As those who read my stuff regularly know, I like mono-colored decks. The thing is, you need large enough card pool to make those. Sure, you can try, but its hard. After the new block system and the faster rotation, the usual card pool will be smaller than it is now. For example, right now we have three large sets and three small sets. This is the maximal pool in the new system, but right now I have two more large sets to go before rotation. So, perhaps its time to broaden my horizons. Sort of.

I’ve been thinking about how certain cards have been designed to have a dual role, but its hard to do it in a single deck. On the other hand, if I move the deck into a totally different configuration after sideboarding, you can use the same cards in a very different way.

The cards, in this case: Monastery Siege, Citadel Siege and Valorous Stance.

So, Monastery Siege is mostly used for digging through your deck and putting cards in your graveyard for delve, but here you can also use it to protect your creatures. Control decks will have a huge problem if their mana is put into such a position.

Citadel Siege will make your 2/2 creatures huge with time, but in a control deck, you can put pressure on your opponent to overcommit on the board, so that you can get at least two creatures with each sweeper. You could also choose dragons in a racing situation, but that requires pretty good planning and some math.

Valorous Stance is the most obvious in its use, but its important to note what it does, because relying on it as our main removal spell puts huge limits on the situations where we can take the control route.

Here’s the whole list right now:

4 Seeker of the Way
4 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Daxos of Meletis
4 Valorous Stance
4 Devouring Light
4 Treasure Cruise
2 Monastery Siege
2 Citadel Siege
4 Mastery of the Unseen
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Windswept Heath
7 Plains
2 Island

Sideboard
4 End Hostilities
4 Disdainful Stroke
3 Negate
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Dig Through Time

No testing has been done so far, so take this with a grain of salt or two. Especially Daxos of Meletis is a bit of a stretch, but I would like to try it out. In a world of two drops with three power, its not that far-fetched to try it out. Its very good in a racing situation against certain decks.

Well, actually, the whole thing is very experimental in nature. There isn’t any burn to abuse Soulfire Grand Master, not many instants to trigger Seeker of the Way and Mastery of the Unseen could be way too slow for Standard. But on the other hand, all decks are experimental at some point. Without experimentation, where would decks like Mono-Blue Devotion and Mono-Black Devotion come from if someone wasn’t willing to just go for it?

I can’t promise anyone this would actually work and it probably won’t but to me the fun part of magic (or actually part of it) is just trying out all sorts of strange ideas.