All this week, the talk of the town has been the breakout performance of the Bant Turbo Fog decks at Pro Tour 25th Anniversary. Much analysis has been given already to these decks and a lot of discussion has happened concerning the issue with obtaining the powerful buy-a-box promo, Nexus of Fate. I'm not going to rehash any of that discussion this week. Instead I'll be looking to Magic Online (MTGO) for other examples of decks playing Nexus of Fate. I'll also be providing you with another completely different deck that features this turn-taking instant.

Bant Ramp

At my local Friday Night Magic (FNM) tournaments, I've been playing Nexus of Fate decks for the past couple of weeks. The first deck I tried out was a Bant Ramp deck that went 5-0. Let's take a look at it.

Bant Ramp | Magic 2019 Standard | THECORRUPTER, (5-0) MTGO

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

• Instants (8)
• 1 Settle the Wreckage
• 3 Commit // Memory
• 4 Nexus of Fate

• Sorceries (14)
• 3 Fumigate
• 3 Spring // Mind
• 4 Grow from the Ashes
• 4 Hour of Promise

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Seal Away

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Thaumatic Compass

• Lands (27)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Forest
• 4 Island
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Hostile Desert
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 2 Ipnu Rivulet
• 2 Sunpetal Grove
• 3 Hashep Oasis
• 4 Scattered Groves

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Nissa, Vital Force
• 2 Carnage Tyrant
• 1 Commit // Memory
• 1 Forsake the Worldly
• 1 Jace's Defeat
• 1 Sanguine Sacrament
• 2 Settle the Wreckage
• 2 Negate
• 1 Metallurgic Summonings
• 1 The Mirari Conjecture
• 2 Sorcerous Spyglass

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This deck is your typical ramp deck that's looking to find Teferi, Hero of Dominaria as your win condition. As you ramp towards Teferi, you'll want to make sure you're able to play at least one desert because it's important to be able to create the two zombie tokens when you play Hour of Promise. Once you're able to play Teferi, you'll want to use those tokens along with Seal Away to protect your planeswalker. I found it was important to use Teferi's -8 loyalty ability as soon as I could in order to start exiling my opponent's permanents.

Another key card to help protect Teferi is Thaumatic Compass. In a ramp deck like this, it's very easy to transform the compass into Spires of Orazca, which you can use turn after turn to deal with your opponent's biggest threat. And drawing multiple copies of Thaumatic Compass is pretty awesome since Spires of Orazca isn't a legendary land, which allows you to have multiple copies in play. It's pretty tough to fight through one copy of Spires of Orazca, but when you have two or three copies in play, you're able to bring most opponent's plans of attacking to a screeching halt.

All-in-all, I enjoyed playing this version of the deck, but I was a little too slow playing it in the beginning. As a mostly aggro player, I was used to my matches being over in 15-20 minutes. My first game with this deck took nearly 40 minutes. If you don't normally play control decks, my advice to you is to practice playing this deck with a friend before taking it to a tournament, so you can figure out the speed you need to play this deck with.

The Rise of Turbo Fog

With the release of the MTGO 5-0 decklists on August 2nd, the Bant Ramp deck featuring Nexus of Fate had been replaced with Bant Turbo Fog. Here's the deck that was featured in this release.

Bant Turbo Fog | Magic 2019 Standard | TETSUBOU, (5-0) MTGO

• Planeswalkers (8)
• 4 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

• Instants (12)
• 4 Haze of Pollen
• 4 Nexus of Fate
• 4 Root Snare

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Fumigate
• 3 Karn's Temporal Sundering
• 4 Spring // Mind

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Search for Azcanta
• 4 Gift of Paradise

• Lands (26)
• 1 Plains
• 2 Forest
• 2 Island
• 2 Sunpetal Grove
• 3 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Hinterland Harbor
• 4 Irrigated Farmland
• 4 Scattered Groves

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 2 Walking Ballista
• 2 Forsake the Worldly
• 3 Jace's Defeat
• 3 Negate
• 1 Fumigate
• 2 Sorcerous Spyglass

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No longer a ramp deck, this new version would attempt to control the battlefield with the use of 'fog' spells such as Haze of Pollen and Root Snare, which prevent all combat damage on a given turn. The deck also now includes an additional way to win, Karn, Scion of Urza. With Karn, you can also create construct tokens to help protect your planeswalkers. It's important to keep your planeswalkers on the battlefield, as they allow you to cast Karn's Temporal Sundering which is another way to take extra turns.

This deck is very similar to the Turbo Fog decks played at the Pro Tour, but there are minor differences. This deck uses Search for Azcanta as one of its main ways to filter through the deck in search of Nexus of Fate, while the decks from the Pro Tour also used cards such as Anticipate and Chart a Course.

Blue/Red Nexus

While I'm excited to give the Turbo Fog version of the deck a try, I recently came across another deck featuring Nexus of Fate that I find very intriguing. In his article from July 26th, Sullivan Library: On Dumbos and Dinosaurs, Adrian Sullivan mentioned that he had also been trying out Nexus of Fate decks and had been talking to Zac Elsik about an exciting, new archetype. That peaked my curiosity and I began my search for more info on this new deck. What I found was a tweet from Zac on August 2nd.

In a comment within this tweet, Zac linked to the following decklist that was one of the variations he had tested.

U/R Nexus | Magic 2019 Standard | Zac Elsik, Test Deck

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 3 Jaya Ballard

• Instants (22)
• 1 Commit // Memory
• 2 Abrade
• 2 Glimmer of Genius
• 2 Magma Spray
• 3 Essence Scatter
• 4 Disallow
• 4 Harnessed Lightning
• 4 Nexus of Fate

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Sweltering Suns

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Search for Azcanta

• Lands (26)
• 6 Island
• 6 Mountain
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Spirebluff Canal
• 4 Sulfur Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Whirler Virtuoso
• 2 Abrade
• 2 Chandra's Defeat
• 2 Glimmer of Genius
• 3 Negate
• 2 Aether Meltdown

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I found this deck to be a lot of fun to play, even if my opponent's did not. Having both Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Jaya Ballard in play allows you to cast Nexus of Fate by using only two of your mana. Jaya also allows you a way of replacing useless cards in your hand with new ones from your deck. Her -8 loyalty ability would be great if the deck had a few instants or sorceries that dealt direct damage to your opponent. I think the next time I play this deck I'll swap out one copy of Harnessed Lightning and one copy of Sweltering Suns for two copies of Banefire. That way I still have a chance of winning even if my opponent doesn't allow me to produce Chandra, Torch of Defiance's emblem.

I think this version has a lot of potential. Other cards I'm planning on trying out with Nexus of Fate are Baral, Chief of Compliance and Primal Amulet. Those cards alongside Jaya Ballard and Chandra, Torch of Defiance and a few direct damage spells have synergy with each other. If anything pans out with this, I'll be sure to let you all know.

Wrapping Up

Nexus of Fate is a card surrounded by controversy. Whether you love it or hate it, you have to admit that it is powerful. It has also allowed for some innovative decks to be created. What are your thoughts on Nexus of Fate? You can let me know by leaving a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg), or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes