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Space for Rent!

Paul Hagan's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
 MDG: Mono-Blue Control- 4.18.05

Hey all, and welcome back to the deck garage. I think I’ve been straying away from Type II here recently for one reason or another, so this week, I’ve plucked a Type II deck out of my e-mail. Here’s what I received…

1 bribery
4 vex
4 mana leak
4 deflection
4 boomerang
2 confiscate
4 consuming vortex
4 counsel of soratami
4 thirst for knowledge
4 echoing truth
4 shimmering glasskite
21 island

i am looking to improve the design and to have more control even though the deck does do well. i was thinking about adding another bribery to the deck. frank

Looking over the deck, the first thing I noticed was that it had a slight land deficiency. I usually like my control decks to hang out at around 22 to 25 land. I also noticed that the deck was a bit light on win-conditions. I think we can kill two birds with one stone by throwing in four Blinkmoth Nexus. It gets the nod over Stalking Stones because of the evasion ability attached to it, but Stalking Stones are an adequate replacement.

-1 Island
+4 Blinkmoth Nexus

On the topic of win-conditions, I absolutely do not like Shimmering Glasskite. My main issue with it is that it is a solid creature on its own, but if Frank’s opponent manages to get out a large, flying creature, he has to dedicate every resource to keeping that creature off of the table. I’m pulling all four copies of it and replacing them with two copies of Meloku the Clouded Mirror. You don’t want to have a full set of Meloku because of her legendary status, but you also want enough copies to be able to draw them over the course of the game.

-4 Shimmering Glasskite
+2 Meloku the Clouded Mirror

I can’t help but look at Frank’s deck and wonder if Meloku is enough to pull out a victory. I tend to lean towards too many creatures than too few, since in the worst-case scenario, you can always go aggressive. Although not terribly aggressive, Thieving Magpie has been seeing a lot of play recently, and for good reason. With relatively few creatures hanging out in the air, odds are decent that Thieving Magpie will be able to break through for a small amount of damage and a free card.

+4 Thieving Magpie

I’m also replacing one of the Islands with a Minamo, School at Water’s Edge. Now that Frank has a legendary creature in the deck, this card almost automatically goes in. Other than its non-basic, legendary status, it operates exactly the same as the average Island, meaning Frank has nothing to worry about unless his opponent is packing it too.

-1 Island
+1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge

While we are on the topic of lands, I think this deck could probably afford to play Wayfarer’s Bauble. It will help thin Frank’s deck out, and it can accelerate his mana up to the point he needs it to be later in the game.

+4 Wayfarer’s Bauble

I’m also not a big fan of all of the bounce in this deck. I think that Echoing Truth, Consuming Vortex, or Boomerang are good on their own, but all three might be a bit too much. Since I rarely feel the need to bounce a land to my opponent’s hand, and because it returns multiple targets on occasion, I think Echoing Truth gets the nod.

-4 Boomerang
-4 Consuming Vortex

On the same train of thought as the above, I believe this deck has slightly too many draw effects. It is nice to be able to have cards in hand, but you also don’t want to keep drawing into more card-draw. Thirst for Knowledge and Counsel of Soratami are both decent spells, but I think Thirst for Knowledge’s instant-speed places it in the deck and Counsel of Soratami back into storage.

-4 Counsel of Soratami

The counterspell set-up could use a bit of tweaking. I like Mana Leak; there are no problems here with that card. Vex, however, I think we can do without. For 2U, you get to counter target spell and its controller can draw a card. However, with Hinder, Frank can counter target spell and put it on the bottom of his opponent’s library. Not only will he be able to deny his opponent a card, they don’t get to draw and it isn’t in the graveyard. Why is that a benefit? Well, it can’t hurt when cards like Eternal Witness are in the environment.

-4 Vex
+4 Hinder

Frank might actually be able to afford one additional set of counters. Looking over what is available, the choice really comes down to either Condescend or Rewind. Since Hinder and Mana Leak should effectively cover the early game, I think that Rewind is probably the better call in Frank’s case. To make room, I’m going to remove Deflection. Rewind costs the same, and although it doesn’t come with a neat trick like redirecting a Fireball or Distress, it has the same general effect of stopping a spell aimed at you.

-4 Deflection
+4 Rewind

Confiscate is a decent card, but why settle on just stealing one card? Instead of Confiscate, why don’t we give Frank Vedalken Shackles? It costs less, Frank can reuse it if his opponent plays a better creature, and because he is playing all islands (well, five non-basics, but you get the picture), it doesn’t really have much of a drawback.

-2 Confiscate
+4 Vedalken Shackles

I agree with Frank’s idea that he could probably use another Bribery. It is a decent card, and it can’t hurt in an environment that features a lot of Tooth and Nail.

+1 Bribery

I think that is all of the work we need to do on Frank’s deck; here is how it turned out…

2 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
4 Thieving Magpie

2 Bribery
4 Echoing Truth
4 Hinder
4 Mana Leak
4 Rewind
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Vedalken Shackles
4 Wayfarer’s Bauble

4 Blinkmoth Nexus
19 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge

Hope that helps, and good luck!

I’ll see y’all next week.

-Paul Hagan