A New Take on UB Control

Hola....


Lets just start with the decklist:


// Lands
4 [M10] Drowned Catacomb
1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
3 [WWK] Tectonic Edge
4 [SOM] Darkslick Shores
4 [WWK] Creeping Tar Pit
3 [MBS] Inkmoth Nexus
4 [R] Island (2)
3 [IA] Swamp (3)

// Creatures
2 [M11] Grave Titan
1 [MBS] Blightsteel Colossus
4 [FD] Trinket Mage

// Spells
3 [MBS] Go for the Throat
3 [SOM] Shape Anew
4 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 [M10] Jace Beleren
4 [M11] Preordain
1 [WWK] Everflowing Chalice
4 [8E] Mana Leak
3 [M10] Duress
2 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
1 [ROE] See Beyond


The Key changes to UB control are in red if you didn't notice. Also I have yet to test this out, so this is all opinion.

I think Shape Anew is a good choice right now. Its the suprise Polymorph no one sees coming. I can see something strange as this winning a 10 round tournament because it is UB Control, but with a suprise factor. This deck has a SLIM chance to win a game on turn 4 by going turn 3 Shape Anew(would be nice).

The deck only has 4 artifacts to work with, but you should only need 1 and one being tutorable;
1 Everflowing Chalice
3 Inkmoth Nexus

Trinket Mage is key. I know its awkward to only play 1 tutor target when you play 4 Trinket Mage, but you dont want to not play any artifacts and you really want to pull that one Everflowing Chalice out of the deck before you actually cast Shape Anew.

The 1 See Beyond is just an additional draw spell that can throw the Blightsteel Collosus back into the deck.

The mana base might be a bit tricky because it plays 6 colorless lands.

The rest of the deck is pretty much standard UB Control, just without Spreading Seas.

I think the Colossus is a great way to surprise finish a game, but I'm not sure about it being the best way to win in UB Control. Seems to me like the amount of cards you have to commit to doing it, especially when it's not even the deck's primary way to win, would hamper the control deck's ability to deal with threats.

However, the concept does have potential. If Blighty could be consistently resolved on turn 4, it would give UB the definitive edge it's been needing over Valakut. I do agree that UB is the best base for a Shape Anew deck, and I do agree with the 4x Trinket Mage- if you-re going to combo, then by God it's time to combo.

Changes I would make: +1 Shape Anew- I think it's the decks primary way to win
- all Grave Titan- Move him to the board for decks that can answer Blighty, save the space for more counters/removal
- A couple Jace, in one form or another- Again, I think the deck could use a higher answer:ways to draw answer ratio.

All in all, I would give the deck a 3.5/5 at the moment, and would like to see us work on it some and see where it goes. If Blighty can become consistent, I'll like it a hell of a lot more.

Thoughts from anyone else?

I like the version that Marc, Joey, and I came up with at Randall's. If I can remember, it is something like...

25x Land

4x Trinket Mage
1x Blightsteel Colossus

1x Everflowing Chalice
4x Shape Anew
4x Preordain
4x See Beyond
4x Jace 2.0
4x IOK
4x Mana Leak
4x Go For The Throat
1x Duress