I'm looking to try my hand at mono-blue again. Unlike some other monos, mono-Blue isn't really lacking too much in EDH, so I thought I might be able to make the deck more interesting by forgoing the main blue answer of counterspells in favour of tap down and bounce effects, as well as whichever other blue removal is around (ie Imprisoned in the Moon)
So what do you guys reckon are the best examples of these cards? Best one off the top of my head is Cyclonic Rift - hate that card with a passion but in a mono-colour no-counters deck I might finally have a home for my single copy
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EDH RRGrenzo plays your deck, GGYeva's mono green control, WW9-tails trys desperately for monowhite not to suck RWBUTymna and Kraum's saboteur tribal, UWG Kestia's Enchantress Aggro, RUB Jeleva casts big dumb spells, RGB Vaevictis' big critters can kill your critters hard
Surprised nobody said Vapor Snag. Great tempo play, also pairs well with discard...
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Modern:
URB Grixis Delver URB
WUB Ad Nauseam WUB
(On Lantern Control)"A guy who literally just sits there and mills cards he doesn't like from your library while he slowly, slowly kills you this way."
"If a person's profile includes anime or My Little Pony, feel free to ignore everything they say."
brine elemental plus vesuvan shapeshifter is awesome. snap is fairly decent. capsize since it has buyback. vedalken shackles is exceptional. If you play alot of creatures beguiler of wills is sweet. You can also play "pingers"....think prodigal sorcerer accompanied with willbreaker. Of course copycat cards are practically always useful. The mass bouncey spells. Empress Galina and memnarch. I think clone effects and stealing effects coupled with more creatures that draw, bounce, posess etc would be quite fun. Good luck!
My mono-blue control deck relies on bouncing stuff much more than it does counterspells. Heidar, Rimewind Master is a good general for this strategy, as he also enables broken stuff like Stasis locks, if you are into that sort of play.
Stealing stuff and then polymorphing it feeds your own board state with someone else's creatures before they can get the creature back. Cards like Ray of Command to slam someone with their own fatty, then Polymorph that so they don't get it back. Even more epic is Reins of Power into Mass Polymorphing their whole board, then you get your original board back. Jalira, Master Polymorphist gives a great choice as Commander to anchor that theme, too.
Polymorphist's Jest works almost as good as Sudden Spoiling. If you need polymorph on a stick, Proteus Staff gives a solid defense/disruption option. When it gets right down to it, blue has brutal, brutal asymetric warfare options.
Freed from the Real is an interesting card. Most of the time, you're going to be using it to abuse it, but sometimes it's used to keep things tapped down.
Actually, blue does a lot of tapdown effects.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Hurkyl's Recall can be surprisingly effective. It can also do interesting things if there's control effects going around (at it bounces artifacts owned by the player, not controlled by them), and you can use it to save your own artifacts from a sweeper.
I don't want to go hard stax (such as with Heidar) as it wouldn't fit my playgroup, but Sunder could be interesting. I really like Submerge as well, that is definitely secret tech
Cheers for the suggestions everyone, and keep them coming! Going the no-counters route looks like it could lead to a hell of an interesting deck
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EDH RRGrenzo plays your deck, GGYeva's mono green control, WW9-tails trys desperately for monowhite not to suck RWBUTymna and Kraum's saboteur tribal, UWG Kestia's Enchantress Aggro, RUB Jeleva casts big dumb spells, RGB Vaevictis' big critters can kill your critters hard
So what do you guys reckon are the best examples of these cards? Best one off the top of my head is Cyclonic Rift - hate that card with a passion but in a mono-colour no-counters deck I might finally have a home for my single copy
RRGrenzo plays your deck, GGYeva's mono green control, WW9-tails trys desperately for monowhite not to suck
RWBUTymna and Kraum's saboteur tribal, UWG Kestia's Enchantress Aggro, RUB Jeleva casts big dumb spells, RGB Vaevictis' big critters can kill your critters hard
Arena Standard
UUUU Tempo, since before it was cool
Various Wx decks running Fountain of Renewal and Day of Glory
Anything I can cram Chaos Wand in to
Worthwhile bounce:
EDIT: If you are looking for anwsers in general, I would also recommend cards that use your opponents resources, like Clone Legion, Rite of Replication, Bribery, Acquire.
UR Mizzix of the Izmagnus ~~~ Build your own win-condition: Finite Spellslinging
UR Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer ~~~ We are the Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic ~~~ A Guide to dying slowly
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose ~~~ Marchesa's undying Marionettes
RGW Mayael the Anima ~~~ All Hail the Big Chungus
GWU Chulane, Teller of Tales ~~~ Permanents Only ETB Shenanigans
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant ~~~ Sidisi's Restless Servants
WUBRG The Ur-Dragon ~~~ Dragons eat your face
Generic blue spells like Twincast and Insidious Will can do work.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Be wary of Quicksilver Fountain. That card angers people MUCH more than I thought it would.
A powerhouse card, especially late game, is Ertai's Meddling. This allows you to "counter" spells cant can't be countered. Also, Time Stop.
Ensnare is good in a pinch, as is Illusionist's Gambit.
You might want a Minamo, School at Water's Edge, but definitely a Skyline Cascade.
As for creatures, I recommend Fog Bank, Guard Gomazoa, and Dream Fighter. That's right, dream fighter can chump block trample.
There's also Chain of Vapor, Unsummon, Curfew, and Word of Undoing. And that's just the 1cmc instants.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade
Polymorphist's Jest works almost as good as Sudden Spoiling. If you need polymorph on a stick, Proteus Staff gives a solid defense/disruption option. When it gets right down to it, blue has brutal, brutal asymetric warfare options.
Actually, blue does a lot of tapdown effects.
On phasing:
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Treachery is one of the best theft effects.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Cheers for the suggestions everyone, and keep them coming! Going the no-counters route looks like it could lead to a hell of an interesting deck
RRGrenzo plays your deck, GGYeva's mono green control, WW9-tails trys desperately for monowhite not to suck
RWBUTymna and Kraum's saboteur tribal, UWG Kestia's Enchantress Aggro, RUB Jeleva casts big dumb spells, RGB Vaevictis' big critters can kill your critters hard
Arena Standard
UUUU Tempo, since before it was cool
Various Wx decks running Fountain of Renewal and Day of Glory
Anything I can cram Chaos Wand in to
Maybe build a Patron of the Moon dedk?
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.