Two of the best decks in the current T2 environment revolve around very different strategies. Both dominate with non-standard game mechanics, either through pulling creatures straight from the deck or casting more spells then they should be able to given their available mana. Both are very mana intensive, but need very little to function. Both have limited invulnerability to targeted removal, and both are pretty easy to play. Few decks have the ability to combat these decks on the mana front, as they can recover so quickly or counter the Armageddon or Tectonic Break that should spell there doom. The Rebel deck further compounds this problem with 4 Glorious Anthem + 3 Crusade on the SB to win creature combat. Two decks can possibly beat these decks while maintaining a chance against Bargain, Ponza and Stompy. First Ponza2k:
4 Seal of Fire
4 Fire Diamond
4 Stone Rain
4 Pillage
2 Hammer of Bogardan
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Masticore
4 Lightning Dragon
1 Sowing Salt
2 Flowstone Slide
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Rishadan Port
3 Dust Bowl
2 Rath's Edge
14 Mountain
Sideboard
3 Flashfires
1 Sowing Salt
1 Boil
4 Scald
4 Viashino Heretic (or Keldon Vandals, depending on your Ponza/Bargain/AccelBlue metagame)
2 Cave-In
Yes, I know it is sacrilege to play without Tectonic Break, but it just doesn't do enough anymore. You just win by more when you play it. I'd much rather play a turn 3 Lightning Dragon or Masticore, just like Accelerated Blue. Lightning Dragon kicks the tar out of Morphling, races much faster than Lin Sivvi can recur Thermal Gliders, should be able to get past Longbow Archers with all the removal and is a bad Treachery target. Those lands you plan on losing to Tec. Break feed the Masticore and the two sac lands. You just don't have time to play the Tec. Break anymore. Notable sideboard slots include Sowing Salt, which can really hurt Bargain or AccelBlue when applied to a Peat Bog or Faerie Conclave. Additionally, Heretic is Huge in the mirror or against AccelBlue, as killing Monolith, Ring, and Masticore do 2, 3, and 4 points of damage on top of destroying a permanent. Even if Masticore is regenerated, it usually takes a turn for Masticore to put enough holes in the Heretic to kill him. Heretic is probably too slow for Bargain, and the 4/1 beatdown of the Vandals is probably superior vs. Blue, but the Heretic smacks Ponza and Tinker hard, in addition to not having echo and being a better blocker against Green. Cave-In helps shore up the more limited removal options against Bargain and Stompy helps kill those darn Birds of Paradise. The versatility it possesses outstrips the card advantage of playing 2 Shocks or Thunderclaps in that slot. Finally, if there are a lot of Worship or 7“Crusade” decks in your area, Jokulhaups isn't the worst choice you could make for a desperation reset.
Another option is to go way back in Magic's past to U/W control. By limiting the permanents an opponent can control, you have a pretty good chance of putting down better ones or more importantly, the appropriate ones.
1 Soothsaying
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Counterspell
4 Miscalculation
2 Rewind
2 Thwart
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Serenity
1 Planar Collapse
3 Wrath of God
4 Radiant's Dragoons
1 Jaemdaye Tome
1 Cursed Totem
3 Blinding Angel
4 Dust Bowl
2 Blasted Landscape
4 Forbidden Watchtower
4 Plains
2 Faerie Conclave
10 Islands
SB
4 Annul
4 Mana Short
3 Treachery/Exile or Hibernation if lots of Stompy
1 CoP Blue
1 Mystical Tutor
NO DISENCHANT? What do you need to Disenchant? Monolith? Not that important, as you'd better counter it in most decks anyways. Ring of Gix? Just about the least of your worries. Phyrexian Processor? Probably the only real threat that this deck can't deal with, but since it will be Tinkered for, you'd better counter Tinker anyway. Tutor for Serenity and bust all those Anthems, Masticores and Bargains that they throw at you. Yes, you have to wait a turn, as with Planar Collapse, but you should be able to stall long enough to live and recover. Against Blue, get the Totem, the Good Book, and seal the deal with a Blinding Angel after a Wrath of God, if necessary. In go Annuls and Mana Shorts, which may actually be better than a counter in the 3rd-5th turns, as it prevents them from casting what they wanted to even if they counter. Not the best solution, but worth of exploration and definitely the best option available to this deck. Rebels should meet with multiple Wrath of God and Blinding Angels and a possible Serenity for their Anthems to finish them off. Oh, yeah, I hear Totem is pretty good when you have counters to back it up. Bargain gets the same treatment as AccelBlue, and it plays much the same way except for the fact that they have Duress and probably Unmask as well, which is cheaper disruption than your protection. Overall, this deck has a more tenuous grasp on control than previous U/W decks, but they didn't reprint Gerrard's Wisdom, Keldjoran Outpost or Swords to Plowshares.
In short, the environment is becoming a racing circuit, with each deck trying to out do each other in development and disruption. Whether you drop Morphling with a counter and one Blue open, or you bust out a Rector and sac it with Tower followed by a Duress or three, Grim Monolith is the sole contributor to this“problem”. The inclusion of 3 colorless+ spells (Rector, Bargain, Skirge, Morphling, Dynamo, Masticore, Processor) makes mana acceleration a very strong concept, as the reward far outweighs the risk. Putting your game-winning bomb on the table on turn three is a great way to ensure a seventh turn kill, while dropping it on the fifth turn makes it pretty hard to beat Stompy with. Voltaic Key and Dark Ritual are dangerous, but not the real problems. If Mana Vault were in Sixth Edition, it would be banned pretty quickly due to turn 2 Sneak Attack kills and turn 3 Bargain kills with greater consistency. Which reminds me, why hasn't anyone been playing Sneak Attack?
4 Sneak Attack
4 Vampiric Tutor
4 Gamble
4 Thorn Elemental
4 Serra Avatar
3 Crater Hellion
3 Bloodshot Cyclops
4 Phrexian Colossus
4 Grim Monolith
4 Dark Ritual
4 Crystal Vein
4 Sandstone Needle
4 City of Brass
4 Sulfurous Springs
6 Mountains
Lots of turn three kill possibilities, but all revolve around the Monolith. Note that I am not calling for a ban on Monolith, I just want everyone to recognize that, yes, R&D isn't always wrong. Fast mana is the real problem. However, banning Dark Ritual wasn't the answer. Donate is a poorly designed card, as it has no stand alone value, and is too inexpensive. Illusions of Grandeur is a bad card because of Necro, but it is broken because of Donate. Necro is a great card, and on of the strongest in any set at any time. All three of these aren't all that bad together, but when combined with Force of Will, Duress, Unmask, and Pyroblast or Daze, you have“free” disruption. Necro keeps it going, but Donate is what kills you. Either you ban all fast mana (including Monolith and Mana Flare in Extended), or you ban certain cards like Mind Over Matter or Dream Halls. So abuse the Monolith while you can, or get out your Cradles and Crop Rotations.
Good luck and have fun,
Erik Berg
galtwish@hotmail.com
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