You can probably grok from the title where this is going, but before talking about my States deck, a little background.
I had the good fortune of drafting at Madison Release weekend, though I did my best to bamboozle a few mages into games of Constructed (which is apparently not how Madisonians generally get down). I was working on various U/R Control decks, when deckbuilding guru Brian Kowal read to me the list that Jason Ford Top 4ed the TCGplayer.com 5K with. I had to do a double take. I was impressed. I’d not heard of Jason Ford, but I certainly appreciated the list. For reference, here were our lists at the time:
Creatures (3)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (12)
Spells (41)
- 1 Lightning Bolt
- 4 Pyroclasm
- 5 Mountain
- 9 Island
- 4 Mana Leak
- 1 Jace Beleren
- 2 Burst Lightning
- 4 Everflowing Chalice
- 2 Deprive
- 1 Jace's Ingenuity
- 4 Preordain
- 2 Destructive Force
- 2 Volition Reins
Sideboard
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 3 Pyroclasm
- 4 Mana Leak
- 2 Into the Roil
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 4 Preordain
- 2 Stoic Rebuttal
- 1 Volition Reins
Sideboard
I was hardly surprised when I later discovered that Ford’s list was a Gerry Thompson original. What can I say? The man puts in work. For his thoughts
on his list, check out his excellent article
here.
Fast forward a few days. At this point, I’m back in Michigan for a few days, kicking it at RIW with a variety of misers including the DarkestMage, Michael Jacob. While MJ is primarily interested in marrying his two great loves (unplayable monocolor decks and Oracle of Mul Daya), I’m tuning my control deck, which I’ve since added a very light white splash to. MJ is unrelenting in reminding me how much better Frost Titan is than cards that are not Frost Titan. I point out that I have a Frost Titan instead of a Wurmcoil Engine at this point (when I picked up the Vensers).
I’d been working on a variety of decks, but another day of much gaming convinces me that Jace, the Mind Sculptor is where I want to be at the moment. (I know! What are the odds?!) When it becomes clear that Frost Titan is about as good against Red as Wurmcoil Engine, the writing is on the wall, and I eventually have to face that this isn’t the right place, or at least the right time for him. Wurmcoil is very good, but Frost Titan is so unbelievably well positioned right now — it’s crazy to not play him when you can cast him.
Obviously Primeval Titan is just the gosh darn in Valakut or Eldrazi Green, but I’ve come around to MJ, Kowal, and Gerry’s position that Frost Titan is “The Good One.” They like to say that Frost Titan is the best, but that is only outside of dedicated Primeval Titan decks with a land worth getting, like Valakut or Eye of Ugin. In a random U/G/R deck, I like Frost Titan better than Primeval Titan. My list for Titans is currently:
1. Primeval Titan
2. Frost Titan
3. Wurmcoil Engine
4. Inferno Titan
5. Sun Titan
6. Grave Titan
Grave Titan is slaughtered by the printing of Wurmcoil Engine. Additionally, he was always at his best against removal. No Path, no Terminate, no Maelstrom Pulse, no Oblivion Ring, no Bant Charm, and so on means there’s much less. Add to this the diminished value of random ground dorks and the fact that black is pretty damn unplayable. Sun Titan is no longer called for, as Frost Titan is superior in U/W (not to mention Wurmcoil Engine, Sunblast Angel, and new expensive planeswalkers). Inferno Titan is still good and worth considering above Wurmcoil depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Here’s what I’d play in States, this weekend.
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (25)
Spells (23)
Starting with the creatures, you’ll notice the Scroll Thieves have become Sea Gate Oracles. This wasn’t because of Venser, but rather Venser followed once I had the Sea Gates. I do love a Scroll Thief, and this is a good time for him, but Scroll Thief is much better in decks with lots of
creatures. The style of Scroll Thief decks Kibler was talking about,
here,
contain many more creatures. Every dead Scroll Thief there helps a Molten-Tail Masticore live, or some other such monster (and yes, I’m also on the Molten-Tail Masticore train — that guy is super sweet if you have creatures).
Sea Gate Oracle actually does a lot of really nice things here. Aside from randomly blocking and smoothing draws, it beats down a surprising amount. What can your opponent do to stop it without losing value? Even Wall of Omens lets you cash in your Lightning Bolt for something, and besides, that’s a card on the decline. Attacking Koth is particularly important. Generally a turn 4 Koth can be dispatched by a Sea Gate Oracle plus Lightning Bolt combo (a pairing as likely as the classic Mark Herberholz and Gabriel Nassif combo of Big Macs plus sushi).
Scroll Thief living through Pyroclasm was always sexier than Sea Gate Oracle living through it, but this deck isn’t about super flashy plays. It’s just very modest, very reliable value. Sea Gate helps us get setup, and then we rely on planeswalkers and Frost Titans to finish the job. Even if Sea Gate Oracle just chump-blocks a Mountain powered up by Koth that’s attacking Jace, that’s pretty huge. First of all, that’s not only four damage prevented and better than a cantrip, Sleight of Hand, your Jace lives another turn. Maybe now you’ll be able to protect Jace with all your mana, and if not, you can at least get another Brainstorm looking for ways to do this. Additionally, you may just scry your top card, putting Jace up so high that he’ll effectively soak up seven damage. Even if his loyalty is five, your opponent isn’t likely to be able to do exactly five, giving you a huge boost in life.
Let’s talk about Frost Titan for a minute. Why is he “The Good One,” now? Believe it or not, it isn’t because he’s blue! Primeval Titan often wins games out-right, in decks that abuse him, but when it comes to just having a powerful permanent exerting influence on the board, Frost Titan is the king. Heads up, he generally wins fights against any of the other Titans or Wurmcoil Engine or Molten-Tail Masticore or Baneslayer. That’s a pretty impressive list.
Whereas the other Titans aspire to gain some sort of card advantage on every attack, Frost Titan cares only about making sure he’s the best card on the table. Extra Zombies, extra Arc Lightnings, extra Nature’s Spirals — these are all nice, but when you’re bashing someone with a Titan, card advantage isn’t always what you need. Frost Titan gives you what you really need, an answer to whatever permanent is troubling you. He’s just always the right answer, whatever the problem. The lack of card advantage provided by him is much less of a concern now that people play so much less removal.
Mages used to scoff at the Ice Armor that makes Frost Titan
somewhat
more difficult to target. Well sure, when people are just Path to Exiling and Terminating, who cares?
What do people play now? The R/G Titan decks have to try to combo him away, which is made slightly more difficult by its taking four extra mana to try to double Valakut him out directly. Most of the time, he just sits there exerting a game-winning dominance over Primeval Titan. Mono-Green has even worse ways of dealing with him.
Frost Titan is probably at his worst against U/W, but pretty much any of them except Sun Titan would be bad here. Why not Sun Titan then? Because really, I wouldn’t want Sun Titan against anyone else, and there are better dedicated cards against U/W.
Things to remember with Frost Titan:
1) You don’t have to pay extra, so blinking him with Venser is easy and effective.
2) You have to resolve the trigger, so if your opponent pays one mana and casts Condemn, you can’t just say, “Okay, it’s countered.”
3) Frost Titan is very effective against a Chandra Nalaar that your opponent hasn’t cast yet.
4) Frost Titan combined with Tectonic Edge can sometimes bottleneck red mages.
5) The last Frost Titan to the party generally wins heads-up.
6) Spreading Seas attacking white mana can sometimes mean that Frost Titan will keep a U/W player off of Day of Judgment.
7) When deciding what to lock down, remember that in general, the tight play is the one that preserves the most and best options.
Let’s talk about Venser, for a moment. This is a card that really surprised me. When I first saw the card, I thought of all the applications that I’m now using it for, but thought it might just be too cute. Blinking stuff seemed like fun, but was it trying too hard? Besides, five-drop walkers have a tougher time than four-drops. It was when I realized that it’s easy to have a Spreading Seas lying around, ensuring he’s at least a Tome that I realized how good he really is.
See, Venser just about always
at least
draws a card but often does more. Sea Gate Oracle is obviously a fantastic blink, as is Frost Titan, but there are plenty of other applications. For instance:
1) Untapping a land on turn 6 so that you still have two untapped on your opponent’s turn.
2) Blinking a Colonnade that has Spreading Seas on it.
3) Getting your Jace, the Mind Sculptor back from an opponent that tried to Volition Reins it (he targets permanents you
own
).
4) You can move your Volition Reins to a better target (or Spreading Seas for that matter). MJ assures me you can even Volition Reins a shroud creature this way, but I’d double check before making this play.
5) Blink your Jace, so that you can replay a second Jace to try to Brainstorm and find your only out.
6) Unblockable Frost Titans win races fast.
7) Gives your creatures “vigilance.”
This isn’t even counting other possible plays with Sejiri Refuge, Sun Titan, Sunblast Angel, Gideon, and Glimmerpoint Stag. In general, it shouldn’t be hard to get at least a card’s worth of value out of his +2 ability, but to fully appreciate how amazing he is, remember that’s +2
and
drawing a card. Not even Jace can match that loyalty bump and card draw at the same time. That translates into a lot of damage as your opponent tries to attack Venser (for fear of the ultimate).
To make matters worse, it takes only three turns of drawing before Venser is ready to fire off one of the most powerful ultimates in the game. I had such high hopes that people would play the games out, but thus far, I’ve ultimated Venser a lot, and few people can even stand to sit there much longer as he quickly removes any hope of counter play.
I love drawing cards, but Jace’s Ingenuity is just nowhere near as good as Venser, if you can cast him. What I found was that adding the second splash was really not that hard at all, as the mana is much easier in this list than the old U/W/R planeswalker decks. Not only do we have Preordain and Sea Gate Oracle, we have hardly any red or white. This is basically a mono-blue deck with some single color splashes, not Gideons and Elspeths and Wall of Omens and so on.
Speaking of Preordain, if you’re not playing four Preordains in your blue control deck, you’re doing it wrong. Seriously. Yes, it’s always cutting cards that “actually do something” by adding Preordains, but maybe next time you’ll remember to start with four Preordains. There are just so many different potential threats; a card so cheap that smooths out your draws so much is a huge boon. This card means you get mana-screwed less, you topdeck out of situations more, and you find your answers more reliably. Sound like something you might be interested in?
Tried telling everyone that would listen a few months ago, but it seems that not everyone has gotten the memo yet. Look at every blue control deck doing well lately. Notice anything about the number of Preordains in them? Yeah, yeah, I know, it sounds like a rant, but it’s with good reason. Not playing Preordain is generally not realistic.
Want more explanation than this seemingly hyperbolic rambling? I have written about the card
here,
here,
here,
and
here,
among others. I imagine some are getting tired of hearing me go on and on about it, but I’m just trying to do the best job I can, and one of the most useful things I can impart to those not yet on board with Preordain in blue control decks is making them realize why Gerry, MJ, Gerard, and everyone else making good blue control decks these days all agree that the card is a must.
It is like a blue Brainstorm.
Can you cut Brainstorm from decks? Sure, it just makes them less consistent. Just as Brainstorm combos with fetchlands for good value, so too does Preordain combo with Jace, the Mind Sculptor. It’s often like a Thirst for Knowledge for one mana! Blue control decks in Extended should have four Preordains, assuming their mana base can support it. In fact, I recommend bending your mana base around Preordain, not the other way around!
V E L O C I T Y
Jace as a four-of isn’t nearly as necessary as four Preordains, by the way. Do I think it’s a mistake to not play the full four? Yes, yes I do. Jace is really, really good right now. However, one could at least argue that playing more Belerens is better to try to screw other blue mages. I’ve yet to hear the good excuse for no Preordains in control.
Should your Fauna Shaman deck have Preordain? It’s very possible that the answer is no. Then again, Fauna Shaman decks haven’t been doing as well as Preordain decks lately, have they…?
Another point on Jace, by the way. It’s okay if he dies. Really. He’ll be back anyway. Jace is just a tool to gain value. Whether it’s card advantage, selection, extra life points, tempo from the bouncing, or whatever else you may use him for, Jace is just a means to an end. He doesn’t have to be the guy holding the trophy or the guy in the end zone. He doesn’t care who’s in the highlight reel. He just wants the team to win. For a
good time, check out 1:25-3:10 of
this episode
of the Magic Show for more Pros’ opinions on this card.
Spreading Seas is vital as a good way to defend against manlands (particularly Colonnade), as well as Valakut and Eye of Ugin. Additionally, you just get free wins sometimes when you draw two against a slightly mana-light opponent. The opportunity cost is so low, and besides, in this deck, we want to ensure that our Venser is always live. There’s certainly nothing wrong with sideboarding them out, however.
Mana Leak is still the best counterspell in Standard, as it’s just so versatile and solid against everyone. I favor Stoic Rebuttal over Deprive, as I want to be able to counter a Jace on three, then untap and drop my own. Stoic Rebuttal should be used over Cancel so as to not reveal how few artifacts we have. Still, if you’re playing four Stoic Rebuttals in a deck with two or less artifacts, I kind of like three and a Cancel so as to further misdirect the opponent who may now think you have five or more. I like Negate a lot, but it’s just so important to have versatile permission right now, as the decks people play are so different from each other.
Into the Roil is one of the cards I think has gained the most with the rotation. It isn’t just that Oblivion Ring is gone, either. Koth, Eldrazi Monument, and various Ascensions help make it especially important to be able to solve unusual problems. Also, with Path and Terminate gone and black nearly unplayable, it’s one of the better instant-speed removal spells.
Finally, even if you just bounce your own Spreading Seas (or Oracle if you’re sure the coast is clear), it’s another card drawer to help keep your hand full. Does it seem slow? Yes, and it is slow, but that’s hardly its only function. It’s just nice that you can cash your bounce spell in for an Inspiration if you have the time.
Volition Reins is totally awesome, whether stealing Titans or planeswalkers, but it’s expensive. So in an effort to be slightly less greedy, I’m only playing one main. Fortunately, four Preordains, four Spreading Seas, four Sea Gates, four Jaces, two Vensers, and two Into the Roils provide a ton of velocity to help dig for it. Stealing a walker then immediately using its ultimate is a very realistic dream.
My favorite scenario is stealing a Koth at five loyalty. The red mage likely has a hand full of burn, but there’s nothing he can do. By the time you steal it, you can just activate it before passing priority, allowing your Mountains to take on a life of their own. They can’t Bolt their own Koth, because that’s not how planeswalkers work.
Remember, you don’t Bolt planeswalkers; you Bolt opponents then redirect the damage to their planeswalkers. You can’t redirect damage to your own planeswalker, no matter how badly you might want to.
I replaced a Pyroclasm with a Ratchet Bomb in order to hedge a little against equipment decks and various machine decks. Besides, the Ratchet Bomb is actually not embarrassing against U/W, whereas Pyroclasm is. Still, Pyroclasm is a card that I think gained an awful lot from the rotation. Almost every creature has a toughness of one, two, or six. Killing the small ones is far more efficient with Pyroclasm, and if you were to Day, so often the big ones would follow.
I know that Gerry favors Burst over Bolt, but there are some differences in our decks. Here are my reasons to favor Bolt:
1) I have less Jaces, so it’s important to be able to keep opponent’s Jaces off the table.
2) I’m less concerned about Celestial Colonnade, as I have my own to help and my four Spreading Seas and one Tectonic Edge.
3) Sea Gate Oracle plus Bolt has been good for me in combating Koth.
4) With so much Pyroclasm on the rise, I think more and more people will start adopting three-toughness creatures like Scroll Thief.
5) Lightning Bolt is an intrinsically stronger card, so if there isn’t clear evidence the other way, I lean towards it.
6) I have more filtering (Sea Gates, Spreading Seas, Into the Roil) but less actual mana sources. As such, I spend all my mana every turn much more often. Gerry’s build sometimes generates a lot of extra mana with his Chalices, and Burst is a good way to get paid extra from it. My build is forced to conserve mana more often.
The use of manlands helps make up for the occasional flood that results from so many cantrips. You’ve surely noticed that I have a lot fewer mana sources than Gerry, but that’s because I have ten extra cantrips.
The sideboard starts with four Flashfreeze and four Negates, as they let you customize your deck against the two most popular strategies. Flame Slash is just a very mana-efficient removal spell, and I lean towards it over Condemn or Journey because I want to kill Fauna Shaman, and I don’t want to have Journey sitting in play as a liability, even though it combos well with Venser.
Jace Beleren is obviously just more anti-Mind Sculptor, but I go with Ulamog over the second Beleren to try to go over the top in control mirrors. Beleren is insane against U/W, but I expect more and more people to adopt burn, which greatly diminishes his value. When the game goes long, as it tends to with this many counterspells, I have a tendency to draw through my whole deck. Even with the four Colonnades (that usually make up for less Titans), I find that it can be very possible to run out of cards.
To combat this, I wait and wait, eventually discarding Ulamog to get a Feldon’s Cane shuffle. At this point, my library is stocked full of business, each of my draws will be better, and the burden of proof is on my opponent to find a way to beat me. Additionally, he’s just a powerful end-game threat, since he can randomly kill a Jace or a Volition Reins.
Volition Reins is primarily additional sideboard against Primeval Titan decks. Like Gerry’s list, I to suffer game 1 against Primeval Titan decks; however my post-board setup is fine. I’m also slanted against what I expect to be a surge of small creature decks at States, while still maintaining a healthy position against U/W.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Primeval Titan, Fauna Shaman, and Koth of the Hammer are all excellent cornerstones to build around, but if Jace is your flavor, I definitely recommend this list or a similar one. Good luck!
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”