Counter Blitz (FINAL FANTASY X) precon upgrade guide

Tidus, Yuna's Guardian says “a counter”, never “a +1/+1 counter” — and the box backs him with seven different kinds, including the lore counters that are supposed to kill his Summons.

I resolved the shipped Counter Blitz list before writing any of this, and the finding that organises the whole page is that this is a counter deck, not a +1/+1 counter deck. The box puts seven kinds into play: +1/+1 counters across most of its 35 creatures, lore on the four Summons, shield from Protection Magic, stun from Lulu, Stern Guardian and Summon: Valefor, flying from Luminous Broodmoth, charge on Everflowing Chalice, and a vow from Promise of Loyalty. Cheer doesn't care which kind connects. Neither does O'aka, Traveling Merchant, who'll sell any of them for a card.

The four Summons are enchantment creatures, which makes them legal targets for the commander's counter move — and that quietly turns the Saga rules inside out. A Saga dies when its lore counters reach the last chapter. Tidus can make sure they never do.

What are the best Counter Blitz upgrades?

Six purchases, ordered by what they change:

1. Evolution Sage — $2.35. Every land you play is a proliferate, in a list with 37 lands plus Farseek and Three Visits. It's the deck's second engine next to Cheer, stapled to something you were doing anyway.
2. Herald of Secret Streams — $7.40. Attacking creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them can't be blocked, which turns Cheer into a once-a-turn certainty.
3. Kami of Whispered Hopes — $3.94. A second Hardened Scales that taps for mana equal to its own power, in the deck's thinnest role.
4. Ozolith, the Shattered Spire — $6.52. A third Scales effect that also places a counter every turn at sorcery speed, and cycles for a card when the board's already tall.
5. Karn's Bastion — $2.52. Proliferate from a land slot, in for a Temple of the False God that made no mana at all before your fifth land.
6. Adarkar Wastes, Yavimaya Coast and Razorverge Thicket — about a dollar for all three, replacing the taplands that have no text beyond entering tapped.

Ten cards out, ten in — the cut list pays for the slots.

A Summon that never reaches its ending

A Saga adds a lore counter as it enters and after each of your draw steps, and it's sacrificed once its final chapter has resolved. Every Summon in this box is an enchantment creature, so every one of them is a legal target for Tidus's move.

So hold Summon: Ixion at one counter. Your draw step takes it to two and chapter II triggers — a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two creatures, plus 2 life. At the beginning of combat, Tidus lifts a lore counter off and sets it on any creature you control. Ixion is back at one, chapter III never arrives, the creature its first chapter exiled stays exiled, and the exported lore counter just made some 1/1 a legal Cheer trigger. Next turn, the same again.

Summon: Yojimbo held at two re-fires chapter III every turn: nobody attacks you without paying {2} per creature, indefinitely. Summon: Valefor held the same way taps and stuns a fresh creature each turn. The limit is Tidus himself — one counter moved per combat, so one frozen Summon at a time. Nesting Grounds, already in the box, holds a second for {1}, and it says “permanent” rather than “creature”, so it can lift a charge counter off Everflowing Chalice too when a spare counter is worth more as Cheer fuel.

Six cards move counters, two spend them

Tidus is one of six. Nesting Grounds, Resourceful Defense, Forgotten Ancient and Rikku, Resourceful Guardian all relocate counters — Rikku's Steal takes them off opponents' creatures — and Sin, Unending Cataclysm inhales every counter you point it at on the way in, arriving with twice as many +1/+1s. Aim Sin at your own spent Summons and they reset to chapter zero: the next lore counter re-triggers chapter I, because a chapter fires whenever the count crosses its number from below.

Two more cards treat counters as currency. O'aka, Traveling Merchant taps to trade any counter on a nonland permanent for a card; Scholar of New Horizons trades one for a Plains. That's the other use for the lore counters Tidus exports — park one on a token, and O'aka sells it.

Yuna, Grand Summoner covers the exits: when a countered permanent of yours dies, she puts that many +1/+1 counters on a creature, so even a Summon that does die converts its whole ledger. And the deck's own Damning Verdict destroys only creatures with no counters on them, which by the mid-game means a board wipe that misses almost everything you own.

Three of the eight taplands have no text at all

Eight of the box's 37 lands always enter tapped, the widest speed hole in the list — but they're not equal. The three Temples scry, Seaside Citadel makes all three colours, Path of Ancestry earns its keep here (below), and then Idyllic Beachfront, Radiant Grove and Tangled Islet enter tapped and offer nothing for it. Those three leave for Adarkar Wastes, Yavimaya Coast and Razorverge Thicket — the same three colour pairs, untapped, with the Thicket only slowing down from your fourth land onward, past the window that matters. Always-tapped drops from eight to five.

Path of Ancestry is a card I cut from Silverquill Influence for scrying on fewer than half its creatures. Here it stays: Tidus is a Human Warrior, and 16 of the upgraded list's 36 creatures share one of those types — plus the commander himself, every game. Same land, opposite answer, because the deck is different.

After the swaps the one-pip math sits where it should: 26 green sources, 24 blue — exactly the 90% line for a turn-two pip — and 25 white. Double pips are where honesty is owed. Green's only early {G}{G} demand leaves with Yuna's Whistle, and the next one is Bane of Progress at six mana, where 26 sources are 88% on time. White keeps five {W}{W} spells against 25 sources, about 72% by turn three, and I left that alone: Collective Effort is the only one of the five you'd cast that early, while Damning Verdict, Farewell, Luminous Broodmoth and Sunscorch Regent are cards you hold anyway. Blue's {U}{U} pair, Inexorable Tide and Pull from Tomorrow, reads short on paper for the same reason and matters even less in practice.

What I'd cut

Two five-drops that don't move the plan

Summon: Magus Sisters rolls a die every chapter: three counters, a shield and 3 life, or a fight, chosen at random. The other Summons are engines you can schedule; this one's a slot machine with haste, at the same five mana as Sin or Summon: Valefor.

Promise of Loyalty is the wipe that leaves each opponent exactly the creature they'd have kept anyway, and the vow only stops it attacking you — it still grows, blocks and kills the rest of the table while you're the one who spent five mana. The deck already owns the better sweeper in Damning Verdict.

Two engines pointed the wrong way

Generous Patron only draws when you put counters on creatures you don't control. The box can do that — Lulu stuns whatever attacks you, Summon: Valefor stuns on three of its four chapters — but every route starts with an opponent choosing to attack you or a five-drop Saga sticking around. A draw engine you can't switch on yourself isn't worth a three-mana slot here.

Summoner's Sending makes one 1/1 flier at your end step, and only adds a +1/+1 counter when the card it exiled cost four or more. The fliers are real Cheer bodies eventually; eventually is the problem in a deck that wants to connect on turn four.

Two double-pip spells the mana can't honour

Together Forever is the deck's only {W}{W} play on turn two, and 24 white sources put two pips together by turn three about 69% of the time — turn two is worse. What it does with the slot is thinner than it reads: the {1} save returns the creature to your hand, and the counters don't come back with it. In this deck the body was the cheap part. Resourceful Defense, already in the box, protects the ledger instead of the body, which is the half worth protecting.

Yuna's Whistle pays out X counters where X is the mana value of whatever creature you happen to reveal, in a list whose curve peaks at two and three. It's also green's only cheap {G}{G} spell, so cutting it repairs the colour's double-pip math by itself.

Four lands

Idyllic Beachfront, Radiant Grove and Tangled Islet — tapped, no scry, no life, nothing bought for the turn they cost. Temple of the False God makes no mana until your fifth land, in a deck whose commander wants three colours on turn three; Karn's Bastion is colourless too, but its {4} activation is a proliferate, which on this page is rules text worth a land slot.

Three of the ten cuts carry FINAL FANTASY names, and if you bought this box for Spira rather than for the win rate, the one to reprieve is Summon: Magus Sisters — Tidus can freeze it at chapter II like the others, and a random gift every turn is a perfectly fine engine, just the weakest of the four. Keep the Sisters, skip Tezzeret's Gambit, and the deck barely notices.

What I'd add

Three more ways to proliferate

Evolution Sage turns every land drop into a proliferate, and this list gives it 37 lands, Farseek, Three Visits, Rampant Rejuvenator and a Scholar of New Horizons who fetches Plains for the price of a counter. Tezzeret's Gambit draws two and proliferates, and its Phyrexian pip means blue's mana never holds it back. Karn's Bastion does it from a land slot. Counting Cheer, the deck goes from five proliferate effects to eight — and each one also ticks up Everflowing Chalice, extends a stun Lulu placed, and feeds whichever Summon you're not freezing.

Two more Hardened Scales

Kami of Whispered Hopes and Ozolith, the Shattered Spire join the Scales itself and Tromell, Seymour's Butler's enters-with-an-extra-counter clause, and the effects stack: with two on the table, every creature Cheer proliferates gets three counters instead of one. Kami doubles as the ramp this deck actually wants, tapping for mana equal to its own power, so every counter it picks up is a mana. The Spire places a counter each turn at sorcery speed, survives creature wipes by being an artifact, and cycles for {2} when the board no longer needs it.

Two ways to make the damage land

Cheer doesn't fire until a countered creature actually connects. The box's answer is Rikku, Resourceful Guardian, which is real but only covers creatures you countered that same turn. Herald of Secret Streams removes the condition: attacking creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them can't be blocked. Abzan Falconer covers the go-wide version from the air, and outlast gives spare white mana a job that happens to read “create another Cheer trigger”.

Four lands

Covered above: Adarkar Wastes, Yavimaya Coast and Razorverge Thicket in for the three textless taplands, Karn's Bastion in for Temple of the False God.

The ten adds total $24.71 at the market price of each card's default printing — the same printing and price the hover previews here quote. Herald of Secret Streams at $7.40 and Ozolith, the Shattered Spire at $6.52 carry more than half of it; the three untapped duals and Tezzeret's Gambit are pocket change. Cheaper printings exist for most of the ten, so the real bill usually lands a few dollars under.

Two cards stayed out with their prices attached. Doubling Season ($33.30) would be the archetype's marquee add, and this deck would cast it grudgingly — five mana that adds no counter and no body the turn it lands, where Hardened Scales does the core of the job for one. If you already own a copy, it goes in over Abzan Falconer. Branching Evolution ($7.55) is next in line if a slot ever opens; every further cut I tried was a card this page had just finished defending.

Four cards that read worse than they play

Inexorable Tide is five mana that doesn't touch the board, which is usually the first cut on any list I write. It stays because “whenever you cast a spell, proliferate” is this deck's whole text box compressed: each spell grows every carrier, ticks the Chalice, extends a stun, and advances the Summon you want advanced.

Fight Rigging looks like a three-mana way to put one counter on one creature. The other line is the payoff: once you control a creature with power 7, the card it hid from your top five comes down free. Maester Seymour puts his own power in counters on another creature every combat — a 7-power creature is a turn's assembly here, not a dream.

Blitzball Stadium reads like a fiddly counter-spreader. Its activation is the deck's most reliable Cheer button: {3} and a tap make a creature unblockable and, when it connects, draws a card for each kind of counter on it. A body carrying a +1/+1 counter, a lore counter Tidus dropped off and a shield from Protection Magic is three cards — before Cheer and Bred for the Hunt have their turn.

Kimahri, Valiant Guardian seems to do everything a little. What earns the slot is the tap: at the beginning of your combat he pulls the best blocker out of the equation, exactly when Cheer wants a lane — and if he copies the thing later, every counter he's collected stays put, because counters aren't part of a copy.

The upgraded deck, measured

After the swaps: 100 cards, 37 lands with five entering tapped, 36 creatures plus Tidus, average mana value 3.02 against the box's 3.03. The curve barely moved, and that was the point — the deck didn't need cheaper spells, it needed its lands untapped and its engines denser. Draw sits at 12, removal at six plus three wipes, all in range. Ramp counts seven against a typical eight to twelve, and I left it a point light deliberately: this deck's acceleration scales instead of stacking rocks. Incubation Druid taps for three the moment it carries a counter, Gyre Sage and Kami of Whispered Hopes grow with the board, and Everflowing Chalice appreciates under all eight proliferate effects.

The bracket floor is 3, before and after, and it hangs on a single card: Farewell is a Game Changer. Swap it for a plain exile sweeper like Sunfall and nothing else in the list sets a floor at all — no land denial, no extra turns, no nonland tutors. The box's own singles run $73.67 at market, and the adds are $24.71 on top.

The upgraded decklist

The full 100 after the ten swaps. Hover any card name to see the card and its current price.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena — no account needed.

FAQ

Can Tidus really keep a Summon from sacrificing itself?

Yes. A Saga is only sacrificed once its lore counters reach the final chapter, and every Summon in Counter Blitz is an enchantment creature — a legal target for Tidus's counter move. Hold Summon: Ixion at one counter: your draw step pushes it to two and re-triggers chapter II, then Tidus lifts a lore counter off at the beginning of combat. It never reaches chapter III, so it never dies. He moves one counter per combat, so pick one Summon; Nesting Grounds, already in the box, can hold a second.

Doesn't the Cheer proliferate march my Summons toward their last chapter?

Only if you let it. Proliferate says choose any number of permanents, so a Summon you're holding back simply doesn't get chosen. The same choice lets you add a second stun counter to a creature Lulu, Stern Guardian already caught, keeping it tapped down an extra turn.

Does a creature need a +1/+1 counter to trigger Cheer?

No — any counter works. A lore counter Tidus parked on a 1/1, a shield counter from Protection Magic, the flying counter Luminous Broodmoth hands out: “creatures you control with counters on them” is the whole requirement, and the draw-and-proliferate fires off all of them.

What holds Counter Blitz at Bracket 3?

One card. Farewell is on the Game Changers list, and a single Game Changer sets a Bracket 3 floor. Nothing else in the box or in these swaps qualifies — no mass land denial, no extra turns, no nonland tutors — so if your pod plays lower, swapping Farewell for a plain exile sweeper like Sunfall clears the floor entirely. Check any list at the bracket checker.

What do the ten adds cost altogether?

About $25 — $24.71 at the market price of each add's default printing, the printing the hover previews on this page quote. Herald of Secret Streams ($7.40) and Ozolith, the Shattered Spire ($6.52) are more than half of it between them; four of the ten cost under 40 cents. Doubling Season ($33.30) is deliberately not in the list — the adds section says why.

How strong is Counter Blitz before any changes?

Better than most boxes at doing what it says. 37 lands, 11 draw pieces and 7 removal spells all sit in normal range, and the counters plan is real. The costs are eight lands that always enter tapped, six ramp pieces where eight to twelve is typical, and a handful of slots that back one creature at a time. The swaps go after the taplands and the one-creature slots; ramp stays a point light on purpose, because the deck's mana creatures grow with the counters plan.