Twiddledrix: A Primer

[UrzaTron]

I've won five tournaments with my list already, so I decided it was time to give back to the community and release this.  The ability to play Combo, Control, and Aggro games with equal efficiency is what really sets appart the TwiddleDrix archetype from competitors.  If you aren't familiar with the list, just picking it up and playing won't do it any justice.  This deck is very skill-intensive, and you're going to have to get in a lot of serious games before you really get the hang of it.

TwiddleDrix/B
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker

3 Prodigal Sorceror
1 Rootwater Hunter
4 Vizzerdrix
4 Seasinger
4 Apprentice Wizard
1 Ticking Gnomes

2 Cunning Wish

4 Frozen Solid
4 Twiddle
4 Psychic Venom

4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
1 Underground River
4 Island
4 Snow-Covered Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault

Sideboard-
4 Stifle
4 Manriki-Gusari
4 Psychic Purge
3 Energy Flux

PLAYING TWIDDLEDRIX

If you didn't get it, the basic idea is very simple.  Like silver-age Keeper, your default game plan is to control the early game with any number of powerful disruptive pieces, and then clean up with a powerful threat.  Unlike the old Weisman-school decks, however, Twiddledrix has the ability to combo off like Gifts, by casting an early drix off the Twiddle/Apprentice Wizard engine, but also has the ability to "win small" like Fish and Cron-inspired Stax lists, by using efficient, aggressive creatures like the Sorceror.  Knowing when to play an early Vizzerdrix, and when to swing with your Apprentice, or even when to hold it back as a blocker, is what sets an experienced TwiddleDrix player apart from a novice.  Furthermore, it is this versatility which truly sets this deck apart from similar lists, and makes it a top contender.

MATCHUPS

Gifts- Gifts should be an easy matchup for you.  Twiddle, Frozen Solid, and Seasinger make Colossus a non-issue.  Game one, watch out for them Tendrils-ing you out, Post Board your Stifles will make short work of that plan.  Cut out the Apprentice Wizards for them, you're not the beatdown in this matchup.
- 4 Apprentice Wizard
+ 4 Stifle

Oath- Seasinger is your whole gameplan here, play it before you play any other creatures, and defend it.  Even if you just buy yourself a few turns while they look for an answer, you should be able to finish them off in that time
- 3 Prodigal Sorceror
+ 3 Stifle

Slaver- with the amount of power this deck is packing, you DO NOT want to be slaved.  Use your Sorcerors and your Purges post-board to make sure they don't get to keep a welder active.  A play that has won me a few matches here-  walk a Vizzerdrix into a Drain, the Slaver player will tap out for a Pentavus or a Sundering Titan, then drop a Seasinger and steal it.
-1 Vizzerdrix
-3 Apprentice Wizard
+4 Psychic Purge

UW Fish- Here's where Vizzerdrix's raw size really shines through.  In this matchup your creatures are just better than theirs, and you should just try to go off.  If they manage to drop a Mage before you can play your buisness (off a mox, for instance) Sorcerors and Seasingers can go a long way in destroying combat math.  On a side note, their Vial makes Psychic Venom almost worthless, so board it out for something more relevant
-4 Psychic Venom
+4 Psychic Purge

UG Fish- this Matchup's similar to UW, but tougher, as Wild Mongrel can eat your Vizzedrix, and you just don't want to see a Jitte on the other side of the table.  The best way to play this match is to take some early hits, and drop your Frozen Solid only on creatures that can trump yours.  Game one you're hurting, but games two and three, your Gusaris clean up the Jitte problem
-4 Psychic Venom
+4 Manriki-Gusari

Kobolds- This deck has a very solid game against Kobolds.  Twiddle and Frozen Solid slows them down just enough to get your Wizards online, from there your Vizzerdrixes can clean up.  Games 2 and 3 are a joke when you bring in your Gusaris
-4 Seasinger
+4 Manriki-Gusari

Shop Aggro- Shop Aggro is no walk in the park, but you have tools to beat them.  Just like in the Kobolds matchup, if you can stall until you drop a Vizzerdrix, you should be in good shape
-3 Prodigal Sorceror
+3 Energy Flux

Stax- Stax is one of your worst matchups.  Twiddle can buy a *lot* of tempo here, but sometimes that won't be enough.    Post board you get Energy Flux, which is a beating, but sometimes it's too little, too late.  If you play in a stax-filled meta, I'd suggest running the red splash over black.
-4 Seasinger
-3 Prodigal Sorceror
+3 Energy Flux
+4 Stifle

TPS- Approach TPS the same way you approach gifts, just keep in mind, game one you may just have to try and combo off first, and pit your consistancy against their broken-ness
-4 Apprentice Wizard
+4 Stifle

The Mirror- The black splash is actually pretty weak against the mirror, but strong against most control/Drain decks, which is the meta where I play.  No doubt, this list will get more popular after this gets posted, in which case, this matchup might be something to worry about.  If you happen to run into the mirror, your best chance is to use your Purges to gain a tempo advantage, and capitolize on any mistakes they make.  If you can win the Prodigal Sorceror war with your Purges, they can't stop your Seasingers, and then, they can't play their own Vizzerdrix.  If you get in that situation, you can win without dropping your own.
-4 Vizzerdrix
+4 Psychic Purge

SPLASHES/VARIENTS

Right now I feel that the list I gave is the best for a metagame filled with control or combo decks, like the northeast or italy.  If your metagame has a lot of aggro, in the form of Fish or Kobolds, you may want to consider a green splash for creature pump.  Invigorate is incredible at destroying combat math and Berserk is very strong to wish for.  If the archetype becomes more popular, I'd really suggest a Red splash for handling the mirror, as Pyroblast and Burnout are very strong there.  Red also shores up difficult workshop matches, and might prove to be the ideal list at some point.

[Rex_Kwan_Do]

wow i cant wait to bring my twiddledrix deck to the next SCG!!! i hope i dont have to play too many mirror matches because that could get annoying

[EnialisLiadon]

Just in case you're wondering, most of the people here don't find terminal incompetence all that amusing...

[shade88]

WTF?
I mean seriously...

[UrzaTron]

I'd appreciate it if you'd keep any personal remarks to PMs.  I followed the rules in this post, I'd hope other people can, too.  Let's keep everything on the thread on-topic, I'd like to hear any constructive suggestions on the archetype, or any questions anyone has.

[darkchild]

You said you won 5 tournaments with it, may i know which ones? To me, the list is Not only skill intensive but luck intensive as you require an opponent to mulligan down to maybe 3 or less cards to stand a chance against them. If this is a spam to destroy TMD, its not even funny.

Just by looking at the list of creatures:

3 Prodigal Sorcerer (nostalgic?)
1 Rootwater Hunter (why???)
4 Vizzerdrix (Why not morphling???)
4 Seasinger (ok, if you are playing in a 90 percent fish environment, maybe running 4 main is acceptable)
4 Apprentice Wizard (running more moxes seems like a better idea than this?)
1 Ticking Gnomes (I ran out of words to say)

- No force of will!!???!!
- You have not place for fow or drains but you can run 4 frozen solid and 4 psychic venom.

Well, if this list win any SCG or waterbury, I will QUIT T1! Mods, i rest my case...

[UrzaTron]

obviously the tournaments I won weren't 50+ SCG style, otherwise you would have heard of the list already, but some of the better local players are usually there.

the Sorcerer/hunter split is just because I don't have four sorceror.  The ability to ping is great against certain decks, if I splashed red, I'd definitely run Razorfin Hunter or try and get Grim Lavamancers instead.

Vizzerdrix is usually a full turn faster clock compared to Morphling. It doesn't tie up your mana, and it's just bigger.

You may be right about Apprentice Wizard to off-color moxen, but the moxen don't have the same synergy with Twiddle, and you need to drop a lot of colorless for Vizzerdrix.

the Ticking Gnomes is a Tinker target that's castable, and doesn't die to Unsummon or Swords.

I prefer Frozen Solid to Mana Drain because it's not as limited an answer.  If you don't have the Counter in hand when they cast a threat, you're fresh out of luck, but if they play a Psychatog and swing, you still have one turn to dig up your Frozen Solid.  I know Force of Will is supposed to be a good card, but I really don't like the card disadvantage in this deck.

Venom is a proactive threat, it slows down the other player and helps with a "win small" strategy.  it's like a Wasteland that can hit basics, nevermind the synergy with Twiddle.

If you *really* think running counterspells would make the deck better, I can give them a try, but what would you suggest cutting for 4 Force/4 Drain?

[Bram]

I've won five tournaments with my list already,

Outrageous claims need to be backed up with facts. Which tournaments? Ho many players attended? What was the metagame like? When was this?

The quality your post is indeed much better (suspiciously better, even) than your previous equip-deck one. There's some deck explanation, a matchup analysis...there's no card-by-card rundown of your deck, however. Also, this build seems way to 'out there'. I'm going to move this to newbie (which is not meant to suggest that your are a newbie, just that your list doesn't follow the standards for deck discussion in Vintage Open yet).

[49 Cents]

You could cut these cards:

3 Prodigal Sorceror
1 Rootwater Hunter
4 Vizzerdrix
4 Seasinger
4 Apprentice Wizard
1 Ticking Gnomes

2 Cunning Wish

4 Frozen Solid
4 Twiddle
4 Psychic Venom

And then go like + 4 gifts, +4 drain, +1 Recoup, +1 Colossus, +3 Merchant Scroll, + 3 Mis-D, +.. Well you get the point..[/s]

Thanks for that useless contribution.  - Bram

Yeah, like the posts above are usefull -_-

[LotusHead]

3 Prodigal Sorceror
1 Rootwater Hunter
4 Vizzerdrix
4 Seasinger
4 Apprentice Wizard
1 Ticking Gnomes

2 Cunning Wish

4 Frozen Solid
4 Twiddle
4 Psychic Venom

This list is "thinking outside the box" and your deck breakdown is a decent attempt to share Twizzledrix to the world. While veteran TMDrs might look at this list and immediately dismiss it (uh, like myself at the moment), do break the deck down card by card.  That is how you get expert feedback and suggestions.  If you present it nice enough, you can tweak it and improve it. 

People here do want to help, and some information about the T1 environment you live in (the Meta) can help. 

The deck is powered enough. Can you play with Proxies where you play? Are you under extreme budget restraints?
Are your opponents all scrubs? (or do you play this on, say MWS or Apprentice?)

now, for a bit of advice...
Twiddle = No. Dreamers Grip = Yes.  It's Twiddle with Entwinability.
Psychic Venom: May hurt some decks a lot (what with other ping effects). How often do people just play around it?
Tinker: For what? Ticking Gnomes?
Seasinger x 4 = nice. However, not all T1 decks use Islands...(but I understand you could then side them out.)

Break the deck down bit by bit (and we REALLY mean card by card) to get the most out of these sites.

Good luck.

[Negator13]

Everybody realizes he's trolling, right?

None of you can honestly believe he's serious...

EDIT: That said, it is some funny stuff 

"Side out your Apprentice Wizards, you're not the beatdown in this matchup" 

[Bram]

It appears to be BrassMan, but I prefer to act on facts rather than suspicions. The move as well as my comments are warranted, regardless of wether or not the poster is pulling my leg.

[Revvik]

Bram - look at the way he's typing.  Last time I saw claims made like these with a decklist as such, typ1ng l00kd like the suxx.  But with this guy, his typing, grammar, punctuation... all impressive!  Maybe he's a new form of internet virus...

He even knows what the difference is between Beatdown and Control!!  He knows the roles!

I am going to feel incredibly stupid if this was already revealed to be a joke...

[Yare]

I am going to feel incredibly stupid if this was already revealed to be a joke...

http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=17.150

Reply #163

[Jacob Orlove]

You left off the tog matchup, where they miscount, throw away everything to attack for 19, then lose the game. ;)

Also, thread closed.