Memory Jar and Fact or Fiction in Control Slaver

[oneofchaos]

When you blindly Tinker, getting Memory Jar is both faster and more reliable than DSC as a win condition.  Even if all you get off it is a land drop and a welder, that welder will be bringing it back.

It's not a draw7.  It's a draw15.  It's Bargain, but cheaper and weldable.

Not to even mention how easy it is to drain into it.   Hit a thirst with a drain, and drop the sucker. 

[Hi-Val]

I'm really surprised that everyone is having a boner over Jar right now. I'm not weighing in on whether it's good or bad yet, though it seems fine; I'm just surprised that after three years of people saying that Jar is bad in Slaver, it's suddenly stupid not to run one. Not only that, FOF is suddenly bad too(?).

Is Jar better than Mind's Eye? It might be. I'm not sure. Facing down opponents who might draw into Brainstorms, I'd think about whether I want Mind's Eye to act like a Sphere of Resistance on them or let them possibly Brainstorm back really good cards to draw into after Jar.

[Vegeta2711]

How are Jar and Mind's Eye even comparable? I'm serious, I'm not seeing it other than they both cost 5.

[CrashTest]

What about 2 vs 1 Mindslavers? Sometimes 2 feels a bit too bulky, imo.

          What's the general opinion on Night's Whisper? It is faster than Gifts/FoF, but is it stronger for the deck?

[Hi-Val]

How are Jar and Mind's Eye even comparable? I'm serious, I'm not seeing it other than they both cost 5.

Demars used to run Mind's Eye, and it's what came to mind when I was thinking of other artifacts that are good for drawing. They both have an asymmetrical effect. Eye seems like more of a control card where Jar seems more of a combo card.

I'm just shocked that the entire community has jumped on Jar in like, 48 hours. It's kind of amazing.

[seer]

I wouldn't even consider cutting Fact or Fiction. I will always run it. However, I might not run Jar. Right now I am testing it out though. It has been pretty good for me in some games but in other games not so good.

[nataz]

I don't think that any Control Slaver deck excluding Memory Jar is properly built.

I'll assume that you can add "in this meta-game" onto the end of that sentence, correct? If so, what specifically changed in the last three months that made it so? Is the format faster, is there less artifact hate, would you consider going back?

If not, and this is a blanket statement (i.e., slaver w/o drains is not properly build), how do you reconcile with your earlier builds? Like Hi-Val, I don't get how FoF went from an absolute bomb to unplayable. Ditto on Jar from clunky tinker target -> the bee's knees.

[Kowal]

Regarding FoF over time:  I've always thought the card sucks, and I believe I was the first person to cut it from Gifts.  My decision was further cemented when Grand Inquisitor pointed out his feelings on FoF were the same.

Regarding Jar over time:  I've only been playing CS since we decided to add Jar.  You'd need to get Rich's opinion here--  I think Jar is fucking nuts and belongs in the deck, and probably has ever since Null Rod based fish went on vacation.

Regarding Gifts vs FoF:  If you resolve Gifts, it doesn't matter you're removing good cards from your deck because you win.  That's the whole point.  FoF is the same speed and mana and doesn't win.  It's a glorified Brainstorm at four times the cost.

Also:  I'm changing the title of this thread to reflect where Smmenen pointed the discussion.

[The Atog Lord]

Memory Jar should be in your Control Slaver deck unless there is a huge influx of Null Rods in your metagame or you don't run Tormod's Crypt. It is broken beyond belief.

Fact or Fiction is a great card against decks that let you enjoy a midgame. I love the card against the mirror. However, I also board the card out against aggro, Stax, Combo, Oath, and Fish. It is too slow against these decks. FoF is a strong card, but its inclusion is a metagame call.

This isn't about what's right or wrong per se, but what's right or wrong for your metagame. Jar is probably right for your metagame. Fact or Fiction might be.

[CrashTest]

What do you guys feel about Merchant Scroll, Gifts Ungiven, and Mystical Tutor? Perhaps Gifts falls into the same area of debate as FoF - a larger casting cost card that serves the midgame a little bit better.

       I know that Mystical was cut due to having more draw in the form of Night's Whisper, but isn't it too strong of a tutor to cut? (In Kiowal's T8 build, Shay ran it.)

            Another issue is the creature choice. Platinum Angel is decent, and so is Sundering Titan- but I don't think anything really beats Darksteel Colossus in terms of raw power. Sure, Welder can't touch him, but it is a lot stronger to Tinker him out then another creature due to his beefy size.

[AJFirst]

I've been working with Slaver for quite a while with some people who know what they're talking about, and understand the deck quite well through experiance, so please don't attack my post for being a floater of the forum, because I am very passionate about this deck.

Merchant Scroll - I've played one forever, and find it quite essential. Finding Force or Ancestral is never bad, and the ability to grab Brainstorm/TFK and Drain is gravy, not to mention hitting Mystical for Will or Tinker. Drawing this card is always gas. I almost upped to 2, but couldn't find the slots at the time.

Gifts Ungiven - I've played this deck (before the Time Vault fiasco, and after) and have to say that it's just the most insane card to be printed since TFK. It wins games upone resolution in (and here's the key) decks that are designed to abuse it. In Slaver, what do you get? Two artifacts and fail to search acting as an over-costed Entomb for artifacts? Gas so they can put broken cards in the yard for you, where you can't get them back fail Yawgmoth's Will? Mana? I think that this card is nuts if you happen to be running Recoup, Misdirections, more Merchant Scrolls, Fire//Ice, and no Welders, but otherwise it needs to take a hike because this deck can't fully abuse it, and paying 4 mana for something that doesn't win the game is some awful.

Fact or Fiction - Again, paying 4 for something that doesn't read "Immediatly win the game" is near unexceptable. The card advantage is basically moot in this deck, as it has the strongest draw power in the format today. The argument that it digs more will only force me to tell you to play Vampiric Tutor in that slot, so you can dig your entire library instead (If you already are running both of these, then you must be playing some funky Slaver, or more likely, a suboptimal build).

Jar - I have mixed veiws about this. When talking to some of the GWS guys and some other friends, they said what I was thinking: That it's just the flavor of the week. It obviously has nuts potential, but most of the time it's wasting a Tinker for a land drop and a Welder. Oh, and milling them for 7. People talk about it's insane synergy with Welder, but you can only activate it 3-4 times without A) Running out of artifacts, B) They combo all over your face because you spent your turns playing gas for hands you were dumping anyway and are left without counters, or C) you lack a library.

I tested it, sure, but I'm unsold. I did get to Brainstorm a Brainstorm onto the top, activate Jar drawing into Walk and Will. Playing Walk, some manas, and Brainstorming Will to the top....I won that game.

But that was one game it won me, versus about 4 that it was irrelevant in, and 1 that it straight up lost me the game (he milled gas and cast Will with counter back-up).

The problem is you waste your rescources drawing cards and playing mana for a hand that you won't have during their turn, when you need it most in control, which seems terrible.

As for the creature discussion: Colosus is almost necesary today with all of the non-basics running around, you need something that wins the game all by itself. In the control mirror, Titan is nuts. Against Fish, CS, and Welder Stax, Trike's the nuts. As for Plat, it's decent against Combo, but not spectacular.

Last thing is Threat count. I play 2 Creatures and 1 Slaver with a crucible and a Tormod's in two of my utility slots. If you want to cut one of those for a second Slaver, I could see that, but then you'd have to go up to 4 Welders which is what makes it clunky; not the second artifact.

But meh, one kid's opinion.
-AJ

[Kieranwolf]

This may be a fluke, but for all of my games against CS AND Gifts, when FoF is resolved (unless I go lethal in exactly one turn) I lose.

This has proved true from the other standpoint the times I've run Gifts in a tournament. I resolve early FoF -> I win.

It gets more cards than Gifts and depending on your luck and your decklist can be somewhere near twice as broken.

Again, it relies on the topdeck, but it can get multiple broken cards and even if not it nets you two, not one. Even a disappointing Fof still improves your future topdeck much more than a Thirst. It's two cards better for one more mana even if you have artifacts to pitch.

Oh, and Memory Jar? Forget about it. It seems oodles more broken than FoF, since you can get it with Tinker for one less mana, and it gives you at least two more cards. Welding it in is just overkill. Jar is just one of the more up and coming reasons I now sleep with three Null Rods and a pithing needle under my pillow.

Did we also forget about how nice it is to cast FoF during an enslaved turn? Minor consideration, but major satisfaction!

Casting FoF has always given me a feeling much akin to waking up on Christmas morning. It rocks, and Jar is just dumb.

[Wollblad]

How can you compare Memory Jar and Fact or Fiction? Fact or Fiction is often played in in you opponents end phase enabling you to have to have mana open for Mana Drain or Mana Leak (the latter is underpayed in Slaver). Memory Jar covers the same spot as the other expensive artifacts, i.e. tap out on your own turn to do something good the next turn. Like Mindslaver, Jar gets owned by for example Null Rod and Stifle, both played in Fish. Null Rod is played in both Oath and Stax and as already pointed out, Memory Jar is suicide against Dragon. That's quite a large part of the meta game here in Sweden as well as in other parts of the world.

People are considered extremely much with brokenness but very little with consistence. In the consistency aspect, the difference between four and five mana is huge which makes Memory Jar improper to replace Fact or Fiction. On an average, you'll hit five mana several turns later than four mana, specially if you're up against Null Rod or Chalice or Waste effects. To refere to the situation when you resolve a Tinker is also improper since you'll then win anyhow. A Mindslaver does the job as good or better than a Memory Jar against virtually everything except possibly aggro where DSC will win you the game.

In conclusion, a much more proper question would be whether you should play Memory Jar or Mind Slaver number two. I have no good answere to that question.

[Kowal]

I've been working with Slaver for quite a while with some people who know what they're talking about, and understand the deck quite well through experiance, so please don't attack my post for being a floater of the forum, because I am very passionate about this deck.

Merchant Scroll - I've played one forever, and find it quite essential. Finding Force or Ancestral is never bad, and the ability to grab Brainstorm/TFK and Drain is gravy, not to mention hitting Mystical for Will or Tinker. Drawing this card is always gas. I almost upped to 2, but couldn't find the slots at the time.

It's an arguable inclusion, but personally I want my two mana slot to do something now rather than later.  The whole idea is to have something to do before I cast Thirst.  If I run Merchant Scroll instead, my options are to either get Force of Will backup for my Thirst (which results in -1 card advantage if you happen to have the artifact for it) or get Ancestral.  If you do the latter, one of your draw spells has to wait.

Gifts Ungiven - I've played this deck (before the Time Vault fiasco, and after) and have to say that it's just the most insane card to be printed since TFK. It wins games upone resolution in (and here's the key) decks that are designed to abuse it. In Slaver, what do you get? Two artifacts and fail to search acting as an over-costed Entomb for artifacts? Gas so they can put broken cards in the yard for you, where you can't get them back fail Yawgmoth's Will? Mana? I think that this card is nuts if you happen to be running Recoup, Misdirections, more Merchant Scrolls, Fire//Ice, and no Welders, but otherwise it needs to take a hike because this deck can't fully abuse it, and paying 4 mana for something that doesn't win the game is some awful.

It wins games in decks that run good cards.  If you can't win the game when you resolve Gifts, you need to learn how to play Gifts.  Getting something simple like Ancestral, Tinker, Vampiric, Demonic is a good start.  You could also try Ancestral, Time Walk, Demonic, Tinker.

No synergy with welder?  If you resolve Gifts with a Welder on the table you actually -just win-.  No thinking involved.  Your opponent just scoops it up and you move to the next game.

Fact or Fiction - Again, paying 4 for something that doesn't read "Immediatly win the game" is near unac[/color]ceptable.

Correct.

The card advantage is basically moot in this deck, as it has the strongest draw power in the format today.

That's not exactly what we're going for, but if it helps you sleep at night.

The argument that it digs more will only force me to tell you to play Vampiric Tutor in that slot, so you can dig your entire library instead (If you already are running both of these, then you must be playing some funky Slaver, or more likely, a suboptimal build).

A little more on track here.

Jar - I have mixed veiws about this. When talking to some of the GWS guys and some other friends, they said what I was thinking: That it's just the flavor of the week. It obviously has nuts potential, but most of the time it's wasting a Tinker for a land drop and a Welder. Oh, and milling them for 7.

This couldn't be further from the truth.  If you start using Jar appropriately, you'll find it's actually just a combo kill condition.  A welder and land drop is actually the weakest jar you can get, but the chances of getting that sort of jar are pretty low.  Even under those circumstances, you win turn two by drawing 15 cards.  All you need to do to kill someone with it is Jar in to any of the following:
Time Walk, Tinker, Yawgmoth's Will, Mindslaver, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor

I don't place as much value on cute tricks like the Tormod's Crypt trick pointed out by Rich and the Echoing Truth trick someone else pointed out on the first page.  Those aren't important.  The important thing is that Jar wins the game, and it does so even in positions that look pretty hopeless.

People talk about it's insane synergy with Welder, but you can only activate it 3-4 times without A) Running out of artifacts, B) They combo all over your face because you spent your turns playing gas for hands you were dumping anyway and are left without counters, or C) you lack a library.

The idea isn't to jar a dozen times.  You jar between one and three times as necessary to locate the win.

I tested it, sure, but I'm unsold. I did get to Brainstorm a Brainstorm onto the top, activate Jar drawing into Walk and Will. Playing Walk, some manas, and Brainstorming Will to the top....I won that game.

But that was one game it won me, versus about 4 that it was irrelevant in, and 1 that it straight up lost me the game (he milled gas and cast Will with counter back-up).

Learning how to play Jar is as important as including it in your list.  If you're activating Jar and not winning, you're either making terrible mistakes or you've had a bit of terrible luck.

The problem is you waste your rescources drawing cards and playing mana for a hand that you won't have during their turn, when you need it most in control, which seems terrible.

You don't need to play the draw spells.  That's not what Jar is good for.  You want to stick a bunch of cheap artifacts to the board, locate welder, and best case scenerio cast one of the six cards I outlined above.

As for the creature discussion: Colosus is almost necesary today with all of the non-basics running around, you need something that wins the game all by itself. In the control mirror, Titan is nuts. Against Fish, CS, and Welder Stax, Trike's the nuts. As for Plat, it's decent against Combo, but not spectacular.

I actually find Colossus is pretty bad, but I've yet to make the switch to Sundering Titan because Trample has actually been relevant a couple times against decks like Oath and Sullivan.

Last thing is Threat count. I play 2 Creatures and 1 Slaver with a crucible and a Tormod's in two of my utility slots. If you want to cut one of those for a second Slaver, I could see that, but then you'd have to go up to 4 Welders which is what makes it clunky; not the second artifact.

But meh, one kid's opinion.
-AJ

Why in the crap are you running godawful crucible?  That adds literally nothing to the deck.  It's awful.

Running two slavers does not by any stretch of the imagination require four welders.  If you want to play the deck like Meandeck's Turbo-Titan from last year but with Mindslavers instead of Sundering Titan, then you're playing the deck wrong.

[Harlequin]

Also Running Tormod's in the main is fantastic synergy with jar as well.  For situations such as...

But that was one game it won me, versus about 4 that it was irrelevant in, and 1 that it straight up lost me the game (he milled gas and cast Will with counter back-up).

Jarring into Tormod's crypt negates the drawback of Jar.  Not to mention that Tormod's crypt is amazing outside of jar land.

[Rock Lee]

For all the abovementioned reasons I run Jar. I've been playing FoF in addition to Jar, and I've been thinking about cutting it.

As a response to "fetch a counter with Jar", unless this is their eot, do NOT do this on their turn, as often most people only have to Jar during an opponent's Main Phase once in their lives to realize they screwed themselves so hard they're not going to walk straight for a week.

I recently killed an Oath player with Gaea's Blessing on the stack via TFK, pitch Jar, weld Jar, activate.

[Razvan]

Memory Jar should be in your Control Slaver deck unless there is a huge influx of Null Rods in your metagame or you don't run Tormod's Crypt. It is broken beyond belief.

Memory Jar should be in your Control Slaver deck unless you play in Canada. Because everyone, their aunt, the kitchen sink, and those damn Listowelites play with Null Rods.

Fact or Fiction - Again, paying 4 for something that doesn't read "Immediatly win the game" is near unexceptable.

What the heck is everyone's obsession with this statement? First, FoF is not that often used to immediately win the game. It's often a slower ancestral, sometimes a "get the best card out of the next 5 and discard the 2nd best", sometimes a big TfK.

Same goes for Gifts. It doesn't just "win the game". It "enhances the game". Otherwise, why would people gift for land, card drawing, etc... Like ben says below, when you Gifts in a good position (or anything but a "bad" position), Gifts IS your win condition.

It wins games in decks that run good cards.  If you can't win the game when you resolve Gifts, you need to learn how to play Gifts.  Getting something simple like Ancestral, Tinker, Vampiric, Demonic is a good start.  You could also try Ancestral, Time Walk, Demonic, Tinker.

No synergy with welder?  If you resolve Gifts with a Welder on the table you actually -just win-.  No thinking involved.  Your opponent just scoops it up and you move to the next game.

Pound for pound, a true statement.

[CrashTest]

I really like Merchant Scroll in CS. Running one is decent, you can fetch FoW vs combo turn 1 with a Mox, or get the usual Ancestral.

             For now, I am testing the deck with a Fact or Fiction, Gifts Ungiven, and a Merchant Scroll. The mana curve does get a little high at times in CS, but with a lot of artifact mana, it isn't so stressful on the deck.

        Here's the issue: How do you keep CS from feeling slow and bulky? Sometimes you just draw into too mach high casting cost cards, and it messes with your curve. Some people are using Night's Whisper, but I am not sure on that card yet.

[Pave]

Vegeta after Smmenen:

I also prefer Petal in the deck. Then again I like anything that helps me get turn 1 Drain mana up.

How 'bout Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond?  Why isn't Lotus Petal a poor choice for Slaver for the same reasons?

[Kowal]

Because you don't need to ditch cards in hand to make it work.

[BreathWeapon]

Night Whispers is an interesting choice, but if you wanted to add a second engine to the deck wouldn't a compliment of Merchant Scrolls be the better decision? They fetch Force of Will, Mana Drain, Thirst for Knowledge, Ancestral Recall, Mystical Tutor, Gifts Ungiven, Echoing Truth and so many other useful cards.

[Moxlotus]

I have to ask this question over why everyone's popping a boner over Jar overnight.  Why would you Tinker for Jar when you could just Tinker for Slaver?  Why would you ever weld in Jar when you could just Weld in Slaver?  To get a good use out of jar, you need the mana to actually cast the good stuff you draw--but why not just completely bone your opponent with a Slave?  Hell, or it could be a Titan to completely bone your opponent.  These things have a bigger immediate impact on the game than Jar.  I don't think it should be Jar vs. Fof.  It should be Jar vs. other big artifacts you could be Tinkering/Welding.

[TK]

im with moxlotus on this one. i have been playing a list of slaver very similar to demars burning slaver list. i tested with a few of the more recent builds with jar and ill have to say im very unimpressed with it. i guess it may be because people actually run good decks like icbm oath thay utilize null rods. just adding more big artifacts that die to null rod seems like a bad idea. jsut looking at some of the lists that have been posted there is jsut so many dead cards when null rod hits. slaver, JAR, crypt, trike, ur mana base. most of the versions ive seen with jar dont even run the tendrils kill. so y run a card like jar that enables combo like no other and then not include the combo aspect.

Please clean up your spelling.
- Bram

[AJFirst]

FINALLY! It's just not that wonderful. Flavor of the week. We know how to roll Slaver out here in the Midwest, and it seems like something that forces you to invest resources that you might not even have into not completely bending your oponent over the table seems pretty bad in my book.
-AJ

[Cr0v4x]

I have tested the deck by Ben Kowal a couple of times and have come to various of oppinions about it:

1. I really don't think that Night's Whisper ist that hot. First of all I personally prefer playing cards during my opponent's eot. You might argue that playing a sorcery speed draw spell is better than playing no draw spell at all but I definitely prefer being able to bluff some sort of response ... Furthermore Whisper nets you 1 card which really isn't that hot. I personally prefer palying cards like Fire/Ice, Merchant Scroll and Intuition over this choice but as this really isn't the topic of this thread I'll move on.

2. Memory Jar is really freaking awesome but I have had this opinion now for quite a while. If you're able to tinker it out within the first couple of turns, you can establish such a great board position that you really shouldn't fear anything anymore. The advantage over tinkering up Slaver in the first turns is that let's say you have a start like island, crypt, tinker. Tinkering up Slaver is not that hot in this situation as you won't be able to activate it until like turn 4 but this should be common sense. If you play Colossus, tinker for Jar is way more powerful as you gain control of the game this way. Tinkering for Colossus doesn't help you actually. It's just a creature that basically doesn nothing except for winning the game within 3 turns which isn't good enough in various cases. Tinkering for Memory Jar is more powerful in this situations as you get ahead in the game by establishing a proper mana base and if you even get a Goblin Welder into the game you're all set for the victory.

[Mark_Story]

With the early game tinker for jar you mention Cr0v4x, how would tinkering for titan be a different and possibly more useful play?

Memory jar increases your card advantage, and inturn increases your board presence and power by drawing more threats. Titan on the other hand can really put you in control of the board situation, by removing enemy resources and applying large amounts of pressure.  Furthemore, it puts the onus on your opponent to deal with your threat, and try to escape your control of the game. 

I don't think the discussion is limited to whether or not jar is better than fact.  But also whether jar is a better blind tinker than something like titan. As both fact and jar can be crazy-good.

[Harlequin]

With the early game tinker for jar you mention Cr0v4x, how would tinkering for titan be a different and possibly more useful play?

If its only turn 2 or 3, you opponent (if they are playing duels) is likely sitting on un-cracked fetchlands, or has not played more than 1 or 2 lands.  So titan might be the right play, but it also might play right into a fetch->bounce.. leaving you hurting your own mana as well.  If your opponent has some developed duels then you are likely correct.  Jar is good when both players are at low resources because it gives you resources, and Slaver is good when you are both at high resources (because the slaver will go farther to drill them into the dirt). 

I think the "overnight" love came from testing a good concept.  Most Slaver players dismissed Jar several months ago as not even worth considering.  Then it was tested and it T8ed, then everyone said "hrmm... thats interesting, why did it work, let me test it" and found that it in-fact does have a huge degree of synergy with the rest of the deck. 

The same thing happened with Cutpurse/Erayo.  Most players looked at those cards individually, and dismissed them as weak, or too much work for not enough glory.  It took one winning deck to prove the powerful synergy of those two cards side-by-side.  Then overnight it became the "Fish Deck to Beat."



... And people say T1 inovation is dead...

[Toad]

Most Slaver players dismissed Jar several months ago as not even worth considering.  Then it was tested and it T8ed, then everyone said "hrmm... thats interesting, why did it work, let me test it" and found that it in-fact does have a huge degree of synergy with the rest of the deck.

Actually, Memory Jar was in the original lists from Kim Kluck in November / December 2003, and the Germans have been running Memory Jar until then in most of their Slaver builds. Some of their builds switched from Mind's Eye when Null Rod was big, but not many.

[Kowal]

I have to ask this question over why everyone's popping a boner over Jar overnight.  Why would you Tinker for Jar when you could just Tinker for Slaver?  Why would you ever weld in Jar when you could just Weld in Slaver?  To get a good use out of jar, you need the mana to actually cast the good stuff you draw--but why not just completely bone your opponent with a Slave?  Hell, or it could be a Titan to completely bone your opponent.  These things have a bigger immediate impact on the game than Jar.  I don't think it should be Jar vs. Fof.  It should be Jar vs. other big artifacts you could be Tinkering/Welding.

You don't need mana to make Jar worth it.  One of the best parts about Jar is that it generates mana.

The argument "just get mindslaver!" is ridiculous.  Here's a couple reasons why:

1) You lack four mana.
2) You lack goblin welder.
3) You lack more than one artifact.
4) You need to win right now.
5) You enjoy winning the game.
6) You want to set up a big Yawgmoth's Will.
7) You want to find the Mindslaver AND generate artifacts at the same time.
8) You're digging for removal.
9) You're playing against GAT.
10) You're playing against Fish.
11) You're playing against random aggro (r/g beatz, bazaar madness, etc)
12) You're playing against a control deck light on cards in hand.
13) You're playing against Oath.
14) It's mid-game against Ichorid.
15) Your sister's hot.
16) When you draw it, it's easier to cast than Slaver.
17) You need to bleed SS free of stifles (why pay four extra mana?)
18) It's the early turns (before you have enough mana for slaver or they have enough mana to fuck themselves)
19) Your opponent has a DSC (which you can generally remove AND take control of the game with Jar, whereas a Slaver probably will do nothing and a DSC of your own won't answer the opponent's.)


Just a short list off the top of my head.

[Harlequin]

Most Slaver players dismissed Jar several months ago as not even worth considering.  Then it was tested and it T8ed, then everyone said "hrmm... thats interesting, why did it work, let me test it" and found that it in-fact does have a huge degree of synergy with the rest of the deck.

Actually, Memory Jar was in the original lists from Kim Kluck in November / December 2003, and the Germans have been running Memory Jar until then in most of their Slaver builds. Some of their builds switched from Mind's Eye when Null Rod was big, but not many.

I'm not nessisarily saying that no-one ever thought of it before.  I am saying that it was not a popular choice until it was brought into the spotlight at a major tournement.  Not every Slaver player thinks about EVERY card under the MTG Sun.  Infact most players are highly dismissive of cards that don't put up T8 results.  Does this mean Jar was "Invented" recently - not at all.  But not that it has been spotlighted, the communities Think-tanks have focused some time on evaluateing the card.  This Analysis of the card has had many players desiding to test it.  And oppinions seem to be leaning towards "Jar is Good enough to Include, and/or better than X,Y, or Z."