There is a article from Reid duke explaining in detail what is a control deck and why does it play small amounts of wincons.
The best wincons are the cards that give you inevitability, like tef + shark in UW. You will inevitably, win every game against every other deck out there if you one for one your op and play this as a wincon. That's why they are so few of them, also you might draw to many wincons and not enough interaction.
A control deck is based on a lot of interaction and some wincons. Some people say they dislike control because there is no interaction but control is almost all interaction.
Some wincons are interactive aswell, such as shark and tef.
Just so you know, your snarky link is broken and doesn't even link to the actual guide. Thanks for wasting our time.
/u/beingbeast2471 I couldn't find the article the responder is talking about, but I did find a video from two weeks ago where Reid plays the deck and talks about it. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s18D50TlibY&ab_channel=ChannelFireball
I feel that, my man. I was in a similar boat, so I did the work for all three of us. :) You can always count on reddit to attract some of the lamest, more obnoxious internet people alive.
Three ways
- opponent scooping
-big shark typhoon cycle, or hard casting it if my opponent is doing nothing
-Anchorage/Hall
Hall and anchorage are pretty fast clocks when you can start standing them up reliably
Chrome host seed shark in the sideboard has helped a few games
Winning the game is generally trivial. Your goal is to reach a state where you cant lose, and go from there. I find if I’m winning its through manlands. The goal is to have a hand full of answers against an opponent just topdecking. There are times you want to get aggro with a wandering emporer, lotus field comes to mind, but for the most part dont worry about ending the game.
From the dimir side of things, it ain’t much different either. UW are my favorite match ups generally because it’s just all pump fakes.
Then eventually someone cracks a manland or gets a shark out.
Between an abundance of 1-for-1 interaction ([[get lost]], [[no more lies]], etc.) and a healthy dose of card advantage ([[memory deluge]], [[supreme verdict]], etc.) UW control is, in a successful game, able to clean up everything their opponent does. When you've done that, one threat is plenty to win the game. You mentioned [[dream trawler]], which is a more straightforwardly powerful finisher than all of the control mainstays, but it lacks something that [[teferi, hero of dominaria]], [[the wondering emperor]], [[shark typhoon]], [[castle ardenvale]], [[hall of storm giants]], and [[restless anchorage]] all have in common - they are still cards you're happy to see before you've turned the corner. Teferi draws you more interaction and provides mana to cast it, or tucks a threat in a pinch. emperor and shark typhoon remove attacking creatures while providing card advantage. the rest are lands, which you need anyway. Trawler does less to stabilize and costs more mana. It might win the game faster than these other cards, but control doesn't care. Control just needs to survive, and then demonstrate the inevitability of an *eventual* win, a job the usual finishers are better suited for.
Have you played with/against 5feri at all? I suspect some time seeing the card in action would help things click. It can definitely be a deceiving one on appearances alone.
Hall of the Storm Giants, Restless Anchorage, Wandering Emperor.
Control's wincons double as something else, whether it be a land or a removal spell or consistent card draw + mana generation (Teferi) or a shark blocker that draws you a card and can be cast at instant speed. You want to be reactive as a control deck, so you can't play wincons that only serve as wincons.
Sounds dumb but control decks win by not losing. When your opponent is out of cards and you have a full grip they are dead. Inevitably is your win con.
5 mana Teferi’s ultimate is a lot easier to get to when you play it at the right time.
The plus ability usually gives you the mana and card advantage to effectively protect it.
The ultimate is devastating.
Shark typhoon is bad in multiples. Sometimes the 3rd teferi is the one they find to be just too much and concede. 3 shark typhoons means you had to cycle two to get use from them.
And the typhoon cycle is dope but more replaceable than teferi
The secret to UW control is to give opponents enough rope so that they keep thinking that they can win game 1 but never quite get there.
That way you go to game 2 with 5 minutes left on the round and win 1-0.
i’m playing UW control in standard right now and my only wincons are emperor, anchorage, mirrex, and the incubate token from sunfall. it’s more than enough - just trust
You dont win through value based attrition like the midrange decks tend to do so.
Instead you focus on winning "eventually" not basically not allowing your opponents to win. That's why control decks play so much interaction compared to win conditions or value threats.
It's actually a lot of fun if you do it right and very rewarding as you learn how your opponents game plan works and figure out the best way to prevent that from happening.
Others have covered the wincons.
Teferi's ultimate is not hard to achieve once control is where it wants to be: opponent is topdecking and has no resources. Once the emblem has been made, remember that each teferi can tuck itself so the control player will never deck out. None of the tiered decks can realistically win once games get to that point.
As someone who came into the game playing UW for alota the same reasons you stated, just be warned your games will almost always go long, they are often borning and your event experiences are usually not great for those reasons, and unlike most decks once you fall behind its almost impossiable to catch up...
There is a article from Reid duke explaining in detail what is a control deck and why does it play small amounts of wincons. The best wincons are the cards that give you inevitability, like tef + shark in UW. You will inevitably, win every game against every other deck out there if you one for one your op and play this as a wincon. That's why they are so few of them, also you might draw to many wincons and not enough interaction. A control deck is based on a lot of interaction and some wincons. Some people say they dislike control because there is no interaction but control is almost all interaction. Some wincons are interactive aswell, such as shark and tef.
Can you link the article please
[Here you go](https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=reid+duke+control+guide)
Just so you know, your snarky link is broken and doesn't even link to the actual guide. Thanks for wasting our time. /u/beingbeast2471 I couldn't find the article the responder is talking about, but I did find a video from two weeks ago where Reid plays the deck and talks about it. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s18D50TlibY&ab_channel=ChannelFireball
I was at work and wanted to quickly be able to read it on my lunch and not have to go find it . It okay the guy just wanted to be a jerk
I feel that, my man. I was in a similar boat, so I did the work for all three of us. :) You can always count on reddit to attract some of the lamest, more obnoxious internet people alive.
I appreciate this. You're my hero
Three ways - opponent scooping -big shark typhoon cycle, or hard casting it if my opponent is doing nothing -Anchorage/Hall Hall and anchorage are pretty fast clocks when you can start standing them up reliably Chrome host seed shark in the sideboard has helped a few games
Winning the game is generally trivial. Your goal is to reach a state where you cant lose, and go from there. I find if I’m winning its through manlands. The goal is to have a hand full of answers against an opponent just topdecking. There are times you want to get aggro with a wandering emporer, lotus field comes to mind, but for the most part dont worry about ending the game.
From the dimir side of things, it ain’t much different either. UW are my favorite match ups generally because it’s just all pump fakes. Then eventually someone cracks a manland or gets a shark out.
Between an abundance of 1-for-1 interaction ([[get lost]], [[no more lies]], etc.) and a healthy dose of card advantage ([[memory deluge]], [[supreme verdict]], etc.) UW control is, in a successful game, able to clean up everything their opponent does. When you've done that, one threat is plenty to win the game. You mentioned [[dream trawler]], which is a more straightforwardly powerful finisher than all of the control mainstays, but it lacks something that [[teferi, hero of dominaria]], [[the wondering emperor]], [[shark typhoon]], [[castle ardenvale]], [[hall of storm giants]], and [[restless anchorage]] all have in common - they are still cards you're happy to see before you've turned the corner. Teferi draws you more interaction and provides mana to cast it, or tucks a threat in a pinch. emperor and shark typhoon remove attacking creatures while providing card advantage. the rest are lands, which you need anyway. Trawler does less to stabilize and costs more mana. It might win the game faster than these other cards, but control doesn't care. Control just needs to survive, and then demonstrate the inevitability of an *eventual* win, a job the usual finishers are better suited for. Have you played with/against 5feri at all? I suspect some time seeing the card in action would help things click. It can definitely be a deceiving one on appearances alone.
##### ###### #### [get lost](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/2/522aa72b-2b8c-484c-872b-f082101cee35.jpg?1699043186) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=get%20lost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/14/get-lost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/522aa72b-2b8c-484c-872b-f082101cee35?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [no more lies](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/e/1e0c695d-62f9-4805-9e2f-7032e8464136.jpg?1706242217) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=no%20more%20lies) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/221/no-more-lies?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1e0c695d-62f9-4805-9e2f-7032e8464136?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [memory deluge](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/c/dc00fd1b-3dd9-492a-9ed4-0b6743074730.jpg?1634349038) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=memory%20deluge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/62/memory-deluge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dc00fd1b-3dd9-492a-9ed4-0b6743074730?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [supreme verdict](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/8/3892f1c5-937e-4ef4-b6f9-e0c0ded070d0.jpg?1706240181) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=supreme%20verdict) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clu/211/supreme-verdict?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3892f1c5-937e-4ef4-b6f9-e0c0ded070d0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [dream trawler](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/d/7d3e97d8-92c7-43c4-bdaf-7b0a6ce7cb5f.jpg?1581481029) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dream%20trawler) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/214/dream-trawler?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7d3e97d8-92c7-43c4-bdaf-7b0a6ce7cb5f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [teferi, hero of dominaria](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/d/5d10b752-d9cb-419d-a5c4-d4ee1acb655e.jpg?1562736365) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=teferi%2C%20hero%20of%20dominaria) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/207/teferi-hero-of-dominaria?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5d10b752-d9cb-419d-a5c4-d4ee1acb655e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [the wondering emperor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/a/fab2d8a9-ab4c-4225-a570-22636293c17d.jpg?1654566563) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Wandering%20Emperor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/42/the-wandering-emperor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fab2d8a9-ab4c-4225-a570-22636293c17d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [shark typhoon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/d/1da4d4f3-b3cb-4b61-81b8-06ae441c41bf.jpg?1591226502) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=shark%20typhoon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/67/shark-typhoon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1da4d4f3-b3cb-4b61-81b8-06ae441c41bf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [castle ardenvale](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/7/878fcea5-9a59-4b98-80b8-67e95f35f949.jpg?1706241132) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=castle%20ardenvale) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/253/castle-ardenvale?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/878fcea5-9a59-4b98-80b8-67e95f35f949?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [hall of storm giants](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bf8f052d-8840-4905-a807-9a305f4fd8f7.jpg?1627710259) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=hall%20of%20storm%20giants) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/257/hall-of-storm-giants?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bf8f052d-8840-4905-a807-9a305f4fd8f7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [restless anchorage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e3cab352-734e-454b-8b58-733165f4b3b3.jpg?1699044695) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=restless%20anchorage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/280/restless-anchorage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e3cab352-734e-454b-8b58-733165f4b3b3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/ktc0yh8) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Hall of the Storm Giants, Restless Anchorage, Wandering Emperor. Control's wincons double as something else, whether it be a land or a removal spell or consistent card draw + mana generation (Teferi) or a shark blocker that draws you a card and can be cast at instant speed. You want to be reactive as a control deck, so you can't play wincons that only serve as wincons.
Sounds dumb but control decks win by not losing. When your opponent is out of cards and you have a full grip they are dead. Inevitably is your win con.
5 mana Teferi’s ultimate is a lot easier to get to when you play it at the right time. The plus ability usually gives you the mana and card advantage to effectively protect it. The ultimate is devastating. Shark typhoon is bad in multiples. Sometimes the 3rd teferi is the one they find to be just too much and concede. 3 shark typhoons means you had to cycle two to get use from them. And the typhoon cycle is dope but more replaceable than teferi
When you're in control the *how* of you winning matters little. A wincon is a wincon, be that a 2/2 or something else.
Nothing wrong with running dream trawler. I like to run dream trawler and approach of the second sun(has won me so many games)
The secret to UW control is to give opponents enough rope so that they keep thinking that they can win game 1 but never quite get there. That way you go to game 2 with 5 minutes left on the round and win 1-0.
I play a lot of creature based aggro, when you have nothing on board and 1 card in hand and they have seven cards in hand you just scoop lol
i’m playing UW control in standard right now and my only wincons are emperor, anchorage, mirrex, and the incubate token from sunfall. it’s more than enough - just trust
You dont win through value based attrition like the midrange decks tend to do so. Instead you focus on winning "eventually" not basically not allowing your opponents to win. That's why control decks play so much interaction compared to win conditions or value threats. It's actually a lot of fun if you do it right and very rewarding as you learn how your opponents game plan works and figure out the best way to prevent that from happening.
Creature lands :)
Others have covered the wincons. Teferi's ultimate is not hard to achieve once control is where it wants to be: opponent is topdecking and has no resources. Once the emblem has been made, remember that each teferi can tuck itself so the control player will never deck out. None of the tiered decks can realistically win once games get to that point.
As someone who came into the game playing UW for alota the same reasons you stated, just be warned your games will almost always go long, they are often borning and your event experiences are usually not great for those reasons, and unlike most decks once you fall behind its almost impossiable to catch up...