Hi all, I'm thinking of going for this archetype come rotation due to the powerful engine and win conditions still staying for a good while.
I do have a few questions on the build, though as far as numbers. I've heard nothing but praises for Search for Azcanta, but many builds run only two main. Is it the lack of graveyard payoffs and the need to filter the top deck that makes it a bad choice to drop early? Also, what top end would work well in a world without gearhulks? I was thinking the 5/6 flier might be good since it can swing into Lyra and survive Fight with fire. It also can be cheated out early with an artifact like Sentinel totem.
Typing on phone so card tags are not working. Am talking about the dominaria legendary blue genie.
Nezahal and Lyra are the most obvious finishers. Chromium would be easy to splash for as well. Plus Teferi is his own wincon anyway
Azcanta is a house and a fine turn 2 play. Filtering for answers is great, but the ultimate payoff can be slow and you usually dont want multiples clogging your hand
I hope Esper will still be a good deck post rotation. I'm having a ton of fun playing with Esper control right now. Going to be sad losing so many key cards
I hope Esper will still be a good deck post rotation. I'm having a ton of fun playing with Esper control right now. Going to be sad losing so many key cards
Uh, I wouldn't worry about esper becoming unplayable. It has the best removal in the format and synergy based strategies are horrible against targeted discard. The biggest losses are The Scarab God and Torrential Gearhulk, which have had more than enough time in the sun. We got lots of stuff that hasn't gotten a chance to see play yet that will work well in a smaller pool.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I hope Esper will still be a good deck post rotation. I'm having a ton of fun playing with Esper control right now. Going to be sad losing so many key cards
Uh, I wouldn't worry about esper becoming unplayable. It has the best removal in the format and synergy based strategies are horrible against targeted discard. The biggest losses are The Scarab God and Torrential Gearhulk, which have had more than enough time in the sun. We got lots of stuff that hasn't gotten a chance to see play yet that will work well in a smaller pool.
Losing a lot of good stuff, but I just need some new finishers I guess. Maybe going the History of Benalia route is the way to go first week after rotation.
I played U/W Approach at the store champs last weekend with a top 4 finish, I died to a R/B deck with the nut draw in game one and a Banefire for 10 in game 2.
Having said that I will miss Approach in the upcoming standard and I don't think U/W control is very playable until Azorius shows up, the reason is that there are no serious finishers since we lose Torrential Gearhulk as well and we are left with only Nezahal, Azor and whatever we get from Guilds, unless people want to go the Teferi and Lyra route.
For me Teferi has been very expensive so I don't own any and in my Approach deck I didn't need to play him to be able to win, so I can't wait until Azorius comes out with some sick cards and will be playing other decks until then. My main deck will probably be U/R wizards which I am testing in Arena and I think will be a top contender next month.
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Hey guys ! I signed up here because the topic seemed pretty much dead but I hope some of you are still playing UW Control. With GRN out, a few good UW cards have gone out (Cast Out, Disallow and Torrential Gearhulk) but I think the deck is still strong (Teferi remains one of the best card around) but less obvious than before.
I have been playing a lot on MTGO and I'm running this list at the moment:
I'd like to hear the opinions of fellow Azorius Control players on the following points:
Manabase
Shakier than before but it seems to work with 27 lands. I started with 29 but it was clearly too much. Maybe we can cut another land. Arch of Orazca:always great in the late game when you need to keep drawing during the opponent's turn. Field of ruin: not as relevant as before and should maybe go to the sideboard but it's still useful when it targets opponent flipped Azcanta or to protect our own.
Card Engine Search for Azcanta: the best option to my mind as long as the opposing deck isn't too aggro. I tend to side it out when I'm facing decks that try to fill the board as quickly as possible. Chemister's insight: really good, I thought I would miss glimmer but the ability to jump-start is very strong. The goal is to play it as soon as possible and to relaunch it if your hands get dry. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria: playing 4 of him allows you to slam it more frequently even as soon as turn 5. Sometimes it's risky and he goes to the bin immediatly, sometimes he sticks around and gives you a couple of cards. As before, if he stays on the board for 2 or 3 turns, the game is almost won.
Removal
Playing UW means we don't get to play Assassin's trophy but we keep most of the suite that was so strong in the last format. Creatures aren't really an issue with this deck but it tends to struggle more against planeswalkers. Seal Away:the best way to deal with midrange threats or to gain some time against deck that try to fill up the board with small creatures while you wait on your sweepers. It tends to lose some efficiency against Boros since more creatures comes with vigilance now (Swiftblade Vindicator comes to mind). Ixalan's binding: I'm really not sold on this one. I was a big fan of Cast Out but this one is clearly weaker. Enchantements seems to be a lot more fragile in this format and sorcery speed makes this card almost unplayable. The only upside is that's one of our only way to deal with planeswalkers. Essence Scatter: essential to counter ETB creatures, Plaguecrafter comes to mind but there are a lot of creature which you don't want to touch the board. I was running a set of 2 and one Sinister sabotage more but the cost makes all the difference against fast decks.
Sweepers Settle the wreckage: this card is still very strong, the exile effect makes it even stronger now with decks that rely on creatures in the graveyard. I'm actually considering running a full playset. Cleansing Nova: another downgrade compared to the previous format. The alternative mode can be useful against decks playing Ixalan's Binding but otherwise it's mainly useful to hit the creatures that don't attack. Siding in one more against aggro match-up works well most of the time.
Counterspell
The best way to actually deal with planeswalker in the deck and to protect our threats. Numbers should maybe go up since you need to counter a lot of stuff before you can actually win games with this deck. Sinister Sabotage: the cost is heavy but it's counterbalanced by its polyvalence so playing less than 3 sounds risky to me. The surveil ability helps you filter your draw but feels redundant if you have Search for Azcanta in play. Negate: playing 2 mainboard is a must when you need to protect Teferi, it always find utility at some moment. I have 2 more in the sideboard for the mirror match or against deck that don't rely on creature to win.
Utility Blink of an eye: proves to be useful in many situations, can give you some time in early game, save your Teferi from a Vraska's contempt or bounce a near ulting planeswalker on the other side of the board. The kicker is just the cherry on top. Mission Briefing: once again this card is costly, if you want to flashback a Sinister Sabotage you will need 4 blue source available ! That's why I only run 2 of it. The surveil 2 is just a bit of filtering or you can go for a hail mary if the card needed isn't in your graveyard. It can still save you life in a lot of situation. Good addition overall.
Finisher
This part is always tricky since UW doesn't have access to the best creatures. The format is also filled with removal so it's hard to keep one big body on the table. I have tried Zetalpa, Primal Dawn since it comes with great keywords but the cost is really heavy. Nezahal, Primal Tide is a must in control match-up or against spell-slinger decks but you can't rely on him in most of the games. I haven't tried Dream eater because its body seems way too fragile but the Flash and the ETB might make it worth. Lyra dawnbringer: can keep a board in check on her own but you have to be able to untap with her. Once you start swinging and if you have some spells to protect her she can do the job.
Match-up
Still too soon to tell if the deck will be in a good position since the meta isn't set at the moment. So far I've been having a good time against midrange decks, aggro can be tough if they get an explosive start and if we dont draw our sweepers soon enough. Mirror match often turns to a counterspells battle. Matches against UB shells forces us to be more proactive since these decks are filled with discard (Tought erasure and duress obviously) but once again the deck that manage to resolve its main threat tends to win.
The decks which have gave me the hardest times are Izzet Burn and Blue Aggro. Izzet usually don't play a lot of creature and comes packed with counterspells. Once Niv Mizzet hits the table, it's very hard for us to kill him and if he sticks it's game over. Blue aggro on the other hand relies heavily on creatures but they are very hard to sweep since this deck runs a lot of counterspells too. I have really no clue how to win against this decks, even post sideboard.
Well guys, I hope this long post will be enough to spark new conversations around this deck and I'm eager to hear your takes on these subjects.
I will be looking at playing aggro wizards or tempo control wizards until azorius comes out. The red blue cards are really strong now and as you said blue white lacks finishers, and disallow will be sorely missed.
I think that nezahal is probably one of the best finishers still, but the deck may need to splash red for deafening clarion due to goblins, Boros and other go wide decks.
It seems this format will favor mono decks or three color decks, there's not much space for dual color decks right now.
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This is an up to date list of the "no-wincon" version of UW Control. It goes heavy on counterspell and count on ulting Teferi to close the game. I've played a bunch of games with it and it has proven pretty effective. The sideboard is good against aggro decks but it seems to lack some graveyard hate that would prove useful against some Golgari decks. I need to play it more before forming a reasonable opinion though.
After multiple games played with this list, I can say it's working very well. The game plan is pretty simple and the deck is really consistent in what it's trying to do (counter-> counter-> boardwipe -> Teferi). The extreme abundance of counterspells has a tendancy to frustrate the opponent quickly. However games can be hard without a good starting hand, I usually try to have 3 lands in hand, no more no less to ensure a good start.
The sideboard seemed a bit light to me at first sight but it has worked well so far. Still need to playtest it more before I can say it's competitive.
I haven't tried putting together an RNA list, but apart from the welcome return of Hallowed Fountain, the Azorius guild mechanic sort of punishes Draw-Go (by denying its bonus to Instants played outside your main phases), and the UW planewalker is also sideways with the archetype. There are a lot of mill cards, which are unlikely to add up to much.
There is enough mana-fixing now that splashing black for Mortify looks like a good idea, especially if unpleasant enchantments like Rhythm of the Wild see play.
Dawn of Hope has been surprisingly good, with added relevance thanks to the RNA life-gain cards. Gives a useful end-of-opponent's-turn mana sink for board presence, leading to additional life-gain and card-draw.
What are people's thoughts on how the new set helps UW?
U/W control needs a defined meta to be able to do good, it's not an aggro or mid-range deck. So, we need to wait and see what decks pop to the top and then we can decide what cards we need in our U/W control shell. We have more than enough spells and creatures available, actually more than I've ever seen in recent standard formats so we just need to find the best combination of those.
We also have got hallowed fountain back to help with the mana, and we have many great finishers including various angels, sphinxes and so on.
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I agree, Xaltair. It will take at least a few weeks for the meta to evolve so we can look at how we might be able to respond to the most common threats. As we all know, UW control is about addressing the key axes of attack. There are two times when that is good to do. The most common is after the format matures and you are down to 3 to 5 tier one decks. The other time is on the first couple of weekends of a new format when you just say "no" to everything.
The reality is that RDW in its current incarnation is pretty much an auto-loss for UW control and since that's the most prevalent deck...
I have a UW Control deck on Arena that I've been rocking in the BO1s for a while now and I was 65% against RDW, but that was when they were still more creature-based. Now the Spectacle cards give them gas and have skewed them to more direct damage. This makes them a lot harder for us to deal with because we have to address their damage spells card for card rather than taking care of multiple threats (creatures) with one of ours (sweepers). I also pretty much autolost to a resolved Experimental Frenzy. Then there's the fact that it's just so easy to play three or even four colours and doing so opens you up to much, much more powerful cards.
I'll be back on UW control in a little while I am sure, but for the next little while I expect to be casting Nexus of Fate a lot (because I don't like people).
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Some people like to win MtG matches in the Red Zone. I prefer to win the way God intended: on the stack.
Well, U/W control has a strict formula for success, it's not based so much on new cards that come out and trying to fit them together like RDW which just needs small hasted creatures and reliable burn in any format and you have a deck.
Usually, U/W control runs about 25 lands, 10-12 counterspells, 6-8 mass removal spells/spot removal spells, 5-6 card drawing spells and some form of win condition.
During the Amonkhet block it was great to be able to use approach of the second sun as a win condition since it was very hard to interact with from opponents' side, unless they ran some form of counters or were able to kill you before you could get it out. Helping with the win conditions were torrential gearhulk which also worked as pretty good late game counterspell replacements.
In terms of card draw, we did get sphinx's insight and we still have Chemister's Insight as a decent instant speed card draw as well. OF course, we still need to play a couple of Search for Azcanta for good measure since a control deck lives or dies based on card draw and being able to drop a land every turn for the first 5-6 turns.
Looking at counter card we got the very efficient essence scatter, as well as the new 2 drop quench, also we have disdainful stroke which is a good sideboard card. Then at 3 mana we got absorb the quintessential Azorius counter as well as the very effective Sinister Sabotage.
Next we got the win conditions, a decent but forgotten finisher is Azor, the Lawbringer, as well as his buddy from the same block Nezahal, Primal Tide.
In terms of newer finishers, we have Lyra Dawnbringerof course which is a favorite of many people, as well as Angel of Grace which can save our life in case we are about to die, so it may not be maindeck material but a very important sideboard card.
Last but not least one of my favorite creatures from the previous set Dream Eaterwhose surveil 4 ability is very underrated in my opinion, and also his new friend from the last set Sphinx of Foresightwhose ability to scry on your first turn and set up your next 3 draws is incredibly useful for a control deck.
So, the rest of deck can be filled with more spot removal such as ixalan's binding to take care of pesky planeswalkers, or some bounce cards to be able to return something and then have a chance to counter it next turn.
I also want to mention Deputy of Detention as a good sideboard card against token decks, as well as Warrant // Warden as a possible two of main deck and maybe a couple in the sideboard to deal with early aggro threats and have another win condition in the late game.
I am not a big fan of planeswalkers and of course, Teferi is still expensive and very effective so if you have a couple of copies of him then you should use them in your deck, and if you don't then you'll have to use the other cards.
So the deck is basically already made, you just have to choose your win conditions that you like to play or you think are the most effective and many people will have their own ideas about what is the most effective win condition.
I will be working on an actual deck in the next few weeks.
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Hi, Can anyone post a UW list for the current meta?
There is no UW list. That is because UW control is terrible in the current meta. UW control will have a terrible matchup vs Esper Control and Sultai midrange. Who both have access to Thought Erasure and Duress. Settle the Wreckage ramps Sultai into bigger Hydroid Krasis
Even Jeskai Control is not viable right now.
If you want to play control, you would be better suited to play Esper, Grixis, or even straight UB
UW control is in a hard spot right now but I think WAR will bring us some new tools. Prison Realm, Dovin's veto and of course Teferi, time raveler look like very good additions to me. Still, it might not be enough to surpass Esper Control...
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Azcanta is a house and a fine turn 2 play. Filtering for answers is great, but the ultimate payoff can be slow and you usually dont want multiples clogging your hand
Uh, I wouldn't worry about esper becoming unplayable. It has the best removal in the format and synergy based strategies are horrible against targeted discard. The biggest losses are The Scarab God and Torrential Gearhulk, which have had more than enough time in the sun. We got lots of stuff that hasn't gotten a chance to see play yet that will work well in a smaller pool.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Losing a lot of good stuff, but I just need some new finishers I guess. Maybe going the History of Benalia route is the way to go first week after rotation.
Going to miss Glint-Sleeve Siphoner a lot too
I think Doom Whisperer is going to be a crazy finisher in an Esper list.
Having said that I will miss Approach in the upcoming standard and I don't think U/W control is very playable until Azorius shows up, the reason is that there are no serious finishers since we lose Torrential Gearhulk as well and we are left with only Nezahal, Azor and whatever we get from Guilds, unless people want to go the Teferi and Lyra route.
For me Teferi has been very expensive so I don't own any and in my Approach deck I didn't need to play him to be able to win, so I can't wait until Azorius comes out with some sick cards and will be playing other decks until then. My main deck will probably be U/R wizards which I am testing in Arena and I think will be a top contender next month.
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Mtg Lifestyle
I have been playing a lot on MTGO and I'm running this list at the moment:
1 Arch of Orazca
2 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
8 Island
4 Meandering River
8 Plains
1 Ixalan's Binding
4 Seal Away
2 Search for Azcanta
Instants
2 Blink of an Eye
3 Chemister's Insight
1 Disdainful Stroke
3 Essence Scatter
2 Mission Briefing
2 Negate
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Sinister Sabotage
1 Cleansing Nova
Planeswalkers
4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Creatures
2 Lyra Dawnbringer
I'd like to hear the opinions of fellow Azorius Control players on the following points:
Manabase
Shakier than before but it seems to work with 27 lands. I started with 29 but it was clearly too much. Maybe we can cut another land.
Arch of Orazca:always great in the late game when you need to keep drawing during the opponent's turn.
Field of ruin: not as relevant as before and should maybe go to the sideboard but it's still useful when it targets opponent flipped Azcanta or to protect our own.
Card Engine
Search for Azcanta: the best option to my mind as long as the opposing deck isn't too aggro. I tend to side it out when I'm facing decks that try to fill the board as quickly as possible.
Chemister's insight: really good, I thought I would miss glimmer but the ability to jump-start is very strong. The goal is to play it as soon as possible and to relaunch it if your hands get dry.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria: playing 4 of him allows you to slam it more frequently even as soon as turn 5. Sometimes it's risky and he goes to the bin immediatly, sometimes he sticks around and gives you a couple of cards. As before, if he stays on the board for 2 or 3 turns, the game is almost won.
Removal
Playing UW means we don't get to play Assassin's trophy but we keep most of the suite that was so strong in the last format. Creatures aren't really an issue with this deck but it tends to struggle more against planeswalkers.
Seal Away:the best way to deal with midrange threats or to gain some time against deck that try to fill up the board with small creatures while you wait on your sweepers. It tends to lose some efficiency against Boros since more creatures comes with vigilance now (Swiftblade Vindicator comes to mind).
Ixalan's binding: I'm really not sold on this one. I was a big fan of Cast Out but this one is clearly weaker. Enchantements seems to be a lot more fragile in this format and sorcery speed makes this card almost unplayable. The only upside is that's one of our only way to deal with planeswalkers.
Essence Scatter: essential to counter ETB creatures, Plaguecrafter comes to mind but there are a lot of creature which you don't want to touch the board. I was running a set of 2 and one Sinister sabotage more but the cost makes all the difference against fast decks.
Sweepers
Settle the wreckage: this card is still very strong, the exile effect makes it even stronger now with decks that rely on creatures in the graveyard. I'm actually considering running a full playset.
Cleansing Nova: another downgrade compared to the previous format. The alternative mode can be useful against decks playing Ixalan's Binding but otherwise it's mainly useful to hit the creatures that don't attack. Siding in one more against aggro match-up works well most of the time.
Counterspell
The best way to actually deal with planeswalker in the deck and to protect our threats. Numbers should maybe go up since you need to counter a lot of stuff before you can actually win games with this deck.
Sinister Sabotage: the cost is heavy but it's counterbalanced by its polyvalence so playing less than 3 sounds risky to me. The surveil ability helps you filter your draw but feels redundant if you have Search for Azcanta in play.
Negate: playing 2 mainboard is a must when you need to protect Teferi, it always find utility at some moment. I have 2 more in the sideboard for the mirror match or against deck that don't rely on creature to win.
Utility
Blink of an eye: proves to be useful in many situations, can give you some time in early game, save your Teferi from a Vraska's contempt or bounce a near ulting planeswalker on the other side of the board. The kicker is just the cherry on top.
Mission Briefing: once again this card is costly, if you want to flashback a Sinister Sabotage you will need 4 blue source available ! That's why I only run 2 of it. The surveil 2 is just a bit of filtering or you can go for a hail mary if the card needed isn't in your graveyard. It can still save you life in a lot of situation. Good addition overall.
Finisher
This part is always tricky since UW doesn't have access to the best creatures. The format is also filled with removal so it's hard to keep one big body on the table. I have tried Zetalpa, Primal Dawn since it comes with great keywords but the cost is really heavy. Nezahal, Primal Tide is a must in control match-up or against spell-slinger decks but you can't rely on him in most of the games. I haven't tried Dream eater because its body seems way too fragile but the Flash and the ETB might make it worth.
Lyra dawnbringer: can keep a board in check on her own but you have to be able to untap with her. Once you start swinging and if you have some spells to protect her she can do the job.
Match-up
Still too soon to tell if the deck will be in a good position since the meta isn't set at the moment. So far I've been having a good time against midrange decks, aggro can be tough if they get an explosive start and if we dont draw our sweepers soon enough. Mirror match often turns to a counterspells battle. Matches against UB shells forces us to be more proactive since these decks are filled with discard (Tought erasure and duress obviously) but once again the deck that manage to resolve its main threat tends to win.
The decks which have gave me the hardest times are Izzet Burn and Blue Aggro. Izzet usually don't play a lot of creature and comes packed with counterspells. Once Niv Mizzet hits the table, it's very hard for us to kill him and if he sticks it's game over. Blue aggro on the other hand relies heavily on creatures but they are very hard to sweep since this deck runs a lot of counterspells too. I have really no clue how to win against this decks, even post sideboard.
Well guys, I hope this long post will be enough to spark new conversations around this deck and I'm eager to hear your takes on these subjects.
I think that nezahal is probably one of the best finishers still, but the deck may need to splash red for deafening clarion due to goblins, Boros and other go wide decks.
It seems this format will favor mono decks or three color decks, there's not much space for dual color decks right now.
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Mtg Lifestyle
4 Field of ruins
4 Meandering river
4 Glacial fortress
7 Island
2 Memorial to genius
6 Plains
Spells
3 Seal away
1 Disdainful stroke
3 Essence scatter
1 Negate
4 Sinister sabotage
2 Mission briefing
3 Settle the wreckage
2 Cleansing nova
2 Dedious cover up
2 Syncopate
4 Chemister's insight
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Teferi, hero of dominaria
1 Sorcerous spyglass
2 Baffling end
1 Disdainful stroke
2 Negate
3 History of Benalia
2 Shield mare
1 Ixalan's binding
2 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Nezahal, primal tide
This is an up to date list of the "no-wincon" version of UW Control. It goes heavy on counterspell and count on ulting Teferi to close the game. I've played a bunch of games with it and it has proven pretty effective. The sideboard is good against aggro decks but it seems to lack some graveyard hate that would prove useful against some Golgari decks. I need to play it more before forming a reasonable opinion though.
The sideboard seemed a bit light to me at first sight but it has worked well so far. Still need to playtest it more before I can say it's competitive.
Thanks,
Lugger
-master of U/W control
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Mtg Lifestyle
Maybe not, but UB splashing teferi and chromium has been really good for me so far.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11439737#post11439737
Reality is only what man allows it to be. Few shape it so that many may accept it.
Absorb tacks 3 life-gain onto Cancel for UUW. Deputy of Detention and Lawmage's Binding add some reversible removal. There are some OK card drawing and filtering spells. The best creature IMO is the pricey Azorius Knight-Arbiter. White gets Angel of Grace.
The most interesting Azorius card, to me, is High Alert, which supports more of a combo/mid-range style deck.
My impression is that UWB (or WB...) control does a lot better, with Mortify, Basilica Bell-Haunt, Kaya's Wrath, and Ethereal Absolution.
There is enough mana-fixing now that splashing black for Mortify looks like a good idea, especially if unpleasant enchantments like Rhythm of the Wild see play.
4x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Enchantments (8)
3x Dawn of Hope
1x Search for Azcanta
4x Lawmage's Binding
Sorceries (3)
2x Cleansing Nova
1x Mass Manipulation
4x Summary Judgment
2x Essence Scatter
3x Negate
4x Absorb
2x Settle the Wreckage
4x Sphinx's Insight
2x Precognitive Perception
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Azorius Guildgate
6x Island
6x Plains
Dawn of Hope has been surprisingly good, with added relevance thanks to the RNA life-gain cards. Gives a useful end-of-opponent's-turn mana sink for board presence, leading to additional life-gain and card-draw.
U/W control needs a defined meta to be able to do good, it's not an aggro or mid-range deck. So, we need to wait and see what decks pop to the top and then we can decide what cards we need in our U/W control shell. We have more than enough spells and creatures available, actually more than I've ever seen in recent standard formats so we just need to find the best combination of those.
We also have got hallowed fountain back to help with the mana, and we have many great finishers including various angels, sphinxes and so on.
Check out my Youtube channel where I upload MTG content videos twice a week!
Mtg Lifestyle
The reality is that RDW in its current incarnation is pretty much an auto-loss for UW control and since that's the most prevalent deck...
I have a UW Control deck on Arena that I've been rocking in the BO1s for a while now and I was 65% against RDW, but that was when they were still more creature-based. Now the Spectacle cards give them gas and have skewed them to more direct damage. This makes them a lot harder for us to deal with because we have to address their damage spells card for card rather than taking care of multiple threats (creatures) with one of ours (sweepers). I also pretty much autolost to a resolved Experimental Frenzy. Then there's the fact that it's just so easy to play three or even four colours and doing so opens you up to much, much more powerful cards.
I'll be back on UW control in a little while I am sure, but for the next little while I expect to be casting Nexus of Fate a lot (because I don't like people).
Usually, U/W control runs about 25 lands, 10-12 counterspells, 6-8 mass removal spells/spot removal spells, 5-6 card drawing spells and some form of win condition.
During the Amonkhet block it was great to be able to use approach of the second sun as a win condition since it was very hard to interact with from opponents' side, unless they ran some form of counters or were able to kill you before you could get it out. Helping with the win conditions were torrential gearhulk which also worked as pretty good late game counterspell replacements.
Now we still have some very good mass removal spells such as settle the wreckage and cleansing nova act like very good board wipes.
In terms of card draw, we did get sphinx's insight and we still have Chemister's Insight as a decent instant speed card draw as well. OF course, we still need to play a couple of Search for Azcanta for good measure since a control deck lives or dies based on card draw and being able to drop a land every turn for the first 5-6 turns.
Looking at counter card we got the very efficient essence scatter, as well as the new 2 drop quench, also we have disdainful stroke which is a good sideboard card. Then at 3 mana we got absorb the quintessential Azorius counter as well as the very effective Sinister Sabotage.
Next we got the win conditions, a decent but forgotten finisher is Azor, the Lawbringer, as well as his buddy from the same block Nezahal, Primal Tide.
In terms of newer finishers, we have Lyra Dawnbringerof course which is a favorite of many people, as well as Angel of Grace which can save our life in case we are about to die, so it may not be maindeck material but a very important sideboard card.
Last but not least one of my favorite creatures from the previous set Dream Eaterwhose surveil 4 ability is very underrated in my opinion, and also his new friend from the last set Sphinx of Foresightwhose ability to scry on your first turn and set up your next 3 draws is incredibly useful for a control deck.
So, the rest of deck can be filled with more spot removal such as ixalan's binding to take care of pesky planeswalkers, or some bounce cards to be able to return something and then have a chance to counter it next turn.
I also want to mention Deputy of Detention as a good sideboard card against token decks, as well as Warrant // Warden as a possible two of main deck and maybe a couple in the sideboard to deal with early aggro threats and have another win condition in the late game.
I am not a big fan of planeswalkers and of course, Teferi is still expensive and very effective so if you have a couple of copies of him then you should use them in your deck, and if you don't then you'll have to use the other cards.
So the deck is basically already made, you just have to choose your win conditions that you like to play or you think are the most effective and many people will have their own ideas about what is the most effective win condition.
I will be working on an actual deck in the next few weeks.
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Hi, Can anyone post a UW list for the current meta?
Settle the Wreckage ramps Sultai into bigger Hydroid Krasis
Even Jeskai Control is not viable right now.
If you want to play control, you would be better suited to play Esper, Grixis, or even straight UB
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