"Its About Time"
A Discussion of Temporal Control
By Omeed Dariani
Hymn to Tourach, Balance, Strip Mine, Winter Orb and Armageddon are excellent
examples of powerful control cards. Five cards people hate to play against
and with good reason. These five spells are very strong control cards,
allowing a player to dictate when his or her opponent has cards, lands or
creatures. To those who have experienced Balance at its very best, or worst,
depending upon which side of the table you sit, control is paramount.
Balance allows the regulation of every aspect of your opponent's
functionality. In Standard, Type Two, there is, thankfully, no Balance,
which helps balance the environment (ironic?). The loss of this card in the
environment has been a major factor in the newest trend in control decks. We
can call this new concept Temporal Control.
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.
Indications of a temporal control deck are Memory Lapse, which causes an
adversary to waste both mana and a draw recasting a spell. The now staple
creature, Man'O'War, which simultaneously increases creature advantage,
removes a potential blocker, wastes an opponent's mana and gives the creature
summoning sickness again appears in almost any deck that wishes to use
temporal control. Frequently played is Boomerang and, more importantly,
Capsize, doing much the same thing as Man'O'War to creatures and
significantly slowing mana production, especially when Capsizing Diamonds.
Flood becomes a deadly creature control device, allowing the Temporal
Controller to freeze creatures rather than send them away. This is a very
useful way to coerce an opponent to play a second creature, leaving them a
ripe target for Undo or Legacy's Allure. These advantages appear small, but
when coupled with an Ophidian or even a Jayemdaye Tome, each Memory Lapse is
somewhere between a Time Walk and an Ancestral Recall. The black version
uses Winter Orbs to press the advantages gained by temporal control. The
Forgotten Orb style continues its presence in the environment. A lethal
combination of a classic strategy blended successfully with temporal control.
Other Temporal Control cards that could appear more forcefully on the
tournament scene are Undo and Time Ebb; both force an opponent to spend large
amounts of mana while allowing him or her to accomplish very little. Disrupt
and Force Spike are also becoming popular. The Temporal Control deck forces
players to spend most or all of their mana each turn to be productive and/or
stay alive, leaving them a ripe target for the cheapest of countermagic.
Propaganda forces a heavily occupied duelist into a catch-22. Is it better
to waste mana, attack and watch the Capsizes fly, or to hold back and
consolidate resources, hoping to amass more permanents than cards in hand?
Whatever shape, size or color deck its opponent plays, the Temporal Control
deck will continue to whittle away at its defenses. It accomplishes this by
returning critical blockers to defenders' hands, Lapsing diamonds, disrupting
Wraths and generally annoying opponents. Remember, though, it is this
disruption that gives the Temporal Control deck its strength.
While writing this article, the question came to mind: "why is this deck such
a recent phenomenon, most of these cards have been around for months or,
even, years? Why now?" I think the answer lies in the timing. The play
environment has shifted considerably with the inclusion of Tempest and the
losses of Ice Age, Homelands and Alliances. Faster decks with more quick
damage and creature control, have shifted into dominance, leaving less room
to set up a slow, creature-based defense. With the losses of "quick kills"
such as Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt, fast creatures are a much
more consistent source of damage. By the time the typical control deck has
the mana to Wrath of God the weenie horde, it is too late;
ofttimes, a small creature deck has all but finished off a slow deck by turn
four. With the exit of "classical control," something new has to defeat the
weenie decks. That something is Temporal Control. By slowing a fast deck's
offense while strengthening one's own, fast creatures become not-so-fast.
Spending the 1B to cast a Fallen Askari is acceptable to most players, but
after the Temporal Control deck gets hold of it, the casing cost looks more
like that of Ishan's Shade. If, by the time the Fallen Askari sticks, the
Temporal Control deck has amassed six or more mana, as it often does, staging
a victory is very difficult. The "Capsize Lock," is almost impossible to
circumvent in a creature-based deck without counterspells.
Temporal Control is new. Some players have grasped the concept already and,
as such, Temporal Control is a factor at major tournaments. Jakub Slemr
splashed Temporal Control in his five color black deck. The result? A new
world champion is crowned. The impact that this concept is having on Standard
play is very apparent. Already, two major Temporal Control decks are being
played. One of them is the "Forgotten Orb." This deck plays like mono black
weenie with an occasional Man'O'War, until someone tries to stop it. The
Wrath or Disk is Memory Lapsed and, next turn, they play a Winter Orb. This
is the key to the deck. First, the deck has drawn out a form of mass
creature removal. That means it is threatening target opponent greatly.
Second, the removal gets a Memory Lapse or, in unfavorable conditions, at
least a Power Sink. This taps the player out, as he or she will probably
cast the Wrath again when possible. If it gets Lapsed, then the Winter Orb
comes into play, the Forgotten Orb has gained two incredible advantages. The
other deck will waste a draw drawing the removal spell again and probably
cannot cast it for, at least, three more turns. That should be, minimally,
twelve more damage for the Temporal Controller and probably enough time to
find another disrupter, such as Disrupt. This is a concept that can often win
the first game due to a miscalculating or unsuspecting opponent.
The other, newer deck is the "Capsize Lock." It is usually mono blue with
many of the same disruption methods as above and additional "real"
counterspells. Sapphire Medallions cut the costs of creatures such as
Ophidian, Man'O'War and Cloud Elemental, while Floods lock creatures down
long enough to build a Legacy's Allure. Undoes and Propagandas slow opposing
offense as the Capsizer builds toward its lock. Some variants include
Suq'Ata Firewalkers and Air Elementals or Rainbow Efreets for additional
firepower. The buildup is slow, quietly stalling toward Capsize recursion.
Once the Temporal Controller has the equivalent of six mana (note: Sapphire
Medallion), he or she will usually win. During each discard phase in which
he or she has enough mana, target opponent's greatest threat goes away. If
no great threat exists, the diamonds vanish. If no diamonds are in play, the
lands start disappearing. All the while, the offense continues, slowing
depleting the adversary, gaining an insurmountable card advantage. Although
Winter Orbs are sub optimal in this deck, the truly sick individual could try
to use Stasis in its place. No guarantees on this idea, I recommend it only
for the truly misanthropic Magic player.
When my friends and I were beginning Magic players, we came up with a formula
that seemed to apply to the game. One card is equal to four mana is equal to
four life.
It seems to work, consider our evidence:
Jayemdaye Tome: Four mana = one card
Sylvan Library: Four life = one card
Book of Rass: Two mana + Two life = one card
Channel: one life = one mana
So, if one extra card is worth four mana or life, every time Temporal Control
forces someone to redraw it or waste it (via Disrupt or Dismiss), it has,
essentially, dealt him or her four damage or caused the loss of four mana.
Often, it has done both. Herein lies the strength of the Temporal Control
strategy, by forcing your opponent to waste cards, mana and life, the
Temporal Control deck establishes an incredible advantage in a game. Placing
the opposition in a situation that must be expediently handled to survive but
deny him or her the means with which to rectify the problem, which is usually
you.
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.
Please send comments and critques to Omeed Dariani.
Back to the Dojo!