Blue/White/Red Miracles Deck (1st out of 408 Players)

October 11, 2012 | Posted by Dee

The first big Starcitygames Standard tournament with Return to Ravnica happened last weekend in Cincinnati. Todd Anderson took down the trophy with a Blue/White/Red (UWR) Miracle Control deck. Brad Nelson played the deck too and finished in 13th place.

Along with seven miracles, the deck features six planeswalkers including 4 Jace, Architect of Thought, eight cheap removal spells to fight aggro, and four copies of the ultra-flexible Detention Sphere.

Check out the decklist below.

UWR Miracle Control
Creatures (2)
Spells (32)
Lands (26)
Sideboard (15)

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Main Deck Analysis

This deck was definitely built to stop aggro decks especially Zombies. Zombies had the most hype coming into the new Standard season. It got a lot of powerful cards from Return to Ravnica and it doesn’t lose much from Scars of Mirrodin block and Magic 2012 leaving the format.

The hype proved to be legit as there were three Zombie decks in the top eight.

4 Pillar of Flame were included as the only red card because it is one the best cards against Zombies. Being able to exile Geralf’s Messenger and Gravecrawler for only one mana is very good.

While not as good as Pillar of Flame, Azorius Charm is a solid card against Zombies. It doesn’t permanently deal with creatures but it slows down your opponent by making him redraw the creature. Azorius Charm buys you time until you can clear the board with Terminus or take over the game with planeswalkers and Entreat the Angels.

Also, it rarely happens but there will be times when you can win a game by giving Angel tokens lifelink.

I like Azorius Charm over Feeling of Dread. Both cards slow down aggro decks but Azorius Charm is better against control because you can draw a card with it.

The 2 Snapcaster Mage were added because they go well with Pillar of Flame and Azorius Charm. You get to recast these spells from the graveyard and you also get a 2/1 blocker that can trade with Diregraf Ghoul and Rakdos Cackler.

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A miracle Terminus is really good against Zombies so the deck has the maximum number of copies. Sure, it can be bad if you have one in your opening hand but it is not uncommon for the deck to survive until you reach six mana.

While these cards are great against Zombies, they are also good against other aggro decks. For example, Pillar of Flame is good at hitting mana creatures like Avacyn’s Pilgrim and Arbor Elf while Azorius Charm keeps Champion of the Parish, Champion of Lambholt, and Stromkirk Noble from getting too big.

Detention Sphere is the catch-all answer to just about everything short of lands, hexproof creatures, and other Detention Spheres. It stops planeswalkers, enchantments like Oblivion Ring, and artifacts like Keyrunes and Runechanter’s Pike.

Plus, it exiles the permanent so it is effective against Strangleroot Geist, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Blood Artist, Gravecrawler, and Geralf’s Messenger.

This is a control deck so you want some card advantage spells to win the late game. Think Twice fits the deck because you can cast or flashback it on your opponent’s turn to try and hit a miracle. Also, the card draw spell gives you more things to do on turn two.

2 Syncopate seems like a good number. You don’t want more copies because many decks are playing Cavern of Souls including Zombies. However, the counterspell is solid against decks without Cavern of Souls.

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For example, versus Jund Midrange, countering a Thragtusk for only two or three mana is pretty sweet. If you’re playing first, you can even counter a powerful two-drop like Strangleroot Geist on turn two.

The heart of deck is definitely the planeswalkers. Jace, Architect of Thought can really slow down aggro decks with his +1 ability. After you clear the board with Terminus or Supreme Verdict or set up a good defense with your other cards, you can start gaining a ton of card advantage with his -2 ability.

Versus other control decks, the -2 ability allows you to get ahead of your opponent in both lands and resources.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is excellent at stopping most creatures include the best ones in the format like Thragtusk and Geralf’s Messenger. Also, she can slow down control decks by locking down a land. Against certain decks like Tokens, you’ll sometimes want to lock down Gavony Township so that Jace’s +1 ability can continue to be effective.

If you need more card draw, you can activate Tamiyo’s second ability but for the most part, you just want to get her to eight loyalty and then activate her ultimate. That’s usually a game-winning play.

Sideboard Tips

Sundering Growth is great at destroying Detention Sphere and Oblivion Ring. I’ve also destroyed a Pithing Needle with this card.

Dissipate, Negate, Geist of Saint Traft, and Jace, Memory Adept come in versus other control decks. I think the counterspells can also be good against midrange decks. For example, they were effective when I played against a Green/White/Black (GWB) Midrange Tokens deck with a couple of planeswalkers.

If a midrange deck takes out a lot of its aggressive elements to become more controlish, you can sideboard in Geist of Saint Traft and Jace, Memory Adept to counter that strategy.

Supreme Verdict comes in if you need uncounterable mass removal. For example, some white/blue aggro decks rely on counterspells to fight control. Also, Supreme Verdict can come in for Terminus if destroying creatures is enough and you don’t need to put creatures to the bottom of the library.

Purify the Grave is there to fight reanimator decks.

Filed Under Standard 

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