I have a confession to make. I like to outplay my opponents. I like to know that I did everything I could to win the game.
I have another confession to make. Typically I play decks that don’t allow me to outplay my opponents. Actually if we want to be really specific, my decks typically don’t interact with my opponent at all.
Today, I’m going bring you a new deck that interacts with the opponent a lot. You’ll get to play actual games of Magic. Well, sort of. Miracles sometimes don’t lend themselves to the most interaction-packed games of Magic. They sure are a hell of a lot of fun, though.
Creatures (3)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (19)
Spells (35)
The basic plan is to play draw-go and cast Terminus when you need a reset button. There are also a few planeswalkers which typically are very powerful after you play a sweeper. A lot of credit goes to Matty Gemme for the list. This past weekend we got together and started testing Standard for the PTQ season, and he came up with this list so we started testing the crap out of it. After playing around 50 games in a row with it, we started to think we were on to something big.
Have you ever been blown out midcombat by a removal spell? Sure, it sometimes sucks you lost a guy, but at least you got in for a little bit of damage. Now imagine that instead of losing one or two guys, you lose your whole board. That’s the power of Terminus. At its core, this deck is built around Terminus. This is why there is Thought Scour and Think Twice. Being able to pass the turn and then drawing a card to miracle is just insane. Instant speed sweepers for one white mana are just downright abusable.
The basic game plan of this deck is to use removal and Lingering Souls to stall until the planeswalkers can come online. Alternatively, Entreat the Angels is a perfectly fine way to end the game. Lingering Souls will almost never win you the game by itself, and I would be shocked if that’s how someone managed to win. The reason there is no Sun Titan and Phantasmal Image package is because people are becoming better prepared for that type of attack.
Lewis Laskin and Brad Nelson just piloted a deck with eight Clones to the Top 8 of StarCityGames.com Orlando Standard Open and Grand Prix Minneapolis, respectively. Look at this and tell me, does it care about Sun Titans? The answer is no. Wurmcoil Engine clearly trumps it.
Creatures (24)
- 3 Merfolk Looter
- 4 Wurmcoil Engine
- 4 Grand Architect
- 4 Phyrexian Metamorph
- 4 Phantasmal Image
- 4 Snapcaster Mage
- 1 Dungeon Geists
Lands (23)
Spells (13)
Oh, notice how we only play Snapcaster Mage for creatures? Have fun playing against Phantasmal Image. It’s practically a dead card against us. Best-case scenario they copy a 4/4 Angel token.
Tuning The Miraculous Deck
When we started testing we had originally cut Mana Leaks for Despises maindeck. Let me tell you a little secret: that was really dumb. I realize that Mana Leak is losing some of its shine because of the printing of Cavern of Souls, but people are typically sideboarding that card which means Mana Leak in game 1 is still very live. It can also nab other important spells out of Wolf Run Ramp.
What happened when we cut Mana Leaks is that there would be no fear to just start jamming threats. Eventually we’d lose to the last standing Titan or planeswalker. I had a few games where Wolf Run just went hog wild and went two, four, six into Karn Liberated. All the Esper deck could do was watch while it got thrashed on multiple angles. This is when we realized that Mana Leak is kind of a necessity.
While we were testing postboard games we realized that Appetite for Brains is strictly better than Despise after a situation arose where Wolf Run won with a Batterskull. Let’s be clear on one thing, though: that slot was dedicated for control mirrors and Wolf Run. Despise was never going to be brought in against, say, G/R Aggro. It was very difficult to hit black mana on turn 1 consistently just to grab a Strangleroot Geist. It’s much easier to just kill everything they play.
Speaking of aggro decks, this deck should just slaughter them. While we were testing I got blown out by combat step Terminus multiple times. And there’s nothing they can do to play around it. Being able to just play draw-go is so powerful. You actually get to play games of Magic. Postboard you gain access to Timely Reinforcements, more sweepers, and more removal. In other words, aggro is going to have a very tough time beating you.
While Matty and I tuned the deck to beat up on Wolf Run and aggro decks, we were slightly worried about how it would play against control decks. After some more thought on the subject, we feel that the matchup should be fine. How do most control decks win? There are barely any Nephalia Drownyards running around anymore. Instead they often win with Sun Titan and Phantasmal Image.
Terminus seems like a great answer to this method of winning. Being able to play draw-go against an opponent that has to tap six mana to win seems like a good position to be in. Let’s not forget that postboard we have access to discard that exiles cards, exile being very important against Unburial Rites and Sun Titan. We also have more ways to play draw-go with White Sun’s Zenith.
Sideboarding
I could sit here and tell you exactly how to board with this deck. The problem with that is that it doesn’t help in the long run. What if their list is something unorthodox? Being able to board on the fly is a huge help, while copying a sideboarding guide can end up being a hindrance.
The gist is that against aggressive decks you want to cut down on expensive cards. Karn Liberated tends to be poor, as does Tamiyo depending on which aggressive deck it is. Day of Judgment and Timely Reinforcements can almost always come in. In fact, I can’t imagine when they wouldn’t come in. Something to keep in mind is that the deck is a little bit soft to Sword of War and Peace, relying on sweepers to deal with the threat of Swords.
If you’re up against Delver, be aware that Geist of Saint Traft can be somewhat difficult to deal with. You definitely want to try to combat step Terminus them so at the very least they are forced to Mana Leak on their turn. Definitely bring in Day of Judgment just to deal with hexproof guys.
Wolf Run is a pretty good match up. You should almost never lose to poison. If you lose to poison, something went very wrong. Lingering Souls is terrible in this matchup, so board it out. Instead of useless cards, now you get access to discard and more countermagic. Time your discard so it hits the turn before they can cast a big threat; just keep in mind that you also want to hold countermagic up as well. You can’t discard the top of their deck as much as I’d like to. Terminus can also be trimmed slightly. This matchup should be pretty favorable judging on how it was testing.
If you run into a control deck, have fun playing draw-go better than they do (unless they are Drownyard control, in which case you’re probably dead). White Sun’s Zenith and the potential to miracle Entreat the Angels means they can’t ever really cast a Sun Titan or other game ending bomb. Let’s not forget that all their win conditions can be dealt with by Terminus or Karn Liberated.
Until next time, may all your first draw steps yield miracles.
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