Bob Gush

[znoyes]

Hi,

The list below is a Dark Confidant - based Gush deck that focuses on individually powerful threats that supplement the Gush engine (Fastbond into gushes into Tendrils) directly or indirectly. The reason I am interested in this style of gush deck is that it attacks from multiple angles simultaneously, which means that while your opponent is trying to deal with your "small" threats (big individual payoff for minimal resources required), you can assemble the gush engine with little to no resistance. No testing has been done with this list, but take my word for it, this list will not die to it's own dark confidants:

Maindeck (60)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Force of Will
4 Gush
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Mana Drain
4 Mental Misstep
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fastbond
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Burning Wish
1 Time Walk
--------------
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta

Sideboard(15)
1 Smash To Smithereens
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Timetwister
1 Grapeshot
1 Tendrills of Agony
4 Surgical Extraction
4 Steel Sabotage
1 Mana Drain

[Onslaught]

I haven't felt great about the interaction of Deathrite Shaman and Gush, but there really isn't any reason for them not to play nicely together. At this point I'd say Deathrite is much better than Lotus Cobra while filling a slightly similar role, and Cobra Gush is/was obviously a viable archetype so Shaman/Gush should be fine. Bob/Gush also has precedent for success, so that looks solid too.

Looks like a great list, it really feels like the deck should be way over 60 cards considering it has Bobs, Gushbond, Shamans, 4 Jace, and all restricted staples WITH a Burning Wish setup.

My only nitpick is that this is exactly the kind of deck that wants Tinker/BSC. I still view non-Tendrils Gush as primarly a Tinker based deck, so fitting a BSC maindeck and a Tinker in the board for burning Wish seems very worthwhile. 

[znoyes]

Thank you for the comments, Onslaught. I think that Tinker for Colossus and burning wish are mutually exclusive (only one big win condition is necessary). That being said, the actual win condition of a deck defines a lot of what the deck is. Tinker is a better win condition if you don't plan on generating a lot of storm: a deck like this with fewer cantrips is not capable of generating as much storm. Something that got my interest is playing 4 Regrowth and 1 Timetwister (and 1 Time Walk) in a deck as an alternative to playing time vault/key. Here is my "Bob Tinker Gush" list:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Gush
4 Force of Will
4 Regrowth
1 Brainstorm
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus
2 Trygon Predator
3 Jace, the mind sculptor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Fastbond
4 Mental Misstep
2 Mana Drain
-------------------
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand