Visions From Beyond
Hello readers! This is Samuel Wells, back with another deck primer for possible competitors of the new standard.
This week I will be going back to the control side of magic. I will also be revisiting a color combination that I covered recently. I will be going over a Sultai Control list. Once again I focused on extracting value and having my win-con be arbitrary.
Without any more hesitation here is the deck;
Like the BW control list I covered a couple weeks back, the deck is trying to win with very hard to deal with permanents and has the rest of the deck try to trade one for one to get to a point where the threat can close out the game efficiently. I decided on the win-cons of the deck to be 3 Prognostic Sphinx and 1 Garruk, Apex Predator. There are other cards that can get can the job done, but are in the deck to generate value and maintain card advantage. I chose these two cards as my primary win-cons fairly quickly when I began working on the deck. Prognostic Sphinx was one of the best threats in Block constructed for the simple fact that there are so few viable ways to get it off the board and it is an evasive creature. That is a great start, but then you add the fact that it combats other threats so efficiently. It goes under the Elspeth minus ability and flies over the tokens. He was the best place to be against Elspeth in block and I don’t think that has changed. Then Sphinx is also the perfect body to block Stormbreath Dragon and Sarkhan all day. The fact that he negates key threats until you can draw an answer is huge. And once you do, he can close out the game and assure you are drawing gas all the while. I did not want the playset, but rather run one other threat that is able to go over the top. Garruk is the best card in standard for that. The closest comparison to another walker in when he hits the table is Karn. I would not say that he is nearly as good as Karn, but in this weaker standard I would say his impact is similar.
After the threats, the deck built itself very quickly. I got to run the normal interactive spells with Dissolve, Downfall, and Thoughtseize. These dominated the previous year and they are here to stay until next fall. I also added 2 Murderous cuts to round out the removal package. I will very easily be able to dig through my deck and have shaff in the yard to delve to cut. Cut will be a 1 mana kill spell from the midgame on. That is very nice when I am looking to nearly tap out for a threat and still have some interaction.
After that I included the mana package that everyone is seemingly tries to run. Playset of Courser and Caryatid. Caryatid is a perfect 2 drop, both being able block and assures that I will be getting the mana that I need when I need it. Courser helps do both of those things, but then he also has some of the strongest synergies within the deck. Firstly, we have his ‘combo’ with fetch-lands that I discussed in my article “Embracing The Monochrome” and that is certainly present still. But then we have his interaction with Prognostic Sphinx as well. This was a pairing that I did not consider immediately powerful, but after seeing the interaction a couple times, this looks very sweet. Getting to scry 3 almost assures finding a land in a deck that runs as many as this one does. So Sphinx almost feels like a land tutor within the deck. Getting to set up my draw feels really nice to this extent feels really nice. Finally, I like how Courser pairs with Kiora. He is able to block and help her to stabilize the board against the aggro player and once that is done he works well with her minus ability to gain life and get value from the extra land drop. All of the mid-range aspects to the deck feel they fit together very nicely.
Once I got all of those aspects in order I turned my focus to the draw effects that hold control decks together. I put in a mix of spells that help early and ones that are big effects. I chose to run 3 read the bones and 2 dig through time. Read the bones is the best draw effect in the early game and allows for a deck to keep up early on. Dig Through Time has proven to be so incredibly powerful and easy to cast for reasonably cheap. I have not seen many Dig Through Times that didn't find two hugely impactful spells. I have a feeling that Dig Through Time will do a job of replacing Sphinx’s rev for the control players. I have considered going up to a third Dig, but was nervous of taxing the yard too much.
Finally I have my sideboard, which is a very typical assortment for my sideboard. I have a large number of slots dedicated to beating aggro. I have a couple walkers and other cards that let me play long. I also dedicated some number of slots to more narrow issues. I added 2 Tormod’s Crypt to beat the graveyard decks, that I think are on the verge of being very strong. And 2 unravel the aether, to be gods which are often the best way to be control decks. This is a very straightforward control sideboard, just how I like it.
That is all for this week. Thank you for reading! This has been Samuel Wells with another Visions From Beyond.
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