The goal of this deck is to play our pre-board strategy of
Narset, Parter of Veils
and
Teferi's Puzzle Box
Lock, which is full of things to let us dig for our combo like
Narset, Parter of Veils
,
Serum Visions
,
Arcum's Astrolabe
, and
Teferi, Time Raveler
. These are effective tools to shape our deck and find what we need. We also have ramp so that we can deploy our combo early, or even a turn two Narset. We also have controlling aspects like
Meddling Mage
,
Spell Queller
and
Deputy of Detention
to slow our opponent down or also shut down combo decks. We have
Reflector Mage
and
Deputy of Detention
to quell bleeding until we can deploy our combo.
Path to Exile
to remove tough creatures and
Supreme Verdict
to clear the Board once we land Narset. Once the combo is down, if we can clear the board with
Supreme Verdict
, the Opponent won't be able to cast another spell for the rest of the game.
These cards give the impression of a Bant Control deck, which is exactly what we want because after sideboard our deck turns into a very strong
Collected Company
deck. With the addition of
Knight of the Reliquary
,
Courser of Kruphix
,
Geist of Saint Traft
and
Tireless Tracker
- not to mention
Collected Company
.
We already have all the mana of a Bant Company deck with
Birds of Paradise
and
Noble Hierarch
, which in pre-board games just looks like a way to get our combo down faster. We already play
Spell Queller
and
Reflector Mage
which can be hit by Company but also just look like ways to slow down the game in game 1. Our other creatures like
Deputy of Detention
and
Meddling Mage
can now be played at instant speed for tricky plays. After sideboard, we have 26 creatures, which is a little light for CoCo decks usually 30ish, but given we can look at the top card of our library with Courser and have lots of draw and scry effects, we should be able to hit every time we cast CoCo.
Ideally our opponent will see that we are a Control-Type deck with very few creatures and will sideboard in order to play a control deck centering on artifacts and planeswalkers, maybe they even take out some creature removal. They will definitely bring in Planeswalker hate (like small creatures to get on the board fast, which we easily outgrow). All of a sudden a bunch of turn two
Knight of the Reliquary
's that are 4/4's will take them by surprise.
Our mana base needs to be primarily blue / green in order for our turn 1 plays of either
Serum Visions
or a mana dork.
Arcum's Astrolabe
also helps us dig on turn one and set up our mana fixing really well. With the use 7 fetch lands in our deck, we can easily fetch for a snow-covered land of any color and not have to worry about getting shock lands since we can always filter our mana with Astrolabe. The fetches obviously play well with
Knight of the Reliquary
and
Courser of Kruphix
for value. We also have
Ghost Quarter
for Tron and to boost
Knight of the Reliquary
we can always target our self and get a basic snow-covered land. We have
Waterlogged Grove
to draw a card and grow the Knight.
Spell Queller
pairs well with
Teferi, Time Raveler
because they won't be able to cast the exiled card at instant speed when they remove Queller.
It is also fun to play mind games against players in Game 3 by putting all 15 cards into your deck, and then picking which configuration is best suited for the match. They will have no clue whether you are taking the control route or the CoCo route.
Here is how sideboarding will usually go (Dependent on the matchup, if the Control variant is best against your opponent, leave it how it is):
Out -
Teferi, Time Raveler
x 3
Teferi's Puzzle Box
x 2
Narset, Parter of Veils
x 3
Supreme Verdict
x 3
Leyline of Sanctity
x 2
Search for Azcanta
x 1
In -
Courser of Kruphix
x 4
Knight of the Reliquary
x 4
Geist of Saint Traft
x 1
Tireless Tracker
x 2
Collected Company
x 3
Scavenging Ooze
x 1
The configuration of Game 1 control, Game 2 CoCo is better than the reverse because Game 1 most decks are not equipped to deal with 10 important permanents/planeswalkers/ artifacts, while they are plenty ready for creature removal in game 1. While in game two, we give them a chance to take out all that creature removal that they already have in place for other types of hate, which are now irrelevant after sideboarding.
