About Andreas Ganz
Andreas Ganz
I
am a Swiss Magic player, have been playing Magic since 1998 and began
playing tournaments in 2002. I am intrigued by the competition that
comes with high level tournament play. Some of my “magical
accomplishments” include:
- 10 lifetime pro points
- Vice National Champion
- Playing Pro
Tour London
- Team National Champion
- Playing Worlds 2005 in
Yokohama
- Several GP day 2
appearances (with the highest finish being 23 in Stuttgart)
But the achievement that meant the
most to me, at least in retrospective, was winning against Kai Budde (the then Roger Federer of Magic) in the decisive round of my first GP playing for day two. You
might also recognize me because I designed large parts of the
5CB deck promoted by Patrick Chapin and played by several pro players
at this year's Grand Prix Seattle including my Sygg, River Cutthroat
technology. I
don’t provide this information to brag about any results, but merely to
give you an idea of my magical background and experience. This allows
you to judge more accurately how you want to handle my writing and how
useful it might be for you.
The article consists of three different sections which will be published over the next few days. Part one will give you an introduction to the deck and its history. In part two I will talk about different decklists and analyze them card by card and the last part contains the matchup analysis, an interview with pro player Manuel Bucher the “inventor” of the deck, some general playing tips as well as possible additions from Alara Reborn.
Before reading part two of the series, I suggest you take a look at part 1, if you haven’t done so already.
The first feature article will take an in-depth look at the Cruel Control deck of the current standard format. The article consists of three different sections which will be published over the next few days. Part one will give you an introduction to the deck and its history. In part two I will talk about different decklists and analyze them card by card and the last part contains the matchup analysis, an interview with pro player Manuel Bucher the “inventor” of the deck, some general playing tips as well as possible additions from Alara Reborn.
Different Versions Of The Deck
I think the main decision you have to make right now is if you want to play with Wrath of God and Ajani Vengeant as advocated by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa or with Wall of Reverence and Plumeveil like Nassif did. In addition you have to make some other decisions but they are not that crucial, like playing with Cloudthresher and / or Broodmate Dragon. On the other hand several cards in Cruel Control have a regular berth and shouldn’t be changed.
I will now show you a list for each of the two different versions of Cruel Control. Later on I will discuss each card choice in depth and go over the most important matchups and the sideboard strategies.
Cruel Control With Walls by Andreas Ganz
This is my version of the Cruel Control deck. The decklist forms part of my latest feature article series "The Ultimate Guide to Cruel Control Part 2".
In the second part of the feature article I talk about different Cruel Control decklists and analyze them card by card. The last part, which will be published soon, contains the matchup analysis, an interview with pro player Manuel Bucher the “inventor” of the deck, some general playing tips as well as possible additions from Alara Reborn. Stay tuned!
| Colors |
|---|
| Artifact | 1 |
|---|
| Black | 1 |
|---|
| Blue | 16 |
|---|
| Gold | 7 |
|---|
| Hybrid | 3 |
|---|
| Land | 26 |
|---|
| Red | 4 |
|---|
| White | 2 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 5 |
|---|
| 2 | 5 |
|---|
| 3 | 11 |
|---|
| 4 | 6 |
|---|
| 5 | 4 |
|---|
| 6 | 1 |
|---|
| 7 | 2 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Artifact | 1 |
|---|
| Basic Land | 2 |
|---|
| Creature | 10 |
|---|
| Instant | 21 |
|---|
| Land | 24 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 2 |
|---|
Card Choices
Counterspells
Cryptic Command
The Command is the best card in the deck and probably in the whole standard format right now. You would play 8 copies if you could.
Broken Ambitions
A counterspell for the early game is needed in the deck. It is admittedly subpar if you are on the draw, especially against aggressive decks with cheap spells like Kithkin. It is at its worst versus Blightning decks with Hellspark Elemental,Demigod of Revenge and maybe even Hell´s Thunder, where you have to cross your fingers and hope you don’t win the clash.
Negate
Negate is fine as a one of and you can find a juicy target against most decks like for example Planeswalkers and Spectral Procession versus Red White decks. It also helps you win a counter war versus Faeries or the mirror and it stops Bitterblossom on the play. Negate is not that strong against creature based strategies like Ziggurat.dec and therefore stays a one of.
Remove Soul
I play several copies of Remove Soul where most other decks have Terror instead. There can be made points in favor of both cards and you can easily justify playing more Terrors. I however prefer Remove Soul for the following reasons:
Terror vs. Remove Soul
I think that Remove Soul is vastly superior to Terror especially in a list with Plumeveil because the wall deals with Figure of Destiny and the different manlands.
The advantages of Terror are that it kills Figure of Destiny, it can provide a huge tempo advantage if they spend three mana to get the figure to 4/4, in addition it handles the manlands like Mutavault, Faerie Conclave and Treetop Village. Terror is also a better topdeck when you are already facing a threat on the board.
Remove Soul on the other hand does not care about creatures with CIP effects and can conveniently handle the following list of threats: Mulldrifter, Cloudgoat Ranger, Siege-Gang Commander, Ranger of Eos, Kitchen Finks, Chameleon Colossus, Reveillark, Broodmate Dragon, Tidehollow Sculler, Spellstutter Sprite, Doran, the Siege Tower and Fulminator Mage. It just feels good to counter that Mulldrifter on the draw in the mirror match. Overall Remove Soul has almost always been superior while testing the deck.
Removal
Terror
I still play the misers Terror to keep my opponent guessing what might be in my hand if he has seen the Terror in game one and has to decide if he wants to pump Figure of Destiny or play another spell and thereby opening himself up to Remove Soul, Volcanic Fallout or even Plumeveil.
Volcanic Fallout
As we all know, Volcanic Fallout is good at killing those pesky faeries without them being able to do anything about it. Therefore the card is absolutely needed to improve one of Cruel Controls bad matchups. I noticed a lot of people who think that faeries became almost unplayable with the printing of Volcanic Fallout and that they will win versus Faeries if they manage to draw the card. But be warned, I think that Faeries is still the strongest and most synergistic deck in standard despite all these hate cards. It takes much more than solid play and a single Volcanic Fallout to beat Faeries.
Creatures
Plumeveil
Plumeveil acts as a removal spell in the deck and is much better than other cards which were played in this slot before, like Rhox War Monk or Kitchen Finks. The reasons for this are that Plumeveil can’t attack you if they take control of it with Sower of Temptation, it can trade with Figure of Destiny and most importantly it can be played at instant speed which is crucial against Faeries.
Wall of Reverence
I play only two copies of the second wall, but you can easily justify playing more because it really is as awesome as it looks, especially in combination with Plumeveil. Wall of Reverence takes you out of burn range against Blightning decks and makes Banefire look silly as well as blocking almost anything you can imagine. On the downside both walls are useless in the mirror.
Broodmate Dragon
The twins are my finisher of choice because they are hard to deal with and not that vulnerable to spot removal. I also tried playing without the dragon and no other “finishers” apart from Cruel Ultimatum but I came to the conclusion that you sometimes desperately need a fast clock in order to avoid running out of time. In other matches I had trouble winning at all if Mulldrifter, Volcanic Fallout and Cruel Ultimatum didn’t get the job done.
Card Draw
Mulldrifter
There aren’t a lot of good card draw spells available in the current Standard format and Mulldrifter is as good as it gets because he is extremely versatile. He draws cards in the early game with the option to buy a 2/2 flyer for two additional mana. He can even act as a finisher and go all the way. As a bonus he is a creature to return from your graveyard with Cruel Ultimatum. Not that it usually matters after a resolved Ultimatum but you never know.
Esper Charm
Additional card draw is provided by Esper Charm. Apart from drawing cards, Esper Charm fulfills other tasks like getting the last two cards out of your opponents hand or destroying Bitterblossom. The fact that you can do it all at instant speed is just icing on the cake.
Cruel Ultimatum
After some discussion among the Magic community, Cruel Ultimatum became the finisher of choice. Although the Ultimatum usually does not actually kill your opponent it still provides such a game breaking effect and massive card advantage that you shouldn’t have any problems reducing your opponents life total to zero. Post Ultimatum even a lowly Mulldrifter can get the job done.
Cards that did not make the cut are for example Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker or Obelisk of Alara. I sometimes encounter players who run these cards and although these cards are certainly fun and solid, I don’t think they are on the same power level as Cruel Ultimatum.
The Mana Base
As already mentioned, the mana base is of great importance to a deck like Cruel Control and you should invest enough time into building it correctly especially if you decide to take an existing Cruel Control decklist as a starting point and then adjusting it to your taste. Do not forget to reconsider your mana base after making any changes to the deck.
Reflecting Pool
Produces any color of mana together with the Vivid Lands and is essential for the deck.
Vivid Creek, Vivid Meadow, Vivid Marsh, Vivid Crag
You have to pay attention to how many of each Vivid Land you want to play. It makes sense to play 4 Vivid Creek to support Cryptic Command, the filter lands and to some extent Cruel Ultimatum. Apart from that you want to play Vivid Meadow and Vivid Marsh to conveniently cast Esper Charm.
Mystic Gate, Sunken Ruins, Cascade Bluffs
These filter lands further improve the mana base but you should avoid playing more than 8 due to the risk of getting filter land “screwed”.
Exotic Orchard
Exotic Orchard is fine as a one of. I wouldn’t advise you to play more though. Most of the time it is better than an additional Island. Only against a deck like Black Green Elves or Red White it represents a liability and might keep you off your Cryptic Command mana if you play more than one Exotic Orchard.
Island
You want to play some basic lands due to path to exile being played in various decks. The Islands let you activate all of your filter lands as well as enabling Cryptic Command.
Kitchen Finks
The Finks have somewhat fallen out of favor although it is still an excellent card. You can bring them in against a wide variety of decks like Blightning, other aggro decks and even in the mirror against Planeswalkers.
Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Wydwen is insane in the mirror match because they have no way to handle her outside of counterspells. Three copies might be pushing it to the limit due to its legendary status and you could cut one.
Wall of Reverence
An additional copy of the Wall provides more lifegain and a blocker versus Blightning decks and other beatdown strategies.
Celestial Purge
The Purge is just an all around solid card versus Red Black and Red White decks, dealing with Figure of Destiny and Ajani Vengeant. I still prefer Pithing Needle maindeck because the Needle also shuts down manlands and Windbrisk Heights.
Negate
I bring these in versus Faeries and the mirror to help win counter wars.
Pithing Needle
A versatile card that can stop Ajani Vengeant and other Planeswalkers as well as the manlands and Scepter of Fugue.
Banefire
The last slot is dedicated to our unfavorable matchup namely Faeries. Banefire can help you steal some games when they are already low on life courtesy of Volcanic Fallout and Bitterblossom.
The second version I want to examine is the one by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa with Wrath of God and Ajani Vengeant instead of the wall package. As this list does not run any walls it has a hard time against Red decks without the lifegain. On the other hand it has more game against Bant and Doran decks. Plumeveil might also have lost some of its appeal due to the fact that everybody knows by now that you could be playing the instant speed defender. Playing Wrath of God together with Walls in the same deck does not work very well either.
Cruel Control With Wrath of God by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
This is the Cruel Control version from Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. The decklist forms part of my latest feature article series "The Ultimate Guide to Cruel Control Part 2".
| Colors |
|---|
| Black | 3 |
|---|
| Blue | 14 |
|---|
| Gold | 9 |
|---|
| Green | 2 |
|---|
| Land | 26 |
|---|
| Red | 3 |
|---|
| White | 3 |
|---|
| Converted Mana Cost |
|---|
| 1 | 4 |
|---|
| 2 | 5 |
|---|
| 3 | 7 |
|---|
| 4 | 10 |
|---|
| 5 | 4 |
|---|
| 6 | 2 |
|---|
| 7 | 2 |
|---|
| Type |
|---|
| Basic Land | 2 |
|---|
| Creature | 6 |
|---|
| Instant | 20 |
|---|
| Land | 24 |
|---|
| Planeswalker | 3 |
|---|
| Sorcery | 5 |
|---|
I will only discuss the cards that are not already included in the first version.
Cloudthresher
Often people are concerned that playing Cloudthresher will make the mana base worse and therefore opt to play Broodmate Dragon. But with a mana base like the one of Cruel Control you will almost never have problems casting Cloudthresher. The green Elemental provides you with an answer to Faeries and Spectral Procession as well as a finisher all in one card.
Ajani Vengeant
This card is a house in the mirror match if you manage to resolve it. They have to draw a Pithing Needle as fast as possible or it will be game over. It is also solid against aggro decks, where it will gain life or act as an Icy Manipulator.
Scepter of Fugue
The Scepter is the latest technology coming out of Pro Tour Kyoto. It is primarily in the sideboard to dominate the mirror match but you can also bring them in against Faeries.
Scourglass
In this list you have the possibility to play with Scourglass out of the sideboard because you don’t have to worry about destroying your own walls with it. Albeit a bit slow, the glass pulls its weight against decks like Black White where it deals with creatures, enchantments and Planeswalkers all at once.
Oblivion Ring
When your opponent brings in Pithing Needle to combat Ajani Vengeant you will be sideboarding Oblivion Ring to remove the Needle.
Next up is part three of the ultimate guide to Cruel Control, which contains the matchup analysis, an interview with pro player Manuel Bucher the “inventor” of the deck, some general playing tips as well as possible additions from Alara Reborn. If you have any questions regarding the article, feel free to post them in the comments section or send me any questions, suggestions or ideas using the contact form (use the "Editor" setting to reach me).
Keep your browser tuned to Blackborder.com, visit daily in order not to miss any of the upcoming articles and invite your friends to join the rapidly growing interactive Magic the Gathering portal that Blackborder.com is!
Have Fun!
Andy
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awesome article, very informative
I actually like this part better than part 1. Maybe I already knew alot of part 1 before reading. Looking forward to part 3.
Brilliant article. I like that you explain why the cards are used and why other cards are not even though they may seem like a good choice.
IMO the hardest part of building cruel control is the card vs card. since your mana base allows you to do allmost anything you are forced to choos from a wider field than most other decks.
It is so nice to see articles written with such depth, and you have covered so many aspects of this deck so well. Looking forward to other articles.
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