{"ops":[{"insert":"General Concept:\nThis is a Cheese Stands Alone deck…or, if you’re willing to break the cardframe restrictions, you can run it with a worse functional reprint in Barren Glory to be legal in Legacy (if your playgroup cares about such things). Pretty self-explanatory what this is/does. If you go the route I did with Cheese Stands Alone, it’s nice to have one Barren Glory in a separate sleeve, just to point at during the legalities discussion should it arise."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"I build with cardframe restrictions—all cards in the deck must use the same cardframe. This one is the original cardframe, with the original Cheese."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nGameplay Notes:\nTo explain the self-explanatory wincon, the intended combo here is you play "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Academy Rector"}},{"insert":", then cast "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kaervek's Spite"}},{"insert":" (with Academy Rector in play), sacrificing all permanents and discarding your hand. Academy Rector dies, and its death trigger gets "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Cheese Stands Alone"}},{"insert":"/"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Barren Glory"}},{"insert":" into play, winning the game."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"A quick note on the enchantment differences… Cheese Stands Alone wins as a state-based effect. Barren Glory wins as an upkeep trigger. To be polite, try to win at end of turn, so there isn’t much difference between the Unglued card in the deck and the functional reprint that’s legal for play."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"After the first couple times you play it, people will be expecting your Cheesy wincon, so you’ll need to play more conservative. The easiest way of stopping the combo is to kill Academy Rector when you’re not in a position to play Kaervek’s Spite, or to kill Barren Glory at end of turn so that its upkeep trigger doesn’t happen (a flaw that doesn’t exist with Cheese Stands Alone). This means strategically using Duress and Cabal Therapy to rip out disenchant-type effects when you’re ready to combo. Stifle/Trickbind/newer countermagic can also stop the Academy Rector trigger…but the approach is basically the same. Rip out the countermagic with Duress/Cabal Therapy before you’re ready to go."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"There’s some trickiness with Kaervek’s Spite to keep in mind as well. Sacrificing all permanents and discarding your hand is a cost, not an effect (reference the post-errata oracle text on Kaervek’s Spite). You can play Academy Rector, have it resolve, then play Kaervek’s Spite without an opponent getting a chance to squeeze in removal for Academy Rector before its death trigger goes on the stack."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Be careful with replacement effects...Academy Rector needs to hit the graveyard for its trigger to happen, so you need to kill stuff like Dauthi Voidwalker, Rest in Peace, and Leyline of the Void for the combo to work. There are ample tools to do it if you don't manage to hit them with Duress or Cabal Therapy, but it's an extra step to find them to keep in mind."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Other than that, the deck has a bunch of creature removal (because creature-based decks are the most popular in my LGS), with some Disenchant to help disrupt other, faster combos. If you can sit there for 7-10 turns playing lands and trying to kill off threats, you’re in good shape to check hand states with Duress, then drop your combo to win."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n-------------------------\n\nUpgrade Path:\nReexamine creature vs combo piece removal; potentially look at "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Illumination"}},{"insert":", maybe some more multipurpose stuff. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Have a look at Isolated Chapel out of Remastered for more color stability...swapping to Orzhov Signet from Talisman of Hierarchy added a slight element of conditionality that makes it occasionally harder to play Kaervek's Spite."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Look at "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Oblation"}},{"insert":" instead of Disenchant as a removal strategy...if all three Cheese Stands Alone are drawn, that's effectively game loss because there are no sac outlets aside from Kaervek's Spite. Using Oblation means you can hardcast a Cheese Stands Alone to reshuffle into your library. I suppose an alternative would be some sort of graveyard-to-play recursion like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Replenish"}},{"insert":" and Kaervek's Spite in response while it's still on the stack?"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"}]}