Karach (UWB Enchantment Control)

CaNGD Submission by Nihil


Table of Contents
  • 1.0 Introduction and Background
  • 2.0 The List
    • 2.1 The Cards
    • 2.2 The Sideboard
    • 2.3 Cards Previously Tested
    • 2.4 Other Cards Considered
  • 3.0 Playing the Deck
  • 4.0 Strengths and Weaknesses
  • 5.0 The Matchups
  • 6.0 Conclusion, Thanks and Lingering Questions
1.0 Introduction and Background

I've always considered myself more of a deck developer than a designer; more of an engineer than an architect. I like to think I'm pretty good at working on the rough edges of a deck, at figuring out whether a card should be a 3-of or a 2-of, or which of two very close cards fits better in the overall game plan.

But coming up with something thoroughly new? Not my best skill, to be sure. I had made a lot of decks, like everyone, but those that didn't blow were always ports or alternative approaches to pre-existing archetypes.

Yet the CaNGD (I'll always put the D in there, sorry mods) was too tempting. And after all, I had managed over the last year to become at least a decent countermagic user from scratch - I could very well take a shot at creative deckbuilding, right?

 So I kept a notepad (or Notepad) around more or less 24/7 for the last month, writing down anything I got that vaguely resembled an idea, and then firing MWS on it almost every other evening.

Deckbuilding is funny.

You come up out quite a few lists that all start from solidly estabilished design principles, that employ only the best cards in the format.

And they all suck. I'm not talking 'still somewhat inconsistent' suck, I'm talking "how can this Black/White board control deck with oodles of removal barely edge 50/50 against goddamn Threshold?" Or "ok, testing shows these Tarmogoyfs and Tombstalkers can indeed go the distance if my opponent does not play Landstill, Goblins, any combo, Stax, or Treefolk. Cool."

Then, during one of said MWS sessions, you pick up one of the most untested list you have lying in your N&D folder. Something built around a crap rare. You ask a testing partner to just indulge you for a couple of games, the time for his dual land-winning Threshold list to just point out why the concept can't work. At least it'll be a useful lesson.

And you thrash him. 9-1, if I recall correctly (preboard - there was no SB yet). You're incredulous, but hey, it feels great to have something to work with. You set yourself to the job: fixing the curve, rethinking the draw engine, nit-picking over silver bullets, testing different win conditions.

Until the final day comes, and you don't have any more time for fixin'. It's time to post and let the work be judged.


2.0 The List
// Mana
4 [UNH] Island
2 [UNH] Plains
 1 [UNH] Swamp

 3 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [ON] Polluted Delta

4 [PR] Tundra
3 [PR] Underground Sea

 2 [MR] Chrome Mox

// Dig
 3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [PR] Brainstorm
 3 [VI] Impulse
2 [RAV] Clutch of the Undercity

// Control
 4 [FNM] Swords to Plowshares
 1 [OD] Kirtar's Desire

3 [CS] Counterbalance
 1 [MOR] Declaration of Naught

1 [BOK] Threads of Disloyalty
1 [10E] Story Circle
2 [LRW] Oblivion Ring

2 [LG] Moat

4 [PR] Force of Will

// Win
2 [LRW] Hoofprints of the Stag

3 [CS] Zur the Enchanter

1 [SC] Eternal Dragon

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [PLC] Extirpate
 SB: 4 Propaganda or Engineered Plague (see below)
SB: 3 [PS] Meddling Mage
SB: 1 [OD] Karmic Justice
SB: 1 [UD] Replenish
SB: 1 [TE] Aura of Silence
SB: 1 [US] Back to Basics

2.1 The Cards

1) 2 Chrome Mox - I'll get flak for this one, so I might as well get it out of the way. I started with three, and I found out that while seeing one was often welcome, the second one practically never was. What made me pick the middle road instead of just cutting it out was that I tended to almost always cast the Mox on turn two or three - usually to get a faster Zur or Moat - and when I did, it was usually a fantastic play (T3 Moat vs. aggro, for example). So I just took the more careful step, and the dreaded double-mox draw got dialed down to a rare occurrence. As of now, I don't plan on giving up on the semi-frequent power boosts.

Also, for those who like arguments from authority, the "miser's Mox" (singleton) has been pretty popular in recent PTQ-winning Extended Doran lists, and has received the Flores Seal of Approval. So there.

2) Impulse - Originally it was Ponder, which in the abstract is the better card, being half the cost for 50-75% of the effect (depending on how much you value instant speed and cleaning the top of your library). But this left the curve too deep at 1cc and too shallow at 2, which was bad both for my own Counterbalance and for opposing Chalices. I started looking at 2cc options, and after a brief test of Think Twice (horribly expensive) I settled on Impulse, which proved to work lovely in a deck so full of conditionality. My only regret is that it doesn't fuel Hoofprints.

3) Zur the Enchanter - Mongoose-blocking ass, check. Resilient to non-StP removal, check (hello Demise, Smother, Bolt). Flies, check. Good Force and Mox pitch, check. Gets you every turn a [Counterbalance/unconditional removal/win condition/lock piece], for free? Hell yeah.

The main downside: a mighty 20-turn clock, so a kill condition in name only. That's why you run Hoofprints and Dragon, though. Besides, he's not much slower than Decree of Justice - though I guess that's no great accomplishment.

Incidentally: for those who aren't too familiar with the rules, Zur triggers upon attacking, which means that the trigger resolves and puts the enchantment into play (without giving your opp. a chance to respond) before blockers are declared. You can attack into a blocker, fetch an Oblivion Ring, a thresh'ed Kirtar's Desire, or even a Threads of Disloyalty (Serra Avenger, Stag tokens) and your Zur will go nicely unblocked.

4) Moat - I copied this opening post from Phantom (who copied it from Isamaru) so I'll just recycle his description: MVP. House. Fantastic. Wrecks Thresh. Wrecks Goblins. Can wreck Storm Combo (and I'm assuming it's very good vs. Ichy and Breakfast). Hurts Dragon Stompy. Annoys Landstill. It limits our options a bit as far a creatures go - ok, let's stop here, because the fun thing is that in this deck Moat doesn't limit my creature options at all. It just stops me from running manlands, which I don't really want to anyway.

Karach used to run 3 Clutches and a singleton Moat (along with other targets like Decree which eventually failed). But I hated losing games because the broken 2WW card got in my graveyard somehow, so I then experimented with a Clutch-less, three-Moat configuaration; this, however, negatively affected the deck's consistency too much. So I went back to Clutch, but cut one for a "backup" Moat.

5) Clutch of the Undercity - Lovely card. Fits beautifully in the curve. Keeps the deck consistent by fetching Zur, Moat, and the postboard silver bullet(s). Pitches nicely to Force and Mox. And no-one's better at bouncing Counterbalance EOT (with a complimentary Lava Spike), then dropping your own Counterbalance.

6) Oblivion Ring - I love this card. When designing a control deck, I tend to be a little paranoid and want to have a plan against everything: these critters let me run maindeck artifact/enchantment removal without running dead cards. Unlike Engineered Explosives, they don't blow up my own board and can be fetched with Zur.

And yes, you need two. Needle can be a bitch.

7) Counterbalance - This doesn't need explanation, just a little note that this isn't quite as insane as you're probably used to: the curve is 23/12/9/4/7/4/0/1, so it's still a bit short on the two-spot. On the plus side, it's unusually good at countering 4CC bastards like Enforcer, Dragon, Armageddon, Wrath, or FoF.

8) Declaration of Naught - By far the weakest spot in the deck, this nerfed Meddling Mage from Morningtide nonetheless fulfills a couple of critical roles preboard: it protects Karach's permanents from Pernicious Deed, and it stops the increasingly common recursion shenaningans: Life from the Loam, Academy Ruins, and sometimes Genesis.

I'm always tempted to just replace this one with Impulse or Sensei's Divining Top #4, both of which would be quite welcome. But even when it sucks, it's so easy to pitch to Force, Mox, or to Brainstorm away that you find it hard to be too angry at it.

9) Eternal Dragon - Having a nigh-unkillable win condition is nice and all, but the primary point of this card was to fill the gap between 23 mana sources (which was a bit tight) and 24 (a bit loose). A candidate for cutting in favour of a fourth Top, which fulfills a similar role as a pseudo-cantrip; however, I'd also be cutting 33% of my non-Zur, non-Threads win conditions, which makes me seriously nervous.

2.2 Sideboard Choices
Extirpate - The presence of Clutch isn't a point in favour of Leyline, which is pretty terrible on turn 4. As usual, when piloting a control deck that always takes double-digit turns to win the game, I favour the versatile long-term card as my graveyard hate of choice.

Meddling Mage - Although it has a multitude of other uses, Krosan Grip is undoubtedly Pikula's #1 target. That bitch of a card can really steal your wins from nowhere, and Mage is the best way to deal with it we have - pity that Declaration of Naught isn't simply a triggered ability (no, Null Chamber isn't better, btw).

Other than that, anyone who's played 4C Landstill knows what a wonderful asset this guy is against basically anything that isn't aggro.

Engineered Plague vs. Propaganda - Really, this is a metagame choice. Mainly, Propaganda is considerably worse against Cephalid Breakfast and against Goblins, since they can still Siege-Gang or Sharpshoot you through it. On the plus side, it's better against Ichorid, and it's decidedly better against all other forms of aggro and aggro-disruption (from X-Stompy to Suicide Black), as well as against a shitload of decks where you won't bring either in anyway (Loam, Landstill, etc).

Pick one of them. If you put a gun to my head and asked me to give a default build, I'd go with 3 Propaganda and 1 Plague, because the latter can still be good even when tutored up with Zur in the mid-game.

Karmic Justice and Replenish - Also known as "Deed insurance". One is prevention and tutorable with Zur, the other is retribution and can be grabbed with Clutch. And that's it, really.

Back to Basics - A wrecking ball against difficult matchups like Landstill and Loam.

Aura of Silence - It itches a bit to have to just rely on 2 Oblivion Ring plus the countermagic suite to handle problematic permanents... but if you really have to cut something to fit in the fifth anti-aggro or anti-graveyard hate, or the fourth Mage, this is it.
2.3 Cards Previously Tested
Decree of Justice, Control Magic, Faith's Fetters, Cranial Extraction - Maindeck or sideboard silver bullets that didn't stand the test of consistency.

Sacred Mesa - Inferior to Hoofprints in every possible way and then some.

Engineered Explosives - Not so gamebreaking that I wanted to endure having to hold back permanents for them. Can still be made to fit in if you're worried about combo, though.

Wrath of God - It's not much that it kills Zur as much as that what Moat can't deal with, the spot removal suite can. It would take a lot of Vindicates running around to make me want to run this over more Moats.
2.4 Other Cards Considered

Enlightened Tutor - I'm sure everyone who's made it this far has thought of the card. I have explored the uses of Tutor, which is a damn fine card. It brings the deck in an entirely different direction, which seems to ultimately end in ZviStill. Which is a frickin' powerful deck, surely better than this one... for a PT scene that was (supposed to be) swamped in Threshold and Landstill. It doesn't hold equally as well against a more varied metagame. But that's something for another thread.

Pernicious Deed - Okay, you think "enchantment with cc 3 or less" and you think of Deed. Understandable. But with Zur, you want a lot of cheap enchantments, and that is Very Bad with Deed. If you can think of a way around this conundrum, please let me know.

Idyllic Tutor - Blech.


3.0 Playing the Deck


This is a straightforward control deck - your aim is to stop your opponent from winning first and foremost. Moat and Counterbalance are the two pillars of this game plan, with Zur and Clutch solidifying it. Some random tips:

- If you have Top, go for Hoofprints early - a flying 4/4 every two turns is a nice clock, and can block well if needed.

- Do not play a turn 1 Chrome Mox unless you know what you're pitching and what you can do with the extra mana.

- If you have Top, conserve your cantrips for the purpose of Force pitching - you have plenty of shuffle effects that will show you new cards.

- Pay attention to your lands. If you expect to make use of Story Circle, remember to fetch lots of white.


4.0 Strengths and Weaknesses

Strength:
- About as solid a manabase as you can wish for in a three-colour deck

- Overall strong Threshold matchup
Weaknesses:

- Not as consistent as one might expect from a blue deck

- Susceptibility to board sweepers
5.0 The Matchups


1) Threshold

Even if the breakout performance was partly a fluke, the subsequent testing has shown Karach to indeed have a very solid advantage against the king. Everything you do is extremely relevant, and you can fight them well on nearly every angle of attack: mana denial, Counterbalance, and creatures. Mongoose can be tough to answer, but you still have Moat, Circle: Green, a blocking Zur, or even a fetched (non-targeting) Threads. If they can't win before your 4th-5th land drop off sheer tempo, the game is all but yours.

I ran the deck mostly against my usual UGB list, but I've done a few matches vs. the recent MoonThresh one, too (though I'm not experienced or even comfortable with that style of Threshold). Blood Moon wasn't really a problem, between basics and Moxes, but multiple Fledgling Dragons were a pain in the ass; fortunately Counterbalance handles them better than usual.

SB guidelines (because no plan applies for both UGR BTStifleWaste and UGW NeedleBalance): Since they *always* bring in Grip, you want some Meddling Mages; Declaration of Naught automatically comes out. The other slots are to pick depending on what you face; I generally cut removal if I put them on a list with 10 or less creatures. Back to Basics is clearly insane if unexpected, but if they get the chance to fetch 2-3 basic lands it loses a lot of its power - sometimes it's better to take it out in G3.

Regardless of what you face, it's almost a given that their SB options will be better than yours, so you're more susceptible to lose G2 to some sort of blowout (like an unexpected Armageddon). I still pulled off positive numbers postboard, though.

2) Goblins

The objective in game 1 is a hard-lock with Moat and Story Circle both on the table (or, if Vial hasn't landed, Declaration of Naught naming Siege-Gang Commander); to that end you have a lot of targeted removal, but no sweepers, so pick your targets well. There's a bit of guesswork involved in choosing whether to spend your mana on killing Goblins or digging, but other than that you the matchup is very straightforward until you drop a lock piece and your opponent has to find a way around it. I'm 4-5 in testing, which seems about right with how I 'feel' the matchup. Note that the (Rb) list I used ran 3 Siege-Gang Commanders; if there are less of them, it should improve.

Postboard Zur becomes massively more important, because now it fetches multiple Plagues (or Propagandas), which means you are less scared of their few copies of Krosan Grip; also, they probably sided out their removal. The match shifts in your favour, because what you side out is useless crap, but it still didn't feel thoroughly solid to me (despite a 6-3 result).

SB: -3 Counterbalance, -1 Declaration of Naught, -1 Hoofprints of the Stag, +4 Plague, +2 Mage (for Grip and trading). If you use Propagandas, leave in the Declaration and at least one Ring (I'm not sure what to cut for those, though: maybe Top on the draw).

It feels awkward to bring Mage in, but Ring is darn slow, and it can save your Zur by eating a Weirding for the cause.

3) Landstill

It might be my bias towards control of all kinds, but I've found this matchup to be thoroughly enjoyable and very strategic. You're a moderate aggressor here, using your faster though less powerful draw spells to lay down lock pieces and get a grip of the game. Counterbalance, Zur, and Moat are your main threats; stick one of these and follow up with Hoofprints or Dragon (I realize this sounds statistically difficult, but this isn't happening on turn 1). Declaration of Naught absolutely shines here, shutting down at least half of their board sweepers.
Interestingly, Clutch is often hardcast in this matchup, since even on turn 4 Boomeranging a land (and netting a free Spike) is a considerable tempo boost in a matchup like this one.

Overall, you're somewhat unfavoured pre-board (testing is 6-8 vs. 4C). I would expect the UWx version to be considerably easier to face, due to their lack of Pernicious Deed. Also, I don't run Tarmogoyf in my Landstill builds, but if they do then rejoice: it's a nice use for your removal, and it usually takes the place of extra countermagic or sweepers.

Sideboarding plan:
-3 StP, -1 Story Circle, -1 Kirtar's Desire, -1 Threads of Disloyalty, -2 Oblivion Ring, -1 Moat; +1 Karmic Justice, +1 Replenish, +1 Back to Basics, +1 Aura of Silence, +2 Extirpate, +3 Meddling Mage; vs. UWx you can skip on Justice and Replenish. You may want to skip on the Extirpates in favour of StoP if they choose to bring Meddling Mages of their own in (which is IMO a mistake).

Post-side you have the same shell with much better tools: Back to Basics in particular is a wrecking ball, so protecting Zur for a turn becomes a much more interesting idea. Aside from that, with Mage and Extirpate in the picture, your gameplan can be summed as "Go for the sweepers, boo!". Counter them, Mage them, Extirpate them, Declarate them Naughty, threaten a counter-Armageddon, recover from them, whatever. Do this and you've gone a long-way towards winning your postboard game.

4) Belcher

By any standard of serious testing, this should be TES. But I can't play TES for shit, and I don't hang around with people evil enough to pilot that deck, so I just picked up the bot-deck to get something resembling a combo matchup to write about.

Surprise, surprise, what you have to do to win is: 1) Draw Force early; 2) Assemble CounterTop early. And that's about it, really. I've played a grand total of four pre-board games before getting bored; I suppose with a bit of math you could figure out your exact chances, if you wanted. They're not great preboard, anyway: you don't have a fast clock or board sweepers, other than a lucky turn 3 Moat.

SB: +3 Mage, +3 Extirpate, +4 Plague/Propaganda, +1 Aura of Silence, -4 StP, -1 Kirtar's Desire, -1 Threads, -1 Circle, -2 Moat, -2 Clutch of the Undercity

Postboard you get the 'hate bonus': I'll leave the exercise of figuring out the percentages to you, I'm honestly bored at the sole idea.

5) Ichorid

Game 1 you don't have great chances. Your relevant cards are Force, StP, and a quick Moat (which you must draw, because Transmuting automatically calls a Therapy); a few other cards can kill a zombie if need be. 3-7 in testing; with a better pilot than me it would almost certainly be worse.

Postboard you get your hate, but more importantly you get rid of the baggage. To be exact:

+4 Plague/Propaganda, +4 Extirpate, +2 Mage, -3 Counterbalance, -1 Kirtar's Desire, -1 Circle, -1 Declaration, -1 Threads, -2 Oblivion Ring, -1 Hoofprints

As a guideline, Extirpate is for Bridge, Plague is for Horrors, Mage is for Return. These aren't even close to be set in stone, though, so adapt to the situation. If you've played Landstill, the matchup will feel very familiar to you - except that you have some better tools: Moat to halt 90% of the offense and Zur to fetch Plaganda after Plaganda. Overall the postboard matchup favours you, especially if they have bounce rather than enchantment removal; just don't throw it away by doing anything stupid like keeping a hand without hate.

6) Others

Some quick evaluations from random MWS games, or 1-of testing sessions:

- Black Aggro: Rough. Vindicate is public enemy #1 for Karach; if they don't run it, though, then you can handle the less broken openings. But turn 1 Dark Ritual is still more scary than t1 Lackey. I hope you board Propaganda.

- Burn: Counterbalance, Story Circle, do not get manascrewed = win.

- Aggro Loam: Counterbalance not as good as hoped. Moat lovely, though. Note that this was against my build (with MD Chalice, Assault, Dreams, and 11 creatures).

- Stax: Oblivion Ring is MVP and should be saved for Crucible of Worlds; also keep a 4cc spell on top with Counterbalance to stop Armageddon (or use Declaration: IRL there are many less Ravages of War). Stealing morphed Angel = sexy.

- Dragon Stompy: Win the die roll; fetch basics. That and a decent amount of removal will handle the deck.


6.0 Conclusion, Thanks and Lingering Questions

Conclusion? Thanks? Eh, screw those. You're bored already.

A couple of NFAQ:

What would you run if the minimum deck size was 61?

The fourth Top. No questions. It's ridiculously easy to reset and it 'turns on' both Counterbalance and Hoofprints. If I were less of a pussy, I'd cut something from the maindeck to fit it, probably the Eternal Dragon or the second Ring; but I like having lots of Plan B's, even at the cost of making my Plan A less consistent.

Why play this over Landstill?

It scoops to completely different hate.

What's with the name?

This deck *knows* its purpose.