Magic: The Gathering Thread XIV: Instant Annoying, Just Add Hexproof

[Lord Seth]

This is just theoretical/for PBP, but any thoughts on this Modern deck? (It's a bit over 60, but I'm not sure what to take out)

Spoiler

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Forest x18
Mounain x10
Eldrazi Temple x4
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn x2
Spawnsire of Ulamog x2
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth x2
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre x2
Ulamog's Crusher x2
Awakening Zone x4
It That Betrays x2
Emrakul's Hatcher x2
Kozilek's Predator x2
Nest Invader x3
Artisan of Kozilek x2
Primal Growth x4
Rampant Growth x4

You've got a lot of high-casting-cost spells in here and not really much of a way to cast them. I ran the deck through several simulations and constantly found myself drawing spells that cost a lot of mana without any way to get the mana to cast them. And when I did get the mana, it took so long that I'd be dead by the time I got anything useful into play. Also, Primal Growth isn't legal in Modern.

You need to lower the amount of the expensive stuff and increase the amount of ramp. The "elite" Eldrazi in particular don't need to be more than a 1-of. There should definitely be an Eye of Ugin in this deck.

Though in general I think the problem the deck is going to run into even with those improvements is that Urzatron just does everything it's trying to do while doing it faster, more efficiently, and through more disruption.

[dragonsamurai77]

You've got a lot of high-casting-cost spells in here and not really much of a way to cast them. I ran the deck through several simulations and constantly found myself drawing spells that cost a lot of mana without any way to get the mana to cast them. And when I did get the mana, it took so long that I'd be dead by the time I got anything useful into play. Also, Primal Growth isn't legal in Modern.

You need to lower the amount of the expensive stuff and increase the amount of ramp. The "elite" Eldrazi in particular don't need to be more than a 1-of. There should definitely be an Eye of Ugin in this deck.

Though in general I think the problem the deck is going to run into even with those improvements is that Urzatron just does everything it's trying to do while doing it faster, more efficiently, and through more disruption.

Still stuck at 65, maybe get rid of the Predators and Nest Invaders?

Spoiler

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Forest x24
Eldrazi Temple x4
Eye of Ugin x2
Urza's Tower x4
Urza's Factory x4
Urza's Mine x4
Llanowar Elves x4
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn x1
Spawnsire of Ulamog x2
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth x1
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre x1
Ulamog's Crusher x2
It That Betrays x1
Kozilek's Predator x2
Nest Invader x3
Artisan of Kozilek x2
Sylvan Scrying x4

[Forrestfire]

Well, if it's modern, why not drop half of your lands for 4 each of Urza's Tower, Urza's Mine, and Urza's Power Plant, as well as dropping some stuff for Sylvan Scrying?

[dragonsamurai77]

Well, if it's modern, why not drop half of your lands for 4 each of Urza's Tower, Urza's Mine, and Urza's Power Plant, as well as dropping some stuff for Sylvan Scrying?

Added the Urza's, but why Scrying when Rampant Growth is legal because Rampant Growth only gets basic lands. Changed.

[tgva8889]

So, I was thinking about building a no rares cube to draft at college (I already have the sleeves, and a fair number of decent card choices for it). An issue that's come up, though, is Aside from Savage Twister, are there any other mass removal spells at uncommon-common level?

Infest and variants, Pyroclasm and variants in Black and Red respectively. Beyond that no mass removal, but you do have access to cards like Sleep which don't care. But no, no actual Wrath of God that I can think of. It would be a nightmare for Limited. (Infest and Pyroclasm are already pretty good in most Limited formats.)

[Forrestfire]

Added the Urza's, but why Scrying when Rampant Growth is legal because Rampant Growth only gets basic lands. Changed.

It may not be the exact deck you want, but it may be a good idea to draw inspiration from current Modern Tron lists.

[Togath]

Infest and variants, Pyroclasm and variants in Black and Red respectively. Beyond that no mass removal, but you do have access to cards like Sleep which don't care. But no, no actual Wrath of God that I can think of. It would be a nightmare for Limited. (Infest and Pyroclasm are already pretty good in most Limited formats.)

In the most recent block, some of the red or R/U can deal enough damage with their secondary cost to nearly reach automatic clear levels, though they have a high enough cost that they probably aren't too much of a problem.

Also, should I work on getting 20 of each land type?, I found a gaming shop near where I live that sells land cards at 10 cents each, and have so far gotten a few plains to go with the white/blue deck I was planning to try(or at least I think it's a deck thingy, it's the Return to Ravinica blue/white "guild pack/box[can't remember the exact term used]" whatever a guild pack/box is), as well as a few other colours to decent numbers(forest is about 18, swamp about 22, mountain about 10, and plains at about 10 as well)

[Lord Seth]

Still stuck at 65, maybe get rid of the Predators and Nest Invaders?

Spoiler

Show

Forest x24
Eldrazi Temple x4
Eye of Ugin x2
Urza's Tower x4
Urza's Factory x4
Urza's Mine x4
Llanowar Elves x4
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn x1
Spawnsire of Ulamog x2
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth x1
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre x1
Ulamog's Crusher x2
It That Betrays x1
Kozilek's Predator x2
Nest Invader x3
Artisan of Kozilek x2
Sylvan Scrying x4

First, drop to 1 Eye of Ugin. All the Eldrazi Urzatron decks I see that play it have it as a 1-of. It's great in the deck, but it's not good enough to worry about drawing multiple ones and having a dead card. Second, you should be bringing in some Ancient Stirrings. It interfaces perfectly with the deck, as it can get you Urza lands or Eldrazi when you need them.

As for what to get rid of, what really should be gotten rid of first is some lands. You currently have 42 lands in the deck. That's...a lot, even considering the fact you have 65 cards in the deck. There's a deck called Lands in Legacy, called that because...well, the deck is mostly Lands (see an example here), and even that deck has a lower percentage of lands than your deck currently does.

I'd absolutely recommend dropping 8 Forests, 1 Eye of Ugin, and adding in 4 Ancient Stirrings. That will both bring your deck down to 60 cards and will also aid in lowering the way too high percentage of land in the deck.

EDIT: Also, Explore seems perfect for this deck.

[dragonsamurai77]

First, drop to 1 Eye of Ugin. All the Eldrazi Urzatron decks I see that play it have it as a 1-of. It's great in the deck, but it's not good enough to worry about drawing multiple ones and having a dead card. Second, you should be bringing in some Ancient Stirrings. It interfaces perfectly with the deck, as it can get you Urza lands or Eldrazi when you need them.

As for what to get rid of, what really should be gotten rid of first is some lands. You currently have 42 lands in the deck. That's...a lot, even considering the fact you have 65 cards in the deck. There's a deck called Lands in Legacy, called that because...well, the deck is mostly Lands (see an example here), and even that deck has a lower percentage of lands than your deck currently does.

I'd absolutely recommend dropping 8 Forests, 1 Eye of Ugin, and adding in 4 Ancient Stirrings. That will both bring your deck down to 60 cards and will also aid in lowering the way too high percentage of land in the deck.

EDIT: Also, Explore seems perfect for this deck.

Spoiler

Show

Forest x16
Eldrazi Temple x4
Eye of Ugin x1
Urza's Tower x4
Urza's Factory x4
Urza's Mine x4
Llanowar Elves x4
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn x1
Spawnsire of Ulamog x2
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth x1
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre x1
Ulamog's Crusher x2
It That Betrays x1
Kozilek's Predator x2
Nest Invader x2
Artisan of Kozilek x2
Sylvan Scrying x3
Ancient Stirrings x4
Explore x2

Managed to fit in a few Explores while keeping it at 60.

[Forrestfire]

Spoiler

Show

Forest x16
Eldrazi Temple x4
Eye of Ugin x1
Urza's Tower x4
Urza's Factory x4
Urza's Mine x4
Llanowar Elves x4
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn x1
Spawnsire of Ulamog x2
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth x1
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre x1
Ulamog's Crusher x2
It That Betrays x1
Kozilek's Predator x2
Nest Invader x2
Artisan of Kozilek x2
Sylvan Scrying x3
Ancient Stirrings x4
Explore x2

Managed to fit in a few Explores while keeping it at 60.

You're running waaaay too many lands.

25 is generally a maximum for this sort of deck. Heck, the tron decks that many people run only play 18 lands total. Of course, those decks run a lot more draw, but the point still stands.

I'd drop 8 of the forests for another explore, another sylvan scrying, and probably 3-4 Karn Liberated if you have them. Wurmcoil Engines may also be a good card to add.

[Fable Wright]

So, I was thinking about building a no rares cube to draft at college (I already have the sleeves, and a fair number of decent card choices for it). An issue that's come up, though, is Aside from Savage Twister, are there any other mass removal spells at uncommon-common level?

That can destroy every creature? Not really. You're limited to more conditional destruction, like Pestilence, Pyrohemia, Pyroclasm, Volcanic Fallout, Firespout, and so on.

[Lord Seth]

I put this together a bit quickly so it's certainly not optimized, but it seems to do what your deck wants to do while taking on the strengths of Urzatron in general:

8 Forest
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power PLant
4 Urza's Mine
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
2 Ulamog's Crusher
1 All Is Dust
4 Karn Liberated
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Explore
4 Expedition Map
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star

The Eldrazi count is dropped again, but there's still quite a few there. While not Eldrazi, Karn Liberated can quickly take control of a game and Wurmcoil Engine can easily turn the game in your direction, or at least stall through its lifelink to give you more time to cast your more expensive stuff. I took out the Llanowar Elves to make room for the Chromatic Stars, as Llanowar Elves requires green mana (which we're lowering the number of sources for), whereas Chromatic Star is able to still provide you with that mana even if you have no Forests, and more importantly, cantrip.

One thing strongly worth considering is to replace 4 of the Forests with a Green/Red dual land, preferably Grove of the Burnwillows. This actually isn't for anything in the deck itself, but it lets you run Pyroclasm and Ancient Grudge in the sideboard.

[Zombimode]

That can destroy every creature? Not really. You're limited to more conditional destruction, like Pestilence, Pyrohemia, Pyroclasm, Volcanic Fallout, Firespout, and so on.

There is also Swirling Sandstorm, just for completenes sake.

[tgva8889]

Swirling Sandstorm and Street Spasm are pretty good ones I would consider.

[Lea Plath]

So. I'm starting to get into Legacy.

I'm looking to build The Gate, a monoblack aggro control deck. Lots of discard and sac spells, along with big fat creatures like Abbysal Persecutor and equipment like Jitte.

So far in testing I've beaten Jund, Throptor, Mono U and Faeries. A first turn inquistion to rip the counter spell from their hand, followed by a turn 2 cabalx2 to rip everything else out of it is fun :3 Anyone up for testing while I work out and improve this deck.

I'm also running Jund zombies for standard, but I'm currently pimping my deck a bit, trying to improve it. I need someone independent to give this deck a look over, if you don't mind. Not too keen on sharing in on the groups facebook page for my local meta, as I don't want people building zombie hate :P Any takers?

[Togath]

What do you think the most likely deck format for a magic the gathering game night at a small comic/gaming shop that I'm planning to head to later this week will be? I was planning to build my deck, or most of my deck(I may need a few more land cards) ahead of time, and wanted to make sure I did it right.(the game night is in four days, so there's no rush luckily)

[IthilanorStPete]

What do you think the most likely deck format for a magic the gathering game night at a small comic/gaming shop that I'm planning to head to later this week will be? I was planning to build my deck, or most of my deck(I may need a few more land cards) ahead of time, and wanted to make sure I did it right.(the game night is in four days, so there's no rush luckily)

Most likely Standard, especially if it's FNM. (Friday Night Magic) Go ahead and call the store, though, to make sure.

[Litewarior]

So. I'm starting to get into Legacy.

I'm looking to build The Gate, a monoblack aggro control deck. Lots of discard and sac spells, along with big fat creatures like Abbysal Persecutor and equipment like Jitte.

So far in testing I've beaten Jund, Throptor, Mono U and Faeries. A first turn inquistion to rip the counter spell from their hand, followed by a turn 2 cabalx2 to rip everything else out of it is fun :3 Anyone up for testing while I work out and improve this deck.

I'm also running Jund zombies for standard, but I'm currently pimping my deck a bit, trying to improve it. I need someone independent to give this deck a look over, if you don't mind. Not too keen on sharing in on the groups facebook page for my local meta, as I don't want people building zombie hate :P Any takers?

Sure, I'd be willing to test with you. There's a program called Cockatrice that is very useful for playing games if you didn't know about it, I have several decks on it built ranging from combo to aggro to control.

Also, Jund, Thopter combo, monoblue and faeries are not huge contenders in Legacy right now, the two most consistent are RUG Delver and Esper Stoneblade, though BUG Delver is making some waves.

[Lord Seth]

So. I'm starting to get into Legacy.

I'm looking to build The Gate, a monoblack aggro control deck. Lots of discard and sac spells, along with big fat creatures like Abbysal Persecutor and equipment like Jitte.

So far in testing I've beaten Jund, Throptor, Mono U and Faeries. A first turn inquistion to rip the counter spell from their hand, followed by a turn 2 cabalx2 to rip everything else out of it is fun :3 Anyone up for testing while I work out and improve this deck.

I'm also running Jund zombies for standard, but I'm currently pimping my deck a bit, trying to improve it. I need someone independent to give this deck a look over, if you don't mind. Not too keen on sharing in on the groups facebook page for my local meta, as I don't want people building zombie hate :P Any takers?

It'd be more helpful if you were to actually post the deck.

[Togath]

Ok, I've managed to get a few more of the recomended cards for a G/B deck, and have begun on a white or W/U deck, I've mostly used booster packs, and the RtR Azorius guild box to build it, so I thought I would just post the creatures I have(and ask about which land cards would be good to aim for), to see if I have enough decent ones to make a deck with them.

White mana creatures
Trained caracal x1
Keening Apparation x1
Azorius arrester x1
Spectral Rider x1
Ajani's sunstriker x1
Guardians of Akrasa x1
Voiceless spirit x1
Sunspire griffin x2
Healer of the pride x1
Phantom general x1
Azorius justicar x1
Battleflight eagle x1

W/U mana creatures
Judge's familiar x1
Hussar patrol x1
Isperia, supreme judge x1
Archon of the Triumvirate x1

Blue mana creatures
Crosstown courier x3
Watercourser x1
Tower drake x3
Runewing x2

Non specific mana creatures
Phyrexian hulk x1

Lands:
Azorius guildgate x4
Transguild promenade x2
Island x3
Plains x12

The main worries I have are having too many unique creatures(rather then clusters of 2-4) as well as not having enough blue mana to use the Blue or W/U spells

[Fable Wright]

Ok, I've managed to get a few more of the recomended cards for a G/B deck, and have begun on a white or W/U deck, I've mostly used booster packs, and the RtR Azorius guild box to build it, so I thought I would just post the creatures I have(and ask about which land cards would be good to aim for), to see if I have enough decent ones to make a deck with them.

There are some solid cards in there, sure... but you have to realize, having a couple of decent cards in colors tends not to work too well in most formats. You need to grab a lot of cards that work well together, and try to build a deck around them, or else grab a few really powerful cards and try to make a deck to work around that.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. Zombies is one of the best decks in Standard right now, and has a couple of big synergies it together, as well as just powerful cards that work together. Lotleth Troll with Gravecrawler, for example, is a pretty powerful synergy. So is Rancor and the guys that keep coming back (Geralf's Messenger, Gravecrawler, etc). The deck isn't really just running a bunch of somewhat solid Black and Green creatures and calling it a day. A list like that would like somewhat like Limited decks, running a bunch of Knights of Infamy, Vampire Nighthawks, Moan of the Unhallowed, Ambush Vipers, Acidic Slimes, whatever. Decent cards on their own, but they have 0 synergy together. From this pile of cards, you could make a deck, and it would be okay, but it wouldn't win that much. Or you could try to focus the deck up a bit, and make a much better deck built around a few key synergies. For example, say you really like Acidic Slime, and think you want to make a deck around that. One of the best ways to do that is with cards that let you play it again and again, or keep on Flickering it. So you find Roaring Primadox and Conjurer's Closet. Now, you have a pretty strong combo to build a deck around: When you start replaying the Slime a lot, it's hard for your opponents to win, because you're blowing up all of their lands. But that isn't really something to build a deck around. So you look for other cards that have effects when they enter the battlefield. You add in Bond Beetle, because it's pretty good with Primadox and Conjurer's Closet. You add in a few Ravenous Rats and Bloodhunter Bats, because you want to play Black, and a few Elvish Visionaries. Pretty soon, you have a much better deck than what you started with, even though the individual cards aren't really as good.

Alternatively, you could see that Knights of Infamy and Vampire Nighthawk work really well together. So you could try to build a deck around Exalted. You add in a few Duty-Bound Deads, some Cathedrals of War, Nefarox, Servant of Nefarox, and so on. Then you decide that Green doesn't really help the deck as much as White could, and add in Sublime Archangel, Guardians of Akrasa, and eventually come out with a W/B Exalted deck.

The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't just throw piles of cards together and call them decks. You need to look for something to build the deck around, something that the deck does really well, to build around. The R/B deck suggested a while back has synergies in it: All of the cards are really, really cheap, can swarm people, and are great for forcing in quick damage. That's what the deck is build around: Piling in quick damage. Then you add cards that work with that strategy: Burn, or Removal. And you have a deck. Randomly throwing a Nefarox in there doesn't really help your gameplan, as you're probably never going to cast him, and his ability doesn't help your deck. So you stick to good, cheap creatures. In the pile of cards you have there, you have strategies criss-crossing every which way, even though a lot of them can be good in the right deck. Ajani's Sunstriker can be really good in an Exalted deck, but is pretty bad in a two-color control deck. Alternatively, Archon of the Triumvirate is pretty good in a two-color Control deck, but pretty bad anywhere else. Judge's Familiar can be good in an aggro-control deck or a control deck, but can be pretty bad outside of that. Hussar Patrol and Judge's Familiar are really good together. Isperia and Archon are good together. Putting all four of them in the same Constructed deck may be a mistake, as they're trying to do very different things.

[Togath]

Aye I understand the "you can't just throw cards together" bit. The tips about Hussar patrol + judge’s familiar, and the Isperia + archon were more what I was looking for(which of these are things that can go well together, or are parts of good combos, and which are ones that aren't really useful for anything).

How about expanding on the lockdown caused by Keening Apparition(sacrifice to destroy an enchantment), Azorius Arrester(detains[locks] a target until your next turn when it enters the field), Azorius Justicar(detains[locks] two targets until your next turn), Judge’s Familiar(sacrifice to counter instant or sorcery), and Archon of the Triumvirate(detain[lock] two targets until your next turn when it attacks)?

How would cards like Soul Tithe(enchant a non land, and it's controller must pay it's mana cost on each of their turns or have it destroyed), Martial Law(detain[lock] 1 target until your next turn, it's also an enchantment so you can use it each turn, which seems like it could become pretty good lockdown), Fall of the Gavel(counter a spell, and gain 5 life), Syncopate(counter a spell and exile it unless your opponent pays whatever cost you used to play this card), Inaction Injunction(detain[lock] a creature your opponent controls until your next turn), or Cancel(counter a spell) do as non creature cards for a W/U lockdown deck?

[Fable Wright]

It mostly depends on whether you want to go Aggro-Control, or just control.

Aggro control: Use small, evasive creatures to pump in quick damage with counterspell backup.

Control: Use lots of counters, Wrath effects, and so on before landing one threat that will win the game.

Aggro-Control is usually the cheaper option; using things like Delver of Secrets, Lyev Skyknight, and Judge's Familiar as quick beats (potentially with Geist of St. Traft and Restoration Angel, if you feel like dropping money. If you don't, Knight of Glory and Serra Avenger may be good), with things like Syncopate and maybe Dissipate as support. Things you want to look for here: Flying, Power 3, Costs 3 or less, Good effect. The more of those categories a card fills, the better. The best decks will run creatures that fill no less than 3 of those criteria. You can probably get away with just finding cards that fit two of those criteria, but you're looking for that all the same. You also want 1 CMC cards that draw a card and cheap removal options, like Unsummon. You probably want ways to make each of your guys significantly more threatening, like Runechanter's Pike, and some form of lategame reach if the game stalls out, like Moorland Haunt.

Control is pretty much always the more expensive option, and uses more heavy duty removal and game-winning threats. Using Supreme Verdict, Terminus, and Detention Sphere with counterspell backup, they gain control of the board state, and then they drop a game-winning threat, like Entreat the Angels. They tend to run more expensive spells that draw cards, powerful removal options like Oblivion Ring, Detention Sphere, Tamiyo, and (maybe) Martial Law. I'm not as familiar with this archetype, so I can't give more advice building it.

As for some of the cards you mentioned, Keening Apparition is terrible outside of Limited formats, as it's power 2, no evasion options, and an effect that isn't usually too relevant. Soul Tithe is bad because it gives your opponent the option to keep the creature, and the cost can occasionally not be that much. There are times when it's good, but it's too unreliable. Fall of the Gavel isn't that good because it just flat out costs too much mana. You don't want to spend that much mana on counterspells. If you've got 5 mana sitting up on your opponent's turn, you've probably already stabilized, and don't really need Fall of the Gavel anymore.

[Togath]

Aggro-Control sounds interestinmg, so I'll try aiming for that for my W/U deck. Would adding some of the token creating/token buffing W or U cards be useful for an aggro-control deck?

[Lea Plath]

Also, Jund, Thopter combo, monoblue and faeries are not huge contenders in Legacy right now, the two most consistent are RUG Delver and Esper Stoneblade, though BUG Delver is making some waves.

I've not done anything with Stoneblade, but just after I posted I went on cockatrice and had a game versus RUG delver which I won quite handily. Once you strip their hand down to nothing and get a jitte out, it is GG. Every turn they will be losing life while I gain faeries and life, and if they get a delver or goyf out, they are gonna be losing them very quickly thanks to jitte faeries.

And for standard, this is my list. tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jundle-run/. Right now, my local meta is dominated by Midrange decks and some zombie decks. Stuff like Crippling Blight is my answer to mid and Bonfire/deathrite shaman is my answer to zombies. Any advice is useful.

[Fable Wright]

Aggro-Control sounds interestinmg, so I'll try aiming for that for my W/U deck. Would adding some of the token creating/token buffing W or U cards be useful for an aggro-control deck?

It depends on the card. If you mean Midnight Haunting + Intangible Virtue type cards, then it would probably be better to make it a straight token deck. If you mean Moorland Haunt and Honor of the Pure/Timely Reinforcements/Hero of Bladehold (These last three rotated out of the format), then probably, due to a relatively small investment for a big gain.

[Togath]

The specific card I was pondering adding was Captain's Call, which acts the same as timely reinforcements, minus the heal and for 1 extra mana(I do wonder if it was printed as a replacement, since it's in the 2013 set, and is very close in effect), probably with Phantom General to buff them into 2/2 tokens, and Kitesail and/or a decent white spell with populate as a side effect(a lot of the W/G cards in rtr have it), such as Trostani's Judgment(6 cmc, exile a creature), or Eyes in the Skies(4 cmc, adds a 1/1 white token with flying) to give a non creature buff to them(in addition to the spell's normal effect)

[Fable Wright]

The specific card I was pondering adding was Captain's Call, which acts the same as timely reinforcements, minus the heal and for 1 extra mana(I do wonder if it was printed as a replacement, since it's in the 2013 set, and is very close in effect), probably with Phantom General to buff them into 2/2 tokens, and Kitesail and/or a decent white spell with populate as a side effect(a lot of the W/G cards in rtr have it), such as Trostani's Judgment(6 cmc, exile a creature), or Eyes in the Skies(4 cmc, adds a 1/1 white token with flying) to give a non creature buff to them(in addition to the spell's normal effect)

The thing is, 1 mana really makes a lot of difference. Also, the lifegain from Timely Reinforcements was actually one of the main reasons people ran it, as there were a number of fast decks in the format. Captain's Call, for that reason, isn't that good. It may be power 3 or greater, but it doesn't fly, doesn't have CMC <=3, or have another good effect. Kitesail also isn't really that good, as you want a lot of your creatures to already have flying. Finally, Trostani's Judgement, while removal, is right out for casting 6. You want any spell in your deck costing 4 to be a game-winner on its own, like Restoration Angel or (previously) Hero of Bladehold. Captain's Call and Eyes in the Skies just don't cut it. Phantom General also fits exactly 1 of the criteria you're looking for in aggro-control creatures, so he's right out. You could definitely just go with a full-on Token deck, but it doesn't fit that well in an aggro-control deck.

[Lea Plath]

For tokens, you could do 2 things with it.

Esper Tokens is an established deck, but not cheap. With Virtue, Lingering, Snapcaster, Talrand's and the like, you are doing a form of aggro control, but really gets expensive with Snapcaster and the like.

Another thing I've seen suggested is Bant aggro tokens, with Call of Conclave. However, populate is currently attached to fog, rootborn defence or trostani so it isn't so good.

[Ninjaman]

Some guys at my meta play junk tokens, it works pretty well
(Intangible virtue, call of the conclave, selesnya charm, lingering souls, midnight haunting, trostani, thragtusk) That kind of stuff.