[Deck] Spanish Inquisition (B/x Storm Combo)

Has there been any succesfull lists with Null Profusion?, i really like the card (not yust because it has a qoute from Volrath).

I've been testing this allot on MWS and the deck shits all over me for some reason, never had that problem with TES..

I play Emidln list with the man plan SB, how do you usually side with this list?

Also, i have had my beasties stp'ed more then yust once with the man plan list, could eviscarater be an option? the 5 life loss should not be that much of an biggie since their clock isnt as fast.

thnx

0 experience playing combo would make picking this deck up ambitious. Then again, this was my first real legacy deck. I just played random control decks up until 2006. I'm sure you can handle it. As far as combo is concerned it tries to chain D4's together like Solidarity but with the volatility of Belcher. Playing those decks might help out with familiarizing yourself with combo, and they are fun to goldfish anyway. I managed to pick up TES, Belcher, and Solidarity fairly easily after playing SI for so long.

Start on SITES. That will enable you to be more familiarized with the way the deck works since you will usually just be playing a basic BW --> EtW, D4-->EtW, BW-->D7, and the occassional D4 chain --> ToA.

@Volrath
It will occassional shit on itself, like most decks. Its just more noticeable in SI because you are literally playing the whole game in one turn. I can't see Zoo's manabase shitting on itself when you have good mulligans.
Null Profusion was supposed to be pretty good from what I've heard. If you cast it, you pretty much win, but you need to play it in LGSI or else Lands are dead draws. Its probably pretty good in Iranon's Glimpse list as well.
If you want help on siding give me some specific matchups because unfortunately their are far too many for me to list as a whole. In general though if you want a decent man plan config...
OUT
-2 Tendrils of Agony
-2 Infernal Contract
-2 Ill-Gotten Gains
-4 Land Grant
-2 Culling the Weak
-2 Phyrexian Walker
-1 Goblin Charbelcher
IN
+4 Tomb of Urami
+4 Xantid Swarm//Phylactery Lich
+4 Tombstalker
+2 Carpet of Flowers
+1 Bayou

Regarding SI/TES, why does this version play a wish-board exactly (while some lists do not)? Maybe I'm misjudging, but Burning Wish doesn't seem so good that you'd inherently want to use it if you were in red... Isn't Empty the Warrens the real reason to play the red splash in the first place? Are there other sideboards that makes sense for the SI/TES list, or is the wish-board just the obvious choice in some way I'm missing?

(My comments here are probably somewhat based on my initial reaction that I want to use Land Grant and a man-plan sideboard if I can get away with it and still have a comparatively retard-proof learning curve... And it just seems so freaking cool to play a black/green Storm deck. Also though, one of the things that attracts me to this is it looks blazingly fast if I can get good with it, and significantly less fragile than Belcher, as far as glass-cannons go. It just seems like a wish-board kind of dilutes the speed of the deck somewhat.)

Burning Wish opens up an amazing line of play that the deck never had before. TES also used it for a while if you recall via IT --> Slithermuse, BW--> Diminish Returns. This opened the deck up to a way to quickly refill its hand with something as simple as Mana Source x2, IT/BW, LED. That's 4 cards worth of resources to draw 7 cards, or potentially 5-6 on the draw. It makes Culling the Weak that much dangerous. If you add Culling the Weak to those 4 cards, you have 3 extra black mana worth of resource to use with either a D4 into 4 new sources, potentially another BW or IT to try to refill that 7 because you still have LED remaining. The other option is wait with Burning Wish into EtW, counters Burning Wish, resolve EtW anyway from hand. Hands like Lotus Petal Dark Ritual D4 can draw you 4 cards, but having access to a 4 card combination that draws 7 is just savage. IT and BW both accomplish this through LED, otherwise you can't get the blue, on rare occasions. This is MUCH easier in the Summoner's Pact version actually. If you like the D7 board, you could play business via Muse's. I tried a x4 Muse, x4 Burning Wish, x4 Infernal Tutor, x1 Tendrils of Agony, x1 Empty the Warrens x1, (15 business), configuration, with Wild Cantor and x4 Manamorphose. It might work better with a maindeck Tinderwall actually. Direlemming has been having a lot of good results with them. I might try that build again.

EDIT:
Also, D7 lines of play are stronger in SI than they were in TES because of the way SI goes off. Having 3 cards within 7 off a Diminishing Returns will allow you to dig 4 cards deeper to find a use for the other 4 cards of resources you have in hand. This is why they are successful when TES dropped them (mainly, -1 Slithermuse from the board) only running 11 business total. In TES it became more of an oh shit button or a speed cannon against aggro (some pilots claim diffferent luck with their top 7. SI players have had much better luck with them due to playing more business, in fact its a preferred line of play if you can pull it off.

I think it should be said, from Emidln's original primer, that this deck can be taken up without prior combo experience. Way back in the day when the deck was brand new (I'm talking 4+ years), before I even got into competative legacy, this deck really fascinated me. Emidln's old primer said the only way to get proficient with the deck was practice, so I shuffled it up on MWS and played my heart out. In the beginning, I thought the deck was terrible, all the clunky draws, and poor mulligans, but I kept pushing forward. And after a while, it just clicked. My turn one wins skyrocketed, and I can glance at a hand and instantly know to keep or not (pre SB). If anyone wants to pick this up but is scared of it, just make it on MWS and play your heart out. It'll click, and that's all there is to it. Also, a good starting place would be this list:

2 Bayou
4 Shield Sphere
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Land Grant
4 Culling the Weak
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
2 Empty the Warrens
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Chrome Mox
SB: 4 Duress
SB: 4 Tomb of Urami
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 Autumn's Veil

I don't see it in the opening post, but I still believe this list is the strongest (I'm not a fan of PSI, but I'm glad it works for people.) Post SB the control matchup gets much better, even winnable. And lastly, I don't like the MD xantid swarm in this meta, with zoo running around everywhere, I feel like the control hate cards should be in the SB.

This is my main right now:

Lands
2 [U] Bayou
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
3 [JGC] Windswept Heath

// Creatures
4 [AL] Elvish Spirit Guide
1 [MOR] Slithermuse
4 [SC] Xantid Swarm
1 [EVE] Odious Trow

// Spells
4 [DIS] Infernal Tutor
2 [SC] Tendrils of Agony
4 [FUT] Summoner's Pact
4 [PT] Cruel Bargain
4 [MI] Lion's Eye Diamond
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [TE] Lotus Petal
4 [EX] Culling the Weak
4 [TO] Cabal Ritual
4 [5E] Dark Ritual
4 [OV] Infernal Contract
2 [SHM] Manamorphose

Any comments?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vacrix

I pile shuffle every single hand I draw, without exception, even mulligans. Its been work out.

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That's exactly his point; pile shuffling isn't shuffling, it's basically stacking your deck, so all you're doing (and what many people sadly do) is less random than the MWS shuffler.

You are required to riffle shuffle or whatever its called in sanctioned tournaments. Therefore, I generally pile shuffle then overhand shuffle to randomize the deck. Pile shuffling in tournaments is only illegal if that is the only way you shuffle your deck without doing anything else to sufficiently randomize your deck order.

@unicoerner
I goldfished the same list last night except
-1 Bayou
-2 Manamorphose
+2 Diabolic Intent
+1 Fetch

Its blazing fast. Still working out the Diabolic Intent lines of play. Having access to so many tallmen makes for some pretty insane lines of play. Infernal Tutor and Diabolic Intent are sometimes good ways to get up the storm count, grabbing a 2nd Culling the Weak. I still haven't decided if everything in it is the right call. Its still a little volatile but MD Xantid Swarm is so nice.

Marit is right. You really can learn it if you dedicate yourself to it.

I shuffle like Dark Ritual does, pile shuffling followed by 7 riffles. It randomizes it well, usually.

Vacrix, is there any build of this deck that can survive well without LEDs ? I love this kind of the deck, but it seems that all of them need LED to be effective, and i'm a little bit tired of playing Tide.

If you had no LED's would you recommend any build of this deck ?

QSI lacks the IGG, IT, LED configuration, so yes, certainly you can play without LED. LED is very explosive though. Its better in the fast builds where going all in with IT or BW + LED is profitable. QSI is anti control. I discuss it in the primer so I'd read through that to get an idea of how it plays.

Here is a list I've been liking:

4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Eternal Witness
1 Slithermuse
1 Odious Trow
1 Tinder Wall

4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox

4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
3 Manamorphose

3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Summoner's Pact


For my personal style, I like manamorphose - sometimes lets you dig 5, cast slithermuse easier and convert the tinder wall mana. I have experimented with 2 ToA and 1 EtW. Still unsure.

I'd previously collected all the pieces for Pact SI, but having never fully dedicated myself to it, found it hard sometimes to juggle the mana, particularly the colours. Anyways, I thought what the heck I'll chuck Land Grant SI into MWS and see how it goes. Wow! Soo much easier to goldfish for me! Having access to the 2nd IGG makes getting to storm count 10 a cinch, and basically being all black means I don't have to worry about when to filter my colours etc etc.

Game 2 say you're playing a non-Blue deck (lets say Zoo). Would you keep the deck together, or swap in the 'man-plan'? I guess if they have combo hate and they brought it in, you might catch them off guard with men. Would you bother doing that against Zoo, or just play combo Game 2 again, and if they hate you out, go Men in Game 3? Just wanting some more information on how to play this archetype in a tournament situation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheSleeper

Game 2 say you're playing a non-Blue deck (lets say Zoo). Would you keep the deck together, or swap in the 'man-plan'? I guess if they have combo hate and they brought it in, you might catch them off guard with men. Would you bother doing that against Zoo, or just play combo Game 2 again, and if they hate you out, go Men in Game 3? Just wanting some more information on how to play this archetype in a tournament situation.

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Against a non blue deck, you want to keep the deck how it is, and just race the hate. The only exception is if you see the zoo deck playing Mindbreak Trap. I lost to that card twice at a tourney, cause I couldn't see it coming, and couldn't to anything. If you suspect it I would recommend bringing in 4 Duress and 3 Autumn's Veil, probably going -1 Tendrils -2 Walker -1 Culling -1 Draw4 -1 Belcher -1 SSG, or something to that effect.

Autumn's Veil does nothing against Trap, just saying. But you're definitely right with saying one should just race the hate. This deck is in general to fast for most hate anyway. Chalice @ 0 is quite fast and decks packing Chalice can easily land Chalice @ 1 first turn as well. That's why I feel most comfortable playing SITES. Burning Wish is just so great, it does everything you need, from getting mainboard hate, to building up storm or to simply kill with Tendrils for 14 and then Grapeshot for the win.

Why would Veil do nothing against trap? Veil gives all your spells protection from Trap, which targets your spells to exile them.

Veil prevents them from being countered, Trap just exiles them.

Ah I misread the card. I thought it said that spells and creatures you control have shroud from blue and black spells.

Even so, Mindbreak Trap is a horrible card against storm because the most popular builds run maindeck discard. Its really only good against SI and Belcher, and thats only if SI isn't running a discard protection suite, which it often does. I'm the exception to that rule.

Ok... So I have a question. Based on the things I've been reading, I think I want the list I test to have the following characteristics:

-As far as main-deck kill-switches, since I think flexibility/unpredictability would be an asset when playing this deck, I want to use a mix of Tendrils and ETW. Probably like 2 Tendrils, 1 Warrens, if that makes sense...

-As far as dual lands, I'd like to use 1 Bayou, 1 Badlands (because, conveniently, that's precisely the amount I own of each one. Lol.)

-I want to use Burning Wish, but not dedicate my whole sideboard to the wishboard. I would probably keep extra business in there (ie one or two more extra kill-switches and Diminishing Returns. The rest of the wishboard would be some anti-hate stuff (ie Meltdown, Deathmark, probably some more stuff that's not occurring to me atm.) I want some extra room in the sideboard if I can get it and still have a jazzy wishboard. Could anyone describe to me what the must-have cards would be to include in a Burning Wish-based sideboard and what's more of a meta call or whatever?

-I want to use Land Grant, because it just seems hella smooth, and I want the mana concerns to be the least of my worries while I'm trying to pick this deck up. I'm not interested in using Summoner's Pact, at first impression. Pact lists just look kind of unwieldy to me, and it seems in general like a less useful free spell than Land Grant... Maybe someone wants to weigh in on this question?

-I want Tomb of Urami in the sideboard, possibly also either Phylactery Lich and Tombstalker, in some combination or another.

-As far as protection in the sideboard, I'd like to use some mix of Xantid Swarm, Autumn's Veil, and Duress (or does Thoughtsieze maybe make more sense, since it can also preemptively kill hate bears?)

-I might like to squeeze some Manamorphoses into there, since as I said, I want the mana to be a non-issue while I learn to play the deck.

...So. In general, my question is, does this sound like something I could manage to turn into a cohesive deck, or am I using too many different ideas at once? Does it sound like I don't have enough room in my sideboard to accomplish all the different things I want from it? (those things being small wish-board, man-plan, and some combination of Autumn, Xantid, and Duress protection...) If anyone were to be able to give me a viable sample decklist that had all (or most of) those characteristics I just described, they'd kinda be my hero right about now. Anyhow, thanks for bearing with me while I try to wrap my head around the idea of this strategy. Peace y'all.

Can someone explain to me the purpose of splitting win conditions up between two storm cards (Empty & Tendrils)? When is Empty the Warrens better? Maybe I'm missing something. I guess with Empty you can get a storm of 7-8 and still win, but with Tendrils you need it to be the 10th spell. Still, I dunno. Maybe I'm just greedy, but I'll take Tendrils & Belcher over Empty the Warrens every time. Guess it depends on the meta and which hosers people run. I'd rather just have to worry about FoW and be able to forget about Moat/Ghostly Prison/Tabernacle/Explosives/Elephant Grass/Firespout/Sharpshooter/Engineered Plague etc.

I know not all of those are commonly seen; I'm not trying to be a dick. I used to play Belcher and have lost a number of matches because the tokens just didn't get there. To be fair, they did get it done a lot too. Not sure I made a point after all that!

Can anyone comment on the differences between the Kobolds/Wish version and the LGSI version? Basically both have free-men to enable Culling. I'm guessing Wish is more resilient since you can answer hate, but maybe slower?