Welcome one and all to another exciting episode of Studies into Standard. First of all, let me just say sorry for the delay. I’ve had a rough week. First, my laptop breaks. Then my car breaks down. Then I have to work a 60 hour week this week at the warehouse… anyways, I finally got it finished! So in this episode, I take my U/W Control deck that I built in my original article, and play at my local FNM. For those of you who don’t remember, here is the decklist that I posted:
U/W Control by JB Martin
Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Gideon Jura
Instants
2 Jace’s Ingenuity
2 Condemn
2 Deprive
Enchantments
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Cancel
4 Mana Leak
This is the deck that I came up with, and between when I made it up to the FNM, the only thing that changed was that I changed the 1 Oblivion Ring and 1 Condemn in the sideboard for 2 Path to Exile. I feel this is a must, as it is imperative to path away a Fauna Shaman if you weren’t able to encounter it. So I show up to the tourney with this deck sleeved up, wondering what opposition I will face. Now, I must mention that the FNM I usually attend is located in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and it doesn’t necessarily bring out the masses. 12 people show up for the tourney and so the night begins.
Round 1 – Mono-Green Ramp
I keep a hand with Mana Leak, Baneslayer Angel, Day of Judgment, and land. He starts off by playing Llanowar Elves, Llanowar Elves, and Noble Heirarch into Garruk Wildspeak. Thankfully, he only lays down 2 lands in 7 turns, and my turn 3 Oblivion Ring into turn 4 Day of Judgment quickly sets up the control. I lay down 2 Baneslayers in a row and in no time we are off to game 2. I side out 2 Cancel for 2 Flashfreeze. Game 2 is filled with me countering pretty much everything he has as I draw a hand with 2 Mana Leak, a Flashfreeze, and a Sun Titan, and some land. This game is over rather “quickly”, as he never really had a chance.
Games: 2-0 Rounds: 1-0
Round 2 – G/R Ramp
My starting hand is 2 lands, Day of Judgment, Mana Leak, Condemn, Cancel, and Wall of Omens. This hand is a pretty good hand, so I keep. The problem with this is that I only see 1 land the rest of the game. I stall forever, countering his Primeval Titan, and the same Primeval Titan he got back with Nature’s Spiral. But I can’t do anything, my Baneslayer Angels and Sun Titans all cost more than 3.
For game two, I sideboard in everything except the Day of Judgments and Luminarch Ascensions. I keep my opening hand of 2 Flashfreeze (Woohoo!), Baneslayer Angel, and 3 lands. I lock down his first few big moves, such as the Sarkhan Vol on turn 3, and get enough board control going on that I plop down a Sun Titan, recurring Jace, with Celestial Purge and Deprive backup. A next turn Baneslayer Angel seals the deal.
On to game 3! In game 3, even though he is running a ramp deck, he gets quite mana screwed. He has two mana to start, and a turn two Trace of Abundance. But then I Celestial Purge his Trace of Abundance, and he doesn’t hit another land or mana creature for several turns. By that time I have a Baneslayer Angel, Jace the Mind Sculptor, and counter backup. A very uninteresting game three. Which sucks, because I hate when either person in the game gets mana screwed or flooded.
Games: 4-1 Rounds: 2-0
Round 3 – Mono-Black Vampires
He starts off with a turn three Bloodchief Ascension. Then he follows it up with a turn 2 Child of the Night and a turn 3 Vampire Nighthawk. I’m on the play and my first two lands come into play tapped, so I don’t really do anything until Bloodchief Ascension has enough counters on it. I Day of Judgment on turn 4, and am able to stabilize at 4 life until I hit double Baneslayer Angel. It soon ends as I am able to counter any other viable threats he has, not to mention the fact that I also have Jace, the Mind Sculptor in play filtering his good cards to the bottom. For game 2 I get down an early Jace, the Mind Sculptor followed by a Gideon Jura a turn later. After several turns of sending good cards to the bottom of his deck and keeping his lands on top, I use Jace’s ability to get rid of his library and that’s round 3. One
round to go and so far my record is golden.
Games: 6-1 Rounds: 3-0
Finals – G/W /R Naya Aggro
In the first game, he played a turn 1 Noble Hierarch, turn 2 Cunning Sparkmage, then attempted a turn 3 Basilisk Collar, which I (thankfully) Mana Leak, as that would wreck my hand of double Baneslayer Angels. I eventually stabilize after Day of Judgment then both Baneslayers. Off to game two.
Game two displays just what kind of power U/W Control has. Turn 2 Mana Leak, turn 3 Cancel, turn 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, turn 5 Gideon Jura, turn 6 Baneslayer Angel. I completely dominate this game as he doesn’t get a single threat in the game. Eventually Gideon Jura and Baneslayer beats set his life to 0.
So I end the game with only 1 game loss, and a perfect 4-0 in rounds. I end up getting first place (Woo!), and take home the large booty of… $10!!! YAY!!! All joking aside, I’m quite happy with how my deck played. The only thing I was disappointed with was I didn’t get to pit my deck against U/R Pyromancers Ascension to see how one of my worst matchups play out.
Unfortunately, since I’m working a lot of overtime this week, I will not be able to attend the larger FNM on Morse Road to test my skills out in the “Major Leagues”. So, instead, I will be writing an article later this week about Tips and Tricks to making better trades and saving money on magic. So, until next time, get out there and play!
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