Infernal Tutor

[miss_bun]

I've had some awesome luck with Infernal Tutor in a monoblack deck I've been running with Tendrils recently (but I think t could work in a bunch of different decks, anything from combo to tempo as long as it redundant cards.)  Does anyone else feel like Infernal Tutor is the new Dark Ritual?  I realize that seems kind of silly, but it really plays like it is; one minute you have a Swamp and a Sol Ring, the next you have 37 black mana and a storm count of 20.

Infernal Tutor has just been nuts for me with Dark Ritual and Cabala Ritual, it rocks with Duress, Unmask, Tendrils itself, and a ton of other cards.  The current deck I'm fiddling with runs Bazaar of Baghdad, Unmask, and other card disadvantage-y cards to take advantage of Hellbent.  I've been playing with a balck version of Uba Stax, but no luck so far.

Overall, I eally think Infernal Tutor will revolutionize Vintage combo, but I was wondering what yall thought, so I thought I would ask. 

[UR]

You aren't the only one who thinks that. I've had some amazing results with the card in Legacy where you can combine it with four Lion's Eye Diamonds, but I suppose it can be pretty scary in Vintage as well.

What was the list you were running? Maybe it'll spark some ideas.

[miss_bun]

I'll post it tomorrow when I feel less insane/retarded.  But basically its a ton of accel, 4x infernal, 4x grim, and tendrils, plus some disruption/alt wins in the form of duress, unmask, and phyrexian negator.

[ErkBek]

I'm interested in this list too. I really don't think it be used to make a combo deck that is better than Grim Long or IT.

[the19inchgecko]

I am using Infernal Tutor in my mono black workshop deck.  Ithas so far shown to be a gerat inclusion. 

[MoxMonkey]

This card should be at least a one of in every Stax list.  Its Demonic Tutor #2 for Stax.

[PacmanXSA]

This card should be at least a one of in every Stax list.  Its Demonic Tutor #2 for Stax.

I disagree.  Infernal Tutor only reaches its optimal status once the stax player has emtied their hand.  Stax rarely wants a 2of unless their previous card was countered/deal with.  This card does not get your strip mine/needed lock piece until you should already have the game locked down (ie your hand is emptied).  While I do not debate its power level, I wouldn't run it over Vamp and even Seal.

Pac

[Tobi]

Infernal Tutor has just been nuts for me with Dark Ritual and Cabala Ritual, it rocks with Duress, Unmask, Tendrils itself, and a ton of other cards. The current deck I'm fiddling with runs Bazaar of Baghdad, Unmask, and other card disadvantage-y cards to take advantage of Hellbent.

While toying around with mono balck Tendrils and fast Dragon lists I found out that Bazaar of Baghdad does have some synergies with Tendrils Combo, as it gets you new cards for those you don't need and fills your graveyard for Cabal Ritual and finally Yawgmoth's Will.

I am very interested in your decklist.

[miss_bun]

Okay, here is the list I'm currently on, minus the sideboard (which as of right now is tweaked for my small weird meta, and probably useless against most tier 1 decks.  )  Its about the seventh or eighth version so far, but most of the original cards are still in it; I've just made a few changes here and there.  The lands seem a bit low (and they probably are,) but the Bazaars really help finding mana, and don't forget how many of the cards in the deck are either artifact mana or rituals.  I still want to add a Mana Crypt and Mana Vault, but I haven't tested them yet, so I will need to do that so I can figure out what to drop/move around/whatever.

As for non-mana cards, all I really think I need is Yawgmoth's Bargain, but again, I haven't tested that yet, so I haven't included it in the list.

The real beauty of this deck is that with so many redundant cards it can afford to go off on turn one without fear of fizzling and falling short of storm count.  At least a dozen times I've failed to go off on the first turn, Tendrils with a storm of 5 or 6, and then managed to Bazaar > Unmask > Infernal Tutor (or something like that) into another Tendrils or a Will for the win next turn.  Basically, the deck doesn't lose anything by trying to go off, even if you aren't sure if you can.  I think this is mostly because all of the deck's temporary mana is acceleration, unlike decks that use Chromatic Sphere.

The big problem with this deck is that it doesn't have a lot of controlish/defensive cards (although those it does have work very well together, especially Darkblast.)  Even considering that, the deck has a ton of recovering power.  You have to watch out for decks that can mess with your graveyard, but this deck isn't as reliant on the GY as it seems.  Sort of a tangent: this deck is hilarious against Ichorid.  Tossing priests of Gix and Darkblasts at 3/1s frantically, debating whether using Unmask's alternate casting cost would speed up them or me more, etc.  Fun fun.


Monoblack Tendrils, by Sarah


// Lands
    3  Polluted Delta
    3  Bloodstained Mire
    7  Swamp
    4  Bazaar of Baghdad

// Creatures
    4  Blood Pet
    4  Priest of Gix

// Spells
    1  Darkblast
    4  Cabal Ritual
    1  Death Wish
    4  Unmask
    4  Grim Tutor
    3  Tendrils of Agony
    1  Entomb
    4  Infernal Tutor
    1  Black Lotus
    4  Dark Ritual
    1  Demonic Tutor
    1  Vampiric Tutor
    1  Yawgmoth's Will
    1  Chrome Mox
    1  Lion's Eye Diamond
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Lotus Petal
    1  Sol Ring

Anyway, comments are appreciated, but please realize that the deck as it is is pretty young still, so be gentle. 

<3

[Harlequin]

Skullclamp ... maybe.  I just hate to see all those delicious 2/1 priests hanging around ready for a righteous skull clamping. 

Also, its good to note that neither Glix or Skullclamp work durring your Yawgmoth's Will.  (one has to be from hand, the other has to go to the graveyard)

[UR]

I like the idea, especially in certain metagames. But why no Necropotence and/or Yawgmoth's Bargain? The Bargain might be too expensive for the Hellbent, but he does spell WIN if he hits the table.

[Tobi]

It might be worth to try this out a little bit.

To maximize the chance to empty one's hand early, we should play as few lands as possible, combined with Land Grant. Then of course all of the artifact acceleration possible, probably with Chromatic Spheres to gain access to black mana.

Priest of Gix and Blood Pet do not seem to be that good, and adding Skullclamp may not be the best idea to get a better use for them. With Cabal Therapy and Culling the Weak some 0-mana creatures can be tried out, but I am not sure if this is the best way to go.

The problem with Infernal Tutor is, you need to spend all you have to finally cast it and win. Any counterspell can be desastrous, so you need to have as much disruption as possible.

I will try to put something together and test it...

[miss_bun]

I've tried out a UBG version of the deck with land grants and crop rotation and some other random stuffies, but it just isn't as consistent.  The reason I went mono black is because it makes infernal so much better; the bazaars and unmasks are there to help you saw away at your hand, but the deck isn't totally based on unloading everything.  Infernal is good because there are so many key 4-ofs, namely:

Dark Ritual
Cabal Ritual
Grim Tutor
Blood Pet
Priest of Gix

Now, I use the word "key" a little loosely here I suppose, but you get the idea.  I thought about Skullclamp, but the reason I didn't go with it was not because of the fact that it doesn't work with Yawgy, but because the Priests are there as an alternate win.  They seem silly since they're just 2/1s, but especially with Infernal Tutors going, even if someone FoWs Yawgmoth's Will or Stifles your Tendrils, you still have a small army to show for it.

The latest version of the deck also has

+1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
+1 Mana Crypt
+1 Mana Vault

...and I can't remember what I took out.  >_<  Anyway.

Someone also PMed me about a similar deck using culling the weak with 0-mana creatures, but I think this is a bad idea.  I really like the idea of having creatures that are useful by themselves.  Culling the Weak could make the deck a little faster, but then you run into the problem that Kobold Clamp has: if they stop you, you're dead.    Also, CtW happens to cost 1 mana, which seems ok at first, but this deck already has some trouble with Chalice of the Void set for one; it can be worked around, but adding Culling and a bunch of creatures that are totally useless without Culling sounds like a bad idea to me.

As for no Necropotence, the answer is simple: I'm running 4 bazaars and a Lion's Eye Diamond.  Any version that doesn't use them should totally run Necro.

Basically, my advice is this to anyone testing the deck: try Priest of Gix first without adding culling or clamp or even cabal therapy.  I think you'll see it actually adds a lot of survivability to the deck.    Although I haven't totally played around with cabal therapy as much as I should probably, it has obvious goodness with bazaar.

[Dralock]

Have you tried a D4rg0n alternate win instead of priest of gix? I don't see how the priests will be helping much in the long run over, say, night's whisper or dark confidant or just about anything? Free mana is nice though, so I understand what you are doing. The card is just a cantrip though, which makes it meh. I can't think of anything better to suggest at the moment. When I find something, I'll let you know.

The same goes for blood pet. Actually, I think blood pet is kinda fun, but ultimately a waste of space in your hand.

Darkblast is kinda cute. Cabal therapy would be better. I have never been let down by having creatures in my deck and therapy as duress number 5 and 6. However, if you are listening to everything I say, then you might be questioning creatures. Don't question cabal therapy. It wins games that have no business being won.

All that being said, I'm going to sleeve this up and see how it runs.

[miss_bun]

Don't talk to me like I don't know who Clutch is, Dralock.   

Seriously though, I keep forgetting about dragon for some random reason.  Now that I really think about it though, it really really sucks with Yawgmoth's Will going, and I really like being able to just discard whatever I want, and Dragon without a reanimaty something = which I don't want with any of the cards.  Bleaargh.  I'll think about this more after I get some sleep.   :shock:  I agree that there are a lot of less than perfect cards in the deck right now, but every suggestion I've tried ends up messing up the whole point of the deck by filling it with meh-ness.  Like I said, I'm tired right now.  I've been kind of leaning towards using more hand disruption though with maybe some Dark Confidants and trying out the Negators again, I'll see.

[meadbert]

We have a mono black Tendrils deck that we play around with.  Don't underestimate Dark Confidant, Phyrexian Negator and Cabal Therapy.
Negator is super easy to drop first turn with acceleration and a lot of times you can just ride him to the win with a bit of hand disruption. 

Confidant allows winning with a min tendrils after a few turns.  Either pitches to Cabal Therapy which can be useful when building up storm count for Tendrils.

[frolll]

I have play online against the version running green for Land Grant and Crop Rotation, fetching Bazaar of Baghdad, but I guess this was a test and this test don't have been very concluding...

I was the guy playing the 0 mana creatures+Culling the Weak+Diabolic Intent+Draw 4 for half your life, and I've made a turn 2 or 3 kill with Cabal Therapy first turn. My decklist is the pretty standard decklist of KI.TT, an European Monoblack Tendrils deck that uses no Grim Tutor at all, nor Infernal, but Diabolic Intent, and, more than important, seven Draw4. The fact that you're losing life is not important at all as you most of the times just kill your opponent on the turn you are loosing all that life.

Here is the list I was playing, for those interested:


// Lands
    3  Polluted Delta
    3  Bayou
    2  Swamp

// Creatures
    4  Shield Sphere
    4  Phyrexian Walker
    1  Ornithopter
    1  Ornithopter

// Spells
    1  Yawgmoth's Will
    1  Necropotence
    1  Lotus Petal
    3  Tendrils of Agony
    4  Culling the Weak
    4  Dark Ritual
    3  Diabolic Intent
    1  Demonic Tutor
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mana Crypt
    1  Vampiric Tutor
    4  Infernal Contract
    4  Land Grant
    4  Cabal Ritual
    3  Cruel Bargain
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Demonic Consultation
    3  Cabal Therapy
    1  Chrome Mox

// Sideboard
SB: 1  Cabal Therapy
SB: 2  Rebuild
SB: 2  Massacre
SB: 1  Tropical Island
SB: 3  Xantid Swarm
SB: 2  Chain of Vapor
SB: 2  Echoing Truth
SB: 1  Underground Sea
SB: 1  Island

This is a solid maindeck but since this deck don't use any Infernal Tutor at all, it's not time to talk about it.

I guess this deck (yours! , not mine) should got really much stronger if the creatures actually does something other than giving +1 storm count. Dark Confidant in multiples seems to be so very strong in Tendrils combo. A list including these Dark Confidants could also get rid of the Pet/Priest and add something like Cabal Therapy in 3 or 4 copies, and running one Swamp less should be possible if running Duress too. That will make a pretty good disruption package, and Dark Confidant will make your opponents easier to kill.

You also should look for a way to get rid of a tinkered Darksteel Colossus.

I really love the idea of Bazaar of Baghdad in that deck, by the way.


f.

[Rittler]

Well me and my team were also toying around with a Tendrils deck based on Infernal Tutor and we created a Deck, that plays quite well, but is still far from perfect. It plays much more disruption in form of Ill-Gotten Gains, Duress and Leylines and therefore can also play the control route for several turns until you've prepared a save combo-turn.

So here is what we've got until now...

[Warp Tendrils]

3x Il Gotten Gains
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Necropotence
3x Tendrils of Agony
4x Dark Confidant
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Chrome Mox
1x Lotus Petal
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
3x Duress
3x Cabal Therapy
1x Recoup
1x Burning Wish
1x Wheel of Fortune
4x Leyline of the Void
4x Polluted Delta
1x Bloodstained Mire
3x Bayou
3x Land Grant
3x Swamp
2x Badlands

Sideboard:

4x Xantid Swarm
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Duress
1x Cabal Therapy
2x Pyroclasm
2x Pox
2x Massacre
1x Rack and Ruin
1x Echoing Ruin

Perhaps you could help us improve it for perfection...

I tried to fit a Memory Jar in there since it helps so much in going off, after a resolved Ill-Gotten Gains. Also Will is so important in this deck that we decided to include red for Recoup and Burning Wish. The Wish also gives you a maindeck solution for your problems. This deck absoluteley doesn't die to Null Rod or Chalice, which is why we didn't include any maindeck solutions for them. In the sideboard you can find Rack and Ruin and Echoing Ruin to serve that purpuse. Pox is very helpful against DSC and helps in going off. I'd really like to fit 1 maindeck and actually am thinking about cutting a Cabal Therapy for it.
What do you say?

[miss_bun]

I've actually been trying something out that runs LotV, Serum Powder, and Ill-Gotten Gains, but I haven't tested it enough to know how stable it is.  Its a blast to play though, I'll put it up if it works out.

I've also been fiddling with the UBG version running Land Grant, Crop Rotation, Ancestral, Frantic Search, Time Walk, and :shock: Chromatic Sphere, but I still think the Mono black version is more stable.