Aetherworks Marvel has to be on the forefront of everyone’s minds as they begin preparing for their next Standard event. In the last few days, we’ve looked at two decks that try to go wider than Aetherworks Marvel and overwhelm it that way. What about a deck that stops them from ever really getting on the board in any meaningful way?

W/U Flash ? Amonkhet Standard | Evange, 5-0 Standard League

• Creatures (21)
• 2 Rattlechains
• 3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 4 Archangel Avacyn
• 4 Selfless Spirit
• 4 Spell Queller
• 4 Thraben Inspector

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

• Instants (5)
• 2 Spell Shrivel
• 3 Censor

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Stasis Snare
• 4 Cast Out

• Lands (24)
• 6 Island
• 8 Plains
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Westvale Abbey
• 4 Port Town
• 4 Prairie Stream

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Spell Shrivel
• 1 Bruna, the Fading Light
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Linvala, the Preserver
• 1 Pull from Tomorrow
• 1 Thalia's Lancers
• 2 Fragmentize
• 2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
• 2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• 3 Negate

Buy This Deck

The key here is to ensure that you almost always have something to do with your mana on your opponent’s turn, whether it’s cracking a clue, flashing in Rattlechains, or cycling a dead card. When you consistently leave mana up in your opponent’s turn, it makes it difficult for them to identify what you might have. They have to choose whether to play around Archangel Avacyn or a counterspell; whether you’re representing a Rattlechains trigger or a Spell Queller to eat their spell. That kind of imbalance of information will force your opponent to guess at what you have, and if you can make them guess enough times then they’re bound to get it wrong and get blown out every once in awhile.

The other strength of this deck is the speed at which it can turn the corner. Archangel Avacyn is an incredible way to take a game that’s at parity and bring it sharply into your favor, giving your opponent just a handful of turns to find an answer. When you combine that with tempo effects like Thalia, Heretic Cathar to ensure that your opponent can’t effectively block, and you’ve got quite a clock on your hands. If you’re looking to play a more controlling deck in this format and give yourself a fighting chance against both Zombies and Aetherworks Marvel, this seems like a great place to start.