This deck is originally based on Saffron Olive's MTGGoldfish Teferi's Pool article and video from March 2018. That very night that the video dropped, I watched it and immediately ordered the cards to build this absurd deck. Since then, I've been piloting the deck and making changes and updates. Yes, I own this deck in paper. I usually keep my list and edit it on my phone, but have decided to have a back-up here on TappedOut in case something happened to it. Currently Teferi Pool functions as a combo-control deck, and has been called a Teferi Tribal deck. It uses many of the same tools as UW Control does in Modern, except it also runs
Knowledge Pool
as a combo piece. There are three combo set-ups in this version of the deck. They are: Knowledge Pool + Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
, Knowledge Pool + Teferi, Time Raveler
, and Knowledge Pool + Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
. Basically, the way the combo works is by having any of the combo pairs on board.
Knowledge Pool
will make it so that any spell your opponent casts from their hand gets tucked under
Knowledge Pool
and they cast another spell from underneath it instead. This other spell is put on the stack due to a triggered ability. For
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
and
Teferi, Time Raveler
, this other spell has not been cast at Sorcery speed, since it wasn't cast while the stack was empty (which is one of the conditions of casting spells at Sorcery speed), so they prevent it from resolving. For
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
, no mana was spent to cast this other spell, so it triggers her second ability, automatically countering it. These set-ups will create a hard-lock on your opponent while you are left free to cast spells from under
Knowledge Pool
. Most opponents will scoop after they understand they are hard-locked while some would like a few turns to see if they can find an out. (Yes, there are actually outs to this lock, but almost no one plays any of them.) Reminder, though, you can still lose even if your opponent is locked out of resolving their spells. The set-up doesn't deal with on-board threats, so if your opponent has cards on-board that you can't deal with or that can remove one of your lock pieces, then you are still in trouble. (For example, your opponent could be playing an
Arclight Phoenix
deck. They still technically "cast" their original spells before those spells get tucked under
Knowledge Pool
, so they will count as spells having been cast for
Arclight Phoenix
to return from their graveyard to the battlefield.)
War of the Spark introduced a lot of powerful new additions to Magic, and our sideboard reflects that. We're trying out a bunch of different options to see what works for us and what doesn't. I also like having a very diverse pool of answers in our sideboard. (In some match-ups,
Rest in Peace
will be the better graveyard hoser, in others it could be
Grafdigger's Cage
or
Ashiok, Dream Render
.) The best part about this deck is that, besides the combo pieces, it being like a UW Control deck means there are a lot of interchangeable pieces and ways to budget the deck.
I'm currently trying out other options for the deck. One thing I would like is to be able to cast
Teferi, Time Raveler
on turn four with
Path to Exile
mana available. I also want all of my fetchlands to have access to both white and blue mana. Since I'm running a high number of basic lands, I plan on cutting two
Island
for two
Prismatic Vista
to make having 1WWU more readily available on turn four. Another possible change in the mana base is swapping
Prairie Stream
back into
Glacial Fortress
like I had before, but I've been enjoying being able to search out the former with
Flooded Strand
as an untapped W/U source later in the game without suffering 2 points of damage. Still another option is to include
Spell Queller
in the deck, probably shaving or maybe even cutting
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
and
Vendilion Clique
. The reason for this is that with
Teferi, Time Raveler
or
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
(and yes, even
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
) out, the opponent will not get to resolve their spell from under
Spell Queller
, just like with
Knowledge Pool
. It also just does what the deck wants to do anyway - disrupt the opponent and protect our life total, while ultimately being a finisher when our opponent is finally hard-locked.
