Onslaught cards in Deck Parfait

[K-Run]

A new set, Onslaught, has been released and it’s always interesting to see how the new cards can alter the balance between the numerous known Type 1 archetypes. I’m specifically looking for cards to add in Deck Parfait.

Before I go into details about a few chosen cards, I’d like to make a brief comeback on the 4 Judgment cards I analysed last time.

Golden Wish proved to be useless. By the time I could play it, I was already winning. Too bad the designers made that card too expensive to play; it would’ve been a nice addition to the deck.

I didn’t try Spirit Cairn at all, because I think it doesn’t fit well in the deck. Perhaps it could be better used in a different kind of deck, more based on it. I know some people worked on such a deck, but so far it’s mostly a Parfait spin-off, inferior to the current archetype.

Test of Endurance is a fun card, but unless they decide to make a rule (not a card, as it would be too easy to disrupt) that makes you win if you reach 100 life, this is not an option for competitive play.

Solitary Confinement looks like a neat card but modifying Parfait to make it work would lead to a completly different deck. Once again, people put some effort in a Squee/Confinement archetype, but nothing spectacular emerged so far.

Finally, I tried the old Hallowed Ground from Ice Age. It had good synergy with the deck but eventually I realized it was only good vs medium-level decks. This is nonetheless a good card to use in a casual environment.

THE ONSLAUGHT CONTENDERS

Aurification 2WW
Enchantment Rare
Whenever a creature deals damage to you, put a gold counter on it. Each creature with a gold counter on it is a Wall in addition to its other creature types. (Walls can’t attack.)
When Aurification leaves play, remove all gold counters from all creatures.

This is a Moat-wannabe similar to No Mercy as you still have to take the damage at least once. Strickly inferior to Humiliy and Moat.

Harsh Mercy 2W
Sorcery Rare
Each player chooses a creature type. Destroy all creatures that aren’t of a type chosen this way. They can’t be regenerated.
”There is no greater burden than choosing who to save.” - Kamahl, druid acolyte

This card reminds me of Do or Die, since your opponent gets to choose which creatures he’ll keep. I’d rather pay an extra W and deny that choice to my opponent.

Mobilization 2W
Enchantment Rare
Attacking doesn’t cause Soldiers to tap.
2W: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
Newcomers to Otaria find themselves at the bottom of the heap. In the pits, they at least have the chance to climb atop a heap of bodies.

A new Sacred Mesa? Not really. While the absence of an upkeep cost is attractive, the Soldier token simply fail to do what Sacred Mesa is feared for : laugh at Morphling. Granted, a Mobilization with Humility in play is better than the Pegasus Crafter, but we don’t want a conditionnal « better », right ?

Oblation 2W
Instant Rare
The owner of target nonland permanent shuffles it into his or her library, then draws two cards.
”A richer people could give more but they could never give as much.”

When played on one of your own permanents, this looks like Lat-Nam’s Legacy. When played as removal, this looks like Arcane Denial. While the card can be good in some circumstances (reshuffling an useless 3rd Land Tax, saving a Perm from destruction ala Response, returning a Disk to its owner’s library), I’ve learned that « if a card COULD be good, it isn’t ». Oblation isn’t that bad, but there are simply better choices out there to fill that slot.

Words of Worship 2W
Enchantment Rare
1: The next time you would draw a card this turn, you gain 5 life instead.
”The faithful don’t succumb to terror, nor are they ruled by passion. They adhere to order, for order is life.” -Volume I, The Book of Faith

A nice card in a Zur’s Weirding deck, a bad one in Parfait. Heck, we don’t even have proper card drawing so we’re not going to reduce the already low number of cards we draw…

Nothing extraordinary in this set. Mostly « I win more » cards. BTW, I excluded Weathered Wayfarer since it’s a creature. Anyway, unless you have Sol Ring, Mox Pearl, no lands and a dumb opponent, you won’t be able to recurse that Strip Mine too often with Soldevi Digger.

[Fastbond]

Oblation combos with Pursuit of Knowledge.  That's 7 mana for 4 cards discounting Oblation, Pursuit, and the card you shuffled in.

Covelescant care is basically a three mana Jayemade Tome.  It combos well with Mana Crypt and Mana Vault.  If you dip too low on life and they respond with instant burn you can always sac lands to Zuran Orb in response.

[jpmeyer]

Quote (K-Run @ Oct. 31 2002,14:48)Mobilization 2W
Enchantment Rare
Attacking doesn’t cause Soldiers to tap.
2W: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
Newcomers to Otaria find themselves at the bottom of the heap. In the pits, they at least have the chance to climb atop a heap of bodies.

A new Sacred Mesa? Not really. While the absence of an upkeep cost is attractive, the Soldier token simply fail to do what Sacred Mesa is feared for : laugh at Morphling. Granted, a Mobilization with Humility in play is better than the Pegasus Crafter, but we don’t want a conditionnal « better », right ?

Not only that, but you need to play the Humilty before the Mobilization or else it will erase the non-tapping bonus granted by Mobilization.

[Jotamono]

Quote (jpmeyer @ Oct. 31 2002,17:54)

Mobilization 2W
Enchantment Rare
Attacking doesn’t cause Soldiers to tap.
2W: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
Newcomers to Otaria find themselves at the bottom of the heap. In the pits, they at least have the chance to climb atop a heap of bodies.

Not only that, but you need to play the Humilty before the Mobilization or else it will erase the non-tapping bonus granted by Mobilization.

I don't think thats right, since mobilization doesn't give the ability of not tapping to attack to the creature but instead makes it so that soldiers don't tap to attack.
I mean its moblizations ability and not the soldier tokens ability so humility won't mess it up.

[j_orlove]

Except that external abilities are applied with a timestamp, so they would gain "does not tap to attack", and then lose it to humility.

[jpmeyer]

Quote (j_orlove @ Oct. 31 2002,21:20)Except that external abilities are applied with a timestamp, so they would gain "does not tap to attack", and then lose it to humility.

You are correct, sir.

[Radjammin]

Can someone please find to way to use the best card drawer ever in white, Pursuit of Kknowledge, in Parfait?

Why won't they print a card to break this!! in white, lands, or cheep artifacts.

[CrazyCarl]

Quote Can someone please find to way to use the best card drawer ever in white, Pursuit of Kknowledge, in Parfait?

Two words.

Sylvan Library

It ain't white, but how freaking insane would PoK be in Parfait with something like Sylvan in it, which could then be used AGAIN with Replenish and Argivian Find?

[Project5]

I feel the urge to mention that if there's enough green splashed for the libraries, you may as well add Argothian Enchantresses, and you wind up with a completely different deck.

--Ben

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

I don't think Humility would remove the "Soldiers do not tap..." part of Mobilisation. Why? Because it does not say "All Soldiers gain: This creature does not tap to attack" or something like taht, but Mobilisation has the effect of preventing Soldiers from tapping when they attack. And humility doesn't effect Enchantments.

[cooberp]

Yeah, I was just going to say--there already is a deck out there that draws 28 cards with Sylvan/PoK/Replenish, and also runs about 5 tutors to find the Pursuit.  Might be what you're looking for.

[Necromaniac]

weatherred wayfarer might be a good sideboard card against other control. Not to recurse strip mine, but to find library, or strip his library. This can easily be game-winning. Does keeper have creature removal after sideboarding?

[TracerBullet]

Is anybody else noticing the same evolution between a good old fashioned Parfait into an early W/G enchantress...

[cooberp]

Well, I always said that Enchantress did just as well as Parfait against aggro while doing markedly better against control, and that there was really no reason to stick with mono-W unless a) you didn't have the cards for Enchantress (including P9) or b) your metagame was overflowing with nonbasic hate.  For the record, early W/G Enchantress sucked.

[ReplenishedGuy]

Quote Mobilization 2W
Enchantment Rare
Attacking doesn’t cause Soldiers to tap.
2W: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
Newcomers to Otaria find themselves at the bottom of the heap. In the pits, they at least have the chance to climb atop a heap of bodies.

A new Sacred Mesa? Not really. While the absence of an upkeep cost is attractive, the Soldier token simply fail to do what Sacred Mesa is feared for : laugh at Morphling.

Hmm, about the Morphling problem, would Unified Strike be a good choice?

Unified Strike W
Instant
Remove target attacking creature from the game if its power is less than or equal to the number of Soldiers in play.
(Common)

Just a random thought.

Quote I feel the urge to mention that if there's enough green splashed for the libraries, you may as well add Argothian Enchantresses, and you wind up with a completely different deck.

Very true.  While Sylvan is a VERY good way to abuse the WoWhatever, the splashes would take it right to Enchantress Deck.

Oh, and Golden Wish IS very expensive.  I have 2 foils which are cool, but the other wishes are so much better.

[kirdape3]

Bury TARGET attacking creature...

Morphling will just be made to not be a target, and therefore will still be a problem.

[suicide_slushy]

parfait doesn't need to use PoK.  Tax/Rack creates enough card advantage.  What are the thoughts on running 1 mountain to tax for and a bloodmoon? I used it when i played parfait online and it worked well.

[MoreFling]

Slushy, it's a very good idea.
Read my personal primer if you are interested in that (located here in the extreme vintage).

[PhOeNiX]

But doesn't Sacred Mesa itself take care of the Morphling problem?  

[Nimrod]

Quote (PhOeNiX @ Jan. 05 2003,06:51)But doesn't Sacred Mesa itself take care of the Morphling problem?  

As does Wrath of God, Humility, Story Circle and Balance ¬¬.

[ReplenishedGuy]

Quote Bury TARGET attacking creature...

Morphling will just be made to not be a target, and therefore will still be a problem.

Yep, the damn response.  My fault.
Oh, and about the Sylvan thing, I think personally that you should include those.  You wouldn't need the Enchantress' with that splash.  Of course, I might be just a little biased on this due to the fact that it's my favorite card  .

[Godder]

Last time I checked, Enchantress was running about 60/40 against Aggro (so CooberP says). I'd imagine that Parfait would run more like 70/30 or possibly better vs Aggro. By the same token, I've heard that Parfait is hardly a good match-up for Mono-U, so which match-ups are better for Enchantress?

[ReplenishedGuy]

First of all, we're talking about the guy who started this threads deck, and it's not Enchantress.  We are all just talking about how it could turn Enchantress if we add splash for Sylvan, in case you didn't know.

As for the Enchantress question, CooperP has a whole long article on his own Enchantress deck, and the part you're looking for goes something like this:

Quote MATCHUP ANALYSIS
These are based largely on sanctioned tournament results, but matchup analyses derived solely from online playtesting are denoted with a *.

MATCHUP ANALYSIS: AGGRO AND AGGRO-CONTROL
Stompy: At least 70/30 in your favor. Play Suicide Moat. After sideboarding, just make sure to keep a Grove out. If you lose to Stompy half the time, you don’t know how to play the deck.

Sligh: Used to be about 70/30, but as the deck has improved against control it has given up room to burn. You can still squash most Sligh decks, but the tuned 4-POP anti-control versions are really tough—if they are prevalent in your area, you really need a maindeck CoP: Red to split (anyway, it’s a cheap enchantment). While they don’t pack enough disruption to really hurt you and aren’t blindingly fast unless they Price at just the right time, only Enchantress/Worship shuts down all of their options. The Dave Kaplan build does take around 60% from Enchantress if you don’t give up your precious anti-control board slots to hate him back. (NOTE: The addition of Moxen and more dual lands makes maindeck Sligh Gorilla Shamans and Wastelands more effective disruption now.—Rakso)

Suicide Black: Their discard sets you up for Replenish and their Negators get Pariahed, but their landkill is scary…if they can keep you below 4 mana, they can kill you. Use Pariah to buy time, then go for Moat or Worship if you have an Enchantress out. Without Land Tax, you go better than 40% but not quite 50/50 game 1. Better after sideboarding as their Dystopias should get Aura Fractured and their victims Replenished, but cards such as Gloom can be a real hassle. Compost is a strong SB option, as is Karmic Justice. 50/50 overall.

White Weenie*: Leave Groves out to protect Moat and win. 80/20.

Nether Void*: Slower than Suicide Black, but more landkill and the obvious lock card. You do miss Land Tax here. Aura Fracture, my favorite card, is less important in Enchantress than in Keeper due to the four Replenishes, but should be sideboarded in. I would say 50/50.

Zoo*: Actually somewhat scary due to Moat-proof Dibs, but still at least 60/40 you and improving after sideboard. Because of Bolts and Dibs, play like you are playing against Sligh. Hopefully they aren’t fast enough, and you have time for both a Worship lock AND a Grove. Anyway, who plays Zoo?

Stacker*: Can they get Blood Moon before you can find a Seal? If so, you’ve got problems. If not, they’re Moated. 60/40.

Patriot*: This tailor-made metagame deck will give you more problems than most because their Meddling Mages will name Sterling Grove, making it impossible for you to find anything, Null Rods and Wastelands slow your mana, and Erasing Moat, Abyss, or Worship hurts bigtime. I want to say 40/60, but that might be a little generous.

Parfait*: Hehe. Leave Groves on the table and draw your way to victory. 65/35.

OSE*: Blue and black don’t like enchantments. You have tons. Again, Disk begs for Replenish. Moat handles Mishras without fear of Response and makes them sac Masticores. City of Solitude isn’t the best strategy here; Sylvan Library is also weaker here than against Keeper as they can deal damage faster. Enchantress is very key. 55/45?

Oath*: This will be a loooooooooooooooong game. If you don’t have a Mesa out to block Morphling, letting them Oath can be a problem. But Oath players will often make the mistake of casting a Morphling, letting you Oath thinking you have no creatures…and letting you dump 10 enchantments into your graveyard to set up a Replenish as well as giving you a free Enchantress. Other than those subtleties, it’s just like playing Mono-U or Keeper (depending on the Oath build) and the percentages are similar.

Survival: If Survival stays on the board for more than two or three turns, you’re in trouble. If not, they’re not fast enough to stop you from either getting a Worship lock or going nuts. I tend to do retarded things against Survival, but the matchup is definitely no worse than 60/40.

MATCHUP ANALYSIS: COMBO TurboLand*: If they get an explosive turn 2 or 3 kill, well, you lost. If not, try to get Ivory Mask or Worship/Enchantress. I would say 40/60 overall, breaking down into 0/100 the first 3 turns and 60/40 you thereafter.

Academy*: Um…You’re screwed. Barring Lotus/Ivory Mask, you are probably dead. If not playing Ivory Mask, mulligan into a Duress, a Seal of Cleansing, or similar. Then pray. 15/85? Not even.

Other Crappy Combo*: You are the only deck in Type One that can really die to stuff like PandeBurst. Thank god the control players keep them out of the field.

Straight from CooperP's article in the Primers.
Hope this helps.

[Godder]

The question I asked was more a Socratic question than anything, since I was trying to illustrate my point that Parfait is better than Enchantress against aggro, particularly common and well-tuned aggro (Sligh, Suicide Black for example), and that we would do better staying on-topic (particularly since the topic regards Onslaught additions...). Unfortunately, my method sucked, but at least my point was well-illustrated by the above quote.

Looking at the Onslaught collection of White cards, especially enchantments, I can't say that there's anything that would really be of any use in Parfait. Cherry Parfait isn't a bad idea, though.

[Magimaster]

nu Tech for the Parfait/Enchantress match :

Cleansing Meditation.

See, Enchantress' main advantage over the Parfait player is Sterling Grove.

CM gets rid of that. Followed up with a Crypt, and that should be game.

Other than that, Parfait should 0wn the aggro matchup. I've held back aggro decks with my pinky.

Rico : I cut back down to 2 Mesa's  I needed room.

[Matt The Great]

I thought CM was old, old tech from last year that no one used because Parfait was much rarer then, and Enchantress even more so?

[Radjammin]

Cleansing Meditation is old tech for Parfait.

It is for the Enchantress matchup.

Just 1.

Possibly the mirror.

[cooberp]

I fear no Cleansing Meditation jank, unless it is immediately followed by a Crypt.  Even then, Karmic Justice turns it into a one-sided Armageddon.

[CrazyCarl]

Aura of Silence what what?

And as far as I know, many Parfait lists run Karmic Justice as well.

[Magimaster]

aye, indeed.

I'll be honest, I wasn't playing Parfait a year ago, so I was unfamiliar with some of these cards (especially any new T2 ones). Well, someone has started packing Enchantress, and I don't think I've won against it yet using my Parfait.


Anyways, I'm not sure of the rulings regarding CM and Karmic Justice.

Say your opponent has a KM out and 5 enchantments, and you have a KM and 5 enchantments. You cast CM. All enchantments die, then your opponent's KJ triggers, and since you have no enchantments on the board, he destroys your lands. CM brings back all your enchantments. After all the dust has settled, you should have all your enchantments in play but no land while your opponent has no enchantments but all his land.

Is this right?