I didn't even realize that was a $700 card .___.

Thanks a lot! I love playing magic, but sometimes it's just not worth it for me to spend that much money on a deck, ya know? Even though if I did in this case I would probably win nearly every time...

This deck rarely loses, and I consider it worth the cost. However, you can still build a reasonably effective variant for less money. The biggest challenge will be balancing the land base. I run the 3+3+9 setup because it gives me the consistency and flexibility to handle every situation. With other lands (e.g. Drowned Catacomb , Sunken Ruins , Underground River ), you don't get as much power, but you also don't pay nearly as much to build the deck.

Given the new set Dragons maze, will you be modifying your deck at all and have you any plans on how to play around cards like Sin Collector ?

If you're playing Sin Collector against me, you've already lost.

Nothing in Dragon's Maze has impressed me, really. I don't plan on incorporating anything from that set into this deck.

What do you think about Isochron Scepter ? You have 13 valuable targets in the deck, though Cyclonic Rift and Pact of Negation are a bit iffy. (I'm not counting Dark Ritual - That's just bad) With all of the card draw, I think you'll consistently have a target, and it's at least worth testing. It is slightly slow, but Vampiric Tutor every turn will end the game pretty fast, and a re-usable Mana Drain or Counterspell seems awesome.

Isochron Scepter is likely to die, and there isn't really anything I need to imprint. Isochron Scepter is also a bit slow.

And if you leave enough mana open to activate it, you won't get 2-for 1ed, because you're still casting the spell. Though that could be a problem against Krosan Grip .

Now that I think about it, you're looking to win by turn 5 or 6, yes? so Isochron Scepter , in order to generate you card advantage must be used more than two times (in the sense that you get to use two cards: the scepter and the spell, to cast the spell more than two times). That seems bad when you're winning so quickly. My testing has proven it to be amazing, but that is somewhat particular to my casual meta.

I don't dispute that Isochron Scepter is strong in slower games, but you pretty much summed up why I don't want to include it in this deck. First, it's too vulnerable to removal and control. Second, it is disadvantageous until I can activate it multiple times under favorable circumstances. Third, it doesn't promise enough advantage throughout the course of the game to warrant its inclusion.

Bottled Cloister : Draw nine cards every single turn. I think that's worth trying, no? Also works well with Ensnaring Bridge .

I don't want Bottled Cloister in this deck. I can't really play control if my hand is empty on everyone else's turn. And I kill people before Ensnaring Bridge would be relevant (Ensnaring Bridge is actually horrible with all my draw power).

Spellstutter Sprite ? Not sure how many 1-costs you need to counter, but it has synergy with Riptide Laboratory .

Also, if you need a Stifle effect, Trickbind may be better. It's uncounterable and buys you a turn.

I would probably just run Negate over Spellstutter Sprite ; Negate is a hard counter for a wider range of spells.

What are your thoughts on using Dismember over Pongify ?

Dismember isn't a hard kill spell; although it can kill indestructible creatures, it can't always kill everything I want dead. Pongify is just a straight kill spell, and a 3/3 isn't too concerning.

I don't currently play either, though.

What do you use delay for? Unless there is some combo with it, it seems Ertai's Meddling would be better since it doesn't let them change targets or modes and doesn't trigger any when someone casts a spell things.

Also, is Hinder really better than Spell Crumple ? Unless you're worried about Tunnel Vision s or you often put the countered card on top of their library, I don't see any advantage to it.

Hinder is able to be brought back by Snapcaster Mage (or Eternal Witness ). spell crumple can't.

I won't ever cast Ertai's Meddling for more than X=1. 2-drop counterspells are fantastic, and Delay is always a hard 3-turn suspend. Often, that means the game will end before the spell is cast again.

Hinder is better because of Snapcaster Mage . If I put Spell Crumple on the bottom of my library, I'll never use it again. It serves no purpose there.

I would hesitate to say that you would NEVER see it again, this is after all, a format with tons of reshuffle and tutor effects. I run Spell Crumple in one of my EDH decks and I see t on an average of thrice a game. That being said Snapcaster Mage makes Spell Crumple a much less attractive option, enough to warrant it's non-inclusion.

TL; DR You CAN see Spell Crumple more than once but it's still not that good in this application.

that's a good point, in my meta, no one uses snappies and games never end in less than three turns, but we're a casual group, not high level super expensive decks

This deck needs the low mana curve to survive and make explosive plays. Hinder is justifiable as a 3-drop counterspell only because it can absolutely devastate commander-based strategies.

Hmm... is Dryad Arbor supposed to be under both Lands and Creatures? If it is that's fine, it's just that to the unexperienced eye (i.e. mine) it sort of mucks up the card count.

The system lists it that way; I have no control over that.

Dropped Search for Tomorrow for Grim Monolith a while ago. Thoughts on additional ramp I could include?

I think that you have all of the more explosive early ramp that is available to your deck. Assuming that you want any additional ramp to be kept to a casting cost of 2 or less, all that's left is mana dorks and mana rocks. There's Joraga Treespeaker , which can get you to 5 mana on turn 3 plus any other ramp you drop on the second turn. Lotus Petal for a small one-shot boost. Krosan Wayfarer is useful early (I like to use it to keep the opponent guessing as to whether or not I actually do have enough mana for counterspells) but it's usually a dead draw later on. Mind Stone can be cracked for a card if necessary. I don't know what other ramp I could suggest. Culling the Weak would only be useful if you drop a creature early.