by Mishra Planeswalker

Created on: October 20, 2010   Last Updated: February 06, 2012

Since the dawn of the Magic: the Gathering card game, players have usually played one of three major archetypes of decks.  There are aggro decks, which aim to apply fast and constant pressure on the opponent to quickly take their life total down to 0.  Then there are combo decks, which exploit the synergies between cards to create even more powerful effects, some of which can win games outright.  Finally, there are control decks, which aim to dictate the flow and pace of the game, whittling away an opponent’s resources until they are able to play some sort of win condition to seal up a victory.  

In the modern standard environment, control decks are flourishing with a vengeance.  Since the printing of Jace, The Mind Sculptor and the reprinting of Mana Leak, players have been eager to do little but draw extra cards and counter spells until their opponent simply can’t do anything.  While Blue-White was the colour combination of choice for the last few years, Blue-Black is now becoming a fan favourite due to the more reliable win conditions and more powerful removal that black can use to compliment the blue.   

The first part of any control deck is obviously the control mechanism.  A control deck must be able to nullify the effect of the opponent’s spells effectively.  This can be done using counterspells, removal spells, or discard effects.  Some of the most efficient spells in standard are Mana Leak, Doom Blade, and Negate.  Running enough of these disruptive cards will allow you to gain the edge over many opponents.   

The second part of a control deck is what cards you’ll use to actually win the game.  There are many creatures one can use, including Abyssal Persecutor, Grave Titan, Frost Titan, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, and more.  As well, Jace, the Mind Sculptor presents a ticking time bomb to your opponent in that they must destroy it within a few turns or else they will lose the game.   

To glue the deck together, a series of draw spells are usually recommended to ensure that you maintain a state of card advantage over your opposition.  Cards like Preordian and Jace Beleren will help you not only by drawing you cards, but by smoothing our your draws to make your deck more consistent.   

Because the deck is only 2 colours, the deck’s mana base is very stable, as we can play a full compliment of 12 dual lands.  This allows

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>