WarcraftParadise

Breaking Dawn - UW Control Part 2

21 May 2010 | Jack Ding

Here is the list again for reference:

Lands: (22)

4 [M10] Island (1)
6 [M10] Plains (1)
4 [M10] Glacial Fortress
4 [WWK] Celestial Colonnade
2 [WWK] Tectonic Edge
1 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
1 [ZEN] Arid Mesa

Creatures: (9)

3 [ALA] Knight of the White Orchid
3 [M10] Baneslayer Angel
3 [ROE] Wall of Omens

Spells: (29)

3 [CNF] Path to Exile
2 [ZEN] Day of Judgment
3 [ALA] Oblivion Ring
2 [CNF] Martial Coup
3 [ROE] Gideon Jura
4 [ZEN] Spreading Seas
2 [ALA] Elspeth Knight-Errant
2 [WWK] Everflowing Chalice
3 [ARB] Fieldmist Borderpost
2 [M10] Mind Spring
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard: (15)

4 [M10] Negate
2 [M10] Mind Control
2 [M10] Celestial Purge
2 [ZEN] Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 [ROE] Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 [WWK] Admonition Angel
1 [LRW] Jace Beleren
2 [WWK] Kor Firewalker

The Maindeck:

I will start with what will be the least stock part of the decklist. Ever since RoE was released Knight of the White Orchid (along with Borderposts) have been dropped in favour of Wall of Omens. In addition, most of the acceleration in UW decks have disappeared altogether with the exception of 1-2 Everflowing Chalices in the builds which still run X spells. While this makes the deck slightly more consistent you lose any chance of having an explosive draw. Every game you will be casting you spells at their proper place on the curve rather than ever being able to get a nut draw. However, if this was the only reason for running this engine the tradeoff of consistency for power would not be worth it. Elspeth is the main reason the engine is worth it. You may have noticed that Wall of Omens cannot attack. This means than when a normal UW deck casts Elspeth it cannot attack immediately. If you have a Knight of the White Orchid in play instead you can attack immediately. In fact, even the threat of being able to attack immediately gives you a huge advantage in the mirror or any matchup involving Planeswalkers. This forces your opponent to lead with Gideon or Elspeth instead of JaceTMS. That being said drawing a 2nd copy of either Knight of the White Orchid or Borderpost early one is rather underwhelming which is why there are not full playsets of both. The rest of the manabase is very standard with 2 Tectonic Edges being 1 less than usual because of the higher basic land requirements.

I don’t think I need to say anything about Spreading Seas beyond the usual best card in Standard blah blah etc etc. Wall of Omens is also really strong and in conjunction they help filter through to the better cards in your deck while providing free tempo and card advantage. The only reason I am not running 4 Wall of Omens is because of space constraints and Spreading Seas is better in more matchups (i.e. in all matchups while Wall of Omens is not very good in the mirror).
We all know how good JaceTMS is by now. However, while Jund has declined in popularity Grixis has increased which makes the net change in number of Blightnings in the metagame about zero. This deck is better than every other deck other than Grixis at maintaining Jace advantage and an active Jace for more than 3 turns will almost always win the game. It is possible that I should run the 4th Jace but the list is very tight at the moment. The options which might be replaced include Baneslayer Angel or Martial Coup.

2-2-2 split of the generic spells with late game scalability. Mind Spring is universal and mandates a few copies of Everflowing Chalice. Martial Coup has been getting cut from UW lists lately and while running extra Day of Judgments may be a correct metagame decision Martial Coup is far superior at putting the final nail in the coffin of decks that try to win though attacking. Plus it is incredibly efficient against Planeswalker Control.

Since I am running Martial Coup 2 Day of Judgment are plenty of crowd control. Most UW Control lists both pre and post RoE have been running 0-2 Path to Exiles. They are crucial in the Mythic matchup as it is your only instant speed removal. If you like taking infinite from a mana dork turned Eldrazi then you should skimp. It is also a decent (not spectacular) answer to Sedraxis Spectre. Oblivion Ring is pretty much the best removal spell in T2 right now behind Maelstrom Pulse. The only reason I am not running the 4th is that it is not worth giving up the extra % points against Jund for the last copy.

These two are your heavy hitters and most games you will win by attacking with either one or both of these. While Gideon has been called the white Time Warp, in reality he is much better than that. He is a reusable source of removal while simultaneously saving you a lot of bleeding from incidental beatdown. I would cut Baneslayer Angel before cutting Gideon. I have a bit of a problem with Baneslayer Angel you see. People who know me will know that I hate the card and think it is terribly positioned in T2. That fact that I am playing it in the deck does not mean I have changed my opinion. Unfortunately, it is the easiest way to beat poor draws or badly designed beatdown decks (read: Mono Red). However, it is terrible against UW, Jund and Mythic which are basically the Tier 1 in T2. Plus I will have to admit I do get some perverse satisfaction out of putting my $50 piece of cardboard onto the table against casual players playing in competitive events. Fold? Thought so. I am a very bad man. Anyway it is the card that gets sided out the most often.

Sideboard:

Standard sideboard cards which offer strict upgrades to cards in the maindeck in multiple matchups. Mind Control is particularly important as it gives you another out to Malakir Bloodwitch other than Day of Judgment/Martial Coup and is more flexible than Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Negate is important in not losing to terrible combo decks like Polymorph and Open the Vaults. Jace Berelen is just 4th JaceTMS with the added bonus of being able to beat your opponent to a Jace even on the draw. Kor Firewalker is admittedly good against Mono Red but is the most narrow card in the sideboard.

Every sideboard needs some mise value right? Admonition Angel is the epitome of mise value against decks like Mythic and Naya Allies, especially if you draw a fetchland. If you draw this card you can sculpt your entire game plan around it safe in the knowledge that it will deliver. It is well worth its slot. Ulamog has been adopted recently by UW control decks for dealing with Mill decks as well as being fantastic in the mirror as an uncounterable answer to Planeswalkers which sometimes gets to attack for humiliating results. 11 mana is not a lot in the mirror and being indestructible is actually sometimes a relevant ability (although still not worth the extra mana he costs as a result).

Keep in mind that I am not trying to convince you that this is the ‘next level’ of UW control in Standard or that it is the best list you should run. I am offering rationalizations for one possible build which might suit your playstyle/metagame. Standard is very open right now and although Mythic is the clear deck to beat right now the most important thing is to play the deck you are most comfortable with. Just make sure it is at least Tier 1-1.5 and you should be fine.

For discussion.