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Battle of Wits (MtGGoldfish Challenge)

Modern Combo Five Color

Josung

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Land (99)

Sorcery (53)

Artifact (26)

Enchantment (21)

Instant (40)

Creature (21)

Sideboard

Enchantment (7)

Instant (5)

Sorcery (2)

Creature (1)

This is my best take on Battle of Wits for Modern, inspired by the MtGGoldfish challenge/video: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-battle-of-wits-modern-magic-online

Introduction

The deck is aiming to win with... you guessed it, Battle of Wits. This deck is inspired by cEDH, in that the combo decks from that format run a vast array of tutors, cantrips, and ineraction. This deck aims to cast a Battle of Wits ASAP. However, this deck is running the Phyrexian Unlife + Solemnity combo to help stay alive in case something goes wrong, and should we somehow lose all copies of Battle of Wits, the alternate win con is to use the classic Ad Nauseam + Angel's Grace or Ad Nauseam + Phyrexian Unlife to draw our whole deck and then exile three Simian Spirit Guides to cast Lightning Storm with an incredibly lethal number of lands in hand to discard.

Starting the Game

So, looking at our ideal turn one, we want to be off to the races, casting a Birds of Paradise, Utopia Sprawl, Noble Hierarch, Lotus Bloom, Elves of Deep Shadow, Mox Tantalite, or Search for Tomorrow. We also have Serum Visions and Merchant of the Vale to help smooth our draws. Some extra, temporary ramp is in the form of Simian Spirit Guide for the turn we cast Battle of Wits or any critical spell.

Turn two we want to cast interaction like Negate, Assassin's Trophy, Fatal Push, or Abrupt Decay or cast more ramp cards like the previously mentioned ones (we also can play Farseek and Sylvan Caryatid).

Turn three things get a lot more situational as some decks will require you to interact with them and some won't. Just aim for staying alive or casting Battle of Wits!

The fastest way to cast Battle of Wits is by having two ramp spells, a tutor (or Battle of Wits itself), and three lands. This lets you ramp turns one and two and cast Battle of Wits or a tutor turn three!

Tutors

We also have a variety of tutors, some that can find Battle of Wits like Wargate, Dark Petition, Idyllic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, Bring to Light, Gifts Ungiven, Scheming Symmetry, and Mastermind's Acquisition. One copy of our glorious win con is in the sideboard for the Mastermind's Acquistion and in case of any Unmoored Egos and Surgical Extractions floating around!

Gifts Ungiven Piles

With regards to the "right" Gifts Ungiven piles, there are an unbelievably large amount of different piles you could make. The easiest ones for ensuring you get Battle of Wits involve itself, Regrowth, Noxious Revival, and any card that may help like a board wipe or another tutor. (Or use Eternal Witness in place of one of the other graveyard spells)

You could also throw in any number of other cards in the deck that would put them in a predicament should they not send them to the bin like a board wipe or hate card (like the lovely Damping Sphere for Tron/Storm decks).

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