I saw this decklist over at another Magic strategy site. It looks pretty good especially the Platinum Angel. Many decks will have a hard time destroying it. You have counters to protect it and Academy Ruins to replay it. And Plumeveil surprises most people. It's cheap and can block most of the creatures in the format.
Mono Blue Plumeveil Control
3 Platinum Angel
4 Plumeveil
2 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Mind Stone
4 Cryptic Command
3 Pact Of Negation
3 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Ponder
16 Island
4 Desert
4 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard:
4 Moonglove Extract
2 Icy Manipulator
3 Bottle Gnomes
4 Commandeer
2 Vendilion Clique
I changed the sideboard.
-3 Serrated Arrows
-3 Trip Noose
+4 Moonglove Extract
+2 Icy Manipulator
Moonglove Extract deals with Vexing Shusher, which is really good against this deck. Icy Manipulator seems better than Trip Noose.
I played a couple matches on Magic-League.com to test out the deck. Here are the results.
Vs G/B Control
League Match
My rating: 1716
My opponent: rofellos_23
His rating: 1630
Game 1
He started off with Troll Ascetic. I played Plumeveil to block. However, he had mana to regenerate and kill Plumeveil with Nameless Inversion. I took a couple beats from Troll while countering his Tarmogoyf. I tapped out end of his turn for Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir. However, that may have been a mistake because he responded with Cloudthresher.
He tried to Shriekmaw my Teferi but I had countered it with Cryptic Command and bounced his Cloudthresher. Instead of replaying Cloudthresher, he played Liliana Vess. I countered it. I had no more counters, so I played Ancestral Vision and Platinum Angel. He emptied his hand by playing a land and Cloudthresher.
He attacked once with Cloudthresher. This allowed me to attack with Platinum Angel. Then, he realized he was low on life (because of damage from lands and Cloudthresher) so he kept Cloudthresher back to block. However, he also had Treetop Villages and other creatures to swarm me and bring me down to 0 life.
I bounced Cloudthresher with Venser and attacked him down to 7 life. He topdecked another Cloudthresher and tried to evoke both of them for the win. I only had one Rune Snag, which was not enough. I cracked Mind Stone and topdecked another Rune Snag. Both Snags were enough to counter his second Cloudthresher. One good topdeck deserves another :) The next turn, I had enough creatures to kill him.
Game 2
I didn't side in anything. In hindsight, I probably should've brought in the Icys for a Plumeveil and a Venser. Also, Flashfreeze might be better than Icy. Most of the problem creatures for this deck are green (like Cloudthresher and Oversoul of Dusk).
I started off well with a Plumeveil to kill Treetop. However, he had a turn 2 Tarmogoyf, which I couldn't counter. His Tarmogoyf got bigger as the game went along. Also, he had a couple Thoughtseize for my counters.
The rest of game was a long war of attrition. I Pondered into two Platinum Angels but I couldn't kill him because he got a Loxodon Warhammer to go with a 5/6 Tarmogoyf and a Cloudthresher. I used Tolaria West to fetch Urza's Factory. It took a couple of turns but I finally made enough Assembly-Worker tokens to kill his Tarmogoyf.
With Ancestral Visions, I got Cryptic Command and Pact of Negation to bounce and then counter his Cloudthresher. From then, I killed him with Assembly-Worker tokens and Platinum Angels.
I actually went down to -24 life in this game. He went up as high as 37 life.
New rating: 1719 (+3)
Vs G/B Elves
League Match
My rating: 1719
My opponent: mark_c
His rating: 1625
Game 1
I won the toss and had a great start. Turn 1 Ancestral Visions and turn 2 Rune Snag his Wren's Run Vanquisher. However, I was stuck on 3 lands including a Desert so I couldn't play Plumeveil to block Treetop Village and his second Wren's Run Vanquisher. I went down to 14 and finally got my 4th land, an Island, through the Ancestral Visions.
He attacked again and I was able to get two cards with Plumeveil: Treetop Village and Nameless Inversion. I played Cryptic Command two consecutive turns to fog his team. This allowed me to make the land drops to play Platinum Angel. He tried to Profane Command it twice over two turns but I had Pact of Negation and a 3rd Cryptic Command. He played Cloudthresher but I had Rune Snag. Because he had no flying blockers other than Birds of Paradise, I killed him with a couple attacks from Platinum Angel. I won this game with -10 life.
Game 2
I brought in 1 Moonglove Extract for 1 Teferi. He had to mulligan to 4. I won pretty easily with Ancestral Vision, Cryptic Command, and multiple Platinum Angels with Pact of Negation backup.
New rating: 1722 (+3)
Vs Merfolk
8-Man Tournament
My rating: 1722
My opponent: Ethren
His rating: 1716
Game 1
On the draw, I mulliganed to 6 and kept this risky hand.
Island
Ancestral Vision
Rune Snag
Remove Soul
Plumeveil
Venser, Shaper Savant
I kept the one lander because I had a first turn Ancestral and two turn 2 plays. What do you think? Bad play?
Anyways, it didn't matter because he had a blazing start. A bunch of creatures early including Stonybrook Banneret (on turn 2) and two Merrow Reejereys (I could only counter one). Plus, two Cryptic Commands for my creatures. I was dead quickly.
Game 2
I took out Teferi and Venser for a set of Moonglove Extract.
I had Remove Soul for his turn 2 Silvergill Adept. After that, Plumeveil came down to slow down his team. I drew all my Moonglove Extract. I killed two Reejereys with them. The other two were for more Reejereys or Lord of Atlantis. I didn't need to use the Extracts on his other creatures because I had Plumeveil and multiple Deserts.
He forgot about Desert when he tried to attack with his islandwalking Banneret. Also, he was slowed down with color screw because his first 5 lands were 2 Islands and 3 Mutavaults.
I tried to play another Plumeveil end of turn. He countered it with Cryptic Command, tapping all his blue mana sources. This gave me the opportunity to play Platinum Angel on my turn. He had Unsummon to bounce it back. I simply fetched Urza's Factory with Tolaria West and started making Assembly Workers. In hindsight, I should've gotten Academy Ruins instead. I didn't matter. Two turns later, I drews the Ruins.
Platinum Angel came back down and began to attack. He tried Mirrorweave tricks to block the Angel but I had Cryptic Command. With no other way to stop the 4/4 flyer, he scooped.
Game 3
I had a turn one Visions but he came out fast with 2 Cursecatchers and Silvergill Adept.
His fifth turn was crucial. I had 5 mana because of Mind Stone. He played Lord of Atlantis. I countered with Cryptic Command. He popped both of his Cursecatchers. I played Pact of Negation :)
I forgot to pay for the Pact! Ooops. Surprisingly he let me pay for it even though I had already drawn a card.
Later, I played Platinum Angel. He had Sower of Tempation. I killed it with Moonglove Extract.
He reinforced with Lord of Atlantis and another Silvergill Adept. He attacked with both Silvergills. I bounced his Lord and drew a card with Cryptic Command. Then, I killed a Silvergill with Desert. I was at 3 life at this point.
He tapped out to play Lord and Reejerey. I tapped out to play Mind Stone and another Angel. He attacked with his islandwalkers and I went down to -7 life. I swung with both Angels and brought him down to 4 life.
On my next attack, he tried to Mirrorweave but I had Pact of Negation for the win.
New rating: 1730 (+8)
Vs Project 420.5n
8-Man Tournament
My rating: 1730
My opponent: Burton911
His rating: 1650
Game 1
My round two opponent dropped so this was the finals. By the way, if you don't know what Project 420.5n is, check out this video deck tech and this deck list.
I made a big mistake. He played Glittering Wish around the fifth turn. I had five mana and Pact of Negation but I chose not to counter. He fetched Vexing Shusher. I gamely tried to keep playing but he got his Brion Stoutarm, Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap, and Juniper Order Ranger combo going. Meanwhile, I had three useless counterspells in my hand :(
Game 2
I took out 2 Remove Souls, 2 Teferis, and 2 Vensers and brought in 4 Moonglove Extract and 2 Vendilion Clique.
He didn't see Plantinum Angel first game so I felt good about this game. He probably didn't sideboard optimally. Turn 2 Wish and turn 3 Shusher was not good for me, but I topdecked an Extract to deal with it.
I countered a couple threats but he got a Glittering Wish to resolve. He fetched Gaddock Teeg. He played Finks, which I let resolve. I countered Gaddock Teeg with Cryptic Command. I played Platinum Angel and got an "lol" from him.
He played Siege-Gang Commander but I had Pact of Negation. He tried to remove Angel with Oblivion Ring but I had a counterspell. I played Vendilion Clique during his draw phase. He showed two lands and a Redcap. I chose the Redcap. He drew Mouth of Ronom and killed Angel. Oh well, he was at 14 life and I had a 3/1 flyer.
Vendilion Clique brought down his life total and I drew Academy Ruins to seal the game.
Game 3
I took out my last Remove Soul for Venser because of his Greater Gargadon.
He went turn 2 Wish for Shusher. I topdeck Ponder, play it, and see a Moonglove Extract. I'm on a lucky topdecking streak :)
I countered his threats to stabilize. He got some creatures on the board but they died due to my recurring Moonglove Extracts (through Academy Ruins) and Desert. With one card in hand and a surprise Plumeveil for his only non-defender creature, Kitchen Finks, he scooped.
Changes in the Deck
Moonglove Extract should definitely be in the main. I cut a Ponder, a Venser, and a Remove Soul to add three Extracts.
Vendilion Clique was pretty good in my last match. I think a third one should go in the board. It's good against slow control decks and combo decks.
A fourth Bottle Gnomes should also help against burn decks since this deck is pretty slow.
Commandeer seems good against Faeries to steal their Bitterblossom. However, I just realized that I only have 18 blue spells. That doesn't seem enough. Hmm, what's good against Faeries that's an artifact or blue? Fledgling Mawcor. That should work.
Finally, let's round out the sideboard with a couple Flashfreezes. Pro Tour Hollywood showed us some RG decks that finished well and a couple mono red burn decks made day two.
Here's the new decklist.
3 Platinum Angel
4 Plumeveil
2 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Mind Stone
4 Cryptic Command
3 Pact Of Negation
2 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Ponder
3 Moonglove Extract
16 Island
4 Desert
4 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard:
1 Moonglove Extract
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Bottle Gnomes
4 Fledgling Mawcor
3 Flashfreeze
Is This Deck Viable For Regionals?
I'll have to do more testing, but I think this deck could do well in Regionals. Some decks just cannot beat Platinum Angel backed with counterspells. And Plumeveil stops most aggro decks cold.
As I said in my last post, the Standard metagame is diverse right now. So, the best thing to do is pick a quality deck that fits your playing style and learn to play it well. I'm just not sure if Plumeveil Control is a quality deck. More testing will determine the quality of this deck.
Tags: Standard T2 Rogue Deck Plumeveil Control Platinum Angel
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
