Azorius Charm
UW Planeswalker Control – UW Control 
Joe Lossett
1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 12/7/2013
Lands (26)

Spells (27)

Planeswalkers (7)

Sideboard

Here we have a UW Planeswalker Control list  from Joe Lossett which is rather similar to the list we featured last week piloted by Stanislav Cifka at GP Vienna.  Joe showed us that his twist was well positioned against a varied Devotion field after battling through Mono Black Devotion in the quarterfinal, Mono Blue Devotion in the semi-final and then R/w Devotion in the finals.  The deck remains true to the UW core with full playsets of Jace, Architect of Thought, Sphinx’s Revelation, Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere all of which have proven to be vital to controlling the board and keeping ahead in card advantage.  The primary win condition is Elspeth which once you’ve stabilized the board can very quickly spiral out of control with a battalion of soldiers appearing by her side in trios, and additionally there is also a pair of Mutavaults to help out as well.  The permission package is pieced together tightly with Dissolve, Syncopate and Essence Scatter to hold the peskiest threats at bay.  The removal comes primarily from Verdict & Spheres but is shored up with some spot removal in Last Breath which covers a wide range of popular creature threats in the current meta.  We see Joe decided to go with two Divination for some additional card draw which has been a popular choice seen in years past.  There is also the very versatile Azorius Charm which can either cycle itself, bounce a pesky attacking/blocking creature to the top of the library or even grant your legion Lifelink in a pinch should you need a few extra points.  The final card that he squeezed in is a misers copy of Elixir of Immortality which is a great card to run for a variety of matchups as it can help you to really go long against other control matchups by recycling your graveyard into your library or giving you that boost of life needed to just stabilize and grab hold of the game against aggro matches.  Going forward I think that this list has a lot of the tools needed to fight through the meta and wouldn’t be surprised to see it continue to rise to the top.