Overview
Control is one of the main three archetypes in the MtG world. Lately though, control has been a bit-part in the world of instant speed creature threats thanks to a lack of both answers and finshing threats. At the tail of SOI/EMN rotation, there was a small resurgence through several W/B lists, who chose to eschew the traditional blue counter magic and draw spells over answers and angelic threats.
With Collected Company now heading out the rotating door, and with some of the cards coming out in Kaladesh, however, blue control is poised to make a comeback, and it is once again time for a dedicated UBx control thread (covering both Esper and "pure" UB control).
Esper VS UB
Both colour combinations are potentially powerful, but Esper has the only sweepers left in the format. Esper control is more likely to be planeswalker based, relying on cards like Sorin, Grim Nemesis to simultaneously give us card advantage while slowly killing off the opponent. Focussing on UB allows a more consistent mana base, but could be less resilient to go-wide decks. This type of deck tends to be more reactive, and relies on larger creatures to turn the corner once the board is successfully controlled.
Tap-out vs Draw-go
Not only are there two colour combinations that lend themselves to control, but there are two styles as well. Tap-out involves a lot of sorcery speed plays, and as such tends to have more cards available to answer threats. However, it runs very few counter spells (as you're usually tapped out on your turn), so needs to have the answer for a threat right away. Draw-go is a bit of a misnomer. In fact, it's usually draw-play land-go! A lot more reactive, draw-go has more of the ability to counter spells before the threat hits the battlefield, and often uses the phrase most hated by players facing a control mage: "in response..."
Sample deck lists
Just after the release of Kaladesh, Shaheen Soorani posted a couple of deck lists on his Facebook page showing initial builds in both Esper and UB. Although the Esper list is stronger, in his opinion, the UB list was described as more reactive, and more fun to play. His article on SCG on 7 Oct updated the lists slightly, and included sideboard choices. The article is here. The UB list got updated again on 21 Oct in this article, where he changes his opinion and deems the UB list to be far better in the post PT meta.
*** Updated 7 Oct based on SCG article. Confirm Suspicions mainboard becomes Anticipate number 4, and one Summary Dismissal main become a third Liliana.
*** Second update 21 Oct from SCG article. One Liliana becomes Kalitas, and two swamps became additional Aether Hubs. In the side, one Essence Extraction and a Summary Dismissal were cut for a pair of To the Slaughter, and one copy of Kalitas and the Ruinous Path become two Lost Legacies.
A couple of weeks later, Andrea Mengucci posted an article on CFB where he also had a straight UB list, and goes in to depth on some of the key cards. That article is here.
At PT KLD, only one UB control made it to day 2, with a 6-4 record in constructed. No Esper decks were present in the entire field, and only one other player played UB Control.
Threats and finishers Sorin, Grim Nemesis - As mentioned before, Sorin is perfect in a control deck. His +1 is both card advantage and damage at the same time, -X allows us to stabilise (after all, our life is only a resource, and 1 =/= 0), and unchecked, his ultimate is an instant win. Torrential Gearhulk - Preferred in the reactive shell by Soorani, the blue Gearhulk gives a lot more flexibility in the reactive deck. Run out of counter spells? Flash one back and get a body too. Being attacked for lethal? Flash this in, re-cast a removal spell, then block as well. Nothing really going on as you're fully in control? Cast this EOT, re-cast a draw spell and get protection to stay in control. Thing in the Ice - Off of a lot of people's radars until it was played in several other control lists, such as Yasooka's PT winning Grixis list. It can be dropped early, put up a wall against aggressive creatures, and also fares well against a lot of the damage spells in standard right now.
Supporting cast Liliana, the Last Hope - honestly, I'm in two minds about Liliana. We'd get some use out of her +1, but her minus ability is (in my opinion) near useless in this deck. The only time we would be likely to use it is to get a Gearhulk back late game, but by then we should be in clear control and winning anyway. Maybe a sideboard card in the mirror though... Dovin Baan - the 'walker that came to the Gatewatch to ask for help, Dovin Baan seems to be putting people in two minds as well. His plus ability certainly keeps creatures in check, and his minus teams up well to both stabilise and gain card advantage. It almost seems worth it to run and just milk for cards and life! Additionally, his card draw/life gain team up well with Ob Nixilis. Ob Nixilis Reignited - who needs a lot of text on a card to be good? Card advantage, removal and a win-con rolled in to one. Noxious Gearhulk - not mentioned in either of Shaheen Soorani's lists, but I think that the black Gearhulk could slot in to a control shell quite well, especially one that does not run life gain effects associated with the white part of Esper.
Removal spells Grasp of Darkness - arguably the best, but certainly the quickest removal available to a control mage. This is going to be in demand with the number of vehicles expected in standard, as it allows us to respond to an activated Smuggler's Copter or Fleetwheel Cruiser. The conditionality (i.e. it can only kill things with 4 toughness or less) makes it a little more problematic against ramp decks, such as Temur-ge, but kills off the things that they're trying to emerge with. Murder - unconditional instant speed removal. Simple and effective, but a little slow on the play against a Copter deck. Ruinous Path - possibly one of the only sorcery speed spells that a draw-go deck should consider, as it's one of only a few responses to a resolved planeswalker that we have right now. Expect a lot of decks with planeswalkers, so this card should be plentiful in a control shell. Anguished Unmaking - another answer to walkers, but the life cost against aggro decks just does their job for them. This is one of the only ways to get rid of resolved enchantments (such as Fevered Visions). Essence Extraction - an excellent sideboard card against aggro. Three is the magic number to take out Copter, Cruiser, Reflector Mage, etc, and also negates the life loss from the three main red damage spells. Aether Meltdown - an underrated card, but is another instant speed answer to Copter. The energy goes towards fuelling the Aether Hub, and is also easier to cast than a Murder or Essence Extraction. Fragmentize - a one mana Disenchant. Could be a good sideboard (or even a single mainboard) answer to so many of the Kaladesh artifact decks.
Sweepers Fumigate - white has all the sweepers in standard right now. Fumigate seems to be the best right now, especially against aggro, as the life gain allows us to survive a few more turns, potentially putting us out of range of opponents' spells. Descend Upon the Sinful - Wrath of Cod is an effective sweeper as it exiles rather than destroys. Could be a consideration against recursive decks like UB Zombies. Planar Outburst - an outsider for a sweeper, but it allows us to awaken lands and keep them while wiping the other side of the board. Flaying Tendrils - Low casting cost makes this an attractive option against aggro decks.
Counter spells Scatter to the Winds/Void Shatter - these can be used interchangeably as the standard 3 mana counter. Scatter has the potential to awaken and give an extra win-con, whereas Shatter exiles the spells, again good against recursive decks. Negate - one of in the main, or several in the sideboard to give answers to planeswalkers and enchantments Revolutionary Rebuff - potentially a role player, but context-dependent. If the meta skews towards a less artifact heavy one, then it could be a good call. Summary Dismissal - there's only one main reason to run this, and that is to stifle the cast trigger from Emrakul, the Promised End. Ceremonious Rejection - another great sideboard card, this time against artifact heavy decks, and anything that relies on Eldrazi threats. Get rid of them all with only one blue mana! Insidious Will - a multi-purpose counter spell. The best description of it I've heard is "choose target spell. There are now two, one or no copies of it on the stack."
Draw spells Anticipate - one of the older draw spells in the format now, this is actually more of a card filter. It doesn't really gain card advantage (you spend one card to draw one card), but seeing three cards does help. Take Inventory - gets better as the game goes on, but relies on you having cast several of them to actually get any payoff. Succumb to Temptation - A useful replacement to Read the Bones. We lose the scry 2, but gain instant speed. Leaving up 1BB means that the opponent doesn't know if we have a Murder in hand, or if we are just waiting to cast this EOT. Oath of Jace - only draws when it enters the battlefield, but in a tap-out planeswalker heavy deck, allows for a lot of scry triggers and sets up control pretty well. Glimmer of Genius - a new draw spell, and one that dives pretty deep in to our deck. Scry 2, draw 2 is again reminiscent of Read the Bones, but this time swapping the life loss for energy gain (to fuel Aether Hub), instant speed, and a slightly increased mana cost. However, when we are concentrating on killing and countering everything in the first few turns, is a 4 mana draw spell that bad? Confirm Suspicions - gives us flexibility as to when we draw our cards by giving clues instead. Plus comes with a counter spell attached for added bonus!
Mana base
The mana base kind of writes itself, needing 19 blue sources for a T2 Negate, 20 black sources for a T2 Grasp, and 16 white for a T4 Dovin Baan. While we can't quite get there yet, Aether Hub gives us a bit of flexibility, along with Shambling Vent and the multitude of duel lands.
I'm sure that there are plenty of cards that I've missed here, but they can be added (or removed) later as UB(x) control starts to prove itself in the new standard! Please, post your lists and results here. I'll also try to keep the original post updated as and when lists do well at larger tournaments.
Great primer! Let me be the first ot disagree with Andrew Brown in SCG about the use of ather meltdown: though it does protect your life from the smuggler's copter, they still can attack and loot with it (notice: the trigger is when it attacks, not when it deals damage). Also, some cards are pesky and troublesome even if they don't deal damage: duskwatch recruiter, Thalia, heretic cathar, depala, pilot exemplar stills is a lord over dwarves/vehicles and can draw cards by crewing a vehicle (it can crew even if it has 0 power), cryptbreaker is another card that generates advantages just by sitting there. So yeah... not feeling the meltdown
Aether Meltdown just sizes up poorly next to Grasp of Darkness, unless you are desperate to fuel Aether Hub and need enchantments for some sort of Delirium requirement (Emrakul, Descend Upon the Sinful).
There are enough creatures where the opponent still ends up ahead on the exchange if we Grasp it. We don't want to give them even more profit by letting it stick around on the board to use abilities or feed Emerge.
The white Escalate spell is also a solution to Copter while permanently removing things from the board. That might be better if you're looking for something easier on the mana than BB.
I think I need some slight work on the mana base in particular, but I'm loving the mainboard. Currently trying to decide between Void Shatter and Scatter to the Winds. My only real issue deck to play vs is Mardu Hulk Reanimater with me going 1-3 preboard and 1-1 postboard.
I've actually loved her. she really shines when Kalitas is brought in, but still puts in a lot of work otherwise. Most people are telling me to cut her because she turns on otherwise dead removal. She is also a good way of closing out the game when you need to block too.
Her -2 is useless (unless desperate to find a Gearhulk)
Her Ultimate is more useless (unless there is Kalitas or equivalent in deck)
Her +1 Sure, can kill a x/1 but if the opponent is playing aggro, she will die fairly quickly.
She's a win con that slows the game down and gives you 'life' (due to things hitting her instead). Her -2 has given me a couple of games by getting kalitas back post board. Her ulti is far from useless, they have to keep forcing through 2/2 blockers and if they take a turn off, that number skyrockets. I feel she's a bit worse this format than last format, due to all the 3/2s around now, but she does slow the game down with lets us get to where we win.
Even in decks that her -2 is useless, she's still a win con that comes down early and slows the game down. She is also pseudo lifegain due to the fact that they hit her instead of you. In the lists you are referencing, I'd see 2 as the number to go on there with a 3rd in the board maybe for aggro matchups to slow the game down and force an over extension into a wrath.
Not sure about in U/B, but an early Lilly helps your opponent over extend into sweepers for esper. Her plus at a glance does seem like it will be worse than it was before rotation, but it is still a powerful feature of the card for control, and a very nice way to work up to the ultimate.
The biggest issue for her (and planeswalkers in general) is going to be vehicles. With all of the 3 power creatures running around, even a nerfed 2 drop can still crew a smuggler's copter, and fleetwheel cruiser is going to be a hellacious foil to superfriends strats that don't also invest in some kind of creature based defenses.
Her -2 is useless (unless desperate to find a Gearhulk)
Her Ultimate is more useless (unless there is Kalitas or equivalent in deck)
Her +1 Sure, can kill a x/1 but if the opponent is playing aggro, she will die fairly quickly.
You say you're new, so I don't want to be rude, but this is absolutely false. Liliana is VERY strong. She buys time, which is control's greatest resource. Her emblem is now REALLY hard to beat now that Virulent Plague no longer exists.
I use Liliana in a creatureless deck to quite the success.... buuuuut... she is in the board. Bottom line: if her +1 will kill a reasonable amount of their dudes, she is amazing: removal on a stick for 3 mana, that also doubles as a wincon is gold! The decks that I bring her in against are 1) spirits decks with selfless spirit, rattle chains and the like, 2) token decks (she can keep killing 3-mana nissa's plant tokens, and buys you time to find a kill spell for the nissa) 3) she is also quite good vs zombies decks: wharf infiltrator, haunted dead (both parts), cryptbreaker, relentless dead, they are all good targets precicely because lili keeps them small, but alive, so they can't recur them. She buys you time to find a descend upon the sinful or flaying tendrils, and end the game there.
But yeah, there are matchups she is quite bad in, so I keep her in the board.
Quick tourney report from my LGS: went 4-1-1 and the deck (that can be found in the kaladesh control forum) ran as expected. R1 faces BW control, and the counterspells to his walkers did as expected (I did get lucky G1 though: he ultimated liliana at 7 loyalty and I could cast my summary dismissal to counter the ability; he said he wasn't expecting SD mainboard, which was the exact reason I put 1 main board ) Round 2 and 3 was vs emerge decks that seemed to have close to no new cards, and won both (moving forward though, i expect this matchup to become harder as people fine tune the deck). Round 4 I won vs a vehicles deck (lost G1 badly, but post-board was easier as I hit flaying tendrils and liliana in my first 10 cards). Took an ID R5 to go to T8, where I lost to the same RW vehicles deck: G1 was still terrible, and G2 my post board openers were very slow, forcing a mull to 5. Overall decent, but still work to be done.
Looking at SCG results, the main decks to target seem to be as follows: On the aggro side: WRx or RB vehicles (all their creatures are smaller than x/3s, and many are x/1s or x/2s), on the midrange side: grixis emerge (w/ zombie shenanigans) GB delirium (ported almost identically from last season) and GWx that looks like the coco decks of old, but at sorcery speed. Seems lo me that sideboard lilianas and sideboard flaying tendrils can go a loooooong way. This weekend they worked for me, and I expect they'll continue to do so. Also, exiling seems like it could be relevant, specially because new nissa is cropping up in people's sideboards, and the zombie/dredge recursions that people played at ASC indy. As long as new chandra remains relatively unplayed, Kalitas will still provide lots of value vs Emerge decks post-board (make sure to bring lili in also, so you can recur kalitas if they keep in their K-returns).
I guess we'll need more data and see how the pro tour lines up, but the meta seems pretty ripe for UBx: we have reasonable tools to fight decks packed with x/1s and x/2s (with an occasional x/3), and esper's end game of accruing value with walkers (and perhaps going all the way to emrakul, like shaheen soorani's list from last standard) is till excelent vs non-vehicles decks. The tools are all there, teh challeng eis fitting them in 75 cards, but i think it should be doable.
A little curious why no one is talking about Harsh Scrutiny. It performed very well for me at FNM last Friday. Being able to hit any creature is great at one mana and the additional scry is always nice to have.
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Currently Playing:
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
This is the list I have been testing and tweaking, went 4-0 at FNM with it and have started testing it against the week one decks from the SCG to confirm validity of the list.
Couple of notes: I originally had Ob Nixilis, Reignited over the Jace, Unraveler of Secrets however I found that the bounce effect on my own creatures from Jace can be very useful to reset things like Gearhulks or even just a Gonti. I did win a long mirror by Gonti milling my opponent out of a game because they couldn't find removal for him. Obviously a corner case scenario but hey a win is a win.
I have debated cutting the Liliana, the Last Hope and adding some more card draw but she has been preforming well enough that I don't really want to cut her.
The sideboard has some meta dependent cards in it. Kambal, Consul of Allocation is for the mirror and several Fevered Visions decks that are in my area. I play in a very control/combo heavy play group. Depending on what the format looks like come regionals I will be playing something else over them most likely. Havent decided what yet though. Possibly 2 Harsh Scrutiny or Collective Brutality. I am also considering upping the Fragmentize count if more Aetherworks decks start popping up.
You say you're new, so I don't want to be rude, but this is absolutely false. Liliana is VERY strong. She buys time, which is control's greatest resource. Her emblem is now REALLY hard to beat now that Virulent Plague no longer exists.
You're right, I wouldn't know. Been playing for decades and no matter what I play, a noob kid would beat me with a pile of draft commons. I used to play GB Delirium (copied from SCG) and still come last.
In GB Delirium I have Lilianas, Ruinous, Transgress and Grasps/Murder, should I ditch delirium and TRY to run something here? or should I just..idk play the Chandra intro deck?
I have been testing Esper and Mardu. Basically a the core of black removal + white for anguished unmaking and goodies, and Red or Blue for extra CA in the form of a 4cc planeswalker (Dovin or Nahiri) and a recursion creature (i.e. Goblin DD in red or the Torrential GH in Blue).
With the Mardu list I made Top 4 in a Win-a-box on Saturday (we split prizes then) without loosing a single match (went 3 wins and 2 draws in Swiss). One of the draws was intentional and the other was a bit of a misplay on my side. I won vs 1 RW vehicles, 1 bant good stuff deck, and vs 1 mardu control, the played draw was vs. an interesting UR burn deck. My impression from the day is that Anguished unmaking is just very good vs the meta. It is the solution to all sorts if problematic cards. The downside is the life loss that, in addition to Live fast's 2 life hit, can be problematic vs the faster decks out there.
Online I have been testing an Esper version..which also uses the anguished unmaking but has less life-loss. In my testing it does pretty well vs. RW aggro, and GW variants. The sb is oriented to deal with combo decks out there and control. The mana base is a work in progress... So far so good but obviously any suggestions/comments are welcome. Here it is.
So I just got back from a great testing session with my playgroup. Easily 3-0ed Toss Ross GW and went 1-1 vs a Grixis Emerge (he nut drew on the play G1 and I didn't have the 2nd white on T5 for Fumigate). All games were preboard.
This is the deck I'm currently working towards. IT is essentially a UB control deck with a small W splash to facilitate the inclusion of Dovin Baan without overly complicating the mana base. I played a planeswalker heavy Esper list at FNM last week that did a very similiar thing with a small U splash to include Dovin. I also played Harsh Scrutiny over Transgress the Mind and only found myself wanting Transgress against an Abzan Walker deck and UR Visions, otherwise Scrutiny was invaluable as a turn 1 creature remover and the scry is a great addition. Liliana is in the SB to make room for Dovin as there are a lot of 3 drops in the deck already and a little room at the 4 drop spot. I also added in a single copy of Sphinx of the Final Word for added pressure along with protecting your own instants and sorceries. Overall, I think there are a lot of potential pieces for a control deck to take shape, and the meta needs to be fleshed out a bit more in order to determine which of those pieces is better than others.
Control is one of the main three archetypes in the MtG world. Lately though, control has been a bit-part in the world of instant speed creature threats thanks to a lack of both answers and finshing threats. At the tail of SOI/EMN rotation, there was a small resurgence through several W/B lists, who chose to eschew the traditional blue counter magic and draw spells over answers and angelic threats.
With Collected Company now heading out the rotating door, and with some of the cards coming out in Kaladesh, however, blue control is poised to make a comeback, and it is once again time for a dedicated UBx control thread (covering both Esper and "pure" UB control).
Esper VS UB
Both colour combinations are potentially powerful, but Esper has the only sweepers left in the format. Esper control is more likely to be planeswalker based, relying on cards like Sorin, Grim Nemesis to simultaneously give us card advantage while slowly killing off the opponent. Focussing on UB allows a more consistent mana base, but could be less resilient to go-wide decks. This type of deck tends to be more reactive, and relies on larger creatures to turn the corner once the board is successfully controlled.
Tap-out vs Draw-go
Not only are there two colour combinations that lend themselves to control, but there are two styles as well. Tap-out involves a lot of sorcery speed plays, and as such tends to have more cards available to answer threats. However, it runs very few counter spells (as you're usually tapped out on your turn), so needs to have the answer for a threat right away. Draw-go is a bit of a misnomer. In fact, it's usually draw-play land-go! A lot more reactive, draw-go has more of the ability to counter spells before the threat hits the battlefield, and often uses the phrase most hated by players facing a control mage: "in response..."
Sample deck lists
Just after the release of Kaladesh, Shaheen Soorani posted a couple of deck lists on his Facebook page showing initial builds in both Esper and UB. Although the Esper list is stronger, in his opinion, the UB list was described as more reactive, and more fun to play. His article on SCG on 7 Oct updated the lists slightly, and included sideboard choices. The article is here. The UB list got updated again on 21 Oct in this article, where he changes his opinion and deems the UB list to be far better in the post PT meta.
2 Island
1 Plains
5 Swamp
4 Choked Estuary
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Prairie Stream
4 Shambling Vent
4 Sunken Hollow
Removal (16)
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Ruinous Path
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Murder
2 Descend upon the Sinful
2 Fumigate
4 Oath of Jace
4 Take Inventory
Walkers and win-cons (10)
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Dovin Baan
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
2 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
2 Summary Dismissal
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Flaying Tendrils
1 Painful Truths
1 Ruinous Path
*** Updated 7 Oct based on SCG article. 4 Fumigates became 2/2 split of Fumigate and Descend upon the Sinful.
3 Aether Hub
2 Blighted Fen
4 Submerged Boneyard
4 Choked Estuary
3 Island
4 Sunken Hollow
6 Swamp
Draw spells (7)
4 Anticipate
3 Glimmer of Genius
Counter Magic (5)
1 Summary Dismissal
4 Scatter to the Winds
3 Transgress the Mind
3 Murder
3 Ruinous Path
4 Grasp of Darkness
Walkers and win-cons (9)
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
4 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Confirm Suspicions
2 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
2 To the Slaughter
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Flaying Tendrils
2 Lost Legacy
*** Updated 7 Oct based on SCG article. Confirm Suspicions mainboard becomes Anticipate number 4, and one Summary Dismissal main become a third Liliana.
*** Second update 21 Oct from SCG article. One Liliana becomes Kalitas, and two swamps became additional Aether Hubs. In the side, one Essence Extraction and a Summary Dismissal were cut for a pair of To the Slaughter, and one copy of Kalitas and the Ruinous Path become two Lost Legacies.
4 Choked Estuary
4 Submerged Boneyard
4 Sunken Hollow
6 Island
8 Swamp
Removal (15)
1 Flaying Tendrils
2 Essence Extraction
2 Murder
2 Ruinous Path
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Harsh Scrutiny
2 Anticipate
3 Fortune's Favor
Counter magic (4)
2 Horribly Awry
2 Scatter to the Winds
Walkers and win-cons (10)
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Essence Extraction
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Ruinous Path
1 Summary Dismissal
2 Negate
2 Transgress the Mind
3 Flaying Tendrils
4 Lost Legacy
1 Blighted Fen
4 Choked Estuary
7 Island
2 Submerged Boneyard
4 Sunken Hollow
9 Swamp
Removal (13)
1 To the Slaughter
2 Murder
3 Essence Extraction
3 Harsh Scrutiny
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
4 Glimmer of Genius
Counter spells (6)
2 Negate
4 Void Shatter
Walkers and win-cons (8)
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Torrential Gearhulk
3 Ceremonious Rejection
4 Transgress the Mind
4 Flaying Tendrils
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
Threats and finishers
Sorin, Grim Nemesis - As mentioned before, Sorin is perfect in a control deck. His +1 is both card advantage and damage at the same time, -X allows us to stabilise (after all, our life is only a resource, and 1 =/= 0), and unchecked, his ultimate is an instant win.
Torrential Gearhulk - Preferred in the reactive shell by Soorani, the blue Gearhulk gives a lot more flexibility in the reactive deck. Run out of counter spells? Flash one back and get a body too. Being attacked for lethal? Flash this in, re-cast a removal spell, then block as well. Nothing really going on as you're fully in control? Cast this EOT, re-cast a draw spell and get protection to stay in control.
Thing in the Ice - Off of a lot of people's radars until it was played in several other control lists, such as Yasooka's PT winning Grixis list. It can be dropped early, put up a wall against aggressive creatures, and also fares well against a lot of the damage spells in standard right now.
Supporting cast
Liliana, the Last Hope - honestly, I'm in two minds about Liliana. We'd get some use out of her +1, but her minus ability is (in my opinion) near useless in this deck. The only time we would be likely to use it is to get a Gearhulk back late game, but by then we should be in clear control and winning anyway. Maybe a sideboard card in the mirror though...
Dovin Baan - the 'walker that came to the Gatewatch to ask for help, Dovin Baan seems to be putting people in two minds as well. His plus ability certainly keeps creatures in check, and his minus teams up well to both stabilise and gain card advantage. It almost seems worth it to run and just milk for cards and life! Additionally, his card draw/life gain team up well with Ob Nixilis.
Ob Nixilis Reignited - who needs a lot of text on a card to be good? Card advantage, removal and a win-con rolled in to one.
Noxious Gearhulk - not mentioned in either of Shaheen Soorani's lists, but I think that the black Gearhulk could slot in to a control shell quite well, especially one that does not run life gain effects associated with the white part of Esper.
Removal spells
Grasp of Darkness - arguably the best, but certainly the quickest removal available to a control mage. This is going to be in demand with the number of vehicles expected in standard, as it allows us to respond to an activated Smuggler's Copter or Fleetwheel Cruiser. The conditionality (i.e. it can only kill things with 4 toughness or less) makes it a little more problematic against ramp decks, such as Temur-ge, but kills off the things that they're trying to emerge with.
Murder - unconditional instant speed removal. Simple and effective, but a little slow on the play against a Copter deck.
Ruinous Path - possibly one of the only sorcery speed spells that a draw-go deck should consider, as it's one of only a few responses to a resolved planeswalker that we have right now. Expect a lot of decks with planeswalkers, so this card should be plentiful in a control shell.
Anguished Unmaking - another answer to walkers, but the life cost against aggro decks just does their job for them. This is one of the only ways to get rid of resolved enchantments (such as Fevered Visions).
Essence Extraction - an excellent sideboard card against aggro. Three is the magic number to take out Copter, Cruiser, Reflector Mage, etc, and also negates the life loss from the three main red damage spells.
Aether Meltdown - an underrated card, but is another instant speed answer to Copter. The energy goes towards fuelling the Aether Hub, and is also easier to cast than a Murder or Essence Extraction.
Fragmentize - a one mana Disenchant. Could be a good sideboard (or even a single mainboard) answer to so many of the Kaladesh artifact decks.
Sweepers
Fumigate - white has all the sweepers in standard right now. Fumigate seems to be the best right now, especially against aggro, as the life gain allows us to survive a few more turns, potentially putting us out of range of opponents' spells.
Descend Upon the Sinful - Wrath of Cod is an effective sweeper as it exiles rather than destroys. Could be a consideration against recursive decks like UB Zombies.
Planar Outburst - an outsider for a sweeper, but it allows us to awaken lands and keep them while wiping the other side of the board.
Flaying Tendrils - Low casting cost makes this an attractive option against aggro decks.
Counter spells
Scatter to the Winds/Void Shatter - these can be used interchangeably as the standard 3 mana counter. Scatter has the potential to awaken and give an extra win-con, whereas Shatter exiles the spells, again good against recursive decks.
Negate - one of in the main, or several in the sideboard to give answers to planeswalkers and enchantments
Revolutionary Rebuff - potentially a role player, but context-dependent. If the meta skews towards a less artifact heavy one, then it could be a good call.
Summary Dismissal - there's only one main reason to run this, and that is to stifle the cast trigger from Emrakul, the Promised End.
Ceremonious Rejection - another great sideboard card, this time against artifact heavy decks, and anything that relies on Eldrazi threats. Get rid of them all with only one blue mana!
Insidious Will - a multi-purpose counter spell. The best description of it I've heard is "choose target spell. There are now two, one or no copies of it on the stack."
Draw spells
Anticipate - one of the older draw spells in the format now, this is actually more of a card filter. It doesn't really gain card advantage (you spend one card to draw one card), but seeing three cards does help.
Take Inventory - gets better as the game goes on, but relies on you having cast several of them to actually get any payoff.
Succumb to Temptation - A useful replacement to Read the Bones. We lose the scry 2, but gain instant speed. Leaving up 1BB means that the opponent doesn't know if we have a Murder in hand, or if we are just waiting to cast this EOT.
Oath of Jace - only draws when it enters the battlefield, but in a tap-out planeswalker heavy deck, allows for a lot of scry triggers and sets up control pretty well.
Glimmer of Genius - a new draw spell, and one that dives pretty deep in to our deck. Scry 2, draw 2 is again reminiscent of Read the Bones, but this time swapping the life loss for energy gain (to fuel Aether Hub), instant speed, and a slightly increased mana cost. However, when we are concentrating on killing and countering everything in the first few turns, is a 4 mana draw spell that bad?
Confirm Suspicions - gives us flexibility as to when we draw our cards by giving clues instead. Plus comes with a counter spell attached for added bonus!
Mana base
The mana base kind of writes itself, needing 19 blue sources for a T2 Negate, 20 black sources for a T2 Grasp, and 16 white for a T4 Dovin Baan. While we can't quite get there yet, Aether Hub gives us a bit of flexibility, along with Shambling Vent and the multitude of duel lands.
I'm sure that there are plenty of cards that I've missed here, but they can be added (or removed) later as UB(x) control starts to prove itself in the new standard! Please, post your lists and results here. I'll also try to keep the original post updated as and when lists do well at larger tournaments.
There are enough creatures where the opponent still ends up ahead on the exchange if we Grasp it. We don't want to give them even more profit by letting it stick around on the board to use abilities or feed Emerge.
The white Escalate spell is also a solution to Copter while permanently removing things from the board. That might be better if you're looking for something easier on the mana than BB.
I think I need some slight work on the mana base in particular, but I'm loving the mainboard. Currently trying to decide between Void Shatter and Scatter to the Winds. My only real issue deck to play vs is Mardu Hulk Reanimater with me going 1-3 preboard and 1-1 postboard.
Any suggestions?
3x Aether Hub
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Island
3x Plains
3x Prairie Stream
4x Shambling Vent
3x Sunken Hollow
4x Swamp
Creature (4)
1x Archangel Avacyn
1x Linvala, the Preserver
2x Torrential Gearhulk
Instant (20)
2x Anguished Unmaking
3x Anticipate
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Glimmer of Genius
3x Grasp of Darkness
3x Immolating Glare
2x Scatter to the Winds
2 Void Shatter
1x Dovin Baan
3x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Sorcery (2)
2x Fumigate
Enchantment (2)
2x Oath of Jace
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1 Fumigate
2x Dead Weight
2x Fragmentize
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Negate
2x Transgress the Mind
How's the ARchangel doing for you?
I see no reason for Liliana in these decks.
Her -2 is useless (unless desperate to find a Gearhulk)
Her Ultimate is more useless (unless there is Kalitas or equivalent in deck)
Her +1 Sure, can kill a x/1 but if the opponent is playing aggro, she will die fairly quickly.
Ah, was referring to the other decks that do not run Kalitas or are creatureless other than Gearhulk.
The biggest issue for her (and planeswalkers in general) is going to be vehicles. With all of the 3 power creatures running around, even a nerfed 2 drop can still crew a smuggler's copter, and fleetwheel cruiser is going to be a hellacious foil to superfriends strats that don't also invest in some kind of creature based defenses.
You say you're new, so I don't want to be rude, but this is absolutely false. Liliana is VERY strong. She buys time, which is control's greatest resource. Her emblem is now REALLY hard to beat now that Virulent Plague no longer exists.
But yeah, there are matchups she is quite bad in, so I keep her in the board.
Looking at SCG results, the main decks to target seem to be as follows: On the aggro side: WRx or RB vehicles (all their creatures are smaller than x/3s, and many are x/1s or x/2s), on the midrange side: grixis emerge (w/ zombie shenanigans) GB delirium (ported almost identically from last season) and GWx that looks like the coco decks of old, but at sorcery speed. Seems lo me that sideboard lilianas and sideboard flaying tendrils can go a loooooong way. This weekend they worked for me, and I expect they'll continue to do so. Also, exiling seems like it could be relevant, specially because new nissa is cropping up in people's sideboards, and the zombie/dredge recursions that people played at ASC indy. As long as new chandra remains relatively unplayed, Kalitas will still provide lots of value vs Emerge decks post-board (make sure to bring lili in also, so you can recur kalitas if they keep in their K-returns).
I guess we'll need more data and see how the pro tour lines up, but the meta seems pretty ripe for UBx: we have reasonable tools to fight decks packed with x/1s and x/2s (with an occasional x/3), and esper's end game of accruing value with walkers (and perhaps going all the way to emrakul, like shaheen soorani's list from last standard) is till excelent vs non-vehicles decks. The tools are all there, teh challeng eis fitting them in 75 cards, but i think it should be doable.
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Choked Estuary
4 Shambling Vent
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Swamp
3 Port Town
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
Planeswalkers
2 Dovin Baan
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Filigree Familiar
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Noxious Gearhulk
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Instants
4 Grasp of Darkness
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Void Shatter
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Negate
Sorcery
2 Fumigate
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Call the Bloodline
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Pick the Brain
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Fragmentize
2 Essence Extraction
2 Summary Dismissal
Couple of notes: I originally had Ob Nixilis, Reignited over the Jace, Unraveler of Secrets however I found that the bounce effect on my own creatures from Jace can be very useful to reset things like Gearhulks or even just a Gonti. I did win a long mirror by Gonti milling my opponent out of a game because they couldn't find removal for him. Obviously a corner case scenario but hey a win is a win.
I have debated cutting the Liliana, the Last Hope and adding some more card draw but she has been preforming well enough that I don't really want to cut her.
The sideboard has some meta dependent cards in it. Kambal, Consul of Allocation is for the mirror and several Fevered Visions decks that are in my area. I play in a very control/combo heavy play group. Depending on what the format looks like come regionals I will be playing something else over them most likely. Havent decided what yet though. Possibly 2 Harsh Scrutiny or Collective Brutality. I am also considering upping the Fragmentize count if more Aetherworks decks start popping up.
You're right, I wouldn't know. Been playing for decades and no matter what I play, a noob kid would beat me with a pile of draft commons. I used to play GB Delirium (copied from SCG) and still come last.
That aside, this is all I have for these decks:
2 Dovin Baan
2 Torrential Gearhulk
3 Fumigate
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Revolutionary Rebuff
4 Reclamation Sage
2 Authority of the Consuls
2 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
2 Filigree Familiar
1 Choked Estuary
In GB Delirium I have Lilianas, Ruinous, Transgress and Grasps/Murder, should I ditch delirium and TRY to run something here? or should I just..idk play the Chandra intro deck?
White has the big board wipes but red has good instant spot removal, both have good options for walkers and similar win conditions
Would anyone like to weigh in?
Modern: WURG Twin
Standard: Mardu Planeswalkers
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/deck-creation-standard/661834-mardu-planeswalker?comment=1
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With the Mardu list I made Top 4 in a Win-a-box on Saturday (we split prizes then) without loosing a single match (went 3 wins and 2 draws in Swiss). One of the draws was intentional and the other was a bit of a misplay on my side. I won vs 1 RW vehicles, 1 bant good stuff deck, and vs 1 mardu control, the played draw was vs. an interesting UR burn deck. My impression from the day is that Anguished unmaking is just very good vs the meta. It is the solution to all sorts if problematic cards. The downside is the life loss that, in addition to Live fast's 2 life hit, can be problematic vs the faster decks out there.
Online I have been testing an Esper version..which also uses the anguished unmaking but has less life-loss. In my testing it does pretty well vs. RW aggro, and GW variants. The sb is oriented to deal with combo decks out there and control. The mana base is a work in progress... So far so good but obviously any suggestions/comments are welcome. Here it is.
4 Prairie Stream
4 Shambling Vent
1 Plains
2 Island
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Swamp
2 Aether Hub
3 Sunken Hollow
2 Choked Estuary
// Creatures
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Sphinx of the Final Word/ 4th Torrential GH
3 Dovin Baan
3 Anticipate
3 Glimmer of Genius
2 Summary Dismissal
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
4 Grasp of Darkness
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Anguished Unmaking
2 Murder
2 Fumigate
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Negate
1 Quarantine Field
2 Lost Legacy
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Dead Weight
2 Summary Dismissal
3 Flaying Tendrils
1 Call the Bloodline
Current List:
4x Aether Hub
3 Choked Estuary
3x Island
3x Plains
4x Shambling Vent
3x Sunken Hollow
1 Blighted Fen
1 Blighted Cataract
4x Swamp
Creature (5)
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3x Torrential Gearhulk
Instant (21)
2x Anguished Unmaking
3x Anticipate
3x Blessed Alliance
3x Glimmer of Genius
3x Grasp of Darkness
2x Immolating Glare
2 Revolutionary Rebuff
3 Void Shatter
1x Dovin Baan
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Sorcery (2)
2x Fumigate
1 Anguished Unmaking
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1 Fumigate
1 Summary Dismissal
2x Fragmentize
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Lost Legacy
2x Negate
2x Transgress the Mind
I am unsure on whether I want a 3rd Kalitas, otherwise I feel I have a very good build going into Games Days, etc. Currently.
3 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
Instants (20)
4 Anticipate
4 Grasp of Darkness
3 Murder
4 Scatter to the Winds
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Summary Dismissal
1 Confirm Sucpicions
Sorceries (6)
4 Harsh Scrutiny
2 Ruinous Path
2 Dovin Baan
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Ob Nixilias Reignited
Lands (26)
2 Blighted Fen
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
1 Plains
4 Prairie Stream
4 Sunken Hollow
7 Swamp
2 Negate
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 To the Slaughter
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Summary Dismissal
2 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Torrential Gearhulk
This is the deck I'm currently working towards. IT is essentially a UB control deck with a small W splash to facilitate the inclusion of Dovin Baan without overly complicating the mana base. I played a planeswalker heavy Esper list at FNM last week that did a very similiar thing with a small U splash to include Dovin. I also played Harsh Scrutiny over Transgress the Mind and only found myself wanting Transgress against an Abzan Walker deck and UR Visions, otherwise Scrutiny was invaluable as a turn 1 creature remover and the scry is a great addition. Liliana is in the SB to make room for Dovin as there are a lot of 3 drops in the deck already and a little room at the 4 drop spot. I also added in a single copy of Sphinx of the Final Word for added pressure along with protecting your own instants and sorceries. Overall, I think there are a lot of potential pieces for a control deck to take shape, and the meta needs to be fleshed out a bit more in order to determine which of those pieces is better than others.
For those running three colors what are your thoughts on Painful Truths over Glimmer of Genius?
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
I like Glimmer right now. Scry 2 is just about worth the third card, no life loss, and an instant. Big advantages for control in the aggro meta.
What about the 1 mana difference? just wanna make sure I'm running the right draw spell
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
That is valid, but IMO the benefits I listed outweigh that drawback. I ran Painful Truths last season. I also like the energy for my Aether Hubs.
Modern: WURG Twin
Standard: Mardu Planeswalkers
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/deck-creation-standard/661834-mardu-planeswalker?comment=1
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Charlotte/Greensboro area, NC
Pm me for details