Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 16:52:06 -1000 From: Sid Subject: Beating Counterpost Recently I've been reading a lot about how Counterpost is invincible, and how no deck can beat it after sideboarding, etc. I also read a lot of Tournament reports at the dojo that seem to contain the lines "And then I got eliminated in Round 5 - Counterpost, the BANE of my deck", etc. etc. Everyone wants to know how to beat it. The answer? ANY WELL CONSTRUCTED DECK. Really. I beat it with a falcon armor white weenie. Not the easiest way to go about it, but it works. I also have beaten many counterpost decks by playing a burn deck. How? Play 4 pillage main deck. I can almost guarantee you'll use them every game. There's Outposts, Thawing Glaciers, nasty artifacts like bosium strip, nevinyrral's disk, bubble matrix, sands of time, etc. If nothing else, you'll mana screw your opponent =D. The most straightforward way to beat counterpost is to HAVE A WAY to beat counterpost. This simple theory makes a lot of sense when applied. You anticipate counterpost in the field? Well, play something that'll beat it! Have green? creeping mold is always useful and thermokarst is also cool. Having winter orbs around is neat too. Red? Use the orbs, pillage, maybe even mana barbs. It's tough paying 1W AND 2 life to make a 1/1. Wildfire emissary can force a wrath of god. Sirocco is strong. White? Geddons. Definitely geddons. Another much overlooked way is with disencahnts and divine offering, mixed with howling mines. You can deck em. Abeyance is the white counterspell, believe in it. Abeyance. Counter? No? Well, then I'll disenchant your stupid soldevi digger and you're decked. Playing black? Choking sands! Stupor! coercion (IMO very much overlooked) are all options. Prot from white creatures (black knights, knights of stromgald) are often overlooked, and they can force a wrath. Forsaken wastes is also strong, since the blue player can no longer cast the gerrards wisdom. Desolation shuts down the engine, and if nothing else forces them to lose two lands (and either take 2 damage or lose an outpost) to disenchant, gaining you land (card?) advantage. Discard however seems the best way to go with black. Odylic wraith (izzat it?) is a great discard card, as is abyssal specter because they are MUST deal with cards. Playing a blue deck vs counterpost? keep those Political Trickeries handy. Also, another much more obscure trick is to use vision charm. Turn all their plains into mountains or soemthing, the ONLY way to "counter" an outpost. If they can't sac a plains well then that's it for them. My personal favourite card (which you also gain style poitns for playing) would have to be Ophidian. This card is another MUST deal with card. Counterpost relies on having card advantage to win (hence the browse, impulses, glaciers, wrath of god, and even the outposts). Ophidian spins the game in your favor and I've forced wrath of gods out =). Rainbow efreet is a great card as well, since very often it's a 241. Swords. Phase it out. in response, swords again. Or, abeyance, swords. In any case you have also forced out the abeyance =). Now, for gold cards, frenetic efreet. This card is (IMO) necessary in U/R vs. counterpost. No counterpost player likes to have a swords to plowshares or hydroblast wasted. Army ants are very cool, if nothing more than for a strip mine effect =). Hit the glaciers or the outpost and everything is cool. They have to swords it or hydroblast it away, and if they don't draw one for a while then you have slowed their game down because they can't play their glaciers or outpost. Very cool. For any deck, the one biggest piece of advice I would give you is if you are playing 2 or more colors, play a few Undiscovered paradises, gemstone mines or cities of brass. Armageddon in the sideboard is a trick that only a couple of people use (me for example =D), and nobody expects to get geddoned by a red deck! After carefully thinking about it I have come to the conclusion that NO card can disrupt a counterpost player's game more than the geddon. The deck is very mana intensive, and a well timed geddon spells game. Hopefully some time in the near future these tricks will help you out. And, if you have a couple of slots in the sideboard (or main deck even) play with some of the cards I mentioned. You can bet you'll face at least one counterpost in a tournament, and it always helps to be prepared. Good luck! Sid