Adam Haggerty's Nyx
 
Type: Deck Idea
Format (legal 👍) legLegacy
Approx. Value:
$663.57

0 Likes 0 Comments
Avg. CMC 2.84
Card Color Breakdown
Card Type Breakdown

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Main Deck - 98 cards, 36 distinct
Columns
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (9)
4 Grand Abolisher
$8.95 Creature - Human Cleric
1 Keranos, God of Storms
$2.47 Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
4 Village Bell-Ringer
$0.17 Creature - Human Scout
Instant (16)
4 Izzet Charm
$0.31 Instant
4 Lightning Bolt
$1.05 Instant
4 Lightning Helix
$0.34 Instant
4 Mana Leak
$0.18 Instant
Sorcery (10)
4 Faithless Looting
$0.28 Sorcery
4 Idyllic Tutor
$6.88 Sorcery
2 Supreme Verdict
$1.80 Sorcery
Artifact (2)
2 Serum Powder
$0.89 Artifact
Enchantment (36)
4 Chained to the Rocks
$0.66 Enchantment - Aura
1 Copy Enchantment
$1.61 Enchantment
1 Font of Fortunes
$0.06 Enchantment
4 Ghostly Prison
$3.31 Enchantment
1 Greater Auramancy
$16.37 Enchantment
1 Knollspine Invocation
$0.21 Enchantment
4 Leyline of Anticipation
$1.73 Enchantment
4 Leyline of Sanctity
$0.83 Enchantment
1 Luminarch Ascension
$11.74 Enchantment
4 Oblivion Ring
$0.28 Enchantment
2 Sphere of Safety
$5.72 Enchantment
1 Splinter Twin
$8.18 Enchantment - Aura
4 Starfield of Nyx
$2.55 Enchantment
4 Suppression Field
$1.06 Enchantment
Land (25)
4 Arid Mesa
$16.08 Land
1 Desolate Lighthouse
$0.14 Land
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
$13.08 Land
4 Flooded Strand
$24.68 Land
1 Hallowed Fountain
$8.04 Land - Plains Island
2 Island
$0.09 Basic Land - Island
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
$36.23 Legendary Land
2 Plains
$0.09 Basic Land - Plains
1 Prairie Stream
$0.15 Land - Plains Island
1 Sacred Foundry
$17.22 Land - Mountain Plains
1 Scalding Tarn
$19.69 Land
Sideboard - 45 cards, 17 distinct
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (5)
4 Kor Firewalker
$0.08 Creature - Kor Soldier
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
$0.26 Creature - Rhino Soldier
Instant (10)
4 Boros Charm
$4.81 Instant
4 Dispel
$0.25 Instant
2 Wear // Tear
$1.99 Instant // Instant //
Enchantment (30)
4 Blood Moon
$5.44 Enchantment
1 Circle of Protection: Artifacts
$0.17 Enchantment
1 Circle of Protection: Red
$0.20 Enchantment
1 Curse of Exhaustion
$0.31 Enchantment - Aura Curse
1 Dovescape
$1.19 Enchantment
4 Font of Vigor
$0.06 Enchantment
1 Greater Auramancy
$16.37 Enchantment
4 Nevermore
$0.48 Enchantment
4 Rest in Peace
$1.47 Enchantment
4 Runed Halo
$0.33 Enchantment
4 Stony Silence
$2.71 Enchantment
1 Teferi's Moat
$0.91 Enchantment

Notes
 
This is my initial list, it's being pulled in a lot of directions at the moment and needs a lot of work. My initial idea was to take all the stuff I'v figured out about leylines and combine it with a prison strategy. Leylines require a  certain discipline about mulliganing, ability to draw and use essentially dead cards, a game plan outside of getting in leylines, and a considerable amount of deck space. The upside is being able to warp the game from the outset, cast free spells, and build early devotion. The package is about ten cards,and so far I've experimented with a 4-2-2 model split over three leylines, plus two serum powder to take free mulligans when leylines are not present that enhance the chance of getting a leyline in your next hand, while still getting to cheat them in. The serum is great to ensure leylines as well as silver bullets in the opening hand after sideboard. It is a very dead card otherwise, and sometimes backfires by taking a valuable piece out of your deck. This may be a large issue for this deck, which I think will be fairly reliant on idyllic tutor and one of's. I've come to realize that starting most games with hexproof is insanely good, and building towards a shrine to nix for five on T3 can be devastating. R/W prison decks are very intriguing, they seem essentially on the brink of being good, but lack direction and closing power. Taxation and land destruction are awesome, they just peter out. I also like R/W splinter twin decks,but often they seem like they are just missing blue. R/W has great ability to extend. The natural theme to all of this is enchantments.

You know what works great with having hexproof, ghostly prison, Leyline of the meek, and Nykthos in play? Luminarch Ascension! Pulling from some of those U/W control shells, if you can't target or attack me, the theory is that I'll get an active luminarch ascension fairly quickly, which I will be able to power with nykthos activations. Enchantments also seem like a really safe rogue brew because no one is going to be playing global enchantment hosers, so the most I will likely have to deal with is main deck maelstorm pulse, dromoka's commands, and cryptic commands, then sideboard counter spells and a few disenchant effects. Leyline of the meek even gives them +1/+1, although it doesn't seem necessary. The combo really strong and resilient, although I know from the outset that a 5 card sorcery speed combo that doesn't auto win the game is far from good enough. Once I was on this train though, my mission was clear: To gut the best parts from powerful fringe strategies like R/W prison, R/W Twin, Leyline packages, U/W recursion, and general enchantment strategies and form them into cohesive new concept.

I first thought of the defects of the strategy I was trying to employ to see what I needed to overcome in deck construction. Enchantments being sorcery speed and state based cut at the heart of what you need in a control deck in modern, reactivity. Although the state based effects give you increasing advantage overtime, not having immediacy of impact or playing tap out is just not feasible. My solution I think is leyline of anticipation! Not only am I doing a leyline suite anyway, but it solves all those issues. Also, a lot of the enchantments jump in power level when you can flash them in. Ghostly prison becomes fog+, oblivion ring becomes vindicate, surprise keranos or starfield is a beating, village bell ringer becomes a pseudo deceiver exarch, idyllic tutor and filter's become hyper efficient, as does chained to the rocks. even your low impact cards become better because you get to react before you decide to tap for a knollspine invocation or luminarch ascension.

Another obstacle to overcome is using dead cards, and the card selection and velocity necessary to assemble a combo or critical mass. There are some pretty elegant solutions though. The first thought of a flashed serum visions is very appealing, but I don't really want to force blue early in my mana base because I want to mimic being mono white and I highly value my life total. I think a better option is faithless looting, as it provides both continued selection and velocity as well as a use for dead cards: bingo! Izzet charm is similar, and provides reactivity at the optimal 2 mana window that the deck is otherwise missing, as well being usable outside of a leyline of anticipation. Starfield is great with both of these cards. Another angle is mesa enchantress, which provides velocity and devotion. My fear with her though is that she will be just a lightning rod for other dead removal, and worse than a 3 mana do nothing cantrip. Another velocity card I like is font of fortunes which provides great advantage with starfield, and better than cycles with a leyline of anticipation in play and a mesa enchantress. That does seem a little pipe dreamy though. Idyllic tutor provides the ultimate selection, let's me play more silver bullets and my side, and will let me conserve deck space by being my extra splinter twins and the like. I think a one of copy of of copy enchantment functions on a similar axis. One of's worth considering are keranos, because this is probably the best keranos deck out there and it's almost mono white, and desolate loot house. Obviously the optimal combo of these cards has to be paired down to.

Glue cards worth considering Lighting Bolt and Helix, because they are not only extremely efficient, but they help make the deck more "Tier 1" by providing versatile timely answers. Specifically, they also function in the decks most vulnerable window to it's most vulnerable without assistance. The life gain off helix is also relevant because outside of prevention, this decks ability to recover life is fairly limited. Perhaps the most unintuitive card is grand abolisher. It provides early devotion in that optimal T2 window, and makes all the gameplay on your opponents turn, and any gameplay on your turn without reaction apart from lands. This can be really powerful in unison with leyline of anticipation, and naturally wreaks havoc on reactionary decks. It is another lightning rod, so I'm considering it as a sideboard card. A possible compensatory effect with a very low-cost is emeria the sky ruin, which I took from u/w control. The games have potential to go long, and with almost being mono white it should be fairly easy to enable. I think a loop of my opponent spending their turn to deal with the abolisher just to have it return at the beginning of my upkeep is a great synergy. If I can flash it on my opponents end step, it's state based effect has pseudo haste, because even if they deal with it it probably taps them out. It also allows me tutor for the combo kill without hesitation.

The taxation cards are izzet charm, maybe mana leak, maybe suppression field, ghostly prison, sphere of safety, and archangel of tithes. Ghostly prison is by far the best, and stops twin all on it's own, as well improving every wide matchup. Sphere safety is also very good and often the nail in the attacking coffin. I'm not sure about the archangel. Seems good, and is outside of bolt range, but every creature is a liability in this deck, and don't really want my opponent to "turn off" the taxation, especially in game one. On top of that it's taxation is very minimal, and I think with the leylines 4 is a congested spot on the curve already. It does provide excellent devotion, and the attacking effect can be relevant when I'm going for the luminarch, starfield, or dovescape kill. Although land destruction pairs well with taxation, I think it ultimately is just dead weight do nothing cards. I think the counter spells are almost stand alone playable, and the diminishing returns are somewhat recouped by pairing with state based taxation effects that are good in their own right, even without land destruction. The taxation decks also usually run tutor hosing like leonin arbiter, aven mindscensor, and suppression field. Both the creatures have the creature problem, while the preferable enchantment interacts poorly with loot house, haunt, font of fortunes, knollspine invocation, and most importantly, splinter twin and luminarch ascension. Also, leonin and the field require the absence of fetch lands, which limits my manabase, although might be feasible given how white the deck is (hehe). It might be appropriate to side them in, swapping out the most dead cards. I know that the suppression field in particular is an absolute beating against almost 80% of the field, and if I were to build a main deck able version that deck would also cast blood moon with no hesitation, and we know how good that is. This pairing of taxation and cards that hose the man abase are the strongest package out of the prison decks.

The other inherent problem of finding something to do was solved by luminarch ascension and the splinter twin/ village bell ringer combo. In addition to this, having several win con's is really exciting. Knollspine invocation is another answer to using otherwise dead cards, and pitching leylines is a great way to both control the board and win the game. Also, star field to nix is a very exciting card as it both recurs to every turn previously destroyed or discarded cards and can almost win the turn it's cast. It's very good, but once it's out there it opens up the previous strength of low enchantment removal because everything can now be dealt with as a creature. It still might be too good not to run main deck, but I kind of like the idea of siding four in with a greater auramancy after G1 to counteract disenchant effects and attack from a new angle. I also potentially like siding in some number of geist of saint grafts and ethereal armor, as it kills so quickly from yet another angle, especially if leyline of the meek is in the deck. A similar win con for the other end is dovescape, which can lock some decks out of contention and functions the same as knollspine invocation somewhat. It pairs awfully with leyline of the meek though, but the taxation should keep me in the green. At first that with all the prevention that token making planeswalkers like elspeth and gideon, narset, and Ajani, would be great additions to the deck as another kind of win con with versatility, potentially ultimating frequently. You could even add a singleton inexorable tide for all the synergy. The issue is that except for archangel of tithes, your worst taxation effect, all your other protection cards you, and not your planeswalkers. So like creatures, the excess removable and burn that are able to be directed at you or profitably will slide onto to these guys, giving one use at bestout of them, which is just a waste of time.

In terms of land besides the utility lands, we have some interesting options for a mana base. We want to be predominantly white and non basic, to not be affected by our land hosers and enable devotion. Nyx is either insanely busted in this deck or lackluster, I don't know yet. We also want a high plains count in general, because emeria can be potentially just a free roll awesome. We also want to preserve our life total, which also points to no fetches. On the other hand, fetches provide versatility and more consistent mana, and also better deck selection over time. Temples are also cool. I even potentially could run flagstones of tarkir just for the value. I won't know how to shape the base until I narrow the deck down more, the shrine is the only land that would impact the spell suite.

Last but not least, the sideboard is pretty awesome. White is known for it's insane hate cards, and most of them are enchantments, which allows us to fill our sideboard with silver bullets and idyllic tutor them up! That card saves so much space. I've talked about a few transformational packages. All the cards that are one of are pretty easy to figure out where they might be good. Of course stony silence, blood moon, and rest peace are amazing, and more so in this deck. Kor firewalker might be needed if the leyline isn't good enough, and also adds to devotion. Similarly font of life gain provides the deck an enhanced ability to recover, especially with a star field in play, but also might be better served as a wrath. Reactivity wise, wear/ tear is always worth a consideration, as is dispel. Boros charm could help you be more proactive on the burn plan as well as contract disenchant effects. If I end up playing mesa enchantress or fetch lands, I might run spreading seas over blood moon. It's far inferior, but still serves in the match ups where it's most important, and provides velocity to boot. Uniquely suited to this deck are nevermore and tuned halo. They add to devotion, and allow me to "pick apart" my opponents game plan game 2 and 3. Runed halo with a leyline of anticipation is an awesome trick and also nullifies some strategies all by itself. Nevermore is an amazing proactive card that can just buys million years. Outside of just hosing hard combo decks, you can use it to name the most relevant card every time and thus depowers a lot of draws. The usual drawbacks of these cards like oblivion ring is that if they get broken open you just loose. With so many powerful enchantments though, and layers of protection besides, your opponent has maneuver very carefully to succeed at breaking anything open, and I don't think breaking anyone piece really stops the advantage. You can also win before they figure it out. Greater auramancy and star field really laugh at these attempts anyway.

Overall, if I build this deck correctly, I think it makes it extremely hard for your opponent to plain play magic, which they need to do if they want to win, much less react with to the many angles the deck is coming from. I think most games can be won before your opponent really figures out which way is up. Once you sideboard, no matter what I end up choosing, it's going to be devastating, shutting out entirely new lines of play, and generally eviserating any countermeasures. I see two main week spots, one of which I can seal up by how I construct, the other is an achilles heal. Between T1-3 I am vulnerable to quick starts and a wide spread. Ghostly prison does a lot of work one it comes down, as does suppression field, but the deck doesn't recover well if it's battered to much before the shields go up. Also, if leyline of anticipation isn't cheated in, the sorcery speed in those turns is a big issue. I think chained to the rocks, oblivion ring, izzet charm, lightning bolt, and lightning helix solidify those early defenses. The only question is how to build to cover the weakness without diluting the power and intention of the rest of the deck. The other weakness is overwhelming insane enchantment hate that nobody plays. There is more enchantment hate in modern than there is enchantment matters pay off cards. There are like 12 different versions in every color except black of cards that destroy or bounce all enchantments. This deck folds to that. But people only play spot removal at best to deal with enchantments. My worst match up is jund because it has main deck abrupt decay and maelstrom pulse, but less than 6 total, and greater auramancy solves that. As a rogue brew, there is almost a nil chance that I ever see a card that really hoses me, and almost every match up that gets to turn 5 my opponent will likely need a hoser to recover.I'm excited to build and test this deck out!
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