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Pojo's MTG
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BMoor's Magic The
Gathering
Deck Garage
Hello,
and
welcome
to a
very
special
installment
of
BMoor's
Deck
Garage.
Now,
I've
gotten
a
few
E-mails
that
say,
in
effect,
"build
a
tournament-winning
deck
for
me."
No
deck
list,
just
a
blatant
unapologetic
request
for
me
to
take
time
out
of
my
busy
schedule
to
weave
a
deck
list
out
of
thin
air
for
them.
Those
E-mails
get
deleted
on
sight.
But
this
E-mail
seems
special
to
me,
because
it
actually
implies
that
the
sender
has
thought
about
this
E-mail,
and
wants
not
just
a
deck
list
to
copy,
but
an
explanation
of
WHY.
This
person
actually
wants
to
LEARN.
And
that
is
what
I am
here
for.
Hello, my name is Michael. I've been playing MTG since around '95 with Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. This was only casually for
So, with no basis to go on, you want me to help you build a control deck, eh Michael? Well, all right. Go get a pencil and a piece of paper, Michael. That goes double for all of you. And while you're up, you might as well grab a snack or your favorite canned beverage, maybe a comfy blanket Settle in, because today's lecture might run long. I'm going to explain to you exactly why and how control decks work, and why 30 counterspells, 20 Islands, and some Merfolk do not a control deck make.
Now, the first thing I want to do is dispel the misconception that control decks need to be Blue and run counterspells. This is a load of balderdash-- control decks can be any color and achieve control through a variety of means. While the icons of old have made monoblue control a famous archetype, any color can play control if it knows how. Their approaches are a little different, but it all comes down to the same three elements. In order of when they become relevant in a game, they are Answers, Card Advantage, and Win Conditions.
Answers
What exactly is an answer? Simply put, it's a card that deals with another card or cards. It's a card that "undoes" the threat posed by one or more of your opponent's cards. A good example is Faith'
 s Fetters. Faith's Fetters is just about useless if your opponent has nothing threatening in play. You need your opponent to play a big dangerous creature or Umezawa's Jitte or something-- that way you can "answer" it with the Fetters. Control decks need a lot of answers, as the principle of control is to thwart your opponent's strategy and leave them unable to stop yours. Let me say that again: the principle of control is to thwart your opponent's strategy and leave them unable to stop yours. That means you negate your opponent's cards with answers. so when you're ready to win the game, they can't stop you. You want your opponent to exhaust themselves in futility, so that they won't have anything left. Once that happens, you have achieved control of the game.
Now, there are lots of different kinds of answers. A successful control deck will be able to answer just about anything, and as I said earlier, every color can produce answers. Pacifism and Arrest answer creatures to an extent. Black has answers like Terror and Last Gasp. Red has Shatter. Green has Naturalize. Blue has counterspells, which are probably the most versatile of answers becasue they can stop any card type IF the player using them knows how to use them right. That doesn't automatically make blue king of control though, because Black can do the same with discard. Some colors simply can not answer certain types of permanents. This is why it is useful to use more than one color. Traditionally, a control deck must be able to stop creatures, artifacts, and enchantments at least. Several color combinations can do this. Stopping instants and sorceries is tougher, but blue and black can do it. Red can change targets, but that isn't always enough. Fortunately, instants and sorceries have a flaw-- they do their thing once. Permanents are lingering threats. Stopping lands isn't nearly as important, since lands are rarely a threat in and of themselves. It's what your opponent taps the lands to cast that's important.
So, is a card like Shock a threat or an answer? That depends on what you're using it for. If it's going straight to the dome for the final blow, it's a threat. But if it's played in response to a 4/2 being declared as an attacker, then it's an answer. Answers that can double as threats are always useful, because when all the threats are answered it can switch to being a threat. That's the fatal flaw of an answer-- if the opponent is out of threats, or just doesn't have threats of the right sort in the case of an answer like Shatter, then the answer becomes useless unless it can also be a threat.
So, you need to answer your opponent's cards. But what if your opponent is running 35 creatures and you only have 12 removal spells, hmm? Well, those 12 removal spells need to kill all 35 creatures then, or at least as many of the important ones as possible. That brings us to control element number two...
Card Advantage
What is card advantage? A simple concept once you understand it. If you can answer multiple cards with one card of your own, or net more cards for yourself, you have gained card advantage. When you Shock a Grizzly Bear, you're killing a creature and spending an instant. One card of yours given up to answer one card of theirs. When you play Reach Through Mists, you draw a card. You spent a card to draw a card. Another even trade. But what if that Shock was an Electrolyze instead? It still kills the bear, but it draws you a card. You spent one card to answer on of their cards and draw another card for yourself. When you gain a card, it counts the same as them losing a card, so in this case, you're up one card total (up two by spending one). If that Electrolyze had killed a pair of Llanowar Elves instead, then you'd be up three cards (they lose two, you draw one) for spending one card (the Electrolyze). This is the 3-for-1 that every player talks about when they describe Electrolyze.
Once again, every color can gain card advantage
 . Blue has massive card draw like Compulsive Research, Tidings, and Train of Thought. White has the control staple Wrath of God-- if your opponent's creatures are more numerous or more powerful, Wrath closes the gap by neutralizing multiple threats. Green has cantrip creatures like Carven Caryatid (playing a creature doesn't count as spending a card since you still have the creature as a resource, and then the card draw gains you a card of advantage) as well as big efficient creatures like Moss Kami that often are chump blocked turn after turn, killing several creatures over time, or must be double blocked to be stopped and thus get a 2-for-1 or better. Red, like White, has Pyroclasm, and also cards like Grapeshot that can take down multiple creatures, as well as Viashino Fangtail who can shoot down one creature after another. And Black its own form of card draw, Hideous Laughter and its ilk, and also mass graveyard recursion like Death Denied that can get back multiple creatures with one card. This card advantage is important-- if you tried to answer your opponent's threats on a 1-for-1 level, you'll find that you can keep your opponent locked down only as long as you stay locked down as well. Card advantage is what allows you to exhaust your opponent's strategy without exhausting yourself in the process.
And once you've exhausted your opponent and built up a huge advantage, then what? How do you turn that advantage into victory?
Win Conditions
What is a win condition? It's the card or cards that win you the game. Even though I'm mentioning them last of the three, this is actually the most important. It's the one your deck is actually built around. If you start out saying to yourself, "I want to destroy creatures", you'll build a deck that can do little else. If you start by saying "I want to win with a massive Dragon beatdown", then you'll start by picking a dragon, and then you'll think of ways to deal with things like Faith's Fetters and the like that pose the biggest problem to your win condition. That's how you decide what kind of answers to run-- be able to answer whatever is most damaging to your win condition.
Usually a win condition is a big creature that's difficult to stop. Simic Sky Swallower has seen a lot of use as a win condition due to its near immunity to removal spells or chump blocking. A win condition could also be a huge Fireball to the face, with leftover mana for a counter if necessary, or Glimpse the Unthinkable Twincasted ad infinitium, or Test of Endurance, or whatever you've got, as long as you can protect it or it has a self-protecting ability. One of the most famous control win conditions in Magic is Morphling, who is almost impossible to kill provided it's controller has mana up. Now, what you use for your win condition can be just about anything assuming you really do have control of the game, but you probably don't want to win with Squire beatdown, so here are some things to think about when choosing your finishing blow.
Number one, how many turns will this card need to finish off an opponent? A 7/7 flier can win in three swings. A Darksteel Reactor will take twenty turns. If you can keep the other player locked down and unable to stop your weapon of choice for that amount of time, then you win. But the faster the clock, the fewer cards your opponent will draw along the way, and the fewer chances he or she will have to make a comeback.
Number two, how easy is it for an opponent to stop? If it's a creature, how high is its toughness? Can it be chump blocked? If it's an enchantment, can you stop Naturalizes? Can it be the target of spells or abilities? If it's an artifact, is it indestructible? Try to find as many conceivable ways as you can that your bullet train might get derailed, then select your answers to answer all of those problems. That's why you choose the win condition first-- it's so your answers will be the answers to the right questions.
So, now that you know how a control deck works on a bare-bones level, how do you build one? Well, first you choose a color. Each color can play control, but it has a different way of going about it.
We'll start with white-- white likes lots of defense. Kami of Old Stone, Order of the Stars, Story Circle. These are white control superstars. If the opposing creatures become too numerous for your blocker(s), Wrath of God them away for card advantage, and leave your Story Circle behind to deal with the next in line. Life gain also helps a white control deck use its life total as a resource-- who cares if you take a few hits in the early game if you're about to make it impossible for your opponent to finish you off? The only point of life that really matters is the last one, so if you need to take a hit or two, don't be too afraid to. Once control has been established, an Angel usually finishes the job, though a creature token machine like Kjeldoran Outpost works just as well-- how many tokens than the opposing force handle? Make one more than that.
Next is blue, the standard of control. Blue is terrible at dealing with permanents; it has no removal save bounce, and that's a temporary solution. Because of this, Blue is forced to counter everything threatening, and that means always leaving mana open-- you never know when your opponent might have a backbreaking instant. It also means drawing cards liberally to ensure you have a counter in hand at all times. Win conditions are usually a variant on Air Elemental; a large flier, usually one that can't be targeted(Morphling) or can give you something extra in case it dies(Meloku, Keiga). Don't tap out for it though; leave extra mana for a counter to protect it just in case. Also, playing a deck of this nature means learning to save your counters for the threatening stuff. You don't need to stop every little bear or whatnot-- just the cards that will cause you significant problems.
Next on the color wheel is black. Monoblack control is quite viable, despite whatever notions you may have about it being too aggressive. The key to a black control deck is usually plenty of creature removal. The more creatures you can kill, the better in this case. Cards like Infest, Mutilate, and even Nausea in some cases ca
 n be psuedo-Wraths in that they usually leave the biggest stuff on the board, and the biggest thing is hopefully a Demon or Horror of yours. Small black weenies such as Hand of Cruelty and the like have a place too; in fact of all control decks, black ones will be the most eager to get smaller creatures trading in combat on the hopes that once all the small stuff is dead, your large guys will be all that's left. Card advantage here is obtained through black card draw spells like Promise of Power or Night's Whisper, and also through graveyard recursion like Brood of Cockroaches or Gravedigger. Nekrataal shines here too, as it represents +1 creature for you and -1 creature for them, and then can kill other creatures with its first strike along the way.
The last color you would ever consider controlling is Red, but it has its moments. Burn spells can take out opposing threats, and cards like Mogg Fanatic or Vulshok Sorcerer are excellent at clearing the way for your beatstick. Any card that could conceivably kill multiple creatures, like Seismic Assault, Pyroclasm, or even Barbed Lightning will work here. The win condition is often either a Dragon or an "X damage to target player" spell.
Finally, we come to green. Green shines at artifact and enchantment destruction but has no real way to kill a creature. So to control the creature board, Green must outmuscle anything an opponent can produce. Turn 1 Norwood Scout, turn 2 Elvish Warriors, turn 3 Trained Armodon is quite effective here, as are Defenders like Wall of Roots, Vine Trellis, Carven Caryatid, et cetera. Molting Skin and Giant Growth can produce the card advantage by preserving your creatures, as can Equipment by outlasting the creatures who wear it. Icy Manipulator is another artifact that can give Green some board control capability. Eventually, your army will be able to overpower that of the enemy, and your opponent will have to double or triple block your win condition-- any big trampler will do-- to try and kill it, only to have another pump spell spoil that plan. And as the unchallenged king of the 4/4 for four mana, there will be little the opponent can do to push through.
And of course, when you play multiple colors, you pool their strengths. Black's creature removal plus green's artifact/enchantment removal gives you the potential to destroy anything. Blue's card draw plus red's cache of burn spells gives you a plentiful stream of fire. White's blocking ability plus green's muscle and token capacity gives you an army that almst nothing can punch through. And of course good artifacts are always useful. Decide for yourself how you want to win the game-- and then don't let your opponent stop you. Those are the tenets of control.
I hope this dissertation has been useful to you all, and perhaps has shed some light on how to make a control deck work. And for those of you who hate control decks because you can't beat them, maybe I've helped you too in showing you their weak spots. Either way, take this knowledge and apply it to your games well, students.
Class dismissed!
~BMoor
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quite a while with simple decks thrown together, until I was dragged to a tournament by a friend sometime last year . This changed my whole view on competitive play. So I spent some time building decks, but realized that I have no building ability, so I relied on my friends building decks for me, which only worked about half the time. Then I started buying pre-con decks, and that seemed to work quite well. I'm a very technical player, I understand the nuances and hidden strategies with a lot of cards, so if a pre-con is constructed well, I can usually make it work. I went to a tournament with that same friend a few months ago, and I did alright. I used the Kami Reborn pre-con from Champions and I lasted a few rounds, the I was completely wiped out with some two color control deck. That deck went on to win the tournament. So, I was wondering if you would be able to help me construct a control deck of my own. I don't have a plan for the colors, so that's completely up in the air. I also have no budget, so that might make things easier. Thanks for reading.