[Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)

That is my latest list:

[Artifact]
2 Helm of Obedience
1 Isochron Scepter
4 Mox Diamond
3 Scroll Rack
1 Zuran Orb

[Enchantment]
3 Ghostly Prison
1 Humility
4 Land Tax
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Solitary Confinement

[Instant]
4 Enligntened Tutor
4 Orim's Chant
4 Swords to Plowshares

[Sorcery]
4 Wrath of God

[Land]
1 Mistveil Plains
14 Plains
4 Windswept Heath

[Sideboard]
2 Containement Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Nevermore
2 Sacred Mesa
2 Sundering Growth
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant


I asked advice to a miracle player I know (since it's the closest control deck) and he told me I'd probably be better with 3 Terminus instead of Ghostly Prison. I'm now in the "meta call" phase since my meta is creature heavy.

Edit: Also considering Entreat to replace elspeth, what are your thoughts on that.

4 Land Tax
3 Scroll Rack
3 Wrath Of God
4 Orim’s Chant
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
4 Enlightened Tutor
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Zuran Orb
1 Humility
1 Blood Moon
1 Trinisphere
1 Ivory Tower
1 Pithing Needle
3 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Opal

2 Rest In Peace
2 Helm of Obedience
1 Goblin Charbelcher


2 Mountain
16 Plains

Sideboard
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Batterskull
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Leyline of the Void
3 Ethersworn Cannonist

This is the deck I have been using since land tax was unbanned. It hasn't changed much since then. It's proven itself to be that strong. It was even stronger during that delve period. Hopefully this gives you an idea of where I'm coming from and deck ideas.

That said, leave miracles for miracles players. Can discuss whatever you want otherwise. I can be blunt or wordy. Whichever is preferred.

Roger on miracles, I was just wondering your opinion :P I think they're not really worth it either without top.

I'v been using Sundering Growth in the side since it interacts well with the secondary plan (tokens) but would it be better to put Seal of Cleansing instead?
I would be trading instant/surprise effect for reliability. Is that why you use it? If so, has it been more successful or have you never tried the instant Disenchant variants?

My answer is seal or something similar (aura of silence, etc). It's in the board for a reason, when you need it you need it. We get to play 4 enlightened tutor, take advantage of that. If you can find an artifact/enchantment version for an effect it should be given priority. This also gives us the ability to have an extremely strong sideboard. 4 tutors plus X gives us a lot of power to streamline against bad matchups. Even with what I currently run there are enough broad cards that you still get overlap and more consistency. That is the epitome of success, I get a higher percentage chance of getting cards I need when they are needed. Silver bullets are good for a reason. If one card beats a deck you probably want to see that card.

I do have an abolish in the board on occasion. But again it is there more so because it takes advantage of the engine. But to reiterate we basically get a brainstorm situation with this deck. 4 enlightened tutors is like playing 4 vampiric tutors without a drawback. Maximizing it's usefulness should always be at the back of your mind.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weapon X

My answer is seal or something similar (aura of silence, etc). It's in the board for a reason, when you need it you need it. We get to play 4 enlightened tutor, take advantage of that. If you can find an artifact/enchantment version for an effect it should be given priority. This also gives us the ability to have an extremely strong sideboard. 4 tutors plus X gives us a lot of power to streamline against bad matchups. Even with what I currently run there are enough broad cards that you still get overlap and more consistency. That is the epitome of success, I get a higher percentage chance of getting cards I need when they are needed. Silver bullets are good for a reason. If one card beats a deck you probably want to see that card.

I do have an abolish in the board on occasion. But again it is there more so because it takes advantage of the engine. But to reiterate we basically get a brainstorm situation with this deck. 4 enlightened tutors is like playing 4 vampiric tutors without a drawback. Maximizing it's usefulness should always be at the back of your mind.

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Understood. Anyway we are more of a prison deck so instants responses are not our forte.
I think I got sidetracked a little since I playtest against my friend's omni-tell sometimes and I like the interaction of Cannonist, wait for him to cast anything then destroy the Omniscience in response.

I'm in the process of acquiring 1 blood moon for this deck but untill then I'll just play more Ghostly Prison.
I'll have to replace my white fetches for Arid Mesa once they get reprinted too since I really think fetches are necessary to shuffle after a scroll rack (when tax shuffling/tutor is not available).
Also, it's not like a few fetches affect our life since we can always pitch them to Mox Diamond. There really isn't any downside to having a few fetches imo.

Don't get me wrong, instants are fine. We just happen to have access to one of the strongest tutors available and should take advantage of it.

I find we match up well against Omnitel. They can play our win con for us.

Bloodmoon is a reason to not play fetches. Tithe and duals is probably a better option. Another strength of this deck is blanking a lot of cards for your opponent without hurting ourselves.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weapon X

Don't get me wrong, instants are fine. We just happen to have access to one of the strongest tutors available and should take advantage of it.

I find we match up well against Omnitel. They can play our win con for us.

Bloodmoon is a reason to not play fetches. Tithe and duals is probably a better option. Another strength of this deck is blanking a lot of cards for your opponent without hurting ourselves.

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Correct me if I'm wrong but if we cast blood moon, we can just use the fetch as a mountain and I think this is fine isn't it?
It just means more nonbasic mountains (yeah we can't chose to get white, but chances are we already have 2+ white mana with us so does it really matter?)

We can use it as a mountain, but we can also just play mountain instead. If the reason to play a fetch is purely to shuffle we have other options; Tithe for instance. With regards to my build I'm mono white. Mountain is there to play 3 cards that only need a single red and there are numerous ways to get it. My secondary win is charbelcher which is the only reason for at least 2 mountains. I'm also minimizing lands so it is to my benefit to have my lands be actual lands.

I might just play 1 mountain since I prefer Scepter to Charbelcher (both act as win-con in different matchups).

I especially like fetches in case of a Chalice Lock (god knows chalice is everywhere these days).
In that situation, you cannot shuffle at all if you don't have a fetch (all your other options are 1 CC).

Edit: I just remembered this apply to Counter/Top lock as well (can't cast 1CC spells).

[Artifact]
2 Helm of Obedience
1 Isochron Scepter
4 Mox Diamond
3 Scroll Rack
1 Zuran Orb

[Enchantment]
1 Blood Moon
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Humility
4 Land Tax
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Solitary Confinement

[Instant]
4 Enligntened Tutor
4 Orim's Chant
4 Swords to Plowshares

[Sorcery]
4 Wrath of God

[Land]
1 Mistveil Plains
13 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Windswept Heath

[Sideboard]
2 Containement Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Nevermore
2 Sacred Mesa
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

This is the list I'll try at my store. What are your thoughts on the 3 vs 4 Wrath main?

I could replace a wog with a third prison to lower the curve but I'm not sure if it's as effective if you don't have them early.

Was literally in a bush for 4 days...

So sorry for a late reply, but here I go. I think 3 is the sweet spot. There are a lot of times spot removal tends to be better but like you mention chalice/counterbalance are cards. At 4cmc the cards should be haymakers for us, and wrath can do that. The issue there is like I mentioned before, decks can ride a single card through our prison elements and beat us without a need to commit to the board. Also consider decks like elves where we could die before we get to wrath mana. Essentially we want to walk a fine line where we can get consistency without needed pieces in play while also having a diverse enough curve to not scoop to those previously named cards.

Short answer: 3 wraths, other card could be something else like an abeyance or other such card that may be worth a single slot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weapon X

Was literally in a bush for 4 days...

So sorry for a late reply, but here I go. I think 3 is the sweet spot. There are a lot of times spot removal tends to be better but like you mention chalice/counterbalance are cards. At 4cmc the cards should be haymakers for us, and wrath can do that. The issue there is like I mentioned before, decks can ride a single card through our prison elements and beat us without a need to commit to the board. Also consider decks like elves where we could die before we get to wrath mana. Essentially we want to walk a fine line where we can get consistency without needed pieces in play while also having a diverse enough curve to not scoop to those previously named cards.

Short answer: 3 wraths, other card could be something else like an abeyance or other such card that may be worth a single slot.

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i'm also actually in a quandary about this..my default list(which i based off on your list by the way) has 3 wraths..but when playing against DnT, grixis delver, elves and other decks that are creature heavy; i feel that i can beat them more consistently with 4 wrath effects in the main..

glad to see this forum moving again, i seldom see any discussion here lately, i was afraid the forum might be dying, good to see people posting here discussing this deck again..

It may also be helpful to think of humility as a wrath. And for what it's worth I ran a parallax wave for a while.

Isn't this the perfect shell for nahiri? The plus two is great with landtax and the - is relevant as well. You need no other wincon. Just keep wear/tear in the board for needles and load up on sweepers and blood moons.

Not really. Cycle a card for 4 vs draw 7+ for 2 seems an obvious choice. Exile specific cards for 4 is also already done better. To top it off, if you ultimate you should win, but if you are even remotely close to that you should have already won. Nahiri isn't that great. This isn't standard. The best looter in the format (legacy) is mini Jace, and he does a whole lot more for a lot less.

Alright tine for some tournament reports.

I piloted parfait for the second time yesterday and got the following results.

Round 1: Eldrazi Stompy 2-0
Blood moon x2, nothing else to say.

Round 2: UWR Stoneblade 1-2
G1-2 were both pretty 1 sided.
G3 Not sure I could have done better, drew sideboard cards and so did he. Lots of enchantments removal end me.

I had sided out scepter but in retrospect it was still pretty good since he was more creature heavy with delvers.

Round 3: Burn 2-1
G1 I naturally drew tax, rack and confinement. Only had to tutor for orb T2 to last until I could set up.
G2 I tutored for copr on turn 1 and played it on 2 but got burned pretty hard with 2x eidoleon. I might have survived if I had sworded one. Misplay to leave both alive.
G3 I tutored for copr again but he only had goblin and swiftspear for permanent dmg so I was able to wrath and then prevent all further dmg until I got the kill combo.

Round 4: Miracles 0-2
G1 I got RIP out T2 and then he proceeded to counterspell both my Helms into exile. Then it was just a matter of time before he assembled Counter/Top and it was the end of me casting anything.
G2 I gambled and kept a hand with tutor x2, seal, mox, land and the combo kill. After I played mox, tutored for tax and it got forced. Next turn same thing but he counterspelled. Then he exiled my mox and played jace, fatesealing my lands bottom until I died.

Maybe my biggest mistake was risking it all in my last game. Now that I think about it, exactly the same thing happened the week before when I faced miracles.
I have to restrain myself more against a counterspell heavy deck I guess. Should I have kept that hand?

They shouldn't care about rip. You should chant before a key spell so that it either resolves or you suck out a counter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weapon X

They shouldn't care about rip. You should chant before a key spell so that it either resolves or you suck out a counter.

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That is precisely what happened but chant never resolves under the lock :(

I can't say I've had that problem yet then. Just forcing them to use mana for their lock can be enough to break through. Again we have a diverse curve so we can power through it: win cons are 4, answers are everywhere else. And miracles doesn't pressure is so we have time.

I might just have gotten unlucky then. I will keep testing the build.

Maybe I was correct to keep this risky hand knowing very well that my opponent was on miracles...