Subject: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 20:00:17 +0100 From: "Matthew Smith" To: Hi This is a deck I've made, which has been relatively successful in games with other players on IRC. The concept is quite old (basic U/R - counterhammer type) and is generally a good one, and this is my version of it: CounterGolem Lands 7 Mountains - the player may wish to take out a mountain and replace it with another island or lake, as many of the blue spells require UU and all the red only needs R, to avoid colour screw, but so far with 20 lands (10 of which can produce U) this hasn't be much of a problem. 8 Island 2 Caldera Lake - as they come into play tapped it slows you down to much to have many of these. 3 Reflecting pools - many people don't to have many of these in their deck due to the fact that if you have no other lands it cannot produce mana, but I believe that its worth the risk as pools are differently the best land in magic. Blue 4 Mana leak - brilliant card 4 Counterspell - the basic armoury of a counter deck 4 Dismiss - ditto. 2 Force spike - okay its not the best card in the world but in a game there are countless opportunities to use it most people will tap all their lands to cast a spell at some point, then wham! very nasty early in the game. 2 Desertion - high casting cost (but only 1 more than dismiss) with a cool ability, but the cost means you can't have many in a deck. 2 Rebound - fireball me for 10? I don't think so! 3 Whispers - to make sure you don't run out of ammo (players might like to add a forth, after all if you draw to many it only cost U to get rid of it and draw a new card) Red 4 shock - basic armoury of red 4 Incinerate - ditto. 2 fireblast - a brilliant finisher and creature killer (with only 7 mountains more than 2 can be a bad idea) 3 earthquake - damage everyone, what fun - great for moping up several small crits at once 3 Disintegrate - kills even the most stubborn foe, and removes them from the game too 1 Fireball or rolling thunder - leave this to your discretion basically the same, good for killing multiple targets. 4 steel golems - 5 or 6 would be better, as this card rocks, however the counters and dd should slow down an opponent long enough for you to get one out - protect it with counter and kill opponents creatures with dd, quite tough at 3/4 (out of incinerate range etc...) so it should be a while be it gets killed and by then (with the aid of whispers) you should have another to replace it. Also at a cost of 3 very cheap and fast so you can take the offensive straight away if things are going well. Sideboard 3 pyroblast 3 hydroblast - basic anti red or blue spells, cheap counter or destroyer (use these to replace the force spike if opponent is playing red or blue) 2 life tap 2 insight - fast green can get annoying, these two should make sure that your life total is kept healthy and you get a constant stream of dd and counters to mop up his spells. 3 propaganda - super fast weenie decks allows do reasonably well no matter how much counter and dd you have in your deck, this spell can kill any weenie deck for long enough for you to get your defenses up. 2 havoc - cast a white spell loss 2 life, what could be simpler?