The Great Champs Experiment: Part 8 - The Control Decks

The Great Champs Experiment: Part 8 – The Control Decks

I want to thank all of you for keeping up with the article series so far. It has been a lot of hard work for me, but I have enjoyed doing it, and would not hesitate to do so in the future. Will I do it again? I hope so, but I cannot see into the future.

We are going to look at the control decks of the format today. I feel that these decks are going to have a huge part of the Champs environment (when has control been weak?). We get many solid cards from Time Spiral for the control strategies, and these decks are where I have spent the bulk of my testing time. I am a control player at heart, and I feel that I know this style a lot better than I know the aggressive decks or the tempo decks.

As I said earlier, we get many powerful cards from the new set, and every time I see a foil Whispers of the Muse I get excited. Not so much that the card is now foiled (after all, who does not love their foil Tempest block cards?), but because it helps open up a possible draw-go strategy. (I think we are just missing Nevinyrral’s Disk, and no matter what anyone tells you, the White Magus is not a suitable replacement.) We have solid finishers in Akroma, Deep-Sea Kraken, and Mystic Enforcer. Blue has the hard counter at the three-mana slot, a hard counter at the four-mana slot, and a hard counter at the six-mana slot. These cards are Cancel, Mystic Snake, and Draining Whelk respectively. I would go out on a limb and say this is a Golden Age of control, but I know that the aggressive decks of the format will help keep these decks from becoming dominant.

Okay, let’s get to some deck lists!

Mono Blue Control Test

Joshua Claytor

Test deck on 10-29-2006

Standard

Creatures (7)

Lands (24)

Spells (29)

Sideboard

What does it do?
This deck looks to take control by countering every conceivable threat that your opponent can possibly muster. It has answers for just about every strategy, with targeted removal for the aggressive matches, and a large amount of countermagic to stop the control decks. Draining Whelk is your main kill here, and in testing he often came into play a six-mana seven-powered man. That size a creature ends the game in short order. We have strategies for the long game as well, in Urza’s Factory, Spell Burst and Whispers of the Muse.

What does Time Spiral add to the deck?
This deck would not be around if it were not for the quality cards from Time Spiral. We get instant speed card draw, instant speed removal, and instant speed creatures, and all of those are perfect for a deck that does not want to tap out in the main phase. Teferi is a house against opposing control decks, for all of you not in the know. One of the cards out of Time Spiral that I would love to see in the deck is Tormod’s Crypt, but as testing has shown me you already have a pretty good match up against Solar Flare and Magnivore. The one thing to understand against these two decks is the fact they are threat-light. If you counter them, you should be able to win just fine.

You do have a tough (almost uphill) match up against Gruul and Zoo, but have a good game against Snow Burn (Mainly because they have less men than the other two decks.)

Solar Flare Redux Test

Joshua Claytor

Test deck on 10-29-2006

Standard

Creatures (8)

Lands (19)

Spells (33)

Sideboard

Solar Flare was one of the more popular decks of the past season, and it should continue to see serious play when the rotation occurs. We only really lose the Dragons of Kamigawa, but we have some nice replacements here. Akroma, in my mind, is better than any of the pathetic dragons anyway. Careful Consideration is the card I am most excited about post rotation. This card gets you one deeper then Compulsive Research and Sift, and the fact that it can be played at instant speed (which makes the card more of a filtering spell instead of pure card draw) means you have a tool against control which dominates card quality.

What does it do?
Solar Flare takes control of the board with mass removal, and disrupts the hand with mass discard. What makes this deck great is the fact it can reanimate a huge fatty, and start protecting it early in the game. Do you know how hard it is to beat Skeletal Vampire by himself (and I do – you can ask Talen Lee about it sometime), let alone with countermagic backup?

What does Time Spiral add to the deck?
Sudden Death is probably the best targeted removal spell to come out in some time. The Split Second mechanic is backbreaking against control. Akroma is a giant flyer, smacking around opponents, asking where her money is. Flagstones of Trokair allows you to technically play with a fifty-eight card deck, and is a fine pseudo-Sacred Ground for the ‘Vore matchup. Gemstone Mine is fantastic in the deck, providing pain-free mana for the short term. I could go over Careful Consideration more, but why bother? I just like the card a lot!

Firemane Control Test

Joshua Claytor

Test deck on 10-29-2006

Standard

Creatures (4)

4 Firemane Angel

Lands (22)

Spells (34)

Sideboard

Last year, I made it to the Top 4 of the Kentucky Champs playing a Red/White control deck that looked to break Firemane and Searing Meditation. I lost to the eventual champion that year, but Firemane quickly became one of my favorite cards from Ravnica. I’m leaning towards another appearance with the Boros Enforcer this year, but I would be taking a deck that looked a lot like the PT: Honolulu decks that featured Firemane.

What does it do?
This deck takes advantage of the life-gaining angel against aggressive decks, and takes control of the board with the removal suite. This is almost a money back guarantee (as one Richard Feldman would say) against the popular creature-based decks of the format. Against the control decks, you have a good long game based on the Firemane’s graveyard ability. Sadly I wish there were room for Sacred Mesa and more copies of Urza’s Factory. I obviously like those cards, since they are both similar to Goblin Trenches. (Lightning Angel is back too… now, if Prophetic Bolt had been reprinted I could just play what I did during Invasion Block qualifiers.) Sadly, I may have to settle for Searing Meditation out of the board.

What does Time Spiral add to the deck?
Sacred Mesa (like I said, I want it in the main), Flagstones of Trokair, and the best counterspell that we could add in Cancel.

W/U/G Solar Flare

Joshua Claytor

Test deck on 10-29-2006

Standard

Creatures (10)

Lands (14)

Spells (36)

Sideboard

Think of this deck as Solar Flare with less disruption and more control, because that is pretty much the inspiration for this deck. They both play in a similar manner, but this one has more game against Dragonstorm combo because of Voidslime. (I realize that Cancel could be played here, but why not run the Storm-stopper?)

What does it do?
This new take on Flare takes control of the board with mass removal, and disrupts the opponent’s strategy with huge amounts of counter magic. What makes this deck great is the fact it can reanimate a huge fatty, and start protecting it early in the game. Do you know how hard it is to beat Simic Sky Swallower by himself, let alone with countermagic backup? (For those of you wondering… yes, I did just copy and paste my ideas about Solar Flare here.)

What does Time Spiral add to the deck?
Mystic Enforcer is back, and although there is a lack of threshold-enabling cards in the format (such as the missed fetch-lands, and the not-so-missed Anurid Brushhopper), this card should still see play. What is not to like about a potential 6/6 flyer with protection from Black for the discount price of four mana? Akroma, like in every other control deck with White, makes an appearance, and the White Zombify (which is weird to say, because Zombify was clearly in White’s slice of the pie in the old days) Resurrection brings the men back. Cancel is here, as is Urza’s Factory.

Blue/White Control

Joshua Claytor

Test deck on 10-29-2006

Standard

Creatures (3)

Lands (18)

Spells (39)

Sideboard

We are close to the end, and I am going to finish out with one of my favorite decks so far in testing. We have an almost unheard amount of countermagic (sixteen pieces — yes, I know that is seven less then the Mono Blue deck I suggested), an unstoppable win condition when the game is stabilized and in your control, and the most iconic White creature since Serra Angel.

What does it do?
This is old school at its finest. You will be shouting “no” a lot! When you do not want to say no, you cast Wrath and start saying no all over again. Sacred Mesa is the finest token generator out there (I think so at least – it does have to be better then Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII). Akroma is the clean-up hitter in this fine deck.

What does Time Spiral add to the deck?
Sacred Mesa, Cancel, Flagstones, Akroma, Think Twice (this card is a lot better than you think), Whispers of the Muse, and Wrath of God (just checking to see if I still have your attention). This is a powerful deck that saw moderate success around Regionals last year… and this year, the Blue/White mages should be rejoicing.

This is the penultimate article in the Great Champs Experiment. It’s been a blast writing it, and I hope that someone, somewhere was able to benefit from one of these lists. Before I finish, I am going to leave you with a list that I think you at least need to be ready for.

Reiterator Combo

Yes, it kills with Compulsive Research. I am not sure how good it is, but my teammate Scott Schauf swears by it.

Reiterator Combo

Joshua Claytor

Test deck on 10-29-2006

Standard

Creatures (4)

4 Carven Caryatid

Lands (23)

Spells (33)

Sideboard

Until tomorrow,

JXC