240 Card Deck with Battle of Wits (Blue/Black)

July 7, 2012 | Posted by Dee

One of the most unique cards in Magic 2013 (M13) is Battle of Wits. This card breaks one of the main rules in deck building: play 60 cards.

The pros usually play 60 card decks. They play with the minimum number of cards to make their decks more consistent. The smaller the deck size, the more likely you are to draw the best cards in the deck.

For example, in a Zombie deck, you definitely want to draw Geralf’s Messenger. This card is much better than most of the other cards in the deck. If you play a 70 card deck instead of a 60 card deck, you lower your chances of drawing the undying Zombie.

Now here comes along Battle of Wits. This card is pretty powerful. It costs five mana and wins you the game if your opponent can’t kill you next turn or remove it from the battlefield.

However, you have to meet its requirements. You have to have 200 or more cards in your library to use its ability. This means playing a much bigger deck than just 60 cards.

When building around Battle of Wits, I like aiming for 240 cards as my deck size.

First, you need to play a couple cards above 200 because your library will shrink as the game goes on. Along with the normal draw step, you’ll be playing card draw and tutoring, which make your deck smaller.

Also, whenever you play against a control deck, those games tend to go long. Against Mono Black Control, I won a game with Battle of Wits with only 201 cards in my library.

Second, the number 240 gives you an easy ratio to work with. 240 is four times bigger than 60 so you can take a 60 card deck and extrapolate it to a 240 card deck. For example, 16 mass removal spells in a 240 card deck will feel like 4 copies in a 60 card deck because 16 divided by 4 is 4.

With this in mind, let’s start building the deck.

Tutors

You can only play 4 Battle of Wits. Most games you won’t draw it because the deck is so big. Four copies in a 240 card deck feels like one copy in a 60 card deck. You wouldn’t rely on drawing a single card in a 60 card deck to win the game so you’ll need to play tutors.

Fortunately, there are multiple tutor cards in Standard.

4 Diabolic Tutor
4 Increasing Ambition
4 Diabolic Revelation
4 Rune-Scarred Demon

As you can see, all of them are black so I’m going with a Blue/Black deck.

Mana Ramp

Battle of Wits and most of the tutors cost a lot so we should play some mana ramp spells to cast them earlier.

4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Pristine Talisman
4 Warden of the Wall
4 Vessel of Endless Rest
4 Manalith
4 Solemn Simulacrum

This gives us 24 ramp spells, which is like having 6 ramp spells in a 60 card deck.

I wanted to include Palladium Myr, Silver Myr, and Leaden Myr but they are vulnerable to mass removal spells.

Mass Removal

We definitely want to play mass removal spells to fight all the aggro decks in the format.

4 Black Sun’s Zenith
4 Barter in Blood
4 Mutilate
4 Curse of Death’s Hold
4 Life’s Finale

It might seem weird to play Mutilate in a two color deck but I did the math. Most of the time Mutilate is going to be as effective as Black Sun’s Zenith.

Pinpoint Removal

Black also has good pinpoint removal spells. Let’s add some to help us survive the early game against creature decks.

4 Doom Blade
4 Go for the Throat
4 Dismember
4 Tribute to Hunger
4 Sever the Bloodline

I like Tribute to Hunger over something like Murder because it buys you time with the life gain.

Sever the Bloodline is more expensive than the other spells but the extra cost is worth it in my experience. The deck needs a card that can deal with undying creatures effectively.

Card Draw

As long as we’re playing blue, we can play card draw spells to help us find Battle of Wits or a tutor card.

4 Think Twice
4 Sign in Blood
4 Divination
4 Forbidden Alchemy

Counterspells

I think playing some cheap counterspells is a good idea because they can deal with a variety of threats.

4 Mana Leak
4 Dissipate
2 Negate
2 Essence Scatter

This package of 12 counterspells feels like 3 in a 60 card deck. I didn’t want to go up to 16 counterspells because of the popularity of Cavern of Souls.

Discard

Let’s add some discard spells to fight planeswalkers. Blue and black generally have problems with these cards.

4 Duress
4 Despise

Duress is pretty good because it protects Battle of Wits from counterspells and enchantment removal.

Alternative Win Conditions

We can add some alternative win conditions in case we don’t draw Battle of Wits or a tutor card. Also, having other ways to win the game can distract your opponent from trying to stop Battle of Wits.

4 Mimic Vat
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Batterskull

I like Mimic Vat and Liliana of the Veil because they are cheap. We already have a bunch of expensive spells. I don’t want the mana curve of the deck to be too high.

By the way, Mimic Vat stops undying shenanigans if you kill the creature on your opponent’s turn. If you kill it on your turn, you won’t be able to imprint it with Mimic Vat. Here’s the ruling.

Miscellaneous

For the last 4 spots, I’m adding Snapcaster Mage. This Human Wizard gives us some card advantage and flexibility. Plus, the deck has a lot of sorceries and instants.

Here’s the final decklist. Let me know what you think.

Blue/Black Battle of Wits Control

Main Win Condition (4)

4 Battle of Wits

Tutors (16)

Mana Ramp (24)

Mass Removal (20)

Pinpoint Removal (20)

Card Draw (16)

Counterspells (12)

Discard (8)

4 Duress
4 Despise

Alternative Win Conditions (12)

Miscellaneous (4)

4 Snapcaster Mage

Lands (104)

Sideboard (15)

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Filed Under Standard

13 Responses to “240 Card Deck with Battle of Wits (Blue/Black)”

Dreanor on July 7th, 2012 9:14 am

Looks like a solid list, giving yourself only 40 extra cards is a bit risky but you do have to compromise for some consistency. I would LOVE to play this deck, but sleeves and transporting it would be a pain!
Darth on July 7th, 2012 12:37 pm

Jus’ saying, you need Elixir of Immortality in this list. not only does it gain you life, but it also shuffles your library back for the games where you dont get there fast enough.
Yeoman on July 7th, 2012 9:55 pm

What do you think of Elixir of immortality to reshuffle your graveyard?
Dee on July 7th, 2012 10:46 pm

@ Dreanor

Haha, so true. Shuffling 240 cards is no joke.

@ Darth and Yeoman

I’ve played a bunch of games and I have never gone down below 200 cards. Therefore, I don’t think Elixir of Immortality is needed, at least not in this deck.

I don’t think paying three mana to gain five life is worth it. Also, the deck has other win conditions so even if you go below 200 cards, you can still win.

For example, I’ve won a game by just killing all his guys, attacking with Solemn Simulacrum, and activating Mimic Vat.

If you’re playing Trinket Mage, then Elixir seems like a decent card.
Calavera on July 9th, 2012 11:29 am

You should add a 1-of Karn Liberated as a way to deal with opponent’s planeswalkers in play. Nicol Bolas killing Battle has been a problem in my testing.
aGent™ on July 19th, 2012 2:53 am

It would be nice if you a big creature on the main deck like Griselbrand it would give u a heck of draw ability… i would try to build your decklist…
Dee on July 19th, 2012 11:12 am

You could try:

+3 Griselbrand
-1 Batterskull
-2 Rune-Scarred Demon

I think that could work. Good luck!
fisherman on July 19th, 2012 5:38 pm

hey, i really like the decklist and such but i think i might put red in there just to have a bit more variety. i dunno, i mean u get fking nicol bolas. HE RAPES!
fhad on August 21st, 2012 5:47 am

That seems like a decent deck I might test it
Sayadd on September 10th, 2012 1:53 pm

I built this deck with only 236 cards, no snapcasters, Great results, Fun Level: 9999. The part that i love most is casting a tutor spell and finding a mass removal spell instead oh Wits.
Sayadd, Philippines on September 11th, 2012 12:25 pm

I raped my credit card to build this on magic online, I enjoyed playing it so much i gave up my RUG RAMP and Solar Flare deck and spent a couple hundred bucks to have the Actual Deck. And It was worth it!!!!! 4-0 on a local tournament against delver, ramp, pod, delver. plus the attention im getting when im doin my yugi moves. The only thing is, this deck is auto loss on Zombies(on a good draw, that geralf and fume spitter combo) and mono green infect and mono green fattys during play test. But its still awesome!!! Thanks to the designer!
Sayadd, Philippines on September 11th, 2012 12:29 pm

The trick is, you need to arrange the sequence of cards (land,removal, tutor,draw) and shuffle it lightly to avoid screws and get the best results.
Dee on September 11th, 2012 10:11 pm

Hi Sayadd,

I’m glad the deck is working out well for you. Thanks for your comments!