MTG Salvation

I may make this into a primer, depending on how I do next week at FNM.

What I have built post-Khans is the start to a great relationship: U/W Control! The goal of this deck is to create unseen tempo plays and keep the user at constant card advantage over the opponent. I'll also share some of my playtesting experiences and why the build is the way that it is.







The odd numbers of cards:

ONE Part the Waterveil: Anymore and I would be making an entirely different deck. Its one of those cards that you play late game when you can out-tempo your opponent with your board state. I always play it after combat with a weird reaction to no avail. Guardian of Tazeem and Part the Waterveil is a funny trio to interact with each other.

What's with the sideboard?
The match-ups that this deck would have the hardest time with are Esper Control and they run 13-16 instants and R/G Atarka(Eldrazi) Ramp and they don't interact with you until Turn 5 after an Explosive Vegeation or Hedron Archive. The goal is to force those decks to become nervous of nothing ever resolving that they want to resolve. Ulamog hurts, yes, but you can't win them all.

In my playtesting experiences, I have always maintained board presence due to being able to counter when I need to, getting rid of creatures at my own pace and hitting and gaining incremental card advantage. I've tested against: Mono White Humans, B/R Vampires, Esper Control and R/G Werewolves, all of which I used the above sideboard and dominated game one and game two.

Cards to be afraid of:
Always Watching. That card creates awful matchups for the deck early on and doesn't have a way to get rid of it once resolved.

Dragonlord Ojutai. They will assume because of your colors, you will be playing it in the mirror and the opponent will play it first (Cockatrice testing). When you counter it, you're way ahead.

Humans. Do what you can to affect the board state so that they are replaying the same humans over and over again without gaining any advantage over you. They will have to drop Always Watching Turn 3 or 4 and just negate it. When they attack you, Sweep Away the threat then Reflector Mage the second biggest threat.

Thanks for reading!

No help?

This is what I'm running:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/hope-you-didnt-like-casting-spells/



Hasn't changed much since rotation but it works pretty well. It is more of a draw-go creatureless list.

Can't say I'm a fan of Guardian of Tazeem. Wouldn't Sphinx of the Final Word be a far better choice? It's a much more durable finisher with a secondary effect that matters more than the occasional Frost Breath on a creature.

I've thought of Sphinx and have them on the side, but do you think tapping out for 7 will always be a great choice? I know the Hexproof and uncounterability is great but that two mama difference is huge in my opinion. I'll try Sphinx of the Final Word tomorrow instead of Guardian of Tazeem.

Guardian just won me a match versus Mono White Humans. Keeping Thalia's Lieutenant(s) tapped and swinging in the air was great.

Well short of a sweeper or an edict, they can't remove the Sphinx. It's very easy for them to kill the Guardian, although the five body puts it out of the reach of some of the conditional removal. Guardian is also vulnerable to Reflector Mage, which again the Sphinx doesn't have to worry about. I think it's just a much more durable threat. You don't mind tapping out for seven at all when a) you know it's going to resolve, b) you know your opponent will struggle to remove it and c) it'll help you win the game. The Guardian's power is reliant on staying alive long enough for you to play islands and get value, and I don't really want draw lands late in the game. I think I'd play Icefall Regent over Guardian of Tazeem, even. It's a limited bomb, but I don't think it has the chops for Standard. Certainly not in the metas I play in anyway.

In addition, I can't say I'm a fan of Thraben Inspector in a control deck either. Reflector Mage is just a great tempo swing so I can see playing that, but I'd have thought almost any instant/sorcery would be better. If you're using the Inspector for card draw there are better options and if you're using him as pseudo-removal there are better options (I'd first suggest going up to a full set of Declaration in Stone). The Invocation of Saint Traft is quite aggressive for control as well. It's like there are two conflicting strategies here; you want to beat down but you also want to control the board.

As an example of a card that's curiously absent, are you not playing Jace, Vryn's Prodigy for budgetary reasons?

It doesn't help much at all in testing (Jace). I'm gonna try the Sphinx and see what happens.

Jace wouldn't be very good in your deck because you don't have many things to flash back. This is largely because you're halfway between a beatdown deck and control. I suggest homing in on one or the other as well as addressing the following:

• 0 copies of Port Town - this improves your mana, why none in the deck? Meandering River also?
• 4 copies of Clash of Wills and no mana ramp like Mage-Ring Network - is Void Shatter not better as a result?
• 2 copies of Declaration in Stone and not 4 - this is the best removal spell in standard, why not play the full set?
• 2 copies of Sweep Away - what does this spell accomplish? There are a lot of creatures with powerful ETB effects which makes this a high risk.
• You seem to want to operate primarily on your opponent's turn, but no copies of premium removal like Stasis Snare?
• Chaplain's Blessing is a really, really bad card - have you considered Cleric of the Forward Order for its synergies with Ojutai's Command?
• 23 lands with expensive spells like Descend Upon the Sinful and Part the Waterveil - this is not enough and at least 3 lands too few

I'm assuming as this is not posted in the Budget sub-forum that card cost and availability is not an issue and you're attempting to build the best list possible. Please don't any of this as an attack, but I think they're questions that need to be answered as at present your list seems to have an identity crisis and can't figure out what it's trying to do; control the game or beat your opponent down.

I have drafted the following based on the themes I think you are most keen on representing:



This is a lot more consistent in the control plan. It has several ways to clear the board entirely (3x Planar Outburst which I've favored over Descend Upon the Sinful simply because it's a turn quicker and can help you win late with Awaken), several cards that help you when you're behind (Linvala, the Preserver to stabilize, Narset Transcendent to rebound removal, Secure the Wastes for an instant board and combo kill with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Westvale Abbey) and a diversity of threats (Awaken, Planeswalkers, Creatures) whilst maintaining a consistent approach to the game. Exile seems very good right now, though I still might consider replacing the Void Shatters with Scatter to the Winds just for another Awaken spell. Short of countering them, the deck is a little soft to Planeswalkers, but that's a consequence of not having black in the deck and not something than can be easily fixed.

I hope you find this constructive and of some use.

This is the list I currently use. I originally played a u/w draw go style deck with Thing in the Ice, but it didn't work out well. The deck needs to add threats out after you control the board, so Dragonlord Ojutai and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar were added.
Engulf the Shore is a nice early game wipe that allows you to use Reflector Mage again. Not Forgotten is a card I am testing out, and seems good so far. Works well against Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, plus getting back something from your graveyard can save the game.

Quote from llstupid »

skandia4444's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures(7) 3x Dragonlord Ojutai 4x Reflector Mage Planeswalkers(6) 2x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets 4x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar Enchantment(1) 1x Stasis Snare Instant & Sorcery(20) 4x Clash of Wills 2x Void Shatter 4x Anticipate 2x Engulf the Shore 2x Immolating Glare 2x Planar Outburst 3x Declaration in Stone 1x Not Forgotten	Land(26) 4x Port Town 4x Prairie Stream 6x Plains 12x Island	Sideboard(15) 1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets 2x Linvala, the Preserver 2x Immolating Glare 3x Negate 2x Quarantine Field 1x Planar Outburst 2x Stasis Snare 2x Secure the Wastes

This is the list I currently use. I originally played a u/w draw go style deck with Thing in the Ice, but it didn't work out well. The deck needs to add threats out after you control the board, so Dragonlord Ojutai and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar were added.
Engulf the Shore is a nice early game wipe that allows you to use Reflector Mage again. Not Forgotten is a card I am testing out, and seems good so far. Works well against Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, plus getting back something from your graveyard can save the game.

Cool list! Are you taking this to game day? I hadn't thought of running Not Forgotten but it actually could do work in my list (see earlier post). My list runs 2 copies of Learn From the Past in order to infinitely cycle my graveyard. One of the big issues I've had is that it is such a dead draw earlier in the game with an awkward mana cost. This would let me pick out something I needed and also give me a small token so it could replace the second copy without breaking the engine (could use Not Forgotten to retrieve Learn From the Past and vice versa). The only things I am wary of though are that it is sorcery speed, so not only would it not fit my draw-go list as well but I wouldn't get the retrieved card until my next turn which may be too late (also the token will give them a target for spot removal which is otherwise completely dead against my deck). Also it would result in essentially being down a card, as the 1/1 woudn't be much good at the point I would want to cast this. I will have to do some testing.

Could also be funny and unexpected tech against deathmist raptor, seasons past and (as you said)Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

Guys, dragons still exists. You can still use Scorn with Ojutai and Icefall Regent. I played icefall in the past and it is alright as a 2x. Its not that big of a sacrifice to me to get the best counterspell because 2 mana vs 3 mana counterspell I think is too slow. The biggest problem I have with UW right now is the fact that there is no card draw spell under 5-6 mana. Comparative Analysis is realy not great.