Frank Lepore
8/8/2012 10:00:00 AM
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It's been awhile since we've gone over a control list. Most notably because the format is devoid of any sort of dominant tier one control decks. Sure, there are Esper variants, but the buck kind of stops there. We have Esper Superfriends, Esper Control and Solar Flare, but there isn't that much Grixis, UB, or UW Control going around; the format is simply too aggressive right now. But as I wrote in my M13 Sleeper article a little while back, I think M13 gave control decks quite a few tools to utilize and I've been dying to try them out.


There's been a ton of talk about how much mana you can actually get from a turn five Gilded Lotus, especially since it allows you the three extra mana immediately. For a control deck this is great because it gives you immediate access to things like Mana Leak, Dissipate, or even something like a Think Twice or a Forbidden Alchemy. It then allows you to untap into nine mana (given you have a land) and play some kind of huge spell, like...

Well, before we go any further, let's take a look at what I'm referring to here:

Gilded Grixis by Frank Lepore Main Deck Sideboard 1 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Griselbrand 3 Snapcaster Mage 1 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures [6] 1 Karn Liberated 1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker Planeswalkers [2] 1 Bonfire of the Damned 1 Diabolic Revelation 2 Dissipate 3 Doom Blade 3 Forbidden Alchemy 3 Gilded Lotus 1 Go for the Throat 3 Mana Leak 1 Sorin's Vengeance 1 Staff of Nin 4 Think Twice 4 Whipflare Spells [27] 3 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Darkslick Shores 1 Desolate Lighthouse 3 Drowned Catacomb 5 Island 2 Mountain 3 Sulfur Falls 4 Swamp Lands [25] Deck Total [60] 1 Bonfire of the Damned 2 Combust 1 Dissipate 2 Nihil Spellbomb 2 Phantasmal Image 2 Pillar of Flame 2 Smelt 3 Vampire Nighthawk Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

So basically we're using the Gilded Loti to “cheat” things like Karn Liberated, Griselbrand, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Staff of Nin, Wurmcoil Engine, or Consecrated Sphinx into play, or to fire off large impressive spells like Sorin's Vengeance (which we can flashback with Snapcaster for a win), or a huge X spell, such as Diabolic Revelation or Bonfire of the Damned. I made it a point to stick to only one of each card for a couple of reasons. 1) You want the variety and rarely want to draw two of something or draw it too early, and 2) a lot of them are “legendary.”

I threw the deck together Sunday night and it ran pretty smoothly, but have a look for yourself...

Gilded Grixis vs. Goblins



Gilded Grixis vs. Wolf Run RUG



Gilded Grixis vs. GW Elves



Gilded Grixis vs. Lingering Spirits



I made a couple tweaks from the initial version to the one I have now. For starters I initially had a Rewind in the deck, because I liked the idea of countering a spell, then untapping to play a Forbidden Alchemy or Think Twice. However I replaced it with a second Dissipate since I liked the idea of being able to play a Gilded Lotus, and then still have Dissipate mana up; especially since you want to play the Lotus at your earliest convenience.

I also went from four Loti to three. When I showed a good friend this list, they told me to cut the list down to two! I then expressed to them that they didn't know how good Gilded Lotus was and they should Rethink their suggestion. It was at this point they responded with, “YOU GOTTA SPEND MANA TO MAKE MANA!” (No, seriously, it was in all caps like that; I have no idea why they were yelling at me.) After having quite the hearty laugh, I stuck with the three Loti and went on my way.

Whipflare is an MVP and I'm not sure why the card isn't seeing more play. It wipes the floor with aggro decks and even does a number on Delver. I was considering adding a Curse of Death's Hold somewhere, but the list is pretty solid right now and you really want all of the things you currently have access to. To be honest I haven't had a chance to cast Diabolic Revelation yet, but I've netted wins with Sorin's Vengeance, Karn Liberated and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker thus far. I also managed to block an 11/4 Spirit token before drawing seven with a Griselbrand, and wipe their board of 3/3's with a timely Bonfire of the Damned. Every high end card has a purpose and has fulfilled their role efficiently. I've absolutely loved the Staff of Nin as well. Being a one sided Phyrexian Arena is amazing by itself, but to be able to kill Elves, Birds, Moorland Haunt tokens, and unflipped Delvers really puts it over the top in my book.

One thing the deck doesn't seem to have a way to deal with is Thrun, the Last Troll and Dungrove Elder; basically any creature that I can't target that is outside of the range of Whipflare. We don't have sweepers like Mutilate - and for good reason - nor do we have any sacrifice cards like Liliana of the Veil or Tribute to Hunger. I was toying with adding one or two, but even then, the situation has to be perfect (ie. they have no other creatures to sacrifice) in order for them to do what you want. Ultimately I felt like this was just a sacrifice (zing!) the deck had to make and I haven't actually come across any lists with those cards in them yet. We also have Nighthawks for Dungrove Elders and Phantasmal Images for Thruns, so we're not completely helpless. I also considered adding Black Sun's Zenith, but I'm not sure what I would cut. I imagine I could take out one Dissipate and one Doom Blade for two Black Sun's Zenith, but four Whipflare have been doing me well thus far.

High Mid Low

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

$9.97

$4.74

$3.90

Store QTY Price   The Magic Arena 1 $3.90 Mythic Realm 1 $3.94 Katamba Games 1 $3.99 Dark Elf Games 3 $3.99 Pwnage Games 1 $4.00 A Hidden Fortress 7 $4.00 The End Zone 6 $4.15 The Counterspell 1 $4.26 XtremeGames 1 $4.27 >> View all Prices for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker << 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]

Control decks might not be on top right now, but I think having the full suite of both two mana black removal spells and Whipflares puts you in a pretty good position. The three Snapcaster Mages are just icing on the cake. The reason I went with more Doom Blade than Go for the Throat – an unconventional choice in refent months, is because right now I think it's more important to get rid of Blade Splicer tokens than it is to deal with Zombies. It might be better at two and two, or maybe even cutting one for a Dismember, but I think it just comes down to preference.

As everyone knows, Mana Leak is getting worse, so we only have three in the maindeck, but we do have two additional Dissipates. We kind of skip the four mana spot and jump directly to five with the hope to then jump directly to seven or eight. The plan seems to be working for now, and I like how the deck has shaped up. I think it could do with a few more tweaks here and there, but I think the current configuration is both fun and competitive. I made a few changes from even the first match to the last which ultimately amounted to the following:

-2 Evolving Wilds
-1 Sulfur Falls

+1 Mountain
+1 Swamp
+1 Drowned Catacombs

I wanted less lands that came into play tapped and this was the best solution outside of cutting things like Blackcleave Cliffs. There are some very important late turns where you want to play an untapped land each turn so you can play something on six, on seven, on eight, etc. when you don't have a Gilded Lotus, and these changes seemed to help that.

If you're looking for a control offering in this aggressive format, I suggest you give this list a try and feel free to tweak it to your liking. Add different threats, put some Titans in, add a Blue Sun's Zenith, whatever! It's basically a control deck that wants to ramp. It's somewhat unconventional, but it has a ton of fun cards and follows the structure for successful control decks: disrupt your opponent's plans, amass a lot of mana, play game ending spells. That's about all I have for this week, guys. Thanks for reading and watching guys, and I'll see you next week!

Frank Lepore
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