Standard U/B Control

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

For today's post, we are still going on about our most recent Friday Night Magic event report and have to provide an errata from yesterday's post.

Specifically, we reported that our fourth match against 'Matt S', that he was piloting an Esper Control Build, where in fact Matt was playing a Blue / Black (U/B) Control build.

Matt, who is a very decent guy has shared his decklist with us today. A quick Bio on Matt first - when he is not slinging Magic the Gathering cards at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, he is retrieving treed cats and assisting the elderly across busy roadways as an Ontario Provincial Police Constable.

Anywhoos - here is Matt's U/B list . . .

27 Lands : 4 Darkslick Shores, 4 Drowned Catacomb, 2 Ghost Quarter, 8 Island, 2 Nephalia Drownyard, 7 Swamp

33 Spells : 2 Consecrated Sphinx, 3 Snapcaster Mage, 3 Black Sun's Zenith, 1 Blue Sun's Zenith, 2 Curse of Death's Hold, 2 Dissipate, 2 Go For The Throat, 3 Forbidden Alchemy, 4 Mana Leak, 1 Ratchet Bomb, 4 Think Twice, 4 Tragic Slip, 1 Tribute to Hunger, 1 Liliana of the Veil

15 Sideboard : 2 Batterskull, 2 Bloodline Keeper, 1 Dissipate, 1 Flashfreeze, 1 Negate, 2 Nephalia Drownyard, 2 Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Phantasmal Image, 1 Ratchet Bomb, 1 Surgical Extraction


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It was anticipated that U/B Control would do rather well in the recent Pro-Tour Honolulu but this archetype appeared to not quite got there. Altough the U/B deck Lukas Jaklovsky played did get to 9th place, the day was won with Wolf Run Ramp decks such as Brian Kibler (1st place), and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (2nd place). Definitely do not dimiss this build as we think it will adapt and overcome.

We think that Tragic Slip may be one of the most important one-drop cards in the mix as it will kill Delver of Secrets before it flips or Champion of the Parish before it grows totally out of control. Surgical Extraction is not to be underestimated as well and we can imagine players making more space in the build to accomodate additional copies to battle Delver of Secrets, or Lingering Souls. Curse of Death's Hold are also very relevant against Lingering Souls and Sorin Esper decks. Nihil Spellbomb also helps against mirror matches or other builds featuring Snapcaster Mage.

In summary, card advantage and spot removal are the hallmarks of this slick build and we expect to see it not only at Friday Night Magic but also heavily favoured by pro-players.
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The latest Magic the Gathering set ,Dark Ascension, has now been out since February 3rd. MTG Mint Card, has this list of the top ten selling Dark Ascension cards to date in February.

1. Dungeon Geists
2. Geralf's Messenger
3. Predator Ooze
4. Gravecrawler
5. Vault of the Archangel
6. Lingering Souls
7. Increasing Savagery
8. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
9. Drogskol Reaver
10. Drogskol Captain
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