A number of players have been posting on the message boards for help with decks. As time permits, I'll feature some of these and go through how I think we might improve upon what they have going.

 

Today's deck is from user "Stjimi". His original post can be found here: http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=1188696

 

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Looking to compete, having a rough time.

 

Hey all, for starters this is my first time posting...so...yay for that! So basically, I am looking to compete, particularly in standard play. I at least thought I had something good going with the deck I put together (UWG Control) but I've been having a hard time, and frankly am getting pretty frustrated as I have gotten quite a few compliments about my deck at my card shop of choice, but in performance it's not working as well as I had hoped. Anyway here is my deck list:

 

Land (26)

4x Breeding Pool

2x Forest

4x Hallowed Fountain

5x Island

2x Mana Confluence

2x Plains

4x Temple of Enlightenment

3x Temple of Mystery

 

Instant (13)

2x Cyclonic Rift

3x Dissolve

4x Render Silent

3x Sphinx's Revelation

1x Syncopate

 

Enchantment (4)

2x Banishing Light

2x Detention Sphere

 

Artifact (1)

1x Elixir of Immortality

 

Planeswalker (6)

2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

2x Jace, Architect of Thought

2x Kiora, the Crashing Wave

 

Creature (7)

2x Prophet of Kruphix

4x Sylvan Caryatid

1x Thassa, God of the Sea

 

Sorcery (4)

4x Supreme Verdict

 

I am aware that there are 61 cards in the deck...I recently acquired a second Elspeth and was unsure what to take out to replace with her so for now she's just kind of...there... anyway, advice? Should I just ditch this idea and start over? Literally any help is appreciated! Thank you!!!!!

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Hey there, stjimi! Is that Saint Jimi? Just wondering...

 

What we have here is the basic shell of a popular blue/white control deck, with a little bit of green thrown in. The blue/white deck has proven very effective, and people have tried splashing a third color for various effects. To start off with, let's go over for our readers exactly what is happening here.

 

What this deck aims to do is to control the board by removing any threat the opponent might have - either by counter magic (Dissolve, Render Silent, Syncopate) exiling (Banishing Light, Detention Sphere), or board wipes (Supreme Verdict, overloaded Cyclonic Rift). Somewhere along the line, this deck hopes to throw down a planeswalker or three and use one of their abilities to build a threat against their opponent.

 

Along the way, Jace, scry lands, Thassa, and ultimately Sphinx's Revelation help cycle through more cards to find the right answers to the situation.

 

As the author of this deck states, he is getting frustrated that it is not working better. He doesn't specify exactly what isn't working about it, but I'm going to make a few educated guesses.

 

1) Prophet of Kruphix doesn't get full value in this deck. As nice as it is to untap on the opponent's turn, I'm not sure this is entirely necessary. You're not even getting much value out of playing creatures with flash, since you have so few creatures.

 

2) There is a lot of tension with Sylvan Caryatid and Supreme Verdict. You spend mana and a card early to play the caryatid, but a few turns later you just wipe it away with a verdict. With as many lands as you have in this deck, I don't know that you need acceleration - just more consistency, and destroying your own creatures doesn't help.

 

3) Thassa is very unlikely to be a creature in this deck and it's questionable how often a card that costs three just to scry starting next turn is the card you want to be drawing.

 

Most of the potential problem cards I mentioned are green. My first thought was, "Do we even need green?", but I really like Kiora in this type of deck. So then I thought, what cards could we put in here in place of Prophet of Kruphix, Sylvan Caryatid, and Thassa?

 

-2 Prophet of Kruphix

-4 Sylvan Caryatid

-1 Thassa, God of the Sea

 

If we remove the Caryatid, we not only lose the mana acceleration, but an early blocker. That could be more of a problem. How do we resolve that issue without having the tension with Supreme Verdict or having a dead card late game? How about Simic Charm? As early as turn two, it can return an attacker to an opponent's hand, giving you more time to get to Supreme Verdict or another answer for their problem. Later in the game, if they try to Hero's Downfall your Planeswalker, make your permanents hexproof. The third option is the least useful, but it could prove helpful if you get some Elspeth tokens out and need the extra few points of damage.

 

+3 Simic Charm

 

Speaking of charms, they are so versatile...let's try the Selesnya Charm also. It's a great way to completely take out an annoying fatty like Desecration Demon or Obzedat, Ghost Council. If you need an emergency blocker, it provides you with a 2/2. Sometimes, if your opponent can't keep a creature on the board, it can be a reasonable beater. Or, in a pinch, you can use a Simic Charm (or a second Selesnya Charm) to pump an opposing creature to at least 5 power so you can exile it with a Selesnya Charm! 

 

+2 Selesnya Charm

 

Next, I'd like to add one more offensive threat common to control decks: Aetherling. It is extremely hard to get rid of, and late in the game, you'll have enough mana to make it unblockable and pump it up, finishing off the opponent in short order. It doesn't have the tension with Supreme Verdict because it comes down late in the game, and it can dodge the board wipe for only 1 mana.

 

+1 Aetherling

 

Finally, I would probably take out the basic Forests and Plains to put in Temple of Plenty. These scry lands will help replace the card filtering lost by removing Thassa, and it will help you a little more in getting the right coloredmana. With 11 scry lands, you should be able to get several free scry effects throughout the course of the game.

 

-2 Forest

-2 Plains

+4 Temple of Plenty

 

Hopefully these changes will help. The real test is in learning how to play such a deck. I don't know how often you play control decks, but they are challenging to play. Do I counter this spell, or save the Dissolve for a bigger threat? Do I tap out to play my Planeswalker now, or leave mana open to bluff a Render Silent? Do I Syncopate the opposing creature spell, or let it resolve and play Banishing Light on it next turn? Do I Sphinx's Revelation for 3 now, or try to survive a few more turns hoping I can get a few more cards off of it? Do I keep using +1 on Kiora, locking down their biggest threat, or do I -1 to draw accelerate my board? These are questions that you are only going to learn by playing (and probably losing) a lot of games. Eventually, you'll start to learn what the right decisions are. So, whether you take my suggestions or not, don't give up on the deck - it's pretty good either way. Review each game after you play it and see, in retrospect, if there was a better play you could have made.