[2HG] Combo and Protection (No Power Vintage)

[LostButSeeking]

So, remember my no-power-vintage format? Well, there’s a two-headed-giant tournament coming up. A friend (Red Panda on the source, he might post here later) have decided to partner up. We thought that one of us would play combo, and the other guy would be the protection and draw. He’s got a solid Eggs list built, but I (being terribly bored at work this morning) was wondering if anyone had ideas for either a better combo deck or for protection.

A couple of notes about this bizarre format.
It’s vintage restricted, so singletons only of ponder, brainstorm, burning wish, LED, etc.
No Power Nine
It’s two-headed Giant, so we need to be able to do 30 damage or mill for 60 fairly quickly. All of the other two headed giant rules still apply, only 4 copies total of a card, etc. etc.

On the control/draw deck. I'm trying to think of ways to make my partner draw cards, but I can't think of anything other than ancestral visions. Do I have to give my opponents cards too, with things like visions skeins?

[emidln]

How did you miss Ad Nauseam? 3

The final list would look like this:

4 Ad Nauseam
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Mox Diamond
4 Pact of Negation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Lotus Petal
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
2 Swamp

Second Player

4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Serum Powder
4 Foil
4 Daze
4 Angel's Grace
4 Orim's Chant
4 Silence
3 Chain of Vapor
2 Serenity
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Portent
4 Windswept Heath
4 Tundra
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Gemstone Caverns

Edit: You might go -4 basics, +4 Time Spiral Land that lets you cheat on the draw.

I sincerely apologize to anyone who has to play against this.

[LostButSeeking]

Because I was so wrapped up in the fact that LED and Burning wish were restricted that I didn't stop to think about what I gained.

Those are a set of very, very nice lists. Ad Nauseum with 30 life? mmmm

[emidln]

The ANT deck might want Bargain at 30 life. You can probably afford to flip it.

[Valtrix]

A couple of notes about this bizarre format.
It’s vintage restricted, so singletons only of ponder, brainstorm, burning wish, LED, etc.
No Power Nine
It’s two-headed Giant, so we need to be able to do 40 damage or mill for 60 fairly quickly. All of the other two headed giant rules still apply, only 4 copies total of a card, etc. etc.


So, is the 40 damage from this bizarre tournament? Normally 2HG games are played with 30 life.

Also, if you want one person to play combo, what about Tezzeret-Vault? It seems pretty efficient, while leaving you a lot of room to still play lots of other control.

Is some sort of solidarity viable at all in that format? It may be easier than trying to tendrils for 15 too.

Keep in mind that a lot of other people will be wanting to do this, so maybe your strategy is to beat other protection/combo decks :P Accelerating into imperial mask anybody? XD That would make me laugh a lot actually.

Also, keep in mind angel's grace means you lose the next turn if you use all your life for ad nauseam, or get hit with a tendrils for lethal, since it only puts your life back up to 1 if it got reduced through damage.

[emidln]

So, is the 40 damage from this bizarre tournament? Normally 2HG games are played with 30 life.

Also, if you want one person to play combo, what about Tezzeret-Vault? It seems pretty efficient, while leaving you a lot of room to still play lots of other control.

Is some sort of solidarity viable at all in that format? It may be easier than trying to tendrils for 15 too.

Keep in mind that a lot of other people will be wanting to do this, so maybe your strategy is to beat other protection/combo decks :P Accelerating into imperial mask anybody? XD

And lose to chain of vapor after the combo player draws a billion cards? Tendrils for 15 isn't hard at all. I do it with 20 life in real Vintage. The key is knowing how to play H.Recalls and Chain of Vapor to maximize your artifact mana. That, drawing yawg will, or finding a second tendrils (seems likely when you cast Ad Nauseam or Bargain) to cast after the first all will take an opp from 30 real fast.

[LostButSeeking]

So, is the 40 damage from this bizarre tournament? Normally 2HG games are played with 30 life.

Slip of the keys. Edited.

RP's a fair storm combo player. I'll see what he thinks of playing tendrils--it seems like a good idea, and most of the non-LED TES pieces are fairly cheap, unlike Time Vault.

There're lots of bizarre rules at our cardshop. The guy who runs our tournaments is . . . odd. For one thing, we get a free mulligan. I played dredge (regular legacy dredge, with one LED, which isn't exactly combo, but is close enough) and the free mull helped a lot. Also, there's no sideboarding (too cheap, and another help to Dredge). Lastly, if we win with a deck, we aren't allowed to play it again that year. I'm also pretty sure he personally banned Hive Mind for EDH. *shakes head* We're getting another guy to run the tournaments soon, but until then . . .

[keys]

How does Angel's Grace work in 2HG? Can your opponent redirect damage to your partner and negate the effect?

[LostButSeeking]

Just asked about this on the rules forum. Angel's grace will also protect my partner from losing, and my life total is his life total.

[metalhead]

i actually played in a legacy 2HG tourney a few months ago using this concept. my partner ran u/w control with force/pact/chant/abeyance/daze/swords/ and then random reveilark/riftwatcher/body double for the ability to randomly gain infinate life if the game went too many turns. while i played u/b doomsday with sensei/seinsei/helm/grapeshot win. we ended undefeated actually our hardest matchup being against r/g aggro and monored. it did require chant+pact, but thats what my partners deck was designed to do. since the combo was an infinate loop pact was irrelavent because you never had to figure out if you had enough storm, you just resolve chant/abeyance with lots of pact/force/daze backup. and then dont worry about those 2 guys cringing on the other side of the table.

[Skeggi]

Looks like you can abuse the full power of Ichorid since Bazaars are allowed.

[4eak]

Ichorid sounds pretty amazing. You get a free mulligan in 2HG, right? That makes Ichorid even more consistent. It has an impressive rate of turn 1 kills and would be miles ahead of others decks in unpowered vintage format. It doesn't even share the same cardpool (which there can only be 4 of any given card, right?), which is pretty good as well.

Cards worth considering for the control deck:

Force of Will
Misdirection
Pact of Negation
Daze
Thoughtseize
Duress
Chant
Silence
Abeyance
Swords
Path to Exile
Ponder
Brainstorm
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Balance
Library of Alexandria
Tezz/Time vault/Voltaic Key
Yawgmoth’s Will
Tinker/Artifacts (lands? I don't know without power)/Robot
Oath

I'd probably play a control deck that can combo into a win as well. It must not be GY reliant obviously.

You could go Ichorid + Storm Combo. Someone is bound to open with a turn 1 kill hand after free mulls.




peace,
4eak