[Deck] Mono-Blue Control (MUC)

[Sigyn]

@The Treefolk Master:

Thanks for the answer!, yeah you are probably right about meekstone in Sneak Attack matchup, when I was sbing I thought: so... they play big dudes, meekstone in!!, but against a couple of them or a Sneak Attack is useless.

In which other pairings, besides reanimator, you find meekstone a great add to the 60??, GW to stop Knight of the reliquary?

Tamiyo, in my opinion, has the same disadvantage as Jace, is a planeswalker, so they can attack through an energy field, destroy it, and break the lock. Maybe her ability to tap guys could make this hard to occur, but i'm not sure, jace can also bouce and he doesn't fit in this deck for that particular reason.

Cursed Scroll deserves a try, it's both finisher and removal, but when the opponent is locked we start to stack stuff in hand so the scroll will get worse.

[Kagehisa]

As soon as I get my 4 Back to Basics and others missing pieces, I'll try against random Frenches my list xD

Countermagics:
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell

Drawspells:
4 Ancestral Vision (or Brainstorm if one day I buy some blue fetchlands )

Bombs/stallers/Early Defenses:
4 Back to Basics ( ordered, --> 4 proxies )
4 Propaganda
4 Pendrell Mists ( --> 3 proxies , I want to try those as sweeper)
4 Powder Keg

Finishers:
4 Vedalken Shackles ( --> 3 proxies )
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor ( --> 3 proxies )

Lands
24 Island

SB

4 Energy Field
4 Chill
4 Hydrosalve (or Blue Elemental Blast if one day I buy them)
3 Disrupt

Well... I just mean to drop Island each turn and to get Propaganda, Pendrell Mists and Back to Basics on board. Each of those cards stalls : play Powder Keg or Propaganda, stall to play a Back to Basics, stall to play Pendrell Mists and use countermagics to protect your enchantment until Ancestral Vision resolves or Vedalken Shackles and Jace, the Mind Sculptor become active.

the sideboard is a very random...

[HokusSchmokus]

@The Treefolk Master:

Thanks for the answer!, yeah you are probably right about meekstone in Sneak Attack matchup, when I was sbing I thought: so... they play big dudes, meekstone in!!, but against a couple of them or a Sneak Attack is useless.

In which other pairings, besides reanimator, you find meekstone a great add to the 60??, GW to stop Knight of the reliquary?

Tamiyo, in my opinion, has the same disadvantage as Jace, is a planeswalker, so they can attack through an energy field, destroy it, and break the lock. Maybe her ability to tap guys could make this hard to occur, but i'm not sure, jace can also bouce and he doesn't fit in this deck for that particular reason.

Cursed Scroll deserves a try, it's both finisher and removal, but when the opponent is locked we start to stack stuff in hand so the scroll will get worse.

I feel the same about Tamiyo and Scroll.
Meekstone against GW does shut off most of their dudes, true but I don't like the antisynergy between Meekstone and all of your wincons except Chemeric Mass. Don't really know if it's worth it. I don't like Meekstone at all tbh, though I also play 2 in my board and side em in against Reanimator.
BTW I recently cut the Llawan for another Cage, because I felt Reanimator is by far the worst matchup, and Crypt isn't a permanent solution, and so far it worked out great.

Edit: also cut a trinket mage for a sphinx of jwar isle because a lot of times shackles wasn't enough to win games

[HokusSchmokus]

Any Ideas on what else to cut instead of Trinket Mage?

[Sigyn]

Top 9 Athens Blue! :http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=47091

I like the list, devastation tide seems pretty good, echoing truth allows you to bounce your own energy field in response to the triggered ability but the miracle buys you much more time.

The list lacks on counters, only 6 maindeck and batterskull is not searcheable, those are the points where i have more doubts.

What are your thoughts about it?

[Voley]

Anybody successfully playing as Mono-U control?
I love the archetype and am considering getting it.

[Kagehisa]

Hi guys !

I heard there will be a small legacy tournament in a shop in my town. I would like to have your opinion about my deck. Here's the list :

X24 Island
X2 Morphling
X1 Rainbow Efreet
X4 Force of Will
X4 Counterspell
X3 Foil
X4 Fact or Fiction
X4 Ancestral Vision
X4 Powder Keg
X4 Propaganda
X4 Back to Basics
X2 Vedalken Shackles

Yes ! This is Kadaj's list in the opening, I finally have been able to gatherer all the cards a bastard stole me. I would like to know if I have a realistic chance to perform well with this old school list. I read all the MUC thread and I see MUC has changed a lot so I'm wondering... Please help me guys... No idea of what looks my meta... let's say, my question is for a random metagame. (MUC and Stasis are the only decks I own)

I own no fetchlands yet but maybe I'll get them because lists with counterbalance look sexy lol

[Kich867]

Hi guys !

I heard there will be a small legacy tournament in a shop in my town. I would like to have your opinion about my deck. Here's the list :

X24 Island
X2 Morphling
X1 Rainbow Efreet
X4 Force of Will
X4 Counterspell
X3 Foil
X4 Fact or Fiction
X4 Ancestral Vision
X4 Powder Keg
X4 Propaganda
X4 Back to Basics
X2 Vedalken Shackles

Yes ! This is Kadaj's list in the opening, I finally have been able to gatherer all the cards a bastard stole me. I would like to know if I have a realistic chance to perform well with this old school list. I read all the MUC thread and I see MUC has changed a lot so I'm wondering... Please help me guys... No idea of what looks my meta... let's say, my question is for a random metagame. (MUC and Stasis are the only decks I own)

I own no fetchlands yet but maybe I'll get them because lists with counterbalance look sexy lol

I would drop Foil in a heartbeat. You can't afford that kind of card disadvantage. I would replace them with either Spell Snare or Spell Pierce.

[Kagehisa]

Ok, thank you ! I don't own them yet but I'll try to get them soon ! I'm testing the deck and it is true that a hand with Foil and Ancestral Vision hurts me a lot... Turn 0 : FOIL, -3 cards, Turn 1 AV -1, well it hurts... for the first turns.

[sillyandrew]

i've been tinkering with my list, in a frail attempt to keep my pet deck alive and competing, and i feel like i've finally hit a build that's effective enough to really have a presence in the meta. most of my playtesting has been on cockatrice, but i have an insanely positive record these past two weeks in particular. here's what i've been rolling:


2 oblivion stone
2 powder keg
2 pithing needle
2 sensei's divining top

3 vedalken shackles
2 vendilion clique
3 jace, the mind sculptor

2 back to basics
3 energy field

4 brainstorm
4 counterspell
4 force of will
1 spell pierce
3 spell snare

17 island
3 misty rainforest
3 scalding tarn


sideboard:
2 relic of progenitus
1 vedalken shackles
2 sower of temptation
2 back to basics
2 chill
3 propaganda
1 blue elemental blast
2 envelop

game two, i almost always side out powder kegs or o-stones, whichever one isn't ideal, and usually side in some combination of b2b and/or shackles in their place, regardless of the match up. maindeck pithing needles are pretty dope, to say the least, and i think two is the perfect number. envelop is the super secret sideboard tech that breaks some match-ups wide open, and the rest is pretty self explanatory.

[The Treefolk Master]

Mmmm, I like the MD quite a lot, the only thing I'd question would be the lack of any form of card advantage excluding Jace, but there are no other good options currently in the format.

I don't like Propaganda in the SB, it has always been ineffective for me when I want it to stop aggro decks.

I also notice you don't have much graveyard hate, only 2 slots. I'd look into adding 2 Graffdigger's Cage, which is incidentally good against Zenith.dec.

Envelop has been a favorite of mine for some time, although I've never gotten to actually playing with it. I'll give the list a spin some time this week; whatever keeps MUC alive and kickin' (or at least kind of).

I really like the current metagame for MUC. BUG has hystorically been a good match up, Miracles is currently experiencing a down turn, although it should be decent matchup, albeit a LONG grind dependent on tight play. Against Blade Control, resolving Shackles is usually game, so that should be our plan.

What about Ratchet Bomb instead of Keg? The only advantages of Keg that I can see are:

-Counters are put on it even if a Pithing Needle is in play naming it (way too narrow).
-It wrecks affinity (we should already win thanks to Energy Field buying us infinite time).

Should we try to fit some big finisher into the deck? I'm thinking a random Batterskull, which gives us inevitability. Its only 1 slot.

Now, here's an idea I had for the control mirror, although I had originally pictured it in UW Miracles, its far better in this deck. It might be really crappy, but is sideboarding Morphling that bad? It kills Jace, and then goes on to kill them.

THoughts?

[sillyandrew]

I don't like Propaganda in the SB, it has always been ineffective for me when I want it to stop aggro decks.

I also notice you don't have much graveyard hate, only 2 slots. I'd look into adding 2 Graffdigger's Cage, which is incidentally good against Zenith.dec.

if i were to cut cards from the sideboard, propaganda would be the first to go, i agree. there are moments when dropping a prop just wins the game though, ie: against elf swarm, against dredge zombies, against belcher (assuming we don't die turn one). to address the second point, if i were to drop them, they'd be for more graveyard hate, of course.

What about Ratchet Bomb instead of Keg? The only advantages of Keg that I can see are:

-Counters are put on it even if a Pithing Needle is in play naming it (way too narrow).
-It wrecks affinity (we should already win thanks to Energy Field buying us infinite time).

i don't really see an advantage STRONGLY in favor of either of these two cards, and i think it comes down to a matter of preference. enchantments are seldom an issue, and the only liability powder keg has is leaving the occasional plainswalker on the board, but clique can usually clear 'em out in time. it's worth playtesting further, i suppose. i chose keg purely on preference, and my current cardpool.

Now, here's an idea I had for the control mirror, although I had originally pictured it in UW Miracles, its far better in this deck. It might be really crappy, but is sideboarding Morphling that bad? It kills Jace, and then goes on to kill them.

myself and a buddy have discussed this exact point at pretty great length in the past. morphling was a staple of this deck for so long, and while the metagame is severely different, i feel that this idea merits playtesting. (all i've done is theorycraft.) what would the ideal number be? 1? 2? you shouldn't have any problem finding it with numbers that low, especially because you don't want to see it until later on in the game anyway. thinking about it in terms of other relevant flying creatures, two mana (U to fly, U to toughness) stops clique/delver, three mana (U to fly, UU to toughness) walls an angel token, and four mana walls tombstalker (U to fly, UUU to toughness). it's also be pretty funny, though probably futile, to drop a morphling off an opponent's show and tell, haha.

a singleton in the board, i think, would only help. i'd love to hear other's opinions.

[Oiolosse]

Mono U control was my first real and complete deck growing up so Morphling will always have a special place but he was ruined when they took damage off the stack. Late game he was a house that could kill anything and still live. He would need to be a 4/4 for 2UU with those abilites to be relevant now.

[nedleeds]

Rainbow Efreet and SoJI are sadly both better than Morphy these days ... and neither of those are super exciting.

[Oiolosse]

lol at Efreet..what is SoJI?

[from Cairo]

lol at Efreet..what is SoJI?

Sphinx of Jwar Isle

[Kagehisa]

Is it Time to make the TOP 5 Kills, Bombs, mana bases, Card advantage or quality source (ex: trinket toolbox ?), Defense, Counter suit in MUC (associated with their respectives build/meta of MUC) ?

[The Treefolk Master]

Is it Time to make the TOP 5 Kills, Bombs, mana bases, Card advantage or quality source (ex: trinket toolbox ?), Defense, Counter suit in MUC (associated with their respectives build/meta of MUC) ?

I'm sorry, what?

[The Treefolk Master]

So, I was surfing TC Decks a few weeks ago and came across the following list, which came out 4th at the Japan National Championships (GP Yokohama Side Event, 384 players). While it does not strictly qualify as straight MUC, since it is running red, MUC is the established archetype it's the closest to. Without further ado:

7 Island
2 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Academy Ruins
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Trinket Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Blood Moon
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
3 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Counterspell
1 Sudden Shock
4 Force of Will
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Pithing Needle
2 Vedalken Shackles
//Sideboard

SB: 1 Divert
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Blood Moon
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Grim Lavamancer

There are only 13 cards listed in the SB, so we have 2 slots to work with (Misdirection maybe? Tormod's Crypt? Firespout/Pyroclasm to deal with swarm strategies?). The MD has some pretty unconventional choices (Cavern of Souls, Sudden shock). I think I'd rather have an extra Island and 1 Fire//Ice (Respectively), but haven't tested at all.

I'd also look into cutting the 2nd Pithing Needle for an extra EE, since dealing with Goyf (and to a lesser extent, KotR) can be a pain for UR.

I've got the deck built on paper, but haven't actually had the chance to test it. I'll try to get a few games under my belt as soon as I can, and will inform you of the deck's performance.

Any thoughts? (Come on people, lets not let this thread die. MUC isn't close to Tier 1, but it was my first deck, back when running 4 Propagand, 4 Back to Basics 4 Fact or Fiction MD was a good call. Ah, good times).

[MGB]

Here's a thought: Back to Basics is awesome against all of the greedy manabases people are playing.

The problem? Abrupt Decay wrecks it and you can't stop it with counters.

The solution? Let's play both Misdirection and Divert main-deck!

Not only are they good at effectively countering a Decay (by redirecting to an opponent's creature) that targets your Shackles/Keg/B2B, but it also protects you from targeted discard which all of the BG decks play (Thoughtseize, Hymn, etc). Of course, against other decks that run counterspells both Divert and Misdirection function as extra ammunition for counter-wars. And as a bonus, if you run into one of those new cascade decks that tries to cascade into Ancestral Vision, there is absolutely no better feeling in this game than when you redirect a resolved Vision (or Ancestral Recall for that matter) to you!

Here's my MUC decklist as of today that has been performing very well in this meta-game. It dies to Merfolk and Goblins pretty hard and pretty regularly, but as long as these two aggro decks are dramatically under-represented, and combo in general is subsequently over-represented, MUC has a chance to be a solid choice.


22 Island

4 Ancestral Vision
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Spell Snare (or Spell Pierce depending on meta)
3 Divert
3 Misdirection

4 Powder Keg
4 Back to Basics
4 Vedalken Shackles

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

SB: 4 <Graveyard Hate of your Choice>
SB: 3 Dream Tides
SB: 4 Vendilion Clique
SB: 4 Chalice of the Void