[Deck] UB CounterMages

[M_Pietrzak]

First of all I'd like to say sorry to all just because of my english.

I've won local tournaments several times with this deck. This deck is using small amount of creatures (10) while trying to control board with lot of utility spells.

Here's the list :

// Lands
8 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta

// Creatures
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Dark Confidant

// Spells
4 Counterbalance
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle
3 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Engineered Plague
SB: 4 Misdirection
SB: 4 Cabal Therapy
SB: 4 Blue Elemental Blast

Its not an usual Fish (it's a fish variant but not exactly).
We're using Counterbalance to improve countermagic. 8 pieces of library manipulation (Brainstorm and Portent). Only 7 counters, but We need to counter only true threats, just beacuse We're using UJ and SoFaI We shouldn't worry about creatures opponent controls. Our creatures have evasive ability (flying, fear) which makes them hard to stop dealing damage and trigger ability of UJ and SoFaI.
One more word about creature base. Its not really rare to see play: CoF+UJ/Dark Confidant. It's brilliant, isn't it?

About matchups.

vs Goblins 50-50 (post sb 65-35)
Usually easy matchup. We have enough spells to stop goblins in early game. With SoFaI and UJ equipped on Cloud of Faeries usually means gg.

Sb option :
+4 BeB
+3 Engineered Plague
-3 Stifle
-4 Counterbalance


there is only one matchup for now because with other archetypes I havent play enough games (around 25-30). After around 50 games I will post more matchups.

please enj0y

[sammiel]

lol


You do not have a 50% win against goblins pre-board, and you certainly do not have a 65% win against goblins post-board.

Either stop making up match results, or playtest against someone who knows how to play goblins.

Ladies and genlemen, this is an excellent example of the wrong way to assist a new member with his deck development. Rather than flaming him and being condescending, you could suggest some card choices that may improve those matchups you believe are weak. Infraction issued for General Asshattery.
~Nightmare

[Pale Moon FTW]

How is this better than UWB Fish? You have no way of effeciently dispatching larger creatures like a resolved Exalted Angel or a big Tarmogoyf is GG.
My suggestion to improve the deck would be to splash white, but then you might as well just play UWB Fish anyway. White grants you better creatures, Swords to Plowshares and Meddling Mages for the sideboard, it's just too good not to splash.
But I guess the best removal for the colors you're currently running would be Vendetta. You really need some removal that doesn't require you to deal damage with an equipped creature to work.

BTW seeing the decklist again I just realized you're not running Sensei's Top though you're using Counterbalance. I don't know what to take out in favor for them, but you really should run Top when you're using counterbalance. It greatly enhances the effectiveness of Counterbalance, while also being okay by itself.

[Nydaeli]

12 creatures isn't enough for 6 equipment. I'm not sure what else you should be running, but that balance is very wrong.

I recommend running Sensei's Divining Top, and Trinket Mage to fetch it. It'll give you more Counterbalance synergy and more dudes for your equipment.

How's Portent? Better than Serum Visions?

[Aggro_zombies]

I experimented for a long time with UB Counterbalance and I was never satisfied with it, as it just wasn't...very...good. That said, if you're set on going straight UB, I'd recommend using more guys. Dimir Infiltrator is a good start, since it tutors for Jitte and CB and can block almost any Goblin and live. Urborg Drake and Moroii, bad as they may seem, are actually decent creatures here (although Serendib Efreet is better than Moroii, assuming you can get them). Kira, Great Glass Spinner is actually some good here, even though he may not seem it at first glance...he's not too synergistic with Jitte, but when you're running craptastic critters it's not in your best interest to have them dying left and right to your opponent's removal. Volrath's Stronghold is another good addition in a similar vein, as it not only retrieves dead guys, it works well with CB.

I dropped the deck pre-FS, so I don't know if there's anything worth investigating in that set. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would be a good idea to test here.

EDIT: One more thing...okay, well, two. If you decide to dip into a third color, I'd strongly recommend green because it gives you access to much, much better guys, Tarmogoyf and Quirion Dryad being the best of the bunch.

Secondly, use Trinket Mage. It may sound sucky, but seriously...not only does it allow you to run an artifact toolbox, but it blocks and can even attack. Warm body + Sensei's Divining Top is a combination not to be underestimated.

[outsideangel]

Honestly I'm going to go out on a limb here and say your Goblins matchup (against anybody who actually knows what they are doing) is going to be terrible. Your creatures are all irrellevant without equipment, and more than half of them die to a humble Mogg Fanatic in response to equipping, not to mention Gempalm or (gawd forbid!) Seige-Gang. Your only answer to Lackey-on-the-play is Force of Will and the creatures can't be counted on there because of the aforementioned creature removal.

I don't see the point of running so few creatures and a ton of equipment. You're not using board sweepers, or any card that would be disynergistic with threats. Your only answer to opposing creatures is your own creatures, so you actually need to be pumping them out. Also, if you are going to run a handful of creatures, at least run good creatures.

Cloud of Faeries is a terrible, horrible, abysmal threat and there's absolutely no reason to run it in this deck. It dies to everything under the sun and does nothing on its own. Anything would be better here. I like Serendib myself, but there are few ways you could actually make this slot any worse. Kira is a fun idea though, and might be worth messing around with as a couple of slots so you don't have to worry about removal.

[Nihil Credo]

My suggestions, based on fiddling around with similar decks:

-3 Sword of Fire and Ice
-4 Cloud of Faeries
+2 Tombstalker

You want creatures that are always fat, not creatures that might become fat if they live.

-1 Counterbalance

Four is too much. Multiples are almost dead.

+3 Ghastly Demise
+1 Diabolic Edict

Decent removal, and can be supported fairly well by your fetches and cantrips. Vendetta is another option, but I'd rather not take any more damage than necessary.

+1 Swamp
+1 Volrath's Stronghold

Because you run Mishra's Factories, 20 lands are too little, even with cantrips and card drawing. A basic Swamp is also very helpful. Aggro_zombies' suggestion of Stronghold is something I like quite a bit.

These are basic changes. After those, I'd take the deck a little bit further:

+3 Trinket Mage
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Sensei's Divining Top
-2 Portent
-1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
-1 Stifle
-2 ?
+1 Seat of the Synod
-1 Island

Trinket Mage gives you an extra Ogre to throw in combat and massively increases both the deck's consistency and its versatility. I'm not sure what I'd cut for the remaining two slots, I'd need some playtesting with that specific list.


The sideboard would also need some more work, but for the moment it's better to focus on a versatile maindeck.

[Aggro_zombies]

Hmm, actually, the Goblins matchup is pretty bad, outsideangel. One of the reasons I originally dropped my version of the deck was because I was never able to get that matchup above 50% pre- or post-board. That said, I probably should mention that the most important play this deck can make in the Goblins matchup is stopping a turn-one Lackey. I will also go out on a limb here (a different one than outsideangel's) and say that having a Lackey connect is more devastating for this deck than for 75% of the other decks in the format, simply because this deck has such a hard time controlling the board. You can stop Lackey on the play by blocking, but on the draw you're screwed. I'd recommend looking into something like Darkblast, Midnight Charm, Lose Hope, or Funeral Charm. Of those, Lose Hope has the most synergy with CB, but that doesn't really matter since CB is basically dead in the Goblins matchup anyway. Darkblast is reusable, Funeral Charm is versatile (but your combo matchup isn't really bad enough to warrant leaving this in), and Midnight Charm is generally good against a lot of creatures.

[outsideangel]

Hmm, actually, the Goblins matchup is pretty bad, outsideangel. One of the reasons I originally dropped my version of the deck was because I was never able to get that matchup above 50% pre- or post-board. That said, I probably should mention that the most important play this deck can make in the Goblins matchup is stopping a turn-one Lackey. I will also go out on a limb here (a different one than outsideangel's) and say that having a Lackey connect is more devastating for this deck than for 75% of the other decks in the format, simply because this deck has such a hard time controlling the board. You can stop Lackey on the play by blocking, but on the draw you're screwed. I'd recommend looking into something like Darkblast, Midnight Charm, Lose Hope, or Funeral Charm. Of those, Lose Hope has the most synergy with CB, but that doesn't really matter since CB is basically dead in the Goblins matchup anyway. Darkblast is reusable, Funeral Charm is versatile (but your combo matchup isn't really bad enough to warrant leaving this in), and Midnight Charm is generally good against a lot of creatures.


It might be easier to control the board if the deck played, ya know, any board control cards at all.

Looking at the above decklist, it needs to either become more like Fish or more like Landstill.

If it gets more like Fish, you add more relevant creatures like Serendib Efreet and maybe lower the land count a bit or look at including Wasteland.

If it gets more like Landstill, you drop Cloud of Faeries, Dark Confidant, and the equipment for a couple copies of Tombstalker and a playset of Damnation and some other black removal.

In either case, run Sensei's Divining Top.

[Aggro_zombies]

It might be easier to control the board if the deck played, ya know, any board control cards at all.

Looking at the above decklist, it needs to either become more like Fish or more like Landstill.

If it gets more like Fish, you add more relevant creatures like Serendib Efreet and maybe lower the land count a bit or look at including Wasteland.

If it gets more like Landstill, you drop Cloud of Faeries, Dark Confidant, and the equipment for a couple copies of Tombstalker and a playset of Damnation and some other black removal.

In either case, run Sensei's Divining Top.
My lists ran 4 Plague and 3 Infest in the board and I still couldn't beat Goblins. The problem there is that you really need 2 Plague to dent the Goblin offensive, and then you need to hold counters for the Disenchants. Infest is a temporary reprieve at best, as I've wiped the Goblins player's board only to have him lucksack his way into a Ringleader next turn and resume the offensive. It might sound uncommon, but really, Goblins gets ridiculously lucky topdecks all the time. It's because almost every card in their deck is a legitimate threat and they only really need to ride one to victory. Also, this deck as Landstill (which I've also experimented with) is even worse than this deck as aggro-control. The problem with the aggro-control version is its inability to muster a relevant clock, which is only exacerbated by going to the Landstill shell.

EDIT: To be fair, I stopped working on those deck pre-FS in favor of other Counterbalance-based color combinations. Tombstalker may or may not be the card the deck was looking for, I wouldn't know.