Sultai Control — Standard Strategy Guide

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Archetype Overview

This list took 2nd Place at Cup 3, a Kadou event in Beijing on November 1, 2026, with 265 players, played by user Masayasutanahashi. It's a three-color control deck that treats its graveyard as a second hand. You answer what your opponent does early, and your discards and milled cards become the most powerful plays you make later in the game.

What the deck is

Sultai Control runs 25 lands, 19 noncreature spells and 16 creatures. The black and blue core handles removal, discard and card flow, with Bitter Triumph, Requiting Hex, Duress and Theorix Charm doing the early work. Green is a light splash that exists for two cards, Awaken the Honored Dead and Fangkeeper's Familiar, and it's worth the mana base because the first of those is a remarkable three-mana card.

The payoffs are the reason to play the deck. Superior Spider-Man costs four and enters as a 4/4 copy of any creature card in any graveyard. Deceit gives you a bounce effect and a discard effect, depending on the mana you spend, and it can be evoked for two to put itself in the graveyard. Uldaros Theorix is a 5/5 flyer that can cast copies of cards from your graveyard for free when you cast him.

Why the plan is strong

Every piece of your card flow doubles as setup. Steamcore Scholar and Winternight Stories both ask you to discard, and they ease that cost if you discard the right card types. That's exactly what you want: discarding a Deceit or Uldaros Theorix looks like card disadvantage, but those cards are waiting for Superior Spider-Man. Awaken the Honored Dead answers any nonland permanent right away, mills three the next turn, and on its final chapter it can turn a spare card into your best creature or a land.

That gives you two separate routes to a powerful midgame. If you hold the right cards, you can hard-cast them on six mana. If you don't, you can often get the same effect two turns earlier out of the graveyard for four. Few answers cover both routes at once.

The removal suite is also broad. Requiting Hex cleanly handles cheap creatures, Bitter Triumph handles nearly anything that's a creature or planeswalker, Theorix Charm flexes between a soft counter, a shrink effect and digging, and Deadly Cover-Up resets the board when you've fallen behind.

Where it sits in the field

The only thing this guide can say about the archetype's results is limited: Sultai Control placed 2nd at Cup 3 behind Dimir Aggro, which won that event and also placed 3-4 and 5-8 (source: MTGTop8 event results, Nov 1, 2026). The wider Standard field is led by Jund Sacrifice with 21 of 144 Top 8 slots and Dimir Aggro with 20 (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). So you should expect fast pressure from cheap creatures, and this list's cheap answers line up with that.

Who should pick it up

Pick this up if you like planning several turns ahead and tracking both graveyards. You'll make more decisions per game than with most decks, especially about what to discard and when to spend a graveyard resource. It suits players who are comfortable taking some early damage in exchange for a dominant late game.

Skip it if you want a simple deck with a clean mana base, because three colors with shock lands and Starting Town can cost you real life. It's also not the right pick if you expect heavy graveyard hate at your event. Plenty of opposing sideboards hold cards that exile your graveyard, and this deck loses a lot of its power when that happens.

Core Strategy & Game Plan

You win by trading early, building a graveyard as you go, and landing threats your opponent has already spent their answers on. You're reactive for the first three or so turns, then you turn the corner quickly with a 4/4 or 5/5 that carries extra value.

The engine

1. Stabilize cheaply. Requiting Hex, Theorix Charm, Duress and Bitter Triumph let you interact on the first two or three turns.
2. Dig and discard. Steamcore Scholar and Winternight Stories draw cards while putting your payoffs in the graveyard. If you discard a qualifying card to either, you only discard one instead of two.
3. Convert. Superior Spider-Man copies the best creature card in either graveyard. Awaken the Honored Dead returns your best creature or a land to hand on its last chapter. Uldaros Theorix casts copies of several cards for free.
4. Close. Flying attackers do most of the work, with Uldaros Theorix and Steamcore Scholar in the air and Restless Reef as a land that can attack as a 4/4 with deathtouch.

The Deceit and Spider-Man line

This is the combination to learn first. Deceit looks at the mana spent to cast it. Two blue gives you the bounce on another nonland permanent. Two black gives you the discard from your opponent's hand. Hard-cast for six with both, you get both effects.

Evoke costs two hybrid mana, so you can spend two blue or two black and get one of the effects before you sacrifice it, which leaves Deceit in your graveyard. Then Superior Spider-Man for four enters as a copy of it. The copy's enter effects check the mana spent to cast it, so if you spend two blue and two black on that four-mana spell, both effects can trigger. That's a discard and a bounce on a 4/4 body on turn four.

Uldaros Theorix's graveyard math

When you cast Uldaros Theorix, you can exile up to one nonland card of each card type from your graveyard, copy them, and cast any number of those copies with total mana value 6 or less for free. So plan your graveyard's card types as well as its contents.

Good packages include Awaken the Honored Dead (enchantment, three) with Steamcore Scholar (creature, three), which gives a destroy effect plus a draw effect. Bitter Triumph (instant, two) with Awaken the Honored Dead and Duress (sorcery, one) totals six, though Bitter Triumph's additional cost of a discard or 3 life still applies. Permanent spells cast this way become tokens.

The cast condition matters. If he's returned or copied in some way that doesn't involve casting, the effect won't happen. So when he's in your graveyard, the cleanest way to use him is to return him with Awaken the Honored Dead and cast him, or copy him with Superior Spider-Man, which you do cast.

The ideal game, turn by turn

Turn 1. A land, usually Starting Town or a tapped dual if you've got nothing to cast. Duress or Requiting Hex if it's needed. Think about which colors you'll need on turns two and three.

Turn 2. Interact with Theorix Charm or Bitter Triumph, or evoke Deceit if you can name the best card in your opponent's hand and you've got a Superior Spider-Man coming.

Turn 3. Awaken the Honored Dead if there's a target. Otherwise, Steamcore Scholar or Winternight Stories to dig and discard.

Turn 4. Superior Spider-Man as a copy of your best graveyard creature, or Fangkeeper's Familiar at instant speed if your opponent's turn is the time to act.

Turn 5. Deadly Cover-Up if you're behind on board. Otherwise, a second threat, plus removal.

Turn 6 and later. Hard-cast Uldaros Theorix or Deceit. Recast Winternight Stories from your graveyard through Harmonize, tapping a creature to reduce the cost. By now, you should be ahead on cards and threats.

What you are protecting

Your graveyard is the resource. Spending it is fine, but do so with intent, because Deadly Cover-Up's evidence, Superior Spider-Man's exile and Uldaros's exile all draw from the same pile. Decide which of them you actually need before you spend what they want.

Card Choices & Breakdown

The 60 cards split into 25 lands, 16 creatures and 19 other spells. Here's what each group does and why the counts look the way they do.

Cheap interaction (9)

• Requiting Hex (3) is one black mana to destroy a creature with mana value 2 or less. If you blight 1 on a creature you control, you also gain 2 life. Three copies is fine because it can be dead against high-cost threats.
• Bitter Triumph (3) destroys any creature or planeswalker at instant speed for two, and it costs a discard or 3 life. In this deck, the discard is often an upside, as it feeds your graveyard.
• Theorix Charm (3) offers a soft counter on a noncreature spell, -2/-2, or mill three and draw. The last mode is your flexible card-flow option when there's nothing to answer.

Discard (3)

Duress (2) takes a noncreature, nonland card, and Intimidation Tactics (1) exiles an artifact or creature card, with Cycling for three when it's late. The split reflects a field with both creature decks and control decks. Together, they give you information as well, and that's valuable when you're choosing your next several turns.

Card flow and graveyard setup

• Steamcore Scholar (4) is a 2/2 flyer with vigilance that draws two, then discards two unless you discard an instant, sorcery or flyer. It blocks and attacks in the same turn cycle, so it's rarely a bad body.
• Winternight Stories (2) draws three, then discards two unless you discard a creature card. With Harmonize for five from the graveyard, it comes back later, and a creature can tap to reduce the cost by its power.
• Awaken the Honored Dead (4) destroys any nonland permanent right away, mills three the following turn, then lets you discard a card to return a creature or land from your graveyard to hand. Four copies is correct because it's your best three-mana play in almost every matchup.

Threats and payoffs (12)

• Superior Spider-Man (4) is a 4/4 copy of any creature card in any graveyard, including your opponent's. The copied card gets exiled. It's the deck's best four-mana play, and it's still a 4-mana creature when nothing is available, as the copy is optional.
• Deceit (4) is the card that ties it together. Four copies lets you evoke one early and still hard-cast another later.
• Uldaros Theorix (3) is your top end. Legendary and expensive at six, so three copies avoids too many clunky hands while still giving you discards that matter.
• Fangkeeper's Familiar (1) is a four-mana flash 3/3 with three modes: gain 3 life and surveil 3, destroy an enchantment, or counter a creature spell. A one-of is right because of the green requirement, but you can find it with your card flow.

Sweeper (1)

Deadly Cover-Up at one copy destroys all creatures, and collecting evidence 6 lets you exile a card from an opponent's graveyard along with every copy of it from their graveyard, hand and library. A single copy works because it's a reset button rather than your plan, and your own creatures would die with it. If you need it, Winternight Stories and Steamcore Scholar help you dig toward it, and a copy of it can come back through Uldaros if you're careful about your own board.

The mana base (25)

Twenty-five lands is on the high side, and you want it because your best turns cost six and you've got Harmonize and Restless Reef as mana sinks. Black is everywhere, in all 25 lands, with two caveats: Gloomlake Verge needs an Island or Swamp for its black mana, and Starting Town pays 1 life for colored mana. Blue is on 17 lands, including Starting Town. Green is on 10: Overgrown Tomb (3), Deathcap Glade (2), Underground Mortuary (1) and Starting Town (4).

Starting Town enters untapped only on your first three turns, so playing it late costs you tempo. Shock lands cost 2 life to enter untapped, and you'll pay that when the tempo matters. Undercity Sewers and Underground Mortuary surveil 1 as they enter, which can put a card straight into your graveyard.

The sideboard at a glance

Fifteen cards handle the matchups the main deck can't: sweepers and cheap flyers for aggro, Flashfreeze for red and green, a graveyard tool in Ghost Vacuum, and big threats for slower decks.

The Decklist

Played by user Masayasutanahashi to 2nd Place at Cup 3 (2026-11-01, Beijing, 265 players).

Creatures (16)

• 1 Fangkeeper's Familiar (flex)
• 3 Uldaros Theorix
• 4 Superior Spider-Man
• 4 Steamcore Scholar
• 4 Deceit

Other spells (19)

• 1 Deadly Cover-Up (flex)
• 1 Intimidation Tactics (flex)
• 2 Duress (flex)
• 2 Winternight Stories
• 3 Bitter Triumph
• 3 Requiting Hex
• 3 Theorix Charm
• 4 Awaken the Honored Dead

Lands (25)

• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 1 Undercity Sewers
• 2 Deathcap Glade
• 2 Restless Reef
• 2 Swamp
• 3 Gloomlake Verge
• 3 Overgrown Tomb
• 3 Shipwreck Marsh
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)

• 1 Ghost Vacuum
• 3 Vicious Rivalry
• 2 Flashfreeze
• 2 Glarb, Calamity's Augur
• 2 Harvester of Misery
• 2 Qarsi Revenant
• 2 Strategic Betrayal
• 1 Emeritus of Ideation

Mulligan Guide

A keepable hand with this deck needs lands in the right colors and a path to doing something by turn three. It doesn't need your best payoff, because your card flow will find that. Most mulligan mistakes here come from keeping a powerful hand with the wrong mana.

What makes a keepable hand

• Three to five lands on seven cards, at least one of which produces black without conditions. With 25 lands, you'll usually hit your drops, so a two-lander can work if the rest of the hand is cheap spells.
• Something to do by turn three, whether that's a cheap answer, Steamcore Scholar, Winternight Stories or Awaken the Honored Dead with green available.
• A plan for the color you lack. Blue and black are common here. Green is your scarce color, with 10 sources, so a hand of Awaken the Honored Dead with no green source is still fine, but don't count on casting it on time.

Example hands

Keep: Watery Grave, Starting Town, Shipwreck Marsh, Requiting Hex, Bitter Triumph, Steamcore Scholar, Deceit. Three good lands, two cheap answers, a turn-three play, and a discard candidate or late threat. This is close to ideal.

Keep: Overgrown Tomb, Gloomlake Verge, Swamp, Starting Town, Awaken the Honored Dead, Duress, Superior Spider-Man. Your curve runs one, three, four. There's no creature in the graveyard for Superior Spider-Man yet, but Awaken the Honored Dead's mill can help that along.

Ship: Swamp, Swamp, Uldaros Theorix, Uldaros Theorix, Deceit, Deadly Cover-Up, Superior Spider-Man. Two lands of a single color and a hand that starts at four. You'll fall behind before you can cast any of it, and the second Uldaros is legendary, so holding both isn't helping you beyond the discard.

Ship: Watery Grave, Shipwreck Marsh, Restless Reef, Undercity Sewers, Gloomlake Verge, Deathcap Glade, Duress. Six lands and a discard spell isn't enough action, even with a land that attacks. Against unknown opponents, you should go to six.

Close call, keep on the draw: Starting Town, Watery Grave, Requiting Hex, Theorix Charm, Duress, Winternight Stories, Steamcore Scholar. Two lands with five cheap spells. On the draw, you see an extra card, and these spells work on two lands for several turns. On the play, it's riskier, especially because Winternight Stories and Steamcore Scholar both need a third land.

Close call, ship on the play against aggro: Overgrown Tomb, Deathcap Glade, Underground Mortuary, Awaken the Honored Dead, Fangkeeper's Familiar, Uldaros Theorix, Deceit. All black-green lands with no blue, which leaves most of your hand stranded. Against a slow opponent, you might gamble, but against aggro you can't.

On the play vs. on the draw

On the play, you need an early answer more than a late payoff, since your opponent's pressure hasn't started. A hand with one cheap spell and a good curve is usually enough. Tapped lands are also less of a concern on your first turn when you've got nothing to cast.

On the draw, you can keep slightly slower hands, and two-landers with cheap interaction become reasonable. But against aggro, you're a turn behind already, so prioritize hands that spend mana on turn two. A hand that does nothing until turn three, on the draw, can already be too slow.

Against known matchups

• Jund Sacrifice and aggro decks: value Requiting Hex, since their key cards tend to be cheap. Greedy Freebooter, Gene Pollinator and The Sackville-Bagginses all have mana value 2 or less (source: Scryfall oracle text, accessed Nov 3, 2026). Ship slow hands of only payoffs.
• Control decks: Duress gains value here, and you can keep slower hands. Your Requiting Hex may have few targets, so a hand with three of them isn't as strong.
• Mono Green: a hand with removal and Deadly Cover-Up mana is strong. Post-board, Flashfreeze and Vicious Rivalry become keepable centerpieces.
• Post-board against graveyard hate: if you've seen exile effects, don't keep a hand that relies only on Superior Spider-Man. Prefer one with natural threats like Uldaros Theorix or real card flow.

Sequencing & Key Lines

This deck's sequencing is about what's going to be in your graveyard next turn. Plan a turn or two ahead, and decide what you're discarding before you start casting spells.

Land sequencing

• Play Starting Town in your first three turns if you hold one, since it enters tapped after that. On turn one, it's usually the right land only if you need colored mana on turn two.
• Play tapped lands like Restless Reef, Undercity Sewers or Underground Mortuary on turns when you've got nothing to cast, usually turn one. The two surveil lands can start your graveyard.
• Save Shipwreck Marsh and Deathcap Glade for your third land or later when you can, as they enter untapped then.
• Get an Island or a Swamp down before relying on Gloomlake Verge for black mana. Watery Grave, Overgrown Tomb and Undercity Sewers all count as one of those types.
• Plan your double-blue or double-black turns in advance. To evoke Deceit for an effect, the two mana must both be blue or both be black. One of each gives you no effect.

Standard lines

The evoke line. Turn two, evoke Deceit with two black to see your opponent's hand and take their best nonland card. It goes to your graveyard. Turn three, Steamcore Scholar or Awaken the Honored Dead. Turn four, Superior Spider-Man as a copy of Deceit, paying with two blue and two black to get both effects. This line spends a card early and needs you to have that four-mana follow-up, so don't evoke without it unless the discard itself is needed.

The Scholar discard line. Turn three, Steamcore Scholar. Draw two, then discard. A Deceit isn't a qualifying card, so you'd discard a second card with it. An instant, sorcery or flyer means you discard only one, and Uldaros Theorix has flying, so he's a clean single discard. Then Superior Spider-Man copies him on turn four, and since you cast the Spider-Man, his graveyard effect is available as well.

The Awaken line. Turn three, Awaken the Honored Dead destroys their best nonland permanent. Turn four, the mill may hit a creature for Superior Spider-Man, so wait until after your draw step to decide what you'll cast. On turn five, you've got a discard outlet to return the creature or land you need most.

Branch points

Blight on Requiting Hex? Only pay it if the 2 life matters and you're not hurting a creature you need. A -1/-1 counter on a Superior Spider-Man copy shrinks it, and doing that for 2 life is often correct against aggro but rarely against control.

Discard or pay 3 for Bitter Triumph? Discard when you've got a payoff or spare land. Pay life when your hand is tight and your life total is healthy. Against aggro, you'll want to discard if you can afford to.

Deadly Cover-Up with or without evidence? Collecting evidence 6 exiles graveyard resources you might want. Do it when the named card is central to their plan, for example, a key creature or a recursion target. Otherwise, keep your graveyard.

Which mode of Theorix Charm? Against creatures, -2/-2. Against spells, the soft counter works best when they've tapped low, since they can pay two. If neither is needed at the end of their turn, mill three and draw, which also feeds your graveyard.

The small edges

• Cast Duress or Intimidation Tactics before committing to a line, since they show you your opponent's hand.
• Hold Fangkeeper's Familiar up on their turn when you have four open. It can counter their creature, or it can surveil at the end of their turn.
• Check your opponent's graveyard before you cast Superior Spider-Man. Their best creature may be better than yours, and you can copy it.
• Remember Restless Reef as a mana sink. It mills four when it attacks, and it can be aimed at you to feed your graveyard or at your opponent.

Playing around common interaction

Graveyard exile is the interaction that hurts most. Strategic Betrayal is in 19 of 20 Dimir Aggro sideboards, and Rest in Peace is in 12 of 13 UW Control sideboards (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Try not to rely on a single graveyard target when you can help it. Keep one threat in hand as a backup. Also, Torpor Orb is in sideboards in several decks, including 22 of 24 Mono Green lists (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). If it's on the board, your enter-the-battlefield effects don't trigger, so destroy it with Awaken the Honored Dead before you cast creatures. Counterspells such as No More Lies in UW Control can be baited: lead with the less important spell if you've got the mana.

Matchup Matrix

These verdicts are reads from card text and list contents, not recorded match results. Treat them as a starting point and adjust after your own games.

Jund Sacrifice (Even)

It leads the field with 21 of 144 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Greedy Freebooter, Gene Pollinator and The Sackville-Bagginses all fall to Requiting Hex, but killing a Freebooter gives them a Treasure and a scry. Your best post-board tools are Strategic Betrayal against Lively Dirge lines and Vicious Rivalry, which destroys artifacts and creatures at a low X. Watch Smaug the Magnificent, which needs an answer the turn it lands. See our Jund Sacrifice Standard guide.

Dimir Aggro (Even)

It has the most wins, 5, and 20 of 144 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Its lists run Spell Snare and We Say Thee Nay! alongside cheap attackers (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026), so it can answer your key spells. Trade early, and use Bitter Triumph on Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. Post-board, it brings Strategic Betrayal and Duress in most lists (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026), which attacks both your graveyard and your hand. See our Dimir Aggro Standard guide.

Dimir Control (Even)

This is a close cousin: Deadly Cover-Up, The Theorist, Jace Beleren and Requiting Hex in all 14 lists, with Uldaros Theorix in 10 (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Discard decides a lot here, so play Duress early. Awaken the Honored Dead answers a Jace that's on the battlefield. Check their graveyard too, since your Superior Spider-Man can copy their creatures as well as yours. Read our Dimir Control Standard guide.

UW Control (Unfavored)

Its lists run No More Lies, Three Steps Ahead, Day of Judgment and Get Lost, and Rest in Peace comes in from 12 of 13 sideboards (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). So game two can strip your main plan. Cast spells when they're tapped low, and keep threats back rather than over-committing into Day of Judgment. Fangkeeper's Familiar and Awaken the Honored Dead can destroy an enchantment if you find one on the board. See our UW Control Standard guide.

Mono Green (Favored)

Mono Green Landfall and Aggro together took 24 of 144 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Sazh's Chocobo and Carnivorous Cultivator both die to Requiting Hex, and Deadly Cover-Up resets a big board. Post-board, you've got Flashfreeze and Vicious Rivalry. Watch for Torpor Orb, which 22 of the 24 lists have in the sideboard (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026), since it switches off your enter effects. Plan around Mightform Harmonizer doubling power, and don't take unnecessary hits from your own lands. See our Mono Green Landfall Standard guide and our Mono Green Aggro Standard guide.

Orzhov Aggro (Even)

Amalia Benavides Aguirre has Ward that requires 3 life, so targeting her costs extra on top of what Bitter Triumph may already cost you. Handle her with Deadly Cover-Up or Harvester of Misery when your life total is low. Watch for Seam Rip in sideboards (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Read our Orzhov Aggro Standard guide.

Azorius Momo (Even)

Kill Momo, Friendly Flier early with Requiting Hex and keep Deadly Cover-Up for a wider board. Quantum Riddler is a 4/6 flyer, so it needs Bitter Triumph or Awaken the Honored Dead. Read our Azorius Momo Standard guide.

Izzet Spellementals (Even)

Eddymurk Crab and Hearth Elemental reduce their cost as the game goes on. Duress takes their spells, and Flashfreeze from the sideboard counters anything red. Your Superior Spider-Man can copy what falls into their graveyard. See our Izzet Spellementals Standard guide.

Boros Dragons (Even)

It had 3 Top 8 slots and a 2nd Place at Cup 1 (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Flashfreeze hits its red spells, and Bitter Triumph handles what lands. See our Boros Dragons Standard guide.

Sideboard / Tech Guide

This sideboard is built around three questions: how you beat cheap creature decks, how you beat green and red decks, and how you win against decks that attack your graveyard. Plans here are a starting point, so adjust based on what you've seen and on what your opponent is likely to bring in.

What each card does

• Vicious Rivalry (3) destroys all artifacts and creatures with mana value X or less, paying X life. It hits your side too, so use it when your own board is small.
• Harvester of Misery (2) gives all other creatures -2/-2 on entering, as a 5/4 menace. It can also be discarded for two mana to give -2/-2 to one creature.
• Qarsi Revenant (2) is a three-mana 3/3 with flying, deathtouch and lifelink, which makes it excellent against aggro. Its Renew puts those three counters on a creature later.
• Flashfreeze (2) counters a red or green spell for two.
• Strategic Betrayal (2) makes your opponent exile a creature and their graveyard.
• Glarb, Calamity's Augur (2) is a 2/4 deathtouch that lets you play lands and cast expensive spells from the top of your library. It's card advantage that doesn't care about your graveyard.
• Emeritus of Ideation (1) is a 5/5 flyer with ward, a threat that's hard to answer cleanly.
• Ghost Vacuum (1) exiles any card from a graveyard, and can reanimate exiled creatures later for six.

Jund Sacrifice

In: 2 Strategic Betrayal, 3 Vicious Rivalry, 1 Ghost Vacuum, 2 Qarsi Revenant.

Out: 2 Duress, 2 Winternight Stories, 1 Intimidation Tactics, 1 Fangkeeper's Familiar, 2 Theorix Charm.

You want to stop Lively Dirge and punish their cheap artifacts and creatures. Their sideboards tend to bring Duress and Strategic Betrayal (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026), so don't depend on a single graveyard threat.

Dimir Aggro

In: 2 Qarsi Revenant, 2 Harvester of Misery.

Out: 1 Intimidation Tactics, 1 Deadly Cover-Up, 1 Winternight Stories, 1 Duress.

Your plan is to add cheap blockers and a two-for-one. Expect Strategic Betrayal in their deck, as it's in 19 of 20 sideboards (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026), so try to keep threats in hand as well as in the graveyard.

Dimir Control

In: 2 Glarb, Calamity's Augur, 1 Emeritus of Ideation, 2 Strategic Betrayal.

Out: 3 Requiting Hex, 1 Deadly Cover-Up, 1 Fangkeeper's Familiar.

The creatures their lists show, like Uldaros Theorix, Overlord of the Balemurk and Deceit, cost well above Requiting Hex's range, so cheap removal drops off. Threats that don't need the graveyard are better here.

UW Control

In: 2 Glarb, Calamity's Augur, 1 Emeritus of Ideation, 2 Qarsi Revenant.

Out: 3 Requiting Hex, 1 Deadly Cover-Up, 1 Intimidation Tactics.

Rest in Peace is in 12 of 13 of their sideboards (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Keep Awaken the Honored Dead and Fangkeeper's Familiar in because both can destroy an enchantment, and bring threats that work without your graveyard. Lean more on Duress.

Mono Green

In: 2 Flashfreeze, 3 Vicious Rivalry, 2 Harvester of Misery.

Out: 2 Duress, 1 Intimidation Tactics, 2 Winternight Stories, 2 Theorix Charm.

Flashfreeze hits nearly every spell they cast. Keep Awaken the Honored Dead for Torpor Orb and Earthbender Ascension.

Orzhov Aggro

In: 2 Qarsi Revenant, 2 Harvester of Misery, 2 Vicious Rivalry.

Out: 2 Duress, 2 Winternight Stories, 1 Intimidation Tactics, 1 Fangkeeper's Familiar.

Sweepers bypass Amalia's Ward, because Ward only cares about targeting. Keep your life high enough to pay for Vicious Rivalry, as it costs life as you scale X.

Azorius Momo

In: 2 Harvester of Misery, 2 Qarsi Revenant.

Out: 2 Duress, 1 Intimidation Tactics, 1 Winternight Stories.

A cheap flyer that blocks well is a real plan against their cheap flyers. Harvester of Misery can clear several small creatures at once.

Izzet Spellementals and Boros Dragons

In: 2 Flashfreeze, 2 Qarsi Revenant.

Out: 1 Intimidation Tactics, 1 Deadly Cover-Up, 2 Requiting Hex.

The count of Requiting Hex targets falls when their threats are big, so you'd rather have a counterspell. Adjust if you see more cheap creatures.

On the play vs. on the draw

Against aggro on the draw, keep cheaper interaction and trim your top end, as you'll be under more pressure. On the play, you can afford one more proactive threat. Against control, the opposite holds: on the play, lean more into your threats, since you're setting the tempo and can force them to answer you first.

Tech Choices & Variations

The main deck is mostly locked in by the graveyard engine, but several slots can move. It's useful to separate what the deck needs from what this list happened to choose.

The flex slots

Fangkeeper's Familiar. A single flash creature for four. You could swap it for a second Deadly Cover-Up if you face wide boards, giving up flexibility for a stronger reset. You could replace it with a third Duress against control, but you lose your life gain and your flash option.

Intimidation Tactics. It's one card that exiles a creature or artifact from hand, with Cycling so it's never dead late. If your field is mostly aggro, a fourth Requiting Hex is a stronger pick, though it needs a target and has less effect on larger creatures. If your field is control, Duress is better.

Deadly Cover-Up. This is your only main-deck sweeper. A second copy is reasonable against aggro. The downside is that sweepers conflict with your own creatures and your own best threats.

Duress (2). It's strong against control and combo-style plans but weak against creature decks. If your field leans aggressive, cut one for a cheaper answer or more card flow.

Winternight Stories (2). You could play a third for more digging, or cut to one if your creature count already supplies the discards you want. It's a slower card, and the Harmonize mode rewards you most in long games.

Uldaros Theorix (3). Going to 2 makes your hand less top-heavy. It's also good in the graveyard as a Spider-Man target, so three works well. Other Dimir Control lists often played it, in 10 of 14 Top 8 lists (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026), which supports its strength in this kind of deck.

Other options from the field

Several cards appear in comparable blue-black lists (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026): The Theorist, Jace Beleren in all 14 Dimir Control lists, Overlord of the Balemurk in 9, and Seasoned Cryomancer in 9. Overlord of the Balemurk is a 5/5 for five, with an Impending option (source: Scryfall oracle text, accessed Nov 3, 2026), so it could add a threat at a different point on the curve. Test any of these as a whole-plan change, not just a card swap, since this deck is built on graveyard synergy.

The green splash

Awaken the Honored Dead is the reason for green, with Fangkeeper's Familiar as the secondary payoff. Could you drop green and play straight blue-black? It would make your mana a lot better, but you'd give up a three-mana answer to any nonland permanent plus the graveyard recursion attached to it. Given how many of this deck's strongest lines run through that card, the splash seems worth the cost. That's a read on the card text, and your own testing should confirm it.

Mana base choices

Twenty-five lands suits the deck's top end and mana sinks. You could trim one for a spell if you're flooding regularly, but you'd lose reliability for your six-mana turns. Four Starting Town gives you a flexible early source, though it costs life for color and enters tapped late. If you're facing a lot of aggro, you may want one fewer and an additional basic Swamp, giving up some green or blue access to save life.

Tuning for your local field

• Lots of cheap creature decks: add a fourth Requiting Hex, and a second Deadly Cover-Up. Lean on Qarsi Revenant and Harvester of Misery after boarding.
• Lots of control: increase Duress and consider more Glarb, Calamity's Augur or Emeritus of Ideation in your 75, because their threats don't need your graveyard.
• Lots of graveyard hate: build in more threats that work from hand, and keep Uldaros Theorix castable as a plain 5/5 flyer.
• Lots of red or green: keep Flashfreeze, and consider a third copy.

Format timing

Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek is announced for November 2026, its Standard legality isn't confirmed in the sources used here, and all this data predates it (source: Wizards of the Coast announcement summary, accessed Nov 3, 2026). The next Banned and Restricted announcement is listed for Nov 30, 2026 (source: Wizards of the Coast announcement, Oct 12, 2026). Check both before locking in your 75.

Budget Options

This list is estimated at about $237 in total. That's an approximate figure, and prices move, so check current listings before you buy.

Where the cost likely sits

Your mana base is the most likely expensive area. Four Watery Grave, three Overgrown Tomb and the various dual lands add up quickly, and shock lands typically carry the highest price in a three-color deck. Among spells, the four-ofs doing heavy lifting are likely candidates: Superior Spider-Man, Deceit and Awaken the Honored Dead. Don't assume the price from a card's power, though. Cards seeing play across several decks tend to hold value, so look up what you actually need.

Lands you can swap

• Watery Grave and Overgrown Tomb: these are your most likely savings. Replace some with slower lands like Undercity Sewers, Underground Mortuary or Restless Reef. You'll enter tapped more often, which hurts against aggro.
• Gloomlake Verge, Shipwreck Marsh and Deathcap Glade: if these are costly for you, basic Swamp can stand in for some of the black count. The price is that blue and green become harder to reach on time.
• Starting Town: you could trim to two. That's less life paid and fewer tapped late drops, but you lose your easiest three-color access early.

Spells you can swap

• Fangkeeper's Familiar: an easy cut if it's costly. A second Deadly Cover-Up or a third Duress fills the slot.
• Uldaros Theorix: you could run 2 if needed, though you'll lose a late threat and a good discard target.
• Winternight Stories: you can trim it for another cheap answer like Theorix Charm, at the cost of some digging.
• Intimidation Tactics: replace it with Duress or Requiting Hex, whichever you've already got more of.

Sideboard on a budget

The sideboard is the best place to save money at first. Focus on what you'll actually board in for your local field. If you see lots of aggro, get Qarsi Revenant and Vicious Rivalry first. If you see lots of red and green, get Flashfreeze. Emeritus of Ideation, Glarb, Calamity's Augur and Ghost Vacuum can wait until you need them for control or graveyard matchups.

What not to cut

• Superior Spider-Man: four copies. It's the graveyard engine's main payoff, and you can't replace it directly.
• Deceit: four copies. It enables the deck's strongest early line, and it's a fine top end on its own.
• Awaken the Honored Dead: four copies. If you can't afford the green mana base to support it, you're better off choosing a different deck than a watered-down version.
• Steamcore Scholar: four copies. It's your best early body and also your best enabler.

A sensible upgrade path

1. Buy the spells first. Get the payoffs, card flow and cheap answers, since those are what make it this deck.
2. Use a slower mana base at first. Tapped dual lands and basics will get you playing. You'll be slower in aggro matchups, and you should expect that.
3. Add the shock lands. Watery Grave first, as blue and black are your main colors. Then Overgrown Tomb for green access.
4. Add the rest of your duals. Gloomlake Verge and Shipwreck Marsh are next, then Deathcap Glade and Starting Town.
5. Finish your sideboard. Prioritize based on your local field, and add one-ofs last.

Practical advice

Before investing, consider whether you're committed to this type of deck. Shock lands and blue-black duals hold over into other decks, including Dimir Aggro and Dimir Control, both of which were common in the data (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Their lands overlap partly with this list, so some of what you buy is reusable. A new set is also on the way, with Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek announced for November 2026 (source: Wizards of the Coast announcement summary, accessed Nov 3, 2026), and the next Standard rotation is listed for early 2027 (source: Wizards of the Coast announcement, Oct 12, 2026). Think about how long you'll play before you buy expensive pieces.

Common Mistakes

This deck offers lots of choices, and most mistakes come from making one of them on autopilot. Here are the errors that cost matches.

1. Discarding without a plan

Steamcore Scholar and Winternight Stories ask for discards, and it's easy to throw away your highest-cost card every time. Sometimes that's right, but you need to ask what you'll do next turn. If you can't cast Superior Spider-Man next turn, that Deceit in your graveyard isn't doing anything yet, and you may have just discarded your only threat. Plan your next two turns first.

2. Evoking Deceit for no effect

Evoke with one blue and one black gives you no trigger. Check your lands before you commit. Gloomlake Verge needs an Island or Swamp before it makes black, and Starting Town costs 1 life for colored mana, so count early. If you can't produce double-blue or double-black, don't evoke.

3. Overvaluing the Spider-Man copy

Superior Spider-Man exiles the card he copies, so you can't copy that same creature again. It also means you might exile a card you'd planned to return with Awaken the Honored Dead, or use with Uldaros. Decide which graveyard resource goes with which spell, and don't spend your only target unless it's the best use right now.

4. Using all your evidence on Deadly Cover-Up

Collecting evidence 6 is optional, and it comes straight out of your own graveyard. If the named card isn't central to your opponent's plan, skip it and keep your own graveyard intact. It's usually fine to just use Deadly Cover-Up as a plain sweeper, as long as your own board isn't what you're sweeping.

5. Forgetting Uldaros's cast condition and total mana value

Uldaros Theorix's effect only works when you cast him. If you put him into play some other way, you'll get a 5/5 flyer and nothing more. Also remember the limit: the copies you cast have a total mana value of 6 or less, and Bitter Triumph's additional cost still applies. Check what you can actually pay before you pick your targets.

6. Paying too much life

Between shock lands, Starting Town, Bitter Triumph and Vicious Rivalry, you can lose a lot of life by yourself. Against aggro, that's often how you lose. Prefer a tapped land when you've got no play, and prefer discarding to Bitter Triumph when you can spare a card. Count your own damage alongside your opponent's.

7. Sequencing colors poorly on the splash

Green is your scarce color. If you've got Awaken the Honored Dead in hand and two green sources available, make sure you've got one down by turn three. It's easy to play Watery Grave and Shipwreck Marsh on your first two turns, then discover you can't cast your best three-mana play. Plan the first three lands around your hand.

8. Letting Torpor Orb stop your plan

Torpor Orb appears in sideboards across multiple archetypes, including 22 of 24 Mono Green lists (source: MTGTop8 Top 8 deck lists, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). If it hits the table, your Steamcore Scholar, Deceit, Uldaros Theorix and copies from Superior Spider-Man lose their enter effects. Note that Awaken the Honored Dead destroys it, since it's a nonland permanent, so don't waste that card if you know Torpor Orb is coming.

9. Misjudging Requiting Hex's blight

Blighting a creature you control puts a -1/-1 counter on it permanently. It's easy to take the 2 life automatically, but shrinking your own 4/4 can turn the next combat against you. Only blight when the life total matters more than the size of that creature. Remember too that the blight is optional, and Requiting Hex still destroys its target if you skip it. Paying the cost is what adds the 2 life.

Tournament Prep & Final Notes

This list's 2nd Place came from a single paper event in Beijing with 265 players (source: MTGTop8 event results, Nov 1, 2026). It's a real result, but it's one event, and you'll need to do your own practice to find how the deck plays in your field.

What to practice

Mana sequencing. Goldfish your first three turns. Practice which land to play first in hands that need double-blue, double-black or green. That's where the deck loses the most games on its own.

The evoke line. Run the turn-two evoke into turn-four Superior Spider-Man until it's automatic. Then practice recognizing when it isn't right, for example, when you've got no follow-up or when your opponent has shown graveyard hate.

Uldaros packages. Practice picking cards from your graveyard for total mana value 6 or less. It's a complex decision and you don't want to be working it out during a round.

The most common matchups. Jund Sacrifice and Dimir Aggro took 21 and 20 of 144 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Test those first, and then test post-board games, where your opponent's graveyard hate shows up.

Rules interactions to know cold

• Deceit's triggers check mana spent to cast it. Two blue and two black trigger different effects. Hybrid costs can be paid with either color.
• Superior Spider-Man copies a creature card in any graveyard. He exiles that card when you do. His copy keeps the Spider-Man name.
• Uldaros Theorix's effect needs him to be cast. Permanent spells cast through him become tokens. Additional costs on those copies still apply.
• Steamcore Scholar's discard exception. One instant, sorcery, or creature card with flying is enough to skip the second discard. Deceit doesn't qualify, as it has no flying. Uldaros Theorix does.
• Winternight Stories's exception is different. Any creature card qualifies. An instant doesn't.
• Starting Town timing. It enters untapped on your first three turns of the game only, and costs 1 life for colored mana.
• Gloomlake Verge's black mana. It needs you to control an Island or Swamp.
• Restless Reef mills on attacks. It can target any player, including you.

Time management

Control decks lose matches to the clock, and this one takes a lot of decisions. Decide your line at the start of your turn, not one spell at a time. Try not to re-read your graveyard each time. If you're ahead in game three with time short, attack with your flyers and Restless Reef, since you need to finish the game rather than build a bigger advantage. Practice with a clock so you know how long a game runs.

What to expect from the field

Jund Sacrifice took 21 of 144 Top 8 slots, Dimir Aggro 20, Dimir Control 14, UW Control 13, and the two Mono Green decks 12 each (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Note that the data mixes paper and MTGO events, with the four Kadou events in Beijing supplying 1,797 of the 2,494 players (source: MTGTop8 Standard Top 8s, Oct 20-Nov 3, 2026). Local fields can differ. Standard's banned list did not change on Oct 12, 2026, and the next announcement is listed for Nov 30, 2026 (source: Wizards of the Coast announcement, Oct 12, 2026). Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek is announced for November 2026, with its Standard legality not confirmed in the sources used here (source: Wizards of the Coast announcement summary, accessed Nov 3, 2026). All of this data predates it, so re-check once it's out.

A closing assessment

This is a powerful and complicated list that rewards planning and punishes autopilot. Its strengths are cheap interaction, flexible threats, and multiple ways to use the graveyard. Its weaknesses are graveyard hate, the life you pay for your mana, and the green splash. If you put in the practice, you'll get a deck that can come back from many positions. Just remember that the result behind it is a single event, and test it against your own field before you commit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Sultai Control win games in Standard?

It trades early with cheap answers, builds its graveyard through Steamcore Scholar and Winternight Stories, then lands threats like Superior Spider-Man and Uldaros Theorix that use that graveyard.

What is the Deceit and Superior Spider-Man line?

Evoke Deceit with two blue or two black for one effect, then cast Superior Spider-Man as a copy of it on turn four. Spend two blue and two black on him and both effects can trigger.

Why does this deck splash green?

Green supports Awaken the Honored Dead and Fangkeeper's Familiar. The first is a three-mana answer to any nonland permanent that also mills and returns a creature or land to hand.

What is the hardest matchup for Sultai Control?

UW Control reads as unfavored. Its counters and Day of Judgment pressure your threats, and Rest in Peace comes in after boarding, so bring threats that don't need your graveyard.

How should you sideboard against graveyard hate?

Keep one threat in hand as a backup and bring in cards that work without your graveyard, such as Glarb, Calamity's Augur, Emeritus of Ideation and Qarsi Revenant.

Where can you save money on this Sultai Control list?

The mana base is the most likely saving: use slower dual lands at first, then add Watery Grave and Overgrown Tomb. Keep all four copies of Superior Spider-Man and Deceit.

What should you practice before an event?

Practice your land sequencing, the evoke line into Superior Spider-Man, and picking Uldaros Theorix packages, then test against Jund Sacrifice and Dimir Aggro.

Metagame Context

Built from the 2nd-place list at Cup 3 (265 players, November 1, 2026), a Kadou event in Beijing, played by user Masayasutanahashi. Metagame context: MTGTop8 standings and deck lists for the 18 Standard events with 32 or more players, plus Wizards of the Coast's Banned and Restricted announcements and Scryfall card data for opposing cards, from 2026-10-20 to 2026-11-03 (brief dated 2026-11-03). Paper and MTGO events are counted together, and matchup verdicts are reads from card text and list contents, not recorded results. All of this data predates Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek.

Source: tournament results. Decklist and placements as reported by the event organizer.