Let's Talk Control
Standard forum
Posted on Oct. 6, 2015, 9:12 p.m. by Dalektable
Alright, let's talk control for a second everyone. We got our first glance at the format at the Standard Open in Indianapolis the past weekend. There were a few interesting variations, some of which I didn't expect. I'll start with the more traditional builds and move to some odd ones.
This is a familiar deck, and not much has changed. some stock cards such as Hero's Downfall and Thoughtseize are gone and replaced with similar iterations such as Complete Disregard and Despise. Noticeably, this black control deck has opted out of using the Hero's Downfall "replacement", Ruinous Path. Seemingly, the sorcery speed was too much to overcome and is therefore not being used. Maybe as the format progresses it may be used more.
A single copy of UW Control landed in the top 64, unlike the numerous Esper lists as we've seen. There were a splattering of UW Control lists floating around last season, but they never gained much traction. The archetype hasn't seen popularity since the days of RTR/THS standard where we all rememember the powerful one two punch of Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict. Now, however, the deck looks quite a bit different. Dig Through Time acts as the decks main draw engine, with a win condition in Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and not much else besides awakened lands. It is a very slow version of control, much slower than Esper which smacks you in the face with dragons. Rather than instant/sorcery speed removal, UW opts instead for enchantment based removal as its primary creature removal and a plethora of counter spells.
With fetch lands and battle lands running wild, standard is seeing a manabases capable of crazy things. This is evident by the five color monstrosity you see here! So what exactly is going on? We've got Bring to Light serving as a tutor for almost every single card in the deck save silumgar. The amount of flexibility this allows for is insane. Removal runs rampant, and a variety of it which can all be grabbed with Bring to Light in a pinch to match the situation. On top of this, being five colors allows the deck to run the all-powerful Siege Rhino, which is nothing to scoff at. Many variations of this deck ran around the field, some opting for a more aggro/midrange approach but this more controlling version landed closer to the top. This is a very interesting player I am excited to see where it goes in the future.
Yeah...you didn't think this was going away, did you? The deck as it stands is ultimately a weaker version of the previous iteration. It has the same game plan in the end however, remove your creatures and beat you to death with Siege Rhino. Prepare to have the same one fast against you multiple times with Den Protector and cry yourself to sleep. I don't expect this boogie man to go away, although I expect the aggro variant to be stronger in this day and age.
These are the standout control lists to come out of the tournament for me. We get a familiar face in Esper Dragons and Abzan, and a couple of newcomers with Bring to Light and UW Control. But where is the archetype going? Some cards I expected to be nearly crucial to control ended up not being present, and other cards standing in awkward contrast with counterparts. For example, does Ugin, the Spirit Dragon remain the powerhouse that it was, and can it coexist with Stasis Snare and other permanent based removal? Will Dragonlord Ojutai remain a good win con still with the prevalence of Crackling Doom being packed by Abzan Red and Jeskai Black? How about Pearl Lake Ancient, where does it stand? The removal seems to be getting worse, which puts control in an awkward spot but still even in week one control still managed to make a decent showing against a fairly aggressive field. So, down below feel free to discuss your thoughts on control and it's different versions existing in standard and how they are going to fair. Are any decks absent you feel have potential, such as UB Control? I'm interested to hear your thoughts!
Well I was running a near creatureless esper deck at the last FNM and last night. I've had good results, winning FNM, last night split/draw/slow play put me out of the money. I'm now going to try more of a hybrid dragon build with some new cards and interesting combos which I think will also play (and win) faster. Here are my 2 lists I'm working with and trying to tweak to perfection:
Perfect Post Rotation Esper Dragons
Lands are creatures too
I'm pretty much devoted to esper at this point, I had tons of cards for other decks, but I sold most of them recently so this is all i got to work with now. Comments/suggestions welcome and appreciated and I will do the same for anyone's Esper list :)
October 7, 2015 12:11 p.m.
Pure control builds cannot keep up with what other decks are doing right now. You can play control but you've got to play proactive threats throughout the game. I like bring to light and abzan control for that reason and dislike esper dragons and u/w control.
October 7, 2015 1:56 p.m.
Really, I think Abzan is one of the easiest matchups... The only time I lose is to hyper aggro and when I get a horrible start. I am adding Fathom Feeders + Ojutai's Commands for early blocking, lifegain and instant return + block effects. Plus Jace to flashback those commands. Works pretty darn well.
Anyway here is a land destruction deck I am thinking of trying, very rough draft, but you can get the idea. I used to play land destruction back in the day with Sinkholes Stone Rains Armageddon Strip Mine and such. It was very annoying :)
No Lands 4 You
ducttapedeckbox says... #2
As you may know, I'm still hoping to get Demonic Pact working. Not sure if that will happen, but I'm trying.
As for some of the points you made above:
Ugin will remain a powerhouse. Stasis Snare can only hit creatures, so the main threat is Quarantine Field. He might have actually grown in strength now that the only instant speed planeswalker removal is the rarely-played Silumgar's Command. Right?
While there has just been one tournament, I think the fact that we saw two Esper Dragons in the top 8 is an indicator that Ojutai can survive with Crackling Doom. By the time your opponent is looking to cast Doom and you have Ojutai out, chances are that the control player will either have a counterspell or a Dig to find a counterspell.
As an archetype overall, control didn't get much from BFZ. It certainly got some good cards, but nothing absolutely amazing. Ob Nix is good. Kiora can be good in a Sultai Awaken list. Scatter is good. Shambling Vent is great. The mana is also really good now to support a 4- or even 5-color good-stuff control list.
If we see some good burn in the next set or two, I may be encouraged to revamp my Mindswipe list as well. Because Mindswipe.
As said in multiple threads, I think we have to wait for control to really show its form in this Standard. It's usually the last major archetype to solidify a list, especially a sideboard, so that it can be well-adapted to the meta. For now, I'm looking at building Dragons (with my own, somewhat janky twist (I hope nobody saw my typo)). It's still a strong deck at the FNM level and a hell of a lot of fun to play.
October 6, 2015 10:37 p.m. Edited.