UW Control...it's a weird one.

[EKM_Ichorid]

UW Control "Bomb Squad"
by Mike LeVine

Lands and Mana///23
4 Wasteland
R Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Island
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
R Mox Pearl
R Mox Sapphire
R Black Lotus
R Sol Ring

Beats///6
1 Platinum Angel
1 Exalted Angel
4 Meddling Mage

Control///20
R Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Daze
3 Mana Drain
4 Commandeer
4 Force of Will
4 Chalice of the Void

Fuel///11
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Gush
R Mystical Tutor
R Ancestral Recall
R Tinker
4 Brainstorm

Sideboard///15
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Energy Flux
2 Old Man of the Sea
2 Echoing Truth
3 Null Rod

This deck looks bad on paper. It uses Commandeer, so of course it must suck. But it doesn't at all. We've been testing it on SCG and this deck really just rocks. It's ability to control early bombs is amazing, and it's really got great matchups across the board. It can beat alot the really fast decks by outplaying them...Commandeer is awesome against every combo deck, and loves to grab Merchant Scrolls against Flash and Crucibles against Stax. It's a bomb-stealing bomb for free, which produces massive psychological and tempo advantage at the cost of card disadvantage. It follows it up with plenty of bombs, like stealing a Demonic Tutor to grab Balance/Recall/Tinker or stealing a Lotus to cast bombs already in hand. Sure, it can't take Tog or Welder. However, it can take Gush, Cunning Wish, and Smokestack. It can't take Tendrils, but it can take Will or Gifts or Ancestral or any Tutor. Combined with 6 other free counters and a pretty decent draw engine, this deck disrupts greatly. The deck can take on Ichorid easily, with a decent matchup pre-board and an awesome matchup post-board. It's got a decent match with Flash, where realisically you just need to not let them resolve Flash. Slaver is a lovely card to Comandeer, and if you can keep Welder out of the picture its a great game for you. Combo is almost no contest, and Fish has a hard time with Angels and Old Men. This deck is great over all, and really needs to be test by more competitive players.

The game play is simply. Disrupt an early bomb, take control, and ride Factories/Mages/Angels to victory. The board is great against Tog/Ichorid/Flash and has a special nine slots for the worst matchup, Stax.

There are a bunch of people testing this deck right now (I've already ran into 3 mirror matches on MWS) and there should be more. Let me know what you guys think.

[LotusHead]

I died at the hands of a deck like this.

Commandeered my crucible, then wasted my shit and did Factory Beats for the kill FTW!

Was lame, but I died.

I sided out all Non=Creature threats, and sided in Fatties, and died to Chalice for 0 (I topdecked needed moxen 3 turns in a row. Lame).

I still died.

[EKM_Ichorid]

I died at the hands of a deck like this.

Commandeered my crucible, then wasted my shit and did Factory Beats for the kill FTW!

Was lame, but I died.

I sided out all Non=Creature threats, and sided in Fatties, and died to Chalice for 0 (I topdecked needed moxen 3 turns in a row. Lame).

I still died.

Alot of people have been testing different versions of this deck. It's a tight deck, but alot of people have different versions and they've been floating around alot.

[Implacable]

I have also been testing this deck (I assume that Ichorid_Sucks on MWS is you, EKM?).  This deck is, simply, viable.  It looks like a pile, and I only started testing it for a laugh.  However, the deck is just good.  Stealing something as simple as a Merchant Scroll is a very good play.  My version is a little different; I run another Gush and another Drain for the two Dazes, and play Honor the Fallen over Leyline & Threads of Disloyalty (they take Dryads) in the board.  This deck takes a position as a new control deck in the format; with the departure of Gifts, control has been greatly weakened.

[desolutionist]

Wasteland and Chalice are really good post Gush.  This might be playable.

I would just play Foil over Commandeer.  (Foil + Gush = Force of Will)

[EKM_Ichorid]

Wasteland and Chalice are really good post Gush.  This might be playable.

I would just play Foil over Commandeer.  (Foil + Gush = Force of Will)

Commandeer steals bombs, it's the best card in this deck.

[Shock Wave]

Interesting list. How are those Dazes doing? They seem pretty weak as a 2-of.

[EKM_Ichorid]

Interesting list. How are those Dazes doing? They seem pretty weak as a 2-of.

They actually work very well. They usually are only good early, but I really wouldn't ever want to draw too many. With the 8 other first turn counters, 2 seems fine and they always work wonders when I cast them. Almost never a dead card.

[EKM_Ichorid]

People really need to test this deck. And someone who can afford it, play it in a tournament. It would cost me too much, hell...in real life I play Ichorid. It would cost me $300 I can't afford to spend right now, but I wish I could.

Lands and Mana///23
4 Wasteland
R Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Island
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
R Mox Pearl
R Mox Sapphire
R Black Lotus
R Sol Ring

Beats///6
1 Platinum Angel
1 Exalted Angel
4 Meddling Mage

Control///20
R Balance
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Daze
3 Nix
4 Commandeer
4 Force of Will
4 Chalice of the Void

Fuel///11
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Standstill
R Mystical Tutor
R Ancestral Recall
R Tinker
4 Brainstorm

Sideboard///15
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Energy Flux
2 Old Man of the Sea
2 Echoing Truth
3 Null Rod

I think this may be close to optimum. Nix is awesome because it counters Pacts/Forces/Lotus/Gush/Dread Return/Therapy, and those are all bombs in the current T1. I've loved it so far. I almost never used Drain mana, and it was hard on my manabase.

Standstill is working pretty good, and Gush wasn't really doing much but be late game draw that I could have paid for anyways.

I want to replace Angel because it's not very synergenic with the deck and the WW cost can be hard sometimes. I haven't found a great option yet.

EDIT: This may sound ridiculous, but what about Possessed Aven? I'd drop an Island for an Underground Sea and then I'd have a Tog/Fish killer thats a 5 turn flying clock for just 4 mana.

I'm thinking it's a terrible idea, but I might just test it.

[wethepeople]

Aside from Leyline of the Void, how does this deck beat Ichorid?

[EKM_Ichorid]

Aside from Leyline of the Void, how does this deck beat Ichorid?

4 Meddling Mage
3 Nix
4 Force of Will
4 Commandeer
1 Tinker
1 Platinum Angel
2 Daze
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Echoing Truth
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

How do they plan on removing a Leyline with all of that disruption? If you haven't noticed, a Tinkered Angel is game against Ichorid if you have any disruption to stop a Grudge. Meddling Mage for Cabal Therapy shuts down a sacrifice outlet for the Narcs, and Truth pretty much bounces all of their Zombies. I've almost never lost a game postboard.

[wethepeople]

Everything except the three mentioned permanents (MM, Wastes, LV), said cards will be completely irrelevent to Ichorid. Sorceries and Instants will assuredly be Cabal Therapy'd before they even do much of anything, so it is impossible for them to consistently be effective.

As long as Bazaar of Baghdad has been activated atleast once (provided that 1-2 Dredgers were discarded), they will have no real further need for it's ability. Although it may be an overall slower kill, Ichorid is still able to function using Dredge only during their draw step. Also be aware that mana-producing lands are never actually played until they are planning to cast a spell, to avoid Strip-effects, which also allows players to really take advantage of their "Cleanup" step, by discarding Trolls, Ichorids, Bridges, et cetera.

Meddling Mage is only able to shut off one of their many threats/answers. It may be able to shut down Chain of Vapor/ Emerald Charm/ Reverent Silence, but it can still use one of the others, or draw into the newly-added Contagion.

You may have different threats to the deck, but I can't see all of them effecting Ichorid the way you think it would. UW Fish uses all of these cards too, but being a Fish and Ichorid player, I can say that seeing someone discard a Stinkweed Imp is the last thing I want to see.

[zulander]

Why isn't Time Walk in here?

[EKM_Ichorid]

Everything except the three mentioned permanents (MM, Wastes, LV), said cards will be completely irrelevent to Ichorid. Sorceries and Instants will assuredly be Cabal Therapy'd before they even do much of anything, so it is impossible for them to consistently be effective.

As long as Bazaar of Baghdad has been activated atleast once (provided that 1-2 Dredgers were discarded), they will have no real further need for it's ability. Although it may be an overall slower kill, Ichorid is still able to function using Dredge only during their draw step. Also be aware that mana-producing lands are never actually played until they are planning to cast a spell, to avoid Strip-effects, which also allows players to really take advantage of their "Cleanup" step, by discarding Trolls, Ichorids, Bridges, et cetera.

Meddling Mage is only able to shut off one of their many threats/answers. It may be able to shut down Chain of Vapor/ Emerald Charm/ Reverent Silence, but it can still use one of the others, or draw into the newly-added Contagion.

You may have different threats to the deck, but I can't see all of them effecting Ichorid the way you think it would. UW Fish uses all of these cards too, but being a Fish and Ichorid player, I can say that seeing someone discard a Stinkweed Imp is the last thing I want to see.

I play Ichorid also. I don't know if you've tested against this deck at all, but all I know is that my record when playing Ichorid against this 1-4 and my record playing this against Ichorid is 5-2.

Zulander - No room. Not strong enough to remove the cards already in the deck.

[Pitlord]

I like the list, it is definitely interesting. I have tested other control decks in the past using comandeer as a 1 or 2 of, but a 4-of is impressive.

A few comments on the list:

I am not sold at all on Nix, because it is rarely better than annul, which sees little to no play, for good reason. Also, it hurts your chalice at 1, which is a beating against most decks now.

Daze also seems weak, because the tempo hit can be bad for a control deck like this, and it is just too dead to draw late.

I agree that angel is hard on the mana base, but it seems like it fits well into the deck, although there might be something better. Have you tested decree as a finisher, especially now with standstill in the deck?

Also, in relation to the draw engine, why no FoF? That card is insane in pure control, getting you basically the most cards ever from 1 spell. It is especially good in a deck as redundant as this.

Adding a few more off color moxen to the mana base seems like a good idea to me. Yes, it conflicts with chalice, but it also enables turn 1 scrolls and standstills more often, which is a good thing. Also, adding more moxen opens up the option of mana leak as a turn-1 hard counter.

That's the things I can think of off the top of my head, take them with a grain of salt, or consider and test, your call.

[EKM_Ichorid]

I like the list, it is definitely interesting. I have tested other control decks in the past using comandeer as a 1 or 2 of, but a 4-of is impressive.

A few comments on the list:

I am not sold at all on Nix, because it is rarely better than annul, which sees little to no play, for good reason. Also, it hurts your chalice at 1, which is a beating against most decks now.

Daze also seems weak, because the tempo hit can be bad for a control deck like this, and it is just too dead to draw late.

I agree that angel is hard on the mana base, but it seems like it fits well into the deck, although there might be something better. Have you tested decree as a finisher, especially now with standstill in the deck?

Also, in relation to the draw engine, why no FoF? That card is insane in pure control, getting you basically the most cards ever from 1 spell. It is especially good in a deck as redundant as this.

Adding a few more off color moxen to the mana base seems like a good idea to me. Yes, it conflicts with chalice, but it also enables turn 1 scrolls and standstills more often, which is a good thing. Also, adding more moxen opens up the option of mana leak as a turn-1 hard counter.

That's the things I can think of off the top of my head, take them with a grain of salt, or consider and test, your call.

With Gush, FoW, and Pacts so popular, there is no way I'd drop Nix. It's amazing.

I'd add FoF if I could find room.

I don't like the idea of more Moxen...it opens up more hate against me.

Decree takes WAY too much mana to do anything.

[StarOrc]

If you don't typically use Chalices after the first one you may consider a couple of Thirsts instead of Standstill. Also dead Moxen after a Chalice at zero are good thirst fodder. Not to say that Standstill is bad but they can be dead sometimes. Thirst on the other hand is only every actually dead when you don't have three mana. Standstill can be dead if you are behind on the board and need to find an answer to a threat (tog, big dryad, DC, etc). With 4 Factories and 4 Meddling Mages you may not need another finisher provided you can controll long enough. Just a thought.

Also why no Library?

Star

[EKM_Ichorid]

If you don't typically use Chalices after the first one you may consider a couple of Thirsts instead of Standstill. Also dead Moxen after a Chalice at zero are good thirst fodder. Not to say that Standstill is bad but they can be dead sometimes. Thirst on the other hand is only every actually dead when you don't have three mana. Standstill can be dead if you are behind on the board and need to find an answer to a threat (tog, big dryad, DC, etc). With 4 Factories and 4 Meddling Mages you may not need another finisher provided you can controll long enough. Just a thought.

Also why no Library?

Star

Library with alot of ditch counters doesn't work well.

Thirst costs alot of mana and doesn't work the same way psychologically as Standstill. Standstill buys you time and eventually 3 cards...Thirst will never buy any time, and never three cards.

[StarOrc]

Standstill only buys you time if you are ahead on the board and its +2 card advantage when your opponent wants to let you have it, sometimes they brainstorm on your end step when you have 7 cards. Thirst at best is +1 card advantage when you want it and when you can defend it. The big difference is that very occasionally standstill will be dead and Thirst gets rid of dead cards like extra moxen and extra chalices. Also the two cards only differ by one mana, but Standstill has to be played mainphase and thirst can be played end step. They're fairly different. If you were playing more little guys so that you would reliably drop one before standstill then it would obviously be better. In this case I don't think its objectively that clear.

I think you may put a little too much stock in the psychological aspect of cards. Against weaker players it may tilt a game you would have lost into a game you win here and there, but against stronger players I don't think it matters much.

Like you suggested to people in this thread, I would suggest you test Library. Even if just for the games you have it in your openning hand. It can single handedly win games for you.

Star

[Implacable]

If you don't typically use Chalices after the first one you may consider a couple of Thirsts instead of Standstill. Also dead Moxen after a Chalice at zero are good thirst fodder. Not to say that Standstill is bad but they can be dead sometimes. Thirst on the other hand is only every actually dead when you don't have three mana. Standstill can be dead if you are behind on the board and need to find an answer to a threat (tog, big dryad, DC, etc). With 4 Factories and 4 Meddling Mages you may not need another finisher provided you can controll long enough. Just a thought.

Also why no Library?

Star

Library with alot of ditch counters doesn't work well.

Thirst costs alot of mana and doesn't work the same way psychologically as Standstill. Standstill buys you time and eventually 3 cards...Thirst will never buy any time, and never three cards.

Just to address your point regarding Standstill: against most good players, Standstill does not have a psychological effect.  There is a correct way for a control player to play against Standstill (break it EOT and thus negate card advantage) and a correct way for both combo and aggro to play against it (break it, 'cause who gives a damn?).  The last time people feared Standstill was several years ago.

[Shock Wave]

If you don't typically use Chalices after the first one you may consider a couple of Thirsts instead of Standstill. Also dead Moxen after a Chalice at zero are good thirst fodder. Not to say that Standstill is bad but they can be dead sometimes. Thirst on the other hand is only every actually dead when you don't have three mana. Standstill can be dead if you are behind on the board and need to find an answer to a threat (tog, big dryad, DC, etc). With 4 Factories and 4 Meddling Mages you may not need another finisher provided you can controll long enough. Just a thought.

Also why no Library?

Star

Library with alot of ditch counters doesn't work well.

Thirst costs alot of mana and doesn't work the same way psychologically as Standstill. Standstill buys you time and eventually 3 cards...Thirst will never buy any time, and never three cards.

Just to address your point regarding Standstill: against most good players, Standstill does not have a psychological effect.  There is a correct way for a control player to play against Standstill (break it EOT and thus negate card advantage) and a correct way for both combo and aggro to play against it (break it, 'cause who gives a damn?).  The last time people feared Standstill was several years ago.

That's a horrible oversimplification of the functionality of Standstill. You omit that sometimes your opponent won't be able to wait for you to accumulate 7 cards, regardless of what they're playing. It's often a catch 22 in the control mirror, and at times it is actually a poor play to wait before breaking it. There is no hard and fast rule for when it is appropriate to break a Standstill in the control mirror. Sometimes it is sooner, sometimes later. The fact that this difference exists proves that there is a psychological upside to playing a Standstill simply because it puts the opponent in a situation where he can misplay, and often, it is difficult to determine the correct decision. I'm not sure if it fits in this deck, but let's not put the viability of the card into question.

[EKM_Ichorid]

UW Control "Bomb Squad"
by Mike LeVine

Lands and Mana///23
4 Wasteland
R Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Island
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
R Mox Pearl
R Mox Sapphire
R Black Lotus
R Sol Ring

Beats///6
1 Platinum Angel
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Meddling Mage

Control///20
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Daze
3 Nix
4 Commandeer
4 Force of Will
4 Chalice of the Void

Fuel///11
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Standstill
R Mystical Tutor
R Ancestral Recall
R Tinker
4 Brainstorm

Sideboard///15
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Energy Flux
2 Old Man of the Sea
2 Echoing Truth
3 Null Rod

This is the most up-to-date list. Nix is a bomb versus Gush/FoW/Lotus/Pacts and Angel just didn't cut it. The list is beating on GAT/Flash/GT like crazy right now.