Tendrils/Mind's Desire Feasible in Original Academy?

[patman657]

What do you guys think of putting one copy each of these cards into an original Stroke/Braingeyser Academy deck?  Mind's Desire looks like a great card for drawing, and Tendrils looks like an excellent alternative win condition.  Also, can Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox be played together and what do you think of Gilded Lotus as a permanent Black Lotus?  There should be enough colorless mana generated first turn to make it useful.  Since I am still building my Academy deck, I have not had an opportunity to playtest these cards yet, and I am wondering if any of you have tried them.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Desire is decent, but not incredible.  6 mana is brutal, and not always possible.  Tendrils, however, is insane.  If your manabase can consistently support it, I'd run it over Geyser/Stroke, though it doesn't hurt to have 1 draw-X spell maindeck.  I have a bastardized version of Academy, sort of Academy/Turboland, with Tendrils as the kill.  I was able to cut some of the stuff that I'd never liked in Academy, such as the uncastable Mind Over Matter and the often-useless Power Artifact.

[rvs]

patman: Try giving us a starting point for your list. Also, Mind's Desire is perfect in an Academy deck, 6 mana is not *that* brutal for the effect it can offer.

[Tha Gunslinga]

patman: Try giving us a starting point for your list. Also, Mind's Desire is perfect in an Academy deck, 6 mana is not *that* brutal for the effect it can offer.

I know, but I like Twister better in the sense that you can play it early or late, and 3 mana is much more manageable than 6, especially since colorless is much easier to get than blue.

[Purple Hat]

mind's desire can also auto lose for old school academy without tendrils so I'd be careful.  overall I'd say tendrils is better than stroke/gyser but you can have problems with either.   I've found that when academy goes off it doesn't have problems producing either spells or mana.  the real problem is getting it to go offten enough.

[patman657]

Here is a rough starting point.  With Mirrodin and Scourge out, I am having a hard time figuring which cards to keep and which to let go (for example Chrome Mox v. Mox Diamond).  Any comments would be much obliged.

// Lands
        4 City of Brass
        4 Gemstone Mine
        3 Glimmervoid (Not too sure about these)
        1 Tolarian Academy
// Enchantments
        1 Fastbond
        1 Mind Over Matter
// Spells
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Capsize
        1 Crop Rotation
        2 Impulse
        4 Meditate
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Stroke of Genius
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        4 Force of Will
        1 Braingeyser
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Mind's Desire
        1 Regrowth
        1 Tendrils of Agony
        1 Time Spiral
        1 Time Walk
        1 Timetwister
        1 Tinker
        1 Wheel of Fortune
        1 Windfall
// Artifacts
        1 Chrome Mox (Not sure about this)
        1 Grim Monolith
        3 Helm of Awakening
        1 Lotus Petal
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Memory Jar
        1 Mox Diamond (Same as above - One may go)
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Black Lotus
        3 Candelabra of Tawnos (Is two sufficient?)
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Sapphire

[Gaea]

This is the version i tried some time ago:

// Lands 12
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Underground Sea
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
// Enchantments 3
1 Fastbond
1 Future Sight
1 Trade Routes
// Spells 30
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Capsize
1 Crop Rotation
3 Impulse
3 Meditate
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Force of Will
1 Braingeyser
1 Mind's Desire
1 Brainfreeze
1 Cunning Wish
1 Regrowth
1 Time Spiral
1 Frantic Search
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
// Artifacts 18
1 Zuran Orb
1 Grim Monolith
3 Helm of Awakening
2 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire

[xaos]

regarding the chrome mox vs mox diamond question:   i would most certainly run the diamond over the chrome if there were only space for one or the other...   if you must only run one, think of it this way:   mox diamond gets you to pitch a land, a card you can only(re: almost always) play once a turn, while the chrome mox makes you pitch spells that would help you more than likely have a better chance at winning with(either that, or that card deserves a smaller portion of slots in the deck)... i would always suggest the diamond over chrome, if thats the question.

[Smmenen]

Original Academy is soooo slooow.  Even Aggro Decks can combo out faster than original academy.

Steve

[Tha Gunslinga]

mind's desire can also auto lose for old school academy without tendrils so I'd be careful.  overall I'd say tendrils is better than stroke/gyser but you can have problems with either.   I've found that when academy goes off it doesn't have problems producing either spells or mana.  the real problem is getting it to go offten enough.

Casual T1 game:

Setting: Gencon 2003

I'm playing Ankh-Sligh.  Unpowered.
He's playing Academy of some sort, fully powered.

He goes first.
Land, 5 mana artifacts, Mind's Desire.

Shuffles
Peels 6 cards.
4 boring lands
Tolarian Academy
Abeyance.

Academy is now removed-from-game.  He has no hand.  He concedes.

I then SB in 4 REBs, and probably more.  I lose anyway.

[patman657]

So are we saying Mind's Desire is too risky, or do we just have to play it at the right time?  Tendrils is in; it's just too good to leave out.