Blue Prison

[desolutionist]

I know Counterbalance has been played in Vintage before -- to mediocre results. But maybe now that Chalice is restricted, Counterbalance could fill that place in the meta of countering one and zero drops all day.  This is sort of an outline for beginning to construct such a deck
The combo:

4 Counterbalance
4 Sensei's Divining Top

The obvious:

4 Force of Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

Draw Package:

Gush vs. Thirst for Knowledge
Ancestral Visions

4 mana spells (for Lodestone):

Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Fact or Fiction
Gifts Ungiven
Mindbreak Trap

Other prison cards:

Sphere of Resistance
Stasis
Back to Basics
Propaganda

Removal:

Dismember
Hurkyl's Recall

Counterspells:

Mana Drain
Mental Misstep
Flusterstorm
Spell Pierce

Cards worth splashing for:

Swords to Plowshares
Lightning Bolt
Nature's Claim
Trygon Predator
Dark Confidant
Dack Fayden
Auriok Salvagers (With Trinket-box)
Stoneforge Mystic
Vampiric Tutor

Mana:

Black Lotus
Mox Sapphire
Lotus Petal

Double blue is important as early as possibly, so Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond?  Please share your ideas, I will post a list after I've tested some.

[xouman]

I don't think that playing 4cc cards is advisable. While you can counter jaces and golems, you can spare counterspells and bolts to answer them. On the other hand, I find that a counterbalance deck should answer 1cc spells (top helps here) and 2cc spells, namely spheres, oath, drains, creatures... Take good care of cavern (ruins the plan) and something like canonist could help to avoid crazy plays.

Since trinket fetches top and allows shuffling, seems a good idea. Probe helps getting the combo and preparing the library according to opponent's cards. With probes,cabal therapy, meddling mage and revoker get better. I'll probably avoid black to go for UW, maybe with red or green as third color.

For the kill...  I don't know if the small critters is enough. Once you are playing trinkets and lots of tops, voltaic key is good. And then vault can fit too.

[tribet]

Some dude here even played Terminus to a 2nd place finish. I think the card is legit:
- Doesn't get hit by Misstep, REB
- Work ok around Flusterstorm & Sphere effects
- Give you time to establish control versus aggro strategies: dredge, mentor/pyro's tokens, MUD
- Wipe out Revokers nulling your Planeswalkers

4 Sensei seems way too heavy. To compensate for lack of 4 Brainstorms, I think you'd better rely a more on full range of top deck tutors: Enlightened, VT, Mystical... All this probably means that 4 Misstep is a must in your deck. Trinket mage is the other option but maybe too slow for what you trying to do.

[Aaron Patten]

Moat is a lock piece that is also 4cc.  Two birds

[nedleeds]

I think I'd just want Snapcaster Mage(s). It's a real clock, it's a 2 which is pretty important. Snapping back removal, all while hitting for 2 is really good. I don't think calling it or going in a 'prison' direction is the right way to go. Prison to me means constraining resources, typically from multiple axis. The blue tools for that are much worse than MUD, or Wasteland / Crucible, or Hatebears. Countertop is a 'soft lock', it's vulnerable to Abrupt Decay, bricking on your top 3, and Cavern of Souls. I think you better have Meddling Mage in your sideboard with Abrupt Decay written on it in Sharpie. You may also want a Strip and maybe 1 wasteland to solve Cavern of Souls.

[Khahan]

4 tops seems like 2 too many.  I think I'd cut them down and possibly consider trinket mages in their slot.  If you have a top and pull a mage, you can thin you deck or grab any other  0 or 1 artifact you need. If have no top and pull a mage - you just get top.  Trinket mage also gives you 3 CC for counterbalance which can take out opposing thirsts, tinkers, painful truths (which is seeing some rise in use), show and tells and yag's will.

For the question of gush vs thirst:

By running stasis I think you default to gush as this lets you reset your mana base a bit.  It can help draw out stasis a few more turns and still fill your hand with draw. Plus gush is a 5 drop for opposing FoW's.

[rikter]

I had a similar idea, basically to try and port miracles to vintage to take the place of chalice. A buddy of mine actually tried it at the last mana drain open (the one they had in Milford CT last year), he told me that the issue is that you can't reliably drop the counterbalance turn 1 and so it isn't as good as you might think it would be.

I do like the idea of stasis though, I don't know how viable it is, but gushing to keep the stasis lock going just seems sweet.

I'm not a huge fan of the 4 tops, just because we have so much card selection and searching effects that you don't actually need to play 4 of a card like that because your card draw and selection spells serve as virtual copies of whatever it is you are looking for.

[desolutionist]

You can also keep Stasis going with Thwart and keep attacking with Mantis Rider for the kill.  

I played mono blue stasis a little over a year ago on MTGO and kept it going with a combination of Ancestral Vision, Gush, Thwart, forsaken city, and Jace TMS. (Forsaken City is essentially how you can build up mana to cast something)

Keeping it going wasn't really an issue, but getting the kill in was. Back then TMS, Batterskull, and Serra Sphinx were the best options. Now there is Mantis Rider and potentionally Jace, VP.

[Chubby Rain]

Again, I'm a broken record but Prodigy is fantastic if you decide to go the Stasis route - Telepath + Gush pretty much keeps the land drops going indefinitely as you get 2 land drops with Gush, probably hit 1-2 land off the 5 draws (2 from Gush + Draw step) and this gives you 3 turns to recharge the loyalty counters on Telepath. Here is the experimental list I dug out my saved files:

4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Dack Fayden
3 Ral Zarek
3 Stasis
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
1 Misdirection
2 Pyroblast
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Wear/Tear
1 Supreme Verdict
4 Gush
2 Dig through Time
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Island
2 Tundra
4 Volcanic Island
1 Library of Alexandria
Sideboard:
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Containment Priest
4 Ravenous Trap
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Pulverize
2 Wear/Tear
1 Pithing Needle
1 Mountain

Obviously, this is dated, a rough draft, (and illegal) but hopefully it gives a starting point.

[desolutionist]

So I had been playing an Oath deck that I thought was super consistent, until I lost to a ridiculous brew in the tournament practice room. I spent the next hour or two watching Njmagic's matches on MTGO and then on Twitch, to discover his decklist.  This was it:

3 Gemstone Mine
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Academy Ruins
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Black Lotus
2 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
3 Mox Opal
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Gitaxian Probe
1 Mental Misstep
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystic Remora
1 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Voltaic Key
4 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Vault
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trinisphere
1 Back to Basics
1 Dack Fayden
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Memory Jar
4 Force of Will
1 Salvage Titan
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Chalice of the Void

Sideboard:
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Sundering Titan
1 Dack Fayden
1 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Echoing Truth
1 Mental Misstep
1 Mystic Remora
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Illness in the Ranks
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Ravenous Trap

I eventually had the courage to play the deck in all of it's glory and have made my own modifications. I 3-1ed the daily today with it. And the decks lines of play keep me interested. Here is my list:

1 Gemstone Mine
2 Mana Confluence
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Wasteland
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Black Lotus
2 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
3 Mox Opal
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Gitaxian Probe
1 Mental Misstep
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Balance
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Voltaic Key
3 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
1 In the Eye of Chaos
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Vault
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trinisphere
1 Back to Basics
1 Dack Fayden
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Memory Jar
4 Force of Will
1 Sundering Titan
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Wheel of Fortune

Sideboard:
3 Nature's Claim
1 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Ravenous Trap

I'd love to add some more explanation for some of the inner workings of this deck and will do so as I have time. One of the things that is not obvious is Undiscovered Paradise. This deck doesn't really need more than one land; it operates like an Academy deck. Undiscovered Paradise is a 5c mana source with no restrictions. It's main purpose is also to combo with Back to Basics.

I think my favorite additions were Balance, Sundering Titan, and Toxic Deluge. My favorite omission was Mystic Remora. (Thanks to Nick Detwiler)

[tito del monte]

Having played against Desolutionist twice yesterday with UWR Mentor, I can only say that despite appearances this deck is both real - and a real pain in the jacksie! Certainly, in our first match, the number of one-ofs made figuring out how to sideboard a nightmare. The other thing the deck has going for it, is leveraging so many permanents that are hard to get rid of - especially enchantments. While I'm still not sure Erayo itself is worth it, there's definitely something good going on with this list. Is NJMagic a TMD user who could comment more on it?

Balance, Deluge and Sundering Titan all feel like improvements. Be interesting to see where this deck goes.

[Hrishi]

I also got slaughtered by this deck in the practice room. I'm not entirely sure if I made the right decisions but to be honest, I had no idea what I was up against and just got destroyed.

[Montolio]

I couldn't resist building this things last night with a few minor changes.
I loved Erayo back in the day.
I only played a small sample size, but man was it fun when I flipped Erayo.
I was able to do it 2 or 3 times and never lost a game when it happened.
Also remembered how good B2B is.
I will continue to tinker with this deck.
Alot of fun. Thanks for posting it!

[dangerlinto]

I might try and find a way to squeeze a Misdirection in here somewhere, because Abrupt Decay is a thing and it's main users (DRS and Oath Decks) look well positioned vs it.

[desolutionist]

Misdirection is a good suggestion.  I've thought about it (briefly) before.  Right now I'm taking the approach of pure "threats".  I only play 4 Force of Will.  You could count Erayo as a defensive effect as well, even though it's also a threat since it needs to be countered pretty much all the time.  I've replaced some of the bad 1-ofs for consistency.  This deck is beginning to take shape.  

I increased the land count to 8, because having at least one land is essential.  Sometimes you can get a hand like Mox, Mox, Mox but you get Mana Vault, Voltaic Key, Mox Opal just as many times.  So I increased the land total.  It could potentially even go higher, but 8 has been good so far.  I'm hesitant to play 4 Mana Confluence, because it does take a lot of life and especially in multiples.  So even though I cut Back to Basics, Undiscovered Paradise definitely stays.  It's been a standout card, and now I'm even thinking about adding a 2nd over the 3rd Confluence or Gemstone Mine.

Lands
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Mana Confluence
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Gemstone Mine

Artifacts
3 Mox Opal
2 Chrome Mox
5 Mox
1 Lotus
1 Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring

This is the mana base that makes this deck possible.  Voltaic Key and other artifacts aid the Opals and Academy obviously.  The mana base lends itself to the card, Balance.  Balance is the best card in the deck.  If you know it won't be countered, set up a healthy Balance and just warp the game into a +5 favor for you.

My initial projections for Erayo have been off.  It's what makes this deck truly competitive.  Oath decks have Oath to cast, this deck has Erayo to cast.  I also beefed up the support for Erayo by increasing to 4 Gitaxian Probes.  Probe has been so good for flipping a Erayo and the information gained is so critical for timing/sequencing threats.

One of the most important adds to this deck, other than Balance, seems to be Monastery Mentor.  I really thought I needed a mid-range threat in there and kept being disappointed by the available artifact creatures, so I just recently thought of Monastery Mentor and it's been really good; I now can't imagine the deck without it really.  Before games went too slow because I couldn't kill them quickly, but now I can cast a Mentor and end the game by chaining Draw 7s.

Here's the rest of my main deck:

4 Erayo
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Force of Will
3 Preordain
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Monastery Mentor
1 Balance
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Sundering Titan
1 Trinisphere
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Dack Fayden
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune

I just 4-0ed the daily with this.  It feels really good.

Favorite moment vs. BUG Fish:

Flip Erayo with Demonic Tutor on the stack.  Get Balance.  Cast Balance with zero cards in hand, zero lands, and zero creatures

I even milled Dredge game 1 by chaining Wheel of Fortune, into Yawgmoth's Will + Jar, into another Wheel of Fortune, and then an Ancestral Recall targeting him.  Lines of play like that make me think Magus of the Wheel will be a good card for the format; Wheel Mill seems playable.

[mmcgeach]

This sure looks like fun to play.  I'm pretty interested.  How has the sideboard been working out for you?

[Islandswamp]

Someone was playing a deck very much like this, except it appears that they added some artifact lands and Thoughtcast. I lost the first match to it 2-1, then won the next several. I think that I may have drawn much better, and maybe the version I played against wasn't as good as the ones in this thread. I was playing a Gush Storm deck, Fastbond, Gifts Ungiven.

Erayo was pretty nuts against me though, when it did actually happen.

[Aaron Patten]

Is a single curse of exhaustion just too expensive?

[mmcgeach]

disolusionist, I used your latest build and it was pretty strong.  Although, I changed out:

-jace the mindsculptor
+daretti, scrap savant

Just kinda on a whim; but it worked out pretty well.  The card filtering is decent and returning jar, vault/key, and sundering titan was awesome.  Beat shops, dredge, esper bomberman/control, and lost to blue belcher combo.  Was pretty fun and everyone got excited to see a new deck.

[desolutionist]

I thought about playing the Daretti. If there was ever a deck to play him in, this is the one.  I stopped playing this deck after I tanked in the MTGO P9 Challenge.  I feel as though the mana base is too dependent on metalcraft and if you wanted to aleviate some of that by adding Seat of the Synods, you'll be even weaker to Null Rod and sometimes unable to cast cards like Balance or Wheel of Fortune.

Here's the list I played in the MTGO P9 Challenge #2:

4x Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Force of Will
3x Preordain
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Ponder
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Timetwister
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Memory Jar
1x Tinker
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Voltaic Key
1x Time Vault
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Balance
1x Trinisphere
1x Time Walk
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Nature’s Claim
1x Tezzeret, the Seeker
4x City of Brass
4x Mana Confluence
1x Strip Mine
1x Wasteland
1x Tolarian Academy
3x Mox Opal
2x Chrome Mox
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Lotus Petal
1x Black Lotus

-sideboard-

4x Ravenous Trap
3x Nature’s Claim
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Monastery Mentor
1x Pithing Needle
1x Duress
1x Defense Grid
1x Arcane Laboratory

I made the last minute decision to main the Mentors over a City of Brass and Ancient Grudge, but it could go either way. It might be a good idea to have at least one Mentor in the deck. And I'm not sure of Sphinx is better than Titan or not.

[mmcgeach]

Its interesting you cut the Crucible of Worlds.  That was key for me in a number of games (against shops and dredge).  Also the Mentors were great.

The deck is pretty unusual in that it's basically a fast vault-key combo deck, but it uses this heavy disruptions suite (strip-crucible, tinker-trinisphere, flipped Erayo) to buy time to assemble the combo.  It seems like most decks double down on the combo plan and try to make that avenue more efficient (like Steel City Vault decks) - but this strategy seems at least as effective, and probably more resilient to hate.  Since the deck isn't a straight combo, a number of people couldn't figure out what to board in against me - but one guy did figure it out and boarded in disenchants. 

To be clear, I used 1 Daretti, 2 Jace TMS, 1 Dack Fayden, which I was pretty happy with.  Although I guess I always want more Dack.

[desolutionist]

I cut the Crucible for a number of reasons.

#1. This deck doesnt want too many lands in play.  I have 11 lands in the above list and that's probably too many.  So the chances that Crucible is just a blank artifact is good.  I realize that it works well with Wasteland and Strip Mine but I preferred to have those lands mainly for their sniping ability; Tutor for one to hit Bazaar/Library/Workshop. 

#2. If the plan is to get ahead with Balance, then Strip Lock is kind of pointless.  I want to resolve Balance every game, so why include cards that take away from that?

#3. When I was looking for suggestions from my friend, Paul Mastriano, he suggested that Crucible is not that good.  So I figured I might as well try without.

This deck has numerous lines of play though and I could see why you would want it.

[mmcgeach]

Heh, I never cast Balance.  I don't think I ever saw it; and I didn't think about aggressively tutoring for it or setting it up.  Interesting that the deck has so many lines.

[desolutionist]

Yeah, Erayo becomes an Enchantment. Jace is a planeswalker. Almost half the deck are artifacts. Every time I cast Balance I had 0-1 cards in hand, 0-1 lands, and 0 creatures. I aggressively go for Balance every game since it's often a +5.