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

Eva Green

It’s funny – I often have several articles started, but find it hard deciding which deck I want to post next. I’ve considered requests/ideas in the past, but I enjoy waiting for cards to arrive in the mail so I can playtest a deck before writing about it. Today’s deck didn’t have to wait however, as I already have 73/75 of the cards (and the 2 I don’t are in the sideboard). This is a colour combination I’ve wanted to write about for a while and, as previously mentioned, have several articles started that use them. I finally decided on this deck however, as I’m pretty sure it’s the one I started putting together first; and because it’s just a lot of fun to play. So, without further ado, let’s talk about the hottest deck in Magic – Eva Green.

What’s a bit strange about today’s ensemble is that it actually led to the demise of another deck I’ve already written about: Red Death. That’s not entirely fair however, as the real culprit was actually our ‘friend’ Tarmogoyf. Now I know what you’re thinking - if Tarmogoyf’s to blame then Eva Green must not be good without it. That’s simply not true - Werebear was bearing arms before Tarmogoyf was ever printed. In fact, when ‘goyf premiered, people actually argued against replacing the bear with him. Those people were clearly wrong as we all know, but that doesn’t mean Werebear’s not a good card. Its use of Threshold is shared by another creature in the deck, and is easily achieved thanks to Eva’s Rituals, hand disruption and mana denial. With these, you should have no problem getting 7+ cards in your graveyard fairly quickly. Bear can also ramp your mana, which is not irrelevant in such a mana hungry deck. Another ‘forgotten’ beater of the past is Nantuko Shade. Think of Shade as an upgrade to the old pump knights - he costs less mana to pump, and offers protection to himself in the form of +1/+1 instead of +1/+0. Shade is actually one of your best win conditions as he can get very big, and makes Rituals you might draw later quite valuable.

Tempo. Sharing an archetype does not mean sharing a strategy. Because this deck can be quite mana hungry, it does not play the same as other tempo decks such as RUG. For example, without access to Red’s direct damage, it means all of your win conditions are creatures. It also means that your creature removal does only that: remove creatures. Eva Green does have some advantages that R does not however – it offers a lot of discard spells, along with added mana denial for the opponent and mana ramp for yourself. The latter makes playing threats much faster, which is exactly what you want to do. Despite being different, the deck does exactly what a tempo deck should: drops an early threat and denies your opponent resources as you beat them down and win.

The deck has a bunch of different win conditions, along with numerous ways to control your opponent. I had considered adding Unmask and/or Contagion, but eventually decided against them. Both are ‘free’ spells you can use to remove the opponent’s hand/creatures, but I thought the 4 Snuff Out provided enough card disadvantage in the name of tempo. Admittedly, I think we could shave off a couple of creatures and put in some more tempo spells, however I’m not sure these are the cards to use. Sylvan Library is also a card. Then again, who knows? Try tinkering with the deck and find what works for you. Happy Brewing!

Eva Green

Land

4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Bayou
4 Swamp

1 Forest

1 Cabal Coffers

4 Wasteland

Total: 22

4 Werebear
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Nimble Mongoose
1 Carnophage

Total: 17

Spells

4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Snuff Out
1 Rancor

Total: 21

Sideboard

4 Choke

4 Pernicious Deed

4 Tormod’s Crypt

3 Naturalize

Total: 15

Mono U Tempo

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s.. a reasonably costed blue flier!” I’ve decided to call this deck Mono U Tempo, but it didn’t start out that way. Originally, I had been researching Faerie Stompy as an old archetype that I wanted to bring back. Upon further study however, I discovered that there was no version of the deck that didn’t use equipment. As I was searching through old lists of cards for another deck, I also stumbled upon Blue Skies - something very similar to Faerie Stompy, which I believe to be a re-named variant. I took cards that were used in both, and developed a strategy that I found via their sideboards. Allow me to explain..

Modern day tempo strategies are pretty straightforward: deploy a big enough threat early on - then protect it/control your opponent as you beat them down for the win. Pretty simple, right? So how do you do this in Mono U, when the creatures were actually pretty fair? There’s actually a few ways. The first is the use of Mox Diamond and Sol lands (Ancient Tomb/City of Traitors). These allow you access to 3 mana on turn 1. Blue didn’t have high power 1-drop creatures, but 3-cost’s a different story. Diamonds and Sol lands are also valuable in another way: their synergy with Winter Orb. If the other player can only untap a land that produces 1-mana, as you can untap both artifact mana and a sol land, you’re creating a pretty big advantage. Winter Orb is one of those cards where, if a deck has been built around it is facing a deck that hasn’t, the former can have a serious advantage over the latter.

Ok, now on to the creatures. Your ideal turn 1 is to land a Sea Drake or a Serendib Efreet. Drake hits for 1 more, but Efreet can survive a bolt so I’m not going to say one is always better than the other. Rishadan Airship doesn’t have the toughness of either, but it can hit for 3 and so it can draw a surprising amount of removal. Cloud of Faeries can also be pretty amazing, as it can allow 2 creatures to be played on 2 lands, or even just dropping it for some damage and then having mana open for your opponent’s turn. Lastly, the 2 Man-o-War are awesome ways to create tempo, especially when combined with Winter Orb.

So what did I change from the original two decks? Quite a bit actually. First, I raised the land count because the deck uses Mox Diamond instead of Chrome Mox. I also decided to go the Winter Orb route because of the various ways to untap and/or return land to my hand. I also want to point out that the original versions both played equipment and Chalice - Winter Orb and Psionic Blast are meant to give the deck some reach and control over the spells they can and can’t (or rather should or shouldn’t) play.

The deck has a bit more of a tempo-control feel than I had originally planned. You want to land a threat fast, then ride out the free spells/land trickery as you beat them down for the win. Winter Orb was always an awesome card when there were ways around the drawback – Mono U Tempo tries to do the same thing here. I encourage everyone to tinker with the deck, and see what works for them. As always – Happy Brewing!

Mono U Tempo

Land

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
9 Island
5 Fetch lands

Total: 23

Creatures

4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Sea Drake

3 Rishadan Airship

2 Man-o-War

Total: 17

Spells

4 Mox Diamond
4 Force of Will

4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
1 Psionic Blast

3 Winter Orb

Total: 20

Sideboard

3 Misdirection
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Old Man of the Sea
2 Powder Keg

2 Snap

1 Psionic Blast

2 Submerge

Total: 15

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

43 Lands

Hrmm, 5 lands in my opening hand.. I keep. Why? Because I’m playing 43 Lands, that’s why! Yes, you read that correctly – a deck named after its (very high) land count. One of the game’s defining features has always been its mana system. Lands are easily the most common source of mana, and finding the right balance can mean the difference between too many and not enough. One of the best things about 43 Lands is that you don’t really have to worry about that. Allow me to explain..

The irony about 43 Lands is that among its most important cards are the spells. Exploration and Manabond are both non-land cards that help create tempo and that you want to play on turn 1. Exploration is very self-explanatory, but I want to talk about Manabond a bit because I know it is seen as less important in Legacy. The reason I play 4 Manabond is because of its synergy with Nantuko Monastery – a card that isn’t really seen in Legacy Lands decks. Putting other Manabonds/Explorations in the graveyard is therefore a good thing, which is why I kept 4 in the deck.

Mulch is another one of the deck’s all-star spells that isn’t really used in Legacy. The reason for this is Life from the Loam, which is great at creating card advantage but is weak to graveyard hate. Mulch simply draws four cards from your library and lets you keep all of the non-lands. In a 43 Lands deck, this usually means draw 3 or 4 cards for 1G. Mulch is amazing, and I wish there were more. The best alternative for Mulch #5 that I found was Clear the Land. This card can bite you in the ass, but I thought as a 1-of it could go in. For 2G, Clear the Land has both players reveal the top five cards of their library and put all lands into play tapped. The rest are exiled (which is very important vs graveyard-based shenanigan decks). The main thing about this card is that it’s a Sorcery, so it CAN boost the tempo of your opponent. You’re almost assuredly going to win in the card advantage department, but be sure to play around opposing Brainstorms.

Ok, now on to the deck’s namesake – the lands!  The deck is all about creating a sort of landlock on the opponent and then winning with manlands. I put in 12 win conditions, but you might want to take some out for other cards. Crop Rotation becomes your new best friend, as it allows you to tutor for whatever utility land you require (including win cons). Crop also works very nicely with Riftstone Portal, as it gives lands such as Tabernacle and Maze of Ith some mana generation when you need it. Petrified Field is another underrated card, as it works very nicely with 1-ofs and Wastelands/Rishadan Ports.

This deck is VERY customizable. Normally, I prefer leaving the options open for you guys to explore, but I went through so many iterations/ideas while brewing that I want to mention a couple. Originally the deck had 1 Pendelhaven and 1 Kjeldoran Outpost. Outpost can be a really good card, but Tabernacle is so strong and can really help you lock an opponent out in combination with Wastelands and Rishadan Ports. If you want a budget deck.. don’t play Lands. BUT, if you want to play Lands anyway and don’t own a Tabernacle then Outpost is a great win con for the deck. Without the Outpost I removed the Pendelhaven and added more Riftstone Portals for Crop targets and to smooth out the mana base. I had also considered Intuition with Gaea’s Blessing, Sphere of Resistance, Deserted Temple and many others. Seriously, the deck has so many options – both spells and lands. Happy brewing!

43 Lands

Land:

1 Forest

4 Savannah

4 Mishra’s Factory

4 Wasteland

4 Treetop Village

4 Rishadan Port

4 Nantuko Monastery

1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

4 Maze of Ith

4 Windswept Heath

4 Petrified Field

1 Karakas

3 Riftstone Portal

1 Dust Bowl

Total: 43

Spells:

4 Exploration

4 Manabond

4 Crop Rotation

4 Mulch

1 Clear the Land

Total: 17

Sideboard:

1 Glacial Chasm

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Naturalize
3 Powder Keg

2 Ensnaring Bridge

1 Zuran Orb