Please read the description before commenting, as your comment may answered in here.
4c Splash is a little bit of everything, a splash of combo, a splash of jank, a pinch of midrange.
This is a very silly yet effective Ink-Treader deck that i have been brewing for some time.
This deck aims to win by ramping into an Inky, then using him as a catalyst to control the board state. Once attaining this board state, the aims to turn everything sideways and cast Sigil Blessing to pump everything to absurd levels.
At the surface level this may look like a bad Ghostway deck. However saying that doesn't do the deck any justice.
Now i'm still toying around with the numberss but currently this is the list I have settled on until i make it to more modern events and become encouraged (Read: stomped until I do) to change the list.
As for the decklist...
Creatures
4x Birds of Paradise :
Were in green and want to cast a 4 CMC creature that doesn't do much on his own, Birds help us get to 4 mana a turn earlier and more importantly colour fixes.
4 of them maxes our chance of seeing them without commiting other slots to more dorks.
Has flying which allows it to steal games when it has some power.
4x Noble Hierarch
Another manadork leading us to have 8 dorks in the list.
Noble is good for the same reasons here as any other deck.
Exalted can steal wins with Birds of Paradise.
Doesn't tap for red, however the red is only a splash for Ink-treader in the main.
3x Sage of Epityr
Sage allows us to set up our next 4 turns, and see whether it's worth cracking a fetch to see more useful cards.
Can be Cloudshifted.
Also allows us to set up our Coiling Oracle's to make sure that we hit our land drops.
4x Coiling Oracle
Do you like drawing cards? do you like ramp? i hear this guy does both!
The oracle allows us to hopefully drop an additional land when he enters.
Even if he doesn't the fact that the revealed card goes to hand allows us to run this as a better Elvish Visionary.
The opponent gaining this knowledge is worth the chance of ramping.
Now once set up with an inky in play, the Oracle's ramp is less important, and ether allows us to take lands out of our deck, or draws us some cards.
2x Kitchen Finks
Now our mana is greedy, so greedy in fact that we run our burn hate mainboard.
Finks is good for all the same reasons that it is in any other deck.
Blocks multiple times, gains you some life which can negate the shock you just played.
When set up this guy makes the burn players cry, as every cloudshift turns into 2 life, making the matchup really hard to win.
2x Eternal Witness
Eternal witness is the superglue for this deck.
She can at her very worst keep us on curve by returning fetches.
At her best though, is when you are bringing back all the instants just cast on inky.
Cloudshifting your field and returning the cloudshift to hand is one of the best feelings, especially when it's done to avoid removal.
Having two of these out and an inky allows you to path your opponents board every turn. seems pretty good to me.
4x Ink-Treader Nephilim
Inky is the catalyst for everythng to work.
Cloudshifting your entire board and abusing ETB's is his whole gameplan, making each piece of removal a Wrath of God as an eject button.
Dropping a Inky to path the dredge players board is pretty rude and hard to recover from.
He also turns Niveous Wisps into a Cryptic Command, tapping the field and drawing an average of 4 cards feels pretty good.
Now i admit that any deck that runs removal laughs at Inky, which is why we run 4 cloudshifts.
Once you play Inky you cast all your spells at him and he does the work.
Spells
4x Cloudshift
Cloudshift is cloudshift, use it to avoid removal, to reuse ETB's and reseting your Kitchen Finks.
For a single white you 2 for 1 your opponents cards, wasting removal and getting your ETB's.
I maxed out on them because i want to see these all the time.
3x Niveous Wisps
Wait this card seeing play in modern? This card is bonkers with an ink-treader out, refiling your hand and buying you a turn.
Early game it mitigates some of the early damage and cycling itself.
Tapping out a goyf or Nacatl to save some damage may feel bad, but having 3 means we can still see more later.
4x Cerulean Wisps
This card is the opposite of Niveous Wisps.
as it untaps and draws a card, it can be used as a 'free' draw spell with Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch.
Can untap Knight of the Reliquary which is in the sideboard.
With an Ink-Treader out it allows us to draw a ton of cards for 'free' if we have a manadork out, and dig for a Niveous Wisp or Sigil Blessing.
2x Path to Exile
So path is pretty good, we already know all about path. But what if we wipe the board for 1 mana?
Path is Path, played in every white deck but becomes silly when used with Inky and Cloudshift.
You path the Ink-Treader Nephilim making a copy for every legal target, then resolve only the paths targeting your opponents creatures.
Before any of your creatures disappear, you cast cloudshift targetting Inky, saving your field and abusing those delicious ETB's.
2x Lightning Helix
Most red decks run Lightning Bolt, however as a 4 colour deck, we hurt ourselves to get all our colours.
It also allows us to gain a large amount of life by Helixing the Ink-Treader and resetting the board for the most part.
1x Sigil Blessing
This is our main wincon.
Casting on Ink-Treader Nephilim gives our field a huge anthem. (for 3 creatures we add a total of 15 power on board, 4 creatures adds 24)
This also cast just be cast and swing for lethal if you have more creatures.
1x Simic Charm
This fun of (read; One of) rounds out the deck to fill in roles the deck may need.
It's first mode acts as a weaker Sigil Blessing without Ink-Treader and allows our Birds of Paradise to steal games due to flying.
It's second mode acts as a global cloudshift, protecting our field from all sorts of removal, also allowing us stop multiple targetted removal spells such as Electrolyze and Conflagrate.
It's third mode acts as an alternate removal spell, the bounce can allow us to reset a ETB on our end, or cast card:Evacuate for 2 mana.
Sideboard
3x Knight of the Reliquary
We run the combo in the sideboard so that we can side into it when our Ink-Treader interactions are stifled.
Combo's with Retreat to Coralhelm to cheese wins in certain matchups.
Can fetch our Gavony Township to start antheming our smaller creatures as an alternate wincon.
2x Retreat to Coralhelm
This Enchantment combo's with Knight of the Reliquary.
also can act as a Niveous Wisps, Cerulean Wisps, or Sage of Epityr
2x Wilt-Leaf Liege
Here to hate on discard spells.
Liliana crys at Liege.
Brought in as an anthem effect otherwise.
2x Geist of Saint Traft
Geist is brought in for removal heavy matchups.
can be cast turn 2 to start the beatdown.
also eats Nahiri.
2x Reclamation Sage
This is our naturalize effect.
These are for Affinity, Lantern Control, or any other pesky card, such as Blood Moon, which can hose us when we aren't prepared.
2x Avalanche Riders
Our abusable land hate, again for the tron matchup. However the difference is that we can cloudshift him to start taking our opponents off colours.
2x Grafdigger's Cage
This is our hate for grave interaction, Typical cage to deal with dredge, abzan's Kitchen Finks (while turning off our own.
At least we aren't banking on the combo) and stopping flashback shenanigans.
Cage also loves to laugh at Collected Company decks, since that instant does nothing while the cage is out.
Lands, Gameplans and How We Play Them
Now our manabase, i could just talk about each land individually, or i could talk about whats more important, sequencing.
Our deck is focused to be predominately Bant (GWU) with splashes into red for Inky, it also makes sequencing our lands a lot easier.
Lets start with the fetches; we have 9 and all of them fetch for a Bant Shock, allowing us to easily access all of our colours, the manadorks round this out.
as for possible play sequences;
-Turn 1: Play a green shock(Temple Garden or Stomping Ground), Cast Bird or Noble
-Turn 2: Play a blue shock (Steam Vents or Hallowed Fountain), Cast one or more; Sage, Bird, Noble, Oracle (if you hit a land keep going) or Kitchen Finks
-Turn 3: Play a land, Cast Ink-Treader, hold Cloudshift up or hold up Niveous Wisp (Cerulean Wisp can be used for digging for either of these cards).
-Turn 4: Cast Sigil Blessing, swing for win.
Matchups
Now while I haven't playtested this deck to oblivion yet, I will later add sideboarding and general gameplans to combat the format.
Cards I Wont Run
Zada, Hedron Grinder: This card is a safer Ink-treader, however we want to interact with our opponent's creatures.
Mirorwing Dragon: Same as Zada but more expensive.
Might of the Nephilim: This is only powerful for inktreader and is really weak with everything else.
Final Thoughts
Well guys thats all for now, let me know what you think in the comments,
If you have made it this far thanks for reading all my ramblings about a deck that more then likely won't even go anywhere.This is a very silly yet effective Ink-Treader deck that i have been brewing for some time.
This deck aims to win by ramping into an Inky, then using him as a catalyst to control the board state. Once attaining this board state, the aims to turn everything sideways and cast Sigil Blessing to pump everything to absurd levels.
At the surface level this may look like a bad Ghostway deck. However saying that doesn't do the deck any justice.
Now i'm still toying around with the numberss but currently this is the list I have settled on until i make it to more modern events and become encouraged (Read: stomped until I do) to change the list.
As for the decklist...
Creatures
4x Birds of Paradise :
Were in green and want to cast a 4 CMC creature that doesn't do much on his own, Birds help us get to 4 mana a turn earlier and more importantly colour fixes.
4 of them maxes our chance of seeing them without commiting other slots to more dorks.
Has flying which allows it to steal games when it has some power.
4x Noble Hierarch
Another manadork leading us to have 8 dorks in the list.
Noble is good for the same reasons here as any other deck.
Exalted can steal wins with Birds of Paradise.
Doesn't tap for red, however the red is only a splash for Ink-treader in the main.
3x Sage of Epityr
Sage allows us to set up our next 4 turns, and see whether it's worth cracking a fetch to see more useful cards.
Can be Cloudshifted.
Also allows us to set up our Coiling Oracle's to make sure that we hit our land drops.
4x Coiling Oracle
Do you like drawing cards? do you like ramp? i hear this guy does both!
The oracle allows us to hopefully drop an additional land when he enters.
Even if he doesn't the fact that the revealed card goes to hand allows us to run this as a better Elvish Visionary.
Giving your opponent this knowledge is worth the chance of ramping.
Now once set up with an inky in play, the Oracle's ramp is less important, and ether allows us to take lands out of our deck, or draws us some cards.
2x Kitchen Finks
Now our mana is greedy, so greedy in fact that we run our burn hate mainboard. Finks is good for all the same reasons that it is in any other deck. Blocks multiple times, gains you some life which can negate the shock you just played. When set up this guy makes the burn players cry, as every cloudshift turns into 2 life, making the matchup really hard to win. we run 2 main and one side to wish for, we don't do this for Coiling oracle as we want to see it every game and only pay 2 mana for it.
2x Eternal Witness
Eternal witness is the superglue for this deck. She can at her very worst keep us on curve by returning fetches. At her best though, is when you are bringing back all the instants just cast on inky. Cloudshifting your field and returning the cloudshift to hand is one of the best feelings, especially when it's done to avoid removal. Having two of these out and an inky allows you to path your opponents board every turn. seems pretty good to me.
4x Ink-Treader Nephilim
Inky is the catalyst for everythng to work. Cloudshifting your entire board and abusing ETB's is his whole gameplan, making each piece of removal a Wrath of God as an eject button. Dropping a Inky to path the dredge players board is pretty rude and hard to recover from. He also turns Niveous Wisps into a Cryptic Command, tapping the field and drawing an average of 4 cards feels pretty good. Now i admit that any deck that runs removal laughs at Inky, which is why we run 4 cloudshifts. Once you play Inky you cast all your spells at him and he does the work.
Spells
4x Cloudshift
Cloudshift is cloudshift, use it to avoid removal, to reuse ETB's and reseting your Kitchen Finks.
For a single white you 2 for 1 your opponents cards, wasting removal and getting your ETB's.
I maxed out on them because i want to see these all the time.
3x Niveous Wisps
Wait this card seeing play in modern? This card is bonkers with an ink-treader out, refiling your hand and buying you a turn.
Early game it mitigates some of the early damage and cycling itself.
Tapping out a goyf or Nacatl to save some damage may feel bad, but having 3 means we can still see more later.
4x Cerulean Wisps
This card is the opposite of Niveous Wisps.
as it untaps and draws a card, it can be used as a 'free' draw spell with Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch.
Can untap Knight of the Reliquary which is in the sideboard.
With an Ink-Treader out it allows us to draw a ton of cards for 'free' if we have a manadork out, and dig for a Niveous Wisp or Sigil Blessing.
2x Path to Exile
So path is pretty good, we already know all about path. But what if we wipe the board for 1 mana?
Path is Path, played in every white deck but becomes silly when used with Inky and Cloudshift.
You path the Ink-Treader Nephilim making a copy for every legal target, then resolve only the paths targetting your opponents creatures. Before any of your creatures disappear, you cast cloudshift targetting Inky, saving your field and abusing those delicious ETB's.
2x Lightning Helix
Most red decks run Lightning Bolt, however as a 4 colour deck, we hurt ourselves to get all our colours.
It also allows us to gain a large amount of life by Helixing the Ink-Treader and resetting the board for the most part.
1x Sigil Blessing
This is our main wincon.
Casting on Ink-Treader Nephilim gives our field a huge anthem. (for 3 creatures we add a total of 15 power on board, 4 creatures adds 24)
This also cast just be cast and swing for lethal if you have more creatures.
1x Simic Charm
This fun of (read; One of) rounds out the deck to fill in roles the deck may need.
It's first mode acts as a weaker Sigil Blessing without Ink-Treader and allows our Birds of Paradise to steal games due to flying.
It's second mode acts as a global cloudshift, protecting our field from all sorts of removal, also allowing us stop multiple targetted removal spells such as Electrolyze and Conflagrate.
It's third mode acts as an alternate removal spell, the bounce can allow us to reset a ETB on our end, or cast card:Evacuate for 2 mana.
Sideboard
3x Knight of the Reliquary
We run the combo in the sideboard so that we can side into it when our Ink-Treader interactions are stifled.
Combo's with Retreat to Coralhelm to cheese wins in certain matchups.
Can fetch our Gavony Township to start antheming our smaller creatures as an alternate wincon.
2x Retreat to Coralhelm
This Enchantment combo's with Knight of the Reliquary.
also can act as a Niveous Wisps, Cerulean Wisps, or Sage of Epityr
2x Wilt-Leaf Liege
Here to hate on discard spells.
Liliana crys at Liege.
Brought in as an anthem effect otherwise.
2x Geist of Saint Traft
Geist is brought in for removal heavy matchups.
can be cast turn 2 to start the beatdown.
also eats Nahiri.
2x Reclamation Sage
This is our naturalize effect.
These are for Affinity, Lantern Control, or any other pesky card, such as Blood Moon, which can hose us when we aren't prepared.
2x Avalanche Riders
Our abusable land hate, again for the tron matchup. However the difference is that we can cloudshift him to start taking our opponents off colours.
2x Grafdigger's Cage
This is our hate for grave interaction, Typical cage to deal with dredge, abzan's Kitchen Finks (while turning off our own. At least we aren't banking on the combo) and stopping flashback shenanigans. Cage also loves to laugh at Collected Company decks, since that instant does nothing while the cage is out.
Lands, Gameplans and How We Play Them
Now our manabase, i could just talk about each land individually, or i could talk about whats more important, sequencing.
Our deck is focused to be predominately Bant (GWU) with splashes into red for Inky, it also makes sequencing our lands a lot easier.
Lets start with the fetches; we have 9 and all of them fetch for a Bant Shock, allowing us to easily access all of our colours, the manadorks round this out.
as for possible play sequences;
-Turn 1: Play a green shock(Temple Garden or Stomping Ground), Cast Bird or Noble
-Turn 2: Play a blue shock (Steam Vents or Hallowed Fountain), Cast one or more; Sage, Bird, Noble, Oracle (if you hit a land keep going) or Kitchen Finks
-Turn 3: Play a land, Cast Ink-Treader, hold Cloudshift up or hold up Niveous Wisp (Cerulean Wisp can be used for digging for either of these cards).
-Turn 4: Cast Sigil Blessing, swing for win.
Matchups
Now while I haven't playtested this deck to oblivion yet, I will later add sideboarding and general gameplans to combat the format.
Cards I Wont Run
Zada, Hedron Grinder: This card is a safer Ink-treader, however we want to interact with our opponent's creatures.
Mirorwing Dragon: Same as Zada but more expensive.
Might of the Nephilim: This is only powerful for inktreader and is really weak with everything else.
Final Thoughts
Well guys thats all for now, let me know what you think in the comments,
If you have made it this far thanks for reading all my ramblings about a deck that more then likely won't even go anywhere.
