Welcome back to Brewing in a Top Hat! Today we are diving into a very powerful list that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms has unleashed on the meta. It is a Control deck that aims to lock your opponent out of the game with the potent combination of The Book of Exalted Deeds, Faceless Haven, and Chance for Glory.
Since Faceless Haven is a changeling, we can put the ability from The Book of Exalted Deeds on it, and if you then use Chance for Glory your Indestructible Enlightened Haven lets you not lose from the Chance for Glory trigger. Most importantly, if you’ve ever wanted to see how low your life total can go, then this is the deck for you to try.
[sd_deck deck=”E-S0Gt7BJ”]
Card Selection
Into the North: Of course you can tutor a Faceless Haven, but don’t write off the snow duals. We very much need white mana.
Lightning Helix: The ultimate removal spell for us. The three life gain triggers our Book to make an angel, and slows the clock against aggro. Futhermore, this can halt the growth of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, which is one of our biggest threats to our combo.
Coldsteel Heart: Unless you need something else, always pick white. I can’t emphasize enough how much white mana you need in this deck.
Mazemind Tome: Life gain and card draw? Sign me up! It can also smooth out your draws if you are seeing a lot of early pressure. Don’t be afraid to scry if you need something specific. We usually side this out for more specific things games 2-3, but this is a great game 1 card.
Search for Glory: This tutor can search both sides of our Prison combo since Book is Legendary and Faceless Haven is snow. Not only that, but it can gain enough life to trigger the Angel.
The Book of Exalted Deeds: …done dirt cheap.
Bala Ged Recovery: Get back that pivotal combo piece, or just make sure you have a green land.
Cultivate: Again, I can’t emphasize this enough, unless you need the red or green, search for double white. There will be times where you wish you had upwards of 8 white mana.
Klothys, God of Destiny: We use this as one of our win conditions so we don’t have to wait for a deck out. It is also great at keeping us alive against aggro and there are enough graveyard strategies out there (looking at you, Phoenix) that having some hate in the main deck is good.
Chance for Glory: I threw this in as a meme for fun, but it is so much stronger than I thought it would be. Giving the land indestructible in perpetuity is almost impossible to overcome (remember, the buff doesn’t last until end of turn – it lasts forever). Giving yourself an extra set up turn to play the Book then activating it the following turn is another strong play, and the book keeps you from losing.
Deafening Clarion: Of course you can board clear with this, but it can also give an angel or a Faceless Haven lifelink to trigger the book if you need to go wide.
Day of Judgment: The deck needed a strong boardwipe to handle Gruul aggro and Selesnya Coco. Wrath of God works too; use what you have.
Chandra, Awakened Inferno: Another win condition, and this one can’t be countered. With the popularity of Jeskai Control, she really puts in work.
Gnottvold Slumbermound: Because some people still have Field of Ruin in their sideboard, and we don’t like that.
Faceless Haven: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Sideboard Guide
Jeskai Control
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +4 Fry | -1 Day of Judgement |
| +4 Shifting Ceratops | -2 Deafening Clarion |
| +2 Rip Apart | -4 Lightning Helix |
| -3 Mazemind Tome |
Notes: Prioritize Shifting Ceratops. They cannot handle that card at all. Save your Frys for Teferi. Leave Narset be, she can’t remove our land like he can.
Phoenix
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +1 Rest in Peace | -1 Day of Judgement |
| +1 Authority of the Consuls | -3 Mazemind Tome |
| +4 Shifting Ceratops | -2 Deafening Clarion |
Selesnya Coco
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Day of Judgement | -3 Mazemind Tome |
Gruul Aggro
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Day of Judgement | -3 Mazemind Tome |
Jund Sacrifice
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +1 Day of Judgement | -3 Mazemind Tome |
| +1 Rest in Peace | |
| +1 Authority of the Consuls |
Tips and Tricks
My Faceless Haven keeps getting removed when I try to combo! Help!
The obvious answer is wait until they tap out, but sometimes they just won’t. Your best bet when that is going on is to wait until you have a backup Haven/Book or cdb_tooltip name=”Chance for Glory” then bait it out. This is one of those scenarios I was mentioning where you need 8 white mana, and is surprisingly common against Jeskai Control. Patience is key. Don’t jump the gun because you’re anxious. They’ll make a mistake and your cards will come.
I have the combo out, what threats might my opponent run that can deal with it?
The big one is cdb_tooltip name=”Teferi, Hero of Dominaria”. He is very popular and his ultimate can exile an indestructible land.
Why so much Jeskai Control hate in the sideboard?
That was a meta call. I am a big proponent of constantly adjusting your sideboard to match what you face the most, and I played Jeskai control in a whopping ~75% of my games on the climb from Platinum to Mythic with this deck. If you aren’t seeing as much Jeskai as I did, adjust the side to better suit what you are facing.
How do I make my opponent realize they can’t win and concede?
I can’t help you there. I wish I could. The number of games I was roped out with this deck was staggering. I have never been BMed as hard with any deck I’ve ever played. Not even Field of the Dead drew this kind of ire. Proceed with caution, and don’t start a ranked game unless you can play the full timer out. On the bright side, it gave me plenty of time to test out the amazing new sticker emotes that came in the last patch.
Other Cards and Budget Options
Here are some other cards that I tried and evaluated for you. Some were playable and some, not so much. Adjust for your collection to craft the version that works best for you, without blowing all your wild cards.
Heroic Intervention This is a decent budget replacement for cdb_tooltip name=”Chance for Glory”. The indestructible not being permanent is a considerable downside, but the hexproof is nice.
Pact of Negation Why pay that mana back? It’s not like you’re gonna lose…
Gilded Goose Ramp that can also gain 3 life to trigger Book to make Angels? Not bad. HONK.
Anger of the Gods A fine replacement to Deafening Clarion. Maybe even better because it can exile stuff.
Wish I tested it. I wanted it to be good. It’s not. It’s too slow.
Chaos Warp Sideboard option that gets around the mirror match, should this deck ever get popular enough.
Justice Strike If mono black starts using more copies of Phyrexian Obliterator then this will see some sideboard play, but for now it’s not as popular as some other fatties in mono black.
