After Abuelo’s Awakening was banned, and rotation got rid of all the other decent replacements, it was believed that Omniscience combo was no more. After the deck plagued the Standard format for months, many fans were glad to finally see it go.
That said, the combo has somehow found a way to persevere in the hands of one of its most dedicated pilots. Omniscience Combo seems to be back with a new shell, but whether or not it’s for good is a different question.
Yuna Omniscience Combo
Omniscience Combo has returned, and it’s using everyone’s favorite Yuna, Hope of Spira, as the replacement for Abuelo’s Awakening. This was something that players have thought about for a little while now, but the downside of reanimating Omniscience on the end step was enough to scare many away. This makes Omniscience much more difficult to combo with, and gives your opponent a much bigger window to deal with your board state.
That said, this deck is viable, at least according to a recent result. In the capable hands of MTGO player Linden_43, Yuna Omniscience combo just got a ninth-place showing in a recent Standard Challenge.
Similar to Omniscience Combo decks of the past, the goal of this deck is to reanimate Omniscience from the graveyard and create too much value for your opponent to keep up with afterwards. There isn’t any ‘I win’ combo in this particular list, but you can draw infinite cards and create an infinitely large board by using Marang River Regent bounce loops. Combine that with a lot more counterspells than past variants, and you should be able to create a massive board while stopping whatever your opponent does.
While the endgame is more or less the same, the individual card choices have changed a fair bit. Thanks to rotation, many of the cards Omniscience combo used to run aren’t legal anymore.
Post-Rotation Changes
Beyond just being affected by rotation, this list makes a few unusual, yet very worthwhile, choices. The biggest of which is the distinct absence of Stock Up. Considered one of the best card advantage spells printed in a long time, this was a dedicated four-of in past builds. Instead, this variant of the deck runs four Overlord of the Floodpits and two copies of the new Consult the Star charts.
Because Omniscience gets revived on the end step, Consult the Star Charts might play better with the deck. In the case of Overlord of the Mistmoors, Yuna being able to resurrect grants it a lot of favor, and the card can discard Omniscience. Unlike Abuelo’s Awakening, which is a one-time use, Yuna can reanimate multiple different targets so long as it sticks around. This gives Yuna a bit more versatility, especially when found in multiples.
Notably, this deck doesn’t run any Sorceries at all, due to Yuna reanimating Omniscience on the end step. You need to be able to consistently get some value out of pulling your win condition off, and doing so immediately is likely necessary.
That said, there is one card that can resurrect Omniscience at Sorcery speed in the main deck: Builder’s Talent. You need to get this card to level three to do this; it is another enchantment you can reanimate with Yuna, and you can bounce it post-Omniscience to create an infinite number of Walls.
Other Replacements
On top of the unique oddities, there were a few expected replacements. Temporary Lockdown, for instance, got replaced by Pinnacle Starcage. The card remains necessary in a metagame full of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and optimistic aggro decks.
Meanwhile, Unauthorized Exit has replaced Ephara’s Dispersal. It’s not as efficient as the previous spell for deterring attackers, but it can gum up the board while either buying you time or providing recurring value. Throw in a bunch of counterspells that were a part of older variations of the deck that survived rotation, and Omniscience combo seems to be back.
The sideboard has a lot of similar stuff we saw in past Omniscience builds, too. Voice of Victory fights against counterspells, and Overlord of the Mistmoors presents alternate threats for longer games where pulling off the Omniscience reanimation is a lot more difficult. The rest of the sideboard is rather self-explanatory.
Notably, this is just the first iteration of this idea that has been tested. It proves that Omniscience Combo is still viable, but it may end up being a lower-tiered deck. More players will need to try this out before we can say whether or not the combo will truly stick around, but for everyone who thought they were finally rid of this menace, it turns out we may have another few years of Omniscience plaguing Standard.
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