The Big Deck

Highlander* Combo Dredge

SadisticMystic

Creature (52)

• 1x Academy Rector
• 1x Augur of Bolas
• 1x Augury Owl
• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cephalid Illusionist
• 1x Cryptic Annelid
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Dimir Infiltrator
• 1x Disciple of Deceit
• 1x Dralnu, Lich Lord
• 1x Dregscape Zombie
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Ethereal Usher
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Festercreep
• 1x Fleshwrither
• 1x Guile
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Ichorid
• 1x Kaho, Minamo Historian
• 1x Krovikan Horror
• 1x Meloku the Clouded Mirror
• 1x Mindshrieker
• 1x Mirror-Mad Phantasm
• 1x Morselhoarder
• 1x Mortus Strider
• 1x Narcomoeba
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Nether Shadow
• 1x Netherborn Phalanx
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Omenspeaker
• 1x Oona, Queen of the Fae
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Phantasmagorian
• 1x Pili-Pala
• 1x Psychatog
• 1x Rage Weaver
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Scholar of Athreos
• 1x Skirge Familiar
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Stormscape Familiar
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Walking Archive
• 1x Willbender
• 1x Wonder

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana Vess

Land (85)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Bad River
• 1x Cabal Pit
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Creeping Tar Pit
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Dreadship Reef
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Esper Panorama
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Frost Marsh
• 1x Gemstone Mine
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 15x Island
• 1x Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 1x Opulent Palace
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Riftstone Portal
• 1x River of Tears
• 1x Rootwater Depths
• 1x Salt Marsh
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Secluded Glen
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 18x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Tendo Ice Bridge
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Tolaria
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Undiscovered Paradise
• 1x Urborg
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Whispers
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Waterveil Cavern
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Battle of Wits
• 1x Bridge from Below
• 1x Compulsion
• 1x Counterbalance
• 1x Leyline of the Void
• 1x Mortal Combat
• 1x Recurring Nightmare
• 1x Unfulfilled Desires

Artifact (13)

• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Mistvein Borderpost
• 1x Planar Portal
• 1x Ring of Three Wishes
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Shuko
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Tel-Jilad Stylus

Instant (48)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Circular Logic
• 1x Clutch of the Undercity
• 1x Coffin Purge
• 1x Commandeer
• 1x Condescend
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Diabolic Edict
• 1x Dimir Charm
• 1x Disfigure
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Disrupting Shoal
• 1x Dizzy Spell
• 1x Doom Blade
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Flash
• 1x Flash of Insight
• 1x Forbidden Alchemy
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Insidious Dreams
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Lose Hope
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Memory's Journey
• 1x Mindbreak Trap
• 1x Misdirection
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Teachings
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nameless Inversion
• 1x Perplex
• 1x Psychic Spiral
• 1x Recoil
• 1x Repeal
• 1x Shallow Grave
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Sickening Shoal
• 1x Smother
• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Ultimate Price
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Vendetta

Sorcery (32)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Brainspoil
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Cabal Therapy
• 1x Cruel Tutor
• 1x Demonic Collusion
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Dimir Machinations
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Exhume
• 1x Foresee
• 1x Haunting Echoes
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Innocent Blood
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Morality Shift
• 1x Morgue Theft
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Recoup
• 1x Rhystic Tutor
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Traumatize
• 1x Tunnel Vision
• 1x Unburial Rites
• 1x Unearth
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

---

Ever since 2002, I've had a chiefly blue-black Battle of Wits deck--back then it was mostly built from the Standard pool, and could either win with BoW itself, or with Traumatize plus one of Mortal Combat , Haunting Echoes (targeting the opponent in that case), or Psychatog. Even as I went onto a sort of permanent standby mode with the game in 2003, I still hung onto the deck, and occasionally made some tweaks as the card pool allowed.

The biggest tweak came in 2009, when I decided to convert the deck into a highlander deck, because 1) the concept is so obviously ridiculous with a deck of this size, and 2) it would allow me to take advantage of two specific cards that I couldn't before--namely Tainted Pact and Tunnel Vision.

The latter of these cards has become about as symbolic to the deck as Battle of Wits itself (which led me to give it the current name, "The Big Deck", so as not to emphasize one of these parallel win conditions over the other), taking it in a direction that includes lots of scry cards for the purpose of putting a known card on the bottom and getting what's effectively a Morality Shift, for one less mana. "Tunnel Vision targeting me, then Condescend it for 0" has to be about the goofiest instant-win combo out there, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only player ever to take a first look at Viscera Seer and think "Oh boy, Tel-Jilad Stylus #2!"

As far as actually winning from Tunnel Vision, the canonical method is Dread Return for Necrotic Ooze, use the abilities from Devoted Druid and Morselhoarder to get uninterruptible unlimited mana without even having to pass priority (plus lots of untap triggers that I do have to pass priority on to take effect), then use Scholar of Athreos 's ability to drain away all life while not falling afoul of any opponents who may have shroud, hexproof, or protection. That's if nothing goes wrong, and honestly once Dread Return actually resolves there's very little that can stop that, but just in case, the fact that there are so many cards going into the graveyard on that play means there's room for a number of backup plans. Blood Pet earns a spot in the deck not so much for ramping capabilities but because it provides a very specific out against losing Ooze to a Word of Seizing.

It's not just the fleeting moment with 220-odd cards in the graveyard where the deck has lots of options; over the course of the game there are naturally going to be a lot of interactions that get a chance to come up in a 240-card highlander deck. The mana base was built not to care about colors other than blue and black, but casting Academy Rector off of Tendo Ice Bridge and following it up with Disfigure on my own creature? Yes please.

As a closing thought, where else are you going to get the chance to play 15x Salt Marsh in Highlander? (And counting, if the current multicolor land template persists into future design.)

Date added	13 years
Last updated	9 years
Legality	This deck is Highlander legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 74 - 0 Rares 72 - 0 Uncommons 47 - 0 Commons
Cards	240
Avg. CMC	2.87
Tokens	Faerie Rogue 1/1 UB, Illusion 1/1 U w/ Flying, Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Look at this, decks i wanna look at, Damn