[Deck Discussion] Tainted Storm

[zurn.lord]

I went to 20ish(?) person tournament for a Mana Drain this weekend and scrubbed out with a record of 2-3 heres how it went.

Round 1 vs. Cerebral Assassin

game 1: He dragon kills me after I pop jar into 6 mana sources and a Duress .
game 2: He gets out Possessed Portal, I get out Necro and eventually win.
game 3: He goes to dragon kill me, but dumps his whole library into to his yard with bazaar and I ancestral for the win.

1-0

Round 2 vs. U/W Fish

game 1: 2 wastelands and chalice for zero kill me.
game 2: See game 1.

1-1

Round 3 vs. U/G rogue something with forces and lots of sideboard hate

game 1: Duress then win.
game 2: He has rootmaze and tormod's crypt, after some Death Wishes I die to Skullclamped Mishra's Factory
game 3: Same hate on the board as game 1, in the 4th extra turn I lay down lots mana for my academy and Time Walk.  On turn 5 I Mind's Desire for around 5 and steal the game from there.

2-1

Round 4 vs. Gifts

game 1: I things to set up for turn 2.  He goes MindTwist for 2 taking out the only 2 threats in my hand of 3 cards and wins shortly after.

game 2: I go first turn Time Walk, he looks like he doesn't have a force since he puts his hand down.  Next turn I Tinker for Jar and go Duress Wish Will win before he gets a turn.

game 3: He keeps a one land hand with Force.  I Duress and next turn play Wheel with 3 black floating and draw another 6 mana sources and a Duress .  I take his Gifts and pass.  I continue to draw very bad cards until he finally kills me.

2-2

Round 5 vs. Control Slaver looking deck

I can't make top 4 so I just mess around this round.

game 1: I go first and go Duress Necro, draw 16 (this was as a joke), look at my hand and I can't kill him with any 7 of those cards .  Draw 3 more and Death Wish to death.

game 2: Don't remeber this game but I still managed to lose it.

2-3


The deck

// Manas
    1 Tolarian Academy
    2 City of Brass
    2 Glimmervoid
    2 Gemstone Mine
    2 Forbidden Orchard
    1 Underground River
    1 Underground Sea

    1 Elvish Spirit Guide

    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Mox Diamond
    1 Chrome Mox
    1 Mana Vault
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Lion's Eye Diamond
    1 Crop Rotation
    1 Chromatic Sphere
    4 Dark Ritual
    2 Cabal Ritual

// Draw-Find
    1 Ancestral Recall
    1 Tinker
    1 Memory Jar
    1 Timetwister
    1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
    1 Wheel of Fortune
    1 Mind's Desire
    1 Necropotence

    3 Tainted Pact
    2 Death Wish
    1 Brainstorm
    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Mystical Tutor
    1 Burning Wish
    1 Demonic Consultation

// Protection-Win
    1 Hurkyl's Recall
    1 Rebuild
    1 Chain of Vapor
    4 Duress
    1 Tendrils of Agony


// Sideboard
 1 Hurkyl's Recall
 1 Balance
 1 Chain of Vapor
 1 Tendrils of Agony
 1 Yawgmoth's Will
 1 Time Walk
 3 Xantid Swarm
 1 Darksteel Colossus
 1 Echoing Truth
 1 Time Spiral
 1 Windfall
 2 Cabal Therapy


As far as the deck played I can only be really sad at the 2 critical draw 7's and the Necro which completely screwed me ( 6 manas and a duress or 16 cards with all junk).

The terrible land base and the odd amounts of such cards like Chromatic Sphere, Brainstorm, Elvish Spirit Guide, and Death Wish all reflect in the choice of using Tainted Pact.  Depending on how many Rituals and Duresses are left in the deck tainted pact can dig really really deep.  It averages around 10 cards before it gets kind of scary,  and if your desperate you can see just how far they will go.  I've gone through over 20 cards on various occasions and it can be really fun.  Of course if you need to find a Duress, Ritual, or some bounce the Tainted Pacts really shine.  I decided to go with the Wishes because after testing I determined without them the deck does not have enough threats.  Another odd choice was using Demonic Consultation with very few 4 ofs.  Everytime I saw this card it usually got Ritual and the occasional Death Wish, but I was very happy with its performance and will definetly keep it in the build.  The Cabal Rituals are golden and I would probably include 3 if it weren't for Tainted Pact.  The number of Tainted Pacts is based on the fact that after playing one there will only be two left in your deck.  The lone ESG is because the second didn't prove strong enough when considering that an extra copy hurts Tainted Pact.

The sideboarded Cabal Therapys were for Oath, which I didn't encounter all day.  I know that the sideboard needs something to help against the Fish match up.  I would consider Pithing Needles or maybe even Juggernauts but testing will need to be done.  I also forgot about REB and should make some room in the sideboard for some number of those as well.

Changes I would make to the deck after playing are moving Time Walk into the main in place of Mox Diamond as I sided it in most games anyways.  I was also thinking of switching a Tainted Pact for another Death Wish.  I have also considered using some obscure combination of fetches and basics with some duals for a mana base.  But I never tested this idea because it seems like it wouldn't work out to well.  I really would like to hear some insight on good combo anti Fish cards for the board.

So in the end I probably should just play more Brainstorms and Wishes drop the Tainted Pacts and use better lands, but I have always had a special place in my heart for the Pacts ( and 3 foiled signed ones) and thus must continue my quest to try and break them.  I would like the community to take a look at this pile and see if we can get it working a little better and perhaps not just role over and die to a bunch of 2/2's and wastelands.

[Komatteru]

I continue to draw very bad cards until he finally kills me.

Of course you're going to draw bad cards, you're only playing 1 Brainstorm.  You're completely playing off the top, and half the deck is mana.

I go first and go Duress Necro, draw 16 (this was as a joke), look at my hand and I can't kill him with any 7 of those cards

Again, not enough solid threats.

You can't live without 4 Brainstorm.  Tainted Pact is cute, but it will get you nothing a lot of the time.  You don't want to pay 2 mana and get nothing.  Fizzling out and getting absolute crap off Draw7s and Desire is the way of TPS, not combo with Death Wish.  You also have to play a complete disaster of a manabase to avoid hitting too many lands with Tainted Pact, and that's just not very good (Glimmervoid is nigh unplayable in the current environment with Chalices all over the place).  Brainstorm is usually going to be stronger, and costs 1 less mana.  In addition, Brainstorm adds a lot more consistency to the deck, as you'll be able to keep more hands because they have Brainstorm in them.

Read this and find the list at the end:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=23748.0

That's what you should be playing if you want to play with Death Wish.

[sampling_percus]

You can't live without 4 Brainstorm.  Tainted Pact is cute, but it will get you nothing a lot of the time.  You don't want to pay 2 mana and get nothing.  Fizzling out and getting absolute crap off Draw7s and Desire is the way of TPS, not combo with Death Wish.  You also have to play a complete disaster of a manabase to avoid hitting too many lands with Tainted Pact, and that's just not very good (Glimmervoid is nigh unplayable in the current environment with Chalices all over the place).  Brainstorm is usually going to be stronger, and costs 1 less mana.  In addition, Brainstorm adds a lot more consistency to the deck, as you'll be able to keep more hands because they have Brainstorm in them.

I know its not going to be viable for the reasons you have listed but if the guy really wants to play tainted pact.dec should he not just play as many singletons as possible using analogous cards? this will make tainted pact demonic tutor 2-5 for 'a threat' or 'for mana'.

[Komatteru]

I know its not going to be viable for the reasons you have listed but if the guy really wants to play tainted pact.dec should he not just play as many singletons as possible using analogous cards? this will make tainted pact demonic tutor 2-5 for 'a threat' or 'for mana'.

Yeah, that's the problem with Tainted Pact.  You really can't live without Brainstorm.  Without it, you just don't have any consistency at all.  Like I said, you're playing off the top.  With it, you risk your Tainted Pact getting nothing, which just isn't acceptable.  It's the same reason Desparate Research has never shown up...ever.  There's just too much of a chance that it will get you nothing, or force you to take some stupid card you don't want so that you at least get something.

Tainted Pact is an all-star in 5 Color or Highlander.  Oh man, is it ever broken in Highlander.  My Highlander deck would Tainted Pact for Lotus and Burning Wish for the Will I just removed from the game.  I don't play 5 Color, but I'm told its also quite outrageous there as well.

[Khahan]

Zurn,
Thanks a lot for coming out to the tournament. Sorry it was such a long drive only to scrub out. But there is always next time. I'll be on soon pimping the next tournament, once we get the date finalized.

[Wolven]

Just as an asided, and I hope this isn't a hi-jax of any means, but what is people's opinons on Diving Top and Tainted Pact?

[BigMac]

Divining top never worked for me in any of my TPS builds. Nor did tainted pact.

Sensei just is to slow and manaintensive and you to badly want to draw the good card you just put on top, but it sets your clock back a pace most of the time.

Tainted pack will lose you valuable resources as they wont go to the graveyard. To many times it is just working as an opt. I would rather play an extra rebuild and cycle it that having to play a tainted pact.