MintJulep
01-25-2007, 01:12 AM
I'm sure we all remember the fun Type 2 deck that actually managed to win serious games through cards like Time Stretch and Crush of Wurms, made possible and playable by Mirari's Wake and Burning Wish. The deck could even go into infinite turns, by copying Burning Wish with Mirari (wishing for a Burning Wish back with the copy), and then using Nostalgic Dreams to bring back Time Stretch. Even though it was soon replaced by a better Cunning Wake build, it was extremely fun while it lasted, which is why I'm trying to build a deck based around it now. My metagame is pretty casual, with stuff like Elves, Land Destruction, Cleric/Life Gain, Discard, Infinite Mana (Basalt Monolith/Power Artifact), although there's semi-serious decks mixed in like Reanimation, Replenish, Sligh, R/G beats. Of course, some of the games are also multiplayer/team. So, I thought a properly revised Burning Wake would do a great job in winning against a variety of other casual or moderately competitive decks, but importantly, doing it in a fun or cool way.
I don't plan to use this deck in tournaments or anything, but I hope I can fine-tune it enough to at least stand a small chance against established or rogue Legacy decks.
//Enchantments - 5
1 Sacred Mesa
4 Mirari's Wake
//Artifacts - 2
2 Mirari
//Spells - 31
3 Moment's Peace
4 Burning Wish
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Three Visits
4 Search for Tomorrow
//Land - 22
2 Land Grant
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 Island
2 Plains
3 Forest
Ok, as you can see from the inclusion of eight (or ten, counting Land Grant) land searching cards, the idea was to hopefully cast two or three of these within the first few turns, allowing me to cast Mirari's Wake as soon as turn three. Originally I considered a build with Exploration, but it seemed difficult to fit enough card draw into this kind of deck to fully support Exploration. On the other hand, cards like Three Visits or Search for Tomorrow, unlike Exploration, seem like almost cantrips in that they don't actually create card disadvantage. Additionally, they help support what would otherwise be a very shaky 5-color manabase (the Bayou's there so I can wish for Black sorceries).
I know the inclusion of Mirari, Sacred Mesa, as well as a full set of Mirari's Wake is hurting the deck's playability, but I locked those seven cards in the deck for the purposes of fun in multiplayer games. Mirari means Burning Wish can be cast as many times as wanted, and Sacred Mesa and the +1/+1 feature of Mirari's Wake helps create huge armies of fat fliers, which is kinda everyone's goal in those kinds of fun games.
It didn't take too much testing to find out that this deck has serious problems against aggro, three Moment's Peace just doesn't cut it (though it did when the deck was Type 2!). Unfortunately, I don't know how to fit in a full set of Swords and Wraths without compromising another aspect of the deck, and haven't thought of an alternate solution. Not to mention Wraths are considered "unfun" in multiplayer, unless wished for. Removing the land-searching cards would destablize the mana base and slow down the deck, while getting rid of any blue cards would leave too few for Force of Will, and make the deck very weak against combo. Right now its best matchup seems to be some kind of aggro-control (surprisingly did ok against Threshold in testing until people figure out to name Burning Wish with MM), while doing terrible against decks like Sligh or Land Destruction.
Fact or Fiction is of course a great drawing card, and it's not -too- hard to play with all the mana acceleration in this deck, but I'm not sure it's enough on its own. With no search cards I'm basically just relying on FoF and deck-thinning with all the land searching to get my key cards. I considered Allied Strategies, which draws a decent amount of cards for its cost in a deck like this one, but obviously it has the problem of being a dead card early game, as well as being a sorcery in a control deck. Skeletal Scrying is my other consideration, but to use that I'd have to splash more black, screwing up the mana base even more.
As for the sideboard, I should mention the thing about the people I play with casually is that they take "Choose a card you own from outside the game" as literally any card, ever (even banned/whitebordered ones). So, I can have as many cards in my wish pool as I want (!!!), so please suggest some fun ones for multiplayer, or some useful utility ones. Some of the ones I thought of already:
//Utility
Vindicate
Demonic Tutor
Tariff
Hull Breach
Wash Out
Wrath of God
Firecat Blitz
Decree of Justice
Regrowth
Wheel of Fortune
Yawgmoth's Will
Nostalgic Dreams
Kaervek's Torch
Balance
Shatterstorm
Morningtide
Tariff
//Fun
Crush of Wurms
Sway of the Stars
Reverse the Sands
Time Stretch
Hymn of Rebirth
Blatant Thievary
Last Stand
Ancestral Tribute
Look at Me, I'm the DCI
I probably ought to construct a real sideboard in case I ever use this deck in serious games too, but I'll worry about that after the decklist is finalized. Anyways, what'dyou all think? I spent a lot of time wondering about how to make a working deck around those core Mirari/Wake/Wish cards, so I'm pretty eager for any advice or comments!
I don't plan to use this deck in tournaments or anything, but I hope I can fine-tune it enough to at least stand a small chance against established or rogue Legacy decks.
//Enchantments - 5
1 Sacred Mesa
4 Mirari's Wake
//Artifacts - 2
2 Mirari
//Spells - 31
3 Moment's Peace
4 Burning Wish
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Three Visits
4 Search for Tomorrow
//Land - 22
2 Land Grant
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 Island
2 Plains
3 Forest
Ok, as you can see from the inclusion of eight (or ten, counting Land Grant) land searching cards, the idea was to hopefully cast two or three of these within the first few turns, allowing me to cast Mirari's Wake as soon as turn three. Originally I considered a build with Exploration, but it seemed difficult to fit enough card draw into this kind of deck to fully support Exploration. On the other hand, cards like Three Visits or Search for Tomorrow, unlike Exploration, seem like almost cantrips in that they don't actually create card disadvantage. Additionally, they help support what would otherwise be a very shaky 5-color manabase (the Bayou's there so I can wish for Black sorceries).
I know the inclusion of Mirari, Sacred Mesa, as well as a full set of Mirari's Wake is hurting the deck's playability, but I locked those seven cards in the deck for the purposes of fun in multiplayer games. Mirari means Burning Wish can be cast as many times as wanted, and Sacred Mesa and the +1/+1 feature of Mirari's Wake helps create huge armies of fat fliers, which is kinda everyone's goal in those kinds of fun games.
It didn't take too much testing to find out that this deck has serious problems against aggro, three Moment's Peace just doesn't cut it (though it did when the deck was Type 2!). Unfortunately, I don't know how to fit in a full set of Swords and Wraths without compromising another aspect of the deck, and haven't thought of an alternate solution. Not to mention Wraths are considered "unfun" in multiplayer, unless wished for. Removing the land-searching cards would destablize the mana base and slow down the deck, while getting rid of any blue cards would leave too few for Force of Will, and make the deck very weak against combo. Right now its best matchup seems to be some kind of aggro-control (surprisingly did ok against Threshold in testing until people figure out to name Burning Wish with MM), while doing terrible against decks like Sligh or Land Destruction.
Fact or Fiction is of course a great drawing card, and it's not -too- hard to play with all the mana acceleration in this deck, but I'm not sure it's enough on its own. With no search cards I'm basically just relying on FoF and deck-thinning with all the land searching to get my key cards. I considered Allied Strategies, which draws a decent amount of cards for its cost in a deck like this one, but obviously it has the problem of being a dead card early game, as well as being a sorcery in a control deck. Skeletal Scrying is my other consideration, but to use that I'd have to splash more black, screwing up the mana base even more.
As for the sideboard, I should mention the thing about the people I play with casually is that they take "Choose a card you own from outside the game" as literally any card, ever (even banned/whitebordered ones). So, I can have as many cards in my wish pool as I want (!!!), so please suggest some fun ones for multiplayer, or some useful utility ones. Some of the ones I thought of already:
//Utility
Vindicate
Demonic Tutor
Tariff
Hull Breach
Wash Out
Wrath of God
Firecat Blitz
Decree of Justice
Regrowth
Wheel of Fortune
Yawgmoth's Will
Nostalgic Dreams
Kaervek's Torch
Balance
Shatterstorm
Morningtide
Tariff
//Fun
Crush of Wurms
Sway of the Stars
Reverse the Sands
Time Stretch
Hymn of Rebirth
Blatant Thievary
Last Stand
Ancestral Tribute
Look at Me, I'm the DCI
I probably ought to construct a real sideboard in case I ever use this deck in serious games too, but I'll worry about that after the decklist is finalized. Anyways, what'dyou all think? I spent a lot of time wondering about how to make a working deck around those core Mirari/Wake/Wish cards, so I'm pretty eager for any advice or comments!