Anyway:
1) Blast Zone seems like a useful tool for this deck. It's annoying that it hits our own draw permanents, but with our color requirements it feels like we can support it. It's some much needed security against random problem permanents. And there are a lot of them.
2) Karn, the Great Creator seems like a nice win-condition for this deck. There's the potential for Isochron Scepter for a quick fog-lock. Or, going for Mycosynth Lattice let's you swiftly finish the game. Seems like a very fast win condition.
3) I keep coming back to Green-White. Rites of Flourishing and fog are just so useful, and is a low color commitment. Being able to go Rites -> Land -> Fog on turn three is very helpful.
4) Bounce land Selesnya Sanctuary. Seems actually useful. I basically look at them as a turn 2 play, since often the deck doesn't have anything meaningful on turn 2. Drawing 2 lands for 1 is very helpful for getting to 4 mana to bell/rites + fog.
5) Sideboard Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder. Is this a potential worthwhile sideboard combo to run? We can't easily pivot game plans otherwise, and I like the idea of trying to just go for a combo win.
I haven't played in awhile. At least one Mission Briefing would be good (especially since you can use it on Words of Abandon Now). But honestly, merchant scroll being able to dump mana before the turn you want to end the game is pretty useful. Especially since you'll need at least 2 mana on your kill turn (for field of ruin or words of abandon). Multiple Mission briefings are especially bad in this deck.
I didn't like Thought Scour in this deck because you generally mill in such big chunks the effect doesn't really matter. I have run Sleight of Hand, which is nice for consistency, but with with Words of Abandon it feels less necessary.
Mesmeric Orb is definitely something I've gone on the fence about it. The extra consistency is nice though.
I really like the UW turbo trap version. It doesn't need very many cards to win (2 archive trap + fraying sanity is enough, for example), and the redundancy lets you punish decks that stumble or aren't fast. The main limiting factor was forced search. I think Winds of Abandon is that extra card the deck really needed to hit a true proper consistency threshold. Both in forced search, and protection. Here's a version I used to play which was really fun, modified to include winds of abandon:
I don't understand the aversion to Fraying Sanity. I always want to see one. It's your best enabler for turn 4 kills. In any scenario where you're down cards, it helps you. It's good against discard spells, counterspells, having to mulligan, needing to get Echoing Truth with Merchant Scroll, etc. Multiples are also not an issue since they stack. 2 fraying sanity + 1 archive trap nets you 52 cards milled. Especially in this deck where you usually wait to end the game with archive trap, fraying sanity is never a dead card.
This deck also needs 4 Tolaria West. When you are going all-in on archive trap, you need to have access to Field of Ruin as frequently as possible. You definitely can lose games when you don't find it. Increase your land count if necessary. It's very important. It also opens up many options like Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Detection Tower, Ipnu Rivulet (which can be very handy in a grindier matchup), among other things.
I also don't understand the fascination with Mission Briefing, as though it's adding a lot of power to this deck. We already have two mana ways to cast archive trap (see Trapmaker's Snare and Merchant Scroll), so that's not adding anything new. In all my testing I've never needed to tutor for an archive trap and not had any in the deck. Multiples of briefing also incredibly awkward. You can't afford to cast 2 briefings + field of ruin on one turn until way late in the game. And if you're not using briefing on traps, what are you using it for? Getting creature removal or a cantrip for 3 mana? That's pretty bad efficiency.
Sleight of Hand is the best 1-mana cantrip for this deck, I think. Thought scour I tested, but realized it was mostly useless because you mill your opponent for so much at a time the extra cards from Thought scour(s) never mattered. Serum Visions theoretically lets you dig deeper, but with mesmeric orb it has no value. Plus, you often want to cast a cantrip into the card you get from that cantrip, so having some control over what you get now is useful.
You really want Hedron Crab against other fast decks that usually aren't packing a lot of creature removal, especially post board.
Drowned Secrets just isn't a good card for this deck, unfortunately. You need to cast 4 blue spells before it's (barely) even better than Mind Sculpt. And for one more mana, Fraying Sanity is miles better.
I haven't played in awhile, but I've had reasonable success with an all-in trap version. The idea is to setup for a couple turns to find archive traps and/or field of ruin. Then you setup for a big kill turn. The tutors may look slow, but they really aren't. They cost two, like Glimpse the Unthinkable, but the actual milling is just delayed. This is especially important because Fraying Sanity is one of your best cards. And when you tutor for archive traps, you get to spend your mana efficiently, yet still reap the benefit of Fraying sanity.
@Jonas: I like the approach of your list. Focusing on traps is nice. The deck is pretty consistent and wins pretty fast. As you see, my list above is similar to yours. I haven't yet thought about Mission Briefing in my current list. I'm not sure it's much better than maxing out on Trapmaker's Snare and Merchant Scroll, since it requires you to spend the mana on the turn you go off, which can be problemation. There is some utility for getting paths or something, but at three mana with three colors, that can be a big ask.
Since the deck is trying to maximize archive traps, I think Tolaria West is hugely important as extra copies of Field of Ruin. It also makes Detection Tower a very useful sideboard option, and gives you a lot of power against Leyline of Sanctity.
In general, Merchant Scroll is great because it gives you insulation against Leyline of Sanctity, when relevant. I think it's a very important card.
I'm not sure if Sleight of Hand or Serum Visions is better. On one hand, Sleight lets you get 1 of 2 cards to use right away, which can be important for tempo. But Serum visions draws you deeper.
I found Visions of Beyond is a useful card, but multiples can be really annoying. So I'm only running 3. The nice thing about going all-in on trap is that you don't need to resolve that many spells to win the game.
I like turbofog in concept, but there are a lot of threats that the deck has trouble dealing with (in my limited testing). Planeswalkers are very problematic, tron feels impossible (Ulamog just exiles your library, Karn restarts the game), and we have basically no interaction against combo decks. I'm not really sure how to fix these issues. Of course, the deck does pretty well against creature strategies. But at that point, why not just run an Ensnaring Bridge deck? So we essentially need to keep our consistency + have tools to deal with these problematic matchups.
Green is a nice splash, since rites of flourishing is a good card to have access to, as is fog. Thrun, the Last Troll gives you hope against control. I liked only having the two win-cons, since that way they don't gum up your hand a lot. Salt-crusted Steppe has been a great tool to ramp up to these spells sooner than you would be able to normally.
The manabase is a bit wonky; it's been awhile, so I honestly can't remember why I was playing that exact manabase.
Trophy Mage could be an interesting consideration, which hits our high value artifacts Ensnaring Bridge and Crucible of Worlds, while giving a body to pressure walkers. This would also hit an Etched Champion. Against the slower decks, the mana cost is not really an issue, and getting an extra body (even a 2/2) is useful.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is really hard to flip, even for decks built around them. We do have a lot of 0-cmc cards, but it's still inconsistent. Plus, it's not that good for us. Erayo is best backed by a clock, which we lack. So against us any deck can easily just play a spell (countered) -> Play an answer to Erayo.
Sai, Master Thopterist is a bit more interesting. Control decks are built to have answers, and prison decks struggle against too many answers. So against control, I think we need proactive cards. Creatures are generally best because they can pressure walkers and can't be negated. It's also likely the opponent brings out their removal, so creatures tend to be more valuable. Although against control with red, creatures will unfortunately die to burn.
It may be worth a Hangarback Walker or Walking Ballista in the 75. These are both decent against control, but it also turns maps and tolaria wests into (proactive) threats for the long game, which can matter against control decks. (From my experience playing control mirrors with Blue Tron)
I'm not really sure what's a good answer either. There are many cryptic decks in my meta, so I want to figure that out too.
Yeah, I understand what you're going for. This is probably better:
Crossroads Template 2
Land (U)
: add to your mana pool.
: add to your mana pool. Crossroads Template 2 does not untap next turn.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield tapped, untap Wild Crossroads.
I like the design in theory. Not sure what the appropriate drawback is. One idea:
Crossroads Template
Land (U)
: add to your mana pool. Crossroads Template does not untap next turn.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield tapped, untap Wild Crossroads.
Perhaps with this template the lands are duals as well. Or maybe the land itself enters tapped but untaps when other tapped lands are played.
// 12 Draw
4 Temple Bell
4 Howling Mine
4 Rites of Flourishing
// 4 Useful
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Karn, the Great Creator
// 20 Fogs
4 Ethereal Haze
4 Holy Day
4 Dawn Charm
4 Pollen Lullaby
4 Fog
2 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
4 Blast Zone
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
// 4 For Karn
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Walking Ballista
4 Spike Feeder
4 Archangel of Thune
// 3 Hate cards
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Damping Sphere
Anyway:
1) Blast Zone seems like a useful tool for this deck. It's annoying that it hits our own draw permanents, but with our color requirements it feels like we can support it. It's some much needed security against random problem permanents. And there are a lot of them.
2) Karn, the Great Creator seems like a nice win-condition for this deck. There's the potential for Isochron Scepter for a quick fog-lock. Or, going for Mycosynth Lattice let's you swiftly finish the game. Seems like a very fast win condition.
3) I keep coming back to Green-White. Rites of Flourishing and fog are just so useful, and is a low color commitment. Being able to go Rites -> Land -> Fog on turn three is very helpful.
4) Bounce land Selesnya Sanctuary. Seems actually useful. I basically look at them as a turn 2 play, since often the deck doesn't have anything meaningful on turn 2. Drawing 2 lands for 1 is very helpful for getting to 4 mana to bell/rites + fog.
5) Sideboard Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder. Is this a potential worthwhile sideboard combo to run? We can't easily pivot game plans otherwise, and I like the idea of trying to just go for a combo win.
I didn't like Thought Scour in this deck because you generally mill in such big chunks the effect doesn't really matter. I have run Sleight of Hand, which is nice for consistency, but with with Words of Abandon it feels less necessary.
Mesmeric Orb is definitely something I've gone on the fence about it. The extra consistency is nice though.
// 4 Artifact
4 Mesmeric Orb
// 4 Creature
4 Hedron Crab
// 4 Enchantment
4 Fraying Sanity
// 16 Instant
4 Archive Trap
4 Trapmaker's Snare
3 Visions of Beyond
1 Echoing Truth
4 Path to Exile
// 24 Land
4 Field of Ruin
4 Tolaria West
4 Island
2 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Winds of Abandon
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Stony Silence
2 Porphyry Nodes
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Silence
1 Echoing Truth
This deck also needs 4 Tolaria West. When you are going all-in on archive trap, you need to have access to Field of Ruin as frequently as possible. You definitely can lose games when you don't find it. Increase your land count if necessary. It's very important. It also opens up many options like Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Detection Tower, Ipnu Rivulet (which can be very handy in a grindier matchup), among other things.
I also don't understand the fascination with Mission Briefing, as though it's adding a lot of power to this deck. We already have two mana ways to cast archive trap (see Trapmaker's Snare and Merchant Scroll), so that's not adding anything new. In all my testing I've never needed to tutor for an archive trap and not had any in the deck. Multiples of briefing also incredibly awkward. You can't afford to cast 2 briefings + field of ruin on one turn until way late in the game. And if you're not using briefing on traps, what are you using it for? Getting creature removal or a cantrip for 3 mana? That's pretty bad efficiency.
Sleight of Hand is the best 1-mana cantrip for this deck, I think. Thought scour I tested, but realized it was mostly useless because you mill your opponent for so much at a time the extra cards from Thought scour(s) never mattered. Serum Visions theoretically lets you dig deeper, but with mesmeric orb it has no value. Plus, you often want to cast a cantrip into the card you get from that cantrip, so having some control over what you get now is useful.
Drowned Secrets just isn't a good card for this deck, unfortunately. You need to cast 4 blue spells before it's (barely) even better than Mind Sculpt. And for one more mana, Fraying Sanity is miles better.
// 5 Artifact
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Mesmeric Orb
// 4 Creature
4 Hedron Crab
// 4 Enchantment
4 Fraying Sanity
// 16 Instant
4 Archive Trap
4 Trapmaker's Snare
3 Visions of Beyond
1 Echoing Truth
4 Path to Exile
// 23 Land
4 Field of Ruin
4 Tolaria West
4 Island
2 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Stony Silence
2 Porphyry Nodes
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Silence
1 Detection Tower
I haven't played in awhile, but I've had reasonable success with an all-in trap version. The idea is to setup for a couple turns to find archive traps and/or field of ruin. Then you setup for a big kill turn. The tutors may look slow, but they really aren't. They cost two, like Glimpse the Unthinkable, but the actual milling is just delayed. This is especially important because Fraying Sanity is one of your best cards. And when you tutor for archive traps, you get to spend your mana efficiently, yet still reap the benefit of Fraying sanity.
@Jonas: I like the approach of your list. Focusing on traps is nice. The deck is pretty consistent and wins pretty fast. As you see, my list above is similar to yours. I haven't yet thought about Mission Briefing in my current list. I'm not sure it's much better than maxing out on Trapmaker's Snare and Merchant Scroll, since it requires you to spend the mana on the turn you go off, which can be problemation. There is some utility for getting paths or something, but at three mana with three colors, that can be a big ask.
Since the deck is trying to maximize archive traps, I think Tolaria West is hugely important as extra copies of Field of Ruin. It also makes Detection Tower a very useful sideboard option, and gives you a lot of power against Leyline of Sanctity.
In general, Merchant Scroll is great because it gives you insulation against Leyline of Sanctity, when relevant. I think it's a very important card.
I'm not sure if Sleight of Hand or Serum Visions is better. On one hand, Sleight lets you get 1 of 2 cards to use right away, which can be important for tempo. But Serum visions draws you deeper.
I found Visions of Beyond is a useful card, but multiples can be really annoying. So I'm only running 3. The nice thing about going all-in on trap is that you don't need to resolve that many spells to win the game.
Oblivion Stone
Red does not have many ways to deal with enchantments.
// 8 Artifact
4 Temple Bell
4 Howling Mine
// 1 Creature
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
// 8 Enchantment
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Rites of Flourishing
// 22 Instant
4 Ethereal Haze
4 Holy Day
2 Angelsong
4 Dawn Charm
4 Pollen Lullaby
4 Fog
3 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
3 Saltcrusted Steppe
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
3 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Temple Garden
// 1 Sorcery
1 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Pithing Needle
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Stony Silence
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
I like turbofog in concept, but there are a lot of threats that the deck has trouble dealing with (in my limited testing). Planeswalkers are very problematic, tron feels impossible (Ulamog just exiles your library, Karn restarts the game), and we have basically no interaction against combo decks. I'm not really sure how to fix these issues. Of course, the deck does pretty well against creature strategies. But at that point, why not just run an Ensnaring Bridge deck? So we essentially need to keep our consistency + have tools to deal with these problematic matchups.
Green is a nice splash, since rites of flourishing is a good card to have access to, as is fog. Thrun, the Last Troll gives you hope against control. I liked only having the two win-cons, since that way they don't gum up your hand a lot. Salt-crusted Steppe has been a great tool to ramp up to these spells sooner than you would be able to normally.
The manabase is a bit wonky; it's been awhile, so I honestly can't remember why I was playing that exact manabase.
I want to find this Discord too...
Sai, Master Thopterist is a bit more interesting. Control decks are built to have answers, and prison decks struggle against too many answers. So against control, I think we need proactive cards. Creatures are generally best because they can pressure walkers and can't be negated. It's also likely the opponent brings out their removal, so creatures tend to be more valuable. Although against control with red, creatures will unfortunately die to burn.
It may be worth a Hangarback Walker or Walking Ballista in the 75. These are both decent against control, but it also turns maps and tolaria wests into (proactive) threats for the long game, which can matter against control decks. (From my experience playing control mirrors with Blue Tron)
I'm not really sure what's a good answer either. There are many cryptic decks in my meta, so I want to figure that out too.
Crossroads Template 2
Land (U)
: add to your mana pool.
: add to your mana pool. Crossroads Template 2 does not untap next turn.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield tapped, untap Wild Crossroads.
Crossroads Template
Land (U)
: add to your mana pool. Crossroads Template does not untap next turn.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield tapped, untap Wild Crossroads.
Perhaps with this template the lands are duals as well. Or maybe the land itself enters tapped but untaps when other tapped lands are played.