I did once put out an SCD for Teferi's Puzzle Box (henceforth TPB) and the general consensus was that it wouldn't really be playable in Modern, but would a combo deck, revolving around Maralen and TPB be worth building?
Once you get it online, it'll pretty much be a back and forth of them tutoring answers, and you answering back.
On their draw step:
Put TPB on the stack
Put Maralen on the stack
Maralen Resolves, allowing them to tutor something up (likely an answer to the combo)
If they have an answer, answer back.
TPB resolves, tucking their entire hand.
On your draw step:
Put Maralen on the stack.
Put TPB on the stack.
TPB resolves, Tuck your hand.
Maralen resolves, Find your next answer.
Cons:
You have to have more answers than they do.
You'll need a better board position when this goes off.
Dies to Krosan Grip/Sudden Death/Abrupt Decay
Pros:
If they can't answer your combo (i.e. no removal/artifact destruction) you can pretty much just clean house with silver bullets to establish board control.
Haha, while this sounds really funny, let me just give you an anecdote about playing with this creature Maralen. I've never had her stick around in ANYTHING for more than a turn. She is so frail, she dies to pretty much a light breeze :P.
If you think about it, a good 90 percent of the format's most common maindeck removal kills her. Decay, Bolt, Helix, Path, and so on. And without her, Teferi's Puzzle Box isn't all that useful.
I actually just stumbled upon Maralen earlier while looking for cool creatures for a casual like deck but I quickly stopped thinking about it
She dies to Bolt, Path and quite some more stuff all the while letting your opponent actually tutor for that answer... I believe there are too few decks in modern that won't find an imediate answer (like, Pod and Storm? :P). You could always counter their answer but then you'd still need a better boardposition than them :/
Yeah, that's currently the biggest issue the idea has, it's pretty fragile to, erm, anything that kills Maralen or Orb. So the bigger question is, can the deck be build to be able to survive the waves? because you'll need at least one answer in hand already. Preferably free: Pact of Negation (if you can afford it next turn) or Disrupting Shoal. Are there any other free counters?
Mindlock Orb was the other option, but that basically settled things with whoever had the better hand at that moment or who had a better board. But is definitely a possibility if you want to lock them out if you know you're winning.
It can be the last nail in the coffin so to speak.
"No answers? Well I guess I'll tutor up Mindlock Orb, and seal the deal now then"
Teferi's Puzzle Box
I did once put out an SCD for Teferi's Puzzle Box (henceforth TPB) and the general consensus was that it wouldn't really be playable in Modern, but would a combo deck, revolving around Maralen and TPB be worth building?
Once you get it online, it'll pretty much be a back and forth of them tutoring answers, and you answering back.
On their draw step:
Put TPB on the stack
Put Maralen on the stack
Maralen Resolves, allowing them to tutor something up (likely an answer to the combo)
If they have an answer, answer back.
TPB resolves, tucking their entire hand.
On your draw step:
Put Maralen on the stack.
Put TPB on the stack.
TPB resolves, Tuck your hand.
Maralen resolves, Find your next answer.
Cons:
You have to have more answers than they do.
You'll need a better board position when this goes off.
Dies to Krosan Grip/Sudden Death/Abrupt Decay
Pros:
If they can't answer your combo (i.e. no removal/artifact destruction) you can pretty much just clean house with silver bullets to establish board control.
Thoughts?
sig by DarkNightCavalier
Avatar by perv90210.
Currently Running
Cryffyl
If you think about it, a good 90 percent of the format's most common maindeck removal kills her. Decay, Bolt, Helix, Path, and so on. And without her, Teferi's Puzzle Box isn't all that useful.
It would be really funny tho if you were running Underworld Dreams or Psychosis Crawler or something similar.
Yeah, that's currently the biggest issue the idea has, it's pretty fragile to, erm, anything that kills Maralen or Orb. So the bigger question is, can the deck be build to be able to survive the waves? because you'll need at least one answer in hand already. Preferably free: Pact of Negation (if you can afford it next turn) or Disrupting Shoal. Are there any other free counters?
Mindlock Orb was the other option, but that basically settled things with whoever had the better hand at that moment or who had a better board. But is definitely a possibility if you want to lock them out if you know you're winning.
It can be the last nail in the coffin so to speak.
"No answers? Well I guess I'll tutor up Mindlock Orb, and seal the deal now then"
Edit:
Comandeer is another "Free Spell".
Edit again:
Just something I cooked up on Cockatrice and will mess around with. I'm sure someone can do better than this list though:
4 Maralen of the Mornsong
4 Grimoire Thief
4 Voidmage Prodigy
4 Teferi's Puzzle Box
1 Mindlock Orb
3 Dispel
4 Apostle's Blessing
3 Eye of Nowhere
4 Boomerang
4 Underground River
4 Creeping Tar Pit
6 Island
5 Swamp