Control in its purest form has always appealed to Magic players. From Brian Weissman's "The Deck" of 1996 to the ever familiar Gomar of today, control decks have flourished in every environment. These decks focus on countering the opponent's threats with countermagic, refill their hand with card drawing and use one large fattie to seal the win. Of course, not all control decks fall into place that easily, but the basic blueprint is the same.
With Apocalypse's addition of ultra-powerful (yet enemy-colored) cards, counter-based control decks have had a hard time keeping to the once-norm of Mono Blue, or even two colors. The end result is a slew of diverse, yet all similar control decks. Today I'm focusing on Blue/White/Black, and its most common form - Gomar.

Gomar

4 Counterspell
4 Dromar's Charm
2 Absorb

4 Wrath of God
4 Vindicate
4 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Fact or Fiction

4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Spectral Lynx
2 Desolation Angel

2 Dromar's Cavern
3 Skycloud Expanse
3 Caves of Koilos
4 Salt Marsh
4 Coastal Tower
4 Underground River
4 Adarkar Wastes

Here it is, folks, the generic Gomar.

The first thing that might jump out at you is the fact that it only plays ten counters. Who needs that many counters when you're Wrathing/Vindicating what slips through anyway? Mass removal like Wrath of God is sometimes better than counters against aggressive decks that rely on lots of creatures to win. If you can eliminate multiple threats with one card, you've achieved card advantage, which wins games. Excessive amounts of counters just aren't needed. Also, Dromar's Charm is much better in this deck than Absorb (or the non-present Undermine). The fact that it can double as removal is essential in dealing with Meddling Mages and the like. The life gaining aspect, mostly useless, can serve as a last resort against aggressive decks.

Gerrard's Verdict is a card you may or may not see much of in these decks. I personally find that they are a great threat in the control-on-control mirror, and can simply be sideboarded out against aggro. In desperate circumstances you can always Verdict yourself for some life. Again, they are an instance of card advantage, the key to winning against control.

Wrath of God and Vindicate are pretty much given, as are four Fact or Fictions. Not much of a surprise when you see four Shadowmages and Lynxes, eh? Finkels are the most expensive card in Type 2 for a reason.

Finally, we have Desolation Angel, the finisher of choice (over Dromar, the Banisher). The reason I chose Desolation Angel over the Dragon we all know and love is because it simply seals the win by itself when cast, whereas Dromar allows the opponent time to find an answer. Just be careful when playing with the Angel for Terminates and Repulses.

The mana base for the deck is not much different than that played by Jon Finkel at the Invitational. At the cost of 1 Caves of Koilos and a Darkwater Catacombs, I added two Dromar's Caverns for painless, multicolored mana.

Sideboard options include Hibernation, Gainsay, Duress, Disenchant, and maybe even Dodecapod (against the odd Red/Black deck that might pop up out of nowhere).


The next deck I'll look at is a build of my own, based on the Upheaval/Zombie Infestation combo. The deck functions very much like Extended Trix decks, playing the control game until they can go off and win the game.

Count Chocula (I know it's lame as hell, just trying to stick with the cereal name rule for combo decks)

4 Upheaval
4 Zombie Infestation

4 Counterspell
4 Dromar's Charm
4 Undermine

4 Vindicate
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Duress

2 Swamp
3 Coastal Tower
4 Salt Marsh
4 Underground River
4 Adarkar Wastes
6 Island

This deck is mostly untested, but so far it has done fairly well. It has enough "must counter" spells to win against control (Duresses help too), and can stay alive long enough against aggro to pull off a game-winning Upheaval.

The reason I'm playing Undermine is because the deck can't support Absorb (it would increase the emphasis on White mana, which is the tertiary color) and Syncopate just isn't good enough when you need a hard counter. They also add up, and can back up Zombie and Finkel beats.

The deck has problems with aggro-control (like the Tempo decks in my last article). Since it has no mass removal, this deck has an especially tough time dealing with Mongooses (or Mongeese) of the Blurred and Nimble variety. Any real threats backed up by countermagic can spell trouble for Count Chocula, so be sure to prepare for any Tempo decks that may show up.


Let's take a step back and look at some control decks of the recent past. Blue/White control, before the release of Apocalypse, was a powerful and viable deck. However, it simply couldn't survive in plain two-color form any more.

4 Counterspell
4 Absorb
4 Power Sink
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Wrath of God
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Tsabo's Web
3 Dismantling Blow
3 Blinding Angel
2 Thwart

2 Dust Bowl
4 Coastal Tower
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Plains
10 Island

Ah, good old Blue/White control. Of course, this is from the 2000 States time, before Masques rotated out.

This deck has the same basic elements as Gomar. Counter and Wrath as many threats as you can, and then lock up the game with Blinding Angel, all the while refilling your hand with answers with card drawing. I played a deck similar to this at Provincials (or "States" for you Americans) of 2000, and made Top 4.

Side note: I would've made Top 2 if I hadn't made a mistake. I was playing against mono-White Rebels, and he baited me with a Sergeant, which I stupidly countered. I was unable to counter the Armageddon that followed. Sigh. It's things like those that remind you that how much you suck.

This deck was fairly popular in the Type 2 season before Apocalypse. The addition of many powerful enemy gold cards basically said "play us or deal with us". Since neither were really possible, UW promptly died to the sea of Vindicates, Spiritmongers, Pernicious Deeds and Prophetic Bolts.


All in all, Blue/White/Black decks are and will be successful in the upcoming Type 2 season. it's the only true control color combination, and the control players will definitely be satisfied with Gomar variants.

That's all for today. Next time...the swarm that is Red/Green.