MTG Salvation

Well, it seems a bit better. However, I am not a huge fan of Sterling Grove in this particular deck. It takes up needed slots for creature control and counterspells. Mystical Tutor....well, thats a tough call. I put it in the SB as a Cunning Wish target, as Wish can grab a multitude of things at instant speed. I use the MT in my SB as a Wish target to fetch ***, and I am packing 3 *** maindeck. Some of the enchantments you run seem to be meta dependent, like Arcane Laboratory/Pithing Needle. If you can help it, I would side them out, in favor of more creature control elements, personally. I am not the biggest fan of Explosives or Cursed Scroll either, since I think your better off winning off a Decree of Justice or a creature in this build. But, DOJ is tutorable via Mystical Tutor. I like Scroll Rack though, and I may try it. Sterling Grove just doesnt seem to do enough, even with its untargetability and enchantment search. I would rather be packing Cunning Wish and some actual removal like Seal of Cleansing/Disenchant or something. I am skeptical that a single Island Sanctuary/***/Humility will be enough to halt commited aggro decks. I would at least look into adding STP. How is your Goblins game looking?

Suggestions would be to get some dual-lands.....Tundra, and the U/W fetchland, Flooded Strand. Strand can search for the dual-land, Tundra, or any basic island or plains. Helps thin the library and help avoid color screw. I dont know what your metagame is like, but your deck is decent. My advice, drop Eternal Dragon and Solemn Similacrum. Morphling is cool, and I would look into Exalted Angel as well as Decree of Justice. I would drop some of the enchantments in favor of Enlightened Tutor, and run the key enchamntments as 1 of's. Oh, and look into Moat, it will help, or perhaps Silent Arbiter to help against swarm decks, both are tutorable. Oh, and packing Disenchant or Seal of Cleansing is advisable.

Well, so far in testing, Island Sanctuary is ok, I tried using a single Howling Mine to Tutor up, and use that to fuel the lock. Still takes 2 cards though, which isnt the worst, but I dont know if its really necessary. My usual gameplan versus Goblins is to use STP in the first couple turn, bust out a ***, then seal the deal and drop Humility. Oh, and for the record, I also tried using Revernce, as it halts weenie aggro, but, still doesnt do jank versus AS and FS. I was also going to suggest trying Silent Arbiter as another method to halt swarm jank. Thats my newest techy attempt. I would try Peacekeeper, but he is a 1/1, and he can't be Tutored up. The main thing, nothing exists to simply stop the swarm, but merely slow it down, which is fine. No matter what, removal can't be underestimated. You need them both, thats why I play the full suite, STP, ***, Humility/Prayer, and possibly Silent Arbiter. Oh, and here is another obvious consideration as well........watch for Meddling Mage. Do not underestimate this guy to wreak havoc if you don't have multiple ways of crushing him. Sounds a bit paranoid, but he is popular, and he is played in decks that also contain permission elements.

My main reason for running Counterbalance was really to hose combo decks, and give control a powerful weapon to aid. U/W control/Landstillish decks can do decently against aggro, but get dropped kicked by Solidarity. Counterbalance, in a control shell, where all the best creature control was available, Tutoring and CB itself offered control decks a poweful ally indeed. So, get back with any techy suggestions.

Personally, I like the Brainfreeze win. It requires cards already necessary to make Counterbalance operate (Top), and just one other piece, Helm of Awakening. It allows to combo off into a lethal Brainfreeze with Counterbalance backup.

Out of all the creature control white enchantments, I prefer Humility over any other, simply because it has not stipulations, as it causes all creatuers in play to become 1/1's and lose all abilites, another key part of Humility. In conjunction with Orim's Prayer, it can produce a soft creature lock. While Moat stops all non-flying attackers, they are enough decks packing flyers (think Angel Stompy, Faerie Stompy) that would make Moat sub-par. Althougth I like Island Sanctuary, it needs another component even still to get around its detrament, and still has the drawback of Moat. So, all in all, I think Humility wins out. Coupled with STP and ***, you have a nice creature control package.

I think Eldariel makes good points. Your manabase seems exceptionally vulnerable to Goblins. I also play a Counterbalance deck, as blue and white, and I play a full 8 counterspells plus CB. And, I play Enlightened Tutor to fetch silver bullets, like Humility, Caltrops, Moat, etc. Plus, I run removal in STP and ***, and Cunning Wish (giving me flexibility). To me, it seems the deck would function more smoothly as 2 colors, and its still vulnerable to the Wasteland/Port duo. Anyway, here is the list I run:

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
3 Counterbalance

4 Sensei's Divning Top
4 Brainstorm
4 Cunning Wish
3 Enlightened Tutor

3 STP
3 ***
1 Humility
1 Orim's Prayer
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Brainfreeze

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
7 Plains
7 Islands

SB:

1 Spiritual Focus
1 STP
1 Rule of Law
1 Pithing Needle
1 Argivian Find
1 Brainfreeze
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Stifle
1 Misdirection
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Disenchant

I like the idea of Island Sanctuary, however I have no way to get around its detrament. I tend to stick to the Humility/Prayer combo to halt creatures, plus with the removal like STP and ***, things become easier with a variety of ways to neutralize attackers and ability creatures. I opted to go for the win of 2 Tops+Helm to draw into a lethal Brainfreeze, which has worked out much better, akin to Zero's list, plus it left more room for creature control. The sideboard is easily tweaked for any metgame because of the power of the Cunning Wish and Enlightened Tutor toolkit, in full effect.
Well, this is my build of a Counterbalance control variant. Comments welcome.

Personally, I am a fan of Counterbalance. I think a monoblue control deck based around Counterbalance could prove very effective. Counterbalance acts akin to a one sided Chalice of the Void, and can help some problematic decks, like Solidarity, which can play around counterspells. Counterbalance also does away with the draw-counter-refill methodology, as itself is a spell control engine, in a permanent, making it a re-usable resource. I think the deck can stay monoblue in color, and perform efficiently, as you still have access to the required board control elements in Powder Keg/Shackles/Bounce, etc. I just wanted to post a sample decklist for critique:

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Counterbalance

3 Vedalken Shackles
3 Repeal
2 Powder Keg

4 Sensei's Divning Top
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish

2 Morphling
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
19 Islands

SB:

1 Fact or Fiction
1 Echoing Truth
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Evacuation
2 Misdirection
2 Wash Out
3 Propaganda

I am sure, tweaks are needed, here and there, but I think this could be potentially a strong build for monoblue. I really think there is alot of unexplored potential in Counterbalance. Comments and Ideas?

First, hi, I am Razefire, a new poster here on the forum. Has anyone considered Counterbalance for MUC? I think it can be very powerful, as a type of one sided Chalice of the Void. And, it really helps matchups like Solidarity and combo, as a spell control engine, which MUC has serious trouble with. Of course, it needs to be built around, with things like Top. I think it can fit either a control or aggro/control model.

For MUC, you still get the spell control, and aid of Top for library manipulation alongside Brainstorm. And, you still have access to board control elements like Powder Keg/Shackles/Bounce, and possibly Wash Out.

I will post a potential monoblue Counterbalance deck for critique:



This is a rough draft. However, I did take into consideration, the top decks, and keep the deck monoblue. Ideas?

Deck-tags help a bit. Please use them. For future reference, they are [*deck] [/*deck] minus the *'s. Thanks!