Drogskol Reaver doesn't look all that good here. He's too much mana for something that can kick the bucket without doing anything. With the bounce effect Frost Titan is supreme. I used to play a deck like this pre-rotation and he was one of my favorites. Any reason why you chose to leave out the Stonehorn Dignitary lock down combo? Also, because you have bunches of mana would Disperse be better than vapor snag? It can deal with swords and just about anything that's giving you problems. How does this run against other FNM builds? I love venser so it would be cool to know if he was still viable.

Ohh also, with the large amount of land you have I'd suggest a couple Ghost Quarters to deal with Moorland Haunt/Kessig Wolf Run/Inkmoth Nexus.

Yeah, I'm working on my sideboard tonight, and I'm thinking things like:

More Revoke Existence, some Disperse, some Stonehorn Dignitary, and maybe some more counter magic.

I've only really playtested it against Delver so far (I slapped this together yesterday, kind of on a whim). But, it's had a pretty good showing against them.

I've tried things like the Stonehorn Dignitary lock down before, because I love me some Venser action... but the decks have never performed well at FNM.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=10390 This was my "inspiration" for this deck.

If you're running Drogskol Reaver, you should consider Pristine Talisman. Those two are a good combo alone, but bouncing the talisman with Venser makes it more awesome. :)

Venser, the Sojourner is best planeswalker! And I'm a big fan of Drogskol Reaver, though I get why most people don't like him.

Adding Black in is an interesting idea with Venser, do you have much trouble hitting BBB for Massacre Wurm? Because I image that could be troublesome.

A couple things to consider: Try getting Mana Leak in there. So much easier to use than Dissipate, and often works just as well. Also, you may want to go 2x Go for the Throat and 1x Doom Blade because of Wurmcoil Engine. Many control decks run at least 1-of and it can be a huge pain to deal with.

Also, IMO, Think Twice and Forbidden Alchemy are much better than Ponder in this sort of deck. You're able to leave mana open for counterspells, and when they don't do anything, you get some cards (not to mention the interaction between Unburial Rites and Alchemy!)

I actually made a deck off of that same article (I then got smashed by everything I played against, so I made some revisions). Check it out: UW Venser Control!

Anyway, enough of my rambling, +1!

Instead of -1 Go for the Throat for a mainboard Doom Blade to deal with Wurmcoil Engine, I'd be more likely to run another Revoke Existence mainboard, so they aren't getting their tokens from the Wurmcoil.

I'm going to try switching some stuff around tonight, and seeing where it gets me. Ponder has been very clutch for me in this deck. I had a situation last night where I had Venser, the Sojourner out, and my opponent was in a better board state then me. I had a Day of Judgment in hand, and was able to play it right then, but decided against it. I hit a Ponder, and used it to setup Plains, Venser, the Sojourner, Karn Liberated. I tossed the plains on the battlefield, bounced somethings with Venser, the Sojourner, and passed turn, to let him swing everything at Venser, and also aggro up the field more. I lost Venser, but on my turn, I dropped out my next Venser, the Sojourner. bounced the Snapcaster Mage I had in play, then played my Day of Judgment -- yes, I was pretty fat on mana at this point in the game -- and after that, he just couldn't catch back up.

Fair enough. Revoke Existence is a bit slow IMO. Since you have to play it on your turn, you give your opponent confidence to play bigger threats (since you've already tapped down a bit of mana, same thing goes for Ponder). But I suppose the choice is ultimately yours.

Sounds like it was a rather exciting game! I'm sure your opponent was super happy about the second Venser, the Sojourner :P.

Yuck, this is brutal if it gets going I'm sure...how consistent is it?

Oh, and you may want to find room with Volation Reins in the sideboard against opposing walkers' and late game control bombs.

A friend of mine once used it with Venser back in the old standard and it was just as slow then, so that is something you'll just have to get used to I'm afraid.

You could always go for Geist of Saint Traft in the sideboard to, plus you could always add in the ol' Sundial of the Infinite interactions with both Venser and Traftys' angel's.

It's wins pretty consistently, the game just takes forever. I could probably squeeze a Volition Reins or two into the deck, some how. I'll have to look into it.

not to be knit picky, but i believe the term bounce is generally used to describe something being sent back to the hand (Unsummon/AEther Adept) whereas Venser, the Sojourner's ability is more of a blink mechanic. sorry, it just bothered me.

I really like your deck a lot. Just saying. :)

You are indeed correct, sir. "Bounce" is slang for "return to a player's hand."

Unfortunately, as I sit here digging through the various "magic slang lexicons" online, I can't find anyone of them that mentions "Blink." Is "Blinking" removing the permanent, then immediately returning it, ala Cloudshift? Or any effect that removes the permanent, and returns it at some point?

Also, not to nitpick, but it's nitpick. :)

Cloudshift, and similar spells, are often called "Flickering", where a permanent leaves and immediately returns.

"Blinking" is pretty exclusive to Venser, the Sojourner, though it applies to most delayed "Flicker" effects (so things that don't return immediately).

Blink can be used to describe either of those two effects, but Flicker is more specific to the immediate return of the permanent.

Makes sense. Almost brought up the "Flicker" thing in that last post, as well. But, I was already starting to confuse myself. Thanks for clearing it all up, UniTheDino!

No problem.