Just hit 40 w/ this deck:
Inevitability Instant(11) 4x Galvanic Bombardment
3x Blessed Alliance
3x Geistblast
2x Brutal Expulsion
Sorcery(14) 2x Declaration in Stone
4x Take Inventory
2x Exquisite Firecraft
2x Radiant Flames
2x Collective Defiance
2x Planar Outburst
Enchantment(5) 3x Sphinx's Tutlelage
2x Fevered Visions
Planeswalker(4) 1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
Land(25) 2x Prairie Stream
2x Plains
2x Wandering Fumarole
2x Island
5x Mountain
2x Needle Spires
2x Clifftop Retreat
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Sulfur Falls
4x Evolving Wilds
To view this deck go to:
https://www.magicduelshelper.com/deckli ... 3af8f405e1 Created using Magic Duels Helper:
http://www.magicduelshelper.comHere is a Breakdown on why the cards are included:
RemovalBlessed Alliance - This card is mainly in for Indestructible and untargetable creatures. It is also useful for manlands that are you can not hit with instant burn, and Gideon. This plus the two Declaration in Stones are your main Ulamog defense, so make sure you have 3 sources of white before Ulamog is cast if at all possible. Many Ramp players will target your white mana. The lifegain can be useful as well.
Declaration in Stone - Your main removal for large creatures. Only use this if you have to, as it is your best defense vs many large creatures. The Clue is often irrelevant due to Fevered Visions and/or Tutor. At times you will hope they crack the clue.
Brutal Expulsion - This is a soft answer to large creatures. It is a bit of a utility card. It can place cards in hand to trigger Fevered Visions, and it helps kill pesky Planeswalkers. Vs Aggro it shines. It may only kill one creature unless you target a token, but it can remove two threats and slow down the game. This is also pairs well with Collective Defiance. You can get rid a of creature permanently by bouncing it then having your opponent cycle their hand.
Galvanic Bombardment – The first burn that you will be able to cast. This will take care of early threats, and sinc eit scales, it can be useful later on as well.
Geistblast - Over costed 2 damage instant spell, but when cast still good for most Humans, some man lands and finishing off Walkers. The main use of this card is in the graveyard though. My 3 most commonly used targets are Collective Defiance, Exquisite Firecraft to finish off an opponent, and Take Inventory. When discarding, this is my second most wanted target to discard.
Another good use for this card is to force a Sorcery through counters, most likely Collective Defiance. Cast your spell, and if it is countered, you can copy it then and still get the effect.
Collective Defiance - This is an excellent card for this deck. Each effect is relevant, and 5 mana is very in expensive to have all 3 effects. The damage to playe and creature are pretty self expanatory, but the wheel effect of discarding and drawing makes this a perfect fit. The wheel effect has four main uses. You can use on your self to mill with Tutelage out. You can wheel yourself you cycle through dead cards such as extra land. You can wheel your opponent if you know/suspect he has a bomb in hand that you do not want him to play. And lastly, you can wheel your opponent for s pseudo mill effect, and if he can not draw a card because they are gone, you win immediately.
Exquisite Firecraft - Good removal for hard to kill creatures, but the main use is to finish opponents, preferably with Geistblast. 8 points of uncounterable damage can swing a duel.
Radiant Flames – The first sweeper to come on board. Not much to say, but try and get some value out of it.
Planar Outburst - Keep these for larger creatures if possible. I also do not recommend use the Awaken Ability unless you are okay with losing a land. With no real creatures in the deck, by the time you cast this it is very likely that your opponent will have a hand full of creature removal. If you do have the spare land, Needle Spires is the best choice in most cases.
Mill Options & MiscSphinx's Tutelage– Although a main win condition, do not play this until you have the board in order and are sure you can safely play it. Only play vs agro when you have no other viable spells or the board is clean and they have no haste creatures.
Fevered Visions - This is the best card in the deck. It destroys Planeswalkers, helps Tutleage mill faster, and finds you answers. In most games I can keep this out, I will win by burn as Visions will often do 8-12 damage on it’s own. This card should be played when the board is clear, but there are more exceptions then Tutelage when you may want to play it. If you are mana light, it will probably take priority. If there is an annoying walker out, it can help quite a bit. I even play it against the agro decks. Although they draw threats, I generally draw more answers then they can produce threats. The only decks I would hesitate playing it against are vs another mill deck that has Tutelage out already, or perhaps a burn deck if I had other avenues to win.
Take Inventory – I was a bit hesitant on this card. It really doesn't gain you anything until you already have one in the graveyard. What has won me over are two points. First, it gives you a early play that can bring you closer to a land if needed. Second, it does speed up milling. I have won more then a few games by geistblasting my third or fourth Take Inventory late game.
Planeswalkers – A note on planeswalkers. They can be a win condition, but often I use them as a distraction to buy time. Jace will not win a game often, but he can buy you 2-3 turn to set up the win. This deck has no life gain, but the hate that Walkers draw can act as pseudo life gain. Chandra and Nahiri in some matchups are the only ones will take some damage to keep alive.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar – This Walker doesn’t really fit the rest of the deck, but the power level is high enough to include it. It can win on its own, provide blockers (although often killed by removal) and provide a distraction while you set up the kill.
Nahiri, the Harbinger – This card gives you removal and card draw in one. Very good in the mirror match if you can keep her out. She will draw lot of fire from your opponent, and since she has a +2 instead of +1 abilities, you can keep her alive for a while. Her ultimate is of no use besides a bluff.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - This adds creature protection, Draw and can add damage with a bounce if Visions is out. Although it is rare, if you can ultimate him, do so. You may lose the card draw, but you have severely hampered your opponent.
Chandra, Flamecaller - The kill card. This card will work as a Radiant Flames, massive mill with Tutelage out or damage to the face. If you suspect your opponent has a Chandra, you may want to wait to play her. The second Chandra played will survive.
Play guidelinesMulliganThis deck mulligans a fair amount. What you generally want in your opening hand is 3 Mana and 2+ removal options. I will sometimes play 2 Mana if I have UR and Fevered Visions or Oath of Jace and U mana if I am on the Draw, or have already used a Mulligan. A hand of 5 land can be playable, but your other two cards better be removal or draw and low cost. Your game generally is reactive, and if you do not have any way to react to an agro deck early, it is usually game over. Tutelage is okay in your starting hand, but not necessary.
Common matchups:Aggro – This can be Humans, Prowess, Spirits, Vampires, RDW or any of the others. The key point on this is prevent any damage you can. If you have the option to play Tutor on T3 or kill a 2/2 with Geistblast, kill the creature. There are exceptions of course, like you may not want to kill it if your removal is Brutal Expulsion, since you want a 2 for 1 with that card, but the philosophy is the same. Kill what you can when you can with the most efficient card available. Vs most of these decks, if you survive the first 5 turns w/ 10+ life, you probably have won the game. Be careful with decks that run haste creatures and/or burn, and keep back Instants if possible. I.E. vs Prowess it may be better to use Declaration in stone instead of a second Bombardment to keep the Bombardment for a Stormchaser later on.
You can play Fevered Visions vs all agro decks in most cases except Burn if you are low on life. You have 17 targeted removal and 4 sweepers not including Planeswalker effects. You can generally draw more answers then they can play threats. Also, it will generally force them to overcommit so your sweepers are more effective. Tutelage is generally very effective vs aggro as they are just 1-2 colors and run less land then most decks. However, do not play Tutelage until you have control of the game, or it is your only play.
Ramp – This is probably the hardest matchup. The reason being is that they run big creatures that most of our removal can’t kill 1-1, and they also run lifegain. If they run some reanimation (most will run Greenwarden at the least), they can be your most difficult matchup.
This matchup, your most important cards are Declaration in Stone, Blessed Alliance, Planar Outburst and Tutelage. You can win by Burn, especially if you get out an Early Visions and/or Gideon, but they have enough life gain to turn things around quickly. Milling is usually your best option, but unlike most matchups, you can never gain full control of the board. It is a true race. You want your milling to deny them key cards, but with many running Pulse and Greenwarden, a card in the graveyard is not out of the game. Plan for that. Keep at least 3-4 W mana on the board when they get close to casting Ulamog for your Declaration in Stone or Blessed Alliance. Also, you may want to keep Nahiri in hand unless you are on your way to milling them to death and think you can race them. Collective Defiance can be a backbreaker if you wheel their threats away.
Basically, you want to keep your key cards in hand for their real threats, and do what you can to play Tutelage ASAP. It is okay to take some early damage vs this deck. Use your burn on their Planeswalkers and keep Tempers for Manlands.
Superfriends – With Burn and your own Walkers, you can generally keep theirs off the board. Fevered Visions is Excellent vs Walkers. You do need to stay ahead of them though. If they get down 2 or more Walkers, it will be tough to recover. I tend to mill aggressively, and wheel them fairly aggressively. The main threats to you are Gideon, Chandra, Nahiri and Sorin. They must be dealt with asap. Ob Nixilus, Jace and Tamiyo are generally not as dangerous, but Card advantage can eventually hurt. The rest may or may not be an immediate threat depending on board and hands.
Midrange – These decks are generally a pretty good matchup. They rely on Value creatures, Card Advantage and Walkers. We can kill their creatures, burn their walkers and if we have Visions or Tutelage out, we may WANT them to draw more cards. You do have to be careful though. If you get too far behind in card advantage, they may be able to exhaust all your removal.
Blue Control – These can go either way. Vs another Tutelage deck, it is usually a race to see who can get out and keep out Tutelage. You will have a slight advantage in that you have the option of burning them out, where their advantage is generally Counterspells. Play burn on their endstep when you can. Either the damage gets through and gets you closer to the close with a Geistblasted Exquisite Firecraft, or you have one less counter to deal with on your turn. Manlands can be good, but expect that they have the removal available if they have the mana open. Vs Esper, it is pretty much the same thing, but depending what counters/threats they run, and how patient they are, it can be easy or tough. Vs a smart, patient player, you need to accumulate threats (and you don’t have many) and hope you can get one through. Be careful of playing too timid though, as they can bluff counters as well.
Overall, I feel like this deck is a bit more solid then last season. As more decks are developed, that may change, but for now, this deck can hold it's own against anything and generally be at least even odds.
Edit: Recorded 3 games. First two I had to play AI, but last one was good until he conceded. It was vs Mill (close game), Superfriends and Humans.
https://secure.twitch.tv/wintervoidx/v/79680744