John wrote me this week with a fun alternate win combo deck:

 

This is a deck I've been working on for a bit and it just isn't working as fast as I'd like. Its built for casual play but I'd really like to see this deck shine. It just takes a beating before the win con is out.

 

// Lands

4 Breeding Pool

3 Forest

4 Hinterland Harbor

9 Island

 

// Creatures

4 Artisan of Forms                     

4 Biovisionary

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Elvish Spirit Guide

4 Phantasmal Image

 

// Spells

4 Cackling Counterpart

4 Fated Infatuation

4 Lotus Petal

4 Manamorphose

4 Worldly Tutor

 

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Thanks for writing in John! I'm a fan of unusual decks that find different ways to win. As I read through your list, way too many ideas came to mind about what we could do with this. As with most combo decks, there are really about three ways to do this:

 

1) Try to combo out so fast that you win before your opponent has a chance to stop it. The benefit here is that you can focus your whole deck on your combo and getting it out as quickly as possible. Your opponent is forced to find a way to disrupt you quickly or lose. The problem with this strategy is that if they DO find a way to disrupt you, you've just spent all your resources for nothing.

 

2) Play a control deck that attempts to lock your opponent out before you try to assemble your combo. You can do this with some combination of counterspells, kill spells, good blockers, and life gain/damage prevention. The problem with this is that it can take a long time and your opponent might do some things that you cannot counter or kill. 

 

3) Some combination of the two. The idea here is to get the best of both worlds. You can aim to get your combo out quickly, while leaving some space to deal with opposing problems. 

 

The list you sent me uses the first strategy. Everything is aimed at getting Biovisionaries, ways to copy them, and ways to get mana faster. While there will be times you can get out a Biovisionary on turn 2 and win by turn 3 or 4, I think it would be much more consistent to use strategy #3. This is because your combo takes too many parts to reliably do very quickly. You have to find Biovisionary by drawing or searching with Worldly Tutor and then you have to find ways to make three copies and have them survive until the end of the turn. All the while, your opponent is attacking you, and you have no defense.

 

There are several things I would like to do to help. First off, let's take out some of the cards that do nothing but accelerate your mana. Elvish Spirit Guide and Lotus Petal don't really fit here. You'd be better served with some cards that hold off your opponent instead of one-use ramp cards. Sylvan Caryatid will still give you some ramp, but you can use it every turn OR you can use it to block little creatures your opponent comes at you with. I think he's an easy 4-of. Also for blocking, I'd put in a couple Fog Banks. At only 2 mana, they come down early, and can block almost anything. 

 

-4 Elvish Spirit Guide

-4 Lotus Petal

+4 Sylvan Caryatid

+2 Fog Bank

 

Next to go is Manamorphose. While I like the card, it's best suited when you need to come up with difficult mana requirements. With only a two color deck, I don't think that's going to be too big of a problem. I'd rather spend that mana on something to protect your creatures. There's not much worse in a deck like this than an untimely Bile Blight or Anger of the Gods to take you out right before you win, so I sugest a couple of Mizzium Skins. The hexproof will save your creatures from spot removal, and the +1 toughness saves Biovisionaries from the aforementioned Bile Blight, Anger of the Gods, or any of the other 3 damage spells. Plus, it provides another spell that can target Artisan of Forms and turn him into a Biovisionary.

 

-4 Manamorphose

+4 Mizzium Skin

 

Now, I'd like to suggest a few different ways to get your Biovisionary copies out. I would like to take out Phantasmal Image, since as an Illusion, anything in the world can take him out and ruin your plans. Also, Fated Infatuation and its three blue can be a problem. Plus, it can only copy your creatures, and there may be times when you want to copy your opponent's creatures. What if they have a big creature you can't block? Wouldn't it be nice to just make a copy of it for a blocker? What if your opponent uses Slaughter Games or the like to get rid of all your Biovisionaries? Being able to copy an opposing threat gives you a chance to still win. My suggestions are Phyrexian Metamorph, Polymorphous Rush, and Mirrorweave. The Metamorph is just a clone with the added ability to copy an artifact in a pinch, or play it for 3 mana and two life. Polymoprhous Rush is a fun one. Now that we have more creatures (Sylvan Caryatid and Fog Bank), we could turn them all into win conditions in one big turn. You could even use the Rush to make all of your creatures copies of an opposing creature for a big attack or a crucial block. The most fun piece here is Mirrorweave. Suddenly everyone's a Biovisionary! But, you must be careful - all of your opponent's creatures are Biovisionaries too! The way to get around this is to cast Mirrorweave on your opponent's turn. The trigger for them to win the game (if they have 4 creatures) goes on the stack first, since they are the active player. Then you, as the non-active player, put your win trigger on the stack. The stack resolves in reverse order, your win condition happens first, and the game is over before their win condition resolves!

 

-4 Phantasmal Image

-4 Fated Infatuation

+4 Phyrexian Metamorph

+2 Polymorphous Rush

+2 Mirrorweave

 

Finally, with two slots remaining, I'd like to add a couple more lands. Or maybe a couple more creatures. Why not both? They're kind of expensive, but Mutavault is the best option here. Blinkmoth Nexus or Inkmoth Nexus achieve the same thing, or for a little higher activation cost, there are a lot of other "man-lands" out there. The reason for these over regular lands is that you have another target for Polymorphous Rush or Mirrorweave. Getting 4 creatures on the board is crucial so you can turn them into win conditions.

 

+2 Mutavault

 

If you were to make these changes, it would look something like this:

 

22 Lands

4 Breeding Pool

3 Forest

4 Hinterland Harbor

9 Island

2 Mutavault

 

22 Creatures

4 Artisan of Forms                                             

4 Biovisionary                            

4 Birds of Paradise                     

4 Phyrexian Metamorph             

2 Fog Bank 

4 Sylvan Caryatid                       

 

16 Spells

4 Cackling Counterpart              

4 Worldly Tutor                         

2 Mirrorweave                           

4 Mizzium Skin                          

2 Polymorphous Rush     

 

Of course, this article is just based upon theory, and the particular group of people and decks you play against may call for some adjustment, but I think overall, these ideas will help your deck play more consistently. You have an ability to slow your opponent down while you look for your win conditions.

 

Some other cards you might consider if you're still having issues:

 

- Remand. I almost put in in the list above, but it ended up being edged out. It slows down your opponent for a turn, draws you a card, and gives you some protection from a kill spell that would prevent your win condition.

- Wall of Frost. It really discourages attacking, and is better than Fog Bank if you are seeing a lot of burn spells or trample creatures.

- Rattleclaw Mystic. If Sylvan Caryatid is out of your price range, the Mystic can give you the same mana you need for the same cost, though he's not the blocker Caryatid is.

- Chord of Calling. It takes three green mana which might be an issue, but it is another way to find Biovisionary and put it right on the battlefield.

- Some sort of draw spell. You could find yourself stalling out with few cards in hand. If so, pick your favorite of the myriad draw spells out there to help you refill your hand.

 

I hope this helps, and may Biovisionaries be all over the battlefield!

 

-mattedesa