Help! I need a win condition

[fluffyJohn]

newest version:
https://deckstats.net/decks/10157/52823-u-w-scepter


update 1:
https://deckstats.net/decks/10157/52823-american-scepter

https://deckstats.net/decks/10157/51995-isochron-madness/

[WWolfe]

Generally you decide what you want the win condition to be and build your deck around it, not build the deck and then look for a win condition.

Also, what cards do you have access to? That'll help people know where to lean with their advice.

[AeroSigma]

I sort of agree with Wolf, but not entirely.  You should find a strategy and build your deck around that.  Many strategies are the win-con, but not all.  It looks like you've done a good job at that, trying to stall out the game with Isochron Scepter and Dawn Charm or Angels Grace, and just need a way to end the game once they can't kill you. 

I'd suggest Aetherling, one of the best blue win-cons available, it's incredibly difficult for your opponent to deal with as long as you have mana open.  Make sure you cast it with 7 land, leaving that single blue open in case they try to doom blade right away.  If you're stall engine works well enough, you should be able to make the game go long enough that dropping an Aetherling will end it every time.

Another option is Platinum Angel, which gives you 4 power in the air, and a secondary stall mechanic, she also has hexproof with a Leonin Abunas on the battlefield. 

Consider equipping the swords to your Leonin (or Kami of False Hope) as well. Sword of War and Peace is probably the best fit, gives protection from some good removal, and deals additional direct damage on connection.  The swords work paticularly well when carried by cheap fliers, Beckon Apparition or Spectral Procession could fit well in this deck to help stall early game as chump blockers, and carry swords late game.

Depending on how consistent your stall engine is, and if you end up with too many dead cards in your hand after it's going, you probably want to focus on one of these strategies.  Aetherling is just a single 4-of slot, the swords will probably take 4 of plus 4 of a carrier, but if don't need all of the stall you have, they could potentially provide relevance in the early game.

Hope that helps!

[fluffyJohn]

Thanks! That was actually very helpful.

I have made a lot of changes to the deck. Here is an updated version: let me know what your thoughts are:

https://deckstats.net/decks/10157/52823-american-scepter

[AeroSigma]

What's the plan with switching from Angel's Grace and Dawn Charm to the counters?  I feel like counters on the scepter are a bit more leaky than fog affects? (i.e. there's more room for the opponent to get through, you'd need Curse of Exhaustion AND a Scepter WITH Mana Leak to be fool proof, whereas the fog effects make you vulnerable to only burn, and 20 dmg with just burn is very hard to do.) I like the addition of the counters as a way to protect the scepter, but I'm not sure if they're just scepterable themselves.  Have you done much playtesting with either version?

You're sort of switching archetypes from more Turbo-Fog oriented to more American Control.  I'd recommend that you read up on both of those (see if you can find 'primers')  I think that the Isochron Scepter fits better with the fogging, I could be wrong, but I feel like a well constructed control deck would get more mileage out of Snapcaster Mage and card draw than the scepter (which takes a bit more to get online.) The nice thing that the Scpeter does in a Turbo-Fog deck is opens up fog slots to run some control cards.

If you're going with the addition of red, Electrolyze is very popular in American Control, it can get rid of potentially two creatures, and replaces itself in hand (a 2-for-0!)  Don't underestimate the power of Lightning Bolt or Lightning Helix as cheap removal (helix preferred with Scepter; you're paying 2 anyway,  Bolt preferred with Snappy, you can flashback a turn earlier)

Anyway, read primers on American Control and Turbo Fog in Modern and that should help you decide where you want to take this deck.

PS- If you do want to keep this Modern, Sol Ring (in your maybe board) is not format legal.

[WWolfe]

I run Isochron Scepter in an EDH deck, primarily for Counter Spell BUT I also run enough other counters so that I almost always have another one or two in hand for when someone is trying to bait me into using the Scepter'ed Counter Spell so that I can turn the tables on them.

I also run Isochron Scepter in another EDH deck for the Turbo-Fog effect that AeroSigma is talking about, it's nice to be able to be aggressive as all crap and swing all out every turn while you sit there with your Fog in hand, err Scepter. As AeroSigma said, that combined with some counters to protect the Scepter gives opponents a lot to deal with.

[fluffyJohn]

I made some changes. I removed R so it is now U/W; no longer as patriotic, unfortunately. I am running dawn charm instead of fog/holy day because of its versatility, thoughts? I removed guttersnipe and young alchemist and put in akroma and platinum angel as win conditions because I already own them and I was able to remove R and simplify the mana sources.

The cards that include a single copy in the deck are cards that I thought might work in the deck and that I already own only 1 copy. Do you think any of those work particularly well?

Should I sub out the akroma for another platinum angel or another artifact win condition so it can be accessible to fabricate and reshape while being protected by leonin abunas? Also, do I need more/less fetch for isochron scepter? 4 Muddle the mixture, 2 fabricate, and 1 reshape are the current fetches. Should I add in 2 more fabricates or am I already over doing it?

The input has been very helpful. All ideas are appreciated!

[fluffyJohn]

here is another updated deck:
https://deckstats.net/decks/10157/52823-u-w-scepter