thefreakaccident
04-13-2007, 07:01 PM
So every one knows the implications of counterbalance, Everyone knows so I am not going to go over it at this moment.
First I'll start with the deck itself:
BWU Counterbalance:
lands// 18
4 tundra
4 underground sea
3 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
2 scrubland
2 island
creatures//11
4 meddling mage
4 dark confidant
3 dimir cutpurse
stuff// 31
4 Force of Will
3 counterspell
4 counterbalance
4 sensei's divining top
4 brainstorm
4 swords to plowshares
2 diabolic edict
4 duress
3 stifle
3 cursed scroll
SB//
4 Engineered plague
4 tormad's crypt (probably going to be extripates though)
4 pithing needle
3 disenchant
History:
overall counterbalance shell was relatively new with little play. I used to pilot many different forms of control decks, all varying all the way from survival to landstill to pikula, to all of the blue based controls known to man. I eventually (after its' creation) took a fancy to BWU fish; the deck worked wonderfully. It played with all of thresh's power without the drawback of graveyard hate being death. I began fiddling with the SB adding in counterbalance and top to serve as a one sided challice. It was awesome, but eventually the deck altered itself into less aggro and more control... this process continued until I had a full blown control deck... The deck is much slower than it used to be but I think it suits my playstyle better this way, as well as being more controling and more affective (in my own perspective that is).
I will post serious game stats for specific MU's later, I have not been able to actually sit down and play 20 games against the same deck in a row as of yet; but I will eventually. The deck has decent aggro MUs (mana denial hurts, but it hurt the fish deck too; side board needles and MD stifles try to combat this), as well as having excellent combo MU's...
It does well against some kinds of control (I have been able to only polay against some of the many many decks out there)...
I do not see any real threatening situations for this deck aside form mana denial, I think this deck can be a serious contender in the meta to come.
Card Explanations:
creatures:
Dark confidant: He is by far the best draw engine in the game & with top he serves as free card advantage at any point in the game.
Meddling Mage: One stop shopping, he can serve as both a beat stick and a large roadblock for any deck revolving around 1 or a few cards, beautiful!
Dimir cutpurse: No one really considers using this creature due to that fact that he is a 2/2 for 3 mana without evasion, but he is an excellent card advantage creator once he hits just a few times... and you are usually able to blast a way for him to get through anyways.
lands:
I chose to set it up with 6 fetches due to the fact that they are awesome with both top and brainstorm, as well as color fixers.
the rest: obvious!
countermagic:
why run counterspell? well this is a control deck, who has no intention of ending the game quickly, so tempo boost in daze is useless as well as bad for a mid to late game deck.
FoW: The best counter spell in the game, free in fact.
Counterbalance: the namesake of the deck, can lock down people & is extremely annoying.
creature control:
Swords to plowshares: the best pin point removal spell in the game by far, there is no way that you would not run it.
Diabolic edict: people would argue to use a thousand more cards over this card for many good and respectable reasons... the reason I run this over the other obvious choices is the fact that it kills mongeese, and I like that a lot!
Cursed scroll:
this card serves as a constant creature control mechanism against all aggro decks in the format, it kills goblins/ WW/ elves/ zoo/ affinity all day and likes its' job.
draw/manipulation:
brainstorm: arguably the best blue draw spell on the market, hopefully I will not have to debate this slot.
Top: it combos with counterbalance creating a lock of sorts, it also allows a permanent challice set at one for specific situations.
So this is the build, I will get around to editing this in about a week or two in order to include MU annalyses.
First I'll start with the deck itself:
BWU Counterbalance:
lands// 18
4 tundra
4 underground sea
3 polluted delta
3 flooded strand
2 scrubland
2 island
creatures//11
4 meddling mage
4 dark confidant
3 dimir cutpurse
stuff// 31
4 Force of Will
3 counterspell
4 counterbalance
4 sensei's divining top
4 brainstorm
4 swords to plowshares
2 diabolic edict
4 duress
3 stifle
3 cursed scroll
SB//
4 Engineered plague
4 tormad's crypt (probably going to be extripates though)
4 pithing needle
3 disenchant
History:
overall counterbalance shell was relatively new with little play. I used to pilot many different forms of control decks, all varying all the way from survival to landstill to pikula, to all of the blue based controls known to man. I eventually (after its' creation) took a fancy to BWU fish; the deck worked wonderfully. It played with all of thresh's power without the drawback of graveyard hate being death. I began fiddling with the SB adding in counterbalance and top to serve as a one sided challice. It was awesome, but eventually the deck altered itself into less aggro and more control... this process continued until I had a full blown control deck... The deck is much slower than it used to be but I think it suits my playstyle better this way, as well as being more controling and more affective (in my own perspective that is).
I will post serious game stats for specific MU's later, I have not been able to actually sit down and play 20 games against the same deck in a row as of yet; but I will eventually. The deck has decent aggro MUs (mana denial hurts, but it hurt the fish deck too; side board needles and MD stifles try to combat this), as well as having excellent combo MU's...
It does well against some kinds of control (I have been able to only polay against some of the many many decks out there)...
I do not see any real threatening situations for this deck aside form mana denial, I think this deck can be a serious contender in the meta to come.
Card Explanations:
creatures:
Dark confidant: He is by far the best draw engine in the game & with top he serves as free card advantage at any point in the game.
Meddling Mage: One stop shopping, he can serve as both a beat stick and a large roadblock for any deck revolving around 1 or a few cards, beautiful!
Dimir cutpurse: No one really considers using this creature due to that fact that he is a 2/2 for 3 mana without evasion, but he is an excellent card advantage creator once he hits just a few times... and you are usually able to blast a way for him to get through anyways.
lands:
I chose to set it up with 6 fetches due to the fact that they are awesome with both top and brainstorm, as well as color fixers.
the rest: obvious!
countermagic:
why run counterspell? well this is a control deck, who has no intention of ending the game quickly, so tempo boost in daze is useless as well as bad for a mid to late game deck.
FoW: The best counter spell in the game, free in fact.
Counterbalance: the namesake of the deck, can lock down people & is extremely annoying.
creature control:
Swords to plowshares: the best pin point removal spell in the game by far, there is no way that you would not run it.
Diabolic edict: people would argue to use a thousand more cards over this card for many good and respectable reasons... the reason I run this over the other obvious choices is the fact that it kills mongeese, and I like that a lot!
Cursed scroll:
this card serves as a constant creature control mechanism against all aggro decks in the format, it kills goblins/ WW/ elves/ zoo/ affinity all day and likes its' job.
draw/manipulation:
brainstorm: arguably the best blue draw spell on the market, hopefully I will not have to debate this slot.
Top: it combos with counterbalance creating a lock of sorts, it also allows a permanent challice set at one for specific situations.
So this is the build, I will get around to editing this in about a week or two in order to include MU annalyses.