SoK: Control, LD and Discard

C

Crackdown

Guest
I would really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this matter.

As I read through the spoiler to SoK, I came away with a sinking feeling that WotC had just taken away my enjoyment of Magic. How can that be, you may ask, with so many neat cards to experience?

As WotC found in one of it's polls, many people find it unenjoyable playing against counterspells/control (about 1/3rd). Next in line are discard and land destruction. Yet, these are precisely the archtypes that appear to be the major winners in the new metagame.

Wisdom as a mechanic mostly rewards having cards in hand. Who does that better than the control player? It also punishes players who empty their hands to avoid discard spells and effects. Yet, once again, the format rewards powerful discard decks. As I talk to the people playing FNM at the local store, everyone wants to put together a deck fashioned on one or more of those three principles.

Land destruction? It will become almost perverse with the new Red spell.

I don't want to play control, land destruction or discard. I don't find them enjoyable to play against or to play on my side, even though I've used them in the past. But I also don't want to be so totally uncompetitive that Magic is no longer any fun.

So, set my mind at ease and tell me why the environment will be more diverse and that I'll still have fun playing Magic.
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
The Magic community (competitive or not) has again and again had these problems or good fortunes depending on your view.

"When in Rome, do what the Romans do."

Oh boy, this does NOT sit well with many people but what can you do about it? Play by their rules or be prepared to get crushed or quit. Quitting is too drastic of a measure since the machine (Wiz Co) cares not about one individual customer.

However, not all is so gloomy. There is, in fact, someone out there right now trying to break this "Code" (the LD, Control, Discard archetype) and when they do, and believe me they WILL CRACK or BREAK the CODE, then all of the people lamenting will use THAT deck. But that won't be any fun because everyone ELSE will be using either the LD, Control or Discard decks or the NEW Crack-The-Code decks.

Viscious :mad:

"Sink or Swim"

Do you like playing Magic: The Gathering?

Yes? Then keep playing either in tournaments or casually. By this time next year we'll all have something else to throw our arms in the air about like...I don't know...Magic will add the D20 system to the game somehow or whatever... :rolleyes:
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I'm probably not going to be able to play with the SOK cards for a while but I agree with KJ... I'd try to find something to break the "metagame", if you think everyone's gonna be going for LD or discard or control.
 
J

jorael

Guest
Kamigawa block/type 2 has a lot of mana acceleration and handfilling. Maybe that's why Wizards thought it was ok to have a lot of land & hand destruction.

Are there any effective ponza or discard decks yet? Looks to me that a white weenie deck (or any other aggro deck) would wipe the floor with it...
 
E

evan d

Guest
To break the mold they should simply make some good creatures that hate ld,control, and discard:

Joey, casual player

4

Whenever a player plays a spell that has the word/words "discard", "destroy target land", or "counter target spell" that player loses 10 life.

The boon and leader of casual players. The spayer of tournament players.
 
M

Mr_Pestilence

Guest
Amen, brother! Can I get a(n) (Eternal) Witness?

Well, there used to be a deck around these parts called Affinity, which dealt very well w/ the above mentioned strategies.

It dealt w/ them so well, in fact, that advocates of those decks got tired of losing to Something Different (tm), and went home to cry to their mommas at WotC. And, like good mothers everywhere, they wrote their Congressmen and rallied their sewing bees in an effort to remove the scourge of Something Different (tm) from the landscape.

The Great Beast (tm) was slain, or at least banned into exile. "To the pit with you, Dicsiple of the Vault", they cried, and the scariest 1/1 in existence was seen no more. "Slay us not with your infernal Artifact sacrificing tricks", they screamed at the Arcbound Ravager, and it was gone. "8,000 ways of destroying Artifacts aren't enough", they wailed, and the Artifact lands vanished, with nary a Great Furnace ever found again.

The river of tears dried up, and balance was restored.

And lo, it was boring. Control decks once again dominated far and wide, and players struggled in vain to play something before their mana was destroyed or it was ripped from their hands.

Will a hero come again to challenge the status quo? Only time will tell....
 
E

evan d

Guest
Yes you can get an eternal witness. Feel free to send four packing my way (not like that you sicko).

Yes, reverand pestililance the evil beast was slain.

I just wish there could have been someway to have keep the artifact lands. They have reasonable uses in other non Affinity deck, example being, shrapnel blast and the online vanguard, pristine angel.
 
Y

YoungBeard

Guest
Personally I feel there's plenty of stuff in SoK for aggro, too. All the sweep cards ('cept perhaps the black discard one), cards like Adamaro that punish your opponent for holding cards, Promise of Bunrei, Akki Drillmaster, ...
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Mr_Pestilence said:
Amen, brother! Can I get a(n) (Eternal) Witness?

Well, there used to be a deck around these parts called Affinity, which dealt very well w/ the above mentioned strategies.

It dealt w/ them so well, in fact, that advocates of those decks got tired of losing to Something Different (tm), and went home to cry to their mommas at WotC. And, like good mothers everywhere, they wrote their Congressmen and rallied their sewing bees in an effort to remove the scourge of Something Different (tm) from the landscape.

The Great Beast (tm) was slain, or at least banned into exile. "To the pit with you, Dicsiple of the Vault", they cried, and the scariest 1/1 in existence was seen no more. "Slay us not with your infernal Artifact sacrificing tricks", they screamed at the Arcbound Ravager, and it was gone. "8,000 ways of destroying Artifacts aren't enough", they wailed, and the Artifact lands vanished, with nary a Great Furnace ever found again.

The river of tears dried up, and balance was restored.

And lo, it was boring. Control decks once again dominated far and wide, and players struggled in vain to play something before their mana was destroyed or it was ripped from their hands.

Will a hero come again to challenge the status quo? Only time will tell....
Click to expand...
Great post there, Mr. P! :)
 
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