It seems to me that the extended metagame has switched to a beatdown environment from a control environment. Gro, Junk, Oath & Rock all use creatures to provide the win condition. That being said, Iron Pheonix was designed to combat this type of strategy. The life gain in the deck would also provide a problem for Donate and Sligh. I would like any insite from anyone playing the deck and any updates that anyone has made. I am thinking of splashing G in the deck for Gaea's Blessing MD and Charm in the SB. Here is a list from MagicCampus from about a year ago as a point of reference.
Iron Phoenix (Brendan Bullock)
„h CREATURES (5)
„h 2 Shard Phoenix
„h 3 Mogg Fanatic
„h SPELLS (26)
„h 3 Aura of Silence
„h 4 Incinerate
„h 3 Ensnaring Bridge
„h 4 Tithe
„h 4 Enlightened Tutor
„h 4 Swords to Plowshares
„h 4 Peace of Mind
„h ARTIFACT (8)
„h 4 Mox Diamond
„h 4 Cursed Scroll
„h LAND (21)
„h 6 Mountains
„h 7 Plains
„h 4 Reflecting Pools
„h 4 Plateau
„h SIDEBOARD (15)
„h 1 Aura of Silence
„h 4 Disenchant
„h 4 Pyroblast
„h 4 Erase
2 Honor the Fallen
Thank you for your insight and help.
OldManMike
MVa***l@a***l.com
the problem i see with it is that it can't deal with deed. it uses the card disadvantage advantage... so when they deed it really hurts since you have nothing left. you can't hold back because then you loose the use of scroll. you really just walk right into deed.
i have done decks similar to this and reccomend the following:
4 Phoenix
4 Hammer of Boragdan
4 Cursed Scroll/Millstone ~your choice
2 Aura of Silence/Seal of Cleansing
2 Seal of Cleansing
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Tithe
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 Peace of Mind
4 Bridge
2 Null Brooch
4 Mox Diamond
4 Savannah
4 Plateau
14 Plains
4 Mountain
2 Forest
The time might have come for Counter-Phoenix, but definitely not for your decks posted above. 4 Peace of Mind? Please. Enlightened Tutor is card disadvantage, which you can't make up (except for Gaeas Blessing, but you end up shuffling away the card you tutored for).
The strength of counter-phoenix is its ability to control creature decks and give control a good run for its money.
Go for something like this:
Squee the MVP:
4x Force of Will
4x Counterspell
3x Forbid
4x Powder Keg
2x Nevinyrrals Disk
2x Pyroclasm
4x Impulse
4x Fact or Fiction
2x Intuition
3x Masticore
1x Morphling
2x Squee
1x Shard Phoenix
16x Island
4x Shivan Reef
4x Volcanic Island
The deck uses the amazing power of Squee to maximize its counter ability via Forbid and power Masticore at the same time (Core without a disadvantage is really good). Keg, Disk and Pyroclasm make sure you control the board until Masticore shows up. Impulse and FoF get you the cards you want and some card drawing (FoF). Intuition is there to get the 2 Squees and the Phoenix. Morphling is just there in case you need Superman to help you. Feel free to comment about this deck.
Hope this helps!
-don
ummm... iron pheonix and counter pheonix are 2 different decks.....
iron pheonix is basesd on the card disadvantage advantage.... it never wants cards in hand. thus the scrols, peace of mind, and ensnaring bridge. that's how it functions best, no cards in hand.
counter pheonix(which seems to have evolved into squeenix control) uses blue for counters and (now) squee to get free buyback on forbid to get card advantage. it wats cards in hand.
obviously theres more to them than that, but i think that will clarify