[Deck] MonoU OmniTell

[Scott]

I'm not sure if Underground Seas are allowed in the thread, but this got 7th at yesterday's SCG. 4 Duresses in the main.

// Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
3 Cunning Wish
2 Pact of Negation
1 Flusterstorm
1 Impulse

// Sorceries
4 Duress
4 Ponder
4 Show and Tell
3 Preordain
1 Enter the Infinite

// Enchantments
4 Omniscience
1 Dream Halls

// Creatures
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

// Lands
5 Island
3 City of Traitors
3 Underground Sea
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Defense Grid
SB: 2 Massacre
SB: 1 Eladamri's Call
SB: 1 Firemind's Foresight
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Intuition
SB: 1 Noxious Revival
SB: 1 Release the Ants
SB: 1 Rushing River
SB: 1 Sapphire Charm
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Trickbind
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge

[KobeBryan]

I'm not sure if Underground Seas are allowed in the thread, but this got 7th at yesterday's SCG. 4 Duresses in the main.

// Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
3 Cunning Wish
2 Pact of Negation
1 Flusterstorm
1 Impulse

// Sorceries
4 Duress
4 Ponder
4 Show and Tell
3 Preordain
1 Enter the Infinite

// Enchantments
4 Omniscience
1 Dream Halls

// Creatures
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

// Lands
5 Island
3 City of Traitors
3 Underground Sea
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Defense Grid
SB: 2 Massacre
SB: 1 Eladamri's Call
SB: 1 Firemind's Foresight
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Intuition
SB: 1 Noxious Revival
SB: 1 Release the Ants
SB: 1 Rushing River
SB: 1 Sapphire Charm
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Trickbind
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge

I'm not sure if duress is the best card because you want to be able to get their hate bears.

I agree with the 2 defense grid if you run the 4 duresses though.

[ankharlyn]

What do you guys think about Leyline of Anticipation in this deck (the DTT/Treasure Cruise lists that go straight for Emrakul rather than Release the Ants etc)? I was playing it in Forge against the AI and noticed that one of the main drawbacks is that you're limited to sorcery speed for a lot of things.

Being able to flash in S&T -> Omniscience or Emrakul in response to things seems like it might be quite nice (also, it helps with the legendary-rule-abusing infinite combo off of Omniscience and 2+ Emrakul).

Of course it's a dead draw and might be crap a lot of the time outside of the opening hand, but it does interact with a lot of cards in the combo fairly well.

[Valtrix]

If you want that effect, Quicken is definitely far better in my opinion.

[KobeBryan]

4 Omniscience

1 Enter the Infinite
4 Duress
1 Personal Tutor
4 Show and Tell
4 Preordain
4 Ponder

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
1 Intuition
2 Dig Through Time
2 Spell Pierce

3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn


4 Island
2 Ancient Tomb
3 Flooded Strand


2 Lotus Petal
2 Crystal Vein
1 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp


SB: 2 Defense Grid
SB: 2 Misdirection
SB: 1 Trickbind
SB: 1 Wipe Away
SB: 1 Noxious Revival
SB: 1 Rushing River
SB: 1 Release the Ants
SB: 1 Dig Through Time
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Massacre
SB: 1 Slaughter Pact
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction

I've been having lots of fun with this deck. I chose to go with Crystal Vein, mainly because I'm broke. But with duress in the deck, it slows down the game. I may change that up with another fetch or with another underground sea and take out one of the veins.

I may also take out the two spell pierces since I'm running a full set of duresses. The spell pierces can change to probes to just thin the deck up a bit.

[KobeBryan]

What do you guys think about Leyline of Anticipation in this deck (the DTT/Treasure Cruise lists that go straight for Emrakul rather than Release the Ants etc)? I was playing it in Forge against the AI and noticed that one of the main drawbacks is that you're limited to sorcery speed for a lot of things.

Being able to flash in S&T -> Omniscience or Emrakul in response to things seems like it might be quite nice (also, it helps with the legendary-rule-abusing infinite combo off of Omniscience and 2+ Emrakul).

Of course it's a dead draw and might be crap a lot of the time outside of the opening hand, but it does interact with a lot of cards in the combo fairly well.

Pointless of suggesting a card if you don't think of what to take out.

[ankharlyn]

Pointless of suggesting a card if you don't think of what to take out.

I was thinking of -1 Personal Tutor and maybe -1 of something else un-essential (cantrip maybe) for +2 Leylines.

That said I think maybe it's a win more type card except for cases where you'd want to do an instant speed Personal Tutor or S&T. I just figured I'd mention it since it has an interesting synergy with the deck and Omniscience (allows you to combo out on the enemy turn, for instance).

Quicken seems good for making PT or S&T go off at instant speed, but you don't get as much effect (e.g., being able to play anything instant speed, including your Petals and stuff).

[KobeBryan]

I was thinking of -1 Personal Tutor and maybe -1 of something else un-essential (cantrip maybe) for +2 Leylines.

That said I think maybe it's a win more type card except for cases where you'd want to do an instant speed Personal Tutor or S&T. I just figured I'd mention it since it has an interesting synergy with the deck and Omniscience (allows you to combo out on the enemy turn, for instance).

Quicken seems good for making PT or S&T go off at instant speed, but you don't get as much effect (e.g., being able to play anything instant speed, including your Petals and stuff).

Personal tutor has been pretty useful with Probe (though I'm not using it in this build).

The PT gets me my 5th show and tell and gets me the ETI if I need to go that route (though having 3 emmy's usually don't have this problem), but occassionally, you will see ensnaring bridge.

[ankharlyn]

Personal tutor has been pretty useful with Probe (though I'm not using it in this build).

The PT gets me my 5th show and tell and gets me the ETI if I need to go that route (though having 3 emmy's usually don't have this problem), but occassionally, you will see ensnaring bridge.

PT is great, but I think 3 is fine in that list, often you'll see 2 and the second will be dead weight. There's probably something else that could be done. I'm just throwing out ideas because I noticed the interaction and thought it would be neat to discuss.

[Valtrix]

How long do you guys tend to hold onto Gitaxian probes? On one hand I like to save it as long as possible to get as much information from my opponent as possible. On the other hand, I also like to know exactly what will replace the probe so that I can sculpt the rest of my hand accordingly with cantrips. I'm not entirely sure what's most important, but usually I'm somewhere in between firing them off right away and waiting until closer to my combo turn.

[KobeBryan]

How long do you guys tend to hold onto Gitaxian probes? On one hand I like to save it as long as possible to get as much information from my opponent as possible. On the other hand, I also like to know exactly what will replace the probe so that I can sculpt the rest of my hand accordingly with cantrips. I'm not entirely sure what's most important, but usually I'm somewhere in between firing them off right away and waiting until closer to my combo turn.

Turn 1 i fire it off asap

Then i hold on to it to see if I need it for anything else, like a ponder that I need the 2nd card for. My personal tutor, that I need when its on top.

I only run 3 so I won't lose too much life and won't run into it too much.

[KobeBryan]

Two matchup questions

1. Miracles - What do you do when they float a counterbalance with 3 on top?

2. Mirror - Should we always wait until the opponent show and tells so we can go off with digs, cunnings, trickbind, flusters

[Curtis Dittmar]

Two matchup questions

1. Miracles - What do you do when they float a counterbalance with 3 on top?

2. Mirror - Should we always wait until the opponent show and tells so we can go off with digs, cunnings, trickbind, flusters

I had the Miracles situation happen at my LGS, I played a soul land into Dream Halls. My opponent was like well..huh.

Dreams Halls is also good in the mirror.

[Jables237]

Two matchup questions

1. Miracles - What do you do when they float a counterbalance with 3 on top?




2. Mirror - Should we always wait until the opponent show and tells so we can go off with digs, cunnings, trickbind, flusters

1. Boseiju or Dream halls

2. I usually wait and just sculpt the best hand I can. Flusterstorm is usually king here.

[asjohnson]

I'm not sure if duress is the best card because you want to be able to get their hate bears.

I agree with the 2 defense grid if you run the 4 duresses though.

That is my list (I just copied the 9th place GP deck generally, but added duress) and I am still up in the air on duress or thoughtseize. I think inquisition is out for sure, since it misses force. Initially I had planned thoughtseize, but the 2 life had me worried, so I just went for duress. It has been incredible a lot of the time, though I admit it hurts the non-blue match ups. The massacre and deluge in the board are a concession to the fact that I have 7 largely dead cards (4 duress, 2 pact and 1 flusterstorm) vs maverick/d&t/that jazz. Game 1 the only real seize target is thalia, which led to duress. Issue being that I don't have enough spots in the board to bring stuff in for duress. I am thinking I will give seize a shot and just take a bit of a hit vs Delvers/burn (grabbing vortex/moon/whatever is also nice).

[downtoonelife]

Yesterday was the Year End Legacy Tourney here in Manila. Unfortunately only 30 players showed because there was a GPT Manila also that day. I only have two legacy deck - UB Reanimator and UB OmniTell. I decided to play UB OmniTell as last year I played UB OmniTell and I was the champion then. My motivation in playing was after Shenhar made a back to back World Champ win - I was thinking I'll try again this year end's tourney to be the champ again. Unfortunately this what happened:

The list:

4 Show and Tell
4 Omniscience
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Enter the Infinite
3 Dig Through Time
3 Cunning Wish
1 Intuition
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Preordain
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Spell Pierce
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
3 City of Traitors
2 Underground Sea
6 Island
Sb:
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Release the Ants
1 Trickbind
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Echoing Truth
1 Noxious Revival
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Boseiju, Who Shelter's All
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Defense Grid
2 Swan Song
2 Massacre

Round 1 Vs Miracles 2-1
Round 2 Vs ANT 2-0
Round 3 Vs Reanimator 0-2
Round 4 Vs Jeskai Young Blade 2-0

Round 5 Vs Jeskai Young Blade 2-0
This is my win and in match (I was 9th place after 4 rounds).
G1: I was down to 10 life when I decided to just cast Show and Tell into Emrakul instead of waiting for Omniscience. It resolves and he drop TNN. His board after that was 2 Elemental tokens, 1 TNN, 1 Young Pyromancer, 2 lands. He bolts me end of my turn and add another token. I'm down to 7. On his turn he attacks 3 Tokens, 1 TNN, 1 Young Pyromancer - I blocked the Pyromancer with my Emrakul. I was down to 1 life. Then he cast another Young Pyromancer = 7 permanent on his board. On my turn I cast Cunning Wish - Slaughter Pact. Killed his Young Pyromancer leaving him with 6 permanents. Annihilated all his permanents him down to 4. On his turn he did not draw a Karakas (I know he has one) or maybe a wasteland if he has. I had 2 island and an Underground Sea to pay for the Pact. I won.
G2: We had a counter war me trying to resolve Defense Grid but i manage to resolve it. He casted his Stoneforge - Batterskull with 1 mana open. I cast Show and Tell - Omniscience - Ponder (prayed to get a win con) I saw Enter the Infinite, Cunning Wish and island. Draw ETI and win from there.
Quarterfinals Vs TES 2-0
G1: He try to combo off turn 3 but I had a FoW in hand for his Burning Wish. He has no cards in hand after that then I eventually sculpt my hand for the combo.
G2: I kept a 1 land with a FoW and Spell Pierce. I dig for more counter's first then dig for the combo after I countered his relevant spell. Won the game via Show and Tell - Omniscience - Intuition > 2 Emrakul, 1 Enter the Infinite. He give me Emrakul and won after 2 attacks.
Semifinals Vs Reanimator (same guy Round 3) 2-0
G1: I was able to plan my moves properly after seeing his hand from Gitaxian Probe. I eventually resolve Show and Tell - Omniscience - Emrakul. He had Tidespout, Animate Dead (Griselbrand in the GY) but no 1 cc spell that he can cast to bounce a permanent if he decide to drop Tidespout. He choose Animate dead - Griselbrand - he draw 7 after I cast Emrakul and tried to FoW it. Remind him that it can't be countered and he concedes.
G2: He entomb for Iona turn 1. I Surgical Extraction it on my first turn. He eventually reanimated a Griselbrand and his life was down to 6 with no cards in hand. I was holding an Omniscience, Cunning Wish, City of Traitors, Preordain. I cast Preordain and prayed haha to draw a Show and Tell. First card - City of Traitors, Second card - Show and Tell Horayyyy. Played City of Traitors in my hand. Cast Show and Tell - Omniscience - Cunning Wish - Eladamri's call - Emrakul. He concedes.
Finals Vs Reanimator 1-2
G1: 3rd turn Iona naming Blue, I concede.
G2: I had a Grafdigger's cage in hand but no FoW. I gitaxian probe - I saw a 1 FoW, 1 Daze, 1 Entomb, 1 Petal, 1 Animate Dead, 2 Fetch - I wish to draw a FoW from Gitaxian Probe but I drew Misdirection which still is good. I cast Grafdigger's Cage turn 1 and it resolve after I misdirection his FoW. It went long for a several turn while I sculpt my hand. I gitaxian probe and saw Griselbrand, Iona, Animate Dead, FoW and other blue cards. I won via Show & Tell - Omniscience (He drop Griselbrand) - Emrakul, then concedes. He said I caught him off guard he did not side-in his Abrupt Decay only Echoing Truth.
G3: I drop a turn 1 Cage again and he let it resolve. Then eventually got destroyed by Abrupt Decay. The game went long until he eventually resolve an Iona for Blue. I was hoping to draw Slaughter pact but it never showed.

Ended 2nd place this Year. My Teammate was the Champ.

Props to Dig Through Time, Emrakul and a little prayer won me games.

[Lans89]

This deck is awesome now with DTT. Testing is going great! I also like the black splash for 4 Duress and sideboard Toxic Deluge & 2 Massacre. It makes the combo matchups better and the sweepers are awesome vs BBD.deck and such. The splash is worth it in a meta with many REB's and no Wasteland!

However, I notice that I don't need/use Trickbind that much. When do you guys still use it? In the past we took care of Oblivion RIng, but cards like that don't see play anymore! Please give some common examples in the current meta! I only once used it on a Snapcaster Mage trigger.

[Bobmans]

This deck is awesome now with DTT. Testing is going great! I also like the black splash for 4 Duress and sideboard Toxic Deluge & 2 Massacre. It makes the combo matchups better and the sweepers are awesome vs BBD.deck and such. The splash is worth it in a meta with many REB's and no Wasteland!

However, I notice that I don't need/use Trickbind that much. When do you guys still use it? In the past we took care of Oblivion RIng, but cards like that don't see play anymore! Please give some common examples in the current meta! I only once used it on a Snapcaster Mage trigger.

I can really see the appeal for a black splash running sweepers against DnT. That matchup is a hell.
Other then that i feel that Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm do the same job as Duress would with the difference that Duress is proactive, but it doesnt protect you vs opposing discard or other random shit.
Trickbind is there currently and mostly for Elves ResSage and an occasional DnT Flickerwisp/Mangara/Vial and some random Ashen Rider played by reanimator/dredge. Also Trickbind on a Griselbrand vs Reanimator or SneakShow is golden. SneakShow is an akward MU anyway.

[Koby]

Wow this deck is nuts. Played in a small 8 man locally (great test of skill, I'm sure!) and went undefeated vs iPainter, Miracles, and UWR Stoneblade. I didn't find a Release the Ants, so instead went with Firemind's Foresight kill (FF -> CWish, Twincast, Flusterstorm -> CWish + Twincast -> False Cure + Beacon of Immortality). It eats up a bit more SB space, but I also never brought in more than 3 cards (Defense Grid, Boseiju, Surgical, Noxious Revival, or Grafdigger's Cage).

Cantrips + DTT is nuts.
Boseiju is doing some god's work, and casting DTT with it is even more stupid. I probably want to run 2 Boseiju in the next event.

[Lans89]

I can really see the appeal for a black splash running sweepers against DnT. That matchup is a hell.
Other then that i feel that Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm do the same job as Duress would with the difference that Duress is proactive, but it doesnt protect you vs opposing discard or other random shit.
Trickbind is there currently and mostly for Elves ResSage and an occasional DnT Flickerwisp/Mangara/Vial and some random Ashen Rider played by reanimator/dredge. Also Trickbind on a Griselbrand vs Reanimator or SneakShow is golden. SneakShow is an akward MU anyway.

Yeah I forgot I used Trickbind on Grisel before, but it won with a second draw 7 ^^ Easy to pay some life when playing vs Omnitell. You are absolutely right about D&T, how could I forget! Most other options are rare situations, but it's worth a slot. Besides that, it is another target for a Firemind's Foresight setup.

And the black splash should mean more protection, which might be usefull in the current meta (blasts main! postboard often 4! together with all the rest). For example, you can play 20 lands and cut the probes for discard. This way you still play the same amount of counters. The mono blue lists are awesome and put up a lot of results lately. I imagine there are not that much Omnitell players, so these results say something about the power of this deck. But also a black splash list top 8'd one of the latest SCG's. I would say it's safe in the current meta. But let's compare two lists I made for testing::

Maindeck
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

1 Dream Halls
4 Omniscience
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
3 Dig Through Time
1 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Impulse
2 Pact of Negation

1 Enter the Infinite
4 Ponder
3 Preordain
4 Show and Tell
4 Duress

1 Boseiju Who Shelters All
5 Island
3 Underground Sea
3 City of Traitors
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta

Sideboard
2 Defense Grid
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Intuition
1 Flusterstorm
1 Trickbind
1 Noxious Revival
1 Release the Ants
1 Rushing River
1 Sapphire Charm
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Massacre


And

Maindeck
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

1 Dream Halls
4 Omniscience
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
3 Dig Through Time
2 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Impulse
2 Pact of Negation

1 Enter the Infinite
3 Gitaxian probe
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Show and Tell

1 Boseiju Who Shelters All
8 Island
3 City of Traitors
1 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta

Sideboard
1 Boseiju Who Shelters All
3 Defense Grid
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Intuition
1 Pact of Negation
1 Trickbind
1 Noxious Revival
1 Release the Ants
1 Rushing River
1 Sapphire Charm
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Surgical Extraction

What do you people think about these lists?

@Koby: Yeah DTT is the most fun card to resolve now! Boseiju is nice, but I'm not sure if I want to play 2. Maybe a second in the side when playing the mono blue version =)!