This whole situation is a bit absurd, in my opinion. It is not "lost" income for the store. That's garbage. People who are willing to TRADE for a card are not necessarily willing to BUY the card. I somewhat understand that stores don't like people selling cards for cash inside their store; but even in this situation, a policy of "no 3rd party card sales" will do absolutely nothing. If someone at my LGS is giving me a better deal than the store for the same card, that policy will not stop me from making the transaction away from the store.
I personally do not play her because I find Tribute to Hunger superior in my aggro-heavy local meta. The life gain from Tribute is extremely relevant right now.
Still don't like how author is snapcaster mage happy, i've been running a version without snapcaster for months and got 9th at a starcitygames invitational qualifier, i'm not saying that it's correct just saying that there is way too much bias towards snapcaster. It should be listed as an optional card, not core, because i usually don't need snapcaster to rebuy me spells. And yes, i own a playe set.
Also, pristine talisman, a few of those versions are nice as well. Currently running a snapcaster-less version with phyrexian metamorph instead of snapcasters along with 2 batterskulls in the main. Snapcaster can't live through black sun's zenith. a batterskull germ token doesn't even need to, it can be reset by bouncing, and also has the flexibility of copying a pesky sword or titan. I love playing Primeval titans in U/B control without even a single green source.
Also, the reason to play U/B is suppose to be because of its flexibility. Well, if you rely on a creature body instead of a permanent that is much harder to dispose of, and it can literally morph into new threats given the right situation, is that not what UB is all about? we play a deck full of options, filtering, win conditions. There is no one right way to build U/B control. Thats why no UB decks look exactly the same. The most flexible deck in the format is what i consider this deck to be. When you sit down across from someone i can almost guarantee that only the following cards will never change.
check Patrick Chapin's 30th place at Salt Lake City, snapcaster is no longer a 4-of, because adaptation is pretty much whatever you want.
in my snapcaster-less version, i call it mechanical UB Control, because my threats are all some kind of artifact, which also makes grave titan riskier a run because a grave titan can be GFTT'd, you can't do jack to a 6/6 black artifact creature, your kinda stuck unless you rip an o ring, or celestial purge.
Overall i think this could be made much better for all if all the (it also feeds snapcaster) comments were removed, were in the competitive section here, we know what can happen to an instant or sorcery if you have snapcaster mage.
I wouldn't say I'm "snapcaster happy" although I certainly do like Snappy! I agree that he should not be a 4-of; in fact, on my personal list I only play two. I understand that you don't consider him to be "core" but until the majority of UB decks that place highly at large tournaments don't include 2-3 Snapcaster Mage, I can't justify removing it as a core card in the primer. Also, Snapcaster does not need to live through Black Sun's Zenith. We don't play him for his 2/1 body, we play him primarily for his ETB effect. If he lives long enough, that is just icing on the cake.
Hey guys, I know us magic players can have strong opinions on card choices but lets try to keep this thread friendly and productive. I know I'm not a moderator, I just don't want to see this thread devolve in to a flame war. Just a friendly request.
Also, the Primer has been updated today. I will try to work on it some more tomorrow. And thanks for the sticky!
@RodBit: Just a heads up, Cranial Extraction is not standard legal at the moment. As an alternative, you could use Memoricide.
I've always enjoyed using Pristine Talisman in my UW Control deck but I can't really justify replacing anything for it in UB Control. I might try swapping out Tribute to Hunger but it just doesn't seem like a solid idea, in my opinion.
It occurred to me that I never did do one of these. Well here it goes...
My name is Nate, I live in AZ and I have been a lurker for the majority of my time here. I just recently felt like posting and contributed a UB Control Primer to the competitive standard forum. I am a control deck connoisseur that has been playing for nearly 7 years with varying levels of activity. I've enjoyed being a part of this community thus far and look forward to contributing more in the future!
1. Writing "loose" instead of "lose."
They are two different words with very different meanings!
I wouldn't say I'm "snapcaster happy" although I certainly do like Snappy! I agree that he should not be a 4-of; in fact, on my personal list I only play two. I understand that you don't consider him to be "core" but until the majority of UB decks that place highly at large tournaments don't include 2-3 Snapcaster Mage, I can't justify removing it as a core card in the primer. Also, Snapcaster does not need to live through Black Sun's Zenith. We don't play him for his 2/1 body, we play him primarily for his ETB effect. If he lives long enough, that is just icing on the cake.
Also, the Primer has been updated today. I will try to work on it some more tomorrow. And thanks for the sticky!
@RodBit: Just a heads up, Cranial Extraction is not standard legal at the moment. As an alternative, you could use Memoricide.
My name is Nate, I live in AZ and I have been a lurker for the majority of my time here. I just recently felt like posting and contributed a UB Control Primer to the competitive standard forum. I am a control deck connoisseur that has been playing for nearly 7 years with varying levels of activity. I've enjoyed being a part of this community thus far and look forward to contributing more in the future!
"Have the quality of MTGS posters really become this abysmal?"