I'm getting steamrolled on MTGO by U/W, U/B and even U/R decks at the moment. Granted, my deck is kinda homebrew, a ramp-into-big-things deck which is similar enough to the Wolf Run Ramp decks that that'll serve as a comparison, except my threats aren't lands, so I'm depending on not getting countered.
The thing is that while you can potentially get steamrolled by a lot of different decks, I also have a decent idea about what to sideboard against it to even the odds. But decks that are able to pack 12 standard counterspells (Mana Leak, Dissipate, Snapcaster) are just able to either play a quick threat and sit back and counter everything, or sit back and counter everything then play a big threat.
My colors are UGW, and I've tried fighting their counterspells with my own, like Negate and Autumn's Veil, but a dedicated control deck seems to always be able to do it better. I've also tried getting in a quick Mayor Of Avabruck, but stuff like Think Twice prevents him from ever going off.
The only obvious card to me is Thrun, which I'm looking into obtaining, but are there other obvious cards to hose counterspell-dependant decks?
Look into instant speed stuff you can use when your opponent has tapped out that you can use to gain advantage. Control is more likely to tap out at the end of your turn to Think or Drownyard, so that's your window to cast something big. White Sun's Zenith could work if you're playing with big mana and have the white mana base to cast it.
But Thrun is for sure your best bet. Casting him with regen mana up and a sac chump out is great against anything except Black Sun.
Mayor of Avabruck is actually very good against control decks. If they have to play things like Think Twice on their second or third turn to stop the Mayor, you'll be able to play whatever you want and not worry about counterspells for a little while. Thrun is another great answer. Throw some equipment on him and say gg.
basically you need cards that either do things when they go into play or do things when they leave play rather than having to stay on the field to be useful.
Yes, Thrun, the last troll. Lately ive been playing with Perilous Myr and have found that slower decks will take 5-10 damage from a single Myr and if you are lucky, removal gets used on them.
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While your threats aren't lands, you should consider a couple. Obviously without running red Kessig Wolf Run is out, but have you considered Gavony Township to make your mana dorks or Perilous Myr a bigger threat? And then you have Moorland Haunt to give your countered or destroyed creatures a second shot at the kill? I run a Bant (official name of the UWG shard if you didn't know) deck that's based around Venser and I thre in those two lands and they've helped a lot. People don't like being hit for 6 by an Avacyn's Pilgrim
Shrine of loyal legions is good versus control. Even if you don't play that many white cards. It ticks during your turn and you can pop it at instant speed. This + township can win games against control. Try and drop it as quickly as possible and be sure to have township mana open. if you drop it on turn 2 you can kill a control player on turn 9 if you activate township at the end of their turn after you get the tokens and again on your turn before you attack. 7 3/3s that can't be countered and are immune to sorceries can take out control.
The best idea against control is just to play lot's of threats until one sticks don't be afraid to cast your spells into their counters or you will lose if you hold back.
Skinshifter and Blade Splicer are 2 decent cards against control give them a shot and definitely have MB Thruns since some decks like UW have no way to deal with them once their in play.
those are the ones i can think of, plus he cant be countered.
The best idea against control is just to play lot's of threats until one sticks don't be afraid to cast your spells into their counters or you will lose if you hold back.
^ this is also very true, and also try to bait people by casting things that look dangerous but arent what your going to win so hopefully they waste counters and removal on them.
those are the ones i can think of, plus he cant be countered.
^ this is also very true, and also try to bait people by casting things that look dangerous but arent what your going to win so hopefully they waste counters and removal on them.
Thrun is very good against control, but he's a little more vulnerable against black, as they have Liliana, BSZ, and Tribute to hunger.
as for what to do vs. decks running a lot of counters... there are a couple things you can do. if you have a good enough hand and think you will have more threats than they can counter, then just run all of your creatures into the counterspells until one gets through. do this in reverse order.. i.e. your worst threat first. then hopefully you're best creature will squeak through and they will not have an answer.
the other thing you have to worry about is if they are running sweepers like day of judgment. if you think they are, don't run your threats all out at once! then they'll just destroy all your creatures and you will be left with nothing in their hand. put enough threats on the table so that you give them a relatively quick clock, but just don't play everything. if they are casting day of judgment to will one or two creatures, thats exactly what you want! the other thought vs. sweepers is to just run all of your creatures out there and pray that they don't have any sweepers. lets call this the "show me" method, in that you are forcing them to show you that they do indeed have the sweeper.
if you're playing vs. black with a thrun on the table, try to have at least two creatures out on the table so that their sacrifice spells will not hit thrun
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The thing is that while you can potentially get steamrolled by a lot of different decks, I also have a decent idea about what to sideboard against it to even the odds. But decks that are able to pack 12 standard counterspells (Mana Leak, Dissipate, Snapcaster) are just able to either play a quick threat and sit back and counter everything, or sit back and counter everything then play a big threat.
My colors are UGW, and I've tried fighting their counterspells with my own, like Negate and Autumn's Veil, but a dedicated control deck seems to always be able to do it better. I've also tried getting in a quick Mayor Of Avabruck, but stuff like Think Twice prevents him from ever going off.
The only obvious card to me is Thrun, which I'm looking into obtaining, but are there other obvious cards to hose counterspell-dependant decks?
But Thrun is for sure your best bet. Casting him with regen mana up and a sac chump out is great against anything except Black Sun.
You can find me on MTGO. My username is gereffi.
basically you need cards that either do things when they go into play or do things when they leave play rather than having to stay on the field to be useful.
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UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
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R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
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BMono-BlackB
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GRWUKiki PodUWRG
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Skinshifter and Blade Splicer are 2 decent cards against control give them a shot and definitely have MB Thruns since some decks like UW have no way to deal with them once their in play.
I currently play UW Control and i about cry when he hits the table...
only cards to get rid of him are:
Day of Judgement
Phantasmal Image (Leg rule)
and Black Sun's Zenith
those are the ones i can think of, plus he cant be countered.
^ this is also very true, and also try to bait people by casting things that look dangerous but arent what your going to win so hopefully they waste counters and removal on them.
GW Aggro
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U Arcanis, the OmnipotentU <- mono U artifacts
GWB Ghave, Guru of Spores GWB <- token stupidness
GRU Maelstrom WandererGRU <- WIP
Thrun is very good against control, but he's a little more vulnerable against black, as they have Liliana, BSZ, and Tribute to hunger.
and like has already been said... grand abolisher, mayor of avabruck, and viridian emmisary are all really good vs. control.
as for what to do vs. decks running a lot of counters... there are a couple things you can do. if you have a good enough hand and think you will have more threats than they can counter, then just run all of your creatures into the counterspells until one gets through. do this in reverse order.. i.e. your worst threat first. then hopefully you're best creature will squeak through and they will not have an answer.
the other thing you have to worry about is if they are running sweepers like day of judgment. if you think they are, don't run your threats all out at once! then they'll just destroy all your creatures and you will be left with nothing in their hand. put enough threats on the table so that you give them a relatively quick clock, but just don't play everything. if they are casting day of judgment to will one or two creatures, thats exactly what you want! the other thought vs. sweepers is to just run all of your creatures out there and pray that they don't have any sweepers. lets call this the "show me" method, in that you are forcing them to show you that they do indeed have the sweeper.
if you're playing vs. black with a thrun on the table, try to have at least two creatures out on the table so that their sacrifice spells will not hit thrun