Blue black control - how does it work?
Deck Help forum
Posted on April 5, 2012, 3:17 p.m. by esterk
Hey all,
I'm trying to build a blue/black control deck, partially because it seems fun and partially because I have all the cards for it. The only thing I don't understand is how does it win? By milling? By heavy hitters like Grave Titan? By making te opponent so frustrated they scoop? Lol. I'm just perplexed on that end of the deck building.
I ran b/u for about a year and just recently switched. For me, it was about keeping control of the game (der) but by at first setting up my Spellskites. They are useful for redirecting kill spells and protecting your larger creatures later on. By board wiping/ weakening with Black Sun's Zenith, Dismember became effective verse titans and tokens couldn't keep up. Also, Surgical Extraction was good even before all this graveyard love started up in innistrad. By mana leaking early, keeping the board clear, and dropping bombs Wurmcoil Engine being the best,and then Canceling and Dissipateing after that the game was easy enough that the bombs just kept hitting. And then a couple games Jace, Memory Adept got out and won it by mill. So mainly its control until the bombs.
April 5, 2012 3:28 p.m.
Ah, that does make sense. And yes, Standard is what I'm going for.
The current build I've seen runs a very low creature count though - maybe 3 Snapcaster Mages, and a couple Grave Titans/Consecrated Sphinxs, with maybe a one of of another creature. What if your opponent is packing removal? After all, Snapcaster Mage isn't hard to stop, and Tragic Slips, etc, can kill your fatties.
April 5, 2012 3:29 p.m.
I mean thats where jace comes in then. Control usually does run a low creature count anyway but I mean if they pack a lot of removal then you will need a creative way to win or avoid the removal. Check out the b/u deck I have posted on here so that it may help you out with some ideas. It should be the first deck on my page
April 5, 2012 3:35 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #6
TCGplayer.com has a list of top tier decks and has then divided by deck type if you want to check out several U/B control decks that are played. I have my own version, t1000, but its not exactly how most are played. Just my take. Most I have seen run 4 snapcaster and 2 Grave Titan for 6 creatures so creature count may not be that bad with plenty of draw
April 5, 2012 3:36 p.m.
Thanks for the help, guys. I guess all that makes sense. I'm thinking I want to make a mill variant, so I'll see what's out there already!
Epochalyptik says... #2
UB control has some options in the current meta (assuming you're in standard). Mill is an option, but tends to be slow unless you're using it as a dedicated strategy. The more common method is to spend the first 5 or so turns controlling the board state with removal and counterspells. Once the game is stabilized and your opponent is beginning to run out of steam, you drop your Grave Titan
/Consecrated Sphinx
/Wurmcoil Engine
and hit hard.
April 5, 2012 3:23 p.m.