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Blue Skies v2
by Paul Reinhardt



    This deck has gotten very popular. It was used in Masques Block
Constructed, but now is a T2 favorite. I have playtested this deck against
many other decks and it turns out good for me. Some decks even carry
Whirlwind to deal with this deck. Here's my deck:

Blue Heaven

(24) Land:
18 Island
4 Rishadan Port
2 Ancient Spring

(16) Creatures:
4 Ribbon Snake
4 Spike Hatchling
4 Sage Owl
4 Waterfront Bouncer

(20) Other:
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Thwart
2 Wash Out
2 Misdirection
4 Withdraw
4 Brainstorm

(15) Sideboard:
1 Dust Bowl (Mawcor when 7th edition comes)
3 Stronghold Zeppelin
2 Alexi, Zephyr Mage
2 Tidal Visionary
4 Bribery
2 Wash Out
1 Misdirection

    A few questions answered first. This will get you even with why I love
blue.
Q: Why use Sage Owl?
A: Wash Out. That's why: the earlier the better. This also can keep me from
being land-flooded or from getting no land.

Q: If Sage Owl is here, then why do you use Brainstorm?
A: Simple. I draw a card, and know what my next 2 are. Sage Owl is only 1/15
of my deck. I like better chances of knowing what and when I get stuff.

Q: Why don't you use more Dust Bowl?
A: Because, my friend, in my area, I either get too few lands or too many.
Although Sage Owl sorts that out, I can't rely on it in the late game.

Q: Ok I'm not saying another "Why." What's with Thwart and not Counterspell
or Daze?
A: I had Daze in here, and every time, the opponent would have mana to spare
or would simply have better cards. Thwart, along with my many Islands, gives
me edge over Blastogeddon, Ponza, and other land-killers, because I have
lands in my hand, ready to play.

    My strategy is to wipe out Stompy and Rebel with Wash Out and Withdraw,
Blastogeddon and Ponza with Thwart, Control with Misdirection, and flying for
everything else. Rebel decks use a lot of mana up, so Withdraw usually isn't
too hard to play. But what about b/r, r/g, and other killers?
    Terminate is this decks biggest threat, killing my only potential game
winner. Void, when its played, wipes all my 2 mana creatures from the board.
The decree isn't bad, except for getting 2 or 3 creatures. All the specters
are usually countered, but can damage this deck, especially Doomsday Specter.
    But, when you got Marsh Croc's. Specters, and the occasional Urborg Drake
gunnin' ya, all ya got to do is play Wash Out, and their all gone, waiting
for your opponent's next turn to be over so the "Discard Phase" takes effect.
Black has an extremely bad problem (in my area) with bounce. Dark Ritual
works well, but when its used for a specter that gets returned, you're in
trouble. Here's how battle's went in my area (NOT A TOURNEY):

U/B/R
3-3 (I never saw one Crosis, and they had trouble once Misdirection was used
for Urza's Rage. I battled 2 different people, 2-1 me, and 1-2 her.)

Stompy
1-2 him (Blastoderm doesn't mean jack to bounce, and Bribery never got much,
since he only had 2 Blastoderm and a million weenies.)

B/R Zombie
2-1 me (Told ya Wash Out effects the game a lot. Bribery for a specter was
cool, too.)

R/G Kill
1-1 tie (Hey, it was getting late and I like sleep)

Rebel
3-0 me (More multicolor than rebels? Must be a post-Mardi Gras bug.)

Total: 10-7 me

    Stompy actually works when few Blastoderm are used, since Bribery will
snatch them. Rebel never did anything because bounce kinda went good for me
when discard phase for my opponent came. Sage Owl always helps, but
Brainstorm wasn't totally necessary for the win. I'm considering replacing it
with Seal of Removal or Cloud Sprite...
E-mail me at Paulwayner2@cs.com for concerns


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