{"ops":[{"insert":"A typical "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tellah, Great Sage"}},{"insert":" deck focuses on casting 4+ cmc spells in order draw 2 extra cards on every spell cast. Mana curves for these decks often feature spikes at 2 and 4 cmc to maximize the chances of starting the game with a mana rock of each of those mana values that can accelerate the early game and keep drawing cards as the game goes on. However, that magic number of 4 is conspicuously absent in this deck, as all the spells in the deck (besides Tellah) are 3 cmc or below. So what's the big idea? Am I just ignoring Tellah's potent draw 2 effect?\n\nOf course not! Since Tellah actually cares the about the amount of mana "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"spent"},{"insert":" to cast a spell and not the mana value of that spell, we can use a variety of cost increasers to hit the 4 mana breakpoint and draw plenty of cards from Tellah. As the deck name suggests, a great way to increase costs is Kicker and Kicker-like mechanics such as Overload, Buyback, and Spree (among others). Another option for spending more mana is X spells. These felt a little like cheating the cmc so I didn't include too many, but some notable ones like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Crackle with Power"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mathemagics"}},{"insert":" made it in. Both additional costs and X spells provide the deck with a lot of flexibility, as we can forgo paying kicker costs early or pay small amounts into X until Tellah is out and we really want to be spending 4+ mana.\n\nHowever, the deck has some cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lightning Bolt"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Brainstorm"}},{"insert":" that don't exactly fit into either of these two categories. Aside from being really good Magic cards, these cards can still support our game plan through the third category of cost increases: simply paying more mana. Cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Defense Grid"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thorn of Amethyst"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Academy Loremaster"}},{"insert":" require us (and our opponents) to pay more mana for our spells. For our opponents this will be often be a groan-inducing detriment, but since we benefit from paying more for our spells we are able to break parity on these light stax effects. Additionally, Defense Grid and Academy Loremaster give us some control over whether we actually have to pay extra mana or not, which makes them much easier to work around. Of course, these effects can sometimes backfire and hurt us more than our opponents, but with Defense Grid essentially splicing "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Divination"}},{"insert":" onto all our spells, that's a price I'm willing to pay. \n\nPaying extra mana and drawing cards is all well and good, but how does this deck win? Many of our wincons center around the numerous tokens that the deck can create. Tellah himself makes creatures, and cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Third Path Iconoclast"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Saheeli, Sublime Artificer"}},{"insert":" support this gameplan. Once we have a respectable army of 1/1s, we can overload "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dragonshift"}},{"insert":" to turn them into flying 4/4s, buyback and cast "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Haze of Rage"}},{"insert":" a few times, or use "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fated Firepower"}},{"insert":" to make each little token a significant threat. Alternatively, we can take advantage of Tellah's final ability by spending 8+ mana all at once (typically through one of our X spells) to make him explode in a glorious heroic sacrifice. If we end up with lots of spare mana, Crackle with Power can both trigger Tellah's explosion and do devastating damage itself. \n\nAll in all, this was a really fun challenge and I'm really happy with the final product. The deck is super flexible thanks to all the alternate costs and in testing often played more smoothly than other Tellah brews I've made in the past. There are a lot of interesting paths to victory and all of my playtests have ended differently, which is what I always hope for in a deck. From attaching "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Moonlit Meditation"}},{"insert":" to a mana rock and ending with a huge X spell, to burning opponents out with a "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Guttersnipe"}},{"insert":" boosted by "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fated Firepower"}},{"insert":", or just turning a bunch of 1/1s into dragons with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dragonshift"}},{"insert":" and turning them sideways, it's been really satisfying to playtest and find different lines in this somewhat unconventional Tellah deck. \n"}]}