Help against control - Jace splits, counterspells and such.
Standard forum
Posted on Dec. 21, 2013, 6:33 p.m. by Nuggettt
Recently a decent bit of control has shown up near my LGS. I ran a B/R control (which has since been trimmed to the run-of-the-mill MBD) to combat weenies and aggro archetypes, but also totally transform if I ran into a control matchup. I just take out all the Anger of the Gods and Doomblade and side in my hand disrupt package which consisted of Lifebane Zombie , a fourth Thoughtseize and Rakdos's Return . But I kept running into the same issue, since I'm relatively new I have very little training against an experienced U/W control player. So, I want to highlight a few key questions here that I would really appreciate responces from.
should I play my big threats as soon as I can, or wait for something like Duress to eat a counterspell?
Jace splitting : I try and split Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation over alot of things. Am I doing that wrong
do you play around Celestial Flare or attack into a possible 2 white mana open?
Demons and Dragons (B/R control)
This is the exact list I ran yesterday. Sideboard is a few card values off. Until I can find a better way to deal with control I cut red and went the Gray Merchant of Asphodel route
I didn't run Duress sideboard and I should have. Would it help?
December 21, 2013 7:27 p.m.
Well as a baseline in any game of magic there's always going to be the aggressor and the defender, even in the control mirror. You're definitely the aggro deck here and you're putting the control deck to the test by playing threats that they need to deal with. It's an attrition match though, they are suited to deal with their opponents cards so you need to just accept and ablate through them, eventually putting them in a case where they draw the wrong answer at the wrong time.
The most important thing to remember though is there is no wrong or right answer for a lot of these. One decision might be correct 9 out of 10 times, but you need to be aware of when it's not. Nothing is set in stone.
Usually you want to be using your hand disruption to take away their win conditions or clear the way for cards that really matter like Underworld Connections . Then you want to really look at their hand and compare it to yours. See what threats you have that match-up best against their remaining hand. One general tip though is you should almost never T1 Thoughtseize or Duress - unless you have some perfect curve out, the cards you really care about won't be coming for quite some time and it's better to let them see more cards so they have a higher chance of having it.
As mentioned, there is no right or wrong answer here. Separating a Supreme Verdict or Sphinx's Revelation is not always going to be the right move. You should look at your hand and boardstate in addition to your opponents. Also, take note of what they take. Not only should you know what cards they have, but think about what it means if they took a certain pile.
Sometimes you need to play around it sometimes you don't, if you're going to loose the game then play around it otherwise you have to accept that you need to run them out of answers. Though trading at a 1 for 1 is generally not that bad all things considered.
December 21, 2013 7:36 p.m.
Assuming Sphinx's Revelation would go under "win-con" esque priority on a Thoughtseize ?
December 21, 2013 7:43 p.m.
In the strictest sense, no. Sphinx's Revelation never actually kills you, it just draws them cards. Now it will often still be the card worth taking out of a hand on spot removal and counter spells since it represent several cards, but it's not necessarily top priority.
December 21, 2013 7:48 p.m.
Ok. Sounds good. I'll just have to see what I run into next time. I made several critical errors over the course of that control matchup. Not exactly used to it.
pingpongball120 says... #2
What's the decklist?
December 21, 2013 7:13 p.m.