[Premium Article] The Fastest Deck Ever, By Far

[B166ER]

Maybe if we can find Justin's report we'll find answers to this question. 

Here you go sir.

[BreathWeapon]

Something tells me boarding in Chain would be a bad idea now that Repeal makes Chalice at 1 the best possible choice for Stax, so I guess this should be Recall?

I guess I'm more interested in what you board out than what you board in, because I feel boarding upsets the delicate balance of cards in this deck. One thought I had was +4 FOW, +4 Hurkyl's for -1 Necropotence, -1 Lion's Eye Diamond, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Imperial Seal and -4 Cabal Ritual hoping that the Hurkyl's would make up for the lack of black mana in additional colorless mana and storm. Even if I'm two turns slower, 4 counters and 8 bounce spells should meen something vs Stax.

That mite just be crazy talk tho'.

Oh, and this may be pushing it after discussing Necro, but did any one ever try Bargain?

[Smmenen]

Maybe if we can find Justin's report we'll find answers to this question. 

Here you go sir.

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

At the end of that thread, Justin answers every question posed in this thread - better than I could have.

Steve

[BreathWeapon]

That was arguably the most amusing tournament report I have ever read, but it wasn't as informative as I had hoped (although I did gather that Night's Whispers often got the axe) . I guess I'll just have to experiment on my own and get back to you on my findings.

[Tin_Mox5831]

I find it really intriguing that this was published so close to SCG: Rochester.  :lol:

Seriously though, this really is a nice update on the deck. It's still the single most efficient ...... way to get a migraine in all of Magic. I've played the original version at a handful of Mox tourneys, and I even T8'ed two of them, but I hate wearing myself out only to end up with "Do you have Force? Oh, I lose then."

The fact of the matter is that this deck will always be a fan favorite due to it's pure speed, but combo decks that are more well-rounded like Grim Long or IT will do better consistently. I love busting this pile out at small tourneys, but I wouldn't risk my $30 on it at a SCG.

All in all, very good work though.

Later,
Dave

[That0neguy]

Was infernal tutor tested in the deck? I hate nights whisper and it seems like it would be a nice redundant way to find will fast.  If it was dismissed ddi you find yourself with a hand too often or was it that it broke the 1:1:1 rule?

[AJFirst]

Tropical Island instead of Underground Sea? For what, hardcasting Land Grant? Seems unecesary, and if you just natrually draw the land, wouldn't you MUCH rather have Underground Sea than Tropical Island? Seems like Ritual into Sphere/Egg is better than hoping to pay 2 mana for a land drop.
-AJ

[Machinus]

Tropical Island instead of Underground Sea? For what, hardcasting Land Grant? Seems unecesary, and if you just natrually draw the land, wouldn't you MUCH rather have Underground Sea than Tropical Island? Seems like Ritual into Sphere/Egg is better than hoping to pay 2 mana for a land drop.
-AJ

[ErkBek]

Was infernal tutor tested in the deck? I hate nights whisper and it seems like it would be a nice redundant way to find will fast.  If it was dismissed ddi you find yourself with a hand too often or was it that it broke the 1:1:1 rule?

I find that I rarely ever play will. I frequently would rather have a draw spell instead of it when I draw it too. Demonic for Will is usually not all that good of a play in this deck, since the yard is rarely loaded and you don't have 5 mana chillin all that often. With that said, I wouldn't cut yawg will, however I would consider boarding it out at times.

[sampling_percus]

I stuck with this deck, i'm just excited that little crappy cantrips are going to keep making it better and better... at what it does. I thought infernal tutor would be ace in this deck, but the little testing i do now and then said there aren't enough cards in the deck you want to spend 1B to duplicate.

Why still 4 spoils of the vault? i hate to see 2, and would have thought 3 to be the max, especially now other tutors are in the frame.

[orgcandman]

Infernal tutor breaks the rule of this deck:

1 mana = 1 card, or 1 mana = 1+ mana

Look at repeal + mox, spoils, nights whisper, dark ritual, eggs, spheres, etc.

infernal tutor is
2 mana = 1 card + 0 mana.

even the eggs are

3 mana = 1 card + 2 mana. (you're always getting back at least what you put in)

[arj]

Why still 4 spoils of the vault? i hate to see 2, and would have thought 3 to be the max, especially now other tutors are in the frame.

You normally only see 10-12 cards a game since you win turn 1 so you want to maximize the chance of seing one spoils. Spoils is good since it only costs 1 and if played correctly can be more beneficial than harmful.

[AJFirst]

Tropical Island instead of Underground Sea? For what, hardcasting Land Grant? Seems unecesary, and if you just natrually draw the land, wouldn't you MUCH rather have Underground Sea than Tropical Island? Seems like Ritual into Sphere/Egg is better than hoping to pay 2 mana for a land drop.
-AJ

RTFC, FTW?

I think so.

[Vegeta2711]

No really, just explain what you're trying to say.

You can't fetch Underground Sea with Land Grant, hence if you cut Tropical Island for it, Land Grant itself kind of sucks. Unless for some reason you think you'll never need to fetch anything except Bayou.

[Implacable]

Excuse me, but what's the sideboard for this deck?  I didn't find it in the his report...

[Disburden]

Excuse me, but what's the sideboard for this deck?  I didn't find it in the his report...

I know it included Force of Will, a necropotence, and some bounce spells.

[B166ER]

Excuse me, but what's the sideboard for this deck?  I didn't find it in the his report...

1 Chain of Vapor
1 Bayou
1 Doomsday
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Hurkyls Recall
4 Duress
4 Force of Will

That is the SB run by Saucemaster in the report I linked to earlier.

Zherbus a post later added this:

Our sideboards were another story but it had:

4 Force of Will
X Duress
X Chain of Vapor
X Hurkyl's Recall
X Fetch/Dual
X Elvish Spirit Guide

Keep in mind those SB options were all from the original Meandeck Tendrils.  This new updated version with Repeal may or may not have different SB options.

[mistervader]

Why sideboard Doomsday, and why only in Singleton? I understand that with all the cantrips, DD can usually mean GG, but why only one copy?

[Implacable]

What would you sideboard FoW's against?

[Smmenen]

Everything.  Just about.

As Justin put it, since you win on turn one, you have no idea what your opponent is playing, often.

Thus, he brought in fows in game two in almost every match and he won when the rest of us did not.

It makes sense: think about it - people know you win on turn one, so they will do anything in their power to affect the game on turn one. 

[AJFirst]

Just about everything. You kind of have to sacrifice some speed because this deck runs on two assumptions:

It's going to win when it goes first turn one.
There's going to be another game where they go first.

And in the other game, you want FoW to make sure they don't drop

Sphere of Resistance
Trinisphere
Chalice of the Void
Arcane Lab
Null Rod

or any other major piece of disruption. Yeah, you have to sacrifice the ability to consistantly go off turn one, but you also give yourself a turn 3, which this deck doesn't usually have (it has either won or conceded by then).

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
-AJ

Edit :: Damn, beat me to it. Anyway, the hate is stronger games 2 and 3, and you have to go on the draw eventually, so they're good to have.

[jshields]

My friend tried the exact decklist out against me with Bazaar Stax and ended up losing all but 1 of our 6-7 games.  As cool as the deck seems, it had major issues when I would resolve a turn 1 Trinisphere or Sphere of resistance as shown in the previous discussion, with my friend typically scooping when one of the above hit the table.  In addition, he had a good amount of trouble with Gorilla Shamans dealing with his moxen and mana sources if he could not go off turn one despite me almost always going second (even our ante match which cost him 2 birds of paradise -- sorry buddy!).  On the other hand, it may have just been his luck and the fact that he did not know how the play the new tendrils deck that well (plus the fact that I do better with control slaver over stax).  Then again, when I boarded, I put in 2 Tormods Crypt and a Jesters Cap for controlling his combo which sorta messed him up pretty bad.  This was especially a sticky situation when I suggested the idea of a random fish or u/w/x control deck showing up with meddling mage to deal with tendrils nonetheless a Kataki, Null Rod, Energy Flux, or Arcane Lab to stop his moxes and combo.  With the tendrils as the only win, my suggestion involved removing a couple for a Goblin Charbelcher and Darksteel Colossus and removing one of the accellerators such as a single cabal ritual or egg for a Tinker to fetch possible needed mana along with the suggestion of a Memory Jar for additional draw.  This seems early, but I am already disappointed with the deck even when compared to decks like TPS, Oath Tendrils or its brother, 2 Land Belcher.  Obviously major work needs to be done, but the idea of a turn 1 win is obviously something that is not always going to work the way you want it to.

[b-tings]

he did not know how the play the new tendrils deck

You just owned your own post.

[AJFirst]

he did not know how the play the new tendrils deck

You just kicked your own post's ass.

Fixed.
-AJ

[Jacob Orlove]

Okay, enough. Verbal warnings to the last 3 posts, and closed.