Locations
Today I'm going with a different approach. I'm going to build a deck from scratch. And when I say scratch I mean from absolutely nothing. I haven't seen a deck list with what I'm going to do anywhere. I imagine it's out there but still I have not seen it. I haven't tested this at all. In fact the only thing I have right now is the following note in my note book. On a page where I list combo ideas the following line caught my eye today. “Bone-Wad [sic] + Flying White return seems possible.” That's it.
The rest of this piece I am free form writing. No outline. No editing. No rough draft. It's just my brain spilling onto the paper as I attempt to build this deck. (I will use spell check and grammar check. That last sentence was a fragment for a second.) We may be in for a bumpy ride. Here we go.
What's the Big Idea
'Bone-Wad' is of course Sphinx Bone-Wand. It's a little gem of an artifact that lets you change Instant and Sorceries into damage. Its text reads, "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may put a charge counter on Sphinx-Bone Wand. If you do, Sphinx-Bone Wand deals damage equal to the number of charge counters on it to target creature or player." Every spell translates into extra damage. That's cool. There are three problems that we need to work around though. First is having the enough spells. To deal 20 via the wand we will need to cast 7 spells. That will take approximately 10 to 12 draws in a game depending on how high our Instant/Sorcery count. (Just estimating there.) Second is having the mana to play that many spells. At one-spell/turn it's not a big deal but that would take too much time. Third is all this can't start until we play the actual Wand and it weighs in at a hefty 7 mana.
The second card I had to look up to understand my notes. So I went to Gatherer (I do that a lot) and typed in Flying White in the rules text. I also made sure to have Standard in the format. With those restrictions I found it. I was a little worried that my note might mean a white card that had flying and that would take forever but this worked. The list consisted of 8 cards and at the bottom is View from Above. "Target creature gains flying until end of turn. If you control a white permanent, return View from Above to its owner's hand." At only two mana we get a repeatable card to cast over and over. That, by itself, can take care of problem number one.
Getting the Combo
In any deck you want to ask yourself, “How am I going to get the pieces that I need?” Combo decks that is. Since View from Above is Blue we have access to a plethora of combo enablers. First search, Blue instants: Fleeting Distraction, Hindering Light, Into the Roil (if kicked), Twitch. Then the Soceries: Ponder, Mind Spring, See Beyond, Treasure Hunt, Divination, Fabricate (for wand only), Brainbite. Without searching I'm also adding Spreading Seas to the list. It's just too good of a card right now and as a bonus it cantrips. In white I'm going to skip the sorcery / instant route and look for permanents that may help find the combo: Bant Sojourners (when cycled), Messenger Falcons, Rhox Mediant (if a green perm), Wall of Omens.
So I write down the contenders.
[draft]Hindering Light
Into the Roil
Ponder
Mind Spring
See Beyond
Treasure Hunt
Fabricate
Spreading Seas
Bant Sojourners
Wall of Omens[/draft]
Getting the Mana
Problems two and three of our combo are mana issues. Even if we have both cards in hand and a white permanent and a creature to target we need to have 7 mana to put the Wand in play and 14 mana to cast and recast the View. Therefore a significant portion of our deck needs to be dedicated to mana-accel.
Unfortunately, White and Blue don't really stand out in this category. My first search was for white cards that mention land or mana in theme. Only notable hit was Trace of Abundance. That's kinda cool. It's a White Permanent that escapes a lot of removal and accelerates. Sure we need to go Green but I think that's going to happen anyway. I thought I had mistyped though since I was expecting Kor Cartographer to be there. It only gets Plains not land. Of course I found nothing in Blue.
I'm really getting tired of searching and I know that a Green search in mana accelerants would be a very long list so I'm just writing down the ones I've used before.
[draft]Trace of Abundance
Kor Cartographer
Rampant Growth
Growth Spasm
Explore
Harrow
Oracle of Mul Daya[/draft]
Going for 9
Right now I have 20 cards listed and there are other contenders as well that can help us. So we need to start thinning the list. I have two build directions in mind.
Deck One
Pedal to the metal. For this deck I am going to concentrate on getting there as fast as possible. A Devil may care attitude. In my heart I am pretty sure this is the wrong way to go but we'll see what you think. I am going to go 26 lands. To make room for the 2 extra lands I am going to use only 2 Sphinx Bone-Wands. Don't you want to max potential on Wands? The answer is yes. I am also building in 4 Fabricate. That gives us 6 copies of the Wand. I'll make sure to board up 2 extra in case we anticipate the artifact removal from our opponents board. Of course we'll use 4 View from Above since we have no way to fetch up the card easily. That's three slots taken, 6 to go, relying on the tried and true Rule of Nine.
Next we'll do the accelerants. Trace of Abundance is a must for its accel plus the white perm edge. With 26 lands Explore accelerates and Cantrips us into our combo pieces. (Grammar check doesn't accept "accels" as a verb.) Finally Harrow adds lands, thins deck, and lets us to change into the Islands we need when going off. Remember that after Wand we need half of our mana to be Blue. 6 Slots done, searching for the final three.
For the final three I focus on achieving the combo pieces as soon as possible. Wall of Omens is a cinch include for both the Cantrip and the white permanent. Ponder is a great digger and cheap as well. Allowing us to actually save a mana if we draw it post Wand placement is a plus as well. The last a final slot is a pretty hard choice. I'm thinking Spreading Seas, Into the Roil, or Mind Spring. Right now let's go with the Mind Spring. Remember we should have some sick levels of mana going so the draw power is significant. The other cards should probably make the board since they are very good in some of the more popular matchups.
In the land category there are a few must haves. Halimar Depths, Misty Rainforest, Celestial Colonnade (really good with a Trace attached). We can also look to Expanses, Wilds, and Refuges if we feel the Enter the Battlefield Tapped is okay.
"Full Speed Wand"
- (60)
- 4 Halimar Depths
- 4 Misty Rainforest
- 4 Celestial Colonnade
- 4 Plains
- 6 Forest
- 4 Island
- 4 Fabricate
- 2 Sphinx Bone-Wand
- 4 View from Above
- 4 Trace of Abundance
- 4 Explore
- 4 Harrow
- 4 Ponder
- 4 Mind Spring
- 4 Wall of Omens[/cardlist]
Deck Two
I kid you not. As I was typing "Going for 9" above I had a different idea. I told you this might be a bumpy ride. Heck, I might get another mix before I'm done with this.
What if we went defensive and gathered our mana via game extension? All of the above cards have potential but I'm going Blue/White instead. Dropping the Green users I will add the following: Wall of Denial, Wall of Reverence, and Wal of Mart (kidding!). For the accel we'll bring in Everflowing Chalice to supplement Kor Cartographer. Taking our time and dropping Green means we'll lose the Misty and Forest to bring in Sejiri Refuge and more Island/Plains.
"Taking our time Wand"
Well there's my brain drain. I honestly just did this. It was a little weird to write from the hip but I hope you enjoyed it still. Tell me what you think in the comments. I feel that I've really left something off...
Class is done for today. Until next week.
