This deck feature for today is the deck that has been consistently doing a good finish but is short of the top 8 in the last two Grand Prix. The deck has been re-popularized by Jason Ascalon, who is one of the Pinoy pro players that is now currently residing in the US. His recent finish was at GP Phoenix wherein he went 9th place. Here is his recent decklist:

Main Deck
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
2 Mutavault
2 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Triumph

1 Ætherling

3 Azorius Charm
3 Counterflux
4 Detention Sphere
3 Dissolve
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Revoke Existence
4 Sphinx’s Revelation
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Syncopate
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
4 Jace, Architect of Thought

Sideboard
3 Archangel of Thune
2 Blind Obedience
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Celestial Flare
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Stormbreath Dragon

I tried the deck on last Friday’s FNM and went 3-1 and the deck really proved its advantage versus the typical Blue White and Esper lists. Counterflux is the key card in these matchups, which always wins in the counter war.

The sideboard is more of switch to the creature plan with Brimaz and Fiendslayer Paladins. These are for the Mono Black and Boros Burn matchups respectively. Black will more likely to cut their creature removals in favor of card discards so at most times Brimaz will be left unchecked. Paladins’ lifelink on the other hand, will negate most of the burn spell damage though you need to protect it from potential blockers like Boros Reckoner and Stormbreath Dragon.

It has been a while since I played a control deck in Standard and I can say that I am very impressed with the deck’s setup. I would really suggest this archetype if you are going to your next major Standard tournament and expecting a lot of the current Tier 1 decks.