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My first grade teacher once gravely warned the class against "playing ketchup."
At the time I wasn't really hip to words having multiple meanings, or even that disparate ones might sound the same. When she talked about how awful playing ketchup would be for our collective six-year-old futures I didn't yet have a conception of why this would be so bad. But I did have visions of glass Heinz bottles. What made those so seductive to play with? But yeah; their danger was evident: They could shatter and get jagged shards all over the place if you dropped one. Not to mention the ketchup itself would splatter our school uniforms red. It did seem kind of an odd warning though, as such play would never occur to me. I couldn't even get the ketchup out of one of those damned things.
Of course what she meant was "playing catch up"... She was warning our first grade class against falling behind... The precursor to that most pernicious habit of procrastination. It was one of those things that didn't make sense in the moment, but has stuck with me for more than four decades, at least mnemonically. That said, I didn't think about playing ketchup for probably thirty years from that point; until my friend and teammate Steve Sadin told me about his philosophy of picking decks while we were strolling around a New York City museum.
Steve is famous for the Billy Moreno Flash-Hulk deck (which he used to win Grand Prix Columbus). Even though Steve didn't actually understand how his combo worked through much of Day One (more knowledgeable opponents would just concede to the card Protean Hulk), he was able to help put the Legacy format "on the map" in terms of competitive play by actually winning the big event. A onetime Pro Tour superstar was the first person to put Steve on blast, forcing him to actually walk through his combo on Day One (this subsequently forced Steve to learn how the aforementioned combo worked). Sadin got his revenge in the Finals, beating Owen's puddly Goblins on the first or second turn.
Together Steve and I played a lot of beatdown decks and Burn decks. We'd slog through mid-range matchups figuring out how to gain an edge in long and grindy mirrors. So, I never took him for a Control player at heart. Which is why his call back to that First Grade lecture was so memorable for me as a Magic player. He ultimately did a great job in getting to think about Control in a different way.
"I highly prioritize [catch-up] mechanics," he said. "Cards like Wrath of God to get you back in a game after you've fallen behind in the early game."
Maybe this is obvious for you. But to me I was thinking about it like the score of a basketball game. The opponent is ahead. They're scoring a lot and getting their offense into place. But then your giant bottle of Heinz comes along and sullies all their jerseys. It might not zero the game back to nil-nil, but these kinds of cards can largely do what Steve described: They catch you up.
I started to notice things differently. Most successful Control decks utilize ketchup mechanics to some degree or other. To varying degrees they will also borrow curve elements from beatdown decks. Every time you see a Draw-Go deck with a Force Spike, that's a nod to the Sligh mana curve.
Therefore, most successful Control decks will utilize a combination of cheap interaction for the early turns, which is often just about keeping their life totals manageable, and then ketchup mechanics to really turn the corner. That part will almost always take the form of card advantage and / or life gain.
The most ketchup mechanics card in Standard is Beza, the Bounding Spring.
All this card does is catch you up! It depends on where you're behind, but Beza will get you cards, mana, life, and even bodies to block with, depending.
I've been kind of anti-Beza for a while; largely because I figured Horned Loch-Whale was better at a lot of Beza's jobs. Horned Loch-Whale is kind of a Ride's End against Heartfire Hero early (including not setting off the death trigger)... And then it can be a big and resilient body later. I figured you'd save as much life from Horned Loch-Whale's speed as you'd gain from Beza, and cheat in some card advantage from a blown Monstrous Rage along the way. I ultimately preferred Horned Loch-Whale against Omniscience combo because, as the potential finisher, it didn't make you play against them at sorcery speed.
Cori-Steel Cutter changed all that.
Cori-Steel Cutter is arguably the best card in Standard now; and if not the best, the most influential in terms of deck design and shaping the metagame. If you don't have a plan for Cori-Steel Cutter, the Cutter decks are going to open you up like an unlucky envelope. It doesn't help that despite being a Red artifact, this card is typically in Blue decks that have Stock Up to attack a game in multiple dimensions.
This brings me to...
Has there ever been a card that was pretty good but so dramatically increased its value in the format?
Temporary Lockdown is weak against Omniscience but bonkers against many of the other expected decks. Most importantly, it can answer early creatures from Monastery Swiftspear to a Slickshot Show-Off and Cori-Steel Cutter simultaneously.
When you conceptualize the potential returns on these two cards:
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You can play for and plan for dramatic returns specifically coming from the ketchup mechanics angle of deck-building. Thanks Steve!
But you have to play opportunistically. These cards don't do very much that's interesting unless you start off behind. You need to get beat up a little. The other player has to have a better battlefield. Can you get cards out of your hand? As a corollary, you also need to be able to hit your land drops because you'll need 
around turn three, and you really, Really, REALLY want 4 mana on turn four.
But if you put all that together, you have the makings for one of the better strategies in the Standard metagame.
Here's what I've been using:
Azorius Control | TDM Standard | Michael Flores
- Creatures (3)
- 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
- Planeswalkers (4)
- 4 Jace, the Perfected Mind
- Instants (13)
- 2 Negate
- 3 No More Lies
- 4 Get Lost
- 4 Ride's End
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Day of Judgment
- 4 Stock Up
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Temporary Lockdown
- Artifacts (3)
- 3 Soul-Guide Lantern
Export Arena
The main deck started from a CovertGoBlue Best-of-One deck. I mostly swapped out Rest in Peace for Soul-Guide Lantern.
Rest in Peace kind of sucks as a main-deck card. But Soul-Guide Lantern's fail state is a pretty good cycling card. Most people are fine cycling for 2 mana; and this card is even better because you can split the payment up over multiple turns. Soul-Guide Lantern also reinforces our theme of playing opportunistically.
Sometimes your Omniscience opponent will play a Meticulous Archive and bin the key 10 mana enchantment on turn one; and you'll drop Lantern and be 25% to the win on turn one!
It's also deceptively good against 
Cutter decks. You can take the only interesting card in the opponent's graveyard in advance of a Stormchaser's Talent Level 2. And then dare them to spend four mana for nothing later in the game.
But against regular Mice you just have a cheap card drawing spell that didn't do literally nothing (especially when drawn in multiples).
The Counterspell suite here is not what we've been playing with since Outlaws of Thunder Junction. But I don't mind it. When I won a $2k / RCQ last year with my best Counterspell was No More Lies. You just have to use your Counterspells opportunistically, knowing that even Mono-Red is going to be able to pay three in the late game. Don't worry; a Negate will stop their topdecked Lightning Strike (but not their topdecked Screaming Nemesis).
So is what I've been playing recently; and to great result. This is the best anti-Omniscience deck I've ever played. You have seven cards in hand (none of which are a Counterspell) a lot of the time, but the opponent doesn't know you're gripping every Temporary Lockdown and Day of Judgment. You messed them up already with a Lantern and they have to figure out how to beat your Lantern in play before proceeding. This buys a lot of time.
If the opponent uses Temporary Lockdown to set you up, don't forget you can just Get Lost in response to Abuelo's Awakening, and that can be a nasty surprise for them, and the Omniscience they just targeted. I'd brag that I'd never lost to Omniscience so far... But I got super cute on some Temporary Lockdowns yesterday AND careless with a Jace. That's a bad combination against a deck with both Counterspells of its own and a reanimation theme.
I think this is the best anti-Cutter / anti-beatdown deck I've played as well. Much, much better than the Jeskai deck that Roman and I talked about last week; and surprisingly, better than 
Bounce as well. I think that it's the combination of lots of Ride's Ends and lots of Bezas on top of the Temporary Lockdowns that all the strategies play that has done it. Not for nothing, but it's been good against Esper Pixie and flat-out great against Pixie so far.
Decks that kind of put pressure on you but then get out-classed in the card advantage department in the mid-game have real problems with this deck. You have a ton of Get Lost and Day of Judgment so cards that are the death knell in other matchups (Sheoldred, some kind of 6/6 Demon) are just another threat. Do you have to deal with them? Sure. Are they particularly harder to deal with than other threats? Not contextually; not for this deck.
So, what's been challenging?
I've found Mono-Black Control decks to be a medium matchup. You win some, usually in convincing fashion. You lose some, equally convincing. Basically, one of you will get a powerful card advantage engine or Planeswalker and the other one will get buried. I've gotten the game to nil-nil only to be buried by The Speed Demon the following turn. Who plays that?
The other deck that I was surprised to be demolished by was Jeskai. Roman had Azorius over Jeskai heads up, but this configuration with no Three Steps Ahead can be overwhelmed by one or 2 powerful cards in the late-late game. I sent No More Lies at a Jeskai Revelation... And then they just had another Jeskai Revelation the next turn. What? Who does that? In this Mouse economy? Might as well play two Doppelgang.
But that's the general angle of decks that beat you. Powerful threats that either sneak through unanswered, or powerful threats you can't answer because the game has gone so long. I haven't played a classic Domain deck yet, but I imagine if you're not cheating them to death with multiple Jaces, they're going to be ahead on the merits (luckily we have four Jace).
I haven't done this in a while but I really like this deck (plus I made you read about my first grade teacher) so here's a sideboard guide:
Red / Cutter:
- +4 Authority of the Consuls
- +1 Change the Equation
- +2 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie
- -4 Jace, the Pefected Mind
- -2 Negate
- -1 Day of Judgment
Day of Judgment isn't "bad" and it's actually useful for ketchup; but Authority is so overwhelmingly annoying for them AND they have to play into it. Just watch how many Authorities you play because you might have to reset them with Temporary Lockdown. As always, Boon-Bringer Valkyrie is the ultimate Urabrask's Forge failsafe.
- +1 Change the Equation
- +2 Disdainful Stroke
- +2 Mazemind Tome
- +2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- -4 Temporary Lockdown
- -3 Day of Judgment
Wilt-Leaf Liege is not "good" but the sweepers are all pretty bad, even if the opponent shifts into another strategy because Plan A is so weak here. You do need a way to win!
Disdainful Stroke is a good catch-all no matter what plan they're on. Change the Equation is shockingly relevant; just make sure you get it out of your hand while the getting's good.
Pixie Decks
It depends on build. Esper decks have This Town Ain't Big Enough; which is kind of awful with your Temporary Lockdowns. I told Roman I liked Lockdown against Orzhov Pixie at least, because it was the card I always discarded to Liliana.
You kind of want Day of Judgment in case they have bigger guys after sideboarding (and Orzhov always has 4/5s and 6/6s).
Mirror / Jeskai
- +1 Change the Equation
- +2 Disdainful Stroke
- +2 Mazemind Tome
- -4 Temporary Lockdown
- -1 Day of Judgment
You maybe want Boon-Bringer Valkyrie (especially against Jeskai variants)... You might want a Forge solution that doesn't involve having Authority in your deck. Or maybe you know your opponent is going to be on Forge and you want to punish their impertinence.
Disdainful Stroke is great because it answers their big threat, no matter which one it is - Dragon, Planeswalker, or ketchup Erhnam Djinn.
Big fan of Azorius right now. May your Mistrise Village force through that last Jace, the Perfected Mind in the mirror.
LOVE
MIKE
