If you weren’t immediately turned off by the title of my latest Raiding the Dollar Bins article, congratulations, you fared better than my college roommate. One of the integral parts of Blue in Magic: the Gathering is the counterspell. Counterspells are the bread and butter of a good Blue Control deck. Counters give you the chance to say no to your opponent’s shenanigans and keep that ridiculous combo from going anywhere.

Fortunately for my sake, and yours, those are NOT the counters that we’re talking about today. I’m talking counters counters. You know, creature counters, +1/+1 counters, time counters, shell counters, whatever kind of counter floats your boat counters; those pesky beads, coins, and potato chips that sit on top of your cards. This week, we’re playing around with some counters, and we’ll see where we go.

Let me take a brief moment to interject something here. Off to your right, you’ll see a poll, asking what kind of decks you’d like to see in soon coming Raiding the Dollar Bins articles. Please take a few seconds to answer the poll, and I’ll bend to your collective will. It’s democracy baby!

Now, where was I? Oh yes, counters! Counters have been around since the very inception of Magic. Rock Hydra, which was printed in Alpha, was a very flavorful card back in the day, and had some extremely unorthodox rules text revolving around it's counters. Rock Hydra’s rules text back in Alpha were so flavorful that it actually didn’t make much sense according to the rules. Today, it’s Oracle text looks nothing like it’s original text.

Other cards quickly followed; Unstable Mutation appeared in Arabian Nights, and Triskelion and a few friends popped up in Antiquities. From that point onward, counters have been a major part of the game of Magic.

What’s even more exciting about counters is that Morningtide, the second set in the two set Lorwyn block, has +1/+1 counters as a large sub-theme throughout the set. One of the new mechanics in Morningtide is Reinforce, which allows you to discard a card with Reinforce, pay its Reinforce cost, and then add a number of +1/+1 counters to a target creature. In addition, many creatures have ways to get +1/+1 counters, and a few elementals hand out counters, or come into play with counters to do silly things with. Counters are at the heart of Morningtide, and it’s good to see them back.

Of course, Morningtide wasn’t the only set that had a counters feature; Dissension, the third set in the Ravnica: City of Guilds block featured a clan that’s one of my personal favorites. Dissension, a little over a year and a half ago, revealed to us the Simic Combine, whose Graft abilities allowed for some pretty cool combos.

I mean, who didn’t love Plaxcaster Frogling and Cytoplast Root-Kin? Graft is a bit confusing at first, but give it enough time, and it will grow on you. Literally, it will grow on you. Like slime and stuff. Eww.

Anywho, this week’s list takes advantage of a fun little Blue card that should have gotten a bit more press (in my mind) back when she first came out. We’re jumping into the heart of Ravnica with this deck, and we’re pulling along some old and new favorites to keep us company while we’re down there. Can you hear that sound? It’s Cytoplast Manipulator calling to you.

This deck is built around the Graft mechanic and Cytoplast Manipulator. With a Manipulator and a random Graft creature on the board, you can effectively steal any one of your opponent’s new creatures each turn, for as long as Manipulator hangs around. If you have problems with creatures that are on the board before your Graft guys, you can use Thrive to give them a counter, and then take them away from your opponent.

Cytoplast Manipulator is fairly fragile though; that’s what Plaxcaster Frogling is for. His job is to keep your Graft creatures safe, and away from harm from creature enchantments and instants that make your men a lot less useful. A great third turn play, Plaxcaster Frogling is both a beater and a protector. He’s everything you could ever want from a three mana guy.

Vigeon Hydropon beefs up your own guys, and is a necessary component to empower your Cytoplast Manipulator. She has to have counters from somewhere, right? Aquastrand Spider is an early creature that keeps you safe from marauding weenie hordes in early turns while you set up your control elements.

Cytoplast Rootkin, the granddaddy of Graft creatures, rounds out the list by keeping your creatures strong, and by powering out the big finish for the list. While he’s great thematically, there are other creatures that can fill this spot. Check back with me in Card Suggestions on him.

Finally, the deck is filled out by a number of key non-creature spells. Llanowar Reborn is a quick and easy first turn land that can either pump one of your own men, or make it a little easier for Cytoplast Manipulator to do her job. Worldly Tutor finds you any creature in your deck, and it helps set up key combos and good mana utilization. Worldly Tutor is the kind of card that helps make the most of what you’ve got, and for that reason, it has graced the list (even if it costs around $1 a piece).

Compulsive Research fills your hand up with cards after combat or a costly venture like Wrath of God; you never can have enough cards in hand. Cytoshape acts as a form of pseudo-removal and trick at the same time. You can target an opponent’s creature and make it a 0/0 with one of your Graft creatures to kill it, or you can use it during combat to make your creature an exact copy of what it’s facing down (with the counters on your Graft creature, you’re bound to win the combat that way). Any way you look at it, it’s a solid card. Thrive is a control enabler as I mentioned earlier, and Fertile Ground finishes of the decklist with a bit of acceleration, in order to get your Graft creatures on the board quicker.

Things to Remember

1) Graft triggers every time a creature comes into play. It’s the root of the entire deck, but don’t forget that you need to add counters to your opponent’s creatures in order to gain control of them with Cytoplast Manipulator. Graft on each creature triggers separately, so don’t forget that if you want, you can add a counter from each of your Graft creatures. That’s not a bad idea, actually, if all you have are Vigean Hydropons in play!

2) Play Worldly Tutor at the end of your opponent’s turn. I think I’ve said this before. In fact, I know I have. But, that still doesn’t stop half of the people I play against online from playing the Tutor series from Mirage during their turn. This is what I like to call player error. They’re instants for a reason people! Play them as instants!

3) Going Aggro is sometimes the right call. Face it. With Cytoplast Root-kin coming into play, and Vigean Hydropons pumping all of your guys, there may be a time when you’ll have an unstoppable creature force and won’t have a Cytoplast Manipulator. Use your creatures! You have to win somehow, right? Why wait around when you can win the game right now??

Card Suggestions

My first suggestions for this deck are lands; Yavimaya Coast and Breeding Pool are both spectacular lands, and you should consider getting them. I know that they’re expensive, but the sooner you collect them, the better your decks are going to be. Trust me on this on, they make life a hell of a lot easier.

I mentioned that Cytoplast Root-kin could be replaced with other creatures. This is truth. There are plenty of great creatures out there that can fill his spot. Forgotten Ancient, one of the first You Design the Card cards is a perfect fit in this deck. He gives counters to other creatures, and only gets bigger as the game progresses. Experiment Kraj, while a little bit more expensive, also plays the game ending role this deck needs. Kraj can also help Cytoplast Manipulator add counters to creatures, and still beef itself up with new abilities. It does design its own evolution, with a bit of your help.

If you find that Compulsive Research isn’t your thing, you could try out other card drawing spells like Think Twice or Accumulated Knowledge. These cards are cheaper, and can be better for your play style. Give them a chance if you aren’t a fan of Compulsive Research.

That’s all for that deck, but not this article.

In an effort to get you, the reader involved, I’ve decided to have a poll to see what kind of deck you’d like me to build next. Use the poll here on my article, and tell us what you picked and why you picked it in the forums.

Answer that poll, and I’ll do what you guys want. It’s the power of democracy at work! Until next time, this is Death_By_Beebles, signing out!

~Death_By_Beebles

Alex Hoffman has been parading around with the pseudonym of Death_By_Beebles for three years now. He’s a writer for Magic Deck Vortex, and can often be found tinkering with his latest decks while working on 3CB scores. He is the author of Raiding the Dollar Bins and Going Blind series at MDV, and the recent startup series Pauper Chronicles. Alex likes kittens, reading, and generally enjoying life. He doesn’t like Brussels sprouts. You can send him deck ideas, combos and suggestions at deathbybeebles@yahoo.com.

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Articles Spotlights from 2008:
How to Win with Milling: A Guide to a Slow Painful Death
Memories of an Old Magic Player 10: The Outsiders Journal #3.
The Apprentice Magician, Part Three.
Class-Wars Deckbuilding Contest Results!
Tribal Coffee: The Smaller Tribes.
[Mini-Article] Controlling the Game: Without Blue.
Raiding the Dollar Bins: Return of the Vault Ninja.
A Fresh Perspective: Stasis - Part One.
More Evil Than Evil.
Memories of a Jarhead.