Of course, the truth is that we never really left. With a few short blips (I’m looking at you, Ramunap Ruins), UW Control decks have been viable for the last year or more. Now that some new high profile tools have been added to the arsenal, the archetype isn’t just viable, it’s fashionable. And what a variety of fashions we have available to us. Do you like outright control? Got you covered. Want to enjoy that dirty combo feeling? Let me introduce my friend Approach of the Second Suns. Feel like turning dorks sideways? (Yuck!) Well, we’ve even got that covered thanks to the Historic options. You can pick the poison that most appeals to you. Moreover, you can even pick up a few extra cards and then use them to change up your deck from week to week to keep your friends at your LGS off balance.
One of the factors helping UW Control rise to prominence is the lack of Combo in the format. There are a couple of combo decks around, but – with the exception of Combat Celebrant-based GPG decks – they are generally inconsistent and thus not putting up any numbers worth talking about. The neutering of the Aetherworks Marvel and Saheeli Rai combos has left us with only one real threat vector, allowing us to focus our deck on beating aggro. There is even a shortage of burn spells that go to the dome, so we don’t have to worry about losing to a flurry of Lightning Bolts. In the meantime, we have been gifted with half a dozen sweepers, a ton of point removal and a zillion counters. As things stand right now we have all the tools required to deal with whatever aggro cards our opponents may throw our way.
So dose the goblets with Iocane Powder and sit back because we are going to be drawing, playing a land and saying “go” a lot.
The Cards
There are a minimum of three distinct variants of reactive UW Control decks making noise right now. Rather than repeat myself a lot, I’m going to look at the cards that are common to all three and then break out into separate sections to address some of the differences. I’ll provide recent decklists for all three. Due to the sheer weight of legit card options for these variants I am sure I will miss lots of cards. Please feel free to discuss them in the thread. I don’t have time to write War and Peace right now, so I will add some match-up analysis over time.
Win Cons
“Unferi” has almost single-handedly put UW back on the map and is probably the top end of any decent UW control deck you will see. Lots of “pros” and try-hards saw Teferi and thought “Hey, maybe I’ll play with basic Island.” Just like skinny pants and beards, we are back on the cover of Vogue or GQ or whatever. Some people are even calling him the GOAT planeswalker. While I think this is hyperbolic to the point of silliness, there is no debating the fact that he is an amazing – and possible format-defining – weapon for UW players.
There are a ton of other articles on the Internet espousing how good he is and I’m not going to waste your time repeating them.
Very briefly:
+2 ability – drawing a card AND untapping two land – basically makes him a three mana planeswalker you can’t cast before T5. Those two untapped lands can be used to protect him with Seal Away (conveniently in his colors) or to protect you with Essence Scatter, Negate or a weak Syncopate. The only place this doesn’t quite apply is in mirror match where you might have to engage in a counter war over him. Later in the game you get access to other interesting Azcanta synergies. (The only thing better than drawing three cards per turn is drawing four cards per turn.)
-2: removes a permanent, which is great from a board control perspective, but also works as a win con. Target himself to put him on top of your deck and you’ll never deck out. Just watch out for enemy Ipnu Rivulets.
-8: The ultimate is insane in a deck with lots of card draw. Indeed, some people are running Commit//Memory strictly for the synergy with Unferi’s ultimate.
You won’t always see Gearhulk in UW, but it’s effective enough that you probably should. I don’t really even think of him as a win condition and sometimes don’t bother to attack with him even when I can. (yes, it’s lazy play and you should always attack with him when you can, but the point it that you’ve already gotten value from him when you cast him. Everything else is a bonus.) I prefer to think of him as a Settle the Wreckage, a Disallow or a Hieroglyphic Illumination with a 5/6 body. You can attack with him though. And a lengthy G1/2 may put you in a spot where you have to rush things.
Yes, it’s a land and could be in the lands section. But with the high number of UW mirrors we are starting to see you have to be prepared to win another way. Rivulet attacks your oppo’s deck directly and a milling win is as good as any other win. The fact that it’s a land makes it very hard to interact with. The drawback of course is that taking damage for each blue mana you draw from it is something you want to be careful about in an aggro heavy format. Make sure you consider your expected meta when deciding how many to run. Think of it as a mill 4 card that also taps for mana.
Gideon does pretty much everything you want a PW to do in a control deck. He forces your opponents to extend into your Wrath effects, he can attack to add a decent clock and then there’s the whole “you can’t lose the game” emblem thing which completely messes with your opponent, forcing them to deal with Gideon before they can deal with you.
Note that all of these win cons attack the opponent from very different vectors. They are also all multi-faceted resources – giving you a lot of flexibility in how you use them. This variety and flexibility are the strengths of the UW deck right now.
Removal
There’s a lot of removal available to UW right now. This is one of the primary reasons the deck is so good in an aggro heavy format. I’m not going to break down each card here as they are all pretty self-explanatory. The only real questions come when discussing numbers and that is about the variant and your meta.
Counterspells
The Hipster versions of the deck often don’t run Disallow, but it’s easily the best counterspell available to us right now and enough do that it makes the list of ubiquitous cards. In the mirror, this may be your best out to Ipnu Rivulet.
Hard counters at two mana are almost always going to be decent. In this format, if you are playing UW and not running at least some Scatters you are probably losing.
Card Advantage
Yes, Unferi could probably slot in here, but he does so much more than just draw cards.
It’s worth noting that some of the top decks in the last week or so have moved away from running either of these cards, instead favouring Pull from Tomorrow. However, many, many fashion conscious pilots are still working with the tried and true. Glimmer lets you see fur cards, while Illumination is better in the early game, especially if you are mana constrained. Pull from Tomorrow is the worst card to get you out of trouble on T3, but usually a blow-out on T10. All three are good with Unferi’s ultimate, but Pull is the clear winner in that particular scenario.
This may be one of the best cards available to us and is easily one of the best Magic cards printed in the last three to five years. As an enchantment it improves your draw quality. It has helped me find land and the Settle I desperately needed on more than one occasion. And casting a pseudo Impulse every turn is pretty sweet past-flip. The fact that it turns into a land should not be overlooked either. It can provide the land you need for Fumigate/Approach. And, as many others have pointed out, it combos nicely with Unferi’s +2 ability.
Lands
What’s really to say here? You play some blue lands. You play some white lands. You play some blue AND white lands. These cards should total at least 25 and maybe as many as 27. You do not want to miss land drops. This has been true since The Deck introduced us to Hate Magic in 1993. Beyond that there are a few (a very few) decisions to make.
How many God Pharoah’s Gifts do you expect to see? Right now, I imagine it should be a lot. In addition to the metagame’s UW mainstay there are perfectly viable UR and mono-R GPG decks. In fact, although it’s not made a splash yet, there’s a pretty good UGr GPG deck too. These latter variants, which feature Combat Celebrant to combo off with infinite attack steps, offer the format’s most effective combo decks. While they can work without the GY, attacking the graveyard denies them their explosive end game and is the best way to slow them down.
There are several legit targets for this right now, so it makes sense to pack one or two. With the prevalence of the mirror match enemy Azcantas are going to be plentiful. In a pinch, FoR can also help you find a plains if you need a second white source.
Both are late game cards, and it’s not usually hard to get the City’s Blessing with all the Seal Aways and [card]Cast Out[card]s we have so the deciding factor usually comes down to how many colourless lands you are already running. You really, really need to hit WW on T4. Between Scavenger Grounds and Ruin, you may not have room for another.
Sideboards
History of Benalia – Lose G1? You may need to go aggro to finish the next two in time. History is great for this, giving you two dorks and a cute little bonus for three mana.
Nezahal, Primal Tide – Awesome in the mirror. Uncounterable and dodges removal while also drawing you cards!
Negate – In this Meta? This was mentioned as a main board option, but you really want to be able to go to at least three Negates after boarding. Think of it as reading “Counter target Unferi.” Plus there’s all the other annoying crap you may need to stop.
Lyra, Dawnbringer – No, she is not Baneslayer Angel. She is really good though. In addition to providing a short clock, her lifelink ability makes her truly excellent against the wide decks. Largely replaced Regal Caracal in this slot.
Sorcerous Spyglass – shuts down vehicles (Heart of Kiran) and enemy planeswalkers (Chandra, Karn) for 2 mana. You also get to see what’s coming and plan your sequencing accordingly.
Authority of the Consuls – Really good against the red decks that get around your Gideons and Fumigates with haste creatures. Almost singlehandedly beats the Combat Celebrant-based GPG combo decks.
Forsake the Worldly – You need some Artifact/Enchantment hate. Cycling is useful and the Exile ability is relevant as God Pharoah’s Gift can be pulled back from the grave.
Options:
There are a lot of excellent cards available to UW right now – too many to detail them all.
Ixilan’s Binding – Not ubiquitous, but it may become more prevalent. Locking out the first threat and then all copies of that threat is really good. For example, bind a Chandra and then never worry about another. Or Bind Unferi and then only have to fight over enemy Cast Outs.
Baffling End – Replaced by Seal Away in the vast majority of decks, but still a reasonable option at CMC2.
Blink of an Eye – Better than Baffling End primarily because it’s more flexible. The extra card is nice when kicked. Think of this card more as a generic control option than a creature removal spell.
Desert’s Hold – Playing a lot of Rivulets and Scavenger Grounds? Then the three life this offers can be very nice in some match-ups.
Karn, Scion of Urza – I’ll be honest. I don’t get this one. He’s amazing in Vehicles and some other decks, but I don’t think he offers anything special to UW Control. I’m certainly not cutting removal or counters for him – and he definitely doesn’t get an Unferi slot! But, as you’ll see in the decklists below, he is showing up here and there so maybe I just don’t know what I don’t know. Hopefully thre will be some healthy debate in the comments.
Commit//Memory – Any deck running Unferi should probably have at least one of these. It’s a decent – though not great – counterspell, but as I mentioned above the Aftermath ability is amazing with Unferi’s ultimate. the knock on Wheel of Fortune was always the fact that you had to give your opponent seven cards too. But what do you care if they get to refill their hand if you Armageddon them at the same time?
Syncopate – A lot of decks are showing up with two or three of these lately. It may not be Powersink, but it’s still an excellent counter as long as you have a lot of mana. If you decide to go with less than 25 lands, don’t even think about Syncopate.
I mentioned in the Intro that there are half a dozen sweepers available to UW right now. The two we have talked about are the best but if you really need to add more you can think about these others: River’s Rebuke, Hour of Revelation, Slaughter the Strong, Urza’s Ruinous Blast. Rebuke is playable, though better in the UGx decks, but exercise caution when sleeving up the others. Hour and Blast are non-bos with our enchantment-based removal and Slaughter won’t kill everything.
So let’s talk a little about the three main variants of UW control in the current metagame.
*The decklists all read “M@lcontent’s Deck.” They aren’t mine, I’m just wrestling with the technology and I’ve given credit to their pilots as appropriate.
Classic Look
Let’s start with the business casual of UW Control variants. These are the decks that have been putting up most of the numbers in Top 8’s. They are buttoned down, with clean lines and a subdued confidence that can be brutally intimidating. This guy is like a lawyer and gets the most joy out of the oh crap look that splashes across your opponent’s face when he sees you play T1 Irrigated Farmland. This guy is playing lock down and sacrifices win-cons to make more room for pure control cards. He will have more counters and more removal than the Hipster.
Note the addition of more Planeswalkers. In fact, some of these decks take an almost superfriends approach to the game, picking up a lot of incremental value and forcing opponents to play into their advantages. For example: Gideon of the Trials forces opponents to commit more dorks to the board making Fumigate better. Along with Unferi, this guy is likely to show up with some Torrential Gearhulks. some players are even running Dovin Baan as another pseudo Gideon, and/or Karn, Scion of Urza.
Strategically, this deck runs out like UW has for more than two decades. Counter stuff, wrath stuff and eventually win with whatever you feel like.
Here is Ben Weinberg’s Classic Look deck that took down the SCG Classic (kind of fitting) on May 20th. It’s worth noting that there is almost no difference between this deck and the one piloted by Leo Lahonen to a runners up slot at GP Birmingham and that the top 4 of GP Toronto (Teams) included 2 decks that were almost identical.
There are a couple of variants of the hipster deck, which aims to play a soft control game to stave off a bad outcome before dropping a dork and turning it sideways a few times. Here’s a recent 5-0 list from MOL league piloted by Mathey. Following that is the so called Historic Deck piloted by Kevin Jones to 4th at an SCG Classic a few weeks back that features main deck Raff Capashan, Ship’s Mage so all your dorks (and Unferis) have flash.
Strategically, this decks plays a little differently to the Classic Look. The Hipster shortens the clock a lot with a more aggressive approach to the game. History of Benalia in the main offers both a way to interact on the ground and a way to attack in the early game while Lyra, Gearhulk and Raff bring the beats. Thanks to Raff, you are able to put more emphasis on playing on your oppo’s end step.
The Athleisure deck takes the hard control of the Classic Look and adds a combo-ish end game: Approach of the Second Sun. These decks have been around for more than a year and before Unferi showed up they made up the majority of UW control decks.
It has always seemed strange for UW to win with a 7 CMC Sorcery – that you have to cast twice, no less – but this is more than viable.
There is already a discussion thread dedicated to UW Approach so I’m not going to go into a ton of detail about it here.
Marion Johnson recently won a PPTQ in Roanoke with Approach and, although a lot of his choices are questionable, a good day out is hard to argue with so his list is below. For more thoughts on this deck, check out the UW Approach thread.
Because the three decks are so different it’s hard to go into a lot of detail on match-ups and game plans. There’s a lot of strategy in the card discussions, but I’ll be looking to add match-up info over time. Hopefully there will be some great discussion and we’ll just add the best stuff to the primer and make it a real community project.
I'm a U/W Approach player who's looking to upgrade to something interesting but competitive. A Reddit thread caught my eye earlier and a poster in that thread linked his deck. I've been thinking about the viability of this combo and whether the list he or she posted is competitively viable. Thoughts?
I looked at the deck you linked and TBH, I think it's a little schizophrenic. To start with it's not a control deck. It's not really a tempo deck either. It's more like UW midrange, like the Hipster decks in the primer only with a lot more dorks. I do not believe Bontu's Monument to be viable in any competitive environment and the rest...IKD. It kind of looks like a Wizards/Angels Tribal deck. Some of these cards are very good -- Lyra, Unferi, Raff, etc., -- and good cards will always give you good moments, but Naru is terrible, as is Release to the Wind. Just as you may drop Lyra and ride her to a win, you are just as likely to play Naru and die horribly. Consistency is what you want. Balance in all things, especially magic.
As I consider it more, I think it's just a messed up version of Hipster. If you are tired of Approach and want to do something different, then Hipster is a decent place to start. You might find you miss the I Win factor of the older deck though. Maybe Jim Davis' Bant Approach would be good? I've really enjoyed playing it myself.
/M
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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.
I like playing a single approach in the UW control shell. It's not your primary game plan, but it can end up being an oops, I win. Especially with a rivulet.
My personal opinion of this deck: If you're not playing 4 teferi, you're doing it wrong.
I'm suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper happy to see someone win with a far better optimized version of the Approach of the Superfriends deck I tried to make last month!!!
My local meta is similar to the MTGO meta but with more UW Control. I don't know if Approach is necessarily the right place to be right now but I definitely appreciate it time-wise as I do tend to play a little slow than most.
My two problems:
1. Opt. I've been relying on it as a bit of a crutch for the past few months but cut it post-DOM after we got access to more lists and I saw that none of them were playing it. For the remainder of this PPTQ season, is it worth it to simply play a 95% list that I'm more comfortable with? My area is very competitive so there's little chance of spiking a low-turnout event.
2. The Sideboard. How do I board against the mirror? I can board out all of my removal and risk losing to a Lyra or History, or I can keep it in and draw dead. I also want to rework the sideboard as I don't think mine is particularly optimal. I also can't really add a Karn as I only own 1 and don't want to spend too much.
@ M@lcontent Thanks for the response! I think that's a fair analysis. That being said though, I agree Naru Meha and Release to the Winds are terrible on their own, but what I'm wondering if the combo is potent enough to run. For anyone who doesn't know, casting Release to the Winds on a creature then casting Naru Meha targeting Release to the Winds allows you to copy it targeting Naru Meha, loop casting Naru Meha infinitely, hence the Bontu's Monument. It's a combo I'm pretty fond of.
My issue there is that it's not a 2-card infinite combo per se. You need something else (bontu's monument, aetherflux reservoir, etc.) for it to do anything. It also gets stopped by a single abrade or negate.
Karn, Scion of Urza – I’ll be honest. I don’t get this one. He’s amazing in Vehicles and some other decks, but I don’t think he offers anything special to UW Control. I’m certainly not cutting removal or counters for him – and he definitely doesn’t get an Unferi slot! But, as you’ll see in the decklists below, he is showing up here and there so maybe I just don’t know what I don’t know. Hopefully thre will be some healthy debate in the comments.
Besides the fact that Karn is good in everything...
The typical opponent response to Karn's +1 is to give you a land. In a deck that wants to hit its first 15 land drops Karn's +1 becomes a lot stronger. You just tick him up forever while playing a land every turn and building up a library of exiled cards to pick up with his -1 at your leisure.
His high loyalty is the icing on the cake. If you've played any interaction on turn 2 or 3 then there's a decent chance you can slam Karn into a board with less than 6 power. Alternatively if you play him later after a sweeper or two it is tough for the opponent to muster up enough power to really threaten him.
In the end game using Karn's tokens instead of Teferi recursion is less likely to make the match go to time and/or end with your car being keyed after the tournament.
My issue there is that it's not a 2-card infinite combo per se. You need something else (bontu's monument, aetherflux reservoir, etc.) for it to do anything. It also gets stopped by a single abrade or negate.
I believe that combo belongs in a U/B shell, that way you can still play control and use the combo and also make normal user of bontu's monument.
As for stopping the combo, it is easy but you only get one turn to try it, if you don't the game is over. So, first game the opp probably won't know what the combo is, and in the second game you can board out the combo and go more aggro for the win.
I'm going to try to fit it in that type of deck and see if it works out, black also gives us access to hand destruction against other control decks.
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"May he who is without mana cast the first spell!"
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Karn, Scion of Urza – I’ll be honest. I don’t get this one. He’s amazing in Vehicles and some other decks, but I don’t think he offers anything special to UW Control. I’m certainly not cutting removal or counters for him – and he definitely doesn’t get an Unferi slot! But, as you’ll see in the decklists below, he is showing up here and there so maybe I just don’t know what I don’t know. Hopefully thre will be some healthy debate in the comments.
Besides the fact that Karn is good in everything...
The typical opponent response to Karn's +1 is to give you a land. In a deck that wants to hit its first 15 land drops Karn's +1 becomes a lot stronger. You just tick him up forever while playing a land every turn and building up a library of exiled cards to pick up with his -1 at your leisure.
His high loyalty is the icing on the cake. If you've played any interaction on turn 2 or 3 then there's a decent chance you can slam Karn into a board with less than 6 power. Alternatively if you play him later after a sweeper or two it is tough for the opponent to muster up enough power to really threaten him.
In the end game using Karn's tokens instead of Teferi recursion is less likely to make the match go to time and/or end with your car being keyed after the tournament.
Thanks Jacob, I appreciate the insight. I guess it comes down to balance for me. I can certainly see how Karn would appeal to some. I am pretty happy with the card draw options we already have, but if you are cutting Illumination/Glimmer I see how some slots could open up. The cards being cut, however, are the ones that will find you a Settle or Fumigate you really need. It's like Karn is a cool card that does cool things, but I'm still not sure it does anything we really want/need to do. Maybe I just need to play it more...
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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.
My local meta is similar to the MTGO meta but with more UW Control. I don't know if Approach is necessarily the right place to be right now but I definitely appreciate it time-wise as I do tend to play a little slow than most.
My two problems:
1. Opt. I've been relying on it as a bit of a crutch for the past few months but cut it post-DOM after we got access to more lists and I saw that none of them were playing it. For the remainder of this PPTQ season, is it worth it to simply play a 95% list that I'm more comfortable with? My area is very competitive so there's little chance of spiking a low-turnout event.
2. The Sideboard. How do I board against the mirror? I can board out all of my removal and risk losing to a Lyra or History, or I can keep it in and draw dead. I also want to rework the sideboard as I don't think mine is particularly optimal. I also can't really add a Karn as I only own 1 and don't want to spend too much.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks jst, glad you like it.
So...first off, there is a thread dedicated to UW Approach. Personally, I believe that Approach is identical to UW Control, only with Approaches in the Uferi slots, however there is some concern that I m in the minority in that so I'll be editing down the approach section of the Primer. I suggest you post there and hopefully you'll get some more valuable insight and help.
In the meantime...Approach is definitely not amazing in the mirror. You need to stockpile counters so you can fight over the second Approach and that makes interacting with Unferi harder. It's great against everything else, but I honestly don't think it's where you want to be right now.
1. Opt: There's nothing wrong with Opt. Some people dropped their Censors for Opt when it was reprinted -- something I thought incorrect; at least until I realized I was cycling five out of every six Censors. However, it doesn't really do a lot for you. It's not versatile or flexible at all. I guess that's not the issue though. There is nothing that says you HAVE to net deck. You are usually better off playing the deck you are uber comfortable with, than with a decklist you have trouble understanding.
2. Boarding for the mirror: With your list, I'd bring in the angels, Karn, the Negates and the Defeat. I'd drop the Scatter, the Fumigates, the Approaches, and maybe a Seal Away or two. You should still a have enough removal to manage their half dozen post board dorks. Your strategy has to be different n G2/3 -- regardless of their squatter status. Lyra gives you a great card for it's literature while the Negates will help you win.
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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.
Thanks Jacob, I appreciate the insight. I guess it comes down to balance for me. I can certainly see how Karn would appeal to some. I am pretty happy with the card draw options we already have, but if you are cutting Illumination/Glimmer I see how some slots could open up. The cards being cut, however, are the ones that will find you a Settle or Fumigate you really need. It's like Karn is a cool card that does cool things, but I'm still not sure it does anything we really want/need to do. Maybe I just need to play it more...
To be honest I've only played it from the other side. What I can say is that Karn -> sweeper or sweeper -> Karn creates a very helpless feeling. Not quite as helpless as Teferi, but it gives you Teferi #5+ to run away with the game via incremental advantage.
This wasn't all that close. Never felt threatened and I had an answer for everything. Easy 2-0.
2-0, 1-0
Round 2 vs RB
I don't remember much of this match, except for the fact that I won.
2-1, 2-0
Round 3 vs GB Snake:
Game 1 I mull to 5 and never draw enough land to do anything. Game 2 went as it should. Game 3 was a repeat of game 1. Unlucky, as this is typically a fine matchup.
1-2, 2-1
Round 4 vs UW Gift:
Game 1 he draws a ton of cards but never really does anything. Game 2 he actually finds stuff and gets Gift for the win. Game 3 went to time but he ended up conceding (which was awesome of him) since I was ahead on board and a draw did neither of us any favors. I always do that for others so it was nice of karma to repay the favor.
2-1, 3-1
Round 5 vs RB:
Due to my position at 7th after 4 rounds, I'm forced to play it out. I lose game 1 to typical RB shenanigans, but end up taking games 2 and 3 to seal my spot in the top 8.
2-1, 4-1
Top 8 Quarterfinal vs GW Angels/Goodstuff:
One positive of having to play round 5 is that the win secured me the 1-seed, so I was on the play during the top 8. I lose game 1 (seemed to be a common theme of the day) to Shalai shutting off my Settle the Wreckage. Games 2 and 3 were decided by Fumigate.
2-1, 5-1
Top 8 Semifinal vs Mono Red:
This was against my good friend/teammate who is very proficient with RDW. Game 1 he scoops to a flipped Azcanta. Game 2 he has a blistering start with 3 Bomats, Khenras, etc. Lost before I could really do anything. Game 3 was long, but he was choked on mana and got unlucky with a Bomat activation. Lyra eventually closed things out.
2-1, 6-1
Top 8 Final vs UW Control:
This seemed miserable. Since I'm running a more aggressive version, his removal game 1 isn't entirely dead like mine was (he was on the typical Teferi list). I almost stole game 1, but he had some timely draws and eventually got the win. Game 2 he overwhelmed me with White Knights and History of Benalia tokens, and I couldn't find my own to block.
0-2, 6-2
Great run overall, but I definitely need to make some adjustments for the mirror.
Here are some changes I'm considering:
Main deck
-1 Commit, -3 Ballista, -2 Meltdown
+1 Search for Azcanta, +4 Treasure Map, +1 Seal Away
Side
-1 Gearhulk, -1 Glimmer, -1 Spyglass, -1 Binding
+1 Nezahal, +2 Baral, +1 In Bolas's Clutches
I like skimming on Settle the Wreckage and skimming on Fumigate in different matchups. I actually just take Fumigate out vs Mono-R and Rb, as they usually play around it every single time. It is also counter-productive alongside your lifelink creature of choice (I like Regal Caracal over Lyra because if they have removal for it, you can still survive with chump blockers. That, and between Cast Out/Blink of an Eye/Teferi, there are plenty of lines to completely gum up the board if you have no other action) I am still trying to come up with an ideal number, but I am erring on 3/1 Settle/Fumigate with another 2 Fumigate in the board. It's dicey because I don't have too much data
I like 2 Memorial for all the control mirrors. It makes your low-impact keeps at least somewhat manageable in the late game
Nezahal vs the slower attrition decks and control mirrors is filthy
Have Karns but I just don't see it being a great help? At least if this was an artifact-centric plan it would make sense. As it stands, just a dash less important than Dovin Baan, who has actually overperformed against aggro every time I've used him
I like the 3/2 split of Illumination/Glimmer but I have been thinking about dropping an Illumination for something like 1x Gideon's Reproach MD
Any thoughts or data to compare would be appreciated
As an aside, the prize support on MTGA can be total dogmeat... just give me a rare voucher and let me be on my way lol
What’s the strategy to fight against RB? I’ve had trouble against it but teammates of mine find the matchup fine. What am I doing wrong? Lol.
I've only tested a little over ten matches with it in total IRL practice... I think the way you play the match best is to avoid overextending over problematic and life-threatening early plays in order to stifle what's next to come. Hold up Essence Scatter for Phoenix and take an extra 3 points of damage for it. Hold up Cast Out for Chandra before you Commit their scariest threat away. Getting information is so much more valuable than trying to stop an active crime scene on the board only to let more pain roll in after you tap out
Facing Bomat Courier into a 2 drop into a Chainwhirler or the 3/2 haste guy... sometimes you are tasked with a lot more than just "Get information and pray to not end up dead in the process" But then again those situations are only scary if the opponent plays right into Settle the Wreckage, so... I digress
I will say that I'm inclined to agree with your teammates. I actually PREFER to fight Mono-R and Rb to some of these Heroic Intervention/Blossoming Defense strats. The only thing that will change that is trying to steer away from facing lethal and then not being able to do much of anything about their lategame Banefire
Thanks for the reply. What are the best cards in the matchup? I think I'm definitely struggling to prioritize their threats as you mentioned by countering/killing the wrong things. What cards are the weakest?
I don't think you should try to evaluate what their best 'cards' are, but rather their best lines. Certain cards are worse than others, sure, but everything shines in a given context. Bomat Courier getting some steam going into the midgame only for the opponent to re-up on cards is annoying. You being forced to interact mid-combat only to have a Chandra hit the board Main 2 where it dodges cast out for a turn is annoying. Having to cast Fumigate into a hasty threat or two, especially with Phoenix already out, is annoying. Put yourself in the position to not have to fight from behind against these types of situations, and expend your life total as a resource until you have the luxury of casting whichever two or three spells a turn you would like to after you assess your priorities.
The best EV is to answer their threats, stick a Gideon and Dovin with counterspell backup, then watch as they are forced to lose massive tempo either way they cut it. Having one of those survive into a Teferi is almost a done deal.
Many of my matches against R and Rb I'd have to dip under 5 life consistently during at least one of the games. Despite this, it's what I have the highest win% against. Playing the matchup feels like having a plane nosedive in a storm, only to level itself and pull back up with a few seconds to spare before impact. Always equal parts nerve-wracking and satisfying lol
Sorry - should’ve been more clear, I meant our best/worst cards against them. I think you make a good point about the plane nosedive. I need to not worry about my life total so much at the beginning of each game, and worry about the mid/long game. I’m not currently running Gideon/Dovin, but maybe I should.
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.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
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Of course, the truth is that we never really left. With a few short blips (I’m looking at you, Ramunap Ruins), UW Control decks have been viable for the last year or more. Now that some new high profile tools have been added to the arsenal, the archetype isn’t just viable, it’s fashionable. And what a variety of fashions we have available to us. Do you like outright control? Got you covered. Want to enjoy that dirty combo feeling? Let me introduce my friend Approach of the Second Suns. Feel like turning dorks sideways? (Yuck!) Well, we’ve even got that covered thanks to the Historic options. You can pick the poison that most appeals to you. Moreover, you can even pick up a few extra cards and then use them to change up your deck from week to week to keep your friends at your LGS off balance.
One of the factors helping UW Control rise to prominence is the lack of Combo in the format. There are a couple of combo decks around, but – with the exception of Combat Celebrant-based GPG decks – they are generally inconsistent and thus not putting up any numbers worth talking about. The neutering of the Aetherworks Marvel and Saheeli Rai combos has left us with only one real threat vector, allowing us to focus our deck on beating aggro. There is even a shortage of burn spells that go to the dome, so we don’t have to worry about losing to a flurry of Lightning Bolts. In the meantime, we have been gifted with half a dozen sweepers, a ton of point removal and a zillion counters. As things stand right now we have all the tools required to deal with whatever aggro cards our opponents may throw our way.
So dose the goblets with Iocane Powder and sit back because we are going to be drawing, playing a land and saying “go” a lot.
The Cards
There are a minimum of three distinct variants of reactive UW Control decks making noise right now. Rather than repeat myself a lot, I’m going to look at the cards that are common to all three and then break out into separate sections to address some of the differences. I’ll provide recent decklists for all three. Due to the sheer weight of legit card options for these variants I am sure I will miss lots of cards. Please feel free to discuss them in the thread. I don’t have time to write War and Peace right now, so I will add some match-up analysis over time.
Win Cons
“Unferi” has almost single-handedly put UW back on the map and is probably the top end of any decent UW control deck you will see. Lots of “pros” and try-hards saw Teferi and thought “Hey, maybe I’ll play with basic Island.” Just like skinny pants and beards, we are back on the cover of Vogue or GQ or whatever. Some people are even calling him the GOAT planeswalker. While I think this is hyperbolic to the point of silliness, there is no debating the fact that he is an amazing – and possible format-defining – weapon for UW players.
There are a ton of other articles on the Internet espousing how good he is and I’m not going to waste your time repeating them.
Very briefly:
+2 ability – drawing a card AND untapping two land – basically makes him a three mana planeswalker you can’t cast before T5. Those two untapped lands can be used to protect him with Seal Away (conveniently in his colors) or to protect you with Essence Scatter, Negate or a weak Syncopate. The only place this doesn’t quite apply is in mirror match where you might have to engage in a counter war over him. Later in the game you get access to other interesting Azcanta synergies. (The only thing better than drawing three cards per turn is drawing four cards per turn.)
-2: removes a permanent, which is great from a board control perspective, but also works as a win con. Target himself to put him on top of your deck and you’ll never deck out. Just watch out for enemy Ipnu Rivulets.
-8: The ultimate is insane in a deck with lots of card draw. Indeed, some people are running Commit//Memory strictly for the synergy with Unferi’s ultimate.
You won’t always see Gearhulk in UW, but it’s effective enough that you probably should. I don’t really even think of him as a win condition and sometimes don’t bother to attack with him even when I can. (yes, it’s lazy play and you should always attack with him when you can, but the point it that you’ve already gotten value from him when you cast him. Everything else is a bonus.) I prefer to think of him as a Settle the Wreckage, a Disallow or a Hieroglyphic Illumination with a 5/6 body. You can attack with him though. And a lengthy G1/2 may put you in a spot where you have to rush things.
Yes, it’s a land and could be in the lands section. But with the high number of UW mirrors we are starting to see you have to be prepared to win another way. Rivulet attacks your oppo’s deck directly and a milling win is as good as any other win. The fact that it’s a land makes it very hard to interact with. The drawback of course is that taking damage for each blue mana you draw from it is something you want to be careful about in an aggro heavy format. Make sure you consider your expected meta when deciding how many to run. Think of it as a mill 4 card that also taps for mana.
Gideon does pretty much everything you want a PW to do in a control deck. He forces your opponents to extend into your Wrath effects, he can attack to add a decent clock and then there’s the whole “you can’t lose the game” emblem thing which completely messes with your opponent, forcing them to deal with Gideon before they can deal with you.
Note that all of these win cons attack the opponent from very different vectors. They are also all multi-faceted resources – giving you a lot of flexibility in how you use them. This variety and flexibility are the strengths of the UW deck right now.
Removal
There’s a lot of removal available to UW right now. This is one of the primary reasons the deck is so good in an aggro heavy format. I’m not going to break down each card here as they are all pretty self-explanatory. The only real questions come when discussing numbers and that is about the variant and your meta.
Counterspells
The Hipster versions of the deck often don’t run Disallow, but it’s easily the best counterspell available to us right now and enough do that it makes the list of ubiquitous cards. In the mirror, this may be your best out to Ipnu Rivulet.
Hard counters at two mana are almost always going to be decent. In this format, if you are playing UW and not running at least some Scatters you are probably losing.
Card Advantage
Yes, Unferi could probably slot in here, but he does so much more than just draw cards.
It’s worth noting that some of the top decks in the last week or so have moved away from running either of these cards, instead favouring Pull from Tomorrow. However, many, many fashion conscious pilots are still working with the tried and true. Glimmer lets you see fur cards, while Illumination is better in the early game, especially if you are mana constrained. Pull from Tomorrow is the worst card to get you out of trouble on T3, but usually a blow-out on T10. All three are good with Unferi’s ultimate, but Pull is the clear winner in that particular scenario.
This may be one of the best cards available to us and is easily one of the best Magic cards printed in the last three to five years. As an enchantment it improves your draw quality. It has helped me find land and the Settle I desperately needed on more than one occasion. And casting a pseudo Impulse every turn is pretty sweet past-flip. The fact that it turns into a land should not be overlooked either. It can provide the land you need for Fumigate/Approach. And, as many others have pointed out, it combos nicely with Unferi’s +2 ability.
Lands
What’s really to say here? You play some blue lands. You play some white lands. You play some blue AND white lands. These cards should total at least 25 and maybe as many as 27. You do not want to miss land drops. This has been true since The Deck introduced us to Hate Magic in 1993. Beyond that there are a few (a very few) decisions to make.
How many God Pharoah’s Gifts do you expect to see? Right now, I imagine it should be a lot. In addition to the metagame’s UW mainstay there are perfectly viable UR and mono-R GPG decks. In fact, although it’s not made a splash yet, there’s a pretty good UGr GPG deck too. These latter variants, which feature Combat Celebrant to combo off with infinite attack steps, offer the format’s most effective combo decks. While they can work without the GY, attacking the graveyard denies them their explosive end game and is the best way to slow them down.
There are several legit targets for this right now, so it makes sense to pack one or two. With the prevalence of the mirror match enemy Azcantas are going to be plentiful. In a pinch, FoR can also help you find a plains if you need a second white source.
Both are late game cards, and it’s not usually hard to get the City’s Blessing with all the Seal Aways and [card]Cast Out[card]s we have so the deciding factor usually comes down to how many colourless lands you are already running. You really, really need to hit WW on T4. Between Scavenger Grounds and Ruin, you may not have room for another.
Sideboards
History of Benalia – Lose G1? You may need to go aggro to finish the next two in time. History is great for this, giving you two dorks and a cute little bonus for three mana.
Nezahal, Primal Tide – Awesome in the mirror. Uncounterable and dodges removal while also drawing you cards!
Negate – In this Meta? This was mentioned as a main board option, but you really want to be able to go to at least three Negates after boarding. Think of it as reading “Counter target Unferi.” Plus there’s all the other annoying crap you may need to stop.
Lyra, Dawnbringer – No, she is not Baneslayer Angel. She is really good though. In addition to providing a short clock, her lifelink ability makes her truly excellent against the wide decks. Largely replaced Regal Caracal in this slot.
Sorcerous Spyglass – shuts down vehicles (Heart of Kiran) and enemy planeswalkers (Chandra, Karn) for 2 mana. You also get to see what’s coming and plan your sequencing accordingly.
Authority of the Consuls – Really good against the red decks that get around your Gideons and Fumigates with haste creatures. Almost singlehandedly beats the Combat Celebrant-based GPG combo decks.
Forsake the Worldly – You need some Artifact/Enchantment hate. Cycling is useful and the Exile ability is relevant as God Pharoah’s Gift can be pulled back from the grave.
Options:
There are a lot of excellent cards available to UW right now – too many to detail them all.
Ixilan’s Binding – Not ubiquitous, but it may become more prevalent. Locking out the first threat and then all copies of that threat is really good. For example, bind a Chandra and then never worry about another. Or Bind Unferi and then only have to fight over enemy Cast Outs.
Baffling End – Replaced by Seal Away in the vast majority of decks, but still a reasonable option at CMC2.
Blink of an Eye – Better than Baffling End primarily because it’s more flexible. The extra card is nice when kicked. Think of this card more as a generic control option than a creature removal spell.
Desert’s Hold – Playing a lot of Rivulets and Scavenger Grounds? Then the three life this offers can be very nice in some match-ups.
Karn, Scion of Urza – I’ll be honest. I don’t get this one. He’s amazing in Vehicles and some other decks, but I don’t think he offers anything special to UW Control. I’m certainly not cutting removal or counters for him – and he definitely doesn’t get an Unferi slot! But, as you’ll see in the decklists below, he is showing up here and there so maybe I just don’t know what I don’t know. Hopefully thre will be some healthy debate in the comments.
Commit//Memory – Any deck running Unferi should probably have at least one of these. It’s a decent – though not great – counterspell, but as I mentioned above the Aftermath ability is amazing with Unferi’s ultimate. the knock on Wheel of Fortune was always the fact that you had to give your opponent seven cards too. But what do you care if they get to refill their hand if you Armageddon them at the same time?
Aether Meltdown – Think of it as Seal Away 5+.
Syncopate – A lot of decks are showing up with two or three of these lately. It may not be Powersink, but it’s still an excellent counter as long as you have a lot of mana. If you decide to go with less than 25 lands, don’t even think about Syncopate.
I mentioned in the Intro that there are half a dozen sweepers available to UW right now. The two we have talked about are the best but if you really need to add more you can think about these others: River’s Rebuke, Hour of Revelation, Slaughter the Strong, Urza’s Ruinous Blast. Rebuke is playable, though better in the UGx decks, but exercise caution when sleeving up the others. Hour and Blast are non-bos with our enchantment-based removal and Slaughter won’t kill everything.
So let’s talk a little about the three main variants of UW control in the current metagame.
*The decklists all read “M@lcontent’s Deck.” They aren’t mine, I’m just wrestling with the technology and I’ve given credit to their pilots as appropriate.
Classic Look
Let’s start with the business casual of UW Control variants. These are the decks that have been putting up most of the numbers in Top 8’s. They are buttoned down, with clean lines and a subdued confidence that can be brutally intimidating. This guy is like a lawyer and gets the most joy out of the oh crap look that splashes across your opponent’s face when he sees you play T1 Irrigated Farmland. This guy is playing lock down and sacrifices win-cons to make more room for pure control cards. He will have more counters and more removal than the Hipster.
Note the addition of more Planeswalkers. In fact, some of these decks take an almost superfriends approach to the game, picking up a lot of incremental value and forcing opponents to play into their advantages. For example: Gideon of the Trials forces opponents to commit more dorks to the board making Fumigate better. Along with Unferi, this guy is likely to show up with some Torrential Gearhulks. some players are even running Dovin Baan as another pseudo Gideon, and/or Karn, Scion of Urza.
Strategically, this deck runs out like UW has for more than two decades. Counter stuff, wrath stuff and eventually win with whatever you feel like.
Here is Ben Weinberg’s Classic Look deck that took down the SCG Classic (kind of fitting) on May 20th. It’s worth noting that there is almost no difference between this deck and the one piloted by Leo Lahonen to a runners up slot at GP Birmingham and that the top 4 of GP Toronto (Teams) included 2 decks that were almost identical.
1 x Gideon of the Trials
4 x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Spells
3 x Cast Out
3 x Seal Away
3 x Blink of an Eye
1 x Commit//Memory
4 x Disallow
3 x Essence Scatter
2 x Pull from Tomorrow
3 x Settle the Wreckage
2 x Syncopate
2 x Search for Azcanta
2x Fumigate
5 x Island
7 x Plains
2 x Field of Ruin
4 x Glacial Fortress
2 x Ipnu Rivulet
4 x Irrigated Farmland
2 x Meandering River
1 x Memorial to Genius
2 x Sorcerous Spyglass
1 x Authority of the Consuls
4 x History of Benalia
1 x Seal Away
2 x Invoke the Divine
3 x Negate
1 x Gideon of the Trials
1 x Fumigate
Hipster
There are a couple of variants of the hipster deck, which aims to play a soft control game to stave off a bad outcome before dropping a dork and turning it sideways a few times. Here’s a recent 5-0 list from MOL league piloted by Mathey. Following that is the so called Historic Deck piloted by Kevin Jones to 4th at an SCG Classic a few weeks back that features main deck Raff Capashan, Ship’s Mage so all your dorks (and Unferis) have flash.
Strategically, this decks plays a little differently to the Classic Look. The Hipster shortens the clock a lot with a more aggressive approach to the game. History of Benalia in the main offers both a way to interact on the ground and a way to attack in the early game while Lyra, Gearhulk and Raff bring the beats. Thanks to Raff, you are able to put more emphasis on playing on your oppo’s end step.
2 Lyra Dawnbringer
4 Merfolk Trickster
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Instant (16)
2 Commit // Memory
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Gideon's Reproach
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Negate
2 Settle the Wreckage
1 Supreme Will
2 Syncopate
4 Wizard's Retort
4 History of Benalia
3 Seal Away
Land (26)
2 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
8 Island
2 Memorial to Genius
6 Plains
Legendary planeswalker (3)
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Field of Ruin
1 Forsake the Worldly
3 Negate
2 Authority of the Consuls
1 Cast Out
2 Fumigate
1 Jace's Defeat
2 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Walking Ballista
3 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage
Planeswalkers
2 Gideon of the Trials
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Spells
1 Cast Out
4 History of Benalia
4 Seal Away
1 Blink of an Eye
1 Commit//Memory
1 Disallow
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Negate
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Supreme Will
2 Syncopate
4 Island
10 Plains
1 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Meandering River
2 Memorial to Genius
2 Authority of the Consuls
2 Forsake the Worldly
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Jace's Defeat
3 Negate
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Fumigate
1 River's Rebuke
1 x Gideon of the Trials
1 x Fumigate
Athleisure
The Athleisure deck takes the hard control of the Classic Look and adds a combo-ish end game: Approach of the Second Sun. These decks have been around for more than a year and before Unferi showed up they made up the majority of UW control decks.
It has always seemed strange for UW to win with a 7 CMC Sorcery – that you have to cast twice, no less – but this is more than viable.
There is already a discussion thread dedicated to UW Approach so I’m not going to go into a ton of detail about it here.
Marion Johnson recently won a PPTQ in Roanoke with Approach and, although a lot of his choices are questionable, a good day out is hard to argue with so his list is below. For more thoughts on this deck, check out the UW Approach thread.
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers
1 Dovin Baan
3 Gideon of the Trials
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Spells
2 Cast Out
4 Censor
3 Disallow
3 Essence Scatter
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Settle the Wreckage
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Approach of the Second Sun
2 Fumigate
7 Island
6 Plains
2 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Scavenger Grounds
3 Authority of the Consuls
3 Forsake the Worldly
1 Jace's Defeat
3 Negate
2 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Fumigate
Match-ups
Because the three decks are so different it’s hard to go into a lot of detail on match-ups and game plans. There’s a lot of strategy in the card discussions, but I’ll be looking to add match-up info over time. Hopefully there will be some great discussion and we’ll just add the best stuff to the primer and make it a real community project.
I looked at the deck you linked and TBH, I think it's a little schizophrenic. To start with it's not a control deck. It's not really a tempo deck either. It's more like UW midrange, like the Hipster decks in the primer only with a lot more dorks. I do not believe Bontu's Monument to be viable in any competitive environment and the rest...IKD. It kind of looks like a Wizards/Angels Tribal deck. Some of these cards are very good -- Lyra, Unferi, Raff, etc., -- and good cards will always give you good moments, but Naru is terrible, as is Release to the Wind. Just as you may drop Lyra and ride her to a win, you are just as likely to play Naru and die horribly. Consistency is what you want. Balance in all things, especially magic.
As I consider it more, I think it's just a messed up version of Hipster. If you are tired of Approach and want to do something different, then Hipster is a decent place to start. You might find you miss the I Win factor of the older deck though. Maybe Jim Davis' Bant Approach would be good? I've really enjoyed playing it myself.
/M
My personal opinion of this deck: If you're not playing 4 teferi, you're doing it wrong.
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.
Here is my current list (relatively stock except for the approaches):
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Seal Away
3 Fumigate
3 Settle the Wreckage
2 Cast Out
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Blink of an Eye
4 Disallow
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Commit // Memory
2 Approach of the Second Sun
5 Island
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
3 Field of Ruin
2 Ipnu Rivulet
1 Memorial to Genius
3 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
3 Forsake the Worldly
3 Negate
1 Jace's Defeat
My local meta is similar to the MTGO meta but with more UW Control. I don't know if Approach is necessarily the right place to be right now but I definitely appreciate it time-wise as I do tend to play a little slow than most.
My two problems:
1. Opt. I've been relying on it as a bit of a crutch for the past few months but cut it post-DOM after we got access to more lists and I saw that none of them were playing it. For the remainder of this PPTQ season, is it worth it to simply play a 95% list that I'm more comfortable with? My area is very competitive so there's little chance of spiking a low-turnout event.
2. The Sideboard. How do I board against the mirror? I can board out all of my removal and risk losing to a Lyra or History, or I can keep it in and draw dead. I also want to rework the sideboard as I don't think mine is particularly optimal. I also can't really add a Karn as I only own 1 and don't want to spend too much.
Thanks for the help.
Besides the fact that Karn is good in everything...
The typical opponent response to Karn's +1 is to give you a land. In a deck that wants to hit its first 15 land drops Karn's +1 becomes a lot stronger. You just tick him up forever while playing a land every turn and building up a library of exiled cards to pick up with his -1 at your leisure.
His high loyalty is the icing on the cake. If you've played any interaction on turn 2 or 3 then there's a decent chance you can slam Karn into a board with less than 6 power. Alternatively if you play him later after a sweeper or two it is tough for the opponent to muster up enough power to really threaten him.
In the end game using Karn's tokens instead of Teferi recursion is less likely to make the match go to time and/or end with your car being keyed after the tournament.
I believe that combo belongs in a U/B shell, that way you can still play control and use the combo and also make normal user of bontu's monument.
As for stopping the combo, it is easy but you only get one turn to try it, if you don't the game is over. So, first game the opp probably won't know what the combo is, and in the second game you can board out the combo and go more aggro for the win.
I'm going to try to fit it in that type of deck and see if it works out, black also gives us access to hand destruction against other control decks.
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Mtg Lifestyle
Thanks Jacob, I appreciate the insight. I guess it comes down to balance for me. I can certainly see how Karn would appeal to some. I am pretty happy with the card draw options we already have, but if you are cutting Illumination/Glimmer I see how some slots could open up. The cards being cut, however, are the ones that will find you a Settle or Fumigate you really need. It's like Karn is a cool card that does cool things, but I'm still not sure it does anything we really want/need to do. Maybe I just need to play it more...
Thanks jst, glad you like it.
So...first off, there is a thread dedicated to UW Approach. Personally, I believe that Approach is identical to UW Control, only with Approaches in the Uferi slots, however there is some concern that I m in the minority in that so I'll be editing down the approach section of the Primer. I suggest you post there and hopefully you'll get some more valuable insight and help.
In the meantime...Approach is definitely not amazing in the mirror. You need to stockpile counters so you can fight over the second Approach and that makes interacting with Unferi harder. It's great against everything else, but I honestly don't think it's where you want to be right now.
1. Opt: There's nothing wrong with Opt. Some people dropped their Censors for Opt when it was reprinted -- something I thought incorrect; at least until I realized I was cycling five out of every six Censors. However, it doesn't really do a lot for you. It's not versatile or flexible at all. I guess that's not the issue though. There is nothing that says you HAVE to net deck. You are usually better off playing the deck you are uber comfortable with, than with a decklist you have trouble understanding.
2. Boarding for the mirror: With your list, I'd bring in the angels, Karn, the Negates and the Defeat. I'd drop the Scatter, the Fumigates, the Approaches, and maybe a Seal Away or two. You should still a have enough removal to manage their half dozen post board dorks. Your strategy has to be different n G2/3 -- regardless of their squatter status. Lyra gives you a great card for it's literature while the Negates will help you win.
To be honest I've only played it from the other side. What I can say is that Karn -> sweeper or sweeper -> Karn creates a very helpless feeling. Not quite as helpless as Teferi, but it gives you Teferi #5+ to run away with the game via incremental advantage.
List:
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Lyra Dawnbringer
3 Walking Ballista
1 Commit // Memory
2 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Syncopate
2 Aether Meltdown
3 Cast Out
4 History of Benalia
3 Seal Away
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
6 Island
9 Plains
2 Forsake the Worldly
3 Fumigate
1 Glimmer of Genius
3 Ixalan's Binding
1 Jace's Defeat
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Torrential Gearhulk
A quick rundown of the matchups:
Round 1 vs UR Wizards:
This wasn't all that close. Never felt threatened and I had an answer for everything. Easy 2-0.
2-0, 1-0
Round 2 vs RB
I don't remember much of this match, except for the fact that I won.
2-1, 2-0
Round 3 vs GB Snake:
Game 1 I mull to 5 and never draw enough land to do anything. Game 2 went as it should. Game 3 was a repeat of game 1. Unlucky, as this is typically a fine matchup.
1-2, 2-1
Round 4 vs UW Gift:
Game 1 he draws a ton of cards but never really does anything. Game 2 he actually finds stuff and gets Gift for the win. Game 3 went to time but he ended up conceding (which was awesome of him) since I was ahead on board and a draw did neither of us any favors. I always do that for others so it was nice of karma to repay the favor.
2-1, 3-1
Round 5 vs RB:
Due to my position at 7th after 4 rounds, I'm forced to play it out. I lose game 1 to typical RB shenanigans, but end up taking games 2 and 3 to seal my spot in the top 8.
2-1, 4-1
Top 8 Quarterfinal vs GW Angels/Goodstuff:
One positive of having to play round 5 is that the win secured me the 1-seed, so I was on the play during the top 8. I lose game 1 (seemed to be a common theme of the day) to Shalai shutting off my Settle the Wreckage. Games 2 and 3 were decided by Fumigate.
2-1, 5-1
Top 8 Semifinal vs Mono Red:
This was against my good friend/teammate who is very proficient with RDW. Game 1 he scoops to a flipped Azcanta. Game 2 he has a blistering start with 3 Bomats, Khenras, etc. Lost before I could really do anything. Game 3 was long, but he was choked on mana and got unlucky with a Bomat activation. Lyra eventually closed things out.
2-1, 6-1
Top 8 Final vs UW Control:
This seemed miserable. Since I'm running a more aggressive version, his removal game 1 isn't entirely dead like mine was (he was on the typical Teferi list). I almost stole game 1, but he had some timely draws and eventually got the win. Game 2 he overwhelmed me with White Knights and History of Benalia tokens, and I couldn't find my own to block.
0-2, 6-2
Great run overall, but I definitely need to make some adjustments for the mirror.
Here are some changes I'm considering:
Main deck
-1 Commit, -3 Ballista, -2 Meltdown
+1 Search for Azcanta, +4 Treasure Map, +1 Seal Away
Side
-1 Gearhulk, -1 Glimmer, -1 Spyglass, -1 Binding
+1 Nezahal, +2 Baral, +1 In Bolas's Clutches
I think your list is missing a few cards...29 spells, 25 land...
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3 Seal Away
3 Cast Out
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
4 Disallow
2 Syncopate
1 Commit // Memory
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Fumigate
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Arch of Orazca
2 Field of Ruin
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Ipnu Rivulet
2 Memorial to Genius
6 Plains
6 Island
3 Negate
2 Forsake the Worldly
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Dovin Baan
1 Fumigate
1 Settle the Wreckage
3 Regal Caracal
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
A few takeaways on card choices:
I like skimming on Settle the Wreckage and skimming on Fumigate in different matchups. I actually just take Fumigate out vs Mono-R and Rb, as they usually play around it every single time. It is also counter-productive alongside your lifelink creature of choice (I like Regal Caracal over Lyra because if they have removal for it, you can still survive with chump blockers. That, and between Cast Out/Blink of an Eye/Teferi, there are plenty of lines to completely gum up the board if you have no other action) I am still trying to come up with an ideal number, but I am erring on 3/1 Settle/Fumigate with another 2 Fumigate in the board. It's dicey because I don't have too much data
I like 2 Memorial for all the control mirrors. It makes your low-impact keeps at least somewhat manageable in the late game
Nezahal vs the slower attrition decks and control mirrors is filthy
Have Karns but I just don't see it being a great help? At least if this was an artifact-centric plan it would make sense. As it stands, just a dash less important than Dovin Baan, who has actually overperformed against aggro every time I've used him
I like the 3/2 split of Illumination/Glimmer but I have been thinking about dropping an Illumination for something like 1x Gideon's Reproach MD
Any thoughts or data to compare would be appreciated
As an aside, the prize support on MTGA can be total dogmeat... just give me a rare voucher and let me be on my way lol
I've only tested a little over ten matches with it in total IRL practice... I think the way you play the match best is to avoid overextending over problematic and life-threatening early plays in order to stifle what's next to come. Hold up Essence Scatter for Phoenix and take an extra 3 points of damage for it. Hold up Cast Out for Chandra before you Commit their scariest threat away. Getting information is so much more valuable than trying to stop an active crime scene on the board only to let more pain roll in after you tap out
Facing Bomat Courier into a 2 drop into a Chainwhirler or the 3/2 haste guy... sometimes you are tasked with a lot more than just "Get information and pray to not end up dead in the process" But then again those situations are only scary if the opponent plays right into Settle the Wreckage, so... I digress
I will say that I'm inclined to agree with your teammates. I actually PREFER to fight Mono-R and Rb to some of these Heroic Intervention/Blossoming Defense strats. The only thing that will change that is trying to steer away from facing lethal and then not being able to do much of anything about their lategame Banefire
The best EV is to answer their threats, stick a Gideon and Dovin with counterspell backup, then watch as they are forced to lose massive tempo either way they cut it. Having one of those survive into a Teferi is almost a done deal.
Many of my matches against R and Rb I'd have to dip under 5 life consistently during at least one of the games. Despite this, it's what I have the highest win% against. Playing the matchup feels like having a plane nosedive in a storm, only to level itself and pull back up with a few seconds to spare before impact. Always equal parts nerve-wracking and satisfying lol
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.
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!