Hi! My name is Evan Scott, and this is my third foray into the format of Canadian Highlander. It's a 100 card singleton format with a points list instead of a ban list. If you wanna know more, see the website! https://canadianhighlander.wordpress.com/
This deck is a solid midrange deck, which is based mostly in blue. The deck plays many counterspells in order to make up for the relative lack of spot removal. It has efficient questions in red and green, and efficient answers in red and blue. On a personal note, this deck was the one that I was playing in my favorite game of magic to date.
I would like to thank my friend on the Loading Ready Run discord, a user by the name of WafaTheRed, for helping me immensely with this list. They composed more than half of the list at least. This help sped up the creation of the deck by quite a lot and forced me try out some cards I wasn't sure of but I now think are a slam dunk. Props to them.
Current Weaknesses:
10 Points: True-Name Nemesis (1), Umezawa's Jitte (2), Treasure Cruise (1), Ancestral Recall (6).
Explain Yourself:Midrange in Canadian Highlander is a very interesting intellectual exercise. You effectively have to have every single card be gas more than 80% of the time, which means 65ish cards of pure gas. I'll do my best here to explain why every card deserves it's place in this list (in alphabetical order, for your convenience.)
- Abrade: Mainstay of Canadian Highlander. Effective as removal against artifacts, which are prevalent in the format, or it can be used to remove a creature. I love it 'cause it's versatile.
- Ancestral Recall: 6 of our 10 points, and well, well worth it. Casting this gives you a huge advantage, especially against other midrange decks and control decks.
- Ancestral Vision: Great play early game, as it allows you to spend all of your mana on responding to your opponent until you resolve this. Generally great card.
- Anger of the Gods: The only sweeper in the deck. Useful against 'go wide' strategies, which the deck is relatively weak to. Often cast as a 2-for-1 or equivalent.
- Arc Trail: Super, super good removal. Often cast as a 2-for-1, but it can still be cast as just straight up shock.
- Arlinn Kord: Arlinn is an interesting one. Has versatility in the first side. If the +2/+2 doesn't allow you to kill your opponent or protect your creature from death in combat, I reckon you make a wolf. No matter what, still a valuable walker.
- Birds of Paradise: One of the best first turn accelerators in the game. Lets you cast 3-drops on turn 4 or 4-drops on turn 3, helping to edge out other midrangey opponents or respond to aggro players.
- Brainstorm: Just fantastic filtering. Super useful for digging for answers, and a fine turn one play.
- Chain Lightning: Great removal, and can help close out games.
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Some people call her Chandra the Mind Sculptor, and while I disagree with that assessment, she's still almost undeniably the best red walker. Every mode is valuable.
- Chart a Course: Card advantage with almost no downside in a midrange deck. Good option if you have creatures and don't want to overextend.
- Coiling Oracle: Great card advantage. If it hits a land you're always happy, if it doesn't you're still happy. Chumps sometimes, grabs a sword others.
- Condescend: Relatively good counterspell. Good one to hold up if you don't want to overextend.
- Counterflux: The only 3 mana hardcounter in the deck. It's good, especially vs. control.
- Counterspell: Classic hardcounter, always great.
- Courser of Kruphix: Super consistent, great creature. 4 toughness dodges bolt and blocks well, and the land drop is good card advantage. Courser is obviously good.
- Force of Will: Really useful to just have in your hand to counter something out of the aether. Yes it's hand disadvantage, but it can buy you a turn when you really need it.
- Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Crazy good creature. Even one card draw off of this is good. Has the potential to draw you tons of cards if it isn't dealt with.
- Electrolyze: Great card. Always cast as a 2-for-1 if you kill a creature, can even be a threefer if you get two creatures with it.
- Eternal Witness: Card advantage. Recurs what you need, and sticks around as a creature.
- Fact or Fiction: Good draw card. Forces your opponent into a sticky situation, and lets you choose so you always get what you want.
- Fanatic of Xenagos: Super efficient creature. No matter what they choose it's value.
- Fire: (I hate the syntax for this on tappedout.) Fire//Ice is a great tempo card. Cast fire if you can get a 2-for-1, cast Ice if it can shut down your opponent for a turn.
- Fire Imp: Baby Flametongue Kavu! Really though, it gets a 2-for-1 if they have an X/2, which are prevalent in the format.
- Flame Slash: Super efficient removal. Turns out 4 toughness is important in the format.
- Flametongue Kavu: The classic 2-for-1. Drops, kills a creature, sticks around.
- Garruk Wildspeaker: Lets you get some more mana, or drops 3/3s for days. Either way he's great.
- Glorybringer: Wow is this card the nuts. Crazy powerful threat, dodges bolt, can't be blocked by most creatures, and it gets a 2-for-1 if you exert it. If there's nothing to kill, don't exert, but if there is, exert.
- Green Sun's Zenith: It's fine. Gets you what you need if you need it. Flexible to hold. No card advantage on it's own, so I reccomend getting Tarmogoyf or Edric, Spymaster of Trest / Kitchen Finks.
- Huntmaster of the Fells: If it flips this is crazy, if it doesn't then it's still 2 creatures and some life. Especially good if they're out of gas later game.
- Incinerate: Seems like the best 1R redundant lightning bolt. Good removal, helpful against recursive creatures.
- Into the Roil: Good removal for tough permanents. If you can cast it for the kicker, it's good. If you're desperate, you can skip the kicker.
- Jace, the Mind Sculptor: It's Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Every mode is good. Draw cards if you need em, or fateseal your opponent.
- Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
: Flips the turn after it get's played often. Can recur a spell you need right then, or lock down a 2/X creature until you can find an answer.
- Kari Zev, Skyship Raider: Effectively attacks as a 3/3 for 1R. Holds swords and Jitte super well. Just a great card.
- Kitchen Finks: Great creature! 2-for-1s against a lot of creatures and removal, and the 4 life is not irrelevant.
- Lightning Bolt: Great removal and can help close out the game. Obviously very efficient.
- Lightning Strike: Good removal and can help close out games. Pretty efficient.
- Lumbering Falls: One of the better man lands. Fine threat, dodges removal.
- Mana Leak: Easy to cast, effective counterspell. Hold it up if you can.
- Miscalculation: Good up until about turn 6, and you can cycle it away after that.
- Negate: Good counterspell. Hardcounter versus may powerful cards.
- Nissa, Steward of Elements: Man is this card sweet. Scrying is useful, and if you can set up the free land or creature it feels really good.
- Nissa, Vastwood Seer
: The etb on side one is fine, but when she flips man is she good. Strictly better than draw a card as her +1, and can make a threat if you're under pressure. Card's great.
- Noble Hierarch: Good acceleration, helping you skip turn 2, and the Exalted is surprisingly good. Good card.
- Ponder: Good filtering. Helps you dig for what you need and refine your hand.
- Preordain: Great filtering. Helps you dig for what you need and refine your hand; has passive synergy with many cards in the deck that care about the top of your library.
- Prowling Serpopard: Super efficient creature, as a 4/3 for 3. Also helps in the control matchup.
- Raging Ravine: Possibly the best manland, can get out of hand really fast if you need a threat.
- Reclamation Sage: It can get a 2-for-1 sometimes. Other times, it's just a creature under the curve. Flexible.
- Remand: A good counterspell, but it reduces in value later in the game.
- Rogue Refiner: An essentially free 3/2 body left behind. It's value.
- Savage Knuckleblade: 'Ol Knucks. This guy is a super good threat, and can be played with haste for only one extra mana. Good midrange card.
- Scavenging Ooze: One of the best midrange cards of all time, undeniably. Gathers +1/+1 counters at the end of the opponent's turn, passive synergy with counterspells.
- Searing Spear: Good removal and can help close out games. Pretty efficient.
- Snapcaster Mage: Snapcaster is great. Flashes back removal, or a counterspell, or sometimes filtering. Great card advantage.
- Spell Snare: Really, really good play on the opponent's second turn when you're on the draw. One time, no spell snare... Joking aside, this hits a lot of stuff at only 1 mana. Great counterspell.
- Sword of Fire and Ice: Great equipment. Every time it hits you can get a 2-for-1. Otherwise it protects against the #1 and #3 removal colors and gives a relevant stat boost.
- Sylvan Library: Fantastic library manipulation spell. If you really need that extra draw you can pay the 4 life as well.
- Tarmogoyf: It can be a 3/4, a 4/5 or even a 5/6 for only 2 mana. Thing is bonkers efficient.
- Thragtusk: Top of the curve, but man is it good there. 5 life is not irrelevant by any stretch, and the fact that it makes a 3/3 is fantastic.
- Thrun, the Last Troll: Great against control, as well as the midrange matchup. 4/4 is a big body, and the regenerate ability makes Thrun very sticky.
- Thundermaw Hellkite: Very efficient threat. Guaranteed to get in the turn it drops, dodges bolt, generally just sweet.
- Treasure Cruise: 1 of our 10 points. Basically Ancestral Recall with enough in the bin.Massive card advantage.
- True-Name Nemesis: 1 of our 10 points. Almost invincible, completely unblockable. Holds equipment well, and at it's core its a great threat.
- Umezawa's Jitte: 2 of our 10 points. Obviously gas. Kills creatures for 2-for-1s, or provides super fast pressure, or prolongs your life by actually quite a while. Great, great card.
- Vendilion Clique: All-Star disruption. Nabs any huge threat they just tutored for. If you're casting blind, cast it on their draw step. Take the time to note what's in their hand.
- Young Pyromancer: Young Pyreezy! This guy is a super efficient threat, because you get more and more value the more you cast spells, which is what you're doing anyway.
And that's that! I'll be updating this deck more than my others from now on, it's becoming my favorite and it has a lot of room for optimization. Thanks for reading, and feel free to try out the deck yourself!
