Dream Halls Deck

[theorigamist]

In all the talk about the restricted cards, Dream Halls was one topic of discussion.  I wanted to build a deck around it, so I did.  This is the first list that came off the top of my head:

Dreams of the Future

Countermagic: 12
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Duress (proactive counter)

Tutors/Card Drawing: 5
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction

Win: 2
2 Morphling

Broken: 14
1 Dream Halls
1 Future Sight
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Time Spiral
1 Memory Jar
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist
1 The Abyss
4 Time Stretch

Mana: 27
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
4 Underground Sea
4 Underground River
4 Polluted Delta
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine

Okay, first of all, this deck sucks.  It is not refined at all, and I've done only about 10-15 games of playtesting, half of which had no opponent, and I was just seeing how it ran.  There must be some better card choices that I just didn't think of.  And it will eventually have to be adjusted for metagame.  But, to say something good about the deck, in all but one game I took more than ten turns in a row with a Morphling out (in other words, game over).  Once Dream Halls or Future Sight is on the table, it's pretty much game.  I want to pretty much redo the deck with better cards, because this list is pretty much one of those "study hall" lists that are looked down upon.  

Here are some other random thoughts:

White instead of black would offer Balance, Enlightened Tutor, Meddling Mage, Swords, a variety of good permanent removal, Abeyance, Orim's Chant, and possibly Replenish.  I would seriously consider white if not for the loss of Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Will, not to mention Demonic and Vampiric Tutor.  Red instead of black would give Burning Wish and Wheel of Fortune.  Green instead of black gives Crop Rotation, Sylvan Library, Regrowth, and perhaps Drop of Honey.  Neither red nor green are worth it, in my opinion.  I don't think three colors would work synergistically with Dream Halls, but if somebody else thinks otherwise, please say so.  

Please save random bashing or flaming and try to give constructive criticism.  I think this deck has serious potention, and it certainly is fun as hell to play.  I took over 30 turns in a row in one game before I failed to find another Time Stretch (I ignored the "opponent's" life total after they went below -50).

[TunaBoo]

Any deck that maindecks 4 time stretches is a good deck by my count.

[theorigamist]

I like them a lot to.  Any deck that plays said Time Stretches more than six times per game is good by my count.  

[mezzir]

ever seen turbospaz?
check it out
by far the most fun combo deck i've ever tested

[theorigamist]

It looks good, but it's a completely different deck.  The point of this deck is to put out a Morphling and then take 10 turns in a row.  The point of TurboSpaz was to Sickening Dreams them to death.  Although this does bring up something I hadn't thought of before, Necropotence or Yawgmoth's Bargain?  

Also, Diabolic Intent with Rectors makes the white look much better as a third color.  How about:

Dreams of the Future v.3
Counters: 12
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Duress

Tutors: 7
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Diabolic Intent

Card Drawing: 5
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Time Spiral
1 Memory Jar
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain

More broken stuff: 11
4 Time Stretch
4 Academy Rector (gets Bargain, Jar, Future Sight and Dream Halls)
1 Dream Halls
1 Future Sight
1 Balance

Win: 2
2 Morphling

Mana: 23
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Library of Alexandria
2 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Polluted Delta

I don't know how to fit in Dismantling Blow, Abeyance and StoP in that list, but I'd really like to.

[j_orlove]

Incidentally, rector can't fetch Jar.

Not that you'll ever care, though, since it can get FS, Bargain, OR Dream Halls.  

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Dreams is an awesome deck...I have a VERY casual build that uses Wind of Denial to deck the opponent....I also use Ancestral memories and gaea's blessing as a source of recursion (along with a twister)

[Aroxisis]

Quote (Clown of Tresserhorn @ Feb. 14 2003,14:24)Dreams is an awesome deck...I have a VERY casual build that uses Wind of Denial to deck the opponent....I also use Ancestral memories and gaea's blessing as a source of recursion (along with a twister)

I have a deck like that in my archives that will be added to the next edition of my primer. According to Razor, it was squirrel's design pre-FoF restriction, hence i dubbed it SquirrelSpaz.
        6 Island
        4 Undiscovered Paradise
        4 Tundra
        4 Tropical Island
        4 Counterspell
        4 Opportunity
        4 Force of Will
        2 Gaea's Blessing
        4 Ancestral Memories
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mox Diamond
        1 Mana Severance
        4 Meditate
        1 Denying Wind
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Sol Ring
        4 Arcane Denial
        3 Fact or Fiction
        4 Intuition
        2 Replenish
        1 Dream Halls

[theorigamist]

That post has spawned my third version of a Dreams deck, a mono-blue version with Denying Wind as the kill.  This version also uses Future Sight for it's brokenness, and Gaea's Blessing for whole bunches of recursion.

Dreams of the Future v.1

Countermagic: 12
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell

Card drawing: 13
4 Ancestral Memories
4 Opportunity
4 Meditate
1 Ancestral Recall

Recursion/Draw7s: 6
2 Gaea's Blessing
1 Timetwister
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Memory Jar

Broken: 5
1 Time Stretch
1 Dream Halls
1 Future Sight
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk

Win: 2
2 Denying Wind

Mana: 22
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
20 Island

Counterspell here could also be Fervent Denial, which would be like a double Force of Will with Dream Halls out.  But since it only works like that with the Halls in play, Counterspell is the better choice, IMO.  The only thing I don't like about this version is that I had to cut down on my beloved Time Stretches, but Meditates, another favorite of mine, make it worth it.  Also, Opportunity = Ancestral Recall with Halls on the table (in the sense of gaining 2 card advantage).

I would also consider running MD Tormod's Crypt in this version so the opponent doesn't benefit from the resets, but what to take out...

[theorigamist]

Okay, so I playtested a few games with the mono blue version and it's really, really sweet.  To give a sample of what happened every single game I got Dream Halls out, on my turn 6 of one game, I played and activated Memory Jar twice, played Meditate nine times (and offset the loss of the next nine turns by playing Time Stretch eight times, netting me another ten turns after this one), played Opportunity seven times, Denying Wind nine times, and Ancestral Memories eleven times.  I also played Time Spiral once (it was removed from the game), Timetwister four or five times, and reset the deck nine times with Gaea's Blessing.  In total I drew over two hundred cards, and would have been in a loop that would give me infinite turns, removing the opponent's entire deck from the game each turn.  And I had multiple Force of Will and Mana Drain backup almost the whole time.  The log for this one turn is 11 pages long in word in size 8 font.  But it's extremely messy and hard to read, so I just gave the important points.  

So in total I went through my deck about fifteen times, playing a Denying Wind at least once every other time.  This was all in one turn, also, and I had at least 10 more coming (I didn't actually finish the turn, since it didn't look like it would finish within an hour, but I'm pretty sure the loop would keep going).

As sweet as I'm trying to make this sound, I'm considering scrapping the deck.  What kind of combo deck goes off on turn 6?  I also have no more tutors that can get the Dream Halls.  So either I'll trash the monoblue, or I'll make some changes (immediately what comes to mind is tossing Mystical Tutor and Windfall, neither of which helped me at all, and possibly Memory Jar, which I can't cast via Halls, and also takes some cards out of the deck for the entire rest of the game while I go off).

I have yet to test the three color version at all, and the two color version I also determined was too slow to really compete.  Tier 3 at best (not meant to start a tier discussion).

By the way, Aroxisis, in your list, how good is Replenish with so few targets?

[THEDARKPRIESTCYRIC]

I'm currently working on a casual version of this deck and I wonder what changes to the deck you would make if you didn't have to follow a restricted card list  I was looking for something to take advantage of Time Stretch and I want to piss my casual play friends off, this is the perfect solution:) I have this as a VERY rough list:

Countermagic:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

Tutors/Card Drawing:
4 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Fact or Fiction

combo:
3 Ancestral Memories
2 Gaea's Blessing

Win: 2
2 Denying Wind

Broken:
4 Dream Halls
1 Future Sight
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
4 Time Stretch

Mana: 25
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Underground Sea
4 Underground River
4 Polluted Delta
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine

[theorigamist]

If you're playing unrestricted, load up on Moxen and Black Lotus before City of Brass and Gemstone Mine.  You want Dream Halls on the table ASAP, which is easier with fast mana.  You also should most definitely run a second Timetwister, and all 4 Ancestral Recall before Fact or Fictions.  4 Ancestral Memories is a must as you're not running any of the draw4s (Opportunity and Meditate).  You really need to dig with this deck in order to keep up the pace.

[Aroxisis]

Replenish is so-so. In some match-ups its absolutely essential, like discard-heavy black, parfait or blue control, because it gets the negated Bargain back on the table. (yes bargain is the essential card in turbospaz, as it allows you to draw A LOT of cards). It also can get back a Dream Halls, however, 99% of the time, I get Bargain off the Rector and Lotus off the intent so I can go off that turn.

[THEDARKPRIESTCYRIC]

Quote (theorigamist @ Feb. 18 2003,18:19)If you're playing unrestricted, load up on Moxen and Black Lotus before City of Brass and Gemstone Mine.  You want Dream Halls on the table ASAP, which is easier with fast mana.  You also should most definitely run a second Timetwister, and all 4 Ancestral Recall before Fact or Fictions.  4 Ancestral Memories is a must as you're not running any of the draw4s (Opportunity and Meditate).  You really need to dig with this deck in order to keep up the pace.

Well even though I am playing Unrestricted I don't want to have to sell my soul for a deck thats just for fun  However I put together a TRULY broken list and it is as follows:

//NAME: Untitled Deck
        1 Misdirection
        4 Force of Will
        4 Demonic Tutor
        1 Cunning Wish
        4 Ancestral Recall
        4 Fact or Fiction
        1 Ancestral Memories
        2 Denying Wind
        3 Dream Halls
        1 Future Sight
        3 Timetwister
        4 Time Walk
        1 Time Stretch
        4 Black Lotus
        4 Mox Sapphire
        4 Mox Jet
        4 Underground Sea
        4 Underground River
        4 Polluted Delta
        3 Island

Now getting serious here is my AFFORDABLE revision:

//NAME: Untitled Deck
        4 Mana Drain
        1 Force of Will
        4 Demonic Tutor
        1 Ancestral Recall
        4 Fact or Fiction
        4 Ancestral Memories
        2 Gaea's Blessing
        2 Denying Wind
        3 Dream Halls
        1 Future Sight
        1 Timetwister
        1 Time Walk
        1 Time Warp
        3 Time Stretch
        1 Mirari
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Jet
        4 Sol Ring
        4 Underground Sea
        4 Underground River
        4 Polluted Delta
        4 City of Brass
        4 Gemstone Mine

I took advantage of the broken cards I can afford right now... Sure I intend to have 4 sets of P9 eventually but that wont be for awhile.

[Anonymous]

Ha!
Unrestricted Dream Halls!!!
This was something that I vouched for the minute that I found one of the old school Dream Halls deck lists from the Tempest Constructed days.
While I now realize that such an unrestriction might prove fool hardy, it's still fun to whip out casual builds of such crazy decks for fun time Magic.
@Dark Priest: It's cool that you aren't worried about the restricted list in casual play. Your fiendish deck does indeed look crazy, but I won't say anything about that.
If you guys want to try out a fun old-school Halls deck, I'd recommend playing the following in casual play:

18x Island
4x Mana Vault
3x Ancient Tomb
4x Dream Halls (reminds me of my room....    )
3x Mind Over Matter
4x Stroke of Genius
1x Attunement
4x Counterspell
4x Intuition
4x Meditate
3x Turnabout
4x Time Spiral
4x Brainstorm

It's great fun to play with, and you should get a few crazy turns' worth of enjoyment out of it. Sure, it isn't as sick as the ridiculous deck lists that Priest posted, but this deck was actually played by Brian Seldon (at least I think it was Seldon) in some of the old Magic tourneys, and I thought that the ridiculousness that his deck spat out was worth posting.
Other than that, I don't have too much to say. I built my own crazy, t1 legal version of Seldon's deck, but I haven't gotten the urge to play test it yet. I can't find the list, but it probably isn't worth the waste of posting space anyway.
For the rest of you guys, I'd have to say that your decks look, at the very least, fun and enjoyable to play with. I haven't approached decks like these for a awhile, so I won't say anything about deck contents.

Well, that is all..... have fun dudes, and remember to keep the Halls in gear and the number of "pitches in one game" ridiculous!          
                            -Arcanis