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Thread: U CounterDread

  1. #1

    U Stiflenaught

    This is a mono blue deck with CounterTop and Phyrexian Dreadnought. To start, here's my usual list.

    List:

    4 Force of Will
    4 Brainstorm
    3 Daze
    4 Stifle
    3 Back to Basics
    3 Ponder
    3 Snapcaster Mage
    3 Counterbalance
    3 Sensei's Divining Top
    3 Delver of Secrets
    3 Trinket Mage
    4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
    3 Vision Charm
    4 Scalding Tarn
    13 Island

    Side:
    4 Tormod's Crypt
    4 Divert
    4 Painter's Servant
    3 Grindstone

    Card Explanations:

    Mana Base: No real explanation here. The Tarns help thin out the deck, and provide a shuffle effect when its needed.
    Force of Will: Best counterspell around, running 4 is a must in blue.
    Brainstorm: Great card advantage, synergy with CounterTop.
    Daze: Great free counter spell.
    Stifle: One method of getting Dreadnought out and its an absolute game-breaker. Can shut down storm decks and fetchlands.
    Back to Basics: I really like this card. With so many multi-color decks popular in the meta, it slows down almost every deck you'll face. Also amazing against Dark Depths. Obviously you will want to board out against mono decks with just basics.
    Ponder: I consider this a blue staple. it's card draw and it gives you the ability to shuffle away cards you don't need.
    Counterbalance/Sensei's Diving Top: Turn 1 top, turn 2 counterbalance. It's absolutely brutal against tempo and aggro, and can win you the game.
    Delver of Secrets: Great early game blocker, and can be its own win condition when transformed.
    Snapcaster Mage: Can get back Stifle and Vision Charm, gives you more ways to combo.
    Trinket Mage: Comes into play and can fetch either dreadnought, tormod, grindstone or top. Then can chump block or serve as a beater against an empty/weak board.
    Phyrexian Dreadnought: 1 mana for a 12/12 trample. He is just brutal.
    Vision Charm: Can get Nought into play, and protect him from abrupt decay/swords.

    Sideboard: Tormod is a must-have in almost every board, and divert can be boarded in to deal with hate. PainterStone provides a great way to confuse your opponent, and deal with certain decks over others. I love going to a tournament with essentially 2 different decks and being able to play one or the other depending on my matchup.

    Matchups:

    Infect(1-2): Hard matchup. Infect is so fast with it's combo, and it's tough to counter everything. The removal/discard is the icing on the cake. Try to stop them from putting any creatures into play.
    RUG (2-2): Favorable, but tough. You can take out their graveyard after boarding in Tormod, and most of their burn/aggro will be taken care of by countertop. Once a couple Dreadnoughts hit the board its usually gg.
    Shardless BUG(1-0):: Not favorable. Discard and Abrupt Decay can really set you back if you don't get ahead of them. Maelstrom Pulse and Baleful Strix are also huge obstacles for your Dreadnought. However, I still win quite a few of these matchups with well-timed Diverts.
    Sneak and Tell/Omnishow: Untested. Can deal with show and tell and stifle sneak attack, but they usually have the mana to overrun you or counterspells ready.
    Ad Nauseum Tendrils/Storm: Untested. Stifle or Divert their Release the Ants, or just outrace them.
    Elves: Untested. I have a strategy built for playing the elf combo, but I have yet to run into it. I will update this section with information as soon as I have play tested in more tournaments.
    Miracle Contol: Untested. When I match up against this deck, I thank my lucky stars PainterStone is in my board. Being able to change decks in between games really messes with them, and makes a boarded-in Meddling Mage much less useful. If not, it's really a tough match up and comes down mostly to who is piloting/drawing better.
    JunkBlade(2-0): Favorable, can stifle stoneforge and easily counterbalance liliana.
    Affinitiy(0-1): Was a favorable matchup for me, but game 3 i drew horribly. Can generally make them lose all of their creatures blocking dreadnought.
    RW Vial Goblins(3-0): Great matchup for this deck. Delver and Stifle can deal with turn 1 lackey, and they have no answers to turn 2 stiflenaught.
    Dark Depths(1-1): A hard matchup to take on, but if you pilot it correctly and take out their graveyard, you can handle it. This is a great matchup for boarding in PainterStone because they can just maze of ith dreadnought.

    All feedback is appreciated, thanks for reading!
    Last edited by Cmorris; 09-09-2013 at 11:04 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: U CounterDread

    Going mono blue to avoid Waste and play B2B is not worth I don't think.

    Also... I know you are going for Countertop lockdown and planning to beat them down over 2 turns with PDN. However, Delver really is too good to ignore and this decks really wants to play it.

    x4 Torpor Orb may be overkill. I would be tempted to go down to 2 orbs, 1 trickbind and 4 stifle

    If I were playing this deck I would go U/r and splash for some much needed removal (x4 bolt) and I would play Blood Moon because it has much more impact than B2B.
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  3. #3
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    Re: U CounterDread

    I would of liked the idea more before the printing of abrupt decay, now though it seems the whole deck hinges on if your opponent plays a set other match ups aside. How do you handle AD other than BtB?

  4. #4

    Re: U CounterDread

    How about Vision Charm. It can sneak Dreanought in play, or protect it or in the worst case reset Sensei's Divining Top.

    Bb

  5. #5

    Re: U CounterDread

    Quote Originally Posted by Tombstalker View Post
    I would of liked the idea more before the printing of abrupt decay, now though it seems the whole deck hinges on if your opponent plays a set other match ups aside. How do you handle AD other than BtB?
    AD as in Abrupt Decay? I can Divert it onto one of their permanents, or use Vision Charm to phase out dreadnought and therefore it can't target him. However, you are correct. It's a pretty big weak spot in the deck.

  6. #6
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    Re: U CounterDread

    This is the sad state of magic:
    12/12 with no self-protection is kind of small and vulnerable
    I think you need another win condition, be it Delver or w/e.

    Also, Trinket Mage + Torpor Orb is a huge Non-bo

    If you go the Delver route, you could go:

    -1 Counterbalance
    -1 Top
    -1 Back to Basics (to SB)
    -1 Daze
    -4 Torpor Orb
    +2 Vision Charm
    +4 Delver of Secrets
    +2 Ponder

    With more cantrips, Delver becomes easier to flip, you should consistently have either Vision Charm or Stifle for Dread and you don't actually need 4-ofs for CB and Top because you'll find them anyway.

    If you want to keep Torpor Orb to hose enemy creatures as well as enable Dread, then I think you need to splash for another creature that breaks Stifle/Orb: Hunted Horror. But then you need to cut Back to Basics and the mono-Islands approach, which you may not want to do. You could also try playing Hunted Phantasm in monoblue, but I'm not convinced that card is worth cheating out.

    UB DreadOrb

    4 Force of Will
    4 Brainstorm
    2 Ponder
    4 Stifle
    3 Daze
    2 Spell Pierce
    4 Thoughtseize
    4 Hymn to Tourach
    3 Smother

    4 Torpor Orb
    4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
    4 Hunted Horror

    4 Wasteland
    4 Polluted Delta
    2 Misty Rainforest
    4 Underground Sea
    2 Swamp
    2 Island

    But that's a completely different deck. Black gives you a way to interact with Abrupt Decay and some other nasty stuff. But honestly, I don't think Torpor Orb is good enough to MD without at least one other creature that it breaks. The Delver route seems more solid in mono U

  7. #7

    Re: U CounterDread

    What I'm really worried about isn't Decay on Dreadnaught, but Decay on Torpor Orb in response to your casting a DN. That spells game, no ifs ands or buts. Also, I think Torpor Orb is too limited a disruption piece to consider Mainboarding on its own. It stops Clique, Snapcaster, and Stoneforge (if you're on the play only); not Bob, Goyf, Deathrite, Knight of the Reliquary, etc etc.

    Most decks that run Dreadnaught realize it's a pretty breakable combo, and run Standstill to gain back card advantage when your opponent Edicts it or what have you. That's probably the most optimal way to run Dreadnaught right now.
    Final Ritual: "I was your round 14 opponent with the 3 giant goyfs. I didn't know what the fuck you were piloting."
    Drunken Master strategy. If I don't know what I'm doing, how would you?

  8. #8

    Re: U CounterDread

    I would like to see Delver here too with Standstill

    Turn 1 Delver, Turn 2 flip Delver, resolve Standstill is nasty sometimes (if Delver doesn't eat a Bolt lol)

    Also Genju of the Falls turn 1, Turn 2 Standstill, Turn 3 beat is not that bad

    Wind Zendikon looks weak but it's a 2/2 flying hasted blue creature. Imagine Turn 1 Island Delver, Turn 2 flip Delver Island and play Wind Zendikon on the first Island you played turn 1, beat for 5 turn 2 (in Mono U !!).

    Note about Abrupt Decay : AD can't target the manland but still destroys the enchantment but you don't get 2 for 1. Sword to Plowshares is still a probleme. Bolt is less.
    Last edited by Kagehisa; 08-12-2013 at 06:13 PM. Reason: tag

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