outsideangel
11-23-2006, 06:28 PM
While sifting through the Time Spiral spoilers, I raised my eyebrows at Stuff Doll. For reference:
Stuffy Doll
5
Artifact Creature- Construct
As ~ comes into play, choose a player.
~ is indestructible.
Whenever ~ is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to chosen player.
T: ~ deals 1 damage to itself.
I thought "huh, that's interesting" and kept browsing. I figured it would be a good combo with something that untapped a creature whenever it was dealt damage, but I couldn't think of any such card. It wasn't until recently that I was enlightened to the fact that it makes an infinite damage combo with Guilty Conscience.
Guilty Conscience
W
Enchant Creature
Whenever Enchanted Creature is deals damage, ~ deals that much damage to enchanted creature.
Basically you play Guilty Conscience on Stuffy Doll, then use Doll's ability, creating an infinite loop, and win. Two card combo, wins as soon as you can use it, only requires 1 color for the combo. Reminicent of Flame Vault. I figured I'd go ahead and work up a list.
Start with the combo itself:
+4 Stuffy Doll
+4 Guilty Conscience
White, in addition to the combo, gives Enlightened Tutor, which fetches both pieces of the combo.
+4 Enlightened Tutor
Now, we're playing a creature-based, two card combo in Legacy. That's Legacy. Where two of the format defining cards are Swords to Plowshares and Force of Will. Obviously, we need to deal with these two hurdles if we want to compete.
Staying inside white for now, we can deal with Force of Will. We've got either Abeyance or Orim's Chant. We're really only going to be casting this when we've already got our combo, so the cantrip from Abeyance doesn't matter much, but the extra mana does. Also Chant is considerably more useful against Goblinz and other random aggro decks, where you can kicker it and stall for a turn.
+4 Orim's Chant
We've got at least one answer to countermagic, but still nothing to take care of StP. Chalice @ 1 would be hot, but it's out because we definitely want Tutor, and Chant is good too. White doesn't look like it can do much more for us, so it's time to look into another color. Question is, which one?
Well, we've got 2 options. We can go Black for Proactive answers, in Duress, Hymn, Therapy, and Verdict. Or we can go Blue for reactive counters in the every useful Force of Will, Daze, Counterspell, and even Misdirection. (tech!)
I opted to go for blue. Why? Well, to be honest, I prefer the more reactive disruption. Discard is good for combo that's going to win in the first few turns, but unless we find a way to give Stuffy Doll haste, we've got to have it sitting on the board for at least a turn, which would give them time to topdeck an answer, or a card that finds an answer. With countermagic, particularly the free kind, I can A) go right for the combo, no futzing around, no other spells to cast first B) protect myself from the topdeck C) not waste time with discard to find they don't have the answer D) improve the matchup against many combo decks that are vulnerable to Force. Also, I own Strands and a few Tundras, so blue it is.
Free counters are good times. We'll hold off on more Mis-D's for a bit, since it's a bit more situational. (requires another non-Mongoose creature in play to counter StP)
+4 Force of Will
+3-4 Daze
+1-2 Misdirection
But wait! Blue isn't purely reactive. We're also running white, which means we can take advantage of everyone's favorite little 2/2 for white and blue, Meddling Mage. Not only can he plop down and name StP or Force or other random hate, but he's also good times against other combo decks. Drop Mage naming a key combo component and they have to waste time finding an answer, giving you time to get your own combo going and win. Also I guess he chumps against Goblins or something.
+4 Meddling Mage
Okay, so far so good. Time to flesh it out a bit more and then on to the manabase! We're running blue, so we can throw in some dig/draw. I'll be honest, and say that I love Impulse, and will use it at pretty much every opportunity. I still foster fond memories of the Mirage block, keeping those gassy two land hands because you had an Impulse. It digs 4 cards deep, and clears out chaff. In this deck, the chances that an Impulse will hit either a combo piece or an Enlightened Tutor to find a combo piece are quite high. It might be better as Brainstorm, though that would, of course, mean plenty (8+) fetchlands. For now, though, I like Impulse.
+4 Impulse
The rest is just filling the deck out. There's one more thing we need to address: permanents that shut down the combo. Prominent examples include Pithing Needle, Meddling Mage, and Chalice of the Void, but it's good to have answers to random stuff too, so we'll dedicate the last 3 slots to answering all that. First, blue bounce is good times, particularly if it's uncounterable.
+2 Wipe Away
One slot left, and we run Enlightened Tutor, so a tutorable answer sounds nice. Fortunately, Seal of Cleansing fits the bill nicely.
+1 Seal of Cleansing
Okay, so on to the mana base, where decks are made or broken. First some basics. We're white and blue, so:
+4 Tundra
+4 Flooded Strand
+1 Plains
+1 Island
Only one of each basic land for now, and we'll fill the rest in later.
Next, our combo takes 6 mana, though it can be spread out over two turns, so 5 mana tops. A little hefty, but fortunately, only 1 of that mana needs to be colored, which opens up the two-mana colorless lands for some acceleration.
+4 Ancient Tomb
+4 City of Traitors
Six more slots... we've got our colorless acceleration, but what about colored mana? Well, there are the 0-mana artifacts, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and Lotus Petal. I turned down Lotus Petal straight away, since we want to be able to lay and use colored sources early to play search/draw/disruption, but also use them later to drop Stuffy Doll a turn earlier. That leaves the Moxen, and we don't really use enough land to support Mox Diamond, so Chrome Mox it is.
+4 Chrome Mox
Two slots left, and I think we need a few more mana sources.
+2 Hallowed Fountain
Well, that about wraps up the main deck. On to the sideboard. What do we have to worry about? Well, counter magic and discard can still be a problem, but we can answer both of those with a few more Misdirections. They'll also help against decks like Angel Stompy that run StP and plenty of creatures to redirect to.
+2 Misdirection
Quick aggro rushes can be a bit of an issue if you don't accelerate quickly enough. Propaganda should slow them down a bit. Swords to Plowshares also helps, and is an additional answer to Meddling Mage and True Believer, should you need it.
+4 Propaganda
+4 Swords to Plowshares
While it may seem extraordinarily janky, and awful in a deck with counter magic, In the Eye of Chaos slows Solidarity down a ton. They really don't want to combo off with it in play, but it also takes them quite a few extra turns to anwer it because it makes Cunning Wish cost 6. Really you don't bring it in against anything else. But Solidarity can and will race you, even with Chant and Mage.
+3 In the Eye of Chaos
Finally, a little protection against LD, and Burn/Goblins/Sligh, in the form of one-ofs that can be tutored up as needed,
+1 Sacred Ground
+1 Chill
The finished list:
Mana
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Chrome Mox
Combo
4 Stuffy Doll
4 Guilty Conscience
Search/Dig
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Impulse
Protection/Disruption
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Misdirection
4 Meddling Mage
4 Orim's Chant
Answers
2 Wipe Away
1 Seal of Cleansing
Sideboard
3 In the Eye of Chaos
4 Propaganda
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Misdirection
1 Sacred Ground
1 Chill
Matchup data and analyses will be posted after further testing. Let's discuss the list.
Stuffy Doll
5
Artifact Creature- Construct
As ~ comes into play, choose a player.
~ is indestructible.
Whenever ~ is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to chosen player.
T: ~ deals 1 damage to itself.
I thought "huh, that's interesting" and kept browsing. I figured it would be a good combo with something that untapped a creature whenever it was dealt damage, but I couldn't think of any such card. It wasn't until recently that I was enlightened to the fact that it makes an infinite damage combo with Guilty Conscience.
Guilty Conscience
W
Enchant Creature
Whenever Enchanted Creature is deals damage, ~ deals that much damage to enchanted creature.
Basically you play Guilty Conscience on Stuffy Doll, then use Doll's ability, creating an infinite loop, and win. Two card combo, wins as soon as you can use it, only requires 1 color for the combo. Reminicent of Flame Vault. I figured I'd go ahead and work up a list.
Start with the combo itself:
+4 Stuffy Doll
+4 Guilty Conscience
White, in addition to the combo, gives Enlightened Tutor, which fetches both pieces of the combo.
+4 Enlightened Tutor
Now, we're playing a creature-based, two card combo in Legacy. That's Legacy. Where two of the format defining cards are Swords to Plowshares and Force of Will. Obviously, we need to deal with these two hurdles if we want to compete.
Staying inside white for now, we can deal with Force of Will. We've got either Abeyance or Orim's Chant. We're really only going to be casting this when we've already got our combo, so the cantrip from Abeyance doesn't matter much, but the extra mana does. Also Chant is considerably more useful against Goblinz and other random aggro decks, where you can kicker it and stall for a turn.
+4 Orim's Chant
We've got at least one answer to countermagic, but still nothing to take care of StP. Chalice @ 1 would be hot, but it's out because we definitely want Tutor, and Chant is good too. White doesn't look like it can do much more for us, so it's time to look into another color. Question is, which one?
Well, we've got 2 options. We can go Black for Proactive answers, in Duress, Hymn, Therapy, and Verdict. Or we can go Blue for reactive counters in the every useful Force of Will, Daze, Counterspell, and even Misdirection. (tech!)
I opted to go for blue. Why? Well, to be honest, I prefer the more reactive disruption. Discard is good for combo that's going to win in the first few turns, but unless we find a way to give Stuffy Doll haste, we've got to have it sitting on the board for at least a turn, which would give them time to topdeck an answer, or a card that finds an answer. With countermagic, particularly the free kind, I can A) go right for the combo, no futzing around, no other spells to cast first B) protect myself from the topdeck C) not waste time with discard to find they don't have the answer D) improve the matchup against many combo decks that are vulnerable to Force. Also, I own Strands and a few Tundras, so blue it is.
Free counters are good times. We'll hold off on more Mis-D's for a bit, since it's a bit more situational. (requires another non-Mongoose creature in play to counter StP)
+4 Force of Will
+3-4 Daze
+1-2 Misdirection
But wait! Blue isn't purely reactive. We're also running white, which means we can take advantage of everyone's favorite little 2/2 for white and blue, Meddling Mage. Not only can he plop down and name StP or Force or other random hate, but he's also good times against other combo decks. Drop Mage naming a key combo component and they have to waste time finding an answer, giving you time to get your own combo going and win. Also I guess he chumps against Goblins or something.
+4 Meddling Mage
Okay, so far so good. Time to flesh it out a bit more and then on to the manabase! We're running blue, so we can throw in some dig/draw. I'll be honest, and say that I love Impulse, and will use it at pretty much every opportunity. I still foster fond memories of the Mirage block, keeping those gassy two land hands because you had an Impulse. It digs 4 cards deep, and clears out chaff. In this deck, the chances that an Impulse will hit either a combo piece or an Enlightened Tutor to find a combo piece are quite high. It might be better as Brainstorm, though that would, of course, mean plenty (8+) fetchlands. For now, though, I like Impulse.
+4 Impulse
The rest is just filling the deck out. There's one more thing we need to address: permanents that shut down the combo. Prominent examples include Pithing Needle, Meddling Mage, and Chalice of the Void, but it's good to have answers to random stuff too, so we'll dedicate the last 3 slots to answering all that. First, blue bounce is good times, particularly if it's uncounterable.
+2 Wipe Away
One slot left, and we run Enlightened Tutor, so a tutorable answer sounds nice. Fortunately, Seal of Cleansing fits the bill nicely.
+1 Seal of Cleansing
Okay, so on to the mana base, where decks are made or broken. First some basics. We're white and blue, so:
+4 Tundra
+4 Flooded Strand
+1 Plains
+1 Island
Only one of each basic land for now, and we'll fill the rest in later.
Next, our combo takes 6 mana, though it can be spread out over two turns, so 5 mana tops. A little hefty, but fortunately, only 1 of that mana needs to be colored, which opens up the two-mana colorless lands for some acceleration.
+4 Ancient Tomb
+4 City of Traitors
Six more slots... we've got our colorless acceleration, but what about colored mana? Well, there are the 0-mana artifacts, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and Lotus Petal. I turned down Lotus Petal straight away, since we want to be able to lay and use colored sources early to play search/draw/disruption, but also use them later to drop Stuffy Doll a turn earlier. That leaves the Moxen, and we don't really use enough land to support Mox Diamond, so Chrome Mox it is.
+4 Chrome Mox
Two slots left, and I think we need a few more mana sources.
+2 Hallowed Fountain
Well, that about wraps up the main deck. On to the sideboard. What do we have to worry about? Well, counter magic and discard can still be a problem, but we can answer both of those with a few more Misdirections. They'll also help against decks like Angel Stompy that run StP and plenty of creatures to redirect to.
+2 Misdirection
Quick aggro rushes can be a bit of an issue if you don't accelerate quickly enough. Propaganda should slow them down a bit. Swords to Plowshares also helps, and is an additional answer to Meddling Mage and True Believer, should you need it.
+4 Propaganda
+4 Swords to Plowshares
While it may seem extraordinarily janky, and awful in a deck with counter magic, In the Eye of Chaos slows Solidarity down a ton. They really don't want to combo off with it in play, but it also takes them quite a few extra turns to anwer it because it makes Cunning Wish cost 6. Really you don't bring it in against anything else. But Solidarity can and will race you, even with Chant and Mage.
+3 In the Eye of Chaos
Finally, a little protection against LD, and Burn/Goblins/Sligh, in the form of one-ofs that can be tutored up as needed,
+1 Sacred Ground
+1 Chill
The finished list:
Mana
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Chrome Mox
Combo
4 Stuffy Doll
4 Guilty Conscience
Search/Dig
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Impulse
Protection/Disruption
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Misdirection
4 Meddling Mage
4 Orim's Chant
Answers
2 Wipe Away
1 Seal of Cleansing
Sideboard
3 In the Eye of Chaos
4 Propaganda
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Misdirection
1 Sacred Ground
1 Chill
Matchup data and analyses will be posted after further testing. Let's discuss the list.