Sideboard



A B/U control-deck, taking a different approach in manipulating the battlefield. The idea behind this deck is to 'ricochet' your opponent's permanents off the field constantly, then get them into a bind when having to recast those cards. Using a myriad of potential combos, you can remove, bounce, and stall your opponent down until they are virtually unable to do anything with their hands.

Ricocheting allows you time to get to your deus ex machina. Using Curse of Exhaustion with Knowledge Pool is an evil way to get a win con within a turn or two 90% of the time. By doing so, you have completely removed your opponent's ability to cast any spells. Knowledge Pool requires a person to be able to cast two spells in a turn, regardless of the fact that the second is free, it is still casting!

Getting Venser down and bumping him to his exile emblem quickly polishes the field, although simply clearing creatures out and using your little guys to get in some digs will also get the job done.

The main thing to keep in mind with this deck is that patience pays. This deck is slow, and it is meant to be slow, taking its time methodically moving pieces around, arranging the chessboard to the most advantageous position for yourself. Take a few hits from some early little guys; you can blast them out later, or at least make them regret attacking you. Thinking critically and carefully, the design behind this deck is to keep your opponent busy with replacing cards and trying to find ways to cast anything. Done right, they will end up discarding things from their hand.

This is a new manifestation of the deck, given some overhauls to try to counter what has been a hit-and-miss deck. The first run with this deck had terrific combos, many of which to choose from. T

I have taken pains to simplify this down to the very basic premise, give some versatility to the utility of this deck, and get it polished up and ready for play. Let me know what you think.

Tip: Unless your hand is a beauty, if you have Knowledge Pool in it from the start, I'd pull a Muligan.

Here is the new lineup:

Lands:

You have your dual colored, and in addition, Moorland Haunt and Buried Ruin. One to get you more fodder on the board, the other to get your precious Knowledge Pool back in your hand, if it got yanked.

Enchantments:

Same as before, but the numbers are changed. The ORIGINAL main idea behind this deck, what inspired it all in the first place, was Dissipation Field and Curse of Exhaustion, bouncing back attackers, and slowing casting way down. With only two of each in the deck, I found that I saw these cards less than half the time. Frankly, maybe one out of three games one of the two would show, and closer to one out of five would they both get into play. Getting three of each in has dramatically lifted this.

Artifacts:

Sphere of the Suns provides mana ramp, getting the enchantments down earlier, and the big combo for this deck as quickly as possible.

Knowledge Pool is a fun card that with Curse of Exhaustion, screws your opponent over like a night with a jailbird named Bubba. I also like being able to have more spell selection on the table, from my side and theirs. :)

Instants:

Vapor Snag and Unsummon provide creature clean-up, bouncing things around. The focus should be when your life is getting too low, or your opponent pulls a fast one and enhances them with enchantments, instants, or artifacts.

Psychic Barrier is good for dealing with creatures you don't want to give a chance at all- usually has to do with abilities.

Sorcery

Day-of-Judgement cleans up the messes. If the field gets flooded fast, or becomes too difficult to deal with, too pumped, whatever, wipe it clean. Or, if you have the board locked, get rid of all creatures and let your opponent scoop.

Creatures:

AEther Adept is a Queen of Bouncing. She comes out and provides services as a blocker/attacker, and she gets something off the field. Toss in Venser, and you have an unsummon every turn.

Treasure Mage is a nice tutor for the big artifact of this deck. Again, another card that does a job, and then becomes a good blocker/attacker.

Last but certainly not least, Snapcaster Mage just makes things work. Getting double use out of spells is just awesome!

Planeswalker:

What needs to be said about Venser, the Sojourner? Bounce stonehorn, bounce lands for extra mana, make your creatures unblockable, or just go straight for your Emblem(s) and wipe away the field with every spell. He truly makes the ricochet possible.

Now, the sideboard:

When I do not run into aggro decks, I run into Shrine of Burning Rage decks, and nearly pure Planeswalker decks. The sideboard is configured to easily exchange cards in favor of better functioning cards, and to work against the token heavy decks as well, as spot removal just will not cut it.

Negate- swaps with Psychic Barrier typically, acts a non-creature spell counter, for decks with bad enchantments/curses, artifacts like Shrine of Burning Rage control, or planewalkers.

Celestial Purge- Mainly here for the problem planeswalker, though I might switch a couple in to deal with decks utilizing Geralf's Messenger, to get around the ETB effect (repeated Vapor Snag is a bad idea 0_o). Typically switched with Vapor Snag.

Disperse- Exchangeable with Unsummon, this is for decks with less creature focus, and more planeswalkers or hard to handle artifacts.

Dissipate - A hard counter to get rid of cards for good. Can go in for Psychic Barrier, or if the deck is nearly a pure planeswalker mess, go in for day-of-judgement.

All in all, I hope this will operate faster, more efficiently, and be more versatile with the sideboard. Let me know what you think, and if you like the idea, give that +1 in the corner a nice little click. :D

Suggestions

Updates Add

No. Evolution is what leads to improvement. :)

Anyway, more changes, and the play testing has been absolutely fantastic. Win con pops up very quickly, and the board gets nailed down much earlier.

Changes from before:

Took out Oblivion Ring. Going to focus on bouncing, not exiling.

Took out Fiend Hunter. Same reason, less focus on exiling.

Moved Dissipate to sideboard. Went with cheaper creature counter, and put less emphasis on exile. In sideboard to deal with nasty decks with flashback or planeswalkers, yuck.

Moved Disperse to sideboard. Have 7 one mana drop creature removers, don't need this in the primary set up. However, sided for those decks whose focus is not aggro.

Took out Grand Abolishers. Did not do much for me, made casting spells on my turn unplayable, and went with Curse of Exhaustion, but it never made all that much difference. Need space for other functionary creatures.

Took out Stonehorn Dignitary. He took until turn four to get out, and AT LEAST turn 5 to make use of with Venser, if he even made it to that- and while preventing attacks, became a lightning rod for creature hate. For four mana, I could have just wiped the field. Things are running more smoothly without him.

Returned AEther Adept. Putting the focus back on creature bounce, and she does it well. Combined with Venser, she can make you want to rip your hair out.

Added Unsummon. Another 1 mana creature bouncer, to support Vapor Snag.

Added Treasure Mage. It retrieves my one copy of knowledge pool, and is a creature on the field to help with blocking or attacking. Makes it like I have more knowledge pools, without having to put more of a 6 mana cost card in my deck. Less likely to get a dead card in my hand.

Added Sphere of the Suns. This is really making a huge difference. I see one by turn two about... 50% of the time? And even if not turn two, usually not long thereafter. Often, if I don't one, I get a good land flush anyhow. This helps speed up curse output and lessens the likelihood that I get totally boned for lands. I have seen an incredible improvement from this card.

Added Knowledge Pool. This with Curse of Exhaustion is a total lockdown, and it gets more cards on the field. I get a some choice in what to cast, even if it is a bit of a pain to work around. It just works great.

Added Buried Ruins. Having one artifact is fragile. It could get discarded from my hand, or milled out. Using the lands to retrieve it helps, I actually had to do this once during a play test. It should rarely be necessary, but acts as a just in case solution.

Moved Day of Judgment to mainboard. I am finding that with bouncing around until a field and/or curse can be laid, a DOJ really helps clean situations up. It also wipes the board clean post lockdown, which enables assured victory.

The sideboard:

Negate- swaps with Psychic Barrier typically, acts a non-creature spell counter, for decks with bad enchantments/curses, artifacts like Shrine of Burning Rage control, or planewalkers.

Celestial Purge- Mainly here for the problem planeswalker, though I might switch a couple in to deal with decks utilizing Geralf's Messenger, to get around the ETB effect (repeated Vapor Snag is a bad idea 0_o). Typically switched with Vapor Snag.

Disperse- Exchangeable with Unsummon, this is for decks with less creature focus, and more planeswalkers or hard to handle artifacts.

Dissipate- A hard counter to get rid of cards for good. Can go in for Psychic Barrier, or if the deck is nearly a pure planeswalker mess, go in for Day of Judgment.

~~~~

All together, much better functioning, more consistent, and faster. Knowledge pool is not required to win, but it makes a hell of a lot of difference. I have one in play testing by keep a clear field (dissipation field and Curse of E) and chipping away at the life. All in all, I feel really good about this.

Thoughts? Comments? Love it, give it a +1. Even if you don't love it, you should hit the +1 button anyhow. :D~

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Top Ranked
  • Achieved #2 position overall 12 years ago
Date added 12 years
Last updated 11 years
Legality

This deck is Modern legal.

Rarity (main - side)

4 - 0 Mythic Rares

18 - 0 Rares

13 - 8 Uncommons

15 - 7 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 2.68
Tokens Spirit 1/1 W
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