Updates

I may as well start with my recommended decklist.

U/W Control

Reid Duke

Test deck on 08-19-2012

Legacy

Creatures (2)

• 2 Trinket Mage

Planeswalkers (4)

• 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (20)

• 3 Plains
• 5 Island
• 4 Tundra
• 3 Polluted Delta
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds

Spells (34)

• 4 Sensei's Divining Top
• 4 Brainstorm
• 2 Counterspell
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 2 Land Tax
• 2 Daze
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 3 Counterbalance
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 2 Entreat the Angels
• 4 Terminus

Sideboard

• 1 Humility
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Blue Elemental Blast
• 1 Envelop
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 2 Vendilion Clique
• 2 Path to Exile
• 1 Baneslayer Angel
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage

This new decklist incorporates the lessons I learned from my Top 4 finish at the SCG Legacy Open in Washington, DC. Those lessons came at a steep price, as I firmly believe my finish could have been even higher with some better decisions in deckbuilding, sideboarding, and game play (in my semifinals match).

Since I’m frequently asked about it, I’ve now tried and rejected Snapcaster Mage. It’s a good card, but it’s better suited for something like Kobe Spaeth’s Stoneforge Mystic version of Miracle Control (which I like, by the way). In the pure control, Land Tax build, Snapcaster’s body can do nothing better than chump block. Even given that, the late game flexibility could potentially be worth the extra mana, except that Snapcaster Mage is consistently inconvenient with the graveyard hate which is such an important part of my recommended decklist.

Oboro, Palace in the Clouds was a card I had honestly forgotten existed until I asked Ben Lundquist for advice. In a display of great generosity, the master took thirty seconds out of his day to dramatically improve the deck I’ve been working on for months. Oboro is a perfect fit, since it provides a lot of power and flexibility in playing the Land Tax subgame. If your opponent matches your number of lands, you can return Oboro to your hand to cash in on your free Ancestral Recall. If they’re stubborn and refuse to match your number of lands, you can simply play another one, jumping far ahead of them and pushing your board advantage. After all, any U/W Miracle Control player will tell you that if you can reach four lands without being at death’s door, you’re probably going to win any matchup that’s not a mirror.

Oboro also provides insurance against Choke, which has the potential to be a devastating card against this deck. It provides all of these valuable services while only "pretending" to be a nonbasic land since, if you’re careful, you can make sure it never gets successfully Wastelanded.

The only other substantial change to the maindeck is the trimming of Daze down to two copies. Daze has never disappointed me, as it’s incredible with Land Tax and is simply an extremely powerful card. However, three factors are at work to reduce the value of Daze. The first is the trimming of Land Tax to two copies, which reduces the chances of opening with Tundra + Land Tax + Daze, which used to provide so many easy wins.

The second is the rising importance of the mirror match. Daze certainly has its uses in the mirror, giving you an advantage in fighting early wars over Counterbalance or Jace, the Mind Sculptor. However, it’s important not to reduce your late game power by too much, so I’ve replaced Dazes three and four with two copies of the slow-but-useful Counterspell. The third and final factor is simply that Daze is becoming a known quantity and losing the surprise factor takes away from the power of the card.

Daze is a very difficult card to evaluate, as its strengths and weaknesses compared to something like Spell Pierce are very difficult to quantify. My instincts lead me towards two copies, but I can’t give any scientific reasoning for that decision. I wouldn’t fault someone for playing any number of Dazes, zero to four, in U/W Land Tax Control.

The Sideboard

At the SCG Legacy Open in Washington, DC, I built my sideboard largely with Merfolk in mind. Now I don’t believe that Merfolk will be especially popular in the coming weeks, nor do I think it’s a particularly good deck choice. However, everyone analyzes tournament results differently, and the fact that Josh Cho’s victory is fresh in our memories means that Merfolk will still be around. I wouldn’t play narrow hate cards like Llawan, Cephalid Empress or Peacekeeper, but if you’re looking for extra insurance, something like Moat is a great option.

Personally, I recommend fighting Merfolk with four maindeck Terminus, a plethora of spot removal, and two copies of Engineered Explosives to fetch with Trinket Mage. I’ve found the second copy of Engineered Explosives to be generally valuable as a flexible all-purpose removal spell. I’ve also found it to be specifically valuable in the mirror match as an answer to either Counterbalance or Entreat the Angels.

Similarly, the second copy of Oblivion Ring is a flexible card with uses that range from Sulfuric Vortex to Chalice of Void to Jace, the Mind Sculptor. However, I was specifically inspired to add it for the Maverick matchup as one more removal spell that can answer Gaddock Teeg, Sylvan Library, or equipment.

Humility is in the sideboard for Show and Tell decks but can also come in against tribal decks and Maverick. Just be careful of Gaddock Teeg!

Matchup Guide

Sideboarding can get a little hairy with this deck, as it can depend on the opponent’s exact list and whether you are on the play or the draw. The situational counters also change in value depending on how careful you think your opponent will be in playing around them.

RUG Delver

+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Oblivion Ring
+1 Blue Elemental Blast
+1 Baneslayer Angel
(+1 Disenchant if and only if you know they have Sulfuric Vortex)
(+Up to two Vendilion Clique if you have more room)

-4 Force of Will
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-2 Counterspell
(-1 Land Tax on the play)
(-Up to two Daze on the draw)

After sideboard you have an excessive amount of removal (about as many removal spells as they have creatures in their entire deck!). If you can take away their clock, you have the luxury to make Spell Pierce and Daze dead and to make full use of your own card advantage where they likely have none. Sulfuric Vortex will be the best way for them to steal games from you, so hang on to an answer whenever possible.

Entreat the Angels is great for putting away games against RUG, but X-spells are tricky against a deck with so many counter-unless-you-pay spells. Making three Angels will virtually guarantee victory. Two Angels will not, but it will be colossally difficult for the RUG player to deal with them, so if you’re already ahead it’ll be all you need. One Angel is even very powerful. Wait as long as you can to cast it and have as much open mana as possible when you do. Play it safe, but use your judgment in determining how many Angels you’ll need to close the game.

Maverick

+2 Path to Exile
+2 Oblivion Ring
+1 Humility
+1 Baneslayer Angel
(+1 Grafdigger’s Cage on the play)
(+1 Disenchant, bring this in blind, cut it if you have reason to believe that they don’t have a lot of enchantments and artifacts postboard)

-3 Counterbalance
-2 Counterspell
(-2 Daze on the draw)
(-2 Trinket Mage, -1 Engineered Explosives on the play)

Engineered Explosives is just okay against Maverick. They’ll be playing with Terminus in mind anyway, so it’ll be rare to kill more than one creature with an Explosives. Given that, it’s simply an overpriced removal spell when you have plenty of efficient removal already. Most importantly, you can’t cast it with a Gaddock Teeg in play.

Gaddock Teeg is the entire matchup. If they stick him, you will lose; if they don’t, you’re a huge favorite to win. Green Sun’s Zenith, Mother of Runes, and Karakas are relevant only in that they support Teeg. Grafdigger’s Cage will turn off Zenith and make it that much less likely for the Maverick player to find him.

Beyond Gaddock Teeg, Choke, Armageddon, and to a lesser extent Sylvan Library are other ways for the Maverick player to steal games away from you, which is why I recommend leaving in Force of Will.

I would describe Maverick as "a very good matchup where a lot can go wrong." Be very careful and prepared for the worst, and you’ll get through it okay.

Esper Stoneblade

There are too many slight variations on Stoneforge Mystic decks for me to go through them all. This sideboarding guide is for an Esper build with Lingering Souls and discard spells, which is the toughest version for U/W Land Tax Control:

+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Vendilion Clique
+2 Oblivion Ring

-3 Terminus
-1 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Daze

Of the popular decks, this is the most challenging matchup since their deck can attack from so many different angles. All things equal, it very slightly favors the Esper player, but there’s plenty of room to outplay your opponent if you’re more experienced in the matchup than they are.

The goal is to create a winning board state by resolving either Counterbalance or Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

Relic of Progenitus is very powerful in turning off Snapcaster Mage and making Lingering Souls and Cabal Therapy inconvenient for them to use. Remember that it can also protect you from Surgical Extraction! They will have to target a card in your graveyard, and if you can use either of Relic’s abilities to remove it from the game in response, their spell will fizzle.

U/W Miracle Control

+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Vendilion Clique
+2 Oblivion Ring

-3 Terminus
-2 Swords to Plowshares

Like the Stoneforge matchup, your goal is to resolve Counterbalance or Jace. Unlike Stoneforge, however, there’s no rush to do so. Be patient, make your land drops (Land Tax will give you an advantage), and sculpt a hand. If possible, wait for them to make the first move. You can get an edge by squeezing maximum value out of each one of your cards. Hard casting Force of Will is an important play, so look for opportunities to do it and don’t let your opponent do it against you.

Merfolk

+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Pithing Needle
+2 Oblivion Ring
+1 Humility
+1 Baneslayer Angel

-3 Counterbalance
-2 Counterspell
-2 Relic of Progenitus
-1 Daze

Don’t get mana screwed, and don’t get killed! These are two important MTG tips, and they’re also the keys to the Merfolk matchup.

The Merfolk player will usually be able to stop a spell from resolving, but they’ll have to expend a lot of resources to do it. Therefore, you never want the game to come down to a situation where you have to resolve a certain spell or die. If you can Terminus away two creatures early on, go ahead and do it. Keep your life total high, and don’t let things spiral out of control.

U/W Land Tax Control has all of the qualities I look for in a deck. Your strong late game means that every turn that passes, even if you aren’t doing a thing, brings you one step closer to victory. You rarely get mana screwed because you can operate on all basic lands, you have access to Land Tax, and you have a number of powerful card selection spells. You rarely get mana flooded because you can use every single land you draw, even in the course of a long game.

Counterbalance, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and Terminus are among the most powerful cards in Legacy, and having access to them puts you a step ahead of the competition.

Counterbalance, cheap permission, and graveyard hate makes you a nightmare for combo decks. Terminus, in addition to other flexible answers and unmatched card selection, makes you great against creature decks.

Whether you’re a MOCS player looking to get into Legacy for the first time or an old hand looking for something new, I highly recommend U/W Land Tax Control.