Standard: Temur Lands Control - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Recently, I wrote an article about Standard analyzing each archetype and how they're positioned in the metagame. Click here to check it out!

In this article, I mentioned a deck that has been getting excellent results in reasonably sized tournaments. It's showing us it can be one of the best decks in this format. I'm talking about Temur Control, or, how I prefer to call it, Temur Lands!

This strategy is centered around Worldsoul's Rage, and it is basically a ramp deck, but it also has a game style that can also be considered a Combo strategy.

Our main idea will be to create massive amounts of mana as fast as possible, and finish the game by dealing damage to your opponent directly with Worldsoul's Rage, which besides being a finisher is also part of our ramp game plan.

To accelerate mana as fast as possible and finish the game, we have recursion, like Aftermath Analyst, which will put cards in your graveyard with its ETB and can return all the cards placed there to the battlefield with its second ability.

Fallaji Archaeologist will also help us put lands in the graveyard, and can get for us a non-land, non-creature card in the graveyard that was put there by its ability.

Furthermore, Shigeki, Jukai Visionary adds recursion to this deck, besides helping us with the graveyard game plan. Nissa, Resurgent Animist is in this list mainly because of the mana acceleration it creates with its Landfall ability.

Spelunking is another interesting card in this build because it allows you to accelerate mana and lets your lands go on the board untapped, which can be incredibly powerful in certain situations. Virtue of Strength also fits the rest of the deck well, considering it guarantees us more recursion early game, and more ramp late game.

Ill-Timed Explosion is a very versatile card, considering it creates card advantage and can also serve as a board wipe, something that is essential in this strategy because you'll have fewer blockers than usual and you need to protect yourself against aggro decks. Vampires' Vengeance also controls the board, and Memory Deluge is the perfect card advantage engine for this type of deck.

This deck's mana base is quite simple. It has thirty lands - which may seem too much if we analyze its mana curve, but all of these lands are necessary to guarantee this strategy will work properly, considering most of these lands will go to the graveyard. Fetch lands are important because they allow us to manipulate our top deck.

In your initial hand, you'll prefer spells that feed your graveyard and enough lands to play the first steps in your game plan. This deck's game style is really similar to a control deck, but, as I mentioned early on, this deck behaves as a combo whose main pieces are lands and recursion - and we'll access them mainly through Aftermath Analyst and Worldsoul's Rage.

Worldsoul's Rage is also a combo piece or removal, depending on what you need. If you keep this in mind and you know how to sequence your plays with this deck correctly, you'll have no issues piloting it.

Vs. Esper Midrange

I consider this match quite unfavorable to Temur. Esper can attack Temur's resources with Deep-Cavern Bat and put on pressure early on with Raffine Scheming Seer. Not to mention, No More Lies is incredibly difficult to deal with, particularly in game 1.

Be careful with their most problematic cards and try to keep the board under control while you prepare your final blow.

Ill-Timed Explosion can turn the game around.

In

Out

Vs. Dimir Midrange

I consider this match to be even harder than Esper. Dimir can put pressure on the board faster and can create a lot of card advantage, besides the fact it also has counters. The idea in this match will be to control your opponent's threats and clear the board as soon as possible, always playing around a possible counter.

Once again, Deep-Cavern Bat is the worst card in this matchup, considering it deals with the resources in your hand while it puts you on a clock which, despite small, will soon be boosted by other low-cost creatures, like Faerie Mastermind and Spyglass Siren, which together can easily create an irreversible situation.

In

Out

Vs. Boros Convoke

This match will basically be a race against time. Boros will try to finish the game as fast as possible, and you need to survive long enough to clear the board, hoard some resources, and eventually win.

Trust your board wipes, use the extra life you get from fetch lands as best as you can, and don't be afraid to use your blockers.

It is quite difficult to deal with Boros' perfect curve, but post-side we have access to more interaction.

In

Out

Vs. Domain Ramp

This match is almost a mirror. These two decks want to speed up their curves as fast as possible. Domain can do this quite well, and if their creatures stick to the board when they need to, it might be difficult to win the game, but your opponent can also end up with dead cards in their hands and face an entirely different situation in which they'll be disadvantaged. Not to mention, this deck uses several tap lands and Temur can take advantage of this small feature.

Ill-Timed Explosion is an efficient way to deal with Domain's board if they start spiraling out of control, and, even if your opponent can gain some life, they'll still have to worry about the Galvanic Iteration + Worldsoul's Rage combo, which can easily deal thirty damage and up.

Entra

Sai

Vs. Temur Lands Control

The mirror will be defined by the quality of your draws and your initial hand. Whoever has the best early game and can maintain the same level of development throughout the game will probably be the winner.

In game 2, things can become a bit more complicated, depending on the opponent's sideboard and list, but it will basically be the same type of match. The Stone Brain will most likely win the game on its own, considering it can remove its opponent's win condition, so be careful because it will probably be used against you too.

In

Out

Temur Lands Control has proved to be a real option for this format, and each week has conquered more space. It represented 8% of the metagame in the last 14 days, if we consider Magic Online, Arena, and tabletop. It is a very interesting deck that offers a game plan which goes beyond the combat phase.

I believe we'll see a lot of it in a nearby future, and maybe see it at the next Pro Tour, which will feature Standard.

Leave your questions and suggestions in the comment section; I'll try to answer all. See you next time!