Tim e-mailed me recently and wanted some help with his Blue/White control deck. He said he didn’t really want to buy new cards, but wanted to do the best with what he had. Below is his very thorough explanation of his deck:

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When I first was starting out and had limited resources, I used White Abzan Outlast with Blue to stall to help support Outlast (using Ainok-Kin to provide First Strike, Falconer for Flying, Herald of Anafenza for token production). I feel Jeskai's Prowess is too offensive and nonconservative approach, but I hated the Outlast mechanic for being so mana-inefficient. 

As I collected more cards, I cut down on my creature base to throw in more Jeskai creatures and Instants. Prowess still forms a large part of my offence, but I exercise it in a conservative manner, making it distinct from UW Heroic. 

Deck Overview

The single most diverse card in the deck is perhaps Raise the Alarm. It's an Instant, so it can trigger the Prowesses of Breezedancer, Shu Yun, Mystic Monastery, or Myth Realised. It throws out two 1/1's that I can surprise chump block as necessary, or start pecking away at the opponent's life with sheer numbers. They are conveniently cheap, making it so I can block a 1 Toughness attacker with another body on the field, remove a 2 Toughness attacker if necessary, or provide attackers that I don't care get blocked if my opponent loses other cards in the process. 

As I said, the deck is designed to use defensive cards so I can accumulate mana and draw into one of my four Prowess cards, and play a lot of cheap spells to build them up. Mystic Monastery supplies me with free creatures. Shu Yun is a volatile bomb. Myth Realised is a time bomb. Cunning Breezedancer is the strongest Creature, used if a Flying strike is needed. Palace Familiars are included for the purpose of chump blocking. 

Narset Transcendent's first effect is for extra draw power, and the second effect is to double up on Prowess boosts. I was thinking of catering to her by removing some Lands or Creatures for more draw spells. 

Although I have limited Creatures, I do have reliable token swarm. Dictate of Heliod's Flash is important because I can suddenly make weak Creatures fatal blockers (and continue to have the +2/+2 for the rest of the game). Alternatively, it can make a seemingly mild attack swarm turn dangerous, as I get in 2 more damage for every unblocked Creature I have (not even taking Prowess into account), while likely picking up surprise kills with the unblocked ones. For the sake of combo examples, if I'm just attacking with Shu Yun with seven open mana and my opponent chooses not to block him, Flashing in the Dictate will have Shu Yun himself deal 12 damage. Plus whatever else may be attacking or any prior damage, that is a game-winning attack. I admit Dictate's cost is uncomfortable, but its simple effect is deceptively dangerous. I usually have to like open mana to counter stuff, and Flash is handy to let me play it at the opponent's End Step, which means any Tokens I have can start racking up some heavy hits. (In short, it's highly combo-dependent and late-game only, but they are flexible combos that can give me a huge advantage. I have considered retiring it many times, but I ended up dropping other cards, such as Spear of Heliod.) Cloudform is good for the sake of Manifesting a Flying Hexproof 2/2. If by any chance Cloudform Manifested one of my two Monks, that's a good position. I've found Creatures that get Manifested useful for avoiding traditional counters and being pseudo-Flashed. Monastery Siege's first mode is useful early game for hand management and to pay for future Treasure Cruising. The second mode is useful late game for giving pseudo-hexproof to my permanents. 

Aside from Breezedancer and Heliod, my most costly cards are draw spells. Treasure Cruise costs 8 mana to draw 3 cards, but the high amount of Instants I play should be able to Delve them off. Dig Through Time is not in here because I don't want Delve conflicts with Treasure Cruise (and I don't own Dig). In its place is the 6-cost Interpret the Signs. The cost means I can't play it until turn 6 at earliest, and it usually means I can't cast any other cards until my next turn. It's costly because it's a controlled draw card, but I have a fair amount of high-cost cards, so I have a good shot of getting a good reveal with the scry. The scry also helps me get a good chance of getting a good permanent, or perhaps an Instant I'm in dire need of. If I happen to reveal a Treasure Cruise, I will get so much draw power I will have to discard (which would then help pay for Treasure Cruise next turn). Ojutai's Summons is another costly card, but getting two 2/2 Fliers is appropriate for five mana. It's bothersome I don't get my second token until next turn, but it shouldn't matter too much for a stall deck like mine, and Rebound is useful for setting off Prowess effects twice. That's also why I have Sight Beyond Sight. For four mana, it's two rigged draws with Rebound. Since it's not an Instant, it can't be a Prowess combat trick; furthermore, Instants are important because they can be played last second in case I wished I had mana for other emergencies. This is problematic for Sight Beyond Sight; I'm not comfortable playing its cost early-game, and the effect is weak for late-game. Anticipate (a nerfed Impulse) solves this problem, but is a 1-for-1 as opposed to Sight's 1-for-2 (and triggering Prowess twice). 

Instants compose over half of the non-Lands in this deck; the majority of those are opposing Creature disruption. The first rendition of this deck held eight counters (3 Cancel, 3 Rakshasa's Disdain, 2 Dissipate). I currently have five (4 Dissipate, 1 Negate) with many more in the side. Dissipate is undoubtedly the best Standard counterspell (arguably second to Dissolve, which I don't own). So now my main is running a total of three less counterspells, which I can actually feel in playtesting. I've removed Cancel for being inefficient and Rakshasa's Disdain for clashing with Treasure Cruise. The only other counterspells I own are low-cost specific counters (which are in my side) or horribly overpriced ones. 

I'm looking over the monoblue deck you reviewed back in January. It's to my understanding that the most popular Standard Control deck is one that uses Blue control cards or Black removal cards, winning either through Ugin burn or Aishok mill; the only Creatures are a pair of Pearl Lake Ancients and potentially Consecrated Sphinx. Blue control fits my style, and I like my White component. Here is my 60-card decklist, with out-of-deck cards listed afterwards (and more personal comments). 

Also, considering that M15 and Theros are rotating out in three months, I would like to talk to you about what are potential replacements. Such cards are noted in my decklist.

60 Blue-White Control:

5 Creature:
1 Cunning Breezedancer
1 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
1 Mystic Monastery (token producer)
2 Palace Familiar

1 Planeswalker:
1 Narset Transcendent 

5 Enchantment:
1 Dictate of Heliod (flash) (Theros)
2 Cloudform (manifest)
1 Monastery Siege
1 Myth Realised (can attack)

5 Sorcery:
2 Treasure Cruise
1 Interpret the Signs (Theros)
1 Ojutai's Summons (token producer)
1 Sight Beyond Sight

18 Instant:
1 Weave the Fate
3 Devouring Light (M15)
4 Dissipate (M15)
2 Whisk Away
1 Artful Maneuver
1 Force Away
1 Negate
4 Raise the Alarm (token producer) (M15, likely to be reprinted)
1 Gods Willing (Theros)

26 Land:
9 Island
8 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Tranquil Cove
1 Flooded Strains

15 Sideboard:
1 Creature: 1 Stratus Dancer

2 Enchantment:
1 Skywise Teachings (token producer)
1 Aqueous Form (aura) (Theros)

12 Instant:
1 Learn from the Past
1 Ojutai's Breath
1 Pillar of Light
1 Centre Soul
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
2 Neutralising Blast
1 Radiant Purge
2 Erase

Recently removed cards:

3 Oppressive Rays (M15)
2 Ajani's Presence (Theros)
1 Pillar of Light (M15)
Spear of Heliod (Theros)
1 Aqueous Form (Theros)
1 Military Intelligence (M15)
1 Serra Angel (M15)
2 Seraph of the Masses (M15)
1 Channel Harm
4 Brave the Sands
3 Cancel
3 Stubborn Denial
1 Dragon's Eye Savants
2 Whisk Away
4 Rakshasa's Disdain
1 Ojutai, Soul of Winter
4 Jeskai Sage
1 Dauntless River Marshal
1 Paragon of New Dawns 

All of these cards have been in my deck recently, and I've removed them as I either got stronger replacements or if nuances in the deck caused one card or entire strategies to be favoured over another, to achieve some deck balance, or if I found a card's cost didn't work for me. One example is Ojutai, which I removed for Breezedancer for being a cheaper cost yet being a more dangerous attacker. Dragon's Eye Savants and Military Intelligence are cards I removed for circumstance; I've been gradually cutting down on creature support more and more. Savants was a good, consistent blocker, and could serve as a Flying Hexproof blocker when called by Cloudform. Also, my Creature swarm as adequate enough to try out Military Intelligence for free draws each turn. So I'm wondering if you think any of the cards I rotated out was a mistake.

Outside the deck (standard):

1 Staff of the Mind Magus (M15)

1 Phyrxian Revoker (M15)

2 Pacifism

1 Suspension Field

3 Defiant Strike

1 Erase

4 Feat of Resistance

4 Pressure Point

3 Weave the Fate

1 Divination

4 Crippling Chill

3 Reality Shift

3 Force Away

1 Disdainful Stroke

4 Mystic Meditation

4 Write Into Being

1 Cloudform

1 Icefall Regent

1 Belltoll Dragon

3 Ojutai's Breath

2 Ojutai's Summons

1 Profaner of the Dead

2 Living Lore

1 Lightform

1 Palace Familiar

1 Sight Beyond Sight

1 Learn from the Past

1 Hidden Dragonslayer

1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit

1 Centre Soul

2 Arashin Foremost

1 Glint

1 Negate

1 Skywise Teachings

1 Silumgar Spell-Eater

1 Citadel Siege

3 Taigam's Strike

2 Student of Ojutai

3 Dragon's Eye Sentry

3 Contradict

1 Scroll of the Masters

2 Anticipate

3 Wall of Frost (M15)

1 Nyx-Fleece Ram (Theros)

2 Dragon Hunter

1 Archetype of Courage (Theros) 

Extra blue or white cards I have that I never really added because they didn't seem notable enough or were inappropriate for my deck style. Most of these also include counterspells that found my disfavour. I'm wondering if you would think any of these cards really ought to go into my deck.

Outside the deck (modern):

4 Divine Deflection
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Gilded Light
2 Clone
1 Wall of Denial
1 Mana Leak
1 Willbender
1 Impulse
1 Captain of the Watch
4 Crusader of Odric
1 Precinct Captain
1 Emeria Angel
1 Azor's Elocutors 

Finally, here are my cards that I could incorporate if I wanted to shift it to a Modern style, which would probably place more emphasis on Soldier swarming. I'm wondering what cards from this list would you include to the deck or sideboard if I changed up the White portion of my deck to include Soldier offence, including some of my other Standard cards that I wouldn't use in Standard format.

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Thanks for sending in your deck, Tim! You have clearly thought through your deck a lot! Such an explanation really helps me see what you are doing and narrow down ideas on how I can help.  To narrow things down from the start a little, I’m just going to focus on improving this as a standard deck. Optimizing it for modern is a completely different game than standard, and frankly, would probably require the investment in or trade for some new cards. 

What we need to do here is focus your deck a little more. You’ve done that some by the cards you’ve taken out. You’ve done well to notice some cards that are good, but just didn’t fit the theme of what you were doing.  The way I see it, you basically want to do three things: 

1.  Keep your opponent’s threats at bay by countering or removing them

2.  Make the most of your non-creature spells by utilizing prowess and other effects

3.  Use cheap tokens and a couple of big creatures to finish them off

#2 is probably the most important aspect as it gives you the most value. If you can play one spell and get two or three effects out of it, that’s a pretty big advantage. If you can do this at instant speed, it gives you the most flexibility by leaving mana open and leaves the opponent guessing longer. To that end, I want to maximize the number of instants and minimize the number of other types of spells, leaving only the most important. 

From your additional cards, there are a few instants that jump out to me: Anticipate, Center Soul, and Ojutai’s Breath. All of them are inexpensive, so leaving mana open for them is not too hard. Anticipate is great at card sifting, helping you find the right card in the moment, all while it triggers prowess or one of the other benefits of non-creature spells. Center Soul helps either protect an important creature from removal or gives it a path through blockers of a certain color. The protection, I think, will be a big benefit for you. Ojutai’s Breath also can play offense or defense, stalling out 2 opposing attackers for two turns or opening up a hole for your attackers.  

+2 Anticipate

+1 Center Soul

+3 Ojutai’s Breath 

One potential problem with a deck like this is that sometimes you won’t have enough creatures. It’s a little slow, but I would like to see you try Skywise Teachings. You are probably going to play longer, more drawn out games with this deck, so you should have plenty of opportunity to pump out more creatures. Plus, as we lower the overall cost of some of your cards and make more of them instant, you’ll have your mana open to use on the Teachings. Also, let’s put in a couple Jeskai Sages to give you more opportunities to take advantage of prowess. As a 1/1 that draws a card, he will often be left unblocked, but you know very well how much bigger he can get in a hurry! He’s also a reasonable blocker, either a chump that dies and replaces himself with a new card or as a way to kill off an attacker after growing with an instant or two. 

+1 Skywise Teachings

+2 Jeskai Sage 

There’s one other card I’d suggest trying from your pool – Scroll of the Masters. I overlooked this card at first, but I really think it has the opportunity to work much like Myth Realized. It doesn’t do much early in the game, but in a longer game, it can be a big deal, especially if you have several tokens out and you can pump up any one of them by several points, giving you opportunity to take out big blockers or swing through for a bunch of damage.  

+1 Scroll of the Masters 

To make room for these cards, we’re going to take out a few that don’t seem to fit. Cloudform, while not a bad card, is a 3-mana spell that’s not an instant. I see the reasoning for Palace Familiar, but it seems like it’s mainly going to be a stall tactic, and I’d rather see you stall using instants. Ojutai’s Summons is a 5 mana sorcery which is not what this deck wants to do. 

-2 Cloudform

-2 Palace Familiar

-1 Ojutai’s Summons 

Interpret the Signs and Sight Beyond Sight are sorcery speed draw spells. You don’t really want to be tapping out to play those. Anticipate fills that spot much better. And while Weave Fate is an instant, at 4 mana for two cards, it’s just not very efficient. 

-1 Interpret the Signs

-1 Sight Beyond Site

-1 Weave Fate 

Force Away is a reasonable choice, but I think Ojutai’s Breath is going to serve you better in that spot. It doesn’t make them recast the card, but you do get to play it twice with rebound. Finally, I would cut one Evolving Wilds to reduce the number of tapped lands. 

-1 Force Away

-1 Evolving Wilds 

There are a lot of the other cards that are good and would be reasonable plays, and there’s still some trial and error involved, but I’d try making these adjustments and see if they don’t provide a more consistent game for you. As far as the sideboard goes, it’s hard to say right now. It depends so much on who you play against. I’d let your sideboard stay in flux as you get a better feel on what kinds of decks your opponents are playing. And, with the Theros and M15 cards, they still have a little while before they rotate out, so don’t give up on them just yet. I didn’t suggest adding any new ones, but you’ll have a new set of cards to consider by the time Theros and M15 leave the format. So, if you were to make the suggested changes, it would be something like this: 

Blue White Control (60 cards): 

5 Creatures:

1 Cunning Breezedancer

1 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest

1 Monastery Mentor

2 Jeskai Sage

 

1 Planeswalker:

1 Narset Transcendent

 

4 Enchantments:

1 Dictate of Heliod

1 Monastery Siege

1 Myth Realised

1 Skywise Teachings

 

2 Sorceries:

2 Treasure Cruise

 

1 Artifact:

1 Scroll of the Masters

 

22 Instants:

2 Anticipate

1 Center Soul

3 Ojutai’s Breath

3 Devouring Light

4 Dissipate

2 Whisk Away

1 Artful Maneuver

1 Negate

4 Raise the Alarm

1 Gods Willing

 

25 Land:

9 Island

8 Plains

3 Evolving Wilds

4 Tranquil Cove

1 Flooded Strains  

As you get more cards, you want to try to increase the consistency of your deck by having more 4-ofs and fewer 1-ofs. Monastery Mentor and Myth Realized have the potential to be big players for you, so I’d keep an eye out for more of those. Another card that I’m big on right now is Ojutai Exemplars. They can do so much with each non-creature that is played, and are pretty hard to kill. 

So, have fun with your deck and keep tweaking! 

-mattedesa