The return of... BBS

[warlocker19]

Lately I have been teting with a new build of mono-u, an archetype that hasn't been played in a while.  It has been pretty strong in testing against slavery, and combo(duh) and has been simply mediocore against aggro.
here is the list

4 force of will
4 mana drain
4 mana leak
4 stifle (tech)

4 brainstorm
4 impulse
1 ancestral
1 time walk

3 powder keg
2 nevinyrral's disk

4 ophidian
2 morphlig

1 sol ring
1 lotus petal
1 black lotus
5 moxen
14 island
1 stripmine

//sb
2 nevinyrral's disk
2 morphling
3 isochron scepter
4 annul ( tested  great)
4 arcane laboratory

Do u think this is still a viable deck.  Please help with my build :shock:

[GoblinGame]

With mono blue why do you run mana leak instead of counterspell? Is just to have incase you see it and a mox opening hand? Personally Im not a hudge fan of mana leak so Id run plain ole counterspells in those slots. And on the SB what do you bring the extra morphlings in against? And the scepters SB what do those come in against, I am back from a bit of a break so still getting used to the current metta but if your matchup against aggro is not as well as you'd like you could try droping a Fling and a scepter or 2 for propaganda's perhaps on the SB.

[The Atog Lord]

In many ways, landstill has become the replacement for BBS. Landstill can use the very powerful Standstill as a draw engine. At the same time, because it has few or no nonland permanents, landstill can better use Disk than BBS. For the most part, in a field with Decree of Justice and Pentavus and Psychatog, Morphling isn't as good as he once was.

[CMass]

I am also curious about the sideboard listed.  Some explanation of the environment you play in and how you sideboard would help there.  Also, where is your maindeck Fact or Fiction?  It's restricted because it's good in BBS, so why not use the one you're allowed?  

BBS might fly fine in a small local tournament if metagamed right, but in general, I don't think BBS will hold up too well in the current meta.  There's too much explosive aggro, not to mention other solid decks with very high threat densities that can simply overwhelm it.

@GoblinGame:  Mana Leak, as you correctly guessed, is there to provide a first-turn counter with an island and an off-color mox.  It's probably better than Counterspell for that reason, although Leak does get kinda dodgy later in the game.

[warlocker19]

my meta isn't anythjing spectacular.  There is only one other person with with power other than I.  There is some oath, fish, slavery, and rogue builds.  I am gonna drop 3 isochron in the board for 3 oppresion.

[Klep]

Shouldn't you have Fact or Fiction in here?  I think I'd also recommend the Intuition/AK engine instead of the Impulses and phids.  Ophidian is slow, you want to draw cards quickly, and you want to draw them now.  In addition, AK has great synergy with the scepters in your board.

[InsaneScrub]

I might suggestion running in the side Back To Basics, as the card is insanely bah roken in the current format + Energy Flux another busted card, and for creature control, I am really starting to like the idea of Rushing River or Seal of removal, cause once it's in play tog has to answer it, or it can't just dump to tog.

[warlocker19]

Iv'e taken your guys advice and here is the new build:

4 force of will
4 mana drain
4 stifle
3 mana leak

3 brainstorm
4 acumulated knowledge
3 intuiton
1 ancestral
1 time walk
1 mystical tutor
1 FoF

4 powder keg
3 back to basics

3 morphling

1 lotus
5 moxen
1 stripmine
14 island

//sb
4 nevinnural's disk
4 annul
4 capsize
3 arcane laboratory

Is this build any better?

I uped the morphling count to 3 so they can be snagged off intuition, plaus a 4th keg went in, and a brainstorm came out for a fact or fiction, soooooooo..............

[Cthulhu]

I'm not so sure about the switch to the AK engine, it seems better for explosive semi combo decks (Ie hulk). BBS seems to follow the keeperish style of slow control, and AK didn't work to well there either (You ended up with bad hulk.)

To me, it looks like you are heading towards a B2B hulk build anyway. If you have the dual lands, that might be a very good deck (You appear to have the power)

Another idea: Do you have a libabary of Alexandira? if so, why not run it?

[eric]

If it's a blue pile of counters and drawing, it can certainly give some decks problems....

That said, can you explain your card choices? Have you tested this against anything yet? What do you lose to with your current build? What do you crush?

[eric]

For creature control, I am starting to like Rushing River or Seal of removal, cause once it's in play tog has to answer it, or it can't just dump to tog.

Instant speed bounce might work once, but after that, the tog player will *counter* it or force the tog back out and kill you next turn anyway.  If you still like the idea, cheaper instant speed bounce leaves more of your mana open to force it through. Curfew bounces the tog for U, for instance.

Seal of Removal is interesting because the tog player has to deal with it, but really you just fight the same counter war over it as you would anything else, or, more likely, the tog player entices you to use it by pumping enough to be dangerous and then forces the tog back out and kills you next turn.

Try a few games with bouce against tog and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[warlocker19]

Well, for starters, i have revised my list to this:

4 force of will
4 mana drain
4 stifle

4 brainstorm
4 impulse
1 mystical tutor
1 FoF
1 ancestral recal
1 time walk

4 ophidian
2 morphling

1 capsize
3 back to basics
4 powder keg

1 lotus
1 library of alexandria
5 moxen
15 island

the sideboard is:

4 nevinyyral's dik
4 annul
3 capsize
4 arcane laboratory



In testing:  the ak engine was bad b/c it drew me the cards too fast.  After a sudden burst i couldn't just go off and win like tog could, so back to impulse.

This deck does good against prison decks in my testing b/c once u weather the storm of dirupive artifacts, and counter all there threats its not too hard.  Back to basics + stifle are key in this matchup.
Tog has been 50% at winning.  Usually it is very dependent on who gets the more broken draw, and who can stabilize faster.
oath- haven't seen trouble thus far
Combo- too many counters for them to handle
Sui- tough matchup cause they throw a lot a threats out fast + disruption-same with madness

Overall the most trouble has been with TnT because of there speed + disruption =- ouch

Idea=Does this deck deserve a color splash withouyt becoming tog
??

[xzero]

Idea=Does this deck deserve a color splash withouyt becoming tog

This deck does not deserve to be played, in any way, over Psychatog.

Also, I question the off-color moxen with no Mana Leak.

I also question 8 hard counters with the only MD removal being 4 Powder Keg, and a Capsize.