Modern Musings 2

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fluffybunnypants

27 April 2014

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Modern Musings

Survival of the Interactive: Control

If you were to look at mtgtop8 right now and look into Modern Control, the results may be confusing. I mean, honestly, it looks like they took any deck with counterspells or discard and kind of just said “meh.” So let’s start by going over the actual options for control decks in Modern.

The most prominent form of the control archetype you are going to run into is the U/W/x variant. There are really only three options here: U/W, U/W/R Midrange and U/W/R. These three decks are grouped together fairly often, but they are quite different in terms of operation regardless of basically using the same shell. The basic U/W shell is prettymuch exactly what you’d expect out of any blue control deck in Modern, some number of Cryptic Command *list*, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Path to Exile, Supreme Verdict, Sphinx's Revelation, Celestial Colonnade, Vendilion Clique, Tectonic Edge and Snapcaster Mage all jammed into one deck. Sounds like a colossal pain in the ass, right?

The midrange version of U/W/R is basically value-town. Combining resoration angel with Snapcaster Mage and Blade Splicer for great success, it also adds three or four Geist of Saint Traft for that extra oomph. The scary part is that this deck can alpha strike with a well timed Cryptic Command *list* either right out of your opponent’s hand or flashed back with a Snapcaster Mage. Oh, let’s not forget the burn spell suite of Lightning Helix and Lightning Bolt that can just burn you out or double as removal. For extra spice out of the sideboard expect to see things like Aven Mindcensor, Thundermaw Hellkite, Ajani Vengeant, Wear / Tear, Sowing Salt, Leyline of Sanctity and Counterflux.

The more control oriented U/W/R version has less creatures and more Planeswalkers. Gideon Jura and Elspeth, Knight-Errant are commonplace in the mainboard along with Ajani, but after sideboard the deck can pull out beaters like Geist of Saint Traft, Batterskull or even Baneslayer Angel. Combined with the U/W/R midrange removal, counter and burn suite, the deck really excels at dragging it’s opponents down to get ahead and then staying there. Playing against it can often be taxing and can possibly be equated to slogging through a bog. The deck also will typically run some number of Serum Visions to try to fix its draws. Its sideboard will look eerily similar to that of its midrange counterpart.

U/W control is basically the same idea as U/W/R control, with the definite appearance of Detention Sphere and the possibility of some Jace Beleren shenanigans. The matchup gets more hilarious out of the sideboard as the deck will frequently make use of the Legacy sideboard staple, Meddling Mage as well as other goodies like the previously mentioned Baneslayer Angel and Aven Mindcensor.

Out of the sideboard of any of these three decks, it’s really very common to find a couple cards in particular. Expect Stony Silence, Engineered Explosives, Pithing Needle, Porphyry Nodes, Aven Mindcensor, Leyline of Sanctity and Threads of Disloyalty to possibly make appearances in your post sideboard matches against any of these three decks if your deck can be hated on by them.

The only real silver bullet for this decks is Choke, frankly, it is worth its weight in gold in this matchup. Sadly, other than that, there’s no real way shut these decks down, sure you can slow them down a little bit, but they have a ton of threats and grinding is their thing. In order to beat them, you simply just have to have more than they have (unlikely unless it’s a mirror match). You’re either going to have to outgrind them using lifegain, discard and land destruction or just go over the top via combo with so much protection that you could survive a nuclear bomb detonation. The most fragile of the group really tends to be the U/W control version, which is still pretty beefy. At least with the U/W variant, running them out of threats is a real option, but you are probably going to have to go through at least four planeswalkers to do it pre-board. You can look to side in Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Counterflux if they are cards that are in your wheelhouse, but they don’t guarantee you the W unless you draw them then play them correctly (per usual).

Another form of the Modern control deck is Gifts Control and, honestly, it can be pretty painful to play, even in its three-color forms, which I’m only going to briefly touch upon. Proper Gifts Control (read as Four Color Gifts) can be hilariously good, but it finds weakness in the fact that it’s running four colors. Bad choices made with this deck can lose you the game without you realizing it for several turns. I’ve seen more than one player over-retrace Raven's Crime and discard a land they could’ve played because they felt comfortable and then get blown out. That being said, this deck plays dumb powerful cards that can do dumb powerful things. Standard mainboard here contains Tarmogoyf, Liliana of the Veil, Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Abrupt Decay, Path to Exile, Celestial Colonnade, Creeping Tar Pit, Life from the Loam, Snapcaster Mage, Raven's Crime, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Unburial Rites and, of course, Gifts Ungiven. The sideboard of this monstrosity can contain anything from Iona, Shield of Emeria, Grave Titan and Batterskull to a board wipe suite of Damnation, Supreme Verdict and Wrath of God (which also frequently find themselves mainboard). Oh, also, lest we forget, there are usually a couple Mana Leaks or Remands hanging out in the main just for funsies. In my experience, this deck is as exhausting to play as it is to play against. I brought a friend’s deck to several FNMs, and, as the story goes, I returned it to him ahead of schedule…. I may or may not have accused him of being a sado-masochistic bastard in the process.

Good Gifts players will usually be on the offensive from the opening hand against control with discard spells and Lilies, eventually making you swap rolls where you have to figure out something to do or a massive Goyf is going to eat you for dinner. In this particular matchup, or in the matchup against combo, their first Gifts will often put Raven's Crime and Life from the Loam in the yard, they will then proceed eat your hand for lunch. Their second Gifts will be the deck’s Rites package, which will likely seal the deal. In the aggro matchup, as hilarious as it is, the first Gifts will be for their three board wipes (Damnation, Supreme Verdict and Wrath of God) along with a Snapcaster Mage, basically ensuring that your creatures will be sleeping with the fishes very shortly. Yes, double Entomb double Vampiric Tutor is legal in Modern for 4 cmc.

How to punish this deck? Land destruction and graveyard hate. That’s not saying the matchup will be cake afterwards, but it will give you a shot at being able to stay ahead of this mega grindy deck. It’s also important to note that if you are a combo deck or a control deck with Leyline of Sanctity in the side, this would be a great time to side it in.

Now, I know I said that I’m really only covering the main version of Gifts and I’m sticking to that, but I should note that Patriot Gifts is a real thing. An amalgamation of U/W/R Control and Gifts Control, the deck either uses Gifts for colossal value or will bring back something dumb like an Elesh Norn or an Iona with Rites to eat your face off. For the lolz, it can also just smack you in the face with a Celestial Colonnade until you’re dead.

People have been attempting to make Esper Gifts a thing as well and the success rates have been… questionable. While I personally don’t like the way the package interacts with the deck, some people do, and Gifts is a powerful card, so if it floats your boat, why the hell not?

Decks I’m avoiding going deep on and why:

8 Rack: I like 8 Rack, I really do. It’s a fun concept. I just would really love it if it had more dimension. As a non-proven archetype, there’s really not a whole ton for me to get into though. The deck is basically flat discard and removal combined with damage from The Rack and Shrieking Affliction. It may also occasionally decide to beat your face in with a Tombstalker or Phyrexian Obliterator. The problem? It folds to Leyline of Sanctity. Why? Black has no enchantment removal. If you build this, I hope you don’t go completely HAM and throw in a back up Overgrown Tomb or something for Krosan Grip, because Golgari Charm sure as hell isn’t going to cut it against a control deck that’s been sitting behind a leyline. With that being said, the question then falls to, “if you’re splashing green and are filling the graveyards, why not play Tarmogoyf?” Then, “if you’re playing Goyf, why not Abrupt Decay?” And suddenly you’re playing Rock.

Tron: While Tron has a control variant in U/W and can technically be considered a control deck even when it’s R/G, it’s really not something I look at as a serious threat to the meta currently. The deck folds to a lot of decks in the format currently, it isn’t fast enough to survive against most dedicated combo decks and can fall apart with a well-timed land destruction effect, especially Sowing Salt. On the bright side, you can do something hilarious like play Karn Liberated on turn three if you hit the right runners. For a deck that should be control, it really lacks the ability to interact with the field currently, and that’s its downfall: it’s a sort of control deck that operates like a combo deck, especially the R/G version. The U/W version can be hilarious and either hard cast a killer creature like Iona or Rites it, but the mana base is wonky due to the lack of mana fixing that R/G brings to the table. Nothing like drawing an Urza's Tower when you really need that blue or white mana. Is it a T2 deck? R/G Tron,? Sure. Is R/G Tron a control deck? I really file it under combo because that’s how it plays. How about U/W Tron? Let’s just avoid the matter and file that one under “Reid Duke is a very skilled pilot.”

Faeries: There were something like 5 people at my LGS who swore up and down that, with Bitterblossom unbanned, Faeries were going to take over Modern… I may or may not have been one of them. But, as it turns out, people who play black would rather play Bob. The basic concept of U/B Faeries is U/B Flash Control. Frankly, it gets a little awkward. You don’t have enough faeries on the board to counter that with Spellstutter Sprite. You’ve taken too much damage from Bitterblossom. Boardwipe? Oh shit, is that a Geist? Thundermaw Hellkite? Who the hell plays that card anymore? On paper, the deck is amazing. Access to Thoughtseize, counter magic, Snapcaster Mage and endless amounts of fae to abuse the hell out of Spellstutter Sprite, what’s not to love? It just really doesn’t consistently live up to its potential in tournament play. Are there big things in the future for this deck? Sure. For now, I recommend leaving it alone or experimenting with it at low-level events like Modern FNMs.