[Deck] Unpowered Mono-Blue

[Blue_Nightmare]

4 FoW
4 Misdirection
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell

4 Impulse
3 Braingeyser
1 Fact or Fiction

2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Control Magic

4 Ophidian
2 Morphling

1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
15 Island
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland

Hey all. I posted my deck here awhile ago and your advice helped. This is what I am currently running. I know the use of braingeyser is going to be criticized, but I find it effective to use after a mana drain when I have a FoW or Misdirection to back me up. Also I have experimented with running fetchlands, but am currently torn about them since I am not currently running brainstorm. Also, do you think phids are a must? I am open to any advice but please try to explain your reasoning. Thanks.

[mulder]

4 FoW
4 Misdirection
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell

4 Impulse
3 Braingeyser
1 Fact or Fiction

2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Control Magic

4 Ophidian
2 Morphling

1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
15 Island
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland

Hey all. I posted my deck here awhile ago and your advice helped. This is what I am currently running. I know the use of braingeyser is going to be criticized, but I find it effective to use after a mana drain when I have a FoW or Misdirection to back me up. Also I have experimented with running fetchlands, but am currently torn about them since I am not currently running brainstorm. Also, do you think phids are a must? I am open to any advice but please try to explain your reasoning. Thanks.

Not running Brainstorm (with fetchlands) is a mistake, why not replace them with the Impulses?
Why no B2B?
If you're gonna play Brainsgeyser, why no Stroke of Genius?
Isn't 4 Control Magic and 2 Veldaken Shackles a bit too much?
Perhaps a few Cunning Wishes might not be a bad idea. You can wish for Hurkyl's Recall (Stax and Colossus), Stifle, Echoing Truth, a Counterspell, Stroke of Genius,...
Perhaps you could find some room to fit in the AK/Intuition engine.

All in all I think the deck is too slow to be competitive, you run too little acceleration and too little draw... But it might be able to sneak in a few wins.

[wuaffiliate]

Could you expand on your metagame, that will help a lot with any suggestions for your deck.

[Tin_Mox5831]

While I'm not a real fan of Mono-U right now, (I feel like Gifts outmodes it.) I certainly respect your devotion to the deck, so I'll see if I can be of any help. I am working under the assumption that the title of this thread means you won't have access to any power. If that's incorrect, it changes things obviously.

The first thing that caught my eye was the exclusion of Back To Basics. That thing is absolutely insane. It's the one card that makes me consider Mono-U from time to time. It wrecks so many decks. Plus, it can be thrown to your pitch counters.

Here's a rough starting idea I might try out. (If someone else would like to jump in, that would be great.)

Instants:
4 FoW
4 Misdirection
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction

Sorceries:
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker

Enchantments:
3 Back To Basics

Artifacts:
1 Darksteel Colossus
4 Chalice Of The Void
2 Pithing Needle
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring

Non-Artifact Creatures:
4 Ophidian
1 Morphling

Land:
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Library Of Alexandria
9 Island

As you can see, I added some tools to help the deck cope with powered opponents. Back To Basics is just obscene against the top tier decks, if you can resolve it. I added Merchant Scrolls to give the deck some utility as well as giving it a stronger mid-game. Tinker -> DSC provides a quick win condition in addition to the traditional Superman Plan. Also, Chalice Of The Void should help to slow down powered opponents long enough for your draw power and permission to take over. I also included Brainstorms and Fetchlands because their interaction is just too powerful to omit. Library Of Alexandria was basically a personal addition. Playing it alongside B2B may not be a great idea, but drawing 4 or 5 cards in a game from a single land drop is pretty good if you don't happen to see B2B early.

Best of luck,
Dave

[rmn]

You seem to be missing some bounce, especially since you already have 4 Scrolls to fetch it.  That said, I was never much of a fan of Merchant Scroll in unpowered decks; it feels too slow.

Obviously Back to Basics is a major reason to run this deck.  Instead of running Chalice to complement it, have you considered Powder Keg?  For 2 mana it kills all Moxen on the board; it's useful in multiples; and if he's playing in an unpowered metagame it will really help out against random aggro decks.  Since he's already running Shackles and Control Magic, it seems like creatures are definitely an issue in his metagame.

Lastly, I would consider a Trinket Mage toolbox, though obviously that suffers from lack of power as well.

[Blue_Nightmare]

Thanks for the feedback. This is what I've come up with after reading your comments:

4 FoW
4 Misdirection
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell

4 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Fact or Fiction

2 Back to Basics

3 Powder Keg
3 Control Magic

4 Ophidian
1 Morphling
1 Darksteel Colossus

1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
9 Island
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland

Do you feel that this is a superior build? Is brainstorm clearly better than impulse? I feel that impulse does a great job of stocking my hand. I like powder keg over chalice because of its versatility. Am I running enough draw now that braingeyser is out? Is Darksteel Colossus/Tinker better than running the 2nd morphling? I am playing in a mostly unpowered metagame and aggro decks have occasionally given me trouble. Is nev's disk a viable option? Also, I'm not quite sure why bounce is necessary.

[Anusien]

Isn't the addition of a slight green splash, Forbidden Orchard, and Oath of Druids make the deck incredibly better?  That way you only have to maintain control of the game for 2-3 turns instead of 4-5 or so while your Morphling or Ophidian beats down.  Also, I suggest you look at this article by Ben Kowal about the use of Disrupt.  However, I find it unlikely that with the current build you're going to have success versus Stax.  While you have a healthy amount of basic Islands, you have very little ways to stop them before they get the lock down, and even if you Hurkyl/Rebuild them on their end step and make them discard a few cards, it's unlikely you're going to be able to win before they establish control.

In other words, why do you want to play Mono-Blue instead of something else?  Describe your budget concerns, the expected metagame, and how many proxies you have access to.

[Blue_Nightmare]

I don't really understand how splashing in green is going to help. I want to play mono-blue because that's the deck I have been working on and using since I started playing magic althought I am not completely adverse to adding another color if it leads to a big improvement. I play againt many different kinds of decks, but they are usually unpowered. No proxies are allowed. If someone could address some of my previous questions I would really appreciate it.