THE most irritating F***ing blue deck you've ever seen!

[Istanbul]

TSIA. This is my tournament-winner, folks, the Type 1 tournament-winner. Tell me what you think. (And try not to lynch me.)

LAND:
20x Island (all foil, except one Guru land!)
2x Mishra's Factory
2x Thawing Glaciers

COUNTERMAGIC:
4x Counterspell
4x Arcane Denial
4x Dissipate
3x Hesitation
4x Force of Will (one signed!)
2x Force Spike (Legends!)
1x Mana Drain (all I have)

OTHER SPELLS:
3x Boomerang (Legends!)
3x Treachery
2x Soothsaying (both foil!)

CREATURES:
3x Morphling
4x Fog Bank
2x Archivist

I'm honestly thinking of taking out Hesitation; it's sort of like letting my opponent decide what spell I counter, though it CAN be a major irritant. I need another low-cost counterspell to replace it, though. Any suggestions? Likewise, Archivist is getting ready to come out for Treasure Trove, which can't be Bolted/Swordsed/etc. Or can you think of something better? (Jayemdae Tome is directly inferior in this deck.)

BTW, one major problem I've had is things like Mishra's Factory and Kjeldoran Outpost. Things I can't counter, I have a tough time dealing with. And Boomerang is only a temporary answer.

Oh, one last thing: don't bother telling me to put in a Time Walk or anything like that. If it costs more than $10 or so, I probably can't get my hands on it.

 

[Landkiller]

Counteract their creature lands with your own, add Faerie Conclave.

Also, Conclave lets you around Sorcery kill spells, so Wrath of God is less concern.

More Mishra's Factories is good.

Maybe add Quicksand. That card is okay, if you won't hurt your mana much.

Arcane Denial is not a very good card. It should be replaced by something.

Since you don't have any situational countermagic, I would add Power Sink. Although it won't always work, it usually will, and often it's better when your opponent might "save" spells and cast three or more in one turn.

Hesitation is a crazy card. It doesn't seem very good to me. It gives up control.

Zur's Weirding fills it's role very nicely, if you like cards that remove your control over the game and replace it with a lock. But I feel that 'equal' isn't exactly a good use of a card.

Instead, I would add Fact or Fiction, for a mid-game boost, on the turn they play nothing worth countering.

 

[rkoelsch]

in my extended merfolk deck. It solves the uncounterable land problem and let my merfolk islandwalk. It may not be worth it in your deck though.

 

[Demon]

I'd suggest Mana Leak as a possible replacement for Hesitation.

The casting cost is the same as that of Hesitation; it's an instant; and it performs similarly to what Landkiller is suggesting Power Sink for (if I understand correctly). After all, if your opponent wants to cast several spells during a turn, having to pay an extra three mana for at least one of them is a significant 'stop sign' for them to deal with.

Just my humble 2 cents ( or 0.5 cents US)

 

[Spiderman]

Agree about Mana Leak, or Power Sink or Spell Blast as lesser alternatives.

For the problem lands, maybe Strip Mine/Wasteland?

 

[Duel]

Sideboard dominate? It's a blue conquer, for man-lands.....

About the outpost, wasteland may be the best solution. Or strip mine. Either one works.

Mana leak works nicely for hesitation, but it's verys situational. I'd use miscalculation, because with so many counterspells, if you come across a must-counter and they have mana open, you can cycle it in the hope of drawing a counter, and have fairly good odds.

 

[Istanbul]

Landkiller - Faerie Conclave won't help me against Kjeldoran Outpost. Neither will more Factories. Quicksand is mediocre, and Arcane Denial is *vital* in this deck. Power Sink is one of the cards I've considered putting in for Hesitation. Zur's Weirding gives me a headache, shows my opponent what I draw, and gives them the chance to stop me from getting countermagic. And Fact or Fiction gets me only half the cards I want; I'd rather use Inspiration.

rkoelsch - I think Political Trickery would create more of a problem than a solution in this deck.

Demon - Like Duel suggested, Miscalculation might go in instead of Mana Leak, since both are useless late-game, but only one cycles. And unlike Power Sink, they can simply decide NOT to pay, and cast something else same turn.

Spiderman - Wasteland might be a viable alternative...do you think Dust Bowl might work as well?

Also, is it even worth it, since I pack four Back to Basics in my sideboard? It's just the first match that I lose to Outpost.

Duel - I've considered Dominate, but if I want to use it on anything BUT man-lands, it costs an arm and *both* legs. Do you think Dust Bowl might be a good idea against Outpost?

 

[Spiderman]

If you think Wasteland is okay, what about Strip Mine? Then you can use it on ANY land

Anyway, beats me if Dust Bowl is better. I just was thinking of ways for Blue to kill the annoying lands without resorting to bounce. I guess it's okay if you don't mind slowly losing Islands (I guess with Thawing Glaciers it might not be that big of a deal). But you have to wait at least four turns until you can use it so it depends on when the Outpost is a problem for you.

I would say mix it up, with a Wasteland/Strip Mine and a Dust Bowl and see how it goes.

 

[Istanbul]

Well, if I could use four Strip Mines, they'd beat out Wasteland hands-down. But I can't. Actually, I'm thinking of putting in two Dust Bowls in place of the Glaciers. I mean, I won't be throwing Islands away left-and-right, just at really important stuff like Factories and Outposts. In most decks, that's maybe one or two lands, and it's worth that to shut down my major problems.

Now I just have to get two Dust Bowls.

 

[Spiderman]

You can use one Strip Mine, right? So if you really want to devote 4 slots to land LD, I'd say start out with 1 Strip Mine, 1 Wasteland, and 2 Dust Bowls.

I think Glaciers are still good though, so maybe you can drop an Island for a Glacier.

Can't tell if you're keeping the Factories (I think you should for the first cut) so your land according to me would look like this:

1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
2 Dust Bowls (play around with this, maybe can keep at one)
1 Thawing Glaciers
2 Mishra's Factories
17-18 Islands (depending how many Bowls you go with).

 

[Duel]

My question? Isn't faerie conclave damn good? I mean, evasion is a fantastic ability, It's as good as the factory, no?

 

[Purple_jester]

I'd play with 4 Mishra's Factories, personally. No matter how you slice it, blue is still the slowest color in Magic, and uncounterable defense is always good. Plus, with the new rules, an activated Mishra's Factory can now transform itself into a 3/3 blocker.

Further, here's my take on Stripmine versus Dust Bowl. Dust Bowl is reusable, but is SLOW. Your opponent will probably have pounded you a couple of times with the Mishra's or made a couple of tokens by the time you can get the Bowl to work. Stripmine works instantly, and quickly. However, the Bowl is excellent in an environment filled with Duals and Painlands. 'Course, your opponent can easily nuke your Bowl, but as long as you used it at least once, yes?

Regardless of what you chose, you need some form of land control. There's nasties like Tolarian Academy, Maze of Ith and Rishadan Port out there.

My vote: 1 Dust Bowl, 1 Strip Mine and 1 Wasteland.

As for the Faerie Conclave, EVERYTHING good in T1 either has evasion (ex. Hypnotic Specter, Serendib Efreet), doesn't need evasion (ex. Juzam Djinn, Masticore), or BOTH (ex. Morphling). You need 2 other mana to make the Conclave work, and the thing comes into play tapped. Both are no-no's in T1. The Factory is quicker (only 1 colorless) and is excellent in both offense and defense. Plus, Factories can pump themselves up. Of course, if you're playing in a lighter, non-killer T1 environment, then by all means, use the Conclave.

 

[Duel]

I worry about both dustbowl (Because it's slow) and wasteland (Because it's a one-time shot) You need to be able to remove 4 nonbasics. My basic principle. so, I think spidey has it right. 2 bowls is all you need, and any less is risky. On the other hand, how about playing port?

 

[krichaiushii]

How about Lingering Mirage for a form of land control? 1U for an enchant land that turns target land into an island. If your opponent is already playing U, then just cycle the card for 2, then sideboard out next game.

 

[Duel]

I prefer lands for 2 reasons:
1. they can't be countered.
2: they also add mana

 

[Istanbul]

Honestly...I'm thinking Wastelands.

They don't cost 4 to use like Dustbowl.
They'll tide me over in my first match until I can sideboard in Back to Basics.
They produce mana.

 

[Ura]

Now for something completely different:

If its just the non-basic lands that pop out tokens or become creatures thats bothering you, why not try a couple Tsabo's Web, they're a cantrip, they're cheap and they become targets adding to the things your opponent MUST worry about if they intend to use they're lands more then once. Then you can also counter what they use to remove it if you really have to.
It also won't affect your glaciers since they bounce anyhow so it would just be your mishra's that they could mess up. If your intent on keeping them then you'll have to for go the web or not expect to use them all time. If you don't mind takeing them out, then it could be a pair of good spots to put in waste lands just for that one time use to get rid of the annoying outposts, libraries, and mazes till you can get a web out.

[Edited by Ura on 12-04-00 at 01:37 AM]

 

[Istanbul]

Tsabo's Web.

I don't friggin' *BELIEVE* I didn't think of that.

It's perfect. It's not a land, but it IS a cantrip, so it doesn't really cost me anything. It's low-CC, so I can play it relatively early without worrying. And it'll shut down 2 cards in my library, IF those.

Trouble is, it doesn't shut down dual lands...oh, heck with it. I can deal with dual lands.