U/r Control Slaver, Designing for my Meta

[GUnit]

Ok, so before I bore you with the details of my card choices I am going to briefly describe to you the metagame that I am expecting to be facing in Lorwyn legal vintage in my area:
- Landstill isn't normally out in force, but it always ends up in the top 8, always.
- Workshop aggro and ubastax will likely be fairly well represented due to thorn
- There's normally a fair amount of aggro-control
- I'm sure there will be GAT and Gush Gifts as well
- Oath won the last major tourney here, so there will probably be some of that too
The one common link that I see between most of these decks is that blood moon effects are strong against them, the exception potentially being some forms of aggro control, which slaver can be shaped to have a favorable match against. My initial thought was that I need to make a version of fish that has an OK match against stax, has an OK matchup against landstill, has an OK matchup against GAT and wins fish mirrors, which is when I decided to just try and make CS do those things for me.

This is my first attempt at the list. I have played a handful of matches on MWS, but as many of you know the quality of opponents found there varies quite a bit.

Moon Slaver v1.0

Dudes and Things (9):
2 x Goblin Welder
3 x Magus of the Moon
1 x Magus of the Future
1 x Darksteel Colossus
1 x Triskelavus
1 x Mindslaver

Search/Draw(13):
4 x Thirst for Knowledge
4 x Brainstorm
3 x Merchant Scroll
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Fact or Fiction
1 x Ancestral Recall

Answers (12):
4 x Force of Will
4 x Mana Drain
1 x Echoing Truth
1 x Misdirection
1 x Fire/Ice

Tinker and Timewalk (2):
1 x Tinker
1 x Timewalk

Mana(24):
9 x SoLoMoxenCryptPetal
5 x Fetch
2 x Volcanic Island
8 x Island

SB:
4 x Leyline of the Void
4 x Rack and Ruin
2 x Flametongue Kavu
1 x Triskelion
1 x Blood Moon
2 x Red Elemental Blast
1 x Ensnaring Bridge


Card choices:

- Magi of the Moon are fairly obvious. I settled on three, because they're pretty crappy in multiples. A fourth is in the board for matchups like landstill.

- Magus of the Future - I tested Future Sight after seeing it played in a few places, and then I picked up a Magus of the Future for 25 cents at a local card shop, so I thought I'd give him a try. Very nasty if he resolves, and he's quite a solid blocker against fish. He also beats for 2.

- Darksteel - I prefer Titan in most builds, but blood moon + titan ain't that great. He's a strong, fast finisher.

- Triskelavus - Very versatile. He's strong against fishies and he provides an infinite lock. He also flies and beats for 4.

- 2 x Welder - Drawing unwanted welders is awful, but without DT and vamp this deck can't really afford to play just 1. Sometimes 2 even feels a little light, but since this deck is more threat dense it's fine.

- MisD - not your typical slaver counter, I know, but it helps to force magus of the moon onto the table early in the game. Maybe I'm just impatient, but I like it. REB was in this slot before, but I found casting a red spell and protecting it with a red spell to be prohibitive with my mana base.



I don't have an excellent grasp on my matchup percentages (although, having taken a few math courses in my day, I think it's asinine to say things like 55/45 after playing against a deck 10 times), but generally the deck seems to be functioning acceptably. I can't help but ask myself, though, what this deck brings to the table in my meta that TMWA doesn't. I haven't played the deck, but I suppose I should. Anyway, questions, comments? I'd like to develop this if people are interested in helping.

EDIT: I kept running into trouble with brainstorm and magus of the moon. Too often I wasn't able to fetch and had to redraw two awful cards when I was in need of quick answers. I actually considered chopping a few brainstorms for impulses, but instead I opted for cutting a few cards (Misdirection, Scroll Rack) to add two more merchant scrolls. These simultaneously help me find those answers and provide another shuffling effect that isn't disrupted by my magus.

[Shock Wave]

Well, I'm not sure about your other matchups, but whichever way you slice it, you're going to be in very tough against U/R Landstill with Control Slaver. I've tested this matchup extensively, against some of the best known CS players in North America, and only against the most competent of opponents does the matchup veer towards 50/50. Magus of the Moon does little to make it better, since Landstill's answers require red mana anyways. You'd be better off maindecking Blood Moon, since against Oath and Landstill, it doesn't have legs.

[GUnit]

I did consider playing blood moon instead, but the fact that magus is a creature has been relevant so often in testing that it might be worthwhile to just take the hit in the landstill match and hope that I'm lucky enough to protect my magus (or not get paired against you on Saturday ). I suppose I could MD 3 Magus and SB 2 Blood Moons if I really wanted to- or I could pick a different deck for our meta... it's hard for me to say what fits best, especially considering that I haven't played in a vintage tournament in a year and a half.
It's also difficult to decide whether this version of the deck is a better choice than a more traditional build which runs duress/thoughtseize, DT, vamp and will. I've tested both extensively lately and they feel like entirely different decks.

Edited the current decklist.

[Grand Inquisitor]

the metagame that I am expecting to be facing in Lorwyn legal vintage in my area:
- Landstill isn't normally out in force, but it always ends up in the top 8, always.
- Workshop aggro and ubastax will likely be fairly well represented due to thorn
- There's normally a fair amount of aggro-control
- I'm sure there will be GAT and Gush Gifts as well
- Oath won the last major tourney here, so there will probably be some of that too

Given this expected metagame, why do you want to play Control Slaver?  Rich explained the landstill matchup, but aggro-control, GAT, and Oath are all uphill battles as well.  It's not that Slaver can't be tweaked to improve these, but since the current metagame pulls it in so many different directions, why not go with something else?

To give some feedback on the list you presented, these are the slots that stick out:

1 x Magus of the Future

I kept running into trouble with brainstorm and magus of the moon

Kowal's trying it out and the effect is quite strong, no doubt.  However, nothing else in your deck really supports it.  With bloodmoon you can't use fetches to shuffle, you don't run many ways to get time walk (which is the bees knees with FS), and robots, etc will clog up the top of your deck.  Perhaps cutting FoF and something else and finding room for 2x Sensei's top would both smooth draws (especially good under bloodmoon), be a draw engine with welder, and optimize Magus of the Future.

1 x Darksteel Colossus

Titan isn't great with magus of the moon, but he will take out their basics, which is quite useful.  Given how much bounce/removal is out there right now DSC just seems too vanilla as a tinker target.  Also, titan is much easier to hardcast.

0 Yawgmoth's Will

Not having the black dimension in Slaver really cuts its power level.  I don't really think that bloodmoon makes up for it.  If you really think so, you may want to rethink exactly how you want to build slaver.  Cards like shaman, chalice, stifle, or even tanglewire (this is all from a list that t8'd a scg a while back) may all fit into a slaver build with a heavy mana denial strategy.

[GUnit]

Based on that metagame what deck choice would you suggest? I picked slaver, because it's the deck I'm most comfortable with. I've played a lot of aggro control as well, but it's been totally all over the place, in pretty much any color combination you can imagine.

Magus of the Future has been excellent for me in testing. I have yet to lose a game in which he resolved.

I tried top out for a while and didn't really like it, but perhaps I could squeeze it in again for scrolls or something. I don't want to take out FoF because it's an excellent default midgame scroll target when I'm not looking for an answer or a counter.

DSC vs. Titan is something I've flip-flopped on. This is the first list I've ever played in which I actually preferred the DSC. So far only one event sticks out in my mind where I wished he was Titan, and at least a few times the added clock of DSC has narrowly won me games. I've hardcast DSC twice so far in testing. I may go back in this yet, however.

Black is definitely awesome in the deck, but I think duress is going to be weakened by the larger stax and fish contingents that I'm expecting once lorwyn is legal. Yawg's will is obviously insane, but magus has been doing a good job for me so far, and playing without seas makes my deck stronger against mana denial strategies.

Maybe I'm approaching the deck the wrong way, or maybe I should simply be designing something else. Without giving it too much thought my second choice of deck right now would be Urbana fish with a SB slanted against artifacts. If you had to play in this metagame what would you bring?

[forests failed you]

If you opt to play Blood Moon style cards in the maindeck it becomes increasingly important that you play with as many shuffle effects as possible.  There is nothing worse than having your opponent in a tight spot and topdecking Brainstorm and whiffing and being force to draw dead for two turns because you can't use your fetch lands.  I like that you have three Merchant Scrolls in the maindeck, and would probably recoment playing the full 4. 

Also, I have a strong feeling that replacing Fact or Fiction with Gifts Ungiven would be a strong move in this particular deck.

Good luck.

[Bob The Builder]

it's hard for me to say what fits best, especially considering that I haven't played in a vintage tournament in a year and a half.

Play the deck you pilot best.  If you can't test a deck to the limit of your cunning always play the deck you feel comfortable with.

I do want to add that my team has been working on a blood moon CS version and we took it off the drawing board.  People can play around blood moon, and they do, specially the best of the pilots out there...  But it (or your magus) will give you an edge against certain decks if you can drop it.

Good luck !

[senpai]

why do you not play with demonic tutor and yawgs will?
if you moved the maguses of the moon to your sideboard, you could make more room for key spells and have the ability to side them in during future matches where their value is unquestionable.

[BC]

It seems like most people responding are just trying to get you to play a different deck.  I'll take a different approach and try to help you with the deck you have built.

1.  Darksteel Colossus is not right for Control Slaver because it never hits the graveyard.  You want big robots that can be welded back in after they are pitched to TFK.  Try Sundering Titan or Trike or even Duplicant.

2.  This isn't necessarily a rule, but I like to play 3 Welders.  Two doesn't seem like enough.  Your call, though.

3.  Eight Islands is way too many, even for a Magus of the Moon build.  I would drop this to 5-6, definitely include Tolarian Academy, maybe +1 Volcanic or +1 Fetch.

4.  Fact or Fiction is strictly worse than Gifts Ungiven.  They cost the same, but Gifts will get you better cards.  Cards you need.

5.  I'm not sold on Magus of the Future.  Situationally it seems like it could be good, but this spot might be better filled with something else.

I'll conclude by saying that I really like CS with Magus Moon in the main deck.  However, I agree with senpai that you should consider splashing black for D Tutor and Yawg Will.  They really are worth it.

[forests failed you]

The one thing I would strongly urge is that if you are playing Slaver, include Triskellavus.  I have been playing Slaver constantly for over two years now and it is a mistake not to have  Trikebus.  He is far and away the best robot available.  He allows you so much flexibility and utility all packed neatly into one card. 

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

I'd disagree with people saying DSC is wrong for any slaver variant. Sometimes you just need a 2 turn clock and sometimes titan can't provide that. Not to mention in magus slaver the 7/10 isn't so hot when your looking at a board full of mountains. True being a weld target is amazing, but its usually pretty easy for your opponents to play around welder, and your able to search out tinker a lot more easily than a welder. With out welder support USUALLY I'd rather have the 11/11 trample. not to mention I do see people hard cast the thing relatively often in slaver (not so much in tacks), its almost easy with a trikvus and tolarian. What it comes down to is that 11/11 and 7/10 are both viable, use which ever one gives better test results.

I'd like to echo that 8 island is way to much, I tend to used about half that, and triskellavus is amazing.

factor or fiction vs gifts.
when your winning gifts is better. When your trying to get in a winning position, fact is better (or so I hear). Personally, I like gifts, but some people swear by FoF.

[God_Campbell]

I have recently picked up slaver again, and I would also like to second the Triskellavus bandwagon as it is just a house.

Currently I am testing the following version:

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Echoing truth
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven

1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

3 Magus of the Moon
1 Platinum Angel
1 Triskellavus
2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Goblin Welder

1 Mindslaver
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus

3 Volcanic Island
2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Underground Sea
5 Island

Now I have alot of Workshops in my area, so I am going with 2 monkies over 1 monkey/1 fire/ice.  I also feel that Yawgwill and DTutor are to powerful not to run, hence my splash.

The rest of the build is fairly standard, though I am running angle over 7/10 or DSC as a alternative as they MUST answer the angel, or they can't win.