No Brain, No Drain

[Tao]

I made this new topic because the opening post of the last thread was too bad. It was my mistake, sorry for that. A Mod can delete the last thread. I think neither me nor anyone else will miss it.

I will try again to explain what I want the deck to do. It is supposed to generate much Mana, create fast Card Advantage and overwhelm the opponent. It shall spit out permanents fast and keep on drawing cards. While doing this it shall counter some of the opponent's key spells and then win with its superior Mana and a big threat or beat the exhausted opponent with 1 or 2 Trinket Mages.

First of all I want no further Brainstorm / Mana Drain discussions. As an example for other blue decks that are Monoblue and don't use the Brainstorm/ Fetchland engine here are the Top 3 from an online tourney: http://www.magic-league.com/deck/22584/legacy_t15.html

Of course Sea Drakes and Serendib Efreets are not that impressive in Vintage as in Legacy, so they are replaced with other threats. But the baisc principle is the same: With all the artifact mana Brainstorm is just an inferior choice and Mana Drain, like all UU spells is not supported by the mana base. The last thread was really frustrating. I hope I made you understand why I don't want a Brainstorm discussion here.

I would much rather like to discuss the exact amount of Mana needed and the kill engine.

The choices so far:

4 Force of Will: Yes

4 Mana Leak: It can counter really often on Turn 1 and is still quite good in the later game

4 Thirst for Knowledge: Creates card advantage and improves card quality

3 Compulsive Research: same as TfK, only slightly worse.

3 Trinket Mage: They are really good. In most games you fetch for Blue Mox to accelerate or Senseis Divining Top to find spells. Other options are Black Lotus to hardcast a massive threat, Seat of the Synod to discard to CR or TfK and some of the 1-ofs. I am not sure if I shall go up to 4.

3 Repeal: Really great card. Much better as Chain of Vapor. You can bounce your opponent's threats and then counter them. It saves Trinket Mages from Removal or with damage on stack, then you draw a card and use them again. It is great with Mana Vault and Mana Crypt. I can play Mana Crypt because I have already 3 Repeal in the deck.

1 Cursed Scroll: absolutely nessecary to keep Welders, Confidants, Cutpurses and Negators back. Better than E. Ex. at this. E.Ex. seems like a good choice, too, but you cant play everything.

1 Aether Spellbomb: Colossus or Akroma. It also saves your fatties from StoP and lets you use Trinket Mage again. It can cycle, too.

1 Senseis Divining Top: Really great card. I fetch for it really often with Trinket Mage and it wins games.

1 Trisk, 1 Titan, 1 Colosssus: Titan and Colossus are in without a doubt. They are not only Tinker targets, you can hardcast them pretty often, even the colossus. 11 Mana is realistic with Mana Vault or Monolith plus a fetched Lotus. Or with Academy.  But I am really not sure about the finishers.

Wasteland / Strip Mine: Nessecary against stupid Bazaars, acdemys and Workshops. Helps Brainstorm get better and improves your mana advantage.

Ancient Tomb: Because of the nessecary inclusion of Strip effects you can play only 3.

Grim Monolith, Mana Vault: They help hardcasting a big threat.

Tinker, fast Mana, Ancestral, Time Walk, Tolarian Academy: yes


SB Choices:


Tormod's Crypt: Maybe I should add one to the MD. Of course they are Trinket Mage targets, too.

Chalice: You can side it in on the play or together with Hurkly's Recall against Staxx.

Stifle: Storm Combo

Hydroblast: Welder and Red Blasts.

Spell Snare: Confidant and Oath


Decklist:

// Lands
    8  Island
    4  Seat of the Synod
    1  Tolarian Academy
    3  Ancient Tomb
    3  Wasteland
    1  Strip Mine

// Creatures
    1  Darksteel Colossus
    1  Sundering Titan
    3  Trinket Mage
    1  Triskelion

// Spells
    1  Mana Vault
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Sol Ring
    4  Force of Will
    1  Time Walk
    1  Ancestral Recall
    4  Mana Leak
    4  Thirst for Knowledge
    1  Tinker
    3  Compulsive Research
    3  Repeal
    1  Grim Monolith
    1  Sensei's Divining Top
    1  AEther Spellbomb
    1  Cursed Scroll
    1  Mana Crypt

// Sideboard
SB: 3  Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1  Chalice of the Void
SB: 3  Hydroblast
SB: 3  Stifle
SB: 3  Hurkly's Recall
SB: 3 Spell Snare

[Mantis]

First of all, the link you posted directs to Legacy decks. No wonder they don't run Drain. The reason they don't run Brainstorm is because they want to set Chalice at 1 first turn.
Please tell me why you don't run these cards which are otherwise auto includes in every blue control deck. Anyway if you decide to not run them for whatever reason it's your choice.

Regardless, run some fetchlands. They work well with Top, thin out your deck and enables you to battle a Crucible + Strip Mine lock.

Where is Sol Ring? Sol Ring > Grim Monolith.

Sorry to bring up Drain + Brainstorm but I just can not understand how you don't want to include them. They are nuts.

[GrandpaBelcher]

I think you might want to reconsider Chain of Vapor.  It's really hard to bounce the actual threats with Repeal.  Repeal is nice because it draws a card, but Darksteel Colossus is usually the biggest thing you have to worry about, and it's so much better to bounce that for one mana than 12.  Otherwise, you're relying only on a single copy of Spellbomb, and if that doesn't work out, you're probably sunk.  Plus, with Chain of Vapor, you can target your Trinket Mage with the first activation, then sac a land and get your opponent's threat as well. 

Speaking of Trinket Mage, there should be four of them.  If you're running a toolbox, you want as much access to that as possible.  Plus, with all your mana acceleration, you can and want access to them on the first turn and throughout the game.

What do you side out for Spell Snare?  It's an interesting choice and I'd like to hear some of your experiences with it.  To me it seems like you have to have it in the right place at the right time and might still have to have backup for it.  I would consider running the other two Chalices in its spot for on the play against combo.  That way you have a better chance of opening with one in hand and Trinketing for another to keep your opponent out of the game.  Chalice is good enough that you don't want to have to wait.  I'm not sure what the other card should be--maybe a fourth Stifle. 

Other than that, it looks like a fine deck.  Your toolbox isn't really for us to comment on because we don't know what you play against; they're all metagame choices.  Everything else looks pretty good and pretty standard except for the draw engine, some of which should stay in Standard in fact.  If you seriously don't want Brainstorm or Mana Drain recommended, stop posting here because that's all anyone's going to say.

Sorry to bring up Drain + Brainstorm but I just can not understand how you don't want to include them. They are nuts.

QF so much T

You're getting a lot of comments that all say the same thing.  Possibly because it's good advice?  Could be.

There's not so much artifact mana that you can't cast Brainstorm or Mana Drain.  You have 13 blue lands (though five of them should be Fetchlands to go with Brainstorms) and a Mox, which you can get with Trinket Mage.

@Mantis - Sol Ring is in there, right under Lotus.

[FlamingCloud]

Reposting the same topic because you didn't like the answers people gave you in the other thread?

Brainstorm, Fetches and Drain all have to be in the deck, and compulsive(unplayable jank), monolith, some of the repeals, seats, and cursed scroll have to go.

If you can't see why 4 maindeck Seat of the Synod is bad you need to go back to legacy.  Between eflux, gorilla shaman, and rack & ruin your mana is going to get screwed up.

[Kowal]

Starting a new thread because you don't like the replies isn't quite a good idea.  If you have problems with posts in your thread, contact a moderator.

I'm going to lock this one, and issue a verbal warning.[/color]