The Ties That Bind

Standard* Counterspell UR (Izzet)

ETEl2NAL407

Instant (29)

• 2x Boomerang
• 2x Cancel
• 2x Disperse
• 2x Early Frost
• 2x Lightning Bolt
• 2x Lightning Strike
• 2x Mana Leak
• 1x Reins of Power
• 2x Reverberate
• 2x Shock
• 2x Spell Pierce
• 2x Spell Syphon
• 2x Thunderbolt
• 2x Twincast
• 2x Vapor Snag

Sorcery (6)

• 2x Exhaustion
• 2x Fabricate
• 2x Mana Vapors

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Dissipation Field
• 1x Intruder Alarm
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Shimmer

Artifact (6)

• 1x Chalice of Death  ^Flip
• 1x Ensnaring Bridge
• 2x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Juntu Stakes
• 1x Meekstone

Land (18)

• 10x Island
• 8x Mountain

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This is a quick deck idea using no creatures. The underlying concept is to make things very difficult on your opponent in 3 ways:

1) Countering their spells/Sending permanents back to their hand

2) Trapping their mana so it's unusable

3) Requiring additional mana be spent so they can attack

The mana may seem light in this deck, but that's by design because all the cards are very low in CMC, and a big mana pocket could slow this deck down too much to be effective.

There's lots of combos to choose from, mostly deciding which instant to Imprint with Isochron Scepter, and lots of options. I would go with either a direct damage, such as Shock or Lightning Bolt, but you could also Imprint Boomerang, Spell Syphon (my personal favorite), Twincast, or Reverberate...Lots of options, you get the picture.

I'm throwing in Chalice of Death   in case you get in a pinch and can't kill your foe any other way, but I highly recommend to only use the red direct damage spells on the player, not the creatures, because there aren't many in here. Instead, just boomerang the creatures and/or counter them from the beginning.

This deck will really work well if you can get out Propaganda, Juntu Stakes, and Meekstone, because they basically automatically do what this deck is designed to do and once they're out you can focus more on screwing your opponent out of mana and focus less on keeping their battlefield clear of creatures.

As usual with all my decks, feedback is appreciated, so please let me know what you think of this concept. Thanks! =)

Date added	10 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 14 - 0 Rares 6 - 0 Uncommons 24 - 0 Commons
Cards	63
Avg. CMC	2.14