Artifacts
3 Dimir Signet
3 Golgari Signet
4 Plague Boiler
2 Selesnya Signet
4 Sensei's Divining Top
Creatures
4 Birds Of Paradise
4 Carven Caryatid
4 Keening Banshee
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Necroplasm
4 Nekrataal
4 Sakura-tribe Elder
4 Viridian Shaman
Enchantments
4 Battle Of Wits
4 Faith's Fetters
3 Phyrexian Arena
Instants
4 Darkblast
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Hideous Laughter
4 Hinder
4 Last Gasp
4 Mana Leak
1 Mnemonic Nexus
3 Moonlight Bargain
4 Muddle The Mixture
4 Putrefy
2 Reclaim
4 Rend Flesh
1 Rending Vines
4 Rewind
2 Shred Memory
4 Sickening Shoal
4 Telling Time
2 Time Stop
1 Wear Away
Legendary Creatures
4 Kagemaro, First To Suffer
2 Kokusho, The Evening Star
2 Meloku The Clouded Mirror
Legendary Enchantments
4 Night Of Souls' Betrayal
Sorceries
4 Brainspoil
4 Diabolic Tutor
2 Exile Into Darkness
4 Farseek
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Rampant Growth
2 Recollect
1 Reminisce
4 Sleight Of Hand
3 Tidings
2 Wrath Of God
Basic Lands
17 Forest
15 Island
10 Plains
14 Swamp
Lands
2 Adarkar Wastes
2 Brushland
2 Caves Of Koilos
2 Llanowar Wastes
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Underground River
4 Watery Grave
2 Yavimaya Coast |
 Battle
of Wits 2005.
Description of deck by it's author
(quoted):
Perhaps the most obvious omission is the lack
of Enduring Ideal. I realize that it is another tutor for Battle, but
double-white is not always easy to come by, and the deck usually doesn't
sit for very long praying to draw a tutor but unable to find Battle.
Ultimately, I feel like if you're going to play with Ideal you should
play with some variation on Good Form, but I could well be wrong about
the effectiveness of Ideal. I didn't like it in testing, but feel free
to include it. (Just don't follow up by throwing in Genju of the Realm
and Form of the Dragon.)
Both Muddle the Mixture and Shred Memory can transmute
for two-drops, and each has a fairly selective role. For a long time,
Muddle was actually Perplex, but Perplex is best against decks that want
to win through card advantage, and most of those are likely to try to beat
you with counters and other instants or sorceries. Perplex also doesn't
stop the final Char from killing you, while Muddle does. Shred Memory is
also a very narrow card - but I've seen enough Grave-Shell Scarabs,
Nightmare Voids, and Necroplasms to want a way to deal with graveyards.
It's also been transmuted into Farseek, Cruel Edict, Mana Leak, Last Gasp,
and Telling Time on various occasions.
Basically, the deck has two draws (well, three, but two
that can lead to wins). In the first draw, the deck trades removal against
early threats while slowly building up card advantage. Eventually, Battle
shows up and the deck has enough control to drop the enchantment and win.
The other frequent draw involves early acceleration
leading to a turn 3 or 4 Battle of Wits, often with a small amount of
disruption included. (Turn 1 Birds, turn 2 Edict, turn 3 Kodama's Reach,
turn 4 Battle.) Many beatdown decks have a problem with this opening.
The third draw, of course, involves copious amounts of
the wrong card showing up, usually resulting in ignominious defeat. |
. |
