[Deck] Penguin

[Son of Serra]

Regarding the new metagame, there is a lot of talk about Workshops, Ichorid, and Control Slaver. There are several weaknesses that each of these decks share which I would like to discuss exploiting through the lens of a WB deck I call the Penguin.dec:

Penguin.dec

x1  Black Lotus
x1  Mox Jet
x1  Mox Pearl
x4  Null Rod

x3  Umezawa's Jitte

x4  Dark Confidant
x2  Exalted Angel
x2  Isamaru, Hound of Konda
x3  Savannah Lions

x2  Seal of Cleansing
x1  Moat

x1  Enlightened Tutor
x4  Orim's Chant
x4  Swords to Plowshares
x1  Vampiric Tutor

x1  Demonic Tutor
x4  Duress
x1  Imperial Seal
x2  Thoughtseize

x3  Flooded Strand
x2  Plains
x3  Polluted Delta
x3  Scrubland
x1  Strip Mine
x2  Swamp
x4  Wasteland

Sideboard:

x1  Balance
x2  Extripate
x3  Kataki, War's Wage
x4  Planar Void
x1  Exalted Angel
x2  Seal of Cleansing
x2  Thoughtseize


Without the Gushbond engine to run low mana decks, the new metagame will have to run a lot more artifact mana (except Ichorid). And without all the Brainstorms and Ponders, getting enough land will be a problem. This is a good time to revive Fish.dec style Null Rods and Wastelands to attack the vulnerable mana bases of these decks. Dark Confidant will be among the best engines in the new metagame. Backed by heavy disruption and without the threat of Flash, an early Dark Confidant will probably be a game winner.

Without Brainstorm, I am willing to bet that Duress and Thoughtseize will probably be better than Force of Will in most cases due to the problems FoW has with card disadvantage and lack of access to blue cards without Brainstorm. Plus, the high casting cost of FoW when turned over on a Dark Confidant is nasty. Between 6 Duress/Thoughtseize effects and 4 Orim's Chant, the Penguin.dec will consistantly present suitable first turn resistance.

Also, assuming Ichorid and Workshops will be top teir for a time, Moat will be a house when resolved. And Umezawa's Jitte kills Goblin Welders and gains life when Dark Confidant is about to knock you out.

Now, this deck might be better with a splash of Blue for Stifle, Ancestral Recall, and Time Walk, but the manabase for three colors would have to be a lot more vulnerable. Maybe as the metagame actually reveals itself I will try it.

Thoughts?

[wierdmtg13]

cut imperial seal, isamaru, lions, chants, and seal of cleansing for jotun grunts, stifles, time walk, recall, and force of will and run 1 ofs ponder, brainstorm, and merchant scroll.  idk about force of will b/c of low blue but those blue cards are a lot better than the white ones you are running.  i used to run BW for a long time.  i top 8ed twice.  u need good draw engines though.

gl with building an optimal build.  keep us updated on new versions

[Son of Serra]

Ok, so maybe something like:

Penguin.dec (now more like Fish.dec than ever!)

x1  Black Lotus
x1  Mox Jet
x1  Mox Pearl
x1  Mox Sapphire
x4  Null Rod

x3  Umezawa's Jitte

x4  Dark Confidant
x2  Exalted Angel
x4  Jotun Grunt

x1  Moat

x1  Ancestral Recall
x1  Brainstorm
x4  Stifle
x4  Swords to Plowshares
x1  Vampiric Tutor

x1  Demonic Tutor
x4  Duress
x1  Ponder
x2  Thoughtseize
x1  Time Walk

x4  Flooded Strand
x1  Island
x2  Plains
x2  Polluted Delta
x2  Scrubland
x1  Strip Mine
x1  Swamp
x1  Tundra
x4  Wasteland

Sideboard:

x1  Balance
x1  Exalted Angel
x2  Extripate
x3  Kataki, War's Wage
x2  Phyrexian Dreadnought
x4  Planar Void
x2  Thoughtseize

I still think Force of Will is the wrong choice for this build, but if I get hosed enough I suppose I will be forced to run it. It still seems just too risky to be playing with Dark Confidants.

I'm trying Stifles over Orim's Chant to see if they are more disruptive.

This is definitely a better build against Ichorid... I'm curious to see if it will hold up better against Workshops without Seal of Cleansing and Orim's Chant.