4
Aven Fateshaper
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Bloodline Shaman
4 Krosan Tusker
3 Maro
3 Sage Aven
4 Sage Owl
4 Aether Burst
2 Call of the Wild
3 Future Sight
2 Primitive Etchings
2 Vexing Arcanix
10 Island
11 Forest
3 Grand Coliseum |
  Primitive
Call.
Description of deck by it's author
(quoted):
My final deck began with a combo that doesn't even work! I dubiously
wrote down Call of the Wild/Primitive Etchings? It was just a thought;
a synapse misfiring. It didn't seem quite right, but I had to look up
both cards for exact wordings. As it turns out, they don't interact with
each other at all they even fight against each other! Each works only
if the top card of your library is a creature, they do different things
with that card. I thought Bloodline Shaman might help, but that's a
third separate prong! Again, for it to work, the top card of your
library must be a creature, but the Shaman puts that card into your hand
you don't draw it so it's an anti-combo with Primitive Etchings.
However . . . each of those interacts nicely with cards that let you
know what the top card of your library is. Cards like Future Sight. Some
2GG enchantments alongside a 2UUU enchantment? Sure, why not! But as
well as those cards work with Future Sight (which works just fine on its
own, thank you), they work even better with cards that let you rearrange
the top of your library. And they work best of all with creatures that
let you rearrange the top of your library. So welcome Sage Owl, Sage
Aven, and Aven Fateshaper. It's wonderful to Call out the Fateshaper,
then set up the next batch of cards for maximum Call effectiveness.
Somehow Maro slipped into the deck. The more cards you get into play
from the top of your library, the more cards you won't be playing from
your hand. And both Primitive Etchings and Krosan Tusker can put two
cards into your hand at once. This is a weird deck: It's far too slow to
be beatdown, it has nearly no control, and though it has combo pieces,
it doesn't ever go off. It wins purely through massive amounts of
long-term card advantage.
Playtesting this deck caused some changes and taught me a surprising
thing. The Birds' comes-into-play effects were enough library
manipulation, so I cut all four Information Dealers. They were replaced
by a full set of Aether Bursts (one of my staple cards) because having
no ability to deal with your opponent's cards is a bad idea unless
you're blazingly fast. This deck? Not blazingly fast. While dueling an
Elf deck, I realized that I could neither remove nor outrace a
Wellwisher, so I had to retool. (Not that Aether Burst works as a
Wellwisher solution, but it does patch a gaping hole.) The odd thing I
learned is that it's sometimes valuable to intentionally guess wrong
with Bloodline Shaman and Call of the Wild! They'll clear out the top
card of your library if it's unplayable via Future Sight, or they'll
help you speed through a glut of useless cards (usually late-game lands)
that you know is on top of your deck thanks to one of your prophetic
Birds.
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