Strict Mono U Highlander

[Mir]

Hi everybody.

Since people from slovak MTG forum have constant headache from my deck questions i try to move my questions here, maybe somebody will help me

so what exactly means "Strict MonoBlue" for me?

There are only two permitted manacosts on cards which i play - Blue, Colorless and combinations. I made this choice to begin with easier manabase to manage and i really want to see what a single color can do, and what cant do. for example - Oona the Queen of Fae cannot be played in my deck, even if i am able to pay its manacosts.

I started to build the deck with a set of standard lands, but later i changed my main mana source to Snow covered islands. Here is the list of all cards which are connected with mana source or ramp:

19 Snow Covered Island
1  (Basic) Island

Bant Panorama
Esper Panorama
Grixis Panorama

1 Shoreline Ranger
1 Traumatic Visions

Crucible of worlds
Extraplanar lens
Armillary Sphere
Rings of Brighthearth

Dreamscape Artist

Darksteel Ingot

Springjack Pasture
Darksteel citadel
Riptide Laboratory
Tolaria West
Mouth of Ronom
Minamo, School at Waters Edge
Academy Ruins
Faerie Conclave
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea

My main goal is to have more mana than my oponent. The reason is simple - to pay counterspells with X manacost, or to play more spells during my turns. since more than 50 percent of all manacosts in my deck are colorless i have no problem to use lands with such mana - thats also reason why i added Panorama lands. They are able to "deland" my library - especially in combo with crucible of the worlds, but also provide colorless mana in the moment when i play them.

Traumatic Visions and Shoreline ranger have similar goal with their landcycling, but more than once i was able to play them sucessfully (as blocker or counterspell).

Armillary sphere does its job quite good, but it is nothing to be compared with Dreamscape artist. This card is excellent in removing lands from my library.

Each card with any activated ability is able to work with Rings of Brighthearth. Many people disagreed with me that this card can do good work (2 lands tapped in play with panorama, 4 with dreamscape artist) and also manabase is not the only point when it can be used.

Extraplanar lens is quite useful - it multiplies mana gained from Snow-Covered Islands, which means that opponents cannot use my manaboost for their own, since most oponents uses nonbasic blue mana sources, or basic islands. Possibility of manaburn is also reason why i added there single Island (easily to find with any landsearch ability).

and now to nonbasic mana sources - there are two - darksteel ingot and darksteel citadel. Since i want to prevent to any landdestruction decks to crush me i added them here. 1U is much better as 0 after opponents Obliterate

Other lands are chosen for their abilities.

My question at this point is what i do not need there, or what i can add? to make your decision easier i post here the rest of my deck:

Planeswalkers:
jace
Tezzeret

creatures:
thalakos Scout
Infiltrator Il Kor
Looter Il Kor
Escape Artist
Thalakos Seer
Pestermite
Fog Bank
Arcbound Reclaimer
Thieving Magpie
Teferi Mage of Zhalfir
Trinket Mage
Ertai, wizard adept
Serra Sphinx
Temporal Adept
Master Transmuter
Platinum Angel
Inkwell Leviathan
Surveiling Sprite
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Magus of the Future
Fatespinner
Drift of Phantasms
Vedalken Aethermage
Steel Wall
Memnarch
Vexing Sphinx
Grozoth
Arcanis
Copper Gnomes
Duplicant

Artifacts:
Darksteel Brute
Senseis Divining top
Mask of memory
Sculpting steel
Loxodon Warhammer
Relic of Progenitus
Quietus spike
Oblivion stone
Lightning Greaves
Crystal Shard
Darksteel Forge
Nevinyrrals disk
Sigil of Distinction
Akromas memorial

Counterspells
Last word
Venarian Glimmer
Faerie Trickery
Hinder
Forbid
Muddle the Mixture
Power Sink
Time Stop
Cancel
Counterspell
Fold into aether
Spell Burst
Rewind

other spells:
Pulse of the Grid
Capsize
Fabricate
Transmute Artifact
Reality strobe

enchantments
Day of the Dragons
Psionic gift
Hermetic Study
Abduction
Confiscate
Fools Demise
Gaseous Form
Freed from real
Copy Enchantment
Arcane laboratory

there are more ways how to play this deck, and i fear that there is too many ways. I like to play Inkwell leviathan, copy it with vesuvan or sculpting steel and crush my oponent so fast as possible. Also very funny with Darksteel forge in play, but thats also the reason why i want to use "Part the Veil" instead of it. it is simple - there are spells like damnation or Wrath of god, or Cruel edict...

also i like the combo with ertai and arcane laboratory. some friend of mine recommended me Erayo, Soratami ascendant to do same (or better) lock. I like both ways, but also i found cards like Hisoka or Stronghold Machinist to do same.

the usual way how people around me use blue is "blue can draw cards", no matter what else blue can do.

right now i am thinking about new deck - same lands and manabase, but much more focused on stealing, misdirection and even copying of opponents cards.

basic idea looks like:

for copying spells and creatures
Mischievous Quanar
Uyo, Silent Prophet
Sigil Tracer
Twincast
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Vesuvan Doppleganger
clone
Shapesharer

for better control:
hisoka
Stronghold Machinist
Hisokas guard
ghosthelm courier
ertai, wizard adept
Arcane laboratory

and the same list of counterspells as before. i am not sure if Hisoka is so bad as i have heard about him, maybe he just need something like Tolarian Winds - similar effect can be brought with other cards...

for stealing:
Almost anything you can imagine
Confiscate
Take Possesion
Annex
Abduction
Control magic
domineer
Steal Artifact
Rootwater Matriarch
Callous Opressor
Legacys allure
Commandeer
Gather Specimen (extremely nasty with Living Death )

the main idea of new deck is "what can opponent play - i can play too, what i cannot play will be countered".

also i am not sure if to choose Draw engine (arcanis, archivist, pulse of the grid, mikokoro, whispers of the muse) or Search engine (long term plans, fabricate, cards with "transmute" ability).

what about Teferi's Puzzle box?

hope its not so much confusing

[so_not]

Well I played something like this in a couple smaller tournaments to a total of 5-2-1 record.
WON:
4C-GiftscomboRock
Goblins
2x UG-midrangecontrols
Ghost Dad

LOST:
UB-control
Storm combo

intentional DRAW: (single elimination final)
GBR tokens


El giganten, el äkeläinen, el dunco:

Ancestral Vision
Pact of Negation
Chrome Mox

Ponder
Brainstorm
Spell Snare
Divert
Force Spike
Relic of Progenitus
Top
Phyrexian Furnace
Pithing Needle

Impulse
Guardian Idol
Miscalculation
Mana Drain
Remand
Daze
Mana Leak
Counterspell
Memory Lapse
Talisman of Indulgence
Talisman of Progress
Mind Stone
Sapphire Medallion
Fathom Seer

Jace
Thirst for Knowledge
Compulsive Research
Exclude
Forbid
Sword of Fire and Ice
Back to Basics
Threads of Disloyalty
Vedalken Shackels
Repulse
Trinket Mage
Phyrexian Ironfoot
Vendilion Clique
Ophidian
Plumeveil
Drift of Phantasms

Gifts Ungiven
Fact or Fiction
Cryptic Command
Foil
Nevinyrral's Disk
Control Magic
Glen Elendra Archmage
Sower of Temptation
Lu Xun, Scholar General
Thieving Magpie
Venser
Masticore
Careful Consideration

Gush
Force of Will
Misdirection
Treachery
Meloku
Mulldrifter
Bribery
Teferi

Commandeer
Condescend
Repeal
Disrupting Shoal

23 Snow-Covered Island
Mutavault
Mishra's Factory
Faerie Conclave
Wasteland
Dust Bowl
Desert
Quicksand
Mouth of Ronom
Tolaria West
Academy Ruins
Lonely Sandbar

This deck have some kind of similar approach than your second deck. Lots of stealing spells are good against aggro/midrange but not too good against control and combo.

[Mir]

i have modified the deck a bit, and im waiting for new cards.

I want to ask about card Erayo, Soratami Ascendant.

I have been trying it for a while, and later i realized that it will be easier to flip it when using Storm or Replicate abilities. What do you think? it is quite good lock with Arcane Laboratory.

[Mythrandir]

i have modified the deck a bit, and im waiting for new cards.

I want to ask about card Erayo, Soratami Ascendant.

I have been trying it for a while, and later i realized that it will be easier to flip it when using Storm or Replicate abilities. What do you think? it is quite good lock with Arcane Laboratory.

yeap, good lock with erayo but, IMO, a bit too slow too work, unless your meta allows it. But yes, erayo is easier to flip than person might think at first.

Also your base strategy is a bit weird... you try to build control/locks but then you use loads of equipment + weenie creatures... you should think and plan better your deck strategy.... To me it looks ackward.

[Mir]

weenie + equipment works quite good. when the draw is good i can put an Escape Artist and Quietus spike into play very fast and it can kill in few turns. if...

In blue color the best way how i can kill an opponent is to use creatures, and i am absolutely sure that except few situations there it is the best way how to archieve victory.

My common enemy is a reanimator deck utilizing Recurring Nightmare - he can put in play red Akroma very fast.

what are the facts...
even with the best manabase my opponents can fix mana faster, or put more expensive creatures faster into play via combos.

also i recognized that it is better to discard a card and rescue a creature (thalakos scout, ephemeron) rather than let it die and wait for better draw.

the "absorb" ability of some cards could be deadly (draining whelk, mana drain, scattering stroke).

counterspells are necessary, so locks like "Arcane lab+Ertai, wizard adept" might help me to disarm my opponent or i may make the deck more aggressive in attacks.

edit:
But... when i want to play creatures, and keep my counterspells on hand active i have to play the creatures and equipment at the end of opponents turn, and wait until i have enough mana.

[Mythrandir]

weenie + equipment works quite good. when the draw is good i can put an Escape Artist and Quietus spike into play very fast and it can kill in few turns. if...

In blue color the best way how i can kill an opponent is to use creatures, and i am absolutely sure that except few situations there it is the best way how to archieve victory.

My common enemy is a reanimator deck utilizing Recurring Nightmare - he can put in play red Akroma very fast.

what are the facts...
even with the best manabase my opponents can fix mana faster, or put more expensive creatures faster into play via combos.

also i recognized that it is better to discard a card and rescue a creature (thalakos scout, ephemeron) rather than let it die and wait for better draw.

the "absorb" ability of some cards could be deadly (draining whelk, mana drain, scattering stroke).

counterspells are necessary, so locks like "Arcane lab+Ertai, wizard adept" might help me to disarm my opponent or i may make the deck more aggressive in attacks.

edit:
But... when i want to play creatures, and keep my counterspells on hand active i have to play the creatures and equipment at the end of opponents turn, and wait until i have enough mana.

The biggest problem with your creature base it's it lack of consistent... your deck to me doesnt seem control, doesnt seem aggro or mid-range..
if you have problems with recurring nightmare, just use tormod crypt, phyrexian furnace, scrabbling claws, pithing needle -> trinket mage. Or just play bounce spells for akroma.

[Mir]

i have one Relic of progenitus for the reccurring nightmare and i play Trinket mage with some artifacts, but Akroma, Angel of Wrath has Protection from Blue and cant be countered, so there are only few ways how to get rid of it - Time Stop.

tomorrow will be new decklist ready, i hope so i will post it here.

[Mythrandir]

i have one Relic of progenitus for the reccurring nightmare and i play Trinket mage with some artifacts, but Akroma, Angel of Wrath has Protection from Blue and cant be countered, so there are only few ways how to get rid of it - Time Stop.

tomorrow will be new decklist ready, i hope so i will post it here.

you probably mean akroma angel of fury.... no?
Well, you can deal with her with maze of ith, for example. or with some artifacts: aether bomb for example.

[Mir]

all right, this is the last version of deck and it can rumble as i have seen yesterday.

Planeswalker:
Jace Beleren

Lands:
19 Snow-Covered Islands
Island

Academy Ruins
Springjack Pasture (slot reserved for Winding Canyons)
Faerie Conclave
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Mouth of Ronom
Riptide Laboratory*
Minamo, School at Water's Edge*
Esper Panorama
Bant Panorama
Grixis Panorama
Darksteel Citadel
Tolaria West

*not directly usable with this decklist, but i will add more legends and wizards

Creatures:
Draining Whelk
Waterspout Djinn
Vedalken Aethermage
Shoreline Ranger
Infiltrator il-Kor
Trinket Mage
Magus of the Future
Escape Artist
Dreamscape Artist
Surveiling Sprite
Vexing Sphinx
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Fencer Clique
Ephemeron
Thalakos Seer
Gilded Drake
Looter il-Kor
Pestermite
Fog Bank
Cloud Spirit
Rishadan Airship
Thalakos Scout

Equipments:
Scythe of the Wretched
Bonesplitter
Neurok Stealthsuit
Deathrender
Quietus Spike
Mask of Memory
Lightning Greaves
Leonin Scimitar
Sigil of Distinction
Loxodon Warhammer

Other Artifacts:
Oblivion Stone
Crucible of Worlds
Nevinyrral's Disk
Darksteel Ingot
Extraplanar Lens
Worn Powerstone
Relic of Progenitus
Rings of Brighthearth
Crystal Shard
Armillary sphere
Vedalken Orrery
Sensei's divining Top

Enchantments:
Rhystic Study (Evil Inside )
Persuasion
Think Tank (maybe Sculpting steel will be better)
Confiscate
Abduction
Copy Enchantment
Disappear
Private Research
Parallel Thoughts

Sorceries:
Reality Strobe
Portent
Ponder
Foresee
Fabricate
Govern the Guildless

Instants:
Forbid
Cancel
Timestop
Counterspell
Gather Specimens
Muddle the Mixture
Rewind
Long-term Plans
Think Twice
Last Word
Spell Burst
Logic Knot
Faerie Trickery
Hinder
Dismal Failure
Traumatic Visions
Capsize
Spelljack
Pulse of the Grid
Power Sink
Venarian Glimmer
Whispers of the Muse


i just need more creatures which can be returned back to my hand and something that can beat BFMs the idea seems like Arcanis, Amugaba. duplicant is also necessary because of Akroma, angel of fury, Aether Spellbomb is good idea, with Academy ruins and Arcbound Reclaimer. i just have to figure out what to do with Progenitus when it is already in play.

some of the "3/1 cant block" weenies have to go out the deck, i think there is too much of them.

[Amaran9th]

Hey everyone, just recently got turned onto the Highlander format and have since created my first deck.  It is a mono blue control deck that focuses on countermagic, card draw, and bounce to control the board.  Any suggestions people have would be great.  Thanks for reading.

Artifacts (10)
Icy Manipulator                
Mind’s Eye                           
Nevinyrral's Disk               
Oblivion Stone             
Planar Portal                
Sapphire Medallion             
Sensei's Divining Top
Sword of Fire and Ice
Vedalken Orrery
Vedalken Shackles            

Creatures (22)
Arcanis the Omnipotent                                        
Brine Elemental                        
Clone                                        
Deep-Sea Kraken
Draining Whelk                                       
Guile                
Man-o'-War
Mischievous Quanar                
Morphling                  
Mulldrifter               
Quicksilver Dragon    
Solemn Simulacrum      
Somnophore
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir               
Thieving Magpie                
Tidespout Tyrant          
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar   
Tradewind Rider               
Vedalken Mastermind    
Venser Shaper Savant         
Voidmage Apprentice                               
Zephid                   

Enchantments (2)
Opposition                   
Propaganda                   

Spells (27)
Boomerang
Bribery                                          
Capsize                   
Counterspell                
Cryptic Command
Desertion                                    
Dissipate                   
Dismiss   
Dominate               
Evacuation                                  
Fabricate                      
Fact or Fiction               
Fervent Denial    
Foil            
Forbid
Force of Will                  
Gush                                        
Intuition      
Long-Term Plans                              
Merchant Scroll    
Opportunity
Pact of Negation                              
Reality Strobe                
Rewind                        
Thwart             
Whirlpool Whelm                  
Whispers of the Muse             

Lands (39)
27 Islands
Academy Ruins
Faerie Conclave
Gargoyle Castle
Lonely Sandbar
Miren, the Moaning Well
Quicksand
Reliquary Tower
Rishadan Port
Soldevi Excavations
Stalking Stones
Tolaria West
Temple of the False God

[Mythrandir]

First, welcome to our forum!

Here's a quick review:

Lands:
There is a lot of nonbasic land hate out there, so you should avoid playin nonbasic, unless they are essential.

i would.
- quicksand
- reliquary tower (really need worth it)
- miren
+ wasteland (definitely, yes)
+ mishra factory (better than stones)
+ vesuva?
+ cycle land for U

artifacts:
-planar portal (too slow)
- sword (not enough creature nor an aggro strategy, imo)
- orrery (not worth it)
+ add some mana accel??

creatures
i would cut a lot of those high CMC creatures (arcanis, quicksilver, quile, deep-sea, etc, etc and even tradewinder)
+ trinket mage
+ glen elendar archmage
+ meloku

enchantments:
- opposition (not enough to keep pressure)
+ future sight

the rest seems ok.
perhaps some cards like:
+ mana drain
+ mystical teachings
+ jace
+ back to basics


well, that's a quick review. hope it helped. Also try searching our forum, i bet there's some decklist for mono U here.

[Amaran9th]

Thanks for the suggestions, here's what I'm probably going to change:

- Clone
- Vedalken Orrery
- Sword of Fire and Ice

+ Glen Elendra Archmage
+ Jace Beleren
+ Sower of Temptation

I'll take another look at the land base and see what I can cut and also assess the value of some of the larger creatures in the deck.  I was under the impression that in highlander you could get away with higher casting cost creatures, but maybe I got too carried away.  Also, I like Meloku, just need to find a spot for her.  Thanks again.

[Mythrandir]

I was under the impression that in highlander you could get away with higher casting cost creatures, but maybe I got too carried away.  spot for her. 

Nop, you can easily be dead by turn 4/5 vs combo or aggro, so high CMC is to be avoided, even in control, of course this is very meta dependent.

[Mir]

Lands
19 Snow-covered Islands
Scrying sheets
Reliquary tower
Soldevi Excavations
Coral Atoll
Academy Ruins
Petrified field
Vesuva
Riptide Laboratory
Mikoro, Center of the Sea (goes out)
Minamo, School at water's edge
Darksteel Citadel
(+wasteland, three panoramas and Tolaria west)

Passive manafix:
jeweled amulet
Kyren toy
Armillary sphere
Crucible of Worlds
Apprentice wizard
Grixis Panorama
Esper Panorama
Bant Panorama

Aggresive Manafix:
Wasteland
Power sink
Vedalken Plotter
Phantasmal Terrain
Scattering stroke
Sunken Field
Annex
Rhystic Study

Draw Engine:
Telling time
Opportunity
Impulse
Brainstorm
Ponder
Scroll rack
Portent
Truth or tale
Frantic Search

Tutoring:
Personal Tutor
Merchant scroll
Vedalken Aethermage
Transmute Artifact
Tezzeret the seeker
Artificer's Intuition
Long-term plans
Drift of phantasms
Fabricate
Muddle the mixture
Trinket mage
Dizzy spell
Relearn
Tolaria West
Ethereal usher
Riptide Shapeshifter
Gifts ungiven

Control:
Fog bank
War Tax
Commandeer
Propaganda
Counterspell
Rewind
Time Stop
Meekstone
Twincast
Cancel
Faerie Trickery
Forbid
Trip noose
Trickbind
Relic of progenitus
Oblivion stone
Kederekt leviathan
Teferi, mage of zhalfir
Nevinyrral's disk

Combos:
Tidespout tyrant
Ambassador laquatus
Gauntlet of power
Lightning greaves
Helm of Awakening
Palinchron
High tide
Sensei's divining top
Magus of the Future
Mind over matter
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Pemmin's aura
Library of Leng
Cloud key
Azami, lady of scrolls
Memnarch
Etherium Sculptor
Freed fron the Real
Whispers of the muse
Archivist
Aeon Chronicler
Cloud of Faeries
Extraplanar lens
Feldon's Cane
Brain freeze


Lands:
I have chosen snow covered islands because with Extraplanar lens they dont give mana to opponent. Only in very few cases. Also snow mana is reason why i keep in deck Scrying sheets which can draw a snow card - land to me.

Soldevi Excavations and Coral atoll (and eventually temple of false god) are in deck from same reason as Tidespout tyrant. I noticed that with Cloud of faeries and mana doubler or with helm of awakening you can gain infinite mana. Since those lands give more than one mana the deck has another possibility how to gain infinite mana with djinn and faerie

Passive manafix:
those cards just speed up mana gain. Nothing else. Thats why they are called "passive".

Aggresive manafix:
These cards attack opponent in some way - he loses mana, land, his spell is countered or he loses exact color which he needs, while i benefit from it.

Draw engine just draw cards, tutors just search for another cards. Control contain cards which are defending me in some way.

combos... many cards, infinite mana and so on...
Right now the deck miss Future sight, dissipate and mana drain, but this means it is in "budget" althought it is not the cheapest one.

I will appreciate any comments.

edit:
also i want to ask about two combos...

Fallowsage+Paradise mantle+pemmins aura or Grimoire thief+paradise mantle+pemmins aura can potentially kill oponent when they lose summ. sickness, but the combo is quite slow. Are there any other ways how to tap creature to produce mana?

[GoblinPiledriver]

You shouldn't play 3 card combos, the chances of getting such combos(even with tutors) online is too less.

You play far too much expensive cards (Arcanis the Omnipotent,Memnarch,Kederekt leviathan,Ethereal usher) they will come too late and then you lost already the match.

When you play Palinchron + Extraplanar Lense(Gauntlet of power) you shouldn`t play many nonbasic Lands.
(Darksteel Citadel is only needed in decks with armagedoon,for Coral Atoll you need to bounce a untapped island so it's better to play azorius chancery or dimir aqueduct or simic growth chamber or izzet steam maze, you need reliqaury tower when you draw many many cards)

Cloud key,Helm of Awakening dont work good enough.

Vedalken Plotter,Phantasmal Terrain,Annex   The chance of cutting your opponent the right colour is not worth playing such cards.