Exploring a New Archetype: Modern UW Control

Art credit: Scott M. Fischer & WotC

I've taken several weeks off from playing magic since GP Detroit to get a breather and focus on work. In that time, I've been brewing blue control. At first, I wanted to do something like mono-blue control/tempo. But that deck relies too heavily on Thing in the Ice to stay alive in creature matchups, and I've always been low on Thing after Push was printed and Probe was banned.

I was also trying hard to get Jace to fit that archetype, but a 4-mana walker is slow for a deck looking to move fast. If there is one thing Jace can't do, it's aggro.

After running around and around the attempt at mono-u, I decided to move to blue-white, and focus hard on maximizing Jace's power. UW obviously fixes all the creature/go-wide issues, and opens up the powerhouse sideboard options. But I was also inspired to take a slightly oblique angle on the deck by a half-remembered statement from the fiendishly intelligent mtg mind of Patrick Chapin.

The gist of the statement is this: Jace, the Mind Sculptor is widely considered to be one of the most powerful cards ever printed. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is, still to this day, one of the most underrated cards ever to see play. These two claims appear to be incompatible, but actually they are not. Jace can both be recognized as one of the most powerful magic cards ever, and still be largely underestimated by players.

Chapin is known to have an endless love for Jace. Blue in general, but Jace in particular. Despite the rose-colored glasses, I think anyone with as much a mind for magic as Chapin has should be heeded when making statements like this. So I started examining recent UW lists, and come to the following list:

Lands (24)
4 Flooded Strand, 4 Field of Ruin, 2 Hollowed Fountain, 2 Glacial Fortress, 6 Island, 2 Plains, 3 Celestial Colonnade, 1 Tolaria West.

Creatures & Walkers (8)
2 Snapcaster Mage, 2 Vendilion Clique, 1 Gideon of the Trials, 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Cantrips & Card Advantage (7)
4 Opt, 2 Serum Visions, 1 Ancestral Vision

Removal (7)
4 Path to Exile, 1 Oust, 1 Vapor Snag, 1 Cast Out

Sweepers (5)
4, Terminus, 1 Supreme Verdict

Counterspells (8)
1 Negate, 2 Disrupting Shoal, 2 Logic Knot, 3 Cryptic Command

Grind (1)
1 Crucible of Worlds


[Sideboard]
2 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Stony Silence
1 Academy Ruins
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Batterskull
1 Celestial Purge
3 Geist of Saint Traft

The primary differences between my list and the ones that have been circulating are as follows:

• 24 lands, -1 colonnade, +1 tolaria west
• The reason for 24 instead of 25? The 25th is usually a ghost quarter, but with crucible in the deck, I get to reuse field of ruins, so land hate is not an issue. Also, lowering my curve by removing Teferi means I can get by on 24 lands+ cantrips.
• I've never understood the choice of 4 full colonnades. The game is so long in by the time you can activate it that running the full 4 seems excessive. Tolaria West is like a universal fetchland, and allows me to get creative with my sideboard tech.
  
• 2 Clique
• I love Vendilion Clique. This deck runs counterspells, but having a t3 combo killer is just awesome. The fact that it doubles as a 3/1 body at instant speed is also an underrated way to remove a sudden Mantis Rider, etc. That's not even to mention the ability to fix my own hand while being a body. Clique is just too good to keep in the side.
  
• +1 Gideon of the Trials, -2 Teferi
• The lack of Teferi is probably the most controversial choice I can make in modern UW. Players as accomplished as LSV have some hot takes across the interwebs that Teferi is better than Jace, at the very least in archetypes like Jeskai, but potentially in modern in general. Teferi is no doubt a super powerful card.
• BUT, I want to focus on using Jace to its maximum potential. Teferi thirsts for some extra lands so you can curve into him on time, and adds another pair/trio of legendary permanents to the deck. All these things translate to slightly less EV per brainstorm. I instead fill the 2-3 Teferi slots with a Gideon, which is key to my burn and aggro matchups, an Ancestral Vision, which can be great early and is also fetchable with tolaria west, and a Crucible of Worlds, which keeps my land consistent in the late game and helps shore up big mana matchups (and synergizes with brainstorm when I have fetches or fields in the yard).
  
• -2 Search for Azcanta, -1 Mana Leak, +2 Disrupting Shoal
• Normally a card resigned to rogue tempo lists, I think Shoal is an underrated control card and potentially a blow-out early (think: counter t1 flooting on the draw, or t1 goblin guide). Draw it late, and it is often an over-costed but unconditional counter. Jace on t4 backed up by shoal feels very good. How often will we get an early alternate cost shoal? Odds are low, but the value of that so high, and the opportunity cost low enough, that I think it is worth it. Not to mention the value of the times will we get a clutch mid-game shoal to protect a Jace or a sideboarded permanent.
• What do we lose by ditching the single mana leak? Not much, in my opinion. It is a singleton in every list, which means you are unlikely to draw it when it's good. Once you do draw it, the opponent probably has enough mana to pay the tax. I am very much off of Mana Leak, and happy to throw a shoal in its slot.
• So what are we giving up by removing Azcanta? We lose some long-game stability, and we should probably expect to stabilize at one fewer lands than the normal UW decks would. We have slightly less velocity toward the 4 terminus without the surveil effect every upkeep, but we have fewer dead cards in aggro matchups, where azcanta is a real dead card. It's a serious value generator, but I dislike building a control deck that looks to spend t2 playing a sorcery speed permanent.
  
• -1 Detention Sphere, +1 Cast Out 
• I like D sphere, but the cycling option on Cast Out is just too good when I am hoping to miracle a terminus, on average, once per game. Also, the flash text on Cast Out pushes it way further than I would expect for a typical uncommon these days. I can keep up Cryptic mana, Cast Out a permanent if my opponent doesn't commit anything to the stack, or cycle for a white if they don't have a board presence. Options baby. Just like clique, this spell is great because it is flexible.
  
• The sideboard requires testing, but the Academy Ruins + Tormod's Crypt (+ Tolaria West) synergy seems like a very powerful way to disrupt grave strategies when Nature's Claims are so common in combo sideboard these days. RIP just feels too vulnerable.
• And last but not least, Cataclysmic Gearhulk may be poised to be an all-star sideboard card in this meta. If I can expect to face a handful of Dredge, Humans, and Hardened Scales at any given tournament, Cat-Hulk is a powerful way to delay them or blow them out completely. Combine that with the Academy Ruins and they need to exile it if they want to avoid repeated board wipes.

I'm going to get back into the swing of things, particularly by exploring the SCG circuit in my local area. For now, UW control is where I will be. Terminus is just too good, and the ultimate power of Jace is not to be denied.

Until next time...