Dies to Removal

4 [card:3406facb]Stoneforge Mystic[/card:3406facb]
3 [card:3406facb]Snapcaster Mages[/card:3406facb] (possibly 4 but I've never seen a list with 4 lately)
1-2 [card:3406facb]Vendilion Clique[/card:3406facb]

4 [card:3406facb]Brainstorm[/card:3406facb]
4 [card:3406facb]Swords[/card:3406facb]
0-1 [card:3406facb]Ponder[/card:3406facb]
3-4 [card:3406facb]Force of Will[/card:3406facb]
1 [card:3406facb]Counterspell[/card:3406facb](maybe more)
0-1[cardb]Supreme Verdict[/card:3406facb]
0-1 [card:3406facb]Intuition[/card:3406facb]
2-3 [card:3406facb]Thoughtseize[/card:3406facb]
1-2 [card:3406facb]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card:3406facb]
0-1 [card:3406facb]Duress[/card:3406facb]
3-4 [card:3406facb]Lingering Souls[/card:3406facb]
1-2 [card:3406facb]Spell Pierce[/card:3406facb]
1 [card:3406facb]Vindicate[/card:3406facb]

3-4 [card:3406facb]Tundra[/card:3406facb]
2-3 [card:3406facb]Underground Sea[/card:3406facb]
0-1 [card:3406facb]Scrubland[/card:3406facb]
4 [card:3406facb]Flooded Strand[/card:3406facb]
5 Fetches that get U or W (mostly U)
1 [card:3406facb]Academy Ruins[/card:3406facb]
1 [card:3406facb]Karakas[/card:3406facb]
4-5 Basics (Usually 2 Island 1 Plains 1 Swamp)

1 [card:3406facb]Umezawa's Jitte[/card:3406facb]
1 [card:3406facb]Batterskull[/card:3406facb]
1 [card:3406facb]Engineered Explosives[/card:3406facb]
0-1 Sword of X and Y

3 [card:3406facb]Geist of Saint Traft[/card:3406facb](he's a
sideboard card, but almost always present)[/spoiler:3406facb][/center:3406facb]
may have forgotten something, but you get the idea

[i:3406facb]Why play this over Miracles?[/i:3406facb]

Preference, both have their pros and cons (Miracles has a very strong Maverick MU, while a mostly unwinnable goblins matchup and a poor Jund matchup, Stoneblade doesn't quite have any particularly strong matchup, but only 1-2 that are poor, and even it's worse matchups are very winnable), but it more comes down to playstyle, Miracles is more draw-go, while Stoneblade is a tad more proactive (and generally better at playing stoneforge mystic).

[i:3406facb]Why 3 Force/little countermagic? [/i:3406facb]

The deck does not need 4 Mainboard. Unlike say miracles, we have plenty of ways to approach a match, via discard, spamming removal, stalling with lingering souls until batterskull hits the table.

The combo matchup is a bit rougher game 1 due to this, but that's when the 4th force and additional discard
comes in

[i:3406facb]How does this deck play?[/i:3406facb]

It's a control deck through and through but what it does in each matchup differs, it's one of the strengths (and weaknesses) of the deck, in order to do well, you need to learn very quickly what your doing in each matchup, vs say goblins, stalling with lingering souls while picking apart their gas with discard is a winning strategy, but vs most combo, you want to board out lingering souls and in Geist of St. Traft and become more of an aggressor (see Who's the beatdown), it's also a weakness of the deck, not properly evaluating the best strategy is a quick way to lose a lot.

Matchups:

[u:3406facb]Jund[/u:3406facb]: This matchup is rough solely because game 1 is almost impossible, they are a deck of 2 for 1's and your trying to 1 for 1 everything (or 1 for 2 with force of will), although possible to win, it's very tough to do so, g2/3 it gets better as you get rid of Force and Thoughtsieze, but get used to having win 2 in a row

[
u:3406facb]Goblins[/u:3406facb]: Traditionally, Goblins murders non-combo island decks, not so much the case here, we have Jitte, Lingering Souls and Batterskull to curb the tide of goblins, avoid fetching duels up front, and don't be afraid to keep 1-2 lands in hand at a time to play around Rishadan Port and Wasteland, your primary concern should be getting jitte active and protecting it the best you can, they have 1-2 out to it, and plenty of ways to both get it (Matron/Ringleader) and ways to play it without worry (Cavern and Aether Vial). Game 2/3, Board out countermagic, they simply don't care, they have cavern and vial to play it, and Lackey to cheat it in.

[u:3406facb]Show & Tell Variants[/u:3406facb]: The problem g1, is that you have some counter magic and some discard, but they have plenty of countermagic and can play around discard, nevermind you don't play a quick enough clock to apply pressure, post-board, board out swords, as tempting as it maybe to keep it for grizzlebees, it's
simply not worth it.

[u:3406facb]Maverick[/u:3406facb]: Maverick is a deck that is really good at beating decks that don't play terminus; we don't. Do not let them untap with mother of runes.
(Work in progress)

(writing this for fun/out of boredom, I've wanted to write a primer so I am also using this as to get criticism for doing so)

Personal Decklist as of 4-17-2013