Magic paradigms part 1 - Control

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squire1

16 December 2011

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So I read a comment that stated that the player refused to play permission decks. I have heard comments before about burn decks and such. This is not a concept that makes sense to me. If you don't like an entire facet of a game, then you might want to reconsider whether or not you should be playing the game in my not so humble opinion. But aside from that obvious thought, it also came to me that people throw around terms like "control" when they mean something else entirely.


Because of this I decided to write a series of articles of some of the main terms about deck archetypes.
Deck archetypes So deck archtypes. What are they? I am sure that anyone who is well schooled in the works of Joseph Cambell and Carl Jung understand the concept of an archetype. But in their cases archetypes are a psychological construct that predefines how all people view facets of the world that is present in the subconscious of humanity. It engineers the way we think.

This is close to the same case in magic but not exactly. If you look at the rest of humanity as only magic players, and the preconceived notions as prerequisite knowledge of the history of magic then sure. When we talk about magic archetypes, what we mean is a model or mold of a deck. Jund or splinter twin are archetypes by this definition. So for these purposes, i will be talking about "SUPER" archetypes. These "super" archetypes can be discussed as less of a mold for a deck, and more of a paradigm of play. So these are larger concepts that are used to form and explain how all decks play.

Among current magic, there are three main paradigms of decks: Aggro, Control and Combo.

Aggro - An aggro deck is one that attempts to win through relentless attack upon a single resource that an opponent controls. In most Aggro decks the resource is life points.

Combo - A combo deck is one that attempts to win by using a specific interaction between multiple cards, resulting in a win condition.

Control - A control deck is one that attempts to win by controlling the state of the game through the manipulation or limitation of resources available to one's opponent.

Now if we analyze the game a bit closer we realize that there is blur room here and that these three paradigms are similar to primary colors. All decks can be made from them and live within their parameters. Most decks live in the primary or secondary color areas. The secondary decks would be combinations of the primary (e.g., combo-control, Aggro-control, and Aggro-Combo) Some of these are more common of course, but they exist just the same. When you combine all three as seen in Figure 1, what you get is a deck that is sometimes referred to as a meta-deck (though that has more to do with analyzing the current meta game). I would rather define it as Aggregate-deck. These decks have the possibility of being the best and worst in the game, dependent upon how effectively they do what they do.

For this article, we are focusing on the paradigm which inspired me to write the series, Control.

Defining control

Above I defined a control deck as "controlling the state of the game by the manipulation or limitation of resources available to one's opponent". So what are these resources and how are they limited? I will say that confusion about the methodology related to how one limits another's resources, is usually the cause of the misunderstanding as to what a control deck is. Most of the resources that control decks concern themselves with are number of permanents, number of cards in hand, number of cards in graveyard, number of cards in library, number of spells cast, and number of actions made. Lets take a deeper look at how a control deck, does effect these resources.

Limiting permanents

There are a variety of ways to limit the number of permanents in play. Among those ways we have two main ways, permanent prevention and permanent removal.

Permanent prevention

Permanent prevention is the idea of restricting a player from playing a spell or a land. This is where control gets the most confused for people. Many players consider prevention to be what control means. This is not at all true. A deck that prevents a player from doing something is a specific subtype of control deck, commonly referred to as a permission deck due to the nature of play. One's opponent may often feel as though they have to wait for permission from the other player before doing anything.

Counters

There are a couple of main ways to prevent permanents from hitting the board. The first is a staple of permission decks, Counterspelling. To counter permanents as they begin dropping, a player controls what does and doe not get out. This is particularly effective against combo decks as a permission player can save the Counterspell for a main piece of the combo.

Mana control

Another form of permanent prevention is mana production control. In this prevention method. A player would disallow other players from using mana resources that they have in play by either tapping them at inopportune times with cards as simple as Twiddle; stopping the mana resources from untapping with cards like Exhaustion, Stasis, or Hokori, Dust Drinker; draining their mana from effects like Power Sink or Mana Drain; or by changing the type of mana a land produces with effects like Infernal Darkness, Ritual of Subdual, Contaminated Ground, or Gaea's Liege.

Negate plays

The final type of permanent prevention is to actually put into play an effect that bans a type of card or a specific card from being played. Spells like Silence prevent players from playing any spells on their turn, negating the possibility of nonland permanents from entering the battlefield without the help of Elvish Piper type shenanigans. Land drops can not be stopped by these means but have solutions of their own like dampening engine, Limited Resources, and Pardic Miner. There is also the option of disallowing a specific card from being played. Cards like Exclusion Ritual and Meddling Mage fit the bill here.

As we can all plainly see there are a lot of options in just the first category of control. As I said before, most of the tactics used for permanent prevention throw a deck into the categorization of a permission deck, which again is one type of control deck. But permission is also often used in control-combo decks to help protect the combo from interference so that a win condition can eventually be met.

Removal

So after something has hit the table, the control paradigm still has a lot of options which are generally referred to as removal. Removal is a technique of removing a permanent from the board. That is correct, removal is control. So the next time you try to Lightning Bolt a creature of mine only to see a Mental Misstep and then complain about how you hate control decks, just stop for a second and realize that your deck has control in it too. There are a few main forms of permanent removal once they hit the field: destruction, exilation, burn, decrease p/t, stealing, forced sacrifice and rendering it useless.

Destruction

Destruction of a permanent is one of the most common forms of removal. Destruction can performed on every type of permanent and is usually a very cheap and efficient solution using spells like Terror, Disenchant, Stone Rain, etc. Obviously there are cases in which some of these destruction cards are hindered by things like hexproof, shroud, indestructibility and pro X like effects. When a direct assault will not work on a permanent, sweeping the board is an option, using cards like Day of Judgment, or Armageddon. Basically that is all there is to destruction, and due to its simplicity and effectiveness for board control it is used quite often in amateur and professional play.

Burn

Yes, yes burn can be control. If you refer here: post:Burn Spells, burn spells do not a burn deck make. In many decks, players run burn only to kill blockers so that their aggro weenies can get through. unlike destruction spells, burn can only effect creatures and planewalkers for control purposes. Burn spells are similar to destruction effects in their strengths and weaknesses. Recursion, gravematters, hex/shroud, regeneration, indestructibility and pro X are all issues. Additionally, burn has the baggage that it only kills within a toughness range where toughness of target creature is =/< the damage dealt by the burn spell. Burn does use this to its benefit as well from time to time too in the cases of Caldera Hellion and the like in this case it could act as a one-sided sweeper rather than the standard two-sided sweepers of the destruction world.

Decrease p/t

Now this primarily black mechanic that is again for only creature removal control. These effects are very similar to the above about the burn effects. The main differences between burn control and p/t control is that it only works on creatures, no killing planeswalkers here; it kills indestructible creatures; and it kills regeneration creatures. There is a reason that Black Sun's Zenith and Dismember have become staples in many environments so quickly. Another added bonus of this type of control is that even if a decease P/T effect can't kill a creature, you could temporarily or permanently decrease the threat level of a creature and make it more vulnerable to cheap burn spells.

Forcing sacrifice

the ultimate way around indestructibility, hexproof, shroud, protection X, and regeneration is forced sacrifice. With this method of permanent control, you make the other player sacrifice permanents. The drawback here is that you almost never have a choice in what that player sacrifices other than permanent type. This is most commonly used for creature removal. Some cards that are known for this ability are The Abyss, Balance, Braids, Cabal Minion, Cataclysm, and Crack the Earth.

Exilation

Now some players use cards like Nether Shadow, Crucible of Worlds, Drudge Skeletons, or even Mortal Combat. In these cases of reanimation, recursion, regeneration, and grave matters type decks. In these cases, destruction, burn, decreasing P/T and forcing sacrifice are not as effective and hence white control provides the answer. Exiling cards in order to prevent grave effects or regeneration is a common option as well which comes in two different forms. Something like Flicker could be a nice temporary fix. But a card like Oblivion Ring or Fiend Hunter is a bit more permanent, with the ultimate being a complete removal like with Archon of Justice, Karn Liberated or Exile. This is the clear control mechanic for those pesky recursion and regen decks. And if they have the hexproof regen troll guy, go with O-ring or Apocalypse. That'll show them.

Stealing

Another common for of permanent control is stealing permanents with cards from Annex, and Control Magic to Ray of Command. This for of permanent control is extremely effective against decks that may only run a few finishers. While some of the options discussed above for removing these threats still work very well, taking a huge threat from your opponent can shift the game in your favor quickly.

Rendering it useless.

Rendering cards useless can be almost as good as wiping them the board all together. There are a couple of main ways to render permanents useless. The first is to allow it to exist on the board while not being able to use abilities or be involved in combat with cards like Faith's Fetters or Psychic Overload. The next way to render a permanent useless is really on making it partially useless, which is phasing. In cases of phasing, really all you do is limit the amount of use a player gets from a card, but something like tefiri's curse can be rally helpful or at least is was in the Mirage/Visions limited environment. The last option is limiting the damage dealt by creatures and spells. Cards like Fog, Darkness, Meishin, the Mind Cage and Holy Day all fill this role well with damage from creatures; as do cards like Demonic Torment and Ghostly Possession. But creature damage is only a piece of the game and cards like Personal Sanctuary can diminish the rest of the damage. Pariah can also aid in this by making sure that no damage is dealt to you. By putting it on an indestructible creature, you have a nice little combo to avoid all damage.

As we can see there are a lot of options for permanent control out there, in all five colors. As we move forward, we will see that this form of control is barely scratching the surface of what control is and can be.

Hand control

Another form of control that is extremely common is hand control. Hand control has two major facets to it: draw control and discard. Now discard is obviously the most common of the two but controlling the draw power of an opponent can cause just as much damage in the right deck.

Draw control

Draw control is a type of control that attempts to disrupt a player's moves or win by controlling how many cards or which cards a player gets to draw in a turn.

Draw deprivation

The first type of draw control is making a player not draw cards at all. This has obvious advantages to it, since players cannot often play cards that never get in thier hands, some notable ways of doing this are Fatigue, obstinant familiar, Plagiarize, or Maralen of the Mornsong+Mindlock Orb.

Pre-sort draw

One of the most common ways to use draw control is the pre-sifted draw. In this method, the idea is to look at the top few cards of a player's library and sort them so that you are constantly controlling thier next draw. This method is less effective against decks that contain a good bit of scry power or draw power themselves, but can be very useful against more aggro type decks by mana flooding or starving the opponent. Cruel Fate, Elemental Augury, Natural Selection, or Portent are all ways of achieving this.

Force draw

The last form of draw control is much less commonly employed as a control method, forcing draws. Forcing an opponent to draw is still control because you are dictating the actions of other players. This is often used early game to force discards and can even be used as a win condition to speed up mill or with the aid of something like Underworld Dreams. Some well known force draw cards are: Howling Mine, Jace Beleren, Temple Bell, and Kami of the Crescent Moon.

Discard

Direct discard

Now forcing an opponent to discard cards from there hand is a very effective strategy and a very common form of early control for many players. Discard only has one real weakness, which is the recursion deck. If you make someone discard their bombs that is usually good, but when that is followed by Exhume, not so much. As with many control methods, discard has two methods of working, you can either force a card to be discarded directly either at random or not, or you can limit a player's hand-size. When directly causing discard, there are usually three ways to do it. First you can let them choose what cards to pitch with something like Blightning, you can leave it to random chance with something like Hymn to Tourach, or lastly you could select a card that the player must discard with a card like Inquisition of Kozilek.

Limiting hand size

Now limiting hand size is much less used than direct discard, but it can be very effective as well. Most likely its lack of use is due to the fact that it tends to be slower and there are less cards to choose from for it. Some of the cards (might be all of them) that do this are: Locust Miser, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, and Gnat Miser.

Action control

Action control attempts to either force specific actions upon a player or limit their options for actions in a given turn. Now cards like Silence were mentioned above as stopping spells from being cast. Those spells also sort of belong to this category and do skip draw cards, but this category also extends into the areas which those did not. The primary ways of controlling actions are to either force players to skip portions of their turn, to actually take over the decisions made on their turn, or to slow and impede the progression of the decks actions in other ways sometimes thought of as tempo control.

Skip steps

There are only a handful of cards that address action control in the game. And even fewer that can cause players to skip steps. Of those Fatespinner, Shisato, Whispering Hunter, Stasis, Empty City Ruse, Stonehorn Dignitary, and Time Stop are used to force players to skip steps. Some forms of this control are much more effective than others. Stasis can be used to great success in some decks, while Time Stop has seen much less play.

Turn control

Now to the best of my knowledge, controlling another player's turn can only be achieved by two cards:Mindslaver or Sorin Markov. This is obviously a very effective form of control. There are so many options, from tapping down their blockers, to using kill spells on their own cards, to using a planeswalker's ultimate for against them. A very uncommon but powerful form of control.

Tempo control

Tempo control is a form of control that intends to control actions by slowing down the actions of the deck rather than stop them all together by increasing casting costs, increasing costs of abilities, adding a cost for combat, etc. By adding to these costs, you are better able to control threats as they will happen less often. These tactics usually just put decks in slow motion, similar to what a land destruction deck can do for you. Tempo control can effect general spell activation and casting likeAura of Silence, Chill, Defense Grid, Feroz's Ban, Gloom, Glowrider, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Sphere of Resistance. Or in some cases be directed at decreasing the amount of creatures that can attack like Crawlspace or just by making it cumbersome to attack with cards like Elephant Grass, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and Angelic Arbiter.

Grave control

The graveyard is the resource that most beginning players ignore the most. Many beginners think of things that are dead, as gone forever. Some midrange players learn to love and rely upon their graveyard too much and are predictable about their recursive intentions. Masterful players usually learn to respect the graveyard as any other resource they have. There are was to exploit it and way that it can be used against you. Depending on the current meta, grave control can be very important. Grave control usually relies on simply exiling cards from the graveyard, while there are other tactics available as well.

Exiling graveyards

The first type of grave control to review is exiling cards from the graveyard so that players can't do it themselves with Skaab Ruinator, rely on it for threshold with Hunting Grounds, or drop Exhume on your head. Getting rid of cards in a graveyard is a cheap and easy thing to do, and is often considered in the sideboards of decks. Bojuka Bog, Jund Charm, Nihil Spellbomb, Ravenous Trap, Relic of Progenitus, Tormod's Crypt all take car of this problem very simply and efficiently, and hell even Mudhole can be used against those pesky Crucible of Worlds decks.

Grave robbing

Another great method of controlling a graveyard is by stealing cards from another player's graveyard. Again this is resource exploitation. And really it is just expanding the amount of resources available. Instead of relying on your graveyard, you expand your scope to graveyards in general. This tactic is a bit weak at times though because stealing from the graveyard can be useless against burn and weenie decks. Optimally you want to steal a bomb. Agadeem Occultist, Ashen Powder, Bone Dancer, Coffin Queen, Debtors' Knell, and Grimoire of the Dead are just a few examples, but there are many.

Library control

And saving my favorite for last. Here she is, mill. I could write an even longer article on the mill deck archetype throughout the years. Mill is obviously named for the progenitor of the mechanic, the Millstone. Mill attempts to control, disrupt and win via milling, which is putting cards from an opponent's library directly into their graveyard without stopping at the battlefield or hand at all. This can be done in two ways: plain old mill and search and destroy mill.

Milling

Traditional milling is making a player pitch the top X cards from the top of their library into their graveyard. This is very basic and you can see plenty of examples in Millstone, Vision Charm, Tome Scour etc.

Search and destroy mill

Now this type of milling cares about tearing out the best cards from your deck and putting them in the graveyard or exiling them altogether. Some well known cards for this effect are: Bitter Ordeal, Jester's Cap, Life's Finale, and Sadistic Sacrament.

So that is control

As we can see control is a paradigm of play and needs to be thought of as such. Control decks do not win via control spells or permission spells in most cases. Control decks usually win by having a finisher to them, like Jace, the Mind Sculptor or something almost as bad. They employ control to get to that finishing point. Sometimes the finisher is a combo, sometimes its swarming aggro, and the control is just in a deck to make those win conditions possible and not disrupted.

So my final words here are please do not say, "I don't ever play control" because its either not true or you are failing to see one of the major principles of magic and you love Craw Wurm way to much. Hope you all enjoyed the article. The next one will be out when I get to write that enormous beast of an article. Actually i may have written the combo one already...hmm.

Also for more on control decks check out Caley's Control 101.