Welcome back Tendrils of Agony.
There is nothing more frustrating or more annoying than being beaten on the first turn. Unless you can FoW or Misdirect something, you are completely helpless as you die. Not many decks in modern magic can claim to win on the first turn. Belcher can do it, but not with any consistency. TPS can occasionally do it, but that is also rather inconsistent. Dr. Doom has the possibility, but even that is not assured.
There is one deck that wins on the first turn, even with FoW ladies and gentleman, with considerable consistency. That is the Tendrils. Originally started by team Meandeck, this deck is quite the powerhouse. As I am neither a member of Team Meandeck, nor using their exact decklist (albeit mine is very similar) I will not refer to the deck by the name "Meandeck Tendrils," rather, I will use the more simple "Four Tendrils."
This brings me to the first point about this deck. It is the premier vintage user of 4 Tendrils of Agony as a win condition. It uses no wishes, nor desires to; it wins quickly without questions asked. The deck has three goals in mind, in the following order.
1) Play nine spells
2) have 2B and 2 other mana in the pool
3) Play Tendrils of Agony
This can be relatively simple, or rather difficult, depending on how clever a player you are, and what your opening hand was.
Here is my decklist to achieve this goal.
Four TendrilsVintage Deck inspired by Team Meandeck
Lands: 3
1 Bayou
1 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
Spells: 57
4 Sleight of Hand (EDITED: Now 4 Repeal)
4 Land Grant
4 Darkwater Egg
4 Spoils of the Vault
4 Night's Whisper
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Zuran Orb
As Stephen Menendian said, this deck does not rely on a critical mass of restricted cards and draw sevens to win. It uses redundancy of effects. For each function in this deck (mana acceleration, lands, tutor, card advantage, etc.) there are roughly seven to ten cards. This assures, at least most of the time, that you have what you want in hand, when you need it. It also gives a high percentage for a first turn win.
Instead of rehashing what Mr. Menendian has already said, I will simply direct you to his articles, as well as another supplement by Justin Walters.
Justin Walters: Playing Meandeck Tendrils Stephen Menendian: The Meandeck Tendrils Primer Part 1 Stephen Menendian: The Meandeck Tendrils Primer Part 2I have always loved this deck, but have never had the guts to play it outside of a goldfish. Recently, I have begun a new slew of testing against opponents on MWS playing at the very least legitimate vintage decks (oath, Stax, slaver, TPS, Gifts, etc.) I have had extremely favorable results against all decks. Three of the numerous games I have had are shown below.
(The numbers will denote my storm count)
Game 1: Stax
Opening Hand: Sapphire, Petal, Dark Ritual X2, Jet, Recall, Zuran Orb
1) Mox Sapphire
2) Play Ancestral Recall, draw Nights Whisper X2, Darkwater Egg
3) Mox Jet
4) Dark Ritual (BBB)
5) Night's Whisper (B). Draw Cabal Ritual, Brainstorm
6) Dark Ritual (BBB)
7) Lotus Petal, Sacrifice (UBBB)
8) Brainstorm. Draw Spoils, Crypt, Yawg Will. On top: Orb, Whisper (BBB)
9) Mana Crypt (CCBBB)
10) Darkwater Egg (CBBB)
11) Sac Egg, draw Whisper. (UBBB) Play Cabal Ritual (UBBBBBB)
12) Spoils for Tendrils, lose 14 life (UBBBBB)
13) Play Tendrils for 26 (UB)
Game 2: OathOpening Hand: Delta, D-Ritual x2, Petal, Spoils, Egg, Sphere
1) Petal
2) Sac Petal, Play D-Ritual.
Opponent FoW's.
3) Play Delta (FoW added to storm count), Get Bayou
4) Play Dark Ritual (BBB)
5) Chromatic Sphere (BB)
6) Sacrifice Sphere (UB), Draw Sol Ring, Play Sol Ring and tap (CCB)
7) Darkwater Egg, sacrifice (BU), draw Yawgmoth's Will
8) Spoils for Sleight of Hand (U), lose 7 life.
9) Sleight, top two are Lotus and Sapphire. take Lotus
10) Lotus, sac. (BBB)
11) Play Yawgmoth's Will.
12) Lotus comes back (BBB)
14) Ritual x2 comes back (BBBBBBB)
15) Spoils for Tendrils, lose 5 life.
16) Tendrils for 32.
Game 3: TPSOpening Hand: Grant, Pearl, Jet, Spoils, C-Ritual, Sleight, Vamp Tutor
1) Land Grant for Tropical Island, Play it (U)
2) Sleight of Hand, top two are Consultation, Tendrils. Take Consultation.
3) Mox Pearl (W)
4) Mox Jet (BW)
5) Cabal Ritual (BBB)
6) Vampiric Tutor for Black Lotus (BB)
7) Spoils for Black Lotus (B)
8) Play Lotus, sac (BBBB)
9) Consultation for Yawgmoth's Will (BBB). 24 removed.
10) Cast Will.
11) Play Lotus (BBB)
12) Consult for Lion's Eye Diamond (BB)
13) Play Diamond, sac (BBBBB)
14) Spoils for Tendrils, lose 2 life.
15) Tendrils for 30.
despite the unfortunate appearance of a FoW in Game 2, I still won. This deck, despite what some may consider slight inconsistency and difficulty in play, is quite powerful and rewarding. I urge all of you to consider this deck in the modern Vintage meta, and am currently surprised it is so underplayed.
What do you guys think of the Four Tendrils/Meandeck Tendrils idea?
What are its chief weaknesses?
What would you consider for a sideboard?
For the board, I am currently using
4 Unmask
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Pithing Needle
3 Spinning Darkness
These are tentative choices that fulfill a few important roles, but perhaps there are better choices.
Your thoughts on this list and archetype are greatly appreciated. This is a powerful deck and I believe it has tremendous potential in Vintage.
-DL
EDIT: This thread originally posted in the SCG Forums for Vintage. Since that time, a grievous error was spotted in the deck.
-4 Sleight of Hand
+4 Repeal
This further modernizes the decklist.
