Magic: The Gathering Thread XXV: 3 Vorthoses barely clinging to sanity and 45 Spikes

[Man_Over_Game]

How interested in the Feather archetype were you? I could share my list if you're just looking for something a bit more interactive. My version revolves around putting Feather and Sunforger into play and then controlling the game that way until you can kill people.

Considered that, I just don't know what kind of tools I could come up with to deal with insane levels of ramp or an unlockable infect/proliferate deck.

Generally, what I do is go onto EDH Rec and just pick the cards with the most deck rate or synergy percentage and then modify it from there (Sunforger was definitely a must-have). The deck works fine, it's just at a "normal" power level and is best designed to deal with countering creature removal...which neither of my opponents care about. It's supposed to leverage things like Guttersnipe and Aria of Flame, it just can't last long enough against this competition. Closest I've gotten is getting one player to 14 HP by having both on the board.

Control with denial and counterspells do interaction it is just interaction the opponent hates because you try to make them play no game using spells, abilities and cards to stop them from playing while you play the denial game that have actions depending on what the opponent does.
There is also tempo decks: you try to delay how fast the opponent deck kills you while you kill them.

I absolutely do agree. I see counters as a very interactive form of gameplay, it just doesn't let them have the fun that they're looking forward to. They don't care about how fair it is, just as long as they can attempt the things that their decks were made to do.

I think I might just have to tell them to suck it up and play something with counters, I just have a really hard time figuring out how to build a deck that uses counters while still not being oppressive and having a decent win condition.

Niv Mizzets come to mind, I just don't think I'll ever have enough time to deal the damage I'd need to, as most games end between them around turn 6. Got any suggestions on key Tempo cards?

Really appreciate the responses, though!