Psychogenic Ankh - Shuffle Up

Hi all, just been thinking about how to get past W6 that is running rampant at my current meta at LGS. Yes, I could just make a RiP helm deck or something.
But...
I was thinking of making a deck that punishes how they play; recurring lands, pinging 1-toughness creatures.

As such, I went for a classic: Ankh of Mishra (and Ankh of Mishra on legs), coupled with targeted land destruction, and shuffle damage. And no 1 toughness creatures.

Slipped in some shrapnel blasts to ensure that a drawn artifact isn't totally rubbish, along with some surgical extractions (my meta is graveyard heavy, helps remove lands from W6, and shuffles their library which adds damage with probe).

Is it a good deck? Definitely not.
But if you guys could help me make it at least annoying to W6 decks, that would be awesome.



// Lands
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Great Furnace
12 Mountain

// W6 Hate
4 Ankh of Mishra
4 Zo-Zu the Punisher
4 Psychogenic Probe
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Tectonic Instability

// Damage
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Guide
4 Searing Blood
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Chain Lightning

If you're going to play Ankh, maybe run stuff like Winter Orb/Tangle Wire (to punish their mana and force them to play more lands) or splash blue for the combo finish with Parallax Tide. Tangle Wire is also an amazing card to Shrapnel Blast at them.

Tectonic Instability sucks. They can float mana. Orb is how you constrain their lands.

Psychogenic Probe + Surgical just does 2 damage to each of you. At that point, why not play Price of Progress or Flame Rift instead. Surgical's fine in the board but doesn't advance your gameplan, which is to just kill them.

Zo-Zu seems too slow. If you're on the draw (turn 3), most decks may not have any more fetching to do by turn 4 or could afford to hold back land drops.

I had toyed around with this Ankh burn deck a while ago that's more aggro focused...


//Lands: 19
4 Great Furnace
15 Snow-Covered Mountain

//Creatures: 8
4 Goblin Guide
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

//Artifacts: 11
4 Black Vise
4 Ankh of Mishra
3 Winter Orb

//Spells: 22
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lava Spike
3 Price of Progress
3 Shrapnel Blast
4 Fireblast


Sideboard could include cards like Searing Blood, Smash to Smithereens, etc. It's probably worse than straight burn but it could be better in some metas. Galvanic Blast is also an option but the artifact count may be too low.

Otherwise you could try Ankh Prison with Sol Lands, Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Ankh of Mishra, Mana Breach, Parallax Tide, Tangle Wire, Planeswalkers, etc...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FTW

If you're going to play Ankh, maybe run stuff like Winter Orb/Tangle Wire (to punish their mana and force them to play more lands) or splash blue for the combo finish with Parallax Tide. Tangle Wire is also an amazing card to Shrapnel Blast at them.

Tectonic Instability sucks. They can float mana. Orb is how you constrain their lands.

Psychogenic Probe + Surgical just does 2 damage to each of you. At that point, why not play Price of Progress or Flame Rift instead. Surgical's fine in the board but doesn't advance your gameplan, which is to just kill them.

Zo-Zu seems too slow. If you're on the draw (turn 3), most decks may not have any more fetching to do by turn 4 or could afford to hold back land drops.

I had toyed around with this Ankh burn deck a while ago that's more aggro focused...


//Lands: 19
4 Great Furnace
15 Snow-Covered Mountain

//Creatures: 8
4 Goblin Guide
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

//Artifacts: 11
4 Black Vise
4 Ankh of Mishra
3 Winter Orb

//Spells: 22
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lava Spike
3 Price of Progress
3 Shrapnel Blast
4 Fireblast


Sideboard could include cards like Searing Blood, Smash to Smithereens, etc. It's probably worse than straight burn but it could be better in some metas. Galvanic Blast is also an option but the artifact count may be too low.

Otherwise you could try Ankh Prison with Sol Lands, Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Ankh of Mishra, Mana Breach, Parallax Tide, Tangle Wire, Planeswalkers, etc...

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Consider playing two to three City of Traitors. Powering out Ankh on turn one or multiple Black Vise is absolutely insane. You really want to nail one of these cards on the first turn, and if you're playing Winter Orb, all the better.

I tried a creature-less version for a little while, which was fun but inconsistent. To really meet the power level I needed multiple Vises or an Ankh t1. I was using a combination of Ancient Tomb and Simian Spirit Guide (so not really creature-less, lol.) I really liked Sulfuric Vortex as a threat that blanked opponent's removal.

4x Black Vise
4x Ankh of Mishra
4x Winter Orb
3x Sulfuric Vortex
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Chain Lightning
4x Lava Spike
4x Price of Progress
4x Shrapnel Blast
3x Fireblast

1x Ancient Tomb
4x Great Furnace
13x Mountain

This was pre-Light up the Stage, which I think would be pretty incredible here. I think I would cut some number of Lava Spikes for that, just because the other "burn" spells are at a much better rate (Blasts/PoP, Vise, Ankh) Bolt/Chain hit creatures, so they get the nod over Lava Spikes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

I tried a creature-less version for a little while, which was fun but inconsistent. To really meet the power level I needed multiple Vises or an Ankh t1. I was using a combination of Ancient Tomb and Simian Spirit Guide (so not really creature-less, lol.) I really liked Sulfuric Vortex as a threat that blanked opponent's removal.

4x Black Vise
4x Ankh of Mishra
4x Winter Orb
3x Sulfuric Vortex
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Chain Lightning
4x Lava Spike
4x Price of Progress
4x Shrapnel Blast
3x Fireblast

1x Ancient Tomb
4x Great Furnace
13x Mountain

This was pre-Light up the Stage, which I think would be pretty incredible here. I think I would cut some number of Lava Spikes for that, just because the other "burn" spells are at a much better rate (Blasts/PoP, Vise, Ankh) Bolt/Chain hit creatures, so they get the nod over Lava Spikes.

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I would scale back on the burn. I think with Ankh and Black Vise you want to be more prison in nature. Both are highly aggressive cards, but only good on the first or second turn. That being said, Serum Powder or something using Goblin Engineer may be worthwhile.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Michael Keller

I would scale back on the burn. I think with Ankh and Black Vise you want to be more prison in nature. Both are highly aggressive cards, but only good on the first or second turn. That being said, Serum Powder or something using Goblin Engineer may be worthwhile.

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Thanks, I didn't know where to go with it so I ended up just filling it with redundancy. I don't know what would be most effective for further prison elements; Blood Moon comes to mind, but I can't imagine this would be better than Moon Stompy. I also play Ruby Storm occasionally, which is also a very fast creature-less deck. The great part of this 'prison' deck is that it has a genuine clock, pinching time more than other resources. Goblin Engineer is interesting, but I would love to keep it creature-less. Avoiding the combat step could really offset some matchups. FTW mentioned Tangle Wire, and that seems pretty cool. Thoughts on that?

Oh. I got you. [[Torbran, Thane of Red Fell]]

Its a 4/4 that doubles all your damage, and makes all your guys swing for 2 extra damage.

Thanks for all the inputs guys, very helpful. It's funny when brewing, because it's (unsurprisingly) easy to accidentally find yourself going towards existing decks, because they are already so strong and specialised.
e.g. Ending up at Stax, or mono red prison, when starting off at a red Ankh deck.
I think the reason that I initially veered away from the ancient tomb / city of traitors route was that it makes casting all the red spells I wanted to cast tricky.

That said, I like the direction it's been taken here by you guys.
I've taken out Price of Progress, as I don't even find it that strong in my actual legacy Burn deck these days - too many basic lands being searched up with Prismatic Vista and support from astrolabe, and I've added in

So maybe something like this? (I've sneakily tried to get back in a psychogenic probe and see if it'll be accepted).


4x Black Vise
4x Ankh of Mishra
4x Winter Orb
3x Sulfuric Vortex
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Chain Lightning
4x Light up the stage
4x Shrapnel Blast
4x Sphere of Resistance
2x Tangle Wire
2x Psychogenic Probe

4x Ancient Tomb
4x Great Furnace
9x Mountain

I feel like Scab-Clan Berserker is the perfect card to add to the threat-suit here. Many decks just ignore Ankh, like a Show and Tell deck, while SCB will both clock them and punish them for cantripping. 8 Eidolons in a deck is going to win games. I like the bolts to speed up the clock and clear blockers.

I don't think Black Vise will do much good, sadly.. Too many decks are too good at dropping their hand quickly, daze the relevant hate piece or whatever. But you can try it. In a stax build maybe..

Harsh Mentor might be a decent addition but I kind of doubt that it'll be good enough.

What about a very prison build?


//Mana: 24
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
10 Snow-Covered Island
1 Karn's Bastion
1 Academy Ruins
4 Chrome Mox

//Prison: 26
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ankh of Mishra
4 Trinisphere
4 Propaganda
3 Tangle Wire
3 Mana Breach
3 Parallax Tide
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

//Planeswalkers: 7
2 Dovin, Hand of Control
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Karn, the Great Creator

//Spells: 4
4 Thirst for Knowledge


Trini, Propaganda, Dovin, Tangle Wire and Tabernacle all force opponent to play more lands to do anything.

Mana Breach and Parallax Tide slow that down anyway, making opponent need EVEN MORE LAND DROPS. You can hack your own Mana Breach for City of Traitors shenanigans...

Tide + Ankh also works as a lategame combo that can deal up to 10 damage once they've played out lands.

I'm torn between Chalice of the Void and Black Vise. Chalice does a lot of work against a lot of decks. Vise seems really good here though as there are so many effects to stop the opponent from playing out his hand.

@FTW: that looks like a nightmare to play against... Which is a compliment. ;) Black Vise would be a good wincon there, actually. Maybe play a mix of chalice and vise and see what works out better.. Maybe the mix works well even, as counter-intuitive as that is.. Mirrormade (the copy artifact/enchantment) may work there, copying Propaganda is no joke. I would skip the parallax waves though, I feel it is too low impact and quickly disappears. maybe add some board control, like a Ballista..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

I feel like Scab-Clan Berserker is the perfect card to add to the threat-suit here. Many decks just ignore Ankh, like a Show and Tell deck, while SCB will both clock them and punish them for cantripping. 8 Eidolons in a deck is going to win games. I like the bolts to speed up the clock and clear blockers.

I don't think Black Vise will do much good, sadly.. Too many decks are too good at dropping their hand quickly, daze the relevant hate piece or whatever. But you can try it. In a stax build maybe..

Harsh Mentor might be a decent addition but I kind of doubt that it'll be good enough.

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All land drops still do 2 damage, so if you can get it early enough it's a 4-damage POP. Alternatively, it's another artifact to sacrifice to Shrapnel Blast. Getting them with a fetchland for 5 damage total is the dream, but any old land drop will do. I feel like if Shrapnel Blast was ever playable in legacy, Vise and Ankh are the artifacts to pair with it.

Sideboard Pyroblasts should do some work against S&T.

@Mr Safety: I know from playing Painter that even 6 maindeck blasts aren't enough to reliably beat Show and Tell. By all means include them, but expect to need a lot of other interaction.
The comparison between Ankh and PoP is interesting, PoP always was a great card.. But I still think that using Berserkers to make it 8 Eidolons is a very relevant axis for attacking the legacy meta. Edit: perhaps less good if taking the deck in the stax direction..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

@Mr Safety: I know from playing Painter that even 6 maindeck blasts aren't enough to reliably beat Show and Tell. By all means include them, but expect to need a lot of other interaction.
The comparison between Ankh and PoP is interesting, PoP always was a great card.. But I still think that using Berserkers to make it 8 Eidolons is a very relevant axis for attacking the legacy meta. Edit: perhaps less good if taking the deck in the stax direction..

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I was thinking the same thing actually...that it would be (likely) one of its worst matchups. I don't know whether to just concede the matchup (it isn't a popular deck at my LGS) or over-balance my sideboard for the matchup. Berserker is great tech against cantrip-heavy decks and storm, I've always boarded it in Ruby Storm. Here however I might look to use Pyrostatic Pillar. I'm not saying Eidelon is a bad card, far from it, but blanking *all* creature removal in a format centered around creatures currently seems like one avenue towards virtual card advantage. The other problem is that it's 3 mana. I would probably have to cut the Vortex's if going that route, the curve should end at 3 mana. The apes help in that regard, but they aren't repeatable mana-sources.

Other cards that were on my test list (and will again now that my interest in the deck has been piqued) are Dead/Gone and Wasteland.

To beat SneakShow you don't board into Blasts, you board into Ensnaring Bridge. Even if you have 6 cards in hand they can't attack. Bridge on easy mode.

I’d even argue Hydroblast is better than Pyroblast right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FTW

To beat SneakShow you don't board into Blasts, you board into Ensnaring Bridge. Even if you have 6 cards in hand they can't attack. Bridge on easy mode.

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Well, again from the Painter perspective, having loads of blasts and Ensnaring Bridges still doesn't let you win in a convincing fashion. There are many additional comments to be made but I'll save them, I was also considering mentioning Bridge which may fit really well here.

@Mr Safety: blanking removal is a good point there, have to agree.

@Michael Keller: I've been thinking of trying UR Painter for this reason but I'm not sure if it's entirely true though. BEB is good vs fair decks but vs combo you probably have much better use out of REB's, right? While still being relevant vs many fair decks.

Both Scab-Clan Berserker and Zo-Zu the Punisher seem too slow for this format.

Consider resolving one of these turn 3 on the draw, not affecting opponent until his 4th turn. How many decks can just ignore that? Unfair decks will win first. Fair decks will have removal or a blocker online by then. Even if it isn't removed, how threatening is a conditional 2-4 damage per turn starting turn 4? Is it better than Sulfuric Vortex?

Punisher pieces need to be consistently down on turn 1 or turn 2 to be relevant. Cards with 2 or 2R mana costs can be played turn 1 with a Sol Land manabase + SSG/Mox. 1RR costs are much harder to get in play quickly. Maybe turn 2 with a SSG, only to get 2-for-1'd by Lightning Bolt?

Also I like going creatureless and blanking removal.

I am tempted to take a version of this to the next local 1k on October. I want to troll the locals with a pile of uncommons.

Do we board out Vise on the draw? If so, whats the plan for getting more threats out of the board?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

I am tempted to take a version of this to the next local 1k on October. I want to troll the locals with a pile of uncommons.

Do we board out Vise on the draw? If so, whats the plan for getting more threats out of the board?

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Which strategy are you going for? Sol Lands prison? Or more burn heavy? This list?


4x Black Vise
4x Ankh of Mishra
4x Winter Orb
3x Sulfuric Vortex
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Chain Lightning
4x Lava Spike
4x Price of Progress
4x Shrapnel Blast
3x Fireblast

1x Ancient Tomb
4x Great Furnace
13x Mountain

For something like that, on the draw I'd just board out Vise for creatures. Chances are they board out all removal. Maximize fringe deck trolling by making them board wrong.

Example:
-4 Vise
-2 Shrapnel Blast (fewer artifacts)
-1 Vortex (slow on the draw)
+4 creature (e.g. Eidolon of the Great Revel, Dreadhorde Arcanist, Grim Lavamancer)
+3 situational card (e.g. Smash to Smithereens, Searing Blood, Flamebreak)

If you board into Arcanist, obviously keep Lava Spike over the spectacle cards. Otherwise Light Up the Stage could be good.

Also for that list SSG is card disadvantage and most things you want to cheat out take colorless mana, so -2 SSG + 2 Ancient Tomb?