Results 1 to 20 of 256

Thread: 'Mississippi River' (All In Creativity Technique Combo)

Threaded View

  1. #1
    Well, Attempted Rationalism at least.
    Rationalist's Avatar
    Join Date

    May 2015
    Location

    King County
    Posts

    180

    'Mississippi River' (All In Creativity Technique Combo)

    [EDIT: Now Available on MTGO]


    The Deck (as seen in Rounds 1 and 7 below):


    The Exact List Mark Played in the Video Above:

    4x Boarding Party
    4x Creative Technique
    4x Maelstrom Wanderer
    3x Aurora Phoenix
    2x Sweet-Gum Recluse
    2x Let the Galaxy Burn
    1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

    4x Gemstone Cavern
    4x Sandstone Needle
    4x Saprazzan Skerry
    4x Hickory Woodlot
    4x Ancient Tomb
    4x City of Traitors
    4x Dwarven Ruin
    4x Otawara, Soaring City
    3x Crystal Vein
    3x Sulfur Vent
    1x Havenwood Battleground
    1x Mountain

    Sideboard:

    4x Throes of Chaos
    4x Pyrokinesis
    3x Mirrorshell Crab
    2x Tibalt's Trickery
    1x Maddening Hex
    1x Aeve, Progenitor Ooze

    Whatever I am personally playing at this moment in time: Mississippi River Moxfield Link

    Deck Description:

    The basic premise of this deck is that the chain of Cascader -> Creative Technique -> Cascader -> Creative Technique is very difficult to interrupt and has an overwhelming chance of wining you the game on the spot on most boardstates. Starting the combo, even redundantly if needed, is also extremely consistent, as the deck is basically all gas and lands. In the current "fiat stock" list there are currently 4 cards that with the game on 5 mana and demand double-countermagic to stop, 11 cards that win the game with 6 mana and demand double-countermagic to stop, and 4 cards that win the game on 8 mana and cannot be stopped by double-countermagic. When the combo chain ends, you should usually have somewhere between 50 and 100 power on board, they should all have haste, and quite often you should also have a hasty Emrakul as well as an extra turn trigger. We're going "over" classic Show and Tell here, and we're doing so with a deck with more consistent access to its combo and a combo that is more resilient to countermagic.

    Individual Card Discussions:

    Boarding Party - This is the best individual cascading 6-Drop. It's a 6/3 Haste and even through an opposing Deafening Silence that you failed to remove just casting spells that summon 3 beaters (Cascade -> CT -> 2 more Cascaders) can win quite a few games just by being big and hasty. Most importantly, it's easy to cast with a mana cost of 5R.

    Creative Technique - This spell is the deck. Quite often it becomes correct not to "demonstrate" with CT when you're confident you are effectively certain to win the game with the amount of combo-chaining you've already built up and there is a card or two that could ruin your chain somewhere in your opponent's deck. If you're anything like me this will come up far less often then you'll initially expect, however, and you should almost always default to demonstrating. You almost always demonstrate.

    Maelstrom Wanderer - Maelstrom Wanderer is a lynch-pin of the deck. Not only does his haste let you win without passing the turn to the opponent even if you miss Emrakul in the entire chain, his double-cascading is what helps propagate the combo chaining (into a forking river, if you will). It's also worth noting that the way timing works hitting (or even hardcasting) MW provides insulation for you against Flusterstorm and Mindbreak Trap as he seeds a Cascade Trigger into the stack that survives both forms of interaction. Hardcasting MW vs. Delver is a solid way to power through a sculpted hand of countermagic.

    Aurora Phoenix - The deck leans heavily red and the manabase largely informs our choice of cascading 6-Drops. This is the "other" Mono-Red one that's still a creature threat. Other than flying and cascade the text on him is almost always irrelevant. The double-red pips make him harder to cast than even Let the Galaxy Burn as there are only 8 lands in the deck that make double-red pips on their own, but the deck needs a critical mass of beefy creatures and he checks all the boxes even if he doesn't excel at any particular one. Flying can be relevant.

    Sweet-Gum Recluse - This is probably the least popular 6-Drop Cascader currently in the "Fiat Stock" list, but there are two strong cases for his presence in the deck in some small number. Firstly the most inflexible thing about this deck is its manabase. They've just only printed so many Sol-Lands in the game's history and we're clearly already turning the dial to maximum here. One consequence of this is that we end up with a lot of non-red lands in our primarily red deck, and an astute opponent is likely to prioritize wastelanding specifically the red ones. It benefits us, then, to run a couple cascaders that don't rely on red-mana and instead utilize another color since we'll be forced to run some number of non-red depletion-lands. You don't want to run a lot of such creatures since we're so predominantly a red-deck, but matching our cascaders to our manabase means a healthy creature selection will have 1 or 2 non-red ones. Furthermore Sweet-Gum's "triple-lord" effect can actually be a huge amount of beef, which can matter both when our combo is stifled before it reaches critical mass (such as through Deafening Silence) and we have to go beatdown, or against decks like Reanimator when we want our board to swing happily through Emrakul et. al. He also has flash which could be relevant someday, but I've never personally had cause to make use of the flash.

    Let the Galaxy Burn - This might not be an actual threat, but it's more maindeck answers to hatebears and it's just as easy to cast as Boarding Party. It's quite useful in the right matchups.

    Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - She wins the game even in awkward boardstates where pure force doesn't and even gives us strong protection against Painter. The extra turn is particularly helpful is the opponent is threatening a combo win on their next turn, also has an answer for MW to remove haste from our non-BP threats, and also has a blocker or two. You know her already; she's good.

    Gemstone Cavern - Free mana is good and throwing away one card from hand is cheaper for this deck than pretty much any other. Can both enable Turn-2 hardcast CT as well as let us power through Daze or Thalia as needed. Credit to Jarvis Yu for the suggestion.

    Sandstone Needle, Saprazzan Skerry, Hickory Woodlot - These lands are great. If you're new to this deck I know that might sound a bit crazy, but they really are; other decks are just overly dependent on casting a large number of spells from their hand for mana to win the game, but in a world where the game ends with a low from-hand-cast count but not on Turn 1, these are reusable colored Sol-Lands. Against decks like Delver the plan is often to Combo two turns in a row to burn out their countermagic. Lands that stick around make that ask much, much easier.

    Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Crystal Vein - Most optimal lines involve playing an untapped Sol-Land on your critical combo turn, so we play lots of them.

    Dwarven Ruins - We are very thirst for Sol-Lands, and we have a desire for Double-Red pips. Thus, Dwarven Ruins. I know it's a sacland, but we play 40 lands so it's not as bad as you think. If it helps, think of it as our Rite of Flame.

    Otawara, Soaring City - It's maindeck interaction. In a combo deck that is doing everything it can to make it self immunized from opposing from-the-hand interaction, having maindeck answer to hatepieces is a beautiful thing.

    Sulfur Vent - We remain thirsty for Sol-Lands, and this is another one that can make Red-Mana. Sulfur Vent tends to get the nod ahead of Timber Farm because the blue-mana can be relevant for Otawara, but in a variant that's running Boseiju, Who Endures you could swap in one for the other. Makes MW much easier to hardcast as the land provides 2/3rds of its color requirements on its own.

    Havenwood Battleground - This is in the current "fiat stock" list as another land to turn on both Sweet-Gum Recluse as well as hardcast MW. Could reasonably be a 4th Crystal Vein instead.

    Mountain - There are a lot of effects that destroy a land but get you a basic from the maindeck. Given that one basic is still enough to turn two colorless sol-lands into CT mana, running a single basic can become relevant. Given that opposing Boseiju, Who Endures allow you to search for any land with basic land types, if that's the only form of this effect you expect to see, could reasonably be replaced with a Volcanic Island to help turn on Otawara.

    Throes of Chaos - Out of the sideboard this can let you turn the deck into a reasonably consistent Turn 2 deck in a way that is also resistance to Thoughtseize-effects to try to get under fast combo decks, or act as additional copies of Maddening Hex vs. most spell-based combos. Credit to 'rufus' for the suggestion.

    Pyrokinesis - Kills hatebears. We want this over Fury because 6-CMC prevents it from clogging up our cascades. It can still end a branch of the chain by being hit off CT or a MW Cascade, but based on the way the internal engine of the deck works that would only happen after forking an additional branch into the chain so it's less of a problem. Credit to Joe, from Mox Boarding House Ballard.

    Maddening Hex - We can play it turn 2 pretty consistent (particularly with Throes of Chaos) and there are many decks that just can't beat this card.

    Tibalt's Trickery - This is what allows us to turn Throes of Chaos into a combo starter we can play on turn 2. You don't want to run more than 2 copies, however, as having multiple of these in the deck while combo chaining can get ... complicated. Credit to 'rufus', from this very thread.

    Mirrorshell Crab - A surprisingly effective Counterspell/Stifle for 3 Mana (since it can't be countered back) that doesn't get Cascaded into by the 6-Drops, and is a beefy 5/7 with Ward when it ends up in your combo chain anyways.

    Aeve, Progenitor Ooze - Specifically, blue tempo decks have the ability to counter a single copy of CT while we're comboing and then try to Surgical Extraction them from the deck to cut our chain short. Doing that adds an additional 2 storm to the stormcount, however, on top of what we've already generated ourselves. This allows Aeve becoming the last remaining cascade hit in the deck and come down along side any other cascader already on the stack to generate a threatening board. Credit to Bob Huang.

    Other Cards Worth Discussing:

    So the above is my best approximation of what I currently consider the optimal build. If you're not planning on running that exact list card-for-card, however, let's also talk about some of the other relevant cards not listed above.

    Boseiju, Who Endures - There is another channel land that you may see in lists that I don't have listed above. It was in the original build of the deck but I personally cut it after realizing that after months of playing with the deck it was only ever useful once. If it was reliably able to answer a Bloodmoon or there were more Trinisphere decks in the meta I might reconsider, as it is an efficient answer and a flexible card, but I find I'd rather have the Gemstone Caverns.

    Apex Devastator - Some lists have run a single copy of Apex Devastator and I've played around with this as well. It strikes me as overkill, though, as after hitting Maelstrom Wanderer the combo always seems to build sufficient critical mass, it's not as useful a creature on the board, you can't reasonably hardcast it, and it's not Red for Pyrokinesis. If you find yourself with a build and in a meta where building up critical mass is your sticking point it's worth remembering that this card exists, but in general I don't recommend it.

    Magma Opus - A potential sideboard "ritual" that produces Treasure and doesn't get cascaded into.

    Emergent Ultimatum - This is an interesting card to throw into the combo chain, but even Apex Devastator is better at building critical mass and isn't as vulnerable to countermagic. This card was floated by my friend Lee Hung Nguyen (who you might know as 1mrlee on twitch) but I don't think it's generically useful. It does, however, provide a way to plugging a different set of sideboard cards into the deck's internal engine as well as raising the deck's internal blue and green count, so if you're doing something more radical this card is a tool that plugs into the deck in an interesting way. As it stands, though, I think it's a slightly awkward adaptor that doesn't have a worthwhile payoff to plug onto the other end.

    Keruga, The Macrosage - This guy is quite lovable and I wish I had a current excuse to run him. I don't. However, if you're trying to make Commandeer or Force of Vigor work, consider if you want to adopt this hippo as your companion.

    Sakashima's Protégé - This is an alternative 6-Drop Cascader that can fall into the Sweet-Gum Recluse slot. Basically, it's a clone that defaults to a 3/1 without good targets. I've found Sweet-Gum to be more useful and reliable, but this is an option if the clone effect is super valuable to you. Worth noting that you can clone your own Emrakul to send your Emrakul to the graveyard while keeping a copy in place, which lets you shuffle your graveyard back into your library mid-chain.

    Etherium-Horn Sorcerer - I used to run this guy so inertia and older stuff might cause you to see him here and there but he's awkward to cast and an unimpressive body with an irrelevant ability. I would strongly recommend avoiding this.

    Tinder Farm - An alternative to Sulfur Vent if you care more about Green Mana that the 'Fiat Stock List' (or care about White Mana for some reason I can't currently predict).

    Consign/Oblivion - This is a bounce spell for 1U that you can play without being cascaded into. Another very reasonable sideboard card that's just not currently being run.

    Chancellor of the Annex - Obviously strong in multiple matchups if you have room for it in the sideboard.

    Fry - I used to run this as an answer to Teferi, Time Raveler who is a major headache for the deck without an Otawara in hand. It really wedges itself into the gears of the combo though so I don't generally recommend it. Worth remembering its existing if Teferi becomes incredibly common, though.

    Commandeer - If you're able to make the deck blue enough this is a massively powerful sideboard card alongside Keruga. I was never successful in making the deck blue enough so my recommendation remains a base red-deck with Pyrokinesis. If you want to try to construct a Blue Keruga version with Sakashima's Protégé and Etherium-Horn Sorcerer though I won't stop you.

    Force of Vigor - A strong sideboard card in theory if you want to pair it with Keruga. Would be easier to pull off than Commandeer.

    Boom Pile - We're a primarily red deck full of Sol-Lands and sometimes (vs. Red Prison, for example) you want want a catch-all answer to permanents. Sometimes it doesn't work and that's unfortunate, but if you don't need it to buy you a turn by clearing their threats and are just using it to remove hatepieces, technically it has a 75% chance since you'll get two-flips before your next pre-combat mainphase. Card is definitely questionable but if you're really looking for something to work regularly against something like classic Mono-Red Prison, a card worth remembering.

    Show and Tell / Omniscience - Don't play these cards! In general I think I'm keeping an appropriately humble tone here for what for all its strengths is a homebrew I'm pretty much just testing at local 1ks and weeklies, but when other people play around with the deck I repeatedly see these cards being floated. They don't do anything you want to do. The deck is an engine designed to play itself out, not try to get extra value out of your hand. Anything that has a chance of "bricking" the combo chain needs to have a very specific purpose in mind. This is just trying to juggle while comboing for no reason. Whatever card you think this could enable could just have been the card you hit instead of either of these. Don't play these cards!

    Sideboard Guide:



    - All suggestions in this sideboard guide are intended to emphasize the thoughts behind the sideboard construction, not to be definitive play suggestions. -
    - I'm a metaphorical car-engineer, not a metaphorical Nascar pilot. Adapt as you see fit, Speed. -

    [EDIT: Currently Playing with this sideboard and abandoning my original sideboard guide attempt. Short version though, you want 4x Pyrokinesis vs. Initiative, 4x Throes + 2x Trickery vs Fast Combo, you want to add 1x Maddening Hex if that Fast Combo is storm-based, you want to bring in Aeve vs Blue Tempo, and that leaves 3-ish sideboard slots that I'm honestly still unsure about myself]
    Last edited by Rationalist; 08-04-2023 at 08:28 PM.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)