MTG Salvation

What do we do? WHEEL! How to we do it? ALL THE THINGS!

So the term “wheeling” was coined by our favorite and best card, Wheel of Fortune. We make all players discard their hands and then draw seven new cards. This is a double edged sword, because while it is a great form of disruption (Aw... you just tutored? Cute) it also has the potential to allow your opponent answers. Graveyard decks? Have mercy!

The Wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round...

To name some of the best wheels in the deck, Wheel of Fortune, Wheel and Deal, and Windfall. The engine of the deck is to force draws and discards as many times as possible, and these are the first that come to mind for many players thinking in that vein. But there are so many more. <3

“True” wheels cause each player to discard and draw seven. This deck sees that in Wheel of Fortune, Wheel and Deal, Reforge the Soul, Wheel of Fate, Magus of the Wheel, and Runehorn Hellkite. To a slightly delayed extent, we also have Memory Jar and Magus of the Jar. Most of these have caveats, like Wheel of Fate's suspend or Reforge the Soul's miracle cost. Creature based effects like the Magus of the Wheel and Magus of the Jar tip our hand to the opponent by causing us to wait a turn to active. But instant speed wheel for opponents? Yes please, Wheel and Deal! You draw into Runehorn Hellkite? Wheel it away, then wheel again with it in the graveyard!

There are a couple of oddball wheels found in Dark Deal which reduces the cards drawn by one, Chandra Ablaze which can discard the hand and draw three, and Flux which gives opponents the option of discarding and drawing without forcing them to. Still useful, even if they aren't quite as “good” as some the other cards in our toolbox. Honorable mention in this category goes to Torment of Hailfire. In theory, it's a massive play that causes discards and removal, but most of the time opponents chose loss of life. Still nothing to be sneezed at if played for a healthy X cost.

We want to force our opponents to draw and discard, even if its only small amounts at a time. Anvil of the Bogardan allows no maximum hand size in all players, but makes them draw an additional card and then discard a single card during the draw step, and Geier Reach Sanitarium can tap to make each player draw then discard. It might not be as grandiose as Wheel of Fortune, but it adds up.

Want to draw more than seven? I got you, fam. Have you heard of Windfall? It's great. That player just drew a bunch? We all get to draw a bunch! Who doesn't like drawing cards? =D “Windfall” effects are just like the card says – players discard their hands and draw cards equal to the greatest number of cards discarded this way. I also included repeatable Jace's Archivist, cipherable Whispering Madness, versatile Incendiary Command, single target Barbed Shocker, the baby cousin Shocker, and the always adorable Collective Defiance. Ciphering a Whispering Madness to a Barbed Shocker feels so good.

“So what happens if an opponent dumps their hand onto the field?” It's an understandable concern. Less cards in hand means Windfall and friends are less effective. So we force them to draw! Forced Fruition seems good. We also have Teferi's Puzzle Box to shuffle away an opponent's hand every turn. Smaller scale [/card]Winds of Change[/card] and Whirlpool Warrior act as mini wheels, disrupting without discarding.

This is our win condition. Wheeling is all well and good, but we need to stick “pain” cards to actually secure the victory. Otherwise, we're an annoyance in the game that is not accomplishing anything.

Discard “pain” is the famous Megrim and the strictly better Liliana's Caress. Whenever an opponent discards, they take two damage from Megrim or lose two life from Caress. These are major targets on the field. If all goes to plan and other players have a full hand, that's a solid fourteen damage at a time from a wheel effect.

Draw “pain” is far more readily available. Top picks include Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Underworld Dreams, and Fate Unraveler. Nekusar is an additional draw and pain per draw rolled into one, while Underworld Dreams and Fate Unraveler are damage on draw with no prerequisites. Also powerful are Spiteful Visions and Phyrexian Tyranny, but these effect all players. You will damage yourself wheeling with these on the field, so be mindful of how much aggro you have from the table at the time. If you are being consistently targeted, it might be more strategic to refrain.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! ARE YOU GETTING THIS, CAMERA MAN?!

There is also great damage to be had with Kederekt Parasite, who activates if we control a red permanent. Seizan, Perverter of Truth can get nasty when paired with any other damage on draw. Fevered Visions forces a draw on the end step and then deals two damage if there are more than four cards in hand, and Psychosis Crawler damages all opponents whenever we draw a card. Copy Enchantment can clone any of the pain we already have on the field. Bloodgift Demon is neat because of it's ability to target a player, giving you the ability to dig up another card or forcing more pain on an enemy. Last but not least is Painful Quandry, giving a choice of discarding a card or losing five life whenever another player casts a spell.

Ob Nixilis Reignited gets a special call out. How amazing is this dude? Draw some cards. Awesome! Destroy creatures. Fantastic! Emblem that can obliterate another player? Fan me, I think I'm starting to swoon. This emblem causes loss of life whenever ANYONE draws. Imagine a four player game. Everyone has a full hand. What's that top deck? A Winds of Change? Lose fifty six life, please. GOOOAAAALLL!!!

Defenses in place! Sangromancer saves lives. Whenever an opponent's creature is put to grave or an opponent discards, gain three life. THREE LIFE PER CARD DISCARDED. Four players with a full hand plus a wheel, I'll gain sixty three life thank you very much. You know what's almost as good as that? Waste Not. Whenever someone else discards a creature, make a 2/2 zombie. They discard a land? Float two black mana. Not good enough? If they get rid of a noncreature, nonland, you can draw a card. So much advantage. Similarly, Geth's Grimoire allows a draw when an opponent discards.

If you really want to see some tempers flare, play Library of Leng. No maximum hand size is great, but if you would be forced to discard it allows you to put the cards to the top of your library. Like your hand? Wheel away everyone's hand, put yours on top of your library and draw it again. Brilliant! If another player wants to make you discard, we also have Nephalia Academy to save the day! If anything an opponent controls would make you discard, reveal it and put it on top of your library.

Nightscape Familiar makes blue and red spells cheaper, and is a blocker with regenerate. Baleful Strix has flying and deathtouch to deter attacks, plus replaces itself in your hand by drawing you a card when it enters the battlefield. Want some funny looks? Play Obstinate Familiar. Remember Spiteful Visions and Phyrexian Tyranny? Wheel with them on the field, deal a bunch of damage to your opponents, and skip drawing yourself with Familiar.

Spot removal is vital to protecting ourselves and playing politics. Getting rid of key threats and currying favor buy us time to build a board position and wheel for great justice. The instant creature removal we use is Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, and Terminate. Something a bit more tricky on the field like Avacyn, Angel of Hope? Ashes to Ashes exiles two targets, but at the cost of five life. I'll pay it every time to get rid of threats like Blightsteel Colossus any day. Planeswalkers exist too, and for them we run Dreadbore, Ruinous Path, and Hero's Downfall. It doesn't hurt that these spells can also hit problem creatures. Value!

Grixis colors are not generally known for ramping and color fixing, so we rely on artifacts and search lands to find what we need (Triple black for Underworld Dreams can be tricky). The easiest way to accomplish this is Chromatic Lantern, allowing our lands to tap for any color we choose. Expedition Map grabs any land, Wayfarer's Bauble nets us a basic, and Gem of Becoming can find us duals.

We can also thin the deck a bit by search lands like the basic landcycling Ash Barrens, or playing then sacrificing Grixis Panorama, Warped Landscape, Evolving Wilds, and Terramorphic Expanse.

Almost all of our damage is enchantment based, so what do we do if it's destroyed? Weep deeply? Maybe if you're a foolish nonbeliever in the glory of Bolas! Crystal Chimes can be sacrificed to return all enchantments from grave to hand, and Skull of Orm is an expensive but repeatable way to get back an enchantment at a time. I can still hear the weeping. Those are artifacts, they can be destroyed too! Yes, yes. Have faith. It's a good thing Academy Ruins can bring artifacts back! Ruins is also super useful for bringing back mana ramping artifacts like the previously mentioned Wayfarer's Bauble and Expedition Map.

What would a Bolas deck be without all the incarnations of him? They just make my little nerdy heart flutter! Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver, and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. Are they practical? Heavens, no! Are they super cool? Most definitely.

To accompany these planeswalkers, the thematic Dark Intimations is included. It effects all opponents AND buffs loyalty counters. The only board wipe is Crux of Fate, because we always want to destroy nondragons. LONG LIVE BOLAS!

Aggressive mulligans are key. You need to have at least three sources of mana or ways to get mana and a wheel effect. Preferably a pain card as well, but we can't always be that lucky. I used a random generator to make a starting hand, and it gave me:



So we have three mana and another way to get a fourth, a wheel effect, and pain! Awesome. Snap keep.

Assuming you're not playing with turn four combo decks (People do that? Gross), we generally have the early game to establish board presence.

TURN ONE
Turn one draw nets us an Geier Reach Sanitarium. Lets put down Command Tower and our Wayfarer's Bauble, then pass. Look at us ramp!

Our hand at the end of turn one looks like:



The battlefield consists of:



TURN TWO
Turn two draw is Chromatic Lantern. Mana, mana, mana. Alright. Lets put down Cascade Bluffs, and activate Bauble for a Swamp at the end of an opponent's turn. That way we can make two of any of our colors with a combination of our filter land and what else we have. Sure, we could play Lantern and not worry, but my play group loves to target mana fixing artifacts. Just in case we lose it, we should still have a good spread of colors.

Our hand at the end of turn two looks like:



The battlefield consists of:



TURN THREE
Turn three draw gets us Incendiary Command. Love it. Lets put an Island down as land for turn, and look at our options. We have four mana, so we can play Magus, Unraveler, or Lantern. Around this time there are probably some small utility creatures on the board that can poke us, so I'd like to get a body out. We could play Magus and activate next turn, but that would get rid of Unraveler. But we have a land in hand, so if we play Unraveler now, next turn we can stick Lantern and Magus. Lets optimize our play like that, and put Unraveler to field.

Our hand at the end of turn three looks like:



The battlefield consists of:



TURN FOUR
Turn four draw is... Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver! A little early in the game, so he's probably going to get wheeled away. But I love seeing him. =] We'll put Reach down as our land, and then follow the plan of Lantern and Magus. Lets note that each other player has taken a single damage from Unraveler, and should be at 39.

Our hand at the end of turn four looks like:



The battlefield consists of:

The first four turns let us establish a solid mana base, and we are poised to start our engine up. VROOM VROOM!

TURN FIVE
Turn five draw is an Island. Lets put it down. Opponents are at 38 because of pain on draw step. With seven mana, what do? We can wipe to board with Crux, we're a little short to play Bolas, so it looks like Command is where its at. Now, we only draw as many as we dump, but we can still activate Magus for a full hand. Lets see what we get! Modes are wheel and two damage to all creatures. Lets get rid of the utility of our opponents! We pick up Painful Quandry and Grixis Panorama. Hmm... I could see these go away. We'll sacrifice Magus at the end of an opponent's turn. Note that our opponents should have taken another few damage, being around 36.

Our hand at the end of turn five looks like:



The battlefield consists of:



TURN SIX
Before this draw, we'll use Magus to get us a fresh hand. Another seven damage to everyone else (Let's say they're at 29, 28 after they draw for turn), and we pick up:



Turn six draw grabs Ob Nixilis Reignited. This is getting good! Putting Summit into play for turn gives us eight mana to play with. We could be super cool and play Bolas, but we don't have a great defense with one creature. Our plan is stick pain and wheel, and the most effective way would be Parasite for more damage, Barbed Shocker for the red permanent to activate the Parasite, and Archivist so we can Windfall next turn. Even if Archivist bites it, we have back up in our hand. We could swing with the hasted Barbed Shocker, but we don't want to risk losing our red permanent for Parasite.

Our hand at the end of turn six looks like:



The battlefield consists of:



TURN SEVEN
We draw Ashes to Ashes now, a great way to remove threats someone has no doubt played. Now that everyone is taking two damage per card drawn, they're around 26 life. Assuming we use Archivist now, that's another ten damage. Lets suspend Wheel of Fate just in case, though. Six mana left, we probably have to uses Ashes or risk someone getting ahead of us. Three mana available. We can Dark Deal, but Archivist will net us more cards. Lets leave mana for that to activate on an opponent's turn.

Our hand at the end of turn seven looks like:



The battlefield consists of:



TURN EIGHT
Someone has five cards in hand, so lets activate Archivist. Opponents take ten (16 life now, 14 after they draw for turn). Lets pick up:



Turn eight draw for turn is Watery Grave. Wait! Everyone is at 14 life, taking two damage per card drawn, and we got a Jar? Windmill slam that puppy to the field and activate it FOR GREAT JUSTICE. Gee-Gee.

Did we just win by turn eight? Seems good. Most games take a bit longer, but the results are mostly the same. Put pain on the board and wheel. Spot remove threats, wheel again. Repeat. Win. Cackle insanely. Praise the God-Pharaoh for his gifts.