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In space, no one can hear you count. Thankfully,Magic: The Gathering’s Counter Intelligence precon has enough counters that you don’t need to worry about keeping track, because you’ll be too busy powering up your creatures and artifacts for the big play.
The Counter Intelligence deck shows off the new Spacecraft artifact type and station mechanic by giving you a huge flagship as your commander, then charges you with booting up a small army of artifact creatures to blast your opponents off the table. Strap in: it’s time for your briefing on the deck.
Angel of the Ruins
Gavel of the Righteous
Seat of the Synod
The Mycosynth Gardens
Counter Intelligence Commander Deck Themes
Counter Intelligence would be a good name for a mono-blue deck, with the heavy presence of Counterspells and draw effects in that color. But there are blessedly few counter effects in this deck, which insteadfocuses on the types of counters you put on permanentsto keep track of persistent effects.
As the name suggests, these counters, particularly+1/+1 counters and charge counters, are the primary theme of the deck, which has multiple permanents that enter with them, as well as plenty of ways to add and spend them.
The commander, Inspirit, Flagship Vessel,uses counters to power up from a useless hull to a powerful 5/5 flierthat makes the rest of your artifacts hexproof and indestructible. You need to tap eight power worth of creatures to get there, but it also puts +1/+1 counters on your creatures, making that a much easier task.
The alternative commander,Kilo, Apogee Mind, can make stationing Inspirit, Flagship Vessel a breeze, since every time you tap Kilo you can propagate, adding a counter to each permanent that already has one. The only thing keeping Kilo from being the better pick for the commander is the lack of ways to tap it in the deck.
That isn’t to say there are no non-combat ways to tap Kilo, Apogee Mind.A couple spells with improvise, like Kappa Cannoneer, allow you to tap Kilo, and you can always attack.
However, the lack of both methods to tap it and other permanents with similar payoffs, like Duskmourn’s survivor abilities, makes Kilo a better commander for its own deck than for this one.
Artifacts are another clear theme, with a whopping 45 artifacts in the deck, including six artifact lands. The heavy artifact focus allows you to take advantage of synergistic effects like affinity, improvise, and metalcraft, each of which makes at least one appearance in the deck.
Counter Intelligence Deck Analysis
The Counter Intelligence deck relies on accumulating counters to build up an advantage over time. While it’s great to be able to buff your creatures and keep the benefits into other turns,it does make the deck especially vulnerable to board wipes, which will force you to start from scratch.
The deck does have asingle card that allows you to retain counters:Resourceful Defense, which moves them from one permanent to another when the first permanent leaves the graveyard. While this is a powerful effect,a single copy makes it unreliable.
The deck includesseven cards that proliferate, which is about the right number, but somehow itfeels low unless you have Surge Conductor in play. This probably stems from the fact that so many permanents have abilities that include removing their own counters, which can make the game feel clunky if you don’t have a regular way to add more.
Counter Intelligencealsoruns a little slower than other decks, both because of the mana curve with several spells sitting at seven mana and one at ten (with improvise), andbecause the counter theme leans into building up for a big push. The problem is that some of the best mana acceleration requires multiple counters, further reducing the pace of play.
Underperforming Cards
The deck is reasonably concise, but a handful of cards really miss the mark.
Lonely Sandbar
Secluded Steppe
Depthshaker Titanis at the top end of the mana curve, with no cost reduction or alternate costs to make it easier to get into play. Itgives a fantastic buff to your artifact creatures, with melee, haste, and trample, but part of the mana cost is for the ability to turn your regular artifacts into creatures. The problem is that you need to sacrifice them afterward. It’s a good closer,but it’s too risky for most situations.
Etched Oracleoffers decent card draw, but at the cost of four +1/+1 counters. It needs five to survive using its ability, and doesn’t have a built-in way to get more counters. It’s okay, at best, but it wouldbe a better fit if the deck had more ways to produce a fourth color of mana.
Hangarback Walker does have a way to add +1/+1 counters to itself, but at the cost of tapping itself, taking it out of a combat role. That makes it a dedicated blocker and a decent bank for +1/+1 counters, but that’s only applicable if you have Resourceful Defense in play.
The only affinityThought Monitorhas for this deck is affinity for artifacts, potentially making it a 2/2 flier for one blue mana that draws you two cards. Itfeels out of place, since it lacks any synergy with the deck,except that there are a lot of artifacts.
Chain Reaction is extremely situational, dealing damage to each creature equal to the number of creatures in play for four mana. When you want to use this as a boardwipe, it will also wipe out your own creatures (unless Inspirit, Flagship Vessel is fully crewed), and for that, there are better options.
Darksteel Reactoris a welcome reprint, since the last time it saw a physical release was in 2004’s Darksteel, but it isn’t a great fit for this deck. Alternate win conditions are nice,but there isn’t quite enough support to make it efficient, and you’re unlikely to ever win with it.
Golem Foundry would be much better if the Golem tokens came in smaller, with +1/+1 counters on them. There arealreadyenough token generators without Golem Foundry, so it’s an easy cut.
Mono-colored cycling lands are a great addition to mono-colored decks and any deck that cares about discarding cards or having lands in your graveyard. Counter Intelligence is none of those things, sothese are just basic lands that come into play tappedand don’t have basic land types that synergize with other cards.
Reason
Cayth, Famed Mechanist
Cayth, Famed Mechanist allows you toput an +1/+1 counter on every one of your nontoken creatures as they come into play, and then proliferate for just two mana. No other card does quite as much for the Counter Intelligence deck at such a low market price.
Dreamtide Whale
verify Dreamtide Whale is the first spell you cast on your turn, so you may proliferate on your second one.Dreamtide Whale allows you to proliferate any time any player casts their second spell on a turn, allowing you to grow your board like crazy just from your opponents playing normally.
Gold-Forged Thopteryx
you’re able to’t attach Equipment to a Spacecraft until it becomes a creature, so Lightning Greaves can’t help your opponent early on.Gold-Forged Thopteryx, on the other hand,gives your commander and all other legendary permanents you control ward 2, providing a little much-needed protection.
Supreme Verdict
Sometimes you just need to destroy everything, and don’t want a pesky blue player to use the other kind of counter. For those situations,Supreme Verdict is the board wipe of choice.
Energy Chamber
In a deck that cares about +1/+1 counters and charge counters,it’s almost a crime not to include Energy Chamber, which adds one of either to your artifacts or artifact creatures every turn.
Unwinding Clock
Unwinding Clock allows you to untap all of your artifacts every turn, including your artifact creatures. Not only does this give you a more flexible mana base, thanks to your mana rocks and artifact lands, but it also allows you tostation your commander without leaving yourself open to an attack.
Manifold Key
While not quite as powerful as Unwinding Clock,Manifold Key allows you to reuse a lot of your artifactsfor the low cost of one generic mana. It also adds a little flexibility, allowing you to make one of your big creatures unblockable for a turn.
Norn’s Decree
Norn’s Decreeoffers a little incentive not to attack you, and a little card draw if someone does. Itgives players a poison counter if they attack you, which you may proliferate, and then rewards everyone at the table for attacking them. Just be clear if you play it early that you aren’t actually playing a poison deck.
Contagion Clasp
This deck wants more options to proliferate, andContagion Clasp is an inexpensive, repeatable proliferateoption that you can use to gain +1/+1 and charge counters every turn. It also delivers a -1/-1 counter, which you can proliferate to remove one of your opponents' threats.
Replicating Ring
This deck wants an extra mana rock, and this mana rock grows over time. Usually, Replicating Ring won’t be around long enough to collect the night counters to make eight Replicated Rings, butthe proliferate theme makes Replicating Ring entirely feasiblehere.
