[Article] +TCRF+ Maniacal Tendencies

[Michael Keller]

New article (http://jupitergames.info/articles/2013/52925/the-cutting-room-floor-maniacal-tendencies) is up!

[anonymos]

Standard Bearer is a human. He will protect you.

[Mewens]

The fact that this deck's win-con doesn't target is massive. It undercuts a lot of the natural hate that non-blue decks have traditionally brought to the table for these kinds of decks.

Still, the 2-of Cabal Therapy bugs me. I know you only need it to connect once to tie up a game, but how often do you get a slow hand – maybe a passable hand after mulling to five, for example, especially on the draw – and have to actually deal with hate? The current build looks like it was built with Force in mind – always a wise choice, of course – but a resolved Thalia or Rest in Peace looks like it could be a terrible, terrible beating. Maybe I'm too cautious – I don't normally play these kinds of decks for a reason – but I'd sleep better knowing I had a 4-of in the deck, especially since Pact has an awkward timing restriction (essentially, "You may only play this during your turn") that affects its ability to consistently interact with cards like Thalia and Pithing Needle.

In any case, I'm sure I'll be seeing this deck at my next Legacy tourney, and knowing about it now rather than at the table is a good thing – my pet deck's soft to builds like this, so it'll be good to really hone in that SB tech to hit as many of these kind of "Resolve X, do you die?" decks as possible.