[1vs1] League deck: Vendilion Clique

[Atwa]

At my local store, some people are planning to organise an EDH league. We all put some money in the pot and the winner of the league wins a nice old EDH legal card like a Mana Drain or a Timetwister or something like that. However, instead of battling multiplayer games, people at my local store play EDH 1 vs 1 most of the time. People are going to play best out of 3, and may use the use of a sideboard of 15 cards between games.

Now normally I'm not that very competitive (I play more for fun), but I really want to take a decent shot at the top price. I've already registered Vendilion Clique as my general (no 2 same generals are allowed), and I'm working the list right now. The biggest problem is I never played real control competitively, and I'm having some problems building my deck.

Here is the list I've thought of so far, any tips or comments are really appreciated.

General:
Vendilion Clique

Lands:
Snow-covered Island x26
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Mutavault
Mishra's Factory
Tolaria West
Riptide Laboratory
Academy Ruins
Scrying Sheets
Mouth of Ronom
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Cephalid Coliseum
Halimar Depths
38 lands. I tried to keep the number of non-basics down, to play as many snow lands as possible. That's the reason for no artifact lands.

Creatures:
Trinket Mage
Vedalken Aethermage
Sower of Temptation
Consecrated Sphynx
Guile
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Venser, Shaper Savant
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Sakashima the Impostor
Draining Whelk
11 more of less controling creatures. No need for more fatties, I plan to win by General damage or comboing out anyway. First draft also played Djinn of the Wishes, but I decided the curve of this deck is too low to make playing him worthwhile.

Control elements:
Spin into Myth
Brittle Effigy
Nevinyrral's Disk
Capsize
Repeal
Evacuation
Wipe Away
Echoing Truth
Into the Roil
9 cards to control the board in some way, excluding the cards to steal stuff. It seems a little excessive, but I suspect a lot of creature decks will be played.

Permission:
Cancel
Muddle the Mixture
Condescend
Desertion
Deprive
Mindbreak Trap
Spelljack
Time Stop
Cryptic Command
Counterspell
Dismiss
Force of Will
Rewind
13 Counterspells (excluding Draining Whelk). Not sure if that's enough. I didn't include any cards like Mana Leak, since I don't want any permission spell be worthless during the endgame.

Carddraw:
Ancestral Vision
Blue Sun's Zenith
Fact or Fiction
Sensei's Diving Top
Foresee
Brainstorm
Concentrate
Standstill
8 cards to get me more cards. Not sure if either Concentrate or Jace's Ingenuity is better, I might even end up playing both. I'm also starting to think Preordain might be better than Brainstorm, for the lack of shuffle effects.

Tutors:
Mystical Tutor
Intuition
Merchant Scroll
Cunning Wish
Seem pretty standard. I could add Personal Tutor, but unfortunately I don't have them anymore.

Steal Stuff:
Vedalken Shackles
Bribery
Acquire
Control Magic
Treachery
I know well enough I don't play the most explosive cards available, I let others do that for me.

Other Utility:
Proteus Staff
Call to Mind
Relearn
Jace Beleren
Relic of Progenitus
Sol Ring
Mind Stone
Tunnel Vision
Staff has a double function as both control element, as well as being a combo piece with Tunnel Vision (in case someone took care of your Clique). Relearn and Call to Mind can be used as a Regrowth, but can also be used to make Intuition piles with Tunnel Vision.

Sideboard so far:
Tormod's Crypt
Back to Basics
Trickbind
Pact of Negation
Psionic Blast
Blue Elemental Blast
Hydroblast

So far I still have 3 spots open in the deck. Not sure in which catagory I need to add any more cards. 38 lands, Sol Ring and Mind Stone looks like a decent amount of mana sources for the deck, so I guess I should start looking at more permission or card draw.

Cards already considered but not included:
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: Great protection. but it turns off Riptide Laboratory and Proteus Staff tricks.
Artifact Lands: I'm afraid I'll lower the snowland count too low.
Thrist for Knowledge: with only 9 atrifacts in the deck, this seems more like a miss then a hit.

Cards I'm thinking about including right now:
Mindslaver
Preordain (over Brainstorm)

Any thoughts about the last few spots (or any suggestion about replacing other cards)? I'm also looking to fill the last 8 spots in my sideboard/wishboard.

[jjjoness']

I'm playing Clique in my local 1vs1 League as well. Haven't lost a single game yet, but we also don't use sideboards.

My approach however is completely different. Rather than going for traditional control, I use Clique's awesome combination of Evasion, Flash and its ability to screw your opponents hand over completely. Basically I'm running ~40 lands, 30+ counters, some carddraw and bounce all at instant speed. The only non-instant cards in the deck are Vedalken Shackles, Treachery, Proteus Staff (AWESOME synergy with clique and no other creatures), Tunnel Vision (just too damn awesome not to run..), Relic of Progenitus, and Ancestral Vision. This setup makes sure you never run out of counters ever, enabling you to attack seven times with Clique, also you always have mana open for counters OR draw OR Clique. If the board is stalled, you always have the backup Tunnel Vision combo.

Your plan really is quite simple: Clique is a seven turn clock, that needs to attack. Counter everything that prevents Clique from attacking and everything that kills you faster than you kill your opponent. That strategy is by far the most unfair I have ever seen in EDH duels. Last week I 2:0ed Thrun, which was really surprising, but Evacuation eot, followed by Clique tucking away Thrun can make it happen.

Edit: Found my decklist:

Maindeck: 100

General: Vendilion Clique

Artifact: 5
1 Crystal Shard
1 Proteus Staff
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Vedalken Shackles

Enchantment: 2
1 Declaration of Naught
1 Treachery

Instant: 51
1 Arcane Denial
1 Boomerang
1 Brainstorm
1 Broken Ambitions
1 Cancel
1Capsize
1Commandeer
1Complicate
1 Condescend
1Convolute
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1Delay
1 Deprive
1 Desertion
1 Discombobulate
1 Dismiss
1 Dissipate
1 Dream Fracture
1 Evacuation
1 Exclude
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Foil
1 Forbid
1 Force of Will
1 Gush
1 Hinder
1 Last Word
1 Logic Knot
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Mana Leak
1 Memory Lapse
1 Misdirection
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Oona's Grace
1 Opportunity
1 Overwhelming Intellect
1 Power Sink
1 Remand
1 Repeal
1 Rewind
1 Sage's Dousing
1 Spin into Myth
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Sunder
1 Think Twice
1 Thwart
1 Vision Charm
1 Wipe Away

Land: 39
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Dust Bowl
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Minamo, School at Water
1 Riptide Laboratory
31 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolaria West
1 Vesuva
1 Wasteland

Sorcery: 2
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Tunnel Vision

No Maze of Ith and Mana Drain, since I'm short on cash right now.

[TheArchitect]

Mana vault seems kind of like an auto include.

Ixidron might be worth it to deal with pesty shrouded/protection generals.

I'd put in Faerie Trickery, Hinder (combos with tunnel vision) over cancel and deprive.

You have a fairly low curve so it might be unnecessary but if your feeling the need for some good mono colored accel I would suggest:
thran dynamo
Gilded lotus
Sapphire Medallion
gauntlet of power
Extraplanar lens


EDIT: Maze of Ith and Commandeer would be pretty solid too.

[Arew]

I'm playing Clique in my local 1vs1 League as well. Haven't lost a single game yet, but we also don't use sideboards.

My approach however is completely different. Rather than going for traditional control, I use Clique's awesome combination of Evasion, Flash and its ability to screw your opponents hand over completely. Basically I'm running ~40 lands, 30+ counters, some carddraw and bounce all at instant speed. The only non-instant cards in the deck are Vedalken Shackles, Treachery, Proteus Staff (AWESOME synergy with clique and no other creatures), Tunnel Vision (just too damn awesome not to run..), Relic of Progenitus, and Ancestral Vision. This setup makes sure you never run out of counters ever, enabling you to attack seven times with Clique, also you always have mana open for counters OR draw OR Clique. If the board is stalled, you always have the backup Tunnel Vision combo.

Your plan really is quite simple: Clique is a seven turn clock, that needs to attack. Counter everything that prevents Clique from attacking and everything that kills you faster than you kill your opponent. That strategy is by far the most unfair I have ever seen in EDH duels. Last week I 2:0ed Thrun, which was really surprising, but Evacuation eot, followed by Clique tucking away Thrun can make it happen.

This is pretty much the best way to build Clique for 1v1 ever. Absolutely devestating to play against.

[herbig]

I had a Clique deck I put together for a tournament in Brooklyn, but when I showed up they told me he was banned for their 1v1 tournaments.. I switched it for Thada and won anyway.

I like Jone's list a lot, and it's similar to where I went with it. I also had Polymorph for Blightsteel, which also works with the Staff, and just played all the man lands blue can play. Polymorphing Clique works as well.

[Rico Suave]

The biggest problem I have with a list like this is lack of focus. Your primary focus is to kill the opponent with Clique, while maintaining as much counter presence as possible. You're going to need to cast UU1 Clique with UU back-up a lot of times, so the color blue is very important to this deck.

For example, there's no reason to play a card like Scrying Sheets because you're going to kill the opponent with Clique before Sheets will do anything relevant. And thus, being a basic Island would be better in most instances. Other cards like Halimar Depths don't really fit either, because you're far more interested in making sure every land enters the battlefield untapped while producing blue than you are about what order you're going to draw your next 2 counters in. Minamo also makes little sense - are you going to be untapped your Clique and blocking with it? Tolaria West, too, suffers from entering the battlefield tapped which is a huge drawback in a deck like this. Mutavault and Mishra's Factory may be able to serve as blockers, but once again wouldn't you rather just have a basic land that produces blue? What are you going to do with Mutavault/Factory that you couldn't do before...? You're racing with general damage, no? Are you afraid of an enemy 2/1?

This is just your mana base, but there are a number of cards that really don't fit the theme of Clique here. Other posters hit it right on the head when they said you want your deck to be mostly lands and counterspells, with the few assorted answer/utility cards.

[The Treefolk Master]

I've now played this deck for a few months, versus lots of different decks (some very competitive, like Zur, others not so much). I've only lost 2 games: In one (Vs. Teneb), I kept Sandbar Island Ghost Quarter as mana sources, an my opponent Wasteland + Stripmined me out of the game. Knight of the Reliquary killed me before I got to UU again. The other game, my opponent dropped a Standstill, topdecked a Creeping Tar Pit, and I never drew an answer (when I tried to Clique, a huge counterwar resulted in it ending up in the bottom my library...)

My list is extremely similar to jjjoness', but I'm running all islands and:

1 Dust Bowl
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Reliquary Tower (A necessary evil, but there is nothing a having a 14 card grip against an empty table with Clique crashing in)
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Maze of Ith

Total = 42 lands. I'm considering cutting one to fit in a Tormod's Crypt. Thoughts? (I already run Relic of Progenitus)

Is spell burst worth it? It has been a bit underwhelming lately.

No Mana Drain as I don't have $ nor a serious tournament scene. If I can manage to start an EDH league or something, I'll buy a Drain.

I am running the Tunnel Vision combo. It is too good not to run.

I'll post my list later.

[Sturtzilla]

Greetings,

I have recently gotten back into EDH/Commander and have been running a list nearly identical to jjjoness'. I have made a few minor tweaks. I use the addition of Dust Bowl, as it can just be back breaking to most decks. I also like the addition of Spell Crumple as it combos well with Tunnel Vision. I am not sure if that was printed when the lists here were posted. If not, hopefully you guys are using it now as it makes us a little more consistent with that combo. I have also included Cyclonic Rift. This one is just sick to end step bounce your opponent's board and make them discard a bunch of stuff. Again I don't think this was printed when the above lists were posted but it is worth considering. I have also been considering adding a Snapcaster Mage. I realize that it is very unlikely that the deck win with conventional damage so the 2/1 body is rather lackluster, but the flexibility he gives us to rebuy any card already played is very powerful. He also combos well with Riptide Laboratory giving us a bit more range and flexibility if that is even needed. What do you guys think?

Edit: I forgot to mention Arcane Laboratory... it is pretty silly in this deck. Although a non-bo with Snappy.

[TraxDaMax]

I'm not sure if they have any rules at your tourny but if it was my tournament you'd be playing a load of "illegal" cards.
Usually the French commander list is used in such tournies, just a heads up so you don't get in trouble once you arrive there ;)

The cards if I'm not mistaken being:
Back to Basics
Sensei’s Divining Top
Sol Ring
Strip Mine

atm I'm playing V.Clique too.
And it plays out pretty annoying for opponents in 1v1
I don't know why Proteus Staff isn't banned yet though. It's absolute bonkers, especially if you have Control Magic effects.

[Barbed Blightning]

Picked up a Russian Clique at a Legacy event and figured, what the hell, make an EDH deck while I'm at it. Turns out that this commander is insane.

List:

1 Vendilion Clique

34 Snow-Covered Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Halimar Depths

1 Trinket Mage
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Draining Whelk
1 Spin into Myth
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Capsize
1 Repeal
1 Evacuation
1 Wipe Away
1 Into the Roil
1 Cancel
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Condescend
1 Desertion
1 Deprive
1 Time Stop
1 Cryptic Command
1 Counterspell
1 Dismiss
1 Force of Will
1 Rewind
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Foresee
1 Brainstorm
1 Concentrate
1 Standstill
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Bribery
1 Acquire
1 Treachery
1 Proteus Staff
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Tunnel Vision
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Spell Crumple
1 Hinder
1 Commandeer
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Ponder
1 Discombobulate
1 Dismal Failure
1 Dissipate
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Familiar's Ruse
1 Foil
1 Spelljack
1 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Boomerang
1 Submerge
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Repulse
1 Rhystic Study
1 Devastation Tide
1 Crystal Shard


If it moves, counter or bounce it. Rhystic Study is, as always, annoying for any opponent.

Any thoughts?

[Sturtzilla]

Any thoughts?

Overall I think the build looks pretty awesome. I do have a comment on some of your draw spells. There are very few non-instant speed cards in my version. I think I have 6 sorcery speed cards in my build: Sensei's Divining Top, Ancestral Visions, Declaration of Naught, Vedalken Shackles, Arcane Laboratory, and Tunnel Vision. Top and Visions are both small mana investments so they can easily be played at just about any point in a game. Declaration of Naught is very similar and is really sick if your opponent has a midrange to late game general. Shackles and Lab tend to be mid-game cards for me. You can pretty easily cast them when you have 5 or 6 mana, as you can still counter after casting one of these. Tunnel Vision, as the combo kill, basically gets played either when your opponent taps out or you have mana to counter back if you are worried about that. So those are the sorcery speed cards in my build. I think you need to have a very good reason to tap mana during your turn with this deck. I think the cards I have listed are worth it. I am not big on cards like Forsee and Concentration, as they require you to wait to the mid-late game to cast while still being able to counter opposing spells or they require you to tap out. I have been running counterspells that cantrip and cards like Think Twice, Oona's Grace, and Opportunity. They have been working great for me.

Also if you are running all of the Snow-Covered Islands, it could be worth it to run Scrying Sheets. The advantage you gain is very incremental most of the time as it will just dig you a card deeper at EoT; however, every now and then I get the Scrying Sheets + Oona's Grace engine going. It might not seem like much but when you are at like 7+ mana taking land off the top of your deck and turning them into a real card is a big deal, especially if you can do this a few times.

Actually the last time I played EDH there were two other guys playing one was playing Tesya, Orzhov Scion and one was playing Sek'Kuar. On turn six, I was able to Tunnel Vision my Tesya opponent and attack my Sek'Kuar opponent for 3 general damage. After six more turns I had killed the other opponent with general damage. I was still at 25+ life with no general damage. I played both of these guys 1v1 and it wasn't even close. I guess my point is that my build has been working really well both in 1v1 and in smaller multiplayer games. Once you get to 4 or more people keeping all of the potentially dangerous spells in check becomes too difficult. So if you want to play with more players and still be interactive I would pick another general/deck.