[Deck] Filthy Ideal

[Mattie]

Some time ago I remembered the card Rain of Filth. I figured that this card has some potential because it can give you 7 mana on turn 4 and 9 mana on turn 5. But what to do with this amount of mana? I've tested some different cards and Enduring Ideal seemed like the best way to go, Rain of Filth allows you to cast it on turn 4. This way, the following pet deck was born which I would like to share with you.

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Tundra
2 Scrubland
1 Badlands
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
1 Island

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mystical Tutor

4 Force of Will
1 Echoing Truth

4 Merchant Scroll
4 Burning Wish

4 Rain of Filth
3 Enduring Ideal

2 Form of the Dragon
1 Humility
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Dovescape

SB:
1 Enduring Ideal
1 Meltdown
1 Pyroclasm
1 Innocent Blood
1 Thoughtseize
3 Firespout
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Pyroblast

The Aim of the Deck
This deck wants to play four lands, Rain of Filth sacrificing all lands into Enduring Ideal and then assemble the semi-hard lock consisting of Dovescape, Humility and Form of the Dragon. Dovescape will protect you against Krosan Grip and the like, while Humility makes the tokens lose flying and Form of the Dragon acts as a Moat as well as clock 4. Humility will also protect you against cards like Qasali Pridemage. Against most decks -- if your life total allows it -- you will get Dovescape as your first enchantment for protection. If many creatures are on the board, you can either get Solitary Confinement, Form of the Dragon or Humility. If you get Solitary Confinement you have to make sure that you have 2 cards in hand so you can assemble the full combo in the next 3 turns (or 1 card in hand if you just need Humility + Form). I'd like to note that you rarely lose after you've resolved the Enduring Ideal. The deck goldfishes consistently on turn 4.

Card Choices
- Brainstorm is the best card in the deck, allowing you to shuffle away the 5 dead enchantment pieces. This generates virtual card advantage. For Ideal it is neccessary to have the enchantment pieces in your library rather than in your hand. Brainstorm is also great against discard effects. Only in rare circumstances will you play this on turn 1, you have to use this card wisely.
- The deck contains 5 dead cards and you need ways to avoid drawing them. Therefore, Ponder and Sensei's Divining Top are auto-includes. These cards also help you find the combo. A turn 1 Top is great and therefore all 4 are included in the deck. Top will also hide combo pieces for you against discard spells. The deck plays 11 fetchlands which makes them even more powerful. If you resolve Mystical Tutor you can draw the card you found immediately using Top.
- Merchant Scrolls are Brainstorms 5-8 which the deck needs. The deck simply cannot function with merely 4 Brainstorm effects. Mainly for this reason, the Merchant Scrolls have been included (and Scroll is much stronger than something like Lat-Nam's Legacy). Additionally, this will tutor for Force of Will to protect your combo, or Echoing Truth to bounce some stuff before going off. It can also tutor for a combo piece on turn 3 -- via Mystical Tutor -- allowing you to go off turn 4. Plus, it's another shuffle effect.
- Burning Wish is great in this deck. If you have a hand consisting of Rain of Filth and Burning Wish, you can generate 9 mana on turn 5, Wish into Ideal and go off. Additionally, Burning Wish will get you Thoughtseize before attempting to go off and can buy time by getting Pyroclasm or Innocent Blood. Often this is a Thoughtseize for 1BR.
- The enchantment package is optimal in my opinion. You need 2 Form of the Dragon which are your only win conditions, in case one of them gets discarded, or in case you draw one after you've played Ideal for Dovescape. The combo Form of the Dragon + Humility + Dovescape is a semi-hard lock, which can be foiled by very few cards (for example Boseiju into Tranquility). The only enchantment that could be added in my opinion is Oblivion Ring, but I have found that it's unneccessary. You don't neccessarily have to remove Deed because Form has a CC of 8.
- The deck needs U on the first turn; UR on the second turn; UUR on the third turn; 1WWB on the fourth turn. This naturally makes the mana base horrible. However, the deck plays 22 lands plus 8 cantrips and 4 Tops. This way, a Wasteland usually won't cut you off any colors. The deck plays 11 fetchlands which makes Brainstorm, Ponder and Top more powerful as well. The single Island was great for me, for example it allows you to keep a one land hand plus a Ponder or Top. By relying on Rain of Filth, the combo turn will be delayed by a full turn if a land catches a Wasteland.
- Burning Wish targets: many players fill their sideboard with too many Wish targets. In my opinion, one should include at most 4-5 Wish targets, otherwise the sideboard will be diluted. The Wish targets that could be cut are Innocent Blood and a Pyroclasm/Firespout. Firespout is for boarding mainly, while Pyroclasm is usually superior as a Wish target. For this reason both are included. Innocent Blood is a cheap way to buy more time can solve problems like Phyrexian Dreadnought, some reanimated creature and sometimes Progenitus.
- Note that Humility and Solitary Confinement don't have to be dead cards, sometimes you can simply hardcast them. In very rare cases you can hardcast a Form of the Dragon, but you need all of your three red mana sources to do this.

Tested Cards
- Intuition. This card is too slow for the deck. Merchant Scroll into Mystical Tutor can find a combo piece for the same amount of mana. Granted this will cost you CA, but this is usually not important if you are planning to go off, plus you might have a Top in play. Additionally, Merchant Scroll finds Brainstorm (your best card) and Force of Will for one less mana, so it's superior in the deck. Unlike Intuition, Merchant Scroll can find Echoing Truth.
- Thoughtseize/Duress: These are strong cards in the deck but I could not find any room for them. I tried to remove two Ideals from the MD for these, which was decent, but slowed the combo down too much. Thoughtseize is Wished for very often.
- Orim's Chant: I have found that the black discard spells are superior. Merchant Scroll cannot find Chant. Scroll into Mystical into Chant is quite bad, you'd better get Force of Will in that case since it costs the same amount of CA.
- Mystical Tutor 2-4: You never want to see Mystical Tutor unless you are going off next turn. In that case, Merchant Scroll can get it. Early game this card is awful. If you are being disrupted, this card is awful. If you want to find Echoing Truth or protection in Force of Will, Merchant Scroll is superior. Merchant Scroll and Burning Wish are superior cards in the deck.
- Cunning Wish: Merchant Scroll is better since it can get Brainstorm, it's also a full turn faster. Burning Wish can get more powerful cards and is it's also cheaper.
- Fire/Ice: I didn't find this strong enough in the deck as a one-of for Merchant Scroll, it was too narrow.
- Counterbalance: This deck wants to combo turn 4-5 and Counterbalance doesn't protect you when you are trying to go off.
- Lotus Bloom: This card makes the same amount of mana as Rain of Filth on turn 4. You have to suspend it on turn 1-2 for it to be useful, which makes the card bad. It will be destroyed in the upkeep it came into play quite often. Against some decks this card is pretty good though, stax and Wasteland recursion decks come to mind.
- Cabal Ritual: A Cabal Ritual with threshold makes the same amount of mana as a Rain of Filth on turn 4. Getting threshold is not a big problem with this deck, however, most often you won't reach threshold at turn 4. As opposed to Rain of Filth, this card doesn't allow you to play Burning Wish into Ideal turn 5. In some situations this card is good, for example if you don't want to go all-in with Rain of Filth. Potentially this could be included once as a Mystical Tutor target.
- Dark Ritual: Cabal Ritual is better.

Matchups
I don't have much to say here because the deck was created a few months ago and I'm lacking good test partners. Every Wasteland sets your combo back one turn which can be a problem against aggro decks, but apart from that the matchup should be fine. The deck seems to be crushed by Counterbalance decks and Merfolk. The deck is not believed to be competitive, but as a pet deck it is quite strong and fun to play.

[kicks_422]

I think you'll be needing more than just 4 Rain of Filths (+1 Mystical Tutor and cantrips) to reliably accelerate into Ideal. Perhaps you can find room for the full set of Mystical Tutors. The card disadvantage is worth it - perhaps for the Merchant Scrolls snce none of your most important cards are blue instants anyway.

[Mattie]

I think you'll be needing more than just 4 Rain of Filths (+1 Mystical Tutor and cantrips) to reliably accelerate into Ideal. Perhaps you can find room for the full set of Mystical Tutors. The card disadvantage is worth it - perhaps for the Merchant Scrolls snce none of your most important cards are blue instants anyway.

I think I've explained quite well in the opening post why you need the Merchant Scrolls: four Brainstorms just aren't enough.

Using 4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder, 4 Top, 1 Mystical Tutor, 4 Scroll into Mystical, you will assemble the combo by turn 4 consistently. Mystical Tutor is bad during the first turns, you really prefer Merchant Scroll because it can get Brainstorm (as well as Force of Will and Echoing Truth without losing CA).

[Illissius]

Squandered Resources?

[Mattie]

Squandered Resources?

Nice thinking there, I have not considered that card. However, I can see some problems with it:

- If you play it during turn 4, you are unable to generate 7 mana that turn
- It merely generates one extra mana if you play it before turn 4 (as compared to Rain of Filth)
- Enchantment removal such as EE will hurt you
- It makes the deck 5 colored!

The advantages as compared to Rain of Filth:

- If you play it before turn 4, it does allow a Mystical Tutor in upkeep in order to play Ideal during main phase.
- It generates non-black mana (which will also make hardcasting Form of the Dragon easier).

It seems to me that the advantages don't outweigh the disadvantages.

[Gocho]

I like it a lot :D

I know that the deck has little room, but I would try to test Boseiju so you can play or hardcast Enduring Ideal vs Blue decks without FOW in hand. You have almost no defense and getting FOW + Rain + 4 lands + Enduring Ideal through counterspells/CB would be difficult.

For other part, you can try Mana Seism as a Wish target. It could be useful if you can't get Rain or black mana after wasteland+stifle. You could test it maindeck, but cost :1: more, so you need to get 5 lands in play making it worser than Rain. I don't know if you get any difficults getting 1WWB in your 4th turn.

[Mattie]

I like it a lot :D

I know that the deck has little room, but I would try to test Boseiju so you can play or hardcast Enduring Ideal vs Blue decks without FOW in hand. You have almost no defense and getting FOW + Rain + 4 lands + Enduring Ideal through counterspells/CB would be difficult.

For other part, you can try Mana Seism as a Wish target. It could be useful if you can't get Rain or black mana after wasteland+stifle. You could test it maindeck, but cost :1: more, so you need to get 5 lands in play making it worser than Rain. I don't know if you get any difficults getting 1WWB in your 4th turn.

Thanks for you positive feedback. Indeed, getting the combo through Counterbalance is an uphill battle, consider that a bad matchup.

I have already tested Boseiju and it's not very good in the deck because you need alot of colored mana. Plus, often you are facing a clock. You really don't want to play this in your first 3 turns. It's better to Wish for Thoughtseize, which you will do very often. Against very slow control decks Boseiju would obviously be good. For that reason, it could perhaps get 2 sideboard slots.

I've also tested Mana Seism in the sideboard but it was never Wished for. It's quite bad for the reason you already stated: it makes one less mana when compared to Rain of Filth, so you can't combo turn 4.

Getting 1WWB with 4 lands is no problem at all (even if you are facing 1 or 2 Wastelands). The deck is packed with cards that can find lands and has 11 fetchlands.

[Scrabble]

I don't see you living to turn four.
There isn't enough to keep you alive md. You can't expect to live by tutors-they're too slow and you'll get overrun by zoo and the likes. Force will help, but you're gonna want to save them to back up the combo.

More main decked creature hate- or at least up the Echoing Truth count.

[Mattie]

I don't see you living to turn four.
There isn't enough to keep you alive md. You can't expect to live by tutors-they're too slow and you'll get overrun by zoo and the likes. Force will help, but you're gonna want to save them to back up the combo.

More main decked creature hate- or at least up the Echoing Truth count.

I'm not sure about Zoo, I don't know their clock. Maybe a Force of Will would buy time until turn 4, or Wish into Firespout could buy some time. Needs testing. If you feel like maindecking creature hate, I'd recommend Firespout.

[emidln]

Merchant Scroll is still worse than Mystical Tutors #2-4. If you are worried about needing more Brainstorm effects, Scroll Rack is reasonable at 2 mana and insane in a deck like this.

[kicks_422]

Exactly my point. I don't think there would be more instances of you having one of your enchantment bombs in hand so that you'd need to Merchant Scroll for Brainstorm (which you can also Mystical for, by the way) than needing a Rain of Filth (your only big mana spell), Burning Wish (an oh-shit button), and Enduring Ideal (your win-con).

[Mattie]

Merchant Scroll is still worse than Mystical Tutors #2-4. If you are worried about needing more Brainstorm effects, Scroll Rack is reasonable at 2 mana and insane in a deck like this.

In my testing Merchant Scroll was clearly better than Mystical Tutor because of the need for Brainstorms #5-8. And because Scroll can find Mystical Tutor, Mystical Tutors #2-4 aren't needed. I like the Scroll Rack suggestion, it could be very powerful in this deck.

[Kangaxx]

I don't mean to sound negative, but can't this combo be done with High Tide? Why Rain of Filth? I love the idea of the deck though. High Tide also pitches to FoW so you should consider that as well, as well as run all blue duals which shouldn't be an issue. Then you get to keep your lands if your opponent FoW's your Enduring Ideal. :)

[Mattie]

I don't mean to sound negative, but can't this combo be done with High Tide? Why Rain of Filth? I love the idea of the deck though. High Tide also pitches to FoW so you should consider that as well, as well as run all blue duals which shouldn't be an issue. Then you get to keep your lands if your opponent FoW's your Enduring Ideal. :)

With High Tide you would need 5 lands in order to play Ideal. With Rain of Filth you need just 4 lands, so it's a full turn faster. Of course you can add a High Tide, which you can tutor with Merchant Scroll, but in my testing a Mystical Tutor -- which can get Rain of Filth -- was sufficient.

[DrJones]

Bubbling Muck

[Kangaxx]

Squandered Resources is the superior card, and I still don't understand why the author doesn't run it. And running 4 colors is a bad excuse, then cut red then and run Grim Tutor over B. Wish? Whoever said you needed the deck to be 4 colors? And if you run 4 Resources chances are you're going to get one in play by the 2nd or 3rd turn. With Bstorm and Ponder this should be easily achieveable.

[Gocho]

No more testing with this deck?
I would like an Enduring Ideal Legacy deck.

[IamPhil]

I agree on several points:
Mystical Tutor is amazing. It also fetches you Silence.

-4 Merchant Scroll
+3 Mystical Tutor

+1 Silence
or
+1 Trickbind

This deck cannot afford to miss a land drop, and using Mystical Tutor to fetch cards limits the kind of hands you can afford to keep. This is the only reason I can think of to keep four Merchant Scrolls in over the four Mystical Tutors.

Silence and Trickbind both have their pros and cons. Silence does nothing for a resolved Counterbalance. Trickbind does nothing to stop FoW, Daze, Dispel, or Spell Pierce.

Trickbind answers Counterbalance, Qasali Pridemage, Grim Lavamancer, and more.
Silence gives you an edge in the counterspell war, an edge against Storm, and a really crappy shot at stalling Zoo for a turn.

Pick your poison.




Jace, the Mind Sculptor provides several pieces for us, including an alternate win condition and the ability to protect the lock.

In game one, before they understand the combo, play Jace, the Mind Sculptor on turn four, and combo out for a turn five Enduring Ideal for Humility to protect it, and Dovescape to lock out the game. In the meantime, Fateseal your opponent and further protect your combo.

If you Fateseal your opponent before comboing off and know they do not have a Krosan Grip or the likes in hand, you can grab Humility to protect Jace instead of Dovescape.


I would cut two cards of some combination of:
-1 Brainstorm
-1 Ponder
-2 Sensei's Divining Top

+2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

And yes, I play combo - ANT and High Tide specifically. I understand these are very powerful cards. Realistically speaking, you don't need twelve spells that say, "Dig three. Do a trick."

Brainstorm pairs so well with Fetch Lands Ben Bleiweiss compared it to Ancestral Recall. This deck doesn't want to miss land drops so it's probably closer to an instant speed Thoughtcast. Four Brainstorm stay.

I cannot tell you how many games I have won because of Ponder's shuffle ability, but I can tell you I didn't lose countless gaems on the spot. Why do people call Sage Owl the Owl of Concession? Because it lacks Ponder's shuffle. Four Ponder stay.

This leaves Top, the jack of all trades and master of none. Reusability in a deck that doesn't care about card advantage? I would cut Top altogether were it not for its synergy with Tutor. Being able to draw a card without spending mana should not be overlooked. I do think, however, two Top is too many. You cannot pitch Top to FoW, and multiple Tops do not stack in any meaningful way.

-1 Sensei's Divining Top
+1 Scroll Rack

As people before me have stated, Scroll Rack is amazing. Again, more card disadvantage, but you're playing a deck that builds on a one sided Armageddon and you're not even running Crucible and Manlands or Crucible and Dualmanlands.

[Mattie]

Squandered Resources is the superior card, and I still don't understand why the author doesn't run it. And running 4 colors is a bad excuse, then cut red then and run Grim Tutor over B. Wish? Whoever said you needed the deck to be 4 colors? And if you run 4 Resources chances are you're going to get one in play by the 2nd or 3rd turn. With Bstorm and Ponder this should be easily achieveable.

Squandered Resources is certainly not strictly better than Rain of Filth. If you play the Squandered Resources during the same turn you want to play Ideal, this will require 5 lands (where Rain of Filth merely requires 4 lands). This means, that you have to play Squandered Resources during turn 2 or turn 3 for it to be worthwhile.

Plus, your Squandered Resouces can be destroyed by EE (a minor issue). Post-board it will turn their Krosan Grips on, which will be extremely annoying.

Also, you lose red and consequently Burning Wish which is just great in the deck. Grim Tutor could be fine, but probably costs too much mana. The one mana difference is huge.


No more testing with this deck?
I would like an Enduring Ideal Legacy deck.

I'm rarely testing with the deck due to the lack of test partners. I mainly just wanted to share the deck because it's alot of fun to pilot.


I agree on several points:
Mystical Tutor is amazing. It also fetches you Silence.

-4 Merchant Scroll
+3 Mystical Tutor

+1 Silence
or
+1 Trickbind

This deck cannot afford to miss a land drop, and using Mystical Tutor to fetch cards limits the kind of hands you can afford to keep. This is the only reason I can think of to keep four Merchant Scrolls in over the four Mystical Tutors.

Silence and Trickbind both have their pros and cons. Silence does nothing for a resolved Counterbalance. Trickbind does nothing to stop FoW, Daze, Dispel, or Spell Pierce.

Trickbind answers Counterbalance, Qasali Pridemage, Grim Lavamancer, and more.
Silence gives you an edge in the counterspell war, an edge against Storm, and a really crappy shot at stalling Zoo for a turn.

Pick your poison.




Jace, the Mind Sculptor provides several pieces for us, including an alternate win condition and the ability to protect the lock.

In game one, before they understand the combo, play Jace, the Mind Sculptor on turn four, and combo out for a turn five Enduring Ideal for Humility to protect it, and Dovescape to lock out the game. In the meantime, Fateseal your opponent and further protect your combo.

If you Fateseal your opponent before comboing off and know they do not have a Krosan Grip or the likes in hand, you can grab Humility to protect Jace instead of Dovescape.


I would cut two cards of some combination of:
-1 Brainstorm
-1 Ponder
-2 Sensei's Divining Top

+2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

And yes, I play combo - ANT and High Tide specifically. I understand these are very powerful cards. Realistically speaking, you don't need twelve spells that say, "Dig three. Do a trick."

Brainstorm pairs so well with Fetch Lands Ben Bleiweiss compared it to Ancestral Recall. This deck doesn't want to miss land drops so it's probably closer to an instant speed Thoughtcast. Four Brainstorm stay.

I cannot tell you how many games I have won because of Ponder's shuffle ability, but I can tell you I didn't lose countless gaems on the spot. Why do people call Sage Owl the Owl of Concession? Because it lacks Ponder's shuffle. Four Ponder stay.

This leaves Top, the jack of all trades and master of none. Reusability in a deck that doesn't care about card advantage? I would cut Top altogether were it not for its synergy with Tutor. Being able to draw a card without spending mana should not be overlooked. I do think, however, two Top is too many. You cannot pitch Top to FoW, and multiple Tops do not stack in any meaningful way.

-1 Sensei's Divining Top
+1 Scroll Rack

As people before me have stated, Scroll Rack is amazing. Again, more card disadvantage, but you're playing a deck that builds on a one sided Armageddon and you're not even running Crucible and Manlands or Crucible and Dualmanlands.

Indeed, Brainstorm is the best card in the deck. If you have dead enchantments in your hand, it's very close to pure CA.

You are also right about the relevancy of Merchant Scroll into Brainstorm finding lands, as opposed to Mystical Tutor. This will further guarantee that you can keep making land drops. Mystical Tutor for Brainstorm is terrible IMO.

Your protection against Qasili Pridemage and friends is Humility. If you feel you need more (post-Ideal) removal I advise you to use Oblivion Ring, but I cut it from the list because it just wasn't needed most of the time.

Top is great in the deck and IMO you can't play less than 4. You have 5 dead cards, some of which MUST stay in your deck, and Top is great at preventing you from drawing them. It protects against discard and is great with Mystical Tutor as well.

Mystical Tutor into protection (such as Orim's Chant) is nice. However, Merchant Scroll into Force of Will costs the same amount of CA and mana.

Whether Scroll Rack is amazing has not been proved yet. Probably Merchant Scroll into Brainstorm is the better play: it costs the same amount of mana, doesn't create card disadvantage, plus it can get Mystical Tutor or Force of Will right away. Against slower U-based control decks, Scroll Rack is probably fine.

I think that Jace is terrible in this deck. You don't want to spend 2UU for a single Brainstorm effect. Jace will likely be destroyed immediately by some creature due to the lack of removal. Granted Merchant Scroll into Brainstorm costs 1UU, but can be paid in multiple turns, plus Merchant Scroll gets Mystical Tutor and Force of Will.

In summary: I honestly believe that some extra Brainstorm-like filter effect is needed, because the deck contains 5 "dead" cards, some of which must be in your deck at the time you play Ideal. Top is very well suited for this purpose but just not enough. For this filtering purpose, Merchant Scroll is obviously infinitely better than Mystical Tutor. I believe that Merchant Scroll into Brainstorm is superior to Scroll Rack, Jace and other options like Lat-Nam's Legacy. And if you play Merchant Scroll, a single Mystical Tutor is sufficient.