Breaking Down the Counter Intelligence Precon Battle Fleet

Inspirit, Flagship Vessel | Art by Titus Lunter

Space, our final, and Magic's next, frontier. Go beyond - soo soo far beyond - the bounds of the Phyrexians, the Gatewatch, even the Eldrazi, and into a galactic conflict that consumes the very stars!

Commander Captain, the fleet has been prepared, your forces stand ready, and I'm here to give you the rundown on what you have at your disposal.

The Command Ship

"Battlecruiser, Operational"

Inspirit, Flagship Vessel is your flagship vessel, and comes with some new features that you might not be familiar with, as the new station mechanic is very different from the crew of your previous ships.

At the cost of just Jeskai your legendary artifact - Spacecraft enters the battlespace, but you need to go to battle stations first before it can do anything.

In order to station, you'll need to tap another creature you control and add charge counters equal to its power onto Inspirit. Once Inspirit gets its first counter, it gains the ability to add either a +1/+1 counter or two charge counters on up to one other target artifact.

At eight or more charge counters, this fully armed and operational Battlestation Spacecraft becomes a 5/5 artifact creature with enough countermeasures to ensure that all other artifacts you control have hexproof and indestructible.

The Second in Command

Kilo, Apogee Mindis your direct connection to your ship and the rest of the fleet. At your command, Kilo will start its PROLIFERATE protocols and increase the amount of counters on anything you choose. As you can imagine, this will be integral to stationing the Inspirit as well as powering up your myriad of artifacts.

Speaking of which, captain, here's the complete dossier on the fleet.

The Fleet List

Action Plan

As you can glean from the list, this deck is almost entirely artifacts, be they creatures or otherwise, with most having a mixture of +1/+1 or charge counters. While these counters are common, they've needed some support to remain competitive. Thus, Pinnacle has added some brand new support to complement your forces.

New Cards

Meet Surge Conductor; yes, that's their name. They assist Kilo with the myriad proliferation based tasks. Each and every time an authentic (nontoken) artifact enters our battlespace, you can proliferate.

This Patrolling Peacemaker unit is your head of security. Whenever an opponent commits a C-R-I-M-E, short for targeting another player or their cards, the Peacemaker activates its proliferate protocols.

This Solar Array is the key to your solar-based energy initiative. When you tap it for mana, it can come out as any color you desire. When you do, the next artifact spell you cast will gain sunburst. Which means that you'll be able to either add a +1/+1 counter or a charge counter equal to the different colors of mana used to cast said spell.

Imagine starting off the Inspirit at three charge counters? Incredible!

This is our Moxite Refinery; use this to break down any excess counters, positive or negative ones (think -1/-1 counters), from your own artifacts and turn them into counters that you want instead.

Long-Range Sensors have picked up something interesting. If you attack an opponent, you'll be able to add the necessary charge counters per opponent attacked. Pay just one mana and remove two charge counters and activate its discover 4 ability.

Mind you that this ability does not require tapping, so as long as you keep on top of both mana and charge counters, your victory is assured.

Even your draw power will revolve around charge counter usage, but I have faith in you. The Insight Engine might cost you two mana per turn to get a use out of, just two mana to eventually draw more and more cards every turn is certainly worth it.

As a last resort, Pinnacle has authorized use of their top-of-the-line Depthshaker Titan unit. This entirely automated behemoth is your true powerhouse unit for when force is deemed necessary.

When it enters the battlespace, you're able to animate any number of noncreature artifacts you control and turn them into 3/3 artifact creatures. After that, it can be the spearpoint to your assault on your enemies' bases with their passive melee, trample, and haste actuaries.

Note, once the Depthshaker is deployed, any artifacts that were animated will be overcharged to the point of destruction, so make sure it's the final blow to your opponents.

The Ilvoi are lending some assistance to your mission, captain, and their help will plug up a glaring whole in the fleet's game plan. This Uthros Research Craft is home to an entire state-of-the-art science lab that, once properly manned, allows you to draw cards as often as you cast artifact spells.

The more artifact spells you cast, the more you increase the charge counters present on the Uthros craft, so getting to its ultimate twelve charge counter level won't be to difficult.

Once you get to that level, your research craft gains power for each artifact you control, turning it into a sledgehammer befitting your command.

Now that you have the rundown of the new members under your command, lets enter a tutorial battle so that you can get more familiar with your overall plan of attack.

Tactical Screen

You would do well to keep in mind that the fleet is heavily reliant on the Inspirit to be the Flagship Vessel to guide it. Every force that you muster has a specific role in making sure the Inspirit stays safe and that your troops are ready for your signal. So, when looking at what those roles are, we can imagine them broken down in the following categories.

Vanguard

Other than the multitudes of mana rocks are your disposal, you are most likely to see these units first in play and each inform what your game plan is going to be.

Etched Oracle is a combat unit that grows stronger the more mana you can spend on it, producing at most a 4/4 for four depending on our access to colors.

The Hangarback Walker class can safely be played on turn two with just one +1/+1 counter on it, because the rest of the deck's cards, like Thrummingbird can start generating enhanced value for your board due to its proliferate ability. If it keeps up, your Hangarback Walker turns from a deterrent not just to attacks, but to board wipes as well, saving valuable turns for the Inspirit to arrive.

Speaking of proliferate, you should look to deploying Kilo out pretty early as well, since attacking for 3/3 with haste is much easier early game than it is late.

Mana Rocks

Lets not forget that early plays of mana-generating artifacts like Astral Cornucopia and Everflowing Chalice also benefit from these early game proliferations, meaning you get to cast more spells much sooner than the rest of the table.

You also have Crystalline Crawler and Solar Array, two cards that give you access to more mana to cast spells and benefit heavily from early proliferate triggers.

Generators

These cards, both old and new, provide their own charge counters and are able to grow them over time. They take resources that are valuable early game, so you don't necessarily want to play and activate the new Insight Engine or Lux Cannon too early, as you would be wide open to attack with no defenders.

So after you've establish a boosted manabase, you'll have creatures out to charge up Long-Range Sensor or make use of Gavel of the Righteous. Once you have the mana to play multiple spells in a turn, that's when you should look to cast Golem Foundry or Surge Conductor, since with two spell casts and an extra proliferate or two, you'll be able to start generating a huge army before your opponents see it coming.

Countermeasures

You do have an array of countermeasures to give coverage to the members of your cadre.

Angel of the Ruins is great later game removal for card types we struggle with, and Alibou, Ancient Witness turns your attacking creatures into pin-point removal of high-priority targets that you mark for elimination.

Organic Extinction, as the name implies, eliminates nearly all elements from the board, save for yours, captain. Swan Song, Chaos Warp, Swords, and Dispatch round out the typical assortment for our colors, but Ripples of Potential is particularly good in our hands, so I recommend holding up two mana once its there.

Tactical

Now for your late-game Tactical choices.

There is something very special about the options that we have here, as more than one are new. You've seen the Kappa Cannoneer in action before, as your top ranked assassin ninja turtle. You've heard tale of how Cyberdrive Awakener turns each and every one of our artifacts into 4/4 flying cruisers, leading to a very satisfying victory when the chips fall.

Now we have the aforementioned Depthshaker Titan who does very similar for just one more mana, yet gives an entirely different suite of abilities that could be the tactical option at a critical moment. Threefold Thunderhulk is a threat from the moment it comes down and every turn after that which your opponents just might not be able to contend with, as threats from other foes tend to be more flashy.

(Darksteel) Core

Now the core of our strategy is in our indestructible Darksteel Reactor. When your forces cannot get the job done and your enemies' defenses prove to be too mighty, you have access to a win-con as powerful as it is ancient.

For you put into play an artifact that adds a charge counter on it during each of your untap steps. Once it has twenty or more charge counters on it, you win the game. Now I'm sure you've picked up on this captain, but this is an incredible ability, because most cards check for the appropriate number of counters on the upkeep in order to win. Darksteel Reactor only needs to have twenty or more and the game goes to you.

But waiting twenty plus turns would be....unwise, captain, as even though it's indestructible, you are not (I am, however, for the same reasons); so you'll want to finesse how to get enough charge counters on it. I'd say you want to get to twenty counters in the span of two turns, ideally while looking very non-threatening to the enemy captains.

I'd suggest using cards like Moxite Refinery and Resourceful Defense to suddenly move the charge counters that you have been storing up all game into the Darksteel Reactor. Activate those at the end step of the player before you and then play Deepglow Skate on your turn to double your counters and win.

It might seem strange to have an alternate win-con in such a preconstructed fleet, but Pinnacle wants success, and you're just the captain to deliver it.

Inspirit, Flagship Vessel

Lets not forget, that your Flagship Vessel is still a warship, and could enter the fray at any time - in fact, the sooner the better, as your ship is integral to beginning the growth of either +1/+1 or charge counters throughout the battlespace.

Inspirit is simply an artifact for a long time, but once its fully activated, we are free to clear the board with just about any ordinance we want and even if the Inspirit has to make an emergency jump to the Command Zone, it can come back for just five mana, which is a steal according to any military doctrine. So play your commander early one you understand which direction you want this game to take.

Now, Captain, you are ready for your flight beyond the stars, beyond the very edge of the eternities to begin the expedition into the Multiverse. I am your humble guide, so know that you can come to me at any time if you need help. I believe you are more than capable of rising to the command that you've been given.

Mind your charge counters, and do keep in mind that organics are not always the most compatible with your strategies, so if you are looking to upgrade this list, I'd suggest enlisting the help of fellow Spacecraft, as your proliferation focus will make stationing them easy.

Good luck, Captain, and may the odds be ever in your favor.