We had 9 players turn up for the tournament which was not a great show but it was on a Sunday which impacted on some people who could come. We had lots of different decks with Elves, different Workshop decks, Rituals, and Snapcasters which makes it look like the Melbourne meta is really opening up and allowing more decks to be played. I did not play my Cobra Gush deck which was a mistake as I know how to run that deck and it is a powerhouse. As usual I was working till 5AM in the morning before and wanted to run something different. I went to themanadrain.com (best site for Vintage PERIOD) and went looking for new decklists I had most of the cards for when I came against Onslaughts Suicide Tendrils list. The list itself was:
- 4 Dark Confidant
- 2 Snapcaster Mage
- 1 Ancestral Recall
- 1 Brainstorm
- 3 Nights Whisper
- 4 Gitaxian Probe
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 4 Duress
- 3 Mental Misstep
- 1 Imperial Seal
- 1 Demonic Tutor
- 1 Vampiric Tutor
- 2 Grim Tutor
- 4 Dark Ritual
- 1 Cabal Ritual
- 1 Black Lotus
- 1 Mox Sapphire
- 1 Mox Jet
- 1 Lotus Petal
- 1 Necropotence
- 1 Yawgmoth's Will
- 2 Tendrils of Agony
- 1 Polluted Delta
- 4 Misty Rainforest
- 1 Marsh Flats
- 3 Underground Sea
- 4 Swamp
- 1 Island
- 1 Hurkyl's Recall
- 1 Demonic Consultation
Sideboard
- 4 Leyline of the Void
- 3 Dismember
- 1 Yixlid Jailer
- 3 Hurkyl's Reall
- 1 Cahin of Vapor
- 1 Island
- 1 Rebuild
- 1 Sadistic Sacrement
Before I say anything about the list, I was not using the optimal list. I was running Blue fetches (Misty Rainforests) instead of the black fetches (Polluted Delta) which negatively impacted how the deck played out. I was forced to get Underground Seas in stead of swamps which was a big no no in my two matches against Workshops. Even saying that I cannot recommend this deck to anyone going forward. The deck can get that first/second turn win easily given the right hand but just rolls over to spheres, counterspells, creatures with a clock, practically anything. I did pretty much crush Oath in my two matches against oath so it may be better against the blue decks but as I did not play against them apart from oath I cannot say. In a very blue heavy metagame maybe....
R1 vs Welder Shops
G1- I keep a decent hand but my fetches not being able to get basic swamps kills me as he wastelocks me while churning out Spheres I do see the power of duress/ Cabal therapy when I Duress his hand and then get to Cabal Therapy both of his Goblin Welders. I was quite satisfied that he drew his ruby the next turn haha
SB- Out
3 Mental Misstep
1 Underground Sea
4 Duress
Gitaxian Probe/Imperial Seal???
In
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Dismember
1 Island
G2- This is pretty much a non game as his t1 sphere means I cannot do a thing
0-2
0-0-1
R2- Bye
0-1-1
R3- Welder Shops
Here we go again against shops, I was not getting the rounds going my way.
G1- This was my closest game against shops and I still did not much, I cant express how bad this deck is against shops, especially on the raw as I was.
SB- Same as R1
G2- I keep U.Sea, Hurkyl's X2, Dismember, Swamp, Demonic Consultation and Bob, pretty much as good as I want against shops, short of a Mox it was a really good hand. He goes t1 Thorn of amethyst, I play swamp and pass. Wastelands, Trinishere and a Lodestone Golem hit the table and I cannot even play my answers. The deck is soooo bad against shops.
0-2
0-1-2
In between rounds I play against Marco on Oath and even through I Draw like 7 lands in a row I win narrowly in the one game we play. I do not like oath as a deck because a timely duress effect just kills it. I can see it being a nice and easy deck to play (for a control deck) but it is a bit of a 1 shot wonder that dies to creature removal/enchantment removal/duress effects (not to mention it gives its opponent the way to kill it).
R4- Oath
G1- Game one I get to duress his oath and beat down with a Snapcaster, Bob and spirit token I get him down to 3 and he has an Emrakul on board. I have 4 mana and sacrifice my only creature left to Flashback my Cabal Therapy and Lethal Tendrils for the win.
SB
In:
Sadistic Sacrement
Chan of Vapor
Out:
1 Duress
1 Imperial Seal
G2: Vintage swings all the way. He opens with Mox, Orchard and Oath. I open with Lotus Petal, Duress taking his Yawgmoths Will, swamp, dark ritual and Sadistic Sacrement: exiling his Blightsteel/Emerakul and a Jace. His only win condition left in his deck was a final Jace. Needless to say I won that game. It took a while and he was forced to beast within his own Oath of druids (twice) to make 3/3's which I was forced to chump block to stay alive. I went down to 8 and then managed to storm off for the kill.
2-0
1-1-2
Well overall I managed to come 5th out of 9. Much worse than I would like obviously. My deck choice and pairings were extremely poor. My only wins were from opening with duress effects and Dark Times just does that better. I did love the Cabal Therapies. Very very good choice of card and flashing it back was just brutal. But 4 duress does not a good deck make. I would certainly be happy to use this in pretty much any deck that wanted more that 4 duress effects.
I might think about playing this in a Dredge/Oath Heavy meta game where you can storm very early through minimal disruption but as I said earlier I would not recommend this deck to anyone at the moment. Next time I will definitely make my Cobra Storm deck and beat face again.
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