Special thanks to Mr. Conley Woods for his impressive showing with the archetype in the latest MTGO PTQ! I will be using his original list as the basis for moving forward with the archetype. I highly suggest looking at his 75 before contributing to the Primers or this Tapped-Out hub as there are some changes to the maindeck and sideboard. These will be explained below.
This archetype has come pretty far in the past month, and it is finally starting to make showings in Majors and has even won a minor: Standard PPTQ WinIt looks as though this current season's iteration of the deck can finally be solved.
I may have underestimated UB Control after the passing of Grasp of Darkness, but I still feel as though this archetype can knock control out of contention. We have the tools to nullify their card advantage, deal with their pesky win-cons, and can attack them from plenty of different angles. We also scry more than any other deck in Magic the Gathering... With an answer for anything the format can throw at us, we'll usually be drawing it on our next turn.
Speaking of matchups, ours are still quite good (even dominating) against the likes of Ramanup Red and Temur/Sultai/4c Energy (hereafter referred to as the Energy decks). Although the current lists have sadly dropped Gifted Aetherborn, it is understandable because of how flexible removal has become this season. At least Contraband Kingpin is sticking around, and for good reason. Anyways, on to card choices!
Let's begin with the lands: 23 of them! I've kept the land suite that Conley Woods used in his deck, and of course it works excellently. Whilst heavily leaning towards generating , the land-base fixes itself remarkably quickly, especially with the help of the 4 Evolving Wilds and 4 Renegade Map. Whether you are trying to play Hidden Stockpile or Contraband Kingpin on turn 2, you will likely get there.
Next, let's talk about the creature package: Contraband Kingpin and Marionette Master.
Contraband Kingpin allows the deck to spin it's wheels; it is synergistic with almost every permanent card in the deck, and is even a nightmare blocker against aggro decks. With a living Kingpin on the field, expect to be scrying about 20+ times a game. How could you lose in that scenario?
I know it's not likely that he lives, because opponents will learn to respect that kind of consistency. Prepare for him to eat some Fatal Push or Harnessed Lightning, and make sure that you are prepared to lose him after successful blocks as Ramanup Red is now using Shock and Lightning Strike, too!
Marionette Master is how we usually win, and she is a monster! There are so many ways to deal an instant-speed 20 damage to your opponent in this deck, and they all tend to synergize and advance your board on their own, anyways. Might as well be able to kill your opponent with them, right? Hidden Stockpile to sack servos,
treasure map
generates 12 damage on it's own, and Tezzeret the Schemer is a daunting powerhouse that can add his own contributions of pingers. This is your "I Win" button in most games. For the games you can't win with Marionette, you just have to try a little harder.
Which leads to me to our secondary win-cons: Tezzeret the Schemer and Hidden Stockpile.
With the release of Ixalan and the death of Clue tokens (good riddance), Treasures are the name of the game. What's even better than a turn-by-turn treasure (Etherium Cell) generator? One that can kill any creature with enough set-up (Hazoret the Fervent), and can actually win the game on it's own. Tezzeret can even be used to give Marionette Master +X/-X to continuously card:Lave Axe (or better) your opponent's face! Synergy.
Next is Hidden Stockpile, and as much as I have tried to keep my deck from going into a third color, Hidden Stockpile is too amazing not to play. This card is so deceptively good and integral to our gameplan, that I wouldn't consider playing the archetype without it anymore. Most of our cards are Revolt enablers to begin with, but Hidden Stockpile is a self-perpetuating engine after the first Revolt trigger! No matter what, you will continually make a servo token at beginning of your end step if you are able to trigger it manually once! And, y'know, it also scrys and is a sac-outlet for Marionette Master, too...
Furthermore, our "Enablers" are pretty great!
treasure map
, Renegade Map, and
Spell Swindle
are multi-faceted, powerful, and the card necessary to generate a win (immediately or not).
treasure map
is nuts. And I would never consider running any less than a playset. Whether this is coming down on turn 2 or turn 10, it can make a gradually powerful impact on the game. It sets up our draws, ramps us, kills our opponent, and will eventually refill our hand. This is the card that makes the deck function, in my opinion.
Renegade Map is here, too. And I greatly underestimated this card. This card fixes our lands, powers up Tezzeret's drain ability, can be used to enable Revolt, and can kill our opponent with Marionette! All of the enablers run together in this way, and it makes this excellent synergy the deck's greatest weapon.
Spell Swindle
. I don't how much more I can praise this card, but, for a time, I was running the full playset. I felt like everytime I had cast it, I won the game shortly after. A playset was incorrect, but it more than warrants it's spots in the maindeck and sideboard. Use them wisely.
Finally, we have our removal and disruption suite: Fatal Push, Cast Out, Fumigate, Harsh Scrutiny, and Doomfall.
Fatal Push is one of the best removal spells ever printed. About a month ago, I felt that this card had no place in Standard as I felt that there weren't many great targets that other removal couldn't handle. I was wrong again. Ramanup Red is still alive and well, albeit with a bigger game plan than before, The Energy decks are still quite close to the ground in game 1, and a lot of other decks are abusing the likes of Kitesail Freebooter, Hostage Taker, and
God-Pharaoh's Gift
. That is a lot of targets.
Cast Out is amazing! An instant speed, easily affordable, cyclable, catch-all removal that almost makes me take Vraska's Contempt out of the maybe-board! It also makes
The Scarab God
look quite silly. 'Nuff said.
Fumigate is the best boardwipe in standard. Early versions of the deck were running Bontu's Last Reckoning, and maybe about 80% of the time I had no problems with it. However, in the other 20% of the time, I lost the game. BLR is much too risky a card for a deck that runs less than 26 lands. And even though we can use Treasures and Etherium Cells to stay afloat after it's resolution, we are spending our win-cons to make that happen. I'd much rather not have to worry about that after cleaning up the board! And Fumigate gains us life, so...
The last two pieces of our deck are entirely meta-dependent, so I'll try to explain them using the meta as a focus.
Harsh Scrutiny is excellent against anything that's not UW Approach. Even against UB Control, we can still take
The Scarab God
or Torrential Gearhulk, and I find those are much better targets than if we were to Duress their Glimmer of Genius, counterspells, or removal in Game 1. Harsh Scrutiny is a meta-call for the lack of UW Approach decks showing up to events near me.
Doomfall is actually quite well-positioned right now, and it's not because of the Energy decks. Since UB Control shook up Worlds, it has become the most popular control archetype this season. Doomfall is amazing against this deck. It will hit everything in their hand, exiling the card (this is huge), and can take their removal, counter-spells, and win-cons permanently! Also, UB Control usually won't have more than one creature on the field at a time (if you're fast enough), so Doomfall's second function is quite nice. This is a meta-call against the strong showing of UB Control.
I will get to the sideboard soon, as I've only made slight alterations to Conley Wood's 15. Stay tuned for more!
