U/W/G...uh. Stuff.

[xTrainx]

(This deck, in my build anyway, has some budget choices in it; but I'll exclude them for the purpose of this list, however, I proxied it up to test it a little).
The deck functions on the premise that lots of good stuff with alternate angles of attack is good, and I'll go more into detail on it later.


5 Island
3 Forest
4 Plains
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Flooded Strand

3 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top

3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek

1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Stoneforge Mystic

4 Tarmogoyf
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Trygon Predator

4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Enlightened Tutor

4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will

Sideboard:
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Spell Pierce
3 Rhox War Monk
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Faerie Macabre
---------

So that's the deck.

The second thing that you see is probably the inclusion of 11 creatures in a deck that would appear to want it's creatures to carry Jitte and SoFI. Well; four Brainstorms and four Tops make that job a lot easier, and they are only half of the win conditions in the deck - the deck can afford to be slower because of CounterTop and ThopterSword.

The final 'odd' choice would be the inclusion of only two dual lands. I like to run the deck like this because it makes it more so immune to Wasteland. I generally fetch them -only- when I need to have the mana diversity - I'm holding turn two Countertop, but need a White/Green in order to lay Stoneforge/Tarmogoyf the next turn. I almost never fetch them until I have a good grasp of their deck, or until I really need them.

The only issue that I've come up against is a little friend called Zoo. The sheer amount of creatures that they manage to lay down is astonishing; and their PtE's get rid of the Tarmogoyf that we lay down - the only creature that can really fight them.
The matchup revolves around our ability to get rid of their removal and and weenie(not so weenie) creatures with Spellstutter Sprite, following up with either - a fast ThopterSword or a Jitte on the Spellstutter. Sideboard out the Countertop and bring in Rhox War Monk for this matchup. I debated having 2 War Monks main instead of Cliques to help with this matchup, but decided that extra Jitte carriers was better against a wider range of decks.

Storm combo used to be an issue for this deck, but since they are 1-2 turns slower now, we are able to fight them - decks like SI are a glass cannon - the only issue is -> Combo deck is on the play, Sea, Ritual, Doomsday for Isle/Emrakul - game one of course, game two I would mulligan into something more appropriate.

The sideboard seems to have a lot of Graveyard hate because there were three Dredge decks in our meta last time I was there, but it will change appropriately if some of them happened to go home for college.

So yeah, feedback would be great; thanks guys.

[xTrainx]

Switched it back to 4x Force, dropped a Spellstutter.
Also changed the sideboard slightly, -1 Rhox, -1 Tormods, +2 Sower of Temptation.

[brianw712]

Enlightened Tutor seems like it would be really good in this deck; it grabs any of six different targets, four of which are parts of very powerful two-card combos. It'll also make more room in the sideboard. I don't know what I would cut to make room for them, maybe a Top, a Stoneforge Mystic, and a Clique?

[Aleksandr]

- 1 Daze
+1 StP

Other than that... looks solid.

[Jables237]

I like E-tutor. I use 4 in my counter top foundry deck. When just counter balance is in play, you can use e-tutor to put a CC 1, 2, 3, or 4 on top of library so it fetchs a piece and works as a counter. Love it.

[xTrainx]

Enlightened Tutor seems like it would be really good in this deck; it grabs any of six different targets, four of which are parts of very powerful two-card combos. It'll also make more room in the sideboard. I don't know what I would cut to make room for them, maybe a Top, a Stoneforge Mystic, and a Clique?

I don't want to run Enlightened Tutor because it provides me with card disadvantage as well as...
Dropping the Top and Stoneforge are actually counterproductive as well - the Top is a search function in itself, and Stoneforge fetches half of Thoptercombo, as well as grabbing Jitte and SoFI, which are alternate killconditions, and just as necessary to answer.

I also like Clique because it provides me with foresight as to what their plays will be, and its also a good Jitte carrier.

@ Alekskandr - I've been debating the same point myself. The deck has issues with decks that take out my creatures while sustaining their threats. Daze helps me win counterwars, but with CBTop I can counter them, or just find another FoW or Daze - thanks for the input.

+1 StP, -1 Daze

[HumphreyBogardan]

Daze seems awkward with sprites since you don't run mutavault your sprite value is low and if you're bouncing islands for daZe you're realistically not able to play sprites until turn 3-4 and will only counter random 1 drops. Might be worth cutting that for something more solid. There's also a deck pretty similiar to this in the established section, if you haven't seen it you might want to check it for suggesions since I know I've seen thopter/sword discussed there.

[xTrainx]

I'm curious as to which deck is similar to this one; I like to this of this deck as more of a hybrid between Excalibur and CounterTop Thopters.

Your argument for why Sprites are bad is flawed. Firstly, I can play them on turn two, which helps against Zoo, and after the fact, I am still able to Daze. But yes, realistically, turn 3-4 is when they get played, after I drop a creature.
The issue that you don't see is: Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Spell Snare, Sensei's Divining Top, Path to Exile...all of these are still powerful after their mana solidifies, putting them out of range for Daze a lot of the time; but they are all very dangerous.
Yes, sometimes Spellstutter becomes a dead card in terms of his counter ability, but then he can come in as an evasive Jitte carrier.

[hugh1130]

Daze seems awkward with sprites since you don't run mutavault your sprite value is low and if you're bouncing islands for daZe you're realistically not able to play sprites until turn 3-4 and will only counter random 1 drops. Might be worth cutting that for something more solid. There's also a deck pretty similiar to this in the established section, if you haven't seen it you might want to check it for suggesions since I know I've seen thopter/sword discussed there.

I tend to agree, pridemage might make better use of the spot.

[xTrainx]

If I had Pridemage in that slot, how would the deck get through with Jitte and SoFI?

I'm not trying to assert that my selection is perfect, and it isn't flawed at all, but honestly, what does Pridemage offer that Spellstutter doesn't have?

Well, actually, in terms of abilities and power for mana cost, he is superior. Maindeck artifact removal is great; much better than Spellstutter's counter ability, exalted helps win Tarmo-wars, and his base stats are superior.

The only issue is that Spellstutter flies, and Pridemage does not; which may not matter in most cases, but it is hugely significant in this particular setting, due to the deck and card choices; I simply don't run enough removal to wipe the board of all threats and push my forces through.

If there was a creature that was Pridemage, only with flying instead of the exalted; I would play that over Spellstutter in this deck any day of the week. But there isn't.

I believe I understand the argument as to why Spellstutter isn't as good as he might be, but I don't feel that Pridemage is more effective.

[troopatroop]

Yeah, I don't think you're getting nealy enough value out of Spellstutter Sprite. I'd agree that Qasali Pridemage is better, because he attacks for three and has Exalted. I realize you're on a budget, but Counterbalance really sucks with 7 offcolor basics in the deck. Idk what you could do to remedy that, but playing tri-color with only two duals is really greedy. Wasteland reaally hurts you.

I think the Thopter plan is your best bet to win games, and in turn I would suggest playing Enlightened Tutor. It fetches whatever you need, and has synergy with Counterbalance. With Stoneforge Mystic, I think it becomes your plan A, and a consistent one at that. I think the "beatdown with equipment" plan is much more fragile than the ThopterFoundry, so in deckbuilding you might want to be more focussed on that.

My suggestions...

-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-3 Spellstutter Sprite
-1 Vendillion Clique

+1 Thopter Foundry
+1 Sword of the Meek
+3 Enlightened Tutor

I think it makes your deck stronger. If you're casting E-tutor at your opponents eot, yes it's card disadvatage, but you're casting the best settup spell your deck could ask for. Thopter + Foundry is GG, and it finds both pieces. Or Counterbalance. Or Jitte/Sofi. I just can't see a reason why you wouldn't play it, it wins games. With Mystical banned, it's the only one of it's kind. Gl with your deck : )

[xTrainx]

Counterbalance on just two duals isn't that bad; mainly because everything else in the deck only needs one of each color for it to work; meaning I can afford to spend a fetch to get that second blue mana. It may appear to be greedy, but it isn't that much of a hassle while I'm in the game.

You mentioned that the equipments may not be such a solid gameplan, and then removed half of my creatures but left the equipments in. I'm not trying to be controversial, but I feel that I'm already running the bare minimum of creatures to support the equipments, and that if I'm going to take creatures out, I may as well put creatures back in. An idea I've been toying with is putting Squadron Hawk in the Spellstutter slot, because of the synergy with Brainstorm, as well as providing me with extra carriers if I need them.

Perhaps:

-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-3 Spellstutter Sprite
-2 Vendillion Cliqe

+1 Thopter Foundry
+3 Squadron Hawk
+2 Enlightened Tutor

Deck updated(untested with the hawks).

[troopatroop]

Really? You come back with Squadron Hawk. Maybe I shouldn't be helping at all.

More Basics = More Vulnerability to Wasteland. I can't figure out if you're trolling or not :-(

[xTrainx]

Really? You come back with Squadron Hawk. Maybe I shouldn't be helping at all.

More Basics = More Vulnerability to Wasteland. I can't figure out if you're trolling or not :-(

I don't see how basics are vulnerable to Wasteland. I understand that one Waste can take out so much more of my resources compared to a deck with more of the dual lands, but that is why I have the section in the original thread about the low Dual Land numbers.

I don't fetch my dual lands until I absolutely have to in order to make the play work, or until I'm sure that they don't play Wasteland. In all honesty, I would suggest trying to play the deck, or at least trying to fulfill the requirements with the manabase before you criticize it.

As to the Squadron Hawk - like I said; they're completely untested. I really have absolutely zero idea if they will work or not - I still need to test them out. What I do feel that I need is three creatures in that spot. Just telling me a creature really doesn't work for me, it helps me to see an explanation as to why that creature may be better than the other one in that space.

Thanks for the help.

[troopatroop]

Snce when was a 2cc 1/1 flier ever good? I think Thopter Foundry is the best thing in your deck.What I'm really suggesting is you start using Stoneforge Mystic to primarily grab Sword of the Meek. You creature beats aren't very good, I don't think SSS fits here and Squadron Hawk is just a bad magic card. Basics make you vulnerable to wasteland, because playing Counterbalance on turn 2 almost requires that you fetch for a blue dual land in many situations. That opens you up to that single Wasteland, and now you have to hope you've drawn all 3 basics.

-3 Squadron Hawk
-1 Sofi

+1 Enlightened Tutor
+2 Ponder
+1 Sword of the Meek

is what I would do to your newest decklist. Edit: nm Jitte is good enough...

[sclabman]

The Qasali flier you're looking for is called Trygon Predator. It also ups your 3-cc slot of which you have two cards main as of now.

[troopatroop]

The Qasali flier you're looking for is called Trygon Predator. It also ups your 3-cc slot of which you have two cards main as of now.

I agree with this, play Trygon Predator.

[xTrainx]

Okay. That makes sense. I use Stoneforge right now to fetch out equipment unless I'm already holding the Foundry, but I understand what your point is. Also, due to Sensei's Divining Top, I think I'm going to test Preordain in that Ponder space you suggested, because it allows me to stick two cards to the bottom. Granted, Ponder lets me shuffle it, but that's why we're testing it.

Also, completely forgot about Trygon Predator. He isn't quite as effective as Pridemage because he isn't instant speed, but I think I play enough counters to protect him.
From the current list...

-3 Squadron Hawk
-1 SoFI

+1 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Sword of the Meek
+2 Trygon Predator

I would like to put a third Predator in instead of the Sword of the Meek, but it's necessary to have two now that I can't recur it from the graveyard with 1/1s(aside from Thopter Foundry shooting a Top, or another Foundry).
I may end up cutting the third Enlightened Tutor for the fourth Daze, but we'll see.