I have had the chance to try black splash at multiple medium sized events (20-30 players), and from my experience it's not the way to go. The deck simply can not play on reactive axis. Yes, having Abrupt Decays in the main and some discard/Slaughter Games in the sideboard does help, but not enough to make a significant difference. You will still fold to hate 9/10 times, and you will still get destroyed by bad match ups. All the while, your primary game plan becomes weaker and less consistent, hurting your good match ups. It's just not worth it.
My opinion: If you are being hated out in your local meta, switch to a different deck. Trying to adjust by making the deck more reactive or splashing a third color is futile.
Against Halo or Layline you can still beat them to death with Titan and use the valakut triggers to keep their blockers away. For that matchup I also bring in additional, preferably uncounterable, threats like Thrun. This is happening mostly because titanshift is very popular at the moment so hopefully will die down in a couple of months.
Getting there with Titan is so unlikely it's pretty much nill, they have nothing to use their Path/Verdict/Detention Sphere/Elspeth -3/Cryptic on besides our Titans. If by some miracle they don't draw any of that the entire game plus the 4 turns it takes Titan to kill them, you should buy a lottery ticket on your way back.
You are right about the metagame being hostile to us. It seems like we are public enemy #1 as of late, and people find it justifiable to have mainboard hate just for us.
Another part of the problem is that I mained RUG Scapeshift for years before it died. Guess I miss the feeling of having actual answers and cantrips to dig for said answers.
As for adding black, it is certainly a possibility but how much are you going to hamstring yourself by taking away from the core focus of the deck? Why not try it and let us know?
Weakening the main plan is why I was hesitant to do it before, but now that running Prismatic Omens has become the norm, I figured that the negative effect would be minimized. In addition to offering color fixing, Prismatic Omen also allows us to drop a mountain or two and not worry about running out of Valakut resources.
I'll try it out this FNM. Increase Prismatic Omen to 3, have abrupt decays replace 2xSweltering Suns and flex spots, find some room for some combination of Pulse/Discard/Slaughter. The switch over is cheap enough.
Hey guys, I've been running the Prismatic Omen/Hour of Promise list for a while now, and I absolutely hate how at the mercy of the match up/draw the deck feels. There are some match ups that are virtually unwinnable game 1, and other match ups are so sideboard dependent that you lose if you don't hit a specific card in the opening hand or first couple of draws. Nothing is more frustrating/demoralizing than having a UW player drop a turn 2 Ruined Halo then having them sit back laughing at you, knowing full well that you got jack all to deal with it mainboard.
Some days I go undefeated, others I get destroyed, despite the decks and players being consistent....just a coin toss.
Surely there is a way to keep the core of the deck while adding in more interactive elements to add consistency. I am considering splashing black and adding in Abrupt Decays mainboard for more universal removal. Having access to Maelstrom Pulse/Slaughter Games/Discard in sideboard also seems nice. Anyone ever try anything like this? Thoughts?
You keep saying only blue-based control is weak, when my point was that control as a whole is weak. I don't care if it plays blue or not, I just want a top tier control deck. If that deck happens to be mono-black, Naya, Jund, 4 color -blue...I would be happy. One of my favorite decks of all time is Astral Slide, and it did not run blue. If Assault-Loam was top tier, I wouldn't be complaining.
UW control is the closest thing we have, and it put up abysmal results in all 3 events. It is clearly not top tier, despite its 5 minutes in the spotlight.
I just don't want my game plan to revolve around turning big, stupid beat sticks sideways. How is that a "narrow definition" in anyway?
But in my calculation, I included all control decks. Not just blue draw-go - but all - including W/R prison, Lantern, and 8-rack. Control as a whole, in all variants regardless of definition, including decks that don't play blue at all, only add up to the number of dredge decks.
An entire archetype is effectively missing from the format. That hardly seems like a narrow definition.
That wasn't the case when twin was around, as Pokken pointed out. In addition to Twin decks themselves incorporating heavy control elements, many control decks had a positive match up against it. In the twin era, both UWR control and RUG Scapeshift were top tier. Now they rot in bot tier.
But Grixis DS is only using blue for the cantrips and Snapcasters. That's it. no Mana Leaks, no Cryptics, no Spell Snares, no Remands, no Vendilion Cliques....on the other hand, most Twin decks ran some combination of those cards, some lists ALL those cards.
When people say they want to play blue, they don't mean they want to play Serum Visions/Snapcaster and ONLY Serum Visions/Snapcaster. Grixis DS is at it's core a black midrange deck, more Jund than an actual blue deck. At least Twin had counter spells....
Dredge (a single deck) = The entire control archetype in it's broadest definition
Conclusion: Control is fine.
How delusional do you have to be to ignore such overwhelming and obvious evidence? The numbers are right there. Oh but I'm sorry, we had 8 Cryptic Commands in one of the events, silly me.
So it's official - control is now dead in all formats.
I'm at the stage where I'm happy with MTG dying if it means the incompetent idiots at WOTC lose their job. Given the state of standard and the money they are hemorrhaging, this doesn't seem too far off...
The game is dead, but they are selling more and more product every year. Interesting...
Modern is dead, but they keep seeing healthy and rising attendance numbers. Interesting....
I didn't say modern is dead, I didn't say MTG is dead, I said control is dead...which it is. There is no top tier control deck of any color combination in any format. Dead.
As for your comments, you must have been living under a rock to not have heard that standard is in a death spiral and WOTC has not done this badly in terms of numbers for a very long time.
So it's official - control is now dead in all formats.
I'm at the stage where I'm happy with MTG dying if it means the incompetent idiots at WOTC lose their job. Given the state of standard and the money they are hemorrhaging, this doesn't seem too far off...
Censor is a terrible card. Absolutely terrible. The only reason it looks good is because we haven't had a good counter spell in so long, people forgot what one looks like.
Imagine this card:
1B
Target player discards a card unless they pay 1.
Cycling(B)
OR this one:
1R
Target player takes 3 damage unless they pay 1
Cycling(R)
In what world would these be considered acceptable cards for an eternal format? Control/Blue players are so desperate, so starved for decent cards that THIS actually looks playable, when any equivalent card would be laughed at by the other archetypes.
Pretty sure back when Modern had a pro-tour, half of them were won by UWR Control, saying that blue control has always been dead in Modern is simply hyperbole. Also ironically enough I think UWR control may actually be well positioned for this current meta game given all the tools it can run while also being one of the more proactive control decks.
UWR did well in one pro-tour, and was top tier for only a month, before being roflstomped back to tier 3. Twin was a tempo-combo deck, not a control attrition based deck. I stand by what I said, there has NEVER been a control deck that has performed well for any extended period of time in the history of the format. Control is dead, always has been, always will be.
Blue control is dead in modern. It always has been, and it always will be. That much is clear now. You can keep pretending like your barely-tier-2 deck is going to amount to something, but it hasn't and it never will. I for one am done with the cycle of abysmal new releases, disappointing bans/unbans, and the constant uphill battle to be relevant. WOTC can take their cancel and go **** themselves with it.
With MM17 around the corner, now is the perfect time to get rid of all my blue cards and reinvest them into BG/x while the prices are low. It will be a nice change of pace to win half my games before they even begin simply because I can afford Tarmogoyfs.
My opinion: If you are being hated out in your local meta, switch to a different deck. Trying to adjust by making the deck more reactive or splashing a third color is futile.
Getting there with Titan is so unlikely it's pretty much nill, they have nothing to use their Path/Verdict/Detention Sphere/Elspeth -3/Cryptic on besides our Titans. If by some miracle they don't draw any of that the entire game plus the 4 turns it takes Titan to kill them, you should buy a lottery ticket on your way back.
You are right about the metagame being hostile to us. It seems like we are public enemy #1 as of late, and people find it justifiable to have mainboard hate just for us.
Another part of the problem is that I mained RUG Scapeshift for years before it died. Guess I miss the feeling of having actual answers and cantrips to dig for said answers.
Weakening the main plan is why I was hesitant to do it before, but now that running Prismatic Omens has become the norm, I figured that the negative effect would be minimized. In addition to offering color fixing, Prismatic Omen also allows us to drop a mountain or two and not worry about running out of Valakut resources.
I'll try it out this FNM. Increase Prismatic Omen to 3, have abrupt decays replace 2xSweltering Suns and flex spots, find some room for some combination of Pulse/Discard/Slaughter. The switch over is cheap enough.
Some days I go undefeated, others I get destroyed, despite the decks and players being consistent....just a coin toss.
Surely there is a way to keep the core of the deck while adding in more interactive elements to add consistency. I am considering splashing black and adding in Abrupt Decays mainboard for more universal removal. Having access to Maelstrom Pulse/Slaughter Games/Discard in sideboard also seems nice. Anyone ever try anything like this? Thoughts?
You keep saying only blue-based control is weak, when my point was that control as a whole is weak. I don't care if it plays blue or not, I just want a top tier control deck. If that deck happens to be mono-black, Naya, Jund, 4 color -blue...I would be happy. One of my favorite decks of all time is Astral Slide, and it did not run blue. If Assault-Loam was top tier, I wouldn't be complaining.
UW control is the closest thing we have, and it put up abysmal results in all 3 events. It is clearly not top tier, despite its 5 minutes in the spotlight.
I just don't want my game plan to revolve around turning big, stupid beat sticks sideways. How is that a "narrow definition" in anyway?
An entire archetype is effectively missing from the format. That hardly seems like a narrow definition.
That wasn't the case when twin was around, as Pokken pointed out. In addition to Twin decks themselves incorporating heavy control elements, many control decks had a positive match up against it. In the twin era, both UWR control and RUG Scapeshift were top tier. Now they rot in bot tier.
When people say they want to play blue, they don't mean they want to play Serum Visions/Snapcaster and ONLY Serum Visions/Snapcaster. Grixis DS is at it's core a black midrange deck, more Jund than an actual blue deck. At least Twin had counter spells....
Counters Company – 12
Affinity – 10
Burn – 7
Grixis Death’s Shadow – 6
Four-Color Death’s Shadow – 4
Dredge – 4
Eldrazi Tron – 3
Grixis Delver – 2
Jeskai Control – 2
U/W Control – 2
U/R Gifts Storm – 2
Abzan Traverse – 2
Scapeshift – 2
G/W Tron – 1
G/B Tron – 1
G/R Tron – 1
Esper Death’s Shadow – 1
Sultai Death’s Shadow – 1
Jund – 1
Abzan – 1
Ad Nauseam – 1
8-Rack – 1
Madcap Moon – 1
Eldrazi Taxes – 1
Amulet Titan – 1
Four-Color Retreat – 1
W/R Prison – 1
Ironworks Combo – 1
Infect – 1
G/W Hexproof – 1
Naya Company – 1
Merfolk – 1
R/G Breach – 1
Goryo’s Vengeance – 1
------------------
Dredge: 5
Burn: 5
TBB/Titanshift variations: 4
Grixis Shadow: 3
Abzan Devoted Company: 3
Jund DS: 2
Eldra Tron: 2
Living End: 2
Elves: 2
Lantern Control: 2
RUG Scapeshift/BTL: 1
Death and Taxes: 1
Jeskai Copycat: 1
Jund Midrange: 1
UR Storm: 1
5c Zoo with DS: 1
------------------
Dredge: 4
Grixis Shadow: 3
EldraTron: 3
Abzan Company: 3
Titanshift: 2
Boros Burn: 2
Affinity: 2
Knightfall: 2
4c Company: 1
Abzan Midrange: 1
Jund DS: 1
UR Storm: 1
Bant Eldrazi: 1
Esper Shadow: 1
Rock/BG Midrange: 1
Ad Nauseam: 1
Esper Control: 1
Jeskai Control: 1
W/B Eldrazi: 1
Control, in it's broadest definition, inluding prison decks (lantern, W/R prison), combo-control (BTL Scapeshift, Madcap Moon), discard (8-rack) = 13 (8.8%)
Dredge = 13 (8.8%)
Dredge (a single deck) = The entire control archetype in it's broadest definition
Conclusion: Control is fine.
How delusional do you have to be to ignore such overwhelming and obvious evidence? The numbers are right there. Oh but I'm sorry, we had 8 Cryptic Commands in one of the events, silly me.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm out.
I didn't say modern is dead, I didn't say MTG is dead, I said control is dead...which it is. There is no top tier control deck of any color combination in any format. Dead.
As for your comments, you must have been living under a rock to not have heard that standard is in a death spiral and WOTC has not done this badly in terms of numbers for a very long time.
I'm at the stage where I'm happy with MTG dying if it means the incompetent idiots at WOTC lose their job. Given the state of standard and the money they are hemorrhaging, this doesn't seem too far off...
Imagine this card:
1B
Target player discards a card unless they pay 1.
Cycling(B)
OR this one:
1R
Target player takes 3 damage unless they pay 1
Cycling(R)
In what world would these be considered acceptable cards for an eternal format? Control/Blue players are so desperate, so starved for decent cards that THIS actually looks playable, when any equivalent card would be laughed at by the other archetypes.
Control players: Hey, control/blue is in a really bad spot right now, think you can give us a boost?
WoTC: Hey, go **** yourself.
UWR did well in one pro-tour, and was top tier for only a month, before being roflstomped back to tier 3. Twin was a tempo-combo deck, not a control attrition based deck. I stand by what I said, there has NEVER been a control deck that has performed well for any extended period of time in the history of the format. Control is dead, always has been, always will be.
With MM17 around the corner, now is the perfect time to get rid of all my blue cards and reinvest them into BG/x while the prices are low. It will be a nice change of pace to win half my games before they even begin simply because I can afford Tarmogoyfs.