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

[Vacrix]

Ascension isn't even a business spell. It amplifies all your spells, but the point is you have to play a bunch for it to be effective, and without a deck design that can really abuse it. Its for another deck. Suggestions are welcome but make sure that you explain them in detail instead of just suggesting we try something new. In the details you will probably find your answer.

[DarthVicious]

Played in the Vestal tourney yesterday, 138 people. Depressing 3-4 and skipped out on the last round to get food.The surprising part is I wasn't the only SI guy there, and I sat next to the other one in the first round. Last time I talked to him, he was 4-1 and hadn't faced a blue deck. He must've made it up past the blue into the Survival Vengevine bracket. I faced two fish decks, one AdN, Goblin combo, and my brothers black/red deck. I seriously shook up one fish guy in the first round by winning with tendrils turn 1 game 1, even after he accidentally revealed both a pierce and a force while shuffling. This deck intimidates people. Never got shut out by anybody, and every game I lost but one came from my own mistakes or failed draw4s. Mostly my own mistakes, like getting a lotus petal spell pierced before attacking with swarm. Stupid mistakes. Still happy with the performance of the deck, but I have some concerns. Against permission, it can get very tough to rebuild if they counter our rituals. I'm wondering how to best combat that, as we only have twelve total in the deck. Dark Confidant? I heard rumors of scars block printing another black ritual along the lines of culling for artifacts, but I doubt it will become reality. Beyond that, I'm trying to get the list to monoblack plus artifacts. Therapy for protection out of the board, with lotus bloom out of the board as an extra 'ritual' against permission decks. Might be too slow considering we have to wait til 4th turn to get it if we suspend it first turn, but if it hits the board it almost guarantees either a win or a spell chain into one.

4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Shield Sphere
2 Phyrexian Walker
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
3 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Goblin Charbelcher

4 Death's Shadow
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Carpet of Flowers
3 Deathmark

Birds were only ok when I had no other initial mana. Xantid swarm ruled, Carpet was meh because the only times I boarded it in they stopped fetching islands after the first. Never saw hatebears, but I knew they were running around. The Shadow from the board was my answer to stuff like Leyline, and sometimes I actually did attack with it. One guy shit his pants when I played two draw4s and dropped two shadows at 8/8 turn 1. I want to cut the green completely and bump up the walkers and infernals to 4, and add who knows what else in the empty slot. Swarms and carpets may become Cabal Therapy and lotus bloom, but I'll have to test the bloom first.

[marit]

I was the other SI player, and went a sad 4-3 then dropped. I started out 4-1 but lost a squeaker to merfolk because he topdecked a second coralhelm commander in g3 after i thoughtseized the first one. Then I lost to g/w survival because g2 my draw 4 fizzled and he went T2 teeg, then g3 I shoulda mulled but didn't because if i topdecked any mana source I woulda won, but i drew another land grant (I played a 1 land version) and he dropped Teeg again turn 2. I dropped after that, but here are my matchups:

2-0 vs Lands

0-2 vs Dredge (i drew all my win conditions, no fuel)

2-0 vs Aggro Loam

2-0 vs B/g Aggro

2-1 vs Zoo

1-2 vs U/b Merfolk

1-2 vs G/W Survival

I made a few mistakes that costed me some games, but there's only one way to get better with the deck. In total I had 6 turn 1 kills, so that was pretty fun. I really like the deck, and am def gonna play it more, to see what's underperforming.


// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
1 [B] Bayou

// Creatures
4 [AL] Shield Sphere
4 [VI] Phyrexian Walker
1 [MOR] Slithermuse

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

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
SB: 4 [SOK] Tomb of Urami
SB: 4 [SC] Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 [FUT] Tombstalker

[1maarten1]

Hi everybody! I recently started to play this deck, and I have a couple of questions! First of all, I use the ''standard'' PSI maindeck list from the opening post, I want to become more familliar with the deck before I start changing stuff in the maindeck.

But my questions are about the sideboard:
1. I dont really know that well what I can take out of the main deck in which matchup
My sideboard was at first the sideboard from the primer, but since there are quite some Gaddock teeg's in my meta I needed some changes.

So I think there are 2 options here (please correct me if I am wrong :))
1. Going for the man-plan, in my case that would be 4 tomb of uramni, 3 tombstalker (or is this overkill?) And what is the verdict on Death's shadow?
2. Playing cards like Deathmark / Nature's claim to beat the hate.

For me 4 xantid swarm and 4 Duress are 8 slots that have to be in the sideboard, no thoughtseize since I simply dont have the money or the cards for it atm. So the other 7 slots are flexible.

What do you guys suggest :)?

I would really apreciate some help here since the deck is pretty hard to play, but very fun so I am stoked to get started playing with it :)!

~maarten

[marit]

Hi everybody! I recently started to play this deck, and I have a couple of questions! First of all, I use the ''standard'' PSI maindeck list from the opening post, I want to become more familliar with the deck before I start changing stuff in the maindeck.

But my questions are about the sideboard:
1. I dont really know that well what I can take out of the main deck in which matchup
My sideboard was at first the sideboard from the primer, but since there are quite some Gaddock teeg's in my meta I needed some changes.

So I think there are 2 options here (please correct me if I am wrong :))
1. Going for the man-plan, in my case that would be 4 tomb of uramni, 3 tombstalker (or is this overkill?) And what is the verdict on Death's shadow?
2. Playing cards like Deathmark / Nature's claim to beat the hate.

For me 4 xantid swarm and 4 Duress are 8 slots that have to be in the sideboard, no thoughtseize since I simply dont have the money or the cards for it atm. So the other 7 slots are flexible.

What do you guys suggest :)?

I would really apreciate some help here since the deck is pretty hard to play, but very fun so I am stoked to get started playing with it :)!

~maarten

I can't answer your questions about what to sideboard for the pact version because I don't play it, but for the non-pact version the plan is to not sideboard unless they're playing blue. The goal is to race the hate, teeeg take 2 turns to hit play, that gives you 8 cards to resolve belcher, tendrils or EtW. This applies to the pact version too, any permanent based hate should be raced. With blue it's a full 15 card SB, -4 Culling the Weak, -8 Artifact Creatures, -1 CHarbelcher, -1 Slithermuse, -1 Tendrils, +15 sideboard. I don't think the man plan is used in the pact version, the pact version palys something like carpet of flowers, xantid swarm, autumn's veil and things like that. Hopefully Vacrix can clear that up for you though.

[marit]

Hi everybody! I recently started to play this deck, and I have a couple of questions! First of all, I use the ''standard'' PSI maindeck list from the opening post, I want to become more familliar with the deck before I start changing stuff in the maindeck.

But my questions are about the sideboard:
1. I dont really know that well what I can take out of the main deck in which matchup
My sideboard was at first the sideboard from the primer, but since there are quite some Gaddock teeg's in my meta I needed some changes.

So I think there are 2 options here (please correct me if I am wrong :))
1. Going for the man-plan, in my case that would be 4 tomb of uramni, 3 tombstalker (or is this overkill?) And what is the verdict on Death's shadow?
2. Playing cards like Deathmark / Nature's claim to beat the hate.

For me 4 xantid swarm and 4 Duress are 8 slots that have to be in the sideboard, no thoughtseize since I simply dont have the money or the cards for it atm. So the other 7 slots are flexible.

What do you guys suggest :)?

I would really apreciate some help here since the deck is pretty hard to play, but very fun so I am stoked to get started playing with it :)!

~maarten

I can't answer your questions about what to sideboard for the pact version because I don't play it, but for the non-pact version the plan is to not sideboard unless they're playing blue. The goal is to race the hate, teeeg take 2 turns to hit play, that gives you 8 cards to resolve belcher, tendrils or EtW. This applies to the pact version too, any permanent based hate should be raced. With blue it's a full 15 card SB, -4 Culling the Weak, -8 Artifact Creatures, -1 CHarbelcher, -1 Slithermuse, -1 Tendrils, +15 sideboard. I don't think the man plan is used in the pact version, the pact version palys something like carpet of flowers, xantid swarm, autumn's veil and things like that. Hopefully Vacrix can clear that up for you though.

[Jonathan Alexander]

When I'm playing DSI, I'm not even boarding that much, but I have Burning Wish maindeck. I usually board out Summoner's Pact, Ill-Gotten Gains and one Infernal Tutor against anything blue. Against aggro I sometimes board out Infernal Tutor or Empty The Warrens for the second Ill-Gotten Gains, but usually not. I think that marit is absolutely right in saying that permanent based hated should be raced.
Oh and by the way, I don't like the man-plan that much. It's better to board in stuff that supports your game plan rather than stuff that doesn't fit it at all. Xantid Swarm is a really good card to bring in, since it draws removal (makes them tap out), can win games on its own, is castable off one land and can be sacrificed to Culling The Weak. The second best card to bring in when playing SI is Empty The Warrens in my opinion. It's awesome against a lot of decks packing blue right now. You obviously don't want to see Engineered Explosives, but you can easily race Firespout. Merfolk can't do anything against Warrens for 8-10 tokens turn one.

[1maarten1]

When I'm playing DSI, I'm not even boarding that much, but I have Burning Wish maindeck. I usually board out Summoner's Pact, Ill-Gotten Gains and one Infernal Tutor against anything blue. Against aggro I sometimes board out Infernal Tutor or Empty The Warrens for the second Ill-Gotten Gains, but usually not. I think that marit is absolutely right in saying that permanent based hated should be raced.
Oh and by the way, I don't like the man-plan that much. It's better to board in stuff that supports your game plan rather than stuff that doesn't fit it at all. Xantid Swarm is a really good card to bring in, since it draws removal (makes them tap out), can win games on its own, is castable off one land and can be sacrificed to Culling The Weak. The second best card to bring in when playing SI is Empty The Warrens in my opinion. It's awesome against a lot of decks packing blue right now. You obviously don't want to see Engineered Explosives, but you can easily race Firespout. Merfolk can't do anything against Warrens for 8-10 tokens turn one.

Hmm valid points! Thanks alot! For me 4 xantid swarm and duress have been doing great, I also have a question about the function of the 2 goblin charbelcher in the sideboard in the opening post, in what matchup would you want to board these in?

@Jona
So you prefer EtW over Charbelcher? I haven't tested enough to make such decisions on my own yet, but I'll certainly keep it in mind.

And what are your thought on Autumn's veil? I might want to run it over carpet of flowers. So then I would look at a board like this:
4 duress
4 xantid swarm
4 autumn's veil

And then 3 slots that are a bit flexible, maybe something like 2 Tomb of Urami (because of its synergy with belcher) and maybe 1 charbelcher or 1 EtW (or would this only be worth it if you run multiple copies?)

Thanks alot for the help already!

[Vacrix]

I made a few mistakes that costed me some games, but there's only one way to get better with the deck. In total I had 6 turn 1 kills, so that was pretty fun. I really like the deck, and am def gonna play it more, to see what's underperforming.

6 Turn 1's out of 17 games is strangely low for PSI considering what you were playing against. Are you happy with your build?

@1maarten1
Stuff that comes out in PSI:
-4 Summoner's Pact
-2 Tendrils of Agony
-2 Manamorphose
-1 Slithermuse
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Odious Trow
-1 Cabal Ritual
-1 Land Grant
-1 Dryad Arbor
-13 Total
+4 Carpet of Flowers
+4 Xantid Swarm
+3 Duress
+2 Belcher

Thats the generic board. I've switched from Death Mark in my board. Against aggro I board in +2 Belcher, +2 Death Mark, -2 Manamorphose, -1 Eternal Witness, -1 Slithermuse, if I expect bears. The Belchers help you get a more consistent win because you are not trying to resolve a long spell chain. Rather, you just go for Belcher and then wait for mana to activate. Usually you can activate in a turn or two. You can't afford to wait to play WC's when you have hatebears to deal with. At least rituals and mana sources are still playable despite a hatebear like Teeg or Cannonist.

Duress comes in if you expect an opponent like Aggro Loam to mulligan for Chalice in Game 3. They can't do shit if you take that piece of hate. -2 Manamorphose, -1 Eternal Witness.

In general, board in Belchers if you ever expect to race hate, which is often the case in game 2. -2 Manamorphose, +2 Belcher in that case.

[1maarten1]

6 Turn 1's out of 17 games is strangely low for PSI considering what you were playing against. Are you happy with your build?

@1maarten1
Stuff that comes out in PSI:
-4 Summoner's Pact
-2 Tendrils of Agony
-2 Manamorphose
-1 Slithermuse
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Odious Trow
-1 Cabal Ritual
-1 Land Grant
-1 Dryad Arbor
-13 Total
+4 Carpet of Flowers
+4 Xantid Swarm
+3 Duress
+2 Belcher

Thats the generic board. I've switched from Death Mark in my board. Against aggro I board in +2 Belcher, +2 Death Mark, -2 Manamorphose, -1 Eternal Witness, -1 Slithermuse, if I expect bears. The Belchers help you get a more consistent win because you are not trying to resolve a long spell chain. Rather, you just go for Belcher and then wait for mana to activate. Usually you can activate in a turn or two. You can't afford to wait to play WC's when you have hatebears to deal with. At least rituals and mana sources are still playable despite a hatebear like Teeg or Cannonist.

Duress comes in if you expect an opponent like Aggro Loam to mulligan for Chalice in Game 3. They can't do shit if you take that piece of hate. -2 Manamorphose, -1 Eternal Witness.

In general, board in Belchers if you ever expect to race hate, which is often the case in game 2. -2 Manamorphose, +2 Belcher in that case.

This is very helpfull! Though what if your opponent goes turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity? I figured maybe 1 EtW in the board might help against that, or is leyline so underplayed thats not worth to waste slots on?

So your sb looks like:
4 xantid swarm
4 carpet of flowers
3 duress
2 goblin charbelcher
2 deathmark

And if you want to have an out vs leyline -2 deathmark, +1 duress +1 EtW? Or would 2 natures claim just be better?

~maarten

[Vacrix]

Leyline is horrible. People will never use it to prepare for Storm combo because they are really preparing for decks like TES, Belcher, and ANT which can all play around Leyline with EtW, with the exception of shitty ANT lists. Leyline might be great against SI, but more so against PSI than SITES which packs Burning Wish and EtW. Otherwise, I'd play Nature's Claim then in your board if you are expecting Permanent based hate of that sort like Ethersworn Cannonists, Thorn of Amythest, Chalice, CB, etc. Death Mark is usually safer because you more often run into bears than you run into non-bear perma-hate. EtW is more difficult to support if you don't have access to red. You might be able to IT + LED into it, or use Lotus Petals or Manamorphose but thats a stretch if you want to pursue that strategy on a consistent basis. I would just run x2 Nature's Claim in the board, but not because you fear Leyline, but because you expect non-bear hate. So I suggest that you figure out what people sideboard in your metagame and develop your post-board accordingly.

[marit]

6 Turn 1's out of 17 games is strangely low for PSI considering what you were playing against. Are you happy with your build?

I was more than happy with my build. I didn't mulligan as aggressively as I normally would because I figured I'd have time vs decks with no disruption, which is definitely the better call. Why mull to 6 when you've got 3-4 turns to topdeck 1/30+ mana sources or 1/20 business spells? Also, I could have turn 1'd zoo G2 but I chose to play around mindbreak trap instead, which admittedly was the wrong play, I should have just IGG looped. Also vs the G/B deck I got hit with disruption when I had potential turn 1 hands. Also against merfolk I got hit with FoW and Daze G1. Tournament settings aren't goldfishing sadly, there will be disruption which will not give you the fabled 60-70% turn 1 win. Also in the last 2 games vs merfolk I SB'd, which makes turn 1 less likely. The only card I question was Slithermuse, but he needs more testing.

[Iranon]

@1maarten1: SI draws a lot of cards, lacks filtering and usually relies on an open-ended path to a kill rather than a winning combination. This means any concession compromises speed and stability more than it does in other decks.

However: If you can't win around a Leyline and your opponent gambles on this, you are bending over and dropping your pants. They can mulligan to 1 for a 87% chance of seeing one. Win game 1, get turn-1 wins they can't answer otherwise in every single game... and you'll still lose the match 3 times out of 4. If their deck contains anything else of any relevance, the match percentage will likely be in the single digits.

A single EtW won't be terribly reliable, a build with several wishes can get around the problem. If you're truly worried about thins that prevent the final kill rather than going off in the first place, I'd recommend a build that can draw the entire deck and runs at least 1 wish.

[Vacrix]

I made a few mistakes that costed me some games, but there's only one way to get better with the deck. In total I had 6 turn 1 kills, so that was pretty fun. I really like the deck, and am def gonna play it more, to see what's underperforming.

Actually another way to get better is to stay for the whole tournament. Even if you start the night 0-3, keep playing so that you can get practice playing competitively. Goldfishing and saying that you are going to race bears is completely different once you are actually playing against someone. The same goes for the control matchup. You really need as much experience as possible to master the deck to your potential.

[kusumoto]

I've been playing LGSI lately. My current list...

4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Phyrexian Walker
3 Shield Sphere
4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Infernal Tutor
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Slithermuse
2 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Grim Tutor
2 Ill-Gotten Gains

SB
3 Nature's Claim
3 Deathmark
4 Unmask
4 Autumn's Viel
1 Elvish Spirit Guide

This seems like it has been working well for me. I really don't like having 8 tallmen, so I play 6. I have almost never had trouble casting Culling the Weak and tallmen are usually dead draws otherwise. Any thoughts on this and the list in general?

[Vacrix]

Interesting list. I haven't tried the Veil/Unmask config yet. How is it working out for you?

Take a look: PSI takes 3rd, losing to Countertop (a nasty looking list at that):
http://deckcheck.org/?x=8QRflGWV2M4iF31hlGRfiaiaN4N4vd

I like that he plays Thoughtsieze. It takes bears, unlike Duress. I'm definitely going to give it a try.



Also, Lotus Bloom intrigues me immensely. Imagine this post-board in PSI:
SB
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Carpet of Flowers
4 Empty the Warrens
3 Slot

Lotus Bloom allows us to explode. We can probably have enough business spells in the deck post-board to play 3 business spells post-board on one, huge turn 4. Pushing business through by sheer power of resources looks like its worth trying.

[DerFern]

Take a look: PSI takes 3rd, losing to Countertop (a nasty looking list at that):
http://deckcheck.org/?x=8QRflGWV2M4iF31hlGRfiaiaN4N4vd

I like that he plays Thoughtsieze. It takes bears, unlike Duress. I'm definitely going to give it a try.

Thanx :) more to be posted tomorrow...

[marit]

I've been playing LGSI lately. My current list...

4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Phyrexian Walker
3 Shield Sphere
4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Infernal Tutor
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Slithermuse
2 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Grim Tutor
2 Ill-Gotten Gains

SB
3 Nature's Claim
3 Deathmark
4 Unmask
4 Autumn's Viel
1 Elvish Spirit Guide

This seems like it has been working well for me. I really don't like having 8 tallmen, so I play 6. I have almost never had trouble casting Culling the Weak and tallmen are usually dead draws otherwise. Any thoughts on this and the list in general?

Your list is pretty solid, I have a few questions about it though. I'm not such a fan of the Elvish Spirit Guides, if you were to run spirit guides I'd recommend Simian, because then you can add 1-2 Empty the Warrens, which in addition to being great vs control, also gives you an out or Leyline of Sanctity or other such cards. How is Grim Tutor working you? 1BB is pretty expensive, what do you normally fetch with it? And why 2 Charbelcher? Charbelcher is the secondary win condition, the main win is tendrils. I use belcher if it just falls into my lap, or if there is a Meddling Mage naming tendrils, or some other hate that belcher can get through. Other than that though, looks solid, though I'm not so sure about only 6 tall men, but whatever works.

[DerFern]

And why 2 Charbelcher? Charbelcher is the secondary win condition, the main win is tendrils. I use belcher if it just falls into my lap, or if there is a Meddling Mage naming tendrils, or some other hate that belcher can get through.

Even though I play a very different list (see the link above) I disagree. Most of my wins have been on the back of Belcher, which is really huge. Anyway, those both lists play out really different so arguing about different win conditions might not be effective.

So, I played PSI last monday at our local tournament. Lately I have been playing DDFT most of the time, but our meta is really full of hardcore control decks, all packed either with the tempo package or Counterbalance. That´s why I chose PSI this time, just to be faster than they are. The list played out really great, but I would cut one more IT for something like another Chrome Mox or something like that. Most of the time IT has been a dead draw and I never wanted to see it in my D4s. 2 ToA, one IGG and 2 Belcher are my win conditions of choise, since this always gave me enough business to get the game.

[1maarten1]

How did you like that 1 IGG? And 4 manamorphose? I play 2 now, and I havent found the urge to play more then that, I might go -1 IT +1 IGG.

And yes @kusumoto
How does that Autumn's veil + Unmask package work for you atm?