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Hello and welcome once again to Out of the Blue.
 

I have a special kind of love (and don’t worry, it’s the healthy type) for control decks. That’s partly the reason for the ‘Blue’ in my title, show me a blue control deck and I’ll get a bit sweaty and excited (okay, maybe it’s not that healthy). Back in the day I couldn’t get enough of Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. A few weeks ago (http://puremtgo.com/articles/out-blue-whats-cheaper-free) I built a cheap but powerful Extended deck around Guile, a similarly costed mono blue creature with similarly breakable abilities.

 

Both of those creatures are best suited to mono-blue. I often build mono-colour decks. In fact in my last M2010 draft attempt I finished up with a decent mono-white build featuring a couple of Serra Angels and a Guardian Seraph as Angelic finishers. I went out on round one after the shuffler served up almost all of my lands on the top of my deck in two out of three games. But anyway, this isn’t a draft report so we’ll leave that tale of tragedy and woe right there.
 

In every mono colour build I make, I always finish up with a control deck. Even with mono red, which isn’t easy. However, today we’re going to be looking at mono-black. Blue may be my favourite colour overall, but for mono-builds it’s black all the way. No other colour rewards you so richly for loyalty.   As a mono-black fan, one card which leapt from the M2010 spoiler list and into my shopping cart several weeks ago was Sanguine Bond. I know what you’re thinking. It’s jank. Well jank it may be, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also good. Mono black has ways to gain life spilling out of its evil misshapen ears, and the Bond almost doubles their efficiency. It already feels a bit like cheating when I aim a late game Corrupt at the dome for a twenty point life swing, putting myself out of reach in the process. With Bond out, that swing just won you the game. With two Bonds out… let’s see where this can go.

Card Choices

So we’ve got some decisions to make. We want plenty of life gain. Our best spells want lots of swamps out, so we also need plenty of ways to last until the late game. Let’s look at some of our life gain options:
 

 

	Nip Gwyllion: Not terrible for turn one. Pretty good with a Bond out, and at worst can chump.
	Child of Night: Great with Vampire Nocturnus, which we may not have room for in the deck.
	Tendrils of Corruption: Now we’re talking. Good on turn four, obscene on turn twelve.
	Corrupt: One of the principle reasons to last until the late game. With Bond out, will win the game.
	Consume Spirit: Slightly less raw power than Corrupt, but slightly more flexibility.
	Divnity of Pride: Great creature anyway, even better with Bond.
	Voracious Hatchling: Subpar in a mono black build.

Along with a mix of the above cards, I wanted plenty of control to ensure I had to time to find and cast at least one Bond, and then cast some obscene Tendrils, Corrupts and Consume Spirits for the game.  Here's how I built the deck.

 

 

Game Reports:

 

Game 1 vs. Spagett (R/W Aggro)
 

 

I mulligan a no land hand and keep the shuffler’s second offering (I’m on the draw). On turn two he casts Cerodon Yearling to keep his turn one Duergar Assailant company, and I’m soon down to 17 life. I respond with Child of Night, which is quickly despatched with Flame Jab. On turn three, his team attacks again and I’m down to 14. On my turn I cast Necroskitter. If it sticks, it should slow him down. Stick it does, and my life total is safe for the moment.
 

On turn five I play my first Sanguine Bond of the testing. Time to see if it’s as good as I’m hoping. He responds with an expensive enchantment of his own in Glory of Warfare. My lonely Necroskitter is going to need some backup. He attacks with the Yearling, which I let through and go to 10 life. Turn seven and he casts Balefire Liege. His creatures are now more pumped than Rambo. He attacks with the now 6/4 Yearling. I need removal. And I could do with gaining some life. And maybe starting an assault on his life total. How about Tendrils of Corruption? It takes out the Liege, gains me seven life and hits him for the same amount. Not bad for four mana.
 

I’m so impressed with Sanguine Bond that next turn I cast another one. We reach turn eight, and he attacks with both of his remaining creatures. I block the Assailant with my skitter, and he casts Double Cleave on it and his Yearling. Necroskitter and the Assailant go to the graveyard, but not before the skitter triggers and sends the latter onto my team.
 

On my turn eight I cast Corrupt at the dome with eight swamps active. With two Bonds out that’s 24 damage, and a 32 point life swing in total. Either way it’s game.
 

Bond and Corrupt are as good together as I’d hoped. With two Bonds it’s ridiculous.
 

 

Game 2 vs. Sparky360 (G/R Aggro)
 

 

We both keep our hands, I’m on the draw. He opens with a turn two Bramblewood Paragon, I cast Armillary Sphere. On turn three he casts another Paragon, and hits me for two. I get a Nyxathid out, and hope it stalls him. On his turn four he treats it to a Lightning Bolt and marches his Paragons through my empty board to beat for five.
 

I really need a break for the beats, or at least some slower plays from my opponent. I get neither when on turn five he casts Boggart Ram-Gang. To stop it being a 5/5 I aim a Tendrils at the 3/3 Paragon. He saves it with Colossal Might. I got some life gain, but it won’t be enough. He slaps me for fourteen. Life totals are twenty to four in his favour. Ouch.
 

On my turn five I play a distinctly underwhelming Nip Gwyllion, and send his Ram-Gang to the graveyard with a Tendrils. Yes I played it as a sorcery – he was tapped out and I didn’t want it saved by another Growth. This puts me a nine life. Bad, but not as bad.
 

Next turn I’m attacked by both Paragons. Nip Gwyllion chumps the larger one, and Marisi's Twinclaws on the other ensures I take four. My board’s clear and I draw nothing to help besides Sign in Blood. I try it anyway, since I’m dead next turn anyway without removal. It reveals nothing castable and that’s game.
 

I was never in this game. My deck felt too slow to beat a fast aggro deck, and this deck wasn’t half as fast as the archetype can be. Still, that’s only two games, let’s see if things improve with better draws.
 

 

Game 3 vs. Dubiousincome (Mono Blue Mill)
 

 

We both keep out hands, I’m on the play. I start strongly with a turn two Sign in Blood (targeting myself of course), then a turn three Child of Night. So far he’s just laying Islands. I attack unhindered on turns four and five, then cast Sygg, River Cutthroat. He finally reveals his strategy on this turn with Traumatize. The race is on.
 

Turn six and I resolve Sanguine Bond. My Child of Night suddenly got better. I attack with it and Sygg, doing five damage in total. I follow that with a Consume Spirit at the dome for four. Bond makes it eight, and he’s down to three life. I have Corrupt in hand for the win next turn, and over twenty cards in my library, so there should be time. Evidently his hand doesn’t contain anything miraculously game swinging as he concedes with a ‘gg’.
 

I must admit I’m slightly surprised that a turn six win is possible with this deck. Okay, it would have been turn seven without the concession, but equally my draws, whilst decent, weren’t perfect. At the same time, I have to acknowledge that my opponent basically let me play unmolested, so I won’t start shouting my success from the rooftops just yet.

 

I only saw one non-land card from Dubiousincome’s deck, so I took a guess at a potential build with the pictures at the top in this case.
 
 

 

Game 4 vs. Demarticus (Mono White Soldiers)
 

 

I mull to six on the draw, having been dealt a one swamp hand initially. He starts quickly with a first turn Elite Vanguard, a second turn Ballyrush Banneret, and a third turn Preeminent Captain. On turn three I can finally do something useful, and gratefully cast Infest, which performs budget Damnation duties here.
 

Undaunted, he casts a turn four Veteran Armorsmith. I respond with Nyxathid, which here is a 5/5. It likes decks like this which want to empty their hands fast. Next turn he lays down another Preeminent Captain, but holds off on the beats. I respond with Divinity of Pride, and send the Nyxathid over to start my beats. He lets it through.
 

On turn six he resolves Veteran Swordsmith. His creatures are now getting quite pumped. Honor of the Pure and I’m in trouble. I send the Pride over again for another eight point life swing (twelve if only I could find a Bond), and add Hypnotic Specter and Child of Night to the mix.
 

He makes a big play next turn, sending his team into the red zone. The Captain triggers, but he has no soldiers in hand. Instead he casts Path to Exile on Nyxathid, removing my lone blocker. Thanks to my lifegain, I survive the beats, and finally cast Bond. With three creatures to attack with, two of them lifelinked, this would beat face for twelve. In other words lethal. He concedes.
 

Well, I managed to beat Soldiers, which surprised me. I don’t think my opponent drew especially badly, although I pretty much drew what I wanted, when I wanted it. If I hadn’t been able to play Infest on turn three, there’s no way I would have won. Still, once my lifegain hit the table and stuck, things actually looked comfortable. Bond was the icing.
 

 

Game 5 vs. neveready (Mono Black ‘Almost’ Mirror Match)
 

 

The shuffler’s kind to us both, I’m on the play. I get a turn two Child of Night out, which sticks and attacks next turn. I then play Armillary Sphere. He does nothing but lay swamps until his third turn, when he plays Stalker Hag, which is effectively unblockable.
 

On turn four I Tendrils the Hag, and swing with Child once again. He draws two from his own Sign in Blood, then plays Soul Reap on my vampire. Next turn I play another underwhelming Nip Gwyllion. He responds with the rather more, uh, whelming Dusk Urchins, followed by another Sign in Blood. I take the opportunity to crack my sphere, which I don’t mean as a euphemism.
 

Turn six and I can find nothing better to cast than another Sphere. He attacks with the Urchins (which gains a counter), and hits me with a Corrupt. Et tu, Brute? I crack my latest sphere. My hand is now full of land. My deck thinned, hopefully that means I’ll start to draw something useful.
 

Next turn I draw and cast Bond, the attack with the little Nip for a three point swing. That’s not bad for a 1/1, but really I want to be doing something better than this on turn seven. He attacks with the Urchins and casts his own Divinity of Pride. I’m in trouble.
 

Turn eight and I lay down another swamp. Neither of us have missed a land drop yet. With Bond out, that means the Corrupt I cast next hits for sixteen damage. That’s game.
 

Bond and Corrupt pulled it out of the bag for me. If his Divinity had been allowed to start swinging, I’d have found it hard to pull back from there. His Urchins were about to draw him three cards too.
 

 

Conclusions: 

Okay so that’s 4-1 in my favour, obviously not terrible. But alongside that I’d note that I usually drew well, and my mill opponent clearly draw very badly. I’m also disappointed by my loss in game two. Not the fact of losing, but the manner of the loss. Even tier one decks lose, but I didn’t feel that there was really any way of winning that game. Time to rejig the deck.

 

My best chance of winning seems to be casting a large Corrupt with a Bond (or two) out. That’s pretty much what I was setting out to do when I created the deck, so it’s no surprise that it’s the MVP. So far, I’ve never been happy to draw Nip Gwyllion though. In almost every case I’d probably be happier with a swamp, which is damning enough in itself. It just doesn’t do enough, even with a Bond out. The same probably applies to Child of Night. It’s goodish, but without buffs from Vampire Nocturnus, it’s just not cutting it.
 

What I need is more control, to give more time to get my ‘combo’ together. Perhaps some more creature removal would help? Let’s try this:
 

-2 Nip Gwyllion

-4 Child of Night

+2 Nameless Inversion

+4 Royal Assassin

Game Reports:
 

Game 1 vs. LostRonin (B/G Control)
 

 

We both keep our hands, I’m on the draw. I get a turn three Royal Assassin, an early opportunity to test the efficacy of my changes. Next turn I refill my hand with a Sign in Blood. On turn five he makes his first significant play with a Wren's Run Vanquisher. I respond with another Assassin. As soon as I cast it, I realise that he’s got Pulse colours available. But not too many people have such an expensive card in the casual room so I’ll probably be okay.
 

Turn six comes round, and you guessed it, both Assassins succumb to Maelstrom Pulse. The Vanquisher runs across my empty board and beats my face for three. I draw and cast my third Assassin, followed by Armillary Sphere. This Assassin also goes the way of the Pulse. He also casts Llanowar Elves. I use my turn to cast Nyxathid (which comes down as a 4/4), and crack the sphere.
 

On turn eight he casts Profane Command, temporarily reducing Nyxathid to 1/1, and hitting me for three. His Vanquisher hits me for a further three before he passes the turn. I blast his face with Corrupt and follow it up with some beats from Nyxathid.
 

Turn nine comes around and he celebrates the fact with Chameleon Colossus. His third Pulse of the game removes Nyxathid, once again allowing the Vanquisher through a clear board. On my turn I lay another swamp (having not missed a land drop all game), and Corrupt for the game.
 

So no Bond this game, but Corrupt did most of the work by itself. There’s a reason why Mono Black Control is so strong in pauper. It’s the same reason it’s strong in Standard.

 

Game 2 vs. Juggalo (Mid-Range Bant)
 

 

We both keep our hands, I’m on the draw. He makes a turn two Qasali Pridemage and a turn three Aven Squire. The Pridemage turns sideways that turn, and I happily treat it to a Nameless Inversion. On my turn I draw two off Sign in Blood, losing two life.
 

Next turn Aven Squire hits me for another two. It does the same on turn five, and it’s joined by Jhessian Infiltrator. I don’t fancy an exalted unblockable beater, so target it with a Tendrils. On my turn I bring my Divinity of Pride into play.
 

On turn six he attacks with the Squire. Fearing pump, I let it through. I cast Bond, then attack with Divinity, which disappears thanks to Bant Charm. Next turn he brings Battlegrace Angel into play. I’ve been a big fan of this card ever since I rode its back to a Draft win a few months ago. The Squire gets double exalted and lifelink before beating my face. On my turn I topdeck a Tendrils and kill the Angel. Bond does its job and finally I’ve started my assault on his life total.
 

We reach turn eight. He casts another Pridemage, and Aven Squire hits me for three. He finishes the turn with another Infiltrator. I respond with a big Corrupt at his face. He sacs the Pridemage to destroy Bond before it could trigger. Damn that Pridemage! Turn nine and he lays down another Battlegrace Angel. His Infiltrator hits me for a lifelinked four. I kill the Angel with Consume Spirit, but have no other play.
 

Next turn he casts Giltspire Avenger, and again a double exalted Infiltrator introduces itself to the red zone. I respond with a large Corrupt to the dome. Turn eleven is a carbon copy of turn ten, except this time Corrupt finishes the game.
 
 

Well, Bond may not have lasted long, but it would have finished the game at least a turn sooner had it stuck. As it was, it functioned as an expensive removal spell for the Pridemage. Corrupt continues to surprise and delight.

 

 

Game 3 vs. saltricks (Mono White Soldiers)
 

 

Neither of us mulligan, I’m on the draw. He opens with a turn one Elite Vanguard. Looks like I’m playing Soldiers again. Lots of these deck in the Casual Room these days, and it’s no surprise, they’re very powerful. Ballyrush Banneret follows on turn two, and the Vanguard take me down to eighteen. I lay down a turn two Sygg. Hopefully that will slow the beats. But not for long, says his turn three Preeminent Captain. He turns his team sideways, and I block the Banneret with Sygg. I go to sixteen.
 

Next up I cast Royal Assassin. If this can’t gum up his gameplan, nothing can. “Okay, nothing can,” says Path to Exile. Turn four and he gets a Windbrisk Heights out, and attacks with the Vanguard and the Captain. The Captain triggers, and cheats Captain of the Watch into play. Okay, that’s about as bad as it gets. I remove Captain of the Watch with Nameless Inversion, and then resolve Necroskitter. I can’t complain about my draws, I’m finding pretty much all my game-stalling tactics.
 

Turn five and I’m attacked by three soldier tokens, Vanguard and Preeminent Captain. The Captain triggers again and this time it’s another Ballyrush Banneret that enters the fray. Sygg throws himself in the way of the Banneret, and Necroskitter stops the Vanguard in his tracks. Windbrisk Heights triggers and puts Veteran Swordsmith into play. That’s game.
 

 

Another aggro deck, another loss. I had answers, but not enough. Once creatures start getting cheated into play, I’m slowly overwhelmed by card advantage. Royal Assassin can claw that sort of advantage back for me, but not when exiled. Like a badly mixed cake, I spent my time slowly deflating throughout.

 

 

Game 4 vs. jamesgame (Mono White Kithkin Soldiers)
 

 

We keep our hands, I’m on the draw. He lays down a turn two Ballyrush Banneret. Déjà vu? Still, a chance to right the wrongs of the last game. My turn two Armillary Sphere isn’t going to do too much to scare him, but my deck really needs to hit its land drops, so I’m never disappointed to draw it early. And even drawing it late means my Corrupts, Tendrils and Consume Spirits are so much better.
 

Turn three and he casts Veteran's Armaments and Cenn's Tactician. Okay, so it's Kithkin Soldiers.  The equipment triggers and attaches itself to the Tactician. I take two from the Banneret. On my turn I Sign in Blood myself for some card advantage. Next turn he resolves Militia's Pride and attacks with his team. The Tactician grants both creatures +2/+2, and the Pride puts a soldier token into the Battlefield. It’s not looking good.
 

Next turn I topdeck and windmill slam Infest. I’m low on life, but the board’s clear for now. On turn five, he’s still out of creatures and only manages a second Veteran's Armaments. I resolve the more significant Divinity of Pride. If it sticks, I’ll be out of trouble fast. He whiffs turn six, and Divinity provokes an eight point life swing in my favour. I finally have mana spare to crack the Sphere and build my mana. This enables me to hit my land drop this turn.
 

On turn seven he casts his first creature since my sweeper in Cloudgoat Ranger. I don’t mind the three Kithkin tokens so much, but I do mind the prospect of the Ranger leaping up into the air and swallowing my Pride, so I treat the giant to a timely Tendrils. On my turn I cast Bond, and attack with Pride for a twelve point life swing.
 

Next turn I Corrupt for the win.

 

Well there’s no doubt what the key play was there – my turn four Infest. That bought me the time to stabilise, and draw some removal and my finishers. Once again, the tag team of Corrupt and Bond prove themselves to be very happy bedfellows.
 

 

Game 5 vs. PasiSavola (Mono Green Stompy)
 

 

We both keep our hands. I'm on the play. He starts with some mana ramp in Druid of the Anima, and I play a turn three Royal Assassin. Ramp that. We continue to hit our land drops. He plays a turn four Deathrender, and I play a turn five Bond. So far so perfect. On his turn five he equips his Druid with the weapon. Not wanting to risk whatever fatty he might be holding being cheated into play, I allow three damage through. He plays another Druid. And besides, I'm holding a Corrupt, so I can afford to lose some life.
 

On turn six I play a land and pass the turn. I have another Swamp in hand. The longer I can lay lands and hold off on my Corrupt, the better it will be. He hits me for three again, and plays Thousand-Year Elixir. Next turn I draw Nyxathid. My other cards in hand are Corrupt, Royal Assassin and Profane Command. I'm at fourteen life, so I can afford to wait, but if I Corrupt now I'll put him down to six. Assuming he has no life-gain, all I need to do is draw one more swamp for Command to hit for lethal, or any of my Tendrils, Corrupts or Consume Spirits. There are decent odds I'll draw one of them next turn, so it makes sense to hit face now. I do.
 

On his turn seven he hits me for another three and casts Elvish Piper. So that's what the Elixir was all about. Able to tap immediately, he uses it to cheat Darksteel Colossus into play. I'm glad I didn't Assassinate that Druid on turn five. He uses the Elixir in an attempt to untap the Piper, but I Assassinate it Royally in response. I don't know what else he had in hand, and I didn't want to find out. Next turn I draw Consume Spirit for game.
 

In reality with that draw I would have won anyway, but in a tighter game, knowing the odds of what your deck is likely to throw at you is often the difference between a win and a loss. I didn't have to play the Corrupt when I did, but it bought me the game earlier than if I'd waited until I had lethal in hand.
 
 

Conclusions:

So I went 4-1 with my original list, but felt unhappy about the aggro match-up. I made some changes to give the deck more control to help it last into the late game. Then I went 4-1 again.
 

You’ve heard of Resounding Thunder and Resounding Scream, now I give you: Resounding Success! (/sarcasm)

 

Okay, so my revisions to the decklist ended up completely unproven, but I think they’re sound in theory. Nip Gwyllion and Child of Night really need to be buffed to be useful. The Nip is popular in Pauper when paired with (Edge of Divinity), and the Child loves to team up with Vampire Nocturnus. On their own, neither creature really does enough, and this deck isn’t really aiming to beat down with small creatures.
 

Yes, with Bond as our central card we want lifegain, but this is a good example of the difference between having a theme, and being a slave to your theme (to paraphrase a more celebrated Magic writer than myself). Corrupt, Consume Spirit and Tendrils are enough in combination with Bond for our theme. The rest of the deck should be focused on keeping ourselves around long enough for the combination to do its job.
 

I think this theory would have been borne out had I played another fifty or so games with each deck. As ever, five games a-piece gives us a rough indication of a deck’s potency, nothing more.
 

But feel free to experiment with different builds. The key cards are there to make Bond work for you.  Speaking of different builds:

 

Alternate Build:

Another way to go with Sanguine Bond is B/W.  Personally I prefer mono black for the huge Tendrils, Corrupts and Consume Spirits, but B/W has plenty of lifegain available too.  Why not have a go at building that deck, should you like the idea of the Bond?  Here are some potentially useful cards.

 

 

 

And now a reward for having the stamina to read through to the end (or just skipping here from the start)...
 

Bonus Deck:

Yes, free with every issue of this week’s Out of the Blue, a bonus decklist completely free! Did I mention it’s free? This is one I’ve been working on recently. It doesn’t feature Sanguine Bond, but it does share some of the same cards. This deck features several combos which can tie the game up completely in your favour, with your opponent able to do nothing but watch in awe as his gameplans crumbles around his feet.
 

You’ve got Blinding Mage and Angelic Benediction to tap opposing creatures, and Royal Assassin for free repeatable Assassinates. And there’sGwyllion Hedge-Mage and Grim Poppet to put a -1/-1 counter on those creatures, so that when the Assassin does his job, Necroskitter ensures they defect to your side. The rest of the cards are there to keep you alive, or to provide alternate win conditions / resiliency.  If you can get it going, it’s a lot of fun, and feels like cheating. And yes, it beats Soldiers.

 

 

 
 

That's it for this week then.  I won't say goodbye, just au revoir.  That's French for goodbye.

 

Splendid Belt

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