Card choices:
AEtherize
AEtherspouts
Moment's Peace
- Much better fogs. Usually setting your opponent back a turn or two at least. This tempo is invaluable. Your usage may vary, my metas are heavy on big dumb creatures.
Alchemist's Refuge - Nothing like dropping an end of turn Defense of the Heart. The deck is usually fine on colours, so there's no downside.
Aphetto Alchemist - Blowout with Illusionist's Bracers, Helps Arcanis the Omnipotent and Beguiler of Wills. Accelerates if you have a mana rock. He's on the chopping block because those all depend on having the right cards.
Arcane Lighthouse
- As with Alchemist's Refuge I'm not overly concerned about the colorless mana, and this ability really helps when we miss countering a hexproof commander.
Arcanis the Omnipotent - The big guy. In a wizard themed deck you can't not run him. He draws so many cards, and is one of our only ways of netting a positive with Mind Over Matter which isn't always win-more.
Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Oh how I wish she had G in her casting cost. She is a major engine in this deck.
Seedborn Muse
and Prophet of Kruphix let you draw your library in a round or two. Murkfiend Liege is a possibility if you really like this interaction, but I don't run it. The wording allows us to tap sick creatures, and since it's her ability Illusionist's Bracers just goes nuts.
Beguiler of Wills - Most of the time this will just draw a counter or spot removal. When it does stick though, wow. We have the power in this deck to untap her quite a bit and end up controlling a lot of the board.
Birthing Pod - This is just a degenerate combo enabler. You're never doing something with this that won't cause the table to groan.
Brainstorm - I'm not sure about this one. I don't have as many fetchlands as I'd like, so I'm not getting full value from putting cards on top. But it's very good at what it does, sculpting your hand.
Cavern of Souls - This will be on wizards 95% of the time. The only other case is Illusion if you need to get a Palinchron loop going with no interruption.
Counterspell - The classic. It's a 1-for-1 in a multplayer game, which usually isn't that great, but sometimes you need to stop someone, or make sure your own spells resolve.
Cryptic Command - So much value. This avoids Counterspells problem of trading straight up, and provides much needed tempo.
Cultivate Kodama's Reach - This deck doesn't have as much ramp as some would expect for UG, but the ramp it does play is spectacular.
Curse of the Swine
- A sweeper that exiles, and leaves your creatures alone. As a sorcery it leaves something to be desired, but I still haven't found a worthy replacement.
Cyclonic Rift - I have never resolved this with overload and not gone on to win. It's an auto-include in blue.
Deadeye Navigator - I know I know, extra cheese. It's very handy with Palinchron! Mystic Snake and Venser, Shaper Savant Also love this guy. Provides some re-usability to Snapcaster Mage, Glen Elendra Archmage and
Vendillion Clique
. If you have mana to spare it can also protect your creatures from targeting removal. And last but not least, who doesn't like drawing 6 cards by flickering Prime Speaker Zegana.
Defense of the Heart - It can be tough to get this to stick around long enough to get a use out of it. The targets are outlined in the combo section.
Dig Through Time - This really does dig. Our ability to fill the graveyard isn't the greatest but this card is worth it.
Disdainful Stroke - Counters the biggest threats at the lowest cost. I love this card.
Dismiss
Dissolve
Forbid Force of Will Mana Drain Remand Swan Song Thwart - This may be a few too many counters. I need to play games with more groups to really narrow the count down.
Echoing Truth - The token killer. At worst you're bouncing a permanent, something that's not always expected. Again it's a tempo thing.
Fatespinner - A nice way to slow the game down. For your opponents! They'll almost always skip combat a couple of times up front, which buys you time to get your combos up.
Gaea's Cradle - This deck's Eldrazi for mill protection. Most of the time it's a bad cantrip, I'm not sure if I'd keep it if it wasn't for the mill thing.
Glen Elendra Archmage Great utility creature in this deck. Provides a counter against opposing threats and happens to be a wizard!
Halimar Depths - Not sure if entering tapped is worth the effect, testing it out for now.
Illusionist's Bracers - Works very well with Aphetto Alchemist, Arcanis the Omnipotent, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Beguiler of Wills, Patron Wizard, and Temporal Adept
Laboratory Maniac - The win condition.
Lightning Greaves - Protection for your creatures. Most of the creatures in this deck need to be on the board for you to receive their effect, this helps protect the more vulnerable ones without expending your counterspells.
Mana Crypt - I feel like games where I draw this aren't even fair. This deck does run on a lot of coloured mana, but this card is almost always relevant and sets you ahead of your opponents by an almost unrecoverable margin.
Maze of Ith - My favorite land. It helps protect us from voltron commanders. With
Arcane Lighthouse
we can even stop the untargetable ones. Against non-voltron opponents it still soaks up a lot of damage.
Memory Lapse - One of my favorite counterspells. The tempo gained is awesome.
Mutavault - Honorary wizard. I opened a foil one so I play it. I don't know if it would make the cut otherwise.
Mystic Snake - Mystic Snake is best snake. This little guy does it all. Counters a spell, chump blocks, gets flickered by [[Deadeye Navigator], and makes your opponents ask what it is, because they often haven't seen it.
Palinchron - Mr Mana. Pair with Deadeye Navigator or Phantasmal Image to make infinite mana.
Patron Wizard - The reason I wanted to build this deck in the first place. With the untapping provided by
Seedborn Muse
and Prophet of Kruphix you can use him on everyone's turn! The wording, like Azami, Lady of Scrolls lets Illusionist's Bracers go crazy on this guy. Even if your opponents play around him and he never gets to counter a good spell, you've messed up their plans enough to gain a massive tempo advantage.
Pemmin's Aura
- Hexproof and untapping. Those are the main uses for the only aura in this deck. Draw 3 for U? Yes please!
Phantasmal Image - Usually copying Palinchron. Can also be used to copy an opponent's threat, or a value creature of your own, they're not all legendary...
Prophet of Kruphix - This little lady is mentioned in so many other card choices I think you get the idea.
Rapid Hybridization
- It's removal for one mana. I kill so many good commanders with this, it's awesome. I'm not running both this and Pongify because it's too much creature removal. This might even become Beast Within.
Rayne, Academy Chancellor
- Even if she doesn't draw you too many cards, the deterrence is worth it. A turn or two of hesitation from an opponent is more time for you to lock the game down. Kirra, Great Glass Spinner is more effective in that category, but isn't a wizard, your call.
Reality Shift - As with
Rapid Hybridization
, this is a great little commander killer. Also considering removing it. My meta is pretty bad, they don't run enough spot removal, so I have to do it for them...
Reliquary Tower - Gotta have some way of keeping that huge hand.
Rhystic Study - Like
Rayne, Academy Chancellor
, even if this doesn't draw you a single card, taxing your opponents and forcing sub-optimal plays is amazing. This usually draws you cards though :)
Riptide Laboratory - Yay! Protect your wizards, get more use out of etb effects, it's fun.
Simic Signet
- Some coloured mana acceleration always helps.
Snapcaster Mage - Most blue decks will play this, and they aren't even using the fact that he's a wizard! Your instants are all amazing enough to want to cast twice, so go ahead, indulge.
Sol Ring - You know why this is in here.
Sower of Temptation - A great wizard, she draws a lot of removal form opponents hands. Sneak her in with Prophet of Krupix, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, or Alchemist's Refuge and ruin somebody's plan without even countering their spell.
Strip Mine Wasteland - There's usually at least one land on the table worth getting rid of. Gaea's Cradle is often target #1
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - He's so much fun. He protects your spells, lets you know when it's safe to use your mana, and lets you cast creatures when they're not expected.
Temporal Adept - Have you ever wished your opponents didn't have mana? How about not being able to attack without haste? This little lady will help you do that. The UUU is steep, but the effect can be absolutely devastating if you can do it often and early. This has also prevented me from losing to my own Mana Crypt when the opponents are locked down but I'm still waiting to draw a win-con.
Tooth and Nail - Who doesn't love Palinchron + Deadeye Navigator on demand? More on this in the combo section.
Vedalken AEthermage - A lovely little guy who absolutely loves playing the martyr. Usually fetches Prophet of Kruphix, but can get anything you need depending on the circumstances. Can also become a counterspell with Venser, Shaper Savant.
Vendillion Clique
- A bit of topdeck control, on a 3/1 flying body. Flash lets you interrupt so many well-laid plans. Oh did I mention it was a wizard?
Venser, Shaper Savant - A catch-all counterspell. You're not often going to be returning a permanent, but he's great at what he does. Another flashing wizard.
Voidmage Prodigy - Not a huge secret once your opponents know what to expect from your deck. But like other cards in here, just the threat of him, forcing sub-optimal play from your opponents, is time well bought.
Combos:
I'll flesh this out later. Big ones are:
Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron - The two of these close out the game regardless of your board-state. Deadeye Navigator makes Prime Speaker Zegana a repeatable source of card-draw, so you play your whole deck.
Mind Over Matter + Any draw creature - Grab your deck. It is now your hand. Play Laboratory Maniac and draw one more card. Azami, Lady of Scrolls is the favorite for this, but others work just as well.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - When you use Tooth and Nail or Defense of the Heart Keep this guy in mind. As soon as the ability has resolved and you're allowed to search your library, your creatures will etb before your opponents get to do anything. So they don't get to know what you're searching for before it happens, and they won't be able to respond afterwards.
Illusionist's Bracers + Aphetto Alchemist - You usually have at least one creature or artifact that would like some untapping. This lets you do it indefinitely.
