I need some self control, help?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 26, 2013, 5:30 p.m. by SpazzKing
Hey! I need some help with making a magic deck. I've only been playing magic for 3 or 4 years, but I really don't have much experience (only ever played with the same 4 people, never played FNM, never really done anything lol). So I need some help with making a control deck. Normally I play tokens because I am a token whore, and they are amazingly fun, but now I want to try something new. I don't want to just copy someones deck off of here and feel uncreative, but I honestly have no idea what to do :P. So any and all suggestions welcome, thanks.
Medium I guess, not anything $20 wise per card, but a fair amount.
August 26, 2013 5:44 p.m.
what colors are you looking to play? that can narrow it down a bit more
August 26, 2013 5:45 p.m.
Esper is a bit expensive, but it does well, so thats why I asked. You can never go wrong with B/U control though, or just mono black
August 26, 2013 5:47 p.m.
What format is this for? There's a huge difference between, say, BUG control in Legacy and American in Modern/Standard.
August 26, 2013 5:50 p.m.
Blue, white, and black are cool, but I want an easy deck to use, as it will be my first time using control, so nothing crazy complicated. Esper was one of my favourite Shards of Alara though, but if a dual coloured deck is easier, that's fine.
August 26, 2013 5:50 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #9
Control is not an easy deck to use because it requires you to know what your opponent is going to do in order to be effective. It's kind of like playing chess but with magic, think a few turns ahead and try to figure out what your opponent's move is based on their last turn or so. Don't get frustrated with it when you play it the first couple times.
I would say that I prefer B/U if you're going to start out in standard. It gives you access to counters, removal and AEtherling . The addition of white in Esper is prettymuch for Terminus , Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation as well as Restoration Angel . But I'd rather have access to Devour Flesh , Warped Physique , Far / Away and Doom Blade than just wrath effects. You'll also have decent draw with Think Twice and Thought Scour still being a allowed in standard. Theros should bring a decent blue draw spell since Innistrad is dropping.... I hope. The one thing you have to be really careful for when going B/U is you won't have access to Detention Sphere or Oblivion Ring , so you basically have to counter planewalkers because attacking them certainly isn't your best option. B/U also gives you to the two win cons of Esper: you can either mill them out with a Jace, Memory Adept and Nephalia Drownyard , maybe Mind Grind or hit them in the face with AEtherling three times.
Modern is much less cut and dry simply because of its huge card pool and wildly diverse meta.
August 26, 2013 8:59 p.m.
Thanks :). I chosen several cards based off of your criteria, but my deck looks more like a mill deck than a control deck. Or are those the same things? The cards I found are; Consuming Aberration , Blood Scrivener , Away Far , Dimir Charm , Mind Grind , Paranoid Delusions , Pilfered Plans , Psychic Strike , Psychic Spiral , Warped Physique , Wight of Precinct Six , Dissipate , Dream Twist , Dungeon Geists , Evil Twin , Increasing Confusion , Jace, Memory Adept Thought Scour , Mind Sculpt , Murder , Doom Blade , Duress , Elite Arcanist , Tome Scour , Traumatize , AEtherling .Are any of these good?
August 27, 2013 7:16 a.m.
you should build the deck and post a link to it because holy crap that list is long
August 27, 2013 1:15 p.m.
WovenNebula says... #12
@SpazzKing, Majority of the cards I see you looking at are currently standard. If you are going that route I would highly recommend to avoid the Innistrad since it will be rotating out in a month, so that way any investments you make will be very legal and you'll be able to play it out and work it out for a long time. AEtherling is the win con in most blue decks, so that is a definite must. For cards such as Mind Sculpt and other mill related cards, likeConsuming Aberration , I wouldn't recommend because mill hasn't done very well competitively. So I see a lot of interest in Dimir oriented colors, which is Blue and Black. Other colors would be Azorius (Blue and White) and Esper (Blue, White, and some Black). If you were to go modern I would broaden your horizon with the cards you have looked at above. If standard continue to read here. I would recommend Esper or Azorius colors. Like fluffybunnypants said, use cards like Detention Sphere , Sphinx's Revelation and a few others like Jace, Architect of Thought . First and foremost you must determine if you are playing true control. Control would have very few creatures, such as, 2x AEtherling 's and maybe a few other creature tops. Your main goal would be to lock down your opponent from straight out right counters or even silly combos that make you laugh like Elite Arcanist and Silence you would exile Silence and leave a mana open to lock down your enemy turn by turn maybe throw in a few Render Silent to aid in that a few spells to return cards from play to their hand if they had a creature with flash in response to your silence, such as, Cyclonic Rift . Supreme Verdict for fast aggro decks since it's unlikely you'd be able to counter them all. Like the above said esper is more expensive mainly due to shock lands like Watery Grave , and Hallowed Fountain . It would be just a bit more than Azorius would be adding that splash of black for Doom Blade , Far / Away , Dimir Charm , Ultimate Price , and Duress etc... For white splashes most were listed above as multicolored cards which are very effective. A few others would be Banisher Priest , and Celestial Flare . Comes down to what format you would like to play, if standard then the above should help, what type of control would you want to play, if mill it wouldn't be as competitive at the moment and a lot of good mill is rotating away, and above all the colors you would play (just imagine what would lock your opponents down the most and be fun for you at the same time.
August 27, 2013 1:24 p.m.
WovenNebula says... #13
Control is not easy to play like fluffybunnypants has said. To make it easier I would choose two colors rather than going with three. Why not mono? At this current time in standard mono blue control hasn't done to well with itself competitively, unless Theros brings forth a lot for blue to do so. (fingers crossed).
Here are a few decks from past and present that have won. 1998 World Championship. and Esper Control 2013
August 27, 2013 1:34 p.m.
WovenNebula says... #14
Just to give an idea of what the builds are kinda like.
August 27, 2013 1:35 p.m.
I think I do prefer the Azorius blue and white type of control, seems to be less focused on milling, and has better control cards so thanks! But do I want to have a lot of detain, a lot of exiling? What exacltly do I do to control my opponents playing field?
August 27, 2013 1:42 p.m.
WovenNebula says... #16
@SpazzKing, You need draw mechanics so you always have cards in hand to have to your opponents threats and blue has a variety of them. To know what to play to counter your opponents measures you need to understand the current meta. Here are some top tier decks to look at that you may face. Jund and Junk, so cards like Voice of Resurgence need to be countered or removed the instant they try to play it, such as, with a counter in hand or Detention Sphere . Most decks are aggro based and you need stop what is most threatening to your deck. Your goal is to slow them down enough to get AEtherling into play and always leave mana open for him to flicker him when targeted by creature destruction which is very prominent in most top decks. You need cards that will counter threats like Thragtusk so it doesn't even make it to play and if for some reason cards do Supreme Verdict will wipe as well as cards to return their cards to hand to hold them off till your able to fully counter their move. Like said above it is a game of chess. You need 20+ type of spells that help control your environment dictating what your opponent can have in play. For example if they play Elvish Mystic and seemed mana screwed and are relying solely on that during a game I would remove it, so that way you set their deck for failure for a few turns more if not indefinite. If they play that same card and have a plethora of mana I would then worry about the other threats they may play, which will most likely be bigger like Kalonian Hydra .
August 27, 2013 1:59 p.m.
This is the deck I built, just a rough copy if you want to check it out. Lawful Domination
August 27, 2013 2:35 p.m.
SharuumNyan says... #18
If you're going with Esper, I've had a lot more luck with Obzedat, Ghost Council than AEtherling . Sure, Aetherling has more evasion and would be a solid blocker, but it has several drawbacks. It essentially costs (4)(U)(U)(U), because you always need that extra blue open. That's a lot of mana, and a lot of waiting around for your star creature. Then, with one untapped blue source sitting out, watch your opponent use Encroaching Wastes on it, and then kiss that Aetherling goodbye (it happens).
The biggest expense with Esper is having the right non-basic lands. You'll spend $100 on those alone.
Narwek says... #2
Well, whats your budget first off? That would help, as some control decks are much more expensive than others
August 26, 2013 5:40 p.m.