Welp, after a lot of conversations with some friends, as well as a few strangers, I playtested quite a bit today and have gone back to the Ponza ramp version of the deck. While it doesn't ramp as hard as the Amulet version could, it leaves me more flex slots, and I have an easier time making double colors, which helps with the red planeswalkers as well as the playset of Pillage s I've been able to go back to.

Speaking of planeswalkers, tentatively one of the Chandra, Torch of Defiance is a placeholder for Chandra, Awakened Inferno , which is very, very good against control decks, and an alright clock. I think a split of them is going to serve the deck very well.

Now that I've committed to the prison aspect that the deck has evolved into, it was easier to just let it do what it does best, which is sit back and just CTRL-ALT-DEL everything!

To me this really feels like what a Ponza Prison deck would feel like, when the end game focus isn't big ass creatures but instead an annoying salt farming machine.

I should have the primer updated today or tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Thanks to some suggestions from the Ponza subreddit, the deck is now mainboarding Trinisphere , and boy has it made a huge difference. All the deck's parts click really well together now, and I'm really excited to take it to FNM in a week or two.

Not sure if I am going to do a full playset of 3Ball, or a 3-1 split because of Karn and Stirrings. The card that gets cut for either 1 more Bridge or 3Ball main is Ballista going to the side, but I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I also found a pretty dumb but funny combo that I think is pretty unique to this deck. Although incredibly unlikely you could technically:

1. Target Chandra, Awakened Inferno with Liquimetal Coating .

2. Target Chandra again with Karn, the Great Creator 's +1 ability, making her a 6/6 creature.

3. Equip Batterskull to Chandra, making her a 10/10 vigilance lifelink creature.

4. Use Chandra's -3 ability to deal 3 damage to all creatures, including herself, gaining 3xN life.

5. Go to combat, swing in with Chandra for another 10/10 vigilance lifelink.

Been playtesting a lot lately, and it has gone very well.

I've made two MB changes:

-1 Walking Ballista +1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance : The deck really struggles to close out the game sometimes, and with all the Karns I can always get to Ballista when I need it. I may end up running two in the side.

-1 Abrade +1 Splinter : I really, really love Splinter, so I am going to run it as a fun-of.

As for SB changes:

Switched out Crucible of Worlds for Chalice of the Void . For every reason Crucible should be great, but because Wrenn and Six can handle so much of the same functionality plus some, I found myself never wanting to wish for Crucible. Chalice was an immediate thought to combo with Trinisphere to lock the opponent out of even more spells, and running it MB really requires Simians.

I am still on the hunt for 1-2 more artifact based alternate wincons to test. So far the runner's up are Goblin Charbelcher and God-Pharaoh's Statue . If I could guarantee I could get more mana on the board I would definitely try Blightsteel Colossus but unfortunately I hardly ever get above 8 or 9.

There's also the option of trying to fit a Nahiri, the Harbinger / Emrakul, the Aeons Torn combo in the side (or main?!) but I don't know if two cards are good enough.

Got to bring the deck to FNM yesterday and it was a lot of fun, more fun than I've ever had at FNM playing Modern.

Noticed some things right off the bat, like World Breaker is no longer the powerhouse it was in previous versions of the deck. The casting cost can be detrimental during really vital turns when I have Bridge out but not enough mana to get World Breaker out of my hand. Switched it out for an Acidic Slime and immediately felt the benefit. I almost want a second.

As for planeswalkers: Karn feels great. I would never go less than 4. Wrenn at 3 feels good, although I could probably go to 2 and still feel the benefit. 2x Chandra TOD was okay, and Chandra AI was an absolute house. I ended up siding in AI almost every game, and every time I got to cast it it had a pretty big impact on the board. I'm not sure if I just don't have the right type of deck for Chandra TOD, or I wasn't taking full advantage of her, but the difference in game impact was huge. That's probably the point though between a 4 drop and a 6 drop. For now I am going to go one of each, none in the side, and see what that plays like.

19 lands feels good thanks to the Wrenn and Stirrings, but 3 colorless sources is the absolute max. I had some rough mulligans that would have been great had my land drop not been a colorless source. It may be worth dropping a Birds for another land source and see how that plays. Changing Buried Ruin , a land I like but that I didn't get value out of very often, to a Blast Zone was a great change. I got to use it quite often, including one instance of cracking it while it was on 3, bring it back in with Wrenn on the same turn, and crack it again on 1 to wipe out quite a few opposing creatures. Even just having it out and leaving some mana up to crack it is enough to warp the decisions people make.

I think when there is no Walking Ballista in the mainboard that the Batterskull in the side is better as a Wurmcoil Engine . I'm going to test that and see how I like it instead.

Considering an Oblivion Stone for a wishable board wipe, but going to try Engineered Explosives first to see if I can get anything out of that, even though I can only sunburst for 2.

Revisions look good. Keep us updated on how Shenanigans does. I'm particularly curious about whether or not you use the dredge to eliminate continuous threats against egg/affinity-style decks or just cast it once to blast Aether Vial s/ Chalice of the Void s. And if you reuse it, does the dredge make a big difference in disrupting your own plan? I don't play enough modern to really know how the card does. +2

BroadScholar Shenanigans has been great, and there have only been very few times playing it where it was stuck in my hand. What makes it especially strong is, in conjunction with Liquimetal Coating , it turns into "give up your draw to Vindicate the opponent each turn". It being so narrow otherwise, and a sorcery, is why I can only bring myself to run the one copy. In my opinion it's much better than Ancient Grudge as a one-of in my deck.

Just today I used it 4 times in a row to kill a creature and 3 lands, and then my next turn I just went back to drawing like normal. It is really hard to come back from if you catch the opponent in a lull of play.

If you want another artifact prison piece wincon, what about Lodestone Golem ? It's a powerhouse in Vintage, but that doesn't mean much because they usually cast in on turn 1.

Also, why not embrace (or at least try out) playing both Chalice of the Void and Simian Spirit Guide ? SSG also allows turn 2 Pillage , which tends to be good.

These are almost certainly bad suggestions, but I'm just throwing them out there as things to think about!

ToolmasterOfBrainerd: I don't think Lodestone Golem has enough of an impact, especially compared to 4 MB Trinisphere s. Chalice/SSG though is something I really wanted to fit to just bring the prison aspect full circle, but I think the only way to do it is to lose Wrenn and Stirrings. If I could figure out a 3/3 split of Chalice and 3Ball I think that would be a ton of fun, but it might just be my attachments to the cards I have now but I don't feel like there are many flex slots outside of Acidic Slime and maybe a Birds.

If you want to add 4 Chalice and 4 SSG, you need to cut 8 cards. Birds of Paradise is definitely the first 2 cuts. I'd suggest Acidic Slime , the Chandras, and Ensnaring Bridge as cuts 3-6. Maybe trim 1 Ancient Stirrings as number 7, and Shenanigans as number 8? I don't think it's worth it.

I don't think Chalice of the Void is a card you can only play 3 of. I think you either don't play it at all or go all-in on it. But honestly, I'm not sure this deck wants it. It stretches you out thin between prison and land destruction.

I DEFINITELY DEFINITELY think you need to go up to at least 8 fetch lands. Having Wrenn and Six and no fetch land feels really bad. You could even go up to 10, to be honest. You do not need more than 6 or 7 fetchable lands. 4 Forest, 2 Stomping Ground, and 1 Mountain (or 3-3-1, or 3-2-1) will suffice.

This deck is so smooth. I love it.

Another thing I'm noticing is that you have a lot of artifacts in the sideboard. Too many, in my opinion. I think you'd be better off packing a little more graveyard hate. Ravenous Trap and Leyline of the Void are both good options. I don't know what kind of graveyard hate this deck wants, but I think it wants more. An opponent with no lands in play can still convoke and delve for Hogaak, which is the most popular deck at the Pro Tour right now.

And on a side note, I would include the word 'upvote' somewhere in your upvote button text. Just to be safe.

Made some changes almost on a whim that ended up really tying the deck together and being a ton of fun.

I brought in Nahiri, the Harbinger for several reasons. Her card filtering is great, her removal is a fantastic mainboard inclusion (she even combos with Liquimetal Coating on tapped permanents), but her ulti brought a completely unique alternate wincon (or primary now?) that the deck desperately needed.

With the splash of white I'm also able to more comfortably add Leyline of Sanctity , and I've also trimmed down the SB to be able to include some more anti-control measures with Choke . I think along with Trinisphere and my LD that Choke will be able to do some serious work.

All-in-all I lost a Blast Zone and an Acidic Slime , but a gained a lot of mainboard strength, as well as more refined sideboard in the form of Engineered Explosives now that I can make 3 colors easily.

Still trying to figure out where big Chandra should be, and if I need the playset of Nahiri or not, but otherwise I am very, very happy with this new version of the deck.

Let me know what you think!

Well, as much as I love Shenanigans when it gets going, it is currently the most narrow card I have by far. With that in mind, I've decided to switch it out for something more impactful.

So the question becomes, do I finish out the playset of Trinisphere , or add a 1-of Knight of Autumn ?

Also made some tweaks to the sideboard, as I was finding myself unsatisfied with 2x Surgical Extraction , and running 3x Leyline of Sanctity just didn't feel right. So I left a Surgical in, added 2x Rest in Peace , and also grabbed 2x Scavenging Ooze .

The RIP and Ooze have the added bonus of pushing my removed artifacts back to exile where I can grab them again with Karn, which is pretty cool. This also doubles the number of GY hate cards I was running, while also getting me a bit of protection from Burn through the Scooze.

Now that I have access to White Thalia, Heretic Cathar has really caught my eye. If I can get two of them I think that would be a really solid addition to the resource denial of the deck.