Turn-One-Tendrils

[Stormanimagus]

This deck may not be the way to go in an environment where we have Mystic Remoras all over the place, but I figured I'd pitch the idea as I think that Crop Rotation being unrestricted gives the deck some new design space. I give you:

Turn-One-Tendrils

Mana (3):
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Tolarian Academy

Mana Accel (25):
4 Dark Ritual
1 Cabal Ritual
4 Land Grant
4 Crop Rotation
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Summoner’s Pact
1 Elvish Spirit Guide

Draw (22):
4 Street Wraith
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Manamorphose
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Timetwister

Combo (5):
4 Tendrils Of Agony
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Protection/Bounce (5):
4 Repeal
1 Pact Of Negation

Side-Board
4 Leyline Of The Void
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Thoughtseize
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus

It's based on a turn-one list I made a while ago but now has 4 Crop Rotation that are designed to act like Fetch lands for Tolarian Academy that also add to the Storm count. Is this optimal for what it is trying to accomplish: a turn 1 kill?

Other thoughts on a turn 1 kill deck (besides Belcher)?

[oneofchaos]

First it seems you would need to get a land in order to even crop rotate.  Then you show your opponent the hand off land grant, and they can choose to counter or w/e so you don't even get a chance to crop rotate.  It certainly doesn't seem stronger than meandeck tendrils was.

[FAVO!!!!1]

First it seems you would need to get a land in order to even crop rotate.  Then you show your opponent the hand off land grant, and they can choose to counter or w/e so you don't even get a chance to crop rotate.  It certainly doesn't seem stronger than meandeck tendrils was.

I agree... Your probably better off running lands in those slots along with Force/Misdirection.

How do you handle a Turn 1 Chalice set to 1? Hurkly's Recall or Rebuild could help with that while building up your storm count and powering through your deck.

[Stormanimagus]

First it seems you would need to get a land in order to even crop rotate.  Then you show your opponent the hand off land grant, and they can choose to counter or w/e so you don't even get a chance to crop rotate.  It certainly doesn't seem stronger than meandeck tendrils was.

the idea is that you find a land via Land Grant and THEN you rotate it for an Academy in order to generate a lot of mana on turn 1 and win the game. Of course it can be countered, but, by doing it on turn 1 you limit the options of Counterspells to Force of Will. I'm not saying this deck is resilient at all. I was simply trying to design the fastest deck I could for the beginning of designing something that perhaps COULD work.

[Tha Gunslinga]

http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=18152

This is more towards what you're trying to do I think.

[ErkBek]

Land Grant isn't nearly as good as it used to be without Brainstorm, the same could be said for using fetchlands over Gemstone/City. Back in the days of 4 Brainstorm, I highly preferred a fetchland manabase in real games over the Land Grant manabase. Even though the fetches didn't up the storm count, they helped significantly since they didn't give the opponent free wins.

If you're running Rite of Flame and Manamorph, Owen's City/Gemstone manabase is probably best since it enables better mana startups (eliminating the need for 8 Chromatics). I don't think you're looking to do that though, since you're running Chromatics to power up Academy.

I think you want to run 3-4 Cabal Rituals since they synergize nicely with Crop Rotation, providing profitable plays even when you don’t have a ton of Artifacts on the board. Fetchland + Crop Rotation is 3 cards in the grave, you’re almost half way to achieving Threshold already. Definitely would rather play Cabal Rits over Pact/ESG.

I think running some number of Spoils of the Vault is a necessary evil, but I could be mistaken. I vaguely recall cutting them entirely for a while and fizzling out too much because I couldn’t find my Tendrils, since all I was doing was cantriping. My win ratios were higher with them in the deck. I believe I settled on 3. Reliance on Spoils fades if you’re running cards like Necro, Vamp, and Wheel. Potentially, you could cut Spoils completely if you add these 3 bombs.

I know I’ve suggested adding a bunch of cards, here’s what I’m thinking you need to cut to make space for them:

-4 Land Grant
+4 Fetchlands

-1 ESG
-1 Green Pact
+2 Cabal Ritual

-1 Crop Rotation
-1 Blue Pact
-1 Chromatic Sphere/Star/Mana Morph
+1 Necro
+1 Wheel
+1 Vamp

As for the SB. The 4 Xantids are definite inclusions. I think EE + Chain better addresses the Shop matchup than FoW + Chain, but never tested EE since 9sphere didn’t exist yet. Not sure what matches you’re looking to bring in Thoughseizes or Leylines, since racing is your best weapon in combo and Dredge matches.