[brainstorming] [SCD] Proteus Staff / Polymorph

[Poron]

Hi all.
I'm giving a try in building a sort of "single card combo" deck.

The idea is to abuse of Polymorph ability (that is contained in a stick too: Proteus Staff) of getting an Emrakul/Progenitus Blightsteel Colossus on the field after stealing an opponent's creature (or sacrificing one of our tokens)

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/m10/67.jpg

to enable the combo we only need a creature under our control and a Polymorph in hand. The "combo" occupies only 1 other slot in the deck the fatty 1x that we don't even need to dig for (unlike SnT decks)

for a deck like this I was thinking of a little distorted Miracle-Control shell + 3 Polymorph

something like

3 Jace, TMS
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Counterbalance
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Polymorph
1-2-3 Raise the Alarm
1-2-3 Lingering Soul
1-2-3 Even the Odds

4 Mishra's Factory
1 Emrakul

[Poron]

oh right...Entreat the Angels seems fair too.. :|

[catmint]

What a nice idea.

The challenges I see is that the spell can be "countered" by any removal spell targeting your creature in response. Once the surprise factor is gone it is really easy for the average legacy deck to stop you from comboing. Counter-top helps of course but if you have counter-top out it does not really matter if you Terminus and then win with whatever or if you Emrakul them. Maybe Proteus Staff would therefor be the better option since it is a recurring effect, which should not be a problem with all the tokens.

Loosing Snapcaster Mage/Vendilion clique is also nothing to sneeze at, so you have to carefully evaluate if it is overall a better combo/control archetype than miracles or rip/helm miracles.

[Poron]

you are indeed right that Vendilion and Venser are important pieces (SnapMage is much less strong than once, because of Rest in Peace everywhere), but we also have several other WC.

Entreat the Angels
Planeswalkers
their own creatures with Shackles

possibly RiP_Helm if we play 2 RiPs MD and another in SB along with 2 Helms

imo, we have to see Polymorph as another (reliable) winning condition of a versatile deck.

The absence of Venser Clique and Snapmage also allows us to play Torpor Orb in SB for the mirror match

our list is surely playing 1-2 Proteus Staff MD for sure anyway

[Poron]

after some test: we definitly need some mana acceleration such as City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb.

Elspeth, Jace, Torpor Orb, Vedalken Shackles, Proteus Staff, Polymorph all have (at least) 2 colorless mana cost.

In this deck, sometime, it is like a Timewalk.

Anyway it's very cool and reliable to win "instant speed" with EOT Raise the Alarm and Polymorph in our turn.
Rather out the blue for 90% of the opponents

[Benie Bederios]

With Staff you also can play no creatures at all.

Just stack your deck with Goblin Charbelcher on top and all lands on the bottom. It's quite slow though. But I think that's the problem anyway with this deck.

.benie.

[Poron]

...and Staff is playable as a 1-2x with Enlightened Tutor...

I start to like this.
Even as a SB win for normal Miracle decks

game 2:
-2 Vendilion
-1 Venser
-2 SnapMage

+2 Staff
+1 Emrakul
+2 token makers

this combo is very light on spots.
Sure it needs we play Vedalken Shackles, Elspeth and Mishra's Factory in the maindeck.

[Monkey_Island]

Is going more near a token generator deck would be a solution here? I mean in a B/W shell with discard, Bitterblossom etc... and then splash blue for Polymorph and Proteus Staff?

Anyway, this is a great great idea!

Also Thopter Foundry maybe?

[Poron]

that's also possible, indeed.

in a tokens deck, it really becomes an actual single card combo..

Personally I'm a fan of CounterTop and since we're on color...

[jamis]

Have you considered Timely Reinforcements over Even the Odds. It's sorcery speed, but the lifegain could save you in a pinch.

[Poron]

after some testing I think that 3-4 Raise the Alarm + Elspeth is way more than enough..

sometimes we have even too many tokens for our purposes

also: I'd definitly cut Vedalken Shackles. too clunky, again, for our purposes (that is, just to control a creature).

4 Raise the Alarm
2 Elspeth
1 Proteus Staff
3 Polymorph

I'd put all the rest on pure control/disruption

black is definitly a splash to consider.
Bitterblossom
Lingering Soul full power
Cabal Therapy (with tokens)+ Gitaxian Probe is nuts

[sauce]

have you seen Show & Tell/Sneak Attack?

[Poron]

trade-offs.. Sneak and Show is an all in deck with a solid combo.

this is a versatile deck with multiple winning conditions (see another: Bitterblossom + Umezawa's Jitte) that if you draw the right card, Polymorph, can seal the match with the fattest fatty ever.

different kind of decks

[guybrush3]

what about x4 poly x4 natural order + non creature green token generators?
Saproling Cluster (very import if the fatty is in your hand) , Eyes of the Wisent , Words of Wilding or
Vitality Charm , Chatter of the Squirrel , Slime Molding, Call of the Herd ....
plus mana ramp and umezawas and other winning conditions + counters of course.
+1 emrakul +1 big fat green (progenitus)


I can really see doing something like this. Natural works just like poly.. but u have 8...not bad


u can add some combo with words of wilding too i assume

[KazinMtg]

What about splashing red for Burning Wish? You can fetch your Polymorph among a bunch of other goodies. I'd absolutely side at least 1 Timely Reinforcements to fetch, and probably maindeck the other 3 lol. That card seems perfect for this deck. Cool idea. I hope you get it to work.

[guybrush3]

What about splashing red for Burning Wish? You can fetch your Polymorph among a bunch of other goodies. I'd absolutely side at least 1 Timely Reinforcements to fetch, and probably maindeck the other 3 lol. That card seems perfect for this deck. Cool idea. I hope you get it to work.

for the same reason B wish is not in the S& tell deck.. and they have RED! :tongue: :rolleyes:


edit: add x4 jace, x2 garruk

[Poron]

which Garruk and why?... we don't need land untapping (Wildspeaker) and, for tokens, Elspeth is way better (than Primal Hunter)

The Veil Cursed? Definitly an idea.. when unflipped gives us 2/2s when flipped 1/1 with death touch. But when flipped his other abilities are stone in our deck

[bruizar]

I would definitely go for black. Lingering Souls and Thoughtseize/Cabal Therapy are too powerful not to run.

[Lemnear]

I remember people playing such decks in Legacy with Darksteel Collossus then Mirrodin was standard-legal.

I still don't see the need for Polymorph, green or black here if you already run white for token-generators (Elspeth) and somehow dismiss Enlightend Tutor which can Tutor for a 3-off-counterbalance, Proteus Staff, Standstills and other 1-off-goodies like Moat, Pithing Needle, Shackles in a nice shell of U/W control

[Poron]

yes, right. UW is the right choice for color. I don't know why I abandoned this idea, but it seems quite good and profitable.

Do you mind lending me a hand in building a good deck from this? Months ago we also forgot Sword of the Meek, and Thopter Foundry

both tutorable artifacts that are a solid combo out of their own..