* IMPORTANT: This post, especially the matchup analysis, will be updated over the next weeks *
The history of the deck is pretty straightforward: I played against a guy named Ajb007 on MWS (to give credit to him), and was amazed by his ability to beat my deck although the matchup should have been bad for him, as he was playing mana-denial against my Aether Vials, Birds, and cheap beatdown creatures. So I started to mess around with the idea, and ended up building a deck with about the same concept, but many different cards (he was playing Thirst for Knowledge, Grid Monitor, and Ankh, for example).
1. The concept
Tidal Taxes is a mono-blue Prison deck, aiming to make the opponent's creatures and spells more expensive (i.e. taxing) while denying him the mana to actually pay the taxing. While I'm certainly not claiming to be the one who invented the concept, I haven't really run across similar decklists in any of the forums.
The deck, unfortunately, is a bit on the slow side, both with regard to winning a locked-up game, and with regard to locking the game up. The former is a necessary evil of Prison decks, since it is typically required to play all available lock pieces first before you win condition can start doing anything. I'm trying to combat the latter by playing spells that "buy time" in the first turns of the game before the heavy lock components can come down.
Why you should play this deck:
- It does fairly well against creatures, especially against creature hordes. In the current metagame, there are lots of them running around (I mean, even the COMBO decks want to win by attacking).
- It runs four Back to Basics, which is a good card.
- It is monocoloured, meaning no colour screw and no fear of Wasteland.
- Even more then some of the other CaNG decks, it is not expected. Prison decks in general tend to be underplayed, and Parallax Tide as well.
Why you shouldn't play this deck:
- The games tend to be drawn-out. To further specify, your losses will be quick, while your wins will take their time. Losing game one does not make for a relaxed second game.
- It is a bit slow, giving it problems against dedicated Aggro-Control like Suicide variants, and making it also pretty helpless against a fast Charbelcher kill.
Now onto the decklist, and the explanation of the cards' roles in the deck.
2. The list
MAIN DECK
17 Island
3 Chrome Mox
3 Wasteland
Not playing nonbasics is the price the deck has to pay for Back to Basics. Which is a pity, since there are some nonbasics which would fit in REALLY well, like Ancient Tomb for much-needed acceleration or Port for further mana denial, and Factory for beats. But the almighty BtB is worth the sacrifice. Two Wasteland is okay, because I count them as land destruction rather than as mana. The Moxes are needed, but I'm not convinced that I have to play four, as a) drawing two really sucks b) in contrast to other builds of this deck, it actually HAS a decent mana curve with 1cc- and 2cc-spells.
4 Propaganda
3 The Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale
2 Trinisphere
The taxing component. Only two Trinisphere because you usually still draw one thanks to the cantripping, it is useless in multiples, and if you're on the draw against a non-combo deck, it's a bit too slow without Mox.
4 Parallax Tide
4 Stifle
4 Back to Basics
2 Trickbind
The land "destruction" component. Stifle does double duty both as anti-fetchland measure and as Tide enabler, so much that there are six copies of it in the deck. Back to Basics: as stated, it brings some disadvantages, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you how good that card is. The deck wouldn't work without it. But the deck also wouldn't work without Tide, as there usually are SOME nonbasics around which you want to get rid of. A resolved Tide will lead to your opponent not casting anything, and his creatures either dying or standing around embarrassed doing nothing. The effect lasts for two or three turns, and forever if you can Stifle the leaves-play-trigger, which is usually game.
4 Force Spike
3 Fire/Ice (only Ice, really)
That's the "buying time" component. Force Spike is obvious. Ice is nothing to get excited about, but it fits the 2cc-slot, cycles, and can prevent your opponent from playing something on the second or third turn. In addition, it's good under Back to Basics, and can tap creatures as a last resort. It sometimes interferes with keeping mana open for Spike and Stifle...as I said, not too exciting, so if you can think of better cards for 2cc, I'll be glad to try them out.
4 Impulse
1 Compulsive Research
Some filtering. There are, of course, more powerful options available, like Fact, but the deck has more problems in the early game than in the late, and so setting up the correct lock piece for the third turn is more important than getting card advantage when the opponent is already locked.
2 Hunted Phantasm OR 2 Morphling
The Phantasms: If there ever WAS a competitive deck (not playing Brand) that could use those, this is it. If you got a single Propaganda or Tabernacle down, those Goblins might as well not exist. In exchange, you get a seriously undercosted creature that can block about anything, and will beat for four no matter which creatures stand in its way. You have to try it out to appreciate the power of "cannot be blocked" as it waltzes by a horde of Goyfs, Mongeese, or Goblins.
On the other hand, it has two disadvantages: It is easily killed, and when that happens, you have to search a long time for another one. And you cannot side out Tabernacles AND Propaganda even in matchups where they are useless (control). Morphling is far better there, but sucks against Aggro, as he will not come down nearly fast enough to do serious blocking. So, if you have lots of Aggro, I'd play Phantasm. Otherwise, Morphling it is.
SIDEBOARD NUMBER ONE
4 Defense Grid
Very good against Thresh and Landstill. It is a two-drop that disrupts the opponent ! What more can you ask for ?
3 Divert
Primarily against Discard (the first two turns are crucial here). Also playable against decks with counterspells, though it can be hard to have that extra mana open while dropping a threat.
3 Pithing Needle
This deck doesn't love Aether Vial much. Furthermore, naming fetchlands is a good play in this deck (if you don't play a splash yourself).
1 Trinisphere
1 Trickbind
1 Blue Elemental Blast
SIDEBOARD NUMBER TWO
This one is only recommended if you play Morphling. The thought behind it is that an opponent seeing no creature or only Morphling game one will side out his removal, opening the door for NAUGHT SMASH ! A second or third turn Dreadnaught against a deck without removal is a thing of beauty. For the third game, your opponent has to play the guessing game. Naught can also come in against decks that can't deal with it even IF they were prepared, like Dragon Stompy, Goblins, or (non-black) Loam variants. So it goes...
-3 Pithiing Needle
+3 Phyrexian Dreadnought
3. Some doubts about the build
One alternative build of this deck would be to add a second color, playing six or seven fetches, and two or three basic lands. Almost all spells only cost one blue mana, so it could be supported. The question is: What do other colors have that could help this deck ? Now the cards I would REALLY want to play is Sinkhole :frown: or Birds of Paradise for acceleration, although that would interfere somewhat with Tabernacle. But those cards are not good splashes. I think the best splash would be white. If I'd run that, I'd change the list like that:
MAINDECK
- Islands
+ Fetches and Plains
-2 Phantasm/Morphling
+2 Eternal Dragon (thanks to Yawgmoth for reminding me of this card)
-1 Impulse
-1 Propaganda
+2 Enlightened Tutor
-1 Impulse
-3 Ice
+4 Brainstorm (now playable with four fetches, two Dragons, and two Tutors)
SIDEBOARD
-1 Grid
-1 Disrupt
+2 Replenish
Replenish should really shine here, bringing back countered enchantments as well as resetting Tide (or multiple Tides...). It is worth trying, at least. The other colors would at best give some interesting sideboard options, with Gloom for black and Flashfires for red.
Another alternative build would be to use two-mana lands (City of Traitors and Ancient Tomb). However, that would probably lead to a wholly different deck, as you would cut Back to Basics for Crucible, as well as 2cc-cards, add other lands (Ports and Wastelands), replace Chrome Mox with Diamond...to summarize, you'd more or less play a Stax variant. Which leads to the question: Why is this better than Stax ? As I see it, the differences with respect to Matchup percentages aren't that big. Stax (white, probably) is a bit faster in getting down lock pieces, but it has less first-turn-plays (no Stifle, no Spike) and is lacking real library manipulation. It also plays a lot more lands (and thus fewer threats). I can see some matchups where Chalice could come in handy, but I can also think of some where Crucible would be too slow, and BtB wouldn't.
4. Cards that seem to be missing
Force of Will: It's blue and doesn't run (more than one) Force ? While there are many blue cards in there, not so many you want to discard, since the deck requires a delicate interplay of the different lock pieces. It would probably take the Enervate slots, giving you about seven or eight cards you might actually WANT to discard. It also sucks under Trinisphere. But the real question is: What is so important you want to counter it 2-1 instead of drawing into more threats ? Creatures aren't so good against this deck. Discard might be worth countering, but going 2-1 against discard is dangerous. Countering the opponents Forces is good as well, but probably not much better than playing another threat, unless of course you'll die from Goyf beats if you don't get that Back to Basics down RIGHT NOW. Overall, there are too few instances where Force is good enough.
Daze: This deck has the most problems when going second, which is where Daze is not good. It has a better effect than Ice or Enervate, but doesn't draw a card. Might be tested, but probably doesn't fit.
Chalice of the Void (sideboard): It's 2cc, can come down first turn with Mox, and doesn't really negate that much cards in our own deck. But right now I can't think of that many dangerous 1cc-spells except discard, which gets played before Chalice anyway.
Ankh of Mishra: Those were in the original build, until I discovered that a) They are usually good for dealing eight to fifteen damage, which is not enough to win the game b) You usually don't want Tide to give them back their mana, and if you Stifle the Tide effect, Ankh gets much worse.
Sphere of Resistance: A worse Trinisphere, which is only a 3-of in the deck. It won't usually make their spells cost more than three (if they are not playing Stax), but in contrast to Trinisphere will make our own spells more expensive.
Tangle Wire: Would be soo good if it cost two mana. As it is, for three mana I want to play a lock piece, not something which gives me more time to find and cast a lock piece.
Winter Orb: Pretty good with a Trinisphere, but not so good without it. At least not good enough to overcome the disadvantage of stunting our own development. It's not really a 2cc-slot either, since you don't want to deny yourself a third turn lockpiece.
Ring of Gix: A very good card for this deck, which also suffers from costing three mana - TWICE.
5. Matchup Analysis
In general, this deck seems to do well against competitive decks, and not so well against mediocre or bad decks. Strange, huh ?
Landstill: Not so good. In contrast to almost all other matchups, the longer the game goes the smaller your chances to win. You need a quick (read: turn three to six) Back to Basics or Tide to really screw them. You can bait with Trinisphere which they should counter if they want to use their Forces, but it's still hard on you, as their Standstill comes down before your lock pieces, giving them card advantage (you can Stifle the trigger, but Stifle/Trickbind is a scarce ressource in that matchup). What's more, a resolved Crucible + fetchland is very hard on you even if you DO manage the quick BtB/Tide. You can't really side out the Tabernacles AND Propaganda since that would make playing Phantasms a bad move - yes, Morphlings would be infinitely better here. You get Defense Grids though, which should help in getting the quick BtB/Tide down, making the matchup a little better, and maybe also Needles (for Fetchlands and Explosives/Deed). All in all, about a 35% matchup, although if you play Morphling, you can probably get up to 40.
Thresh: A positive matchup. They have about eight relevant counters, while you have ten spells they MUST counter (Back to Basics, Trinisphere, Tide), as well as annoying spells like Propaganda. Counterbalance is not very relevant, except that it prevents the Stifling of Tides with a Top down, which is annoying. Their best chance of winning is to go Aggro, dropping a second turn Goyf and having two or three counterspells to keep it beating long enough. While that can happen, is usually doesn't, as usually one of those pieces is missing, be it the second turn Goyf or the last counterspell. If they don't drop an early Goyf, you can afford to take your time and play around Daze, which reduces their relevant counters to four and gives you a huge edge. After sideboarding, they get Grips, while you get Defense Grids (for Spikes), which they have to counter on the second turn, as well as the surprise Dreadnoughts. According to my testing, I'd put this at 65% overall, with the black splash being the hardest because of Confidants (although they are not THAT good...even if they stay on board for a long time, if you get a Back to Basics or Trinisphere to land, they won't be able to cast all those additional cards). Just take care not to overextend into an Explosives for three (like I did one time...).
Goblins: I was surprised at how good this matchup was. I thought Goblins could be too fast for that deck, but as it turns out...sure, they will probably win if they get Lackey on the play and a Port to tap you down, but otherwise ? You can get down Propaganda by using Chrome Mox, or tapping their Port with Ice at end of turn. You can get Tabernacle anytime. If one of those two hits, Goblins is slowed to a crawl. Their anti-control strategy of just getting more Goblins to their hand to replace destroyed ones doesn't do anything here, and there luckily is no land- or enchantment-destroying Goblin yet. Once you slow them down, a Back to Basics or Tide should be enough to finish them. Wasteland can, of course, kill Tabernacle, but you play six Stifles to use against that (although using Stifle for their first- or second-turn fetch should also do well). After sideboarding, they get Grips and Blasts for Propaganda, which helps them a bit. They still have nothing but Wasteland against Tabernacle, though. You get Noughts, which can get gripped, but a) they can't pay Tabernacle the turn they do so b) that's one Grip less for your Propaganda. I'm being cautious here, but this is a 70% matchup at least, of course depending on the splash color, the worst for you probably being Rbg with maindeck discard. Also be aware that Morningtide features a Goblin Diabolic Edict which can even get your Morphling. This shouldn't matter much as Morphling comes down too late to do anything but finish anyway, but if you don't want to search your whole deck for the second copy, be sure to play a Trinisphere and/or get a Force Spike into your hand first.
Train Wreck (BWg Midgame): Positive as well. Discard is annyoing, but after the fourth or fifth turn it doesn't matter much as you don't keep cards in hand except Stifle. Like Thresh, their best chance is an aggressive start with a second turn beater after discarding anti-creature measures. However, unlike Thresh they run enough mana to be able to pay Propaganda and Tabernacle easier, so you need either Back to Basics or Tide-Stifle.You have good chances of letting one of those happen, although Vindicate makes it pretty balanced. If the game draws out, the card you have to look out for is Pernicious Deed. Don't overextend. After sideboarding, four Disrupts replace Spikes and Enervates to combat their discard. I'd put this at about 55%.
Stifle Naught (and Reanimator): Very large creatures backed up by disruption is not your favorite matchup. While this deck can put together a tight creature defense in the face of disruption (see Thresh), it usually needs a little more time than these decks give it. Needing two turns to kill (Naught) or four (Goyf) can make all the difference here. You can sideboard in your own Naughts, but it still leaves much to be desired. Resolving Trinisphere against Naught, of course, will often win you the game, but that doesn't happen that often, especially not before they have their Naught already in play. Pretty bad...about 30%, I'd say. Amazing what difference those two or three turns in beatdown time can make compared to Thresh...
Dragon Stompy: A creature beatdown deck with almost no relevant disruption ? Sign me up ! That may be a bit of an overstatement, but although Chalice kills your Stifles and the Moon effects turn off your Tabernacle, their disruption still doesn't do nearly as much as it is supposed to be. Their creatures are big, but still have to attack four or five times, enough for you to do something about it. A Back to Basics + Propaganda might be enough, and being able to resolve Tide + Trickbind/Stifle unhindered is a big bonus here (I'm pretty sure that Back to Basics works under Magus of the Moon, but maybe some-one can verify that). You sideboard in your Naughts second game, which they should not be able to remove, although third game you'll have to guess whether to put them in as they could be re-sideboarding their Chalices after a Naught experience. Meanwhile, they get Blasts from the sideboard. But due to their lack of mainboard disruption, this is about a 65% matchup. It's pretty similar for Faerie Stompy, where they DO have disruption in Force, but can't turn off your Tabernacles.
Cephalid Breakfast: One of their best cards here is Vial, which saves them lots of mana. If they get an early Vial and don't need much tutoring for their combo, they can race your lock, since they then have enough mana open to pay for Trinisphere (for Dread Return) or Propaganda. If they don't, you can tie up their mana withTabernacle and delay their combo for a turn with Trinisphere and Propaganda, which should be enough to get a Back to Basics or Tide down as the finishing blow. After boarding, you get Needles. I'd put this as a positive matchup, since to get Vial and the combo, they more likely then not need some cantripping and tutoring, which ties up their mana. I'd say 60%.
Note that even though I have many positive matchups here, that doesn't mean I think my deck would be the best. For example, I think it would have big problems against MUC or Stax (on the other hand, I assume it should be really good against 43land.dec on the strength of BtB). What's more, its performance in general depends very much on the effectiveness of BtB, which just happens to be big against most of the above decks.
As always, suggestions and feedback would be most welcome.
