'Hoogland' Ancestral/Hexmage Version
1 Fetid Pools
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Tabernacle
4 Tolaria West
4 Underground Sea
4 Urborg
1 Wasteland
4 Dark Depths
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Thespian's Stage
1 Zuran Orb
4 Mox Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Mox Opal
3 Vampire Hexmage
4 Cunning Wish
1 EE
4 Chalice
1 Ballista
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Pact of Negation
4 Ancestral Vision
SB
2 Flusterstorm
1 Echoing Truth
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Surgical
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Lightning Storm
2 Ballista
1 EE
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Maze of Ith
'Bryan Hoyt' Bauble Version, Top 4 at ~70 player Knight Ware event
29 LANDS
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
2 Dark Depths
1 Karakas
2 Maze of Ith
2 Polluted Delta
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Tolaria West
3 Underground Sea
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Wasteland
6 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Ad Nauseam
4 Cunning Wish
1 Grapeshot
25 OTHER SPELLS
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Diamond
4 Mox Opal
4 Urza's Bauble
1 Zuran Orb
SIDEBOARD
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Dread of Night
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Fatal Push
2 Flusterstorm
1 Lightning Storm
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt
I'm not exactly sure who I am supposed to attribute these lists to (not that I personally care too much about this sort of thing), Bryan is the first example I can find and then Hoogland seems to have picked it up later.
Hoogland also tried the Bauble version a bunch of times and did decently well in some leagues with it and top32 a legacy challenge, now he seems to be preferring the Hexmage version and says he has 4-1 his last 3 leagues with it.
Has anybody else tried this strategy? It seems like it is doing some powerful things.
Short primer on the Bauble version:
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/jeffho...-land-nauseam/
I have played it beginning of the year at our LGS to mediocre success (2-2).
I died to Miracles grind and to Blood Moon specifically, but the games where you can do your thing the deck feels extremely powerful.
Bonus points for copying Azcanta multiple times versus Miracles (unfortunately I still lost the long games after he had extracted Tolaria West).
Chalice on 1
I really like the concept of the deck, but I'm curious about the Hexmage version; no nauseam maindeck, no grapeshot, no Boseiju, and Ancestral seems slow for a combo deck. How does this version works?
I guess you have to Wish for Adnaus then when you go off you Wish again and kill them with Lightning Storm.
The bauble version probably has to wish for Adnaus a lot of the time too because it has no way to tutor for it and only plays 1 copy (You can't play many Adnaus main because when you resolve one you want to be able to draw your whole deck with it).
I think Hoogland's justification for the slowness of Visions was that it's fine because your opponent's gameplan will be significantly hindered by Chalice x4
I took Hoogland's Visions/Hexmage list to a weekly. It was tons of fun and people were obviously pumped about because Legacy players love jank.
Round 1: Storm (2-0)
He mulliganed a lot. Chalice on 1 in game 1, then I pulled a Chalice on 0 in game 2 because I had the turn 3 Stage/Depths combo that did not rely on any 0cc artifacts. Dangerous game if he had an answer, but it worked out.
Round 2: TES (2-0)
Definitely got a Cunning Wish -> Mindbreak Trap his Storm 3 EtW mise in there with my turn 1 Tomb / Mox Diamond for maximum tilt.
Round 3: Goblins (2-1)
Game 1 got wrecked. The only spell I played was a Chalice on 1 on the draw, which left him pretty much in the dark as to what I was up to (he did see a Thespian's Stage). I technically lost to a missed Slaughter Pact trigger, but I was clearly going to die next turn anyway which just made it all the more degrading.
Game 2 I had two Engineered Explosives for Vial, Lackey, and WInstigator, which slowed him down quite a bit. Our initial gamestate of his 1 Mountain vs. my Urborg, Underground Sea, EE on 1 and EE on 2 was confusing and gave him basically no information as to what was going on. Won with Dark Depths combo through a Wasteland by doing Hexmage targeting Dark Depths, then copying with Stage in response to the Wasteland. We realized he should have Matron'd for Stingscourger and used Wasteland on his main phase to force the combo then Stingscourger'd the Marit Lage, but I would have Cunning Wish won over the next turn or two anyway.
Game 3 he kept a Wasteland-heavy hand and hit my first two lands (Urborg and Tomb), but meant he was stuck on one red mana for a few too many turns. On my last turn, I recognized that my win was going to have to come from drawing a blue source then Transmuting for a Dark Depths, so I took Ancient Tomb pain to pay off a Slaughter Pact and ensure I left my one blue mana available to draw the second, which I did.
Round 4: Czech Pile (ID, but we played and I went 1-2)
Game 1 went for the quick combo, got hit with an Edict, then grinded out despite resolving 2 Ancestrals Visions.
Game 2 I won with a quick Hexmage Depths
Game 3 I had a god hand but somehow just kept getting grinded out. I suspended a second Ancestral, then got Kommanded with just a Cunning Wish in hand. If I had just NOT suspended the Recall, I would have discarded it and won next turn with Cunning Wish. Hymn to Tourach was an absolute beating in this matchup and was timed perfectly every time to get rid of the Cunning Wish I had to win. Ended up Slaughter Pacting a Deathrite, then got Wastelanded to put me off of 2B. Degrading again.
This match felt winnable. I was one spell away so many times and he kept having the perfect answer. Maybe that's just the point of Czech Pile and why it's awesome, but their slow clock meshes well with my Ancestrals and skill-based ability to generate luck and naturally draw the combo.
My takeaways were that Mox Opal was very hard to turn on and colored mana was a problem for me multiple times. I don't know what the solution is to that other than maybe just rocking the Baubles version, but I haven't tested that so it may just be that fixing one problem leads to many more. Additionally, surprise factor really helped in two games, so once people recognize the deck, it probably loses some value. I only won with Cunning Wish -> Ad Nauseam once all night, but I recognized its value in the grindier matchups as really the only out in some situations. I also probably sideboarded like trash so there was probably room for improvement there.
Oh man, this deck is a throwback to some of my favourite decks of long past. A card I think this deck could get a lot of mileage from is Repeal (tech from http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/v...Revisited.html -- a fun read if you are into storm puzzles). It's is an all around useful tool (reset Challice & Explosives, bounce any nasties) that also helps you when going off. But this is based on a limited number of goldfishes where I was intentionally pushing to go off ASAP (was quite surprised how often I managed to go off by turn 3 ... still waiting for the nuts turn 1 kill though).
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
Perilous Voyage might be an option too for opponent's stuff.
LETHALBISCOTTI (5-0) 10 March 2018
Creature (5)
3 Vampire Hexmage
2 Walking Ballista
Sorcery (3)
3 Ancestral Vision
Instant (6)
4 Cunning Wish
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
Artifact (17)
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Diamond
3 Mox Opal
1 Zuran Orb
Land (29)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Dark Depths
1 Fetid Pools
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Tolaria West
4 Underground Sea
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Wasteland
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Maze of Ith
2 Walking Ballista
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
1 Lightning Storm
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Tormod's Crypt
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