Counter, Counter, Okay, Board Wipe, Hand Extension (Standard MTG Deck)

I've been running UW control since the beginning of KTK standard, first I was an aggro player but got frustrated about not being able to really interact with the opponent and pretty much losing to cost efficent sweepers often so I decided to make my first control deck, this one. It's been preforming outstandingly against the meta and am very very surprised that nobody besides Jim Davis is actually running UW control. It destroys midrange archetypes and all the whip variants, it has enough counters to bide time against aggro decks and has a ton of sideboard materials to effectively be AT LEAST 50/50 against every match up. The deck is really strong but you cannot miss a step, one fumble and it's game over. Tight plays are essential, you must plan out 5 turns ahead and think about what the opponent may play and what they can do in response to your counters. I strongly recommend knowing your local meta as Sideboard AND Mainboard can be drastically different depending on it. Also know the top decks, how they play, what will frustrate them if countered, and what they will bring in G2, G3.

With Fate Reforged, we gain several tools to use at our disposal. Monastery Mentor is a great win condition. It applies pressure almost as well as Elspeth, Sun's Champion but can actually be fairly safely played T6 as you can hold counters in your hand to defend him/her. The counters work well to generate the tokens and Banishing Light, and holding counters up to combat whatever comes next will allow prowess to trigger. Reality Shift allows us to have a 2 mana instant speed removal that hits Stormbreath Dragon, and other resolved/unresolved creatures attempting to hit the field. Though this is very very strong and Banishing Lights will still remain because they can hit Jeskai Ascendancys, other Banishing Lights, Planeswalkers and Whips. We also gained Monastery Siege which will help us in the Burn Matchup as they will severely slow down with the "Dragons" choice. And lastly we got Neutralizing Blast , a solid counter spell in the wedge format we are in though Disdainful Stroke hits much more so I'll keep it as a 1-of

As for my card choices, I'll address the ones most people have questions about.

I chose Font of Fortunes in place of Divination because it allows me to play something T2, leave counters up T3 and crack EOT T3 if they have nothing to counter. It hasn't been a problem that it costs 1 more total mana as later in the game 3 v 4 mana really isn't an issue. It just makes the opponent think about what they play T3, while also netting me cards. Half the battle in control is playing the mind game.

Mainboard Negate, people always critique me and scold me on using it mainboard. Thing is, it catches people off guard game 1. They attempt to cast Hordeling Outburst or Sarkhan or Jeskai Ascendancy or Nissa or Whip, or some other problematic card because I'm only holding 2 mana up and Negate hits it. Nothing feels better than when they attempt to kill Elspeth with their mostly useless Hero's Downfall and Negate in response.

There are counterspells and draw, fairly standard with win conditions consisting of several different 1-ofs as any of them could win you the game and easily is sided out for better spells if one or the other doesn't work out in the match up. Resolute Archangel has been a work horse, causing scoops on scoops because after burning so much steam to get me down to 4/5 health then going back up to 20 with 5/6 cards in my hand, they really can't do anything.

I'll be adding in here my FNM reports and my thought processes and if people are interested I can post match up analysis or tell you more about my card choices.

This will always be under construction as this is my pet deck.

Don't forget to +1!

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FNM Report — Jan. 10, 2015

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I went Top 4 out of 40+ FNMers by playing my deck. (Pre-FTF)

Match 1 was Temur Enchantments? It had Savage Knuckleblade and things seen in UW Heroic, I basically responded with too many counters for him to really get going then Elsepth took over the games. I lost a game to multiple Knuckles and him returning them to his hand but otherwise, won fairly easily.

2-1

Match 2 was against Mono white Heroic, I knew i couldn't do anything to stop him from playing creatures so I let him keep the 1/2 0/4's and countered the spells he casted to target (He still triggers Heroic) and used my life as a resource to stall until I could get out the Angel. G2 I did similarly, siding in Atherspouts and Brimaz as stallers to get Elsepth online.

2-0

4-1

Match 3 I played against Mardu Token/aggro. Game 1 he just barely got there with Seeker triggers. I sided in Brimaz, Aethersprouts, Raise the Alarm, Last breath, taking out an Elspeth, Pearl Lake, and Disdainful Stroke. I countered til T6 when I could get Brimaz out and swung with him while still having blockers, He died fairly quickly after that. G3 he got really really mana screwed so I won.

2-1

6-2

Match 4 I just drew with my friend to get into top 8 as we both were one of the few 3-0 records but we played for fun til time was called. He plays jeskai Control his own homebrew with Mindswipe, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Keranos, God of Storms, and Narset, Enlightened Master. He won the first game as I drew 0 of my card draw and simply burned me to death and G2, I had too many counters for him to deal with and I got to resolve Resolute Archangel. We didn't have much time to play a 3rd but I feel it would've been in my favor as he doesn't have much that can deal with any of my wincons if they resolve.

Cut top top 8. I played against green devotion strangely enough. G1 he apparently plays 4x Mainboard Mistcutter Hydra, I deal with 3 of them and have him top decking with 4 cards in hand. There wasn't anything left for him to draw to really kill me at 6 health besides mistcutter. And he drew it. We laughed, G2 and G3 I countered and End Hostilitied everything he laid out and Elsepth did her job again.

Top 4. I play against my worst matchup, a finely tuned Temur Midrange/Aggro. Really I don't know what I could've done here. G1 he destroys me with Savage Knuckleblades and Sarkhan, and Satyrs. G2 He does the same thing except this time he sides in Stubborn Denial and Savage Knuckleblade resolves because Denial counters my counter. Then it's just game.

So ending 4-1-1 for the night.

Overally I played well and think that this deck is still very well positioned against the meta and strongly advocate it to those of you who like to play tight and think of Magic like chess, where each space matters. Really really fun! I'm glad my homebrew is working out.

Cleared Comments - FNM — Jan. 3, 2014

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Date added	10 years
Last updated	9 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 6 Mythic Rares 19 - 3 Rares 7 - 3 Uncommons 16 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.59
Tokens	Cat Soldier 1/1 W, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Manifest 2/2 C, Soldier 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W
Folders	Deck ideas
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