1) Introduction

Since the advent of FIRE design, it seems that control decks without a clear win condition struggle to find a place in Legacy. All threats must be addressed promptly, and small card advantage over time can easily be undone with an opponent's strong topdeck. Having played Jeskai Wizard for several months, I realized how difficult it is to close out games with a single main deck Forth Eorlingas! . As a control deck enthusiast, I’ve recently had success with the U/W Blink deck.

U/W features the blue cantrip and counterspell suite (+Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar , of course!) along with death-and-taxes like grinding potential. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Quantum Riddler form a strong value package of independently efficiently costed and flexible creatures.

The strength of U/W Blink comes from its ability to adopt a ressource-denial role through cards like Daze , Wasteland , and Stifle , while still retaining access to traditional control tools - efficient removals and powerful card advantage. The key to the deck, as typical of midrange decks, is understanding the role we need to play based on the matchup and the game itself. In this guide, I’d like to discuss the choice of certain cards and the approach to take against specific decks.

2) Decklist choices

2.1) Main Deck

• Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd : probably the strongest card of the deck. This doggie is far more powerful than it looks. Phelia blinks our own Riddler, opponent's tokens, Chrome Mox or Chalice of the Void .
• Quantum Riddler : the interaction of Riddler and Phelia is not reserved to Modern. It's important to remember that its static ability also affects the draw step or any draw effect and can stack. It also shapes Brainstorm in Brainsurge easily.
• Stifle : not powerful enough to see play purely to snipe fetchlands, storm triggers and the occasional ETB trigger, but the interaction with Riddler and Phelia warrants a playset.
• Consign to Memory : a strong sideboard card against colorless decks and many combos, it can also scam in Riddler and turn Phelia into Utter End .
• Teferi, Time Raveler , Snapcaster Mage : two strong targets to flicker, they are nice 2 for 1 that can become 3 for 1 with Riddler or Phelia.
• Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar : honestly, just a strong card that doesn't fit well with the rest of the deck. The interaction between Riddler + Phelia can flip Tamiyo at the end step, which can cost an uptick.
• Ponder , Brainstorm : more than draw spells, they are the deck’s core selection tools. They smooth draws, help find lands early, and locate specific answers or threats when needed. As Christian Rothen says, “people don’t shuffle enough with Ponder''.
• Force of Will , Force of Negation : the usual counterspells from Legacy, the presence of 3 x Riddler can incentivise to pitch-casting Force more aggressively than usual but it's clearly not comparable to the value of Up the Beanstalk decks.
• Swords to Plowshares : best creature removal ever-printed, the lifegain is quite annoying and many lists try Path to Exile or Erode instead, which doesn't work well with our mana denial gameplan.
• Wasteland : Wasteland works perfectly with the Daze/Stifle mana denial plan. Unlike most tempo decks throughout history, this deck can also make good use of the colorless mana it produces.
• Mystic Sanctuary : it's either Mystical Tutor for free on an untapped fetchable island or a tapped island on turn 1. The possibilities with this card are nearly endless
  (like putting Stifle on top of the library in response of a Riddler draw trigger in order to make it stick) at the cost of some clunky opening hands. It's a strong one-off.

2.2) Sideboard

The choices of the SB cards will be detailed on the relevant matchups, but this list presents some choices and interactions :

• Containment Priest : when Priest and Phelia are on the battlefield, her trigger is basically Utter End . It's important to keep in mind that blinking our own Riddler with Phelia while Priest is on the battlefield can lead to unwanted situations.
• Stony Silence : most of the combo decks we want to punish can remove artefacts more easily than enchantments, that's the reason we don't play Null Rod , but against Ugin, Eye of the Storms , the card is way less good. So the choice between those two depends mainly on the meta you're expecting to face.
• Surgical Extraction : only one piece of graveyard interaction ? Well, not really, 2 x Containment Priest already help on that angle. The reason we play Surgical over any other hate pieces is mainly because of the Lands matchup and the instant speed ability against Oops all Spells.

3) Matchups and Sideboard Guide

3.1) Mirror Match

+ 1 Flusterstorm / + 2 Prismatic Ending

- 1 Force of Negation / - 2 Force of Will

The Daze / Force of Will dance depends strongly on the play / draw. I didn't play this matchup often but it can go easily to time, because both players have tools to prevent the other from snowballing. It's quite tricky to flicker your own stuff with Phelia because both players play 6 Stifle-effect.

3.2) Sneak and Show

+ 1 Flusterstorm / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade / + 2 Hydroblast / + 1 Force of Negation / + 1 Celestial Purge

- 4 Swords to Plowshares / - 3 Daze

Mainboard, we should trust our 5 Forces to come and assemble a quick clock, either Tamiyo Ultimate or lethal damages via Phelia + Riddler.

The sideboard brings many tools. We side out the Swords for Celestial Purge and Hydroblast , that can clean Sneak Attack and Hexing Squelcher . Beside that, between Lavinia, Azorius Renegade and Containment Priest , we are well prepared. Stifle and Consign to Memory are also great at stopping Atraxa, Grand Unifier ETB trigger. Be aware that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn can be cast from an Omniscience , while Lavinia is on play. Overall the matchup feels in our favor, as long as we can assemble enough pressure.

Some lists play Blood Moon or Magus of the Moon , but we are already prepared enough against those cards and they don't impact our sideboard. Just fetch conservatively.

3.3) Combo U/B Doomsday

+ 1 Flusterstorm / + 1 Force of Negation / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

- 4 Swords to Plowshares

Phelia + Stifle is already a solid removal by itself and it doesn't feel needy to keep Swords against the "No Fear Doomsday" lists. Against tempo doomsday, Swords stay in.

Daze feels good on the play and on the draw in this match up : we already pressure their lands with Stifle and Wasteland. They also have a low land-count, around 16.

Lavinia, while being very good against their Counterspell, Lotus Petal and Dark Ritual + Doomsday, can also apply a bit of pressure, which is needy against them.

Despite the 6 Stifle-effects, we should not let Doomsday resolves if we can prevent it because we can't fight Jace, Wielder of Mysteries .

3.4) U/B Tempo

+ 1 Flusterstorm / + 2 Prismatic Ending / + 1 Celestial Purge / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

- 4 Force of Will / - 1 Force of Negation

Orcish Bowmasters is the terror of the matchup. With a Riddler in play, we should pay attention to not fuel the Bowmasters with our draw step. Because U/B plays 4 Thoughtseize, Force of Will is quite mediocre against them. So far, U/B tempo seems to be favored against us, and sadly, it's one of the top tier decks, but our engine is stronger than them and the Stifles play nicely against the ninjutsu ability of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares .

3.5) U/R Delver

+ 2 Prismatic Ending / + 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 2 Hydroblast

- 4 Force of Will / - 1 Force of Negation / - 1 Tamiyo

Quantum Riddler is a good wall against their gameplan by blocking DRC for ages. Their strongest card against us is by far Cori-Steel Cutter , which can provide value just by staying on the battlefield. Beside that, we can create more value than them and take as many 1 for 1 as we feel like, because our deck can recover more easily.

Our counterspells don't have great targets and protect mostly our stuff ; in this role, Daze is very efficient. Tamiyo is strong but mostly as getting back Swords from the graveyard since it dies easily to their removal and pressure.

3.6) Painter

+ 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 1 Stony Silence / + 2 Prismatic Ending / + 2 Hydroblast / + 1 Celestial Purge

- 3 Tamiyo / - 2 Stifle / - 3 Daze

This matchup feels pretty good. Our main deck is already strong against them. Postboard, Wrath of the Skies is generally a game-winning play. We sideout Daze, which is not very effective : some list play Simian Spirit Guide and most play Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors . Stifle doesn't have big targets but still combines with our tools, like Phelia and Riddler. I personally find that Tamiyo is especially washed in this match up.

The dynamic against painter is interesting : we are a blue deck, so we are weak to their main deck Pyroblast , but our most effective tools are white, so we can bypass this restriction. They are three ways we can loose against them :

1) Goblin Welder activation.

It's the scariest card of the matchup and it's important to respect it. Postboard, we have 9 removals against it.

2) Saga Constructs beatdown.

Because of the blink effect of Phelia and the -3 of Teferi, we are already prepared preboard, not counting the 4 x Wasteland. Postboard, if you resolve your Wrath, you win.

3) Get stuck by a sneaky Blood Moon or Magus of the Moon

Some lists don't play them anymore but you should always keep those cards in mind while fetching.

As you see, we are well prepared against each of those plans. It can get tricky when we have to face them at the same time, like fighting a Welder while being under a Blood Moon. To avoid this, it's important to close the game quickly and force them to waste resources, because we have ways to refill when they don't.

3.7) Lands

+ 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 1 Surgical Extraction / + 1 Force of Negation

- 3 Daze / - 3 Stifle

It's once again a matchup in which Phelia shines by itself. It can blink their Mox Diamond , Construct Tokens and even Pithing Needle , for a one time activation. Wasteland is very precious and should not be wasted to pressure their mana. Karakas is an important target for our Wasteland.

As always, the Force of Negation and Surgical Extraction should be reserved to target Life from the Loam . Despite our 3 Basic Lands, we can suffer from their mana denial gameplay and the Life from the Loam engine has to be disrupt. Same goes for Choke which can be very annoying.

The Prismatic Ending is a good answer to Exploration and Sphere of Resistance as well, especially because you can pull out the trick of playing Prismatic for one mana + one mana of the Sphere's Tax. If Lands is a popular deck, one could reach for [[Harbringer of the Seas]].

3.8) Oops all Spells

+ 2 Containment Priest / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade / + 1 Surgical Extraction / + 1 Stony Silence / + 1 Flusterstorm / + 1 Force of Negation

- 4 Swords to Plowshares / - 2 Tamiyo / - 1 Phelia / - 1 Teferi, Time Raveler

Preboard, the 6 Stifle-effects give us a good answer to their gameplan but we are as weak as any other blue decks on the draw. Postboard, we are stocked with disruption. The main issue in this matchup is surviving the first two turns. Beside this limit, between the Containment Priest, Lavinia and Stifle, we can lock them very quickly. The Stony Silence helps against the Belcher gameplay and can also deny Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox .

If the opponent is on a tempo sideboard, we can switch 2 x Lavinia, Surgical and 1 x Stony Silence for 3 x Swords to Plowshares.

3.9) Cradle Control

+ 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 2 Containment Priest / + 2 Prismatic Ending

- 3 Daze /- 1 Force of Negation

Preboard, our counterspells should mainly target Sylvan Safekeeper , Natural Order or Grist, the Hunger Tide . Cradle often plays one Karakas that will meet our Wasteland.

We bring the Containment Priest postside to deal with Natural Order and Green Sun's Zenith , but keep it mind, and it's very unfortunate, that Grist bypasses the Containment Priest restriction if you search it with Natural Order or Green Sun.

3.10) Mardu Energy

+ 2 Prismatic Ending / + 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 1 Celestial Purge

-1 Force of Negation / - 4 Force of Will

Well, if you face this deck, you probably encountered a Modern Player and you have not much time left to play. The easiest way to lose is to not respect their speed. This deck can be pretty fast and their 2 x Karakas can deny our Phelia easily. Our counterspells are not very good against them, mainly because most of the cards are redundant and they do nothing against Amped Raptor . They are also blanked by Hexing Squelcher and Voice of Victory . Many lists run Thoughtseize as well.

The Hydroblast are not very efficient against them but you can always bring them in if you like. On the draw, you can trade 3 x Force of Will for 3 x Daze, mainly to protect our Riddler from their Swords to Plowshares

3.11) Dragon Stompy

+ 2 Hydroblast / + 1 Celestial Purge / + 1 Stony Silence / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade / + 1 Force of Negation / + 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 2 Prismatic Ending

- 3 Daze / - 4 Tamiyo / - 4 Stifle

The deck doesn't see much play anymore but still exists. Phelia can annihilate their Chalice of the Void, by blinking it and making it counter all their 0 mana stuff. Preboard, Stifle can be used to counter a Chrome Mox trigger if it feels needy, but the card is not efficient against them.

Tamiyo is not good here because it requires too much set up for getting pyroblasted. It also doesn't affect the board in a fast way. We mostly side out Daze because if they pay it with Simian Spirit Guide , it feels like a big loss.

In a vacuum, their most powerful threat is The One Ring - creatures can be answered generally on a one for one basis. Blood Moon can also be strong, but with can operate with one Plains and one Island . Prismatic Ending can also target their 3-mana stuff while Blood Moon and our basic lands are on the battlefield.

3.12) Saga Storm

+ 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade / + 1 Stony Silence / + 1 Force of Negation / + 2 Prismatic Ending / + 1 Celestial Purge

- 3 Daze / - 4 Swords to Plowshares / - 2 Tamiyo

Our main deck 6 x Stifle-effect are quite effective against Saga Storm, but it can be not sufficient against their discard spells. I already lost a game with 3 x Stifle in hand because they were able to Duress me three time the turn they combo off. As against Painter, the Saga Construct gameplan can be efficient but our sideboard is quite tuned against it. Celestial Purge is optionnal, it can trade against Wishclaw Talisman or Necrodominance . Overall, the matchup feels in our favor but we have to stay attentive.

3.13) Trini Tron Karn

+ 2 Wrath of the Skies / + 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade / + 1 Stony Silence / + 1 Force of Negation / + 2 Prismatic Ending

- 3 Daze / - 4 Swords to Plowshares / -1 Tamiyo

This deck is quite new in the legacy format but looks like the old Mystic Forge decklist. I don't have much experience against it but our maindeck 2 x Consign to Memory seem very strong. Beside that, I would adopt the same hate as against the artefact decks.

4) Various

What about Flow State ?! Yes, the card has seen many plays in legacy recently but I feel like this iteration of U / W is not well suited for welcoming it. It fits way more in the Thoughtseize decks. Despite that, many lists try now to play [[Lorien Revealed]] and some Prismatic Ending to augment the sorcery count.

I didn't want to spend too much time discussing the ''hands to keep'' and the ''hands to mulligan'' because, being a blue deck, almost all hands are perfectible. Despite that, in almost no situation, we can keep a hand with no blue source. Our deck can operate without white but not without blue.

In conclusion, this iteration of U / W, despite not playing Jace, the Mind Sculptor , feels to me like the most interesting Brainstorm deck in Legacy. Stifle is an absurd card and feels either like a piece of P9 or like a junk draft bulk. This deck abuses it in a way I have never experienced. On a local tournament, I kept an opening hand with 4 x Stifle for the joke and got to use them all on before turn 5. In open decklist, it's funny to see opponents fetch surveil lands in their main phase to avoid getting stifled. You can then punish them with Wasteland .

I want to say a big thanks to Alexander Maier's Article, which I copied the structure and which gave me the inspiration to write this one and also to my friend Kyle Matoba, who peer-reviewed it and provided many useful comments.

Thanks as well to the EUL for providing an awesome tool that links players and organisers around our interest for the game. I hope this guide can inspire some other ones.

Thank you to my friends from Wallis, with who I can practice and improve in legacy weekly. And finally, let me tell you the pleasure you have when you can split your finale with your teammate :

For that, thanks to Basic Land Go, my new - and already successful - team.