzoa before.  Having someone tap four every turn and you nothing is good.

The problem is that Tangle Wire still goes on the stack during your upkeep.  So you would still have to  tap three permanents (if you stack correctly) regardless if it is bounced due to Esperzoa.  Btw, it's still nice synergy since it can replenish Tangles with 1-2 counters.

It may not be good enough but Esperzoa and Ichor Wellspring could be fun.

When I tried blueartifact.dec it was amazing how fat Master of Etherium got, is there any reason you only run 3?  I would prefer more creatures such as 4 Revokers that can also be bounced by Esperzoa if a better target comes along.

Good luck!

[Dr.KnowMaD]

I used Tangle Wire with esperzoa before.  Having someone tap four every turn and you nothing is good.

The problem is that Tangle Wire still goes on the stack during your upkeep.  So you would still have to  tap three permanents (if you stack correctly) regardless if it is bounced due to Esperzoa.  Btw, it's still nice synergy since it can replenish Tangles with 1-2 counters.

That makes sense, so stack zoa, wire, tap down three and bounce one of the tapped?

So is this budget or proxy?  If proxy I wouldn't have opal. 

I don't like playing with bad kids, it makes me bad
lates, DrKnowMaD

[serracollector]

Back to basics would be better than Sundering Titan by far in this deck, since you run neither shops or power to bust it out early (sans tinker).

Etherium Sculptor makes epserzoa and Master 1 cheaper just like Sapphire does, it also raises affinity count for Thoughtcast, and it makes Myr battlesphere cheaper, not to mention making Mana Vault and Sol Ring free.  Sapphire medallion doesn't make anything free.  I would still run Sculptor over Sapphire Medallion personally, as its an additinal threat, and a good one with 2-3 masters in play.

As I said earlier, if your running 4 x Mana Drain (proxy or not), and your running mana vault/crypt/sol ring, and esperzoa, then you should def try 2 Myr Battlesphere.

If you decide to go two colors, then I suggest this:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=42083.0

I promise Myr Battlsphere is tech.

Best of luck.

[Ten-Ten]

How often are you able to achieve metalcraft with Mox Opal when you have it in your opening grip? For a deck that doesn't need the color fixing and doesn't have the original moxen available to power it out turn one, it strikes me as an odd inclusion.

Well, it hasn't proved difficult (yet)  since you also have chalice,crypt,sol ring, needle and revoker main but I see what you mean.

Etherium Sculptor makes epserzoa and Master 1 cheaper just like Sapphire does, it also raises affinity count for Thoughtcast, and it makes Myr battlesphere cheaper, not to mention making Mana Vault and Sol Ring free.  Sapphire medallion doesn't make anything free.  I would still run Sculptor over Sapphire Medallion personally, as its an additinal threat, and a good one with 2-3 masters in play.

Already working on a new list to include etherium sculptor & myr battlesphere. Will test and post results later on.
Thank you for the link.

 

So is this budget or proxy?  If proxy I wouldn't have opal.

I apologize for the confusion. I started out with a budget list but later composed a list including power to get the feel of the deck if I were to proxy some power. I wasn't sure about off-color mox so i kept opal. Nothings set in stone or tested extensively just yet so, I have ways to go. Thank you for your help and feedback.


@madmanmike25:
ichor wellspring was a thought as a 2-of in the beginning.
More creatures seems to be the correct route so i'm working on including the 4th Master of Etherium and two more Revokers somewhere in the 75 along with Etherium sculptor. 

@Purple Hat:
already got my hands on two Back to basics and working on including them as part of the disruption package.
The new Tezz I like and already working on getting my hands on a set of 'em. Though not sure if he would be best in this deck  just yet.  it would open me up to wasteland and back to basics would hurt me. I would probably re-build the deck to focus on Tezz 2.0 if I were to include him  or splash black...a big *if* though

Great stuff! lovin' the feedback.   
 

[Purple Hat]

I think ponder should be top, especially if you go with etherium sculptor.  Also, how reliably are you able to get vault/key together?  with only 1 tutor for the combo I could see that being pretty random.  You might be better off just making them creatures or back to basics. 

[Ten-Ten]

I think ponder should be top, especially if you go with etherium sculptor.  Also, how reliably are you able to get vault/key together?  with only 1 tutor for the combo I could see that being pretty random.  You might be better off just making them creatures or back to basics. 

I was looking at the SDTop as well since null rods are in the board anyway. Couldn't figure out the right numbers though. 1-3?
Vault/key was last minute. Don't forget tinker can get either piece and we have draw in there instead of tutors. Another reason why I thought of splashing black was for the tutors; if I decided to go with Tezz 2.0 and Vault/key.
So far though, I am keeping it mono-blue with back to basics replacing Vault/Key.

Rebuilding will commence as soon as I get the time away from work in the next few days.