This deck got me to Master from Diamond yesterday after some tinkering. I was complaining about how many of these current meta decks have one or two 'best cards' or 'most important cards' and it was pointed out to me that
Rain of Frogs is the solution to that. So here's your average Temporal Control list, but with two (i feel) important changes that make the deck good.
One -
Find the Way. This is crucial. I was finding that the 7 merchants were frequently having to trade out cards I wanted, and I always needed more power. Originally the list played 4
Seek Power but I feel this is optimal.
Two -
Rain of Frogs. This is the card that makes this deck so good right now in my opinion. All of the decks my other, greedy decks were losing to lose to this. Originally, I tried one in the market but I found I grabbed it almost every game and still wanted more. Here's a list of typical silver bullet targets:
Grenadins:
Stonescar Scrapper or
Scraptank
If you get one, good. If you get both, they usually just concede.
Jund:
Display of Ambition, then
Regent's Tomb or
Red Canyon Smuggler
Display of Ambition is how you lose this matchup. If you grab it, then all Jund is is a pile of big guys and some sites.
Dizo's Office doesn't matter much (we don't really play units and the unit it makes isn't very relevant), however
Regent's Tomb is essential to remove.
Elias, the Broken Wing is very difficult for us to beat if they don't lose the Displays. and it's hard for us to kill a site that comes down so early. Additionally, it's good for discarding your draw spells early if you're draw light.
Red Canyon Smuggler is so they can't grab
Bore, as our win condition is essentially two relics.
Reanimator:
Grasping at Shadows, then
Vara, Fate-Touched, then
Azindel, Revealed
This matchup actually isn't that difficult. You can just wait until they do their big reanimate turn and then
Harsh Rule. However, removing their reanimation spell in the first place is good too. Then, grabbing Vara is good since they can still play her later, then Azindel since they can't even cast him now. Additionally, we play
Lumen Reclaimer in the market to stop this too.
Any aggro deck: Doesn't really matter.
These matchups I felt I won pretty often due to all the early removal, but getting rid of anything in the top end is usually good.
Peaks:
Display of Instinct or
Heart of the Vault or Xo fo the Endless Hoard
You want to strip them of card draw and counters. Peak doesn't matter much when there's nothing good to copy or kill, and we can just wrath until there's nothing left.
I'd love to answer any questions about this deck as it is my favorite right now, and I'll be posting updates if I find any good changes.
Defiance
x3
1
Seek Power
x2
2
Find the Way
x3
2
Strategize
x4
2
Vanquish
x3
3
Auralian Merchant
x4
3
Great Valley Smuggler
x3
3
Hailstorm
x3
3
Scorpion Wasp
x2
3
Wisdom of the Elders
x4
4
Rain of Frogs
x3
4
The Great Parliament
x3
5
Harsh Rule
x3
6
Brilliant Idea
x3
6
End of the Story
x3
6
Minotaur Ambassador
x3
8
Sword of the Sky King
x1
Justice Sigil
x4
Primal Sigil
x2
Time Sigil
x4
Cobalt Waystone
x3
Crest of Order
x4
Crest of Progress
x4
Crest of Wisdom
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
1. Why Reclaimer? Instead of something more useful.
2. No Marshals?
3. Are Ambassadors really good here?
4. How about one Chains in main deck?
5. And main question - which is win condition? Parliament only? Cause one sword seems too little for solid wincon.
2. Marshal could be good here, but it sort of hurts playing a good unit when you play so many board wipes. Additionally, this is just a feeling I have of the meta, but there's so much easy removal right now it hurts putting a lot of resources into one big unit with no protection.
3. I actually have been testing removing the Ambassadors, or moving them to one in the market. Right now, they're sort of an easy way of ramping and later double triggering Pit. However, I was finding them to be a very dead draw later in the game, usually not even hitting a sigil (due to the find the ways). It's very possible they should be coming out of the deck for some other ramp.
4. I'm actually testing Chains in the main right now, if it ends up feeling better than an ambassador (it feels like it is) then I'll update the deck, but yes, a chains in the main is something you could play.
5. The main way to win is actually sort of a reversal of a typical win con. We have parliaments, the pit, and the sword, but I find the way this deck usually wins is actually by frogging all the opponents' win cons. From there, you can just kill everything they play until they're out of threats. Most decks don't have more than one way to kill a relic, and usually they will get Temporal first. Then, they don't have any way to get the Pit. I don't think I ever played a game where I thought "Oh look, I'm literally out of win cons." The Reclaimer helps with this too, buying all your draw spells and win cons back later in the game.
And can I add you in the game?
I guess you'd have to ask: What purpose does Stronghold Visage serve (that's the card)?
And can I add you?
I don't know if Visage is good in this deck. You only play one weapon so the armor isn't extremely relevant. If you get to turn 5 and have time to play a relic, you probably are already winning. If you're dying and need the health effectively +2 health a turn probably won't be enough.