This is an old-school minded control deck incorporating new school tech and upgraded method to account for the current design philosophy of the game. Clearing the board with AoE and piece-mail handling of threats has been a struggling control archetype for some time. Instead, Nexus tempo seeks to interact with creatures only for as long as is necessary to elevate itself to a higher form ... literally controlling of the flow of the game itself.
Against most creature based decks, you don't have to clear or bite your nails every turn. You can sit back on your life total and bide you time with Fog effects, while digging and setting up your Planeswalkers, ramp, and Extra turns. This should give you enough room to start taking extra turns with Nexus of Fate and Karn's Temporal Sundering, and filter your deck down enough to where you are virtually guaranteed a Nexus of Fate each turn, or at bare minimum, another fog.
What do we do with all this time on our hands? Continue Ramping, interacting with the board only as necessary while thinning our deck. Every extra turn, and every card drawn or filtered gets us closer to the point where we have Nexus of Fate every turn and can win at out choosing. Eventually, Karn creates bodies that can swing unmolested versus an opponent who can do nothing about the endless turns you are taking.
The true beauty of this deck is the simplicity in its design. No random guessing at targets or timings on counterspells or removal. No clunky win-conditions that have to be parsed with other interactions with the deck. You play to reach a point where you take over the flow of time, and just ... win.
Click on any of the links to skip to that section of the Guide.
Various Cards, Choices and Aesthetics:
In the many YEARS and FORMATS I have played and designed these type of decks, I have learned a lot about the functionality of taking multiple turns as a strategy for winning games. Using Nexus of Fate changes many of the early paradigms for a time walk deck and gives us a lot of breathing room in terms of needed effects and removing symmetrical effects from a fog based setup. However some of the original paradigms still apply. Even though the design of the game has shifted substantially from what it was the last time a deck like this was viable, we can still learn from the tools of the past to identify and understand the tools we have at our disposal today.
Lets starting with the elephant in the room. The first and most impressive thing about Nexus, is that it casts at instant speed. Its hefty cost is rather manageable when you consider the implications of an instant speed Time Walk. Versus control decks, any time you tap mana, end turn, or leave an opening, your opponent can just tap 7 and get the ball rolling. I still remember the cat calls when we first saw Bogardan Hellkite spoilered. Many people assumed an 8 mana dragon was just too much, and that he would be just a niche tool on a clunky deck. As it happens, that instant speed cast matters.
Regardless of control, just casting Nexus of Fate at your opponent's end step is a potent tool to generating a lot of tempo. This nets you TWO consecutive turns, which can be useful even if all you do is churn your draw step and play lands. Obviously, being able to do anything else on those turns is beneficial, even if you are doing the absolute minimum of dropping cards in the graveyard with Search for Azcanta. The End-of-Opponent's-Turn Timewalk gives you a full free turn to dig and develop, and then another turn in sequence to prepare for your opponent's follow up move -- and that's assuming you aren't chaining even more time-walks.
Another thing to consider with Nexus of Fate, is that it is a self reinforcing strategy. Playing the card puts is back into your Library. Discarding the card puts is back into your library. As long as you have even 1 copy available, you have the capability of winning the game through sheer inevitability. Previous Time walk decks needed to devote cards to recurring the time walk proper, but Nexus Recurs itself. This allows us to devote more of our deck to just finding the next copy. You can (almost) never get milled to death, and even is all you do is cast Nexus of Fate into an opponent's counterspell, you are still advancing your gameplay at a minimal loss of resources.
There is another less obvious strength to how Nexus of Fate recurs itself. It shuffles your deck. In a vacuum, this is not gamebreaking. However, in hotly contested games, you will often be pressed into having to make hard choices when filtering cards to the bottom of your deck. But, as soon as you cast Nexus, your deck goes back to being completely random. This removes much of the variance of your draw and filter effects, as you are working your way through your deck looking for pieces. Even better, you can control when you remove that variance. You can Hold Nexus of fate as you dig and continue to the order of the bottom of your deck -- waiting until the last possible cast to reshuffle. Conversely, you can cast a Nexus right away, and then dig as deep as you can with the originally-cast nexus being one of your potential draws.
Anticipate digs deeper and casts at instant speed. Chart a Course enables search for Azcanta Faster and can filter out cards already trapped in your hand. Which one is better? Some people will say that its a matter of choice. Normally I would. However I can unequivocally state that anticipate is just stronger across the board.
Early-game anticipate lets us "see" more cards, and even if it doesn't get us the piece we need, it gets us closer to drawing it naturally. Late game, being able to cast anticipate at instant speed lets us play with tricks and triggers, digging for a nexus and cast casting it during any phase of the game. Chart a Course is still useful at sorcery speed if we are trying to flip azcanta -- but the thing is... we are going to flip azcanta naturally anyway, given enough time. Trying to force it isn't necessary.
Both Cards influence (up to) 4 cards at instant speed. However, the difference in casting cost means that will is still useful if we are digging the that 4th land drop if we are struggling to get cards out of hand. It is also stronger on 5 to be able to cast both fog and a filter in the same turn. Glimmer's greatest contribution is to generate card advantage. This is normally pretty good in a control deck. However, we care more about TEMPO than card advantage in the early part of the game when we are at our most vulnerable. We can generate more cards when we flip azcanta, making the advantage from Glimmer, not worth the loss in tempo. Supreme Will goes even more over the top purely for being modal -- Filtering or digging is only half the card. The option to use it as a counterspell gives our main-deck game a flexibility that is difficult for most other decks to duplicate.
Gift of Paradise is the hands down winner in terms of ramp by gaining life and enabling mana abuse with Teferi. However, as the meta evolves, we might look to additional ramp effects, especially if can make use of their effects. This brings me to Sailor of Means. He is quite possibly the next card I am going to put my maindeck.
We are already doing crazy things playing Teferi on 5, protecting him with a Fog, and then abusing his trigger to cast Nexus on the following turn. Having ramp on 3 helps us to do that a turn sooner. Even better Sailor can be a blocker! His ramp is temporary, but he gets you to Teferi and helps you to PROTECT him possibly freeing up the need to fog. And, hear me out. He is actually a win condition in addition to Karn. He may not do a ton of damage, but if you are taking all the turns... it doesn't matter how big he is. Court Hussar was a pivotal card in his day for helping control decks get to the tipping point versus gruul and boros decks, and I think Sailor is a current equivalent.
Dragon's hoard is another potential inclusion that snags us a card. not flashy but interesting. Spring to Mind I think is a holdover from early design. The ramp works, but for some of the same reasons as I have mentioned on other cards, I think if we have 6 mana untapped and the best thing we can do is cast mind, we are either already winning (and it doesn't matter) or we are in serious trouble.
At its Core, Turbo-Fog is inherently Blue-Green, utilizing Fog-effects, card draw, and ramp to reach the tipping point whereby it can simply take over the game. Literally, Turbo lands, + Fog Effects. While exceedingly efficient, it lacks removal to protect it from tempo problems if it fails to have needed fog effects on time, or if it stalls out before hitting its needed recursion.
Expanding the deck into a third color ultimately gives us the utility and reach to maximize the deck's effectiveness versus a wide field of decks ... especially as other decks start targeting it. Below I will look at what the other colors have to offer UG Nexus.
Most likely the strongest and most consistent build, white brings us Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, as well as Cleansing Nova. Teferi is an extremely potent planeswalker for our strategy, giving us both additional dig for out deck, and more board control. Teferi also gives us unmitigated effectiveness of our mana with untaps at EoT, that often allow us to do crazy things that our opponents can't anticipate.
This build also walks away from other card advantage centered builds in its draw package (until we transform Search for Azcanta). Anticipate and Supreme Will offer us the most reach for the least mana, and can be cast at instant speed. Even better, Supreme will also doubles as a counterspell, offering us some measure of protection versus other decks which are beginning to target this one. Similarly, Cleansing Nova is essentially Fogs 9 & 10 but with the added benefit of actually removing threats instead of buying a turn. This has a huge impact on tempo, allowing us time to rebuild hand at times when we need it.
Having AoE for Creatures or Artifacts in the Main Deck gives Nexus some much needed breathing room against the decks that can give it the most trouble. Fog and Cleansing Nova even have synergy with each other... Repeated fog effects often entice your opponent to commit more threats to the board. This commitment becomes vulnerable to AoE and makes it that much easier to push tempo if you can x-for-1 his board. Even playing intelligently vs the pair requires your opponent to hold threats in hand, extending the clock toward a late game that is stacked in your favor.
Black Seems like the most natural place to look for an anti-nexus (or anti control) variant of nexus. In addition to counterspells, you get discard to keep your opponent's hand manageable, and graveyard removal to keep recursive cards in check. You also have board sweepers available if you choose to use them, though each with their own drawbacks and benefits. Tezzeret the Schemer is the most natural planeswalker to pair with Karn, offering pseudo-Ramp, control and win conditions.
Perhaps the scariest card to consider in red is Apex of Power. In a deck that is already doing broken things with ramp to 7 mana... reaching for 10 doesn't seem that far out of the question. That said, not being able to cast the spells for free puts a dampener on the fiesta that could be unleashed be this card. However, I harbor a sneaking suspision that a brew is possible that could really break using Nexus of fate and Apex of Power in the same deck. The only question is if it is really needed, or if it can reach the mana necessary to prevent it from destroying its own combo. Put your Spinfoil hats on for this one boys, because this renegade Johnny territory, but from what I have seen of this deck so far, it is within the realm of plausibility.
Reeling us back in from the bleeding edge, however, Chandra and Jaya Both offer us some utility in their own ways. There are some interesting board control options if you want them. Doublecast and Spark of Creativity could end up being some interesting tech. The biggest concern is how our planeswalkers force a lot of action during the main of our turn. The flipside is, just one Apex of Power could immediately put us into endgame mode.
I anticipate that WUB-Nexus would trade Fogs for different pieces of board clear, and try to lean on artifact sources of mana for the ramp, most likely Tezzeret. The biggest concern here is how you intend to pinch deck space in order to fit all the the effects you need. In a Vacuum, each extra turn from Nexus is more valuable because of the greater density of planewalkers in the deck. However, the original deck is already quite capable of going off pretty quickly, leading us to ultimately question ... is it worth slowing that down for MORE control? If the meta begins to skew towards Nexus (or other control decks) then being able to disable an enemy Nexus or protect your own with discard or heavy counter-magic will be very relevant.
Slimming down to a UR version takes some balls, as you end up losing Fog effects as a psuedo-timewalk. The trade-off however is a deck that can initiate massive boosts in tempo a LOT sooner that most of the other variants. However, it can be a lot tougher to survive (or keep your planeswalkers alive) to make that tempo happen. Sweltering suns is actually pretty impressive with Jaya, and it even cycles if you do not need it. However, if your opponent's board gets too big too fast, you might be in trouble. Make no mistake, however: in most cases, planting Jaya on the board sets you up to Nexus of Fate the very next turn if she survives. Once you ultimate Jaya, she is virtually a win condition, giving you ridiculous options with her emblem.
Its interesting to note that Sunbird's Invocation actually ended up being much more useful than Apex of Power. The ability to cast any of the revealed cards without paying mana cost just mattered too much. Invocation allows for some sick board and hand building when you aren't just using it to chain Timewalks. And, every once in awhile, revealing Sweltering Suns on the back of a Manalith or Supreme Will just closes games by itself.
Formal Recognition
Just to be open with anyone who doesn't know me, I am a long time player who only rarely gets the opportunity to dust off my collection and play anymore. However It was this deck, shared with me a few days ago, that got me interested in testing it out and seeing how far I could tune it. Full thanks and credit go to David Williams and the crew at Face-to-Face Games for breaking the original list at a pro event, and for sharing it with the rest of the world.
Closing
So that's what I have so far. I will be playtesting variations as much as I can and updating the primer as I am available to do so. Feel free to comment with your own observations and builds below. I can't wait to see how magic's latest Time walk monstrosity will evolve from here. I am also still polishing and filling in variations of the primer, so if you have something you would like to see, feel free to comment!
Maybe. But turbo fog and control variations are fundamentally different. It may require different threads, or merging may depend on which becomes dominant.
It also gave me the chance to write a primer, something I enjoy, but haven't done in a long time for Magic.
EDIT: Let me correct my initial misunderstanding. Turbo Fog proper should be just be UG and be more tempo based. White for Teferi and Control, changes that significantly.
After more testing more I might add a pure UR version to the list. Jaya and Sunbird did some serious work in my prototype list, But I need to see a version can handle itself without fog effects.
Love the article. Since seeing the lists that were playing in Pro Tour, I have put my own together that I've been testing over the last week on MTG Arena's competitive ladder. The list I'm playing right now has a ridiculous win rate. I usually go anywhere from 5-2 to 7-0 in competitive constructed. My biggest troubles have been with UW Control lists and other Nexus Control match ups. The Control Mirror is just painful. Metallurgic Summonings is what I've been playing with to mix things up and it has done wonders as a second win condition. I think that's mostly due to people just being so surprised by it and not side boarding in properly against it. I'm playing it in the Main board now just cause it's so fun.
EDIT: I'm considering switching Glimmer of Genius with Anticipate for a less expensive filter in the Early to Mid-Game but I'm still not convinced that I need it than as much as I do later on. Generally when your deck is thinned out to less than 30 cards with a Teferi and Karn on board, you can get your Nexus chain started. It's obviously more reliable at 20 or less cards but Glimmer helps dig for it in those instances tremendously so I'd hate to see it go.
I'm already running into people running heavy discard/vraska, and insult to injury maindeck just for this deck. I have yet to be hit with a Lost Legacy, but I think it will come. Lots of aggro with Burn, and occasionally a tempo aggro list (most often merfolks) with a counterspell for fog.
I've already dipped my toes in with Anticipate, In the UG(w) list and even more in some of the other versions. I'm starting to cut Glimmer altogether as I get more and more comfortable with the deck. It not a bad card, its the cost -- if you are curving smoothly, there are other cards you want to play. If you are not curving smoothly it is often a dead card in hand. This is also what makes Anticipate so enticing. In my most current version I have also added in Supreme Will, as is flexes as another dig spell.
This is the list I currently have the most playtime on.
Ramp and land drops are pretty important. I'd run 26 lands and 6 ramp if I could, but I doubt I can squeeze room. I might consider going to 61 for the 26th land though.
I definitely want to eventually get in the 4th Teferi.
The two Cleansing Nova have saved my bacon so many times I can't count them. So has Gift of Paradise. Various aggro decks can still race you, especially if you are drawing a slow start. Being able to actually clear board and gain life helps so much in aggro matchups if you sometimes stretch thin on fog. Main deck Artifact destruction has also surprised a lot of the combo decks I've faced. By the same token, with all the variants I have tested, fog is so important, I think the meta has to shift dramatically in order to reliably build a non-green version -- but you might be able to get away with 10 board wipes.
Nezahal matters, but not necessarily for the obvious reason. I've had multiple games now where both Karns get Vraskad, or I have to play a Karn early to gain ground, And then Karn pulls himself with a silver counter and gets nuked before I can put the other copy safely to hand. The additional win-condition is a nice insurance policy, whatever card you choose it to be.
Every time I try to cut Karn's Temporal Sundering some random case comes up where is it useful. That said, I think it is a point of weakness as it often clogs early hands, and it is what I will probably cut when I get the 4th Teferi.
Mirari Conjecture is in a similar place to Sundering. However, The saga carries more weight because it can immediately grab a fog from your graveyard. The next turn you are mostly protected by your fog (getting back a Cleansing Nova sometimes is nice). And on that 3rd saga turn -- casting a timewalk for the doubling effect is gamebreaking, even with an empty board -- better, if you can also get an Anticipate or Supreme Will doubled, your hand and/or future draws will be stellar.
Supreme Will is a cheeky card for us. At first I started off with 0, then had 2 for a long time, because the counterspell part was weaker the further off curve you get. However the more time I get on the deck, the more comfortable I feel with Supreme will. People who think they know what you are playing will sometimes walk right into a clutch counterspell that can win the game all by itself. Showing even one counterspell early will make some control and combo players gun-shy, and cause some aggro players to commit more into your board-sweeps. Off-curve, it can still work by forcing your opponent to tap out for less tempo. Even if you don't counter anything, it is a good dig spell. We don't care as much about card advantage as it seems, until we flip Search for Azcanta. Even then, it is more about burning off the excess of our deck to get to Nexus of Fate and/or one of our Planeswalkers.
Karn can win games faster than people think, especially if you can clear the road with Cleansing Nova. I've taken a lot of games where my opponent was prepared to dicker around waiting for an infinite loop, and instead I wiped the board and started pumping artifact bodies. Remember that Karn's natural clock is 2/6/12/20. But if you have a Karn in Hand AND Play, you can accelerate it by a turn (3/12/20 -or- 2/8/20 -or- 2/6/15). It is very easy to lull yourself into continually playing for the loop. You don't need to keep ticking Karn up if you think you have enough turns to just beat face and win.
I've been playing some form of a Turbo Fog/Taking Turns style deck since Dominaria came out. One of the things I really like about using red with Sarkhan, Fireblood and Chandra, Torch of Defiance over the white with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is you don't need to chain Nexus of Fates together to win. You just need to protect them for a few turns and once you ultimate them the game is over pretty fast after that.
One cool piece of sideboard tech I've found is Pelakka Wurm. I was having a lot of trouble with burn heavy decks like mono-red and Wizards, along with decks siding in Insult // Injury, since they could just ignore the fogs and burn/insult me out. Pelakka Wurm plus Gift of Paradise is just too much life gain for most burn heavy decks to handle and can let you survive an Insult // Injury. It also a great blocker/win condition. I've even brought it in against control, were it's actually been pretty decent, since they usually take out their creature removal or they just don't have enough Vraska's Contempts to handle all of the wurms and planeswalkers.
The only question I've been flip-flopping lately is whether the Chandra, Torch of Defiance in my sideboard should be a Nezahal, Primal Tide. I've been sticking to Chandra for now because Pelakka has been doing a more than decent Nezahal impression against control, but it's something I am keeping an eye on.
Realistically the decks that give UG and UGW Nexus the most trouble are Red Hyyperaggro, and UB/(W) Control. So planning ahead for those are where this deck is going. That is where this deck needs to tune and plan its control package without fogs. The extra lifegain (and board clear) from Fumigate, Contempt, and Settle the Wreckage can help vs the red decks that give nexus trouble. Counterspells main helps vs the Control decks are what matter the most there for contested turns and protecting plainswalkers.
Chromium as a 3-turn-clock looks stellar as a way to close fast if you think you can line up a few extra turns. Gearhulk is also a good choice for getting the most out of your limited suite of control cards... especially Vraska's Contempt.
So, it's a good forward thinking list that trades the tempo orientation of fog for more of a control list. The two biggest fears for a list like this are giving up the tempo that fog affords you vs so many midrange decks, and the awkwardness of a low-cost counterspell suite.
I think if you can tune the control/draw package perfect for your local metagame it will be nearly unbeatable. Also, as we begin to look at rotation and a new set we can look for a few things that might bring this deck further forward. Tapping, or mass-tapping effects in blue to replace fog vs midrage decks... bonus points if we can also tap lands vs control (think Gigadrowse). A Two-mana tempo Counterspell would also do wonders to fill our control v any game 1 without having to specialize (Think Remand or Mana Leak).
Realistically the decks that give UG and UGW Nexus the most trouble are Red Hyyperaggro, and UB/(W) Control. So planning ahead for those are where this deck is going. That is where this deck needs to tune and plan its control package without fogs. The extra lifegain (and board clear) from Fumigate, Contempt, and Settle the Wreckage can help vs the red decks that give nexus trouble. Counterspells main helps vs the Control decks are what matter the most there for contested turns and protecting plainswalkers.
Chromium as a 3-turn-clock looks stellar as a way to close fast if you think you can line up a few extra turns. Gearhulk is also a good choice for getting the most out of your limited suite of control cards... especially Vraska's Contempt.
So, it's a good forward thinking list that trades the tempo orientation of fog for more of a control list. The two biggest fears for a list like this are giving up the tempo that fog affords you vs so many midrange decks, and the awkwardness of a low-cost counterspell suite.
I think if you can tune the control/draw package perfect for your local metagame it will be nearly unbeatable. Also, as we begin to look at rotation and a new set we can look for a few things that might bring this deck further forward. Tapping, or mass-tapping effects in blue to replace fog vs midrage decks... bonus points if we can also tap lands vs control (think Gigadrowse). A Two-mana tempo Counterspell would also do wonders to fill our control v any game 1 without having to specialize (Think Remand or Mana Leak).
I agree with a lot of what Aezuriel said. The one thing I would add is probably adding a Karn, Scion of Urza somewhere in the maindeck as a second non-Teferi win condition. One thing I've notice watching and playing against a lot of Teferi based decks, especially Nexus varieties, is that it can take so long to win if their opponent doesn't concede that if they lose game one they just aren't fast enough to win even game 2 before time is called. With the answers decks are playing today I never feel having just one non-Teferi win condition is enough.
Just for sake of context, I imagine this deck is going to eventually end up looking like a mashup of Beach-house (circa Ravnica) and Dragonstorm (circa Timespiral). To some effect you can even consider it to be a new Solar-Flare (which started out a a blue version of beach-house anyway). Right now we have Time-walks instead of Reanimation, and our ramp is 3 instead of 2. So there is some more idea for for the future. It might even be beneficial to consider discard/reanimation if we want to main-plan Cromium and Timewalk.
Just for sake of context, I imagine this deck is going to eventually end up looking like a mashup of Beach-house (circa Ravnica) and Dragonstorm (circa Timespiral). To some effect you can even consider it to be a new Solar-Flare (which started out a a blue version of beach-house anyway). Right now we have Time-walks instead of Reanimation, and our ramp is 3 instead of 2. So there is some more idea for for the future. It might even be beneficial to consider discard/reanimation if we want to main-plan Cromium and Timewalk.
I see the comparisons a bit, but I don't think this plays like a solar flare deck. Too much control. Not enough threat. Solar Flare was closer to midrange than control.
Plus I just don't think the pieces are here for a true Solar Flare deck. The reanimation isn't good enough or fast enough since it starts at five. And I don't think there are good enough expensive targets to reanimate (really the best part about Chromium is the fact he can't be countered). Plus Gifts just does it better right now. If we get good stuff in Ravnica maybe, but at this point it is unknown.
I just don't think the pieces are here for a true Solar Flare deck. The reanimation isn't good enough or fast enough since it starts at five. And I don't think there are good enough expensive targets to reanimate (really the best part about Chromium is the fact he can't be countered).
Chromium is likely reanimate-worthy just for being such a strong clock, especially if we are building to preserve card advantage. Chart a course even feeds a reanimation strategy if we want to cheat something into play early. Torrential Gearhulk and Scarab God main could almost be worth it now. But I agree it might be cramming too much into one deck currently, but I'm not sure. Has anyone tried a full midrange style build?
Even if not today, an eventual Ravnica inclusive build will probably give us some amazing things to be thinking about as we watch for spoilers.
now that shocklands are confimred, what's the direction we take this deck come rotation? i know not much of ravnica has been spoiled (only 10 cards) but our mana base gets a little weirder. with only temple garden, bant seems a little harder. sultai seems nuts with both watery grave + drowned catacomb, hinterland harbor, and overgrown tomb + woodland cemetery. i'm leaning toward that. we get the fogs, control and kill spells. only bad part is we lose teferi. do we just go all in and put white in with chapel, fortress, temple garden + sunpetal?
Sunbird + Nexus is basically A+B combo if you get it going right. 7 chances to hit another extra turn is quite a bit. Especially when each extra turn is netting you some combination of extra cards or mana or spells.
I've kicked around a Muldrotha variant of Nexus a bit and it definitely seems tempting to help us Dissemble our deck to casting nexus repeatedly. the only catch is that it tends do me more expensive, so you are waiting longer to go faster.... making it more prone to failing before you reach that critical mass in the hardest matchups. Similarly, Sunbird'd is a great way to chain Nexus, but surviving to that point and having a downtempo turn is hard.
Realistically, Teferi is just too valuable of a tool to pass in current iterations. We need another planeswalker performing a similar effect, or we need cheaper ramp (e.g. Signets) to show up in order to really kick the tires on most variants that aren't running white.
I would like to ask how will we face next rotation? More sweepers insted fog?
Possibly? It all depends on what Ravnica holds for us and how the meta shifts. As far as the meta goes, I think having the strength vs midrange decks will hold, but, how much grip will RB aggro lose and will another hyperefficient aggro list replace it? (think Gruul or Boros). Then we have to consider how Ravnica can improve our strategy and I think the deck can deviate in one of two directions based on the cards/mechanics we get.
Plan 1: If we get Dredge/Dig mechanics that can allow us to piece things together and make land/mana drops, we can stick to light tempo/combo and then go for as many turns as we need to win. (think kinda like how the deck is now, but with more draw/dig consistency and possibly a small tuned control suite)
Plan 2: If we get big splashy creatures (or planeswalkers) with enough effect, we can go heavy tempo, maybe even reanimation and just set up a big swing and take only a few turns to close after the swing turn. (think Kamigawa/Ravnica era Yosei lock)
Just gotta watch the spoilers and see.
Private Mod Note
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Old School player, new meta noob.
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Premise:
This is an old-school minded control deck incorporating new school tech and upgraded method to account for the current design philosophy of the game. Clearing the board with AoE and piece-mail handling of threats has been a struggling control archetype for some time. Instead, Nexus tempo seeks to interact with creatures only for as long as is necessary to elevate itself to a higher form ... literally controlling of the flow of the game itself.
Against most creature based decks, you don't have to clear or bite your nails every turn. You can sit back on your life total and bide you time with Fog effects, while digging and setting up your Planeswalkers, ramp, and Extra turns. This should give you enough room to start taking extra turns with Nexus of Fate and Karn's Temporal Sundering, and filter your deck down enough to where you are virtually guaranteed a Nexus of Fate each turn, or at bare minimum, another fog.
What do we do with all this time on our hands? Continue Ramping, interacting with the board only as necessary while thinning our deck. Every extra turn, and every card drawn or filtered gets us closer to the point where we have Nexus of Fate every turn and can win at out choosing. Eventually, Karn creates bodies that can swing unmolested versus an opponent who can do nothing about the endless turns you are taking.
The true beauty of this deck is the simplicity in its design. No random guessing at targets or timings on counterspells or removal. No clunky win-conditions that have to be parsed with other interactions with the deck. You play to reach a point where you take over the flow of time, and just ... win.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-UG(b) - Black Denial
-UG(r) - Red Storm
-U(wb) - Esper Control
-UR - Izzet Tempo
Various Cards, Choices and Aesthetics:
In the many YEARS and FORMATS I have played and designed these type of decks, I have learned a lot about the functionality of taking multiple turns as a strategy for winning games. Using Nexus of Fate changes many of the early paradigms for a time walk deck and gives us a lot of breathing room in terms of needed effects and removing symmetrical effects from a fog based setup. However some of the original paradigms still apply. Even though the design of the game has shifted substantially from what it was the last time a deck like this was viable, we can still learn from the tools of the past to identify and understand the tools we have at our disposal today.
Nexus of Fate
Lets starting with the elephant in the room. The first and most impressive thing about Nexus, is that it casts at instant speed. Its hefty cost is rather manageable when you consider the implications of an instant speed Time Walk. Versus control decks, any time you tap mana, end turn, or leave an opening, your opponent can just tap 7 and get the ball rolling. I still remember the cat calls when we first saw Bogardan Hellkite spoilered. Many people assumed an 8 mana dragon was just too much, and that he would be just a niche tool on a clunky deck. As it happens, that instant speed cast matters.
Regardless of control, just casting Nexus of Fate at your opponent's end step is a potent tool to generating a lot of tempo. This nets you TWO consecutive turns, which can be useful even if all you do is churn your draw step and play lands. Obviously, being able to do anything else on those turns is beneficial, even if you are doing the absolute minimum of dropping cards in the graveyard with Search for Azcanta. The End-of-Opponent's-Turn Timewalk gives you a full free turn to dig and develop, and then another turn in sequence to prepare for your opponent's follow up move -- and that's assuming you aren't chaining even more time-walks.
Another thing to consider with Nexus of Fate, is that it is a self reinforcing strategy. Playing the card puts is back into your Library. Discarding the card puts is back into your library. As long as you have even 1 copy available, you have the capability of winning the game through sheer inevitability. Previous Time walk decks needed to devote cards to recurring the time walk proper, but Nexus Recurs itself. This allows us to devote more of our deck to just finding the next copy. You can (almost) never get milled to death, and even is all you do is cast Nexus of Fate into an opponent's counterspell, you are still advancing your gameplay at a minimal loss of resources.
There is another less obvious strength to how Nexus of Fate recurs itself. It shuffles your deck. In a vacuum, this is not gamebreaking. However, in hotly contested games, you will often be pressed into having to make hard choices when filtering cards to the bottom of your deck. But, as soon as you cast Nexus, your deck goes back to being completely random. This removes much of the variance of your draw and filter effects, as you are working your way through your deck looking for pieces. Even better, you can control when you remove that variance. You can Hold Nexus of fate as you dig and continue to the order of the bottom of your deck -- waiting until the last possible cast to reshuffle. Conversely, you can cast a Nexus right away, and then dig as deep as you can with the originally-cast nexus being one of your potential draws.
Chart a course versus Anticipate
Anticipate digs deeper and casts at instant speed. Chart a Course enables search for Azcanta Faster and can filter out cards already trapped in your hand. Which one is better? Some people will say that its a matter of choice. Normally I would. However I can unequivocally state that anticipate is just stronger across the board.
Early-game anticipate lets us "see" more cards, and even if it doesn't get us the piece we need, it gets us closer to drawing it naturally. Late game, being able to cast anticipate at instant speed lets us play with tricks and triggers, digging for a nexus and cast casting it during any phase of the game. Chart a Course is still useful at sorcery speed if we are trying to flip azcanta -- but the thing is... we are going to flip azcanta naturally anyway, given enough time. Trying to force it isn't necessary.
Supreme Will versus Glimmer of Genius
Both Cards influence (up to) 4 cards at instant speed. However, the difference in casting cost means that will is still useful if we are digging the that 4th land drop if we are struggling to get cards out of hand. It is also stronger on 5 to be able to cast both fog and a filter in the same turn. Glimmer's greatest contribution is to generate card advantage. This is normally pretty good in a control deck. However, we care more about TEMPO than card advantage in the early part of the game when we are at our most vulnerable. We can generate more cards when we flip azcanta, making the advantage from Glimmer, not worth the loss in tempo. Supreme Will goes even more over the top purely for being modal -- Filtering or digging is only half the card. The option to use it as a counterspell gives our main-deck game a flexibility that is difficult for most other decks to duplicate.
Gift of Paradise, Dragon's Hoard, Sailor of Means, and Spring //Mind
Gift of Paradise is the hands down winner in terms of ramp by gaining life and enabling mana abuse with Teferi. However, as the meta evolves, we might look to additional ramp effects, especially if can make use of their effects. This brings me to Sailor of Means. He is quite possibly the next card I am going to put my maindeck.
We are already doing crazy things playing Teferi on 5, protecting him with a Fog, and then abusing his trigger to cast Nexus on the following turn. Having ramp on 3 helps us to do that a turn sooner. Even better Sailor can be a blocker! His ramp is temporary, but he gets you to Teferi and helps you to PROTECT him possibly freeing up the need to fog. And, hear me out. He is actually a win condition in addition to Karn. He may not do a ton of damage, but if you are taking all the turns... it doesn't matter how big he is. Court Hussar was a pivotal card in his day for helping control decks get to the tipping point versus gruul and boros decks, and I think Sailor is a current equivalent.
Dragon's hoard is another potential inclusion that snags us a card. not flashy but interesting. Spring to Mind I think is a holdover from early design. The ramp works, but for some of the same reasons as I have mentioned on other cards, I think if we have 6 mana untapped and the best thing we can do is cast mind, we are either already winning (and it doesn't matter) or we are in serious trouble.
The Core Deck
4x Nexus of Fate
4x Anticipate
4x Root Snare
4x Haze of Pollen
Sorcery
4x Chart a Course
2x Spring
1x Karn's Temporal Sundering
4x Karn, Scion of Urza
2x Nissa, Steward of Elements
Enchantment
4x Gift of Paradise
2x Search for Azcanta
1x The Mirari Conjecture
Land
2x Aether Hub
4x Botanical Sanctum
1x Desert of the Indomitable
1x Desert of the Mindful
6x Forest
4x Hinterland Harbor
6x Island
At its Core, Turbo-Fog is inherently Blue-Green, utilizing Fog-effects, card draw, and ramp to reach the tipping point whereby it can simply take over the game. Literally, Turbo lands, + Fog Effects. While exceedingly efficient, it lacks removal to protect it from tempo problems if it fails to have needed fog effects on time, or if it stalls out before hitting its needed recursion.
Variations on (x)
Expanding the deck into a third color ultimately gives us the utility and reach to maximize the deck's effectiveness versus a wide field of decks ... especially as other decks start targeting it. Below I will look at what the other colors have to offer UG Nexus.
UG(W) - Nexus Control
4 Nexus of Fate
4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
Ramp/Sustain/Fog
4 Gift of Paradise
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Root Snare
Tech
2 Cleansing Nova
1 The Mirari Conjecture
Draw/Filter
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Anticipate
4 Supreme Will
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Irrigated Farmland
2 Scattered Groves
1 Botanical Sanctum
4 Island
4 Forest
4 Plains
4x Negate
2x Torrential Gearhulk
2x Carnage Tyrant
2x Syncopate
2x Sailor of Means
2x Settle the Wreckage
1x Sanguine Sacrament
Most likely the strongest and most consistent build, white brings us Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, as well as Cleansing Nova. Teferi is an extremely potent planeswalker for our strategy, giving us both additional dig for out deck, and more board control. Teferi also gives us unmitigated effectiveness of our mana with untaps at EoT, that often allow us to do crazy things that our opponents can't anticipate.
This build also walks away from other card advantage centered builds in its draw package (until we transform Search for Azcanta). Anticipate and Supreme Will offer us the most reach for the least mana, and can be cast at instant speed. Even better, Supreme will also doubles as a counterspell, offering us some measure of protection versus other decks which are beginning to target this one. Similarly, Cleansing Nova is essentially Fogs 9 & 10 but with the added benefit of actually removing threats instead of buying a turn. This has a huge impact on tempo, allowing us time to rebuild hand at times when we need it.
Having AoE for Creatures or Artifacts in the Main Deck gives Nexus some much needed breathing room against the decks that can give it the most trouble. Fog and Cleansing Nova even have synergy with each other... Repeated fog effects often entice your opponent to commit more threats to the board. This commitment becomes vulnerable to AoE and makes it that much easier to push tempo if you can x-for-1 his board. Even playing intelligently vs the pair requires your opponent to hold threats in hand, extending the clock toward a late game that is stacked in your favor.
UG(B) - Nexus Denial
3x Nexus of Fate
4x Haze of Pollen
4x Root Snare
Planeswalkers
3x Tezzeret the Schemer
2x Karn, Scion of Urza
Draw
4x Anticipate
4x Chart a Course
2x Search for Azcanta
1x Glimmer of Genius
4x Gift of Paradise
2x Bontu's Last Reckoning
2x Lost Legacy
1x Negate
Land
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Hinterland Harbor
2x Fetid Pools
3x Blooming Marsh
2x Aether Hub
4x Island
3x Swamp
2x Forest
Black Seems like the most natural place to look for an anti-nexus (or anti control) variant of nexus. In addition to counterspells, you get discard to keep your opponent's hand manageable, and graveyard removal to keep recursive cards in check. You also have board sweepers available if you choose to use them, though each with their own drawbacks and benefits. Tezzeret the Schemer is the most natural planeswalker to pair with Karn, offering pseudo-Ramp, control and win conditions.
UG(R) - Nexus Storm
3x Nexus of Fate
4x Haze of Pollen
4x Root Snare
Planeswalkers
4x Jaya Ballard
2x Karn, Scion of Urza
Draw
4x Anticipate
4x Chart a Course
2x Search for Azcanta
1x Glimmer of Genius
4x Gift of Paradise
2x Sunbird's Invocation
1x The Mirari Conjecture
1x Apex of Power
Land
4x Sulfur Falls
2x Cascading Cataracts
3x Hinterland Harbor
2x Sheltered Thicket
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Aether Hub
4x Island
3x Mountain
2x Forest
Perhaps the scariest card to consider in red is Apex of Power. In a deck that is already doing broken things with ramp to 7 mana... reaching for 10 doesn't seem that far out of the question. That said, not being able to cast the spells for free puts a dampener on the fiesta that could be unleashed be this card. However, I harbor a sneaking suspision that a brew is possible that could really break using Nexus of fate and Apex of Power in the same deck. The only question is if it is really needed, or if it can reach the mana necessary to prevent it from destroying its own combo. Put your Spinfoil hats on for this one boys, because this renegade Johnny territory, but from what I have seen of this deck so far, it is within the realm of plausibility.
Reeling us back in from the bleeding edge, however, Chandra and Jaya Both offer us some utility in their own ways. There are some interesting board control options if you want them. Doublecast and Spark of Creativity could end up being some interesting tech. The biggest concern is how our planeswalkers force a lot of action during the main of our turn. The flipside is, just one Apex of Power could immediately put us into endgame mode.
U(wb) Esper Nexus -- The Final Form?
Deck coming soon
I anticipate that WUB-Nexus would trade Fogs for different pieces of board clear, and try to lean on artifact sources of mana for the ramp, most likely Tezzeret. The biggest concern here is how you intend to pinch deck space in order to fit all the the effects you need. In a Vacuum, each extra turn from Nexus is more valuable because of the greater density of planewalkers in the deck. However, the original deck is already quite capable of going off pretty quickly, leading us to ultimately question ... is it worth slowing that down for MORE control? If the meta begins to skew towards Nexus (or other control decks) then being able to disable an enemy Nexus or protect your own with discard or heavy counter-magic will be very relevant.
UR Izzet Nexus -- Mad Genuis?
4x Nexus of Fate
4x Jaya Ballard
2x Karn, Scion of Urza
Ramp
4x Sailor of Means
4x Manalith
4x Anticipate
2x Supreme Will
2x Chart a Course
2x Search for Azcanta
Board Control
4x Sweltering Suns
2x Sunbird's Invocation
1x The Mirari Conjecture
Land
4x Aether Hub
8x Island
7x Mountain
2x Spirebluff Canal
4x Sulfur Falls
Slimming down to a UR version takes some balls, as you end up losing Fog effects as a psuedo-timewalk. The trade-off however is a deck that can initiate massive boosts in tempo a LOT sooner that most of the other variants. However, it can be a lot tougher to survive (or keep your planeswalkers alive) to make that tempo happen. Sweltering suns is actually pretty impressive with Jaya, and it even cycles if you do not need it. However, if your opponent's board gets too big too fast, you might be in trouble. Make no mistake, however: in most cases, planting Jaya on the board sets you up to Nexus of Fate the very next turn if she survives. Once you ultimate Jaya, she is virtually a win condition, giving you ridiculous options with her emblem.
Its interesting to note that Sunbird's Invocation actually ended up being much more useful than Apex of Power. The ability to cast any of the revealed cards without paying mana cost just mattered too much. Invocation allows for some sick board and hand building when you aren't just using it to chain Timewalks. And, every once in awhile, revealing Sweltering Suns on the back of a Manalith or Supreme Will just closes games by itself.
Formal Recognition
Just to be open with anyone who doesn't know me, I am a long time player who only rarely gets the opportunity to dust off my collection and play anymore. However It was this deck, shared with me a few days ago, that got me interested in testing it out and seeing how far I could tune it. Full thanks and credit go to David Williams and the crew at Face-to-Face Games for breaking the original list at a pro event, and for sharing it with the rest of the world.
Closing
So that's what I have so far. I will be playtesting variations as much as I can and updating the primer as I am available to do so. Feel free to comment with your own observations and builds below. I can't wait to see how magic's latest Time walk monstrosity will evolve from here. I am also still polishing and filling in variations of the primer, so if you have something you would like to see, feel free to comment!
To Be Continued...
Reserved
It also gave me the chance to write a primer, something I enjoy, but haven't done in a long time for Magic.
EDIT: Let me correct my initial misunderstanding. Turbo Fog proper should be just be UG and be more tempo based. White for Teferi and Control, changes that significantly.
I think I have already put more than enough effort in mine to prove its value, and I have barely gotten started with it.
After more testing more I might add a pure UR version to the list. Jaya and Sunbird did some serious work in my prototype list, But I need to see a version can handle itself without fog effects.
7 Island
4 Forest
2 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Sunpetal Grove
1 Botanical Sanctum
4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
Enchantments - 6
1 Metallurgic Summonings
3 Gift of Paradise
2 Search for Azcanta
Instants/Sorceries - 22
4 Chart a Course
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Root Snare
4 Nexus of Fate
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Secrets of the Golden City
1 Cleansing Nova
1 Disallow
EDIT: I'm considering switching Glimmer of Genius with Anticipate for a less expensive filter in the Early to Mid-Game but I'm still not convinced that I need it than as much as I do later on. Generally when your deck is thinned out to less than 30 cards with a Teferi and Karn on board, you can get your Nexus chain started. It's obviously more reliable at 20 or less cards but Glimmer helps dig for it in those instances tremendously so I'd hate to see it go.
I've already dipped my toes in with Anticipate, In the UG(w) list and even more in some of the other versions. I'm starting to cut Glimmer altogether as I get more and more comfortable with the deck. It not a bad card, its the cost -- if you are curving smoothly, there are other cards you want to play. If you are not curving smoothly it is often a dead card in hand. This is also what makes Anticipate so enticing. In my most current version I have also added in Supreme Will, as is flexes as another dig spell.
This is the list I currently have the most playtime on.
3 Nexus of Fate
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
Dig
4 Anticipate
4 Supreme Will
2 Search for Azcanta
1 The Mirari Conjecture
4 Gift of Paradise
1 Karn's Temporal Sundering
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
Fog
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Root Snare
2 Cleansing Nova
Land
5 Island
5 Plains
5 Forest
1 Botanical Sanctum
2 Irrigated Farmland
1 Scattered Groves
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Hinterland Harbor
Just some thoughts.
Ramp and land drops are pretty important. I'd run 26 lands and 6 ramp if I could, but I doubt I can squeeze room. I might consider going to 61 for the 26th land though.
I definitely want to eventually get in the 4th Teferi.
The two Cleansing Nova have saved my bacon so many times I can't count them. So has Gift of Paradise. Various aggro decks can still race you, especially if you are drawing a slow start. Being able to actually clear board and gain life helps so much in aggro matchups if you sometimes stretch thin on fog. Main deck Artifact destruction has also surprised a lot of the combo decks I've faced. By the same token, with all the variants I have tested, fog is so important, I think the meta has to shift dramatically in order to reliably build a non-green version -- but you might be able to get away with 10 board wipes.
Nezahal matters, but not necessarily for the obvious reason. I've had multiple games now where both Karns get Vraskad, or I have to play a Karn early to gain ground, And then Karn pulls himself with a silver counter and gets nuked before I can put the other copy safely to hand. The additional win-condition is a nice insurance policy, whatever card you choose it to be.
Every time I try to cut Karn's Temporal Sundering some random case comes up where is it useful. That said, I think it is a point of weakness as it often clogs early hands, and it is what I will probably cut when I get the 4th Teferi.
Mirari Conjecture is in a similar place to Sundering. However, The saga carries more weight because it can immediately grab a fog from your graveyard. The next turn you are mostly protected by your fog (getting back a Cleansing Nova sometimes is nice). And on that 3rd saga turn -- casting a timewalk for the doubling effect is gamebreaking, even with an empty board -- better, if you can also get an Anticipate or Supreme Will doubled, your hand and/or future draws will be stellar.
Supreme Will is a cheeky card for us. At first I started off with 0, then had 2 for a long time, because the counterspell part was weaker the further off curve you get. However the more time I get on the deck, the more comfortable I feel with Supreme will. People who think they know what you are playing will sometimes walk right into a clutch counterspell that can win the game all by itself. Showing even one counterspell early will make some control and combo players gun-shy, and cause some aggro players to commit more into your board-sweeps. Off-curve, it can still work by forcing your opponent to tap out for less tempo. Even if you don't counter anything, it is a good dig spell. We don't care as much about card advantage as it seems, until we flip Search for Azcanta. Even then, it is more about burning off the excess of our deck to get to Nexus of Fate and/or one of our Planeswalkers.
Karn can win games faster than people think, especially if you can clear the road with Cleansing Nova. I've taken a lot of games where my opponent was prepared to dicker around waiting for an infinite loop, and instead I wiped the board and started pumping artifact bodies. Remember that Karn's natural clock is 2/6/12/20. But if you have a Karn in Hand AND Play, you can accelerate it by a turn (3/12/20 -or- 2/8/20 -or- 2/6/15). It is very easy to lull yourself into continually playing for the loop. You don't need to keep ticking Karn up if you think you have enough turns to just beat face and win.
7 Island
3 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Sheltered Thicket
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Field of Ruin
Planeswalkers 8
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
4 Root Snare
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Anticipate
2 Supreme Will
1 Nexus of Fate
Sorceries 6
4 Karn's Temporal Sundering
2 Sweltering Suns
Enchantments 5
4 Gift of Paradise
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Negate
3 Pelakka Wurm
2 Syncopate
2 Naturalize
1 In Bolas's Clutches
1 Supreme Will
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
I've been playing some form of a Turbo Fog/Taking Turns style deck since Dominaria came out. One of the things I really like about using red with Sarkhan, Fireblood and Chandra, Torch of Defiance over the white with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is you don't need to chain Nexus of Fates together to win. You just need to protect them for a few turns and once you ultimate them the game is over pretty fast after that.
Having Sarkhan, Fireblood and Chandra, Torch of Defiance over Teferi, Hero of Dominaria also let's you play a playset of Karn's Temporal Sundering over a playset of Nexus of Fate, which I've found better against midrange and control decks since they usually only have one or two threats on the board, letting you basically get a second free turn sometimes.
One cool piece of sideboard tech I've found is Pelakka Wurm. I was having a lot of trouble with burn heavy decks like mono-red and Wizards, along with decks siding in Insult // Injury, since they could just ignore the fogs and burn/insult me out. Pelakka Wurm plus Gift of Paradise is just too much life gain for most burn heavy decks to handle and can let you survive an Insult // Injury. It also a great blocker/win condition. I've even brought it in against control, were it's actually been pretty decent, since they usually take out their creature removal or they just don't have enough Vraska's Contempts to handle all of the wurms and planeswalkers.
The only question I've been flip-flopping lately is whether the Chandra, Torch of Defiance in my sideboard should be a Nezahal, Primal Tide. I've been sticking to Chandra for now because Pelakka has been doing a more than decent Nezahal impression against control, but it's something I am keeping an eye on.
https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/aliaintrazi-07202018-esper-nexus/
Chromium as a 3-turn-clock looks stellar as a way to close fast if you think you can line up a few extra turns. Gearhulk is also a good choice for getting the most out of your limited suite of control cards... especially Vraska's Contempt.
So, it's a good forward thinking list that trades the tempo orientation of fog for more of a control list. The two biggest fears for a list like this are giving up the tempo that fog affords you vs so many midrange decks, and the awkwardness of a low-cost counterspell suite.
I think if you can tune the control/draw package perfect for your local metagame it will be nearly unbeatable. Also, as we begin to look at rotation and a new set we can look for a few things that might bring this deck further forward. Tapping, or mass-tapping effects in blue to replace fog vs midrage decks... bonus points if we can also tap lands vs control (think Gigadrowse). A Two-mana tempo Counterspell would also do wonders to fill our control v any game 1 without having to specialize (Think Remand or Mana Leak).
Chromium as a 3-turn-clock looks stellar as a way to close fast if you think you can line up a few extra turns. Gearhulk is also a good choice for getting the most out of your limited suite of control cards... especially Vraska's Contempt.
So, it's a good forward thinking list that trades the tempo orientation of fog for more of a control list. The two biggest fears for a list like this are giving up the tempo that fog affords you vs so many midrange decks, and the awkwardness of a low-cost counterspell suite.
I think if you can tune the control/draw package perfect for your local metagame it will be nearly unbeatable. Also, as we begin to look at rotation and a new set we can look for a few things that might bring this deck further forward. Tapping, or mass-tapping effects in blue to replace fog vs midrage decks... bonus points if we can also tap lands vs control (think Gigadrowse). A Two-mana tempo Counterspell would also do wonders to fill our control v any game 1 without having to specialize (Think Remand or Mana Leak).
I agree with a lot of what Aezuriel said. The one thing I would add is probably adding a Karn, Scion of Urza somewhere in the maindeck as a second non-Teferi win condition. One thing I've notice watching and playing against a lot of Teferi based decks, especially Nexus varieties, is that it can take so long to win if their opponent doesn't concede that if they lose game one they just aren't fast enough to win even game 2 before time is called. With the answers decks are playing today I never feel having just one non-Teferi win condition is enough.
I see the comparisons a bit, but I don't think this plays like a solar flare deck. Too much control. Not enough threat. Solar Flare was closer to midrange than control.
Plus I just don't think the pieces are here for a true Solar Flare deck. The reanimation isn't good enough or fast enough since it starts at five. And I don't think there are good enough expensive targets to reanimate (really the best part about Chromium is the fact he can't be countered). Plus Gifts just does it better right now. If we get good stuff in Ravnica maybe, but at this point it is unknown.
Chromium is likely reanimate-worthy just for being such a strong clock, especially if we are building to preserve card advantage. Chart a course even feeds a reanimation strategy if we want to cheat something into play early. Torrential Gearhulk and Scarab God main could almost be worth it now. But I agree it might be cramming too much into one deck currently, but I'm not sure. Has anyone tried a full midrange style build?
Even if not today, an eventual Ravnica inclusive build will probably give us some amazing things to be thinking about as we watch for spoilers.
4 Fountain of Renewal
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Servant of the Conduit
3 Sunbird's Invocation
4 Gift of Paradise
4 Bounty of the Luxa
1 Patient Rebuilding
1 Kumena's Awakening
1 Struggle // Survive
4 Haze of Pollen
3 Root Snare
8 Forest
2 Mountain
7 Island
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Samut, Voice of Dissent
1 Squee, the Immortal
2 Kumena's Awakening
1 Sunbird's Invocation
3 Slice in Twain
1 Struggle // Survive
1 Root Snare
1 Overflowing Insight
1 Star of Extinction
1 River's Rebuke
1 Spring // Mind
This is where Im at with my list.
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
2 Stitcher's Supplier
1 Riverwise Augur
4 Sunbird's Invocation
4 Bounty of the Luxa
1 Patient Rebuilding
2 Kumena's Awakening
4 Nexus of Fate
1 Struggle // Survive
4 Haze of Pollen
3 Root Snare
2 Mountain
8 Island
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Hinterland Harbor
1 Swamp
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Fountain of Renewal
2 Samut, Voice of Dissent
2 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
3 Slice in Twain
1 Overflowing Insight
1 Star of Extinction
1 River's Rebuke
1 Benefaction of Rhonas
Heres a new silly brew I made. Stitcher's supplier to chop the deck up.
Sunbird + Nexus is basically A+B combo if you get it going right. 7 chances to hit another extra turn is quite a bit. Especially when each extra turn is netting you some combination of extra cards or mana or spells.
Realistically, Teferi is just too valuable of a tool to pass in current iterations. We need another planeswalker performing a similar effect, or we need cheaper ramp (e.g. Signets) to show up in order to really kick the tires on most variants that aren't running white.
Possibly? It all depends on what Ravnica holds for us and how the meta shifts. As far as the meta goes, I think having the strength vs midrange decks will hold, but, how much grip will RB aggro lose and will another hyperefficient aggro list replace it? (think Gruul or Boros). Then we have to consider how Ravnica can improve our strategy and I think the deck can deviate in one of two directions based on the cards/mechanics we get.
Plan 1: If we get Dredge/Dig mechanics that can allow us to piece things together and make land/mana drops, we can stick to light tempo/combo and then go for as many turns as we need to win. (think kinda like how the deck is now, but with more draw/dig consistency and possibly a small tuned control suite)
Plan 2: If we get big splashy creatures (or planeswalkers) with enough effect, we can go heavy tempo, maybe even reanimation and just set up a big swing and take only a few turns to close after the swing turn. (think Kamigawa/Ravnica era Yosei lock)
Just gotta watch the spoilers and see.