Puschkin

I thought Northy has no internet for a while?

Damn, phasing leaves counters untouched, that combo doesn't work. I'll have to go with the Sanctum then.

If you drew our entire deck you should win right there - just add a card that grants trample and go in for the kill.

Now we are talking!

I thought about bounce to reset counters but Tornado costs 5 to cast and 3 to use, so that seemed to be impracticable. But I didn't think about blinking it.

Ghostly Flicker doesn't work on enchantments, though, and I am reluctant to add another colour. Synod Sanctum, however, looks nice!

Thinking about it, phasing would also work. but again, nothing works on enchantments ... nothing with the exception of Teferi's Realm. However, this card is tricky to use. But that's exactly what I like :)

Dismantle: In order to make this work I have to destroy an artifact with counters on them. My deck has exactly zero.

Ion Storm: It can only remove +1/+1 counters and charge counters. But I am working with age counters, ferocity counters, -1/-1 counters and flood counters. Does. Not. Work.

Gremlin Mine: Can also only remove charge counters (and only from non-creature artifacts), so it's useless, too.

For the last time: READ THE FREAKING CARDS AND THE DECK DESCRIPTION before making suggestions :P

Also, I know how to use card databases. I checked all cards that are viable. I could add heavy black and add Vampire Hexmage, aside from that, there is nothing I can add counterwise that would improve the deck - keep in mind that whatever you suggest to remove counters would have to work better than the cards I currently run but haven't maxed out: Clockspinning, Ferropede and Power Conduit. There simply is not such a card unless they printed one since I made that deck. And before I splash another colour, I'd rather add more Clockpinnings.

So, I am pretty much set and satisfied with my combo cards. What I am looking for are general suggestions and out-of-the-box-thinking additions that you won't find via a card database query. I still run some random cards that could be replaced for something more fitting. Let's take the Quicksilver Dragon: It's just there because I like the card and own a foiled one, it's casual aftert all, but I am pretty sure there is another fat flyer out there that would fit in much better. The deck lacks in some areas, doesn't have much lifegain for example even though Tornados can leech a lot of my life, I don't have a single counterspells etc.

Yes, he removes +1/+1 counters. Which doesn't do anything in this deck. Please read the cards I am combining Chisei with: Tornado, Mystic Remora, Quicksilver Fountain, Dark Depths. Or maybe read the description of the deck ... this is NOT a +1/+1 counters deck and certainly don't want to turn it into one.

Undying, of course, but there is a total of 7 creatures with undying in my colours of which only three are worth considering. Which has been narrowed down to Stormbound Geist (see sideboard aka cards I want to add) since Avacyn Restored and Dark Ascension are among the few editions I haven't boosted. Vorapede is the card I'd like to see in here, but I have to trade for it. Adding it to the sideboard.
Same is true for persist, I don't own a Glen Elendra Archmage and don't plan to trade for such an annoying card. Kitchen Finks and Scuzzback Marauder are in main and River Kelpie in the side. The other blue/green persisters are rubbish.

I don't know what "whisperspine" refers to.

Zameck Guildmage, Thrummingbird and Doubling Season are are not helping. You might not have understood what I am trying to do - I want to REMOVE counters, not adding more! Please read what Tornado does - Tornado + Chisei is my main combo.

Sorry, people announcing that there will be a Magic movie out next year or so come up regularily but never actually happens.

I rarely get comments on my decks for various reasons. The "unloved" marker, however, is something the author can apply voluntarily - it is not an algorythm that determinse what's unloved.

I'll answer just here for both of your messages.

I use MTGVault mainly to build and manage the decks I play IRL, not for others to rebuild them. So, I am not only limited to the cards I actually own, I am also limited to other circumstances: At any given point I have at least 20 decks. Although I do own 4 of every Revised dualland, I can't put them in every deck. So, I spread them across many decks and fetch them. Since the good fetchlands are almost as expensive as the duals they should fetch and since I usually have more time in casual/multiplayer, the very cheap Mirage fetchies are a great substitute. That's also why I usually write into my deck descriptions that people shouldn't comment on the mana base unless I missed a specific non-basic with abilities that are useful for the deck.
Having said that, this deck might be the exception where I should indeed switch to the other fetchies and/or other duals like Shocklands. I just don't own many of them.

Exsanguinate might indeed be the better option, at least better than Zuran Orb. It was my oldschool brain that processed "Zuran Orb, dude!" when I queried "need lifegain in a pinch to stay alive in an annoying control/lock deck" ;P
However, I am hesitant to replace Death Grasp with Exsanguinate because the latter can't kill creatures. Also, we are usually 4-6 players and if we happen to be 5, we play Pentagram. In that format, Exsanguinate might kill players that I want to stay around.

Opposing counterspells are of course a concern but my playgroup is sophisticated enough to don't run 10+ of them in every blue deck. They usually run about 4, if at all. If Maralen gets countered, I still have Unearth. If Stranglehold gets countered, I still have Aven Mindcensors (and Unearth for them, too). If all of that gets countered - well, no deck is perfect. I could run Duress, however, what should I cut for it? Deckspace is crucial here and I think, whatever I swap for Duress, it will make the deck weaker in other areas I can't afford.
Cavern of Souls would be an option, at least for Maralen. Might screw up the mana base, though.

Thanx for the input, though, always good to think everything through again.

I did my best but combo isn't my cup of tea.
You might want to check out this deck:
http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/maralen-lockdown/

Loss of life is damage that hasn't been prevented. If a card deals damage and you don't prevent it, it turns into loss of life. If a card causes you to lose life directly, you can't prevent it. But it's still damage for cards like Phyrexian Unlife. Sorry -

And yeah, you see me typing, so I survived that anniversary :)

Yes, but we are both getting old :)

Germany and USA can meet again but only in the finals ... so I doubt that'll happen :P

Your horrible deck (pun intended!) has been commented :)

I would focus a bit less on discard and put some more creatures in this. See, once your opponent's hand is empty, any further discard card will be useless. And since you are killing and discarding opponent's creatures en masse, these additional creatures could be provided by animation spells.
Suggestions:

* Beacon of Unrest is the ultimate animation spell for this deck, it can grab your own or opponent's creatures as well as artifacts (Contagion Engine for example). It's 5 mana, though, so won't be available early game.

* Good old Animate Dead.

* Puppeteer Clique is also amazing.

* Skinrender could be useful in this to get more -1/-1 counters going.

* Kulrath Knight!!! He is the first creature I would add.

* Increase the creature count without reducing the discarders by replacing Psychic Miasma with Ravenous Rats #3 and 4.

* Horrifying Revelation would be the first discarder to cut.

* IF you are not going to add cards that can animate creatures from opponent's graveyard, THEN you should consider an option to exile the opponent's graveyard. Since you are playing black, the choice is easy: Bojuka Bog (replaces a Swamp).

* Abyssal Nocturnus might be a worthwhile addition to this deck. Not only because of the getting-bigger-when-discarding thing. Look at the creature type ... it's a Horror! A deck named "Oh the Horror!" should have at least one Horror in it :)

* 4 Doom Blades AND 4 Geth's Verdict is a little bit excessive in a deck that also runs discard and various cards that put -1/-1 counters on creatures. If you need more room for my suggestions but don't want to cut any more discarder, you could go down on Doom Blades (I would keep Geth's Verdict be cause it can kill anything that survives your other spells and abilities like creatures with protection from black, hexproof and so on).

I don't see why you wouldn't be allowed to pay that alternative cost. Not 100% sure, though.

That guy on Gatherer is right if other damage like a Lighting Bolt will be redirected to the Fog Bank - then it is dead. However, in your example you are talking of three separate attacking 1/1 creatures, those won't kill Fog Bank.

Stuffy Doll:
It depends on who controls the Stuffy Doll.
Pariah redirects to to the creature it enchants. Stuffy doesn't redirect - that's right. It just deals as much damage as it receives to the opponent you selected when Stuffy Doll came into play.
However, this assumes you placed Pariah on your own Stuffy Doll. One Pariah trick is to play it on opponent's creature. Next time you receive damage it will be redirected to the opponent's creature, eventually killing it. Now, if you play a Pariah on an opponent's Stuffy Doll. If you receive damage, this will indeed cause an infinite loop of damage.

Sword of Fire and Ice for example - but those are all very expensive, moneywise. A budget Sword would be Sword of Vengeance.

This is very tricky and hard to recommend. Generally out, I see your main problem here: You want to go down with your life quickly but once you are low, you don't want to go any lower. Even with Phyrexian Unlife - it buys you 10 additional life (virtually) and then you are dead again. So, while something like Vendetta is good initially it may be a dead card later on.
And your deck is jam-packed with things that cost life - overkill in my opinion.

How to remedy this? Well, I would concentrate on library manipulation and card drawers since they are the ones that help finding your key cards, so, when you've found those key cards, you don't need to cast those library manipulation cards anymore. Plunge into Darkness is especially good since you can pinpoint exactly how much life to spend. This is the one I would up to 4.

Rite of Consumption is superior to Dying Wish, I would up Rite to 4 and drop the Dying Wish.

Infernal Contract would also be a nice card drawer since you can cut your life fast early but later, when you are low on life, it will cost next to nothing.

And I could see Pox and/or Smallpox in this. This would alter the deck structure of course, but I think it is a thing to consider thoroughly. Pox has the same effect as Infernal Contract (you lose less life the less you have) and the added bonus of seriously disrupting your opponent. If you go Pox I recommend Abyssal Gatekeeper instead of Vampire Lacerator. Thinking about it, I would replace Lacerators with Gatekeepers either way - they work well with Plunge into Darkness and generally buy you a lot of time.

I have to go again, but count on me chiming back in later or tomorrow, this is a very interesting deck :) Think about Pox meanwhile, doing that switch would be a big change.

The Fog Bank shouldn't die. Who said so?

10/4/2004: All damage being dealt to you at one time gets redirected to one Pariah. If you take 3 damage at once, all 3 damage goes to one Pariah. If you take damage from multiple creatures in combat, all the combat damage goes to one Pariah.

So, it is still combat damage and therefore should be prevented.