They say you can  judge a businessman by the amount of repeat business he gets.  I'm not actually in business, but I'm still inclined to believe I'm doing pretty well based on how many E-mails I get that start by thanking me for previous services rendered.

Hey Bmoor.....thanks for taking a look at my black/white, tips were definitely appreciated and used. This go round i would like your words of wisdom with my new Blue Countering Deck. This deck like its namesake, was originally just a creature countering deck allowing me to get my opponent to use his mana to summon his creatures and then have me send them back to their hands. However as i began to play the deck i added a few cards and now am able to counter/tap almost everything my opponent plays, spells, creatures, you name it. Its an extremely pesky deck especially when my opponent wastes their mana and then has to face down Plasma Elemental and such.  Only a few problems....i have alot of draw power but am low on mana on occasions so my countering abilities aren't as effective. If there are any search mana cards for blue that would be helpful here. Thanks again man

 

     Total: 62

 

Creatures 18

 

2x Primal Plasma

4x Teardrop Kami

1x Temporal Adept

4x Spire Golem (for speed)

2x Jodah's Avenger

3x Silver Myr

2x Plasma Elemental

 

Instants, Spells etc. 24

 

2x Counterspell

4x Serum Visions

4x Consuming Vortex

2x Mana Leak

2x Regress

4x Aether Spellbomb

4x Inspiration

2x Gigadrowse

 

Lands 20

 

20x Island

Ahh, the old blue standby of countering everything in sight.  Yes, I think I can help you with this one.  But first, I'll start with your creatures, as I usually do.  I know for some decks those are an afterthought, but you've put some thought into your selection-- I can tell.

Now, as I look through your selection, I notice a few anomalies.  Spire Golem looks like a fine include (and makes me nostalgic for my old blue Modular deck), but the rest bring to mind a rule of thumb that's long overdue to be shared with you all.  BMoor's guide to creature evaluation, lesson #1: If it has a toughness of one, think twice.  One toughness means anything from a Prodigal Pyromancer to a Festering March to even blocking an Eager Cadet can kill it.  That doesn't mean one-toughness creatures aren't playable, but it does mean that the creature will need other positive aspects to be playable.  Let's look at your 1-toughness guys and see if they're good enough.

Teardrop Kami?  Well, a 1/1 for 1 isn't bad, but it's been a long time since one ever did anything.  The built it Twiddle is sort of nice, but chances are you'll be chump blocking with this guy pretty soon, meaning that the tap effect won't really be maximized.  Better to replace this with the third and fourth Gigadrowse (which coincidentally brings you down to 60 cards).

Temporal Adept? Repeatable bounce effects are very annoying and very potent, but spending three mana a turn?  And the fact that it's on a 1/1 for 1UU means a stray Lava Dart will end this before it even gets going in a lot of cases.  And why only one?  It's a good card, but it's on the bubble.

Silver Myr?  Sadly, blue mana acceleration doesn't get much better.  Actually, it does, in the form of mana-producing noncreature artifacts like Prismatic Lens.  Not being a creature is actually an advantage for anything that taps for mana, since it then doesn't have summoning sickness and can't be killed by damage.  Putting in Prismatic Lenses or Ravnica Signets of some sort would likely be the advantage you're looking for.

Plasma Elemental?  Six mana for a 4/1 is an awful lot.  Yes, it's unblockable, so it'll likely never tangle with another creature in combat, but more likely it'll draw a removal spell on the spot.  And six mana is probably the reason you're having mana troubles.  Since you're mono-blue, Air Elemental is actually cheaper for having higher toughness, and is almost as hard to block.  Then there's "strictly better" Serra Sphinx, who could do some blocking herself.

Now let's move on to your noncreature spells, the core of any good countering deck.  Yours seem to fall into four categories: counter, bounce, tap, and draw more cards.

Two Counterspell and two Mana Leak is all you've got for countermagic?  At least make it four Counterspell.  And we'll see if there's any room for more as we examine the rest.

A solid ten bounce spells here, with Consuming Vortex, AEther Spellbomb, and Regress.  Boomerang is a beter choice than either Regress or Consuming Vortex (in a non-splice deck), so pull both of those cards for 4 Boomerang and maybe a few more Mana Leak if there's room.

Since the Spellbomb plays double duty as a draw spell in a pinch, let's move on to your draw power.  I absolutely love Serum Visions as a turn-one play, but I have my doubts about Inspiration when Counsel of the Soratami does the same thing for less mana.  And Foresee does more for equal mana.  Of course, Inspiration is an instant, so I'll leave the choice up to you.

Finally, your tap effects.  I already mentioned how I feel about Gigadrowse (recap: get more), so I guess that completes the deck fix.  I hope it all works out for you as well as the last fix did!

~BMoor