Tuesday Night Magic - 05.07.11

As Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic left the format peacefully at the end of last week, I was driven to try my hand at control in the new format. The lack of Oblivion Ring held me back from playing UW Control, despite the draw of Venser, and instead I helped a friend build up the UW list as an experiment. Though the desire to experiment with interesting decks was strong, I naturally crumbled and fell back into the clutches of UB Control. The lack of Mind Sculptors hurts the deck considerably, but without swords seeing heavy play the ability to draw out the game with spot removal before dropping overpowering bombs was too tempting to resist. The list I went with can be seen below, though do note that my lack of Surgical Extractions is the only reason for their absence! Space should definitely be made for them in the sideboard.

UB Control Main Deck

UB Control Side Deck

Round 1 - UW Venser - 1-0-1

A thoroughly interesting match, with bombs causing swings back and forth throughout each game. Blade Splicer proved to be particularly powerful, but lucky timing on my part let me keep the board under control with Black Sun Zenith whilst my discard kept his utility at a minimum. As game 1 took a relatively long time to tie up, game 2 set me the aim of drawing for the win. Any hope of a fast win vanished as he began to establish board control, but spot removal and well timed discard kept him from finding a win condition, despite having a Venser ready to fire off his ultimate. 

Round 2 - Myr Twin - 2-0-0

This deck certainly caught me off guard by combining arguably the most powerful and most forgotten combos in standard into a single disruptive deck. In game 1 I manage to gain control fairly effectively and push for a win. Game 2 draws out for far longer as I struggle to find win conditions. I push through a couple of Memoricides to remove his Splinter Twins and Red Sun Zeniths (!), but seeing he still has Lightning Bolts and was still beating face with Myr, the fear set in. A lucky top deck of a Consecrated Sphinx allowed me to tap out knowing he has to top deck one of his three remaining Lightning Bolts to win before I can start to overcome him with draw. Thankfully he doesn’t draw the Bolt for several turns whilst I carefully pick off targets on board and push with a Wurmcoil Engine pulling me back into safety. If this match taught me anything it is to be very careful not to miss timing with Consecrated Sphinx. Though I won in the end, I still missed 2-3 triggers with the Sphinx throughout both games by letting my attention be trapped by the cards in my hand whilst the opponent starts off their turn.

Round 3 - MBC - 2-0-0

This round gave me the excellent opportunity to see the new, and highly promising, Mono Black Control deck in action. Though a few elements were different to those gaining popularity online, the shell of the deck was very much the same. His discard and removal were arguably stronger than mine, and if he could land a Lashwrithe the game would be over very quickly, much like how Korlash once ended games alone. Both games were good up to a point, but unfortunately he stumbled in both games in drawing land or irrelevant answers whilst I managed to push through with Creeping Tar Pits.

Round 4 - UB Control - 1-2-0

Unsurprisingly it was a mirror match that ended my winning streak. Each game was a battle of attrition, with Planeswalkers and discard proving vital in seeking the opportunity to land and protect a threat. Tectonic Edge played a violently disruptive role in each and every game, and this match alone just reminded me of how attempting a deck running more than two colours is simply impossible right now. As the last game drew to time, I was fighting off a bouncing Batterskull with my Karn Liberated, resisting fatal damage for several turns, before mistakenly thinking I had a turn to pump him up again whilst blocking with a Creeping Tar Pit. In my haste I missed his remaining Tectonic Edge, and handed over the game on turn 3 of time. I was now painfully aware of how many misplays I was making, my lack of experience proving very disheartening when it comes to control mirrors in which I should be playing better.

Round 5 - UW Venser Fish - 1-2-0

The final round for the night proved very unexpected. Despite having spoken to the player about the deck earlier in the evening, the sheer ferocity and utility of an equipment engine post-Stoneforge certainly caught me off guard. Puresteel Paladin is an absolute monster, especially whilst people are still ignoring the fact that Swords of X and Y are all extremely powerful on their own, and that Squadron Hawk is still pure advantage. Painfully we both pass each other games based on mana screw, before playing a real game in game 3. I attempt to control the board with a Precursor Golem before he fights back with a Phyrexian Metamorph. Dismayed by the incredible clone, I drop a Wurmcoil Engine and ready to defend when his equipment becomes active. A second Metamorph becomes a Wurmcoil Engine, and via Puresteel Paladin his Mortarpod and Basilisk Collar combo allows him to slaughter my defenders.

Conclusion - 3-2

After a strong start, I disappointingly end with a very average standing. Having expected a very RDW and Valakut focused meta, my lack of good options to board against control hurt, but nowhere near as much as my own misplays did. Once M12 arrives, practice will be key if I intend to fight the good fight at Nationals again this year, and that includes practicing the dreaded M12/M12/M12 draft.

UB Control is still a powerful deck, but this event reminded me of the importance of patience and focus in playing the deck. It is an incredibly demanding beast to handle, and certainly punishes misplays horrifically. Despite playing the proactive disruption package of discard spells, UB Control still plays far too carefully and reactively to impact a mixed field. With the popularity of UB Control and the imminent rise in RDW, it seems very likely that Mental Misstep will make its first major debut into Standard, taking up a role very much like the splashes of Spell Snare back in Kamigawa/Ravnica Standard to control tempo by stopping Scab-Clan Maulers, Umezawa’s Jitte, Castigate and, most importantly, Signets.

On a side note, the UW list I helped a friend build before the event ended up winning, beating my round 4 opponent in the finals. Having admittedly made many misplays throughout the day, it seems that UW Control is the more forgiving deck to work with, and is likely to become even more so with the return of Oblivion Ring. It is highly likely that I will end up focusing on UW Control simply due to its more proactive, tap-out nature. Hopefully M12 stirs the game up as required, because banning a couple of cards certainly hasn’t made the format as interesting as promised.