Pioneer is one of the most open formats in all of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering. There are a ton of deck options that complement multiple playstyles. Among these is Control, which are decks that are built around stopping the opponent's main plays and slowly grinding out the game by countering spells and removing threats.

RELATED: Magic: The Gathering &nd♒ash; Building Your First Pioneer 📖Deck

The best control variant for Pioneer is Azorius (white/blue) Control. This deck takes advantage of the plethora of control cards available in the color pairing. Games of Azorius Control can often be grindy, but it is capable of winning against just about every deck when it's played right.

Sample Decklist

Key Cards

Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria

The face of the archetype - Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria is one of its most important cards. Control wants to always have lands untapped so that you can keep mana up for interaction on your opponent's turn. Teferi's plus one ability lets you still cast spells during your turn and be able to untap enough lands to still be able to cast a counterspell. It also draws you a card; Azorius Control always wants to have a full hand, so this is appreciated.

Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria's minus three ability is also handy for taking care of a permanent you are unable to remove naturally, such as if it has indestructibility. Though it is rare, if you do use the minus eight ability, you essentially win the game, as you can wipe your opponent's entire battlefield just by drawing cards.

You can use Teferi's -3 ability at sorcery speed to bait out a protection spell, to then use one of your instant speed removal spells to make sure you get rid of the targeted creature.

The Wandering Emperor

The Wandering Emperor is a fantastic planeswalker that acts as both removal and a way to build a board presence. Its best trait is its flash ability, allowing you to catch an opponent off-guard and suddenly exile an attacking creature if they're not careful with their attacks.

Even if you are not using it for its minus two exile effect, you can still flash it in during the end phase when you no longer need man♉a up for interaction. Generally, you want all your cards to be castable at all times, and The Wandering Emperor fits right in.

Supreme Verdict

Azorius Control tends to toss in some board wipes to deal with large boards of creatures and Supreme Verdict is the best of the lot. It is rather easy to cast but more important it cannot be countered. This all🅰ows it to be cast safely into other blue decks th♒at might have counterspells such as Spirits.

Since Azorius Control doesn't actually play any creatures, it has no way to block them until the later stages of the game. As such, board wipes such as Suprem🍸e Verdict are m🍌ust-includes to handle any creature decks.

Memory Deluge

Memory Deluge is one of the best ways to get cards into your hand for Azorius Control. It always gets yo🐈u two cards into your hand, and lets you see either four or seven of the top cards of your library.

It h♏as flashback, allowing you to take advantage of it twice. While the mana cost is rather high for this, it generally does not matter since Azorius Control tends to have a lot of lands on the battlefield in the latter s🦩tages of the game.

Memory Deluge is an instant card, allowing you to use it at the end phase when you no longer need mana for counterspells and removal. In a pinch, you can use Memory Deluge to dig for a counterspell you don't have to prevent a powerful card from resolving.

Shark Typhoon

Shark Typhoon is a way to both draw a card and get a creature on the battlefield. There is almost no way to interact with this effect as it's triggered off of its cycling ability. The token it makes has flying, allowing for it to more easily get in for damage. Shark Typhoon is one of the main ways Azorius Control gets a creature onto the battlefield.

If you have the mana up, though rare, you can caܫst it as an enchantment. This often leads to a game being won as it turns all of your counterspells and removal into a way to get creatures on the battlefield.

Hall Of Storm Giants

Hall Of Storm Giants is frequently how Azorius Control closes out games. It can turn itself into a large 7/7 creature with ward three to make it hard to remove both with spells and through combat. Even if you're not turning it into a creature it still provides you 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:with a source of blue mana.

Though it does cost six mana, you generally aren't using Hall Of Storm Giants until the end stages of the game when you have an excess amount of mana. It is a good follow-up after casting a board wipe to get in for damage more consistently.

Hall Of Storm Giants synergises well with Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria. Teferi can untap two lands at the end step, which can help make Hall Of Storm Giants essentially cost four mana instead of six. Alternatively, you can untap Hall Of Storm Giants to be able to activate it again during your opponent's turn to make a blocker.

RELATED: 🐼Magic: The Gathering – The Best Decks 𒁃In Pioneer

How To Play Azorius Control

Azorius Control is built around using your instant spells to respond to anything your opponent does and shut it dow🃏n. The deck is often very grindy, and games take a while to win, but once your planeswalkers start hitting the battlefield it is often when you begin to snowball.

Don't use your counterspells immediately. It is important to judge how threatening a card will be if it resolves. It is better to let a creature hit the battlefield if it is not dangerous to remove with a board wipe later so you can save a counterspell for something that would be more impactful on the gamestate.

Temporary Lockdown is a great way to deal with low-mana permanents at any point. There is not much enchantment removal being played in Pioneer, so odds are these permanents are going to stay exiled. Farwell is a strong late-game board wipe that can deal with problems more permanently as it exiles ജinstead of just destroying. It also handles the gra♎veyard to push back graveyard-based strategies which there are plenty of in Pioneer.

The lands that make creatures are vital for keeping the pressure on. Castle Ardenvale is a consiste꧒nt source of 1/1 tokens that can be made at instant speed. Hall Of Storm Giants is another way to turn a land into a creature and this one is a much larger threat.

You can use Castle Ardenvale twice when mixed with Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria as it cꦑan untap Castle Ardenvale after usi♛ng it to make a token.

Removal spells should be reserved for the most threatening creatures on the battlefield. Creatures with low power should generally be kept alone and stronger ones should be removed🎶. Azorius Control does not mind taking damage as it can turn things around in the late game. ꦦIt wins after a long grind, so it is important to not zero in on doing damage.

An ideal opening hand will have at least three lands and a few interaction spells you can cast early on. You don't need your large game enders like Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria and Shark Typhoon early in the game so even if they aren't in your hand it is fine to wait to draw them naturally. Mulligans can hurt Azorius Control significantly, as it is about a lot of one-for-one trades until your game-winners start hitting the battlefield. As such, you generally want to avoid mulligans unless you open one or fewer lands. Though keeping a two-land hand is risky, if the rest of your hand has a low curve as well it's worth keeping at the risk of falling too far behind. Otherwise, it is best to take the mulligan to try for a more acceptable hand.

Sideboarding

Azorius Control's sideboard is fairly straightforward. It mostly consists of other counters that you can board in against certain matchups. Disdainful Stroke is a useful counterspell to ensure a large payoff spell doesn't resolve - something that is common in Pioneer.

Pithing Needle is good to bring in against decks that run activated abilities like Mono Green Devotion and Rakdos Sacrifice. Rest In Peace completely shuts down multiple graveyard decks as everything is exiled when they're sent to the graveyard. Against decks that put a lot on the stack, Summary Dismissal is a good way to shut that down as it wipes the𝕴 stack away📖 and exiles them all.

Tech options like Hullbreaker Horror are excellent for the control mirror match as not only can it not be countered, it has flash as well to cast at any point. Once it hits the battlefield, since you cast so many spells it's easy to bounce multiple spells and permanents back to the hand with its effect.

Aether Gust is an anti-red and green card that slows them down greatly and should be brought in as a pseud🍃o-counterspell for decks playing those colors.

Mystical Dispute is another color hate card, this time for blue which gives you a counterspell you can cast for just one blue mana. Against control mirrors, this is especially useful in winning counterspell wars. Chome Host Seedshark is useful against matchups where you need a bit more of a board presence, as it turns all your 🥃noncreature spells - which almost your entire deck consists of - into token generators as well to have a large battlefield of tokens you can make into creatures.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Azorius Control is amazing at holding back whatever the opponent does. Its plethora of interaction generally lets it win against combo decks with ease and there are a plethora of ways to stop their main combos from going off. It is also great against most variants of midrange decks, as those tend to play a fair bit of creature removal - something you don't have to worry about since you barely play any creatures.

Where Azorius Control struggles the most is against Aggro decks. Since Aggro decks are built around winning as fast as possible, it's not uncommon for them to win the game by the time you draw enough mana to start interacting with them.

While board wipes can shut them down, many creatures in Aggro decks have haste that can finish the job despite this setback. To beat Aggro decks, Control requires being very selective with low-mana removal to stop the bleeding. However, sometimes this is too much of an ask, and that is why it's Azorius Control's worst matchup.

Next: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:TCG Release Dates 2023