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Main » Articles » Three Control Decks for Neon Dynasty Standard

Three Control Decks for Neon Dynasty Standard

Mike Likes
Posted on March 3, 2022
 Reddit

Hello everyone. Normally when I play Magic, I'm all about getting quick wins. However, there are times that I like to stretch my abilities and try new things. For those times, I'll look for other types of decks to play, including control decks. This week I have a trio of control decks that are all three-colored that went 5-0 on Magic Online. Let's get started.

Esper Control

The first deck I have for you is the one I feel the least comfortable playing, as it doesn't include any Red cards. Let's get started by taking a look at Esper Control.

Esper Control | NEO Standard | MAROLANZI (5-0)

Kaito Shizuki is featured in this Esper deck. On the turn you cast Kaito Shizuki, you'll be able to activate one of his loyalty abilities and then he will phase out at the end of your turn. This will grant you one turn where he will be unable to be attacked. Since cards that phase out don't actually leave the battlefield, this generally will only provide him immunity for a single turn, unless you manage to have him leave and reenter the battlefield in some other way. In a deck like this that has relatively few creatures, you'll often want to use Kaito's -2 loyalty to create a 1/1 Ninja creature token that can't be blocked. This will allow you to use Kaito's +1 ability on future turns as a means of drawing an extra card.

Extra cards equates to having extra options available to you. Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset has a great -2 loyalty ability that you can use to put the best of the top three cards of your library into your hand. Memory Deluge is another spell that you can use to put the best two cards from the top X number of cards of your library into your hand. The Celestus can be another way to draw additional cards, but unless you're willing to spend three mana to activate it every turn, it can be a bit unpredictable. Iymrith, Desert Doom also allows you to draw at least one card whenever you deal combat damage to your opponent with its attack. Finally, Reckoner Bankbuster will allow you the chance to draw three cards over three turns. It will then create a token that you can use to crew it with.

To close out games with this deck, you have a few options. Iymrith, Desert Doom can attack for a ton of damage, whittling away your opponent's health over a matter of a few turns. Alternatively, you can tick away at your opponent's life by crewing and attacking with Reckoner. Finally, you can cast the lone Legion Angel from this deck to summon your other Legion Angels from your sideboard. Over a few turns, you'll be able to build your own host of Angels that can drop your opponent's life total to zero in no time.

Mardu Control

Next, I have a control deck that's a little more my style, as it adds a touch of Red. Let's check out Mardu Control.

Mardu Control | NEO Standard | KINGHAIRY (5-0)

When I said this deck adds a touch of Red, I wasn't kidding. There's only two cards in this deck that require Red mana to play. The first is the flip side of Valki: Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor. While playing Valki as an early play will often be correct, allowing you to transform it into a copy of one of your opponent's creatures, you might want to wait a while to cast Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor. Tibalt gives you an emblem right away as he enters the battlefield that allows you to cast cards that have been exiled with Tibalt's abilities. Since each of Tibalt's loyalty abilities results in you exiling cards, you'll often have numerous choices of cards to cast. Even though many of the cards you exile will be your own, you will have a fair amount of your opponent's cards exiled as well. I know from personal experience, it can be very disheartening to have your opponent use your own cards to defeat you.

The other card in this deck that requires Red mana is Showdown of the Skalds. This saga exiles the top four cards of your library, allowing you to play them until the end of your next turn. This is a great way to enlarge the virtual size of your hand, offering you additional choices of things to cast. However, since this enchantment says you can play those cards until the end of your next turn, it can also be a way of playing lands that are exiled. Playing the cards that are exiled with Showdown of the Skalds allows you to keep the cards in your hand to play on future turns.

This deck also offers additional ways of drawing extra cards. By activating her 0 loyalty ability, Lolth, Spider Queen allows you to draw a card, at the low, low cost of losing one point of life. Welcoming Vampire lets you draw a card, once per turn, whenever one or more other creatures with power 2 or less enter the battlefield under your control. This includes the creature tokens that you create with Sorin the Mirthless, Lolth, Spider Queen, The Wandering Emperor, and Wedding Announcement. That can amount to a lot of turns where you're drawing an additional card. This will also trigger when Spirited Companion enters the battlefield, plus Spirited Companion is another means of drawing an extra card.

Jeskai Control

The final deck I have for you is likely the one I would feel most at home playing. Let's look at Jeskai Control.

Jeskai Control | NEO Standard | FATAL0 (5-0)

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned gets quite a workout in this deck. Not only is it a 4/4 with flying and trample, but its abilities will help you out immensely during the game. Since spells you cast cost one mana less for each target, you'll be able to cast multiple spells each turn with ease. Abrade turns into Lightning Bolt, costing a single Red mana. Disdainful Stroke only requires one Blue mana to counter a target spell that has a mana value of four or more. Even Valorous Stance will end up only costing one White mana to play, regardless of the mode you choose to use.

In addition to receiving a mana reduction with Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, you can get additional mana by creating Treasure tokens with Goldspan Dragon. When Goldspan Dragon enters the battlefield, you get both a hasty attacker and a Treasure token. Also, every time you attack with Goldspan Dragon, you'll create another Treasure token. While Goldspan Dragon is on the battlefield, you can sacrifice a Treasure token to add two mana of any one color to your mana pool.

You can also create additional Treasure tokens with some of your spells as well. If you choose not to cast Magma Opus for its usual effect and opt to discard it instead, you'll create a Treasure token. Unexpected Windfall offers you a chance to draw two cards and create two Treasure tokens. Finally, Prismari Command has a mode that will allow you to create a Treasure token if you choose it. You're more likely to choose the modes that allow you to deal two damage to any target and to draw two cards and then discard two cards, but it's nice that Prismari Command has multiple options for you to choose from.

Wrapping Up

While control decks aren't typically my favorite decks, I like having one or two built to shake things up every now and then. Do you like to stick with the same style of deck, or are you like me and you like to change things up every now and then?

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

-Mike Likes

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, coolstuffinc, arena, mike likes, 03032022

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