Séance

Modern*

Seimbalir

Land (22)

• 2x Forest
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Murmuring Bosk
• 2x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Plains
• 1x Stirring Wildwood
• 2x Swamp
• 2x Temple Garden
• 2x Verdant Catacombs
• 4x Windswept Heath
• 2x Wooded Foothills

Creature (23)

• 2x Birds of Paradise
• 4x Eternal Witness
• 2x Fulminator Mage
• 2x Knight of Autumn
• 4x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 3x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 4x Siege Rhino

Instant (6)

• 2x Assassin's Trophy
• 3x Path to Exile
• 1x Settle the Wreckage

Sorcery (6)

• 4x Commune with the Gods
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Wrath of God

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Seance

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Sideboard

Creature (6)

• 2x Fulminator Mage
• 2x Knight of Autumn
• 2x Lone Missionary

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Stony Silence

Instant (3)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 2x Surgical Extraction

Artifact (1)

• 1x Grafdigger's Cage

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Wrath of God

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Maybeboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Back to Nature
• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Surgical Extraction
• 1x To the Slaughter

Creature (6)

• 2x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip
• 1x Knight of Autumn
• 1x Thragtusk
• 1x Underrealm Lich

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen
• 1x Vraska the Unseen

Artifact (1)

• 1x Nihil Spellbomb

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Spiritsm and value.

The deck is based on the incredible engine of value that Seance is able to create.

I chose to play mostly abzan. The red splash enables an easier Fulminator Mage.

The most important and synergistic cards that make the core of this deck are Seance, Eternal Witness and Siege Rhino. The rest of the deck is mostly here to orchestrate that synergy, and for specific interactions. Aside from these 3, Panharmonicon is a supreme boost bonus that will very often be underestimated, and bring forth a devastating value in no time.

• Seance is the "turbo" of this deck's engine, giving an fantastic boost of value to the other cards, and creating a synergistic bond between them. We play it here to "freely" double the ETB effects of all our dead creatures, leading to a huge valorisation of the graveyard. However, it is of great importance to notice how the deck can perfectly work and win WITHOUT Seance. The deck is powerful enough to claim victory without having to use that "turbo", just through the power of the abzan colors.

• Eternal Witness will help us interact with our graveyard, and get back important cards. It is a multi-tool card that can help you get back a Seance, a removal spell to control a cocky opponent, or even a fetchland to get to the very important 4-mana spot.

The easiest way to win is by abusing the Siege Rhino drain effect. Several possibilities are available in this list to get as much value as possible from this powerful card:

• Panharmonicon makes the rhino absolutely terrifying, creating a 12-hp gap between you and your opponent. Fear the double Lightning Helix.

• Bounce it with Restoration Angel. Easy, puts a lot of pressure on the opponent by draining them, protecting the rhino from a potential removal, AND adding a nice flyer on the board. Threatening and solid. Simple and efficient.

• Get the rhino back with Seance. One-time deal, so unless you have a way to win on your turn, it's better to do it on the opponent's turn to get a big pile of spirit-meat for blocking.

• Get the rhino back with Eternal Witness, then recast it. Rhino died to a spell, a blocker, or blocking ? He'll be back soon, thanks to the green snapcaster. Or is it snapcaster that is a blue witness ? Anyways, if both die, on your turn Seance can give you the witness back, which will give you the rhino back, which you can recast again during your turn. Then if the rhino dies again, it will come back with Seance. That's 3 rhinos in 1. Value.

For this strategy to work, it is necessary to fill the graveyard and at the same time create some hand advantage so you don't waste time. Two cards have this goal :

• Satyr Wayfinder is here to provide early blocking, favorise the 3rd and 4th land drops that are crucial for the deck, and fill the graveyard with goodies. Even the non-creature spells are relevant to mill, thanks to the marvelous Eternal Witness. Then when Seance comes out, the Satyr will come back to fill again the graveyard, block, and give you land advantage.

• Commune with the Gods will give you everything you need : Seance, or Eternal Witness, or Satyr Wayfinder, or Siege Rhino, according to what you need the most at a given point. All the rest in the graveyard for Seance or Eternal Witness to bring back.

The Seance strategy is kind of a combo, since you'll have to wait and take a few hits before being able to completely switch the game over in two or three turns. In its dynamic, it ressembles the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo, which doesn't give you an immediate victory but rather a fast-growing, almost unstoppable advantage. But the crucial point in this kind of strategy is that you have to survive until your growing power gives you the victory. The turns 1 to 4 are therefore the most important ones, for you need to both set up an unbeatable potential and prevent your opponent from winning before you can setup your Seance engine.

Several cards are here to help you :

• Path to Exile is the cleanest answer to early threats such as Tarmogoyf, Death's Shadow, Lord of Atlantis, and all the cheap but devastating creatures. Eternal Witness will help you reuse the Path to Exile at least once, maybe twice. And let's not forget that it gets rid of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Wurmcoil Engine, Prized Amalgam...

• Sakura-Tribe Elder is a good chumpblocker and helps us get to the 4-mana spot faster. Sometimes, having a rhino, seance or a wrath on turn 3 instead of 4 or 5 can be life-saving. It also comes back at Seance and lets you fetch more lands, making you less vulnerable to Blood Moon. 2 plains, 2 forest and 2 swamp are in the deck, so you won't ever have problems casting 2-colored spells.

• Wall of Omens is a potent blocker for early agression, it will stop Wild Nacatl, Monastery Swiftspear, Goblin Guide, small Tarmogoyf, Grim Flayer, etc... The draw is incredibly potent in our deck and with Seance, since this cheap wall will block the same big creature twice and give you 2 cards, maybe even 3 or 4 with a Panharmonicon.

• Shriekmaw : incredibly powerful against some matchups, this card will litteraly save your life at least twice by taking care of a Delver of Secrets  , Tarmogoyf, a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, a Leonin Arbiter, a Scavenging Ooze (NEMESIS!!! >:O) , Spell Queller, an eldrazi, an infect creature.... Wow it kills 2 creatures with Panharmonicon. WOW, you can respond to the evoke trigger with a Restoration Angel to kill 2 creatures AND keep the Shriekmaw !!! If you manage to keep it on the battlefield, just remember it has fear, so it's pretty hard to block ! Amazing card with a lot of synergies. Then again, the drawbacks are crippling. It's a dead card against Death's Shadow, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Slippery Bogle and affinity. That's why it can be replaced by Fleshbag Marauder when necessary.

• Kitchen Finks will help us get through super aggresive decks like burn or Zoo, and has a perfect synergy with Seance and Restoration Angel. It is accompanied by Lone Missionary in the sideboard, which is pretty equivalent in the anti-aggro aspect, faster, though less versatile.

• Fulminator Mage is an excellent card against most machups. At its worst it will delay your opponent's plan, at its best it will litteraly wreck havoc (against Tron or tri-colored decks).

• Did i mention Restoration Angel ?

• Eldritch Evolution will transform a weak, otherwise almost useless creature into one of our win conditions or a creature tool. It can be cast on the Seance tokens for maximum value, or even send to the graveyard a rhino, to fetch a rhino, and then bring back the dead rhino with our many graveyard interactions. Drain 6 life for 3 mana, not even bad.

• Wrath of God is our best win condition against some nasty decks, like Merfolks, Zoo, or Elves, though Path to Exile and Shriekmaw can give excellent results. So is its fresh outspring with path to exile : Settle the Wreckage .

SIDEBOARD Show

• Beast Within will take care of anything annoying for you. Rest in Peace, Blood Moon, Tron pieces or Eldrazi Temple, Oblivion Stone, Planeswalkers, strong creatures... the drawback is really negligeable considering the power of the card. Nevertheless, we have other potent responses to artifacts and enchantments.

• Fleshbag Marauder will take care of indestructible and hexproof creatures. Side-in mostly against Bogle Hexproof, Jund and Grixis decks, replacing Shriekmaw, but it's also good against mid-range decks counting on imposing, powerful creatures to win. Avoid using it against Tribals and Affinity, or anything that swarms the board with many creatures.

• Fulminator Mage is a must against any type of multicolored deck, absolute side-in.

• Lone Missionary is a excellent defense against super-agressive decks. It may give you enough hp to survive storm, burn, goblins, even sometimes affinity.

• Reclamation Sage is of course a must in such a deck. It could maybe be replaced by Qasali Pridemage or Thrashing Brontodon but so far, i like the ETB effect and the mono-green mana, that can get us rid of a Blood Moon easier.

• Stony Silence will shut down vials, Tron, Affinity, Lantern control, EE and Ratchet bomb, Relic of progenitus and Nihil Spell bomb.

• Add an other Wrath of God against really heavy creature decks like Merfolks, Humans and Elves. Can't hurt.

• Bogles are really a threat, therefore sacrifice effects are an excellent way to deal with them and many other good decks. Slaughter the Strong will give an impeccable response to Merfolks, Bogle, Eldrazi, even sometimes Elves (when Elvish Archdruid is out, huehuehue). In a similar category, Vona's Hunger can be pretty devastating. The ascend isn't so difficult to reach, even if generaly we will use it without, simply taking advantage of 1) surprise, you can't possibly be prepared for that ; 2) instant-speed ; 3) no target whatsoever, so almost unavoidable sacrifice.

• Fresh from Dominaria, the mighty Damping Sphere will help us against Tron, Eldrazi Tron, Storm, maybe elves, and possibly Ad Nauseam.

• Finally, Grafdigger's Cage is our only source of gravehate, since a lot of other ones will also screw us up. It also cripples Collected Company, Chord of Calling, Storm, Snapcaster Mage, Lingering Souls and many other things that interact with the graveyard (but not us !). The only drawback for us is that Kitchen Finks can't come back anymore, but that is REALLY not a big deal. An other possibility would be Nihil Spellbomb.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	33 - 12 Rares 13 - 1 Uncommons 8 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.76
Tokens	Copy Clone
Folders	Modern archetypes