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    [Deck] Dream Halls Combo

    On September 19, 2009, Dream Halls came off the Legacy banlist. The card had been legal in Magic Online Classic, and resulted in no problems there; the assumption was that it would be safe for Legacy. It might even spawn some new decks. Everyone knew the enchantment was powerful (it had been banned for years in Extended and Legacy), and it had been some time since anyone built a successful Dream Halls deck for competition. Indeed the idea itself was consistently condemned on the forums as unrealistic, slow, and inconsistent. Yet, after much testing, debate, argument, and research, a number of new cards and interactions were found that interacted brilliantly with the Halls. This proved to be enough to bring Dream Halls from the casual box into the coveted card slots of tournament decks.

    The end result was a powerful victory on January 2, 2010. In Frankfurt Germany, on day 6 of the 7 day Magic Marathon that was German Magic 1, Jonas Harbili piloted a Dream Halls deck to victory. The particular build was created by Harbili's, friend Marc Tobiasch, who, at the last moment, elected to play a different deck. Harbili took Tobiasch's Dream Halls all the way. With 270 competitors, over two dozen unique archetypes, and attendance from across the continent, the tournament was a major event. And Dream Halls took the top prize. Here is Harbili’s list.

    Dream Halls
    By Jonas Harbili
    1st Place, Day 6 Legacy at German Magic 1, January 2 2010


    Lands: 17
    3 Ancient Tomb
    4 Flooded Strand
    5 Island
    1 Polluted Delta
    2 Scalding Tarn
    2 Underground Sea

    Creatures: 5
    1 Bogardan Hellkite
    4 Progenitus

    Instants: 12
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Force of Will
    4 Lim-Dul's Vault

    Sorceries: 19
    4 Conflux
    3 Cruel Ultimatum
    4 Ponder
    4 Show and Tell
    4 Thoughtseize

    Artifacts and Enchantments: 8
    4 Dream Halls
    3 Lotus Petal

    Sideboard: 15
    1 Hydroblast
    2 Meditate
    1 Rushing River
    4 Spell Pierce
    2 Duress
    3 Propaganda
    2 Pithing Needle

    An impressive list for an impressive win. Before explaining individual card choices, I will explain how the combo itself works for those that do not immediately see it.

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    Basic Deck Strategy

    1. Get Dream Halls in play.
    2A. Discard something to cast Conflux
    2B. If you don’t have Conflux, discard something to cast Lim Dul’s Vault and cast a spell to draw Halls.
    2C. If you don’t have LDV, then you should not be comboing yet.
    3. With Conflux, find 1 Progenitus (Green card), 3 Cruel Ultimatum (Black, Blue, and Red cards), and 1 Conflux (White Card).
    4. Discard Progenitus to cast Conflux 2, finding Hellkite, Thoughtseize, FoW.
    5. Discard Hellkite to cast Ultimatum number 1. (5 life loss)
    6. Ultimatum 1 returns Hellkite to hand. Discard Hellkite again to cast Ultimatum number 2. (10 life loss)
    7. Ultimatum 2 returns Hellkite to hand. Discard Hellkite again to cast Ultimatum number 3. (15 life loss)
    8. Ultimatum 3 returns Hellkite to hand. Discard Progenitus to cast Hellkite. (20 life loss)

    This is the basic way the combo can work. You can always alter the order or find other cards as needed, but the fundamental operation will remain the same. If you are concerned about instant speed graveyard removal (A Crypt or Relic, for instance), which will kill your discarded Hellkite, then you can alter the combo process.

    1. Get Dream Halls in play.
    2A. Discard something to cast Conflux
    2B. If you don’t have Conflux, discard something to cast Lim Dul’s Vault and cast a spell to draw Halls.
    2C. If you don’t have LDV, then you should not be comboing yet.
    3. With Conflux, find 1 Progenitus (White card), 2 Cruel Ultimatum (Blue and Black cards), and 1 Bogardan Hellkite (Red Card) and 1 Conflux (Green card).
    4. Discard Progenitus to cast Conflux.
    5. With Conflux find 1 Cruel Ultimatum and 4 Progenitus.
    6. Discard Progenitus 1 to cast Ultimatum 1. (5 life loss)
    7. Discard Progenitus 2 to cast Ultimatum 2. (10 life loss)
    8. Discard Progenitus 3 to cast Ultimatum 3. (15 life loss)
    9. Discard Progenitus 4 to cast Bogardan Hellkite. (20 life loss)

    Back this up with FoW and Thoughtseize, and find your combo pieces with aggressive Brainstorming and Pondering, and you will be well on your way to some turn 2-4 wins in no time.

    Alternately, you can always simply use Progenitus as a beating win condition, whether cast using Dream Halls, or dropped into play as early as turn 2 (or even 1) with Show and Tell. This makes the deck slightly more versatile than other combo decks, as it effectively as two different combo-based win conditions.

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    Card Choices
    THE MAINDECK

    (Now, before I explain the card choices in Harbili’s deck itself, I must offer some words of disclaimer. There is no universally agreed upon deck list. Harbili’s interpretation won a major event and brought hope to Dream Halls players everywhere. But it is not flawless and it is not above criticism and revisal. This is the case with many decklists, but it is very noticeable with Dream Halls.
    I have attempted to explain Harbili’s probably reasoning for using these cards in his deck. I have not spoken with him, and my reasons may not be his, and may simply be inadequate. But that is the point of discussion and refinement. )


    Ancient Tomb: Accelerates Dream Halls and Show and Tell, allowing for a much faster clock. On occasion, can be risk in a tight Aggro matchup, especially against Zoo. Harbili’s build only runs 3 because Tomb can only cast 8 of his spells (Show and Tell, Dream Halls).

    Islands: The deck is extremely resilient to Wasteland, owing to its 5 Island manabase. In many games, it does not even need Underground Sea, or Ancient Tomb, to win.

    Lotus Petal: There are a number of contenders for this spot, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and Dark Ritual being the frontrunners. Each has serious problems that Petal does not share.
    Chrome Mox causes card disadvantage. That is particularly bad in hands where you don’t actually have your combo, and you have to pitch a draw or protection spell to get some mana. This leaves you vulnerable to counters or hate, and/or can slow you down in the long run.
    Mox Diamond forces you to run extra lands to be most effective, and Harbili’s build (running only 17) does not really fit that bill.
    Dark Ritual is powerful, but it costs B and adds BBB. If it cost U and added UUU, it would assuredly be in the deck. But Ritual increases your reliance on Underground Sea, which in turn makes you more vulnerable to Wasteland. Moreover, the only time that you would be able to maximize your mana gain is with Dream Halls itself. Casting anything else would not require Ritual; even with a Ritual, the earliest you could cast Show and Tell is still turn 2 (which you can do with a Petal anyway).

    Bogardan Hellkite: The dragon serves multiple purposes in the deck. First, it pitches to cast Ultimatum in the first of the 2 combo processes I described above.
    But Hellkite is also a viable Show and Tell target. If you need an extra turn or 2, a quick Hellkite can hold the line long enough for you to cast Halls, Ultimatums and then swing for the win.
    Finally, Hellkite lets you circumvent Meddling Mage (if ever you see him…), Gaddock Teeg, and other cards that might prevent the Ultimatum path from working on its own.

    Conflux / Dream Halls: Harbili’s build adheres to the combo philosophy of full-playsets. Every important combo card comes in 4’s. This increases consistency, but also decreases overall card slots.

    Show and Tell: Enables the turn 2 win in some games, greatly aids the turn 3 win, and provides an alternate win in the form of Hellkite (if necessary). Redundant “mana acceleration” in most cases; between this, Petal, and Tomb, you are almost guaranteed to get Halls out before turn 4. An overall excellent card in the deck.

    Brainstorm / Ponder: Quick, cheap, digging. Both pitch to FoW. Brainstorm hides combo pieces from probing discard spells. Probably the best ratio of cost to digging in all of Legacy (unless you are feeling lucky with Spoils of the Vault). Harbili likely considers these superior to comparable draw spells like Impulse, Accumulated Knowledge, Diving Top, etc. because Brainstorm/Ponder work faster and get more immediate returns. For his build, which is intent on speed, this is more important than the increased digging of Impulse, or the synergies of Top.

    Lim-Dul’s Vault: Harbili decides to use the classic UB tutor instead of cards like Enlightened Tutor, Grim Tutor, Rhystic Tutor, redundant draw, etc. There are some strong cases to be made for Vault. For one it pitches to FoW, unlike any of these other cards. Second, it finds anything that you need, not just Halls. This is a limitation of Enlightened Tutor, for instance. If you need Show and Tell, a sideboard card, a FoW, etc. then LDV becomes much better.
    It trumps Cunning Wish because it actually finds Halls itself (and Show and Tell for that matter). It also can be considered better than Grim Tutor owing to its cost. By turn 3, especially if on the play, Dream Halls should be casting its winning cards, not sacrificing a valuable Lotus Petal to cast the Tutor on turn 2. Tutor also loses some of its punch without Ritual, which Harbili did not choose to include. Finally, the 3 extra life loss of Tutor can be fatal in matches where you already are using Tomb to accelerate, FoW to counter a spell, and Fetchlands to grab your Islands.

    Force of Will: Harbili is using a blue combo deck. FoW will be included. Period.

    Thoughtseize: The 1 CC black sorcery disruption slot certainly belongs in this deck. But the question remains: Duress or Thoughtseize? Some players prefer Duress. After all, most threats are non-creature, and the 2 life loss can be very dangerous in aggro matchups (more on this to come). Is Thoughtseize warranted?
    Thoughtseize handles 2 threats that Duress cannot touch. The first is Pridemage. If you don’t have FoW in the early turns of the game (which you probably won’t, given that you only have 4), then it helps to have additional assurance against the enchantment wrecking Lion. If you don’t, then you have to get redundant cards in your hand to counteract the Pridemage’s effect. This can slow you down at least a turn or two, which is lethal against Zoo.
    Thoughtseize also slows down the opponent’s clock. If you are having a subpar start, or if your opponent is having a good one, preventing a turn 2 Goyf drop can be critical in keeping you alive until you can drop the Halls. Similarly, in Enchantress, taking out Argothian before she hits play can help stall the opponent until you can get your own combo online.
    That said, 2 life can be a lot. If you are already losing about 3-6 life (from FoW, Fetch, Toom, and LDV), then the additional 2 life loss can put you too close to burn danger. Or attack danger. I will discuss more of this later (the self-inflicted damage), but for now, trust me that it can be a problem.
    Duress can be a suitable replacement, but only if you are budget minded and confident that you will not face too many Pridemages/will be able to outrace opposing decks.

    THE SIDEBOARD
    Hydroblast: Additional anti-burn countermeasure. Similarly useful against a fast Goblin clock. Replace a Thoughtseize with a Blast, as in most cases, they will have the same end effect, although without the life loss (I acknowledge that Blast won’t nuke an artifact, but if you are boarding in Blast at all, then that is not your worry).
    -1 Thoughtseize, +1 Hydroblast

    Meditate: Boarded in against decks with a slow clock, especially Landstill and Stax decks. The card advantage is worth the wait, as your opponent is unlikely to be able to come up with a counter to your 4 additional cards in their one extra turn. When you are 5 cards richer at the beginning of your next turn, you will be more than ready to both combo out and defend your pieces. Also, the 3 CC is helpful to circumvent Chalice and Counterbalance.
    Vault is less useful in these matchups. For one more mana you can get 4 more cards. The 2 CC of Vault is also a liability with Chalices and Counterbalances roaming around in these matchups (and Spell Snares, for that matter). Meditate circumvents all of these problems.
    Additionally, Meditate is a strong answer to discard. If your hand gets hit hard by any number of disruption spells, Meditate lets you refill. The cost of a turn is unimportant, given that you are likely to win the moment you untap and enter the main phase.
    -2 LDV, +2 Meditate

    Rushing River: Sometimes you just need to bounce something. Or two somethings. Whether a threatening Pridemage, a billowing Stax, or an early Reanimator target, River gets the job done. Take out a Thoughtseize for the River, as they will often accomplish the same task. You would not want to board in River against a deck that had more instant threats than permanent threats anyway.
    -1 Thoughtseize, +1 Rushing River

    Spell Pierce: Wins the counter war for you against the midrange UG decks (and Merfolk, for that matter). Also extremely early as disruption against fast combo like Belcher and ANT. When adding cards like Pierce and Duress, you want to use the “little off the top” boarding strategy; taking out a single copy of cards here and there to gain additional weapons.
    -4 (Permutation of Petal, Vault, Show and Tell, Progenitus, etc.), +4 Pierce

    Duress: If your opponent is playing green then you can expect Krosan Grip in games 2 and 3. Use a similar “off the top” boarding strategy to get all of the Duress into your deck.
    Same as above

    Propaganda: Most of the time you want to race your opponent. But against Dredge, Goblins, or Zoo, you might want the extra few turns of life that Propaganda buys you. Similarly effective against Enchantress, if they get their angel tokens online. This is a tougher card to board in, as you are acknowledging that you are slow against a fast deck, as opposed to Meditate where you accept some slowness against a similarly slow deck. Moreover, your opponent will still have cards that you need to take out with Thoughtseize and Duress (Grip in most cases). I would not board in this card in most matchups and would rather try to race.

    Pithing Needle: Pridemage answer, pure and simple. If Pridemage hits play then this is your only solution. Has a host of other tangential applications, but its defeating Pridemage is at the top of your list.
    -1 LDV, -1 Progenitus, +2 Needle

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    Advanced Deck Strategy

    In this section, I will discuss some of the nuances of the Dream Halls deck. These are strategic points that apply to all matchups, and are good to consider no matter who you are playing against.

    The Mana Base: Here are your chances of getting a certain number of lands in your opening hand (without mulligans):

    0 Lands: 5636 times (5.64%)
    1 Land: 21353 times (21.35%)
    2 Lands: 32372 times (32.37%)
    3 Lands: 25703 times (25.7%)
    4 Lands: 11439 times (11.44%)
    5 Lands: 3024 times (3.02%)
    6 Lands: 441 times (0.44%)
    7 Lands: 32 times (0.03%)
    In 90.86% of all scenarios, you will have 1 through 4 lands, which should be playable.

    Self-Inflicted Life Loss: One of the biggest game-aspects lost in goldfishing is self-inflicted life loss. Dream Halls does a fair amount in a short time and on a consistent basis. This is problematic in a field full of fast aggro decks. While it will not matter in the control matchup (slower clocks) nor the combo matchup (if the opponent goes off you are dead whether your life total is 20 or 15), it is supremely important to understand self-inflicted life loss against decks like Zoo, Goblins, Burn, and so on. This is not just a function of Harbili’s deck, although I will use his list to illustrate the point.

    Look at the mana base. Harbili runs 17 lands total, of which 10 damage you: 3 Ancient Tomb and 7 Fetchlands. So you have almost a 60% chance of getting at least 1 land that damages you in your hands. In practice, this means that you will probably have either 2-3 fetchlands or 1 fetchland/1 Ancient Tomb. This gives you about 2.5 damage per game from your lands.

    Now let’s look at your disruption. In some games, you will be fine with just casting 1 FoW (1 life loss). In other games, you will not get a FoW, but will instead get a Thoughtseize (2 life loss). In other games, you may need/cast both (3 life loss). This works out to around a 1.75 life loss per game on average; you have an equal chance of getting FoW or Thoughtseize (so the average of the 2 is 1.5), and a less than likely chance of getting both. This raises the total to about 1.75.

    Finally, you are using Lim-Dul’s Vault. You have about a 44% chance of getting it in your opening hand, and after you cast a single draw spell, that increases to about 50%. If you get Vault, you will probably cast it, and it will probably take around 2-3 digs to get a card that you need. This means that, in a game where Vault is used, you will lose about 2.5 life on average. But you do not always draw Vault. Indeed you will probably only use it in less than 50% of games. Let us say 40% of games. So multiplying the 2.5 life loss average by the 40% of games that it is used in gives you approximately 1 life loss on average from Vault every game.

    So that means you will deal yourself 2.5 damage from lands, 1.75 damage from disruption, and 1 damage from Vault on average in any given game. That’s approximately 5 damage per game. Goldfish the deck a few times and you will find that this value is extremely close to the truth.

    Why is this a problem? Because decks like Zoo have a scarily fast clock. Assume a scenario where the Zoo player goes turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Goyf, turn 3 Burn. That’s 4 damage from the Lynx on turn 2, and 10 damage from the Goyf, Lynx, and Burn spell on turn 3. That’s 14 damage. See the problem? That puts you a measly 1 life from death. If you had an extra fetchland or need more Vault digging, this could mean that you are unable to pull of the combo.

    So what is the point of all of this? I have demonstrated that self-inflicted life loss is a problem in this deck, a serious one that can cost games. The way around this is to be judicious. Here are my point-by-point pieces of advice for Dream Halls pilots:
    1. Thoughtseize only when necessary: If you are playing against Goblins or Zoo and it is game 1, the only serious threat that Zoo has is Pridemage. Goblins has nothing. By “serious threat” I mean a card that can stop your combo. If you need to slow down the clock, then use FoW. Avoid Thoughtseizing in the serious aggro matchups unless you know that it will help you.
    2. Crack fetches only when needed: Only crack your fetchlands when you need them for mana. In general this is a good practice, but it is even more important in Dream Halls owing to the possible life loss.
    3. Be flexible and patient: This point pertains specifically to LDV. Do you REALLY need to dig for Halls? Or can you just Show and Tell a Progenitus/Hellkite out right now to hold the line? Or even win the game? Vault is one of the worst, and best, cards in the deck, because players who use it have a tendency to suicidally dig for their card even after it becomes clear that further life paying is not to their advantage.

    When to use Progenitus: Show and Tell can get your combo out, but it can also get the 10/10 monster into beating mode. When would you use one strategy instead of the other? First of all, see how early you can do one strategy versus the other. If you have Tomb, Petal, Show and Tell, Progenitus in your opening hand and you are on the play, and you also happen to have a blue card and FoW, then by all means, get him out there and don’t worry about the Dream Halls win condition. Second, if your hand is light on digging spells (Brainstorm/Ponder/Vault), you lack combo pieces like Conflux and Halls, but you do have Show and Tell and Progenitus, then go with that combo. The clock is ticking in many matches, and Progenitus can really slow that down.
    Similarly, sometimes Show and Tell on Hellkite is also a good decision. This is especially true in the Goblin and Merfolk matchups, where a single Hellkite can virtually clear the board. In general, just be flexible. If you do not feel that you can find your combo in time (whether through statistical analysis or the heart of the cards), then look for a backup plan in Progenitus/Show and Tell.

    Cards to Watch Out For: In the Legacy format, there are only a few cards that you need to specifically watch out for in addition to the normal stuff like Duress/Thoughtseize/FoW/etc. EVERY deck needs to watch out for these cards. You also need to keep an eye open for the following. Some go without saying, but it still is important to mention them.
    Krosan Grip: Default Dream Halls hatred.
    Qasali Pridemage: Not many decks use him, but the maindecked hatred is rough in game 1.
    Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast: It is tempting to hastily combo out against decks that do not appear to pack countermagic. Then the Blast hits.
    Gaddock Teeg: Shuts down all aspects of the main combo. Show and Tell with Hellkite/Progenitus circumvents the little guy.
    Ethersworn Canonist: Same as above.
    Umezawa’s Jitte: An early Jitte drop and equip will put your opponent above 20 life in a hurry. Progenitus beats is the solution here.
    Burrenton Forge Tender: You have probably begun to notice that most of these cards stop the combo. Not the Progenitus.
    Aura of Silence: The enchantment version of Pridemage, more or less.
    Rhox War Monk: Similar to Jitte.
    Extirpate: Nightmare card, even though not many decks use it. If cast in the middle of a combo, it could leave you a turn behind and on the rocks. As usual, however, it does nothing to stop Progenitus.
    Chain of Vapor: Dredge’s weapon of choice against Halls. Bounces the enchantment in response to a spell being cast to slow you down. Useless against Progenitus.
    Iona, Shield of the Emeria: This is the only card on the list that stops both of your plans. If Iona gets out and names blue, you are scooping. No Halls, no Show and Tell, no FoW, no nothing. This creature is one of the strongest cases to change part of the board to include a Snuff Out or two, although even that may be a lost cause, given that you cannot back it up with FoW (Duress/Thoughtseize backup, however, will work).
    Arcane Laboratory: Enchantment version of Cannonist.
    Ray of Revelation: Aggro Loam will use this and Grip for redundant hatred.
    Zuran Orb: Like Jitte, but when combined with Glacial Chasm and Loam, can produce a seriously problematic engine that means Progenitus can’t attack.
    This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you some idea of the huge vulnerabilities, especially in games 2 and 3, that the Dream Halls combo itself is going to have. Plan accordingly. Do not assume that a deck has no threats just because you think you know their list. Always try to have a backup plan (read: Progenitus) whenever you are trying to combo against any deck that might have these cards. You will notice that these cards do little to stop Progenitus, but everything to stop Halls. Keep that well in mind.
    Last edited by ktkenshinx; 01-14-2010 at 10:28 AM. Reason: Empty Post?

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