Taking Control in New York States
There sure was a ton of exciting Magic happening this weekend: we had a Team Limited GP; an SCG Open in Providence, Rhode Island; and States and Provincials happening across the U.S. and Canada. I found out about the latter while surfing the net because I woke up way too early (thanks, jetlag!). Since I happen to be staying in New York for a while, I figured I’d give States a shot. Sadly enough, I couldn’t reclaim the state of New York for the Netherlands, but I did learn some useful things about Standard, specifically control decks, which I will relate to you in this article.
First off, I played the following list:
[Deck title=”UWr Control by Jay Lansdaal (RtR Standard)”]
[Creatures]
*1 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*4 Jace, Architect of Thought
*2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*4 Azorius Charm
*3 Detention Sphere
*3 Entreat the Angels
*4 Pillar of Flame
*1 Sphinx’s Revelation
*2 Supreme Verdict
*2 Syncopate
*4 Terminus
*4 Think Twice
[/Spells]
[Land]
*4 Clifftop Retreat
*1 Desolate Lighthouse
*4 Glacial Fortress
*4 Hallowed Fountain
*2 Island
*4 Plains
*4 Steam Vents
*3 Sulfur Falls
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*1 Devil’s Play
*2 Dissipate
*1 Flames of the Firebrand
*2 Jace, Memory Adept
*2 Negate
*1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
*1 Oblivion Ring
*2 Purify the Grave
*1 Sphinx’s Revelation
*1 Sundering Growth
*1 Supreme Verdict
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
I expected a lot of Zombies, Humans, and other aggressive decks, thus I cut the [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card]s from the board to make room for some alternative win conditions. People were playing [card]Slaughter Games[/card], and they were not happy to see Niv-Mizzet staring at them while they boarded out their removal for their [card]Slaughter Games[/card]. However, I ended up playing against mostly control(-ish) or ramp decks and was out of contention for top 8 after picking up my second loss in round 5.
Some notes about the above deck:
– With seemingly every deck playing creatures with built-in card advantage ([card]Thragtusk[/card]s, [card]Restoration Angel[/card], [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], zombies that just won’t die, etc.), it becomes hard to get far ahead if you do not have a Jace or Tamiyo going. You have to cast an [card]Entreat the Angels[/card] to close out a game fast, or you run the risk of your opponent catching back up.
– Everybody has answers against your ‘walkers (think of [card]Dreadbore[/card], haste and flash creatures, burn, [card]Detention Sphere[/card]s, and [card]Oblivion Ring[/card]s), so you can’t rely on them winning the game for you.
– Against ramp decks, almost every creature is a must answer, and if people are patient enough ([card]Gavony Township[/card] helps there), board sweepers won’t gain you much card advantage.
– The mirror is miserable. There are too few win conditions in the deck, and your opponent’s deck is too good at answering the few you have. There are more Terminuses in their deck than you have Entreats, and since you both have the same amount of planeswalkers and [card]Detention Sphere[/card]s, Jace and Tamiyo aren’t going to win many games either.
– Because the games in the mirror will go very long, [card]Devil’s Play[/card] might be something you can sculpt a game plan around. Just do not get it [card]Dissipate[/card]d or [card]Syncopate[/card]d; hope your opponent blows those on other threats.
If the biggest issue is that it is too hard to get ahead and stay there, what are our solutions? We could add a fourth [card]Entreat the Angels[/card] or something else that closes games fast, or we could add more card-advantage tools. [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] might be the first one you think of, as it is already in the deck; however, it seems inefficient here, where there aren’t many cheap spells to flashback. The idea was that you needed a sequence of [card]Pillar of Flame[/card] into Snapcaster into [card]Pillar of Flame[/card] to make sure you beat Zombies, but if we look at the results from the SCG Open in Providence, a number of UW control decks did well without the red sorcery.
Pillar is also weak against other decks. Basically, I like it against Zombies and Humans (UW or GW), and it isn’t embarrassing in smaller numbers against Jund if they have [card]Strangleroot Geist[/card]s. Otherwise, I even boarded some out against ramp decks with mana dorks like [card]Avacyn’s Pilgrim[/card], as removing the mana producers often wasn’t worth it. The games against ramp decks go long, and the Pilgrims and Arbor Elves don’t support blazing fast starts; they are trying to ramp your opponent to Angels that cost seven.
Going back to [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], we could adjust the deck to work better with it, perhaps by adding [card]Restoration Angel[/card]s to get more value out of them. Maybe something like this:
[Deck title=”UWR Control by Jay Lansdaal (RtR Standard)”]
[Creatures]
*3 Snapcaster Mage
*3 Restoration Angel
*2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*3 Jace, Architect of Thought
*2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*4 Azorius Charm
*1 Detention Sphere
*3 Dissipate
*1 Essence Scatter
*2 Entreat the Angels
*3 Pillar of Flame
*2 Supreme Verdict
*3 Terminus
*3 Think Twice
[/Spells]
[Land]
*4 Clifftop Retreat
*1 Desolate Lighthouse
*4 Glacial Fortress
*4 Hallowed Fountain
*3 Island
*3 Plains
*4 Steam Vents
*3 Sulfur Falls
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*4 Geist of Saint Traft
*2 Izzet Charm
*3 Negate
*2 Purify the Grave
*1 Restoration Angel
*2 Rolling Temblor
*1 Snapcaster Mage
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
The [card]Restoration Angel[/card]s also make the inclusion of Niv-Mizzet more feasible, as they can protect him from removal. And after sideboarding, you can now “go aggro,” playing almost like a Delver-less Delver deck from last season.
As for cheaper spells, I added some extra counters, using [card]Dissipate[/card] over [card]Syncopate[/card], because I would like to flash it back late in the game and have it still be relevant. With [card]Thragtusk[/card]s and other giant monsters running around, counters get a lot better. Essence Scattering a [card]Thragtusk[/card] is a lot more pleasant than having to kill it twice. Counters might actually be so good that a not-tap-out control deck might be viable, but I haven’t gotten to test that hypothesis yet.
If we do not go the Snapcaster Mage-route (because we expect few decks that [card]Pillar of Flame[/card] is good against, or the above deck proves to be terrible), we could look into a color other than red, too. If Zombies are the reason we splash red, what other options do we have to fight them? A lot of creature decks use [card]Thragtusk[/card], but for us he might be a bit late to the party. We don’t have many other blockers, and with [card]Crippling Blight[/card]s running rampant, the five life might not be enough; however, [card]Centaur Healer[/card] into [card]Thragtusk[/card] should stem the bleeding just fine. If that still isn’t enough, we could add [card]Restoration Angel[/card], or even [card]Rhox Faithmender[/card], depending on the rest of the deck.
Here’s an attempt at a Bant Control deck:
[Deck title=”Bant Control by Jay Lansdaal (RtR Standard)”]
[Creatures]
*2 Angel of Serenity
*1 Armada Wurm
*1 Restoration Angel
*4 Thragtusk
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*4 Jace, Architect of Thought
*2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*4 Azorius Charm
*3 Detention Sphere
*3 Dissipate
*1 Entreat the Angels
*4 Selesnya Keyrune
*1 Sphinx’s Revelation
*3 Supreme Verdict
*3 Terminus
[/Spells]
[Land]
*1 Ghost Quarter
*3 Glacial Fortress
*4 Hallowed Fountain
*4 Hinterland Harbor
*4 Island
*2 Plains
*2 Sunpetal Grove
*4 Temple Garden
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*3 Centaur Healer
*3 Negate
*1 Oblivion Ring
*2 Rest in Peace
*2 Ray of Revelation
*2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
*1 Sphinx’s Revelation
*1 Terminus
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
We make up for the missing Pillars with 3/3s in the form of [card]Selesnya Keyrune[/card], which also help us cast [card]Thragtusk[/card] faster. The [card]Centaur Healer[/card]s in the board should be the nail in the coffin for aggressive decks.
Against other decks, you try to go over the top. You have the same amount of planeswalkers as UWr control, but you have access to [card]Ray of Revelation[/card]s after boarding, which goes a long way toward keeping your ‘walkers on the table, while theirs are imprisoned in [card]Detention Sphere[/card]s. You also have access to [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] and an [card]Armada Wurm[/card], which create a huge board presence and often make sure you can ignore whatever your opponent is doing.
In this (admittedly young) format, it seems to be the case that if you aren’t an aggressive deck, it is all about throwing haymakers. The known control decks all use a tap-out strategy, and decks like Reanimator or Ramp are basically trying to play the control endgame, but sooner. To make sure we win this fight, we have to find the ultimate haymaker – the knockout punch. I saw a WUBG deck with [card]Codex Shredder[/card] and a bunch of planeswalkers do reasonably well at New York States, but the deck seemed glacially slow. I have my doubts it can withstand an assault from UW Humans or Zombies. Perhaps it is time to go back to Sam Black’s [card]Diabolic Revelation[/card]s and [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card] deck?
[Deck title= “4 Color Revelations by Jay Lansdaal (RtR Standard)”]
[Creatures]
*1 Angel of Serenity
*1 Armada Wurm
*2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
*4 Thragtusk
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Garruk Relentless
*3 Jace, Architect of Thought
*3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*3 Azorius Charm
*2 Detention Sphere
*2 Diabolic Revelations
*1 Elixir of Immortality
*3 Farseek
*1 Feeling of Dread
*3 Lingering Souls
*3 Supreme Verdict
*2 Terminus
[/Spells]
[Land]
*4 Glacial Fortress
*4 Hallowed Fountain
*3 Hinterland Harbor
*2 Isolated Chapel
*2 Overgrown Tomb
*1 Sunpetal Grove
*4 Temple Garden
*2 Woodland Cemetery
*2 Vault of the Archangel
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*1 Negate
*2 Geist of Saint Traft
*4 Knight of Glory
*3 Loxodon Smiter
*2 Rest in Peace
*2 Ray of Revelation
*1 Oblivion Ring
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
This deck can hold its own against Zombies and other aggressive decks, while applying an interesting approach to the matchup. Instead of relying heavily on [card]Terminus[/card], it buys time with the tokens from [card]Lingering Souls[/card] or Sorin and Garruk. Then, it slams some hard-to-answer threat and rides it to victory. Sigarda fits here perfectly, and as you can read in Nick Vigabool’s latest article, she is very well positioned right now. The Knight of Glories (against Zombies) and [card]Loxodon Smiter[/card]s (against Humans) in the board help execute this plan in games two and three.
Another option for the control players among us is to play Jund. I feel there are some strong Jund builds out there, but there are so many good options while building the deck that I can’t recommend much without testing first.
I hope the above lists at least give you some idea of what makes control tick in the new Standard we live in, and if you have any bright ideas on what trumps what everybody else is doing, let me know in the comments!
Jay Lansdaal
@iLansdaal on Twitter
iLansdaal on mtgo
