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Ideas Unbound – A Standard Blue/White Primer

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Friday, May 14th – I actively enjoy the playtesting process. I view matchups as puzzles to be solved, and am happy to sit down for an afternoon and just iterate games, keeping exhaustive notes and wondering what could have caused games to go differently until I figure out optimal strategies and important tactical plays.

The match next to me had just finished their first game and were talking about how powerful Lewis Laskin UWR Planeswalker control deck was. Greg Peloquin, playing UWR, had crushed his Mythic opponent handily in game one, and was laughing about it. “Yeah, I didn’t actually play any games with this deck until today.”

“Neither did I,” his opponent admitted.

Greg shrugged. “Yeah, there are only like five people in the Northwest who playtest, and Max is one of them. Right, Max?”

“More or less,” I said distractedly, surveying my opponent’s board full of creatures. Greg’s statement wasn’t that far off, really; for most of the people I know, their “testing process” consists of getting together once or twice before a PTQ and playing some games, and then staying up way too late the night before tuning the last few slots of their deck. There are some groups who have fairly systematic playtesting processes, but they are few and far between.

I, on the other hand, actively enjoy the playtesting process. I view matchups as puzzles to be solved, and am happy to sit down for an afternoon and just iterate games, keeping exhaustive notes and wondering what could have caused games to go differently until I figure out optimal strategies and important tactical plays. After a couple of hours, I usually have a pretty good handle on whatever matchup I’m testing and know what lines to pursue from either side.

Then I move onto the next matchup. Repeat.

As you might imagine, it can be hard to collar someone to test in circumstances like this. When most people say they want to playtest, they usually just want to battle maindecks and perhaps play a few sideboarded games. I play almost exclusively postboard games, and test several different configurations until I am satisfied with one approach. It is a significant amount of work, but, like I said, I enjoy solving the puzzle.

I put a lot of testing into my build of Blue-White Control before the 8 May PTQ in Portland. I lost playing for Top 8, but would cheerfully run it back with the same deck and sideboard.


I am heavily favored against other builds of Fireball Blue as well as UWR Planeswalkers. I am like a moderate favorite against decks that play Forests and attack; this includes older versions of Mythic, Mythic with Eldrazi Conscription, Allies, and Jund. I am slightly ahead against Goblin Guide, although I’m sure most mono-Red players feel the same from their side. Polymorph is a pretty bad matchup, although you can certainly steal games from people who don’t know what they’re doing.

The list is sixty-one cards. I wanted twenty-nine mana sources really badly and was willing to play sixty-one rather than risk cutting the wrong card. The most cuttable card is probably Baneslayer Angel, but Angel is one of the reasons you are so favored against Forests, and is particularly effective against Jund and Mythic.

Probably the Emrakul is turning the most heads. It is the nut trump in the mirror. Between fetchlands, Elspeth, and Colonnade, most people take a few points of damage in the midgame, and then you can just one-shot them with Emrakul. Even if that’s not the case, and they immediately have an Oblivion Ring that you can’t counter or remove, you are still up six lands, which is pretty insane. You also never deck in the mirror, which is occasionally relevant. You want it main because you may not be able to finish three games if you only have your fifteen-mana trump in two of them. Sure, fifteen is a lot of mana, but barring quick planeswalker blowouts, the mirror will go very long; people used to maindeck Iona for the mirror and she’s almost as dead in other matchups. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre has been making appearances as an uncounterable way to kill planeswalkers, but it’s pretty hard to get to twelve while an early planeswalker is building towards ultimate. Ulamog also gets Pathed.

I cut Spreading Seas. Mike Flores thinks it’s the best Blue card in the format. I think it is occasionally good when you are on the play and Jund’s draw only contains a few lands. The Jund lists I test with all feature twenty-seven lands plus Borderland Ranger or Rampant Growth; Seas rarely accomplishes more than a one-turn delay on Thrinax or Leech. They always cast Bloodbraid Elf on time. Instead of light mana disruption, I would rather have more removal and more cards that actively contribute to my game plan of “kill everything you play and reload with Mind Spring.” Seas is useful in the mirror against Celestial Colonnade and Tectonic Edge, but I compensate my lack of Seas with the full complement of Tectonic Edge and Path to Exile to fight manlands.

I also cut Gideon Jura. In the mirror, Gideon Jura is always “3WW: Target opponent discards Path to Exile. Put a basic land into play tapped. Maybe kill an irrelevant Baneslayer Angel.” Against Jund, it doesn’t kill Malakir Bloodwitch and is just as vulnerable to Maelstrom Pulse as the Angel is. Gideon is good against some of Jund’s slower draws, but you’re already pretty well-equipped to handle those draws, and he isn’t nearly as effective without a Wall to hide behind. The thing is, if you make Wall of Denial part of your postboard plan against Jund, you can’t use Celestial Purge to fight Ajani Vengeant out of UWR, and Day of Judgment starts to lose value. Wall of Omens, meanwhile, is hanging out getting killed by all of those Deathmarks and Doom Blades that you are “blanking” by cutting Baneslayers.

Speaking of Baneslayer, Cedric Phillips hates them and wants them to go. I am not completely opposed to this; while Baneslayer is certainly very good, it is also very expensive, and for all of the games that you win after untapping with Baneslayer, you still lose a lot of games where you have no options other than running it out on five and eating a removal spell. The thing is, Wall of Omens and your planeswalkers make most removal spells live as it is. Sure, you get a lot more value when Pulse or Doom Blade trade for Walls or walkers instead of Angel, but you aren’t just blanking their removal if you go on an all-shroud plan. I’m not averse to lowering the mana curve, but what do you want to add? Oblivion Ring with All is Dust is pretty awkward, and Path to Exile and Day of Judgment are already maxed out. More Elspeths? Not totally unreasonable, but she is legendary. I simply don’t see very many other options.

There are twenty-nine mana sources. I like casting my spells. I like drawing Everflowing Chalice and having a huge mana advantage. Sejiri Refuge helps tie all the colors together, and the lifegain is not irrelevant given that often the plan against Sovereigns of Lost Alara is “take a million, Wrath you.” For that reason, there are also no fetchlands; even if you are Brainstorming with Jace and not finding anything, you are still, you know, Brainstorming with Jace.

Fetchlands would conceivably allow you to splash Ajani Vengeant in a fashion similar to Laskin’s list. You would have to cut some Tectonic Edges, which would mean you would have to run Spreading Seas to maintain percentage against manlands. Ajani is reasonable against aggro, but you’d mostly want it as a mirror trump. However, while Ajani is certainly very good in game one, Elspeth is still a trump, and they will probably have Oblivion Rings as well. Postboard, you make them bring in Celestial Purge to fight it, but it’s not like they are giving up much considering how many cards you can cut in the mirror if you need to make room.

The removal package also deserves some explanation. Given that Mythic is on the rise and that Jund’s single best play against you is Putrid Leech, the full quantity of Path to Exile and Day of Judgment seems pretty intuitive. I have cut Oblivion Ring because Andrew Veen suggested All is Dust over Martial Coup, and as it turns out, All is Dust is totally totally insane. It kills planeswalkers, it laughs at Dauntless Escort, it sets up huge blowouts involving their Oblivion Ring, and kills Iona. The inability to play Oblivion Ring is well worth playing All is Dust, especially because of Maelstrom Pulse and how ubiquitous Kor Sanctifiers is after sideboarding in the mirror. Planar Cleansing is an alternative, but it blows up your Chalices; turn four Chalice for two, turn five All is Dust is a common line.

Matchups:

Jund: Like I mentioned in my last article, the Jund matchup is mostly about attrition. You want to force as many trades as possible while setting up big Mind Springs. Generally, you want to save Path to Exile for manlands or Sprouting Thrinax and lean on Day of Judgment and Wall of Omens to answer the rest of their creatures. Duress can be frustrating, but their best card against you is Malakir Bloodwitch, which usually needs to be answered with Sphinx of Jwar Isle or Day of Judgment.

Sideboarding:
-3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-2 Negate
-1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
-1 Day of Judgment
+3 Flashfreeze
+3 Celestial Purge
+1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

If they have a million billion Bloodwitches and no Thrinaxes you probably want to keep the fourth Day in, but otherwise I tend to prefer Elspeth, who is particularly awesome when you have Wall going. Jace goes out because of his vulnerability against Jund; you lean on Mind Spring for card drawing after boards.

Mirror and UWR: These games are either over very quickly when one player has a quick planeswalker that goes the distance, or are long, drawn-out affairs where both players carefully ration their threats and removal and seek to eke out every bit of card advantage they possibly can. All is Dust is a devastating trump, punishing Oblivion Ring as well as overextension of planeswalkers. Even better, most people tend not to be aware of the concept of overextension of planeswalkers because all of the other answers to planeswalkers are spot removal. Currently, my best All is Dust turn was their Ajani, Gideon, and Jace along with Oblivion Ring on my Elspeth and Jace. That was a pretty good turn.

In general, you want to just kill every single threat they have and eventually get them with Emrakul going long. Sure, you have some games where you have an unanswered Colonnade or Elspeth or maybe you sneak a win with Jace, but those games are few and far between. You actually usually have to give up some value on your planeswalkers, because you don’t have Oblivion Ring to fight their planeswalkers and can be vulnerable to sequences involving Oblivion Ring, opposing planeswalker. All is Dust can bail you out of some of those situations, but particularly against UWR in game one, you really want to catch Ajani with Dust. Accordingly, it is usually better to just wait for them to play their walker and trade with the legend rule. You sacrifice a little value in the short run, but can recoup it with Mind Spring going long.

Sideboarding against UW:
-4 Baneslayer Angel
-2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
-2 Day of Judgment
+2 Negate
+2 Cancel
+2 Kor Sanctifiers
+1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Against UWR, as above, but also -3 Wall of Omens +3 Celestial Purge. You will want some Wraths as answers to Martial Coup. In the pure mirror, Wall stays in to help hit land drops and serves to protect Jace from solitary Soldier tokens resulting from an Elspeth trade. You will want more Days if you suspect the other guy has a lot of Martial Coups. Luminarch Ascension is another potential mirror plan, but given that the other guy is already trying to establish Elspeth it isn’t a particularly good one, especially in a world of Kor Sanctifiers and Oblivion Ring.

Mythic and Mythic Conscription: Both of these decks tend to have fairly similar plans; play mana acceleration, play a large man, and then hypercombo finish you with obscure Alara Reborn rares. Regular Mythic has Finest Hour, and Conscription uses Sovereigns of Lost Alara to fetch Eldrazi Conscription. Either way, you generally have to be on a plan of using Path to break up their combo or Wrath to completely elbow drop them. In the absence of either card, you’ll usually be leaning on planeswalkers and Wall to buy you enough time to find your removal. If I have Wrath, I usually take a million damage on their Conscription turn and pull the trigger on my next turn; a lot of their mana tends to be coming from Lotus Cobra, Birds of Paradise, and Noble Hierarch, so their post-Wrath turn is usually not impressive. Otherwise, you want to be hitting Rafiq and Sovereigns with Path while setting up Baneslayer Angel to close. Recognize that maindeck Dauntless Escort is becoming more popular; don’t burn your Paths unless you have to or unless you are working towards All is Dust.

Sideboarding:
-2 Negate
-1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

They will bring in Negate, but it’s hard for them to establish a quick clock while simultaneously holding up permission. With Lotus Cobra they can usually manage it fairly easily, but otherwise it’s hard to make five drops and still threaten permission. Leaving in your Negates to fight theirs is tough, because you usually won’t have enough spare mana. Instead, Flashfreeze comes in to Time Walk them on turn three.

Allies and other Naya-based midrange decks: These matchups are all pretty easy. Jace, Elspeth, Day, and Angel are all absurd against these decks, and Path, Wall, and Chalice are all good at getting you into the midgame at a healthy life total. The only card you really want to be worried about is Vengevine, which does mean that you want to conserve your Paths if possible. You should also be aware that Stoneforge Mystic can get Behemoth Sledge to break through your Walls. On the whole, the matchup is pretty easy.

Sideboarding:
-1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
-2 Negate
+3 Flashfreeze

Elspeth and Jace are also pretty excellent in these matchups, and if your opponent is playing around mass removal in game one you might want to bench All is Dust for additional planeswalkers. It tends to depend on their exact build and how they have been playing.

Red Deck: Goblin Guide can be pretty hard to beat on the play, although Wall of Omens and Path are typically pretty strong against it. Kargan Dragonlord is actually not super strong against you, because a simple bear isn’t that impressive and if they sink a ton of mana into leveling him up you can easily punish that with Jace, Wrath, or Wrath. The most danger comes from getting hit by Goblin Bushwhacker and Devastating Summons on a turn where you tapped to Wrath two other creatures, but if that doesn’t happen it’s not very hard to leverage spot removal and get Angel into play.

Sideboarding:
-2 All is Dust
-1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
-1 Mind Spring
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Negate
+3 Celestial Purge
+3 Flashfreeze

Drawing multiple Springs or Jaces can be hard, and Flashfreeze is an upgrade to Negate. Negate is still pretty good against Staggershock, Devastating Summons, and Manabarbs, so one stays in. Manabarbs isn’t stock as far as I’m aware, but if you can save a Celestial Purge for it, it’s generally a good idea to do so. Just trade until you can play Sphinx or an Angel; with Wall and Path it isn’t too hard to get into the midgame at a healthy life total.

Polymorph: This matchup is pretty bad. Game one is the worst, because they will tend to have six to eight counterspells, more Jaces, and Garruk Wildspeaker, and your main counter to Polymorph is Path to Exile. Giving the other guy a land in the control mirror is not that exciting. In general, if someone has Jace in play, they are winning, and if no one has Jace in play, Polymorph is winning. You need Jace as an answer to Polymorph as well as a source of card advantage; building up to ultimate against Into the Roil and other Jaces is difficult and you wouldn’t want to go for it without multiple counters in your hand. They just use Jace to dig, and they have a ton of shuffle effects to optimize their draws. They can also cast Emrakul well before you can with Awakening Zone.

Sideboarding:
+2 Flashfreeze
+2 Cancel
+2 Negate
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
+1 Telemin Performance
-4 Wall of Omens
-1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
-2 All is Dust
-1 Mind Spring
-1 Baneslayer Angel

Telemin Performance is actually not that impressive because it doesn’t beat an active Jace and they can occasionally untap, Polymorph, and legend rule you. Still, it isn’t too terribly difficult to resolve while you are busy fighting over planeswalkers, and it’s the best option I’ve found. If they are on an Iona plan, you want to cut Day and leave in All is Dust, but as far as I’m aware, Emrakul is pretty universal at this point.

The deck is pretty sweet and I highly recommend it for Regionals. Do test a few games so that the clock is not an enemy during the event. I’m not going to Regionals this weekend, but if you are, good luck! I’d be curious to know how anyone who plays this does. I’ll be in the forums to answer further questions.

Max McCall
max dot mccall at gmail dot com