[Deck] Empty the Kobolds

[wox2]

For a long time I was thinking how to build cheap (Nonpower) Kobold combo deck. This article is not for Vintage veterans. Deck is not perfect but I believe it is good for begginers who want to play Vintage if they are not allowed to play proxies. Testing of the deck was done via MWS because lack of Vintage tourneys in my country - this resulted into sideboard choices against full power decks. I was asked to public article from some people I faced with the deck so I am doing it now for all people (article was published before few days on Czech website so this is just translation). If you find gramatic mistakes in text pls PM me - I am sorry for them but English is not my mother language.

I began with old monoblack version.

               Version 1
           Lands ( 12 )
    12 x Swamp
   
             Creatures ( 18 )
    4  x Crimson Kobolds
    4  x Crookshank Kobolds
    4  x Kobolds of Kher Keep
    4  x Ornithopter
    2  x Myr Moonvessel

            Instants ( 12 )
    4 x Dark Ritual   
    4 x Culling the Weak
    2 x Songs of the Damned
    1 x Demonic Consultation
    1 x Vampiric Tutor

         Sorceries ( 7 )
    3 x Diabolic Intent
    2 x Tendrils of Agony
    1 x Demonic Tutor
    1 x Yawgmoth's Will

   
          Artifacts ( 10 )
    4 x Skullclamp
    1 x Chrome Mox
    1 x Lion's Eye Diamond
    1 x Lotus Petal
    1 x Mana Crypt
    1 x Mana Vault
    1 x Sol Ring

          Enchantments ( 1 )
    1 x Necropotence

            Deck was not bad but it had some problems.
1. you got more than enought Culling the Weak, Skullclamp and Diabolic Intent in opening with no Kobolds or just one.
2. In the middle of the combo you often get cards you don´t need and don´t get cards you don´t need(much mana, few mana, much Skullclamps and cards that need creatures).
3. Meddling Mage- really annoying to be killed by Meddling Mage naming Tendrils in preside games.
4. If you don´t resolve Skullclamp you have a trouble. And wore thing is you cannot say you won´t draw thresh during clamping two or three kobolds.

I wanted to solve these problems by adding Street Wraith and blue splash for Chain of Vapor.

                Version 2
             Lands ( 12 )
    3 x Polluted Delta
    4 x Swamp
    2 x Underground Sea
    3 x Bloodstained Mire

          Creatures ( 19 )
    4 x Crimson Kobolds
    4 x Crookshank Kobolds
    4 x Kobolds of Kher Keep
    4 x Street Wraith
    3 x Ornithopter

              Instants ( 11 )
    4 x Dark Ritual
    3 x Songs of the Damned
    2 x Culling the Weak
    1 x Vampiric Tutor
    1 x Chain of Vapor
   
            Sorceries ( 7 )   
    2 x Tendrils of Agony
    2 x Infernal Contract
    1 x Demonic Tutor
    1 x Diabolic Intent
    1 x Yawgmoth's Will
         
           Artifacts ( 10 )   
    4 x Skullclamp
    1 x Chrome Mox
    1 x Lion's Eye Diamond
    1 x Lotus Petal
    1 x Mana Crypt
    1 x Mana Vault
    1 x Sol Ring
   
          Enchantments ( 1 )
    1 x Necropotence

         Deck became better. One Mage was not lost game. Street Wraith is alternative kill, improves Songs of the Damned allow you to draw better cards.
         It was still difficult to play against workshop decks with 6-9 Spheres, Chalice of the Void and not easy to side... You can side in Phyrexian Negators and Duresses but you will make from the deck Aggro Drain with not bad draw engine...


                                         Solution
           In the Gift age I tried once Empty the Warrens + Skullclamp. It was not so good but improved Stax matchup (partly). I decided to add Red color to the deck. And after few attempts I get this :

Empty the Kobolds
            Lands ( 10 )
    4 x Sulfurous Springs
    4 x Badlands
    2 x Bloodstained Mire

                Instants ( 6 )
    4 x Dark Ritual
    1 x Vampiric Tutor
    1 x Culling the Weak
             
               Sorceries ( 15 )
    4 x Rite of Flame
    3 x Empty the Warrens
    2 x Diabolic Intent
    1 x Yawgmoth's Will
    1 x Wheel of Fortune
    1 x Tendrils of Agony
    1 x Necropotence
    1 x Demonic Tutor
    1 x  Burning Wish

              Artifacts ( 10 )
    4 x Skullclamp
    1 x Mana Vault
    1 x Mana Crypt
    1 x Lotus Petal
    1 x Lion's Eye Diamond
    1 x Chrome Mox
    1 x Sol Ring

              Creatures ( 19 )
    4 x Crimson Kobolds
    4 x Kobolds of Kher Keep
    4 x Crookshank Kobolds
    4 x Simian Spirit Guide
    3 x Dark Confidant

           Sideboard ( 15 )
    4 x Ingot Chewer
    4 x Pyroblast
    4 x Leyline of the Void
    1 x Tendrils of Agony
    1 x Infernal Contract

                    Lands
           Deck has less lands than previous versions. This is resulted by Simian Spirit Guide and by strategy to cast fast Warrens. All lands produce both mana colors. I was trying for a while City of Brass and Undiscovered Paradise with blue splash but disadvantiges of those two were too bad for deck compared to near none profit. 4 Badlands, 2 Mires and 4 Springs have stayed.
I am not sure if it is better to play Blood Crypts or Sulfurous Springs or their combination. Sometimes one is better sometimes second... It is personal choice.


                              Instants
Dark Ritual - Storm combo base card. The best mana after Black Lotus.
Culling the Weak - not bad not good. Needs one creature. Two rituals are better than one Weak with creature. But one is ok.
Vampiric Tutor - one mana tutor...

                                       Sorceries
Rite of Flame - best red ritual. Cumullated effect may result into better effectivity than with Dark.
Empty the Warrens - firstly this card was an alternative kill condition. Then I noticed really good synergy with Warrens and Skullclamp. It is not good for deck that Engineered Explosives, Powder Kegs and Echoing truths are so much played but you have to live with it. I think 4 is much and if I play Burning Wish I need one in side.
Demonic Tutor - Vintage players cannot use Fetchland Tutors so they use one Demonic as a substitute.
Burning Wish and Diabolic Tutor- there are not much beter cheap black or red tutors. They have their ups and downs.
Wheel of Fortune- Draw sevens are not popular in time of Flash. But they help to create good storm...
Tendrils of Agony- kill condition.
Yawgmoth's Will- you sometimes want play cards more than once...

                             Artifacts
            All artifact acceleration is used except power 9 and Mox Diamond. There is not enought lands for Diamond.
Skullclamp - you win some games with resolved Clamp. It was banned in T2, Extended and Legacy. It is fair for Vintage. I think it is also fair in Legacy.

                            Creatures
         There are Kobolds... 0/1 for 0 mana... one Storm one creature...
Dark Confidant - Draw stabilizator and beater. Sullclamp was not enought. Confidant in play doesn´t need any other card. That makes him sometimes better than Skullclamp.

Simian Spirit Guide-uncountable mana + sometimes beater or food for Skullclamps or Intent.
 


                                                Sideboard
Ingot Chewer- Workshop decks... when I am looking at side I think there may be 3 Chewers and 1 Shattering Spree for Burning Wish but you won´t have sometimes enought mana for Spree.
Pyroblast - You can decide to play Duress or Thoughtseize instead but I like "red Force of Will" (Simian Spirit Guide + Pyro)
Leyline of the Void- best answer on Ichorids Leyline of the Void... don´t forget that Skullclamp is not working under Leyline.
Rest of sideboard is Burning Wish toolbox.

[arctic79]

Interesting builds.  I'm curious why you haven't gone the Green route for Glimpse of Nature, ESG, Xantid Swarm, Land Grant.  Glimpse is much more effiicient then Skullclamp as a 4 of, though I would leave 1-2 clamps in.  Another addition for the deck may be Manamorphose (I haven't tried it yet).  A great card for the SB as a wish target is Hatred, a small tendrils followed up by a swing with a big kobold is always fun and unexpected.  How about Thoughtsieze/Duress effects?
I can put together a list of what I would currently run if you would like to see a variation.
Still I like what I see and maybe a few tweaks here and there should be good.

[rmn]

Here's mine:

4 Carnival of Souls
4 Skullclamp
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Enlightened Tutor

4 Dark Ritual
4 Culling the Weak

4 Crookshank Kobolds
4 Crimson Kobolds
4 Kobolds of Kher Keep
3 Myr Moonvessel
4 Ornithopter
2 Restless Dreams

2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Cabal Therapy

1 Chrome Mox
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scrubland
3 Swamp

This deck is built for speed, intending to win no later than turn 2.  There are only 9 cards which cost more than one mana; I tested Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Will and found they were too unwieldy.  Diabolic Intent was also too slow.  Not including them means it's not necessary to play extraneous mana sources like Mana Vault and Lion's Eye Diamond.

It is not strictly necessary to have a Carnival while going off, but it helps a lot.  It is, however, necessary to have a Skullclamp, which is why there are 5 tutors that can get it.  Restless Dreams is better than Yawg in this deck, since it's cheaper and you'll usually have extra lands in hand anyway by the time you want to cast it.

Aside from speed, the main strength of this deck is its ability to run Cabal Therapy for disruption.  It is also synergistic, as it is great to sacrifice an Ornithopter equipped with Skullclamp to pay for flashback.

It would be nice if I could find room for one more land, but this deck is surprisingly consistent and Therapy helps a lot to remove obstacles.  Give it a try.

EDIT: Plus, it's not like you're using your Scrublands for anything else

[John Jones]

Hey, here is the legacy version I took to GP Philly and went 5-3 with.

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=23041&highlight=honey+combs

Umm you might be able to get ideas from that. It used glimpse of nature as a draw engine then stormed into a brainfreeze for the kill (now it would be grapeshot)