U/B/g The Mind Harvester

[Hanni]

It's the Mind Harvester!

This is a deck inspired by various Intuition/Loam decks from the past. Back in 2006, I put a little bit of development into a deck called Aggro DAT (Dredge-a-Tog). Later, I helped Goaswerfraiejen and Solpugid develop a similar deck that took many names (first TarmoTog, then Intuition-Thresh, and most recently River Rock). I also contributed a little bit to a deck called "It's the Fear!"

Fast forward to Fall 2011.

This deck is a control deck built around the Intuition/Loam engine. I've tried experimenting with Intuition/Loam in several blue-based aggro/control shells lately, but the deck has turned into a pure control deck everytime I'm done tuning it. The slow nature of Intuition/Loam has proven (to me) to be more effective in a control shell.

I think the name itself should be pretty obvious as you examine the decklist.

Current Decklist (as of 8/27/2020)

UGbw Yorion Intuition

Lands (28)
3 Prismatic Vista
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
3 Snow-covered Island
1 Snow-covered Forest
1 Snow-covered Swamp
1 Snow-covered Plains
1 Cabal Pit
1 Karakas
1 Blast Zone
4 Wasteland
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Field of the Dead
1 Dark Depths

Creatures (10)
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Spells (42)
2 Oko, Thief of Crowns
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Intuition
2 Life from the Loam
4 Exploration
4 Force of Will
2 Force of Negation
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay

Sideboard (15)
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 Force of Negation
3 Veil of Summer
2 Force of Vigor
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Dead of Winter
2 Surgical Extraction


Old Decklist (as of 8/6/2011)

U/B/g The Mind Harvester

// Lands (23)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
4 [R] Underground Sea
2 [R] Tropical Island
1 [R] Bayou
2 [UNH] Island
1 [UNH] Swamp
1 [UNH] Forest
2 [ON] Lonely Sandbar
1 [OD] Cabal Pit
1 [TE] Wasteland

// Spells (37)
1 [EVE] Worm Harvest
4 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 [IA] Brainstorm
4 [TE] Intuition
1 [RAV] Life from the Loam
4 [IA] Counterspell
4 [AL] Force of Will
2 [LRW] Thoughtseize
1 [US] Duress
1 [EVE] Raven's Crime
2 [OD] Ghastly Demise
2 [OD] Innocent Blood
1 [TE] Diabolic Edict
2 [MBS] Go for the Throat
4 [AP] Pernicious Deed

// Sideboard (15)
SB: 4 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
SB: 2 [PLC] Damnation
SB: 2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [M10] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [ON] Gigapede
SB: 1 [IA] Zuran Orb
SB: 1 [SOM] Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 [TSP] Academy Ruins

Original Decklist:

U/B/g The Mind Harvester

// Lands (23)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
4 [R] Underground Sea
2 [R] Tropical Island
1 [R] Bayou
2 [UNH] Island
1 [UNH] Swamp
2 [ON] Lonely Sandbar
1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
1 [SH] Volrath's Stronghold
1 [TE] Wasteland

// Creatures (3)
3 [LRW] Shriekmaw

// Spells (34)
1 [EVE] Worm Harvest
4 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 [IA] Brainstorm
4 [TE] Intuition
1 [RAV] Life from the Loam
1 [EVE] Raven's Crime
4 [IA] Counterspell
4 [AL] Force of Will
2 [OD] Innocent Blood
2 [ON] Smother
3 [FD] Engineered Explosives
4 [SH] Mox Diamond

// Sideboard (15)
SB: 4 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
SB: 2 [AP] Pernicious Deed
SB: 2 [PLC] Damnation
SB: 2 [M10] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [ALA] Fleshbag Marauder
SB: 1 [TO] Llawan, Cephalid Empress
SB: 1 [IA] Zuran Orb
SB: 1 [SOM] Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog

Fundamentally, the deck does what your average blue-based control deck does: destroy some creatures, draw some cards, counter some spells, and then drop a Jace TMS. It is the way that this deck goes about doing those things that seperates it from other similar control decks.

There's no fancy way of saying it; this deck abuses the graveyard. This opens the deck up to graveyard hate postboard, but it gives the deck a tremendous amount of power that is worth the Achilles Heel.

Intuition/Loam is a monster of a card advantage engine. It's slower than the more commonly played Standstill and Ancestral Visions, but it is far more powerful.

On it's own, casting Life from the Loam grants the same card advantage as Standstill. While it only draws lands instead of business, the deck has numerous means to convert the lands into business, and honestly... how often does a Standstill draw a grip of lands anyway?

Some people think Intuition is overpowered in a deck like Hive Mind, where it is essentially a Demonic Tutor for 3. What many people fail to realize, is that Intuition in a Loam shell, is essentially 3 Demonic Tutors for 3.

Intuition for Life from the Loam and Worm Harvest is extremely underrated, and incredibly powerful. Loam itself ramps into the necessary mana for Harvest, quickly and easily. Spamming 1/1 tokens on the board helps to stabilize the ground against aggro, and gives the deck a near impossible to deal with win condition against control. By midgame, it's not out of the question to go into Empty the Warrens-mode and spam out 10 1/1 tokens a turn.

Intuition also sets up alot of other powerful engines.

Raven's Crime turns every land into a discard spell. While Raven's Crime may be lackluster against aggro decks that drop their entire hand in the first few turns, it absolutely destroys opposing control and combo decks, which do in fact make up a big portion of the metagame. Some people think the best way to resolve a Jace TMS is to cast a Vendilion Clique first to clear the way; I happen to think casting Mind Twist is better.

Academy Ruins and Volrath's Stronghold set up the ability to recur removal. Between 3 Shriekmaw and 3 Engineered Explosives, one of them is bound to end up in the graveyard prior to casting an Intuition. The 3rd card in the Intuition pile (since you're likely grabbing Loam and Harvest) is usually going to be the missing piece to whatever removal combo is available. If both Shriekmaw and Engineered Eplosives are in the graveyard, then the choice becomes dependant on the particular matchup and situation.

Shriekmaw itself is extremely underrated. While Shriemkaw may be a little more conditional than the other normally conditional black removal spells, there are many benefits associated with the elemental. As a creature, he is able to destroy Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Bridge from Below. Additionally, hardcasting Shriekmaw is really good; they lose a guy, and you get a 3/2 body with Fear. The body itself can block/trade with an attacker, or can itself become an evasive attacker/win condition. In this deck, with Volrath's Stronghold, the Maw is amawzing.

The removal package is rounded out with a diverse package. Some sacrifice effects, some targeted effects, and EE's can deal with a wide variety of permanents. With Mox Diamond, EE can easily deal with 4cc stuff, and even hit 5cc stuff sometimes.

Force of Will and Counterspell are bread and butter, respectively. They are the glue which holds the deck together, answering most of the randomness you might find in the format. The deck does not run Spell Snare and Mental Misstep because the deck does not need narrow countermagic; it has a various array of removal to deal with early resolved stuff instead. Nothing is worse than holding a grip of Mental Misstep and Spell Snare, only to watch the opponent cast a Show and Tell, Natural Order, Jace TMS, or whatever the case may be.

Jace TMS is Jace TMS. 4 copies has been great in testing.

The singleton Wasteland gives the deck answers to problematic lands like manlands, is tutorable, and can be recurred.

Lonely Sandbar and Life from the Loam go hand in hand. Sandbar pitches to Mox Diamond's early, cantrips during a land flood, and converts lands into business once Loam is online. Postboard, it can used to effectively prevent most forms of graveyard hate from hitting Loam.

Mox Diamond and Life from the Loam go hand in. The acceleration into turn 2 Intuition and/or turn 3 Jace TMS should not be overlooked. Against a deck where the difference between 1cc removal and 2cc removal is relevant (like Goblins and Zoo), a turn 1 Mox Diamond fixes my "heavy with 2cc removal" problem.

I think that about covers everything concerning the maindeck. The sideboard is still in its testing phases, and so for now, I will leave that area up for discussion. However, I have been pleased with it so far. There are way too many available options though, so there is no way this deck will ever have a perfect sideboard.

EDIT: WOAH. Post 1,666... for a thread I title'd The Mind Harvester. Interesting...