VELINDRA SEPULCHRE CONTROL

SAMPLE DECKLIST BY: Niles Rowland, DMF Orlando Top 8

2 Kel'thuzad

4 Mana Sapphire
4 Blizzard
4 The Taste of Arcana
4 Spell Suppression
3 Mystic Denial
3 Roaring Blaze
2 Conjured Cinnamon Roll
4 Meltdown
3 Engulfing Blaze
3 Counterspell
1 Mana Shift
4 Nether Fissure

4 Wub's Cursed Hexblade
2 Gladiator's Regalia

2 Undercity

4 A Question of Gluttony
4 The Fel and the Furious
3 The Boon of Alexstrasza

Difficulty Rating: 4.5/5. When playing Mage, especially with absolutely no allies and
minimal ways to apply pressure to your opponent without landing a Kel’Thuzad and/
or Gladiator’s Regalia, you have to work very hard at grinding out incremental card
advantage through countering their important spells or by overwhelming them with a
late-game bomb. The problem that many players run into when piloting a deck such as
this one is that they tend to stumble somewhere during the game and try to deal with
every single card that their opponent tries to play instead of focusing on the cards that
are actually relevant. Your objectives can also radically shift depending on what deck
archetype you are up against, which makes control mage a poor deck for someone that
does not have impeccable knowledge of the current metagame.

Une variante:

Comments on matchups to follow second similar list:

SAMPLE DECKLIST BY: Matt Walsh, Darkmoon Fair Orlando Top 8

2 Kel’thuzad

4 Dethvir the Malignant
3 Sivandra Darklust
4 Broderick Langforth

4 The Taste of Arcana
2 Mana Shift
2 Mystic Denial
3 Nether Fissure
4 Brittilize
4 Blizzard
4 Mana Sapphire
3 Spell Suppression

2 Gladiator’s Regalia
4 Wub’s Cursed Hexblade

3 Undercity

4 A Question of Gluttony
4 The Boon of Alexstrasza
2 Darkness Calling
2 Rituals of Power

Difficulty Rating: 4/5. While jamming extra allies into Velindra doesn’t make it that
much easier to play, it does give you a comfort zone when playing against certain
archetypes, especially aggressive strategies that revolve around allies that can be
controlled by Broderick swings. Walsh also chose to pack another Undercity in this list
as well, mostly due to the large amount of undead allies that were not present in Niles’
decklist.

Probable War of the Elements inclusions for the above decks: Arcane Barrage. This card is a 2 for 1 powerhouse and the perfect answer to Vuz'din, one of the decks greatest fears.

Key cards against aggro: Blizzard, Broderick Langforth, Brittilize, Undercity, The Taste
of Arcana.

Aggro Matchup: Mostly favorable (aside from Aberration Aggro). Against aggro,
especially more popular “all in strategies” like Witch Doctor Koo’zar and Bogmara, you
usually mulligan for a hand with some amount of these cards, as the early
pressure these decks can put on you is insane. The good news for the Mage pilot is that
cards like Broderick and Blizzard can very easily put you in the 2-for-1 or more range
as far as card advantage is concerned, which can cripple a large amount of aggressive
strategies that rely on vomiting their hand on the board as early as turn one.

Certain cards get a lot worse when going against certain aggressive decks however,
such as Blizzard against Chaigon Steelsight Aberration Aggro, while certain cards can
be absolute blowouts, such as Broderick Langforth against any sort of blue aggressive
strategy.

Key cards against midrange: Kel’Thuzad, Sivandra, Dethvir, Mystic Denial, Gladiator’s
Regalia

Midrange Matchup: heavily favorable. Most midrange decks won’t put enough pressure
on you to do a substantial amount of damage, aside from slower versions of Emek,
which is one of your tougher matchups. The key to winning most midrange matchups
is to know exactly what you want to counter and when, and to literally not worry about
anything else. The game should end when you are able to resolve a Kel’Thuzad against
most red decks, which makes your prime directive to live until you can KT and take a
smattering of high cost allies and take control of the game from there. You also have
a large amount of card advantage in Mana Sapphire, which lets you be aggressive in
digging for answers for problematic cards later on during the game, which is extremely
important, especially if you put an opponent on the wrong deck or archetype and need an
answer to an unexpected threat.

Another key card against midrange decks, especially against some of the slower red ally
decks without equipment removal is Gladiator’s Regalia. The card is an absolute blowout
against Warlock if it resolves, as it turns off Munkin Blackfist, which is usually the only
way that Warlock midrange decks can deal with equipment at all. Regalia also solves
other problematic allies such as Saurfang, Dethvir, Thrall, and many more.

Key cards against control: Rituals of Power, Mana Sapphire, Mystic Denial, Nether
Fissure

Control matchup: varies. Subdivided:

Druid: Pretty close to unwinnable, unless they are playing a version that packs
more direct damage effects, such as Starburst. Druid just has an infinite amount of card
advantage and threats, which usually leaves you trying to find a way to kill them while
they still have seven cards in hand to your two. Ysera, Avatar, Band of Channeled Magic,
Innervate, and Netherbreath Spellblade are all atrocious for you and great for the druid, and Band
of Vile Aggression resolving without an answer by the time the Druid pilot can activate it
is usually enough to end the game.

Death Wish: Depends heavily on the Mage player’s build, and how skilled both pilots
are with their respective decks. Death Wish can still easily just nut draw you out of
nowhere and end things relatively easily, especially against poor hands, and dealing with
a resolved form of card advantage is usually pretty difficult for the Mage player. Mage
can also easily draw multiple copies of Britillize and have the Death Wish pilot miss
their turn one Guardian’s Plate Bracers, which allows The Taste of Arcana and Blizzard to
come online.

Mage: Also depends on both players decks and relative playskill. Mana Sapphires and
well-timed Interrupts are paramount here, as even the slightest amount of card advantage
for your opponent could put you in a tight spot. Save your Nether Fissures for Master
Heroes such as Kel’Thuzad (especially if you are playing red allies,) and Ysera, or Mana Sapphire's, as
without Spell Ricochet (a card that has been played in the past,) there is little way to
counter Fissure, which makes it one of the most important cards in the entire matchup.