Alessi Control (Top 200 Masters!)

Hi all! I am so pumped to share this deckles with y'all. Alessi has been one of my favorite cards since it's release and I miss the days of good Alessi decks. After seeing Pause for Reflection I felt that there was something there. And here we are! Currently 21-3 and I feel that this deck can be a power house! So let's dive in with the creature selection

4 Alessi, Combrei Archmage - The namesake of the deck. Since we are more control than aggro, having her in the early turns is less important. I like to build a strong card selection and board presence before playing her out so that we can keep her protected.

2 Desert Marshal - This is here as a get out jail free card. Shadow Icaria is one of the best cards against out deck and this helps lessen the blow. Could be Equivocate for more spells, but the body is nice since we are low on creature count.

Merchant is merchant. No need to talk about it!

4 Crownwatch Press-Gang - Gives us Alessi 5-8 and a good body that is hard to kill. Instant 4-of.

4 Saber-Tooth Prideleader - Solid Controlish card. Good body, Good cost, amazing ability. Relic giving you trouble? Kill it. Aggro deck beating your face in? Gain life and, more often than not, kill it. Ambush is also key here as we want to leave power up so that we can react to any situation.


I'm not going to write on every spell we use, because a lot of them are self-explanatory. But the key ones will be below.

4 Pause for Reflection - Amazing tempo card. Kind of like a mini Prideleader on crack. Bounce a problematic creature or relic and gain 3 life. Save Alessi, pump her, gain 3 life. You cannot go below 4 of this card.

Pristine Light / Harsh Rule - I was having trouble with big bois and super fast aggro. This 2/2 split alleviated that problem immediately. Harsh Rule may look weird, but hear me out. We are a control deck first, aggro deck second. We want a clear board and for an easy path to victory. This card is able to get rid of problem cards and allow us to slam ales with back up.

Korovyat Palace - Draws cards, makes Alessi big, makes another creature. Easy 4-of.


Our Market is where I try to be proactive. Sodi's Spellshaper and Sword of Unity are there to pressure opponents, Bastion of the Dawn helps with advantage while pumping Alessi, Shen-Ra Speaks for more answers and Nahid's Distillation for the control match up.

Now onto the match up guide.

S/x Icaria - Your worst match up by far. 60-40 against us. SO much removal. Never run Alessi out without PFR/Unseal/Stand Together back up. Desert marshal shines against Icaria and Prideleader is bonkers against Eremont.

Red Sligh/SS Aggro - Favorable match ups. We have a ton of great removal for their small threats, they have very few fast answers so a well timed Prideleader or Alessi into PFR is back breaking for them.

Control - I don't know how we ever lose to control. Our suite is just so proactive against them that the only way we lose is if we draw all of our removal and none of our good cards in the matchup.

Vox decks - This matchup feels about even, maybe slightly unfavorable. Harsh Rule and Shen-Ra Speaks are vital to keeping our way clear. Sword of Unity does wonders here since the majority of their creatures are small and overwhelm can just get us there most of the time.

There are other decks I could write about, but these are what you will mainly see on ladder! Have fun! Let me know what you think in the comments below!