Lofty Heights (Modern)

    Blue magic specializes in disruptive spells and flying creatures, and that's exactly what you'll find in the "Lofty Heights" deck. Blue's bag of tricks lets you take control of the game and forces your opponent to play on your terms.

Early in the game, your opponent will probably play some small creatures. You don't need to worry too much about them since it will be hard for attacking creatures to get through your Horned Turtles. Puppeteer can tap a creature each turn to prevent it from attacking at all. Even better, Rod of Ruin can zap enemy creatures off the board.

One of blue's strengths is its fleet of flying creatures. Creatures with flying are dangerous attackers because they can't be blocked by creatures without flying. The flying creatures in the "Lofty Heights" deck range from the quick Storm Crow to the huge Mahamoti Djinn. Stall your opponent's ground attack while your air attack swoops in.

Blue isn't content to win a damage race—it likes to mess with your opponent too. Its best weapon is "countermagic," a kind of spell that makes your opponent's spells fail. For example, if your opponent tries to play a nasty creature, Remove Soul can prevent it from ever hitting the table. When you counter a spell, it goes right to the graveyard without doing anything!

Boomerang is another neat trick. If one of your creatures is about to be destroyed, you can Boomerang it safely back to your hand so you can play it again later. You can also use Boomerang to remove one of your opponent's creatures from play for a while. The best trick of all is Confiscate. When you play it, attach it to your opponent's best card and bring it over to your side of the table. That card is now yours for the rest of the game!

Blue magic focuses on thought, so it's naturally the best color at drawing extra cards. Drawing more cards means you have more options—and you'll probably find your best cards faster than your opponent will. Thieving Magpie and Archivist dig deep into your deck so you can get to your huge fliers and powerful spells. If your Puppeteer isn't busy, you can use it to untap Archivist to draw even more cards. You'll find that while Mahamoti Djinn will often deal the final blow, it was the card drawing that put you in position to win the game.