Mono-Blue Infect

[Kanti]

Well my favorite Magic deck got hit by a ban-hammer of epic proportions over in the Modern format. So it's time to port this fun deck over to Legacy, where it can hop through all sorts of rings of fire!

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about it's Blazing Shoal+9ccPitch+Infect. Boom.

Here is my port so far:

Lands:
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Tolaria West
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Island
1 Underground Sea

Combo:
4 Blighted Agent
4 Blazing Shoal
2 Progenitus
2 Reaper King
1 Summoner's Pact

Protection:
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
1 Disrupting Shoal
1 Pact of Negation
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Slaughter Pact

Cantrips:
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain

Sideboard:
4 Spellskite
3 Vendillion Clique
1 Wipe Away
1 Rebuild
1 Trickbind
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt

[1maarten1]

How is your experience with only 1 Muddle? It was pretty important in the modern version right? Anyway Im really anxious to start testing the deck because its so much fun! Any info on how the match ups are?

[Kanti]

Well I definitely would not play 4 of them. Getting shoal is sometimes hard, especially in this version that does not run Peer. Muddle should probably be a 2-of and I will test that as it is Grim Tutor that doubles as protection.

The matchups are: bad.

Jitte, Maze of Ith, Wasteland, fliers, Force of Will, STP, Bolt, any other removal, etc. They all kind of trump you.

I play Blessing over a removal spell as it can act as a 1 mana counterspell against removal or help get past a blocker. I should also add another Sea as Pacting a creature just to have your Sea get destroyed sucks.

[cb4]

I would consider running your own wastelands. They will improve your stifles and dazes and they can hit opposing wastelands and mazes at times. Be careful with apostle's blessing because if you name red to stop a bolt or something, it will stop your shoal as well.



Blue/Green may be a better way to go than shoal in legacy with invigorate, rancor, berserk, to go with glistener elves.

[the resurrection]

Add another pact and an Elvish spirit guide to become faster :)
My suggestions:
-1 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Preordian
-1 Muddle the mixture
-2 Reaper King
-1 Blighted Agent

+1 S. pact
+1 ESG
+4 Impulse

[oldbsturgeon]

I was trying more underground seas and lim duls vault as a search card. I thought that peer through the depths was important, but wanted to try the vault as a replacement.
Muddle was still useful but not as a 4 of, so I think I tried between 2 and 3.
Transmute just seems slower than what you have time for in legacy so was only using 1 tolaria west as well.
Here is what I felt though, as a combo deck, it probably wasn't fast enough, and as what someone else said, its pretty fragile.

[igri_is_a_bk]

UG also offers Xantid Swarm, which solves the Force, StP, Bolt, etc. problem. Or at least forces them to use their removal before you waste two cards on Shoal + pitch.

[ActionJunkie]

UG also offers Xantid Swarm, which solves the Force, StP, Bolt, etc. problem. Or at least forces them to use their removal before you waste two cards on Shoal + pitch.

Mono-Green has a ton of protection too for the record. I've done extensive testing and Mono-Green always comes out more consistently and has plenty of protection in Vines of Vastwood/Pump w/ side-board Autumn's Veil/Swarm/etc. Also Ranger's Guile (Innistrad) is showing promise as well. Gitaxian Probe is also that much more amazing in mono-green.

[hyggli]

This is my current list. I just placed 2nd @my local tournament

DeckName: Taenia

// Lands
4 [MBS] Inkmoth Nexus
2 [FUT] Tolaria West
9 [M11] Island (1)
1 [U] Underground Sea
1 [TE] Wasteland

// Creatures
4 [NPH] Blighted Agent
4 [CFX] Progenitus

// Spells
4 [MPR] Ponder
2 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
2 [NPH] Gitaxian Probe
4 [RAV] Muddle the Mixture
4 [M11] Preordain
4 [BOK] Blazing Shoal
1 [FUT] Pact of Negation
1 [FUT] Summoner's Pact
1 [FUT] Slaughter Pact
3 [NE] Daze
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [VI] Impulse
1 [TSP] Snapback

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [FUT] Slaughter Pact
SB: 3 [NPH] Spellskite
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 [MM] Tower of the Magistrate
SB: 3 [NE] Seal of Removal

Impulse is better than Peer. It gets "anything" you need from the top four instead of top five, lets you play Progenitus instead of Dragonstorm(or whatever), which is a blue pitchable card and a nice card when opposing to Show and Tells.

Seal of Removal is the only card I found to both stop Emrakul and be fast enough to bounce baddies.

14 potential protections/counters here are the key to win. It happens often you to go off with two(at least) protections.

The first issue is Force of Will. It asks you two cards, and I guess you want to side it out when you start and let in the dazes instead. The other "bigs" are wasteland and pernicious deed. You need needle for those.
Zoo is a though matchup. It's not that impossible, but you do have to play great. The deck is not that simple to be played on some matchups.

Stifle is of course something worth to be tried . Maybe -2gitaxian -2spell pierce is the answer.

No fetchs. Cause I don't want to be that target to worthless stifles. And the no-brainstorm build is as a result of that. I'm thinking about swapping ponders with brainstorms here but I think we don't need 12 of those.

I really hope this deck doesn't plunge into darkness because it's so fun to play with.

[whienot]

Hyggli, congrats. Care to discuss your match-ups?

I've been brewing with the archetype and just want to get as many perspectives as possible. I ran my version last night and was 2-1 before leaving for more social activities. (Yes, I run with Pulp_Fiction.) I really only lost to Gut Shot... yup, Gut Shot.

That said, I'm not sure this deck will never truly be a force in legacy. It's a reasonable choice, probably a solid tier 2 deck, but legacy is full of pitfalls for a deck like this. (But, it won't stop me from trying.)

[whienot]

I played a version of Infect Combo to a top 4 split last night.

4x Force of Will
3x Misdirection
1x Pact of Negation
4x Brainstorm
3x Ponder
3x Impulse
2x Preordain
4x Crop Rotation
4x Cunning Wish
3x Blazing Shoal
4x Blighted Agent
4x Progenitus
1x Reaper King
2x Spellskite

4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Karakas
2x Tropical Island
3x Island
2x Polluted Delta
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand

Sideboard

3x City of Solitude
3x Spell Pierce
2x Flusterstorm
1x Spellskite
1x Blazing Shoal
1x Searing Wind
1x Pact of Negation
1x Echoing Truth
1x Beast Within
1x Bojuka Bog


I didn't drop a match on the night facing: R/b Burn, Rock, Bant and TnT with Past in Flames. Granted, novelty is probably a part of my success, but the deck is pretty powerful.

I'm running Cunning Wish instead of Muddle the Mixture. Wish lets you find Blazing Shoal and Searing Wind, as well as protection in the form of Pact of Negation. I'm sure there's an argument to be made for Intuition. It increases threat density maindeck, and keeps you from bastardizing the sideboard, but there's alot of Surgical Extraction + Snapcaster Mage shenanigans floating around my meta. Also, I don't like showing my opponent what I'm doing until I'm killing them. This is why I run Impulse over Peer Through Depths. Sure, it only digs 4, but (like hyggli noted) it gets any card AND I don't have to reveal it. Impulse is a pretty underrated card and deserves consideration.

Crop Rotation has been nothing short of amazing. It functions as Inkmoths 5-8, as well as early Wasteland protection. It finds Karakas to bounce Gaddock Teeg and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and is quite good against Reanimator.

The sideboard is in development, but most of the slots are solid. City of Solitude stops everything that could stop you in your combo turn. Spellskite is great against Zoo where you get a blocker as well as something to redirect Grim Lavamancer /multiple burn spells. Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm are for the storm combo and heavy discard matches. Echoing Truth and Beast Within are catch-all answers. Bojuka Bog, self explainable.

[capitacom]

Your decklist seems solid. How have you found having 7 pitch counters to be in addition to the two-card combo and having to sac a land for crop rotation? It would seem that this would often leave you having to use your cantrips for land which leaves you with less cards to pitch. Any reason why you didn't use gitaxian probe? In all matchups against blue (non-combo) decks, probe has been very good; allowing you to know when you should dig for more protection or when you can go off safely. Since a lot of the deck is instant speed, a counter like spell pierce seems pretty good as well as you can counter their spells during their turn if they play something important, otherwise you just brainstorm/impulse.

[MirrorMask]

@whienot

I have some questions.
You are playing progenitus and the other fatty plus searing wind (6 cards) only to pitch them to blazing shoal?
You do realize that even with your counter spells they WILL play defenders and blazing shoal will suck big time. You have no way of removing them plus no way to give trample to your very few creatures. While other buff spells like berserk, invigorate, might of old krosa and groundswell are very good on their own blazing shoal needs something else to be pitched. You have 4 force of wills, 3 MIsdirections, 3 blazing shoals MD that are pitch spells. Its way too much. In legacy everyone else has some kind of removal+discard+direct dmg+ counter spells and you have way too few creatures and not very well defended.
You are -6 quality cards in a very hard to play strategy. I do have an infect deck with more creatures plus more counters MD and I have to say just one thing, that you should never EVER have to pay for something more that 2 (usually 1) mana for ANY of your spells cause you never HAVE the mana to do it. So cunning wish, at least for me, would be out of question. You have 11 cards for drawing so i don't think it is needed. For me 8 (brainstorm+ponder) would be more than enough. Infect has a fundamental flaw in legacy which is that you absolutely have to rely one (max two) creatures attacking and after you pump them they will remove them or j counter your buffs or just block them. Its not easy to be played and you take it to the extreme and without buffing them with something useful. I hope it works cause while Its a different approach, to me it seems like a failure (no offense meant).

[whienot]

@capitacom

The 7 pitch counters have been good for me. I originally ran 3x Pact of Negation and 1x Misdirection, but swapped the numbers to have more options vs. Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach. It seems like a lot of card disadvantage, but typically I'm holding 6-7 cards in hand. Comboing off with 2 pitch counters as protection is common enough.

Crop Rotation takes finesse to play properly. It's important to never run it into a daze, and it shouldn't be used too aggressively (unless holding an Inkmoth and your trying to bait a Wasteland.) I try to only use it when I can combo next turn, or in response to Wasteland. Otherwise, Rotation replaces the land sacrificed, so you haven't lost any on-board mana. Yes, sometimes I have to dig for land, but with 12 cantrips, even hitting 3 mana for Cunning Wish hasn't been an issue.

I like Gitaxian Probe, but I never felt like it did enough. Peeking for free is very strong and I probably need to reevaluate its exclusion. It would likely take up cantrip slots, and digging is so important for this deck.

@MirrorMask

I understand your concerns and I didn't build this deck with rose-colored glasses on. I'm aware that legacy is a hostile environment for this type of strategy, but I enjoy the challenge as a builder.


You are playing progenitus and the other fatty plus searing wind (6 cards) only to pitch them to blazing shoal?
I am playing 4x Progenitus, 1x Reaper King. They are both Red & Blue. While primarily only used with Blazing Shoal they are also Force of Will / Misdirection fodder. Searing Wind is only there as a Wish target. Yes, Cunning Wish makes the sideboard slightly smaller, but it is an effort to increase redundancy in the main.


You do realize that even with your counter spells they WILL play defenders and blazing shoal will suck big time.
Opponents playing (typical) blockers is the least of my concerns. Both Blighted Agent and Inkmoth have evasion. Blockers with flying and flash are the most troublesome, Vendilion Clique being the most popular. If this is suspected (aka, know your matchups), I'll need to get in with another attacker.

The rest of your post seems to only compare this deck to U/G infect. While the game plan is similar, the decks are different, and should be played differently.

Also, the deck is far from a failure. If you saw the match-ups from my last tournament (Burn, Rock, Bant, TnT), none are considered easy, if not flat out unfavorable. Burn has all of the removal; Rock has proactive discard, GSZ into Teeg, and removal; Bant has counters, removal, Clique and Aven Mindcensor; and Combo is a turn faster plus discard.


Regarding the deck: I'm tinkering around again with Intuition in an effort to open up sideboard space. Results have been mixed, but the goldfish is still taking a beating.

[MirrorMask]

Well comparison is unavoidable and yes they do play differently. Good point about the agent. I completely forgot about him. There are some nice flyers in legacy though. V. Clique as you mentioned , fairies with bitter blossom as well and now Delver of secrets. There is also Jitte (very #%^@^##@ annoying) and of course wasteland which you cannot avoid. In no way I m trying to insult your creation, its just that I can't see as viable with all this shit they are running. It was a major turn off for me cause I, as well, love the deck. Your idea has a good thing. Free stuff everywhere which is (counter spell wise) quite good and now with the banning of misstep offer some more protection but the huge downside is that you empty your hand quite fast so its even more extreme than lets say traditional U/G infect.
About your match ups...I know you did well (Grats!) but I suspect ,as it happened to me, you surprised everyone and won. Don't you think that if they where aware of this kind of deck would be able to counter it? You are only counting on basically 4 creatures as inkmoths are easily wasted . Of course it won't be the case every time you play there is also luck involved.

P.S If, lets say, they nullify your infect plan why not try to fit in some show and tells in sideboard which can be brought with cunning wish to be able to actually play progenitus and the other guy? It would be a nice surprise if everything else fails. :) . Oh and if you actually try it then i think it would be better to find another creature than scarecrow for the slot.

[whienot]

Split the top 4 of my local again last night with a tweaked list:

4x Blighted Agent
2x Spellskite

4x Force of Will
3x Misdirection
3x Spell Pierce

4x Brainstorm
3x Ponder
3x Impulse

4x Blazing Shoal
4x Progenitus

4x Crop Rotation
4x Intuition

4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Karakas
2x Tropical Island
3x Island
8x Blue Fetch

Sideboard
3x Pithing Needle
2x City of Solitude
2x Echoing Truth
2x Flusterstorm
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Tormod's Crypt
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Spellskite


-4 Cunning Wish, -2 Preordain, -1 Reaper King; +4 Intuition, +3 Spell Pierce

I played against Jund homebrew (0-2), Dreadstill (2-1), Spiral Tide (2-0), Dredge (2-0), Top 8 SFM WW (maybe D&T, didn't see Mangara) w/Wing Shards,Wasteland, Rishadan Port (2-0).

The Intuitions were much better than Cunning Wish. I completely overrated Surgical Extraction against this deck. It's useless half the time, or possibly wouldn't even be brought in. (Though, Misdirecting a Surgical Extraction is a new goal for me.) Having 4 Blazing Shoals main led to many more turn 2/3 kills, allowing me to dig/draw into them more frequently. Having a "real" sideboard is also a plus. The only board card that didn't see play was Vendilion Clique, which were primarily there for combo matchups and heavy control decks. The Clique + Karakas interaction can be pretty backbreaking. But, they may get cut for possibly a 3rd City of Solitude and 3rd Echoing Truth, or something else... so many options. I need to test more.

Most nuts hand of the night was game 2 against High Tide. I win on turn 3 (could've gone turn 2, but I top-decked a Flusterstorm and decided to wait a turn) with a hand of: Blazing Shoal x2, Progenitus x2, Misdirection, Ponder, Flusterstorm with Island x2, and Inkmoth in play. Bonkers.

Is anyone else tinkering with the archetype?

[capitacom]

Is spell pierce better than flusterstorm in this deck? The main problem spells for me in testing have been other counters, removal, and discard against which flusterstorm is as good or better. If you have a pitch counter (with another blue spell) and flusterstorm, you win every counter war. My current counter suite is 2 force, 4 misdirection and 4 daze. I prefer daze to spell pierce as it also counters gaddock teeg, vendillion clique, grim lavamancer and aven mindcensor which were often problematic. I also have 3 flusterstorm in the side. After I get some more testing in this week I will post again. With crop rotation, fetching sejiri steppe for swords/dismember protection might be worth testing.

[whienot]

Pierce is the better all around counterspell, but if your meta is doesn't have many non-creature permanents you want to hit, Flusterstorm is fine replacement. Things like Geddon Stax and Enchantress always threaten being played in my local meta, so I use Pierce.

Let me know how Daze, and Sejiri Steppe work out. I can see where running Flusterstorm alongside Daze can get pretty nutty, in a good way.

[capitacom]

I played the deck at GP Amsterdam to a 4-3 drop finish playing against SnT 2-1, UWR Blade 0-2, Thopterbalance 2-0, UW Blade 1-2, Zoo 2-0, Zoo 2-0 and Affinity 1-2. Deck was solid all day, but blade variants were difficult to beat.

My List:

Lands-16
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
5 Island
4 Inkmoth Nexus

Creatures -10
4 Blighted Agent
4 Progenitus
2 Spellskite

Artifacts - 3
3 Chrome Mox

Instants - 22
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Brainstorm
3 Impulse
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
3 Daze
1 Flusterstorm

Sorceries - 9
4 Preordain
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Show and Tell

Sideboard -15
4 Faerie Macabre
2 Show and Tell
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 City of Traitors
3 Submerge
2 Flusterstorm


Round 1 - SnT with Doomsday Transformational Sideboard
Game one - I have a good hand on the draw with a couple of lands including nexus, shoal, two cantrips and protection. I combo out turn 3, he forces, I force back and he forces once again. He plays show and tell into emrakul which resolves because he can pay for flusterstorm; since I don't have 7 permanents putting progenitus into play wasn't enough.
+ 2 flusterstorm - 2 SnT + 2 Emrakul - 2 Spellskite
Game two - I keep a hand full of counters ( 2 flusterstorm + daze) + preordain. He thoughtseizes, taking preordain. Over the course of the game I counter three doomsday. I eventually win with infect (without the combo) with nexus.
Game three - I combo out turn 4 with misdirection backup after probing; I saw 2 emrakul + silence. Even if he had show and tell I had emrakul in hand.

Round 2 - UWR Blade
Game one - I was on the play and I show and tell into progenitus on turn 4 (while he had mystic and clique out with sword of feast and famine equipped). He had drawn batterskull naturally and show and telled that into play which was the only card that would allow him to race me.
Game two - I decide to keep the infect in as he didn't see anything of the combo (not even nexus) thinking he would board out his removal. I have the turn two win with misdirection + blue spell for the force. He has swords which I can't misdirect without another legal target. I eventually die to sof&I and mystic which I can't block with the progenitus I manage to show and tell into play.

Round 3 -Counterbalance
Game one - I combo out turn 4 on the play with 2x misdirection but he has swords and double force. I kill him with 2 nexus as he doesn’t draw into more swords (even with jace).
+ 2 SnT + 2 City of traitors + 2 Emrakul + 2 flusterstorm – 8 infect
Game two – I show and tell into Progenitus turn three. I have force for his force and he dies two turns later.

Round 4 – UW Blade – on the draw
Game one – I don’t find the combo in time to beat his counterbackup (I probed twice) and Batterskull clock.
+ 8 SnT plan – 8 infect
Game two – Show and tell into progenitus races mystic + batterskull.
Game three – 2 preordains, 2 brainstorms, 1 impulse leave me unable to find a fatty. I die to mystic + sword of fire and ice.

Round 5 – Zoo – on the play
Game one – Turn 3 progenitus (off of mox) is enough to race after I daze his turn 1 nacatl and turn 2 goyf. He has two lightning helixes which buys him an extra turn but it wasn’t enough by a long shot.
Against zoo I think the progenitus plan is often too slow, so I sideboard + 3 submerge + 2 flusterstorm – 2 probe – 1 mox -2 SnT
Game two – Turn 5 infect combo is enough to win with turn 1 submerge on his nacatl, then daze on his turn two Pridemage and misdirection for his burn spell. Nexus is very good against zoo as they have to slow down their clock (by keeping mana open) to guard against it.

Round 6 – Zoo – on the play
Game one – I combo out on turn 2 with daze for the bolt he had in his hand.
Game two – I submerge his turn 1 nacatl, play turn 2 progenitus off of chrome mox and he can’t race.

Round 7 – Affinity – on the draw
Game one – I die turn 3 ( he played out his entire hand turn) to plating for which I don’t have force ( I only had daze). I had the turn 3 win in hand if he hadn’t topdecked plating.
+ 6 SnT - 3 Misdirection – 1 Daze – 1 Probe -1 Flusterstorm
Game two – I win on turn 3 with misdirection for his dispatch.
Game three – I lead with city of traitors and mox into impulse with emrakul, progenitus and blighted agent in hand. Turn two I impulse again and play out blighted agent getting shoal. I have misdirection in the case he has dispatch, which he does; except two of them.

All in all the deck performed pretty well and easily winning both zoo matches has definitely increased my belief in the chances of the deck. The show and tell sideboard plan was quite good, although I never managed to cast emrakul. Another possible option is to sideboard into hive mind combo, playing with 4 pact of negations, 4 summoner’s pact and slaughter pact, although you would need 4 grim monolith, 4 hive mind, 1 slaughter pact, 4 show and tell, and probably two sol lands in the side which takes up your entire sideboard.
Maybe a black splash for lim dul’s vault / spoils of the vault and thoughtseize/duress is worth it as well. I don’t think green adds enough for the splash, black seems better then.

[kicks_422]

Here's a pretty straightforward mono-blue build that I'm trying out.

14 Island
4 Inkmoth Nexus

4 Blighted Agent
4 Spellskite
4 Progenitus
4 Reaper King

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Impulse

4 Blazing Shoal

4 Force of Will
4 Muddle the Mixture

SB
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Show and Tell
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Echoing Truth

Dig-heavy build with the S&T back-up plan fully in the SB.

I'm thinking this might be too dig-heavy, and a bit light on countermagic. Without fetchlands, Brainstorms might not be ideal, so I might end up replacing those with Dazes.

[Kanti]

You BEAT Zoo twice? Jesus.

Probe plan seems bad. I'd go up to 4 Impulse for consistency. Ponder also seems a lot better than Preordain. Maybe this deck should splash a black for protection?

Edit: just read you were thinking of the black splash too. It might be good. What do you think of 1-2 Intution main? They can make sure you have the missing combo piece.

[capitacom]

I originally had 2 intuition main, but I eventually went with the show and tells as they gave me a different way to win (that wasn't weak to removal). Intuition is however very good with blighted agent, less so with inkmoth nexus as you can't use it on your going off turn. Intuition is especially bad post-board with nexus as you risk getting surgically extracted if you do it end of turn.

And the key to the zoo matchup is inkmoth nexus because they don't have wasteland. This allows you to search for the combo/protection and wait for them to tap out. If they don't tap out, you have more time to search for your combo. The only problem is pridemage, which you can hopefully daze or have spellskite for. Postboard submerge should give you enough time to win via infect or the show and tell plan. I think regular zoo is even, which is quite positive. Most difficult matchups (in testing as I didn't play against them at the GP) are Junk and Team America as they have a lot of removal, discard and wasteland which you can't really do anything about and which means you often have to go for blighted agent as your kill. The show and tell plan is much better against these decks though.

Probe was good in most matchups as allowing you to see how much removal/counters your opponent has makes it a lot safer to go off, at the cost of only two life/one blue while bringing you closer to your combo. I actually like preordain better than ponder in the deck as oftentimes you will be digging on turn one in which you often want to stack two cards, not just one. Aside from that you often don't have a fetch on turn two because it is commonly the turn you play nexus. My version of the deck was slightly more controlling (11 counters mainboard + 3 probe) and slightly less focused on the fastest goldfish (for which intuition seems like a must) so it might be correct to add more ponders and take away some protection, probably daze.

I hope some more people test this deck at tournaments as we should be able to move it to established then.

[whienot]

Top 4'd my local tonight with the following:

4x Blighted Agent
2x Spellskite

4x Crop Rotation
4x Intuition

4x Blazing Shoal
4x Progenitus

4x Force of Will
3x Misdirection
3x Daze

4x Brainstorm
3x Ponder
3x Impulse

4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Karakas
2x Tropical Island
3x Island
8x Blue Fetchlands

Sideboard
3x City of Solitude
3x Echoing Truth
3x Flusterstorm
3x Show and Tell
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Memory's Journey

The only maindeck change from my last list was swapping Daze in for Spell Pierce.

Match-ups: Dragon Stompy 2-1, Burn 0-2, Dreadstill 2-0, ANT 2-0, ID. Top 8 - Junk & Taxes 2-1, Top4 - Grixis Snapcaster-Delver-Fae-Stalker 1-2 (very close games).

The Show & Tell plan has been extra saucy (good call capitacom). Having that extra angle of attack is what this deck needed to become truly competitive. I'm not certain that it needs to be in the main, just because SnT > Progenitus is underwhelming in many matches. Having access to Boseiju via Crop Rotation is also pretty ridiculous.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with the deck, it's just a deck that doesn't have many good matches.

[Darklingske]

On SCG Gerry TV, he talks about a deck very simular to this one. I'm a fan since the beginning and have tried it against the top decks. I just hated it to always lose to removal. Maybe now with the S&T plan in the main, the matchups could become a bit easier. Anyway, here is the list Gerry played:

2 Chrome Mox
4 Blighted Agent
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Intuition
2 Misdirection
4 Progenitus
4 Ponder
3 Show and Tell
4 Thoughtseize
1 Island
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Underground Sea


Sideboard:

2 Dismember
2 Spell Pierce
2 Submerge
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Show and Tell
2 City of Traitors

[Abantau]

I'm currently enjoying this build:

4 blighted agent
4 spellskite
1 progenitus

4 brainstorm
4 force of will
3 spell pierce
2 intuition
2 muddle the mixture
3 peer through depths
3 ponder
1 show and tell
1 pact of negation
1 summoner's pact
4 blazing shoal
1 searing wind
2 blasphemous act
1 dragonstorm

4 inkmoth nexus
4 misty rainforest
4 scalding tarn
1 tolarian west
6 island

4 leyline of Sanctity
3 stifle
2 flusterstorm
2 dismember
2 chill
2 echoing truth

[Fallen_Empire]

I'm been brewing and have come up with this list. Chalice of the Void scares me so I think the sideboard could still need adjustment. Anyone have any thoughts?


3 True-Name Nemesis
3 Delver of Secrets
4 Blighted Agent
4 Reaper King
2 Progenitus

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Blazing Shoal
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Impulse
2 Spell Pierce
2 Daze

4 Lotus Petal
4 Inkmoth Nexus
15 Island




//Sideboard
SB: 2 Back to Basics
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 2 Energy Flux
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Imprisoned in the Moon
SB: 2 Wipe Away
SB: 2 Rebuild

[munyee]

I'm been brewing and have come up with this list. Chalice of the Void scares me so I think the sideboard could still need adjustment. Anyone have any thoughts?


3 True-Name Nemesis
3 Delver of Secrets
4 Blighted Agent
4 Reaper King
2 Progenitus

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Blazing Shoal
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Impulse
2 Spell Pierce
2 Daze

4 Lotus Petal
4 Inkmoth Nexus
15 Island




//Sideboard
SB: 2 Back to Basics
SB: 2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 2 Energy Flux
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Imprisoned in the Moon
SB: 2 Wipe Away
SB: 2 Rebuild


This deck imo supposed to be more combo oriented. As I can see you run only 4 cantrips. I would definitely add 4 Ponder and still would not throw away the idea of using Preordains additionally (even more, Gitaxian probe to know when to go off)

[JPoJohnson]

I prefer Progenitus in the main over Reaper King. You can run 4 SnT in the sideboard to transform to surprise your opponent.