So, I tried my hand at MtG:O, and I did NOT like it.
Like, in the least.
So, now I'm wondering if the tickets I have are worth anything. Can I trade them? Sell 'em? Anything? I'd like to try and get SOMETHING out of the experience, haha.
Well, I ditched 2/3rds of the card choices, and ended up with a pretty fun looking Jund build; Obviously it doesn't fit either rule, but I just wanted to show you what your idea inspired me to do, haha.
With two Heartless Summonings on the field, Mindclaw shaman becomes a 1-drop stolen spell that also procs both the Soul of the Harvest and the Harvester of Souls on his way out. Draw two cards, steal one and play it for free. Feels pretty Jund-licious to me.
The synergy and card advantage gets pretty silly pretty fast.
I feel its more likely a different dragon's maze being referenced in the set's name.
Actually, they've already confirmed it's got nothing to do with Bolas. I'm pretty sure it's going to end up that Niv-Mizzet found either;
A) The lost lair of his kind
B) A way to turn the giant city-scape into a roving puzzle
C) A way to use the city and it's energies to give him a planeswalker spark.
And as for the deck changes, I'll definitely give them a try. Thanks!
EDIT: A thread name I suggest is: "The Izzet heard you like blocks in your mazes, so we put a maze in your block... Wait, what?"
It's a mill deck with a couple of alternate win conditions, and that plays as much like the Izzet as I can imagine; chaotic, unexpectedly and seemingly random.
Truth is, as you can see, the deck is designed to be able to win in one of five ways, and to play in such a way that at any point in time, one of those ways is being worked on. It's Niv-Mizzet's grand scheme all over again!
I'm thinking of calling it Dragon's Mill, as a reference to Dragon's Maze, the new set name.
Anywho, the win conditions are as follows:
-Standard Milling/Deck-outing. Tome Scour, Reforge the Soul, Jace, Increasing Confusion, all very cost effective and powerful ways to quickly mill out an opponent. The synergy between the card with flashback and the discard costs associated with the very Izzet mechanics of draw/discard is amazing, and can really help mitigate Tibat's downside.
-Self Mill/Deck-outing Once again, Tome Scour, Jace, Reforge the Soul, and Increasing Confusion do a lot of work (Not to mention Tibalt, Think Twice, Deranged Assistant). With Laboratory Maniac on the field, self-decking becomes a win condition.
-Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded This guy is a one card show stopper in this deck. I've always loved him for his aggressive and Izzet-like design, and have been trying to find a place for him for quite some time. Here, he becomes almost essential to speeding up our win conditions, and provides two of his own while having great synergy with our flashback cards.
-Tibalt's First win condition is the burn potential he has. Reforge the Soul + Tibalt's -4 = 7 milled cards and 7 damage. Tibalt's -4 + Jace's ult = 20 damage.
Tibat's Second win condition isn't as likely to win us the game as his -4, but can swing us the last few points for a win in a pinch. His -6 ability, which is Insurrection, can be a win condition in itself.
-Jace, Memory Adept, like Tibalt, is a variable-threat win con card in this deck.
-Jace's First win condition is assisting with the mill. On his first turn, he can effectively act as a 5-mana 10 card mill spell. Since it has a cost of zero, and Jace has a starting loyalty of 4, it's usually safe to say you'll be able to mill a minimum of 20 cards before he goes down.
-Jace's Second win condition is his synergy with Tibalt. Forcing an opponent to draw 20 cards and having Tibalt use his -4 is a game ending 20 points of damage.
Jace's Third win condition is by milling yourself out when a Laboratory Maniac is on the field.
-Burn is one of Izzet's favorite win conditions, and always has been. Thunderous Wrath deals a massive 5 damage for a potential 1 mana, and manages to off-set it's terrible casting cost in-hand by being fantastically synergistic with Mercurial Chemister. 6 damage to a creature for the cost of 1 red mana? That's some solid removal power, if you ask me.
-Accidentally creating a horde of zombies! Let's face it, that's a very Izzet-like way to end your day. A turn four Undead Alchemist followed up by a Psychic Spiral/Increasing Confusion/Jace can potentially equal a TON of zombies. While it may not be our main win-con, it's certainly an additional one! Milling for a dozen cards or so and getting potentially just as many zombies back is a dramatic way to suddenly turn the tide of battle.
Why Mercurial Chemister over Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius? (or any other 5 drop)
Because he does the most for the deck by providing versatility. Niv-Mizzet is a stronger card overall, and demands a bigger response then the chemister, but the chemister gives us a LOT:
-Synergy with the high-costed miracle cards;
---Thunderous Wrath becomes a 6-damage removal spell.
---Reforge the Soul becomes a 5-damage removal spell.
-Synergy with our flashback spells;
---Desperate Ravings and Think Twice basically become two parts of an Izzet Charm, which is why the charms themselves aren't included, at least not as of now.
---We're able to access a double-powered Increasing Confusion much sooner
---Cackling Counterpart, while admittedly better used to create a second Mercurial Chemister could also function as a Lightning Bolt while still being able to be played late game.
-Provides cheap and drawback-free draw power. Which there isn't much of in this deck. While we're designed to not care much about discarding other cards in our frenzy, there are times when more cards in hand is obviously better.
-Cackling Counterpart is here for so, so, SO many reasons. For one, it can be used to replicate any of our creatures for spectacular effect;
---Extra Deranged Assistants become extra mana ramp
---Extra Mercurial Chemisters become extra draw, or extra removal
---Extra Laboratory Maniacs... Well, let's face it, they make sure we don't suddenly lose due to a well-timed removal spell.
---In the post-sideboard burn variant (see below), extra Guttersnipes mean extra damage.
Beyond that, it actually serves as spot removal for the few legendary creatures that see play, some of which can be very difficult to get rid of otherwise;
---Geist of Saint Traft
---Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
---Olivia Voldren
---Griselbrand
---Rakdos, Lord of Riots
---Mikaeus, either rendition
Not to mention, of course, the ones that don't often see play but are still quite difficult to remove;
---Avacyn, Angel of Hope
---Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Of course, several non-legendary creatures you're likely to run into are;
---Thragtusk
---Angel of Serenity
---Armada Wurm
---Craterhoof Behemoth
---Huntsmaster of the Fells
---Thundermaw Hellkite
Guttersnipe/Burn variation transformation
In a very Izzet-like move, this deck has the option to swiftly reconfigure itself after a loss into a totally different deck. With a few simple mainboard swaps, you can effectively trade one of your win conditions for some straight-up burn power. Add these cards in instead of any combination of your other win-con cards (Jace, Laboratory Maniac, 'walkers, etc.) and you've suddenly got powerful burn deck on your hands.
Burning Vengeance;
---Synergy, synergy, synergy! Set up burn on purpose by discarding cards with flashback, or by firing off cards that are already in there.
Guttersnipe;
---Since you'll be launching an absurd amount of spells anyway, why not take more burn? Bonus points for dealing triple damage on a spell by casting it from once, then once again from the graveyard.
There's some serious combination potential in this variant; and a potentially monstrous amount of damage output possible in just one turn. Guttersnipe, Reforge the Soul, and Tibalt can output 9 damage on turn 4-5 (up to 13 if Reforge the Soul is Miracle'd and two 1-drop spells are played. 17 if both those 1-drops are Pillar of Flame!), and any discarded card with flashback add a bonus 4 damage if a Burning vengeance hits next turn, allowing a potential win-by-burn as soon as turn 5-6. Now, all that is assuming you don't manage to miracle a single Thunderous Wrath. If you can, you can easily win on turn 4.
Defensive Mill variation
By swapping out a few cards and inserting Curse of the Bloody Tome, Fogbank and the Witchbane Orb, you can effectively create a thick wall of defense to get you a (relatively) quick mill victory. Fog Bank makes a brilliant blocker, and between Jace, the Bloody Tome and the rest of our card-burning shenanigans (Reforge the Soul, Thought Scour, Increasing Confusion, Psychic Spiral), a mill-out can happen as soon as turn 7-8.
Cards I Considered
-Jace's Phantasm;
---An easy 5/5 flyer for 1 mana? Adding this monster into the deck in place of the Deranged Assistant would take away our only source of ramp and one of our sources of self-mill, but would give us a solid tempo machine, but doesn't offer as much versatility... Tough decision. Not to mention it's functionality is conditional.
-Dream Twist;
---Synergy, mill power, flashback, and the potential to set off the Phantasm early if combined with a Reforge the Soul make this card really, really tempting, but what could come out for it? I feel like this card belongs with the Phantasm; if one is used, they both should be. If one isn't, neither should.
-Undead Alchemist;
---Just like Jace's Phantasm, the Undead Alchemist would help add a serious clock, and another win condition, to our deck, while single-handedly shutting down Reanimator/Frites decks. Not to mention the synergy he can potentially provide with many of our cards, such as Jace, Thought Scour, Increasing Confusion and Psychic Spiral. (Especially Psychic Spiral; with how discard-heavy this deck is, a turn 5 Psychic Spiral or Increasing Confusion after a turn 5 Undead Alchemist can recycle some key cards, while milling for an easy 8 or so cards, and providing potentially just as many zombies.
I'm Neon__Lights, and I'm proud to announce that I've made a return to M:tG!
For those of you who don't know me (a.k.a., all of you :P) I'm a 23 year old combo-lover (Both the snack and the playstyle) who's biggest (Only) achievement in Magic to date is the modest creation of a decktype that eventually became part of the standard at the time, Massacremorph/Lolaphant.
Now, it wasn't a huge tournament winner, but it brought back that old Schapeshift combo feel to M:tG, and that's what I strive to do whenever I sit down and try and invent a deck type. With that in mind, I quit magic about two years ago when my prized, blinged-out Scapeshift deck was stolen from me, and so I've had to start my collection again from scratch with brand new cards that I hadn't even seen before.
But, with a bit of creative thinking, some lucky pulls, and some generous traders, I've managed to come up with this:
ORIGINAL BUILD
Pretty standard blue/white control shenanigans; Lots of leaving play and entering play tricks that can be manipulated with that Fiend Hunter, especially in conjunction with the Angel of Glory's Rise. Add in a Demonmail Hauberk and a Selhoff Occultist, and we've got some infinite mill action!
What can I say? I love my combos. Both the cheddar-pretzel and soul-crushing variety.
The gameplan here is to use the big hammer that is the various blue/white control cards that will be most useful against your meta to slow things down to the speed at which Demon's Mill/Venser's Revenge wants to play: Excruciatingly slow.
My meta is insistingly full of R/x aggro and green ramp, so I've tailored both my mainboard and sideboard to that effect. Obviously I definitely recommend you to do the same (the tailoring, that is) and I'd love to here some feedback on what you think I can do to improve this mother-lover.
Early game, the spells do all the work while I slowly mass up my combo pieces. I drop the Selhoff Occultist early if I can, because even if she dies, the Angel will bring her right back and start up the shenanigans.
The key piece of the endless loop of milling is the demonmail. Without it, we'd have to splash black or even black/red to get a decent sacrifice engine going, and I'm just not a fan of three/four color decks when the lands aren't fully out to support it. Maybe when all of the shocklands are back in cycle I'll experiment with using said lands as my sources of off-color mana, but for now, I'm loving the blue-white version.
Risky as hell, but that's how I roll.
Ideally, you want to two things, and two things only:
Objective A: Cast the Angel of Glory's Rise with your hoomans either dead or on the field, or certain combinations of the two.
Objective B: Keep the Demonmail Hauberk alive.
That's it.
If you can do both of those things, and I've tried to tailor a deck that will let you do that with few problems, you will win the game.
Angel of Glory's Rise comes into play, returns Selhoff Occultist and Fiend Hunter to Play. Fiend Hunter exiles Angel of Glory's Rize, but it sacrificed to the Demonmail Hauberk as a result of attempting to equip the demonmail Hauberk to Selhoff Occultist. Selhoff Occultist sees a death, and mills your opponent. Angel of Glory's Rize returns to play, and brings back the Fiend Hunter, who exiles the Angel of Glory's Rize, get's sacc'd, Selhoff Occultist mills for one, rinse, repeat, win game.
Jace, of course, backs us up as an alternate wincon and extra draw power (Like he always does), helping us by either adding to the mill frenzy or just filling our hand.
Fun sideboard/mainboard options that I recommend include:
-Seraph Sanctuary -> Let's get infinite life while we're at it!
-Doomed Traveler -> Turn one chump blocker becomes infinite tokens and speeds up the mill process by getting sacc'ed to the Demonmail and getting brought back infinitely with infinite tokens!
-Jace's Phantasm -> Not highly recommended, but can work as an alt wincon.
-Any EtB detain cards! And there are tons of them, haha.
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions/Feedback? I could use as much as I can get!
As a former Acolyte of Chronomancy, I'm pleased to reveal my results.
I've made two years pass by, and had it feel like barely a few weeks. Success!
I'll be returning to my regular activities, which include lurking, posting, playing the game, and inventing decks as of now, and I'd like to return to the Izzet if I can!
I don't think Supression is that big of a deal. I mean, first of all, there's all of what... Two champions who can do it?
Second of all, you can QSS out of it (which you should probably build if you see a Malzahar anyways), and third of all, as long as you have a comptent team (or even one competent team mate) who can CC the guy suppressing you, the suppress ends and it's all good.
I think of suppresses as stuns with an easy escape: Your teammates coming to your rescue.
In the title of the thread, it says that Test Subjects explode. I'm a test subject. When do I get to explode and kill something?
Basically whenever we decide you're ready to be polymorphed into a newer form. The experience has a tendency to make test subjects combust into massive fireballs.
Like, in the least.
So, now I'm wondering if the tickets I have are worth anything. Can I trade them? Sell 'em? Anything? I'd like to try and get SOMETHING out of the experience, haha.
"[Izzet] a maze, or is it amazing?"
As I posted above, I still suggest the following as a new thread title:
"[The Izzet] heard you like blocks in your mazes, so we put a maze in your block... Wait, what?"
4x Harvester of Souls
4x Soul of the Harvest
2x Mindclaw Shaman
2x Disciple of Bolas
1x Tyrant of Discord
Heartless: 3
3x Heartless Summoning
Other Spells: 19
4x Farseek
4x Pillar of Flame
3x Caravan Vigil
3x Dreadbore
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Rakdos Return
1x Devil's Play
4x Blood Crypt
4x Forest
3x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Mountain
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Rootbound Crag
1x Swamp
3x Woodland Cemetery
With two Heartless Summonings on the field, Mindclaw shaman becomes a 1-drop stolen spell that also procs both the Soul of the Harvest and the Harvester of Souls on his way out. Draw two cards, steal one and play it for free. Feels pretty Jund-licious to me.
The synergy and card advantage gets pretty silly pretty fast.
Actually, they've already confirmed it's got nothing to do with Bolas. I'm pretty sure it's going to end up that Niv-Mizzet found either;
A) The lost lair of his kind
B) A way to turn the giant city-scape into a roving puzzle
C) A way to use the city and it's energies to give him a planeswalker spark.
And as for the deck changes, I'll definitely give them a try. Thanks!
EDIT: A thread name I suggest is: "The Izzet heard you like blocks in your mazes, so we put a maze in your block... Wait, what?"
2 Laboratory Maniac
2 Mercurial Chemister
1 Undead Alchemist
2 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
2 Jace, Memory Adept
4 Thought Scour
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Reforge the Soul
2 Thunderous Wrath
2 Desperate Ravings
3 Think Twice
2 Increasing Confusion
1 Psychic Spiral
4 Sulphur Falls
2 Ghost Quarter
8 Mountain
8 Island
3 Dissipate
1 Devil's Play
2 Witchbane Orb
2 Fog Bank
2 Izzet Charm
2 Burning Vengeance
3 Guttersnipe
So, whatcha think?
It's a mill deck with a couple of alternate win conditions, and that plays as much like the Izzet as I can imagine; chaotic, unexpectedly and seemingly random.
Truth is, as you can see, the deck is designed to be able to win in one of five ways, and to play in such a way that at any point in time, one of those ways is being worked on. It's Niv-Mizzet's grand scheme all over again!
I'm thinking of calling it Dragon's Mill, as a reference to Dragon's Maze, the new set name.
Anywho, the win conditions are as follows:
-Standard Milling/Deck-outing. Tome Scour, Reforge the Soul, Jace, Increasing Confusion, all very cost effective and powerful ways to quickly mill out an opponent. The synergy between the card with flashback and the discard costs associated with the very Izzet mechanics of draw/discard is amazing, and can really help mitigate Tibat's downside.
-Self Mill/Deck-outing Once again, Tome Scour, Jace, Reforge the Soul, and Increasing Confusion do a lot of work (Not to mention Tibalt, Think Twice, Deranged Assistant). With Laboratory Maniac on the field, self-decking becomes a win condition.
-Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded This guy is a one card show stopper in this deck. I've always loved him for his aggressive and Izzet-like design, and have been trying to find a place for him for quite some time. Here, he becomes almost essential to speeding up our win conditions, and provides two of his own while having great synergy with our flashback cards.
-Tibalt's First win condition is the burn potential he has. Reforge the Soul + Tibalt's -4 = 7 milled cards and 7 damage. Tibalt's -4 + Jace's ult = 20 damage.
Tibat's Second win condition isn't as likely to win us the game as his -4, but can swing us the last few points for a win in a pinch. His -6 ability, which is Insurrection, can be a win condition in itself.
-Jace, Memory Adept, like Tibalt, is a variable-threat win con card in this deck.
-Jace's First win condition is assisting with the mill. On his first turn, he can effectively act as a 5-mana 10 card mill spell. Since it has a cost of zero, and Jace has a starting loyalty of 4, it's usually safe to say you'll be able to mill a minimum of 20 cards before he goes down.
-Jace's Second win condition is his synergy with Tibalt. Forcing an opponent to draw 20 cards and having Tibalt use his -4 is a game ending 20 points of damage.
Jace's Third win condition is by milling yourself out when a Laboratory Maniac is on the field.
-Burn is one of Izzet's favorite win conditions, and always has been. Thunderous Wrath deals a massive 5 damage for a potential 1 mana, and manages to off-set it's terrible casting cost in-hand by being fantastically synergistic with Mercurial Chemister. 6 damage to a creature for the cost of 1 red mana? That's some solid removal power, if you ask me.
-Accidentally creating a horde of zombies! Let's face it, that's a very Izzet-like way to end your day. A turn four Undead Alchemist followed up by a Psychic Spiral/Increasing Confusion/Jace can potentially equal a TON of zombies. While it may not be our main win-con, it's certainly an additional one! Milling for a dozen cards or so and getting potentially just as many zombies back is a dramatic way to suddenly turn the tide of battle.
Why Mercurial Chemister over Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius? (or any other 5 drop)
Because he does the most for the deck by providing versatility. Niv-Mizzet is a stronger card overall, and demands a bigger response then the chemister, but the chemister gives us a LOT:
-Synergy with the high-costed miracle cards;
---Reforge the Soul becomes a 5-damage removal spell.
-Synergy with our flashback spells;
---We're able to access a double-powered Increasing Confusion much sooner
---Cackling Counterpart, while admittedly better used to create a second Mercurial Chemister could also function as a Lightning Bolt while still being able to be played late game.
-Provides cheap and drawback-free draw power. Which there isn't much of in this deck. While we're designed to not care much about discarding other cards in our frenzy, there are times when more cards in hand is obviously better.
Noteworthy Izzet-like reasoning behind card choices
-Cackling Counterpart is here for so, so, SO many reasons. For one, it can be used to replicate any of our creatures for spectacular effect;
---Extra Mercurial Chemisters become extra draw, or extra removal
---Extra Laboratory Maniacs... Well, let's face it, they make sure we don't suddenly lose due to a well-timed removal spell.
---In the post-sideboard burn variant (see below), extra Guttersnipes mean extra damage.
Beyond that, it actually serves as spot removal for the few legendary creatures that see play, some of which can be very difficult to get rid of otherwise;
---Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
---Olivia Voldren
---Griselbrand
---Rakdos, Lord of Riots
---Mikaeus, either rendition
Not to mention, of course, the ones that don't often see play but are still quite difficult to remove;
---Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Of course, several non-legendary creatures you're likely to run into are;
---Angel of Serenity
---Armada Wurm
---Craterhoof Behemoth
---Huntsmaster of the Fells
---Thundermaw Hellkite
Guttersnipe/Burn variation transformation
In a very Izzet-like move, this deck has the option to swiftly reconfigure itself after a loss into a totally different deck. With a few simple mainboard swaps, you can effectively trade one of your win conditions for some straight-up burn power. Add these cards in instead of any combination of your other win-con cards (Jace, Laboratory Maniac, 'walkers, etc.) and you've suddenly got powerful burn deck on your hands.
Burning Vengeance;
Guttersnipe;
There's some serious combination potential in this variant; and a potentially monstrous amount of damage output possible in just one turn. Guttersnipe, Reforge the Soul, and Tibalt can output 9 damage on turn 4-5 (up to 13 if Reforge the Soul is Miracle'd and two 1-drop spells are played. 17 if both those 1-drops are Pillar of Flame!), and any discarded card with flashback add a bonus 4 damage if a Burning vengeance hits next turn, allowing a potential win-by-burn as soon as turn 5-6. Now, all that is assuming you don't manage to miracle a single Thunderous Wrath. If you can, you can easily win on turn 4.
Defensive Mill variation
By swapping out a few cards and inserting Curse of the Bloody Tome, Fogbank and the Witchbane Orb, you can effectively create a thick wall of defense to get you a (relatively) quick mill victory. Fog Bank makes a brilliant blocker, and between Jace, the Bloody Tome and the rest of our card-burning shenanigans (Reforge the Soul, Thought Scour, Increasing Confusion, Psychic Spiral), a mill-out can happen as soon as turn 7-8.
Cards I Considered
-Jace's Phantasm;
-Dream Twist;
-Undead Alchemist;
4 Reckless Waif
1 Rakdos Cackler
1 Slither Head
1 Wingcrafter
2 Kruin Outlaw
2 Hound of Griselbrand
1 Rakdos Ragemutt
1 Soul Seizer
2 Dreadbore
2 Izzet Charm
1 Tricks of the Trade
3 Artful Dodge
1 Teleportal
2 Essence Harvest
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Islands
3 Drowned Catacomb
3 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
1 Stesnia Bloodhall
1 Swamp
2 Tricks of the Trade
2 Rogue's Passage
2 Runechanter's Pike
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Zealous Conscripts
1 Soul Seizer
1 Rakdos's Return
Thoughts?
Double success!
Warning for spamming the forum - BlackVise
Now, before anyone panics, there are no Thragtusks in here, because while I see them as a massive bomb, I want to maintain the combo here.
2 Selesnya Keyrune
1 Angel of Serenity
2 Angel of Glory's Rise
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Selhoff Occultist
2 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Selesnya Charm
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Think Twice
3 Farseek
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Feeling of Dread
2 Righteous Blow
1 Amass the Components
2 Jace, Memory Adept
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Temple Garden
I'm Neon__Lights, and I'm proud to announce that I've made a return to M:tG!
For those of you who don't know me (a.k.a., all of you :P) I'm a 23 year old combo-lover (Both the snack and the playstyle) who's biggest (Only) achievement in Magic to date is the modest creation of a decktype that eventually became part of the standard at the time, Massacremorph/Lolaphant.
Now, it wasn't a huge tournament winner, but it brought back that old Schapeshift combo feel to M:tG, and that's what I strive to do whenever I sit down and try and invent a deck type. With that in mind, I quit magic about two years ago when my prized, blinged-out Scapeshift deck was stolen from me, and so I've had to start my collection again from scratch with brand new cards that I hadn't even seen before.
But, with a bit of creative thinking, some lucky pulls, and some generous traders, I've managed to come up with this:
ORIGINAL BUILD
4 Selhoff Occultist
4 Fiend Hunter
2 Angel of Glory's Rise
Spells: 21
4 Thought Scour
3 Righteous Blow
4 Cyclonic Rift
2 Feeling of Dread
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Assemble the Components
Artifacts: 3
3 Demonmail Hauberk
Planeswalkers: 2
2 Jace, Memory Adept
Lands: 24
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Azorious Guildgate
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Island
4 Plains
CURRENT BUILD
1 Elixir
2 Selesnya Keyrune
1 Angel of Serenity
2 Angel of Glory's Rise
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Selhoff Occultist
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Azorious Charm
2 Selesnya Charm
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Think Twice
3 Farseek
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Feeling of Dread
2 Righteous Blow
1 Amass the Components
3 Demonmail Hauberk
2 Jace, Memory Adept
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Temple Garden
4 Soul Tithe
2 Slayer of the Wicked
2 Sundering Growth
2 Witchbane Orb
3 Negate
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Seraph Sanctuary
Pretty standard blue/white control shenanigans; Lots of leaving play and entering play tricks that can be manipulated with that Fiend Hunter, especially in conjunction with the Angel of Glory's Rise. Add in a Demonmail Hauberk and a Selhoff Occultist, and we've got some infinite mill action!
What can I say? I love my combos. Both the cheddar-pretzel and soul-crushing variety.
The gameplan here is to use the big hammer that is the various blue/white control cards that will be most useful against your meta to slow things down to the speed at which Demon's Mill/Venser's Revenge wants to play: Excruciatingly slow.
My meta is insistingly full of R/x aggro and green ramp, so I've tailored both my mainboard and sideboard to that effect. Obviously I definitely recommend you to do the same (the tailoring, that is) and I'd love to here some feedback on what you think I can do to improve this mother-lover.
Early game, the spells do all the work while I slowly mass up my combo pieces. I drop the Selhoff Occultist early if I can, because even if she dies, the Angel will bring her right back and start up the shenanigans.
The key piece of the endless loop of milling is the demonmail. Without it, we'd have to splash black or even black/red to get a decent sacrifice engine going, and I'm just not a fan of three/four color decks when the lands aren't fully out to support it. Maybe when all of the shocklands are back in cycle I'll experiment with using said lands as my sources of off-color mana, but for now, I'm loving the blue-white version.
Risky as hell, but that's how I roll.
Ideally, you want to two things, and two things only:
Objective A: Cast the Angel of Glory's Rise with your hoomans either dead or on the field, or certain combinations of the two.
Objective B: Keep the Demonmail Hauberk alive.
That's it.
If you can do both of those things, and I've tried to tailor a deck that will let you do that with few problems, you will win the game.
Angel of Glory's Rise comes into play, returns Selhoff Occultist and Fiend Hunter to Play. Fiend Hunter exiles Angel of Glory's Rize, but it sacrificed to the Demonmail Hauberk as a result of attempting to equip the demonmail Hauberk to Selhoff Occultist. Selhoff Occultist sees a death, and mills your opponent. Angel of Glory's Rize returns to play, and brings back the Fiend Hunter, who exiles the Angel of Glory's Rize, get's sacc'd, Selhoff Occultist mills for one, rinse, repeat, win game.
Jace, of course, backs us up as an alternate wincon and extra draw power (Like he always does), helping us by either adding to the mill frenzy or just filling our hand.
Fun sideboard/mainboard options that I recommend include:
-Seraph Sanctuary -> Let's get infinite life while we're at it!
-Doomed Traveler -> Turn one chump blocker becomes infinite tokens and speeds up the mill process by getting sacc'ed to the Demonmail and getting brought back infinitely with infinite tokens!
-Jace's Phantasm -> Not highly recommended, but can work as an alt wincon.
-Any EtB detain cards! And there are tons of them, haha.
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions/Feedback? I could use as much as I can get!
I've made two years pass by, and had it feel like barely a few weeks. Success!
I'll be returning to my regular activities, which include lurking, posting, playing the game, and inventing decks as of now, and I'd like to return to the Izzet if I can!
Second of all, you can QSS out of it (which you should probably build if you see a Malzahar anyways), and third of all, as long as you have a comptent team (or even one competent team mate) who can CC the guy suppressing you, the suppress ends and it's all good.
I think of suppresses as stuns with an easy escape: Your teammates coming to your rescue.
I don't know what it is D:
Basically whenever we decide you're ready to be polymorphed into a newer form. The experience has a tendency to make test subjects combust into massive fireballs.