What would you cut to put the 4th therapy and the 4th narco?
I think you are referring to not wanting to topdeck an Underground Sea against an opponent with Wasteland. (the comparison was never between one life and one land). That is a matter different than weighing how often a player will get color screwed versus how often he will get mortally delayed by Wasteland. I see your point.Originally Posted by AriLax
Thanks for the help.
EDIT: I made some minor changes to the list reflecting the banter. The fourth Narco is necessary if you have extra defense at the cost of extra search. It feels like a patch and not a solution though.
Current issues: The deck wants more tutors, less search.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
I think the answer is Mental Misstep. After it was spoiled, I stopped working on Buried Ooze.
Is Transmute Artifact a potential improvement? This is a decklist I plan to test. Obviously, a new board plan is required.
4 Mesmeric Orb
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Narcomoeba
1 Dread Return
1 Sharuum
1 Blasting Station
1 Emrakul
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Transmute Artifact
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
3 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
2 Ancient Tomb
Transmute Artifact looks quite good. I'm not convinced by the Tomb's in this list. I'm wondering if you should be cutting LDV. Is it too much to have both LDV and Transmute?
I'm trying:
// Lands - 19
4 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Seat of the Synod
// Combo - 16
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Blasting Station
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Dread Return
4 Narcomoeba
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Mesmeric Orb
// Card Quality - 15
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Transmute Artifact
4 Brainstorm
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
// Hand/Stack Control - 10
2 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
Cutting LDV for Transmute doesn't seem to add more tutoring power (in fact, I think might even be less powerful). Having both tutors looks nice on paper, especially for a deck which relies so heavily on a two-card combo.
I'm don't mind going to 4 on Therapy because I feel very comfortable naming blind in game 1, and I feel even more comfortable game 2. The reason I'm going to Therapy is largely because it enables me to play faster. Having 4 Narco and 4 Therapy let's me see pairs of them more often before Emrakul flops my graveyard; it saves me time, which I desperately want with this deck. There are times where I have something stuck in my hand, and I need to therapy myself 1-2 times and my opponent 2-3 times before I go off. That takes some a lot of time (perhaps I'm still too slow).
I cut MM, which I think is better as a sideboard card.
Lastly, Pact of Negation looks pretty decent in this deck. It forces through your last combo piece and protects the combo afterwards (in some cases).
peace,
4eak
Last edited by 4eak; 07-10-2011 at 09:19 PM.
4reak, remember that you can use Careful Study instead of that extra Cabal Therapy to far better effect. You usually want to draw exactly on Careful Study per game. I am leaning towards having exactly two in the deck.
Also, seven artifacts as fodder for 4 transmutes (btw, Seat of the Synod getting Basalt Monolith costs 5 mana - it may as well be 50) is not going to work at all. You need about 16 minimum. And Monoliths and Orbs don't count. I would LOVE to get Transmute to work. But I have tried and it has been brutal. Want to know why Transmute Artifact is not a $70 card? Brainstorm. You can't have both running optimally in the same deck with today's cards. So which do you cut? A possible contender to eventually make that happen though: Pentad Prism.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
I think Study is not even close to Therapy. Therapy is way better.4reak, remember that you can use Careful Study instead of that extra Cabal Therapy to far better effect. You usually want to draw exactly on Careful Study per game. I am leaning towards having exactly two in the deck.
- Study is only good in hand (you have to draw it), and Therapy is good anywhere (hand, gy, library).
- Until you combo, you do care about card advantage, and Study's card disadvantage is not worth it.
- The odds of a 'good' Study (which is having at least 1 combo card in hand) when you only run 1 or 2 Study's is not very good. Therapy is pretty much always going to work.
- Hardcast Therapy is a good play, it slows your opponent, clears the way for the combo, and it makes Narcos in hand quite useful. (Other Dredge players, back me up here.)
- I'm more likely to flashback my Therapy before comboing, which does buy me time and protection, because I know I won't run out.
- I don't know about you, but once my opponent knows what I'm up to, the jig is up, and they have plenty of hate. I'm running into enough cases where I have to clear 2 and sometimes 3 different pieces of hate out of a hand (and, since I do pitch Narco to force, I am worried about StP, etc.). If I have something trapped in hand, having that 4th Therapy is great.
- Again, there is a non-trivial amount of time difference between 3 and 4 Therapies while cycling over and over through your deck to find pairs of Narco and Therapy (often, exclusively just a pair, where finding 2 Narco's before finding a Therapy requires you to reset and start all over).
- Therapy doesn't pitch to Force though*, but that's fine.
Transmute is not the perfect answer. I agree. I still think LDV is head and shoulders better. And, after testing, I'm retracting my doubt about the Ancient Tomb's. Pentad Prism is interesting. That said, I think Transmute Artifact is still better than you imply.Also, seven artifacts as fodder for 4 transmutes (btw, Seat of the Synod getting Basalt Monolith costs 5 mana - it may as well be 50) is not going to work at all. You need about 16 minimum. And Monoliths and Orbs don't count. I would LOVE to get Transmute to work. But I have tried and it has been brutal. Want to know why Transmute Artifact is not a $70 card? Brainstorm. You can't have both running optimally in the same deck with today's cards. So which do you cut? A possible contender to eventually make that happen though: Pentad Prism
- 5 mana is not out of range. With proper use of Therapy, Seize, and Force, I'm living to see 5 lands in plenty of matches -- 3 SDT and 4 Brainstorm also ensure that we see land if and when we want it with consistency.
- SDT is the usual choice here. When you Transmute, it is for the 2nd piece, and SDT becomes less valuable in that case. Basalt is 4 and Orb 3 (which is what you had anyways), which is easily in range.
- I've found the redundancy nice against control elements. Every Transmute is a threat.
- Monoliths and Orbs do count in my experience (I bet this isn't the first 2-artifact combo that either of us have tried with Transmute). When you have two of the same piece, Transmute becomes relevant. Double Monolith is fine, one plays into the next, and you transmute the tapped (doable on 3 land, which you would have to have anyways). Double Orb is fine as well (again, doable on 3 land).
- With that in mind, we are running more than 7 artifacts for transmute. It certainly isn't 15 (the number of artifacts in the deck), but it is definitely higher than 7.
- Brainstorm often let's you trade your redundant combo pieces for other cards, which is a strike against using combo pieces as transmute fodder. But, Brainstorm isn't directly in conflict with it either. There are times where you'll brainstorm to actually find an artifact for transmute, whether it be a redundant piece or not, you often don't care. Or, you may even Brainstorm into a Transmute, which makes that redundant piece actually useful.
Again, I'm not saying Transmute is the best card here. I simply think it is better than you've implied.
Regardless, you are right that we need to more tutors. Consider:
8 Cantrips
4 Tutor (LDV -- which is decently likely to find 2 combo pieces in high life total, non-multiple of 5 library total situations)
4 Combo piece 1
4 Combo piece 2
This only works when you have a bit more control/disruption than we have available in this deck, and it is more acceptable when you can actually win the game (in a likely manner) without your combo. This doesn't seem good enough for a deck relying so heavily upon getting 2 pieces together.
Until I find something better, I think I'm stuck with Transmute. I'm going to try Enlightened tutor (gonna have to keep SDT's or Probes, dropping Ponders, because instant speed matters when Orb is on the board). Unfortunately, with MM in the format, E-tutor is substantially weaker. This deck becomes more vulnerable to a very prevalent card that we'd otherwise be largely immune to.
Will try:
// Lands - 20
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
// Combo - 16
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Dread Return
1 Blasting Station
4 Narcomoeba
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Mesmeric Orb
// Protection - 8
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
// Tutors - 8
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
// Instant Speed Card Quality - 8
4 Brainstorm
4 Gitaxian Probe
More lands is reasonable in a build with neither SDT nor Ponder. Probe is not a good replacement for finding lands. It does work well with Therapy and E-tutor though. Will also try SDT in its place. Will go up to 10 fetches if so. MM does look better when you run your own E-Tutors.
peace,
4eak
@Brainstorm w/Transmute: These cards can not be used properly together because they make conflicting demands on your lands. No other reason. Your solution was plopping in more lands and including a few artifacts. Now the deck has too many lands for Brainstorm and too few artifacts for Transmute. You could edit those amounts, but going in either direction is in opposition to the other. I would really prefer not to have to get into a debate about how these things work if it can be avoided, as I have already done this testing for myself.
@counting combo pieces towards Transmute fodder: You seem to see what I mean. But I think you are talking about it before you have actually tried it. If that is so, I would love to see what you have to say after trying it.
@E.Tutor: Merfolk will rape you if you try this. Again, this is experience trying to guide you. I have already tried this.
@Therapy versus Careful Study. It is all about card advantage and Careful Study usually gives you more of it. I don't think I can get away with just saying this one without providing some details.
I am sure we both know how Cabal Therapy works and its advantages and disadvantages, so I will skip that. But with Study, with its inherent card disadvantage, it may seem odd that I am claiming that it can do the opposite. Just remember that you want only one per game. If your opening hand is decent except for two dead cards and no Brainstorm, that is a definite mulligan. Not with Careful Study. In games where you can't seem to get anything going, it is usually because you got a few crappy topdecks into things like a Narco and a Sharuum. Your hand does nothing useful. No number of Cabal Therapies can get your hand restarted from that scenario. And I have not found myself running short of Therapies once the combo has begun, so I don't know what that is all about. Never heard anyone say they had that issue before now. Typically, if I am holding two combo pieces and my opponent has anything pertinent, I am never going to get to the combo stage because I have not been drawing search cards or pieces.
Just the same, I am becoming more in favor of the 4 Narco, 4 Therapy plan. I find myself more willing to consider them discard spells for 1u when I know that I can spare one. And that lends credence to the 4 Therapy argument. I feel like I have more total defense when the Narcos double up that way.
4 Mesmeric Orb
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Narcomoeba
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Emrakul the Aeons Torn
1 Dread Return
1 Blasting Station
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
2 Careful Study
2 Gitaxian Probe
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
1 Swamp
3 Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
BTW, I hate Mental Misstep. I do not want to play it. I do not want to face it. And yes, LDV is really good.
Last edited by Finn; 07-11-2011 at 08:05 AM.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
Just another suggestion...
Has anyone considered Grim Tutors? I know it sits at the top of your curve which isn't ideal and is an expensive card... was thinking:
// Lands - 17
3 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
1 marsh flats
2 ancient tomb
// Combo - 16
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Blasting Station
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Dread Return
4 Narcomoeba
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Mesmeric Orb
// Card Quality - 16
4 Brainstorm
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
3 ponder
3 Gitaxian probe
2 grim tutor
// Hand/Stack Control - 11
4 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
Main concern seems to be grims are cmc3 and place a swamp lean on the manabase which i'm not sure i've adjusted for adequately (help appreciated). On the plus side allows 1 helm of obediance to be placed in side with 4 leyline of the void for a complact alternate win cond that doesn't necessarily need to drop the primary win cond. Would love extra land/cantrips for consistency tho...
Welcome to the Source! The best 3cc Tutor is Intuition.
Intuition costs 1 more than Transmute Artifact (when I posted, I somehow thought Transmute required only paying the mana difference between the target and Transmute itself). If we strain the mana base towards 4 Ancient Tomb instead of Artifact lands, Intuition is castable on Turn 2. Besides, Ancient Tomb has much more synergy with the deck than Artifact lands, enabling faster Monolith, Orb, Intuition, Show and Tell, better daze proove, and Sensei's Divining Top.
An Intuition fueled decklist looks like:
16 Combo pieces
4 Brainstorm
4 Top
2 LDV
4 Intuition
4 FOW
3 Thoughtseize
4 Therapy
4 Ancient Tomb
9 U fetch
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Swamp
The more I tested Top, the more I liked it better than Ponder. Having instant speed and repetitive use, it searches Monolith on its own with Orb in play. Should you find too few cards pitchable to FOW (18 in the list above, as single Narcomoeba is pitchable), the number between Top and Ponder can always be tuned.
@ Finn
In case I wasn't clear before (several phrases point it out, but perhaps I wasn't clear enough), my response was after having done playtesting with the deck (including versions with Transmute), if that matters to you.
That is unfortunate. I find my experience conflicts with yours on a number of decks. I won't, of course, casually dismiss your experience without also dismissing my own. I generally place more weight in theorycraft than experience (and, If you want, I can explain that for you).I would really prefer not to have to get into a debate about how these things work if it can be avoided, as I have already done this testing for myself.
Be patient with me, and please explain 'why'. You very well may be right, but I would like a better response.
As far as your Brainstorm and Transmute generalization goes, I think you haven't shown much. You make two assumptions:
a) You can't get both Brainstorm and Transmute Artifact running optimally in the same deck.
b) Because of (a), you should cut one or the other.
As to (a), it seems I can make the same point for MOST cards you might pair with Brainstorm. I agree there are dissynergies and deckbuilding problems, just as I could point out with most cards with Brainstorm. This brings us to (b). Even with these costs of dissynergy, the effects still might be worth using. Just because two cards aren't each optimal in the same deck doesn't mean they aren't worth using together. Consider how many decks have played both Grim Lavamancer and Tarmogoyf in the same deck. They don't play optimally together either, but they still might both be worth using for the aims of the overall deck. I'm not convinced the dissynergy is overwhelmingly problematic just yet.
Despite my concerns about tournament data, AFAIK, Transmute Artifact hasn't really seen play in Legacy. Perhaps a good place to gain some some insight into this card would probably be Vintage. Yes, I know Vintage is different than Legacy, but I'll go out on a limb and say your generalization might apply to Vintage as well, particularly as these decks are seeking a 2-artifact combo as well. Consider that in the vast majority of tournament placing decks packing Transmute, the deck runs an equal number of Brainstorm.
If Transmute Artifact ever does see play in Legacy, I wouldn't be shocked to see (in fact, I would be betting on) Brainstorm being played alongside it, simply because Brainstorm is such a powerful card.
I had pointed out why I didn't like E-tutor. That actually came directly from my matches with Merfolk and others packing MM while I played E-tutor in other decks.@E.Tutor: Merfolk will rape you if you try this.
In my opinion, Merfolk already has a decent matchup against this deck, E-tutor or not. Merfolk does well against most combo decks. Obviously, Merfolk prefers to hit major combo enablers with MM rather than cantrips or discard. Merfolk has replaced Threshold as the gatekeeper of the format, keeping a ton of the format in check. I think this deck is kept in check by Merfolk, E-Tutor or not.
At this point, I'm not sure the Merfolk match is salvageable. Merfolk is the reason I'm forced to question why I should play this deck over Painter-Combo, which I think performs substantially better against Merfolk while still doing well against a good chunk of the format. So, I'm willing to tank this deck against Merfolk a bit further by running E-tutor.
Again, let me emphasize that I believe you are completely correct about needing a tutor. I don't believe this deck is good enough as it stands in the OP. It needs the consistency provided by tutors 5-X.
I'm having to choose between necessary evils here. Transmute is not optimal, but it does work, albeit slower than I'd prefer. E-Tutor isn't optimal either, but it is still worth trying. Intuition deserves a shot as well.
@ Careful Study
Since the debate is no longer about cutting a Therapy for Study, let me focus on Study, because I'm still not convinced it belongs in this deck.
Study, for obvious reasons, belongs in a deck which uses the graveyard. This is not that deck. This deck doesn't use the graveyard in a way that works with Study as part of the combo (the time when Study is worth using). Here is the rule of thumb for you: Careful Study is only worth using if it is acting both as card draw (which you are using it as) and also as a combo enabler (which is a lot more than merely 'digging' for combo pieces or protection).
Consider UG Madness (which has actually foregone the use of Study because it is a sorcery and it was all too often card disadvantage) and Vengevine decks which can effectively get both effects from Study. Madness plays spells cheaper (and doesn't suffer card disadvantage) because they can discard them into play, and binning Vengevines is innately important for recurring them.
Consider Reanimator, which absolutely MUST get cards in the GY to have anything to reanimate. Study pulls double duty! It belongs in that deck. Also, when you are going for the 'emergency Study', where you don't have targets to pitch, the card disadvantage isn't as bad in this deck because it runs on so few resources (unlike this deck), and it is capable of going off the same turn it casts Study (unlike this deck)
Consider Non-LED Dredge, which needs Dredgers and other combo enablers into the GY over and over. That deck doesn't function without ways to discard as a combo enabler, and moreover, it functions awesomely with draw effects.
This deck doesn't use Study like that. It doesn't belong in the deck. Yes, there are cases where you bypass Study's raw card disadvantage by already having been in the position of having virtual card disadvantage with dead cards in your hand. But, that case isn't common enough to use Study.
You only "want one per game" if you want it all, and frankly, most of the time you don't want Study, not even the 'singleton' or the 2 you might run.
Your argument for 'getting rid of dead cards' should apply to more decks than this one, and besides what I listed, pretty much no other deck plays Careful Study. Let cards like Brainstorm, which don't cause card disadvantage, do the work of dealing with dead cards.
If you are going to accept card disadvantage most of the time (that is, when you aren't in the somewhat uncommon case of having a dead card, and thus virtual card disadvantage already), it needs to be a more profound effect than digging for two cards.
peace,
4eak
Is there any way you can beat a resolved pithing needle on blasting station?
or in G2 assuming you did not board into SnT emrakul.
You can either use LDV to find Echoing Truth or Meltdown, or attack with Sharuum and use Narcomoebas as blockers.
Needle should name Basalt Monolith to freeze the engine. The build does not have any MD outs to it except Blasting Station to kill the Revoker. You get bounces from the SB.
Needle is not a very prevalent hate and I worry more about Artifact destructions (Grip, Qasali, Ancient Grudge). Dedicating 3 SB slots to bounce is a waste IMO and I would test a full transformational SB, something looks like
1 Dread Return
4 Show and Tell
2 Emrakul
2 Terastodon
2 Form of the Dragon
1 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
How do you think about the plan? Does this deck need yard hates?
By the way, I really like the 4 Sollands build (with Top and Intuition) and they should be City of Traitors instead of Ancient Tomb. The Tomb is so painful for the deck.
I apologize for the delay. Also, I may have to respond to this in parts. No Time to think!!!
@Careful Study: Sure, there is a maximum benefit to the card to be had in graveyard decks like Reanimator, but the deck needs more than just four Brainstorms to replace dead cards with useful ones. Any game in which you died with even a single useless combo piece stuck in your hand (or even just mana flood or something) you could have used a Careful Study. When I play Careful Study in the deck this does not happen. When I cut them it does. The only cards that I know of that can effectively replace those dead cards without taking a hit are Brainstorm and Jace. Winds of Change and Tolarian Winds are worse versions of careful Study and Scroll Rack is super cool, but kinda expensive. The problem with having dead combo pieces in your hand is that (a) they should be actual useful cards and (b) you need them out of your hand to combo out. We already have Cabal Therapy to solve (b), but it does not solve (a). Adding more copies will also not solve (a). I am still behind at least the idea of using 4 Cabal Therapy, but it has nothing to do with solving (b). Brainstorm is currently the only card we have for this, and if it gets Misstepped or you simply don't get it, you are screwed. Add to this the fact that Careful Study cuts your number of mulligans and you really want this card.
As far as I can tell, the only argument that remains is the one that says "I don't get stuck with parts in my hand all that often." I can't argue with that except to say "Not yet, perhaps."
@Enlightened Tutor: The biggest problem with that card with regard to Merfolk is not directly related to Misstep. Well, Misstep too, I but I was specifically talking about the effect it has on your land base. You have to have access to white, black, and blue on the first few turns, so Merfolk is able to really do what it does to your mana and subsequently can make stuff like Daze and Cursecatcher more important. You know what I mean.
@Brainstorm and Transmute together: They don't work because of the cards you are forced to use to make them work properly. Brainstorm does not require a lot, but I would not be comfortable going below about 8 fetchlands unless there were some other free way to change the cards you put back for new ones, like Loam or a shuffler or something. Count in the basics and a few duals and you are at what, 14 or 15 minimum. You have a deck full of search here, so you only need a few more lands. What you would like is 8 artifact lands. You have room for four, but even then you get no sol lands, so you are cutting into the value of Transmute already. Then you also need certain other cards that can fit securely into a deck (say this one, for example). Divining Top is a good choice. But then what? If you just had more artifact lands, you would be fine, but you can't properly do that because Brainstorm needs particular lands to work. Now you need to invent a purpose for the artifacts you are to add. That is where the addition of transmute ends.
Your position on this, as far as I can tell, is that the artifacts in there, plus the ones I just said are enough. If that actually working for you, we have something to pursue. And frankly, that would be the holy grail. But I tried this as well and consistency was a real issue. This is where I stand.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
Monolith is a mana ability so Needling it won't work. Revoker is pretty good though.
Very interesting deck, btw.
You needle the untap ability.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
Finn: I used to play my pet deck Enduring Ideal which also had ~5 dead cards. At that time Mystical Tutor was still legal, so Merchant Scroll was quite good at getting either Brainstorm, Mystical Tutor or Echoing Truth. I also tried See Beyond in that deck, it was quite weak but it may be better than Careful Study in your deck. Have you tested it?
Thanks, I forgot about See Beyond. Barnello had been trying it out, but eventually abandoned it. Man, why did they make it cost two? It already does less than Brainstorm. I think that if I am going to go that route, I might even try Vendilion Clique, which is actually sounding kind of attractive. The idea that its primary value is to shuffle back dead cards in addition to its other purposes seems really good. Yeah, its expensive, but it does a lot of things for the deck.
-2 Careful Study
+2 Vendilion Clique
seems like a really easy fix. Something to consider.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
Main deck Vendillion Clique in a combo deck seems nuts. Solid alternate win, most disruption, and card filtering.
Remember, you're eliminating a spell that costs one Blue mana for another spell that costs two Blue mana (and a moot colorless). That could be an issue if you're opting to run Ancient Tomb, in which case Intuition just seems flat-out better. I'm not sure how good Careful Study would be in the first place here, as you already have a generous portion of draw and filter in Ponder and Brainstorm.
Clique serving as an alternate win condition is cute and all, but Show and Tell into Emrakul seems just as good in the second or third games depending on your strategy and wins games outright. Casting Clique to filter your own hand seems like a last-ditch effort play which, although it serves a positive purpose, doesn't seem optimal given the fabric for which this deck is built upon: an artifact-based combo. Decks usually predicated on running a combo of this sort tend to lean towards colorless acceleration to power it out early, so finding a way to rationalize including Vendilion Clique as a critical filtering and alternate win slot seems plausible here.
If you're going to run a double-Blue spell in a deck using Basalt Monolith, wouldn't Power Artifact and a board abusing an infinite mana strategy be more effective? I'm not suggesting it would by any means, I'm just asserting that adding a card with a similar cost that gives you access to a multitude of surprise win conditions seems like an ideal strategy. It's not like running even a pair is a bad idea given the inclusion of Lim-Dul's Vault and or Intuition (if you opt for a third). It might be a three mana combo, and I'm again not saying it's the best idea, but it would certainly side-step graveyard hate. You're already susceptible to artifact-based hate anyway, so it's not like that matters if you're running counter-magic and discard.
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