Originally Posted by
Mackan
To me this is a very intresting topic. Right now the ONLY archetypes I feel slightly unfavored against are bug-delver, grixis midrange and reanimator. All packing both counterspells and discard, which makes our default line of defense with boseiju and defense grid less attractive. The same goes for Leyline of Sanctity which I talked about in a previous post. You don't want LLoS if they have their counterspell draw and you do not want the Defense grid if they go for discard. I had Jace, TMS in my sideboard to combat this but found him a bit slow. I've yet to find something I like to combat these decks. The sideboard is becoming pretty tight so we don't have space to fit everything we want. I think it's the correct assumption that we have to cut defense grid to make room for these counterspells (atleast in my list).
Additional counterspells seems a lot better vs these decks than defense grid. There are some things to consider. First of all, if we cut defense grid from the list and replace them with more of what we allready have we lose a whole angle of attack. Defense grid dodges flusterstorm and red elemental blast and it can also stop every piece of interaction during the turn when you go off (like multiple counterspells or vendilion clique. On paper Defense grid is perfect vs tempo strategies like RUG and pretty good vs control in general. It's lacking against decks where we would want to counterspell on their turn (infect and the mirror for example) and decks which have both discard and counterspells. So even though Defense grid has a unique and more powerful effect it's maybe not enough to compensate for the amount of UB/x and combo in the metagame.
So, which counterspell would be best for handling these type of decks? Overall reanimator/bug-delver/grixis delver are fast. I don't think we can afford to tap 2 mana for the actual Counterspell but sadly everything that costs 0 or 1 mana have their own built in weaknesses. Plus, we want Dig Through Time to be cast asap all the time. The cards below focus on these 3 decks.
Misdirection - Every card counts and we allready pack 4 force of will to help us get hellbent. I don't think I want Misdirection unless the metagame is full of hymn to tourach. The fact that a misdirected thoughtseize from the opponent most likely will not take a relevant card (as the opponent still chose) makes it even less appealing. It's a powerful effect though and pre-board it's a very wishable card. But it's not attractive enough imo.
Daze - A 2-of Daze in the 75 could be pretty good as it's very unexpected and powerful (yay, free spells!). Missing a land drop is not something we want though and Daze is bad defending against counterspells when we try to resolve a 3-mana spell (they will most likely be able to pay). If we were allways on the play It would be a strong consideration...
Disrupt - Maybe I am wrong but I think this card is pushing the greed to far. Paying 2 mana is not a lot... 1 mana even less so. Daze atleast can be played for free.
Spell Pierce - I am a bit allergic to taxing counters because it forces you to rush into a lot of situations as these cards drops in value as the game progress. Spell Pierce is a pretty underwhelming sideboard card unless we are terrified of sneak attack, Liliana or counterbalance I see it as a strictly worse flusterstorm (which is more of a hardcounter with the potential blow-out attached to it). We can't have more than 4 flusterstorm in the list though but I want a more powerful effect from a sideboard card.
Divert - This is something I like. It is more narrow than Spell Pierce but it's also a lot more powerful. Disrupting a discard spell and forcing them to discard a random card is actually pretty good. Sometimes we get the only blue card for force of will, sometimes we reduce their clock and besides, all of them play with 4 brainstorm. A bit of a gamble against reanimator to be sure...
Envelop - Only stops cantrips and discard. We want something that stops counterspells and discard.
Dispel - See above and think the other way around.
Swan Song - A nice topdeck, a 1 mana answer to all of our problems AND the upside of handling Counterbalance, Sneak attack etc. This is a STRONG candidate and I used to run it in my board as a wishable counterspell when I ran 4 Flusterstorm maindeck. It's pretty bad vs cabal therapy though...
Spell Snare. Stops some counterspells and discard in Counterbalance, Counterspell, Snapcaster mage and Hymn to tourach. Unfortunatly pretty poor overall vs the 3 decks we want to sideboard against (except for maybe reanimator).
Honorable mention, Dimir charm. Kills their hatebear and stops their discard. The flexibility is not worth the additional mana though.
Mental misstep - Please come back! :P
We could also include more discard ourselves to combat both their discard and their counterspells. This unfortunatly comes with other problems. I rather not play with more than 3-4 discard spells in my deck as they become pretty bad after a while when you draw too many of them. The manainvestment is also a big difference between discarding and counterspelling and answering spells on the stack is often a lot better. I also do NOT want be include more black cards in my way to fight BUG-delver. Wasteland is a real card and I don't want to be stuck without a blue source. This could easily happen if (when) I keep a 1-lander with or without a basic swamp in the deck. With just a few black cards it's ok to be unable to cast them in the early game. Discard spells are normally bad topdecks but to be fair the other cards on this list are too so if the options aren't there it's atleast worth a shot. The 3 thoughtseize in my list I think is enough to provide a most excellent angle of attack to deal with flusterstorm, hatebears and other combo without having to many difficulties in drawing multiples or not beeing able to cast them.
Conclusion. Given how the meta is not very full of RUG and that we don't have a sideboard-plan against 2 of our 3 most feared matchups (reanimator we atleast got "covered") it is safe to assume we can cut Defense Grid in favor of a defensive, low cmc, card to deal with opposing counterspells AND discard. I think the Safest bet is to play Swan Song in this slot. The other realistic options are all taxing effects and personally I think it's a good habit to avoid those in a combo/control deck.
How much disruption could we actually include? I fear we are pretty close to over-sideboarding.
Here's my list.
CREATURES (2)
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
ENCHANTMENTS (4)
4 Omniscience
SORCERIES (17)
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Show and Tell
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Thoughtseize
INSTANTS (17)
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Dig Through Time
3 Cunning Wish
3 Flusterstorm
ARTIFACTS (2)
2 Lotus Petal
LANDS (18)
5 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 City of Traitors
1 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
SIDEBOARD (15)
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Eladamri’s Call
2 Massacre
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Trickbind
1 Flusterstorm
1 Dig Through Time
2 Defense Grid (will try 2 Swan song moving forward)
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Rushing River (or echoing truth)
1 Surgical Extraction (or hurkyl's recall)
How do you like your list? It looks pretty perfect as far as Dream halls builds go:)
Did you try without it too?
I want more consistency in my list but from previous testing I found that Dream halls was to slow. I also tried it as a 1of in my sideboard but with thoughtseize In the deck I no longer fear to cast show and tell as much as before. Plus, playing with Dream halls would more or less force me to switch one emrakul for ETI. Show and tell for emrakul is surprisingly effective. Liliana, Jace and Karakas see very little play these days.
