Dominaria Brews

Posted on April 13, 2018

Dominaria is right around the corner. In fact, by the time you're reading this, the entire set should be revealed. You know what that means. It's time to start brewing with some new cards! Dominaria is a very nostalgic Magic set and it's choke full of, "build around me" cards. Where do I even start? It's tough, but today we'll be talking about Lich's Mastery, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Oath of Teferi, and an update to Mastermind Ramp with The Mirari Conjecture. So that's three decks that we'll be covering today, you ready to dive on in? Lessss go!

Sun of a Lich -- Dominaria Standard | Ali Aintrazi

Artifacts (3)
1 The Immortal Sun
2 Treasure Map

Lich's Mastery is a sweet card to build around and what's more flavorful then putting a card that has the text, "You can't lose the game" with "you win the game"? Nothing! This is my take on a Approach of the Second Sun deck that uses Lich's Mastery to either avoid death and/or fuel Approach of the Second Sun. It's convenient that Lich's Mastery curves right into Approach of the Second Sun isn't it? When you cast Approach of the Second Sun while controlling Lich's Mastery you'll put Approach of the Second Sun seven cards from the top and then immediately redraw it since you'll draw seven cards from Lich's Mastery replacement effect.

You'll need to learn when to cast Lich's Mastery and when to hold off. Casting the legendary enchantment too early could spell death for you if you don't have enough cards in your graveyard. You don't want to cast it when you're at a healthy life total either, no need to become a Lich if you're at a healthy 15+ life. The exception to this rule is, of course, if you plan on just winning over the next two turns by casting Approach of the Second Sun and you're not worried from your opponent bursting you down the following turn.

What's great is this deck has a lot of incidental life gain in its spells. So, when you do become the Lich, all these spells get much better:

Fumigate: Destroy all creatures in play then draw X cards where X is the number of creatures destroyed this way.

Moment of Craving: Becomes Instant Speed Divination that can also kill creatures.

Battle at the Bridge: This becomes a Sphinx's Revelation but in a removal spell.

Renewed Faith: 3 mana draw 6 at instant speed. Draw six. Six is the number of the beast. Illuminati confirmed.

Vraska's Contempt: Now puts Glimmer of Genius to shame.

Authority of the Consuls: Now you get to draw a card whenever your opponent plays a creature. NOICE!

This is a majestic home for Lich's Mastery but I'm sure it's not the only one. I'm excited to see where this awesome enchantment ends up.

Oath of Teferi really got me hyped up and so did Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. I just had to visit a superfriends deck. How could I not?

Bant Superfriends -- Dominaria Standard | Ali Aintrazi

Sorceries (2)
2 Fumigate

The team is back and ready to bury opponents in card advantage. The idea of deck is simple. Play planeswalkers and protect them. Protect them either with spells or their own abilities. You have diverse ways of doing this. One is to just play the lower cost planeswalkers and then untap with them and cast a board wipe like Fumigate or Settle the Wreckage on your opponent's next attack step.

Everything in this deck finds planeswalkers, is a planeswalker, or protects planeswalkers. The only exception to this is Oath of Teferi. I really wish we had some other Oaths in Standard like Oath of Nissa or Oath of Jace to really get the enter the battlefield benefit of Oath of Teferi. Without other Oaths to play, Oath of Teferi is a risky card since it doesn't really do much if you don't already control a planeswalker. However, I believe the benefit it provides is worth it. A lot of planeswalkers these days have synergy with their other abilities. For example, Nissa, Steward of Elements has synergy with her plus and minus ability. Same with Karn, Scion of Urza.

The others just start going wild with Oath of Teferi. All of a sudden, Gideon and lock down two permanents. Dovin Baan can protect himself while drawing you a card and gaining you some life. Nissa, Vital Force can ultimate the turn you play her. Ajani Unyielding just refills your hand with planeswalkers and Teferi gives cards and enough mana to play spells on your turn and your opponent's.

Speaking of Teferi, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is a fantastic card. His plus ability essentially makes him cost 3 mana. This makes him work fantastically well with Haze of Pollen. You'll be able to play him, draw a card, and then protect yourself and the rest of your planeswalkers. Untapping two lands also works great with Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin, Thaumatic Compass, and of course the instant speed spells like Cast Out, Settle the Wreckage, and Pull from Tomorrow.

Of course, we can build this deck in diverse ways. The one I have is a tap out style, but we could make it more controlling with some countermagic like Syncopate or more explosive with cards like Kamahl's Druidic Vow, Mox Amber, or Primevals' Glorious Rebirth. I'm just unsure how these legendary spells will be. I don't want cards like Karn's Temporal Sundering to be stuck in my hand because I have no planeswalkers out. Those cards seem to be better with the Amonkhet/Hour of Devastation Gods.

All right, the last deck I want to visit for today, Mastermind Ramp.

Mastermind Ramp -- Dominaria Standard | Ali Aintrazi

This has been my favorite deck in current Standard, I just really enjoy ramping and the utility of Mastermind's Acquisition. Only new things main deck I'm trying here are The Mirari Conjecture, Gilded Lotus, and a Cast Down. I'm not sure how good Cast Down is going to be in a format where cards like The Scarab God and Hazoret the Fervent are played often. Not to mention that Dominiria is filled with all sorts of legendary creatures. After the dust settles and the metagame shapes, we'll be able to tell how good Cast Down is in Standard.

The Mirari Conjecture here is what Swarm Intelligence used to be. However, it's cheaper and buys back important cards like Vraska's Contempt / Fumigate and then it still gives you that combo finish with Mastermind's Acquisition with Torment of Hailfire. Even just copying Hour of Promise is good enough. We still get to play sweet cards in this deck like Lich's Mastery and Zacama, Primal Calamity thanks to Mastermind's Acquisition.

I want to work on other Hour of Promise decks that play Blue for some new cards. I also want to play with the powerful Gilded Lotus alongside Hour of Promise. We have got to find the best way to abuse some of these Legendary Sorcery spells, they all do very powerful things, especially Yawgmoth's Vile Offering and Kamahl's Druidic Vow. I also need to find a home for Tatyova, Benthic Druid! Man, so many awesome cards!

I'm super excited to brew some decks around all these new toys. Make sure to check back next Friday for some new deck lists. My Dominaria Standard set review is also right around the corner. If you want to see which cards are good enough for Standard play, you won't want to miss it.

Well ladies and gentlemen, that's all I have for you today. I'll catch you all next Friday!

Until next time,

Ali Aintrazi

Follow me @AliEldrazi

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