Control in Standard?? Is this possible??

I always seems to write about U or W, huh?

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam.

As many of you know by reading my posts so far, I'm an avid lover of control decks.  I know that my last article talked about an aggro deck, but my mind has wandered back to the land of few creatures, card advantage spells, and 45 minute long matches.  Ever since M14 came out I began thinking of Trading Post and how it could best be used in a control deck for the current Standard environment.  It saw play a year ago when it was initially printed because the Scars of Mirrodin block was still legal (mainly because of how powerful the artifacts were) and ever since then nobody seems to play it... until now (well, mainly just me, but that's a start).  There's one card in M14 that really got me thinking about Trading Post, and that would be Angelic Accord.

As many of you know, control decks try to grind the game down until their opponent runs out of resources and they have a dominant card advantage.  From here, it's easy for a control player to win the game by resolving one threat and riding it to victory.  In the current Standard environment, the deck that I've played the most is Esper control and the main problem that I have with it is how long it takes to win.  Now don't get me wrong, I understand that I'm playing a control deck, but damn, Esper runs so few win conditions it's unreal how long it takes to win a game.  Sure, if you can resolve a Jace and mill them for 10 every turn you'll win fairly shortly but with how long it takes to cast him (because you have to wait until he's safe) and the fact that you only run a couple of him, the games take absolutely forever.

Now with that aside over, let's bring this back to Angelic Accord and Trading Post.  In comparison to how long it takes Esper to win, these two cards together allow for you to put out a 4/4 Flying Angel token every single turn.  Your opponent has spot removal to kill your creature?  Make another one.  You're forced to wrath because your opponent put out a strong rebound creature?  Make some more angels.  People aren't running artifact removal at the moment and yes, some decks do have enchantment removal because of the prevalence of Bant Enchantments, overall your Angelic Accord is safe.  Is this combo kind of slow?  Ya.  Is it really slow?  Ya.  But what does control have going for it that many other decks don't?  It loves slow games.  You don't want to play an Angelic Accord on t4 or t5, so only running 2 copies seems fine, thus helping to reduce clunky draws.  Trading Post is much more versatile, which allows us to run more copies because seeing a Trading Post on t4 is actually pretty good.

I'm going to make this an Esper deck instead of strictly UW mainly because of Doom Blade.  It's the best removal spell that we've had in Standard since, well..., Doom Blade last year.  Seems kind of odd, but it's true.  So here's the list.

Creatures: 5

2 AEthering
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council

Instants / Sorceries: 22

3 Terminus
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Doom Blade
4 Far // Away
2 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Dissipate
3 Azorius Charm

Artifacts: 6

3 Trading Post
2 Elixir of Immortality
1 Haunted Plate Mail

Enchantments: 2

2 Angelic Accord

Lands: 25

4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Godless Shrine
2 Watery Grave
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Encroaching Wastes

I feel like now that Doom Blade's back this deck is going to have a much better plan against aggro.  You can Doom Blade their creature on t2, Away their creature on t3, and then even wrath them with Supreme Verdict on t4 if it's still necessary.  Snapcaster helps to add longevity and AEthering wins easily in just a couple turns.

I've already explained the rest of the deck, but one quick card I want to hit is Haunted Plate Mail.  This is definitely a boarderline bad card, but it may just be in a deck slow enough to work.  You can wrath at any time and still crack in for 4 damage on the same turn, or even equip it to one of your angels and hit for 8.  It may not actually be that great, but I want to give it a shot.

Also, for anyone that's new to control, don't be afraid to use your life total as a resource.  Going down to 10 or below life isn't that bad if you're going to be able to stabilize soon after.  Be selective as to when you're going to use your removal spells.  It's always good to hurt your opponent in the early game, but sometimes it's best to wait it out and see what comes next.  This can only be learned through practice (and undoubtedly making the wrong decisions) but eventually you'll get better at it.  I hope you guys give this deck a try and comment with any questions or playtest results!

See you guys later.