MTG Salvation

I don't have any testing with Gideon, I like both Jace and dovin, I sideboard one Jace for control matchups to increase threat density and I think dovin is fine. I couldn't find a place for him. It's hard because I play draw-go and can't really afford to tap out on turn 4 most games. But I want to test with him because if you can nullify one of their creatures you can force them to over extend into a fumigate but that's more against slower midrange decks. But I have a hard time including planeswalkers into the list because turns 2-6 I want to be able to l leave up Mana for counters and spot removal and play card draw when I don't need to. Then turn 6+ just gain card advantage and keep the board in check with counters and fumigate get them down to no cards in hand maybe flash in some gearhulks to counter or kills stuff maybe drop a glyph keeper with counter magic up and ride it to victory. I don't like tapping out. I really want to try and find room for kefnet because he is so good. It's just hard because with all the pages of notes I've taken, data, statistics etc I don't have much wiggle room for changes maindeck. My current meta is like 60% aggro 40% control after hblast tourny so I have to run things like 3 pull I'd like to run 4 just can't have too many early. I feel 3 is correct. 2 negate main board and my wincons gearhulk and glyph keeper. 3 cast out is fine for me it's a good flash catch-all maybe go to 4 if there is a large number of walker decks that surface but for now it's good, I see some lists run 1-2 censor which I don't feel is correct, I want it in my opening hand and on curve every game so I feel it's run 4 or none. I think the card is amazing so I run 4. But to get to the original point. I like the planeswalkers I just can't fit them into my list because I need to always have Mana open. But you could sideboard some depending on your meta. None of them effect the board so if you are behind they won't catch you up. Maybe draw you a card before they die so kefnet or maybe the bigger gideon are prob better. I hope this helped it's just my testing and personal opinion.

Sure np,

I played in the showdown, I took first place again second week in a row going 5-0, I played against RW Humans (2-0), GW Humans (2-0) GB Delirium (1-0-1), Bant Control (2-0) and in the finals UB Control (1-0 not enough time to play game two).

Delirium after sideboard game two was very hard, I think i played it correctly, he was able to stick a Lily turn 3 and was able to get to her Ult quickly, I had the disallow in hand so i could only play enough to keep his board in check but not tap out to play my own wincon because I had to keep disallow mana up, finally he popped her ult with 1 or 2 loyalty left on her, i disallowed it and drew the Fumigate to clear an Ishkanah, 3 spiders a Ghonti and a walking ballista to stabilize and go to time, so I got the win for taking game 1.

In the finals against UB control it was a long grindy game which was a lot of land go, counter wars and attrition. I played it the best I could, I wasn't confident I was even going to win but thankfully I had westvale abby to make a dude to chip away damage, and with minutes left in the round i was able to take care of his last gearhulk and fly over his Ghonti with a glyph keeper after spending all game getting him down to a small hand size. It was one of the funnest games of magic i've ever played and tempo went back and forth the whole 55mins. I won game one and the round ended before we could start game two.

Things I learned, Glyph Keeper is AMAZING it was bomb in every matchup I played it. The deck is ALWAYS Consistent there were a couple games I mulled and still won because of the scry and card draw, a couple games I missed my land drops early but I play enough 2cmc spells where I always was able to answer most things until I got more land, and having the ability to cycle cast out and censor early is really nice. Also I had originally went from 3 fumigate down to 2 but before the tourney I went back up to 3 which I am really glad I did. I really love the deck, it's doing extremely well for me going 5-0 two weeks in a row, I think UW is def a heavy weight contender and going to be around awhile.

This is the version of the list I decided to run at the standard showdown and felt it was the right call with things like 2 negate mainboard and 3 fumigates instead of 2, I didnt play against many planeswalker decks so 3 cast out seems fine with 1 in the board and very happy with my wincons of Gearhulk and Glyph Keeper which was always amazing for me...List:

I know there is already a thread for control decks but here I am focusing on strictly UW Control, not others like grixis, UB, UR or even Bant, so please don't suggest other colors or splashes.

I have a solid list already, there are just a few questions I have and thought maybe other people could help me with some ideas and answers incase anyone else has testing and/or exp with this deck, before release weekend during the week after pre-release I made a UW control list after just coming back to magic after a two year break, UW based Draw-Go Control is my favorite archtype and I always try to force it when I can. When creating this list I used a specific formula I use for all my Draw-Go control decks which is just a list of personal guidelines I follow while I build my deck. I tried to look online before I built it and tried to research what I can but I could find little to nothing on UW Control in the current standard meta so I built this list blind, I took the list to release weekend and went 5-0 with it taking first place, playing all aggro decks from Mardu Vehicles, RG energy, RW Aggro, RG Midrange and BG Constrictor, and the deck did very very well against all of them. after the tournament was over, I had a couple people tell me they were going to try and build a slimilar list because of how well it did that weekend and then a few days later EFro (Eric Froelich (spelling?)) made a channel fireball Deck of the day post with a list very similar to my own so I am expecting my current local meta to have an increase in control decks.

To get to the point, this weekend is a "Standard Showdown" with very good prizes and payouts and I am expecting a very good turnout at that tournament, and with an expected increase of control decks and possible mirror matches I just need some ideas on how to strengthen my matchup against the mirror and other control decks and what my win-cons should be. I have tweaked the deck since the first tourny but here is the original list that I ran.



I really liked Regal Caracal on it's on, it's 7 for 5 Cmc with lifelink, against aggro and midrange and can help clog up the board, and gain back some life, against removal they need multiple cards to remove it all, I just personally Like the card. I run Glimmer of Genius over the Cycling one because I rather dig 4 deep than have the chance at an early cycle, just personal preference since I don't have a cycling subtheme. I barely used fumigate with all the removal and counters I had so I thought 2 mainboard would be fine. Censor is amazing either it counters them on curve or they play around it which basically makes them wait a turn to do everything and it cycles late game in my honest opinion it's either run 4 or 0 because you always want it on turn 2. Since that tourny and the expectation of more control this coming weekend I changed the list to this:



My main questions are, given there is a lot of aggro in the current meta, and the chance of an increase in control decks what should my wincons be and in what numbers? (I added 2x Westvale Abbey to the list which I was not running in my original List
3x Gearhulk/2x Glyph keeper?
3x Gearhulk/1x Glyph Keeper/1x Sphinx of the Final Word?
3x Gearhulk/1x Glyph Keeper/1x Regal Caracal?
Go back to 3x Gearhulk/2x Regal Caracal?

I went from 4 down to 3 Cast-Out from 3 down to 2 Fumigate based on how much I used them for more Pull from Tomorrow, is that correct based on the meta moving foward? Maybe even go up to 3 Blessed Alliance for against other Glyph Keepers/Sphinx of the Final Word
What number of Pull from Tomorrow should I run? Max I would personally run is 3 but maybe it should only be two since I run 4x Glimmer.

P.S. Yes I run 61 cards maindeck. It's how I prefer to play my Draw-Go Control decks, will not change.

I am running a pretty stock esper control/walkers list. Currently the only matchup that I am having troubles with is BW Control after sideboard, they side in Reality Smasher, Thought Knot Seer and Eldrazi Displace, these for me are hard to deal with, and can put out a lot of damage quickly if gone unanswered, what can I sideboard against this transitional sideboard of Eldrazi beatdown that BW Control sides in? I just got back into Magic after a couple year break. The two weeks that I have run this deck I went 4-0-1 and 4-1 both the loss and the draw each week was to BW control. I am a competent player with over 15 years of experience, I am not asking for overall deck advice I just want some tips or advice on how I can improve my sideboarded BW control matchup and if there happens to be something I am overlooking for this matchup...Also, Yes I am running 61 cards maindeck before anyone judges me for it, I have played control for many years and I enjoy running 61 cards in control decks. The 61st card is usually Transgress or Duress to help my game 1 control mirror/matchup and has been working out amazing for me. Here is my list:

Bile Blight is one of the best removal in the current format. I play Mono Black and I run it as a 4 of, it can hit almost everything early. One of the biggest things is it hits EVERYTHING in Mono Blue, which is a one of the key match-ups, also in the mirror match it no longer comes down to who can has their pack rat survive turn 2 since bile blight can take out multiple. Most of the time I find myself using Bile Blight as a pseudo combat trick, allowing my creature to survive thus killing their creature.

Drown in sorrow on the other hand I feel is more of a sideboard card at the moment, there is not enough RDW or white weenies to justify mainboarding it. If the amount of hyper agro decks increase and/or take over the format, then it could certainly be a mainboard card.

Also I don't know why people hate on Devour Flesh so much, it is a great card against a lot of decks/cards, before I had to make room for Blight I ran Flesh as a 4 of. it hits so much stuff, and the life is irrelevant because once you pull ahead with MBD you just kill them so fast and most decks cant recover. Owen T. even said that 90% of the time Flesh is acts as a 2cmc downfall. It hits BBoV, Specter, Cackler, Fleecemane(monstrous). The only time flesh is weak is when there is a lot of tokens but by that far into the game you are already ahead enough to kill Elspeth with downfall or so far behind that you don't have a chance of winning anyways. In conclusion, Flesh is a great card, edict effects have been super effective for aslong as the game as been around, and the life you give your opponent is most of the time irrelevant.

Are you 100% sure on that? The text on the card is unclear. I figured it would say enchanted creature gets 3 3 flying and gains "at the beginning of your upkeep you lose 1 life".

First off I want to say this is a very under rated card...

My question is, do you still get dealt damage if it is enchanting something, or just when its a creature

This list looks good on paper. I think you will find when testing that you run out of gas with un-needed removal in hand. A few disruption spells like 2 Thoughseize 2 Abrupt decay 2 Mizzium Mortars will be just fine and maybe that might even be too much, this is supposed to be an aggressive deck and hit hard, I think you should cut down in the removal and add more creatures/threats, and I highly recommend running ATLEAST 3 Domri Rade, he is SO good for card advantage and he can act as removal in a pinch with his second ability. I am almost 100% positive if you add increase your creature count and add 3 Domri your win % will go up A LOT. Once a Domri sticks on the board most decks can't keep up with the amount of pressure you can put on. maybe even adding a couple Stormbreath Dragons could add reach to the deck.

I actually like the idea of Junk slivers, just so you know double strike does not work with fighting.

P.S.
I live in VT too

I can understand your argument on only the single elspeth, but the deck is designed around controling the board and drowning your opponent in card advantage. You have to understand the game at a whole new level to understand how to take advantage of a deck like this. You pull your opponent in to deepwaters, drown them with card advantage and find that solid point in the game to drop the elspeth and protect her with your huge hand and continuous resources. You can also win with Jace, most people never consider Jace a wincon but if gone unchecked you can just steal games with his ultimate since worst case you can just steal your opponents wincon. Most likely you just keep throwing down a Jace for your opponent to deal with. If you continue to control the board it forces your opponent to use their Downfalls on the Jace which is perfectly fine even if you don't counter it, it burns a downfall. In conclusion I can see where you could be concerned but it takes someone of a serious skill level to functionally/competently play this deck.

In every deck I play with black in it I mainboard atleast 3. (I Don't play aggro) Even against aggro it is really good. You have to think of it as. Even if you are losing 2 life, pealing something out of your opponents hand early could save you from taking more then just 2. If you peal a Puphorose then that TS is essentially gaining you life. If you only have doom blades and no creatures and your opponent only has a Rakdos Shredfreak. It is still good. You could be potentially taking more then 2 from that guy since he can't be removed by Doom Blade or Ult Price. You just have to assess the situation and and see what you could peal from their hand that would cause you to take more then just the 2 you lose from TS. Also against Green based devotion TS is REALLLLY good as it can take Domri Xenagos or Garruk. Among other stuff. if you are on the play and they keep a 1 land hand because they have several mana dorks. Take a turn two mana dork, and since you are on the play Doom Blade the turn one mystic on your turn 2 and you have already set them very far behind.

I would add more fat bombs because at is you only have 4 valid targets in the whole decklist, maybe another Ashen Rider, Armada Wurm?

Everything has or could get counters, which interacts with Kalonian Hydra, drop some fat creatures to pump gyre sage, double them with Kalonian Hydra, drop a huge Mistcutter Hydra and then double those counters with Kalonian Hydra, Nylea to give everything trample, and some removal for control. Also the Reaper of the Wild could be great here as he works well with removal and pairs well with Desecration Demon. I was thinking about this the other day and I think it's brilliant.

This is my side/casual deck next to my esper and I've run it in regular tourneys with great success.

24 swamps

4 blood artists
4 vampire nighthawks
4 crypt ghasts
3 blood gift demons
2 griselbrand

4 murder/ultimate price
4 victim of night
3 sign in blood
4 mutilate
2 liliana of the dark realms
2 staff of nin