Chalice Bomberman/Bomberman Stompy

“Bomberman” refers to Auriok Salvagers, an archetype more seen in Vintage, thanks to Auriok Salvagers powerful infinite mana combo with Black Lotus. Salvagers can also generate infinite mana in Legacy via Lion’s Eye Diamond, but this has remained a gutsy proposition due to LED requiring the discarding of ones hand, causing poor synergy with Force of Will and other controlling spells typically found in the shell, creating a very “all-in” combo turn. You can find more traditional combo-control versions of Bomberman on The Source here. These lists also typically leaned on Sensei’s Divining Top as a filtration option that worked when Hellbent, but with Top gone, Bomberman must re-calibrate itself.

The KMC tournaments in Japan have always been a hotbed of innovation, and the 75th event found Tanaka Mikoto with a new take on the Bomberman combo:

Lands: (18)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
4 City of Traitors
4 Plains
2 Tundra

Creatures: (14)
4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista

Non-Creature Spells: (28)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lodestone Bauble
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Opal
4 Urza's Bauble

Sideboard: (15)
2 Containment Priest
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Serenity
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ratchet Bomb

From here, a few other variants have been seen, and Caleb Durwald took a modified version of the list to a stunning 3-0 win over Bob Huang in the Legacy Premier League Quarterfinals (beating Sneak & Show, Food Chain and Grixis Delver), that you can watch here.

1.0 Main Deck

1.1 The Combo

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/5dn/4.jpg http://magiccards.info/scans/en/mr/272.jpg

The infinite mana combo is the lynchpin of the deck, allowing it to finish off a variety of decks in a hurry. It is notably unaffected by typical graveyard hate like Deathrite Shaman and can be stacked multiple times in a turn to play around cards like Surgical Extraction. Lion’s Eye Diamond is a bit of a brick when not comboing out, though some of the other creatures in the deck give it a little more utility than initially expected.

Auriok Salvagers on the other hand, need not necessarily be used to combo to become a very potent threat. Its 2/4 body already dominates over many of the small creatures in Legacy and ground creatures like Pyromancer or Thalia will have a tough time with Salvagers on the table. Its ability is also highly potent in accruing some kind of advantage, in combination with a variety of the cards within the deck. It can either spew out creatures, create recursive removal or just give the deck raw card advantage.

1.2 Win Conditions

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/frf/20.jpg http://magiccards.info/scans/en/aer/181.jpg

Unlike previous iterations of Bomberman where kill conditions were very lacklustre (eg. Pyrite Spellbomb) and needed a fair bit of setup, the win conditions of Monastery Mentor and Walking Ballista are very serviceable creatures in their own right.

Monastery Mentor, in combination with the infinite combo, makes a board of infinite Monks that should kill the opponent on the following turn (or, if Mentor isn’t summoning sick, then and there). The nice part is that Mentor can be on board before comboing out and simply present a very difficult to answer threat. In combination with the variety of zero-mana artifacts the deck plays, the deck can have explosives draws, even on turn one, of Monastery Mentor into many, many Monks.

Walking Ballista functions similarly. The Ballista can be played early, beatdown, even be used to kill some creatures, and once the infinite mana combo is assembled, an on-board Ballista can be pumped infinitely and then burn the opponent out or Ballista can be resurrected from the graveyard to assemble the kill. Ballista has huge amounts of utility and, in combination with Mentor, gives the deck a very solid fair angle of attack.

1.3 Lock Pieces

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/mi/150.jpg

Although previous iterations of Bomberman utilised counterspells in order to stop the opponent, current lists focus on Chalice of the Void to do so. This synergises effectively with Lion’s Eye Diamond, which encourages playing out ones hand as quickly as possible. Chalice blocks a variety of annoying removal, allowing Mentor in particular to go unchecked. It also stops hate cards post-board that are typically played. And, like many of the other artifacts, it can be revived by Salvagers to annoy the opponent once more. Its well-known in Legacy how potent cutting off many of the opponent’s spells in their deck is.

1.4 Cantrips

Urza's Bauble
Mishra's Bauble
Lodestone Bauble

Both Urza’s Bauble and Mishra’s Bauble are zero-mana “slow trips” that draw on the next upkeep. Although innocuous-looking, these importantly trigger Monastery Mentor, making Monks, but also act as an effective win condition with Auriok Salvagers. Auriok Salvagers can generate infinite mana and loop these trinkets infinite times, drawing the Bomberman player their entire library (on the opponent’s upkeep) which should easily lead to a combo kill on the following turn.

Lodestone Bauble is another zero-mana slow trip, but to cycle needs one mana to be paid. The importance is, however, that Lodestone Bauble can target any player to draw a card. When looped, it can lead to the opponent drawing their entire library and then decking out on the next upkeep. It’s probably the worst of the Baubles, but offers powerful utility as an additional win condition that can sit in the graveyard after being used for its somewhat overpriced cycle effect.

Gitaxian Probe

A contentious inclusion due to its poor synergy with Chalice. But with Mentor it is certainly excellent to create Monks, and being able to see if the coast is clear to combo off is also a nice luxury.

1.5 Mana

Lotus Petal
Mox Opal

More zero mana artifacts that trigger Mentor, notably, but can also allow the deck to empty its hand incredibly quickly and assemble the combo before the opponent can even set up. Lotus Petal is a very traditional acceleration piece (and can be rebought with Salvagers if needed, particularly nice when looping Petals for Mentor, which can be done for a single White mana), but Mox Opal requires a bit more finesse. With Chalice and the trinkets it can be often turned on easily, but since the trinkets require sacrifice, Metalcraft isn’t always so assured turn after turn.

Ancient Tomb
City of Traitors

Sol lands have been the backbone of Chalice of the Void decks, and this is no different. It’s nice that these effectively pay the mana costs of Mentor, Salvagers and Ballista as well.

Cavern of Souls

Apart from Ballista, the creatures in the deck are all Humans, which can lead to some excellent uncounterable lines with Mentor or Auriok Salvagers. Either of these creatures sticking create inevitability, as both abilities don’t need spells to resolve to get value from them – Mentor will still create Monks off trinkets even countered, and Salvagers can simply resurrect countered combo pieces.

Ancient Den

Although looking like a useless Wasteland-able White source, Ancient Den critically increases chances of Metalcraft for Mox Opal for very little cost and can lead to some slick curve outs. It adds a subtle consistency to the Metalcraft cards and I highly recommend using it if running four Mox Opals.

Spire of Industry

The best Gold land available to us, usable quite easily with all the trinkets on the battlefield. It also has advantages over Mana Confluence/City of Brass in that it can be used for pain-less colourless mana otherwise. With Spire included the deck can reach into a tri-colour mana base, but exposes the deck further to Wasteland and Blood Moon effects.

Karakas
Inventors' Fair

Utility lands can be very effective. Inventors' Fair is excellent at finding one of the last pieces of the combo (LED or Ballista) while Karakas has general utility against many decks in the format like Death & Taxes and Sneak & Show.

2.0 Sideboard

2.1 Hatebears

Containment Priest
Ethersworn Canonist
Phyrexian Revoker

Hate bears are one of White’s most potent tools against the combo decks of the format. Priest very easily hits the Sneak & Show’s and Reanimators of the world, while Canonist can not only stop spell-chain combo, but also defend ours. Since Canonist only stops non-artifact spells, the Bomberman combo, since it only uses artifacts, can still work! Revoker is nice as a more blanket hatebear that also interacts with Metalcraft positively.

Sanctum Prelate

Prelate puts considerable strain on the mana (1WW is difficult to achieve) but importantly makes the Storm matchup a little easier. Since Chalice and Canonist are artifacts, a timely Hurkyl's Recall can mean ruins. Prelate has a similar effect to Chalice, but needs a Storm player to go through further hoops. It's also great against other combo decks.

Lodestone Golem

An expensive and speculative hate piece, but once again allows the combo to occur unhindered. Beatdowns quickly too, but do watch out making Mentor and Salvagers more expensive.

Thought-Knot Seer

Similar to Lodestone Golem in that it is a relatively expensive threat that provides a big body and disruption. Unlike Lodestone, it does not tax our non-artifact spells but its disruption is once off. It is also a feasible card in the main deck if one is looking for main deckable disruption on a body. It doesn't synergise with Cavern effectively, however.

Hope of Ghirapur

An even-more speculative sideboard inclusion because of its conflict with Chalice, but Hope, in conjunction with a Salvagers, can completely lock out an opponent, especially if they are a combo deck. Hope is neat, but I would be wary of the danger of cool things (that conflict with one of our main plans of Chalicing out the opponent).

2.2 Graveyard Hate

Tormod's Crypt
Leyline of the Void
Faerie Macabre

Crypt is excellent as additional graveyard hate of choice, because it can be looped with Auriok Salvagers if graveyards need to be wiped multiple times (eg. vs. Dredge), and can be found with some of the splashable tutors. However, Leyline of the Void stops fast combo like BR Reanimator a bit more effectively, but of course is a pretty dead draw when not in ones opening hand. Faerie is also tutorable in some versions, and can be essentially uncounterable, relevant against Chancellor of the Annex primarily. Note that cards like Rest in Peace or Relic of Progenitus do not synergise with the deck’s game plan.

2.3 Removal

Swords to Plowshares
Spatial Contortion
Warping Wail
Blessed Alliance

Swords to Plowshares is one of the most efficient removal spells in Magic and since we have White mana readily available, this is excellent in matchups where we cut Chalices, such as BUG matchups and against Death & Taxes. Spatial Contortion and Warping Wail (with Wail having a little more utility) can function similarly off the abundance of colourless sources, but doesn’t have anti-synergy with Chalice of the Void in matchups like Delver, where you want both Chalice and removal. Blessed Alliance is also an option for removal that gets around Chalice but is a little more conditional (but can lead to blowouts against Marit Lage, for example).

Disenchant
Engineered Explosives
Seal of Cleansing
Devout Witness
Forsake the Worldly
Cast Out

These are nice general answers to the hate that can come up against Bomberman, such as Pithing Needle and others. Of course, White has many variants on Disenchant that can be utilised, even on a stick - War Priest of Thune comes close, while Devout Witness is a viable inclusion for repetitive artifact and enchantment destruction, especially against problematic Stompy decks. Engineered Explosives is a potent tool, especially since it can be looped with Auriok Salvagers to continually wipe the board. Sunburst = 2 is very feasible for the deck, with Opals or Petals making Sunburst = 3 reasonable at times as well. EE can be a very reasonable main deck card as well.

Ensnaring Bridge

Pseudo-removal, in that creatures can no longer attack. Excellent due to this deck's ability to empty its hand very quickly, it can buy significant amounts of time and helps out against Sneak & Show. Note that the Mentor kill is less feasible with Ensnaring Bridge in play.

2.4 Transformational

Stoneforge Mystic
Umezawa’s Jitte
Batterskull

Boarding into some strange Mentor Stoneforge Stompy hybrid is also a possibility, leaning on the power of equipment and the plethora of bodies available to gear up. This can really catch people with their pants down, but takes up a critical amount of sideboard slots.

3.0 Splashes

3.1 Blue

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/5dn/39.jpg

Trinket Mage has been a long friend of Bomberman thanks to its ability to find two parts of the combo – Lion’s Eye Diamond or Walking Ballista. The only piece that cannot be found is the Salvagers themselves. Trinket Mage also makes silver bullets in the main deck or sideboard a little more impressive (eg. Pithing Needle, Tormod’s Crypt) and also can find things such as Chalice.

Meddling Mage

Another powerful hatebear option that also can effectively defend the combo kill. It's great with Gitaxian Probe/Baubles as well, shutting off any spells that are known information.

Venser, Shaper Savant

A flexible “removal” spell that can be cast off Cavern of Souls, and is particularly great against Sneak & Show. A bit mana-intensive and can be found in the sideboard typically. Excellent with Karakas for the Karakas lock.

3.2 Red

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/p3k/113.jpg

Unlike Mage, which can get Lion’s Eye Diamond, Imperial Recruiter can instead get Ballista, Mentor or Salvagers, which makes him much more impressive at backing up the “fair” grind plan of the deck. He also makes a variety of silver bullet hate bears in the sideboard reasonable to find.

Manic Vandal

A tutorable Shatter option, which is helpful against cards like Pithing Needle or opposing Chalices set to zero.

Magus of the Moon

Post-board the deck can masquerade as a Stompy deck, bringing Magus of the Moon against greedy multi-coloured decks. Magus can be powered out on turn one quite easily with backbreaking results. Just be careful about locking oneself out of White mana to cast the rest of the deck’s spells.

Daretti, Scrap Savant / Nahiri, the Harbinger

Very interesting grindy cards that synergise effectively with the gameplan of the deck. Daretti can do a Goblin Welder impression quite well (while not running into our Chalice) which is great for turning wasted mana rocks into cards thanks to the trinkets. His ultimate also leads to mountains of cards being drawn with the trinkets in the deck which can be revived at eot to loop again. Nahiri in particular deals with weird problem permanents, and her ultimate finds any piece of the combo.

3.3 Black

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/rav/81.jpg

Dark Confidant is incredible in the Bomberman shell due to the deck having an abundance of zero cost spells and hence taking damage from his ability typically being of little consequence. Hence, Bob living (often helped by Chalice) means that the deck can continue to churn through cantrips to either fuel explosive Mentor draws or dig for the combo.

Kitesail Freebooter

One of the newer additions to the deck, Kitesail Freebooter is an excellent piece of disruption in both the main deck or the sideboard, ripping away removal or countermagic that can get in the way of the combo and letting one see if the coast is clear. Against combo, Freebooter can slow down the opposing deck and give the Bomberman player a bit more time to set up the combo or simply beatdown with a motley crew. It's also uncounterable off Cavern, of course.

Infernal Tutor

Everyone knows the interaction with Infernal Tutor and LED, and this can lead to combo turns which are easily game-ending (Salvagers in play, IT > crack LED > get Ballista > win). However, since this deck is a Stompy deck at heart, it can empty its hand very quickly, especially with the trinkets which, thanks to their delayed trigger, leads to empty-handed moments. Infernal Tutor works well in these situations too as just actual Demonic Tutor for whatever missing piece! Note that the mana base often needs tweaks to function with Infernal Tutor, since it is a non-Human spell.

Collective Brutality

Probably the best flexible discard/removal spell printed for any Black-based Stompy deck in recent times, as it very effectively gets around Chalice, has relevant modes all round and can be escalated by pitching useless junk that Stompy decks often end up having in hand (note that the escalate is great to throw Ballistas, LEDs or other win cons that Salvagers can eventually revive for the kill). Like Infernal Tutor, it needs mana base modifications to accommodate, however, being a non-Human coloured spell.

Magus of the Will

An uncounterable Human in many situations, and with Chalice to defend him, Magus of the Will can get an untap and go crazy generating absurd amounts of mana and cards with the trinkets that are likely to be lying in the deck’s graveyard. The trinkets can also simply be used on the opponent’s turn to avoid them being exiled too!

Orzhov Pontiff

A deck like this is certainly in the market for an effective sweeper, and Orzhov Pontiff is often just that – uncounterable off Cavern too!

4.0 Matchups

Coming soon!

5.0 Decklists

5.1 White-Blue

Tanaka Mikoto’s original list:

http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD26353S/

Caleb Durward’s LPL list:

https://i2.wp.com/itsjulian.com/wp-c...ize=1024%2C576

5.2 White-Black

Katayose Takahito's White-Black list feat. Magus of the Will:

http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD26759S/

5.3 White-Red

Katayose Takahito's Mentorless Bomberman:

http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD42020S/

ChemicalBurns156’s White-Red Bomberman (06/03/18):

Creatures: (15)
3 Auriok Salvagers
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Walking Ballista
3 Imperial Recruiter
1 Magus of the Moon

Non-Creature Spells: (26)
3 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Urza’s Bauble
4 Mishra’s Bauble
1 Lodestone Bauble
4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal
2 Engineered Explosives

Lands: (19)
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
2 Plateau
2 Ancient Den
1 Inventors’ Fair

Sideboard: (15)
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sanctum Prelate
2 Containment Priest
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Devout Witness
1 Manic Vandal
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Cast Out
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Phyrexian Revoker

6.0 Videos

6.1 White-Blue

Vs. Miracles (pre-ban)

Game 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfVHdFeEESk
Game 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_A1KkPM1M
Game 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH8zLodVniE

Vs. Sneak & Show, Food Chain and Grixis Delver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sOdV4ogxqg

6.1 White-Black

Caleb Durwald's League:

https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...acy-bomberman/

Anuraag Das's Legacy Challenge:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/157798525

7.0 Further Reading

Tanaka's Mikito's blog post detailing the deck (Japanese):

http://mtgkmc.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-500.html

AngelBaka's detailed reddit post outlining White-Black card choices:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MTGLegacy/c..._an_effective/

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers...4042&type=card

I've been a fan of Shimmer Myr, as it allows us to win in our opponent's upkeep with Bomberman infinite mana combo + a bauble (we can crack LED in response to all of the bauble triggers in their upkeep to make the mana to cast Shimmer Myr, loop LEDs for infinite mana on their turn, and kill them with Ballista then and there.) Since Legacy is often decided by a single turn, I think it's worth the slot. Granted, it's mediocre outside the combo, but at least its 2/2 flash body opens up interesting surprise blocking lines and beats down.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm not convinced Monastery Mentor is actually better than either Trinket Mage or Imperial Recruiter here. I'm currently playing a build that still runs 4 of each of the tutors and 0 Mentors and have been very happy (24 match wins to 7 losses in sanctioned paper events so far). To elaborate further on some problems I see with Mentor: it turns on our opponent's -1/-1 effects (Golgari Charm, Dread of Night, Engineered Plague, etc.) and can be a lackluster draw later in the game once we've already deployed all of our Baubles/Opals etc. and are running out of gas. This is a deck that goes hellbent sometimes. Mentor doesn't thrive in that environment. Trinket Mage and Imperial Recruiter don't care if we are hellbent and only get more powerful as the game goes longer - they are always gas on their own, whereas the power level of Mentor can be swingy, especially in a deck full of slow cantrips that make it hard sometimes to piece together a lethal Mentor turn.

Also, it seems strange to me to not play any Engineered Explosives main, especially when running Trinket Mage. It's pretty good under the Bomberman combo. And in addition to its everyday applications like killing Insectile Aberrations, Eidolons of the Great Revel, etc., EE is an answer to an opponent casting Chalice on 0 (EE can be cast with X>0 with colorless mana sources and still have sunburst 0).

Also, Meddling Mage is really well supported in this deck by the information provided by Baubles. It's been an all-star for me so far. I'm currently running 1 in the main as a Recruiter target and the rest in the board, but could imagine moving more to the main. (Note that I'm running a mana base with fewer City of Traitors and more colored sources that then lists in the opening post.)

With the red splash, Sudden Demise is a great sideboard option for the current meta.

Finally, I'm curious: why aren't there artifact lands in any of the lists in the opening post?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wanderlust

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers...4042&type=card

I've been a fan of Shimmer Myr, as it allows us to win in our opponent's upkeep with Bomberman infinite mana combo + a bauble (we can crack LED in response to all of the bauble triggers in their upkeep to make the mana to cast Shimmer Myr, loop LEDs for infinite mana on their turn, and kill them with Ballista then and there.) Since Legacy is often decided by a single turn, I think it's worth the slot. Granted, it's mediocre outside the combo, but at least its 2/2 flash body opens up interesting surprise blocking lines, beats down, and can turn Chalice of the Void into a surprise counterspell.

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Looks interesting and definitely is a sweet inclusion. I wonder if it's necessary - I get that vs. fast combo drawing your deck in their upkeep isn't the greatest (and maybe that's where it's sideboardable, so you can go off on a low resource base) but I guess that's why I'm playing Lodestone Bauble in my lists.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wanderlust

As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm not convinced Monastery Mentor is actually better than either Trinket Mage or Imperial Recruiter here. I'm currently playing a build that still runs 4 of each of the tutors and 0 Mentors and have been very happy (24 match wins to 7 losses in sanctioned paper events so far). To elaborate further on some problems I see with Mentor: it turns on our opponent's -1/-1 effects (Golgari Charm, Dread of Night, Engineered Plague, etc.) and can be a lackluster draw later in the game once we've already deployed all of our Baubles/Opals etc. and are running out of gas. This is a deck that goes hellbent sometimes. Mentor doesn't thrive in that environment. Trinket Mage and Imperial Recruiter don't care if we are hellbent and only get more powerful as the game goes longer - they are always gas on their own, whereas the power level of Mentor can be swingy, especially in a deck full of slow cantrips that make it hard sometimes to piece together a lethal Mentor turn.

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That seems really odd to me, because honestly this deck feels more like a Mentor Stompy deck at times rather than Bomberman. Turn one or two Mentor into cantrips has led to incredibly easy wins in my current experience, especially against most of the fair decks (Delver, etc.). And I don't think running out of gas is an issue - Auriok Salvagers, even when not comboing, provides continuous gas if we can find him. Salvagers + Mentor without any combo, just recurring Petals/Baubles, leads to a really powerful grind plan.

And honestly, if the opponent is boarding in Dread of Night etc, I wouldn't stress about that too much. That may stop the Mentor plan, but the deck still has a huge amount of angles to be able to beat the opponent and make those cards not that impressive. We can still make a giant Mentor through a Dread when comboing anyway.

Also, what is your mana base looking like to support UWR? I honestly am not a fan of my dual-coloured mana base so far, it can feel very shakey at times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wanderlust

Also, it seems strange to me to not play any Engineered Explosives main, especially when running Trinket Mage. It's pretty good under the Bomberman combo. And in addition to its everyday applications like killing Insectile Aberrations, Eidolons of the Great Revel, etc., EE is an answer to an opponent casting Chalice on 0 (EE can be cast with X>0 with colorless mana sources and still have sunburst 0).

---

I'm not running Trinket Mage main currently, but yeah I do agree with you, it's a really powerful, flexible option to have in the main, especially since we can recur it.
.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wanderlust

Also, Meddling Mage is really well supported in this deck by the information provided by Baubles. It's been an all-star for me so far. I'm currently running 1 in the main as a Recruiter target and the rest in the board, but could imagine moving more to the main. (Note that I'm running a mana base with fewer City of Traitors and more colored sources that then lists in the opening post.)

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Meddling Mage sounds sweet in the blue splash versions, I'll add it to the OP. It definitely adds credit to the Probe/Bauble's information usage. I only fear its somewhat awkward casting cost, but I'm sure the mana base can be accommodated for it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wanderlust

Finally, I'm curious: why aren't there artifact lands in any of the lists in the opening post?

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Metalcraft isn't a huge issue, I feel, and our mono-coloured sources being Wasteland prone is kind of frustrating. It's also not great when you have a SB Magus of the Moon plan. But I don't think it's wrong at all to take the mana base that way.

I have been speaking with Elton a bunch about this deck lately. Have mainly been on the blue splash with trinket mage main, echoing truth and venser side. Spoke with him how I am not a fan of ethersworn side, but I do think that Lodestone Golem could have a home in the side somewhere to hinder combo and provide an even better clock too. Also not a fan of leyline, lately in general I am not a fan. Leyline is neat if its in your opener, but a dead draw, and most decks expect it or surgical to take apart your yard so they bring in bounce spells or kill spells for it. I much prefer Faerie Macabre. The fast reanimator decks cannot deal with it, belcher cant deal with it, and it can buy you some time vs lands and other decks trying to ramp up with loam.

Notable tournaments with the deck from me:
2nd place EW satellite event
4th place EE silver event

I can write up tournament reports and my matches, sideboard choices, and all of that later if there is interest. I spoke with Elton about wanting to try black, I had picked up magus of the will and did want to test it, but I think something we both talked about was replacing a bauble with infernal tutors to just always have value. Also regarding sideboard I really like Ensnaring Bridge as a two of. Deals with the bigger decks and some of the faster unfair decks.

Also, Thank you for writing a primer! I saw this deck randomly online and loved it, I still catch people off guard with some plays like:
Me "I would like to shortcut and represent infinite mana"
Opponent "sure"
Me "I will crack urza's bauble and look at a random card in your hand 40 times and draw 40 on your upkeep"
Opponent "Wait...what"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bonkotsu

I have been speaking with Elton a bunch about this deck lately. Have mainly been on the blue splash with trinket mage main, echoing truth and venser side. Spoke with him how I am not a fan of ethersworn side, but I do think that Lodestone Golem could have a home in the side somewhere to hinder combo and provide an even better clock too. Also not a fan of leyline, lately in general I am not a fan. Leyline is neat if its in your opener, but a dead draw, and most decks expect it or surgical to take apart your yard so they bring in bounce spells or kill spells for it. I much prefer Faerie Macabre. The fast reanimator decks cannot deal with it, belcher cant deal with it, and it can buy you some time vs lands and other decks trying to ramp up with loam.

Notable tournaments with the deck from me:
2nd place EW satellite event
4th place EE silver event

I can write up tournament reports and my matches, sideboard choices, and all of that later if there is interest. I spoke with Elton about wanting to try black, I had picked up magus of the will and did want to test it, but I think something we both talked about was replacing a bauble with infernal tutors to just always have value. Also regarding sideboard I really like Ensnaring Bridge as a two of. Deals with the bigger decks and some of the faster unfair decks.

Also, Thank you for writing a primer! I saw this deck randomly online and loved it, I still catch people off guard with some plays like:
Me "I would like to shortcut and represent infinite mana"
Opponent "sure"
Me "I will crack urza's bauble and look at a random card in your hand 40 times and draw 40 on your upkeep"
Opponent "Wait...what"

---

I've been preaching like crazy to L10 about this a bunch too. Really keen to take to take it for a real spin this week after jamming it a bit online.

Would love to hear how your tournaments have gone and how you feel about a lot of the matchups/sideboard options. The part of the deck that has impressed me the most has been the power of the fair plan, and hence why I've looked to Imperial Recruiter to more easily access the grind engine that Salvagers is. Having a powerful hatebear sideboard plan also feels really excellent, especially Magus who has bailed me out a bunch, and this rules out Lodestone as anti-combo creature of choice, at least for me.

I like the idea of Faerie a lot, and maybe looping Crypt is just too cute. Speed indeed is of the essence against the recent Reanimator lists.

Ensnaring Bridge also sounds pretty neat, but I'm very much about Mentor beatdown which it doesn't really synergise with. I do like us ignoring Decay on it thanks to Salvagers simply resurrecting it though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChemicalBurns

Ensnaring Bridge also sounds pretty neat, but I'm very much about Mentor beatdown which it doesn't really synergise with. I do like us ignoring Decay on it thanks to Salvagers simply resurrecting it though.

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Are you implying we can get back Ensnaring Bridge with Salvager?:eyebrow:

Okay so first tournament report was also my first time piloting this deck
List:
http://eemagic.com/findDeck.php?play...=17-04-9258469

Only difference was sideboard -3 faerie -1 echoing truth +4 leyline.

Food Chain 1-2
Game 1: Mentor Pain train. I turn 1 chalice, turn 2 mentor, vomit my cheerios keeping one back for next turn pump, draw some cards on upkeep, and kill him next turn.
Game 2: This one was rough, I respect the potential surgical and I am familiar enough with the deck to know what to board in, what messed me up was missing a bauble trigger. STUPID. I didn't put a dice on my deck or anything to remember, and missed the 1 card to win. I didn't respect a mindbreak early on and lost one LED, the extra card was sadly LED.
Game 3: I folded to a bunch of hate. Chalice got countered, LED got hit by surgical (I didn't leave 1 more mana up to double recur), and Needle hit Salvagers. A sad start and my fault on the loss.

Grixis(4c) Delver 2-0
Chalice decks always feel the same, like I am going to crush these decks playing 1 cmc cards
Game 1: Chalice gets countered, next turn uncounterable mentor, make a bunch of monks, come in next turn for some damage.
Opponent is confused and more worried about mentor, fantastic.
Game 2: Turn 1 mentor (risky) gets countered, have probe in hand and the combo to lodestone bauble them out, probe for safety, have the clear, go for the upkeep kill.

ANT 2-0
Have I talked about how I always play chalice in Legacy? Card is great.
Game 1: Keep a slower hand but has the turn 1 chalice. Chalice on 1, setup some early damage with mentor and ballista, eventually find the piece I need to combo off.
Game 2: Unfortunately I know he is on ANT, I bring in Leyline and echoing truth(in case of gobs). Start with leyline, chalice comes a little later, Eventually mentor beat down plan was all I needed.

BUG Delver 2-0
So there was this artifact printed in Mirrodin, seemed okay at the time, then came the SOL lands which let you play it turn 1 for value, its name.... Chalice of the Void.
Game 1: Hand is tomb, cavern, chalice, salvagers, some baubles. Snap keep. Shoot the J with a chalice which gets hit by FoW. Next baubles reveal LED on my upkeep with a petal. Go for the combo, drew 20 on his upkeep with urza's bauble, kill you next turn.
Game 2: I bring in EE and Ratchet bomb just in case, lead with a basic plains, pass. Next turn cavern on human, petal, mentor, vomit cheerios, kill you two turns later with monk madness

Reanimator 2-0
I will stop preaching about Chalice, but come on... its great.....
Game 1: I keep a really strange hand knowing what he is on, I expect end step entomb to play around chalice, and them exhume and I lose. He starts with delta, pass. Okay I am right so far. I draw a probe, neat. Probe you, see what you got. Yup, he has it all, cant give him another turn, but no FoW! I start with tomb, petal, mox, LED, play salvagers, crack LED discarding my ballista, go off turn 1. This is super rare but I lost my mind being able to do it.
Game 2: I feel like I have enough hate as long as I dont get hit by turn 1 somehow. On a mull to 5, hand is cavern, petal, priest, mentor, bauble. Well on the draw I cant ask for more. Cavern on human, petal, bauble, pass. End step he entombs G Banger. On his turn he reanimates targeting Griseldaddy. In response crack petal, cast uncounterable priest, he loses life and the demon supreme gets exiled. Priest beatdown was enough after that.

Cut to top 4

Semi final rematch, Food Chain 2-1
Game 1: I know the only thing to fear in the main are forces and thats it, just go ham and combo off as soon as I can.
Game 2: I keep a slower hand and get punished by him having what he needs to combo off.
Game 2: Chalice for 1 resolving tells me he isnt doing anything for 3 turns and has no force, but I fear mindbreak. I go on slow beats with ballista and mentor, he plays some birds eventually and is able to keep me at bay, eventually I try to go off with Double LED and get there with massive mentor and tokens.

Finals Tin Fins 1-2
Game 1: Mentor beats and chalice are too much for the deck to recover
Game 2: I open with leyline, throw down a chalice, he passes for a turn or two giving me time to start some pressure, he casts serenity, pops my stuff, goes off on his turn
Game 3: This one got me, aint even mad. On the play I keep turn 1 chalice on 1 with some baubles. Sure. Chalice for 1, play some cheerios pass. His turn, fetch badlands, float black, cast Crash target chalice sacrificing badlands, entomb, shallow grave, go off. GG

EW Satelite event: 4th place

Round 1 Oops 2-0
Game 1: Opponent leads with Chancellor trigger, use a bauble to get rid of the trigger, probe to see what he is working with, see he only has 0 drops. Say screw it, chalice on zero. He scoops.
Game 2: He didnt sideboard anything in, so no Belcher game 2, bring in Faerie macabre and priest. Play some baubles, chalice on 0, pass. Opponent passes a few turns, as do I waiting on a threat. He attempts to go off, I macabre with the DR target.

Round 2 Food Chain 2-1
Game 1: I get the combo pretty fast, I know game 1 all they have is FoW
Game 2: Lose this one due to bird beats and decent control. I couldnt manage to deal with him just having a bunch of birds turn 3.
Game 3: My combo gets disrupted with a mindbreak, but I have a ton of mana in sol lands, a mentor, a salvagers, and a ballista. I end up winning with another top deck ballista, attack for damage here and there, and both ballistas fire off in his face.

Round 3 Elves 2-0
Game 1: He has a slow start, but a potential turn 3 NO into big idiot, I chalice then play a ballista on 2, killing his arbor and elf leaving him with only a cradle. Combo off in a turn.
Game 2: Unfortunate, opponent takes a loss due to deck registration error

Round 4 Burn 1-2
Game 1: Eidelon is a pain. He wasn't sure what my deck did or anything so after I chalice on 1, i get beat down by swiftspear eidelon.
Game 2: Turn 1 chalice, he suspends a rift bolt, i play a plains and pass, he plays eidelon, i disenchant, next turn i urza's bauble 40 times to kill him on my next turn, will post about this at the end.
Game 3: I am fairly certain I miss played during this game but I dont remember when. Either way eidelon and me missing a piece cost me the game

Round 5 Maverick 2-1
Game 1: Combo goes off without a hitch turn 2
Game 2: Opponent waste locks me, and makes a 20/20 for the early kill
Game 3: I had a massive army of mentor tokens, ballista, and a salvagers, no LED but I would recur baubles and petals to keep triggering mentors. I swing in for over 34 damage, had my opponent done 1 thing slightly different on his turn, he could have decayed my chalice, made a 20/20, blocked a big mentor and swords his 20/20 killing me on the swing back. He saw the line but messed up his mana horribly

Semi Finals Eldrazi 0-2

Game 1: He knows what I am on, main deck is less great vs squids, he leads with chalice on 0, i fight the mid range fight but he can out value me without me being able to slow cantrip.
Game 2: I keep a decent hand with double trinket mage to get what I need, opponent has a hand of temple, tomb, jitte, tks tks tks surgical. He wins.....


Urza's bauble shortcut:
So this issue came up. I tell my opponent I am casting urza's bauble 40 times to draw 40 cards and see 1 card at random from his hand 40 times, ask him if he wants to shortcut and show me his hand. We had a judge sitting next to us all match because my opponent did not understand my deck. He explains technically we cannot shortcut because there is a chance that all 40 triggers could technically see the same card, but if we randomize his hand 40 times it will take us to time. I ask my opponent if he wants to show me his hand to save time, he says yes which is more so "free information" than it is a "shortcut." Now the issue here is if your opponent has a hand of 3 lands and 3 nonland cards, if you actually randomly looked at 1 card a time then there is a decent chance you could see the land a bunch of times, in this case it was 3 mountains. The only option to make this line faster is to explain what is going on to your opponent, and hope they just decide to show you their hand. Otherwise, you will be rolling or choosing randomly 40 times....

What I am testing for now:

4x Monastery Mentor
4x Walking Ballista
4x Auriok Salvagers
2x Magus of the Will

4x Urza's Bauble
4x Lodestone Bauble
4x Lotus Petal
4x Mox Opal
4x Chalice of the void
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Lion's Eye Diamond

4x Cavern of Souls
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
4x Plains
2x Scrubland

SB
3x Disenchant
2x Containment Priest
2x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Phyrexian Revoker
2x Battle at the Bridge

Quote:

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Originally Posted by itrytostorm

Are you implying we can get back Ensnaring Bridge with Salvager?:eyebrow:

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Yeah this I why I shouldn't post at 2.00am > _ <

Sideboarding:

Now this is up for debate but it is what I have been having success with

Death and Taxes
This match is miserable. If Thalia hits the field it is an uphill battle, if you can out value them fast enough you may be able to get there. Use Ballista to shoot revoker and thalia as much as possible.

+1 EE +1 Ratchet Bomb +2 Containment Priest +2 Disenchant
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage

Delver
No changes, I never feel unfavored when playing against delver with a chalice deck, they have to stop chalice and work on your threats before they can bother with their own.

ANT
Chalice is great
+4 Leyline if you run it or +3 Faerie Macabre, +1 Ratchet bomb/EE for gobs
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage if needed

Eldrazi
This is a very good reason why I want Ensnaring Bridge
+2 Disenchant +2 Echoing Truth
-4 Chalice

Turbo Lands
+2 Echoing truth +3-4 Graveyard hate piece
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage

RG Lands
+2 Disenchant +3-4 Graveyard hate
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage

Burn
+2 Disenchant +1 EE +1 Ratchet Bomb
-4 Probe

Food Chain
+2 Disenchant
-2 Trinket Mage

Will write some more, but as you notice my usual cuts are Probe and Trinket mage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bonkotsu

Sideboarding:

Now this is up for debate but it is what I have been having success with

Death and Taxes
This match is miserable. If Thalia hits the field it is an uphill battle, if you can out value them fast enough you may be able to get there. Use Ballista to shoot revoker and thalia as much as possible.

+1 EE +1 Ratchet Bomb +2 Containment Priest +2 Disenchant
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage

Delver
No changes, I never feel unfavored when playing against delver with a chalice deck, they have to stop chalice and work on your threats before they can bother with their own.

ANT
Chalice is great
+4 Leyline if you run it or +3 Faerie Macabre, +1 Ratchet bomb/EE for gobs
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage if needed

Eldrazi
This is a very good reason why I want Ensnaring Bridge
+2 Disenchant +2 Echoing Truth
-4 Chalice

Turbo Lands
+2 Echoing truth +3-4 Graveyard hate piece
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage

RG Lands
+2 Disenchant +3-4 Graveyard hate
-4 Probe -2 Trinket Mage

Burn
+2 Disenchant +1 EE +1 Ratchet Bomb
-4 Probe

Food Chain
+2 Disenchant
-2 Trinket Mage

Will write some more, but as you notice my usual cuts are Probe and Trinket mage.

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I think D&T is a matchup we really have to address somehow with pretty radical sideboarding - EE and sideboard Plows sound like an amazing plan against them. I'd cut Chalice against them as well as our worst cantrips (Probe in your list, Lodestone Bauble in mine). I also think Jitte is a great card against them and really adds another dimension to our plan of attack.

Eldrazi similarly feels like a pain, since they have Chalice on zero, Leyline, Thorn - Disenchant is really overworked. I guess in red splash Wear // Tear is an option but seems a bit ambitious to cast. Again, SFM may be a good plan against this kind of matchup again.

I'm surprised you're cutting Mage so often - the splashed tutors feel like they gain a lot of power post-board when they can tutor up powerful bullets.

I tried out the deck for the first time today. I played a smaller local paper tournament. Finished with a record of 3-1. Not really big enough to mean anything. I usually like playing on mtgo but I don't think this combo is suitable there since you can't shortcut anything.
Matches:
2-0 BR reanimator
1-2 RG Lands
2-0 Grixis Tezzerator
2-0 Grixis Delver

I didn't like the idea of playing gitaxian probe with chalice of the void much, or the fact that if you crack all your baubles you usually turn your own mox opal off, so I tried out a slightly more artifact heavy build and I liked it. Might try a "stock" list some other time.

This was the decklist I went with:

Maindeck:
3 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Tundra

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

4 Thoughtcast

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Urza's Bauble
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Lodestone Bauble
1 Walking Ballista
1 Shimmer Myr
2 Trinket Mage
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Auriok Salvagers
1 Engineered Explosives


Sideboard:
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Containment Priest
2 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Echoing Truth
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Karakas
4 Tormod's Crypt

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bonkotsu

What I am testing for now:

4x Monastery Mentor
4x Walking Ballista
4x Auriok Salvagers
2x Magus of the Will

4x Urza's Bauble
4x Lodestone Bauble
4x Lotus Petal
4x Mox Opal
4x Chalice of the void
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Lion's Eye Diamond

4x Cavern of Souls
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
4x Plains
2x Scrubland

SB
3x Disenchant
2x Containment Priest
2x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Phyrexian Revoker
2x Battle at the Bridge

---

Would love to hear how its performing :) ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GiveMeYourOil

Would love to hear how its performing :) ?

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I will post testing later. Tomorrow is game night for legacy (EE Bronze) then I will be testing here and there between other formats.

Another consideration I had was going a little more ham with mentor tokens by cutting some number of salvagers and LED for Dark Confidant. Your curve is super low so it should be fine, but also even more draws (bob goes through leovold) to vomit cheerios and make mentor great again.

Morning all,

I've been experimenting a bit with Abbot of Keral Keep in a white/red build. IMHO, Abbot helps to make Salvager-less LED draws slightly better while providing another win condition under Salvagers/LED. Also, I was having trouble thinking of another card for four slots in my list. We do run a lot of 0 CMC artifacts so in theory Abbot with no free mana can be ok. Mishra's Bauble can check what the Abbot is going to hit, too, which appeals to the Timmy in me.

Here's the latest list:

4 Cavern of Souls
4 Arid Mesa
3 Plateau
1 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors

4 Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Mox Opal

4 Urza’s Bauble
4 Mishra’s Bauble
2 Lodestone Bauble

4 Chalice of the Void

4 Abbot of Keral Keep
2 Imperial Recruiter
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Auriok Salvagers
3 Walking Ballista

SB:
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Aegis of the Gods
1 Devout Witness
1 Disenchant
1 Karakas
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger


Thus far I've jammed about six rounds online -- one two-man and one league -- going 5-1. Slightly weird meta. Beat Elves, ANT, ANT, Tin Fins, UG Stasis, but lost to Pox (?!?).

As Nicklas says, the combo is a real PITA to execute online. I had a turn 2 or 3 Lodestone/Salvagers/LED combo in one match, but wouldn't have had enough clock time to actually mill my opponent out so had to settle for drawing 10 cards and passing the turn, then killing with Salvagers/LED/Ballista the following turn (which still took about 5 minutes).

Report from today's weekly. Went 3-1, very easily could've been 4-0 if things fell a little nicer.

Round 1 vs. Aluren

Game 1: A really good bit of back and forth. I have Ballista and Chalice on one, while my opponent has Shardless Agent and a Deathrite pressuring me. I've seen he has Aluren in hand from some earlier Baubles. I draw a Salvagers at some point and slam it, passing the turn. My opponent taps out for Aluren... I have one card in hand Imperial Recruiter. I Recruiter at EoT for a Mentor I cast. I make a Monk army with Salvagers reviving trinkets + Mentor and it overwhelms my opponent's board.

+2 Disenchant
+2 Magus of the Moon
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-1 Mox Opal
-2 Lodestone Bauble

Game 2: My opponent starts with pre-game Leyline of the Void. No comboing for me, I suppose. I have Canonist, cantrips and a Chalice in my hand. I turn one the Chalice and it soon gets Decayed. I hold Canonist for when my opponent goes for Aluren, having bricked for many turns and flooding out. I eventually have to jam it. I draw Nahiri at some stage but I'm so behind on board that I don't think it matters. She gets Forced anyway.

Game 3: A sweet game. I turn one Ballista, turn two Mentor in to a bunch of Monks and start slamming. He eventually Deluges me, I shoot him with Ballista and my Monks die. I cast a Ballista on two, my opponent has DRS. Attack with Ballista and tank hard... I have Disenchant in case my opponent goes for Aluren, but I can also tap low for the Salvagers I just drew (sadly cannot turn on Metalcraft for the Opal that is sitting around which would give me requisite 2 mana). I opt to kill the DRS, cutting him off mana for potential Aluren and jam Salvagers. Make them have it! My opponent Deluges me again, but I draw... Monastery Mentor! I play a cantrip rock and make a Monk. My opponent is at 5. I have one card in hand, the Disenchant I've been holding. I draw Chalice that I cast on two, pumping up the team and kill my opponent. My opponent show me Aluren, Harpy and Parasitic Strix in hand. Well.

Round 2 vs. BUG Delver

I start on fetch Plains, cycle Lodestone Bauble. My opponent turn one DRSes. I play Tomb, Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Salvagers. And then kill him. Well then.

+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Magus of the Moon
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-3 Lodestone Bauble

Game 2 the power of basic Plains was great here. I fetch only Plains, beating a Wasteland I see from a Bauble. On turn one I cycle Lodestone, he casts a big Goyf turn two off his DRS and Trop. I fetch another Plains and slam Chalice. My opponent Dazes. My opponent slams another Goyf and things are looking grim... But I have the combo in hand. I have one turn to push through countermagic, so I slam another Chalice into a another Daze, not playing my Tomb this turn, seeing the Wasteland. He attacks me, and next turn I combo out with his countermagic run out.

Round 3 vs. ANT

Game 1 I turn one Chalice off a Petal and my opponent goes off a little prematurely, fearing me killing him. He dies to his Ad Nauseam.

-1 Auriok Salvagers
-4 Ballista
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Faerie Macabre

I like cutting Ballista, dunno about trimming one Salvagers. Maybe just cutting a Lodestone Bauble is better.

Game two I have turn one Canonist into turn three Mentor beatdown. Sadly my opponent Chain of Vapors my Canonist and then I die the turn after.

Game 3 is a sad one. I have everything - Chalice, Canonist and cantrips - and start off strongly. But I brick on any extra pressure. My opponent sits there doing nothing while I cycle cantrips finding more lands. He eventually draws Hurkyl's Recall, bounces my board and I die - with two LEDs in hand ready to either combo kill or feed a Mentor. Alas.

Round 4 vs. Grixis Delver

I Cavern and Lodestone Bauble. My opponent plays a DRS. I Tomb, Petal, LED, Salvagers. Booooom and they're dead. Note that if my LED got forced, I'd be in trouble here since I didn't have an extra source of White mana to combo with next turn.

+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Magus of the Moon
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-2 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Mox Opal

Game 2 my opponent starts on fetch go, I slam turn one Chalice. He Pierces. I have a second in hand. He passes back again after making a land drop, I play another Tomb and my second Chalice, he turns his Daze into a Shock and Chalice is in the house. My Plow in hand looks kinda sad when my opponent casts a Gurmag Angler that starts the beats. Luckily, I'm able to assemble my mana effectively and cast Nahiri, the Harbinger, exiling Angler! I find Magus after ticking her up next turn and full lock out my opponent. I find LED through my loots and eventually Nahiri ultimates to find Salvagers and combo out. Booooooom!

In short, the deck felt incredible and only when it drew dead (like any Stompy deck) did it feel lacklustre. There's a lot of interesting tensions to play around with - when to cycle trinkets or when to hold them for Mentor, etc. Still note sure on the sideboarding, but I do like trimming down to 3 Mox Opal to start with. Maybe replacing it with an Ancient Den, maybe something else. Multi-Opal hands feel absolutely atrocious at times, especially when Metalcraft can be hard to achieve at times and hence turning them into pseudo-Lotus Petals isn't even an assured thing.

Sideboard worked like a charm and I really loved Nahiri. Although a small sample, she did exactly what I wanted and her flexibility was much appreciated.

https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...2d&oe=59455A07

Caleb's new list featuring Days' Undoing. I'm not convinced but...

Went 3-0 for our legacy game night

Round 1 : Bug Delver 2-0

Game 1
I keep early chalice hands with pontiffs, chalice on 1 turn 1, gets forced, attempt to do it again, it sticks. He gets me down to 8 with a flipped delver and nothing but 1 drops in hand. I eventually combo off with lodestone bauble.

Game 2
-2 Pontiff +2 EE
Again go for the turn 1 chalice, gets countered. Next turn play an uncounterable mentor, dump my hand of cheerios, draw a bunch of cards. Next turn play salvagers, pass. Turn after I chain some lotus petals to make my guys huge and overrun him.



Round 2 : UB Standstill 2-0

Game 1
He plays land, pass. I turn 1 chalice, it resolves. Tells me he doesnt have much going on in hand. Play a mentor, also resolves, vomit some cheerios, overrun him in two turns.

Game 2
-2 Pontiff -2 Infernal Tutor +4 Bob
He plays island, pass. I turn 1 uncounterable bob, he plays a factory, standstill, pass. Bob hits sol land, draw for turn is salvagers. Cast salvagers (uncounterable) popping his standstill, double LED into combo with lodestone bauble. Opponent had a FoW and surgical in hand, wasn't sure at what point to try to disrupt. I think no matter the situation I either kill him my turn or my next through his hate.



Round 3 : Dragonstompy (red prison midrange) 2-1

Game 1
Opponent knows what I am on, leads with chalice on 0, follows into moon, chandra, bridge. Get Fiery Confluenced out.

Game 2
-4 Chalice -2 Pontiff -2 IT +4 Bob +2 EE +2 Disenchant
Opp mulls to 6. I lead with ancient tomb into ballista for 1. Opponent turn 1 moons me, I play a land, LED, opal, cast mentor, make a few tokens. After some back and forth opponent attempts to volcanic fallout me, i disenchant his chalice on 0 to get mentor out of range, kill next turn.

Game 3
Opp has turn 1 chalice on 0 and not much else for a few turns. I keep a slower hand but had turn 2 bob turn 3 mentor. Hit the basic plains with bob, cast mentor. Overrun with mentor and tokens in two turns.


After some talking I think I am cutting IT for Bob, freeing up some sideboard space. IT was great in some games, but my friend explain just jamming bob can produce misplays on my opponents ends such as improper spot removal or fighting over the wrong pieces. I really want to add a 3rd disenchant to the side, also bridges.

List for Reference



4x Monastery Mentor
4x Walking Ballista
4x Auriok Salvagers
2x Orzhov Pontiff

4x Urza's Bauble
4x Lodestone Bauble
4x Lotus Petal
4x Mox Opal
4x Chalice of the void
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Lion's Eye Diamond

4x Cavern of Souls
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
4x Plains
2x Scrubland

SB
2x Disenchant
2x Containment Priest
2x Engineered Explosives
4x Dark Confidant
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Battle at the Bridge
2x Faerie Macabre

pretty good observation about using dark confidant in maindeck. ~~45 0cc cards in the deck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mistercakes

pretty good observation about using dark confidant in maindeck. ~~45 0cc cards in the deck.

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He doesnt just auto tutor the piece you need, but being able to draw an extra card a turn is never a bad option. This line does open you up more to engineered plague on human if people still play that......

if i decide to put the deck together again, i'll try a 2-2 split.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bonkotsu

He doesnt just auto tutor the piece you need, but being able to draw an extra card a turn is never a bad option. This line does open you up more to engineered plague on human if people still play that......

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EPlague on Human is fine - Mentor makes Monks, not Human Monks ;D

He's a non-discriminatory kinda guy.

Played the w/r version (with 2 imperial recruiter) and the u/w version (trinket mage). Bouth are great decks but marimbondos imperial recruiter (w/r version) its a bit slower because you find auriok scavengers and need an extra turn to set the combo off. When using trinket mage you normally win in the spot wile fining led or walking ballista.

In w/r version I relly liked the 2 magus of the moon sideboard, it's a lock piece against delves decks that are in the meta and can't be countered (cavern of souls).

Going to test a b/w/r (red for sideboard) and see how it feels

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cris_rj

Played the w/r version (with 2 imperial recruiter) and the u/w version (trinket mage). Bouth are great decks but marimbondos imperial recruiter (w/r version) its a bit slower because you find auriok scavengers and need an extra turn to set the combo off. When using trinket mage you normally win in the spot wile fining led or walking ballista.

In w/r version I relly liked the 2 magus of the moon sideboard, it's a lock piece against delves decks that are in the meta and can't be countered (cavern of souls).

Going to test a b/w/r (red for sideboard) and see how it feels

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I think the big boon to Wr is the grind cards you get. Recruiter opens up many more grindy value lines - getting Salvagers and setting up value plays with Baubles, killing an opponent locked out Chalice by tutoring for Mentor to kill them quickly etc. It's definitely more about supporting the value plan. I think it sacrifices the combo speed that Trinket Mage provides and adds a bit more resiliency.

However Nicklas (ItIsUnfair) has been jamming a Thoughtcast build which I like quite a bit. I'd be building it something like this:

Creatures: (13)
4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Monastery Mentor
3 Walking Ballista
2 Trinket Mage

Non-Creature Spells: (29)
4 Urza's Bauble
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thoughtcast
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Mox Opal
1 Engineered Explosives

Lands: (18)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Tundra

Sideboard: (15)
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Engineered Explosives


The velocity of Thoughtcast is quite neat, esp with Mentor.

Played this version but I was punished with null rod (delver decks). I'm prefering the b/w version but with some changes (I used Sean's mana base and 2 tundras in the place of 2 plateaus). Gitaxian proble is not good but it's the best cantrip for the deck we have right know. Karakas is really important in my meta against snt and reanimator.


Magus of the moon was a great idea for the side, but when I side in is was normally useless because grixis delver can deal with it. Has anyone played the grixis bomberman Tanaka Mikito played in the last KMC tournament ? I think it's good to contact him because of his records and and inovations in bomberman

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cris_rj

Played this version but I was punished with null rod (delver decks). I'm prefering the b/w version but with some changes (I used Sean's mana base and 2 tundras in the place of 2 plateaus). Gitaxian proble is not good but it's the best cantrip for the deck we have right know. Karakas is really important in my meta against snt and reanimator.


Magus of the moon was a great idea for the side, but when I side in is was normally useless because grixis delver can deal with it. Has anyone played the grixis bomberman Tanaka Mikito played in the last KMC tournament ? I think it's good to contact him because of his records and and inovations in bomberman

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Null Rod is basically equivalent to Dredge seeing Leyline of the Void, it's real tough if people have it. :(

Mind linking this Grixis list? The most recent one I remember is the bizarre Esper list with Gifts Ungiven (which was really more of an Esper Chalice Control deck).

Magus I have found okay against Red Delver decks. The key is to force them to burn removal on other threats (Mentor, Big Ballistas, etc.) and then carve the way for either a lock-out or one of your key threats sticking. Magus doesn't auto-win the game (though if you have Chalice, he kind of does), but he ups the number of must-kill threats we have.

I'm not certain the Thoughtcast version is better than the OG version of Tanaka Mikito with Trinket Mage, just due to the stable mana. But I think if you go this direction Red has a few more benefits. Trinket Mage isn't as great as he seems, as finding Salvagers to grind is much more important than finding LED, which is essentially a brick without a Salvagers in play. But that's just my 2c, I'm sure there's a few good SB options from UW that haven't been explored (Meddling Mage + Probe/Baubles sounds really exciting).

Creatures: (14)
4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Walking Ballista
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Trinket Mage

Non-Creature Spells: (28)
4 Urza's Bauble
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal

Lands: (18)
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Inventors' Fair
4 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
2 Tundra

Sideboard: (15)
3 Meddling Mage
2 Containment Priest
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Disenchant
1 Pithing Needle
1 Karakas
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Mage also is really powerful post-board as a permanent-based protection piece when Chalice is unimpressive (eg. vs. Decay decks). There might be something here.

Sorry Sean, I was referring the Esper list and not grixis list as I roted. :) going to test Mb 1 meddling mage in place of 1 ballista. When you side in Gideon ? Against grixis control decks ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cris_rj

Sorry Sean, I was referring the Esper list and not grixis list as I roted. :) going to test Mb 1 meddling mage in place of 1 ballista. When you side in Gideon ? Against grixis control decks ?

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Mainly against Czech Pile and other controlling decks. You just want to slam bombs until they die as otherwise all their removal lines up quite well vs our threats. Also synergises with Mentor draws quite nicely.

One Mage could be alright, but I think it's better off in the sideboard. Game 1 you just want to combo ASAP and having as many win conditions (especially since you're not running Lodestone Bauble, I imagine) is important.

Another week, another 3-1 for the Bomberman.

Creatures: (14)
4 Walking Ballista
2 Imperial Recruiter
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Auriok Salvagers

Non-Creature Spells: (27)
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Lodestone Bauble
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
4 Urza's Bauble

Lands: (19)
1 Ancient Den
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
4 Windswept Heath
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Plains
2 Plateau

Sideboard: (15)
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Containment Priest
2 Disenchant
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Magus of the Moon
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

Main changes from last time:

-1 Mox Opal
+1 Ancient Den

A more stable source of Metalcraft, and stops the clunkiness of multi-Opal hands.

-1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Tormod's Crypt

Again, trying to make the Metalcraft synergies work a bit better. Suggested by L10, since in the late game will usually just Recruit for Containment Priest anyway.

-1 Lodestone Bauble
+1 Engineered Explosives

A concession to the D&T matchup and overall just a good card.

In the end, I was really happy with all the changes and things seemed to work together very nicely - stand-outs were definitely the Den and Inventors' Fair who added subtle consistency that was much appreciated.

Round 1: vs. Miracles

Game 1 my opponent holds up Counterspell all game (I have seen from a Bauble) and I cannot jam in my Mentor and am waiting for a Cavern. I hence keep some, but not all, Baubles in hand to cycle. I think this is wrong. I should've slammed Mentor as early as possible and just got my hand churning. Be aggressive. Eventually he taps low for his own Mentor, I Inventors' Fair for Ballista to kill it but he has Force and then I'm dead.

+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-1 Lodestone Bauble

Game 2 I have Chalice on 1 into Mentor plus cantrips. My opponent has double Mentor, however. I have EE that can clear all the Monks away, but I set it earlier to two just for a Prowess trigger. I think this was wrong. Eventually I have Salvagers + Explosives that could've been great (I had the ability to set it to 3, but was short on mana because I needed to blow it, revive it and then play it again). Anyway, his Mentors go out of control, I die. Boo.

Misplays, misplays, misplays, I feel.

Round 2: vs. RUG Delver

Game 1 I kill a Delver with a Ballista early, Chalice gets countered by Pierce into double Daze, but it carves the way for the combo to get there.

+2 Magus of the Moon
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-3 Lodestone Bauble

Game 2 my hand is a bit flooded, and Magus of the Moon comes down. I use Bauble to look at his top cards and see the Bolt. Magus dies and True-Name clocks me while I get Wasted out.

Game 3 I win via too many Mentors just overloading my opponent's removal as they churn out from Cavern. Good times.

Delver decks feel like a very solid matchup, every single threat of ours is absurd against them.

Round 3: vs. Naya Loam

Game 1 my opponent is a dear friend, and Chalice on zeroes me. Nice. I assemble double Mentor to his Goyf, however, and eventually Salvagers joins the party too. I recur dead artifacts and get them countered to get my aggro on, and slam through double Knight and a Goyf.

+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Containment Priest
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Chalice of the Void
-3 Lion's Eye Diamond
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Mishra's Bauble

We going for full grind mode here; Chalice on zero means we won't be getting much done. I intended to board in more LEDs OTP (since we can get them through Chalice then).

Game 2 he has Chalice on zero and we grind a bit, exchanging Ballistas for Thalias, Plows for Goyfs/Knights and Explosives that gets Pridemaged. My own Salvagers sadly gets Plowed, otherwise looping Explosives would've put me in a great spot to keep clearing his board. The board stalls, my opponent assembles Marit Lage and I'm dead.

-2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Lion's Eye Diamond

Game 3 we explode out by playing all our trinkets, mana rocks and LED before he can Chalice on zero us. He has a Thalia that gets Ballistaed. I Disenchant his Chalice, play a Mishra's Bauble. He taps out for a Goyf and Wastelands me down to two mana. I cycle Mishra's Bauble seeing another Thalia on top! UHHHH OHHHHH. But upkeep, draw... Draw mana and Salvagers to combo out for the win. Phew!

Round 4: vs. 4c Control

Game 1 my opponent gets stuck on mana and I have a Ballista that beats down a bit. I churn through his countermagic with Monastery Mentor, eventually sticking a Salvagers and a second Salvagers. I then have Inventors' Fair that is easily turned on thanks to my Ancient Den. I get LED and kill my opponent.

-4 Chalice of the Void
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-1 Lodestone Bauble
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Magus of the Moon

Game 2 my opponent again has mana troubles, I have an early Mentor + a Monk triggered by an LED. I have double Recruiter in hand, eventually assembling six mana in one turn to cast Recruiter and tutor for Magus - I'm aiming to dodge any potential GY hate he may of expected to be great and hence why he kept a mediocre hand leading with Trop. He Forces the Magus. Ok. Next turn I cast Revoker, he lets it resolve and I name the on-board Nihil Spellbomb he played. I then Recruiter, crack LED in resp, get another Magus (here I could've also got Salvagers, but destroying his mana better plays around Deluge, since I can't combo out immediately. I do need to dump my hand this turn however because I have seen a Hymn from Bauble and hence if he draws a second Black source I'm in trouble) and turn his Trop, Volc and Badlands into Mountains. He shows me a hand of Black-intensive spells and etc. while my mediocre beatdown gets him.

Deck feels great, need to better mulligan and be more aggressive at just sticking it to my opponent. Giving my Miracles opponent too much time was a grave error.

Thanks for all the writeups and work on this Sean! I've got the UW Trinket Mage version together right now and have been doing paper testing at home. Seems pretty powerful so far, but can struggle to have enough threats. I guess that's the problem with not running Recruiter as threats 9 and 10, just don't have him yet.

Has anybody been brave enough to try this on MTGO? Thinking through what I believe to be the click sequence, I expect it to be 6 clicks per LED loop: 1 to cast LED, 2 to activate, and 3 to recur. If you can make two clicks per second, that's only 120 seconds to make 40 mana for a lethal Ballista. Not sure if it would be too frustrating, though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paradigm72

Has anybody been brave enough to try this on MTGO? Thinking through what I believe to be the click sequence, I expect it to be 6 clicks per LED loop: 1 to cast LED, 2 to activate, and 3 to recur. If you can make two clicks per second, that's only 120 seconds to make 40 mana for a lethal Ballista. Not sure if it would be too frustrating, though.

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It is fine when you have a ballista, especially since it is all open information and deterministic, so they can concede long before you reach 40 mana. The problem is when you don't have ballista and have to first loop for mana, and then loop a bauble to draw most of your deck in their turn, and then once again loop in your own turn to kill, that is almost impossible on mtgo but still a fair amount of your wins. And usually they shouldn't concede until after they have seen their own top card.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paradigm72

Thanks for all the writeups and work on this Sean! I've got the UW Trinket Mage version together right now and have been doing paper testing at home. Seems pretty powerful so far, but can struggle to have enough threats. I guess that's the problem with not running Recruiter as threats 9 and 10, just don't have him yet.

Has anybody been brave enough to try this on MTGO? Thinking through what I believe to be the click sequence, I expect it to be 6 clicks per LED loop: 1 to cast LED, 2 to activate, and 3 to recur. If you can make two clicks per second, that's only 120 seconds to make 40 mana for a lethal Ballista. Not sure if it would be too frustrating, though.

---

I think Nicklas speaks the best from experience, and I really think it's too cumbersome to try, so sadly we likely won't be seeing any 5-0s anytime soon. Lodestone Bauble is no longer feasible as a kill on MODO either.

I also think that Recruiter is big game (more on that in a moment), but if you are on UW, be ready to mulligan to your threats, and I think mulligan strategy is still something that needs to be figured out for this deck. I think that's the hardest part of this deck; not keeping "trap" hands with only Baubles and no way to assuredly get payoff from them.

Anyway, another 3-1 at a GP side event. List:

Creatures: (14)
4 Walking Ballista
2 Imperial Recruiter
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Auriok Salvagers

Non-Creature Spells: (27)
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Lodestone Bauble
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
4 Urza's Bauble

Lands: (19)
1 Ancient Den
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
4 Windswept Heath
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Plains
2 Plateau

Sideboard: (15)
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Containment Priest
2 Disenchant
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Magus of the Moon
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger


Round 1: ANT
Game 1 is an interesting one. I'm on the draw, don't find Chalice, but I have turn two kill if I find a Ballista/Lodestone Bauble. So we roll with it, only end up drawing most of my deck in my opponent's upkeep. He can't kill me, so next turn I kill him.

+2 Ethersworn Canonist
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Walking Ballista
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Monastery Mentor (not sure what the 6th cut should be...)

Game 2 I Chalice on 1 him, play Mentor on two and then combo him g3. Noice.

Round 2: Shardless BUG

Game 1 I'm on the draw, Chalice him then Mentor stalls the ground. My mana is a bit funky (relying on an Opal for White mana), and my opponent has gone land Suspend Visions, into Goyf into Shardless (casting Shardless of a Wasteland), hitting a countered DRS. The Wasteland is incoming on my Tomb; I need to dump my hand (plays around Hymn too), so I play Recruiter, crack LED for WWW and bring Salvagers onto the table, ready to combo out next turn if I draw a White source or an artifact for Metalcrafting the Opal. My opponent untaps, casts Jace, bounces Salvagers and I fall behind soon after as a Visions resolves.

-4 Chalice of the Void
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
+2 Magus of the Moon
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

Game two mull to a sketchy six with no lands and two Baubles to cycle. Have a Petal though. Scry and see Tomb, so I can deploy Nahiri soon! Cycle into another Petal and turn one Nahiri to my opponent's DRS. I also saw something terrible from the Bauble... Null Rod. So my Nahiri is digging for Disenchant and ideally the mana to cast it. I don't get there as my opponent soon Needles my Nahiri on 8, I never draw a White source and soon die.

Round 3: Elves

I have Chalice on one on the draw (no die rolls won for me! Sadface), but I cannot find Ballista fast enough. I'm one turn from tutoring for Ballista off Fair to kill his Ranger and Arbor (shoot Ranger first, then Arbor), but he NOs me next turn.

+2 Containment Priest
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-2 Monastery Mentor
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond

I wanted to bring in Plow too, and maybe that's better than Revoker, but I'm not sure.

Game 2 I make a turn one Ballista, he t1 Nettle Sentinels, I t2 hold up mana. He Zeniths, I Containment Priest him. Noice. I then Mentor, make some Monks, make a second Ballista, shoot down piles of Elves and find a second Priest. He's burnt out of resources and I get there. Ballista is crazy in this MU. My opponent also Saged an on-board LED out of fear, when all it was doing was triggering my Mentor and maybe fuelling a Ballista.

Game 3 my opponent mulled to five, led on Cradle and I Chaliced him, then Revokered him, then comboed him.

Round 4: MUD

Game 1 my opponent pressure me with Golems after I Ballista down an early Metalworker before it untaps. Imperial Recruiter bides some time, but with two Golems staring at me I draw LED and combo out with my on-board Salvagers luckily.

-4 Chalice of the Void
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond
-1 Urza's Bauble
+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Magus of the Moon
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

Game 2 my opponent led with Chalice on one, Lightning Greaves and Metalworker; he then put in an Orbs of Warding. I had Mentor and other aggro friends getting work done, and my opponent is well-off casting the Sundering Titan in his hand. He then draws Forgemaster and Blightsteels my motley crew.

Game 3 is a epic game. I have a slow hand, but can deal with a lot of problems, and Nahiri to filter later. My opponent has an early Lodestone into a Orbs of Warding, and I Plow his Lodestone, untap, and start Nahiri ticking up. My opponent has a lot of mana from posts, and casts a Thorn and a Metalworker. I Recruiter for Revoker on the Metalworker while Nahiri keeps filtering my hand. Staff of Domination comes down and it's Nahiri vs. his card draw engine. I'm whittling at his lifetotal, and soon add a Mentor to the board and cast some rocks making some Monks. Salvagers also joins the table but is ineffective with Thorn in play. Eventually my Inventor's Fair tutors Explosives, I have an LED on the table and I blow it for 2 and for 3 to remove all his rubbish, and then ult Nahiri for another LED to go off and wreck my opponent with massive Monks. Was a really crazy game, and winning through all the hateful permanents made me in love with Fair and Explosives' flexibility.

So yeah, 3-1. Explosives was impressive, Revoker was good but could see a 1/1 split with Vandal (an out to Rod that's Recruiterable sounds neat), Fair remained great, the Den did work and yeah, Bomberman, Bomberman, Bomberman. It's a good time.

Sorry for the double post, but another 3-1. 4-0 so close :(

List was same as last time, except -1 Revoker, +1 Manic Vandal for the SB.

Round 1: Eldrazi

Game 1 was a bit lame. My opponent played two Endless Ones and a Matter Reshaper and this ended up being enough for some reason as I failed to assemble Mentor + Salvagers to overwhelm them.

+2 Magus of the Moon
+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Manic Vandal
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-4 Chalice of the Void
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond

Game 2 I play turn one Magus and feel I got this. Sadly I dont. My opponent gets an Endless One and then a Jitte. I assemble an army of Monks and Recruiter for Vandal the turn before he equips. Sadly, he equips, kills Magus, casts TKS and I die empty handed to the Jitte. Without it I feel my Monk army would've been able to get there. But alas.

Round 2: Jeskai Stoneblade

Game 1 I get Chalice on one and slam a Mentor into a likely Counterspell, letting me cycle Baubles and move on with life. I end up short of my fourth mana for a long time, and TNN starts pressuring me. Jace is also present, ticking up, but my Ballistas keep bashing him up. Eventually I get three mana for Recruiter > Salvagers, and then combo out before he kills me. I guess his hand was all one drops.

-2 Lion's Eye Diamond
-3 Lodestone Bauble
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
+1 Manic Vandal
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Disenchant

He starts on nothing, I start on Chalice which he forces. I keep slamming threat after threat at my opponent, slamming a Salvagers with a Petal and mana floating to revive my dead Chalice. He Plowshares my Salvagers. Draw step my opponent Cliques me and takes my Chalice. Saccing my Petal to revive the Chalice also lost me my only source of red, and I'm left with a recruiter I can't cast in hand. I find Mentor though, and end up racing the Clique (Disenchanting my own LED on the penultimate turn) to kill my opponent. Good stuff.

Round 3: Belcher

t1 Chalice on one, I see two Probes from Baubles and expect ANT - though my opponent only played an LED and no land. So I sideboard:

-1 Engineered Explosives
-4 Walking Ballista
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Phyrexian Revoker

My opponent starts on Taiga and makes a Belcher (!) but luckily has nothing else. I turn one Revoker off a City to my opponent's surprise, then they eventually lose when I draw my whole deck and combo out some turns after.

If I knew my opponent was on Belcher I likely would've cut Crypts, kept in Explosives and a Ballista.

Round 4: Turbo Depths

The coolest part of the day. I kill my opponent on turn two with Lodestone, fast mana, and Salvagers + LED. Must be nice. I also don't reveal Red mana.

+2 Magus of the Moon
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Manic Vandal
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Walking Ballista
-1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Chalice of the Void

My opponent starts with a turn one Sphere and I shrug. He eventually Into the Norths a Dark Depths and I fetch my Plateau and cast Magus next turn. I then also Magus again the turn after. And then Vandal the Sphere. I'm locked out of White mana, but my opponent cannot function and I beat him down. Lovely dopey Magic.

I'm not sure how to SB against Depths; I think I want Disenchant over the Chalices, but maybe this depends on play/draw (OTP Chalice cuts off discard). Late Chalices also can be set to two to cut off a fair few cards. Can also keep in Explosives too to blow up Needles or Spheres.

Maybe sideboard like this:
-4 Walking Ballista
-4 Chalice of the Void
+2 Magus of the Moon
+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Manic Vandal

Thoughts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChemicalBurns

Thoughts?

---

These are some excellent tourney reports. Well done and thank you!

I don't get to play much but I do love this deck, so filter my comments accordingly:tongue:.

Cards that seem good against Depths are Revoker, Pithing Needle (I run 1 SB), StP, Magus and Vandal. Karakas is useful too. Crypt too if they're Loamy maybe?

I've been running 3 each of Recruiter, Salvagers, Ballista, Trinket Mage and Mentor. Mana isn't as wonky as I anticipated due to Petals and 4 Moxen, though I keep adding and subtracting a Spire of Industry for a Plains or Fair. Still trying to decide if the Mages are worth the space though. The Recruiters certainly are, and I run War Priest of Thune and the Vandal over Disenchant since they are tutorable and uncountable with a Cavern out.

I often consider a SB True Believer or 2 for things like TKS, Clique, Pox decks, but that's pretty meta dependent.

So, another big tournament report. Seven rounds Win-a-Mox on the final day of GP Sydney. Same list as my previous post.

Round 1: vs. D&T

Game 1 is pretty amazing. Ballista does huge work at mowing down Thalias and other pieces of my opponents board. My opponent misses their second land drop but has a t1 Vial. Mentor and a second Mentor pressure my opponent so much that they are forced into awkward blocks. The only card that was a true pain was Serra Avenger (and fliers in general are a bit of an issue). There was also a strange scenario where I had to Chalice on zero purely for Mentor triggers. But anyway, we get there with the horde of angry Monks.

-4 Chalice of the Void
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond
+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Manic Vandal
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Containment Priest

This game is also fairly straightforward. I begin on a Ballista while my opponent Revokers it on their turn three after Wastelanding me down. I accelerate with an Opal to cast Imperial Recruiter (still with two basic Plains up, noice) and get Vandal. My opponent casts a Thalia and a Mom, I shatter Revoker and gun down Thalia. Man, Ballista is great. Eventually my opponent tries to get a SoFI on Mom, but I have Salvagers which neatly blocks her. I also saw a SoLaS from a Bauble, but I guess he felt it would be ineffective with all my Red creatures on the board. Anyway, I find Mentor and start to churn out Monks, and then eventually use Fair to combo out.

Round 2: vs. Storm

Game 1 I'm not sure if my opponent is on Storm, though I have a suspicion he is (though I saw him playing Goblins one of the previous days sooooo). I mull a weak seven with Ballista and lands to a six with Ballista and cantrips, and I decide to keep. This, I think, was wrong. I should've mulliganned more aggressively into either a quick combo/Mentor or Chalice. I die on turn 3.

-4 Walking Ballista
-1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Phyrexian Revoker

Game 2 we have everything - Chalice on 1, Revoker on Petal, and a Salvagers and Recruiter. We beatdown for awhile and my Chalice gets Decayed. I revive it with Salvagers, cast it again, then next turn Recruit into Canonist. Opponent cannot get there. My opponent mulled to five this game however.

Game 3 we have a turn one Mentor with Crypt and Opal, so I keep. I draw into Revoker as well which names LED. Mentor is pressuring incredibly fast, but we alas do not get there, as my opponent Decays my Crypt, forcing me to wipe the little he has, then goes off with Cabal Rituals, IT and PiF. A close game, my opponent needed to find a final Ritual off his Preordain to get there (but his odds were quite high nonetheless).

Round 3: vs. Lands

Game One, we draw our whole deck on opponent's upkeep of turn two. I know he has a Crop Rotation in hand, but we have double LED which can very easily beat a Bog. He puts Chasm into play thinking he can get there, but I show him what Lodestone Bauble does and we're on to the next one.

+2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Disenchant
+2 Magus of the Moon
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Chalice of the Void
-4 Walking Ballista
-1 Engineered Explosives

Game Two my opponent mulls to five, we're beating him down for awhile (I think with Mentor) and naturally makes Marit Lage very fast.

Game Three my opponent mulls to four and I Recruiter for Magus of the Moon on turn two. He wastes my Plateau, however, and I never draw a Red source of mana again. I get aggro with Mentor, but he survives on one life when he makes Marit Lage and I die. Shit. Such a heatbreaking loss, it was really so close. I could've done things a little differently, however - I could've gone "all-in" on Recruiter > crack LED get Magus (but lose everything to a Punishing Fire), or I could've even just tried to combo him out. I should've been more patient, but instead I lost to a well-timed and well-placed Wasteland. Alas. I should've recognised my shortage of Red mana and accounted for this, but I got too greedy for the Magus of the Moon free wins. Remember that Magus is not a win con, he is just a piece of disruption.

I think a better way to play the match is Mentor first, get Tomb Wasted, play basics/fetches until I can Recruiter > crack LED Magus (hoping Mentor absorbs a PFire for us) and then move on with life.

Round 4: vs. RUG Delver

A very easy one. We Chalice him, he Forces, he Dismembers a Mentor going nuts, it carves the way for Salvagers to combo him out. It helped that his double Delvers didn't flip.

+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Magus of the Moon
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond

Chalice sticks, my opponent bricks on lands because he cannot cantrip, we very easily combo out.

Round 5: vs. Eldrazi

This matchup is still hell, gosh. I don't know what my opponent is on, I keep a hand very much reliant on Chalice being good. He starts on Mimic, I slump and realise my hand does nothing. I get beatdown, my opponent Chalice zeroes me once I cast an Auriok Salvagers too; there's no outs left.

-4 Chalice of the Void
-3 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+2 Disenchant
+2 Magus of the Moon
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
+1 Manic Vandal

My opponent Leylines me, I try to win with Mentor beatdown, be he's not getting there through the aggression. Chalice on zero appears too.

Okay, this matchup feels like hell, and we really need to derp them out with Magus to get somewhere. We have some good tools, but they're just a bit too slow and clunky. Many have mentioned Ensnaring Bridge as a solid answers, and if this deck was more prominent, I'd consider that in my SB as a Fair target.

Round 6: vs. Sneak & Show

Game 1 I Chalice him, then get a Mentor Forced and then get the combo of Salvagers going and draw my whole deck. Luckily his hand was cantrip-dense and we get there.

+2 Containment Priest
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
+2 Disenchant
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Walking Ballista
-1 Engineered Explosives
-2 Lodestone Bauble

Game 2 I have t1 Mentor into a bunch of Monks with Revoker in hand. I see Griselbrand from a Bauble. He casts Show and Tell, puts in Omniscience, I put in Revoker naming Griselbrand, he has Emrakul and Griselbrand. Okay then.

Game 3 I cast a turn one Revoker on Sneak Attack, my opponent Ponders. I have enough mana to eventually Chalice for three but that gets Forced. Next turn I draw Chalice again, can either cast it for 3, or cast it for 1 and combo out. I opt for Chalice three, next turn my opponent has Needle on Salvagers, rats. I cast Salvagers, draw another one, and the 2/1 and 2x 2/4 beatdown get there.

Round 7: vs. Imperial Painter

Ballista is great in this matchup, clearing out lots of stuff. Nonetheless, game one Mentor steals the game pressuring my opponent considerably and eventually combo winning through his three blockers (thanks to Fair tutoring LED) since I had Mentor + 3 Monks made.

-4 Chalice of the Void
-2 Lodestone Bauble
-1 Lion's Eye Diamond
+2 Disenchant
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Phyrexian Revoker
+1 Manic Vandal
+1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

Again, Ballista is great, and wins this game. I start on early Mentor, gun down a lot of his guys, Plow his Painter and Recruiter for Vandal destroying his Grindstone. I also get an EE on two. We eventually stall with Bridge in play (Recruiters and Vandals staring back at each other!) but my Ballista keeps ticking up and my opponent is low on life from Mentor and Tomb damage. Eventually I try to tick Ballista up to four and my opponent goes to Bolt him - shoot his face. Next turn I Fair for another Ballista and shoot his face for the win. Noicu.

So a 4-3. The close losses were Storm and Lands, which very easily could've gone either way (I think vs. Lands, I just sequenced wrong and got too gamey). Eldrazi felt highly unfavourable, especially not drawing Moon post-board. So that's definitely something to consider. Nonetheless, I was impressed with the deck's strength against D&T, as well as just in general. 10-5 over this weekend doesn't sound particularly great, but the deck is so in flux. Learning how to play it and its intricacies was a great experience.

There was a few misplays I have to note:

• Screwing up Mox Opal Metalcraft a few times by shooting with Ballista before casting another artifact
• The aforementioned looseness with Recruiter and Magus
• When to cycle certain cantrips. Vs. Storm, I think you always want to draw during your own upkeep to avoid discard. When boarding Priest or Plow, cracking on your turn and drawing on opponent's upkeep is best.
• I never "scried" with Mishra's Bauble and a fetch, and I should be doing this more often. I keep forgetting about it and auto-piloting to targeting the opponent.

Only changes I may be making in future is:
-1 City of Traitors
+1 Cavern of Souls

City always feels unstable, and even though the deck can slog through counterspells well, being able to set one to Construct and one to Human would've been lovely. Anyway, hopefully y'all enjoyed these reports, I'll keep jamming the deck in my weeklies and try and continue tuning as best I can. I'll also be updating the primer with matchups at some stage.

- Sean

I should be running ChemicalBurns' exact list at our monthly Legacy FNM this week. I'll report back on how it went afterwards. Going to be testing until then.

I'd like to go to an IQ on Saturday in AL, but can't seem to get anyone else interested in going. It'd be nice to get Bomberman on coverage.

Would good ol' Gustha's Scepter have good use here? It would let you hold a combo piece safe from LED.

It may be corner-case, but if you can find a way to sacrifice the Scepter with cards exiled face-down beneath it, those cards do go to the graveyard and don't stay exiled. Thus, you could still get things going with Salvagers after the fact.