You must have stopped reading at the comma. Three hate spells were listed. I didn't say I was going to "beat" them, and I sure as heck didn't say this deck was perfect. I suggest you read page 1. Everything you asked is already answered.
Children of Korlis' usage doesn't have to be used with enemy spells -- in fact in most cases it isn't. you pay life through fetches and shock lands, then get refunded that life multiple times via sunrise. Letting it sit on the battlefield too long just makes him a sitting duck and is improper usage of the card.
Stony silence makes just about everything in affinity useless -- including their precious Cranial Plating. At that point they need Signal pests to even matter in combat.
Tron is slowed enough for me to bounce Ghost Quarter all over their stuff until they run out of resources.
Did I mention AoS is maindeck? I mean I shouldn't have to because you really should read page 1's of topics before making awry judgment calls, but there is pre-sb hate here.
You say that I mention no plan of attack. I suggest again to look at page 1. It's an early defense and ramp, followed by persistent, unblockable, and sturdy combat late.
Storm has to deal with Leyline who is protected by Tails.
Twin/Kikki has recursive Kami to deal with. Even if they bolt a kami at my EOT, I can regain priority and cast a Second sunrise to bring him right back. Or get Tails to shield the Kami from bolts.
Wall of Omens provides solid blocking and cycling. If he dies in combat or after *** it's even better, because Sunrise will net an extra draw out of him.
I thought I should report some findings. I know I'm double posting but meh.
Mind Stone is not helpful here. It doesn't interact well with Second Sunrise unless I have 4 lands, (more if i have more mind stones), and wont work with Faith's reward until I get to 5 lands. It may as well be an Everflowing Chalice.
What I noticed that DID work really nicely, however, was Conjurer's Bauble. It recycles my ***'s, Paths and Sunrises (or nothing if I don't want to recycle), then I cash in a fetch to mix the deck (so I'll have a shot at drawing them), then a sunrise to bring them all back -- without skipping a beat in the mana curve. This now makes Second Sunrise generate extra draws each casting, allowing a much-increased tempo.
Affinity's wrecked by Stony Silence, Aura of Silence, and Chalice of the Void.
Aura of silence will make it harder for Hive to get casted. You can also try to Ghost Quarter their lands -- you may get lucky if they don't have enough basic lands to run on.
Stony Silence will wreck their Lotus Blooms and Pentad Prisms. That'll buy you enough time for a bladed offense.
Storm's a challenge. You've got Leyline of Sanctity, but they've got Echoing truth. You can use Tails to shield the Leyline. As for their Warrens offense, a ratchet bomb should take care of them, if not a *** or recurring Kami.
Against RG Tron, Their artifacts are wrecked by --- Stony silence again! they can't Map, Talisman, Sphere, Star, none of it. Ghost quarter's use should be as follows: Stack its LD ability, then respond with Sunrise. You get your Quarter back to bust another land, and they have to replace that tron piece. Simply go after the same tron land (there's only 4) and their mana curve is screwed.
My hand does not empty unless there's a lot of hand disruption going on. Recall Sky Hussar in this deck -- two white guys become an extra draw each turn; basically a free, one-sided Howling Mine. There's also the Fire/ice blade mid-late game for draws. So Martyr remains useful, even when I don't need the lifegain.
Against counterspell-heavy runners, recall that the focal spells here are instant, which allows me to operate in one of two ways against them:
1) Wait for tapout, act as normal
2) Wait for Sunrise + big threat card (A blade, crusader, or Titan for instance), Cast the Sunrise at the end of the opponent's turn. If it gets countered, they'll likely be tapped out by my next turn, allowing me permission to drop the threat card.
As for removal, this is where the beauty of Eight-and-a-Half-Tails truly shines. He does SO MUCH for me. Incoming path? Countered by 2 mana, because path is already white. Other colored removal? By this point either let Emeria recur him next turn or shield it for 3 mana by giving protection and painting the removal spell.
I wish there was a way I could have recorded all my matches somehow. All I have to show for what I've learned is my build, hardened by what I've encountered.
Vs MRC I have multiple lifegain sources and prevention. MRC's demise arises when they have to choose between their continued offense and their control spells. Eventually a *** cleans it up, and An AoS will allow me to resume sunrise shenanigans.
About Sun titan: I don't -need- him in order to win via combat. Sure he's a great attacker, but the whole point of this deck is to not rely too much on one card (this includes the focal point recursion cards). A blade will turn any of my 1/1's into a 5 damage-per-turn sweeper. Offense becomes generic once I have a blade. Anyone can do the job. Though preferably I like to get Crusader bladed.
About Noxious Revival: While I understand your idea of having extra sunrises, I don't have any problems with 8 such cards. I don't need them until t3/4, and by then I almost always have two copies of the card.
About Hand Disruption -- game 1 you may very well get away with plucking cards off my hand. If you smallpox while I have a flagstones out, you accomplish nothing. If you smallpox late, you add fuel to my fire when I answer later that turn with a sunrise.
Games 2/3 you're gonna hit a brick wall against my Leylines. Your only hand disruption will be Liliana, who may very well crash to a Mirran Crusader.
About Horizon Canopy: Anything other than lands with Plains as their subtype (or can fetch a Plains) detract from Emeria's speed-to-7 attempt.
That last line sounds like you're interested in playing me. And it sounds like we have played before -- you said you've seen this deck. I revise almost once an hour though, so you might have seen an old build.
I don't like to call myself MWC, cause that's not really what I do. My strategy is a simultaneous defense + ramp early, then aggression through Blades and Crusaders late.
First let me say that I appreciate the in-depth reply, weltkrieg.
About Blood Moon/ Magus of the Moon: they are difficult for me to deal with MD -- I'd have to hope for AoS to come in and nuke the Blood Moon, but I can path/*** the Magus. That said, sideboard has a few more answers: a ratchet bomb going to 3, and an Auriok Champion because their running red will translate into extra time for me.
Regarding Sun Titan: I've tried various quantities and through experience it kinda sucks to have too many of him in-hand. I only need 1 in play, recurring a Kami if I need him to, elsewise reviving an AoS or Blade that got bombed.
Running Noxious Revival hurts Martyr. While it's effect looks great in the short run, it cuts off my draw flow unless I have a Sky Hussar operating.
Attacking planeswalkers is easy when you have blades. The two I've chosen pair well with Mirran Crusader, and on any other creature the Pro-R is an excellent umbrella. That said I have faced Liliana and while she does get a few cards off of me, that's not that big of a loss, considering that Emeria or Sun titan can get them back later. If it does become a problem, I can rely on Ensnaring bridge to shield me.
Your idea for mind stones is amazing. I definitely have to consider adding those.
I've had lots of testing already and I think my strategy is, in general very solid. It's meant to put the brakes on any offensive front, and strike when they exhaust all their resources. That's why I don't tax in this deck. I want my opponent to lay down everything he's got.
DrWorm:
About entering tournament play -- you're absolutely right. I'd love to enter one but I can't afford to. I don't own any of these cards -- this concept has simply been refined through thousands of matches over 4 years of MWS playing. I'm aware I have no stats to back me up. That's why I'm posting it here. I want other people to try this build and see what they can do with it.
Allow me to defend the points raised herein, because I feel like you both took extremely narrow minded points-of-view without seeing what this deck actually does.
Quote from izzetmage »
This is just a Martyr Proc deck without the Proc, and the 6/6 lifelink flier for W.
First and foremost, I've tried Martyr-Proc. It's slow as molasses and requires 6 mana to work. Not to mention Martyr-Proc has no ramp.
I start nasty (and repetitive) recursion at 3. I do what no other Monowhite deck can -- ramp early and often, WHILE gaining craptons of life.
Quote from izzetmage »
Instead, you have Second Sunrise and Faith's Reward - cards that have narrow windows of timing.
Narrow timing windows? Since when? It's an INSTANT, meaning I can crack this whenever I want -- even on my own turn if I please, just crack it on the instace the enemy is tapped out. Did they board a relic or Jund Charm? In late game cases you can respond with a SECOND Second sunrise/reward. The stack will go down as follows:
1) Get your stuff back
2) Exile the grave(s)
3) Sac whatever you need to sac again
4) Bring it all back again with the original recursion spell.
Did you even think about what you meant when you said "narrow windows of timing"? It happens to be rather castable at any point in time, even if you have 0 creatures in play and just want to ramp.
Plus inefficient finishers - Felidar Sovereign is cool and all, but it's 6 freaking mana and you have to wait until your next upkeep, before which your opponent can burn you under 40 or kill Sovereign.
Yes, Felidar Sovereign is 6 mana and does require a wait, but by the time you cast him neither of those things are a problem. Late game I usually have around 250-260 life, am able to stop combat with a kami, and can shield the Felidar via Tails. You don't just drop Felidar the moment you can -- you wait until you can bring him in with his bodyguard.
Do also note that Felidar is not the primary win con, combat is. Felidar is to get me out of situations such as impenetrable combat scenarios or vs lifegain.
Quote from rickster »
Your deck is like a bad mix of soul sisters and eggs.
Soul Sisters requires you to stay above 30 life. This doesn't. Eggs is gimmicky and fails to counterspells. This doesn't fail to counterspells because I can operate during my opponent's turn. If they counter an SS or FR, I simply play the Mirran crusader/Tails I'm holding the next turn while they're tapped out. (or just drop a fetch next turn, sunrise and ramp.)
Quote from rickster »
It doesn't combo/win as fast as second sunrise
I'm not trying to combo win. The idea is to ramp while defending.
Quote from rickster »
and the creature base is not as resilient as soul sisters
My creature base is superior to the sisters, because anyone can become the main offender thanks to the blades. I also do not require my life to go above 30 to start attacking. So that makes be less gimmicky and more versatile than Soul Sisters, yet I'm "less resilient?" Hmm.
Quote from rickster »
Also Aura of Silence is a sideboard card, and a bad one at that.
Take another look at the running theme here -- recursion.
After the opponent brings an artifact/enchant in that I don't like, I can sac the Aura, but before its ability resolves cast Second Sunrise. This way I have the aura ready to bust another enchant/artifact (also make them cost more) and they lose theirs because the Silence's ability is stacked under Sunrise.
Allow me first to give you some of my backstory before progressing into what I believe is my strongest combo to date.
I'm from The Sonic Center, and I started playing MtG in 2008, when a few of its other members introduced me to the game via MWS. I instantly fell in love with the monowhite concept builds, and had played them as a beginner in the Extended format then (which of course is basically the same thing as Modern today, before the epic rotation). As my skills improved, thanks to help from SadisticMystic, I moved on to Type 2 gameplay whilst maintaining the same concept.
When I learned about Modern format, I found the urge to meld all the great interactions from each Type 2 season into a major combo which managed recursion, lifegain, and a strong offensive front simultaneously. It's taken me 2 years worth of hard losses, amazingly tall spell stacks (especially for this stereotyped-slow color), and epiphany-generating wins to perfect my recipe. I hope you'll enjoy this deck as much as I do, because I think it flies in the face of mainstream Magic logic, shuts down a lot of Tier 1 offenders, and provides a wide variety of options while holding it all into 1 color.
Here's my pride and joy of 4 years of Monowhite experience: The Stronghold of Annoyance!
The first thing most of you will notice is that this deck has a basis of 70 cards. Before you spout the lectures about running >60 cards is retarded, it should be noted the mass of lands in this deck make their way into the battlefield FAST.
The idea early game is to use the Flagstones, Quarters, or basic Plains first, cast 1-drops (except martyr unless you have the spare mana for saccing), then follow up with the fetches that can't tap for mana until you fetch.
The first wave of shockers happens on the opponent's 3rd/4th turn. You throw all your fetches, sac your kami/martyr/children or block to make sure Wall of Omens dies, then top it all off with a Second Sunrise or Faith's Reward, resulting in a full refund of everything you used in that flurry of defensive maneuvers. All the while, you're progressing toward the magic Emeria 7. Don't crack the fetches when they come back. Instead, save them for the next Sunrise.
If you have two white dudes in play at once, they become draw engines via Sky Hussar, or if you have mana to start offending, drop a Blade and start swinging to deal damage and draw too. Just remember that if you think there's incoming removal, you better make sure the blade can protect your creature, elsewise keep 3-4 untapped for an emergency Sunrise.
Each time you Sunrise your mana curve swings up by more and more. This is our star's time to shine.
Tails will fend off removal spells if you're out of sunrises, and can even be used with the War/Peace blade (or alone) to make your heavy hitter unblockable. Keep shielding and swinging, and you'll have victory in your grasp before you realize you have more cards than you need to protect yourself with!
*** and Path are your standard emergency nuke spells. If for some reason your enemy's got threats you just can't let sit there, throw these spells down. A late game *** can be followed up with a Faith's reward so it won't sting you as much.
The Sideboard deals with specific but common threats to your existence. Ratchet Bombs are recurrable board wipers: sac the bomb, and respond with a Sunrise. You'll get the bomb back, they lose their stuff, and you get to charge it up a little -- all before your turn begins.
Chalice of the Void -- At X=0 it stops fast dropping Artifacts. At X=1 it stops RDW decks in their tracks, and slows Infect decks. Not to mention a lot of overly used junk in this format costs 1.
Stony Silence -- If the enemy's artifact-heavy, put down your blades and bring these in. RG Eldrazi and Mono artifact decks come to a screeching halt when they see this card. Even with anti-enchant spells, you can Sunrise the Silence back.
Auriok Champion -- Turn an incoming UR Exarch/Twin into nothing. You'll gain as much life as you lose. This will NOT work if they're running Pestermite, Restoration Angel, unless you can cash in the lifegain and sac a Kami.
Ensnaring Bridge -- Against Golgari/Jund you might be losing your hand pretty fast. This will buy you the time you need to draw more cards. Try to get Tails to protect this permanent at all costs.
Worship -- If the fighting gets really bad and they're somehow running stuff like Leyline of Punishment or Rain of Gore, this card is your panic room. BR has 0 antienchant spells, so just ride on this until you can win via combat.
Leyline of Sanctity -- SO MUCH STUFF TARGETS PLAYERS. This will render useless lots of hateful spells (and some abilities).
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre Singleton Anti-Mill answer, but still usable if you think you can ramp hard enough. If you took something out because you didn't need it, but have nothing to bring in, take this guy with you.
----------------------
This deck has had lots and lots of practice and I feel like it's pretty sturdy. Opinions and questions are of course welcome.
Wait a second. Just because something gets spliced onto a spell doesn't mean that those characteristics get copied. Note that the Splice rule says:
"Text copied onto the spell that refers to a card by name refers to the spell on the stack, not the card from which the text was copied."
This means that a splicing adds text to a spell. But, this is in direct contradiction with 706.2!
706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object's characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The "copiable values" are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, expansion symbol, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by "as . . . enters the battlefield" and "as . . . is turned face up" abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.
Since Text modifications are not a copiable characteristic, the copy does not gain the spliced effects of the original spell.
Children of Korlis' usage doesn't have to be used with enemy spells -- in fact in most cases it isn't. you pay life through fetches and shock lands, then get refunded that life multiple times via sunrise. Letting it sit on the battlefield too long just makes him a sitting duck and is improper usage of the card.
Stony silence makes just about everything in affinity useless -- including their precious Cranial Plating. At that point they need Signal pests to even matter in combat.
Tron is slowed enough for me to bounce Ghost Quarter all over their stuff until they run out of resources.
Did I mention AoS is maindeck? I mean I shouldn't have to because you really should read page 1's of topics before making awry judgment calls, but there is pre-sb hate here.
You say that I mention no plan of attack. I suggest again to look at page 1. It's an early defense and ramp, followed by persistent, unblockable, and sturdy combat late.
Storm has to deal with Leyline who is protected by Tails.
Twin/Kikki has recursive Kami to deal with. Even if they bolt a kami at my EOT, I can regain priority and cast a Second sunrise to bring him right back. Or get Tails to shield the Kami from bolts.
Wall of Omens provides solid blocking and cycling. If he dies in combat or after *** it's even better, because Sunrise will net an extra draw out of him.
Mind Stone is not helpful here. It doesn't interact well with Second Sunrise unless I have 4 lands, (more if i have more mind stones), and wont work with Faith's reward until I get to 5 lands. It may as well be an Everflowing Chalice.
What I noticed that DID work really nicely, however, was Conjurer's Bauble. It recycles my ***'s, Paths and Sunrises (or nothing if I don't want to recycle), then I cash in a fetch to mix the deck (so I'll have a shot at drawing them), then a sunrise to bring them all back -- without skipping a beat in the mana curve. This now makes Second Sunrise generate extra draws each casting, allowing a much-increased tempo.
Aura of silence will make it harder for Hive to get casted. You can also try to Ghost Quarter their lands -- you may get lucky if they don't have enough basic lands to run on.
Stony Silence will wreck their Lotus Blooms and Pentad Prisms. That'll buy you enough time for a bladed offense.
Storm's a challenge. You've got Leyline of Sanctity, but they've got Echoing truth. You can use Tails to shield the Leyline. As for their Warrens offense, a ratchet bomb should take care of them, if not a *** or recurring Kami.
Against RG Tron, Their artifacts are wrecked by --- Stony silence again! they can't Map, Talisman, Sphere, Star, none of it. Ghost quarter's use should be as follows: Stack its LD ability, then respond with Sunrise. You get your Quarter back to bust another land, and they have to replace that tron piece. Simply go after the same tron land (there's only 4) and their mana curve is screwed.
Against counterspell-heavy runners, recall that the focal spells here are instant, which allows me to operate in one of two ways against them:
1) Wait for tapout, act as normal
2) Wait for Sunrise + big threat card (A blade, crusader, or Titan for instance), Cast the Sunrise at the end of the opponent's turn. If it gets countered, they'll likely be tapped out by my next turn, allowing me permission to drop the threat card.
As for removal, this is where the beauty of Eight-and-a-Half-Tails truly shines. He does SO MUCH for me. Incoming path? Countered by 2 mana, because path is already white. Other colored removal? By this point either let Emeria recur him next turn or shield it for 3 mana by giving protection and painting the removal spell.
I wish there was a way I could have recorded all my matches somehow. All I have to show for what I've learned is my build, hardened by what I've encountered.
About Sun titan: I don't -need- him in order to win via combat. Sure he's a great attacker, but the whole point of this deck is to not rely too much on one card (this includes the focal point recursion cards). A blade will turn any of my 1/1's into a 5 damage-per-turn sweeper. Offense becomes generic once I have a blade. Anyone can do the job. Though preferably I like to get Crusader bladed.
About Noxious Revival: While I understand your idea of having extra sunrises, I don't have any problems with 8 such cards. I don't need them until t3/4, and by then I almost always have two copies of the card.
About Hand Disruption -- game 1 you may very well get away with plucking cards off my hand. If you smallpox while I have a flagstones out, you accomplish nothing. If you smallpox late, you add fuel to my fire when I answer later that turn with a sunrise.
Games 2/3 you're gonna hit a brick wall against my Leylines. Your only hand disruption will be Liliana, who may very well crash to a Mirran Crusader.
About Horizon Canopy: Anything other than lands with Plains as their subtype (or can fetch a Plains) detract from Emeria's speed-to-7 attempt.
That last line sounds like you're interested in playing me. And it sounds like we have played before -- you said you've seen this deck. I revise almost once an hour though, so you might have seen an old build.
I don't like to call myself MWC, cause that's not really what I do. My strategy is a simultaneous defense + ramp early, then aggression through Blades and Crusaders late.
About Blood Moon/ Magus of the Moon: they are difficult for me to deal with MD -- I'd have to hope for AoS to come in and nuke the Blood Moon, but I can path/*** the Magus. That said, sideboard has a few more answers: a ratchet bomb going to 3, and an Auriok Champion because their running red will translate into extra time for me.
Regarding Sun Titan: I've tried various quantities and through experience it kinda sucks to have too many of him in-hand. I only need 1 in play, recurring a Kami if I need him to, elsewise reviving an AoS or Blade that got bombed.
Running Noxious Revival hurts Martyr. While it's effect looks great in the short run, it cuts off my draw flow unless I have a Sky Hussar operating.
Attacking planeswalkers is easy when you have blades. The two I've chosen pair well with Mirran Crusader, and on any other creature the Pro-R is an excellent umbrella. That said I have faced Liliana and while she does get a few cards off of me, that's not that big of a loss, considering that Emeria or Sun titan can get them back later. If it does become a problem, I can rely on Ensnaring bridge to shield me.
Your idea for mind stones is amazing. I definitely have to consider adding those.
I've had lots of testing already and I think my strategy is, in general very solid. It's meant to put the brakes on any offensive front, and strike when they exhaust all their resources. That's why I don't tax in this deck. I want my opponent to lay down everything he's got.
DrWorm:
About entering tournament play -- you're absolutely right. I'd love to enter one but I can't afford to. I don't own any of these cards -- this concept has simply been refined through thousands of matches over 4 years of MWS playing. I'm aware I have no stats to back me up. That's why I'm posting it here. I want other people to try this build and see what they can do with it.
First and foremost, I've tried Martyr-Proc. It's slow as molasses and requires 6 mana to work. Not to mention Martyr-Proc has no ramp.
I start nasty (and repetitive) recursion at 3. I do what no other Monowhite deck can -- ramp early and often, WHILE gaining craptons of life.
Narrow timing windows? Since when? It's an INSTANT, meaning I can crack this whenever I want -- even on my own turn if I please, just crack it on the instace the enemy is tapped out. Did they board a relic or Jund Charm? In late game cases you can respond with a SECOND Second sunrise/reward. The stack will go down as follows:
1) Get your stuff back
2) Exile the grave(s)
3) Sac whatever you need to sac again
4) Bring it all back again with the original recursion spell.
Did you even think about what you meant when you said "narrow windows of timing"? It happens to be rather castable at any point in time, even if you have 0 creatures in play and just want to ramp.
Yes, Felidar Sovereign is 6 mana and does require a wait, but by the time you cast him neither of those things are a problem. Late game I usually have around 250-260 life, am able to stop combat with a kami, and can shield the Felidar via Tails. You don't just drop Felidar the moment you can -- you wait until you can bring him in with his bodyguard.
Do also note that Felidar is not the primary win con, combat is. Felidar is to get me out of situations such as impenetrable combat scenarios or vs lifegain.
Soul Sisters requires you to stay above 30 life. This doesn't. Eggs is gimmicky and fails to counterspells. This doesn't fail to counterspells because I can operate during my opponent's turn. If they counter an SS or FR, I simply play the Mirran crusader/Tails I'm holding the next turn while they're tapped out. (or just drop a fetch next turn, sunrise and ramp.)
I'm not trying to combo win. The idea is to ramp while defending.
My creature base is superior to the sisters, because anyone can become the main offender thanks to the blades. I also do not require my life to go above 30 to start attacking. So that makes be less gimmicky and more versatile than Soul Sisters, yet I'm "less resilient?" Hmm.
Take another look at the running theme here -- recursion.
After the opponent brings an artifact/enchant in that I don't like, I can sac the Aura, but before its ability resolves cast Second Sunrise. This way I have the aura ready to bust another enchant/artifact (also make them cost more) and they lose theirs because the Silence's ability is stacked under Sunrise.
Definitely not a bad card in this scenario.
This concept is OK but fails at stack-level. 1 Path to Exile ends your fun. Consider more than a Canopy Cover.
I'm from The Sonic Center, and I started playing MtG in 2008, when a few of its other members introduced me to the game via MWS. I instantly fell in love with the monowhite concept builds, and had played them as a beginner in the Extended format then (which of course is basically the same thing as Modern today, before the epic rotation). As my skills improved, thanks to help from SadisticMystic, I moved on to Type 2 gameplay whilst maintaining the same concept.
When I learned about Modern format, I found the urge to meld all the great interactions from each Type 2 season into a major combo which managed recursion, lifegain, and a strong offensive front simultaneously. It's taken me 2 years worth of hard losses, amazingly tall spell stacks (especially for this stereotyped-slow color), and epiphany-generating wins to perfect my recipe. I hope you'll enjoy this deck as much as I do, because I think it flies in the face of mainstream Magic logic, shuts down a lot of Tier 1 offenders, and provides a wide variety of options while holding it all into 1 color.
Here's my pride and joy of 4 years of Monowhite experience: The Stronghold of Annoyance!
13 Plains
3 Arid Mesa
3 Marsh Flats
2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
Creatures (22)
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Kami of False Hope
3 Children of Korlis
2 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
2 Wall of Omens
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Sky Hussar
2 Sun Titan
1 Felidar Sovereign
4 Second Sunrise
4 Faith's Reward
3 Path to Exile
Artifacts (4)
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Sword of War and Peace
Sorceries (3)
3 Wrath of God
Enchantments (2)
2 Aura of Silence
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Stony Silence
2 Auriok Champion
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Worship
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
The first thing most of you will notice is that this deck has a basis of 70 cards. Before you spout the lectures about running >60 cards is retarded, it should be noted the mass of lands in this deck make their way into the battlefield FAST.
The idea early game is to use the Flagstones, Quarters, or basic Plains first, cast 1-drops (except martyr unless you have the spare mana for saccing), then follow up with the fetches that can't tap for mana until you fetch.
The first wave of shockers happens on the opponent's 3rd/4th turn. You throw all your fetches, sac your kami/martyr/children or block to make sure Wall of Omens dies, then top it all off with a Second Sunrise or Faith's Reward, resulting in a full refund of everything you used in that flurry of defensive maneuvers. All the while, you're progressing toward the magic Emeria 7. Don't crack the fetches when they come back. Instead, save them for the next Sunrise.
If you have two white dudes in play at once, they become draw engines via Sky Hussar, or if you have mana to start offending, drop a Blade and start swinging to deal damage and draw too. Just remember that if you think there's incoming removal, you better make sure the blade can protect your creature, elsewise keep 3-4 untapped for an emergency Sunrise.
Each time you Sunrise your mana curve swings up by more and more. This is our star's time to shine.
Tails will fend off removal spells if you're out of sunrises, and can even be used with the War/Peace blade (or alone) to make your heavy hitter unblockable. Keep shielding and swinging, and you'll have victory in your grasp before you realize you have more cards than you need to protect yourself with!
*** and Path are your standard emergency nuke spells. If for some reason your enemy's got threats you just can't let sit there, throw these spells down. A late game *** can be followed up with a Faith's reward so it won't sting you as much.
The Sideboard deals with specific but common threats to your existence. Ratchet Bombs are recurrable board wipers: sac the bomb, and respond with a Sunrise. You'll get the bomb back, they lose their stuff, and you get to charge it up a little -- all before your turn begins.
Chalice of the Void -- At X=0 it stops fast dropping Artifacts. At X=1 it stops RDW decks in their tracks, and slows Infect decks. Not to mention a lot of overly used junk in this format costs 1.
Stony Silence -- If the enemy's artifact-heavy, put down your blades and bring these in. RG Eldrazi and Mono artifact decks come to a screeching halt when they see this card. Even with anti-enchant spells, you can Sunrise the Silence back.
Auriok Champion -- Turn an incoming UR Exarch/Twin into nothing. You'll gain as much life as you lose. This will NOT work if they're running Pestermite, Restoration Angel, unless you can cash in the lifegain and sac a Kami.
Ensnaring Bridge -- Against Golgari/Jund you might be losing your hand pretty fast. This will buy you the time you need to draw more cards. Try to get Tails to protect this permanent at all costs.
Worship -- If the fighting gets really bad and they're somehow running stuff like Leyline of Punishment or Rain of Gore, this card is your panic room. BR has 0 antienchant spells, so just ride on this until you can win via combat.
Leyline of Sanctity -- SO MUCH STUFF TARGETS PLAYERS. This will render useless lots of hateful spells (and some abilities).
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre Singleton Anti-Mill answer, but still usable if you think you can ramp hard enough. If you took something out because you didn't need it, but have nothing to bring in, take this guy with you.
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This deck has had lots and lots of practice and I feel like it's pretty sturdy. Opinions and questions are of course welcome.
"Text copied onto the spell that refers to a card by name refers to the spell on the stack, not the card from which the text was copied."
This means that a splicing adds text to a spell. But, this is in direct contradiction with 706.2!
706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object's characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The "copiable values" are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, expansion symbol, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by "as . . . enters the battlefield" and "as . . . is turned face up" abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.
Since Text modifications are not a copiable characteristic, the copy does not gain the spliced effects of the original spell.
It seems to redirect to a 1x1px GIF file. Not sure what happened there. They probably need to re-upload.