Miniseries Series 1: W/U Control Part 1

Welcome to the first installment of the Miniseries Series. The topic for this miniseries will be W/U Control. We'll be studying what makes it tick, then make and test a deck based on the concept. So let's get into the theory of W/U Control, shall we?

The Foundations


Control is a form of Magic deck that focuses on stopping any card the opponent plays, and then using a big finisher to seal things up. It's the exact opposite of Aggro, which aims to win before the deck sets up. Control isn't too powerful these days thanks to Cascade and it's barrage of card advantage, but it's worth a try anyway.

The reason W/U Control is popular is because blue has card advantage and counterspells while White can deal with all kinds of permanent except lands. Essentially it makes for a combination that's consistent and has very few holes.

Analysing Past W/U Control Decks


Arguably the most famous W/U control deck is a deck made by Zvi Mowshowitz, known as The Solution. In an aggro-filled metagame, he metagamed perfectly to come up with the following control deck that decimated the field.

60 cards 4  Coastal Tower 10  Island 10  Plains 24 lands 4  Crimson Acolyte 4  Galina's Knight 4  Meddling Mage 4  Stormscape Apprentice 4  Voice of All 20 creatures 4  Absorb 4  Exclude 4  Fact or Fiction 4  Repulse 16 other spells

Sideboard 2  Aura Blast 3  Crusading Knight 4  Disrupt 3  Gainsay 3  Pure Reflection 15 sideboard cards

So what can we learn from this?

The Metagamed Cards: Crimson Acolyte and Galina's Knight were certainly there for a very specific solution. The key here is that sometimes the metagame allows for such things.

Modern Application: Celestial Purge. Most Standard decks run targets for this card and some decks now run 2 maindeck.

The Cantrips: Exclude and Repulse were certainly there for a reason. The ability to stop something the opponent played and draw a card was excellent, even if it only stopped it temporarily. The deck could then draw into more answers.

Modern Application: There actually aren't that many good cantrips in Standard at the moment, so we need to gain card advantage through our spells, like Day of Judgement.

Fact or Fiction: One of the best cards ever in Standard, this card is a machine.

Modern Application: Mind Spring. With enough mana, this card can totally turn a game around.

The one thing this deck did NOT have was a big finisher: but against a field where the best decks all ran red, it was only a matter of time before Zvi's protection creatures made it through.

Lessons Learnt: A control deck should have answers, card advantage, and a way to close the game. It should have a way to gain tempo and gain incremental advantage over the opponent. The metagame is also important. In a more balanced metagame this deck might not do so well (though aggro decks were weaker back then).

The next deck we shall look at is an Extended deck: W/U Urzatron. This is also a more current deck, legal and active in Extended just a few months ago.

Maindeck:

Artifacts
4 Azorius Signet
2 Chalice Of The Void
2 Chrome Mox
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt

Artifact Creatures
2 Sundering Titan

Creatures
3 Exalted Angel
4 Meddling Mage

Instants
3 Condescend
3 Fact Or Fiction (Restricted in Vintage)
4 Thirst For Knowledge

Sorceries
2 Decree Of Justice
4 Wrath Of God

Lands
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Skycloud Expanse
4 Tolaria West
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower

Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Leyline Of The Void
3 Threads Of Disloyalty
3 Disenchant
2 Mindslaver
1 Academy Ruins

So what do we have here?

The Urzatron lands are the biggest thing. Rather than gain incremental card advantage, this deck seeks a Spell Burst lock: able to generate enough mana to continue to buy back Spell Burst repeatedly and stop the opponent from ever doing anything.

Modern Application: Standard doesn't really have a hard lock at the moment, unfortunately.

Big Spells: This deck operates under a paradigm that we have to in the new Standard: If you tap out, it doesn't matter if what you play is more powerful than whatever the opponent will play. Decree of Justice was usually Cycled, but Sundering Titan and Wrath of God fell under these categories.

Modern Application: Baneslayer Angel. Sphinx of Jwar Isle...they both operate under the tap-out theory.

Card Advantage: The deck ran lots of instant-speed card advantage: one of the reasons Control is fading today.

Modern Application: None

Lastly, we shall look at another Standard deck.

Threats 1 Yosei, the Morning Star 1 Keiga, the Tide Star 1 Debtor’s Knell 3 Jötun Grunt Card Drawing 3 Gifts Ungiven 3 Telling Time General Control 3 Counterbalance 4 Sensei's Divining Top  4 Hinder 3 Rewind

Control vs Aggro 4 Wrath of God 3 Cover of Winter 3 Condemn Land 4 Scrying Sheets 4 Boreal Shelf 4 Hallowed Fountain 2 Ghost Quarter 4 Snow-Covered Plains 6 Snow-Covered Island

Sideboard 3 Jester’s Cap 3 Pithing Needle 3 Jester’s Scepter 3 Evacuation 1 Jötun Grunt 2 Mouth of Ronom

This deck is from 2006's Standard. It features so many powerful cards that there's little wonder that it was so powerful.

Counterbalance: Naturally, this is so degenerate that it's even in Legacy (though in a format where few spells surpass 3 mana it is more powerful) and in Standard is just amazing. This is of course combined with Sensei's Divining Top which allowed a lot of free counterspells.

Modern Application: Unfortunately none.

Big Finishers: Keiga and Yosei were both great cards. They operated under the tap-out theory mentioned earlier. If your turn is better than their turn, you can tap out.

Cover of Winter: This card essentially stops all aggressive moves until you have complete control of the game. It was an amazing card. It truly is very very strong.

Modern Application: Luminarch Ascension. If you can get this to activate, you essentially win.

Gifts Ungiven: The card that made so many decks tick. You essentially got two of the four best spells in your deck. Absolute gold.

Modern Application: None.

So what have we learnt from our analysis?

We've learnt that control decks need either card advantage or card quality advantage to win.

We've learnt that control decks usually establish incremental advantages before taking complete control.

We've learnt that control decks can take as much time as they like to kill you.

So join me tomorrow as we build a W/U Control deck from scratch in Standard, and then Thursday we'll see how it fares!

Editor's Note: Due to the miniseries' schedule, Fetch A Shockland will be going up on Friday, not Thursday.

See you tomorrow!