[Deck] Clamp 4cC

[VarienTanafres]

Ok, so everyone is trying to find the niche that makes 4cC a powerhouse again. (Keeper reborn I suppose) I've been playing 4cC for awhile, shifting into it from EBA. The deck and how I play have improved over the past year and a half, since I first started to do big Vintage tournaments (Newington, CT) The deck stills get whomped on by other deck and I'm searching for a way not to. (Haha, yea I know) So I looked to the T2 banned badboy, Skullclamp. This is what I have so far.

Creatures:
3x Ophidian
2x Exalted Angel

Alternate Kills:
2x Decree of Justice
Goblin Trenches

Search/Draw:
Ancestral Recall
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Skeleton Scrying
4x Brainstorm
2x Skullclamp
2x Cunning Wish (This is Edit, - Skullclamp, - Gush to S/B)

Control:
3x Vindicate
3x Duress
Swords to Plowshares
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain

Support:
Time Walk
Crucible of Worlds
Yawgmoth's Will

Land:
Black Lotus
Mox Pearl
Mox Sapphire
Sol Ring
Library of Alexandria
Strip Mine
2x Wasteland
2x Island
Swamp
Plains
4x Flooded Strand
2x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island

Sideboard:
Alter's Light (Edit)
Swords to Plowshares
Stifle (Edit)
Gush (Edit, cut from M/D))
Fire/Ice (Edit)
Fact or Fiction (Edit)
Blue Elemental Blast (Edit)
Skeleton Scrying (Edit)
3x Meddling Mage
Dampening Matrix
Moat
2x Tormod's Crypt

What's in the parenthises are the changes that I will most likely be doing for the Upcoming Waterbury tournament.

That's my deck in a box. Key notes that I'm sure some of you have already seen:
Mind Twist: After using this since the days of EBA, I have found that this card is useful only once in awhile, so therefor I'm dropping it and replacing with a card that's never dead.
Misdirection: I've never actually used these. They rested in my S/B for eons, and when I did M/D them, they didn't help me. Either staying dead in my hand, or never drawing it when I needed it, so I cut them.
Engineered Explosives- Good card, no doubt, have yet to test them out in any of my decks. Using Vindicates in their place. (Using deeds once I get tropical islands)
Balance- Always bad juju for me. My hand is always seemingly full, and I tend to have more lands out then my opponent, so no dead card for me. (Might change due to Crucible abuse, not sure yet)
Mana Crypt- I don't like chancing my games, and this card is definately a chancy card. (So I put in trinistax)
Changes for the tournament-
Fact or Fiction- No FoF for the tournie? Yea, I am newbie and loving it. Great card, but trying other things in it's place.
Cunning Wish- As everyone has been stating, this just isn't that good. I disagree, but after using Wish for awhile, I rarely need to Wish to save myself.
Mystical Tutor- It can't get cards into my hand, might as well use Vamp to get whatever I want instead of limiting my choices.
I cut the duals down to basic land to prevent the problem of waste/crucible that everyone is complaining about, hopefully I'm making a good move in this way.

What's different and why?
Skullclamp- New way of draw power, and is never dead if you have creature out, if you have no creature, get a Foiled Clamp and claim it's there to look pretty. (Yes, trying to abuse this card in T1 *sigh*)
Goblin Trenches-
1) Worked well in Keeper for awhile, even tho it started as a joke.
2) The 1/1's are so clampable.
3) Waste the land? Sac in response, if your gonne lose it, might as well use it to your advantage.
4) Running over your opponent with 1/1's are fun.
Meddling Mage- Sibeboarded until I run into a trouble. why not say Oath, or Welder, or even Tendrils of Agony? I see no loss.
Alter's Light- WW2, my wrath of god for the ever popular Darksteel Colossus. It's better then letting them gaining 11 life, temporary, but still enough to let live long enough. Besides, I don't like Crucible being played against me.

I'm happy with the fact that I'm splashing red in for ONE card, Trenches. Was thinking about adding Rack and Ruin to main at least, or Fire/Ice, but am not sure what to take out. Idea's please?

Well, there are my explanations as to what I changed and why. I'd like to hear your thoughts if I'm on a good track or not. Is skullclamp and my changes a good direction for 4cC? Or should I go back to the drawing boards and wait to get Tropical Islands and try my luck with different methods? And no, giving up and building MBC or U/R fish is not an option.

[Das_Boot]

Well, there are numerous problems here.  Firstly, Skullclamp is horrible here.  You have like 3 cards that can be clamped, and even those aren't very good.  You are running no good SB cards, instead choosing Altar's light?  Gush isn't very good here, and you need to run more scryings.  As the matter of fact, as a whole, there realy isn't one thing positive here.  You cut the good draw, copies of Exalted and just overall good cards (no Cunning Wish, no Fire/Ice, one StP) for a non-synergistic "draw engine" that doesn't actually work.

[MrZuccinniHead]

I agree that skullclamp doesn't seem to have enough outlets.  Also, how do expect Ophidian to get through a Juggernaut or an akroma?  You could retort with counter, but then u must remember with Workshop u are facing more threats the very next turn, so more to counter.  And with oath, they have more counters than you do.

[VarienTanafres]

I agree that skullclamp doesn't seem to have enough outlets.  Also, how do expect Ophidian to get through a Juggernaut or an akroma?  You could retort with counter, but then u must remember with Workshop u are facing more threats the very next turn, so more to counter.  And with oath, they have more counters than you do.

How does one usually deal with a turn 1/2 Juggernaut? I have higher number of Vindicates that most 4cC, if any, use. As to Akroma, no one usually can deal with turn 2/3 akroma. Would it be better if I cut 1x Vindicate and run 2x StP M/D and 1x S/B?

[Covetous]

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but there is not one single thing right with this deck.  The manabase is crap, the draw engine is crap, the win condition is crap and the idea of skullclamp in 4cc is crap.  If you want to try running DoJ/Trenches and clamp, then focus the deck on that.  If you want to run angel/scrying, focus on that.  If you want to run ophidian, run mono-blue.  You would be better off running Mask of Memory or Sword of Fire and Ice than skullclamp in your build, but that would still be terrible.  Skullclamp basically by definition is NOT a control card because it requires multiple small creatures, which do not go in control decks.

[Rex_Kwan_Do]

i dont think u can drop cards like mind tiwst, fact or fiction, mystical tutor, and balance. you said that mind twist is only good once in a while, but there are so many other cards in your deck only good once in a while. i'd rather have a mind twist off a mana drain than a decree of justice. lets say u can produce 5 mana on your turn off a drain. 4 cards or 2 tokens? id rather rip cards out of their hand. other cards like yawgmoths will, library of alexandria, duress, skull clamp, ophidian, and goblin trenches are only good "once in a while," yet they are still in the deck. i dont think mind twist is so conditional to warrant not running. as long as they have cards in hand its pretty unconditional. ok so fact or fiction i think is unquestionable. i dont think trying other things in its place is a good reason not to run it. it's restricted for a reason. also, i think mystical tutor is better for a few reasons in your deck than vamp tutor. it's blue, so u can use it for force. you dont lose 2 life. with your mana base it will be easier to cast since all of the dual lands run blue. finally, most of the time all u want is instant or sorcery. speaking of blue mana, i think you should make the swamp and plains into islands or other dual lands. when you have an early mana drain you're going to regret having plains and swamps. as for the balance... do you ever find yourself having less creatures than your opponent? i do. balance is way too broken to take out. put that back in, please. honestly, i think you need to take your skull clamps out and go back to the drawing boards. you say you have red in there for ONE card. the obvious direction of the deck is back to an EBA variant, or 3 color control. when you take out red your mana base will be more stable and i think you'll be happier with the deck. i recently put together a 3c EBA type deck and i was quite pleased with the results. if u want a copy of the deck message me.


cody vinci