By Christina “cecillbill” Page 

My Phal Control deck’s heavy removal theme is primed to prolong the duel much longer than most other Control decks. But, such a game plan comes with a huge risk without the ability to regenerate shields. I decided to give Sphere of Wonder a whirl in ‘regular’ Phal Control—it’s been in my Phal deck out builds since Stomp released. With Phal Eega in the mix I can recycle Sphere of Wonder to make several shields depending on the state of the duel. However, unlike Mana Nexus or Sundrop Armor, Sphere of Wonder makes extra shields randomly. With the 4 mana Light spell, shields are created using cards off the top of your deck. So, what ends up as a shield can often do a very poor job of prolonging the game. The new shield’s identity is unknown to both players, but an opponent is more likely to hit a shield created by Sphere of Wonder than one created by Mana Nexus or one set by Emeral due to its randomness. I wanted Sphere of Wonder to have a bit more punch in the build.

Enter Emeral. Since I do not run Merfolk, Emeral’s utility in my build is pretty much reduced to shield setting. In the late game, when I’d have no shields or be left with shields I’ve already set, Emeral simply offered extra field presence, albeit an unimpressive one. However, after I used Sphere of Wonder in the late game and then recycled it, Emeral suddenly became a much better draw late-game as it allowed me to pick up that random shield and set a trigger. If the new shield wasn’t a trigger, then it was a great exchange if a trigger card was in hand. If the new shield turned out to be a trigger, then I’d likely have large enough mana supply to use it the same turn I played Emeral. So, the late game became a bit more fun for me as I was able to stretch Emeral’s usefulness and extend the benefits of playing with Sphere of Wonder in the deck. I’m all about goofy card interactions that turn out to be somewhat strong plays at times.

 

I also wanted Phal Eega to have more targets in the graveyard by mid-game, so I piled in more early and mid game removal in the form of Crimson Hammer and Death Smoke. I run Death Smoke because of the Daidalos and Cryptic Totem decks lurking about my meta. Almost half the deck is comprised of spells like past versions. With some new “tricks” incorporated into the build, I set out to have some last moments of fun before I have to test decks for the CC.

Phal Control – Hefty Version (Jank)

played by: cecillbill

Event: Local Tourney, Collinsville, IL - October 1, 2005

Quantity	Creatures/Spells	Mana Cost	Civilization	Main Purpose
3	Crimsom Hammer	2		Removal
3	Emeral	2		Shield Setting
4	Sarius, Vizier of Suppression	2		Defense
3	Aqua Hulcus	3		Draw
3	Energy Stream	3		Draw
3	Senatine Jade Tree	3		Defense
3	Locomotiver	4		Discard
2	Death Smoke	4		Removal
2	Thrash Crawler	4		Retrieval
2	Crystal Memory	4		Tutor
2	Sphere of Wonder	4		Shield Regen
3	Magris, Vizier Of Magnetism	4		Draw
2	Hopeless Vortex	5		Removal
2	Searing Wave	5		Removal
3	Corile	5		Removal
3	Phal Eega, Dawn Guardian	5		Recursion
4	Terror Pit	6		Removal
2	Burst Shot	6		Removal
2	Holy Awe	6		Tappage
3	Forbos, Sanctum Guardian Q	6		Tutor
1	Lost Soul	7		Discard
2	Apocalypse Vise	7		Removal
2	Bolmeteus Steel Dragon	7		Shield Kill/Finisher
1	Bazagazeal Dragon	8		Removal/Finisher

 

Mana Cost	Quantity Visual	Quantity Numerical
1		0
2	IIIIIIIIII	10
3	IIIIIIIII	9
4	IIIIIIIIIIIIII	14
5	IIIIIIIIII	10
6	IIIIIIIIIII	11
7	IIIII	5
8	I	1

 

Civilization	# Of Creatures	# Of Spells	Total
	11	5	16
	16	4	20
	3	9	12
	3	9	12
			60

There was a small turnout for this tourney, as like 5 of the regular players were missing. Let’s see how my deck did: 

Round One – Mark - 5 Civ Control

Opponent’s Cards: Rayla (later he pitched it for Forbos…duh), Mist Rias, Rumbling Terahorn, Cryptic Totem, Apocalypse Vise, Crystal Lancer, Aqua Hulcus, Searing Wave, Holy Awe, Corile, Thrash Crawler, Lost Soul, Dark Reversal, Bronze-Arm Tribe  

Intro: Mark and I playtest a lot, but I hadn’t seen his 5 civ deck yet. I expected to see Crystal Lancer since he plays that finisher in nearly every deck he runs. I also expected to see Cryptic Totem since it had such great threat outclassing when both it and Lancer were present on the field in our last meeting. The biggest threat his deck poses to me are Lancer—can’t stop it once it hits—Lost Soul, Holy Awe and Apocalypse Vise/Searing Wave.  

Game one I’m able to kill off a lot of his Lancer evobait, and keep Cryptic off the field—timed discard with Locomotiver to his Rumbling Terahorn search for Totem. I stalled the duel with some blockers and Sphere of Wonder, which I was able to use twice. I used Emeral to place one of my Terror Pits down as a shield later in the duel and picked up an Emeral—it was the shield that Sphere of Wonder made. He’s able to get Lancer out, and it’s forced to break the Terror Pit. I end the game by destroying shields with Bolly Steel Dragon and following up with my field.

Game two was an all out brutal war of attrition. My gosh, he had me on the ropes for like 11 turns. Phal Control kept coughing up the cards I needed, then he’d be able to get back a Lancer and pummel me. He knows that Lancer is the best threat he can produce against me, so he retrieved copies of it, and then searched out the evobait he needed. What killed me was that he was able to make Mist Rias stick and draw 7 cards with it in the late game. He built a field packed with evobait. I slammed his field with Wave and Vise, and hit his hand with a well-timed Lost Soul. But, I couldn’t connect for the win because he had slammed my field too, lol. I was able to use Sphere of Wonder 3 times with Phal Eega action tossed into the mix. Of course, packing so little discard was my downfall. I had him down to no field and just needed one more turn to connect for the win. He drew into Lancer with Guard in hand and he hit for the win when he had no other field. Lovely. He said something like: “You tried so hard, but it just wasn’t enough.” I laughed…but the pain inside was swelling up…just kidding! Mark and I always joke around with each other, lol. But, yeah, I got pwned.  

Game three was sweet. By late game I was sitting on a hand of like 8 cards. I had recycled Energy Stream so much that I got all three copies of Forbos out and saw about 85% of my deck. When I played my 3^rd Forbos that allowed me to use its Survivor ability to grab 3 spells out of my deck. Right then I said, “Now, that’s why Rayla sucks.” I set up the most delicious hand! I had Bolly, kill, Memory, Phal Eega, blockers, Sphere, Emeral, Baza, and Magris in hand. He used Rayla to grab Lost Soul from his deck. Hum…wonder what he was going to play next turn…but I topdecked Lost Soul…he pretty much knew it was over then. I got Bolly Steel Dragon out and wrecked ship. 

Winner: Me, 2-1 

Round Two – Jim – Mono-Black Aggro-Control

Opponent’s Cards: Trox General of Destruction, Propeller Mutant, Bloody Squito, Locomotiver, Ghost Touch, Dark Reversal, Shadow Moon, Gigagriff, Marrow Ooze, Gnarvash, Terror Pit, Death Smoke, Proclamation of Death, Mongrel Man, Chaos Worm 

Intro: Jim said he saw this deck on the internet somewhere. I wasn’t worried since mono-Darkness hasn’t been a problem for me (kill anything that looks like it can become Ballom or Chaos Worm) and he doesn’t run like Marinomancer to re-fill his hand late game. 

Game one he starts with the hand assaults. Propeller, Touch, and Locomotiver hit me. Yeah! He then uses his 4 mana kill to hit some of my blockers or force me to remove dinky guys. I’m able to crawl out of the hand death with some draw creatures and spells, and recycle with Phal. He then slams me with Trox, which only zaps one card since I didn’t let him keep a field. I drop Corile to get rid of his Gigagriff so my Bolly Steel Dragon could destroy his shields. He builds up a little dink field, which I destroy via Holy Awe action. Bolly Steel Dragon seals the deal and I walk away with this one. 

His Shadow Moon annoyed me. But, he simply isn’t able to do much of anything past the expected hand peeks early in the game. His deck fizzles out since he can’t keep a hand and can’t remove multiple targets. Once Trox or his other fattie appear they get removed next turn if Trox doesn’t pitch kill/recursion. I’m able to wrap this game up with Bolly Steel Dragon. 

Winner: Me, 2-0

Round Three – William – Light/Darkness Control

Opponent’s cards: Trox, Terror Pit, Holy Awe, Ballom, Alcadieas, Vashuna, Syforce, Ethel, Gran Gure, Diamond Cutter, Dia Nork, Ura Giga, Propeller Mutant, Grinning Axe 

Intro: William won’t add Water to this deck, or make it less top heavy. A Crystal Paladin or Scarlet Skyterror would wreck him something awful. He topdecks a million blockers. 

He pretty much played blockers. Then he played more blockers. The he played some trump action wit Propeller Mutant. So, I built my field, used 2 Forbos to grab the necessary Terror Pits and Holy Awes to peck away shields slowly. None of his evobait was able to stick around, forcing him to mana both Big Al and Ballom. I think he was able to take 2 shields due to me letting the Mutant thru for hits. I slam with the OTK. 

He does the same things as game one—blocker setup. So, I setup hitters, peg/bounce away blockers for hit while saving kill for his few gunners. Phal recycled Vise and Pit, and I bounced his Gran twice with Corile to sneak in a few hits with my 4000 power guys. He isn’t able to come at me once with his hitters. He could have tried Diamond Cutting, but I had out blockers. If he got to 11 mana he could to the Awe with Cutter, but that didn’t happen as he topdecked and played all the blockers he drew. I used Memory and Thrash to get back key spells, and then slammed with a Holy Awe run with all my shields in tact. 

Winner: Me, 2-0

Results: 1^st Place—cecillbill, 2^nd Place—Mark, and I didn’t check out the rest of the rankings because I had to grab something to eat, lol. Phal Control has been responsible for my rise from like 75^th globally to 11^th, so I’ll be playing it for a while. In fact, it’s going to get more evil in future sets…when I stop making it so jank, lol. The competition at this tourney wasn’t as stiff as other tourneys, except for Mark, due to everyone trying out weird stuff and some of the other regulars being absent.

What’s Up Next?

Metagame Spotlight: Darkness/Fire Weenie Rush

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