Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Hi, I was today in Legacy event in Vienna. 2-2. 66% was U+something... It was horrible for me. My current decklist is really not prepared against blue-based decks.
Match 1 RUG 0-2
Match 2 bye
Match 3 UWb Miracles 0-2 killed by Jace. He counter or Vindicate all my key cards...
Match 4 ANT 2-0 (in game 2 I survive Tendrils for 20, thanks to Lightning Helix and later I killed him with another Helix when he Ad Nauseam to 3lifes in response via Scroll Rack).
So as said many times, deck is very good now against aggro and combo, but blue-based control is always loose.
Main issue is win condition. Even when get ''board control'' I have issue how to kill him...
I have to change my decklist radical. I think I will switch back to mono-white although lifegain was very good...
Than I think to remove Noxious Revival. I will add more Sensei, and I need another good win condition (maybe RIP+Helm, ...)
I'm thinking again abaout Mishra's Factory, Wasteland and maybe Crucible of Worlds
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
I piloted this to the 2nd Legacy Cockatrice Tournament at the MTGSalvation. I came 2nd overall (losing to Finn piloting D&T in the finals). The format was single elimination.
First and foremost, the list:
10 Snow-Covered Plains
4 City of Traitors
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Lotus Vale
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Helm of Obedience
3 Pithing Needle
4 Mox Diamond
4 Scroll Rack
2 Humility
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Rest in Peace
4 Land Tax
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus
Sideboard:
4x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Trinisphere
3x Aura of Silence
2x Ghostly Prison
2x Karmic Justice
Currently I am too lazy to justify all my card choices but if you guys ask questions about them, I will answer them.
Round 1 (Kevinliu w/ BUG)
This was actually more of a bye as he can't set up a proper game with me. He ended up just dropping the whole tournament.
2-0
Round 2 (rxavage w/ OmniTell)
Game 1: He goes for an early Show and Tell. All I remember is I drop Humility and then a turn later, I go for Elspeth and win from there. At this point, I am not sure what kind of Show and Tell variant he has. I didn't have Tax/Rack draw engine on this match.
Sideboard: -4 Swords to Plowshares, +4 Trinisphere
Game 2: I go turn one Land Tax, turn 2 Scroll Rack. But he Force of Wills it and then Surgical Extractions it. It kinda saddened me since I was holding Rest in Peace. Rest in Peace shuts off Surgical Extraction. I then went on going for Rest in Peace, Trinisphere and Humility in consecutive turns. But from there, I kept drawing lands. He eventually got enough mana to get Karn Liberated going, with the help of his early Lotus Petal, and Ancient Tombs. He actually got Karn to +14 Loyalty (with a pending Emrakul, the Aeons Torn along with it). On the critical turn, I pulled off a miracle buy topdecking Pithing Needle (naming Karn of course). Luckily he didn't have any permission. On his following turn, he goes for Show and Tell for Omniscience. He then tries to go for the storm combo via (Burning Wish) but I pointed out Trinisphere makes everything cost at least :3: even with Omniscience out. He ended the turn knowing what the only card in his hand. On my turn, I draw a Tutor. On his turn, he B.Wishes for Time of Need and ended the turn. On his end of turn, I Tutored for Helm and proceeded to win next turn.
2-0
Round 3 (TANE w/ Death and Taxes)
Game 1: I StPed an early Stoneforge Mystic (which grabbed Batterskull). He tried to lock me with Rishadan Port but his threat was anemic. An early Humility slowed him enough for me to set up RIP/Helm Combo. I didn't get a Tax/Rack engine on the field.
Sideboard: +2 Karmic Justice/-2 Oblivion Ring
Game 2: He did nothing for his first turn while I go for Mox, Land Tax, Plains, Needle on SFMystic on mine. He drops Rishadan Port and does nothing. He taps my Plains with it but I drop a second Needle naming the Port. He still went for SFMystic (grabbing Sword of Fire and Ice) and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and starts beating me with them. I go for an accelerated Humility to slow his attack down. I eventually get the Tax/Rack engine going to help set up a couple of miracle topdecks and eventually with the RIP/Helm Combo.
2-0
Round 4 (Swanofblood w/ Death and Taxes)
Game 1: The game began with me playing around Thalia and Karakas tricks. I was getting the short end of the stick when I got the Tax/Rack engine going. Tax/Rack set up a couple of miracle topdecks. That slowed him enough for me to get Humility going. Elspeth sooned followed to clean up.
Sideboard: +2 Karmic Justice/-2 Oblivion Ring
Game 2: He got quick beats with Thalia (I have StPed a couple of them in the early turns) and friends while sit there trying to develop my mana base. I got land screwed on this game while I had 4+cc bombs in my hand (Elspeth, Humility, Terminus, Helm). The only thing I can cast at this point was Karmic Justice and it didn't help my cause. I lost this game.
Sideboard: -2 Karmic Justice/+2 Oblivion Ring
Game 3: I don't remember much from this game (I should have finished my notes). All I remembered was he had Judge's Familiar, Ethersworn Canonist (no idea why he sided it in) and Thalia. I resolve a Humilty on the fourth turn (with the help of a first turn Mox). He attacks with everything and doesn't do much. On the next turn, I go for RIP, then Helm (with the help of City of Traitors) then activate the combo for the win. He was not expecting that. My power soon died after because of Hurricane Sandy.
Round 5 (Finn w/ Death and Taxes)
Game 1: He thinks I am running Storm because of my comment on the Tournament Thread at MTGS. He goes for a turn one Judge's Familiar. I go for a turn one Land Tax. He goes for a turn two Thalia. My hand didn't have lands or removal and I fear I won't get Land Tax active. I go tutor for SDTop. His team was helped with Serra Avenger while keeping a low land count. My Land Tax didn't get active and I didn't see/draw any of the following: Swords to Plowshares/Humility/O-Ring/Terminus. I did not draw any lands and probably won't be able to play Humility anyways.
Sideboard: +2 Karmic Justice/+2 Ghostly Prison/-1 Land Tax/-1 Scroll Rack/-1 ETutor/-1 RIP
Game 2: I kinda kick myself over on the nuts by keeping a hand that had Tutor/Plains/Ghost Quarter/ Land Tax and other 3+cc bombs. I go Plains go. He goes for a turn one Vial while I respond with Tutor (for Pithing Needle). On my turn 2, I go for Needle (naming Vial) and Land Tax. On his turn, he goes Karakas then Thalia. I tried going Ghost Quarter on my Plains to get Land Tax active but he points out that it doesn't work like that since Land Tax has that 'IF' intervening clause. He pulled off tricks off of his sleeve by legendary-killing his own Karakas leaving him with one land. At this point, I lost track and scooped since I needed to do something. He then showed his Rishadan Ports.
After the game, I had short conversation with him and he advised a couple of things.
Overall, I was glad the deck did okay. I was a little disappointed that that misunderstanding with the ruling cost me not only the match but also winning the whole thing.
Props:
Parfait working out for me
Playing against Finn and learning a couple of tricks from him
Zirath for organizing the whole thing
Trinisphere for trumping all other cost alternating effects
Slops:
Rules misunderstanding
Karmic Justice for getting sided in for nothing. Although I will still keep it in the side for now.
Hurricane Sandy
Please feel free to ask any questions.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Very interesting take on the deck and congratulations on the win! How did lotus vale treat you?
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
baghdadbob
Very interesting take on the deck and congratulations on the win! How did lotus vale treat you?
It can't really give a conclusive answer on it. I've only got to use it twice against the D/T twice (Round 3 game 2 and the last round).
On game 3, it did kept Land Tax active without me missing a land drop. Against Finn, he actually knows how to play around it (Killed his own lands to match my Vale-d up manabase) while he had the board presence. For the most part, they were just Mox fodder on te early game.
I might cut the number to three. Before Lotus Vale, I had Extraolabar Lens to keep my land count low while not hampering my mana count development but having it always makes my turn three a Time Walk against my opponent.
I am contemplating on changing the manabase to -1 Vale/-4 Quarters/+4 Crystal Veins/+1 Plains. I might even replace all the Lotus Vales with Serra's Sanctum (and just legendary-kill them if I need a lower land count) or Horizon Canopy.
If I do change the manabase with 8 Sol Lands, I might consider running Damping Engine
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
I thought of something. A single Flagstones of Trokair might be good with Ghost Quarter of you keep them. In case you a short on white mana sources.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
The deck is very well thought out. That being said, in light testing, I find that it takes a while to establish your board. You need both your CA engine and lock pieces. I honestly wonder if it should be playing the second color just to give you better options. In white alone, it just seems like you can't do enough quickly enough.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Finn
I thought of something. A single Flagstones of Trokair might be good with Ghost Quarter of you keep them. In case you a short on white mana sources.
It sounds fancy. It's also a pseudo shuffle effect or even legendary-kill two of them and not search for Plains to get Land Tax active but overall, it sounds too much.
Ghost Quarter was awesome at playing the pseudo Wasteland role of taking out utility lands or lands that produce multiple mana. I thought the "target your own Plains" during upkeep while Land Tax trigger is on the stack was another role it can play. Unfortunately it didn't do what I wanted it to do.
I'll keep the disposable Sol-lands in the manabase for now and see how it progresses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zirath
The deck is very well thought out. That being said, in light testing, I find that it takes a while to establish your board. You need both your CA engine and lock pieces. I honestly wonder if it should be playing the second color just to give you better options. In white alone, it just seems like you can't do enough quickly enough.
Actually, you either want to go lock first or draw engine first. But for the most part, you want to go for the lock first. One of the traps I find with the deck is that trying to set up Tax/Rack early instead of trying to stop your opponent.
Tax/Rack is there to keep your hand replenished late game, and quickly finding your win-con.
Land Tax just has that bonus that helps you when you are behind in lands and Scroll Rack's bonus is to "fix" your hand.
I've considered splashes, mostly Red. Color fixing wasn't impossible from Mox and Lotus Vale. I have considered Seismic Assault, Lightning Helix, Winds of Change and Burning Wish. I just didn't have enough time to test.
I am still testing and we'll see how the deck develops.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
(nameless one)
I need a reason to use my Plateaus.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
(nameless one)
If I do change the manabase with 8 Sol Lands, I might consider running
Damping Engine
I think Zuran Orb is just better.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
door
I think Zuran Orb is just better.
But the purpose of Damping Engine isn't to reduce my land count but as a Balance effect. If I am behind, it can slow down the opponent. If I've already set up my lock pieces, it can help trigger my Land Tax.
Zuran Orb only fulfills the second part. Zuran Orb's life gain is awesome against aggro but having to sacrifice your lands if you don't need to does hurt your board development.
While we're talking about "Balance" effects, I wanted to bring up Smokestack. Arguably its better than Damping Engine but having your lands disposable makes Stacks symmetrical.
Arguably, I can go the "artifact" route, having Ancient Dens, Tangle Wires and Powder Kegs to fuel up Mox Opal. Of course in doing so, you have to commit more than half of the deck which is another development.
Why Powder Keg over Ratchet Bomb? Kegs don't destroy Land Tax.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Devastating Dreams is the best reason for red IMO. It is much more effective than any other legal measure for empowering Land Tax. Especially when combined with something like Tangle Wire, it forces the opponent to overcommit on both lands and creatures before you wipe them all out for massive card advantage. It is close to being Balance.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Finn
Devastating Dreams is the best reason for red IMO. It is much more effective than any other legal measure for empowering Land Tax. Especially when combined with something like Tangle Wire, it forces the opponent to overcommit on both lands and creatures before you wipe them all out for massive card advantage. It is close to being Balance.
I was actually running Vengeful Dreams before Terminus got spoiled. I like Devastating Dreams although the random clause on the discard does make it a liability.
I'll try the red splash again, although it does need a whole new manabase. In going the DDreams way, Lotus Vale and the rest of the disposable Sol-Lands might not work.
On the other note, Archaeological Dig seems like it might work. Although it is still disposable. Maybe Undiscovered Paradise?
Also, if only Soldevi Excavations affected Plains and produced white mana. It would be awesome not only for Land Tax, but also for SDTop/Scroll Rack.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Undiscovered paradise is a great idea. The reason you don't see me trying to make red/white work
is because the mana was never right with land tax. But I don't think I ever tried that card.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Extraplanar Lens. Double-edged sword if the opponent has Snow-Covered Plains, but whatever.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Hanni
Extraplanar Lens. Double-edged sword if the opponent has Snow-Covered Plains, but whatever.
I was running 3 of then before the updated list but I find casting them on turn three means that you're not doing anything on that turn. If you cast them later in the game, they lose their value since 1) it will not guarantee it will help Land Tax trigger/ b) if you're bypassing Land Tax, you're better off just playing lands/ c) it limits you to just basic lands and not utility lands.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
i'm actually working on a uw version of tax/rack with trasure hunt, it is a bit early to say anything more about it (need to see if i go control or mana acceleration route) but i think it has potential.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
WRT splashing (sounds dirty), most likely cute-things and win-more possibly both, never the less here are a few ideas (which may have already been discussed):
Green:
Life from the loam
Crop rotation
Worm harvest this may be prohibitively expensive.
Manabond (enables win with Emeria, the sky ruin or Valakut, the molten pinnacle)
Black:
Raven's crime
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
I am in the process of updating the primer. Any suggestions are welcome.
Re: [Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
(nameless one)
I am in the process of updating the primer. Any suggestions are welcome.
The suspense is killing me
