Insomnia (Tortured Existence/Oriss Lock)

[Silvertongue]

Insomnia: Tortured Existence due to Recurring Nightmares

Introduction

The concept for Insomnia, coincidentally, began during one of my sleepless nights as I was sorting old cards and saw Tortured Existence. I thought that using Tortured Existence would allow a greater use of the dredge mechanic by allowing non-dredge creatures to be accessed from the GY. Eternal Witness then allows you to pick up any other card that was previously dredged. A toolbox of some sort began to take shape.

Naturally, the disruption in this deck comes in the form of creatures since they can be reused over and over again. However, in its earlier forms. there was an issue of not being able to send your own creatures from the battlefield to the GY and thus Recurring Nightmare makes its entrance in the deck. Following Recurring Nightmare was Wurmcoil Engine given their highly synergistic relationship with each other. However, there was still more tricks that can be utilized using the pieces which are already in place.

Since dredge can ensure a creature draw every turn which can be transformed into any creature card currently in your GY. This creates a loop of Oriss discards powering his grandeur ability, effectively locking down your opponent during his/her turn therefore limiting the actions which they can take.

The key of course to this deck is synergy. Taking mechanics/triggers/abilities even drawbacks and using them to your advantage. Thus without further ado, may I present Insomnia

The Deck V.3


//Lands
[Fetches]
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs

[Mana Producers]
2 Savannah
2 Scrubland
2 Bayou
2 Plains
1 Swamp

[Tech]
1 Wasteland
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Horizon Canopy

//Creatures
[Removal and Tech]
2 Shriekmaw
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Harmonic Sliver
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Mother of Runes

[Dredge]
3 Golgari Brownscale
3 Golgari Grave-Troll

[Combo]
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Eternal Witness
3 Oriss, Samite Guardian
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

[Finishers]
2 Wurmcoil Engine

//Enchantments
[Recursion]
4 Recurring Nightmare
4 Tortured Existence

//Sorceries
[Dredge]
3 Life from the Loam

//Sideboard
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Faerie Macabre
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Pithing Needles


Card Explanations

Tortured Existence -> What separates tortured existence from other enchantment based recursion such as Oath of Ghouls and Oversold Cemetery is that you have a choice on when you use its ability. This allows you to strategically time your recursion particularly in response to GY hate.

Recurring Nightmare-> Again it is the versatility of this card which pushes it over the top of other re-animators. The drawback is actually a good thing in this deck since it allows you to send creatures in your battlefield back to the graveyard allowing you to dig them up again. The fact that it returns to your hand as part of the cost is amazing, making it invulnerable to almost any piece of removal since you'll always have priority after it comes into play.

Oriss, Samite Gaurdian -> It gives the deck a reusable kicked Orim's Chant which can be interrupted by a few cards in the current meta. It greatly limits the threats that your opponents can use against you which allows you to focus on taking the game with little fear. The frustration which it generates against temperamental opponents gives you an advantage against them. Just remember to Grandeur before their main phase and you'll be fine.

Golgari Brownscale -> This is my favorite discard for Tortured Existence since it lets you gain 2 life every time you discard it. It's also perfect for the Oriss Cycle since it only dredges 2 cards, giving you more time to win before you are decked out.

Golgari Grave-Troll -> A massive beater as well as a heavy dredger, dredge him up when your looking for answers or combo pieces. Use with utmost caution.

Life From the Loam/Knight of the Reliquary-> Life of the loam provides decent dredge and extremely useful ability which forced the inclusion of Knight of the Reliquary. These cards allowed the inclusion of tech lands such as Wasteland (Land Control), Horizon Canopy (Card Draw) and Bojuka Bog (GY Hate). KotR also provides you with another able body to beatdown your opponent.

[BShriekmaw[/B] -> It's one of the cheapest creature based creature removal with its evoke which sends it straight to the GY allowing easy recursion. It's true that not being able to target black and artifact creatures is a huge drawback but the deck provides you the means to play around this.

Qasali Pridemage -> Originally, this was Harmonic Sliver, but the card is just too good and too versatile not to include. It provides a beater as well as instant speed removal and it has a built in send to graveyard ability to boot. Exalted is the cherry on top of the cake.

Harmonic Sliver -> Serves the same purpose as the Pridemage, a back-up in case of running against stifles, pithing needles and the like.

Eternal Witness -> Makes dredging less risky as it allows you to pick-up the non-creature stuff you sent into the GY. It is the insurance policy which allows this deck to move forward in tight situations that dredge might put you in.

Mother of Runes-> Can block Goyfs all day. check. Protects my creatures. check. Allows my beater to get past colored blockers. Check.

Wurmcoil Engine-> It's big, it's tough to get rid off and it combos well with Recurring Nightmare. What's not to love?

Fauna Shaman-> A tool box without the means to search for the right tool is pretty much useless. That's why fauna shaman is an integral part of the deck with dredge providing you creatures to discard. It's a throwback to the classic Recurring Nightmare/Survival of the Fittest combo. It's not as fast, it's not as stable but it's the best legal version.

Squee, Goblin Nabob -> Allows you to abuse tortured existence when dredging is not such a good idea.


Sideboard

Gatekeeper of Malakir -> A creature which provides the all important non-targetting creature removal which goes throw indestructible.

Leyline of Sanctity -> Protects you from burn and GY hate. Both of which can screw up your plans.

Vexing Shusher -> Allows you to safely play around against interrupt heavy decks.

Faerie Macabre -> Graveyard Hate which can be reused over and over again.

Basic Strategy

The basic strategy is to get the tortured existence/dredge engine up and running as soon as possible. Discard your dredge creatures to tortured existence to pick up what you need. In the early stages of the game, the massive dredge of Golgari Grave-Troll is more useful in filling your graveyard. Life from the loam allows you to continue building your mana base while dredging. Dredging a Life from the loam every three turns should be enough to keep pace. When you have a tortured existence in play, you can dredge freely as long as you have mana to fish out an eternal witness should your opponent attempt to exile it from your GY.

Once the engine is up and running, you can continuously provide answers for permanent threats which your opponents might play. From there, you can proceed on getting a Wurmcoil Engine in play (You are at advantage) or setting up an Ossis lock(Your opponents have the advantage). At this stage of the game, it is important to switch from dredging Golgari Grave-Troll to dredging Golgari Brownscale, which provides you life gain or Life from the loam, which allows you to improve your mana base or replay your disruption lands.

Use Mother of Runes to protect your creatures from being exiled, particularly, Oriss and Eternal Witness. However, the Oriss lock is not the be all, end all aspect of the deck. You can, of course, beatdown with your fatties namely: Wurmcoil Engine, Knight of the Reliquary, Golgari Grave-Troll while using your removal to clear their path.


*Coming Soon: Advanced Strategies, Match-ups and Cards to Consider*

[Silvertongue]

Changelog:

v1.1 Fixed Recurring Nightmare error (thanks alderon666)
v2.0 SB: -3 Vexing Shusher -1 Gatekeeper of Malakir +4 Pithing Needle
v3.0 MD: -3 Bone Shredder -1 Qasalipridemage +1 Gatekeeper of Malakir +2 Shriekmaw +1 Harmonic Sliver

[alderon666]

Recurring Nightmare
Sacrifice a creature, Return Recurring Nightmare to its owner's hand: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

If you're so into the combo thing, you should just run 1-of Squee and a set of Fauna Shaman. That allow you to draw for the turn when locking out your opponent and let's you tutor for the second Oriss.

I simply fail to see how you're locking anybody out if the Recurring Nightmare isn't what you thought it was. Now, StP in response to Grandeur is game over... is that right?

[Silvertongue]

@Recurring Nightmare:Wow, i can't believe I missed that. Thanks a lot. I'll note it.

@Combo: What sets this apart from that combo is that every facet (Dredge,Discard,Recursion) is used effectively. Dredge allows you to dig up answers, discard allows you to put back dredge creatures back into the GY. Recursion, of course, is the meat of it all, allowing you to deal with multiple threats while the engine is functioning.

@StP: Mother of Runes is still there to protect Oriss though.

[kiblast]

I can't really understand why would you play Oriss as an hardlock instead of classic scepter chant hardlock, if your goal is to don't let your opponent play. Also, 2 KOTR are not enough to justify ''tech'' lands singletons. Finally, the white Leyline doesn't really protect you from the 2 most played Grave hate cards, Relic of Progenitus and Extirpate. Even Dredge players don't play the white Leyline SB.

[Silvertongue]

Thanks for your comments they are well noted. A few more points though.

Well, unlike scepter, this isn't really as dependent on the combo. It can pretty much hold it's own without it but since the engine is already there then the 3 card slots taken by Oriss, is worth the chance to lock down your opponent. I've asked myself if the lock is worth the three slots or do I put something else and I realized, even if I don't lock my opponent down, at least I can delay him until he gets rid of Oriss, all the while beating him down.

Good call on Relic though, I was thinking maybe Pithing Needles instead of Shushers.

Leyline is there since I'm already playing white and it does stop a lot of things, such as a number of Storm Finishers, Edict, Discard, Burn, a bunch of GY hate, etc.

Again, thank you for the comments.

edit: Extirpate really does screw me over.

[ebbitten]

If you're looking for a creature to discard over and over again I would think Squee, Goblin Nabob would have some merit.

[(nameless one)]

How far can you exactly go with with this Oriss lock? Why not straight abuse Tortured Existence? There's this deck called Nightmare Effect that does it. It also surprisingly top8ed on the MTGSalvation Legacy tourney.

Also, I think Shriekmaw is better than Boneshredder unless you are playing Aluren.dec.

[Silvertongue]

Well, at the heart of the deck is really tortured existence + dredge abuse and the oriss lock just gives it an added dimension for 3 slots. I find it that in game 2 opponents are usually too concerned with the Oriss lock that they forget that the deck has other threats.

As for the Shriekmaw, it is in. I've just finished another round of playtesting and it is indeed superior. thank you very much for your comment.