The deck Blue White Auras has made an appearance early this year with the introduction of the components from Rivals of Ixalan, specifically Curious Obsession. With the arrival of Dominaria in the format, I checked on the possible additions and found two relevant cards as based on the current metagame: Danitha Capashen, Paragon, and Knight of Grace. Danitha is already a powerful 3-drop with the 3 abilities and also lessens your cost for the two-mana Auras. Knight of Grace was preferred over the Adorned Pouncer because of its evasion to popular spot removals like Fatal Push and Unlicensed Disintegration. That said, here below is my version of the DOM updated Blue White Auras:

Lands
4 Island
6 Plains
3 Shefet Dunes
3 Irrigated Farmland
4 Glacial Fortress

Creatures
3 Danitha Capashen, Paragon
4 Knight of Grace
3 Sacred Cat
3 Siren Stormtamer
4 Sram, Senior Edificer

Spells
1 Arcane Flight
2 Dive Down
4 Curious Obsession
3 Sheltering Light
3 Legion’s Landing/Adanto, the First Fort
4 Cartouche of Knowledge
4 Cartouche of Solidarity
2 One With the Wind

As I was browsing through the full card list of Dominaria choosing what my next batch of cards to order is, I found this Saga Enchantment The Antiquities War which they say that is viable for Standard gameplay. That said, I then looked for reference decklist online and found one relevant build. This, however, caters four colors because of access to Board the Weatherlight. I then decided to just stick to Blue and Black as its core colors.

Here below is the first version of the deck:

Lands
4 Spire of Industry
4 Zhalfirin Void
2 Field of Ruin
1 Inventors’ Fair
4 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Island

Creatures
3 Glint-Nest Crane
2 Walking Ballista
3 Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp

Spells
4 The Antiquities War
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Servo Schematic
4 Metalspinner’s Puzzleknot
3 Battle at the Bridge
2 Icy Manipulator
1 Crook of Condemnation
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Treasure Map/Treasure Cove

Planeswalkers
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Tezzeret the Schemer

The list is composed of artifacts used for utility with ETB effects and some sort of toolbox cards for various specific matchups, I.e. Sorcerous Spyglass, Icy Manipulator and Crook of Condemnation. The point is to control the board until you’ve reached the third lore counter to ‘go off’.

My creatures choices are pretty much basic: Glint-Nest Crane to dig for the right artifact, Zahid to pressure slow opponents and Walking Ballista as another option for creature removal and can be dug by the crane.

The planeswalkers are also of a late-game option and utility, with Karn to help you get the Saga enchantment.

That is about it. Again, hit the comments for your suggestions and ideas. Until the next post.

The term ‘Burn’ used in describes deck archetypes in various formats of Magic tells the strategy to kill your opponents via direct damage spells and cheap-casting and Hasty creatures. The deck is then backed up by some enchantments that also deals damage or enhances the damage output of your spells. For today’s card feature, I will talk about the Dominaria Saga card that is a rendition of Furnace of Rath wayback in Tempest. The card is The Flame of Keld.

Sage type of cards is somewhat an interesting version of the usual Enchantments. That is because in certain turns the card does different effects. This first time The Flame of Keld enters the battlefield, it will discard your hand which is a negative effect if it is played in the early turns or the deck has a lot of high-casting cards. You then have to lower the curve of your spells so as playing this Saga would not be a drawback.

The effect gets you to draw two cards, which is a good refill once you’ve casted your early threats and burn spells. The third effect is the most interesting although you have to wait until your next turn for it to tick up to the third lore counter.

The Burn deck build is usually Mono Red but then let us check for other options. There is already a Blue Red Wizards deck in the metagame and that could be our core reference. We could just cut some of high-cost critters and focus on the haste-and-burn plan and which we will also gain value from the Prowess ability. Here below is the first version of the deck (base list found in MTG Goldfish):

Creatures (21)
4 Bomat Courier
4 Ghitu Lavarunner
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Spellweaver Eternal
4 Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
1 Nimble Obstructionist

Spells (21)
1 Refuse/Cooperate
1 Insult/Injury
4 Opt
4 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Wizard’s Lightning
3 The Flame of Keld

Lands (18)
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sulfur Falls
7 Mountain
3 Island

We have twelve one-drops and four two-drops for efficiency of the deck’s one-two punch. Adeliz is the best three-drop to hit in the air and gets your Wizard dudes Prowess anthem for each burn spell casts. Nimble Obstructionist is your support card that can counter a Chainwhirler’s etb trigger and can be a flashy 3/1 flyer if needed. Refuse/Cooperate might be very situational but is also an additional damage, and also Cooperate gets you to copy your succeeding Burn spells and to be able to finish the job quickly. Insult/Injury can get you to deal explosive damage if your first two drops aren’t answered and would be more brutal if there is an Adeliz in play.

I might get to build this and test on our next playtest session but for now, feel free to send me comments and suggestions for the deck including other spell and creature options you might have in mind.

That is a wrap for this card feature: The Flame of Keld. Until the next post and thanks for reading.

Dominaria opened the options for Mono Color decks as well as on tribal archetypes. We see the return of our old favorites such as Goblin Warchief where I did a Mono Red Goblins version for the new Standard on a previous post. For this post, I will tackle on the less favored tribe IMO after the full card list of the set has been revealed: Wizards.

With Google as my friend, I found a few reference materials for the build and even found a Pro player wrote an article about it. I referenced the list from a post in MTG Goldfish and did a few card adjustments. See the decklist below.

Creatures
4 Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
3 Siren Stormtamer
3 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Ghitu Lavarunner
3 Naru Meha, Master Wizard
4 Merfolk Trickster

Spells
4 Opt
4 Lightning Strike
4 Wizard’s Lightning
4 Wizard’s Retort
1 Shock

Lands
6 Island
5 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Unclaimed Territory

This list appears to be of an agro deck with eleven one-drops that get your creature curve as early as turn one. Adeliz, the Cinder Wind occupies the 3-drop while doing a pseudo-anthem for each instant or sorcery spell casts. Merfolk Trickster can tap down relevant blockers and hex them, combined with spot removals like Shock can even deal with threats like Rekindling Phoenix. Siren Stormtamer along with Wizard’s Retort protects you and your attackers as you out-tempo them with optimized damage each turn, and finish them off with burn spells.

I came up with a possible sideboard list and here are the components.

2 Abrade
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Dire Fleet Daredevil
2 Negate
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vance’s Blasting Cannons
1 Jaya’s Immolating Inferno
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Magma Spray

Overall, Wizards might be on a Tier 2 rank at the moment in the format though its potential should not be denied. We shall see if it will make a debut appearance in the upcoming Pro Tour Dominaria.

That is a wrap. Until the next post.

The new version of the Black and White Knight in Dominaria is somewhat an innovation in terms of “Protection from”. The new and lesser version that these two creatures carry is “Hexproof from” which makes them not targetable of the spells and abilities of the given color. It may be relevant as for specific spot removals in the format, and at the same time less powerful as opponents’ creatures of that color can still block these guys. Anyhow, the printing of these two drops along with the new Legendary Knight ‘lord’ has inspired me to come up with a decklist of this pseudo-Tribal archetype. Check out the list below:

Creatures
4 Benalish Marshal
4 Dauntless Bodyguard
4 Knight of Grace
4 Knight of Malice
3 Aryel, Knight of WIndgrace
1 Lyra Dawnbringer

Spells
3 Fatal Push
2 Vraska’s Contempt
4 History of Benalia
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Radiant Destiny
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

Lands
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Memorial to Glory
4 Plains
3 Shefet Dunes
3 Swamp
4 Unclaimed Territory