2001)

The Planes will be shifting on March 1st and with this celestial occurence, type 2 will make some shifts as well. Foremost among these shifts, I predict that B/R will become a heavy contender in the race for archtype T2 dominance. We'll also be seeing some major enhancements to Fires, Rebels, Blue Skies and many other decks.

Why go rogue? Sometimes it is just plain boring to play the same decks that everyone else is playing. It's a lot more fun to make up your own decks or modify some of the decks you find on-line to add your own personal flair and ideas. After all, you're a good player with interesting ideas that the robot player wouldn't even consider. Ever lose a game to a deck that just didn't seem to have anything going for it, but it just totally messed up your deck's focus? You were probably playing a rouge deck.

In the current meta game we are going to see more and more RED. Currently there is lots of burn floating around in the form of Ghitu Fire, Urza's Rage, etc... We are going to see the addition of Magma Burst and Flametongue Kavu not to mention the deadly B/R Terminate for Planeshift creature control cards. We are also going to see tons of creatures and not much emphasis on enchantments still. Splashing blue for counter spells will still be popular, but my prediction is Fires and B/R speed (led by Phyrexian Scuta, Blazing Specter and Flametongue Kavu) are going to grind a few opponents into dust, and do it fast.

In summary we are going to see a lot of speed, a lot of creatures and a lot of control and you can forget about all the quirky little multi-colored spells because they will either be to inconsistent with your mana base or too slow to make a difference.

So what are the alternatives?

I built this U/W control deck to provide an interesting, fun and deadly alternative to the current T2 environement after Planeshift becomes legal. Here's the Decklist first:

4:Blinding Angel
4:Voice of All
4:Meddling Mage

4:Orim's Chant
4:Counterspell
4:Absorb
4:Misdirection
4:Rushing River

3:Teferi's Moat
4:Fact or Fiction

4:Coastal Tower
4:Adarkar Wastes
1:Dust Bowl
6:Islands
6:Plains

Sideboard
3:Cursed Totem
4:Washout
4:Crimson Acolyte
4:Wrath of God

Next, let's look at some of the spells, what they do and why they are good in this environment. Meddling Mage is one of the stars of the deck because it is an efficient 2/2 creature for 2, and it's ability to name a card and that card cannot be played is pretty huge in this environment. We're going to be using him as the ultimate sideboard card in the main deck. He can stop spells that cannot be countered like Urza's Rage, Kavu Chameleon, and Blurred Mongoose and can keep spells like Blastoderm, which cannot be targeted by spells or abilities from ever hitting the table. Since most people play obvious archtype decks such as fires, rebels, etc... it is pretty easy to name a problem card without seeing anything other than a forest and a mountain in play.

Blinding Angel will be our kill card and will also stop these herds of ground pounders from ever having a combat phase again. If they have only non-flyers (ie, no blockers to stop the angel) it pretty much shuts them down for the game unless they can get rid of her, which is hard with all of your control. At 2/4 she isn't a bad blocker either. She is also your defense against most flyers. Almost all flyers in white and black are pretty small and easily blocked by her.

Voice of All has been placed in the deck because of it's amazing protection abilities. You can name green and easily stop Blastoderm and any large fires creatures. Name red for protection from all manor of direct damage and it even protects against terminate. Name blue to give you a solid blocker against blue flyers or bounce decks. This card will also be another kill card in the deck as it will be able to get through almost anything unless they have 2 sets of colored flyers.

Orim's chant is another great time advantage card. Being touted as the next Timewalk, it isn't all that, but it is a pretty decent stall card and can protect you for a number of turns. It can also slow down your opponent dramatically. Suppose your opponent plays fires and drops a creature... a next turn orim's chant with a kicker is amazing as it keeps them from playing any more creatures and stops them from attacking. Some creatures even require gating or fading which further slows down the usefulness of them if they cannot attack for a turn.

Misdirection is the ultimate surprise card. It can be alternately cast for no mana turn 1 if necessary. This is your main protection card in the deck against creature removal and direct damage to you. Imagine the look on your opponent's face when you misdirect their Urza's Rage for 10 points back at them - remember misdirect is not a counterspell, it merely selects a new target. It also serves to protect against creature removal and bounce or can be useful in a pinch to steal creature enchantments like Armadillo Cloak.

Counterspell and Absorb are your main counterspell control for the deck. Absorb for 1 extra white gives you 3 life and some significant time advantage. Counterspell at 2 mana can get rid of most major threats you will encounter in the game if played correctly. This is also your main defense against a large number of flyers... if you miss a few, you can use rushing river to reset the board and try again.

Rushing river is a nice addition to deal with everything but blastoderm and damage lands. It has a lot of flexibility with 2 colorless mana and the ability to sack lands to it to bounce an extra permenant late game when you have a bit of mana flooding. This is a great way to get rid of a few flyers momentarily so your angel can start setting up the no-combat phases. It can also be used very effectively to bounce something that you didn't have the mana to counterspell earlier or better yet, bounce a card that's being a pain and cast a meddling mage naming that card (you can even bounce your own mage from play and recast it!)

Teferi's Moat works in concert with Orim's Chant's ´´No creatures may attack´´ and Blinding Angel's No combat phase ability. It pretty much shuts down B/R since their is no enchantment control and also shuts down the majority of Rebels and Fires because most of the creatures are ground pounders. With the mage, counterspells and misdirection, it is pretty easy to keep your opponents from hitting you or destroying your enchantment.

Fact or Fiction is the new ultimate searcher for blue. With 1 colored mana it can even be splashed in other decks. If FOF wasn't good enough, the fact that it is an instant is insanely powerful in counterspell decks. When you aren't casting creature spells in this deck, you are mostly waiting to react to your opponents moves. The bad thing is to waste a turn because your opponent didn't do anything or worse yet to run out of counterspell threats. Fact or Fiction helps with both of these problems because it can be played as an instant at the end of your opponents turn and you get a fresh hand, keep counterspell pressure on them and start with a new turn and untapped lands.

Sideboard consists of 4 acolytes to be sided in against red, 4 wrath of god for flyer control, cursed totem against rebels or activated ability creatures and washout for general problem control if you lose control of the game.

Hopefully you will enjoy playing this deck with lots of fun surprises to turn the tables on your oponent or stop their creatures dead in their tracks.

Good Luck!

macro

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