TheInfamousBearAssassin
02-10-2008, 09:44 PM
What all can you give
With five minutes to live?
Hear the tock tick tock
Of an effin' clock
What can you do or say?
Maybe you oughtta pray
But you better think positive-
You've got five minutes to live.
- The Ubangis, Five Minutes to Live
As many of you know, I've been rather wrapped up in Army training for the past five months or so, a brief break for Christmas non-withstanding. As such, my Magic playing has been essentially non-existent, particularly with certain someones (Godzilla, my brother) failing to keep me updated on Llorwyn/Morningtide via letters in Basic.
Irregardless, I decided that I would enter this contest once I got out of basic near the end of November, and began the somewhat-regular but very-brief internet contact that's marked these past couple months. I also decided rapidly that I would waste none of the precious time I had on Exodus break on such shennanigans (although I did waste it catching up on a half-season's worth of Avatar. Silly, really.)
I've spent these past few weekends tinkering with this deck, a work I began before I left for Basic, as part of an ongoing quest to conquer the Time Vault-Mizzium Transreliquat combo, but never really completed to my satisfaction.
Mana:
4x Chrome Mox
4x Dark Ritual
3x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scrubland
3x Swamp
1x Vault of Whispers
Discard:
4x Duress
4x Thoughtseize
3x Cabal Therapy
Combo:
4x Time Vault
4x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Mizzium Transreliquat
Tutoring/Card Draw:
4x Sensei's Divining Top
3x Enlightened Tutor
Kill:
4x Dark Confidant
2x Yukora, the Prisoner
Other Things:
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Engineered Explosives
SB:
4x Engineered Plague
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Pithing Needle
4x Phyrexian Negator
4x Withered Wretch
How the deck works:
Fast mana and discard enable you to empty the opponent's hand fairly quickly, slowing down their game or removing answers to your threats. Tutoring and draw help you assemble the infinite-turns combo of Time Vault + Transreliquat/Rings. There's a spattering of redundant control elements and Yukora as a fat finisher. The main plan is to stall and disrupt long enough to get the combo going, allowing you to finish the opponent off at your leisure. Without the combo, you're basically playing a very sub-optimal sui
Matchups:
Goblins: Bad, in the order of about 1-to-2. You have few answers to a fast start, and you rely on your lands more than you'd really like. Confidant can rarely stick. However, if they don't have a Lackey opening, the matchup is definitely winnable; just race to the combo. SB: -2 Duress, - 4 Bob, +4 E. Plague, +1 CoP, +1 Pithing Needle
Threshold: Slightly positive. Unless they get Counterbalance-Top down, it's hard for them to reliably counter your shit. Their creatures are still better than yours, and pose the biggest threat, but it shouldn't be actually that difficult to land the combo, especially if you can get Confidant to stick for a few turns. SB: -1 Cabal Therapy, +1 Tormod's Crypt
Landstill: Slightly more positive. Landstill has a fair number of answers, but little pressure, making it easier to wait for a good moment to force the combo in and take all the time in the world before they can react. Odds are good that games 2/3 are down to time, so you might want to side the combo out for the extra creatures, clock depending.
Solidarity: Not great, actually. Optimally you'd either play like Sui, or force through the combo quickly, but more often you're in the middle of the road long enough to get run over. SB: -2 Oblivion Ring, -2 Engineered Explosives, +4 Phyrexian Negator.
I did want to have more matchups, and more in-depth analysis, but it's rather hard for me to get a lot of testing in right now. Or any testing, for that matter.
Special thanks to P_R for extending the deadline for me due to job conflicts, and Godzilla and the Hatfields for helping with the testing.
With five minutes to live?
Hear the tock tick tock
Of an effin' clock
What can you do or say?
Maybe you oughtta pray
But you better think positive-
You've got five minutes to live.
- The Ubangis, Five Minutes to Live
As many of you know, I've been rather wrapped up in Army training for the past five months or so, a brief break for Christmas non-withstanding. As such, my Magic playing has been essentially non-existent, particularly with certain someones (Godzilla, my brother) failing to keep me updated on Llorwyn/Morningtide via letters in Basic.
Irregardless, I decided that I would enter this contest once I got out of basic near the end of November, and began the somewhat-regular but very-brief internet contact that's marked these past couple months. I also decided rapidly that I would waste none of the precious time I had on Exodus break on such shennanigans (although I did waste it catching up on a half-season's worth of Avatar. Silly, really.)
I've spent these past few weekends tinkering with this deck, a work I began before I left for Basic, as part of an ongoing quest to conquer the Time Vault-Mizzium Transreliquat combo, but never really completed to my satisfaction.
Mana:
4x Chrome Mox
4x Dark Ritual
3x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scrubland
3x Swamp
1x Vault of Whispers
Discard:
4x Duress
4x Thoughtseize
3x Cabal Therapy
Combo:
4x Time Vault
4x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Mizzium Transreliquat
Tutoring/Card Draw:
4x Sensei's Divining Top
3x Enlightened Tutor
Kill:
4x Dark Confidant
2x Yukora, the Prisoner
Other Things:
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Engineered Explosives
SB:
4x Engineered Plague
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Pithing Needle
4x Phyrexian Negator
4x Withered Wretch
How the deck works:
Fast mana and discard enable you to empty the opponent's hand fairly quickly, slowing down their game or removing answers to your threats. Tutoring and draw help you assemble the infinite-turns combo of Time Vault + Transreliquat/Rings. There's a spattering of redundant control elements and Yukora as a fat finisher. The main plan is to stall and disrupt long enough to get the combo going, allowing you to finish the opponent off at your leisure. Without the combo, you're basically playing a very sub-optimal sui
Matchups:
Goblins: Bad, in the order of about 1-to-2. You have few answers to a fast start, and you rely on your lands more than you'd really like. Confidant can rarely stick. However, if they don't have a Lackey opening, the matchup is definitely winnable; just race to the combo. SB: -2 Duress, - 4 Bob, +4 E. Plague, +1 CoP, +1 Pithing Needle
Threshold: Slightly positive. Unless they get Counterbalance-Top down, it's hard for them to reliably counter your shit. Their creatures are still better than yours, and pose the biggest threat, but it shouldn't be actually that difficult to land the combo, especially if you can get Confidant to stick for a few turns. SB: -1 Cabal Therapy, +1 Tormod's Crypt
Landstill: Slightly more positive. Landstill has a fair number of answers, but little pressure, making it easier to wait for a good moment to force the combo in and take all the time in the world before they can react. Odds are good that games 2/3 are down to time, so you might want to side the combo out for the extra creatures, clock depending.
Solidarity: Not great, actually. Optimally you'd either play like Sui, or force through the combo quickly, but more often you're in the middle of the road long enough to get run over. SB: -2 Oblivion Ring, -2 Engineered Explosives, +4 Phyrexian Negator.
I did want to have more matchups, and more in-depth analysis, but it's rather hard for me to get a lot of testing in right now. Or any testing, for that matter.
Special thanks to P_R for extending the deadline for me due to job conflicts, and Godzilla and the Hatfields for helping with the testing.