Permission: Back With A [Passive Aggressive] Vengeance!

Aggro players have gotten spoiled. There, I said it. Agree or disagree I honestly believe players who enjoy turning their creatures sideways have been spoiled. Why? Well what's the worst that could happen? Possibly a Doom Blade or Terminate? Maybe a Path to Exile to help them play more creatures, or maybe even an Into the Roil if your opponent was real edgy. Cascade didn't help matters, letting people throw around creatures all willy-nilly. What ever happened to the days where players would have to think twice before throwing down a spell with legs?

Seriously, you ****ing kids with your ePhone youtub gmales!

Permission, or "Draw-Go" decks have always been my favorite kind of competitive flavor. They're challenging to play, challenging to play against, and they make for some of the most boring epic finals matches long after everyone else has scooped up their boards. Permission is a play style that simply isn't made for everyone, and if someone tries to pilot it without the proper mindset, it really shows. No, to play permission you must be patient, calculating, calm, and sadistic. You have to see the game turns ahead, choose your battles, and have the game won long before the last card is played. Playing permission takes confidence, maybe even subtle arrogance. You need to sit down and pretend you're Chuck Norris' best friend. You can't pretend you're actually Chuck Norris, that's absurd. No, you're the the guy who's so damn cool Chuck decided not to round-house kick you in the face, or maybe he did but you were so awesome you caught his foot (He was holding back). Yeah, you're that guy.

Just don't let Chuck find out you spend your free time playing Magic: The Gathering. He thinks you're cruisin' for chicks... In your hover car!

 "Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20 kilograms. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5 kilograms..."

The UW Permission decks were, up until just recently, not as viable as most people would have liked. Granted, I played it to great success, but that's because all things considered it's pretty much all I "can" play! Permission is what I know, it's what I'm good at, and even when factors are working against me I'll still have an advantage just by playing that style of deck. I can't play UW Tapout because the thought of leaving yourself so open in a "control" deck just doesn't make sense to me. No, I've come to learn if I'm to succeed in this game I need to stick to my guns, and my guns take a REALLY long time to fire off!

It's like if you took an old cobbler and said, "Here's $200,000 to build a car, and here's $20 to craft a pair of shoes.", you'd get more mileage out of your shoes than you would your car.

 Okay, I'm done with awkward analogies for the time being. What I was initially trying to get at before my train of thought derailed was that UW Control has changed. M11 seemed to be just enough to give UW just the edge it needed to not only survive, but flourish in the current Standard environment. Over the next several minutes, I'll be going over the deck as I see it, card for card. Please, save all your disagreement, animosity and blatant rage for me for the end of the article.

The Lands

Lands, the backbone of pretty much any deck in the format. As it is, lands now a days are far more than just lands. Lands can attack and win you games, lands can disrupt your opponent's mana, lands can help thin your deck, and lands can even give you that one extra life point you needed to win the game! As a result, we find ourselves playing more and more lands. I remember when the proper land count for your average deck was between 21 and 24, today it can be as high as 27-28! I find the correct number for UW to be 26, and wouldn't change it for anything (Except Moxen, Scars...). My version of permission doesn't run Spreading Seas, so a full set of Tectonic Edges are almost vital. This puts me at 4 colorless lands, and 7 that come into play tapped (We'll talk numbers later). This, I think, is acceptable in an environment as slow as Standard. Celestial Colonnade doesn't attack as often as some people would like it to, but just having it is very important. Finally, the most interesting land in the deck, is Island. Why is Island so interesting? It's a quality defining card! Every time you sit down and build a deck, any deck, take a look at the list. Are there any Islands in the list? If the answer is no, then your deck is bad, and you need to start over. It's just so simple!

Sejiri Refuge is one of those cards I initially thought was only ran due to lack of better options. After playing several games, I've found that extra life or two can really add up, and I've started to appreciate it more. Regardless, if we get better alternatives in the near future it will be the first land to get the ax.

I don't run Mystifying Maze. I wanted to, really badly. I was very excited when it was spoiled, but ever so slowly began to lose interest. Finally, M11 hit MTGO and I was able to test it! Having a new card made me excited. testing it lead to anticipation. Anticipation lead to disappointment. Disappointment lead to boredom. Boredom lead to sleepiness. Sleepiness lead to me taking a nap with my wife. Taking a nap with my wife lead to [CENSORSHIP] which lead to more napping.

More to the point, I couldn't afford to run 5 colorless lands. The Maze was bad when drawn early, and mediocre when drawn mid-game. it's (very) late-game value just wasn't enough to justify a slot, though I'm sure I'll be dusting it off in the future.

Preventative Measures

 Sure, Counterspell will probably never see print again, but things aren't so bad now. Deprive is just as good mid to late game, and really Cancel's not as godawful as people once claimed it to be. Having Mana Leak back in the game is just huge, and gives us all the time we need to set up a winning board position. I know it's been said a thousand time before, but just knowing Mana Leak exists can really change the way people play their game. In this format, I do consider Negate, Essence Scatter and Flashfreeze to all be hard counters, the trick is simply knowing what combination to play them in. I'm currently running 2x Essence Scatters in the main board, but given the surge in UW popularity I may swap them for Negates.

Playing permission isn't really about having the counters, but knowing when to use them. Yes, that sounds a bit cheesy, but it's so very true. I see people throw a counter at every single spell their opponent tries to play. Sure, there are situations where this is valid, but mostly it's just wrong. You really need to choose your battles. Your life points are a resource, and you need to factor that in. How much damage can I take before I stabilize? What could he follow up with if that resolves? Can I find an alternative answer to that threat? There really are several things that must be processed before firing off that Mana Leak.

Cleaning Up

As stated above, you can't counter everything. If you could, we'd probably just be playing Mono Blue Control, but we can't, so we aren't. The sad truth it that sometimes your opponent will be allowed to cast their things. Actually, I take it back. It's not a sad truth, as it only happened because you willed it to be so. Remember? You're Chuck Norris' best friend. So, sometimes you'll decide the best course of action is to just let your opponent have their fun and land a card. This is because you know that Deprive in your hand will be needed for the "real" threats, and their measly little Bloodbraid Elf can be dealt with another way. For starters, your Wall of Omens can block most dudes all day long. For everything else there's a good chance they'll meet their end via a well-timed Path to Exile or Condemn. As it turns out, having Condemn around again is really huge for our defensive strategies. I like a 2/2 split between Condemn and PtE, as both have their uses.

One such use for your (Path to Exiles) is to help your own mana base along. Is that Wall of Omens no longer needed? Turn it into an Island! Remember, we decided those were good. Along the same vein you should never be afraid to Day of Judgment your own walls. If nothing else, you're probably be getting them back later.

Gone Fishing

Yes, I'm actually celebrating the end of Mind Spring. Sure, we had some good times, but there's nothing I hated more than tapping out on my turn for a possible payout. Jace's Ingenuity is a godsend for permission control. Three cards at the end of my opponent's turn? Yes please! It's a great card, and I think two is the right number. Some people swear by running a set, but I honestly don't think it's needed, at least not at five mana.

Jace Beleren has been a point of interest. This deck is very good at keeping him alive, and as a result, I often find myself very happy to draw him. Against most other decks JB can net you an obscene amount of card advantage. He's cheap enough to come down early, and at 3cmc he's within recursion range for your titan buddy. He tends to live a long time in the control match ups, as well as blocking opposing Jace's. Additional, as with most Planeswalkers, he'll often act as a pseudo-fog on occasion. Finally, little Jace knows his place (Ha! I rhymed!) and he can efficiently kill himself off when it's time for big daddy Jace to come down and win the game for you. Speaking of winning the game...

The Other Guys (And Girl)

Sun Titan is just amazing here. I've found he'll seldom stay on the board for long, but even then he's still pretty good. Getting you back that Jace Beleren, Tectonic Edge, Oblivion Ring or Wall of Omens you need is just great. If you're able to keep him in play, you've got a 6/6 vigilante (See what I did there?) on the field and losing is almost no longer an option, not that it ever was Chuck Norris' best friend. Getting double Jace activations in a turn is also nothing to ignore.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Jace, the Mind Sculptor act as both defense and win condition, and at this point there's not a lot left to the imagination. Gideon Jura is still a little iffy for me, but I like keeping a single copy around. He's kind of like Robin: You never really "want" him to show up, and you're always a little disappointed when he does, but when all else fails you figure, "Hell, I can work with this.". In the end, though, you still wish it was Batman.

...And The Bench Warmers...

Finally, we arrive at the sideboard. To tell you the truth it's really pretty basic. Negate, Cancel and Sphinx of Jwar isle are all I bring in for the mirror, which is really a fairly easy match anyway. Flashfreeze, Kor Firewalker and Celestial Purge are versatile, often coming in for the Jund and RDW match ups, and the spare Day of Judgment is always welcome against aggro decks.

Leyline of Sanctity is still a grand experiment. I only run two, but having one in my opening hand is really more of a bonus than a necessity, I think. I was a little iffy on this card when it was spoiled, but as I started making a mental list of what this card prevents, I decided it deserved to be tested. Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thought Hemorrhage, Blightning, Jace, The Mind Sculptor, Gideon Jura, Consuming Vapors, Cruel Ultimatum and all kinds of burn including Searing Blaze JUST to name a few. I'm sure I missed some. I also didn't at first realize that it prevented your Planeswalkers from getting Lightning Bolted to death! Time and testing will tell, and so will I!

 Zedd's Red's Dead, Baby

I though long and hard and hard and long about splashing red and taking more of a Planeswalker Control route. I like having access to Lightning Bolt and I'm a huge fan of the Vengeful Ajani. Ultimately, I felt like seeing red slowed the deck down too much. Yes, I felt that the deck that already moves at a snail's pace could be made to move even slower. It's not so much the speed that would be compromised, because there really isn't any, but the focus I would lose. I don't really like Ajani as a win condition when I have others that work quite well on their own, and I would have to choose between cutting removal or permission to make room for the third color. Finally, I just liked my matches so much I couldn't justify changing it up in that way.

My List

UW Permission Control

 

Creatures 4 Wall of Omens 4 cards Other Spells 2 Sun Titan 1 Cancel 2 Condemn 2 Day of Judgment 2 Deprive 2 Essence Scatter 2 Jace's Ingenuity 4 Mana Leak 2 Path to Exile 1 Gideon Jura 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 3 Jace Beleren 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 26 cards

Lands 4 Celestial Colonnade 4 Glacial Fortress 5 Island 3 Plains 1 Arid Mesa 1 Scalding Tarn 4 Sejiri Refuge 4 Tectonic Edge 26 cards Sideboard 3 Kor Firewalker 2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle 1 Cancel 3 Celestial Purge 1 Day of Judgment 1 Flashfreeze 2 Negate 2 Leyline of Sanctity 15 cards

You may be thinking, "Gee, that looks a lot like Wafo-Tapa's list.", and you'd be right. I think he had a great starting point, and I only made a couple minor adjustments. Gather Specimens was fun, but I really wanted the extra Negate, as well as SoJI for various matches. All in all, you don't generally fix what isn't broken.

The list above has won me two Daily events so far. I love it, as it fits my play style perfectly. My only real word of warning if you're considering piloting it, is that you should prepare to play the mirror match... a lot. Having Sun Titan as the pre-release promo has caused a lot of people to try their hand at UW control. For me this isn't really an issue, as most of these people only switched to it as a flavor of the month type of deal. These people shouldn't put up much of a fight, as you should be able to outplay them with little difficulty. Still, 2-hour matches are getting a little old.

Video News And Matches

I am, most unfortunately, under curtain time constraints when it comes to my video editing and uploading. It's for those reasons that I've decided on the following format for video uploads. I'll try to do audio commentary when I can, but for the most part, you'll be music and annotations. Blue annotations will be clarifications, personal notes, analysis, etc. Red annotations will be play mistakes, and the seldom-seen Green annotations will be back-patting for myself. The music will be based entirely on whatever I feel like posting, so, well, it'll be up to you to decide if that's ACTUALLY better than having sound effects or not. I also though, for the sake of clarification, I hate the sound effects as well. I play with them because I'm legally blind (20/180) and the sound effects give justification to my actions on screen.

Of course, I'll continue to provide a brief, written summary of each video I post in my articles.

UW vs RDW

My first match of this daily of RDW, and honestly I don't worry "too" much about the match up. I know exactly how fast RDW can explode, but I find I'm usually able to stabilize. Admittedly, game one had me pretty nervous, and I fully contribute my win to Sejiri Refuge. Usually, Tectonic Edge is really bad against RDW, but I got some pretty awesome value out of it by blowing up my own Sejiri Refuge for Sun Titan to bring back, a play I'm quite happy with. It goes to show just how versatile the Sun Titan is with a bit of creativity.

Using Jace 2.0 to fateseal in game one was extremely important, and the right play in my mind. Being that I was well within burn range, I decided the best course of action would simply be to prevent him from drawing any. This seemed to pay off.

Game two was won almost purely on the back of a lone Kor Firewalker. Sorry red deck...

UW vs RUG

This match was actually in round 2 of a daily, leading me to believe that my opponent either got a buy, or won his first round, seeing as I was 1-0 at the time. I initially though Polymorph after his turn one Khalni Garden. Then I though RG Aggro after the mountain. Then he played an island and my brain just kind of shut down. I'm going to be honest with you here: I really just sort of faded off and played both these games on autopilot. I still don't know exactly what I was playing against, only that I never lost hold of the match. It was also well past my bed time, so things like that tend to happen.

Don't be like me, or you'll forget to play your instant draw spells which could have prevented a dead Planeswalker. Ah well.

UW Mirror Match From Hell

Usually, the UW mirror is a simple matter of outplaying your opponent. I say simple, because at least at present, that's really not too hard to do. However, every once in a while a "real" control player will come along and you'll be in for a long game. Assuming neither party gets royally mana screwed, it shapes up to a pretty tedious game. Above is the absolute best example of that. Without any milling of any sort, the game ended in favor with both of us at less than 6 cards in our deck.

A New Turn Of Events

I'm almost done here, but I wanted to drop a piece of news. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be changing my articles up a bit. I had what you might call an Epiphany. I believe it was Conley Woods who said "What's the point in even playing tournament Magic if your goal isn't to win a PTQ?". A lot of you may say "To have fun!" or something to that effect, but it flipped a switch for me. I've been playing in all these Daily Events, but to no real end. Sure, I love the income of tix, but I'm still shying away from Premiere Events and big tournaments. Well Starting August 18th I'm going to change that. That's the start of the next MOCS and I intend to qualify for the end-of-season event! My base goal, of course, will be to obtain 15 QP's, and go from there, ideally placing Top 8 in the MOC.

During that time expect nothing but tournament reports from me! Premiere Events, MED drafts, and anything else I can fit in. I've finally found a Standard Deck I'm truly comfortable and confident with, I think it's high time to really use it!

As a fun side note before I sign off, I was able to play a UW control deck for the M11 pre-release. I had Jace Beleren and Crystal Ball for massive card advantage. That deck took me to a 4-0 finish!

Until next time!

-Jeff Torres

PS - For all of you wondering (All two of you), I've not forgotten about the finale to my retrospective series. It's coming, Soon(tm)