MTG Salvation

hey guys this is my first attempt ever at a Battle of Wits deck. keep in mind this is entirely casual, i just wanted a cheap but fun deck to play. one thing is for sure the deck has a lot of answers, the problem is drawing into them. i want to run Proteus Staff in the deck with token generators but no other creatures so i can stack my library as i wish, putting battle of wits somewhere near the top. an alternative to this, though not as effective is Teferi's Puzzle Box. I would like to keep the deck monoblue but may splash something if i run out of cards to put in the deck. Here is a cardlist of what i am thinking thus far but i dont think it will be finished quite yet. Too many cards to include. I think it should have around 240 cards total.



...ok thats a good start, currently somewhere around 200 if anyone has suggestions, i want them

Please use deck tags in the future. Thanks. - MiKe

i have considered the life portion of the combo as a backup plan i guess you could say, but mostly as sideboard options really. you guys might be interested to hear that today i played 6 or so games against life and won all but once when i had no green mana with ghoul and dragon breath in hand. i even combo'd up on turn 3 a couple times. i just want to say right now that deed owns in this deck. it lands you the opportunity to keep your opponent in check and give you time to draw into the combo or at least a tutor for which to search it out. and it's no biggie if you have to blow deed with a cephalid in play, afterall you are playing reanimator. in fact, you may be able to use standstill to the same effect to stall long enough to draw into the combo and go off in one fell swoop. though deed just is a dominant force on the board. im still undecided on the sakura and the tolarian winds. i will outline the benefits/drawbacks of each.

Tolarian Winds
:great early game for combo draw +
:allows you to discard ghoul/dragon breath if drawn into +
:instant speed +
:bad late game draw (dead spell in hand) -

Sakura-Tribe Elder
:mana acceleration +
:mana fixing +
:increased ghoul size +
:increases creature count to compliment Cabal Therapy Diabolic Intent +
:deck thinning +
:chump blocker +

overall the sakura seems like a better choice but it is hard to judge because they are both intended for different reasons. i would think that combo searching is more important to the deck since mana issues are hardly a problem and the ghoul is already big enough to kill relatively easily. the only problem being the decreased creature count without the elder makes therapy and intent a little more difficult to play.

on another note i was considering opening a sideboard slot for Leonin Shikari

again, any suggestions/ideas are welcome

i just wanted to point out that this deck is talked about in the cephalid breakfast forum. some versions of it run the spiritualist combo as part of it's own strategy so you can get pointers there. now you just need to find a way to deal infinite damage and you are set.

no way is duress better than cabal therapy in this deck. i think duress is a better card in general but not in this circumstance. the whole idea behind the cabal therapy is to be able to flash it back to tear some spells from your opponents hand that may get in the way of you comboing off or killing them. if you have two creatures in play, even better. name something that they might have and if the therapy doesnt hit no biggie, you have another creature to sac to pull whatever you don't like. in response to aurora sparrow i agree that either one copy of greaves/wargear should be used but i lean towards the greaves just as a little bonus if you are using it with the ghoul. cepha-life and cepha-breakfast are two different decks and need to be played accordingly. cepha-breakfast is more of a beat your opponent to the punch deck whereas with life you get more of an opportunity to set up. they both also have their downfalls. i personally like the straight up concentrated combo rather than going for multiples, should one fail. as i mentioned i am considering tolarian winds for my build which can also get rid of a useless cloudscraper/ghoul in hand. also a neat little trick is you can play the cloudscraper for it's morph cost and sac it to either therapy or diabolic intent. nifty huh the card isnt entirely useless. i actually do not run steelshaper's gifts but i'll have to playtest with them. here is my current decklist. i am completely open to suggestions/ideas if anyone has anything substantial to add. oh and before i forget, the whole greaves thing about it being untargettable and yada yada. doesn't the untargettability discontinue as soon as you unequip the greaves (thus allowing you to reequip). i dunno i could be wrong but i just want some clarification becuz i dont see how having another creature out changes anything if this isn't the case. thanks guys.

MD:
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Sakura, Tribe Elder (might replace with Tolarian Winds)
3x Cephalid Illusionist
2x Krosan Cloudscraper
1x Sutured Ghoul

4x Shuko
1x Lighning Greaves
4x Pernicious Deed
1x Dragon Breath

4x Cabal Therapy
2x Life//Death
2x Stitch Together
2x Diabolic Intent
2x Living Wish
1x Krosan Reclamation
1x Deep Analysis

4x Chrome Mox
4x City of Brass
4x Forbidden Orchard
6x Forest
3x Swamp
1x Island

SB:
1x Cephalid Illusionist
1x Trinket Mage
1x Eternal Witness
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Psychatog
1x Meddling Mage
1x Genesis
1x Flaring Pain
3x Engineered Plague
4x Naturalize

lightning greaves works but only if you have another creature out along with the illusionist, im not sure of the exact ruling and explanation for it but i know that this is true. sure tarnished citadel helps you get it off but say you use it three times to try to go off on turn 3 (thats nine damage) if you life//death to get sutured ghoul back (thats seven more). you leave yourself only being able to take 4 damage in those turns from you opponent which is kinda shortchanging yourself if you are playing against gobbo, madness, etc. a lot of decks in the format are capable of dealing this much damage easily and sometimes in one fell swoop. that is to say if you are not using city of brass in addition to your citadel in which case you are losing even more. i know that the amount of life generally doesnt matter when playing combo but why take the three when there are other options (forsaken city, tendo ice bridge, whatever). there are just much better alternatives than tarnished citadel. i used to play the citadel myself until people started taking advantage of my meager life points and then i switched it out and i would advise based on my experience for you to do the same. what do you guys think about tolarian winds for the deck. it seems to me that it is very good early game to draw into the combo and get some stuff out of your hand that will slow you down. but it is practically a dead card in hand during late game.

i would greatly advise against tarnished citadel, the three damage is too much to take multiple times. forsaken city is a nice replacement. as for the eldamri's call i would replace it with Diabolic Intent (this is your replacement for Vamp Tutor) as it is not as mana intensive and lets you search for anything. trinket mage seems unnecessary maindeck since you run 4 living wish why not just the copy in sideboard. other things to consider sideboarding are e-witness, meddling mage, and psychatog. in my version i also run 4 copies of pernicious deed maindeck to maintain board control and stall my way into drawing the necessary pieces to the combo. contrary to what other people are saying this deck only needs one turn to win so you can wait it out till they tap out for something and then go off and you will be fine. you dont have to go balls out and try to win third turn every time. i also play sakura tribe elder in my build to fix land issues, mana acceleration, and it provides another creature you can sac to diabolic intent or cabal therapy,. speaking of which, cabal therapy is probably your best resource in the deck outside of the combo cards so use it wisely. if used correctly you should be able to pull a smother, fire/ice, or terminate from your opponents hand before they get a chance to use them. when playing the deck also make sure to sac your cephalid to a therapy before you hand the turn over (only if you must), i can't emphasize this enough as a little deck called wake likes to play deep analysis which would make you lose if you decked yourself (regardless of if you played krosan reclamation). other decks have ways of making you draw as well and the last thing you want to have to do is put your reclaimed cards back in the grave with no way to get them back should your cephalid be targetted. i hope my suggestions help out even though they are kinda scattered.