Thanks for asking permission to use my deck in your description. Argeaux, but I don't see a point in showing how to side for a tier 2 deck. I'll take it as a compliment though.

Actually in theory it is a compliment :)

I would add in more early game card draw, you have a ton early game removal that also helps a great deal late game.

Read the Bones would be a great fit for mana fixing and digging through unnecessary land and reaching your late game card draw in a more consistent fashion.

+1 from me btw.

BlueEyes it's free promotion of your deck but whatever. Consider it gone.

Tested Read the Bones. Took up slots that were better for other cards.

Argeaux I was being sarcastic, lol. You can keep it there man.

After testing roughly 60 hands I agree that Read the Bones isn't necessary as much as I first thought looking at the deck. Keep up the good work Argeaux

BlueEyes cheers.

Nice flavor, hope the next set brings more powerful cards!

Secure the wastes is better than sorins ultimate being as you can use it at instant speed rather than sorcery speed with the downside of being board wiped next turn. I would also argue you need more than 24 lands. 25 is better and 26 is safest. Then you won't get mana screwed. Don't forget you are a control deck

Have you thought of using Ruinous Path in place of To The Slaughter? Only downfall to Ruinous Path is it's a sorcery.

rochdalekilla9 not all Control decks are the same.

26 Land is correct for a Control deck which runs Counter spells.

With this deck 24 is fine, because you are removing stuff once it hits the field.

I can tell you, from playing it a lot, it just doesn't get mana screwed unless I have incredibly bad draw. From memory, that has happened once. That can happen to the best of decks, though.

ocary13 I did extensive testing with Ruinous Path but To the Slaughter, with its Instant speed and flexibility to also work against decks without Planeswalkers, is just so much better.

You will note, in my Update, that this card has already been discussed.

Do you find using the forsaken sanctuary drags you down; since you have 8 lands that ETB tapped?

Nah not at all, AgentGreen.

That was my fear but it turns out that because the game goes for so long, the pain lands were leeching half my life.

I thought I'd experiment tonight with the Forsaken Sanctuary and they were sooooo much better.

Didn't slow me down enough to where it was a serious draw back. It hardly felt slower at all, to be honest.

I'd strongly urge you to put them in, and take the Caves of Koilos out.

Thanks for the advice Argeaux, but unlike you; I have a strong need for with Eldrazi in my deck; so the Caves give me that extra that I need for Thought-Knott and the Smasher.

If I find that the Eldrazi cards do weigh me down I will consider it

Ah, that's right.

I forgot you needed the .

Caves of Koilos is totally the right move for you.

After getting Milled tonight I have taken Center Soul out of the Sideboard, which I never used, even against Control decks, and put in Orbs of Warding.

Orbs of Warding would really help; player hexproof is hard to beat

Yeah I'mm testing that and Inverter of Truth at the moment, because the Orbs can be returned to hand to cast Startled Awake  ^Flip.

I ran into a b/u mill deck that wasn't that fun. I'm making a few changes this week with this deck to see how it goes. Changing some MB/ SB. Playing a lot of mirror as well.

After testing, Orbs of Warding is hands down better than Inverter of Truth against Mill, even if it is running Artifact hate.

The hate can be pulled from hand with Duress and Transgress the Mind as it costs 3CMC.

The specific cards I'm referring to are Angelic Purge and Fate Forgotten.

I just want to say I really do enjoy your deck! I have a quite a similiar one and took quite some inspiration from yours, mine run slightly more creatures, but the concept are basically the same, only played one FNM so far (3-1), but plan to stick with the deck for a while.

It is really funny that you mention Orbs of Warding, because that was the card i held in my hand the other night and wondered if it was worth a slot in the side. I havent fought against mill yet, but I guess I should save a slot for it then.

Anyhow thanks for the inspiration and good luck in the future.

I do run quite a bit of colorless mana, so similiar to you it seems, I do run Thought-Knot Seer and actually also a couple of Bearer of Silence, they have actually performed really well and beyond expectaion. For 4 mana they provide uncounterable removal (hence the cast trigger still occurs). And if it resolves its a random flying beater. It can also be an aggro two-drop if you have nothing to counter or no hand-disruption available. I also run Blighted Fen as an additional sacc-removal and source for colorless mana.

Here is a link to the deck: Twilight Disruption

Thanks Silverpandaria.

Your build looks really solid.

I hope it continues to do well for you.

Argeaux,
You may have already seen, but in case not: A nice article by Seth Manfield about the BW Control deck he piloted to #1 at GP New York last weekend.

Schmuckey be aware that not every user of TappedOut is male. For that reason it's good practice to use gender neutral language, so that this place is inclusive of different types of people.

I read the article and have some thoughts. There is a lot of writing ahead, so prepare yourself. Tagging clayperce because she expressed some interest.

My partner and I assembled the Tokens deck that won the SOI Pro Tour.

Every time we have played it against this deck, Cast a Shadow wins.

The biggest problem for this deck was any Opponent using a Control deck featuring

That was before someone made the suggestion to add Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to the Mainboard.

What I did instead was add it to the SIDEBOARD. It made all the difference as I can now grind a win out against Control decks.

A new threat has emerged with
Mill, but I have added Orbs of Warding to the Sideboard, so we'll see how that goes.

On transformative Sideboards. I personally wouldn't be comfortable with the no Creature option being suggested. I prefer to TRY to win my first game, then adjust from there.

Adding Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to the deck for the second game, usually along with Declaration in Stone IS quite transformative, believe me.

People usually add Planeswalker removal into their deck for Game 2.

Imagine their horror when there are now EIGHT Planeswalkers to deal with, as opposed to five.

The earlier Planeswalker also means that they have to use their removal cards one move earlier than they planned to, and leaves more room for Ob Nixilis and Sorin to warm up.

If Gideon doesn't get Countered he is one more avenue for spitting out Tokens. Control HATES it when you can spit out Creatures without casting them.

The combo of Shambling Vent, Knights from Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Clerics from Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, and the threat of Zombies from Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is very difficult for Control to deal with in the long run.

It basically presents any removal with a three-for-one choice on every turn.

I don't understand some of the play choices made in that article. You don't Languish your own Creatures. You either hold off playing it until your Creatures are safe (Kalitas with a Zombie sac, Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip with a Transformation) or you do this trick, which I love.

Opponent has four Creatures on the field. You only have Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. You Languish. All Cretures die, you get four 2/2 Zombies.

CoCo has been used against me a lot, and might seem like a big deal, but it's never proved problematic for this reason. You CoCo 3CMC Creatures. My Creatures mostly have 3 Toughness or higher. Most of the 3CMC Creatures have 2 Power, at most. The CoCo is usually done to block. So they end up taking out one of my Creatures, at most.

If they CoCo on my End Step, I have enough Instant speed removal or blockers to kill at least one of the Creatures that has appeared.

The choice to run 25 lands is intriguing. With traditional Control decks you need at least 26 land. That is because they play PREVENTATIVE Control, using a lot of Counter spells. You can't afford not to hit your land drops.

This deck is REACTIVE. It gets to choose what to get rid of once it sees what's on the field. It can take its time. It isn't forced to Counter every threat "just in case". I've played a lot of Control in my time. I haven't wanted for mana, even since I have slowed down my base by removing Caves of Koilos for Forsaken Sanctuary.

That pro player doesn't seem to be running any To the Slaughter. That's MY answer to threats such as Dragonlord Ojutai.

I know that Secure the Wastes and early draw are both valid choices for this deck. My version plays a more dangerous game. I am happy to wait until late game for my card draw, and to gain back significant loss of life in the mid game.

That might not be the best choice professionally, but it's one that has been working in my local meta.

I totally agree with the point about using your removal wisely. That is the same for any type of Control deck. You don't throw an Anguished Unmaking at a Thraben Inspector when you've got a Dead Weight in hand.

I respect the reasoning and choices made by the article you linked. I have spent a lot of time with this deck now, and have my own perspective on how it plays.

Is it as legitimate as what the pros think? No way. I will never be good enough to play professionally.

Is it the right deck for MY local Casual meta? Absolutely.

How much impact has Gideon provided you?