The Counter Blitz preconstructed deck, released as part of the Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy set, is a thematic and synergistic take on a +1/+1 counters deck. Built in Bant colors (Green-White-Blue), the deck translates the teamwork, character synergy, and high energy of Final Fantasy X’s Blitzball into a highly kinetic +1/+1 counters strategy.
At the helm of the deck is the star player himself, Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian:
Tidus is built entirely around moving the “ball” (counters) between your teammates to set up the perfect play. At the beginning of combat, you can shift a counter from one creature to another. This lets you trigger “whenever a counter is placed” abilities, save crucial counters from targeted removal, or shift power to an unblocked attacker. His Cheer ability rewards you with a card draw and a proliferate trigger whenever your counter-boosted squad gets through for combat damage. It keeps your hand full and your board constantly growing.
If you want to focus more on explosive mana and high-impact summons, you can swap Tidus for the backup commander, Yuna, Grand Summoner. Yuna acts as a mana dork who injects yet more +1/+1 counters onto your creatures as they enter, and serves as an insurance policy by redistributing counters if your permanents are destroyed.
For the purposes of this review, I’m going to focus on the face commander for the deck, Tidus.
Unlike some precons that pull in three different directions, Counter Blitz is incredibly focused. At its core is the proliferation and value engine. The synergy between Tidus’s combat triggers and cards like Generous Patron, Chasm Skulker, and Tireless Tracker is fantastic. You generate card advantage simply by executing your baseline game plan. When you add classic counter-multipliers like Branching Evolution or Conclave Mentor to the mix, your creatures can rapidly grow out of hand. These two cards would make good, cost-effective additions to the deck.
You’ve then got your high-flavour summons. The deck features powerful Saga cards representing FFX’s Aeons, like Summon: Valefor, Summon: Ixion, and Summon: Yojimbo. Because these are Sagas, they naturally utilise lore counters, which Tidus can manipulate or proliferate to speed up or delay chapters. This is really powerful.
Finally, there’s also a pretty decent interaction package. Wizards did not skimp on the removal and protection here. Out of the box, you get top-tier white board wipes like Farewell and Damning Verdict (which is a one-sided wipe in this deck), alongside highly flexible protection like Endless Detour and An Offer You Can’t Refuse.
Playing the Counter Blitz precon feels like orchestrating a highly synchronized sports play, which is very on-theme. In the early game, you drop efficient, low-cost utility creatures like Generous Patron and O’aka, Traveling Merchant, using ramp spells to smooth out your mana.
Once Tidus hits the field, the deck shifts into its signature “passing game”. Instead of just piling counters onto one massive threat that easily gets targeted by removal, you constantly juggle counters between your creatures. This triggers abilities that reward you whenever a counter is placed, lets you sneak massive damage past blockers by shifting counters to an unblocked attacker, and guarantees you draw cards and proliferate when those boosted creatures connect. It is a highly interactive, value-driven midrange deck that wears opponents down with an overwhelming, constantly swelling board state.
Now, there is something interesting which I might describe as a problem, but I know others will disagree. Normally, Wizards of the Coast is very careful to avoid putting infinite combos into preconstructed decks, but they missed a glaring loop in this list. If you have Hardened Scales, Walking Ballista, and the legendary creature Gatta and Luzzu on the battlefield, you can immediately win the game.
To pull off the combo, you need hardened Scales on the battlefield, along with Walking Ballista, which needs to have at least two +1/+1 counters on it. Once these are out, have Gatta and Luzzu enter, targeting the Walking Ballista with its trigger. Remove a counter from the Walking Ballista to do 1 damage to itself. In response to the damage, Gatta and Luzzu will instead put a +1/+1 counter on it, which Hardened Scales will turn into a pair of counters. Repeat over and over to make a potentially infinite number of counters on Walking Ballista. You can them remove these +1/+1 counters to chip down opponents’ life totals. You win.
I don’t like that in a precon, but as long as everyone knows it can happen, it’s beatable.
While the deck’s engine is pretty strong, it has one major bottleneck that players immediately notice. The Mana Base is Too Slow: The deck runs a high number of lands that enter the battlefield tapped by default (such as the Snarls, Temples, and generic duals). Because this is an aggressive mid-range deck that wants to curve out with creatures and immediately start attacking, stumbling on tap-lands can leave you a turn or two behind the rest of the table. This is a pretty common problem with precons.
Let’s consider some upgrades. First up, counter amplifiers. I’m not going to suggest cards like Doubling Season which are excellent, but are quite expensive. I’m going with a more budget-friendly approach. With that in mind, here are three ideas:
- Kami of Whispered Hopes: An absolute slam-dunk. It acts as an additional copy of Hardened Scales to increase the number of counters you place. Even better, it taps for mana equal to its power. If Tidus passes a few counters to the Kami, it suddenly taps to produce 5+ mana a turn.
- Denry Klin, Editor in Chief: Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, Denry copies his own counters (like +1/+1, Vigilance, or First Strike) and puts them onto that new creature. This is a big value-add.
- Spark Double: Why have one Tidus when you can have two? Spark Double lets you clone Tidus while ignoring the “legendary” rule. Having two Tiduseseses (Tidi?) on the field lets you shift multiple counters at combat, draw twice as many cards, and double-proliferate when you connect.
With our counter suitably buffed, we should take a look at that landbase. Again, I’m going for a budget approach. Getting a good landbase for a deck can often be the most expensive part of building it. Let’s just see if we can make incremental gains without breaking the bank:
- Ditch the Snarls and Temples: Cut slow lands like Temple of Mystery, Temple of Enlightenment, Temple of Plenty, and Vineglimmer Snarl.
- Budget Swaps: Replace them with cheap, untapped duals like Yavimaya Coast, Adarkar Wastes, and Brushland. They are affordable, provide colored mana immediately, and keep you on-curve.
- Bant Staples: If you do have the budget, adding Spara’s Headquarters (the Bant Triome) or standard “shock lands” like Breeding Pool and Hallowed Fountain will instantly elevate the deck’s speed and colour fixing.
Because Tidus and your giant counter-heavy creatures will have massive targets on their backs, you need ways to protect them at instant speed.
- Slippery Bogbonder: This creature has flash and places a hexproof counter on any creature you control when it enters. Even better, it lets you completely redistribute your +1/+1 counters across your board at instant speed, allowing you to save counters from a target that is about to be removed.
- Arwen, Mortal Queen: She enters with an indestructible counter and can easily share it with Tidus or another high-value target to keep them safe from board wipes.
- Spore Frog: Would you expect me not to suggest this card?
To make room for these cards, you can safely cut some of the clunkier high-mana spells that don’t directly help your counter strategy:
- Temple of the False God: Often a dead card early game when you need colored mana most.
- Lulu, Stern Guardian: A bit too slow and dependent on other noncreature spells.
- Everflowing Chalice: Decent, but we would much rather run creature-based ramp like Kami of Whispered Hopes.
Overall, I really like this deck. In terms of playability, it runs well with a good engine, but can be held back by that slow land package. It’s also flavourful. FFX is not my favourite entry in the series, but they’ve themed the deck with and the art is beautiful and vibrant. If you love +1/+1 counter strategies or are a massive Final Fantasy X fan, this is an absolute must-buy. It’s cohesive, highly interactive, and incredibly fun to pilot. Swap out about 5–10 of the tapped dual lands for basic lands or cheap untapped duals, and you have a high-tier precon ready to dominate local tables.
If you’re looking for MTG singles, please consider using our Big Orbit Cards affiliate link to find your cards whilst also supporting our site.