[Deck] W/x Parfait (Tax/Rack Control)

[drmarkb]

Hex parasite was my tech for my paintnought list. It lifts quite a bit.

With combo being the main issue that’s where my changes are coming in. The deck is already amazing against fair decks. Trying to up the combo match game one is what I’ve been working on. It’s why I added 2 abeyance for instance. If anything my philosophy is the real change that I suspect I’ll see in my new list. A lot of choices were made to make my opponent play the game I wanted which was fine for making ok cards all stars. I’d like to get it more where every card is a heavy lifter and the engine can be present without being necessary. That was the biggest problem, the engine was required to negate all the card disadvantage. Unfortunately I have a local legacy league going and have been just having fun exploring old decks and ideas I’ve had over the years… I’m going to play a battle of wits enchantress list soon for example… but after that I’ll be back to the way of perfection.

Hehe.
I think the main issue is the lack of generically good anti combo cards. I use saga, staff and fable, which are solid by themselves, and plenty of A+ cards that give control like STP and bolt, and a scroll rack/land tax engine is really strong when it works (albeit the power level of each in isolation isn't good). Karn is pretty good by itself, and whilst RIP isn't it can be amazing in some matches. Cards like curse of silence, battles like the white invasion of g just are too short of power to fill in those last few slots. Orim's is also a big bust in the non storm matches, a one shot no attack for 2 mana is ok but it isn't stopping Thoracle decks. A generically good swiss army knife is needed- a 2 mana angel's grace/feldon's cane/mini surge of salvation/one shot critter/walker stifle type thing (with split second) is the sort of utility we need- the "I don't lose this turn (or when it passes to the next) no matter whether you mill me, combo to thoracle, hit me for 20, or storm" type card.

[Weapon X]

Well I seem to have gotten a hold of some cards now that I was thinking of using but couldn’t get past my hang ups. Now that I have them and started thinking, I think I’m past my road block finally. The juices are flowing. Parfait revival is officially in the works.

[Weapon X]

Have a “list” together now that looks ok on paper. Will need to play with it for a bit still to see how it feels. Otherwise straying from the traditional idea was hard, and I may still touch back to it, but I think there’s potential here. List to be posted eventually.

[FTW]

Have a “list” together now that looks ok on paper. Will need to play with it for a bit still to see how it feels. Otherwise straying from the traditional idea was hard, and I may still touch back to it, but I think there’s potential here. List to be posted eventually.

Interested to see what direction you went in.

[Weapon X]

Well the tentative list is looking like this right now.

3 karn
1 elspeth knight errant
3 staff of the storyteller
1 helm of obedience
3 rest in peace
2 enlightened tutor
4 orims chant
2 abeyance
4 swords to plowshares
1 oblivion ring
1 portable hole
1 pithing needle
1 ivory tower
1 humility
1 wrath of god
3 Mox diamond
1 liquimetal Torque
1 Library of leng
3 The one ring

4 Urza’s saga
3 ancient tomb
3 wasteland
7 Plains
6 fetches

[FTW]

Ivory Tower (Saga) + One Ring looks strong! That's probably a superior card engine to the original Scroll+Tax. Staff too.

With Staff in the deck, do you want 1 Castle Ardenvale in the manabase? It's basically free to run and can turn into free bodies and cards.

Since you're heavier on the artifact plan you're weak to artifact hate. You've got a ton of answers for Collector Ouphe but what about stuff like SB Null Rod or Stony Silence? Or maindeck Karns? How do you remove noncreature permanents? Do you want some March of Otherworldly Light main?

You could probably shave some of the conditonal singleton artifacts and move them to the SB (Karn, Etutor).

[Weapon X]

I still feel artifact light which is funny as I’m still on the fence with how hard to push them. That said main deck there is portable hole and oring already. I do appreciate saga being able to put hole into play and that it should answer most things, but obviously it can’t get everything so o ring is a concession there. I’m still unsure of the mana base because there is a lot more card draw available now but the curve sits in an odd spot by being almost 1’s then 4’s. I’m expecting to get to 6 sol lands. The Mox choice could change, I honestly want to play the suspend one and I think opal forces me into artifact lands. The biggest change is cards feel individually more powerful.

I still find it comical that library of leng makes sense to me here even as a way to beat my own Rest In Peace.

[PirateKing]

Just as a note, you cannot get Portable Hole with the last chapter of Urza's Saga. Still like everything I see though, interested in seeing further development.

[FTW]

Yeah unfortunately Saga into Portable Hole doesn't work. You could get Haywire Mite, but then you need a green source.

Etutor into O-Ring is a good catch all. But that's pre-2020 tech. I think the meta has evolved to the point where the single O-Ring/disenchant effect is no longer enough outs to noncreature permanents (like the 1-of Rec Sage in older GSZ decks). Especially since control mirrors will jam 4 One Ring. Most control & midrange decks run more answers to noncreatures: Prismatic Ending, counters, Trophy, multiple SB Force of Vigor, Leyline Binding, or something else. Monowhite's best tool is probably March. There's also stuff like Serenity and Powder Keg, but symmetrical effects would punish you too much. Maybe there's something else more synergistic, or maybe you can run more answers SB. The 1-of O-Ring and Portable Hole just seems a bit light.

[Weapon X]

Oh yeah. Remembering short text still kills me, good thing that hasn’t come up. To be fair I want to play council’s judgment as I’ve always liked it and o ring was more of a nod to the enlightened tutors… but yeah a lot of ideas running in my head. I think I have dragons on my radar as another example. I’m certainly trying a lot of things to see what sticks

[Weapon X]

Ok punted hard in our league final so back to parfait. That said I think I’m going to commit harder to the ring plan right now so manifold key is making its way in. That said I should finally get some games in with it which will help sort my ideas out. The wildest one right now is reprieve.

[FTW]

The One Ring seems very strong here!

I'd be cautious about cramming too many fun-of artifacts like Manifold Key, Library of Leng, etc. In this meta you may just walk into Meltdown or Collector Ouphe and struggle to recover. Cheap artifacts should be able to convert into a card at least, so you don't fall behind on cards or get punished by artifact hate. Everyone has artifact hate now due to Urza's Saga decks.

Examples of safer artifacts: Relic of Progenitus, Currency Converter, Expedition Map, Staff of the Storyteller, Mishra's Bauble. They can convert into a card in response to removal. Artifacts like that are safer to play out because you can always cash them in to avoid falling behind to artifact hate.

Currency Converter is the better version of Library of Leng. It also fights discard, just in a different way (those cards turn into 2/2s instead of going on top). Plus it can dig and fix mana. Great 1-of target for Saga.

You shouldn't need Manifold Key for The One Ring. The One Ring already swings control matchups on its own without support. Especially if you're already backing it up with Orim's Chant to stall more.

[Weapon X]

Converter doesn’t play the same way with Rest In Peace… which was the only reason I even remembered library of leng. Regardless, still a lot of ideas to sort through before I see what sticks.

[Cpt-Qc]

For anyone interested, this is the list I came to after some thinkering. Have been trying it out for a while (both pre and post staff) and it's doing well so far even if I can see it being refined. Most of my losses were due to misplays because the deck is very hard to pilot (I'm not the best at playing control) or to mana screw (recently added more lands to hopefully fix that for good).

2x Abeyance
1x Blood Moon
1x Castle Ardenvale
2x Cosmic Intervention
2x Currency Converter
2x Doomskar
2x Enlightened Tutor
1x Expedition Map
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Helm of Obedience
1x Humility
1x Isochron Scepter
3x Karn, the Great Creator
1x Land Tax
1x Lotus Field
2x March of Otherworldly Light
1x Mountain
4x Orim's Chant
17x Plains
1x Porphyry Nodes
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Rest in Peace
3x Staff of the Storyteller
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Urza's Saga
1x Zuran Orb

2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Helm of Obedience
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Liquimetal Coating
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Pithing Needle
1x Sacred Mesa
1x Seal of Cleansing
2x Spirit of the Labyrinth
1x Staff of the Storyteller
1x Tormod's Crypt

Limiting the number of RIP to 1 makes the converter-nonbo almost non-existant while keeping the 1 shot kill experience. With Orim's chant, etutor and so much card draw thanks to staff, you don't need the extra copies anyway. Note that converter also works perfectly with eachother OR Nahiri postboard. I am unsure if the red splash is still worth it but since it's very light it shouldn't be an issue. On a side note, I have been looking at other colors for the light splash but no other looks appealing to me. At least moon still prevents some decks from functioning.

Also, I am almost 100% convinced the Ring + Karn makes way too many 4 drops since they both require additional casting after resolved. You would need to chose either one if you want to be casting spells before you are dead. At it's core, this version of parfait is a control deck so, unlike similar combo decks, you need early interaction to open the way to the lategame with a steady supply of land drops. The days of locking someone out of the game with prison elements in the early game are far behind as threats are much stronger. This means a lot of efficient 1 for 1 / incremental card advantage is necessary.

In today's meta, you can't trust that 2-permanents combos will stick to generate value so I've reduced them to the minimum. Cards need some usefulness by themselves (or in conjunction with most of the deck) so you don't depend on hitting the right cards at the right time to do anything. Cards like Key or Leng are not what you want unless you go all-in in a combo deck building (and I would argue with today's removal your chances of making it are slim to none). Scepter is still good because it can be used with so many different cards or as an empty threat when you know it won't resolve (stp, tutor, abeyance, ochant, otherworldy for lands destruction after karn has been killed )

I have tried bauble and it was so bad I would stay away! unless the card has a clear purpose, it needs to generate incremental advantage and act as a redraw in the worst case scenario. That's why I have replaced it with relic as it can both help alleviate the graveyard decks issue (think uro or gy combo decks) while also offering a redraw off of saga in a pinch.

Edit: Slightly altered sideboard as I had forgotten to put in a needle.

[Weapon X]

Deck is goldfishing weird, mainly as a mana concern. Sol lands and the need for white mana makes things awkward. Already looks like 4 drops are getting cut or moved to board. Also looks like I’m going to play harder into saga. I seemingly can’t draw a ring so far, but there does seem to be a lot of card draw which is nice. Finally trying build a lotus as well since “splash colour” is in the back of my mind. Card quality is easily higher then my bdi list and there is much less card disadvantage.

[FTW]

If there are mana issues (either color or quantity), Timeless Dragon??

[Weapon X]

I am looking back into that as it was colour. It’s wild what a bunch of goldfishing seems to do for me. At this point it’s been jam all ideas in, focus on something, lather rinse repeat. The stuff that sticks consistently has been the correct answers so far… but the other angle I’m considering goes wide in a big direction. Sadly that may be the right answer but I’m not sold on it.

[Fox]

I am looking back into that as it was colour. It’s wild what a bunch of goldfishing seems to do for me. At this point it’s been jam all ideas in, focus on something, lather rinse repeat. The stuff that sticks consistently has been the correct answers so far… but the other angle I’m considering goes wide in a big direction. Sadly that may be the right answer but I’m not sold on it.

Going wide: Cataclysm + Lotus Field (and Saga find Map find Lotus). Add Solitude, Flagstones, and Cosmic Intervention.

[FTW]

That's certainly 1 viable direction for Parfait. Your last list looked strong.

Others might be wondering if there are other viable ways to build. Captain QC's build looks good.

The One Ring would be a very strong engine if there's a way to make room. That might involve cutting other top end, playing Ancient Tomb, or running more ramp (Timeless Dragon, Sevinne's). You could play just 1 copy in the Karnboard, but then you lose the big benefit of legend ruling them to save life. Seems better at 3-4 copies.

Staff of the Storyteller makes a good draw engine too. Staff plays well with Saga, Currency Converter, Castle Ardenvale, even Timeless Dragon.

If not on Cataclysm, is Doomskar better than regular Wrath?

Is The One Ring playable with 1-of Peace of Mind, discarding extra cards to offset lifeloss & trigger Currency Converter? Is there a better life engine? Maybe just Zuran Orb + Cosmic Intervention?

[Weapon X]

To be fair I’ll more then likely focus on that first pseudo list for a while. I agree I felt strong, it’s just getting the right pieces together that I find takes time. Even when I made my bdi list that started as an almost carbon copy of vintage parfait. Feeling out the format is the bigger problem since I need to know where I sit and that defines choices. Still a long road ahead.