Heartbeat of Spring

[Anusien]

I've been kind of digging this deck.

4 Heartbeat of Spring
4 Early Harvest
3 Drift of Phantasms

4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Explore

4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Past in Flames
2 Blue Sun's Zenith

4 Remand
1 Wipe Away
1 Gigadrowse

4 Misty Rainforest
11 Forest
8 Island
1 Mountain

Post-board you get Gigadrowse (insane), Firespout and Ancient Grudge as the main tools.

Basically you have two paths to victory: A) cast a giant Blue Sun's Zenith to draw large chunks of your deck, or B) cast Past in Flames and cast Early Harvest like 7-8 times. Gifts can set up either of these plans but it isn't mandatory.

Blue Sun's Zenith is like a weaker Mind's Desire from years past; the neat thing is how much better it makes your accel. If you have a hand of all mana and a single Blue Sun's Zenith, you can usually EOT for like 6 cards and just untap and win.

Your Gifts piles are usually Heartbeat of Spring, Early Harvest, Drift of Phantasms and either Blue Sun's Zenith or Past in Flames. If it's Blue Sun's Zenith, they probably give you a pile with all mana (Heartbeat and Early Harvest) so if you have any other gas you win on the spot.


The worst cards for you to see are probably Blightning and Vendilion Clique. Active Ghost Quarter can make it hard to set up Past in Flames. If they Inquisition/Duress you and then Snapcaster it back, you're in trouble.

[nedleeds]

just cast emrakul?

[Anusien]

Blue Sun's Zenith is about a thousand times better than Emrakul. You can set it up pre-combo, you can put it in a Gifts stack (try putting Emrakul and Past in Flames in a Gifts stack together), and you can get it with Drift of Phantasms.

[nedleeds]

OK, I thought you could counter Blue Suns Zenith.

[damionblackgear]

Would it hurt to run an Emrakul as well? Zenith can be countered, and sometimes, you just want to win and don't have a Zenith or a way to wait for the next turn.

Besides, secondary win-con(s) aren't a bad thing. How're match-ups going?

[Phoenix Ignition]

4 Heartbeat of Spring
4 Early Harvest
3 Drift of Phantasms

4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Explore

4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Past in Flames
2 Blue Sun's Zenith

4 Remand
1 Wipe Away
1 Gigadrowse

4 Misty Rainforest
11 Forest
8 Island
1 Mountain


Can't stand primers without tags, I don't know the unusual modern cards even though I do play modern.

How's the fundamental turn of this deck? Affinity has been hitting my midrange deck for 7-8 on turn 2 with just a single cranial plating and is probably the fastest deck you need to watch out for.

[Anusien]

If you get to the point where you can put a lethal Blue Sun's Zenith on the stack, you can pretty much also Gigadrowse them out and cast it post-combat. Or you can Remand it, cast another Early Harvest and recast it. Or you can just Zenith them out again in response.

[PunkRocker1134]

Not to sound like an ass, but what is the benefit to playing this over U/R Storm? You get remand as disruption, but that seems like it. Is this more resilient or consistent, or both? What are your matchups like? I played Heartbeat in old standard, and would love for it to be viable.

[Anusien]

You lose some speed but gain
A) ability to go off immune to counters (because of Gigadrowse)
B) ability to ignore graveyard hate

Plus the noted disruption.

[igri_is_a_bk]

Do you have enough draw in there? It looks a little bit light in that area, but looks can be deceiving.

The problem I see with Gigadrowse is that you need a large amount of Islands for it to work, but amassing Forests is more important for your combo turn. That's why I used Autumn's Veil fighting blue. It's -1 mana on the combo turn, but means you don't ever need to search out unnecessary Islands.