Oh man, that deck looks expensive. Dude, you have such awesome cards. You wouldn't mind if I, uhh, borrowed them for a bit, would you..?
That's right, it's the official play your opponent's deck deck in Standard. Here's the line-up:
COUNTERSPELLS:
Dissolve is our go-to man here. It lets us counter any opponent threat, whether it is a creature, planeswalker, enchantment, or kill spell, AND lets us set up the deck. I'll take the playset and never side it out.
Syncopate, while being less reliable than our friend Dissolve, exiles stuff- which can sometimes be relevant- and is potentially a two mana counterspell. Falls off hard in longer games, though, so I'm considering a switch with Counterspell. Sometimes sided out to make space.
Essence Scatter is in our sideboard against heavy creature decks. Very helpful in slowing down aggro or giving us the ability to make plays while still keeping mana open to stop Arbor Colossus from dropping on our faces.
Negate is the opposite of Essence Scatter, and works wonderfully against control. Also stops Thoughtseize if we're on the play.
Gainsay rapes blue if they don't have this in their SB, and helps us keep up if they do. A must in the sideboard.
REMOVAL:
Hero's Downfall is a must. Kills planeswalkers, kills big dudes who get in our faces, all at instant speed. This will be relevant against almost all decks.
Devour Flesh is an interesting card, and personally one of my favorite flavor-wise. Here, it gets rid of hexproof creatures, works as 2 mana removal, and serves as poor man's lifegain when the going gets tough. Sided out against decks that don't use too many creatures, generally- especially control without W/B.
Drown in Sorrow, our only boardclear in these colors. Absolutely necessary against weenies but fairly useless against everything else- as such, we run two main and two side. The scry is nice, too- lets us dig.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Underworld Connections replenishes our hand, a very useful feature for control decks in general. Also, uhh, depletes our life total. Which is a slightly less useful feature for control decks. But whatever.
Thoughtseize is like a pre-emptive counterspell. How awesome is that? Not awesome at all, actually, makes the game significantly less fun. But if you can't beat them, join them. Side out against aggro.
THE THIEVES:
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver works really, really well, and is aggressively costed. Not much to say, except that stealing is fun and this is the easiest outlet of it.
Nightveil Specter is a much slower stealing engine Ashiok, but can be even better when he gets going with the right color lands. Just try not to get him Supreme Verdict'd.
Psychic Intrusion is an odd man out as this silly little thing only steals one thing, but you have a very nice pick of it. Tends to work well against decks that play big threats like control or midrange but significantly falls off against weenie decks, and is generally sided out against them.
Questions? Comments? Compliments? Criticism? I'd love to hear it all. +1 if you like the idea and comment below!
