One cannot doubt but that Control Slaver has been growing both in popularity and success. While many prominent players were critical of the deck at first, it has put up enough results to convince the skeptics. While the deck’s ability is beyond dispute, what has not been settled is the question regarding the optimal build. In this article, I focus on an important issue that many players face when constructing their Control Slaver lists: should the Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge engine be in the deck?
First, it is clear that Control Slaver decks both with and without Intuition have been successful. To illustrate this, here are the decks that took first at the last two Waterbury tournaments. One of these lists uses the Intuition engine, and the other does not.
This is Jeffrey Tussi’s Intuition Control Slaver list, which won the last Waterbury:
1 Platinum Angel
1 Pentavus
4 Goblin Welder
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Cunning Wish
2 Intuition
1 Lava Dart
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mindslaver
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Flooded Strand
4 Volcanic Island
5 Island
Sideboard
1 Lava Dart
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Duplicant
1 Platinum Angel
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Blood Moon
3 Arcane Lab
This is my Control Slaver list which won the September Waterbury.
1 Platinum Angel
1 Pentavus
4 Goblin Welder
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Blood Moon
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Cunning Wish
2 Mindslaver
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
5 Island
Sideboard
3 Lava Dart
1 Mogg Salvage
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Blood Moon
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Old Man of the Sea
3 Sphere of Resistance
Thus, it is clear that lists with and without Intuition have both found some success. Now that we have examples of Control Slaver decks with and without Intuition, we can examine what the advantages and disadvantages of including the Intuition draw engine in the deck are. First, I will lay out what I think are the best arguments for the engine’s inclusion in the deck then I will examine what seem to be the best reasons for the engine’s exclusion.
The primary reason to include the engine in your Control Slaver deck is that it adds even more card-drawing capability to an already draw-heavy deck. With Brainstorm, Thirst for Knowledge, Intuition/AK, and sometimes even Deep Analysis, you can out-draw just about anything in the format. But playing with Intuition/AK does more than just give you another way to fill up your hand. It actually makes Control Slaver much simpler to play. Without Intuition, Control Slaver is rather tricky to play well. Unlike most decks which cast their card-drawing spells as soon as they have open mana, Control Slaver prefers to wait until just the right moment to cast its draw spells. Is every card in your hand a good non-artifact spell? Then maybe you should wait to cast that Thirst for Knowledge. Do you like all those cards in your hand? Then maybe that Brainstorm needs to wait until you don’t.
In other words, Control Slaver has card draw spells that become better or worse depending on the content of your hand and your board position; sometimes being patient and not casting them is the best play. However, short of a mirror match, there are no such limitations on casting Accumulated Knowledge for three cards. That’s always pretty good. Therefore, playing with Intuition and Accumulated Knowledge makes Control Slaver much easier to play, and leaves you with fewer decisions.
The other reason to include the Intuition engine in your Control Slaver deck is that even without Accumulated Knowledge, Intuition can be very powerful in its own right. You can fetch up three large and scary artifacts, and then use Goblin Welder to return two of them to play. There are times when Control Slaver decks without Intuition just stare at their active Welders and attack for one. Intuition helps those Welders get to work.
Given these advantages, the question arises as to why anyone would exclude Intuition from his Control Slaver list. You get to draw a bunch of cards, the deck becomes easier to play, and you can even use Intuition with Goblin Welder instead of drawing cards. However, there remain five reasons why many players – myself included – opt to forgo the promises of Orim and her Intuition.
First, the Intuition draw engine itself is less impressive than it might appear. For three cards, you’re charged a hefty five mana. While this cost can be spread out over two turns, keep in mind that even Concentrate costs you less mana than this. For two mana less, Thirst for Knowledge digs you just as deep, and has the synergistic bonus of letting you discard an artifact for your Welder to feast on. While casting Thirst for Knowledge can often be less advantageous than simply drawing three cards, keep in mind that two mana is a huge difference in price. If a two mana difference seems trivial to you, consider why Demonic Tutor is restricted while Diabolic Tutor is unplayed.
The relative lack of celerity in the Intuition engine means that the engine will be stronger in some matchups than others. With rare exception, Intuition is not going to be cast on the first turn. Therefore, expecting to cast it even on the second turn and casting Accumulated Knowledge on the thirst turn is a generous assumption. Such a play will give Control Slaver a good hand to use on the third or fourth turn of the game. This will be fine against a slower deck like Keeper or Tog. However, against a deck such as Stax or Death Long, or even in the mirror match, the game is oftentimes already decided by turn 4.
One flaw with Intuition, as shown above, is that it is at its best against those matches that are already in Control Slaver’s favor, namely matches against slower control decks. Control Slaver needs the most help against faster decks, either aggro or combo, and sadly the Intuition engine is usually going to be too slow to be optimal in those matches. In other words, Intuition helps Control Slaver when Control Slaver least needs the help.
Another problem with the Intuition engine is the amount of deck space it demands. Six or seven slots are a lot. For example, the Intuition list I posted above from the most recent Waterbury has cut Black, something that I would never do. It also plays two less mana sources than I do. There are only so many slots in a deck, and dedicating six or seven of them to the Intuition/AK engine is a big commitment. Especially considering that without the help of Intuition, Accumulated Knowledge itself is a pretty lousy spell.
Yet another problem with the Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge engine is that it makes Control Slaver even more vulnerable to graveyard hate. The deck uses Goblin Welder and Yawgmoth’s Will, so it already depends considerably on its graveyard. By including Accumulated Knowledge, Control Slaver’s draw engine also becomes vulnerable to Tormod’s Crypt and Coffin Purge. Thus, one of the deck’s weaknesses is exacerbated. And I won’t even mention how unpleasant Accumulated Knowledge mirror matches can be.
Finally, what about Intuition alone, without the Accumulated Knowledge? I have already outlined the reasons I dislike Accumulated Knowledge in Control Slaver, but what about Intuition to get artifacts into the graveyard for Goblin Welder to return? Well, that sounds like a great strategy… unless you don’t have an active Welder on the board. Or you don’t already have an artifact in play to target with the Welder. Or you have already used Thirst for Knowledge to discard the artifact that you want to return. You see where I am going with this. Without Accumulated Knowledge, Intuition becomes far too situational to include. Control Slaver already has cards you aren’t usually thrilled to see in your opening hand, in the form of Mindslavers and large Artifact monsters. Without Accumulated Knowledge, Intuition just makes that problem worse than it already is.
In conclusion, there is no definitive answer to the question of whether or not you should be playing with Intuition and Accumulated Knowledge in your Control Slaver deck. Are you picking up the deck the night before a big tournament? Then maybe you’ll find that Intuition makes the deck easier to play. Do you have a lot of experience with Tog, and wish that you could pretend Control Slaver were something else? Then add in those Intuitions. If you want to put in the time to get as good with Control Slaver as you can be, and if you want to make the deck function as well as it can, then take off those training wheels and leave the Intuitions at home.
by Richard Shay, The Atog Lord
Thanks to Chris Browne for editing