The deck is based on Bring to Light, a card that
it permits to cast Boom/Bust for five mana, 2 colours, and make an armageddon
it gives high flexibility with the sideboard, since it works as 2nd-to-5th copy of singletons on the bench, silver bullets against most of the decks you may find in a tournament.
To make the Armageddon asimmetric, the intense use of mana-dorks in necessary: the deck plays 8 turn-1 dork, and can easily crush all lands, still having 3 or 4 mana to play with the following turn.
The deck can easily cast a 5c Bring to Light on turn 3, since it has also seven 2nd-turn accelerators: 3 cariatid and 4 Knights of Reliquiary, that of course can also work as finisher after a BtLight into Boom//Bust.
The structure of 8 mana-dorks on turn1 gives the chance to play great drop3 on turn2, and what could be better than a Blood Moon?
(Blood Moon with BtLight? are you kidding me? where is the synergy?).
Yeah! The deck can easily cast a 4colours, or even a 5colours, BtLight even under a Moon effect. The deck is not properly an aggro, I prefer to define it as a prison deck: Moon can give us a lot of time, and moreover, a Boom//Bust after a Moon can easily kill the game. Of course, since the deck plays 5colours, every fetch land must be wisely used. The first one always goes to take a forest, since it allows us to play all the dorks we have or we will draw. This is the reason why all fetches are green.
Let's have a look to the mana curve!
DROP1
The best mana dorks you could have:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
I also thought about cutting 1 or 2 copies of Hierarch (mana dorks are not good to be drawn in late game) but I want to maximize the chance of a drop3 on turn 2, and moreover, some decks as affinity are so fast that we need to speed up our strategy too. To diminish the problem of drawing birds in late game, I inserted Monastery Siege and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
as a recycle engines (see next paragraphs).
Path to Exile: I used to play 3 copies, now I cutted to 2 since they are not so good to have if you managed to resolve a Blood Moon. However, it may happen to cast it on our own creatures in order to add a colour.
The best use we can make of it is to cast Path of Exile in opponent's EoT, with a Bring to Light into Boom//Bust to cast in our turn: the opponents will fetch a basic land, but he will never be able to use it since we will destroy all lands.
Currenlty I am playing only 2 copies of Boom//Bust, instead of 3 as I used to play when Eldrazi were running fast: this is why I also cut a copy of the path.
DROP2
Sylvan Caryatid: one of the best card of the deck, since it can't be spot-removed, and can easily block small bothersome attackers as Goblin Guides, or Kird Apes. It also gives all colours: truly perfect!
I used to play 4 copies of them, but I noticed that it happened too often that the deck could develop a lot of mana, without being concrete or proposing real menaces. This is why I substitute the 4th Caryatid with a 4th Knight.
Scavenging Ooze: finisher, time giver, helper against aggro deck but also combo deck. One of those cards that can win a game alone, if not stopped. I would like to play the 3rd copy, but I cannot find a slot, and however it can be annoying for us if we draw multiple copies in the early turns. All lands of the deck give green mana except for 1 island and 1 plains, so Ooze can express properly.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
: I am currently testing this card, inserted because I needed a good drop2 for curve reasons. During his 1st or 2nd activation as creature it helps to improve our starting hand, letting us discard all those additional mana fixers we don't need to have (it works as a Drop2 Monastery Siege). When it flips, it is really interesting even if we don't play so many spells to be flashbacked. However, we can easily rise his loyalty wating for a good flashback, and if we have the chance to cast a "many colours" Bring to Light, Jace gives us the chance to use it twice, for a 2 cards combination that can easily crack the game.
Valorous Stance: In this meta, it can be more interesting than Path, because of the unban of Thopther Foundry and Ancestral Vision. It can be used to surprise the opponent when he is casting a Wrath of God, or as a counter on spot removals, or as a removal that doesn't give any land, or as a good trick during combat phase. Very nice card. I wouldn't play more than 2 copies of it however, since it can be useless in some MatchUps (fast aggro zoo for example, or Burn).
Blessed Alliance: I have cut the paths to exile for this card, since it is really nasty! In early game it can stop a creature of the opponent without targeting it (great agains infect), or it can give 4 lives that are not so bad. In late game, it can do both plus it gets interesting also for the third option: untapping 2 creatures can let us make an unexpected block, or avoid skipping the combat phase due to a Cryptic Command.Since inserting this card gave me other chances to gain lives, I have cut a Huntmaster for a Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Scryb Ranger: Nice Drop2, it can be considered as 4th Sylvan Caryatid, but with some differences:
it works well also with Reliquary, Jace, or to bounce our lands before a Bust.
it can be very useful in a hard match up as Merfolks, since it can block everything they have got, and it kills Phantasmal Images in a while.
DROP 3
Knight of the Reliquary: this is THE deck to use them. They make everything, even coffee. I am considering to include also a Gavony Township in order to use extra mana in late game, or a Ghost Quarter.
Eternal Witness: In the previous version of the deck, I used to play 2 Witness, 1 Restoration, 1 Kiki-Jiki for a 1 card combo (Bring to Light) when the opponent is stuck, but the big Goblin is too heavy to stand, and too situational for this deck. So I cut 1 Witness: I keep on playing one of them since it can be the 5th Bring to Light, or a nice removal, or nasty with restoration Angel. It could be cut however, since it happens to be sided out quite often.
Blood Moon (Explained already)
Monastery Siege: Essential for the deck, if I wouldn't play so many Blood Moons I would play multiple copies of this enchantment main deck. I can't for mana curve reasons.
it recycles mana dorks we don't want, or 2nd copies of Blood moons we don't need.
it is almost game against decks as Grixis control (snapcaster Kolaghan's command cost 7.. not easy against a boom/bust deck)
if multiple copies are drawn, their effect is cumulative.
Maelstrom Pulse: Silver bullet against random stuff, an answer to everything. And sometimes can also make nasty 2x1
Fiery Justice: The easiest way to make asimmetric Wrath of Gods. A pure hell against aggro decks, or againt swarm starting hands of affinity, or also against starts of zoo as manadork+knight. However, it lost some of its power after the reborn of control decks, so now I play only 1 copy maindeck.
DROP4
Huntmaster of the Fells
: they are great in this deck:
we can force opponents to pass the turn without casting anything with blood moons or Boom//Busts
Bring to Light is a 2 spells on its own, so it flips Ravager of the Fells for other lives and a new token
Pia and Kiran Nalaar: I've really underestimated this card when it has been printed. I have decided to play one copy substituting the second Huntmaster. It is great to gain time against affinity, or infect, or aggro deck in general.
DROP5
Bring to Light(4x) : You simply can't leave home without 4 copies of this card in your deckbox.
Keranos, God of Storms : Huge drop 5 against control decks, and it can be done on turn 3
Thragtusk (1x): 5 lives and a huge blocker are nice against certain decks.
The Gitrog Monster : nasty way to make fast card advantage, especially if a Knight of Reliquary is also present
DROP...HUGE
Boom/Bust: Since the Eldrazi left the meta, I cut one copy of this incredible spell. 1 copy is not enough because if we have drawn it, we cannot reset lands for 5 manas.
SIDEBOARD
Even if playing nasty strange cards is gorgeous in this deck, the sideboard must be concrete and help in the most difficult match ups we could meet.
My current choice is the following:
Bring to Light tools
Fiery Justice: too strong in certain Match-ups.
Shatterstorm: preferred to Fracturing Gust since enchantments are important for us, and also because it requires only 4 colours instead of 5 (the difference can be huge sometimes)
Slaughter Games : great card against Scapeshift, or Ad Nauseam, or UR Storm.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: it may be substituted, depending on how I wake up. Great card against combo, but also control if it is supported by denial tools as Choke, Bust, Monastery Siege.
Krosan Grip: new entry, it solves Arcbound Ravager, it solves Thopter Foundry. If the opponent says "ok" to Bring to Light, he can't do anything until Krosan Grip has resolved. Surprise!
Other possible tools:
Sideboard Choices
Stony Silence : having 5 virtual copies of shatterstorm could not be enough against affinity, since it is too fast, and it could have also stubborn denial to gain time. Stony Silence is necessary.
Mark of Asylum: main problems for the deck are cheap sweepers as Pyroclasm, or bolts on starters. Mark of Asylum solves them all
Monastery Siege: If you manage to cast one against Burn is a big advantage. If you manage to cast two of them is gg.
Choke: important new entry after the reborn of control
Engineered Explosives: Fiery Justice is not enough against good starts of Merfolks, Explosives help. They are also unexpected and can be very strong against middle range decks as junk or jund, or Aura decks.
