I think Hellkite is the best option for the WGD sb. It deals with Fishes creatures and can kill itself to deal with Ichorid's Bridges if you want. although, I wouldn't transform vs Ichorid, I'd simple board in 3-4 bounce spells and try to race like Fury said.

I also was wondering why Gamble wasn't in the deck. It seems like the perfect fit. Also Wheel of Fortune seems like it would be fine in here. It has great sinergy with Goblin Welder and finds you combo faster.

I dont think graveyard hate is nessessary in a Dragon sideboard. You always want proactive cards not defensive ones, it just defeats the goal of the deck. Ichorid isn't that bad of a match up for the most part anyways.

He didn't see it I guess.

So I won the Lotus tourney in Ottawa with 30 people and 5 rounds with top 8. Here's my report and list:

4 Cabal Therapy
4 Unmask

4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
2 Darkblast

2 Dread Return
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Cephalid Sage

4 Bridge from Below
4 Narcomoeba
3 Ichorid

4 Careful Study
3 Breakthrough
1 Ancestral Recall

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 City of Brass
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lotus Petal


15 Sideboard:

4 Chain of Vapor
4 Pithing Needle
3 Wispmare
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Darkblast

Round 1 I played against Artifact Fish (Artificial Inteligence) and won in 3 games. Game 1 and 3 were blowouts. Game 2 he resolved 3 Relics and I couldn't find a Needle in time. 1-0

Round 2 I played against Landstill and we all know how that match up goes... not even close. 2-0

Round 3 I played against 5 Colour Stax but with T4K and other blue spells. I won in 2 games, not close because he doesn't find graveyard hate game 2. 3-0

Rounds 4-5 I draw into top 8. 3-0-2

Top 8 I play against Painters Grindstone and win an easy game 1. Game 2 was an interesting one, he plays relic turn 1 and I Bzaar a Thug, Ichorid and a Bridge into my bin. I put Ichorid trigger on stack turn 2 and he lets it resolve. I attack for 3 and then play a Narcomeoba and he Forces it leaving him with a land in hand after counter a Careful Study earlier and a mulligan. I put the Bridge trigger on the stack after Ichorid dies and he lets it resolve and I get a 2/2 Zombie. I get him to 2 with it and he Intuitions for 3 Painter and casts 1 to block. I have 2 Chain of Vapor in my hand at this point and bounce it FTW.

Top 4 I play against MUD with Stax and win game 1 easy. Game 2 I keep a first turn win hand on the draw with:

1 Black Lotus
2 Careful Study
1 Breakthrough
2 Golgari Grave Troll
1 Chain of Vapor

So... what is going on in my mind is, is that if he does not play a Thorn, Sphere and or Trinisphere turn 1 I win even through a Tormod's Crypt/Relic/Leyline so I keep. He drops Trinisphere, GG. Game 3 I Unmask him turn 1 taking Metalworker leaving him with 2 Thorn, 1 Tangle Wire, 1 Wasteland and 2 Ancient Tomb and then I play Ancestral Recall and pass. He plays Thorn and passes. I play land Pithing Needle naming Crypt and pass holding Bazaar. He plays Wasteland on the Colisseum and passes. I play Bazaar and pitch 3 Dredgers and proceed to win with him drawing nothing to stop me.

Final I play against Bombs over Baghdad (R/G/u Fish) and crush him game 1. Game 2 (he has no right being in the finals because he forgets to board in Tormod's Crypt and has Artifact Mutation and Null Rod maindeck, lol) and I proceed to win game 2 aswell winning my 3rd Black Lotus of the year!

I would play this deck again in a heart beat due to it never loseing a game 1 on the day.

If you guys want here's my version of the deck but a Workshop list w/o FOW I've been working on:



1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere Of Resistance
4 Thorn Of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mindlock Orb
1 Trinisphere

4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Master of Etherium
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Karn, Silver Golem

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker

Lands
4 Tundra
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Strip Mine

SB:
4 Seal of Cleansing 
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Razormane Masticore
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance


I am going to play this list in a couple weeks for a Lotus. I'll post a report after the tourney. Hope you guys enjoy.

If you are playing Intuition and Entomb, why not play Deep Analysis as you primary draw engine?

Here' my take on the Strip Mine approche but W/U instead of U/R:

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere Of Resistance
4 Thorn Of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds
2 Mindlock Orb
1 Trinisphere

4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Master of Etherium
3 Aven Mindcensor

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker

Lands
4 Tundra
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Strip Mine

SB:
4 Seal of Cleansing 
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Razormane Masticore
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance

I don't know. Glowrider could replace In the Eye of Chaos but that card is just nuts so it'll have to be tested.

So my team and I were trying to find a home for Ethersworn Canonist. After trying out different things, we finally came upon a list the fit. Here is Team Supreme's Shopgro 2k8:

Supreme Shopgro

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere Of Resistance
4 Thorn Of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Mindlock Orb

4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Master of Etherium
2 Razormane Masticore
1 Karn, Silver Golem

1 Balance
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
2 In the Eye of Chaos

Lands
4 Tundra
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

SB:
4 Propaganda
4 Seal of Cleansing
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds


We've only had half a testing session so far with it so until we get more results I probably shouldn't give you guys the total run down just yet. We don't get much time to test because we all have full time jobs and live pretty far away from each other, so this is why I put the list on the net.  It would be awesome if some of you guys could help test this list and report back  ! We just don't have a lot time to get together a get a good testing session going.

Any thoughts and or questions?

No I haven't changed the deck at all. It's been running fairly smoothly so far in testing. I've been trying other archtypes in tourney in the mean time but will be trying out WGDX in the new Tezzeret meta soon enough.

I'm so glad you did well with this arctype! I love how you used my list too (a bit different sideboard but oh well.) I still live by Mis Direction in this new format over the Duress effects.

How good were Sower of Temptations for you?

Fish will be the problem, not Shops. Shops has always been a great match up.

Team Supreme's - Tezz Combo

Mana - 22

4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Swamp 
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring

Win #1 - 2
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony

Win #2 - 4
3 Tezzeret, The Seeker
1 Time Vault

Tutors/Draw - 11
2 Grim Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder

Bombs - 6
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Timetwister
1 Mind's Desire
1 Memory Jar
1 Tinker

Protection - 6
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection

Other - 9
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Time Walk
1 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor

SB: To be determinded after testing...


Now alot of you are thinking, why are you playing Tezzeret over DDS? Tezzeret wins in 2 turns as DDS wins in 3. You also don't have to rely as much about tutoring up Tinker and having it resolve to get DDS into play. Tezzeret also allows this deck to win through Null Rod because of it's last ability. Also with the aid of all the mana excel, Tezzeret could be played turns 1-3 easily with the help of the 6 pitch spells to protect him.

I'm interested to hear what you al have to say.

I find Vial way to slow in the environment these days. I've had a lot of success with Goblins in Vintage and strongly suggest playing Null Rod main deck as it single handly owns sooo many decks. Here is my team's current list:

Team Supreme Goblins

4 Badlands
2 Volcanic Island
1 Mountain
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

1 Stingscourger
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Skirk Prospector
3 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Earwig Squad

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Ruby
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
3 Null Rod
2 Thoughtseize
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk


Sideboard:

4 Shattering Spree
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Planorvoid/Extirpate
1 Thoughtseize
1 Gempalm Incinerator

If you are calling playing a 1/3 on turn 1 that doesnt do anything for a turn is the nuts, then the world is going to hell. That happens in type 1 I thought we were all used to this by now.

Every single time an Ophidian hit for the first time I knew I had won the game. He was so good for me on the day. The only game I didn't win with an active phid was when my opponent had a Ninja doing the same thing.

I wasn't splashing Red, only Basics baby! Here's my report:

Mono Blue Control

8 Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Platinum Angel
4 Ophidian (MVP!)

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Negate
2 Mana Leak
4 Impulse
3 Powder Keg
3 Back to Basics
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

Sideboard:
3 Energy Flux
4 Propaganda
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Chalice of the Void


Round 1- vs. Aggro Loam

Game 1- I win role and play a turn 1 Ophidian. I Force his Bob and then cast Back to Basics taking out both his tapped lands. Control the game with Phid's cards from there.
Game 2- He goes basic, Duress taking Back to Basics. I draw Ancestral (how lucky) and play a land and mox. He plays a Countryside Crusher and I Mana Leak it. I don't draw a land so I recall myself and draw: Lotus, Land, Back to Basics (HOW LUCKY!). So I play the 3 cards I drew and shits his pants because he has only 1 basic and 2 non tapped. I play ophidian next turn and lock him out.

1-0

Round 2- vs. Stax

Game 1- I win role and play a Land and Mox. He plays Workshop, Sphere which meets a Negate. I play Back to Basics and he conceeds.
Game 2- He plays Workshop, Crypt, Vault, Smokestack and Tangle Wire. I don't have force and lose that one.
Game 3- I resolve a Chalice for 0 turn 1 and play a land. He goes Workshop Sphere. I Force it. I go land go. He goes Workshop Triskelion. I Drain it. I go Land, Back to Basics, Tinker and Energy Flux all in one turn. GG.

2-0

Round 3- vs. Staff Combo

Game 1- I counter his first Worker and I tinker for Colossus on turn 2. His turn 2 he plays a second Worker. I attack he's at 5 thanks to Ancient Tomb. He untaps and plays Time Vault, then Voltaic Key! I Negate the Key so then he cycles Street Wraith and ripps Umbral Mantle which combos with Worker. I die to a 1000000000000000000000/1000000000000000000000 Worker.
Game 2- I get 2 Energy Fluxs down and a Back to Basics GG.
Game 3- I draw only 1 Blue source and lose to his 2 Worker draw 1 of which I countered. Heart breaker.

2-1

Round 4- vs. Intuition Tendrils

Game 1- I get a really good draw with a first turn Ophidian. He lays a land and says go. I proceed to lock him out of the game with Ophidian and always 7 cards in hand.
Game 2- I get an even better hand with 3 Forces and a Library on the draw. By turn 3 I draw the 4th Force of Will and resolve a Chalice for 1 and 0. GG

3-1

Round 5- vs. ELVES!!!

Game 1- I have the absolute nuts vs. his deck and win easily:

2x Island
Sapphire
Tinker
Powder Keg
Force of Will
Impulse

Game 2- I mulligan to 5 and lose turn 2 comboy bull shit.
Game 3- I keep a slow hand but I'm on the play:

3 Island
3 Propaganda
Force of Will

I play land. He plays land LElf. I rip a chalice like a champ and lay it for 1. He plays Veridian Zealot and I Force it. I draw a dud and play my first Propaganda and watch him shit his pants. He plays some elves and passes. I draw a Force and I play my second Propaganda and he almost falls out of his chair. He rips another Zealot and I have to use up my 3rd Propaganda to Counter it so he doesn't go nuts after nucing my Chalice. We go draw go with him attacking for 2 each turn. I get to 7 and I draw my 7th land for my Angel. He attacks again and I take going to 5. I rip like a champ again, my 3rd Chalice by this point and lay it for 2. He conceeds as he didn't board in Krosan Grip to deal with the Angel.

4-1

I'm in the clear to top 8 now. Until I get paired down to Worldgorger Dragon which is in 8th with 10 points and has to play. GAY!!!

Round 6- vs. Worldgorger Dragon

Game 1- We basically go draw go for about 12 turns with me having to discard 4 times to missing land drops. He goes off with 8 cards and I can only counter 3 spells because I drew a Lotus the turn before. He casts animate dead and I negate it. He misds, I negate it, he forces it, I mana drain it, he plays another animate and I lose to needing one more land to mana leak it.
Game 2- I resolve a turn 1 Ohpidian and we go draw go again. bad news for him because I am making land drops and always have 7 cards in hand I win to having 2 crypts and an Angel in play with 7 Counters in my hand. SOOO sick.
Game 3- He keeps the combo in again and I get a negate open first turn and a crypt. We go draw go again with him using a bazaar which doesn't help him in the Card advantage department. he loses again for not being able to deal with my counters and crypt.

5-1 and 2nd overall.

Top 8- vs. UR Faeries

This match was literally an abortion. I drew 1 Force of Will and 2 Islands the whole match 1 of which got Stripped. On top of that frustration, he was playing super slow while crushing me and literally had no idea what half the cards in both our decks did. I was having to remind him to hurry up a lot so I could go eat at a really bad serviced Boston Pizza. Oh well at least I got the appatizer free.

Overall I'm very happy with the decks results. Now I just can't wait for Tezzeret to be printed so I can have an even better win condition.

hmmm, interesting card. didn't even knew that card existed. i think this card is good but not better then vamp or seal mainly because of A) the SB plan and B) it doesn't find you Ancestral Recall or a specific combo piece. it may be better then brainstorm and chain of vapor in the deck because it digs and helps the "all in" on the combo game 1 plan. it will have to be tested.

Thanks Cappy. You actually played so you'd know better.

I board out:

WShop Decks:
4 WGD
1 Oona
1 Mulldrifter
3 Read the Runes
3 Necromancy
1 Dance of the Dead
2 Misdirection

If the WShop deck plays Chalice, I keep Necromancy in over Animate Dead so I don't get rolled to Chalice set at 2.

Drain w/B Decks:
4 WGD
1 Mulldrifter
3 Read the Runes
3 Necromancy
1 Dance of the Dead

I keep Oona in so I don't leave myself vulnerable to Extirpate on Hellkite if discarded. I leave the 3rd Chain in the board.

Fish/Ur Landstill Decks:
4 WGD
1 Oona
1 Mulldrifter
3 Read the Runes
3 Necromancy
1 Dance of the Dead

and 15 cards in.

Oath:
4 WGD
1 Oona
1 Mulldrifter
1 Necromancy
1 Dance of the Dead

IN:
4 Bogarden Hellikte
2 Chain
1 Echoing Truth
1 Oath of Druids

I only board in 1 Oath because I can just use there's, plus I can tutor for it if need be. I mainly tutor for Orchards so I can just use theirs. If they don't play their Oath then I animate Hellkite ftw or just find my own Oath.

...sigh, I didn't end up going to the tournament but there were 2 WGDX decks in the top 8. One of them made finals.

I have a Vintage tourney this upcoming weekend so I'll post a tourney report a little after on how I did.

Wow I finally found an email address to allow me on themanadrain.com.

Hey all, my name is Noah Long from Toronto. I'm good friends with Peter O. (dicemanx). Now I can finally add my imput to an archtype I've been playing for ever and love, WGDX.


1) Too much disruption for this deck only slows it down, well at least when you have to pay mana for it. I've found Thoughtseize and Duress were too clunky and actually slowed the deck down by a turn most of the time. I also didn't want to have Thoughtseize especially because of how much the deck already hurts itself. Between DA, Vamp/Seal, Mana Crypt, FOW, Orchard tokens and Fetch lands, this deck doesn't really treat itself with the respect it deserves. Pact of Negation is a card I'd be very uncomfortable playing with. When I go off I think I would always want disruption that allows me to have extra turns just incase I don't go off that turn due to my opponent having more disruption then me. They'll always let PoN resolve then re-counter the relavent, spell killing you on your next upkeep.

2) I would never cut or go lower then 3 Deep Analysis in this deck. It is the reason why Intuition is as powerful as it is in the deck. The Mulldrifter replaced the Entomb because Entomb was very situational. Sure it speeds up the deck a bit but if you had a Dragon or had other Tutors for Dragon, Entomb reads: 1UB lose 3 life; target player draws 2 cards. Kinda bad, when you could just pay 2U; draw 2 cards or pitch it to FOW/MisD. Mulldrifter also solves the wierd situation that Entomb also kinda did, where if you have a Read the Runes in the graveyard and you have Intuition in hand as your only way to get the win condition into the graveyard. When it was Entomb you could Intuition for the other 2 RtR and Entomb for Oona. If Enotmb was already in the graveyard you couldn't win because there wouldn't be 3 cards you could get that could stop the loop. With Muuldrifter it doesn't matter if it's in the graveyard already. You'd just intuiton for Oona and 2 random cards. They give you Oona (obv) then you end loop with Drifter and cast Oona FTW.

3) Imperial Seal is and has been amazing for this build especially with the Oath sideboard. Again it gets everything (obv) especially the 1 Chain main deck for the odd Leyline and or Crypt game 1, Oath after board, it's friend Forbidden Orchard and the 1 Brainstorm to put Hellkites back on top. Yes, I also like how WGDX now has 3 tutor s to Intuition for. Overall: Imperial Seal>Entomb.

4) You are disregarding Misdirection as the 5th-6th FOWs which is what this deck always wants in hand while going off. They also up the turn 2 win %, with back up, because of the lack of mana commitment turn 1. Plus, it's good vs. apposing Thoughtsiezes and you could randomly mise an Ancestral Recall  . It's also great when this build transforms for games 2-3. It again ups the turn 1 Oath % by a fair number. For the match ups where it's dead like Workshops, it shouldn't really matter because it can just be discarded through Bazaar or pitched to FOW. Duress and Thoughtseize are also not very strong vs. Shops due to their infi must counters. Plus on the draw Duress/Thoughtseize are worse then Misdirection because you can't pitch them to FOW. Shops are a good match up anyways. Overall Misdirection improves the Mana Drain match up by a lot by adding more Pitch protection and not slowing you down in the process.

5) fury wrote:

MaskNought only needs 3 manas of any color and 2 cards in the same turn. Moreover, if Phyrexian Dreadnought is bounced, this is not a problem, while if Bogardan Hellkite is bounced, it is lost until discarded or brainstormed.

If Masknought needs 3 mana and 2 cards wouldn't Oath be better and more consistant? Oath only needs 1 card and 2 mana leaving more chance for more protection in your hand. Also If Hellkite is bounced you just Oath out another or just discard and animte the bounced one. Against Fish, they can just swords your 12/12 and just win. With Oath you Wrath their board, gain 5 life then get another Hellkite. Fish can't win if Oath sticks and isn't destroyed.

Anyways that's my 2 cents on WGDX. Good to be on the forums finally and will be back soon to answer more questions. ttyl, Noah