CatBlade

[phazonmutant]

Meow here with a brand spanking new deck from a standard-banned combo! Ok, to tell the truth, it's a bit of an obvious A+B combo plus generic fair plan C to build your own midrange combo deck. Saheeli and Felidar both draw cards if you build a deck with some come into play value creatures. Stoneforge is an obvious choice because it presents such a different threat to defend against than the Copycat combo. Round it out with Snapcaster and maybe Clique that's a mediocre fair deck plus a mediocre combo deck!

I went 4-0 and 3-1 at a CardKingdom weekly with this list:

// 21 lands
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Karakas
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island

// 11 creatures
4 Felidar Guardian
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Vendilion Clique

// 16 spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Batterskull
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Saheeli Rai

// Sideboard:
2 Back to Basics
1 Council's Judgment
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Flusterstorm
2 Pyroblast
1 Rest in Peace
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Surgical Extraction
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Wear // Tear


Match + post-match interview here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/371578989?t=2h33m

Obvious FAQ time:

• Why is it better than Twin, a tier 3 legacy deck? The mana is better by not needing double red, and your combo pieces can be deployed in any order and draw cards when they come into play (as long as you have another permanent in play).
• Isn't the Stoneforge plan the only good part of this list? Maybe, but threatening to combo (potentially without having to pass the turn if you have 6+ lands in play), plus also having a respectable fair plan makes it quite difficult for opponents to correctly assign role. They have to thread the needle between anwering early threats like Stoneforge, presenting a clock, and leaving disruption for a fairly low-commitment combo.
• Can this deck beat Grixis control? No.