Goldfishing control decks?
Legacy forum
Posted on April 18, 2016, 2:19 p.m. by CalciferDK
How do you fellow legacy players goldfish controldecks?
I don't have time to to play as often as i would like so i want my decks to be as fine tuned as possible beforehand.Burn and mill decks are easily goldfished, but i find it hard to assess how my control brew will fare before hand.
Any tips or ideas how to simulate a game easily?
It's generally unadvisable to goldfish control decks. They function so differently than a linear aggro or combo decks.
Cards like Brainstorm and Force of Will are very situational. FoW in the sense that the card you pitch is a big decision depending not only on contents of your hand but also the matchup, and Brainstorm in the sense that you'll keep cards again based on the matchup. Decisions vary even more from game to game, as each game is very different.
TLDR Don't goldfish control decks.
April 18, 2016 5:26 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #4
While not highly advisable, there are a couple interactions that I would recommend setting yourself up to get used to doing for various control decks, so I would say it's highly dependent on what deck you're playing. Example: Sensei's Divining Top manipulation in Miracles is something I really recommend messing around with before actually taking it to battle.
April 18, 2016 6:14 p.m.
KillDatBUG says... #5
You really can't fine tune any deck properly unless you play actual matches with it. The whole point of playtesting is to test a matchup, right? If you're not actually testing against a deck by playing an actual game, you're not accomplishing anything. It doesn't matter if you have a burn deck, or a control deck, or whatever- If you don't actually play with the cards themselves, you'll never know what is good and what is bad.
Oh and also, fine tuning Burn isn't braindead easy. There are plenty of card choices that matter, and plenty of factors you have to consider when playing the deck. Fuck, I almost want to write a whole ARTICLE about how Burn is a much more difficult deck to build and play than most people think.
April 18, 2016 6:35 p.m. Edited.
Do it! Most people wrongly assume that aggro decks are super simple in a "turn 'em sideways" manner when really playing the aggro game is nearly as difficult as the control game. And I'm speaking as a player who has played both kinds of deck quite extensively.
Midrange is the easiest strategy. Durdle, kill opponents dudes, play a fatty. Still very skill intensive though. MtG in general is not a easy/simple/straightforward as people like to think.
April 18, 2016 8:11 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #8
@smackjack Goldfishing is like playtesting with yourself, as I understand it.
@KillDatBUG I concur, do it!!! Burn is much more complex than people give it credit for, as a Burn player...
As far as the OP, it's pretty hard to goldfish against control. I'd find someone to test with.
April 18, 2016 8:42 p.m.
jethstriker says... #9
Goldfishing is like testing your deck against an imaginary opponent to see how fast your deck can achieve its goal if it goes uncontested. I think it got its name because you imagine your opponent as a goldfish that simply stands there, not doing anything and waiting for you to beat him.
I'd like to see that article too.
April 19, 2016 12:08 a.m.
CalciferDK says... #10
I'll see if i can convey my thoughts into text..
What i meant by "fine tuned as possible" is that when i make up a list of say a mono-blue control deck. I put in Daze and Jace, the Mind Sculptor i might not realize i will have difficulties casting him because of the bouncing islands.. This could be helped by goldfishing. And its annoying to find out that the deck you've made has critical errors when you finally have time to play it.So yeah.. forget the finetuning bit. I know you can't find out if likeSpell Snare will be usefull when goldfishing. I was not expecting to tune a deck without playing against other players but i prefer to get the deck to tick properly before i take it out against a real opponent(whether or not the deck i build is actually good is beside the point;))
I don't believe aggro or burn to be easy to pilot or tune. But they are easier to goldfish to find more or less obvious errors in the deck building. The win strategy is pretty straight forward. So if im brewing an aggro deck i easier get a feel for if Gurmag Angler is viable in my deck by playing it out goldfish style.
Thx for the replies btw. what an awesome community!
Gidgetimer says... #2
You could goldfish turns-to-lock if you are playing a lockdown control deck. If you are playing counter-control then assume 1 spell needs countered per turn. I don't goldfish much as I usually play on untap.in and even then I am not a brewer. If you would like to test you can add me on untap (same user name) I am usually down for some legacy and play three different decks with what I like to think of as sufficient skill.
April 18, 2016 2:42 p.m.