"Being Dimir:Succumbing to Control"

"Being Dimir: Succumbing to Control"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Winning has it perks even if it means succumbing to the temptation of control. I have never liked control. For me Holding cards in your hand and knowing what is going to happen in the next few turns ruins a great EDH game. I love a good Swing and return swing that all Aggro EDH decks could deliver. However having an Aggro deck does not necessarily mean a win.Sometimes you damage a player to an inch of his life total and they still manage to turn things around.  

So for a change I played an EDH game with my Dimir Mill deck with Mirko Vosk as my commander. Blue/Black has always been a great and dreaded combination for me because of its ability to control almost any threat in the battlefield. More often than not I have been a victim of this dreaded combination. During this EDH match(this was a while back) I was able to go up against Ed Tanyags  , Azusa Smash EDH deck. A mono green monstrosity that accelerated land drops and hence the ability to cast bigger and mightier spells like Genesis Wave and any big green monster that was lurking in that 100 card pile. On the table was Paolo's Nekusar Deck and Jolans Rafiq , Exalted Bant deck.

Most of the people who know me have identified me with my Skullbriar EDH deck so they were surprised when I turned up with a Dimir Deck. I am normally the earliest aggressor in most matches because I wanted to make Skullbriar big. This time around though I was content with defending and watching as the others bashed themselves. Like a true Dimir I stayed in the Shadows , only to cast a timely Counter Spell or a needed Mass Removal spell when things were threatening to spill over on my side of the battlefield. While I was not attacking I found that I was beginning to be more aware of the nuances of an EDH game. I was observing card draws and creature placement and number of attacks and cards at hand. Having cast no creature made me more focused. I sat there knowing what would happen next and I found myself liking it. This must be how Neo felt when he began seeing the moves of the Agents and he was able to dodge and block them effectively. It was some sort of epiphany.

I sat there and I was content copying my opponents best creatures with a Phyrexian Metamorph or Evil Twin. I particularly enjoyed it  when one of my favorite creatures of all time , Terastodon arrived on the battlefield and destroyed an opposing control players lands. I was happy to copy it with Evil Twin and decimate the same players lands , making me the only control player with the ability to say no to any shenanigans. It was a great feeling to be in control.On a later turn I destroyed that Terastodon with the Evil Twins ability, making me the lone owner of the biggest creature on the field.

I waited , laid back and schemed. I let myself be consumed by this power. I won. Skullbriar maybe twitching his/her/its decaying nose at me at this point but it really felt good to win in this manner. scheming bad like only a Dimir could.