With M14 out, three new tutors are available; Rune-Scarred Demon, Diabolic Tutor, Ring of Three Wishes.
Let's say you wanted to get either Battle of Wits or a tutor in your opening hand or first 5 cards, so that's 12 cards you'll go through. For evenness let's say your deck is 240 cards. To average 1 tutor in those 12, you'll want 20 tutors. With 4 of each, that's 5 unique tutors.
With the existing Diabolic Revelation, Increasing Ambition, and of course Battle of Wits itself, that's 6 that you could put in your deck, so my analysis is that you don't need all of them.
Anything else we could put in our deck? Some thoughts:
Opportunity
Quicken (cycle through our deck, play sweepers or tutors on their turn)
Wall of Frost (stall their attack)
Strionic Resonator (combos with too many things to list)
Thanks, I don't know where I got the idea that the demon was reprinted. I will take your advice and not run so many tutors. I'm hoping to take a Battle of Wits deck to FNM to see how it does. With no reprint, the next couple months will be my last chance to do it.
Now that's I'm over the tragedy of no BoW reprint in M14 and my inevitable resignation from Standard as a result, I'm working out how I want to update this deck for its last 3 months of legality.
I used to run Diabolic Revelation, but it was so horribly slow that it wasn't worth the slight increase on my hits to BoW. Diabolic Tutor, however, might make me consider going back up to 8 tutors. Casting that thing on turn 4 is pretty nuts, especially if you were able to do something on turn 2-3 to stall agro for a couple turns. I do think 8 tutors is a lot, but possibly not too much. We'll see. If it comes down to it, I think this would replace Increasing Ambition.
Doom Blade is just an efficient and convenient removal spell. I think I want it over Dimir Charm.
Ratchet Bomb is just a favourite of mine from Mirrodin block. It always made the cut in my janky standard decks back then, so why not now?
Other cards worth considering include Banisher Priest (so much worse that Fiend Hunter), Tidebinder Mage (not sure if it's awesome enough to warrant a SB slot), and maybe Wall of Frost. That last one is a bit janky, but it does seem like a solid pain in the neck.
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EDH Azami (video)
:symw::symb::symg: Teneb (video) Drana (video) (retired)
:symw::symr: Brion (video)
:symb::symr: Wort (video) Arcum (video) (retired)
:symr::symg: Stonebrow (video) BShirei (video) WURasputin (video) (retired) RUrabrask (video) WURZedruu (video) (retired) WIsamaru UBGrimgrin UMistform Ultimus (video) UBRGwendlyn (video) URGAnimar (video) RGThromok WBSelenia Standard WUGeist of Saint Traft standard EDH (video) (retired) WUB Battle of Wits!
Now that's I'm over the tragedy of no BoW reprint in M14 and my inevitable resignation from Standard as a result, I'm working out how I want to update this deck for its last 3 months of legality.
I used to run Diabolic Revelation, but it was so horribly slow that it wasn't worth the slight increase on my hits to BoW. Diabolic Tutor, however, might make me consider going back up to 8 tutors. Casting that thing on turn 4 is pretty nuts, especially if you were able to do something on turn 2-3 to stall agro for a couple turns. I do think 8 tutors is a lot, but possibly not too much. We'll see. If it comes down to it, I think this would replace Increasing Ambition.
Doom Blade is just an efficient and convenient removal spell. I think I want it over Dimir Charm.
Ratchet Bomb is just a favourite of mine from Mirrodin block. It always made the cut in my janky standard decks back then, so why not now?
Other cards worth considering include Banisher Priest (so much worse that Fiend Hunter), Tidebinder Mage (not sure if it's awesome enough to warrant a SB slot), and maybe Wall of Frost. That last one is a bit janky, but it does seem like a solid pain in the neck.
I say run the 8 tutors, BOW is still one of the most powerful wincons we have and its not really overdoing it at 8. If running 8 tutors I would run wall of frost, it's pretty bonkers
Doomblade for sure is in.
Ratchet bomb is good due to the crazy lingering souls abuse running around from aristocrats, also adevent of the wurm is a pain in the ass.
Here is a report of the Battle of Wits deck I ran at FNM. I didn't get all the cards I wanted, and was trying out some 1-ofs, so this isn't an optimal list:
Game 1:
Naturally drew into Battle of Wits before 5 mana, played it when I had 5, and he had no answer. Aetherize and Loss held his creatures at bay.
Sideboarding:
Out: Ultimate Price
In: Renounce the Guilds
Renounce the Guilds can handle relevant creatures that Ultimate Price can't, like Geist of St Traft, and Voice of Resurgence.
Game 2:
Did not draw Battle of Wits or a tutor. My Nighthawk and the threat of an Aetherize kept him from attacking much with Geist, or from piling too many enchantments onto Stalker. Eventually did creature beatdown with Haunted Plate mail attached to Nighthawk.
Round 2:
"Justin", Naya Domri
Game 1: Lost to Domri emblem. Did not draw relevant answers to him.
Sideboarding:
Out: 2 Ultimate Price, 2 Urgent Exorcism, Psychic Spiral
In: Reap Intellect, Appetite for Brains, 2 Renounce the Guilds, Blind Obedience
Ultimate Price and Urgent Exorcism didn't have many targets, and the game wasn't going to last long enough for Psychic Spiral to matter.
Cards were brought in to try to handle threats like Domri or Thundermaw Hellkite.
Game 2: Quickly won with tutoring for Battle of Wits
Game 3: Lost to both Garruk and Domri ultimating.
Round 3:
"Jarno", Jund
Game 1: Started out with Liliana of the Veil and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Kept them down and eventually eliminated them with Lingering Souls. Lost to Thragtusk + Kessig Wolf run
Sideboarding:
Out: 2 Urgent Exorcism, 1 Fog Bank, 3 Gloom Surgeon
In: Pithing Needle, Witchbane Orb, Appetite for Brains, Duress, Negate, Reap Intellect
Urgent Exorcism has no relevant targets. So many of his creatures had trample that I took out creatures of mine that had special damage prevention. Witchbane Orb to protect from Huntmaster, Rakdos's Return, and Liliana. The rest to try to control dangerous planeswalkers.
Game 2:
He miracled Bonfire of the Damned. I did not have an answer for Huntmaster and Olivia.
Round 4:
"David", Esper Mill
Game 1: I was milled out to the point where Battle of Wits, while it was on the Battlefield, was not a win condition. I used Increasing Ambition to find two cards, Psychic Spiral, and a Render Silent to make sure it went through, and turned his own milling against him.
Sideboarding:
Out: Fog Bank, 3 Gloom Surgeon, 2 Riot Control, Supreme Verdict, Vial of Poison
In: 2 Dissipate, 2 Negate, Pithing Needle, Duress, Reap Intellect, Witchbane Orb, Appetite for Brains
Bring out cards for handling creatures, bring in more control.
Game 2: I did not draw an answer for his Sorin. Completely land-flooded.
Game 3: Sorin came out but I was able to hold out longer with Aetherize, Unsummon, and Cyclonic Rift. He had brought in Tormod's Crypt to prevent me from reshuffling my graveyard. Battle of Wits had become a non-win-condition, so I tutored for Aethering as a win condition, but ran out of time.
Dimir Charm has just be OK and I figured Doom Blade was an obvious upgrade. Cyclonic Rift is awesome versatility, but I found it unhelpful a lot of the time. Entreat is amazing, but it's just been awful so many times.
I went 3-1, playing against a Sphere of Safety deck, Orzhov Midrange, Junk, and Selesnya Tokens. Loss was to Junk, but I deserved it because I was at 8 and he had a phased out Obzedat, I tutored and could have gotten a Battle of Wits to go for the win, but I was paranoid about something like Oblivion Ring or a way to get an extra damage through on me like Selesnya Charm or another Obzedat. So I get a Far//Away to deal with Obzedat instead. Stupid of me to not just go for the win.
Sphere of Safety was a bad matchup for him, obviously, because I can easily play around his enchantments and I have stuff like Merciless Eviction. And his wincon Jace doesn't mill me very quickly. As long as I won the counter war over his Aetherling, he couldn't reasonably beat me.
Orzhov was a fun matchup. I actually came back from a game where I was at 1 life facing a phase-out Obzedat. Sphinx's Rev for 4, chump Ob with a spirit token. Snappy to flash back Rev for 3. Hit a Geist of Saint Traft and Vault of the Archangel. Vault proceeds to completely take over the game, as Obzedat attacks into a deathtouching token and Geist starts gaining me 6 a turn.
Doom Blade was pretty terrible, as I always seemed to have 1 or 2 of them in hand against a bunch of black creatures or the creatureless-except-Aetherling SoS deck. So maybe that was just bad luck, but I found myself wishing it was Dimir Charm all night.
I only drew Ratchet Bomb once, but it was against the Tokens deck, so yeah it was good.
Diabolic Tutor was as excellent as expected. My BoW win rate went up, and I was way more efficient. With so many tutors, I might add some 1-ofs to my deck. Entreat and Angels, Aetherling, Angel of Serenity are all reasonable when tutoring for BoW just isn't right.
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EDH Azami (video)
:symw::symb::symg: Teneb (video) Drana (video) (retired)
:symw::symr: Brion (video)
:symb::symr: Wort (video) Arcum (video) (retired)
:symr::symg: Stonebrow (video) BShirei (video) WURasputin (video) (retired) RUrabrask (video) WURZedruu (video) (retired) WIsamaru UBGrimgrin UMistform Ultimus (video) UBRGwendlyn (video) URGAnimar (video) RGThromok WBSelenia Standard WUGeist of Saint Traft standard EDH (video) (retired) WUB Battle of Wits!
Because Standard is at its largest card size, my wife and I put together a BoW deck for the last couple weeks of FNM.
Unlike several of these decklists, our deck was more of a midrange deck.
We went 4 color (WUBG) and basically played every removal spell in those four colors. We added in every good creature finisher, and a few stall cards. We topped it off with color fixing and 4 Diabolic Tutors to find our Battle of Wits.
At 230 cards, we are a little smaller than your average BoW deck. However we are better able to win with creatures like Blood Baron of Vizkopa or Sigarda, Host of Herons, so we don't have to rely on a large game and more draws.
My wife went 3-0, playing against both aggro and control decks. If you are looking to play BoW with a lower curve, the list may give you some ideas.
UBRBLACK ROSE COMMANDERUBR
WURGBTrades - Looking for ABU Duals, Fetches, Ect. Have Liliana otV, Snapcaster Mages, Chrod of Calling, Alters!WURGB
Commander
Omnath, Locus of Mana
GWBUR Genju of The Realms RUBWG
Let's say you wanted to get either Battle of Wits or a tutor in your opening hand or first 5 cards, so that's 12 cards you'll go through. For evenness let's say your deck is 240 cards. To average 1 tutor in those 12, you'll want 20 tutors. With 4 of each, that's 5 unique tutors.
With the existing Diabolic Revelation, Increasing Ambition, and of course Battle of Wits itself, that's 6 that you could put in your deck, so my analysis is that you don't need all of them.
Anything else we could put in our deck? Some thoughts:
Opportunity
Quicken (cycle through our deck, play sweepers or tutors on their turn)
Wall of Frost (stall their attack)
Strionic Resonator (combos with too many things to list)
M14 has some sweet cards. The most likely ones to crack my deck are Diabolic Tutor, Doom Blade, and Ratchet Bomb.
I used to run Diabolic Revelation, but it was so horribly slow that it wasn't worth the slight increase on my hits to BoW. Diabolic Tutor, however, might make me consider going back up to 8 tutors. Casting that thing on turn 4 is pretty nuts, especially if you were able to do something on turn 2-3 to stall agro for a couple turns. I do think 8 tutors is a lot, but possibly not too much. We'll see. If it comes down to it, I think this would replace Increasing Ambition.
Doom Blade is just an efficient and convenient removal spell. I think I want it over Dimir Charm.
Ratchet Bomb is just a favourite of mine from Mirrodin block. It always made the cut in my janky standard decks back then, so why not now?
Other cards worth considering include Banisher Priest (so much worse that Fiend Hunter), Tidebinder Mage (not sure if it's awesome enough to warrant a SB slot), and maybe Wall of Frost. That last one is a bit janky, but it does seem like a solid pain in the neck.
EDH
Azami (video)
:symw::symb::symg: Teneb (video)
Drana (video) (retired)
:symw::symr: Brion (video)
:symb::symr: Wort (video)
Arcum (video) (retired)
:symr::symg: Stonebrow (video)
B Shirei (video)
WU Rasputin (video) (retired)
R Urabrask (video)
WUR Zedruu (video) (retired)
W Isamaru
UB Grimgrin
U Mistform Ultimus (video)
UBR Gwendlyn (video)
URG Animar (video)
RG Thromok
WB Selenia
Standard
WU Geist of Saint Traft standard EDH (video) (retired)
WUB Battle of Wits!
I say run the 8 tutors, BOW is still one of the most powerful wincons we have and its not really overdoing it at 8. If running 8 tutors I would run wall of frost, it's pretty bonkers
Doomblade for sure is in.
Ratchet bomb is good due to the crazy lingering souls abuse running around from aristocrats, also adevent of the wurm is a pain in the ass.
2 Fog Bank
2 Archaeomancer
4 Alchemist's Apprentice
4 Wall of Frost
1 Aetherling
4 Bane Alley Broker
1 Lavinia of the Tenth
3 Evil Twin
4 Gloom Surgeon
4 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Battle of Wits
4 Detention Sphere
2 Lingering Souls
3 Planar Cleansing
4 Terminus
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Merciless Eviction
2 Obzedat's Aid
4 Pilfered Plans
4 Diabloc Tutor
4 Increasing Ambition
4 Sever the Bloodline
1 Wit's End
4 Devastation Tide
2 Elixir of Immortality
4 Chromatic Lantern
2 Vanguard's Shield
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Haunted Plate Mail
1 Vial of Poison
1 Accorder's Shield
2 Darksteel Ingot
Instants
4 Think Twice
4 Unsummon
2 Quicken
2 Aetherize
4 Cyclonic Rift
1 Psychic Spiral
4 Riot Control
2 Urgent Exorcism
1 Midnight Haunting
3 Profit / Loss
3 Azorius Charm
1 Render Silent
4 Far / Away
1 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Cremate
4 Ultimate Price
2 Murder
3 Glacial Fortress
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Dimir Guildgate
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Watery Grave
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Nephalia Drownyard
3 Shimmering Grotto
17 Swamp
33 Island
13 Plains
1 Duress
1 Witchbane Orb
2 Negate
1 Reap Intellect
1 Appetite for Brains
1 Pithing Needle
1 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Rest in Peace
1 Blind Obedience
2 Renounce the Guilds
Round 1:
"Jeff", Bant Auras
Game 1:
Naturally drew into Battle of Wits before 5 mana, played it when I had 5, and he had no answer. Aetherize and Loss held his creatures at bay.
Sideboarding:
Out: Ultimate Price
In: Renounce the Guilds
Renounce the Guilds can handle relevant creatures that Ultimate Price can't, like Geist of St Traft, and Voice of Resurgence.
Game 2:
Did not draw Battle of Wits or a tutor. My Nighthawk and the threat of an Aetherize kept him from attacking much with Geist, or from piling too many enchantments onto Stalker. Eventually did creature beatdown with Haunted Plate mail attached to Nighthawk.
Round 2:
"Justin", Naya Domri
Game 1: Lost to Domri emblem. Did not draw relevant answers to him.
Sideboarding:
Out: 2 Ultimate Price, 2 Urgent Exorcism, Psychic Spiral
In: Reap Intellect, Appetite for Brains, 2 Renounce the Guilds, Blind Obedience
Ultimate Price and Urgent Exorcism didn't have many targets, and the game wasn't going to last long enough for Psychic Spiral to matter.
Cards were brought in to try to handle threats like Domri or Thundermaw Hellkite.
Game 2: Quickly won with tutoring for Battle of Wits
Game 3: Lost to both Garruk and Domri ultimating.
Round 3:
"Jarno", Jund
Game 1: Started out with Liliana of the Veil and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Kept them down and eventually eliminated them with Lingering Souls. Lost to Thragtusk + Kessig Wolf run
Sideboarding:
Out: 2 Urgent Exorcism, 1 Fog Bank, 3 Gloom Surgeon
In: Pithing Needle, Witchbane Orb, Appetite for Brains, Duress, Negate, Reap Intellect
Urgent Exorcism has no relevant targets. So many of his creatures had trample that I took out creatures of mine that had special damage prevention. Witchbane Orb to protect from Huntmaster, Rakdos's Return, and Liliana. The rest to try to control dangerous planeswalkers.
Game 2:
He miracled Bonfire of the Damned. I did not have an answer for Huntmaster and Olivia.
Round 4:
"David", Esper Mill
Game 1: I was milled out to the point where Battle of Wits, while it was on the Battlefield, was not a win condition. I used Increasing Ambition to find two cards, Psychic Spiral, and a Render Silent to make sure it went through, and turned his own milling against him.
Sideboarding:
Out: Fog Bank, 3 Gloom Surgeon, 2 Riot Control, Supreme Verdict, Vial of Poison
In: 2 Dissipate, 2 Negate, Pithing Needle, Duress, Reap Intellect, Witchbane Orb, Appetite for Brains
Bring out cards for handling creatures, bring in more control.
Game 2: I did not draw an answer for his Sorin. Completely land-flooded.
Game 3: Sorin came out but I was able to hold out longer with Aetherize, Unsummon, and Cyclonic Rift. He had brought in Tormod's Crypt to prevent me from reshuffling my graveyard. Battle of Wits had become a non-win-condition, so I tutored for Aethering as a win condition, but ran out of time.
Round 5:
Opponent did not show up.
- 4 Dimir Charm
- 4 Cyclonic Rift
- 4 Entreat the Angels
+ 4 Doom Blade
+ 4 Diabolic Tutor
+ 4 Ratchet Bomb
Dimir Charm has just be OK and I figured Doom Blade was an obvious upgrade. Cyclonic Rift is awesome versatility, but I found it unhelpful a lot of the time. Entreat is amazing, but it's just been awful so many times.
I went 3-1, playing against a Sphere of Safety deck, Orzhov Midrange, Junk, and Selesnya Tokens. Loss was to Junk, but I deserved it because I was at 8 and he had a phased out Obzedat, I tutored and could have gotten a Battle of Wits to go for the win, but I was paranoid about something like Oblivion Ring or a way to get an extra damage through on me like Selesnya Charm or another Obzedat. So I get a Far//Away to deal with Obzedat instead. Stupid of me to not just go for the win.
Sphere of Safety was a bad matchup for him, obviously, because I can easily play around his enchantments and I have stuff like Merciless Eviction. And his wincon Jace doesn't mill me very quickly. As long as I won the counter war over his Aetherling, he couldn't reasonably beat me.
Orzhov was a fun matchup. I actually came back from a game where I was at 1 life facing a phase-out Obzedat. Sphinx's Rev for 4, chump Ob with a spirit token. Snappy to flash back Rev for 3. Hit a Geist of Saint Traft and Vault of the Archangel. Vault proceeds to completely take over the game, as Obzedat attacks into a deathtouching token and Geist starts gaining me 6 a turn.
Doom Blade was pretty terrible, as I always seemed to have 1 or 2 of them in hand against a bunch of black creatures or the creatureless-except-Aetherling SoS deck. So maybe that was just bad luck, but I found myself wishing it was Dimir Charm all night.
I only drew Ratchet Bomb once, but it was against the Tokens deck, so yeah it was good.
Diabolic Tutor was as excellent as expected. My BoW win rate went up, and I was way more efficient. With so many tutors, I might add some 1-ofs to my deck. Entreat and Angels, Aetherling, Angel of Serenity are all reasonable when tutoring for BoW just isn't right.
EDH
Azami (video)
:symw::symb::symg: Teneb (video)
Drana (video) (retired)
:symw::symr: Brion (video)
:symb::symr: Wort (video)
Arcum (video) (retired)
:symr::symg: Stonebrow (video)
B Shirei (video)
WU Rasputin (video) (retired)
R Urabrask (video)
WUR Zedruu (video) (retired)
W Isamaru
UB Grimgrin
U Mistform Ultimus (video)
UBR Gwendlyn (video)
URG Animar (video)
RG Thromok
WB Selenia
Standard
WU Geist of Saint Traft standard EDH (video) (retired)
WUB Battle of Wits!
Unlike several of these decklists, our deck was more of a midrange deck.
We went 4 color (WUBG) and basically played every removal spell in those four colors. We added in every good creature finisher, and a few stall cards. We topped it off with color fixing and 4 Diabolic Tutors to find our Battle of Wits.
At 230 cards, we are a little smaller than your average BoW deck. However we are better able to win with creatures like Blood Baron of Vizkopa or Sigarda, Host of Herons, so we don't have to rely on a large game and more draws.
My wife went 3-0, playing against both aggro and control decks. If you are looking to play BoW with a lower curve, the list may give you some ideas.
4x Evolving Wilds
7x Forest
7x Island
7x Plains
7x Swamp
2x Breeding Pool
4x Godless Shrine
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Overgrown Tomb
3x Temple Garden
2x Watery Grave
3x Drowned Catacomb
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Hinterland Harbor
4x Isolated Chapel
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Woodland Cemetery
4x Azorius Guildgate
4x Dimir Guildgate
4x Golgari Guildgate
4x Orzhov Guildgate
4x Selesnya Guildgate
4x Simic Guildgate
4x Tragic Slip
4x Remove Soul
4x Selesnya Charm
4x Syncopate
4x Azorius Charm
4x Devour Flesh
2x Cyclonic Rift
4x Doom Blade
4x Far / Away
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Detention Sphere
4x Putrefy
2x Sever the Bloodline
Sweepers
4x Barter in Blood
4x Supreme Verdict
4x Terminus
2x Merciless Eviction
Draw
4x Think Twice
4x Forbidden Alchemy
4x Diabolic Tutor
2x Sphinx's Revelation
4x Abundant Growth
4x Prophetic Prism
4x Gatecreeper Vine
4x Farseek
4x Chromatic Lantern
4x Borderland Ranger
Stall
4x Fog Bank
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Lingering Souls
4x Centaur Healer
1x Silklash Spider
Finishers
2x Alms Beast
4x Battle of Wits
2x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
3x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Bloodgift Demon
2x Sigarda, Host of Herons
4x Thragtusk
2x Progenitor Mimic
On tappedout.net here.
Mana Curve is rather low for a BoW deck:
1 - 11
2 - 46
3 - 34
4 - 16
5 - 18
6 - 8
7 - 4
Check out Odds//Ends - My articles on Quirky Cards and Oddball Builds
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Currently playing Knight of the Reliquary - Retreat to Coralhelm Combo