With the advent of 9^th Edition and the loss of some 8^th Edition workhorses, Friday nights are about to change...

....Slightly.

The new Standard is largely the same, with the big changes already noted and discussed to death, and new decks are probably not going to be popping out of the woodwork in the weeks to come. Or is there a new deck, hidden within the confines of the new base set? I propose a change in paradigm, and Battle of Wits leads the charge.

Because really, who doesn't like to play a 200+ card deck? Heck, they made 5-Color just so we could use 250 cards and randomize the play of what can otherwise be a stifling adherence to a set stack of sixty. Numerous casual writers have written detailed instructions on how to prepare a pound and a half of cards for maximum fun in the hands of a dining room table full of dedicated casual enthusiasts - all which I diligently ignored because:

1. I have enough trouble getting Magic players to play the actual game often or well.
2. My dining room table + friends usually ends with drunkenness and euchre, and I don't have to teach any of them euchre...
3. Who has time to learn any new type of Magic that isn't instinctively obvious? (I still like Mental Magic, but rarely play any more. It's that whole time thing...)

No, this is not that article. This is a discussion of how best to utilize a fairly cool win condition in the pre-Ravnica environment. To begin, let's look at the practical Battle of Wits deckbuilding history from the card's past:

Grand Prix: Milwaukee, 2002
William Jensen ran a beast of a Wits deck that made it to the top 8. It was, for the most part, creatureless, except for a play set of Flametongue Kavus, although I probably would have run Psychatogs main for another kill condition (as other pundits have noted).

Card drawing, counters, removal, and mana were all the deck was about. Counterspells were at a height of efficiency that the game had rarely known (Absorb, Undermine, Counterspell itself, Dromar's Charm, Exclude, Syncopate, Disrupt, Memory Lapse, and Circular Logic were all in the environment.) Card drawing was either awesomely efficient or combined with a decent amount of utility (Fact or Fiction, Opt, Sleight of Hand, Peek, Tainted Pact, Fire / Ice, Compulsion, Concentrate, Opportunity, Probe, and even Prophetic Bolt were all awesome in their own way.) And even though Enlightened Tutor and Vampiric Tutor had rotated out, the deck still had access to Diabolic Tutor, Insidious Dreams, and Wild Research for actually finding the winning enchantment. Some of those card choices are taken from the work that the good reverend Toby Wachter did with the deck as well.

And don't forget the mana. Painlands were all the rage, and the enemy colors combined with the main set's allied colors, City of Brass, comes-into-play-tapped allied lands, filter lands, and the lairs meant that three or even four colors could reliably be played in the towering decks. Oddly enough, the artifacts available to the set were limited almost solely to the Diamonds (in his case, Charcoal Diamond, Marble Diamond, and Sky Diamond) and Chromatic Sphere, a theme that a current day deck can definitely expand upon. Ironically, Jensen stressed the importance of drawing early Diamonds to ramp mana quickly and enable him to cast his win condition with counter back up. There wasn't a green spell in the deck, though...

So until the release of Ravnica, the tools that are at your disposal are, admittedly, limited. Card drawing, Counterspelling, Tutoring, and removal in today's environment are as abysmal (if not worse) than during the heyday of Mercadian Masques. Of course, Plow Under is gone, and so is Bribery... but we're not really concerned with creatures in this large of a deck.

Are we?

Heck why not include creatures? I just said that removal blows in this environment, so why not use creatures as a back-up win condition if the enchantment plan goes awry? And some of the critters could even help us search through the deck, in the absence of better card drawing... And if that is the case, then green should be a primary color, not only to ramp mana up but to use one of the only tutors in the environment (Time of Need) to fetch the right guy for the job. Blue is obviously the other primary color for card drawing, limited counterspelling, and the Battle of Wits itself.

As for the third color... the choice there is the pick of tutors and removal. White offers Enduring Ideal, which, for seven mana, seals the deal the next turn and is used to good effect in a focused deck to get out game-breaking enchantments, but doesn't have the explosive mana that good form is capable of. Wrath effects, piss-poor mana fixing (at least compared to green's) and some combat tricks round out White's potential contribution to the deck. The only creature I would want out of the White bag of tricks would be Yosei combined with a Hana Kami lock... but that can be done without white mana anyway, and Weathered Wayfarer. Wrath of God, Final Judgment, and various defensive enchantments (Worship, Reverence, Ghostly Prison, and Ivory Mask) just aren't very useful in a Tooth and Nail world and a seven mana tutor is just too slow, so White will have to take a backseat to Black.

Black gives the deck removal, some quality legends that can single-handedly win games, and Diabolic Tutor. Cranial Extraction is the only disruption I find I want, since its main target is its own namesake - but Distress and Blackmail are not totally out of the question.

Battle of Wits Suggested by Weston Tulloch on 2005-08-28 as a potential deck for Standard As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/10313.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Aether Spellbomb 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chrome Mox 3 Engineered Explosives 4 Oblivion Stone 4 Sensei's Divining Top 4 Serum Powder 4 Wayfarer's Bauble Artifact Creatures 3 Etched Oracle 4 Solemn Simulacrum Creatures 4 Eternal Witness 1 Hana Kami 4 Sakura-tribe Elder 4 Thieving Magpie 3 Trinket Mage 4 Utopia Tree Enchantments 4 Battle Of Wits Instants 2 Boomerang 4 Condescend 4 Echoing Truth 2 Evacuation 4 Gifts Ungiven 1 Hinder 4 Mana Leak 1 Naturalize 2 Reclaim 3 Rend Flesh 1 Rending Vines 4 Rewind 1 Soulless Revival 3 Terror 4 Thirst For Knowledge 1 Wear Away	Lands 4 Mirrodin's Core Legendary Creatures 1 Arashi, The Sky Asunder 1 Glissa Sunseeker 1 Kagemaro, First To Suffer 1 Kaho, Minamo Historian 1 Keiga, The Tide Star 4 Kokusho, The Evening Star 2 Meloku The Clouded Mirror 1 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar Legendary Enchantments 1 Night Of Souls' Betrayal Sorceries 1 Cranial Extraction 1 Creeping Mold 4 Diabolic Tutor 1 Exile Into Darkness 1 Footsteps Of The Goryo 4 Kodama's Reach 4 Rampant Growth 4 Reap And Sow 2 Rude Awakening 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight Of Hand 4 Time Of Need Basic Lands 31 Forest 20 Island 1 Plains 8 Swamp Lands 4 Llanowar Wastes 4 Tendo Ice Bridge 4 Underground River 4 Waterveil Cavern 4 Yavimaya Coast Legendary Lands 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1 Eiganjo Castle 1 Minamo, School At Water's Edge 1 Oboro, Palace In The Clouds 1 Okina, Temple To The Grandfathers 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse	Sideboard: 1 Defense Grid 3 Viridian Shaman 2 Circle Of Protection: Black 3 Circle Of Protection: Red 3 Hideous Laughter 2 Cranial Extraction 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
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Sadly, creatures have to form a very real secondary line of offence and serve as defense in an environment full of beatdown. The "beat-with-Kokusho-a-couple-times-and-cast-another-one" route is almost as common a road to victory as finding and casting Battle of Wits. Which is fine, though, since this is a deck of surprises for both for pilot and opponent, and it can win almost any matchup.

Point of fact, though, is that it loses to beatdown somewhat often. Black just doesn't have the elimination to sufficiently protect the deck from Black or Red beat-down strategies, and using another four slots on Echoing Decay or Dark Banishing is under consideration.

As for the card choices... Wow, did those five words sit there for a long time. Card rundowns are the #1 reason an article about Battle of Wits is a major pain. (That and trying to sell a casual card to an audience of tourney-savvy players.) Let's just hit major areas of concern, shall we?

Mana:
Ninety lands in the prerequisite colors. (This deck's slogan: "More land than your opposition has cards in their decks.") The loss of City of Brass and Birds of Paradise are keenly felt here. Add four Chrome Mox and a bunch of mana-fixing spells and the mana can ramp up to cast the win conditions like a traditional G/x control deck. I'm still working out whether Talismans and/or Fellwar Stones would be a good add, but the land-count seems pretty smooth (or as smooth as a 240-card deck can get).

Card Drawing:
This gets further subdivided into land search, tutors, improving card selection, and simple raw card drawing. Land search was discussed in the mana section, so why belabor the point?

As for the Tutors - well, "Tutor," anyway - Diabolic Tutor is the only pay-something, go-get-your-card card in the show right now. Gifts Ungiven is close, and is infinitely more useful as an instant and in setting up graveyard tricks, but it doesn't just get what is needed. Sleight of Hand, Serum Visions, Thirst for Knowledge, Sensei's Divining Top, and Thieving Magpies serve to draw more cards in general, hopefully snagging a needed card along the way. Trinket Mages find Tops (or Engineered Explosives, Spellbombs, or even Chrome Moxes...) and Time of Need finds, well, a whole host of legendary beats.

Although I would love having a few more high-quality card drawers, these do an admirable job and most do it instantly or cheaply enough to be effective in the opening turns of a game. My main thought here would be to fit Jushi Apprentice into the mix, but stay away from the sorcery-speed spells like Night's Whisper, Council of the Soratami, Sift, and Tidings.

Counters And Removal:
Defense: don't leave home without it. A full suite of Mana Leaks, Condescends, and Rewinds are in the deck, along with a lone Hinder. Honestly, more Hinders would have been just fine, and I recommend them, but I just did not fit them in.

Aether Spellbomb, Boomerang, Echoing Truth, and Evacuation provide the bounce... and don't discount Evacuation in the Type 2 environment today, especially when a bounced-back Witness can keep the board clear with sufficient mana for several turns while you set up your win condition. Oblivion Stone, Engineered Explosives, Terror, and Rend Flesh provide general carnage, and they could be joined by a few other targeted instants in the future.... But as I said above, the general run of elimination spells today are a pale comparison to the glory days of Black sacrificial removal. Barter in Blood and Cruel Edict were in consideration for inclusion, but there always seems to be a protective Sakura-Tribe Elder around these days to save the problematic creatures on the opponents' side. Kagemaro and Hideous Laughter in the sideboard help - but they're no Mutilate.

A discard theme could easily be added to the deck, but right now, there isn't anything as singularly powerful as, say, Duress.

Winning:
Battle of Wits is not only the deck's namesake, but also the primary win condition. Duh!

Cranial Extraction (and the fact that it's occasionally difficult to find a specific card in this deck) necessitate the addition of Kokusho, Keiga, Meloku, and Rude Awakening. I almost thought about adding Tooth and Nail plus some choice targets, but that would be a little silly.

The entire idea of the deck, of course, is to plan what kind of win is possible with the opening hand or whether there is enough mana searching and card drawing to justify keeping or send 'em back. Stall while searching for win conditions with removal and bounce, and win in short order when you get the necessary card. In most ways, the deck is very similar to G/U control with a hefty dose of randomness. It is a challenge to play, and you'll have to overcome significant hurdles with each game played.

I recently used the deck at an FNM that had nearly forty people in attendance, and went 3-2 - much to my surprise. 50% of my wins were the result of a Battle of Wits resolving and making it to the next turn. I should also mention that the last match timed out in game 2 after my opponent used three Ethereal Hazes and I killed three Spore Fro - uh, Kami of False Hopes before I could beat him down with a maxed-out Kagemaro and pals. What can a bad deck do?

I had a blast playing it, and had a crowd the whole evening cheering me on. The only truly annoying question about the deck was "Do you know about how many cards are in the deck?" To which I answered, "No, I know exactly how many cards are in the deck... you want me to write you out a decklist from memory?" It's not like the deck is the national budget... 240 is not a real high number to count to.

The only other deck at the tourney that I didn't want to play was the Shared Fate deck that had the same record as me in every round. I just couldn't imagine getting through a game during the allotted time, let alone the match.

As far as matchups go, there are certainly hosts of problems not related to the deck's size that have to be overcome. Once again, a general overview of problems faced is the best approach I can give for a deck whose opening hand's variability is so wide-ranging:

Tooth and Nail:
Its own category, the main thing Battle of Wits wants to do is stall and play a resource war. Counterspells and bounce are your main weapons, but realize that a resolved Tooth and Nail will utterly destroy your mana base. At least they won't be playing Plow Under against you...

Sideboard in the other Cranial Extractions and remember... anyone playing Tooth and Nail at a local tourney is probably going to take a stack of 240 cards for granted... Okay, most people will take it for granted, but that is just something Battle of Wits takes advantage of. A full Twincast/Uyo sideboard could be a good addition to the deck if Tooth and Nail is a popular deck in your area, but once again it suffers from draw inconsistency.

Rats, White Weenie, or Green Beats:
This is the matchup a Battle of Wits deck wants to face. Staunch the bleeding, find the win condition, do so. Side in Hideous Laughter and Viridian Shamans (to smash equipment) as necessary. Oh yeah... people laugh when you side seven cards into a 240-card monstrosity. Laugh with 'em.

A precautionary note: Watch out for Hypnotic Specter. That guy will kill you.

Mono and Tron Blue:
All kinds of fun there. Wily play can often eke out wins, but full-on sixteen-counter blue is a huge battle of attrition and needs a healthy dose of luck to do well. There are worse things to play against, though, especially since they can no longer Bribery your Kokusho out of your deck anymore...

Kuroda or Flores Red:
What can I say? Without the addition of a lot of white, this matchup is very difficult. Use the same stall and win tactic as normal beatdown, but watch the life points. Burn is never to be taken for granted. Circle of Protection: Red is the sideboard card of choice, but plan on a mercifully quick game at the hand of a decent draw by these decks.

This is simply a fun deck. This is the deck you want to play when you are comfortable with your play-skill, you want to impress the geeks, you want to pull some neat tricks out of your stack of cards, or you have a fetish for shuffling and finding single cards in a proverbial haystack. I played it strictly for that fact, and wasn't at all disappointed with the results, both in the standing and in having fun with it. This is a FNM oddity that could (as a long shot) actually win and put a player in the annals of local shop history forever.

Combine all this craziness, and the new Standard looks to be a somewhat entertaining spectacle even before Ravnica showers us with multi-color goodness. I'm already drooling over the Transmute cards and hope they print one with a casting cost of five, with a Transmute cost of four...

A man can have a dream, can't he?

Weston Tulloch
westonhaus@hotmail.com