Since Blood Moon is no longer going to be too slow with L...

Since Blood Moon is no longer going to be too slow with Long nixed, I thought I'd return to an old favorite of mine, U/R control. Replacing Ophidian with Isochron Scepter seems to be the word of the day, so I decided to try my hand at it. What follows is the build that I plan to play in January, and a theoretical analysis of some potential matchups.

  One final note before the list. The store I play at does the proxy-5 thing, which is why this lacks more than 6 power (I own only Ancestral for the time being).

The Deck Formerly Known as Urphidian
//Countermagic
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection

//Draw\Search
4 Brainstorm
2 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Future Sight
1 Mystical Tutor

//Mana Denial
3 Stifle
2 Blood Moon
2 Gorilla Shaman

//Other
4 Isochron Scepter
3 Fire/Ice
1 Time Walk
1 Morphling

//Mana
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
4 Volcanic Island
5 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island (Why? Because I can!)
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

//Sideboard
1 Blood Moon
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Fire/Ice
1 Rack and Ruin
4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Stifle
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Tormod's Crypt

And now for some matchup analysis.
DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the resources to playtest the way I would like, so I have to content myself with theorizing. I would welcome the wisdom of those who may have actually fully tested this archetype, and would love some critical discussion of my comments. I do not consider the following to be authoritative or definitive, but merely a grounds for intelligent discourse. I could very well be wrong.

Dragon
   The very threat of Stifle in this deck forces the Dragon player to slow-play and be cautious, Duressing and making sure he has counter backup when he goes off. This works in this deck's favor, but I would not say it is a favorable match. Though Blood Moon is not answerable by Dragon's main deck, it costs 3, and the deck lacks the tutoring power of Keeper to dig it up.
   Post sideboard, things look a lot better, and I mean a _lot_. There are 9 cards to bring in, all of which cost 1 mana or less, and all of which can replace cards not really necessary for the matchup like Misdirection and Isochron Scepter. You end up having a full complement of 4 Forces, 4 Drains, 4 Stifles, 4 REB's, 2 BEB's, and 2 Tormod's Crypts with which to help kill Dragon's combo. The overwhelming amount of hate, I believe, will make things extremely difficult for the Dragon player to deal with.

Keeper
   Blood Moon is the key here. If you can resolve an early Blood Moon, you stand a good chance of winning the match. Keeper relies extremely heavily on its assortment of non-basic lands, and turning them all into Mountains is devastating, particularly if the Keeper player is unprepared with no basic Islands. Still, Scepter is a threat that still works under Blood Moon, so you must stay on your toes, and a single Mox Pearl can turn a win into a loss via a cycled of Decree of Justice, so holding onto a Stifle would be wise. Keeper is an extremely dangerous deck, as it can tutor up answers and have turns that are just explosive, but your counterbase is larger with the 2 Misdirections, and this advantage should not be discounted.
   Post board, again things improve for this deck, as you have 4 Red Blasts and a third Blood Moon at your disposal. I haven't thought too much about specific sideboarding strategy against Keeper, however, as I'm the only person around here who plays it.

Workshop Decks
   Mishra's Mountain is crap compared to Mishra's Workshop. Again, Blood Moon is key. Fortunately, barring the odd Null Brooch, Workshop decks have no way to keep it from hitting the table if you get the mana. Fire/Ice's for Welders and judiciously applied counters can keep this matchup from getting out of hand. Boarding gives you BEB, a third Blood Moon, and even Tormod's Crypt, if Welder is bugging you that much. I think I would leave the Pulse and Rack in the board to wish for, but this is something only testing could bear out.

Spoils Mask
   Scary. Mox Monkey cannot eat the Dreadnought, and you have to hope like hell that you have the counters in hand to keep the beastie from entering play. Blood Moon is useless, as the manabase is nearly all Swamps. Your best bet is Stifles and control magic. If they cast spoils, stop it. If they cast mask, stop it. If you fail at these tasks, you will lose. I have to say that this match scares the crap out of me, and I'm glad there are no Masks in my area.

Suicide Black
   Fire/Ice does nasty things to Negators, but again Blood Moon doesn't help much, and neither does the sideboard. Misdirection can be a clutch spell here, throwing a Hymn back at the Sui player or a Sinkhole at a Swamp. Spheres and Chalices may be nasty surprises waiting in the wings if the Sui player is up-to-date on his tech, so be aware of the threat they pose. If you can stabilize enough to put a Fire/Ice on a Scepter, you stand a good chance at winning the match, but watch out for Bloody Suicide, which has the answers for your artifacts.
   Sometimes this deck is going to go busted, however, and drop threats faster than you can deal. Not having Swords to Plowshares is the biggest hit you take in moving from Keeper to U/R, which is why I want to try the sole Swords in the board as a wish target to throw on a stick.

Fish
   Curious faeries and Lavamancers die in droves to Fire/Ice, and Blood Moon stops the manlands from swinging. Though you have less drawing power than Fish, your counterbase is similar and your Stifles can give you a strong tempo boost against this tempo-oriented deck. This is perhaps the easiest of the aggro matchups for U/R to handle.

Tog
   Tog has Duress, you have Misdirection. Unfortunately, Tog has far superior draw and will see its counters more frequently. Blood Moon again is critical. If you can resolve it before Teethy hits the table, you can likely win. If you can't, you will likely lose.
   Bear in mind here the versatility of Stifle. If the Tog player is very close on his math, a surprise Stifle at the right moment may be able to steal you a game. This probably won't happen though unless the Tog player is careless or overconfident, so don't count on it.

A final comment before I end this post, this sideboard was created for my meta, which has a heavy Dragon complement. If there were more Workshops I might forego some Dragon hate for more artifact hate.

-David 'Klep' Kleppinger, Raving Lunatic