Inspiration
An old gimmick abusing Spellweaver Helix to get infinite turns. The concept is not my own (from a ccg mag article circa. 2006, possibly Scrye), but this particular build is my original take on it. By far, the most expensive deck I own and actually play (the Black Lotus, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet and Time Walk are all from the Beta Collector’s Edition box set). Let me tell you, playing Intuition targeting three of these is amazing when you have Reconstruction and/or Recall in your hand.
Strategy
Don’t let that competitive vs. casual meter mislead you, this deck wins. The infinite turn combo is acquired very rapidly, as early as turn two! Even with a mulligan, I’ve gotten it to go off on turn five. It’s all about seeing what pieces are missing from your hand/graveyard and tutoring/intuiting for them. The very solid mana base often makes this possible right from the draw.
Relearn + Spellweaver Helix
and Mind Peel
+
Spellweaver Helix
are crucial to this deck working. You want Time Walk or Time Stretch to be imprinted along with either of these two. Plenty of low cost “search” cards help to get these out of your library early. To get Relearn or Mind Peel out of your library, use Intuition. It’s the perfect card to get one in your hand to cast and two in the graveyard to imprint on Spellweaver Helix.
Narset's Reversal is the latest addition to this deck. It’s basically a two mana cost buyback, which is useful in building to your infinite turns combo, and can even work within an infinite combo using Relearn or Recall. It’s also great to play after Recall as it saves it from being exiled. On my turn two victory, I used Narset on Relearn once so I didn’t have to target the Relearn in my graveyard to keep the combo going. Instead I targeted Vampiric Tutor and snagged Jace, Wielder of Mysteries from my library for the win!
Time Stretch is costly, so get it into your graveyard with Mind Peel, Intuition or Recall. It can be very useful in team-play (this recently won an Emperor game for us) as it gives target player two turns after this one. Try to have an extra turn for yourself on the stack so you can keep the infinite turns going.
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and Darksteel Reactor are your victory cards. Don’t play them until you have your infinite turns combo working, and be mindful of the number of cards left in your library.
You may be questioning my choice of Lobotomy over Duress (a popular target for the helix in other decks). While Lobotomy costs more to cast, it is also more versatile than Duress. I recommend holding it as well unless you have multiple Helixes available or again, have your infinite turn combo working. The peace of mind knowing what’s in your opponent’s hand is great when you go to cast one of your victory cards. Hold onto Mana Short for similar peace of mind.
Notes
Ancestral Memories could work nicely in this deck. Its mana cost is somewhat of an issue, but it could actually speed things up if you’re holding the right cards.
Cards in the decklist showing FOIL versions are key cards.
