Show and Helm

[aliveasgo]

I have, for some time, been experimenting with various decks including the Leyline of the Void and Helm of Obedience combo. Initial attempts with a variety of B/x shells demonstrated that a complimentary and potentially independent combo would provide the best chances for the deck, and I started exploring a list running Show and Tell. I came across this list (https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=2336&d=215661&f=LE) and used both it and Sneak and Show lists to develop a baseline. I've continued to work on the deck for the past year, with the following as my most recent iteration:


4 Ancient Tomb
3 Underground Sea
3 Island
2 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Lotus Petal

4 Helm of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Griselbrand
3 Omniscience
4 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Damnation


Sideboard:
1 Wipe Away
1 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Dread of Night
1 Massacre
2 Back to Basics
2 Defense Grid
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Mindbreak Trap


The deck manages to catch people off guard, and I've managed to get T2 kills, but it can lose to itself or fast aggro strategies. The Damnation in the main is a concession to the Death and Taxes players in my meta running Phyrexian Revoker. I've considered adding a Tendrils of Agony in the 75, as there have been several games where I Show and Tell an Omniscience into play, then use Griselbrand and cantrips to storm off and put together the kill. I think the card that may help the deck the most is Intuition, but I haven't been able to pick up any yet. Anyways, I really enjoy the deck, and would love to get a discussion going and hear what others players think.

[non-inflammable]

My kid ran something similar when DTT and TC was huge.
He didn't have Omniscience in his list but he did have 3 Emmrakul, 3 Griselbrand, some number of intuition and 4 serum powder.

Having to make the opponent "guess" what you might put into play on a S&T is a strength in this deck, especially with a leyline already in play.

My son would get wins just off the Leylines since there were always some number of GY decks: Lands, Dredge and Tinfins come to mind.
In one finals, my son's opponent was on dredge but didn't know my son maindecked leyline of the void; that was a very quick match.

[kinda]

I ran leyline of the void/helm/show and tell/griselbrand two months ago or so...definitely felt like the deck idea was solid. Omniscience feels very win more without emrakul or cunning wish. I'd cut them for more protection. I'd shave a couple preordain for more lin-dul's too I think?

[aliveasgo]

I ran leyline of the void/helm/show and tell/griselbrand two months ago or so...definitely felt like the deck idea was solid. Omniscience feels very win more without emrakul or cunning wish. I'd cut them for more protection. I'd shave a couple preordain for more lin-dul's too I think?

I actually started with 0 Omniscience, then went up to 2, then 3, getting rid of 3 Daze I initially had in the deck... While it can be win more, a lot of times it's what gets me the win... It lets me freely dig through my deck to find the win (as long as I can continue chaining cantrips or find a Griselbrand), gives me some resilience against Karakas or Containment Priest, etc.... I don't run a lot of protection, because usually the things I'm worried about are other fast combo decks, in which case Force of Will has to do the heavy lifting, with Mindbreak Traps after sideboarding... Against more tempo oriented decks, the Forces are strictly to push through a Show and Tell... All that being said, the one area my playtesting has been a bit light is versus control decks... If I can get more reps in against those, I might find a need for a Boseiju or some number of Defense Grid...

I do like the idea of shaving some number of Preordain for Lim-Dul's Vault... The 4 Preordain went in as a replacement for Gitaxian Probe after it was banned...