Nationals Qualifiers are quickly approaching, and people are scurrying around looking for the hot tech. I wish I had something better to offer up than U/W Control, but it is the only deck I would even consider playing right now. There are plenty of good decks available in the format, such as Mythic and Jund, but if you are looking to play a Blue-based control deck, I think U/W Control is the deck du jour.
So, let’s start things off right with a brand new shiny decklist:
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (26)
Spells (22)
- 2 Oblivion Ring
- 3 Mind Spring
- 2 Negate
- 4 Path to Exile
- 3 Day of Judgment
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 4 Everflowing Chalice
Sideboard
Things that have changed from StarCityGames.com Atlanta Open deck are the following:
1) The Loss of Martial Coup
I am a pretty big fan of Martial Coup, but I think it’s time has come and gone. Martial Coup is at its best against pure aggro decks while being more than fine against Jund and Mythic. The format has shaped up as such that the big decks to beat are:
Jund
Mythic
U/W/r Planeswalkers
U/W Control
Mono Red
Of these decks, Martial Coup is only good against one of them: Mythic. However, Martial Coup isn’t great against Mythic due to Dauntless Escort, Negate, and the fact that is costs seven mana to be relevant. I’ve removed the two Martial Coup I was playing for a fourth Path to Exile and a fourth Everflowing Chalice. Having more spot removal is quite relevant right now, especially with how popular Mythic has become and how easily it can handle mass removal. That’s not to mention the fact that having an answer to Baneslayer Angel and Gideon Jura is great too! Cutting Martial Coup is a bit radical for some, but a lot of people were sliding down to one, and I’ve opted to slide down to none.
2) 1 Marsh Flats / 1 Misty Rainforest
This shouldn’t be anything groundbreaking here. These fetchlands are here to interact favorably with Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Looking at the same cards every time you Brainstorm with Jace is a little disheartening, so playing these allows you to clear the top of your deck to find more action. I don’t want to play a ton of fetchlands here, because I don’t want to take a ton of unnecessary damage.
3) All is Dust in the Sideboard
All is Dust is here to solve a lot of the problems that U/W Control currently has. The U/W/R Planeswalker deck is a pretty large annoyance, and All is Dust can handle each and every planeswalker your opponent plays. It doesn’t interact favorably with some of the cards in our deck (our own planeswalkers or Oblivion Ring), but you have to give up something in order to beat U/W/R.
The main place All is Dust shines is against Mythic. Mythic is a deck that does not want to play against mass removal, and this is a mass removal spell that trumps Dauntless Escort while also taking care of any planeswalkers they may have in play. The only answer that Mythic currently has to All is Dust is Negate and whatever their fifth counterspell may be (Deprive/Cancel), so the likelihood of this resolving is pretty high. One needs to keep in mind that after sideboard, we have access to three Day of Judgment, four Path to Exile, three All is Dust, four Wall of Omens, and three Jace, the Mind Sculptor. The general consensus is that Mythic has a favorable matchup against U/W Control, but with all these fantastic cards, I find it hard to believe that a well-tested U/W Control player would lose to Mythic.
4) Two Into the Roil in the Sideboard
Into the Roil is a good catch all card in the sideboard. It can blow Mythic out, it counters a Polymorph, and it is a temporary answer to a problematic planeswalker. I have found Into the Roil to be a great card in my testing over the past week, and am very happy that I gave it a try.
Now let’s hit a quick matchup analysis:
Jund:
-3 Day of Judgment; -3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor; -2 Negate
+3 Flashfreeze, +3 Celestial Purge, +1 Oblivion Ring, +1 Into the Roil
Game 1 is a minor struggle, due to the weakness of Day of Judgment and Jace, the Mind Sculptor in this matchup. They are very expensive one-for-ones in a matchup where one-for-ones are not the best place to be. If you are going to one-for-one against Jund, they need to be cheap so that when you are finished with that tactic, you can resolve a giant Mind Spring and keep that gameplan up.
After sideboard, we have cheaper one-for-ones and very few targets for their removal. Yes, Wall of Omens can be killed, but I don’t mind if a Jund player wastes their turn removing our cantripping defender. I like keeping Flashfreeze up as long as possible in this matchup, and hopefully I can have a turn of Flashfreeze + Celestial Purge followed by a turn 5 Mind Spring for three.
Keep in mind that Jund has access to Consuming Vapors, and do your best to mitigate the damage that new sorcery can do. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do about it, but if you can lead with Elspeth, Knight-Errant, I would do as such.
Mythic:
-2 Negate, -4 Spreading Seas
+3 All is Dust, +2 Into the Roil, +1 Oblivion Ring
Game 1, Mythic does not have any counterspells, so you should expect each and every spell to resolve. Be aware that Mythic can kill you out of nowhere, so holding onto Path to Exile as long as you can is probably for the best. Mythic is a deck that does not like to be hit by mass removal, so hands with Day of Judgment are your friend.
After sideboard, we have access to more mass removal that trumps their Dauntless Escorts as well as timely spot removal in the form of Oblivion Ring and Into the Roil. You can board in the fourth Tectonic Edge if you feel it’s necessary, as you are boarding out four cantripping spells and it is still extremely useful in counteracting their Celestial Colonnades and Stirring Wildwoods. The only reason I can’t fully recommend it yet is because I haven’t tried it enough times to give a resounding endorsement either way.
U/W/R Super Friends:
-3 Day of Judgment, – 4 Path to Exile, -2 Wall of Omens
+3 All is Dust, +2 Negate, +2 Into the Roil, +1 Tectonic Edge, +1 Oblivion Ring
Game 1 is certainly in Super Friends favor, but I think things get a lot better after sideboard. Casting an early Sphinx of Jwar Isle goes a long way into keeping their planeswalkers in check, so that is our goal game 1. I don’t expect to win game 1 with so many dead cards in our deck, but having a gameplan isn’t out of the question.
After sideboard, we have a lot more answers to the questions Super Friends is asking, and as long as you don’t allow their planeswalkers to get too out of control, you should be able to bring home a victory. As I said earlier, All is Dust doesn’t interact well with some of our cards, but it is a necessary evil to be able to win this matchup. Into the Roil helps to reset a planeswalker that is planning on going ultimate, and two more Negates are brought in as pseudo-removal spells.
I don’t think this matchup is favorable, but I do not think it is nearly as bad as everyone has made it out to be.
Mono Red:
-3 Day of Judgment, -2 Oblivion Ring, -4 Spreading Seas, -1 Mind Spring
+3 Flashfreeze, +3 Celestial Purge, +2 Negate, +2 Into the Roil
Game 1, I feel as though we are a pretty heavy underdog, especially if the opponent has a turn 1 Goblin Guide. Mono Red exerts too much pressure too quickly, and with no form of lifegain in our maindeck, each burn spell is more relevant than the last.
After sideboard, our expensive (Day of Judgment, Mind Spring) and useless (Oblivion Ring, Spreading Seas) spells come out in favor of more efficient answers. Our matchup becomes a lot better with our sideboard cards, but we are still an underdog due to the lack of lifegain in our deck. I could certainly do something about this matchup if it was a bigger part of the metgame, but at this point in time, it isn’t. Kor Firewalker and/or Baneslayer Angels are an easy way to fix this matchup, but I have opted to build my version of U/W Control with Jund, Mythic, and Blue control decks in mind, and not Mono Red.
No matter what deck you choose to play this weekend at the Nationals Qualifiers, make sure you pick a deck and learn it in time for the tournament. You won’t be doing yourself any favors if you audible back and forth before the tournament starts. Each deck in this format has some very relevant decisions, and only game play experience will teach you those decisions. However, I think it is foolish to pick any deck except other than the top five decks for this tournament. I have seen some Time Sieve decks doing pretty well in the past few weeks, but I don’t think they are very well positioned right now. A deck like Allies or Naya is very poorly positioned to do well at this moment, so I cannot recommend either of those decks.
Whatever deck you choose, and I recommend UW Control or Mythic, I wish you the best of fortunes this weekend. I will not be playing in the Nationals Qualifiers this year, but I will be playing in a PTQ on Sunday that is being held in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is having Nationals a Qualifier on Saturday followed by a PTQ on Sunday, so if you’re around the area, you should come down both days for a weekend of fun.
To our future Nationals Qualifier winners, I hope you enjoy it. I won Regionals a few years ago, and it was a great feeling that I will never forget!
Until next week!