This is another good control archetype. It plays like a Mono Blue Counterspell deck, but the inclusion of red gives it a great creature control card that doubles as counterspell lock with Forbid. And it's the kill condition too. A card that serves 3 functions? I'll take it.
"After Lisbon I decided all the changes I made really were improvements. If I was to play this at another tournament I think would add a 2nd Scroll Rack and pull the last Caldera Lake. I think I would also try Ertai's Meddling in the sideboard instead of Stalking Stones. "
This is another archetype that has no perfect decklist. But I am tempted to find the perfect decklist for this one, because I believe it exists somehow. This deck contains a lot of card advantage strategies, but it's tough to know which is the best strategy out of all of them. Here's what I know:
-Counter Phoenix is mana hungry. The Forbid lock, with 2 shard phoenixes requires 9 mana. Capsize bouncing requires 6 mana. Recurring pyroclasm lock with Phoenix requires 8 mana per turn. Most decklists run lots of land, almost half. Randy himself said he always used Whispers of the Muse to try to search for more land.
-Shard Phoenix is essential, but most every game I ever played with it, I drew an intuition before Shard Phoenix, and I'd search for 3 phoenixes, then I'd recur them and bring them into action. 4 Phoenixes main deck may be too many; you don't have the mana to be recurring all 4 of them, and the first intuition you get will search for 3. Plus, I've controlled the board with only one before. It may free up 1 slot to just stick with 3 phoenixes and 4 intuition.
-Propagandas are incredible. 4 are necessary; I very often intuitioned for 3, and wished I had 1 more copy in the deck. It completely shuts down creatures based attacks, you don't even need Hand to Hand (a very interesting enchantment which not a lot of people know combines with propaganda to make creatures unable to attack you. I thought about making a hand to Hand/propaganda lock deck, but it's too close to CounterPhoenix anyways.)
-The scroll racks are strange. On the surface they seem helpful, but it's so tough to dig in your deck when you're putting what you don't need on top of your library; you'll be racking those back in your hand.
-Kindle may be better than shock, since you'll be playing long games and I've intuitioned for 3 kindles before winning me the game.
-Mogg Fanatic under the new rules is no longer the Mogg Fantastic. If anything, he should be Fireslinger instead. The life loss isn't a problem; I've been beaten by a CounterPhoenix deck at 1 life before (and this was with my speedy damaging GoblinCraft deck.)
-Capsize Lock is tough without memory crystal or Awakening. I can see it keeping a nasty enchantment or artifact off the board, but you need to cast it multiple times a turn or else it's not as effective. I've seen MonoBlue Counter decks use medallions to abuse capsize and whispers; I think this decktype doesn't have the room for that kind of capsize lock.
-Portcullis looks fun, but not being able to get those phoenixes back because of a smart opponent is no fun.
-Thalakos Drifters is... eh... his potential for beatdown is superflous; CounterPhoenix wins eventually with an inevitable phoenix beatdown. Propaganda should stop shadow attacks; if it's too much, why not use wall of diffusion instead? (actually, not a bad idea...)
-Stalking Stones I think is good, especially once you establish control, but the lack of being able to make blue or red mana hurts it... this deck is mana intensive.
-Burgeoning is SO tempting. With 28ish lands, being able to have double the lands your opponent has can be awesome... too bad color splashing in Tempest Block sucks. UGR is so fragile (very few of the decks I've designed for this block even try those 3 colors.)
-Treasure Trove seems better than whispers. When I've established a lock, I still need as much mana open for forbid and other stuff. treasure trove can help a forbid lock without the phoenix... but the fact it's an enchantment leaves it open to disenchant. I dunno... whispers would be better combined with capsize and memory crystal, but that's taking up valuable slots.
-sapphire medallion is not as good as memory crystal. you use the medallion for only two spells: whispers and capsize. 1 memory crystal = 2 medallions, so you can have 3 copies in your deck and still benefit greatly by having only one in play.
This is the current version of my decklist. I've used Randy's version as a skeleton, taking out the Mogg Fanatics, the Dismisses, the Shocks, a Shard Phoenix, and a Mana Leak. I added in Propaganda and Whispers of the Muse. It has one big addition that I haven't seen elsewhere: Seismic Assault. Even though it costs RRR (making yet another tough-to-splash card compared to Shock) it completely transforms all your lands into Shocks. You now no longer have 4 Shocks, but potentially 26 (not counting the 3 mountains needed to cast the enchantment in the first place.) That's a potential 52 points of damage, compared to 8 from 4 Shock. This really capitalizes on CounterPhoenix's high land count; even when trying never to miss a land drop, there are always spare lands in my hand whenever I played. This creates three benefits: 1) being able to do something with all that extra land, 2) create a threat where when your hand has cards in it, the opponent never knows when a land will be discarded for damage, and 3) it allows you to beat MonoBlue Control, Mirror Match, and Humility decks once you successfully land a Seismic Assault on the table. You no longer need to fight through counterspells; 10 lands drawn and you win. Which this deck will do, since it has 50% land and Whispers of the Muse. (The muse is added back in to complement the Seismic Assault, to help create a second Forbid lock, and for overall card advantage.)
The sideboard has the Portcullis, Stalking Stones, and Thalakos Drifters that Randy's version has, but the similarities end there. Instead there are Legacy's Allure (all around great card to deal with any creature threat except Scragnoth), and Torture Chambers (also handles any creature threat with Pro red). I don't know if those 2 Stalking Stones slots should be Shattering Pulse, Whim of Volrath, Interdict, Furnace of Rath, Bottle Gnomes, Hammerhead Shark, Havoc, wasteland, or Grindstone.
I think speed is the only thing that beats this deck; speed and luck. That or an even stronger control deck. I've had fast decks bring CounterPhoenix down to 1 life, then lose once he established control. White Weenie with Cataclysm apparently beats it; that and theoretically Hatred, assuming they don't counter it, or get propaganda or burn spells. You can probably fight Hatred by bringing in more creatures that can block Shadow as well as burn. Another problem for this deck seems to be Tradewind Awakening; the best thing for that maybe would be Searing Touch to take advantage of their Awakening, or maybe then bring in Capsize targeting your own permanent to fizzle their capsize if they try targeting one of your permanents. Then use their Awakening to fuel your own Capsize and beat them at their own game, targeting their creatures first so that Tradewind Rider sits there useless. Capsize may also be helpful against a Humility Deck, just in case they successfully drop Humilty.
14 Island
10 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Caldera Lake
Creatures
1 Mogg Fanatic
4 Shard Phoenix
Spells
4 Intuition
4 Mana Leak
4 Counterspell
4 Forbid
2 Dismiss
4 Shock
3 Capsize
1 Scroll Rack
3 Mogg Fanatic
3 Portcullis
3 Thalakos Drifters
3 Shattering Pulse
1 Dismiss
2 Stalking Stones
"After Lisbon I decided all the changes I made really were improvements. If I was to play this at another tournament I think would add a 2nd Scroll Rack and pull the last Caldera Lake. I think I would also try Ertai's Meddling in the sideboard instead of Stalking Stones. "
This is another archetype that has no perfect decklist. But I am tempted to find the perfect decklist for this one, because I believe it exists somehow. This deck contains a lot of card advantage strategies, but it's tough to know which is the best strategy out of all of them. Here's what I know:
-Counter Phoenix is mana hungry. The Forbid lock, with 2 shard phoenixes requires 9 mana. Capsize bouncing requires 6 mana. Recurring pyroclasm lock with Phoenix requires 8 mana per turn. Most decklists run lots of land, almost half. Randy himself said he always used Whispers of the Muse to try to search for more land.
-Shard Phoenix is essential, but most every game I ever played with it, I drew an intuition before Shard Phoenix, and I'd search for 3 phoenixes, then I'd recur them and bring them into action. 4 Phoenixes main deck may be too many; you don't have the mana to be recurring all 4 of them, and the first intuition you get will search for 3. Plus, I've controlled the board with only one before. It may free up 1 slot to just stick with 3 phoenixes and 4 intuition.
-Propagandas are incredible. 4 are necessary; I very often intuitioned for 3, and wished I had 1 more copy in the deck. It completely shuts down creatures based attacks, you don't even need Hand to Hand (a very interesting enchantment which not a lot of people know combines with propaganda to make creatures unable to attack you. I thought about making a hand to Hand/propaganda lock deck, but it's too close to CounterPhoenix anyways.)
-The scroll racks are strange. On the surface they seem helpful, but it's so tough to dig in your deck when you're putting what you don't need on top of your library; you'll be racking those back in your hand.
-Kindle may be better than shock, since you'll be playing long games and I've intuitioned for 3 kindles before winning me the game.
-Mogg Fanatic under the new rules is no longer the Mogg Fantastic. If anything, he should be Fireslinger instead. The life loss isn't a problem; I've been beaten by a CounterPhoenix deck at 1 life before (and this was with my speedy damaging GoblinCraft deck.)
-Capsize Lock is tough without memory crystal or Awakening. I can see it keeping a nasty enchantment or artifact off the board, but you need to cast it multiple times a turn or else it's not as effective. I've seen MonoBlue Counter decks use medallions to abuse capsize and whispers; I think this decktype doesn't have the room for that kind of capsize lock.
-Portcullis looks fun, but not being able to get those phoenixes back because of a smart opponent is no fun.
-Thalakos Drifters is... eh... his potential for beatdown is superflous; CounterPhoenix wins eventually with an inevitable phoenix beatdown. Propaganda should stop shadow attacks; if it's too much, why not use wall of diffusion instead? (actually, not a bad idea...)
-Stalking Stones I think is good, especially once you establish control, but the lack of being able to make blue or red mana hurts it... this deck is mana intensive.
-Burgeoning is SO tempting. With 28ish lands, being able to have double the lands your opponent has can be awesome... too bad color splashing in Tempest Block sucks. UGR is so fragile (very few of the decks I've designed for this block even try those 3 colors.)
-Treasure Trove seems better than whispers. When I've established a lock, I still need as much mana open for forbid and other stuff. treasure trove can help a forbid lock without the phoenix... but the fact it's an enchantment leaves it open to disenchant. I dunno... whispers would be better combined with capsize and memory crystal, but that's taking up valuable slots.
-sapphire medallion is not as good as memory crystal. you use the medallion for only two spells: whispers and capsize. 1 memory crystal = 2 medallions, so you can have 3 copies in your deck and still benefit greatly by having only one in play.
4 reflecting pool
1 caldera lake
14 island
10 mountain
Creatures
3 shard phoenix
Spells
3 whispers of the muse
4 counterspell
3 mana leak
4 forbid
4 intuition
3 propaganda
3 capsize
3 seismic assault
1 scroll rack
3 thalakos drifters
3 torture chamber
2 stalking stones
4 legacy's allure
3 portcullis
This is the current version of my decklist. I've used Randy's version as a skeleton, taking out the Mogg Fanatics, the Dismisses, the Shocks, a Shard Phoenix, and a Mana Leak. I added in Propaganda and Whispers of the Muse. It has one big addition that I haven't seen elsewhere: Seismic Assault. Even though it costs RRR (making yet another tough-to-splash card compared to Shock) it completely transforms all your lands into Shocks. You now no longer have 4 Shocks, but potentially 26 (not counting the 3 mountains needed to cast the enchantment in the first place.) That's a potential 52 points of damage, compared to 8 from 4 Shock. This really capitalizes on CounterPhoenix's high land count; even when trying never to miss a land drop, there are always spare lands in my hand whenever I played. This creates three benefits: 1) being able to do something with all that extra land, 2) create a threat where when your hand has cards in it, the opponent never knows when a land will be discarded for damage, and 3) it allows you to beat MonoBlue Control, Mirror Match, and Humility decks once you successfully land a Seismic Assault on the table. You no longer need to fight through counterspells; 10 lands drawn and you win. Which this deck will do, since it has 50% land and Whispers of the Muse. (The muse is added back in to complement the Seismic Assault, to help create a second Forbid lock, and for overall card advantage.)
The sideboard has the Portcullis, Stalking Stones, and Thalakos Drifters that Randy's version has, but the similarities end there. Instead there are Legacy's Allure (all around great card to deal with any creature threat except Scragnoth), and Torture Chambers (also handles any creature threat with Pro red). I don't know if those 2 Stalking Stones slots should be Shattering Pulse, Whim of Volrath, Interdict, Furnace of Rath, Bottle Gnomes, Hammerhead Shark, Havoc, wasteland, or Grindstone.
Other decklists:
4 Mana Leak
4 Forbid
4 Counterspell
4 Shard Phoenix
4 Shock
3 Capsize
3 Intuition
1 Searing Touch
3 Mox Diamond
2 Reflecting Pool
14 Island
10 Mountain
3 Stalking Stones
3 Whim of Volrath
3 Legacy's Allure
2 Interdict
2 Torture Chamber
2 Shattering Pulse
3 Capsizes
4 Forbids
4 Counterspells
4 Mana Leaks
2 Dismisses
4 Intuitions
4 Shocks
1 Mogg Fanatic
4 Shard Phoenix
13 Island
9 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pools
2 Wastelands
2 Furnace of Rath(TECH!!!)
2 Bottle Gnomes
2 Hammerhead Sharks(DA BOMB!!!)
2 Treasure Trove(These aren't good... 2 more sharks would be better)
3 Mogg Fanatics
3 Thalakos Drifters
1 Portcullis(Couldn't get the third furnace of rath)
14 Island
9 Mountain
4 Tradewind Rider
4 Hammerhead Shark
2 Mogg Fanatic
4 Shard Phoenix
4 Forbid
4 Counterspell
2 Whispers of the Muse
4 Legacy’s Allure
1 Mana Leak
4 Havoc
4 Wasteland
1 Grindstone
3 Mana leak
3 Dismiss
I think speed is the only thing that beats this deck; speed and luck. That or an even stronger control deck. I've had fast decks bring CounterPhoenix down to 1 life, then lose once he established control. White Weenie with Cataclysm apparently beats it; that and theoretically Hatred, assuming they don't counter it, or get propaganda or burn spells. You can probably fight Hatred by bringing in more creatures that can block Shadow as well as burn. Another problem for this deck seems to be Tradewind Awakening; the best thing for that maybe would be Searing Touch to take advantage of their Awakening, or maybe then bring in Capsize targeting your own permanent to fizzle their capsize if they try targeting one of your permanents. Then use their Awakening to fuel your own Capsize and beat them at their own game, targeting their creatures first so that Tradewind Rider sits there useless. Capsize may also be helpful against a Humility Deck, just in case they successfully drop Humilty.
EDH Decks:
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Ezuri, Renegade Leader 1v1
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher 1v1
Hythonia the Cruel
Trying to build:
Jenara, Asura of War
Designing a Custom Set:
Clash of the Cultures: 5 Wedges, 5 Cultures
Providing Artwork for:
Archester: Frontier of Steam