Espresso.dec

[the Luke]

What happens when a Parfait player buys Drains...

There was some interest in my U/W Scepter control deck in #themanadrain on efnet, so I thought I'd post it here. I came second in a (small) tourney with it, and think it can do well. Note that I don't have blue power, so of course that influences my deck. My main draw "engine" is Land Tax/Scroll Rack. The advantage of this is that it enables the deck to run on only 22 Mana Sources, so I can squeeze lots of other stuff into the deck, which I need to make up for not playing many tutors or Ancestral or Time Walk.

My kill is Decree of Justice.

The deck:

// Espresso.dec
// Engine (8)
3 Scroll Rack
3 Land Tax
2 Read the Runes

// Utility (12)
3 Isochron Scepter
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Cunning Wish
3 Impulse

// Counter (9)
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection

// the win (2)
2 Decree of Justice

// Broken (3)
1 Balance
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

// Global Control (4)
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Humility

// Mana (22)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
6 Island
4 Plains
4 Tundra
2 Flooded Strand

// Sideboard (15)
// Wish
1 Misdirection
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Orim's Chant
1 Fire/Ice
1 Disenchant
2 Abolish
// Other
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Sacred Ground
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Moat

Card by Card discussion:

The Engine: Scroll Rack and Land Tax
Not the most powerful of engines, but not too bad. I'm missing the broken cards for Keeper, and I feel that the Intuition-AK engine is more suited to Hulk. Also graveyard hate is quite popular around here.

Chalice of the Void and Isochron Scepter: the new control staples.
I originally ran 4 Chalice, but I think that that's too many main, unless you're playing workshops. I now run three Chalice main and one side.

Chalice for 0 is mainly for combo decks. It is tempting to play it early against Keeper and Hulk, but they run Shaman and can quickly kill it. Maybe do this if you have a second Chalice in hand...

Chalice for 1 is vital against other control decks, as they run a subset of Gorilla Shaman, Duress and Brainstorm. I don't run Brainstorm so I'm free to set the Chalice there.

Chalice for 2 is something that's sort of risky, as a lot of my cards get shut down as well. Perhaps only do this against Suicide Black and Fish. It's definitely a good move after you side out Scroll Racks after facing their Null Rods.

Isochron Scepter is the ultimate utility. It can win games with Swords or Mana Drain and provide card advantage with Impulse. It can also become a game winner combined with juicy wish targets such as Hurkyl's Recall, Orim's Chant and Fire/Ice.

Cunning Wish:
Cunning Wish has a two-fold puropose here. One is to get utility spells such as Swords, Abolish/Disenchant or Misdirection, the other is to get bombs to Scepter such as Orim's Chant, Hurkyl's Recall and Fire/Ice.

Countermagic: Mana Drain, Force of Will and Misdirection
Saying no is very very very important in today's metagame. Parfait will always be a bad control deck because it can't say no.

Sacred Mesa:
My deck needs a kill, and I have three choices in white: Goblin Charbelcher, Sacred Mesa and Decree of Justice. I don't like Charbelcher, because Artifact removal is very popular at the moment. Decree may work, but I don't have any and they're type 2 chase rares at the moment. Old faithful Pegasi it is, then.

Global Control: Balance, Humility, Academy Rector
These are the control I've chosen to maindeck. Rector serves as a semi-moat, and gets me Future Sight often enough. Humility is more useful maindeck than Moat, because it shuts down things like Gorilla Shaman and Rootwater Thief. Balance is Balance, what more to say?

I don't have too much to say about sideboard, as it is quite metagame dependent, but here's something:

Mandatory wish targets are: Hurkyl's Recall, Orim's Chant, Fire/Ice and Disenchant. Tormod's Crypt is extremely useful in the metagame, and Sacred Ground is a specific hoser against MUD. I use Abolish for two reasons. One is that it is free versus MUD, the other is that it dodges Chalice for two. I have a Moat sideboard against random creatures.

I think that's enough for now. Please tell me what you think, and remember that at least part of the reason I play the deck as it is is because I don't have all the cards I may want. If there's sufficient interest, I may write something about matchups after my next tourney (in two days). Otherwise, you can look at my tourney report here.

Thanks for reading,

-Luke\n\n

[Tristal]

Do you find Impulse superior to Brainstorm in your build?  I understand the 'synergy' with Chalice, but with that benefit you get the problem of 'Too much to do on turn 2' syndrome.  However, you already have Rack/Fetchland, so Brainstorm might seem redundant.

I would put an Argivian Find somewhere in the maindeck - sounds like it'd work quite well with Scepter in your deck.

You might consider putting Memory Lapse in the sideboard - I often find many times I'm holding a Cunning Wish and wish it were a counterspell.  I use Thwart for that, but Memory Lapse is FANTASTIC on a Scepter.

I'd be interested to know more about your metagame - if it's not highly powered I'm not sure if 3 Chalice maindeck are that necessary.

[the Luke]

Quote
Do you find Impulse superior to Brainstorm in your build?  I understand the 'synergy' with Chalice, but with that benefit you get the problem of 'Too much to do on turn 2' syndrome.  However, you already have Rack/Fetchland, so Brainstorm might seem redundant.

I wanted Impulse for a few reasons:
1. It dodges Chalice for 1.
2. It has synergy with Rack, I can rack stuff away then Impulse it to the bottom.
3. Impulse-onastick is much better than Brainstorm-onastick.

I must admit I didn't even test Brainstorm, as I was a bit scared of opponent's Chalices.

Quote
I would put an Argivian Find somewhere in the maindeck - sounds like it'd work quite well with Scepter in your deck.

I had one once in the sideboard to wish for, but there's better stuff. Where would I possibly fit the Find in? There are other cards I'd like to test first, such as Read the Runes, which cycles dead cards, pitches to FoW and can activate Land Tax for me.

Quote
You might consider putting Memory Lapse in the sideboard - I often find many times I'm holding a Cunning Wish and wish it were a counterspell.  I use Thwart for that, but Memory Lapse is FANTASTIC on a Scepter.

Well I have Misdirection in sideboard for that purpose. I think Thwart is pretty terrible because it kills your mana (unless of course you're playing Tog). Memory Lapse might work, but I have found that if necessary I could wish for a Mana Drain which has been removed with Force of Will. Lapse is extremely good on a Scepter, you're right, especially against control (otherwise Orim's Chant is the weapon of choice). I'll think about it.

Quote

I'd be interested to know more about your metagame - if it's not highly powered I'm not sure if 3 Chalice maindeck are that necessary.

The metagame is fairly strong. Long.dec sees play, there are 2-3 sets of Workshops, a set of Masks and a set of Bazaars around. If ten people show up, roughly half of them have power, the other half know enough to play Null Rods. Last tourney I played 4, which was too much. However, I think you're underestimating the power of Chalice for two against Fish and Suicide, both of which exist here.

Thanks for your questions, I'll think about Memory Lapse.

-Luke

[herby]

how are the scepters?

is the rector that important or would an argivian find better deserve the slot?

a powered build sounds pretty solid.

nice job

[the Luke]

@herby
Isochron Scepter is just really good.

Maybe the Rector could go, but it is a pseudo-moat, an extra tutor for sideboard bombs, and if not that then gets Future Sight! Future Sight is some good, I hear. If I discover I really need a Find, then I'll think about it, but I somewhat doubt it. If I had the power I'd go -1 Island or Mox Diamond, +1 Sapphire, -1 Impulse +1 Ancestral. I have no idea what I'd take out for Walk.

Random thoughts
A post in the newbie forum reminded me of a combo which might work better in this particular deck: Land Tax/Trade Routes instead of Land Tax/Scroll Rack.

Advantages of Trade Routes:
1. Pitches to FoW/Misd.
2. Can be used to activate Land Tax
3. Doesn't require a huge hand to activate.
4. Protects me from Land Destruction.
5. Less vulnerable to hate.
6. Doesn't leave me with a pile of crap on top of my library.
Advantages of Scroll Rack
1. Digs deeper.
2. Allows me to reuse Land Tax without killing my lands.
3. Colourless.

Anyone care to offer a suggestion about which they think is better?

[rozetta]

I'd say land tax-scroll rack is better, since you can keep moving a handful of lands between your hand and deck. However, the idea about land lax-trade routes sounds interesting if you added a timetwister and soldevi digger.

[Tristal]

If you do add Trade Routes, Glacial Chasm is a BIG winner.  However, if you really need something to let you keep Taxing, why not just use Zuran Orb?

[Smmenen]

It seems like a better engine would be Intuition/AK which actually has synergy with both Chalice at 1 and Scepter.  Also, I would cut Impulses then for 3 Brainstorms.  

I also find it hard to imagine that there isn't a better win condition than Sacred Mesa.  Have you considered splashing Red to add Fire/Ice?  That way you could win with a Fire on Scepter as well.  

Steve

[Methuselahn]

Quote (the Luke @ Oct. 27 2003,15:50)...I think you're underestimating the power of Chalice for two against Fish and Suicide, both of which exist here.

I don't understand why you would want to play Chalice and Scepter together when chalice is set at 2.  That's killing half of any potential use out of the Scepter.  Perhaps there is an alternative to using Chalice.

Future Sight flips over dead cards because of Chalice.

You should be rectoring for Form of the Dragon, Bargain, or something else, not Sacred Mesa or Humility.

Unless you are using unconventional spells, blue based control (with or without tax/rack) doesn't make good bedmates with Chalice of the Void.

This deck reminds me of ABM.\n\n

[Zherbus]

Have you tried Raise the Alarm (with Scepter) over Sacred Mesa?

[the Luke]

Thank you all very much for responding.

@smmenen
You may be right about Intuition/AK, and probably about Brainstorm too. I'll think about it, but the problem with that is that I would have to up the land count somewhat, and invest in more fetchlands, so other cards will be forced out. I see it as an advantage to this deck that I can get away with running such a low land count due to Land Tax. I also have a nagging thought that if I'm going to run Intuition/AK, I should just run Tog.

There is perhaps a better win condition than Sacred Mesa: Decree of Justice. I didn't play them earlier because I didn't have them. Happily I traded for them a couple of days ago, so I'll fit them into the deck soon. Note that I have Fire/Ice in the sideboard to wish for, and I have won with it a few times.


@Methuselahn
Chalice is a card that needs to be played intelligently, and sometimes it IS the right play to shut down 80% of the opponent's threats while shutting down 40% of your own. Also it may be used to seal a lead, say if I have a Sceptered Swords, then I can shut them down entirely with a Chalice at 2.

You're probably right about Future Sight, it hasn't been as good as I would have thought. I'm thinking of adding a couple of Read the Runes to the deck as RtR has synergy with Land Tax (I can discard the excess lands, or even sacrifice lands to activate Tax!), pitches to FoW and can get rid of problem permanents such as my own Chalices and Moat/Humility. It can also cycle cards made dead by Chalice. The plan is to cut Future Sight and Academy Rector for these.

The deck is reminiscent of ABM I guess. ABM is the only other deck that I recall that tried to mix Land Tax/Scroll Rack with blue based control.

@Zherbus
I rejected outright running Raise the Alarm main as a win condition, because I expect many decks with Null Rod, and I'm just going to lose if I make Scepters my only win condition. I thought about it in sideboard, but Fire/Ice is more useful, I think.

I'll update my list once I've thought about it a bit more.

-Luke