Old School MTG: Colorless Vise Orb Control

 

This idea has been kicking around in my head for a while. I finally got around to putting a first draft together. I wanted to build (yet another) colorless deck, but this time I wanted to mimic a parfait control deck. The deck is trying to sit back in a pure defensive posture, tie up the opponent, and win with Black Vise.

This is a colorless deck, so I get to run the full compliment of Urza lands without worry. This works especially well under a Winter Orb. The Workshops and fast mana can result in a fast setup for control components. Mishra's Factory can be used mostly for defense here. And I have trouble justifying running less than 4 Strip Mine in a format that allows it. Stripping away early lands fits in nicely with what this deck is trying to do.

The deck is trying to land a combination of Howling Mine, Winter Orb, and Black Vise. This combo gets even better if I have a way to tap things down with Icy Manipulator or Relic Barrier. The tappers can be used to turn off Howling Mine and/or Winter Orb if the situation calls for it, or more aggressively to keep the opponent off mana.

Chaos Orb is good all-around removal. The three Maze of Ith are there to hold off opposing creatures or for pump tricks with the Factories. I'm not as solid on Forcefield and Meekstone, but I wanted to test both cards. Ivory Tower can add a buffer to my life total once the card draw starts rolling in. This can help against burn and other aggressive decks. Mirror Universe can also buy time against aggressive decks. Feldon's Cane is the back-up plan for if the game goes long and Vise isn't enough to get there.

Copper Tablet may be another good win condition for once the game is locked up. Vise feels better at this point because I can occasionally get silly hands with multiple Vise on turn 1. It also does more damage as the opponent (hopefully) gets stuck with cards in hand. And it's naturally great against control decks that want to draw/hold cards anyway.

I haven't had a chance to test this deck out yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how long I can stay alive!

Average Commander: Karn, Silver Golem (August 2020)

 

The database increased to 307 decks this month. The price for the deck this month decreased to $743.26.

The creature package did not change this month, but there were a few changes in other areas. Mana Crypt, which was the surprising swap last month, is out this month after being replaced by the new card Chromatic Orrery. This makes more sense for an average deck due to the disparity in expense between the two cards, but I'm not sold on Chromatic Orrery. Without access to the second mode (card drawing), it's a 7 mana artifact that taps for 5 mana. I would rather have a 2 mana artifact that taps for 1 in most situations. Vedalken Orrery comes out for the first time in months, replaced by Oblivion Stone. Another full board wipe can be potent, especially if your board is indestructible. As for lands, Urza's Factory is replaced by Ghost Quarter. I can count the number of times I've created an Assembly-Worker with Urza's Factory on zero hands despite running the card for months.

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