It’s that season again! New cards are being released every day and some of
them are even blue spells under three mana. These are the types of previews
that really bolster my control resolve, so today we are going to get
excited about some control heavy hitters from Ixalan. For those
who follow me on Twitter, you
know what cards have triggered excitement, as well as disdain. For you all,
this article will be a reinforcement piece that explains why I think the
card helps (or hurts) control in the upcoming Standard format.
The Nice Ones
The most important previews of a new set that releases when old sets rotate
are the lands. We are losing creature-lands as well as Battle and Shadow
lands, but luckily, we are bailed out by a powerful reprint cycle. These
checklands are best suited for control decks, which aren’t punished heavily
by having one tapped on turn 1 but typically manage to have them untapped
every other turn.
Mana fixing for Standard control decks carries a considerable risk of lands
that do us no good the turn they are played. Battle lands required two
basic lands, which was fair, but checklands require only one type, which
make them more powerful. Control decks typically run between 26 and 27
lands, which creates even more opportunities to draw a cycling land or a
basic, allowing us to play each one of these untapped. More aggressive
decks tend to play more copies of the fastlands, run a lower land count,
and require their early mana to enter the battlefield untapped. These lands
even see play in Modern, as reliable sources of colored mana without the
damage or enters-the-battlefield-tapped risk.
These three cards bring immense joy to my soul, bringing me back to days
where we had time to tap a bunch of mana to do remarkable things. A card
like Ixalan’s Binding in the past would have made me jump for joy, but four
mana at sorcery speed puts this card in the fringe category. I added it to
this list of sweet cards that help control decks, because I don’t think
that Cast Out will run this non-cycling version completely out of business.
If I were to play a white-based control deck, I would play at least one
copy, maybe two, because it is such a powerful effect. Cast Out would be
run as a three- or four-of, with the obvious one-mana cycling failsafe
attached. Enchantment removal has been getting safer to play as we progress
through the recent formats, and the exit of Eldrazi expands that reality.
Primal Amulet and Thaumatic Compass land in the same category due to their
mana cost to cast and activate. Primal Amulet has a sweet ability on the
front side, making your spells cost one less, and an even sweeter ability
on the flipped side, copying your spells. This is a card I made fun of my
buddy Ali Aintrazi for getting too excited about, which he deserved! Abrade
is still too good of a card and we should build with that in mind. I know
there is a nasty burn spell back in the format, but the playability of
Abrade will not drop because of it.
The same Ramunap Red decks need hard answers to Vehicles and other
artifacts. Midrange will play a couple for insurance, and control lives off
removal spell diversity. For that reason, Thaumatic Compass loses some
ground, yet isn’t as risky as Primal Amulet. The two-mana artifact fits
more easily into the curve of control decks and turns into a busted land in
the late-game. Maze of Ith is a card to be feared, and because Thaumatic
Compass flips in the end step, control can sneak it out with ease.
These black cards have probably forced my hand for when Ixalan is
released. These cards are the ones I am most excited about so far. Vraska’s
Contempt is everything that we could ever want in a hard removal spell.
Exile, creatures or planeswalkers, and there is even a lifegain clause at
the end! I love universal answers, and even when it wasn’t popular to run
Anguished Unmaking, I found myself breaking those norms regularly. There is
no worse feeling for a control mage, outside losing to Ramunap Red, than to
see a permanent hit the battlefield that can’t be answered. Black now has
the tools to do it effectively. This, joined with Doomfall and Fatal Push,
give black enough ammunition to be the main color of control for the
future.
Hostage Taker and Vona, Butcher of Magan have me working on my Esper
Control manabase already. The Scarab God is the king of control now. There
isn’t a strategy that I will entertain soon that doesn’t include this God
in the battle plan. The Scarab God is on a different power level from the
rest of Standard, so count me in. This leaves us with the usual U/R/b,
U/B/r, or U/B/w. Hostage Taker fits into all three of those archetypes
easily. This is another preview that feels more powerful than the cards
around it. I already enjoy a nice Fiend Hunter, but adding artifact removal
as well as Control Magic to the mix is enough to get the proxies flowing
early. The synergy between Hostage Taker and The Scarab God is one to be
admired.
The final card that breeds excitement is Vona, Butcher of Magan. A
five-mana 4/4 creature with lifelink and vigilance was already good enough
for me to use, but wait, there’s more! It can destroy anything for the
steep price of seven life. Typically, that wouldn’t be an activation I’d
entertain, but the card has built-in ways to regenerate that lost life.
Most of the time, this creature will be attacking with removal flying from
behind it, gaining life for the owner, and making the opponent miserable in
the process. The Esper Professor may be coming out of retirement for this
one.
Okay, okay, get it out of your system! Many years ago, I made outlandish
claims about the weakness of one-mana cantrips in Standard control decks. I
even did this after losing in the finals of an ancient Open against my boy
Christian Calcano:
Punt.
I must admit, this one the gravest mistake of my professional career.
Not losing a few bucks on Preordain, but failing to realize the power of
cheap deck manipulation then. That error is well behind me and I know Opt
is the real deal. It’s not a card that’s going to revolutionize control in Standard, but it will help level
out some of the inconsistencies with the early game. Hitting land drops
should be an issue of the past when running four copies of Opt, Censor, and
cycling lands in any control deck moving forward. Opt also allows us to
move down to 26 lands, play one less copy of a few big-mana spells, and
guarantee that no Torrential Gearhulk goes spell-less at end of turn.
Standard isn’t the only thing that is boosted by Opt’s reprint. Serum
Visions in Modern control decks? See you later! I know that this has been a
hot topic on social media, but this is as slam-dunk as it gets for
traditional control players. If you are still one of the few brave souls in
Modern that challenges foes to do battle with Islands and Plains, Opt is
the card for you. Here are the reason why Opt is better:
It is an instant.
Sorceries suck. I know I am the Expensive Sorcery Master, but that name
arose from a different time, a time where mages slung giant spells at each
other, determining the winner by the resolution percentage. Standard now,
and especially Modern, give no quarter to those tapping mana on their own
turn. Opt being an instant is huge, providing end-step information
collection, keeping mana open for reactive spells, and making Snapcaster
Mage a much less embarrassing play. Playing a Celestial Colonnade on one
and not being able to cast Serum Visions stings, because Mana Leak is the
safest bet. Your opponent then casts a turn 2 Noble Hierarch, not worthy of
the Mana Leak’s time, and the turn is saved by instant-speed deck
manipulation.
You scry before you draw.
Preordain is obviously a better card because it scrys two before you draw.
They banned that card. The trade-off between instant speed and one scry is
minimal. This doesn’t mean Opt is better than Preordain in any world, but
they are much closer than Serum Visions could ever dream of being. Scrying
before drawing is the biggest perk of any cantrip, and control needs this
order of operations the most. Drawing a Serum Visions later in the game is
great, but Opt is better. The additional scry is not worth the stinker that
had to be placed in your hand most of the time.
Scrying is great, but Modern has a ton of fetches.
Fetchlands and Serum Visions are an odd couple. Often, you’ll take the one
card needed and are unable to snag the second decent card because of
shuffling. In Standard, Glimmer of Genius is amazing because you never
shuffle your deck. Those bad cards stay on the bottom forever. These older
formats don’t have the luxury of keeping the library order the same for
very long.
To end my thoughts on this, I want to make sure we all remember my opening
comment. Opt is better than Serum Visions for control decks in
Modern. I fully expect to see combo decks running Serum Visions until the
end of days. Those decks are on an exact mission by turn 4, which makes
seeing more cards more valuable than anything else.
The Not-Nice Ones
This reprint is a disaster for control. Temur will casually drop a
Bristling Hydra on turn 5 and bash in with their Whirler Virtuoso and two
Thopter tokens after we had dispatched the Longtusk Cub the turn prior.
Don’t worry, heroes, because this Hour of Devastation has arrived!
No, it hasn’t. Spell Pierce has been a thorn in the side of control decks
from tempo and aggressive blue decks for years. It’s very like Treasure
Cruise, which had the appearance of a control staple but was much deadlier
in aggro decks. When it was printed, I mentioned that Dig Through Time was
the blue bomb release, where Treasure Cruise was the red version. Keep
playing Negate and forget about this one, my friends.
These two cards are easily the scariest of the new set for control players.
Carnage Tyrant is something that we can build our defense around,
prioritizing Doomfall effects. The six toughness of this creature renders
Hour of Devastation useless, so the sideboard must pack some hate for this
hexproof monstrosity.
Shapers’ Sanctuary is a card that has given me night terrors since the day
it was previewed. When an aggressive opponent draws a few cards from Bomat
Courier, Rogue Refiner, or the rotating Tireless Tracker, I feel the game
get out of reach. This one-mana enchantment takes that to a whole new
level. I hope that control is so under the radar that this card sees zero
play in sideboards worldwide. Control depends on its ability to keep a
stable battlefield while out-resourcing opponents, and Shapers’ Sanctuary
could destroy that plan before it even starts.
Ugh…
These new enrage creatures are more of a nuisance than a killing blow to
control strategies. The power of Harnessed Lightning, Magma Spray, Abrade,
and other damage-based removal spells drops significantly if these cards
gain popularity.
I think Ripjaw Raptor and Ranging Raptors are both very good cards, but
there is a chance that the old sets that remain continue to dominant
Standard. U/R Control, Temur Energy, Ramunap Red, and a host of other decks
lose very little with rotation. If these new cards do break it, then we
must shift to a B/W removal strategy that doesn’t involve dealing damage.
That is a format that I can still get behind!