[Article] The Return Of Ophie, The One-Eyed, Card-Drawing Sn

[Smmenen]

FYI: Here was what i played at Gencon:

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Mana Leak
2 Counterspell
1 Misdirection

4 Ophidian
4 Back to Basics
3 Powder Keg
2 Morphling

4 Impulse
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

5 Moxen
5 Waste/Strip
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
8 Island
5 Fetchland
1 LoA

SB:
1 Counterspell
4 Propoganda
4 Energy Flux
3 BEB
3 Control Magic

[Whatever Works]

You talked about CoTV alot in your article, and your conclussion was that it was a good card, but not good enough. I understand how your goal was consistency, and you odviously achieved that. However, did you miss not having it in the deck, and do you believe it would have improved any of your matchups dramatically (or possibly be effective from the sideboard slot), or did you just find Powder Keg to be altogether stronger??? I find powder keg to be slightly more versitile, and a much stronger play in the early game, but chalice to be a stronger play vs. Combo that can be overwelming.

Have you considered running capsize or shackles, or possibly 1 form of bounce in the maindeck??? It seems like if you let anything resolve game 1 the game can get ugly fast (exp. 1st turn juggernaught with no FoW in opening hand). I have also found AK's to be either really good or really awful, i dont know if you have had that result but the lack of consistency is something im trying to avoid.

Kyle

[Smmenen]

I used Impulse.


I think Chalice is better against some decks and worse against others.  Chalice is amazing against Stax and Control Slaver but ineffective against Tog.

Powder Keg is uniformly good.  

Shackles and a bounce spell were in my early builds.

[Milton]

I find your build interesting.

Last year at GenCon we decided that Phid needs at least 12 draw spells (not counting Ancestral) to hold it's own.  We had 4 Brainstorms, 4 Phids and 4 AK's.  You use 4 Impulse and 4 Phids.  That seems too low.  

Your deck seems to be a hate fest.  I wonder how many games you won simply on the strength of Energy Flux or Back to Basics.  It almost seems sadistic to drop a bomb like that against an unsuspecting opponent, then to just slowly draw cards with the Phid and take your time winning the game.

Why the lone Counterspell in the board?  I can't imagine that you ever brought it in.  Wouldn't that slot be better as a fourth Powder Keg?

Lastly, I'm somewhat curious to understand the logic behind one Misdirection.  Keeping a Phid in play and active would seem to be crucial for your deck.  Misdirection helps to do just that.  Also, Misdirection can stave off the stray Disenchant or Naturalize that attempts to kill a BtoB or Energy Flux or Propaganda.  Instead of three Misdirection you went one Misdirection, two Counterspell.

Anyway, great job making top eight.  Also, it's good that you got Matt Smith to play mono-blue again.  He is one of the best mono-blue players I know.

[Smmenen]

When I told him i was going to play mono blue, Matt thought I was joking, as did everyone else.  I explained the rationale, crucible, etc and he was sold.  I gave him my mana base and he played.

I brought the counterspell in when I had nothing else to board.  I anticipated more metagame decks like B2b Tog or things of that nature.

The deck needs less draw becuase I use lots of Fetchlands to make Wastelands and Moxen good so I don't topdeck bad in the midgame.

[Whatever Works]

Last year at GenCon we decided that Phid needs at least 12 draw spells (not counting Ancestral) to hold it's own.  We had 4 Brainstorms, 4 Phids and 4 AK's.  You use 4 Impulse and 4 Phids.  That seems too low.

Maybe your draw felt low because you ran brainstorm. From testing I have found that the card gives little to nothing to the deck (because the deck is so repetitive), unless its followed by a shuffle effect. In this case your essentially running only 8, and thus it shouldnt feel low.

Smmenen Have you tried a draw engine that looked something like this??? I have found it to have fairly good synergy, and has been working well.

4 Ophidian
4 AK
2 Impulse
1 Ancestral

Impulse helps find answers, but it also can work as an instant version of merchant scroll (which you tested) that can help find the 2-3 AK that you said was so important the the usfulness of the engine, but the 2 impulse can also be used to find the early Phid/B2B. Its just a though, and im curious if you have tried it, or would consider trying it.

My latest version has changed the mana base just slightly from your build, because i have found with this modified engine I have been testing not as many lands are needed (you draw them with AK or you can grab with an impulse if you draw into 1 however less often that may be.)

Did you board the 1 sided counterspell any??? I was wondering if you found that card week being not really a hate card, but more of a self confidence slot in a way. In the cards place (and a few of the other slots) I have been trying a bunch of things such as waterfront bouncer, (random bounce card), 2nd misdirection etc.

[Cavius The Great]

Dude, Suicide Black would totally own this deck  
(SARCASM)

Umm, Suicide Black would own this deck. If the control player doesn't have a Force of Will for that first turn Negator then it's usually game. A first turn Hymn and Duress are also one of Mono-Blue's pet peeves. In previous historical matchup analysis's Sui Black always bested Mono-Blue Control. Hey, who knows, Sui Black might make a comeback.

[Dante]

Umm, Suicide Black would own this deck.

Yes, but who cares because...

Hey, who knows, Sui Black might make a comeback.

Not while there are goblin welders and large artifact men in the meta.

Bill

[Kulminox]

I noticed that Vedalkan Shackles was in some of your initial lists, but was later cut for quicker solutions.  I was wondering how often the shackles allowed you to capture artifact fat as opposed to, say, fish men.  Or is it just that the counter wall keeps creatures down until you can steal them?

Another thing I was wondering was how relevant shackles is to the concerns about board position that the deck faces.  I believe you said this is why you cut chalices, but did you find the shackles to simply be too slow to give appreciable impact?

[Smmenen]

Shackles was strongest against Dryad but mediocre against Tog - which was really why it was cut.  It's fine against Welders and I don't imagine Workshop Fat matters after you take the first Welder (at least that much).

[theorigamist]

Against the various forms of decks that have Triskelion, Platinum Angel, Pentavus, Razormane Masticore, Sundering Titan, Darksteel Colossus, Karn, etc. have you tried Bribery in the sideboard?  Does the 1 more mana really make it less playable than Control Magic?  Against most artifact decks you can grab a Welder out of their deck and that's probably all you need to do.

[martyr]

control magic is better than Bribery because you hardly care what they have in their library, you care what they have in play. Bribery doesn't deal with a threat, while Control Magic does.

[Smmenen]

I thought of Acquire as a SB card.

[martyr]

True, true. I guess making them deal with their own Sundering Titan (which probably rapes the hell out of their mana base while being really poor against yours, incidentally) is a pretty good deal for you.

[Covetous]

I have been a fan of mono-blue since before I could actually play competitively.  I remember building decks with palinchron, air elemental, mahamoti, phantom monster, etc. that wrecked most other decks.  Of course, that was before I owned force of wills, mana drains, morphlings, powder kegs, etc.  But I digress....

I have a few questions about this deck that I hope you can answer:
1.  Is FoF really too expensive to run in this deck?  It's such a bomb, so why not run it, especially when it is a one-of and you run mana drain?  Wasn't mono-U the reason FoF was restricted originally, not that other decks can't abuse its brokenness?
2.  When Null Rod comes down, shutting down your powder keg, does that pose a serious problem vs. fish--i.e. having no removal for their theoretical horde of threats?
3.  Have you considered Crucible in this deck, or does the one-sided and harder-to-remove B2B do the same job, but better?
4.  Since you say Chalice is so good in this deck, why don't you run it in the SB?
5.  Have you considered and dismissed Razormane Masticore in the SB for Fish as well as Tinker/Darksteel Colossus as a win condition (also including Mystical Tutor)?
6.  Would MD Echoing Truth be a good answer to those threats which are able to enter play against your wishes?

Congrats on your good GenCon finish, and way to go for seeing the ability of a "dead" archetype to be resurrected successfully.

[KitzuneNinja]

First of all; Congrats Smmemen to your succes at GenCon. I took the liberty to answer few of the questions from my point of view here, hopefully Im answering correctly

I have a few questions about this deck that I hope you can answer:
1.  Is FoF really too expensive to run in this deck?  It's such a bomb, so why not run it, especially when it is a one-of and you run mana drain?  Wasn't mono-U the reason FoF was restricted originally, not that other decks can't abuse its brokenness?

When do you want to cast it? Imagine the situation. where it would be good. The only situations you can get real milage out of the FoF is rare and since its restricted...

The last mono-U's era looked a bit different than this mono-U's era, my friend.

2.  When Null Rod comes down, shutting down your powder keg, does that pose a serious problem vs. fish--i.e. having no removal for their theoretical horde of threats?

This is why I advocate Cunning Wish: If something land on the table that's not supposed to be there, the wish could serve as something to bounce any kind of threat. Also the FoF serve very as a card drawer in the board.

3.  Have you considered Crucible in this deck, or does the one-sided and harder-to-remove B2B do the same job, but better?

You cant really tap out like that against most decks with Mono-U. Remember - You have to have control and if your opponent plays with beats that the keg cant blast fast enough (say, a Titan) you have to counter that threat or you'll exchange gg's.

Edit, this was what smmemen said about this subject in his article:

In such a field, Back to Basics has a similar functionality to Crucible, but trumps it. Back to Basics in addition to many basic Islands is a threat that the metagame is not prepared to handle.

5.  Have you considered and dismissed Razormane Masticore in the SB for Fish as well as Tinker/Darksteel Colossus as a win condition (also including Mystical Tutor)?

This is something I've been thinking of myself, with a small amount of Seat of Synods in the deck to really get to use the Tinker. The thing is that it takes up precious space in an allready tight deck that wants lots of attention. But it certainly can be built that way, a friend tested out exactly this as soon as Colossus was legal and came in first with his mono-U in a small, local tourney (he also played 4 mis-d, in the finals he was up against Dragon).

[BreathWeapon]

Steve, did you bother to test Tinker in any of your Mono-U variations?

I ask because, I've had surprising luck with it in the MD. I can't tell you how much I hate waiting around to win on turn 15 etc with Snakes or watching Fish Bull Through my Morphlings. I also got  tired of handing over the 1st Game to various decks, Workshop Aggro, despite being able to come back and win the match.

Tinker is arguably the only card in Mono-U's arsenal that allows you to steal games, short of B2B. Being able to smash scrubs playing with Suicide via Collosus or Combo.dec with Platinum has really made the deck more enjoyable to play.

Here is the basic skeleton,

4xFoW
4xDrain
4xLeak

4xPhid
4xImpulse

4xB2B

3xChalice

1xTinker
1xMystical

1xWalk
1xAncestral

1xColossus
1xPlatinum

7xSolo Moxen
5xStrip
1xLoA
4xFetch
10xIsland

I'd like to add another Mystical Target, which will probably end up being FoF, but I don't know what to cut. Drawing the Colossus also sucks, but I've just learned to live with it.

[Covetous]

The idea of Tinker-->Colossus in Mono-U is interesting, but when you don't run brainstorm, drawing your colossus makes you very unhappy.  However, if you wanted to run Tinker, I would at least consider running Karn and possibly a Masticore of some sort (regular or extra-tasty crispy) for removal.  However, having easily-removable win conditions (artifact creatures other than the colossus which you drew in your opening hand with no ability to shuffle it back into your deck) isn't necessarily a good thing.  Also, if your Tinker gets duressed or countered, you can't get it back without clunky cards like Relearn.  Has anyone else tried Tinker-->Fat instead of morphling as a win condition?  I feel like you would need/want to run Black to make Tinker a valid possibility (Demonic Tutor and YawgWin).

[BreathWeapon]

Unfortunately, Karn can't beat down. While removing Moxes and Chalices is a useful ability, you really need a dependable Finisher. Also, Tinkering for Platinum Angel usually allows you to win in the exact situations when Tinkering for Collossus would not (Combo etc). You can't say the same for Karn. Masticore isn't a bad idea, I'll have to give him a try.

Drawing or Top Decking the Collossus sucks, you'll just have to accept that fact and live with it. I think the ability for Mono-U to end the game in 3 Turns is worth the risk. With a Manabase full of  Basic Land, it's possible to Hard Cast him with the assistance of Mana Drain (tho' unlikely). With 3 MD Chalices, Colossus is extremely difficult for the environment to remove. Chalice@1 stops STP and 5 Strips and 4 Back to Basics will significantly hamper Cunning Wish->Artifact Mutation. That leaves Diabloic Edict, which I haven't seen played in over a year.

I don't think Black is needed to make Tinker work. Demonic Tutor and Cunning Wish->Vampiric Tutor->Tinker (Which is massive Tempo and Card Disadvantage) are nice fall backs, but Tinker/Mystical are  usually sufficient. You win vs Control on the back of 'Phids and B2B instead of your actual "Win Conditions." Snakes can serve as the Win Condition themselves until Tinker shows up, and you can Hard Cast the Platinum Angel.

[Royal Ass.]

I noticed in your earlier builds you didnt include Library of Alexandria, but then later put it in.  you never explained this decision or why it was worth the slot in confront of the obvious conflict with back to basics.  could you please explain your reasoning behind this?  Thank you, and good write up.

[diamond66]

Is the card disadvantage created by masticore (either version) worth the investment?  Your main card advantage is through phid, and while masticore is in play, you are generally just using a 2 card merfolk looter system.  Now I understand the idea that Masticore would work as a finisher, and therefor would not be on the table that long, however, what happens if an opponent can neutralize him?  you have invested 3 cards (either tinker, and artifact and core) or more (depending on the number of turns it stayed in play) for a "useless" threat.
   
 The main question is, are any of these cards actually necessary?  Yes, tinker and colossus, or any other artifact win condition you have will add flash to the boring game plan of Mono-U, but are they necessary?  As far as I can see, they remove a great deal of redundancy from a deck that is designed to be so.  The more neat little mini-combo's you add to a deck like this, the less reliable and consistant it is.  Ass for adding seat of synod, why would you bring in a card that you own lock (b2b) negates?  An opening hand of seat and island or fetch is almost unplayable if you also have a b2b you need to drop early.  Why add more situations where the deck will need to reshuffle and worsen it's chances of victory?

     As a final note, while I believe that Platinum Angel is a solid card, the idea of adding it to Mono-U to beat combo is rather far-fetched.  The chances of hitting either angel or tinker,and the appropriate space to cast them in the early turns against combo is fairly small.  If a mid to late game answer is needed, it is decent.  However, the deck should already bo in almost complete control against combo at that point

[Covetous]

The reason I brought up Masticore was its ability to give a mono-blue deck the ability to kill things.  Pure and simple.  If you don't think that merits inclusion, then don't consider him.  I like the Razormane on basic principles because it's larger, kills Juggs and is more useful under Null Rod, but the Original Recipe 'Core is still good. and always has been  Masticore may seem like card disadvantage (and of course he is), but if you are using your one card per turn to keep in play a creature that kills other creatures, then the card advantage isn't as bad.  On top of this, it can be nice to remove chumps which could block your phid, allowing you to cycle through your deck while not losing card advantage.  This may not be the best solution ever, but it's worth consideration.  I do agree, however, that diluting the deck with randdom combos can dilute the consistency of the deck, but the I Win of an early Tinker-->Colossus has its merits.  I think that if you want to play Tinker/Colossus, then the deck would have to change substantially and thus would not be the same deck anymore (despite being similar by necessity).

On a completely different note, what is the consensus on maindeck Annul?  It seems like a good metagame choice, because turn 1 is critical for this deck, before mana drain gets on-line.  Also, unlike some other options, Annul retains its potency in the mid and late game.  Additionally, how critical is the single random Misdirection?  Does it come up often enough to merit its inclusion?  Or, is it there simply for the psychological factor of "Does my opponent have that stupid Mis-D for my Ancestral?"