control in modern
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 18, 2012, 11:11 p.m. by Dirt3pz
so me and my brother had a discusion about how to make control viable in modern.
we both agree that it would be healthy for the modern format if it had a few viable control decks, but we disagree on how to do it.
He believe its a matter of time and a few reprints,.. I dont mind that, but with the sets that have been released lately, i have a hard time believing they would print a control card good enough to make an impact on modern. (it would hurt standard to much)
then there is the other option.. unbanning preordain/ponder,.. (on my wishlist)
will this even help? both ponder and preordain are great ways to find ''the answer'', but the format is fast, and hey,.. pondering costs mana.
anyway,.. we cant agree but i got curious about what other ppl's view on this are?
share your thoughts, cause google got me confused.
there, control in modern http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1076868
December 18, 2012 11:54 p.m.
alpinefroggy says... #4
Demarge is right there is control out there and yes it is slow but it does a very good job at making other decks have a bad day.
December 19, 2012 12:05 a.m.
pheonix_222 says... #5
Control in Modern is alive and well, the trick is that while controlling your opponent's plays you need to put pressure on them where it hurts.
My current favorite deck in Modern is a R/W/U delver. You have all the best counterspells and targeted removal available in the format, meanwhile Delver of Secrets Flip , Steppe Lynx and Geist of Saint Traft put your opponent on a serious clock.
December 19, 2012 12:39 a.m.
UniTheDino says... #6
@pheonix_222: RWU Delver is not a control deck. It is aggro-control/tempo. The archetypes play similar cards, but are not the same thing.
Every now and then a decent control deck does well on a MTGO Daily, but you don't often see them placing super well in real tournaments. The ones on MTGO are usually Esper Control (or UW like Demarge posted) and Esper Teachings, which is actually quite good in Modern.
To make true control good in Modern would take the unbanning of something like Jace, the Mind Sculptor , which in my opinion would not ruin anything in the format but it is hard to say for sure (unbanning Bitterblossom would see the rise in Faeries as the sole control archetype, so that seems less likely than Jace). However, it seems that WotC does not like pushing Control (most evidently seen with the increase in powerful creatures and decrease in powerful spells).
December 19, 2012 1:36 a.m.
alpinefroggy says... #7
No jace. Jace is way to powerful. He locks you down very easily and just does to many powerful things.
December 19, 2012 4:04 p.m.
pheonix_222 says... #8
hypothetical, but what if Jace was a 5 (or 6) drop?
December 19, 2012 9:02 p.m.
UniTheDino says... #9
Jace isn't as good as he was in Standard and Extended. WotC has banned much of the support cards for him (Stoneforge Mystic and Preordain /Ponder ; CawBlade would not exist in any form), so he just because 4 mana card advantage (which is good, don't get me wrong) but not really an issue for most decks. The only real reason for not unbanning him would be the price of the card. It is already at about $100 and would go even higher if unbanned in Modern.
I would like to add that he is incredibly easy to deal with. They Brainstorm , you Lightning Bolt /Lightning Helix (which will happen quite a bit); you also have Hex Parasite and Vampire Hexmage to pull counters and Dreadbore for just straight up killing him. Don't fear Jace. He is good, but not the god card many people view him as. In many ways, Liliana of the Veil and Elspeth, Knight-Errant are more powerful.
December 20, 2012 6:01 a.m.
Gifts Ungiven is the most powerful card control has access to at the moment. hitting the turn 5 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite , Griselbrand , or Iona, Shield of Emeria is just game over against just about every deck. The best build I have seen for a gifts control deck is essentially an esper control deck with gifts as a win con.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Moved to Modern forum.
Unbanning Ponder and Preordain would do more for combo decks than control decks. They were banned mostly for making decks like Storm and Twin too consistent and powerful.
December 18, 2012 11:21 p.m.