This week, I decided to forego the consistently best performing (and most covered) Standard deck, G/W Tokens, in favor of a deck that runs four Mage-Ring Network. Last week, my only loss was to a U/R deck which cast Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger until I died. After the match, I asked the deck’s pilot for a list, and they pointed me toward this beauty. For posterity, there is, of course, a Chandra, Flamecaller in the sideboard.

Deck Tech

U/R Eldrazi Control ? Shadows ove Innistrad Standard | Morgan Wentworth

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Drowner of Hope
• 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

• Spells (24)
• 2 Warping Wail
• 4 Anticipate
• 4 Clash of Wills
• 4 Void Shatter
• 4 Spatial Contortion
• 2 Kozilek's Return
• 4 Hedron Archive

• Lands (28)
• 6 Island
• 2 Spawning Bed
• 4 Highland Lake
• 4 Mage-Ring Network
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
• 4 Wandering Fumarole

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Kozilek's Return
• 1 Chandra, Flamecaller
• 1 Endbringer
• 2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• 3 Negate
• 3 Roast
• 3 Thought-Knot Seer

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Round 1: Brain in a Jar

This matchup felt good for me as a “control” mirror. Both my opponent and I were doing similar things — messing around until we hit our win condition — but it turns out, Ulamog is a faster and more game-winning threat than Rise from the Tides.

Round 2: 4-Color Aristocrats

This was a matchup I had mentioned being worried about in the intro. I felt like the combo would be difficult for me to interact with once it was on board. However, our opponent’s creatures were smaller than other Collected Company decks, which meant it was easier to wipe the board with Kozilek's Return. I am still unsure of Bant and B/G Aristocrats, though.

Round 3: Grixis Control

This is another one of those control matchups where having the inevitability of Ulamog seems like it is really strong. Our opponent was stuck on mana sometimes, but being able to “hide” Ulamog with Anticipate until we needed to cast it really did the trick against the X/4 threats our opponent cast.

Round 4: G/W Tokens

This matchup was certainly the closest so far. Having counter magic for their Planeswalkers was pretty key in keeping pressure off the board until we could take over with Drowner of Hope and Ulamog. I really enjoyed getting to show off the “Counter target sorcery” mode on Warping Wail!

Round 5 : G/W Tokens

This matchup really showed off why G/W Tokens is a strong player in the current Standard metagame. We did not ramp nearly as hard in this match as we did in the other ones, so we were not able to keep up with the constant stream of threats we were facing down. I did not see an Evolutionary Leap from our previous G/W opponent, and the card is tailored for winning the attrition games. The sideboard of the deck can certainly be tailored to address the issues it faces against Tokens.

Closing

One thing to keep in mind if you are interested in building this deck for yourself is we are pretty limited on colored mana. Chandra, Flamecaller is a risky proposition when we only have twelve Red sources in the deck, and even Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is sketchy. I want to try out Eldrazi Skyspawner as an additional source of Scions in the main deck. I also want a Ruin Processor in the sideboard as a way to “flash back” Kozilek's Return more easily in matchups that go bigger, like Tokens. Rending Volley and Warping Wail are the bullets I want over clunkier, cuter sideboard cards as well.

Maindeck Changes:

• -2 Spatial Contortion
• -1 Clash of Wills
• -1 Warping Wail
• +4 Eldrazi Skyspawner

Sideboard Changes:

• -1 Endbringer
• -2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• -3 Thought-Knot Seer
• +1 Ruin Processor
• +3 Rending Volley
• +2 Warping Wail