Thinking of UB for States? Think again.

I've been testing variations of blue/black for the upcoming Standard season and I think even with all the Timeshifted goodies in Time Spiral, it's just too slow. The biggest problem is that there's no mass removal for blue or black right now. The closest there is is Evacuation and that costs five, and it doesn't actually solve the problem. If you cast it turn five your opponent is just going to replay half of those spells. If you wait to play it later you'll probably find yourself dead.

A simple turn one Kird Ape presents significant problems for BU. You can bounce it or kill it but often you've taken eight or ten damage before you do that.

This is one build I've been tinkering with. It does pretty well against everything except RG gruul or snow-aggro (both of which I expect to see at States), along with some thoughts on possible changes. Build it if you must but I think it's going to be too slow.

Creatures (12)
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4 Dimir Cutpurse
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
Spells (26)
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4 Boomerang (awesome with Cutpurse, Hippy and Funeral Charm)
4 Funeral Charm (instant speed discard plus limited removal or even a finisher on a Shadowmage)
3 Mana Leak
4 Psionic Blast
4 Remand (great in this build)
3 Telling Time (I like this but I'm not 100% sold on it)
4 Whispers of the Muse

Land (22)
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8 Island
6 Swamp
4 Underground River
4 Watery Grave

Possible main board changes:
1) out: Cutpurse, in: ? Ravenous Rats? Withered Wretch? I'm not sure I like 12 creatures at the 3 spot in the curve but all three are so good
2) I'm intrigued by Deep Sea Kraken but I think it's probably too slow
3) Lotus Bloom? I'm thinking you couldn't quite sub in four of those for land since you'd need land early for permission or card draw. Maybe take out two land and two other cards? If so, what?
4) Cancel will probably go in for Mana Leak. I seem to always have UUB open except very early and there are a lot of decks which accelerate past the Mana Leak threshold. At this pioint I don't have a hard counter and I think I need one.


Sideboard (somewhat random at this point)
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3 Blackmail (for the control mirror match)
3 Flashfreeze (RG/snow aggro and the random creature decks which always show up)
3 Last Gasp (against snow aggro and boros)
2 Nightmare Void (also vs control)
4 Remove Soul (aggro)

Possible cards for the board:
1) Withered Wretch
2) Tormod's Crypt


My next version is going to splash green for Coiling Oracle, Voidslime (instead of the Leaks) and Crime // Punishment, which hopefully will be the mass removal I'm looking for.