FEEL FREE TO ADD ME ON ARENA: ApolloPaladin#83413
Strategy & Overview:
This is a deck I've only been tinkering with for maybe a week or so on Arena. The main idea is a Superfriends-type deck, with low-mana Planeswalkers for early board presence and then to use Proliferate effects as well as using The Elderspell on my own low-mana Planeswalkers in order to activate other powerful Planeswalker Ultimate abilities ABSURDLY EARLY.
This deck is still in the testing phases, but so far the Proliferate mechanic has been working quite well - I'm just not 100% sold on every Planeswalker choice. Nevertheless, this deck is amazingly fun to play, is INCREDIBLY hostile to other decks running their own Planeswalkers, and there are so many ways (and Ultimates) to exploit with The Elderspell that I felt it was ready for a post and a critique.
Most of the picks so far are just 2x and 3x copies due to the insane (and reliable) amount of Card Draw from running so many Teferi versions. Lots of War of the Spark cards, but that's to be expected. The few newer additions just ramp up the synergy and protection by such a surprisingly drastic amount. It's also worth a mention that if playing against another Superfriends deck, then The Elderspell just becomes stupidly powerful control, even if it's not being used to feed an Ultimate.
No Sideboard yet, still too early in Testing to mess with that but I'm open to ANY suggestions or comments thus far!
Minor Planeswalkers:
These guys all have useful effects & passives, but their primary purpose is to serve as fodder for my own cast of The Elderspell in order to pump up one of the Major Planeswalkers (see further below).
- 2x Teyo, the Shieldmage (Grants self-Hexproof to keep Hand safe from Thoughtseize-type Effects and prevent direct damage)
- 2x Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage (Hand Hate, plus attrition later in game)
- 2x Liliana of the Veil (More Hand Hate, plus Control & She also has a semi-ultimate that can be used in dire straits; Probably the only Minor Planeswalker in the Deck that'd be a possible target for The Elderspell - just very situationally)
- 1x Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor (Passive gives all Planeswalkers & Creatures a 'Ward 2' effect, generates Draw and Blockers)
Major Planeswalkers:
These walkers are included due to them having extremely powerful Ultimate abilities, so they are the primary targets to dump counters onto with The Elderspell.
- 2x Teferi, Master of Time (Double Turn Ultimate; Also pumps up twice as fast since he can activate on both players turns)
- 2x Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim (Single-side Boardwipe Ultimate; Creates blockers; Pumps up 2x as fast with Master of Time firing due to passive)
- 2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (Abundance of Deck's Card Draw turns Ultimate into sick control - even against lands; Also one of the most useful all-around Planeswalkers)
- 2x Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God (Potential Insta-win Ultimate; Also just insane to play in this deck due to his Passive, plus his other Loyalty abilities are top-notch even if he doesn't Copy another Planeswalker's ability)
- 2x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon (Has 2 Ultimates and is also just generally a powerful Planeswalker overall. Plus, he can't be hit with a Vanishing Verse, fairly common Control for Black/White)
Proliferate Effects:
In addition to granting an extra Loyalty Counter to every walker in play, the tokens generated by Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim get pumped up with each fire of the effect.
- 2x Grateful Apparition (Recurring Proliferate; Also blocks Flying attackers coming at Planeswalkers)
- 2x Martyr for the Cause (It can be great to use either the -2 Ability on Liliana or the +2 Ability on Ugin on myself for a free Proliferate by sacrificing or destroying these guys)
- 2x Contentious Plan (Cheap Draw & Proliferate. Straight forward. Great way to spend 2 mana late-game, or early an push for Mana)
- 2x Flux Channeler (Turns almost every other spell in the Deck into a Proliferate effect)
- 2x Tezzeret's Gambit (Phyrexian Mana FTW; Also extremely good Draw/Mana ratio in addition to Proliferate)
Protecting Planeswalkers:
I decided to base this deck primarily in Esper colors, although I'm trying a light Red splash (relying on Mana Confluence and Plaza of Heroes for Red Mana) just so I can include Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God since he just complements this build so amazingly well (particularly if Ugin can drop down later, granting Bolas a +2 Loyalty Ability he can use to power up).
Both of those lands play quite well in a straight Esper-colored deck anyway, so I don't see this as a massive sacrifice to make room for Bolas.
So far, I'm just relying on Boardwipes and hard Counterspells to keep Creatures from attacking my early cast Planeswalkers. Most options here have "Can't be Countered", since I don't really have another answer if an opponent is playing Counterspells. This was the primary reason for choosing Esper initially.
A couple of the Planeswalkers can create Creature Tokens for blockers, but I view that as more secondary protection since it can be hit-or-miss on reliability (lots of Creature Hate, plus things like Menace, Flying, Unblockable...)
- 3x Dovin's Veto (Great followup against other Counterspell decks, Ensure that The Elderspell lands, or reliably block Planeswalker destruction)
- 2x Void Rend (To reliably hit the Big Nasties coming at Planeswalkers, but also Artifact/Enchantment hate if/when needed)
- 2x Supreme Verdict (By far my favorite Boardwipe card in M:tG)
- 1x Doomskar (To sit safely in Foretell free from Discard Effects; Also potentially a Turn 3 Wipe if need be)
- 1x Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (Can't be Counterspelled; Even without Legendary creatures for synergy a copy of this is nice)
Card Draw:
All of the following cards have some form of additional Card Draw potential on them. Not only does this open up options by speeding through the deck to find what's needed, but it also feeds Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim's Loyalty towards his Ultimate, making his well within reach even without using The Elderspell.
The "Maybeboard":
Some of these are just Sideboard ideas, while others might work in the Main Deck. These are just the options I'm considering testing, but no idea what swaps might be made or anything yet.
- 3x Interplanar Beacon (Lifegain to compensate for Mana Confluence usage, plus ramp out Planeswalkers faster)
- 2x Test of Talents (Situationally useful if not downright crippling against the right build. These might make the Sideboard at least)
- 2x Vanishing Verse (Possible Sideboard addition for when Exile control is required, or just generally to dump in more Control)
- 2x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries (Could turn all my Card Draw into a Win Condition, also plays into Mill Decks; Also 3 Blue isn't as hard to manage as it used to be in a multi-color Deck)
- 2x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator (Possible Sideboard addition for use shutting down "Lowbrow Lifegain" Decks, also another potential use for the one Red Mana that I bank on having besides casting Nicol Bolas)
- 2x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets (More Draw, just not sure it's required. Excellent Control Ultimate though)
- 2x Narset, Parter of Veils (Draw Control against opponent plus Draw equivalent effect - won't trigger Draw synergy though)
- 1x The Elderspell (I have a 4th copy already, I'm just not sure it's required since doing it more than once or twice a game isn't really required)
- 3x Thoughtseize (Another potential way of keeping Planeswalkers safe by removing threats early, also Hand Viewing would be useful for planning which Planeswalkers are most beneficial to Cast since I usually have at least 2 or 3 to choose from most turns)
Thanks again for your interest! Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions/input!
