[Deck] Bruce Lee (A decent way to beat Fish and Tog)

[leviat]

What you are about to witness is the evolution of a deck once called "The Weirding". The deck is extremely straight forward which is probably why it actually has a chance of winning in today's slower and controllish metagame. So far, I have found the most difficult matchup to be Slavery, which should help explain the sideboard. Anyways, on to the goods...

Bruce Lee - Enter the Dragon Leviat (June 15th, 2004)
A product of Team Fringe.

Combo - 7
2 [card]Form of the Dragon[/card]
1 [card]Solitary Confinement[/card]
4 [card]Replenish[/card]

Search / Tutor - 11
4 [card]Intuiton[/card]
4 [card]Bazaar of Baghdad[/card]
3 [card]Careful Study[/card]

Draw - 6
4 [card]Deep Analysis[/card]
1 [card]Ancestral Recall[/card]
1 [card]Fact or Fiction[/card]

Control - 8
4 [card]Mana Drain[/card]
4 [card]Force of Will[/card]

Utility - 4
3 [card]Squee, Goblin Nabob[/card]
1 [card]Time Walk[/card]

Mana - 24
4 [card]Tundra[/card]
4 [card]Flooded Strand[/card]
4 [card]Island[/card]
2 [card]Plains[/card]
5 Moxen
1 [card]Sol Ring[/card]
1 [card]Mana Crypt[/card]
1 [card]Lotus Petal[/card]
1 [card]Black Lotus[/card]
1 [card]Library of Alexandria[/card]

Sideboard
3 [card]Seal of Cleansing[/card]
3 [card]Aura of Silence[/card]
3 [card]Exalted Angel[/card]
3 [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card]
1 [card]Zurs Weirding[/card]
1 [card]Future Sight[/card]
1 [card]Disenchant[/card]

Notes / Comments

Card Choices
[card]Form of the Dragon[/card] - I chose this card as I found that it often acts as a one card answer to most of the threats that exist out there. It deals with all non-flying aggro as well as being able to hold off today's top angels, Platinum and Exalted.

[card]Solitary Confinement[/card] - As kl0wn pointed out to me, it's the one card answer to almost every deck out there, This card by itself can be the ultimate lockdown against your opponent. While you might immediately sigh at the negergy between Confinement and Deep Analysis, one must remember that you only keep this card in play if you need it. (It's also an excellent compliment to Form of the Dragon).

[card]Intuition[/card] - This card has remained unrestricted for too long. It's one of the only remaining instant speed tutors that Smmenen hasn't ruined yet, so everyone had better start taking advantage of it.

How to Win
The basis of how the decks wins is stupid simple. Put Form of the Dragon into play as quickly as possible, and if needed, include Solitary Confinement. It's actually quite fascinating at just how many decks will lose to a Form (Aggro, Psychatog, Grow, etc) and when you include Solitary Confinement, that's pretty much game.

Zur's Weirding has been moved to the sideboard to be brought in against combo and hate decks. This allows for double Forms of the Dragons which is useful when using Intuition and for a faster kill. Words of Worship has been wiped completely as it no longers offer any use. Thanks to Form of the Dragon, you can actually gain the life needed to activate Zur's consistently which will prevent your opponent from find answers.

It really does beat Fish and Tog.
I built this deck as a way to answer random decks while staying strong against two of today's top decks, Fish and Tog. It is good against Fish because it has a stronger control-base allowing it to force through the Replenish. Once Form has resolved, the Fish player has very little they can do to break out of the lock.

While Tog is always an uphill battle, I have found that thanks to the powerful Drawing power of Bazaar and Deep Analysis, the Tog player must act quickly or they will be overwhelmed by pure card advantage.

Room for Improvement
... This deck has been sitting stangant in the Fringe archives and as Smmemen would say, I think it's time to Open Source it.

Edits:
- Swapped the Windfall for Fact or Fiction.

[rvs]

I just quickly read your post, and I would think Circular Logic would probably fit ok in here. You can start Bazaaring without having to wait for UU in order to actually stop something.

The REAL question ofcourse is, why won't you just go for a PandeBurst kill? It wouldn't really change *that* many slots, and it kills rightaway. If you are going to take the trouble of replenishing something into play, and you want to win a tournament, you'd better be winning straightaway when resolving replenish. This also brings me to a sidenote that with Logic, you only need 3WU to go off, instead of 3WUU.

Just some on-paper thinking from my side.

[Matt]

I actually thought of that, posted it, and then deleted the post - because I realized that a smart opponent will not let your Intuiton put both pieces in the graveyard, so you still have work to do beyond Intuition/Replenish.

[leviat]

PandeBurst could be shoved into this deck simply by replacing the two Form of the Dragons. My main reason for not running it is because it essentially turns the deck from a two card combo to a three card combo.

I felt that Form of the Dragon was a simpler means to the same end, albeit sacrificing speed for redundancy. Besides the obvious fact that you are less suspectable to graveyard hate, you can deal with problems such as Platinum Angel and Exalted Angel (either of which could force you to have to Replenish PandeBurst twice).

Another advantage (although somewhat trivial) is that Form of the Dragon can combo with Zur's Weirding (in the sideboard) for an alternative means of killing your opponent giving the deck a little more diversity.

[Grand Inquisitor]

I know this may come off as smarmy, but if the purpose is to beat Fish and Tog, what advantages does this have over Dragon?

The only thing you're really missing is Mana Drain.

With so few copies of your win condition it doesn't seem that relying on Intuition early game against aggro and combo would make this deck any faster than dragon.

Granted the draw engine is much better, but there is also the fact that you only have 4x replenish vs 7-9 animate spells.

Besides, against control I think its clear Xantid is superior to mana drain.

Its really hard to tell how the sideboard would affect certain matchups, and its obviously a huge part of the strategy, so please correct me if I'm completely off here.

[Hi-Val]

No Brainstorms makes baby Jesus cry. I'd really suggest finding room for them.

Otherwise, I find that Bargain is the best compliment to Form that exists. Nine cards a turn ain't bad. Probably overkill in this deck though.

[rozetta]

Just out of interest, you have a Windfall in the deck. I see the synergy with Squee, but did it test better than Fact or Fiction, considering you're running quite a few counters?

Also, I notice you have no Cunning Wish there.  I'm not sure if that would put too much strain on your mana curve, but Cunning Wish could allow you to run a few neat tricks in the side such as 1 Intuition, FoF, Misdirection and perhaps something like Frantic Search or Mystical Tutor, plus the usual answers like StoP, Stifle and Disenchant.

I suppose these changes would make the deck more 'control' and less 'combo'. Especially with the rise of Crucible/Strip (ouch, Intuition would be good with that), speed is probably more important than resilience, so possibly my suggestions would be the wrong way to go.

[Kowal]

We had Cunning Wish in here at one point.  It was pretty slow, and the only thing we ever got with it was a plow or a disenchant.

Considering the decks in the environment right now don't seem to care very much about plow, that leaves us with disenchant.

I've been maindecking one Seal of Cleansing.  It's pretty easy to find when you need it, and almost never dead.  It's a nice thing to accidentally find against workshop (which is much more winnable now that they run Titan instead of Slaver) and it's a nice thing to accidentally find if, say, your opponent has deed and is about to ramp up to fifty mana to kill your Form.

[leviat]

I just quickly read your post, and I would think Circular Logic would probably fit ok in here. You can start Bazaaring without having to wait for UU in order to actually stop something.

I wanted to fit Circular Logic into this deck so very badly. Unfortunately, without efficient instant-speed discard spells, it really can't support them (Bazaar is the only way you could cast it with Madness). Logic also doesn't work well with Replenish because you still need to have your combo in the graveyard when you announce Replenish (otherwise the opponent has no need to counter it).

I know this may come off as smarmy, but if the purpose is to beat Fish and Tog, what advantages does this have over Dragon?

I find that this deck has a few advantages over Dragon.

- The first and foremost advantage is that the combo is not as hateable as Dragon. Dragon can lose to a lot of random hate because it relies on a creature rather than a enchantment.

- There is no severe drawback if your combo fails. Worst case scenenario you have to dig for another Replenish where in Dragon you have to rebuild your entire board. (And Xantid Swarn cannot stop a Seal of Cleansing).

- Two color manabase instead of three colors making you less succeptable to Wastes.

- It's a much easier deck to play than Dragon.

With so few copies of your win condition it doesn't seem that relying on Intuition early game against aggro and combo would make this deck any faster than dragon.

This deck is not as fast as Dragon nor will it ever be. It's not meant to be a super fast combo deck, but instead a redundant and slower combo. But it is fast enough to handle Aggro and thanks to the control elements, it can survive the first few turns of most lightning fast combo decks.

Granted the draw engine is much better, but there is also the fact that you only have 4x replenish vs 7-9 animate spells.

Long only had one Tendrils and three Burning Wishes but it still managed to do pretty good. But all joking aside, the four Replenishes are very easy to find and should always be enough unless you attempt risky Replenishes.

Its really hard to tell how the sideboard would affect certain matchups, and its obviously a huge part of the strategy, so please correct me if I'm completely off here.

Typically I would say that a sideboard is metagame dependant but I'd be happy to comment on the choices I listed above.

Seal of Cleansing / Aura of Silence - These come in against the multitude of Workshop decks that seems to exist out there. Incidentally they work well against Dragon or the mirror match.

Exalted Angel - I like to bring these in against control. They also come in against any random aggro deck (Fish, Sligh, Stompy) since it's very easy to have a swinging Angel on turn three.

Future Sight - Comes in against 4c and keeper-esque decks to help me keep the threat density up. Also comes in when I bring Zur's Weirding in.

Zur's Weirding - This will get sided in against any deck that relies on specific cards (such as combo) since it works or anyone that I might not be able to kill with a Form.

Siding out - Depending on what's being sided in, I will side out combo pieces (extra Form and Replenish), or I will side out the Careful Studies.

No Brainstorms makes baby Jesus cry. I'd really suggest finding room for them.

Brainstorms don't fit well enough in this deck because they don't help you fill up your graveyard. That is why I eventually went with Careful Studies instead.

Just out of interest, you have a Windfall in the deck. I see the synergy with Squee, but did it test better than Fact or Fiction, considering you're running quite a few counters?

Ack! Thanks for that comment. I went back and double checked my deck and I actually do run a Fact or Fiction over Windfall. Windfall can actually be bad because sometimes I don't want to have to dump my hand (such as when you have control spells, or you are holding on extra Replenish/Forms).

Also, I notice you have no Cunning Wish there.

I did end up testing Cunning Wish but eventually cut it because I felt the tricks it allowed really did nothing to make the deck better. The mana curve on this deck is already pretty extreme so the 2U invested into a Wish can be very harsh for this deck.

[ELD]

I think using careful study is a card that illustrates a common "mistake"  IMO it's the kind of card that can be good when combined with really good cards, and then, only some of the time.  It's like saying, if I could combine X with Yawmoth's Will, and that would be good.  Deep Analysis and Bazaar/Squee are solid.  Careful study will only be good when combine with those cards.  I see no reason to not run AK.  You can hold onto it vs tog, and go nuts with it vs everything else.  Of course, I don't see how this deck can be good.  It is trying to resolve a 4 casting cost sorcery for the win.  I'd rather play a regular control deck and try and resolve a 3 mana sorcery for game.

[leviat]

Deep Analysis and Bazaar/Squee are solid. Careful study will only be good when combine with those cards. I see no reason to not run AK.

How is Bazaar solid and Careful Study not? They both end up the same in terms of card advantage? This deck has enough card advantage thanks to Squee and Deep Analysis. Careful Study was needed because this deck needed a way to start digging and discarding turn one and two when you didn't happen to draw a  Bazaar.

Of course, I don't see how this deck can be good. It is trying to resolve a 4 casting cost sorcery for the win. I'd rather play a regular control deck and try and resolve a 3 mana sorcery for game.

Is casting for Tog that much easier than {W}?
Is casting + for Mindslaver that much easier?
Is casting + {W}{W} for an Angel that much easier?

I have tested this deck out in multiple local tournaments. I'm not trying to convince you this deck is amazing or anything, I'm just trying to show people that there's some strong options available for dealing with some of today's top decks. Proxy it together and try it out sometime, you might like it.

[rvs]

Is casting for Tog that much easier than {W}?

Yes.

Is casting + for Mindslaver that much easier?

How often does this really happen? We have Welders.

Is casting + {W}{W} for an Angel that much easier?

I'd say it's similar.

[ELD]

The 3 casting cost sorcery I alluded to was Yawgmoth's Will.  That is what wins the games, not the tog.

[CrazyCarl]

First, which instant speed tutors has Smmemen ruined?

Anyways...

A smart player won't let you put both pieces into the graveyard, but the deck is running Bazaar :B.

Solitary Cofinement is really good.  Mindslaver? No sir!

I remember the Confinement deck back in Odyssey Block constructed.  I don't think they ran Careful Study, but they may have out of necessity.  You probably have, but have you tried out Compulsion?  Compulsion is sooooooooo stupid good in this deck.  It's got mad synergy with all sorts of stuff:

Confinement/Compulsion in play.  Just chug on through the deck until you get to the combo and stuff. Bazaar can eventually get Wasted or Memnarched away.

Compulsion/Deep Analysis/Squee.

Compulsion/Replenish

Dragon ran it as Bazaars 5-8, so why not this?  You'll usually be able to get it out pretty easily game one because people will have no clue what you're playing.  Tough for them

Have you thought about running an Eternal Dragon?  Just one.  It's sort of like a Hammer on a Man.

I personally hate Mana Crypt in control decks(even in 4cc).  IMO another land of some sorts would be better(Adarkar Wastes?).

[ELD]

Solitary confinement does lots of great things.  It stops Duress, Intuition, Mindslaver and many other powerful effects.  The problem is the casting cost, and the draw back.  

I still don't see how this deck would beat fish.  You are trying to resolve a replenish for game.  I cannot see why your game plan would not be disrupted by wastelands and null rod even more than any other control deck.  

I'm not going to post again about this deck's chances vs tog.

[Grand Inquisitor]

I wanted to put in another 2 cents, since I played this at a tourney tonight.

The deck defintely had strong synergies, and bazaar squee was quite powerful in the control mirror.

However, replenish is just too clunky, and the bazaar drop interfering with getting mana drain on-line was definitely critical.

Its tough to draw conclusions from one match, but I have to say I'm concerned about the speed of the deck.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

The deck looks cool, but as inquisitor said mana drain and bazaar conflict, plus your drain mana has to try to cover replenish as well as DA, and the rest of the curve is also high with intuituin, etc.  Careful study is just terrible compared to compulsion.  

The fact that dragon is a creature matters little; stp is only played in 4cc, and I believe in the t8s for June there were 91 tormod's crypts courtesy of doctor sylvan.  Crypt is the main dragon hate and you suffer from that and any wishable coffin purges.  If you fail to go off the first try then you probably lose anyways so not losing all of your permenants doesn't really matter. I don't think that this deck has many advantages and it has many disadvantages.  Why play it over dragon or tog or w/e?

Also note that with only form fish can swing for 3 and ping with a mancer fairly easily with cloud/spiketail + conclave so you need confinement to be safe.