Friday, November 13, 2009

Miniseries Series 1: W/U Control Part 3

And we return to the final part of our W/U Control series. We've gone over the theory, we've designed the deck, now let's put it to the test.

The only change I made in the deck to test with was to take out a Plains and add an Island.

Now let's test.

Round 1 vs. Dark Naya

We go back and forth killing each other's creatures for a while. He then gets double Baneslayer and I get double Wall of Denial and my own Baneslayer. He gains a lot of life and I let him, since I aim to defeat him via decking him after he gets to about 50 life.

He eventually plays Day of Judgement, and gets a bunch of cards out which I kill. Finally, he gets Enlisted Wurm into Baneslayer and I can't find an answer. He beats me with 8 cards left in his library.

Game 2 I get a Luminarch, he gets a Pulse. I get a Wall, he uses DoJ. He plays 2 Baneslayers, I play 2 DoJs (he only plays one at a time). I play my own Baneslayer, which he O-Rings. I get another and get him down to 4 before he gets rid of it. I remark that that ended the chance of a quick game. I play most of my hand, then Mind Spring for 8. With this avalanche of cards I get a Luminarch and protect it until it comes online. I win shortly after.

Game 3 I get two Baneslayers, he O-Rings both, he gets two Bloodbraids, I kill them both. I go into control mode, killing or countering all his cards. I get a couple of Mind Springs though (that card is friggin insane) but he's able to kill my finishers, so I use another. Once again I use this avalanche of cards to protect a Luminarch, and win. Turns out the ability to draw 7 cards and make 4/4 fliers for 1W is good. Who knew?

1-0

Round 2 vs. Four-Color LD

He's playing a deck with Ruinblasters, Mold Shambler, Acidic Slime, Convincing Mirage and Spreading Seas, with Violent Ultimatum in the mix. I get a Baneslayer, which he Terminates, and then he manages to get two Slimes and a Ruinblaster and keep me manascrewed enough to never be able to win the game. He beats me to death.

Game 2 I drop a Turn 2 Luminarch Ascension and a Turn 3 Wall of Denial. I win that game in about four minutes.

Game 3 I get another Luminarch Turn 2, and this time he puts up more of a fight. He Bolts me to try and stop it, and when it does get online he Terminates the first angel and goes for a Violent Ultimatum, but I have the Flashfreeze and manage to kill him.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Emeria Recursion

He's playing a deck with Empyrial Archangel, Baneslayer, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin. No prizes for guessing his plan.

Game 1 is really anticlimactic. I get several cards off a Jace, he gets stuck on 2 lands all game. When I drop a Turn 6 Sphinx of Jwar Isle, he concedes on the spot.

Game 2 I get a Jace and he gets a bunch of lands. I Path a Baneslayer and play my own. He plays Empyrial Archangel. Trumping a Baneslayer is hard to do, but he did. I play a second Baneslayer to stop him attacking. I Flashfreeze a second Archangel. I drop Wall of Denial, he drops Baneslayer. He goes for Martial Coup for about 12, and I Negate. Very anti-climactic.

Very little happens for about 15 minutes. Eventually he gets a Day of Judgement off with TRIPLE Emeria out. I drop Baneslayer and Wall of Denial that I'd been sandbagging, and I use my Journey on a Baneslayer. He plays Martial Coup for 16. It was a LONG GAME. I then Mind Spring for 6 and draw a Day, which I saved 4 mana to use. I use it. I get Jace to 10 counters, but he gets killed. If I'd gotten him off I would have won right there.

I eventually get him down to 1 card in his library facing down lethal. I dig through almost all of my deck with Mind Spring and am lucky enough to find my final Day, which I do. I use Jace to bring him to 0 cards, and he loses the match.

3-0

Round 4 vs. White Weenie

He drops Akrasan Squire and Kazandu Blademaster. He gets me to about 10 before I draw a Day. I drop Wall of Denial. He drops Conqueror's Pledge. He gets me to 3, and then I topdeck a Day. He drops Gargoyle Castle, I kick a Sphinx of Lost Truths. We each Path each other's creature. He gets Honor of the Pure. I get Baneslayer, he plays Conqueror's Pledge. I unload my hand: Path to Exile, Journey to Nowhere, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, to allow me to survive. He plays Brave the Elements and that is that.

Game 2 I side out my Purges and Flashfreezes for the first time all day. He gets double Vanguard and an Honor of the Pure. I get Wall of Denial. He Paths my Baneslayer and plays Veteran Swordsmith. I dig for an answer, fail to find one, and die.

3-1

So in the end, I've found that even my rough version of W/U Control did pretty well: though I never tested it against Jund I did test it against several powerful decks with Cascade and was able to hold my own. The Flashfreezes main turned out quite well: I only sided them out once and usually sided the two in the board into the main. If I was to remake the deck, I don't know what I'd do at this stage.

That's the end of the series, but I do have a couple of announcements.

Firstly, I will pick the topic of my next miniseries, whenever I choose to make it.

Secondly, I'll be doing a couple of fun articles that you guys can have a part in soon. Details will be on Twitter. My username is mtgsalivanth, and I often release things there first, so please follow me!

Until next time, may you design and test your decks with pride.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks dude
    W/U control is definately for me, thought there is going to be a LOT of play testing
    Good miniseries!!
    FoA

    ReplyDelete

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