Teferi, Temporal Archmage

$3.46

Teferi starts at 5 loyalty. His +1 looks at the top two cards and keeps one, and his -1 untaps up to four target permanents. Point that at Grim Monolith, Mana Vault or your best lands and he pays for himself the turn he lands. The Chain Veil lets you activate a loyalty ability again for {4}. Alternate his +1 and -1 so his loyalty holds steady, and once the three untapped permanents make more than the Veil costs, the loop gives you unlimited mana and digs through your deck. The rest of the deck is fast artifact mana, card draw and blue interaction to protect that turn.

In the recorded games, the Chain Veil loop was the main way Teferi won. Chromatic Orrery turned the colorless mana into blue for draw spells, and the finish was usually Walking Ballista, sometimes with Displacer Kitten in the mix. Mana Drain, Mystic Remora and Cryptic Command kept the table honest while Back to Basics and Stasis slowed land-heavy opponents. Some lists leaned on High Tide or Timetwister instead. The weak spots showed up often: fast storm and combo decks went off before the setup was done, steady creature pressure was hard to stabilize against, and opponents with counterspells of their own could stop High Tide or the combo turn.