Blue Period (Dreadstill / Painter)

[Dilettante]

Blue Period

Creatures (8)
4x Painter’s Servant
4x Phyrexian Dreadnought

Enchantments (3)
3x Counterbalance

Spells (23)
3x Daze
4x Force of Will
4x Standstill
4x Brainstorm
4x Stifle
4x Intuition

Artifacts (10)
4x Grindstone
4x Chrome Mox
2x Sensei’s Divining Top

Lands (16)
2x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand
1x Misty Rainforest
5x Island
1x Academy Ruins
4x Ancient Tomb

Sideboard
3x Pithing Needle
2x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Daze
2x Blue Elemental Blast
2x Hydroblast
4x Rushing River

I am not quite sure which thread this deck should go to, since it utilizes the old monoblue Dreadstill shell but with an extra combo integrated. Since Dreadstill seems to have gone the tempo route and this is more combo, I guess I have to throw it in as a separate thread. The deck lacks originality, but has worked so far for me in testing and the last tourney I went to at That's E last Sunday (4-1). There is a lack of direct synergy between the combos, but both fit into the low mana curve shell, a glass cannon. Essentially, it is an attempt at front-loading more threat into Dreadstill to make it win 'out of nowhere' at any given time instead of having support mechanisms to allow it to survive swings. I tried to see if the deck can be developed into a UW variant, where it can pack Orim's Chant and better disruptive removal, but couldn't find a balance to keep the deck consistent enough, due to its fairly fragile mana base of only twenty sources. Same goes for exploring a 'more Goyf' UG variant.

Card selection essentially sacrifices much of the sit-back control elements such as Spell Snare and is more heavily front-loaded with combo pieces that just stay in play. Additional acceleration is given by Ancient Tomb. Additional synergy compared to Dreadstill includes:

• milling oneself with Grindstone when a Fetch is not available after a Brainstorm or Top peek

• Painter's Servant makes any card a pitch for Force of Will, but is a double-edged sword

The deck is vulnerable to cheap artifact removal and lacks genuine removal, but it is presently still very much a prototype. I have found myself completely cutting counterbalance against higher curving decks.