Ingenuity is a 1-2 of max unless for some reason you are not running any Belerens, which is not the case in your deck. Basically if you resolve an EOT Ingenuity you have won the game more often than not; multiples are not optimal.
Diversify your removal suite - UB is a deck that can see maybe half of its cards on average in a given game. 4x GFTT is just asking to be blanked by Tempered Steel. It's better to have a variety of options at your disposal, for example, 3x GFTT/1x Doom Blade and 1 BSZ, 1 Dismember or whatever... Cards like Beleren, Liliana, and Preordain give you a pretty good chance of finding and using cards that are in low numbers.
But the real question mark for me in the deck is Jwar - in what matchup does it serve you better than another finisher, say Frost Titan/Consecrated Sphinx? Especially since you have 4x Cancel which do a pretty good job of protecting whatever 6 drop you lay out on the board.
Thanks for the input. The main reason for Sphinx of Jwar Isle was to server as a filler until I was able to get a Frost Titan or Consecrated Sphinx. I had considered cutting the number of GftT's, but I play with a good number of people who like to use black. This was a rough draft and I'm still tweaking in a bit. Hopefully, it will get to where it needs to be.
Geth's Verdict/Psychic Barrier are not conventional removal/permission choices. What was your meta?
Valakut, MBC, and alot of creature heavy decks, like birthing pod, tempered steel, etc. Geths verdict has been really good for me, cause alot of the creature decks around here run vines or apostle blessing. geths verdict just gets around all of that.
Smalpox is at odds with pretty much everything else in the deck. UB control does not get better by simply adding Smallpox and calling it a day. You didn't even bother to add Solemn Simulacrum to try and break the symmetry a little - not that I think SS even makes UB Smallpox control a viable build.
Smallpox isn't good unless you have some way to make it an uneven exchange in your favor such as putting creatures in the GY (from your hand as the discard) that you can recur (e.g. Bloodghast). Grim Discovery can easily offset Smallpox as well. If the only gain you get out of it is a single creature put into their graveyard, then it isn't worth it.
Here is a thread that should be a good starting point for you.
The first thing you should probably know about UB control is that it's not a fixed build. There is a pool of cards that you choose from, as your options to fill in the roles outlined in that thread - finishers, removal, draw, permission etc etc. No one really uses exactly the same list nor do people always feel obliged to explain all their card choices, as it's understood that even the same person's list will change depending on the meta.
For example, a few weeks back most people would be running 3-4 GFTT main, but now that Tempered Steel is seen as something of a contender, you may see more lists with removal that can deal with artifact creatures.
I've actually seen a lot of discussion on these forums regarding the card choices for UB control. Use the primer to get to know the basics, and look up the rest.
The deck is heavily targeted to beating aggro decks w/ 6 single target removal, 6 discard effects, a couple counters and fairly efficient creatures of argent sphinx and grave titan. After sb I would be siding in negate, duress and memoricide to aggressively decimate other control decks with 4cc 4 damamge creatures and grave titan.
For starters -
Argent Sphinx and Probe are questionable.
You'll never get metalcraft on the Sphinx so it's simply a flying body and in that case it's totally outclassed by Abyssal Persecutor, on offense and defense, in pretty much every matchup. And 4 of either is too many.
Probe lets you peek at the opponent's hand and replaces itself. I don't see how that helps your cause. You already have IoK for information and it does the much more useful thing - knocking out one of your opponent's best early cards.
If you want to focus on beating aggro decks, you'll need ways to remove artifact creatures in the maindeck. Fill up your Probe slots with stuff like Doom Blade and Disfigure.
I think Solemn Simulacrum is a three of in UB. It works great with the whole concept of maximizing your turns. Also ramps into a Liliana if you do not have an extra land in hand. Also if you use stoic rebutal and play ratchet bombs and wurmcoil mainboard you can possibly get it for 2 UU. That is always a plus.
going to be testing this out. Iunoo if it should run another Sphinx in place of a Wurmcoil, but I just personally like Wurmcoil more so it's like that. I hate Ratchet Bomb, but I guess it deserves some testing and will probably prove to be useful. Nighthawk and Solemn give me a curve, and allow me to play turn 5 threat, not to mention body their guys pretty well. Trying out the Zenith in the main, if I don't like it, they'll become a mise Liliana Vess and Sorin's Vengence.
Had pretty good success with this list at my rather competitive FNM. My only loss in the swiss was in round 1 to blue / white Tempered Steel courtesy of some land flooding. Round 2 was against some absolutely terrible black green infect monstrosity lol. I was most impressed by the deck's 2-0 performance in Round 3 against a very good Valakut list with blue splash for Splinter Twin / Exarch combo. He had questions, I had answers. Round 4 was another 2-0 beatdown, this time against Infect Pump. MVP award to Spellskite out of the sideboard for that one. I went into the top eight as the 8 seed (told you it was competitive) and played against a, surprise, typical Caw Blade List. I kept him off Hawks and Gideon with IoK and Despise, then dropped Karn to finish him off. Other than the land flooding round one, this deck ran beautifully, always felt like I was in control of the situation.
Against control? Or Aggro?
Thanks for the input. The main reason for Sphinx of Jwar Isle was to server as a filler until I was able to get a Frost Titan or Consecrated Sphinx. I had considered cutting the number of GftT's, but I play with a good number of people who like to use black. This was a rough draft and I'm still tweaking in a bit. Hopefully, it will get to where it needs to be.
Sig Done By Syndarion @ Aeternal Studios
My Trade Thread
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Tectonic Edge
5 Island
5 Swamp
Creatures: 6
2 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Grave Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Spells: 28
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
4 Spreading Seas
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Jace Beleren
2 Despise
2 Go for the Throat
2 Doom Blade
1 Into the Roil
1 Dismember
1 Liliana Vess
1 Karn Liberated
4 Disfigure
3 Mental Misstep
3 Flashfreeze
2 Memoricide
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Consume the Meek
1 Batterskull
3x Jace Beleren
1x Liliana Vess
Creatures
3x Grave Titan
2x Frost Titan
2x Solemn Simulacrum
instant/sorceries
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Despise
2x Dismember
2x Duress
3x Geth's verdict
2x Gitaxian probe
2x go for the throat
1x into the roil
4x mana leak
4x Preordain
2x Psychic Barrier
4x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacomb
5x Island
4x Swamp
4x Tectonic Edge
1x Black Sun's Zenith
3x Disfigure
2x Doom Blade
3x Flashfreeze
2x Into the Roil
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Volition Reins
Just came back from a type 2 tourny at my comic shop, got first place. lemme know what you guys think of the deck.
Valakut, MBC, and alot of creature heavy decks, like birthing pod, tempered steel, etc. Geths verdict has been really good for me, cause alot of the creature decks around here run vines or apostle blessing. geths verdict just gets around all of that.
You get land, and it adds a card to your hand when destroyed. It's overall a +1.
I heard value wasn't bad.
2 phyrexian crusader
1 frost titan
2 grave titan
Sorceries
4 preordain
4 inquisition of kozilek
2 duress
4 small pox
2 spell pierce
4 mana leak
1 doomblade
3 go for the throat
2 stoic rebuttal
Planeswalkers
3 jace beleren
1 liliana vess
4 island
6 swamp
4 drowned catacomb
4 creeping tarpit
4 darkslick shores
3 tectonic edge
Results:
Not a good fit, as most of you foretold. Only in specific situations does small pox deliver. I am considering Divination over Pox.
Here is a thread that should be a good starting point for you.
The first thing you should probably know about UB control is that it's not a fixed build. There is a pool of cards that you choose from, as your options to fill in the roles outlined in that thread - finishers, removal, draw, permission etc etc. No one really uses exactly the same list nor do people always feel obliged to explain all their card choices, as it's understood that even the same person's list will change depending on the meta.
For example, a few weeks back most people would be running 3-4 GFTT main, but now that Tempered Steel is seen as something of a contender, you may see more lists with removal that can deal with artifact creatures.
I've actually seen a lot of discussion on these forums regarding the card choices for UB control. Use the primer to get to know the basics, and look up the rest.
ideally:
untap you have 4 land on board. play solem for a 5th. play a land for turn for 6th. end turn. Now next turn untap 6 lands for titan or wurm.
5 Island
5 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Tectonic Edge
Creatures (6)
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
2 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Jace Beleren
1 Liliana Vess
1 Karn Liberated
Discard (4)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Despise
Counters (6)
4 Mana Leak
2 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Go for the Throat
2 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Preordain
3 Spreading Seas
2 Grave Titan
1 Concecrated Sphinx
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Instants
4 Mana Leak
2 Cancel
1 Negate
2 Jaces Ingenuity
2 Go for the Throat
1 Doom Blade
2 Dismember
2 Into the Roil
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Duress
4 Preordain
1 Black Sun's Zenith
Planeswalkers
3 Jace Beleren
1 Liliana Vess
Land
4 Creeping Tarpit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Tectonic Edge
5 Island
5 Swamp
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Memorcide
3 Spreading Seas
2 Negate
2 Dismember
2 Flashfreeze
1 Duress
So far its pretty solid. I like it. I am thinking about adding 2-3 Gitaxian Probe, not sure what to cut though. Any feedback would be awesome.
Sig by SGT_Chubbz. Thanks for the signature.
GYisan Toolbox Combo/ControlG
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Frost Titan
3x Sea Gate Oracle
3x Jace Beleren
1x Liliana Vess
4x Mana Leak
2x Stoic Rebuttal
4x Preordain
2x Doom Blade
1x Dismember
1x Go for the Throat
3x Ratchet Bomb
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Consume the Meek
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Duress
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Tectonic Edge
5x Island
5x Swamp
1x Duress
2x Memoricide
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Jace's Ingenuity
1x Jace Beleren
1x Go for the Throat
3x Disfigure
2x Flashfreeze
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Volition Reins
4x Creeping tar pit
4x Drowned catacomb
4x darkslick shores
4x Tectonic edge
5x Island
4x Swamp
Creatures
4x Argent sphinx
2x Grave titan
2x Stoic rebuttal
4x Gitaxian probe
2x Despise
2x Dismember
3x Jace beleren
4x Inquisition of kozilek
4x Mana leak
4x Go for the throat
4x Preordain
2x Memoricide
3x Flashfreeze
2x Doom blade
2x Black sun's zenith
2x Duress
4x Negate
The deck is heavily targeted to beating aggro decks w/ 6 single target removal, 6 discard effects, a couple counters and fairly efficient creatures of argent sphinx and grave titan. After sb I would be siding in negate, duress and memoricide to aggressively decimate other control decks with 4cc 4 damamge creatures and grave titan.
Argent Sphinx and Probe are questionable.
You'll never get metalcraft on the Sphinx so it's simply a flying body and in that case it's totally outclassed by Abyssal Persecutor, on offense and defense, in pretty much every matchup. And 4 of either is too many.
Probe lets you peek at the opponent's hand and replaces itself. I don't see how that helps your cause. You already have IoK for information and it does the much more useful thing - knocking out one of your opponent's best early cards.
If you want to focus on beating aggro decks, you'll need ways to remove artifact creatures in the maindeck. Fill up your Probe slots with stuff like Doom Blade and Disfigure.
2 Grave Titan
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Preodain
4 Mana Leak
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
2 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Drowned Catacombs
5 Swamp
5 Island
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Spellskite
3 Flashfreeze
4 Disfigure
3 Memoricide
going to be testing this out. Iunoo if it should run another Sphinx in place of a Wurmcoil, but I just personally like Wurmcoil more so it's like that. I hate Ratchet Bomb, but I guess it deserves some testing and will probably prove to be useful. Nighthawk and Solemn give me a curve, and allow me to play turn 5 threat, not to mention body their guys pretty well. Trying out the Zenith in the main, if I don't like it, they'll become a mise Liliana Vess and Sorin's Vengence.
4 Jace Beleren
4 Preordain
Answers:
3 Dismember
2 Go for the Throat
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Black Suns Zenith
4 Mana Leak
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Karn Liberated
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Batterskull
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Liliana Vess
Land:
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
11 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Spellpierce
4 Flashfreeze
1 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Doom Blade
2 Spreading Seas
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
Basically a counter-sliver style deck, you play Obliterator, and counter the opposing Titan.
5 Island
5 Swamp
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Tectonic Edge
Creatures:
3 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Grave Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
Sorceries:
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Despise
4 Preordain
2 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
1 Doom Blade
3 Into the Roil
4 Mana Leak
2 Stoic Rebuttal
Planeswalkers:
2 Jace Beleren
1 Liliana Vess
1 Karn Liberated
1 Volition Reins
2 Flashfreeze
3 Memoricide
2 Negate
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Spellskite
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
Had pretty good success with this list at my rather competitive FNM. My only loss in the swiss was in round 1 to blue / white Tempered Steel courtesy of some land flooding. Round 2 was against some absolutely terrible black green infect monstrosity lol. I was most impressed by the deck's 2-0 performance in Round 3 against a very good Valakut list with blue splash for Splinter Twin / Exarch combo. He had questions, I had answers. Round 4 was another 2-0 beatdown, this time against Infect Pump. MVP award to Spellskite out of the sideboard for that one. I went into the top eight as the 8 seed (told you it was competitive) and played against a, surprise, typical Caw Blade List. I kept him off Hawks and Gideon with IoK and Despise, then dropped Karn to finish him off. Other than the land flooding round one, this deck ran beautifully, always felt like I was in control of the situation.
5 Island
5 Swamp
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Tectonic Edge
Creatures (9)
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Consecrated Sphinx
2 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Jace Beleren
1 Liliana Vess
1 Karn Liberated
Sorcery (10)
4 Preordain
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Despise
2 Black Sun's Zenith
Instant (10)
4 Mana Leak
2 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Go for the Throat
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Spellskite
2 Into the Roil
3 Spreading Seas
2 Memoricide
1 Mind Control
2 Doom Blade
2 Flashfreeze
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spreading Seas
4 Preordain
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Mana Leak
1 Stoic Rebuttal
3 Jace Beleren
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Consume the Meek
1 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Mystifying Maze
5 Island
4 Swamp
3 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Spellskite
2 Memoricide
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Frost Titan
1 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Flashfreeze
3 Disfigure
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Disruption
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Duress
Draw Spells
4 Jace's Ingenuity
4 Preordain
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
Removal
2 Consume the Meek
4 Doom Blade
Counterspells
4 Mana Leak
3 Cancel
3 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Negate
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Tectonic Edge
5 Island
4 Swamp
2 Flashfreeze
2 Spell Pierce
2 Darksteel Sentinel
3 Spreading Seas
2 Grave Titan
2 Mental Mistep
1 Duress
1 Geth's Verdict