Approach meets Lich's Mastery. Does it make a sound?
So, we just insert some black into Second Sun Control, and voila, we have a deck everyone saw coming. I think it is not so bad at all, but at the same time, I'm 100% positive everyone will run a variant of this deck.
Approach of the Second Sun is still the victory condition. You gain life with various spells in this deck; and then you draw craptons of cards with Lich's Mastery. You keep your opponent locked entirely down with a HEAVY amount of control thanks to cards like Fatal Push, Cast Down, and Seal Away, being added into Standard. Vraska's Contempt has been added in order to deal some serious damage. I have inserted one more Approach of the Second Sun into the sideboard in order to deal with Lost Legacy being used against you.
I don't think you can really lose considering that Sanguine Sacrament is literally a Braingeyser with Lich's Mastery in play. Just draw massive amounts of cards, and you'll be able to discard what you don't need to feed Lich's Mastery and draw on Approach of the Second Sun fast. Mastermind's Acquisition can be used to fetch your Approach of the Second Sun and then you'll be able to win even faster. Hell, you can even fetch whatever you want from your sideboard bc, WTF why not cheat like hell? The sideboard is an extension of the deck in essence.
The sideboard is a gorgeous thing. I've made modifications in anticipation of some Planeswalkers that might come strolling your way. As a matter of fact, I know they are coming in force. So, how do you deal with the Gatewatch and friends when they arrive? You don't. You let your artifacts and spells do your talking for you. And let us not forget the obvious: your sideboard is fully accessible even in game one thanks to Mastermind's Acquisition.
Update:
Ok so things are coming along, more people are playing variants of the deck as predicted. Most will hit a wall when they come across Superfriends or other control decks, and that's when some iteration is expected to deal with that. Tossing in some maybe cards I see across variants that are common. Most are taking popular sites recommendations and pushing those around; but I don't think those are as strong. Just recollect if there are no creatures on the board and control is heavy; then you gotta have a backup plan. I'm dropping some cards in the maybe pile to mention them as options to swap around.
Ive added Gideon's Intervention thanks to a helpful tip. I recently had to cut the Dynavolt Tower and Deadlock Trap combo because it was not consistent. Killing planeswalkers is job one still though. Instead I just fetch two Sorcerous Spyglass and if the Lamewatch shows up I just need be ready and hit them fast and start naming them with Lost Legacy and Gideon's Intervention. I think Urza's Ruinous Blast is the first to name, then Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, then Oath of Teferi. It is tempting to main deck Lost Legacy but that might be touch aggressive. I still want them to burn though! I also recently added a fiendish card in that I think might be pretty amazing: Primal Amulet
. Cloning your spells is nice. Drawing insane numbers of cards, gaining insane life, or doing anything twice for free in this deck is...gratifying. I think this is a much, much, better option than Orazca Relic in this deck. The addition of Torment of Hailfire to the sideboard will potentially crush the Gatewatch if cast under Primal Wellspring and should be used as a finishing blow, or as a way to wipe out Planeswalkers en masse. If they counterspell it, who gives a solid damn, bc there's a COPY OF IT right behind it. That takes some time to setup, but it will work.
Azor's Gateway
is a non-starter. It just removes too many useful cards in this deck; and we're already running a tight ship. Giving Profane Procession
a spin, but again, it might not work out as planned.
Primal Amulet
is now a staple. I just verified with a judge that this card also impacts Sanguine Sacrament which is great. So, you must declare whatever your casting Sanguine Sacrament for in exact numbers, then the Primal Amulet
kicks in and reduces the cost. So, if you cast it for X=6, you can cast it for the same cost as X=4. So, for six mana you'd get 12 life, 12 cards, and overwhelming power.
Update 2: I've made some more changes swapping things in and out of the sideboard. I played against some aggro decks in variation to test. Red, Green, and Mono Black, and knights. You'll see these decks a lot, but you can handle them in various ways. Green Stompy comes out hard and fast; especially the variation I built called Stompy Daniels. My take on stompy: you can kill someone in 3 to 5 turns. The current variations running on other sites take much longer. Those matchups are tough; but can be soldiered through. I put Settle the Wreckage back in the main deck to try and mitigate.
Update 3: Ok so, after real field testing by Firelord we came into some very good changes. Treasure Map
got great mileage; so I added that back in. I think the Primal Amulet
is a good long term play, but we need some immediate card draw. Those helped him he stated; so we go with it. Settle the Wreckage is back in force, and we added Cast Out back into the final build. So far, so good. The Grand Prix Bologna, Grand Prix Columbus, and SCG Atlanta are this weekend. Someone there in those three events will likely play this deck or a variant of it. Planeswalkers will also show up in force. When the Grand Prix Dallas happens I fully anticipate a well rounded, and well built final version of the deck to hit the table. This might be that version; who knows? Time will tell, but good luck conquering FNM Folks!
Update 4: Field of Ruin has been added to take care of the occasional land threat. Just one. And in the sideboard; it seems that Knight of Malice shuts Superfriends DOWN. They cant touch it!!
Update 5: Big thanks to all the people that helped contribute to ideas; and for the upvotes, follows, and folder additions. This deck has hit #1 on TappedOut and I'm thankful for that. I hope anyone that likes it wins a bunch of games!
Update 6: Heard back from Seth AKA SaffronOlive and MTG Goldfish, and he stated he liked the Sanguine Sacrament additions. I think he'll be featuring a Lich's Mastery deck in the near future!
Update 7: Odd that I have to archive comments on this site, but they are important to view, it covers the Black Summer of 1996, which I did an extensive write up on. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/blackhole-sun-1/discussion/
Update 8: Deck creation date was 4/23/2018. Just to clear that info up; at 3am in the morning.
Update 9: Reaction to "Mardu Mastery" video on MTG Goldfish - I'm luke warm on the idea. Gideon of the Trials is annoying, but I'll say can be added for sure if you wish. The splashing red for Glorious End is ok I suppose, but not entirely my cup of tea. The deck has some legs, but Karn, Scion of Urza has absolutely no place in it all. Running one copy of Sanguine Sacrament is really frustrating, I don't approve as it is a Braingeyser in standard, but might have to be done - reluctantly. The rest is largely up to the player to decide if he likes Azor's Gate over Treasure Map
and splashing red. More variants will arise, but this one I consider 75% okay, 25% bad. I'll say this much though: we're closer and closer still to a Black Summer, and I am happy about that. The truth of it is, Lich's Mastery decks can defeat Planeswalker/Superfriends decks very provably.
UPDATE 10: I HAVE KILLED TEFERI.http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/lichwatch/#c3311202
