Tainted Pact Control (UBx)
"I don't have a chance vs this homebrew tier3 deck XD" -Hodor, infect player.
1. Introduction
This is a deck that I created some years ago and that has become my pet deck. The basic concept is pretty simple: it's a blue/black control deck with counterspells, removals, sweepers, discard spells and some creatures and planeswalkers as winconditions.
The particularity is that every card (except Tainted Pact) is played in single copy, just like commander decks. I know it sounds bad, but there is a lot of redundancy of effects between cards with different names (for example, take tombstalker, gurmag angler and tasigur, the golden fang... similar cards/different names), so it's not a huge problem. Why I made this choice? Because I wanted to make Tainted Pact as powerful as possible. With every card in 1x, Tainted Pact became at worst something close to an Impulse that let you see 10 cards. At best it's similar to an instant speed Demonic Tutor.
Still, I don't think that's worth it to 100% to play every card in 1x, but what I know for sure is that it's a really fun deck to play and that Tainted Pact is a really unique and skill testing card.
On cockatrice I had pretty decent results. Last year I kept track of 2 months of gameplay (more than 100 games) and my win percentage was about 65%.
2. The Aim
The strategy of this deck is similar to draw-go decks. You keep your mana open to cast some instants to disrupt opponent's game plan or to cast a Tainted Pact at the end of turn. When the board state is stable, it's the time to find a win-condition and try to win the game. I've tried many win-conditions (empty the pits, tezzeret, agent of bolas, dark depths combo) and I still don't know what's the best. At the moment I'm playing 2 big delve beaters (tombstalker and gurmag angler), Ob nixilis of the black oath, Ob nixilis reignited (and some other utility creatures). Probably I should put in a Jace, the mind sculptor, but in this deck I prefer to try cool things over cards that I've casted too many times.
3. The structure of the list
5 Removals
2 Sweepers
5 Discard spells
6 Counterspells
4 Cantrips
4 Tainted Pact
4 Utility creatures
2 Big Delve Beaters
2 Planeswalkers
3 Artifacts
23 Lands
4. The actual mess err...complete list and the sideboard
1 Spell Pierce
1 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Miscalculation
1 Counterspell
1 Negate
1 Dimir Charm
1 Dismember
1 Innocent Blood
1 Smother
1 Malicious Affliction
1 Damnation
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Baleful Strix
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Tombstalker
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Preordain
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Tainted Pact
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Misty Rainforest
1 River of Tears
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Underground River
1 Island
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Scrubland
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Underground Sea
1 Flooded Strand
1 Mishra's Factory
SB: 1 [ONS:127] Blackmail
SB: 1 [RAV:82] Darkblast
SB: 1 [ICE:112] Zur's Weirding
SB: 1 [LEA:53] Control Magic
SB: 1 [ICE:325] Zuran Orb
SB: 1 [ZEN:57] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 [NPH:74] Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 [ZEN:109] Ravenous Trap
SB: 1 [DGM:88] Notion Thief
SB: 1 [NMS:58] Massacre
SB: 1 [FRF:87] Tasigur, the Golden Fang
SB: 1 [INV:264] Recoil
SB: 1 [7ED:133] Engineered Plague
SB: 1 Force of Will
SB: 1 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Last edited by frafen; 10-16-2015 at 08:40 AM. Reason: Grammar, sideboard update.
Really cool idea. When you play Pact, how often do you whiff by hitting two other Pacts?
Man, I love Tainted Pact, one of the great build-around-me cards. This kind of deck is a prime example of why Legacy is the best format. For those interested in optimizing the deck, it seems like Force of Will should be included, especially for post-board situations where you bring in more blue cards, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor is too good to eschew. Cool points aside, at least put him in the sideboard. I think Go for the Throat is better than Smother, so that's a swap you could explore. I would be concerned about exiling my win conditions, but fortunately you have a few extras in your sideboard. One thing that's nice is that this deck will continue to improve over time as more functional reprints are released and as new lands are created. Have you run this deck in any real tournaments?
Thanks. It doesn't happen often. Apart from desperate situations, like looking for a specific card that you require immediately while having yet 3 pacts in the deck (it's the worst case scenario -probability of failure=50%- I don't remember the last time this happened) I would say that's a pretty safe card if played correctly. It's very important to understand what cards you need before casting the pact. The thought process is almost opposite to the classic cantrips. With cantrips you see the cards and than you choose what you need more. With pact you choose mentally what you need and than you see the cards. Also, I realized that sometimes it's reasonable to cast pact to find another pact just to make it more safe. In the past people played pact even in decks full of 4 ofs (Salvagers Combo).Originally Posted by jrsthethird
I agree, fow and Jace should be in there. I played also with Go for the throat, I think it's really close to Smother. Probably here it's better than Malicious Affliction (the BB in the cost is akward, and I feel that the morbid upside isn't relevant often enough because I play too few creatures). I would like to try this deck in a real turnament but in the LGS in my area there are only modern/standard/commander events. So I get to play only with some friends and online on Cockatrice and Xmage.
Last edited by frafen; 10-12-2015 at 04:56 AM.
I've played some matches on Xmage with nice results. I've won against BUG delver (2-1), RUG delver (2-0), RUG lands (1-0), Punishing Loam (2-1, he was playing chalice, loam, p-fire, liliana, knights of the reliquary), Elves (2-0 and 1-1 -last game opponent finished his time, I don't know who would have won). I also beat a couple of brews (a mono G chalice deck, similar to sylvan plug and a GW hybrid between D&T and maverick). I lost to Burn (0-2), and to Turbo Eldrazi (1-2, technically I won because opp finished his time, but he as going to win).
Yesterday I also had occasion to play against real opponents, I've met a guy that was playing Tin Fins (I won 1-0), and another one that was playing RUG delver (I won 2 unsided games out of 3). Those games against RUG delver were really close and fun. I also had a spectator who was thrilled to see the deck in action even if he had a hard time figuring out what I was doing.
I actually love this idea. My first question, though, is would it be worth the risk to run 4 Brainstorm? It obviously changes how you Pact, and you might have to stop and take the a Brainstorm instead of continuing to dig. On the other hand, Brainstorm is great for consistency and seems like it might be a big help here.
As for other cantrips, Portent might be good enough.
My available duals make me lean towards UBg, which lets you run Pernicious Deed, Sylvan Library, Green Sun's Zenith, Deathrite Shaman, Tarmogoyf, and Scavenging Ooze. Vraska the Unseen might be better than Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, and both Garruk Relentless and Garruk, Primal Hunter might be worth considering.
InfoNinjas
Some time ago I've tried a 4 brainstorm version, but after some testing I was not satisfied so I went back to the previous version. Actually when I tried the 4 brainstorms the deck was a bit different (with more "silver bullets" and with dark depths as a combo finisher). So with the current configuration of the deck (more redundant and focused only on the control gameplan) playing 4 brainstorms could be the right choice.
In paper I'm playing Portent and I think that it's decent. Online I can't because it's not avaliable on Xmage.
I never tried a UBg version but I think that it could be pretty good, especially for the improvement of the removals. With the UB version I have some difficulty dealing with non-creature permanents like counterbalance and planeswalkers.
EDIT: I've played a bit on Xmage with 4 brainstorms and 4 pacts (I also moved Tasigur maindeck), and holy crap, I won 6 matches in a row. I won 6-1 against Goblin Stompy (chalice, moggcatcher, moon effects), 1-0 against one guy that quitted after g1 (I don't even remember what he was playing), Nic Fit (2-0, he was playing BG splashing red for p-fire and blue for jace) and UG infect (2-0, at the end of g2 he says "I don't have a chance vs this homebrew tier3 deck xd"
Last edited by frafen; 10-16-2015 at 09:37 AM.
Holy necro, Batman!
This is list I've been running lately. Due to very limited opportunities to test run it outside kitchen table I'd like to share it here:
// Deck: Tainted America (60)
1 Bayou
1 Breeding Pool
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Overgrown Tomb
7 Fetches
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Swamp
1 Treetop Village
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
// Creatures
1 Baleful Strix
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Tombstalker
1 Trinket Mage
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
// Instants
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Disfigure
1 Dismember
1 Force of Will
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Stifle
4 Tainted Pact
// Sorceries
1 Duress
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Painful Truths
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge
// Enchantments
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Sylvan Library
// Artifacts
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
// Planeswalkers
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil
// Sideboard
SB: 1 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless
SB: 1 Go for the Throat
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Hydroblast
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Life from the Loam
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Naturalize
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
How does it look? What would you change? How should I prepare to fight top tier decks?
I'd love to include Loam to main deck. It should work with all fetches, manlands and Wasteland.
Zenith package would propably be good with Shaman and Leovold, mayby Scooze and Hierarch aswell, but what to cut?
And last, is BUG right color combination to toy around? At least it's blast to play with and opponents seems to get confused all the time!
Looks beautiful, really. Should be crazily fun to play. You may play a few cards in more than one copy, especially in the card selection section. Having a lot of options make it stronger than in any other decks, and having for instance 2 brainstorm and/or two sylvan library may be fine pact-wise. There is numbers between 1 and 4 :)
What about gifts ungiven? it seems to be the ideal deck for it. Mirri's guile also maybe?
Also, have you thought about misthollow griffin and eternal scourge?
My initial thoughts were about Laboratory Maniac or Shelldock Isle as things to try.
Numbers are complicated. Most likely deck should run more Brainstorm, full set even. Or 2/2 split with Ponder. Removal suite should contain more Decay. But I'm about to run this list on Nationals soon and feel very uncomftable changing numbers at least for now. Have done limited testing with this list and changing major part of deck would null my experience with it.
Gifts have not been on drawing board tbh, but been pondering a bit around Intuition. Gifts could act as second copy. Intuition piles revolving around Loam or Snapcaster are strong. Strix+Academy Ruins+Loam amuses me alot. No real testing done here tho.
Card draw and selection seems to work nicely with current configuration. Preordain is propably weakest card in deck and Mirri's Guile could be better actually. Nice catch. Have to keep an eye on blue count for FoW. Is Probe better than Preordain? Other makes my draws smoother, other makes my play smoother. Hard to compare.
Griffin and Scourge were on maybeboard for a while but were removed for just being too cute.
Rufus, I don't get the idea on Shelldock. Sounds like Doomsday. Can't I just go Pact into Pact to remove my library once LabMan hits the table? LabMan plan was something I was awere of but haven't thought it through. Maybe warrants Sideboard slot as alt-wincon.
What do you think about ratios between disruption, selection and business in maindeck. Testing gave me a feeling of being bit threat light, but it might be just that I'm still bit unfamiliar with playing this type of control.
Gift is more than a second intuition, the CA should be good in its own, without considering loam/ruins shenanigans.
Gifts piles with pact/SCM +2 cards (painful truth, threat, planeswalker,...) are probably very strong in lategame.
On the cantrip side, I imagine you can be on the safe side by just doing +1 BS. More may mess up your pact (would require testing).
On your threat ratio, it depends to which extent you want to be the control deck. 4 of your creatures are real threats, plus you have two planeswalkers. Sounds ok to me but I never played your beauty.
If I was to test it, I would note each time I casted painted pact, which card I took. If it turns out that you take a threat really often, then increase their count.
Up your Underground Sea count by 1-2. It's the land you want most, plus other than any other card type you can fetch it with 6 cards and easily get rid of the multiples even before you cast TP.
I agree on the Seas. I did a few test games because this looks hilarious, and found that you fetch Seas almost immediately. I doubt that by the time you Pact that you haven't searched out at least one Underground Sea.
Still not sold on Gifts. Strong card no arguing on that, but four mana in field full of Wastelands and deck having no acceleration sounds just too steep. You even have to tapout twice with Gifts! If going to add another four drop to (main)deck it propably shoud be Venser, Garruk or Thrun.
Another Sea is something I've been thinking since the day one with this deck. I always fetch it first outsides some fringe situations. I'll test deck next with +1 Brainstorm and +1 UgSea cutting Preordain and Shores. Or Overgrown Tomb. Shores is actually really good anti-Choke tech with Sunken Ruins.
I guess I'll be fine with current threats. Been Pacting for beats couple of times, but it has to happen sometimes. I would still like to include Loam and Leovold to maindeck, but dunno what to cut.
Note that compared to garruk or thrun, gifts does not ask you to tap out outside of your opponent endstep. I think this is a non negligible element, and depending what you grab, you may not have to tapout after.
Maybe it is bad, but the tapout argument is imo wrong if you compare it to garruk.
Didn't mean to compare Gifts to Garruk. Just saying that there are other options in line at 4cc. After Gifts you are still supposed to resolve other spells and it doesn't win you the game on its own.
Gifts is very good card in this deck no doubt but to max out its power deck should be tweaked bit further (Academy Ruins and like). Here is propably why I am not truly into it. Yet. I can see the game winning piles and game changers it ables. It could be the finalizing touch for this deck but four mana is a lot. It definitely warrants testing. After all I suppose it to be just too slow, which is already a problem for current decklist.
Claymore, nice to know someone else is also testing this! Let me know how it goes.
I think that green could be a good splash for this deck expecially because it gives more ways to deal with non-creature permanents.
I tried the list a bit and I would change some things. I don't like wasteland maindeck because this is a very mana-hungry deck and often trading 1 of our lands for 1 of the opponent's lands hurts more us than them. I would cut also some of the expensive spells (like pernicious deed, maelstrom pulse, true name nemesis, one of the delve beaters) to lower the mana curve with 1/2 cmc removal/counter spells (like ghastly demise, dimir charm or collective brutality).
I don't like that much baleful strix because it's a bad removal, a bad beater and a bad way to draw cards... Overall it' a good card but for me this is not the right deck for it. I think that stifle could be too situational. Force of Will it's a bit akward since the blue card count is lower than 16. I like to play with bojuka bog (it could take the place of treetop village to not play too many tap lands) to have a way to deal with decks like manaless dredge before sideboard. From the little testing i've done i'm not in love with liliana either because often we don't want to discard cards, but I'm not sure about how I feel about that.
I would never cut cabal therapy since I think that it's one of the most powerful cards in the deck. I used to play with lab maniac but it is probably too clunky. For a combo finish I prefer dark depths (with 1 vampire hexmage, 1 thespian stage and sometimes with expedition map) With the green splash you could add Traverse the Ulenvald which can find both combo pieces and beaters.
I've been quite happy with Wasteland. For me, its included for troublesome lands like Glacial Chasm and Maze of Ith. Not essential part of deck but still like to have it around. Loam from SB makes it more valuable.
Strix has been good to me. Blocks Goyfs and Delvers dead and gives you a card. This is exactly what I want to do with this deck. Stall the game until you gain control. Also at 2 cc its one of the few plays to curve out efficiently. Being blue also counts, as you mentioned with FoW. FoW and Stifle maindecked mostly to improve storm matchup. It is major part of local meta. Stifle also protects your lands being Wastelanded, which is second reason to include it in main. Miracles, etb-effects, you name it. It will find a target.
After all I think we are approaching this deck in different angles. You are trying to finish game more comboish way were as I try to have more grindy, Deedstill like endgame. Different point of view makes you suggest me to cut key cards like Deed.
Cabal Therapy is good call. Is it better than Hymn? I think I would need couple more creatures to flashback it more reliably.
More green approach is something to be explored. Zenith with Traverse the Ulvenwald to fetch Shaman, Noble, Goyf and Leovold could be good.
I changed Trinket Mage to Deathrite Shaman. Trinket was doing too little for its cost. There was good plays with it, but overall felt bit weak. Pondered with Leovold, but ended up adding Shaman. Testing out new list with 2xBS, 2xSea and Deathrite soon.
Last edited by Horto; 10-06-2016 at 08:26 AM.
Yeah probably I'm too used to my current strategy so I found difficult to change approach to the deck.
I would play both cabal therapy and hymn to tourach, since they are very good (but if you haven't room for both I would cut hymn first). Therapy in my experience is effective even in a deck that plays few creatures. I agree that sometimes trinket mage isn't exciting... on paper is a nice toolbox (engineered explosives, pithing needle, top, artifact lands..) but I found that often it's not very effective for is cost.
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