issues with mind control

[4c1d1c4]

In a nutshell i run portal maj.

Standard build
4 brut
3 garg
3 dmt
3 sk
2 molten or 2 mino, pref molten but have run both

4 ball
3 lightning
4 portal
3 research
3 nova

3 lamb
2 sever
2 ley

Currently 250 ranking. But i am having huge issues with elemental decks. In particular mind control on my fatties. I need advice on alego good counter. I have tried not playing them and going for a burn. Zaladar beats me in a burn and elementis beats down on me with allies if i dont play my fatties.

Im wondering where i can trim any fat to pull an edge against them. I need the sever ties for warriors its won me several games and the ley works vs hunters and rogue decks.

Basically i play as follows.
T1 nada
T2 brutis or research
T3 garg, dmt or fireball
T4 portal or lightning or research, sometimes t2/t3 cards depending on hand.
T5 fattie or t3/4 cards
T6 fattie or 2x t3 cards etc.

You get the idea.

Adun is a bit of a pain, some sac destruction clerics, and elementals are my apparent weakness.

Now elementals are my real problem. Im not saying its an auto loss. But if they pull more than 2x mind controls, i find myself royally boned. Expecially if i run minotars.

Normally ill loose 5-7 life before turn 5 then i drop the beatdown. Im wondering if perhaps adding more armor?

What do you think of swapping brutis for firesnakes, and swapping gargs for domes? I would have to swap 1 portal for another nova.
Possibly removing sac lamb for melt down.

Alternativly i could add here be monsters and replace gargs, fireballs, or dmt. The land destruction would buy me another turn of beatdown.

What do you all think?

[Ningxue]

I actually play a deck like urs, only a little different from ur configuration. By now, I lose 1/4 matches with Za. Heres some tips on countering MC:
1. hold your dmt and sl once you draw them, and cast dmt ASAP.
2. cast portal on t7 or even later with dmt or garg.
3. gaining early board control by spells, bru and dmt, the aim is not to lose too much hp of majiya.
4. on t8, cast ur fat, clear board or hit the za then use sl.
5. on t9, cast dk then sacrafice it.

Because you typically can only draw two sl before t10, so this strategy is exactly a death race if u only hit the hero. dk is useful since he can recycle your lam sacrificed allies.
6. if u dont have sl or dk, portal MD, it can damage za if he MC it, and you get 5 damage on za and 4 damage on urself, not a bad choice.
7. finally try ur best protect ur hero at early stage and use portal later when u can cast a 3cc ally with it.
Anyway, za is hard to counter with or without portal, but portal gives u the chance to nuke it first, so take this advantage then wipe ur fatties with sl, then use dk to recycle them. and sl gives u a good chance to draw enough spells to outpace za in this death race~

[Unruler]

First of all Zal is bad matchup for mages.

Secondly, Brutal Minotaur is bad, especially against Mind Control, you deal 6 damage and receive 8.

My suggestion: Shadow Knights (instead of Minotaurs and something else, ideally you want 3-4 of them to have at least two in game). So you cast SK with a portal (having another in hand or hoping to draw one), deal 5 damage (that's one damage less than BM) receive 5 damage with MC but your opp just wasted turn to counter your card and lost board presence (5 damage can kill anything below 4cc if no buffs were implemented but you also have your ability). What to do? Cast another SK and return your dead one in hand. Eventually elemental will run out of MCs and you will hammer him with SK loop and spells.

[SpeakerOfTruth]

Zaladar would have an edge against your Maj build. If both players are equally skilled it would come down to whether you can hold down his board long enough to assemble a killer portal move, preferably portal+SK in the same turn and double SK in the next. (Followed by any combination of 2 fatties after) Without allies Zaladar can only deal you max 3 dmg in a turn (always plan for him using shadowfont), 5 if he has a weapon.

Double fattie play from portal is 9-10 dmg. 14-15 if your portal came down together with a fatty. Assuming you did some damage before setting up the portal play its should hit for lethal, he can't use MC if he's dead.

[Nactyle]

Lovely ideas floating around here. However, are you sure that you need Sacrificial Lamb?

[4c1d1c4]

Yeah sac lamb wins games. So many useful scenarios for it. Cripling blow, frozen, priest artifact, list goes on and on. But sometimes you just need that extra draw. Attack and then sac.

Good ideas on sac after a port.

[Nactyle]

Yeah sac lamb wins games. So many useful scenarios for it. Cripling blow, frozen, priest artifact, list goes on and on. But sometimes you just need that extra draw. Attack and then sac.

Good ideas on sac after a port.

I see.... perhaps you need an armor to defend yourself?