[Standard] UW control

Honestly I am not a fan. I think even if you build this archetype in the optimal way it just fails to answer the obvious question of "why play this over Esper doom (or even dimir Yorion)?".

I do not want to dismiss this archetype outright, but I think at least now it is really unlikely this will be the best control deck. I do not think it is entirely impossible however. The foretell cards are all decent. It is just that putting these cards together and playing the obvious UW foretell deck does not seem that great to me. I think there needs to be something extra. Maybe UW yorion, or the deck being esper or something else entirely.

First of all I think it is really important to interact with the enemy early. That is what black provides and it is actually one of the key components of those. When you are on the draw versus rogues or gruul you must interact on the second turn if you want a decent shot of winning. The chances to win if an opponent has a decent draw and you do not cast Ruthless Act or Eliminate is really low and that is why the number of those cards played is increased recently in esper lists. When I am versus a deck without a companion I instantly think I am versus gruul and one of the important aspects of my starting hand is if I have a turn two removal.

In your deck (and other changed improved version of this archetype) the only good two turn things on the draw you can do is foretelling Doomskar or casting Glass Casket. And even Glass Casket is significantly worse than what black provides. Also I think your opponents will call the foretell bluff every time and will just play their threat anyway versus UW foretell. If you are versus gruul on the draw, and they cast two creatures in their first three turns and you foretell anything but Doomskar the game is close to over. And even on the play you are not doing anything spectacular.

Looking at the matchups this is how it looks to me. New decks might emerge, but the weaknesses/strengths will be the same versus other decks of the similar type. The gruul Matchup is very hard if you do not draw Doomskar. And even if you do it looks rough. ECD is not that great in your deck. You lose the free win Doom Foretold draws. Versus rogues it also looks really rough. No instant speed removal means you holding up mana for counterspells will not do much. Versus other control deck you have counterspells and draw cards which is good, but I am not sure it is amazing. You have counterspells, but they have things that must be countered and I would much rather be in their position. Cosima isis a powerful card here and it will surely steal some games, but is that enough? You lack the removal which is a good thing in this matchup, but I do not think that advantage is overwhelming. They still have a free card in the companion and decent card advantage too. You do have a better matchup than esper agains the RUG ramp/obosh at least because you have more counterspells versus the ultimatum at least.

/r/spikes Thread