Shaping a New world: the Next Step

So, as I put over 3200 words into yesterday, I played UW Shape Anew all weekend. I don't like the current build and would much rather be playing White Sun's Zenith if I'm going for a draw-go style UW. A couple times I was stuck with only half the combo available, and other times I simply lost to Journey to Nowhere or Jace, the Mind Sculptor. On the other end of the spectrum, Blightsteel is incredibly powerful and caused people to scoop more than he actually attacked (insert P Chapin's rage here). So the natural transition of what color to pair with blue in our control deck brings us to black.

Here is what white offered us:
Master's Call
Day of Judgement
Condemn
Celestial Colonnade
Perimeter Captain
Oust
Journey to Nowhere

Here is what Black can offer us:
Inquisition of Kozelik
Duress
Doom Blade
Go for the Throat
Black Sun's Zenith
Creeping Tar Pit
Memoricide
Disfigure

So the notable elements we lose by going from white to black are having Master's Call drop in Shape Anew targets, and we lose a early drop wall. However, we gain some seriously significant cards, notably Inquisition of Kozelik, Duress, and Memoricide. This version should have a far higher percentage against control decks because of the hand/library manipulation, and because Creeping Tar Pit is fantastic at killing Planeswalkers. On the other end of the spectrum, we won't lose too much against beatdown because we have a sweet spot removal package with Blades of Doom, Throats that have been gone for, and some Disfigured faces. Also, Black Sun's Zenith is a fantastic piece of mass removal that we can caefully scale to kill all of Boros' creatures and leave us with an 0/1 Sea Gate Oracle. Here's my initial build:

4x Trinket Mage
2x Blightsteel Colossus

1x Everflowing Chalice
4x Shape Anew

2x Black Sun's Zenith
3x Go For the Throat

4x Inquisition of Kozelik
2x Duress
3x Spreading Seas

4x Jace TMS
2x Preordain

3x Mana Leak
2x Spell Pierce

4x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Drowned Catacombs
3x Tectonic Edge
4x Island
3x Swamp

Sideboard:
3x Grave Titan
2x Disfigure
2x Deprive
1x Elixer of Immortality
3x Memoricide
4x Doom Blade

Game 1 we want to appear like typical UB Control as much as possible. Game 1 Chalice won't get countered because it's just Everflowing Chalice... But after you combo off on them game 1, we have the option of becoming straight UB Control by cutting the Colossus for Grave Titan. I would do that in the UB mirror (makes their Memoricide miss) or against a Boros-type deck, where simply having the Board presence can save your life. I would not switch against a non-interective deck like Elves though, because they can't beat turn 4 Shape Anew anyways (T3 Trinket Mage, T4 Chalice for 0, Shape Anew). When you bring in Grave Titan, you can bing in Elixer of Immortality too so your second Trinket Mage becomes less awkward (although depending on what you're playing against you could cut down to 3).

The reason I feel the UB build is far superior is in the Inquisition/Duress package. Game 1 turn 1 you can scope out your opponent's hand, take out a mana leak or a Plated Geopede and you can also use it the turn on/before you want to go off, ensuring there's no awkward disruption in their hand so you can Infect with ease. That's also why I cut Not of This World from the Board because you can strip the card in question from their hand instead of using the Stifle.

So that's UB, what about UW? I present to you White Sun's Zenith.dec:

4x Jace, TMS
2x Gideon Jura
3x White Sun's Zenith

4x Mana Leak
2x Spell Pierce
2x Deprive

3x Everflowing Chalice

3x Day of Judgement
4x Preordain
3x Condemn
2x Journey to Nowhere

2x Jace's Ingenuity
2x Spreading Seas

4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Tectonic Edge
1x Mystifying Maze
3x Plains
3x Island
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Arid Mesa

Control decks these days are far more proactive than they used to be, compared to the days where your deck was all counterspells, draw spells, and manlands to win with. Jace, Gideon, and Spreading Seas are all sorcery speed disruption/control elements, but this deck has significantly more instant speed cards than we are used to in modern standard. 2 Jace's Ingenuity is a cool card because it ensures your mana doesn't go to waste when your opponent just plays a land and passes, and having it strip a counterspell is still getting good value! (And if you have a million mana you can cast it in response to another spell to grab a counterspell).

I have seen the dastardly things White Sun's Zenith can do (end of your turn mak 5 cats. Attack for 10, end of your turn make 6 cats), and at 6 mana you get 6/6 total, which is right what we would expect! After that it's nuts! 8/8 for 7? How about 16/16 for 11?

Until next time, stay classy!