Control Never Dies

Greetings. My name is Cosmin Pricopoaea and I would like to take this chance and share some opinions about control decks in the Shards Block – M10 – Zendikar Block ( with Worldwake ) Standard format. Many say control is not well positioned in the metagame, because there are so many aggressive strategies that laugh in the face of Day of Judgment and permission ( counterspells ), like Ranger of Eos fetching Steppe Lynx and Goblin Bushwhacker, Bloodbraid Elf into Blightning, Nissa Revane into Nissa’s Chosen, Conqueror’s Pledge. I wouldn’t dare contest these powerful plays that make aggro decks much more viable than control decks, which can at best use their conditional counter spells ( Essence Scatter, Negate, Flashfreeze, Cancel later on ) along with a well-timed mass removal or prefferably Martial Coup ( available for UW ) or Cruel Ultimatum ( for URB ), these last soft win conditions being themselves vulnerable to various cards: Maelstrom Pulse on the Coup’s tokens and simply a vast board presence against Cruel, which can only make the opponent sacrifice a single creature.

Not only is control limited to some weak counter-spells, but it’s also forced to limit it’s answers to a certain manabase. Grixis doesn’t have access to enchantment hate – Luminarch Ascension, I am looking at you! – and all it can do against planeswalkers is burn them with measly Bolts, suicidal Earthquakes and the occasional Pithing Needle/Manland, and to even consider mass removal on grixis colours is a blasphemy ( oh Damnation where are thee ?! ), and all it has is situational wipes like Infest, Chain Reaction, Vulcanic Fallout, Earthquake, Pyroclasm, Comet Storm. As you can see, most of these are red based, so they need to be played in association with Infest, in order to take down the pro-red dude ( Kor Firewalker ). UW control on the other hand, has an even narrower range of answers, Oblivion Ring being the “best” and also the weakest answer they have to a turn 3 planeswalker. Sure, UW makes up a lot of distance with access to Day of Judgment, Martial Coup and Celestial Purge ( and Ajani Vengeant in some UWR variants ), but DoJ can sometimes be a little slow against a Red Deck or White Weenie deck which can potentially kill you on turn 4 or leave you at 2-3 life.

All this, and I’ve not even begun complaining about the bad counterspells we can employ. But enough about what we don’t have/cannot do well. Let’s have a look at some cards that, when combined with the above mentioned, start giving control decks a real edge against the field.

1.Jace, the Mindsculptor. Please allow me to give a few examples of how strong any one of his abilities can be on the blessed chance Jace is cast on turn three (powered by Everflowing Chalice turn 2 ): bounce the opponent’s only creature, and if he replays it next turn, all you do is brainstorm for removal; if the opponent has no board presence and is aggro, it means he is stuck on land and your fateseal 1 might actually drag you so long in the game that aggro cannot win when facing all your removal; playing a preemptive Jace against the mirror and Brainstorming to fix your hand can be such a powerful play against control Not only we play Jace one turn earlier with the opponent having just 1-4 Oblivion Rings to remove it, but if the opponent plays Jace, you won a huge trade-off, assuming he played a Chalice turn 2 as well. Otherwise it’s an even harder battle for him, cause you get to untap and have counterspell mana open for the next turns, all the while brainstorming. The last scenario, against control, is just a small variable window, which only happens once in a while. I for one would never play Jace turn 3-4 unless my opponent is tapped out. But the point is, Jace is a very potent card, and playing 4 copies of him means that in the late game, after the opponent has dealt with all the Jaces you put on the table and yet you topdeck the last one, the 4th will basically read “2UU sorcery – Look at the top 3 cards of your library and put one of them into your hand, and the rest back in any order. If you drew an *answer*, you can repeat this process on the subsequent turns.” Too long, didn’t read: every copy of Jace is another chance to either stall the board or draw an answer, even if that means killing an opposing Jace with 11 loyalty counters.

One more aspect about Jace that I feel the need to express. When is his ultimate ability better grown ? Aside from the occasional fatesteal or draw-fixing oneself, there are very few times when the ultimate is useful. These differ depending on the control build. If I were Grixis, I would rather use brainstorm for answers and burn spells, as my builds have a lot of wincons, so mill is rarely relevant – only against a very reactive deck, which can kill my manlands, counter my Cruels and my other planeswalkers and continue to keep card advantage. This is the best case to fateseal 1, as it means controlling the answers they have access to. If I were UW control, considering the build is full of answers and fewer wincons, I would start fatesealing 1 as soon as I would stabilize the board in any matchup, except for the cards I know I want to protect myself against, when I just brainstorm then start fatesealing 1.

2.Manlands. I know Jund got 6-8 mandlands from the new set, but so did we. Celestial Colonade, Creeping Tar Pit ( Yes, that’s right! ) and Lavaclaw Reaches are all very powerful win conditions that cannot be removed with sorcery speed removal, don’t take up deck slots ( yes, they are lands ) and they COLOURFIX. The last point was the one that shook me most when designing the Grixis build I have reached. I can play 8 manalands in Grixis control. Since my former build played 4 Akoum Refuge and 4 Jwar Isle Refuge, the logical step in a metagame scarce of RDW ( against which the Refuges were gold ) was to swap them with 8 more winconditions. Take a minute to take that in … Yes ! Grixis control can now win JUST by tapping lands. Remember the argument that Grixis dies to Luminarch Ascension cause it has no enchantment removal ? Manlands solve that problem quite nicely, if played with enough burn spells. UW control is even more priviledged, as it gained the biggest manland ( Celestial Colonnade is a 4/4 Flying Vigilance Elemental ) and has such a stable manabase that it can handle opposing manlands with Tectonic Edge. With enough cheap removal/answers, control can basically play a tempo game starting turn 4: turn 3 eot removal, turn 4 attack, turn 5 Jace/removal, turn 6 attack and so on..

3.Treasure Hunt. This is the cutest card I’ve seen in a long while, and in my oppinion surpasses the draw power of every other draw spell in current standard . It can do so much for 2 lowsy mana, and it adds a little twist to what you draw, since you got no idea what will come. Unless you play Jace, the Mindsculptor. That’s when it becomes a busted card. Or when you play Halimar Depths turn 1 and Treasure Hunt turn 2 after a mulligan to 5 on the play. These are moments when you really appreciate this card most. But in all other occasions, without Halimar Depths and used as best as you can ( before you crack fetches, so you don’t thin your deck of lands ), and as late as possible, so you give yourself a large mana pool to work with regardless of what you draw off of it, Treasure Hunt is a card that draws you 2-3 cards, out of which 1 is always a business card or a Essence Scatter/Everflowing Chalice.

One thing to mention regarding Treasure Hunt that is not always obvious. You don’t NEED to play Halimar Depths if you want to break Treasure Hunt. I prefer to just play slightly more lands in the deck ( which seem to be more and more important in control anyway, with all the land destruction cards and the manlands in the format ). Sure UW has no problem playing Depths due to its solid manabase, but Grixis needs much more – tap - lands that give more diverse mana ( manlands for example ^^ ) to properly work and cast turn 7 Ultimatum.

All these considering, and the tools already known to control, let’s have a look at a potential control deck . I won’t say too much regarding UW control, since Patrick Chapin made the deck quite well and because I for one have difficulty understanding the way to properly play it. His list can be found on wizards.com/magic, on the coverage page of PT San-Diego, and the results his team posted speak for themselves. The list is very good, but it needs lots of practice getting the hang of it. Since I haven’t seen anything I would consider better regarding Cruel Control, here is my take on the archetype in the current metagame:

3 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Grim Discovery
4 Treasure Hunt
4 Jace, the Mindsculptor
4 Countersquall
2 Double Negative
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Agony Warp
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
34
4 Crumbling Necropolis
3 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Savage Lands
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Swamp
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Mountain
28

Sideboard:
4 Spreading Seas
3 Magma Spray
3 Flashfreeze
1 Thought Hemorrhage
1 Sorin Markov
2 Jace Beleren
1 Punishing Fire
15

Why I decided to play the deck like it is now? Please allow me to explain. Let’s start with the basics. I knew inside my heart Cruel Ultimatum is much better than Martial Coup, and also that URB offered a wide variety of win conditions and answers, and it suited my playstyle more than UW/x, which I still highly appreciate. I knew Cruel had the tools to lock up the game and adapt better to more various circumstances, so I went forth and brewed and tested. Why these numbers?

3xCruel Ultimatum, 1xBogardan Hellkite because as much as I would love playing 4xCruel, Thought Hemorrhage and the lack of potent mass removal in this archetype’s colours has made me chose Bogardan Hellkite. I chose it over Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker simply because I could reccur the dragon - once it hit the field - with Jace, the Mindsculptor, which would create a lockdown for most agro decks. Mainly, it comes down to which one is better suited for the metagame. Hellkite is good versus aggro and decent against control, while Bolas is better versus control than it is against agro. And to think some time ago I would never have run more than 2 Cruel Ultimatums..

4xGatekeeper of Malakir, 2xGrim Discovery. One day I realized that Grixis control isn’t a base blue control deck, but rather a base black control deck. Consequently, I rearranged my manabase to allow me a consistent turn 3 BBB, Gatekeeper of Malakir being one of the most powerful cards in aggro and control decks ( too bad people don’t know it yet ). Gatekeeper solves both the Calcite Snapper/Sphinx of Jwar Isle *and* the aggro decks problem, basically being a pseudo- Plumeveil of old times, except this one attacks for 2. Playing 4 copies of this dude let’s you go aggro against aggro, reccuring him in a soft lock with 2xGrim Discovery, 3xCruel Ultimatum, and 4xJace, the Mindsculptor. The applications of a Cruel Edict on a stick are so vast, in a metagame full of White Knights, Dauntless Escort, Knight of the Reliquary, Devout Lightcaster, Malakir Bloodwitch, and they are not even half bad against Jund, but not turn 3, since I would rather keep Countersquall mana open. Grim Discovery is in there just because I would rather have more “Draw 2” spells, or 6 Gatekeepers, or just some additional ressistence to nonbasic land hate, or some better manafixing with my fetchlands, or reccuring my win conditions ( the manlands ).

4xTreasure Hunt, 4xJace, the Mindsculptor. I play the traditional draw engine, and I chose Treasure Hunt despite not having Halimar Depths because I play 28 lands and lots of answers, so even if I draw one nonland card, I am counting on it being a solid draw. Also, the card is imbalanced in combination with Jace, since you can place the Brainstormed lands on top and then draw them + more with Hunt.Very Important to note is that I play Treasure Hunt as late in the game as possible, so I can use my reactive cards earlier and enter the late game ( stage 3 ), where Cruel Ultimatum rules and locks down.

4xCountersquall, 2xDouble Negative, 2xMaelstrom Pulse, 3xLightning Bolt and 3xAgony Warp. I chose this counterspell suite because there are very few creatures I care about that come into play early, and those come after sideboard ( Goblin Ruinblaster, I am looking at you ). The only others are Sprouting Thrinax ( which is manageable with Gatekeeper ) and Ranger of Eos, which nets card advantage. The removal tries to catch as many weak spots as possible without destabilizing the main deck against some specific matchups. Agony Warp is a weak Lightning Helix ( doesn’t shoot the dome ) and Lightning Bolt solves so many problems it makes me sick. Why Maelstrom Pulse ? These two spots were open for other cards, but I figured that my manabase can afford a minor inclusion ( I just added a forest ) for these 2 cards, which basically cover anything I might encounter ( double Steppe Lynx, Luminarch Ascension, another Jace, etc ), are few enough to not clog my hand without the green source, and are a very good answer to Pithing Needle, which I knew would be a huge problem against my manlands.

1xPithing Needle, 1xRelic of Progenitus: I made a promise to myself, to always put a Pithing Needle in a deck with card draw, and this metagame is so rewarding of this rule: Planeswalkers, Manlands, Luminarch Ascensions, Unearth, Master of the Wild Hunt, Thornling, Knight of the Reliquary, Dauntless Escort, FETCHLANDS ( yes you can name Arid Mesa against a WW player on turn 1 on the play, with a slight chance of screwing him up ), Scepter of Dominance, Vampire Hexmage, Tectonic Edge, Basilisk Collar, etc. Relic of Progenitus is a “card that replaces itself” and randomly hoses Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Unearth, Reliquary, Bloodghast. Considering I run 28 lands, I figured I can easily run 1Relic without any damaging effect, and it can just draw me the card and be done with it. Also, if played correctly, one can avoid the bad interaction between removing one’s own graveyard and reccuring lands/Gatekeepers, or just not care about reccuring the Gatekeepers, since it’s just a minor synergy.

The manabase. If I weren’t so greedy with the Pulses, I would play 8 manlands, but my fear of Needle pushes me towards caution, versatility, keeping my mind open. I figured out that 5 green sources is enough for the 2 Pulses I play. It’s basically 5 green sources + 2xGrim Discovery, which can recycle Verdant Catacombs. I tried putting as many black sources as possible in the deck, all the while keeping blue at a decent rate, so I reached the fabulous yet solid count of 18 black, 15 blue, 14 red and 5 green, and I believe the manabase is decent, considering this is technically 4-colour-control.

Regarding the sideboard, it’s made of various specific answers, from Bloodghast to Valakut, the Molten Pinacle and Green/Red spells. Magma Spray replaces Lightning Bolt against Vampires, Flashfreeze replaces Agony Warp against Jund, Jace Beleren replaces other dead cards against blue control decks. Now that I look back at the tournaments and matches, some Infests somewhere in the 75 wouldn’t have been bad.

I think the deck did very well at the GPT where I went 3-1-1, but I believe I still need to understand the Vampire matchup better, as I feel like I am missing something when I play against them. I’ll continue brewing and testing the deck, and maybe we’ll see each other at the national qualifiers. Until then, I wish you all the best.

- Cosmin


Dupa cum probabil ati ghicit Cosmin este un jucator avid al arhetipurilor de control si a facut parte din echipa nationala a Romaniei la mondialele din 2009.