[Deck] Spanish Inquisition (B/x Storm Combo)

[the resurrection]

Who still plays this deck IRL or MWS besides myself?

My real-life PactSI List:

1 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
1 Ill Gotten Gains --- 1 is enough
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Odious trow --- In this list better than Vine Dryad, for imprinting Mox, Unmask or creating additional storm with Pact
1 Wild Cantor--- Manafix for ESG

4 Summoner's Pact
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Eternal Witness -- LED Trix
1 Bayou
4 Culling the Weak
4 Land Grant
4 Cabal Therapy/Unmask

4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

SB: Still in work
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Oxidize
1 Crumble
2 Unmask/Cabal Therapy
4 Death's Shadow

[BreathWeapon]

Odious Trow is an interesting find, how is the B/G mana requirement compared to Vine Dryad being castable off pitching a Land Grant? I don't have any experience myself, but I imagine being castable off the Rituals and turning Summoner's Pact into color fixing for Chrome Mox and +5 cards for Unmask is solid.

Yeah I'm going to sleeve that up, but it looks like it's sound and I'd love to be able to run Unmask and Pact of Negation post-board.

[Vacrix]

Diabolic Intent blows, don't bother.

Pact SI wasn't just designed for speed, Pact SI was designed to withstand disruption by turning your robots into "anti-Daze" tech. However that's not enough, because Land Grant eats Spellsnare, so you have to have disruption in order to prevent them from countering Land Grant and mulliganing into Force of Will

Tombstalker, Tomb of Urami and Carpet of Flowers do not work in this deck, you are reliant on Summoner's Pact and there's not a single mana source I'd board out for Carpet of Flowers.

Agreed about Anti-Daze tech. I find myself playing around Daze more often than otherwise. Also, I think that Land Grant eats Spellsnare against some decks like Bant Survival or Tempo Thresh (though I’ve seen Thresh lists with Spell Pierce instead), but Merfolk and most Countertop lists don’t bother to run it. You don’t always have Land Grant and you don’t always need it when you do have it. The deck has a plethora of starting mana sources and I agree that Land Grant is by far the weakest of these against control but how often really does the opponent have Spell Snare while you have Land Grant? And how often do you need Land Grant to go off. And should you be keeping a hand that relies on Land Grant against control? I’d love to run Pact of Negation but it was a dead draw most of the time off my Draw4’s and I fizzed more often when playing it.

Iranon pretty much said it. The deck has mulligan power, and top deck power. SI is a bomb that could explode at any moment. If you draw nicely off the top then the game could completely swing in your favor. Too often have I had my initial business countered, and proceeded to win the game because my opponent mulliganed into FoW and then was not able to put a clock on me because his 5 card hand didn’t have any creatures. I don’t want to run Pact because it makes it an all or nothing game plan and I like having a few turns to draw, pass into double business.

As for the board.. Tomb of Urami has been MVP of games 2/3 against stax and even control players who board out their removal. I’d certainly save at least 2 SB slots for those babies. Carpet of Flowers.. has been meh. Players seem to play around it if you play it too early but I guess you are not familiar with how I board:
Decks with force//
-4 Summoner's Pact
-3 Goblin Charbelcher
-1 Ill-Gotten Gains/Cruel Bargain

+4 Carpet of Flowers
+4 Xantid Swarm

Charbelcher eats Force all the time. Xantid Swarms fuel my Culling the Weak for the turn I want to go off. Carpet of Flowers is amazing against Merfolk, often netting me 3 mana per turn to cast business. Carpet is meh against everything else, often just netting you 1.

Stax or Stompy//
-4 Summoner's Pact
-2 Goblin Charbelcher
-1 Ill-Gotten Gains/Draw4/Infernal Tutor/Belcher

+4 Tomb of Urami
+3 Tombstalker

I ditched the game plan of blowing up 3sphere and trying to go off. The deck doesn’t have enough land to support that strat. Flying demons works well enough.

If this board is bad, then what would you suggest I try instead? I really want EtW somehow but it seems so bad with Summoner’s Pact. Breathweapon, what is your board? Does it have x4 Serum Powder?

My real-life PactSI List:

1 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
1 Ill Gotten Gains --- 1 is enough
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Odious trow --- In this list better than Vine Dryad, for imprinting Mox, Unmask or creating additional storm with Pact
1 Wild Cantor--- Manafix for ESG

4 Summoner's Pact
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Eternal Witness -- LED Trix
1 Bayou
4 Culling the Weak
4 Land Grant
4 Cabal Therapy/Unmask

4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

SB: Still in work
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Oxidize
1 Crumble
2 Unmask/Cabal Therapy
4 Death's Shadow

VERY interesting list. I jizzed in my pants when I saw Eternal Witness. That’s SUCH a tight play:
(Petal, rit, LED, Pact..from a draw4) Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, LED, Summoner’s Pact, break LED, → Eternal Witness, get back Cruel Bargain..

It obviously works better with multiple LED’s, but is there anything I’m missing? Any other interactions worth noting? IGG loops tricks?

I don’t understand how you manage to run so many 1 drop green creatures with only 2 ESGs. And Vine Dryad is ridiculous. You can remove any green card to play it, including useless Land Grants or Summoner's Pacts or Manamorphose. I tried playing Wild Cantor and found myself stuck with Land Grant and that in hand so I would have loved Vine Dryad in that case. There are other times when I have x2 Pacts and a Dark Ritual and really want Cantor, but those hands are far less common.

Also, how has your board worked out for you? Often with this deck I find myself unable to play Oxidize against anything but Thorn of Amethyst or Ethersworn Cannonist. It doesn’t stop Chalice at 1 or 3sphere.

Also, Death’s Shadow. I already love the card but does it actually work.

[the resurrection]

First of all I have to excuse my jungle english:

It obviously works better with multiple LED’s, but is there anything I’m missing? Any other interactions worth noting? IGG loops tricks?

An IGG loop with (IGG and) Eternal Witness is very rare, but possible. She can become as well with Culling the weak a Manamorphose.

don’t understand how you manage to run so many 1 drop green creatures with only 2 ESGs.

6 ESG (4 pact+2 ESG), 6 [G] lands (Bayou/dryad/4 land grant), the 8 mana artifacts; Odious Trow can be cast with black mana. You can replace Wild Cantor with a third ESG.

And Vine Dryad is ridiculous.You can remove any green card to play it, including useless Land Grants or Summoner's Pacts or Manamorphose.

True. I played in the past a similar list with Manamorphose and Dryad, but since I threw out Manamorphose and realised that most of the time I exiled for her an ESG, she wasn't good enough and I replaced her with Trow, which gives the deck (in my eyes) more consistency.

Also, how has your board worked out for you?

The sideboard is my biggest problem. The only cards I would never cut are Swarms and Oxidize. In my opinion Oxidize is the best available artifact removal. My experiences with Oxidize are positive, even if I can't destroy Chalice [1].
Death Shadow was just a quick thought. I'will test him the next days.

[Vacrix]

The sideboard is my biggest problem. The only cards I would never cut are Swarms and Oxidize. In my opinion Oxidize is the best available artifact removal. My experiences with Oxidize are positive, even if I can't destroy Chalice [1].
Death Shadow was just a quick thought. I'will test him the next days.

How does this board look?
SB:
4 Empty the Warrens
4 SSG
4 Ingot Chewer
3 REB/Ritual/Open slot

EtW would significantly increase our wins against blue. The question is, is it worth those sideboard slots. Ingot Chewer is significantly better than Oxidize in that you can still cast it for R under 3sphere.

Out of curiosity, can we play Ingot Chewer to destroy an artifact, but stack its ability so it comes into play, putting its trigger on the stack, and then respond with Culling the Weak? Because that would be nice.

[Forbiddian]

EtW would significantly increase our wins against blue. The question is, is it worth those sideboard slots. Ingot Chewer is significantly better than Oxidize in that you can still cast it for R under 3sphere.

Out of curiosity, can we play Ingot Chewer to destroy an artifact, but stack its ability so it comes into play, putting its trigger on the stack, and then respond with Culling the Weak? Because that would be nice.

Rulings:

I'm around 99% sure Evoke doesn't work that way. 3sphere looks for how much mana you actually paid. That's why daze costs 3 even if you bounced an Island and Force costs 3 even if you pitch a blue. Ingot Chewer might still be better because it can nab Chal 1.

EDIT: I can't RTFC. "I don't really know that much about this deck, but if you're running like Bgr then you could also use Summoner's Pact to get Ingot Chewer."

Yes, you can put the evoke trigger on the stack and then Culling in response. That seems pretty good, actually.

[Julian23]

I'm around 99% sure Evoke doesn't work that way. 3sphere looks for how much mana you actually paid.

100% confirmed.

[FredMaster]

I don't really know that much about this deck, but if you're running like Bgr then you could also use Summoner's Pact to get Ingot Chewer.

Summoner's Pact says "green creature card".

[Vacrix]

EDIT: I can't RTFC. "I don't really know that much about this deck, but if you're running like Bgr then you could also use Summoner's Pact to get Ingot Chewer."

I made the same mistake in the Belcher Thread. I wish it could fetch red creatures. Then you could fetch SSG too.

Yes, you can put the evoke trigger on the stack and then Culling in response. That seems pretty good, actually.

Excellent.

Yea I was thinking the same thing. The only question then is can you evoke it without picking a target for its ability? If so, then it looks like it deserves a board slot.

I'm 90% sure you can play it with SSG for R under 3sphere. I've seen too many Belchers do it for it to be an incorrect play.

[dorsch]

You may evoke Ingot Chewer while there are no artifacts on board. But once its ability triggers you have to destroy an artifact, even if its your own mox.

Getting mana from a Spirit Guide is an activated ability, so it is not affected by Trinisphere.

[FredMaster]

I'm 90% sure you can play it with SSG for R under 3sphere. I've seen too many Belchers do it for it to be an incorrect play.

That's right... Because ppl playing Belcher are usually Level 3 judges.

I just gave a mixture of the above lists a spin on mws (goldfishing). Here are the results:
Turn 1s: 12

Turn 2s: 9

Turn 3s: 5

Fizzle (during the Combo): 19

Fizzle (going off laterthan Turn 3 or Mulligan below 5): 5

I usually went off as soon as possible, although I tried to avoid using a single Ritual for a Draw 4 with no other manasources left.

[Vacrix]

19 Fizzles? You're doing something wrong man. Even 12 Turn 1's is kinda low. Thats less than 50%... What list did you use?

[FredMaster]

I'm not new to Stormcombo in general at all and I have tested the list before this "session". So it's not like I don't know what to do.

// Lands
1 [B] Bayou
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor

// Creatures
3 [AL] Elvish Spirit Guide
1 [MM] Vine Dryad
1 [GP] Wild Cantor

// Spells
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
3 [SC] Tendrils of Agony
4 [MM] Land Grant
4 [EX] Culling the Weak
4 [B] Dark Ritual
4 [TO] Cabal Ritual
1 [US] Ill-Gotten Gains
4 [TE] Lotus Petal
4 [MI] Lion's Eye Diamond
4 [FUT] Summoner's Pact
4 [PT] Cruel Bargain
4 [DIS] Infernal Tutor
4 [MI] Infernal Contract
4 [FNM] Cabal Therapy
1 [MR] Goblin Charbelcher

[Vacrix]

Alright so I did a little testing with Ewit and she is tight. I think it deserves a permanent spot in the Pact list.

I noticed a few things uses during testing:
1. It can act like a 2nd IGG.
2. It can get you out of sticky situations if you are drawing all mana sources.
3. It doesn't clog up your hand nearly as often as you'd expect
4. I have yet to use it to as a Culling the Weak target.

I'll just talk about a few relevant games. In short, my playstesting today was meh, I had pretty meh percentages today but I haven't played magic in like 3 or 4 weeks, I played on the play every single game... and to be honest I was a little distracted by the combination of background music and some previously ingested hash oil.

Anyway, to the games..

In one game, I won because of Eternal Witness because it acted like a 2nd IGG. I happened to have Tendrils in my hand when I broke 3 LEDs after Infernal Tutor was on the stack. So I searched up IGG, got back Infernal Tutor, LED, LED, and then Tutored up Eternal Witness to get back my Tendrils from the grave ftw. Awesome trix.

In another game, Ewit saved my ass. I mulled to a 5 card hand that I just have to share. Mad tricks:

Mull to 5 on the play: Land Grant, ESG, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract, LED

Land Grant --> Bayou, ESG, Cabal Ritual, LED, Contract, break LED for BBB
draw4 --> Petal, Manamorphose, Summoner's Pact, Cabal Ritual

I play Petal, sac for G, Manamorphose for GG --> Land Grant, GGBB in pool, Pact--> Eternal Witness, play Cabal ritual, GGBBBBB in pool, Eternal Witness grabbing Infernal Contract;
draw4 --> Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox, Belcher, B floating, 5 life

Play Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox imprinting Land Grant, BBBBBBG floating, play Belcher and activate for 28.

One of the sickest hands I have ever had the pleasure of playing.

The very next hand... I drew jank off a draw4 and if Eternal Witness was an ESG or Manamorphose then I would have won. So there was one game where I really wanted something else.


In short, Ewit was very tight. I will definitely be cutting an MD Manamorphose for it. Also, I really didn't like Manamorphose that much. I really want to run more ESG so that I can actually cast Ewit without LED. So the changes I'm making to my list are:
-2 Manamorphose
+1 ESG
+1 Eternal Witness

What I'd like to test is
-1 Belcher
+1 Tendrils

I've been drawing dead in some games into Belcher without enough mana so I think I'm going to slowly morph the build into a 3/2 of Belcher vs. ToA.

EDIT:

I usually went off as soon as possible, although I tried to avoid using a single Ritual for a Draw 4 with no other manasources left.

You get away with this more often if you run Manamorphose. It cycles you one card deeper off your draw4 AND allows you to convert GG to BB so that you can play your rituals on the fly.

EDIT:
Woah, your list only plays 4 win conditions. How did that work out for you actually? I haven't really tried playing less than 4 Belcher 1 Toa in a while.

[BreathWeapon]

IMO, Xantid Swarm is out, with Odious Trow supporting Unmask I've been using 4 Pact of Negation and 4 Unmask post-board and laughing off their attempts to mulligan into Force of Will. 4 Tendrils of Agony MD is standard, you don't want Goblin Charbelcher until post-board where you want business instead of disruption vs Aggro or you want to board out the Infernal Tutors/IGG vs Aggro-Control

[Vacrix]

IMO, Xantid Swarm is out, with Odious Trow supporting Unmask I've been using 4 Pact of Negation and 4 Unmask post-board and laughing off their attempts to mulligan into Force of Will. 4 Tendrils of Agony MD is standard, you don't want Goblin Charbelcher until post-board where you want business instead of disruption vs Aggro or you want to board out the Infernal Tutors/IGG vs Aggro-Control

I argued this a while back about x4 ToA...until I conceded to your point:

I really, really don't get people who run less than 4 Goblin Charbelchers, what's the point of having the structural weakness of a Land Grant manabase if you aren't using Goblin Charbelcher(s) plural?

Isn't the better strategy to go balls to the wall first game, and then board in protection? Consistent fast hands in game 1 is going to make or break the deck against a lot of the field. Maybe protection main would be better suited to a control meta. You certainly dont need it in aggro or combo metas.

How well is the protection working for you? Summoner's Pact--> Odious Trow--> Unmask looks pretty nuts. I ran into some issues today where I wanted Trow and/or Wild Cantor so I'm going to test it. Whats your list look like now? SB too. Try Ewit if you haven't already. Its badass hax.

[BreathWeapon]

I still believe there's no point in running Land Grant if you aren't running Goblin Charbelchcer, whether or not you run them MD or SB is just a matter of gold fishing vs threat density.

Manamorphose is "meh" and MD Wild Cantor does the same thing more or less, I'd rather use 1xWild Cantor and put the rest of the slots to better use. Pact of Negation, IMO, gives the deck the best winning chances it could ask for in an environment where a Force of Will or a Stifle is GG, no pure goldfish deck has ever been competitive save Belcher and even that's debatable.

I haven't tested Eternal Witness yet, definitely promising tho' off the Draw 4 chain for sure - I'd be happy to hear your experiences with it.

Original list -4 Belcher, +3 Tendril and +1 Trow MD, and 4 Belcher, 4 Unmask, 4 Oxidize post board

[Vacrix]

Well if you read up a few posts, I shared a few experiences with Ewit. Its hard to cast and it clogged up my hand once (though I'm not entirely sure if it would have been better as something else) off a draw4...but I won at least 3 games out of 30 or so that I would have lost otherwise. I am running x2 Manamorphose still because its very hard to get GG to cast it without LED. Also, I didn't much care if it was stuck in my hand because I can always imprint it on Mox or even pitch it for Vine Dryad so it just functioned like another dead Land Grant sometimes. In the previous post, I said that I had yet to use it as a Culling the Weak target. A few games after writing that post, I got enough mana to play a draw4, Ewit back my draw4 and then culling the Ewit to play the draw4 again. Also, I'm undecided about keeping Vine Dryad MD. Rarely will you need 3 Culling the Weak targets so ideally you should cut Vine Dryad, but you cant cast Trow with Land Grant, Ewit, or Dryad Arbor like you can with Vine Dryad. I'd rather not run both.
Also, I'm curious as to if/how Ewit improves the discard matchup.

[Vacrix]

Pact SI top's 8! I went to a 52 man tournament at Knightware Inc. in LA, took 7th losing to Counterbalance in the Quarters. I played the following list:

Pact SI:
Business:
2 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Ill Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain

Mana:
1 Eternal Witness
1 Odious Trow
2 Manamorphose
4 Summoner's Pact
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Land Grant
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor

SB:
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Tomb of Urami
4 Tombstalker
3 Unmask


REPORT:
Match 1, Matt with UW Tempo:
Game 1
Mull to 6, kept a He gets Vial, a grip full of countermagic, and a relevant clock. I try to go off and get forced. I don't draw enough business to play through his grip.

Game 2
I mull to 6 again.. I remove ESG to land Xantid Swarm. It resolves, he swords it. He gets Vial again, and starts dropping dudes. I sculpt a good hand that wins with IGG loops because I draw a 2nd swarm. I play swarm, he thinks for a while and then Forces it. I try to go off and am one short of his Daze.

I mulled to 6 and he got good hands both games. I thought this matchup would be much better but on the same token I explained to him exactly how my deck works on the ride up from SD. He knew how to play against me, drew the nuts, played well, and I drew jank. He goes on to take 5th. I start thinking I should have played Solidarity instead. Not a particularly great start.

0-1

Match 2, Belcher:
Game 1
He wins the dice roll, I'd actually prefer to be on the play, and was. He drops 18 tokens with Empty, I chuckled, and go off with an Infernal loop for 26.

Game 2
He mulls to 6, drops 8 tokens turn 1. I win on the first turn again.

I think I'd rather be on the play against Belcher. They often do something on the first turn, but often they Burning Wish into EtW so I'm not too worried about this matchup.

1-1

Match 3, Sligh
Game 1
He gets the hax hand: 6 mountain, and Valakut. I go off and win turn 1 on the draw.

Game 2
Same plan except this time I see Hellspark elemental. I put him on Sligh, win turn 2 on the draw.

2-1

Match 4, Zoo
Game 1
Turn 1, I play out a beautiful, convoluted play with Eternal Witness LED trix, and Infernal Tutor into Tendrils.

Game 2
I mull to 6, keeping a hand without any starting mana. I draw the starting mana and play my draw4, I'm one mana source short of continuing, pass at 10 life. He puts a clock on my shortly afterward with Goyf and Nacatl, I lose in a few.

Game 3
I mull to 6 again, fearing Teeg. I just need starting mana to go off, we pass for 3 turns. I go off and win once I draw a mana source, on turn 3.

3-1

Match 5, Aggro-loam
Game 1
He wins the die roll, and plays Verdant Catacombs, go. I think he's playing discard but doesn't have the turn 1 distruption. I play out my hand and win turn 1 on the draw.

Game 2
He boards in like 11 cards. He gets turn 1 Chalice, but misplays by playing his Zuran Orb after Chalice at 0. Funny enough, the judge is watching our game and puts the orb in the graveyard. I'm sitting on a near-perfect hand of ESG, ESG, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Infernal Contract, Cruel Bargain, Cabal Ritual. He plays out Leyline of the Void and I'm far from Threshold. Eventually I'm sitting on ESG x2, Dark Rit x3, and draw4 x2. All I need to draw is Manamorphose, Land Grant, or Bayou to win. I sit there taking damage from Goyf every turn while he slowly beats me to death. No top decks.

Game 3
I get the hax turn 1.

In this game, I might have wanted Wild Cantor maindeck. I was sitting on Summoner's Pact x2 at one point so It would have enabled me to go off with my x2 Dark Rituals. I couldn't have searched for it through Chalice, but if I were also running Oxidize, then that play would have been more than doable. It makes me want to run Oxidize in the board again.

4-1

Match 6, Belcher

ID

4-1-1


Top 8
The top 8 is x2 UW Tempo, x2 Suicide, x1 Belcher, x1 Counterbalance, x1 Pact SI, and Dredge. The only matchup I wanted to dodge was Counterbalance. I draw Counterbalance. I would have auto-win against Dredge or Belcher. Suicide would have been tricky, but I have the hax turn 1, so at the very least I would win game 1, lose game 2, and win game 3. Matt was on one of the UW Tempo so I didn't want to draw him again, but the other UW Tempo player was making some mistakes so I think he would not be familiar with my deck. Either way, I dodged blue pretty much all day so I guess it was fitting that I finally drew it in the top 8.

Game 1
I keep a bomb turn 1 hand. He has Force. He follows it up with a turn 2 Counterbalance, and then backs it up with a relevant clock. I die shortly. I do notice that he misplays though on my hand. He force my land grant, when he should have forced my business. I figure I can get away with trix postboard; mistake.

Game 2
He keeps his swords in the MD. I keep a hand of Xantid Swarm, Tomb of Urami, Tombstalker, Culling the Weak, Infernal Contract, LED, Chrome Mox. I get greedy, figuring he boarded out Swords, and bust my mana for Tomb. Turn 2 swords. Looking back, I should have played it much differently. I choked probably because everyone propped him up to be such a great player, with Pro-points and shit. Either way, he had hax both games. Turn 2 Counterbalance every game, followed up by a relevant clock. I don't think these games were winnable.



Overall I'm happy with my performance. I made some bomb plays, and didn't make a single play mistake while going off. You can pretty much tell because you lose if you make a mistake. I didn't draw blue, Tombstalker was dead in the board, Tomb of Urami was weaker than I expected, and my opponents who played blue drew nuts. I'm happy with the build, but I've decided, -4 Tombstalker, +4 Oxidize. I won x4 signed Jittes, bought myself some FNM Tendrils and got a playset of sick Mirage Infernal Contracts.

[Philipp2293]

Congratz man! How did those unmasks play out? I guess Pact into Odious Trow -> Unmask is nice, but did it pay off? Also, what were your exact SB plans?