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Welcome to my Cat Control deck! (Name is gonna change soon.)
This deck is a pet deck I've been working on for a while, it started out as a group of planeswalkers...then some White Sun's Zeniths and a Kemba, Kha Regent Cat deck, then I combined them all, ended up shedding the rest of the creatures, and got this!
Explaining the cards in this deck -
Let's start off with the win condition -
White Sun's Zenith - Probably my favorite card in the game, Cat Sun's Zenith is an excellent card for control decks. At Instant speed, this card is a massive surprise - stopping attacks cold or preparing a large army of 2/2's when your opponent least expects it. Recurrence just helps this card come back for more kitties.
Gideon Jura - The "Big Hitter" in this deck. Gideon's a creature, a saving throw with his +2, as well as spot-removal if needed with his -2. 2 of him just brings him out more often to spell pain for the enemy.
Elspeth Tirel - One of the 6 possible Board-Wipes in this deck, as well a life-engine and token producer. This is a token-control deck, is there any thing this card DOESN'T do? Her -2 gives you 3 soldiers. These soldiers can be Chump Blockers, they can be a tiny attack force, or, most importantly, they can simply be creatures you control. This is important because her +2 gives you 1 life for [i]each creature you control[/i]. That is amazing when combined with a 4 or 5 cat WSZ. Finally, her best ability, her -5. a Non-Token Non-Land Board Wipe. This combined with a couple cats ends the game, they can't recover from that sort of board disadvatage without a wipe of their own.
Karn Liberated - Card Advantage in a bottle. his +4 picks relatively important (hopefully) cards from the opponents hand (Here's a funny tip - It can hit your hand too...exiling your own Gideon or Elspeth may not make sense, but starting the game with it after his ultimate is always fun). His -3 ability has a simple use IMHO, and that's taking out any major threats your opponent may have on the field. Karn's -14, however, is a game-ender, or a game-saver. Game didnt work out the way you wanted it? Re-start it!
Negate - Only a single copy, good for the occasional Burning Vengeance, Runechanter's Pike, Sword, etc.
Pristine Talisman - I get a lot of Flak for this card, but personally I can't get enough of it. It's an Artifact (Not too good in this deck, I just like artifacts), It's mana ramp for Control, and more importantly - It's a life engine. This card has saved me so many times I can't even count them, giving me [i]just[/i] enough life to get out a Day of Judgment, Gideon, Karn, or topdeck that much-needed WSZ for the win.
Mana Leak - Nothing really to say here...if you don't understand this, click the red X in the top-right-hand corner of this browser and go play a new game (Nah, not really, just go play against a control deck and find out why it's so bloody good.)
Think Twice - Yep, a full playset of the Diviniation-On-Steroids. Gotta love instant-speed card-draw for your excess mana...the flashback is just icing on the cake.
Day of Judgment - The board wipe. This card holds the deck together, trashes RDW, saves you from Geist of Saint Traft, Hexblade, etc, and in general is just amazing. This card is why I'm not running any legit creatures, as it allows me to have just about one-sided board-wipes.
Oblivion Ring - Sometimes those Wurmcoil Engines just get through. This usually takes care of them. Care with Koth of the Hammer, and any other hard-core one-card win conditions.
[[Gitaxian Probe] - I used to run Divination for the cards...but with Dark Ascension bringing Dredge decks back into a relatively competitive environment, this tells me whether or not it's a bad idea to wipe the board, or if I should wait that [i]one[/i] turn. Also, it [i]still[/i] draws me cards. _
Dissipate - Stops Chandra's Phoenix, Wurmcoil Engine, and those annoying Flashback spells cold. All I can say here.
Blue Sun's Zenith - Reusable draw! Yay!
-------------------Sideboard------------------------
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - This card can shut down Token Decks if you're lucky enough to snipe their Intangible Virtues, but otherwise is used as a token-booster, turning those meek 2/2 cats into vicious 4/4 beaters, hungry for their blood.
Celestial Purge - (Excuse me as I rant for a moment) NO MORE FREAKING STROMKIRK NOBLE AND NO MORE BLOODY STORMBLOOD BERSERKER!!!!!! Anyway, now that I'm done with that...that's what Celestial Purge is in here for. Sniping those annoying red/black cards. Inferno Titan? Bye. Grave titan? Take a hike. Havengul Lich? What the heck? I don't like you...Buh Bye!
Blue Sun's Zenith - More reusable card draw! I may cycle this out though...any ideas?
Divine Offering
- A one-of, primarily used against Shrine of Burning Rage, Wurmcoil Engine, or, my favorite, Steel Hellkite/Elbrus, The Binding Blade.
Flashfreeze
- My Anti-Wolfrun/RDW counterspell! Gotta love it _
Phantasmal Image - Thrun, The Last Troll, meet Phantasm- Thrun, The Last Troll! Die of Confusion!
Revoke Existance
- Burning Vengeance, Shrines, Tempered Steel, this is pretty good against them all.
Last, But certainly not least, Timely Reinforcements - This card is absolutely amazing. For 2W, I'm getting 6 life (This is a control deck, 99% of the time I've taken damage by the time I play this), and if I'm lucky, I'm getting 3 1/1 Soldiers to act as shields, damage-dealers, or general critters.
PLaying this deck -
This deck has a very passive playstyle in the beginning of the game, typically giving RDW the first game without much of a fight (Timely reinforcements, flashfreeze and celestial purge attempt to stop this Game 2). After around Turn 4, this deck picks up the pace. Pristine Talisman works on fixing up your life total, Day of Judgment clears out the board for you, and your planeswalkers start to hit the table, putting a big board presence on your enemy. White Sun's Zenith, Gideon Jura, and Karn Liberated typically drag out and end the game (hopefully in a win).
--------------Sideboarding-----------------------
This is the big question I get when other people try my deck - How do I optimize the sideboard? This is what I typically tell them:
Red Deck Win is not your friend. Don't be worried if game one is a blowout, try to side some things out for some better options.
-1 Blue Sun's Zenith-2 Karn Liberated-2 Mana Leak-2 Think Twice
+3 Timely Reinforcements+2 Flashfreeze+2 Celestial Purge
This gives you a much better chance of bowling over the terror known as RDW.
Illusions - This deck's rather annoying to Sideboard against, as it's an aggro deck that can hold out far into the late-game, slowly cipping you down until there's nothing left.
Sideboard -
-2 Oblivion Ring
+1 Blue Sun's Zenith+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Not a lot we can do to side against this deck. Spot-removal isn't as effective as they all come back as 1/1 spirit's off of Moorland Haunts anyway, but more card draw will get us to our Elesh, who will wipe most of their board away without a problem, provided she lives.
(If there are any other major metagames I haven't seen yet, let me know, my Metagame consists of those 2 deckgroups, it's rather boring.
Thanks to my friend Udit who showed me a version of this deck in the beginning, sparking my interest.
Thanks for reading my novel! Please Comment, Criticize, etc.!
