Perfecting Long's Burning Desire

[VideoGameBoy]

There is absolutely no need for restricted LED - any deck that can abuse it almost deserves to exist.

As for Dark Ritual, on one hand I think restricting it would kick ass - Yawgmoth's Will would no longer be disgusting, Suicide loses all it's disgusting first turn plays, and nearly all black-based combos everywhere are neutered in one fell swoop.  That would definitely shake things up.  Of course the drawback is that T1 would become utterly boring due to the reduction in competetive archetypes and budget players no longer have a shot in hell.

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

I personally would really like to see LED restricted. But I'm prejudiced, I hate this deck. I don't think it's necessary, as this deck doesn't dominate the environment.
For Ritual, VGB had it absolutely right, killing Sui (one of the best budget-decks) can't be good and I'd hate to see another classic color-defining card go. And to keep this deck at bay, LED would be enough anyways.

[waSP]

In this deck Burning Wish is more of a problem than the LED's and Dark Rituals.  Burning Wish allows you to  play 4 Yawgmoth's Wills almost without drawback (2 mana).  The Burning Wish removes the drawback of the LED's, without Burning Wish I don't believe this deck would function properly.  Playing 4 Demonic Tutors is degenerate.

p.s. Sorry Mon  , I really like the Shining and have something like an 8-2-2 record with it in sanctioned play, I wouldn't want to see it go, but the degeneracy stems from the tutoring ability of Burning Wish.\n\n

[VideoGameBoy]

What's your point, waSP?   Restricting Burning Wish does nothing to this deck, except force it to maindeck Will, Balance, and Tendrils.  If you want to kill it, restrict LED or Dark Ritual.

[Akuma (gio)]

Restricting Dark Ritual has got to be one of the dumbest suggestions I have ever heard on these boards in a while. It is a perfectly balanced card in the Type 1 environment. Losing it would destroy so many enjoyable archetypes (anything that has a major black component) that it's not even funny.

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

Calm down. Nobody,aside from Erik maybe, really thinks any cards in this deck NEED to be restricted. I said I'd personally like to kill the deck, because I hate it and VGB really only points out what I, too, think WOULD be the way to stop this deck by restrictions IF they were ever needed. We don't want the DCI to restrict LED or Ritual (not even me, as I think restricting cards without the need to do so is wrong, as much I'd like to see this deck go to hell).
As for Burning Wish being the problem in this deck, I don't think so, after goldfishing it I even pondered if one could be removed (no, but just because there is no better replacement right now), because they felt, to me, like some of the weakest cards in the deck. If there ever is a deck that really gives need for BW to be restricted it'll probably be my beloved The Shining. Wishing for Will feels a lot more broken there (to me at least). There you suddenly win out of nothing just because of Wish->Will, here Will quite often just generates another few spells and mana Wish->Tinker->Jar would often have given you, too. BurningAcademy would work quite well with VGBs suggestions moved to the MD, I suppose, while it would die without the mana and spells LED or Ritual generate.
Btw, this is exactly why I don't think this discussion about what WOULD have to be restricted is useless (as so many restrict XYZ discussions are), as it leads to a deeper understanding of how the deck is working.

oh, and its Mon, without the "s"

[Rico Suave]

Quote Even Academy sometimes does. And aside from that, in opposite to academy this deck mainly looses to incosistency, but rarely to anything but  Duress/FoW first turn with an additional Counter second turn (or first turn Null Rod/Pillar).

The deck mainly loses to inconsistency, as you say.  So why not fix that?  Really, how is playing a more consistent deck an automatically bad thing when this deck's biggest weakness is inconsistency?  You claim Burning Academy is better because it's faster, but being fast enough isn't the problem.  

And really, what decks nowadays aren't using Duress/FoW, or 4 of each?  It makes sense that instead of outrunning them (which is tough as balls against Duress, and impossible against Force), to be able to win even if they resolve.

I'm not saying Neo-Academy will always win where Burning Academy loses, but it will do exactly that a good amount of the time.  I'm also not denying that Burning Academy can't win it's fair share of games by outracing Mana Drain.  However, Neo-Academy will also win a good number of games that Burning Academy could not, because of playing around Mana Drain.  On top of that, it's not like Neo-Academy is incapable of out-racing UU either.  

This feels exactly like the Dragon discussion in the Unregistered forum; slowing down and playing around your opponent's spells is better than winning faster.  I think too many people are preoccupied about how fast they can win and not about how often they can win.

Really, all these options have been available already.  So why wasn't D'Avanzo using things like Ritual, Bargain, LED, Burning Wish, etc?  Because the deck would win more without them.  That's why.  

With that being said, Neo-Academy is an old deck that hasn't been updated for a while.  It's in need of updating, and there are plenty of things to throw in it (including Mind's Desire, to pull all the bluffing tricks as Burning Academy).  I could see it getting closer to Burning Academy in design, but still maintaining that different philosophy of consistency over speed.

I wont hijack your thread anymore though, it's obvious where we all stand.  But if you really want to perfect Long's Burning Desire, well, you aren't going much farther than the lists on the front page of this thread.  If you aren't satisfied with them, then I don't know what else you can do aside from take a different strategic viewpoint.  Good luck with it.

[VideoGameBoy]

If you want my honest opinion on what an optimal build of this deck is, ignoring the sideboard for now - take the build I list on the first page and swap Fastbond for Hunting Pack.  I am absolutely convinced that going down to 2 x Duress for the first game improves more matches than it weakens by letting you employ Helm and Frantic Search (obviously the 2 cards I put in over the two replaced Duress slots).

As for the sideboard, these are the absolute must inclusions:

1 x Balance
1 x Tendrils of Agony
1 x Tinker
1 x Yawgmoth's Will

Everything else is meta and playstyle dependent.

[Smmenen]

Hunting Pack never was on the my list from the front page.  Remember, I was using my own tuned version.

Rico - You are right to a degree in one aspect.  Neo-Academy certainly could use an update.  Look, I have a full plate right now and I just don't have the time to test it.  I don't see people attempting the sort of large scale work that I am trying to do with the format.  VGB has done some really great work - but not many people outside Team Mean Deck or the Paragons seem to have an interest.  Go ahead and prove that Neo-Academy should be updated (as I think it should) - but don't go about bashing this deck until you have played it and know it as VGB does, and I am discovering.

Stephen Menendian

[erik]

@VGB: I think you if anyone know how good LED is in this deck, acting as lotuses 2-5. And like you said, if the DCI wanted to kill this deck, restricting LED (and/or ritual) would be the best way to do it. What I'm pondering is just how good combo decks should be allowed to get before they are considered 'degenerate'. This deck is the fastest deck in vintage right now and does 1st and 2nd turn kills about as frequently as combo-winter decks. The two unrestricted mana accelerators have a large part in making that possible. I understand the novelty of having a deck break another 'unplayable' card of old, but I'm afraid one can't be too sentimental when the health of the metagame is at stake. When combo decks get so fast that hate-cards don't even have time to get played, there is a problem. Rector-combo is just slow enough for hate cards to have an effect, with this deck I'm not so certain...what are your experiences?

@ Akuma: I'm not proposing the restriction of anything, I'm just trying to get some insights from other players regarding the new breed of combo and how it could/should be stopped if it becomes too dominant. Putting this deck together and playing it really raised my eyebrows, getting results like the ones Smmenen talked about. That got me thinking about what makes it able to get these results, with Ritual and LED sticking out like sore thumbs. Simply put, if Academy was enough to restrict lesser accelerators like petal/diamond, then by what rationale can these two remain unrestricted?

Dominant combo is a much larger blow to budget players than losing three cards from Suicide black, believe me...

[VideoGameBoy]

Quote @VGB: I think you if anyone know how good LED is in this deck, acting as lotuses 2-5. And like you said, if the DCI wanted to kill this deck, restricting LED (and/or ritual) would be the best way to do it. What I'm pondering is just how good combo decks should be allowed to get before they are considered 'degenerate'. This deck is the fastest deck in vintage right now and does 1st and 2nd turn kills about as frequently as combo-winter decks. The two unrestricted mana accelerators have a large part in making that possible. I understand the novelty of having a deck break another 'unplayable' card of old, but I'm afraid one can't be too sentimental when the health of the metagame is at stake. When combo decks get so fast that hate-cards don't even have time to get played, there is a problem. Rector-combo is just slow enough for hate cards to have an effect, with this deck I'm not so certain...what are your experiences?

True story - the first time I unleashed this deck on the play group at Belleville's Fantasy Store, when I played my first LED in a 6 person multiplayer game, a couple of guys laughed - then after I did my first Wheel of Fortune/sac LED's in response trick, they started to get concerned... and after Yawgmoth's Will hit and the 3 LED's in my graveyard turned into 9 mana of the colors of my choosing, I started getting questions as to whether LED was restricted or not.  To which I replied "Nope" and proceeded to play out my entire library with Mind's Desire for 24 and slurp every last one of them on the second turn.

Restricting LED would be all it takes to kill the deck - it is probably indeed too powerful, since it has virtually no drawbacks in Burning Academy.\n\n

[Smmenen]

I am actually much more of a fan of LED than I ever was before.  Just thinking about it - I originally panned Stokinger for playing with it in Stax - but it isn't that bad.  After all - you can sac it in response to: Tinker, Jar, Wheel, Windfall, Ancestral, TimeTwister, Yawgmoth's Will, Demonic Tutor - and those are just the cards off the top of my head.  That's quite a bit - and you are sure to be able to use the mana.  I think LED is probably under-used.  Of course, the reason most poeple didn't use it before is decks like Keeper and Mono Blue were more prevelant.  With Control really marginalized to 25% of hte environment or less, LED is a much stronger card.

Steve

[Mith]

Wow...I check back after a couple of days and this discussion has really taken off  

My issue with this deck stems resides with only one card...whether or not Hunting Pack is necessary. I feel that green is VERY necessary for this deck...so that Xantid Swarm can be run (either maindeck or in the side). If it weren't for that card, I'd cut green all together. Anyways, here's my list...I'm marginally happy for it except for the maindeck hunting pack...which I'm thinking of turning into a 4th Brainstorm (or a Future Sight).

1 Tolarian Academy
1 Tropical Island (necessary for the Swarm)
2 Underground Sea
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Polluted Delta
1 Memory Jar
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Diamond
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
5 Moxen
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Chromatic Sphere (Perhaps I could go down to three...but I really like being able to switch mana around)
1 Hunting Pack
1 Wheel of Fortune
4 Burning Wish
3 Brainstorm (I want 4)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Windfall
1 Mind's Desire
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Consult
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual

SB:
1 Vindicate
3 Meddling Mage (I LOVE this guy)
1 Tinker
1 Balance
1 Recoup (Haven't used it once yet...)
1 Obliterate
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist
3 Xantid Swarm (MVP)
1 ? the only open spot at the moment...might become a Replenish.


Recoup has had zero use for me...so it might have to go as well. Cards I have not had a chance to try out yet include:

1. Future Sight: Sounds good in theory...might go into the spot that Hunting Pack occupies
2. Fastbond: Eh...I'm not sure this one is necessary, but it's nice in theory. I'd like to hear about anyone else's testing of this card.
3. Time Spiral: Appears to cost too much, AND when I go off, I don't have enough lands in play to untap to make this that worth it. Besides, I've never needed to wish for a draw-seven

I'm going to try out Smmenen's idea of Cities instead of fetchlands, which will free up one more spot too...maybe then I can run the 4th Brainstorm AND the Future Sight.

Anyways....that's my two-bits\n\n

[VideoGameBoy]

@Mith

Diamond can go, easily.  I am amazed anybody still runs it.  I would cut that instantly for the fourth Brainstorm, since Brainstorm is integral to the deck in so many ways, and Diamond is useless 90% of the time.  I've used Brainstorm to do everything from place Bargain back into my deck so I could potentially reveal it with Mind's Desire, to stacking Mystical Tutor on top of it, to casting it before I sacced LED's for a Hail Mary.  This is on top of the obvious benefits such as:

1) Hand optimization.
2) Fetchland synergy.
3) Discard negation.
4) Mana digging.

If you go hardcore 4 color, then you need Cities.  I only use the lone Fastbond/Hunting Pack, so I have never had a strong requirement for green mana.  I am also not fond of dropping fetchlands, since they interact very favorably with Mind's Desire and draw sevens, improving your chances at business spells cropping up.  Xantid Swarm has it's obvious benefits, but I usually find a Defense Grid or 2 sideboard to be enough, especially since they are fetchable with Tinker.

Having Tinker sideboarded has come in handy many times; it acts as a sideboarded Wheel of Fortune, or it can be used to do anything from trading Mana Crypt for Helm/Lotus, or it can be used to fetch Defense Grid.  Time Spiral has come in handy as well, so I am loath to cut it from the sideboard - it's essentially like a weaker and counterable Mind's Desire, but it really only works well with Fastbond.

[jpmeyer]

The problem with LED is the same problem with Lotus Petal and Mind's Desire: If someone's going to use it at all, they're going to be using it to do something degenerate.

[Smmenen]

VGB: After ALOT more testing, I have decided to cut Future Sight from the maindeck.  I almost never want to invest the mana - and the majority of the times that I have, it was terrible.  Sure, there were times when I just won, but I think I'd rather have a Tinker Maindeck.  I agree the Spiral is too important in the SB.  Here is the most recent list I have been working with, SB and All:


4 Burning Wish
4 LED
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea
4 Chromatic Sphere

4 Duress
4 Brainstorm
45

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel
1 Windfall
1 Tinker
1 Mind's Desire
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Memory Jar
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation (It was a terrible idea to suggest cutting it - it's very good)
1 Tendrils of Agony

SB:
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Spiral
3 Xantic Swarm
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Balance
5 Slots

I am basically only uncertain about the Tinker.  I want to test Regrowth and Frantic Search.  But I am certain about not wanting Future Sight - and as a corollary, no Fastbond - this deck simply doesn't need it.  It's much faster than Academy.  Honestly - at some point a little while ago, I was having fun with unrestricted Academy, and this is about as fast.  

Stephen Menendian

[VideoGameBoy]

@Smmenen

I don't know where that crack about Consult came from, since I never said to cut it in this thread - I did mention that a long time ago, but I essentially hit a bad patch with it a couple of times with it actually costing me a game, but I gave it another shot, and found that an increase in play skills with the deck makes a huge difference in the effectiveness of Consult.  About the only reason that would make me cut Consult now were if Burning Wish were restricted.

Quote I am basically only uncertain about the Tinker.  I want to test Regrowth and Frantic Search.  But I am certain about not wanting Future Sight - and as a corollary, no Fastbond - this deck simply doesn't need it.  It's much faster than Academy.  Honestly - at some point a little while ago, I was having fun with unrestricted Academy, and this is about as fast.

Regrowth is really inferior to Recoup in this deck because Recoup let's you replay Desire and is more difficult to counter.  About the only thing other than sorceries worth regrowing in this deck  is Lotus, and you sort of get the same mana boost from Frantic Search, which better deserves the slot.

Maybe Future Sight doesn't warrant a place in an optimal build, and Fastbond certainly doesn't - especially since half the times Fastbond has come in handy I've usually also got a Time Walk legacy floating out there.  All I can say in Future Sight's benefit is that it's another bomb to reveal with Mind's Desire, and all the cards it has the most synergy with in the game are in this deck.

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

Quote VGB: After ALOT more testing, I have decided to cut Future Sight from the maindeck.  I almost never want to invest the mana - and the majority of the times that I have, it was terrible.  Sure, there were times when I just won, but I think I'd rather have a Tinker Maindeck.  I agree the Spiral is too important in the SB.  Here is the most recent list I have been working with, SB and All:

I'm not sure about Sight, I had some similar experiences, it sadly (?) almost never wins the turn it's cast.
What I think is a big mistake is moving Tinker to the MD. This deck quite often really needs a 3-mana draw7 in the SB, in my experience. The two things I'm Wishing for most (besides Tendrils, obviously) are Will and Tinker. Often you don't have 8 mana to get Wish-Spiral going turn one but you got the 5 mana for Wish-Tinker. Ok, you could place anything from Windfall to Twister in the SB, but as Tinker is the most conditional draw7 (of sorts), I think that's te one which belongs SBed.

Quote Honestly - at some point a little while ago, I was having fun with unrestricted Academy, and this is about as fast.

Well, I never played Academy, but if that's really true, what does it say about the T1 Environment that all of us (even me) claim that the deck is not to broken to exist? Honestly, that sounds like we're of the opinion that we could deal with Urza-Academy... scary!

Quote @Smmenen

I don't know where that crack about Consult came from, since I never said to cut it in this thread - I did mention that a long time ago, but I essentially hit a bad patch with it a couple of times with it actually costing me a game, but I gave it another shot, and found that an increase in play skills with the deck makes a huge difference in the effectiveness of Consult.  About the only reason that would make me cut Consult now were if Burning Wish were restricted.

I think Smmenen wanted to cut it himself in the begining, so he's just revising his own decision.

[Mith]

I dropped the Diamond, and I'm not missing it in the least. The Future Sight I am hesitant to drop...it has come in handy more often than not. Since I've cut the fetches for Cities, I have been drawing into more mana...if that keeps being an issue, I'm going back to fetches.

I'd love to be able to squeeze Fastbond in right now (especially since I dropped fetches and added a Future Sight) but there's no freaking room. Helm might be nice too, but once again...no room for that either.

@Smmenen

Has the maindeck Tendrils been working better than Hunting Pack for you? I've been debating the switch, but so far Hunting Pack has been pulling its weight. As much as I'd love to drop the maindeck win condition to make room, I fear the Mage. And while Vindicate is nice...sometimes I really want for a REB (especially when staring down an Arcane Lab)

[Smmenen]

I have done alot of testing, and It has been nothing but excellent.  There are so many reasons why - but it realy gives a stablity to the deck.  One part of playing this deck is adding colors of mana to you mana pool before you have accessed the final spell - having to add two Green into my pool for Hunting Pack would complicate matters as this deck is so fast and all I really want is Blue and Black with a little bit of red.  

Tendrils has added stability becuase I can Burning Wish for Tendrils and Internal Tutor (DT, Vamp, Mystical) for Tendrils and if one is countered I have another tutor to get it.  Also, I have found I like having it in hand when I LED becuase then I have great access to it with Will.  Nothing but success with it.  I highly Recommend it.

Stephen Menendian

[MoreFling]

Quote (Smmenen @ Aug. 23 2003,17:52)I have done alot of testing, and It has been nothing but excellent.

Don't you say this every week, only with a new pile everytime? No offense, please, but how about you show up with a detailed matchup analysis?

[Matt The Great]

That is...extensive. Thank you. Wish I had testing partners. Was this online? I assume not, as you said you had spectators...\n\n

[MoreFling]

Quote (Smmenen @ Aug. 23 2003,18:45)New Pile?  Rudy, for over a year you played little but Parfait becuase you wanted to "have fun."  You have little ground to speak on.

Actually, by pile, I somewhat meant deck in general.

Also, parfait was fun because it was extremely skill-intensive, and I perfected my decklist and playing skill (handling) of the deck, that I could keep it alive in a growatog metagame even. And if you don't think there is honour in playing a non-tier1 deck, or not playing exclusively to win, then that is probably a good reason why we don't get along so well. So eat me.

Thanks for the game by game recollection. That is really interesting stuff!

[MoreFling]

I saved it. But if Smmenen doesn't want anyone else to read it, don't ask me to give it out.
It's his testing, he's not required to give it out. I was just interested in more details, and quite bluntly, just asked.

[walking dude]

Some thoughts,  

I've been testing and working with this deck for a while as well. I would have posted at the start of the thread, but I was away for the week.

1. This deck is good but has serious problems with a few specific cards. Sphere of resistance and pyro static pillar are both very bad. Null rod is even worse. In my experience, the majority of randomness in the deck is not the deck losing to itself or bad draws (you can mulligan) but randomly losing to hate cards you can’t effectively deal with. I don’t think this deck can ever be tier one no matter how tuned it gets because you can always have someone go turn one land mox sphere or land ritual nullrod.

2. Minds desire should be in the main deck from my experience. Most of the time when you burning wish with 6 mana open time spiral is good enough, or even tinker with 3 floating is good enough. Desire is better certainly better sometimes, but most (though not all) of the time it’s better its better in a win more kind of way. On the other hand, in the main deck Desire is on a whole different level than any card. It is an uncounterable bomb. When you move it to the side you become dependent on wish, which can be countered.
Basically you trade uncounterablity for a little bit more power. I think that’s a bad trade.
As a metal exercise (yes I know this is simplification), imagine this card

Wheel of Sure Thing
2R
Both players discard their hands and draw 6 cards. This cannot be countered.

If you would play this over wheel of fortune you understand why I think Desire belongs in the main.

3. Consider a Doomsday in the side. I tried one out on a lark one day and found it was often quite handy. The advantage of doomsday is simple. Once you play it you remove all the randomness from the game. You can go from probably winning to winning for sure. That’s a big difference. Sometimes you can just lose to a bad draw seven even though its not common. The biggest problem with it that I noticed is that you can use it as a crutch since it makes going off sooo easy, but setting up for it is a bit slower.  
The way to stack you deck varies, but if you have chromatic on the table Ancestral, Lotus, LED, Wish, Wish is usually the right way to stack your deck.\n\n

[Smmenen]

Quote (walking dude @ Aug. 23 2003,11:28)Some thoughts,  

I've been testing and working with this deck for a while as well. I would have posted at the start of the thread, but I was away for the week.

This deck is good but has serious problems with a few specific cards. Sphere of resistance and pyro static pillar are both very bad. Null rod is even worse. In my experience, the majority of randomness in the deck is not the deck losing to itself or bad draws (you can mulligan) but randomly losing to hate cards you can’t effectively deal with. I don’t think this deck can ever be tier one no matter how tuned it gets because you can always have someone go turn one land mox sphere or land ritual nullrod.

You have articulated my thoughts on this deck 100%.  That is the problem.  NOT inconsistency.  But the fact that it can't deal with hate on turn one, and often on turn two.  That is the flaw of the deck.

Here is my most recent build:
4 Burning Wish
4 LED
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea
4 Chromatic Sphere

4 Duress
4 Brainstorm

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel
1 Windfall
1 Random Test Card
1 Mind's Desire
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Memory Jar
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Tendrils of Agony

SB:
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tinker
1 Time Spiral
3 Xantic Swarm
1 Balance
1 Primitive Justice - this needs to be here.
1 Regrowth
6 Open Slots

Hurkyl's wasn't as strong as I hoped.  Nonetheless, it's probably worth having two.  

I think I am one card off in the maindeck from a completely optimal build.  I just need one card to fill that slot that I had Tinker in.  But I don't know what it should be.

Stephen Menendian\n\n

[Vegeta2711]

If that's the main case, wouldn't trying to shove FoW in there either in lieu of or in additon to Duress be advised? It stops the first turn hate and can also make multiple threats come out slower, since they have to still pay the mana when you stop the first threat. Where as Duress simply makes me switch what I drop to plan B. That or also MD Chain of Vapor or something since that hits all of the above problems for a little while anyways.

[Matt The Great]

The thing Smmemen posted was eighteen test games, along the lines of "Turn one, I play X and Y. He plays A, B, C. I play Z, Q, R, S, and go off." Basically just play-by-play test results, the kind of thing you see in good tournament reports.

[Mith]

Two things:
1. If you're playing Cities over Fetches....Fastbond is AMAZING.

2. This deck hasn't enough methods to deal with the hate. Hurkyl's has been ok...but the deck needs something for Pyrostactic Pillar and Arcane Lab.

@Smmemen:
   Would you mind re-posting those testing results?

[Aroxisis]

A list of reasonable cards on color that could deal with those troubling enchantments:
Boomerang
Capsize
Chain of Vapor
Hoodwink
Recoil
Rushing River
Stand/Deliver
I get the gut instinct that Chain's 1 CC will make it best, but the chaining back could be a pain in the ass, or it could be a bonus more, i havent been able to figure out which yet.