[Deck] Masquerade

[xXscrumXx]

I have been tinkering with this deck for a while now, and I think that I have finally found a build that I like. I really like Mask-nought and Welder's ability in Control Slaver. I think that I have found a way to hybrid the two together. So far, my deck is holding up against some of the best decks in vintage. The deck is consistant and very explosive. This is my current build.


4 Polluted Delta
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Force of Will
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Goblin Welder
3 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Cunning wish
1 Intuition
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Platinum Angel
1 Duplicant
1 Jester's Cap
1 Mindslaver
1 Triskelion
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

Sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Fire/Ice
1 Stifle
1 Intuition
1 Pyroblast
1 Hydroblast
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Fact or Fiction

The deck is somewhat hard to play because there are so many options with each hand. The main kill of the deck is Mask-nought, however I have killed opponents with DSC quite often, Mindslaver, Jester's Cap, and Triskelion. The Mindslaver is for board control, you do not go infinite with it like in Control Slaver.  It is more probable that you will be able to slaver someone three to ten times. This should totally swing the game in your favor. The Duplicant comes in handy against other DSC's, Platinum's Angel's, and many other nasty creatures. The Triskelion is geared toward Goblin Welder, since welder is huge in type 1 right now, but his ping ability rocks. The Jester's Cap is great against combo, especially when you can cap five times in a row. And the Platinum Angel speaks for herself. I really like the cunning wishes in here. I think that my targets are good for now but I might need to take another look. The Intuition, Fact or Fiction, and Vampiric Tutor are in there for search and dig. It actually works quite nicely. I am not sure about some of the card slots, I think that some of them could be put to better use, but I'm not sure how. 

If you have some ideas about cards slots, sideboard, or just the deck in general I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[Moxlotus]

So you took control slaver, cut mana drains and 4 other cards, and added the masknought combo?  You cut protection and acceleration to add in another random win condition, despite already having enough threats?

You do realize that you can't Weld in the Dreadnoughts don't you?

[Disburden]

Where are your records Vs. the following decks:

Control Slaver
Stax (all variants including Uba)
Gifts
SSB
Fish
Workshop Aggro
TPS
Deathlong
Belcher
Dragon


You say that your list does well against major decks, but I don't see anything about your matchups or your win-loses of those matchups.


How is AK good without more than 1 intuition?

See the post before mine about welder's ability.

[xXscrumXx]

Yes, I know that. However, if there are 2 noughts in play you can welder out one and sac it to the other. And I cut protection for aggro. It still runs a lot different than Control Slaver despite the fact that it has some Control Slaver elements. I just think that traditional Control Slaver is boring, so I added my own twist.

[Disburden]

Yes, I know that. However, if there are 2 noughts in play you can welder out one and sac it to the other. And I cut protection for aggro. It still runs a lot different than Control Slaver despite the fact that it has some Control Slaver elements. I just think that traditional Control Slaver is boring, so I added my own twist.

So what were your matchups Vs the decks That I listed?

[xXscrumXx]

Sorry that I don't have actuall stats for the deck. However, I have played against Control Slaver, Stax, Fish, Workshop Aggro, TPS, and Belcher. I have yet played against Uba, SSB, Deathlong, Gifts, and Dragon.

Against Control Slaver its a matter of me outracing my opponet. I am able to get off early mask-nought game 1 and then game 2 use chalice of the void to get rid of welder, and Crypt to rid graveyard.

Against Stax the key cards for me lye in SB. Hurkyl's Recall, Rack and Ruin, Tormond's Crypt and Chalice of the void. It's probable for me to lose game 1, however game 2 and 3 I am able to stop my opponent.

Against Fish the only card that really hurts me is Null Rod, but using Cunning Wish I can fetch for Rack and Ruin. I usually win using DSC in this matchup. I am generally able to play through Fish's counter.

Against Workshop Aggro it usually comes down to a Welder war. However, Workshop aggro has no counter base, I am only using Force;s but hey come in handy. Tormond's Crypt and Rack and Ruin, and Chalice of the viod get sided in and allow me to gain more control of the game.

Against TPS Jester's Cap and Stifle are key. I remove tendrils and its pretty much game. Or I side in Chalice game 2.

Against Belcher Jester's Cap is also bomb. I remove belcher and win.Game 2 I side in Chalice. 

I also stated that I have played SOME of the best decks in vintage, not all of them. If I have the opportunity to play against Uba, SSB, Deathlong, Gifts, Dragon, or any  other vintages I would be more than happy tp.

[Arvid]

I think this hybrid seems ok but...

IMO Brainstorm would be better than Accumulated Knowledge, Mana Drain would be better that 4 random tinker/welder-targets, and Sundering Titan would be an inclusion for me.

[Gabethebabe]

Yes, I know that. However, if there are 2 noughts in play you can welder out one and sac it to the other.

I don´t get what you´re saying here.

But I´ll say this: You can not weld a Nought for another Nought. You would end up with both of them in the ´yard.

[warble]

*clears throat*

hanna's custody

So what makes you think having the entirety of the workshop artifact base and a full set of welders makes masknought better?  As far as I can see, you've put either workshop's fat base or a really aggressive CS player's fat into the deck and you've cut 8 major cards for masknought.

The deck is somewhat hard to play because there are so many options with each hand.

Uhh...about those options...they only appear after turn 3-4 don't they?  When I play CS I typically only want to keep hands that either have at least 3 counters by that turn, or a hand that will win by turn 3-4.  You're talking about giving yourself options at that point, which is much too slow to ever work in type 1 (fish/metahate aside).  stax locks you out at that point, CS slaves you, tog has drawn into a good 5 counters at that point, basically you're running the slowest deck in the format as a result of those options.  It's interesting that you use the word option, I would "sell" those options and give myself a full deck of CS or a full deck of masknought with hanna's custody instead of the welders.  Not only are you resistant to hate at that point, your combo suddenly "clicks" because your options are more limited but yet more potent.

Take a CS player with a welder resolved, for example.  He tries every single EOT to thirst for knowledge/gifts; why is this?  It's because that option wins every time, and eventually he gets one through.  That's a narrow example of how having only a few options is actually having a LOT of options because you have multiples of that game-winning card.  The CS player could also tinker, tutor, weld lotus for insane amounts of mana, these options are available to your deck but not usable on the same early turns because you have dead cards that try different combo's in your hand.  A good CS player doesn't have the dead cards, and when he draws fat he discards to thirst and welds it in for the win.  It looks good initially to have a bunch of cheap artifacts in CS, but the thing here is that you broke your draw/counter engine by putting them in, so you might as well drop the rest of CS to back up those cheap artifacts instead of hanging onto CS by a thread and hoping against hope that it pulls you out of the toilet.  Just play masknought and don't get tossed around for turns 2-3 in the first place.