My playgroup runs a ton of blue, as most EDH groups do; however, I'm more of a Naya Timmy kind of player. I'm looking to build a deck that will shut down a good amount of blue shenanigans and combo decks. I usually try to keep to the 75% principle when building my decks; however, in order to do this correctly, I'm willing to bump up the overall power level more than usual. Unfortunately, part of the way to do this is by embracing the blue, I am including several counterspells that will be used judiciously to shut down combo pieces. I also have a Bant idea along these lines, may post that as well. Could use the help of competitive players, particularly blue mages, to optimize and weigh in. Thanks very much in advance.
If your playgroup has that much blue unfairness, then Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast are excellent cards. Beyond that, it would be of much help if you specify your meta a little more. On a side note, counterspells aren't nearly as effective in EDH (or any multiplayer format, actually) as in 1v1. If you want to go through the disruption path, you might be better going for a stax build on competitive environments;
Just cut what I'm deeming to be slightly off-theme or not where I want the deck to ultimately go. Made it to 100, though I'm worried that my creature count is a little too low.
Teferi and Dosan are probably your friends, helping shut down responses like Cyclonic Rift. City of Solitude may be good at the start of the game to prevent stuff happening to Surrak (I call him Ciroc Vodka). I would go for more creature based counters, if possible, just to maximize the usage of your general. Cards like Draining Whelk, Glen Elendra Archmage, Voidmage Husher, Stratus Dancer, to name a few, could go along way to helping you. Althought they run in contrast to City of Solitude, you use that as an early target for your opponents so it eats removal. I see that you have Dense Foliage in your list....I approve, I've always liked that card but never found a place for it in most decks.
As Nithkar said we don't know that much about your meta so we're in the dark for what your biggest problems are. Wish I could be more help.
Just playing. Trinisphere and Defense Grid are big NO BLUE FUN cards simply because they mess with Blue's ability to maintain enough mana to always counter.
5 Surrak Dragonclaw
Creature (34)
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
2 Primordial Hydra
2 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Tajuru Preserver
2 Vexing Shusher
3 Animar, Soul of Elements
3 Burnished Hart
3 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Spellbane Centaur
3 Yavimaya Elder
4 Fathom Mage
4 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
4 Mystic Snake
4 Shaman of the Great Hunt
4 Spellbreaker Behemoth
4 Voidmage Husher
5 Murkfiend Liege
5 Overbeing of Myth
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
6 Draining Whelk
6 Pathbreaker Ibex
6 Soul of the Harvest
6 Terra Stomper
6 Thunderfoot Baloth
7 Balefire Dragon
7 Foe-Razer Regent
7 Gaea's Revenge
7 Gruul Ragebeast
7 Pearl Lake Ancient
7 Petrified Wood-Kin
7 Siege Behemoth
7 Sphinx of the Final Word
8 Terastodon
8 Woodfall Primus
1 Guttural Response
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Counterflux
3 Disallow
3 Krosan Grip
3 Voidslime
4 Last Word
4 Overwhelming Denial
6 Runeflare Trap
Sorcery (2)
7 Biomantic Mastery
8 Ezuri's Predation
Artifact (7)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
2 Thought Vessel
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Damping Matrix
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
Enchantment (5)
3 Dense Foliage
3 Druids' Repository
3 Temur Ascendancy
4 Stranglehold
6 Lurking Predators
Planeswalker (2)
3 Domri Rade
5 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
11 Forest
8 Island
3 Mountain
1 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cinder Glade
1 Command Beacon
1 Command Tower
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terrain Generator
1 Vivid Grove
Other cards considered:
- Avalanche Tusker
- Maelstrom Wanderer
- Display of Dominance
- Wipe Away
- Plasm Capture
- Ricochet Trap
- Mystic Confluence
- Verdant Confluence
- Sword of the Animist
- Bonds of Mortality
- Web of Inertia
- Kiora, Master of the Depths
Current EDH decks:
WBG Doran, the Siege Tower (I Like Big Butts)
URG Surrak Dragonclaw (Guttural Response)
UG Ezuri, Claw of Progress (Phyrexia's Claw)
BR Kaervek the Merciless (Keep Kaervek Alive)
BG Ishkanah, Grafwidow (Descend into Delirium)
W Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (Mark 8.5)
U Thassa, God of the Sea (Here There Be Monsters)
-1 Gaea's Herald (redundant to Surrak)
-1 Champion of Lambholt (sucks to lose, but easily disrupted)
-1 Paleoloth
-1 World Breaker
-1 Savage Summoning
-1 Cyclonic Rift
-1 Rewind
-1 Overmaster
-1 Disaster Radius
-1 Grafdigger's Cage
-1 Flameshadow Conjuring
Just cut what I'm deeming to be slightly off-theme or not where I want the deck to ultimately go. Made it to 100, though I'm worried that my creature count is a little too low.
Current EDH decks:
WBG Doran, the Siege Tower (I Like Big Butts)
URG Surrak Dragonclaw (Guttural Response)
UG Ezuri, Claw of Progress (Phyrexia's Claw)
BR Kaervek the Merciless (Keep Kaervek Alive)
BG Ishkanah, Grafwidow (Descend into Delirium)
W Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (Mark 8.5)
U Thassa, God of the Sea (Here There Be Monsters)
Current EDH decks:
WBG Doran, the Siege Tower (I Like Big Butts)
URG Surrak Dragonclaw (Guttural Response)
UG Ezuri, Claw of Progress (Phyrexia's Claw)
BR Kaervek the Merciless (Keep Kaervek Alive)
BG Ishkanah, Grafwidow (Descend into Delirium)
W Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (Mark 8.5)
U Thassa, God of the Sea (Here There Be Monsters)
As Nithkar said we don't know that much about your meta so we're in the dark for what your biggest problems are. Wish I could be more help.
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
Just playing. Trinisphere and Defense Grid are big NO BLUE FUN cards simply because they mess with Blue's ability to maintain enough mana to always counter.
Stranglehold is a better, red shifted Mindlock Orb, and a perfectly flavorful addition.