You are a gifted scholar, trained in the art of magic and sorcery. In your lonely tower by the coast, you delve deep into ancient tomes of arcane magic, gaining wisdom and knowledge from them. With your intellect and pure cunning, you have the power to control the very essence of existence. At your command, the aether can fold into whatever you wish; powerful spells to outdo opposing mages, other-planar creatures ripped from their existence to do your bidding, the possibilities are only limited by your creativity. Wizards seeking you out are confronted with gigantic creatures from the sea and the air, and their deadly spells fail miserably. Nothing can stand in the way of you and your genius.
“Your attack has been rendered harmless. It is, however, quite pretty” –Saprazzan vizier
Mono Blue Control is exactly what the name says: a Blue deck that tries to control the game, stopping the opponent from playing by reacting to their spells in some way. In this case, MUC attempts to counter or bounce spells while whittling down their life total with a few creatures. The general strategy is to counter anything that could seriously harm the MUC player while drawing and filtering cards to always have more than the opponent. Letting harmless spells and weak creatures through unmolested is normal; we only want to stop what could be a serious threat.
Building the Deck
The deck can be divided into five categories: counters, bounce/ removal, draw/ filter, win conditions and lands.
In general, a MUC list will run anything between 14 to 20 counterspell effects, 0 to 6 bounce effects, 6-12 card draw/ filtering effects, 8-12 creatures and 24 lands. It is important to have a high land count to get the land drops we need to stay ahead.
In each of these categories, there are many cards to choose from.
Counterspell:
Counterspell You can’t get around this one. 2 mana for an unconditional counter for anything. It doesn’t get better than this in Pauper.
Prohibit You generally want 8 2-mana counterspells in your deck. Prohibit is a very good counter, and not just in the early game. Mana curves are criminally low in Pauper; in most cases, this is just Counterspell 5-8. The kicker is rarely used, but is also an option to hit almost anything.
Mana Leak This 2-mana counter is a popular choice in Delver, a blue aggro-control deck. Delver can usually get away with playing “conditional” counters like this one because it kills the opponent rather quickly. This is not the case for MUC. With this deck, the game inevitably drags on into the late game, where MUC rules. Mana Leak becomes much less appealing when the opponent has all the mana they need to pay for the extra 3. Mana Leak is not an optimal choice for the deck, but is still useful.
Daze The only “free” counter in Pauper. Much of the same comment concerning Mana Leak can be applied to Daze. It is a counter that can allow you to tap out on your turn and look wide open, then surprise the opponent with a counter. Again, the opponent would need to tap out themselves for this counter to do anything. It’s also a good counter to have against Infect, Stompy or other decks that land their lethal spells in the first turns of the game.
Negate This card is generally not as useful as the other 2-mana counters, as it doesn’t counter the chief way most people try to kill in Pauper: creatures. This could be a fine sideboard card, however.
Deprive This counter is mediocre in the early turns, but a very good counter in the late game. I wouldn’t use a full set, maybe one or two, but it’s definitely a good inclusion.
Dispersal Shield With a Spire Golem in play, it becomes quite good. It requires you to control permanents to have any use at all though, making it not so useful.
Arcane Denial I like this card, but not in MUC. Giving the opponent two cards in exchange for one is not something we want to do. What’s nice is that it replaces itself. The drawback just seems too great to really be useful.
Logic Knot Much like Deprive, this card gets much better in the late game, while being similarly useless in the early turns. The graveyard of an MUC player fills up with used spells rather quickly, so this card has its uses. You can also just pay for the X in the cost in conjunction with removing spells.
Condescend What works in 8-post decks (RIP), works in MUC. while running more than 3 is probably a bad idea, this customizable counter can be very effective in both the very early game and very late game when you've hit 8-9 lands. The scry is what makes this counter better than other similar x-cost ones.
Memory Lapse I don’t consider this a worthy card for MUC, but this is debatable. My reasoning is that by using this spell, it will simply be cast again the following turn, which means that MUC would need to dig up another counter by then. Had it been an actual counter itself, there would have been no such predicament. On the other hand, putting a spell back on top of its’ owner’s library essentially stops that player from drawing from their library for a turn, which is a type of control. You decide what you make of it. Rune Snag This card must be run as a 4-of, obviously. The first one is quite mediocre, but the following ones are quite strong.
Exclude Most of the spells you’ll want to counter are creatures, because that's usually how the opponent tries to win. Remember that we’re only countering relevant spells that might kill us. Exclude also has the fancy ability to replace itself in your hand, making it one of the best counters available in Pauper.
Psychic Barrier Most spells we'll want to counter are creatures, so this works fine. MUC will tend prefer more general counters though, so the 1 life doesn't really amount to much.
Faerie Trickery This is basically the next most powerful counter in Pauper. A hard counter that will remove its target from the game is surprisingly powerful.
Cancel Don’t use this. Seriously, why play Cancel when you can upgrade to Faerie Trickery or just about anything else? Use them if that’s all you have, but come on...
Rewind This counter is expensive, but it's not situational and allows you to play other cards during the turn, like another counter, Think Twice or a creature with Flash.
Force Spike A classic from way back when, this counter still has some application today in Pauper. It's exremely valuable versus the low-land aggro decks out there, as well as Delver. Unfortunately, it's not so useful versus any control or mid-range strategies in the game, and is often outclassed by Daze as the turn 1 counter of choice.
Stymied Hopes It enters the already abundant list of 2-drop counters, and it's rather weak in comparison. Although the Scry is very relevant, paying an extra mana for a spell that should normally cost 1 is not a good deal.
Bounce/ removal:
Bounce is useful to return permanents (usually creatures) that should have been countered back to their owners’ hand to be countered again. This helps the deck survive and get tricky in combat. There are also advantages to returning your own creatures back to your hand, if only to fight another day.
Curfew Mostly a sideboard card for Hexproof decks out there.
Repeal Replaces itself, but you need to invest mana into it. Good against Delver of Secrets, though.
Seal of Removal This is a decent card because there’s a psychological aspect to it. Your opponent knows it’s there, and therefore has to play around it. It also costs nothing to use it, so that one mana can be invested at any time, than used for free later.
Waterfront Bouncer He turns your useless cards (usually islands) into bounce. He can indefinitely control a creature until you can counter it. A very good addition.
Withdraw This card is good at two things: Returning two creatures to your opponents hand for maximum disruption, or returning one of your opponents’ and one of yours. Bouncing your own creatures can have its advantages. Withdraw is a versatile card.
Boomerang A classic. Two mana to bounce absolutely anything at instant speed. Not much else to be said.
Capsize I’ve come to really enjoy this one. Much like Waterfront Bouncer, this card can take care of bothersome permanents until you can deal with them permanently. It is, however, very expensive to use, but is a great source of advantage.
Echoing Truth Gets rid of almost anything like a Boomerang, but can also destroy tokens or return multiples of a card in play all at once. An all-star.
Voyage's End Will get the job done and help you set up your next draw. Unfortunately, it only returns creatures and costs an extra mana over the usual Unsummon, making it an unattractive choice.
Into the Roil A Bounce spell that can replace itself for 4 mana. Surprisingly useful. MUC loves drawing cards, especially when it’s tacked on to another ability.
Snap A “free” bounce spell. It can return a creature and still leave mana open to counter.
Curse of Chains This is an excellent card to simply blank a creature that wasn't countered, often rendering it harmless.
Snakeform Depending on the makeup of your deck, snakeform can be a cantripping removal spell. If you run a reliable amount of creatures, you can simply trade with the snake. At worst, it will prevent some damage to you and replace itself.
Serrated Arrows These are extremely good against all manner of creature decks. You can start using them as soon as you play them, and kill multiple creatures or weaken a big one to block it later, etc. Worth the 4 mana you invest. Bounce it back with a spell and play it again for more pain.
Time Ebb This card is a little different, because it bounces to the top of the library, which stops the opponent from drawing further cards. This is a type of card advantage. Time Ebb is one of many cards with such an effect, but costs one less and is at sorcery speed. I would consider it worse for the sorcery speed alone.
Repel/ Griptide They put a creature back on top at instant speed, but for four mana.
Draw/ Filter:
Think Twice One of my favorite draw spells. You can divide the cost of it over any turns you like. Its instant speed and flashback make it invaluable.
Brainstorm A very good card, but doesn't actually create any card advantage. It, however, can help a lot when trying to find the right card for the situation.
Ponder Same as above, except it’s sorcery speed and allows you to shuffle. Just for the sorcery speed, I would prefer Brainstorm. Playing spells on our turn is generally not great.
Preordain Again, a sorcery. It also doesn’t dig as deep, but allows you to put the cards you saw on the bottom, guaranteeing you won’t see them again.
Oona's Grace Another of my favorites. This card is an excellent late game draw card for when you don't need to play lands anymore. It isn’t card advantage, but it certainly feels like it. It turns all of your dead draws into useful cards, and at instant speed.
Mystic Remora A potentially breaking card, it’s very sneaky tech. It forces an opponent into somewhat of a Standstill situation. It is at its best against control decks and combo decks.
Impulse This card is excellent at digging deep into your library (at instant speed) to find what you need. Putting every card on the bottom of your library (no shuffling) can be a good thing and a bad thing because you may want to keep other cards on top. However, it really allows you to filter your deck to get to what you want.
Accumulated Knowledge The more you have, the better they are, obviously. There’s been some debate over which is better, this or Think Twice. I like Think Twice better, because although you pay much more mana for the cards, you don’t rely on drawing multiples to gain advantage.
Lat-Nam's Legacy Someone suggested this to me before, and I dismissed it because See Beyond seemed like the clearly upgraded choice. When I took a second look at it, I realized that it’s an instant, making it potentially good for MUC. I wouldn't use it as a 4-of, but MUC often has a dead card lying in its’ hand that can be thrown away in exchange of more cards. Again, it’s not card advantage, but it feels like it.
Treasure Hunt It guarantees that you'll get one non-land card. although drawing just one card from it is not fun, it has the potential to draw you 2 or 3 cards rather easily. It gets even better if you brainstorm beforehand to get maximum use out of it.
Gush An excellent choice. Don’t play too many, and never in the earlier turns, but it’s a good card. Be careful of the tempo loss.
Mysteries of the Deep You see this card mostly in 8-post decks, although it’s fallen a bit out of favour. Five mana for two cards is on par with Think Twice, except it can’t be broken down over two turns. However, play it on your turn with a land drop, and it’s three cards. If the deck were using fetch lands like Terramorphic Expanse, this card might have a place in the deck, but for now, it’s a mediocre card.
Creatures:
Fathom Seer A Gush in creature form, this guy has many of the characteristics we look for in a creature. He draws us cards, he’s cheap, and he has a high defense. A high defense is important because it allows us to spare our counters for big creatures by blanking the use of creatures with power < 3. He’ll probably be on guard duty, but can also go on the offense as a 2/2. He can also net you tons of cards when combined with bounce spells.
Looter Il-Kor I've yet to try this for myself, but it certainly looks like an interesting option. It will deal damage to your opponent (practically unblockable) and filter your hand as much as you want, which is a huge advantage. I could see possibly replacing Oona's Grace. Unfortunately, it dies to any removal, so it isn't as reliable as Grace.
Sigiled Starfish Very good card for both blocking early assaults and scrying at the end of the opponent's turn. Do not underestimate Scry. It unfortunately has no power, making it easier for your opponents to attack into.
Mulldrifter Not a bad choice, as he can be evoked in the early game for some cards, and played as a 2/2 with a big effect. Unfortunately, playing it for its’ full cost is extremely expensive and must be done on your turn, which means it might leave you open. Not the best choice.
Spire Golem This is the best creature Pauper MUC has. A potentially free creature with a good attack and a huge defense WITH flying. You can’t ask for more than that. He’s your main win condition.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra/ Nephalia Seakite I really like these. While they’re not as good as Spire Golem, they do have flash. This can lead to some disastrous attacks for your opponent. A creature you didn’t counter can suddenly find itself facing lethal damage with the Sentinels. What’s really great is that you don’t have to spend the mana on your turn (you should never do that). If they didn’t play a spell, you can drop him at the end of their turn and start swinging for 2 damage right there.
Delver of Secrets I do not like Delver of Secrets in MUC. Although he is possibly the best creature in the format, he does not follow the philosophy of pure Blue Control. Essentially, we want our creatures to be as robust as possible. This has two advantages. First, we can block efficiently creatures that have slipped through our permission without trading with them. Second, they are harder to kill with removal, which in Pauper is mostly concentrated around damage spells. With only 2 toughness, Insectile Aberration will most likely trade with the creature it blocks or that is blocking it, as well as being vulnerable to just about every removal spell being run (especially if it hasn't flipped). It is this fragility that will often force us to "babysit" our creatures with permission when this is not what we want to be doing. The advantage of Delver of Secrets is that it can potentially end the game extremely quickly if unanswered. This is both a good and a bad thing. The role of the MUC player is not that of the aggressor. MUC thrives by stabilizing in the late game and taking over with hard-to-answer threats that will finish the game in a few turns. Delver of Secrets forces you into a proactive role, which then leads to a damage race, which MUC is poorly equipped to follow through on. Delver leads us to racing a race we cannot win. I'd rather have a creature that interacts positively with other creatures rather than the high-risk, high-reward of a frail Delver. We're not tempo, we're control. All of this is a matter of opinion and philosophy, however. Many MUC lists use Delver and are very successful.
Spire Monitor/ Faerie Invaders These creatures come down a turn later than Sentinels/ Seakite, but have an extra point of power. It has its ups and downs. The extra mana cost can make getting them out a lot more difficult, but the extra point of power can kill an opponent 3 turns sooner and take down bigger creatures. It's up to you to decide what's best for your deck.
Errant Ephemeron A very solid finisher that trumps any 2-powered creature you play in terms of speed, even with the suspend included. Playing it turn 4 and still leaving up mana to counter is great. The problem is it lets the opponent prepare for him way ahead of time, so make sure you'll be able to protect him when he comes along.
Peregrine Drake Another threat that can be played without tapping out on your turn. This will most likely be a staple of the archetype. It isn't quite as flexible as Spire Golem in terms of when it can be cast and it has one point less of toughness. The cards will most likely be played along side each other. Some very over-powered shenanigans can be accomplished with Ghostly Flicker and something like Mnemonic Wall, giving the deck a possible combo win condition.
Prescient Chimera The ability to give every spell you play Scry is something you would normally see on a rare, so this is a real treat. Every one of your counters, draw spells and bounce spells lets you filter and find the cards you need. It couples nicely with Oona's Grace and Think Twice.
Calcite Snapper This is a great defender with Shroud that can suddenly go on the offense. A decent choice.
Sea Gate Oracle This guy will let you choose among the next two cards to replace him. This can be good, as he might send a useless card to the bottom. He's not so great because he doesn't actually net you any cards, he just replaces himself. He's also a 1/3 blocker, which is decent.
Omenspeaker A bit like Augur of Bolas, but obviously not as powerful. It's a nice defensive creature early on that will also filter your cards. Not a bad choice, not fantastic either.
Silkbind Faerie This is an interesting choice. I can see it being useful, since it can attack and take out an attacker while also being able to block. Paying 3 mana during your turn is getting kind of expensive, though. It also requires mana for every activation.
Halimar Wavewatch This card fits the bill as a good defensive creature. You can sink your excess mana into it from time to time and eventually get a 6/6 game-ender. Level up can only be done on your turn, unfortunately. A single level up turns it into a 0/6, which means no creatures are getting through. What I don’t like is that it doesn’t get any power, which means that weak creatures aren’t dying as a result of being blocked. This can cause problems because weak creature can pile up and attack in hordes, still dealing some damage, and they’ll never lose a creature in combat.
Frostburn Weird Much like Calcite Snapper, this card is customizable. It doesn’t require a land drop, but it does need a mana investment. A very good card that can turn into a great finisher.
Lands:
Halimar Depths In general, you need to be careful how many lands you play that enter tapped. This land is good because it is basically a spell that will set up your next few draws. It’s interesting to run one or two, but not much more than that.
Lonely Sandbar Again, lands that enter tapped should be used parsimoniously. However, being able to cycle your land without Oona's Grace and for only one mana is a good deal in the late game.
Desert Tried and true, this card dominates games. The creature gets to deal its’ damage, but then pays for it. You can kill off many X/1s with it, or even more when you have multiples or are blocking. It really allows you to save your counters for more important things.
Quicksand A very good card as well, it can kill off many bigger threats that Desert can’t, but requires a sacrifice. Remember that it can’t hit flying creatures. It also takes away power, making blocking in conjunction with it a very good deal.
Haunted Fengraf Though it creates colourless mana, it can be a very useful card to combat decks running tons of removal for your creatures. Could easily be used as a singleton
Sideboard Cards
The sideboard will typically include counters or bounce spells that are useful only in certain matchups, this includes many of the cards mentioned in the previous sections.
Piracy Charm -The time-shifted version of Funeral Charm. This card is good mostly against Goblins, but can also have applications versus Stompy, Delver and Infect.
Psychic Purge It can ping a creature that made it through or cost MBC quite a bit of damage. 1 Damage is rather weak, and the typical discard spells used in Black (Duress and Hymn to Tourach) don't really allow for it's anti-discard to be useful.
Steel Sabotage - A lot like Annul, however it doesn't deal with enchantments, but is slightly better versus affinity.
Aura Flux - Use this if you really want to stick it to Hexproof. It's difficult to choose between this and Curfew. It comes down to what I want the hate-slot to do: Weaken the hexproof creature by restricting auras in play, or bounce the creature but risk it being useless if they have two.
Dispel - Good versus other control decks, they help you win counter wars. It also has applications versus Infect.
Intervene - Good against Infect and Hexproof. It can also be used against Stompy to counter their pump or even better, a Rancor.
Although these are the casual forums, I feel it’s necessary to include a matchup analysis for many of the most common archetypes in Pauper. This will give you a better idea of the decks' strength and weaknesses and whether it's worth playing in your playgroup/local game store.
In general, if you play MUC, you need to be very aware of your metagame. The more you know who’s playing what, the better your chances are. This deck rewards the player who has experience with many other deck types.
MUC is a deck that has relatively even matchups across the board. It all depends on how you play and how you built your deck to fight your metagame.
Affinity:
Overall analysis: This matchup is very dependent on the draw that Affinity gets. Generally, the more creatures they are able to play, the greater chance they have of winning. As soon as you can't answer their creature-heavy threats (with them often casting multiple creatures with Affinity in a turn), they start beating you down hard. However, I have found Affinity to be a mulligan-heavy deck that when disturbed slightly, will find itself with awful topdecks. I evaluate this matchup at 60-40 in favor of MUC.
Cards to board in/ out: Board out any expensive bounce cards you may have, and Prohibit, which loses quite a bit of its power. Add in Annul and/or Steel Sabotage. Waterfront Bouncer is also not bad, especially for stopping an Atog combo. Boarding in Hydroblast might be a good idea if you see that their deck seems concentrated on winning with Atog and Fling. It will be dead against most of the deck, however.
Strategy discussion: Don't counter anything that isn't a threat to you. Thoughtcast, Ichor Wellspring and other draw cards, while bad, will not hurt you, so don't bother spending counters on them. All of their creatures except for Frogmite are worth a counter. Try and block profitably with their creatures. Trading creatures is not a bad idea either, since it means the game goes on longer, therefore in your favor.
Black Aggro:
Overall Analysis:This is a very even matchup. They are blisteringly fast in the early game and often use Shadow creatures that are impossible to block. Their threats show up in the first 2 turns of the game, so it's quite difficult or impossible to counter them. I evaluate this matchup at 50-50.
Cards to board in/out: Bounce spells are really important here, as they slow them down significantly and blank their enchantment pump spells like Unholy Strength. Things like Waterfront Bouncer and Withdraw are good to have. Board out an Oona's Grace and possibly the Brainstorms to be able to fit it in without affecting your counterspell suite. If you run any 1-mana counters, think about including them.
Cards to look out for: Dauthi creatures like Dauthi Horror will walk right past your blockers. Counter on sight, if possible. Their pump enchantments are also troublesome if they can't be answered, because they'll make their creatures too big to kill. Out of the board, the Black Aggro player may choose to board in discard. This isn't a bad thing, as it slows down their game plan in hopes of disrupting yours, which in fact gives you more time to set up. If you do see discard, make sure to keep Brainstorm in to keep your valuable cards (I was once able to play a Brainstorm and have a hand of nothing but islands and Spire Golemwhen the opponent played Duress :p).
Strategy Discussion:Prepare to stabilize at very low life. Sometimes, they just have unbeatable plays because MUC is just too slow to react. The Deserts are not as effective here as Black Aggro uses many 2/2 threats. Deserts are still very useful at taking down Dauthi Horror and Vault Skirge or any other creature when used in conjunction with a blocker or another Desert. Counter their Pump spells on sight unless you are running plenty of bounce; they are what put the creatures out of reach of being killed or even blocked profitably with your own. Removal is an issue and you should concentrate on keeping your creatures rather than countering theirs (you can deal with them later).
Burn:
Overall analysis: The classic matchup. The red fire mage versus the blue water mage, fighting it out to the end, like it was since the beginning of Magic. Unfortunately for the Burn mage, Control has the upper hand in this matchup, because of the Pauper restrictions that affect Burn, slowing it down considerably. I evaluate this matchup at 75-25 in favor of MUC.
Cards to board in/ out: Take out either excess Bounce spells or Exclude in favor of Blue Elemental Blast or Hydroblast, if you run either of them. Dispel and Negate are also good here, as we're dealing most often with instants/ sorceries.
Strategy discussion: You're going to take heavy damage, but throwing a counter or two into their game plan ruins their early kill and puts them into top-deck mode (often within 4 turns). From there, stay ahead on cards and counter anything that can harm you while killing them slowly with your flying creatures.
Delver:
Overall analysis: This matchup is relatively close, but I give the slight edge to Delver, 45-55 in their favor. You try to be the control, but risk being out-controlled if they land a threat too soon and protect it well. Land drops are extremely important here.
Cards to board in/ out: I don’t board for this match, as I think the deck is pretty set to deal with Delver. Bounce cards like Snap, Waterfront Bouncer, Withdraw and Repeal are all good choices to fight Delver. Board out your more expensive bounce or some more expensive counters. The deck can’t really afford to lose creatures, so keep those in unless you think there are some that will be just weak against them.
Strategy discussion:Desert is an extremely useful card here. It’s uncounterable and it deals with almost all of their threats. If you manage to get two in play at once, you can kill anything they throw at you but a Spire Golem. It gets a Phantasmal Bear in one shot, too. Other than that, counter their creatures as often as possible, especially Spellstutter Sprite. You stand a pretty good chance if they aren't clocking you with a turn one Delver of Secrets that flipped the following turn. Even then, the matchup is far from hopeless. You can manage to blank many of their counters by getting as many of your land drops as possible. What it really comes down to is who manages to stabilize with a favorable board first. If you can’t land a Spire Golem or Sentinels or something with flying before they do, you’ll generally get locked out by counters yourself. Don’t be shy to play a Fathom Seer unmorphed; they’re very good at stopping Ninja of the Deep Hours.
8post:
Overall analysis: This is an excellent matchup. They play so slowly that all you have to do is wait for the inevitable counter war when they finally play a threat. Most of their spells are harmless, so you should have plenty to fight with when the time comes. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in the favor of MUC.
Cards to board in/ out:Dispel is a great card to have, and can take the place of Exclude, which won't see much use here. Prohibit is also not so useful here, so if you have any Negates or Deprives, use them. Conditional counters like Mana Leak and Daze will be practically useless here.
Cards to look out for: There are only a few cards to look out for: win conditions and opposing countermagic. Be prepared for a fight once they try to play an Ulamog's Crusher or Rolling Thunder.
Strategy discussion: When you see them play a Locus, start sculpting your hand to contain as much relevant removal as possible. The cheaper, the better. It’s all decided on the turn they decide to play their killing card. If you do lose the counter war, you can also bounce it if it’s a creature.
Eye-Candy:
Overall Analysis: This matchup is very even. They need to resolve a few key spells, but can play multiples in a turn easily and also put pressure on us in other ways, as well as being just plain faster. However, it is difficult for them to win if we manage to get to the mid/late game. I evaluate this matchup at 55-45 in favour of MUC.
Cards to look out for: The card that annoys me the most is Artful Dodge as its' flashback makes it incredibly hard to stop. Be aware of Apostle's Blessing that can ruin your bounce and Spell Pierce. Out of the board, they'll be bringing in Flame Slash, Pyroblast and likely more light countermagic like Spell Pierce.
Strategy Discussion: There's very little to do in the early game to stop a Delver of Secrets from flipping and doing 9+ damage until you manage to play a Spire Golem. Try and counter their pumping creatures like Nivix Cyclops and Kiln Fiend, as they are the major threats. Capsize is one of the best late-game spells you can draw. My best advice is to always leave mana open, even after they end their turn. I've been burned out by playing a Sentinels of Glen Elendra and a draw spell and not having mana to counter the double Lightning Bolt in response for the kill.
Goblins:
Overall analysis: This is an even matchup preboard (maybe a little in MUC's favor), but unlike most decks, Goblins will usually have an entire sideboard that is actually relevant against MUC. The match is therefore slightly in their favor, 40-60.
Cards to look out for: Preboard, Death Spark is really annoying, as they can really go through for the final points of damage with it to kill you. If your playgroup does not accept online rarities, then Death Spark is not legal (which is good). Reckless Abandon is also a way that they can surprise you by killing your creatures or finishing you off. Same goes for Fireblast. Post-board, look out for Red Elemental Blast, Flame Slash, Flame Jab, even Slyvok Lifestaff can give you trouble.
Strategy discussion: With the new Foundry-Street Denizen, Goblins players now prefer playing it over any other 1-drop on their first turn, because it means they can often attack for 3 the following turn. This is actually good for us, because we can respond with a turn one Desert, which will dominate for the remainder of the game. My best advice is to counter nothing with toughness = 1, and counter all their 2/2 creatures. Don't be afraid to take good amounts of damage and just responding with Desert while keeping countermagic open. Your big creatures will come in later and stomp out whatever's left. Post-board, the plan changes slightly to leave some counter magic to protect your creatures from Flame Slash. If you have a hard time fighting it, Waterfront Bouncer and Capsize are good at protecting your own creatures.
Hexproof:
Overall analysis: This matchup can vary depending on the makeup of both decks. Depending on the amount and type of bounce you run mainboard and also the number of creatures with higher power, you can stand a good chance. I evaluate this matchup at 30-70 in favor of Hexproof.
Cards to board in/ out: Board out some creatures with lower toughness and a few counters (probably Exclude, which is too slow) to board in Curfew if you use them and any bounce spell that can target enchantments. If you have any first turn counters like Daze or even Force Spike, they might be handy.
Cards to look out for:Forced Adaptation can cause a creature to keep its’ pump even if the enchantment is bounced. Post-board Standard Bearer is a thing in many Hexproof decks, which can be a pain when wanting to bounce auras. Capsize is very good here, and so is Echoing Truth.
Strategy discussion: You would think that against a Hexproof deck, bounce would be useless. Nope. It is, in fact, very important. What we’re trying to do here is bounce a pumped up creatures’ auras so that it’s back to normal size, then block it with some of our own creatures in order to kill it. You can expect to take a lot of damage and go to very scary low life totals. Eventually, the opponent will have no creatures left to enchant and his/ her better enchantments will be countered anyways.
Infect:
Overall analysis: This matchup can be very difficult depending on what type of counters you use and how many bounce spells you run. Infect plays out its' threats so fast that it's often impossible to stop them from winning right on the spot. MUC is constantly on the backfoot and risks being blown out at any moment depending on what the Infect player draws next. I evaluate this matchup at 25-75 in favor of Infect. This can increase a lot if you prepare for it ahead of time both in the maindeck and sideboard.
Cards to board in/ out: Fortunately, there are many cards that help with the situation. Any counter that costs 1 mana should be added in, as long as it actually affects Infect. Daze, Force Spike, Intervene, Dispel, Piracy Charm (kills many of their creatures after they run out of pump spells), Waterfront Bouncer and Curfew (return one of your weakened creatures and possibly a pumped one of theirs) are all good cards to board in. Other good spells to have are Serrated Arrows, Curse of Chains and Withdraw. You can board out any of the more expensive counters like Faerie Trickery and Exclude to board in these cards. There are many, many answers to infect, so knowing that it is in your metagame and preparing for it gives you a good fighting chance.
Cards to look out for: All of their Infect creatures are really bad for you. Glistener Elf because he comes into play before you can counter, Ichorclaw Myr because it pumps itself when blocked and Blight Mamba because it regenerates. Apostle's Blessing is a card that will kill you. Counter Rancor on sight.
Strategy discussion:Gitaxian Probe lets them know what you're up to, so things aren't starting well. Without a first turn counter, a Glistener Elf on their first turn will usually mean you're dead. My best advice is to tap out and play your creatures as fast as possible, as they often end up reducing the damage more than a single counter. 2-mana creatures like Fathom Seer, Halimar Wavewatch and Frostburn Weird are all good choices. They'll probably die, but they'll keep you alive. Play your Spire Golem when they cost 3 mana. Once you've stabilized with remnants of a defense and hopefully both killed some of their creatures and have them in top-deck mode, you know your chances of winning have increased significantly. You can now bounce back your creatures to return them to their normal p/t, draw into relevant countermagic and start swinging for bits of damage at a time. Their top-decks are generally much worse, so it should be easy to control them from there.
Monoblack Control:
Overall analysis: This matchup is a lot better than I had anticipated. Even with all the discard and spot removal, MBC goes into top-deck mode faster and can't recover as quickly (its' draw cards are drastically inferior). This gives MUC time to get back in the game by restocking in whatever it needs while easily surviving MBC's relatively slow clock. I evaluate this matchup at 75-25 in favor of the Blue deck.
Cards to board in/ out: If you should happen to have more draw cards in your sideboard for some reason, they should go in. If not, take out any bounce that you don't see yourself using for your own creatures. You don't want to be bouncing theirs, seriously. You can also board in Negate, Dispel and even Intervene to protect your creatures.
Cards to look out for: There are two big cards to look out for: Hymn to Tourach and Okiba-Gang Shinobi. Hymn is bad because it can really mess up your hand, stripping you of precious counters. Shinobi is bad because if ninjitsu'd in, it's uncounterable and will wreck your hand of everything you have for the rest of the game unless you block it. Post board, they may bring in Duress.
Strategy discussion: If they play Hymn to Tourach, there are a few things you can do to mitigate the effect. The most useful is to play Brainstorm in response and tuck away anything you really want to protect. You can also sculpt your hand to contain mostly lands, Think Twice and Oona's Grace, which can all be reused. You can also flip Fathom Seer to dramatically increase the size of your hand. If they play any other discard spell, it probably isn't worth countering. What you can do instead is discard useless lands, or respond by using Think Twice from the graveyard to have more choice, flip a Fathom Seer to return two islands and draw two cards to suddenly have 4 cards to choose from. Their creatures are quite weak, so obviously Desert is awesome. If you want to play a creature, make sure you have enough mana to protect it afterwards from removal. A good way they can kill you is with a combination of Corrupt and Crypt Rats. Make sure to counter both of those cards. This should be relatively easy, you just need to know about this danger.
Stompy:
Overall analysis: This matchup I consider somewhat favorable, although most often even. I would say 55-45 for the MUC player. This may come as a surprise, since I said before that control was often beaten by aggro. Regardless, with enough experience and knowledge, the matchup is favorable.
Cards to board in/ out: any repeatable bounce spells you have (Waterfront Bouncer, Capsize) should go in or stay in. Take out any bounce that isn’t repeating, and failing that, remove a few counters, although they are all relevant.
Cards to look out for:Skarrgan Pit-Skulk is one of the few creatures that can just plain get around your own creatures. Rogue Elephant is also a strong creature that will get by anything but a Spire Golem without help. Counter them if you have the opportunity. Hunger of the Howlpack is also a game ender for you. Out of the sideboard, there are many things to look out for. Scattershot Archer, Hornet Sting, and Gleeful Sabotage are all cards that can seriously change the state of the game. Bounce is good for that as well.
Strategy discussion: A good start means going first and having a 2-mana counter. A bad start is going second without a 2-mana counter. Don’t be afraid to go down to low life totals; your creatures often have a greater toughness than your opponent’s attack, making it easy to stabilize. Do not ever counter pump cards like Gather Courage (unless you’re blocking or the opponent is in top-deck mode and you’ve stabilized). They only lower your life total once, so they are not of a great concern to you. Save your counters for creatures.
Storm:
Overall analysis: This matchup analysis is for playgroups that don’t use the online banlist. If someone is playing storm, you should be happy. This is an excellent matchup for you. They probably won’t be able to get by your barrage of spells. I evaluate this matchup at 90-10 in favor of MUC.
Cards to board in/ out: If you have any more counter in the board (Dispel, Negate, etc.), board them in instead of your bounce. However if you have Echoing Truth, keep that in as it’s good against tokens.
Cards to look out for: Their kill spells, although if you do your job they should never see play.
Strategy discussion: When fighting Storm, you want to interrupt their chain of spells. Good spells to interrupt are the ones that generate mana. Manamorphose is also a good spell to counter as it also draws them cards and filters, perhaps leaving them with 2 less mana and a whole lot of one type that they don’t need.
Tron:
Overall analysis: Tron is very light on threats, and spends a lot of its turns doing essentially nothing. Counter their important, game-breaking spells, and you'll seal the deal. I evaluate this matchup at 70-30 in favour of MUC.
Cards to board in/out:Prohibit should be the first spell boarded out, if you use it. Exclude can also be lackluster. Daze and Mana Leak are also basically useless when facing so much mana. Constant sources of Bounce are quite useful, as is Hydroblast.
Cards to look out for:Fangren Marauder will put the game completely out of reach, so countering it is very important. Ulamog's Crusher is always a bother, but is easily dealt with. Be sure to always leave a counter open for Rolling Thunder or Kaervek's Torch.
Strategy discussion: Don't bother countering their mana fixing or small burn spells like Firebolt. It might be worth saving your creatures from Flame Slash, depending on the board state, though countering/dealing with their threats is more important. As long as you can keep their big creatures and Fireball effets at bay, you can whittle them down like every other deck. Flash-blocking a Mulldrifter may be tempting, but it is more important to leave mana open if they didn't do anything in their first main phase.
White Weenie:
Overall analysis: This matchup is fairly good, I evaluate it at 60-40 in favor of MUC. White Weenie is fast, but not fast enough to stop MUC from playing a blocker and gradually taking control of the board.
Cards to look out for: Any creature that is starting to get big should be countered. Razor Golem, Kor Skyfisher and especially Guardian of the Guilpact are part of that category. Another card that is a must-counter is Bonesplitter. This card will lose you games if you don't answer it. Steel Sabotage is excellent for this. Look out for removal like Unmake and Journey to Nowhere, they should be countered as well. Post-board Sunlance is also a common way to deal with all of your creatures. Kor Sanctifiers and other artifact removal is also possible, but not many WW players will board that against you.
Strategy discussion: Don't counter anything with toughness =1 (the exception is Standard Bearer, as she's a real pain, but even then, there are more important things to use your spells on). Desert and any of your creatures will take care of them. Counter Bonesplitter on sight, or risk it killing you. Guardian of the Guildpact is bad, but not impossible to deal with with the Spire Golems and Deserts. Having Quicksand here wouldn't be bad either. You'll soon lock up the board and start winning slowly with your big flying creatures.
Peasant Section
This section is for the Peasant format, where a maximum of five uncommons may be added to the deck.
There are many uncommons that are worthy of inclusion in Blue Control. Here is a non-exhaustive list divided by card category of uncommons you could include in your own deck.
I second ZeroNegativo; Have you considered Ninja Faeries? The link is to the thread I posted a few weeks back. The deck I built was RU, but can be converted easily, and equally efficiently, into mono blue. When playing MUC in pauper I'd say faeries with bounce effects is the way to go, Ninjas provide card draws.
Hi Obermeir,
i'm not a huge fan of MUC deck, however..
-i really dislike the Sentinels of Glen Elendra. Why don't you use Pestermite, Dewdrop Spy or Crookclaw Transmuter?
The firsts two have the same power and a CIB effect, the last one has great power for the same CC - and can add 2 damage to an attacking spire golem ^_^.
Since you are already playng faeries, may i suggest you to replace 4 counter with 4 Spellstutter Sprite?
All the cards you mentioned to replace Sentinels are actually not what a MUC decks wants! You see, when playing with a blue control deck, you have to let slide cards that won't be a threat to you. By have creatures with toughness > 3, I make creatures that my opponents play with power less than 3 very difficult to attack with profitably. In fact, I can let my opponent play creatures, attack with them, then flash-block with Sentinels, which basically countered the creature. It's especially good with Quicksand, to take down bigger creatures. If I were to put in smaller creatures, or creatures with only 1 toughness, I would only be able to attack with them, chump block or trade (card disadvantage). As it sits, Sentinels is better than any other flash creature because it's bigger, therefore saves me counters for more dangerous spells. If I could play more Spire Golems or cards with 4 toughness that are cheap and can attack, I would.
I really like the Spellstutter Sprite, but I need to find a good way to replace them. The first sprite is quite bad, so I need to take that into account. I think the best way to use them would be to include more fearies, but for reasons I explained in the other paragraph, making 1/1s is not so good. There's a difference between a Faerie/delver deck and a control deck. One gives up some control for a faster clock, making it aggro/control.
I second ZeroNegativo; Have you considered Ninja Faeries? The link is to the thread I posted a few weeks back. The deck I built was RU, but can be converted easily, and equally efficiently, into mono blue. When playing MUC in pauper I'd say faeries with bounce effects is the way to go, Ninjas provide card draws.
That's a completely different deck, with very few actual counters. I would call your deck more of a tempo-oriented aggro. MUC wants to control and decide everything the opponent plays, drawing into the lategame with bigger flying creatures to win.
One card I just discovered for MUC removal is Mana Chains - gives a creature cumulative upkeep - either you outright destroy a dude, or your opponent, for whatever reason, wastes a turn paying to keep him around.
Also Dream Stalker is a cheap dude with a fat butt, no flying though, who can let you get replay value out of Spellstutter - should you find a way to utilize them, or the Sentinels themselves.
I'd say Memory Lapse has the most MUC flavor - counter a spell AND screw up their draw, stalling their game.
What are your thoughts on Mulldrifter (draw/flying/finisher but no big butt) or Frostburn Weird (cheap, big butt, can act as a threat/finisher but no flying)?
One card I just discovered for MUC removal is Mana Chains - gives a creature cumulative upkeep - either you outright destroy a dude, or your opponent, for whatever reason, wastes a turn paying to keep him around.
Also Dream Stalker is a cheap dude with a fat butt, no flying though, who can let you get replay value out of Spellstutter - should you find a way to utilize them, or the Sentinels themselves.
I'd say Memory Lapse has the most MUC flavor - counter a spell AND screw up their draw, stalling their game.
I love mana chains! Such a cool card! Unfortunately, it gets outclassed by Curse of Chains, which stops the opponent from getting any use out of the creature (barring an untap ability, stupid Quirion Ranger...)
Dream Stalker is okay, but needs another creature to function. It would be nice with the faeries or Fathom Seer. Something to think about.
Memory lapse is not a control card, it's a tempo card (and a massive one at that). You're not stopping the threat, you're just putting it off in most cases. It doesn't belong in a counterspell-intensive deck.
What are your thoughts on Mulldrifter (draw/flying/finisher but no big butt) or Frostburn Weird (cheap, big butt, can act as a threat/finisher but no flying)?
Mulldrifter would be great if he had flash. As it sits, I can't see myself ever tapping 5 mana on my turn to play him. I would need to wait at least until I have mana open to play a counter, which would be very far into the game. Frostburn Weird is pretty nice, actually, although a bit mana-intensive. There could be some great tricks done with this guy, though. I think I would prefer Calcite Snapper, as he's an excellent finisher with shroud that doesn't eat mana every turn. But then again, the weird could deal damage to a creature with a larger toughness and still survive...
Yep. I'm getting started on a primer next wednesday!
Memory lapse is not a control card, it's a tempo card (and a massive one at that). You're not stopping the threat, you're just putting it off in most cases. It doesn't belong in a counterspell-intensive deck.
So i totally understand what you're saying and where you're coming from, but I guess I just view Memory lapse differently.
It is a control card when you can control what your opponent is drawing. Once someone realizes you're playing MUC, they're going to start baiting, hoping you'll counter something weak so they can drop their big dawg. The best way to punish someone for baiting is to force them to draw the same crappy card again, and can save your hard counters for the big guns. You're not just screwing with their tempo, you're actually hitting the pause button on their game. They're losing a fresh draw. I fail to see why a tempo card can't be included in MUC, especially when it's only 2cmc. At least accept that it's a viable sideboard card. It buys you an extra turn, which is something priceless when playing MUC.
i understand your point Obermeir, but i still think that you need a true finisher
Do you think that a couple of Halimar Wavewatchcould be playable? Big wall early on and heavy hitter late game
Winning with a control deck is just a formality. Once the game is in control, it doesn't all that much how long it takes to win (although, the sooner the better, obviously).
I really like that card! It could really put a stop to a lot of threats and then start beating face at the end! Do you think I should replace the Sentinels of Glen Elendra with those?
So i totally understand what you're saying and where you're coming from, but I guess I just view Memory lapse differently.
It is a control card when you can control what your opponent is drawing. Once someone realizes you're playing MUC, they're going to start baiting, hoping you'll counter something weak so they can drop their big dawg. The best way to punish someone for baiting is to force them to draw the same crappy card again, and can save your hard counters for the big guns. You're not just screwing with their tempo, you're actually hitting the pause button on their game. They're losing a fresh draw. I fail to see why a tempo card can't be included in MUC, especially when it's only 2cmc. At least accept that it's a viable sideboard card. It buys you an extra turn, which is something priceless when playing MUC.
I understand what you're saying, I think. To me though, using Memory Lapse on any card will just result in needing another counter for the same thing next turn. Even by playing Memory Lapse on a card and putting it back on top, you might need to counter it next turn, putting you at parity on card advantage. So you did counter the card, but it took you two cards to do it, while countering a card and stopping a draw (2-2). And if you don't counter it the second time, why would you have Memory Lapsed it the first time, right?
Tempo cards can definitely be useful in MUC, like when, say, I'm attacking with my 6/6 Halimar Wavewatch and you need to draw a spell to stop it. I counter a random spell and put it back on top, ensuring that I can attack safely again next turn. But most of the time, the clock for MUC is so slow, that tempo is very difficult to maintain.
If I was thinking about using Memory Lapse just to try to buy an extra turn to get a counter, then using a bounce card like Capsize would be more flexible.
If I was thinking about using Memory Lapse just to try to buy an extra turn to get a counter, then using a bounce card like Capsize would be more flexible.
If Memory Lapse was an actual hard counter, you wouldn't even have to stall to go looking for one!
The difference with Capsize is that it won't stall the next draw, which means it doesn't stall their entire game. What's good about it is that if they play any permanent card on their turn and pass, you can play Capsize with Buyback, and it's like they never played (and you can go on about your business attacking on your turn). Capsize might be worth inclusion in the deck!
Mulldrifter. Sooooo much mulldrifter.
I don't like Oona's Grace at all.
If you like guys with 3 toughness, Shaper Parasite and Sea Gate Oracle can provide ample opportunity for that while providing the much-lacking card advantage to your pool.
Mulldrifter. Sooooo much mulldrifter.
I don't like Oona's Grace at all.
If you like guys with 3 toughness, Shaper Parasite and Sea Gate Oracle can provide ample opportunity for that while providing the much-lacking card advantage to your pool.
Here's what I said on Mulldrifter like nine posts ago:
Mulldrifter would be great if he had flash. As it sits, I can't see myself ever tapping 5 mana on my turn to play him. I would need to wait at least until I have mana open to play a counter, which would be very far into the game.
I fail to see how Shaper Parasite creates card advantage. Sea Gate Oracle is decent (especially in 8post), but I think Fathom Seer trumps him. He can attack as a 2/2, flip into a 1/3 to block and draw two cards, as well as returning islands, which can create extra mana on my turn.
I don't think you've played Oona's Grace, then! It really pulls the deck together. running 24 lands makes it quite useful in replacing islands with business. I used to run 3!
I was thinking of replacing Halimar Depths and an island and adding Desert. It's a bit off-theme for a deck of islands, but whatever lol The advantage with these would obviously to kill X/1s, and not lose a land like with Quicksand (which, however, has other important applications).
Sea Gate Oracle doesn't even create Card Advantage, he just replaces himself. I feel Fathom Seer is great for this deck, especially if you decide to run Calcite Snapper to keep making land drops. And if you want to go a little more that route then Gush would be nice too as a 1 or 2 of if you can find room for it, so once you're running Retrace on Oona's Grace and have all the mana you need, then you won't have to decide between discarding new lands or playing them for Landfall.
I don't use Oona's Grace, mainly because I don't have any, but I want them. It's just a great way to pitch any useless land draws later in the game once you're set up. Retrace is an awesome mechanic and I hope it's brought back for a future set for more Pauper goodies!
I think Desert would be great in the deck. Not only could it help Quicksand take out slightly bigger threats, but it makes any X/1 creatures that are dropped almost useless and frees up your counters for bigger threats
Very true. I'm going to try Halimar Wavewatch first, as it seems the most promising to me. I don't want to go too deep into returning my islands. It's good now and then, but not in the early game, and certainly not over and over again; it would be a huge loss in tempo. I think 3 or 4 is the max a deck can take.
I hadn't thought of combining desert with quicksand, but indeed, that could be a great way of defending myself without investing any cards at all!
Have you had a lot of experience playing with Brainstorm? I assume you would since I've seen you on the forums a lot and you've written Primers before, but for posting/discussion's sake, let's assume you haven't.
Brainstorm is your best option to get to the answers you need. It's a one drop at instant speed, so you can grab want you need and still have mana open to cast the answer. Given the amount of counters you run and the fact that Brainstorm is the deepest digging draw we have at that slot, it seems like a no brainer to me, so my vote is yes!
As far as how many to run and what to drop, that's for someone else to say or you to find what you feel you can lose for it.
Have you had a lot of experience playing with Brainstorm? I assume you would since I've seen you on the forums a lot and you've written Primers before, but for posting/discussion's sake, let's assume you haven't.
Brainstorm is your best option to get to the answers you need. It's a one drop at instant speed, so you can grab want you need and still have mana open to cast the answer. Given the amount of counters you run and the fact that Brainstorm is the deepest digging draw we have at that slot, it seems like a no brainer to me, so my vote is yes!
As far as how many to run and what to drop, that's for someone else to say or you to find what you feel you can lose for it.
I agree, Brainstorm is a fantastic card. I use it in almost every single U deck I make. As you said it digs deep and the nice thing is since it is an instant you can set yourself up at the end of your opponents turn so you essentially draw two cards so you know what exactly what your getting and what your third card will be.
Talk about control, what else is better then knowing what your drawing when your drawing it? If your opponent is playing a certain deck you can completely work your hand around it.
What makes Brainstorm is its versatility. In addition to its draw capability use it with cards that make you shuffle like Evolving Wilds and use it when your opponent makes you discard.
As you said it digs deep and the nice thing is since it is an instant you can set yourself up at the end of your opponents turn so you essentially draw two cards so you know what exactly what your getting and what your third card will be.
And that's how you don't miss the early land-drops in MUC
No Impulse? It lets you dig really deep. Great for finding a Capsize when you really need it.
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These are the decks that I have constructed, and are ready to play:
01. Ankh Sligh to be exact.
And that's how you don't miss the early land-drops in MUC
No Impulse? It lets you dig really deep. Great for finding a Capsize when you really need it.
The only thing I don't like about Impulse is it has pissed me off more than not lol.
I use it then BAM! I see everything I like... but I must put it on the bottom of the library Even though you shuffle, you don't know where those cards end up.
The only thing I don't like about Impulse is it has pissed me off more than not lol.
I use it then BAM! I see everything I like... but I must put it on the bottom of the library Even though you shuffle, you don't know where those cards end up.
EDIT: It also cost 2, not a big deal but meh.
I don't know if you are joking or not, but you might want to look at the oracle text for Impulse.
I use Brainstorm all the time in my Legacy Reanimate. It's a fantastic card for sure. The reason it didn't make the cut into my original MUC list was that it didn't actually create card advantage or filter. But being able to control your draws is also an important thing. I really want to include it, but I just don't know what to take out for it.
Impulse is also fantastic, but I think Brainstorm is more what I'm looking for, mostly for the mana cost (the 2-drop slot is quite cluttered, and so is the 3).
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You are a gifted scholar, trained in the art of magic and sorcery. In your lonely tower by the coast, you delve deep into ancient tomes of arcane magic, gaining wisdom and knowledge from them. With your intellect and pure cunning, you have the power to control the very essence of existence. At your command, the aether can fold into whatever you wish; powerful spells to outdo opposing mages, other-planar creatures ripped from their existence to do your bidding, the possibilities are only limited by your creativity. Wizards seeking you out are confronted with gigantic creatures from the sea and the air, and their deadly spells fail miserably. Nothing can stand in the way of you and your genius.
Mono Blue Control is exactly what the name says: a Blue deck that tries to control the game, stopping the opponent from playing by reacting to their spells in some way. In this case, MUC attempts to counter or bounce spells while whittling down their life total with a few creatures. The general strategy is to counter anything that could seriously harm the MUC player while drawing and filtering cards to always have more than the opponent. Letting harmless spells and weak creatures through unmolested is normal; we only want to stop what could be a serious threat.
In general, a MUC list will run anything between 14 to 20 counterspell effects, 0 to 6 bounce effects, 6-12 card draw/ filtering effects, 8-12 creatures and 24 lands. It is important to have a high land count to get the land drops we need to stay ahead.
In each of these categories, there are many cards to choose from.
Counterspell:
Bounce/ removal:
Draw/ Filter:
Creatures:
Lands:
Piracy Charm -The time-shifted version of Funeral Charm. This card is good mostly against Goblins, but can also have applications versus Stompy, Delver and Infect.
Psychic Purge It can ping a creature that made it through or cost MBC quite a bit of damage. 1 Damage is rather weak, and the typical discard spells used in Black (Duress and Hymn to Tourach) don't really allow for it's anti-discard to be useful.
Blue Elemental Blast/ Hydroblast - Fairly obvious. Hose Red.
Annul - Good versus Affinity and Hexproof.
Steel Sabotage - A lot like Annul, however it doesn't deal with enchantments, but is slightly better versus affinity.
Aura Flux - Use this if you really want to stick it to Hexproof. It's difficult to choose between this and Curfew. It comes down to what I want the hate-slot to do: Weaken the hexproof creature by restricting auras in play, or bounce the creature but risk it being useless if they have two.
Dispel - Good versus other control decks, they help you win counter wars. It also has applications versus Infect.
Intervene - Good against Infect and Hexproof. It can also be used against Stompy to counter their pump or even better, a Rancor.
Relic of Progenitus - Your typical Graveyard hoser.
4 Counterspell
4 Prohibit
4 Exclude
4 Faerie Trickery
Draw (10)
3 Brainstorm
4 Think Twice
1 Oona's Grace
2 Gush
1 Repeal
1 Capsize
Creatures (8)
4 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
4 Spire Golem
Lands (24)
20 Island
4 Desert
2 Waterfront Bouncer
3 Aura Flux
1 Capsize
3 Annul
4 Hydroblast
2 Dispel
In general, if you play MUC, you need to be very aware of your metagame. The more you know who’s playing what, the better your chances are. This deck rewards the player who has experience with many other deck types.
MUC is a deck that has relatively even matchups across the board. It all depends on how you play and how you built your deck to fight your metagame.
Affinity:
Black Aggro:
Burn:
Delver:
8post:
Eye-Candy:
Goblins:
Hexproof:
Infect:
Monoblack Control:
Stompy:
Storm:
Tron:
White Weenie:
This section is for the Peasant format, where a maximum of five uncommons may be added to the deck.
There are many uncommons that are worthy of inclusion in Blue Control. Here is a non-exhaustive list divided by card category of uncommons you could include in your own deck.
Bounce/ Removal/ Taxing:
Draw:
Creatures:
Lands:
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
All the cards you mentioned to replace Sentinels are actually not what a MUC decks wants! You see, when playing with a blue control deck, you have to let slide cards that won't be a threat to you. By have creatures with toughness > 3, I make creatures that my opponents play with power less than 3 very difficult to attack with profitably. In fact, I can let my opponent play creatures, attack with them, then flash-block with Sentinels, which basically countered the creature. It's especially good with Quicksand, to take down bigger creatures. If I were to put in smaller creatures, or creatures with only 1 toughness, I would only be able to attack with them, chump block or trade (card disadvantage). As it sits, Sentinels is better than any other flash creature because it's bigger, therefore saves me counters for more dangerous spells. If I could play more Spire Golems or cards with 4 toughness that are cheap and can attack, I would.
I really like the Spellstutter Sprite, but I need to find a good way to replace them. The first sprite is quite bad, so I need to take that into account. I think the best way to use them would be to include more fearies, but for reasons I explained in the other paragraph, making 1/1s is not so good. There's a difference between a Faerie/delver deck and a control deck. One gives up some control for a faster clock, making it aggro/control.
That's a completely different deck, with very few actual counters. I would call your deck more of a tempo-oriented aggro. MUC wants to control and decide everything the opponent plays, drawing into the lategame with bigger flying creatures to win.
I should write a primer, maybe.
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BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
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Also Dream Stalker is a cheap dude with a fat butt, no flying though, who can let you get replay value out of Spellstutter - should you find a way to utilize them, or the Sentinels themselves.
I'd say Memory Lapse has the most MUC flavor - counter a spell AND screw up their draw, stalling their game.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
I love mana chains! Such a cool card! Unfortunately, it gets outclassed by Curse of Chains, which stops the opponent from getting any use out of the creature (barring an untap ability, stupid Quirion Ranger...)
Dream Stalker is okay, but needs another creature to function. It would be nice with the faeries or Fathom Seer. Something to think about.
Memory lapse is not a control card, it's a tempo card (and a massive one at that). You're not stopping the threat, you're just putting it off in most cases. It doesn't belong in a counterspell-intensive deck.
Mulldrifter would be great if he had flash. As it sits, I can't see myself ever tapping 5 mana on my turn to play him. I would need to wait at least until I have mana open to play a counter, which would be very far into the game. Frostburn Weird is pretty nice, actually, although a bit mana-intensive. There could be some great tricks done with this guy, though. I think I would prefer Calcite Snapper, as he's an excellent finisher with shroud that doesn't eat mana every turn. But then again, the weird could deal damage to a creature with a larger toughness and still survive...
Yep. I'm getting started on a primer next wednesday!
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16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
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So i totally understand what you're saying and where you're coming from, but I guess I just view Memory lapse differently.
It is a control card when you can control what your opponent is drawing. Once someone realizes you're playing MUC, they're going to start baiting, hoping you'll counter something weak so they can drop their big dawg. The best way to punish someone for baiting is to force them to draw the same crappy card again, and can save your hard counters for the big guns. You're not just screwing with their tempo, you're actually hitting the pause button on their game. They're losing a fresh draw. I fail to see why a tempo card can't be included in MUC, especially when it's only 2cmc. At least accept that it's a viable sideboard card. It buys you an extra turn, which is something priceless when playing MUC.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Winning with a control deck is just a formality. Once the game is in control, it doesn't all that much how long it takes to win (although, the sooner the better, obviously).
I really like that card! It could really put a stop to a lot of threats and then start beating face at the end! Do you think I should replace the Sentinels of Glen Elendra with those?
I understand what you're saying, I think. To me though, using Memory Lapse on any card will just result in needing another counter for the same thing next turn. Even by playing Memory Lapse on a card and putting it back on top, you might need to counter it next turn, putting you at parity on card advantage. So you did counter the card, but it took you two cards to do it, while countering a card and stopping a draw (2-2). And if you don't counter it the second time, why would you have Memory Lapsed it the first time, right?
Tempo cards can definitely be useful in MUC, like when, say, I'm attacking with my 6/6 Halimar Wavewatch and you need to draw a spell to stop it. I counter a random spell and put it back on top, ensuring that I can attack safely again next turn. But most of the time, the clock for MUC is so slow, that tempo is very difficult to maintain.
UGTurboFogGU
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16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
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If Memory Lapse was an actual hard counter, you wouldn't even have to stall to go looking for one!
The difference with Capsize is that it won't stall the next draw, which means it doesn't stall their entire game. What's good about it is that if they play any permanent card on their turn and pass, you can play Capsize with Buyback, and it's like they never played (and you can go on about your business attacking on your turn). Capsize might be worth inclusion in the deck!
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I don't like Oona's Grace at all.
If you like guys with 3 toughness, Shaper Parasite and Sea Gate Oracle can provide ample opportunity for that while providing the much-lacking card advantage to your pool.
Here's what I said on Mulldrifter like nine posts ago:
I fail to see how Shaper Parasite creates card advantage. Sea Gate Oracle is decent (especially in 8post), but I think Fathom Seer trumps him. He can attack as a 2/2, flip into a 1/3 to block and draw two cards, as well as returning islands, which can create extra mana on my turn.
I don't think you've played Oona's Grace, then! It really pulls the deck together. running 24 lands makes it quite useful in replacing islands with business. I used to run 3!
I was thinking of replacing Halimar Depths and an island and adding Desert. It's a bit off-theme for a deck of islands, but whatever lol The advantage with these would obviously to kill X/1s, and not lose a land like with Quicksand (which, however, has other important applications).
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16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
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I don't use Oona's Grace, mainly because I don't have any, but I want them. It's just a great way to pitch any useless land draws later in the game once you're set up. Retrace is an awesome mechanic and I hope it's brought back for a future set for more Pauper goodies!
I think Desert would be great in the deck. Not only could it help Quicksand take out slightly bigger threats, but it makes any X/1 creatures that are dropped almost useless and frees up your counters for bigger threats
I hadn't thought of combining desert with quicksand, but indeed, that could be a great way of defending myself without investing any cards at all!
Does anyone think I should be using Brainstorm?
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Brainstorm is your best option to get to the answers you need. It's a one drop at instant speed, so you can grab want you need and still have mana open to cast the answer. Given the amount of counters you run and the fact that Brainstorm is the deepest digging draw we have at that slot, it seems like a no brainer to me, so my vote is yes!
As far as how many to run and what to drop, that's for someone else to say or you to find what you feel you can lose for it.
I agree, Brainstorm is a fantastic card. I use it in almost every single U deck I make. As you said it digs deep and the nice thing is since it is an instant you can set yourself up at the end of your opponents turn so you essentially draw two cards so you know what exactly what your getting and what your third card will be.
Talk about control, what else is better then knowing what your drawing when your drawing it? If your opponent is playing a certain deck you can completely work your hand around it.
W White Weenie
And that's how you don't miss the early land-drops in MUC
No Impulse? It lets you dig really deep. Great for finding a Capsize when you really need it.
These are the decks that I have constructed, and are ready to play:
01. Ankh Sligh to be exact.
The only thing I don't like about Impulse is it has pissed me off more than not lol.
I use it then BAM! I see everything I like... but I must put it on the bottom of the library Even though you shuffle, you don't know where those cards end up.
EDIT: It also cost 2, not a big deal but meh.
W White Weenie
I don't know if you are joking or not, but you might want to look at the oracle text for Impulse.
Impulse is also fantastic, but I think Brainstorm is more what I'm looking for, mostly for the mana cost (the 2-drop slot is quite cluttered, and so is the 3).
What do I take out!? Curse of Chains, maybe?
How about this for testing changes?
4 Counterspell
4 Prohibit
4 Faerie Trickery
4 Exclude
Draw (9)
4 Think Twice
1 Oona's Grace
4 Brainstorm
1 Capsize
Creatures (10)
4 Spire Golem
3 Halimar Wavewatch
3 Fathom Seer
Lands (24)
20 Island
2 Quicksand
2 Desert
2 Waterfront Bouncer
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Annul
4 Hydroblast
4 Vapor Snag
I don't feel so good about bringing Oona's Grace to 1...
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I didn't see the Beatdown version of the card. Nevermind about the shuffle effect then. I was only playing with the Vision one.
W White Weenie
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Yeah really.
I think you might be ok with just 1 Oona's Grace, worst case you could try 3/2 between Oona's and Brain.
W White Weenie
Any thoughts on the sideboard?
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