Cook’s Kitchen – My Mono-Blue Pet Deck

[Bryant Cook]

Article (http://www.jupitergamesonline.com/2012/51392/cooks-kitchen-my-mono-blue-pet-deck)

Scrubs references.

[Anusien]

Scrubs references.
Glad you put the trigger warning on it :P

Runechanter's Pike seems insane with that many instants.

[Aggro_zombies]

Glad you put the trigger warning on it :P

Runechanter's Pike seems insane with that many instants.
I'm not sure that deck wants any equipment. They seem like big tempo sinks.

As for the deck itself, I can't escape the feeling that the Phantasm is merely cute rather than actually good. It feels like a lot of work to get what is basically a French vanilla dragon out of the deal, and carving out the tempo core of the deck (with cards like Stifle) strikes me as negating a lot of the benefit of running cheap blue creatures and situational counters. If these are the sacrifices you have to make to make going mono-blue worth it, maybe it's not actually worth it to go mono-blue.

Part of the problem, also, is the recent ascendency of Merfolk. They already have the "mono-blue beatdown with counter backup" plan locked up. Granted, this dodges some of the fish hate, and the cantrips ensure more consistency, but...

Maybe I'm just being too negative.

[Kich867]

I really don't see getting 10 cards in your opponent's graveyard that difficult. They crack a fetch, they drop a dude that you counter, they play a brainstorm, you thought scour them, maybe snapcaster flash it back.. 10 cards in someone's graveyard feels like a bare minimum in most games, and at that point Jace's Phantasm's are just too absurdly good. Two thought scours on your opponent and you're 40% there, a fetch or two and some spells from them and it's done.

[Piceli89]

Is it really that convenient to mill opponent's cards to enable JF's "threshold" when it just remains a creature that dies to everything, pretty conditional in the first turns, and most of all half of the actual tiers actually benefit from more cards being put in their graveyard (see Mongoose, Goyf, Knight of the Reliquary and Snapcaster, with random Lavamancer?) I don't think so. You may also experience weird things like opponents auto-Relic-ing to keep it off being pumped. At least Mongoose isn't removable.

Plus, if Merfolk experiences a comeback, I don't ever see this deck being able to stay behind it. A splash is required (hint:red).

[Aggro_zombies]

Is it really that convenient to mill opponent's cards to enable JF's "threshold" when it just remains a creature that dies to everything, pretty conditional in the first turns, and most of all half of the actual tiers actually benefit from more cards being put in their graveyard (see Mongoose, Goyf, Knight of the Reliquary and Snapcaster, with random Lavamancer?) I don't think so. You may also experience weird things like opponents auto-Relic-ing to keep it off being pumped. At least Mongoose isn't removable.

Plus, if Merfolk experiences a comeback, I don't ever see this deck being able to stay behind it. A splash is required (hint:red).
These were exactly my thoughts. It also doesn't help that people can use their maindeck Scavenging Oozes on their own graveyards to keep JF small, necessitating a Dismember if you're actually serious about going that route.

If the problem is, "The creatures we have in blue are too anemic versus other decks," the correct answer is to dip into another color, not bend over backwards to stay in mono-blue. Splashing in Legacy is easy and relatively low-cost (from a drawbacks perspective) because of the duals, so there really isn't a lot of reason why you shouldn't do it - I mean, hell, Blood Moon in red is far better than BtB in blue at hosing people with loose mana, and then you also get Goblin Guide, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and so on.

[Kich867]

This discussion is rapidly reminding me of the "Mono Blue Control" thread where people started splashing white for Swords and beaters and still calling it mono blue control.

It's funny how quickly people forget that the title of this thread reads: My Mono-Blue Pet Deck. Mono-blue. Pet Deck. Just because he says he feels it's strong in the meta doesn't necessarily make that so and trying to splash a color in a deck that he's designing to keep mono-blue is counter to the point of the deck.

[Aggro_zombies]

This discussion is rapidly reminding me of the "Mono Blue Control" thread where people started splashing white for Swords and beaters and still calling it mono blue control.

It's funny how quickly people forget that the title of this thread reads: My Mono-Blue Pet Deck. Mono-blue. Pet Deck. Just because he says he feels it's strong in the meta doesn't necessarily make that so and trying to splash a color in a deck that he's designing to keep mono-blue.
Well, sure, if that's the case then it's a fine pet deck.

[Anusien]

I'm not sure that deck wants any equipment. They seem like big tempo sinks.

As for the deck itself, I can't escape the feeling that the Phantasm is merely cute rather than actually good. It feels like a lot of work to get what is basically a French vanilla dragon out of the deal, and carving out the tempo core of the deck (with cards like Stifle) strikes me as negating a lot of the benefit of running cheap blue creatures and situational counters. If these are the sacrifices you have to make to make going mono-blue worth it, maybe it's not actually worth it to go mono-blue.
In specific matchups like RUG, Jace's Phantasm seems like an absurd card. It gets worse if they have Scavenging Ooze, of course.

If they're already doing most of the work for you, it's bonkers.

[Aggro_zombies]

In specific matchups like RUG, Jace's Phantasm seems like an absurd card. It gets worse if they have Scavenging Ooze, of course.

If they're already doing most of the work for you, it's bonkers.
It seems good against RUG because they can't effectively remove it, but I feel like a lot of other decks are just going to Plow/Path/chump it/Ooze themselves and move on. That's...not exactly what I want out of my powerful blue one-drop.

But as far as pet decks go, this one is pretty good.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Ugh, I hate pet deck territory. It's somewhere between being casual and being competitive. You can't really make suggestions or comments like "Jace's Phantasm is really bad because milling your opponent actually helps most decks and doesn't hurt at all the other ones." Turning on Goyfs, Scavenging Oozes, every combo (at least ones with Past in Flames or Dredge in general), making Knight of the Reliquary unstoppable, generally helping out Aggro Loam, and many more all seem just terrible.

The fact that each thought scour only gets you 1/5 of the way there, and the opponent is then needed to do the work for you, is just terrible. Not being shroud also hurts, like everyone else said.

On the other hand it's a pet deck, so what should we say?

[DLifshitz]

On the other hand it's a pet deck, so what should we say?

We can always brainstorm.

IMO a good place to start would be to try to find more win conditions for this deck, in addition to the obligatory 4 Delvers, 3 Snapcasters and 2-3 Cliques, because Phantasmal Image and Jace's Phantasm both seem underwhelming. Maybe Vedalken Shackles or Jace would work better, they would however pull the deck towards a more controlling game plan. Or maybe 1-2 Sower of Temptation or Gilded Drake.

Delver, Snapcaster and Clique (and Sower) are all wizards. The deck could perhaps make use of Riptide Laboratory.

[Piceli89]

We can always brainstorm.

IMO a good place to start would be to try to find more win conditions for this deck, in addition to the obligatory 4 Delvers, 3 Snapcasters and 2-3 Cliques, because Phantasmal Image and Jace's Phantasm both seem underwhelming. Maybe Vedalken Shackles or Jace would work better, they would however pull the deck towards a more controlling game plan. Or maybe 1-2 Sower of Temptation or Gilded Drake.

Delver, Snapcaster and Clique (and Sower) are all wizards. The deck could perhaps make use of Riptide Laboratory.


Vapor Snag plus Gilded Drake is a really good metagamed interaction (see the latr Wescoe's concoction featuring Saving Grasp). You can also run the good old Snap, paired with Vial.
The major point is the lack of efficient removal: something that taps for 1 and says "get rid of that creature without drawing back". And, by getting rid, I mean having it dead or exiled. Not bounced. This will become more and more relevant if Merfolks take back. Vapor Snag would work wonders if Standstill was in the mix, but it isn't, and Vial decks happen to make that shit, too. Vapor Snag sucks against a deck playing Mother of Runes in the first 2 turns, because you're forced to bounce her or it soon becomes useless.
This deck would gain so much if it packed Grim Lavamancer, Bolt, and Sulfur Elemental.