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Mattedesa's Deck Garage
BWG Control/Beats
May 1, 2007

This e-mail was from Alan. I would like to point out one thing before we get started here. Alan didn't tell me anything about his deck. This makes my job a bit harder because all I have to go on is the cards themselves. Maybe he's got a really cool combo going that I just am not seeing. Maybe he really likes a certain card and wants to keep it in his deck, no matter what. Maybe his deck is working really well, but people in his area play a lot of control decks, so he needs help with that. I just don't know. Word to the wise: If I start getting overrun with deck fixes in my inbox, e-mails with little or no information are more likely to get skipped over.

hello i have played magic 10 years a go got then i back into it i hope u like and send fixes plz

land

3 scrying sheets
3 snow covered plains
9 snow covered forest
3 snow covered swamp
2 orzhov basilica
1 mouth of ronom
1 arctic flats G or W
3 coldsteel heart

enchantment/snow

2 debtor's knell 4 B/W B/W B/W
1 cover of winter 2W
1 wild pair 4GG

sorcery/instant

4 into the north 1G
2 damnation 2BB
1 crime/punishment 3WB/WBG
2 persecute 2BB
3 puterfy 1BG
2 mortify 1BW

creature

1 angel of despair 3BBWW
4 phyrexian ironfoot 3
1 adarkar valkyrie 4WW
1 crovax, ascendant hero 4WW
4 ohran viper 1GG
4 loxodon hierarch 2GW
1 skeletal vampire 4BB

---

Alright, let's see what we've got. This deck is really pretty straightforward. Play early board control and accelerate a little into late game bombs. That said, let's look at the card choices. For early game control, we've got Putrefy, Mortify, Damnation, (Crime/)Punishment, Persecute and Ohran Viper. Putrefy and Mortify are very strong choices, as is Damnation. I would probably drop the one copy of Crime/Punishment and insert a 4th Putrefy and two more Mortify. After some thought, I think Persecute can probably go here.

With Ravnica's mutli-colored decks so popular still, Persecute is less likely to get a lot of cards.

As I was looking at the mana help cards, I thought to myself, "Does this deck really need to be snow?". Let's take a moment to look at the cards that need snow mana:

Scrying Sheets: Very nice card once you have a snow deck, but not enough reason in itself to play snow.

Cover of Winter: This provides you with decent early defense, but at the cost of tying up you mana, is it really worth it? I would rather have my mana available for later.

Coldsteel Heart/Into the North: These only help get more snow mana; they aren't a reason to play snow either.

Mouth of Ronom: You've got enough other good removal. You don't need this expensive stuff!

Phyrexian Ironfoot: Here is probably the most compelling reason this deck has to play snow. For three mana, you get a 3/4 creature that can help gum up the ground while you get enough mana for your bigger creatures.

That's all we have for snow. I think we can do just as well if not better by dropping all of these and replacing them with better, non-snow counterparts, starting with the basic land. (Arctic Flats can stay because any dual land is good!) Then, instead of Scrying Sheets, let's try either Harmonize, or a card I personally like (though I don't know many others who do): Midnight Bargain. This works particularly well with Debtor's Knell. Midnight Bargain is an instant, so you can hold off, bluffing a Mortify, and play it at the end of your opponent's turn. If you turn up something you really need in the top 5, pay 2 life to get it. Also, you might turn up a creature or two to return to life with Debtor's Knell. At very least, you've gotten rid of 5 cards you don't need.

Cover of Winter we can just drop and put in another swamp to help out with the mana. Coldsteel Heart can actually stay, because snow or not, it's still a good mana fixer. Into the North no longer applies, so let's make it Search for Tomorrow. You don't have anything else to do on turn 1, so it just makes sense to Suspend some land help. Mouth of Ronom we'll just take out for another Plains. Phyrexian Ironfoot can be replaced with an even cheaper way to stall opposing ground forces:
Order of the Stars. Take THAT Greater Gargadon! Or, if you don't mind spending a little more money, Will-O-the-Wisp can block fliers to, provided you keep a swamp open for regenerating.

I think your big bombs are good except for Wild Pair and Crovax. You just don't have enough creatures to make Wild Pair worth it. Let's drop it for one more Plains, since you've only got 20 lands right now.
Crovax can go for another copy of any of those other fatties you have (Angel of Despair, Skeletal Vampire, or Adarkar Valkyrie).

So, after all those changes, the deck looks something like this:

21 Lands:

5 Plains
9 Forest
4 Swamp
2 Orzhov Basilica
1 Arctic Flats

16 Creatures:

4 Order of the Stars
2 Angel of Despair
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
4 Ohran Viper
4 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Skeletal Vampire

23 Other Spells:

2 Debtor's Knell
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Damnation
4 Putrefy
4 Mortify
3 Coldsteel Heart
4 Moonlight Bargain

There are so many other cool cards you could fit into this deck, but I think these suggestions will improve your deck. Start with this and give it a try. If you keep having problems, take note of why you lose.
Getting overrun by early creatures? Try to find another Damnation or Wrath of God. Not enough or not right colors of mana? Try more of the bounce lands (like Orzhov Basilica) or signets. Keep playing it and tweaking it and you should with this deck a lot more often that you lose!