D&D General Mike Mearls says control spells are ruining 5th Edition

[FrogReaver]

Nah, dude. There is a lot of decision-making involved in high-level competitive magic play. The stochastic elements do limit the impact of skill, but over enough games, the more skilled player will win more games, and this is especially true in so-called “fair,” interactive Magic. “Winning is just a matter of net decking and having the money to afford the best cards” is the lament of the low to mid-tier player. Give them access to any cards they want and all the time they need to search through tournament reports and decklists, the top players will still win against them more often than not.

Wanted to add, at any given moment in a magic game, outside lands you probably have at most like 3 playable cards in your hand and at most maybe 6 cards altogether in your hand.

There's not alot of decision space there.

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, counter/control hasn't not been the better play for a bit. You'll still get wins with it though, at least until everyone stops playing with you.

Again, “until everyone stops playing with you” is something that happens at the casual level, not in competitive tournaments. And in higher level play, control is widely considered “fair” magic, because it invites actual back-and-forth play. And control decks have basically no metashare in any competitive metagame. You can win some games with a control deck, especially if you’re very skilled, but it’s an uphill battle against the incentives of whatever format you’re playing. If you want to win the most games of Magic, you play non-interactive combo decks like Opps! All Spells that only use counters to protect your combo from your opponent’s counters, or tempo decks like Dimir Tempo or Dimir Reanimator that try to keep your opponent on low resources and either play hyper-efficient threats to get them dead before they find their footing, or cheat on their own resources.

 

[Scribe]

Indeed. Both are infuriating in their own ways!

And thats just it!

Control?
Prison?
Aggro?
Burn?
Combo?

To someone, each of those is either the best, or worst, thing ever inflicted on another human being. I just say 'good game, lets shuffle and go again'.

 

[Charlaquin]

Wanted to add, at any given moment in a magic game, outside lands you probably have at most like 3 playable cards in your hand and at most maybe 6 cards altogether in your hand.

There's not alot of decision space there.

Maybe, if you’re playing a midrange deck that aims to curve out and doesn’t run draw engines. In other words, a bad deck. If you’re playing a serious competitive deck, you’ll either have highly mana-efficient options, or be running enough ramp to get to your expensive bombs after only a few turns. Either way, at any given time you should have several playable options in hand, and a most of your spells will at least replace themselves, if not go 2-for-1 or better.

 

[Zardnaar]

Indeed. Both are infuriating in their own ways!

I'm definitely more aggro though.

I used to like red a lot. Or R/G.

 

[FrogReaver]

Maybe, if you’re playing a midrange deck that aims to curve out and doesn’t run draw engines. In other words, a bad deck. If you’re playing a serious competitive deck, you’ll either have highly mana-efficient options, or be running enough ramp to get to your expensive bombs after only a few turns. Either way, at any given time you should have several playable options in hand, and a most of your spells will at least replace themselves, if not go 2-for-1 or better.

highly mana efficient options are still included in those 3-6 cards. So are ramp cards. The only thing that isn't is the cards you get from a draw engine (though the draw engine cards themselves are) and that assumes your opponent doesn't prevent it and that you actually drew them in the first place.

LOL @ the 2-for-1 or better. If everyones spells always go 2-for-1 or better it'd just be whoever decks first.

 

[FrogReaver]

I used to like red a lot. Or R/G.

I always liked white weenies and buffing them, but wasn't really good or effective, just fun to mass up an army and overwhelm the opponent. Not usually super competitive anyways.

 

[Zardnaar]

I always liked white weenies and buffing them, but wasn't really good or effective, just fun to mass up an army and overwhelm the opponent. Not usually super competitive anyways.

Within and Rebels

 

[Charlaquin]

highly mana efficient options are still included in those 3-6 cards. So are ramp cards. The only thing that isn't is the cards you get from a draw engine (though the draw engine cards themselves are) and that assumes your opponent doesn't prevent it and that you actually drew them in the first place.

LOL @ the 2-for-1 or better. If everyone’s spells always go 2-for-1 or better it'd just be whoever decks first.

Alright, pal. You’re wrong, but it’s fine. I know competitive Magic is unintuitive to get one’s head around, and this is pretty wildly off-topic anyway.

 

[FrogReaver]

Alright, pal. You’re wrong, but it’s fine. I know competitive Magic is unintuitive to get one’s head around, and this is pretty wildly off-topic anyway.

LOL. Yea, as if only super geniuses can play Magic well...