Cloud Key by Trevor Hairsine
I was actually working on a completely different column focused on gameplay nuances from the Nerd Rage Gaming $5K Championship Trial, and then something that happened in one of the games happened and now this post takes priority. Hooray for distractions!
Seriously though, I can’t help but feel like today’s topic is, well, quite topical. It’s no secret that Esper Control is a thing in Standard again, and I think some of my knowledge will improve gameplay with or against control decks. Let’s start from the most basic of levels: goldfishing a control deck. Doesn’t that idea sound completely ludicrous? Here’s what usually ends up happening: you get to make your land drops, not get punished for land sequencing, and then the “game” ends when you’re holding no fewer than three permission spells, two removal spells, and maybe your finisher as well. Wanna know something that’s not ludicrous? That board state is both your goal when playing control, and your job to prevent the opponent from achieving when playing against control.
Even if one of the decks involved is trying to goldfish the opponent, Magic games involving control decks can always be boiled down to a series of exchanges of resources. In theory, the control player will often be initiating these exchanges and it is on their opponent (henceforth referred to as ‘the beatdown’) to blunt or misdirect any effort for a favorable exchange. Cards and mana will trade for cards and mana, though sometimes cards and mana will only trade for cards (think discard spells), and the ability to trade cards and mana for mana can also be a part of the puzzle (Sacrificing cards for tempo). Some say the beatdown asks the questions and the control deck has to have the right answers for the right questions, but I think it’s actually more important for the beatdown to either rearrange the questions as the control deck tries to answer them OR to phrase the control deck’s answers in the form of a question and seek answers of their own. Control needs their mana and cards to trade for the desired mana and cards from the beatdown strategy; a card like Negate on a sweeper can really throw a massive wrench in things.
I don’t think it’s a Magic secret anymore that the control deck tries to turn the corner and then takes a small to large advantage all the way to a game win, but what I do think other players overlook is that right before control breaks serve, there’s something else that has to happen first. When playing from behind, the control player is committed to spending mana on the opponent’s terms. Sometimes they have to play at sorcery speed and take down mana to react. The beatdown tries to create as many spots as possible where they can expose the control deck for having a poor answer or not having the mana available. So, for me at least, the control deck’s primary objective should be to unlock their mana, that is, to create a space where they can develop without being questioned by the beatdown. Now, unlocked mana isn’t necessarily permanent (and sometimes it is indeed extremely fleeting), but too much time with unlocked mana should generally lead to control turning the corner and winning the game. I never mentioned this in my recent Splinter Twin article, but I eventually saw that a good indicator of who would win game 1 of a Twin mirror was to identify the first player that could safely tap out on their own turn after usually around seven or more lands were in play per side. The mana efficiency (or usually something like a resolved Snap-Electrolyze, which would often come up in these spots) was often too much to overcome in a matchup where both sides normally would want the ability to play both offense and defense.
In a Standard environment, you’ve probably heard everyone talking about casting spells into Chemister’s Insight mana. Or, before that, being extremely careful about letting an opponent double-spell via counterspell into Dig Through Time. Those are specific cases of what I believe should be good gameplay practice.
I think a visual example will help me break down parts of the concept, so allow me to introduce one of my favorite Standard decks in recent memory. I think Temur Energy players still have nightmares about how bad this matchup was in game 1s.
This deck is the most blatant example of unlocking mana, so having played it is rather convenient for my purposes. Where shall we begin?
Drake Haven was a total nightmare for beatdown strategies. Remember that seemingly throwaway line from the end of a few paragraphs ago? I’ll repeat it for your convenience: Control needs their mana and cards to trade for the desired mana and cards from the beatdown strategy; a card like Negate on a sweeper can really throw a massive wrench in things. Drake Haven allows the control deck to never actually deviate from their plan of unlocking mana and actually tries to lock the beatdown player’s mana instead. This deck was low on actual spot removal but triple blocks were extremely common. You could also double block to try and get a Harnessed Lightning out of the opponent when the mana exchange was extremely favorable for you, or a single block on a Rogue Refiner instead of what should have been a double block (Plot twist: it often was favorable.). Drake Haven also allowed the control deck to not start spewing mana and cards to answer a resolved Planeswalker, especially in game 1 situations where Drake Haven wasn’t going to be taken off of the table. We also essentially didn’t care about Whirler Virtuoso, a card that would often give control decks fits.
It was very hard for mana to go to waste when you could cycle and make Drakes at two and three mana, cycle plus two Drakes (if two Havens, of course, we’re not cheaters) at three and four, cycle just to dig harder at one, etc. And for additional card and mana advantage, you could try to quickly close a game out and force an opponent to cast several removal spells in succession.
There were some players that played only three Drake Havens. I think they were nuts.
Seven sweepers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a deck that cared as little about the drawback from Settle the Wreckage as I have from this deck in preboard situations. Even if the opponent didn’t give you the best Settle, you often would still cast it to set up instants on future turns. That card was almost always a full unlock. Fumigate gaining life on your own Drakes dying was the icing on the cake. The opponent could try to play around sweepers, but…
The reactive game would give them the business if they ever left too little pressure on the board. If you won the die roll, you had Censor up for a two drop on turn 2, which was often a double or triple time walk because then you didn’t really care about a turn three play. If they tried to play around Censor, you still effectively got a Time Walk and could just cycle it away. Hieroglyphic let you go up on cards and Cast Out strongly punished opponents who only left one threat in play at the end of their turn. Countervailing Winds was almost always a hard counter that players would have to try and navigate through, usually poorly because Drakes could contain every creature threat. Renewed Faith should be mentioned here for a weird reason: you often got more unlock power by casting it rather than cycling. God forbid if Azcanta flipped and then you found Abandoned Sarcophagus, aka one-sided Timetwister in this deck. Then the opponent would overextend and you Fumigated them back to the Stone Age.
Unlike other control decks, this deck could stop making land drops in game 1 at a certain point, which was just extra card advantage if you wanted it to be. I mean, if you had lands you could play them, but being “stuck” on five lands with a Haven in play is still a great spot to be in. Also, I have definitely discarded lands to hand size to make Drakes and highly recommend doing it. Ideally, you would cycle every Irrigated Farmland once you had a Haven in play anyways. Shefet Dunes earned its slot from helping snipe Planeswalkers, the card was otherwise a win-more card.
The sideboard Pull from Tomorrow juked most sideboard cards. Opponents needed to have a counter for Settle/Fumigate and ideally enchantment removal for Haven or Cast Out, so sometimes they got overloaded and you cast Pull for some number and drowned them in card advantage. I’m extremely proud of that one-of, which I don’t think very many players were playing. Also, it turns out that Torrential Gearhulk cannot be Negated.
Zero copies of Approach of the Second Sun because that card was awful unless you’re a cheater.
Things did get significantly worse post board and it is very important that I acknowledge that. Settle became much more dangerous for us, with all the extra countermagic or Drake Haven removal and extra Planeswalkers to keep fighting for equality much longer. In game 1, our opponents could not meaningfully double-spell us; after board they could effortlessly Chandra with Negate or Slice in Twain up. Vraska, Relic Seeker could enter play with approximately eleventy billion loyalty counters and eat a bunch of our time and then an enchantment. Other times we would have more difficulty filling up the graveyard and couldn’t turn on Countervailing Winds fast enough. I’m not exaggerating when I say matchups could go from 70-30 in our favor in game 1 to 40-60 with the opponent ahead in game 2, so winning game 1 was absolutely crucial.
Generally, the more lands played should lead to a smaller percentage of mana that needs to be left available for reactions. Control is on the back foot from turn 1. They have to turn the corner to win the game, and playing lands to slowly decrease how much mana is locked up is the first place to start.
Admittedly, I’m trying to avoid talking too much about tempo in this post. There’s a few reasons for that. I don’t want to plagiarize what other people have said on the topic, not to mention that I can’t name all of the names that have written tempo articles off the top of my head, but also hilariously enough, nobody has actually put forth a universally accepted definition of tempo in Magic. The only thing more contested than the proper wording of tempo in Magic is the cantrip split in Grixis Death’s Shadow. However, there is a certain Modern legal card that I am contractually obligated to point out here…
Terminus by James Paick
In case you weren’t aware, Terminus actually has hidden rules text. You have to put the card under a microscope to see it all (so it’s very easy to miss), but it CLEARLY states the following:
“Put all creatures on the bottom of their owners’ libraries
Miracle {W} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it’s the first card you drew this turn.)When you Miracle Terminus, roll a 20 sided die. If you don’t roll a 1 or a 2, you get an emblem with ‘Your mana is unlocked for the rest of the game.'”
Rules text of Terminus (AVR)
Recently, I played a deck with a very bad Terminus matchup, and in retrospect the way I tried to fight back was extremely incorrect. The deck was Four-Color Saheeli combo and my answer for Terminus was to… <checks notes>.. board in Jaces and Tireless Trackers. Yeah. That’ll show them. It turns out that you are still a lock to lose to a Terminus in the first six turns of the game. Instead, consider not playing around it and just jamming your stuff into their mana. Most of my deck’s creatures can’t really pressure a Planeswalker very well, and after they get to five lands plus Colonnade you can’t attack them at all. Force them to have Path or counterspells early, force them to find Terminus or die, because to do neither is to let them just unlock their mana without even trying to fight them.
I’ll be back with some more examples in the future. A lot of these concepts have been showing up in my Standard games on Arena, where I’m currently piloting Mono Red. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, since every matchup is a Twin mirror..