Denied!

[Seeker of Truth]

Well, people, I've come up with a milling deck that is based on Denying Wind. I tried it out in an online game, and it did pretty well, winning against a Type I Grindstone deck running all the Moxes and Black Lotus, 3 Howling Mines and 2 Feldon's Canes.

The Deck:

Counterspells:
4x Counterspell
4x Daze
4x Miscalculation
2x Foil

Other Blue:
4x Rhystic Scrying
4x Denying Wind

Artifacts:
4x Voltaic Key
4x Grim Monolith
4x Millstone
4x Thran Dynamo

Lands:
4x Saprazzan Skerry
4x Crystal Vein
14xIsland

The object, of course, is to run a huge artifact mana engine, playing Denying Wind as soon as possible to throw off your opponent's strategy and thin out their deck. If left unchecked, the Denying Winds can strip a deck almost completely of nonland cards. Once the major threats of the deck have been either countered or Denied, Millstone goes to work, boosted by the Keys and the artifact mana. In the game I played against the Type I deck, I managed to mill 12 cards off his library in one turn, forcing him to deck himself with his own Howling Mine. In practice, I was able to cast a Denying Wind on the third turn, so this deck can churn out the mana pretty fast, too.

I would like to include Turnabout, or some bouncing spells, but I don't know what to take out. Plus, I think the counterspell mix is weak, and I would appreciate any suggestions on what to use in that area.

Also, I don't play Morphling or Masticore, so don't ask. Other than that, feel free to suggest anything, as I can probably get my hands on it somehow. Some sideboard suggestions may be helpful, too.

Whoo-hoo! It's my 100th post!

 

[Griffith_se]

With all that fast mana I would go with Power Sink, and Spell Blast instead of Miscalculation, and Daze. I don't know.. Whata Ya think?

Sideboard? Heres a few of the standards.

Hibernation
Chill
Annul
Powder Keg

[Edited by Griffith_se on June 16th, 2000 at 09:47 AM]

 

[Apollo]

If you tap out on the third turn to play Denying Wind, then they lay any decent sized creature (Lightning Dragon, Masticore, whatever) you'll die with no creature elimination. You won't be able to deck them fast enough to kill them before they get you. A first turn Jackal Pup or Sarcomancy or Carnophage will kill you too. Unfortunately, in a mono-blue deck I don't know what to suggest. I don't play blue much at all. Spot creature-control like Treachery might help against some decks, but swarms would still give you trouble. Sorry i can't be of a little more help.

Apollo

 

[Istanbul]

Relearn?

"I play eight Denying Winds. You can cry now."

Also, you need some way to deal with a creature rush.

 

[Multani]

Tag Guard

I'd add cheap creatures plus 2 Crawlspaces.
Also, I'd add a couple of Avatars of Will.



[Edited by Multani on June 17th, 2000 at 04:45 PM]

 

[Lythand]

With that much mana, and blue..Go avatar will. Or if you are putting his creatures in the Graveyard, go with avatar of woe...or maybe 2 of each.

 

[Seeker of Truth]

Griffith_se:

I think Power Sink is a great idea, considering that I'll almost always have more mana available than my opponent, which allows me to tap them out on their turn. As for Spell Blast, I think a counterspell with a fixed casting cost may be a better idea, but it's true that the mana probably wouldn't be too much of an issue.

Apollo:

Well, thanks for bringing up that concern, though. Weenies will be a major problem for a deck that relies on milling, and it's times like this when I wish Evacuation were still legal. While I was more concerned with Type II, where most 1-mana, 2-power creatures aren't legal anymore, cards like Pouncing Jaguar and Wild Dogs are still legal. Blue mainly uses unsummon abilities to control creatures, but a dedicated creature rush would be hard to handle.

Istanbul:

So, what would you suggest for creature defense? If at all possible, I'd like to keep the deck straight blue, without creatures, but barring that, maybe white would be the best second color, since it has Wrath of God. What do you think of Alexi from Prophecy? Would that work in this deck? I thought Turnabout would also be kind of useful if a creature rush needed stopping, since I could use it to tap all my opponent's lands. I was also thinking Ring of Gix. I managed to stop six creatures from attacking me with Ring of Gix and the same artifact setup. Of course, I also had Wrath of God in that deck.

Multani and Lythand:

Avatar of Will, huh? Wouldn't that go against the strategy of milling my opponent's library? Or are you thinking of removing the Millstones and going for a creature-based kill?

Thanks for the comments! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Lythand]

Its a back up. If your opponat some way disrupts your strategy..you still have a BIG beating stick. And if you are removing cards in hand, it will come out quick. Its also a BIG blocker. I wouldnt go with NO creatures. Especialy in T2. Green stompy will beat you in 3 turns.

 

[Multani]

Tag Guard

Seeker: Ever seen a turn 3 stomping Multani
in multiplayer casual?

Turn 1: Havenwood Battleground, Exploration
Turn 2: 2 Havenwood Battleground, Sac the lands, Multani
Tunn 3: Attack!

"Do you want to concede? Yessir!"

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

HAven wood battle ground comes into play tapped. With so much mana u might want to splash white. U can win pretty fast, u just need somethin to buy you time. White wind and avatar are bad, I know, but they might help.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

tag guard


I've seen third turn thornys


first turn

forest, llanowar elves
second turn forest, priest of titania
third turn gaea's cradle tap out, thorny.

4th turn play forest tap cradle, priest, 3 forests,llanowar elves, double bifurcate the thorny and play concordant crossroads attack for 21.
dead 4th turn

FUN FUN!

 

[Seeker of Truth]

Thanks, all you people who have been describing all the glorious ways I can die against stompy...

I GET THE PICTURE!

BTW, Multani and Spaceman Spiff, I'd just Daze, Counterspell, or Miscalculate your respective monsters, but point well taken.

FoundationOfRancor:

How about Caltrops or Ring of Gix or (ulp!) Powder Keg? I hate putting in cards specifically to deal with creatures, but if stompy is that big of a deal, do you think this would work? I know that if there's absolutely no other option, I'll just have to splash white for Wrath, but if I can keep this mono-colored, I think it'll be pretty darn good.

 

[Cateran Overlord]

Consider adding in either of the spiketail creatures for more counter power and some creature threats.

On an entirely different note, what is this whole Tag Guard thing about? I'm new here, so can someone explain this to me?

 

[Spiderman]

It's a tag game, check the Battle Area forum for threads about it.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

Seeker: Let me get back to you on that one. I wish that wall of tears was still in print...
Actually, white splash wouldnt be all that bad.

DONE!!! Energy Feild! This card can buy you a turn or 2 you need to go off. Cast the feild, build up then deck him ALOT as fast as you can. I will still think bout it and get back to you.

 

[Istanbul]

With all your fast mana, War Tax could be viable.
Also consider Fog Bank (go ahead, attack me) and Energy Field + Library of Leng (I won't block, I don't need to).
Be warned that the latter is easily disrupted, though. All they have to do is nuke something of yours or make you discard, and you're screwed. (Countering still puts a card into your graveyard.)

 

[Lythand]

I think a good card with Energy Field would be Capsize. Just Buy it back

 

[Seeker of Truth]

FoundationOfRancor:

Thanks for the suggestion, Energy Field may be a good choice, although it is kind of a fragile card to rely on.

Istanbul:

You may have hit on it! War Tax would be a great card in this situation; even if I have to tap out to prevent my opponent from attacking, the key is that it'll stall them, and I only need a few turns to close the deal. If only I had a way to search for it in a mono-blue deck! Oh, well, maybe a white splash is still the way to go...

Cateran Overlord:

The Spiketails may not be such a bad idea after all. They do carry their own counterspell along, so I wouldn't really be sacrificing counterspell space for creatures if I used them. I know that the deck in Inquest used big creatures coupled with Denying Wind, but I really do like the Wind's milling effect, and I would like to stay on theme as much as possible.

Lythand:

I think I see how Capsize works with Energy Field, but I'm trying to keep this deck Type II if at all possible. Sorry I didn't mention that sooner.

I'm really grateful for all of this help! I'll be posting a revised version of "Denied!" very soon!

 

[Seeker of Truth]

OK, everyone, here's the revised decklist for Denied!:

Counterspells:

4x Counterspell
4x Power Sink
2x Misdirection

Other Blue:

4x War Tax
4x Rhystic Scrying
4x Denying Wind

Artifacts:

4x Voltaic Key
4x Grim Monolith
4x Thran Dynamo
4x Millstone

Lands:

4x Saprazzan Skerry
4x Crystal Vein
14x Island

War Tax is cool because it prevents my opponent from attacking unless they pay X for each attacking creature. This isn't an optional cost; they can't pay X for some creatures and not pay for others if they want to attack with everything.

I'm starting to really like this deck, and I may think of trying to put it together for real.

Keep those comments coming!

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

isntead of that Rhystic blue thang, Why not go with Soothsaying? Since u got so much mana u would be able to do it fast. I dont know, that might make ur deck to dependent on the mana acceleration.