Capping Control Slaver

You've read many articles recently about Control Slaver variants. I'm here to add my two cents with a card you may not have considered: Jester's Cap. You know, the funny clown-looking card from Ice Age. It's no joke when this hits the table, especially considering that many prominent Vintage decks are one trick wonders. Consider that just one early Cap activation will strip all the threats from these decks:

* TPS (1x Tendrils of Agony, 1x Darksteel Colossus)
* Control Slaver (2x Mindslaver, 1x Platinum Angel)
* Meandeck Oath (1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath, 1x Spirit of the Night)
* Long Death (1x Tendrils of Agony, 1x Burning Wish)
* Dragon (3x Worldgorger Dragon)
* Kobold Clamp (3x Tendrils of Agony)

Of course this works best if you can play an activate it early, but it costs less to Cap someone early than it is to Mindslaver them and the deck is named after Mindslaver, right? With some combination of Moxen, Black Lotus, Sol Ring and Tolarian Academy you should be able to get a Cap on the table early. Often an early Capping against one of these decks moves your opponent directly to the scoop phase.

So what happens if your opponent already has their key threat in hand? This is where Force of Will, Mana Drain or Mindslaver come in. If you know your opponent's deck (and after reviewing their entire library, you should) then you will know which threats you absolutely have to counter. If you have removed most of their threats from their library already then your counter magic should be that much more effective.

Even if you do play an opponent who actually has more than three threats left in their library or threats in hand the psychological effect of being able to catalog their library and remove three of their strongest cards cannot be underestimated. For example, I recently played this deck at an unsanctioned Vintage tournament. In game one against a rogue Scepter Chant build I thought my opponent was actually going to slap my hand after I activated the Cap and reached for his library. "What the heck are you doing," he exclaimed, "I've never seen Jester's Cap before in my life!" His face grew long as I reviewed his library and he considered the repercussions of a good Capping.

Jester's Cap also avoids the problem with Mindslaver: any Slaver player has had the experience of activating a Mindslaver and expecting to wreck your opponent when in fact you see that they just have a hand full of land or threats which you don't want to see hit the table (like their own Mindslaver) and which you can't counter. Yes you do get to see their hand but somehow tapping their land and saying "go" isn't the most satisfying way to spend their turn.

OK, so how about the deck list?

--Mana Sources (22)
1 Black Lotus
2 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Wasteland

--Artifacts (8)
3 Jester's Cap
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
2 Mindslaver
1 Sol Ring

--Spells (21)
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
2 Mana Drain
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

--Creatures (9)
1 Duplicant
4 Goblin Welder
1 Memnarch
1 Pentavus
1 Platinum Angel
1 Triskelion

--Sideboard (15)
1 Echoing Truth
1 Lava Dart
3 Pyroblast
2 Rack and Ruin
4 Stifle
4 Tormod's Crypt

There are a number of differences between this build and the standard Control Slaver builds. First, I'm only running two Mana Drain. This was a tough decision but again based on the observation that many Vintage decks only have a few win conditions. If you're facing an uber-fast deck such as Kobold Clamp or Oath which can go off turn one or two then you really have to mulligan until you get Force of Will/random blue card, or a Stifle after sideboarding. Against other decks you should have enough time to find a Force of Will or Mana Drain to counter any key threat, which sneaks past the Caps.

Second, I made room for two Wastelands and a Strip Mine. Just one of these can slow down decks that rely on Bazaar of Baghdad, Mishra's Workshop or Tolarian Academy enough for you to get and activate the Cap to strip their threats (or make room for your Academy). Without Bazaar of Baghdad, Dragon has to work a lot harder to set up their combo, and Stax is significantly slower without a Mishra's Workshop. I had to sacrifice the Darksteel Citadels to work these in but without some way to slow down a Workshop-based deck such as Stax you will have trouble keeping up with it.

Third, I'm not including Boseiju, Who Shelters All main deck or sideboard. If they're countering your artifacts you can just Welder them back anyway. If they're countering your search then they have one less counter for your threats. If I'm facing an opponent packing a lot of counter magic then I can board out some of my more specialized threats (Duplicant, Memnarch) and board in the Pyroblasts. It's fun to counter a Force of Will for R.

Fourth, no Fact or Fiction or Skeletal Scrying. These are slow card drawing spells and you already have better options in the deck (Thirst for Knowledge, Ancestral, Brainstorm, Intuition). Also I do not like the way Skeletal Scrying strips your graveyard of Yawgmoth's Will targets. These make room for the two Intuition.
My build also uses a significantly different sideboard than other Slaver decks. I chose not to go with the Cunning Wish/fill the sideboard with instants strategy. Between Jester's Cap and counter magic you should be able to either strip or counter their threats. For rogue decks or decks with multiple threats (including more diverse Welder-based decks) the sideboard concentrates on graveyard removal (Tormod's Crypt) and combo-disruption (Stifle). I usually swap these for these are Tinker, Duplicant, Memnarch, and possibly even a Mindslaver or a Cap. If you're facing a deck that can go off before you can then Mindslaver/Cap such as Kobold Clamp or Oath them then you need to stop the turn one or two threat, then set up for the endgame. Having access to Stifle is absolutely essential against the various Storm-based decks popping up and Tormod's Crypt is key to the mirror match and Dragon. Lava Dart is also useful in the mirror and Echoing Truth is for random threats that you can't deal with otherwise---it's good to have a backup plan in case you face something you're not prepared for. It can also buy you a crucial turn against Oath.

I hope this article has given you something to think about as you consider the optimal build of Control Slaver for your metagame. I like this Jester's Cap version for players who like to be a little more aggressive and prefer to take control of the game rather than just countering threats as they are played.