I love goofy decks and applaud you for keeping the theme of Battle of Witts

Have you felt the need for more tutors? Brainspoil maybe?

Lol, this deck is hillarious :D

Another reason to not use those other methods of playing battle of wits is also that they can't be played on MTGO since the effects getting cards from outside the game would be restricted to the 15 sideboard cards, and the same would be true when playing in any sanctioned paper event. But this deck be played in both cases.

Nother tutor to consider is Dimir Machinations as it can fetch any of your 3cmc combo pieces.

Liliana Vess might be worth considering too.

MoGoose831 and Sjorpha

Thanks for your feedback!

Brainspoil and Dimir Machinations had been in a prior version of this deck, and were purged alongside most other traditional tutors--originally, more tutors were used, but they were too inefficient to justify the card slot. In retrospect, this was a tad unfair to the two above cards, given their three mana tutoring effects and potential for other uses in a pinch. I am going to give both another shot. Azusa, Lost but Seeking is out--in theory, her land ability works well with the number of fetch lands in this deck, but the chances of drawing either Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator is low, and neither is worth wasting a tutor on. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is also out--his mana cost is simply too high.

Liliana Vess is a tad slow for my taste. Effectively, she is a 5 mana tutor that does not give me the option of casting the card I need in the same turn as the tutor.

+1 for The Princess Bride reference.

I like the fog effects; since this is 5c, you might consider Darkness as a little known modern-playable black Fog.

SirSh4ggy

Good call. I had forgotten that card existed. Particularly useful since I tend to fetch black lands (for my transmute cards). I will be removing Cathars' Crusade for it. While Cathars' can combo for infinitely large creatures, it is too expensive to cast, and not as easily tutored with Wargate as Solemnity or Melira, Sylvok Outcast.

Thanks!

Try adding Nantuko Husk. It's a great sac outlet to beef up in an emergency.also adding some other low drop creatures to sacrifice like Blisterpod might be a good addition and some creatures to punish them like Zulaport Cutthroat

foyle99

I had initially discounted cards like Nantuko Husk, because they do not provide a win condition in their own right. Viscera Seer allows me to tutor Murderous Redcap to the top of my deck, winning through infinite damage on the next turn, and Blasting Station provides infinite damage by its lonesome. Without trample, infinite damage without evasion is a tad disappointing. This is only worsened by deathtouch and susceptibility to most all removal (including Fatal Push).

That said, it is really easy to tutor Kitchen Finks, as it has a reasonable mana cost for Wargate, and, at three mana, can be fetched with several of the transmute cards. Infinite life combined with infinite damage can be powerful, as you can pretty much swing every single turn, and not be afraid your enemies will murder you. But, in a land wrought with Fatal Push and Path to Exile, I am still skeptical.

I do not see the utility in low-drop creatures which do not directly advance the endgame. A one-drop, like Blisterpod, that provides some ramp has decent utility on turn one--which is great when you have a 39% chance of drawing the card in your opening hand. However, with 240 cards, you have an 11% chance of drawing any four-of in your opening hand. Receiving this creature later in the game would be disappointing, as it does not provide much advantage in its own right.

Zulaport Cutthroat is also a questionable addition, as it is more of a "win more" card. If you already can set the combo in motion, Cutthroat's additional damage has no influence on the inevitable outcome.

I think that Diabolic Tutor would be a good card to add. The only real downside is the 2 black in the casting cost.

zml23 - I tried Diabolic Tutor in an earlier version of this deck. The two black was not the issue (there are enough fetch lands to make this fairly easy, and I regularly fetch Black early since it works well with any transmute cards I draw). Ultimately, I found its four-mana casting cost to be prohibitive. While there are some more-expensive-to-cast tutors in this deck, those cards win the game the turn they are dropped-- by fetching the last piece of a combo and putting it directly onto the battlefield.

I play a lot of modern and truly love the idea of sitting down with a 240 or so card deck. How has it been faring? What are some matchups and difficulties etc?

Yggdrassil45

First, I have not built this deck on paper, nor would I recommend anyone to do so. Far too hefty a price tag for what is a very, very, very unreliable deck. Further, having tried paper budget Battle of Wits builds in the past... The idea of sitting down with a 240 card deck is amusing. Putting that idea to practice--absolutely terrible. Shuffling is a nightmare, and the deck pile does not really like standing up at that height. It is not particularly fun for you or anyone else at the table.

To answer your questions based on extensive virtual playtesting:

"How has it been fairing?"

• Better than I expected in that it actually fares quite well in casual or semi-competitive settings. That said, while I've won in more competitive games, that required extremely good luck on my part; extremely bad luck for the opponent.

Unfortunately, Battle of Wits is not how this deck wins games. 19 times out of 20, the victory has been do to an infinite persist combo.

"What are some matchups and difficulties etc?"

The biggest difficulty is that the deck really is not all that great. But I understand if that does not answer your question.

Control proves difficult--every turn matters, particularly if you are working to assemble a combo. It really is quite unfortunate when your final combo piece or

Aggro/Burn proves difficult--this deck is looking at a turn 4-5 victory at best, and usually can combo off by turn 6. That's really not quite fast enough against aggressive decks.

Combo--then it's a race to assemble your pieces, and they have the advantage of basic statistics.

While all that makes it sound like I dislike this deck, that is far from the case. I've been working on designing the optimal Battle of Wits deck on and off for a couple years (oh dear--it seems Odyssey came out 16 years ago...) and am quite happy with this version. Overall, it is a fun deck to pilot and I recommend goofing around with it--just not in paper.

cdkime I whole heartedly appreciate the response back on this. You gave me exactly what I was looking for. I just really want to be that guy.....I have the lands, most of the cards, basically all your combo pieces so I might just be looking at changing some up and playing it out! But I do wonder, have you attempted to play a more controlling/digging version of the deck?

Some of the earlier versions of this deck focused more on control and digging, but they ultimately were too unreliable. Control works best when you are likely to have an answer in-hand, which was unlikely (or you'd have an extremely mediocre answer, since you have to dip into some marginal counterspells). The Fog effects are the only ones that ended up having any use--they're cheep to cast and provide a temporary answer to actualized threats. I might not draw a Mana Leak when it would make a difference, but a fog can buy an extra turn regardless of when it was drawn.

Earlier versions of the deck utilized digging, but it proved a bit too much of a gamble, and often led to wasted turns. Focusing on maximizing the amount of combo pieces and tutors ended up being more efficient. However, that was a while ago, and the deck has become somewhat less Battle of Wits focused (alas) as time progressed and the superiority of the other victory conditions emerged. It's probably time for me to revisit digging.

I did a brief look to see what I might consider cutting to make room for more digging cards, and discovered Retreat to Coralhelm was still in the deck--a relic from an older version which had more land manipulation. I'm not sure I've seen that card in the last dozen playtests, and can't think of a single instance where I would want to use it in the current version.

If you do assemble the deck in paper, be sure to let me know how it goes!

I'm a big fan of Battle of Wits decks, but be warned. At official tournaments you run the risk of delay of game violations or Game losses for not shuffling fully. I've actually looked into the mathematics of shuffling because of this and it seems near impossible to shuffle the cards so you couldn't predict anything about the position of any cards within the time limits set by the rules. Especially with frequent tutors and shuffling, just be careful above fnm level.

This seems pretty solid! If I may offer my own suggestion to maybe help with consistency, have you considered Glittering Wish? It gives you a 15 card toolbox and also allows you to find what you need a bit easier, also protects some of your combo pieces from a potential Surgical Extraction. Cards like Kitchen Finks, Bring to Light, Murderous Redcap and Wargate can all shave 1 to the side to make room for a playset.

Schechefter

Sorry for the late response--I liked the suggestion and wanted to playtest it some. Overall, this worked quite well for Kitchen Finks and Murderous Redcap. There is a slight problem that those cards are a bit redundant with one another, but, though I generally ended up usually pulling the Murderous Redcap for infinite damage, there were times when pulling a Kitchen Finks helped seal the deal (lower mana cost/sometimes you just need a blocker and some life).

It was not as ideal with the higher costed cards, but I think I'll keep it for now. Eventually I need to work on the sideboard anyway--I'll probably put some multicolour removal in there for wishing as well.

Thanks!

Watching Jeff Hoogland play against this deck on camera at SCG Columbus Team was awesome. Listening to him complain about it ... priceless.

How about 4 Demonic Tutor ?

ScionsStillLive - Demonic Tutor is not Modern-legal. Perhaps you meant Diabolic Tutor , which is Modern-legal? I tried Diabolic Tutor in early iterations, but found its four mana cost to be prohibitively expensive and ultimately ineffective.

Caerwyn I did mean Demonic Tutor, but I didn't know it wasn't Modern legal.

ScionsStillLive - No worries, happens to us all! Thanks for taking the time to give this a look!

Want a Yorion, Sky Nomad for this ;)

I'm not sure what Yorion would do other than let you reuse Eternal Witness, let you change Detention Sphere target, or reset Jace, the Mind Sculptor starting loyalty which is already pretty low. Just because it can be your companion doesn't mean it should.

Sidenote: Maybe Idyllic Tutor to fetch Battle of Wits?