“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it”
Lao Tzu
It is the intention of this article to explore a philosophy of control. I shall express my ideas, and hopefully you can try to examine your own. The nature of this topic leaves much room to exchange opinions, as there are no set right or wrong answers, just philosophy. I will attempt to draw upon history, philosophy, even a degree of theology, and apply them to Magic theory. Whether you find this work useful or not, please be patient and open-minded. That being said, I will now take this opportunity to express my own thoughts on the philosophy of control.
Dominance and Submission
For the purposes of this article, I shall treat a game of Magic as its own Universe.
Control, in the sense that we use it here, refers to decks that seek to nullify opponents’ threats through a diverse array of answers; apply little to no early game pressure; contain spells that draw extra resources; play powerful spells and difficult threats; pursue card advantage; have a sense of inevitability to them; and are usually reactive. They seek to establish control over the game state and never intend to release their grip. The goal of the control deck is dominance.
In a typical aggro versus control match, the aggro deck shall seek to fuel a fast start by maximizing its use of mana to put the control deck on the back foot. The aggro deck knows that in the late game it stands little chance if it hasn’t already devastated one of the control decks primary resources — its life total. The aggro deck knows that it must seize the initiative early, and press home its advantage until the control deck succumbs. In short, it seeks to dominate, it seeks control in the area where it is best equipped to do so.
Conversely, the control deck aims to survive the early game until it can dictate the middle and late game. Time, for the most part (General Relativity aside), is linear. A game will move from the early game, through the middle game to the late game, if it lasts that long. The aggro deck seeks to end the game as quickly as possible; that is its nature, that is its purpose. Control must fight the reaper; it must stave off death until it can use its iron fist to bury the aggro deck under an avalanche of resource advantage and massive beasts. There are a few different ways in which the control player can approach the most important stage of this process — the early game. I shall call these approaches the Light and the Dark.
The Light is about balance, equality, justice. It wishes to negate any attempt of aggression swiftly and deal with it in a fair manner in order to restore equality. The Dark is about greed, inequality, and injustice. It wishes to negate any attempt of aggression in a timely and precise manner, and deal with it in a way so as to maximize card advantage and begin its pursuit of dominance at the earliest opportunity. For example;
Five-Color Control versus Kithkin.
Five-Color Control plays a Vivid land. Kithkin deploys Figure of Destiny.
Five-Color Control plays a second Vivid land. Kithkin attacks and pumps.
Five-Color Control has a Condemn and a Wrath in hand. Sensing that the Kithkin player has no two drop (though it may have a Spectral Procession) Five-Color Control must decide whether to Condemn now, or wait until it Wraths. The Light would Condemn, trade one card for one card and protect its resource of life. The Dark would wait; it would trade some of its life in an effort to maximize the use of its Wrath to gain card advantage by eliminating multiple threats in one swoop. The Dark would be greedy.
Being decisive and being at twenty life doesn’t always denote strength; however, being patient and choosing your moments does.
The opposite of domination is submission. I put forward the notion that in the early game, the Dark control player would intentionally submit to his opponent’s early control of the first few turns so that he can establish a greater degree of control in the middle game (which is the bridge to the late game). The Dark Faerie player may opt to not Spellstutter Sprite early Kithkin drops so that it can be as greedy as possible for its return from a resolved Infest. The Dark Fae player would submit to the tempo and aggression of the early game as dictated by the Kithkin player. On the other hand, the Light Faerie player may choose to minimise the damage done to its life resource in the early game by counterspelling, or Agony Warping the early threats. This is one of the fundamental principles of ‘The Tao.’
‘The Way’
It would be foolish for me to even attempt to explain the depth of Taoist philosophy (nor could I ever claim to truly understand it), but I do feel that I have a decent grasp of its basics. The main aspect that I shall (briefly) focus on is the Yin-Yang, which for the purpose of this article, I shall only outline the relevant principles.
First, the Yin (the black) and Yang (the white) are opposites. They are female and male, night and day, cold and hot, soft and hard — submissive and dominant. Though these forces are opposites, they do not necessarily oppose each other. A balance and harmony may be reached between them, creating a natural flow, the qi. Seeking that balance is integral to inner and outer peace.
Second, both the Yin and Yang contain the seed of the other within it. They are able to transform into the other. Though it may be night in England, it may be day in Japan. A seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky – an intrinsically yang movement. Then, when it reaches its full height, it will begin to weaken, and eventually will fall back to the earth in decay – an intrinsically yin movement. Yin always contains the potential for yang, and yang for yin.
Applying these two doctrines to our example of control versus aggro, we can see the notion of submission and dominance, equality and greed, light and dark more clearly. The Dark control player will submit the early game, but that submission will eventually transform itself into dominance. Moreover, if the control player seeks to follow the Way as closely as possible, to go with the flow of the qi, then his submission will be so great that his shift to dominance will be seamless as he gains as much advantage as possible from his spells.
To further demonstrate this point we will look at one of the most famous battles in history — the Battle Of Cannae.
Hannibal is at the Gates
This was a decisive battle in the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome in 216 BCE, General Hannibal on one side, and Consul Gaius Terentius Varro on the other. To cut a long story short, Rome, with superior numbers (almost 3:1) adopted its traditional and natural strategy of advancing with a strong, heavily armored central core of infantry flanked on either side by the cavalry. The intention would be to smash through Hannibal’s lines by sheer force and then devastate a broken Carthaginian army. Of course, Hannibal knew that this would be their plan, just as we know that aggro will come out as fast as it can — it is its nature.
Accordingly, Hannibal deployed his infantry in a virtual ‘V’ shape with the point facing the advancing Romans. However, as the two armies clashed, Hannibal had his central force slowly retreat, reducing the Romans momentum and creating a ‘—‘ formation. As this clash was happening, the two sets of cavalry were engaged with each other. This is where Carthage held an advantage, as its troops were significantly more skilled than the Romans. It didn’t take long for the Roman cavalry to capitulate. Turning back to the main battle, Rome’s infantry steadily continued to push the centre of Hannibal’s force back, though this was assisted by Hannibal’s instructions to slowly retreat. The ‘—‘ formation became a ‘U’. Then, when the time was right, Hannibal gave the instructions to his cavalry to sweep around the rear of the Roman force and close it off. The trap was complete. The ‘U’ had become an ‘O’. Using the Roman’s lack of maneuverability the result was a complete massacre. Hannibal defeated Rome.
I hope it is clear why I used this battle as an example. By accepting submission, rather than fighting against the Roman dominance in the early game, Hannibal was able to maximize his late game dominance. Rome tried to impose its will on the battlefield while Hannibal adopted flexibility and suppleness. He followed ‘The Way.’
Flexibility Rather Than Rigidity
A key feature of every successful control deck is flexibility. As a deck that contains mostly ‘answers,’ it must be able to nullify any type of threat that appears. It must be able to deal with creatures, artifacts, enchantments, and usually sorceries or instants. A control deck loves to have different options, and so spells that can deal with a variety of different problems become extremely useful. This versatility becomes a powerful dimension to a more flexible strategy. Being able to have choices and options allows the control player to have more influence on the tempo of the game. In a funny way, they will have more dominance over their own submission.
“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful.”
Lao Tzu
In an ideal world, a control player will dominate every aspect of the game, but, as we know, this isn’t very likely. When the tempo of a game is not going in the control deck’s favor, when it has ‘submitted’ the early game to the aggro deck, then instead of trying to fight a losing battle (assuming that it is a losing battle), the control deck may try to recognise the qi of the game and go with it rather than against it. This is much like Hannibal’s tactic.
The Four Noble Truths
Buddhism teaches of the Four Noble Truths.
1. Life means suffering
2. Desire and attachment are the causes of suffering
3. Suffering can end
4. The eight-fold path to enlightenment
I won’t attempt to explain in any detail the philosophy behind these truths, but I will attempt to apply them to Magic.
1. You are battling against an opponent; he wants to win, as do you. He is an opposing force whose sole intention is to defeat you. He will try in every conceivable way to make you suffer.
2. You are trying to win. You desire nothing more and nothing less. Because of this desire, you have entered into battle with your opponent, and suffering ensues. Furthermore, you have possessions. Every card in your hand, land in play, instant in your graveyard belongs to you. You have chosen to play with these cards, designed this deck, and made every decision at every turn. It is understandable that one would have formed an attachment to these possessions.
3. Suffering can end when desire and attachment ceases. Try letting go of your craving to win the game. Naturally, I don’t mean to imply that you no longer try to win the game, nor lose focus on what matters, but try seeing the game as two natural forces coming together where one must inevitably triumph over the other. Try to not think about ‘you and your deck trying to beat him and his deck,’ but rather focusing on ‘how the two forces interact and how they maneuver around each other.’ With this state of mind, it may be possible to play more optimally, as you become more of an observer than a participant and let the nature of the cards do what they do.
A more practical element of this third truth is ceasing attachment. Allow yourself to make the necessary sacrifices; chump blocking, trading two cards for one, losing tempo etc. Try to not become attached to your permanents at the risk of losing sight of your ultimate goal. Try to not even view them as ‘permanents’, but really just a state in time lasting for an undetermined period.
“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
Buddha Shakyamuni
Do not lament your losses or mistakes, for that will surely cloud your judgement; instead, see them as an unexpected course of the development of the game and adjust accordingly.
“I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
Buddha Shakyamuni
4. The eight-fold path to enlightenment is difficult to apply to our Universe of Magic. Amongst other things, it teaches of right thought, right action, and right view. However, if you can make the correct decisions at every opportunity, perceive the state of the game for what it truly is, and take the correct course of action, then you will certainly be in a better place.
“All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”
Buddha Shakyamuni
Resource Management
Much of Magic is down to resource management. Resources can be corporeal, such as mana and cards, or incorporeal, such as life, knowledge, and time. As every card is an investment in and of a resource, it is imperative that a player manages his resources in the best possible way. In a control deck, this use of resource management becomes trickier and more important. When to trade mana for cards, life for cards, tempo for life, and so on, are crucial to successfully going with the qi of the game.
Every game of Magic is different. Aggro decks may not get a quick start, control decks my be stumble when developing mana resources, and so any philosophy expressed in this article can only generally and superficially apply, and won’t be of much practical use to the game at hand. It is because of this that one must decipher at the given time and situation which resource are more valuable.
The Most Valuable Thing in the World
Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: “What is the most valuable thing in the world?”
The master replied: “The head of a dead cat.”
“Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?” inquired the student.
Sozan replied: “Because no one can name its price.”
In summary, this article intends to point out that Light and Dark and Yin and Yang do not equate to good and evil, right and wrong. They are both part of the same thing, and so as a player you must be both. You must be flexible and recognise which approach is best suited at the given moment. Do not be rigid in your thinking; be prepared to make plays that sometimes might seem illogical if, in the Universe of your game, they are in harmony with the qi. Relax as you play, and if possible think outside the box whilst knowing that all that exists is the box. I believe that exploring the philosophy behind the intricacies of Magic can lead us all to become better players. Please share your own thoughts with one another, because an idea expressed is better than simply an idea. If we can understand why moves work as they do, then no matter what situation we find ourselves in, we should be able to find the most successful path. I’ll leave you now with one last koan to think about.
The Stone Mind
Hogen, a Chinese Zen teacher, lived alone in a small temple in the country. One day four traveling monks appeared and asked if they might make a fire in his yard to warm themselves.
While they were building the fire, Hogen heard them arguing about subjectivity and objectivity. He joined them and said: “There is a big stone. Do you consider it to be inside or outside your mind?”
One of the monks replied: “From the Buddhist viewpoint, everything is an objectification of mind, so I would say that the stone is inside my mind.”
“Your head must feel very heavy,” observed Hogen, “if you are carrying around a stone like that in your mind.”
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Until next time…
Jonathan
ynwa2005 at hotmail dot co dot uk