It seems that every time an expensive blue enchantment is released, Legacy players manage to break it. Omniscience is no exception. Yes, it costs 10 mana, and yes, you basically need to cheat it into play in order to use it, but despite those restrictions, it’s Legacy-playable! Why? Because casting stuff for free is just that good! And a card named Show and Tell that cheats nearly any permanent into play for cheap is Legacy-legal!
This primer mainly covers the UR/x Burning Wish Omni build, but sample decklists of Living Wish and No Red variants are also given.
The Combo Core
Every UR/x Burning Wish Omni deck starts with the following cards:
Want to know why the core is the core? Then read below!
The Only Reason You’re Playing This Deck Omniscience: This card lets you cast anything and everything for free. This means you can get your expensive creatures out of your hand, turn Burning Wish into an insta-kill, and chain together cantrip after cantrip looking for either of the above. If you’ve got both a fatty and this card in your hand when you cast Show and Tell, cheat in this card first—it neuters Karakas, and opponents with Gilded Drake, Sower of Temptation, or Stingscourger expecting the immediate fatty will be sorely disappointed when their ETB triggers fizzle.
Fatties Emrakul, the Aeons Torn: You need your fatties to produce card advantage if you’re wasting a card cheating them into play, and I’d say your opponent needing to sacrifice 6 permanents every time Emrakul attacks is card advantage. Having evasion, 15 power, 15 toughness, and protection from most removal also helps.
Griselbrand: Or how about this sort of card advantage on a fatty? Griselbrand doesn’t need protection from anything when he’s a flying Yawgmoth’s Bargain with no drawbacks (besides being a legendary creature and needing to draw cards in 7-life chunks). Having 7 power and Lifelink is the icing on this tasty black demonic cake.
Cheats Show and Tell: So, how else are you going to put Omniscience on the battlefield? It also cheats in fatties as a back-up plan or a supplemental plan (Omniscience helps buffer fatties from unwanted stuff that’s cheated in at the same time and makes Emrakul even better than she already is by allowing you to cast her and get another turn).
Burning Wish: Omniscience basically can’t be hardcast, so it needs to be cheated in with Show and Tell. Unfortunately, 4 Show and Tells aren’t enough, and that’s where this card comes in. Throw a SnT in the wishboard so this card can get it and you now have 7 SnTs instead of 4. If you’ve already cheated out Omni, don’t fear: this card can also grab an infinite-strength OHKO!
Cantrips/Tutors
Brainstorm: It may not have the raw searching power of Ponder (you see only 3 cards instead of 4), but it’s still the best cantrip in Legacy. With this card, you can look for answers or combo pieces at instant speed, trade bad cards in your hand with better ones (especially when you combine it with a shuffling effect like a fetchland), hide good cards in your hand from priers with discard, and more.
Ponder: Getting the best card of the top three cards of your library is already pretty good. Hate them all? Shuffle your library and get a random card with this instead. For raw digging power for 1 mana, this card can’t be beat. (Brainstorm’s sheer versatility and instant speed makes it better overall, though.)
Preordain: This is the deck that will teach you that Preordain is worse than Ponder in Legacy. With so many shuffle effects, you see a lot of cards with Ponder, and digging only 2-3 cards deep with Preordain while Ponder digs 3-4 cards deep hurts. When you’re chaining cantrips and desperately trying to find win conditions with Omniscience out, the pronounced lack of dig matters. Oh well, at least this digs better than Serum Visions does, right?
Intuition: This is probably the best tutor in blue that can get Omniscience (along with anything else your heart desires, as long as it’s a 3-4-of). Watch out for Surgical Extraction afterwards—you’ll lose what you tutored after that card is cast.
Gitaxian Probe: For a mere 2 life and no mana (or 1 blue mana and no life), you can draw a card, peek at your opponent’s hand, and up your Storm count (like the last one matters)! At least knowing whether your opponent can cheat in something nasty when you resolve Show and Tell can be good.
Overmaster: Want to foil counterspells without reducing your cantrip count? Try this! You can’t use it to foil counterspells and cantrip for combo pieces at the same time, though, so figure out what your opponent is playing fast.
Personal Tutor: Really like Show and Tell or Burning Wish? You can search for it with this card, but it’ll use up a draw, and people will think they’re smart when they start milling cards off the top of your library with Thought Scour or forcing you to shuffle your library with Surgical Extraction.
Protection/Disruption
Force of Will: It doesn’t cost any mana without Omniscience out, and it costs even less with Omniscience out (no more blue cards and life). It counters everything you need it to when you need it to, so why not play 4 of it?
Daze: It does tend to push your combo turn back, but it doesn’t cost any mana to cast, and using your mana to dig instead of hold up counterspells is pretty good in this deck.
Misdirection: The good news is that this piece of disruption doesn’t cost mana! The bad news is that it’s useless against a fair few match-ups (creature removal isn’t so hot against you, Abrupt Decay is virtually dead, you can only redirect Red Elemental Blast if it’s acting as a counterspell or you’re not the only one with blue permanents, etc.). The good news is that this still reroutes counterspells, discard, and removal pretty well.
Spell Pierce: It’s a pretty hard stop to counterspells, discard, removal, and combo pieces (especially since you can combo off so early), but it tends to push your combo turn back in practice because you need to hold up mana for it.
Flusterstorm: Not worried about stuff like Trinisphere and Counterbalance? Mainly worried about counterspells, discard, rituals, and opposing Show and Tells instead? You can use this nigh-uncounterable counterspell, but it also tends to push back your combo turn because it makes you hold up mana.
Thoughtseize: Counterspells can’t prevent stuff like Oblivion Ring and Angel of Despair from entering the battlefield thanks to your own Show and Tell. Targeted discard can, and it can also prevent opposing counterspells to boot. Splashing black may be slightly unpleasant, though. Inquisition of Kozilek and Duress are no substitutes, as IoK cannot shoot out Force of Will and Duress cannot take out Griselbrand or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
Pact of Negation: It protects your combo now...but paying for it if you protected a fatty is pretty awkward.
Acceleration
Lotus Petal: Yes, it’s probably the worst card in the deck. (Stupid card disadvantage for mana.) However, Turn 1 Show and Tells are just too darn tempting sometimes. Raising the chance of Turn 2 Show and Tell is also a good thing.
Other
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Yeah, he’s the most expensive Brainstorm in the world. What else is he? He’s also a Brainstorm-making machine and a legitimate win con against control and other combo decks. This guy can be good if you’re in a combo- or control-heavy meta.
The Wishboard
Cheats Show and Tell: With a Show and Tell in the wishboard, you now have virtually 7 of them instead of 4 maindeck! Now that’s called consistency.
Burning Win Petals of Insight: Ever noticed how Omniscience can make utter jank awesome? Well, it turns this crap uncommon into infinite Storm, guaranteed tutoring for one card, and probable tutoring for two more cards (as long as your deck size is not divisible by 3, you can sort your entire deck). Make sure you always net another Burning Wish the last time you cast this card so you can cast your Storm spell of choice below.
Grapeshot: To win with the infinite sorcery chain, you’ll need a Storm spell to abuse your infinite spell count. May as well use the one you can actually hardcast and that also kills problematic stuff like Platinum Emperion, right?
Tendrils of Agony: If you anticipate lots of non-creature-based damage prevention, it may be a wise idea to use this Storm spell instead of Grapeshot.
Past in Flames: Cast Burning Wish for Show and Tell, then Intuitioned for the last Wish? Get Petals of Insight into a Storm spell anyway when you Wish for this!
Spiraling Embers: Once Enter the Infinite shoves basically all your deck into your hand, 40+ damage should finish off the average opponent.
Fatty Grabbers Time of Need: Only have one sideboard slot? Want to turn Burning Wish into a fatty so you can combo off even more consistently? Try this card!
Living Wish: Got more room in the sideboard? Living Wish can grab one of multiple cards in your sideboard for all your fatty wishing needs.
Karakas: It’s not a fatty, but you may be grabbing this with Living Wish. If Emrakul can’t attack thanks to something like Ensnaring Bridge, take infinite turns instead (by bouncing and casting Emrakul continuously thanks to this and Omniscience) and win some other way.
Tooth and Nail: If you like going over the top when you can’t kill opponents with infinite Storm (let’s say you can’t get a cheated-in Thalia off the board yet), try getting and cheating in an Emrakul and a Griselbrand with this card!
Primal Command: Want a stylish fatty grabber that also does double duty as noncreature permanent hate? Wish for this!
Meltdown: Not enough red mana on your hands? Need to nuke all the cheap artifacts? Try this!
Echoing Ruin: It’s another way to destroy artifacts while dodging Chalice at 1, I guess.
Void Snare: Want to remove an annoying enchantment like Leyline of Sanctity or Humility? Also want to remove artifacts like Trinisphere or creatures like opposing Emrakuls? This card’s got your back.
Eye of Nowhere: We don’t need to bounce lands, and Void Snare is cheaper. If you have Chalice of the Void problems, cast another sorcery.
Massacre: Got Swamps or Underground Seas? This card is free and still kills Thalia, Teeg, and Canonist. Oh yeah, Mother of Runes can’t protect them from dying this time.
Thoughtseize: Are you lucky enough to splash black? Then you’re lucky enough to Wish for protection from bothersome cards in opponents’ hands like Oblivion Ring, Humility, and Force of Will!
Reverent Silence: I knew that Tropical Island was still useful for something. Remove enchantments for free with this card! You take out life totals in giant chunks, anyway, so what’s a little life gain for your opponent?
Obliterate: Are you dead meat to a swarm of Thopters behind an Ensnaring Bridge and an Ethersworn Canonist next turn? Wishing for this after you stick Omniscience isn’t bad.
Decree of Pain: Post-Omniscience, why Wish for a Wrath of God when you can Wish for a Wrath that hopefully draws into another Burning Wish?
The Rest of the Sideboard
Graveyard Hate Tormod’s Crypt: It’s free and it exiles entire graveyards. Fairly good deal, isn’t it?
Relic of Progenitus: It costs 2 mana to exile all graveyards, but at least it cantrips!
Surgical Extraction: It only takes out one card from an opposing graveyard (on average), but some opponents will be especially raging at the fact they can never cast or use that lost card ever again. A High Tide player who can no longer cast High Tide is pretty much dead.
Ravenous Trap: It’s the worst graveyard hate card in this list, as you can’t snipe out Reanimator’s dead creatures with it, but at least it hoses Dredge.
Protection/Disruption Chain of Vapor: It’s the cheapest bounce spell ever. It’s not as good if you’ve already cheated out a fatty but there’s something annoying like Humility on the other side of the table, but it’s quite a lot better at bouncing preventative stuff like Trinisphere or some Oblivion Ring that stomped on what you cheated in.
Echoing Truth: It’s a bounce spell that’ll take care of everything but lands (and you can play around Karakas somewhat easily). Why not pick it?
Wipe Away: For the somewhat steep price of 3 mana, you can bounce anything and no one will counter it or bust the target in response!
Hurkyl’s Recall: Does all the hate against you look like artifacts? Bounce them all with this spell!
Pyroblast: Anticipate a slightly slower game against a blue-wielding opponent? Board in one of the ultimate anti-blue cards! It also kills Phantasmal Images copying non-green creatures, but watch out for Misdirection making you fail to destroy your own land instead of destroying that opposing Detention Sphere!
Red Elemental Blast: With this other cheap anti-blue card, Misdirection can no longer foil your plans to destroy blue permanents! (Sadly, it will still make you counter Misdirection instead of some other blue spell like your opponent’s Show and Tell.)
Defense Grid: Making counterspells more expensive is good. It’s a shame the premier counterspells in Legacy are free, but at least your deck is pretty fast and can combo off when your opponent only has 2 lands.
Stifle: Sick and tired of people cheating in stuff with “enters the battlefield” effects like Spine of Ish Sah and Ashen Rider when you resolve Show and Tell? Play this!
Leyline of Sanctity: While black decks still can’t figure out a way to make us discard cards, we should be able to go off. Keeping Storm decks distracted finding bounce is a plus.
Swan Song: Tell Sneak Attack, Dream Halls, opposing Show and Tell, opposing counterspells, and more to go home with this one cheap spell!
Mountain: If you’ve ever wanted a source of red mana that can’t just be Wastelanded away and doesn’t blow itself up once used, look no further than this.
Volcanic Island: It’s an Island. It’s a Mountain. All sorts of fetchlands can get it. It helps you cast all your spells. What’s not to love?
Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand: Scalding Tarn is preferred because it can fetch both Islands and Mountains, but the others can still get any Island you want, and you need the consistent red mana and resiliency to Blood Moon. They also make Brainstorm better than it already is.
Ancient Tomb: Turn 1-2 Show and Tells are just so much better than Turn 3+ Show and Tells that we’re willing to pay a significant amount of life for this privilege.
City of Traitors: Yes, Turn 1-2 Show and Tells are just that good. Who needs to play lands when you win the game in a turn or two?
Tropical Island: If you like being able to reliably cast Living Wish or Time of Need out of your wishboard, put this Island Forest in your deck.
Underground Sea: Want to play powerful cards like Massacre and Thoughtseize? Play this Island Swamp!
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The original post, with further insights:
If you've been keeping track of the GP Ghent coverage, you'll find that Simon Görtzen and Florian Koch have been working on this spicy Show and Tell-based Omniscience deck. Their version is below:
Since Wizards didn't release the two Germans' decklist until Day 2, this is the deck I reverse engineered and built in Cockatrice from tournament reports (and experience playing Show and Tell-based combo decks):
After whipping up my version and jamming it against a couple of decks, I've found that Omniscience.dec feels very smooth. It quickly and consistently combos out and has multiple routes to victory. It can even answer annoying stuff like Thalia and Trinisphere maindeck. Best of all, there are only 14-16 slots entirely dedicated to the combo (10-12 if you don't count Burning Wish). It feels like Dream Halls without the dead Conflux-based combo cards, and it's like Sneak Show if Griselbrand comboed with Emrakul and Sneak Attack wasn't slightly dead if you Show and Telled Griselbrand into play.
Burning Wish is so, so useful in this deck. Not only is it Show and Tells 4-7, it also executes a kill with Omniscience on the battlefield. Assuming you have at least 1 Burning Wish left in the deck, grab Petals of Insight and cast it over and over again (infinite times, actually) until you find another Burning Wish (hopefully with FoW back-up). Draw 3 cards with the last Petals, cast Burning Wish again for Grapeshot, and deal infinite damage and fry Platinum Emperion first in the process. Alternately, if you have no Burning Wishes left in the deck (let's say you Wished for Show and Tell, then Intuitioned for the last Wish), there's always Living Wish/Time of Need into Emrakul. The 2-cmc green sorcery also turns Burning Wish into 4 more Emrakuls, which is useful if you have a Show and Tell but nothing to cheat out.
With 14-16 raw cantrips (assuming Intuition and Jace TMS count as cantrips), cheating Omniscience onto the battlefield leads to either an Emrakul or a Burning Wish-based kill very quickly very often. It's true that you may not always be able to access either card after getting Omniscience in, but then again, sometimes you get in Dream Halls, your last card in hand is Conflux, and you topdeck a land.
Speaking of cantrips, I found out the hard way that holding up counterspell mana and digging for combo pieces, lands, or further protection at the same time shoved my tempo way too far back. Görtzen and Koch were right--with its 1-mana cantrip density, this deck cannot afford 1-mana disruption like Spell Pierce or Flusterstorm (though it can find the patience post-board).
Also, you have to see the look on your opponents' faces when you Show and Tell in Omniscience and they cheat in Gilded Drake, Sower of Temptation, or Stingscourger, expecting a fatty. Then you either Burning Wish in their face or cast Emrakul after the trigger fizzles. Bonus humiliation if you shove in Omniscience as they have a Karakas on the battlefield. If they wise up to the Wish kill and cheat in Ethersworn Canonist or Thalia instead, give them an Emrakul instead (or bust a Wish frying their butts off with Pyroclasm). If they wise up to the Wish kill and cheat in Qasali Pridemage instead, you cast Burning Wish and not a fatty, then they blow up Omniscience in response, search for Show and Tell or Living Wish/Time of Need with that Wish and pick yourself right back up.
I honestly believe Omniscience.dec can join Sneak Show, Hive Mind, and Dream Halls as eminent Show and Tell-based combo decks! What do you all think?
And here I was upgrading my Dream Halls deck with a bunch of omnisciences...
About this deck, I think I like it quite a lot. it actually runs as many counters mainboard than Dream halls, and looks more resilient, in a way. However, do you think that this deck relies too much on show and tell or are the burning wishes making up for it? Because I would be scared of a discard spell striping show and tell then surgical it, basically forcing you to resolve the next one. thoughts?
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EDH:
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I'm actually more scared of people Extirpateing Burning Wish. Now, I'm forced to rely on the back-up kill.
Oh yeah, Show and Telling Omniscience into Emrakul just feels much more secure than simply Emrakul. It turns stuff like Gilded Drake off, and against aggro, the one turn can be everything.
I'm considering -1 Lotus Petal +1 Griselbrand, but I'm not sure how he'll affect the current build. Screw it, I just made the change. Lotus Petal was always the most useless card in the deck in testing, anyway, as Omniscience basically can't be hardcast (highest mana count I've gotten is 9), so all it accelerates is Show and Tell and Intuition.
It looks almost the same as Florian Koch's list, down to the Personal Tutor I'm not a fan of (yes, it tutors for Show and Tell, but it's not a cantrip, and you need the Omniscience kill to be as secure as possible).
At least the sideboard is different. Overmaster looks like an unusual meta call--predicting lots of counterspells? I don't get the Wrath of God--it's uncastable without Omniscience and still burns up a Burning Wish. If I wanted a card that played that role, I'd rather play Obliterate (can't be countered, smashes Trinisphere/Thorn of Amethyst) or Decree of Pain (mondo-cantrips).
The spicy tech is two Swamps (I mean Underground Seas) and Massacres in the board. Seems pretty good if you're expecting lots of Maverick. Board all but 1 in and Wish for the other.
Another Omniscience.dec list Top 16'd the same tournament with similar tech. Encouraging news!
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In the meantime, testing with the singleton Griselbrand has been very positive. How did I ever play the deck without this guy? He was great against UW Miracle Control, other Show and Tell decks, and more! (Granted, this deck trounces Miracles Game 1--so many threats, and Miracles can't kill on time...)
Anyone else want to post? I can't be the only person playing Omniscience.dec who frequents this forum!
I am surprised nobody has posted here for this deck. I'll be planning to sleeved this deck in a couple of days and test it out. I am not a primarily a combo player, but I'll give this a GO!
I'm not sure whether a more mature version of this thread should cover all versions of Omniscience.dec or just UR ones, but this made Top 4 at SCG Denver:
It does seem to cover some of the UR version's weaknesses--namely, the fact that deck only wins by resolving Show and Tell. Yeah, that card lets all sorts of nasty stuff enter the battlefield. However, that's one horrid mana base.
I'm not sure whether a more mature version of this thread should cover all versions of Omniscience.dec or just UR ones, but this made Top 4 at SCG Denver:
It does seem to cover some of the UR version's weaknesses--namely, the fact that deck only wins by resolving Show and Tell. Yeah, that card lets all sorts of nasty stuff enter the battlefield. However, that's one horrid mana base.
While the deck did put up a good showing last night in Denver, it also was fairly obvious it has it's issues. There were numerous times, on camera and off, that the player sat with 1 or more Omniscience on the table with no way to win but hoping to rely on a top deck.
It was also a little more clear towards the end, with his match-up against the U/W miracles list, that a majority of the people he faced had no clue how to play "on the stack" with the Academy Rector. I believe in the follow-up commentary Joe pointed that fact out some what.
I am a huge fan of all degenerate things Show and Tell can do, but I fear unless things get cleaned up a bit, thing might turn out to be a 1 trick pony rather then a real consistent deck to beat.
Guess the SCG guys haven't adopted the Swamp Massacre tech yet--about the only innovations here are two Pyroclasms in the board, Overmaster, and Time of Need. Oddly enough, there are no Tropical Islands in this deck--it must be hard to hardcast Time of Need.
I doubt it will have any influence. Show and Tell-based decks haven't been absolutely dominating the format. I've probably seen 3-4 Maverick and Tempo Thresh decks per Top 16 in tournaments right now, while I see 1-2 Show and Tell decks in the same sample. Then again, you can argue the over-saturation of Karakas is what's keeping Show and Tell in check, and that said over-saturation is a bad thing...
...At least decently successful decks like Tempo Thresh, Goblins, and Merfolk don't play that card, right? (But Reanimator, occasionally Storm, and even Omniscience.dec adopting it is ridiculous.)
This is probably the last Top 8 post I make in this thread, as university time has come and I believe this deck has more than enough results and other threads discussing it that it has made its mark on the Legacy meta, but this slightly unusual list Top 8'd SCG Atlanta:
I approve of Shattering Spree and the higher cantrip density, but Whipflare could easily be a second Pyroclasm, and I really hope the Past in Flames is actually Petals of Insight. Otherwise, how does this guy combo off with Omniscience and Burning Wish without casting Living Wish? Speaking of Living Wish, since his only target in the board is Emrakul, he should really play Time of Need instead.
I approve of Shattering Spree and the higher cantrip density, but Whipflare could easily be a second Pyroclasm, and I really hope the Past in Flames is actually Petals of Insight. Otherwise, how does this guy combo off with Omniscience and Burning Wish without casting Living Wish? Speaking of Living Wish, since his only target in the board is Emrakul, he should really play Time of Need instead.
Time of Need seems much better than Living Wish, given that it only takes one slot as opposed to two. Unless you're planning on seeing a lot of Aven Mindcensor, you're probably better off with Time.
Unfortunately, your only instant-speed answer to Angel of Despair if you cheat out Omniscience is Brainstorm, so you're 3/4's hooped. I've seen hybrid Omni-Sneak lists run Stifle in the board, so that could be a good idea.
Question- what is the use of Polluted Deltas and Flooded Strands with no Swamps or Plains, and why are there more cards that search basic lands than basic lands?
I know it can search dual lands, but in the first post (and most of the decks in here), there are still more searchers than lands. Why have 4 Flooded Strands and 4 Polluted Delta for 2 Islands, 1 Tropical Island, and 3 Volcanic Islands?
The key is that they put the land onto the battlefield untapped. Having to pay 1 life to do it doesn't usually make much of a difference. Aside from Omniscience and the other things you want to use Show and Tell for, the deck has a very low mana curve, so you can afford to do this if it means you have exactly what you need nearly every single time.
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Maybe I'm missing something, but since there are no Swamps or Plains, why are Polluted Delta/Flooded Strand any better than an Island (or, better, a dual land)?
I play more fetches than other lands because I both want reliable UR mana and resiliency to Blood Moon. I tend to aggressively search for a basic Island with my first fetch and may search for a Mountain with my second.
I'm not sure whether a more mature version of this thread should cover all versions of Omniscience.dec or just UR ones, but this made Top 4 at SCG Denver:
One main reason is Wasteland, droping fetches prevents you from losing land drop and also gives you protection from premature wastelands
Let's say your target is reach 2U for S&T
if you drop: island, volcanic island... probably that volcanic willl be destroyed when you can drop the third land
if you instead drop: island (for cantripping), fetch, fetch you can easily transform both fetch on the same turn to get 3 mana, wastelanding a fetch is hardly useful or even just plain idiotic.
And more.. all fetches can become volcanic island, underground sea or island when needed (some even mountain), basic and duals are just what they are.
Additionally to this, there are lots of other advantages to fetchlands:
1) They shuffle your library, letting you shuffle away bad cards that you know are on top after a Brainstorm, Ponder, or Jace, the Mind Sculptor's +0.
2) They thin your deck, meaning you draw fewer lands (the overall effect of this is negligible, but it does exist, even if it's only a few tenths of a percentage point)
3) They put cards into your graveyard, fueling cards like Tarmogoyf, Nimble Mongoose, Terravore, and Knight of the Reliquary, while also being available to cards like Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam (not super relevant in this deck but definitely an option)
On topic: Why isn't this in the Established decks yet? Isn't this deck like, the second or third most highly-played deck right now?
Also, what do you do when your opponent Enlightened Tutors into Detention Sphere/Oblivion Ring. Seems to me like that pretty well bones your chances of successfully sticking Omni or Emrakul. It means you basically have to stick Grisel and hope to draw into another S&T, unless I'm missing something?
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Also, what do you do when your opponent Enlightened Tutors into Detention Sphere/Oblivion Ring. Seems to me like that pretty well bones your chances of successfully sticking Omni or Emrakul. It means you basically have to stick Grisel and hope to draw into another S&T, unless I'm missing something?
I usually show and tell in a land and lol while they exile one of their own enchantments.
Targetted discard also proves useful in dealing with this. Alternatively, you can burning wish for an enchantment hate card.
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This primer mainly covers the UR/x Burning Wish Omni build, but sample decklists of Living Wish and No Red variants are also given.
The Combo Core
Want to know why the core is the core? Then read below!
The Only Reason You’re Playing This Deck
Omniscience: This card lets you cast anything and everything for free. This means you can get your expensive creatures out of your hand, turn Burning Wish into an insta-kill, and chain together cantrip after cantrip looking for either of the above. If you’ve got both a fatty and this card in your hand when you cast Show and Tell, cheat in this card first—it neuters Karakas, and opponents with Gilded Drake, Sower of Temptation, or Stingscourger expecting the immediate fatty will be sorely disappointed when their ETB triggers fizzle.
Fatties
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn: You need your fatties to produce card advantage if you’re wasting a card cheating them into play, and I’d say your opponent needing to sacrifice 6 permanents every time Emrakul attacks is card advantage. Having evasion, 15 power, 15 toughness, and protection from most removal also helps.
Griselbrand: Or how about this sort of card advantage on a fatty? Griselbrand doesn’t need protection from anything when he’s a flying Yawgmoth’s Bargain with no drawbacks (besides being a legendary creature and needing to draw cards in 7-life chunks). Having 7 power and Lifelink is the icing on this tasty black demonic cake.
Cheats
Show and Tell: So, how else are you going to put Omniscience on the battlefield? It also cheats in fatties as a back-up plan or a supplemental plan (Omniscience helps buffer fatties from unwanted stuff that’s cheated in at the same time and makes Emrakul even better than she already is by allowing you to cast her and get another turn).
Burning Wish: Omniscience basically can’t be hardcast, so it needs to be cheated in with Show and Tell. Unfortunately, 4 Show and Tells aren’t enough, and that’s where this card comes in. Throw a SnT in the wishboard so this card can get it and you now have 7 SnTs instead of 4. If you’ve already cheated out Omni, don’t fear: this card can also grab an infinite-strength OHKO!
Cantrips/Tutors
Ponder: Getting the best card of the top three cards of your library is already pretty good. Hate them all? Shuffle your library and get a random card with this instead. For raw digging power for 1 mana, this card can’t be beat. (Brainstorm’s sheer versatility and instant speed makes it better overall, though.)
Preordain: This is the deck that will teach you that Preordain is worse than Ponder in Legacy. With so many shuffle effects, you see a lot of cards with Ponder, and digging only 2-3 cards deep with Preordain while Ponder digs 3-4 cards deep hurts. When you’re chaining cantrips and desperately trying to find win conditions with Omniscience out, the pronounced lack of dig matters. Oh well, at least this digs better than Serum Visions does, right?
Intuition: This is probably the best tutor in blue that can get Omniscience (along with anything else your heart desires, as long as it’s a 3-4-of). Watch out for Surgical Extraction afterwards—you’ll lose what you tutored after that card is cast.
Gitaxian Probe: For a mere 2 life and no mana (or 1 blue mana and no life), you can draw a card, peek at your opponent’s hand, and up your Storm count (like the last one matters)! At least knowing whether your opponent can cheat in something nasty when you resolve Show and Tell can be good.
Overmaster: Want to foil counterspells without reducing your cantrip count? Try this! You can’t use it to foil counterspells and cantrip for combo pieces at the same time, though, so figure out what your opponent is playing fast.
Personal Tutor: Really like Show and Tell or Burning Wish? You can search for it with this card, but it’ll use up a draw, and people will think they’re smart when they start milling cards off the top of your library with Thought Scour or forcing you to shuffle your library with Surgical Extraction.
Protection/Disruption
Daze: It does tend to push your combo turn back, but it doesn’t cost any mana to cast, and using your mana to dig instead of hold up counterspells is pretty good in this deck.
Misdirection: The good news is that this piece of disruption doesn’t cost mana! The bad news is that it’s useless against a fair few match-ups (creature removal isn’t so hot against you, Abrupt Decay is virtually dead, you can only redirect Red Elemental Blast if it’s acting as a counterspell or you’re not the only one with blue permanents, etc.). The good news is that this still reroutes counterspells, discard, and removal pretty well.
Spell Pierce: It’s a pretty hard stop to counterspells, discard, removal, and combo pieces (especially since you can combo off so early), but it tends to push your combo turn back in practice because you need to hold up mana for it.
Flusterstorm: Not worried about stuff like Trinisphere and Counterbalance? Mainly worried about counterspells, discard, rituals, and opposing Show and Tells instead? You can use this nigh-uncounterable counterspell, but it also tends to push back your combo turn because it makes you hold up mana.
Thoughtseize: Counterspells can’t prevent stuff like Oblivion Ring and Angel of Despair from entering the battlefield thanks to your own Show and Tell. Targeted discard can, and it can also prevent opposing counterspells to boot. Splashing black may be slightly unpleasant, though. Inquisition of Kozilek and Duress are no substitutes, as IoK cannot shoot out Force of Will and Duress cannot take out Griselbrand or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
Pact of Negation: It protects your combo now...but paying for it if you protected a fatty is pretty awkward.
Acceleration
Other
The Wishboard
Show and Tell: With a Show and Tell in the wishboard, you now have virtually 7 of them instead of 4 maindeck! Now that’s called consistency.
Burning Win
Petals of Insight: Ever noticed how Omniscience can make utter jank awesome? Well, it turns this crap uncommon into infinite Storm, guaranteed tutoring for one card, and probable tutoring for two more cards (as long as your deck size is not divisible by 3, you can sort your entire deck). Make sure you always net another Burning Wish the last time you cast this card so you can cast your Storm spell of choice below.
Grapeshot: To win with the infinite sorcery chain, you’ll need a Storm spell to abuse your infinite spell count. May as well use the one you can actually hardcast and that also kills problematic stuff like Platinum Emperion, right?
Tendrils of Agony: If you anticipate lots of non-creature-based damage prevention, it may be a wise idea to use this Storm spell instead of Grapeshot.
Past in Flames: Cast Burning Wish for Show and Tell, then Intuitioned for the last Wish? Get Petals of Insight into a Storm spell anyway when you Wish for this!
Enter the Infinite: Screw Conflux, we’d rather draw every card in the deck except some land (or Emrakul if you’re a Cunning Wish into Release the Ants fan) when we’re going off.
Spiraling Embers: Once Enter the Infinite shoves basically all your deck into your hand, 40+ damage should finish off the average opponent.
Fatty Grabbers
Time of Need: Only have one sideboard slot? Want to turn Burning Wish into a fatty so you can combo off even more consistently? Try this card!
Living Wish: Got more room in the sideboard? Living Wish can grab one of multiple cards in your sideboard for all your fatty wishing needs.
Karakas: It’s not a fatty, but you may be grabbing this with Living Wish. If Emrakul can’t attack thanks to something like Ensnaring Bridge, take infinite turns instead (by bouncing and casting Emrakul continuously thanks to this and Omniscience) and win some other way.
Tooth and Nail: If you like going over the top when you can’t kill opponents with infinite Storm (let’s say you can’t get a cheated-in Thalia off the board yet), try getting and cheating in an Emrakul and a Griselbrand with this card!
Primal Command: Want a stylish fatty grabber that also does double duty as noncreature permanent hate? Wish for this!
Protection/Disruption
Pyroclasm: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg, and Ethersworn Canonist are sort of pricks because they massively slow you down or they keep you from casting crucial spells. Fry all their butts off with this board wipe!
Overmaster: So I heard you want to turn Burning Wish into protection from counterspells. Well, this card will do the job and cantrip at the same time!
Shattering Spree: Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, and even Chalice of the Void are surprisingly annoying, so why not blast the heck out of them with this nigh-uncounterable spell?
Meltdown: Not enough red mana on your hands? Need to nuke all the cheap artifacts? Try this!
Echoing Ruin: It’s another way to destroy artifacts while dodging Chalice at 1, I guess.
Void Snare: Want to remove an annoying enchantment like Leyline of Sanctity or Humility? Also want to remove artifacts like Trinisphere or creatures like opposing Emrakuls? This card’s got your back.
Eye of Nowhere: We don’t need to bounce lands, and Void Snare is cheaper. If you have Chalice of the Void problems, cast another sorcery.
Massacre: Got Swamps or Underground Seas? This card is free and still kills Thalia, Teeg, and Canonist. Oh yeah, Mother of Runes can’t protect them from dying this time.
Thoughtseize: Are you lucky enough to splash black? Then you’re lucky enough to Wish for protection from bothersome cards in opponents’ hands like Oblivion Ring, Humility, and Force of Will!
Reverent Silence: I knew that Tropical Island was still useful for something. Remove enchantments for free with this card! You take out life totals in giant chunks, anyway, so what’s a little life gain for your opponent?
Obliterate: Are you dead meat to a swarm of Thopters behind an Ensnaring Bridge and an Ethersworn Canonist next turn? Wishing for this after you stick Omniscience isn’t bad.
Decree of Pain: Post-Omniscience, why Wish for a Wrath of God when you can Wish for a Wrath that hopefully draws into another Burning Wish?
The Rest of the Sideboard
Tormod’s Crypt: It’s free and it exiles entire graveyards. Fairly good deal, isn’t it?
Relic of Progenitus: It costs 2 mana to exile all graveyards, but at least it cantrips!
Grafdigger’s Cage: Hate graveyards and Green Sun’s Zenith (not to mention Natural Order)? You might want this card as your graveyard hate.
Surgical Extraction: It only takes out one card from an opposing graveyard (on average), but some opponents will be especially raging at the fact they can never cast or use that lost card ever again. A High Tide player who can no longer cast High Tide is pretty much dead.
Ravenous Trap: It’s the worst graveyard hate card in this list, as you can’t snipe out Reanimator’s dead creatures with it, but at least it hoses Dredge.
Protection/Disruption
Chain of Vapor: It’s the cheapest bounce spell ever. It’s not as good if you’ve already cheated out a fatty but there’s something annoying like Humility on the other side of the table, but it’s quite a lot better at bouncing preventative stuff like Trinisphere or some Oblivion Ring that stomped on what you cheated in.
Echoing Truth: It’s a bounce spell that’ll take care of everything but lands (and you can play around Karakas somewhat easily). Why not pick it?
Wipe Away: For the somewhat steep price of 3 mana, you can bounce anything and no one will counter it or bust the target in response!
Hurkyl’s Recall: Does all the hate against you look like artifacts? Bounce them all with this spell!
Pyroblast: Anticipate a slightly slower game against a blue-wielding opponent? Board in one of the ultimate anti-blue cards! It also kills Phantasmal Images copying non-green creatures, but watch out for Misdirection making you fail to destroy your own land instead of destroying that opposing Detention Sphere!
Red Elemental Blast: With this other cheap anti-blue card, Misdirection can no longer foil your plans to destroy blue permanents! (Sadly, it will still make you counter Misdirection instead of some other blue spell like your opponent’s Show and Tell.)
Defense Grid: Making counterspells more expensive is good. It’s a shame the premier counterspells in Legacy are free, but at least your deck is pretty fast and can combo off when your opponent only has 2 lands.
Stifle: Sick and tired of people cheating in stuff with “enters the battlefield” effects like Spine of Ish Sah and Ashen Rider when you resolve Show and Tell? Play this!
Pithing Needle: Shutting up random annoying stuff like Sensei’s Divining Top and Jace TMS has to be decent.
Leyline of Sanctity: While black decks still can’t figure out a way to make us discard cards, we should be able to go off. Keeping Storm decks distracted finding bounce is a plus.
Swan Song: Tell Sneak Attack, Dream Halls, opposing Show and Tell, opposing counterspells, and more to go home with this one cheap spell!
Lands
Mountain: If you’ve ever wanted a source of red mana that can’t just be Wastelanded away and doesn’t blow itself up once used, look no further than this.
Volcanic Island: It’s an Island. It’s a Mountain. All sorts of fetchlands can get it. It helps you cast all your spells. What’s not to love?
Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand: Scalding Tarn is preferred because it can fetch both Islands and Mountains, but the others can still get any Island you want, and you need the consistent red mana and resiliency to Blood Moon. They also make Brainstorm better than it already is.
Ancient Tomb: Turn 1-2 Show and Tells are just so much better than Turn 3+ Show and Tells that we’re willing to pay a significant amount of life for this privilege.
City of Traitors: Yes, Turn 1-2 Show and Tells are just that good. Who needs to play lands when you win the game in a turn or two?
Tropical Island: If you like being able to reliably cast Living Wish or Time of Need out of your wishboard, put this Island Forest in your deck.
Underground Sea: Want to play powerful cards like Massacre and Thoughtseize? Play this Island Swamp!
Deck Lists
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Personal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Pyroblast
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Grapeshot
1 Overmaster
1 Petals of Insight
2 Pyroclasm
1 Show and Tell
1 Time of Need
UBR
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
2 Personal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Massacre
2 Pithing Needle
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Show and Tell
1 Petals of Insight
1 Grapeshot
1 Pyroclasm
1 Thoughtseize
Living Wish
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Academy Rector
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Living Wish
3 Force of Will
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Show and Tell
2 Omniscience
3 Lotus Petal
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Academy Rector
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Force of Will
2 Nature's Claim
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Phyrexian Tower
No Red
2 City of Traitors
3 Ancient Tomb
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
5 Island
Creatures
2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Griselbrand
Spells
4 Brainstorm
2 Preordain
4 Ponder
3 Intuition
2 Spell Pierce
3 Misdirection
4 Force of Will
4 Show and Tell
4 Omniscience
4 Lotus Petal
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
3 Progenitus
Omni-Sneak
2 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
Creatures
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Burning Wish
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Intuition
4 Lotus Petal
3 Omniscience
3 Ponder
3 Show and Tell
2 Sneak Attack
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Grapeshot
1 Karakas
1 Living Wish
1 Overmaster
1 Petals of Insight
2 Pyroblast
1 Pyroclasm
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Show and Tell
2 Stifle
2 Surgical Extraction
OmniDream
3 City of Traitors
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
10 Island
Creatures
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
2 Gitaxian Probe
3 Cunning Wish
4 Force of Will
3 Pact of Negation
3 Dream Halls
4 Omniscience
4 Enter the Infinite
4 Show and Tell
2 Defense Grid
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Flusterstorm
1 Intuition
1 Pact of Negation
1 Release the Ants
1 Rushing River
1 Sapphire Charm
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Trickbind
OmniDreamBurningWish
3 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
Creatures
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
3 Enter the Infinite
4 Force of Will
2 Daze
1 Pact of Negation
4 Omniscience
4 Dream Halls
2 Lotus Petal
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Enter the Infinite
1 Eye of Nowhere
2 Pyroclasm
1 Show and Tell
1 Spiraling Embers
1 Time of Need
1 Tremor
Lectrys’s List
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
Creatures
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Griselbrand
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Intuition
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Omniscience
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Misdirection
2 Lotus Petal
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Show and Tell
1 Pyroclasm
1 Meltdown
1 Petals of Insight
1 Grapeshot
1 Time of Need
1 Void Snare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original post, with further insights:
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Personal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Defense Grid
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Karakas
1 Living Wish
1 Show and Tell
1 Petals of Insight
1 Grapeshot
1 Pyroclasm
Since Wizards didn't release the two Germans' decklist until Day 2, this is the deck I reverse engineered and built in Cockatrice from tournament reports (and experience playing Show and Tell-based combo decks):
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
Creatures
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Griselbrand
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Intuition
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Omniscience
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Misdirection
2 Lotus Petal
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Show and Tell
1 Pyroclasm
1 Shattering Spree
1 Petals of Insight
1 Grapeshot
1 Time of Need
After whipping up my version and jamming it against a couple of decks, I've found that Omniscience.dec feels very smooth. It quickly and consistently combos out and has multiple routes to victory. It can even answer annoying stuff like Thalia and Trinisphere maindeck. Best of all, there are only 14-16 slots entirely dedicated to the combo (10-12 if you don't count Burning Wish). It feels like Dream Halls without the dead Conflux-based combo cards, and it's like Sneak Show if Griselbrand comboed with Emrakul and Sneak Attack wasn't slightly dead if you Show and Telled Griselbrand into play.
Burning Wish is so, so useful in this deck. Not only is it Show and Tells 4-7, it also executes a kill with Omniscience on the battlefield. Assuming you have at least 1 Burning Wish left in the deck, grab Petals of Insight and cast it over and over again (infinite times, actually) until you find another Burning Wish (hopefully with FoW back-up). Draw 3 cards with the last Petals, cast Burning Wish again for Grapeshot, and deal infinite damage and fry Platinum Emperion first in the process. Alternately, if you have no Burning Wishes left in the deck (let's say you Wished for Show and Tell, then Intuitioned for the last Wish), there's always Living Wish/Time of Need into Emrakul. The 2-cmc green sorcery also turns Burning Wish into 4 more Emrakuls, which is useful if you have a Show and Tell but nothing to cheat out.
With 14-16 raw cantrips (assuming Intuition and Jace TMS count as cantrips), cheating Omniscience onto the battlefield leads to either an Emrakul or a Burning Wish-based kill very quickly very often. It's true that you may not always be able to access either card after getting Omniscience in, but then again, sometimes you get in Dream Halls, your last card in hand is Conflux, and you topdeck a land.
Speaking of cantrips, I found out the hard way that holding up counterspell mana and digging for combo pieces, lands, or further protection at the same time shoved my tempo way too far back. Görtzen and Koch were right--with its 1-mana cantrip density, this deck cannot afford 1-mana disruption like Spell Pierce or Flusterstorm (though it can find the patience post-board).
Also, you have to see the look on your opponents' faces when you Show and Tell in Omniscience and they cheat in Gilded Drake, Sower of Temptation, or Stingscourger, expecting a fatty. Then you either Burning Wish in their face or cast Emrakul after the trigger fizzles. Bonus humiliation if you shove in Omniscience as they have a Karakas on the battlefield. If they wise up to the Wish kill and cheat in Ethersworn Canonist or Thalia instead, give them an Emrakul instead (or bust a Wish frying their butts off with Pyroclasm). If they wise up to the Wish kill and cheat in Qasali Pridemage instead, you cast Burning Wish and not a fatty, then they blow up Omniscience in response, search for Show and Tell or Living Wish/Time of Need with that Wish and pick yourself right back up.
I honestly believe Omniscience.dec can join Sneak Show, Hive Mind, and Dream Halls as eminent Show and Tell-based combo decks! What do you all think?
About this deck, I think I like it quite a lot. it actually runs as many counters mainboard than Dream halls, and looks more resilient, in a way. However, do you think that this deck relies too much on show and tell or are the burning wishes making up for it? Because I would be scared of a discard spell striping show and tell then surgical it, basically forcing you to resolve the next one. thoughts?
Playing:
Legacy:
:symw::symb::symg::symu::symr:Dredge
:symu::symb: ANT
Modern:
:symu::symr: Past in flames Storm
EDH:
:symr::symw::symb: Kaalia of the Vast
Oh yeah, Show and Telling Omniscience into Emrakul just feels much more secure than simply Emrakul. It turns stuff like Gilded Drake off, and against aggro, the one turn can be everything.
I'm considering -1 Lotus Petal +1 Griselbrand, but I'm not sure how he'll affect the current build.Screw it, I just made the change. Lotus Petal was always the most useless card in the deck in testing, anyway, as Omniscience basically can't be hardcast (highest mana count I've gotten is 9), so all it accelerates is Show and Tell and Intuition.3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Personal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Omniscience
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Surgical Extraction
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Karakas
1 Living Wish
1 Show and Tell
1 Petals of Insight
1 Grapeshot
1 Pyroclasm
1 Overmaster
1 Wrath of God
It looks almost the same as Florian Koch's list, down to the Personal Tutor I'm not a fan of (yes, it tutors for Show and Tell, but it's not a cantrip, and you need the Omniscience kill to be as secure as possible).
At least the sideboard is different. Overmaster looks like an unusual meta call--predicting lots of counterspells? I don't get the Wrath of God--it's uncastable without Omniscience and still burns up a Burning Wish. If I wanted a card that played that role, I'd rather play Obliterate (can't be countered, smashes Trinisphere/Thorn of Amethyst) or Decree of Pain (mondo-cantrips).
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
2 Personal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Massacre
2 Pithing Needle
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Show and Tell
1 Petals of Insight
1 Grapeshot
1 Pyroclasm
1 Thoughtseize
The spicy tech is two Swamps (I mean Underground Seas) and Massacres in the board. Seems pretty good if you're expecting lots of Maverick. Board all but 1 in and Wish for the other.
Another Omniscience.dec list Top 16'd the same tournament with similar tech. Encouraging news!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the meantime, testing with the singleton Griselbrand has been very positive. How did I ever play the deck without this guy? He was great against UW Miracle Control, other Show and Tell decks, and more! (Granted, this deck trounces Miracles Game 1--so many threats, and Miracles can't kill on time...)
Anyone else want to post? I can't be the only person playing Omniscience.dec who frequents this forum!
Kudos to the OP for starting this thread.
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Academy Rector
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Living Wish
3 Force of Will
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Show and Tell
2 Omniscience
3 Lotus Petal
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Academy Rector
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Force of Will
2 Nature's Claim
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Phyrexian Tower
It does seem to cover some of the UR version's weaknesses--namely, the fact that deck only wins by resolving Show and Tell. Yeah, that card lets all sorts of nasty stuff enter the battlefield. However, that's one horrid mana base.
While the deck did put up a good showing last night in Denver, it also was fairly obvious it has it's issues. There were numerous times, on camera and off, that the player sat with 1 or more Omniscience on the table with no way to win but hoping to rely on a top deck.
It was also a little more clear towards the end, with his match-up against the U/W miracles list, that a majority of the people he faced had no clue how to play "on the stack" with the Academy Rector. I believe in the follow-up commentary Joe pointed that fact out some what.
I am a huge fan of all degenerate things Show and Tell can do, but I fear unless things get cleaned up a bit, thing might turn out to be a 1 trick pony rather then a real consistent deck to beat.
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Personal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Pyroblast
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Grapeshot
1 Overmaster
1 Petals of Insight
2 Pyroclasm
1 Show and Tell
1 Time of Need
Guess the SCG guys haven't adopted the Swamp Massacre tech yet--about the only innovations here are two Pyroclasms in the board, Overmaster, and Time of Need. Oddly enough, there are no Tropical Islands in this deck--it must be hard to hardcast Time of Need.
...At least decently successful decks like Tempo Thresh, Goblins, and Merfolk don't play that card, right? (But Reanimator, occasionally Storm, and even Omniscience.dec adopting it is ridiculous.)
Omni Top 8'd an SCG again! This time, it's SCG Portland, and Andrew Morales piloted this:
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
2 Personal Tutor
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
4 Pyroblast
1 Grapeshot
1 Overmaster
1 Petals of Insight
2 Pyroclasm
1 Show and Tell
1 Thoughtseize
Interesting features include a black splash, no Jace TMS, two Pyroclasms in the board, and a Thoughtseize in the board.
3 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
3 Island
Creatures
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Griselbrand
Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
2 Overmaster
1 Intuition
4 Burning Wish
3 Show and Tell
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Omniscience
2 Lotus Petal
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Defense Grid
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Living Wish
1 Overmaster
1 Past in Flames
1 Pyroclasm
1 Shattering Spree
1 Show and Tell
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Whipflare
I approve of Shattering Spree and the higher cantrip density, but Whipflare could easily be a second Pyroclasm, and I really hope the Past in Flames is actually Petals of Insight. Otherwise, how does this guy combo off with Omniscience and Burning Wish without casting Living Wish? Speaking of Living Wish, since his only target in the board is Emrakul, he should really play Time of Need instead.
Time of Need seems much better than Living Wish, given that it only takes one slot as opposed to two. Unless you're planning on seeing a lot of Aven Mindcensor, you're probably better off with Time.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
I have ordered a few cards to make this decklist. How would pople in here improve the mana base?
I´m planning to use 2x Diabolic Intent and 2x Cabal Therapy as well as improving the mana base by including a few Sol-lands.
And One Karakas in sideboard. Being able to bounce your own Emrakul after getting Omniscience means infinite turns.
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StaffAdditionally to this, there are lots of other advantages to fetchlands:
1) They shuffle your library, letting you shuffle away bad cards that you know are on top after a Brainstorm, Ponder, or Jace, the Mind Sculptor's +0.
2) They thin your deck, meaning you draw fewer lands (the overall effect of this is negligible, but it does exist, even if it's only a few tenths of a percentage point)
3) They put cards into your graveyard, fueling cards like Tarmogoyf, Nimble Mongoose, Terravore, and Knight of the Reliquary, while also being available to cards like Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam (not super relevant in this deck but definitely an option)
On topic: Why isn't this in the Established decks yet? Isn't this deck like, the second or third most highly-played deck right now?
Also, what do you do when your opponent Enlightened Tutors into Detention Sphere/Oblivion Ring. Seems to me like that pretty well bones your chances of successfully sticking Omni or Emrakul. It means you basically have to stick Grisel and hope to draw into another S&T, unless I'm missing something?
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Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
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I usually show and tell in a land and lol while they exile one of their own enchantments.
Targetted discard also proves useful in dealing with this. Alternatively, you can burning wish for an enchantment hate card.
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If wizards would print a green, black and white version of Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast Painter could be done in every color.
RRImperial PainterRR
UUUUMonoOmniTellUUUU
BGURWDredgeWRUGB