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By: Lord Erman, Nafiz Erman
Aug 17 2010 1:04am
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ROGUE PLAY
Build Around Me
Part III

by Nafiz Erman

Hello dear readers and welcome back to Rogue Play. I couldn't be with you last week and I hope you missed me (you did, didn't you?). I couldn't write last week because it was a very busy week at work and... bah, who am I kidding; I couldn't write because I was at the beach! I was doing nothing! All I did was drinking, eating, swimming and sunbathing. I will not get into details because I don't want you to die out of jealousy! All I can say that it was a nice week, and I enjoyed spending some quality time with my family (and my parents as well) under the burning sun.

Speaking of the sun...

As you know dear readers, my subject for this week is the Titan of Sun; aka Sun Titan. Two weeks ago we had some very nice articles here on puremtgo about this card and all decks presented in those articles were very nice and creative. But those who realized the potential of this titan were not only us, the mere amateurs. Also the big pros of Magic saw the potential in this creature and started building very successful decks using it. And those decks were not only for Standard. No dear readers, I even saw Extended decks using it.

And in this article I will present you a potpourri of Sun Titan decks. I will show you some decks that those pros built and then I will show you the ones I did. Oh and believe me, there are really an insane amount of different ways to abuse this titan.

Shall we start?

 

OPTION #1 - White / Blue Control
Format: Standard

This version is known by almost everyone. It is already being played in Standard events and I have not much to say about it. I will, however, first show you the "netdeck" version that everybody plays. And then I will share with you what I came up with.

But first the netdeck:

 

This is the one version everyone knows. As I said above, I don't have anything new to say that hasn't been said already. It is officially a Tier-1 deck of Standard. But this below version might be a little bit more interesting; at least I do hope so.

White/Blue Titan Control
A Standard Constructed deck by Nafiz Erman
Creatures
4 Wall of Omens
3 Sun Titan
3 Sea Gate Oracle
10 cards

Other Spells
4 Jace Beleren
4 Mana Leak
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Courier's Capsule
3 Day of Judgment
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Condemn
2 Path to Exile
24 cards
 
Lands
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Scalding Tarn
5 Island
4 Plains
26 cards

Sun Titan

 

So this is what I came up with. And what are the differences? Well, there is actually one big difference and that is the fact that I built my version around Sun Titan whereas the netdeck version uses it only as another tool to win.

First of all I have Sea Gate Oracle in deck which is already a decent card on its own. Some readers may remember how useful Court Hussar was back in the day, and this one is simply his cute little brother. And him together with Sun Titan is just great. Secondly I use Courier's Capsule instead of Jace's Ingenuity and the reason is once again the mighty Sun Titan himself.

The rest looks almost identical. I copy/paste'd the netdeck's manabase and I'm very happy so far with it. I may have less counterspells which cause problems against some other decks, but I'm very satisfied so far with this deck.

I really don't have too many things to say about this version because, as I said above, everything has already been said about it. So I move onto the second option which is...

 

OPTION #2: White / Black Midrange
Format: Standard

This second option is a creation of mine and I'm very happy the way it works. You may of course ask why I prefer combining those two colors. What do they offer? Well dear readers, the options in this combination are far more deeper than you think. But instead of giving you the decklist right away, I will explain you each step one by one, so that everything makes sense at the end when you see the list.

Tidehollow ScullerTidehollow ScullerTidehollow ScullerTidehollow Sculler I start the deck with four Tidehollow Scullers. It's actually a fantastic card which sadly had its best days behind it. But I always had a soft spot for this card in me, and therefore I will start building the deck with it. Duress on legs can't be bad, right? Of course it is not, and it is especially useful if you can get your previously killed Tidehollow Sculler back. Well, that's what Sun Titan is for!
Wall of OmensWall of OmensWall of OmensWall of Omens Four Wall of Omens' and four Oblivion Rings are standard procedure for a Sun Titan deck. I can't see a reason why I shouldn't play them. Oblivion RingOblivion RingOblivion RingOblivion Ring

Four Fleshbag Marauders also go directly into the deck. I do know that Gatekeeper of Malakir is a better creature in terms of non-targeted removal, but that one costs  to cast which isn't that easy to pay nowadays in an enemy colored deck. And besides it's totally useless with Sun Titan. Fleshbag Marauder is what we need in this deck and Fleshbag Marauder it will be.

Fleshbag MarauderFleshbag MarauderFleshbag MarauderFleshbag Marauder
Vampire HexmageVampire HexmageVampire NighthawkVampire NighthawkVampire Nighthawk My next creatures in the deck are two Vampire Hexmages and three Vampire Nighthawks. Both can be resurrected with Sun Titan (obviously) and they both work well on their own. Hexmage kills planeswalkers and that's the main reason why I added it to the deck. And Vampire Nighthawk is an excellent blocker against almost all kinds of creatures.

And after adding my Sun Titans, the creature package of the deck is ready.

White/Black Midrange
An Under Construction Standard Deck by Nafiz Erman
Creatures
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Wall of Omens
4 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Sun Titan
3 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Vampire Hexmage
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Oblivion Ring
4 cards
 
Lands
0 cards

 
Tidehollow Sculler

 

The "Other Spells" part of the deck is mainly designed to fight aggressive creature heavy decks.  Control demands and deserves a special treatment and that I do with the sideboard.

As you see above, I have my four Oblivion Rings in the deck which allow me to deal with all kinds of nonland permanents. The rest actually looks like this:

White/Black Midrange
An Under Construction Standard Deck by Nafiz Erman
Creatures
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Wall of Omens
4 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Sun Titan
3 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Vampire Hexmage
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Day of Judgment
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Path to Exile
2 Executioner's Capsule
1 Crystal Ball
15 cards
 
Lands
0 cards

 
Tidehollow Sculler

 

I know I cannot get Elspeth, Knight-Errant back with my Sun Titan but that's not the point. She's in the deck because she simply wins games. 

The rest of the cards should be clear. I especially love my Executioner's Capsules. They deal with all kinds of creatures as long as they aren't black. And that "all kinds of creatures" include manlands, a hardcasted Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and even an Iona, Shield of Emeria set to Black. So yes, it's very useful.

After adding the lands and the sideboard, the deck looks like this:

 

Tectonic Edge together with Sun Titan is something everybody knows. But did you know dear readers how much fun a Gargoyle Castle is with Sun Titan? Really, you should try it for yourself.

Okay now a few words about the sideboard: War Priest of Thune, Duress, Black Knight and Crystal Ball all go in against  Control. The priest kills their Oblivion Rings which most of the time kill my own Oblivion Rings. Duress is Duress and Black Knight is a killer card against them. The only way to deal with it (other than countering it in the first place) for them is a Day of Judgment.

My lone Devout Lightcaster comes in against Jund to deal with those really problematic Sprouting Thrinaxes and Sarkhan the Mad. And finally Gideon Jura together with Day of Judgment come in against all sorts of Aggro.

So what do you think? Did you like it? Please do tell me in the comments section below. These days I just can't stop playing this deck and I want to hear/read what others think about it.

 

OPTION #3 - #4 - #5: Bant Surival - Naya Survival - Mythic Conscription
Format: Standard

The next three decks aren't actually decks that are build around Sun Titan but they all use Sun Titan effectively and therefore I think it's a good idea to list them here.

Let's start with Bant Survival which is actually built around another hot card of M11; the modern Survival of the Fittest on legs called Fauna Shaman. Here's the list:

 

Mr. Towers recently took this deck to a successful Top-8 finish in New Jersey which is just another proof of this deck's power. All it needs is a second turn Fauna Shaman and then you just sit and watch the deck play itself; marvelous!

I took this deck to a test drive and got some nice results. The deck definately does not fit into my play style but I witnessed the power of it. Fauna Shaman is really extraordinary if she's lucky enough to survive. I also saw the full power of Sun Titan in this deck. I played against an Esper deck and Sun Titan + Qasali Pridemage was really brutal! The titan was also good in resurrecting a dead Fauna Shaman which is the engine of this deck.

I later tweaked the deck a bit and removed Bant Charm and added a second Sun Titan. I also removed one Wall of Omens and that lone Eldrazi Conscription which is really and absolutely not needed in this deck, and added two Sea Gate Oracles. I have to say that my results were better after those changes.

The next Survival deck that uses Sun Titan is this one:

 

Of course I'm aware that just like the first Survival deck, this one too is build around Fauna Shaman and that Sun Titan is only "a single water drop in the ocean"; meaning it's nothing too special and that it is just another tool in the deck. But I'm listing those decks that use Sun Titan and therefore I wanted to add those two Survival decks to list too.

Anyway, if you're following big Magic events, then you know that this above deck recently won the Spanish nationals. I tested it a bit and saw how devastating it is to discard a Vengevine with Fauna Shaman to fetch a Bloodbraid Elf. That doesn't happen always, but when it does, it's just really brutal.

The next netdeck that uses Sun Titan is this one:

 

I have to admit that I like this deck a lot. As a matter of fact, I always liked this whole "Mythic Conscription" idea ever since it first became known as a Tier-1 deck. It is incredibly powerful and very fast. And to me, this is the best deck that can fully use the powers of Sun Titan. Actually I even wrote the same thing in my My Magic 2011, Part I article as well.

The above version I showed you plays only one copy of Sun Titan but I'm sure in time players will fully understand how valuable it is; I think that this will happen after Shards of Alara rotates out of Standard. 

After three netdecks (which weren't even build around Sun Titan), I want to move on to a home-made Sun Titan deck which is this one:

 

OPTION #6: Green / White Planewalkers Control
Format: Standard

Actually Green and White are very good together in Aggro decks but sometimes they can form deadly Control deck as well. Such as this time.

As you know, the Standard meta is full with planeswalkers. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is the main character in the show but almost all the others have some significant roles in it too. And this next deck is a good mix of a typical Sun Titan deck with a typical planeswalkers mana ramp deck.

What am I talking about?

Don't worry dear readers, I will cut to the chase this time. Here's the list:

 

"Brindle Boar?! Elvish Visionary?! What the heck is goin' on here?"

Don't worry dear readers, I'll explain everything.

First of all my goal with this deck is to control the game as much as I can, and then win with one of my win conditions. My planeswalkers are all win conditions on their own. Did you ever try Garruk Wildspeaker with Gideon Jura? One builds an army of 3/3's in no time and the other forces the opponent's creatures to attack blindly into that army of 3/3's! Incredible!

GG!
And no, GG doesn't mean Good Game. It means Garruk & Gideon!

But getting the game to that "serene" status isn't easy; especially not against fast decks. And that is why some early protection is needed. Wall of Omens is an auto four-of to the deck but it isn't enough on its own. I need to survive long enough to build my mana base and to draw my threats and that I do with my Khalni Garden, my Elvish Visionary and my Brindle Boar.


Modern day Bottle Gnomes.

Maybe you haven't noticed but Brindle Boar is the modern Bottle Gnomes. And it's even better than the gnomes. Four life is much better than three. And it's open to discussion whether 2/2 is better than 1/3 or not. I don't know which one is better, and I don't care about it right now. All I know is that Brindle Boar blocks a Vengevine and gives me four life and thus buys me time. And time is everything for a Control deck!

Actually time is indeed very important but there is one other thing that is very important too; card drawing. And just because I don't play Blue, I have to rely on other cards and colors to give me extra cards. And this is where cards like Wall of Omens, Elvish Visionary and Explore come in.

Wall of Omens and Elvish Visionary are giving me extra cards and provide protection. And Explore is mana and it also gives me a card. So as you see, even though Blue is the best color for card drawing, we can also live without it if we know where to look.

But of course the best part about those cards, especially the creatures, is that I can get them back with my Sun Titan. Obstinate Baloth surely is much better than Brindle Boar but the boar is better with Sun Titan and that's all I care with this deck.

And after getting the game to that serene status, winning is really very easy. My planeswalkers, Sun Titan, Stirring Wildwood, a X=8 Martial Coup all help me win the game. But sometimes even a 5/5 flying boar is enough to seal the deal!

The sideboard should be clear actually. Kor Firewalkers against RDW, Autumn's Veil and War Priest of Thune against  Control and extra Day of Judgments against Aggro. If I'm facing a Vengevine deck, then Relic of Progenitus comes in too.

So what do you think? I am very pleased the way the deck works so far but I would like to hear what you think about it as well.

 

OPTION #7: Red / White Control
Format: Standard

This next deck is very similar to the one above. It is another planeswalker control deck but this time Red replaces Green and thus Garruk Wildspeaker becomes Ajani Vengeant.

Ajani VengeantAjani VengeantAjani VengeantGideon Jura This is my planeswalker package. I use eight planeswalkers and three of them is Ajani Vengeant who is clearly the leader of the gang in this deck. I also have one more Gideon Jura in the sideboard to deal with Aggro decks. Elspeth, Knight-ErrantElspeth, Knight-ErrantChandra NalaarChandra Nalaar

My creatures in the deck are all re-usable with Sun Titan; Wall of Omens for protection, Pilgrim's Eye for mana fixing which is very important for an enemy colored deck, and then the well known Stoneforge Mystic-Cunning Sparkmage duo (along with Basilisk Collar of course) to deal with creatures of all sizes.

Normally decks have one problem which is refilling the hand; in other words card drawing. Wall of Omens is surely helping but it isn't sufficient alone. And this problem I solve with this:

Crystal Ball

I'm sure most of you dear readers had the opportunity to use Crystal Ball and so you know how useful it is. Arranging the top of the deck is very important. If you can't draw extra cards, then at least you should be able to control what you will draw next, and Crystal Ball ensures that you do exactly that.

And before I talk about my sideboard choices, I want to share with you the deck. Here it is:

 

As you see I have two Reverberates and two Ricochet Traps in the sideboard. Why not simply four of one of them? Because even though they look very similar in what they do, they are actually two different spells. Ricochet Trap can counter a Path to Exile for example whereas Reverberate just copies it. With Reverberate, that Path to Exile will still hurt you and you will lose a creature but at least you will get your revenge and exile an opposing creature too. With Ricochet Trap, however, your creature will stay on table and opponent's Baneslayer Angel will get exiled instead!

Also please do not forget that Reverberate only works with sorceries and instants whereas Ricochet Trap even counters a nasty Spreading Seas for a mere Red mana.

Okay, and does this deck work? My answer dear readers, is a "yes" as always.

Slaying vampires.
Fighting a  Megrim deck.
Chandra Nalaar is about to destroy an army of Kor flyers.

Satisfied? 

And now I move onto the final deck of the article which is an Extended deck.

 

OPTION #8: Bant Aggro
Format: Extended

And this is the final deck of the article. Sun Titan is not only excellent in Standard. No dear readers, it is even played in other formats such as Extended where the card pool is larger than Standard. One would think that a creature that costs can't be played outside of Standard but this next deck proves otherwise.

Oh and I have to tell you that it isn't a lone random copy of Sun Titan. No dear readers, this deck you're about to see plays a whole playset!

Check it out:

 

Well okay, two Sun Titans are in the sideboard but the deck as a whole has a playset.

I'm spending a lot of time playing the new Extended lately, and this kind of a Bant deck was one the decks I was working on. And then I saw this on the net and immediately started testing it. It isn't the best deck in the format surely but it is such a deadly one. If you are interested in the format and if you have the cards, you should really try this one. You know that I wouldn't suggested it to you if it wasn't worth suggesting.

 

CONCLUSION

Okay dear readers, another Rogue Play is about to end and I hope you found it useful. Sun Titan is already played in Tier-1 decks but most of the time you see it in  Control ones. I hope this article was enough to convince you that it can be played in tons of other decks effectively.

And I didn't even listed all the possibilities with it in Tribal Wars and BYOS and some other casual formats. Because that list would have been an almost endless one!

 

NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
Extending Extended

The fact that I ended the article with an Extended deck was no coincidence dear readers. I wanted to warm you up a bit for what is about to come next week. And what is next week's Rogue Play all about? Well, it is all about the new Extended of course! We will talk about everything there is to talk about the format and look at some Tier-1 decks of it. I know that some of you stay away from this new format (and yes it is a new format), and I do hope that next week's article will change that.

Thanks for reading.

See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman

12 Comments

Nice article LE, I really by Splendid Belt at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 04:17
Splendid Belt's picture

Nice article LE, I really want some copies of Sun Titan now. Whilst I've never tried it, I'm pretty sure Executioner's Capsule doesn't get rid of Emrakul. The only non-sweeper to do that (as far as I know) is Brittle Effigy.

Emrakul says colored spells. by Paul Leicht at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 04:46
Paul Leicht's picture

Emrakul says colored spells. Executioner's is not a spell but a permanent. Also effective: Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, etc.

Really? Sounds by Splendid Belt at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 05:56
Splendid Belt's picture

Really? Sounds counter-intuitive to me. I've never tried those cards against it, will have to check it out. That means Emrakul's nowhere near as good as I'd thought...

I love that G/W control deck. by Kidsoldja at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 08:01
Kidsoldja's picture

I love that G/W control deck. Very nice indeed though i personally would try to find a spot for Momentous fall in that deck for the card advantage and the heal. Imagine blocking a Vengevine with a brindle boar, gaining 4 life then using momentous on the boar, gaining another 2 life then drawing two cards, could b very usefull.

The B/W Deck looks by radiant at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 10:44
radiant's picture

The B/W Deck looks wonderfull, i would probably add Abyssal persecutor (Wich i think is very underplayed, its a card you really don't want to see on the other side of the table), i'd prefer Malakir bloodwich against control than the blac knight, i know its cheaper, and a posible target for sun titan but it doesn't stop a baneslayer angel like a Bloodwich does (Most times they'll just stare at each other), and finaly i'd prefer celestial purge over devout lightcaster in side, its a lot stronger against jund and RDW, and easier to cast in a 2 color deck

The R/W looks cool too, i'd use exploration map instead of pilgrim's eye but thats just me

Great article by the way =) keep it up

Great Article by Sirskills at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 10:56
Sirskills's picture
5

I was looking to make an article like this this week, but I think I will go in another direction now. I don't have any Elseth's which hurt, but since they will be rotating shortly I will pick them up later. I have many similar decks running a single or double Sun Titan and they are extremely effective card advantage engines. Bringing back tectonic edge over and over is just plain mean too.

i like the BW deck, Grave by speks at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 13:14
speks's picture

i like the BW deck, Grave Titan seems like at least equally as good if not better than Sun Titan, maybe try out some grave titans over elspeth.

I enjoyed this, those all by Westane at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 13:42
Westane's picture
5

I enjoyed this, those all looked like very fun decks, especially the BW one. I regret never getting the chance to play with Noble Hierarch or Knight of the Reliquary in Stnadard, but I'm hoping the price will drop enough to let me play Bant in Extended after October.

Also, I just noticed we both use the same avatar on MTGO. That makes us BFF...F's.

Thanks everybody for the by Lord Erman at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 14:37
Lord Erman's picture

Thanks everybody for the comments. I do hope that I was successful in showing a few new ways to enjoy Sun Titan.

A few things:

@Splendid Belt: Yes, Emrakul can be destroyed with Executioner's Capsule.

@Kidsoldja: Momentous Fall is a nice card especially with Garruk's tokens. But the question is this: What to cut?

@radiant: I prefer Pilgrim's Eye because it also provides protection. And the fact that it's colorless is very important too.

@Westane: If you are also using the Ertai avatar, then you are a boring Blue mage just like me! And don't argue. Only boring Blue mages use the Ertai avatar. Especially the ones with a cat on their head.

@speks: Grave Titan surely is an option but it is easier to get rid of than Elspeth. And besides, I always liked playing Elspeth. She's simply awesome.

@Sirskills: Tectonic Edge with Sun Titan really is mean. Just check the screenshot above against WU Control. My opponent eventually found a way to exile my titan, but the damage was already done. Check his manabase!

Thanks again everybody for the comments.

LE

fantastic stuff as always, I by JustSin at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 16:54
JustSin's picture
5

fantastic stuff as always, I really love the BW and RW lists (though I'd probably rework the sideboard in the BW), makes me wish I had the cards to fill out the lists and give them a run

Nice article by tdoggy1 at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 20:31
tdoggy1's picture
4

Thanks for another good article

The deck I was thinking of was a UWG ramp beleren/sun titan deck using birds and hierarchs to put out a turn 2 jace. Use him to draw 3 cards and put out sun titan on turn 4 to put him straight back out. If it works you would have drawn 5 extra cards by turn 4! I'm not sure what to use as a finisher, maybe elspeth? Do you think this is viable?

I really like the decks you by darthibanezowner at Tue, 08/17/2010 - 21:25
darthibanezowner's picture
5

I really like the decks you have presented. I too have been playing the Naya Shaman deck with one copy of Sun Titan and it is superb. Inferno Titan fits in that deck as well. If you can equip a Collar on it, your opponents have no more creatures.

I look forward to trying some of these out!