Help with U/W build

[Raven001]

Hello, I'm a scrub who plays with other scrubs and this is the deck that I use some of the time. If you can give me suggestions on the sideboard in particular, I would be most grateful. If this is the wrong place to post, accept my appologies in advance...

U/W
10 X Islands
6 X plains
4 X Tundra

4 X Swords to Plowshares
3 X Disenchant
1 X Wrath of God
3 X Abeyance
2 X Meddling Mage

4 X Brainstorm
4 X Accumulated Knowledge
2 X Impulse
1 X Fact or Fiction

4 X Force of Will
2 X Arcane Denial
4 X Counterspell (Mana Drain)
4 X Mana Leak

3 X Morphling

Sideboard

3 X Stifle
2 X Control magic
2 X Misdirection
3 X Hydroblast
2 X Tormod’s Crypt
3 X CotV

It is a counter deck with Morphling as the kill condition. I know it is slow but I am just getting back into magic and I'm slow on the pick up...

Most of the scrubs I play with have no power cards, although we do have games where we can proxy nine cards , so I mostly see Sligh, Suicide Black, Mono Blue, Stompy and rogue decks.

Is U/W still viable. Are there better cards out there that I can use?

[Flurp™]

I am not sure how competive your deck is, but it looks ok for your meta.

I would replace some of the basic lands with flooded strands, and add in 4 waistlands and 1 strip mine (though from your meta you might not need them.

You should have balance in there somewhere, maybe replacing a disenchant or WoG.

Do not use arcane denile, it is horrible, you counter your opponents spell then give them more cards to replace it with.  Replace it with misdirection, or stifle, or anything.

[firebird365]

You might want to try x2 Cunning Wish so you can get the Disenchants and the narrower cards into your sideboard, to make more room in the main. I would also add Flooded Strands, and maybe some Adarkar Wastes... Finally, Isochron Scepter might do well in your meta as long as you don't see a lot of artifact hate.

I'd do something like this:

-3 Abeyance
-3 Island
-2 Plains
-1 Morphling
-3 Disenchant

+4 Flooded Strand
+3 Adarkar Wastes
+2 Cunning Wish
+3 Isochron Scepter
+1 Balance

[Alfred]

Hmmm... This could be an alright deck for your metagame, but I have a few suggestions:

1. Go up to 4 Meddling mages, they are great.
2. Add some decrees of justices, try 2.
3. Your card drawing looks suboptimal. I would go for 4x Brainstorm, 4x AK with 2x intuition.
4. Abeyance is poor in this type of deck, it is for more proactive decks that want to resolve something without it being countered.
5. 3 morphlings are too many, and if you are going to use decrees of justice, you probably need only 1, or 2 perhaps.
6. I like Flurp's idea of mana denial, It would be a good idea to go for the 5 strip route. As for stifle, ask yourself the question "Are there enough fetchlands in my meta to warrant it?", if so go 3x stifle maindeck.
7. If you really want to get complicated, get some isochron scepters and cunning wishes and build your sideboard around it, this would make the deck a lot more versatile.
8. Get rid of arcane denial.

Other than that, good luck with your deck.

[Dragonfire425]

definitely get rid arcane denial. It's not very helpful in any meta, especially yours. I certainly would not want to give Sligh 2 more burn spells or Stompy 2 more beatsticks, after just countering one.

[Raven001]

Thanks for the feedback. I have taken most of the suggestions and come up with this list that I am going to test out this weekend with the boys. I don't know how I can fit in four wastelands as Flurp suggested.

Also I am curious as to why Alfred considers intuition better than Impulse? I am not knocking his choice of one over the other just want to know the thought process that led to that decision....

U/W
7 x Island
3 x Plains
4 x Tundra
3 x Flooded Strand
3 x Adarkar Wastes
1 x Strip mine

3 x Swords to Plowshares
4 x Meddling Mage
3 x Decree of Justice
1 x Balance

4 x Brainstorm
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
2 x Intuition

4 x Force of Will
4 x Counterspell
3 x Mana Leak
3 x Stifle
1 x Boomerang
2 x  Cunning Wish

3 x Isochron Scepter

S/B
2 x Boomerang
2 x Control magic
1 x CotV
1 x Tormod’s crypt
2 x Hydroblast
2 x Hibernation
2 x Disenchant
1 x Orim’s Chant
2 x Misdirection

Again thanks...

[Daniel_112]

I think you should replace a intuition for a merchant scroll and you really should play a mystical tutor and a fact or fiction. Add a sol ring for extra mana. Play 23/24 mana sources. You should cut the chalice of the void cause it doesn't work with isochron scepter.

[Alfred]

The reason that I think that intuition is better than impulse in this type of deck is that it has some mad synergy with accumulated knowledge. If you intuition up three accumulated knowledges, accumulated knowledge becomes an ancestral recall. As for your mana base how is 21 lands working for you? I would suggest going up to 24-25 lands, as you are a control deck, and you definately do not want to miss a land drop. Also, I think that I am going to go back on what I said about the stifles. I think that with your deck's configuration, you should take them out. Here are my suggestions for your deck:

-3 stifle
-1 boomerang
-1 boomerang (SB)
-2 control magic (SB)
-1 hydroblast (SB)
-1 Hibernation (SB)
-1 Misdirection (SB)
-1 CotV or Tormod's Crypt(SB)
+3 Wasteland
+1 Cunning wish
+1 tangle (SB)
+1 Fire/Ice (SB)
+1 Heroes' Reunion (SB)
+1 Stifle (SB)
+1 Swords to plowshares (SB)
+1 Mana Leak (SB)
+1 Tormod's Crypt or Chalice of the Void(SB)

That's just off the top of my head, but that seems like a good cunning wish sideboard. Isochron scepter is the reason that you can use great off color instants in your sideboard, such as fire/ice. Fire/ice, tangle and heroes' reunion are great imprints on a scepter when facing aggressive decks. In regards to wasteland, I think this is the natural replacement for stifles, because not only does it disrupt your opponent's non-basic lands, it also acts as your lands 22-24. Tormod's crypt and CotV do not work well as one ofs, depending on your metagame, replace one with the other in your sideboard.

Another thing that I like about this deck, is that it can easily be ported from T1 to T1.5. Just replace the strip mine with another wasteland and balance with wrath of god or another StP.

[COUNTERSPELL]

This is Similar to my Build. Here it is:

Mana Sources 23:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
5 Island
2 Plains
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith

Blue Spells:
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdrection
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Accumulated Knowledge

White Spells:
1 Wrath of God
1 Balance
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Decree of Justice

Artifacts:
3 Isochron Scepter

Sideboard:
1 Fire/Ice
1 Gush
1 Disenchant
1 Abeyance
1 Wrath of God
1 Moat
1 Capsize
1 Honor The Fallen
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Circle of Protection:Red
1 Circle of Protection:Black
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Stifle

The Misdirections are in there because my environment is full of Suicide Black and Sligh. This deck does do well but UW control is too slow for the type 1 metagame.

[Daniel_112]

@: Alfred

I know how good intuition is, but I would only run one, cause you have only one intuition target that you wanna search: AK. The second intuition isn't a good draw later in the game.

[Alfred]

I realize that intuition is a bad draw later in the game, but with only 2 in the deck, the chances of drawing 2 are greatly reduced. For the most part, 2 intuitions are needed to increase the chances of drawing one, even with merchant scroll. I need only point out that most lists that run the intuition/AK engine run 2 intuitions i.e. Hulk Smash.

[Raven001]

"Alfred
As for your mana base how is 21 lands working for you?"

21 lands did present a problem  but I couldn't bring myself to cut anything to add a few more  

"COUNTERSPELL
this deck does do well but UW control is too slow for the type 1 metagame."

Yes, I agree. The group I play with plays mostly for fun (most of us anyways, there's always an alpha type or two in any group).