How to counter Whip of Erebos as U/B control?
Standard forum
Posted on Dec. 22, 2014, 4:23 p.m. by EssTea
The meta really seems to be going towards sidisi/whip and things like that. I want some of your thoughts on how to counter the whip when playing a control deck.Here are the options that come to my mind:
Cranial Archive or Tormod's Crypt sideboard. Which do you think is better?
Stain the Mind... Meh.. slower than the whip, you're probably tapping out also.
Go up to 8+ counter spells post sideboard?
Or maybe Grindclock SB, it could serve both against control and whip decks.
December 22, 2014 4:48 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
Grindclock against Whip is basically letting your opponent draw extra cards. It's not fast enough to make your opponent lose before the boost it's given them has made you lose instead.
Mulligan intelligently (do I have an answer here, or a way to get one in time?) and avoid tapping out ahead of a turn where your opponent could be casting a card you don't want to see on the board. The deck you have posted already has everything it should need.
December 22, 2014 4:59 p.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #6
Annul is a quick, clean, one-mana answer to all of the following:
Whip of Erebos, Gods (Pharika, God of Affliction/Keranos, God of Storms and the like), Courser of Kruphix, Banishing Light, Jeskai Ascendancy, Hardened Scales (if that even exists), Briber's Purse/Springleaf Drum, Ordeal of Thassa/Ordeal of Heliod/Aqueous Form...
Seems solid in this meta.
December 22, 2014 5 p.m.
notamardybum says... #7
if all those options weren't enough theres also Encrust
December 22, 2014 5:19 p.m.
Just play the game as normal, it's a good match up for UB control usually so you don't need to get fancy with the sideboard - Disdainful Stroke is mostly all you need. If you can survive to 9 mana you are heavily favored to win, just don't put a Perilous Vault out before then as Reclamation Sage is seeing a lot more play.
While Dissolve is the go to, don't forget that Dissipate is still legal right now as well.
December 22, 2014 5:49 p.m.
The two most integral pieces of U/B Control you should already be using - Perilous Vault and Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver - are your best tools for the job.
Perilous Vault straight exiles the Whip and the creatures (in addition to screwing up their Planeswalker backup plan.
Ashiok can usually run away with the game if left unchecked. Most of these Reanimator decks in Standard have very slow starts and purely rely on Hero's Downfall to keep early threats in check. Without Downfall, your Ashiok will work much faster than their own deck can.
If you still have issues, Cranial Archive is okay-ish, though the decks you'd use it against can just start hard-casting their things and just shift into a beat-down midrange strategy. Tormod's Crypt is also decent, but it's not that great for the same reason.
Drown in Sorrow stops Hornet Queen pretty efficiently as well as lowering Siege Rhino to Bile Blight range.
As someone else has already said, Thoughtseize is important in any matchup, Renimator not being an exception.
December 22, 2014 5:58 p.m.
grumbledore says... #10
i have found Erase to be a nice sideboard card for whip, courser, etc
TurboFagoot says... #2
Perilous Vault, counter spells, Thoughtseize, etc.
December 22, 2014 4:42 p.m.