[Developmental] Blue Prison --- AKA “You Dropped Something”

[Freggle]

Blue Prision






Inspired by the unbanning of Black Vise Blue Prison is a prison deck that uses bounce spells in conjunction with Overburden and Mana Breach to create a game state in which your opponent can only cast 1 mana spells and therefore locking your opponents choices and stranding cards in their hand. Once the lock is achieved the deck wins via Black Vise and Ebony Owl Netsuke.

The current List:

Maindeck:

4 Vapor Snag
4 Overburden
3 Vision Skeins
4 Boomerang
3 Eye of Nowhere
4 Mana Breach
2 Wipe Away
2 Whelming Wave
4 Howling Mine
4 Ebony Owl Netsuke
4 Black Vise
22 Island

Sideboard:
3 Chill
4 Arcane Laboratory
3 Propaganda
1 Whelming Wave
4 Force of Will

How to play:
Generally you want to lock your opponent down first and then drop the kill pieces, but be an opportunist. If you have 2 mana and your opponent has 7 cards drop owl.
You can steal some games with t1 vise, t2 owl if your opponent is still at 7 cards that is 10 damage. Then you just use your bounce spells to keep them off of mana, and forget the lock pieces.

Don't Forget:
You can redirect Owl and Vise to damage planeswalkers.
Lands are permanents, so you can use the bounce spells to increase the lock.


The deck is surprisingly competitive, and I think with community improvement it can easily become tier 2, or since it’s blue tier 1.

It’s currently weak to combo, and excels against any creature strategy. The deck may be able to lose the chills and some others out of the board to potentially pick up combo fighters like Chalice of the Void or one I’m eager to test Sphere of Resistance

I think Sphere of Resistance would be the better call here so you can play magic against and possibly crush decks that don’t play with mana i.e. dredge. Sphere also helps stop Food Chain.deck which seems to be increasing in popularity.

Thoughts and feedback, or ideas to push this pile to the next level is appreciated.

[Dice_Box]

You left out Back to Basis and Echoing Truth.

Looks interesting but why would I seek to play this over Stax, Red Stax or even Owling Mine/Turbo Fog? What do you think are it's strengths over those decks?

[mistercakes]

i would consider root maze. it makes artifacts come into play tapped as well, which is great vs combo and it makes your howling mines come into play tapped - which may or may not be desirable.

[Dice_Box]

But sadly it's not Blue.

[Redkid43]

Why no Force of Will main?

[Stuart]

Interesting budget build - could be fun. Have you thought about Remand or Memory Lapse?

[apple713]

i don't see how it has that much trouble with combo. Against ANT you can bounce a card to their hand so infernal tutor fails. Against Dark depths you have so much bounce for the token. Against Sneak and show they pretty much have to use sneak attack because of all of the bounce.

You left out Back to Basis and Echoing Truth.

Looks interesting but why would I seek to play this over Stax, Red Stax or even Owling Mine/Turbo Fog? What do you think are it's strengths over those decks?

Back to the basics wouldn't hurt because everything bounces lands to their hand. The decks lock would actually turn into a benefit for BtB.

Stay does not have the luxury of dealing with permanents. Sure if the lock happens permanents get sacrificed eventually but the bounce can target unlike other stay variants. This is pretty much a tempo deck.

Interesting budget build - could be fun. Have you thought about Remand or Memory Lapse?

Remand seems to fit better to put a card in their hand but even then its possibly too weak unless you hit something for 3+ mana. A lot of decks are very cheaply costed and remand is not so great when you have to remand a 1 cmc spell.


I think fow is probably necessary main deck because you need to make on curve plays but also protect your lock pieces. Fow would also help against combo. With howling mine in play you should have enough blue cards to where the card disadvantage isn't too painful

[Freggle]

Looks like Apple713 beat me to answering the questions by a few minutes:

Back to Basics - Wasn't tested, but as Apple713 Said you bounce lands so they untap. It's not ideal.

Echoing Truth - Tested- Can not target lands and therefore can not help in achieving the early game steals, and was cut and not missed.

Root Maze - was not tested, and I would be open to adding a splash color if it pushed the deck over the edge. Perhaps I'll test it.

Force of Will - was tested Main - It's better in the board to fight combo. Most games you would rather just concentrate on keeping your opponent off of mana so they can not cast cards you would want to force.

Remand - Not Tested - Could potentially be good.

Memory Lapse - Not tested - Would not play this many of this type of effect and Remand would get the nod over this.

As Apple713 Stated this is basically a tempo prison with a pretty strong soft lock. Cards that deviate from keeping parity are generally not desired.

@ Apple713 - Have you tested it, or just can see how it works? I have not not bounced things vs ant because I was too focused on trying cards like Mana Maze to shore-up the MU. As you stated maybe I was just over thinking it.

This deck vs:

Stax & Red Stax - You have more control over the game state. If something slips through you bounce it. You also have the potential to soft lock and kill earlier. T4 or T5.

Turbo Fog - Way more control over the game. In many games your opponent can not play Magic.

[sjmcc13]

What is your game plan against storm. Mana breach does not make bouncing the land a cost, so they can still sculpt a hand a go combo off, and bouncing a land does not help necessarially help against LED.

I would also expect problems with Sneak and Show since it can drop Emrakul of just 2 lands, and you have 1 answer to him in the deck.

[Freggle]

What is your game plan against storm. Mana breach does not make bouncing the land a cost, so they can still sculpt a hand a go combo off, and bouncing a land does not help necessarily help against LED.

I would also expect problems with Sneak and Show since it can drop Emrakul of just 2 lands, and you have 1 answer to him in the deck.

At this time those are 2 tough MU's as stated in the primer this deck does have trouble with combo, but since it is blue I think it could be fixed. I think testing Sphere of Resistance will help in both MU as we try to keep opponent off the needed mana to combo. This will also help fix an issue with Dredge.

I posted this list not to get it vetted by the pros as a complete work of art. I posted this list as a basis of something that can potentially be a very good deck. I do not have the time for Magic as I once did and I thought a community of like minded individuals may / should be able to tune it to its best end result faster.

Do you have suggestions to shore-up those MUs? Remand if Mana Breach is on the table can buy a lot if time, and it may be enough time to kill, or find the 1 of outs.

Edit: Perhaps Seal of Removal to help with Emrakul? ...or Envelop for both mu's?

[Megadeus]

I could see this deck wanting a couple of chrome mox

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Is Counterbalance an option? Granted, you cannot use SDT, but even blind flips might be annoying enough, especially considering your curve that's low enough for an opponent that's forced to play with one land.

Also, should you play Brainstorm and fetches? Switching unnecessary Vises/boomerangs for the other cards might be useful, but then again this decks looks to be operating on density, not quality/filtering, so maybe it's not a good idea. However: Legacy, blue deck... no BS?

edit: Curfew for Emrakul.dec matchup?

Btw, isn't there some Mine with flash? I thought it is, but I got no idea if I dreamt about it...
And... that blue artifact shroud 7/11 monstrosity that Reanimator used to play, it's leviathan, right? Kinda funny that it's the only guy that survives our WoG. :-D

One last note: the deck should be called Blue Vise.

[apple713]

Memory Lapse - Not tested - Would not play this many of this type of effect and Remand would get the nod over this.

As Apple713 Stated this is basically a tempo prison with a pretty strong soft lock. Cards that deviate from keeping parity are generally not desired.

@ Apple713 - Have you tested it, or just can see how it works? I have not not bounced things vs ant because I was too focused on trying cards like Mana Maze to shore-up the MU. As you stated maybe I was just over thinking it.

i haven't tested it but I know it works... Its intuitive game mechanics. When opponent casts infernal tutor to grab something, he'll also activate LED to get the hellbent on infernal tutor. After LED resolves but before infernal tutor does, you simple bounce a land to their hand. Since they cannot play the land before infernal tutor resolves they will no have hellbent and infernal tutor will get them another land instead of what they want.

I could see this deck wanting a couple of chrome mox

yes. However the list seems rather tight. Without testing it would be hard to recommend what to cut.

Is Counterbalance an option? Granted, you cannot use SDT, but even blind flips might be annoying enough, especially considering your curve that's low enough for an opponent that's forced to play with one land.

Also, should you play Brainstorm and fetches? Switching unnecessary Vises/boomerangs for the other cards might be useful, but then again this decks looks to be operating on density, not quality/filtering, so maybe it's not a good idea. However: Legacy, blue deck... no BS?

edit: Curfew for Emrakul.dec matchup?

Btw, isn't there some Mine with flash? I thought it is, but I got no idea if I dreamt about it...
And... that blue artifact shroud 7/11 monstrosity that Reanimator used to play, it's leviathan, right? Kinda funny that it's the only guy that survives our WoG. :-D

One last note: the deck should be called Blue Vise.

curfew also hits TNN but it seems more cute than practical. If those decks are indeed a problem then id consider it. Counterbalance won't give you the value you want from it. Its passive and uncontrollable.

You can't really run cantrips in here because they also cost you a land drop sometimes. Without cantrips it becomes hard to control the consistency. Maybe theres another way to accomplish this without casing spells.

[Weapon X]

Why not just play stasis instead? Bouncing lands is hardly a minus. At the very least your deck should play chrome mox to get the spells you want to play online. I would suggest something closer to the old sea stompy list at a minimum for mana considerations. Saving a city of traitors seems powerful if you want to keep that plan although chalice and 3sphere would just be stronger.

I think that covers my thoughts for now.

[Blastoderm]

Needs more Stasis!!!

[rufus]

Dictate of Kruphix is the "mine with flash".

Hoodwink has a different versatility profile than Eye of Nowhere.

You almost certainly want Tabernacle.

In a deck like this, I'd be sorely tempted to splash red for cards like Active Volcano, Wheel of Fate and Reforge the Soul

There's an old concept with Land Equilibrium.

This concept seems pretty weak vs Manabond decks.

...

There's an alternative approach with cards that limits spells per turn like Abeyance, Ethersworn Cannonist, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Rule of Law and Arcane Laboratory.

[Admiral_Arzar]

This deck tickles my prison bone. I'm missing a lot of the cards to build it though so I'll have to pick them up - I will follow development in the meantime.

[jrsthethird]

This deck tickles my prison bone. I'm missing a lot of the cards to build it though so I'll have to pick them up - I will follow development in the meantime.

Acid Rain SB? ;)

[ReAnimator]

Reality Acid might be worth trying, can do some cool things with self bouncing. I feel like there has to be some playable ETB lands to work with the Mana Breaches. saprazzan skerry?

I know blue mana is at a premium here but, it feels like wastelands or manlands could really be decent here.

If the green splash is tried out, Exploration seems worth a look.

[Admiral_Arzar]

Acid Rain SB? ;)

Gotta hate on Elves somehow amirite?

Reality Acid might be worth trying, can do some cool things with self bouncing. I feel like there has to be some playable ETB lands to work with the Mana Breaches. saprazzan skerry?

I know blue mana is at a premium here but, it feels like wastelands or manlands could really be decent here.

If the green splash is tried out, Exploration seems worth a look.

I like the idea of a green splash because it allows us to play Root Maze. Exploration seems great as well, but that might be just too many slots.