iOWN
04-17-2007, 12:13 PM
Narcomoeba 1U
Creature - Illusion
When Narcomoeba is put into your graveyard from your library, you may put it into play.
1/1
The idea is that if you mill yourself, three of these guys will allow you flashback a Dread Returns from your graveyard, essentially for free. In theory, this allows you to return one of those creatures that wins once it hits play. I'm on vacation and currently have nothing to do, so for the past hour or so I've been trying to fit a deck together that wins with this strategy, and have roughly sketched out what the possible components for such a deck could be.
First off, you need a way to get everything into your yard, meaning selfmill (preferably infinite). So far I can only find three efficient ways of doing so, and here they are:
Mill
Dredge - Dredge isn't infinite, but it works. Obviously both of these cards fit right in with Ichorid, but that's besides the point.
Cephalid Breakfast - Cephalid Looter + en-Kors gives you a way to infinitely mill yourself, in two colors, but both creatures are noticeably weak and die to anything that kills Lackey.
Mesmeric Orb - Infy untappers make this instant speed, single card at a time mill. Aphetto Alchemist works, but so does the not-errata'd Basalt Monolith, which keeps it colorless and is not a creature.
Presently, I've found the latter to work best, because it can come out as early as turn two off of accelerated lands. Moving on...
Combo: We need the combo that wins out of the 'yard.
Salvagers - Salvagers + LED + Spellbomb. (Pros: Infinite, LED can discard Moebas that found their way to your hand, combo can be hardcasted, lets you draw cards out of your deck and Orzhov Guildmage can win through Confinement. Cons: Chalice of the Void or Trinisphere kills it, Pithing Needle if it didn't name Monolith, extra mana recquired to return LED if not in hand, disrupted by Orim's Chant, Grace, etc.)
Kiki-Jiki/Hussar - Karmic Guide + Kiki-Jiki + Sky Hussar. (Pros: Chalice and Trinisphere do nothing, infinite, no extra mana, not disrupted by Chant, etc. Cons: Pithing Needle if it didn't name Monolith, can't win through Confinement, uses the combat phase.)
Sutured Ghoul - Sutured Ghoul + 2-3 Fatties. (Pros: Not disrupted by Chalice, Trini, Chant, or Pithing Needle, harder to remove. Cons: Still dies to removal, uses combat phase, dies to Stifle, can be chumped unless you add a fourth dead card.)
Protection
There are two routes to go here; countermagic or discard. Going into countermagic means going into heavy blue, with Force of Will, Daze, and all, but you reap the benefits with blues drawing power and tutors. Disruption keeps in the same color as Dread Returns if you need to hardcast it, Cabal Therapy has flashback and sacs useless creatures, and you get Black's tutors. I'm finding that the two aren't interchangeable, and the whole shell needs to be build around which you choose.
Graveyard toolbox
The most versatile part of this combo is the fact that you have limitless choices as to what to include as a supplement. You have protection in the graveyard, combo helplers and enablers, and perhaps a sidecombo.
Flashback - Ray of Revelation shoots down Confinement, Humility, Worship, and everything. Ancient Grudge hits Pithing Needle and Chalice. Double Krosan Reclamation can return your three card combo + a second Dread Returns if they Crypt in response to you flashing the first one back.
Bridge from Below - A very useful one-of, I've been finding. You have this in yard, sac three Narcomoebas and get three tokens, which allows you to Dread Returns again if they destroy your combo-making creature or if you need to Krosan Reclame your combo back. Also, I guess it's notable that multiples of these produce multiple tokens per 'Moeba. It's possible to make an army of 2/2s, hasted by Anger, but it would dilute the deck with dead draws.
Sideboard slots?
Trinisphere - This could be useful to hate out faster combo, and also as an 'answer' to Extirpate, which completely destroys this. Assuming you use Monolith + Orb, and not Salvagers, you can just tap your Monolith for three mana after milling your entire library, and still be able to pay for Dread Returns without needing lands.
Prismatic Strands - Possibly useful when using Kiki/Hussar.
Gaea's Blessing - Although it could take you a while to sift through the deck over and over while this gets in the way, it works instant speed against Wretch and Crypt, and keeps you from decking yourself. Blessing also opens up the possibility of trying to mill the opponent instead, since you pack some control and they'll be losing most of their deck while you never run out.
Now here's a list I drew up and goldfished a bit on MWS, going blue with Countermagic, Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith, Kiki-Jiki + Sky Hussar + Karmic Guide.
3 Narcomoeba
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Sky Hussar
1 Karmic Guide
4 Brainstorm
4 Intuition
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Bridge from Below
2 Dread Return
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Mesmeric Orb
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Krosan Reclamation
4 Chrome Mox
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Crystal Vein
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Island
With all those Flashback tools in the Sideboard along with Trinisphere. I made this list trying to incorporate as much of the above as I could, so ended up not going the black route. In black, you instead go with proactive control, get Dark Ritual, can't use Workshop-like lands because you need black mana for discard, and have different tutors. Is black better?
About some choices: Brainstorm allows you to replace Narcomoebas that sneak their way into your hand, and will shuffle them back in place with Fetchlands. Thirst for Knowledge is great because it can either net a card and discard an extra Mox/combo piece, or can get rid of Dread Returns, combo creatures, or Bridge from Below. Intuition is just an all-purpose tutor, and Krosan Reclamation combats graveyard hate (other than Extirpate) and lets you discard/return Narcomoebs in order to get them into play if needed.
Surprisingly, this has put up a fair amount of turn two/three wins when soloing, and not too many problems involving dead cards. I've considered Mystical Tutor to get Intuition and prevent drawing your combo, but I don't like having a tutor that can't directly set up the combo by itself.
The list above is pretty basic and could use a lot of work, but I'd also be pleased to see what other people can come up with either with the same combo, going primarily black, using Salvagers instead, or whatever else.
Creature - Illusion
When Narcomoeba is put into your graveyard from your library, you may put it into play.
1/1
The idea is that if you mill yourself, three of these guys will allow you flashback a Dread Returns from your graveyard, essentially for free. In theory, this allows you to return one of those creatures that wins once it hits play. I'm on vacation and currently have nothing to do, so for the past hour or so I've been trying to fit a deck together that wins with this strategy, and have roughly sketched out what the possible components for such a deck could be.
First off, you need a way to get everything into your yard, meaning selfmill (preferably infinite). So far I can only find three efficient ways of doing so, and here they are:
Mill
Dredge - Dredge isn't infinite, but it works. Obviously both of these cards fit right in with Ichorid, but that's besides the point.
Cephalid Breakfast - Cephalid Looter + en-Kors gives you a way to infinitely mill yourself, in two colors, but both creatures are noticeably weak and die to anything that kills Lackey.
Mesmeric Orb - Infy untappers make this instant speed, single card at a time mill. Aphetto Alchemist works, but so does the not-errata'd Basalt Monolith, which keeps it colorless and is not a creature.
Presently, I've found the latter to work best, because it can come out as early as turn two off of accelerated lands. Moving on...
Combo: We need the combo that wins out of the 'yard.
Salvagers - Salvagers + LED + Spellbomb. (Pros: Infinite, LED can discard Moebas that found their way to your hand, combo can be hardcasted, lets you draw cards out of your deck and Orzhov Guildmage can win through Confinement. Cons: Chalice of the Void or Trinisphere kills it, Pithing Needle if it didn't name Monolith, extra mana recquired to return LED if not in hand, disrupted by Orim's Chant, Grace, etc.)
Kiki-Jiki/Hussar - Karmic Guide + Kiki-Jiki + Sky Hussar. (Pros: Chalice and Trinisphere do nothing, infinite, no extra mana, not disrupted by Chant, etc. Cons: Pithing Needle if it didn't name Monolith, can't win through Confinement, uses the combat phase.)
Sutured Ghoul - Sutured Ghoul + 2-3 Fatties. (Pros: Not disrupted by Chalice, Trini, Chant, or Pithing Needle, harder to remove. Cons: Still dies to removal, uses combat phase, dies to Stifle, can be chumped unless you add a fourth dead card.)
Protection
There are two routes to go here; countermagic or discard. Going into countermagic means going into heavy blue, with Force of Will, Daze, and all, but you reap the benefits with blues drawing power and tutors. Disruption keeps in the same color as Dread Returns if you need to hardcast it, Cabal Therapy has flashback and sacs useless creatures, and you get Black's tutors. I'm finding that the two aren't interchangeable, and the whole shell needs to be build around which you choose.
Graveyard toolbox
The most versatile part of this combo is the fact that you have limitless choices as to what to include as a supplement. You have protection in the graveyard, combo helplers and enablers, and perhaps a sidecombo.
Flashback - Ray of Revelation shoots down Confinement, Humility, Worship, and everything. Ancient Grudge hits Pithing Needle and Chalice. Double Krosan Reclamation can return your three card combo + a second Dread Returns if they Crypt in response to you flashing the first one back.
Bridge from Below - A very useful one-of, I've been finding. You have this in yard, sac three Narcomoebas and get three tokens, which allows you to Dread Returns again if they destroy your combo-making creature or if you need to Krosan Reclame your combo back. Also, I guess it's notable that multiples of these produce multiple tokens per 'Moeba. It's possible to make an army of 2/2s, hasted by Anger, but it would dilute the deck with dead draws.
Sideboard slots?
Trinisphere - This could be useful to hate out faster combo, and also as an 'answer' to Extirpate, which completely destroys this. Assuming you use Monolith + Orb, and not Salvagers, you can just tap your Monolith for three mana after milling your entire library, and still be able to pay for Dread Returns without needing lands.
Prismatic Strands - Possibly useful when using Kiki/Hussar.
Gaea's Blessing - Although it could take you a while to sift through the deck over and over while this gets in the way, it works instant speed against Wretch and Crypt, and keeps you from decking yourself. Blessing also opens up the possibility of trying to mill the opponent instead, since you pack some control and they'll be losing most of their deck while you never run out.
Now here's a list I drew up and goldfished a bit on MWS, going blue with Countermagic, Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith, Kiki-Jiki + Sky Hussar + Karmic Guide.
3 Narcomoeba
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Sky Hussar
1 Karmic Guide
4 Brainstorm
4 Intuition
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Bridge from Below
2 Dread Return
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Mesmeric Orb
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Krosan Reclamation
4 Chrome Mox
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Crystal Vein
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Island
With all those Flashback tools in the Sideboard along with Trinisphere. I made this list trying to incorporate as much of the above as I could, so ended up not going the black route. In black, you instead go with proactive control, get Dark Ritual, can't use Workshop-like lands because you need black mana for discard, and have different tutors. Is black better?
About some choices: Brainstorm allows you to replace Narcomoebas that sneak their way into your hand, and will shuffle them back in place with Fetchlands. Thirst for Knowledge is great because it can either net a card and discard an extra Mox/combo piece, or can get rid of Dread Returns, combo creatures, or Bridge from Below. Intuition is just an all-purpose tutor, and Krosan Reclamation combats graveyard hate (other than Extirpate) and lets you discard/return Narcomoebs in order to get them into play if needed.
Surprisingly, this has put up a fair amount of turn two/three wins when soloing, and not too many problems involving dead cards. I've considered Mystical Tutor to get Intuition and prevent drawing your combo, but I don't like having a tutor that can't directly set up the combo by itself.
The list above is pretty basic and could use a lot of work, but I'd also be pleased to see what other people can come up with either with the same combo, going primarily black, using Salvagers instead, or whatever else.