[deck]/[reply@ Mixing Mike's "Sensei's divining Tog"]

[PETER FLUGZEUG]

Note: this is an idea to Mixing Mike’s article „Sensei’s divining Tog“. As I am a new member, I obviously haven’t got the right to post in the vintage forum.

When I saw Mixing Mike’s list of Sensei’s divining tog I thought of one particular card: predict. I don’t like the Intuition/AK engine that much because of the often discussed „dead“ AK draws. To me, this card seemed like a powerful draw engine when either sensei’s divining top or future sight are in play, as well as a smart way to remove extra tops/sights from the top of your library and draw two cards for two mana. In this case, predict digs 3 cards down to find the other combo pieces.
Predict becomes even more powerful with Psychatog:
Example: sensei’s divining Top is on the table. Tap it to draw 1 card and put it on the top of your library. Play predict to put Top in the grave and draw two cards ‡ 2 cards more in the grave, 3 cards drawn (+2 in hand net). If you discard and remove all of those to Psychatog, you gain an extra 6.5 damage.
On th other hand, predict is pretty weak on it’s own. Therefore, I added 2 copies of memory lapse to the deck, in order to give you another way to know the top card of a library (in this case, the opponent’s...)
I am aware that I might miss perhaps the most powerful ways to abuse predict, but I worked on this alone, so please forgive me and try to find other good solutions.
Perhaps you have already tested and discarded the idea of using predict. If so, Stopp reading and tell me.

The list is untested! (I don’t have MWS as I am on macintosh ):

3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Volcanic Island
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt

// Counters (10)
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 memory lapse

// Tutors (7)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Cunning Wish
1 intuition
1 vampiric tutor

// randomly broken (2)
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk

// Draw Engine (12)
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Future Sight
2 Deep Analysis
4 Predict
2 Thirst for knowledge

// Other (7)
3 Helm of Awakening
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Psychatog

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Stifle
SB: 2 Annul
SB: 1 fling
SB: 1 Brain Freeze
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Psychatog
SB: 1 coffin purge
SB: 3 Chalice of the Void
SB: 2 rack and ruin
SB: 1 shallow grave/ corpse dance


The significant changes to Mike’s list are Bold.
Unlike Mike, I chose to run red instead of green, even if I know the losses of doing so. the advantages:
Rack and ruin: to deal with trinisphere, null rod and even damping matrix as well as chalice for 1. All around a good card.
Fling: the easy way to deal 20+ damage with tog with blockers in play.

Other changes:
Coffin purge as graveyard hate (may be suboptimal?)
Corpse dance or shallow grave (I tend to favor the latter though)
Example: EOT Intuition for 1 tog, 2 wishes game one to have a Tog in play (either they give you Tog, wich they usually won’t in fear of tog, or they give you a wish for shallow grave, which makes them dead even faster (you attack during your turn instead of having to wait one more turn because of summoning sickness.
If you already have wish in hand, you can just Intuition for Psychatog, deep analysis x2.
If they give you Psychatog you wish for Fling.

Memory lapse: On it’s own, the card gives you a slight tempo advantage (or buys you at least one more turn). Combined with predict, it puts the countered spell in the graveyard, although it can be mana intensive (if no helm is in play).

Would adding green be better?
Is my idea just plain bad?

Feel free to add comments and please criticise me.

PETER FLUGZEUG

[Mixing Mike]

Hello there, may I start off by welcoming you to the Mana Drain.  I'm glad to see you're thinking about the deck, however, with any testing data your idea has little value to it.  Never-the-less I'll put forth an argument about why it shouldn't be inclused in the deck, despite the initial synergy Predict has at a first glance.

Predict 
Instant
Name a card, then put the top card of target player's library into his or her graveyard. If that card is the named card, you draw two cards. Otherwise, you draw a card.

Predict is an interesting choice, especially using Psychatogs.  It does work well with Top in play, and can be fairly useful with a Sight in play as well (as you get to see 3 cards, as if it was an AK for 2).

I understand why you added Memory Lapse to the deck, however, I don't think that's the best of ideas, showing why AK's are a bit more ideal for the deck on the whole than Predict is.  If you read the Primer I wrote for SCG then you'd see why this is a bad choice.  This is the reason why....

Remember, you're a combo deck before you're a control deck. Your counters are to get your spells to resolve, not so much to stop your opponents spells. Having too much of a control element takes away from the power of the deck.

I have a hard time finding the justification of Intuition in your deck.  Though it's usually to get Forces, Deeps or a missing combo piece, it's not too bad at getting AK's (which is just insane under a single Helm).  I'm sure this isn't something you'd do with Predicts.  They way you've said you use Intuition is to get out 2 Wishes.  That cuts down on Wishes if you need to get get something for removal, as well as comboing off if they answer your Psychatog.

There are two other points I'd like to make.  The first being that many my friends and I have had many different kinds of transformal sideboards at multiple events with different colors splashed.  It turned out that the transformal sideboard (while strong in theory) proved to be nigh useless in real life.  I have only seen 3 or 4 games where the Sensei player has used an alternate win condition they sideboarded in, to go the distance when it was impossible to combo off in time.  Every other time they would just have to combo off.

The second is the point about splashing red over green.  If you're going to use the red splash, you must be sure to include Pyroblasts.  There's more details in the Primer about why you should, and also about the Green splash (I've found Dryads to be a smoother transition than Psychatog).  Also, note that Naturalize and Oxidize answer all those cards you've mentioned that you want Rack and Ruin for (as well as Pernicious Deed).

[wannabe_player]

have you triedr with tendrils of agony as win condition(faster, you don't have to resolve fling),i think tendrils is better...