Source: Inquest #30 (Oct 1997), p.38; author: Jeff Hannes

"Not too long ago, Millstone decks were all the rage.  Along came the Kjeldoran Outpost - a cheap and effective creature generator that couldn't be countered, shattered or disenchanted.  Suddenly, Millstones were a thing of the past.

CONCEPT
Similar in concept to the old Millstone decks, with Counter / Post you attempt to hold your opponent off with counterspells, Disenchants and Wraths of God while slowly building up defenses.  Eventually, you plop down the Kjeldoran Outpost and start cranking out weenies.  At first, their purpose is defensive, but eventually there are more than your opponent can handle and victory is yours.

BASICS
The most important cards in the Counter / Post deck are the various counterspells.  If you can't keep your opponent at bay, you'll get run over long before you have a chance to assemble your army.  Counterspell, Force of Will and Dissipate are all prime choices.  Power Sinks can also be useful (although never use as many as four) but Arcane Denials are usually more of a hindrance than a help.  The key is to outdraw your opponent and the Arcane Denial makes this extremely difficult.

Secondly, you'll need Kjeldoran Outposts.  Two or thre should be enough since you usually won't play the Outpost until you can back it up with several counterspells anyway.

Next, you need to be able to move through your deck faster than your opponent, as well as hunt down the cards that will help secure victory.  Thawing Glaciers is a great way of filtering through your deck, and any good Counter / Post includes two to four of these gems.

The other strong deck-hunting card is Impulse - many of today's top Counter / Post decks utilise four of them.  Brainstorm, Ancestral Knowledge and Soldevi Excavations are also useful for filtering through your deck.

Another option is the Browse / Soldevi Digger combo.  This one's been around since Alliances came out, and it's still popular.  If you use it, you won't need more than one Digger and two or three Browses.

You won't be able to counter everything - that's what the white stuff is for.  Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God and Disenchant will take care of just about anything your opponent can conjure up.  The only thing they don't deal with is opposing Outposts - that's why you have Political Trickery.

The Abeyances of today's Type II are at their most prominent in this deck, due to a ridiculous ruling which says that Abeyance prevents your opponent from tapping anything for mana; they make an excellent delaying tactic while you hunt down your counterspells.  Finally, Gerrard's Wisdom is a good card to include, either in your main deck, sideboard or both, since 12-16 extra life can go a long way towards keeping you alive against a direct-damage cheese deck.

WEAKNESSES
A bad draw always hurts a counter / control deck, but thanks to the new mulligan rule (which lets you take as many mulligans as you want, drawing one less card each time), that's not as much of a worry.  Very fast decks (like Sligh and Buried Alive) often give Counter / Post fits before sideboarding, but fortunately there are cards that can help after sideboarding.

AGAINST THE FIELD
Buried Alive: Counter / Post has its problems against this menace, which continually recycles creatures even if they're countered.  The key to beating Buried Alive is to Plow and Dissipate the recyclers and to save your Wraths for the rest.

Maro-geddon: Later in the game, Counter / Post usually has the advantage, but if the Maro-geddon is able to fire off an early Armageddon (third- or fourth-turn) that spells trouble with a capital 'T'

Sligh: This is one of the decks Counter / Post excels against, since a strong mix of counterspells and creature elimination can usually hold off the initial onslaught.  By the mid-game, the Sligh player usually runs out of steam and the Counter / Post player takes control.  Watch out for Kaervek's Torch, though."