Loving this, can't wait for some scry lands to help even out the mana some.

I've been playing with your deck. I really like the general idea; especially Hidden Strings that get's the counters going. Some thoughts I'd like to get feedback on:

1) I can't really get Nivmagus Elemental to be helpful, since you really need the cipher of Hidden Strings to get it pumping, WITHOUT needing to burn through valuable instants.

2) I seem to loose every time when facing black decks with a lot of destroyers. Really annoying.

I'm new to this, so please give me your feedback.

mistertee1) Nivmagus Elemental is helpful in several ways, you can cipher him starting turn two. When an opponent has removal, and you try to counter but they have add in additional removal to the stack, you can "technically" make them waste two removals instead of one for the cost of losing your creature and letting Nivmagus Elemental "eat" your counter. And third, you can burn instants such as bioshift and triton tactics, they are situational and thus have more utility.2) The side board that the OP has listed is from a generalist POV. He puts many different cards in to show us what cards may be necessary. Don't go by the book, go by feel. I have 4x Mizzium Skin , 3x Swan Song , 3x Dispel , 3x Azorius Charm and 2x Rootborn Defenses .. For the Main deck, I took out 2x Artisan of Forms , they are too situational, and it complicates this deck just for crazy creatures. But we forget to mention that in most cases, the opponent would rather copy ''our'' creatures. Unblockable, scrying, and getting stronger every turn.... anyway, I added in 1 more Gods Willing which will also help to counter removal, and I added in 1 more Fabled Hero . He is too dangerous, opponents want to "destroy him at all cost". This gives you a foresight advantage. Knowing that you have three means that you can gauge how many counters your opponent will waste on just that card. Improve your "head game" and you will always be at an advantage. Hope this helps

How would one win turn 3? :)

Hi, love the idea of this deck and getting ready to try it out. Question: Have you thought about Trait Doctoring and/or Gridlock ? I am just looking for ways to target. I thought with Trait Doctoring and the Cipher you could make useless changes / exiles over and over again. With Gridlock I see it as a "use at the end of the other player's turn when you have mana left" type of thing.

Just some thoughts.

mailpip those are interesting cards, but with "mana left over" I would personally use instants such as Gods Willing and Triton Tactics instead. Also, how would you use Trait Doctoring specifically, do you have an example? I'm interested in how it could work in with the current lay out. And what cards would you take out for Trait Doctoring ?

wowitsthat1guy actually i don't think it is possible, the OP made a mistake with mana floating. Unless there still is a way, he will have to explain to us.I_H8_U_M8???

Kosnimjc

I played several (maybe 25 single game matches) games on MTGO and tried a few substitutions based on what I was using and what was sitting in my hand. I ended up with the following:

4 x Favored Hoplite 4 x Nivmagus Elemental 4 x Battlewise Hoplite 4 x Phalanx Leader 4 x Fabled Hero 3 x Aqueous Form 3 x Bioshift 3 x Gods Willing 4 x Trait Doctoring 4 x Hidden Strings 3 x Dauntless Onslaught

I target Trait Doctoring on one of my critters and change "white to white." This has no effect other than triggering heroic. But then I cipher it to a critter (hopefully with Aqueous Form ) and send it in over and over again... each time I sac the resulting Trait Doctoring before it takes effect to boost my Nivmagus Elemental . It makes folks mad, changing white to white, but it is legal online.

I ended up dropping Gridlock . It worked a couple of times - I would tap my critters to trigger at the end of opponents turn, but more often than not, I didn't have the mana and it just sat in my hand.

I love your deck and it is a ton of fun to play around with. Thanks for the cipher to trigger idea (I don't know if it was yours, but I am back after several years of being away and this is where I saw it first).

+1

I really like the Ordeal of Thassa . If the deck is going, this is almost an immediate cast with plenty of creatures in play with 2 or more +1/+1 counters. I thought your mana base was too low at the start, but with that little extra draw boost in the Ordeal of Thassa helps a little.

Are you avoiding Azorius Guildgate because you know the there will be a U/W temple in Born of the Gods or do you just think a tapped dual land will slow the deck down too much?

I have a deck very similar deck to this one. My creatures are almost all white, so I use 4x Brave the Elements which is a nice utility card as I see in your sideboard. I can't figure out Azorius Charm in the sideboard. I don't know what I would ever use it for. I have Rootborn Defenses , Silence , and Detention Sphere in the sideboard. Without Rootborn Defenses and Silence (or for more you can use Render Silent as you listed) in the side board, Esper Control murders this deck starting in round 3.

One suggestion would be to add a few Judge's Familiar . Since the deck is not as aggro as White Weenie, I think the main purpose of the deck is to get big damage through a hole in the defense and I think Judge's Familiar would help. A flying 1/1 with a small sacrifice counter spell ability for B/W is a bargain. Judge's Familiar would serve three main purposes:

(1) Flying is not always accounted for in blocking. Being able to Bioshift to a creature that is not enchanted with Aqueous Form can be a nice touch.

(2) It gives you an extra one-drop for aggro.

(3) It helps reduce mana issues by being cast from either of the deck's basic lands.

I have more mana in my version of this deck as the WW in Phalanx Leader and Fabled Hero can sometimes cause early draw issues.

I agree with TiagaUppercut either some Judge's Familiar or Cloudfin Raptor as a flying attacker.

Have you seen the new W-U God? i think it might be rly good in this deck since there's a lot of low cost creatures

I think it's Ephara, god of the polis

Is go with Akroan Skyguard before Ephara. This deck doesn't want CMC 4, even with powerful effects.

I wont be updating this deck, it plays very well, I will have a new heroic b/w with the release of the new set though.

Hi I_H8_U_M8, please could you explain the role of Artisan of Forms ? Thanks to your thorough explanation and description I can understand how each card contributes to the aggressive goals of the deck but the Artisan.

I'm pretty sure he runs it so he can either, copy one of his other guys, example fabled hero, or phalanx leader, or even an opponents creature. Because nothing pisses off you opponent more, who just activated their Thassa, or cast their 6+ drop creature; then copying it and having one for yourself.

At least that's what I do with mine which is almost identical to his deck.

which mine is here:

Serious question: I_H8_U_M8, you aren't having to mulligan every other game at least due to the 18 lands? I've run the starting hand about 50 or so times and, at 18 lands, it seems like you would have to mull a large percentage of the time, even multiple times.

@TiagaUppercut I'd mulligan even if there was 1 card I think I wouldn't use that game and I didn't have a sure thing in my hand. For example, having 4 land in hand.

I know 18 land seems like a small amount, but In most cases it's actually too much for this deck. having only 2 cards with 3 cmc in the deck means that all my spells are going to cost 2 or less. 30% of all my cards are land. Theoretically I should have about 2.1 land cards in my starting hand. plus after 3-4 turns I should draw into another land. Any more than that and I will lose tempo and short game card advantage. This is important against decks running 24 land because they can draw excess land more often when they are looking for an answer. You may have to mulligan more frequently, but its very unlikely to get flooded which is very important mid game, you can at least somewhat control what you draw, but you cant control that always mid game.

M8 is right, the low land count is actually ok and so is aggressive mulling when all you ever want is 2-3 lands on the first draw. My deck is monowhite with a curve of 1.3 CMC and I run 15 lands, because last thing I want after turn 4 is to draw land when im topdecking for a final combat trick to kill them. My only concern for this BU aggro now is that heroic triggers can be responded to by red burn and usually mono red can be seen at most tourneys. BR control run a lot of early game removal nowadays(bileblight, drown in sorrow, hero's downfall) that may kill your hero before its buffed, and yea BR kill-all control is becoming an FNM thing quite quickly.

When will you update this for BOTG?

Updated deck will be posted soon. Its in testing right now.

Link to updated version with born of the gods posted in update.

So, I bought this deck and ran it at 2 FNM. Maybe my FNM is more competitive, but this deck is performing very average. It beats many people in a game and sometimes two. But in general, it cannot win an FNM. It is super vulnerable to removal and super vulnerable to the unblockable (aqueus form) enchantment deck with hero of iroas and hexproof creatures. Basically, I cannot figure out how to make this deck perform better. If I take too much out to add counters... I can't do what the deck is meant to do. Either way, I love the deck, and it will stay in my deck rotation for FNM (I place sometimes with it). But it is definitely not a major contender. I really wish it could be. It needs a special kick that I can't figure out. I hope you find it, I will be watching!

@w4rped Look at the updated deck, a link is posted in the updates section, Also consider reading this article, the major problem people have when playing this deck I find is deciding when to mulligan: https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/qm21

This deck is fairly easy to know when to mulligan, for I bought this deck off a friend and have been running it for months as a secondary FNM deck. Never accept less than 2 different color lands and must have at least 1 creature. Stats will make it pretty easy to get your heroic trigger spells but try to have a ratio of creatures:spells:lands at 2:3:2. If the ratio is too skewed from this, then mull. Fun and effective deck to run, but the only problem I have with the deck is that, like a tron enchantment deck, its too fragile. It ends up relying too much on 1-2 creatures in a current standard filled to the brim with removal, and this deck's designer treats any people's critiques of the deck as people who don't know how to play as seen from past/current comments on this deck...