This surprisingly-decent tempo deck has a weird habit of playing against Ox Tribal decks, which might or might not have something to do with
Transmogrifying Wand
. Since the Wand is colorless, packs 3 1-mana removal spells in one card with an upfront investment of 3 mana, and leaves behind some adorable Oxen tokens, Green/Blue feels like a perfect fit. Simic tends to be lacking hard removal but not lacking in bounce spells, which suddenly become under-costed hard removal against tokens. Add in shenanigans like
Crafty Cutpurse
&
Flood of Tears
and you're bound to have a fun time with Oxen abound, and maybe even some nice value & tempo plays that lead to a win.
CREATURES
Exclusion Mage
: Can come down early against aggro to cool their jets a bit while you get your Wand set up. Once the Wand is on the table, the Mage becomes a Blue
Ravenous Chupacabra
.
Frilled Mystic
: The Wand's cheap activation cost allows for a pretty draw-go style of play, so what else would you rather have for a tempo deck than a counterspell on a stick?
Crafty Cutpurse
: Actually a 5 CMC creature that destroys one of their creatures & gives you a 2/4 token. Also, you know that you're going to surprise the hell out of someone playing something like
Sarkhan the Masterless
by having this in your mainboard.
Hydroid Krasis
: While both sides' Oxen stare peacefully at eachother since no one can attack, the Krasis takes to the skies & provides some card advantage & life gain. It also doubles the price of the deck, which of course by definition means that the deck is now twice as good.
NONCREATURES
Syncopate
: Classic tempo counterspell that fits nicely on the curve here since there is a lot going on at the 3-4 drop slots.
Expel from Orazca
: Adds in some extra bounce for dealing with Oxen or resetting
Teferi, Time Raveler
so your draw-go deck can play Magic again & counter him the next time around. And again, being a two-drop is important here.
Growth Spiral
: Nice early ramp & cantrip. By hitting 4 mana on turn 3, we can do things playing & activating a Wand or holding back for a Mystic.
Incubation / Incongruity
: Unlike most of the time you see this card, it's mainly here for the latter side, although Incubation can be useful for digging for Krasis's or Mystics. I've made a rule for myself when it comes to building around a particular card: always find something that can do a similar job, since you're not going to get the feature card every game. Incongruity is a one-shot Wand, but comes at the job with instant speed & exiling to cover some bases the Wand doesn't.
Sinister Sabotage
: More counterspells, just to make sure our opponent gets the message that Oxen are the only creatures allowed to them.
Transmogrifying Wand
: I mean, just look at it. Simply majestic.
Flood of Tears
: Not only is this a Blue wrath against the enemy's Ox brigade, but it also resets all of our creatures with ETB or casting triggers (AKA all of them). Oh yeah, and THREE FRESH NEW COUNTERS FOR THE WAND. You know that's the permanent we're putting back out there first, if only to troll.
