[Budget] U/W Control

[Mark Sun]

Hi, everyone. This is my first post here, and I'd like to introduce myself. I found this place by word-of-mouth from some friends that I used to play with. I have played Legacy since 2004, non-competitively and in local tournaments with borrowed decks.

Now that I'm in college, I have no cards to borrow, but I'm familiar with the game and how to play. Anyhow, I've been reading as a guest for about a month now, and since then I've started to try to play some Casual Budget U/W Control. I am impressed by the discussions in this forum and the level of analysis.

My eventual plans with this deck: to turn it into a competitive Legacy Deck by the end of the year, but it will take a while to allocate my funds correctly. I would like to run UWb Landstill, which is the UW Landstill shell splashed with Extirpate, Engineered Plague (as well as an extra Sunburst count for Engineered Explosives). But, that's not happening for a while ;)


This is the casual list that I play with now. My meta is very aggro/creature based. I also do see Affinity and discard, the latter of which I am having major issues with.

So, without further ado, this is my budget list:



Removal: (12)
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Rout
3x Powder Keg
2x Disenchant

Draw/Card Control: (12)
3x Sensei's Divining Top
4x Impulse
4x Brainstorm
1x Jace Beleren

Permission: (8)
4x Counterspell
4x Spell Snare

Kill Condition: (4)
2x Eternal Dragon
2x Decree of Justice

Lands: (24)
3x Mishra's Factory
1x Dust Bowl
4x Esper Panorama
1x Tolaria West
1x Academy Ruins
7x Plains
7x Island

The Casual Sideboard: (15)
2x Disenchant
2x Trickbind
3x Relic of Progenitus
1x Humility
1x Reverence
2x Pulse of the Fields
2x Aegis of Honor
2x Ghostly Prison



Again, everything is cheap here. When I get funds:

Routs will be replaced with WoG (and cut to 2x).
Counterspell will be replaced with FoW.
Impulse will be replaced with Standstill.
The manabase will have 4x Flooded Strand (sorta waiting till October for them to rotate out of Extended... discount?!), 4x Tundra, 1x Underground Sea, and 1x Scrubland.

I will eventually make these changes, but I want to know if I can improve this for casual play in the meantime. Any ideas or opinions? Thanks for any feedback.


--Morbid.

[kicks_422]

You might want 2-3 Humility and 1-2 Elspeth in the MD. Maybe take out a combination of Rout, Powder Keg, and/or Disenchant. I think those 2 cards will greatly help your deck stave off creatures.

[conboy31]

You might want 2-3 Humility and 1-2 Elspeth in the MD. Maybe take out a combination of Rout, Powder Keg, and/or Disenchant. I think those 2 cards will greatly help your deck stave off creatures.

I agree, I'd just stuff that single Humility mainboard so you can possibly find it game 1 with your dig or brainstorm it back if it is useless.

[Mark Sun]

Thanks, guys. I know about Elspeth in the MD, and I think I can get one for now. Will be a while before I can upgrade to duals, fetches, etc. That was actually part of the plan for the finished product here. I'll also have 2x Ajani in the SB if possible. But they're a pretty penny, as I've stated :P

I've been thinking about adding a Wishboard to this deck... of course when I start converting it to competition ready. Should I have Enlightened Tutor MD? I can find a slot for it if necessary.

I like Fracturing Gust /// Return to Dust on the Wishboard in place of the 4x Disenchants, which I'm starting to think is too much. That'll free up two more slots in the SB, which can easily be slots for Engineered Plague (Scrubland & Underground Sea ftw) and so forth.

Definitely going to upgrade to WoG, but will run 2x WoG & 3x EE for mass removal, freeing up another slot.


[Edit]
Anyhow, here's what it looks like right now, without any power cards:


Removal: (10)
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Rout
3x Powder Keg

Draw/Card Control: (14)
3x Sensei's Divining Top
3x Brainstorm
4x Standstill
2x Cunning Wish
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Jace Beleren

Permission: (8)
4x Counterspell
4x Spell Snare

Kill Condition: (4)
2x Eternal Dragon
2x Decree of Justice

Lands: (24)
3x Mishra's Factory
1x Dust Bowl
1x Tolaria West
1x Academy Ruins
3x Esper Panorama
7x Plains
8x Island

Sideboard: (15)
2x Trickbind
3x Relic of Progenitus
1x Fracturing Gust
1x Return to Dust
1x Humility
1x Circle of Protection: Black
1x Circle of Protection: Green
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Pulse of the Fields
2x Ghostly Prison

[Captain_Morgan]

Maybe cut the wishes for more the Counter/Top combo since you already have a lot of the pieces for deck manipulation there.

[Tea]

If you want to play UWb, I recommend Vindicate. However, it's quite expensive.

[lavafrogg]

Super necro!!

I am at work thinking about a budget UW deck for my friend, who is new to magic, to play. I don't want any of the cards to cost more than 5-10 dollars and I would like the majority to be under $1. That being said, how do you guys feel about a UW countertop deck with 4 enlightened tutors to give him options and let him learn how to control the board?

Mainlands and crucible for the win with other basic uw control cards? Thinkng of a list now...

That or UW fact or fiction control....

With cunning wish!!

[kiblast]

Super necro!!

I am at work thinking about a budget UW deck for my friend, who is new to magic, to play. I don't want any of the cards to cost more than 5-10 dollars and I would like the majority to be under $1. That being said, how do you guys feel about a UW countertop deck with 4 enlightened tutors to give him options and let him learn how to control the board?

Mainlands and crucible for the win with other basic uw control cards? Thinkng of a list now...

That or UW fact or fiction control....

With cunning wish!!


I think that you don't want to play Countertop without a nice amount of fetch lands. 4 E-tutors aren't enough to exploit countertop. I'd play some sort of UW Fact brew. You don't have access to brainstorm on a stick/ Jace, the Mind Sculptor I assume, so I think that FoF is your best bet to have some decent card advantage. Let me think a bit about a nice budget list. I'll update this post later.
Standstill seem good also. They're cheap and they provide some interesting decisional trees for a newbie. They force you to think forward, and to think about opponent's deck as well not only yours.


2 Celestial Colonnade
4 Mishra's Factory
6 Island
2 Plains
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Dust Bowl
1 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins

4 Standstill
4 Counterspell
2 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Decree of Justice
3 Spell Snare
3 Spell Pierce

2 Engineered Explosives

2 Jace Beleren
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant