Speculation is rather unfashionable lately. There’s this whole “too cool for school” deal a lot of pros have with talking about decks and cards before they’re legal/released. I don’t buy into that myself. One mode of thought is that it’s a waste of time. The other is that without knowing all of the cards we can’t expect to pin down the metagame well enough to build a solid deck. News flash: we play Magic: the Gathering. It’s a pastime. That’s basically a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE MAGIC! I do really, I don’t think I even needed to type that in all caps for you to believe me, but come on. It’s in every pro’s best interest to evaluate and mentally if not physical playtest a format before its released.
You really think they aren’t sitting there like the rest of us clicking refresh like lab rats on a feeder at 11:59 on the mothership’s page. Foaming at the mouth, fist pumping “yes!” Or screaming “Aw Shit!” And pounding their fist to the Gods of Theros when each card either weakens or strengthens their pet strategy? (Maybe its just me, I don’t know).
The thing is writing wise there’s like two paths during prerelease season. Focus on the current meta and pretend that these decks are gonna matter in a month, or look at the shiny new toys. I can’t sleep it’s like the 5th Christmas WotC has delivered this year and I’m seeing control as a viable strategy.
Aside from the obvious, “Cuz, I’m the Durdle Magus, Dammit!” I’ll tell you why control looks good. It all starts with the Scry Lands cycle. They come into play tapped. No way to get around it. If these are in your deck you’ll have to wait to use them. You know what strategy does not want to wait to use its mana? Aggro decks. This means aggro goes back to being a one or two color thing. No longer will fast decks be able to choose the best curve from three different colors and just play them without worrying about their mana. Mono-color aggro will likely be the norm. That’s fine every color has its weakness. A solid Control deck has the resources to exploit that.
Also there are just so many powerhouse cards that seem like they need a control shell to work. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Steam Augury I’m looking at you! Fist off here’s a really rough Esper build.
Esper Control
4 Watery Grave
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Silence
6 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Dissolve
4 Omen Speaker
3 Syncopate
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Detention Sphere
3 Ashiok, Nighhtmare Weaver
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 Warped Physique
3 Far//Away
3 Sphinx’s Revelation
4 Azorius Charm
1 Ætherling
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
So, my land is gonna look like this for pretty much every deck. 26 lands 34 spells. This deck has by far the best control control. Omen Speaker and Azorius Charm smooth out early draws. Detention Sphere is here for opposing Gods (so is Azorius Charm) as well as enchantments if this proves to be an important feature of the coming meta. I see Ashiok fitting into the same niche as Lilianna of the Veil, it won’t win the game out right but left unchecked it will create a real problem for opposing control and midrange decks. With aggro decks it’ll buy you some time if they start hitting it instead of you (a mistake in my opinion). Elspeth is there to close out games, and speaking of games, we don’t want to be weak to Slaughter Games so Ætherling is good insurance. There’s plenty of counter magic and creature kill as well. I decided that Warped Physique might be better than Doom Blade but I could be incorrect there. Overall, I think this is a good place to start as far as control is concerned. It’s not terribly far away from Esper Control decks that were rampant during Gatecrash and Dragon’s Maze. Playing white and blue means we get Sphinx’s Revelation (my vote for card that makes the most impact after rotation) and Supreme Verdict. Wrathing and Drawing cards are a control player’s paradise. Maybe one day we’ll get a card that does both. Hahah I bet Matt Jones just puked in his mouth a little!
Grixis Walkers
4 Steam Vents
4 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Izzet Guildgate
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Dimir Guildgate
6 Island
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Ral Zarek
3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
3 Steam Augury
2 Opportunity
3 Magma Jet
3 Syncopate
2 Dissolve
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Ætherling
4 Omen Speaker
2 Thoughtseize
2 Quicken
When we loose white and gain red we miss out on Revelation and Verdict. This means we need other effective draw and wipe spells. Steam Augury and Opportunity provide the meat to the deck’s drawing power. The real reason to play red is the versatility of burn spells. Magma Jet and Ral Zarek can finish out games. Instant speed removal shouldn’t be discounted. Being able to brick a Rampager’d 2 toughness creature or finish off a 5 toughness lay about after the gods get mad. Anger of the Gods is really interesting. If there is a Reanimator strategy I hardly think a 3 toughness anything would be a target but Immortal Servitude is a card. So who knows. Ætherling still seems like the closer of choice with Jace and Ashiok in reserve for insurance. The lack of low mana cantrips has me on quicken as a two of with Magma Jet and Dissolve helping to find those early land drops. Also late game you can get cute with Quicken and Thoughtseize during a draw step when Thoughtseize might otherwise be worthless. The deck boasts 11 Scry cards that I think could really glue it together.
UWR
4 Steam Vents
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Scared Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
6 Islands
2 Plains
2 Mountain
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Sphinx’s Revelation
4 Azorius Charm
3 Magma Jet
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Jace Architect of Thought
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
1 Detention Sphere
2 Dissolve
3 Syncopate
4 Omen Speaker
1 Steam Augury
1 Warleader’s Helix
1 Ætherling
1 Anger of the Gods
Personally, America builds for control tend to be my favorites. You get the massive unconditional board wipes from Supreme Verdict, the card draw of Sphinx’s Revelation and the targeted instant removal of Magma Jet. Combine that with Detention Sphere’s catch all, and Jace/Elspeth to keep me in the game if things start to go the wrong way, it’s a no-brainer. Again we can Scry 11 times, meaning that land drops should happen as we need them and answers should be on time. It’s a good place to be.
Overall these are rough sketches of the coming meta but good starting points. I see Omen Speaker replacing Augur of Bolas for the next couple of years. Dissolve could take over for Dissipate and Elspeth as the Planeswalker we all wanted Gideon to be. Next week I’ll try my hand at two more three color Blue decks (BUG and RUG) for now I’m gonna test these out and see if I like the way they feel. It’s Thursday night at 11:40… I’m staying up for at least long enough to sneak a peak at what goodies Santa has in store in the next two weeks. I’ll be PTQing at the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan this Saturday with my fellow Hipsters. Say hi if you see me!
Zac Clark, Durdle Magus