Have you ever heard of the mechanic Wizardcycling? I'd bet not! Hello TappedOut community! Recently, I have been getting into Legacy, but I haven't been using the decks you know; I've been using budget Legacy decks. This brew is a self-mill deck, similar to Manaless Dredge, except it can be built for $25 if on a tight budget! Welcome to the Cephalid Breakfast combo deck!
The main goal of this deck is to search for and protect your two combo peices;
Shuko
and
Cephalid Illusionist
. See where this is going? Once
Cephalid Illusionist
is on the field, proceed to equip
Shuko
to him until you have no cards in your library. The deck has 4 Narcomoeba's in the mainboard, so as you mill yourself remember to put them on the battlefield. Now that you have at least 3 creatures on the battlefield, you should sacrifice them to Dread Return, targeting Angel of Glory's Rise. When the Angel comes into play, reanimate your two humans; Laboratory Maniac and Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Then all you need to do is tap Azami, Lady of Scrolls for the win. This deck is built to stand against competitive decks without getting annihilated.
Why Should I Play Cephalid Breakfast Over Dredge or "Oops All Spells"?
1). Cephalid Breakfast is noticeably cheaper than Dredge/Oops decks. If you are on a budget, this deck is for you.
2). This combo in this deck can go off quicker than the combos in a Dredge/Oops deck do. If you like fast, protectable combos, than Cephalid Breakfast is for you.
3). Cephalid Breakfast can be more consistent than Dredge/Oops, as it is only one color; blue, wih a minuscule splash for black. This leaves more space for cheap counterspells to protect your combo. Play this deck of you like to say "No!".
4). This deck is easier to pilot than Dredge/Oops decks are (especially in game 2). This doesn't mean this deck is easy to play, as there are right and wrong ways to play this deck. Use this deck if you don't like to take 10 minutes on a single turn.
5). Finally, play this deck if you want to have fun. If you want to beat your opponents with a card that has the word "Wizardcycling" on it, then PLAY THIS DECK. This is the reason I decided to write this Primer. I cannot stress how much I enjoy telling people that I play a Wizard-Human Cephalid Dimir Control Self-Mill Reanimator Combo deck. You too can say this if you learn to play this deck.
Some Really Extremely Boring Numbers About the Deck:
Using multivariate hypergeometric distribution, I was able to calculate the exact percent chance of certain events occurring with this deck, such as the chance for turn two wins. These numbers do not include disruption from an opponent.
Percent Chance of Having a Turn Two Win in Hand:
Between a .48173% and 3.8652% chance, lands included.
Percent Chance of Having a Turn Two Win after your first draw, assuming you go first:
Between a .016967% and 4.37568% chance, lands included
Percent Chance of Having a Turn Two Win after your second draw, assuming you go second:
Between a .00042% and 4.39251% chance, lands included
These numbers are a bit off, as I forgot to incorporate order into some of the situations. Oh well, will fix later. More numbers to come, I'm just lazy right now.
Next I'm going to lost out every card in the decklist, and why it is currently in the deck.
Combo Pieces- These cards are the win conditions for the deck. They are very specific cards, and for the most part cannot be replaced, as no other card does exactly what these cards do. Losing certain key combo cards can result in you scooping and going onto the next game, so it is crucial that you can protect these cards.
+1: Angel of Glory's Rise
This angel has no other purpose than to sit in the graveyard until I recur it with Dread Return to reanimate both Laboratory Maniac and Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Always dump this card if it is in your hand or you will lose the match. Don't panic if it is in your hand, there is a Phantasmogorian in the deck for a reason. This deck requires only one to function.
+1: Azami, Lady of Scrolls
This creature is the way we win the first turn Laboratory Maniac is on the field. Because Azami is a human, it can also come out onto the field with the Maniac and tap for the win in one turn. We only need one, any more would be taking up space.
+4:
Cephalid Illusionist
This is one of the central cards in the deck. This card enables you to mill your decks to win turn two with
Shuko
. Without this creature, this deck would be nothing. The fact that this is a Wizard makes this card easily tutorable (I'll explain later). Always, no matter what, run 4.
+1: Laboratory Maniac
Another central combo piece. No other card allows this deck to win; essentially this is the decks only win condition. The fact that he is a human allows him to be reanimated by Angel of Glory's Rise. Only one is required for the combo though.
+4: Narcomoeba
Without Narcomoeba, there would be almost no way to easily get three creatures safely on the field. This is Narcomoeba's only purpose; never hard cast one unless you absolutely need that 3rd creature for Dread Return. Four is a safe number to use, but three is really all you need, I'm just paranoid of not having enough sometimes.
+1: Dread Return
This is the best Reanimator spell for this deck. Flashback is the only reason that this card is viable. Always sacrifice 3 Narcomoeba to Dread Return if possible. If this card is exiled and you haven't won, don't plan winning. Only play one of these in your deck.
+1:
Phantasmagorian
The only use of this card is to dump your combo pieces from your hand into the graveyard. That's all you should ever do with him. Use him after you mill your entire library though. This is actually the MVP of the deck, he has saved me from a lot of tough situations. I actually hard-cast him one game and won with it (don't try that one at home kids...). Just play one, he is pretty useless with two copies.
+4:
Shuko
This is the only VIABLE equipment card that has an equip cost of 0. Use this to infinitely target
Cephalid Illusionist
and mill your deck for the win. Play four for lots of consistency no matter what.
Protection Spells- All three protection spells listed here are counterspells; more of a variety exist within the sideboard. The primary purpose of these spells is to allow your combo pieces to resolve on the battlefield. Every Counterspell here is able to counter Instant and Sorcery removal spells. As a secondary purpose, these spells can counter an opponets win-con in a pinch. All of the protection slots are flexible. You can use any 1 mana counterspell that counters removal if needed, I choose these spells because I like how they play.
+2:
Circular Logic
Usually when you cast this, it will be 1 mana to counter any spell. Try to hold onto it until after you mill your library. If your opponent tries to disrupt something after this, use
Phantasmagorian
to discard this and counter the spell. This is probably the weakest counterspell in the deck though, due to the fact that you need to discard it for it to be relevant. Other options include
Disrupt
, more Spell Pierces, Foil, and Daze.
+4: Swan Song
This spell counters so many threats in one card! The 2/2 swan is irrelevant if your combo piece lives. Try and save these spells for removal, don't just counter anything. Again, any counterspell can go here if needed.
+2: Spell Pierce
This can catch an opponent by surprise. If they tap out for something big, just counter it. It can even target Planeswalkers and Artifacts, unlike Swan Song
Dig Spells- Use these spells to dig for anything you may need, and get rid of what you don't need.
+4: Lim-Dul's Vault
This the one card we are splashing black for. This card reads "Search your library for a card, and then lose a couple life." It can fetch us anything we need, when we need it. This is a very great budget tutor card to include. I would never play less that four of these in a deck. It increases consistency by a huge percent.
+1:
Flash of Insight
Just in case you have no protection, and you need some to win. Flash this back and exile your yard to look for something, at instant speed. Do this after you have milled about half your library and when you need like a protection spell. This card is perfect for what it does, and has won me multiple games. This card is not needed though. It can be flipped out for more dig spells like Ponder, or more counterspells or even a discard spell like Duress.
+4: Brainstorm
The staple draw/setup spell for blue. If needed, it can return combo pieces to the library to be milled. This makes finding what you need a lot easier. Ponder and Preordain can be fine replacements for this spell.
+3: Careful Study
This does a similar job to Brainstorm. Digs for certain combo pieces, pitches others that you want in your graveyard. Again, can be replaced by other blue one mana dig spells.
Tutor Creatures- These creatures search for the specific combo piece you need.
+2: Vedalken AEthermage
Here it is! The Wizardcycling Legend! This card is so random that it's actually awesome. Use it only to search for
Cephalid Illusionist
, as the other Wizards should stay in the library to be milled unless you are in game two. A different strategy may be used then. If needed, I guess you can even search for Trinket Mage if you need
Shuko
desperatley. Also wrecks house on Slivers. Two is a good number of these to run just in case you desperately need a combo peice.
+2: Trinket Mage
This is the Vedalken AEthermage for
Shuko
, or maybe even an artifact land if you need mana. Yep that's it. Two is also perfect for this deck.
How to Play This Deck:
There are three stages this deck must go through to win the game. These three stages are Assemble, Protect, and Combo. During the Assemble stage, your goal is to have both combo pieces,
Shuko
and
Cephalid Illusionist
, in your hand. During the Protect step, both combo pieces should be on the field and PROTECTED. Never put them out until your are 100% sure they will not be killed or countered. Finally, you should proceed to mill yourself and win during there Combo stage.
Deck Strengths/Weaknesses:
There are three places this deck is both strong and weak in. These three places are the Graveyard, the Battlefield, and the Hand.
Weaknesses:
1). The Graveyard: Game two is a nightmare for this deck, as it is in Dredge or Reanimator. Your opponent will bring in all of their graveyard hate and your deck will supposedly be shut down (except we have a backup plan). Be careful when playing against a deck with sideboard graveyard hate.
2). The Battlefield: The entire game, your opponent will be bashing you in the face as you have no real blockers in this deck (except extra Narcomoeba's and Trinket Mage's). Your deck will get behind other decks, as the deck also lacks removal. But this is a small issue most of the time.
3).If your opponent has an spell that exiles cards from hand, then it is game over. They can find an important combo piece and it will be gone forever. Nothing you can do about it, so good thing this isn't frequently played.
Strengths:
1). Graveyard: This area is like an extended hand a lot of the time! This is the only reason we can use this deck, so of course it is also a strength. If your opponent is dumb and sides in no Yard hate, then game two match-ups will also be very strong.
2). Battlefield: Having nothing on the battlefield can do two things; save room for more better cards in your hand, or make removal "dead cards" (for the time being) in your opponents hand. Later in the game, you will have board presence though.
3). You usually will have a better hand than your opponents. Its just a fact. Also, regular discard will be fairly ineffective on certain combo pieces, as I ant them in my graveyard anyways :D
Match Two Plan:
The second match will be a lot harder to win than the first, as you will have revealed your win condition to your opponent and they will sideboard graveyard hate. There is a way to win without the graveyard though, but it takes 3-4 turns more. You need to first assemble the
Cephalid Illusionist
and
Shuko
combo, but then you also need to somehow find Laboratory Maniac. With enough protection, you should be able to hard cast the Maniac and then finish milling your deck. You then will need to survive the onslaught of your opponents entire turn. Only try to assemble this combo if your opponent has graveyard hate out. This method doesn't require side boarding. The regular way would be to side in artifact hate, or Pithing Needle, or something that returns any permanent to an opponents hand. Budget requires that you make some cuts though, so the sideboard was the first thing to go. You can also make the sideboard transformational, and include another combo or make it control.
How To Budget This Deck Further or Spend More On It
Budgeting:
The biggest thing that can go in this deck is the expensive lands like Cavern of Souls, Polluted Delta, and Creeping Tar Pit. I just happened to have these around and threw them in the deck as they were good mana fixers. Besides that, the deck is actually only around $30, and I would call that budget! Have fun milling away at a low cost!
Improvements & Investments:
Only upgrade this deck is you seriously enjoy playing the deck, or if you are just looking for a deck to take to the competitive scene. Don't buy this if you just okay casually and your friends hate the deck, or if you aren't going to use it for competitive play. Proxy the deck first and fine tune it to where you want it! Okay, so the most obvious card you want to include in the deck is a playset of Force of Wills. No blue legacy deck can justify not playing it (as far as I'm aware). You should spash white so you can easily play Enlightened Tutor for
Shuko
or any other utility artifacts you may need. Cabal Therapy is another must have, whether in the mainboarded or the sideboard. The final thing; LANDS!!! If you can, of course you should use ABUR Duals and Fethclands and Karakas and other utility lands. One of my favorites is tabernacle at pendrell vale. Great against any deck hoping to play creatures and spells each turn.
Thank you for reading! I hope this taught you how to play Cephalid Breakfast. If you upvote and comment, I will do the same to one of your decks. Thank you again!
