Mephisto.dec

[CaptainPlanet.dec]

Mephisto

Lock///7
3 Uba Mask
4 Chains of Mephistopheles

Engine///12
R Ancestral Recall
R Demonic Tutor
R Vampiric Tutor
R Mystical Tutor
4 Impulse
4 Lim-Dul's Vault

Control///14
R Mind Twist
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Duress
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will

Brokeness///2
R Yawgmoth's Will
R Time Walk

Win///3
R Tinker
2 Platinum Angel

Mana///22
R Black Lotus
R Mana Vault
R Mox Sapphire
R Mox Jet
R Sol Ring
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Swamp

It's OSE with an anti-control lock, and an anticombo/aggro win? Weird hybrid. Control the combo deck the best you can with Duress/Drain/Force, then drop Chain or Mask against control, and then against aggro power out the big Angel.

Matchups:

4CC
Make sure to get a Mask or Chain in play. Once one gets in play, you can put up a great fight. Mask is your best bet, because it makes countermagic = no. Even though you will no long be able to counter, who cares? You can now drop and Angel and win.

$T4X
What a hard matchup. When I build a sideboard, it will definitly be made for that deck. Best bet is to drain somthing big and drop Angel.

FCG
Duress out FC, Drain the first big Goblin, drop Angel.

TransmuteArtifact.dec
Counter the TA, they take 4 burn from Su-Chi. Basically, just dont let the TA or Tinker resolve.

Oath
Stop them from drawing at all costs. If they get the active Oath, find the Disk. Basically...don't let them get an active Oath.

Fish
Cut off their draw engines and then bring in the big flier.

And yes, control and Chain/Mask would seem bad synergy...but if they can only play so many spells, holding 1 counter in hand can be deadly.[/b]

[giddygorgon]

This looks like where Eastman was going with MEPHkeeper a long time ago, This is going to roll to workshop every single game, you play chains, they play juggz, you play uba mask, they win.  Aggro in general is just going to pound you, which in this metagame is very very bad.  Also, it looks like the oath matchup would suck. Not good.

[Robert the Swordsman]

One problem I see is that Platinum Angel is really, really easy to kill, and once you have an Uba Mask out, you most likely won't be able to protect it with countermagic.

What happens if they get a turn-one Welder and you don't have a Force? As far as I can tell, that wouldn't be too good for you.

In any case, good luck.

[VGB]

Decks that can't generate card advantage or at least dig for virtual advantage don't exist in T1 anymore.

All you have is AR and 4 x Impulse.

I can see this deck stealing a game against control and combo now and again, but it's biggest threat is itself.  That is the problem with playing Chains of Mephistopheles in T1, and always will be.

I do like the massive Tutor for Tinker plan, though.

[CaptainPlanet.dec]

This looks like where Eastman was going with MEPHkeeper a long time ago, This is going to roll to workshop every single game, you play chains, they play juggz, you play uba mask, they win.  Aggro in general is just going to pound you, which in this metagame is very very bad.  Also, it looks like the oath matchup would suck. Not good.

The thing is, the top decks in this metagame are NOT aggro. The aggro decks you will find are usally Welder decks or FCG. I think I can make a sideboard that deals with the two.

One problem I see is that Platinum Angel is really, really easy to kill, and once you have an Uba Mask out, you most likely won't be able to protect it with countermagic.

What happens if they get a turn-one Welder and you don't have a Force? As far as I can tell, that wouldn't be too good for you.

In any case, good luck.

I'm not sure is PA is they way to win. Originally I wanted DSC/PA, but I want to be able to Drain into a win. Any ideas? Memnarch might help again the $T4X matchup.

Decks that can't generate card advantage or at least dig for virtual advantage don't exist in T1 anymore.

All you have is AR and 4 x Impulse.

I can see this deck stealing a game against control and combo now and again, but it's biggest threat is itself. That is the problem with playing Chains of Mephistopheles in T1, and always will be.

I do like the massive Tutor for Tinker plan, though.

My virtual card advantage is

Ancestral Recall
4 Impulse
4 Lim-Duls Vault

Vault for Tinker is awesome. Putting Tinker on top is easy usaully, and then you can grab an Angel and ignore the life loss.

I think 9 cards + 3 tutors are good enough "virtual card advantage".

[Malhavoc]

Talking about card advantage, why don't you use fact or fiction? It is not a draw spell (strictly speaking) so it is not affected by uba and chains. It gives awesome card advantage, and it is a good way to use the mana taken from the drains. I would put it in taking one vault away. The vault is a nice card, but is card disadvantage; 4 are just too much IMHO.

[Toad]

My virtual card advantage is

Ancestral Recall
4 Impulse
4 Lim-Duls Vault

Ancestral Recall is card advantage, right. But Impulse is just a hand optimizer (quality over quantity) and Lim Dul's Vault is card DISadvantage.

As a general philosophy :

Drawing > Preventing the opponent from drawing.

You'll spend turns searching for your Chains of Mephistopheles while your opponent will spend turns drawing cards. When you'll have found (topdecked) your Chains, your opponent will already have gained control of the game through his early card advantage.

This is the reason why the idea of a Control deck abusing Chains of Mephistopheles is fundamentally flawed.

[CaptainPlanet.dec]

Talking about card advantage, why don't you use fact or fiction? It is now a draw spell (strictly speaking) so it is not affected by uba and chains. It gives awesome card advantage, and it is a good way to use the mana taken from the drains. I would put it in taking one vault away. The vault is a nice card, but is card disadvantage; 4 are just too much IMHO.

Actually, that's a great idea. Are their anyother quasi-FoF/Impulse like cards?

[VGB]

Actually, that's a great idea. Are their anyother quasi-FoF/Impulse like cards?

Intuition
Gifts Ungiven
Future Sight
Sleight of Hand
Diabolic Vision

Next turn cantrips like Portent work as well.

You can also use things like Moonring Mirror or Mind's Eye.

[CaptainPlanet.dec]

Lock///7
3 Uba Mask
4 Chains of Mephistopheles

Engine///12
R Ancestral Recall
R Demonic Tutor
R Vampiric Tutor
R Mystical Tutor
R Fact or Fiction
3 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Impulse

Control///14
R Mind Twist
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Duress
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will

Brokeness///2
R Yawgmoth's Will
R Time Walk

Win///3
R Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Platinum Angel

Mana///22
R Black Lotus
R Mana Vault
R Mox Sapphire
R Mox Jet
R Sol Ring
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Swamp

Sideboard Ideas:
Back to Basics
Blue Elemental Blast
Diabolic Edict