This week, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking for the control deck that best suits my play style. I know I’ve harped on this point a lot, but I think there quite a number of reasonable decks to play in this Standard format, and picking the one that you feel the most comfortable with and knowing every single card and the reason for its inclusion will lead to better success than anything else will.

The first deck (and the one that I am most likely to play in Grand Prix Miami next weekend) is Bant control. Chi Hoi Yim originally played several lists very close to this one:

"Bant Control"

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Aetherling
• 4 Thragtusk

• Spells (28)
• 2 Azorius Charm
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Renounce the Guilds
• 3 Think Twice
• 4 Sphinx's Revelation
• 1 Ranger's Path
• 2 Terminus
• 3 Urban Evolution
• 4 Farseek
• 4 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Elixir of Immortality

• Lands (27)
• 1 Island
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Alchemist's Refuge
• 3 Breeding Pool
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Hinterland Harbor
• 4 Sunpetal Grove
• 4 Temple Garden

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Terminus
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 3 Fog
• 2 Negate
• 2 Plasm Capture
• 2 Dispel
• 2 Azorius Charm

Buy This Deck

This is a very different take on Bant control from the normal ones. For one, the inclusions of Elixir of Immortality, Urban Evolution, and a whopping seven main-decked sweepers means this deck is serious about going to the late game. Having two Alchemist's Refuges is a nod to warping the game to playing as a late-game control deck (Supreme Verdict inside the opponent’s attack step is pretty sweet!).

His original list had four Augur of Bolas (in the Thragtusk slot) and Selesnya Charms. Selesnya Charm is good if you expect Sire of Insanity, but I would rather run Renounce the Guilds and Oblivion Ring in that slot. I also do not care for the combination of Watery Grave and Nephalia Drownyard since I think Aetherling with Cavern of Souls is a cleaner combination to end the game with.

Not to be remiss in my research, I’ll mention that Reid Duke has also championed a Bant control list with Ground Seals main. It bears a lot of similarities to the list above, but it lacks the Elixir of Immortality endgame. You can read about it here.

Last Saturday, Esper control won in the hands of Robert Seder.

"Esper Control"

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
• 1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought

• Spells (23)
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Syncopate
• 3 Azorius Charm
• 3 Think Twice
• 4 Far // Away
• 4 Sphinx's Revelation
• 4 Terminus
• 1 Cyclonic Rift

• Lands (27)
• 3 Godless Shrine
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Nephalia Drownyard
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Aetherling
• 1 Evil Twin
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 1 Devour Flesh
• 3 Negate
• 1 Psychic Spiral
• 1 Purify the Grave
• 2 Tragic Slip
• 1 Tribute to Hunger
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 2 Planar Cleansing

Buy This Deck

This deck is pretty unique in its construction as an Esper control deck. This most closely resembles a Shaheen Soorani–styled control deck to me in that there’re five planeswalkers. The lack of Forbidden Alchemy and Lingering Souls surprises me because you want to set up defense for your planeswalkers. Terminus is severely underappreciated at the moment, but I think for curve considerations (especially against R/g aggro and Naya Blitz), you need to have a turn-four Supreme Verdict. Obviously, you can still hope to miracle Terminus, but relying on that as a game plan is a risky proposition.

The full four Nephalia Drownyards indicates to me that he is trying to prepare for mostly control mirrors—or that he is looking to end the game quickly with his incidental lands once he has stabilized the board.

Running twenty-seven lands also indicates that he does not want to ever miss a land drop (which makes quite a bit of sense given four of his lands are win conditions and that he is relying on casting big Sphinx's Revelations). I would almost consider a twenty-eighth (probably a Cavern of Souls if he had Aetherling in his main instead of his board). I would also just play the Aetherling main and go down to two Nephalia Drownyards and add two more colored sources.

I can’t say I really understand his board plans at the moment without doing a bunch of playtesting with the deck.

"Jacob Van Lunen’s R/W/U Flash"

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 4 Augur of Bolas
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Spells (21)
• 1 Renounce the Guilds
• 1 Rewind
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Syncopate
• 2 Think Twice
• 2 Warleader's Helix
• 3 Sphinx's Revelation
• 4 Azorius Charm
• 4 Pillar of Flame

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 2 Moorland Haunt
• 2 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Sulfur Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 2 Izzet Staticaster
• 2 Purify the Grave
• 2 Searing Spear
• 1 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 1 Negate
• 3 Dispel
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Renounce the Guilds

Buy This Deck

I like how this deck doesn’t lean so heavily on Aetherling or Supreme Verdict. Thundermaw Hellkite is the go-to fatty, and it can end games quite quickly through Lingering Souls and clogged board states that can occur playing against Junk Rites. If I were to play a R/W/U deck, this would definitely be my top choice at the moment.

Jacob Van Lunen wrote an article last week about this deck in much greater detail.

"Jund"

• Creatures (13)
• 2 Sire of Insanity
• 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 4 Thragtusk
• 3 Olivia Voldaren

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

• Spells (19)
• 2 Putrefy
• 2 Tragic Slip
• 1 Dreadbore
• 1 Rakdos's Return
• 2 Mizzium Mortars
• 4 Bonfire of the Damned
• 4 Farseek
• 2 Ground Seal
• 1 Rakdos Keyrune

• Lands (25)
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Dragonskull Summit
• 2 Kessig Wolf Run
• 3 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Vampire Nighthawk
• 1 Curse of Death's Hold
• 1 Ground Seal
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 2 Liliana of the Veil
• 2 Vraska the Unseen
• 1 Duress
• 3 Pillar of Flame
• 1 Rakdos's Return

Buy This Deck

This is the latest list Reid Duke wrote about recently. Some of the notable changes are the addition of the fourth Bonfire of the Damned to the main deck as well as the addition of Curse of Death's Hold to the sideboard. I would assume both of these changes were adopted to counteract the rise of Junk Aristocrats.

I’ve seen riffs on Jund recently that eschew Sire of Insanity (since most of the control decks have adapted to it) and even one that plays Zhur-Taa Druid (an idea that John Cuvelier has been championing and wrote about here.

Other people have championed Vampire Nighthawk in the main deck (a mostly minor change), whereas I prefer the fourth Olivia Voldaren—you want to draw it in every green creature matchup.

• R/G aggro has been posting good results and is shockingly underplayed.
• Junk Rites is always a fine choice, but it requires a fair amount of tuning (Blood Baron of Vizkopa or not, Acidic Slime or not, and many other choices to boot).
• The Aristocrats (both Act 2 and Junk) are devastating in creature mirrors, although they can sometimes struggle against control decks.
• Naya Domri (Edel-style) and Jund Domri (Tommy Ashton–style) both exploit Domri Rade very well and have a bunch of hard to deal with threats—namely Thundermaw Hellkite for both of them, Falkenrath Aristocrat in Jund, and Loxodon Smiter/Voice of Resurgence in the Naya build.

I welcome any comments or constructive criticism here or on Twitter @jkyu06.

Thanks for reading!