Looter seems boss in this deck, considering all the other faerie stompy cards in here i can't believe I didn't think of him.
If you add Cities and Looters, then Jittes will make the deck even better. Tapping one land to play a Jitte and another to equip is pretty powerful.
Do you think looter could replace Spiketail Hatchling? Looter gets in there for the same amount and is essentially unblockable, as shadow is far less common than flying and it's ability is quite powerful. The lack of hatchling coule be made up for by the fact that you can sculpt a perfect hand with looter and draw into a daze/FoW.
My suggestions would be to -4 Rishadan Port -4 Spiketail Hatchling, +4 City of Traitors, +3 Looter Il Kor, +1 Jitte
I would ideally want to run a second jitte but I dont know what I would cut for it, perhaps 1x Ponder?
I'm not cutting Rishadan Port or Wasteland, and I still need to test Looter. Rishadan Port is one of the best cards in the entire deck, and is one of the requirements for Orb-locking them. And if Looter is going in the deck, it's going in over Stifle or Serendib Efreet, not Hatchling.
I'm just wondering why I would want City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb in this deck? The only card that seems to benefit from it is Drake and the two Efreets. These lands just do not fit in this deck. I understand that people want to take this in a faerie-stompy direction, but this is a different deck with a different plan. I also noticed one person mentioning that this deck was "1 or 2 turns too slow" and this just indicates that they haven't played with the deck. This deck routinely goes over the 10 turn mark. In fact, the game going longer is usually a sign that you are going to win.
I actually need a testing partner with access to the better metagame decks in the format. If you are interested in testing against me, please send me a PM.
EDIT: Also, in regards to the Jitte idea, that's actually an avenue that I'd like to explore as well, especially if the Efreets go in favour of the Looters. I'm going to do a bit of a jumble with the list, just to see what can be shaved, and what should stay. Stifles, Efreets and potentially a Ponder or the singleton Echoing Truth are on the cutting-room floor.
Like maybe:
-2 Efreet
-3 Stifle
+3 Looter
+2 Jitte
Stifle could go in the board over the Remand/Kegs.
I had a horrible panic attack yesterday. It was because I drank coffee. Cold sweats, racing heartbeat and an incredibly intense spurt of hypochondriosis. Seriously, watch what you eat.
How about using Looter il-Kor for draw he is a shadow, great for evasion that you need. Vedalken Mastermind to return winter orb just like what he is great for in stasis deck?
I really like the Looter il-Kor idea. A lot. I will test this out, because this deck is very hungry for card quality engines. Pitching extra lands, extra Chrome Moxen, to draw more cards seems pretty badass.
Vedelken Mastermind is pretty 'meh' in my opinion. Paying 3 mana a turn to bounce and recast Winter Orb doesn't look that much better than just untapping a single land and a chrome mox a turn. Winter Orb is pretty easy for this deck to play around.
I don't think this deck can or should support the 2 mana lands. The only thing that you really want to be rushing out is Sea Drake and the 2 Efreets, and they don't work that well with the rest of the deck TBH.
Propaganda can usually wait a little bit, and Winter Orb usually comes down once they've tapped 3 or more lands. I think that Port and Wasteland are the better call here.
The thing to note here is that you really aren't in a rush. You can afford to take a bit of time getting your threats into play as long as you are thoroughly disrupting your opponent.
Dark Confidant is not a bad idea actually! I hadn't really thought of that. The only problem is that it's landbound, meaning that it won't be able to attack past their stalled creatures and that games tend to go on for a long time (thought I suppose that Brainstorm and Ponder would prevent excessive life loss), it might also screw the manabase up a bit. I'll do a bit of testing and tell you what I think.
is rishadan port not ...something not so good with winter orb ?
It's actually incredible with Winter Orb. It locks their manabase down alongside Chrome Mox. Even if you don't have Chrome Mox in play, you can use it in conjunction with land drops to keep an opponent pinned down. At worst, it's just another land.
I know this sounds a bit cliche, but I think you might gain a bit more perspective on the deck by proxying it up and playing it. It will give you a good idea about what cards would be good, and what cards won't, because unlike a lot of other decks, it's not incredibly apparent just from looking at it.
Hello, and welcome to the Lock Fish 2K8 thread! Lock Fish is the most competative deck that I have ever designed, and though I put it on the shelf for a while, I still think that it can be a good to very good deck in this format. Before we continue, I'll post the list for you to gawk at
This deck functions on a strategy of mana denial, card optimization, and cheap evasive win conditions. The mana denial suite is comprehensive, and multifacited. The card disadvantage accrued from cards like Force of Will and Chrome Mox are recouped due to the virtual card advantage created by keeping an opponent's cards in hand, or on the board unable to attack. There is an immense, immense amount of synergy within this deck that you will notice when you pick it up and play with it.
A full 8 spots are devoted to mana disruption, with Port and Wasteland. The low dependance on blue mana lets you get away with this, and the versatility of the lands gives you a leg up on the competition. The land destruction also works really well with the rest of the deck.
In my opinion, no other non-combo deck better manages the drawbacks, and exploits the benefits of Chrome Mox than this deck. It's synergy with Winter Orb and Rishadan Port (an interaction I will go into depth on later), the ability to rush out Spiketails and your 3 mana beaters, the minimization of the impact of it's inherent card disadvantage (due to the virtual card advantage I spoke of earlier), the ability to shuffle multiples away with Ponder and Brainstorm, etc. It's really one of the stars in this deck.
The manabase and the deck in general is also very resiliant to nonbasic hate with Moxen and lots of basics/fetches. The spells in the deck also do not require a lot of colored mana to function.
First, let's start with Spiketail Hatchling. This card simply rocks in this deck. It's best use is to act as a "Seal of Force Spike", where it sits on the board and makes your opponent either play spells through it, or try to play around it. In most other decks, it's ability to legitimately counter spells gets worse as the game goes on, due to the fact that people are putting more mana into play. That's not a big concern in this deck, because between Stifle, Wasteland, Port, Daze and most importantly, Winter Orb, it will be relevant well into the late game. Sometimes you'll want to sacrifice it just to keep your opponent even more locked down under a Winter Orb, even if they have mana available to pay for it. It's also evasive, so it will be looking down on your opponent's ground bound army stuck there due to Propaganda. If you're playing the deck correctly, Spiketail will (not joking) get in there for 8-10 damage in a game.
Sea Drake is also not only an incredible creature in it's own right, it's very synergistic with the deck as well. With a Winter Orb in play, or even when you haven't played a land that turn, returning stuff to your hand is great! It means that you get to replay them untapped, maybe so that you can play a Brainstorm or Ponder directly afterwards, maybe to save up mana to cast something later. It also flies, which is a huge bonus.
Serendib Efreet is there just as an additional threat so that you don't get ruined by removal. It flies, it's cheap, it's bolt-proof, it's blue and it's an okay blocker too.
Winter Orb. Wow. What an underutilized card in Legacy! This is essentially the lynchpin of the deck. So many cards are made way, way, way better when it's in play. There is also the Chrome Mox/Winter Orb/Rishadan Port combo that will keep your opponent from untapping any lands at all. This will happen much more often that you would think due to Ponder and Brainstorm, and the general length of games played. Your whole deck is designed to abuse Winter Orb, and an opponent's deck most likely isn't.
Propaganda is your all-purpose anti-creature card. Coupled with Winter Orb, it becomes very difficult for an opponent to attack with even a single creature. It also synergizes with Stifle, Wasteland and Port as well. It keeps an opponent's offense directly tied to their mana, which you have the ability to control mercilessly.
Stifle is a multipurpose tool at your disposal. Great against combo, is very often a 1 mana Sinkhole on an opponent's fetchlands, stops Deed from wrecking your board, etc. It does a lot of stuff, but is mainly in the deck for it's ability to punish Fetchlands, which are basically ubiquitous in Legacy.
Echoing Truth is in there as a way to get rid of troublesome permanents. There is only one of it, which is obviously sort of worrying, as it's your only way of getting rid of stuff that has already made it to the board. Ponder, Brainstorm and the general length of games makes it show up a bit more often, but it's a concern that I'm trying to address ATM. I'm pretty sure that Truth is the best possible bounce spell, as it's the cheapest, most universal, doesn't require UU and has the often very relevant extra ability. The ideal number would probably be 2. I might cut an Efreet for it.
Ponder and Brainstorm, while obviously awesome, are really two of the most important cards in the deck. They are cheap, which is mandatory, they work incredibly well with fetchlands, and card quality is much more important than straight card advantage in this deck, because you most likely will not be able to play more than one spell a turn. One thing they do is find the really, really important Winter Orb, and they do it on the first turn. Ponder's drawback of being a Sorcery is not actually a drawback in this deck, because all of the countermagic in the maindeck is either free or a creature, so tapping a land on your turn doesn't mean jack squat.
Force of Will. Well, pretty obvious, but like Chrome Mox, is actually better in this deck, because the card disadvantage is very often recouped by your opponent's inability to play the cards in their hand.
Daze is so good in this deck it's mindbottling. Returning a land to your hand is actually good for you and it doesn't become irrelivant late game. While in a lot of decks it's only sort of half a counterspell, in this deck, I look at it as a real counterspell.
Thorn of Amethyst is for Combo, and to a certain extent, control decks. It's sort of untested, but it seems like a bit of a no-brainer pick. This could easily be replaced by Chill if your metagame has a lot of burn in it, or if the combo decks are more of the Empty the Warrens/Belcher variety, where they need red spells to go off. Chill basically rapes those decks.
You probably haven't even seen Wash Out unless you played since Invasion block. Quite simply, it comes in against decks that try and swarm you, like Goblins, or try and build up a big board presence, like Elves or Survival. It's actually a really badass card against Survival, where you're like, "Oh, you pooped your whole deck out onto the table? Well, it's back in your hand now, and all your lands are tapped." Cursed Totem, or even other bounce spells are being tested in this spot as well.
For Remand versus Spell Snare, we're sort of getting into a bit of a metagame choice combined with me needing to do a bit more testing. Remand is probably my favourite counterspell, and is damn awesome in this deck. "Bouncing" a spell back to an opponent's hand is often as good as countering it, because their lands are going to be pinned down, it costs 1U (pretty much ideal) and you draw a card to boot. Spell Snare on the other hand is soooooo good in this format right now, with spells like Counterbalance, Tarmogoyf, etc. It also costs a paltry 1 mana, which is just awesome in this deck. It's hard to decide. Both of these cards are also candidates for the maindeck, and are competing with Stifle.
Crucible of Worlds is for Landstill and decks with a heavy commitment to nonbasics. Waste locking an opponent = game over against a ton of decks (especially janky ones that don't have a refined manabase). It's synergy with Fetchlands is another bonus.
Summation (for the TL;DR crew):
Winter Orb is the key to the deck
Card Disadvantage is recouped through virtual card advantage and card quality
Tons of synergy that you will recognize when playing with the deck
Spiketail and Daze remain relevant late into the game
Counters + Lock peices = Unhappy opponent
Winter Orb + Port + Chrome Mox is a very strong lock
Winter Orb + Propaganda is another good lock against creature decks
Good Draw Engine
Solid Beaters
Wow! Beginner's luck I suppose! I knew I had to include Foil in there somehow, as it worked well against the two pre-set decks, and in 5CB in general and first turn Magus is a backbreaker to a lot of decks in the format. So I guess you guys will see more of me around
Now i do like alfred's deck though. i think it looks like a fine control deck.
It looks like it has spells to recover from the early turns and it has tons of drawing.
The only thing i question in this list is the use of Researches. I would think forsee would work better in this case. I didn't like the repeals at first, since in some cases its too costly compared to unsummon but its a cantrip, which is good. The last thing i am not sure about is the use of remove soul over logic knot. but that maybe a SB switch.
Thanks for the interest. The only problem with Logic Knot is that you have quite a few flashback cards that would need to be removed, especially early in the game. Logic Knot is a pretty universal card in this format, because almost every deck has creatures in it, moreso that almost any format.
Forsee could be a good call, but 4 mana at Sorcery speed is a little pricey, but it digs really deep for cards that you need. I'll continue testing the deck, crafting the sideboard, etc. I'll update the deck in this thread to keep people on pace if they want!
Basically, just tons and tons of countermagic, the best control creatures in the format and Mystic Teachings.
Crookclaw Transmuter is awesome. It's removal, an instant speed win condition, can **** with combat, can be searched for with Mystic teachings and can win the game in 7 turns, which is pretty fast.
It has solutions to stuff on the board too, which is important, and I don't really see with blue control decks that often. Piracy Charm can ping off those little annoying bastards, and Repeal is just frigging insane and I <3 it so very much.
Also, 8 2 mana counters is a must, especially in this format. Remove Soul is the nut high in this format, and Rune Snag is also quite good.
I've even been beating T2 decks with this thing, because mono blue just pwns midrange aggro decks.
I prefer Instant-speed card-drawing, thanks. Impulse is leaps and bounds better.
You like it because you can cast counterspells right? Playing this on the first turn or third turn allows you to play counterspells and helps fix your mulligans on turn 1.
From turn 3 onwards, when you have enough mana to counter, even after playing it, this is better because it costs less.
I'm not cutting Rishadan Port or Wasteland, and I still need to test Looter. Rishadan Port is one of the best cards in the entire deck, and is one of the requirements for Orb-locking them. And if Looter is going in the deck, it's going in over Stifle or Serendib Efreet, not Hatchling.
I'm just wondering why I would want City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb in this deck? The only card that seems to benefit from it is Drake and the two Efreets. These lands just do not fit in this deck. I understand that people want to take this in a faerie-stompy direction, but this is a different deck with a different plan. I also noticed one person mentioning that this deck was "1 or 2 turns too slow" and this just indicates that they haven't played with the deck. This deck routinely goes over the 10 turn mark. In fact, the game going longer is usually a sign that you are going to win.
I actually need a testing partner with access to the better metagame decks in the format. If you are interested in testing against me, please send me a PM.
EDIT: Also, in regards to the Jitte idea, that's actually an avenue that I'd like to explore as well, especially if the Efreets go in favour of the Looters. I'm going to do a bit of a jumble with the list, just to see what can be shaved, and what should stay. Stifles, Efreets and potentially a Ponder or the singleton Echoing Truth are on the cutting-room floor.
Like maybe:
-2 Efreet
-3 Stifle
+3 Looter
+2 Jitte
Stifle could go in the board over the Remand/Kegs.
I really like the Looter il-Kor idea. A lot. I will test this out, because this deck is very hungry for card quality engines. Pitching extra lands, extra Chrome Moxen, to draw more cards seems pretty badass.
Vedelken Mastermind is pretty 'meh' in my opinion. Paying 3 mana a turn to bounce and recast Winter Orb doesn't look that much better than just untapping a single land and a chrome mox a turn. Winter Orb is pretty easy for this deck to play around.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Propaganda can usually wait a little bit, and Winter Orb usually comes down once they've tapped 3 or more lands. I think that Port and Wasteland are the better call here.
The thing to note here is that you really aren't in a rush. You can afford to take a bit of time getting your threats into play as long as you are thoroughly disrupting your opponent.
It's actually incredible with Winter Orb. It locks their manabase down alongside Chrome Mox. Even if you don't have Chrome Mox in play, you can use it in conjunction with land drops to keep an opponent pinned down. At worst, it's just another land.
I know this sounds a bit cliche, but I think you might gain a bit more perspective on the deck by proxying it up and playing it. It will give you a good idea about what cards would be good, and what cards won't, because unlike a lot of other decks, it's not incredibly apparent just from looking at it.
6 Island
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Chrome Mox
//Win Conditions
2 Serendib Efreet
4 Sea Drake
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Winter Orb
4 Propaganda
3 Stifle
1 Echoing Truth
//Other Spells
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Thorn of Amethyst/Chill
3 Wash Out
3 Powder Keg
3 Remand/Spell Snare
2 Crucible of Worlds
This deck functions on a strategy of mana denial, card optimization, and cheap evasive win conditions. The mana denial suite is comprehensive, and multifacited. The card disadvantage accrued from cards like Force of Will and Chrome Mox are recouped due to the virtual card advantage created by keeping an opponent's cards in hand, or on the board unable to attack. There is an immense, immense amount of synergy within this deck that you will notice when you pick it up and play with it.
Manabase explanation:
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Chrome Mox
A full 8 spots are devoted to mana disruption, with Port and Wasteland. The low dependance on blue mana lets you get away with this, and the versatility of the lands gives you a leg up on the competition. The land destruction also works really well with the rest of the deck.
In my opinion, no other non-combo deck better manages the drawbacks, and exploits the benefits of Chrome Mox than this deck. It's synergy with Winter Orb and Rishadan Port (an interaction I will go into depth on later), the ability to rush out Spiketails and your 3 mana beaters, the minimization of the impact of it's inherent card disadvantage (due to the virtual card advantage I spoke of earlier), the ability to shuffle multiples away with Ponder and Brainstorm, etc. It's really one of the stars in this deck.
The manabase and the deck in general is also very resiliant to nonbasic hate with Moxen and lots of basics/fetches. The spells in the deck also do not require a lot of colored mana to function.
Win Conditions:
4 Sea Drake
4 Spiketail Hatchling
First, let's start with Spiketail Hatchling. This card simply rocks in this deck. It's best use is to act as a "Seal of Force Spike", where it sits on the board and makes your opponent either play spells through it, or try to play around it. In most other decks, it's ability to legitimately counter spells gets worse as the game goes on, due to the fact that people are putting more mana into play. That's not a big concern in this deck, because between Stifle, Wasteland, Port, Daze and most importantly, Winter Orb, it will be relevant well into the late game. Sometimes you'll want to sacrifice it just to keep your opponent even more locked down under a Winter Orb, even if they have mana available to pay for it. It's also evasive, so it will be looking down on your opponent's ground bound army stuck there due to Propaganda. If you're playing the deck correctly, Spiketail will (not joking) get in there for 8-10 damage in a game.
Sea Drake is also not only an incredible creature in it's own right, it's very synergistic with the deck as well. With a Winter Orb in play, or even when you haven't played a land that turn, returning stuff to your hand is great! It means that you get to replay them untapped, maybe so that you can play a Brainstorm or Ponder directly afterwards, maybe to save up mana to cast something later. It also flies, which is a huge bonus.
Serendib Efreet is there just as an additional threat so that you don't get ruined by removal. It flies, it's cheap, it's bolt-proof, it's blue and it's an okay blocker too.
Lock Peices/Disruption:
4 Propaganda
3 Stifle
1 Echoing Truth
Winter Orb. Wow. What an underutilized card in Legacy! This is essentially the lynchpin of the deck. So many cards are made way, way, way better when it's in play. There is also the Chrome Mox/Winter Orb/Rishadan Port combo that will keep your opponent from untapping any lands at all. This will happen much more often that you would think due to Ponder and Brainstorm, and the general length of games played. Your whole deck is designed to abuse Winter Orb, and an opponent's deck most likely isn't.
Propaganda is your all-purpose anti-creature card. Coupled with Winter Orb, it becomes very difficult for an opponent to attack with even a single creature. It also synergizes with Stifle, Wasteland and Port as well. It keeps an opponent's offense directly tied to their mana, which you have the ability to control mercilessly.
Stifle is a multipurpose tool at your disposal. Great against combo, is very often a 1 mana Sinkhole on an opponent's fetchlands, stops Deed from wrecking your board, etc. It does a lot of stuff, but is mainly in the deck for it's ability to punish Fetchlands, which are basically ubiquitous in Legacy.
Echoing Truth is in there as a way to get rid of troublesome permanents. There is only one of it, which is obviously sort of worrying, as it's your only way of getting rid of stuff that has already made it to the board. Ponder, Brainstorm and the general length of games makes it show up a bit more often, but it's a concern that I'm trying to address ATM. I'm pretty sure that Truth is the best possible bounce spell, as it's the cheapest, most universal, doesn't require UU and has the often very relevant extra ability. The ideal number would probably be 2. I might cut an Efreet for it.
Other Spells:
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
Ponder and Brainstorm, while obviously awesome, are really two of the most important cards in the deck. They are cheap, which is mandatory, they work incredibly well with fetchlands, and card quality is much more important than straight card advantage in this deck, because you most likely will not be able to play more than one spell a turn. One thing they do is find the really, really important Winter Orb, and they do it on the first turn. Ponder's drawback of being a Sorcery is not actually a drawback in this deck, because all of the countermagic in the maindeck is either free or a creature, so tapping a land on your turn doesn't mean jack squat.
Force of Will. Well, pretty obvious, but like Chrome Mox, is actually better in this deck, because the card disadvantage is very often recouped by your opponent's inability to play the cards in their hand.
Daze is so good in this deck it's mindbottling. Returning a land to your hand is actually good for you and it doesn't become irrelivant late game. While in a lot of decks it's only sort of half a counterspell, in this deck, I look at it as a real counterspell.
Sideboard:
4 Thorn of Amethyst/Chill
3 Wash Out/Cursed Totem
3 Powder Keg
3 Remand/Spell Snare
2 Crucible of Worlds
Thorn of Amethyst is for Combo, and to a certain extent, control decks. It's sort of untested, but it seems like a bit of a no-brainer pick. This could easily be replaced by Chill if your metagame has a lot of burn in it, or if the combo decks are more of the Empty the Warrens/Belcher variety, where they need red spells to go off. Chill basically rapes those decks.
You probably haven't even seen Wash Out unless you played since Invasion block. Quite simply, it comes in against decks that try and swarm you, like Goblins, or try and build up a big board presence, like Elves or Survival. It's actually a really badass card against Survival, where you're like, "Oh, you pooped your whole deck out onto the table? Well, it's back in your hand now, and all your lands are tapped." Cursed Totem, or even other bounce spells are being tested in this spot as well.
For Remand versus Spell Snare, we're sort of getting into a bit of a metagame choice combined with me needing to do a bit more testing. Remand is probably my favourite counterspell, and is damn awesome in this deck. "Bouncing" a spell back to an opponent's hand is often as good as countering it, because their lands are going to be pinned down, it costs 1U (pretty much ideal) and you draw a card to boot. Spell Snare on the other hand is soooooo good in this format right now, with spells like Counterbalance, Tarmogoyf, etc. It also costs a paltry 1 mana, which is just awesome in this deck. It's hard to decide. Both of these cards are also candidates for the maindeck, and are competing with Stifle.
Crucible of Worlds is for Landstill and decks with a heavy commitment to nonbasics. Waste locking an opponent = game over against a ton of decks (especially janky ones that don't have a refined manabase). It's synergy with Fetchlands is another bonus.
Summation (for the TL;DR crew):
Winter Orb is the key to the deck
Card Disadvantage is recouped through virtual card advantage and card quality
Tons of synergy that you will recognize when playing with the deck
Spiketail and Daze remain relevant late into the game
Counters + Lock peices = Unhappy opponent
Winter Orb + Port + Chrome Mox is a very strong lock
Winter Orb + Propaganda is another good lock against creature decks
Good Draw Engine
Solid Beaters
Questions and comments are appreciated!
Check out the articles for yourself.
Changleling spells like Woodland Changeling and Nameless Inversion are cheap and good on their own, and make Elvish Handservant nice and fat too.
Probably 3 color: RGB, so you can use real giants too, like Blind-Spot Giant, which is huge, cheap and meshes well with the other changelings.
Thanks for the interest. The only problem with Logic Knot is that you have quite a few flashback cards that would need to be removed, especially early in the game. Logic Knot is a pretty universal card in this format, because almost every deck has creatures in it, moreso that almost any format.
Forsee could be a good call, but 4 mana at Sorcery speed is a little pricey, but it digs really deep for cards that you need. I'll continue testing the deck, crafting the sideboard, etc. I'll update the deck in this thread to keep people on pace if they want!
3 Dimir Aqueduct
20 Island
Creatures (7):
3 Crookclaw Transmuter
4 Errant Ephemeron
4 Remove Soul
4 Cancel
4 Piracy Charm
4 Think Twice
4 Rune Snag
3 Mystical Teachings
4 Repeal
3 Compulsive Research
Basically, just tons and tons of countermagic, the best control creatures in the format and Mystic Teachings.
Crookclaw Transmuter is awesome. It's removal, an instant speed win condition, can **** with combat, can be searched for with Mystic teachings and can win the game in 7 turns, which is pretty fast.
It has solutions to stuff on the board too, which is important, and I don't really see with blue control decks that often. Piracy Charm can ping off those little annoying bastards, and Repeal is just frigging insane and I <3 it so very much.
Also, 8 2 mana counters is a must, especially in this format. Remove Soul is the nut high in this format, and Rune Snag is also quite good.
I've even been beating T2 decks with this thing, because mono blue just pwns midrange aggro decks.
You like it because you can cast counterspells right? Playing this on the first turn or third turn allows you to play counterspells and helps fix your mulligans on turn 1.
From turn 3 onwards, when you have enough mana to counter, even after playing it, this is better because it costs less.