1.x Uwg Control Deck

JonPatton · Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 149

I had a good amount of (non-league match) success with this deck against both Goblins and Threshold; it's a variation of the Life from the Loam Control decks and an update of an old style of deck that sought to invalidate all an opponent's removal cards. Life from the Loam helps this strategy by creating both an uncounterable win strategy (the Nantuko Manastery) and by ensuring that wastelands and ports from aggro decks don't shut down your mana.

The deck looks slow on paper, but in practice you're often in control by the fourth turn, and can then focus on winning. (Careful play can also ensure that, like any good control deck, you'll come from behind successfully.) I also think this deck rewards play; and though I never felt like I was completely in control of every situation (like I felt when playing The Deck [which this deck resembles] in Ancient T1), I also never felt like I had any options.

The deck has a substantial tutoring suite, any any number of silver bullets that shut down a number of strategies. I know many people immediately shout down singletons, but much of the deck is redundant, and often you only need to tutor once or twice in an entire game. (With five tutor effects and the LFTL engine, you're well equipped to handle it.)

You have a weak first game against Reset High Tide (which is likely to go off in your face when you cycle end of turn). Rifter I found had a huge problem stopping the single Armageddon; they need a huge number of lands to win, and the capsize can take care of their pesky humility. Homebrew is a pest, but Life From the Loam invalidates much of their strategy -- the only cards you need to stop are Withered Wretch and Bob, and a lot of people don't play Wretch.

I just wanted to share this deck; I can't play online any more but I wanted to convince some people to play test this and try it out. If you don't understand a card choice, ask me; feel free to suggest replacements, as long as you understand why a card was chosen in the first place.

--Blue Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
3 Intuition
2 Mystical Tutor
1 Misdirection
1 Forbid
1 Capsize
1 Morphling

--White Spells
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Wrath of God
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 Armageddon

Gold
2 Absorb

--Green Spells
1 Constant Mists
1 Life From the Loam
1 Regrowth

--Artifacts
3 Mox Diamond

--Lands
1 Nantuko Monastery
3 Wasteland
1 Quicksand
1 Tabernacle at Pendral Vale
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Tranquil Thicket
3 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath

4 Tundra
1 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Plains

The Absorbs are something of a metagame slot; I've played a second wrath of God and or two stifles in their place before. The stifles are better against Thresh and High Tide; the Wraths are better against Thresh and Goblins; the Absorbs are more generic (random metagame). There's no point in really "preparing" for a metagime in legacy since it's very open.

So, off to the tesing grounds, guys.

GRAH · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 602

With low tutor power and mediocre card drawers, you are NEVER going to find that single copy of Loam.

I suggest playing Lands.dec or the Aggro Loam variants if you want an LftL deck.

JonPatton · Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 149

Grah: It may look like that on paper, but I never had any trouble finding it. It's always in your first intuition. (Really intuition serves no other purpose in the deck than to grab an intuition and bury two lands; after that it's an all important Blue Card.) It's also not the basis of the deck. It's certainly a beating, but I've won a few games without ever casting it. The chance of seeing that single copy of loam is pretty good: 4 brainstorms, 3 intuitions, 2 mystical tutors, and the loam itself are ten cards out of sixty that; if you're really desperate to find it in the first three turns you've got a statistically better chance of seeing the loam than three lands.

This criticism would have made much more sense as "you're never going to find that one WOG, etc".

I've tested decks with multiple LftL's, and all I ever ended up with was . . . multiple LftL. There's no situation where you can EVER want more than one in a deck like this. The mana's too tight to go nuts with it, and there's no reason to return more than one or two lands at a time. It's not CAL.

I neglected to post a SB. Still working on that. I think I used something starting as:
3 Exalted Angel
4 Meddling Mage

At one point I used a completely transformational SB, including 4 Silver Knight, 2 Sword of Fire and Ice and 2 Jitte.

This deck can also support the Counterbalance engine, I suppose. Like I said, I can't do any further testing online for what might be an indefinite period.