UGW Midrange Control

[Asmahasmalaria]

Hey Guys,
i am new to this format and just builded a deck. If anyone has ideas or criticism feel free to post ;-)
I am aware of the fact that this deck would´ve rocked a lot more in the times when damage went to the stack but I just wanted to build something like this:

Creatures:

Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Llanowar Elves

Mistmeadow Witch
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Wall of Blossoms
Wall of Roots
Gilded Drake
Waterfront Bouncer
Coiling Oracle
Saffi Eriksdotter
Qasali Pridemage

Trinket Mage
Man-o'-War
Stonecloaker
Azorius Herald
Aven Riftwatcher
Aven Mindcensor
Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness
Yavimaya Elder
Yavimaya Dryad
Rhox War Monk

Solemn Simulacrum
Tradewind Rider
Loxodon Hierarch
Glen Elendra Archmage
Venser, Shaper Savant
Sower of Temptation
Mystic Snake

Reveillark
Mulldrifter
Karmic Guide
Deranged Hermit
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Simic Sky Swallower


Artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers:

Engineered Explosives

Sensei's Divining Top
Pithing Needle
Phyrexian Furnace

Survival of the Fittest

Crystal Shard
Jace Beleren

Faith's Fetters
Opposition

Spells:

Path to Exile
Condemn
Swords to Plowshares

Momentary Blink
Peel from Reality
Remand
Regrowth
Life from the Loam
Muddle the Mixture

Harrow
Capsize
Forbid

Wrath of God
Gifts Ungiven
Fact or Fiction

Bribery
Primal Command
Treachery

Austere Command


Lands:

4 Island
6 Forest
3 Plains

Tropical Island
Savannah

Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden
Breeding Pool

Yavimaya Coast
Brushland
Adarkar Wastes

Azorius Chancery
Simic Growth Chamber

Seat of the Synod
Ancient Den
Tree of Tales

Lonely Sandbar
Tranquil Thicket
Secluded Steppe

Krosan Verge
Seaside Citadel
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Sunpetal Grove
Cephalid Coliseum
Wasteland

[Mythrandir]

It looks solid enough, but there is a lot of similar decks here, you should do a search.

In a quick glance:

Too many nonbasic lands, cut them and add basic.
SSS is too expensive IMO.
Add squee. You play survival so, squee is auto-include.
Add intuition.
Also you play too few counterspells (and some are a bit bad: forbid) IMO, add mana drain, cryptic command, mana leak, force of will.

[Dreamer]

First, when posting a highlander deck for critique: Please, for goodness' sake, arrange the cards. It's nearly impossible for a potential commenter to grasp a hundred-card singleton pile that's presented as a jumble of cards. I don't claim that the formatting I use is the best, but it's one way of ordering the deck:

Creatures:

Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Llanowar Elves

Mistmeadow Witch
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Wall of Blossoms
Wall of Roots
Gilded Drake
Waterfront Bouncer
Coiling Oracle
Saffi Eriksdotter
Qasali Pridemage

Trinket Mage
Man-o'-War
Stonecloaker
Azorius Herald
Aven Riftwatcher
Aven Mindcensor
Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness
Yavimaya Elder
Yavimaya Dryad
Rhox War Monk

Solemn Simulacrum
Tradewind Rider
Loxodon Hierarch
Glen Elendra Archmage
Venser, Shaper Savant
Sower of Temptation
Mystic Snake

Reveillark
Mulldrifter
Karmic Guide
Deranged Hermit
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Simic Sky Swallower


Artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers:

Engineered Explosives

Sensei's Divining Top
Pithing Needle
Phyrexian Furnace

Survival of the Fittest

Crystal Shard
Jace Beleren

Faith's Fetters
Opposition

Spells:

Path to Exile
Condemn
Swords to Plowshares

Momentary Blink
Peel from Reality
Remand
Regrowth
Life from the Loam
Muddle the Mixture

Harrow
Capsize
Forbid

Wrath of God
Gifts Ungiven
Fact or Fiction

Bribery
Primal Command
Treachery

Austere Command


Lands:

4 Island
6 Forest
3 Plains

Tropical Island
Savannah

Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden
Breeding Pool

Yavimaya Coast
Brushland
Adarkar Wastes

Azorius Chancery
Simic Growth Chamber

Seat of the Synod
Ancient Den
Tree of Tales

Lonely Sandbar
Tranquil Thicket
Secluded Steppe

Krosan Verge
Seaside Citadel
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Sunpetal Grove
Cephalid Coliseum
Wasteland


Now that it's in a sensible format, some comments on the deck itself:
Only three Wrath effects (if you count Opposition as one). I'd look into cards like Rout for a bit of extra punch against creature swarms
You've got Gifts and Survival, so fitting Body Double and Mirror Entity into the deck might be a good idea. (=Lark-combo, tutorable with both cards)
I'd cut Crystal Shard. The card is just too conditional to work in a meaningful way.
As Mythrandir said, more counterspells would be a good idea, too. Right now, the deck has a bit too much meat and too few powerful control tools. Cryptic Command, Mana Leak, Force of Will, Counterspell, Negate, Dissipate are some good ones. Treachery should be upgraded into Control Magic.

[Asmahasmalaria]

First of all thank you for your proposals and giving the list a readable order. I´ll do this from the beginning the next time ;-)

I considered Intuition myself, actually you´re right - there is no reason not to play it.


I tried to put in more counterspells some time ago but I had problems with the manabase. Maybe i should reconsider this. Cryptic Command and Force of Will are great cards - no doubt but UUU or having a blue card in your hand is sometimes not as easy as it sounds when you play WGU (IMO). Mana Leak, Negate, Counterspell and Dissipate should do fine. I´d love to play Manadrain but it´s to expensive to buy.^^
What do you think of Rewind? And how many counterspells do you think would be matching this type of deck?

Body Double is a great tip. Thanks! This one will definetly go in.

Rout seems to be fair enough, I think I´ll put it in.

Hmm my head is nearly bursting when I think of what to cut to put all these cards in Any proposals what else to cut besides
SSS
Crystal Shard ?

[Dreamer]

Saffi. Tricky cost, doesn't do much. Yavimaya Dryad isn't too hot either. Pithing Needle is a good card, but I probably wouldn't run it either. Bribery could either be cut or be replaced with Tidings.

And don't forget Mirror Entity if you're already including Body Double. It'll turn Gifts and Survival into ridiculous I-Win buttons.

[malz77]

Meanwhile there are a lot of Wizards in your deck. You should consider on putting Riptide Labratory in...

[Asmahasmalaria]

Ok i tinkered a little and these are the results:

Creatures:

Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Llanowar Elves

Mistmeadow Witch
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Wall of Blossoms
Wall of Roots
Gilded Drake
Waterfront Bouncer
Coiling Oracle
Saffi Eriksdotter
Qasali Pridemage

Trinket Mage
Man-o'-War
Stonecloaker
Azorius Herald
Aven Riftwatcher
Aven Mindcensor
Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness
Yavimaya Elder
Yavimaya Dryad
Rhox War Monk
Mirror Entity

Solemn Simulacrum
Tradewind Rider
Loxodon Hierarch
Glen Elendra Archmage
Venser, Shaper Savant
Sower of Temptation
Mystic Snake
Body Double

Reveillark
Mulldrifter
Karmic Guide
Deranged Hermit
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Simic Sky Swallower


Artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers:

Engineered Explosives

Sensei's Divining Top
Pithing Needle
Phyrexian Furnace

Survival of the Fittest

Crystal Shard
Jace Beleren

Faith's Fetters
Opposition

Spells:

Path to Exile
Condemn
Swords to Plowshares

Momentary Blink
Peel from Reality
Remand
Regrowth
Life from the Loam
Muddle the Mixture
Mana Leak
Counterspell
Force of Will
Dissipate

Harrow
Capsize
Forbid

Rewind
Wrath of God
Gifts Ungiven
Fact or Fiction

Bribery
Primal Command
Treachery
Rout
Tidings

Austere Command


Lands:

6 Island
6 Forest
4 Plains

Tropical Island
Savannah

Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden
Breeding Pool

Flooded Strand
Misty Rainforest

Yavimaya Coast
Brushland
Adarkar Wastes

Azorius Chancery
Simic Growth Chamber

Seat of the Synod
Ancient Den
Tree of Tales

Lonely Sandbar
Tranquil Thicket
Secluded Steppe

Krosan Verge
Seaside Citadel
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Sunpetal Grove
Cephalid Coliseum
Wasteland
Riptide Laboratory

----------------------
@Dreamer: I am not sure if I understand the lark combo with Mirror Entity right. As far as I can see it means you have 3 nearly indistructible creatures or is there more to it ? ^^
Besides I thought about taking pithing needle out but with trinket mage it saved my ass too often to actually cut it.
Why do you think I should cut Treachery for Control Magic? I mean ok -  4 against 5 mana but isn´t the untap effect worth it ?

@malz77: Yeah I checked that. There are 8 wizards with mostly awesome effects, thank you for the advice !

[so_not]

@Dreamer: I am not sure if I understand the lark combo with Mirror Entity right. As far as I can see it means you have 3 nearly indistructible creatures or is there more to it ? ^^

You have Mirror Entity and Reveillark in play (or you evoke Lark or whatever the situation is...) and Body Double and Kitchen Finks in graveyard for example. You announce that you use Mirror Entity's ability for 10000000 times set to 0. So you have 10000000 triggers in stack. The first Entity for 0 resolves so your Lark dies. You get Body Double (copy Finks) and random creature back (Entity for example). Second Entity for 0 resolves, your Body Double dies and persists back so you can copy Reveillark this time. Repeat 10000000 times for many life points.

[Asmahasmalaria]

ok now that´s an "I win button" indeed

[Dreamer]

The new list looks decent enough, although I think cutting Birds and Jace might've been a mistake.

Also, you're playing control: Don't hesitate to bolster your manabase with Vivid lands. They're really good.

Other than that, I'd do some playtesting. It's the ultimate arbiter of what works and what doesn't.

[Asmahasmalaria]

I did some playtesting and applied some changes. For those of you who are interested here´s the current deck list:


Creatures:

Mistmeadow Witch
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Wall of Blossoms
Wall of Roots
Gilded Drake
Waterfront Bouncer
Coiling Oracle
Qasali Pridemage

Trinket Mage
Man-o'-War
Stonecloaker
Azorius Herald
Aven Riftwatcher
Aven Mindcensor
Kitchen Finks
Eternal Witness
Yavimaya Elder
Rhox War Monk
Mirror Entity

Solemn Simulacrum
Tradewind Rider
Loxodon Hierarch
Glen Elendra Archmage
Venser, Shaper Savant
Sower of Temptation
Mystic Snake

Body Double (oh my god this card has so much synergy potential...)
Reveillark
Mulldrifter
Karmic Guide
Deranged Hermit
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir


Artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers:

Engineered Explosives

Sensei's Divining Top
Pithing Needle
Phyrexian Furnace

Survival of the Fittest

Faith's Fetters
Opposition

Treachery
Future Sight (this card is ridiculous and insane - i call it insaneulous! Since I am running fetch lands the cards text has been changed to: Draw cards until your mana pool is emtpy)

Spells:

Path to Exile
Swords to Plowshares

Momentary Blink
Remand
Regrowth
Life from the Loam
Muddle the Mixture
Mana Leak
Counterspell


Dissipate
Harrow
Capsize
Forbid    (really nice with life from the loam)
Intuition

Rewind
Wrath of God
Gifts Ungiven
Fact or Fiction

Force of Will
Primal Command


Austere Command
Opportunity


Lands:

7 Island
5 Forest
3 Plains

Tropical Island
Savannah
Scrubland (the idea was to push engineered explosives)
Taiga (same)

Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden
Breeding Pool

Seaside Citadel
Sunpetal Grove

Flooded Strand
Misty Rainforest
Scalding Tarn
Arid Mesa
Marsh Flats
Windswept Heath
Krosan Verge

Lonely Sandbar
Tranquil Thicket
Cephalid Coliseum
Academy Ruins
Wasteland
Maze of Ith

Actually I didnt have this much fun with a single deck like with this one. Thanks to all who helped