Rob's Beginner Blue Deck

Standard UR (Izzet)

ZX6Rob

Creature (14)

• 1x Aerie Worshippers
• 1x Arbiter of the Ideal
• 3x Deepwater Hypnotist
• 2x Frostburn Weird
• 1x Nivmagus Elemental
• 1x Shipbreaker Kraken
• 1x Siren of the Fanged Coast
• 4x Stealer of Secrets

Land (24)

• 24x Island

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Domestication

Artifact (3)

• 1x Gorgon's Head
• 1x Springleaf Drum
• 1x Witches' Eye

Instant (9)

• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Griptide
• 2x Nullify
• 2x Retraction Helix
• 2x Syncopate

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 2x Hands of Binding
• 4x Inaction Injunction
• 1x Whelming Wave

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Sideboard

Creature (4)

• 1x AEtherling
• 2x Blistercoil Weird
• 1x Clone

Instant (10)

• 2x Annul
• 2x Blustersquall
• 2x Dispel
• 2x Nullify
• 2x Retraction Helix

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Index

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Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Archetype of Imagination
• 1x Nivmagus Elemental
• 1x Shipbreaker Kraken

Enchantment (3)

• 2x Chronic Flooding
• 1x Runner's Bane

Instant (14)

• 4x Cancel
• 1x Crypsis
• 1x Dissolve
• 1x Essence Scatter
• 1x Hydrosurge
• 1x Mindstatic
• 1x Negate
• 4x Voyage's End

Sorcery (5)

• 4x Hidden Strings
• 1x Last Thoughts

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A basic blue deck built by a friend for me, a total beginner; hopefully friendly to a novice player. Focused on the cipher/ Nivmagus Elemental combination, locking down opponents' creatures, and counterspelling.

Strategies as I see them:

*Get Nivmagus Elemental out early and cast a sorcery or instant with cipher (such as Hands of Binding ) as soon as possible.

*Low-cost tappers like Retraction Helix and Inaction Injunction prevent opponent from using his creatures or cost him extra time to do so.

*Using instants/counters to tap or clear defending creatures, Nivmagus Elemental deals combat damage to opponent, activating the ciphered spell. He eats this spell to gain additional +1/+1 counters each time.

• If available, Aqueous Form makes Nivmagus Elemental unblockable for a very low cost. Cast this on him as soon as possible.

*During mid-game, cast additional cipher spell on Nivmagus Elemental to double-up on the buffing effect, while simultaneously using Inaction Injunction or Retraction Helix to clear the way for an attack if he is not already unblockable.

*By end-game, mana permitting, Shipbreaker Kraken can be used with its monstrous trigger to lock down up to four of the opponent's creatures.

*Reserve a little mana every turn if possible to counter enchantments and instants. Continue to hit with unblockable Nivmagus Elemental as often as possible.

Sideboard mostly includes additional Instants for countering enchantment-heavy decks. Also includes AEtherling and Clone . I think Clone in particular could be useful to gain a second Nivmagus Elemental .

The Maybe section includes a number of cards that I thought were interesting, but that cost more mana than I wanted or otherwise didn't seem as good as what I had.

Date added	10 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 2 Rares 6 - 4 Uncommons 23 - 9 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.44
Tokens	Boar 2/2 G, Enchantment Bird 2/2 U