[Article] December 2013 Legacy Metagame Analysis

[lyracian]

To call Death and Taxes control is just being lazy. Death and Taxes is implementing Prison strategy. To be more precise, it's actually Aggro-control without Counters.

Prison strategy is a control strategy. There was a big debate on MTGS when they reoganised to have A/C/C split and D&T was put in Aggro; eventually it was moved to Control. Sure Maverick is a more aggressive step-child of D&T but if you are going to push it to one side of the line or the other they might as well go together.

Mountain + Lightning Bolt, oldest combo in Magic, still going strong.

Channel Fireball is the oldest combo; just playing the casting cost of a spell is not a combo.

I would argue, as the black tutors are in Vintage. It makes the format work. As for complaints about blue having the "best aggro cards", when was the last time you lost to a mono-U aggro deck?

Last week actually. I was playing Truename Patriot. He wasted my Tundra after I cast Stoneforge and then countered what I cast while beating me down with Delver and Ninja's. I crushed him in the rematch this week with some basics in my deck.

[Finn]

Blue needs a threshold of blue spells to power FoW too. So these decks would be forced to decide which of these guys to keep around, because at some point you don't have enough blue cards to keep both. Printing yet another top notch creature for blue bumps the power of the color, true. But it also disguises that power by allowing for more ways to use the card. With powerful blue cards relegated to noncreature counters and search, all the blue decks looked the same. Brainstorm is the poster child for this phenomenon. If you are in blue, you are playing Brainstorm because the alternative card for that slot is never as good. (Heh, Merfolk). That is why so many blue-based decks have always been possible...but not real aggro...until now. Comparisons of this card (or Delver) to Tarmo are flawed for this reason. Blue decks were still forced into the role of aggro-control with Tarmo. They no longer are. When the blue STP or Bolt replacement sees print, I quit.

[twndomn]

Prison strategy is a control strategy. There was a big debate on MTGS when they reoganised to have A/C/C split and D&T was put in Aggro; eventually it was moved to Control. Sure Maverick is a more aggressive step-child of D&T but if you are going to push it to one side of the line or the other they might as well go together.

I don't see the purpose of referring to what MTGS classify D&T as.

Prison strategy is just Prison strategy. To be called a Control strategy, the deck doing the control role has to be able to selectively filter threats by trading cards. Counters, in this case, create that filtering effect. That selectivity is very distinct, not to be confused with non-discriminant prison, such as Tangle wire + Smokestack.

Hence, I would still call D&T aggro-control, since it is never able to establish that filter effect, doing only half the job of control by creating that prison effect.

[TsumiBand]

Blue needs a threshold of blue spells to power FoW too. So these decks would be forced to decide which of these guys to keep around, because at some point you don't have enough blue cards to keep both. Printing yet another top notch creature for blue bumps the power of the color, true. But it also disguises that power by allowing for more ways to use the card. With powerful blue cards relegated to noncreature counters and search, all the blue decks looked the same. Brainstorm is the poster child for this phenomenon. If you are in blue, you are playing Brainstorm because the alternative card for that slot is never as good. (Heh, Merfolk). That is why so many blue-based decks have always been possible...but not real aggro...until now. Comparisons of this card (or Delver) to Tarmo are flawed for this reason. Blue decks were still forced into the role of aggro-control with Tarmo. They no longer are. When the blue STP or Bolt replacement sees print, I quit.

And why is a Blue aggro deck a healthy thing?

I want my Green control deck then, and mono-colorless counter-control deck. Mono-White combo would be sweet too. Everyone get everything, forever

[Higgs]

I remember playing a green control deck with Plow Unders and Tangle Wires though.. However this is not to say that blue aggro is a healthy thing.

[apple713]

And why is a Blue aggro deck a healthy thing?

I want my Green control deck then, and mono-colorless counter-control deck. Mono-White combo would be sweet too. Everyone get everything, forever

eventually it'll happen...

however there are a few options in place already...

MUD Stax is pretty close to a counter control deck.

white combo would be second sunrise - enduring ideal might be able to be revisited in legacy.

I made a green control deck... it doesn't work as well as id like but its ok. Plow under, follow earth, ice storm, beast within, drop of honey...

[Finn]

And why is a Blue aggro deck a healthy thing?

I don't think it is.

[Fatal]

Blue aggro deck is health but, Blue aggro deck which is better then other aggro decks is very very bad since the diversity of aggro decks will decrease to one deck.

[lyracian]

I don't see the purpose of referring to what MTGS classify D&T as.

Prison strategy is just Prison strategy. To be called a Control strategy, the deck doing the control role has to be able to selectively filter threats by trading cards. Counters, in this case, create that filtering effect. That selectivity is very distinct, not to be confused with non-discriminant prison, such as Tangle wire + Smokestack.

Hence, I would still call D&T aggro-control, since it is never able to establish that filter effect, doing only half the job of control by creating that prison effect.

With only three classification available in the analysis (Aggro, Control, Combo) you are the one complaining that D&T should not be classified as Control. I referenced MTGS to show that others have been through this argument and what the end result was. You have your opinion and I have mine. I doubt a Prison deck can ever be Aggro, it might manage to be a Combo deck but as far as I am concerned, when you only have the three basic classificaiton available Prison decks are going to be Control.

[Julian23]

Most white stompy decks are Aggro/Prison, as in Angel Stompy. If you want to call Blood Moon a prison card, so is Dragon Stompy.

[Griselpuff]

Only on the Source do you see the majority of the comments focused on semantics instead of discussing the actual meat of the article...

[L0cke]

Only on the Source do you see the majority of the comments focused on semantics instead of discussing the actual meat of the article...

That's probably the highest compliment most of the people on here can give to an article. If they can only complain about the minutiae it means the rest of the article must have been good.

[Griselpuff]

Haha, thanks