Dullard.dec

I don't do enough control decks in these example lists mostly because they tend to be reactively built and are usually jst a pile of fairly homogenous control cards. It is hard to really define them as archetypes beyond their colours with a few exceptions. While this is not what I would call an exception it is not a typical control deck at all. It is very light on threats and wins far more slowly than the newer cube control lists which pack really good top end dorks like Titans, Angels, Dragons and Sphinxes all of which end games fast. I wasn't going to bother doing this list at first but the games it gave were so extreme I decided I would. When building it my aim was to not include all the cheesy cards that are found in most control decks these days like Snapcaster Mage, Cryptic Command and the previously mentioned top end threats. It is not my fun having your first few turns disrupted by cheap control cards and then just losing to a Wurmcoil Engine you can't answer and so my intent was to be able to play a control deck that was more fun for both players. Suffice it to say I missed the mark and made one of the most tedious long winded boring decks for both players I have come across in cube, and that is saying something. In one game I got a Sword to Plowshares on an Isochron Scepter and cast it so many times my opponent was over 70 life at one point. I ultimately managed to win on the upkeep of the turn I would deck myself (after already having cast a Time Spiral once) with another seven Lightning Bolts to the dome totalling over twenty cast in all from a Timayo ultimate to take the game...


21 Spells

Lightning Bolt
Swords to Plowshares

Wall of Omens
Isochron Scepter
Fire / Ice
Lightning Helix

Memory Lapse
Arcane Denial
Lat-Nam's Legacy
Cyclonic Rift

Detention Sphere

Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Wrath of God

Gideon Jura
Timayo, the Moon Sage
Temporal Manipulation
Time Warp

Austere Command
Time Spiral

Devil's Play
Aurelia's Fury

19 Lands

Desolate Lighthouse
Celestial Colonnade
Thawing Glaciers
Sacred Foundry

Hallowed Fountain
Steam Vents
Arid Mesa
Scalding Tarn

Flooded Strand
Volcanic Island
Plateau
Tundra

Azorious Chancery
Mountain
Plains
4 Islands


Although I messed up in regards to having fun games I did at least make a challenging deck to win with. Much of this was down to it simply being weaker than a typical cube three colour control build however it is still probably just about a tier one deck. With a lot of control decks these days all you have to do is plan how you are going to survive up to casting one of your five or six drops that should single handedly stabilize or win you the game. With this list you are relying on planeswalker ultimates, Colonnade or X spells to win the game for you all of which are very slow and serve other main purposes within the deck. You will be faced with the option of using Devil's Play to kill a dork from the bin on say turn seven and will be needing to think about if that will leave you sufficient tools to physically win the game rather than if it is just a sensible play right now.


I decided to go heavy on the taking of extra turns however they were primarily weak blue versions of Explore. With so many X spells the deck is mana hungry and the main ways you have to generate advantage are incremental once a turn effects from planeswalkers, Scepter and Thawing Glaciers meaning despite the lack of attackers the time walk cards supported the overall approach of the deck. Being so light on threats means you make their removal worse while ensuring you have the maximum number of answer cards making it more likely you take it to the extreme late game where your cards are at their most powerful. Although an arduous task to win with the deck it was yet a joyous coming together of long term planning that made it feel very satisfying in the way having finished a marathon is.