UW CONTROL

What is for me the best UW build at the moment?

Introduction

Since MH1 and War were released UW Control is one of the best decks in the modern format!

Before the new bans on the format UW found a premium build that was able to win the first ever GP for the archetype!

And now with new decks rising on the format we need to find once again the perfect 75 for our deck!

What are the best modern decks?

1 point: Wizards decided to ban Bridge from below and stole the combo from Hogaak deck but didn’t stole the effectiveness and Hogaak still the best deck in the format! And maybe stronger against the hate cards!

Best decks in the format according to last results:

1 Place: UW Control, UR Phoenix, Humans and HogaakReborn

2 Place: Jund, Eldrazi Tron, Monored Phoenix, Dredge

3 Place: Grixis Urza, Burn, Tron, Infect, Hardened Scales, Devoted Vizier 

Special Guess: Neoform and Goblins

So, our meta is to find the best UW Control version to combat the metagame decks!

First look in the metagame:

- As we can see, bans did not change that much the metagame! But how to keep UW Control as one of the tier 1 decks?

There are new rising decks in the modern metagame:

As decks to beat we have the Hogaak, now with a fresh new look, followed by Jund with the new Planeswalker (Wrenn) and Dredge!

We have a new Tribe in the format: Goblins and the deck that won the most with London Mulligan: Neoform!

Devoted Vizier having a nice matchup vs Hogaak makes him a nice choice to the new metagame!

GOOD DECKLISTs in the new metagame, in my opinion:

Comparing to UW that won GP:

SoulStrong

Main Deck: -1 Teferi, Time Raveler, -1 Cryptic Command, +1 Search for Azcanta, +1 Wrath of god

In Sideboard there is the 2nd Teferi instead of wrath of god!

PetrKikac

Main Deck: -1 Surgical Extraction, +1 Search for Azcanta

Sideboard: +1 Purge, +1 Surgical Extraction, -1 Rest in Peace

As we can see both decks are playing Search for Azcanta that its premium in Jund matchup! And there is no room for 2nd Vendilion Clique in this new meta

The Perfect 75 cards

Main Deck

Answering Some Questions (Main Deck)

Why Polluted Delta over Vista?

In general, there is big difference between both! Vista provides searching for any basic land instead polluted only can search for Island!

But in early turns it’s a huge difference having access to white mana and still have at least two blue mana available for Narset, Logic Knot and providing Snapcaster to cast Path to exile or Opt! Or even having the 3-blue mana for Cryptic Command at turn 4.

As UW Control plays with 4 Field o Ruin sometimes u will have your 3rd land that gives you colorless mana and that’s why Polluted Delta wins versus Vista! Finding Hallowed Fountain is precious in early game!

This picture can show you why I prefer “Blue Fetch” over Vista:

Did you forget how good its Celestial Colonnade?

 Some persons don’t like the “enter in battlefield tapped” effect on this premium card! But there is only 3 in the deck right now and it is an extremely good card vs a decent amount of decks in the metagame!

 And even versus fast decks Celestial does an incredible job in middle/late game!

 So, I have a strong opinion about keep 3 of those in your deck!

      It is a great creature and great mana fixing!

Why Spell Snare over Spell Pierce?

Both are premium counter spells in early game!

But UW has now access to Force of Negation so, don’t think Spell Pierce has room in UW Control!

Spell snare don’t lose value over the game also key in this battle!

This picture can show you why I like snare more than pierce:

Snare it's a good metagame call. Even playing two in main deck don’t seem bad! Snare seems good versus all top decks in modern right now!

It's worthy to play 2 Main Deck Surgical Extraction?

Actually, it's close! But you will need at least one in this metagame!

In this modern metagame we have as tier 1 decks: UW Control, Hogaak and UR Phoenix and against all these three decks Surgical it's super 😊

If you expect to play in a competitive field you need to be prepared for the best decks in the format! And UW Control needs Surgical to have some game versus the perfect start of Hogaak and UR Phoenix!

Against other decks in format surgical its good vs Dredge, Tron, Shapeshift, Grixis Urza, Amulet etc.… So, main deck 2 Surgical don’t seem bad! 

Search for Azcanta, how good it is?

This card is super powerful in late game and in the grindy matchups but with a lot of new planeswalker cards in the deck I don’t feel necessary to bring more card advantage!

The only way I can see Search playing in the deck is to cut a Narset! And with her static ability being super in this format I don´t like that change 😊 

An upside is that if you run search into your deck you can play the 2nd T5feri in your deck! Because search works pretty well with t5feri and ramps a little bit too into it! 😊 

Why only 2 “Destroy all creatures effects”?

Actually, I don’t mind the 3rd card with that effect in this new meta only because of HogaakReborn.

But at same time I feel like Humans is losing a little bit with the new decks on the new metagame!

And since humans it’s the favourite meal for these cards, I don’t think it’s good to have more than 2 main deck at the moment!

Building my Deck

Must be in my deck:

• 57 cards that I will not change any time soon! And I think 2nd Surgical it's necessary (58th card)

Considerations for the next 2 cards:

3rd Narset and 1st Vendilion Clique (My Favourite) 

1st Search for Azcanta and 2nd T5feri (Don’t mind)

1st Search for Azcanta and 1st Vendilion Clique (Don’t like)

3rd Narset/1st Azcanta and Another card you like (make sure it fits well and in curve)

3rd Narset and 1st Azcanta (too many cards that do the same)

* 2nd Spell Snare is also a consideration

Brief talk about main deck:

!!! 2 Teferi Time Raveler !!! Seems super important for UW Control! The card makes the game go longer, deals with problematic threads and his static ability is insane! And works as a wall of Omens 😊 

3 Cryptic Command I never cut one in any matchup! This card is insane 😊 Deals with permanents, works super well with Snapcaster Mage, gives to you a lot of time to find the cards you need! And it's a proactive card instead of Fact or Fiction!

4 Path to exile, 4 Opt, 4 Snapcaster, 1 Oust for early interaction!

2 Jace The Mind Sculptor For me still the best card in the deck by far! With Narset or Azcanta you don’t need to play to many in main deck! When you untap with him feels good! 😊 

1 Mana leak and 1 Logic knot Premium Counterspells! Mana leak it´s super in the firsts 6-7 turns and Logic Knot becomes better during the game! They must be in the deck! 

2 Force of Negation This card is the one that made UW be one of the best decks in modern format! Finally, you can tap out and still interact in opponents turn! Works pretty well with all the planeswalker cards in the deck!

1 Timely Reinforcements works pretty well with all the walker cards in the deck and it's an extremely good tempo card! Makes late game almost impossible to lose!  

Sideboard

Answering Some Questions (Sideboard)

Why Monastery Mentor is so good? Is Geist of Saint Traft good too?

Mentor: In my opinion Mentor is a premium sideboard card because its super flexible! Is very good with Force and the token that provides is insane too 😊

You can use Mentor against all control decks and against some fast ones too!

It's super relevant when you can't attack still gives you value for the future turns 😊 Works pretty well with Planeswalker cards too!

Some pictures showing mentor being awesome: (winning all games alone 😊)

Geist: In the other hand, Geist is bad vs Creature decks! And when you can't attack with him u don’t have any value!

Plus, he is a 2/2 and all creatures in the format can trade or kill Geist! Sometimes it's awesome sometimes is super bad!

So, for me Geist isn't great!

How good is the 3rd Celestial Purge?

In the current modern metagame the best decks are Humans, UR phoenix, Hogaak, Jund, Grixis Urza, Mono Red Phoenix, Burn!

Against some you just need 2 purges but having access to the 3rd purge against phoenix and Jund it's awesome! Also, because you run celestial purge against a lot of the best decks you will have some extra room in your sideboard to go even more brilliant and play the 3rd one! 😊

I recommend 3 purges in your sideboard at the moment!

Why only one stony silence in sideboard?

Stony silence still a super sideboard card but as you can see there is no artifacts decks in the most powerful decks in the format! So, you can only play one!

Maybe looks bad just one stony but with 3 Narset in your deck you will be able to find it! And UW Control is good vs artifact decks!

How good is to split 3 Surgical and 3 RIP in the 75 cards instead of 2 surgical and 4 RIP?

Actually, I think the best way to approach the new Hogaak deck it’s the split 3 Surgical and 3 RIP! Because RIP is weak against the nuts and they can't interact with surgical while they have a lot of answers to Rest in Peace!

The new Hogaak deck is more agroo and without Bridge and Altar they can have more resilient cards against the Hate! So, the plan versus this deck is go to late game! In late game you can find RIP and end the game with more value and card draw!

Also, with this split you can afford to bring some Snapcaster!

 So, I recommend 3 Surgical and 3 RIP in the 75 cards! But it´s close! 😊 

Engineered Explosives is bad! Why?

Being a double color deck makes this card only good versus some specific matchups!

Against humans they play some deputy of detention what makes this card look awkward and against the other possible matchup where EE is good (Jund) there is a lot of better options for sideboard!

In the current metagame there is no point on using this card!

Why I don’t like Restoration Angel in my sideboard?

Restoration Angel can be awesome sometimes! You can play it on opponents turn during combat or you can hold Counterspells during opponents turns and have some cool advantage on playing at instant speed!

But Restoration Angel don’t give any advantage by itself! And because you must play with Cryptic and Jace this card is a lot weaker!

If you draw too many of those cards you will probably come late to the party and lose the game!

With Monastery Mentor being awesome there is no point on having this card in your deck! It's easily answered and don´t gives you any value!

Building my Sideboard

My Sideboard:

Brief talk about my sideboard choice:

Some of my choices I already talked about it!

- 3 RIP and 1 Surgical

- Monastery Mentor

- 3 Celestial Purge and 1 Stony Silence

- 1 Timely Reinforcements, 1 Baneslayer Super Angel and 1 wrath of god: Those are my choices for the agroo decks! Baneslayer is really good against creature decks!

- 1 force of negation and 1 Veto: My choices for extra Counterspells! Both are premium in mirror match, against Tron, combo decks etc.… You can play the 3rd one but I don’t think it's necessary in this metagame! 😊 

Vendilion Clique has a strong effect against some archetypes!

- In your 75 cards choice you should not play more than 1 copy! Because Vendilion Body (3/1) is bad at the moment! 😊 

And it's not great against the best decks in the actual modern metagame! Unless UW control mirror!

I am playing one in my main deck!

The Perfect 75 for UW CONTROL

        Maindeck

Sideboard

I Will do a Sideboard Guide for my 75 cards choice!

• I will post it on my twitter account: @_John_Star_

Another UW Decklist that I like

• @lejoon (on twitter)