Cephalid Life, T1 style

[Grollub]

I started working on a Cephalid Life deck, and started wondering how fast we could constistantly get it in T1, I mean it's pretty much turn 3 when well played in extended. Plus having 28346287364872 life would be pretty amusing against any of the Tendrils combo decks.  

The Cephalid combo comes in as a both a finisher and as a way to gain a fighting chance against decks that don't need to win by damage. For instance a Crucibe/Slaver lock or Brain Freeze sillyness.

Now I'm pretty sure I'll hear, "Why not just play Hermit Druid?", well the druid has summoning sickness plus I kind of want to fit in a Shuko or to, to go off through a Cursed Totem - not like anyone really plays it, but yeah having the flexibility is nice.

Having been tied down to the bed with the flu I haven't been able to test the list I'm going to present in other ways than apprentice - which is bad testing, in my opinion. Sitting with the actual cards gives a much cleaner understanding.

In my testing the the list below has a very consistant turn 3 combo - both combos can go off easily turn 3.

Updated: 15/3/05
Creatures - 14
4 Nomads En-Kor
4 Daru Spiritualist
3 Cephalid Illusionist
2 Polar Kraken
1 Sutured Ghoul

Draw/Search/Broken - 14
4 Living Wish
4 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mystical Tutor

Disruption - 8
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will
The blue card count is kind of low, I know. But I'm still reluctant to drop them, combined with Therapy they make brute forcing the last spell through rather easy.

Win - 4
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Worthy Cause
1 Dragon Breath
1 Reanimation
Having tested Shallow Grave/Corpse Dance in the Reanimation/Breath place, I often found the extra mana requirement a hassle.

Speed - 8
3 Aether Vial
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
The vial might seem odd in T1 at first, but being able to have uncounterable combo pieces and "I win" (Starlit Sanctum, or Cephalid mill -> double Therapy pretty much equal undisruptable) cards is cool.

Lands - 12
4 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Gemstone Mine
2 Starlit Sanctum
It looks odd I know, but I really need the right colored mana now. Haven't tested alot with duals/fetches tho

Sideboard:
Wishables - 4[/i]
1 Task Force
1 Shaman En-Kor
1 Starlit Sanctum
1 Cephalid Illusionist
Not sure if I'm better off moving the two good combo pieces to the SB and then have two more draw/searchers in the main...

As a sidenote the deck transforms rather well into a budget version.

[jpmeyer]

1) You don't have enough creatures for Sutured Ghoul
2) Many decks in Type 1 (Slaver, Dragon, etc.) can kill you even if you've gained infinite life.

[PizzaMan]

1) You don't have enough creatures for Sutured Ghoul
2) Many decks in Type 1 (Slaver, Dragon, etc.) can kill you even if you've gained infinite life.

Also, make infinite life FASTER than ANY tendrils deck is a real hard task...

I think I prefer this deck in Legacy... o.0

[Grollub]

1) You don't have enough creatures for Sutured Ghoul
2) Many decks in Type 1 (Slaver, Dragon, etc.) can kill you even if you've gained infinite life.

1) Sure? I got enough for a total of 22 damage. But I suppose I could try and fit in one more creature with phat. Woodripper? Just in case they get a Platz into play, I'll be able to shoot it down, eat some other artifacts and animate a phat Ghoul into play.

2) There's why I added the Breakfeast combo, as an attempt to race them. Maybe it'd be better to go pure MD Life and then SB into Breakfeast?

Also, make infinite life FASTER than ANY tendrils deck is a real hard task...

I think I prefer this deck in Legacy... o.0

You are probably right that it'll be better in Legacy, but I can give it a try in T1. There's T1 tournaments every other week here, while I haven't seen a T1.5 tournament for years.

About racing with Tendrils, my life turn is 2 or 3. So we're able to go off at about the same turns. HOWEVER, Tendrils got a much larger chance of turn 1 and turn 2.

[Nastaboi]

I got enough for a total of 22 damage.

The Colossus will never be in your grave to be removed. Add in couple of Polar Krakens and you can pitch one to FoW if needed.

[TR]

I may not understand the deck correctly, but for the Sutured Ghoul part of the combo I would suggest replacing Krosan Reclamation with Gaeas Blessing. Thus you mill your deck -> Blessing on the stack  -> respond with Corpse Dance or Shallow Grave -> Ghoul comes into play -> remove two Polar Krakens -> Blessing resolves and you have a full library again (instead of only two cards with Reclamation).

This eliminates the minute possibility that your opponent is holding Ancestral and finishes you of before combat. It also leaves you less vulnerable to random bounce / Dragons Laquatus kill (which is now depreciated I guess).
 
I'd try Duress instead of FoW's. Maybe one Unmask to get the Ghoul into the graveyard should you draw him. This, however, is probably too unreliable. Finally, how about adding Worldly Tutor? All your life combo parts and half of the Ghoul combo are creatures, so it should be pretty good. Maybe cut down to one Illusionist MD and add two W.Tutors.

Good luck with the deck,
--TR

[Grollub]

I got enough for a total of 22 damage.

The Colossus will never be in your grave to be removed. Add in couple of Polar Krakens and you can pitch one to FoW if needed.

Oh my god. I'm such a fool.   Thought I could respond to it being shuffled back...


TR, Krosan Reclamation allows me to stack my library so I can find a reanimation spell if I don't already have one, setting up for turn three kill. When going hybrid I don't think I can squeeze in enough reanimation spells to allow for safe usage of Blessings.

I'm not terrible scared about Ancestral Recall due to Cabal Therapies, when going off for the kill I'll be able to cast at least two, plus I don't have to mill my entire library - with all the search being able to find a reanimation spell isn't impossible.

Polar Kraken it is!

[TR]

Yup, I didn't understand the deck completely   , I forgot the Cabal Therapies.

I think I'd still try to go for life as fast as possible, i.e., add Worldy Tutor and cut down on the kill combo. WT in your opening hand is already one part of the combo so it should significantly increase your chances of going infinite on turn two. Then you can sit back and search for the kill, that is, if your opponent doesn't scoop.

--TR

[rvs]

I may not understand the deck correctly
--TR

Reclamation is better because you can put back a reanimation spell, and thus you wouldn't need to tutor or draw into it in order to win.

[Grollub]

Ok. Small update. Reanimate+Dragon Breath > Shallow Grave/Corpse Dance when going for speed (which is really what I want when going for the Illusionist combo...)