URGENT Viable cards for RWU or UW control
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 4, 2014, 11:05 a.m. by Enlightened_Jedi
Really just want to see what everyone's thoughts are about these cards. Especially in a RWU or UW control setup. I'm really trying to spice up my RWU deck for an upcoming FNM. And I plan on going to the shop this morning to play some casual against the meta of the shop. I looked through my folder and found a lot of cards that I honestly just need some input or direction with, and I'm curious to just see what everyone's thought's are in regards to their effectiveness and strategy.
Haunted Plate Mail cheap card, and a nice 4/4 attacker or blocker for controls, but really have no idea whether to side it or main it.
Lavinia of the Tenth her detain is very relevant in the current meta of standard right now.
Mindsparker - I feel like a very underrated card that any deck running red could side in, especially in control mirror's. Is this just my naive experience?
Omenspeaker - Could really help 'speed' the deck up, and blocks well against aggro. Or is this just honestly a waste of space?
Render Silent - Just an all around shutdown card.
Dispel - could really help out in control mirrors, or really against any deck. I mean it cancels ALL instants. That's a huge list.
Azor's Elocutors - Could be a very budget Win con for any RWU control or UW control or even Esper
Cyclonic Rift - I see alot of split feelings for this card. Also I see some main it, others side it. Why is this? I personally love the card. But I'm torn whether I need to include it in my deck
Izzet Charm - Counters, burns, draws at a price. Is it worth it?
Archangel of Thune - Ok honestly I just have 2 copies of Thune, that I really want to use until I can get my hands on some AEtherling 's, but I do frequently see top controls siding the card. When do you usually bring this card in? Or what are your thoughts on this card personally?
Haunted Plate Mail 4 mana is hardly "cheap". The 4/4 body also doesn't line up all that well against the current environments creatures.
Lavinia of the Tenth she's more of a tempo card than a control card. Sure she might come down an detain their board for a turn, but that doesn't advance your gameplan at all. And red is very underrepresented at the moment.
Mindsparker it's just super low impact for a control mirror. A creature that doesn't protect itself and a few shocks to the face hardly matter in a long game.
Omenspeaker trading card selection for card disadvantage is not normally worth it for control decks.
Render Silent the kicker is so rarely relevant that it's a worse Dissolve , which is always useful. Counterflux however is worth looking at for the 75 for the control mirror.
Dispel not a bad card, but Gainsay is much to versatile, so it's your sideboard counter of choice.
Martial Law too slow, you can't really afford to tap out to land a Martial Law against a fast deck and not have it do anything for a turn.
Azor's Elocutors Too easy to shut down, besides AEtherling is like $2.
Cyclonic Rift not a bad 1 of, but I shy away from running any cards in my control lists that are not trading with my opponents cards, drawing me cards or are my 1-2 win-cons.
Izzet Charm Good 1-2 of.
Archangel of Thune some list will bring it out of the sideboard knowing that their opponent likely sided out all their removal after G1.
January 4, 2014 12:28 p.m.
Enlightened_Jedi says... #4
Thanks for the help and input guys.I appreciate your time.
Hopefully I can slowly put the deck together, and overall just have fun with it.
January 4, 2014 1:34 p.m.
Ultimaodin says... #5
I honestly share the love for Lavinia of the Tenth . Let's look at the popular aggro decks. Monoblue, tops it's curve off with Master of Waves at 4cmc. Mono black, with the exception of Gary and the occasional Abhorrent Overlord typically also tops its curve of at 4 with Desecration Demon. Mono red, well Porphorus as well. The thing with Lavinia is she isn't a control deck card. She's a top end for Azorius aggro detaining all creatures to go in for a lethal swing against aggro. Her massive downside his ETB effects will reactivate. There aren't a great number of ETB's seeing play at the moment but it can make Maser of Waves produce more tokens.
Azor's Elocutors - Straight of the bat, play this guy in WUG. Having access to Vorel of the Hull Clade make's Azor's a viable win con. Couple with Prophet of Kruphix and some fun control and you're good to go. (I'll most likely be playing this deck when Kiora hits for an alternate win-con)
January 4, 2014 10:09 p.m.
reverendvile777 says... #6
Ultimaodin, Lavinia of the Tenth does not retrigger ETB effects, Detain does not actually cause the cards to leave the field.
January 5, 2014 1:53 a.m.
In the last 2.5months ive been in 2 tournaments I didnt top 4, with a lot of 3-1, 4-0, 4-0-1, 3-0-1 witb uwr control(cant stop a loss if I kept a 3 land hand and didnt hit 4 till turn 8) and would say the cyclonic is a one of that feels wasted when not overloaded but is amazing vs blood baron amd buyin time, while izzet charm is always a card im happy to draw but dont want more than 1-2.
the rest I dont run, and have neber felt a want for any, ive seen lavina run in uw where theres a little more space but I wouldnt in uwr. While counterflux is so much better than render silent in that spot for when it matters, usually countering opposing elspeth, aetherling, obzedat etc
id do this is more detail but im typing on my phone.
January 5, 2014 2:10 a.m.
Enlightened_Jedi says... #8
Thanks for the help guys. I went to the more competitive shop here yesterday and done some trading in for store credit and trading with some other players and I was able to really spice up the deck.
Landed 3x Sphinx's Revelation 3x Warleader's Helix Assemble the Legion and my 4th Supreme Verdict some Counterflux 's and a bunch of cards for my bant hexproof deck.
Really all I'm missing is Elspeth some Jace's and the lands. But i'll slowly get those.
Also the meta at this store is highly Tier 1 decks. Highly competitive, yet friendly people here. I noticed a bunch of mono blue, mono black, Rw, Esper Control, and even some mono green devotion and the newly developed GR monsters.
So I'm hoping that I can be at an advantage by running the only UW or UWr deck in the meta and maybe sneaking in a few surprises a couple of tournaments.
Oh yeah btw for all control players that don't have Blind Obedience get it. now. it wrecks deck.
January 5, 2014 7:40 a.m.
Enlightened_Jedi says... #9
mckin see above and also how did you not place top 4 with good records like that? I figured a 4-0 record would do it lol
January 5, 2014 7:46 a.m.
Ultimaodin says... #10
reverendvile777 - right, for some reason I mixed it up with temporary exile. My bad, can't believe I just did that. Excuse me while I vanish in shame.
Good catch there.
January 5, 2014 9:14 a.m.
I ended up with 2 an fnm and a mondsy night at 2-2, akward moment wear guttersnipe turned 2 shocks into 8 damage
I think uwr has a big advantage in assemble the legion, mono black cant remove it and aggro cant attack it, coming down a turn earlier and before pump spells kills a turn earlier than aetherling.
CommanderOfBolas says... #2
Dispel and Archangel of Thune are both sideboard cards. you would likely bring in archangel against agro decks. her lifelink will help you stabilize. I personally prefer Fiendslayer Paladin because he gets out earlier and is harder to remove. im actually not a huge fan of lavinia. I feel like turn 5 is just too late. Cyclonic Rift is a good card. I personally have it in my sideboard. I feel like the elocuters wouldn't be good against anything but control. agro and midrange will likely be able to deal enough damge to ignore it. lots of people run Omenspeaker . I don't. I prefer to leave that slot for counters and removal. ive never used Haunted Plate Mail . it is outclassed by so many cards atm. there are 5/5 for 4 mana, 4/4 flyers with haste for 5 mana, even Loxodon Smiter is better. I do like Izzet Charm quite a bit. izzet was my first guild, so I may be a bit biased, but the charm is pretty versatile. hand fixing, countering, removing an early threat. all very relevant
January 4, 2014 11:50 a.m.