Maindeck Analysis

With Parallax Tide gone, Decree is the deck's best lock piece, and it's good in more ways than one. Landing the full Opal-Wave-Decree combo wins on the spot, but even the simple line—pitch Decree to Attunement or Frantic Search, bring it back with Replenish—forces your opponent to claw through three countered spells to do anything.

Against control, cycling Decree for six mana is an uncounterable cantrip (if they are not playing Stifle) that strips a key counter or threat while keeping your cards flowing. Opponents often hand it to you off an Intuition pile, figuring an eight-mana enchantment is dead—then eat the cycling trigger and lose a ton of tempo. And under Opalescence, it comes down as an 8/8 finisher.

For when to run two copies versus three depending on the metagame, check the comparison on the Lists page.

Most lists save their creatures for after sideboard, so the opponent's Game 1 removal rots in their hand. Maindecking Meddling Mage instead gives you an early, disruptive shield against fast combo and counter-heavy control right away.

Getting the most out of Meddling Mage means reading the metagame and knowing which spell each deck can't function without. For what to name in each matchup and how the creature-transformation plan works, see our Sideboard Analysis and Matchup Matrix.

Abeyance protects your combo turn and doubles as a tempo play against the opponent. It stops them from casting instants and sorceries or activating permanents for the rest of the turn, so casting it right before Replenish means your reanimation resolves untouched—and shuts off artifacts like Tormod's Crypt in the process.

And since Abeyance draws you a card when it resolves, it never really costs you anything—cast it on the opponent's upkeep to stall their turn or to shut down a creature with an activated ability.

A premier proactive answer to opponent utility lands like Rishadan Port, Dust Bowl, Wasteland, and Mishra's Factory. Cast it early and lock down their mana-denial strategy, or even their mana development if they are heavily invested in utility lands; as an extra, it replaces itself with a card.

It helps you with card selection, fills the graveyard, and sets up explosive turns with Ancient Tomb (sometimes allowing you to cast Replenish on turn 3). But it costs you a card, so be mindful about that; usually it's the first thing you trim after sideboard against grindy control decks, where every card counts.

The deck's most flexible selection engine, and the one that tests your skill the most. The default pile is Opalescence, Parallax Wave, and Decree of Silence—whichever one the opponent gives you, the other two go to the yard to fuel a Replenish. But the pile has to fit the board: three lands against Landstill, three Swords to Plowshares to survive fast aggro. Against reactive blue decks, people often cut some copies to keep their threat density count up. For a full walkthrough on building piles and reading tricky spots, see our Intuition Cheatsheet.

While Careful Study looks tempting as a one-mana way to sculpt the graveyard, it doesn't make the cut. Attunement keeps coming back as an enchantment engine, and Frantic Search untaps your lands, giving you a massive tempo advantage—Careful Study just costs you a card the moment it resolves. Bleeding cards to dump enchantments burns through your counters and removal before you ever reach the four-mana Replenish that wins the game.

The best removal spell in Premodern. In aggressive metagames, running the full four copies is ideal, but if you expect a slower field packed with mirrors or Enchantress, you can safely shave down to three in the main deck and keep the fourth in the sideboard.

A proactive answer to problematic enchantments—like an opposing Seal or Survival of the Fittest—and heavy artifact hate. Because it's an enchantment itself, you can crack it early and then bring it back later with Replenish. It's an incredibly efficient maindeck safety valve, but it's also the easiest card to cut post-sideboard against aggressive decks that offer no targets, like Goblins. Remember that under Opalescence it is a 2/2, so even when it can't hit anything, it's not a completely dead card.

Maindecking Mana Leak is a proven call. In fast fields full of combo or reactive decks, cheap two-mana countermagic buys you the early turns you need. It gets worse in long games against Landstill once they can pay the three, but forcing them to play around it still leads to awkward sequencing while you set up. The card's greatest advantage is its flexibility: you can fire it off proactively in the early game to disrupt the opponent's game plan, and later hold it up defensively to protect your own combo.

A strong utility card that turns an early Intuition into a lasting draw engine in slower matchups. Against counter-heavy control, tutoring straight for combo pieces leaves your threats exposed to graveyard hate and reduces your threat density in the deck; grabbing Deep Analysis instead alongside two lands, for example, keeps you drawing from both hand and graveyard. One copy in the maindeck is a fine way to out-grind draw-go decks.

It is also a proven good card against discard-heavy decks to get back some card advantage.

A solid pick for reactive builds that want to hold up counters like Mana Leak and Counterspell. Four mana is a real cost, but digging five deep at the end of their turn lets you dump enchantments into the graveyard or find defensive answers without giving up tempo. For an example of a list leveraging this, check out Marine Biomancer's build on the Lists page.