Maëlig I like your list, but I have what I see would be a couple "upgrades". If you're going to play wasteland, Crucible seems like it's a must include to be able to recur wastelands in order to deal with Cavern of Souls and other problematic lands. Then you could cut a Tundra for an Academy Ruins. I'd go something like -1 Tundra, -1 Snapcaster, -1 E.Tutor, -1 E.E., -1 Counterspell for +1 Academy Ruins +1 Crucible of Worlds, +3 Ponder.
I've been brewing up a UW Countertop shell with Entreat the Angels, Delver of Secrets, Geist of Saint Traft, Snapcaster Mage and Jace, the Mind Sculptor all as possible win cons, and I'm having a lot of fun with the build. With Cavern of Souls seeing more and more play Countertop isn't able to ride single threats to victory while keeping the board clear via Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top anymore. I believe the natural evolution for Countertop to take is to increase the threat count and remove the dependence of locking out your opponent for the entirety of the game, instead focusing more on tempo locking them out of the game (if that's the correct expression) with a win condition and the combo protecting it.
For reference my current list is:
CREATURES
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
ARTIFACTS/ENCHANTMENTS
3x Counterbalance
3x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Scroll Rack
SPELLS
4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
2x Enlightened Tutor
2x Entreat the Angels
4x Force of Will
2x Predict
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Terminus
PLAINSWALKERS
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
LAND
4x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Karakas
4x Tundra
6x Island
1x Plains
SIDEBOARD
1x Pithing Needle
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Tormod's Crypt
2x Vedalken Shackles
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Back to Basics
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Moat
2x Echoing Truth
2x Stifle
1x Terminus
Last edited by LEH; 06-22-2012 at 11:15 AM.
I know many of us have moved on to u/w/r counterbalance featuring terminus and entreat. Has the old countertop shell of creatures/removal/counterbalance+top been completely outclassed by miracles?
I miss the days of playing dark confidant and spinning top with counterbalance out. Currently I play miracles and I love the deck, but what I really love is the countertop engine.
Has anyone worked on any lists not featuring miracles lately? Maybe u/w/b, u/r/b, u/g/b?
Cards id like to see in a deck like this would be Confidant, goyf, young pyromancer, and deathrite shaman. (not all in the same deck obv)
I may just be trying to hang on to old memories and may have to move on from this archtype.
Well i have been pondering for a couple of weeks about a list with RUG countertop list incorperating Jace, TMX. PFire/grove, Dreadnought, etc., but i am not sure if it's valiable. A BUG list would be cool to. BUG Control lists are already heading in the right direction. Heres one of my drafts:
3 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sylvan Library
1 Life from the Loam
3 Punishing Fire
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Brainstorm
4 Stifle
1 Trickbind
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
2 Phyrexian Dreadnought
3 Trinket Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland
2 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Academy Ruins
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 3 Divert
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
The use of CounterTop + Liliana was just being discussed in the BUG Control/Team America (Midrange/Control) thread. I think it's an excellent idea, especially since Sylvan Library is so good I'm thinking about running a second copy. I think 4 Top/1 Sylvan could work very well in these shells.
I tried jamming it in Esper Deathblade and BUG hoping to get some kind of positive results and unfortunately it just wasn't working. I can see it in maybe a bug control list more focused on the late game then the early game.
For now I will just focus on u/w/r with miracles. Sigh
I think this build hits the sweet spot for Counterbalance with the mana curve, and it offers a nice suite of spells to handle whatever my opponent throws at me. If I run up against a combo deck I can side in more control with Spell Snare and Echoing Truth, or if I get matched up against an aggro deck I can side in the PainterStone combo. Going against control is where it gets interesting, but I think this deck has enough options to still remain competitive. Also, running mono-blue allows me to effectively Wasteland my opponent's non-basics without setting myself back too much. I'll report back when I test it out against the competition, but for now here's the build...
Mainboard
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Daze
4 Counterspell
4 Counterbalance
4 True-Name Nemesis
4 Vedalken Shackles
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
Lands
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
8 Island
Sideboard:
4 Spell Snare
4 Echoing Truth
4 Grindstone
4 Painter’s Servant
Mana Curve:
1 = 8
2 = 12
3 = 10
4 = 6
5 = 4
Last edited by Thor Hammer; 07-21-2014 at 12:46 PM.
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