"I'm going to--" "No, you're not." (Sub $25)

Modern Budget

cesario-

Instant (27)

• 4x Boomerang
• 4x Dissipate
• 4x Essence Scatter
• 3x Mana Leak
• 4x Negate
• 4x Rune Snag
• 4x Spell Pierce

Creature (8)

• 4x Curious Homunculus  ^Flip
• 4x Jace's Archivist

Land (19)

• 19x Island

Artifact (6)

• 3x Chalice of Life  ^Flip
• 3x Elixir of Immortality

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Sideboard

Instant (15)

• 3x Dispel
• 4x Echoing Truth
• 4x Outwit
• 4x Psychic Rebuttal

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Maybeboard

Instant (9)

• 1x Deprive
• 1x Dream Fracture
• 1x Engulf the Shore
• 1x Invasive Surgery
• 1x Nullify
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vapor Snag
• 1x Wipe Away

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Jace Beleren
• 1x Jace, Memory Adept
• 1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Void Snare

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Counterbalance

Artifact (1)

• 1x Courier's Capsule

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"Oh. Well, if I can't do that, then I'll--" "Sorry, no."

Counter anything and everything. Then, flip a Chalice of Life   to a Chalice of Death   and drink your opponent's tears. This deck is mostly for those players who enjoy the feeling of denying the opponent while you inexorably achieve victory.

Card Analysis:

• 4x Boomerang: use this to bounce anything that gets past your counters. Also, it works on lands if you want to slow them down early game.
• 4x Dissipate: like Cancel, but exiles the countered card instead. This deck seems to need a counter without a drawback.
• 4x Essence Scatter: to counter creatures, especially those bounced by Boomerang.
• 3x Mana Leak: a good early-game counter, but gets less effective in the late game against stopping small creatures. Very fun to play if someone spends all their mana summoning a large creature.
• 4x Negate: a cheap counter for noncreatures.
• 4x Rune Snag : good early game, like Mana Leak, but improves into the late game, unlike Mana Leak. However, because of Elixir of Immortality, this card is slightly weaker, and you can definitely swap it out for a different counter.
• 4x Spell Pierce: the best early game counter. Hopefully, only four of these will be enough to stop fast-start decks.
• 3x Chalice of Life  : the main win condition. Working with Elixir of Immortality, get life up to 30, then flip to Chalice of Death   and burn your opponent as they helplessly try to cast spells.
• 3x Elixir of Immortality: a deck like this runs the risk of running out of counters, so these three are here to make sure that that never happens. Also, using one of these allows you to flip Chalice of Life   much earlier.
• 4x Curious Homunculus   : a very valuable creature. At first, it's a low cmc mana dork. But once it flips, which should not take long, it makes almost every spell in this deck cost U or UU. This can easily help you get the upper hand on your opponent.
• 4x Jace's Archivist : another threat to this deck is running out of counters in your hand to stop the spells your opponent casts. With Jace's Archivist , you can get the double deal of never having fewer cards than your opponent does, while also slowly milling out your opponent and driving them crazy with the hand disruption. After all, as long as you have an Elixir of Immortality, it doesn't hurt you to chuck your hand.
• 19x Island: I don't know yet whether 19 islands is too many or too few? I've draw a couple hands and it seems to alternate between mana floods and mana screws.

Sideboard analysis:

• 3x Dispel: for counter wars or for fizzling a Lightning Bolt .
• 4x Echoing Truth: a bounce spell that is especially lovely against decks that flood the board with tokens of the same kind.
• 4x Outwit : defeat burn.
• 4x Psychic Rebuttal : again, take the opponent's burn and throw it right back at them.

Customization: Planeswalkers

The best two cards to add to this deck (swap out Chalice of Life  ) if you have the budget: 2x Jace, Memory Adept and 4x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets . Jace, Memory Adept lets you mill your opponent out much more quickly. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets does everything you need for a card in this deck. He allows card draw, can bounce creatures, and his ultimate will practically end the game in your favor.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Rares 18 - 4 Uncommons 19 - 11 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.10