Battle of Wits deck

[Blue]

delete

[Asthereal]

You must take into account the fact that you play a deck of around 240 cards. This means that your deck is about four times as large as other decks. So in effect, compared to in normal deck, every playset of four cards you have is a one-of in a normal deck. The deck will play as some sort of a highlander deck that takes a long time to shuffle.

Since all playsets must be viewed as singletons in a normal deck, you must not forget these facts:
- There are very little good counterspells, and the good ones are rather narrow.
- Cards that do sort of the same are interesting, since you can play many playsets of them and thus increasing the consistency.
- Tutoring is needed, but keep track of time. Too much tutoring takes too much shuffling time, and you will then not be able to play the third game.
- Don't focus on Battle of WIts itself. It's just like a one-of wincon in a normal deck. Your deck must be able to win without it.

There are several ways you can play Battle of Wits. The most common one (as far as you can call a Battle fo Wits deck common) is a Zoo shell. You can also play more aggrocontrollish, with cards like Rhox War Monk, Kitchen Finks and quick wincons like Natural Order.

Zooish:

Beasts
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Loam Lion
4 Kird Ape
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Goblin Guide.
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Student of Warfare_
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Scavenging Ooze.
4 Vinelasher Kudzu
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Rhox War Monk
4 Vengevine_
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Progenitus /84

Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Fire // Ice
4 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Helix.
4 Punishing Fire
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Path to Exile
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Brainstorm_
4 Entlightened Tutor
4 Intuition
4 Battle of Wits
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Natural Order.
4 Sylvan Library
4 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Life from the Loam
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant /76

Lands:
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Arid Mesa.
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta_
4 Taiga
4 Savannah
4 Plateau
4 Tundra
4 Volcanic Island.
4 Tropical Island
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Karakas
3 Gaea's Cradle
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Wasteland /84 -total: 244

[Asthereal]

And then the original poster deletes his post after I took 30 minutes to write my response. Oh well. For those interested in Battle of Wits: the best card for the deck is Intuition. It allows for Battle of Wits setup, but also Vengevines, Loam engine and so on. I would even consider playing Merchant Scroll just to find it.