A simple blue deck [LITE]

[GRUNT]

Simply Blue (60 cards)

Creatures (12)
4 Daring Apprentice
4 Man o War
2 Rainbow Efreet
2 Archivist

Spells and Enchantments (28)
4 Force Spike
4 Counterspell
4 Manaleak
4 Convolute
4 Dismiss
4 Hesitation
4 Control Magic

Lands
20 Islands


These are based on cards I have :P. I don't have those uber cards like Force of Will :(.

The premise of the deck is simple- counter everything your opponent has until you can get out your efreet, and then protect her with phasing and counterspells. I'm not sure about Control Magic, but I'd like some way of dealing with creatures that manage to elude my counterspells and enter play. I figure control magic would be good since my opponent not only loses a creature, but I get a new one :). Man o War serves the same purpose.

With such a simple deck, I'm sure there's not too much to say, but I'm also sure it can be improved, so let's hear your thoughts (=.

[UnknownKnowned]

haha, dare i say throw in a isochron if you can

mass boomerang spells i think.. washout, upheavel, you know the idea.. you could phase the efreet, upheavel or something, dunno.
bit tired for me to be giving in depth advice

:coffee:

[PerfectCell]

"Simply Blue v2" 60 cards

Creatures - 14
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Man o' War
4 Thieving Magpie
2 Fog Bank

Other Spells - 24
4 Force Spike
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
4 Intervene
4 Hesitation
2 Control Magic
2 Boomerang

Lands - 22
22 Islands

Narrowed your focus a bit here. The cheapest counters available, both in $ and casting cost, and they've got two purposes: disrupt your opponent and protect your assets. Control Magic is cute, but not key, but I kept a few just in case someone casts something you really want. Intervene is huge; most people don't realize there are 1 cc straight counters, and so will attempt a Terror with some mana open for the Force Spike...then cry when it's wasted. I cut your more expensive cc counters simply because you want to be able to drop more than one a turn. Boomerang is in there as a "just in case".
There are a few more creatures, simply because I'm worried about aggro decks getting by you. The Man o' War and Fog Bank should keep the ground clogged, while the Hatchling is basically a walking Force Spike that can still damage them and the Magpie not only hurts them but gives card advantage.

[UnknownKnowned]

you could throw in envelop, i ike that silly card.
nice build PC
dont think it needs 4x magpie thou

apathy or volraths curse
phantom warrior
maybe a time ebb or two?- bounces back to top of library, effects card drawing
i still say mass bounce like upheavel or wash out
propaganda ^^

ill test out PCs deck in a few and then test out a build of mine
:coffee:

[Twinkee]

mmmm definitely more land. You never want to leave yourself open with a possible drop of a spell... so i would say 22 would be a fine number if you have some sort of consistent drop. Mainly because you have to achieve 6mana at least so you can drop the efreet without worries.

Spiketail Hatchilng and Thieving magpie are often seen in blue sky decks.

You can drop the control magic for Echoing truth, unless you want to have the chance hit the land early, echoing truth is usually the way to go... and you are more worried about creatures in any case.

Instead of Dismiss, why not try rewind? It's a solid non-conditional counterspell that reboosts you mana... plus in your early game, you already have it taken care of with 12 other spells.

I would suggest some other form of draw as well.... being that your deck is like this, Stand still would fit into the quite welll, although it's rather expensive. Accumulate Knowledge is nice... and ofcourse Brainstorm isn't a bad 'filter' card either... as well as frantic search would also help.

Twink

[Neuromancer]

Spire Golem is an excellent blocker that can come out in turn 4 and leave 2 mana open for countering.

You need a finisher there: Rainbow Efreet and Waterspout Djinn fill that role.

[PerfectCell]

"Simply Blue v3" 60 cards

Creatures - 11
3 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Man o' War
3 Spire Golem
2 Cognivore

Other Spells - 27
4 Force Spike
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
4 Intervene
4 Hesitation
3 Echoing Truth
4 Brainstorm

Lands - 22
22 Islands

How about that, hmm? Cognivore can be substituted for your blue gigantic tank of choice. I'm leaving things like Meloku out of here in purpose, because it's a cheap (moral) way to win.

[Twinkee]

All this depends on how you build blue sky... you can obviously run just as little as 10counterspells, backing the weenies up with stuff like sword of fire and ice... curiousity, or mask of memory.

Spire Golem would be excellent in this deck.. since it comes down cheap (could even be free!) and if you run thirst of knowledge, you can also pitch it in instead of 2cards...

With Grunt's build.. creatures with evasion and some sort of ability would be ideal since his build is geared to more of protecting his creatures with counterspells, not enhancing them.. Perhaps with some sort of bounce, Rave guild-master may be the kill condition in this.

Just some thoughts

Edit - Kira, Great Glass-Spinner :)

[GRUNT]

Well, firstly- thanks for the advice, all! It means a lot to me :). I didn't think I'd get so many replies :P.

I'm not sure which is better- the fog bank, or the Spire Golem. After all, the the Golem won't be of much use against a boros swiftblade with a sunforger, but then again, I guess that's what my man o wars are for :P.

I guess I'll try running Spire Golems :P.

I'm not so sure about the spiketail hatchling. I mean, they're usually only good early in the game, when my opponent doesn't have too much mana, but what if I'm going second, and on his third turn, he drops a swiftblade or something? I'd have no way of countering unless I force spike, and THEN sacrifice my hatchling, which wouldn't be very economical =/. Still, that's just theorycraft, it may work in actual play :P.

I must admit though, Cognivore is my one gripe about the builds that have been proposed...it's just so expensive :P. I think I can do enough damage with my other flyers to win (=. By the time I get a cognivore out, my opponent will also probably have a lot of mana, which means that the hatchlings and force spikes will be useless. I'll need 9 mana (save 1 for intervene) to protect my fatty :(. I think I'm better off just relying on my small critters or rainbow efreets :P.

My favourite rendition of the deck is Perfectcell's second one, actually...but I think I'll put a dab of version 3 in :P.

Creatures - 10
3 Spiketail Hatchling
2 Man o' War
2 Thieving Magpie
3 Spire Golem

Other Spells - 28
4 Force Spike
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
4 Intervene
4 Hesitation
4 Echoing Truth
4 Brainstorm

22 Islands

What do you guys think? And thanks again for all your advice (=. I didn't even know Spiketail Hatchling existed until Perfectcell mentioned it :P.

[Twinkee]

This is the list I would run under your counterspell heavy idea..

Creature: 18
4 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Kira, glass spinner
3 Man o' War
3 Spire Golem
2 thieving magpie

Other Spells 20
4 Force Spike
4 Mana leak
4 Counterspell
2 Rewind
3 Echoing Truth
3 Frantic Search

Land 22
22 Island

To be blunt, you don't need 20 counterspells to counter everything that your opponent has, as long as you have enough draw, you'll have more than enough counterspells you'll ever need. In my build though, there is 14 instant counters, and 7creatures with some form of counterspell on it.. so a 1/3 of my deck has some sort of counterspell in it, not bad i suppose.

I included kira, glass spinner in my list as the replacement of intervene since it pretty much gives all your creature some intervine protection.
Rewind and Frantic search are all 'free' spells. And with 8 different outlets of draw source.. I think it is plenty. If you want to be wacky, Coastal Piracy is very fun as well.
The Ninja is included because most of your creature has evasion, it is a source of draw, and it has synergy with man o' war for more board control.

I tried it solo on app for around 5times, 1 time I got mana screwed and stuck in 2 lands.. rest of the time I had a counterspell availiable.

Twink

[Neuromancer]

I'd toss in one or two Quicksand to handle problem weenies.

[PerfectCell]

I didn't include Kira because it's expensive. It's a good effect, and it doesn't come cheap, especially because it doesn't cost 9 like Nullstone Gargoyle. (We're talking $ here)
Having Deep Hours and Magpie is redundant; the Magpie succeeds as an obvious but unanswerable threat, whereas the Ninja is good on either evaders (if they're already evading, just stick with the Magpie anyway) or on weenies you don't want to block. Given that, I had an amusing idea:
Saprazzan Heir.
Go look it up. If it's blocked, it's a no hassle Ancestral Recall. However, it's just a 1/1, so most people would rather take the damage. I just had a hilarious image of the numerous speedy mono-blue Ninja Control decks out there with this little pain in the ass, and was amused. So amused, I'm going to make a Ninja's Heirs deck and post it sometime this week.
Back to your deck, Grunt, I'd playtest each of the options you like. It's mainly a question of creature-heavy (18?!) vs spell heavy. The Hatchling is good early control, but I can see subbing him out to increase Spire Golem by one, Man o' War by one, and add something else you like. Either way, good ideas.

[Twinkee]

Kira, glass spinner isn't that expensive, it's going at an adverage of about $1.25 each on motl.
I've gotten a set of 'em for around $5 before, it's really not that hard to get a hold of 'em, and they tighten up the deck, especially this counter heavy deck much more.

Magpie is clearly the "better" creature with it's draw+damage, but with all the evasion, the ninja can easily come into play on turn 4 dealing two damage and a draw. No, it doesn't have evasion, but it shouldn't have to worry too much about it when the deck's idea is to counter everything. Those that gets through will tend to be weenies that would probably get bounced back in any case. It's all a preference, I prefer drawing early, even if that means it may only be once... nothing bad about getting card advantage early in the game.

Twink

[GRUNT]

Well bleh :P. The dude I get my cards from didn't have any spiketail hatchlings, and I wasn't willing to pay his price for the magpies, so my current deck is now like this. I'm playing tomorrow, so I don't have time to get new cards, but I'll fix it up once I get the magpies and the spiketails :D. In the meantime, I'm substituting them with Archivist and Daring Apprentice, respectively :P.

Creatures - 10
2 Daring Apprentice
3 Man o' War
2 Archivist
4 Spire Golem

Other Spells - 28
3 Force Spike
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
4 Intervene
4 Hesitation
4 Echoing Truth
4 Brainstorm

22 Islands

hehe, for some reason, I could only find 3 force spikes :P. So I threw in one more Man o War :P. I hope this works :P.

[GRUNT]

Wow, I just tried this deck out today and it actually works pretty well...

Man o War and echoing truth handle early aggro very well....

There was a very cool moment, when I attacked with my man o war, my opponent blocked with jackal pup, then I echoing truthed my man o war, killing his pup, making him take 2 damage, and returning my man o war to my hand :D.

I just took lots of early hits, but once I had control, I kept it...it was fun :P. Usually, I play green stompy decks or red burn, so it feels nice to have people ask you permission to cast stuff for a change :D.

I find that Archivist works very well, and there were situations where he/she (depending on which set) was more useful than a thieving magpie would have been...I'm considering just keeping them, but I'll try it with the magpie as well...

For some reason, in two games I ended up with 2 archivists in play, and with my insane card-drawing power, I could have milled myself to death :P. So I just took it easy and just stopped drawing cards with archivist, and attacked with them :P.

Spire Golems are AMAZING in this deck! It IS fun casting it on your fourth turn and still having 2 mana to counter stuff with :D. Usually, at the end of my opponent's turn, I echoing truth whatever creature I can't handle, then on my turn, I drop my Golem and a hesitation :). Very cool, indeed.

I'd consider this a very good alternative for someone who'd like to play blue control but doesn't have a lot of money to spend. It's a very cheap deck to make, and works suprisingly well...

By the way, did anyone else notice that the text on the card 'hesitation', the 'h' isn't capitalized? What's up with that? :P

[Twinkee]

There was a very cool moment, when I attacked with my man o war, my opponent blocked with jackal pup, then I echoing truthed my man o war, killing his pup, making him take 2 damage, and returning my man o war to my hand . I don't think his jackal pups takes the damage then ;).

Glad you had fun with a blue deck, try it this time with fliers+pumpers+no counterspells! It only makes the humiliation worse for your opponents ;).

[Neuromancer]

Blue Skies has always been really fun. Tons of cheap flyers, bounce and just a hint of countermagic to throw your opponent off-balance 8)

[Emperor Crusty]

For some reason, in two games I ended up with 2 archivists in play, and with my insane card-drawing power, I could have milled myself to death :P. So I just took it easy and just stopped drawing cards with archivist, and attacked with them :P.

depending on what type of tournement expansion your playing you could always put in 1 or 2 feldon's cane to help with your milling yourself to death problem.

[GRUNT]

There was a very cool moment, when I attacked with my man o war, my opponent blocked with jackal pup, then I echoing truthed my man o war, killing his pup, making him take 2 damage, and returning my man o war to my hand . I don't think his jackal pups takes the damage then ;).

Glad you had fun with a blue deck, try it this time with fliers+pumpers+no counterspells! It only makes the humiliation worse for your opponents ;).

Ever since 6th ed, apparently I can do stuff like block something with a fleeting image, have it deal damage, then return it to my hand before damage resolves...

I used to play in the style whereby a creature no longer deals damage if you return it to your hand or phase it out or whatever, but apparently they changed the rules in 6th ed o_0

[PerfectCell]

Yeah, after combat damage goes on the stack you can return it. Excellent call. Glad to hear it worked out well with the hybrid.