I'm still running old man of the sea, I guess alot of people just decided he wasn't good against fish?  I don't know, he's always been nothing short of game every time he's resolved for me.

I only really consider 2 types of combo when I think of combo, dragon and TPS.  Against dragon, I already said that pithing needle is just strictly superior to blood moon.  Against TPS, if blood moon hasn't been duress'd on turn 2, chances are you'll run right into a force of will.  Then, between petal, lotus and jet they still have a very good chance of having black mana and win anyways.
Then look at pure combo like long or belcher, chrome mox, mox diamond, petal, chromatic sphere, lotus and jet, you aren't going to be able to screw them off black.
Besides, I'd much rather be looking at a chalice of the void than a blood moon against combo.

I don't think blood moon will ever be good again, unless someone decides that basic lands just aren't necessary anymore.  The only matchup blood moon has ever tested well against for me is dragon, and I think pithing needle is strictly superior in this slot.
In the control match, black is just too important to drop a blood moon.
In the workshop match, by the time you cast Blood moon, they're dropping their lockpieces with mountains and have already cast their enchantments.
Combo, oh wait, you lose
Fish, I can see merit against fish, but I'd rather have an REB or a Rack and Ruin to hit chalice/rod 9x out of 10.

I see 2 possible advantages of using this card over Bargain.
1:  it's not dependant on life, even if you're at 1 you still win.
2: if you have 3 mana and a merchant scroll when rector hits the sack, you win, nothing more to it, no fizzles.

I think the majority of CS players who have been playing it a while have tested Cunning Wish, and it pretty much always always always sucks.
The only way this could come close to merchant scroll is if you were to run ancestral, mystical and a thirst in the sideboard.  Not happening. 

I'm really glad you brought this up Lou, I've actually been testing 2 merchant scrolls in my build of slaver and they have been nothing but golden.  The only problem i've had with them is they aren't foil.

It was a good article Brian,  I was surprised though that you didn't note that CS has almost 5 spots open to incorporate metagame calls.  I understand that you much prefer GShaman and that kind of stuff but Slaver isn't still around today because of cards like Shaman or Echoing Truth, it's around because those other 55 cards do what they are supposed to do more efficiently than any other 55 cards in Vintage right now and those other 5 cards just help you execute.  I also am a huge proponent of LoA and was dissapointed to not see it even mentioned.

Your matchup advice is very good for people who don't know how to play those matchups though I board a bit less than you.  How do you board against dragon and the likes of that?  I feel dragon is atleast tier 2 at the moment if not tier 1.

I can see this guy almost creating a new archetype draw engine.  With Telling Time and Brainstorm you wouldn't even need to play top.  Even Serum Visions looks pretty damn good with this guy.  One archetype I could definitely see him jumping into easily is EBA with the only big dudes you could possibly draw being exalteds and forces.

Get them signed in gold, I've got one of mine done, it's excellent.

I didn't mean the play a different deck comment to sound like mean.   It's just that since trinisphere was restricted, workshop aggro hasn't had it's crutch to lean on to beat mana drain decks consistently.  Alot of times, turn 1 welder, turn 2 drain mana is just too much for this deck to handle and there's not enough disruption to stop it from happening.

The good news about the deck is you have good matchups with stax, and since stax did take the top spot at worlds, you can probably expect more of it than you think at waterbury.  I really think you need to tune the deck to deal with manadrain and I think *at least* in the eye of chaos is needed if you're not will to go to a 5 color base.  Another card you might try is Null Rod.  Following your turn 1 jugg/su-chi with null rod could be devastating for just about every deck in the format right now.

Honestly, if you really expect a mana drain heavy field, I'd think of playing a different deck.  Getting a jugg, su-chi, trisk, razormane, titan or dupe drained = gg.  That, or I'd change the mana-base to a 5 color config and play heavy-drain hate like maindeck choke and in the eye of chaos, also, a couple gorilla shamans would be good.

It's thoughts like that that make me want to teach my girlfriend to play magic.

Well, you know how much I like library (I was your round 1 opponent at Chicago).  It just wins games sometimes.

The first builds that did well ran only 4 thirst, 4 bs, acall, tutors and FoF.  Most of the builds that have done well since then have run only that. 

I agree 100% with almost everything said in this post, (besides pitching LoA).  My maindeck at Gencon was nearly identical to Brian's and I came in 26th and was 4-1-1 going into the 7th round. 

I think, Bob Yu said it best with his analysis of CS, CS is a 55 card deck with 5 metagame slots making it the most versatile deck in the format and the best deck to play in a random metagame.  I most of the time like to fill those 5 slots with slaver #2, trike, shaman, vamp, and lavadart/fire ice.  But those five slots can just as easilly be DSC, Tormod's Crypt, Gifts, Vamp, Rack and Ruin for a different metagame.

But, Slaver is a deck about knowing the deckl and testing first, and metagame choices second.

Why put MoM into play when you could just put bargain into play and win?

It's been done

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=12603

Also, whenever presenting a decklist, an explanation of card choices and why you would play this deck as opposed to another is nice.

Congratulations on the high finish.  I just had a few questions.
How did lim-dul's vault work for you all day? 

Also, did you ever find a time when you had force in hand w/o blue stuff to pitch?

Third, did you ever actually use compulsion?

That was my permanent marker   

OK, I will now tell the story of the groupie...

So we get to the site Thusday night for the midnight tournament, and as Scott and myself sit down, I declare in a very loud voice, that "I am unbeatable."  So this chick, Sarah we find out she is called, looks around to see who said that, and of course sees that it is me  So she immediately comes over and starts talking about all kinds of shit.  Come to find out, this little vixen has just dropped a couple of E tabs, and is now feeling very good, and is enjoying our company.  So Bob comes over, is introduced, and we now have a groupie.  Every tournament we play in, she is there asking us how we are doing and totally wanting the cock.  The best part, she has a boyfriend who is there every second of the way as well.  Poor son of a bitch.  So on Saturday night, as the Top 8 is playing out, I go and look for some Asian stuff, cause that's how I try to roll.  I find this dude, and Bob comes with me as we are both looking for Asian Academies.  She also follows us over, and is again rolling.  As we head over, she is all over Bob, with her head on his arm like a good little groupie should.  As we sit down, Bob says something about a hand job, and then I think she is about to oblige when Bob says, along these lines, "Don't touch me, I have a boner."  No shit, Bob really did say that.  So I'm like, "DUDE, WTF!"  He totally bitched out, and lost the chance to hook up with a decent little 18 year old who was rolling.  BOOOOO.  That is all I have to say to Bob.  BOOOOOOOO!

That girl would not shut the fuck  up jesus.  On Saturday, I was sitting next to Roland in his T4 match against Hale.  Then she comes over and asks Roland where Lou and YU are because she needs someone to bother.  Then Roland is like, bother Ben then.  So she sits down next to me and blabs for like 15 minutes.  Hale couldn't concentrate and basically told her to shut up.  Then when she kept talking, the judge asked her to leave.  Sorry Hale, blame Roland.

I don't really feel sorry for her boyfriend, her boyfriend looked as though he might want to join in with whoever she went home with.

Anyways, gencon was fun hope I see you guys at chicago,
peace,
Ben

Ok, well, I didn't even know this post went up, my internet went out while I was writing it.  This wasn't the complete post I wanted to post, but oh well.

To address some of the things said thus far.

Something everyone here seems to not understand (I guess they were all in a coma when Toad released this list and dicemanx placed at Rochestor) is this is not meandeck gifts, it's goal is NOT to resolve a gifts asap, it gains card advantage and a healthy mana base then resolves gifts for the win.

Use of Swamp
Diceman already went over this in his report of why he used the swamp, this deck has a much heavier black dependance than meandeck gifts and with so much fish in Rochestor and workshops in chicago, running the swamp is a necessity, many have agreed on this including smmennen.

Use of LoA
Once again, this is NOT Meandeck gifts.  Library is INCREDIBLE in this deck and I could never cut it. 

Not using petal and mana vault
Diceman also went over this in his report, because this deck's goal is to gain CA and a stable mana base it doesn't want the 1 shot mana such as petal and vault.

Balance (if you look at my list, it's maindeck, not sideboard)
My justification for this card is this, it's effing broken and it doesn't screw up your manabase that much to run it.  This card wins games, it's mind twist, wrath and geddon for 2 mana.  The funniest part is the matches you say it screws my manabase up in, it actually can be the most useful.  Throwing down alot of accelerants then balancing with a scrying in hand is an incredible play.  Also, being able to recoup it, or wish for it after you remove it is excellent.  See what MaxxMatt said about the card if you need more justification to run it.

Thirst For Knowledge
I never even commented on this card, I'm not sure where you saw that I did, in fact, the only reason I even ran it was because it made a CA gifts a little better.  But, I do find this card suboptimal.  Smmennen said it best, this is a deck that wants to throw down acceleration, and when you only really have 1 card you want to pitch to thirst, you lose acceleration running this card.
I have thought about running Merchant Scroll in this slot, and possibly taking a scrying spot.  But I'm not sure about it.  How has the single scroll been for you  Matt?

Matt-
I have a question about your pithing needles, when you played against stax was needle on waste effective?  This is really my main reason for thinking of running needle main, though EE has always been very nice for me in my worst matchups (hitting chalices and 3cc bombs such as In the Eye of Chaos)

I hope this clears up some of my choices.

Though, nobody has really addressed the real question of this post. The focus of my post was not to analyze my card choices, but more to ask the question of why isn't anyone really playing or talking about this deck anymore?  Is Steve's build just that much better?

I know everyone was psyched about MDG but I find it kind of odd that all talk has ceased on Gifted.fr.  I do feel MDG is inherently stronger than gifted, however, it seems the onesided draw of gifted.fr and the duresses could definitely mean alot in the gifted.fr vs. mdg matchup and the deck in my testing has even better matches against slaver (shay slaver w/ md tormod's).  I think more should be put into this deck instead of everyone bandwagoning straight to MDG, I mean, dicemanx did take the deck to 2nd at Rochester and then at Chicago not a single list of it is played?

Some ideas I think would benefit the deck.
1. Skeletal Scrying is incredible, I think the deck should be running 3.
2. Engineered Explosives were very good when I played the deck, Pithing Needle could possibly find a spot there too, or even Tormod's Crypt in a meandeck gifts/slaver heavy meta?
3. Splashing white for Balance and possible wish targets is something I think might be worth it, possibly even turning the deck into more of a 4cc with an incredibly better kill condition
4. I feel vampiric is necessary, tutoring for library won me several games at chicago

Here is the list with proposed changes.

4 mana drain
4 brainstorm
4 force of will
3 skeletal scrying
2 gifts
1 thirst
1 fact or fiction
1 recoup
1 burning wish
1 yawgwin
1 time walk
1 acall
1 tinker
1 dsc
1 mystical tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 balance
2 duress
2 tormod's/ee/needle
1 cunning wish

7 solomoxen
1 loa
1 mana crypt
4 island

1 swamp
4 polluted delta
3 underground sea
2 volcanic island
2 tundra


*possibly go to 5 fetch 1 tundra, I'm not decided there yet

First off, damn you, I just bought an S-chinese Will off ebay today.

While I do agree, Yawgmoth's will is the most bannable card legal at the moment, I'd hate to see what our environment would look like without it.  What would happen to control?  Control Slaver could still do it's job, although, most games just end up leading to a huge will.  Oath would be fine, though the decks it was made to beat have now been made to beat it.  All of the gifts archetypes would more or less diminish, though I guess a more expensive severance belcher stack could  be made.  Landstill would be fine, but who plays that?  It seems almost as though aggro control and workshops could just dominate in the absence of this one card, is that enough of an argument to say this card is powerful enough to ban it or is it an argument enough that it may hold some balance to the format.  I really can't even imagine type one without Yawgmoth's Will.  Maybe some day it may reach a point where it has to be banned because our format has turned into the dice roll format again, but I don't think that day is today nor anytime in the near future. 

Also, it seems that while banning will would make some more cards playable, it would also make some cards alot less playable, such as gifts ungiven.

I think it should be 5 proxy with $1 more per proxy.  That way, people who have spent their hard earned money on power so they can be competitive don't get screwed because player B is also paying for his right to use power.  I don't care what way you look at it, if a kid is going to fork out 25 dollars to enter a tournament, odds are they will fork out 30 regardless of income.

I'm guessing that Lotus petal was in the spot of LoA, and I'm pretty sure this was done for purposes of 1st turn drain mana and 2nd turn gifts mana.  I personally am going to try and fit this is my sideboard because against anything besides control it's not incredible and with so many pitch counters chances are if my opponent just doesnt sit there, I'm not going to have 7 cards in hand.

The fundamental flaw of duress is the same as it was in meandeck oath.  You need to resolve gifts asap, then protect what you resolve for a couple turns.  Duress is a proactive approach that costs you tempo and deteriorates your manabase.  It's by no means a bad card, but when it's a choice of resolving your draw engine, and pitching a blue card to stop them from countering it.  Or duressing, then waiting a turn and hoping they didn't draw a counter, it becomes clear what card works better.  Another thing I might mention is duress is often met with brainstorm in response.  Also, merchant scroll can tutor up MisD, not duress.

this is around what my sideboard would look like

Back to basics x2
chalice x3-4
RNR x2-3
REB/Pyro (though if misd does become played it may be strictly better to just use 3 REB)  x3
pyroclasm x1
tendrils x1 (with the maindeck et and rebuild I don't think anymore BW targets are needed than these 2)
old man x2-3

If you know your opponent is playing duress, or you might suspect he can get rid of your recall, there's no reason you can't scroll up something else i.e. force, brainstorm, drain, gifts, fact.  In fact, it's probably better in a control mirror to do that.  Playing scroll aggressively does not have to mean going straight for the recall.

The object of CS has always been to play your game and do whatever it takes to not care what your opponent is doing.  Will/Demonic say I'll play my game, try and stop me...Balance and STP say, I'm going to stop you from trying to win.
Besides, resolved Balance turns the game into topdeck mode in a deck like CS whereas Will simply wins the game if resolved.

While this article needs to be updated to the new sets as well as the 10-proxy metagame, this is probably one of the best articles I read when I came back to magic and had no effing clue what a beast type one had become.

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/7614.html

Yes, yes I did.  Thank you, I was in the middle of studying for a fluids dynamics test when i posted that...  My head wasn't exactly on straight.

I agree it wouldn't be as strong as it would be in shopless survival but I think it would be tons stronger than lightning greaves.