[Deck] Spanish Inquisition (B/x Storm Combo)

[bjholmes3]

I've actually been thinking the same thing, this deck would rather have 3-4 random cards than 1 specific card.

[zachinflames]

Would Lich's Mirror not be better with Ad Nauseam (jumping slightly away from the theme here) as opposed to bargaining yourself to death + Mirror? I like the idea of building your own Memory Jar, but Necroing it seems might be more powerful and more consistent and less mana intensive.

[Manroe]

Played my PSI list at my local legacy tonight for the first time even though I've had the cards -- but not the cajones -- to play it for almost 3 years. If you go into it with the mindset of "I'll probably whiff sometimes, but thats okay" the deck can be a blast. Probably the most fun I've had playing legacy in a while.
Went 2-2 for the record, losing to miracles and painter and beating burn and 4c loam. Should've beat painter as well but double D4's didn't find me one black mana source.

[Nina]

I know there are not enough redundant pieces to make a well optimised, "finished" Spanish Inquisition deck.
But do you SI regulars have a consensus on the overall best/strongest decklist?
What would that be?

[emidln]

I know there are not enough redundant pieces to make a well optimised, "finished" Spanish Inquisition deck.
But do you SI regulars have a consensus on the overall best/strongest decklist?
What would that be?

I don't play SI as much anymore, but we much of the consistency comes down to not mulliganing. To do that, you want slightly more IMS
than SI used to play (classically, SI has 14 IMS (4 LP, 4 CMox, 4 LG, 2 Bayou)). Something on the order of 16-18 (I haven't done the math
with SI, but the ideal number based on several million games analyzed with Black Belcher (an extremely similar deck) is 17) is probably right,
which means you have to move away from Land Grant (and thus give up on Belcher mostly) or to accept Mox Opal / Pact+ESG / SSG as alternate
IMS.

Of the alternate IMS, nobody really agrees on what is the best. Mox Opal is very good, but it tends to require more robots than you would otherwise want which is around 10 (+- 1)
(and certainly more than Pact SI plays, which is 0). Pact+ESG isn't a full mana source since you really need Pact + a 7of to be an IMS (3 more Pact, 4 ESG)
so that you can Pact->Cantor and use Pact/ESG to play Cantor. SSG isn't a full mana source either (you can't start your spell chain with it), but it does turn
Cabal Ritual into a 1 mana ritual, which is almost as good as an IMS (you need 1 IMS, but additional IMS greatly increase your chances of winning up till around 3).
ESG functions in a similar way as SSG in this regard.

It's probably worth figuring out if 4 Dark Petition in SI is something you want. We experimented heavily with 4 IT, 4 Burning Wish for awhile, and Dark Petition is close a strict upgrade
to BW for SI's purposes. In that world, I'm not sure you'd actually want PiF / IGG / Ad Naus, and you wouldn't need Belcher. Maybe Dark Petition + Infernal Tutor with fetchlands and swamps
is the way forward?

[DarthVicious]

Went to Mythic Games legacy tournament today and went a dismal 1-3-1 with my deck, but it shows promise and I understand why I lost the games I did.

First, the list... and it's ballsy. And unconventional, even for SI. Turned quite a few heads.


4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Mox Diamond
9 Swamp
2 Lake of the Dead
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lich
4 Viridian Harvest
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot


The sideboard was irrelevant, and I will be changing it, but here it is anyway:

4 Leyline of Sanctity
//The only card I boarded in that really mattered. I believe it is necessary in this deck to combat burn and discard, either of which can completely ruin your day.
4 Chrome Mox
//My justification was to try and make the deck faster... more on that later.
4 Carpet of Flowers
//For what should be by now obvious reasons to most of you, if you've read the thread.
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot
1 Laboratory Maniac
//Alternate win conditions. Yes, this deck can easily and frequently draw an entire library. A bit unneccesary, however.


Round 1 - Miracles
I don't remember how I won game 1, but game 2 was a long drawn out battle where I nearly got there with Lake powering out multiple nonlethal Tendrils through active counter-top, until he dropped Mentor and started swinging. Game three I made twenty goblins turn 1 off a draw4.

Round 2 - Miracles... again
He surprisingly didn't drop counter-top against me, however. He told me after the game he was running Miracles... go figure. Funny part is before game 1 I mentioned how I defeated Miracles last round. He took game one by Snapcaster flashing back Counterspell against my IT after cracking LED. In hindsight I should've just passed the turn as I had a godlike amount of resources to continue casting spells over the next few turns from 2 draw4s. He took game 2 by Forcing my opening play of Carpet... and I never got started.

Round 3 - Jund
Just didn't come out of the gate fast enough... Hymn... Thoughtseize... and double Bloodbraid that gave him another Deathrite and a Liliana game 1... I lost. Game 2 I boarded Leylines in but never saw draw4s... he used his one-of Pernicious Deed to wipe my board, including the Leyline...

Round 4 - Monored Sneak Attack
Turn 1 Chalice@1 off City of Traitors I could've played around, given enough time to build land... but he won much faster than that. Game two I mulled into something that would've been ok with my initial mana source off the scry, but his turn 1 went like this: City of Traitors>Lotus Petal>Seething Song>Sneak Attack>Worldspine Wurm.

Round 5 - Playing carmates is fun when you're both out of the money...
ID'd, dropped and went to get Chinese. Second best round, after round 1.

Overall, I'm going to move the Mox Diamonds and most of the lands to the board, as they are better against slower decks. The deck needs to be faster game 1 more often than not, and I will be shifting the maindeck to that plan.

Sidenote: Here's a short list of lifegain cards I've tried/considered to run alongside Lich, in case you're getting ideas.
Children of Korlis
//It's certainly a nasty little combo, but it doesn't mesh well with the draw4s you usually need to play to set up the kill. Don't forget, you're a Storm deck, not a Lich deck. Children getting you 5 or less cards is simply not enough.
Hero's Reunion
//The other card I mainly considered over Harvest. The problem is it's 2 mana of 2 different colors, and multicolor cards in this deck really need to have black as one of the colors. Two mana is also pretty steep, even for a draw7.
Spinning Darkness
//Can only target creatures. In theory it'd be nice to use against hatebears, but chances are if the hatebear is in play, Lich isn't.
Soul Spike
//Pitching two cards is a lot, especially if both of them are black. Pitching extra Liches/Tendrils/ITs would be ok, but there is no such thing as extra rituals. Ever.
Drain Life
Soul Burn
Death Grasp
//Don't even think about it. Too much mana.

EDIT: Several people I played against (or next to) just wanted to watch me go off with the deck, so I set up the perfect turn 1 hand for them to see-

Lotus Petal, Mox Opal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Swamp, Dark Ritual, Lich, Viridian Harvest - With that, you've got six storm, three floating black and you're drawing six cards, on turn 1. Granted, there are other ways to do it, but that's what I used.

[Nina]

I am familiarising myself with this deck right now, just by playing it.
To me it felt like QSI was the one i could grasp the best first, so i picked that up and have been playing it quiet much now. I'm learning ...

[Nina]

What I like about QSI is that it's very straight forward.

Lands, Moxen and Petals for initial mana sources. 16
Dark and Cabal Raitual with Culling the Weak. 12
We need some creatures, so we play the tallmen. 7
And for Draw 4 we'll play Meditate in addition. 10
And then we need to kill them. 3 Tendrils

And filling it up.
4 Cabal Therapy to build storm and disrupt. 4
And because this is all quiet inconsistent we play Brainstorm and Ponder. 7

Nice and clean. I would actually recommend QSI for learning this deck up in the Primer.

---------------------

But (in modern times) do you think QSI is still viable? Or are the more evolved non-blue lists vastly outperforming it nowadays?

[marit]

What I like about QSI is that it's very straight forward.


But (in modern times) do you think QSI is still viable? Or are the more evolved non-blue lists vastly outperforming it nowadays?

The problem with any variation of this deck currently,is the amount of blue decks that are running around. As much as we want to pretend otherwise, miracles, shardless, and delver are not favorable matchups. I have been playing an updated land-grant SI list with mox opals, gitaxian probes, and 4 therapies main on MODO, and still have troubles with all the blue decks. I've also tried a pact list with xantid swarm main, and even post SB I lose to blue decks more often than I win. As much as I love this deck (and have been playing it since before 2009), I think that this deck is best saved for a meta similar to the survival-heavy one before it was banned. Here's my list for the interested.

4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Land Grant
4 Lotus Petal
2 Bayou
4 Chrome Mox
4 Cruel Bargain
3 Infernal Tutor
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
2 Tendrils of Agony
3 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
3 Culling the Weak
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Infernal Contract
3 Mox Opal
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Gitaxian Probe

4 Xantid Swarm
4 Tomb of Urami
3 Tombstalker
4 Duress

[Dominic Pain]

So what do you all think of Skullwinder in place of eternal witness in a Pact list? single green makes it far easier to cast, and if we use it early enough our opponent will likely not have a card to bring back.

[GoldenCid]

Hi everybody!!
Im a little bit aoxidized in legacy and i wanna come back with a low interaction deck like this. Do you recomend me the man side plan or the proactive one?

For those who run man plan, do you side into it in every game or just blue ones?

Like the above side:

4 Swarm
4 urami
3 tombstalker
4 duress

[GoldenCid]

Hi everybody!!
Im a little bit aoxidized in legacy and i wanna come back with a low interaction deck like this. Do you recomend me the man side plan or the proactive one?

For those who run man plan, do you side into it in every game or just blue ones?

Like the above side:

4 Swarm
4 urami
3 tombstalker
4 duress

Sorry for doubleposting. I played a 4 swiss round (no top 8) with the following list reaching a 2-2. Advice is welcome!!

Lands (2)

1 bayou
1 dryad

Rituals (12)

4 D. ritual
4 C. Ritual
4 Culling the weak

Mana artifactis (11)

4 LED
4 Petal
3 Chorme mox

Creatures (8)

1 DRS
1 wild cantor
1 ornithopter
1 Skyshroud cutter
4 ESG

Tutors (8)

4 Infernal tutor
2 Dark petition
2 Summoner pact

Draw (10)

4 bargain
4 contract
2 gitaxian probe

Win (5)

4 tendrils
1 IGG

Other

4 Land grant

SB:

4 duress
4 Nature claim
3 dread of night
4 Xantid swarm

R1

Belcher (2-1)

G1: he rises with 16 goblins t1. I try to go off t1 (on the draw) and fizzle when draw into double land grant (bayou on line), tendrls and dryad.

SB: -2 culling the waeak, -1 land grant, -1 ornithipter, + 4 duress

G2: I start with land grant and duress taking warrens. He plays taiga and passes. I draw a D8 and go off with igg loop.

G3: i reset my main board (i dont know if its ok). He goes for 12 gobbos t1. I wait one turn to increased my chance of going off and win next turn just cast petal (2xDR, 1 D8, 1 IT, 1 LED, 1 land grant, 1 tendrils in hand).
He pushes with 14. I draw cabal ritual and gg.

RUG (0-2)

G1 and G2 similar. FoW + Pierce + stifle...no way.

SB: +3 swarm +4 duress -2 Land grant -2 Culling the weak -1 thopter -1 igg -1 tendrils


BUG (0-2)

Similar above.

D and T (2-0)

G1: he goes with vial, pass. I play land grant and kept bayou in hand. He plays stoneforge pass. I go off with igg loop.

SB: +3 dread of night + 3 natures claim -1 tendril -1 land grant - 2 culling - 1 ornithop-1 chorome mox

G2: he drops mother (no leyline) pass. I cast petal and pass. Then thalia comes in. T2 bayou + petal for DoN.
2 turns after go off for lethal.

Funny.

Any comment specially on sideboarding very very welcome and needed!!

[Dominic Pain]

how were the double petitions, ornithopter, and only 2 pacts? congrats on the wins, tho! I'm always excited to see someone playing a little si

[Dominic Pain]

SB:

4 duress
4 Nature claim
3 dread of night
4 Xantid swarm

I'm assuming the dread of nights are a meta call? but I don't really think they are necessary, d&t isn't actually a bad match up at all. they don't run any turn 1 play we care about so as long as you go off before Thalia you should be solid.

[GoldenCid]

I'm assuming the dread of nights are a meta call? but I don't really think they are necessary, d&t isn't actually a bad match up at all. they don't run any turn 1 play we care about so as long as you go off before Thalia you should be solid.

Yep, it's a meta call....unfortunately im not having the t1 combo rate i wish...so thalia gets on line most of times so...

What woul you run in those slots?

how were the double petitions, ornithopter, and only 2 pacts? congrats on the wins, tho! I'm always excited to see someone playing a little si

Thx!

Yeah, i was a suboptimal list...now i rised to 3 pacts and no thopter. DP was sometimes awesome and sometimes a little expensive t explode. Now im testng with 1 dp and 1 dark deal. Lets see...

[Dominic Pain]

Yeah, i was a suboptimal list...now i rised to 3 pacts and no thopter. DP was sometimes awesome and sometimes a little expensive t explode. Now im testng with 1 dp and 1 dark deal. Lets see...

Dark Deal was talked about earlier in the thread, it's not efficient enough for our deck. the cards in your hand will generally be spells you want to cast, so it ends up being like, discard 1-3 draw 0-2 which is way too inefficient, I'd play Diabolic Intent over it any day. I can't help you very much with the sideboard as Ive strayed into a wish board for my build but ive stolen a few wins with Tomb of Urami

[Ricardio]

Dark Deal was talked about earlier in the thread, it's not efficient enough for our deck. the cards in your hand will generally be spells you want to cast, so it ends up being like, discard 1-3 draw 0-2 which is way too inefficient, I'd play Diabolic Intent over it any day. I can't help you very much with the sideboard as Ive strayed into a wish board for my build but ive stolen a few wins with Tomb of Urami

Tombstalker is a classic. "Nothing beats a classic." - Jason Statham, The Expendables

[GoldenCid]

Dark Deal was talked about earlier in the thread, it's not efficient enough for our deck. the cards in your hand will generally be spells you want to cast, so it ends up being like, discard 1-3 draw 0-2 which is way too inefficient, I'd play Diabolic Intent over it any day. I can't help you very much with the sideboard as Ive strayed into a wish board for my build but ive stolen a few wins with Tomb of Urami

Thx you all for the support.

Maybe you are right about deal...the thing i that running 4 culling and just (updated list) 5 "casteable" creatures (2 DRS, 1 cantor, 1 cutter and dryad) it is hard to hit 2 of them for tutoring and / or ramping. But ill try it for sure.

What do you think about Dark petition? Does it worth i cutted it from 2 to just 1.

And for man plan post side i ll try it ...but im not sure whether or not bring it in.
I think that decks with stp will side them out and a stalker turn 1 is a goal for us! but what about blue?

[Dominic Pain]

I LOVE Petition in SI, but it's probably too expensive as anything but a 1-of. The man-plan, as far as I've used it, only ever comes in against U.dec against anything else I don't even bother sideboarding. As for Stalker vs. Urami, Urami is legendary, stalker gets hit by counters, and both die to swords so it's up to you as to which you prefer

[GoldenCid]

I LOVE Petition in SI, but it's probably too expensive as anything but a 1-of. The man-plan, as far as I've used it, only ever comes in against U.dec against anything else I don't even bother sideboarding. As for Stalker vs. Urami, Urami is legendary, stalker gets hit by counters, and both die to swords so it's up to you as to which you prefer

Thx a lot for your feedback.

Yes, i run just 1 dark petiton plus the recently suggested diabolic intent (see list below).
Man plan also eats leyline hate...so maybe, since i dont have anti enchant hate, i side it in against dead and taxes.

Here is the list:

8 D8
1 Diabolic intent
1 D. petition
4 infernal tutor
3 summoner pact

4 tendrils
1 igg

4 esg
4 petal
4 chrome mox
4 land grant

4 D. ritual
4 C. ritual
4 Culling

1 bayou
1 arbor

2 DRS
1 wild cantor
1 S. cutter

Side:

4 urami
3 stalker
4 duress
4 swarm