Why I became a control player.
I believe that I was a lot like most players when they begin playing Magic, I liked the cool big flashy creatures that did cool things or killed your opponent quickly. The first decks I ever played were ones that allowed me to cast 6/6's one turn 3 or 4; although I should've known what was coming, because my other favorite deck was mono-black discard. This was all back when the kitchen table was my battleground, nowadays things are much different than they used to be.
When I first began playing competitively I wanted to kill my opponent as fast as possible, luckily there was this great mechanic in the format calledInfect. I could totally break this! I only have to deal 10 points of damage instead of everyone else having to do 20, look at all of these suckers! So I built Mono-Green Infect using things like Glistener Elf, Mutagenic Growth, Groundswell, and Vines of Vastwood. It was fun for a short while, and killing people on turn 2 or 3 was cool, but I found out rather quickly that if I didn't win in the first few turns, I was pretty much just dead and couldn't do anything else. Things had to change, I still wanted to win quickly and kill my opponent in one or two turns, but I needed a better option.
I became frustrated trying to fix the infect deck, so I started looking at other decks that I could play (and afford, for more context, this was during Jace, the Mnd Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic's rule over standard). There was UB control with Jace, UW control with Jace, Mono-Red, and then this weird deck called Splinter Twin. Of those decks, I could only really afford Mono-Red, with Twin coming in at second. There was no way I was going to be able to build one of those decks with 4 Jaces! Who would want to play that kind of deck anyways, you don't let anyone play anything and it's really boring; I mean, you're killing people with Squadron Hawks!
For a while I stopped playing standard, and moved over to playing EDH and actually competed in a EDH tournament and taking 3rd place which won me enough prize support to actually build a standard deck. During this time Jace and Stoneforge got banned, which made the control decks much weaker, but it also made things much more affordable. After considering my choices, I decided upon playing Splinter Twin. I saw the deck being played, and it really impressed me; you mean I can kill people on turn 4 and they can't do anything about it? I get to play cards that draw me cards? I'm in!
I built the deck and proceeded to play in more and more tournaments, almost always going 3-1 or better, and much of the time going undefeated. I began to see the power of blue; drawing cards, countering spells, bouncing permanents. All of these things seemed extremely powerful. This combo deck was a pretty great balance between control and aggro, it played out fast enough where it won like an aggro deck, and it stopped your opponent from disrupting you and from doing their own thing as well. I began to realize the strength of control type spells, and what I could do with them, I played the deck until it rotated out of the format.
After Innistrad was released I played Wolf Run Ramp, which played a lot like a control deck in the fact that it just ramped and killed your opponents creatures until you just overwhelmed your opponent. This is around the point that I started to want to play more controlly type decks, I built a UB Oona deck for EDH that was super lockdown control and I loved every minute that I played that deck.
It's only quite recently that I realized that I am completely a control player, and why I like it so much. Control decks play a game where your choices directly determine whether or not you will survive the first few turns whereas the choices that aggressive decks have determine how long the game will go on. There is a certain thrill to trying to survive, and balancing your early turns between not losing the game and setting yourself up for your endgame. The decision trees that control decks have are much more complex than those of aggro decks, which is extremely alluring to me. The complex choices and situations that you get put in as a control player really allow you to flex your brain and figure out the correct line of play. Do you Azorious Charm that 4/4 so that you can stay at 6 life or do you go to 2 life against the aggro deck so that you can tap out for a Sphinx's Revelation that will probably win you the game? How many cards are left in their hand, is any of it burn? How many creatures have I killed already? Whats the chance of a Hellrider being on top to just kill me? Etc, etc, etc... All of these things and similar thoughts run through my head while playing control, I feel like I'm doing much more actual playing than when I'm just slamming creatures onto the table and turning them sideways.
The other thing that I really enjoy about control decks is the power that you have over how you opponent is going to play the game. I'm talking of course, about counterspells, the bane of most players existence. My opponents are trying to play cards that do unfair things, it's my job to make sure they play nice, and stop them from doing those things so that I can do my more unfair things. Any non-control player will complain for days about counterspells, but they are a necessary thing to have in the game, because if everyone can just do whatever they want without fear of repercussions or them being stopped, then things can get too out of hand (this is all in the context of a competitive environment, things may be different in casual formats).
Fast Forward to the current standard, I haven't played since rotation, and I'm unsure of what to play in the format. All of the sudden I come across Bant Control, a deck that hinges on stopping your opponents aggressive starts and slowly milling their library into their graveyard while you take control of the game. What a wonderful idea! I don't have to worry about life totals (as long as I'm not dying!) and I can still cause my opponent to loose, so their Thragtusks and Centaur Healers are irrelevant!
Playing this deck has solidified for me that I am a control player. I recommend all players take a walk on the dark side and see what they think, because even if you think you're an aggro player, you just might end up enjoying playing control.
