A Second Look at U/w Control

I’ve been waiting on coverage for the Kentucky Open this weekend, but so far I’ve found not a single decklist. So back to Austin we go!

UW Control by Kyle Sanchez, 1st Place 2010 TCGplayer.com WWS Austin, TX
3 Baneslayer Angel
2 Gideon Jura
3 Jace Beleren
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Sun Titan
4 Wall of Omens
3 Condemn
3 Day of Judgment
2 Into the Roil
2 Journey to Nowhere
4 Mana Leak
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Spell Pierce
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
3 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Terramorphic Expanse

Sideboard:
1 Condemn
1 Day of Judgment
4 Flashfreeze
1 Jace Beleren
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb

Woo! Shipped the TCGplayer $5k Austin! My U/W deck is the best in the format, 23-3-2 overall record at States and two money tourneys.—
Kyle Sanchez (@The_Sanch) November 14, 2010

A breakdown of Kyle Sanchez’ U/w Control deck

Removal

The first thing I like to look at when assessing a Control deck in today’s format is its removal suite. Kyle Sanchez has a mix of spot removal and board sweepers.

2 Gideon Jura
3 Condemn
3 Day of Judgment
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Ratchet Bomb

One of the criticisms of U/w control versus U/b or even U/r is the quality of removal. White lost Path to Exile and Oblivion Ring, and it seemingly has not been the same since. However, Sanchez chose to go a different route: Between Gideon Jura, Day of Judgment, and Ratchet Bomb, there are as many as 7 cards in the maindeck (and 2 more in the Sideboard) to deal with multiple threats at once. Consider the interactions here with Wall of Omens as well! Wall of Omens often forces the opponent to commit multiple threats to the board, at which point Day of Judgment and friends can be guaranteed 2-for-1s or better.

Instant-speed spot removal is served by Condemn, which does its best Path to Exile impression against the aggressive decks. Unfortunately it does little against Fauna Shaman, Hedron Crab, and other non-attacking threats. It is still an extremely efficient spell though. Journey to Nowhere picks up the stragglers, and it’s an extremely efficient spell as well. It may have been overshadowed by Oblivion Ring, but the 1W Enchantment saw some play even when the better 2W option was available.

Counterspells

Every Blue-based Control deck in my memory has found at least some amount of Countermagic to get to the late game. This deck is no different.

4 Mana Leak
3 Spell Pierce

I really like this. Rather than reaching to Cancel/Stoic Rebuttal or Negate, Sanchez went with the extremely crafty Spell Pierce. Anyone who has played against this spell knows how difficult it is to play around, especially if you’re not sure your opponent even has it. This isn’t a format where every Blue deck has Force Spike (speaking of, is that card really too powerful?). Mana Leak is obvious to play around, but Spell Pierce is much more subtle.

Card Advantage

3 Jace Beleren
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

People have been struggling for months now to find the right configuration of Jr. and Sr. Jace, and I think this comes close. I actually think Jace Beleren is a more important card to have 4 of than the Mind Sculptor, and Kyle Sanchez agrees with the fourth copy living in the Sideboard. That’s not to say Jace, the Mind Sculptor isn’t the most powerful card in Standard and the most powerful to be printed in a long, long time.

Win Conditions

1 Sun Titan
3 Baneslayer Angel

Frost Titan, what? Sun Titan is pretty obvious, as it allows recursion and card advantage of Journey to Nowhere, Ratchet Bomb, Jace Beleren, Tectonic Edge… At least as a single copy, the oft-maligned Titan finds a pretty good home here. Baneslayer Angel however is an interesting choice. It comes down a turn earlier than the Titans, and it does really well in a race. In any case, it shouldn’t be so surprising: We all know how good Baneslayer Angel has been in the most recent Standard formats.

Other

2 Into the Roil
4 Wall of Omens
0 Preordain

Into the Roil is obvious. In fact, Kyle Sanchez himself called it “the best blue instant:”

I also think Into The Roil is blues best instant, better than Leak, so I might just be insane.—
Kyle Sanchez (@The_Sanch) October 12, 2010

Wall of Omens is pretty obvious too. Pretty much every U/w Control deck since Rise of the Eldrazi has had a full playset of them, and I think this is the most likely explanation for where Preordain is (or, rather, where it isn’t). Preordain has been a staple of U/r and U/b Control decks, but those don’t have Wall of Omens to cycle. Scry 2 is obviously better than a 0/4 Wall in some matchups, but combined with White’s board sweepers, I like the innovation here.

Lands

4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
3 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Terramorphic Expanse

There are only two interesting slots here: 4 Tectonic Edge and 3 Terramorphic Expanse. As far as Tectonic Edge goes, I think every single deck should be trying to fit in as many of them as it can possibly handle. This card is extremely strong. It provides an answer to Creeping Tar Pits, Valakuts, and more. Standard is full of nonbasic lands right now, and some of them are extremely powerful win conditions. Tectonic Edge handles all of them with ease.

Terramorphic Expanse is serving as a replacement for 1-2 fetchlands that most Jace decks use to interact with Brainstorm. However, unlike Misty Rainforest or Scalding Tarn, Terramorphic Expanse can actually fix your mana too! Coming into play tapped is relatively insignificant most of the time, and Sun Titan recursion is a lot less painful with Terramorphic Expanse than with a true fetchland.

Sideboard

1 Condemn
1 Day of Judgment
4 Flashfreeze
1 Jace Beleren
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb

Here are a few extra copies of Ratchet Bomb, Jace Beleren, Day of Judgment, and Condemn. 4 Flashfreeze and 3 Negate is pretty unspectacular, and the matchups where they come in should be pretty obvious. I wouldn’t bring a Blue-based Control deck to a tournament without at least “a few” of both of those spells. Leyline of Sanctity is actually awesome. This all-star turns off Red burn, Valakut, Pyromancer Ascension, Memoricide… I’m not sure which matchups Sanchez brought them in for, but it would have an effect in almost every matchup.

Only three losses were Valakut, and that was before I found out about Leyline of Sanctity. Beat two of them yesterday with it!—
Kyle Sanchez (@The_Sanch) November 14, 2010

Pretty slick, IMO.

Congratulations, Kyle Sanchez. You built quite a nice deck!