Really it's just the Courts.
If you can hide behind RiP/Energy Field then either will accrue both card advantage and game advantage value to death.
It's not totally bulletproof, but if they tap out 3 to Elk a Mox Diamond and we play either Court, we should be in a good spot.
Unfortunately, pretty much nobody here is on Oko. Everybody is tripping over themselves to play the decks that beat Oko, lots and lots of Rainbow Depths and Oops all Spells and BR Reanimator. So I wouldn't be able to tell you if this improves those matchups any.
Since about fall I've been playing around with UW RipField without the TaxRack engine.
Artifacts are bad in this meta but Enchantments are still good. Oko has a hard time interacting with enchantment-based control. Reepl's UW deck and Curses deck exploit a similar gap in the meta. Enchantments get around Oko and maindeck RiP/Leyline hates out a lot of decks, even Uro and Dreadhorde value in fair decks.
RipField totally punks Oko. You ignore a planeswalker with 15 loyalty doing a bad Garruk impersonation, making vanilla 3/3s every 2nd turn.
RipField is very good at exploiting Monarch. Court's a good plan B and draw engine here and probably warrants multiple copies. If you can set up Court and hide behind Energy Feld, you probably win.
Counterbalance is also appealing once you're in blue. ETutor can set up CB tricks.
//Lands: 20
4 Flooded Strand
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
1 Karakas
//Spells: 23
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Unexpectedly Absent
2 Force of Negation
1 Terminus
//Enchantments: 14
4 Rest in Peace
3 Energy Field
3 Counterbalance
2 Omen of the Sea
1 Detention Sphere
1 Court of Grace
//Artifacts: 2
1 Arcum's Astrolabe
1 Helm of Obedience
//Planeswalker: 1
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
//Sideboard: 15
2 Meddling Mage
2 Wear // Tear
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Terminus
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Deafening Silence
1 Pithing Needle
1 Back to Basics
1 Web of Inertia
1 Helm of Obedience
This might be too different from what you guys are trying to do. I just posted it as an example of playing around Oko decks. Both RipField and Court are strong angles to play.
Okay, I posted a little something on the Helm/RiP combo thread.
We can now play Mox Diamond again! Praise the Sun! Praise be!
I might not be playing paper anytime soon but I want to try those new cards. I would start with the following:
3 Scroll Rack
3 Mox Diamond
2 Helm of Obedience
1 Trinisphere
1 Zuran Orb
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Pithing Needle
4 Land Tax
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Blood Moon
1 Humility
1 Banishing Light
4 Orim's Chant
4 Path to Exile
4 Enlightened Tutor
17 Plains
2 Mountain
3 Doomskar
1 Crush the Weak
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Baneslayer Angel
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Court of Grace
1 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Looks good. Is there any value in splashing blue for Counterbalance? Now that artifacts have text, the Scroll Rack you're running morphed from Kalonian Tusker into a powerful tool to abuse CB.
My response to that is no unless you’re making blue your splash. Rack is there mainly to turn lands into cards. If you’re fiddling around with counterbalance you aren’t doing that. If you are playing blue the you get ponder/brainstorm which give you more options for cb that are better then possibly taking away a new hand.
The Parfait Meta-Game
I have some questions on the list. Maybe the answers are somewhere in the thread but I haven't found them.
1) Why only three Moxen? After scrolling this is the best card in my hand most of the time, isn't it? Plus it allows me to curve into Helm of Obedience even though I have set up Land Tax.
2) What is the thought behind Charbelcher? Is it just used as a kill con after the game is locked up? I don't like that it is shut off by the same cards that also shut off the other kill con (Helm): Needle/Spyglass, Karn + artifact removal. Are there any other wincons you would consider?
3) Why only one Isochron Scepter? There's 12 cmc1 instants and it seems a second copy of Scepter would be awesome.
4) Would you consider Kjeldoran Outpost an option? It allows for a land drop while keeping you behind for Land Tax.
Well since my list seems to have become the popular one...
Moxes: minimal land and diminishing returns. I used to play 4, I eventually turned one into an opal as well... after about 3 years of steady play though I found that you don’t need that extra mox. It’s really only useful on the first few turns and then loses value fast. I won’t word vomit more then that.
Charbelcher. Probably the best singleton for the deck that doubles as reusaeable removal. Can be used to stack your deck if desired and otherwise gives a “shuffle” effect. It’s biggest draw is that it can be hidden and used as a win con in game 2. Parts of rip/helm will get hated fast simply because they can affect an opponent without being used to win on the spot. Charbelcher can do a few things as well as win, but without being a focus. And as an aside I have won against an Iona on white and with less then a 10 card library on the back of this one card.
Sceptre: I’m not a fan of sceptre main, I do consider it a sideboard option. I think it’s more suited to a blue splash, no stick plan.
Outpost: the main strength of parfait is blanking cards an opponent would play. Playing non basics opens up the use of wasteland. The best play you will see is an opponent wastelanding themselves so you cannot activate a land tax which inevitably means they can’t play cards because of the other hate we pack. Bottom line, any non basic you wanted to consider playing needs a strong upside to consider playing.
Hope that helps some. I’m trying to not word vomit like I normally do over parfait.
The Parfait Meta-Game
1)I tried 4 moxen for a while but it didn't feel great. Mana is rarely an issue with 19 basics and an opening hand with 2x moxen sucks. With 19 lands, 4 Land Tax and 3 moxen we already have enough dead draws.
2)Nothing more to say, it's plan B win and occasional removal. Although it's not very reliable for the later, it's better than a helm with nothing else.
3)3 mox + 4 etutor is already a lot of card disadvantage. I play one scepter because it's an "I-win-button" against many non-U deck as fast as T2. Coincidentally, it's also a force magnet but you really don't want to base your strategy around it. Getting it destroyed can be backbreaking and etutor is so slow that it's often better used on the spot. You never know when opponent is gonna play decay or disenchant.
4)I also tried nonbasics before (fetches) and it breaks the whole synergy with belcher (and the life loss was non negligible). This deck is very mana hungry so getting wastelanded can be the end. Consider that you might need to chant + helm + activate on the same turn. In that situation, even Daze or Pierce is a hard counter.
Hello all.
My list has not change much since I last posted (post 717), but since the removal of Oko from the environment I am able to squeeze a peacekeeper into the board. Other than that I am happy to play as you were, especially as my only games are on X mage at the moment.
I miss the old tech, and the Peacekeeper is a nice non enchantment/artifact defence against green force blowouts vs decks like rainbow depths and infect, and it also does work against elves, show and tell etc. Previously it was a 3/3 that did nothing, of course.
Other than that I am still running a small number of sol lands into 3 karn and a tiny green splash for veil/sylvan; veil is a damn near broken card and even in my paper meta of 45 % blue rather than 75, it still gets value with all the discard and decays.
I am really looking forward to paper's return, I have procured beta basics that I want to give a run out to. I feel the deck is old style, and have tried to make the printings as old as possible to suit. There is something beautiful about a Legends Land Tax and I do hope that none of you are using the wrong art. I am trying not to get too excited as there is a likely third wave, although we can hope the effects are lower due to the vaccine which has been pretty successfully rolled out in the UK.
My last and only opportunity to play in person saw me playing my regular mono black helm deck at a 24 player event last September, although I got my usual 3-1 that I get with Parfait, but when the UK opens Parfait is at the front of my mind. I do not normally play it at REL comp, after being restricted to X mage during the pandemic I think I will play it anywhere.
Really obvious, but since I am using a 3 karn list, I suspect I will find room for a recently spoiled portable hole in the board. More flexibility is just exactly what you need in an answer deck that does not combo turn 1/2. O ring is obviously better a as a main deck option but this is a wish target mini O ring that conveniently hits needles/spyglass that stop the game winning combo.
Hello! How have folks been adjusting to new cards from MH2? Anything to watch out for?
Been playing around with one saga for one of my sol lands.
Have to say, I am impressed.
Saga works with land tax well, makes big men given our artifact count, and tutors for needle, mox d or zuran, which is some list. Many decks using saga bend their deck to get tutor value - retrofitter foundry, needle and bin hate being obvious. We run rip, so the last is of no value, but zuran, a card I have previously yoyo 'd on, is ideal to grab. I do not run cursed scroll very often, but it is another valid consideration.
Main issue for saga is that I run humility and moat, which don't work well with the constructs, but it is my choice to play them it not. Parfait has a chunk of manipulation, any conflicts can be overcome. With a Karn board saga makes me worry less about bringing in one and 0 drops I I otherwise leave to be Karn fetched.
I am going to add a second over maze of ith, a card I need less of nowadays. Portable hole will likely make the board soon.
I need to get better testing in- x mage is not updated and whilst paper legacy has returned, meeting up in shops to test for hours has not.
I'd like to try Saga as well since it's both an enchantment and a land. It would probably be perfectly fine to play 3 even without Sol Lands, so long as you don't use it on T1.
Besides, this is a prison deck so there aren't many advantages to playing a T1 saga and locking your mana for 3 turns.
BTW, unlike dress down, Humility doesn't kill Saga tokens so it's not really a nonbo. You can always have your 1/1's trade with opponent's 1/1's (which is good for us).
Also, If Blood moon is in play, Saga also enters as a mountain without the lore abilities so you wouldn't be able to make tokens anyway. Not until moon is removed and you have waited 2-3 turns at least.
Last edited by Cpt-Qc; 08-21-2021 at 03:27 AM.
3 Scroll Rack
3 Mox Diamond
2 Helm of Obedience
1 Trinisphere
1 Zuran Orb
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Pithing Needle
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Portable Hole
4 Land Tax
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Blood Moon
1 Humility
1 Banishing Light
4 Orim's Chant
4 Path to Exile
4 Enlightened Tutor
15 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Urza's Saga
3 Doomskar
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Court of Grace
1 Rest in Peace
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Lightning Helix
I haven't played in so long so the board is probably really un-tuned but I really want to try this monstrosity.
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