[Standard Deck] American Control

[Jak]

So, I have been getting into Standard and playing around with this deck. There is already an Extended deck on here so why not a Standard? Anyway, I always loved Solar Fires deck from 2006 Standard. Demonfire, Wrath, Draw, Counters, etc just made it awesome. With the printing of Banefire, it got me thinking, why can't it be remade?

There are some incredible cards in UWR right now that a deck should be made around these colors. I haven't seen any thing tried with this so I kind of tried to put this together myself. But okay, a list and I'll explain more.

// Lands
4 [SHM] Mystic Gate
3 [10E] Shivan Reef
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 [10E] Battlefield Forge
3 [MR] Plains (4)
5 [5E] Island (3)
2 [TSP] Mountain (4)

// Creatures
4 [LRW] Mulldrifter
4 [ALA] Battlegrace Angel
2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant

// Spells
4 [10E] Wrath of God
4 [CFX] Path to Exile
4 [CFX] Banefire
4 [CFX] Traumatic Visions
1 [CFX] Martial Coup
4 [RAV] Telling Time
4 [LRW] Cryptic Command
4 [10E] Mind Stone

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
SB: 4 [CFX] Volcanic Fallout
SB: 4 [SHM] Runed Halo
SB: 3 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage

The similarities are pretty awesome. Mindstone = Signets, Banefire = Demonfire, Mulldrifter = Court Hussar, PtE = Lightning Helix (meh target removal), Telling Time = Compulsive Research, Elspeth/Martial = Sacred Mesa/Urza's Factory, etc.

However, I think this deck has a much stronger late game with Command, Visions, and PtE, instead of stuff like Remand and Helix.

But whatever, that was a different format, so whatever.

Card Choices
Mana base is consistnent. I haven't been color screwed once and I don't really like the idea of playing "comes into play tapped" lands. They are slow and this deck plays better when it can get to the late game.

4 Mulldrifter because there isn't much good draw in Standard. It comes with a body so it isn't all bad.

4 Battlegrace Angel because the card is a beating against aggro. I was able to race two 1/1s and a 7/11 with it. Awesome sauce indeed.

2 Elspeth because it pumps out things like the Duggar family. Good stalling card and win-con.

4 Wrath because Faeries, Kithkin, etc are everywhere. Also, gets rid of Prog.

4 PtE because it is a Swords. It does hurt when I have to remove Figure early, but it is worth it. Amazing in the late game and handles Demigod nicely. And it is nice to Swords your own Angel to get the red for Banefire :).

4 Banefire because it is a ridiculously strong win con. I did run three for a while but I never hated seeing it. It isn't bad at removing creatures and comes out of no where to deal 8 dmg FTW.

4 Traumatic Visions because the mana fixing helps early and it becomes a hard counter late. I was skeptical about running 4 but seeing them meant I hit my land drops and got the colors I needed.

1 Martial Coup because it is a 5th Wrath and a Decree. Running two wouldn't hurt but they cost 7 to really be effective (ie removing creatures and getting tokens) and cluttering up my hand isn't something I enjoy. It is powerful though, so it probably [I]needs to be a 2 of.

4 Telling Time because it smooths the deck out. Before, it was Jace or Tidings but again, the deck just ended up being bad. This helps smooth out my mana, grabs what I need, and it is an instant which makes it better than Ponder.

4 Cryptic Command because it is Cryptic Command. Versatility is good in this deck.

4 Mind Stone because again the deck was clunky before. I run a lot of higher casting cost stuff, so being able to hit 4 mana on turn 3 is big.

The SB is mostly stuff for anything. I would like to note that I have not played in this Standard before, only games on MWS, so if that is as reliable as it is for Legacy, it isn't that great of testing.

I did have trouble boarding with this deck when I played with it. Like, what do I take out against Kithkin? Or Faeries? I could use some help with boarding strategies, so does anyone play T2 here?

Also, just to let everyone know, I do know it is 62 cards. I've had to cut it down from 70 and this is as far as I got. I really don't know what I would want to take out to get it to 60. I run some good draw so it may not be necessary.

[juventus]

Traumatic Visions? is terrible.
Telling time over ponder?
Also you probably want to play reflecting pool.
Battlegrace angel is fairly bad I think. It's just really slow and dies to everything. Maybe play like reveilark and figures?

You probably don't want to play 4 path to exile, because although it's pretty good, it does give your opponent a tempo boost which is pretty relevant in standard.

Cards you might want to consider are volcanic fallout, plumeveil and ajani vengeant.

[Jak]

Traumatic Visions is awesome. I use it mostly to hit land drops/mana fix but when I get to the late game it is still a hard counter.

Telling Time is an instant which makes it better in situations where I want to leave mana open for Command.

Yeah Reflectiong Pool will probably go in there, I just don't feel like dropping the cash on it.

What's wrong with Battlegrace? It helps swing games. Reveilark is good, but I would really need to add Figures (like you said) and more two power creatures which takes away from the decks main plan. I am still working on the spots but Battlegrace has been good at pulling me out of bad situations.

I'll keep testing to see if PtE could be trimmed but I was never sad to have to fit early Figures or even a Merfolk Looter. It gives them a land but you save life and disrupt them. It's incredible late in the game.

Yeah, fallout is good. Definitely will keep 4 between the main and side. Ajani was in the SB, but I cut Rings from the main and cut them.

I don't like PLumeveil for a couple reasons. 1. It has defender. 2. It is just as vulnerable as Angel, but Angel can attack. SB maybe, but I don't think so in the main.