The journey started with an escape from Naya. The Nayas didn't seem to take it good when I ran off with their artifacts. The pursuit was tough but a well placed Wall of Frost spell prevented most of those who were following. They did summon the Great Sable Stag to continue on the chase as the forest spirit seemed to be immune to the cold of the walls I've summoned. It didn't take long though before I was able to find a gate out of Alara and eventually make my escape.
The gate I chanced upon took me to the humid rainforests of Bala Ged. The elves of the region did not take well my sudden appearance in the midst of their village and, once more, I was forced to flee. Reyvs, their head shaman tried to muster the blood braid elven forces and summon the power of Ajanni Vengeant but a well placed counter spell wiped the knowledge from his mind. Just as I neared the rain forest, they once more tries to summon the nature spirits to halt my escape. Another mind break spell stopped all that and eventually their pursuit.
I then made my way to the lands of Guul Draz. The humid region wasn't easy to travel upon as it was mostly swamps. I had to hire a raft in order to reach one of the swamp cities. I asked around for the location of my contact for the artifact. I did find out his location but I likewise attracted the interest of other treasure hunters. One such treasure hunter tried to take the artifact by force. The black mage named Jaynor was powerful as he likewise used, though different in application, mind magic to distract me. It was a good thing that I had my familiar with me which managed to sever the mage's link to his mana source and allowed me to leave the place.
I finally made my way deeper into the swamps where the Necromancer Gio I needed to talk to lived. The crumbling tower was easy to find once you knew where to look. The mage, however, made a show of force trying to get the artifact without sticking to the agreement. He used his undead creatures which seems to claw themselves out of the very ground I was standing on. The battle was brief and ended up in a stand still allowing the Necromancer to get his artifact and me leave with my payment.
Zendirak's out and we need to cycle out most of the cards to fit in the standard format. I've been able to playtest the deck for a few games and it seems to be working well. Here's what the current deck looks like:
Lands:
Island (20)
The deck is mono blue and islands are a necessity. Since it is part control deck a good mana base is needed thus the increased number of lands.
Scalding tarn (4)
It was suggested that a set of fetch lands be added to the deck in order to easily trim the card number while in play while at the same time helping the hedron carbs in their duties.
Spells:
Archive Trap (4)
A great improvement for me compared to the card it replaced - Sanity Grinding. Not only that it deal a good amount of milling, but the fact that it is an Instant allows it to be cast during the opponent's turn allowing one to free those lands for the other counter spells. The zero (0) alternate cost is likewise a benefit now that there are fetch lands out.
Cancel (4)
The base counter spell in Standard. I find the straight forward countering of cancel better than most other counter spells available.
Into the Roil (4)
The only removal card in the deck. Primarily used against problematic creatures, artifacts and echantments which pass the counter spell cards. The kicked cost shoule be paid when one can to allow a card draw. I used to think this was just the replacement for Boomerang but kicked, this has moved up to replace Cryptic Command.
Jace Beleren (4)
The planeswalker Jace allows both as a draw engine as well as an alternative win. He's likewise a good distraction against those burn decks giving one a few more rounds to survive and mill.
Negate (2)
With the lack of selection of counter spells in the block we opted to put in Negate because of two things. First, it has a low casting cost. Second, it would be better to eliminate spells than creatures as most non-creature spells are the ones which tend to shift the balance of the game.
Time Warp (4)
This spell allows one extra turns to set up but is also great to reach Jace's ultimate ability or just to feed the Crabs.
Trapmaker's Snare (4)
The second advantage of Archieve Trap over its predecessor is that Trapmaker's Snare allows one to get it earlier in the game rather than waiting for it to come out. Mindbreak trap has likewise been searched with this card when one was facing Cascade decks.
Twincast (4)
Like in the previous decks, Twincast makes one's win condition very potent. Usually one can use it with Archive Trap to finish off the game, but a lot of times it can make things go very well for you in offbeat scenarios.
Wall of Frost (2)
We can't really be sure as to which opponent one would face during his first game and the Walls of Frost are placed inside the deck in order to handle those which depend on creatures for their win.
Creatures:
Hedron Crab (4)
The third win condition. The Crab normally just sits for me there and mills. I have so far been able only to bring out two of these in the game as sometimes that is all I need to win it together with either Jace Beleren or an Archive Trap.