Helm of the Void REDUX

[Mr. Froggy]

I've been playing this with ''some'' success, but it could be better.

The list:

Lands:
Plains x3
Swamp x9
Arid Mesa x2
Bloodstained Mire x4
Scrubland x4
Godless Shrine x1

Creatures:
Dark Confidant x4
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn x2 (didn't know what else to add)

Other Spells:
Sensei's Divining Top x2
Mental Misstep x3
Dark Ritual x4
Duress x4
Swords to Plowshares x3
Cabal Ritual x2
Serum Powder x4
Oblivion Ring x2
Helm of Obedience x3
Leyline of the Void x4

It might look mixed up, and it probably is, but I'd like your thoughts on it. :)

The reason why I chose Leyline+Helm over Painter+Grindstone is because, atleast in my testing (might just be luck), half of the combo gets cast for free, and having it in the opening hand can sometimes win you games vs Dredge, Reanimator, blablabla.

[Piceli89]

Flipping Emrakul with Bob must be nice.

[Kinderschreck]

Why playing emrakul? I don't see any chance to play him since helm has the nice wording of "target opponent's library".
Serum powder is crap.
You could add one more sensei and draw spells in black.
Playing this deck without U might be difficult, but possible.
Not playing 4 mm or stp is a waste of options.
This deck needs a big redoing.

[Mr. Froggy]

Which draw spells were you thinking of in Black?

[Kinderschreck]

Night Whisper, Sign in Blood.
Gixtian Probe is also an option to see if you can easily cast your helm or run into a counter.

[Mr. Froggy]

I thought about the Probe, I'll test it and see if it works.

[Kinderschreck]

If you want, I could try to post a U/B version of your idear.
But only if you want.
Since this version of yours is in my eyes to instable.

[Mr. Froggy]

Sure, you can post it if you'd like. I'm open to all ideas.

EDIT: I changed it up a bit
Lands:
Plains x3
Swamp x9
Arid Mesa x2
Bloodstained Mire x4
Scrubland x4
Godless Shrine x1

Creatures:
Dark Confidant x4

Other Spells:
Sensei's Divining Top x3
Mental Misstep x4
Dark Ritual x4
Duress x4
Swords to Plowshares x4
Cabal Ritual x2
Oblivion Ring x2
Helm of Obedience x3
Leyline of the Void x4
Sign in Blood x3

[Kinderschreck]

Lands:
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted delta
7 swamp
1 Academy Ruins
6 island

Creatures:
4x Dark Confidant
4x Trinket Mage

Spells:
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Mental Misstep
4x Force of Will
2x Transmute Artifact
4x Brainstorm

Artifacts:
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Pithing Needle
2x Sensei's divining top
4x Helm of Obedience

Enchantments:
4x Leyline of the Void

This would be my idear for this deck.
EE and Needle against MB artifact hate and aggro which you can search with trinket mage.

[Mr. Froggy]

I like the Trinket Mage package, its just the Transmute Artifact I'm not too fond of, but I guess if you have the extra mana, you can just go and grab whatever it is you need.

EDIT: Also, I should've thought about Academy Ruins.

[Kinderschreck]

Transmute let's you grab what you need. It might cost a bit, but still it's worth it. ^^
Could maybe be dropped for ponder or Preordain.
Another option you have is discard, since your playing black ;P

[Mr. Froggy]

Could I add E. Tutor if I want to keep it B/w? It searches for both combo pieces, and can search for E.E., Moat, etc.

[Kinderschreck]

It's your deck ^^

[Michael Keller]

Any deck utilizing this combo as its primary win-condition needs to run a full set of Serum Powder. It vastly improves your percentages opening up with a Leyline. Otherwise, you're looking at a nine mana combo that now requires double-protection upon being cast.

I would also look into diminishing your susceptibility to Mental Misstep. Try using Ancient Tombs with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to power out your Helm early. You also might want to try Unmask as a good source of protection. They can easily pitch 'dead' Leylines once one has hit the table and doesn't fall to Misstep and Spell Snare, much like Duress and Hymn do.

[Kinderschreck]

NICE when you remove your cards for a chance... If you have bad luck, suddenly you remove a helm. Nice to search for...
Would never play serum powder.

[Michael Keller]

NICE when you remove your cards for a chance... If you have bad luck, suddenly you remove a helm. Nice to search for...
Would never play serum powder.

So what you're basically iterating is that you'd settle for a less optimal solution and a more aggressive mulligan aproach to getting a Leyline in your opening seven as opposed to vastly improving your chances at the reduction of seven cards post-Powder? Do you even know the jump in probability how that greatly benefits you?

This is a combo set on opening with a Leyline. Otherwise, your opening hands become mediocre (at best) and you're relegating your draws in a crude attempt to fish out one of either two pieces of your combo at four mana a piece. You really need to stop and ask yourself what it is you're trying to accomplish with this deck as opposed to what you think it can do.

[rupus]

Transmute let's you grab what you need. It might cost a bit, but still it's worth it. ^^
Could maybe be dropped for ponder or Preordain.
Another option you have is discard, since your playing black ;P

If you want to play transmute artifact you should probably play grim monolith as well. I tried out a helmline deck based on the vintage dark times deck. It's far from optimized but here's my list anyways:

Land
4x Swamp
4x Marsh Flats
4x Wasteland
4x Dark Depths
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creature
4x Dark Confidant
4x Vampire Hexmage
3x Vampire Nighthawk
Instant
4x Dark Ritual
3x Smother
Sorcery
4x Thoughtseize
4x Hymn to Tourach
3x Duress
2x Beseech the Queen
Artifact
3x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Helm of Obedience
Enchantment
4x Leyline of the Void

Beseech the queen might be better as grim tutor, the mana base is a little shaky, the creature package could be switched around (especially nighthawk), and the removal and discard might need tuning as well. I really like the concept because there's not only plan A (dark depths), but also plan B (headline) and even plan C (beatdown).

As far as the UB version goes you have far too many basics. I would add at least 3 more fetched along with some ancient tombs and maybe 2 or 3 urborgs. I don't like probes without cabal therapy and you don't have enough creatures to make that work. Also, the trinket mage package seems out of place. I would cut it for 4x grim monolith and 2 more tops. Then I would cut probes for serum powder. Hollywood is absolutely right. If you want to go all in on the helmline combo you NEED an openings Leyline otherwise you lose the major advantage of the combo. Also, I would test a version without bob because he turns on their removal and without other creatures beatdown with him is hardly a viable plan B.

Actually, I just goldfished a UB list and it totally didn't support transmute artifact. Here's the UB version I would start my testing with:

Land
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Polluted Delta
4x Underground Sea
3x Marsh Flats
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Island
1x Flooded Strand
1x Swamp
Instant
4x Brainstorm
4x Dark Ritual
Sorcery
4x Ponder
4x Thoughtseize
2x Grim Tutor
4x Unmask
Artifact
4x Sensei's Divining Top
4x Serum Powder
4x Helm of Obedience
Enchantment
4x Leyline of the Void

Again, far from optimized but it goldfishes t3 with protection fairly often. I didn't think there was enough blue to support force and unmask fills basically the same function. Also, k grip is probably going to be your biggest problem and unmask/thoughtseize deals with it whereas force doesn't.

One more option to consider is adding white. You could then cut the serum powders play academy rector and cabal therapy along with probe for protection. You also get E tutor which is pretty awesome here.

[Mr. Froggy]

I can't believe I forgot Unmask, and its true that it pitches "dead" Leylines, which is good. I like it, I'll test.