While I agree with Hen, there are 10 tap/bounce effects as far as I can see :-)

Just for reference, these links are for two rareless decks that revolve around the scroll thief-like Neurok Commando
http://archive.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/135
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/145

I count 20 cheap burn spells, 6 cheap counterspells and 4 bounce effects. These are decks basically built around burn to get your commando / scroll thief through so you can draw more burn.

Obviously this it isn't possible to build a deck like this in blue and we don't have much cheap burn available anyway. I mainly wanted to ask Legend how scroll thief works for him.

Most cheap creatures in the format don't kill him in combat, so he can still attack if there are blockers out. He has been decent and is one of your better cards to help stay ahead. A must kill card for most opponents.

Meh, I am not a huge fan of Scroll Thief.

Sure it survives well enough with its 3 toughness, but it also gets favorably blocked by a lot of stuff in the format because of its 1 power.

The card doesn't have any evasion and only has 1 power, so it doesn't do a very good job of putting the opponent on a clock, especially when you consider it is a 3cmc creature.

Even when it does connect, the outcome isn't that great. Sure drawing a card is nice, but I personally don't believe using removal/bounce is worth it just to do 1 extra damage and draw you a card (the play gets better with MI or Bident on the table though).

The only place where I have had any success with them is in my U/W Enchantment deck, where it has stuff like Nimbus Wings and Ethereal Armor to help make sure it can make it through consistently and without having to put ourselves down cards to get it through (by using Bounce/Removal/whatever).

To be honest with you, I am not a big fan of Chasm Skulker either, because of how potentially slow and vulnerable it is *shrug*

Also not really understanding the Kraken Hatchling, sure it Evolves Raptor, can trigger MI, and works decently with Quickling, but it doesn't really do anything to actually help you beat down and close out games quickly.

This is how I would take things personally



Plenty of evasion creatures to beat face, with some lord effects to speed things up.

Warden of Evos Isle is decent evasive beater for the cost, and drops the cost of almost everything in the deck. Quicklings become to cast, Nibilis, Warden, and Pestermite get dropped to , Phantasmal Dragon gets dropped to

All of which help with the fact the deck only runs 22 lands.

Honestly, just play Dimir Unearth. It's mono-blue aggro with Tidehollow Strix and Viscera Dragger (which doesn't even require black mana to cast).

Clearly the deck that draws more cards is better

The idea is to counter beg stall till you have enough mana to sky summoner and protect or slap an earlier kaz or colossus out. skulkers can get out of hand pretty quick too.

2 chasm skulkers but only one gomazoa and talrand? Also 21 lands in a deck that needs to land a 3 drop early and protect it.

I'm thinking -2 void snare -2 inspiration -3 traumatic vision +3 island +2 Gomazoa +1 talrand +1 negate.

might be good to find some room for archeomancers as well

With all the draw and the visions that will fetch lands for ya and the formats free mulls I've gotten a bit greedy.

With all the bounce and counter i dont really need a board presence in most early games. Sometimes a gomazoa helps but really i was actually thinking of cutting him.

This was originally my magic wand win deck but it got cut cause the tap out is too brutal. As is i usually am able to either counter or card draw on the opponents turn. Till i get what i need. And i am just fundamentally against running multiples of Legendary, but i can see the case there.

There are many options you could apply, but with talrand, kozi, or DC being your prmary win cons, I would think you would want at least a 2nd talrand.

Also a few extra gomazoas could make it so you could save your counterspells and bounce for real threats and triggering/saving talrand until, and if you can CLash into Kozi or DC.

I don't really count chasm skulker as a win con but more as a bait creature since it will more than likely be the first creature you play and will likely meet burn, bounce, and/or removal early on. It is also easily chump blocked.

Good points still i just did a ten games with this deck and posted it. check it out. skulks get alot of kills in this deck. Nature of the beast. really i five or six drop play most the time so you can hold a dispel or a negate but ya. and i had 1 game where the zoa earned his spot. soaked up 2x bolts of kyranos and 2x shocks before he died. So ya.. i like him as a lightning rod.