If you hate Ugin, this deck is for you. This is a competitive flash-speed control deck that gets aggressive when the coast clears.
14 Counterspells so he never lands.
3 cards to kill him directly if he does land.
Flash Creatures to nail him to the grave in case he did land. Lochmere Serpent
Erebos's Intervention to make sure he never escapes
Mystic Sanctuary to get these back
Omen and Into the Story and Spectral Sailor to keep digging for more
Fae of Wishes for even more answers:
Unmoored Ego to get them gone forever
Mass Manipulation if you give up and decide to let him live as your slave.
And a pile of removal to deal with all the other cards.
Deck constitution
- Mostly instant-speed interaction: Bounce, counter, kill.
- High value creatures you can play without tapping out.
- Hate cards to wreck certain strategies.
- DRAW 4
- Win!
Cards
The mill-a-bit plan
The best draw spell and best answer spell in the game:
Into the Story - draw 4 for ! Instant!
Drown in the Loch - counter or kill anything for !
But these only work if we mill a few cards first. So our enablers are
Didn't Say Please, Thought Collapse - 7 counterspells, and
Overwhelmed Apprentice 1/2 Scry 2 for . GREAT throw-away blocker that sets up your early game plan.
More Removal
Tyrant's Scorn = Kill, or Bounce any creature (rescue your best or slow down their best)
Heartless Act = Kill many creatures
Extinction Event = Sweep tokens or whatever cards are causing problems.
Erebos's Intervention = life gain or grave clearance. Good
Blast Zone = great answer for hyper-aggro decks, useful for other decks in a pinch.
More Creatures
Knight of the Ebon Legion - The 1 drop that grows! Fine turn 1, great turn 10! Because our deck plays at instant speed, this is more often a blocker than attacker. Opponents will avoid attacking so they don't get destroyed by it.
Brazen Borrower = Bounce (soon to be followed by a counter spell) and a 3/1 flash flyer
Lochmere Serpent = Unblockable, undying game ender
Shark Typhoon = uncounterable instant flyer.
Murderous Rider = destroy walker, lifelinker.
Yorion, Sky Nomad = honestly not cast that often! If you need a big blocker or have the game under control. Can reset Narset or Apprentice.
Hate
Grafdigger's Cage - foils Escape, Cat-Oven, Gyruda, Winota, Lukka, Lurris, and a dozen other commonly played cards.
Narset, Parter of Veils - cripples cycling, hurts a bunch of other game plans.
Game Plan
Think of this deck as a control deck. Figure out what your opponent is doing and play your cards to neutralize them. These are the big decks. All of them are a fair fight for us. Anything that isn't one of these archetypes is generally easy-street.
Red Aggro: Pretty good, but play tight. Want: One-drops who can profitably block their one-drops, two-mana removal. Counterspells to stop the problem cards: Cavalcade, Embercleave, Torbran. Cage is good to stop the Phoenix. Yorion can be a huge roadblock. Get aggressive whenever you are ahead in the game.
Fires: A true grind, but we win the long game if we keep the board under control. Ideally have 2 creatures early to answer a turn 3 Teferi so you can counter a turn 4 fires. (Don't worry about countering turn 8 fires.) Lukka need not be a problem, just kill whatever he targets. Watch out for Yorion value and Elspeth Conquers Death. Sharkcycling can bring needed offensive power.
Cycling: Very hard. Want Narset to disable the cycle, Extinction Event to clear tokens, blockers to slow down attack, targeted removal for creatures, cage for Lurris, and Erebos's to empty the graveyard. But ESPECIALLY, counter every single flare. (don't counter anything else). AND, get aggressive where possible. Borrowers, sharks, Yorion.
Adventures: Usually favorable. At all costs kill Edgewall (or neuter with Narset) and counter Lucky Charm. If you do that the game should be easy. Counter adventures (or remove the target) and you won't have to worry about the creature coming after.
Aristocrats: Want Grafdigger's Cage. If not in the opening hand, scry aggressively to get it. If you don't, counter the Ovens. If you don't, get aggressive to end the game quickly. Plenty of removal, especially for Priest, Lurris, and Mayhem dude.
Simic Flash: Favorable. Stick a T1 threat and maintain your advantage. Doing nothing is fine if they aren't ahead. Force them to play on their turn so when they are tapped out you can stick a nasty threat. Remember, we have removal and they don't, so generally don't fear being tapped out as we can fix things after, besides which we'll probably have board advantage.
Gyruda: Cage. Or counter all Gyrudas. Or Extinction Event after allowing them to have fun.
Winota: Exactly the same. Counter/kill Winota before combat. Pick off other things as resources permit.
Mutate: Watch out for the big guns, and watch out for hexproof targets. Counter, or kill the target, or let the mutate land and then kill the combo.
Temur Flash: DO NOT let them get Wilderness Reclamation!
