Uses a combination of
Valley Whisperer,
Journey Guide,
Strange Sorcerer, and
Battle-Tested Stranger/
Determined Stranger to produce infinite Strangers.
Fortunate Stranger provides deck draw,
Linrei's Stranger can stun entire enemy board, and
Grodov's Stranger is just a generally good Stranger who can provide additional draw if all the pieces aren't on the board yet or help shut down dredge/reanimator decks if we can't seem to find our market
Lumen Reclaimer.
Feel free to experiment with different amounts/types of countermagic - so long as it can stop the majority of sweepers.
Market choices:
1.
Mandatory Retirement - Single target/relic removal.
2.
Trials and Tribulations - Anti-aggro, could be swapped for Hailstorm but you'd have to change market access. Also, almost all of units survive this (exceptions being
Speed Grafter and unbuffed
Hearty Stranger).
3.
Crown of Possibilities - Pushes our combo to the next level, pretty much a win-more card.
4.
Lumen Reclaimer - Anti-reanimator, anti-dredge, anti-mill, anti-decking ourselves.
5.
Valley Spring - Usually my choice out of market if I don't need removal at the moment, makes the combo easier to achieve.
Check-Raise
x2
1
Elysian Blueprints
x4
1
Hearty Stranger
x4
1
Journey Guide
x4
1
Time Etchings
x1
2
Magnificent Stranger
x4
2
Speed Grafter
x3
3
Determined Stranger
x4
3
Strange Sorcerer
x4
4
Soaring Stranger
x4
4
Traver's Farm
x4
5
Battle-Tested Stranger
x4
5
Linrei's Stranger
x1
5
Valley Whisperer
x4
6
Fortunate Stranger
x2
6
Grodov's Stranger
x1
Primal Sigil
x2
Time Sigil
x4
Amber Waystone
x2
Cobalt Waystone
x1
Common Cause
x3
Crest of Wisdom
x4
Elysian Cylix
x4
Elysian Insignia
x4
Seat of Wisdom
x1
View Deck on Shiftstoned
That being said, I typically try to bait out single-target removal early with Hearty Strangers and Magnificent Strangers, as they aren’t terribly important for the overall combo.
As for dealing with aggro, you could try adding faster market access (either new Merchant or fetch spell) rather than a two-turn Speed Grafter, to try and get your Trials and Tribulations quicker. You could also try swapping in some cheap removal like Permafrost.
Lastly, I added countermagic purely to deal with sweepers, but they are still a pain in the ass, especially since Cold Hunt when DWD decided that control should be 2/3 of the ladder and every color combination should have a sweeper or two or three. The fact is that too many players enjoy “prison” or anti-fun or extremely drawn out play styles for DWD to really go back.