UW Control in Legacy

I'm very busy getting ready for the Invitational this weekend (since I'm leaving in less than 36 hours) so my blog post might be on the short side, but I know that a few people were interested in some of my thoughts on the deck that I won in LA with this past weekend so I want to at least talk about that. I got the list from Jesse Hampton a few days before the event. I didn't have time to test with the deck so I just went with exactly what he gave me with a few changes in the board.

The biggest problems I had with Reid Duke's original list (which I played with in a few vids on MTGOAcademy) were Trinket Mage, Land Tax, a low land count, and a low fetchland count. Those issues were all absent from the new version of the deck.

Trinket Mage is just too expensive. You get to play a small package to go with it, sure, but the cost isn't really worth it. I would much rather play an Enlightened Tutor to fill the same role but for cheaper and have the added utility of searching for Oblivion Ring, Counterbalance, Moat, etc. AND using it as a counterspell with Counterbalance in play.

Land Tax, while seemingly great, is actually shit in this format as well as in this deck. I ended up playing one in the board for other control decks and when I had it turn one against the mirror match it was pretty powerful.

The low land count was probably rationalized by Reid by the two Land Taxes. I found that to be a huge weakness in the deck. The deck can't afford to miss early land drops and also can't rely on Land Tax when it does. His low fetchland count was also a mystery to me since they are insane with Top and Counterbalance. I went all the way up to ten and have no regrets about it.

So, here is the updated list:

2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique

3 Counterbalance
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Entreat the Angels
3 Terminus

5 Island
2 Plains
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Karakas

Sideboard:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Counterbalance
1 Land Tax
1 Moat
1 Sphere of Law
1 Humility
1 Disenchant
3 Pyroblast
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Terminus
1 Engineered Explosives

The only real change to the maindeck is getting rid of the Shackles and replacing it with a real spell. The sideboard needed more hedges against Goblins and Patrick Sullivan so I added a few cards for that. I think it's a really strong deck and look forward to playing it this weekend.

If you have any other questions or comments you can leave them here or on twitter. Thanks for reading and don't forget to check me out this weekend at the Invitational!