Introduction
This deck is taken, and still very heavily dominated, by TSP-LOR standard cards. The idea is to play creatures with 2 or less power but strong come into play effects so they can constantly be brought back with Reveillark. That said the all-star of the deck is actually Body Double as once he is on the board and a Reveillark is in the graveyard it's an absolute pain for opponents to stop the creature advantage you can build up, and he enables a combo I'll explain later.
History
As I said this deck has it's roots in TSP-LOR standard. It was a beast in that format that could beat any deck other then Faeries, and Fae dominance was the prime reason this deck failed to push through to win tournaments. That said it did still have top 8 finishes at Pro-tour Hollywood where a RUW version of it piloted by Yong Han Choo lost to the eventually tournament winning elf deck piloted by Charles Gindy. With the current absence of control in modern the printing of Forbidden Alchemy in ISN, and the slowing down of combo decks with Preordain/Ponder being banned it just might be this decks time to make a comeback.
The Combo
The biggest way this deck wins is to combo off using Body Double to copy Reveillark in the graveyard with a Mirror Entity in play and either Venser, Shaper Savant, Riftwing Cloudskate, or Aven Riftwatcher in the graveyard. When this is set up you would activate Mirror Entity's ability to repeatedly.
For example if your opponent has 8 permanents in play you would activate it for 9 times. The first time the ability resolves your creatures become 0/0s and die, as Body Double is a copy of Reveillark at the time he dies this triggers his leave play ability enabling you to return him, as he is a 0/0 body double in the graveyard, to play with another creature with power 2 or less, in this case Vanser or Cloudskate. As body double and the 2nd creature enters play their abilities trigger and you have body double copy Reveillark again while Venser/Cloudskate will bounce a permanent your opponent controls. At this point another activation of mirror entity will resolve, as you still have 8 activations remaining. You repeat this process until you get to the last activation of Mirror Entity. On the last activation you return Body Double coping Reveillark and Mirror Entity to play ensuring that you can continue to do this every turn and your opponent can never have permanents in play again.
The second combo works the same way but is done with Aven Riftwatcher. In this manor you stack the ability to however much you want to gain infinite life.
The last one is with Wall of Omens to draw your entire deck. Normally this is done if you are unlucky enough to draw any of your other combo pieces you can combo until you do, discard them at the end of your turn and combo off on your opponents upkeep to bounce their permanents/gain infinite life.
Now that I've finished confusing everyone let's get to the deck lists, and if someone has an explanation of the combo that is clearer/easier to understand then mine feel free to chime in.
This version is trying to rush to the combo as quickly as it can. It interacts with the opponent only as much as it's creature effects and red zone allows it to using Wall of Omens and Aven Riftwatcher in the early turns to keep it alive against aggro until it can start digging with Alchemy and dropping Body Double coping Reveillark and getting a Mirror Entity to combo off. Fairly good against Aggro and has game against other combos decks as the race to combo off can often be won by slowing them down with Venser/Cloudskate bouncing their lands repeatedly. Control is a PITA.
This version doesn't combo off as quickly and depends more on it's counter spells and mass removal in combination with it's come into play effects to control the board while Reveillark/Body Double can keep you going on the board. All that said it still maintains the ability to combo off out of no where and put your opponent into a no win situation. The counter spells gives it a better game against combo and a better fighting chance against control, while maintaining a decent match-up against aggro.
Card Choices
Creatures
Wall of Omens--Simply better than Mulldrifter. While it doesn't draw as much it doesn't take till turn 4, provided you have a mind stone, to drop and doesn't get ran over by Wild Nacatl/Kird Ape/etc.
Reveillark--Without this card the deck doesn't exist. It's perpetual board presence and constant recycling of come into play effects. Complete with evoke he can force the combo himself without having to wait for him to die.
Body Double--While Reveillark is the reason the deck exists, Body Double is without a doubt it's back bone. He gives you a damn near unkillable Reveillark and an infinite number of triggers. Makes the combo happen and enables you to keep your board presence up while you build up to it. In addition when Reveillark isn't around he's an extra Venser/Cloudskate/Riftwatcher/etc etc. So much good stuff about this guy.
Venser, Shaper Savant--Lark target, bounces a permanent flash what more do you want. Only reason he isn't a 4 of is his Legendary status.
Riftwing Cloudskate--This would be Venser 3-5 of the deck. Suspend can be a nice turn 2 play in the absence of Mind Stone/Wall of Omens letting him come out bouncing something and swinging, another lark target and flying is never a bad thing. Dropped in the control version for counter spells and due to it's less of a focus on the combo.
Mirror Entity--Because being able to combo off is important and after you combo off if your opponent is to stubborn to scoop he makes himself and your body double into X/X creatures to end the game in shorter order while still having the ability to combo off.
Aven Riftwatcher--4 life+blocks+flies+lark target and can combo for infinite life...do I really need to say much else?
Spells
Momentary Blink--Retrigger any of your come into play abilities, another options to force the combo, has flashback when put into the graveyard with Alchemy, can enable you to get around removal, what more could you ask for from 1:symw: from hand or 3:symu: from your gy.
Forbidden Alchemy--The older version ran Careful Consideration, and this is strictly better. 2:symu: casting cost, instant speed fills your graveyard with lark targets and has flashback in the late game. This card was made for this deck.
Mind Stone--If you haven't noticed your combo is expensive and you need to get to it quickly in this format. The mana excel this provides on top of the ability to sac it late game for a draw makes it the best mana rock this deck could use, and no it's not close. The mana costs of this deck are not restricting enough to need the signets.
Honorable Mentions
Mulldrifter--Great card...when your not facing down 3/3s turn 1, 4/5s turn 2 and the like. Wall of Omens 1:symw: cost and 0/4 body makes it simply better. The format is simply to fast for Mulldrifter.
Meddling Mage--Great sideboard card against combo, not so great in the main deck starring down Zoo, Affinity, etc.
Path to Exile--Great card and could work it's way into many lists, especially in the control list over spell snare if that's your preference. Simply isn't mine. The deck already has a respectable game against aggro, I wanted a cheap answer to fight control counter spells that could double against some aggro cards.
Sower of Temptation--Punishing Fire+Groove of the Burnwillows make this guy so unreliable it's sickening. Great card for his time, but as long as that combo exists I firmly believe this guy it unplayable.
Vendlion Clique--3 power keeps him out of the list. You need lark targets and while this guy is great that 1 thing keeps him out of this deck.
Æther Vial--I know I wanted to live the dream of playing a lark/body double against my opponent for no mana cost at instant speed as well. Long story short that just doesn't really happen with this deck. You might be able to side board it for control match-ups but that would be about it.
Sideboard
Currently nothing set in stone but there are a number of top options to consider.
Meddling Mage--As stated above Lark target that is great against combo but not so much everything else.
Ethersworn Canonist--Fantastic against storm and a lark target to boot, defiantly worth consideration.
Engineered Explosives--Since we have 3 colors in this deck we can hit everything zoo/affinity throws at us, can also hit ascension, be used against graveyard hate such as Relic of Progenious and Tormods Crypt. Very strong option.
Wispmare--Lark target that can handle enchantments, the biggest being Leyline of the Void should you run into it. With evoke he costs as much as Demystify. Very respectable if you are encountering a number of enchantments.
Kami of False Hope--Again Lark target if you feel you need more against aggro but honest we have enough against aggro this is simply to much imo.
Tormod's Crypt--If you want graveyard hate against your opponents this is the one you run. Unlike Relic of Progenitus it doesn't remove your graveyard from the game or cost mana to cast or get it's effect.
Magus of the Tabernacle--He could arguably be in the main deck. He makes life hell on any creature deck, can be brought back to Reveillark, and can trigger larks ability simply by choosing not to pay for them during your upkeep. Very strong and very respectable option.
Æther Vial--As said above, against control it lets you get your creatures into play around counter spell. Could be a very important for that purpose alone.
Hey this is a great primer, SacredMesa! Surprised no one has commented on it yet. I remember this deck back when it was competitive...looks like it still could be a contender in Modern.
Making black a more prominent color would help with the Forbidden Alchemy flashback and take the approach a little more aggressive. I don't see UWB being a hard color combination to pull off, especially since there would be no double colors in the costs if you take out Venser.
Furthermore, if you used Viscera Seer and Death Cultist, you could use Vedalken Aethermage and Ranger of Eos to find those pieces.
Mirror Entity is is basically because the deck was U/W, and I hadn't considered the black option at that time. I don't really like Redcap but Cultist could serve nicely as a turn 1 cultist/seer into turn 2 wall of omens would be nice against aggro and the scry has potential to help find the pieces faster.
Mana base will require a bit more work to sort out with a larger focus on black as a third color, instead of a flashback after thought, but those ideas are definitely worth exploring.
I was planning on making a lark deck. Its not going to be combo oriented though...more like zoo take this lol. I'll post the list later.
also your forgetting muldrifter.
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I was planning on making a lark deck. Its not going to be combo oriented though...more like zoo take this lol. I'll post the list later.
also your forgetting muldrifter.
Wall of Omens--Simply better than Mulldrifter. While it doesn't draw as much it doesn't take till turn 4, provided you have a mind stone, to drop and doesn't get ran over by Wild Nacatl/Kird Ape/etc.
Mulldrifter--Great card...when your not facing down 3/3s turn 1, 4/5s turn 2 and the like. Wall of Omens 1 cost and 0/4 body makes it simply better. The format is simply to fast for Mulldrifter.
He wasn't forgotten, he's simply isn't good in this format.
I played him in the old 1.x formats as a 1-2 of in lark decks. 3 mana to draw 2 cards isn't bad when you have the life gain and blockers that you have. Probably not the best for combo builds, but great for control builds.
Unless you try an artifact build with trinket mage and such.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Thomas Jefferson
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Introduction
This deck is taken, and still very heavily dominated, by TSP-LOR standard cards. The idea is to play creatures with 2 or less power but strong come into play effects so they can constantly be brought back with Reveillark. That said the all-star of the deck is actually Body Double as once he is on the board and a Reveillark is in the graveyard it's an absolute pain for opponents to stop the creature advantage you can build up, and he enables a combo I'll explain later.
History
As I said this deck has it's roots in TSP-LOR standard. It was a beast in that format that could beat any deck other then Faeries, and Fae dominance was the prime reason this deck failed to push through to win tournaments. That said it did still have top 8 finishes at Pro-tour Hollywood where a RUW version of it piloted by Yong Han Choo lost to the eventually tournament winning elf deck piloted by Charles Gindy. With the current absence of control in modern the printing of Forbidden Alchemy in ISN, and the slowing down of combo decks with Preordain/Ponder being banned it just might be this decks time to make a comeback.
The Combo
The biggest way this deck wins is to combo off using Body Double to copy Reveillark in the graveyard with a Mirror Entity in play and either Venser, Shaper Savant, Riftwing Cloudskate, or Aven Riftwatcher in the graveyard. When this is set up you would activate Mirror Entity's ability to repeatedly.
For example if your opponent has 8 permanents in play you would activate it for 9 times. The first time the ability resolves your creatures become 0/0s and die, as Body Double is a copy of Reveillark at the time he dies this triggers his leave play ability enabling you to return him, as he is a 0/0 body double in the graveyard, to play with another creature with power 2 or less, in this case Vanser or Cloudskate. As body double and the 2nd creature enters play their abilities trigger and you have body double copy Reveillark again while Venser/Cloudskate will bounce a permanent your opponent controls. At this point another activation of mirror entity will resolve, as you still have 8 activations remaining. You repeat this process until you get to the last activation of Mirror Entity. On the last activation you return Body Double coping Reveillark and Mirror Entity to play ensuring that you can continue to do this every turn and your opponent can never have permanents in play again.
The second combo works the same way but is done with Aven Riftwatcher. In this manor you stack the ability to however much you want to gain infinite life.
The last one is with Wall of Omens to draw your entire deck. Normally this is done if you are unlucky enough to draw any of your other combo pieces you can combo until you do, discard them at the end of your turn and combo off on your opponents upkeep to bounce their permanents/gain infinite life.
Now that I've finished confusing everyone let's get to the deck lists, and if someone has an explanation of the combo that is clearer/easier to understand then mine feel free to chime in.
Decklist
Combo focused
4x Body Double
4x Reveilark
4x Wall of Omens
3x Aven Riftwatcher
4x Mirror Entity
2x Venser, Shaper Savant
3x Riftwing Cloudskate
4x Forbidden Alchemy
3x Momentary Blink
Artifact 4x
4x Mind Stone
Lands 25x
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
2x Marsh Flats
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Tectonic Edge
2x Mystic Gate
2x Seachrome Coast
4x Island
5x Plain
This version is trying to rush to the combo as quickly as it can. It interacts with the opponent only as much as it's creature effects and red zone allows it to using Wall of Omens and Aven Riftwatcher in the early turns to keep it alive against aggro until it can start digging with Alchemy and dropping Body Double coping Reveillark and getting a Mirror Entity to combo off. Fairly good against Aggro and has game against other combos decks as the race to combo off can often be won by slowing them down with Venser/Cloudskate bouncing their lands repeatedly. Control is a PITA.
Control Focused
2x Body Double
4x Reveilark
4x Wall of Omens
2x Aven Riftwatcher
2x Mirror Entity
2x Venser, Shaper Savant
Spells 15x
4x Forbidden Alchemy
2x Momentary Blink
4x Rune Snag
3x Spellsnare
2x Wrath of God
4x Mind Stone
Land 25x
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
2x Marsh Flats
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Tectonic Edge
2x Mystic Gate
2x Seachrome Coast
4x Island
5x Plain
This version doesn't combo off as quickly and depends more on it's counter spells and mass removal in combination with it's come into play effects to control the board while Reveillark/Body Double can keep you going on the board. All that said it still maintains the ability to combo off out of no where and put your opponent into a no win situation. The counter spells gives it a better game against combo and a better fighting chance against control, while maintaining a decent match-up against aggro.
Card Choices
Creatures
Reveillark--Without this card the deck doesn't exist. It's perpetual board presence and constant recycling of come into play effects. Complete with evoke he can force the combo himself without having to wait for him to die.
Body Double--While Reveillark is the reason the deck exists, Body Double is without a doubt it's back bone. He gives you a damn near unkillable Reveillark and an infinite number of triggers. Makes the combo happen and enables you to keep your board presence up while you build up to it. In addition when Reveillark isn't around he's an extra Venser/Cloudskate/Riftwatcher/etc etc. So much good stuff about this guy.
Venser, Shaper Savant--Lark target, bounces a permanent flash what more do you want. Only reason he isn't a 4 of is his Legendary status.
Riftwing Cloudskate--This would be Venser 3-5 of the deck. Suspend can be a nice turn 2 play in the absence of Mind Stone/Wall of Omens letting him come out bouncing something and swinging, another lark target and flying is never a bad thing. Dropped in the control version for counter spells and due to it's less of a focus on the combo.
Mirror Entity--Because being able to combo off is important and after you combo off if your opponent is to stubborn to scoop he makes himself and your body double into X/X creatures to end the game in shorter order while still having the ability to combo off.
Aven Riftwatcher--4 life+blocks+flies+lark target and can combo for infinite life...do I really need to say much else?
Spells
Forbidden Alchemy--The older version ran Careful Consideration, and this is strictly better. 2:symu: casting cost, instant speed fills your graveyard with lark targets and has flashback in the late game. This card was made for this deck.
Mind Stone--If you haven't noticed your combo is expensive and you need to get to it quickly in this format. The mana excel this provides on top of the ability to sac it late game for a draw makes it the best mana rock this deck could use, and no it's not close. The mana costs of this deck are not restricting enough to need the signets.
Honorable Mentions
Meddling Mage--Great sideboard card against combo, not so great in the main deck starring down Zoo, Affinity, etc.
Path to Exile--Great card and could work it's way into many lists, especially in the control list over spell snare if that's your preference. Simply isn't mine. The deck already has a respectable game against aggro, I wanted a cheap answer to fight control counter spells that could double against some aggro cards.
Sower of Temptation--Punishing Fire+Groove of the Burnwillows make this guy so unreliable it's sickening. Great card for his time, but as long as that combo exists I firmly believe this guy it unplayable.
Vendlion Clique--3 power keeps him out of the list. You need lark targets and while this guy is great that 1 thing keeps him out of this deck.
Æther Vial--I know I wanted to live the dream of playing a lark/body double against my opponent for no mana cost at instant speed as well. Long story short that just doesn't really happen with this deck. You might be able to side board it for control match-ups but that would be about it.
Sideboard
Meddling Mage--As stated above Lark target that is great against combo but not so much everything else.
Ethersworn Canonist--Fantastic against storm and a lark target to boot, defiantly worth consideration.
Engineered Explosives--Since we have 3 colors in this deck we can hit everything zoo/affinity throws at us, can also hit ascension, be used against graveyard hate such as Relic of Progenious and Tormods Crypt. Very strong option.
Wispmare--Lark target that can handle enchantments, the biggest being Leyline of the Void should you run into it. With evoke he costs as much as Demystify. Very respectable if you are encountering a number of enchantments.
Kami of False Hope--Again Lark target if you feel you need more against aggro but honest we have enough against aggro this is simply to much imo.
Tormod's Crypt--If you want graveyard hate against your opponents this is the one you run. Unlike Relic of Progenitus it doesn't remove your graveyard from the game or cost mana to cast or get it's effect.
Magus of the Tabernacle--He could arguably be in the main deck. He makes life hell on any creature deck, can be brought back to Reveillark, and can trigger larks ability simply by choosing not to pay for them during your upkeep. Very strong and very respectable option.
Æther Vial--As said above, against control it lets you get your creatures into play around counter spell. Could be a very important for that purpose alone.
I was just wondering why we'd need Mirror Entity when we have Viscera Seer and also why we wouldn't just go for the kill with Murderous Redcap or Death Cultist instead of Venser and Riftwing Cloudskate. Maybe there's a timing issue I'm neglecting to think of?
Making black a more prominent color would help with the Forbidden Alchemy flashback and take the approach a little more aggressive. I don't see UWB being a hard color combination to pull off, especially since there would be no double colors in the costs if you take out Venser.
Furthermore, if you used Viscera Seer and Death Cultist, you could use Vedalken Aethermage and Ranger of Eos to find those pieces.
Just wondering what you think.
Mana base will require a bit more work to sort out with a larger focus on black as a third color, instead of a flashback after thought, but those ideas are definitely worth exploring.
also your forgetting muldrifter.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
He wasn't forgotten, he's simply isn't good in this format.
Unless you try an artifact build with trinket mage and such.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson