No Win-Condition Necessary; I Just Want To Piss People Off
Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 2, 2014, 12:59 a.m. by MagnusMTG
I'm teaching some newer players how to play Magic, make decks, and learn strategy; part of their training will be learning to deal with the aggravation of playing against Hard Control - i.e. "Mother-May-I" / "Permission" / "Draw-Go" - style decks.
I want to brew up a cheap, preferably Dimir (U/B)- but maybe Esper (W/U/B) -colored control deck. I'm going to try to stick to Standard since these younger players mostly just have the newer stuff and not much of it, so I want to keep a more-or-less level playing field.
I'm really just going for an annoying gimmick here. I hate playing this style of deck; I much prefer the aggro route, but I want to make it has hard-locking and frustrating as possible. So, it could win - eventually, maybe, by accident - but I more want it to keep opponents from winning (or doing anything at all, except maybe play lands).
Here's what I have to work with:
Ruthless Control Playtest
Unknown*
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 3 VIEWSHow should I narrow down this pile into something consistently irritating?
Non-Standard suggestions are okay, but keep it budget, please.
So I could just go mono-blue with like 70% countermagic, 30% draw spells?
What about some walls in case some creatures do make it to the field to attack me? I was thinking Mnemonic Wall and Wall of Frost were good candidates, and maybe also Hover Barrier for the flyers.
January 2, 2014 2:07 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #4
And maybe throw a mill wincon in there like Traumatize and Codex Shredder . Remember, with Opportunity you can force your opponent to draw too, milling them further! :)
January 2, 2014 2:20 a.m.
How about an Azorius control deck, using budget cards and tossing in some Silence
and Render Silent
. That would be frustrating, and you could use Riot Control
and Celestial Flare
if they get creatures that actually make it to the field. Azorius Charm
would work too, bounce a creature to the top of their deck that you missed the opportunity to counter, then when they cast it again, Dissolve
that bitch! If you REALLY want to get mean, you could have Martial Law
, Claustrophobia
, Pacifism
, and Arrest
, which would allow you to play Sphere of Safety
. I actually love the idea of this deck lol, having no win cons would make for stupid fun!
Creature wise, I think you have a great idea of running walls, maybe 1 each of all 5 that are in standard right now? That leaves you room for 35 or so noncreature spells. Please make this deck!
January 2, 2014 2:23 a.m.
theinfernumflame says... #6
Maybe also run 1 Elixir of Immortality ,. so that the insanity doesn't end until your opponent decks themselves 50ish turns later. "Can you beat me before running out of cards?"
January 2, 2014 2:31 a.m.
GoldGhost012, I already have my Dimir Mill deck (Budget Dimir Mill) that I could use as a base. I've already scared my friends with that one. Hopefully, they've learned that getting milled is usually nothing to worry about - but two 21/21 Consuming Aberration s attacking is a bit of threat.
@Johnny5, I have an idea kicking around in my head for a Bant-colored Fog deck that would be equally irritating in a different way. I'll go that route next after trying this U/b concoction.
@theinfernumflame, I already have 2 Elixirs in the maybeboard. I considered it for just that reason. The game could go long, so I'll need to refuel along the way.
I'm going to move some stuff from the maybeboard to the mainboard. Check it out: Ruthless Control and see if it needs any tweaking.
January 2, 2014 2:47 a.m.
I loved your idea so much and wanted to make it Azorius so bad, I went ahead and made this for funsies: Silencio!
January 2, 2014 3:03 a.m.
Sorry wrong deck, got my link wrong, this is it: Silencio!
January 2, 2014 3:05 a.m.
EddCrawley says... #10
Rather than Hover Barrier , if you were going the Esper route, i would suggest Wall of Denial , purely for the ability to bounce any removal.
January 2, 2014 3:26 a.m.
Wall of Denial is a good one, very durable considering its mana-cost.If I decide to open the deck up to pre-Modern cards, I'd use Wall of Glare and Wall of Nets - two of my favorites.
January 2, 2014 3:46 a.m.
Elite Arcanist with a Render Silent imprinted on it can be massively annoying. Pull that off, stack the deck with counterspells and include one Azor's Elocutors just as a win-con. Sounds like the perfect annoying deck.
January 2, 2014 3:55 a.m.
Elite Arcanist with Silence , Render Silent , counterspells, Griptide , Unsummon , Riot Control , Voyage's End , and some walls in case they have weenies. Millstone is your wincon. If you already have Cyclonic Rift you can use that as a boardwipe
January 2, 2014 4:21 a.m.
Nasty, nasty stuff there, guys!:-)
I'm play-testing against Johnny5's Silencio! deck, and I'm still 28 turns away from milling his out. My Elixir of Immortality
has saved me from two Traumatize
so far.
I did also manage to do 10 damage with an Omenspeaker
before she got Arrest
ed.
January 2, 2014 5:14 a.m.
I'm sure my deck is just waiting for the opportune time to drop Psychic Spiral !
January 2, 2014 2:01 p.m.
The results of that play-test, Johnny5 was that my deck beat yours by natural mill after about 40 turns and an Opportunity as a finisher. There are so many anti-creature cards in your deck, that it was drawing dead against mine, while I was able to counter more aggressively and get things resolved.
It was just a single play-test, so who knows what might happen if I tried again, but the game was so long and boring that I think I'll just retire after my single victory. ;-)
January 2, 2014 9:35 p.m.
Ha, that sounds like an incredibly long and boring game, maybe I should make a sideboard aimed at a mirror matchup if we ever meet on the imaginary battlefield again!
January 3, 2014 2:08 a.m.
Ultimaodin says... #18
For the blue both Griptide and Time Ebb should both be in a frustrating budget build control. Black you should definitely run Doom Blade . If you're going Dimir Psychic Strike and Pilfered Plans are brilliant. Death's Approach is a great one drop control when throwing stuff in the grave. If you're willing to throw in Cyclonic Rift that should go in there.
January 3, 2014 9:29 a.m.
Oh, I forgot Time Ebb got reprinted. That was a perennial favorite of mine to use in blue and blue/black decks to annoy people.
Ultimaodin, Psychic Strike is in there, as well as two each of Doom Blade , Hero's Downfall , and Ultimate Price .
I didn't want to make it too similar to my Dimir Mill deck, so I left out Pilfered Plans .
@gufymike, I really don't want to be this person! Like I said, I hate playing this style of deck - unless it's a Grixis Cruel Control deck, but that's only because my mind is being manipulated by Nicol Bolas, LOL - but it's for a good cause: to give newbie players some hard training to make them stronger!
GoldGhost012 says... #2
Just play nothing but counters and choose between draw spells or kill spells. I have a feeling you'd piss a lot of people off.
January 2, 2014 1:11 a.m.