Legacy Pitch CounterBurn

This week, I've been working on making a Legacy style CounterBurn Pitch deck. I decided early on that 100% pitch for counterBurn would be terrible so I've added a few more cards again that aren't exactly Pitch, however the additions that I have made are small (as in very mana cheap) and strong, some of the "best" cards for the concept. Here is my concept.

Blue (counter / draw)

4x Force of Will
4x Foil
4x Mental Misstep
4x Commandeer
4x Gush



Red (burn / draw)

4x Pyrokinesis
4x Cave In
4x Blazing Shoal
4x Fury of the Hoard
4x Leyline of Lightning
4x Chancellor of the Forge


Lands!

4x Steam Vents
4x Volcanic Island
2x Island
2x Mountain

This of course uses the same Blazing shoal / Chancellor of the Forge explosion as the last deck, also notice the absence of cards like progenitus, Conflux and the Reaper King. With the thinning of this deck to two colors you don't need the addition of the Gold cards to add flexibility to your deck. Its pretty straight forward to play as well. Mulligan until you have leyline of Lighting, then rain counterspell burn damage on your opponent until they fall. All in all, this deck I think could use some further sharpening, as per I have not maindecked enchantment / artifact removal. However, 12 counterspells should pack enough protection long enough for you to ping them to death. Comments? Reviews? I would like your opinion.

General Purpose Pitch

This week, I've been going through cards. And came up with a beginning pitch deck. Wanted to be sure to have enough removal / with ways to take care of a multitude of problems. Here's my initial list.

4x Pyrokineses
4x Cave In
4x Blazing Shoa
3x Fury of the Horde

4x Force of Will
3x Misdirection
4x Mental Misstep
3x Commandeer

4x Vine Dryad
4x Noxious Renewal
2x Nourishing Shoal


3x Sickening Shoal
4x Neither Shade*
4x Surgical Extraction

2x Conflux
4x Progenitus
4x Reaper King

So, I've added a few cards that weren't on the list. Namely,
Conflux / Progenitus / Reaper King / Neither Shade

The first three, a simple reason, they are the highest casting cost, WUBRG cards there are, making the deck more flexible because, A. It gives you more cards to pitch to the spells you actually want and B. Keeps you from holding a hand full of cards you cannot play. This has worked nicely during initial playtesting. True, there is no artifact / enchantment removal. However, 8 counterspell, 3 redirects and 3 "snatch" spells (Commandeer) and the ability to burn it out of there game completely with Surgical Extraction, have kept the artifact / enchantment combo locks at bay.

Now to address Neither Shade, the ultimate Comeback king. The best way I found to handle him was to hope / mulligan for him in my opening hand, then allow the opponent to go first permitting me first draw, and the ability to pitch Neither Shade to the graveyard.

Also, don't forget the benefit of Misdireciton when it comes to countering a counterspell. When a counterspell is cast by your opponent, pitch to cast misdirection on it, misdirecting it TO, Misdirection. Misdirection then resolves causing the counterspell to have an "illegal" target, and fizzle.

Over the next week I'm going to playtest this deck some more, and attempt to refine its strategy. Also, I have a 60~80% Pitch CounterBurn deck in development hopefully I can show you soon too!

Any suggestions?

Magic the Gathering : Complete Alternate Casting Cost List (by Color)

White	Blue	Black	Red	Green	Artifact
Scars of the Veteran Cho-Arrim Legate Orim's Cure Ramosian Rally Reverent Mantra Angelic Favor Lashknife Sivvi's Ruse Sivvi's Valor Abolish Shining Shoal Chancellor of the Annex Morrow Shards Sunscour Leyline of the Meek Leyline of Sanctity Intervention Pact **Pitfall Trap **Arrow Volley Trap **Refraction Trap	Force of Will Gush Misdirection Saprazzan Legate Thwart Tidal Bore Daze Ensnare Submerge Foil Disrupting Shoal Mental Misstep Gitaxian Probe Chancellor of the Spires Commandeer Leyline of Anticipation Leyline of Singularity Pact of Negation Archive Trap Mindbreak Trap **Permafrost Trap **Lethargy Trap **Whiplash Trap	Contagion Spinning Darkness Deepwood Legate Delraich Rouse Snuff Out Unmask Dark Triumph Massacre Mind Swords Outbreak Sickening Shoal Surgical Extraction Chancellor of the Dross *Postmortem Lunge Soul Spike Leyline of the Void Slaughter Pact Ravenous Trap **Nemesis Trap **Needlebite Trap	Pyrokinesis Fireblast Cave-In Crash Kyren Legate Pulverize Thunderclap Downhill Charge Mogg Alarm Mogg Salvage Flameshot Blazing Shoal Gut Shot Chancellor of the Forge Fury of the Horde Leyline of Punishment Leyline of Lightning Pact of the Titan Crimson Kobolds Crookshank Kobolds Kobolds of Kher Keep **Ricochet Trap **Runeflare Trap	Bounty of the Hunt Invigorate Land Grant Rushwood Legate Vine Dryad Refreshing Rain Reverent Silence Skyshroud Cutter Snag Nourishing Shoal Noxious Revival Mutagenic Growth Chancellor of the Tangle *Corrosive Gale Allosaurus Rider Leyline of Vitality Leyline of Lifeforce Summoner's Pact Summoning Trap Dryad Arbor **Cobra Trap **Baloth Cage Trap	Ornithopter Shield Sphere Phyrexian Walker Memnite Mox Diamond Lion's Eye Diamond Zuran Orb Chrome Mox Lotus Petal Mox W U B R G Black Lotus Welding Jar Urza's Bauble Tormod's Crypt Spellbook Mishra's Bauble Spidersilk Net Paradise Mantle Mana Crypt Lodestone Bauble Jeweled Amulet Herbal Poultice Gustha's Scepter Fountian of Youth Everflowing Chaliice Delif's Cone Dark Sphere Bone Saw Claws of Gix

Legend [* = additional X to be paid, ** = honorable mention]

How to play Magic the Gathering for Free

This week while pouring over cards this week at the Gatherer and further researching thru google it dawned on me that

A: There was enough cards to facilitate all the "Needs" of a decent deck, that were "free" so to speak meaning they had some way other than mana to play them.

B: That No Complete recourse list of all of these "Alternate casting cost cards" Existed, this knowledge gained by many hours of searching finding bits and peices of list.

Over the next few weeks I will attempt to create such a list.

This list will be open to ANY "Alternate casting cost" card who's converted mana cost (cmc)
First it will be a gathering of lists, and reorganizing of the data but soon I will have a complete list.

Well, wish me luck, and SUBSCRIBE!

Alternate Spellcasting List

        Alliances

WHITE~

Scars of the Veteran

BLUE~

Force of Will

BLACK~

Contagion

RED~

Pyrokinesis

GREEN~

Bounty of the Hunt

        Visions

RED~

Fireblast

        Weatherlight

BLACK~

Spinning Darkness

        Mercadian Masques

WHITE~

Cho-Arrim Legate
Orim's Cure
Ramosian Rally
Reverent Mantra

BLUE~

Gush
Misdirection
Saprazzan Legate
Thwart
Tidal Bore

BLACK~

Deepwood Legate
Delraich
Rouse
Snuff Out
Unmask

RED~

Cave-In
Crash
Kyren Legate
Pulverize
Thunderclap

GREEN~

Invigorate
Land Grant
Rushwood Legate
Vine Dryad

        Nemesis

WHITE~

Angelic Favor
Lashknife
Sivvi's Ruse
Sivvi's Valor

BLUE~

Daze
Ensnare
Submerge

BLACK~

Dark Triumph
Massacre
Mind Swords

RED~

Downhill Charge
Mogg Alarm
Mogg Salvage

GREEN~

Refreshing Rain
Reverent Silence
Skyshroud Cutter

        Prophecy

WHITE~

Abolish

BLUE~

Foil

BLACK~

Outbreak

RED~

Flameshot

GREEN~

Snag

```NEW```    Betrayers of Kamigawa

WHITE~

Shining Shoal

BLUE~

Disrupting Shoal

BLACK~

Sickening Shoal

RED~

Blazing Shoal

GREEN~

Nourshing Shoal

```NEW```    New Phyrexia

WHITE~

HONORABLE MENTION (Cathedral Membrane)
*Chancellor of the Annex
Marrow Shards

BLUE~

Mental Misstep
Gitaxian Probe
*Chancellor of the Spires

BLACK~

Surgical Extraction
*Chancellor of the Dross
*tough call* Postmortem Lunge

RED~

Gut Shot
*Chancellor of the Forge

GREEN~

Noxious Revival
Mutagenic Growth
*Chancellor of the Tangle
*tough call* Corrosive Gale

```NEW```        Coldsnap

WHITE~

Sunscour

BLUE~

Commandeer

BLACK~

Soul Spike

RED~

Fury of the Horde

GREEN~

Allosaurus Rider

            M11
WHITE~

Leyline of Sanctity

BLUE~

Leyline of Anticipation

BLACK~

Leyline of the Void

RED~

Leyline of Punishment

GREEN~

Leyline of Vitality

            Guildpact

WHITE~

Leyline of the Meek

BLUE~

Leyline of Singularity

BLACK~

Leyline of the Void

RED~

Leyline of Lightning

GREEN~

Leyline of LIifeforce

            Future Sight

WHITE~

Intervention Pact

BLUE~

Pact of Negation

BLACK~

Slaughter Pact

RED~

Pact of the Titan

GREEN~

Summoner's Pact

        ZERO COST SPELLS

ARTIFACT FREE~
Ornithopter
Shield Sphere
Phyrexian Walker
Memnite
Mox Diamond
Lion's Eye Diamond
Zuran Orb
Chrome Mox
Lotus Petal
MOX Sapphire/Jet/Ruby/Pearl/Emerald
Mox Opal
Black Lotus
Welding Jar
Urza's Bauble
Tormod's Crypt
Spellbook
Mishra's Bauble
Spidersilk Net
Paradise Mantle
Mana Crypt
Lodestone Bauble
Jeweled Amulet
Herbal Poultice
Gustha's Scepter
Fountian of Youth
Everflowing Chaliice
Delif's Cone
Dark Sphere
Bone Saw
Claws of Gix

RED FREE~
Crimson Kobolds
Crookshank Kobolds
Kobolds of Kher Keep

GREEN FREE~

Dryad Arbor

This is NOT as of yet a complete list, or hardly an organized one. In the next several posts I will clean this list, and add more to it until it is complete.