U-W-B Control

by Alexis Brosseau

control

Format: Freeform

Latest Set: Eternal

Last Modified On: 4/13/2002

Market	Median	Low
$65.05	$74.20	$37.66

Maindeck 60

Market	Median	Low
—	—	—

COLORED MANA SYMBOLS

CARDS BY TYPE

MANA CURVE

Average CMC: 3.31

DESCRIPTION

What is control? Control is a term that many top level players use but rarely can explain. In its purest form, control means that you are determining the course of the game. You are playing a deck the way it was meant to be played, and your opponent is forced to react to what you are doing rather than utilizing their own deck`s strategies. 	To gain control, you must limit your opponent`s possible actions. There are three basic types of control : Speed, Locks and Combos. Speed is a form of control that makes the game last only a few turns, thus limiting the number of cards that the opponent may use for the game. Locks limit the ability of the opponent to use their available resources. Combos utilize deadly combinations of cards that either forms an indefinite or infinite loop, or provides an immediate win or a huge game advantage. These three basic types of control can be intermingled within the same deck. In all cases, the person who has control of the game will win. Choosing your form of control is the basic for building your deck. Speed 	Since the dawn of M:TG, speed has been the most sought-after effect because it allows a player to win the game in the shortest amount of time. Through infinite combos and first-turn elimination, M:TG has evolved to the point where the faster player is often the victorious one. The most popular speed deck ever created is the red Weenie deck, or most often called, The Sligh Deck. It combines fast creatures and direct damages spells, all with low casting cost, and it is capable of reducing an opponent`s life total to 0 in as little as four or five turns. The sligh deck is successful because it can field an offensive so quickly that its opponent can barely begin to get set up and cast spells before the game is over. It uses its blinding speed to limit the possible reactions from which its opponent must choose. The direct damage spells can eliminate early blockers or can be used directly against the opponent. Cards such as Urza`s Rage, Ghitu Fire, Skizzik and Flametongue Kavu are good exemples of cards usually seen in a sligh deck. Here`s a good exemple of a typical type 2 sligh deck. Red Sligh Deck 4 Minotaur Explorer 4 Spark Mage 4 Goblin Raider 4 Ember Beast 3 Flametongue Kavu 3 Skizzik 4 Flame Burst 4 Shock 4 Urza`s Rage 3 Ghitu Fire 4 Barbarian Ring 19 Mountain Locks 	Locks evolved as the game expanded and more cards were added to the mix. Eventually, enough cards existed so that specialized decks could be designed to totally shut down your opponent`s deck and then foeld an invicible attack. The most common popular form of control deck is The Blue/White/Black Control Deck, favoring Counterspell capability of blue with the removal power of white and/or black. Using cards that create card advantage, such as, Wrath of God, Fact or Fiction and Recoil, this type of control deck aims to stall the opponent`s deck, eliminate all of it`s threats, and then go for the final attack under controlled conditions. This deck is successful because it can : Neutralize early threats (such as those put forst by the sligh deck) with cards like Wrath of God and Rout; regain lost life with Gerrard`s Wisdom; replenish its hand with key cards, like Fact or Fiction and Standstill and remove other threats with Recoil and Vindicate. Then when all is safe, the control deck owner can play a creature and slowly defeat their opponent; while countering any attempts of the opponent to eliminate the creature or regain control of the game. Here`s another powerfull type 2 deck using a `lock`` Strategie. The Blue/White/Black Control 	 3 Dromar, the Banisher 4 Recoil 4 Vindicate 4 Counterspell 3 Undermine 3 Dromar's Charm 3 Standstill 3 Absorb 3 Gerrard`s Wisdom 2 Fact or Fiction 4 Wrath of God 3 Salt Marsh 4 Coastal Tower 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Underground River 2 Island 2 Swamp 1 Plains   Combos 	Combos are inevitable result of the ingenious playesr with too much time on their hands and absolutely a huge selection of cards from with to choose. It doesn`t take long to see a new `trick`` deck emerge onto tournament scene after a new expansion set released. These decks are designed to perform some kind of odd combination of cards that can either create a loop, or provide a way to intantly win the game. The Nefarious Confessing Zombies Deck, the most recent combo deck uses rarely played cards to rapidly eliminate opponent, by making a big number of zombie tokens from Zombie Infestation and card drawing ability from the Nefarious Lich and life gaining ability from the small white creature called Confessor, the rest of the deck supports getting the combo into play. The objective of this deck is to get the combo out as soon as possible and watch your opponent die from an army of many black 2/2 zombies. Let me explain to you how this work ; first you need the 3 main cards into play, then with Zombie infestation, you discard a card to make a 2/2 zombie token, this giving you 1 life from the Confessor ability, then Nefarious Lich makes you draw a card from the life gain, then restart the loop to make a huge amount of creatures, which usually ends the game. Here a version of the deck. The Nefarious Confessing Zombies Deck 4 Nefarious Lich 4 Diabolic Tutor 4 Sterling Grove 4 Zombie Infestation 4 Life Burst 4 Duress 4 Orim`s Chant 4 Blood Pet 4 Confessor 4 Llanowar Wastes 4 Caves of Koilos 3 Elfhame Palace 7 Swamps 6 Plains The Concept of Control is integral to the game of M:TG. If your deck doesn`t seem to be winning many games, it`s possible that your deck cannot gain or maintain control of the game. You need to indentify those situations, and determine which cards or strategies that you need in order to take or retake control of the game, and alter your deck accordingly. Magic is a game, but the game isn`t magic…it how you play the game.   Alexis Brosseau `The Hangedman`` <A HREF=mailto:Hangedman@mailcity.com>Hangedman@mailcity.com</A>

U-W-B Control

by Alexis Brosseau

Maindeck 60

Creature 3

Spell 33

Land 24

COLORED MANA SYMBOLS

CARDS BY TYPE

MANA CURVE

DESCRIPTION

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