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corvus
Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 12:51 pm
Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 1696 Location: Roaming, but dangerous!!!
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Who can resist the temptation of the ultimate disrupt called counter spell? Few, very few... Let’s yield in this article for once, shall we?
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I take it that most MTG players worldwide have played against or used a card that "countered target spell." Pretty annoying wasn’t it? (to those who played against it) Pretty good wasn’t it? (to those who used it). In this article, we will try utilizing cards that "counter targer spell" to the maximum! Let the journey begin!


The main strategy will be countering spells that might cause trouble early on, while having a few secondary strategies, to make us more disruptive and eventually offensive. The best thing to do is keep the deck monochromatic (blue) in order to focus on the strategy better.




Suggested Cards


A very wise man once said: you are what you eat. Now the author has another wise man’s saying to quote: you make a deck out of a list, and never the other way around. Let us pick the right bricks to make our deck competitive and as broken as it can get:


Lands

Island x18
Quicksand
Minamo, school at water’s edge

Having plenty of mana is essential, especially for a deck that can absorb it all. Thus, having one third of it made out of lands, is quite helpful. 60/3=20, so here we got it gentlemen, 20 lands. 18 islands and a copy of quicksand since colorless mana is as good as blue in many cases (and having a neat surprise for a reckless attack can prove rather helpful....). Minamo is good if many legends are on our side, and not to brag, this is deck is a legend itself...



Creatures

After disrupt, comes more disrupt, and after that, much more disrupt and control, and after that, a good finishing assault! Having a handful of faithful servants at our disposal for those purposes is vital, so let’s pick them carefully!


Voidmage prodigy. A key creature to such decks, since it can sacrifice a wizard (even itself), to stop enemy tactics. Quite useful when you have all those wizards lying around.

Temporal Adept. A disrupt machine. Whoever plays blue and doesn’t use this creature, is either unaware of its existence or has found a way to win the game most common mortals haven’t so far... Cool . This creature is capable of sending even the deadliest of creatures flying back into its owner’s hand, only to be countered during the next round.

Daring apprentice. A good creature that just sits around, and awaits to counter a spell at the right time, should we get to a very unpleasant situation. Can also block an attack at desperate times as well. A fine choise.

Spiketail drake. Pretty much like daring apprentice, only it’s bigger, more expensive and flying...

Arcanis the Omnipotent. A strong creature that can help on later rounds with its heavy-duty card drawing ability.

Meloku the clouded mirror. A strong wizard that helps swarm your opponents up when you have much mana lying around. A flying-producer machine that has proved to be invaluable.

Uyo, silent prophet. A high cost, but strong creature with flying. It can do miracles when combined with bribery...

Keiga, the tide star. A heavy creature, with great stats and a swell ability. A must for most blue decks.



Counter Spells! and othat instants...

Counterspell. Self-explenatory. Play different copies for variety.

Mana leak. A popular counter spell that hits either the spell or the mana resources of the opponent. Painful, in any case, when used on an early critical round.

Force Spike. Pretty much like Mana Leak, only with earlier-round usability. Good for early-settling decks or desperate man situations.

Rewind. A free counter spell. Highly recommended, and trialed. A must for such decks for years.

Cancel. A new counter spell that is due to replace hinder... Who doesn’t like it?

Remove Soul. A specific counterspell that hits creatures. Vital as well!

Unsummon. A card that can save us in many dangerous situations. A great choice for any blue deck.

Brainstorm. A very important card which helps build your hand fast, and almost at no cost. Highly recommended.

Bribery. If you can’t beat them, steal them! No recommendations needed here. A legendary card.

Spy network. A small and nearly costless surprise, to see what the opponent is up to!

Other Spells

Just one, but what a card!

Vedalken Shackles. What has gotten past the counter spells and the unsummons and the next counter spells and the ferocious blockers (and hasn’t already been picked with bribery) is ours to command! NPE in its greatness.....

Complete Decklist

A good deck, is defined by its portions. The swifter the better, is the rule for Magic the Gathering, so let us have plenty of copies of the lighter spells, so that our hand isn’t filled with monstrocities too early. Balanced and as broken as possible, i present you the counter-speller!!!


Island x18
Quicksand
Minamo, school a water’s edge

Voidmage prodigy x2
Temporal Adept x3
Daring apprentice x2
Spiketail drake
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Meloku the clouded mirror
Uyo, silent prophet
Keiga, the tide star

Counterspell x4
Mana leak x3
Force Spike x3
Rewind x4
Cancel x3
Remove Soul x2
Unsummon x3
Brainstorm x3
Bribery x2
Spy network

Vedalken Shackles x3


Strategy

Free form strategy. Or, as much simple. Draw a hand of 3 lands, and you are bound to give them a pretty hard time. Get a temporal adept down at about round 4, after having cleared your path with your counterspells. Then, start controlling things with your shackles, and finally bring your opponents on their knees with your mighty beasts. Now go have some fun for yourselves while spoiling others’!
Click here if you want to trade some foils away Wink
Far, Far beyond the island we dwelt in shapes of twilight
Through draught and weary days
Through grief and endless pain
Cobra
Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:30 pm
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA
Just a superficial review for now...

You’ve done a good job of breaking the deck down card-by-card and explaining your choices. However, you haven’t done as much to explain why I should play this Magic decklist over some other version, and when you’re discussing a decktype that’s already well-known, that’s where the real meat of the article should be.

I do think this is an improvement on your last article, and I look forward to reading more from you! Cool
http://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games.
Felipe Musco
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:49 pm
Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
Now, the first thing you need is to focus on a format. As you are, go for Extended. ALso, you’re still lacking research... Check an old article of mine called "Rubber Field" to have some ideas, and go from there, after all, your build can be way more powerful. Drop Brainstorm as it’s not Extended, otherwise, you deck is WAAAAY too weak for the format you’ll be in.
Now, if you’re going mono-bouncing, switch regular Islands for Snow-Covered ones, and pack 2 copies of Heidar, RImewind Master. Rewind is WAAAAY too expensive to have 4 copies, and I’ve also found it to be underwhelming, except in 2HG. Drop the utility creatures, and pack 1-2 Rimefeather Owl as a finisher. Bribery only deserves 2 copies, and on the sideboard. You also need some card-drawing, PRONTO! Then, if we’re really going for Extended, DO NOT miss the almighty Sensei’s Divining Top + Counterbalance combo. Raise the Mana Leak count to 4, then drop all four for Rune Snag. Last, but not least, drop Unsummon (too narrow) for Boomerang, as it gives you an answer to not only creatures that slipped by your counterspell barrier, but ALSO enchantments AND Artifacts... You could also consider the more powerful version, Wipe Away.
MAYBE use some Temporal Adepts as utility creatures, but that’s a maybe. I think you could go from here.
The article IS better than the last one, but the decklist is WAAAY too weak. I’d normally give this a 2, but since you DID go through the effort of writing an article (and boy, we’ve been needing some of those!), I’ll give you a 3. You’re going the right way, just hasting too much to post. More research is not always a bad thing. I could’ve posted an article this month, but I’ve decided to wait to do more research, let’s see how that turns out next month!
I don't like YOU.
physcosick
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:11 pm
Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 229 Location:
The deck is very unfocused due to 2 reasons: it’s not a format and there are a lot of single cards (some of which aren’t even numbered). So you lose a lot for that. Plus the mana base is really bad, sorry but it’s the truth. You could have so many more options and go in so many different directions but you just went with 18 islands and I dont even know how many quicksands.You also seemed to spend a little too much time explaing all the cards and that made up 90some% of your article. Also, your talking about good counter spells but you fail to mention the 2 best counter spells in the game (especially since your deck is formatless) force of will and mana drain. Sadly this deck is neither "broken" nor "competitive" but i’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and just give you a 3 so it doesnt hurt but you definetly have to try harder.

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