Wizards - From Hipsters of the Coast Podcast

[Anweeble]

I listened to the most recent Hipsters of the Coast podcast https://soundcloud.com/eternaldurdle...a-legacy-picks. In the podcast they discuss the implications of [Naban, Dean of Iteration]. Double clique, double sower, double snap(maybe something from sb), Venser, Reflecting mage.

4 Aether Vial
4 Mox Amber
4 Cursecatcher
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Meddling Mage
3 Reflector Mage
3 Patron Wizard
4 Naban, Dean of Iteration
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Force of Will
2 Vedalken Aethermage
22 Lands

[maharis]

Thanks for listening! (I am Nate from this cast.)

I am excited to work on this, Phil made me a believer. I think you definitely want max Aethermage though, then you can run silver bullets.


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[Eldariel]

I'm actually more inclined towards an Ancient Tomb-accelerated approach; many of the better Wizards (e.g. Glen Elendra Archmage, Sower of Temptation, Venser - which definitely should be at least a 1-of) have a significant colorless cost and being able to accelerate out 4-drops natches well with a Chalice-utilising approach giving this a leg up over its blue brethern in Merfolk. Also, Riptide Laboratory seems all too good not to utilise; which also suggests a minor faerie theme with Spellstutter Sprite, Vendilion Clique, Sower & potentially GEA. A different approach to be sure, but I'm thinking it might be more promising in the format at large.

[Backseat_Critic]

Have you tried the list? I remember him saying he cut the patrons and thalias, and I don't recall any mention of Amber. How is it working for you?

Based off of what he said, I came up with this.

4 vial
4 Force of will
4 brainstorm
4 cursecarcher
4 silvergill adept
4 Naban
4 meddling mage
2 Deputy of aquitals
2 reflector mage
2 vendillion clique
2 venser
2 master of waves
1 vedalken aethermage
1 voimage prodigy

2 karakas
1 riptide lab
4 cavern
4 flooded strand
2 Misty rainforest
4 tundra
2 island
2 plains

[P210]

What about Trinket Mage / Trophy Mage?

[NeckBird]

If this deck is on the 4x Meddling Mage plan, it must be right to play or at least good enough to test 4x Gitaxian Probe. Hell, that even opens this deck up to splashing black for Cabal Therapy in the sideboard as well as Dark Confidant.

[Jesture]

Threw this together a couple of months ago while testing a Wizards tribal shell that could utilize the 5c Humans mana base from Modern. Ultimately moved away from a lot of the clunkier card choices, but I think this is a good starting point for testing a deck that utilizes Naban well.

Creature (26)
4x Meddling Mage
2x Patron Wizard
4x Phantasmal Image
1x Qasali Pridemage
3x Reflector Mage
1x Sower of Temptation
4x Spellstutter Sprite
1x Sylvan Safekeeper
3x Vedalken AEthermage
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Land (22)
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Flooded Strand
6x Island
2x Plains
2x Riptide Laboratory
4x Unclaimed Territory

Instant (4)
4x Force of Will

Sorcery (4)
4x Gitaxian Probe

Artifact (4)
4x Aether Vial

Though there's a lot of merit to a third splash color, I think the best bet for now is to form a core by just shaving anything that's not blue and/or white from the list. Simplifying the mana base also gives us the option to run the blue package of Brainstorms and Fetches along with 4 Force of Wills. So maybe something like this:

Creature (26)
3x Meddling Mage
2x Patron Wizard
3x Phantasmal Image
3x Reflector Mage
1x Sower of Temptation
3x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Vedalken AEthermage
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Master of Waves
4x Naban, Dean of Iteration

Land (22)
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Flooded Strand
6x Island
2x Plains
2x Riptide Laboratory
2x Karakas
2x Tundra

Instant (8)
4x Force of Will
4x Brainstorm

Artifact (4)
4x Aether Vial

Ultimately I left out Phil's idea of incorporating Curse Catchers and Silvergill Adepts, though the latter is undeniably strong with Naban and shores up a lot of the problems that this deck might have with running out of steam. I admittedly haven't looked at Dominaria spoilers very closely, but I do know there are a couple of Merfolk wizards in that set. Maybe some of those could be included to help turn Silvergill Adept on.

Merfolk aside, it seems like we're missing out on a huge power spike at the cost of a negligible amount of consistency by going two colors. Immediately black and red stand out as the two best candidates for a splash, though green also offers some nice incentives.

Green
-Sylvan Safekeeper
-Qasali Pridemage
-Krosan Grip?

Definitely the least exciting of the splash colors, Green offers very little outside of typical green things in the form of Artifact and Enchantment removal. Sylvan Safekeeper is a card that typically wouldn't warrant a slot in a deck like this, but from goldfishing the initial drafts it seems like we're in pretty desperate need of a mid/late game mana sink. Sacrificing lands might be able to help us out here, maybe with some kind of a Land Tax engine if we wanted to get really cute.

Red
-Izzet Staticaster
-Magus of the Moon
-Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast effects
-Sweepers?

Access to red gives us some powerful silver bullets in the form of Magus of the Moon and Izzet Staticaster. As it is, I don't think this deck has a clean answer to True-Name Nemesis outside of a sideboard Magus of the Moat or Council's Judgment. As such, splashing red for a couple of Pyroblast effects might be worth it for us to have a better chance against the fair blue decks of the format.

Black
-Dark Confidant (Probably main deck)
-Cabal Therapy
-Nameless Inversion

Black splash seems pretty great (but at what cost?) in this deck. Dark Confidant fits in with the Wizard theme, and helps to supply us with a steady stream of card advantage that we're so desperately lacking in. Additionally, Cabal Therapy works very well with some of the ETB creatures we have (Spellstutter Sprite, extra Nabans) and might even warrant the re-inclusion of Gitaxian Probe main deck to give our Meddling Mages a little bit of an extra punch. Nameless inversion is admittedly cute, but with the Vedalken Aethermages to help tutor it up, I think a singleton copy in the sideboard might have some merit.

Curious to hear people's thoughts. List has a long way to go, but I'm stoked to see what the final product looks like.

Edited: Tags and Typos

[Shivaess]

I just put something together. You name two cards with meddling mage and naban?


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[Shivaess]

I believe the following is a full list of all wizards with "Enters the battlefield" abilities. However Naban states "If a Wizard entering the battlefield under your control causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time." which immediately makes me wonder, what are the most broken triggered abilities that are triggered by other creatures (or wizards) entering the battlefield?

https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3Aen...er=cmc&as=grid

[structuremole]

I just put something together. You name two cards with meddling mage and naban?


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No, it's not a trigger

[Shivaess]

No, it's not a trigger

Damn. Did the research and because it starts with "As" its a state based effect. Thanks for the heads up.

[streetMage]

Diviner's Wand and Voidmage Prodigy seem plausible..

[Shivaess]

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1074691#paper

Current list. Sideboard is just a list of ideas at this point. Thoughts?

I'm not going the stompy route this time, but will in the future if this doesnt work (or maybe anyway).

[Tristin183]

There is a new wizard from Battlebond:

Spellseeker 2U
1/1
ETB, search library for and instant or sorcery cmc 2 or less and put it into hand..

not super viable, but maybe a shot? This needs more spells and Ancient Tomb or something to be viable. This is a build I am pondering in my head

4 Cavern
4 Tomb
1 Riptide
1 Karakas
5 fetches
2 U. Sea
2 Tundra
3 Island

2 Cursecatcher
4 Aethermage
3 Naban
2 Meddling Mage
2 Snapcaster
2 Sage of Fables
1 Clique
1 Sedrixis Alchemist (maybe Aether Adept?)
1 Master of Waves
1 Glen Elendra
1 Venser

4 Vial

4 FoW
4 Probe
4 StP
2 Therapy

The thought is to maximize Ancient Tomb many wizards only needing one colored source. Tried to play a proactive game with Probe/Therapy/Meddling Mage. Bonus points for landing the Glen Elendra and Sage of Fables interaction.

[Shivaess]

Well if I get a chance I’m going to play this against delver loam and burn this weekend (what I have built at the moment). Would love a hive mind take on the list before I take it to the local Monday.


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[Von]

If you're going monoblue you want Back to Basics

[SirColt]

If you're going monoblue you want Back to Basics

I don't know that monoblue would be as good or viable. That white splash is too good with meddling and reflector. Back to Basics would also hinder Riptide Lab and Karakas shenanigans.

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[Shivaess]

So I ran the list linked above against Grixis Delver a few rounds today and it faired better than expected. True name is a problem though. Considering Meekstone with my trinket mage. Any other blue (extremely light white splash) friendly ideas?

Anyone else tried this yet?


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[compacta_d]

So I ran the list linked above against Grixis Delver a few rounds today and it faired better than expected. True name is a problem though. Considering Meekstone with my trinket mage. Any other blue (extremely light white splash) friendly ideas?

Anyone else tried this yet?


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Meddling Mage?

Holy Light?

[Shivaess]

Meddling Mage?

Holy Light?

Meddling mage is in the deck and idk that holy light buys us much. I’m currently debating between pushing the tinker package more or cutting it. Deck did okay against some random jank tonight, almost took a game off of NicFit although we both made mistakes not understanding the matchup given it was the first time playing it.


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