[ET] Feln Control - Top 3 Ranked Deck

Hello folks, this was the deck that I played primarily for the December ranked season after a bit of experimentation with some off-the-radar ideas. One of my goals was to ascertain whether Feln Control was actually as bad as I thought it was, or if there were some elements that we were missing.

As you may have noticed, the deck has completely cut Feln Bloodcaster as the card felt exceptionally low impact in the majority of matchups and especially against Midrange decks. Cutting the card left me a lot of room to tinker with the list and I ended up settling on this one. Let's go over the cards:

Sabotage - Gives you a lot more game against Xenan Obelisk strategies as well as Armory. Knowing when it is correct to cast this card in each matchup takes a lot of experience and depends a lot on the game-state. Overall, this helps deal with some of the weaknesses that Feln has to Relics and Relic Weapons.

Seek Power - Only a 2-of since the deck is 2 faction and has access to very good Favors. The added utility from the Favors adds more than the slight improvement in consistency you would have from playing 4 Seek Power.

Annihilate - A 4-of in a very heavy Time metagame, right now I like 3, I don't think you should ever go below 2 and that would have to be in a metagame that is very heavy on multifaction units.

Eilyn's Favor - A great bit of utility from your Powerbase. Against certain decks the face Aegis can be extremely problematic such as Chalice or most Combrei-based decks. It helps stop opposing Sabotage, Azindel's Gift, Channel the Tempest, and can occasionally save you from burn.

Lightning Storm - Currently playing 4, I could see going down to 3 if there aren't very many go-wide decks but in general you are happy playing 4. The card scales in most matchups quite well due to it's combo with Withering Witch. Draw 2 of these vs. most go-wide decks and you win on the spot.

Vara's Favor - Always 4, amazing card. Removal for 2/1s from your Powerbase which also gains life.

Extract - This is one of the cards that has taken up the free slots. Extract is just a lot of different effects rolled into 1 card. It kills most of the important early-game threats excluding a snowballing Awakened Student on the draw or a Siraf, it helps smoothen out your draws, it can destroy a relic weapon, gives a little bit of surprise reach when closing out tight games, and gives the deck another source of lifegain besides Black Sky Harbinger. Overall, a fantastic bit of utility and interaction all in one card. With that said, the card can be a bit slow and a bit low impact as the game goes on, so I would not go above 3.

Wisdom of the Elders - One of the few playable card draw spells, always 4.

Deathstrike - Between a 3 and 4 of. You aren't exceptionally happy playing this card, but it get's the job done. If the metagame is extremely heavy on high-value multi-faction threats, add the 4th over the 3rd Annihilate.

Feeding Time - Between a 1 and 2 of. Slow spell removal at 4 is pretty bad, but I do like the additional anti-recursion aspect that Feeding Time has to it for when you do not draw your Stewards of the Past. I like playing 2 Feeding Time before the 4th Deathstrike, but I do not think I would ever go up to 3 as playing 7 4-power hard removal spells will lead to a lot of clunky hands.

Steward of the Past - Extremely pushed creature that trades with any midrange threat while hosing Dawnwalker/Haunting Scream/Reanimator strategies. Always 4.

Champion of Cunning - Your main way of ending games. Against anything except Praxis priotitize PPPPP before SSSSS. Enough has been written on this card that I will avoid rambling. It's one of the main reasons if not THE reason to play Feln.

Swindle - Another of the cards that are new, Swindle is not a great card, but Feln can proc Spark relatively easily between Deadly units that the opponent is reluctant to block, evasive threats, and ping effects. Swindle helps add both more fuel in the lategame and smooth out the midgame turns from 4 to 8.

Withering Witch- Between 1 and 3 depending on how fast the format is. Probably your best card against Midrange board-swarm decks. It's hard for them to play around the card and it will win you the game on the spot a lot of the time if you clear away a well-developed Midrange board. With that said, it's quite slow and a bit low impact vs. Control decks so if the format is too fast or too heavy, I would decrease the amount of Witches.

Black Sky Harbinger - Win condition vs. Aggro, card is fantastic, always 4.

Azindel's Gift - Primary win condition vs. Control. Card is disgusting and wins you games you have no business winning. It's also the only way for Feln to effectively beat Chalice or other ultra-heavy lategame decks like Vodakhan Combo. I play 2 instead of a Celestial Omen-Azindel's Gift split as Celestial Omen walks into the Eilyn's Choice that Chalice usually plays as 4-of.The deck has sufficient anti-aggro interaction that you can afford to play this card. It's just too powerful. With that said, if the metagame has very few slow decks - cut to 0.

Vara, Fate-Touched - 2 to 3 copies. You almost never cut Vara unless you plan to only beat Aggro. It's your best card after Champion of Cunning, mostly because it often acts as Champion of Cunning #5 and #6. It of course has additional utility beyond that and if it sticks will spiral a game completely out of control within a turn or two for the opponent. If there isn't much Harsh Rule or hardcore removal-spam decks in the metagame, feel free to play an additional copy instead of other late-game choices.

Cards that Don't Make the Cut:
Feln Bloodcaster - Too low impact, too susceptible to Aggro's early interaction. Terrible vs. Midrange and extremely expensive for a mediocre effect vs. Control. The card is definitively between Mediocre to Terrible depending on the matchup.

Channel the Tempest - Too expensive, it's better than Azindel's Gift as top end against Time Midrange decks but it's worse in most other slow matchups. You can't reasonably play 8-10 7+ cost cards without sacrificing your Aggro matchup.

Celestial Omen - See Azindel's Gift explanation. It's too expensive for what it does and most of the cards you play are just individually powerful instead of narrow-but-extremely-powerful so tutor effects lose a lot of their value. A tutor for 4-power is already questionable, a tutor for 6-power is just suicidal tempo loss.

Thunderstrike Dragon - This is actually a card that should be played over Azindel's Gift if the metagame is sufficiently Armory heavy. Being a 5/6 it blocks Icaria as well as dodging the dreaded 5/x weapon which kills the rest of your unit base. With that said, right now there isn't much Armory.

Metagame Tuning:
vs. Midrange: -2 Azindel's Gift, +2 Channel the Tempest.
vs. Aggro: -2 Azindel's Gift, +2 Suffocate
vs. Armory: -2 Azindel's Gift, +1 Thunderstrike Dragon, +1 Vara
vs. Control: -2 Extract, +1 Sabotage, +1 Vara

The deck is old enough and well known enough that I won't go into detailed strategies here, but I may be writing an article for RNG Eternal soon that will go more in-depth into Feln Control for those unfamiliar with the archetype so stay tuned.

UPDATE: Entered Masters at Rank 4 for December on Day 2 playing almost exclusively this list. Did a 1-1 Gift-Channel the Tempest split once I hit Diamond 2 as I was facing more FTJ and Armory White decks, Channel is a nice compromise in this case as it's less instant win vs. Control but provides a far more solid card vs. Armory and Midrange decks.

Statistics for Gold III to Masters:
Wins: 66
Loss: 46
Total: 112
Win Rate: 59%