WU Control

Last post, I talked about White Weenie – one of the oldest archetypes in the game’s existence. I decided to continue that trend this week with another early deck type: WU Control. Just like every WU control deck before it, this one takes elements of Brian Weissman’s iconic “The Deck”. The idea is to control the opponent as much as possible, before dropping a win condition to ride out for the win. I decided to focus on a couple forms of control via mana denial and some creature control, as certain strategies have more of an effect on different decks.

Mana denial should be pretty self explanatory, but I’m going to point it out anyway. Wasteland and Stifle are your two cards here; the former is a hard answer to non-basic lands and a staple of the format, but the latter is not. So what is Stifle and why is it being mentioned here? First of all: Stifle is a very good card that not everyone is aware of – and/or – are not aware of everything it can do. Think of it as a flexible answer to many things, some of which include your opponent’s access to mana. No, you can’t counter a land from producing mana. What you can do however, is counter a fetchland from finding a target. You can also counter opposing Wastelands, which not only makes their sacrifice for nothing, but can protect one of your main win conditions in Mishra’s Factory. I am just scratching the surface on why Stifle is a great card, but be aware that it can counter a bunch of other effects (including Storm).

Creature control. This is an all-encompassing term I am using to describe ways of managing your opponent’s creatures. The obvious form is via removal, whether that’s by burying them, removing them from the game or simply by not allowing them to attack you. Heck, Orim’s Chant can also be included here as it stops your opponent from being able to cast most creatures, thus buying you time to search for a Moat or a piece of removal. Counterspells are another form of creature control, as they simply stop creatures from ever hitting the board. Lastly, Moat can be used to just make a lot of your opponents’ creatures irrelevant.

The win conditions are Serendib Efreet and Mishra’s Factory, although the Meddling Mages can work in a pinch as well. Efreet is good because of its low CMC and the fact that it does not die to Bolt. Some people might think the 1 damage a turn makes the card bad, however, thinking that makes those players bad. Factory doesn’t really need explaining, as it dodges your Wrath effects and is awesome. Just make sure you put some thought into casting your Moat when Factories are on the board.

WU Control has always been a strong and consistent archetype in Magic. The game has a ton of different ways to approach how you want to control your opponent and win the game. Different people have different strategies/play-styles, and how you want to control your opponent is entirely up to you. Happy Brewing!

WU Control

Land:

4 Tundra

8 Fetchland

3 Island

2 Plains

4 Mishra’s Factory

4 Wasteland

Total: 25

Creatures:

4 Serendib Efreet

4 Meddling Mage

Total: 8

Spells:

1 Moat

1 Wrath of God

4 Brainstorm

4 Orim’s Chant

4 Daze

4 Force of Will

1 Misdirection

4 Stifle

4 Swords to Plowshares

Total: 27

Sideboard:

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Disenchant

4 Abeyance

2 Wrath of God

1 Armageddon

White Weenie

Today’s deck (archetype) was created by none other than the game’s creator himself: Richard Garfield. Awesome removal spells, efficient beaters and pump enchantments to make them bigger have always defined White. Despite this however, today’s deck list didn’t actually just write itself. White Weenie has a variety of ways to approach it, and deciding on which one(s) you’d like to play can be half the fun.

The defining strategy of White Weenie has always been to play efficient creatures and beat down your opponent. That part should never change. I know, this sounds very simple, but there is definitely a lot of strategy that can go into the deck. For example, turn 1 Savannah Lion can be a pretty solid play, but it depends on what you’re playing against and who is on the draw. Because you might need a bit of defense (which later can help on offense), I decided to add 4 Mother of Runes. She can help you block early on, and provides you with an unblockable creature when you want one. I put in the Knights because they provide their own protection from certain colours, and come with First Strike which is a very valuable ability. The 1 of Serra Angel is there because the deck does provide some fast mana, and she can be very good late game. I know the creatures don’t really need much explanation, but I figured I’d touch on them a bit anyway.

The problem with White Weenie is that it doesn’t provide THE fastest clock, and other decks get to play cards too. Because of this, you want to try and control what they can and can’t do early on, so you can beat them down and win. I chose to hamper the opponent with a couple of strategies: mana and spell denial. Orim’s Chant is mainboarded here, because it can stop your opponent from (almost) doing anything on their turn. If they can’t cast any creatures, that provides you with another turn to attack and deal damage. Wasteland can also stop them from casting spells, and Armageddon can really destroy their plans (this is amazing if you have a board presence established).

Hampering your opponent is part of the strategy, but you also have to play some threats ASAP. Efficient creatures are part of this, but Mox Diamond and Land Tax can really help you out. In fact, the two are a sort of combo on their own: if you’re on the play: a Mox Diamond into Land Tax means you have mana and your opponent doesn’t. Unless they play a land, they’re dead – and if they do, you get some serious card advantage in the form of lands and possibly more mana ramp if you have other Mox Diamonds. These also work very nicely with Armageddon.

The deck I provided offers a few strategies, but doesn’t focus on any of them. Whether or not this is correct, I am leaving in your guys’ capable hands to find out. Happy Brewing!

White Weenie

Land:

3 Karakas

8 Plains

4 Fetchlands

4 Wasteland

Total: 19

Creatures:

4 Mother of Runes

4 Savannah Lions

4 White Knight

4 Silver Knight

2 Order of Leitbur

1 Serra Angel

2 Thunder Spirit

Total: 21

Spells:

3 Land Tax

4 Mox Diamond

4 Crusade

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Orim’s Chant

1 Armageddon

Total: 20

Sideboard:

4 Tormod’s Crypt

2 True Believer

2 Worship

2 Wrath of God

2 Blinding Light

3 Disenchant

Red Death

I recently found out about this deck after someone had a dream/wrote about it online. Seriously. You know a deck’s got to be sweet if people are thinking about it in their sleep, right?? The good news for us is that one man’s dream can be our opponents’ nightmare! Today’s list is called Red Death, a BR Burn/Control deck that looks to hit the opponent with discard and mana denial before beating them down via creatures and burn spells. Burn decks offer a fast and consistent clock, but can also be a sort of glass cannon against combo decks, as they don’t offer many (if any) ways to interact with spells. Red Death offers a bit of a slower clock, but gives the player ways to control what their opponent can do.

Red Death’s plan is to deny the opponent first before going for the win. How you want to do that is very situational and varies greatly depending on who is on the play. For example, if you go first, you want to lead with discard if possible because it could mean denying them a turn 1 play. Another option is to play Hypnotic Specter, as this offers a threat and discard that an opponent has to find an answer for. If you’re on the draw however, you want to focus on mana denial. Red Death has a lot of answers for 1-drops, but it can be difficult to find an answer to a big creature. 1-drops aren’t going to beat you right away, so you have time to take them out once you’ve established control of the board. Keep in mind, these are some general rules of play, and I’m sure exceptions can and should be made.

When I found Red Death online, the MB was already Ancient-legal, but I decided to make a few changes that I want to explain. The most obvious is that I took out the 4 Phyrexian Negator. The main reason I did this is that Lightning Bolt is very prevalent in the format, and can be cast if the opponent has a land drop. You can be denying your opponent mana the whole time, but if they have a Bolt and land in hand, they can destroy your board state. I decided to add 3 Grim Lavamancer for more control/damage, and a single Ball Lightning as an extra source of damage. The other main change I made to Red Death was to its land base. The original deck only had 3 Badlands, and no Mountain, because the 4 Bolt and 3 Chain Lightning were its only red spells - it didn’t need them. This version relies more on red mana, so I decided to put in 4 Badlands and 1 Mountain. In all honesty, these creatures/numbers can be changed, but you guys know how I enjoy leaving that up to you.

Red Death used to be a pretty popular deck in Legacy, but was chased out of the format with the introduction of Tarmogoyf. Ancient doesn’t suffer from the ridiculous creature power creep of Legacy however, and remains a solid and fun choice in the format. I’ve provided an example of the deck but I’m sure there are ways to fine tune it. As always - Happy Brewing!

Red Death

Land

3 Swamp

2 Mountain
4 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Wasteland

Total: 21

Creatures

4 Hypnotic Specter

4 Nantuko Shade

3 Rotting Giant

1 Wretched Anurid

3 Grim Lavamancer

1 Ball Lightning

Total: 15

Spells

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Chain Lightning

4 Hymn to Tourach

4 Duress

4 Sinkhole

4 Dark Ritual

Total: 24

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Engineered Plague

3 Terminate

2 Red Elemental Blast

2 Pyroblast