Mono-Blue Control

[RobPro]

I just found out about highlander a few days ago and I'm ready to start making decks! Looking through what I've been able to find on these forums, it seems like multi-color (3+ colors) control/aggro/combo is the way most decks go, so I think blue will have an advantage as a singular color. I'm not too sure about metagame specifics, so I'd appreciate it if any advice/suggestions/criticisms keep mono-blue in mind.

Here's what I have so far, and some brief comments on why I put them in the deck.

Lands - 26
19x Islands
1x Polluted Delta - deck thinner/shuffle effect
1x Flooded Strand - deck thinner/shuffle effect
1x Wasteland - land control
1x Ghost Quarter - land control
1x Faerie Conclave - manlands to avoid the hate
1x Mishra's Factory - manlands to avoid the hate
1x Maze of Ith - card that may be useful, but I'll probably cut it after some testing and replace with something else

Creatures - 13
1x Cloud Sprite - 1/1 flying for 1! I'd put flying men in if I had them
1x Cloud of Faeries - free flyer
1x Erayo, Soratami Ascendant - devastating when flipped, especially with Arcane Lab in play
1x Spiketail Hatchling - counter + beatstick, I'll throw in cursecatcher when I can get one
1x Rootwater Thief - eats win conditions and can get evasion
1x Voidmage Prodigy - beats and a counterspell
1x Man-o'-War - bounce and a creature, could replace with something else
1x Ophidian - standard blue utility creature
1x Augury Adept - new blue utility creature, we'll see if she works out
1x Trinket Mage - fetches answers or artifact mana
1x Solemn Simulacrum - manafixer, beatstick, card-draw. could replace with something better/cheaper
1x Karn Silver Golem - eats low-costing enemy artifacts, beats for 4, blocks for 8
1x Morphling - classic kill, could be replaced with something faster potentially

Counters - 14
1x Disrupt
1x Spell Snare
1x Stifle
1x Condescend
1x Memory Lapse
1x Mana Leak
1x Muddle the Mixture - transmutes for goodies if needed
1x Counterspell
1x Rune Snag - probably will replace with Remand if I can get one
1x Daze
1x Rewind - probably would replace with a 2 or 3cc counterspell if I had one
1x Dismiss
1x Force of Will - free counter
1x Misdirection - free utility

Bounce - 4
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Echoing Truth
1x Rushing River
1x Rebuild

Bounce is something I felt I needed, Chalice of the Void at 1 or 2 ruins my day so I have various CC's of bounce. I should probably throw Hurkyl's Recall in

Search - 6
1x Impulse
1x Peer Through Depths - could probably cut, but I'm not sure what else to put
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Fabricate
1x Relearn - could cut if there's a better way to get cards back from the 'yard
1x Gifts Ungiven

Card draw - 14
1x Brainstorm
1x Portent
1x Serum Visions
1x Mystic Remora - only need it around for 1-2 upkeeps
1x Sleight of Hand
1x Sapphire Charm - will probably replace with ponder
1x Clairvoyance - this card is just in here because it's a 1cc draw with a minorly useful affect. anything else that could foot the bill?
1x Standstill
1x Shadow of Doubt - good when it's good, otherwise it just cycles
1x Telling Time
1x Windfall
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Deep Analysis
1x Gush

Control/utility - 7
1x Fire/Ice - works great to stall or on the Isochron
1x Brain Freeze - possible kill condition
1x Propaganda - helps against aggro
1x Arcane Laboratory - helps against control, basically wins the game with a flipped Erayo
1x Back to Basics - wrecks most of the manabases I've seen, no way to easily fetch it though
1x Energy Flux - wrecks artifacts, it's worth sacrificing my few to own the opponent's many
1x Bribery - could be useful, but I could cut it

Artifacts
1x Zuran Orb - good stalling tool, especially with crucible in play
1x Mox Diamond - fast mana
1x Lotus Petal
1x Chrome Mox
1x Sol Ring
1x Ivory Tower - could replace with something else, maybe Engineered Explosives or Tormod's Crypt. this is a card to fetch with Trinket Mage
1x Grim Monolith
1x Powder Keg - kills chalice or tokens pretty easily, decent against 1-2cc aggro critters
1x Isochron Scepter - potentially really good with most of my instants
1x Fellwar Stone - extra mana, could replace with something
1x Tangle Wire - extra control, could replace with something else
1x Sword of Fire and Ice - great equipment card, makes the 1/1 flyer scary. any other good equipment to add?
1x Crucible of Worlds - recurring Factory beats or Wasteland rocks, as does recurring fetches
1x Vedalken Shackles - not sure how well this is going to work, could replace it
1x Nevinyrral's Disk - is the format slow enough for this card? seems decent
1x Mindslaver - helps with Brain Freeze as a kill condition and can be useful to throw that mnonkey in the wrench, but I could cut it

So... that's where I'm at now. How do you think this deck would fair against the field? What should I cut/add? I realize my creatures and draw spells could use some optimizing. When I get a personal tutor, it'll go into the deck. Any other tutors or decent draw I'm missing?

[Mythrandir]

at a first glance your deck seems really fine. i have some problems with some of your creatures though and yout mana base.

well, here´s a quick review:

Lands: 26 seems too few for a control deck, even monocolored, even though you play with some mana producing artefacts. try adding lonely sandbar, tolaria west, academy ruins (you play with load of artefacts.) also try using thawing glaciers. btw maze of ith is really good.

creatures: i really dont like the 1/1 flyers and i dont see there many winning conditions (i´ve tested morphling and i dont like it in HL decks, but never tested in a monocolored deck, so.. it might be good). you should consider these options: palinchron, meloku, oona queen of the fae. specially palinchron.. reaaly though creature to kill.
try adding drift of phantasms.. nice blocker with the ability to fetch back to basics and other goodies.
draining whelk? counter + creature

counters: crypti command? pact of negation? trickbind VS stifle? or both.. remand way better than rune snag. then you should have dissipate/faerie trickery/hinder -> 3cc counters that have the remove/hide ability which is very good in HL. also forbid is nice. spell burst?
i guess mana drain is over your budget? even not you should definitely play it

bounce: yeap, bounce spells are quite good. i dont know about the rebuild tough. repeal instead? boomerang

search: intuition instead of peer. try mystical teachings (even without the flashback its a nice card)
blue doesnt have many spells returning cards to hand/play. there is argivian restoration, archivist, reconstruction.

card draw: stroke of genious? opportunity?

control: i would cut brain freeze, in this format i think its too slow, except if you play around it.

artifcts: i dont like sword.,.. you play too few creatures.. also you should play with sensei divining top, scrabbling claws/phyrexin furnace. grave hate is essential.

this said, here´s a quik summary of what i would (definitely) cut:
- cloud of sprites
- cloud of faerie
- rootwater thief
- disrupt
- stifle VS trickbind
- rune snag
- rewind
- rebuild
- peer through the mists
- mystic remora (in a 100 card deck this is probably too slow)
- saphire charm
- brain freeze
- energy flux
- sword of fire/ice

well, hope it helps. if you need help testing the deck in MWS you can add me on msn: jgmatos at gmail dot com

[RobPro]

Mana Drain is way out of my price range at the moment, or I'd already have a set of four.

In goldfishing, I found I would usually have so many cards in hand I would need to discard at the end of the turn, and that was usually when playing a land every turn. I think the land-count with the artifact mana is where I want it to be, but I'll need to test against more decks before I'm sure. I will definitely put in Academy Ruins, Tolaria West, Mutavault, and I'll test Thawing Glaciers when I can get those cards.

Meloku and Oona would be in the deck if I had them. I don't really play type 2 and I don't get a chance to draft it, so I've got to order these cards online or find people willing to trade. Blue has a lot of decent 3+ cc creatures, but I was hard pressed to find some low-drops. Are there any good 1-2cc creatures? That was the real reason I had Cloud Sprites, Cloud of Faeries, etc. Drift of Phantasms looks pretty amazing, as 3 is the "magic number" as far as cc goes in this deck.

I will try to get as many of those counters as I can find that you listed, they're definitely what the deck is lacking. I think I should try and get the total number of counters up to 20. Does Commandeer work good as a counter?

I'll try to get an Intuition when I can, most people don't want to part with them for trades.

Repeal is an amazing bounce card, I'll have to put one in. What do you think about Hurkyl's Recall instead of Rebuild?

I think I'll keep Brain Freeze in until I can get some playtesting in. It works good in mono-blue decks in Type 1 as a "just-in-case" finisher, I want to see if it will have similar effects in this format.

I could definitely put Scrabbling Claws and Tormod's Crypt in, but I want to test the Sword a bit before I cut it. It probably is too slow, but it does speed up the clock quite a bit if I can get a few swings with it.

Why do you think Mystic Remora is too slow? If your opponent plays any noncreature spells, you get cards. If they don't play spells because of your remora, they lose tempo and you gain board position. I'll cut it if it doesn't work out so good in testing. I was thinking of adding Dizzy Spell so I could transmute into the Remora.

Thanks a lot for your advice. I'll post an updated decklist after I can pick up some of these cards and do some testing.

[Vazdru]

I'll post an updated decklist after I can pick up some of these cards and do some testing.

The best way to test your deck is to join our Highlander Online League

[RobPro]

But... but then I have to learn how to use MWS.

I suppose I'll check that out later today...

[Mythrandir]

But... but then I have to learn how to use MWS.

I suppose I'll check that out later today...

that is the easy part. MWS is very simple, and the players in the league aren´t very "aggresive" when playing, we are quite friendly

In goldfishing, I found I would usually have so many cards in hand I would need to discard at the end of the turn, and that was usually when playing a land every turn. I think the land-count with the artifact mana is where I want it to be, but I'll need to test against more decks before I'm sure. I will definitely put in Academy Ruins, Tolaria West, Mutavault, and I'll test Thawing Glaciers when I can get those cards.

well, that is weird. i play a 5color control deck with 39 lands (and i´m very often mana, not color, screw..) so for me that is just weird.. =/

Meloku and Oona would be in the deck if I had them. I don't really play type 2 and I don't get a chance to draft it, so I've got to order these cards online or find people willing to trade. Blue has a lot of decent 3+ cc creatures, but I was hard pressed to find some low-drops. Are there any good 1-2cc creatures? That was the real reason I had Cloud Sprites, Cloud of Faeries, etc. Drift of Phantasms looks pretty amazing, as 3 is the "magic number" as far as cc goes in this deck.

oona doesnt seem like an expensive (â,¬â,¬â,¬) card, it just doesnt seem that play, meloku is probably more expensive. as for 1-2 cc cards, i would go with looter il-kor or merfolk looter or similar creatures.

I will try to get as many of those counters as I can find that you listed, they're definitely what the deck is lacking. I think I should try and get the total number of counters up to 20. Does Commandeer work good as a counter?

i think its a bit expensive. but its worth testing in mono U deck.

What do you think about Hurkyl's Recall instead of Rebuild?

i´m not very fond of either, but i would probably play rebuild for the cycle ability.

Why do you think Mystic Remora is too slow? If your opponent plays any noncreature spells, you get cards. If they don't play spells because of your remora, they lose tempo and you gain board position. I'll cut it if it doesn't work out so good in testing. I was thinking of adding Dizzy Spell so I could transmute into the Remora.

basically, because its 1 card in a 100 card deck, thats the kind of card you would like having on the first turns.. but if you end up drawing that card in middle/late games where players (specially aggro decks) have already a creature(s) in play it isnt that good, but just my opinion, i would prefer a drawing card per si like stroke of genius.

Thanks a lot for your advice. I'll post an updated decklist after I can pick up some of these cards and do some testing

no prob. feel free to post comments/post in the forum and think about our free league.

[RobPro]

Alright, so I've updated my list after playing against a few locals in the shop where I hang out and against some of my friends using random black highlander decks I've been trying to make (mono-black is harder than mono-blue, or so it seems because I don't have as many good black cards as I do blue cards). I'd appreciate anymore feedback you guys might have.

Here's the new list:

Lands
Any good utility lands I'm missing? I've never had manabase troubles, so the number of islands seems to be good.

Wasteland
Ghost Quarter
Polluted Delta
Flooded Strand
Mishra's Factory
Faerie Conclave
Maze of Ith
Academy Ruins
19x Island

Artifact Mana
Every one of these has come in useful everygame I've drawn them. Lotus Petal actually won me a game against someone; my opponent was down to 2 life and I was holding Fire//Ice with Petal in the yard and Academy Ruins in play.

Lotus Petal
Chrome Mox
Mox Diamond
Sol Ring
Grim Monolith

Creatures
These guys have some tricks to them, and they can all make decent beaters with a Sword of Fire and Ice attached.

Voidmage Prodigy
Spiketail Hatchling
Rootwater Thief
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Trinket Mage
Augury Adept
Ophidian
Man-o'-War
Solemn Simulacrum
Karn, Silver Golemn
Morphling

Counterspells
Working on getting more 3cc counters, otherwise I think I have them all covered besides Mana Drain (which is a bit pricey).

Condescend
Stifle
Spell Snare
Daze
Memory Lapse
Mana Leak
Muddle the Mixture
Counterspell
Faerie Trickery
Cancel
Dismiss
Last Word
Force of Will

Card Draw
Are there any other good 2cc or 1cc draw spells? I'm interested in buffing those up if I can find good replacements for some of the things in there.

Brainstorm
Sleight of Hand
Ponder
Serum Visions
Portent
Mystic Remora
Standstill
Impulse
Telling Time
Counsel of the Soratami
Windfall
Frantic Search
Fact or Fiction
Deep Analysis
Gifts Ungiven
Gush

Utility/misc
These are cards I have in here that didn't really have a "synergistic" purpose, but rather work to counter the enemy's strategy and manipulate the board. One neat idea I had was Academy Ruins + Mindslaver = I win.

Zuran Orb
Isochron Scepter
Transmute Artifact
Merchant Scroll
Fire//Ice
Brain Freeze
Crucible of Worlds
Sword of Fire and Ice
Fabricate
Relearn
Savor the Moment
Control Magic
Bribery
Misdirection
Mindslaver

Control
These cards work to destroy, bounce, takeover, tap, etc. enemy cards that get through the counterwall. One cool idea: Flipped Erayo + Arcane Lab = I win. I haven't played enough games to see it come to fruition, but my deck usually slows things down enough for stuff like those to happen. I just need to perfect my draw/counter package.

Engineered Explosives
Chain of Vapor
Powder Keg
Shadow of Doubt
Echoing Truth
Tangle Wire
Vedalken Shackles
Propaganda
Energy Flux
Rushing River
Back to Basics
Arcane Laboratory
Nevinyrral's Disk

If you see any card choices that just seem weird or you're wondering why they're there, feel free to ask. I've thought long and hard about each of these.

[Adan]

Ok, now here's my list. I need some food for thought and hope you can help me:

// Lands
    1 [FUT] Tolaria West
    1 [TE] Wasteland
    1 [MM] Rishadan Port
    1 [ON] Polluted Delta
    1 [ON] Flooded Strand
    1 [OD] Petrified Field
    25 [UG] Island
    1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
    1 [MR] Seat of the Synod
    1 [DIS] Ghost Quarter
    1 [AQ] Mishra's Factory (3)
    1 [UL] Faerie Conclave

// Creatures
    1 [FD] Razormane Masticore
    1 [VI] Man-o'-War
    1 [FD] Trinket Mage
    1 [CHK] Jushi Apprentice
    1 [ON] Arcanis the Omnipotent
    1 [10E] Thieving Magpie
    1 [P3] Lu Xun, Scholar General
    1 [DS] Spire Golem
    1 [US] Morphling
    1 [UD] Masticore
    1 [UL] Palinchron
    1 [TSP] Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
    1 [FUT] Venser, Shaper Savant
    1 [VI] Rainbow Efreet
    1 [CHK] Meloku the Clouded Mirror

// Spells
    1 Nevinyrral's Disk
    1 [TSP] Gauntlet of Power
    1 [DS] Panoptic Mirror
    1 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
    1 [MR] Oblivion Stone
    1 [GP] Repeal
    1 [TSP] Walk the Aeons
    1 [ST] Time Warp
    1 [P2] Temporal Manipulation
    1 [P3] Capture of Jingzhou
    1 [TE] Intuition
    1 [CHK] Gifts Ungiven
    1 [IN] Fact or Fiction
    1 [MM] Bribery
    1 [A] Control Magic
    1 [FD] Wayfarer's Bauble
    1 [UD] Treachery
    1 [IN] Repulse
    1 [VI] Impulse
    1 [TE] Sapphire Medallion
    1 [TE] Capsize
    1 [TSP] Wipe Away
    1 [PS] Rushing River
    1 [SH] Mana Leak
    1 [EX] Forbid
    1 [AL] Force of Will
    1 [US] Rewind
    1 [LRW] Cryptic Command
    1 [TE] Dismiss
    1 [MM] Misdirection
    1 [CHK] Hinder
    1 [MI] Dissipate
    1 [LRW] Faerie Trickery
    1 [MM] Counterspell
    1 [LG] Mana Drain
    1 [MR] Mindslaver
    1 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
    1 [UL] Opportunity
    1 [US] Stroke of Genius
    1 [OD] Concentrate
    1 [LRW] Ponder
    1 [OD] Syncopate
    1 [FD] Condescend
    1 [RAV] Remand
    1 [WL] Phyrexian Furnace
    1 [MR] Scrabbling Claws
    1 [US] Back to Basics
    1 [CST] Brainstorm
    1 [CST] Portent

So far it has been pretty sick, but I still have no clue what form of carddraw is appropriate. There are also a lot more playable cards such as Draining Whelk and such, but at the moment I am already quite satisfied with it.

Do counters such as Force Spike and Spell Snare have their right to exist in this deck? What about Last Word or Dismal Failure?

Are the cantrips (Brainstorm, Ponder, Portent, Impulse) ok or can there be more such as Telling Time? Would Merchant Scroll be good?

What about artifact-accel such as Mind Stone, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus (Sol Ring is also allowed as we are only playing kitchen-table-Highlander)?

I built that list according to what FrankT said in one of his posts in the other forum but you can't figure out what carddraw to play or which ~16 counters are playable or not. I hope you can help me.