Articles

Tutoring

Deckbuilding Idea.

One of the most powerful mechanics in MTG is tutoring. Invasion has bought us a tutor for enchantments, in the form of Sterling Grove, and a tutor for land in the form of Elfhame Sanctuary. Combined with the raw power power of Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor for artifacts and enchantments and Wordly Tutor for Creatures, well that's a lot of tutoring in type 2!

There has also been some discussion of comboing Ankh of Mishra with Parallax Wave. 2UU to do 10 points of colourless untargeted damage... mmm. That has got to rot the socks of dedicated red burn players for sure.

Other strange thoughts...
Ivory Mask
Spiritual Asylum
Foutain Watch

(start singing can't touch this...)

Can't target me

(duh nuh nuh nuh - can't touch this)

Can't target my creatures or lands

(duh nuh nuh nuh - can't touch this)

Can't target my enchantments or artifacts

(duh nuh nuh nuh - can't touch this!)

The last thing left is creatures....

Oh look... Duelling Grounds.
Oh my goodness that is one sexy card. Talk about shutting down the massed hordes. Of course there are other options, such as Circles of Protection, and Teferi's Moat. Meekstone is exceptionally funny, especially combined with something like Kismet.

If you draw a whole bunch of mana and a couple of tutors, why not go into beatdown mode with Saprolling Bursts?

If you need to stall against creatures then Waterfront Bouncer is a cute card, shame it can't bounce land.

Duelling Grounds also works well with creatures that don't have to attack to damage your opponent, eg Stinging Barrier.

I hear Verduran Enchantress combos reasonably well with Enchantments.

Elfhame Sanctuary doesn't combo too well with most of the other card drawing enchantments (eg Heightened Awareness which would be a serious contender fo a deck like this otherwise). It's interaction with Jalum Tome is interesting, as Jalum Tome then reads; 2, tap: put a basic land from your library into your graveyard. Jalum Tome works much better with Squee, and Squee is devastating with Duelling Grounds.

Note that Elfhame Sanctuary can also be a stalling card that stops you from ever drawing the last card of your deck, so if you did get the 'can't touch this' lock down you could Stasis them out (so long as Squee can keep chumping non tramplers in the Duelling Ground)

Aura Shards with any of Parallax Wave, Aura Mutation or Saprolling Burst is pretty funny if your opponent relies on artifacts or enchantments. Oh wait, we were planning on using Saprolling Burst and Parallax wave anyway.

But lets get really sick, how about Squee, Aura Shards and... Saprolling Cluster. This combo reads: make target opponent that relies on artifacts or enchantments cry.

Hanna. Recycle your Sterling Groves.

Ok, here is a first draft:

Tutors
4       Sterling Grove
4       Enlightened Tutor
4       Worldly Tutor

Annoying Kill
4       Ankh of Mishra
4       Parallax Tide

The Best Defense
2       Parallax Wave
4       Saprolling Burst

Stupid Card Drawing Tricks      
1       Elfhame Sanctuary
1       Jalum Tome
1       Verduran Enchantress
2       Squee
1       Hanna

Can't touch this!       
1       Duelling Ground
1       Teferi's Moat
1       Meekstone
1       Pentagram of The Ages
1       Fountain Watch
1       Ivory Mask
1       Spiritual Asylum

Mo Mana
4       Birds of Paradise
10      Forests
6       Islands
6       Plains
2       Mountains

Sideboard
More Can't Touch This
5 Circles of Protection
Enchantment Hate
1 Aura Shards
1 Saprolling Cluster
1 Aura Mutation
Better Beatdown
1 Ancestral Mask
Critter Hate
1 Meteor Swarm
1 Cowardice
1 Rhystic Deluge
1 Kismet
Stall Hate
1 Mike Long
1 Millstone

(AWOL from paradise)