I certainly wouldn't recommend replacing ALL your snags with snares. 2 Void Snares max seems to be my limit, I'd probably replace Voyage's End before snag, or maybe 1 each.

I tried out the void snare and i'm disapoited in them, it doesn't solve the ascencion's problem, most of the time, the decks playing it are abble to stack it in one or two turns max in the mid-late game, when I bounce it, they just replay it and attack for 40 damages once again.

I added 2 chasm skuller, replacing the millstone, it's a much more efficient one card win-con and makes the golgari match up easier.

Uh have you guys not realized illusionist's bracers works well with doorkeeper?

It's still really slow, though. Has anyone tried playing Doorkeeper.dec against real people yet?

In my deck, it's really slow, I consider him as a decent body with some late-game utility.
There was a deffenser decklist poster in this forum (RUG I think) which would probably allow him to shine way more than he does in a standard blue control/tempo list.

Yeah the all out defender play style is the way to go for a mill deck! It has more than one win con. If they have lots of draw, they are helping you mill them. If that will take you too long, hit their life! These things get huge with a few defenders on the field and an illusionist's bracers equiped to either, the mill or the dmg.

I'm not normally a fan of mono decks as I find them a little vanilla, but seeing as online everyone is rocking at least a dual colour deck (apart from the all too common Goblin decks) I thought I'd give it a try.

So I did. In Blue. And I think I may have invented the Blue equivalent of the Goblin deck somehow...

Frequent Flier

22 x Island

4 x Cloudfin Raptor
4 x Triton Shorestalker
3 x Quickling
3 x Military Intelligence
4 x Think Twice
4 x Negate
4 x Nullify
3 x Niblis of the Breath
3 x Dissolve
4 x Pestermite
2 x Bident of Thassa


Basically plays as many creatures as often as possible and tries to draw cards to keep this engine going with Intelligence and the Bident with unblockable Shorestalkers and tricky to block fliers. Holds mana open for counters, and flashes in Faeries or draws cards with Think Twice in the end step if mana is available.

Not much other than a board wipe or a Baneslayer seems able to stop this, and if you do encounter a road bock big enough, then the Nibilis or the Pestermite can temporarily deal with them. Otherwise you don't block - you just continually attack.

I've only been running this for a few hours, so it may need work, but I'm beating face online with it. Obvious changes would be to sub the non-enchantment draw for Hall of Triumph or a Paragon, or even Vapor Snags, which I may consider as I continue to playtest.

Very low margins for error, so you have to make you you choose wisely what to counter and what to let through if the alternative is flashing a Faerie, as this is an aggro deck at heart.

Kraken Hatchling can attack to trigger Military Intelligence and further evolves your Cloudfin Raptors. A full playset of Negate looks to be out of place here, as well as a full playset of Nullify, and I'm not a fan or running both Bidents but I can see why you do. At 22 land you don't want more than a couple of four-drops, so if you squeeze in a Paragon I'm thinking one is all you'll get away with.

Niblis of the Breath also looks out of place, but it is an evasive attacker and I imagine the ability is just gravy if someone resolves a huge threat against you. If you're dead-set on mono-blue you don't have a whole lot of other low-curve options. Frost Lynx could be a consideration since you're running all the Quicklings.

You've done the testing, do with this what you will.

It's a damage racing deck that relies on evasion, and attacking every turn with every creature. Hatchlings do nothing but trigger Military Intelligence, and will eventually die to blockers, so will stop doing that. At any point past turn 2, it would be useless to me.

The Lynx will likely never get through either as it'll usually be the only threatening creature they can block and kill, so they will. Sure Hatchlings trigger evolve past a 2/3, but I'd rather have something that didn't, but had power that could translate to damage in of itself instead.

Niblis is mainly insurance against dangerous, resolved threats (mainly lifelinkers and big fliers/reachers) but is also a 2-power flying attacker if needed.

Instead of Bidents I originally had 2 x Talrand in, then tested 1 x Talrand and 1 x Time Warp, but found the Bidents worked much better. This deck is all about getting as much power on the field as fast as possible and countering early and often anything that would advance their board (Nullify) or reduce yours (Negates). If you trigger a Bident for 4, you can likely pull enough counters to shut down their next turn, which then allows you to pull another 4 cards and just lock them out the game due to the sheer frequency of your control.

Bident is essentially the finisher that Talrand was not, as it has a very powerful effect as soon as it drops, and is hard to shift, which is why I run 2, to give me the best possible chance to pull one. Talrand was usually either removed immediately, or if I waited to protect him, came down too late to make an impact.

The counters are generally burnt through rather than held, unless flashing in a Faerie is preferable to letting to a spell resolve, which is why I carry 11. Once a threat hits the field, it's difficult to shift it, so the ability to stifle everything your opponent does as early as you can is extremely valuable. Taking some out for Vapor Snags is an argument to be had (especially as this deck is all about pushing through small amounts of damage) but at the moment I'm happy with the balance.

Kraken Hatchling also triggers your evolve ability on Cloudfin Raptor. Also why not include Hall of Triumph to make threats bigger?

Because Hatchlings do nothing else. They can maybe trigger Military Intelligence if its out, that's it, and even then, as my only blockable ground attacker with 0 power, they will be blocked and killed in short order to stop this.

For that 1 extra power they may trigger Raptors with (if they're there - the Hatchling is a completely useless card if drawn alone as I'm full on Aggro with this deck so don't need a wall) I would rather have something that had evasive power in of itself. Evolve is only good ig you get value - a creature with power increasing another creature's power. If you're relying on a 0 power creature to give 1 extra power to another, then unless you're neding that toughness, you're better off just having something arrive with that point of power itself.

Hall of Triumph isn't necessary. I'm Aggro Control, so usually win with 3 Faeries or so on the field by chipping away every turn. The Hall would advance my clock by one turn at most, but at the cost of removing either a Faerie, a counterspell or the draw that I need to pull into both those elements. As the deck is so tight at the moment and is at 22 lands, there's simply not the space as everything else is invaluable. Generally a Hall would just be win-more in this build.

While I understand what you're getting at about the Hatchlings, a solid blocker is great to help win a damage race, and if you land Intelligence, it effectively grants the Hatchling "tap this card: draw a card".

Monk has a Simic deck much like this that uses Beastmaster Ascension and a critical mass of one-drops to dig to it through Intelligence and power it up. Titanic Growth is a great spell in a deck like this, as is Timberland Guide. It has no control elements, though. You should check it out, we were unsure of the manabase anyway. It's in the Simic thread.

You forget though that I simply never block in this deck - that's the point. All my attackers are evasive and attack each turn, and if I need to block, then I've usually failed, and a single 0/4 will not recover things. I either deal with threats before they resolve, race past them, or worst case scencario I hold back a Niblis to control them. Often a Pestermite or two is enough to just prevent a couple of blocks.

That's not a failure in the deck - every deck can't win every time - but this is an aggro deck that works by attacking with all every turn. The Hatchling is almost as useless as a 0/4 would be in a Goblins deck. Think of this in that manner. My counterspells are my pre-emptive shocks and bolts. About the worst thing that can resolve against me is Triplicate Spirits (forgetting a board wipe of course) simply because it slows me down hugely.

Seriously. Hatchling are awful here. They do absolutely nothing to advance the win-con and would take the spot of something that did. Regarding Simic decks, I know there's good synergy there as I run one (Spire Tracers work in a similar manner to Shorestalkers of course) This is a development from my Simic deck that narrowed down one specific focus and is actually far more consistent for me overall. It's doing something different, so re-adding Green is not a solution for me, epecially as the mono focus allows it a lot of consistency that I want for Aggro.

Perhaps I overvalue them because I've played the Simic deck and they are excellent there. That deck can actually give them power, though, I guess that's the difference.

How has the full playset of Negates been working out? I'd be hesitant to maindeck that many, but I understand they have the upside of hitting Raise the Alarm, Triplicate Spirits et al. Curious to hear how these have been performing.

They're actually pretty great.

As I am for cumulative damage, they're vital for saving my Faeires from Shocks and the like (as is Quickling, that can be clunky otherwise, but the Flash gives it a slot) If someone kills a single Faerie, then that can put my clock back a turn or two depending on how early or late they did it.

In terms of non-removal, it's essential in stopping stuff like Cultivates, Triplicate Spirits, Krenko's Command, Raise the Alarm, and Furor of the Bitten. The more I can stifle their development, the more freedom I have to do nothing but attack.

The deck lives or dies on its clock being a turn ahead of the opposition, and unless I really need to flash in a Faerie, or looking at the archetype I know there's something potentially apocalyptic for me I have to hold back the counter for, I tend to counter everything I can as soon as I can, as having 11 allows me that freedom.

I tried out a similar non-premium deck, and while it's ok-ish, the deck really suffers without premium cards. Compared to classic aggro/control tempo "Fish" style decks, or even what's possible to build with a handful of premium cards, you lack enough quality 1-drops, are too reliant on evolving the Cloudfin, and lacking cards like Think Twice and Pestermite make it difficult to both gain a reasonable board and hold up mana for counterspells. I'm still tinkering, and I'll post a list later in case anyone is non-premium and wants to try the archetype.

I've built a pretty similar deck as Steve, play as many little flyers as possible to push damage through, and trip up your opponent from stabilizing against your flying army for the win

21 x Island

4 x Cloudfin Raptor
4 x Triton Shorestalker
4 x Vapor Snag
3 x Quickling
2 x Military Intelligence
3 x Voyage's End
3 x Think Twice
2 x Negate
1 x Nullify
2 x Chasm Skulker
2 x Niblis of the Breath
1 x Dissolve
4 x Pestermite
2 x Bident of Thassa
2 x Hall of Triumph


The biggest difference between our decks is the disruption package, which I prefer bounce over full play sets of counters. I do think some number of bounce is correct, because it allows you to tap out to build your board presence (Quickling can be a little clunky sometimes) and then remove any road blocks in your way afterwards, instead of slowing yourself down a turn playing a counter instead of creatures.

Because I'm more aggro focused I've had some success with Hall of Triumph, never found it to be terribly win-more but more testing is required, more counters in its slot could be better but I do like its place in the deck as it can grow your team vs other flying decks.

Chasm Skulker has been great in this build, his lack of evasion could seem out of place in a deck focused on fliers but the bounce helps him get in for some beats. Plus he can grow quickly in this deck, which can give some defensive insurance if I've had a slow hand or opponent has been able to slow me up.

Overall its a great shell thats fun to play

Hi,
I am very new to the world of magic (in fact just 10 days old!). I am done with the campaign and have unlocked most of the cards (I am non-premium and do not intend to get the premium cards). And the only colour I have not touched is blue, so I ended up at this thread. But almost all decks posted here involve a premium card and given that I am not a very experienced player, I am finding it difficult to build a mono-blue non-premium deck, so I am here for some help. If some example decks can be posted it would be of immense help.

Peace

Okay -- seriously didn't think this would work but I built it anyway. Went 6-0 against the unwashed masses. (Should have gone 5-1 but the unwashed masses is stupid....). The draw is unreal and keeps you in fliers.

whats up guys, i put together a mono blue just for funzies and ive actually gone 7-3 in ranked 1v1 vs randoms. anyways, thought id post n see what u usual suspects could advise!

22 x island

2 x kraken hatchling
2 x fleeting distraction
2 x void snare
2 x quickling
2 x voyage's end
2 x negate
2 x chasm skulker
2 x guard gomazoa
3 x dissolve
2 x frost lynx
1 x bident of thassa
4 x archaeomancer
4 x inspiration
1 x time warp
2 x switcheroo
1 x soul of ravnica
2 x roil elemental
2 x kraken of the straits
2 x avarice amulet


so yea any advice is appreciated. no access to premiums, so dont bother recommending them lol (think twice n talrand would be in for sure)