[Deck] CB Hexmage aggro control

[TheMightyQuinn]

I saw this deck posted by someone on the Wizards Community legacy board. The thread degenerated into a flame war about the inclusion of Manamorphose and other inane crap, and the list itself was forgotten by the wayside. I thought it looked very interesting myself, so I thought I would bring it here to hopefully generate some useful discussion.

4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Dark confidant
4 Trygon Predator
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Vampire Hexmage

4 Force of will
4 Brainstorm
4 Manamorphose
3 Crucible of Worlds OR 3 Counterbalance
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Repeal/Ponder OR 3 Divining Top

2 Dark Depths
4 Wasteland
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Forest
1 Tropical island
1 Undergournd sea
2 Bayou
2 Tundra

SB

4 leyline of the void
4 Engineered plague
3 ravenous trap
4 chalice of the void


Points of discussion:

- Should Manamorphose be replaced? What with? The blue count seems rather low to support FoW, so it should probably be replaced by something like Ponder or Daze possibly?

- CB/Top package better than Crucible + extra cantrips?

- Knight of the Reliquary...yay or nay? He seems great for this deck on paper, becoming a potentially huge beater and finding part of the Dark Hex combo.

- Maybe cut a Hexmage and a Dark Depths, since the deck is laser focused on the combo?

- I just noticed that Tarmogoyf isn't in the list while typing this. How can we fit him in?

[Glorfindel]

I highly doubt if Counterbalance is playable in this deck. I mean, come on, you have cards that cost UU, BB and 1GW in the same deck and this ain't last year's 5 Color Control in Standard.

I can understand that you want to play Blue to protect your combo, but then I'd rather not use Knight of the Reliquary.

[Forbiddian]

I ran into this deck in playtesting my deck. His version ran Swords, Manamorphose, and Crucible. I didn't think I saw Repeal, and I don't remember Jitte. I mean, there is some flex space for the deck.

It was quite fun to play against and had a lot of interesting synergies/combos. I think my opponent only ran 1x Dark Depths. That seemed to be the right call, because you could bring it out with Knight. I think only 3 Vampire Hexmages would also fit the deck's plan better, and he only saw 2 in three very long games.

I think I recall seeing top, but I never saw Counterbalance (although I think I kept him off of UU most of the time).

I can say for certain that Knight is the core of the deck. Cutting this card is terrible (especially in a version with Crucible of Worlds). Part of his function is a land tutor after you land Crucible, or finding the lone copy of Dark Depths really separates this deck from a lot of other decks. Another thing is that your opponent's spot removal is likely worn a bit thin. Swords have to hit Knights, but they also need to hit Bobs, often Trygon Predators, and definitely Dark Depths tokens. Burn generally wouldn't have the option to burn Knight, which already puts you at a big advantage.

He also becomes very large lategame (borderline combo-deck large).

He's always looked at as the Goyf 5 and 6 in most decks, but this deck can really abuse all aspects of him. When he's small, he functions as utility tutoring (or even just tapping for one extra mana). When he's big, he applies the beatdown, but he's still a must-answer for 3.


The color requirements for the deck ARE quite ridiculous. Magus of the Moon stops all spells instantly. so I'd imagine there are some decks in the format that could take advantage of that. Also, for the version posted, Humility turns the deck into 3x Umezawa's Jitte.dec and there are no answers other than Force of Will.

Those cards aren't played very often, but that kind of vulnerability makes me nervous.

I think this could tear up the right metagame, though.

[Pastorofmuppets]

Mystic Remora might be nasty in here.