You know, after reading yet another person weeping, wailing, and gnashing teeth about the removal of Counterspell, Memory Lapse, and Force Spike from the main set, then despairing about the neutering of instant card drawing so that Inspiration is the benchmark, I finally realized something.
People who relied on blue-based control decks all these years are lazy.
It used to terrify me for years, facing down a smug player with two blue mana untapped and available, not to mention four (the HORROR) or even six mana (NOOOOO!). That blue player always had this air of arrogance – this holier-than-thou aura that smirked,”I’m soooo much better than you, because I play with Islands.”
And I used to doubt myself, wondering why I hated playing that style of Magic. Was it a flaw in my character? Did I just lack the patience and imagination, or the downright skill to play such a deep and complex color? Why did I despise what has become known as the now nearly defunct Draw-Go style of play?
But I now realize the truth: Blue was boring because it was too good, and the people who leaned on that style of Magic were lazy players. Just toss the power cards in and try not to get in the way of the win.
Sure, technically you could say they were smart in choosing to play the strongest color, giving themselves the best tools to win. But at the same time they were taking the easy way out, the boring path, embracing the”victory at all costs” attitude that wins tournaments but not friends.
UU, Counter target spell. The best utility card ever printed. Whether it was a Wild Mongrel or a Wildfire, one cheap spell took care of it. People championing Draw-Go decks often talked about the problem of having the right answers for the questions asked by the opposing deck.”One misplay without the right answer and you just lose right there.” The presumption was only the most intelligent and cunning of Magic players would be able to have the right mix of answers in their deck. Man, it certainly took skill to toss in lots of cards that say”Counter target spell!”
Now, I know I’m simplifying things a little bit, and that control decks also need removal to handle threats that hit the board… But the ridiculous and lazy”Counter target spell” has long been the hallmark of control decks and I’m pointing out that people who’ve relied on them as the universal solvent of Magic aren’t superior to the rest of us – they’re lazibones.
Now, add to that style of play instant-speed card drawing. Talk about easy – now you’ve got the pleasure of casting all your spells all at the end of your opponent’s turn! The drawback of keeping that mana open to counter has just been removed; how skillful! No tough decisions need be made.
Let’s look at the epitome of Lazy Control, circa Mirage/Tempest era:
CMU Blue
1 Rainbow Efreet
4 Force Spike
4 Counterspell
1 Memory Lapse
3 Mana Leak
3 Forbid
2 Dissipate
4 Dismiss
4 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 Impulse
4 Whispers of the Muse
4 Stalking Stones
4 Quicksand
18 Island
Twenty-one counterspells, eight instant-speed card drawing and selection spells, four all-purpose reset buttons, and one hard-to-kill win condition (not to mention the Stones). Other than dropping land, you only had five reasons to do something on your turn. Practically no tough decisions here: Draw. Go. Counter your spell, or draw a card at end of your turn.
Brutally effective? Certainly. But damn boring and lazy in the extreme, not to mention extremely aggravating to play against. Who wants to ask permission to participate in a game you’ve spent lots of time and hard-earned cash on?
R&D finally hit upon the truth that counterspells are just not all that fun to play against. Sure, they’re probably a necessary part of the game, able to keep other tendencies (namely, solitaire combo decks) in check… But playing with them shouldn’t be easy. You should never be able to toss together twenty-one quality counterspells in a single deck. And that, my friends, is why Counterspell had to go – so that Wizards can print decent counterspells in expansion sets without giving the control freaks out there the weapons to build a modern day CMU Blue.
And the imperfect counters they do provide make you work harder and smarter if you’re a control player at heart and want to play blue. Am I mostly concerned about the early game? Mana Leak works just fine. Is the format filled with problem creatures? Remove Soul. Some problem instants you want to be able to handle? Flash Counter. And the beauty of these situational counters is that they’re all splashable, so you can easily add another color for additional control.
Blue’s card drawing options in 8th edition are also skill-intensive. For basically the same mana cost, you’ve got Concentrate versus Inspiration. Concentrate gives you three cards, but more than likely taps you out during your main phase. Inspiration gives you one less card, but lets you play the Draw-Go game. The ultra-cheap Curiosity makes you invest in your main phase and creatures.
Conversely, Fact or Fiction was powerful but dumb; maybe the other player might give you the wrong cards, but your choices were usually simple. It took no skill to recognize that. The control player who wants to utilize blue’s card drawing is going to have to work for it now – and work hard.
At the same time that Wizards is reining in blue control, they’re also distributing control tools to other colors. Just look at the control colors of Onslaught Block: White and red. What’s nice is the tightrope you walk when deciding to tap into the powerful control options outside of blue: If you forego blue altogether, you lose the ability to counter a critical spell, leaving you open to something devastating like Biorhythm or Haunting Echoes. Control isn’t easy anymore – so when you see someone like Bob Maher pilots a R/W control deck to win Grand Prix: Detroit, you know that he worked darn hard for that paycheck (and hopefully kicked back some cash to the guy who worked hard to develop that decklist).
Modern-day control is tough, the way is should be. If my opponent plays a control deck and crushes me, I want to walk away knowing he earned his victory from good deck design and smart play, and didn’t just laze around on the backs of overpowered spells.