Who doesn't like big, splashy sorceries?
Back when Seasons Past was released, I really wanted to play it, and the deck that Finkel and his team played back than felt just awesome for me (Just google GB Seasons Past if you're interested in it.). I really just couldn't afford the expensive parts for it.
Than, in Amonkhet, Approach of the Second Sun was printed, and I felt like I really wanted to play it, too. The shells I saw for it online didn't appeal to me though.
Well, fast forward: I pulled two Approach of the Second Sun and was able to trade for two Seasons Past.
And after playing a playset of Rite of Razaketh for a way too long time, I got the threefold of awesomeness for this list: one Mastermind's Acquisition, two Dark Petition and two Final Parting. Thus, I present to you:
Seasons' Approach
A stall and control deck that abuses the synergy between Seasons Past and these exact three cards to drag out the game long enough to win by double casting Approach of the Second Sun out of nowhere.
How does the deck play?
You usually start by playing lands until your opponent starts attacking. We have four different fog spells with a total of eleven cards. Each of the three has its special uses: Ethereal Haze is the best fog we have, as it even can prevent ability damage like from Guttersnipe and similar cards. Repel the Abominable can only prevent non-human damage, but in exchange, it also prevents non-combat damage, which is great against the deck's biggest weakness: Burn. Haze of Pollen only prevents combat damage, but has the mayor upside of having cycle. Then, there is Thwart the Enemy as a CMC-3 fog for more fogging-action with Seasons Past. These eleven fogs should be enough to prevent some attacks before you can start cycling your main cards. But it's sometimes better to just take the first small attack(s) to save your fogs for more dangerous situations. One final piece of protection is Witchbane Orb. It helps by preventing burn, targeted discard and even edict effects.
You can start casting removal as soon as you're at two mana:
The deck has two Abrupt Decay, one Mortality Spear and two Settle the Wreckage. There's is a reason for playing some of the bigger removal spells here: Seasons Past wants as many different cmcs as possiblle, and cmc 3 and 4 are pretty empty except the removals, so once you can start casting Seasons Past, you'll always be able to recurr one of these spells as long as they are in your graveyard.
While preventing damage and removing threats, you'll get the chance to cast some copies of Gift of Paradise. It does two things the deck really wants: Ramp and lifegain. These three life don't seem much, but they can often make the difference between dying a turn before going off and actually going off.
Once you get to enough mana to cast Final Parting or Dark Petition while saving some for a fog (or if you are controlling Wilderness Reclamation), you can start going nuts:
Cast one of your tutors, search for Seasons Past, pass the turn and use your fog mana to stay alive. Cast Seasons Past the next turn to recurr something between 2 and 7 cards. When using Final Parting, putting the right card to grave can heavily push you towards winning the game: A Nissa's Renewal rarely is a bad choice here, but either Erebos's Intervention, Lost Legacy or even Mastermind's Acquisition can win you the game when tutored up at the right time.
Rinse and repeat until you have minimum 14 mana available and two pieces of Final Parting, Mastermind's Acquisition or Dark Petition in hand. Search for two Approach of the Second Sun and pass the turn with mana and defenses up. Cast both approaches the next turn to win the game.
Keep in mind that your opponents will start aiming everything they have at you once they get what you're planning to do, so the combo should come as unexpected as possible and you should still be able to cast a fog if you have to wait a turn to win.
Also remember that you don't have to reveal what your searching up with any of your black tutor cards, as there are no restrictions on what to search for.
Important things about using Seasons Past:
Always return as many Fogs as possible (can't be more than three, though), and don't forget to also recurr Evolving Wilds as your cmc 0 card. And never forget to recurr either Final Parting, Mastermind's Acquisition or Dark Petition. The game is basically over if you forget that (unless you already have a copy in hand). It isn't always easy to decide between your cmc 4 spells, but as you usually want the board to be as clear as possible, Settle the Wreckage is a great choice in most situations. If your opponent relies on planeswalkers a lot, Vraska's Contempt should be the weapon of choice. Casting multiple Lost Legacy per game can already be game winning against combo or control opponents, as the first cast usually gives you a good idea what their deck is about, so picking it apart is no problem from there on.
Battle at the Bridge is insane in many situations: Removing a threat when having big mana up is great, but the sheer amount of life you can gain off of it can give you the turns you need to win even if it targets some wheeny at their side of the battlefield.
Nissa's Renewal looks super weird, but having access to it makes your Seasons Past cycles a lot more impressive. It ramps you towards the 14+ mana you want while giving you 7 life. Against some opponents, that is a damage output of three or more turns, and even against ramp or burn, you gain at least one additional turn.
Wilderness Reclamation is another incredible card for the deck. Where we had to wait to cast a tutor before, we can now cast a turn 4 reclamation, untap and fog, and can cast a tutor on curve while still having defenses up.
Although the deck is three coloured, it does play 15 basics. This is because you want to abuse both Evolving Wilds and Nissa's Renewal as much as possible. It isn't that problematic as well, as most of your spells don't have any fancy mana costs. A great side effect of this is that the deck is pretty cheap to build. Always a good thing in my opinion.
The latest addition is one copy of Veil of Summer. This is a great tutor target when we need it, but won't come up too often in games where we don't. It's great when a powerful card that fixes a deck's biggest weakness is released and even has a name that's on flavour (because, as you might know, summer is a season).
You should play this, if...
...you like big splashy sorceries and a very unusual playstyle. Seasons Past is a very special kind of card, and combining it with many high-impact spells makes for impressive lines of play. Also, once the deck is rolling, it isn't that easy anymore to take you down. A little cruel for sure, but it's so damn funny to have your opponents increasingly wondering what the hell you're doing while you're already winning.
You shouldn't play this, if...
Until recently, the answer was if you mostly play against burn. But after adding three Blessed Alliance, three Gift of Paradise one Battle at the Bridge and three Renewed Faith, I'm not that sure if that answer is correct anymore. Instead, the deck tends to play pretty passive, so you won't be doing much except draw, play a land, pass, fog, removal until you're at five or six mana. If this isn't your playstyle, keep your hands of the deck, you propably won't like it.
Some funny things that happended to me while playing the deck:
A way older version of this deck VS. some Niv-Mizzet EDH from a player who just before that had some problems with beating me with his Mardu Pyromancer list (he did it still because he tore my hand apart, which lead me to adding two Nephalia Academy):
After I nuked his field for like the third or fourth time with Day of Judgment, he cast Void Winnower to prevent me from casting another Seasons Past. I cast Rite of Razaketh and my first Approach of the Second Sun. He was a little annoyed. He still won this game by going nuts with his Saheeli Rai, which I forgot to remove...I heavily learned from this and the game was still a lot of fun.
Against a friend's Angels-and-Devils-dual-tribal: I was ready to cast my double approach the next turn. He cast Iona, Shield of Emeria choosing green to hinder me from casting another Seasons Past. On my turn, I double-cast Approach. We had a good laugh.
After more than a year of not playing with the deck, I was able to jam a game with it:
Player 1: A mono-white Equipment aggro with Sunbond
Player 2: An absolutely savage Naya Token deck that used Warstorm Surge, Luminarch Ascension, Beastmaster Ascension and other powerful cards to deal insane amounts of damage.
Player 3: An M20 give-away starter kit in Black and green
Player 4: Me, playing this deck
Player 1 and 3 put out some early aggression. The Naya player ramped and build her board. I played lands and landed a turn 4 Wilderness Reclamation. Players 1 to 3 hit each other and sometimes me. I started fogging at like turn 9. Players 1 and 3 unfortunately couldn't do lots against the aforementioned engine of player 2. was basically able to prevent lethal Warstorm Surge triggers twice with Repel the Abominable and nuked a lethal attack of her with settle the wreackage. Another lethal attack for 32 damage was defended with Erebos's Intervention. My hearbeat went up that much, I loved that round and I love this deck. The fact that my win con of double casting Approach of the Second Sun actually worked is just the cherry on top. This was such an intense game, I adored every second of it. The secret star of that round: Erebos's Intervention. It has gained me like 40 life.
...to be continued (hopefully)
I lately changed the format to "modern", not to say "this is a competitive modern deck", but instead to keep the suggestions to modern and hopefully get some more advice on it. Thus, the "casual" hub has been added as well.
Do you like the deck? Feel free to leave a comment and/or a +1. You don't? Or you think you know ways to improve it? Let me know! Until then: May the second sun be with you!
