--Blue/Red Creatureless Control/Burn Deck (Type 1)--

I made this deck one day when I was bored, and decided to look through my magic cards and make up a new deck. It's a fairly simple deck, and not an expensive one either, but it works extremely well.

--Lands--
12 Mountains
12 Islands

--Enchantments--
4 Aether Storms
4 Soul Barriers
4 Propagandas

--Spells--
4 Counterspells
4 Remove Souls
4 Shocks
4 Lightning Blasts
4 Disintegrates
4 Kaervek's Torches

Total: 60 Cards

The idea behind this deck is that 90% of all decks rely on creatures in order to win the game, therefore, if you can find a way to either stop creatures from coming out, or to render them useless, then your opponent probably won't win (i.e. control). Thats why I included the enchantments.
This, however, left me with no way to deal damage, so I just threw in alot of damage-dealing spells (i.e. burn). Most importantly, in order for this deck to work, I had to make sure that I included NO creatures whatsoever, because the enchantments would effect me, too.

Now to go in depth on why I included each of the cards that I did:

Soul Barriers: For each one in play, your opponent will take 2 damage whenever he/she plays a creature spell, unless he/she pays 2 extra. These things are great, because they will either postpone your opponents plays, giving you extra time to cast those damage spells, or, will force him/her to take the damage, and, in essence, do your job for you.

Aether Storms: These are more expensive than the soul barriers, but if you get one in play, then NO CREATURES CAN BE PLAYED. Of course, your opponent can pay 4 life if he/she wants to get rid of it, but once again, he/she will be doing your job for you.

Propaganda: These are just in case a creature makes it into play before you put up the storms or the barriers. For each propaganda in play, each creature can't attack unless their controller pays 2, for each creature that he/she wants to attack! What good is a creature that can't attack? Usually, no good at all.

Counterspells/Remove Souls: Pretty self-explanatory. They're good for holding off your opponent until you can get an enchantment or two in play, and the counterspells can also protect your enchantments from spells like tranquility, or cleansing meditation.

Shocks/Lightning Blasts/Disintegrates/Kaervek's Torches: These are also pretty self-explanatory. Shocks are included in almost every burn deck out there, for obvious reasons. Lightning blasts are great, because they deal 4 damage for one less mana than you would have to pay to get the same damage out of a disintegrate or a kaervek's torch. The disintegrates are good because if you kill a creature with it, it's removed from the game rather than sent to the graveyard, and the torches are good because they're harder to counter.

Some strategies for playing this deck:
- Dont be afraid to use one of your damage spells to take out a creature that made it out before your enchantments did. You have alot of them, and if your opponent is the aggressive type, the soul barriers and aether storms will seriously hurt them, too.
- Use the remove souls whenever you feel it to be necessary, but if you can, try to save the counterspells for spells that could seriously hurt you. Most of the time, you don't really need to be that cautious about it, but if someone gets, say, an armageddon out, you're screwed for a few turns.
- If you're playing against a deck that gets creatures out REALLY quickly, like a strong goblin deck, for example, or against another deck that has no creatures in it. It's better go to all out offensive on your opponent's ass.
As long as you use all your mana for damage spells, and can do more damage to him/her per turn than he/she can to you, then you'll probaby win. Also, for the fast creature decks, make sure that you play your propagandas before you play any other enchantments. As long as your opponent's creatures can't attack you, it doesn't matter how many of them he/she has in play.
- If there are any creatures in play that are either giving your opponent significant amounts of life points each turn, or are hurting you without having to attack, make sure to take them out. Remember, your enchantments are your offense, as well as your defense.

That's about it for this deck. So far, I have played quite a few games with it, and I have not lost a single one (I made sure to follow my own tips, of course). If you have any questions or comments on this deck, my name and email address is enclosed below.

Sean MacMahon
thecanadian0710@hotmail.com