At the height of the Alara-Zendikar Standard block, there was an alliance, a group so strong that it took over the metagame. It was a force to be reckoned with, a deck that changed the way people brewed decks and vaulted a permanent type to the top of the game. The permanent? Planeswalkers. The deck? UWr Planeswalker Control, or as its better known, Super Friends. Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Jace, the Mind Scluptor,
Ajani Vengeant
, and Gideon Jura were all heavily involved with making this deck so very OP.
Now, obviously the deck you see here is not Super Friends. I give you The Legion of Doom, a Grixis (UBR) Planeswalker Control deck that can deal with multiple styles of decks, and win in a few fashions.
This Grixis deck has its standard grip of land, the all-important dual lands being the core of the mana base, with two utility lands providing extra effects.
Desolate Lighthouse
, the first of the two, provides more card draw, very important in a control deck to draw as many cards in the library as possible.
Nephalia Drownyard
, provides the deck with its first win condition.
Skullcrack, means more than just 3 damage to the dome, it means no life bonus from Thragtusk and sphinxes revelation, two of the most popular cards in the format right now.
Devil's Play is a finisher, and is also spot removal for any pesky creatures. Playing two of them, considering their flashback, means I'm playing four and a late game Devil's Play in the bin is when things are close is always good.
Ultimate Price is no Doomblade or Go for the Throat, but it certainly does the job with a lot of the popular creatures of the format.
Dreadbore takes care of quite a few of the other creatures in the format, namely Loxodon Smiter, Olivia Voldaren, and assumedly the steady flow of multicolor creatures coming from Gatecrash. Oh and Dreadbore also takes care of planeswalkers.
Of course, I could always just Duress planeswalkers out of my opponents hand, or check for counters before I play some big spells and take out game winners from my opponent as well.
With the popularity of Hexproof Aura decks, targeting with spot removal isn't really going to do it. Which is why I have
Barter in Blood
against pesky Geist of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker.
Curse of Death's Hold is a real champ in this deck, killing their tokens out right, along with mana dorks like Avacyn's Pilgrim and Arbor Elf.
Psychic Strike is a good counterspell, and furthers the mill route of winning with this deck.
Counterflux stops and counter wars.
Lone Revenant
is amazing, it's Impulse on a 4/4 Hexproof body. Control is really fond of card draw and deck manipulation, and hitting them for 4 is just a bonus.
Snapcaster Mage mostly targets counterspells in the graveyard, but can reuse kill spells as well.
Think Twice
is standard card draw in this format now that Ponder is gone.
Rakdos Keyrune is the BEST keyrune. Why? Because it kills Thragtusk and the subsequent beastie it creates. And it doesn't die. First strike is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Dimir Keyrune
you can have all the beasts, vampires, angels on your side of the field, but this little keyrune that could is still gonna hit you for 2. Along with Rakdos Keyrune,
Dimir Keyrune
helps fix the all important mana base in a control deck. More often than not, the win condition is Keyrune Beat Down.
Chandra, the Firebrand kills mana dorks, copies, Devil's Play for the win, and generally makes it hard for opponents to deal with putting creatures on the field.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, let's tap down your creatures, let's tap down your key lands, let's tap down things. And once I reach the ultimate, let's just recycle our counterspells and kill spells. Sounds fun right?
Jace, Memory Adept mills 10 cards off your opponent's library. Provides card draw as well, and if I get Tamiyo, the Moon Sage to her ultimate, I can "mill" myself and get 10 cards into my hand.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker just wrecks opponents. More often than not, once he's on the field, my opponent just scoops.
