This is a straightforward, yet very effective blue and black deck centered around card advantage, counterspells, versatile removal, and the mighty Morphling.
This deck is built in strict accordance with official Type One deck construction guidelines. If you're curious what any of these cards do, just click on the card name to view a full-sized image of it.
Black:
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 The Abyss
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Diabolic Edict
Blue:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Braingeyser
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Time Walk
2 Misdirection
3 Morphling
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
Artifacts:
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Zuran Orb
3 Powder Keg
Mana Sources:
1 Black Lotus
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Underground River
4 Underground Sea
6 Island
Ten assorted counterspells make up the first line of your defense. Use them wisely. Try to save them for things that have a real impact on the game and ignore things that are irrelevant or minor. Anything that would give your opponent card advantage is a prime target, for example, while life gaining effects just delay the inevitable are usually aren't worth the trouble. Here's a quick overview of your counter arsenal:
Force of Will: The first and still the best of the so-called "free" counterspells, Force of Will is your best defense during the early game, when mana to power your other counters is in short supply. It also allows you to tap out to cast key permanents, such as the all-important Morphlings. Like most counters, it plays its own little mind game with foes, who can never be sure that your lack of mana equates to defenselessness.
Mana Drain: Considered by many to be the best counterspell ever printed, Mana Drain is a double whammy, stopping your opponent's spells cold and siphoning off the mana invested into them for your own use during your next turn. Stolen mana acts as a fantastic boon to this deck, speeding out your creatures, artifacts, and card drawers.
Misdirection: Not really a true counterspell, Misdirection allows you to change the target of an opposing spell, not only saving yourself from an otherwise deadly burn or discard spell, but turning that spell back on its caster, as well. You can also use it to foil enemy counterspells (by redirecting them to Misdirection) and hijack enemy card advantage spells (by redirecting an opponent's Braingeyser to you, for example). Like Force of Will, it has an alternate casting cost that makes it playable earlier than its mana cost would seem to allow for and is a great asset in the early game.
No matter what, you can't counter everything, so always try to keep a Nevinyrral's Disk or Powder Keg on hand to deal with enemy permanents. Diabolic Edict and The Abyss also help in controlling the enemy creature population. All your creatures, of course, are immune to The Abyss.
The Strip Mine and Wastelands eliminate your foe's most important lands, the one thing your artifacts can't touch. Whenever possible, try to save them for truly important targets like Library of Alexandria, Tolarian Academy, Mishra's Factory, Rishadan Port, etc.
Ancestral Recall, Braingeyser, Fact or Fiction, Library of Alexandria, and Stroke of Genius are all among the best card drawers ever printed. Each one has the potential to grant you overwhelming card advantage.
Demonic Tutor, Merchant Scroll, Mystical Tutor, and Vampiric Tutor are vital for getting key cards like Ancestral Recall, Mind Twist, and The Abyss into your hand more consistantly.
Yawgmoth's Will is a vicious recursion engine that returns spent power cards to your hand, ready to be used again.
Another, more sadistic kind of card advantage is found in the black bombshell Mind Twist, the only card to ever be banned (not restricted) in Type One play not for its overwhelming power in league with other cards as part of some devious combo, but by itself. The Twist may be unbanned now, but it's no less deadly, particularly early in the game where mana acceleration from artifacts or Mana Drains can easily allow you to wipe out your opponent's entire hand.
Time Walk is an extra untap phase, draw, and potential attack and land drop for only two mana. At the very least it always replaces itself and is never a bad card.
When all else fails, Zuran Orb keeps you in the game by transforming your excess land into life. It's the one card that gives you the extra boost you need to consistantly beat direct damage and land destruction decks.
Mishra's Factories are essentially free, mana-producing, uncounterable creatures that survive Nevinyrral's Disk, Powder Keg, The Abyss, and any sorcery-speed destruction. Perfect additions to a deck like this.
Morphling, of course, is your big finisher. Nearly invincible when backed up with enough mana and countermagic, it is often hailed as the best creature ever made.
This is a classically-styled Type One control deck. The main strategy is to use counterspells and versatile removal to keep your opponent in check while drawing as many extra cards as possible from sources like Ancestral Recall, Braingeyser, Fact or Fiction, Library of Alexandria, and Stroke of Genius. Numerous tutors help you to get the specific cards you need when you need them, while Yawgmoth's Will recycles your most powerful cards for repeat performances.
With this kind of wide-ranging control over the game, it's a simple matter to win with the a combination of attacks from Mishra's Factories and the all-powerful Morphlings.
Enjoy!
While you're here, please drop in at the Message Board
