The new cycling cards of Amonkhet are really exciting! Also present are multiple new engine cards that reward cycling a lot. Notably: Drake Haven, New Perspectives and Shadow of the Grave.
New Perspective can be used to make a combo deck, somewhat similar to eggs or storm. On your big turn, you draw tons of cards, generate the mana you need and win 5 minutes later with your whole deck in hand.
More lists: 5-3 and 4-4 on MOCS. Both with 3 Weirding Woods, 23 lands including all basics. Mountain and Radiant Flames in the sideboard.
The plan
Ramp with Shefet Monitor and Weirding Wood while not costing cards. This is important for New Perspectives.
Don't die with Renewed Faith (0 cards), Haze of Pollen and Cast Out(-1 cards).
Cast New Perspectives (+2). Cycle to draw it if need be.
Cycle everything for 0. Generate mana with Shefet and Vizier.
When out of cyclers, cast Shadow of the Grave. Repeat.
Draw your deck, make 14 mana and win with double Second Sun.
Overall, there are 3 ways to win pre-sideboard: New Perspectives combo, Sphinx beatdown and Second Sun stall.
Maindeck card choices
New Perspectives is how you often win. You definitely want 4. If you don't draw one, the games are much more difficult. Playing it often makes you win if you have 3+ cyclers once it has resolved. Free cycling in a deck where most cards cycle means you can draw tons of cards.
Shefet Monitor is an uncounterable ramp that draws a card. Potentially gets you to 6 mana on turn 5. When you cycle for free, it generates 1 mana if you still have basics in your deck.
Weirding Wood also ramps without using a card and can be played on turn 3. Combo with Vizier. Fixes your colors very well.
Vizier of Tumbling Sands is almost only strictly used when cycling for free. It can untap a land, generating a mana, or 2 with Weirding Wood.
Shadow of the Grave makes sure you do not run out of cards and Viziers when New Perspectives is online. If you have a lot of mana but not New Perspectives, you can dig towards the enchantement with cyclers and Shadow, which can be worth it if it nets 2-3+ cards. Make sure you keep track of the cyclers you used this turn when you plan on using Shadow.
Haze of Pollen, Renewed Faith and Cast Out are the only help you got to endure until you draw Perspectives and have enough mana to cast it. Haze of Pollen and Cast Out decrease you hand size, so you can only play 2-3 depending on who played first and mulligans. Censor does something similar to Cast Out for cheaper, but is more situational and requires blue mana early.
Traverse the Ulvenwald is used to get the Sphinx against control decks and Vizier while comboing. Out of combo, delirium is not obvious, but is often obtained by cycling a land, an instant and a creature. The last type is either an enchantment getting countered or a previous Traverse. Early game, it makes sure you get all your land drops.
Sphinx of the Final Word is often a 4 turn clock against control. Note that it doesn't make enchantements uncounterable, which is why the flying beatdown plan is likely.
Approach of the Second Sun is the primary wincon when you resolve New Perspectives. Note that winning this way requires 14 mana for 2 Approach + 2 per Shadow of the Grave, which is why fetching up the Viziers with Traverse early is important. You should be fine with mana once you have a Wierding Woods, which should always be cast before spending on Approach. If you do not have New Perspectives but have lots of mana, casting Approach of the Second Sun buys you some time and can win a few turns later, especially by digging with cyclers. If you have cast and replaced Second Sun on top, you might not want to search and shuffle with Shefet Monitor or Traverse.
Roilmage's Trick is both halves of Haze of Pollen for 4 against small creatures.
Pulse of Murasa is similar to Renewed Faith and can rebuy early cycled Viziers unlike Shadow of the Grave.
Mana Base
The mana base requires green mana first (for ramp), then white (for utility) and blue/black (to combo off).
It is composed of the 12 GW+1 cycling lands, 2 Fortified Village as a pseudo-fastland and 7 basics to fetch 2-3 time reliably with Shefet. UU is needed for the no Perspectives Sphinx plan. Playing a Swamp is advised to make casting Shadow easier on a combo turn. Builds with more blue might like Botanical Sanctum.
Blue Control Censor, Negate, Disallow and Brutal Expulsion will stop the main combo. Traversing for Sphinx of the Final Word and resolving a Drake Haven are good alternative plans.
Overall, the deck is quite fun to play, and it gets very interesting when you are confronted with disruption or a hard to deal with clock. I'm not convinced it is has Pro Tour potential yet, but I'd be interested by the experience of other players with it. It might just be a worse combo deck than Aetherworks, but has the advantage of turning off all creature removal. Plus, drawing lots of cards never gets old.
I like a good combo deck, but I think this one needs a better plan against control. Sphinx of the Final Word is cool, but trying to get home against a dedicated control deck is asking an awful lot of one card. Especially when the ability doesn't protect your real wincon. The Sphinx dies to sweepers and sacrifice effects and has trouble racing a Gearhulk. Game one even if the Sphinx gets your opponent to five before it dies I don't see any way to follow up.
I think you want to bring in the Drake Havens against control just to get the threat density up. Maybe even wedge in some Faith of the Devoted. Originally posted by jacobk. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
I tested the deck today against UR control with Dynavolt Tower and Gearhulk: Sphinx is indeed not a very fast clock when faced by multiple Gearhulks late game. Control is however the matchup where you can sideboard the most, most of the life-gaining effects are not needed. Could be right to side out all white cards and Haze of Pollens for up to 12-13 cards. Originally posted by jonhwoods. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
i also made a very similair deck second sun
i like the inclusion of the Sphinx in the main deck
after some testing i added a single negate to protect key pieces since we can cycle to negate. i also have a second copy of approach so we have 3 shots at winning Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
I often wanted to search for a single Swamp and you need the Island for the control-matchup when you side-in a lot of blue cards. Therefor I cutted 1 Forest and 1 Sheltered Thicket.
You really want a second Approach of the Second Sun because mulliganing with this deck is pretty rough and if they hit it with discards you're just about to scoop. I got many opponents playing Gonti, Lord of Luxury when I put back Approach on the seventh spot in my library and after some draws they just remove it with Gonti. I cut one Traverse the Ulvenwald because it's the "weakest" card in our list.
Unfortunatelly Shadow of the Grave is bugged in the current XMage version, but I won several matchups without it and it will make the deck pretty strong.
I am pretty much sold on the list but due to the XMage bug I am currently testing Bant New Perspectives which just uses 4 Drake Haven instead of 4 Shadow of the Grave. This deck is strong as well but once going off the Shadow of the Grave are what really makes the combo strong.
The most important part about the deck: once your opponent has blue you really want to wait for a Sphinx before you cast your Approach. But many blue mages use Fumigate to get rid of the Sphinx so Game 1 is pretty rough. Game 2 and 3 are much more easier. Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
only 22 lands? isn't that a bit small. you want to hit (6 mana) New Perspectives as soon as possible Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
I also felt like you could cut 1 Traverse and rework the lands a bit, but wasn't sure of what to add. I think you got the perfect mix of basics and adding a 2nd Approach of the Second Sun makes sense to sneak in a win this way more often.
I'm curious about your experience with Fumigate in the sideboard (which also felt quite needed), Kefnet, Drake Haven and Angel of Sanctions? In which matchup have they been effective? Originally posted by jonhwoods. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
Given the similarity between the decks, I believe I can comment the archetype.
Just in case it's not obvious to others finding this thread, New Perspectives means not only not paying the cost for things like Cast Out, it means not paying the mana for Shefet Monitor and Vizier of Tumbling Sands. These cards generate mana when you cycle them for free, which you use to cast Shadow of the Grave to get everything you've cycled in your combo turn back. Vizier is particularly important because Shefet runs out of fetchables and Vizier generates 2 mana with Weirding Wood. With this mana, you cast Shadow of the Grave and get everything you've cycled back to use again. It takes 2 Shadow of the Grave loops (3 max) to draw your entire deck and you usually have around 10 mana floating.
The deck is extremely consistent for a Standard combo deck. Given the amount of cycling, you can always eventually find a New Perspective and resolving it with 4 cards is usually lights out. You just have to survive to that point. My testing has been mostly against Mardu Vehicles, and that has motivated many of my card choices. That being said, I like elements of both decks and will combine them moving forwards. I like the Traverse and I'll be putting them in mine. However I also like Censor and probably won't cut it. It's great to have maindeck counterspells to protect the combo and it's good against aggression, which is the exact archetype I fear. I have not been impressed testing with Renewed Faith and cut it very early. I've had a good time with Roilmage's Trick given the diversity of the manabase (it usually reads fog + draw a card, which is exactly what I'm in the market for). Also a singleton Commit // Memory has been very good since it's like playing a maindeck Negate when you combo and it gives the ability to give the combo another go if you somehow fizzle. In relation to that, I like a Fling win condition better than Approach of the Second Suns, given that 14 mana is very intensive.
Drake Haven is the best Midrange and Control sideboard option. I also love the inclusion of a singleton Sphinx with Traverse. Sweltering Suns has been good against the fastest aggro decks but weaker against Gideon and vehicles (hence only in the sideboard). Negate is a necessity since everyone brings in discard or other noncreature hate. Dispossess is an additional card for Marvel, which is a bit faster than this deck.
How has everyone felt about Cast Out and Renewed Faith? Do you cast them for their front side very often? Have you tried Censor? Have you tried a Fling win condition?
PS. Don't forget to Shefet Search and then Shefet search again with the card draw from the first Shefet still on the stack. Originally posted by kmk888. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
Two more lists had good results on MTGO. Both with 3 Weirding Woods, 23 lands (including all basics). Mountain and Radiant Flames in the sideboard. Added to primer.
Great new perspective kmk888! (pun intended)
Roilmage's Trick is indeed a card that fits well with our gameplan, it's worth giving a try. Dispossess also looks great with Marvel on the rise.
Regarding Cast Out and Renewed Faith, the incidental life gain on cycling proved useful, and Cast Out can be a good safety valve against problematic permanents but doesn't get cast that often. A classic position is to plan on cycling Monitor on the end of turn 4 to cast New Perspectives turn 5, and hold up Cast Out in case of emergency.
I think I prefer Second Sun to Fling for multiple reasons: Fling requires an untapped red source, it only uses 1 deck slot and seems to require Commit//Memory in case Horror is on the bottom of the deck, though that wouldn't be the case with Traverse. Also never had any mana problems for Second Sun, it seems quite consistant during combo. Originally posted by jonhwoods. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
I also felt like you could cut 1 Traverse and rework the lands a bit, but wasn't sure of what to add. I think you got the perfect mix of basics and adding a 2nd Approach of the Second Sun makes sense to sneak in a win this way more often.
I'm curious about your experience with Fumigate in the sideboard (which also felt quite needed), Kefnet, Drake Haven and Angel of Sanctions? In which matchup have they been effective?
Fumigate is for aggro and midrange creature decks. It is much slower than Radiant Flames but it hits more creatures. Depending on the speed of the meta you can switch between those two cards.
Kefnet the Mindful is strong vs creature-midrange and in blocking blue Gearhulks vs. control as well as swinging back with the Vizier giving it pseudo-vigilance.
Drake Haven wins you the games vs. control. Just cast it turn 5 or later and leave up Negate. Once it hits the board they only have Cast Out to get back into the game.
Angel of Sanctions was Cast Out number 5 and 6 but it can be swapped for something else like Dispossess I guess. Might be good against control because Embalm can't be countered with Essence Scatter and it might eat a Gearhulk. The only problem: You can only cut so many cards from the main to fit in your Sideboard.
Given the similarity between the decks, I believe I can comment the archetype.
Just in case it's not obvious to others finding this thread, New Perspectives means not only not paying the cost for things like Cast Out, it means not paying the mana for Shefet Monitor and Vizier of Tumbling Sands. These cards generate mana when you cycle them for free, which you use to cast Shadow of the Grave to get everything you've cycled in your combo turn back. Vizier is particularly important because Shefet runs out of fetchables and Vizier generates 2 mana with Weirding Wood. With this mana, you cast Shadow of the Grave and get everything you've cycled back to use again. It takes 2 Shadow of the Grave loops (3 max) to draw your entire deck and you usually have around 10 mana floating.
The deck is extremely consistent for a Standard combo deck. Given the amount of cycling, you can always eventually find a New Perspective and resolving it with 4 cards is usually lights out. You just have to survive to that point. My testing has been mostly against Mardu Vehicles, and that has motivated many of my card choices. That being said, I like elements of both decks and will combine them moving forwards. I like the Traverse and I'll be putting them in mine. However I also like Censor and probably won't cut it. It's great to have maindeck counterspells to protect the combo and it's good against aggression, which is the exact archetype I fear. I have not been impressed testing with Renewed Faith and cut it very early. I've had a good time with Roilmage's Trick given the diversity of the manabase (it usually reads fog + draw a card, which is exactly what I'm in the market for). Also a singleton Commit // Memory has been very good since it's like playing a maindeck Negate when you combo and it gives the ability to give the combo another go if you somehow fizzle. In relation to that, I like a Fling win condition better than Approach of the Second Suns, given that 14 mana is very intensive.
Drake Haven is the best Midrange and Control sideboard option. I also love the inclusion of a singleton Sphinx with Traverse. Sweltering Suns has been good against the fastest aggro decks but weaker against Gideon and vehicles (hence only in the sideboard). Negate is a necessity since everyone brings in discard or other noncreature hate. Dispossess is an additional card for Marvel, which is a bit faster than this deck.
How has everyone felt about Cast Out and Renewed Faith? Do you cast them for their front side very often? Have you tried Censor? Have you tried a Fling win condition?
PS. Don't forget to Shefet Search and then Shefet search again with the card draw from the first Shefet still on the stack.
The problem with Censor: At the point where you can afford to start the counter-war your opponents will have 32423452 mana anyways and we need other things in the main just for the cycling which will help us survive until to that point. The first Cast Out gets cycled all the time. I rarely play 2 when drawing my whole deck and use them just to chain the combo but it helps fighting turn 4 Gideons and fuels your Traverse. It is good vs. blue Gearhulks as well. I hardly cycle Renewed Faith against decks like RW Humans, Mardu Ballista, RG Monsters because 6 life is enough to get late into the game and combo em out. I think a win-condition with FLing requieres to many cards that wont fit the rest of the decks plan.
Two more lists had good results on MTGO. Both with 3 Weirding Woods, 23 lands (including all basics). Mountain and Radiant Flames in the sideboard. Added to primer.
Great new perspective kmk888! (pun intended)
Roilmage's Trick is indeed a card that fits well with our gameplan, it's worth giving a try. Dispossess also looks great with Marvel on the rise.
Regarding Cast Out and Renewed Faith, the incidental life gain on cycling proved useful, and Cast Out can be a good safety valve against problematic permanents but doesn't get cast that often. A classic position is to plan on cycling Monitor on the end of turn 4 to cast New Perspectives turn 5, and hold up Cast Out in case of emergency.
I think I prefer Second Sun to Fling for multiple reasons: Fling requires an untapped red source, it only uses 1 deck slot and seems to require Commit//Memory in case Horror is on the bottom of the deck, though that wouldn't be the case with Traverse. Also never had any mana problems for Second Sun, it seems quite consistant during combo.
The lists on MOCS just got copied and their players did not seem to have made their own thoughts about the deck but they finished quite good which proves the strength of the deck. I think improving the deck to something similar like my list (except the Angels) will make it win more often. Agree on Cast Out and Renewed Faith and Second Sun over Fling. Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
Since adding Traverse the Ulvenwald to my deck, I'm inclined to agree with you on Approach of the Second Sun because you can get Viziers earlier in the combo and build up more mana. I've never had a problem with red mana because you can easily depend on Weirding Wood over adding a Mountain, but the list is very tight and I lean towards Approach simply because it tends to take up one fewer noncycling slot. Speaking of, these MODO players must be really concerned about control to maindeck a Sphinx of the Final Word. That card seems pretty abysmal most of the time and I'm relegating it to my sideboard.
For the record, I think playing fewer than 4 Weirding Woods is a mistake. I started with only 2 and found that Weirding Wood on 3 was the best way to ensure a match win over decks that want to race. Shefet is good but it's better saved for the combo turn, I like having 8 ramp effects, and by the 4th turn you're more likely to have to use mana on a Haze of Pollen than the 3rd turn. In addition, Weirding Wood lets you both ramp and defend yourself on the 4th turn with Haze of Pollen.
I still don't like Renewed Faith. I very rarely end up cycling it and then finding myself at 1 or 2 life, which would mean that the incidental lifegain had saved me. Aggro decks are so good at building board presence in this Standard that if I lose it's usually in chunks of 7-10 at a time and a paltry 2 life wouldn't change the outcome. And if I have 2 mana and want to cycle, I literally always feel like I have a land to use for that (I play 23 or 24 lands even with Traverse, which I believe to be the right choice).
I've been investigating the potential of Pulse of Murasa. Pulse offers the same ratio of cmc: lifegain as the front side of Renewed Faith, but it usually doesn't put you down a card because of the frequency of cycling lands. It's a little more expensive while comboing but it will do the job to dig you a card deeper by grabbing a cycling land or creature. In addition, if you do grab a cycling creature it's virtually a little cheaper than 3 mana because the creature generates mana when you cycle it. Speaking of, a more subtle effect is that it lets you cards from earlier in the game on your combo turn. If you're like me you tend not to cycle Viziers unless you have to because they're so critical while comboing. But with 1-3 Pulses you can feel a little more free to cycle Viziers early since you know you can rebuy them and add them back into the loop later.
The problem with Censor: At the point where you can afford to start the counter-war your opponents will have 32423452 mana anyways and we need other things in the main just for the cycling which will help us survive until to that point. The first Cast Out gets cycled all the time.
I think you're misunderstanding the point of Censor. It's not for starting a counter war with control you cannot win. It's early interaction- I rarely have trouble casting it turn 2 and countering a Heart of Kiran saves you more life than the front side of Renewed Faith. It also often makes aggro and midrange decks wait until they have an extra mana up. If you don't mind cycling the first Cast Out, you just have to invert that play pattern for Censor. Cycle Cast Outs early, cast them late. Cast Censors early, cycle them late. Originally posted by kmk888. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
@Kmk888
You should play fling as a win condition over approach. You can actually lose with approach pretty easy even when you're going off. Maybe you draw to many basics or have to cycle 1-2 viziers early and don't have enough mana. You can have approach to deep in your library meaning you will draw yourself out if you still have to cycle viziers for mana since you don't find them early enough. This is especially true if you don't have a mana ramp enchantment out or have lost net mana producers early.
Fling + Noose constrictor is the safest win con and require very little mana making it safer to cycle viziers for lands or a new perspectives early. Another positive with this win condition is they are immune to transgress, and that's by far the most common discard spell. I have lost to transgress on my approach before and it feel bad.
Also you have a good point on renewed faith and cast out. I rarely hard cast cast out and have been considering just dropping white all together. I also feel the deck lack cheap cyclers as most cost 2 mana, and by cutting white you can replace the renewed faiths with a one mana cycler to smooth the deck out.
edit: i actually haven't considered the horror of the broken lands before, but that should be fine also. a little more mana, but have some upsides like potentially requiring less cards to go off and you can cycle it in a pinch post board if you have drake havens in the deck. You could potentially play more copies to if your afraid of transgress as it cycle regardless.
Interesting. Originally posted by Tricez. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
any reason why we are playing Weirding Woods instead of Gift of paradise, yes we get a clue, but allot of the time you dont have the luxery to spend 2 mana to crack it
most likely you go
T1 tapped land
T2 land - hold up cencor / cycle EOT
T3 Weirding Woods/ Gift of paradise
T4 EOT shefet or hold up Haze
T5 Perspective, and start the combo Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
The problem with Censor: At the point where you can afford to start the counter-war your opponents will have 32423452 mana anyways and we need other things in the main just for the cycling which will help us survive until to that point. The first Cast Out gets cycled all the time.
I think you're misunderstanding the point of Censor. It's not for starting a counter war with control you cannot win. It's early interaction- I rarely have trouble casting it turn 2 and countering a Heart of Kiran saves you more life than the front side of Renewed Faith. It also often makes aggro and midrange decks wait until they have an extra mana up. If you don't mind cycling the first Cast Out, you just have to invert that play pattern for Censor. Cycle Cast Outs early, cast them late. Cast Censors early, cycle them late.
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Totally agree there But I am not sure what to cut in my list. I for instance like Renewed Faith because even in the Lategame it can give you one more turn vs. blue Gearhulks. Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
any reason why we are playing Weirding Woods instead of Gift of paradise, yes we get a clue, but allot of the time you dont have the luxery to spend 2 mana to crack it
most likely you go
T1 tapped land
T2 land - hold up cencor / cycle EOT
T3 Weirding Woods/ Gift of paradise
T4 EOT shefet or hold up Haze
T5 Perspective, and start the combo
You really want to have the clue in the lategame to have 7 cards in hand when Perspective is online. So anycards that replaces itself is better than the 3 life Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
any mana you spend on your clue instead of saving for second sun is a much worse Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
I was actualy very unhappy with Drake Haven as a sidebaord plan against control, especially UR. My drakes were just relegated to chumping Dragonmaster Outcast's Dragons. I would just try to force the combo with multiple Dispels against control instead. Originally posted by kanister. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
any mana you spend on your clue instead of saving for second sun is a much worse
There are two turns you spend casting Second Sun, every other turn you will have enough mana for the clue Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
Doesn't the Fling plan borderline concede game one to control decks? If they figure out what's up they can just sit on a counterspell for your one creature. At least the Sphinx gives a puncher's chance. Originally posted by jacobk. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
I think this deck is good but it does require practice and may need the right meta.
Some observations
- Basic Swamp needs to be added the list. Either -1 Forest or -1 Weirding Woods
- The deck is a pure combo deck for those who may not understand. G1, you are unlikely to cast your cards but instead just cycle them so you can draw perspectives and hit 6 Mana & 7 cards in hand.
- Prefer the second sun win
- Drake Haven feels too slow (Khefnet too). In theory it makes sense but U/R can counter it, remove it or race it with Gear hulk & Dragon master. I think having a second Sphinx in the Sideboard doesn't seems like a bad idea and just try to win with Sphinx + Second Sun and then cycle to draw it Second Sun again a few turns. At the moment, they have no answer to sphinx.
- Vs decks with black, a Second copy of Second Sun may be needed so you don't just lose to a discard spell.
- Radiant Flames/ Sweltering Suns at the moment should be in all sideboards.
- Angel from the original deck seems random and I have yet to see it shine in any match up.
Favourite Deck: Elves (Modern & Legacy)
Standard: New Perspectives Combo
Modern: GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Eldrazi and Taxes | Abzan Liege | Abzan Company
Commander: The Gitrog Monster (Combo) | Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper (Control) | RIP Leovold Sultai (Elvestorm, no unfair locks) | Mono G (Yisan or Titania)
Tiny Leaders: Too many decks to keep track of
Pauper: RIP UR Drake | Mono B | GBx Goodstuff | Jund "Melira"
Is this the thread we're supposed to use to talk New Perspectives?
Just to reiterate my comments from the other thread, I think some number of Anticipate should have a home in the deck. It's cheap and digs for what you need. The easiest way to lose with this deck is to fail to find New Perspectives.
The other way to lose is to get blitzed out. Particularly by Mardu. The playset of Censor can buy you a lot of time by taking out one of their early plays. Dissenter's Deliverance is borderline mandatory to keep from being rolled by Heart of Kiran on the draw. Cast Out is too slow and Renewed Faith doesn't do enough, in my opinion. Focusing on blue and green cards also smooths out the mana a bit.
I have yet to win a game with a sideboarded Drake Haven, even having resolved it a fair few times. However, it is effective at buying quite a bit of time. If we're looking to sideboard in something as Transgress/Lost Legacy insurance I would go with Faith of the Devoted since it leaves you with a similar combo kill possibility. You definitely want to have something like that in the sideboard for the Zombies matchup at least.
The Marvel matchup is brutal. They can start spinning before we get the kill. I also have lost the last three games in a row where I resolved Dispossess as a Rogue Refiner + Whirler Virtuoso team put you on a pretty quick clock. They also run a decent number of negates out of the side, so once they have their beaters down they can just sit back and keep mana up while you die.
Is this the thread we're supposed to use to talk New Perspectives?
...
Yeah. Good question. By title and OP, it looks like this thread is for New Perspectives and the other is for Approach of the Second Sun. I can't tell whether they are the same deck. It doesn't help that I mistakenly merged them when I was merging 2 Approach threads and had to reconstitute this thread. Mea Culpa
The three Anticipate have cut down on the "shy New Perspectives" problem. They also provide enough incidental mana fixing that I'm ok going without Traverse. Dissenter's Deliverance is in the main to give a fighting chance against the Mardu Exemplar into Heart opener. It's a cheap cycler in any event, so it doesn't get stuck in hand for long. The Hieroglyphic Illumination in the side are an experiment, never really felt the need to bring them in yet though.
One thing that I think will keep this deck out of the top tier is that sometimes you just whiff. I've had 4 cyclers + Shadow in my hand when I cast New Perspectives and just never hit a Vizier or Shefet Monitor. To be more or less whiff proof you need a Weirding Wood in play, Shadow in hand and Vizier in hand when you cast New Perspectives.
ETA: I don't even bring in the Dispossess against Temur Marvel any more. I usually take game one against them if they don't spike a quick Ulamog so for sideboarding I just bring in Dispels and Negates, try to keep them off Marvel, and try not to walk into their Negates. I still like Dispossess against Gearhulk control and against more controlling Marvel builds.
New Perspective can be used to make a combo deck, somewhat similar to eggs or storm. On your big turn, you draw tons of cards, generate the mana you need and win 5 minutes later with your whole deck in hand.
The following list went 5-0 in MTGO league:
4 Shefet Monitor
4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
4 Weirding Wood
4 Shadow of the Grave
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Renewed Faith
4 Cast Out
1 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Scattered Groves
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Fetid Pools
5 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Fortified Village
2 Dispel
4 Drake Haven
2 Kefnet the Mindful
3 Negate
More lists: 5-3 and 4-4 on MOCS. Both with 3 Weirding Woods, 23 lands including all basics. Mountain and Radiant Flames in the sideboard.
The plan
Maindeck card choices
Mana Base
The mana base requires green mana first (for ramp), then white (for utility) and blue/black (to combo off).
It is composed of the 12 GW+1 cycling lands, 2 Fortified Village as a pseudo-fastland and 7 basics to fetch 2-3 time reliably with Shefet. UU is needed for the no Perspectives Sphinx plan. Playing a Swamp is advised to make casting Shadow easier on a combo turn. Builds with more blue might like Botanical Sanctum.
Sideboard card choices
Angel of Sanctions
Dispel
Negate
Drake Haven
Kefnet the Mindful
Radiant Flames + Mountain
Sweltering Suns
Matchups
Aggro
Can combo off on turn 4, which is faster than us.
Censor, Negate, Disallow and Brutal Expulsion will stop the main combo. Traversing for Sphinx of the Final Word and resolving a Drake Haven are good alternative plans.
Transgress the Mind, Lay Bare the Heart and Pick the Brain (Brutal!) can eliminate your win conditions.
Overall, the deck is quite fun to play, and it gets very interesting when you are confronted with disruption or a hard to deal with clock. I'm not convinced it is has Pro Tour potential yet, but I'd be interested by the experience of other players with it. It might just be a worse combo deck than Aetherworks, but has the advantage of turning off all creature removal. Plus, drawing lots of cards never gets old.
Reddit threads with more dicussion: here and here
I think you want to bring in the Drake Havens against control just to get the threat density up. Maybe even wedge in some Faith of the Devoted.
Originally posted by jacobk. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Originally posted by jonhwoods. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
i like the inclusion of the Sphinx in the main deck
after some testing i added a single negate to protect key pieces since we can cycle to negate. i also have a second copy of approach so we have 3 shots at winning
Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 Shefet Monitor
4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
4 Weirding Wood
4 Shadow of the Grave
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Renewed Faith
4 Cast Out
1 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Scattered Groves
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Fetid Pools
5 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Fortified Village
2 Dispel
4 Drake Haven
2 Kefnet the Mindful
3 Negate
I instantly build the list on XMage when the article went online and tested a lot. After heavy testing I came to the following list:
4 Shefet Monitor
4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
4 Weirding Wood
4 Shadow of the Grave
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Renewed Faith
4 Cast Out
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
2 Approach of the Second Sun
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
3 Sheltered Thicket
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Fetid Pools
4 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Fortified Village
2 Dispel
2 Fumigate
3 Drake Haven
2 Kefnet the Mindful
3 Negate
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
I often wanted to search for a single Swamp and you need the Island for the control-matchup when you side-in a lot of blue cards. Therefor I cutted 1 Forest and 1 Sheltered Thicket.
You really want a second Approach of the Second Sun because mulliganing with this deck is pretty rough and if they hit it with discards you're just about to scoop. I got many opponents playing Gonti, Lord of Luxury when I put back Approach on the seventh spot in my library and after some draws they just remove it with Gonti. I cut one Traverse the Ulvenwald because it's the "weakest" card in our list.
Unfortunatelly Shadow of the Grave is bugged in the current XMage version, but I won several matchups without it and it will make the deck pretty strong.
As for the sideboard I went with 2 Fumigate instead of 1 Drake Haven and 1 Angel of Despair because aggro decks like RW Humans are the real struggle of the deck. Another Sphinx of the Final Word helps with control as well.
I am pretty much sold on the list but due to the XMage bug I am currently testing Bant New Perspectives which just uses 4 Drake Haven instead of 4 Shadow of the Grave. This deck is strong as well but once going off the Shadow of the Grave are what really makes the combo strong.
The most important part about the deck: once your opponent has blue you really want to wait for a Sphinx before you cast your Approach. But many blue mages use Fumigate to get rid of the Sphinx so Game 1 is pretty rough. Game 2 and 3 are much more easier.
Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
you cycle everything into landrops, I hardly have mana-problems
Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I also felt like you could cut 1 Traverse and rework the lands a bit, but wasn't sure of what to add. I think you got the perfect mix of basics and adding a 2nd Approach of the Second Sun makes sense to sneak in a win this way more often.
I'm curious about your experience with Fumigate in the sideboard (which also felt quite needed), Kefnet, Drake Haven and Angel of Sanctions? In which matchup have they been effective?
Originally posted by jonhwoods. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 New Perspectives
4 Shadow of the Grave
4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
1 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Fling
Ramp:
4 Shefet Monitor
4 Weirding Wood
Self Defense:
2 Roilmage's Trick
4 Haze of Pollen
1 Commit // Memory
4 Censor
2 Dissenter's Deliverance
2 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Sheltered Thicket
3 Canyon Slough
4 Fetid Pools
4 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Mountain
4 Sweltering Suns
3 Drake Haven
2 Kefnet the Mindful
3 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Dispossess
Given the similarity between the decks, I believe I can comment the archetype.
Just in case it's not obvious to others finding this thread, New Perspectives means not only not paying the cost for things like Cast Out, it means not paying the mana for Shefet Monitor and Vizier of Tumbling Sands. These cards generate mana when you cycle them for free, which you use to cast Shadow of the Grave to get everything you've cycled in your combo turn back. Vizier is particularly important because Shefet runs out of fetchables and Vizier generates 2 mana with Weirding Wood. With this mana, you cast Shadow of the Grave and get everything you've cycled back to use again. It takes 2 Shadow of the Grave loops (3 max) to draw your entire deck and you usually have around 10 mana floating.
The deck is extremely consistent for a Standard combo deck. Given the amount of cycling, you can always eventually find a New Perspective and resolving it with 4 cards is usually lights out. You just have to survive to that point. My testing has been mostly against Mardu Vehicles, and that has motivated many of my card choices. That being said, I like elements of both decks and will combine them moving forwards. I like the Traverse and I'll be putting them in mine. However I also like Censor and probably won't cut it. It's great to have maindeck counterspells to protect the combo and it's good against aggression, which is the exact archetype I fear. I have not been impressed testing with Renewed Faith and cut it very early. I've had a good time with Roilmage's Trick given the diversity of the manabase (it usually reads fog + draw a card, which is exactly what I'm in the market for). Also a singleton Commit // Memory has been very good since it's like playing a maindeck Negate when you combo and it gives the ability to give the combo another go if you somehow fizzle. In relation to that, I like a Fling win condition better than Approach of the Second Suns, given that 14 mana is very intensive.
Drake Haven is the best Midrange and Control sideboard option. I also love the inclusion of a singleton Sphinx with Traverse. Sweltering Suns has been good against the fastest aggro decks but weaker against Gideon and vehicles (hence only in the sideboard). Negate is a necessity since everyone brings in discard or other noncreature hate. Dispossess is an additional card for Marvel, which is a bit faster than this deck.
How has everyone felt about Cast Out and Renewed Faith? Do you cast them for their front side very often? Have you tried Censor? Have you tried a Fling win condition?
PS. Don't forget to Shefet Search and then Shefet search again with the card draw from the first Shefet still on the stack.
Originally posted by kmk888. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Great new perspective kmk888! (pun intended)
Roilmage's Trick is indeed a card that fits well with our gameplan, it's worth giving a try. Dispossess also looks great with Marvel on the rise.
Regarding Cast Out and Renewed Faith, the incidental life gain on cycling proved useful, and Cast Out can be a good safety valve against problematic permanents but doesn't get cast that often. A classic position is to plan on cycling Monitor on the end of turn 4 to cast New Perspectives turn 5, and hold up Cast Out in case of emergency.
I think I prefer Second Sun to Fling for multiple reasons: Fling requires an untapped red source, it only uses 1 deck slot and seems to require Commit//Memory in case Horror is on the bottom of the deck, though that wouldn't be the case with Traverse. Also never had any mana problems for Second Sun, it seems quite consistant during combo.
Originally posted by jonhwoods. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Fumigate is for aggro and midrange creature decks. It is much slower than Radiant Flames but it hits more creatures. Depending on the speed of the meta you can switch between those two cards.
Kefnet the Mindful is strong vs creature-midrange and in blocking blue Gearhulks vs. control as well as swinging back with the Vizier giving it pseudo-vigilance.
Drake Haven wins you the games vs. control. Just cast it turn 5 or later and leave up Negate. Once it hits the board they only have Cast Out to get back into the game.
Angel of Sanctions was Cast Out number 5 and 6 but it can be swapped for something else like Dispossess I guess. Might be good against control because Embalm can't be countered with Essence Scatter and it might eat a Gearhulk. The only problem: You can only cut so many cards from the main to fit in your Sideboard.
The problem with Censor: At the point where you can afford to start the counter-war your opponents will have 32423452 mana anyways and we need other things in the main just for the cycling which will help us survive until to that point. The first Cast Out gets cycled all the time. I rarely play 2 when drawing my whole deck and use them just to chain the combo but it helps fighting turn 4 Gideons and fuels your Traverse. It is good vs. blue Gearhulks as well. I hardly cycle Renewed Faith against decks like RW Humans, Mardu Ballista, RG Monsters because 6 life is enough to get late into the game and combo em out. I think a win-condition with FLing requieres to many cards that wont fit the rest of the decks plan.
The lists on MOCS just got copied and their players did not seem to have made their own thoughts about the deck but they finished quite good which proves the strength of the deck. I think improving the deck to something similar like my list (except the Angels) will make it win more often. Agree on Cast Out and Renewed Faith and Second Sun over Fling.
Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
For the record, I think playing fewer than 4 Weirding Woods is a mistake. I started with only 2 and found that Weirding Wood on 3 was the best way to ensure a match win over decks that want to race. Shefet is good but it's better saved for the combo turn, I like having 8 ramp effects, and by the 4th turn you're more likely to have to use mana on a Haze of Pollen than the 3rd turn. In addition, Weirding Wood lets you both ramp and defend yourself on the 4th turn with Haze of Pollen.
I still don't like Renewed Faith. I very rarely end up cycling it and then finding myself at 1 or 2 life, which would mean that the incidental lifegain had saved me. Aggro decks are so good at building board presence in this Standard that if I lose it's usually in chunks of 7-10 at a time and a paltry 2 life wouldn't change the outcome. And if I have 2 mana and want to cycle, I literally always feel like I have a land to use for that (I play 23 or 24 lands even with Traverse, which I believe to be the right choice).
I've been investigating the potential of Pulse of Murasa. Pulse offers the same ratio of cmc: lifegain as the front side of Renewed Faith, but it usually doesn't put you down a card because of the frequency of cycling lands. It's a little more expensive while comboing but it will do the job to dig you a card deeper by grabbing a cycling land or creature. In addition, if you do grab a cycling creature it's virtually a little cheaper than 3 mana because the creature generates mana when you cycle it. Speaking of, a more subtle effect is that it lets you cards from earlier in the game on your combo turn. If you're like me you tend not to cycle Viziers unless you have to because they're so critical while comboing. But with 1-3 Pulses you can feel a little more free to cycle Viziers early since you know you can rebuy them and add them back into the loop later.
I think you're misunderstanding the point of Censor. It's not for starting a counter war with control you cannot win. It's early interaction- I rarely have trouble casting it turn 2 and countering a Heart of Kiran saves you more life than the front side of Renewed Faith. It also often makes aggro and midrange decks wait until they have an extra mana up. If you don't mind cycling the first Cast Out, you just have to invert that play pattern for Censor. Cycle Cast Outs early, cast them late. Cast Censors early, cycle them late.
Originally posted by kmk888. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
You should play fling as a win condition over approach. You can actually lose with approach pretty easy even when you're going off. Maybe you draw to many basics or have to cycle 1-2 viziers early and don't have enough mana. You can have approach to deep in your library meaning you will draw yourself out if you still have to cycle viziers for mana since you don't find them early enough. This is especially true if you don't have a mana ramp enchantment out or have lost net mana producers early.
Fling + Noose constrictor is the safest win con and require very little mana making it safer to cycle viziers for lands or a new perspectives early. Another positive with this win condition is they are immune to transgress, and that's by far the most common discard spell. I have lost to transgress on my approach before and it feel bad.
Also you have a good point on renewed faith and cast out. I rarely hard cast cast out and have been considering just dropping white all together. I also feel the deck lack cheap cyclers as most cost 2 mana, and by cutting white you can replace the renewed faiths with a one mana cycler to smooth the deck out.
edit: i actually haven't considered the horror of the broken lands before, but that should be fine also. a little more mana, but have some upsides like potentially requiring less cards to go off and you can cycle it in a pinch post board if you have drake havens in the deck. You could potentially play more copies to if your afraid of transgress as it cycle regardless.
Interesting.
Originally posted by Tricez. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
most likely you go
T1 tapped land
T2 land - hold up cencor / cycle EOT
T3 Weirding Woods/ Gift of paradise
T4 EOT shefet or hold up Haze
T5 Perspective, and start the combo
Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I think you're misunderstanding the point of Censor. It's not for starting a counter war with control you cannot win. It's early interaction- I rarely have trouble casting it turn 2 and countering a Heart of Kiran saves you more life than the front side of Renewed Faith. It also often makes aggro and midrange decks wait until they have an extra mana up. If you don't mind cycling the first Cast Out, you just have to invert that play pattern for Censor. Cycle Cast Outs early, cast them late. Cast Censors early, cycle them late.
[/quote]
Totally agree there But I am not sure what to cut in my list. I for instance like Renewed Faith because even in the Lategame it can give you one more turn vs. blue Gearhulks.
Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
You really want to have the clue in the lategame to have 7 cards in hand when Perspective is online. So anycards that replaces itself is better than the 3 life
Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Originally posted by Roboreaper. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Originally posted by kanister. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
There are two turns you spend casting Second Sun, every other turn you will have enough mana for the clue
Originally posted by Vormi. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Originally posted by jacobk. Reposted by mod to reconstitute thread.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Some observations
- Basic Swamp needs to be added the list. Either -1 Forest or -1 Weirding Woods
- The deck is a pure combo deck for those who may not understand. G1, you are unlikely to cast your cards but instead just cycle them so you can draw perspectives and hit 6 Mana & 7 cards in hand.
- Prefer the second sun win
- Drake Haven feels too slow (Khefnet too). In theory it makes sense but U/R can counter it, remove it or race it with Gear hulk & Dragon master. I think having a second Sphinx in the Sideboard doesn't seems like a bad idea and just try to win with Sphinx + Second Sun and then cycle to draw it Second Sun again a few turns. At the moment, they have no answer to sphinx.
- Vs decks with black, a Second copy of Second Sun may be needed so you don't just lose to a discard spell.
- Radiant Flames/ Sweltering Suns at the moment should be in all sideboards.
- Angel from the original deck seems random and I have yet to see it shine in any match up.
Favourite Deck: Elves (Modern & Legacy)
Standard: New Perspectives Combo
Modern: GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Eldrazi and Taxes | Abzan Liege | Abzan Company
Commander: The Gitrog Monster (Combo) | Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper (Control) | RIP Leovold Sultai (Elvestorm, no unfair locks) | Mono G (Yisan or Titania)
Tiny Leaders: Too many decks to keep track of
Pauper: RIP UR Drake | Mono B | GBx Goodstuff | Jund "Melira"
Just to reiterate my comments from the other thread, I think some number of Anticipate should have a home in the deck. It's cheap and digs for what you need. The easiest way to lose with this deck is to fail to find New Perspectives.
The other way to lose is to get blitzed out. Particularly by Mardu. The playset of Censor can buy you a lot of time by taking out one of their early plays. Dissenter's Deliverance is borderline mandatory to keep from being rolled by Heart of Kiran on the draw. Cast Out is too slow and Renewed Faith doesn't do enough, in my opinion. Focusing on blue and green cards also smooths out the mana a bit.
I have yet to win a game with a sideboarded Drake Haven, even having resolved it a fair few times. However, it is effective at buying quite a bit of time. If we're looking to sideboard in something as Transgress/Lost Legacy insurance I would go with Faith of the Devoted since it leaves you with a similar combo kill possibility. You definitely want to have something like that in the sideboard for the Zombies matchup at least.
The Marvel matchup is brutal. They can start spinning before we get the kill. I also have lost the last three games in a row where I resolved Dispossess as a Rogue Refiner + Whirler Virtuoso team put you on a pretty quick clock. They also run a decent number of negates out of the side, so once they have their beaters down they can just sit back and keep mana up while you die.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
2 Aether Hub
4 Forest
2 Island
1 Swamp
4 Fetid Pools
4 Scattered Groves
2 Irrigated Farmland
3 Anticipate
4 Shadow of the Grave
4 New Perspectives
4 Weirding Wood
1 Approach of the Second Sun
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
3 Dissenter's Deliverance
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
1 Wander in Death
4 Shefet Monitor
2 Dispel
3 Negate
1 Drake Haven
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Faith of the Devoted
1 Roilmage's Trick
2 Dispossess
1 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Commit // Memory
2 Hieroglyphic Illumination
The three Anticipate have cut down on the "shy New Perspectives" problem. They also provide enough incidental mana fixing that I'm ok going without Traverse. Dissenter's Deliverance is in the main to give a fighting chance against the Mardu Exemplar into Heart opener. It's a cheap cycler in any event, so it doesn't get stuck in hand for long. The Hieroglyphic Illumination in the side are an experiment, never really felt the need to bring them in yet though.
One thing that I think will keep this deck out of the top tier is that sometimes you just whiff. I've had 4 cyclers + Shadow in my hand when I cast New Perspectives and just never hit a Vizier or Shefet Monitor. To be more or less whiff proof you need a Weirding Wood in play, Shadow in hand and Vizier in hand when you cast New Perspectives.
ETA: I don't even bring in the Dispossess against Temur Marvel any more. I usually take game one against them if they don't spike a quick Ulamog so for sideboarding I just bring in Dispels and Negates, try to keep them off Marvel, and try not to walk into their Negates. I still like Dispossess against Gearhulk control and against more controlling Marvel builds.