U/B control, but not quite Tezz

[Djinn]

I recently posted about a mono black deck.  I now have enough blue to run U/B control.  That being said, I hope for it to evolve into a Tezz deck, here is my list for now.

4 Counterspell (Mana Drain proxies)
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Intuition
1 Morphling (Ya ya...I need a better closer)


3 Hypnotic Specter
4 Duress
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 The Abyss
1 Mind Twist
3 Diabolic Edict

1 Sol Ring

3 Mishra's Factories
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
5 Swamp
6 Island

SB:
3 Phyrexian Negator
4 Smother
2 Extirpate
4 Nevinyrral's Disk



Not sure what else to include...Braingeyser?  I think I need more draw.  I have Dark Confidants but those seem like suicide with things like Force of Will in the deck.  I need a better closer as well, but there are enough control aspects I think.  I'd like to experiment with recoil as well.  Thanks for reading.

[Djinn]

Add 2 Hurkyl's recall in the SB.  Also, does Dark Ritual have a place in this deck?  And what about tinker?

[Ufactor]

The number of control decks not playing Tezz/Vault/Key is approaching zero.  You need a really solid reason for not playing it.

-An aggro-heavy environment is not a reason to omit Vault combo.  There should be sufficient bounce to take care of Null Rod, and Tinker answers any creature rush.

-Budget is also not a really good reason to bypass Tezzeret & Co.  In an underproxied or sanctioned tournament, there are better deck choices available that are not bad control.

-Deck space *might* be a valid reason for cutting Vault combo.  I have done this from time to time, with TPS, in order to make room for more bombs and mana.

-Using a different win condition is *perhaps* another reasonable premise for cutting these cards.  Different decks have varying synergies with different kill cards.  Oath, Tendrils, Psychatog/Dryad, etc. are all cards that work independently from Time Vault, with different advantages, depending on what the rest of the deck contains.

-I'm not ready to jump on the "Play Tez, or go home!" bandwagon, yet.  There are however very few good reasons to avoid these cards.

[the_lord_shaper]

Instead of the hippies, I would suggest dimir cutpurses, and I would add dark confidants and 1 to 2 vendelion cliques.

[Djinn]

I guess I just want to play a deck that isnt so main stream, I'd rather do decently well with a deck I created than a carbon copy of some championship deck.  I thought about playing merfolk, but I would really like to play U/B.  I think with disruption, null rods, and counters, the deck could actually turn out reasonably competitive.  I would definitely add an 11/11 and tinker though.

[Implacable]

I guess I just want to play a deck that isnt so main stream, I'd rather do decently well with a deck I created than a carbon copy of some championship deck.  I thought about playing merfolk, but I would really like to play U/B.  I think with disruption, null rods, and counters, the deck could actually turn out reasonably competitive.  I would definitely add an 11/11 and tinker though.

I've never understood this reasoning.  It's one thing to play a rogue deck of your own design; surprise is its own strength, and it can help you win.  But why play a suboptimal deck?  Choices like Specter just aren't as good as other cards that're out there. 

[Djinn]

I guess I just want to play a deck that isnt so main stream, I'd rather do decently well with a deck I created than a carbon copy of some championship deck.  I thought about playing merfolk, but I would really like to play U/B.  I think with disruption, null rods, and counters, the deck could actually turn out reasonably competitive.  I would definitely add an 11/11 and tinker though.

I've never understood this reasoning.  It's one thing to play a rogue deck of your own design; surprise is its own strength, and it can help you win.  But why play a suboptimal deck?  Choices like Specter just aren't as good as other cards that're out there. 

The fun in magic is designing your own creation (in my opinion).  I'm not insisting on using sub-optimal cards.  If hyppy just ain't no good anymore I won't use it - but I'll use something else.  I just want to create something my own and be competitive.  Back to the main topic. 

Should I run dark ritual?  And a new creature base is looking like:

2 Dark Confidant
2 Hypnotic Specter
3 Dimir Cutpurse
1 DSC (running tinker, obviously)

[Djinn]

Revised:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
3 Mishra's Factory
5 Swamp
4 Island


2 Negate
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Intuition

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Duress
1 Mind Twist
2 Diabolic Edict
1 The Abyss

3 Dimir Cutpurse
3 Hypnotic Specter
1 Inkwell Leviathan

1 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Null Rod
1 Sol Ring

[zippysquirrel]

I'm trying to create a similar version of this deck, basically designed around getting in the way of a lot of important Vintage Cards. Its started as U/W control, but that became less than viable.

Here's a partial list:

3 x Null Rod
3 x Duress
4 x Hymn to Tourac
3 x Thoughtseize
2 x Dark Confidant
2 x Dimir Cutpurse
4 x Mana Drain
4 x Counterspell
3 x Pithing Needle
3 x Meddling Mage
1 x Demonic tutor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Imperial Seal


Staples are in there

[the_lord_shaper]

Here's a B/U Merfok deck I built, its really fun to play and quite effective too.


Deck Name: A Can of Merfolk @$$-Whupery

Main Deck:
Creatures: 17
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Cursecatcher
3 Slivergil Adept
2 Merrow Reejerey
2 Wake Thrasher
2 Sygg, River Cutthroat

Spells: 18
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Brainstorm
1 A-Call
1 Timewalk
1 Vamp Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Echoing Truth


Artifacts: 7
4 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet

Lands: 18
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
2 Mutavault
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Island

Side Board:
2 Smother
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Planar Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Energy Flux
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Spell Snare

[LordHomerCat]

The Abyss + a bunch of random creatures = synergy?  Seems less than ideal to me, plus The Abyss sucks currently against Pridemage, Seal of Primordium, DSC, Inkwell, MUD decks... basically all the relevant creatures.