[deck]Storm Grant

[Fastbond]

Brainstorm Land Grant is better than Brainstorm Fetchland.  Land Grant ups the storm count, doesn't cost life and can be used multiple times per turn.  The drawbacks are that it shows your hand, only fetches forests, and can be countered.  Here's an attempt to use the engine in combo.

Mana(36)
X1 Tolarian Academy
X1 Crop Rotation
X1 Savannah
X1 Bayou
X2 Tropical Island
X1 Taiga
X4 Land Grant
X4 Elvish Spirit Guide
X4 Dark Ritual
X7 Solomoxen
X1 Mana Crypt
X1 Mana Vault
X1 Lotus Petal
X1 Chrome Mox
X1 Mox Diamond
X1 Lion's Eye Diamond
X4 Chromatic Sphere

Draw(15)
X4 Meditate
X1 Ancestral Recall
X1 Timetwister
X1 Windfall
X1 Wheel of Fortune
X1 Tinker
X1 Memory Jar
X4 Brainstorm
X1 Yawmoth's Will

Cards that will stall the engine(9)
X1 Time Walk
X1 Necropotence
X1 Balance
X4 Force of Will
X2 Brain Freeze

Sideboard:
X3 Carpet of Flowers
X4 Deep Analysis
X4 Oxidize
X3 Emerald Charm
X1 Library of Alexandria

Diminishing Returns is not used because it costs four mana and is not likely to be cast first turn.  Demonic Tutor is not used because 1BU is too hard to get on turn one.  All the restricted tutors are good at getting game winning spells but they don't get the mana to play them like brainstorm does.

The main goal of this deck is not to go off on the first turn.  The main goal is to cast something like timetwister or balance on the first turn to create an overwhelming advantage that the opponent can't recover from.  If it can't do that, then it wants to cast meditate or brainstorm to draw into counters to stop any hate cards that the opponent might play.  If it can't do that but there is a hand with good mana sources and a brain freeze, then the deck might play a few cards and then cast a mini brain freeze on the opponent.

Brain Freeze is used over Tendrils because it can be pitched to Force of Will and Chrome Mox for blue.  You don't have to win all in one day, you can do several little brain freezes and then win with windfall or wheel.

Duress can be a problem card against this deck because your opponent can duress away important mana sources.  However, if they run duress, they are likely to be running blue in which case you sidebaord in four carpets and the pain of a duress is minimized.  Deep Analysis can be sideboarded in with the carpets to accentuate the huge mana advantage carpet gives you.  Deep Analysis can also be used against red elemental blasts.

Workshop decks without islands, monoblack, and UR phid may also be a problem and I'd appreciate any sideboarding suggestions or any suggestions on the other parts of the deck.

[Machinus]

Are you running Mox Diamond with five lands? There is a good thread you should read:

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15329

[TheAdvantage]

First of all, you run Mox Diamond with 6 lands...have you ever cast it?

Why do you feel you shouldnt win in one turn?  That's like saying you dont mind giving your opponent free turns, and if you want to get technical you dont have to go off all in the same turn with Tendrils either, but doing so maximizes your efficiency.  Combo decks love synergy and efficiency.  It doesnt make much sense to make your job harder.

Have you thought about the logic in using Freeze over Tendrils??  You now have to cast roughly 17 spells before you Freeze while Tendrils allows you to cast only 9.  Why make it harder on yourself while simultaneously giving your opponent more time to establish himself?

How does casting Balance first turn create an overwhelming advantage??  You might force them to sac one creature(assuming they play) or discard 1-2 cards from their hand at best??  I just do not see how this fits into a combo deck, much less one that aims to cast it first turn as you said.

You are trying to run a storm combo deck without Demonic Tutor, Mind's Desire, or Bargain, not to mention Mystical or Vamp.

And since you pointed out the fact that you dont have to kill in the same turn, why do you run Meditate??  I dont see how this is any good at all if you are not going to win same turn.

Forgive me if I sound harsh, but this just looks like a bad incarnation of Draw7.  How is this better than Draw7 and why is it a better choice in todays metagame?  What has your testing shown and how does this play out against the top decks like Slaver and Tog?

[Fastbond]

Brain Freeze pitches to Force of Will.  This argument does not hold with draw7 because you need to hold kill cards in case one is removed to returns.  Also, because of one one reshuffling effect an early light brain freeze is more likely to stick and you can finish the job later.  Because of the cantrips land grant, brainstorm, and sphere.  The deck is more likely to have played a lot of cards than to have generated a lot of mana barring Will or Academy thus freeze is used over tendrils or hunting pack.

Due to a limited card pool, you can not always build decks that have perfect synergy with it's each other.  The goal of this deck is to generate three mana on the first turn and the use that mana to cast cards that create an advantage over the opponent.  Balance helps with that goal.

Meditate can be cast at instant speed to draw into counters and prevent hate cards from going into play.  It is not always possible to wait to play this card given certain mana accelerants but the option to wait still occurs.  It's better to lose a turn than to lose the game.  The drawback doesn't matter when you're going off and even if you don't you may draw into so many accelerants that the time walk effect you get from the accelerants negates the draw back.

One of the ways to make the deck win first turn more frequently is to not run Force of Will.  Do you have to win the game right away or is it enough just to play three mana on the first turn, cast some draw spells, draw into force of will, counter the hate card, repeated as needed and win?  This is another reason Brain Freeze is chosen because Force of Will is such an integral part of the deck.

[TheAdvantage]

with draw7 because you need to hold kill cards in case one is removed to returns.

Really?  I thought you just cast a lot of draw 7's and won.

Because of the cantrips land grant, brainstorm, and sphere.

Not only is this a fragment, but Land Grant isnt a cantrip.

Due to a limited card pool...

You have full power in the deck but you have a limited card pool...care to elaborate on this?

Meditate can be cast at instant speed to draw into counters and prevent hate cards from going into play.

Winning prevents hate cards from hitting the board also.  The more turns you give your opponent the more likely you are to run into said cards.  If you were playing a good combo deck, you could just win instead of skipping a turn to try and find a Force.

Balance helps with that goal.

Again, I ask how.  Please tell me how a first turn(or any other turn) Balance helps you win.  I agree that it can provide an advantage by forcing your opponent to sac his/her creatures(if he played) or by forcing control to lose a few cards in hand, but it does not further your win condition by expanding your resources.  It merely limits your opponents resources.  This is a noble cause, but again, wouldnt you prefer to win now than to delay things??  This is a combo deck, correct?

One of the ways to make the deck win first turn more frequently is to not run Force of Will.

An even better way is to not run cards like Balance, Meditate, and Brain Freeze.  I never said that you had to win first turn, I merely said that you should try to win as quickly as possible.  If you can figure out how to win first turn, then great, you've broken the format.  If you cant, thats fine, but you should still aim to win ASAP.

Tendrils >>>> Brain Freeze

[psyburat]

As many of the other users have said, but as I would like to say in a less verbose manner, is that the storm count needed for Brain Freeze over Tendrils of Agony is a lot higher, making Tendrils of Agony the better choice as a finisher.  With a good storm deck (Draw7, Deathlong), you shouldn't be worrying about casting something with a four-mana casting cost.

[riggy]

I tried a BU deck a while back that was mostly control based using Isochron Scepter + Brain Freeze and Planar Void. You're going to run into a lot of the same troubles that I had.

Without Planar Void, a lot of decks don't care about having stuff put into the graveyard. Your point of

then the deck might play a few cards and then cast a mini brain freeze on the opponent.

is really bad against say Dragon, GAT, Hulk, Slaver variants, and pretty much any deck that uses Welders, Psychatogs and/or Yawg Will.

All it takes is for them to have one Welder, Tog, or Will in hand to make your mini-freeze more harmful to you then them.

Just another thought to add to those mentioned above.

[Fastbond]

IMHO, any card that costs more than three mana is a win more card in this deck.  This includes Tendrils, Diminishing Returns, Yawgmoth's Bargain, and Mind's Desire.  Three mana is about what you can expect in the opening hand.  If you have four+ mana you've already started drawing cards and you're well on your way to winning the game.  Meditate has a drawback but it's better than other three or less mana options such as accumulated knowledge or words of wisdom.  It's the card that along with draw 7's enables first turn wins to race the hate.

Brain Freeze can help decks that utilize graveyard recursion but you have Force of Will.  Most decks only have a few graveyard recursion cards so you just have to use your best judgment based on the circumstances.  And, with Meditate, Land Grant, BRainstorm, the free mana, and Chromatic Sphere.  It is far more likely that you have cast seventeen spells than have two black and 2 colorless mana.  A small brain freeze can be bad against some decks but Tendrils is at the four mana point so it is almost never usable at all in your opening hand.  The fact that brain freeze pitches to force of will should almost be argument enough to use it over tendrils.

Balance is two mana.  I'd rather have a more situational card than a win more card.  I've tested other mana accelerants and found that Cabal Ritual, Helm of Awakening, and the Eggs were all win more cards.  Balance is situational but it can be really good at the beginning of the game and not when you're already winning.  It also gives you some ability to control the game in conjucture with Force of Will.

As for the tutors, even with Demonic, you're probably going to have to wait until turn two to play the card you fetch.  I'd rather just play Words of Wisdom then fetch Ancestral.  If your opponent has any sort of mana denial in their opening hand a cantrip would be better than a card disadvantage tutor.  The tutors are good cards but not in a deck with so many temporary mana sources, the deck needs to use them to draw cards now and not wait until your opponent has the opportunity to destroy your resources.

[policehq]

Brain Freeze is only viable as an alternative kill-condition in a deck that plays something like infinite Cloud of Faeries, where Stroke of Genius and Braingeyser would be the primary kill cards. When Tendrils of Agony is a win-more card to Brain Freeze, that is a good thing. It means "win more consistently."

By the way, has anyone seen a decklist of Draw-7 with Rectors and Dream Halls? I have heard about the deck (using 4 Temporal Cascades), and I was really really interested. It seems viable.

Barry