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Author Topic: Learning to play control in EDH  (Read 1626 times)

SixBeerSlayer

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Learning to play control in EDH
« on: March 10, 2020, 10:49:46 pm »
I have always typically been an aggro player and build decks using lots of creatures and trying to win by sheer force or overrun.. I am in no way a super skilled deck builder and have wanted to change up my play style lately.
I'm very interested in trying control, I have always liked the look and style of UB decks in-particular and wanted to try my hand at building a control EDH. I've tried using deck builders and looked at EDHrec.com for ideas and strategies but cannot seem to connect the dots. Can you please give me some tips or ideas for becoming better at playing control? When to use my counters, creature spells to instant/sorcery spell ratios, different win conditions examples.. etc.
I like the idea of being more of a control player frankly i just seem to suck at it at the moment... any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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CleanBelwas

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Re: Learning to play control in EDH
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2020, 11:16:56 pm »
Hey man,

So control in EDH is a bit different to other formats. Trying to control three opponents instead of one makes for a very different gameplay experience.

Because you are trying to control many opponents, simple counterspells lose some of their effectiveness. You can one for one with one opponent, but that leaves two unaffected. You can't possibly hope to counter every threat put down by three different players. As such, accurate threat assessment is incredibly important. Deciding what is actually worth countering is integral in any match up, but even more so in EDH when there are so many more potential threats. There is no real hard and fast rule here. You just have to do your best to identify your opponents strategies and win conditions and counter only things that allow those.

Furthermore, because of what I mentioned previously, a much more viable strategy for control in EDH is playing stax type effects. Things that increase the cost of your opponents spells, make creatures enter tapped, stop things from untapping etc. These effects are most commonly found on cards that effect all opponents, so you can get the necessary value from the cards. Your one card is effecting all three opponents at once.

Additionally, things like board wipes can do wonders in multiplayer formats. Allow your opponents to commit things to the board while not doing so yourself then wipe everything.

Ultimately, it's about tempo. You want to disrupt your opponents plans enough that you can put your own into fruition. That could be tax, tapping, bouncing, wiping. Many different strategies or a combo of many of them. And in EDH it is more so than ever about making sure your cards are doing their utmost to control multiple opponents at once.

In terms of win conditions, EDH doesn't suit the common hard to deal with late game beater that can be so effective in 1v1 20 life formats. As such, often alternate win conditions are a great way to close out a game. For example, Approach of the Second Sun is an excellent win condition in Blue/White decks. Control the board until you can cast it, draw 7 and cast it again. Quite simple in those colours, even to do it all in one turn.

This has just been a brief overview of my own opinions. I hope it has helped some and I'm sure a lot of other users will have their own insight to add.

Good luck on your pursuit for control.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2020, 11:26:49 pm by CleanBelwas »

Morganator 2.0

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Re: Learning to play control in EDH
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2020, 12:36:04 am »


In case you didn't read CleanBelwas's post, go back and read it. All your questions are answered.

If you were looking for counterspell control, I would recommend Azami, Lady of Scrolls for a first time (Edric, Spymaster of Trest is another easy build). In order for counterspell control to work, you need to be drawing a bunch of cards, and there aren't a lot of commanders that can easily do this. Azami is great, because even those vanillas like Fugitive Wizard can draw you into lots of counterspells. You'll have to end the game with a combo however, which is the downside (recommended: Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal, or just Mind over Matter. Win with Laboratory Maniac).

The other important thing, that bears repeating...

Threat assessment

Do not just counter the first spell you see. Prioritize stopping game winning moves and things that threaten your boardstate.

If stax control is more your thing, I recommend Brago, King Eternal. With things like Talisman of Progress and Azorius Signet, you get mana. With Mulldrifter and Stupefying Touch you draw cards. And with cards like Rishadan Footpad and Stasis, you control the board.

Aetherium Slinky

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Re: Learning to play control in EDH
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2020, 07:32:15 am »
I think Morganator didn't quite expand on the idea of counterspells in EDH: they're almost always used to counter win conditions and win conditions only. What constitutes a win condition is a little harder; it's not always the card that directly wins the game - instead it might sometimes be the card before that if you know it'll lead to instant victory that you can't stop. The idea is that one almost never counters a tutor: instead counter what they tutored for. This way you two-for-one them.

Exceptions to this counterspell rule: Patron Wizard, Baral, Chief of Compliance and Ertai the Corrupted. With the correct support these decks can use more counterspells than most decks because their effects are repeatable. I do second Morganator's notion of card advantage, though, so it might make sense to include these in the 99 of decks that have raw card draw power.

All in all you need to learn a lot about differents kinds of decks in order to know what their weaknesses are and how to stop them in their tracks most efficiently. This is most commonly achieved using tax effects (Grand Arbiter Augustin IV) and Smokestack -like (together: stax) effects that weaken their board presence. The result is a situation where it's hard to play spells and you can often control what to counter more easily. Another form of control is land destruction which achieves the same goal but through denying mana or punishes using mana / playing lands. Unfortunately I don't know much about that topic.
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SixBeerSlayer

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Re: Learning to play control in EDH
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2020, 12:54:18 am »
Thank you all so much for the knowledge! I appreciate your time and will continue to study the strategy.
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Slyvester12

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Re: Learning to play control in EDH
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2020, 03:45:48 am »
I would also like to point out another option: mono black control. While it's not as straightforward in EDH (like everything else), it can still be a nightmare for opponents to break soft locks. I would recommend either Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker or Toshiro Umezawa for commanders.

Shirei can use sac engines and cheap creatures with death triggers (Black Cat) to grind out value. Once you've established some board presence, you can use your death triggers on every player's end step to gradually lock your opponents out. Typically, you pick the deck most likely to give you problems to card lock, then keep the board nice and clean with edict effects.

Umezawa is more of a combo deck that relies on control to keep opponents in check while digging for the pieces to storm off. You pack massive amounts of creature removal and valuable instants like Vampiric Tutor, then use typical Big Black Mana strategies to chain a ton of kill spells, wipe the board, and storm off into something like Aetherflux Reservoir or Tendrils of Agony.

I've seen both lock down whole tables in the right conditions, and they provide a different approach than standard azorius control and stax effects or mono blue permission decks.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2020, 03:52:02 am by Slyvester12 »
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