Seeing Double, Legacy Edition

[MTG-Fan]

So this is a neat little deck I've been playing in both Standard and Extended ever since Shards of Alara was released, and with it, Rafiq of the Many and Elspeth, two of the nastiest aggro-enabling cards to ever see print.

Basically this deck is kind of an aggro/combo hybrid deck revolving around Cephalid Constable and Cold-Eyed Selkie, two creatures with very powerful "whenever X deals combat damage to a player" abilities. Until the printing of Shards, the only way to really exploit these guys was to use stuff like Giant Growth effects, which were suboptimal one-shot effects that opened you up to devastating 2-for-1s. With Rafiq and Elspeth, however, you can have a Constable or a Selkie in play on turn 2 (Chrome Mox and Noble Heirarch provide acceleration), then immediately follow up with a Rafiq or an Elspeth to pump your dude and generate RIDICULOUS card advantage, either in the form of permanent bouncing or card drawing. And then you can do it all over again the next turn, effectively locking your opponent out of the game.

Naturally, any rogue Extended/Standard decks with which I have some success I try to port to Legacy to make use of the more diverse card pool. Legacy allows you to run Daze and Force of Will, two of the most amazing counterspells ever printed, which happen to be perfect fits for this deck where you will be tapped out early and often. Legacy also brings the smooth, consistent fetchland/dual manabase which lets you play Rafiq as consistently as possible on turns 3-4. Meddling Mage is also essential to this deck because a.) it provides a secondary beater if your other guys fail and b.) you need to stop Lightning Bolt and Swords to Plowshares at all costs, as they are the two most widely played foils to any kind of creature-based strategy. Selkie is also especially amazing in Legacy because virtually everyone runs Islands proper (as opposed to the multicolored nonbasics seen in Standard which lack the Island subtype), thus, in many matchups the Selkie reads "Unblockable".

Decklist:


Simple, Effective Tri-color Manabase:
4 x Flooded Strand
4 x Windswept Heath
1 x Island
1 x Forest
1 x Plains
4 x Tundra
4 x Tropical Island

Mana Accel:
4 x Noble Heirarch
3 x Chrome Mox

The "Combo":
4 x Meddling Mage (i'm debating whether to have him MD or in the SB)
4 x Cephalid Constable
4 x Cold-Eyed Selkie
4 x Rafiq of the Many
3 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

The Usual Suspects:
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Daze
4 x Force of Will
3 x Ponder

SB (tentative):
4 x Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 x Ethersworn Canonist
4 x Qasali Pridemage (possibly moved to main, depending on meta)
3 x Blue Elemental Blast (Goblins and Burn are bad matchups)


Q: Why run these guys over the standard Goyf/Confidant/Etc, or even something like Doran, Wooly Thoctar, Rhox War Monk?

A: I've found that while Goyf and company are very good, you can still lose (amazingly enough) if a Goyf hits your opponent. If a Constable or a Selkie hits your opponent with Exalted/Elspeth backup (or even just Constable turn 2 with Heirarch Exalted), your opponent is completely out of the game, period. It's alot more of a combo deck than anything else, but it has the benefit of being able to play the Threshold disruption suite.

Q: Lightning Bolt, Mogg Fanatic, Swords to Plowshares, Snuff Out, etc?

A: Yeah, that's bad, but that's why you have Daze/FoW/Mage. And I've playtested this often enough to know that even when your Constable/Selkie are killed, there are other paths to victory, and you can still Brainstorm/Ponder into something nice. Obviously if your opponent is packing 4xLightning Bolt+4xStP+4xMoggFanatic.dec you won't be able to pull off the combo win, but there are BEBs in the sideboard, and sometimes you can win in other ways.

Q: Shouldn't this be in the "Casual" section?

Maybe, but I personally have won alot of matches with this, and I think it has some competitive potential. It's a lot of fun, too. And I'm posting it here because I want some feedback, and maybe somebody here will post some nice tips on making this even better. So... pointers? Comments?

[Ectoplasm]

Looks pretty fun :D The only thing I'm worried about though, how are you going to get past blockers? Elspeth's flying will help obviously but she won't be in play every time.

[Nessaja]

I'd drop the Meddling Mages, Chrome Moxes I'd also drop some Rafiq's. In return I'd add a variety of Quasali Pridemages (so you have a mainboard enchantment answer and an extra source of exalted) Tarmogoyf's (just because they don't instawin doesn't make it less sensible to play them) and some lands for the chrome mox loss.

Reasoning, MM is far too situational and can really often be just a dead card, Rafiq is legendary and you do not want virtual card disadvantage. You really don't want to be playing chrome mox I don't think, the card disadvantage doesn't seem like a good idea with FoW as well.

[scrumdogg]

Cute deck but if I'm running low total creatures (and they aren't so impressive without a pair of 4cc enablers and die to every removal spell played in the format...), no creature kill, no bounce, only 8 counters (4 of them conditional...)...oh wait, I'm not going to do that in a competitive environment... Still, looks like a lot of fun playing with the other kids in the lunchroom, good luck with that. By the way, you run white, BEBs should be Absolute Law & you could switch the other 3 for Burrenton Forge Tenders...or SB the Meddling Mages and run an actual creature in their slot, like, oh say...Goyf? Or Rhox War Monk? You know, creatures that are good without the enablers or also stupid good with them....

EDIT: I believe that Chrome Mox is one the positives for this pile. Given the number of gold cards in the deck it's like playing an extra dual (or better) by RFGing a card. Given his business curve starts at 3cc, I surprised there aren't 4 Chrome Mox...

[MTG-Fan]

Looks pretty fun :D The only thing I'm worried about though, how are you going to get past blockers? Elspeth's flying will help obviously but she won't be in play every time.


Selkie has islandwalk, and you almost always either get Elspeth or Rafiq. Rafiq makes them +1/+1 double strike, which is pretty hard to deal with on turns 3-4, and Elspeth obviously makes them fliers.

You typically want to counter stuff that prevents them from hitting, obviously, like an early Tombstalker.


Cute deck but if I'm running low total creatures (and they aren't so impressive without a pair of 4cc enablers and die to every removal spell played in the format...), no creature kill, no bounce, only 8 counters (4 of them conditional...)...oh wait, I'm not going to do that in a competitive environment...

You don't need creature kill or bounce if you can hit your opponent with Selkie/Constable. All you need to do is ensure you can get through.

Daze is amazing and hardly conditional because it shines brightest early game, which is where this deck wants to be. FoW is the best counter ever printed, no question. And those 8 coutners make up the exact same counter suite most Threshold decks use, so I don't know what's so bad about using them.

Honestly, I know it looks like a pile, with a bunch of suboptimal creatures, but you'd be amazed how often this can just win. Basically speaking, if they DON'T remove these guys ASAP, they lose on the spot. That's pretty powerful.

[coraz86]

This deck interests me, and I'd like to see a more full-fledged primer sometime. I do have one question; have you had issues with Chrome Mox, having to imprint business on it? This deck seems pretty tight (as opposed to Zoo decks, which want the speed boost and don't have any singular piece they live and die by); I'd have a hard time selecting something to imprint, and I have to imagine that losing that card (whichever you pick) has a big impact in this deck.

[MTG-Fan]

This deck interests me, and I'd like to see a more full-fledged primer sometime. I do have one question; have you had issues with Chrome Mox, having to imprint business on it? This deck seems pretty tight (as opposed to Zoo decks, which want the speed boost and don't have any singular piece they live and die by); I'd have a hard time selecting something to imprint, and I have to imagine that losing that card (whichever you pick) has a big impact in this deck.

Well, often times you will have multiples of Rafiq/Selkie/whatever in your opening hand, and a turn 1 Chrome Mox means you can play your other Selkie/Constable on turn 2, which is very hard to deal with for some decks.

Yes, Mox might be better off cut from the deck because I already have 4 heirarch in there, that is definitely possible. But acceleration is great for this deck, because it has its most broken explosive starts this way.

[Darkenslight]

I'm curious as to whether Finest Hour belongs in this deck; after all, drawing 10-15 (!) cards in a turn is some good. Imagine this Scenario:

T1: Mox/Hierarch
T2: Selkie
T3: Rafiq, swing for 6
T4: Finest Hour, swing for 8, then death.

[bowvamp]

Well, I could imagine running a variety of 1-ofs solely to kill faster with selkie...
But just how often will finest hour be a win-more, also don't forget it will bog down your starting hand...

[MTG-Fan]

Yeah, Finest Hour is kind of win-more.

Hitting for 4 damage and drawing 4 cards or bouncing 4 permanents on turn 3 is brutal enough.

[sorrel]

Would Dueling Grounds be good in this deck? It is obviously good with the exalted creatures, but it would mean your opponent would have blockers more often as they wouldn't be able to attack with all their creatures.

[Maveric78f]

I think that vial is better than chrome mox in this deck. I also think that qasali is a no brainer, better than meddling mage and finally, I think that Cephallid Constable shoudl be replaced by tarmogoyfs, in order to kill instead of bouncing...

Elspeth may be too difficult to play (or force you to play a too difficult mana base), so that I would cut it for jittes or SoFIs.

[Nightmare]

Minor point - Your manabase should be:

4 x Flooded Strand
4 x Windswept Heath
1 x Island
1 x Forest
1 x Plains
4 x Tundra
4 x Tropical Island

If you run Delta, you lose the ability to fetch for Forest with any fetchland, or Plains with half your fetches. If you run Heath, you can still grab those, at the cost of fetching Island with half. It's worth it to have access to all the basics, since you can still fetch either dual with Heath.

[ebbitten]

You seem to be very afraid of spot removal so why not run Kira, Great glass spinner, that will make it at least a little harder for them to pick off your guys. Also I would seriously consider having Tarmo somewhere in your 75 to shore up the aggro matchup.

[Adan]

Reminds me of these Selkie Slam Decks from Vintage.

Looks like a lot of fun, but I'D cut down the amount of Rafiq and Elspeths as they are legendary and therefore suck in multiples. Okay, they could be Chrome Mox fodder then, but I'd still run more Exalted Guys (i.e. Qasali Pridemage) to boost the Selkies and Cephalids even more.

[Barook]

I agree that the number of Elspeths and Rafiqs should be cut down. I'd love to see some Pridemages in there - they fit perfectly into the theme and give you a way to deal with enchantments and artifacts, something you currently lack.

@Ebbitten: Kira has anti-synergy with Elspeth.

[Anusien]

Tarmogoyf, Vendilion Clique please.

Seriously, if you're crashing in with a Rafiq'ed creature, you shouldn't need anything extra. I'd seriously consider replacing Cold-Eyed Selkies and Cephalid Constables with guys like Nimble Mongoose or something (in addition to the additions above).

Also, needs more Counterbalance, Sensei's Divining Top, and Sower of Temptation.

[Darkenslight]

Seriously, if you're crashing in with a Rafiq'ed creature, you shouldn't need anything extra. I'd seriously consider replacing Cold-Eyed Selkies and Cephalid Constables with guys like Nimble Mongoose or something

Constable seems like danger of cool things, but Selkie gets past most decks not named Gobbos and Stompy. Selkie has Islandwalk.

[GGoober]

I've always wanted to play a deck with card draws. Selkie is a good card to break since if she chains, you're probably winning if you can draw 2-4 cards off her in a turn.

In such a build, I'd recommend a UGw shell, with StP as removal and SB against combo etc. Burrenton Forge Tender in the SB can also help to protect Selkie against Zoo/Burn and could give an answer to Ichorid/Dredge. UGw offers MD Qasali Pridemage and Noble Hierarch, bumbing an early turn 2 Selkie and drawing huge cards off Exalted trigger. Even cuter danger-of-cool things is to run Lorescale in conjunction with Selkie. The deck can be a more aggressive version of UGw Thresh without Countertop. It could play as Bant Survival without Survival, and be more on the aggro role while still packing Daze, FOW, Spell Snares.

Selkie is quite a threat in the shell that I mention above. Rafiq is horrible in Legacy. I'd be surprised if you can play him consistently against Wastelands/Bloodmoon/Bolt/StP. It's a wasted slot of mana. Bant Survival can justify running one as a tutor target to win a game but even then he's a glass cannon.

[MTG-Fan]

Everyone who thinks you need Goyf instead of Constable/Selkie is missing the point.

Goyf is a great freaking creature, but just hitting the opponent with him doesn't ALWAYS win you the game. What if it takes 3-4 turns to kill with Goyf and by that time opponent stabilizes and draws some StP? If you hit just *once* with a Selkie/Constable for 4-5 damage, you create so much card advantage that it's almost impossible for the opponent to get back in the game at that point.

Goyf can't bounce your opponent's lands, or draw you into a fistful of Daze/FoW, can he?

If I were to run Goyf, then this whole deck would be pointless... it would just be a generic Threshold list with Elspeth and Rafiq, which would suck. It's a combo deck that happens to use Constable and Selkie as its combo pieces, really.

The same goes for suggestions along the lines of Counterbalance/Top... that's a soft lock for an aggro-control deck that doesn't mind finding itself in the mid/late game. Not a aggro-combo build like this.

But thanks for all of the other suggestions, especially regarding the Windswept Heath and Qasali Pridemage. I forgot how awesome Pridemage is.

[Legacy]

cool deck, after reading everyone's suggestions I would maybe go

Decklist:
4 x Flooded Strand
4 x Windswept Heath
3 x Tundra
3 x Tropical Island
4 x Wasteland

4 x Noble Heirarch
4 x Aether Vial

4 x Tarmogoyf
4 x Qasili Pridemage
4 x Cold-Eyed Selkie
2 x Cephalid Constable
1 x Rafiq of the Many
1 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 x Swords to Plowshare

4 x Brainstorm
4 x Daze
4 x Force of Will
2 x Ponder

Aether vial for the end of turn surprise with selkei or constable espeically when they just swung into you with all their creatures giving you a free pass.

Decks with vial should run wasteland.

Hope that helps.

[Maveric78f]

You can't play Elspeth anymore in such a shell. I would keep the same except -1 Elspeth, -2 Cephallid +1 Rafiq +2 jitte

I would also probably play 1 forest.

[MTG-Fan]

cool deck, after reading everyone's suggestions I would maybe go

Decklist:
4 x Flooded Strand
4 x Windswept Heath
3 x Tundra
3 x Tropical Island
4 x Wasteland

4 x Noble Heirarch
4 x Aether Vial

4 x Tarmogoyf
4 x Qasili Pridemage
4 x Cold-Eyed Selkie
2 x Cephalid Constable
1 x Rafiq of the Many
1 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 x Swords to Plowshare

4 x Brainstorm
4 x Daze
4 x Force of Will
2 x Ponder

Aether vial for the end of turn surprise with selkei or constable espeically when they just swung into you with all their creatures giving you a free pass.

Decks with vial should run wasteland.

Hope that helps.

Nice list, and probably the only list with Goyf in it that I would find acceptable.

I guess losing Rafiq and Elspeth isn't too bad if you can add 4 more Exalted creatures to the mix in Pridemage, eh?

One sticking point: I don't think I've ever felt like I needed an StP when playing this deck, ever. Great spell, but I've never felt the need to remove creatures on a 1-to-1 basis if I'm already hitting with Selkie/Constable.

[beastman]

I think a deck with one huge attack like this would want more constables. Bouncing all of your opponents permanents just seems better than anything else.
Also, have you tried toying with counter top?

[MTG-Fan]

Yes, early Constable is one of the strongest plays this deck has. Obviously if you can bounce their lands, it's gg on the spot.

I said in that earlier post that CounterTop is better for an aggro-control or pure control deck that wants that lock during the mid/late-game. Playing CounterTop in this deck is just a waste of time when you want to be getting through with Selkie or Constable, imho.

[Moczoc]

Although I like this decks way to use Cephalid Constable very much, I can't see it winning fast enough with the card advantage of the Selkie. It doesn't play many strong creatures/direct damage/or ways to remove blockers. I'd rather go a more aggressive way and try Spawnwrithe in the Slot of Selkie.

And for the "remove" problem of Chrome Mox, why not add more Hierarch in the Form of BoP?

Another card I know from casual games that should at least be testet in this deck is Zephid's Embrace

Enchantment - Aura, 2UU (4)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and shroud

This, succesfully castet on turn 3 on Constable, creates nearly a hardlock.
We all don't like Aura's but this card provides everything what Constable needs: more power, evasion and shroud! (This way the opponent can't even escape with a Land + StP/Snuff Out/L. Bolt in Hand.)

A possible list of the deck:

Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Rafiq of the Many

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Cephalid Constable
4 Spawnwrithe

Spells
3 Swords to Plowshares (I don't know if these should rather be Pridemage)
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Zephid's Embrace

Lands
19 whatever


I like the deck having a solid Bant-shell with the possiblity to "combo-out" in the early game :)

[hi-val]

This deck was actually what the designers of Legends had in mind when they created Pendelhaven. Make them proud, run the Keebler Elf Tree!

[shaneswa]

i drop vial. vial slows down what this deck is tiring to do (establish lock quickly) i think 2 jitte is a should be included (w/ + 1or 2 pte) with chrome mox/ hierarch it is a solid t1/t2 drop that needs to be delt with. it wrecks sleigh decks, merfolk and gobs. it also clears the way for constable which is what this deck wants to establish. im a lil drunk... but this is mho

[Legacy]

One sticking point: I don't think I've ever felt like I needed an StP when playing this deck, ever. Great spell, but I've never felt the need to remove creatures on a 1-to-1 basis if I'm already hitting with Selkie/Constable.

You are right, if you are already hitting with constable, but how is constable hitting? he has no evasion. Swords clears the path then it is smooth sailing from there. You can't expect to counter all their creatures, plus you need to protect yours. Or is there something i am missing?

[georgjorge]

Tentative suggestion: Mother of Runes. Protects from removal OR makes your Constable/Selkie get through defenses (preferably when your opponent is tapped out though), which is especially relevant if you cut down on Elspeth/Rafiq for more Exalted creatures (which I think is the right move). For a quick thought, compare it to the sideboard Forge-Tenders, only needs one turn to get online but does it against any color. Drawbacks: Needs early white mana, doesn't do anything offensive on its own (but can still block all day long).

[Mayk0l]

Selkie, Constable and Rafiq is what I play in EDH, I found that even there, the synergy is often too slow to get on the table in time to win the game.

[Anusien]

Do you want a Rafiq theme deck or a good Legacy UGW deck that happens to run Rafiq? I have a Rafiq EDH list I can ship you if it's about the former.

Drawing 4 cards off Cold-Eyed Selkie is cute. But it takes 5 swings to win the game. And an active Cold-Eyed Selkie with Rafiq may or may not be able to fight an active Counterbalance. A 4/5 Goyf, by contrast, takes 2 swings to win the game.

Even if I had Rafiq in my maindeck, I would probably not run Selkie or Constable. I might SB Selkie against Landstill, but that's it. They're too slow and Constable is too vulnerable to getting blocked by Tarmogoyf. At one point I drew up a list for Noble Hierarch, which looked something like this:

4 Force of Will
4 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Rafiq of the Many

3 Umezawa's Jitte

4 Flooded Strand
3 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Island
3 Tundra
3 Tropical Island

[GGoober]

Good list Anusien, but I think the poster wants to play with either or/and Constable + Cold-Eyed Selkie. I think it's possible to break the deck, but like all these decks, the main pain is the 3cc, which happens to dodge Countertop more but become much more vulnerable to Dazes and a faster aggro clock. Exalted + Clique was a main theme in Bant Survival, and a Turn 2 Clique swinging for 4 on turn 3 was a very good clock.

I honestly dislike Rafiq and find that his place is only in Bant Survival and even in that deck, we're dropping him because he's win-more. I've played against a homebrew deck with Giant Growths and Selkie, and as much as you hate Giant Growths in Legacy, it worked out pretty well, and was almost GG when he drew 4 cards with a Selkie. Perhaps some variant of UW stompy could get through. I don't know though. The main problem with this deck is that its threatbase is too 3cc focused, and it cannot be solved with Tomb/City since it requires double colors.

[Cire]

This is a whole diffrent deck: but it's based on the prinicple of

"whenever ~ deals damage, do X that many times" + Big Pumps

Basicaly

Cold-Eyed Selkie
Cephalid Constable

&

The underused and appreciated

Needle Specter

-------

Now this deck is the same basic idea as the OP, but employs 4 colors rather than 3 so it's much more vunerable. Also it acts much more like a combo deck than anything else, Aiming to play a 3cc creature turn 2, pump it turn 3 and win from there.

4 Mox Diamond
4 Noble Heirach
2 Bird of Pardise

4 Cephalid Constable
3 Cold-Eyed Selkie
2 Needle Specter

3 Elspeth
3 Rafiq of the Many
3 Zephid's Embrace

4 Force of Will
3 Sinkhole

4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Stand
3 Bayoo
3 Underground sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Scrubland
1 Tundra
1 Savanah
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp

Just a prelimianry list, built primarily to go 3cc creature turn 2, then pump it turn 3 and wreck someones day...

[Rath]

I would agree with crz87 that a 2-colour "grow"-esque deck would be ideal... maybe with lorescale coatl and selkie as your alternative threats (you lose a lot of exalted though). However, it ensures consistency and allows for some crazy plays. It will never be stompy as it cannot take advantage of the mana base and it lacks the disruption of fish.

-----Anyways----------

The idea of the deck is neat... but not really as cohesive as you make it out to be. You actually have two competing themes going on. Selkie draws you cards and constable is your "lock". However, drawing cards is only worthwhile if you are drawing into something (and more creatures without evasion is not necessarily enough). I will admit, drawing 2-4 off a selkie each turn should allow you to have consistent enough games that you can get out rafiq or elspleth every game... but that is still your entire plan (1 moat / humility / magus of the moon / timely bounce spell / blast / removal ... and you are toast). The constable plan is more "game-winning", but much harder to make happen as the constable does not have evasion and is 3 mana to get into play.

As I see it you have a solid evasive beater that does not win you the game and a poor, non-evasive creature that could, and that is the engine/ "combo" of the deck. I am not going to lie, those are powerful cards and I am sure work, but I would relegate it to a "fun" deck, rather than competitive.

Landstill uses standstill to draw into control elements and slow down the game, Thresh uses cheap draw to smooth out its low land count and allow for higher threat density (and nowadays to enable CB+top)... even Selkie Slam in vintage uses selkie at the draw engine to enable its draw/disruption game-plan (with null rods etc to hurt the vintage meta). The quote I like the best from TheManaDrain boards on selkie-slam was
"fish cannot afford to draw dead since the cards are already fairly weak compared to the cards in other decks."... and they are not running extra legendary creatures or constables.

You could go with a CB+top plan, which is basically CB-thresh with selkie and exalted over mongoose and other early drops (U/G/w thresh basically). Alternatively you could also drop the constables and go with Rafiq as your win condition (drop him and swing for the win). I might suggest adding in some stifles at that point to increase your disruption suite as you are then creating a fish deck.

Here is a random list I threw together as an example... don't pick it to pieces as its not worth the time and I honestly wouldn't use it myself *grin*

4 x hierarch
4 x pridemage
4 x selkie
4 x tarmogoyf
3 x rhox war monk / vendillion clique (*chuckle* war monk helps against red)
2 x jitte
1 x rafiq (two at most... he is pitchable to FoW)

4 x FoW
4 x daze
3 x stifle
4 x brainstorm
2 x ponder

4 x flooded strand
3 x windswept heath
1 x forest
1 x plains
4 x islands
3 x tundra
4 x tropical island

I would also strongly consider vendillion clique in this as it is disruption + beats. In something like this, you want only one attacker to take advantage of exalted, so clique/war monk/selki are your usual suspects as each is either hard to block or gains you advantage (life/cards) when it hits. Tarmogoyf is your blocker or there to help alpha strike late-game and everything else is support or disruption. Pridemages are key I might add as they are your main-deck krosan grips, exalted bonuses and all-round great creature.

Of course, if you are doing that... you could always go to a CB+top thresh type deck *grin*.

[MTG-Fan]

New list, now with Wishboard, StP, and Pendelhaven:

// Lands
2 [CS] Snow-Covered Island
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [B] Tropical Island
3 [B] Tundra
1 [CS] Snow-Covered Forest
1 [CS] Snow-Covered Plains
2 [TSB] Pendelhaven

// Creatures
4 [EVE] Cold-Eyed Selkie
3 [ALA] Rafiq of the Many
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
3 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 [JU] Cephalid Constable

// Spells
4 [FNM] Brainstorm
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [NE] Daze
3 [LRW] Ponder
4 [IA] Swords to Plowshares
3 [JU] Living Wish

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ALA] Rafiq of the Many
SB: 4 [4E] Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 [TO] Llawan, Cephalid Empress
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
SB: 1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
SB: 1 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender
SB: 1 [SOK] Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 1 [TE] Wasteland
SB: 1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 [PS] Meddling Mage


I've won so many games during testing on MWS recently that I had absolutely no business winning. I've beaten Trainwreck/Truffle Shuffle decks with a bazillion Edict effects and Pernicious Deed... I've beaten Quinn decks.... I've beaten Canadian Threshold with maindeck Lightning Bolt... It's pretty ridiculous what this deck can do if you just put your faith in these little guys and never give up hope even when they've killed every one of your Cephalids and Selkies.

The key to winning is realizing that even if the Constable or the Selkie doesn't get through, you can still pull wins out of nowhere by Brainstorming into good stuff, then playing something like an Elspeth and riding Soldier tokens to victory. And when you do get the god hands (more often than you'd realize) of T1 Heirarch, T2 Constable, T3 Elspeth, the game is over in the most hilarious way imaginable. I think there is no more ridiculous way to win a game of Magic than bouncing your opponent's land with a 1/1 Cephalid, honestly.

I've added Living Wish because it's freaking awesome, but my Wishboard is mostly preliminary, so I'd appreciate if anybody has any suggestions for important creatures to add to or remove from it. Thanks.

[Darkenslight]

I'd consider looking at this from a purely G/W perspective, and go for a more aggro approach like this:

Land:

3 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Savannah
4 Plains
5 Forest
2 Pendelhaven

Mans:

4 Cold-Eyed Selkie
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Burrenton Bombardier

Protection:

4 Rebuff The Wicked
4 Dawn Charm
4 StP (Farmer's Tool)/Snakeform
4 PtE (Left Turn at Alberquerque)
2 Elspeth
2 Garruk

Sideboard:

4 Choke
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Naturalize
3 Silence/Abeyance/Chant

Garruk is in there for more creatures and his Ultimate, and Elspeth is there because of the silly things she does. I think the sideboard is useful, but could do with some work.