Miniseries Series 1: W/U Control Part 2

Hi guys, and welcome back to the W/U Control Miniseries. Last week we discussed the theory of W/U Control. Today we're going to do a slight amount of theory, and then move into deckbuilding.

What are the four aspects that make up any blue-based control deck?

The answer is:

Card advantage, removal, finishers, and countermagic.

We're going to need all of these in our deck, so we're going to run through it element by element, discussing the different cards that might be good for each. Then, afterwards, we'll work out how many of each type we want, and then finally build the deck.

Card Advantage


Ior Ruin Expedition: This card from Zendikar is essentially a time-delayed 2-mana 2-card spell. The problem is, it's a terrible topdeck.Worth considering if there's a lack of other good options.

Jace Beleren: The best card advantage spell in Standard right now, by far.

Elspeth, Knight Errant: While it doesn't actually give us cards, it gives us fractions of a card every turn and stymies the opponent's attempts to kill her.

Divination: Unplayable.

Hindering Light: We won't be playing many creatures, so this card isn't really worth it.

Mind Spring: We absolutely need 2-3 of these in here. They can pull a game in your favor instantly.

Removal


Path to Exile: Absolutely. Best removal in the format, and an automatic 4-of.

Journey to Nowhere: Also good, takes care of most creatures permanently. It also doesn't trigger Cascade if it's broken, since the spell isn't being played. Add to the fact that Pulse costs more than it, and we have a good card.

Celestial Purge: Most decks nowadays with White are maindecking a couple of these, and I'm going to follow suit.

Oblivion Ring: Probably more of a sideboard card.

Finishers


Baneslayer Angel: Best creature in Standard, and the first choice for finisher.

Sphinx of Jwar Isle: A good choice, and can certainly close the game away.

Sphinx of Lost Truths: Card advantage, flying, and a beefy toughness. What's not to love?

Conqueror's Pledge: Not really playing to it's strengths in this kind of deck.

Countermagic


Flashfreeze: This card has targets against virtually all decks in the metagame right now. I think I'll try two.

Essence Scatter + Negate: Both good, situational, 2-mana counters. I think they make the cut: most decks in Standard have a nice balance between creatures and spells. Negate is slightly better though since it gets rid of cards that can't be stopped in other ways.

Offering to Asha: Too expensive.

Cancel: Also too expensive.

Mindbreak Trap: Essentially Double Negative, this card might be worth a sideboard option.

Other:


Day of Judgement: A hybrid of removal and card advantage. We'll want to play four.

Wall of Denial: Excellent for holding off big creatures. Hard to kill except with Gatekeeper.


Now we go on to the deckbuilding phase.

First we're going to want about 25 lands in this kind of deck, so that leaves us with 35 cards.

In today's Standard, I think we'll want about 6-7 finishers. Today's Control can't stall the game forever, so we want to stall it long enough to play our big cards.

IN: 4 Baneslayer Angel

4 of the finishers simply have to be Baneslayer. Baneslayer is that good.

IN: 2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
IN: 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths

I'm going to go with 7 finishers, and I'd like to have a 2-1 ratio since I think Jwar is better, but I'm not entirely sure.

28 slots remaining.

We'll now go with removal. I'd say we'd want about 10-12 pieces of removal, including Day of Judgement.

IN: 4 Day of Judgement
IN: 4 Path to Exile

Path and Day are both very good cards, and should be featured. Next, we'll want to add a couple of purges:

IN: 2 Celestial Purge

I'm going to leave the last piece of removal open, since I'm not sure how many I'll want. I'm going to base that on how many other cards I add to the deck.

18 slots left.

Now on to card advantage. We're going to want 3 Jaces, no question. 4 is too many, since you can only have one out. The fourth should go in the side.

IN: 3 Jace Beleren

We'll then want a couple of Mind Springs:

IN: 2 Mind Spring

And lastly, we want about 2-3 other card-advantage providers. The question is, what?

IN: 1 Mind Spring
IN: 1 Ior Ruin Expedition

Mind Spring is better than Ior Ruin, but 4 is too many, so I'll add one.

11 slots remaining.

That leaves us with 9-10 slots for Wall of Denial and countermagic. Based on that, I think we'll want about 6 counterspells. I don't like Essence Scatter since we'll have so many anti-creature cards, so:

IN: 4 Negate
IN: 2 Flashfreeze

Now we have 5 slots left. I think we'll want 4 Walls, since almost every deck plays quite a lot of creatures nowadays.

IN: 4 Wall of Denial

Which leaves us with our last card:

IN: 1 Journey to Nowhere

So let's look at the deck we have.

Lands (25)

2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
8 Island
7 Plains
4 Sejiri Refuge

Creatures (11)

4 Baneslayer Angel
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
4 Wall of Denial

Spells (24)

2 Celestial Purge
4 Day of Judgement
2 Flashfreeze
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
3 Jace Beleren
1 Journey to Nowhere
3 Mind Spring
4 Negate
4 Path to Exile

Now, we'll need a sideboard.

My first step in a sideboard is adding extra copies of cards in the main that aren't 4-of's, and are situational.

IN: 1 Jace Beleren
IN: 1 Mind Spring
IN: 2 Celestial Purge
IN: 2 Flashfreeze

Next, we'll want some anti-Jund cards, since Jund is just dynamite at the moment. We have Celestial Purge and Flashfreeze, so we don't need too much.

IN: 3 Devout Lightcaster

Now some anti-control:

IN: 3 Luminarch Ascension

Which leaves us with three slots to go. For this, I'd like to use a catch-all Oblivion Ring.

IN: 3 Oblivion Ring.

So here's the final list:

Lands (25)

4 Glacial Fortress

9 Island

8 Plains

4 Sejiri Refuge

Creatures (11)

4 Baneslayer Angel

2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

1 Sphinx of Lost Truths

4 Wall of Denial

Spells (24)

2 Celestial Purge

4 Day of Judgement

2 Flashfreeze

1 Ior Ruin Expedition

3 Jace Beleren

1 Journey to Nowhere

3 Mind Spring

4 Negate

4 Path to Exile

Sideboard (15)

2 Celestial Purge

3 Devout Lightcaster

2 Flashfreeze

1 Jace Beleren

3 Luminarch Ascension

1 Mind Spring

3 Oblivion Ring

And here's our (probably horrible) W/U Control list. I'll test it out tomorrow, and give you my thoughts! See you for the finale!