Is U/B control dead??
Standard forum
Posted on March 17, 2013, 9:49 a.m. by Replayced
Im a big fan of U/B control. Ive been watching the trend in decks lately, and I dont see any U/b control decks. There is Esper control, but no competitive U/B decks. With all the removal in black along with Curse of Death's Hold and Mutilate , and the multitude of counterspell options in blue, why is it not a viable deck. Am I missing something?? Does adding white really make that much of a difference?? I know you can add Supreme Verdict and Blind Obedience, but do they take a deck from being crap to being great? Maybe Ive just been away from competitive magic for too long and no longer have a grasp on the meta? I would love to hear some other opinions, and maybe get some help putting a solid decklist together. Thanks in advance.
Yea, B/U is tough right now because so many cards went to a mill theme. Its not like the good old days last standard where you had mana leak and grave titan. I am really hoping the next block offers more for control though
March 17, 2013 12:01 p.m.
I bet theyre going to go back to conflux after this. Theres tons of multicolored stuff that would support the RTR blocks multicolored cards, and it seems like they've repeatedly gone back to older sets lately.
March 17, 2013 12:08 p.m.
True, but I feel like they wouldn't go back 2 blocks in a row at this point in the game. I feel like R&D needs new planes in order to keep the business healthy right now. As much as it would be cool to go back to alara, I would still prefer a new set with a nice theme at the moment.
March 17, 2013 1:18 p.m.
I dont mind the mill theme. Nephalia Drownyard is a great card. Is straight U/B control gimped so bad that it cant work without a 3rd color? Im even seeing some decks splashing green for farseek and thragtusk. Yes Mana Leak Consecrated Sphinx Grave Titan Rune-Scarred Demon and Wurmcoil Engine are gone, but does that make the deck worthless?? theres gotta be some new finishers that are just as strong and theres a crapton of new counterspells (not counting Cancel, that spell doesnt exist in my world). Even without a bomb finisher is there not enough removal and counters to stall the game long enough to mill them out with the yards and jace?
March 17, 2013 2:29 p.m.
Sphinx's Revelation is the reason people prefer Esper over U/B
March 17, 2013 3 p.m.
10vernothin says... #8
lol U/B control is fine, it's just U/W control has the uncounterable Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation while the only boardwipe and card draw U/B has is conditional Mutilate and Think Twice
Also U/B has no lifegain like white does so it's harder to compete.
March 17, 2013 5:56 p.m.
theemptyquiver says... #9
Don't worry dude. Us U/B players will be back with a vengeance again. The world of MtG is cyclical, and while our time has been pushed aside linked up with enemy colors like White and Red...we will soon be able to strike a blow to those lowly colors and show them what real Magic is.
U/B. The way Magic was meant to be played.
March 17, 2013 7:22 p.m.
I think it's more so the fact that control players have access to three, four, or even five colors in standard right now. Even if you play something odd like U/B/G, you get Thragtusk, Abrupt Decay, and Syncopate all in the same deck. You can easiliy swap the green out for white or red and still have a strong deck, especially esper.
In other words, it's not that U/B is bad per se, rather, Esper and other 3CC decks are really good in standard right now.
March 18, 2013 12:56 a.m.
KrazyCaley says... #11
U/B is really tough. Adding white or red gives you access to so many extra helpful tools.
March 18, 2013 2:03 p.m.
well im still trying. cant realy find the right spot by using other colors. today put together again a U/B deck. seclusion the key to victory
@10vernothin my u/b got lifegain :) lol at Homicidal Seclusion
March 18, 2013 4:29 p.m.
Mike flores has a pretty interesting build. The idea is to one for one your opponent over and over until you finally beat them with drownyard.
8vomit says... #2
Well people still make b/u control decks, but mill is a lot more popular for those colors in standard. There just more options for actual control rather than mill in esper. I see a decent amount of grixis control decks too.
March 17, 2013 10:30 a.m.