Standard Corner: American Control (post-BotG)

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've sat down to talk about ACTUAL Magic. For the upcoming excursions that we're conducting to promote our organization across Florida, I really wanted to make use of the new CNG feline/soldier token that my friend, Felicea designed and build a Standard deck so I could play in FNMs and use it to facilitate communication with players. Elspeth, Sun's Champion is a shoe-in. I also remember all the fun I had playing the oppressive Jund deck with Huntmaster of the Fells so I could abuse our adorable wolf tokens. However, my Jund party was always interrupted by the absolute bane of my existence every tournament: Sphinx's Revelation.

If I was going to play Standard this go around, I would be sleeving up Sphinx's Revelations and Supreme Verdicts without hesitation. Alongside Elspeth, maybe I could be an FNM ruler?? This week, I wanted to give you guys a take on a deck I've been playing with for the past month, American (U/W/R) Control:

Spells (34):
4x Izzet Charm
4x Counterflux
4x Supreme Verdict
4x Sphinx's Revelation
4x Detention Sphere
2x Last Breath
2x Mizzium Mortars
2x Turn // Burn
4x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Assemble the Legion
1x Elixir of Immortality

Lands (26):
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Steam Vents
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Temple of Triumph
2x Temple of Enlightenment
7x Island
1x Plains

The deck accomplishes a few things very well including completely dominating control mirrors. Access to both 4 copies of Izzet Charm and 4 copies of Counterflux ensures your opponent doesn't resolve a threat or Elixir of Immortality easily. Game 1 is heavily favored because of your superior countermagic and the mirrors are generally slow enough that winning Game 2 or Game 3 isn't necessary because of time constraints on the round. Instant-speed removal like Last Breath and Turn // Burn isn't completely blanked against U/W Control decks because they still rely on Mutavault as one of their win conditions and access to Red gives us Assemble the Legion in our main and Sideboard that dies only to their 4x Detention Sphere and Glare of Heresy among the 75 while the latter has lost favor in the past few months. Assemble the Legion can easily steal games away if it goes unanswered and is incredibly difficult for Mono Black Devotion to fight against. Our Red splash also gives us access to Mizzium Mortars which has increasingly been one of my favorite removal spells since it answers both Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Stormbreath Dragon. The fiery mortars also act like copies 5 and 6 of Supreme Verdict because of its Overload cost (since RRR isn't too difficult to get). Speaking of the benefits of our Red splash...

Izzet Charm is one of my favorite inclusions that we have access to when adding a splash of Red. I'll admit that I wasn't convinced at first of this R/U Charm over the more popular Azorius Charm. Izzet Charm has a good deal of utility with all 3 modes.

1) Deal 2 damage to target creature: Obviously useful for killing 2 toughness creatures in aggro matchups, kills Pack Rat on turn 2, Voyaging Satyr/Elvish Mystic, kills Mutavault, kills your own Soldier token when targeted by Bile Blight against a Desecration Demon (relevant!)

2) Negate unless they pay 2 colorless: Although not a hard counter, it helps push timings back against Underworld Connections, opposing Jace, Architect of Thoughts, Detention Spheres, other Sphinx's Revelation, fights off other countermagic, Planeswalkers, and other random anomalies that demand an answer. Don't try this mode on Abrupt Decay; it isn't very successful.

3) Faithless Looting cards away: Although you are ultimately down on cards after resolution, the idea is similar to Azorius Charm and it draws you specific answers when you need them late game or lands to hit Supreme Verdict or other answers you need at the moment. Sacrificing a card for the opportunity to react ideally to a situation isn't a terrible trade-off.

Although Azorius Charm replaces itself with its draw mode, I think the extra draw on Izzet Charm along with the support of Scry lands to generally increase the quality of your next draws pays dividends in the late game where card advantage can be compensated via Revelation and Jace. The Griptide ability on Azorius Charm is very useful and isn't dependent on size like Izzet Charm's Shock mode, however both spells interact favorably against hyper aggressive decks that those modes are used for. Although Azorius Charm can setup sweet interactions against Obzedat, Ghost Council and has solid game against any-sized creature in combat, it's usefulness is limited by forcing the creature in combat, so it can't touch mana dorks easily and is easy to play around. I find that Izzet Charm catches people off-guard and often I've had an opponent have to read all of its abilities >:D

American Control also has a solid game plan against Aggro decks and Midrange decks alike. Since most of the format's 'relevant' creatures are generally more expensive than previous formats (Desecration Demon, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Stormbreath Dragon, Master of Waves to name a few) and most players are sleeving up Scry lands to their heart's content, we can be greedy with our three-colored mana base and use Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere to get ahead on board when we fall behind in the early game and obviously Sphinx's Revelation and Jace, Architect of Thought to refill our hand after expelling a bountiful amount of removal spells on creatures/things and gain some necessary life.

Here's a quick look at the Sideboard:

Sideboard (15):
1x Last Breath
1x Daxos of Meletis
4x Gainsay
2x Negate
1x Warleader's Helix
2x Assemble the Legion
2x Wear // Tear
1x Aetherling
1x Fated Retribution

One of the spicier cards in this list is Fated Retribution. After a suggestion from my friend, Jules and losing to a myriad of Planeswalkers courtesy of Alan Simons, Planeswalkers posed a real threat for me. Outside of countermagic, the mere 4x Detention Spheres would often allow decks packing walkers on walkers to reach their ultimate ability uncomfortably often. I brought in Fated Retribution often and I'm almost considering moving it to the main-deck since it's useful for killing almost every threat in the format. I really like this wrath effect and over Planar Cleansing because it doesn't hurt my own Detention Spheres I've setup and can be cast at Instant-speed.

I'll admit that I'm not too competent with this Sideboard and that I've been looking into incorporating some additions including:

Celestial Flare - for hard to kill beaters
Thassa, God of the Sea - card selection for the mirror
Revoke Existence - against Gods/opposing Detention Spheres
Mizzium Mortars (3rd copy) - for reasons
Pithing Needle/Encroaching Wastes for Maze's End
Plea for Guidance - to grab Detention Sphere and Assemble the Legion
Assemble the Legion (4th copy) - if Mono Black Devotion is still a problem
Stormbreath Dragon - for midrange/control opponents

A couple of the weaknesses I've found with the deck is card disruption from Black decks in G2 and G3. Although G1 is heavily favored, the side-boarded games are very difficult and fighting off their myriad of threats including Pack Rat, Nightveil Specter, Desecration Demon and worst of all, Underworld Connections can be difficult. Matchups against Planeswalker-heavy decks have also been problematic, so looking into adding another copy of Fated Retribution might be just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks for taking a look at my U/W/R Control list for this post-Born of the Gods Standard format. I'll be playing with Sideboard and numbers in the maindeck to find the most appropriate proportions. Try out American Control at your next FNM and let me know what you think. Until next time, Magic players!

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-David J.