Control Magic – Playing Deedstill

So on February 11^th, I decided to put my money where my mouth is. As many of you know, I just wrote about a deck called Deedstill or BUG visions, whichever you prefer. I took the deck to the Tempest box tournament held here in Phoenix at Rookies to Legends. Even now as I reflect on the tournament, I still feel it was the right call for the day. You see, I’ve just recently moved back into the Phoenix area after a two year stay in Tucson. With little information on the metagame for Legacy here, I needed a deck that was not only powerful, but had game against anything it came up against. I did however deviate from the list in my last article choosing to run 4 Chills over the 4 Blue Elemental Blasts, hoping to improve my game against Burn. I ended up taking the deck to a top 8 finish on the day and here’s how it went.

Here’s the list for reference:

Round 1: U/w/r Delver

I didn’t really have much trouble with this matchup as my opponent’s deck is all about early action. After a double mulligan on his side and a Thoughtseize early, I’m able to run him out of gas and take over control of game one with Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Game two my opponent double mulligans again and after wasting his lands out of play in the early turns he concedes to me after playing Jace.

Matches: 1 – 0

Overall: 2 – 0

Round 2: Merfolk

I really like this matchup as Merfolk plays right into my game plan with Pernicious Deed. I however drop game one to my opponent when I’m unable to find any removal to get back in game. In Games 2 and 3, I do however find plenty of removal and board control to keep the battlefield clear with Mishra’s Factories going the distance.

Matches: 2 – 0

Overall: 4 – 1

Round 3: U/w/r Blade

This matchup, while not bad, never seemed to go in my favor as in games 1 and 2 he’s able to find and stick his Jace, the Mind Sculptors sooner than me and sculpted a solid hand against me never getting any chances of getting back into the game.

Matches: 2-1

Overall: 4 – 3

Round 4: Dredge

My round 4 matchup against Dredge was probably one I would have like another chance at. Deed and Pulse can go a long way in this match, but I was unable to find any of them in games one as I lose to his slow start. Game 2 I have the Deed in my opening hand and cast it on turn 3 just to have in Nature’s Claimed and fail to find any of my sideboard against him. This match up went terrible for me and was my worst luck of the day.

Matches: 2 – 2

Overall: 4 – 5

Round 5: Team Italia

Game one was rough early in the game. He develops a board of Dark Confidant, Grim Lavamancer and gets me down to 7 before I take over and winning game one. Game two my opponent keeps a one land hand and an AEther Vial. It turned out better than you think when he vials in Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, which slowed me right down. I was able to find and drop a Pernicious Deed before he could capitalize on the taxing effect.

Matches: 3 – 2

Overall: 6 – 5

First Round of Top 8: Burn

I knew it was gonna happen as some point on the day. As predicted, my opponent had strong early actions in Game 1, burning me out before ever getting on board. Game 2 was closer as an early Chill slowed him down but he drew into multiple lands, allowing him to pay the additional costs and burned me out, only a few swings away with Factories getting me there.

Unfortunately, I may not have been the one to walk away with a sealed box of Tempest, but I still feel playing this deck gave me a strong presence in an unknown metagame. There isn’t much I would change about this deck—it has many tools that can be used to fight combo, aggro, and control. My only change to the deck would be to find a stronger solution to beating the burn matchup, as Chill was unable to get me the leverage that I was hoping. But, perhaps my concerns for this match up are unneeded as burn will draw a lot of hate to itself and see less play in the future.