Mask Control, Is this as good as it gets?

[Tetre]

Preface:

I've been messing around with various versions of Mask, on and off for about a year now.

I've tried a 3 color version (Red/Blue/Black), but the manabase always seemed to be a little bit too unstable, regards of the metagame it was tried in.

After a less than dismal performance at day 1 of the Rochester event. Mike and I (MGouthro on TMD), sat in our hotel room and decided to build something fun to play on day 2.

Since I knew that 3 color wasn't going to cut it, I decided to try a more controlling version of mask, trying to abuse Bob for card draw. Also, from day 1, I also knew that the board had to be built to challenge and put a clock on the CS decks, as well as the combo decks (notwithstanding Grimlong).

Here's what was built for day 2: (22nd place on day 2 of SCG Rochester)

Maindeck:

Artifacts
1 Black Lotus
4 Illusionary Mask
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

Artifact Creatures
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought

Creatures
4 Dark Confidant

Instants
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force Of Will
2 Impulse
1 Lim-dul's Vault
4 Mana Leak
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sorceries
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Duress
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Basic Lands
3 Island
2 Swamp

Lands
2 Flooded Strand
1 Library Of Alexandria
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
3 Underground Sea

Legendary Lands
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Pithing Needle
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Phyrexian Negator
1 Chain Of Vapor
1 Darkblast
1 Rebuild
1 Duress


What I liked about the deck is the ability to drop mask-naught go, and just smash face
What I don't like about the deck is the collateral damage from the artifact hate in the environment.

So by analyzing the board, you can see that for those decks which pack massive artifact hate and null rods, we side out the masks and naughts for crypts and negators (which can be a house against CS, gifts, etc). 

Question to the masses:  At first glance, do you think that this is as good as this deck can become?  I do know that Steve mentioned adding an additional tutor (Grim or Seal, I can't remember off the top of my head).

Was there something obvious missed in the development of the deck?
Any thoughts or ideas for further development and testing would be appreciated.

Glenn
P.s. It was good to see many of the U.S. guys, and hook up with the Toronto and Montreal crew...cya at Gencon

[UR]

I have been toying around with the deck for some time now and as fas as I'm concerned there are three versions to consider;

1) The Confidant version you presented above (probably the most stable one).
2) A Mono-U version that also plays Tinker/Colossus, some more counters (Drain, MisD, etc.) and Trinket Mage for tutoring (Sensei's Divining Top, Engineered Explosives, Lotus, Dreadnought, etc.).
3) A Mono-B version that focusses more on disruption the opponent's hand. I'm trying it with Unmask and Chains of Mephistopheles maindecked, although I'm not sure about the Unmask.

There is something to be said for each of the decks and I think it comes down to whether or not you feel comfortable playing it and what sort of meta you are expecting. I've had people tell me that my mono-U version sucked and that they haven't been able to win a game with it, while I went 9-0 facing the same decks.

[Chamelet]

The first thing is: Add 1 Sensei's Divining Top. It is great with Confidant.
I would take 1 Mana Leak out and add a Misdirection.
Also try to find a slot for Imperial Seal.
The main problem is Nulll Rod. You simply can't win over a Null Rod. That's something unacceptable. You have a sole Echoing Truth against that. I don't have a sollution right now. I'll test the deck and answer again later.
Also, your sideboard isn't helping against Rod. I would take the negators out for 2 Cabal Therapies and Tinker - Colossus. take the Crypts out for 3 cremate + 1 wasteland. And take the duress out for another Wasteland.

EDIT: Mana Crypt is obvious. Out with 1 off-color moxen.

[Phele]

I really love it, that you brought up this topic, as I saw your build while looking through the SCP9 decklists, which reminded me heavily of a build I've won a Library of Alexandria with a couple of months ago. You can find it here:

http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=396

The list looked this way:

“Dark Illusions”

4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Leak
3 Impulse
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rushing River

4 Dark Confidant
4 Duress
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

4 Polluted Delta
4 Islands
3 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Flooded Strand
1 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Annul
2 Arcane Laboratory
2 Old Man of the Sea
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
1 Echoing Truth
1 Coffin Purge
1 Darkblast
2 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod’s Crypt

Meanwhile I exchanged one Duress with Imperial Seal and Mystical with an extra EE (I don't play Will so Mystical isn't really necessary). And thats it. I didn't find out any further optimizations so far and would really apreaciate ideas to get the deck even better as it already is.

The biggest difference to your version is obviously the Manabase/Disruptionbase as I prefered more Strip effects over Sol Ring, Mana Vault (which I really dislike) and Academy. You probably played them for more turn one Mask-Noughts, but I think as this deck - as you mentioned in your topic as well - is more aggro controlish and pretty much likes to disrupt, draw cards by Confidant and eventually playing a Mask and a Nought. Also there are no other outlets for the mana boost than the combo, so you don't need it that much. What I liked the most about this deck ist that it functions without any problem with just two Mana on table. Instead of just laying down more useless mana, I prefered to use the Wasteland as possible aditional disruption which as well cooperate nice with Mana Leak.

I totally not sold on the sideboard strategy. As you can see I played Kire/Old Man against fishy style decks with target removal. Anulls are a nice addition against Oath and Workshops as well. I like your Idea of playing Negators against Null Rod decks and will try it out. Arcane Labs are necessary in our comboish german meta and are also quite good against Gifts as well. And resolved Arcane Lab can be golden when you have a Confidant or a Mask out.

The biggest problems for the deck - as you mentioned - are Null Rod and the massive artifact hate. I would like to add Welder and Pithing Needle against whic EE works pretty well. Null Rod is just bad and I didn't come further than adding additional Bounce but will try out the Negator Plan. Artifacte hate is something I guess you just have to live with and you have to counter. If your expecting RnR, wait with flipping the Nought until you see a Duress/FoW/Mana Leak. Rebuild and Hurkyl don't hit you as hard as Rushing River hits Oath, as you can easily play out the combo again.

Things to discuss:

- How can the artifact-hate-vulnerability be decreased?
- What other uses for Dreadnought could be thinkable, as its the most dead card in your hand.  I just came to Thirst for Knowledge so far, which weakens your Welder-Matchup. Shapeshifter is just no option.
- What additional colors could bring some benefit. I tried out Red with Mox Monkeys maindeck and Bloodmoons and Red Blasts in the side, which worked pretty fine leading to another Top8 entry but weakened the manabase
- Sideboard-Options: Chalice of the Void is another card to think about. What else could be added?

I want finish with the statement that this deck is a really strong contender. Compare it with GWS stylish Oath decks and you see how strong it is. Both play two-card-creature-combos with some dead parts and almost same speed (Oath creatures have haste, Nought can come into play the turn you play mask), both play almost the same disruption base, both function with a minimum of mana.

Oath hast less vulnerable creatures and combo parts, the Mask Combo is played without any colored mana and doesnt care about bounce at all. Forbidden Orchard is a more usefull combo part than Mask and Nought, but you can use Mask for Confidants as well and you have the stronger mana base. And UB-Mask can play Confidant which fits perfectly in this deck, so you have a better draw engine than Oath. Just some thoughts which shows that it could be really worth to improve this deck.

Edit: I tried out Sensei and don't think that it's needed. You don't have to fear life loss by confidant as your average mana cost is something like 1,2.. You are vulnerable enought to Null Rod, so why add further pieces that die to it.

Force of Will is the most horrible thing to flip with Bob, so why add another with Misdirection which doesnt work much better than Leak.

[cssamerican]

This is a serious question to everyone playing Mask/Dreadnought combo in a control style deck like mono-u or the one presented here in this thread. Why would you play the Mask/Dreadnought combo as your kill when there are other kills that take up far fewer slots and don’t have the inherent weaknesses versus Goblin Welder and Null Rod? It is possible I am over looking something, but I just can’t see how cramming this combo into a control deck is the best course of action. Please enlighten me.

Mask/Dreadnought in a mono-black deck is weak because you have no way of dealing with Null Rod. It might be possible to splash for bounce or artifact destruction. However, it is likely that you will need your tutor power to assemble the combo rather than find solutions. In my experience this creates a situation where your tutors are over taxed and you really can never depend on assembling the combo while fighting off the hate.

I am wondering whatever happened to the Vengeur Masqué variants? They are able to play around various forms of hate, and they can catch many people off guard because of their lack of knowledge of the combat stack. The only real weakness they have is versus fast combo decks, but I am sure you could metagame for that or just avoid playing this combo in an enviroment in which those decks ar rampant.

[Phele]

I'm not an expert for Vengeur Mask, but as far as I see it - and as you mentioned as well - it has a horrible matchup with Combo- und fast Control-Combo (Gifts). Here, everyone is playing combo in the moment, so a full set of FoW with enought blue cards, Duress and Wastelands are a better choice. Another thing I don't like about Vengeur is that it is much more mana intensive than UB Mask so you have to rely on weak cards like BoP, Quirion Ranger and the like and play a multicolor manabase.  And you have to play even more creatures that are rather useless without other combo parts like Phage and Squee with Survival and Shapeshifter with Dreadnought. In UB Mask you "only" play 8 possible dead cards (Masks and Noughts) with a lot of tutor power to bring them together. If the Nought or the Mask gets destroyed or countered: Who cares, the next one is coming. Meanwhile, you play a lot of usefull cards like a bunch of counters and Confidants which are a win condition on its own and offer the deck a perfect draw engine.

You shouldn't see the deck as a control deck: Its aggro control, which relies on disruption and a steady stream of creature threats. You could play Negator instead of Mask-Nought like EBA does, but the battleship is just quicker and much better in the aggro matchup and works fine with a double color manabase, whereas EBA needs White. In a real control deck you would probably play less win conditions like Tinker Colossus as in Thugs TT Confidant Control. But again: this is an aggro control deck, another reason why the strip effects are so important, and you should compare it much more with Oath than with pure control decks.

[Purple Hat]

uh....where did this idea that it's ok to only be playing 8 dead cards come from.....wait....let me go back....WHERE DID THE IDEA THAT IT WAS OK TO BE PLAYING ANY DEAD CARDS COME FROM?

[Tetre]

@ Phele :  I'm going to take a look at your sideboard to see how it interacts with my metagame (I like the Labs). Also, when I ran red, it could be a house, since I also ran fling... I will also try the Imperial Seal to see if that assists in the clock or at least in assembling the pieces. Mystical is another way to grab a Time Walk or Ancestral - the only way I could beat the dragon deck piloted by Noah was with a Time Walk ...he had me dead to rights...and the end step Mystical saved the day...the spot for Mystical is almost cast in stone. As you mention: Chalice is worth investigation, if only to slow the opponent down for a turn or 2, and it might be necessary to splash red for R&R (a one time use), or the like.

@Phele:  Have you tried Lim-Dul's Vault...It has served me quite well in getting the stack together for a "lethal turn"..just remember to board it out against Slaver...bad things can happen *Jeremy...I coulda swore I boarded it out.

@cssamerican: You are correct that it takes more main space to assemble the pieces...I just got tired of Gifts and Slaver and wanted to try something new.  4-2-1 at Rochester Day 2 just made me think...was something missed that could make the deck more competitive.  Your point is well taken...but if no one tries anything new..then it gets stale very quickly.

@Chamelet: Diving top as a 1 of is not as good as you might think...I've never run into the case where a Bob'd FoW was game ending, and I'd rather have something more pro-active than a top.

@PurpleHat: I assume that you're answer is that this deck is not viable, I thank you for the input. By the way, around here some people actually counter Bob since they don't like me getting more free cards.  Masks aren't really dead are they?

[Phele]

What is a dead card anyway? Take Welder for example: Some people call it the best creature in vintage but sometimes it is exactly that - pretty dead. More constructive comments than purples would be really nice, thank you!

[Illissius]

Fabricate fetches both your combo pieces. Is it too slow?

[Purple Hat]

it was more of a response to:

In UB Mask you "only" play 8 possible dead cards (Masks and Noughts)

I think the deck is basically a worse version of other confidant control decks, wouldn't using less slots on a clunky kill and playing something like severence-belcher, or tendrils instead be a better idea?  I mention these because unlike DSC it doesn't randomly just kill you sometimes with confidant.

I realize that the masks have some incidental uses, avoiding counters and so forth, but the problem that masknought has always faced is that it plays 8 cards main that don't do anything until it's ready to win the game while it's playing against decks that only devote 1-2 slots to this.

What is a dead card anyway? Take Welder for example: Some people call it the best creature in vintage but sometimes it is exactly that - pretty dead. More constructive comments than purples would be really nice, thank you!

comparing masks and more importantly dreadnoughts to welders is uh...useful?  yeah...useful, that's the word.  Welder makes every card in your deck better when you have it in play or you built your deck wrong.  Mask makes uh...dreadnought playable, dreadnought makes well....dreadnought makes you sac your board if your opponent has a welder....  I guess I just wonder why you'd play something complicated and easily disruptable when you could be spending your time actually winning the game.

why is this a better aggro control deck than say SS?  it's more disruptable and spends less slots on accomplishing useful things because it has to devote 8 slots to a highly conditional win condition.  wouldn't you be better off playing like Juggernaut or negator or uh...anything at all in 4 of those slots and leaving the other 4 open for draw/tutors/metagame slots/more protection/basically anything useful?

[Anusien]

What about Artificer's Intuition?  Older builds used to run it, and it would let you get Top, EE, Pithing Needle, Dreadnought, Chalice.

[Phele]

it was more of a response to:

I think the deck is basically a worse version of other confidant control decks, wouldn't using less slots on a clunky kill and playing something like severence-belcher, or tendrils instead be a better idea?

As said before, this deck is not a control deck. Severence-belcher or tendrils would be just bad in this deck, as it would push to play dark rituals, more artifact mana, acadamy, drains whatever. But in this deck you don't need that, you just play your win condition with only two mana. You play everything with two mana, as you get just a bit life loss by Confidant. One colored and one an off color mox or a wasteland let me play search, draw, counter, destroy lands and win, thats a big advantage over playing something clunky like severence-belcher. 

I realize that the masks have some incidental uses, avoiding counters and so forth, but the problem that masknought has always faced is that it plays 8 cards main that don't do anything until it's ready to win the game while it's playing against decks that only devote 1-2 slots to this.

Excuse me, but what else do I play in Oath: Crappy Razias and Oathes that just don't do anything without the other combo part. That's the disadvantage you have to accept when you play a quick kill like that.

What is a dead card anyway? Take Welder for example: Some people call it the best creature in vintage but sometimes it is exactly that - pretty dead. More constructive comments than purples would be really nice, thank you!

comparing masks and more importantly dreadnoughts to welders is uh...useful?  yeah...useful, that's the word.  Welder makes every card in your deck better when you have it in play or you built your deck wrong.  Mask makes uh...dreadnought playable, dreadnought makes well....dreadnought makes you sac your board if your opponent has a welder....  I guess I just wonder why you'd play something complicated and easily disruptable when you could be spending your time actually winning the game.

That was just an overstressed example to set a questionmark behind the concept of a dead card. I don't need any advice, how good welder is. "Spending your time actually winning the game" is just a phrase that don't leed to anything.

why is this a better aggro control deck than say SS?  it's more disruptable and spends less slots on accomplishing useful things because it has to devote 8 slots to a highly conditional win condition.  wouldn't you be better off playing like Juggernaut or negator or uh...anything at all in 4 of those slots and leaving the other 4 open for draw/tutors/metagame slots/more protection/basically anything useful?

Again and again: Why should I compare this deck with SS, as it is much closer to Oath? SS is a fishy deck that wins small by much disruption and little beats. This deck wins by less but still a lot disruption and big beats. SS hits for two, UB Mask hits for twelve. If you want to hit big you have to devote slots to it.

Purple: The only thing I can read out of you lines, is that you had a bad feeling about this deck and the thread from the beginning so you just concentrate on harsh criticism, generalizing comments and attempts to start a flame war. This is the improvement forum! So don't you have anything to add that leads to improvement other than "Forget about the deck! Play something like Control Slave that actually wins games" ? If not: Please, please stop posting in this thread and follow other discussions that you like and fit your level better. Thanks!

@Phele:  Have you tried Lim-Dul's Vault...It has served me quite well in getting the stack together for a "lethal turn"..just remember to board it out against Slaver...bad things can happen *Jeremy...I coulda swore I boarded it out.

I've tried out Lim Dul's Vault and pretty liked it. But compared to all the other card disadvantage tutors I'm already running I didn't like that it costs two mana, two colored mana. But for sure, this card is an option as it perfectly interacts with Confidant and the combo.

What about Artificer's Intuition?  Older builds used to run it, and it would let you get Top, EE, Pithing Needle, Dreadnought, Chalice.

AI is indeed something I have to test. I just have the feeling hat it might better fit in more controlish builds as it is somehove conditional and slow and leaves you even more vulnerable to Welders. But AI is really a great card I always wanted to build a good deck around. I love this toolbox approach that can even handle Welder.

Trinket Mage could be another option, that also beats and gives you the option of play cabal therapies instead of Duress. But I'm not sure about it as it is pretty slow.

[policehq]

I used to play Artificer's Intuition but found it too slow and detrimental to a mana-base. You have to play Seat of the Synod (Gorilla Shaman, Null Rod), pay UU1 instead of U2 (Trinket Mage), or wait an additional turn. It is, however, great at finding cards with Sensei's Divining Top, but often I found while I was dicking around with that combo, I was in a winning position anyway. Its other advantages are setting up a Yawgmoth's Will and not activating Oath of Druids.

I also don't personally like using toolboxes in the deck. Tormod's Crypt and Engineered Explosives are slots better devoted to dealing with Null Rod instead of being additional dead cards against it. Pithing Needle and Chalice of the Void, played as 1-of's, are too late on turns 2-3 using Artificer's Intuition to fetch them.

If you're worried about Goblin Welder, play Planar Void in the sideboard. In addition, Planar Void works against Dragon (at least to slow them down) and Oath if you also play Diabolic Edicts.

I don't think Negators are very good in Null Rod match-ups, which include U/R Fish (Grim Lavamancer, Lava Dart, Fire/Ice), Uba Stax (Barbarian Ring), Oath (will out-race you), U/W Fish (better draw-engine, Meddling Mages, Swords to Plowshares). I play 1 Echoing Truth, 1 Rushing River, and 1 Burning Wish to play against hate game 1, and have Shattering Spree, Echoing Ruin, and Hurkyl's Recall in the sideboard.

Have you tested Kira, Great Glass Spinner? It tests well for Negator and Dreadnought, though I only use her (or Hanna's Custody) with Dreadnought because the transformational idea, instead of sideboarding in cards to deal with the hate, is unappealing to me.

The idea of any of the cards being dead is too cliche and not unpacked well enough anymore. A card devoted to a combo piece in your deck is not dead. An opening hand with Phyrexian Dreadnought but no Illusionary Mask does not make the former a dead card; you're one step closer to assembling your combo, very much in the same way a Forbidden Orchard without an Oath is or Mind's Desire or Tendrils of Agony in an opening storm hand.

Oath of Druids has 7 cards necessary to the build; MaskNought only has one more. The kill turn after assembling the combo is the same with Angels and one turn faster with Simic Sky Swallowers.

I've won a Timetwister and 4 FBB Taigas with MaskNought since Trinket Mage/Artificer's Intuition came out, and really there haven't been new developments that would indicate the deck can't perform as well. That is, any new hate card against it is no more annoying than Rack and Ruin, Rushing River, Null Rod, etc.

Since I've been testing MaskNought a long time, I can't say that your deck is really optimal (I can't justify Mystical Tutor or Lim-Dul's Vault and the lack of the 2 extra Duress - this isn't Control Slaver where it's just handy; you HAVE to disrupt their hand in this combo deck). Also things like Daze, Spell Snare, Annul, Remand, and Memory Lapse work a lot better than Mana Leak. The former three are more appealing because the deck tends to tap out a lot, and Remand/Memory Lapse acting as Time Walks are neat tricks (that I don't use).

-hq

[UR]

This is a serious question to everyone playing Mask/Dreadnought combo in a control style deck like mono-u or the one presented here in this thread. Why would you play the Mask/Dreadnought combo as your kill when there are other kills that take up far fewer slots and don’t have the inherent weaknesses versus Goblin Welder and Null Rod? It is possible I am over looking something, but I just can’t see how cramming this combo into a control deck is the best course of action. Please enlighten me.

Because it is a two card combo that is ridiculously easy to pull off. A Dreadnought can come down on the first turn and win... other mono-u win conditions can't do that (apart from Tinker + Colossus). It makes the deck a bit unpredictable and well capable of racing combo (except maybe a deck like GrimLong... but around here nobody plays that anyway).

Phyrexian Dreadnought as a dead card is only relative. Yes, sometimes it sits in your hand and you wish it was something else. But I run four Thirst for Knowledge (I couldn't care less about Welders... they are becoming increasingly rare it would seem) so it is never absolutely dead.

Could a Psychatog accomplish much the same thing in a deck like this? Yes, I think so. But not as fast and as easy (Psychatog rarely comes down on turn one and even if it does it is unlikely to kill you by turn three).

Have you tested Kira, Great Glass Spinner? It tests well for Negator and Dreadnought, though I only use her (or Hanna's Custody) with Dreadnought because the transformational idea, instead of sideboarding in cards to deal with the hate, is unappealing to me.

I tested it based on PoliceHQ's old thread and it is the bomb. I included it against welders, but it stops way more than that (bounce, heretic, etc. etc.) and at worst it kills a fish-creature (but against fish this is actually good) or pitches to FoW.

[policehq]

When you are in a winning position, Kira is a perfect soft-lock on the opponent. She acts basically like a flipped Erayo.

Note that this isn't overkill though, because winning positions can often be altered by bounce, artifact/creature destruction, etc.

Just that when you're in the standings to win based on clocks (against Oath, Fish, X Aggro), Kira is great. I only include 1 sideboard now because of room and how few the circumstances are that she is needed on the board.

-hq

[Harlequin]

I don't really like Kira as much as Willbender, the problem being of course he is one time use and basically unplayable befor you have Mask down.

I would really consider running repeal. It answers Null Rod and Meddling mage at the same cost as Rushing River.  It answers welder for 2 mana.  It answers Chalice for 2 for 1 mana, and it can reneg your dreadnaught for 2 mana (like inresponse to a destruction spell you can repeal him and replay him for a total of 3 mana if you still have mask in play).  It seams like a better fit than Rushing River or E-Truth.  mainly because, if you can fit it, you can run multiple repeals guilt free.

[Phele]

And dont underestimate the effectiveness of Kira and Old Man as a team against any form of Wheenie/Fish decks. I played this team against UW and UR Fish twice in tournament and they just devasted them. Both concentrated on dealing with Mask Nought with Null Rods, Rack and Ruins and Stormscape Apprentice and couldn't handle the blue team

@ policehq: I have tested Daze in the deck when I added red and with it one Fire/Ice and Merrchant Scrolls instead of the Impulses. The results weren't overwhelming. Same for Remand: I prefer a harder counter than both, what Mana Leak offers, as I want to handle threats like Welder, Null Rod and RnR totally and not with the risk of being replayed or them having enough mana for Daze. With the Impulses I don't tap out that often. More frequently I play two mana first turn and wait with an Impulse and a Mana Leak sitting in my hand. Anull is really nice, as I'm playing it too in my sideboard. But for a maindeck addition I found it too conditional. Mana Leak has done its job great so far as it interacts smoothly with Wastelands and EE. I also do prefer Needles against Slaver and Dragon, as both – Welder and Necromany – can play around Planar Void.

But what is really true: You need a lot of disruption to let this deck work. I've never gone under eleven Counters and Duresses, but do think that twelve is the best. What do you think is the right number or configuration. I could imagine somehting like 4 Fow, 3 Leak, 3 Duress, 2 Daze/Remand.

@ Harlequin: Willbender is nice a suprise solution, but when the other players know what is coming, it loses much of its effectivity and Kira becomes the much more flexible solution against so much (It also mostly prevents your Bobs from being darkblasted). I do like Repeal a lot, as it can handle a lot, has a mana cost of one (and so fitting perfectly to the general average cost) and cantrips. But: it has much less effectivity against Oath as it can bounce Oath but not the critters, which is the much better move against Oath, especially with Rushing River sending both of them back to their hand. Same for Fish, Rushing River can bounce Meddling Mage AND Null Rod. For this versatility I prefered Rushing River over all other bouncers so far. Or is the cantrip of Repeal and the lower casting cost of Echoing Truth so much better. What do you think?

Also what do you think about EE? Sure it falls to Null Rod as well, but for the rest, I loved this card for its flexibility. I wiped out critters from Fish boards, cleaned the Control Slaver board from Moxen and Welders and gave the way free against Gifts Needles. Don't you agree that this card has its uses, or should I add more bounce instead? I especially liked its function as a somewhat different Mox Monkey. The Monkey, by the way, was the best addition of including Red: It so damn fits the strategy of the deck, it's not funny. But the deck works just better with only two colors, so the monkeys stay EEs so far.

[UR]

Also what do you think about EE? Sure it falls to Null Rod as well, but for the rest, I loved this card for its flexibility. I wiped out critters from Fish boards, cleaned the Control Slaver board from Moxen and Welders and gave the way free against Gifts Needles. Don't you agree that this card has its uses, or should I add more bounce instead? I especially liked its function as a somewhat different Mox Monkey. The Monkey, by the way, was the best addition of including Red: It so damn fits the strategy of the deck, it's not funny. But the deck works just better with only two colors, so the monkeys stay EEs so far.

EE was one of my maindeck answers when I ran Artificer's Intuition + Sensei's Divining Top. It solves a lot of problems for you but more often than not you just pitch it to Thirst for Knowledge (or the Artificer's Intuition) to search for something better. Although it doesn't solve the Null Rod problem, it nicely solves CotV no matter how many counters are on the thing (set at 2 it can be a real pain in the arse). Meddling Mage is only a problem if it comes down early naming Illusionary Mask... beyond that, the deck really isn't hurt by him so you won't have to destroy him as often (Fish runs much better answers to this deck in the form of Null Rod). On occasion it can also destroy Oath of Druids.

But I guess it really depends on what you want to use it for. Removing creatures usually isn't a priority because 12/12 guys just own the combat phase.

[Smmenen]

i posted a diferent mask variant 6 months ago with Dark Confidant:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11509.html

[UR]

Tell me that Shred Memory should have been Muddle the Mixture...

[policehq]

My counter/disruption configuration is 4 Duress 4 Force of Will 2 Muddle the Mixture 2 Memory Lapse. I didn't like Daze a whole lot either, but I liked it a lot more than Mana Leak.

Red is absolutely needed for the deck. Null Rod absolutely has to go to the graveyard. If you bounce it back to their hand, and they answer back with a bounce to Dreadnought and re-play it, you're in trouble. Burning Wish is also a sort of panacea for whatever hate your opponent can have.

I play 2 Repeal, 1 Rushing River. Repeal is brilliant as a cantrip and as an answer to Chalice @ 2. Still, game 1, you have to have an answer to Oath.

I dropped Pithing Needle, Tormod's Crypt, Engineered Explosives, etc. etc. a long time ago. Game 1 I just want to win, and I don't want to use my Trinket Mages to find answers when tutors could find better answers. None of the cards are even in my sideboard anymore since I run Planar Void (Dragon can play around it, but it will stall the game long enough for you to get the upper hand by cutting off Deep Analysis/Squee/etc.) and Darkblast (since Pithing Needle can be destroyed, bounced, or simply countered).

RE: Shred Memory VS. Muddle the Mixture
When you're running Dark Ritual, Shred Memory is ABSOLUTELY the way to go.

RE: Thirst for Knowledge
Maindeck, that's just asking for problems against Goblin Welder, just like Artificer's Intuition.

-hq

[Phele]

This reminds me of a Mask Variant Mourad Krid – a Mask Pioneer in Denmark - played to a runner up finish in March. The decklist seems similar so Mourad probably got inspired by the list.

http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=384

Its an interesting approach exchanging the Counters against Chalices and even more search for Mask. Everybody can choose for themselves what they like the more. I prefer the counter heavier variant as it seems to have the better midgame and has a few less cards just dedicated to Mask (Shred Memory is pretty nice but really a metagame call).

But the concept of both lists is pretty similar: Disrupt as much as you can and draw a bunch of cards until you lay down the Nought. What is excellent described in this article, which I read the first time as I'm no premium member, is how gordious Confidant interact with the whole Mask idea and gives this deck such a nice draw engine. It's also so true, that the deck has such an easy time finding every card of the list as quick as it wants. Btw, I had this scenario happen a few times during tournament, that my Dreadnought blocked Colossus and finally overwhelmed the opponent after a second one joined.

I've played Consultation as well but stood back from it, because I still played too many One-Ofs. It could be a variant to exchange Rushing River and EEs with three Repeals and add Consultation. Shred Memory I would play at max as an sideboard option.

Edit: Policeqh, why don't you post your recent list, that we can compare them? This is the UBr list I finished I also top8ed with but wasn't that satisfied with.

1 Black Lotus
4 Illusionary Mask
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought

4 Dark Confidant
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
2 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Leak
2 Merchant Scroll
1 Rushing River
1 Time Walk
1 Fire/Ice
2 Gorilla Shaman

1 Flooded Strand
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland

3 Annul
2 Arcane Laboratory
2 Blood Moon
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
2 Old Man of the Sea
2 Pithing Needle
2 Red Elemental Blast

[policehq]

mana:
1 island
4 polluted delta
1 swamp
1 tolarian academy
3 underground sea
2 volcanic island
1 black lotus
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 mox emerald
1 mox jet
1 mox pearl
1 mox sapphire
1 sol ring

beats:
1 darksteel colossus
1 tinker
4 phyrexian dreadnought
4 illusionary mask

search/broken/draw:
1 ancestral recall
4 brainstorm
1 demonic tutor
1 time walk
4 trinket mage
1 vampiric tutor
1 yawgmoth's will

answer:
1 burning wish
4 duress
4 force of will
2 memory lapse
2 muddle the mixture
2 repeal
1 rushing river

sideboard:
2 arcane laboratory
1 darkblast
3 diabolic edict
1 echoing ruin
1 hurkyl's recall
1 kira, great glass-spinner
2 massacre
3 planar void
1 shattering spree

I like Dark Confidant, but I prefer to find the card that I need instead of a card, with the chance of it being one that I need, especially at the expense of up to 11 life.

I like Gorilla Shaman, too, but in his place I have Burning Wish and some red in the side in addition to my bounce spells.

-hq

[mgouthro]

i posted a diferent mask variant 6 months ago with Dark Confidant:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11509.html

Yeah, we got a good chuckle out of that one. We had been working on a Mask list for a little while before that came out. I did like the idea of the Shred Memory and for a while, I ran it in the sideboard as a Cunning Wish target. It did manage to hamstring a Yawgmoth's Will here and there, but never really was useful versus Welders.

The problem with the list in the article is that you are trying to race to get the combo before anything bad can happen. Furthermore, you have almost no say if anything of yours will resolve. Also, if your opponent lands anything good, you have a single Echoing Truth to handle it. In these days of very fast decks, it's just not enough which is why we started looking at a more control based list. Also, our metagame can't really be predicted so a lot of card choices are just not that good here. Hence the control list which has more game overall.