Hazoret's Favor is another way to give haste in red... Not turn 4 though. I'm underwhelmed by Opt. It's like a cycle card with scry 1. Censor is a better choice in my opinion. Will be interested to see how consistently the combo works!

Thanks :)

Yeah I'm set on the sideboard, it's currently cards I'm not using in other decks or are new with Ixalan that I want to try. Opt is basically a cycle card with Scry like you said, and Censor is just a regular cycle card that can be used as a counter so it probably is just better. The only defense I have for Opt is that its only purpose is to replace itself in your opening hand and the scry makes it slightly more efficient at getting to that "perfect setup". Otherwise, initial testing is showing a lot of promise and I haven't killed myself with Experiment yet, but I think it'll actually be pretty funny when it happens.

Oops, I meant to say that I'm NOT set on the sideboard. Still waiting for that "edit" button >.<

Through testing, the current build is about 10% turn 4, 25% turn 5, 35% turn 6, and 30% turn 7 or later. I haven't taken more than 10 damage from Experiment either, so I think I'm ready for paper testing against actual opponents. This has a lot of potential for a left field winner. I like it, the risk of killing yourself and being an all-in strategy that makes it vulnerable somehow makes it seem fair. It's not fair, though.

I don't know if I'm sold on Gate to the Afterlife when your creature count is so low. You have to discard or mill more than half of the creatures in your deck to activate it, which means you need to discard or mill (on average) a little over half of your deck.

I'd be open to another artifact suggestion. With Reuinion, Showdown, and Argument this does fill up the graveyard really quickly. I'd also be open to more creatures, probably artifact creatures for double duty. At least Gate has an impending purpose if it's not dealt with.

Actually I suppose Combustible Gearhulk works. Either puts things in the graveyard while doing some damage or draws you into more cards. If you don't have a Swallower in the Graveyard you can use Gift to bring back the hulk and get the ETB trigger.

I'll keep running the numbers, but Combustible could actually just kill someone too with 6 and 7 cost cards.

Honestly I haven't run into the problem yet, but I can see the concern. I don't really want low cost artifacts because Madcap needs to hit payoff cards. I can try swapping them out and see what happens.

Great deck! But I have done the Fleet/Sanity combo using champion of rhonas to cheat out the swallower as early as turn 4 with some mana dorks in a simic version. If you want to make it even more janky and fast add red for bloodlust inciter. Overall love this combo awesome synergy

Great deck! But I have done the Fleet/Sanity combo using champion of rhonas to cheat out the swallower as early as turn 4 with some mana dorks in a simic version. If you want to make it even more janky and fast add red for bloodlust inciter. Overall love this combo awesome synergy

How about Minister of Inquiries, out on turn 1, then use him t2 to try and pop the fish in the grave?

markfid,

I don't currently have any 1 drops, and the only thing I could otherwise do is cycle a Compelling Argument. I don't think I'm short of ways to get the Swallower into the graveyard though. I might like this guy better if it was a looter instead, like tap and discard a card to draw a card. I have no other means of generating energy so this is a two use self mill and otherwise a chump blocker. Since the main strategy of the deck can win all at once in a single turn with just one combat phase I'm not sure this helps enough.

All that said, I will keep it and other one drops in mind after I can actually get in some play testing against other decks in paper. I pre-ordered the whole list for $20 which is a bargain for a fun all-in starter deck. I'm sure I'll find that some things won't work as well as I'd like them to and make changes over time.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I want to run this. How much is it?

Currently if you needed the entire main and side board it is $45 in paper or 11TIX on Magic Online.

I got the pieces I was missing for $20 and it has been worth it :)

Thanks!

How has this deck done?

The important thing to remember is that it is an all-in strategy so if someone happens to have a good way to shut you down or has something faster that you can't shut down you aren't left with many options until you sideboard. That said, the win usually happens one of two ways, the first being the insta-mill. The second being a Gearhulk kill with high CMC cards dropped to the graveyard. The awesome thing is that both come out of nowhere so it's difficult to avoid on your opponents part, but both of them require a bit of luck. That's what makes it fun to play, there is a lot at risk but the payoff is awesome.

Since the Drake gets stronger the more you dump cards away it does end up being a big threat in the air, and the Entity with Prowess can get in goods hits as well. Both of them get stronger when returned to the battlefield with Gift, so you are somewhat persistent there when things die to removal.

Showdown being repeatable with the Entity putting it back on top of your library can also give you some nice damage, it's just risky because you might run out of cards and mill yourself which is not only hilarious but another gamble that fits the theme so well.

The biggest problem with the deck is it's lack of interaction with the other side of the board pre-sideboard, and depending on what you are playing against that can be an issue. It's able to pull it off without too much protection because short of a counterspell against a turn 4 or 5 Madcap Experiment there isn't much to get in your way. The sideboard does allow you to bring in flexible cards like Abrade and early counters like Spell Pierce and late counter like Countervailing Winds. The reason they aren't in the main board is that with an all-in explosive strategy you want every card in the main board to get you to that combo as fast and as reliably as possible. The safest thing to do would probably be to move 4 Spell Pierce to the main board and make sure to wait for turn 5 to run your Experiment so you can protect it with a Counter, but a lot of decks right now seem to want to spend all of their mana on curve to aggro down their opponent with all of these tribal creatures instead of using a typical tempo/control approach that leads into bigger 3-5 drops. If your opponent has a more streamlined deck that isn't going to allow you enough time to do that or has too much disruption, you can change gears and add in more interaction to give yourself time to make it happen or try to win with your other creatures. The nice thing is that whether you get lucky and get the nut draw for a turn 4 win or have to pull it off on turn 12, it's still going to have the same result. It's all a matter of surviving long enough by disrupting your opponent's win conditions until they run out of gas and you can take the game.

I have not played against enough real opponents in this new Standard to know exactly the right cards for the sideboard and probably won't for a few more weeks of playing, but this deck is all about pulling off a completely unexpected finish and having fun getting there and that it does incredibly well.

Hey, love this deck! Been playing with it for a while. Question / comment - what is the thinking behind Inventor's Fair being in the list? You need to control 3 artifacts in order to sac it and get, I assume, God-Pharaoh's Gift? Never worked for me, as you only have Gifts and Gearhulks as Artifacts.

I'm going to make up an answer because I don't have one lol... let's see... misdirect your opponent?

Actually I think at one point I had a higher artifact count because of Madcap and it was another means of getting Gift out and then after trimming down I never removed it. I ran into issues while building where Madcap seemed to hit less useful artifacts like Prophetic Prisms that I was trying out for draw, color fixing, and "brakes" to avoid just dying. I eventually opted to just go for high value targets like the Gearhulks and the Gifts. The gamble is worth it as other small targets made the combo way less reliable.

I'm liking Field of Ruin because it can kill Deserts like Ramunap Ruins as well as dual lands without really slowing yourself down too much. I think I'll swap that in now that you've pointed out what I've overlooked :)

Thanks, glad you are liking the deck!

Hey, The more I play this deck, the more I like it! It is the surprise element that is most rewarding :)

However, I'd like to improve its' consistency though. And I think it has to do a lot with perfecting the sideboard. So if someone else is playtesting this, please share your ideas.

One takeaway from my games. I have really struggled against decks playing white as they run pesky enchantments such as Cast Out. It is really annoying when an opponent would take at least one piece of your combo to ruin the whole thing or delay it further. So I'm considering running several copies of River's Rebuke.Perilous Voyage might be a cheaper option as well. It should slow an opponent down and get your combo pieces back at least for the same turn, which might be enough to win. Will test more, and come back to report.

All good points.

My sideboards for new decks with new set releases are usually a hot mess until I get more familiar with what people are doing (especially with a rotation) so I agree. A big issue would be hitting what you need, dropping a Fleet Swallower and then having it hit by Cast Out or Vraska's Contempt before you can swing with it. Ixalan's Binding would be even worse to have hit your God-Pharaoh's Gift because you wouldn't be allowed to play another one.

That's where playing against white (probably less concerned about black) I'd probably wait until I have plenty of mana to protect myself from those situations with a counter spell. A turn 5 attempt is probably safe to fire off with a Spell Pierce in hand, but waiting to use Countervailing Winds a few turns later might be better. Or I should probably just be running a good old fashioned Negate. Doesn't hit creatures but the majority of my concerns are non-creature anyway.

Perilous Voyage is a solid choice and probably the best way to get those enchantments off the field and take your stuff back, even Unsummon works against Angel of Condemnation or Angel of Sanctions. I like the idea of having access to those. Opt is a basically a way to run 56 cards in a deck and Evolving Wilds effectively makes it 52 so I thought it would help thin it out, but Voyage would be much better. Probably don't need that many Sweltering Suns either. Those would be completely dead cards against Dinosaurs which look to be the top pick (though probably still pretty good against the other 3 tribes).

I'll reconfigure with those changes and see how that goes. Again, thanks for the support and really happy that you are enjoying the deck :)

I feel like there is enough discarding happening to justify dropping in a Drake Haven as a backup win condition with Flying tokens. Just a thought, there might not be enough mana left over to make it worthwhile with Fateful Showdown, but 4 mana for a Cathartic Reunion to dump 2 cards you either don't need or want in the graveyard, draw 3 new cards, and create 2 2/2 Flying Drake tokens seems like a pretty alright move. Gonna try one.

Why only 3 Fraying? Wouldn't it be more consistent to have 4?

Also, you might want to edit your description to have the changes.

Finally, Aether Meltdown is a very good card, although it might hurt the all-in plan.

I went with 3 Fraying Sanity because you only need one to make it work and having multiples doesn't really change anything. I started with 4 and found myself drawing it too often when I needed another piece instead. There is more than enough draw to make sure you hit one if you didn't start with one in your opening hand.

I'll probably just drop the sideboard description for now until I have it sorted out and can rewrite it. So far it looks like the Rebuke and Voyage will be all stars, especially against white which is the biggest weakness.