Hello again, wizards! In this article, I’ll break down the process I use to build a control deck step by step. To aid me in this process I’ll post some questions that you, the readers, have asked me about my particular card choices.
Step 1 – Tackle the Metagame
The metagame is the most important factor in building an optimal control deck. An aggro deck can use sheer speed and ignore the metagame completely and still have some success. If you use this approach when constructing your control spell book, your time in the winner’s bracket will be limited. Let me use my first Magic victory seven years ago to help prove my point:
G/W Control
3rd Place
Mid-Atlantic Regionals 2003
2 Exalted Angel
3 Ravenous Baloth
2 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Eternal Dragon
4 Viridian Shaman
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Akroma’s Vengeance
4 Rampant Growth
3 Wrath of God
3 Decree of Justice
2 Skullclamp
3 Renewed Faith
2 Temple of the False God
4 Windswept Heath
19 Other Land
Sideboard
3 Damping Matrix
4 Oxidize
3 Troll Ascetic
5 Other Cards
This list is from memory, so the sideboard and land is not 100% accurate, but it was long ago, and I had trouble finding that masterpiece in the internet archives. Nevertheless, anyone who sees this list can accurately describe a few of the decks around that time period.
Could you have built a deck during the early Mirrodin era without maindeck artifact hate and expect to defeat Affinity? Can you build a deck with no disruption in the current metagame and expect to beat Valakut Ramp? I think the answer seven years ago was no, and the answer today is no as well.
Your maindeck must be equipped with answers to the top decks, and when the list has reached its maximum card capacity, the sideboard has to pick up the slack. The metagame during the time of Skullclamp was 80% aggro. This meant any control deck that wanted to push through the Affinity wave needed to understand how that deck works and what cards can beat it. Let me tack on a question from a reader to further support the metagame step in building a control deck:
Bogdan V. (Russia)
Q:
Why Emeria Angel? Is it only because of the synergy with Elspeth? She is not particularly good at token production as we have only two fetchlands and 25 lands overall, and most control opponents will have counter magic up for our turn 3-4 anyway. And against aggro you will probably wait a turn longer to get at least one bird along with it. And she loses the battle against Baneslayer. It is probably the most interesting slot in the deck, especially since the choices available for us in slots 4-5-6 are as great as they are plentiful; therefore I’m dying of curiosity to hear the reasoning for her inclusion.
A:
Bogdan, great question. Emeria Angel was my initial answer to the Next Level Bant deck’s (a.k.a. the “control killer”) use of planeswalkers coupled with Vengevines. Even with the passing of that deck, Emeria Angel is still a great metagame call. The control mirror is a draw-go style of play where you try to out-mana your opponent and bait counterspells with irrelevant cards. Once an Emeria Angel sticks, then opposing planeswalkers and large aggro creatures are shut down. Just ask my buddy Calosso Fuentes. Angel is a creature that gets more difficult to deal with as the game moves on, and in a control deck full of cantrips and card draw, 25 lands is plenty. Emeria Angel gives you plenty of time to find an answer to an opposing Baneslayer when the situation arises because life gain in the control mirror is pretty irrelevant. With the loss of Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Emeria Angel fits in that slot and is followed up by a well-protected Elspeth 2.0.
Step 2 – Play the best cards
A control deck utilizes cards that contain mid to late game power instead of in the early game. Steppe Lynx and Goblin Guide are powerful, but those cards do not net value over the course of the game.
Cards like planeswalkers, almost all of them (besides Ajani Goldmane), can have a spot in your control deck. Each planeswalker offers a multitude of abilities that can save you early, put pressure on your opponent, produce card advantage, or win you the game. In this metagame, I believe a control deck has to play Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I know he’s expensive, but based on the power level it’s worth the cash to grab a few. I have toyed with a range of different color combinations, but Jace 2.0 keeps blue as a must for Standard control.
Can you think of any other powerful cards that forced a particular color on control? I sure can! Over the years people have successfully built control decks around win conditions such as Cruel Ultimatum, Decree of Justice, Counterbalance, Mindslaver (Urza Tron), Rude Awakening, and solid creatures (Baneslayer Angel, Titans, Meloku, etc). Control decks can also be built when there are no strong winning conditions, but strong card advantage such as mass removal effects (Day of Judgment, Wrath of God, Damnation, etc.) and card draw (Fact or Fiction, Thirst for Knowledge, Jace 2.0, etc). Control has to have a strong skeleton of powerful cards and fillers to protect those cards and move the deck into the late game. Let me add another reader question to cap this step off:
Cody Foss
Q:
This is what I’ve been working on. I’d like to try to fit either one more Journey to Nowhere or another Ratchet Bomb into the maindeck.
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Tectonic Edge
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
7 Island
4 Plains
3 Seachrome Coast
4 Wall of Omens
3 Sun Titan
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Mana Leak
2 Cancel
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Jace Beleren
3 Day of Judgment
2 Condemn
2 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Gideon Jura
Sideboard
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Luminarch Ascension
1 Volition Reins
4 Negate
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 War Priest of Thune
A:
Thanks for the question Cody. I believe that Journey to Nowhere is a more powerful card against troublesome two-drops such as Fauna Shaman and Lotus Cobra… but Ratchet Bomb is more powerful in most other scenarios. I’d personally cut the two Condemns for two Journeys to Nowhere, since they serve the same early game purpose and then keep the two maindeck Ratchet Bombs. Condemn, while one mana cheaper, cannot answer a turn 2 Lotus Cobra or Fauna Shaman before it does irreversible damage. Oh, and for God’s sake cut the Cancel for Stoic Rebuttal! Even if you need two Ratchet Bombs and Volition Reins on a Chalice, it’s strictly better, friend. Ratchet Bomb deserves a slot because it replaces Oblivion Ring as an “answer all” card. Ratchet Bomb also combos well with Sun Titan.
Step 3 – The Breakdown
Playing the most powerful cards and knowing the metagame are the two most important steps of building a control deck; however, the final step is necessary for success. When I first began playing true, low creature-count control decks, my curve was too high, and my card numbers were off. After some experience wielding endgame spells, I feel like I have a pretty good formula for success. Here’s my breakdown for the current Standard:
2 “Hard” Card Draw (Foresee, Jace’s Ingenuity, etc.)
6 Removal Spells (Prefer three mass removal and three spot removal spells)
12 Turn 2 Plays (Countermagic, cantrips on some disruption, mana acceleration)
6-8 Win Conditions (Baneslayer Angel, Grave Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, etc.)
6-9 Planeswalkers
25-26 Land (25 with acceleration, 26 without)
This formula changes with the formats, but not drastically. Planeswalkers are a semi-new phenomenon that has replaced more card draw and removal. Since planeswalkers are here to stay, this blueprint will remain valid.
To clarify the turn 2 plays I’ll give a few examples. The countermagic slot is taken by Mana Leak in the current Standard. Mana acceleration is dominated by the Everflowing Chalice. The disruption can either cantrip like Spreading Seas and Wall of Omens or replace itself like Duress.
My model of control directly conflicts with the popular Preordain as a control staple. I could spend an entire article attacking the one-mana combo cantrip, but I’ll just give a couple of reasons why it doesn’t fit. Preordain in the early game not only fails to give card quality but may hinder your success. Do you need the fourth land on top? Do you need the second Day of Judgment against the aggro deck? These decisions on turn 1-2 could affect the entire game in a negative way with incorrect scrying; I’d call casting Preordain turns 1-2 arrogant! Control players with a few cantrips here and there and no raw card advantage or card draw besides an uncontested Jace, the Mind Sculptor will find their hands empty against a multitude of matchups.
I know my opinions might differ from the mainstream, and most players are advocates for cards like Preordain, but I feel my job is to offer another viewpoint. Let me make this as clear as possible…
Preordain does not net card advantage; control can’t afford to release four slots for it.
I hope you all have acquired a few useful tidbits on the control building process. I’ve used this model for as long as I can remember, and I think it can help some of you out there who want to brew up metagame bombs like I have in the past.
In one of my next articles, I’m going to take a stab at the Limited format. I’ve made it to Day 2 in about half of my Pro Tours, riding on the back of the Draft portion. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Draft record worse than 2-1, and I want to use my trusty iPhone 4 to get a video of my friends and me battling it out. Hopefully the video will make the pick decision breakdown a bit more entertaining. Keep the questions coming and see you guys next time!