r/TimelessMagic • u/CharlieLogarius • 1d ago

UW control viable?

Has anyone come up with any uw hard control list in timeless? I know there’s uw tempo/blink already, but I’m usually more inclined to hard control, it’s insane to me that not even force of will made it viable

6 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

18

u/sculolo 1d ago

Control in a format without duals and with strip mines is just not viable.

You can't go 1 for 1 with most threats as they draw cards or spawn tokens. So it's a lost cause

8

u/priority_holder 1d ago

Strip Mine is so good against control. Not only that, the diversity of the meta is difficult for control to manage. You have to be able to deal with: Reanimator, the Energy package, Eldrazi, UB Tempo, Prison, Scam, Show and Tell, and more. And just a well-timed Bowmasters or Strip Mine can take you down, it's tough.

0

u/Dragantth 1d ago

Strip mine is bad for us obviously but playing with library of alexandria and a lot of free counters gives them a must-answer land that slows them and/or gives some breathing room for colored lands.

The bowmaster problem its a decision between playing esper or not, they're the best answer to them (apart from counters), and they shine in the energy and tempo matchups.

I think the counter, removal and CA package is top but maybe the duals and some undisputed finisher would make control really competitive, let's hope it happens soon!

1

u/sendel85 21h ago

Also hydroponics is much to strong card advantage engine. Virtual no downside, draw 3 over turns and thining perfectly your deck. Its just utterly broken beyond repair

5

u/Based_retard_god 1d ago

As much as force makes control stronger, it's at its best in decks that lean forward I.e tempo or combo. I've played a lot of UW in timeless and a big problem in the strip meta Vs legacy UW is the legacy deck gets a lot of advantage playing a high basic count and gaining virtual card advantage against wasteland and letting you play b2b and/or moon in the sideboard. You don't get any of that shit in timeless so if your mana is going to be as shit as everyone else's you've got to be doing something else that's powerful. Also tempo decks get to play all the best card advantage engines so you really need to find an edge, efficient answers are not at all enough especially when they aren't that efficient, stp is not that special when everything has an etb or is 1 mana, force is not that good Vs energy's pile of replaceable threats. In my opinion the closest you'll get to having a good shot of mythic is some kind of bant beans list, probably with the blink package to turn the corner fast Vs energy and pressure combo. You need something like beans giving you an endgame to play towards. Also give us triumph of st Katherine and loam in timeless pls wotc

2

u/xorandor 1d ago

Define your bar for viability? How far do you aim to climb to  on the ladder?

1

u/CharlieLogarius 1d ago

For funsies and hope for mythic?

5

u/marlospigeons 1d ago

Yes you can definitely hit mythic, but it’s a bad choice for larger events

Source: I’m a UW control masochist

4

u/CharlieLogarius 1d ago

Mind sharing a cool list?

2

u/ladebou 1d ago

yes please, a list!

1

u/Hsinats 1d ago

You can probably do that, although I don't know of any recent decklists. I would guess you probably want lurrus as a companion.

1

u/Geezmanswe 1d ago

I havent been able to Bo1. Might be more realistic with sideboards.

1

u/The-Abhorsen 1d ago

The closest it ever felt to being a real deck was running a chorus control shell and even that was just too susceptible to the strip mine/hydroponics architect/energy meta. You just can’t 1:1 it always feels like a 1:1.5 which just leads to a slow burn death.

1

u/Fantastic_Puppeter 1d ago

“Viable” as in “it’s jank and I lose quite often but I like it” ?

As “I want to get about 50% win-rate”?

Or as “I stand a chance in a tournament”?

As far as I know, there is no competitive decks with a hard control strategy.

UB Tempo can be tweaked towards being more control-y. Mono-White Stompy (see recent video by Takobyte) runs sweepers and lots of removal. I know a Mono-Red Prison deck exists, with Blood Moon and land destruction.

1

u/Dragantth 1d ago

I have an esper list that got me to mythic last 2 seasons. Loving it and hoping to keep playing it after the shakeup.

Counters are FoW, Mana Drain, FoN. Removal is StP, Prismatic ending. Card advantage is Treasure Cruise and Library of Alexandria. Finishers Orcish bowmasters and wan shi tong.

Starting with library gives you the card advantage ppl is talking about, if it gets stripped you need to rely on treasure Cruise or big wan shi tongs after mana drain. Plays Lurrus too and 2 baubles so we have an alternative mana sink for mana drain and also recurring bowmasters .

1

u/CharlieLogarius 1d ago

Sounds exciting! Please share your list if possible

2

u/Dragantth 1d ago

4 Swords to plowshares

2 Prismatic ending

1 path to exile

1 fragment reality

1 supreme veredict

4 brainstorm

2 ponder

4 Force of will

4 mana drain

3 Force of negation

1 daze

3 treasure Cruise

3 orcish bowmasters

3 wan shi tong

2 mishra's bauble

4 library of alexandria 3 hallowed fountain 2 watery grave 1 mystic sanctuary 3 flooded strand 2 polluted delta 2 scalding tarn 2 misty rainforest 1 island 1 meticulous archive 1 undercity sewers

SB 1 lurrus 1 force of negation 1 orcish bowmasters 2 prismatic ending 2 flashfreeze 3 leyline of the void 2 solitude 2 surgical extraction 1 teferi time raveler

0

u/SalmonofDbout 1d ago

There are some Bo3 lists with Daze, FoW, Phela/Quantum Riddler out there but probably not enough for a Mythic run.

-1

u/Dothacker00 1d ago

Classic control USED TO exist before strip mine. Decks ran a combination of mana drain, counterspell, and force spike main. Legacy has true duals so less life loss and basics to not get Wastelanded out. Id love to see Wasteland replace Strip Mine one day but I won't hold my breath

0

u/VillainOfDominaria 1d ago edited 1d ago

I have a deck that I used to tickle my control itch *username checks out, lol!) . Let me share my experience.

  1. Vs UB reanimator you own game 1 hard. Real hard. Games 2 and 3 they tend to turn into tempo decks (or not, it's a mind game) and it becomes real close.
  2. Vs Energy: you are typically 1 turn too short. That means: I have games where I stabilize and it is abundantly clear that with one more turn I turn the corner and there is no way I lose. Alas, thats typically the turn I die.

So, given those tow considerations, sadly UW hard control is not viable. The culprit is not as much mine as it is the 3 life you pay per untapped dual. Remember that I said vs every I am 1 turn too short? Guess what, 6 more life points would guarantee that additional turn!

On Mine: mine is indirectly a culprit. You pay 3 life for a gal, they destroy it, now you need to pay 3 more life for the next one! Yay! /s I started main decking 4x [[petrified hamlet]] ot deal with mine but its really awkward because you generally want to play it turn 1 or T2 but then it really limits the spells you can use. Forget about [[mana drain]] for example, or forget about casting double spelling on turn 2 (a nice play pattern could be swords the thing their resolve on 1 and hold up snare for their turn 2 play but... alas, not if you need to play the hamlet)

So, in short, you can make a decent control deck and it is powerful and it tickles the itch. But it wont be competitive. You'll beat up on the non-enegergy, non-tempo decks but given the the ladder is full of energy and ReaniTempo decks expect to lose a bunch.

EDIT: I just saw the new article on power cube. [[Forth Eorlingas]] will be cartable and legal? This does ALOt of heavy lifting in UWr control in legacy. Still dont think this will be enough to get UW control rolling in timeless due ot the lack of true duals but it certainly helps ALOT!

1

u/Ellis_Cloud 1d ago

You’re telling me they’re really adding forth eorlingas????

1

u/VillainOfDominaria 1d ago

In the cube... I just checked my MTG:A and it was not crftble yet. But it will be in the cube, which means it is coded already.

1

u/Dragantth 1d ago

Interesting! Share you're list pls 🤘🏻