Nihil Credo
02-10-2008, 10:20 PM
Well, now that I've settled on a final submission (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8619), I thought I might as well put in N&D a few other concepts that showed some potential but which I failed to bring up to competitive levels. After all, it hurts nothing but my reputation to check whether I might have missed some blatant way of improving the deck.
The first one, a base-White combo-control deck, does bear some resemblance to Karach; indeed, it was born as an attempt to explore the potential of Enlightened Tutor in Legacy.
Going for it: Great draw/tutoring engine, G1 combo finish.
Problems: Fragile, and what's worst unable to run Force of Will for much-needed protection.
Overall, I think the concept as a whole may just be inferior to Zvi's pseudo-Landstill deck (geez, base-White is worse than base-Blue; whoddathoughtit?). The issue is that Enlightened Tutor costs you an entire draw step, so for that price you want to get real bombs, like Moat and Counterbalance, not simply useful stuff.
Anyway, here it is:
// Lands
1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [PR] Tundra
1 [MR] Ancient Den
3 [UNH] Plains
1 [TSP] Flagstones of Trokair
5 [UNH] Island (1)
3 [TE] Ancient Tomb
// Win conditions
2 [SC] Eternal Dragon
3 [JGC] Exalted Angel (2)
2 [LRW] Hoofprints of the Stag
1 [A] Time Vault
// Control
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
1 [MR] Chalice of the Void
2 [10E] Pithing Needle
4 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
1 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
2 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
// Draw and tutoring
3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [PR] Brainstorm
4 [6E] Enlightened Tutor
4 [MR] Thirst for Knowledge
1 [LG] Moat
// Assorted utility
1 [LRW] Rings of Brighthearth (3)
1 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 [UL] Defense Grid
SB: 1 [NE] Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1 [8E] Circle of Protection: Red
SB: 4 [JGC] Meddling Mage
SB: 4 [CHK] Ghostly Prison
SB: 2 [OD] Karmic Justice
SB: 1 [TE] Humility
Notes:
(1) Even though the deck has only eight blue cards (plus Academy Ruins), its mana base it still slightly edged towards blue in order to get decent Vedalken Shackles activation. This wasn't an issue - I never had problems getting double White.
(2) I tried just about anything in this slot: Abeyance to get some protection for the bombs, Counterspell to get protection that doubled as disruption, Counterbalance for the same reason even though the curve is insanely screwed up (two cards at cc=2; in other words, Counterbalance doesn't work for the same reason that Ancient Tomb does). The last option explored, with mixed results, was Exalted Angel, which is sort of a white-blue deck's way of running Tarmogoyf even though it has nothing to do with the gameplan, just 'cause it wins games fast on its own and sometimes pulls you out of the gutter.
(3) While Time Vault is dead on its own, that isn't true of Rings. Rings of Brighthearth comboes with: Flooded Strand (free Untamed Wilds), Sensei's Divining Top (one-sided Howling Mine), Hoofprints of the Stag (doubled Stag production), Eternal Dragon (free Sylvan Scrying). Still not a bomb, but a solid card.
Have fun; or, at least, enjoy the lesson on why a deck may not work. I'll be watching this thread, but don't plan on doing any more work on the concept unless some radical new idea emerges.
The first one, a base-White combo-control deck, does bear some resemblance to Karach; indeed, it was born as an attempt to explore the potential of Enlightened Tutor in Legacy.
Going for it: Great draw/tutoring engine, G1 combo finish.
Problems: Fragile, and what's worst unable to run Force of Will for much-needed protection.
Overall, I think the concept as a whole may just be inferior to Zvi's pseudo-Landstill deck (geez, base-White is worse than base-Blue; whoddathoughtit?). The issue is that Enlightened Tutor costs you an entire draw step, so for that price you want to get real bombs, like Moat and Counterbalance, not simply useful stuff.
Anyway, here it is:
// Lands
1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [PR] Tundra
1 [MR] Ancient Den
3 [UNH] Plains
1 [TSP] Flagstones of Trokair
5 [UNH] Island (1)
3 [TE] Ancient Tomb
// Win conditions
2 [SC] Eternal Dragon
3 [JGC] Exalted Angel (2)
2 [LRW] Hoofprints of the Stag
1 [A] Time Vault
// Control
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
1 [MR] Chalice of the Void
2 [10E] Pithing Needle
4 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
1 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
2 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
// Draw and tutoring
3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [PR] Brainstorm
4 [6E] Enlightened Tutor
4 [MR] Thirst for Knowledge
1 [LG] Moat
// Assorted utility
1 [LRW] Rings of Brighthearth (3)
1 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 [UL] Defense Grid
SB: 1 [NE] Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1 [8E] Circle of Protection: Red
SB: 4 [JGC] Meddling Mage
SB: 4 [CHK] Ghostly Prison
SB: 2 [OD] Karmic Justice
SB: 1 [TE] Humility
Notes:
(1) Even though the deck has only eight blue cards (plus Academy Ruins), its mana base it still slightly edged towards blue in order to get decent Vedalken Shackles activation. This wasn't an issue - I never had problems getting double White.
(2) I tried just about anything in this slot: Abeyance to get some protection for the bombs, Counterspell to get protection that doubled as disruption, Counterbalance for the same reason even though the curve is insanely screwed up (two cards at cc=2; in other words, Counterbalance doesn't work for the same reason that Ancient Tomb does). The last option explored, with mixed results, was Exalted Angel, which is sort of a white-blue deck's way of running Tarmogoyf even though it has nothing to do with the gameplan, just 'cause it wins games fast on its own and sometimes pulls you out of the gutter.
(3) While Time Vault is dead on its own, that isn't true of Rings. Rings of Brighthearth comboes with: Flooded Strand (free Untamed Wilds), Sensei's Divining Top (one-sided Howling Mine), Hoofprints of the Stag (doubled Stag production), Eternal Dragon (free Sylvan Scrying). Still not a bomb, but a solid card.
Have fun; or, at least, enjoy the lesson on why a deck may not work. I'll be watching this thread, but don't plan on doing any more work on the concept unless some radical new idea emerges.