Hello Spellweavers!

I am Rinriet, a Spellweaver regular with three Masters Championship titles. I welcome you back to my article series, where I analyze a deck every week.

For an extensive list of competitive decks, you can check out my What is META? article.

This week we are going to get into one deck with a long history in the competitive scene that constantly appears and disappears in the META: Wisdom Dominion Control, usually abbreviated WD Control.

The main purpose of this deck is to ramp (gain extra resources) in the early game, and then outvalue the opponent with powerful creatures and removal cards.

Why should you try this deck?

- Some players compare facing WD Control as hitting a wall with your head. That shows the power level of the deck.

- It requires some practice to achieve its full potential, but the learning curve is smooth.

- Sveiks won the Masters Finals two days ago with this list!

What are the deck’s weaknesses?

- It’s very vulnerable to aggro. You need the first turns to ramp and you lack early presence.

- You can take long to win a match and have a lot of draw, so decay-focused decks can be a tough matchup.

Deck List

Hero: 1x Daris Stormborn

How to play the deck?

- For your starting hand you want a bunch of New Horizons and Power Surge . If you are against an aggro deck, Bloodseeking Mutant and Prinha the Nightshade are valuable cards too.

- About level order. You want to reach two Wisdom and two Dominion levels, but the order can change from one game to the next. Ideally you want to start Wisdom to use New Horizons and get a Dominion. In the case that your starting hand has a Power Surge but no New Horizons, you can start Dominion and play it.

- Once you have those 2 levels, if you need to use your hero skill, go up the second Wisdom level first. If you need to play Cataclysm , Helm of Dominion or buff your Prinha the Nightshade , go up the second Dominion level first.

- In the first turns you want to focus in ramping levels and mana. You can withstand some hits to the face: after the first Cataclysm, you will probably have the match in your hands.

- New Horizons makes you search any shrine. If you already found one of your special shrines, get rid of an extra copy.

- Power Surge cycles, but only when you have 7 or more mana. If you play it while having 6 mana crystals, you will still get the draw (it gets the crystal first, then it checks the condition). Sometimes you want to keep the card in hand and use it when you can get the draw.

- Bloodseeking Mutant is useful for removing early drops. Remember that his power triggers with Weakness Emblems from any source, that includes your Cathedral of the Night .

- Prinha the Nightshade can be slow but it’s powerful. If you need to remove a three or four speed creature, level up accordingly first! She will get her buff and will be able to target any creature.

- You don’t need to play Prin’ha as removal. A 3/4 4 speed as a blocker is hard to deal with. If you use her as removal, be careful: if the target creature dies, or leaves the board by any method, Prin’ha will go to your graveyard.

- Most of the time you want to use Djinn of Wishes for his effect, sometimes even putting him in the support line to make him live. But in some cases, his attacks can make the difference. Think before instantly using the ability at the start of your turn!

- Also, if you need the Djinn as a blocker, remember to activate his ability after declaring the clock, it’s free!

- Lord Karthas, Deathspeaker can kill almost any creature. If you want to kill one with 5 attack (for example Gomur Ironbeard ) you can put a weakness emblem on it before playing Karthas.

- The Karthas healing ability triggers after the combat phase. If your life goes down to 0 and the Karthas ability would heal you to 2, you lose the game.

- Lamp of Zaffir can attack the same turn it was played from hand, and can attack and defend, ignoring exhausted status. As long as you pay his cost each time you want to use it, of course.

- If the Lamp gets stupefied, it will become a useless “drunk” artifact. If the Lamp gets an Emblem, it will keep it for the future activations.

- When you use Helm of Dominion the creature won’t be able to attack. The same applies to Prin’ha after she kills a creature.

- Your hero skill has several uses. Use it to get one more turn to draw a Cataclysm, before a Prin’ha kills her target, or even to kill a 2HP creature alongside a Bloodseeking Mutant. It can also deny blockers and help you reach lethal.

- Your win condition is to make your opponent’s life go down to zero. To do that, you focus in making a lot of value for each of your cards, removing threats easily and drawing a lot of cards for yourself while locking the opponent’s ones.

Alternative card choices

- Power Discharge : Needed in aggro matchups to survive longer. Great against goblins.

- Assassinate : Another card useful in aggro matchups, deals with almost every early drop, and even Djinn of Wishes in the mirror match.

- Vampirism : With 11 vampires in the deck, the instant healing it provides is important against decks that can pull out face damage out of nowhere, like Rage Rush or Totems.

- Frost Elemental : Early drop against Jungle Deathtrap , and delays face damage thanks to the 3 HP. Combos well with your hero skill. It is much better if you are running Power Discharge.

- Mistress of the Shadows : An Assassinate and a 3/3 body in the same card. She will be able to attack the same turn she comes back to your side, unless you shock her with your hero skill. But be careful, she can kill your creatures too, especially the Djinn.

- Bloodwell Matriarch : In the right circumstances, she is devastating. She can play any spell like if it were instant. She is a good option against spell heavy decks, but even against aggro a free Fireball can be the difference between life and death.

- Despina, Dominion Overlord : If you know your opponent, you can cherry pick one of his creatures at the right moment. You will lack the utility of Daris, but Despina can generate a lot of value in a long game.

What are the common matchups?

The favorable matchups are midrange, and some control decks.



Any deck that relies in board presence and that is unable to win before Cataclysm hits the board is a favorable matchup. For example, Blue Soldiers or Polar Bears.

Control decks can be outvalued if you hit several ramping spells. Playing a Silencer and another threat at the same time can be a game winner.

The unfavorable matchups are:

Aggro decks that can kill you before you start rolling your value cards. It can be impossible to win against Demons, or Rage Rush.

Totems are a bad matchup too and Silencer is your best hope against their swift creatures.

Decks that focus on decaying cards can get an easy win too if you don’t hurry up beating them.

I hope you liked the guide! If anyone has a suggestion or comment, feel free to send me a forum message, add me in-game, or talk on the game’s discord.