[Deck] TES - The EPIC Storm

How many lands do you prefer?

11 with Tomb of Urami and Cabal Pit.
I think that at the next tournament where I preview many Threshold I switch +1 pit -1 urami.

How many storm spells, which ones?
3: 2 ToA & 1 EtW.

Which protection spells, and how many of each?
4 xantid swarm, but now I'm testing others protection cards different from duress/therapy.

Which acceleration, Rite of Flame or Simian Spirit Guide?
Rite of flame. Sure.

What's your "Wish board"?
At last tournament:
3 EtW
1 ToA
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Iggy Pop
1 Shattering Spree
1 Tranquility (next tournament simplify)
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Earthquake

Sideboard cards outside your "Wishboard"?
3 dark Confidant
2 Orim's Chant

Do you aggresively Mulligan?
Depends...if I play against fast combo decks like belcher or against fast control like counterbalance decks I mulligan aggresively. Instead against slow decks I can to keep a weak hand.

Diminishing Returns, Why or why not?
Sure. It gives me the possibility to combo with not many mana in pool or for to go around a stifle/orim when I can't wish -> therapy.

2x Chrome Mox, Burning Wish, Empty the Warrens, Rite of Flame, Plunge into Darkness, and Infernal Tutor.
I keep sure against not blue decks. I need only one of my acceleration (11 lands + 4 ritual + 3 rite + 4 LED + 4 cabal +4 petal +2 chrome = 32 cards of 52) to produce some gobbos. With a LED I can think also to start with a diminishing returns. Instead if my opponent plays a deck based on blue I think I can keep, but I'm not so sure; depends also if he play stifle.

City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, Tomb of Urami, Dark Ritual, Diminishing Returns, Rite of Flame, and Chrome Mox.
I don't like this hand. 3 lands are too many and I can do the diminishing returns in my second turn only if I topdeck red (0 mana open) or black spell (1 black open) or petal.
I think I can keep this hand only against decks that don't use discard effects and counters. Pratically only against bye:tongue:

LED, LED, Burning Wish, Brainstorm, Land, Diminishing Returns, and Cabal Ritual.
WoW! Keep, Keep, Keep! This deck is risk and I want to play risky! :wink:
I need only a land, petal, chrome or rite to start and if I topdeck a bad cabal ritual I can play also brainstorm to increase the possibility to draw the cards that I need.

If the opponent goes Island go, do people go land, Chrome Mox to bait Daze on Chrome Mox, or do people go land Xantid Swarm and disregard Daze?
For my experience in tournament against decks that use daze I go around it to save my xantid. I'm more slow and I have a minor storm count, but If my opponent can counter my xantid he go in card disavantage perhaps discarding Daze on FoW.

Do people SB out ETW(s) on the draw?
Usually not.

Do people ever want to be able to SB in Tendrils to have 3 MD against control?
I never try this strategy against control. But I think that I prefer to have a 4 more possibility to tutor the ToA at right time. Also against control I can side in 2 additional EtW, so I prefer side in them instead of an additional ToA.
At now, with orim, more EtW and confidants perhaps I have too many cards against control, but I prefer to keep out shattering spree because stax isn't present in my meta.

Hand one: Gemstone mine, City of Brass, Undiscovered Paradise, Cabal Ritual, Xantid Swarm and Burning Wish.
Against decks with blue I keep sure instead of mulligan at 5. Against fast decks like combo or gobbo I think I mulligan.

Hand two: 2x Xantid Swarm, 2x Dark Ritual, City of Brass, Lotus Petal and Brainstorm.
Keep. It's a strong hand against blue based decks and against others decks I need a tutor to start with a brainstorm in hand. Sometimes when my opponent doesn't to do many pressure I wait to cast brainstorm so its effect goes more deep in the deck.

Hand Three: Rite of Flame, Tendrils of Agony, 2x Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Diminishing Returns and Brainstorm.
Mah, I mulligan. Damn brainstorm can do to me a bad choice. :eek:

Isn't Tomb of Urami superior to Cabal Pit against Threshold? A 5/5 will win the game, where removing a Meddling Mage is still at least a Stone Rain and a Time Walk.

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Originally Posted by BreathWeapon

Isn't Tomb of Urami superior to Cabal Pit against Threshold? A 5/5 will win the game, where removing a Meddling Mage is still at least a Stone Rain and a Time Walk.

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I really hate agreeing with this guy but... he's right. If I'd cut anything for Cabal Pit it'd be the second paradise. Cabal Pit was in earlier lists until ETW started unleashing havoc: buring cities, kicking children, stealing Matt Elgin's collection, robbed key bank and everything else. ETW just got round Meddling Mages and other such hate, leaving Cabal Pit unnessesary.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

I really hate agreeing with this guy but... he's right. If I'd cut anything for Cabal Pit it'd be the second paradise. Cabal Pit was in earlier lists until ETW started unleashing havoc: buring cities, kicking children, stealing Matt Elgin's collection, robbed key bank and everything else. ETW just got round Meddling Mages and other such hate, leaving Cabal Pit unnessesary.

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Well at least we now know what happened to Elgin's cards. If only we could find who stole Anwar's cards as easily.

Concerning Tomb of Urami,
In what situations do you blow it? BreathWeapon mentions its use against Threshold but doesn't STP just own you then?

a) Would they even bother to leave in StP game 2 and 3?

b) Urami seems like more of a threat than -2/-2. Wouldn't you agree?

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Originally Posted by noobslayer

a) Would they even bother to leave in StP game 2 and 3?

b) Urami seems like more of a threat than -2/-2. Wouldn't you agree?

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a) Why would they take out 4 answers to Swarm? and for what?

b) I didn't mean to suggest that I liked Cabal Pit in that slot, I was just looking for ideas for the optimal use of Tomb.

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Originally Posted by Ewokslayer

Well at least we now know what happened to Elgin's cards. If only we could find who stole Anwar's cards as easily.

Concerning Tomb of Urami,
In what situations do you blow it? BreathWeapon mentions its use against Threshold but doesn't STP just own you then?

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It's more or less the deck's only out with Infernal Tutor against Arcane Lab, you play the Lion's Eye Diamond, play the Infernal Tutor and then sacrifice the Lion's Eye Diamond in response to tutor for the Tomb of Urami and cast it. Whenever aggro-control or control has Arcane Lab, Null Rod or Chalice of the Void @ 0 or 1, it's a good time to consider blowing the Tomb of Urami and winning in the air if you can't just Empty the Warrens or Burning Wish for Empty the Warrens and an answer (sometimes that's just too slow tho').

So, since we're soon going to be able to run 56 cards, which 4 cards are going to get the axe?

I imagine some combination of land and maybe Cabal Ritual or Chrome Mox.

Thoughts?

It has terrible synergy with Dark Confidant with a 3BB casting cost, I simply don't think 7 life draw a card is worth it. Since Dark Confidant is amazing in control match-ups.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

It has terrible synergy with Dark Confidant with a 3BB casting cost, I simply don't think 7 life draw a card is worth it. Since Dark Confidant is amazing in control match-ups.

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It has problems with mulliganing, Brainstorm and Plunge into Darkness to, but on the other side of the argument, Dark Confidant isn't relevant until game 2, and this card can be SBed out for Dark Confidant. It increases Threshold and the number of black cards for Chrome Mox, for what that is worth.

I would consider cutting a Plunge into Darkness, Brainstorm, Chrome Mox, Cabal Ritual and/or a Land for it and see how it works out.

3/4 with Swamp Walk isn't bad either, I could see times where it would be a useful out.

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Originally Posted by BreathWeapon

It has problems with mulliganing, Brainstorm and Plunge into Darkness to, but on the other side of the argument, Dark Confidant isn't relevant until game 2, and this card can be SBed out for Dark Confidant. It increases Threshold and the number of black cards for Chrome Mox, for what that is worth.

I would consider cutting a Plunge into Darkness, Brainstorm, Chrome Mox, Cabal Ritual and/or a Land for it and see how it works out.

3/4 with Swamp Walk isn't bad either, I could see times where it would be a useful out.

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If I have 5 mana to waste I might as well be winning the game, no? Also, going below 4 Brainstorm? No. I've already made some MD changes and I simply don't have room for a cycler. If I wanted to play 4 less cards in my deck I would've played baubles.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

If I have 5 mana to waste I might as well be winning the game, no? Also, going below 4 Brainstorm? No. I've already made some MD changes and I simply don't have room for a cycler. If I wanted to play 4 less cards in my deck I would've played baubles.

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Bauble != a free cycler. With the baubles, there's a delay in getting the card, which is bad since it slows you down a turn. You can cycle at any time, though, so the zombie doesn't slow you down.

Yes, it can potentially make your mulligans and brainstorms a little worse, but running 56 cards is going to increase the consistency over 60. Essentially, it lets us cut our 4 worst cards. I can't see how this could be a bad thing.

Besides, it's not really about having room. When you build a deck, you can't think about it as starting with a whole lot of cards and then tossing some out. Think about it as starting with an empty list and then adding the best cards.

So then why don't we play 12 "free slots"? I mean every deck should do it then, not just combo.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

So then why don't we play 12 "free slots"? I mean every deck should do it then, not just combo.

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What 12? If you're referring to the Baubles, I already mentioned that the delay in seeing the card is the reason you wouldn't play them.

There's not much of a difference between the two, atleast baubles add storm. Which I'm not even advocating. Causing inconsistancy with opening hands, brainstorms, plunges and Diminishing Returns should be more than enough reasons to play other cards over [pay two life: draw a card].

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

There's not much of a difference between the two, atleast baubles add storm. Which I'm not even advocating. Causing inconsistancy with opening hands, brainstorms, plunges and Diminishing Returns should be more than enough reasons to play other cards over [pay two life: draw a card].

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Seeing a card now and seeing a card next turn is vastly different in a deck that wants to use all the cards it has to go off now. (Baubles don't even add storm because you have to play them the turn before you go off, unless you don't care about the card, in which case they could be anything.)

Also, it in no way causes inconsistency with Diminishing Returns. If you draw a zombie off of a Returns, you just cycle it. Sure, it can make Brainstorms show you fewer cards, but it can also be used to get you more cards off of a Brainstorm immediately, rather than having to wait to draw them.

I will admit, it's less than optimal when making mulligan decisions, or with Plunge into Darkness, but I feel that it would be a grave mistake not to at least test the card out, since the potential for improving the consistency of the deck by allowing it to run fewer weaker cards could be very potent.

Its bad with returns because what if you get tons of acceleration and wraith(Could've been Brainstorm or Plunge)(We all know these hands happen alot). Draw into nothing, oh look we fizzel. Brainstorm would've dug two cards deeper and Plunge X cards deeper than Wraith. That's why it's worse with Returns.

I could counter argue that if the Street Wraith was Brainstorm or Plunge that you wouldn't have to wait as long. If the Wraith was Plunge you wouldn't have to wait period.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

Its bad with returns because what if you get tons of acceleration and wraith(Could've been Brainstorm or Plunge)(We all know these hands happen alot). Draw into nothing, oh look we fizzel. Brainstorm would've dug two cards deeper and Plunge X cards deeper than Wraith. That's why it's worse with Returns.

I could counter argue that if the Street Wraith was Brainstorm or Plunge that you wouldn't have to wait as long. If the Wraith was Plunge you wouldn't have to wait period.

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Yeah, but the Brainstorm or Plunge or even your win condition could have been just on top of your deck, too.

Wraith just becomes whatever card was on top of your library. You can get hosed by crap hands drawing seven cards just the same as drawing seven cards and then cycling one, except that in the latter example you actually have a better chance of seeing specific cards. You have a better chance of seeing good cards because there are functionally fewer cards that you can draw.

Saying that Wraith decreases the quality of a Diminishing Returns is just wrong. If anything, it increases it.

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Originally Posted by outsideangel

Yeah, but the Brainstorm or Plunge or even your win condition could have been just on top of your deck, too.

Wraith just becomes whatever card was on top of your library. You can get hosed by crap hands drawing seven cards just the same as drawing seven cards and then cycling one, except that in the latter example you actually have a better chance of seeing specific cards. You have a better chance of seeing good cards because there are functionally fewer cards that you can draw.

Saying that Wraith decreases the quality of a Diminishing Returns is just wrong. If anything, it increases it.

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I'm supposed to rely on the top card of my library? Why don't people keep no land hands with landstill? I mean, it may be on the top, right? Compared to Chrome Mox yes, the Wraith increases chances, not to Brainstorm or Plunge into Darkness. You have a better chance of success with Brainstorm and Plunge than a cycle card.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

I'm supposed to rely on the top card of my library? Why don't people keep no land hands with landstill? I mean, it may be on the top, right?

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Last time I checked, you can't mulligan the hand you draw off a Returns.

Yes, Wraith makes your mulliganing decisions harder. Not because it shows you less than seven actually cards, but because you have no information about what the card it will turn it to will be.

But this absolutely does not apply to Diminishing Returns, because you always keep the new hand. You don't have to make a decision based on guessing what the top card is, because there is no decision, and you are going to see the top card.

My point wasn't on mulligans it was you don't base card choices/situations on the top card. It's bad deckbuilding.

That doesn't change the fact that it's simply not better at winning the game or digging than Brainstorm or Plunge into Darkness.

You're right. It's not better at winning the game than Brainstorm or Plunge into Darkness. In fact, it's not better at winning the game than anything.

That's not the point. Some other cards in your deck are better at winning the game, though. Wraith lets you see those cards more often.

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Originally Posted by outsideangel

You're right. It's not better at winning the game than Brainstorm or Plunge into Darkness. In fact, it's not better at winning the game than anything.

That's not the point. Some other cards in your deck are better at winning the game, though. Wraith lets you see those cards more often.

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Both Brainstorm and Plunge into Darkness have card selection where as Wraith only sees the top card of your library. Card selection in TES is what wins games, what if the top card of your deck was a land and you needed Infernal? Which happened to be two cards lower. If we wanted random draw in TES we would be playing Meditates and Bargains. TES is tutor based combo and a random draw 1 isn't going to help you. TES is very unbalanced when it comes down to it, too much acceleration and very little tutors. This is why we don't play random draw X's besides Diminishing Returns. Cutting down on cards that find tutors is a horrible idea.

EDIT: To be more clear, the chances of you getting what you need off of a simple cycle are slim, very slim.

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Originally Posted by wastedlife

Both Brainstorm and Plunge into Darkness have card selection where as Wraith only sees the top card of your library. Card selection in TES is what wins games, what if the top card of your deck was a land and you needed Infernal? Which happened to be two cards lower. If we wanted random draw in TES we would be playing Meditates and Bargains. TES is tutor based combo and a random draw 1 isn't going to help you. TES is very unbalanced when it comes down to it, too much acceleration and very little tutors. This is why we don't play random draw X's besides Diminishing Returns. Cutting down on cards that find tutors is a horrible idea.

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Err...you do understand that this has no mana cost, right? For a combo deck that cares very little about its life total this is essentially free. As in, it requires no investment of resources.

It's not draw. It's not a spell. All it does is let you play 4 less cards in your deck, at the cost of making mulligan decisions harder and Plunge slightly worse and sometimes 2 life.

Don't compare it to Brainstorm. Don't compare it to Plunge. In fact, don't compare it to anything. When you evaluate this card's strength, you do so by taking the weakest card in the deck, and comparing it to the next-to-weakest.

The question is, is gap in power between the weakest and next-to-weakest cards in the deck enough to warrant making your mulligans and Plunges and life total sometimes worse in order to close it?

outsideangel, what you fail to understand is that in an accel-heavy deck that relies on tutors to find the business, playing 56 cards doesn't really help that much. We need the acceleration as well as redundancy (something not provided by wrath) due to Diminishing Returns. What TES needs, if anything, is a better tutor than Plunge into Darkness. Unfortunately, Vampiric Tutor is banned, and Wizards doesn't appear to be ready to make another mistake like that again.

As far as only marginally hurting Plunge, to fully excercise the power of wrath, i.e. to play 56 cards, you need to pay 8 life. This conflicts with our ability to Plunge twice, while hurting our redundancy for the RFG 10 clause of Diminshing Returns. It even makes mulligans harder. This card seems tempting at first, but upon analysis (and I'm willing to bet, Testing) it is awful.

btw, the weakest card in the deck is Underdiscovered Paraise (can't be replaced due to affecting land percentage), followed up by Infernal Tutor. Neither of these cards are replaceable. Brainstorm and Plunge are both significantly more powerful than the worst two cards in the deck, which are themselves integral to the deck. Designing a combo deck by "power level" is pretty bad to begin with. If Long did that, they'd obv play Channel, but it isn't synergistic.

There are two means of evaluating this card,

The first is to replace card X, where X is a specific 4x in the deck, and the effects of the Street Wraith can be evaluated against that specific card, or replace cards A, B, C and D, where A, B, C and D are 1x of a 4x in the deck to manipulate the margins and create a 56 card deck that increases the odds of drawing the best cards.

The first means of evaluating the card leads us to replacing the worst card in the deck with Street Wraith, and I believe we can all agree that the worst card in this deck is Cabal Ritual. The question now becomes, does replacing Cabal Riutal and reducing the deck to 56 cards, increasing the statistical chances of drawing into a superior accelerant or a business card, worth losing 4 accelerants?

[Place holder, I don't have the time for the statistics on this, but I suspect cutting Cabal Ritual to increase the chances of drawing the rest of the cards in the deck is the best choice.]

The second means of evaluating the card leads to replacing the following, 1xInfernal Tutor, 1xPlunge into Darkness, 2xCabal Ritual. To explain the choices, a 56 card deck permits the number of cards in each slot to be decreased, so I trimmed the worst cards in each slot. 1xInfernal Tutor goes to the SB, reducing the tutors to 7 and increasing the power of Burning Wish, 1xPlunge into Darkness is removed to decrease the number of 2cc cards and manipulation (don't cut Brainstorm), 2xCabal Ritual are removed to decrease the number of Rituals, even tho' it isn't proportional to the other slots; Right of Flame is an option, to put it in the SB for Burning Wish, but we've argued that before.

The second means of evaluating the card is the most difficult, and this is the one that is going to lead to the most of "if Street Wraith were cards A,B,C or D" counter arguments as well as botched mulligans.

Right now, I'm testing the first means of evaluating the card, since it's the simplest to do and the easiest to argue.

It seems promising, Cycling into another accelerant, Dark Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal or Right of Flame is almost always better than the Cabal Ritual, and Cycling into another land isn't bad if you don't already have two, tho' Cycling into a second Chrome Mox can suck.

Cycling into a Xantid Swarm is never bad, IMO. Brainstorm and Plunge into Darkness means the deck is going to have to cast either one of them to find another accelerant, but that's not a bad thing. Infernal Tutor and Burning Wish can be goood/bad, Infernal Tutor has to have an accelerant in hand, and Burning Wish has to be able to tutor for an accelerant, otherwise it's just a business card. About the worst cards the deck can get are Tendrils of Agony and Ill Gotten Gains; Diminishing Returns is at least hard castable, and Empty the Warrens completely changes the nature of your hand.

The card doesn't seem that bad since there are two clear "worst cards" in the deck and one is more of a necessary evil than the other.

I'm not advocating that the card should/shouldn't be added, but dismissing it out right is a mistake in my opinion.

I popped into this thread really hoping no one was suggesting Street Wraith in this deck. Im so disappointed. You cant have this card in your deck with Confidant, if your answer is thats what you'd side out, why bother with it in the first place..

At least Urza's Bauble counted for Storm. Street Wraith is godawful here.

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Originally Posted by bane_of_the_living

I popped into this thread really hoping no one was suggesting Street Wraith in this deck. Im so disappointed. You cant have this card in your deck with Confidant, if your answer is thats what you'd side out, why bother with it in the first place..

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Because Dark Confidant isn't relevant until game 2, and Cabal Ritual gets SBed out for Dark Confidant in a lot of match ups, and Dark Confidant isn't SBed in against all match ups.

@MattHH.

Baubles draw a card on the following turn, Wraith draws the card on the same turn, and the card Wraith draws adds storm and mana. I don't mind cutting Cabal Rituals at all, mulliganing hasn't been a problem and the life loss isn't a significant factor so far.

I knee jerked at the card to, but once I learned what to expect, it turned out to be better than I thought.

I agree with BreathWeapon on the fact that the cycler could easily be included as a 4-of (even in place of cabal ritual) and switched out for the confidant in approriate match ups.
Even the land-cycler could warrant inclusion (for obvious deck-thinning and card quality reasons).

Unfortunately as already stated they would really mess with mulligan decisions and definitely screw brainstorm.

And while i feel that a bit of gambit with the opening hand is acceptable, the fact that Brainstorm will no longer be an Ancestral Recall might be a little too much.

Is the cycler an auto-include? No.
Is it worth testing? Yes.
Is the land cycler worth testing too? Yes.

I think this cycler is very good because in the WORST case, instead of drawing the worst card in the deck you will cycle into the second worst card in the deck, which is already good.I do think we might want to consider running 3 because having 2 in your hand can be a significant lifeloss together with city and plunge, against aggro. I think we need at least 12 tutors so I wouldn't take out plunge and definitly not infernal tutor, but 1 chrome mox, 1 land (running 10 land), and 1 empty the warrens(move to SB). I don't like having more than 1 maindeck empty the warrens, because I play more and more people who know the deck and bring in hate against it, especialy engineered explosives and pyroclasm. The chrome moxes I hate having 2 of so I was already playing with less, and running 10 land on essentially 57 cards, where I heard 10 on 60 was already OK, should be fine.

I also wonder how wizards could print such a powerfull card, I mean burn should run it as a four of, ******** probably(creates ********), any combo deck that doesn't care about aggro, and in vintage I think any deck would run it.:confused: Am I missing something? This just seems too good.

This is still going to suffer the main problem of Bauble, which is that it affects mulligan decisions in a bad way.

I always felt that the main problem with Bauble was that it doesn't get you the card until the next turn. This gets it to you immediately, and at Instant speed no less.

I'll continue winning and let everyone else decide on if the card is playable or not. I've played a few matches here and there with the card in it and dislike it. To each his own, hopefully I'll see some of you in the winner's bracket.

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Originally Posted by matelml

I think this cycler is very good because in the WORST case, instead of drawing the worst card in the deck you will cycle into the second worst card in the deck, which is already good.I do think we might want to consider running 3 because having 2 in your hand can be a significant lifeloss together with city and plunge, against aggro. I think we need at least 12 tutors so I wouldn't take out plunge and definitly not infernal tutor, but 1 chrome mox, 1 land (running 10 land), and 1 empty the warrens(move to SB). I don't like having more than 1 maindeck empty the warrens, because I play more and more people who know the deck and bring in hate against it, especialy engineered explosives and pyroclasm. The chrome moxes I hate having 2 of so I was already playing with less, and running 10 land on essentially 57 cards, where I heard 10 on 60 was already OK, should be fine.

I also wonder how wizards could print such a powerfull card, I mean burn should run it as a four of, ******** probably(creates ********), any combo deck that doesn't care about aggro, and in vintage I think any deck would run it.:confused: Am I missing something? This just seems too good.

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Ughhh...Are you serious dude?...lol...Please tell me your kidding and that you don't think that this card is really that "broken"...I mean, yea it thins the deck but really how good is that?...I mean SERIOUSLY...I would much rather leave in the three cards you named because they help keep the consistency of the deck...you even said it yourself up there...it would be a lot of life loss w/city and plunge...but really, the card essentially reads "replace this card with the top card of your deck and loose two life". The only deck I can really see it shining in is Ichorid...Most decks should be designed/built solid enough where they don't have random 3-4 cards that just suck and should be replaced with a "free" draw 1 spell and if they do, than I guess that deck isn't all that good in the first place.

One of the best cards for combo in Time Spiral has just been spoiled,

Magus of the Future 2UUU

Creature-Human Wizard

Play with the top card of your library revealed.

You may play the top card of your library.

2/3

It's time to start considering Living Wish in TES,

1) Minion of the Wastes, for 1G and 3BBB, the deck gains an unrestricted Tinker->Colossus.

2) Magus of the Future, for 1G and 2UUU, the deck gains Future Sight. Altho' at the cost of UUU the deck has to use LED in order to cast it, it either allows the deck to win now or win after it's untap step.

3) Magus of the Jar, for 1G and 3UU, the deck gains an unrestricted Memory Jar. Unlike Magus of the Future, the deck doesn't have to use LED in order to cast it, and unlike Diminishing Returns the opponent doesn't get to keep his new hand.

Other notable considerations, the deck can tutor for creatures or lands removed via Plunge into Darkness, Xantid Swarm, golden lands,Tomb of Urami or Cabal Pit etc. or it can tutor for cards removed via Swords to Plowshares, Xantid Swarm, as well as the SB Dark Confidants.

Some possible inclusions in the SB,

Xantid Swarm, if the MD can spare it.
Mesmeric Fiend, as a pseudo Xantid Swarm if the MD can't spare it.
Ancient Tomb, 2 mana and a land drop.
Kagemaro, First to Suffer, cost effective threat or a Wrath of God.
Fire Imp, removal and Goblin chump blocker.
Woodripper, costly mass removal.
Goblin Tinkerer, cheap mass removal
Gorilla Shaman, cheaper mass removal
Indrik Stomphowler, costly threat and removal.
Uktabi Orangutang, cheap removal and Goblin chump blocker
Tin-Street Hooligan, cheaper removal and Goblin chum blocker.
Elvish Scrapper, cheap removal with Summoning Sickness
Storm Entity, cheap threat that has synergy with storm
Jotun Grunt, cheap threat that hoses Threshold.

Having a tutor that can find this format's equivalent of restricted bombs in Vintage with unrestricted Lion's Eye Diamond that also adds more utility to the SB and redundancy to the MD seems like it should be considered.I realize that it would require changes to the MD and SB, and I'm not certain what those changes should be, but it's bound to be worth investigating at the least.

I think it's very good and am going to play this card to prove it's good.
I changed my mind about taking one plunge out, look at this:
Some percentages:

Now playing 12/60 tutors=0.2

-1 plunge, chrome mox, land, empty the warrens:11/56 tutors=0.1964, which is almost no difference.
amount of 0 mana manasources: without:19/60=0.3166, with:17/56=0.3035, again almost no diference (the amount of land is even less difference:11/60=0.183, 10/56=0.1780.

I even found situations it is good with brainstorm. If you only have black mana, a LED and use brainstorm and brainstorm into wraith, wish, swarm, then you can put the wish on top, cycle and in response crack the led for red. Situations like this happened to me several times in testing.I see mulliganing becomes more difficult, but not impossible. When you would only keep the hand if you would draw a certain card you mull, except if the chances of drawing thet card or something similar are more than 50%.

Also I think living wish is a horrible idea because all those things you mentioned cost way too much mana and can only be done when you have a LED and a really good hand.

I mean no offense with my posts and respect all your opinions. Also I might look like a noob because of my post count, but I have been reading this thread since the beginning.

I know the idea is radical, but it's no more radical then when we suggested using Burning Wish in combo last summer; Burning Wish is more synergistic, but Living Wish is more powerful.

Living Wish for Minion of the Waste is the same amount of mana as Infernal Tutor for the Ill Gotten Gains chains, and it can be cast over the course of two turns.

Living Wish for Magus of the Jar is appr. the same amount of mana as Burning Wish for Diminishing Returns, and it can be cast over the course of two turns, and unlike Diminishing Returns there's no chance of it failing or backfiring.

Living Wish + LED for Magus of the Future is a Dark Confidant on steroids.

Xantid Swarm + Living Wish is the equivalent of having a counter for a Swords to Plowshares in hand.

Living Wish for Dark Confidant is a tutor for Dark Confidant that doesn't cost life.

Living Wish for Ancient Tomb is +1 storm and another land drop.

Living Wish for Storm Entity is extremely good after an accelerant heavy hand or a Draw7.

I'm not advocating that the deck should use four of them, but there are a lot of cards that could be cut to increase the number of tutors in the deck, from the second Tendrils of Agony, second and/or third Empty the Warrens, fourth Infernal Tutor, fourth Chrome Mox, fourth Cabal Ritual or the MD Diminshing Returns.

I have no idea about what to do with the SB, I suggest just adding everything you want and cut what you don't need as you fail to wish for it in testing.

Just start with Living Wish in hand and goldfish with it for awhile, the card turns more tricks than Burning Wishing in this deck.

Edit: When Street Wraith is in the SB it lets Living Wish Cycle.

All of those plans are basically worse than Burning Wish for Empty the Warrens or Tendrils.

Magus of Jar - Takes another turn to work.
Magus of Future Sight - Way more difficult to set up (3GUUU) than Returns, stalls on land.
Dark Confidant - Does nothing to help win that turn
Ancient Tomb - Since when is colorless mana an issue?
Xantid Swarm - Best when dropped turn 1. Wish as a counter for StP is a pretty weak point of debate, too. Why not run Pull From Eternity while we're at it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Nightmare

All of those plans are basically worse than Burning Wish for Empty the Warrens or Tendrils.

Magus of Jar - Takes another turn to work.
Magus of Future Sight - Way more difficult to set up (3GUUU) than Returns, stalls on land.
Dark Confidant - Does nothing to help win that turn
Ancient Tomb - Since when is colorless mana an issue?
Xantid Swarm - Best when dropped turn 1. Wish as a counter for StP is a pretty weak point of debate, too. Why not run Pull From Eternity while we're at it?

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I agree, but it isn't a question of removing Burning Wish for Living Wish, it's a question of whether or not the card is functional in the MD and whether or not it can replace mediocre cards with out butchering the SB.

Magus of the Jar-Untapping with Memory Jar isn't a bad thing, and the opponent doesn't get to keep his new hand.

Magus of the Future-It requires one more mana and LED where Diminishing Returns doesn't, but Future Sight remains on the board and doesn't give the opponent a new hand.

There are going to be one to two lands in hand, possibly a land off of Brainstorm and lands RFGed via Plunge into Darkness.

I'm not certain how effective it is at the moment, but if Keeper could be modified to use Future Sight and Burning Wish for a combo kill, I imagine TES isn't that bad off as it is.

Dark Confidant-It doesn't have to, if you're wishing for Dark Confidant, you're planning to win over the long haul.

Ancient Tomb-2 colorless mana reduces the amount of colored mana that has to be used when casting cards with colorless mana requirements, if that isn't enough, it can wish for an RFGed golden land after Plunge into Darkness or you can add another land to the SB.

I agree that Xantid Swarm should be MD, but it's not as if having synergy with Xantid Swarm after a Swords to Plowshares and Plunge into Darkness is a bad thing.

I actually think Living Wish for Minion of the Wastes is stronger than Burning Wish for Empty the Warrens, considering the amount of hate aggro-control SBs in against Empty the Warrens and the chances that they'll SB out Swords to Plowshares.

Just dismissing the card is a bad idea, it offers TES non-LED based bombs as well as LED based bombs to consider. Memory Jar and Future Sight have been broken in combo before, Minion of the Wastes is under rated, wishing for Dark Confidant or a land drop offers a small ball approach and at worst it Cycles with Street Wraith.

I realize the deck and the SB would have to be retooled, but just for now, starting with one in the first seven or eight cards and an unlimited SB is useful for testing the merits of the card, the rest can be figured out later.

Dismissing it out right is a mistake, let's at least be certain it isn't worth it.