Eldritch Moon is an exciting set for a number of formats, ranging from Standard all the way back to Vintage. With powerful cards like Liliana, the Last Hope, Emrakul, the Promised End, and Eldritch Evolution, there’s all manner of awesome, efficient cards that could make a big splash in eternal formats. Even knowing how powerful some of these Eldritch Moon cards are, this Vintage deck is a little shocking:

Bant Control ? Vintage | TR33FIDDY, 3-1 Vintage Daily Event

• Creatures (9)
• 3 Spell Queller
• 3 Stoneforge Mystic
• 2 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher

• Spells (32)
• 4 Force of Will
• 3 Mana Drain
• 3 Mental Misstep
• 3 Swords to Plowshares
• 2 Fact or Fiction
• 2 Flusterstorm
• 1 Ancestral Recall
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Black Lotus
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Dig Through Time
• 1 Moat
• 1 Mox Emerald
• 1 Mox Jet
• 1 Mox Pearl
• 1 Mox Ruby
• 1 Mox Sapphire
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Time Walk
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte

• Lands (17)
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 3 Misty Rainforest
• 3 Tundra
• 2 Snow-Covered Island
• 2 Tropical Island
• 1 Karakas
• 1 Library of Alexandria
• 1 Snow-Covered Plains

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Flusterstorm
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Balance
• 2 Containment Priest
• 2 Nature's Claim
• 2 Path to Exile
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Snow-Covered Forest
• 2 Steel Sabotage
• 1 Supreme Verdict

Buy This Deck

On its face, this looks like a pretty typical Stoneforge Mystic deck. Then you notice a couple of interesting differences between this deck and other UWx control decks in this format. In particular, this is a deck that has been built to hate on Monastery Mentor and other creature decks. This is a deck that doesn’t have to tap out for a three-drop to begin applying pressure.

Instead, you can sit back with Eldritch Moon superstar Spell Queller to win the fight against decks that have to play threats at sorcery speed. Sure, there’s the risk that your opponents have answers like Swords to Plowshares or Lightning Bolt, but that’s what your Mental Missteps and Snapcaster Mages are for. This deck is exceptionally well-equipped to protect Spell Quellers, and there are relatively few counterspells that can efficiently fight against Spell Queller. This makes the card shockingly well positioned for a format as powerful as Vintage.

In addition to Spell Queller, the deck also has access to Tamiyo, Field Researcher. This is an interesting card in current Vintage, since there are a number of decks that are looking to attack with multiple creatures. To put this in perspective, this is a deck that could cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor if it was so inclined, and has opted instead for Tamiyo, Field Researcher. So what does Tamiyo do that Jace doesn’t? It turns Spell Queller into an Ophidian that applies real pressure. It allows Batterskull to generate cards on both offense and defense. It buys extra time against giant monsters like Griselbrand, Emrakul, The Aeons Torn, or Blightsteel Colossus. All in all, the function of Tamiyo, Field Researcher is very similar to Jace, The Mind Sculptor, but Tamiyo may just be better if your deck intends to force Creature combat.