[PEZ] W/U Control

[Hellsing293]

I made this thread in order to discuss/improve my W/U Peasant deck. 

For those of you who don't know, peasant magic is a format where only commons and uncommons are allowed--NO RARES!  The maximum number of uncommons allowed in a deck is 5.  My peasant deck, however, contains 6 uncommons because my friend likes to play by 10% uncommon (I don't know where he heard of it but whatever, it's not that big of a difference).

Anyways, here's my deck:

Creatures: 17

2 Serra Angel*Uncommon in Alpha-4th
4 Ophidian
4 Man-o'-War*Common in Visions
4 Safehold Elite
3 Spiketail Hatchling

Artifacts: 2

2 Isochron Scepter*Uncommon

Instants: 18

2 Swords to Plowshares*Uncommon
3 Momentary Blink
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
3 Think Twice
2 Echoing Truth

Enchantments: 4

4 Faith's Feathers

Lands: 19

4 Teramorphic Expanse
9 Island
6 Plains

Mana Curve
         W       U       Artifact       Total
1CC:   2        4           0              6
2CC:   7      12           2             21
3CC:   0        8           0              8
4CC:   4        0           0              4
5CC:   2        0           0              2

White Cards: 15
Blue Cards: 24
Artifacts: 2

I'm not new to magic, but could somebody tell me if my reasoning is correct on this one:

Ratio
15White cards / 39 Total Colored Cards : 24 Blue Cards / 39 Total Colored Cards
15White cards / 41 Total nonland Cards : 24 Blue Cards / 41 Total nonland Cards

15W: 24U rounded to 15W: 25U
So I concluded that my ratio of Plains to Islands should be 3:5.  I doubled this and ended up with 6plains : 10 Islands, but I ended up having to cut an island.

Double Cost Cards: Serra Angel (WW3), Counterspell (UU)

Overall, I feel this deck is low costed and efficient.


This was my basic idea for the deck.  Every instant can be imprinted on the scepter, and for PEZ magic this deck does stupidly good things with Isochron Scepter.  Using Isochron Scepter, I can RFG an oppenent's creature every turn, draw an extra card per turn, imprint Counterspell!, bounce an opponent's creature every turn using either Echoing Truth or momentary blink on Man-o'-War.  I feel that Isochron Scepter could dominate PEZ magic.

Another card that I really liked for this deck was Momentary Blink.  I can use blink to block a relatively large creature (such as Blastoderm) and allow my creature to survive.  Momentary Blink is also good if an opponent tries to bolt my creature.  It gets fun when I blink Man-o'-War and get the added effect of bouncing another creature.  Blink also gives Safehold Elite four lives!! (It's kill as a 2/2, getting bounced off blink as a 1/1, it's second kill as a 2/2, and it's final kill as a 1/1).  All that, and I can pay the flashback cost!

Serra Angel is my beater, plain and simple.  I can't think of any common/uncommon fliers better than Serra.

Teramorphic Expanse-Yay or Nay?  I saw it as the poor man's fetchland.  I does come into play tapped, but it would be an excellent color fixer.  The deck's only first turn play in Brainstorm (first turn StP would be rare in PEZ), so playing it on the first turn is definitely viable.  Should I keep Teramorphic Expanse or add in some Plains/Islands?  Are there other common lands that could help a UW control deck?

Some cards that I really wanted to add were Oblivion Ring and Disenchant.  Oblivion Ring is great spot removal of pretty much any threat.  Disenchant is classic enchantment/artifact removal and could be imprinted on Isochron Scepter.  I guess I'll have to rely on well placed Counterspells is I can't have these guys.


I know it's PEZ magic, but that doesn't mean that I can't put this much thought into the deck!  Any advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Ephraim]

I used to play a lot of Peasant Magic and I think that you have a solid base here.  You've independently discovered "Iso Blue" and you've added a sound white element to it.  You are correct that Isochron Scepter is one of the most popular cards in the format.  It's been a while since I've touched PEZ and I think you've hit upon some solid new technology in Momentary Blink.

How well does Serra Angel work out for you?  I know that in similar decks, I would normally run 2 Isochron Scepter, 3 Swords to Plowshares.  Serra Angel is certainly a strong beater, but have you considered whether improving your control scheme and using a less efficient beater, like Snapping Drake, would improve the deck?  You say that having just one extra uncommon slot doesn't make much difference, but I think that it does.  Consider, for example, 2 Isochron Scepter, 2 Swords to Plowshares, 1 Serra Angel.  It's almost certainly better to remove that Serra Angel to make room for an additional copy of one of the other two uncommons.  Having 6 uncommon slots means that you can run 2 of each, which isn't all that bad.

I always question Brainstorm when I see it in PEZ.  It is rightly considered one of the powerhouses of Vintage, but I think that the paucity of both shuffle effects and really broken plays hampers its effectiveness in PEZ.  At the very least, I might suggest cutting back to 3 copies and add a 4th copy of either Momentary Blink or Thnik Twice.

The last card about which I am not sure is Safehold Elite.  It's a solid combat creature, but I don't think that Persist adds a lot of value for you.  With Momentary Blink in the deck, especially on an Isochron Scepter, having your creatures die is less of a worry.  You might use Blade of the Sixth Pride if you're concerned about combat effectiveness or something that would take advantage of comes-into-play effects:  Mulldrifter, Primal Plasma, or even Artful Looter might be good choices.

[Hellsing293]

I actually questioned the brainstorm myself.  Maybe 4 Think Twice and 3 Brainstorm would be better.  I'll see where it goes from there as far as cutting more (which is definitely possible).

My concern with the other suggestions is that I'm worried that the deck would become too blue.  By removing the Serra Angels and the Safehold Elites, the deck could almost be a Mono U control deck.  I do like Primal Plasma and it would work nice with Momentary Blink too, however, besides for shifting the deck to being more U, its CC is 3.  Is there a good white 2-drop that would work better?

The Serra Angels could become Air Elementals to make room for other uncommons.  I believe that the beater has to be bigger than Snapping Drake though.  I simply choose Serra because she can essentially win the game on her own if my control strategy falls apart.  Apart from size, I also thought that the vigilance would be something that set Serra apart.  Having to tap Air Elemental or another beater would open up a bunch of situational problems that I could avoid by using Serra.

Another thing: Should I cut Echoing Truth for Disenchant or Oblivion Ring (or cut Brainstorm?).

[Ephraim]

I don't think that Air Elemental is a common.  Gatherer is down, but I consulted another search DB and it showed it as an uncommon across every printing.  I can see your concern about the deck becoming too blue.  In that case, Blade of the Sixth Pride is probably still a better option for you than Safehold Elite, because of Momentary Blink.  Other possible replacements for Safehold Elite:  Mesa Chicken, Benalish Cavalry, Order of Leitbur, and Youthful Knight

If you are looking for other white instants that you might consider over Echoing Truth or Brainstorm, I have always had a fondness for Awe Strike, Raise the Alarm, and Guided Strike in white Scepter-based decks.  You might also consider Judge Unworthy, which has some of the library-manipulation element of Brainstorm but also gives you some creature kill (albeit light creature kill, since the deck is low-cc).  Razor Barrier or Shelter are also worth considering.

[Hellsing293]

Well since Brainstorm was recently restricted (My friend and I use the DCI vintage B/R for our peasant matches):

-3 Brainstorm
+1 Ponder (Maybe better because I cannot shuffle my library that well)
+1 Merchant Scroll (fetches instants for scepter)
+1 Think Twice (Replace the drawing effect lost by Brainstorm)

Air Elemental is uncommon, my bad (bought it in the common pile of my local cardshop).

I'm fond of Judge Unworthy; it seems like a good weenie killer/card filterer.  Awes Strike seems like another good option. 

Another thing, why do you not seem fond of Safehold Elite.  I'm just wondering what is wrong with the card?  I thought that it would be like 2 creatures in one card, giving me card advantage when compared to a creature like Blade of the Sixth Pride.

[Ephraim]

Another thing, why do you not seem fond of Safehold Elite.  I'm just wondering what is wrong with the card?  I thought that it would be like 2 creatures in one card, giving me card advantage when compared to a creature like Blade of the Sixth Pride.

It is a highly superiour bear, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, it's still just a bear.  If it works for you, I'd recommend keeping it.  I was playing PEZ with people fielding excessively fast Affinity decks and impressive storm combo decks (before they banned Brain Freeze from the format.)  Against opponents like that, a bear, even a very good one, didn't impress me.  Also, I'm a control player at heart.  I gravitate toward efficient control rather than toward efficient aggro.

[Hellsing293]

I know it's been a while, but over the summer I've played A LOT with this deck.  It's gone through moderate change, but at heart it's still WU control.  Anyways, here's my deck list:

*denotes uncommons

Mana - 22

4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Azorius Chancery
5 Plains
8 Island
1 Sol Ring*

Creatures - 16

2 Plumeveil*
3 Spiketail Drakeling
3 Primal Plasma
4 Man O' War
4 Ophidian

Instants - 13

4 Counterspell
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Judge Unworthy
1 Disenchant
1 Brainstorm

Sorceries - 2

1 Ponder
1 Sunlance

Artifacts - 3

3 Isochron Scepter*

Enchantments - 4

4 Faith's Fetters



Now to elaborate on some card choices.  The first list had a lot of cute tricks in it, but in the end it was all "fluff".  By "fluff", I mean cards that, in terms of peasant magic, didn't really do enough to win.  Momentary Blink and Echoing Truth fall into this category. Momentary Blink had a lot of nice tricks such as blinking Man-O'-War and also had a convenient flashback cost, but in the end it didn't turn the game around and only prolonged it.  Echoing Truth has the same problems, prolonging games but rarely changing them.  By its nature, this deck already stalls out the game.  What is bounced/held off for one turn will eventually get through.  I decided to change these cards that help me establish board control.

Another change was removing Think Twice for Accumulated Knowledge.  My arguments for making this change were as follows:

Times Played-------AK mana/drawn-------Think Twice mana/drawn-------Think Twice + Flashback mana/drawn
1------------------------------2/1----------------------------2/1----------------------------------------5/2
2------------------------------4/3----------------------------4/2---------------------------------------10/4
3------------------------------6/6----------------------------6/3---------------------------------------15/6
4------------------------------8/10--------------------------8/4----------------------------------------20/8

Think Twice was far out-preformed by Accumulated Knowledge.  Think Twice was a nice card to dump extra mana when in the graveyard, but I found that as the deck got better/more efficient, that mana was harder to come by.  Late game AK for 3/4 cards can be a big swing at times and not to mention AK+Scepter for 4 is insane.

Next, it's time to mention Spiketail Drakeling over Spike Hatchling.  First of all, this latest change hasn't been tested yet.  These reasons for the change are purely based on my experience with Hatchling.  With the removal of Serra Angel, I wanted more of a punch.  Swinging for 2 every turn will win the game much faster than swinging for 1.  I realize that BB1 is hard on a two color deck, however, the deck IS primarily blue.  I also noticed that Hatchling's counter effect didn't impact my opponent enough.  Having to pay 1 either was completely noneffective or stalled my opponent for a turn (I know that this can be good).  Drakeling, on the other hand, can counter a spell unless the opponent pays 2.  Dropping one of these guys 3rd turn can force the opponent to either wait 5th turn to cast a 3CC spell or have a spell countered.  Now imagine 2 Drakelings on the board--that basically prevents the opponent from playing bombs like Skullclamp or Blastoderm until either late game when they have a lot of mana or when the Drakelings have been destroyed.

Safehold Elite was eventually cut for Primal Plasma.  Primal Plasma is great for its versatility; it can hold back a large beater by being 1/6 defender, kill weenies at 3/3, or swing for the kill/destroy 1/1 flyings by being a 2/2 flyer.  Although it does cost U3 instead of WW AND loses its synergy with Momentary Blink, it works much better with Judge Unworthy.

Isochron scepter was raised to 3, shifting the focus to locking the opponent with the scepter.  With 2 Isochron Scepter, it was more of a supplementary plan and only saw play every couple of games.  I realized that Scepter is the broken (relatively speaking) card in this deck that makes it viable.  Not to mention, I have more Isochron Scepters when others get destroyed.

The addition of Plumeveil over Serra Angel may seem to be strange, but I feel that Serra Angel really didn't get the job done.  First, this was another change based solely on my experience with Serra Angel and theoretical situations with Plumeveil.  Often times, Serra Angel was destroyed as soon as it hit the table unless I cast it with UU open.  Plumeveil doesn't really warrant being killed RIGHT AWAY (forcing more playing skill from my opponent).  Also, I envision Plumeveil being used like the following:

(W/U)(W/U)(W/U)
Instant: destroy target attacking creature with toughness 4 or lower.  Put a 4/4 Flying, Defender into play.

Plumeveil destroys a creature AND gives me a creature: 2-1 card advantage in my book.

As for mana, this deck starts off SLOW.  That's okay though, as the deck's goal is 3 mana on the third turn.  The ideal first three turns are:

Turn 1:
Play Terramorphic Expanse
Tap, Fetch Island
Turn 2:
Play Azorius Chancery, Return Island to my hand
Turn 3:
Play Island--->WUU open for playing 34/38 cards.

This deck plays a lot on the opponents turn so open mana is ALWAYS a good thing.  Sol Ring merits its uncommon slot as it opens up 3 mana on the second turn and makes first turn Isochron Scepter viable.


I consider this deck my brainchild so that's why I'm most fond of it over my other PEZ decks.  This deck has undergone many changes, and I could post them if anybody is interested on how the deck has reached this point.  The deck has really gotten a lot better and is a blast to play.  Appropriate side boarding could make it even better versus tough matchups.

I would also like to say that playing PEZ magic has greatly improved my playing skills and my friend's playing skills.  Sometimes, it takes playing more than just vintage to appropriately judge a card's power level and build an effective deck.  This deck especially has taught me many lessons in efficiency vs. effectiveness, deck synergy vs. plain goodness, the important and unimportance of card advantage and tempo, the art of playing control, and certain cards become much better with higher playing skills.  I suggest that everybody, even if they at first may think it silly, adopt a second format besides vintage/legacy if they already don't have one.

Tell me what you think of the deck and if/how it could be better.  On-The-Fence issues that I'm thinking of include: fitting a 4th Spiketail Drakeling, maximizing my 3 Judge Unworthy/1 Sunlance slots, becoming as mana-efficient/fast as possible.  Thanks for your feedback!