Way back in May of 2017, I introduced a Viscera Seer-less GW Counters Company deck that plays the Vizier of Remedies/Devoted Druid combo with a back up plan in the form of a Knight of the Reliquary/Courser of Kruphix/Tireless Tracker value engine. When the deck isn’t able to win with a Vizier combo, its likely drawing a lot of cards, gaining a lot of life, and overwhelming fair control decks with powerful creature spells.
“We’re the three best friends that anybody could have…”
-Z. Galifianakas
This proved to be exceptionally effective as I’ve now completed sixty matches with the deck with at 41 – 19 (match results were taken from MTGO League and Queue games as well as two paper side events at GP Indianapolis; one “Mega Modern Event” and one “Fire on Demand Event”.
For earlier content on this deck, follow these links:
Win/Loss Results (Queues, Leagues, GP Side Events)
Keep in mind, this document will update as results are added (including information beyond the first 60 matches)
While I’ve been very satisfied with the deck’s performance, what concerns me the most after looking at the results are my records vs. Burn and especially, Tron. I’ve favored this version of Counters Company because it plays both Knight of the Reliquary and Ghost Quarter, which, in theory, should be effective against big mana decks like Tron. Surprisingly, I’ve seen only two of those decks in sixty matches. The second match, I managed to record. I come very close to winning this one and would argue that I lose only to a very fortunate top deck in game three. See for yourself…
GW Counters Company vs. GB Tron
Against burn, I’m at a loss. I typically like Kitchen Finks in these types of match-ups but it hasn’t felt like enough. A maindeck Spellskite helps quite a bit, but generally, decks that are contain spells that can (nearly all) be pointed at my creatures make it extremely difficult to combo off. For that reason, I’ve made a couple of major changes to the sideboard.
The Baloth is only a slight upgrade to Finks in this regard, and potentially even worse, but, given that this match-up is SO difficult for us, I wanted something that didn’t take up too much sideboard real estate and provided help in other places. Baloth shines against decks that play Liliana of the Veil and there are a lot of those going around right now. The plus side, however, is that both creatures will not cause incidental damage when an opponent has an Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Sigarda, on the other hand, is a powerhouse against burn and, at times, will completely shut them out of the game (especially when Selfless Spirit or Spellskite have anything to say about it. It, too, provides advantages in other match-ups; Ad Nauseum, Lantern Control, and Thoughtseize decks.
Mindcensor is fantastic against decks like Storm and Tron that lean heavily on their ability to search their library for necessary pieces to their engine AND checks all the boxes of being castable by Chord of Calling and Collected Company. Three-mana makes it a little slow vs. Tron as most of their necessary searching comes on turn two via Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying but works perfectly well against Storm decks which have a key search function in Gifts Ungiven, a card which is particularly challenged by having only the top four cards of their deck to chose four from.
Loaming Shaman similarly fits well into the Chord/CoCo scheme and has reasonable stats to pair with a very vital ‘graveyard hate’ mechanic. Beware, you have to chose each card you’d like shuffled into an opponent’s deck, it doesn’t automatically get all of them. I made that fatal mistake in one of the games I played that I am much too embarrassed to upload.
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