1. Decks are a minimum of 60 cards. Sideboards have exactly 15 cards
2. Decks can be made from cards of any expansion
3. Any number of any card can be played in the deck
Assuming those rules, what is the best deck in magic? The answer probably isn't what you'd think. First, you'll probably imagine something like:
Obviously that deck isn't it though. For one, the deck gets turned off by a Leyline of Sanctity. It runs zero interactive spells, and would lose every game on the draw to itself. Let's put in a combo, and fill the rest of the spots with interactive pieces.
The numbers are a little random, but the important fact is that it is interactive. It can bounce a Leyline if needed, counter a gamewinning spell, and easily start it's own engine. The perfect deck, right? Not by a mile. Almost every single card in that deck has a strict upgrade, even if they are the most broken spells in the normal game. However, this is the starting point for what I call the "fair" decks of super unrestricted. How is a deck that can consistently win on T1 fair? It doesn't win on turn 0.
What beats this deck, regardless of its current interactivity? Or in other words, what are the "unfair" decks? I'll give three basic examples.
Now these are extremely simple decks, which can be tuned to be somewhat interactive. We'll start by looking at the Dross deck. It uses no spells, does exactly 21 damage to all opponents and is not affected by either Leyline. This is the ultimate example of an unfair deck. It does not even try to play fair or interact, it just wants to win early. Turbo-Slug is slightly more fair; it can't be countered and doesn't go on the stack, but at least it doesn't win on your turn. Last but not least, we have Ripple. Technically Ripple is not a guaranteed turn zero win (if your Ripple misses you are out of luck), but for it basic purposes it is. For clarity's sake, even if you counter a Surging Flame the ripple ability still triggers because it activates when cast, not when resolved. You also cannot counter the mana generation, because it is a mana ability and does not use the stack. And yes, you can beat this deck with Sanctity; we'll talk about that more later.
So what does our fair deck do? I can think of two possibilities:
#1. Gemstone Caverns + Stifle - This interaction beats both unfair decks. There are likely other unfair decks, but virtually every one of them can be beaten by counters or Caverns+Stifle
#2. Leyline of Anticipation - The better option. Beat them at their own game, responding to their triggers to race them before they finish
At first, I tried to figure out ways to work out Stifling someone. At the time, it seemed like going first was a massive disadvantage because it meant losing to the quicker deck that got out Gemstone Caverns. However the Leyline approach is clearly much better: you can still stifle, but now you can start your mana ramp and card draw on turn 0. There are several other major upgrades that need to happen though before we get to building the deck. First, we need to get rid of Black Lotus, Force of Will, and Ancestral Recall. The cards are commonly considered the three most powerful spells ever printed, but they just aren't good enough for super unrestricted.
First, our draw engine needs to be better than 1 card for 3 cards. In general that is very good, but it isn't consistent enough to draw an entire deck if you are looking to Channel-Banefire (or just Banefire). We'll lose the ability to kill an opponent by drawing them out, but we'll be using arguably the most powerful card ever printed: Contract From Below. For one measily black mana we draw not 3, not 4, not 5, but 8 cards. With or without Yawgmoth's Will, that is easily consistent enough to draw the deck. We'll also include Blue Sun's Xenith so that we won't deck out.
Next, it is time to pick up a better counter. Force of Will is an amazing counter that stops virtually everything, but in this crazy a format we need to be somewhat crazy ourselves. I've already talked about how Stifle is arguably more important against the unfair decks a lot of the time, but when both decks might see their entire 60 cards before the first mainphase the deck with less counters is going to lose. We'll be replacing our good old Force of Will with Pact of Negation. If we get to our next turn, we've probably already lost.
The final change is the simplest. Remember when I said all expansions are legal, and showed the Turbo Slug deck? I meant it. We'll be playing the upgraded version of Black Lotus: Blacker Lotus. Why? Black Lotus does interact better with Yawgmoth's Will, but we really don't want to care about Leyline of the Void (at least, from our opponents). One Blacker Lotus is enough mana to draw half a deck with Contract From Below, and the rest can merely be used to fuel your win condition.
In the first example, I used Banefire. Banefire has two large problems. First, it cannot hit through Leyline of Sanctity. Second, it can be redirected back at you if your opponent manages to get enough mana for a redirect spell. The first is the larger issue, but we need to find a different win condition. Unfortunately, the uncounterable Fireball that does damage to each opponent hasn't been printed yet, but there is a card that does work: Exsanguinate.
This gives 60 total mana, 120 cards, and 15 free counters. All you need to do to win is have an opening leyline and get a 20 mana Exsanguinate for the win. Another option is Blind Obedience, which has the added benefit of producing uncounterable triggers and stopping opposing mana rocks and Trinisphers from ruining your gameplan. The deck probably would be safer with Stifle, but I thought it was better to simply plan on redundancy, using Pact of Negation to protect everything. Alternatively, you could just mill yourself out and use a Laboratory Manic. I haven't really experimented with more controlling builds (Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void), but I definitely prefer the consistency this has. The deck can lose if the opponent resolves a Trinisphere or Chalice of the Void or destroys Leyline of Anticipation, so the Pacts are designed to stop that. The best way to do that is to have a Pact open for a zero mana Chalice, and use Pact on any mana rock the opponent tries to lay down to protect against Abrupt Decay (assuming they have a Leyline of Anticipation). If they are Anticipation-less, the game is already over.
So that is my "ideal" deck at the moment. It kills T0, has a ton of free counters, and neatly avoids both Leyline of Sanctity and Leyline of the Void. However, I have a few final thoughts. First, not being limited to 4 cards means that the best deck has closer infinite cards than 60, and the reason is Serum Powder. Ideally I could tailor my starting hand with an endlessly large number of Serum Powders, but it isn't feasible to show a deck of 1000+ of every card with an even larger number of Serum Powders. The Serum Powders would also be useful in that they make up a little of their own cost so that you can extort if you were using Blind Obedience instead of Exsanguinate, though it is colorless mana.
There are other decks however. Dredge decks, for instance, could exploit infinitely large decks to put any number of creatures into play, sacrificing for whatever combo they could possibly want (most likely Laboratory Maniac plus cantripping creature). There are mill combos (Leyline of the Void + Helm of Obedience for example), Biorhythm combos (basically just resolving the card), and of course control decks that would try and resolve Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere. But I think that mostly covers the all-in T0 combo deck that would define the format of super unrestricted. You could add more permanent removal in Abrupt Decay or add control cards, but I think the most reliable win method is just to try and win on that first upkeep. Ripple could also be a deck, using uncounterable Simian Spirit Guides instead of Lotuses that can get turned off or countered, but it is less consistent.
So the lessons from this:
1. Stifle is often a better counter than Force of Will in this crazy format, and because games rarely reach a 2nd turn we can just use Pact of Negation as our free counter.
2. Even bin rares and useless commons can become incredibly powerful under slight rules changes, ie Chancellor of the Dross, Turbo-Slug, Surging Flame
3. Everything has an upgrade, even Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus.
4. Waiting till your first main phase is way too long
5. Even with the ability to draw any number of cards and have any amount of mana you still want to interact with your opponent, even if it is just to say no.
I'm not sure if you read contract from below. You discard your hand before drawing, and you only draw seven cards, not eight. You do ante a card from your deck, though, which is effectively exiling it.
I'm not sure if you read contract from below. You discard your hand before drawing, and you only draw seven cards, not eight. You do ante a card from your deck, though, which is effectively exiling it.
You are right, but it is still the most effective draw spell in these circumstances.
I think you need more Split Second in your deck. And the uncounterable, un-leylinable win-con you wanted was Angel's Grace + Molten Disaster. Angel's Grace also has the upside of destroying Ripple and Slug completely. And any other deck that wants to win with infinite damage (not life loss though... unless you drop a Phyrexian Unlife?)
Great post though, very well thought out. I always wonder what this format would look like if it became an actual thing and a metagame evolved. I don't think we'd actually see Slugs and Chancellor and Ripple decks because having a protection from them is so easy. Unless they where so rare that people didn't bother with them anymore and they became metagame decks.
Had this format in the past and played a bunch of games.
The strongest deck around was about :
Leyline of Anticipation :
Important as you want to win, even when the opponent starts the game.
Black Lotus :
Quite obvisious the best mana you can get, especially with the leyline, we just need 1-2 black lotus and the rest recalls.
Ancestral Recall :
Best draw spell to get value out of mana and cards.
Thats overall all we need to start with.
The deck will aim for hands that contain a leyline and 2 black lotus, 4 recalls , you will draw into more recalls and for each black lotus you draw, can play 3 more recalls, which chains easily and quite consistent, which makes it easy to draw your deck and kill the opponent with lots of recalls.
We dont have to care for Chalice of any other "sorcery" speed interaction, as we want to win before even the starting player gets to his main phase, turn 0 if you want it that way.
And to further make this combo consisten, we can mulligan, as we can keep every hand that has leyline, lotus and recall, so in extreme cases, mulligan to 3 still wins (ofcourse if the opponent has answers, so its not really realistic).
Put in a a pair of Time Twister (or 3) to get an infinited chain of your deck and you get mana and cards to kill the opponent either with recalls, or you put in a single card that does the trick around that.
All the "counterspells" are not really helpfull, as they dont win and any hand you have with them isnt really good, as you lack win options.
Just play black lotus and recalls, if they counter a recall, just play another and any one that resolves, refills you will MORE recalls and lotus. To work around any "protection" of the opponent singles do the job, or you simply run a Laboratory Maniac and draw your deck for the win (if you do so, you keep the time twisters to "respond" to anything the opponent might try).
Your "unfair" decks still suffer from the problem that they cant win on turn 0 or cant win against the "instant speed" win that can work around its triggers.
I kind of want to have this format exist as a sanctioned format, at least on MODO. There would likely be an actual metagame, although only a handful of cards would see play. I guess it could be one of those Momir Basic-style formats.
I kind of want to have this format exist as a sanctioned format, at least on MODO. There would likely be an actual metagame, although only a handful of cards would see play. I guess it could be one of those Momir Basic-style formats.
Any deck that can combo kill at instant speed beats the dross deck, since it's a triggered ability and you can respond with the trigger on the stack. The ripple spirit guide deck, for instance, beats it if it goes off, as would any combo deck that dropped the blue leyline.
Gemstone Cavern - Angel's grace actually doesn't beat 60 Dross deck, as Angel's grace doesn't prevent you from going to -1 life as it's life loss, not damage, so you'll lose as soon as it wears off.
The Spirit Guide/Surging Flame deck actually wants Spirit Guides to be slightly in the majority, something like 32-28. A hand with 4 Spirit Guides and 3 Flames, or 5 and 2, is especially valuable, in that they get another chance to go off over the top of interference such as Mindbreak Trap. In fact, I believe those decks should mulligan any hand of 7 that isn't one of those two distributions, to get one last shot at 4/2 post mulligan.
Since decks here are likely to be overloading on a couple specific cards, Surgical Extraction (or Extirpate, if you're willing to pump actual mana into it) is bound to do a lot if you hit the right card. You can force the key card into the graveyard with a counterspell, or by making the opponent discard their hand (Wheel of Fortune is probably best at this, since it even forces them to draw cards and can be used as a win condition). For cards like Black Lotus, they're likely to end up in the graveyard by normal use anyway, and you can take them at that point, limiting hopeful opponents to just a few mana.
I totally forgot about Extripate, that card is amazing here. Now if only there was an uncounterable way to generate a black mana without having to win the coin flip (gemstone cavern)
I had forgotten about split second. That is definitely something I shouldn't have overlooked, because it is one of the most powerful abilities a card can have in this format. It essentially means the card can only be countered by Chalice of the Void. Angel's Grace alone completely changes the meta, as any deck can simply use it avoid dying on their turn. This makes Chalice of the Void a much stronger card.
On another note, I didn't stress just how important Leyline of Anticipation is. It is THE most important card of the format. Gemstone Caverns gives one uncounterable mana, but being able to play your mana rocks and other sorcery speed spells before their main phase is huge. Games in super unrestricted should rarely go to the first main phase for either player.
After thinking about the threat of Angel's Grace, Extirpate, and Surgical Extraction I think the best option would be a deck that eschews the use of normal counters entirely. The Pact of Negation plan is useless against those spells, and we cannot let opponents resolve them. Life loss still beats Angel's Grace, but getting ripped by Extirpate would kill a deck. There are a few options to counter this. One is to resolve a Chalice of the Void for one, or utilize Counterbalance to counter such spells. Another is to unmorph Voidmage Apprentice or land Decree of Silence.
I think Blind Obedience is probably the best option for a kill spell. It also stop your opponent from using mana rocks, and you can win just by putting down Lotuses and using draw spells. I particularly like the idea of using it and Chalice to counter the 1 mana Split Second spells, while using Mind's Desire as the draw engine. Because Mind's Desire let's you cast the spells it exiles for free, it should trigger extort and let you nick away at an opponent till death. The life loss gets around Angel's Grace and Leyline of Sanctity. Such a deck could use something like:
An ideal hand would have 3 Black Lotus, 1 Chalice, 1 Leyline, 1 Mind's Desire. Any hand that has at least a leyline, 2 black lotus, and mind's desire is okay though. The number of Black Lotus can probably be upped, and the number of Mind's Desire dropped, but I haven't done the math.
Of course, this shows that even in super unrestricted there is a metagame. With that deck, you run the risk of simply being countered by a Pact of Negation deck. Even Ripple decks have a few variations. They could use Wheel of Fortune as a draw spell for more consistency, or play Krosan Grip and Elvish Spirit Guide for Leylines. If they were REALLY aggressive they could forgo Ripple entirely and just play Wheels and Spirit Guides until they had enough mana to use Molten Disaster for the kill.
Sorry, I don't have much to add (people have already suggested what I was going to add, namely the chancellor of the dross deck), but I just wanted to say this thread is awesome.
I kind of want to have this format exist as a sanctioned format, at least on MODO. There would likely be an actual metagame, although only a handful of cards would see play. I guess it could be one of those Momir Basic-style formats.
Any deck that can combo kill at instant speed beats the dross deck, since it's a triggered ability and you can respond with the trigger on the stack. The ripple spirit guide deck, for instance, beats it if it goes off, as would any combo deck that dropped the blue leyline.
There's a funny way to read Slug's text that suggests that the slug deck is unbeatable though. Since it can come into play and attack the turn -before- it comes into play (turn 1), then it actually kills you on turn 0 (actual turn 0, not the upkeep of turn 1), before the game even started. Of course, that makes it boring, but that's what you get with using un-cards!
Another option about how to attack this format (and beat the split-second cards) if to figure out a way to resolve Silence reliably.
I'm now looking for some other exploitable cards from the un-sets. Here's what I found:
Aesthetic Consultation - naming Val Mayerick with any number of Misthollow Griffins in your deck and one Food Chain. For one black mana you put the Misthollow Griffin's in exile and search your library for Food Chain.
Blast from the Past - infinite mana dump
Erase (Not the Urza's Legacy One) - gets rid of enchantments for free
Form of the Squirrel - What deck is going to run creature removal? Though it is just a really bad Leyline of Sanctity, it can be given with Zedruu as an uncounterable permanent silence
Gleemax - I guess you'd use the infinite mana combo to play it
Greater Morphling - Slow if attacking, but the untap ability might be useful
Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil - Doesn't go through Leyline of Sanctity, but does do uncounterable damage
Johnny, Combo Player - pretty obvious
Letter Bomb - Can't be removed from play, goes through Leyline of Sanctity
Look at Me, I'm R&D - This is great. It messes with Mana Rocks, Chalice, and makes a lot of crazy plays possible.
Mana Flair - With all the repeated cards, this is better than a normal ritual
Meddling Kids - Name "draw" or "mana".
Goblin Bookie - Use with Amulet of Quoz
I'm Rubber, You're Glue - Another bad Leyline of Sanctity
Incoming - Secret Elvish Spirit Guide deck tech
Look at me, I'm the DCI - Surgical Extraction that costs too much but doesn't use the graveyard
Mine, Mine, Mine - An interesting way to play control in this format
The Cheese Stands Alone - Probably a combo with it
Urza's Contact Lenses - I'm sure there's a combo.
Mox Lotus - I like infinite mana
R&D's Secret Lair - Turns off mana rocks, makes cards like Hecatomb an instant kill, along with a ton of other stuff
Remodel - Another conditional free spell
Richard Garfield, Ph.D. - I'm sure I can think of some ways to win playing three Black Lotuses
Stone-Cold Basilisk - A non-spell based way to Silence an opponent
Yet Another Æther Vortex - A way to cheat in nasty artifacts or enchantments
Another interesting idea would be to exploit Grandeur cards, specifically Linessa, Zephyr Mage and Oriss, Samite Guardian. They act as uncounterable silence and Leyline removal. I'm trying to find another route for Spirit Guide decks that can exploit things in R or G and get around counters. Ideally you would have a deck that doesn't target or cast any spells to win but can interact with an opponent.
That deck automatically looses to Leyline of Sanctity. At least add in a single Echoing Truth or something.
There's also Staying Power in the un-cards that is abusable if we try to go the silence route. Also, Oriss is nice in that her ability can't be countered (usually), but she herself can be.
Powder doesn't guarantee you an exact 7 card hand. If you have say one of the cards that isn't serum powder alongside a serum powder it gets exiled and you draw. That's the issue with that approach.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
After some thought, I think decks in this format can be split into two categories: Leyline of Anticipation decks, and Spirit Guide decks. The ability to produce mana at instant speed is just too powerful for anything else. Of the two, Leyline decks can do more degenerate things with access to 3-4 times the mana in any color, but they are MUCH more fragile. They need to protect their mana rocks, leyline, and whatever they use to win the game. Spirit Guide decks have significantly less options (only instants in red/green unless they are using manamorphose), but are much harder to interact with.
There are a couple other variations though. You could play a mostly green control deck with Elvish Spirit Guides and Krosan Grip (or Ancient Grudge) to get rid of Leylines or whatever else. Similarly, you could go mono-white control and play Abolish, though that would be substantially worse in that it can be countered. The basic goal of every control deck would just be to survive until the combo deck burns itself out. Unfortunately, most such decks are perfectly fine winning on their own main phase, they just have the ability to win earlier.
Spirit Guide decks can use Manamorphose to get other colors of mana, namely blue. For instance, they could use the classic Flash-Hulk combo with two guides, manamorphose, flash, and either Summoner's Pact or Hulk itself. Obviously there are a ton of ways to abuse that, though I'll note that in this format a Balustrade Spy and Noggle Ransacker is generally an instant kill.
I think you could also exploit Serum Powder, Pull From Eternity, and Goryo's revenge. Basically, you try to get a legendary creature onto the battlefield that can stop the opponent or win the game. Something like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Richard Garfield, Ph.D, or Sen Triplets (on your turn).
1. Decks are a minimum of 60 cards. Sideboards have exactly 15 cards
2. Decks can be made from cards of any expansion
3. Any number of any card can be played in the deck
Assuming those rules, what is the best deck in magic? The answer probably isn't what you'd think. First, you'll probably imagine something like:
20 Ancestral Recall
20 Lightning Bolt - Edited from Fireball to lightning bolt!
Obviously that deck isn't it though. For one, the deck gets turned off by a Leyline of Sanctity. It runs zero interactive spells, and would lose every game on the draw to itself. Let's put in a combo, and fill the rest of the spots with interactive pieces.
15 Ancestral Recall
5 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Force of Will
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Echoing Truth
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Channel
2 Banefire
The numbers are a little random, but the important fact is that it is interactive. It can bounce a Leyline if needed, counter a gamewinning spell, and easily start it's own engine. The perfect deck, right? Not by a mile. Almost every single card in that deck has a strict upgrade, even if they are the most broken spells in the normal game. However, this is the starting point for what I call the "fair" decks of super unrestricted. How is a deck that can consistently win on T1 fair? It doesn't win on turn 0.
What beats this deck, regardless of its current interactivity? Or in other words, what are the "unfair" decks? I'll give three basic examples.
60-Dross:
60-Slug:
Ripple:
50 Surging Flame
Now these are extremely simple decks, which can be tuned to be somewhat interactive. We'll start by looking at the Dross deck. It uses no spells, does exactly 21 damage to all opponents and is not affected by either Leyline. This is the ultimate example of an unfair deck. It does not even try to play fair or interact, it just wants to win early. Turbo-Slug is slightly more fair; it can't be countered and doesn't go on the stack, but at least it doesn't win on your turn. Last but not least, we have Ripple. Technically Ripple is not a guaranteed turn zero win (if your Ripple misses you are out of luck), but for it basic purposes it is. For clarity's sake, even if you counter a Surging Flame the ripple ability still triggers because it activates when cast, not when resolved. You also cannot counter the mana generation, because it is a mana ability and does not use the stack. And yes, you can beat this deck with Sanctity; we'll talk about that more later.
So what does our fair deck do? I can think of two possibilities:
#1. Gemstone Caverns + Stifle - This interaction beats both unfair decks. There are likely other unfair decks, but virtually every one of them can be beaten by counters or Caverns+Stifle
#2. Leyline of Anticipation - The better option. Beat them at their own game, responding to their triggers to race them before they finish
At first, I tried to figure out ways to work out Stifling someone. At the time, it seemed like going first was a massive disadvantage because it meant losing to the quicker deck that got out Gemstone Caverns. However the Leyline approach is clearly much better: you can still stifle, but now you can start your mana ramp and card draw on turn 0. There are several other major upgrades that need to happen though before we get to building the deck. First, we need to get rid of Black Lotus, Force of Will, and Ancestral Recall. The cards are commonly considered the three most powerful spells ever printed, but they just aren't good enough for super unrestricted.
First, our draw engine needs to be better than 1 card for 3 cards. In general that is very good, but it isn't consistent enough to draw an entire deck if you are looking to Channel-Banefire (or just Banefire). We'll lose the ability to kill an opponent by drawing them out, but we'll be using arguably the most powerful card ever printed: Contract From Below. For one measily black mana we draw not 3, not 4, not 5, but 8 cards. With or without Yawgmoth's Will, that is easily consistent enough to draw the deck. We'll also include Blue Sun's Xenith so that we won't deck out.
Next, it is time to pick up a better counter. Force of Will is an amazing counter that stops virtually everything, but in this crazy a format we need to be somewhat crazy ourselves. I've already talked about how Stifle is arguably more important against the unfair decks a lot of the time, but when both decks might see their entire 60 cards before the first mainphase the deck with less counters is going to lose. We'll be replacing our good old Force of Will with Pact of Negation. If we get to our next turn, we've probably already lost.
The final change is the simplest. Remember when I said all expansions are legal, and showed the Turbo Slug deck? I meant it. We'll be playing the upgraded version of Black Lotus: Blacker Lotus. Why? Black Lotus does interact better with Yawgmoth's Will, but we really don't want to care about Leyline of the Void (at least, from our opponents). One Blacker Lotus is enough mana to draw half a deck with Contract From Below, and the rest can merely be used to fuel your win condition.
In the first example, I used Banefire. Banefire has two large problems. First, it cannot hit through Leyline of Sanctity. Second, it can be redirected back at you if your opponent manages to get enough mana for a redirect spell. The first is the larger issue, but we need to find a different win condition. Unfortunately, the uncounterable Fireball that does damage to each opponent hasn't been printed yet, but there is a card that does work: Exsanguinate.
So here is your new deck:
14 Contract From Below
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
7 Leyline of Anticipation
4 Exsanguinate
3 Leyline of the Void
15 Pact of Negation
This gives 60 total mana, 120 cards, and 15 free counters. All you need to do to win is have an opening leyline and get a 20 mana Exsanguinate for the win. Another option is Blind Obedience, which has the added benefit of producing uncounterable triggers and stopping opposing mana rocks and Trinisphers from ruining your gameplan. The deck probably would be safer with Stifle, but I thought it was better to simply plan on redundancy, using Pact of Negation to protect everything. Alternatively, you could just mill yourself out and use a Laboratory Manic. I haven't really experimented with more controlling builds (Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void), but I definitely prefer the consistency this has. The deck can lose if the opponent resolves a Trinisphere or Chalice of the Void or destroys Leyline of Anticipation, so the Pacts are designed to stop that. The best way to do that is to have a Pact open for a zero mana Chalice, and use Pact on any mana rock the opponent tries to lay down to protect against Abrupt Decay (assuming they have a Leyline of Anticipation). If they are Anticipation-less, the game is already over.
So that is my "ideal" deck at the moment. It kills T0, has a ton of free counters, and neatly avoids both Leyline of Sanctity and Leyline of the Void. However, I have a few final thoughts. First, not being limited to 4 cards means that the best deck has closer infinite cards than 60, and the reason is Serum Powder. Ideally I could tailor my starting hand with an endlessly large number of Serum Powders, but it isn't feasible to show a deck of 1000+ of every card with an even larger number of Serum Powders. The Serum Powders would also be useful in that they make up a little of their own cost so that you can extort if you were using Blind Obedience instead of Exsanguinate, though it is colorless mana.
There are other decks however. Dredge decks, for instance, could exploit infinitely large decks to put any number of creatures into play, sacrificing for whatever combo they could possibly want (most likely Laboratory Maniac plus cantripping creature). There are mill combos (Leyline of the Void + Helm of Obedience for example), Biorhythm combos (basically just resolving the card), and of course control decks that would try and resolve Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere. But I think that mostly covers the all-in T0 combo deck that would define the format of super unrestricted. You could add more permanent removal in Abrupt Decay or add control cards, but I think the most reliable win method is just to try and win on that first upkeep. Ripple could also be a deck, using uncounterable Simian Spirit Guides instead of Lotuses that can get turned off or countered, but it is less consistent.
So the lessons from this:
1. Stifle is often a better counter than Force of Will in this crazy format, and because games rarely reach a 2nd turn we can just use Pact of Negation as our free counter.
2. Even bin rares and useless commons can become incredibly powerful under slight rules changes, ie Chancellor of the Dross, Turbo-Slug, Surging Flame
3. Everything has an upgrade, even Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus.
4. Waiting till your first main phase is way too long
5. Even with the ability to draw any number of cards and have any amount of mana you still want to interact with your opponent, even if it is just to say no.
You are right, but it is still the most effective draw spell in these circumstances.
Great post though, very well thought out. I always wonder what this format would look like if it became an actual thing and a metagame evolved. I don't think we'd actually see Slugs and Chancellor and Ripple decks because having a protection from them is so easy. Unless they where so rare that people didn't bother with them anymore and they became metagame decks.
The strongest deck around was about :
Leyline of Anticipation :
Important as you want to win, even when the opponent starts the game.
Black Lotus :
Quite obvisious the best mana you can get, especially with the leyline, we just need 1-2 black lotus and the rest recalls.
Ancestral Recall :
Best draw spell to get value out of mana and cards.
Thats overall all we need to start with.
The deck will aim for hands that contain a leyline and 2 black lotus, 4 recalls , you will draw into more recalls and for each black lotus you draw, can play 3 more recalls, which chains easily and quite consistent, which makes it easy to draw your deck and kill the opponent with lots of recalls.
We dont have to care for Chalice of any other "sorcery" speed interaction, as we want to win before even the starting player gets to his main phase, turn 0 if you want it that way.
And to further make this combo consisten, we can mulligan, as we can keep every hand that has leyline, lotus and recall, so in extreme cases, mulligan to 3 still wins (ofcourse if the opponent has answers, so its not really realistic).
Put in a a pair of Time Twister (or 3) to get an infinited chain of your deck and you get mana and cards to kill the opponent either with recalls, or you put in a single card that does the trick around that.
All the "counterspells" are not really helpfull, as they dont win and any hand you have with them isnt really good, as you lack win options.
Just play black lotus and recalls, if they counter a recall, just play another and any one that resolves, refills you will MORE recalls and lotus. To work around any "protection" of the opponent singles do the job, or you simply run a Laboratory Maniac and draw your deck for the win (if you do so, you keep the time twisters to "respond" to anything the opponent might try).
Your "unfair" decks still suffer from the problem that they cant win on turn 0 or cant win against the "instant speed" win that can work around its triggers.
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I kind of want to have this format exist as a sanctioned format, at least on MODO. There would likely be an actual metagame, although only a handful of cards would see play. I guess it could be one of those Momir Basic-style formats.
Any deck that can combo kill at instant speed beats the dross deck, since it's a triggered ability and you can respond with the trigger on the stack. The ripple spirit guide deck, for instance, beats it if it goes off, as would any combo deck that dropped the blue leyline.
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Since decks here are likely to be overloading on a couple specific cards, Surgical Extraction (or Extirpate, if you're willing to pump actual mana into it) is bound to do a lot if you hit the right card. You can force the key card into the graveyard with a counterspell, or by making the opponent discard their hand (Wheel of Fortune is probably best at this, since it even forces them to draw cards and can be used as a win condition). For cards like Black Lotus, they're likely to end up in the graveyard by normal use anyway, and you can take them at that point, limiting hopeful opponents to just a few mana.
On another note, I didn't stress just how important Leyline of Anticipation is. It is THE most important card of the format. Gemstone Caverns gives one uncounterable mana, but being able to play your mana rocks and other sorcery speed spells before their main phase is huge. Games in super unrestricted should rarely go to the first main phase for either player.
After thinking about the threat of Angel's Grace, Extirpate, and Surgical Extraction I think the best option would be a deck that eschews the use of normal counters entirely. The Pact of Negation plan is useless against those spells, and we cannot let opponents resolve them. Life loss still beats Angel's Grace, but getting ripped by Extirpate would kill a deck. There are a few options to counter this. One is to resolve a Chalice of the Void for one, or utilize Counterbalance to counter such spells. Another is to unmorph Voidmage Apprentice or land Decree of Silence.
I think Blind Obedience is probably the best option for a kill spell. It also stop your opponent from using mana rocks, and you can win just by putting down Lotuses and using draw spells. I particularly like the idea of using it and Chalice to counter the 1 mana Split Second spells, while using Mind's Desire as the draw engine. Because Mind's Desire let's you cast the spells it exiles for free, it should trigger extort and let you nick away at an opponent till death. The life loss gets around Angel's Grace and Leyline of Sanctity. Such a deck could use something like:
14 Mind's Desire
5 Blind Obedience
10 Chalice of the Void
10 Leyline of Anticipation
3 Krosan Grip (uncounterable Leyline or Void destruction)
2 Yawgmoth's Will (in case an opponent wants to let us play everything from the graveyard)
1 Ad Nauseam (in case Mind's Desire stalls for any reason, or to get a Chalice with x = 1)
An ideal hand would have 3 Black Lotus, 1 Chalice, 1 Leyline, 1 Mind's Desire. Any hand that has at least a leyline, 2 black lotus, and mind's desire is okay though. The number of Black Lotus can probably be upped, and the number of Mind's Desire dropped, but I haven't done the math.
Of course, this shows that even in super unrestricted there is a metagame. With that deck, you run the risk of simply being countered by a Pact of Negation deck. Even Ripple decks have a few variations. They could use Wheel of Fortune as a draw spell for more consistency, or play Krosan Grip and Elvish Spirit Guide for Leylines. If they were REALLY aggressive they could forgo Ripple entirely and just play Wheels and Spirit Guides until they had enough mana to use Molten Disaster for the kill.
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Forgot that it triggered on upkeep.
Another option about how to attack this format (and beat the split-second cards) if to figure out a way to resolve Silence reliably.
Aesthetic Consultation - naming Val Mayerick with any number of Misthollow Griffins in your deck and one Food Chain. For one black mana you put the Misthollow Griffin's in exile and search your library for Food Chain.
Blast from the Past - infinite mana dump
Erase (Not the Urza's Legacy One) - gets rid of enchantments for free
Form of the Squirrel - What deck is going to run creature removal? Though it is just a really bad Leyline of Sanctity, it can be given with Zedruu as an uncounterable permanent silence
Gleemax - I guess you'd use the infinite mana combo to play it
Greater Morphling - Slow if attacking, but the untap ability might be useful
Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil - Doesn't go through Leyline of Sanctity, but does do uncounterable damage
Johnny, Combo Player - pretty obvious
Letter Bomb - Can't be removed from play, goes through Leyline of Sanctity
Look at Me, I'm R&D - This is great. It messes with Mana Rocks, Chalice, and makes a lot of crazy plays possible.
Mana Flair - With all the repeated cards, this is better than a normal ritual
Meddling Kids - Name "draw" or "mana".
Goblin Bookie - Use with Amulet of Quoz
I'm Rubber, You're Glue - Another bad Leyline of Sanctity
Incoming - Secret Elvish Spirit Guide deck tech
Look at me, I'm the DCI - Surgical Extraction that costs too much but doesn't use the graveyard
Mine, Mine, Mine - An interesting way to play control in this format
The Cheese Stands Alone - Probably a combo with it
Urza's Contact Lenses - I'm sure there's a combo.
Mox Lotus - I like infinite mana
R&D's Secret Lair - Turns off mana rocks, makes cards like Hecatomb an instant kill, along with a ton of other stuff
Remodel - Another conditional free spell
Richard Garfield, Ph.D. - I'm sure I can think of some ways to win playing three Black Lotuses
Stone-Cold Basilisk - A non-spell based way to Silence an opponent
Yet Another Æther Vortex - A way to cheat in nasty artifacts or enchantments
Another interesting idea would be to exploit Grandeur cards, specifically Linessa, Zephyr Mage and Oriss, Samite Guardian. They act as uncounterable silence and Leyline removal. I'm trying to find another route for Spirit Guide decks that can exploit things in R or G and get around counters. Ideally you would have a deck that doesn't target or cast any spells to win but can interact with an opponent.
2x Grapeshot
24x Manamorphose
2x Quicken
18x Simian Spirit Guide
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
There's also Staying Power in the un-cards that is abusable if we try to go the silence route. Also, Oriss is nice in that her ability can't be countered (usually), but she herself can be.
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There are a couple other variations though. You could play a mostly green control deck with Elvish Spirit Guides and Krosan Grip (or Ancient Grudge) to get rid of Leylines or whatever else. Similarly, you could go mono-white control and play Abolish, though that would be substantially worse in that it can be countered. The basic goal of every control deck would just be to survive until the combo deck burns itself out. Unfortunately, most such decks are perfectly fine winning on their own main phase, they just have the ability to win earlier.
Spirit Guide decks can use Manamorphose to get other colors of mana, namely blue. For instance, they could use the classic Flash-Hulk combo with two guides, manamorphose, flash, and either Summoner's Pact or Hulk itself. Obviously there are a ton of ways to abuse that, though I'll note that in this format a Balustrade Spy and Noggle Ransacker is generally an instant kill.
I think you could also exploit Serum Powder, Pull From Eternity, and Goryo's revenge. Basically, you try to get a legendary creature onto the battlefield that can stop the opponent or win the game. Something like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Richard Garfield, Ph.D, or Sen Triplets (on your turn).
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