Saturday night Rebell Son asked if she could borrow my Mono-Red deck for an upcoming RCQ.

"When is the RCQ?" I asked.

"Tomorrow."

I'm lucky enough to own three more-or-less complete current Standard decks... But I obviously didn't have a lot of time to update any of them with the new set. What was surprising to me was just how much of an impact Murders at Karlov Manor has had on the one I picked: Control. Luckily my prerelease packs gave me two of the most important Staples for the new format, Intrude on the Mind and No More Lies.

To make a long day painfully short, I swept the Swiss but lost in the quarterfinals from the two seed. The previous day when recording Spike Colony, Lanny Huang pointed out that my bias strategically is to work toward assembling my end game, possibly to the exclusion of other elements driving the Advantage Bar. In the deciding game I had battled back from a mulligan to five to put my opponent dead to the Jace, the Perfected Mind I had in play (and the one I had in hand).

But!

In angling toward this exciting comeback, I took my eye off my embattled life total and ended up dying exactsies to my own Map tokens, so I never got the shot for the fifteen-shot.

That said, one of the cards from my Prerelease pack really impressed.

1. Intrude on the Mind is Even Better Than I Thought It Would Be

Intrude on the Mind is an absolute killer. I cast it four times in the tournament, and won three of the games. The other was the deciding game of Top 8, which I probably should have won with slightly more careful play. I think this because I had my opponent dead on an untap and had three Counterspells in my hand. Stupid Map tokens.

In the outlier loss game, I made this split:

The Wandering Emperor

versus:

Jace, the Perfected Mind

Land

Land

Land

So, I gave my opponent the option of giving me The Wandering Emperor and a 4/4 or four cards and a blocker. He was in the middle of sending with a Restless Reef, so giving me The Wandering Emperor was particularly problematic given the board state.

So, I got four cards!

Intrude on the Mind was effective because even if you only get a 2/2 or 3/3 Thopter, that's actually a pretty good stabilizing size for Standard... and it's part of the overall package (even when you're "just" getting three lands or something).

I only played one Intrude on the Mind for card availability reasons in the short-term, but I can see it being good enough for a four-of. This is in particular the case because...

2. Memory Deluge is a Lot Worse Than It Was Last Week

Memory Deluge has been a Staple in Standard since it was printed two summers ago.

One of the important features of Memory Deluge is how grindingly effective it has always been against other control decks. Why? Counterspells just aren't great against it.

That Memory Deluge is an instant - so you can start a fight on the opponent's end step - has always made it kind of an unattractive permission target. Even when it does get countered on the front side, Memory Deluge's flashback means that the mighty instant is coming back bigger than ever a few turns down the line.

What's changed?

The existence of No More Lies will result in about three important shifts to the Standard metagame.

First, it anoints as the clear control color combination of choice in the format. Not that there have been a lot of control decks vying for a top metagame spot, but is the only variation that can play No More Lies (which is mostly just an upgrade to Make Disappear.

Second, it implies that control decks will play more cheap instants (and probably more Counterspells) than they had been previously. This card competes with Dissipate. In part because it's good in its own right, and in part because of the pressure being put on Memory Deluge, Deduce is going to appear widely anywhere from a one-of to a four-of. Impulse is going to disappear from control decks as a result.

Together, these two points are going to make life tough for Memory Deluge.

Previously if your opponent opened with a Memory Deluge on the play and you wanted to exile it, you'd have to answer with three for a Dissipate. This would make it much more likely that their next spell would resolve.

Now if the opponent taps into your four, you can exile Memory Deluge and leave up two, which might imply a two-spell or even another appropriate piece of permission.

Obviously Memory Deluge is still going to get played; as are other color combinations... They're just not going to be as good or as good as , respectively.

3. Just play Four Copies of Dennick Already

Dennick, Pious Apprentice // Dennick, Pious Apparition is the best anti-beatdown sideboard card for Control in Standard. I've seen people going up to four copies of Knockout Blow, but it's not as good for two reasons.

First, Knockout Blow won't necessarily help you enough against a Red Deck's long game. Many practitioners of basic Mountain are packing main deck Urabrask's Forge. Even if they don't have Urabrask's Forge in the main, they typically have it in the sideboard. But that's not all! Red Decks get even less vulnerable to point removal / life gain by siding into threats like Koth, Fire of Resistance that combine card drawing, elite creature removal, and a one-card end game all at once.

By contrast you can play Dennick proactively. You can attack opportunistically, not just defend as you would with Knockout Blow. Dennick is naturally card advantageous. If the opponent removes him, you tend to get a "Healing Salve" and an opportunity to draw an extra card drawing flyer.

If you assemble your game plan - Dennick and The Wandering Emperor at the same time - winning starts to feel impossible for the opponent at something like 3/4. A lifelinking body gives you a super productive way to build out your battlefield without sacrificing all your Loyalty.

I like putting Dennick in harm's way so my opponent trades with it, often disadvantageously... This is because I need it off the table anyway, as I'm planning on a Temporary Lockdown or a Sunfall (and I don't want to lose poor Dennick forever).

But the biggest and best reason to play Dennick, over Knockout Blow or for whatever reason?

He's good in matchups other than Mono-Red!

Knockout Blow is too awkward against, say, a White weenie strategy. Dennick's 2/3 body on the other hand matches up really well against even the Legendary 2/1 and 2/2 creatures that so often mess the opponent up.

Don't just play Dennick. Play four. You'll thank me; you're welcome.

4. Domain Can Completely Dominate You if They Know How to Play

I had a match against Domain, and got it pretty ho-hum 2-0.

Playing the Roman Fusco style of u-w Control, I was confident I'd win Game 1 thanks to multiple copies of Jace, the Perfected Mind main deck.

It turns out that - regardless of how the games actually went - that confidence might have been a bit mislaid.

Domain typically plays Cavern of Souls. Many have recently adopted Tishana's Tidebinder. They can name "Merfolk" on Cavern of Souls, and just wait with Tidebinder in hand.

This works primarily because 's game plan is to one-shot Domain with a single big Jace activation (often following a previous Jace activation). You can play Tishana's Tidebinder in response to a big "mill for 15" ... And you can do it off of a Cavern.

This is a pretty easy defensive situation for Domain to set up; this, again, is because is largely just trying to get to the big Jace Ultimates. The side doesn't care how much Domain draws. Please draw ten! That makes Jace so much better. It's not that can't win fair and square... But if the opponent has drawn ten extra cards, winning fair and square isn't exactly easy.

Ultimately, if you know the Tidebinder setup they're not going to be able to steal the win (which is the plan). I think Domain, then, is in position to win by default.

All that said, I really like Control for Standard moving forward. Once you've figured out Dennick, aggro decks get a lot easier. Intrude on the Mind is going to be a format-defining threat of the future; you really do feel powerful when casting it.

LOVE

MIKE