WRG Astral Slide

For today’s article, I decided to re-visit an archetype I’ve already written about, using a different colour combination. For those not familiar with Astral Slide decks – they are incredibly fun. Why? They make use of a mechanic that is already good (Cycling) and combine it with total deck synergy to some pretty awesome results. I’ve decided to write about WGR Astral Slide because of how different the deck strategy is from WR (.. and because the WG version I was writing about just wasn’t as awesome).

Strategy. As I mentioned, the strategy for WRG Slide is very different from WR; for example, instead of using Blood Moon and Sol lands as a pseudo win condition, the deck focuses much more on control and generating card advantage. One of the main weaknesses of the WR version was the lack of card advantage engines, which this deck has plenty of. The addition of Green also adds some more creatures to the deck, whereas the WR version hardly plays any.

WRG. One of the main features of WR Astral Slide was that it wanted to create a slower tempo/controlled board state. Virtual card advantage was seen via Lightning Rift, but if you went into top deck mode then you couldn’t really see more than 1 card in your hand at a time. WRG Slide combines Wall of Blossoms and Astral Slide to not only slow the game down for you, but to also generate a lot of card drawing.  The deck also allows the addition of Cartographer and Tranquil Thicket, which have very nice synergy with Astral Slide. Thicket also adds four more 1-mana cycling lands, which are very relevant on their own.

Win conditions. One of the main reasons I decided to keep Red in the deck was because of Lightning Rift. The card is very good, and takes some pressure off of landing an Astral Slide for synergy with all of the cycling cards. I think most of the creatures are self-explanatory, but I do want to remind players that Hermit Druid can be bounced for tons of squirrel tokens.

Strategy Part 2. As I mentioned, the addition of Green means that you won’t be using Blood Moon, and thus there is no need for Sol lands. While the latter do help pump out Astral Slide itself (even as early as turn 1), they don’t help with a lot of the other cards. Admittedly, this is a play-style choice, and an argument can certainly be made to add the Sol lands. Just remember, if you decide to add them then some strategy of the deck changes too. Happy Brewing!

WRG Astral Slide

Land

4 Secludded Steppe

4 Tranquil Thicket

4 Forgotten Cave

2 Blasted Landscape

2 Savannah

2 Plateau

1 Plains

5 Fetch lands

Total: 24

Creatures

4 Wall of Blossoms

2 Exalted Angel

1 Mystic Enforcer

1 Deranged Hermit

1 Stoic Champion

4 Cartographer

Total: 13

Spells

4 Mox Diamond

4 Astral Slide

4 Lightning Rift

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Spark Spray

Total: 23

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Orim’s Chant
2 Wrath of God

1 Slice and Dice
1 Eternal Dragon

3 Renewed Faith

Mono White Parfait

Definition: a cold dessert made usually of layers of ice cream, fruit, and syrup with whipped cream on top. French translation: perfect. Aptly named Parfait, today’s deck uses the perfect combination of Land Tax/Scroll Rack, which makes it a treat to play. Ok ok, enough puns - we’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get started.

I’m going to start with the main engine of the deck: the Land Tax/Scroll Rack combo.  Scroll Rack lets you set aside any number of cards from your hand, draw that many, then put those you set aside back on top of your library in any order. This is amazing with Land Tax, which not only puts a bunch of lands into your hand, but also allows you to shuffle your library. Combined, this means you can put back all those lands you just drew for more business cards. Awesome!

A big part of why I made this deck Mono White was because of Planar Birth. You almost always want to use Plains when discarding cards to Land Tax or Mox Diamond because of it. I decided on putting a singleton in, but the card works well with the deck so a second might not be a bad idea to include.

Wasteland was a card I certainly pondered about. Eventually, I decided on keeping them, but here’s why they were/are a maybe to me. For starters, there aren’t a lot of targets on your own side of the board to abuse with Land Tax. Another possibility is replacing them with City of Traitors, which just seems amazing in the deck. So why did I keep them? I decided they should stay because of Mishra’s Factories. Factories are a prevalent force in the format, and get around both Humility and Wrath of God. Moat fights Factories, but is a 1-of and is something you might not want in certain situations.

A splash of Black in the deck was another thing I’d considered, and is something that I remain uncertain about. The colour does offer more fight against combo, but at the cost of a very different mana base. Originally, I had 4 Duress in the mainboard and Orim’s Chant in the SB, but decided to switch and move Chant to the MB as it is a bit more broad in terms of slowing the opponent down as you set the lock. In the end, I decided to remove Black, but I do think playing it could be nice. Not only does it offer Duress vs combo, but it also allows Vindicates as a sort of catch-all answer/way to manage your own permanents. I definitely recommend trying other cards/combinations and see what works for you. As always – Happy Brewing!

Mono White Parfait

Land:

4 Wasteland

5 Fetch lands
12 Plains

2 Serra’s Sanctum

Total: 23

Creatures:

Total: 0

Spells:

4 Scroll Rack

4 Land Tax

1 Zuran Orb

1 Moat

1 Humility

1 Wrath of God

4 Mox Diamond

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Orim’s Chant

1 Planar Birth

3 Sacred Mesa

4 Enlightened Tutor

1 Disenchant

4 Argivian Find

Total: 37

Siderboard:

3 Disenchant

2 Wrath of God

1 Zuran Orb

1 Ivory Mask

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Abeyance

3/4 Control

Did you know that red, white and blue are the most common colours used in flags? Is their inclusion on the back of Magic cards some sort of conspiracy? Perhaps we shall never know for sure. What we DO know is that they make a pretty awesome colour combination in a deck. So, whether you’re American, French, Dutch or any other nationality – hold on to your flags, because we’re going to be talking about a WUR Control deck that I’ve decided to call 3/4 Control.

As soon as I decided on writing about a WUR deck, I immediately thought of Lightning Angel. I just believe the card to be deceptively good. 4 mana for a 3/4 Flying and Vigilance is decent, but the addition of Haste is what makes the card awesome.  Compare it to Serra Angel for example, which has a 5 turn clock for just 1 mana more. The thing is, this comes down a turn before Serra AND can attack upon hitting the board, which essentially negates the 2-turn difference. Another point to remember is that if an opponent is at 3 life for example, Serra would take two turns to win the game whereas Lightning Angel would take one. Oh and of course, it can be used to cast FoW if need be.

I find Red to be a rather interesting colour in Magic. It seems pretty narrow in what it does, but what it does can offer a lot of options. Direct damage is awesome because it offers both offense and defense/aggro and control. Hitting the opponent directly or removing their creatures, and when to do it, can actually be pretty complicated. It’s all about the timing. Lightning Bolt has always been the defining Red card: it deals 3 damage to a creature or player for R at Instant speed. Simple yet elegant. I decided to add 4 Chain Lightning to the deck because of the versatility they provide, despite not being Instants.

While White’s contributions to the deck are pretty few and self explanatory - Blue contributes quite a bit more. The fact that the deck also plays both Blue and Red means that you can maximize the potential of Fire // Ice - an amazing card in 3/4 Control, because it offers so many options. Both ‘sides’ can provide control and/or card advantage, depending on how they’re used. Combine these with the counter magic and Brainstorm trickery for even more ways to frustrate your opponent and win the game.

Ok, so why the name 3/4 Control? Admittedly, the name simply stems from the power and toughness of the creatures. Both have a good casting cost for what they do, and can survive a Bolt. I’d considered adding other win conditions, but decided to keep the deck more on the control side. This certainly depends on the meta in your area however, so I definitely recommend tinkering around for options that might work better for you. Happy Brewing!

3/4 Control

Land

4 Tundra

4 Volcanic Island

1 Plateau

1 Island

1 Plains

1 Mountain

8 Fetchlands

4 Wasteland

Total: 24

Creatures

4 Lightning Angel

4 Serendib Efreet

Total: 8

Spells

4 Force of Will

4 Brainstorm

4 Counterspell

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Chain Lightning

4 Fire // Ice

Total: 28

Sideboard

4 Meddling Mage

4 Tormod’s Crypt

3 Disenchant

4 Pyrclasm

Total: 15