I am with Varg here. Geyser is a MUST OF as a 1 of in a black and red deck running rune-scarred demon. That is one card that always has the potential of winning you the game when you have access to it. The artifact can be destroyed. And takes more time to build up if you have to. Geyser wins NOW.

I unlocked my cards using a Red/Blue deck that grew into a kiln fiend deck with some control features, but after looking at the card base, I came to the conclusion that U/R are the best control colors in this format, too. Blue is for obvious reasons, red is because of anger of the gods and kiln fiend.

My next line of thinking was to add a third color. Green does not offer much utility, but white and black both have a good mix of removal and fatties. I think that Rune-Scarred makes Black take the cake, though.

I like Hakeem's list a lot, but one thing I am puzzled I do not see any of in these decklists is recursion. For example:

Rescue from the underworld - great tutor target if your opponent is going to remove your Rune-Scarred demon. Sacrifice a nice EtB creature in order to get your demon back and tutor up a 2nd card.
Archaeomancer - The body is meh, but the flexibility of being able to recur specific spells as needed is great. Certainly not a 4 of but I might test 2.

Another card I might consider is Talrand, is his 2/2 body just too vulnerable with so few weenies in this deck?

Anyway Hakeem I like your list so much that I am going to copy it without any changes for a while before I make any changes.

Honestly recursion isn't really needed in the deck man. And the butcher allows every thing to go back into your deck. It plays well give it a shot.

Here is my take on Grixis though. I too am like hakeem as I love control and the thrill of close matches/comebacks. I have also been in LOVE with counter and control magic since I got into magic MANY MOONS AGO!

Here is my take on Grixis and it has been preforming really well so far! (I GET TO PLAY GRISEL IN MY BUILD HAKEEM! tra la la)

COUNTER-ATTACK

4 x Voyages End
4 x Think Twice
3 x Nullify
3 x Dissolve
3 x Inspiration
2 x Counterlash
1 x Suffer the past
1 x Rune-Scarred Demon
1 x Griselbrand
4 x Shock
1 x Volcanic Geyser
2 x Anger of the Gods
1 x Inferno Titan
1 x Sphinx-Bone Wand
1 x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
4 x Auger Spree

6 x Island
4 x Mountain
2 x Swamp
4 x Izzet Guildgate
4 x Rakdos Guildgate
4 x Dimir Guildgate


This build can be nasty at times. Let them tap out on a creature, counter lash into a KOZILEK FOR MUCH EVILNESS! Or Grisel, Inferno, Rune-Scarred.

Suffer the Past was a negate but I feel Suffer will be MUCH MORE helpful.

You can even cast spells and shoot your wand in the enemies face, then counter the spell and shoot them in the face again for the win!

Thanks, HenWen, I'm glad you like the look of the list and I look forward to the feedback of a great player to help me make it better. As for your comments, here are my thoughts:

Rescue from the Underworld requires a creature in the graveyard and a creature on the battlefield in order to be castable, and my deck only has seven creatures in total.

Archaeomancer is out because of his mana cost and overall lack of impact. I can't see value here.

Talrand isn't as effective in this type of deck as he is in a counterspell deck, and the isn't something I'm willing to build around. Bone Wand is what this deck wants.

I hope you test the deck, it is great fun.

Has he posted it on the forums somewhere? I have a soft spot for reanimator decks and would like to take a look on it. Is it B/G?

Green/white/black makes for a NASTY reanimate deck.

You have just read my mind! I was really enjoying playing with the deck created by hakeem, but I was about to create my own grixis ... including the beloved and hated counters! So when I saw your deck ... it just blew my mind!

I played a few games and got to 8-1. The deck seems to be prepared for any strategy the opponent try to use. It perfectly fits my playstile, burn and cancel anything, and builds an easy path to the scary monsters!

Glad you enjoy it! I think it is really fun too! I recently made a tweak to incorporate 2x Darksteel Ingots and 2x Flesh to dust in place of the 4x Voyages End. But have reverted back. It just works better the original way. Darksteels are not a must with counterlash in the picture. I would like to get Flesh to Dust back in there though, it was ALWAYS a welcomed site!

One card I am NOT FULLY sold on currently is Suffer the Past. I mean it should be GREAT here but it just hasn't done anything for me yet and I feel that 9 times out of ten I would have rather had Flesh to Dust. In further play testing it may become that.

P.s. Varg, it seems like you love my favorite style of play too! Bobtheratkiller made another deck that is tailored to this style of play and it too is REALLY GREAT! Give it a look! It's in the RWB section. I feel like I am a spokesman for him or something.. I am always ranting about that deck lol. It is really fun though. But so is this one!

Suffer the Past was never a dead card, but most of the time you have better options at hand, btw this deck has never left me completely without options.
Sometimes Suffer can guarantee a win as the Geyser does, and also works to get rid of things you do not want to be in the opponent's graveyard.
I'll take a look at Bobtheratkiller's deck, control is always fun! Thanks for the advice.

I actually meant his build is in the RWU!

Although I posted a really awesome rwb build as well.

hey hakeem. props on ur deck, i tested it albeit with sum subs due to no premiums lol. anyways 9-0 so far and have had multiple quits followed by a xbox curse laden msg after i constantly brush aside their plans.

This is still one of my favorite decks to play and extra points for being unusual and unique. I rarely lose with this build. I had one guy laughing at me "A deck with nothing but walls?" A couple turns later he gets smacked with two back to back 10 point Vent Sentinals with Bracers, lol. I love this deck.

Is that deck as fun as it looks? I'll be giving it a try soon. Good job.

I have a deck that is virtually identical except maybe 2 cards. It does work well too if you can survive long enough. (It tends to survive for me)

I haven't played it in so long and hell, I still have that achievement to get. Maybe I should dust it off.

Nice deck as usual Hakeem! Instead of Flesh to Dust to replace Geyser, have considered Suffer the Past?

1) It's cheaper than Geyser (If you need to proc the Wand for the won, leave more burn untapped, etc.)
2) It steals life as an instant for pinch situations
3) Filling their graveyard for targets is easy with all your removal
4) It REALLY screws with the popular Spider Spawn decks, which is one of your worse match-ups.

I've tested it and found it quite good for utility alone. It's always a welcome sight in my hand.


So what do you guys think about a Counterlash build? I can't be the only one to have dinked around with that list a way's up, can I? I liked the idea a lot, but so far I've found getting a Counterlash, 6 mana, and a big creep like Kolz in my hand has been a bit too combo-y. Any solutions?

Frankly I haven't had time to test this, but my instinct is that a creature-light control heavy build like Grixis cannot profitably use Counterlash. It is a chicken and egg problem - you cannot run 10 fatties to make counterlash reliable without screwing up your mana curve, and running even more counterlash to make the combo reliable is impossible in this format.

I think counterlash would be a better fit in a deck that included U and G - G for ramp. I think I would splash a third color for extra fatties. Being able to ramp into a turn 4 counterlash -> inferno titan board wipe just gives me chills. Thus it would function as a splash of control in a ramp/ fatty deck rather than a splash of accelleration in a control deck with few fatties.

I have been very successful with my grixis using counterlash. Not even thought to test the deck without it, but I can do this at some point.
I'll post my decklist later ...

Counterlash is a phenomenal card in a deck that is based around instant speed spells.. At the very least it is ANOTHER counter that counters anything.. And other times it can be truly DEVASTATING! My build above works really well with it. And the counterlash into big creature isn't the only thing the deck does to win.

I think people who don't understand the power of counterlash in a draw-go style of deck have not really played with it. Not to mention, in my build you can also use voyages end to return a creature to their hand to setup for the counterlash..

I look at the card first as ANOTHER counter anything spell and secondly as a combo into a big wincon. Obviously I do my damnedest to hold onto it as long as I can. I have had great success with it. It can really hurt an enemy when they tap out to cast that creature just to have it get countered and a bomb hit the table and attack them at the start of the next turn.

I built the deck around countermagic because I love countering in the card game. This deck just wins and I have been pleased with it. If you haven't found the success I have with it, maybe you should practice with it a little more. Learn how to effectively decide what gets through your counters and what doesn't.

This!

Lots of cards are great, but lots of those cards are unplayable. I'm not sure where Counterlash falls on the spectrum, but it is a terrible topdeck because on its own it's just a six-mana counterspell.