Len Blado BLADOLE@HSDVAX.HSD.UTC.COM

Annonymous person writes: > There was a whole lot more tactics and fun in playing that good old > counterburn deck back when IceAge hit the market. Now the whole idea of > counterdecks has degenerated into 'whoever has the most counters will win' > deck. After Alliances has left the T2 environment, I believe/hope players > are going to think of their counters as a valuable resource instead of a way > of winning at the cost of the fun and creativity of deck construction and > playing.

Ah... the good ole days... :) Hate to say it, but permission vs. permission has *always* been 'whoever has the most counters will win'- between players of equal skill that is. The fun in permission is (1) most everyone is a bad permission player, so you can simply outplay them... something you can't do with standard burn decks very easily and (2) making sure that you always 'have the most counters'.

Since this *is* a strategy forum, though, as long as we're on the subject, some personal 'rules' of permission:

1. Know everything. The reason the best players in Magic tend to play blue a lot has much less to do with the fact that there some sort of bias out there than with the fact that in *order* to play blue successfully you've got to have an encyclopediac knowledge of rules and strategy. Not only do you have to know your own options, but you've got to accurate guess your opponent's options and be prepared to deal with them. In addition, you've got to be able to instantly assess an opponent's deck- in one deck, it may be essential to counter that Jayemdae Tome; in another, it would be pointless. A good friend of mine often wows the newbies by going to tournaments and, after 3-4 turns, rattling off every card in their deck (usually missing by 5-6 cards). Needless to say, he's pretty good at playing permission.

2. Be aware of what countermagic is for. The next time I see a Turbostasis player counter an Ernham Djinn, I reserve the right to strangle them. Countermagic plays many roles in many decks, but the most common use is for protecting permanents, *not* denying your opponent vital resources. Counterpost and Turbostasis are both examples of this school of countermagic use. In each, your primary interest is to protect the key permanents of your deck- that's why such decks are so comparitively light on countermagic. In Turbostasis, for example, all I need to do is have more countermagic than you have Disenchants, and I'm usually ok. A Hammer/Permission deck, on the other hand, tends to use Countermagic for 'disruption'- meaning that you could care less if your Wildfire Emissary gets Terror'd, so long as you keep countering the Tombstone Stairwells. This doesn't mean that countermagic is 'locked in'- it just means that you should always be aware of *why* you put it in the deck in the first place.

3. Don't get involved in countermagic wars unless you really need to. Most players assume that, since they have a counterspell in their hand, they should automatically aim it at any counterspell that comes in range. Don't fall into this trap. It is almost *never* in your interest to 'counter a counterspell'- it runs you out mana on your turn (usually), giving your opponent free rein. It also unnecessarily drains you of countermagic that (most likely) you'll need later. While there are times when you'll want to ensure that a spell gets through (or doesn't get through), make sure to 'pick your fights'. And if you pick a fight, be sure to *win* it.

4. Watch the mana. The single most important element in playing with countermagic (especially against another countermagic deck) is to play the mana game correctly. I've seen people take booster draft decks against tuned Type II decks and wreck them in countermagic wars, simply because they paid attention to the mana situation and their opponent ignored it. Every now and then you'll have to battle your opponent for control of some vital point- make sure when you do, you have the mana advantage. Without it, you're dead. With it, you're virtually guaranteed to win. Even *if* you lose, it will be most likely because of spells like Arcane Denial and Force of Will, which will come back to haunt your opponent later.

5. Don't get sucked into the 'must counter' trap. A large number of players are under the impression that some set of spells exist that a countermagic deck *must* counter, or suffer some heinous fate. This belief leads to bad permission players- the kind that you say "I cast Tsunami", and the counterspell is already on the table. There is no such thing as a 'must counter' spell- in fact a large number of these probably won't hurt your deck much at all if you stop to think about it. Countermagic decks have a variety of other spells in them for a *reason*. You're not packing Disenchant just in case you don't have a Force of Will in your opening hand, after all. And those Thawing Glaciers and Cities of Brass, while useful on their own, probably make a very nice answer to that Tsunami. The entire point of playing permission is versatility- if a single card hoses your deck, your permission deck probably isn't so hot.

6. Don't play by the 'rules'. Basically, whenever a situation comes up where you *might* have the opportunity to use countermagic, sit back and think about the options- never blindly follow some set of 'rules' for countermagic use. Each situation is totally unique, and depends on a lot of factors that most folks simply don't pay attention to- no set of general rules can possibly cover it. Little things like using the wrong land, a creature being tapped or not, or how many cards someone has in hand can have major effects on the game when countermagic comes into play. Note that you should *always* think about these things whenever *any* spell is cast- even if you don't have any countermagic in your hand.

Len Blado