The Trickster's Nine Lives [KLD]

Standard Combo Midrange Prison Sacrifice Theme/Gimmick WUB (Esper)

usurphling

Land (25)

• 3x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Castle Ardenvale
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 3x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Fabled Passage
• 3x Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip
• 3x Island
• 3x Plains
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Silence

Enchantment (17)

• 3x Nine Lives
• 4x Omen of the Sea
• 3x One with the Stars
• 4x The Birth of Meletis
• 3x The Trickster-God's Heist

Instant (4)

• 4x Pharika's Libation

Creature (8)

• 3x Cyclone Summoner
• 3x Fae of Wishes
• 2x Murderous Rider

Sorcery (6)

• 4x Doomskar
• 2x Idyllic Tutor

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Sideboard

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Nine Lives
• 1x One with the Stars
• 1x Shark Typhoon
• 1x The Trickster-God's Heist

Instant (2)

• 2x Saw it Coming

Sorcery (5)

• 3x Duress
• 1x Necromentia
• 1x Shatter the Sky

Artifact (1)

• 1x Tormod's Crypt

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
• 1x Kaya the Inexorable
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

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Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Sorcerous Spyglass

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When Nine Lives was spoiled, every home brewers like me were excited and challenged to make this deck possible. Most MTG sites already mentioned Solemnity and Phyrexian Unlife as its bestfriends in eternal formats. In standard, its a big challenge for us how to utilize this card. Nine Lives is a very good card to prevent damage from anything specially in go wide decks...but it makes you loses the game if it reaches 9 or more counters.

This deck was originally made when Nine Lives was spoiled and Role Reversal is standard legal and in Jeskai Colors UWR.

With Kaldheim, the infamous Nine lives swap combo is back thanks to this card:

The process is still the same but I think its easier since were using Esper Colors.

Update 03082021: I watched LegenVD's version of Nine Lives Deck and I admit I was amazed on his selection of cards so I will incorporate his deck to mine. The only difference between our decks is he relies on the combo alone while I don't just rely on the combo alone and adding more answers to certain matchups thanks to Fae of Wishes

Side note: You can redistribute carefully the counters gained in Nine Lives when you have two or more copies of it.

Another Side note: With Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider in your opponent's board, you won't get any counters in Nine Lives thus protects you from it...until Ugin Wipes your board including nine lives - BOO!

The key cards

• The Trickster-God's Heist - is our way to give Nine Lives to our opponent and forces them to lose the game. Also, you can switch your unwanted permanents to the ones that you want.

• One with the Stars - an expensive semi-creature removal for us that disables them to attack or block or even mutate...but they can still activate their abilities. Also, this is your target enchantment to be able to swap with The Trickster-God's Heist.

• Pharika's Libation - the final piece of the combo that serves as either creature or enchantment removal...or

• Cyclone Summoner - it bounces all permanents included the swapped Nine Lives (except Giants, Wizards and lands, duh) and gives you a Vanilla 7/7 big bad wizard!

The supportive pieces

• Murderous Rider - he deals with annoying creatures and planeswalkers...dont mind the 2 life loss, you can always cast him as a creature later on and gain life from it.

• Omen of the Sea - the best card digger I believe...much better than Anticipate , Deliberate or Mazemind Tome because you can still scry after you use it as a draw engine.

• Doomskar - the newest installment but cheaper boardwipe.

• Idyllic Tutor - to search for the missing enchantment combo piece that you need.

• The Birth of Meletis - Mono Black Magic's favorite card...lol. It helps you get your next land, a 0/4 wall against your opponents and a small lifegain.

• Fae of Wishes - this card helps me to deal with different decks in different situations. You can pitch some cards in the sideboard such as:

a) Combo Pieces - Nine Lives , One with the Stars or The Trickster-God's Heist

b) Shatter the Sky - our backup boardwipes just in case were out of those.

c) Necromentia - to remove the biggest threat in your opponent's deck. Trust me, I necromentia their Doom Foretold s and Ugins then quit lol

d) Ashiok, Nightmare Muse and Kaya the Inexorable - are you best planeswalkers against midrange decks. In best of three, you will transform into a pure traditional control by having these two.

e) Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - our very very last wincon if all else fails.

The other sideboards

• Duress - against control decks and also another way to trigger Tergrid's ability.

• Tormod's Crypt - graveyard hate

• Saw It Coming - another installment counterspell against midrange and control decks.

• Shark Typhoon - against attrition and control decks.

I don't really expect this to break standard's current metagame but I had fun brewing this deck. I hope I have enough money and wildcards to play this deck. Feel free to playtest this and let me know in the comments section. ENJOY!

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If you enjoy this deck and you like jank too, you may consider reading my other decks:

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Yorion's Happy Gods in Kaldheim

Standard usurphling

SCORE: 1 | 517 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

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Top Ranked	Achieved #15 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Standard 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	0 - 3 Mythic Rares 35 - 4 Rares 10 - 5 Uncommons 8 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.43
Tokens	Emblem Kaya the Inexorable, Human 1/1 W, Nightmare 2/3 UB, Shark X/X U, Spirit 1/1 W, Wall 0/4 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Standard, Standard