Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 14:01:09 -0500 (EST) From: "Robert S. Hahn" To: Frank Kusumoto Subject: Time Control Omeed Dariani wrote: > Temporal Control is an idea first brought to light by the Forgotten Orb > and other similar decks. The idea is simple and best summed up in the > Latin phrase, "carpe diem," seize the moment. To keep an opponent from > mounting a successful defense, a temporal control player seeks to seize > the moment, knowing that every turn in which he or she goes unchecked is > commensurate to 4-8 more damage. The temporal control deck aims to make > its opponent waste time casting spells repeatedly while defeating him or > her with a small creature horde. Some temporal control decks win by > obtaining enough mana to gain a lock, such as Capsize. I first reported on Temporal Control decks a few months back while discussing Type II decks in the aftermath of Fifth Edition (I think) in the Duelist. I'm not sure, since Duelist doesn't send me a copy of the magazine (yet). :) In any case, Time Control is definitely a phenomenon that is here and here to stay. Omeed's article is a good starting point because it contains some critical mistakes about the nature of time control while retaining most of the basic understanding of the strategy. First, let's look at Time Control v. other forms of control. Those who have read my Duelist article knows that I contrast time control with standard permission-control and Prison-esque mana-control. Permission cares only about one thing: game options of the opponent. That is to say, threat-permanents and potential threats in the form of cards in hand (rarely, cards in graveyard, if they involve something like Hammer of Bogardan). It could not care less about how much mana the opponent has, how much life the opponent has, and how many non-threat permanents the opponent has. It will leisurely take control of the game, be able to counter or destroy just about everything the opponent can/will do, and then win with whatever method seems appropriate. Mana control, in contrast, cares only about the resources available to the opponent to play his game. Threat permanents matter only insofar as they will cause the mana control player to lose. Cards in hand -- potential threats -- do not matter as long as the mana resources available to play them are under control via Winter Orb, Armageddon, land destruction, whatever. Time control stands in sharp contrast to both of these strategies. Time control doesn't care about resources, doesn't care about potential/actual threats, and to some extent, doesn't care about the opponent's offense. Time control decks only care about how much time the opponent has to prevent a victory: it may not care about a single Incinerate, but it will care greatly about a table-sweeping Wrath of God or an Earthquake. The hallmark of a time control deck is "window of opportunity" -- first introduced to the popular Magic scene by Dennis Bentley's LD Necro of US Nationals a couple years back that Icequaked, Choked, Hymned, and Strip Mined its way to opening up a couple of turns of extra damage: the window of opportunity during which it can swing the game from a losing proposition to a winning one. Forgotten Orb is a direct descendant, in theory at least, of that deck where fast creature combine with cards that create windows of opportunity: Memory Lapse, Winter Orb, Man O War, etc. Once the distinction between the different cotnrol strategies becomes clear, one can see how Omeed's understanding of time control -- while profound in many ways -- is deeply flawed. For instance, the assumption that the "blue-bounce" deck of current T2 rage is a time control deck is flawed. Blue bounce is not a time control deck; it is, rather, a proactive control deck that is similar in strategy to the U/W beatdown decks of old Type I (Savannah Lions, Seredib Efreets, Serra Angels, and counterspells). It puts out a threat, protects it, uses mass removal to achieve card advantage (along with card drawing via Satan or Whispers) and eventually gets to a semi-lock position via Big Creature and counterspells. Not a single one of these decks cares particularly about any window of opportunity; if anything, it cares more about board control (permanent threats) plus option control (cards in hand). Cards like Capsize and Tradewind Rider are merely excellent additions to such a permission-styled control deck since they reduce the number of "must counter" spells, and sometimes lead to a lock of sorts. Current crop of time control decks, as I see it, are 5CG, 5CB, and 5CW. All of them are fast-offense decks which attempt to control the tempo of the game, whether with Winter orb, with massive creature removal, or with Armageddon (or all three). All three want to open up a couple of turns during which to deal damage consistently, and just about all of them feature ways to turn a single-turn advantage into a multi-turn window of opportunity (typically by restricting the mana resources). However, a 5CB deck without mana-control also works in the same way through removal, as follows. 5CB: Black Knight, go. Opp: blocker, go. 5CB: Man O War (one turn gained), attack, go. Opp: recast block, go. 5CB: Man o War (two turns gained), attack for 4, go. Opp: recast blocker, Incinerate Black Knight. 5CB: Nekrataal (three turns gained), attack for 4, go. Opp: Cast next blocker, go. 5CB: Incinerate next blocker (four turns gained), attack for 6, go. Opp: Next blocker, kill your creatures, go. 5CB: Kindle, Kindle, Incinerate, etc. etc. Win. Without those extra turns gained via removal, 5CB has a tough time controlling the flow of battle. Thus, 5CB is weak against creatureless decks, particularly ones featuring mass removal (Disks, Earthquakes, Wraths). Now, note how different a blue bounce deck works. Blue: Play land, done. Opp: Play critter, done. Blue: Play land, done. Opp: Attack, play critter, done. Blue: Man O War (one turn gained), play land, done. Opp: Recast critter, attack (block w/ Man O War -- kill Man O War). Blue: Cast Disk. Opp: Attack for more damage, done. Blue: Untap Disk, sit here until the opportune moment to blow Disk. ... four or five turns later, blue has counters in hand, board is clear, opponent has two or three cards in hand. Blue: Play Ophidian. Incinerate? Counter that. Go. Opp: Play blocker? Counterspell (or if not...) Blue: Okay, Capsize your blocker with buyback, attack and draw.... Discard this here Dissipate, since I'm holding 3 Dismiss, 3 Counterspell, and 1 Capsize with 12 mana on the table. (two options) Intelligent Opp: I concede. Newbie Opp: Recast blocker, play land. As you can see, the tempo of the game is very different. The strategy is different. The method of control is different. > Temporal Control is THE definitive new strategy that we will see in the > Standard Environment for some time. It is difficult to stop, harder to > beat and impossible to deny. As once before, Necropotence took the format > by storm, the Temporal Control deck will soon be very strong. All it needs > is a motto. I was thinking: Festina Lente, make haste slowly, as that is > the deck's descriptor. Make haste slowly and do not turn your back to > anyone with a few Islands in play, you may well get Capsized. Many people have commented here in War College and to me personally about the distinction between Aggro and Control. While fine distinctions are difficult to make for each different deck type, broad breakdowns in category need to go from the top-down: 1. Is this strategy control or aggro at heart? 2-A. If control, what kind of control am I looking for? 3-A. Am I attempting to build a citadel or to field an invulnerable army? 3-A. Are my methods effective in establishing that kind of control? 4-A. What is the engine of my card-advantage? 2-B. If aggro, what are my threat channels? 3-B. Are my threat channels diversified and credible? 4-B. Do I have the speed to overwhelm, or the battlefield control to dictate the pace of the game? And so forth. Some detailed discussion can be found in Schools of Magic or in other articles here in War College. Opinions and questions are encouraged and solicited. -The Sophist Robert S. Hahn hahn@bway.net http://www.bway.net/~hahn Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man - Polonius, to his son Laertes Hamlet, Act I, Scene III.