UW Ojutai Control

Pioneer* WU (Azorius)

btreuther

Land (25)

• 2x Castle Ardenvale
• 2x Castle Vantress
• 2x Field of Ruin
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 4x Glacial Fortress
• 4x Hallowed Fountain
• 2x Irrigated Farmland
• 5x Island
• 3x Plains

Instant (11)

• 1x Blessed Alliance
• 2x Dig Through Time
• 4x Opt
• 4x Void Shatter

Enchantment (9)

• 4x Cast Out
• 3x Omen of the Sea
• 2x Seal Away

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Supreme Verdict

Planeswalker (8)

• 2x Gideon of the Trials
• 2x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 2x Teferi, Time Raveler

Creature (3)

• 2x Brazen Borrower
• 1x Dragonlord Ojutai

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Sideboard

Instant (10)

• 2x Aether Gust
• 2x Dovin's Veto
• 4x Mystical Dispute
• 2x Settle the Wreckage

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Rest in Peace

Creature (1)

• 1x Dream Trawler

Artifact (2)

• 2x Damping Sphere

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FEATURING:

Dragonlord Ojutai

AND

Teferi, Time Raveler

Why Dragonlord Ojutai?

Dragonlord Ojutai, arguably one of the best beaters in UW control, is one of our finishers. Importantly, he protects himself with hexproof after he resolved. If he connects, his Anticipate ability provides card advantage and selection, which allows for us to find a way to seal the game.

Teferi, Time Raveler is a new addition that forces the opponent to play at sorcery speed. With him on the board, Dragonlord Ojutai is protected during out turn, thus guaranteeing getting in for damage and Anticipateing. We can then select a card that can further protect him during our opponent's turn.

He is expensive, and is vulnerable to removal when he's tapped. As a result, many may not consider him to be Pioneer playable. He can be effective on his own, but with the right supporting cast he can really shine. One of the features of this deck is to make him as good as possible. This focus is one reason why Blessed Alliance, four Teferi, Time Ravelers, and the counter suite are played. While these cards make him better, they also support our overall game plan through their ability to shut down opposing strategies.

Why Teferi, Time Raveler

Teferi, Time Raveler is the backbone of this deck. A three mana planeswalker who's static text restricts the ability of the opponent to actually play magic. He also allows us to bounce a problematic creature, artifact, or enchantment while also drawing a card. Therefore at the very least, he can function as a three mana tempo bounce play, draw a card.

His power lies with his static text that prevents many decks from actually functioning. For example, a resolved Teferi, Time Raveler is really hard for opposing control players to deal with as it shuts down the counterspell portion of their deck. Three copies provides us a good chance of coming across him by turn three, as well as having redundancy in case the opponent finds a way to remove him.

THE LIST:

Counter package

• Absorb - Three mana hard counterspell that gains us three life. Absorb gets the nod over of three mana counterspells such as Cancel, Disallow, Dissipate, Dissolve because of the life gain. The life gain is not inconsequential, especially with so many aggressive decks.

• Syncopate - This is a counterspell that helps catch us up. It might also have text late game in counter wars or perhaps against opponent's large threat. The exile effect is not irrelevant, especally vs recursive threats or cards.

• Dovin's Veto - Hard, uncounterable counterspell for noncreature spells. In the board. For the control and Bant Nexus match-ups.

• Mystical Dispute - Three mana mana leak looks pretty bad, but against blue cards the cost is reduced to , which is great in counter wars or against threats or walkers.

Removal package

Since we are a control deck in Pioneer, we need to load up on removal in order to survive to the mid-to-late game; however, the removal in this format is lacking compared to modern.

• Supreme Verdict - Uncounterable wrath effect. Great against creature decks. The reason to be in . Would play 5 if I could.

• Blessed Alliance – Modal card that acts as removal, life gain, and uptap Ojutai to give hime hexproof again. This card plays right into out gameplan as all modes are relevant.

• Cast Out - Testing this over Detention Sphere due to all the Abrupt Decays running around in x lists. Removes any non-land permanent from the board. Great catch-all answer, useful against really anything. Also cycles for when we need a land or is not needed.

This list also contains a number of cards that provide pseudo-removal that play into a more temp based plan. These include Brazen Borrower, Azorius Charm preboard, and Cyclonic Rift and Aether Gust post board.

Card Draw, Advantage, and Selection

This list has a half-dozen ways to draw cards.

• Opt – Premier card selection draw spell in modern. Need a land, removal spell, or threat? This card allows us to get into a better situation to win. Great early game as well as late game for that reason. Instant speed, also helps us fill the graveyard for Search for Azcanta  

• Dragonlord Ojutai - He rounds out our card advantage plan and is one of our win conditions. When he hits, he allows us to Anticipate, which provides both card advantage and selection.

• Dig Through Time - This card is very powerful. Getting to pick your best two cards digging 7 deep at instant speed is often enough to swing the game.

• Azorius Charm - one of its modes draws a card, when its pseudo-removal option is dead.

• Irrigated Farmland - While this is a land, and most of the time we will play it as a tapped land, when drawn late game (and we need some action), the card can be cycled for to draw.

• Teferi, Time Raveler - His -3 which bounces a creature, artifact or enchantment back to players hand also draws a card.

Win Conditions

• Dragonlord Ojutai – With 5/4 body, evasion, and his Anticipate ability, he can end the game quickly. He is our main finisher, and the task is to get him down and swinging.

• Brazen Borrower - A 3/1 body can get there, and with three of these little guys we can chip away at life total. Having flash also allows us to cast him at opponent's end step, allowing us to leave up counterspells or removal.

• Gideon of the Trials - He is what I think embodies a control deck. His +1 shuts down a creature or another damage source, which forces opponent to over extend into one a Supreme Verdict. His 0 creates an industructable 4/4 beater which can help us end games when we need to pivot. His emblem, which can be activated the turn he comes down, prevents us from losing the game while he's in play.

• Castle Ardenvale - A utility land that produces 1/1 human tokens. When games go long, and win cons thin out, a land that produces tokens can get us there.

Mana Base

The strengths of playing a two-colored deck is the benefit of a strong and resistant mana base, taking very little damage off the mana base, and the flexibility of playing various utility lands.

• Temple of Enlightenment - This in color nonbasic land allows a scry when played, which helps us draw towards action or make land-drops.

• Glacial Fortress - Standard checkland that provides us access to both and . Between the basic lands and dual lands, this one will likely always come into play untapped.

• Hallowed Fountain – In color shocklands, this is an auto 4x inclusion

• Field of Ruin – Destroys target nonbasic land and replaces it with a basic of the opponent’s choosing, while also not putting us behind a land. I wanted at least 2 in the list to help battle other creature lands, Field of the Dead, as well as other pesky lands that offer the opponent value.

• **Castle Vantress - A utility land producing that also allows us to scry 2. Great late game as a mana sink to help us filter our draws.

• **Castle Ardenvale - A Utility land producing that also creates 1/1 human tokens. Great late game as a mana sink to start pressuring the opponent or provide blockers.

• **Irrigated Farmland - Land that produces and and cycles to drawa card for .

Please +1 if you like the list. Feedback is always welcome!

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Pioneer legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 2 Mythic Rares 23 - 3 Rares 15 - 10 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.29
Tokens	Emblem Gideon of the Trials, Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Human 1/1 W