DragoFireheart
06-02-2011, 03:16 PM
I want Counterbalance because it's still an amazing card. Recurring counters = card advantage. The countertop lock has been quite powerful for a few years now. Standstill is another powerful blue card. I kill stuff on the board, then drop this. You cast a spell and I get three cards. Landstill decks have been around forever now and have always had a presence of some level in this format.
Why not combine these two decks together? Well, I doubt I'm the first and I doubt I will be the last, but why the hell not?
Spells:
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Swords to Plowshares
Permanents:
4 Counterbalance
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Humility
4 Standstill
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Vedalken Shackles
Planeswalkers:
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Mishra's Factory
6 Island
1 Plains
4 Tundra
Some Synergy between the cards:
Countertop + Manlands: when you go to attack/block with manlands, you'll have an easier time protecting them from silly things like Stp and the like.
Top + Standstill: Making land drops should be easy. Should the opponent get Wasteland happy, your top will make finding more lands a piece of cake.
Vedalken Shackles + Humility: Regardless of how big the creature is, having both cards out means you can steal a creature of any size. Between that and the manlands, you should have plently of ways of handling creatures.
Some other points:
The large number of blue spells makes pitching excess CB/MMS to FoW fairly easy.
Standstill can make finding the rest of the pieces for your CounterTop combo fairly easy.
Against decks that like artifact/enchantment removal, they may be at a loss of what to destroy. They could use Pridemage to destroy the Counterbalance, but then that leaves them open to Shackles stealing their creatures.
Discard decks that see you having both counterbalance and standstill in an opening hand will be at a loss of what to pick: they can grab the standstill to prevent you draw, but you can plop down the counterbalance to lock them out.
Wasteland decks will be somewhat unhappy to see that your mana base is very stable. The large number of basic lands will make it harder for opponents to lock you out.
Oblivion Ring is a flex slot to handle random things that may be an issue for the deck.
The deck isn't too short on win conditions. Between shackles, jace and the manlands, you should have enough ways to end the game.
I'm open to suggestions on previous attempts to make this work, why it hasn't worked in the past, and what could be done to make it work.
Why not combine these two decks together? Well, I doubt I'm the first and I doubt I will be the last, but why the hell not?
Spells:
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Swords to Plowshares
Permanents:
4 Counterbalance
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Humility
4 Standstill
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Vedalken Shackles
Planeswalkers:
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Mishra's Factory
6 Island
1 Plains
4 Tundra
Some Synergy between the cards:
Countertop + Manlands: when you go to attack/block with manlands, you'll have an easier time protecting them from silly things like Stp and the like.
Top + Standstill: Making land drops should be easy. Should the opponent get Wasteland happy, your top will make finding more lands a piece of cake.
Vedalken Shackles + Humility: Regardless of how big the creature is, having both cards out means you can steal a creature of any size. Between that and the manlands, you should have plently of ways of handling creatures.
Some other points:
The large number of blue spells makes pitching excess CB/MMS to FoW fairly easy.
Standstill can make finding the rest of the pieces for your CounterTop combo fairly easy.
Against decks that like artifact/enchantment removal, they may be at a loss of what to destroy. They could use Pridemage to destroy the Counterbalance, but then that leaves them open to Shackles stealing their creatures.
Discard decks that see you having both counterbalance and standstill in an opening hand will be at a loss of what to pick: they can grab the standstill to prevent you draw, but you can plop down the counterbalance to lock them out.
Wasteland decks will be somewhat unhappy to see that your mana base is very stable. The large number of basic lands will make it harder for opponents to lock you out.
Oblivion Ring is a flex slot to handle random things that may be an issue for the deck.
The deck isn't too short on win conditions. Between shackles, jace and the manlands, you should have enough ways to end the game.
I'm open to suggestions on previous attempts to make this work, why it hasn't worked in the past, and what could be done to make it work.