3rd in my series of initial off the dome brews for the new set. This time brewing -/- counters.

V2:

3 x Fatal Push
3 x Grasp of Darkness
2 x Never // Return

3 x Nest of Scarabs

1 x Liliana, The Last Hope

4 x Blisterpod
4 x Festering Mummy
2 x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
3 x Exemplar of Strength
1 x Bontu the Glorified
3 x Baleful Ammit
3 x Defiant Greatmaw
2 x Plague Belcher
3 x Crocodile of the Crossing

2 x Westvale Abbey
3 x Aether Hub
2 x Hissing Quagmire
2 x Woodland Cemetery
8 x Swamp
6 x Forest



Mana base is still a work in progress. Currently running Hubs instead of the common tap lands, but the demand of Grasps might require a tweak.

Currently running 4x Blisterpod instead of any mix of Doomed Dissenter, but that choice was centered on getting -/- 2 drops down beefy on curve, and with only having 3 copies of a -/- 2 mana creature, it may be wiser to use Dissenter and focus on the beefy 3 drops instead. Still trying to see how useful scions are in the deck tho.

I believe the correct way to build this deck is to maximize your undercosted big dudes like Exemplar, Belcher and Crocodile using cheap cards you don't mind losing, like Mummy, Blisterpod and Carrier Thrall. Nest should be your backup plan.

T1 Pod, T2 Exemplar, T3 Crocodile, swing for 9 and gain 2 life is a very strong opening.

This is what I was thinking as well. Haven't gotten around to putting together a list for this yet, but it is up there pretty high on my list of things to mess around with once the set drops.

Blisterpod was on my radar but with this initial draft I focused more on the new cards because shiny new toys. Festering zombie likely becomes blisterpod after I take the 1st draft for a spin. Doomed Dissenter is effectively Carrier Thrall tho. I didn't put a ton of thought into cheap older card targets for profitable negative counters, but I'm sure there could be other options too. I think the trick is going to be finding the right balance of givers and takers.

You're prob right about the croc. I passed it over in favor of options that seemed better with Nest. But the aggro bent these cards have prob makes croc better.

I wonder how Stainless will implement these -1/-1 counters...
If they work like Walking Ballista pings, you can only put 1 -1/-1 counter on the pod, but if they work like Aetherwind Basker pumps, you can put more than 1 on the pod and have the scion survive.

If more than one -1/-1 is placed by a single effect, for example when Exemplar ETBs, you should be able to place them all on Blisterpod as it's a single trigger and all counters resolve at once, not individually. There should be no confusion, as the likes of Ballista works off multiple triggers.

If we had Vizier of Remedies, Abzan -1/-1s maybe could be really good

Btw...no Decimator Beetle?

This archetype totally works, I'm pleasantly surprised

Nest of Scarabs is the real deal...with one in play, every Exemplar becomes a mini-Iskanah, for example...and with 2, and a Dissenter, not that far fetched, I just pulled it... casting an Exemplar gets you a 4/4, a 2/2 and 6 x 1/1!

That's 12 power across 8 bodies, not bad for 2 mana...

So, I think these are the cards that work:

Counterspike

3 x Fatal Push
3 x Festering Mummy

3 x Doomed Dissenter
2 x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
3 x Exemplar of Strength
2 x Smuggler's Copter
2 x Key to the City
3 x Grasp of Darkness

3 x Defiant Greatmaw
2 x Plague Belcher
1 x Rhonas the Indomitable
3 x Nest of Scarabs
1 x Liliana, the Last Hope
1 x Never // Return

2 x Crocodile of the Crossing

2 x Archfiend of Ifnir

8 x Swamp
4 x Forest

2 x Hissing Quagmire
2 x Woodland Cemetery
1 x Foul Orchard
4 x Evolving Wilds

1 x Geier Reach Sanitarium
2 x Westvale Abbey


The less obvious points are Key being particularly awesome for Hapatra, besides Ifnir...Rhonas too delivers particularly well with Hapy, who is bananas in herself

Ifnir combs with Copters, Keys, Sanitarium, Hapatras and Nests

Crocs are the s**t...t4 almost-Smasher? Yes, tnx...good for the Key too. Lily combs with the -1 theme, and brings back Ifnirs

And no, no Beetle compare that dude with the 5 CCs in the build...ejem...

Edited: yes, for the ladder I need the Grasps...not sure if 1 Dissenter/Mummy and 1 Maw shouldn't be a couple Ammits, let's see

Find room for grasp.

Weaponcraft enthusiast may be worth considering as well.

And 2x Abbey

I'm not sure I need them,let's see...yes, they are needed. A Maw/Ammit and/or a Disenter would be the cuts, probably.
I tend to think that Maws are better than Ammits, and Mummies than Dissenters... once playtested I'll max the better ones, and maybe free space for a couple of removals

Weaponcrafts doesn't make sense here, the 3 CC spot is crowed with awesomeness, this isn't an artifact deck, and I don't want more tokens anyways. The strenght of this build is in the counters mechanic

Yeah, Nest is very powerful, and that + Hapatra in play gets insane and demands a sweeper. If opps not packing enchantment hate, sweepers are just a minor setback with how quickly Nest repopulates.

You might be right with Archfiend in. I'm currently still testing the version I want to be quicker. I'll post the revised list I built instead of that OP rough draft later when I can double check exact quantities of choices I went with. I think the primary issue with getting the aggro right is we only have Exemplar of Strength for a potentially aggressive 2 drop, and most of the other -/- counter doods who have superior stats-to-cost are 3 drops.

I know I'm running 2x Abbey tho. Grow that Nest spam into that flying demon ASAP.

Is Archfiend worth it here? It just doesn't seem like you have enough methods of activating it to be worthwhile with only Key, Sanitarium, and Copter around.

Otherwise pretty close to the build that I plan on testing out next, which is just basically -2 Archfiend, -2 Key, +4 Blisterpod.

Still not 100% sure if the deck prefers Doomed Dissenter or Carrier Thrall. Dissenter is better in situations where we curve into our -1/-1 creatures, but Thrall is better when we don't.

Omg Vert would suck if he actually talked like that. I don't think I could even be on the same forum as someone like that.

I mean Squider is prolly the nicest, most polite person here and even he doesn't talk like that

I tend to think it is...he is even more retarded with Hapatra and Nests, think about it...and the inversion is low, just one sanitarium and one more Key, cause I want at least 1 anyways if just for the Crocs/Ammits/Maws/Belcher and above all, again, Hapy. And you always can cycle him...not very big hassle for the huge potential pay-off. And he isn't bad in itself, at all. Lily can bring him back, cycled or killed.

Festering Mummies is quite a star here, better than Pods, imho...and Dissenters are really good too, better than Thralls, hands down, test it and you'll see... think that you are gonna sacrifice him almost for sure, with better pay-off...and to chumpblock is also better than thrall. Minor zombie synergies too.

This deck rocks...should probably cut a Maw and a Croc for 2 Grasps when I play in the ladder, or something like that...for now, the connection issues prevent it



It would be truly divine

Updated OP with current version I'm testing. Anyone else trying different takes than mine or Maggits? Curious to see what others may be trying.

Ummm...I don't think this wants to be agro, but mid-range. Of the grindy kind. Hence, the demons...but maybe just 1 would be better?

I know you are right with the Abbeys, lol...it's a thing of mine, my resistance to play the couple of those...meh, I'll conquer my fears and add the 2º

I see you play Bontu...he's tempting indeed, how does him? Rhonas is very good, trample works wonders with all the high power critters, and Hapy.

Now I'm leaning a bit more towards Dissenter than Mummy...Mummy is nice for Ifnir and Hapy, but dissenters stall better, and that is good for a grindy build...I can't decide

Same as with Maws/Ammits...on paper, Maws are better, and more synergistic too (Nests...) but the gainlife can be crucial in many games

Did some more testing and I don't think the deck wants to be aggro anymore. I had been reading Exemplar of Strength wrong, and had it in my head that it only put 2 negative counters instead of 3. Attacking with a 2 power creature isn't anywhere near as aggressive I was thinking attacking as a 3 power doodette. The line Fel mentioned near the top of this thread is powerful and aggressive, but with only 3 exemplars in our pool and no other synergistic 2 drop (Hapatra isn't aggressive so not counting that) you'll almost never get that line. All of my test games have been grindy.

Bontu has won like 75% of my games. Several of my games have been clogged up board stalls, and he helps break that up. It's so easy to turn him on with a Nest in play, and even if not hitting Nest, the Blisterpods/Dissenters/Carriers/whatever-repeat-body-options-you're-using do the trick just fine. His scry is useful to sort out draws during the grind. I'm happy with him - wouldn't trade him out for green god personally, but might run both. Honestly prob will try that - trample option would be a nice addition to the deck.

Idk what to say about Ifnir. Haven't tried him here yet. Gonna keep messing with my version for a bit, but if I can't get it to work better I'll try something that features Ifnir more (maybe work those black archers in too).

Since you kill a lot of your creatures, give Rot Shambler a spin. Or go the Tireless Tracker route for extra gas.

I'm tempted to swap Ifnir (and a key) who isn't completely happy with the low discard, for Bontu/Kalitas/the last croc...probably better.

EDITED: Yep, Bontu fits here better than Ifnir or Rhonas...in fact, he's so good that I'm gonna build around him, lol

Counterspike 2.0

3 x Fatal Push
4 x Festering Mummy

3 x Doomed Dissenter
2 x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
3 x Exemplar of Strength
2 x Smuggler's Copter
3 x Grasp of Darkness

3 x Defiant Greatmaw
2 x Plague Belcher
1 x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
1 x Bontu the Glorified
3 x Nest of Scarabs
1 x Liliana, the Last Hope
1 x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1 x Never // Return

2 x Crocodile of the Crossing
1 x Kalitas

8 x Swamp
6 x Forest

2 x Hissing Quagmire
2 x Woodland Cemetery
4 x Foul Orchard

2 x Westvale Abbey


I'll test and post tomorrow, but Bontu looks more consistent than Ifnir, and Kalitas always delivers, more so with the removal/counters/mummies

Bontu is really good, so up to 4 Mummies and 3 Dissenters. Kalitas also likes Mummies, and is a wincon in itself

Yahenni works wonderfully with the tokens theme, which is way stronger that I thought. And with Bontu....and Push, mumies, dissenters etc

Finally, mid Nissa is what this build needed to make the swarms it produces more threathening...nice too for Bontu, Yahenni and all the counters creatures

Bontu, Nissa, Kali and Yahenni are what this build needed to feel balanced, better than a semi-janky Ifnir sub-theme, imo

So I changed the list now it starts to feel oiled