[Deck] RW Rifter (White-Based Control)

[Zilla]

(Courtesy of Mr. Nightmare/Anwar):

WR Lightning Rift, aka Rifter, has roots tied deep in Onslaught Block. It was constructed in those days to combat the Aggro decks in the format, and was looked into as a deck that smashed the face of Vial Goblins when it was suggested by Fakespam in CanGD1. The first build (Fakespam’s) revolved around finding and playing Humility, and using cycling cards and Lightning Rift to clear the board and shock your opponent to death. The deck had answers to a variety of situations using Burning Wish, and took home the prize in CanGD1. This is the build from that contest:

LIST

The list had several problems. First and foremost, it loses miserably to all shapes and sizes of combo. With the rise of Solidarity, Rifter fell out of favor, as it was basically an empty chair when paired with the deck.

At the same time, Jack Elgin (TheInfamousBearAssassin) was developing Mono-White Control, aka Rabid Wombat:

Land:
19x Snow-Covered Plains
4x Secluded Steppe

Creatures:
4x Eternal Dragon

Spells:
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Abeyance
4x Renewed Faith
4x Decree of Justice
3x Wing Shards
3x Wrath of god
3x Humility
3x Gilded Light
3x Akroma's Vengeance
2x Rune of Protection: Red

Sideboard:
3x Phyrexian Furnace
3x Disenchant
3x Aura of Silence
3x Orim's Chant
3x Genju of the Fields

This deck’s strengths lie in the same places as Rifter, as well as having one of the most stable manabases in the format. Rather than focusing on Enlightened Tutor to find its answers, Wombat concentrated on a slew of cycling cards and cantrips, as well as adding Rune of Protection: Red to the main in order to help the Goblin and Burn matchups. To help shore the combo matchup, it included maindeck Abeyances, as well as a board almost solely focused on beating combo. On the other hand, the deck has an innate ability to bore its pilot to death, and draws as many games as Dragon, but not on purpose.

The key to making RW Rifter a competitive and powerful deck was combining the two decks. It used the cantrips and cycling advantages of Wombat, and the added speed and removal of Rifter. The new deck is regarded as the only truly viable control deck in the format, having surpassed Landstill in almost every way. It has made top 8 at all three of the most recent Legacy high profile events (GP:Philadelphia – 3rd; GP:Lille – 7th; SCG DfD – 3rd) and has solidified itself as a Deck To Beat.

WR Lightning Rift
7th Place (GP: Lille)

4 Secluded Steppe
4 Forgotten Cave
9 Plains
7 Mountain
2 Plateau

3 Eternal Dragon

3 Lightning Rift
3 Humility
2 Rune of Protection: Red

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Renewed Faith
3 Slice and Dice
3 Decree of Justice
3 Pyroclasm
2 Disenchant
2 Abeyance
2 Akroma's Vengeance

Sideboard:
3 Rule of Law
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pulse of the Fields
2 Disenchant
2 Abeyance
2 Boil
1 Pyroclasm
1 Pyroblast

While Rifter and Wombat may seem like very similar choices there are a few important differences. The ability to end the game in a timely fashion is one of the strengths of Rifter. Lightning Rift gives the deck the ability to end the game in a few turns. Wombat has a major issue with going to time. Rifter also has a none creature-based win condition (Lightning Rift) and that helps in control matchups were creature removal does not actually stop Rifter from winning.

Rifter does have one major drawback and that is its manabase can be disrupted. While the deck is highly resistant to Wasteland given that it plays 16 or so basic lands it can be affected by Rishadan Port especially by cutting off one of the 2 colors that might be needed at any given time. It is also more suspectible to land destruction strategies employed mainly by decks like Deadguy Ale.

Link to TMD Discussion