budget W/U control thought exercise
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 12, 2018, 2:35 a.m. by Demarge
Currently I have interest in changing my current w/u tron list into a more traditional w/u control list for an FNM meta pretty much full of green base tron and lili/goyf rock fans (there's some others but likely I'd face those styles of decks the most).
Now I do have an issue of being unable to purchase some of the key cards, atm I have only one mind sculptor, teferi, command, and azcanta. But assuming I have literally every other card usually found in w/u control (especially from the innistrad/rtr blocks timeline) can I functionally build the deck?
APPLE01DOJ says... #3
As someone who plays both Rock & U/W Control in paper I'd say that match is about 50/50 and really comes down to who is on the play game 1. They typically have better SB options against you then you do against them though.
Tron should be fairly easy for you but I strongly suggest Vendilion Clique or Nimble Obstructionist in your 75 for it. You need to be able to deal damage before they start hard casting Ulamog.
If you're short on Cryptics then Spell Queller and Cyclonic Rift could be decent filler. Contradict and Ojutai's Command are other options. In my experience Contradict is too slow but the command works well with snappy.
December 12, 2018 11:15 a.m. Edited.
I dont normally play control decks in MTG so I never really bothered to look up card prices. Yeesh, looks like the real control is WotC controlling your wallet.
December 12, 2018 11:43 a.m.
xaerusblade says... #5
Celestial Colonnade is going cheap now though.. a good win con.. :)
Snapcaster Mage is also going cheap as it is being reprinted as well.. :)
i think u/w is cheaper than ever for now :)
December 12, 2018 11:52 a.m.
UW is a deck that operates on inches. Any power you take out will 100% hurt you. If I'd be forced to take things out, I'd make sure my answers and lands were as good as possible. You can budget your way to a win con.
Tron is also not some easy matchup.
December 12, 2018 1:58 p.m.
I was curious as to why control decks seemed to want to run clique
After I opened this thread I spent awhile looking over several control, tron, and rock lists, I'm guessing control is running 5+ wipes to really fight the creature decks, running crucible is interesting method to fight tron and jund, I could also consider mainboarding a couple extractions along with a 3-4 count of snapcaster if I'm using cheaper w/u commands, higher snap count with cheaper command also helps make jund's discard a little less effective.
Now just ran into a random thought while digging for my one crucible Clockspinning seems almost playable for it's versatility, also might allow Delay to be usable. hmm lots of ideas I might try out if I get to learn the deck.
December 13, 2018 3:01 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #8
I believe the gravitation to Terminus and more wraths is due to spirits in general. That deck a lone has so much resilience to normal wraths. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben slows the wrath. Mausoleum Wanderer slows it even more and both cards make counters more costly. Spell Queller, intercepts your uncounterable Supreme Verdict and Selfless Spirit nullifies it. Most other "creature" decks in the meta right now like Dredge and Hollow One (Now Phoenix) can put so many creatures onto the battlefield so early that 1 for 1 removal and removal that sends stuff to the grave just can't do the trick.
As far as Clique, it's a versatile card at instant speed. 3 life per turn beats, can filter your hand, deal with an impending doom threat in the opponents, decent range removal as a blocker.
December 13, 2018 11:48 a.m.
Apple's 100% correct. I run 2 clique because it's great against a wide range of decks, acts as one of my only real aggro options, and can sometimes 2-for-1 opponents. Swapping to terminus has been a great help, especially since I have multiple spirits decks in my meta. Humans naming Terminus is annoying, but that matchup is easy enough for me to not worry about it. You typically win game 1 anyway, so it's ok to stumble there.
Recently, I've been a little annoyed at having 2 copies of Azcanta. I'd maybe want a 3rd Jace or an Ancestral. Other times it's great.
ArchonBlue says... #2
As someone who has played U/W for a long time I don't think theres any good substitute for Cryptic Command, but the rest you can replace. Azcanta is probably fine as a one of since Modern is too fast for it to usually flip anyways and Teferi and you can run other wincons in U/W like Elspeth, Gideons, Aetherling, Jace AoT, etc.
December 12, 2018 8:32 a.m.