Last time I talked about certain card choices for my control deck was on part 2. After scouting a couple of States lists I saw some players in Top 8 with many of the choices I discussed in that article. The core of the deck was accepted by many players and I felt it was a good work.
Just before Krakow, a guy in the forums posted his list and said that he liked how Ironfoot was doing for him. I replied that I wanted to test Ironfoot idea since it was appropriate. Krakow was done after that and a couple of decks were playing the 3/4 snow artifact creature. I decided to integrate him to my build at that time.
4 Calciform Pools
3 Nimbus Maze
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Urza's Factory
8 Snow-Covered Island
4 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Aeon Chronicler
2 Jace Beleren
1 Purity
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
3 Condemn
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Wrath of God
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Sacred Mesa
3 Faerie Trickery
SB:
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
3 Brine Elemental
4 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
The addition of Ironfoot really helped against aggro matches and against man lands. Sometimes he was useful against control too since he was an early beater. I predicted Pickles was going to be really popular, and there were just too few choices to win against it. I decided to add Pickles of my own in my SB.
I went to FNM and went 4-0 in the Swiss and won the whole thing without dropping a single game. The Pickles plan worked wonders against other control decks since it was the element of surprise. I didn't make any changes since I thought the deck was in optimal shape. I went to next FNM and onto the Finals to face a MUC. Game one I lost because I was a bit behind card advantage and was screwed for the first 6 turns. Second game I won because I successfully sneaked a Teferi into play. Game three was another mana screw and very slow draws.
I lost because of mana screw and in a certain point in game three I could've sneak a Teferi into play because he tapped for double Think Twice. I decided not to because of Sower of Temptation, I ignored the fact that I could've remove from the game that Sower of Temptaion with an Oblivion Ring and still have plenty of mana open for another Ring if he decided to counter the first one.
That loss made me feel really bad. I decided to draft the whole weekend. On Sunday I was thinking if MUC could become a good matchup. I tested more and more and found out that it was near impossible to win it. The metagame was changing and we needed to adjust, but how?
Kryptonite for a Control Metagame
The decks I was having trouble with were being heavily played, Pickles and MUC. I think Pickles is more winnable than MUC, because you can still Wrath their creatures. MUC was another story, it was really hard. No offense Wafo Tapa, I think you are a phenomenal player but I hate to adjust to you designs, they are just masterpieces. So I needed to find spot where I could beat the controls deck of the moment and not lose to any other favorable matches. Where can I find the Kryptonite?
Both decks play a similar style of draw and go. So by obvious logic they would have similar weaknesses. From experiences of the past I know that cheap threats and uncounterable cards could beat this strategies. Now I think I have a small idea where the Kryptonite is, i just needed to rebuild.
Rebuilding the Broken
My build was optimal for a aggro metagame but not against the rise of this control metagame. Practically I was fighting with a broken gun. I needed to design a new weapon that would work. First I needed to focus some spells on aggro.
4 Rune Snag
2 Remove Soul
4 Wrath of God
4 Oblivion Ring
This provides us six cheap answers to aggro, four spot removal, and the typical four board sweepers. I think I would've added two more Remove Soul but I didn't wanted to over commit. Now I needed ways to deny spells or to make control matchups easy.
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
4 Cryptic Command
3 Faerie Trickery
2 Aeon Chronicler
Now I had my own Teferi to battle this wars. Also the uncounterable draw in Aeon Chronicler which is a bit better than Jace Beleren. Jace is good when it resolves while Aeon draws cards without even resolving. You have to invest some mana on him but that is why I play storage lands too. Trickery and Command are the usual suspects. So far we have 17 answers against Control (counting Remove Soul and Rune Snag) and 18 answers against aggro (counting Commands tapping ability).
This deck had draw spells in eight slots. Jace Beleren was great but somehow never managed to resolve and it was more of a SB card. Don't get me wrong if he sticks you are definitely going to win. The draw was modified a bit.
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Think Twice
I think the draw slots are pretty much staple already. We have eight drawers which is great. We have three remaining slots for win conditions.
1 Guile
1 Purity
1 Draining Whelk
I think those are the best three win conditions that we can find. Sacred Mesa was good but if you didn't have control of the game it was a dead card that will just get countered and hit the grave. Also having to design a stable mana base with enough white to make it work and blue to counter, without the Ravnica duals it was painful. Guile is a nice fatty that fits our heavy U deck. I know we can't abuse him ability but we never plan to play him on turn six without mana available to respond. Draining Whelk is a bit underrated. He is slow and clunky but the metagame since it is full of control and expensive stuff I think he deserves a chance. He is weak against aggro but he is SBed against them. If he doesn't work very well he will be changed to Guile or another Purity.
I'm still missing answers against a resolved Mage of Zhalfir. The best way to deal with him without devoting spell slots is to do it with lands.
3 Mouth of Ronom
4 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Calciform Pools
8 Snow-Covered Island
1 Urza's Factory
3 Nimbus Maze
4 Adarkar Wastes
The advantage on game one lies on Mouth of Ronom to kill opposing Teferis. Calciform Pools to the max so you can have advantage of mana and make Rune Snags rather weak. Also suspending Aeon Chroniclers for 5 or six is great against control matchups.
UW Reborn
3 Mouth of Ronom
3 Nimbus Maze
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Calciform Pools
1 Urza's Factory
7 Snow-Covered Island
4 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Aeon Chronicler
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Guile
1 Purity
1 Draining Whelk
4 Wrath of God
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Rune Snag
2 Remove Soul
3 Faerie Trickery
4 Cryptic Command
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Think Twice
The last thing we needed to rebuild was the SB. We need to make sure we had bullets aggro and against control. We could not afford to take our eyes of aggro ever. They are always a menace.
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Brine Elemental
3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Take Possession
4 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Ajani Goldmane
2 Sower of Temptation
Against control decks you have the extra Teferi and a small transformational package. Usually players have trouble SBing against transformational strategies because you never know what strategy he will bring. It is a surprise kill. Usually with the Pickles package you try to sneak a Teferi at EOT to make them tap out. On your turn play a Brine Elemental and flip it. Take Possession is needed because Pithing Needle is coming in and will most likely name Ronom. That shuts down our way to deal with Teferi but against a Take Possession there is little what they can do. The only way is for them to bounce Teferi in their turn but hopefully we will have enough mana via Pools to ensure that never happens. The last SB slots were devoted to aggro since they are always a menace. Ajani Goldmane and Aven Riftwatcher are great life gain, so that you can buy enough time to play an essential Wrath of God. Sower of Temptation in the other hand is great versus decks without spot removal.
It was really a bit of hard work to rebuild a deck to adjust to a new metagame, but that is what Upgrade Your Control is about. There is no deck that can't be tweaked to beat certain metagames. There are always some tools and some designs that can beat the most difficult metagames. It is only a matter of practice and testing.
Until next time.
