How would U/W play it?
General forum
Posted on Nov. 5, 2010, 4:34 p.m. by SupremeAlliesCommander
Tactics question. Not sure how a good U/W player would play this.
Opponent: Plains U/W Player: Island
Opponent: Plains, cast Kor Spiritdancer U/W Player: Island
Opponent: Plains, cast Hyena Umbra
Okay, you have Mana Leak in hand, and the necessary open mana. Do you Leak the Umbra? (You also have [Stoic Rebuttal] or some other counter, so you're not wasting your only counter.) This won't stop your opponent from drawing a card, but it will stop his Dancer from becoming a moderate nuisance.
Alternate scenario:
T3 Opponent: Plains, cast Wall of Omens
Again, you can Leak it. This stops him from drawing a card, but it's not like the wall is a big threat for U/W. To Leak or not to Leak?
I run across situations like these in my deck testing. Since I'm not an experienced U/W player, I thought I'd run it by the community.
SupremeAlliesCommander says... #3
Was hoping for others to chime in, but that pretty much confirms what I thought. Thanks for responding.
November 8, 2010 11:24 p.m.
Always counter early on if you've got MORE counters in your hand, especially if you're countering something that'd give them card advantage. Especially with something like Mana Leak , it becomes less effective late game unless they're going to tap out for something huge. But if you're playing control, and they're not an idiot, they'll be looking to see if you have a hand/free mana. No reason to not screw them over if possible. You'll probably have some Elixir of Immortality or draw at the very least to get MORE counter to keep shutting them down until you can make your winning play.
When in doubt, counter. Eventually you'll learn that experienced players will actually bait your counter first with something they don't care about, and then cast what they DID want to play the turn after or later. But with the emergence of deck archetypes online and the ability to see what the best cards being used are, it's in your favor as a control player because you'll be able to guess when they're bluffing!
sgteads says... #2
U/W control is all about countering so I say Leak it. The Umbra is a no brainer, (leak it). Now the wall is really a personal choice, do you have a lot of creatures to contend with the wall or is your deck main counter/control? If its a lot of creatures then leak it, if not then let is slide. But that just what I would do. Hope that helps.
November 6, 2010 12:02 a.m.