Cruel Control is a UBR "Grixis" deck that focuses on denying your opponent's resources and delaying their gameplan, while advancing your own. Historically speaking Cruel Control started as a 5 color control deck during the Alara-Lorwyn standard. Pro Tour Kyoto (2009) was won by Gabriel Nassif using the following deck:
Cruel Control continued to have success as a deck in standard Pro Tour Qualifiers (PTQs) throughout its time in the format. Cruel Control also saw success in the precursor format to modern; extended.
Cruel Control: Extended Stay
Cruel Control continued its standard success in the extended format. The top 8 of Pro Tour Amsterdam contained two Cruel Control decks; one piloted by Michael Jacob and the other piloted control grandmaster and Pro Tour hall of famer Guillaume Wafo-Tapa. Here are their respective decks:
Cruel Control decks would suffer in the early days of modern due to the non-optimal manabase. However, that all changed with the arrival of the Onslaught fetches thanks to Khans of Tarkir.
Why play Cruel Control over UWR or Esper?
This is a complex question with a simple answer;
Resolving Cruel Ultimatum and seeing the hope drain from your opponent's face is one of the most satisfying feelings control players will ever experience. The UBR "Grixis" colors give us access to modern's best counter magic, removal and of course Cruel Ultimatum. Grixis can adapt to any metagame and be very successful.
Links
Channel Fireball videos of Paul Cheon playing Cruel Control : Match 1 Match 2 Match 3
3/24/2016- Posted the primer in deck creation. Currently constructing the tier 2 & tier 3 matchup guide.
3/24/2016- Ah spelling errors the bane of Bolas.
3/24/2016- Added cards requested by forum members to the card choices section.
3/26/2016- Fixed spelling errors, added space between descriptions in the matchups section for easier reading.
3/27/2016- Added sideboard section and pre-post board matchup percentages.
4/4/2016- Added Ancestral Vision to card advantage section.
7/9/2016- Adding in cards from SOI and EMN.
11/7/2016- Updated the sample lists and added some cards from Kaladesh. Will update matchups Soon
12/24/2016- Updating card choices and gathering data to update matchups section.
2/25/2017- Updated primer with cards from Kaladesh block.
4/18/2017- Added link to discord.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Cruel Ultimatum: This is why we play the game. The card advantage generated from resolving this provides us with a huge lead or lets us come back from being behind. Snapcaster Mage with one of these in the yard is gross, run 2.
Terminate: This kills the creatures, enough said, run 3-4.
Snapcaster Mage: Would you play more than 4 Bolts? More than 4 copies of your best cards? Yes? Exactly, run 3-4 Snapcasters to get more value out of your graveyard.
Kolaghan's Command: This card is ridiculous, like a mini-ultimatum. Gets back dead Snapcasters, kills affinity and gets rid of your opponents cards in hand. This card is essential to loop Snapcaster and grind out games.
Lightning Bolt: Kills most creatures and gives your reach to burn your opponent out in the late game, run 4.
Cryptic Command: This card may be hard to cast, but its versatility it worth it. Fog, draw a card, bounce a permanent and counter any spell, run 2-4.
Torrential Gearhulk: This is our second finisher; a massive 5/6 with flash and a great ability.
Lands
The manabase for this deck has gotten much smoother since Khans of Tarkir was released. You should have 24-26 lands.
Fetches/Shocks/Basics-You should have 6-8 fetches a combination of Scalding Tarn, Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta. Ideally you should have 4 Tarn and 4 Delta. You should have 4 shocks, a combination of Watery Grave, Steam Vents and Blood Crypt. Ideally you should have 2 Vents, 1 Grave and 1 Crypt. For basics you should have 4-6. Ideally 3 Island, 2 Swamp and 1 Mountain in a 26 land build.
Manlands-You should have 2-4. This should be a combination of Creeping Tar Pit, Wandering Fumarole and Lavaclaw Reaches. Ideally you should have 2 Tar Pit and 2 Fumarole. Lavaclaw Reaches is also an option.
Removal
Damnation: Kills just about anything/everything on the field for 4 mana. A must if you're running Grixis colors; you'll probably want at least 2 or 3. Works very well with our manland plan since we can sweep and then attack on an empty board.
Pyroclasm: Very good sweeper against fast aggro decks like Zoo, Affinity, and Elves as you can often get 2-for-1 or better against them. If your meta is slanted towards those types of decks, 1 or 2 maindeck might not be a bad call, otherwise a good consideration for the sideboard.
Volcanic Fallout: Same as Pyroclasm, except for 1 extra red mana you get uncounterability and you hit players.
Electrolyze: Really good removal against x/1 and x/2 creatures, and helps keep your hand full of action. It's one of our best answers to token strategies as it trades evenly CA-wise.
Roast: Sorcery speed 5 damage to a non-flyer. Run 1-2 if Terminate is not enough.
Devour Flesh: Instant speed edict effect to nail hexproof / hard to kill creatures like Geist of Saint Traft and Thrun, the Last Troll and it kills the bogles deck. The lifegain is mostly irrelevant to us as it'll disappear quickly once you start casting Ultimatums. You want a few of these somewhere in your 75.
Far // Away: Edict effect which helps against hexproof creatures, and also bounce that can be used on your own Snapcasters, fuse allows for ridiculous extra value plays.
Mana Leak / Rune Snag: Standard counterspells. If you want 4, run Snags; 3 or less, run Leaks.
Remand: This is more of a tempo spell, but sometimes all you need is one turn to get to Cryptic mana and this will get you there. The free draw is really nice and helps us keep the pressure on.
Spell Snare: Always a solid choice as there are lots of nasty 2-drops that need countering. Good hard counters are hard to come by these days.
Dispel: Hard counter against most combo decks and wins the control mirror match.
Negate: Good hard counter, stays in the sideboard.
Counterflux: A really HARD counter. If the meta is crazy with combo decks or you just need to say NO loudly use this.
Countersquall: A two color negate that shocks the opponent. (Loss of life not damage though)
Logic Knot A great counterspell option for the mid and late game. Watch what you delve away and don't run too many of these.
Condescend A very good counterspell that helps you dig for more answers.
Card Advantage
Serum Visions: Cheap and mana efficient card selection. Very useful in builds with less than 26 lands and it helps you dig for sideboard cards.
Think Twice: Instant speed card advantage; very good against attrition style decks.
Steam Augury: Modern's best Fact or Fiction imitation. Provides good card advantage, but your opponent picks whick pile you get. Not too big of an issue with the presence of Snapcaster.
Blue Sun's Zenith: Draws a lot of cards, but be wary of running too many of these.
Thoughtflare Hefty cost, but you won't find better dig for the price in modern. Snapcaster Mage can buyback discarded spells as well.
Ancestral Vision This card is straight value. While you can not use Snapcaster Mage or Jace, Vryn's Prodigy to cast it from your graveyard, drawing three cards is still pretty good.
Creatures & Planewalkers
Vendilion Clique: Good against control mirrors and combo decks, 3/1 flying body is a good clock as well.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy: Reusable snapcaster mage that draws cards and provides an alternate win con. This is an excellent card.
Izzet Staticaster: Great card against tokens, affinity, elves, infect and other decks that play a lot of x/1 cretures. Mostly a sideboard card.
Fulminator Mage: Good answer to opposing manlands and ramp strategies.
Torrential Gearhulk: Massive 5/6 body and gives you free instants upon entering the battlefield.
Keranos, God of Storms: Card advantage machine that is near impossible to remove and kills your opponent. Absolutely run 1 in your 75.
Vandalblast: Kills affinity and lantern control. This card is more versatile than shatterstorm since you can use it as spot removal early then overload it later if you are running Jace, Vryn's Prodigy.
Molten Rain: Some are fine and others feel the pain. Blows up lands and shocks the opponent. Good against ramp strategies and decks with low land counts.
Sowing Salt: Takes out all the copies of a bothersome land.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Burn-Modern's most popular aggressive deck; these guys like to play with fire so be careful! The most popular iteration of this deck is RGW "Naya". This deck packs small aggressive creatures and many burn spells.Study their primer and dissect their strategy to ensure your victory. This matchup is difficult game 1, but is much easier games 2 and 3 with extra counter magic. Preboard 40-60, postboard 50-50.
Our goal is to remove their creatures and counter all of their spells until you can close the game. Good cards against them are Spell Snare, Dispel, Negate, Pyroclasm and incidental lifegain. Be careful trying to sideboard lifegain against them as they come prepared for that strategy; rather you should focus on cheap counter magic and removing all of their threats.
Sideboard Options: Dispel, Negate, Bottle Gnomes, Sun Droplet and extra removal. You should cut clunky cards against them; big sweepers and some cryptic commands should be cut. Keep in Cruel Ultimatum as it gains life and usually wins the game on the spot. Be very careful about using artifacts/enchantments against them; Destructive Revelry is a card.
Jund-Modern's premier midrange/attrition deck. This deck packs a ton of removal, discard and efficient creatures. This is a BRG deck that has the ability to remove nearly every threat in modern and answer every card. This is a decent matchup game 1 and a even matchup in the sideboard games. Pre and post board 50-50.
Our goal here is remove all of their threats and outlast them. This deck is severely weak to us in game 1 as they will have many dead cards in their deck. Snapcaster Mage is very good against them, but watch out for Scavenging Ooze.
Abzan Company- This deck focuses on using value creatures and an infinite combo to defeat the opponent. It is primarily WBG colors, but may splash some spicy singletons from time to time. The infinite combo involves Kitchen Finks, Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Anafenza, Kin-tree spirit and a sacrifice outlet usually Viscera Seer. This combo gains them infinite life and they can scry Murderous Redcap to the top of their deck for infinite damage the next turn. This is a fairly difficult matchup if your list is heavy on counters and light on removal. Pre-board 35-65, postboard 65-35.
Sideboard Options:Dispel, Anger of the Gods, Izzet Staticaster, Negate and extra removal are good in this matchup. Kitchen Finks can get annoying so you will want to set up situations where you can completely remove it or stop the combo. You'll want to cut most counter magic with the exception of cryptic and dispel. Anger of the Gods wins the game, but be wary of burrenton forge-tender.
Affinity-These guys play a lot of artifacts swing dudes sideways. Their gameplan involves attacking aggressively or using Inkmoth Nexus to win the game. This matchup is fairly easy game 1 if you are packing a good amount of removal. You should watch out for Etched Champion and kill of Steel Overseer and Arcbound Ravager on sight. Preboard 55-45, post board 75-25.
Infect-Another aggresive deck, but these guys only count to 10 and not 20. This deck is full of deadly 1/1 infect creatures like Glistener Elf and Blighted Agent. This deck is very fast and game 1 can be pretty bad for us. Do not try to fight them in combat over a creature as they will usually win that fight; keep mana open and bluff removal to keep them on their toes. Preboard 30-70, postboard 45-55.
Sideboard Options:Dispel, Izzet Staticaster,Fulminator Mage, Night of Souls' Betrayal and all the removal you have are needed in this matchup. You'll want to cut two mana counters and big sweepers. You need to be as efficient as possible to win this matchup.
Tier 2
Merfolk-Aggressive tribal deck that plays Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident and other merfolk creatures. You will want to watch out for Master of Waves and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner as those cards are difficult to beat. Do not underestimate this deck. Skilled merfolk players are quite deadly and this matchup is very hard due to Cavern of Souls and many many redundant creatures. Preboard 55-45, postboard 50-50.
Sideboard Options: Board in all the removal you have, keep Cryptic Command to fog them until you can close the game. Kill their creatures close the game out quick and you will be victorious.
Living End-Graveyard combo deck that puts big creatures in the yard and casts Living End for free via the cascade mechanic. Demonic Dread and Violent Outburst should never be countered; you want to save your counter magic for Living End. Watch out for their land destruction plan in the sideboard games. Preboard 75-25, postboard 55-45.
Ad Nauseam-Combo deck that uses Phyrexian Unlife or Angel's Grace in combination with Ad Nauseam and Lightning Storm to draw their whole deck and kill you. Difficult matchup, but winnable. Preboard 45-55, postboard 65-35.
Sideboard Options: Side out most removal and side in all counter magic. Watch out for their sideboard Laboratory Maniac; keep some removal for him. You can Pithing NeedleLightning Storm and they will be very mad
RG Tron-This matchup is nigh unwinnable due to their late game being much much better than ours. Your only hope is to be aggressive and stop Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon from landing. Quite fitting that Ugin appears in our worst matchup. Preboard 10-90, postboard 15-85.
Zoo-This deck just plays a lot of cheap creatures and attacks. Kill everything and go after their life total as they are pretty reckless with their fetches and shocks. This matchup is difficult due to their speed, but we can get there with Cryptic Command and removal. Preboard 55-45, postboard 50-50.
Sideboard Options: You'll want Dispel and Ashiok if you have them. Also sweepers are very good against them.
Abzan-Same strategy as jund except they have more annoying cards like Lingering Souls, Siege Rhino and rarely Dragonlord Dromoka. You should try to outgrind them, though that will be more difficult than you think. Pre and post board are 45-55.
Sideboard Options:Out goes most counter magic and in comes all the removal and token hate. Izzet Staticaster is a house in this matchup and Cruel Ultimatum helps you win the topdeck wars.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Please point out anything that needs to be changed and I'll add that change and note it in the update log.
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Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Even if you take over a primer, da rules state that they have to be posted here first, and eventually a moderator will move them. Posting them directly to the other sub-forums will just have them return it here and presumably net Lil_Bolas a warning.
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Vorthos-y Johnny. All will be One
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
Lil bolas, I wholeheartedly approve of your selection of Nicol Bolas Art on the thread Always so great to look at bolas in all his different beautiful angles!
Ok everyone I've updated the primer a bit to fix spelling errors and address some points brought up about the card choices and matchups sections.
I'll be updating the primer throughout next week and I plan to have an update each ban announcement and set release.
That said here is a report from me. I went 3-1 at FNM beating Abzan Company, Merfolk and Grixis Delver. I lost hard to hatebears, Loxodon Smiter too strong.
I cast Cruel Ultimatum four times against merfolk, he was not happy
I will say that using Jace, Vryn's Prodigy to cast Cruel Ultimatum then getting Jace back was sweet as well. Forked Bolt and Far // Away have been great so far, I'll be keeping them in my deck.
I will be playing Cruel Control everday next week, so expect a deluge of data.
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Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Sweet results, well played.
Aside from the obvious name connection why're you running the master? Did you ever side him in? where/when/why?
Any comments on the Company matchup?
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Vorthos-y Johnny. All will be One
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I just threw Master of Cruelties in there to see what he could do. I was hoping he would close out some games for me after opponents side out all hard removal. I sided him in against grixis delver and Hatebears, never got a chance to cast him. 0/10 Would not play again lol. Batterskull is probably better for that slot.
I did cast Keranos and did not lose a game where he resolved.
Company Matchup is pretty easy, but we can get tripped up by Kitchen Finks and the combo. I drew pretty poorly against company, did not see a single wrath, but spot removal got me to Cruel Ultimatum mana and that was that! Sided in Dispel and Negate for his search effects.
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Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Did you guys already think about the new cards for ultimatum decks adding some of SOI?
I think that we can go one step ahead making some lists with that new block.
I will add percentages to pre and postboard matchups, don't get too mad if I find some matchups much more favorable than you guys think they are
I will add a sideboard only section as well.
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Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Game 1 2x forked bolt and anger of the gods followed up with snapcaster made him scoop it up.
Game 2 was even shorter with anger of the gods and izzet staticaster. Keranos, followed by Cruel ultimatum to seal the deal.
Round 2 vs. B/W Eldrazi 1-2
I will be glad when they address the issue of the eldrazi.
Game 1 was a slew of mimics and skyspawners feeling the anger of the gods. But the reality smashers and a 9/9 endless one were able to finish the game out.
Game 2 was pretty brutal with a lot of early pressure agianst me with a lack of removal, snapcaster and Tasigur were able to hold back a couple creatures, but not for very long. A timely damnation was able to let me stay alive at 2 life and follow up with Nicol Bolas, who took control of the game with an empty board. The opponent followed up with drowner of hope without reading Nicol Bolas. I took the drowner and the game.
Game 3 I mulliganed to 6 with a terminate, anger, snapcaster and lands. I was thought knotted on turn 2 and my removal was taken. I drew another land and he followed up with relaity smahser and that was pretty much it.
Round 3 vs. Kikichord 2-0
Serum visions with 2 forked bolt and terminate too away his early game. With nothing but lands being drawn on both side, his raging ravine came smashing in for a couple of times. I was able to draw into lavaclaw reaches and traded away the lands. I followed up with the ultimatum to gian control. Next turn he drew a land and I dropped Nicol Bolas. I was able to Ultimate Nicol Bolas easily and the concession came once he read the ultimate.
Game 2 I opened with 3 snapcasters and 2 terminates. I drew another terminate and started snapcasting terminates. The game was short and quick. He was extremely salty wiht 7 terminates hitting in one round.
Round 4 vs Melira Combo 1-2
This is a game I shouldn't have lost. I decided not to SB in my 3 Cages because I thought 3 anger and counters would be enough. I was wrong. ALWAYS stick to the SB plan.
Game 1 forked bolts, with mana leak, cruel ultimatum followed by Nicol Bolas made it an easy fight.
Game 2 he was able to combo off while I was stuck on 4 lands.
Game 3 was much of the same as game 2 getting stuck on 5 lands. I was able to buy time by snapcasting anger of the gods. But I oculdn't get anymore tempo and was quickly overwhelmed by back to back companies.
Round 5 Vs Abzan 2-1
Game 1 was slow with a board stall of Anafenza the foremost vs. Tasigur. He started dropping lingering souls and I was able to anger but he had the playset and was slowrolling me. Pia and Kiran came down to wipe out the last souls and I was gaining tempo but I was finished off by a rhino.
Game 2 he brought in his disruption suite and went to town on my hand but was unable to captialize on it. I dropped Grave Titan and we went back and forth for a bit. I was fairly outplayed by rhinos but damnation was a timely draw with me at 2 life. I followed up with ultimatum to stabilize my life total and recover. I followed that up with Nicol Bolas and it was over fairly quickly form that.
Game 3 I was hit by 2 inquisitions and a thoughtseize back to back. It was crippling but once again he had no followup. I was able to take over fairly easily termanting and counterspelling threats. I was able to drop the ultimatum and follow it up with Bolas once again. I stole his wilt-leaf liege and finished him off by snapcasting back the cruel ultimatum for the concession.
Final Thoughts
I do need to get tar pits and will replace the fumaroles with them. I was tempted to put in some Thoughtseizes but wasn't sure if I should or not. Pia and kiran are ok, but I always chose to side them out. I also could use another sweeper but I lack a 2nd damnation. Thoughts on Crux vs. Languish. I'm leaning towards Crux since there are some really big butts in modern. The 2 ultimatums and a Nicol Bolas feel like a high end but even when I opened with 2 in hand and kept, I was never far behind and was able to catch up most of the time. I alsoonly got close to time during one of the 5 matches so I don't feel like time will be an issue with control.
Overall I love how the deck plays out even though it feels like it does need a bit of tweaking as I would love to take it to SCG states in a month. Any critiques and criticisms are welcome.
Always stick to your sideboard and good work! Please post your sideboard when posting decklist then we can offer more advice.
When the meta shakes out in April we will know what cards we all need to win states.
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Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Yea normally I do but it was just a thrown together SB since my Ashioks didn't arrive in time. It will have some significant changes for the new rotation since next week is prerelease for me instead of modern.
I feel like if you're trying to make a mystical teachings control deck this set really helped you out, epiphany seems playable in a mystical teachings deck alongside the slaughter card that makes your opponent sac a planeswalker or creature, or both if you have delirium. Finally the invasive surgery card seems like a great tutor target coming in from the sideboard as well for a mystical teachings deck. All in all it seems far more feasible to play mystical teachings deck, is it there yet? idk, probably needs just a little more to get there, but it sure got some help this set.
Cruel Control Primer
"There is no greater folly than standing against me."
—Nicol Bolas
Thanks to Magicman657 for the old primer which can be found Here
Cruel Control: Standard of Excellence
Cruel Control is a UBR "Grixis" deck that focuses on denying your opponent's resources and delaying their gameplan, while advancing your own. Historically speaking Cruel Control started as a 5 color control deck during the Alara-Lorwyn standard. Pro Tour Kyoto (2009) was won by Gabriel Nassif using the following deck:
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Mulldrifter
3 Plumeveil
3 Wall of Reverence
4 Broken Ambitions
1 Celestial Purge
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Cryptic Command
4 Esper Charm
1 Pithing Needle
1 Terror
4 Volcanic Fallout
2 Cascade Bluffs
2 Exotic Orchard
3 Island
1 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Meadow
1 Celestial Purge
2 Infest
2 Negate
1 Remove Soul
4 Scepter of Fugue
1 Wispmare
2 Wrath of God
2 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Cruel Control continued to have success as a deck in standard Pro Tour Qualifiers (PTQs) throughout its time in the format. Cruel Control also saw success in the precursor format to modern; extended.
Cruel Control: Extended Stay
Cruel Control continued its standard success in the extended format. The top 8 of Pro Tour Amsterdam contained two Cruel Control decks; one piloted by Michael Jacob and the other piloted control grandmaster and Pro Tour hall of famer Guillaume Wafo-Tapa. Here are their respective decks:
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Grave Titan
1 Damnation
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Preordain
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Punishing Fire
1 Terminate
4 Cryptic Command
1 Consume the Meek
2 Mystical Teachings
1 Extirpate
4 Mana Leak
1 Logic Knot
2 Coalition Relic
4 Crumbling Necropolis
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Cascade Bluffs
2 Sunken Ruins
1 River of Tears
1 Reflecting Pool
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Damnation
1 Consume the Meek
1 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
2 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
2 Flashfreeze
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Thought Hemorrhage
4 Wall of Omens
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Grave Titan
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Mana Leak
4 Esper Charm
4 Cryptic Command
3 Mystical Teachings
2 Volcanic Fallout
1 Consume the Meek
1 Path to Exile
1 Smother
1 Celestial Purge
1 Negate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Extirpate
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
3 Vivid Meadow
3 Mystic Gate
3 Sunken Ruins
3 Island
3 Dreadship Reef
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Smother
1 Celestial Purge
1 Negate
1 Extirpate
2 Baneslayer Angel
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thoughtseize
2 Damnation
1 Ricochet Trap
1 Vendilion Clique
Esper Control also descends from Wafo-Tapa's Cruel days; should you feel the need for less R in your life you can find their primer Here
Cruel Control had great success in the extended format, however a new format would appear in 2011; Modern
Cruel Control: A Modern Proposal
Cruel Control in modern started with lists such as this list courtesy of Magicman657:
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Batterskull
2 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Suffer the Past
3 Cryptic Command
2 Mana Leak
1 Condescend
1 Spell Snare
1 Counterflux
2 Think Twice
2 Electrolyze
1 Consume the Meek
1 Damnation
2 Mystical Teachings
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Terminate
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Far / Away
1 Sudden Death
1 Echoing Truth
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
3 Island
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Creeping Tarpit
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Molten Slagheap
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Devour Flesh
1 Damnation
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Illness in the Ranks
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Suffer the Past
3 Thoughtseize
Cruel Control decks would suffer in the early days of modern due to the non-optimal manabase. However, that all changed with the arrival of the Onslaught fetches thanks to Khans of Tarkir.
Why play Cruel Control over UWR or Esper?
This is a complex question with a simple answer;
Resolving Cruel Ultimatum and seeing the hope drain from your opponent's face is one of the most satisfying feelings control players will ever experience. The UBR "Grixis" colors give us access to modern's best counter magic, removal and of course Cruel Ultimatum. Grixis can adapt to any metagame and be very successful.
Links
Channel Fireball videos of Paul Cheon playing Cruel Control :
Match 1
Match 2
Match 3
Cruel Discord:
Chat
3/24/2016- Posted the primer in deck creation. Currently constructing the tier 2 & tier 3 matchup guide.
3/24/2016- Ah spelling errors the bane of Bolas.
3/24/2016- Added cards requested by forum members to the card choices section.
3/26/2016- Fixed spelling errors, added space between descriptions in the matchups section for easier reading.
3/27/2016- Added sideboard section and pre-post board matchup percentages.
4/4/2016- Added Ancestral Vision to card advantage section.
7/9/2016- Adding in cards from SOI and EMN.
11/7/2016- Updated the sample lists and added some cards from Kaladesh. Will update matchups Soon
12/24/2016- Updating card choices and gathering data to update matchups section.
2/25/2017- Updated primer with cards from Kaladesh block.
4/18/2017- Added link to discord.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Here is what a typical Modern Cruel Control deck looks like:
1-2 Cruel Ultimatum
1-2 Torrential Gearhulk
2-4 Terminate
2-4 Snapcaster Mage
2-4 Cryptic Command
3-4 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
No matter what spell suite/land ratio you choose, you need to be playing a combination of these core cards.
The Core
You should be playing these cards
Cruel Ultimatum: This is why we play the game. The card advantage generated from resolving this provides us with a huge lead or lets us come back from being behind. Snapcaster Mage with one of these in the yard is gross, run 2.
Terminate: This kills the creatures, enough said, run 3-4.
Snapcaster Mage: Would you play more than 4 Bolts? More than 4 copies of your best cards? Yes? Exactly, run 3-4 Snapcasters to get more value out of your graveyard.
Kolaghan's Command: This card is ridiculous, like a mini-ultimatum. Gets back dead Snapcasters, kills affinity and gets rid of your opponents cards in hand. This card is essential to loop Snapcaster and grind out games.
Lightning Bolt: Kills most creatures and gives your reach to burn your opponent out in the late game, run 4.
Cryptic Command: This card may be hard to cast, but its versatility it worth it. Fog, draw a card, bounce a permanent and counter any spell, run 2-4.
Torrential Gearhulk: This is our second finisher; a massive 5/6 with flash and a great ability.
The manabase for this deck has gotten much smoother since Khans of Tarkir was released. You should have 24-26 lands.
Fetches/Shocks/Basics-You should have 6-8 fetches a combination of Scalding Tarn, Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta. Ideally you should have 4 Tarn and 4 Delta. You should have 4 shocks, a combination of Watery Grave, Steam Vents and Blood Crypt. Ideally you should have 2 Vents, 1 Grave and 1 Crypt. For basics you should have 4-6. Ideally 3 Island, 2 Swamp and 1 Mountain in a 26 land build.
Manlands-You should have 2-4. This should be a combination of Creeping Tar Pit, Wandering Fumarole and Lavaclaw Reaches. Ideally you should have 2 Tar Pit and 2 Fumarole. Lavaclaw Reaches is also an option.
Pyroclasm: Very good sweeper against fast aggro decks like Zoo, Affinity, and Elves as you can often get 2-for-1 or better against them. If your meta is slanted towards those types of decks, 1 or 2 maindeck might not be a bad call, otherwise a good consideration for the sideboard.
Volcanic Fallout: Same as Pyroclasm, except for 1 extra red mana you get uncounterability and you hit players.
Electrolyze: Really good removal against x/1 and x/2 creatures, and helps keep your hand full of action. It's one of our best answers to token strategies as it trades evenly CA-wise.
Roast: Sorcery speed 5 damage to a non-flyer. Run 1-2 if Terminate is not enough.
Devour Flesh: Instant speed edict effect to nail hexproof / hard to kill creatures like Geist of Saint Traft and Thrun, the Last Troll and it kills the bogles deck. The lifegain is mostly irrelevant to us as it'll disappear quickly once you start casting Ultimatums. You want a few of these somewhere in your 75.
Far // Away: Edict effect which helps against hexproof creatures, and also bounce that can be used on your own Snapcasters, fuse allows for ridiculous extra value plays.
Anger of the Gods: This card lets us beat decks like Kiki-Chord and Abzan Company. Exiling Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence is very good.
Forked Bolt: This card is very good against infect and affinity. Kills all the small creatures and goes to the face if needed.
Silumgar's Command: Expensive, but versatile card. Good against planeswalkers.
Dreadbore: Good against planeswalker heavy metas, sorcery speed though.
Hero's Downfall: Additional hard removal though a tad expensive.
To the Slaughter: Good edict effect that always hits planeswalkers.
Devastation Tide: Board reset button.
Fatal Push: Very good spot removal for one black mana.
Thoughtseize: Takes away any nonland card for the price of two life. Great against combo decks.
Inquisition of Kozilek: Very good card in aggressive metagames.
Mana Leak / Rune Snag: Standard counterspells. If you want 4, run Snags; 3 or less, run Leaks.
Remand: This is more of a tempo spell, but sometimes all you need is one turn to get to Cryptic mana and this will get you there. The free draw is really nice and helps us keep the pressure on.
Spell Snare: Always a solid choice as there are lots of nasty 2-drops that need countering. Good hard counters are hard to come by these days.
Dispel: Hard counter against most combo decks and wins the control mirror match.
Negate: Good hard counter, stays in the sideboard.
Counterflux: A really HARD counter. If the meta is crazy with combo decks or you just need to say NO loudly use this.
Countersquall: A two color negate that shocks the opponent. (Loss of life not damage though)
Logic Knot A great counterspell option for the mid and late game. Watch what you delve away and don't run too many of these.
Condescend A very good counterspell that helps you dig for more answers.
Serum Visions: Cheap and mana efficient card selection. Very useful in builds with less than 26 lands and it helps you dig for sideboard cards.
Think Twice: Instant speed card advantage; very good against attrition style decks.
Steam Augury: Modern's best Fact or Fiction imitation. Provides good card advantage, but your opponent picks whick pile you get. Not too big of an issue with the presence of Snapcaster.
Blue Sun's Zenith: Draws a lot of cards, but be wary of running too many of these.
Thoughtflare Hefty cost, but you won't find better dig for the price in modern. Snapcaster Mage can buyback discarded spells as well.
Ancestral Vision This card is straight value. While you can not use Snapcaster Mage or Jace, Vryn's Prodigy to cast it from your graveyard, drawing three cards is still pretty good.
Vendilion Clique: Good against control mirrors and combo decks, 3/1 flying body is a good clock as well.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy: Reusable snapcaster mage that draws cards and provides an alternate win con. This is an excellent card.
Izzet Staticaster: Great card against tokens, affinity, elves, infect and other decks that play a lot of x/1 cretures. Mostly a sideboard card.
Fulminator Mage: Good answer to opposing manlands and ramp strategies.
Torrential Gearhulk: Massive 5/6 body and gives you free instants upon entering the battlefield.
Keranos, God of Storms: Card advantage machine that is near impossible to remove and kills your opponent. Absolutely run 1 in your 75.
Mogis, God of Slaughter: One sided Sulfuric Vortex that is sometimes removal.
Spellskite: Great against infect and bogles if it lives. Good sideboard card.
Jace, Architect of Thought: Provides good card advantage and keeps aggro in check. Can also cast Cruel Ultimatum for free.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver: Absolute beast versus creature decks and provides an alternate win con.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker: The king himself. His ultimate reads: Destroy target opponent.
Wurmcoil Engine: This card is very hard to beat, you can crush jund decks with it after they side out all of their removal.
Batterskull: Very hard to kill after it lands in the late game. Try to play it with protection or bounce mana available.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang Not really suited for our deck, but an option if you need him.
Sideboard
Shatterstorm: Damnation for artifacts.
Vandalblast: Kills affinity and lantern control. This card is more versatile than shatterstorm since you can use it as spot removal early then overload it later if you are running Jace, Vryn's Prodigy.
Molten Rain: Some are fine and others feel the pain. Blows up lands and shocks the opponent. Good against ramp strategies and decks with low land counts.
Sowing Salt: Takes out all the copies of a bothersome land.
Crumble to Dust: Easier to cast sowing salt.
Surgical Extraction:Good against combo decks to take out critical pieces.
Extirpate: A surgical extraction that can't be played around.
Slaughter Games: Not for Rudolph. Crushes combo decks and gives you good information about what your oppoenet is doing post board.
Rakdos Charm: Versatile card that serves as graveyard hate and artifact removal.
Collective Brutality: Excellent card, the modes help against combo and aggro decks. conserves sideboard space.
Here are some sample lists from notable players and forum members.
1x Blood Crypt
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Creeping Tar Pit
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Smoldering Marsh
2x Steam Vents
1x Sunken Hollow
2x Swamp
2x Wandering Fumarole
1x Watery Grave
3x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Remand
2x Spell Snare
3x Terminate
3x Ancestral Vision
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Damnation
3x Serum Visions
2x Torrential Gearhulk
3x Collective Brutality
2x Devastation Tide
2x Dispel
2x Izzet Staticaster
2x Pyroclasm
1x Shatterstorm
3x Surgical Extraction
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
2 Drowned Catacombs
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Wandering Fumarole
1 Watery Grave
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
4 Cryptic Command
3 Mana Leak
3 Spell Snare
2 Electrolyze
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Pyroclasm
1 Damnation
1 Anger of the Gods
Creatures (4)
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Steam Vents
1 Sunken Hollow
2 Swamp
2 Wandering Fumarole
1 Watery Grave
4 Cryptic Command
4 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Terminate
3 Spell Snare
Sorceries
3 Ancestral Vision
3 Serum Visions
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Damnation
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Dark Intimations
Creatures
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Collective Brutality
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Countersquall
2 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Fulminator Mage
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Cryptic Command
2 Damnation
2 Electrolyze
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Mana Leak
2 Remand
3 Serum Visions
2 Terminate
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Batterskull
1 Dreadbore
1 Duress
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Extirpate
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Negate
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Repeal
1 Slaughter Games
1 Sowing Salt
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vandalblast
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Steam Vents
1 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
Spells
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Pia and Kira Nalaar
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Thought Scour
1 Dismember
3 Kolaghan's Command
2 Mana Leak
1 Go for the Throat
2 Terminate
4 Serum Visions
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Rise // Fall
1 Damnation
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Damnation
1 Darkblast
1 Dispel
1 Duress
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Izzet Statickaster
3 Molten Rain
2 Negate
1 Spellskite
2 Vandalblast
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Sunken Ruins
4 Polluted Delta
4 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Steam Vents
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
Spells
3 Snapcaster MAge
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Cruel Ultimatum
3 Cryptic Command
2 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
1 Negate
3 Terminate
1 Go for the Throat
2 Damnation
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Electrolyze
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Think Twice
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Dispel
1 Duress
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Izzet Statickaster
3 Molten Rain
2 Negate
2 Spellskite
2 Vandalblast
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Graven Cairns
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 Creeping Tar Pit
Spells
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Keranos, God of Storms
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Electrolyze
2 Terminate
1 Go for the Throat
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Anticipate
3 Spell Snare
3 Condescend
2 Logic Knot
1 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
2 Damnation
1 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Dispel
2 Vandalblast
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Sowing Salt
1 Slaughter Games
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Tier 1
Burn-Modern's most popular aggressive deck; these guys like to play with fire so be careful! The most popular iteration of this deck is RGW "Naya". This deck packs small aggressive creatures and many burn spells.Study their primer and dissect their strategy to ensure your victory. This matchup is difficult game 1, but is much easier games 2 and 3 with extra counter magic. Preboard 40-60, postboard 50-50.
Our goal is to remove their creatures and counter all of their spells until you can close the game. Good cards against them are Spell Snare, Dispel, Negate, Pyroclasm and incidental lifegain. Be careful trying to sideboard lifegain against them as they come prepared for that strategy; rather you should focus on cheap counter magic and removing all of their threats.
Sideboard Options: Dispel, Negate, Bottle Gnomes, Sun Droplet and extra removal. You should cut clunky cards against them; big sweepers and some cryptic commands should be cut. Keep in Cruel Ultimatum as it gains life and usually wins the game on the spot. Be very careful about using artifacts/enchantments against them; Destructive Revelry is a card.
Jund-Modern's premier midrange/attrition deck. This deck packs a ton of removal, discard and efficient creatures. This is a BRG deck that has the ability to remove nearly every threat in modern and answer every card. This is a decent matchup game 1 and a even matchup in the sideboard games. Pre and post board 50-50.
Our goal here is remove all of their threats and outlast them. This deck is severely weak to us in game 1 as they will have many dead cards in their deck. Snapcaster Mage is very good against them, but watch out for Scavenging Ooze.
Sideboard Options: Keranos,God of Storms, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Fulminator Mage and additional removal spells will be good here. You should watch out for Liliana of the Veil and then Choke out of the board. Stop Liliana from coming down or you will most likely lose that game. You should cut sweepers, a few Cryptic Commands and any discard you may have.
Abzan Company- This deck focuses on using value creatures and an infinite combo to defeat the opponent. It is primarily WBG colors, but may splash some spicy singletons from time to time. The infinite combo involves Kitchen Finks, Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Anafenza, Kin-tree spirit and a sacrifice outlet usually Viscera Seer. This combo gains them infinite life and they can scry Murderous Redcap to the top of their deck for infinite damage the next turn. This is a fairly difficult matchup if your list is heavy on counters and light on removal. Pre-board 35-65, postboard 65-35.
Sideboard Options: Dispel, Anger of the Gods, Izzet Staticaster, Negate and extra removal are good in this matchup. Kitchen Finks can get annoying so you will want to set up situations where you can completely remove it or stop the combo. You'll want to cut most counter magic with the exception of cryptic and dispel. Anger of the Gods wins the game, but be wary of burrenton forge-tender.
Affinity-These guys play a lot of artifacts swing dudes sideways. Their gameplan involves attacking aggressively or using Inkmoth Nexus to win the game. This matchup is fairly easy game 1 if you are packing a good amount of removal. You should watch out for Etched Champion and kill of Steel Overseer and Arcbound Ravager on sight. Preboard 55-45, post board 75-25.
Sideboard Options:Vandalblast, Shatterstorm, Granulate, Pyroclasm, Izzet Staticaster, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Forked Bolt are good cards against them. Cut all counters as topdecking Spell Snare and other counter magic when you need removal feels really bad.Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver has won many games against affinity by letting me kill them with their own creature or block Etched Champion. You can also use some sacrifice effects like Far // Away to remove Etched Champion.
Infect-Another aggresive deck, but these guys only count to 10 and not 20. This deck is full of deadly 1/1 infect creatures like Glistener Elf and Blighted Agent. This deck is very fast and game 1 can be pretty bad for us. Do not try to fight them in combat over a creature as they will usually win that fight; keep mana open and bluff removal to keep them on their toes. Preboard 30-70, postboard 45-55.
Sideboard Options:Dispel, Izzet Staticaster,Fulminator Mage, Night of Souls' Betrayal and all the removal you have are needed in this matchup. You'll want to cut two mana counters and big sweepers. You need to be as efficient as possible to win this matchup.
Tier 2
Merfolk-Aggressive tribal deck that plays Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident and other merfolk creatures. You will want to watch out for Master of Waves and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner as those cards are difficult to beat. Do not underestimate this deck. Skilled merfolk players are quite deadly and this matchup is very hard due to Cavern of Souls and many many redundant creatures. Preboard 55-45, postboard 50-50.
Sideboard Options: Board in all the removal you have, keep Cryptic Command to fog them until you can close the game. Kill their creatures close the game out quick and you will be victorious.
Living End-Graveyard combo deck that puts big creatures in the yard and casts Living End for free via the cascade mechanic. Demonic Dread and Violent Outburst should never be countered; you want to save your counter magic for Living End. Watch out for their land destruction plan in the sideboard games. Preboard 75-25, postboard 55-45.
Sideboard Options: Negate, Counterflux and more counter magic is great against them. Watch out for Ricochet Trap from them, keep a Dispel handy.
Ad Nauseam-Combo deck that uses Phyrexian Unlife or Angel's Grace in combination with Ad Nauseam and Lightning Storm to draw their whole deck and kill you. Difficult matchup, but winnable. Preboard 45-55, postboard 65-35.
Sideboard Options: Side out most removal and side in all counter magic. Watch out for their sideboard Laboratory Maniac; keep some removal for him. You can Pithing Needle Lightning Storm and they will be very mad
RG Tron-This matchup is nigh unwinnable due to their late game being much much better than ours. Your only hope is to be aggressive and stop Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon from landing. Quite fitting that Ugin appears in our worst matchup. Preboard 10-90, postboard 15-85.
Sideboard Options:Dreadbore, Silumgar's Command, Hero's Downfall and hard counters are your friend. You can also use Sowing Salt, Crumble to Dust and Fulminator Mage to slow them down. Be very aggressive with Bolts and Snaps and you can get there; wait around and you will get CRUSHED.
Zoo-This deck just plays a lot of cheap creatures and attacks. Kill everything and go after their life total as they are pretty reckless with their fetches and shocks. This matchup is difficult due to their speed, but we can get there with Cryptic Command and removal. Preboard 55-45, postboard 50-50.
Sideboard Options: You'll want Dispel and Ashiok if you have them. Also sweepers are very good against them.
Abzan-Same strategy as jund except they have more annoying cards like Lingering Souls, Siege Rhino and rarely Dragonlord Dromoka. You should try to outgrind them, though that will be more difficult than you think. Pre and post board are 45-55.
Sideboard Options:Out goes most counter magic and in comes all the removal and token hate. Izzet Staticaster is a house in this matchup and Cruel Ultimatum helps you win the topdeck wars.
Tier 3
Under Construction
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
I'll review over all this more in time this weekend, but I like what I see thus far. Great job.
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I'll be updating the primer throughout next week and I plan to have an update each ban announcement and set release.
That said here is a report from me. I went 3-1 at FNM beating Abzan Company, Merfolk and Grixis Delver. I lost hard to hatebears, Loxodon Smiter too strong.
I ran this:
1x Blood Crypt
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Creeping Tar Pit
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Smoldering Marsh
2x Steam Vents
1x Sunken Hollow
2x Swamp
2x Wandering Fumarole
1x Watery Grave
Spells
2x Cryptic Command
2x Electrolyze
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
3x Spell Snare
4x Terminate
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Cruel Ultimatum
1x Damnation
2x Forked Bolt
2x Pyroclasm
4x Serum Visions
2x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Master of Cruelties
1x Devastation Tide
2x Dispel
2x Far / Away
2x Izzet Staticaster
1x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Negate
2x Vandalblast
I cast Cruel Ultimatum four times against merfolk, he was not happy
I will say that using Jace, Vryn's Prodigy to cast Cruel Ultimatum then getting Jace back was sweet as well. Forked Bolt and Far // Away have been great so far, I'll be keeping them in my deck.
I will be playing Cruel Control everday next week, so expect a deluge of data.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Aside from the obvious name connection why're you running the master? Did you ever side him in? where/when/why?
Any comments on the Company matchup?
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I did cast Keranos and did not lose a game where he resolved.
Company Matchup is pretty easy, but we can get tripped up by Kitchen Finks and the combo. I drew pretty poorly against company, did not see a single wrath, but spot removal got me to Cruel Ultimatum mana and that was that! Sided in Dispel and Negate for his search effects.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
I think that we can go one step ahead making some lists with that new block.
CHEERS!
Thing in the Ice? Invasive Surgery? Pore over the Pages? ? Pieces of the Puzzle? Trail of Evidence?
Merciless Resolve? Sinister Concoction? To the Slaughter?
Dual Shot? Geistblast? (c'mon double Ultimatum!) Harness the Storm? Sin Prodder? Vessel of Volatility?
Fevered Visions?
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I will add a sideboard only section as well.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
2x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Darkslick Shores
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Island
2x Lavaclaw Reaches
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
2x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
2x Swamp
1x Wandering Fumarole
1x Watery Grave
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
2x Negate
4x Terminate
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Cruel Ultimatum
1x Damnation
2x Forked Bolt
4x Serum Visions
1x Grave Titan
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Round 1 vs Infect 2-0
Game 1 2x forked bolt and anger of the gods followed up with snapcaster made him scoop it up.
Game 2 was even shorter with anger of the gods and izzet staticaster. Keranos, followed by Cruel ultimatum to seal the deal.
Round 2 vs. B/W Eldrazi 1-2
I will be glad when they address the issue of the eldrazi.
Game 1 was a slew of mimics and skyspawners feeling the anger of the gods. But the reality smashers and a 9/9 endless one were able to finish the game out.
Game 2 was pretty brutal with a lot of early pressure agianst me with a lack of removal, snapcaster and Tasigur were able to hold back a couple creatures, but not for very long. A timely damnation was able to let me stay alive at 2 life and follow up with Nicol Bolas, who took control of the game with an empty board. The opponent followed up with drowner of hope without reading Nicol Bolas. I took the drowner and the game.
Game 3 I mulliganed to 6 with a terminate, anger, snapcaster and lands. I was thought knotted on turn 2 and my removal was taken. I drew another land and he followed up with relaity smahser and that was pretty much it.
Round 3 vs. Kikichord 2-0
Serum visions with 2 forked bolt and terminate too away his early game. With nothing but lands being drawn on both side, his raging ravine came smashing in for a couple of times. I was able to draw into lavaclaw reaches and traded away the lands. I followed up with the ultimatum to gian control. Next turn he drew a land and I dropped Nicol Bolas. I was able to Ultimate Nicol Bolas easily and the concession came once he read the ultimate.
Game 2 I opened with 3 snapcasters and 2 terminates. I drew another terminate and started snapcasting terminates. The game was short and quick. He was extremely salty wiht 7 terminates hitting in one round.
Round 4 vs Melira Combo 1-2
This is a game I shouldn't have lost. I decided not to SB in my 3 Cages because I thought 3 anger and counters would be enough. I was wrong. ALWAYS stick to the SB plan.
Game 1 forked bolts, with mana leak, cruel ultimatum followed by Nicol Bolas made it an easy fight.
Game 2 he was able to combo off while I was stuck on 4 lands.
Game 3 was much of the same as game 2 getting stuck on 5 lands. I was able to buy time by snapcasting anger of the gods. But I oculdn't get anymore tempo and was quickly overwhelmed by back to back companies.
Round 5 Vs Abzan 2-1
Game 1 was slow with a board stall of Anafenza the foremost vs. Tasigur. He started dropping lingering souls and I was able to anger but he had the playset and was slowrolling me. Pia and Kiran came down to wipe out the last souls and I was gaining tempo but I was finished off by a rhino.
Game 2 he brought in his disruption suite and went to town on my hand but was unable to captialize on it. I dropped Grave Titan and we went back and forth for a bit. I was fairly outplayed by rhinos but damnation was a timely draw with me at 2 life. I followed up with ultimatum to stabilize my life total and recover. I followed that up with Nicol Bolas and it was over fairly quickly form that.
Game 3 I was hit by 2 inquisitions and a thoughtseize back to back. It was crippling but once again he had no followup. I was able to take over fairly easily termanting and counterspelling threats. I was able to drop the ultimatum and follow it up with Bolas once again. I stole his wilt-leaf liege and finished him off by snapcasting back the cruel ultimatum for the concession.
Final Thoughts
I do need to get tar pits and will replace the fumaroles with them. I was tempted to put in some Thoughtseizes but wasn't sure if I should or not. Pia and kiran are ok, but I always chose to side them out. I also could use another sweeper but I lack a 2nd damnation. Thoughts on Crux vs. Languish. I'm leaning towards Crux since there are some really big butts in modern. The 2 ultimatums and a Nicol Bolas feel like a high end but even when I opened with 2 in hand and kept, I was never far behind and was able to catch up most of the time. I alsoonly got close to time during one of the 5 matches so I don't feel like time will be an issue with control.
Overall I love how the deck plays out even though it feels like it does need a bit of tweaking as I would love to take it to SCG states in a month. Any critiques and criticisms are welcome.
When the meta shakes out in April we will know what cards we all need to win states.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
1x anger of the gods
2x dispel
1x negate
1x mogis, god of slaughter
1x ral zarek
2x izzet staticaster
2x vandalblast
1x devastation tide
1x crumble to dust
What you think about Brain in a Jar and Epiphany at the drownyard?