Parfait, my personal build

[MoreFling]

I'm am putting my current decklist of Parfait up for review.
The decklists main purpose is to do well against any deck thrown against it.
Since I play in castricum in the Netherlands, and will be playing in Dulmen
soon enough, I'm interested in your opinions.

The Castricum metagame is very hard to predict. It's full of rogue decks.
In general, you can say there's a lot of Sui Black, Nether void and
Red burn-Sligh decks running around. Even so, there are enough fully powered
decks in the tournament, so especially if you hit the upper tables (which
is where I want, and expect, to be.) you will run into Keeper, and other control
decks. Also some combo decks make an appearence (In general though, there is
not much combo present).

This list is also made for Dulmen in the future. At the moment, as most of
might know through OliverD's site, Dulmen is higly control-based, and TnT heavy.

In the first part here (I'm trying to attempt to write some sort of mini-primer about my deck,
you can judge if it's worthy enough for that title!),
I will discuss the decklist itself, with a card-by-card analysis.
When I find time to write more, I will do a detailed matchup analysis.
I do not feel I need to write up a general strategy part for parfait, since
K-Run already wrote a good primer about it, and although this deck should be played
a little different, I do not feel I made any major changes to the already existing strategy itself.
However, I do feel it is an entirely different list, created with an entirely different metagame
in the limelight for it to be of interest.

So, without further ado, the decklist:

//NAME: Parfait.nl
// Parfait.nl
// Rudy van Soest
// Mana Sources
        1 Strip Mine
        3 Wasteland
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Diamond
        1 Mox Ruby
        2 Mountain
        12 Plains
// Engine
        3 Scroll Rack
        2 Claws of Gix
        4 Land Tax
// Bullets
        1 Karmic Justice
        1 Tormod's Crypt
        3 Aura of Silence
        1 Balance
        2 Humility
        2 Blood Moon
        2 Story Circle
// Utility
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        1 Soldevi Digger
        2 Replenish
        4 Orim's Chant
        4 Swords to Plowshares
        3 Argivian Find
// the Kill
        2 Sacred Mesa
// Sideboard
SB:  4 Abeyance
SB:  2 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  1 Moat
SB:  1 Replenish
SB:  1 Planar Birth
SB:  1 Jester's Cap
SB:  1 Ivory Mask
SB:  1 Wrath of God
SB:  1 Seal of Cleansing
SB:  1 Cleansing Meditation
SB:  1 Blood Moon

In case you don't know all the cards by heart, I have made clickable links in my card-by-card analysis, for your reading pleasure. (For now, I only did it with the cards that are in the deck. I did not edit the arguments for the same effect. On request, I will make some time to do so.)

For an unpowered version:
Replace 1 Mox Ruby with 1 Mountain
Replace 1 Mox Pearl with 1 Plains
Replace 1 Black Lotus with 1 Lotus Petal (yes, I know how that sounds...)
You can leave Mox Ruby out since it is the 61st card, and
I feel 2 mountains are enough for 2 blood moons.

First, a few statistics for the people who like that (exluding the sideboard)

This deck has 23 Mana Sources (18 lands), 0 creatures, and 38 spells (43 including non-land mana sources)
It has 29 white cards, 2 red cards, and 12 artifacts to go along with the 18 lands.
Mana Curve:
0-1 : 24
1-2 : 05
2-3 : 10
3-4 : 04

This accounts for an avarage casting cost of 1,70.
You need white mana for 35,62% of the cards
You need red mana for 1,37% of the cards
You need colerless mana for 45,21% of the cards.

After using a statistical analysis program on the deck, this is what it comes
up with:

Muligan information:
  Number of lands in start hands:
   0 Land(s): 5 times (5%)
   1 Land(s): 21 times (21%)
   2 Land(s): 38 times (38%)
   3 Land(s): 21 times (21%)
   4 Land(s): 9 times (9%)
   5 Land(s): 6 times (6%)
   6 Land(s): 0 times (0%)
   7 Land(s): 0 times (0%)

  Number of start hands w/o 1-st drops: 6 (6%)
  Number of start hands w/o 1-st and 2-nd drops: 2 (2%)

I ran the program several times, and found these values were very close.
For the starting hands I assumed a full randomisation of the cards.

Since this is probably enough statistics for one post, I'll fast forward to
the card to card analysis

Mana Sources:

3 Wasteland
Even though blood moon is in the deck, I still play 3 of these. I think
it is a very good card to start off with, to buy you some time. Obviously you
cannot use this to capitalize on some sort of mana screw of your opponent, but
it might just buy you enough time to play your defensive spells, and take control.
Later on, when Blood moon is in play, I guess it's just another mountain,
although it's unfetchable. Playing 2 does not give enough chance to draw one
in the first 7 or 8 cards. It can also get rid of a pesky Library of Alexandria,
or an annoying and potentially lethal Tolarian Academy.

1 Strip Mine
This actually has the same explenation as Wasteland. What more can I say?

The Artifact Mana
I feel this is a no-brainer, since acceleration is a good thing when trying
to get bullets into play, and lock down your opponent/gain control of the game.

2 Mountains
As I said above, I play 2 Blood Moons, and with the Land Tax engine, I feel
I have enough possibilities to draw into mountains whenever I would need one.

12 Plains
I'm not sure the number is right, 13 might actually be better. This is quite
honestly a point I'm still debating. Still, statisticly, 12 plains is enough.

The Engine:

3 Scroll Rack
There has been a lot of debate on what the right number is. 2 is probably enough
in an aggro-heavy field, but in a more controllish metagame, I think you need
that 3rd scroll rack. The combo can be vital against any control deck based on
card advantage, since you out-advantage them. It can also allow you to have your
first rack countered, and next turn just force through your second.
Also, even without (a working) land tax, this can grant you access to some
much-needed defensive spells that can save your game.

2 Claws of Gix
For a long time, 2 Zuran Orb have been a staple in many parfait decks, and for
a good reason. It's the most perfect combo part to go with Land Tax, and can
stall Weenie-Aggro strategies to no extent. However, against control, it can
only activate Land Tax. Unfortunately, Cunning Wish sees more play everyday, and
expecially with Keeper playing Allay, and other blue-based decks siding Capsize,
you need an option to stop their buyback recursion from wrecking your game,
since Allay alone will almost certainly singlehandedly make you lose the game.
The same definately goes for Capsize, which can be even more annoying.
You lose some power against Aggro, but we all know parfait has ample ways to
handle aggro-decks.

4 Land Tax
"I'm just a boy, and you're just a girl, Can I be any more obvious?"
Simple conclusion: You NEED this.

The Bullets:

1 Karmic Justice
For me, this is a definate sideboard card, that I moved to the maindeck.
Obviously, decks tend to try and destroy your silver bullets, and continue with
their original game plan, and own you. This enchantment can give them a real
tought job, since if they try and take out the bullet they need to take out, you
get to destroy something valueable they have.
Kegs will not be used lightly against you, for instance, and Mass removal is essentially
a thing of the past with this gem in play. You will not fear Nevy's Disk, since
why would they give you a chance to destroy all their lands?
When talking anti-destruction, this is as good as it gets.

1 Tormod's Crypt
This is also mostly a card oriented to give control some pain. It singlehandedly stops
Yawgmoth's WIN, and in my experience, it will seldom get countered. It's
easily recurrable with Finds, and can stop combo decks that abuse the graveyard,
like re-animator, or worldgorger. It is also very good against TimeTwister in
the control matchup ofcourse.

3 Aura of Silence
This card is one of the most important bullets, since it is so very versatile.
It can annoy Tubbies to no extent, destroy valuable combo-pieces and stall combo decks
for various turns for you to play other live saving bullets. It can also get rid of
Pesky enchantments or artifacts lying in your way to victory, and can be recurred
with Find and Replenish. I absolutely love this card.

1 Balance
In my opinion, this is the best card in the game. It can turn games upside-down,
the other-way around, you name it. It can save your life against any creature-based
strategy, or .... we all know the possibilities of the most broken card in magic.
I'm not trying to start a debate on wether this is true or not, but this is just
my personal opinion. In any deck with a white mana source in T1, this great card
will be played.

2 Humility
For a long time, the 2 bullets especially aimed at hurting creatures was 1 Humility,
to stop the utility creatures, and 1 Moat, to stop the attacking creatures.
These 2 cards, however, do not have great synergy together, and should actually
not be in the same deck. Another problem with Moat is that Wonder can beat it, and
Morphling obviously has no problem getting around the card. This is why I've chosen
to go for 2 Humility, and have moved the Moat to the sideboard. The main reason
why I am willing to side the moat in against aggressive creature-strategy is the
claws of gix in the deck. Now you no longer have to use one of your auras to get your
horde to the dome of your opponent, you can just sacrifice the Moat (I have found
that I generally need the humility more.) and start beating around. Although the
humility might not always save you, since there's still 1/1's knocking on your door,
it is definately more playable then Moat. A little Morphling-hate has never hurt
anyone, I guess.

2 Blood Moon
Already, there have been a lot of threads about why this card is good, and against what decks.
I'll quicly summarize: It can stop the evergroing embracement of the new fetchlands, and
it singlehandedly stops decks like TurboNevyn, and is usually the gamebreaker against
decks like Tubbies and Keeper, who are mainly based on duals and fetchers, so it will
only leave them with their artifact mana available. And what card do we use to
hate that out? Right, My pet card, Aura of Silence.

2 Story Circle
A whole thread has lately been started about Ivory Mask in parfait. You think,, what
does this have to do with Story Circle? Well, personally, I moved the Ivory Mask to the
sideboard in favour of the Story Circle, since I feel they almost achieve the same effect.
Mask is more mana-expensive to get into play, which is to slow for decks like Academy.
Story Circle is just as capable of stopping Sligh like Ivory Mask is, and Story Circle
is just the perfect Aggro-hate card (Tubbies and Mask excluded). Also, it will give
Turbonevyn a run for it's money.

Utility:

1 Enlightened Tutor
This tutor can fetch just about everything in the deck you could ever need (with the
notable exclusion of Balance). This card is a must-have, as it is your only tutor.
I have thought about splashing black for parfait to add tutor capabilities and maybe
some Abyss, but after seeing Blood Moon perform against keeper, I think it's enough.

1 Soldevi Digger
This can recurse all your good spells to use them again, or even better, recurse your basic
lands so you can tax em up again. Basicly, this almost never gets countered or destroyed,
and is a very important part of the deck. I have tried Words of Worship in it's place
because I thought the life could help, and the replenishability (yay, I just made up
a word!) is better, but found out, that even with the Tax-Rack engine on the table,
you will lose anyway. Soldevi Digger is just plain simple better.

2 Replenish
The other favourite in the deck. I'm always happy to draw into it, since I can use it
in a usefull way just about anytime I draw it. It can totally hammer any deck if it
resolves, and is a pain in the ass for control, which just spent a lot of cards and
effort into preventing your threaths and solutions from hitting the table, and voila,
if this comes through, there they are again! I am playing 2 of those especially for
the anti-control reason, but also because I am only running 3 finds now. 3 Replenish is
something I cannot find the room in the deck for, but I also think it is just too much, since
in a game, you usually only need 1 to completely screw the opponent over, again
Against control however, it cannot hurt that much, but that's why I can side one in
if I feel the need to do so. I guess 2.5 is the right number (hey, 2.5 scroll rack as well.
@wizards: Cant' you print a new Split-Card in Legions/Scourge ? )

4 Orim's Chant
I have stood a long time with my Abeyances maindeck, and chants in the sideboard, since
I felt the prohibiting of activated abilities, and the cantrip were simply superiour to
the Chant. Lately, however, after more and more playtesting, I found out that I generally
lack the mana to play AND the abeyance, AND force an important threath through in
tough Keeper/control/combo matchups, and also, now that I have taken out some anti-aggro
cards in favour of control cards, the "TimeWalk" effect Chants has on Aggro is certainly
good enough to replace the Abeyance.

4 Swords to Plowshares
The best spot-removal ever created. I am playing 4 because I want something rightaway
against Mask, TnT, and it's also very good against Dragon, although that doesn't see
that much play in Castricum. I also tested playing with 3 Swords and 1 Wrath, and found
that I in general need the swords more then the wrath. I think there's nothing that can
convince me to take out a plow again.

3 Argivian Finds
I had to cut something for the second blood moon, and this was it. I still would like to
put in the 4th Find again, but I'm just not sure what to take out. The reason why I took
out the 4th find was because during playtesting, I found myself drawing into 2 finds a lot
of times, when I did not really need them. Since I'm also running 2 Replenish and 1 more Plenish
in the sideboard, I feel that 3 Finds is enough. If I wanted to cut anything for the 4th find, I
think I'd cut the Mox Ruby, since that's not really that important in this deck, it's just
nice acceleration.

The Kill:

2 Sacred Mesa
ph34r the Pegasus horde! 2 is clearly enough for the long game control strategy that
parfait employs. Also, in general, you don't even need to play this for the opponent
to concede.

Sideboard:

Here comes the hard part. Normally, this is very metagame decisive, but I've tried to make
a sideboard for this 'article' that could fare well in a mixed meta, so with the possibility
of any deck sitting in front of you, ready to be served a beating by flying horses.

4 Abeyance
This comes in against Combo, and usually against control. In general, the swords to
plowshares get taken out, pending on the type of control and the type of combo.
This can stall Combo long enough for you to play your bullets against them, or can
annoy control to no extent, and force through your threaths.

2 Tormod's Crypt
Although I personally will most likely only run 1 in my next Castricum tournament, I feel
that in a more combo-ish enviroment, you could definately use the 2nd crypt in the sideboard,
making this your 3rd crypt overall. It might seem a bit like overdoing it, but it can
shut down a graveyard abusing deck completely. It's just great in those matchups.

1 Moat
Now that I'm running Claws of Gix, it's less of a problem to play this alongside Humility.
This comes in against just about any Aggro deck I encounter, and I'm very happy with it.
Pending the aggro, blood moon usually gets taken out, or against TnT the Story Circle.

1 Planar Birth
Although I don't side this in very often, I still like to keep it in my sideboard for
random LD-decks, LegionLandLoss (which is probably a joke, but who knows:p) or a black deck
where I feel I need it. It might not be an optimal choice, but for the moment, I'm sticking to it.

1 Jester's Cap
If it comes through against any control or combo deck, or the mirror, you can almost certainly say
you are going to win. This card is just that amazing. The only problem with it, is to effectively play it,
you need 6 mana in play, which is just too much against the decks its really good against.
Still, after sideboarding, when you have a lot of extra stalling and control power in the form of mainly
abyeances and plenish, it can be the bomb you need.

1 Ivory Mask
It can stop a lot of cards, but it's mana cost means that it will usually come to late, unless
you have a lotus accompanying it. It has been a long time staple in the deck, and there has been a lot of
discussion about it. You can read about the discussion in detail here.

1 Wrath of God
I am still very doubtfull about having this in the sideboard, since I would really like to move it to the maindeck !
Since I do not own a Mox Ruby at the moment (I sold all my power over half a year ago) I might just consider this card
as the 61st card. If I had to change a card for this with the maindeck, it would probably be Karmic Justice, since
it is not an optimal card in all matchups, but can be a real bomb against control. I feel I don't need this for Morphling-hate
anymore, so all I would use it against is aggro, and maybe, just maybe, against a creature-heavy
control deck (I've seen some u/r and u/b phid-decks packing up to 14 creatures). Also, the high mana cost might just
mean it would come too late. It's also not very synergetic with Finds and Replenishes, which has caused me to
move it to the sideboard. Let me know how you feel about this one in particular!

1 Seal of Cleansing
Sometimes, the Aura is just not good enough. I might chance the 2nd SB Crypt for a 2nd Seal in here as well, just to
be sure I can hate out Combo, and hate out Tubbies and Mask even more.
I couldn't think of a sideboard for parfait without at least one copy of this card present. What else can I say?

1 Cleansing Meditation
This card is meant as Mirror tech, and against a possible encounter with Enchantress. However, I have not tested the
enchantress matchup, since I didn't see an enchantress deck around here since Februari or March. If cooperb thinks this
card wouldn't hurt him, I would like to hear it. It's use against the mirror and against Enchantress is obvious.

1 Blood Moon
Extra non-basic hate, to be sure you can draw it fast against the decks you need it. This 3rd blood moon is the only reason
why I'm thinking about wether or not the 2 mountains are enough, but with all the artifact mana that produces red helping out,
I am sure a 3rd blood moon is very playable.

I hope you like this attempt to write some sort of primer about the deck.
A report about a similar list has recently been posted on TMD, and is written by Cullen Cox.
I read the report just before I finished this primer, and thought it was a very good report.
If you want to read it, click here.

If I get enough positive feedback about my writing skills about this deck, I'll surely write a
detailed matchup-analysis when I find the time (probably after my exams).

If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to post, pm, or email me at Morfling@chello.nl

Thanks for reading, and happy new year !

Rudy van Soest

[TunaBoo]

Does your mana base work out okay? My first concern is that you have a lot of red sources and colorless, but maybe not enough white. I think others only run 1 mountian because of land tax and seem to do okay. But with the maindeck bloodmoons maybe it makes sense.

Second, you don't feel the need for maindeck wrath effects? Humility does enough for you against the aggro rush?

[MoreFling]

Quote (TunaBoo @ Dec. 31 2002,16:08)Does your mana base work out okay? My first concern is that you have a lot of red sources and colorless, but maybe not enough white. I think others only run 1 mountian because of land tax and seem to do okay. But with the maindeck bloodmoons maybe it makes sense.

Second, you don't feel the need for maindeck wrath effects? Humility does enough for you against the aggro rush?

I have did not have any problems in testing yet with running 13 plains (I don't own power anymore, sold all of it).
So technically. to get my real decklist, you have to exclude the Lotus + 2 Moxen, and add 1 plains and lotus petal.

Still, I do not have a problem, also because of the reason you mentioned why 1 mountain is being run : Land Tax.
Basicly, I feel unsecure running just 1 mountain, and feel more safe with 2 of them. Especially after sideboarding against control, and a 3rd blood moon comes in, I want to be sure I can also drop it fast enough without a tax. So I just assume I will draw a red source if need be  

If other people share Tunaboo's view, I'd like to hear arguments on why to run only 1 mountain, other then "just because I play a land tax."
I see the point, and will be testing it.

On your second point, like I said, I do miss the wrath sometimes, but with 2 humility, 2 story circle, and 4 StP, I do very well against most aggro decks.
For Mask and TnT you have 3 additional (recurring) Aura's, and blood moon, which can hurt TnT for their utility.

So far, I can do without it, but might still decide to play 1.
On another note, it's just 1 wrath, and you should not rely too much on cards you only have 1 copy of in your deck (also another reason to play a 2nd mountain).
Technically, you can say Balance and Wrath might qualify for the same effect, thus making Wrath less of a 1-of, but still....

I might just play it as a 61st card in the unpowered version.
The one in the sideboard would then still stay, I think.

[Freddie]

First off... Fantastic decklist and card-by-card analysis!

I love Parfait, and really enjoyed reading the indepth look at why you chose a certain card over another.

Here are my opinions: To lend creedance to these opinions, I have won 3-4 tournaments with Parfait, and gotten to top 4 at least 3 additional times, including a 2nd place finish at a local powercard tourney... but I am by no means an expert

Claw of Gix is a great idea IF cunning wish-> Allay is popular in your area... good call.

I think that with keeper and combo making an appearance at the tourney, that the blood moons are an excellent idea, anbd that 2 is the right number in the maindeck.

IMHO 3 Scroll Rack IS the right number for Parfait. Since you want one rather early, and with disenchant effects/ counter/ hand disruption around, good to not be sol if you loose the 1st one.

Cleansing meditation is an excellent anti mirror/ enchantress tech. Please Note: It is not nearly as good vs the squirelcraft enchantress version though, which to me is a tough matchup.
-------------------

I think that 2 mountains is 1 to many. It may seem nitpicky, but  with ww in allot of the cc of the deck, plus the story circle activation, I just feel that the 1 mountain, 1 Ruby (if you can get it b the time the tourney rolls around) 1 Lotus, and 1 Diamond should be enough, plus the 4 land taxes to fetch it.

I think that it is a big mistake to NOT run Replenish in the maindeck. Replenish allows for you to break a game wide open against control, and discard. If it was me, I would probibly lose the 2nd Humility in favor for 1 replenish, and even consider losing 1 Argivian Find for another... but I think that you need at least 1 of them. (This also gives you an "alternate" way to get a bloodmoon into play w/out casting it)

Aura of silence can be a better card then Seal of cleansing, but the difference in the cc can make a huge difference vs a deck like Mask, WG Dragon, and even the mirror. I always had a hard time fitting 3-4 of them in the maindeck, and usually opted for 1 main (along with 2-3 seals) and 1 in the SB. This is obviously a judgement call for you to make. the turn difference that 2cc and 3cc can make all the difference in the world. Although I do conceed, that if you do get it out vs a combo deck like academy it is WAY better then the Seal of Cleansing, but depending on how fast you get to WW1 casting for the Aura, you may never have the oppertunity to get it out.

Good luck with the deck, and great post... Extreme Vintage worthy?

-Freddie

[MoreFling]

Freddie : Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you like it, since it's my first attempt to write something really serious about it.

I am fully aware of the problems earthcraft / squirrel nest can give me, and am somewhat allowing it. I admit I do not have a solid solution at beating it, other then dropping an aura fast, and not let the combo hit, which is an obvious solution.
Basicly, if the combo hits, all I can hope for is a misplay of the opponent, and a decent balance from me or something similar to that.
an eot Squirrel Horde and then attack would be brutal, and require Chant-tech

About the mountains : Let's assume I don't have the Ruby available, but a lotus petal available, what are your toughts then? (also view the response on Tunaboo)

I am already playing 2 Replenish, and 1 in the side. I assume you overlooked them?

Dragon is not an issue yet around here in Castricum (although I'm not sure about Dulmen), and Mask is not extremely popular either. Even so, when looking solely at Mask, I have 4 StP to help me survive, and also the lone balance. Like I mentioned in the sideboard discussion, I might add a 2nd seal to it, and remove 1 crypt, because dragon is non-existant.
I can see your argument, but Aura is just sooo great against the mirror and any other deck that works enchantment/artifact based, like TnT, and other combo-decks, which I have more chance to be paired against then Dragon, and also more of a chance then against Mask I think.

Hope this clears it up.

The reason I posted in the general forum was because I am under the impression that more people would read it there, thus gathering more responses.
I just figured that out after being very close to pressing the post button in the extreme vintage forum.

[Gabethebabe]

You say that there is a lot of Sui, why is there no Light of Day in SB ? You have a lot of Chanting effects, you might be able to cut some SB Abeyances.

Looking at your decklist and SB I see you have weakened your Sligh matchup a lot by SB Ivory Mask and taking Thran Lens and Ivory Towers out of the side. That remains only Karmic Justice as Anarchy defense and Kramic Justice you have only one in the deck (You will normally Tutor for Story Circle)

[Freddie]

DOH!

I feel foolish about the Replenish oversght.

I thought that I read the list/ post really thuroughly too!

Sorry, My bad.

About the mountains:

How likely are you to get the ruby before the tourney?

If you WILL NOT get it, then I would stick with 2 mountains.

The only reason that I do, is that you do have the 3rd Bloodmoon in the SB.

But it MAY be worth losing the BloodMoon from the SB, and then going to the 1 mountain MD...

I think that you (obviously) need to continue to playtest this, and make that decision for yourself... but that is (probibly) what I would do.
---------

The best plan I can think of against Squirell-Craft is:

1. Getting a strip mine out and not using it, til they are ready to combo, even if they waste your strip, you will still at least get a 2-1 usually.

2. Getting out 1-2 Aura of Silence, but this may prove difficult, so that they have to spend nearly 2 times as much for the comb, and you can kill which ever componentyou need to kill.

3. Sitting on a tormod's crypt, just in cast of them replenishing the combo into play.

4. Trying to Jester's cap them, post SB.

5. Scour tech??... this is not a fabulous idea, but in my local metagame, squirellcraft is a true force to be reconned with, and I never play a deck that does not have a way t deal with the combo in some way.

6. Finally: SB Aura fracture.<-- this one, I know has allot of potential! I use it all of the time in my keeper for that matchup.

In the power card tournament that I placed 2nd in, with Parfait, I lost to a really effective G/w Squirell-Craft deck. going to 3 games, the only game that I won was with the Cleansing Meditation.

I have never actually tried the SB Aura Fracture, but it would help vs the SB, and also vs the squirellcraft matches.

-Freddie

[MoreFling]

@Gabe

Not to sound cocky or anything, but I think I have no problem with Sligh. Granted, Anarchy would hurt me, unless I get a chance to replenish it all back.
Current Sligh running around here has not developed an anti-parfait, or anti-white for that matter, sideboard, in the form of Anarchy.
With all the TnT being played, it does not stand a chance in the metagame.
I think my current solutions can handle sligh good enough.
I am considering adding the Thran Lens though, it's on my "watch list"

About Sui : Light of Day would be 1 sideboard card against 1 certain deck. That's just too bad for me. I like cards that are good against various matchups.
a kicked chant is extremely good against any black deck, and so are Humilitys, Story Circles and Moat, and I have enough of them to give black problems. Seriously though, I would never consider Light of Day for my sideboard.
Castricum is a tournament that can have 70-90 players, and with a lot of black, I mean that there are about 20-25 people playing with swamps.
Karmic Justice is not meant as Anarchy protection, being able to cast it before Sligh Anarchys would be just great

[MoreFling]

@Freddie

hmm, the bloodmoon thing is considerable actually, especially for Castricum, where I might just not need that much Non-Basic hate.
For solutions, I'm more concerned with the ug build OliverD won a tournament with, check it at morphling.de
Scour is too slow to force through the ug counterwall...
Aura Fracture is actually a good card that I haven't tested yet, but I have thought about it. Another way to ditch some lands can never hurt either, so it's very synergetic with parfait as a whole.
Atm, squirrelcraft is not extremely popular in Castricum, it might see more play in Dulmen though.

I'll surely test the 1 mountain build of parfait.

[bebe]

Great primer. I am one of those that has been hosed by Aura of Silence. Razor uses both Auras and Seals in his deck and against my Workshop deck he won 2 -1 and knocked me out of the finals. They are fast enough.

[Necropotenza]

Hi, don't you need more wrath effects in your Parfait? I feel that adding at least 1 copy of it would make a great addition to the deck. I'm unsure that your Story Circles can handle well enough a horde of weenies due to your low count on white mana sources. For this reason I'd cut 1 S.Circle for 1 Wrath. Maybe you can cut your MD Karmic justice for another Wrath. I think you have enough ways to fizzle allay, s.pulse and capsize with 2 claws and 3 auras.
Just my thoughts as a Parfait player

[MoreFling]

@Bebe : Thanks. If you mean TnT by a workshop deck, they sure are fast enough. I played Benjamin Ribbeck with Tubbies first round in a 24k T1 in Monchengladbach, and he couldn't believe what was happining to him (unfamiliar with the archetype parfait? Maybe.) I was thowin in recurring auras, then, when he just found the lyrist, I dropped a humility, and so on and so on and so on...
It wasn't with this exact build (this one is more geared towards control and combo matchups) but all the good stuff I had against him are still in the deck. So I'd feel confident sitting across Tubbies with this build as well.

@Necropotenza: Like I said, I think I could use one more, but in no way will I cut the 2nd Story Circle. It's just that damn good against any combo deck utilizing damage, like TurboNevyn and Pandeburst. Also, the Story Circle is very good against anything that plays with mountains or swamps, since it almost solely can start shutting down their threaths.

You might be right about the karmic judgement, but more and more powder kegs are finding its way into decks, and more and more mass destructions sees play here, which is a good reason to play Justice over Wrath.
Wrath is also not synergetic with Replenish or Find, which is a unfortunately a big "con" for Wrath of God.
Still, I'm trying to squeeze it in.
I think I explained in above reactions why I turned Wrath into a sideboard card, so.....

[Magimaster]

That's a good build Morefling  there's just a couple of things I'd like to question you about it :

- Do you find Karmic Justice main necessary? I've always found it to be dead weight because people board their extra Deeds or Anarchies etc. against you games 2 and 3. It's not that great against buybacking stuff either, unless you have multiples on the board. It's a great card, but I'm not sure if it's main material.

- 4 Argivian finds has always been optimal for me. They just help soo much against so much decks. There's one thing though that I used that made the Finds soo much more potent...I replaced an StP with a Keg. Keg is good because it's not only tutorable, it's also recurrable with finds. Recurring Kegs are a nightmare against so much decks.

- Imo, Wraths are a necessary part of the deck. Parfait is slow by nature, and it's not that hard for an aggro deck to bust out some early beats. Wrath just resets the board for you to take over. Without Wrath, you'll find yourself with your back against the wall.

that's all, it was a pretty good post though, and a good decklist. I would probably just go 1 mountain 1 blood moon main, but that's just me.

[MoreFling]

After reading the comments, i am ammending my decklist in the following way.

+1 Wrath of God
+1 Plains
+1 Argivian Find
-1 Mountain
-1 Blood Moon
-1 Karmic Justice.

This is purely for the Castricum meta. I guess I don't need as much non-basic hate, and it allows me to run a 1 mountain manabase, and increase the plains count at the same time.
This way, the Wrath can find it's way to the maindeck again.
About the Find: This is purely a test consideration for the next couple of days. If I find it to my liking again, I'll keep it this way, and Justice will be in the board, if not, then I will keep 1 justice maindeck, because it's just that good in my opinion.


The sideboard changes the following way:

-1 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Seal of Cleansing
-1 Planar Birth
+1 Blood Moon
-1 Wrath of God
+1 Karmic Justice

These changes reflect the following:
The Crypt for the Seal: As I mentioned in the post, the decks that abuse their graveyard are in extremely low numbers around here, which might be a good reason for me to replace it with a Seal, so that I can board in some extra combo-hate and more TnT/Mask hate in game 2.

The Blood Moon for the Planar Birth: As I mentioned in my card-by-card analysis, Planar Birth doesn't get sided in very often, and to be quite honest, I can't really remember when I sided it in and found it usefull enough (it's only good against mono-black and land-destruction (which is a autowin anyway), so to keep it in just for mono-black, might just not be good enough. Also, if I take the 2nd blood moon out of the main, I surely want to put 2 blood moons in the side, and stick to the orginal sb plan against any deck that uses non-basics.
I wonder if I would still need the 2nd mountain for this SB-plan to work. My instinct says yes, but what do you people think ?
Justice for Wrath : Since I changed these around in the maindeck, I am changing them in the Sideboard.
If I decide to keep one justice maindeck in favor of the 4th find, I might just either move 1 mountain to the SB (to support the moons) or just keep a 2nd Wrath in the sideboard, since I know how good it is, but I have reasoning above why I only have it in the side.

@Magimaster specificly : Read the analysis, and see why I don't think Wrath is a necessary part!

About Keg: Anything that wrecks your own artifacts, is not good enough. Since you're advocating Wrath, why would I need this to "reset" the board?
It comes in to play by turn 2. Then it takes 3 more turns to get 3 counters on it to destroy stuff like Hippies, and 4 more turns to destroy Su-Chis and Juggies.
Your best hope is a sligh deck with all one-drops that you can blow up turn3, or a retarded stompy that you will beat anyway. Blowing up for 2 is a no-no, since you don't want to ruin your own rack.
Sure, you can argument that you shouldn't just play rack, but if you did, even without the tax-combo, you could still draw into answers with it.
Keg is a no-no for me, instinctively for sure, and by argument, untill somebody explains me how I am wrong.

[cooberp]

If you've got the Red, Wild Research might be interesting.

[lambosa]

MoreFling:

nice, nice, nice!

A few comments:

How good is the Digger?  I've found it to be pretty marginal, and as my new rule is no less than 2 of any tutorable card in the deck, it's been tentatively axed...

Quote About Keg:
...It comes in to play by turn 2. Then it takes 3 more turns to get 3 counters on it to destroy stuff like Hippies, and 4 more turns to destroy Su-Chis and Juggies
...Keg is a no-no for me, instinctively for sure, and by argument, untill somebody explains me how I am wrong.

I've been playing 2 MD Kegs for a while now, and i've been quite happy with them.  I know that lots of folks don't like it, but here are some things to think about:

1.  You will *very* rarely hit your own stuff with a Keg.  In my experience, if you have the Tax/Rack going, you don't need to blow the Keg to kill that Shade; you already will have a better answer in hand.  Really, the list of scenarios where you are losing a perm is incredibly short.

2.  Speed:  I've gone back and forth about this a bit; a topdecked Keg is just going to be slower than a Wrath.  But again, by the time you have the 4 mana, don't you have better answers anyway?  

Keg is tutorable (ha!), recurrable, easier to force through counters and much more versatile.  It also allows you to use your mana for other things, and play a bit more proactively.  There is a *ton* of synergy with the other cards in the deck, and while there are matchups where the Keg is directly better than Wrath (Ankh Sligh, Mask), I don't know that there are any where I would certainly prefer Wrath...

Thoughts?

[MoreFling]

Quote (cooberp @ Jan. 02 2003,06:44)If you've got the Red, Wild Research might be interesting.

It might be, but I doubt I can find a spot for it in the deck, and be usefull as a 3cc enchantment with a 2cc activation cost, fetching (mostly) a 3cc or 4cc enchantment, and having chances of it being discarded.
Sure, I can plenish it back into play, but I doubt it will be usefull as a 1-of.
If I wanted to play it I think I would need to build the whole deck around it a little more, and then it could be usefull.

[Mace]

I guess to compare here is my build:

//NAME: Parfait Deck 1.0
// Other Spells
        4 Swords to Plowshares
        2 Wrath of God
        1 Balance
        4 Argivian Find
        4 Orim's Chant
        2 Replenish
        1 Enlightened Tutor
// Enchantments
        4 Land Tax
        1 Seal of Cleansing
        1 Blood Moon
        2 Story Circle
        1 Sacred Mesa
        2 Aura of Silence
        1 Moat
        1 Humility
// Artifacts
        1 Soldevi Digger
        3 Scroll Rack
        1 Tormod's Crypt
        2 Zuran Orb
// Mana
        1 Mox Diamond
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Library of Alexandria
        3 Wasteland
        1 Strip Mine
        12 Plains
        1 Mountain
// Sideboard
SB:  2 Light of Day
SB:  1 Aura of Silence
SB:  2 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  1 Jester's Cap
SB:  2 Abolish
SB:  2 Abeyance
SB:  1 Blood Moon
SB:  1 Ivory Mask
SB:  2 Karmic Justice
SB:  1 Replenish

What I'm currently testing and why:

1. 1 main deck blood moon (I moved Ivory Mask to the SB) - I wanted to test Blood Moon main deck and Ivory Mask seemed to be the best thing to take out.  Do you guys agree?  It really only helped against slighs burn, and I feel that screwing Keeper's mana base is better than preventing them from Stroking me to death .  Advice would be appreciated.

2. 1 Humility/1 Moat - My meta is made up of a LOT of Sui and occasionally Sligh, so I'm debating about using 1 Moat and 1 Humility.  This will probably go back to 2 Humility, though.

3. Only 1 Sacred Mesa - I haven't found a need for 2.  If anyone could point out why two would be better, I would appreciate it.

4. 2 Zuran Orb - NO one plays Cunning Wish or Allay/Shattering Pulse in my area.  Go figure.

[MoreFling]

@Lambosa

The Digger is great for the purposes mentioned in the card-by-card analysis. Other then that, it's not much of a great card, but it can dig back answers, and dig back basic land, but in the early and mid-game, I'll admit it's only half usefull if you have the tax-rack thing going on solidly.
In the long game, ofcourse, you will be winning the decking-race.

About the Keg: Those are some nice arguments I was waiting for. I'm surely adding the Keg to my "watch/test"-list, but in no way will I consider it for the upcoming tournament (5th of januari). I probably need to find out what I can ditch for it, and how to exactly play with it,and that sort of things. Moreover, Keg is just another card against aggro, against which I feel I'm already packed against enough. Wrath actually resets the board if I can force/stall it through in time, and will probably stop the aggro deck for more then one turn, for as keg, might just lighten up the pain for me for 1 or at best 2 turns!
But I'll take into consideration.

@Mace-
That actually looks a lot like a list I used to play before I completely fine-tuned it into the list I am playing today.
Since you have a more aggro-filled meta then me, It seems like a fine list.
You can probably dig up the thread about Ivory Mask in parfait in the vintage forum, so you can read there how I, and most of us, feel about it.
I think Blood moon is just what parfait needed, the perfect Keeper-hate card.
Even though you don't see a lot of cunning-wish hate, you definately should chance zorb to Claws of Gix if you want to run 1 humil / 1 moat. It's really a fine choice in an aggro metagame! I would run it if I didn't hate 1-of's so much in this deck. The problem is that if I draw one, I might just want the other, and vice versa, which is why I have chosen for the more usefull Humility.
If I were you, I'd take out 1 Wrath (see reasoning above) and add 1 Humility, and you'd be fine against aggro decks.
If you see a lot of Ank-sligh and Mask, add Kegs like lambosa suggested. This way you are fully packed to deal with you aggro-matchups in question.
Another reason to play Gix is you can obviously sac your Moat when you have Moat and humil in play, so you don't have to waste your aura/seal, which is what you would need to do. I really like running 3 auras, since they are good against just about anything in T1 at the moment, but I guess if you cannot find the room, it's ok.
The reason for the second mesa is a bit far-fetched, but basicly, you CAN actually drop it if you need it fast (for a recurring chumper for Morphling for instance?)
This is to increase the odds of drawing into one without tax-rack and tutor. YOu might actually want to finish some games


That's all for now, since I have to be somewhere.

Keep the good stuff coming!

[Magimaster]

Quote (MoreFling @ Jan. 02 2003,00:54)About the Keg: Those are some nice arguments I was waiting for. I'm surely adding the Keg to my "watch/test"-list, but in no way will I consider it for the upcoming tournament (5th of januari). I probably need to find out what I can ditch for it, and how to exactly play with it,and that sort of things. Moreover, Keg is just another card against aggro, against which I feel I'm already packed against enough. Wrath actually resets the board if I can force/stall it through in time, and will probably stop the aggro deck for more then one turn, for as keg, might just lighten up the pain for me for 1 or at best 2 turns!
But I'll take into consideration.

The Kegs are actually pretty good against control and combo as well. In fact, it's one of those cards you pray to draw against Academy (your worst matchup by far).

Keg also ensures your opponent won't get the better of you when you pull some Balance/Zorb tricks, nailing their arti-mana before hand. Against a lot of decks, Balance/Zorb combo is just a game ender. You have to be careful with the timing though, or keep that Zorb in hand before you pop the keg.

About suggesting which card to cut for it, I've cut an StP for it. I put the 4th StP in the sideboard. It's working okay, but I feel kind of naked with only 3 StP's main.

[Mace]

My meta is very weird.  Think of what the meta was like 5 years ago , and that is what most of the decks are like.  The Keeper decks all have green and use Tomes (the tap 4 colorless and draw a card artifact) as their drawing engine.  None of them use fetch lands to their full potential (to my knowledge) and there is no BBS.  The only combo deck that is there on a regular basis is dragon, but Parfait laughs at that matchup anyway.  Additionally, there is no such thing as Mask, TnT, Gro, etc.  The only rogue deck is some weird who took a set of Beta power and put it into a T2 turbo life game deck (he tries to deck you with stasis and howling mine , and the deck is over 200 cards).

What I'd like to fit is is another Sacred Mesa for testing, but I'm not sure what to take out.

[MoreFling]

A meta with no mask, gro and tnt. Wow !

I really don't see how parfait just laughs at dragon. Sure, you have a lot of hate for it, and I haven't exactly seen a dragon deck working yet, but people here seem to think it's quite powerfull with an easy turn 2/3 combo, and you'd better have the swords ready, alongside a chant

Keg isn't actually that good against academy, since it hardly hurts them. If it goes off for 0, it will destroy a few moxen at best. That won't stop them. Aura of Silence stops them.

Balance/Zorb is a dangerous thing. Balance is not always countered by the control player if it's just for a few cards/lands, but if you start sacking, when you're done, they'll counter it.

That will leave you losing the game.
I will never ever sac without a good reason, and never to 0 lands unless I have 2 moxen out and a Tax.

I'm not playing without 4 stp's again, so if I were to cut anything, I'd cut the wrath, since the arguments seem to suggest it would fit my reason why I don't like wrath anymore, and why I should like Keg. (more synergy, with more or less the same effect).

Also, I'm not playing Zorb anymore, and I'm really liking the claws. The manacost and lesser life doesn't hurt me very often.

[MoreFling]

For reference, this is the list I am using tomorrow.

//NAME: Parfait.nl
// Parfait.nl
// Rudy van Soest
// DCI: 81175436
// Mana Sources
        1 Strip Mine
        3 Wasteland
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Diamond
        1 Lotus Petal
        2 Mountain
        13 Plains
// Engine
        3 Scroll Rack
        2 Claws of Gix
        4 Land Tax
// Bullets
        1 Wrath of God
        1 Tormod's Crypt
        3 Aura of Silence
        2 Powder Keg
        1 Balance
        2 Humility
        1 Blood Moon
        2 Story Circle
// Utility
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        2 Replenish
        4 Orim's Chant
        4 Swords to Plowshares
        4 Argivian Find
// the Kill
        2 Sacred Mesa
// Sideboard
SB:  3 Abeyance
SB:  1 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  1 Moat
SB:  1 Replenish
SB:  1 Jester's Cap
SB:  1 Ivory Mask
SB:  1 Soldevi Digger
SB:  1 Wrath of God
SB:  1 Seal of Cleansing
SB:  1 Cleansing Meditation
SB:  2 Blood Moon
SB:  1 Karmic Justice

I decided I wanted to bluntly "test" the keg at the tournament. I'm not sure wether I like it yet or not, but why not just try it out there.
The deck currently is 61 cards, which isn't a real problem.
A decision I will be making during the ride to Castricum is:
A) Keep 61 cards and leave the deck like this.
B) Take out the Wrath of God, since I'm playing Kegs, I might not need it that badly anymore.
C) Take out 1 mountain, add a plains, take out 1 blood moon from the sideboard, move 1 Story Circle to the sideboard.

Opinions can be sms-ed to +31613405066  

Basicly, I'm like this :
A) 60%
B) 25%
C) 15%

So I've made up my mind pretty good, but oh well....

[MoreFling]

Just a few quick thoughts after my tournament.

I didn't play a single control deck      
Also, apart from one Miracle Grow deck, I didn't play a serious T1 deck either.
I just got fucked by my card drawing, and drew land after land after land. Who needs land tax?
I just had a major off day  

Anyway, a few things : I'm definately going back to 3 finds again. They just ended up in my hand too many times.
Wrath was actually nice enough as a 1-of, and the second in my sideboard actually came in a lot of the times.

KEGS SUCKS. I cannot stress this enough. I haven't used it to my advantage once today. screw kegs!

I sided in Moat rather often, and now that I play Claws of Gix, it seems like I might just have to return one to the maindeck.
Story circle is good enough as a 1-of, I wasn't happy at all with the second one.

I was happy with using 2 mountains, since 1 is just dangerous  

that's it for now, I'm tired.

later.

[Necropotenza]

I'm happy to see you reconsider the strenght of wraths and letting in the MD Moat. I think it's also very good to run only one story circle.
Now your deck is almost the same as mine, but I only run 1 mountain.
By the way, if you had any interesting matchup I'll be very happy to see a mini-coverage of it so I can learn how other parfait players play the deck.

[MoreFling]

I didn't take enough notes this time to actually cover anything, nor did I play against a deck that I would normally consider the gauntlet.
Also, I had an extreme off-day.

[Pimpz0r]

I only recently decided to get back into Vintage, after a long break.  On my initial return, I made a decision to only play Standard, but Iuewen convinced me otherwise, so here I am.

A few things before I start spewing out my ideas. I play in a fairly weak meta, which I am working very hard to repair, as it rapidly declined in the year following my departure.  I don't own any power, so whatever build I use will be unpowered, in a field of unpowered decks, at least until I can trade for the required components.

I have done a little playtesting online, and done some testing with Iuewen, and I have a few questions.

I have seen a few conflicting ideas about what mana base to use.  It makes sense to me to run as few non-basics as you can, due to your own Land Tax and Blood Moon, as well as all the non-basic hate other decks use.  Many builds I notice use Serra's Sanctum, stating it gives the deck too much speed not to use.  How do you feel about this?  Also, would you use Library of Alexandria?

Claws of Gix.  A great deal of the people I have spoken to about the choice between Claws and Zuran Orb say the Orb is superior.  Is this a decision you should base purely on your meta?

Wrath of God.  Most builds i've seen use 2 or more.  Why only 1?

Seal of Cleansing.  What made you decide a Seal was better than a 3rd Aura of Silence?

The Moats and Grindstone seem a little unnecessary to me.  You stated the importance of being able to drop a bomb on turn 4 against aggro, how many times have you noticed the Moats as actually being needed?

[MoreFling]

Pimp, I'm taking all these issues into account when I'm working on an update (which I'm currently in the process of). This thread is ancient enough to not provide enough discussion material in my opinion, unless I start over again anyway.
So that's what I'll do.

[MoreFling]

In light of things to come, and the fact that this thing is pretty out of date already, I'm closing this.