Greetings, my friends! At long last, I have returned to bring you casual articles once more. After the long hours of working in retail, my grueling first weeks of college, and the hope to top someone's record in...

What? You don't remember me?

Damn!

Well, I wrote quite a bit (and by "a bit," I meant "every week") until it looked like the Casual Challenge writing topics stopped; I assumed that StarCityGames.com was saying that they had enough casual writing material. (Actually, we ran out of good topics - The Ferrett) Apparently, I was quite wrong, and I should have realized that more casual content was needed on the site. I'm not going to praise myself as a "quality" writer, but that's still not going to stop me from trying to bring casual readers some interesting reads.

To get back in the swing of things, I decided to take a hint from the Ferrett. If you haven't read one of his recent articles (or are too lazy to click the link and read it now), the Ferrett explains how the mainstay decks in multiplayer are combo and control.* He further goes on to say that aggro sucks, and that control is different in multiplayer than it is in tournaments.

I agree with him on all counts, but he brings up several questions: What is a control deck like in multiplayer? Is there any possible way for aggro to become good - and, if not, why does it suck so badly? And what exactly does combo look like? For the answers, I'll give you some of my best multiplayer insight, starting with question number one.

The Control Deck
Control decks in multiplayer have several things about them that make them successful. In general, these decks control the game in a fashion similar, but certainly not congruent, to their tournament counterparts. That's because they have more than one player to deal with, and as such they can't devote cards to counters or single shot removal. Multiplayer Control decks typically set up defense and then use powerful cards to bring the game to an end. Multiplayer control decks usually use some, if not all, of the following types of abilities: repeatable effects, lasting effects, powerful one-shot effects, some minor (but vital) utility spells, and powerful late-game bombs.

(Then again, what good multiplayer decks don't? - The Ferrett)

We Interrupt Your Normally-Scheduled Program...
To explain some of the simple jargon that the author has used (this is also important for anyone planning to read any of my later articles, for I reserve all rights to use such words in describing elements of future decks).

Repeatable effects are, as their name implies, repeatable. These effects allow you to do something over and over again to slowly gain some sort of advantage. Generally, any activated ability or triggered ability on a permanent falls into this category... But spells can also have these effects, too. Examples of repeatable spell effects include buyback and the recurring graveyard clause (most notably Hammer of Bogardan). These cards are important, for they allow you to gain advantage through constant use without having to keep devoting cards to aid you. Repeatable effects allow you to win a war of Attrition (card pun intended).

Lasting effects are similar to repeatable effects, but instead of giving you an effect that you may use over and over again, they give you a continual bonus that aids you. This gives you some sort of upper hand against your foes and puts you in a better position to win the game. Cards that produce static effects fall into this category.

Powerful one-shot effects are the game-altering spells that only last for a second, but affect how the remainder of the game plays out. These are typically your big sorceries and instants, though some creatures have powerful enough "comes into play" triggers that would also qualify. Additionally, "One-shot" activated abilities that are fairly strong (like Nevinyrral's Disk) also qualify.

Utility cards are the small spells that you generally need, though they may not always be useful. They generally are narrow cards that help you with potential problem cards, and typically involve destroying (or neutralizing) a permanent or a spell being played. Utility spells are the little one-shot bullets that you can use now and then (Ravnica in particular introduced a very nice selection of utility spells including, Lighting Helix and Putrefy).

Bombs are ... pretty much self-explanatory. Bombs pretty much are the permanents (or spells) that win you the game. Powerful one-shot effects fall into the category of bombs, but are not always such (Goblin Game can be pretty strong, but it is far from a bomb).

As a final note, you may question the qualification of creatures that control decks might use, such as Flying Scimitar. The spirit and (all creatures, for that matter) typically and loosely fall into the "repeatable effects" category, since they provide repeatable forms of damage/damage prevention in the form of blocking. While they won't usually be referred to as such, you may consider them repeatable effects. For the control deck, these cards are typically big-butted creatures that soak up the beats, utility creatures, or some sort of large late-game flier that wins you the game (though it doesn't always have to be large or a flier).

In summary, all of these effects generate some sort of advantage for you - whether it is card advantage or superior permanents in one form or another. We're sorry for any sort of inconvenience this may have caused.
You May Continue With Your Regularly Scheduled Casual Article.

Keep in mind that not every card that fits into my categories can be successfully placed in a control deck, since some are obviously meant for other decks (Elvish Fury, anyone?). Remember your goal as a multiplayer Control deck: to last until the late game and then beat everyone with your preferred win condition. You want to concentrate most of your efforts on controlling the board and establishing your defense and then follow up with you big guns.

Your defense is created mainly using enchantments with lasting effects (Propaganda, Ghostly Prison) and by creatures. In particular, creatures with defender are a good place to look. Fog Bank and Wall of Shadows are good candidates, but some recent creatures from Ravnica that are up for the job include Benevolent Ancestor, Carven Caryatid, and Drift of Phantasms.

Next, you supplement your defense with repeatable spells and by removal whether it be one-shot (like Ravnica's Darkblast, Last Grasp, and Mark of Eviction), or repeatable spot removal (Capsize, Exile into Darkness, Hammer of Bogardan), or Wrath effects (Wrath of God, Mutilate, Evacuation), or all three. Once you have a good defense going, you try to either dominate the board with your big spells or lay low as everyone else pounds each other until the moment comes to strike.

If you decide to lay low, all you need to do is focus your utility spells on the stuff that threatens you the most and you'll be all set to go when the time comes to leap over your barrier and start your victory march. If your spells control the board enough (perhaps through enchantments like Night of Souls' Betrayal and Attrition) then you already should be well on your way to winning.

So what might a control deck in multiplayer look like? To give you an idea, I'll use a personal favorite of mine as an example.

Multiplayer Control Featured by Matthew Lubich on 2005-10-09 As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/10612.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Beloved Chaplain 4 Blinding Angel 2 Devout Witness 4 Eternal Dragon 4 Temple Acolyte Enchantments 3 Ghostly Prison 2 Inheritance 2 Mobilization 3 Seal of Cleansing	Instants 4 Hail of Arrows Sorceries 4 Wrath of God Basic Lands 20 Plains Lands 4 Cloudpost	Stats: Average mana: 1.88 Average creature mana cost: 3.89 Average creature power: 2.22 Average creature toughness: 3.11 Deck Composition: Sorceries: 6.67% Basic Lands: 33.33% Enchantments: 16.67% Creatures: 30.00% Lands: 6.67% Instants: 6.67%
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

Before I go on about the deck (which is really titled, "If Only I Had Plowshares"), I would like to give you some brief information on my playgroup. The skill level ranges from expert to beginner. Everyone generally likes winning through the attack step, and creatures are abundant. The most important thing I wish to point out is that my playgroup's metagame widely varies. In particular, my group tends to support a more No Metagame (not the "No" Metagame). The reason for this is that we tend to meet at varying intervals (generally two weeks to a month) and we all live far apart from one another - so by the time everyone meets again, the decks always seem to be different. The decks change mainly because all of the players have a bit of Johnny in them (though most are Johnny/Timmys, I am Johnny/Spike). So in short, several groups of two players will play against each other until we all meet and play together.

Of course, even though the decks are different, our group generally has a bastardized mix of the One opponent, aggro (not the "Grog Bash" type of aggro; he pilots something more sophisticated, which I'll touch on in a later article), the "No" metagame, and the Political metagame.

The deck is a pretty good example of what I've stated about multiplayer control decks. The deck has early defense (Temple Acolyte, Beloved Chaplain, Ghostly Prison, Hail of Arrows), teamed up with Utility (Seal of Cleansing, Devout Witness), Repeatable effects (Eternal Dragon, Blinding Angel, Mobilization, Inheritance, and Devout Witness) and Bombs (see Repeatable effects, replacing Inheritance with Wrath of God and removing Devout Witness entirely). The Cloudposts help the Dragon with mana acceleration, allowing you to play your Dragons and Angels faster and make your Hail of Arrows even deadlier.

Overall, the deck plays quite well, throwing up an early defense and making sure that the only real potential threats are fliers - and even then, they aren't going to receive the warmest welcome, as your opponent just might have spent precious mana to attack only to find you casting Hail of Arrows to shoot down his creatures. Generally, your opponents really won't want to attack you since you'll have your Rare fliers ready to pummel anyone who makes the first move on your life.

Also, the Seals and Witnesses (the spellshaper, not the shaman) provided the deck with much support against artifact and enchantment based strategies. Aside from serving air defense, Blinding Angel makes sure that people you won't want attacking sit back. Wrath of God serves its usual role as an emergency reset button, but it still proves to be quite advantageous since you won't need to play many creatures at a time to keep up defense. Also, the Wrath usually can net you a few cards with Inheritance and a few Cloudposts in play.

If you choose to play politics, then this is where your Wraths, artifact/enchantment destruction spells, and Hail of Arrows come in. Nothing is more satisfying then winning an ally by saving them with Hail of Arrows. While it's not my best Mono White Control deck, I did enjoy playing it very much in a field filled with mainly creature-based decks.

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It's good to be back in action again. Until next time, keep on readi -

"Egads!" you cry out, "Matt, what about the other questions, you only spoke of control decks, but what about Aggro and Combo?"

You're right - but since I didn't want to write a book in one go, I decided that it would be best to split up my work. More so, this is my promise to you, the readers, that I shall continue my casual writing for StarCityGames.com as often as I can.

So, until next time, you aggro-lovers hold on to your hopes; there may still be a chance.

Matthew Lubich