“Magic: The Gathering” Deckbuilder – Control/Discard

I’m revving up for “Just A Game Con” 2012 in Corvallis, OR this weekend. I’ve got “Dominion” and “Dominion: Seaside” ready to go, but I also wanted to “come out of retirement” (I retired after they banned “Counterspell”) on Magic: The Gathering, as well. I built a deck just for this Con and I am pretty proud of it. It seems like it is going to run very well, but I won’t have a chance to test run the deck before the Con, so it is possible that it could also shit the bed hard. #WeHaveAllBeenThere

Ummm… I don’t mean as bed shitters, I mean as M:tG players that build a deck that should pwn bitches, but ends up being a piece of garbage. #Clarity

The point here being, that I want to share with you what this discard/control deck consists of. *NOTE* Back when I was a more regular M:tG player, I had a version of this deck that was pretty beast. It’s familiar territory, and it proves to me that I can build a Standard deck that doesn’t include “Counterspell!” My homies from back in the day would be so proud! Hope you’re reading this Garwin and/or Nick.

I have included photos of what I would consider the staples of this deck, sorry if your have to open another tab and go to Gatherer to see what the rest do. I’m not going to explain how the deck should interact, because anyone with knowledge of how M:tG runs should be able to figure it out.

Lands (23 Total)

• 2 x Cephalid Coliseum
• 4 x Dimir Aqueduct
• 9 x Island
• 8 x Swamp

Artifacts (6 Total)

• 4 x Courier’s Capsule
• 2 x Scepter of Fugue

Creatures (7 Total)

• 4 x Cephalid Looter
• 3 x Blizzard Specter

Black Spells (5 Total)

• 2 x Diabolic Tutor
• 3 x Megrim Liliana’s Caress

Blue Spells (8 total)

• 4 x Disperse
• 4 x Negate

Multicolor Spells (11 Total)

• 4 x Consult the Necrosages
• 4 x Recoil
• 3 x River’s Grasp

Sideboard

• 2 x Evacuation
• 4 x Perplex
• 3 x Psychatog
• 2 x Upheaval
• 4 x Vapor Snare

This is meant to be a control/discard deck. If they put something out into play, bounce it and make them discard it. I did throw in a few Negate’s for those game changer spells. Also, pay attention to the sideboard. The Vapor Snare’s can be thrown in to replace the Disperses, if you find that your opponents deck is pretty creature heavy and bouncing creatures was the primary function of the Disperses anyway. I prefer Disperse because it targets any permanent, as opposed to just creatures. Also, the sideboard makes it easy to (in a pinch) scrap your control/discard idea and switch over to a basic bouncy Psychatog deck. I suppose you could also substitute Abyssmal Nocturnus for the Blizzard Specters or Psychatogs, if you wanted to, but I will leave that up to you.

Just A Game Con starts at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 21st and goes through Sunday. Should you happen to be in the Corvallis, OR area (or you can get there) on Saturday, I will be there most of the day. Feel free to join me for some M:tG or Dominion! I am also hoping to try out some “Smallworld” and/or “Pandemic” whilst I am in attendance, so bring your games and we can grab a table! Hit me up on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ if you want to set a “tee time”, arrange a meetup for some trading or just to say Hi! #IwillActuallyBeDrinkingTea #MaybeCoffee

*UPDATE* While I was out at Matt’s Cavalcade of Comics, Cards and Collectibles (MCCC) today, I found out about a card called “Liliana’s Caress.” Same effect as “Megrim,” but one mana cheaper, which means one turn earlier. Therefore, I have replaced “Megrim” with “Liliana’s Caress.” Megrim was already broken, now it’s a turn earlier? #SIQQ