Winning With Chapin’s UW Jace Control
February 25, 2010
I didn’t buy the hype with Jace, the Mind Sculptor when he was first spoiled. Don’t get me wrong, I knew he would be a Standard Constructed staple. He is powerful, but I didn’t think he would be insane.
Well, I was wrong. I’ve been playtesting Pat Chapin’s UW Jace Control deck from last weekend’s Pro Tour and Jace has been a monster. Chapin built the following decklist that makes Jace insane.
| Chapin UW Jace Control | |||||||||||
Creatures (1) Spells (33) | Lands (26)
Sideboard (15) |
| |||||||||
This Deck is Good
Chapin and two of his friends, Gabriel Nassif and Mark Herberholz, played the deck at the Pro Tour. They went a combined 23-6-1. If Chapin and Nassif had better draft records (they both went 3-3), they would’ve both made the top 8.
In William Spaniel’s latest Standard Power Rankings, the deck has the best win percentage with a whopping 76.0%, over 13 percentage points better than the 2nd place deck.
I’ve played a couple matches with the deck on MWS and Magic-League. I’ve gone 10-1 in matches and 23-9 in games. My only loss has been to Ranger of Crabs. That seems to be a pretty bad matchup. But the deck is so resilient that I beat two other Mill decks, Jacerator and Ranger of Crabs with Howling Mines.
My record is surprising because I usually lose a couple matches early on due to misplays from being unfamiliar with a new deck. But the deck is so good that I won even with my misplays.
However, if you don’t have a lot of experience with control decks, you probably won’t do well with the deck. At least not right away. I played a lot of Five-Control Control in past Standard seasons. That experience definitely helped me. If I didn’t have it, I would’ve made even more misplays and lost a bunch of matches.
Chapin’s deck is hard to play. There are many tough decisions to make so you have a lot of chances to screw up.
For those curious, here were the archetypes I played against:
Jacerator Mill 1-0
Mono B Vamps 2-0
Bant 1-0
GWB Allies 1-0
Boss Naya 1-0
Ranger of Crabs 1-1
Esper Control 1-0
GWB Junk 1-0
UWR Control 1-0
Yes, I haven’t played against Jund, but in his premium article, Chapin says it’s a favorable matchup.
Main Deck Analysis
UW Control is a pure control deck, which means it has a lot of card draw, removal, and counterspells but few win conditions. It’s different from the Cruel Ultimatum control decks because you don’t really have a spell that wins you the game on the spot. (Iona is an exception but she costs 9 mana, which means you can’t play multiple copies. With only one copy, some games you won’t even see her.)
Instead, you grind out your wins incrementally by neutralizing their threats and getting ahead with your card advantage until you achieve a dominant game state. So you need to be patient. Also, I recommend a good night’s sleep before playing it at a long tournament. You’ll be playing longer matches than your competitors. Your mind needs to be fresh and well-rested to concentrate and limit mistakes.
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Jace’s brainstorm ability (-0) really works well with the 3 fetchlands and 4 Treasure Hunt. Combined with fetchlands, you can shuffle away unnecessary spells and lands. For example, I was playing against Mono Black Vampires and drew Flashfreeze. I used brainstorm to put Flashfreeze on top of the library and then cracked Arid Mesa.
Combined with Treasure Hunt, brainstorm allows you to setup your library so that you draw a lot of cards.
But brainstorm by itself is a great ability. I remember a game against Bant. I was flooding badly and had no action in hand. He had two big creatures that were threatening to kill me. I drew Jace, cast him, and then brainstormed. I found removal and Day of Judgment, which got me back into the game and protected Jace. Soon, I was brainstorming every turn and he was overwhelmed by the card advantage.
Also, brainstorm lets you can protect your best cards from discard like Mind Sludge and Blightning.
In my games, I found myself using brainstorm most of the time especially when I first cast Jace. I would estimate around 75% of the time I was brainstorming. Then, the -1 bounce ability 20% and +2 fateseal ability 5%. This was surprising to me but you have many ways to protect Jace with mass removal and counterspells. Therefore, you might as well use his best ability.
Also, when you first play Jace and brainstorm, he’s safe from a creature with 2 or less power. For example, if your opponent only has a White Knight, brainstorming right away is a good idea.
There are situations where you know Jace is going to die next turn, so you brainstorm to get the most value before he dies. Also, if you’re close to dying and don’t have the right answers in hand, you have to brainstorm to find them.
But even if they have something like Lightning Bolt or Maelstrom Pulse, you don’t really mind trading those cards for a brainstorm.
[Find a deal on Jace, the Mind Sculptor at eBay]
4 Everflowing Chalice
Chalice is great for at least two reasons.
First, you want a lot of mana. You have the X spells, Mind Spring and Martial Coup. Your manland, Celestial Colonnade, has a high activation cost. Iona is very expensive at 9 mana. Oftentimes you’re sacrificing Tectonic Edge so it’s nice to have the extra mana source. And versus other control decks, many games are decided by mana advantage so it’s good to have a spell that can produce mana.
Second, it ramps up your mana. Day of Judgment or Jace on turn 3 is pretty sweet. Mana acceleration is especially important for Martial Coup since you want to be casting it for at least 5 soldiers.
Also, since Chalice enters the battlefield untapped, you can ramp up and still have counter mana open. For example, one common move I did was not play Chalice on turn 2. Instead, I countered a spell and then turn 3, I played Chalice and countered another spell.
And oftentimes, you’ll find yourself kicking the artifact more than one time to ramp up your mana even faster. For example, I cast Chalice for 2 versus Mono Black Vampires so that I could play Iona two turns sooner.
I remember another game versus Bant where I had no counterspells in hand and he had an unthreatening board. I tapped all my mana (12 mana) and cast Chalice for six. This gave me a ton of mana. On the next turn, I was able to cast Martial Coup for 6 and attack with two manlands.
Here are two things to watch out for. If you need Chalice mana, Vampire Hexmage becomes a “must counter” card because she renders Chalice useless.
And don’t leave yourself open to Maelstrom Pulse by casting multiple Chalices without counterspell protection.
[Buy Everflowing Chalice at eBay]
4 Treasure Hunt
I’ve already talked about the Jace + Treasure Hunt combo, but you can also improve your Treasure Hunts with Halimar Depths.
It’s usually better to hunt for treasure in the mid to late game instead of early in the game. That way you have a chance to combine Treasure Hunt with Jace or Halimar Depths if you haven’t drawn either card. And you would rather counter and kill stuff early in the game to keep creatures and planeswalkers from killing you. Also, in the beginning of a game, you have a lot of cards and you’ll have to discard down to 7 if you get a big Treasure Hunt. But in mid game, you usually have less cards since you use them to stop your opponent’s threats.
You may think it’s no big deal to have to discard down to 7 if you hit a big Treasure Hunt. You’ll just discard lands. But many of your lands function as spells.
Chapin is a genius for including so many lands that don’t just produce mana. For example, let’s say cast Treasure Hunt and reveal Celestial Colonnade, Halimar Depths, Tectonic Edge, and Jace. You didn’t get 3 lands and Jace. You got Serra Angel, Ponder, Stone Rain, and Jace 
Also, don’t forget the fetchlands sort of function as spells when combined with Jace and Halimar Depths.
Counterspells
Chapin played 2 Essence Scatter, 2 Flashfreeze, 1 Negate, and 4 Cancel. Of course, you can tweak the numbers to fit your metagame. I’ve haven’t had any problems with his counterspell suite.
Cancel is an interesting addition. I haven’t seen it in a winning list pre-Worldwake but it’s been solid for me. Chalice really makes it a playable card. It’s still kinda slow so I usually cut a couple for games 2 and 3 and add better cards. For example, versus Eldrazi Green Elves, you can cut 3 Cancel for 2 Flashfreeze and 1 Essence Scatter.
Check out the latest auctions on eBay for the counterspells:
Pinpoint Removal
The deck doesn’t have a lot of pinpoint removal: only 3 Oblivion Ring, 1 Path To Exile, and 1 Celestial Purge. But this is fine because of all the counterspells and mass removal.
Oblivion Ring is great right now because it stops planeswalkers and Sprouting Thrinax, two of the best cards against you. Plus, Howling Mine and Font of Mythos can be problem.
There’s only one copy of Path to Exile, because it’s good late in the game but it’s mediocre against many decks early in the game. For example, versus Jund, if you Path an early Thrinax, you’ll be ramping them up to Siege-Gangs and Broodmate Dragons. Plus, their manlands will be more effective. It’s better to have Oblivion Ring in that situation. Sure, they can Pulse your enchantment but that slows them down and keeps them from pulsing Jace or Chalice.
Purge is a nice one-of that can take out a lot of creatures including manlands. Plus, remember that it can target permanents like Ajani Vengeant and Goblin Assault. I won one game versus Boss Naya by purging Manabarbs.
Buy the pinpoint removal on eBay with the following links:
Mass Removal
The 4 Day of Judgment and 2 Martial Coup are awesome right now. They are really good against all the Knight of the Reliquary decks. Elves, Mono Black Vampires, and White Weenie also have a very hard time beating your mass removal.
And if these creature decks try to play around your wraths, you punish them with counterspells and card drawers.
4 Tectonic Edge
The new Wasteland makes this deck good against so many archetypes.
For example, versus 3-color control decks like Esper, Grixis, and UWr, Tectonic Edge is such a beating. Not only do you cripple their manabase, but you kill their manlands.
Jund is a powerful deck but it has a fragile mana base. A well-placed Tectonic Edge can really slow them down.
Manlands in aggro decks have been historically good against control because they dodge sorcery-speed mass removal. However, Tectonic Edge lets you neutralize those threats.
Sideboard Analysis
The 1 Mind Control in the board hasn’t been that good, but Day of Judgment has been awesome so I cut the blue enchantment and added the 4th wrath. If you have a lot of Vampires in your area, Mind Control is probably a good call. It steals Malakir Bloodwitch and they have no way of destroying it.
Boarding in the 3 Baneslayer Angel in most matchups is the standard plan. This plan was made popular by LSV in his UWR Control deck. However, watch out for opponents who keep their removal in. For example, I had a Vampire player who didn’t board out Gatekeeper of Malakir. I lost game 2 because of it. In game 3, I cut Baneslayer and his Gatekeepers became vanilla 2/2s for two mana.
Of course, the 3 Kor Firewalker and 1 Perimeter Captain come in against fast red decks. But it might surprise you that Kor Firewalker is solid against red control decks like Grixis and UWr. I played against UWr Control and went turn two Firewalker. Then, I Canceled his Wall of Denial. I protected the pro-red 2/2 and he went all the way. He’s great because he’s immune to Bolt, Earthquake, and Ajani Vengeant.
The relevant counterspells (1 Essence Scatter, 2 Flashfreeze, 2 Negate) usually come in for Cancel unless you’re up against another control deck.
The 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant is good against control. Also, from the premium article, Chapin brings her in against decks with Elspeth since she’s really good against you.
Finally, the 1 Plains gives you more white sources to give you a better chance of casting Baneslayer and Kor Firewalker. Also, you can cut Tectonic Edge for the Plains versus matchups where Tectonic Edge is subpar.
Click the following links to buy the sideboard cards on eBay:
- Mind Control
- Day of Judgment
- Baneslayer Angel
- Kor Firewalker
- Perimeter Captain
- Essence Scatter
- Flashfreeze
- Negate
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Further Resources
Read the premium article about the deck by Chapin.
Check out Chapin’s deck tech video below.
12 Responses to “Winning With Chapin’s UW Jace Control”
Got something to say?
-
Subscription Options
-
Popular MTG Cards on eBay
-
Categories
Excellent write-up, Dee.
I am absolutely loving this deck—I feel like I’ve been waiting a looooong time for a deck like this to be viable in Standard. I mean, when’s the last time we had a blue-based control deck that wasn’t Faeries (not pure control anyway) or x-color control? 2007, pre-Lorwyn Mystical Teachings decks are the closest we’ve been in a while. Now that it’s here, I’ll surely be playing this or some close variation of it for months.
Thanks, Joey.
Yeah, the deck is definitely a godsend to pure control players. I didn’t think it would be possible to have a good pure control deck in a world where creatures are so good, but Jace is that awesome and Chapin is a deck building genius.
After having taken a long break from magic, I’ve come back. I only ever played casually. What I don’t understand about this deck is the inclusion of Scalding Tarn or Arid Mesa. We don’t need the red. Instead of Paying a life to go get an island, why not just include an extra island instead of scalding Tarn?? These cards seem ludicrous to include but noone seems to mind. What am I missing??
@Jason
You want the fetchlands as a shuffle effect. The main application is with the brainstorm ability of Jace, the -0 ability.
I often put back unneeded lands and spells (like Flashfreeze vs White Weenie) on the top of the library with brainstorm, then I play and crack a fetchland to shuffle them back into the deck.
Also, you can use them with Halimar Depths. For example, you play Depths and don’t like the top 3 cards of your library. You can crack a fetchland to shuffle them back into the deck.
do you have any sideboard plans. Not really what to put in, but what to take out is difficult.
Right on. Thanks. That makes sense!
i’m going to play the “generic” 4 & 2-of version w/o iona. iona is a powerhouse in a control deck, i’m not sure if i really want to run without her; sometimes she seems like a “win more” card.
i like this version, but it seems to be geared to beat primarily jund, where in my area, WW, Vamps, and other rogue (aimless) decks run about. THIS version, i know, beats the WW and Vamp builds that are poplular.
Chapin is an amazing player; he has tested and balanced this deck against a heavy Jund field…if you’re going to play competive in a Jund heavy area but do not want to play mirror all day, this is the deck to play.
dan, i agree that WU Control can be competitive in a Jund heavy metagame.
What do you mean by “4 & 2-of version w/o iona”?
Are the baneslayers necessary? and what about the jund matchup? any tips on playing against jund?
Based on my reading, Jund is about 50/50. I haven’t played the matchup enough to give tips.
I think Baneslayers are necessary since they help against rogue strategies like TurboFog and Allies and sideboard cards like Luminarch Ascension and Dauntless Escort.
dee, there was one piloted by alexander west that won a gp trial that was pretty basic, 4 of everything except some lands:
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Halimar Depths
2 Island
6 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Terramorphic Expanse
——————————————————————————–
26 lands
——————————————————————————–
0 creatures
4 Cancel
4 Day of Judgment
3 Essence Scatter
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Martial Coup
2 Mind Spring
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
4 Treasure Hunt
——————————————————————————–
34 other spells
Sideboard
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Flashfreeze
4 Kor Firewalker
3 Negate
——————————————————————————–
15 sideboard cards
i run a slightly different mana base: -2 expanse, -3 plains, +1 island, +1 arid mesa, +1 marsh flats, +1 misty rainforest, +1 scalding tarn. i also changed -1 cancel, +1 iona. in SB i run the same but -4 firewalker, +4 celestial purge. these changes make a dramatic change in the consistancy of your draws; the fetches make jace seem like he’s drawing you 6+ different cards rather than just 3-4 of the same ones over and over.
dustin, the build i play has beat junt 12 out of 12 games. post board gets much worse for jund, almost everything can come in to crush any offense they could potentiall have. i always side out cancels for negates against blightning/pulse.
dee, i’ve decided to run a 1-of iona…she is backbreaking against most decks in standard; rdw, vamps, jund, elves, pretty much everything. the only deck that has given me my loss is rdw, when i mulliganed down to 5 on game 2. flashfreeze & purge are game winners in this matchup as well.