U/B Wizards (Tribal)

[AlmostGrown]

With the printing of Cavern of Souls, I decided that it was time to give something a try that I've always thought about: U/B Wizards! It's mostly a tempo deck that thrives on 2-3 drops, while abusing aether vial and cavern of souls for either free or uncounterable counterspells. Here is a rough draft:

Creatures: 15
4 Dark Confidant
2 Patron Wizard
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Vendilion Clique
Instants: 18
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
2 Ghastly Demise
2 Go for the Throat
3 Spell Pierce
Artifacts: 4
4 Aether Vial
Lands: 23
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Riptide Laboratory
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth


Sideboard: 15
2 AEther Adept
1 Patron Wizard
4 Yixlid Jailer
1 Daze
2 Deathmark
4 Force of Will
1 Spell Pierce


The sideboard definitely needs work. The build could also be changed around to play Delver of Secrets, which I think definitely merits looking at. Please note: I haven't had a chance to test this yet, everything above is subject to change. Thoughts?

[HPB_Eggo]

You could go with a much heavier mana denial plan than Merfolk. Cut Cavern, run Stifle and Wasteland. Being able to flash back Stifle with Snapcaster is excellent, and Vial lets you be all right with Wasteland and keeping mana open for the Stifle.

This also makes Patron Wizard (one of my favorite cards, if sadly unplayable in the vast majority of decks) much more dangerous.

In my opinion, remove Confidant and Clique, add Delver of Secrets. Keep Patron Wizard around, as it keys in well with the mana denial plan. Cavern may or may not need to be cut. Run Dismember over other spot removal, as it plays well with Wasteland/Cavern mana and can be flashed back very easily in tight situations by Snapcaster.

Maybe not the direction you want to take it, but certainly seems interesting.

EDIT: Including Dreadnought might also be worthwhile if you switch over to the mana denial plan. Not a wizard, but still excellent.

[Final Fortune]

I've tried a similar approach with U/b/r, and fwiw Delver of Secrets and Snapcaster Mage weren't worth the effort because like Merfolk your deck is very heavily creature based and it's difficult to get Delver to flip and to have targets to flashback.

I think you really want Grim Lavamancer in your deck, because Cavern of Souls does an amazing job of mana fixing for the 3rd color. I also like playing a much more control oriented version of the deck, basically with Grim Lavanancer and Trinket Mage holding down the fort with the Basilisk Collar combo and Executioner's Capsule and Engineered Explosives blowing things up until you can establish the Patron Wizard lock.

I also think between Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls that Chalice of the Void is just absolutely brutal in this deck even as a 2 drop and I only played Force of Will and Daze as my protection in favor of it.

[Greenpoe]

My suggestions:
-Cut Vial. Your creatures are un-counterable already and you have a low creature count of 15. Vial is somewhat of a waste of space, especially since Cavern already manafixes for your creatures.
-Add a third Patron Wizard. He's pretty good with Daze and other counters.
-Cut Spellstutter Sprite. Spellstutter Sprite in this deck is like Magma Jet in UR Delver. It does two things, but does neither one well. A 1/1 is pathetically weak, even if it does fly. You've got no equipment, so there's no point to running Spellstutter Sprite.
-Add a third Clique, because Clique is your fastest clock, and let's face it: Clique is one of the best creatures in the format, especially in a deck running Counterspell.
Shadowmage Infiltrator could be Confidant 5-6. He's slower, but he does have fear and is a better blocker.
Consider Aven Mimeomancer if you'd ever want white in the deck, since he would turn your non-flying creatures into 3/1 flyers, which is pretty good, and he turns enemy Goyfs and KotRs into tiny 3/1's as well.
You probably want some sort of splash since Cavern makes it so much easier to go for a 3rd color.

[Final Fortune]

It's easy to say to cut Spellstutter Sprite, but can you really suggest a better 2 drop to fit the curve?

[Kich867]

To the suggestion of dropping Aether Vial, I disagree with this. Vial in this deck isn't a way to cast your creatures without them being countered, it's about playing them for no mana while you're untapped and ready to stop whatever they do with your mana.

[Greenpoe]

It's easy to say to cut Spellstutter Sprite, but can you really suggest a better 2 drop to fit the curve?

It isn't realistic to think of Spellstutter Sprite as a 2-drop in the sense that most of the time, you won't want to play it on turn 2. Although you gotta ask yourself, would you rather have Mutavault or Wasteland over Riptide as the colorless land of choice? Mutavault is good with Spellstutter Sprite.

[Vacrix]

Personally, I've always like Aven Mimeomancer. It pumps up your dudes to 3 power, not that toughness is really an issue as all your creatures have 1 toughness with the exception of Patron Wizard. It also gives them evasion so you can fly over the opponent's potential blockers.

Also, you should really be running Delver here. Its a Wizard initially so you can cast it with Cavern and you mostly play non-creature spells anyway. It would make your deck far more aggressive.

Also, Maralen of the Mornsong I've always liked. You play countermagic so you can protect it if the opponent searches up removal and you can still reveal cards with Confidant without drawing them. Also, it deals 3 damage to each player every turn so the damage will add up quickly if you play a more aggressive build.

[evanmartyr]

Sprite is pretty meh without that one wizard one drop that lets you mess with the top four cards. I mean, statistically speaking it's only marginally better with him, but that guy makes your curve and improves nearly every creature in your deck. Maybe put four of him in for the Vials, then fiddle with the numbers so you cant fit in more Patron Wizards?

[thunderpig]

Patron Wizard is the only reason to build this deck IMHO. Land denial is very good synergy with his ability (I like the stifle wasteland combination here). My build used basic lands and Back to Basics for the land denial effect but will not be able to use Cavern of souls (I will have to change my deck now...).

I found cursecatcher nice in my 1cc slot. I cut Sage of Epityr in the end but he could be useful for miracles... (I haven't given up on miracles yet).

Vedalken Aethermage is an okay 2cc wizard that has some utility (he is 1 or 2 in my deck if I recall correctly). I have a few Voidmage Prodigy in the 2cc slots as well.

My version is mostly creatures with Aether vial, B2B, Vedalken Shackles, and FoW.

I agree that Daze does work nicely with Patron wizard. I really like what you are trying with Dark confidant here.

My build uses 2 Venser, Shaper Savant to deal with landed threats that come down before I have my lock.

I am looking forward to seeing how your build comes along.

[AlmostGrown]

I read all of the response, and put a lot of thought into revising the deck. I would rather have Wasteland AND Riptide Lab, than Mutavault so I did cut the Spellstutter Sprites. I really like Patron Wizard, so I put in a 3rd main deck. I revamped the mana slightly, cutting a swamp for an island because of the UU and UUU in the deck, with no actual BB in any casting costs. I almost cut Spell Pierce entirely, and put in some cursecatchers - I can't believe I missed him! As for Aether Vial making the deck, I like it a lot - it is almost broken with Snapcaster. Being able to Vial him in makes Counterspell have an actual flashback cost of just UU. I also cut go for the throat entirely, although I may want him back if the deck feels too removal light. I was going to play the following list at a big tournament tomorrow, but unfortunately could not get all the cards in time. I will definetly be proxy testing it a lot this week vs UR Delver, Reanimator, Counter-Thop, Maverick, and Affinity. Please keep the suggestions and 3 color lists coming, I really want to develop this deck!

Some cards that I considered but didn't make the cut or got cut:
Cavern of Souls: It makes all of my creatures even more powerful, but it really doesn't do enough. Wasteland is just better with Aether Vial and adds another element of disruption to the deck.

Ponder: While the deck doesn't have that many shuffle effects to really abuse brainstorm, I feel that Brainstorm is just all around more powerful than Ponder. Add in the fact that the deck plays 4 Dark Confidant and brainstorm is just leagues better.

Venser, Shaper Savant: I don't like him for a few reasons.
1) he costs 4 and doesn't have any evasion. Anytime there would be 4 mana available, I'd rather cast a counterspell or Snapcaster back a counterspell.
2) He's legendary. granted, so is V. Clique, but Clique has 3 power and flies.

Back to Basics: This card is absolutely back breaking against a lot of the decks in the format, but playing it would mean that the deck would need to give up a lot of the fixing and the utility lands.

Sage of Epityr/Vedalken Aethermage: The cards don't create actual card advantage, just sort of replace themselves. In a mono blue build that uses Back to Basics I could see them, but in a multi color build they just have no place.

Shadowmage Infiltrator: Before Bob, there was... FINKEL! He has decent evasion, and his stats aren't terrible, but he has to live an entire turn AND connect in order to get value from him.


After reading the posts above, here is the list I am at now:
Creautres: 16
2 Cursecatcher
4 Dark Confidant
3 Patron Wizard
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Vendilion Clique

Instants: 17
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Daze
3 Ghastly Demise
3 Stifle

Artifacts: 4
4 Aether Vial

Lands: 23
5 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
3 Riptide Laboratory
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland

Sideboard: 15
4 Yixlid Jailer
2 Deathmark
3 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Chalice of the Void

[thunderpig]

Venser, Shaper Savant, although mana intensive, is for the long game this deck is hoping to play. When you have your lock established, and 7 mana (I know it's a lot), you can Riptide laboratory your Venser back to your hand and bounce his board while you continue to use your wizard lock to keep them from recasting anything.

Regarding your recent list; why not 4 patron wizard (-1 counterspell)? Consider testing [CARD]Curfew[/CARDS] in place of Ghastly Demise. It works nicely with Snapcaster, Vendilion Clique, Spellstutter Sprite and protects Patron Wizard. It works well against Sneak Attack/SnT based decks. I like Chalice of the Void in your SB - works great with the Wizard lock. Many deck sporting Riptide Laboratory have 1 or 2 of them. Consider replacing 1 of them with a basic Island.