Exuberance
02-12-2014, 10:48 PM
At SCG Nashville, a friend brought up to me the idea of pairing Spirit of the Labyrinth with Vendilion Clique. "It's totally sick," he told me. "You Clique them, ship a card, and they don't get a replacement!" So we sat down over some convention center pizza and wrote out a preliminary list:
4 Mother of Runes
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Dark Confidant
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Meddling Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Dismember
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Body and Mind
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Mutavault
3 Wasteland
2 Karakas
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Meddling Mage
2 Path to Exile
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 ...?
It's basically a semblance of the fish deck of Legacy past, with the Spirit/Clique engine, Mom to save guys, Bob to "draw" extra cards, a tight Mystic package, and some utility guys to round out the Vial package. My friend scrambled to put it together before the Sunday Open, and dropped at 5-3. He said he had a ton of fun, but some things could be better about it as a whole. We've since cut the Vials and maindeck Meddling Mages, and have arrived at such:
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 True Name Nemesis
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
3 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flats
3 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Karakas
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Disenchant
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Path to Exile
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Serenity
2 Oblivion Ring
Thoughtseize and Sculler should have been in the deck from the very beginning; the prior list was quite weak to combo. Thalia helps choke their mana enough to stick a couple of choice dudes and gear them up. Deathrite Shaman somewhat takes the place of Aether Vial - that is, it's a one drop that usually must be answered and provides a mana advantage, not unlike Vial. True-Name Nemesis should have been in the deck from the very beginning, but the initial list was probably trying to be too cute.
Sword of Body and Mind is probably wrong, but Fire/Ice doesn't let us draw a card with a Spirit in play, and protection from blue seems relevant. The Enlightened Tutor package seems quite solid, with the Serenity being there after my friend received a blowout loss at the hands of Mono White Staxx. (I told him to play a Serenity before the tournament, but alas.)
I would really like to shoehorn Mother of Runes back into the deck, but I'm not sure what to change. The mana base seems quite solid, and I could maybe cut the basic plains or swamp. I would also like to experiment with other cards, but I'm not sure what.
4 Mother of Runes
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Dark Confidant
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Meddling Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Dismember
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Body and Mind
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Mutavault
3 Wasteland
2 Karakas
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Meddling Mage
2 Path to Exile
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 ...?
It's basically a semblance of the fish deck of Legacy past, with the Spirit/Clique engine, Mom to save guys, Bob to "draw" extra cards, a tight Mystic package, and some utility guys to round out the Vial package. My friend scrambled to put it together before the Sunday Open, and dropped at 5-3. He said he had a ton of fun, but some things could be better about it as a whole. We've since cut the Vials and maindeck Meddling Mages, and have arrived at such:
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 True Name Nemesis
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
3 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flats
3 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Karakas
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Disenchant
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Path to Exile
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Serenity
2 Oblivion Ring
Thoughtseize and Sculler should have been in the deck from the very beginning; the prior list was quite weak to combo. Thalia helps choke their mana enough to stick a couple of choice dudes and gear them up. Deathrite Shaman somewhat takes the place of Aether Vial - that is, it's a one drop that usually must be answered and provides a mana advantage, not unlike Vial. True-Name Nemesis should have been in the deck from the very beginning, but the initial list was probably trying to be too cute.
Sword of Body and Mind is probably wrong, but Fire/Ice doesn't let us draw a card with a Spirit in play, and protection from blue seems relevant. The Enlightened Tutor package seems quite solid, with the Serenity being there after my friend received a blowout loss at the hands of Mono White Staxx. (I told him to play a Serenity before the tournament, but alas.)
I would really like to shoehorn Mother of Runes back into the deck, but I'm not sure what to change. The mana base seems quite solid, and I could maybe cut the basic plains or swamp. I would also like to experiment with other cards, but I'm not sure what.