Need Help with a Blue Highlander Deck

[ronvitale]

Below is my blue Highlander deck. I could use some help with suggestions about whether I have the right type of creatures and spells. The deck plays well, but I'd like to make it better. Basically, counter or steal what I can and hammer home with a creature. Nice and simple. I'd appreciate any help!



1  Academy Ruins
1 Faerie Conclave
34 Island
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Stalking Stones
1 Urza's Factory
1 Wasteland________________________________________
40 lands

1 Aether Figment
1 Grimoire Thief
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Djinn of Wishes
1 Epochrasite
1 Duplicant
1 Ghastlord of Fugue
1 Horizon Drake
1 Living Tsunami
1 Man-o'-War
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Morphling
1 Mulldrifter
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
1 Pestermite
1 Platinum Angel
1 Phantom Warrior
1 Plumeveil
1 Rootwater Thief
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spiketail Drakeling
1 Spire Golem
1 Thalakos Scout
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Wind Drake
________________________________________
25 creatures


1 Jace Beleren
________________________________________
1 Planeswalker


1 Ancestral Vision
1 Brainstorm
1 Cancel
1 Capsize
1 Circular Logic
1 Counterspell
1 Desertion
1 Dismiss
1 Disrupting Shoal
1 Dissipate
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Foil
1 Forbid
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Gush
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Last Word
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Misdirection
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Pact of Negation
1 Psionic Blast
1 Reality Strobe
1 Rewind
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Syncopate
1 Thwart
1 Vedalken Shackles
________________________________________
34 other spells

[Dreamer]

Some good cards that aren't in your deck:
Venser, Shaper Savant
Sower of Temptation
Riftwing Cloudskate
Negate

...

Monoblue and no Cryptic Command?

[Tabris]

Mono Blue


mhhhhh I like the smell of sweet mono U

on your deck.

1st question: is this a competetive deck for tournaments or just for the kitchen table?
2nd question: do you saw the two popular lists with high tide combo or the heavy artefact theme?

Comments to your cardchoices and decktype regardless of the two questions above:


You have to know what kind of deck do you want. A aggro build with control cards which are able to protect you early beater or a heavy control deck with just 2-3 finisher or combo pieces. If you choose to play monoU you have to acknowledge that your creatures sucks in comparison to other colours and if you want to build and aggro-control deck, you should probably choose another colour to combine with (your options would be UW-Skies (a lot flyiers which dont have a good body but much evasion + good removal, UB-Skies (same like UW but with more card advantage and maybe more removal and weaker creatures), UR-Skies (not working ), UG-Aggro (much much variety in the builds). If you want just a control deck, cut the useless creatures.

your card choices:

-You missing the good lands, Maze of ith, Mutavault
-Aether Figment (JUST TO BAD no discussion)
-Grimoire Thief (useless in highlander)
-Sphinx of Jwar Isle (i like it but in a deck like yours, its to expensive)
-Djinn of Wishes (to expensive and shitty withour library manipulation)
-Epochrasite (no use for this, weak body no relevant abilty evasion etc.)
-Ghastlord of Fugue (timmy card which could find their way in a casual deck)


and so on ...so most of your creatures are not fitting in the deck bc they are to expensive or just not fitting (aggro creatures or control creatures). You cant run a Sphinx and a phantom warrior etc.

so maybe make yourself clear about the ambitions of your deck, so we can give you hints for the choices.

In the meantime look through this threats:

http://www.magicplayer.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1721 MonoU Highlander with a heavy artefact theme

http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=252.0 MonoU discussion

http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=5188 HighTide Combo The deck from Kosti Jokinen

[Sturmgott]

Tabris is missing the true blue skies: Mono U Skies running <25 lands.

Here is my current list:

// Deck file for Magic Workstation

// Lands
    1 Seat of the Synod
    19 Island
    1 Mishra's Factory
    1 Wasteland
    1 Rishadan Port
    1 Library of Alexandria
    1 Mutavault
    1 Pendelhaven

// Creatures
    1 Old Man of the Sea
    1 Gilded Drake
    1 Sea Drake
    1 Spindrift Drake
    1 Serendib Efreet
    1 Cloud Sprite
    1 Cloud of Faeries
    1 Sea Sprite
    1 Surveilling Sprite
    1 Spellstutter Sprite
    1 Flying Men
    1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
    1 Cloud Pirates
    1 Drifter il-Dal
    1 Fathom Seer
    1 Dream Stalker
    1 Man-o'-War
    1 Looter il-Kor
    1 Inkfathom Infiltrator
    1 Waterfront Bouncer
    1 Thalakos Seer
    1 Giant Tortoise
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
    1 Esperzoa

// Spells
    1 Jace Beleren
    1 Winter Orb
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Relic of Progenitus
    1 AEther Spellbomb
    1 AEther Vial
    1 Bonesplitter
    1 Mask of Memory
    1 Shuko
    1 Coastal Piracy
    1 Standstill
    1 Back to Basics
    1 Seal of Removal
    1 Unstable Mutation
    1 Curiosity
    1 Sigil of Sleep
    1 Snakeform
    1 Force Spike
    1 Call to Heel
    1 Gush
    1 Force of Will
    1 Enervate
    1 Delay
    1 Daze
    1 Counterspell
    1 Boomerang
    1 Pongify
    1 Abjure
    1 Stifle
    1 Psionic Blast
    1 Remand
    1 Rune Snag
    1 Rushing River
    1 Miscalculation
    1 Snap
    1 Snapback
    1 Memory Lapse
    1 Disrupt
    1 Unsummon
    1 Mana Leak
    1 Word of Undoing
    1 Trickbind
    1 Misdirection
    1 Disperse
    1 Mana Drain
    1 Echoing Truth
    1 Fire/Ice
    1 Ancestral Vision
    1 Ponder
    1 Scarscale Ritual
    1 Timetwister
    1 Cryptic Command

It basically is a real tempo deck. Lash out your flyers, bounce anything that goes in your way and try to get that done before running out of fuel. The cheap bounce spells are essential. This deck hasn't been updated for a while now, it pulls its strength from playing a very low landcount => very high spell density and being able to play Back to Basics. The decks suffered quite a bit from the rules changes in combat, but is nonetheless incredibly fun to play and real strong vs. Control and Midrange Decks.

Watch out for your worst enemies though: Aether Vial, rendering your bounce spells useless, and Scryb Ranger, that one just block-kills half of the deck.