For a long time I wanted to make a standard deck around Planar Bridge but I just couldn't scratch up anything convincing enough. Then, WotC decided to reprint Omniscience and I instantly knew I had to make this deck.
So what's this deck like?
Key cards: Omniscience, Planar Bridge, Mastermind's Acquisition
Very important cards: Hour of Promise, Gift of Paradise, Fumigate,
Overflowing Insight
, Approach of the Second Sun, Wildest Dreams, Sandwurm Convergence, Zacama, Primal Calamity
We run four colors which is pretty rare in standard. I originally made this deck in the colors of Bant, but then decided that it'd be more fun and more itself, if it involved black too. With black we get Mastermind's Acquisition which turns our sideboard into a nifty toolbox and makes this deck a combo deck. I will shortly explain all the included colors:
- Green: We require a lot of mana and fast in order to activate Planar Bridge in time. If we end up drawing Omniscience, hard casting it won't likely happen during the game without ramp.
- Blue: As Omniscience itself is in the colors of blue, we can't just leave it out. Also the deck is ultimately a kind of control deck, so we want to run counterspells, not to forget card drawing, especially
Overflowing Insight
in this deck.
- White: Removal and Lyra Dawnbringer
- Black: Mainly just Mastermind's Acquisition
How to play this deck?
- Early game goes with ramping and dealing with opponent's creatures. Ramp when you feel safe to do so, save mana for counterspells and removal if your opponent is playing aggressively.
- If your opponent has a threatening board and you have Mastermind's Acquisition in hand, you can always use it to tutor
Settle the Wreckage
or Fumigate.
- If the match is going steadily, don't waste your Mastermind's Acquisition as it will become immensely powerful later on.
- When you finally get to use Planar Bridge, the game gets real fun. If you have a Mastermind's Acquisition in hand and your opponent doesn't have counterspells, the game is almost won already. I will discuss several scenarios below to explain how the deck works and to show it's great potential.
Scenarios (8 mana available, Planar Bridge on the board)
-
Turn 1: Planar Bridge -> Omniscience; Mastermind 1 -> Approach ; Mastermind 2 -> Overflowing Insight ; Cast Approach, Overflowing Insight, Cast Approach
-
Turn 1: Planar Bridge -> Omniscience ; Mastermind 1 -> Mastermind 2 (from deck) ; Mastermind 2-> Wildest Dreams (from sideboard). Note: You can't play spells with 'X' in their cost without playing their mana cost, so you'll have to wait for next turn
Turn 2: Wildest Dreams -> 2x Mastermind (from graveyard) ; Mastermind 1 -> Approach (from sideboard) ; Mastermind 2 -> Overflowing Insight (from sideboard) ; Cast Approach, cast Overflowing Insight, cast Approach
-
By playing Zacama we get to untap our lands, which means we can cast Wildest Dreams already this turn, which means we also win this turn!
-
Mastermind's Acquisition in hand, no removal in hand, opponent has lethal board
Planar Bridge -> Omniscience ; Mastermind -> Wakening Sun's Avatar ; Play Wakening Sun's Avatar
If your opponent didn't run a dino deck, you are a in a good position now, having Omniscience and a 7/7 body on board while your opponent has no creatures. Then, when you run into another Mastermind, you can just go for the 1-turn approach combo. Of course, another option for Wakening Sun's Avatar is just to tutor a Fumigate from the deck.
-
This is pretty tricky scenario. Approach isn't now a very good option. I would consider tutoring some of these via Planar Bridge: Omniscience, Sandwurm Convergence and Azor, the Lawbringer. If you decide to go for Omni, you can use Mastermind to fetch Carnage Tyrant or Nezahal, Primal Tide. If your opponent happens to be tapped out so that there is no fear of counterspells this turn, I would seriously just consider taking Overflowing Inisight, drawing the 7 cards and hoping to cascade into more card draw and just flooding the board with a number of threats.
-
Planar Bridge -> Omniscience and just vomit all spells you got. Result is usually good. Next turn, tutor something else with Planar Bridge like Sandwurm Convergence, Azor, the Lawbringer, Zacama, Primal Calamity, Lyra Dawnbringer or even Ixalan's Binding in case targeted removal is necessary.
-
No any powerful spells in hand
Sadly this is a quite common scenario, as getting to this point usually requires a lot of work. Use Planar Bridge to tutor best suited permaments of the above-mentioned cards. When you draw card:Mastermind's Acquistion, it's usually best to tutor Omniscience via bridge and go wild in the fashion I've explained above.
Some facts:
-Remember to use the Mind of your Spring to fuel you cards in times of need. If Omniscience is on the board, using 6 manas shouldn't matter too much as everything else is free.
-Commit / Memory. The Memory can provide extremely valuable if you have Omniscience on the board and empty hand. Again, using your mana to fill hand doesn't matter at all, as spells cast from hand are free.
-Remember that Planar Bridge can be used to tutor Cast Out or Ixalan's Binding in case opponent has a particularly dangerous permanent, for example a Planeswalker.
-Nissa, Vital Force can be used as a last resort to get permanents from graveyard.
TL;DR
- It's a GWUB control/ramp/combo deck that plays Planar Bridge, Omniscience and Mastermind's Acquisition
- It actually works, especially against midrange decks
- Playing with this deck is really fun and winning even more so
- You should try this deck!
- Please upvote if you liked the deck, and comment for suggestions and questions :)