Bizarro Stormy (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Griselbrand)

Overview
Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Griselbrand?

We were on the edge of Urborg when the Serum Powder began to kick in...

http://i.imgur.com/faN0SKE.jpg

We can't stop here, this is Deathrite country!
We can now stop here, at this deck. This is no longer Deathrite country!


This deck is the bastard child of Tin Fins - a storm & reanimator hybrid that leverages Griselbrand and hasty reanimation. However, the mechanics of playing this deck are quite different than that of its older cousin, as this deck abuses Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Yawgmoth's Will, as well as Mind’s Desire effects. Those cards proper were banned in Legacy for a good reason...

Ultimately, Bizarro Stormy aims to reanimate and activate a Magus of the Mind (potentially multiple times), generating large amounts of mana and storm, then killing your opponent with a lethal Tendrils of Agony. Bizarro Stormy has varied lines of attack as well as protection and disruption. This deck also truly abuses Entomb.

Bizzaro Stormy is much less linear than a deck like Tin Fins and thus less reliant on any particular card. In this diversity comes flexibility and resilience. The deck also affords us the ability to run more targeted protection in the sideboard.

The Name

(Griselbrand = Griselbees = TinFins = SeaLab 2021) + Storm = Bizarro Stormy
http://www.adultswim.com/videos/seal...izarro-stormy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWXIiNwXGJ4&
Confused still? Read the Tin Fins primer. Still confused? Consider a different deck.

http://i.imgur.com/FpcSxSt.gif

Decklist and Card Choices

Through the extensive testing of a small group of people degenerates, we settled on this 60 card maindeck (with changes for which splash color you’re using). Don’t take this as gospel - there is likely a lot more tuning to be done.

4 B/x Fetchland
1 U/x Dual Land
1 B/x Dual Land

4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder

2-3 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal

4 Shallow Grave
2 Corpse Dance
0-1 Unburial Rites

3 Griselbrand
1 Magus of the Mind

4 Entomb
0-2 Mastermind's Acquisition / 0-1 Dark Petition / 0-1 Tendrils of Agony
1-2 Past in Flames

1-3 Collective Brutality
4 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy


Wishboard:

1 Tendrils of Agony
14 Sideboard cards… keep reading

It’s a bizarre looking list (get it now?) but it plays rather smoothly. Let’s break this down by cards that are worth talking about:

Mastermind’s Acquisition - At first glance, Acquisition looks like trash. It might be in most cases, but it’s damn good in this deck. This card has 3 key features to it:

1. Tutoring from the maindeck - Diabolic Tutor. Not amazing, but serviceable.
2. Wish for anything from the sideboard - this is slightly interesting. You can grab any sideboard card in Game 1 for black mana. Similar to Burning Wish in TES - except we can grab any card, but for a greater cost. We can also move a win condition to the sideboard too. OK, seems cool.
3. Doesn’t exile itself - Incredibly important. This allows for redundancy in the maindeck by having a tutor which can then can be cast again off Past in Flames to get your kill condition.

The fact that it does all 3 of these within 1 card merits possible inclusion. Mastermind’s Acquisition is incredibly flexible and while it is mana intensive, we’re running 14 pieces of mana acceleration to help with mana production. Not to mention…

Magus of the Mind - Magus is really the card that sets this deck apart from Tin Fins. For those that haven’t cast Mind’s Desire before, this card is a draw spell and a ritual wrapped into one. Magus of the Mind DOES NOT exile itself after activation. Combine this with the possibility of flipping more haste-granting reanimation and we're chaining Mind's Desire effects for the cost of U. Drawing upon current Vintage deck building, this is akin to Paradoxical Outcome in that it is not restricted, draws cards, and generates mana. However, we get to run far more than 4 of these effects given that we are running 4+ reanimation spells as well as Past in Flames to flash them back.

Also... since there have been a fair number of questions about this, let's clearly explain one way Magus differs from Griselbrand. Magus DOES NOT draw cards - it exiles them from your library. This means that Leovold, Notion Thief, Chains of Mephistopheles, and Spirit of the Labyrinth have no effect on Magus activations. Furthermore, this also means that, according to rule 120.4, you do not lose the game by exiling your entire library with Magus of the Mind. So feel free to go overboard on activations - you simply run out of additional cards to exile.

Griselbrand - Flying Lifelinking Bargain with axes for hands is still amazing. Our Lord and Savior.

Entomb - Entomb is far more complex in this deck than it seems at first glance. A somewhat concise list of the most common modes to play it:

1. Obvious application: Entombing reanimation targets.
2. Functions as a pseudo-instant-speed Demonic Tutor when you’re playing with Past in Flames - that’s right, Entomb grabs any card from your library, not just creatures!
3. Grab Past in Flames itself - then it’s only 5 mana to flash back. Golly gee willikers, Batman, that’s a 6 mana line to a storm engine, just like ANT (IT -> PIF).
4. Tutor for more rituals if you’ve already got Past in Flames to increase mana and storm count.
5. Tutor for Mastermind’s Acquisition, Dark Petition, or Tendrils if you’ve already got all the mana you need and Past in Flames ready to cast.

This card does basically everything. Entomb is by far the best card in this deck - but it isn’t necessarily a choke point.

Cabal Ritual - Bizzaro is a bit mana hungry at times so having another way to generate BBB on turn 1/2 is important. Later in your combo or later in the game, you’re able to generate BBBBB, which is critical as well.

Lion’s Eye Diamond - I think we all know this card. But a some notes about it in this deck:

1. You can crack it in between Griselbrand draws to use it as an initial mana source to cast more spells.
2. Crack for UUU to get 3 Magus activations.
3. Casting Past in Flames.
4. Also a discard outlet for your reanimation targets: cast LED, cast Shallow Grave holding priority, crack LED discarding Griselbrand or Magus, then Shallow Grave resolves

Seems good.

Collective Brutality - This card was once an all star - but with the banning of Deathrite Shaman, it has now become merely "very good." It's discard for countermagic, it kills hatebears, and it's a discard outlet for your reanimation targets. Sometimes it's all 3! Given that we’re running 14 pieces of mana acceleration, it’s very possible to cast CoBru and reanimate in the same turn. The life drain mode has also been relevant multiple times in testing; just dealing 4-6 damage to an opponent and swinging with Griselbrand to get the last bit of damage in sometimes does the trick.

Past in Flames - This card does some amazing things in this deck. It’s got similar lines as a deck like ANT with flashing back rituals, but it also aSlows redundancy with your reanimation spells and Entomb as well. If they’ve gotten countered or discarded, Past in Flames provides additional resiliency by flashing them back.

Corpse Dance - For all intents and purposes, this is Shallow Grave that costs 1 more mana. It gets the nod over other possible reanimation spells for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Magus isn’t legendary, so Goryo’s Vengeance doesn’t work. Secondly, it doesn’t target, which gives it a lot more play with instant speed spells, LED’s, and possible sideboard inclusions. CMC 3 is a bit much sometimes, but remember that we do have free discard outlets in LED and also run Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Lotus Petal to generate more mana. Given the large amount of mana we generate, it’s also occasionally correct to pay the Buyback cost to ensure you have another reanimation to recur Magus.

Dark Petition This is a possibility in place of Mastermind’s Acquisition, usually along with 1 Tendrils of Agony in the main deck. This allows for some cheaper lines as it can function as a “2 mana” tutor, allowing you to continuing to combo the turn you cast it rather than having to pass the turn with Mastermind’s Acquisition. What you lose with this option is the flexibility that Acquisition offers.

Thoughtseize Now that Gitaxian Probe has been banned, this becomes our primary discard spell. We aren't as life total dependent as Tin Fins or traditional Storm, so we can afford the lifeloss incurred with running a play set. Collective Brutality can also help offset this a bit.

Everything Else

The rest of the cards should be obvious. We can argue about the number of Ponders that are correct if you want though.

Strategies and Typical Lines of Play

Bizzaro Stormy is worth goldfishing to see the different things you can do with it. The basic strategy involves getting to activate Magus of the Mind for 6 or greater, which will likely get you to a win. For example:

Entomb for Griselbrand
Shallow Grave
Play and crack LED for BBB
Draw 7 cards
Entomb for Magus of the Mind
Shallow Grave
Lotus Petal
Sacrifice Lotus Petal for U and Activate Magus for 6

After that, you’re looking to somehow cast Mastermind’s Acquisition or Dark Petition to fetch and cast Tendrils of Agony. Use all of the resources at your disposal - Entomb, Past in Flames, Rituals, Cantrips. Reanimate and activate Magus more times, draw more cards with Griselbrand, use the attack step. There are lots of avenues to keep going from here.

Griselbrand vs Magus of the Mind: Which is better to reanimate and when?

This is one of the discussion points that is still up in the air. Drawing large swaths of cards and flipping cards to cast for free are both great options, but at what point is one better than the other?

The current ranking system is: Magus for 13+ > Draw 21 > Magus for 10-13 > Draw 14 > Magus for 6-9 > Draw 7 > Magus for 6 and less. However this is just a general rule of thumb. Just because you CAN draw more cards with Griselbrand, doesn’t mean you should.

The goal is to chain Magus activations. Flipping less than 6 random cards off the top, even though we can cast them for free, is likely less good than a draw 7 (which is usually a draw 14 unless you’re playing against burn). You can get lucky and flip an amazing 5, but it’s generally better to reanimate Griselbrand first. Given that our combo usually starts with Dark Ritual->Entomb->Shallow Grave, Magus is a bit anemic unless you have a hand full of artifacts and rituals to build storm.

As a reminder, Magus’ ability requires that you shuffle your deck first. That means you can’t sculpt the top of your deck to allow for better flips.

In short, aim to reanimate Griselbrand first. Drawing 7-14, attacking, and drawing another 7 in the second main phase is going give you a better chance at winning than flipping Magus for less than 6.

For those interested in more reading on this subject, ManaT wrote an article about this with a version of the deck here: https://medium.com/@a_manatee/4c14a5131b83
Great read, and turns out based on his analysis that activating Magus with lower storm count might be better than you think it is!


What to do when you fail to go off
Sometimes you draw 7, 14, or even 21 and still fail to finish the game. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone. Remember that you’re playing Past in Flames! Play out any permanent-based mana sources that you can and sculpt your hand and graveyard to setup a Past in Flames next turn. Given that you’ve just drawn a third of your deck, that should be well within the realm of possibility! Also, don’t forget the power of Entomb in these situations - it can bail you out frequently if you don’t flip or draw the obvious cards.

When to crack LED and on what colors

1. Usually you’ll want to crack LED for BBB before drawing with Griselbrand to be able to cast more rituals, entomb, and reanimation
2. If you want to activate Magus, even with 1-2 cards in hand, it’s usually correct to crack LED for UUU to fuel a few activations. You’ll be flipping more cards to cast for free, and you’ll likely be able to flash back whatever you pitched with Past in Flames anyway.
3. Cracking for RRR is common when needing to cast Past in Flames. Either as an engine itself, or to flash back other spells mid-combo with Griselbrand or Magus

Sideboards, Wishboards, and Sideboarding

This is tricky with a deck playing a “wish” in Mastermind’s Acquisition. Outside of specific protection and/or anti-hate you might want in game 1, IGNORE THE FACT THAT MASTERMIND’S ACQUISITION IS A WISH. Think of Acquisition as Diabolic Tutor with upside - board in the same cards you would if you were running 0 wishes. You’re more likely to draw them, and you can tutor for them with Acquisition.

That said, your sideboard needs to answer and/or hate. With Mastermind’s Acquisition, we are running a 14-card sideboard due to Tendrils of Agony in the sideboard. Dark Petition maindeck recaptures that slot. Beyond that, some possible card choices (many of which will be similar to other Storm variants), and then sample sideboards:

Silent Gravestone - Unreal good in this deck. None of your use of the graveyard targets any cards and most people don’t seem to realize that after game 1. This shuts off Deathrite, Surgical Extraction, Faerie Macabre, and Snapcaster Mage. It has applications against other reanimator decks, and even ANT with the activated ability (yes, it does have more text on it outside of the Ground Seal effect). Easily a must include in sideboards for this deck, it will eat a Force or cause opponents to burn cantrips or Surgicals to attempt to answer this card or gain value before it resolves.

Chain of Vapor - Cheap, all purpose bounce spells are ubiquitous both in Storm decks and Reanimator decks, hitting Leylines, Gaddock Teeg, Sphere effects, whatever. When in doubt, board these in if you are unsure what hate your opponents will bring in (because you killed them without seeing any of their deck).

Hurkyl’s Recall - Another standard piece of hate-bounce, this time specific to artifacts. Remember that Ethersworn Canonist is an artifact- this spell has value vs D&T (Canonist, Revoker, Vial, equipment) if you aren’t running Massacre.

Echoing Truth - That’s right, more bounce. It’s good to diversify your bounce spells and sometimes the extra clause will be relevant.

Massacre - Bizzaro can have a problem with hatebears (D&T and Maverick), as sometimes we don’t have the kill before T3. Massacre answers almost all of them at little (and usually) no cost (in the face of Thalia), save for Teeg, so it’s worth the inclusion if these decks are common in your meta.

Rending Volley - Uncounterable answer to Canonist, Meddling Mage, Leovold, Thalia, Gaddock Teeg. Most of the creatures we hate (beyond DRS) are blue or white, so consider this if your expected meta has more blue based creature hate to fight through.

Grapeshot - Could be used as a sweeper or an alternate win condition if Gaddock Teeg is everywhere in your meta. We play a lot of artifact mana so storm counts can be high enough to kill a few things. Given that we frequently can get in one swing with Griselbrand, we only need a storm of 13 to finish the job, which is easy to do in this deck.

Flusterstorm - Fantastic protection spell. You usually don’t need to crack your LED’s until after your key spells have resolved, so that makes countermagic better protection in this deck than it would be in traditional storm decks.

Empty the Warrens - Possible alternative win condition that isn’t graveyard reliant. However, we don’t have cheap 6 mana lines to get to it like TES and ANT do, so this likely wants some number of Infernal Tutors to go along with it.

Monastery Mentor/Young Pyromancer - Sidesteps graveyard hate, and outside of Swords to Plowshares, most creature kill spells should be boarded out in sideboard games against you. Either of these can quickly overwhelm your opponent.

Dark Confidant - Sometimes you might flip a Griselbrand. Greatness, at any cost. It’s very good in Bizzaro though, as the deck can win with natural storm. Also can draw fodder for Mentor or Pyromancer if you’re running those. Just don’t forget to board out some Griselbrands if you’re bringing this in.

Cavern of Souls - If you’re running any of the creatures above and want to make them uncounterable, consider this for a slot, as all 3 of the suggested creatures are Human (Magus too - That 4 power is nothing to sneer at!).

Past in Flames – There have been a lot of discussion about the addition of a second PiF, as the first one has a lot of value, and there are lines where a second would be very useful (involving an early Entomb for Past in Flames). If the creature beatdown plan isn’t your cup of tea, consider running a second PiF in the SB alongside another Storm wincon as some sort of grind plan. This route would be better in red splash lists over white splash lists, but don’t let things like not owning lands stop you from pursuing this route.

Carpet of Flowers: If you're running a Green splash, this card is well worth the slot as a 2-of. The extra mana it provides allows us to power through opposing soft counters as well as the ability to have more mana on the combo turn to speed up the clock and decrease the fizzle rate. Furthermore, the extra mana makes casting Griselbrand more viable as well (a line that comes up more often than I originally thought it would). This and Abrupt Decay are strong reasons for the Green splash.

Abrupt Decay - Chalice, Leovold, Blood Moon, Counterbalance - we all know how good this card is by now. Almost mandatory in some amount if you're running a green splash.

Hull Breach: given the rise of Leyline of the Void in Chalice decks, this card is another example of a compact, but high impact sideboard card. RG mana requirements make this difficult to cast and pretty much lock this into Green splashes that run a Badlands or Volcanic main deck, but in lieu of other options to hit multiple hate cards across different permanent types, it's hard to pass this efficient option up.

Abrade: compact card for dealing with artifacts and creatures. Has lots of targets versus Stompy decks, and allows you to skimp on spot removal to run other anti-hate options. Great option for Red splash lists.

Wear // Tear: Similar to Hull Breach, this is an option that hits both an Enchantment and an Artifact on one card, or one of either type for a discount. Benefits over Serenity: gets rid of its targets on resolution of the spell. Benefits over Disenchant: can hit 2 targets (has to be different type for each target) for one extra mana. Downside of Wear // Tear: 3 mana split across 2 splash colors, overlaps with Serenity in the same match-ups.

Ancient Grudge: Artifact hate you can tutor for with Entomb, or get 2 artifacts if you draw it naturally. Downside is needing Red mana and Green for Flashback, but still a valid option. Consider this if you run into an artifact heavy meta where you want a spell you can Entomb for.

Ray of Revelation: Enchantment version of Ancient Grudge, but costs White on the front end instead of Red. Similar to Ancient Grudge, consider running this because you can Entomb it, and if you are in an Enchantress heavy meta.

Bad Sideboard cards

Show and Tell - Stay away. If you’re planning on running 1 as a wishable target, don’t. It’s garbage. I’ve got a $20 bill to prove it.

Sample Sideboards

Sideboarding for this deck is tricky. It’s easy to overboard, so look to swap 3-5 cards so you don’t dilute the game plan of the deck. We’re executing a plan that is likely more powerful than anything your opponent is doing, so look to board in high impact cards.
Let’s start with the most important cards:

3 Silent Gravestone (Easily the best protection spell for the GY, don’t leave home without it)
2 Chain of Vapor (General answer for damn near every permanent hate, and random storm generator and Marit Lage answer)
These 2 cards (5 slots total) will deal with 80% of the sb hate currently played.

For the next 10 slots, pick some number of the following based on personal preference, splash color, and meta considerations:
0-1 Tendrils of Agony (if Mastermind’s Acquisition is in your list)
0-2 Massacre(Death and Taxes is incredibly popular, and you don’t lose to 1 hate bear, you lose to a swarm of them)
2-3 Carpet of Flowers/Silence/Defense Grid (Anti counter magic and/or reactive spell hate. Carpet is best in a vacuum since it gives us more mana to combo and fight through soft counters, Silence has utility vs storm decks, and Grid splits the difference)
2-3 Serenity/Abrupt Decay* (Hate for chalice and other artifacts/enchantments, *with cmc restriction)
0-2 Hurkyl's Recall (When Chalice is prevalent)
0-1 Echoing Truth (Extra bounce never hurt anyone)
0-1 Splash land (Trop/Scrubland/Basic land/Bayou)
0-2 Fatal Push/Swords to Plowshares/Rending Volley/Sudden Shock (spot removal has its place in the deck. Volley is good vs Meddling Mage/Leovold heavy metas, Sudden Shock is great vs Mother of Runes and Infect)
0-2 Flusterstorm (some people like it as an additional counter magic and anti-combo protection spell)
0-1 Disenchant (Random chalice/Leyline/3ball value)
0-2 Abrade (Spot removal+Artifact hate in one card, great example of a high impact and compact sb card)
0-2 Phyrexian Arena (Good against discard decks, but Leovold just turns this into a Curse of the Pierced Heart, so beware)
0-3 Night's Whisper (similar to Arena, use against discard decks to dig out of topdeck mode faster)
0-2 Surgical Extraction (If you have a Reanimator heavy meta that doesn't get hosed by Silent Gravestone, it's worth running. Also, don’t be dumb and bring this in if you bring in Gravestone)

There are other SB options to consider, but this section should give a decent roadmap to start thinking about how to construct a sideboard for your local meta. Look to start with Gravestone+Chain of Vapor, then add niche sideboard options that the general answers can’t solve. Don’t forget, we do run 5-6 main deck discard spells, which can go a long way in stripping hate from your opponents. Figure out what you need to beat, or alternatively, what you are fine losing to.
To put it all together, here are some sample sideboards, assuming base UB with only one splash color:

For white splash lists:
3 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
2 Serenity
1 Plains
1 Disenchant
3 Silence
1 Tendrils of Agony (or 1 flex pending md config)

Green Splash:
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Massacre
3 Silent Gravestone
1 Tropical Island
1 Tendrils of Agony (or 1 flex, pending md config)

Red splash:
3 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
2 Abrade
2 Defense Grid
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Echoing Truth
1 Tendrils of Agony (or 1 flex)

Other Possible Card Choices

This deck concept started pre-Rivals of Ixalan. Based on that, there has been some, but minimal testing done with these and probably a few more…

Burning Wish - It may be good enough, but Burning Wish warps your deck construction. It makes Past in Flames worse as it exiles itself. And it probably wants you to be playing more red sources, possibly including Rite of Flame instead of Cabal Ritual. This reduces your net mana production, but also reduces net mana costs. A more red-based deck may be feasible but we haven’t been able to come up with it as of yet. As a place to start, here is a shell of a Burning Wish list that could be viable:


4 Brainstorm
3 Cabal Ritual
1 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
4 Entomb
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Past in Flames
4 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
4 Thoughtseize
4 Dark Ritual
3 Burning Wish
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Volcanic Island
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Flex slot (Extra discard, Preordain, 4th Wish, etc)

SB:
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Exhume
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Abrade
2 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of vapor
2 Flex


Infernal Tutor - we haven’t found this card to be needed maindeck. Entomb is also a tutor with Past in Flames, costs less, is an instant, and doesn’t require you to be hellbent, meaning you can save your LEDs. There may be merit to playing Infernal Tutor in the sideboard for a pseudo-transformation, though.

Lim-Dul’s Vault - Another TinFins favorite, but probably not necessary with the versatility of Entomb. Also a very sad card to flip with Magus.

Unburial Rites - Super interesting card. It’s a great entomb target for additional reanimation, providing more flexibility for the deck. However, this does have dis-synergy with Silent Gravestone out of the sideboard, essentially forcing you to board this card out whenever Gravestone comes in. Due to this, if Rites is included, it likely needs to be in addition to the standard Shallow Grave and Corpse Dance reanimation slots rather than replacing one of those cards.

Chrome Mox - Could be another initial mana source, but likely not necessary with the addition of LEDs.

Children of Korlis - It pains me to not have this in the deck, but Magus invalidates the need. I’d rather flip cards off of Magus than draw them with Griselbrand, and the fringe uses of Children aren’t worth the slot.

I will have to find another way to satisfy my Children-sacrificing urges.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - Similar to Children of Korlis, Magus of the Mind generally makes this unnecessary. Some insane people have been known to play one as a Mastermind’s Acquisition target for spiciness though (Gotta send a message! -Acclimation).

Pithing Needle - If you fear Wasteland, I certainly wouldn’t blame you for including it. Karakas is even less of an issue for Bizzaro than it is for Tin Fins due to Magus being non-Legendary. In reactive sideboards, it’s a great card to consider if you’re scrambling to fill a slot with a general purpose card. You can name Faerie Macabre as well in a pinch.

Magus of the Will - Hey, we’re playing Yawgmoth’s Bargain and Mind’s Desire, why not reanimate Yawgmoth’s Will too? 4 reasons why this card isn’t worth running:

1. Magus of the Will exiles itself and every card that would go to the Graveyard after activating its ability. This prevents us from chaining Magus of the Minds, which is one of the key strategies of the deck.
2. 2B to activate is a lot of mana, although 2B to cast does make it easy to play the turn before we combo off. That would require you untap with it - difficult in a meta with common removal such as Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, and Lightning Bolt.
3. Magus of the Will is a much worse draw for future reanimation.
4. Past in Flames does everything we want and isn’t reliant on reanimation to be used. Sure, we can’t cast artifact mana (8) and Griselbrand (4) from the yard with Past in Flames, but that’s not nearly as much of a deal breaker as the previous 3 points.

That being said, if you want to run it because a couple of decks from the infamous “Small Japanese Tournament” ran it, have fun, we can’t stop you.

(Note: If you play multiple Magus of the Will and multiple Magus of the Mind, I insist that you register your deck as Magus: The Gathering. - Sam Craven)

UB list with no splash- Outside of the Past in Flames, the main deck is completely UB, so we use a splash color in the SB to gain access to sideboard options. It’s very possible that you might not want to run a splash color. In this case, a potential sideboard is listed in the SB section (Past in Flames doesn’t count as a splash since we have 8 sources of mana to cast it with LED and Petal), and you could possibly run an extra Swamp, Island, and whatever black fetch you want in the land slots in the maindeck.

BR list with no splash - You need U to activate Magus, Brainstorm is busted, bounce is great for general answers to hate, and being reliant on Petal/LED to activate Magus is a bit too risky. If you want to go this route for budget reasons, feel free to play shocklands as the life total requirements aren’t as steep as they are in Tin Fins. Red cantrips aren’t as good as their blue counterparts, so we don’t recommend it.

Why Play Bizzaro Stormy over Tin Fins (or any other deck)??

Bizzaro Stormy is much more resilient than Tin Fins. It plays protection against common graveyard hate in Silent Gravestone, and gets redundancy in the form of Past in Flames. It is more diverse in strategy, allowing you to tailor your game plan in the face of what your opponent is doing. It makes more mana than Tin Fins, allowing you to more easily play through soft countermagic.

Furthermore, this deck is much less life dependent, as your Magus of the Mind will “draw” you cards as well. This leads to less random blowouts against unexpected burn spells.

More specific to the current metagame, a large part of the graveyard hate currently being played is targeted (DRS, Surgical, Snap, Faerie Macabre). This means Silent Gravestone is far and away the best protection spell we can play. However, Since Gravestone turns off everything targeting any graveyard, this disrupts the usage of Goryo’s Vengeance, so that card needs to be replaced with Corpse Dance to retain reanimation density. Given that Corpse Dance requires more mana, we want to run more mana acceleration to be able to consistently combo on turns 1-3. If we are generating more mana, then Magus is likely better than Emrakul because Magus plays better with a higher ritual density. Higher ritual density means storm lines and higher cost cards are more possible to play, so cards like Past in Flames and Mastermind’s Acquisition gain a lot of value.

Yawgmoth’s Bargain and Mind’s Desire are banned in Legacy, and this deck lets us abuse versions of them for cheaper, and that’s dope.

Why would you play it over other decks? Seriously? Why WOULDN’T you!?

But really, comparing to other combo decks:

• ANT - The initial mana requirements to start your combo are lower than ANT, meaning you need a lower ritual density to start your combo. A decent portion of the time, ANT will also need to go all in on their combo turn by cracking an LED in response to an Infernal Tutor. This leaves ANT more vulnerable to countermagic. Bizzaro Stormy, on the other hand, generally doesn’t use LED in this manner, allowing you to keep the rest of your hand if disrupted by countermagic. Bizarro Stormy is likely a faster goldfish than ANT, allowing it to play out before our opponent gets their lock pieces out (this is based on anecdotal evidence - needs more data to confirm this).
• TES - Similar to ANT with the usage of LED along with Infernal Tutor and Burning Wish. Bizarro Stormy has a more stable manabase as well. These two decks are likely similar in speed, however (again, anecdotal evidence for the time being).
• Belcher - Belcher is slightly faster, but less resilient. Bizarro Stormy gets cantrips to dig for discard spells or combo pieces after being disrupted.
• Sneak and Show - We’re faster and more diverse in our threat capabilities. Whether you choose Bizzaro or SnS will depend on whether you think countermagic and lack of graveyard reliance are better ways to protect your combo. This deck is way more fun to play though!
• BR Reanimator - Bizarro Stormy is far more resilient than BR. We almost always win the turn we combo off, while BR allows opponents to continue to draw for answers. BR has Turn 0 disruption in the form of Chancellor of the Annex but the blue cantrip suite and diversity of strategies more than makes up for this, allowing us to shape our gameplan in the face of our opponent’s disruption.
• Spanish Inquisition - If you’re asking this question, then you should just play SI.

Matchups

Strictly positive vs. the field. Always.

(More content here as more testing, tuning, and data are gathered)

Videos/Articles/Tournament Reports

Andrea Mengucci recording with 5C Bizzaro Stormy: https://youtu.be/pY40zl9oMKI
Caleb Scherer streaming with Burning Wish Bizzaro Stormy: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/281515571

Myself, Acclimation, and thecrav are going to try to record matches vs. decks and publish periodically. Stay tuned...

Thanks

Thanks to all who have contributed to this deck’s (and Tin Fins) development but specifically: Acclimation, KaiSchafroth, Sam Craven, Richard Cheese, Koby, Wanderlust, movadomk5, and Chris C.

And thanks Richard Cheese for our amazing banner. :)

Help us gather and track data here!

Join the SeaLab Discord server here!

So, a few of us ran versions of this deck at GP Seattle this weekend. Unfortunately none of us made Day 2... :(

I ended up 5-3 with this list:

1 Badlands
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Cabal Therapy
3 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
1 Dark Petition
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
3 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Past in Flames
4 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:

2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
4 Monastery Mentor
1 Plains
2 Serenity
3 Silent Gravestone


I'll write up an event report later, but I felt like every match but 1 was very close, and I know I punted 1 match away definitely, and possibly a second. Hadn't played magic for a while before this event, and had never played this 75 before the event either. The list felt very strong throughout the event, but I'll post more thoughts later along with the event report.

This is a very exciting deck with serious competitive potential! I've been enjoying goldfishing it. The lines of Entomb -> Past in Flames can be utterly busted. I like that the deck is less reliant on Entomb than traditional Tin Fins, especially with Lions Eye Diamond in the mix as a discard outlet.

Thank you for writing the primer! I like the attitude to play weird, but cool cards in order to punish the plebs with style and do them a tergo. I'll keep all eight eyes on this.

I actually have had a similar concept going but without the Gman element:

// Legacy - Magus Cannon

// 60 Maindeck
// 8 Artifact
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox

// 3 Creature
1 Magus of the Will
2 Magus of the Mind

// 17 Instant
4 Shallow Grave
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Entomb
2 Corpse Dance
1 Chain of Vapor

// 14 Land
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacomb
4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Island

// 17 Sorcery
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
4 Ponder
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Dark Petition
1 Collective Brutality

Have not been able to test proper but deck is excellent when it goes off (normally Magus for 5+ is enough).

I might take some elements of your list and splice them in.

I love you guys. Always need more combo heros in the world.

Went 2-3 at Seattle with the list below, playing against Grixis (1-2), Turbo Depths (2-1), Burn (0-2), ANT (2-0), BR Reanimator (1-2). Also played some side games vs Miracles (2-0) and 4c Vial Smasher (2-1, get wrekt @.dk) As it turns out, I'm bad at mulligans with this deck, partially because the lines can get complex, but also because I've got Ferengi levels of greed in my veins.

1 Scrubland
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Thoughtseize
3 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
1 Dark Petition
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
3 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Past in Flames
4 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Cabal Therapy

Sideboard:
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
3 Silence
1 Plains
2 Serenity
3 Silent Gravestone
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Disenchant

Some thoughts:

As per a private discussion with .dk and Koby, the Scrubland should be a Badlands, as it enables PiF lines a bit easier.

Silent Gravestone is an insane card for us.

Silence was great, Grixis delver tends to run 9-11 Counterspells, 2-3 Surgical, and 2-3 discard, so it's usually a bit easier to try to land a Chant to bait out counters. Also great in combo mirrors!

Plains exists because we were expecting Blood Moon to be played, and it gives an out to cast Serenity.

Phyrexian Arena I didn't get to test, but it's for decks that run Hymn and maybe Miracles as a way to grind out longer games.

Deck is super duper close to being there, and flipping Magus is obscenely powerful. Every round I entombed for Magus, the players on both sides would stop their match to see what was going on.

Went 0-4 on this at Seattle winning three games :(

This is a deck that makes your opponent "have it" and my opponents had it in spades this weekend

Super excited to see how this develops. I have played Mind's Desire in every format it has ever been legal in so anything even vaguely similar is compelling to me. I played Heartbeat Desire (remember that old PT top8 with SWK against Billy Moreno on Madness?) in old extended for years, and even played it in Standard during the Nationals season that covered ONS-5DN (use KCI to power out Desire; seemed good).

Love the addition of Silence in that list just above this post. Some of my first thoughts when I read the OP were "I wish we could fit in a tiny bit more disruption" and that seems like a good direction. Eager to see where Doomsday mastermind Doishy takes this concept too!

I too had a non-winning record in the Grand Prix, which I don't think is reflective of the deck in general, but more to do with my lack of play practice over the last 6 months. As evident from this DCI event history:

2018-04-05 Grand Prix Seattle - Legacy
2018-03-20 Magic Tournament - Weekly Legacy
2017-10-22 NA Eternal Weekend 2017 - Sunday 3pm Vintage Challenge
2017-10-21 2017 North America Legacy Championship

Anyways, I did beat TES on the draw in Game 3 on turn 1 with a no-land hand. Take that Goblinstorm!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdnza

Super excited to see how this develops. I have played Mind's Desire in every format it has ever been legal in so anything even vaguely similar is compelling to me. I played Heartbeat Desire (remember that old PT top8 with SWK against Billy Moreno on Madness?) in old extended for years, and even played it in Standard during the Nationals season that covered ONS-5DN (use KCI to power out Desire; seemed good).

Love the addition of Silence in that list just above this post. Some of my first thoughts when I read the OP were "I wish we could fit in a tiny bit more disruption" and that seems like a good direction. Eager to see where Doomsday mastermind Doishy takes this concept too!

---

Silence is good - really good. Koby and I were thinking that Mentor was slightly better vs most delver matchups though. Particularly BUG. I had never played my 75 before the event and had been testing with Silence for a bit prior to Seattle. It’s good protection.

As far as a Doomsday board would be, it would actually fairly straightforward:

4 Doomsday
1 Probe
2 Conjurer’s Bauble
1 Lab Maniac
1 Three Wishes
1 Infernal Contract
2 Chain of Vapor
2-3 Silent Gravestone
0-1 Dark Petition

Something like that anyway.

I’ll try to get my event report up tomorrow with some thoughts too.

Just putting this here for some merit for the other guy

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...us+of+the+mind

He's off by a bit and the approach is slightly wrong, but he did give it a go.

So i have been meddling with this deck too (a list with burning wish, i can add it later if you want).
Anyways i was thinking about potential threats out of the board i came across pack rat. How do you feel about the rats as opposed to mentor.
To me the resilience to removal given open mana seems appealing as well as being easier on the mana base.

re: Pack Rat

We've discussed it at length, and one of the issues with Rat is needing 5 mana to make 2 rats immediatly, and consistently hitting 3 mana to make more.

I think it's worth testing, but given our spell list, it's a bit easier to make a bunch of dudes with Mentor than it is to swarm with Rats.

Just buying some bits and pieces I'm missing for this now (the Tin Fins cards really. When did Collective Brutality break $20?!). Wondering if anyone who has jammed it in real games can offer their thoughts on how it reacts to sideboard tech compared to "ordinary" storm decks.

Do we have an easier time against hate bears? I feel like we can probably just win through Thalia thanks to Magus but is there any plan for Canonist/Teeg type cards?

Has anyone tried the green splash over white for Xantids and Decays, a la conventional storm?

I played the green splash going 5-3 with most of my losses I was about a top deck away either for me or my opponet. I'll write up a more detailed report once I get home from Seattle

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdnza

Just buying some bits and pieces I'm missing for this now (the Tin Fins cards really. When did Collective Brutality break $20?!). Wondering if anyone who has jammed it in real games can offer their thoughts on how it reacts to sideboard tech compared to "ordinary" storm decks.

Do we have an easier time against hate bears? I feel like we can probably just win through Thalia thanks to Magus but is there any plan for Canonist/Teeg type cards?

Has anyone tried the green splash over white for Xantids and Decays, a la conventional storm?

---

My take is this deck vs. hate bares is similar to TES in that we generally try to get in under them. I played against D&T 3 times in Seattle (sorry, still haven't written my event up yet) and it did feel very strong in that regard. One thing I think I had been doing in the past vs. D&T that was a mistake is overboarding. Acclimation talked me through that, and I started swapping 3-4 cards at most with my list (1-2 Chain of Vapor, 2 Massacre) as an out if the game does go a little longer, but don't dilute too much so you can still go under permanent based hate.

The sideboard situation is a little weird - you generally don't want to be boarding too much so you do potentially have room for some more powerful sideboard options for specific matchups. We definitely need more testing with sideboard plans to optimize from there, and balancing out which matchups/situations you're conceding and which you're trying to board for.

/edit: the other thing to keep in mind is Collective Brutality. I was running 3 maindeck, could easily see 4. Those deal with hatebears and deathrite quite nicely too

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdnza

Just buying some bits and pieces I'm missing for this now (the Tin Fins cards really. When did Collective Brutality break $20?!). Wondering if anyone who has jammed it in real games can offer their thoughts on how it reacts to sideboard tech compared to "ordinary" storm decks.

Do we have an easier time against hate bears? I feel like we can probably just win through Thalia thanks to Magus but is there any plan for Canonist/Teeg type cards?

Has anyone tried the green splash over white for Xantids and Decays, a la conventional storm?

---

I had a friend play a green splash build a month ago at the Missouri 5k (and put up better results than me despite never playing a game with the deck and not playing sanctioned magic in years), and he played Xantid and Decay. We wanted to try 1-2 Carpet of Flowers, but didn't have any on hand, and didn't care enough to try and find some. Xantid was relevant a few times for him, and Decay has its applications.

One of the strong points for the deck, as we wrote in the primer, is that it's a UB maindeck, and you splash for whatever sideboard cards you want to run. Most of us opted for White to play Serenity, and either Silence or Mentor, and part of that is personal preference (or for me, budgetary since I own those duals).

Brutality is a great card, and 3 has been a good number for me so far. The only match ups I hate it in are chalice decks and opposing storm decks.

As far as reactions to sideboard tech, a few years ago in the Tinfins thread I wrote a lengthy explanation of a reactive sideboard for that deck (it's in the primer of that thread), and I tend to follow that same thought process with this list (while taking notes from TES sideboard plans). Generally speaking, I look at the vector of how the opposing deck is going to stop me (Countermagic, discard, hatebears, fast clock, prison pieces), and bring in things that fight along that axis.

In the case of Death and Taxes, they're bringing in lots of bears and 2 RiP, so I want a lot of answers to small creatures (CoBru, Massacre) and bounce to deal with a resolved RiP. Since we're better off by going under their hate bears, I tend to shave ponder, as I don't want to spend my early turns durdling with cantrips.

Grixis is going to attack us with Countermagic and gy targeting spells, and some discard. Most of their hate, beyond 4 deathrite and 2 cabal therapy, is interacting with us on the stack, so I like Silence here. Surgical, Deathrite, and Snapcaster target the graveyard, and they run a lot of taxing countermagic, so I want Gravestone to protect the yard, since I'm likely going to have to Entomb when I have a window and leave a griselbrand sitting idle.

In short, wander over to the TES website and read their boarding plans, I feel like their thought process is going to be similar to what we want to do, and back it up with the stuff I wrote in the Tinfins thread, since a lot of that applies here too.

Not having access to 1 unburial rites in a deck with 4 LED and 4 Griselbrand is crazy.

LED + entomb + griselbrand is a common holding. Turning entomb into reanimation in that spot is crucial. I promise if you try it you will never go back. You can board it out when gravestone comes in.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doishy

without the Gman

---

https://media1.tenor.com/images/0b42...e00a/tenor.gif

Alternative deck name: Shallow Desires

Just wanted to drop in to say that this deck is silly and delightful and that I'm very tempted to take it for a spin on MODO.

Finally had time to write up my Seattle event...

My list again for reference:


1 Badlands
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Cabal Therapy
3 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
1 Dark Petition
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
3 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Past in Flames
4 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:

2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
4 Monastery Mentor
1 Plains
2 Serenity
3 Silent Gravestone


round 1 - bye*

round 2 - D&T (Woodrow) (1-0)
Turns out he was a local that I had met once or twice before - we play at different stores though. He was there with a group of OTHER friends that I do know very well though.

I won the die roll.

G1 - Don't remember my exact hand, but I kept 7. Saw he had some wastelands, so I was having to cantrip to find what I needed to kill him. I was eventually able to cast a Corpse Dance and kill him from there.

G2 - We both mull to 6. I keep Delta, PIF, Ritual, Dark Petition, and 2x Probe. Scry another Dark Ritual to the top. He plays a mother of runes and passes. Probe, see a hand of another mom, plains, port, wasteland - looks like he was hoping for the mana denial strategy and a slow start from me. I draw a land off probe... so I probe again and draw LED. Perfect - Ritual, Ritual, Dark Petition for Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual, LED crack, flash back past in flames, flash back rituals, dark petition for Tendrils. Easy game.

round 3 - D&T (Tony) (2-0)
He wins the die roll.

G1 - I thoughtseize and see a hand of 3x Swords to Plowshares, SOFI, Revoker, and wasteland. Take Revoker, proceed to kill on T2 by casting Corpse Dance, cracking LED in response to discard Griselbrand. Do whatever I do from there.*

G2 - He gets a canonist in play. I honestly don't remember exactly what happened, but I think maybe I bounced it? I ended up making a Griselbrand and drew 14 - they weren't great as I couldn't kill on the spot, but I could set myself up for the following turn to kill canonist and play around the wasteland I know he has, and then past in flames -> Tendrils after that. But whoops - I kept a chain of vapor in hand instead of collective brutality. I pass, he wastelands me off of blue, and I die. Punt...

G3 - I mull to 5, he makes a bunch of hate bears and beats me down. :(

round 4 - Moon Stompy (Kain) (2-1)
He wins the die roll.

I didn't take notes in this match at all - I had Serenity and Chain of Vapor, but i don't think I needed them either game. I think I bought in Mentor in Game 2 as well, and just killed him with Griselbrand anyway.*

round 5 - Steel Stompy (Thomas) (3-1)
I win the die roll.

G1 - I keep a super questionable hand - I think it was Griselbrand, 2x Shallow Grave, 2 Dark Ritual, Brainstorm, 2x Entomb. I thought he was on Delver, so it looked like a pretty good hand, as it was super redundant. So i just pass the turn - turns out he's not delver and plays a T1 Thorn of Amethyst. Well fuck. I draw a probe, discard griselbrand. Draw a land and cast probe, but never cast another spell. He beats me down with artifacts.

G2 - Boarded in bounce and Serenity. He's got Overseers, Ravager, Lodestone beats going at a pretty low life total. I finally top deck Serenity, but it's a turn too late. If it were Hurkyl's Recall I would have killed him on the spot. Oh well.

round 6 - Sneak and Show (Gabriel) (3-2)
He wins the die roll.

G1 - He plays Tarn and passes, I put him on Sneak and Show. I don't play anything that would obviously give away what I'm doing - I Therapy him which gets forced pitching Show and Tell. He has a very long brainstorm while deciding what to do, while I have 3 lands out. He plays petals, casts Sneak Attack, and Sneaks in Emrakul and Annihilates me. But he's hellbent at least, and I have Griselbrand and some rituals in hand. I naturally rip a land, and pass. Rip another ritual next turn and cast Griselbrand. Draw something irrelevant the following turn into beats for 7, and I draw the worst 7 ever. No mana sources, just cantrips and discard spells while I have a swamp out. He naturally top decks ponder into another Emrakul, so I die.*

G2 - I don't remember this game all that well, but I do know he had a lot of disruption. I fought through most of it, but his plan got there better than mine. Bummer.

round 7 - D&T (Justin) (3-3)
He wins the die roll.

G1 - I kept 7, but had to cantrip and discard for a long time. This game lasted forever - he has a Thalia with Mom on the board, and I don't have enough mana to go crazy. I make Griselbrand at a low life total, attack, and draw 7 to hopefully hit another CoBru to match the one in my hand. I do, so the next turn I CoBru Mom, then CoBru Thalia, then cast PIF with LEDs to kill with Tendrils. Whew.

G2 - This game was very fast - I believe I killed him on my T2 or 3. He had Karakas at some point.

round 8 - Sneak and Show (Rosemary) (4-3)
She won the die roll.
G1 - She T1 Ponders, and I follow up with a Thoughtseize that sees 3x Sneak attack, Petal, Misty, 2x Omniscience, and Brainstorm. Naturally take the brainstorm, pass, and kill her next turn with Griselbrand beats into Tendrils.

G2 - Discard tore her hand apart, and then I kill her.

5-3 on the event.

I activated Magus and chained activations a LOT throughout the event. Pretty much always got people's attention around me. Was a lot of fun. :)

Really weird set of matchups - 0 delver decks seems insane. But you just never know at a Grand Prix what you'll get paired against.


Overall thoughts…

The main deck was very strong. I would love to be able to get down to 60 cards and play the 4th probe, but I don’t think cutting the 2 cabal rituals is a viable solution to that, nor is going to 2 LED. So not totally sure what to do with that. The numbers are very tight.

Sideboard thoughts…

I was a bit unhappy. Serenity didn’t seem quite good enough in the matches I played - although it has been in prior events. In general though, I think at least 1 of those should be Hurkyl’s Recall, as I think this deck actually cares a bit less about Blood Moon than I was originally thinking. If the Serenity I had drawn against Steel Stompy had been Hurkyl’s Recall, I would have won that game. Anecdotal data obviously, but a top deck Hurkyl’s Recall is usually way better late in the game than top deck Serenity as you may not have to pass the turn to win.

Mentor, I’m out to lunch still. I brought it in once and didn’t cast it when I did. They are low cost to include in the sideboard and do give a great orthogonal backup plan to your normal graveyard shenanigans. I’m just not sure how good they are. Need more testing against Delver decks with this list to see, as that was really the reason they were in the list at all (to take the place of Silence in the reactive boards) and I didn’t play against any of those.

Massacre was obviously great, given that I played against so much D&T. Seemed well worth 2 slots if you think D&T is going to be around in your meta.

I actually didn’t bring in Gravestone at all for the event, but from previous times testing it’s a house vs. Deathrite decks. I did get got by Faerie Macabre out of D&T that gravestone would have stopped, but I don’t think it’s worth bringing the card in for that matchup.

Next steps…

Some other ideas to try out next are possibly going back to a Burning Wish Grixis based build, and running rite of flame over Cabal Ritual. Movadomk5 and I talked for a bit after the event - it’s possible that with Cabal Ritual we are creating excessive mana that we don’t totally need, so maybe Rite of Flame is fine, and then can support a Burning Wish build along with a wishboard. That could eliminate the need for white and keep the deck a bit more on color. Also allows for a good backup plan that is non-graveyard reliant in Empty the Warrens.

We’ve also talked about running some number of Unmasks in this chalice meta, which makes a lot of sense too. Could do a 3/3 Unmask/CoBru split and try that out too.

And because it’s totally my jam, I’m sure I’ll try out a Doomsday sideboard sometime too. But I don’t have as much time to test magic as much these days as I used to, so that might be a while.

And also...

JBlinder - Unburial Rites is cool. Could try it for the 2nd Corpse Dance. I don't like that it doesn't grant haste though, for Magus. But maybe it doesn't matter?

cdnza: Shallow Desires has 0 references to SeaLab so it gets auto-rejected. :P

Thinking about Unburial Rites and a few other cards:

4 Griselbrand
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Dark Petition
1 Unburial Rites
1 Past in Flames
4 Entomb
4 Dark Ritual
4 Shallow Grave
2 Corpse Dance
3 Collective Brutality
3 Unmask
4 Brainstorm
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Gitaxian Probe
3 Ponder
4 Polluted Delta
4 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Tundra
1 Swamp

SB:
3 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
1 Serenity
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Silence
1 Phyrexian Arena (Flex)
1 Disenchant (Flex)



The biggest differences:

Unburial Rites: for all the reasons Jblinder said. Seems worth testing, and something you board out when bringing in Gravestones

Unmask: manaless discard is useful in a Chalice world, and we have a high enough black density to support it. Could be Thoughtseize if you wanted it to be, or you can go 4 CoBru 2 (Unmask/Therapy/Thoughtseize) if you were in a meta that would benefit from maxed out CoBru.

No Cabal Ritual: since we probably make more mana than we need, I cut this from the list. Could be worth bringing in and cutting LED, Griselbrand to make space, but I wanted 4 LED and 4 Griselbrand to take advantage of Rites a bit more.

The flex slots in the board can be anything, even extra CRits, or other spells we shaved from the main deck to make room for things, if we wanted to look beyond any of the other slots we could run here (extra basic, Arena, Echoing Truth, a 2nd PiF, Disenchant, etc).

edit- forgot Dark Petition, dropped a Ponder for it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cdnza

Eager to see where Doomsday mastermind Doishy takes this concept too!

---

:eek: No masterminds here, only madmen.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .dk

And also...

JBlinder - Unburial Rites is cool. Could try it for the 2nd Corpse Dance. I don't like that it doesn't grant haste though, for Magus. But maybe it doesn't matter?

cdnza: Shallow Desires has 0 references to SeaLab so it gets auto-rejected. :P

---

Yeah you’d really only be using it for Griselbrand, it won’t work well with Magus. I’ve been playing Fins with LED for awhile, most recently the Depth Fins that did well at the GP and U Rites is one of the more important cards in the deck. I think you’ll find it valuable as well, as it really opens up a lot more potential lines. Double entomb hands and Griselbrand + Led + entomb hands get so much better. You’ll probably want to make room for a scrubland (or tundra as acclimation chose).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Acclimation

Thinking about Unburial Rites and a few other cards:

4 Griselbrand
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Unburial Rites
1 Past in Flames
4 Entomb
4 Dark Ritual
4 Shallow Grave
2 Corpse Dance
3 Collective Brutality
3 Unmask
4 Brainstorm
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Polluted Delta
4 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Tundra
1 Swamp

SB:
3 Silent Gravestone
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Massacre
1 Serenity
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Silence
2 Flex


The biggest differences:

Unburial Rites: for all the reasons Jblinder said. Seems worth testing, and something you board out when bringing in Gravestones

Unmask: manaless discard is useful in a Chalice world, and we have a high enough black density to support it. Could be Thoughtseize if you wanted it to be, or you can go 4 CoBru 2 (Unmask/Therapy/Thoughtseize) if you were in a meta that would benefit from maxed out CoBru.

No Cabal Ritual: since we probably make more mana than we need, I cut this from the list. Could be worth bringing in and cutting LED, Griselbrand to make space, but I wanted 4 LED and 4 Griselbrand to take advantage of Rites a bit more.

The flex slots in the board can be anything, even extra CRits, or other spells we shaved from the main deck to make room for things, if we wanted to look beyond any of the other slots we could run here (extra basic, Arena, Echoing Truth, a 2nd PiF, Disenchant, etc).

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I haven’t played Bizarro yet (I’ll give it a spin soon) but this main deck looks really good to me. Maybe scrubland over tundra? I think I want all lands to tap for B.

I also worry these builds don’t have enough business (reanimation). 4 shallow and 2 corpse feels a little light. U rites helps a lot, but I wonder if a couple probes could become even more corpse dance or even something like exhume, which works with led and is cheaper. I know not giving haste feels damning, but often exhuming a grizzle that sticks is quite enough, and how often wouldn’t you be able to set up a next-turn magus kill even if they have karakas or whatever? Maybe probes are necessary for desire-count. I haven’t played the deck yet; just throwing ideas out.

You would be surprised, 6 reanimation spells hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. One of the advantages of Magus is that we don't need our attack step to win, so I often find myself attacking and drawing 21 before going off and winning, which regular Tinfins has issues with (normally you just reset the cannon to go off again next turn).

Definitely play the list (either the one I just listed or one of the GP builds) in an event or two, it's something that you want to get a few reps in.

Yeah, it does seem like it has a lot of play to it, and I agree that it does want at least 1 white land in the list too. Easy if you're already on the white splash.

With 4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder, and 3+ Probe, and Past in Flames, I haven't had an issue with 6 reanimation spells. I don't think Probes are necessary for Magus, but they are a pretty huge benefit in a deck that sometimes wants to combo off Turn 1. The information is invaluable to direct the best use of your resources. I also like to run 1 blue dual in the splash color as well, as I'm usually either cantripping + winning in a turn, or using it for a sideboard card and winning that turn. It's been rare that I've wanted the splash color land to also make black, and would usually prefer to be able to cast Brainstorm and Ponder off of it.

Sweet deck, it's been super fun to play. I'm liking a more storm-inspired build with regards to the sideboard and maindeck protection:
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Mastermind's Acquisition
1 Past in Flames
3 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:

2 Abrupt Decay
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ground Seal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Massacre
2 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tropical Island
1 Xantid Swarm

The Mastermind's Acquisition hasn't been relevant for natural storm lines, but at least it frees a slot in the maindeck. It's not clear what to cut if you wanted to play 60 with DP and Tendrils. I really think Probe is important since there are a ton of cards you could potentially need to play around, and it helps speed up the deck. Ponder, Cabal Rit, LED seem like the most cuttable?

Empty the Warrens hasn't come up for me yet, but I haven't played against Delver, Czech, or Steel Stompy where I'd want it. I might want to try committing to the plan more. Otherwise that could be a Chain. Carpet of Flowers has been outstanding.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phazonmutant

Sweet deck, it's been super fun to play. I'm liking a more storm-inspired build with regards to the sideboard and maindeck protection:
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Collective Brutality
2 Corpse Dance
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Griselbrand
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
1 Magus of the Mind
1 Mastermind's Acquisition
1 Past in Flames
3 Ponder
4 Shallow Grave
1 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:

2 Abrupt Decay
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ground Seal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Massacre
2 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tropical Island
1 Xantid Swarm

The Mastermind's Acquisition hasn't been relevant for natural storm lines, but at least it frees a slot in the maindeck. It's not clear what to cut if you wanted to play 60 with DP and Tendrils. I really think Probe is important since there are a ton of cards you could potentially need to play around, and it helps speed up the deck. Ponder, Cabal Rit, LED seem like the most cuttable?

Empty the Warrens hasn't come up for me yet, but I haven't played against Delver, Czech, or Steel Stompy where I'd want it. I might want to try committing to the plan more. Otherwise that could be a Chain. Carpet of Flowers has been outstanding.

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I like this maindeck a lot. The Island seems a little suspect to me and I'd probably swap the Therapy and CoBru numbers, but that's about it (minor). I'd been meaning to try 1 Acquisition in place of Petition + Tendrils to save the slot. I've liked Dark Petition a lot as well, but it may not be viable to not play at 60 card maindeck. I have no idea what the cut would be to try to fit it in there - probably start with the 2nd Cabal Ritual... but I really don't like that much either, nor do I like only 2 Ponder or LED. :( Space is just too tight.

The 1 of Flusterstorm, Xantid, and Empty the Warrens in the sideboard seem weird to me. Flusterstorm + Xantid to go up to 3 Empty maybe? Seems like a card you'd really want to see early vs. Delver matchups and cast from hand - doesn't seem like you're ever going to Acquisition for it and cast it in the same turn if you're not already comboing out with Magus.

Since this is (for a discord) close enough to Tin Fins, I figured I'd link the new Tin Fins Discord server here: https://discord.gg/3z4NpZ6

Also, @.dk, your sideboard looks to only have 14 cards?

Yep, mentioned in the discord, but for completions sake... my Seattle list was 61/14. Good eye. :)

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2...%20Bizarro.jpg

awesome thread and awesome name.
i was fed up with legacy but i have to admit that playing some matches with bizarro storm was very funny and strong.
Magus is great and playing corpse dance add some good old flavor ^^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by P-E

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2...%20Bizarro.jpg

awesome thread and awesome name.
i was fed up with legacy but i have to admit that playing some matches with bizarro storm was very funny and strong.
Magus is great and playing corpse dance add some good old flavor ^^

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Haha indeed! It can feel like you're just playing a different game than your opponent is! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by .dk

Matchups

Strictly positive vs. the field. Always.

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Classic. Purely Extreme TinFins.

Pardon me, I'm a little late to the party, but why play magus of the mind over magus of the will? It's play a bit different, but I thought that was the way to lethal storm counts.

Magus of the Will is a lame, pedantic boy that puts things into exile after we cast them, and can't win the game on his own.

Magus of the Mind comes in with his leather jacket, restored 60s Stingray, and brings a cooler full of beer to the party.

Or in more serious terms, as I wrote in the Primer:

Quote:

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Magus of the Will - Hey, we’re playing Yawgmoth’s Bargain and Mind’s Desire, why not reanimate Yawgmoth’s Will too? 4 reasons why this card isn’t worth running:

Magus of the Will exiles itself and every card that would go to the Graveyard after activating its ability. This prevents us from chaining Magus of the Minds, which is one of the key strategies of the deck.
2B to activate is a lot of mana, although 2B to cast does make it easy to play the turn before we combo off. That would require you untap with it - difficult in a meta with common removal such as Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, and Lightning Bolt.
Magus of the Will is a much worse draw for future reanimation.
Past in Flames does everything we want and isn’t reliant on reanimation to be used. Sure, we can’t cast artifact mana (8) and Griselbrand (4) from the yard with Past in Flames, but that’s not nearly as much of a deal breaker as the previous 3 points.

That being said, if you want to run it because a couple of decks from the infamous “Small Japanese Tournament” ran it, have fun, we can’t stop you.

(Note: If you play multiple Magus of the Will and multiple Magus of the Mind, I insist that you register your deck as Magus: The Gathering. - Sam Craven)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Acclimation

Magus of the Mind comes in with his leather jacket, restored 60s Stingray, and brings a cooler full of beer to the party.

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I picture Magus of the Mind as a bit more modern.

https://i.imgur.com/qTcee5d.jpg