[Deck] Easter Tendrils

[Ifflejink]

This is a deck that was in developement before TMD was temporarily booted, at which time I was developing a list. It usually goldfishes turn three, but can win turn 2 fairly easily, and turn 1 with a god hand. Without further ado,

Easter Tendrils

Mana:
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Cabal Ritual
1 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Dark Ritual
1 Mana Vault
Search:
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Thoughtcast
Engine:
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Helm of Awakening
4 Skycloud Egg
4 Mossfire Egg
4 Shadowblood Egg
4 Darkwater Egg
1 Yawgmoth's Will
Kill:
2 Tendrils of Agony

The idea behing the deck is to drop a Helm of Awakening, then play as many eggs as you can, sacrificing each with the mana from the last.
Obvious Problems: No dispruption. If your opponent plays Chalice for 1, you lose.
Card omissions- Draws sevens: The deck doesn't need them, as it runs off a different draw engine. Grim Monolith: It isn't a permanent source. This is important because you will usually drop a Helm the turn before you go off.
As you can see, I don't have a sideboard yet, so help would be appreciated.
Any and all suggestions welcome.

[theorigamist]

I don't have time to reply right now.  I just wanted to point out that Mystical, Spoils, and Consult are in both the Mana and the Search categories.

[Ifflejink]

Edit: Fixed the decklist. Spoils, Consult and Mystical are now only in the search category.

[Carlos El Salvador]

This deck was godawful in 1.5...  Cute still ,but godawful.

[Laertes]

Have you considered Mishra's Workshop?  You certainly have enough artifacts to justify thier use.  I could see it getting you to win a full turn sooner.

[Ifflejink]

Laertes: In a five-proxy environment, I would consider running them. But this is intended to be a budget deck.
Carlos El Salvador: Have you tested this version? I know that the 1.5 version was terrible and inconsistent, but this isn't.

[SpencerForHire]

Ancestral Knowledge
Looks at the top 10 cards of your library and lets you rearange, for a U and colorless, it lets you set up for combo, or if the chance for combo isnt there, it lets you shuffle and try again.
My egg deck got first turn kills in tourneys.

[Ifflejink]

Ancestral Knowledge seems like a very useful option, but what should I take out for it? BTW, Gimbles, could you post your decklist?

[meepoo2]

seems to me that you need more spells that atually cost 0. urza's bauble is a favorite of mine, as well as zuran orb and frantic search. another possibility is future sight. that puppy is basically "i combo NOW!" when you get it in play.

[Ifflejink]

meepoo2: I don't have the blue mana to cast Future Sight, and Urza's Bauble doesn't work. Anywhere. Zuran orb doesn't work here, as I run only 11 land, and Frantic Search is completely unneccesary.

[martyr]

So, why isn't Urza's Bauble any good? Other than making your opening hand just the slightest bit more iffy, it decreases your deck size and increases your spell/mana count. I don't see that as a "bad" card, necessarily.

What about Naturalize as an answer to Chalice of the Void?

Are you saying your deck is unbeatable? No? Then Frantic Search isn't "unnecessary". It untaps your Academy, and keeps the combo going despite your kind of sub-standard draw engine.

Other than that, the deck looks damn solid.

[Ifflejink]

martyr: Usually, you'll draw Urza's Bauble while going off, and that doesn't do any good. On the subject of Frantic Search, you usually won't have an Academy in play to untap, and the decks draw engine can't support frantic search. The main deck is fairly tight, so dispruption will probably be in the sideboard.

[jhaverkamp]

You might try Thoughtcast, as it has great synergy with the helms and in my, admittedly limited, goldfishing of the deck i was finding that it seemed to have trouble with keeping the engine going long enough to find tendrils.  When i dropped the Sungrass Eggs and the Chrome Mox for 4 Thoughtcasts and a Frantic Search, it started running much smoother.  

Also, Chrome Mox seems kind of bad in the deck with so few colored spells to imprint, you might want to drop it even if you don't go with the Thoughtcasts or Frantic Search, as the only things you have to imprint are vital search spells and other fast mana cards.

[martyr]

I'm gonna echo Jhaverkamp; I thought it didn't keep going long enough to draw into a lethal tendrils. I haven't tried out the Thoughtcasts, but I still think Frantic Search is necessary.

Also, the Eggs up your spell count by 1 and replace themselves...

...isn't that exactly what Urza's Bauble does?

I find that you need more fast mana in a deck like this: Fast COLORED mana. Adding Frantic Search is just that extra push you give Tolarian Academy to make it great.

Good call on the absence of Draw-Sevens, though. I tried it with Windfall and Wheel of Fortune, and they didn't do diddly squat. Many times, Wheel sat in my hand, and my only red source was a chrome mox in hand. Booooo!

Although I do think that you should play 2x more Spoils of the Vault (they really are that good for searching out Helms and Tendrils), and playing Mana Vault (I think you, or possibly I, are confused about which is which. I'm pretty sure Crypt doesn't untap and pings you, and Vault untaps and 50% of the time it bolts you).

Demonic Consultation also is really needed. It's much more powerful than Mystical Tutor, given that you want to keep churning through cards, and dropping one out of your hand onto the top of your deck is rather poor.

Finally, I would definitely take out AN egg for a Frantic Search, and experiment with Thoughcast. It is solid card drawing, and if you have a lot of artifacts in play you probably aren't going off RIGHT NOW so you don't really need the U mana.

Here's what I would run.

16x Eggs
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Helm of Awakening

2x Tendrils of Agony

4x Spoils of the Vault
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Frantic Search
1x Yawgmoth's Will
3x Thoughtcast

1x Tolarian Academy
2x City of Brass
4x Polluted Delta
3x Underground Sea
1x Bayou
1x Chrome Mox
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual

If there were any way to just ditch four cards and run Urza's Baubles (just make sure you're ditching mana sources), and it actually works out, I'd say go for it. I doubt, however, that there's enough leniency in the deck for that.

There are some cards that ABSOLUTELY HAVE to be in the sideboard. The first of which is a way to deal with Chalice for 1 and Trinisphere (not to mention the 'ol Sphere). Naturalize seems like the best answer, and the Bayou is maindeck to support that. It'd be cool to fit in some wierd tech that only really works here. I mean, the whole thing IS wierd tech, so that shouldn't be THAT hard.

[Ifflejink]

I prefer Brainstorms over Thoughtcasts, as you can play them after sacking the eggs at a reasonable cost. With Urza's Bauble, you draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep. Demonic Consultation is better than Mystical Tutor, I'll give you that. Mystical can only tutor out sorceries and instants.

[SpencerForHire]

I don't have the decklist anymore, I was running it, err about September, tore it apart since then.  I will try making a new build and see how i Had it.  ONe thing I remember, Whenever I EVER drew a mana crypt, i won that turn.

[Bazaaretw]

I just have to say tis deck is indeed Crapy but to improve it you should and Workshop, Helm, and Futuresight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[martyr]

"hey guys! helm of awakening is awesome in this deck! I'm contributing!"

LOOK AT THE LISTS.

And btw, it's budget. This means no power, no Library, no Workshops, and no Bazaars.

But to be constructive, I was testing out this last night...

16x Eggs
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Helm of Awakening

2x Tendrils of Agony

4x Spoils of the Vault
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Frantic Search
1x Yawgmoth's Will
3x Thoughtcast

1x Tolarian Academy
2x City of Brass
4x Polluted Delta
3x Underground Sea
1x Bayou
1x Chrome Mox
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual

...and it was pretty good. You REALLY REALLY REALLY need a helm of awakening first or second turn. 80% of the time (literally, four out of five games that I didn't draw it in my opening hand) I had to tutor for it right off the bat. I ended up keeping hands with it with only one or even no land, and if I couldn't drop it by second turn, I just restarted 'cause there's no way combo can win that late...

...this points to a SEVERE weakness in the deck, I think.

If MUD is popular in your meta, you MUST play Naturalize, or at least Oxidize, main-deck.

[atog]

I seems to me that memory jar+ tinker should be added for sure, With the added draw jar gives you can remove 2 eggs.

[Ifflejink]

Draw seven have been tested in this deck, and they simply don't work. The only way Memory Jar would get into play is Tinker, and that's no worth tutoring for.

[martyr]

Yeah, they're not worth it. You HAVE draw-7s in the deck already; when you're running twenty cantrip effects that replace themselves w.r.t. mana, you hardly require a three mana investment. They might work in a powered version of the deck, but this is budget.

@ifflejink: If you're going off, you have a helm of awakening, yes? If you have a helm, you most likely have an egg or three. How does Thoughtcast cost more? I see what you're saying, in that Brainstorm is significantly more elegant, but it's not more versatile. Digging for three instead of two is its only advantage, because you'll never have the mana to cast it before you go off. Only after. And you should have won then. Thoughtcast draws you, usually, an egg or two more, or an egg and a tutor, which assures you that you'll actually go off. I could see cutting one off my list, though, as sometimes you'd chain into multiple thoughtcasts on one turn, and you'd rather that happened as seldom as possible. I say two thoughtcasts, and one more of something good. Maybe a solid tutor, egg, or a naturalize? It's good to have one maindeck...

Oh, and whoever it was was right about the Urza's Baubles not being any good. They help you win NEXT turn, when you want to win THIS turn. Silly me.

[Di]

How DARE you all call my beast terrible in 1.5! Yes, it was somewhat inconsistant, but that doesn't mean it was "terrible". I mean, if a miz0r like myself could T8 with it, then it has to be some good. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

just have to say tis deck is indeed Crapy but to improve it you should and Workshop, Helm, and Futuresight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um..Helm...have you look at the decklist at all? Personally, I dislike the Workshop builds, because the fact that it doesn't use it's mana to fuel an Egg engine is rather discouraging. As for Future Sight, it was in the original design of the deck(in 1.5, around September/October), and it was great, until we all realized that we just didn't need it. It was either being too slow, or it was overkill, as the deck would already be drawing insane from the cards already, and Vault. Even though the speed greatly changes from T1.5 to T1, the same idea still implies.

Oh, and to the guy who put in Thoughtcast- good idea. Mini-Ancestral's on turn 1 and 2 are some good.

[Ifflejink]

I think that two Thoughtcasts is the right number. The reason I'm wary of Thoughtcast is that if you draw it after sacing eggs, you won't really be able to cast it.

[Carlos El Salvador]

Yawg'sWin in this deck makes it over the top.  The deck does need four helms, as they will thin out the deck.  I am also glad to see the deck is playing chromatic spheres, even though Di decided not to play them in 1.5.  I always thought the extra four replacement effects and mana fixers were wonderful.   The seven fetchlands seem kind of iffy, since you wish to avoid as much land as you can with this deck.  I would almost be tempted to say cut out four of them for four ESG, since you don't need black mana as much as you need colorless. Also, Have you all thought of Vampiric tutor?  BTW, Mana Crypt is the Self Bolting one.

[Di]

I tried out the Chromatic Spheres, but the results were crappy. The extra mana that eggs gave you really made a difference when you were going off. It's different in this format though because you have Moxen to do what you like.

[martyr]

Call me crazy, but I see four fetch lands in this...

Vamp. Tutor is not in here because it is very hard to find room for in the list, and doesn't keep the combo going. The other tutors will, but Vamp. Tutor forces you to have an egg or sphere or something in order to search out a Tendrils. It's just not worth it, and even though you lose less life with it than with Spoils, spoils is still the more powerful card. This is combo, so drawbacks be damned, I guess.

"The deck does need four helms, as they will thin out the deck"

Umm...could you please explain this? I mean, they're the reason the deck works. Other than that, I see no way they "thin out" the deck...

"I always thought the extra four replacement effects and mana fixers were wonderful."

It's not an "extra 4", it's a replacement 4. The Sphere's are a more elegant version of the crappy eggs.

[Ifflejink]

Chromatic Spheres are simply better than eggs. They filter mana into any color rather than the fixed colors eggs create. ESG... the deck usually plays a Helm the turn before going off, so a non-permanent mana source may not be the right way to go. I would prefer Fastbond, which I am thinking of including in my build. I currently run Vampiric Tutor, but it is often too slow.

[martyr]

Ifflejink: If you're running 4x Spoils of the Vault, you might want to think twice about playing Fastbond. Usually, you'll run into a lot of mana sources that aren't immediately apparent (A second Helm does a lot of good, especially in the 3x Thoughtcast build). Usually you're too low on life to afford the extra land drops. It's worth a try, though.

[Ifflejink]

Good point. I usually find myself a little low on life after a Spoils, so Fastbond won't work very well.

[Carlos El Salvador]

It could just be me, but I would personally perfer Fastbond > Spoils... Sure, you can use spoils right away, but there is a good chance that you will hit about three or four of your eggs, and some other key cards.  Fastbond will at least allow you to keep cosntant mana base growing.  It could be preferance, though.