OVERVIEW
This is a control/soft-lock deck that aims to build towards the late game and win from there. The general idea of this deck is to:
1 - (Early game) build a bit of a defensive wall early game
2 - (Early-mid game) cast creatures with ETB effects to enable you to further control the board early-mid game,
3 - (Late game) build towards flicker combos to lock down the battlefield and finish your opponent off with your threats.
The ideal combo would be to have
Venser, the Sojourner
flickering
Stonehorn Dignitary
each turn to shut out your opponent while using your other tricks to finish them off.
Creatures
ETB Creatures
Wall of Omens
, 4x - the ideal turn 2 play. It's a value creature that gains you card advantage while providing good defense against early aggro. Essential to ensuring you are on game plan, so 4x of here.
Blade Splicer
, 2x - provides aggressive value for both attacking and blocking in the form of Golem creature tokens.
Stonehorn Dignitary
is a central combo piece with
Venser, the Sojourner
. Doesn't matter how large or powerful an army your opponent has, once you get this combo out it is a soft-lock on the game until you bring out your finishers.
Stonehorn won out in favor of
Lavinia of the Tenth
, who'd long been the centerpiece of my deck. Both shut down the opponent's combat pretty effectively, but it was pointed out in a forum that Stonehorn just does a more complete job of it, and at a cheaper/easier to pay mana cost at that. (However, I'm still keeping Lavinia in for matchups against red decks). 3x of
Lavinia of the Tenth
- excellent at slowing down red/aggro decks. Worth noting that it hits all nonland permanents, so it gets around hexproof (e.g Bogles), artifact heavy decks, and all creatures CMC 4 or less, which is a pretty wide net to cast. Combos with
Venser, the Sojourner
a la
Stonehorn Dignitary
for a soft lock on the board. Protection from red is the cherry on top, as it can quickly become a beater against those red deck matchups. 2x of her in the deck, as her Legendary status means you really don't want more than that.
Clone
is a versatile creature, entering the battlefield as whatever you need at that exact moment (and it does still benefit from any ETB effects of a creature you copy). Running 1x of, as it is more of a toolbox creature.
Considering upgrading him to
Phyrexian Metamorph
, as it is slightly more versatile with its ability to target artifacts, not to mention being able to cast it on turn 3 if we wanted. It's a bit more pricey though, so for budget purposes Clone works just as well.
Sun Titan
because...well, should be pretty obvious. can target a decent chunk of our deck that may end up in our graveyard, and is one of our ways to finish the game.
Phyrexian Ingester
- rounds out the top of our curve. with a flicker engine in place, he becomes my favorite creature to have out, constantly exiling creatures and causing havoc to our opponent's board.
Flicker/Blink Enablers
Flickerwisp
is our early bouncer, and much like
Lyev Skyknight
becomes a threat in the air. A key difference with him and the other flickerers in the deck is that he can target A) nonland permanents, not just creatures, and B) your opponent's nonland permanents. This means he just about always has a target, whether it's your own
Temple of Enlightenment
or some juiced-up creature from your opponent with tons of counters and/or enchantments.
Restoration Angel
, 4x - a general all-star in Modern, and even better in this deck. Provides instant speed blinking with flash, which allows for all sorts of combat tricks- saving one of your creatures from dying, perhaps after declaring it as a blocker, surprise blocking itself, etc.
Finishers
Ephara, God of the Polis
is a bit weak in that it takes a while before you see the fruit of your labors, but once you get a solid bounce combo going, the extra income in terms of drawing an extra card each upkeep is awesome. Not too difficult to activate her as a creature also, with
Detention Sphere
and
Spell Queller
mixed up in this deck.
Instants/Sorceries
Cloudshift
, 4x - provides instant speed blinking whenever necessary
Eerie Interlude
, 1x - once we have a board full of creatures, this can net us a ton of value, not to mention saving us from a board wipe
SB:
Path to Exile
- spot removal for creatures that are giving us trouble
Enchantments
Detention Sphere
, 4x - removal with the benefit of being able to target any nonland permanent, is particularly brutal against tokens by permanently removing them, and can also be bounced with something like
Flickerwisp
to target a bigger, more relevant threat later on in the game. Also has the hidden benefit of adding devotion to
Ephara, God of the Polis
.
Planeswalkers
Venser, the Sojourner
, 2x - the founder and centerpiece of this deck. All 3 abilities work well in this deck. The 1st acts as a repeatable form of flickering, and creates a soft-lock combo with
Stonehorn Dignitary
and
Lavinia of the Tenth
. The 2nd can be used once you've stalled long enough and have reached a critical mass of creatures on the board to swing in for lethal. The 3rd is just sad times for your opponent if you can pull it off.
Lands
The one land worth mentioning is
Temple of Enlightenment
. Having the ability to scry 1 as ETB is great, as this is deck is geared towards the long game/finding combo pieces. It can also be targeted by the likes of
Flickerwisp
and
Venser, the Sojourner
for repeatable scry when no other option is available.
However, overall I would like to upgrade to the relevant shocks and fetches to make this deck even more consistent.
Sideboard:
-
Fragmentize
for artifact/enchantment hate
-
Kitchen Finks
for aggro/burn matchups
-
Leyline of Sanctity
for burn, storm matchups
-
Rest in Peace
for graveyard hate
-
Spreading Seas
for Tron. also shuts down manlands, slows down faster decks, and can be blinked for further card draw
-
Stony Silence
for affinity matchups
-
Supreme Verdict
for creature heavy matchups
-
Meddling Mage
vs. Storm (Grapeshot)
Matchups
Vs. Storm
(In)
Meddling Mage
,
Leyline of Sanctity
(Out)
Vs. Slivers
(In) Supreme Verdict
Vs. Burn/Aggro
(In)
Kitchen Finks
,
Leyline of Sanctity
Vs. Tron
(In)
Spreading Seas
,
Stony Silence
Vs. Dredge
(In)
Rest in Peace
Flip