Main Plan
The main plan of this deck is to get value from ETB triggers from cards like Torrential Gearhulk and Combustible Gearhulk. Our main blinker now that
Essence Flux
is rotating out of standard is Saheeli Rai, and she doesn't really blink in the traditional way.
The Cards
Torrential Gearhulk and Combustible Gearhulk; The main ETB cards to help create advantage with Saheeli Rai
Saheeli Rai; Our only way to "blink" our creatures, has a pretty good +1 when we are not blinking things that helps set up our draw step. Her ult is also powerful if we ever get to it, being able to get Dynavolt Tower, Torrential Gearhulk and Combustible Gearhulk
Dynavolt Tower; An alternate win-con to help burn down our opponent with the amount of spells we will be casting in the game.
Disallow; Great 3 mana counter spell, also helps protect against planeswalker abilities.
Harnessed Lightning; Good single creature removal which also gives energy for Dynavolt Tower.
Glimmer of Genius; A good standard control staple to provide card draw and energy for Dynavolt Tower.
Sweltering Suns; Good board sweep against aggro decks and can also be cycled if we don't need it.
Hour of Devastation; Another board sweeper against aggro decks, also gets rid of planeswalkers and gods.
Lightning Strike; More creature removal or straight damage to the enemy if we need it to close out the game.
Search for Azcanta
; My replacement for Anticipate, while not a direct replacement, it helps fill our graveyard for targets for our Torrential Gearhulk and the flip side Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
is a great land to help fill our hand with spells.
Spell Swindle; Unsure if this card is good or not, a 1-of right now as a target for Torrential Gearhulk, or if a game goes long.
Other Cards and Possibilities
My other thoughts were possibly going into either white or black.
BLACK: If I go into black I get access to cards like Doomfall, The Scarab God and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah. Black would also give me lots of good removal from cards like Fatal Push,
Never//Return
and Vraska's Contempt. My only concern with going into black is that I stray away from the idea of blinking ETB creatures, but then again that idea may be dead with the rotation of
Essence Flux
.
WHITE: If I go into white I get more access to blink cards like Angel of Condemnation, Acrobatic Maneuver, vizier of the deferment and
Wispweaver Angel
. None of these cards really work well with this deck, the only one would be Acrobatic Maneuver but that might be too expensive for only wanting to blink one creature. The other plus side of going into white is that I would get more board sweepers with Fumigate and exile effects from ixalan's biding and Cast Out.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!