UB Dream Halls

Not that long ago, I wrote about a deck that is not fun to play against. Guess what; today, we are going to be talking about another one. It’s fun to read about though, so don’t stop reading! Alright then, let’s get the awkward intro out of the way so we can dive into the deck. What can cause an opponent to simply not want to play against you? When most of the game involves them just watching you play. Any time this happens, we can refer to it as living the [UB] Dream Halls.

Let’s get started. There are two things you want to do with this deck – 1. get the engine out and 2. then get it going. The engine in this instance is the namesake of the deck: Dream Halls. To do this, it is important to incorporate mana ramp, so you can get Halls out ASAP. Sol lands and Lotus Petals are great ways to do so; the latter also being of use in later rounds. The other aspect of getting the engine out is collecting the combo pieces. The deck contains lots of cantrips and tutors in order to find both the ramp and the centerpiece of the deck, and their importance cannot be stressed enough.

The main thing you want to do once the engine is out is get it running. Since this is a Storm deck, that means drawing and casting spells to a critical mass before destroying your opponent; in this case via Tendrils of Agony. Because the deck mostly contains Blue spells, once Dream Halls hits the board it should be very easy to cast all the spells that you want and win the game.

Mana Severance. Admittedly, despite containing two copies of the card, this was the one that came closest to being cut. While it can certainly help you minimize on dead draws once you get going, the fact is that with Dream Halls out you shouldn’t lose anyway. I had debated switching them out for two Omen, but decided to leave it in anyway because it’s a pretty unique card that has its uses, and also as a sort of nod to Zvi’s first incarnation of the deck.

Mono Blue. When I began writing about the deck, it was originally going to be just one colour. Had that been the case, I probably would have just used Brain Freeze as the win condition. To be honest, this might be the correct route to go since a mono coloured deck has obvious advantages with Dream Halls.  However, I find the main problem with Brain Freeze is that Gaea’s Blessing can really ruin your plan. As always, I encourage you to tinker and see what works best for you. Happy Brewing!

UB Dream Halls

Land

4 Underground Sea

3 Island

4 Ancient Tomb

3 City of Traitors

7 Fetchlands

Total: 21

Creatures

Total: 0

Spells

4 Dream Halls

4 Lotus Petal

4 Brainstorm

4 Impulse

1 Omen

4 Sleight of Hand

4 Force of Will

4 Meditate

1 Future Sight

3 Intuition

4 Tendrils of Agony

2 Mana Severance

Total: 39

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Counterspell

4 Duress

1 Pyroblast

2 Chain of Vapor

BRaGging Rights

Whoever claimed a 3-colour control deck had to contain Blue, clearly never tried playing a deck like this before. While it may not have the ability to sculpt its hand or counter any threats, it does draw you lots of cards and [thus] lots of answers. What’s the best way to beat a Blue-based control deck? Attack their resources/answers and overwhelm them with your own. Today we are going to learn how to win and earn our BRaGging Rights.

Let’s start off with the mana base. Being a tri-colour deck, you want to ensure access to all three colours. This build focuses more on Black mana, but contains enough Red and Green to not go too light on either of them. I should point out that only Black cards contain more than 1 of their respective mana colour in their casting cost, so tweaking the mana base is certainly an option.

I put a copy of Thunderscape Apprentice in the deck because it is just so versatile. You can use him to help protect your creatures, and should that not become necessary, just ping your opponent for 1 at the end of their turn. This spot was originally open for a Nimble Mongoose, but the deck started to focus more on control and less on tempo as it evolved. Another benefit being that Apprentice is Red, meaning he can grow any Dryad(s) that are in play.

Card advantage. Because the deck lacks any sort of hand manipulation via cantrips, the best way for it to get the cards it needs is to draw them. Phyrexian Arena is a card drawing machine, and if you can land it early on, you have a serious advantage over your opponent. The other side of card advantage is when your opponent doesn’t have a hand – Hypnotic Specter, Hymn to Tourach and Duress all do their job at ensuring this to be the case. And what do all of these cards have in common? They all cost Black mana. A turn 1 Dark Ritual can really give you the edge by allowing you to play these early on.

While Specter, Hymn and Duress act as forms of card advantage, they also act as a means to control your opponent. They are not the only means of doing so however; as both Lightning Bolt and Terminate are excellent forms of control.  Lightning Bolt is an amazing card, which I don’t really need to get into. Terminate tends to be less known, which is a shame as it is probably the second best form of single creature removal available (Swords to Plowshares being #1).

As previously mentioned, this brew started as something different before becoming the control-style deck that it did. As you all know, this really is an open format with a lot of deck building potential and I encourage everyone to go through their old card lists and see what interests them. Happy Brewing!

BRaGging Rights

Land

3 Taiga

3 Badlands

3 Bayou

1 Forest

1 Swamp

1 Mountain

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Wooded Foothills

4 Wasteland

Total: 24

Creatures

4 Quirion Dryad

4 Werebear

1 Thunderscape Apprentice

4 Hypnotic Specter

Total: 13

Spells

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Terminate

4 Duress

4 Hymn to Tourach

3 Phyrexian Arena

4 Dark Ritual

Total: 23

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Red Elemental Blast

2 Pyroblast

2 Pyroclasm

3 Hull Breach

1 Avoid Fate

1 Regrowth

1 Pernicious Deed

UG Enchantress

“UGh.. Enchantress.” Get ready to hear that a lot. Ironically, they won’t know how right they are.. Get it? UG Enchantress.. Ok, moving on. Despite having already written about an Enchantress-type of deck in the past, I decided to revisit the archetype. Why? Because this one plays very differently and involves a different combination of G/X. In short: awesome deck, let’s learn about it.

The first thing you need to understand about a UG Enchantress list is that it has a lot of key components working together to do awesome things. Wild Growth/Fertile Ground, in combination with Cloud of Faeries, are a great example of this. Together, they combine to create a LOT of mana. Now imagine using them with Words of Wind as a means to re-use your Cloud of Faeries again and again.. told you: awesome.

Another cool engine of the deck involves the namesake Enchantress cards and the enchantments themselves’. Using these, you can crush an opponent under sheer card advantage pretty quickly, as they allow absurd amounts of card drawing. Combined with the aforementioned mana engines, and you can just run away with the game once you get both going.

The enchantments. Each enchantment has its own role in the deck, and the number of each should reflect this. For example, Exploration is amazing at the start of the game, but with only twenty lands, you don’t really want to draw them later on (except to draw cards with the Enchantress’). Thus why you should not be playing 4. Seal of Removal on the other hand does double duty as both a Faerie bouncer and protection from enemy creatures. At just U, this makes it an easy 4-of.

While not an enchantment, I want to talk about the number of Brain Freezes. As I researched the deck, I found that the card was a 1-of in at least one of the lists. Quite frankly, I just do not trust when a deck contains only 1 copy of such an important piece. I chose to put 2, as well as some copies of Yavimaya Enchantress as a second win condition in the sideboard, just in case you are facing an opponent who plays Gaea’s Blessing for some reason.

Because the deck lacks any real creature removal, it contains 4 Elephant Grass, which help to provide protect from the opponent’s creatures’. I want to mention that it is important to consider what enchantments you want in the deck, and ensure that they reflect a style of play that is enjoyable to you. Mirri’s Guile and/or Sylvan Library are great examples of cool cards that are worthy of consideration. I suggest you start going through card lists and see what interests you. Happy Brewing!

UG Enchantress

Land

10 Forest

1 Island

5 Fetchlands

4 Tropical Island

Total: 20

Creatures

4 Argothian Enchantress

4 Cloud of Faeries

4 Verduran Enchantress

Total: 12

Spells

4 Enchantress’ Presence

3 Exploration

4 Seal of Removal

4 Wild Growth

4 Fertile Ground

3 Words of Wind

4 Elephant Grass

2 Brain Freeze

Total: 28

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

2 Chain of Vapor

2 Naturalize

2 City of Solitude

3 Yavimaya Enchantress

2 Counterspell