Those of you looking for version 2, copy and paste this link to find it: http://www.mtgvault.com/ursaigaming/decks/ormendahls-control-v2/
"Ormendahl's Control" is my original take on the Black/Blue meta in Shadows Over Innistrad standard. As someone dipping his feet into the waters of Friday Night Magic, I was very nervous about entering the competitive scene as a newer player. As you can imagine, my first night was completely unsuccessful - I came in 10th place, within a tournament of 15 total players. Crumby at best. I was inspired to learn from my obvious mistakes to create a deck that would show my local meta that I was not just another kid on the block; I wanted to show them all I meant business.
The deck's origin took off from a poorly built Black/Blue control and removal concept that was rather clunky (i.e. foolishly including a play set of Sphinx's Tutelage despite the lack of synergy). I discovered the card Rise from the Tides, and I knew I found something special. My deck rapidly became a zombie creating machine - opponents were absolutely irritated as I refused to let them play anything before I smashed them with my hoards. But something was still missing in terms of the deck's competitiveness.
I recently took a deeper look at Brain in a Jar, and everything suddenly clicked; on turn 7 you can Dark Petition for 1 mana to get a Languish, Languish all the opponents creatures for essentially 1 mana (thanks to the spell mastery of Dark Petition), and then on turn 8 play Rise from the Tides for 1 mana while using the rest of your mana to summon Ormendahl, the king of comebacks. This suddenly produced an interest between myself and some close friends of mine, and it was then I knew I finished a top-placing deck at my local meta.
Is it beatable? For sure - no one is ever completely safe in a card game. But this is a strong improvement on my long road to success in the Standard format of Magic: the Gathering. Not to mention, this deck is hilarious for everyone watching and an absolute joy to play. See below for my extremely detailed guide on how I recommend you play the deck, based on my testings. If you guys would like a Deck Tech video on "Ormendahl's Control," I could easily make one available on YouTube.
DECK LIST WAS LASTED UPDATED ON: 6/15/2016.
*Warning: This guide is very in-depth, which I apologize for. It is very extensive because if you are able memorize or consider these tips in game play, you will maximize your success. Updated on 6/15, 2016.
STARTING HAND:
First off, let me regard the starting hand: THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF HOW TO PLAY THE DECK/GAME. The starting hand sets up the entire game for you; your inability to critique the starting hand accurately could cost you a win. This is especially true for "Ormendahl's Control," because we can not afford to spend any extra turns setting up for the win condition.
Ideally, your starting hand should consist of:
- 1+ Brain in a Jar
- 2+ lands that do NOT enter tapped (under any circumstance)
- 1+ counter/removal spell, OR an Anticipate/Nagging Thoughts
Having a Brain in the Jar with the 2 mana you need to play it is quite essential. It makes the game flow so much smoother, and in play-testing, has been more-than-worth a mulligan; or two! Having the counter/removal spell(s) provides time, which hopefully you do not need a lot of. Anticipate or Nagging Thoughts both help provide flow of cards, and are more reliant than Artificer's Epiphany (due to the 1 extra mana).
TURN 1:
You most likely won't do anything with this turn unless you fidgeted with the sideboard. I recommend dropping an Island if you have one, but a Swamp works well. If you can reveal either to play an untapped Choked Estuary, go for it - even then, since we most likely won't play anything this turn, it isn't a bad idea to throw down the Choked Estuary just to make sure it is untapped when we need it to be. Sunken Hollow sucks here (as opposed to turn 3), but if you need to play it for 1 of your 2 mana to get the Jar, so be it.
TURN 2:
You have to make a huge decision here. With an ideal starting hand (see above), you COULD play your Brain in a Jar here; another way to play is to wait and see what your opponent does. On their turn, you could try to play a Horribly Awry to stop their setup as it begins - if they fail to actually play anything, playing an Anticipate at the End Step of their turn means you didn't waste your time completely. For all intents and purposes, let's say you chose to play the Brain in a Jar.
TURN 3:
You now should have 3 mana and a Brain in a Jar. It is a good idea to put a charge on the Brain in a Jar on this turn, because we most likely won't be playing anything with the Jar this turn and we need it to get some charges fast. With your other 2 mana, you could whip out a counter or removal spell on your opponent's turn to make sure they don't get to set up; your only other option is to play an Anticipate or Nagging Thoughts, which can provide you with more of the necessary cards.
TURN 4:
With 4 mana (ideally) and your Jar (which has 1 charge), you can now be a little more sneaky with your Jar. Fun fact: You can activate the Jar on your OPPONENT'S turn if you'd like. The Jar essentially turns your counter/removal spells (or the bulk of them, anyhow) into a 1 mana card, making it easy for you to harass your enemy. Furthermore, you still have 3 extra mana - with this, you can play more counter/removal spells, use a Ruinous Path specifically to take out a target (hopefully you save the Path for Planeswalkers only), or get more cards with Artificer's Epiphany.
TURN 5:
If you have 5 mana, you are doing absolutely amazing. Your Jar now has 2 charges, meaning you could play a Languish or Hedron Archive and still pull-off another charge. What does that charge get you? A 1 mana Void Shatter, Spell Shrivel, Ruinous Path, or even a 1 mana Epiphany. Quick side note about the Void Shatter, though - it is your strongest counter spell, and should be used as such for MAJOR threats only. Having the Hedron Archive would be AWESOME at this point, simply because the ramp fuels our win condition; if not, a Languish is acceptable too. Just make sure you are doing something!
TURN 6:
This is where things get slightly weak again. This turn doesn't promise you anything special; assuming you have 5 mana, a Jar with 3 charges, and a Hedron Archive, you are in a good spot. This turn is rather useless, sadly - the only thing the Jar can produce for the 1 mana is Languish, and theoretically we should have already played 1 or both of them (assuming it was necessary to). You still have to put a charge on the Jar, however. One option is to sacrifice your Archive if you have yet to draw a Dark Petition; otherwise, I would try to save the Hedron Archive. Just make it to turn 7 and things start getting a little crazy for the opponent.
TURN 7:
You made it. At this point, we are hopefully rocking 5+ mana, a Jar with 4 charges, and hopefully an Archive. There is only 1 unique card in the deck that you could use the Jar for this turn - a Dark Petition. With only 2 copies in the main deck, perhaps you struggled to find one due to not playing a lot of Anticipate or Artificer's Epiphany. Just know that if you can play a Petition, the game just got 10 times better for you. Use the Jar to play the Petition on your turn; grab yourself a Languish, if possible, or a Rise from the Tides as your second option. You would be doing something horrifically wrong if you do not qualify for spell mastery - by using the 3 black mana, you can pay 1 more to activate Languish, which ensures your opponent has nothing to protect them and gives us another future zombie token. Even still, you should have up to 5+ mana to fiddle with until turn 8, which is when we should win - one thing you could do (if possible) is play the second Hedron Archive.
TURN 8:
Now is the beginning of the end. The Jar summons your zombies for 1 mana, and the rest of your mana can be used to summon Ormendahl, the Profane Prince. If for whatever reason you are the most unlucky human on Earth and did NOT draw a Westvale yet in the game, sacrifice one Archive to draw 2 cards. Odds are, you can land a Westvale and drop it to immediately transform it. IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT TURN 8:
- You should not drop a land at the beginning of your turn if you do not have a Westvale Abbey down; you need the Abbey to come down ASAP.
- All of your zombies enter tapped, which means while they CAN be sacrificed for Ormendahl straight away, they won't necessarily protect you on your opponent's next turn.
- In an extremely good scenario, fulfilling this combo properly could still leave you with as much as 1, 2, 3 or more spare mana - make sure you plan ahead to use this mana defensively.
TURN 9 AND ONWARD:
Continue preventing your opponent from doing anything. Make sure you keep attacking with Ormendahl, who will boost your health and melt your opponent's. Start new Jars if possible, and if you don't have a good hand or need something in particular, you could take the first Jar and pay 3 mana to remove 5 charges from it to scry 5. If your opponent is freaking you out with their own army, play some more Rise from the Tides. There are 30 instants and sorceries in the deck, meaning at most 1 Rise from the Tides produces 29 zombie tokens. Furthermore, casting all 4 in 1 game could produce up to 110 zombies at maximum; let's see your opponent shake that off lightly.
OTHER TIPS/POINTERS:
- Void Shatter is the strongest counter spell in the deck, and using it to stop some minuscule card is an utter waste. Save it for things like Ulamog, Collected Company, Seasons Past, any Planeswalker, etc.
- You have removal, so you shouldn't need to use counter spells on creatures unless really necessary (for example, larger Eldrazi-ramp creatures, or a mass summoning of token creatures).
- Use Dark Petition effectively. My personal favorite combo is to use the Petition to grab a Languish, then play Languish for 1 more mana - evidently, your opponents will not always have creatures on the field to make that combo logical. Another option is to pull a Ruinous Path, which is then free to play; I highly urge you to save your two Ruinous Path for Planeswalkers, but if you are in a pickle and need to focus a creature, by all means go ahead. The obvious "worst case" would be to grab a Rise from the Tides, which perhaps you could play that turn or just wait until your next turn if the Jar is prepared for you. Fun fact, using Dark Petition with the Jar to get the second Dark Petition does NOT add any bonus mana to your pool with spell mastery - it actually zeros out.
- Knowing when to sacrifice your Archives is tough, even for me. The 2 mana are a huge holster that provide tempo support, but in a sudden moment, perhaps you are interrupted by a sudden mana flood issue. In these cases, as much as it stinks, sac'ing the Archive could pull you something that could potentially pay off for the sacrifice later on.