[Deck} Basic Chains... Can it work?

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

This is just an idea I have been tinkering with.  (I am sure other people may have though of it as well but I have not seen any posts on the subject)

We all know that Chains of Mehpistopheles is a house in the current meta game.  Every competitive deck needs some sort of draw engine, and all of them say "draw" on the cards.  

Not since the days of 4x unrestricted FOF has chains been playable in a control deck as there were no draw engines that didn't say "draw" on them sufficient to power the deck.  

Possible solution: Gifts Ungiven.  This deck tries to abuse two meta-hosing bombs: back to basics and chain of mephistopheles.  Hence the name Basic Chains.  (it is pretty much mono-U with a black splash for chains and brokenenss and using gifts as a draw engine while trying to still keep an awsome mana base and meta hosing bombs)

I han't tested this yet but here is what I thought of for a start:

10 counters:
4 mana drain
4 force of will
2 mana leak

10 draw:
4 impulse
4 gifts ungiven
1 fact or fiction
1 ancestral recall

8 meta h8:
4 chains of mephistopheles
4 back to basics

3 bah-roken:
1 yawmoth's will
1 demonic tutor
1 time walk

2 win conditions:
Havn't decided on this yet:  morphling, physcatog, masticre, what?

27 manaz:
7 solomoxen
4 polluted delta
1 swamp
2 underground sea
7 island
4 wasteland
1 strip mine
1 librabry of alexandria

The only obvious problem with the deck is that it's draw engine is sub-par at 4cc and only netting 2 cards.  However, it does ensure that you get fairly good cards off it although because your opponet will give you the 2 worst ones they will certainly still be business spells.

Some questions:
Cunning wish?  If so, what should be cut?
Md removal?  If so, what should be cut and what form of removal?  Keg?
Is the mana base ok?
Are 4 and 4 the correct numbers for b2b and chains?
More counters?  Is so, leaks, mis-d, what, and what should be cut?
I am currently leaning towards morphling as a kill condition as physcatog doesn't really seem to fit without beserk/fling which requires a 3rd colour and simply lacks synergy witht eh rest of the deck.  Masticore is an option but the card disadvantage is huge and he is a 5 turn clock that can be welded out, althought he pinging ability is certainly good against welders and fish (if they don't get the rod out, although they certainly have no way to remove it excluding oxidize run by the 3 colour build)

I think that it would certainly be possible to go down to 3 b2b and 3 chains as you really only need to resolve 1 of each, or even 1 total, in the course of a game.  Perhaps also 1 of the mana srouces could be cut to drop down to 26 if 27 turns out to be overkill.  Also maybe 1 gifts could be cut as it would still leave the deck with 3 gifts and 1 Fof as a draw engine.

All suggestions and discussion is welcome; lets here what you think of the deck idea.

Edit: Cut 2 swamps for 2 underground sea to add more blue sources.

[Toad]

4 mana drain

4 polluted delta

7 island

Moved to Newbie.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

Critisism of the mana base is indeed warrented.  +2 underground sea and -2 swamp should givee enough blue sources to support drain while still maintaining enough black sources to support the splash; you only really need 1 swamp anyways, and the clash between back to basics and only 2 seas shouln't be much of an issue (as well as the threat of wasteland).  The actual list isn't very important, anyways, though, but merely the idea of a deck based around chains and b2b.

[Tank]

the idea is sound, but the deck you've created isn't exactly fool-proof...

Personally, I'd forget the Gifts Ungiven and use intuition instead, also cutting both chains and btb down to three... that also makes space for three cunning wish (only 3 intuition, 4 is overkill).

As for the manabase, I think Toad's forgetting what one of my friends said a little while back:

"In the current meta, BASIC LANDS are TECH!"

and he's right, the blood moons, the wasteland-crucible-exploration decks, blood moon, etc are forcing people to rethink all their expensive duals...

[Frappie]

After testing a chains build I will have to say that the problemwith chains is this any intelligent player will be able to work around it and not be as affected by it. Generally what it really does is make them gas up a huge yawg will. I know this deck is supposed to win at the draw/go time but i dont think it has the staying power. 10X counters is great but with no real draw engine to speak of there is no power behind it. smemenenU wins because it can dig out the answers and it packs the extra 4 counters.

I know the above is moderatly intelligent so im going to kill it with some really bad tech for the finisher. thought of using finkel yet? Draws cards sure but also has the phear ability.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

the idea is sound, but the deck you've created isn't exactly fool-proof...

Personally, I'd forget the Gifts Ungiven and use intuition instead, also cutting both chains and btb down to three... that also makes space for three cunning wish (only 3 intuition, 4 is overkill).

As for the manabase, I think Toad's forgetting what one of my friends said a little while back:

"In the current meta, BASIC LANDS are TECH!"

and he's right, the blood moons, the wasteland-crucible-exploration decks, blood moon, etc are forcing people to rethink all their expensive duals...

The deck needs a "draw" engine.  Without ak (which says "draw," btw) intuition is just a crude tutor.

Yes, basic lands are tech, but 13 blue sources was certainly not enough to support drain and I want to maintain 7 black sources for the splash, ALL WITHOUT cutting any artifact acceleration or strips, and without increasing the count of the mana base beyond 27.  Thus, 2 underground seas are the solution upping the blue source count to 15 for drain while still supporting the slash.  Only 2 non-strip non basics isn't a big deal.

After testing a chains build I will have to say that the problemwith chains is this any intelligent player will be able to work around it and not be as affected by it. Generally what it really does is make them gas up a huge yawg will. I know this deck is supposed to win at the draw/go time but i dont think it has the staying power. 10X counters is great but with no real draw engine to speak of there is no power behind it. smemenenU wins because it can dig out the answers and it packs the extra 4 counters.

I know the above is moderatly intelligent so im going to kill it with some really bad tech for the finisher. thought of using finkel yet? Draws cards sure but also has the phear ability.

Gifts ungiven, albeit crappy, is a draw engine and it is the only real draw engine unaffected by chains.

I don't see how they should be able to keep up even with your crappy draw engine if you resolve a chains or b2b.  If you do, either: any brainstorms, thirst for knowledges, or even scryings, etc, your opponent has suck, while your gifts and impulses work fine, OR, their mana base is completely crippled while yours works fine.  I don't see how they can work around it when the only real draw spell that is now usable for them to gain card advantage is fact of fiction and most decks don't pack more than a few basics compared to your 8 and 4 fetches to grab them out.  Barring extraordianry circustances, how can they work up to resolve a big will in this situation, and if they can, why is will so scary if it doesn't allow them to abuse spent draw spells?

I actually heard about a U/B control deck using finkel and being a variation on mono-U (it won a 95 person Vintage tourney), but as this deck is based around chains finkel has terrible synergy with it.