Yeah maybe 1 Ratchet Bomb Main Deck and 2 SB or something like that would probably work better.

The rest of the Top 8 at that tournament, which happens to be the meta I play in, was MUD (1st), Noble Fish (2nd), Meandeck Oath (3rd), Elephant Oath, Jace Control, Painter, Espresso Stax.  The meta break down was 37 Mana Drain decks, 20 Workshop decks, 10 Ritual decks, 13 Null Rod decks, and 10 Bazaar decks. With that type of meta I wanted to know if this list seems to be fine how it is or if it needs any fine tuning?

I like the list you posted Leooooh.  It looks pretty solid.  There was a tournament recently where a Slaver list made Top 4 out of 90 players.  Here's the list by Jeff Anand:


4x City of Brass
3x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
2x Underground Sea
2x Tropical Island
2x Volcanic Island
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Island

1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby

2x Goblin Welder
1x Myr Battlesphere

1x Mindslaver
1x Time Vault
1x Voltaic Key
1x Tinker
2x Jace the Mindsculptor
4x Force of Will
3x Mana Drain
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Nature’s Claim
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Repeal
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
3x Preordain
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Gifts Ungiven
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Brainstorm
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Time Walk

SB:
1x Pithing Needle
2x Doom Blade
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Thoughtseize
2x Nature’s Claim
1x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Yixilid Jailer
4x Leyline of the Void

I really like this list and it seems like there's a lot of potential here.  One card I was considering including in this list was Pernicious Deeds in place of the Repeal to battle off pesky Fish decks.  Other then that the list feels very solid.  Let me know what you guys think.

If I were to go with the Mana denial package then sundering would be my tinker bot. But my metagame is fish,
shop, and dredge mainly.  The reason for Triskelion is its great with Welder and u can kill it against dredge.

Those are good suggestions. I was also thinking instead of spell pierce I run 2 gorilla shaman because chalice and pithing needle hurt Slaver and it combos well with Welder.

Also I was considering cutting Inkwell for Triskelion. As far as the lands go, I was  gonna cut 2 fetches for an Island and Darksteel Citadel to have an indestructible artifact on the field for 0 that if I need to can be welded out and can't be destroyed by wasteland.

What do you guys think?

I saw a Control Slaver list under a tournament results topic that looked very interesting and I wanted to build upon it.  Here's the list I saw:

7 Fetchlands
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Mox
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Myr Battlesphere
4 Goblin Welder
1 Mind Slaver
1 Tinker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Spell Pierce
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Frantic Search
1 Rebuild

This is the exact list card-for-card.  I agree with the use of Frantic Search to dump cards into the graveyard.  However, I was playtesting this last night against a friend of mine who just made top 4 with UBg Wizards at a tournament and the deck felt like it was missing something.  We had a couple of ideas such as the inclusion of a singleton Bazaar of Baghdad to fill up the graveyard.  Also the artifact count may be a little low. 

My friend made a suggestion of including a singleton Crucible of Worlds and a coiuple artifact lands with Gifts Ungiven to fetch them out.

The original builder of this deck said he'd like to cut out the 2 Spell Pierce and replace them with either Thoughtseize, Lightning Bolt, or some other form of disruption.

Any suggestions on tweaking this deck?  I don't believe a lot needs to be changed just a few cards perhaps.

I agree with making Erayo a supplemental part of the deck since it doesn't win the game on it's own.  I was curious on how an Erayo Affinity deck might look so if anyone has any suggestions on what a list might look like I'd truly appreciate it.  I know that I'd need a strong disruption package in the list and that the list would probably be either Mono Blue or Blue/Black.  Again, any help on making a list would be appreciated. Thank you.

Yea the list is very sloppy but that's cause there's  so much id like to add but only so much that can go into the build. My idea was to use the cheap creatures to flip Erayo, get Arcane Lab out, and have Master of Etherium out to pump and swing. Yawgmoths Will definitely needs a spot if I make this UB. But I was also thinking of a Standstill version of this deck in mono blue form.

I might have to test out that list with preordain and gush.

With the release of cards like Mox Opal and Memnite, I was thinking that maybe this deck could start to work.  Here's the list.

4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
3x Island
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Swamp
1x Tolarian Academy

4x Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
2x Master of Etherium

1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Opal
1x Black Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sensei's Divining Top

1x Ponder
1x Brainstorm
1x Tinker
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
2x Arcane Laboratory
4x Repeal
4x Force of Will
3x Thoughtseize

This list isn't the final draft by any means but the combo and win condition is there.  I wasn't sure whether to go with Mono Blue or a UB build.  But the key is to get Erayo flipped as early as possible with the use of the cheap spells available, lock it down with Arcane Laboratory and get Master of Etherium out to beat down your opponent to victory.  I don't know if the disruption package is where I want it to be. And I'm sure there is plenty of editing here so if anyone could comment on what they'd change and the direction of this deck, I'd appreciate it.

I was curious to see if anyone has tested this deck recently. I tested the decklist in the openning post a couple of weeks ago. At first, I wasn't sure if this deck should be played aggressive or more controlling. But the more I played, the more I realized that this is more powerful as an aggressive deck. However, the deck lacked a lot of things needed to get the combo out early and win.

Then I took a look at Malhavoc's decklist. IMO, the decklist looks more consistent and better geared towards an aggressive approach. So now I've put together that decklist and look forward to testing it out. If anyone has tested either of these decklists, feedback would be much appreciated as I still believe this has a lot of potential.

First, I'd like to express how interested I am in the concept and play style of this deck.  It's a great start to something that could become even stronger.

Now I agree with having maybe 2 copies of Undiscovered Paradise to hit the Landfall triggers. The land base you have now will run out of steam when you're powering out Skull Clamps on Bloodghasts.  However, with the counter magic being played here

 along with Jace, the Mindsculptor, I don't see the need of having something slow and janky as Fleshbag Marauder.  And Deep Analysis is nice and better with Blood Funnel out, but the point of this deck is not to just keep Blood Funnel on our side, but to

Donate it as fast as possible to keep them locked down, right? And playing 1 copy of Deep Analysis doesn't feel like it'll do very much.  Another main deck concern I have is Strip Mine.  Now I know how powerful it is and all but I don't find it as powerful

when you don't run Crucibles or Wasteland along side it.  So is it a necessity?

As far as the SB is concerned, it would really depend on your meta. For example, my meta is a more Stax/MUD heavy meta so I might drop -3 Yixilid Jailer and replace them with +2 Gate to Phyrexia / +1 Helm of Obedience? I'm not saying this is the best of

ideas but If you're forced to board in +4 Leyline then why not add in Helm as an alternate win condition? Also I think Gate to Phyrexia combos out great with Bloodghast especially since they have no answers to it except for spheres. And it blows up their

Lodestones and Karns. Just be careful of Mono R Stax but that's rare in my area.

Anyways, I digress, this idea is really transforming into something very competitive. Hope this info helps you out.

Your build seems pretty good. What decks are in your meta?

Also, how has 3 Spell Pierce/3 Mana Drain been working out for you? Because I may end up trying to incorporate that into my list.

I used to run Balance in my deck but it seemed to hurt me more than it would hurt my opponent. But I may test it out again and see if maybe I can pull it off at the right timing.

I see you've decided to cut out Cunning Wish from your list. I've thought about doing that as well. However, I also use Cunning Wish to grab Brain Freeze and storm out but that's not really doing too well so maybe I should cut it from my list.

And in your SB, I see that you don't run the Obeyline combo. Any particular reason as to why?

Thanks for your input. I had a feeling that the 2 Deed may not be a good idea. And as far as Swords go, that's not a bad idea but do you think it's a better option than Path to Exile or is it just due to the meta your playing in?

An update in my meta is that Dredge and Workshop Aggro are currently the most played decks. With this information, I think it would be wise of me to include 2-3 Ravenous Traps in side board to go along with the 4 Leylines to battle Dredge. In regards to Workshop, I will keep the 2 Ancient Grudge main and plan on playing 1 Hurkyl's Recall and 1 Rebuild MD with 1 Hurkyl's in the SB.

Another thought that occured is if Workshop and Dredge are going to be the most played in my meta, should I rethink my tinker target being Sundering Titan? If so, I was thinking of possibly going back to Inkwell and having Sphinx in the SB. Sundering Titan won't be much use against Bazaars and Workshops so it would make sense if I'm not mistaken.

Any other suggestions on facing a meta with Dredge and Workshop?

Jace, the Mindsculptor is interesting but I agree with you on Sower. I don't see Jace being necessary in this deck.

Someone in my meta is trying out Thada Adel Acquisitor in their build and they say they like it especially when facing Tezzeret and Workshop decks. But I'm not sure if Thada as a 1 of in the decklist is a good idea or not. Any thoughts?

I've also considered testing "The Deck" using 2 Pernicious Deed rather than 1. Pernicious Deed has always allowed me to regain control of the match up if I ever lose control or is just a threat that most decks have to bait before they can go off and attempt to win the game. With my meta, it might not be such a bad idea. Has anyone else here tested their deck with 2 Pernicious Deed or thought of using 2 Pernicious Deed?

What would Aether Spellbomb be good for?

Someone running the deck is running Thada Adel Acquisitor in the MD. Any thoughts on this?

Also I'm thinking of including maybe 1 rack and ruin to fight off workshop aggro.

Any other suggestions on strategy against dark times and for that matter rogue decks?

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my post thus far. I really like the idea of Repeal to play against Dark Times but their heavy discard disruption makes it a harder deck to compete with. Has anyone else had problems against Dark Times in their meta or is it just me?

I also intend on dropping Tolarian and 1 Wasteland for a 2nd Volcanic Island and Library. I'm considering Sundering Titan at the next tournament over Inkwell and seeing how it works out. And I would have Fire/Ice in my list if I could find one.

2 other matchups that I know will be big for my meta at the next tournament are Dredge and Workshop aggro. Workshop decks are my worst matchup and I'm unsure of how to strategize against them. What is the best strategy to have when playing against Workshp decks? And is Obeyline enough against Dredge or do I need more?

I have a couple of questions here for smmenen and other players who have been playing "The Deck" at recent tournaments. First, I would like to say that I really enjoy playing this deck and this is the type of control deck I've been wanting to play since I started playing Vintage over the summer. These past couple of months I have played 2 tournaments, N.Y.S.E. V with my first tournament record being 1-6-1 and N.Y.S.E. VI finishing the day with a record of 2-4-0.

In the current meta, Dredge had swarmed the last tournament but I never got the chance to play against it. I don't know specifically yet the breakdown of the meta due to the tournament report not being posted yet but, the decks I faced were 1 Tezzeret, 2 Oath, 1 Workshop Aggro, 1 Dark Times, and 1 Mono Black Aggro. I beat the 2 Oath decks as I have playtested against that archetype more than any other in Vintage. The following is the deck list I sleeved up for the tournament:

"The Deck"

Lands:
3 City of Brass
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Fetch Lands
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Island

Artifacts:
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds

Creatures:
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Sower of Temptation

Instants:
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Brainstorm
1 Cunning Wish
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sorceries:
1 Balance
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind Twist
1 Ponder
1 Regrowth
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Enchantments:
1 Pernicious Deed

I've already decided on some definite changes like playing the playset of City of Brass instead of 3. I also intend on cutting out Empty the Warrens. It worked well and gave me 2 wins but against certain matchups, storming to get 20+ 1/1 goblins wasn't as powerful, especially in a particular round against Dark Times where Leyline was on the field turn 0 and I drew the first 2 turns Yawgmoth's Will and Regrowth (that really sucked). Instead of EtW, I was thinking of including Brainfreeze in the SB to wish for as an alternate win condition with Yawgmoth's Will and Cunning Wish.

1) If I'm going to have that alternate win condition set up, should I keep Tolarian Academy in this list or drop it for Library of Alexandria?

2) Without further delay, the questions I need answered the most are how to deal with decks such as Dark Times? What do you bring to gain control over that match-up or rather what is the strategy when facing that matcu-up? The discard and mana denial is painful and since they play mainly basic lands, the mana denial plan "The Deck" packs is utterly useless against them. This deck is becoming very popular in this meta which is why I am so concerned about it. So what's the strategy?

Also, a Workshop Aggro deck won the latest N.Y.S.E. tournament featuring a full compliment of Lodestone Golem and other tricks to make spells cost more. This makes me believe that I need to come more prepared for Workshop Aggro. My current SB is this:

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Extripate
1 Krosan Grip
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Greater Gargadon (which proved useless and will be leaving the SB)
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Rebuild
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Darkblast

3) So my final question is, in a meta that has top decks (Tezzeret, Dredge, Oath) and rising star decks (Dark Times & Workshop Aggro) with a side of Fish decks, how do you prepare for such a meta?

Thank you for taking the time to read through this and I hope to hear some suggestions on what to do soon.

Can't wait for this tournament considering that it will be my first Vintage tournament. Hope to see a good showing.

Here's my Erayo's Lab deck Updated:

Lands:
3x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
3x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Tropical Island
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Swamp
2x Island

Artifact Mana:
5x Mox
1x Black Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt

Erayo Lab Lock:
3x Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
2x Arcane Laboratory

Win Condition 1:
4x Leyline of the Void
1x Helm of Obedience

Win Condition 2:
1x Tinker
1x Inkwell Leviathan

Counter/Disruption:
4x Force of Will
4x Spell Pierce
3x Stifle

Draw/Tutor:
1x Ancestrall Recall
1x Brainstorm
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Ponder
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Gifts Ungiven

Other Spells:
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Rebuild
1x Hurkyl's Recall

After reading and re-reading some of the replies on here, I realized that there wasn't much of a way to win after my Erayo Lab Lock goes off which is why I decided to include the Helm of Obedience/Leyline of the Void win condition as a main win condition.

And, for the record, I'm not playing Erayo or this deck because I'm on a budget. I'm playing this because it's different to a certain degree. I realize that there are probably better choices out there but this deck does win me games.

Anyways, please feel free to comment on the changes I've made. Thanks.

You're right about Erayo/Lab not being able to shut down Ichorid which is what Leyline of the Void in the SB is for. If Oath of Druids is out, it won't stop Oath from producing creatures but that's why I have Krosan Grip for Oath and currently 2 Diabolic Edicts in the SB to handle those problems. I don't know what to run SB exactly against Fish since I really haven't had to face that deck in my meta. And as far as Welder goes, I still have Leyline of the Void, 1 Darkblast, and 1-2 Pithing Needle to dispose of Goblin Welder. I have answers to threats and in my MD I have Duress, Spell Pierce, Stifle, and Force of Will to back me up.

My concerns for the moment are once I have this spell lock in, what is the best win condition to use? Should I stick with just Tinker/Inkwell Leviathan? Also, in a meta filled with Oath/Stax/TPS, is the Arcane Lab lock better than applying a soft lock using Dimir Cutpurse or no?

Another concern is the proper draw engine for this deck and what engine might work well in this build.

Maybe when I get my hands on Rebuild my match up will be a bit easier. I plan on having 1 MD and 1 Hurkyl's Recall MD 1 SB, wonder if that would be enough or not.

Erayp flipped + Arcane Lab does equal I win. All I need is a way to get it out against Stax, that's honestly the only deck that I have a problem with. Other than that, this deck does great.

Esperzoa against Aggro seems like an intersting choice but it doesn't offer much against other matchups such as Oath, Stax, or Tendrils. I just want something to take care of Aggro so that I'm prepared against the surprise match ups like those and Fish decks.

Another issue I've been pondering on (no pun intended) is I need a successful draw engine that will allow me to draw up the spells I need to apply the lock as early as possible. That's why I originally tried running Mystic Remora but that didn't work out like I had hoped. So I thought about some of the cards Tendrils incorporates such as Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain.

I feel like this deck could run Tendrils as an alternate win condition to be honest since this decks focus is reaching a specific spell count to flip Erayo but Arcane Lab...

Maybe sb Tendrils of Agony to switch with Arcane Lab as a surprise sb tech? Also maybe I should consider including Dark Ritual if I include Necropotence or Yawgmoth's Bargain. Thoughts on all of this would be great. But I don't want this deck drifting too far away from the original goal of the deck.

Any thoughts please feel free to post. Thanks

But what about the Tinker Targets and Oath Targets that have Shroud or Protection? I'd never get rid of them with Chain of Vapor or Echoing Truth.  That's why I feel that Diabolic Edict would handle the situation much better as well.

Also, I already main deck a Chain of Vapor because of how useful it is whether its for pulling off my combo or to bounce certain permanents back to their hands.

Sorry to be disagreeing with your suggestions but I'm just trying to build this deck up to the best possible decklist/sideboard for me to make this deck successful as well as controlling.

I would like to hear some feedback as to opinions on this deck and if it looks like or close to a solid list or not. It would help me in both Strategy and help my own personal evaluation of this deck as well.

In the openning post, I said that in my metagame is Oath, Stax, and TPS.

The Edicts are meant to deal with both Tinker Targets and Oath Beasts.

I already have Vampiric Tutor in the deck. And in regards to Yawgmoth's Will, I just don't want to have to rely on my graveyard to win since there is plenty of graveyard hate as it is. However, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to include just because of how powerful it really can be.

I will try dropping the 4 Mystic Remora and replacing them with +1 Ponder, +1 Yawgmoth's Will, +1 Merchant Scroll, +1 Hurkyl's Recall

As far as the SB goes, this is what I'm thinking so far. Please let me know if there are any cards that should be dropped in place of others.

2x Pithing Needle
1x Krosan Grip
4x Planar Void
3x Diabolic Edict
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Darkblast
1x Misdirection
1x Extripate

Thanks for all of the help thus far. I really appreciate it.

I tried Mystic Remora and it didn't work like I had hoped. Therefore, I might either remove it completely from the deck to include cards such as Ponder. Or I was wondering how the Mystic Remora/Meditate engine might run in this deck. Its a great way to draw into my combo pieces but I feel it might be a bit too risky.

Also, another thought I had was to maybe include pieces of Tendrils to this deck to give myself an alternate win condition, but I feel that if I do that I could end up transforming this deck into just Tendrils and taking away from the Erayo lock.

If I were to remove Mystic Remora, what should I include, besides Ponder?

Hope to hear some more ideas for improving my deck.

I've been playing a deck that plays Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, flips him, and lays down Arcane Laboratory to lock out the opponent for the rest of the game until I Tinker up a creature to swing with. Here's the deck list.

Lands:
3x Polluted Delta
3x Underground Sea
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Volcanic Island
2x Island
2x Swamp
1x Tolarian Academy

Artifacts
5x Moxes
1x Black Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
2x Sensei's Divining Top

Creatures
1x Inkwell Leviathan
3x Erayo, Soratami Ascendant

Enchantments
1x Standstill
2x Arcane Laboratory
4x Mystic Remora

Sorcery
1x Tinker
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Time Walk
4x Duress

Instants
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Brainstorm
3x Stifle
4x Force of Will
4x Spell Pierce

At the moment, that's what my Main Deck looks like. I just recently added in the Standstill and the Mystic Remoras so I will see how they play out later tonight. My meta is filled with Oath, Tendrils, and Stax decks mainly. Oath is becoming the most popular right now in my area.

As for the Side Board, I don't have much set in stone because I'm not sure on whether I should be splashing the red in there like I have it now or if I should instead splash green. Any thoughts on this would be great.

Any other feedback on this deck would be great.

Thanks.