"Control is back!"
I mean, control never really left . . .
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Blue mages are probably rejoicing around the world with how well positioned blue-based control has become in Modern. There was so much talk of how graveyard-based strategies would start getting much more popular with the disappearance of Deathrite Shaman, but those that looked at arguably the best graveyard-based card in the format wound up prospering immensely.
Snapcaster Mage singlehandedly (single-cannon-arm . . . ed . . . ly?) took Pro Tour Born of the Gods by storm, being played in almost every non-aggressive blue deck. The card is so good that even some Zoo decks incorporated it alongside absurd inherent scaling spells like Tribal Flames and Might of Alara (while it wasn’t necessarily a new thing, Ghor-Clan Rampager had often replaced Snapcaster as a more reliable pump/burn spell hybrid).
If you’re building a blue-based control deck, then your shell will almost always consist of Snapcaster Mage, Cryptic Command, and a combination of Mana Leak and Remand. There’s very little reason to exclude any of those cards, as they’re the absolute best at their job. Where you want to go after that is the big decision point, and there is a wide variety of options available.
Of course, the standard for any U/W/R Control deck right now is Shaun McLaren’s build. Shaun’s list does an incredibly good job of maximizing Sphinx’s Revelation while still utilizing the cheapest and most efficient spells in the format for each color. Wild Nacatl is met with Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix. A large Tarmogoyf? Path to Exile. Noncreature snowball effect? Mana Leak into Cryptic Command. Small creatures are met with Electrolyze. Ajani Vengeant takes care of both big and small angles, and Sphinx’s Revelation puts it all out of reach.
I want to focus on a few of Shaun’s deckbuilding decisions and why they’re important to note when building a blue control deck.
This is the best sweeper in the format. It’s obviously very good against Birthing Pod decks, specifically Melira Pod due to its reliance on the graveyard, but the difference between three and four mana is huge. While double red seems like it’d be a bit of a hindrance, an adjustment of your fetch land distribution along with more red non-shock lands can make all the difference.
"But Supreme Verdict is uncounterable!"
There are very few blue decks that demand the uncounterable clause of Supreme Verdict, and Shaun, along with many others at the Pro Tour, correctly identified this. Merfolk and Delver decks are still very strong, but with how much attrition you’re able to play early on, you can very reasonably keep Merfolk’s overall toughness to three. And a lot of cards in Delver are pretty flimsy to begin with, including their own countermagic.
Building on that last point, even if Delver decks play the same countermagic as you, the amount of stress put on their counters comes from a very different angle than what would stress a control deck’s counters. In Delver, translating your counterspells into damage is the number one role for their counterspells. In control, you’re using counterspells not as a translative resource but a protective resource. Delver’s counterspells lose much of their effectiveness when met with a ton of cheap spells that interact with their threats, which is why there’s so much more pressure on them in that particular matchup (and is probably why Delver didn’t do particularly great at the Pro Tour).
"But double red is much harder to get than two white or even two white and a blue!"
Put simply, no, it isn’t. Adjust your mana base accordingly and it’ll be fine.
"If it’s so good, why didn’t he play more?"
The same reason why there are so many one-ofs in the 75: Snapcaster Mage and Sphinx’s Revelation allow you to play more cards with different functions without sacrificing redundancy or consistency.
The split of 3 Mana Leak / 2 Remand tells me that Shaun was looking to cover the diminishing returns on Mana Leak while still trying to sustain value with Snapcaster Mage. Remand is usually seen in decks looking to generate tempo or decks trying to push the opponent back as much as possible. Here you have the best of both roles, and each role complements Mana Leak.
Celestial Colonnade is the finisher of choice and can end the game very efficiently while not taking up spell slots. When you’re maximizing the effectiveness of your spells and cards that interact favorably with your spells, having man lands is a highly attractive option. Play four and never look back!
So we’ve established that Snapcaster Mage is the focal point of blue control decks, but we can’t let U/W/R Control hog the spotlight the whole time. While Sphinx’s Revelation has been nicknamed the modern-day Cruel Ultimatum, Cruel Ultimatum itself is still ridiculously powerful in its own right, and if we really want to get ambitious, splashing Revelation in Cruel Control sounds exciting at least.
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While I don’t think these are as powerful as U/W/R Control, I’d certainly be comfortable with my matchup against it and other heavy control decks. Are Vivid lands out of the question? If so, why? Is Blood Moon enough of a concern to consider basic lands?
At this point we’re approaching Gifts Ungiven territory. As one of the most powerful tutors in the game, it has seen a decent amount of play in Modern but hasn’t completely broken through. I think that this weekend is as good a time as any for a breakout performance:
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A list with almost nothing but one-ofs is as difficult to analyze as it is to jot down, but Gifts Ungiven is powerful for the same reasons Snapcaster Mage is powerful: they both seamlessly create advantages that don’t require investment from multiple copies of a card. We all know about the Gifts Ungiven and Unburial Rites combo, but Snapcaster with Gifts allows for an incredible endgame that rivals even Tron decks.
The big question with Gifts is "can it beat Zoo?" I think if we really want to work toward beating them, we can. Swap Iona, Shield of Emeria for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite; add a few more Paths and a Day of Judgment; and call it a day. That said, I think that combating the field with a few general purpose answers is better than skewing or hedging toward a specific direction outside of the reanimation target. Is Griselbrand worth considering as the go-to Rites target? Should we consider splashing green for a mini Life from the Loam package (with land adjustments of course)?
Nonblue pure control decks are pretty difficult to come by due to just how efficient the blue cards are right now. Matching this efficiency can be done with a Life from the Loam engine, but putting the appropriate cards around it has proven to be the big issue. Seismic Assault is super awkward at times and is awful in multiples. Leaning on a Smallpox shell isn’t the most reliable plan against blue decks. Is white a potential direction we can go?
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Knight of the Reliquary is much lower maintenance than Seismic Assault or Smallpox, and just having a ridiculously large one can be enough. We aren’t really trying to rely on our lands to create an insurmountable advantage at an incredibly slow rate. Instead, we want to generate a fast clock once we gain control. This is also the reason why the seemingly awkward Path to Exile is in the deck. Seismic Assault builds have a hard time doing this without Life from the Loam.
The big issue I have with this deck is how soft it is to Splinter Twin. How do we fix that without dropping the core? Is there another card in white that can help support the build more than or alongside Knight of the Reliquary? Does Tarmogoyf have a place?
Grand Prix Richmond is already going to be a record-setting event, and I can’t wait until it begins on Saturday. I hope that this series has helped you understand the Modern format and what you can do in it a little bit better. I will be more than happy to talk Modern before, during, and after the Grand Prix. My favorite format is going through a huge boom right now, and now is the best time to get into it.
See you this weekend!