Frank Lepore
7/6/2012 11:02:00 AM
Recent Video Articles:
Video Deck Tech - BW Birthing Pod (Standard)
Video Deck Tech - Zombie Pod (Standard)
Video Deck Tech - Bant Land Denial (Standard)

Last week, If I recall correctly - and I will always recall - we were discussing a BW Birthing Pod list. Well this week we've lost the Pods, but we've retained the colors. There has been a deck going around on Magic Online that has been heavily exploiting Sorin's Vengeance and putting up some solid finishes with it.


Now if you've been with me for any amount of time, you might know that I'm quite fond of Sorin's Vengeance. I played it a while back in a Grixis shell comprised of Chandra, the Firebrand and Snapcaster Mage to deal the complete twenty damage to the dome with a single Vengeance.

The deck I'm presenting today does nothing so “cute,” however. No, it foregoes all the tricks and simply plays the full suite (that's four for those counting at home) of Sorin's Vengeance!

But Frank, you might ask, how reliable is a deck with four cards that cost seven mana?!

Well, I actually have no way to answer that question...because the deck actually has five cards that cost seven mana! Yes, there's also a single Karn Liberated in the deck as well. Crazy, you say? Let's take a look at what I'm talking about before we go any further.

BW Vengeance Control by rinazina Finished 2nd Place at MTGO Standard Premier - 6/23/12 Main Deck Sideboard 4 Solemn Simulacrum Creatures [4] 1 Karn Liberated 3 Sorin Markov Planeswalkers [4] 2 Black Sun's Zenith 2 Curse of Death's Hold 2 Go for the Throat 4 Ichor Wellspring 4 Lingering Souls 2 Mycosynth Wellspring 2 Oblivion Ring 4 Pristine Talisman 4 Sorin's Vengeance 2 Terminus Spells [28] 3 Buried Ruin 2 Ghost Quarter 4 Isolated Chapel 3 Phyrexia's Core 2 Plains 10 Swamp Lands [24] Deck Total [60] 1 Black Sun's Zenith 2 Celestial Purge 4 Distress 2 Divine Offering 2 Nihil Spellbomb 2 Ratchet Bomb 2 Timely Reinforcements Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

This is the deck in question, and as you can see this particular list placed second in an MTGO Premier event just recently. I've been playing the deck a ton and based on my games I made a mere two changes:

-2 Buried Ruin
+1 Phyrexia's Core
+1 Plains

The reason is that there weren't very many cards that I wanted to return with Buried Ruin. We don't have game ending threats like Batterskull or Wurmcoil Engine in here to bring back. The Buried Ruin might be more relevant after sideboarding, but mostly you'd be returning Spellbombs or Ratchet Bombs, and the latter is kind of redundant with the amount of sweepers we already run. I was much happier when I drew a Core each game in order to sac my six Wellsprings to or a Solemn Simulacrum that was about to die, and the lifegain is often relevant. I added the extra plains because sometimes one would get destroyed by an Acidic Slime, and you had no way to find a second white source if you had no Isolated Chapels on board. I felt like a third Plains manages to give you a little more insurance while not taking anything away from the mana base.

Let's get to how it plays and then I'll try and explain why I think it plays the way it does:

T2 BW Vengeance Control vs. UW Delver



T2 BW Vengeance Control vs. Zombies



T2 BW Vengeance Control vs. UW Delver, Match 2



It was pointed out to me that I could have simply won in game two against Delver by bringing them to ten with Sorin then casting Sorin's Vengeance at around 18:20. I think I was still tilted from actually having been alive at that point, so I apologize for delaying the inevitable for another turn or so!

This format is very aggressive right now. Even UW Delver, which is one of the most controlling aggressive decks is still aggressive. That being the case, this deck runs a total of six “sweepers,” along with four spot removal cards (Oblivion Ring and Go for the Throat) and three Sorin Markov, which also act as removal (and lifegain). That's a lot of controlling elements. The beauty of Sorin's Vengeance is that, while it's awesome against the aggressive decks (gaining 10 life and what not) it's also a “must-counter” spell against the control decks and that's where I think this deck truly shines.

We're running four Lingering Souls and four Solemn Simulacrum as our only creatures. Would a control deck bring in a sweeper against that? Would they keep in their removal? Probably not...which means a lot of times you're measly tokens and robots can definitely go long, or at least get the opponent down to around ten life, where a single Vengeance can finish them off. The beauty is that you have a ton of defense against the aggressive decks (Pristine Talisman, chump blockers, sweepers, etc.) and against the control decks you have a ton of “must-counter” spells (Sorin Markov, Karn Liberated, Sorin's Vengeance, etc.). This gives the deck a lot of reach against the most extreme spectrums of deck types.

There seems like there should be a lot of cards you could add to the deck, but in actuality it has a very linear purpose: to get to seven mana and win with the deck's version of Cruel Ultimatum. Cruel Ultimatum is definitely a card that I've compared Sorin's Vengeance to in the past, and mostly because both cards tend the swing the game so far in your favor that you often win afterward; the fact that they both cost seven mana helps too.

For example I wanted to add, let's say Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. I thought his token making would be good and if you're able to ultimate him...great! Just another answer to problematic Planeswalkers! But then I realized if you play the four drop Sorin, you're going to run into situations where you can't play the six drop Sorin because, well...dubs Sorins. The fact that the six drop combos insanely well with Sorin's Vengeance (How convenient, right? Reduce you to ten. Take ten.) means you always almost always want six drop Sorin on the off chance he can win you the game.

It should go without saying, but against decks without counterspells, you have much more breathing room, and should know exactly when you're able to win. You should know that your Planeswalker will resolve and you should know the Vengeance on the following turn will also resolve, which allows you to plan your plays much more accurately. Of course this is the case with every deck, but it seems more so here where we have seven mana spells that tend to win the game when they resolve.

High Mid Low

Karn Liberated

$34.99

$27.98

$24.24

Store QTY Price   Friendly Flames 1 $24.24 Hammer Hall Gaming 1 $24.61 The Games Arena 1 $25.01 PhyrexianNegotiator 1 $25.05 Geeks MTG 1 $25.41 Gamers Den 1 $25.61 Power Nine Gaming 2 $25.70 Lone Star Magic 4 $25.77 CardAddiction 4 $25.90 >> View all Prices for Karn Liberated << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

I know I've sung its praises before, but Pristine Talisman is so, so, good. It furthers our plans in so many ways. For one, as I said before, the life gain is not irrelevant. In fact, if you get two or more out, you're pretty much at a point where your opponent is forced to over commit to the board and walk into one of our many sweepers. The other thing it does is accelerate us, which is awesome when we want to play a Curse of Death's Hold on turn four, or make our Sorin's Vengeance come down that much sooner.

I wrote about a UB Tezzeret Control list a while back that was doing really well. This seems very similar to that in the sense that they both have a lot of “do nothing” cards that simply cycle through your deck and keep you alive, while you ride a few bombs to victory.

The sideboard is kind of all over the place, but to be fair, it seems to have some answers for everything. The main deck already has a lot of answers that tend to overlap, so this is usually fine. The hardest part about sideboarding here - and I mention this in a couple of the games - is that I tend to want most of the cards in the maindeck. Clearly against the more aggressive decks you might take out the Karn Liberated (which, I think, is a weapon for the control decks) and probably a Sorin's Vengeance or two for more sweepers, Timely Reinforcements, etc. Against control you board out some of the sweepers for things like Nihil Spellbomb, Distress (which have been awesome against control), etc. All in all, which choices are for which match ups are pretty self explanatory, it's just a matter of knowing which cards to cut for those cards that I've been struggling with. Nonetheless, I feel I've been making due.

This deck is awesome, and not too terribly expensive. It gives us one final hurrah with Sorin's Vengeance before it rotates to show us how much ten damage really is. I suggest you guys give it a try if you're looking for a control deck that doesn't Insist on simply grinding the other player out by putting three cards into the graveyard at a time (Suck it, Nephalia Drownyard!). The only thing I feel like the deck might have problems with is numerous Planeswalkers, so if you think that's going to cause you some trouble, feel free to add some more Oblivion Rings to the board. Thanks for reading and I'll catch you guys next week before the TCG Orlando Open!

Frank Lepore
@FrankLepore on Twitter
FrankLepore on TwitchTV