U/B/w Counterbalance Replenish

[Hanni]

Inspired by the Counterbalance Flash deck I was working on...

U/B/w Counterbalance Replenish

Lands (22)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb

Creatures (1)
1 Gigapede

Spells (37)
4 Brainstorm
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Intuition
2 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Counterbalance
4 Force of Will
4 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
1 Massacre
4 Replenish
1 Pandemonium
1 Saproling Burst

Sideboard (15)
3 Stifle
2 Massacre
4 Engineered Plague
1 Disenchant
2 Seal of Cleansing
3 Pithing Needle

This deck abuses Counterbalance. Brainstorm, Mystical Tutor, and Lim-Dul's Vault all put cards on top of my library at instant speed to abuse Counterbalance, while grabbing the necessary spells I need. Top obviously has synergy with Counterbalance and makes great use of all of the shuffle effects as a card quality engine. Counterbalance gives the deck resiliency against aggro/control and additional disruption against combo. It's also an enchantment which means Replenish can put it back into play if need be.

The deck revolves around resolving Intuition to grab Gigapede/Pandemonium/Saproling Burst, which ends up putting both Pandemonium and Saproling Burst into the graveyard. The deck has Mystical Tutor to grab Intuition and Replenish, as well as Lim-Dul's Vault to dig for either or.

The deck runs a disruption package of 4 Duress, 4 Force, and 3 Counterbalance maindeck, which seems solid to me. The deck also has access to 1 Echoing Truth and 1 Massacre to deal with problematic cards like Needle and Meddling Mage.

22 Lands should be more than enough, especially when 4 of them are Ancient Tomb to help accelerate the Intuitions and Replenishes and such. 2 Island 1 Plains 1 Swamp will cast every spell in the deck while giving me Wasteland protection. I should have plenty enough black and white sources, and I have tons of blue sources.

In the sideboard, I bring in Stifles vs Goblins and Combo. Massacres come in against WW and decks with Meddling Mage, with 3 total postboard allowing me to Intuition for them if need be (and I can Mystical for them). Engineered Plague comes in vs Goblins, decks with EtW, and possible even Fish. They can be recast via Replenish if Goblins uses Krosan Grip and Intuition fills my yard with them. Disenchant is tutorable by Mystical, Seal of Cleansing comes back into play after a Replenish (so it can hit Needle's after I bring back Pande/Burst), and 3 total disenchant-effects allows me to grab them via Intuition. Pithing Needle answers Crypt and Vial. The sideboard is still a work in progress but I like it so far.

The earliest the deck will be able to go off is turn 3 and the deck should be able to go off consistently turn 4, so the deck has the ability to race fast-paced decks. The deck should also have protection backup most of the time during the turn 3-4 kills. Against decks like aggro/control, the deck will go off much slower but play a stack/board control game vs them.

Thoughts?

[Hanni]

Like most of the other members here in The Source asked me, Have you tried playing this deck against tier 1 decks? If so, What was the results?

Not yet. :laugh: ^_^

I've been playtesting a different version of U/B/w Replenish all day but I just came up with the idea to use the same Counterbalance engine that I was using in Counterbalance Flash. I have high hopes but only time will tell. I need to do more testing. This list is fresh off the assembly line and has absolutely no testing yet... but as I said, I tested the hell out of Counterbalance Flash and this deck runs a very similar engine. I'll keep you updated with my results against Tier 1 decks. :laugh: ^_^

[Osse]

Is Gigapede better than Phantasmagorian?

Shouldn't it be 3 Top, 2 Cbalance?

Is Confidant not worth it? (Over Mystical Tutor maybe).

How much does Tomb hurt? Against goblins it could be a huge problem, along with Lim-duls Vault and co. Just a thought.

That's it for now, I'll have more later.

EDIT: Don't you just lose when you draw Gigapede and a combo piece?

Cabal Therapy seems really in here, especially if you add Confidants (Maybe SB Confidants?)

[Hanni]

Is Gigapede better than Phantasmagorian?

I don't think it really matters, since Gigapede and Phantasmagorian essentially do the same thing with Intuition (except Phantasmagorian might actually cause me to discard my Replenish if I don't have enough cards in hand, or cause me to discard my protection like Force of Will). Phantasmagorian is black though, so it gives me an alternate win condition of my combo gets extirpated or something. I don't know, I'll try it out later and see if it works better.


Shouldn't it be 3 Top, 2 Cbalance?


No. Both are worthless in multiples. Counterbalance pitches to Force, Top doesn't. Counterbalance is still useful without Top because I have Brainstorm, Mystical Tutor, and Lim-Dul's Vault as additional putter-on-toppers. Top is a decent draw (card quality) engine, but I already have plenty enough draw/tutor power. I've always went with the current configuration in my applications of Counterbalance/Top, although running more of each isn't necessarily a bad idea.


Is Confidant not worth it? (Over Mystical Tutor maybe).

Confidant is good but I do have quite a bit of higher cc stuff, not that it reall matters. The problem with Confidant, for me, is that it makes the opponent's removal not worthless, whereas right now their creature removal is worthless. Drawing 2 cards a turn instead of 1 is really strong but I'm not quite sure I actually need it. I won't dismiss the idea, because Confidant is really really good, but I'm not sure what I'd want to cut to try and fit them in.


How much does Tomb hurt? Against goblins it could be a huge problem, along with Lim-duls Vault and co. Just a thought.


Tomb hurts but it helps speed up my Goldfish, which is a pretty fair tradeoff against Goblins. The ability to cast Intuition on turn 2 and Replenish on turn 3 is extremely strong, etc. I haven't had issues with them so far. I don't see myself cutting them.


EDIT: Don't you just lose when you draw Gigapede and a combo piece?

Cabal Therapy seems really in here, especially if you add Confidants (Maybe SB Confidants?)

Well, considering I run 1 of each, it shouldn't be a huge problem, but I can always Brainstorm them away or simply let my hand fill up and discard them when my hand reaches 8 cards.

I originally considered Cabal Therapy, but I don't get to abuse it fully without creatures to sac to it. Duress is just better as the only discard spell and fitting in both Duress and Cabal Therapy doesn't really seem possible. Adding Confidant makes Therapy a little better I guess, but would I really want to sacrifice a Confidant? I dunno. Hammer out a list with Confidant and Therapy and I'll try it out.


That's it for now, I'll have more later.

Thanks for the feedback homie. :smile:

[Alfred]

Not running at least 3 Tops is a mistake IMO. 3 makes the chance of 2 being in your opening grip quite low, and the top itself will make sure that you won't draw the second.

2 Tops just isn't enough to see consistantly, and it is just a fantastic card, especially in conjunction with Counterbalance.

Also, is there some way of including green sources into the deck? I know it opens you up to more nonbasic hate, but recurring Gigapede against control (and to a lesser extent Saproling Burst) seems like it would be a fantastic win condition should things go awry.

[Bane of the Living]

Also, is there some way of including green sources into the deck? I know it opens you up to more nonbasic hate, but recurring Gigapede against control (and to a lesser extent Saproling Burst) seems like it would be a fantastic win condition should things go awry.

This is exactly what I was gonna say. Hell it would probably be worth it to make the red splash since you only need R to cast the Pandi too. With all your deck manipulation and tutoring Im sure you can cast the combo in parts to not fear Meddling Mage@Replenish to much.

W/ Red splash a one of Recoup looks promising. And as long as we follow the rabbit down that tunnel Gifts Ungiven is what they refer to as the broken..

Could your Flooded Strands turn into Windswept Heaths? Then you still get your basic plains and could play a Taiga.

Something like..

4 Polluted Delta
4 Windswept Heath
1 Tiaga
2 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb

[Osse]

So I thought about it, and Cbalance + Top is perfect here. I immediately decided to turn Steve Sadin's/Billy Moreno's Flash deck into a Replenish deck. I put in 4/4/4 Confidant, Top, Cbalance and haven't looked back, it's amazing. I then rethought the combo, Pandeburst Stays, along with Gigapede, but I added Phantasmagorian as well (I'd draw one of the combo pieces way too often, and Intuition wouldn't work), now if I draw one of the combo pieces, I'm fine. I cut the Lim-Dul Vaults and Mystical Tutors, 1 tundra and underground sea, and a fetchland. 8 fetches were too many, especially with Vault and Tutors. Vault came out because I was shuffling my library way too often (Fetches, Intuition), Tutor was so dead that it wasn't even worth it. I have an open slot right now, occupied by a Gifts Ungiven (I haven't drawn it once yet, so I have no idea how broken it is, or if it's even good).

I'd love to be able to fit Therapies or Dazes in here, or maybe even Orim's Chant but I don't think it can be done. 4 mana is alot to win, and even then its only sorcery speed [Replenish]. Daze slows that down alot if you have to counter stuff like Mages or Crypts or what not. Therapy is probably way better, but even then its pretty tough. Freeing up slots is pretty rough. Maybe the lone slot could be a Cunning Wish or something too.

Running more colors seems like a bad idea to me, I'm dead-scared of Goblins and their Wastelands/Ports, not to mention all the sideboard hate they have access to.

I'm going to try and proxy this up for Friday if I can, and test the goblins matchup to all hell. Possibly Tog as well (Can I win through mass Permission?). I have other matches to test as well, but Goblins seems the best place to start.

[Rabbi Dan]

Cool, played against you earlier with one of my million random decks that I'm always working on (may have been Mono B Stax). I remember your SB didn't stick, and I can't remember how it turned out, but it seems like you won through my jitte with 8 counters. It was a good deck though, and I liked playing against it. Keep up the good deck building!