MTGA Events - Does UW Control work in Singleton?

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Control

UW Control is very strong in standard, adapting it to Singletons means playing as much value cards as possible and getting in as much control and removal spells as possible, then lastly sprinkle our wincons on top of it. So we have the recipe, but how does it hold up against the playing field?

There is no doubt that the Standard version is at a Tier1 level, however, in singletons you do not have the luxury of playing multiple copies of your strongest cards. While this is not a problem with the counterspells since you have some many alternatives. The main problem with this is in your removal spell package, there are not many alternate removal cards in UW that makes up for only having one copy of Settle / Seal Away / Fumigate / Cast Out. When you fail to counter something and it sticks to the battlefield you have a problem.

To counter this we instead rely on more and better creatures. Big creatures that can fight the opponent, value creatures that can be brought back from the afterlife and provide value after they die. It takes some time to get used to but it is still very good and fun to play. It is however not the monster that its Standard brother is and a big reason for this is the meta in Singleton. 

Right now it seems that midrange creature decks do just fine as long as they get to stick some of their better threats. What is also very popular in Singletons are Planeswalker decks which seems to perform really good since they are so hard to remove. 

All in all, I think UW Control is an overall good deck, we had some good event runs. It is by no means as powerful as its sibling and not unfair in power level. I truly believe there are stronger decks in singletons but this is not very far from them.

Torrential Gearhulk 
This guy creates so much value with his ability to flash out a big body and either play a drawcard spell for free or counter a spell. And yes, your graveyard will be full of stuff when we get to turn 6. If not you can just keep on playing your spells and wait for the perfect time to flash him out.

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
A hero in Standard, a hero in Singletons. The goal when resolving Teferi is using his +1 ability to have mana for counterspells or removal. Be aware that in Singletons we do not have access to a lot of instants for 2-mana unless you have Baral out. Therefore you might want to hold onto this guy until you have 6 lands in play to give you more options as he tends to win games with all the value he brings to the battlefield. You only do the -3 ability as a worst case scenario, remember you only have one of this guy and not a playset.

Champion of Wits
Value turn 3, value turn 7. Early blocker, filters through cards, then it comes back from the graveyard as a 4/4 and gives you even more draw value. A perfect fit for the deck

Walking Ballista
Treat this guy as a worst case removal spell, best case win the game with beatdown and pinging. Playing him out as a 1/1 turn 2 because you had nothing better to do is usually a complete waste.

Treasure Map - Search for Azcanta 
The long game cards that helps you go the distance and scry away and draw the extra cards you need for the win.

Cast Out
This card is really important, do not let it go to waste. Not only can it target creatures but it can take everything, planeswalkers, vehicles, artifacts or other enchantments. Use it wisely.

Seal Away
The Removal combo package that goes with Cast Out/Settle/Farm the Wreckage

Farm // Market
A bit weaker than our other removal spells but makes up for it by providing extra value in the graveyard.

Settle the Wreckage
This card is powerful even in your library, just keep up WW(1)(1) and see them play around a spell you dont even have in your hand.

Fumigate
The big brother of Settle the wreckage, clean up the board. It does not deal with Vehicle

Baral, Chief of Compliance
There is only 1 Cancel spell in this deck, but there is still 10 other counterspells. If you get Baral Early game all your counters costs 1 less and you also filter a card every time you counter something. He also acts as blocker early game against smaller creatures. 

Cancel
The classic counterspell

Supreme Will
Must have counterspell that can act as a "find the wincon" card if the opponent is not doing anything threatening.

Glimmer of Genius
The opponent might be glad you did not counter any of his turn 4 spells, only to facepalm when you shoot of this in his endstep. Only downside is you cannot see his face. This is the draw card spell you want to combo with your Gearhulk. Dont mind the energy, its just there to show off and does nothing. 

Glyph Keeper
Annoying for the opponent to deal it, unfortunatly his body is not that big so when he blocks he usually trades. The good new is that he comes back

Angel of Sanctions, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Lyra Dawnbringer
The angel package of the deck, protecting, buffing removing. Together they do it all and the fit nicely into the deck

Azor, the Lawbringer
Another strong creature that also has flying, great for blocking and drawing cards. In the video you see me outracing an aggro deck with his life gain ability.

Nezahal, Primal Tide
A very annoying dinosaur, the format speed is quite slow. Which makes it ok to bring out this dino again.

The counterspell package
There are a lot of good counterspells to use in Singletons and we are packing almost all of them. It is very important to use them correct and get to counter their planeswalkers since they are usually the ones who manage to steal our games. Their creatures can usually overpowered by our superior creatures.

The draw card package
Important pieces of the deck that we use when the opponent does not play anything their turns, save for the end step and do not cycle the Illumination on turn one unless you kept a super awkard hand.

Gideon of the Trials
Great for stopping creatures and giving them something to deal with early. But many times you want to play him later turns because you need mana available for a counterspell turn three.

Karn, Scion of Urza
An auto include in a control deck, especially Singletons. Generates a lot of value and hard to kill

 

Nuts & Bolts Spike spends his energy looking within. He tries to understand his own internal flaws and works to improve them.

I run Team Aether and stream MTG Arena on Twitch.tv/andreliverod, playing both Standard and limited. Stop by and say hello!
Not interested in live streams? Here is my Youtube channel: Youtube.com/c/andreliverod

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1 comments

RodrigoPrazeres
Really good deck. Replaced a few cards I didn't have and went multiple times 7-x
andreliverod
Last Updated: 20 Sep 2018
Created: 21 Jun 2018
1994 292 1

Mainboard - 60 cards (40 distinct)

Creature (10)
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$3.21€1.510.02
$4.50€3.130.03
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$0.69€0.400.02
$4.51€2.370.03
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$0.18€0.040.03
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$0.31€0.190.03
Planeswalker (3)
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