In the recent Magic: the Gathering tournament called MagicFest Online – Season 2 Finals held last Saturday, May 9th, the deck that got into the Top 8 which is the only deck under the control category is the one piloted by Brazilian Pro and Hall of Famer Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. He is known by his username PVDDR and the deck he played in the event is the Bant Yorion Control. A few of his top finishes in major tournaments were using control decks so it is no surprise that he preferred to play this archetype in the Standard metagame.
The deck is themed on the companion Yorion, Sky Nomad, which requirement is that the starting deck contains at least twenty cards more than the minimum deck size.
Check out the decklist below:
37 LANDS
4 Breeding Pool
1 Castle Vantress
4 Fabled Passage
2 Forest
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Mystery
4 Temple of Plenty
5 CREATURES
2 Brazen Borrower
3 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
17 INSTANTS and SORC.
2 Dovin’s Veto
4 Growth Spiral
4 Mystical Dispute
4 Neutralize
3 Shatter the Sky
21 OTHER SPELLS
4 Elspeth Conquers Death
3 Narset, Parter of Veils
4 Omen of the Sea
4 Shark Typhoon
2 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
SIDEBOARD
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
2 Dovin’s Veto
4 Glass Casket
2 Knight of Autumn
4 Nightpack Ambusher
1 Shatter the Sky
1 Tale’s End
Having an 80-card maindeck means the ratio of the lands to the spells is adjusted to that number. Also on its second ability, the combination of the nonland permanents should also be considered. The good thing nowadays is just we let the pros do the deck building and just check on the first version of the deck and playtest it.
In this deck setup, we have a few enchantments and planeswalkers that Yorion can blink when it enters the battlefield. Elspeth Conquers Death and Teferi, Time Raveler are known card staples in these types of decks, and Narset and Omen of the Sea make sure that you still get your needed spells in specific scenarios. The deck is also equipped with ten counterspells so the matchup against midrange and other control decks is covered.
Probably the popular win condition of this deck is the Shark Typhoon enchantment which can generate a school or a game of flying Shark tokens that will finish off opponents.
The deck finished in the Top 4 of the event which is quite remarkable as the next batch of Yorion control decks is in the Top 32 places respectively.
That is a wrap for this deck feature, until the next blog post.
