{deck} Casual Academy

[Byron]

I was wondering if I could possibly improve upon the classic Tolarian Academy build w/out going over $50 on a single card. For those who don't know, Academy decks basically make tons of mana and draws tons of cards. Here's my list:

lands:

4 tolarian academy (the name of the deck)
4 city of brass (colored mana)
4 forbidden orchard (odds are you opponent won't live long enough to kill you with 1/1s)
3 gemstone mine (not as good as the other colored mana producers)

artifacts:
4 lotus petal (can't afford black lotus, lol)
4 mox diamond (same for moxes)
4 sol ring (better than mana vault w/out voltaic key)
4 mana crypt (better than sol ring)
2 candelabra of tawnos (combo's w/academy and makes infinite mana w/capsize)
4 defense grid (for counters)

enchantments:
2 mind over matter (untap academy and other mana producers, at first had only one but sometimes I had to discard it early due to windfall or wheel of fortune, hence 2 copies)

sorceries:
4 wheel of fortune (best card drawing in the deck)
4 windfall (second best card draw next to wheel, can be massive after a braingeyser)
4 braingeyser (x-spell mana dump, draws tons of cards, finishes the opponent)
4 demonic tutor (fetches anything (usually academy or mind over matter)
4 time spiral (no, nothing from the new set LOL, it's basically a poor man's timetwister only it untaps up to 6 lands, like academy and such)

instants:
1 capsize (mostly just to make infinite mana when academy and 9 or more artifacts are in play)

[Harlequin]

Unless your setting out to win a Casual tournement... I don't think anyone in the casual world is going to have a ton of fun playing against this. 

Your running 20 cards banned in Legacy
and 38 copies (10 cards) that are restricted in T1

If breaking normal deck construction rules is the only thing that keeps this casual, where are your 4 black lotus?

[Byron]

Unless your setting out to win a Casual tournement... I don't think anyone in the casual world is going to have a ton of fun playing against this. 

Your running 20 cards banned in Legacy
and 38 copies (10 cards) that are restricted in T1

If breaking normal deck construction rules is the only thing that keeps this casual, where are your 4 black lotus?

This deck is basically my "Enforcer" deck to punish those who don't want to play by normal magic rules (restricted/banned lists, minimum of under 60 cards, etc. This could also be my "last resort" deck when all else fails. See i'm a retired tournament player and pretty much the best player in my circles of friends. Therefore I have to win to uphold my reputation (sort of like a how a retired boxer or martial artist has to be able to beat randoms who challenge him to save face.)

As far as Legacy and Vintage goes, this is "casual," so those rules don't apply, now do they?

And if you carefully read my decklist (check the lotus petal) you'd see that I don't want to buy 4 black lotus LOL

[Harlequin]

This deck is basically my "Enforcer" deck to punish those who don't want to play by normal magic rules (restricted/banned lists, minimum of under 60 cards, etc.

wow...  I'm not sure how you define "casual" but im fairly sure that "punishment" shouldn't be anwhere in that that definition. 

I have a casual deck with 2 frantic searches in it.  Sure that's illegal in Vintage and in Legacy, but it its along side Experiment Kraj, so ... it basically needs all the help it can get (infact even with the uber brokenness of frantic search along side *gasp* Simic Growth Chambers It tends to loose ALOT).  Do I deserve to be punished??  it seems like your deck is more for a Lawless format rather than a casual one.

[parallax]

This deck is basically my "Enforcer" deck to punish those who don't want to play by normal magic rules (restricted/banned lists, minimum of under 60 cards, etc.

wow...  I'm not sure how you define "casual" but im fairly sure that "punishment" shouldn't be anwhere in that that definition. 

I have a casual deck with 2 frantic searches in it.  Sure that's illegal in Vintage and in Legacy, but it its along side Experiment Kraj, so ... it basically needs all the help it can get (infact even with the uber brokenness of frantic search along side *gasp* Simic Growth Chambers It tends to loose ALOT).  Do I deserve to be punished??  it seems like your deck is more for a Lawless format rather than a casual one.

It depends on the purpose of the "punishment". If other people frequently build broken decks (but obviously not quite as broken) and try to pass them off as "casual" when they contain multiple broken cards, then you can whip this out and slaughter them as an example. I assume the point isn't to bring this to every multi-player chaos game, but just as a secret weapon in case someone gets out of hand.

I had to do the same thing in my D&D group when my DM bought The Swashbuckling Handbook from Seven Seas. People were building uber-powerful Barbarian characters with the pristige classes in that book, so I sat down with it, created a 10th level assassin that did an average of 600 damage per round, and told them that if they continued to use this book, I would play it. The book was immediately banned (after scouring it for all the good non-broken stuff and adding it to our lists).

[chrissss]

I wouldnt call Timespiral a poor mans Timetwister, since the "untap up to 6 lands" is what made it broken in the first place. without untapping the tolarian, the Spiral wouldnt be cool.

Anyway, I dont play decks like this, because of the banned reason. So whats your average turn kill? 1? 2?

[Mr. Nightmare]

This deck wants Crop Rotation desparately.  Without using Power, I'd build it something like this:

4x Academy
4x City of Brass
4x Gemstone Mine

4x Sol Ring
4x Mana Crypt
4x Lotus Petal
4x Lion's Eye Diamond

4x Time Spiral
4x Memory Jar
4x Tinker
4x Windfall
4x Wheel of Fortune
4x Burning Wish
4x Demonic Tutor
4x Crop Rotation

SB: 1x Yawgmoth's Will
SB: 1x Tendrils of Agony

[herbig]

I like Nightmare's list but I think mana vault should definately be in there.  I disagree that it is worse than Sol Ring, since you have nothing to cast with either before you win anyways, but I'd run both.  Going mono blue except for Crop Rotation seems like a good idea, casting Wish or Tutor also seems difficult unless you're winning.  Brainstorm would make turn 2 wins almost a guarantee.  And Frantic Search.

4 Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine

4 Mana Vault
4 Sol Ring
4 Mana Crypt
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Voltaic Key

4 Time Spiral
4 Memory Jar
4 Frantic Search
4 Brainstorm
3 Mind's Desire

4 Crop Rotation
2 Cunning Wish

Sideboard:
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Brainfreeze

[Mr. Nightmare]

If you limit yourself to only running 2C, why run the 5c manabase?  Switch to 4x Fetch, 4x Tropical Island, it's effectively the same thing.  Of course, I think you're missing out on some sever brokenness by not playing Burning Wish->Yawg Will.  Plus, Tendrils is a much easier win condition in this deck than Wish->Freeze Wish->Stroke, since you aren't trying to win at instant speed.

[Byron]

I like the feedback, especially the 2 decklists but no one is running any counters, disruption, or anything to stop either. At least I had Defense Grid (which also raises the artifact count). I had the Crop Rotation and Memory Jar ideas in mind but I just couldn't come up with what to cut to make space for those additions. Lion's Eye Diamond is only for after you play a massive card drawing spell, am I right? Thus limiting it's usefulness (although i'm not too fond of Mox Diamond admittedly.) I don't suppose any of you tested your ideas out at all?

[Mr. Nightmare]

Test them?  Why would we ever do such a thing? [/kidding]

Defense Grid is probably your best bet, since there's no way you can support Force, and Duress isn't that great with all the Draw 7's.  If you're really concerned, you can also run Xantid Swarm, but that inhibits the turn 1 win.  Turn 2 unmolested is still pretty good though.

LED is used either in response to Jar cracking, Time Spiral, or Burning Wish in my build, mostly to generate mana for free, and in the case of Wish, to give you BBB for Will.

[That0neguy]

First off Will isn't restricted so you not going to want to play B wish.  Just play with 2-3 maindeck.  That way you can come back multiple times.

4 Academy
6 5c lands
4 Petal
4 Sol ring
4 mana crypt
4 mana vault
4 Dark Ritual

4 Minds Desire
4 demonic tutor
3 will
4 frantic search
4 FOW
3 Misdirection
4 windfall
4 time spiral
1 Tendrils

Playing aroun with bargain would be equally fun and possibly even better.

10 swamp
4 Petal
4 Sol ring
4 mana crypt
4 mana vault
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal ritual

4 Bargain
3 will
4 Demonic tutor
4 Vampiric tutor
4 tendrils
4 Soul Spike
3 Soul Feast

Not possitive about the soul spikes/feasts

[wethepeople]

an older cousin of mine used to play this deck when he first taught me when Urza's Block was new (4 Lotus Petals, 4 Academys etc.). I hated playing it and forced him to play his RG beatz. i would not consider making a deck more broken then most Vintage lists today "Casual". Because the only thing that seperates this deck from Vintage is that it isnt tournament legal.

i am pretty sure your friends would be pissed if you started playing this, i dont suggest doing it.

[Byron]

changes
-2 defense grid
-2 candleabra of tawnos
-1 capsize
+4 crop rotation
+1 gemstone mine

lands
4 tolarian academy
4 city of brass
4 forbidden orchard
4 gemstone mine

artifacts
4 lotus petal
4 mox diamond
4 mana crypt
4 sol ring
2 defense grid

sorceries
4 wheel of fortune
4 windfall
4 time spiral
4 braingeyser (could cut 2 copies for something else…)
4 demonic tutor

instants
4 crop rotation

enchantments
2 mind over matter

Let me explain why some cards are and aren't here:

lion's eye diamond
SUCKS! Non-bo w/Academy b/c you have to sac it before you see your new hand (Wheel of Fortune and Windfall) lessening the number of artifacts in play when you want to use your academy to cast new spells. also you don't know what mana to sac for until you see your new hand!

tinker/memory jar
Jar is like a Demonic Consultation hen you don't have the Lion's Eye Diamond to discard your hand. Tinker has no real targets if you don't play Memory Jar.

crop rotation
DAMN good in this deck, esp since you can tap an Academy for mana then sac it for a new one! I really missed the boat on this one by not having it in my original build.

candleabra of tawnos + capsize
It's cute, it gives you infinite mana but unless you plan on using this deck for multiplayer (DON'T, you won't have many friends afterward...), you don't need it.

palinchron
See Candle + Capsize.

defense grid
You need something for counters, esp Force of Will. Duress and counterspeels aren't an oprtion b/c you keep reshuffling your hand (Wheel of Fortune/Windfall.) This guy only costs 2 mana and it basically Mana Leaks your opponent (from playing instants during your turn) forever (try 2 of them on for size = 6 extra mana!) It's also has synergy w/Academy.

As broken as this build is, Null Rod worries the bejezzus outta me. What should I add & cut to rectify this problem?

As I

an older cousin of mine used to play this deck when he first taught me when Urza's Block was new (4 Lotus Petals, 4 Academys etc.). I hated playing it and forced him to play his RG beatz. i would not consider making a deck more broken then most Vintage lists today "Casual". Because the only thing that seperates this deck from Vintage is that it isnt tournament legal.

i am pretty sure your friends would be pissed if you started playing this, i dont suggest doing it.

I am aware of that but I only plan on using this deck sparingly. Honestly, I feel good just goldfishing w/the thing. Maybe it's the idea that I have so much power that excites me, I dunno.

[Byron]

Your running 20 cards banned in Legacy
and 38 copies (10 cards) that are restricted in T1

I'm now running 42 copies (11 cards) that are restricted in T1. Have a nice day ^_^

[That0neguy]

FOr bounce I would consider the new split second bounce spell.  You can easly get the double blue with academy.

About lion's eye diamonf: you never know what mana your going to need but you can ussually take a good guess based on what you already have.  And if you guess wrong you can alwaays filter that mana into a draw seven.

[Byron]

FOr bounce I would consider the new split second bounce spell.  You can easly get the double blue with academy.

About lion's eye diamonf: you never know what mana your going to need but you can ussually take a good guess based on what you already have.  And if you guess wrong you can alwaays filter that mana into a draw seven.

What's that new bounce spell called?

The only safe way to filter a Lion's Eye Diamond is to call blue for Windfall, Tinker, or Memory Jar itself. So I guess if you're all tapped out of non-blue mana (and no one else here likes Mox Diamond or Forbidden Orchard so it's a definate possibility), you're S.O.L. if you draw a Wheel for Fortune, Demonic Tutor or Crop Rotation.

[That0neguy]

I think its wipe away, but not sure, its in timespiral.

Also for this deck I think not running LED is the right call since there is so much better excel availible., but I forgot to finish my thought.  I was just pointing that out, in case it came up in the future.

Now that you bring up tinker jar, I was wondering if that might not be better than windfall/wheel.  Its on color and you can easily hardcast the jar.  Jar has also been called the best draw 7 in the game by several players.  If nessecary you could also play a collosus in there maindeck.

Also have you tried maindeck hyrkuls recalls?  They are great for generating mana and storm (if it were aplicable here).  It also doubles as a way to get rid of null rods, chalices, or pithing needles(although these arn't as scary).

Also have you tried out the bargain deck?  It would probably be cheaper than academy if you don't already own a bunch of the peices, although vamps can get a bit expensive.  The bargain list could also probably do good in multiplayer as well, although I have a feeling it will be your last game of multiplayer.

[Byron]

Now that you bring up tinker jar, I was wondering if that might not be better than windfall/wheel.  Its on color and you can easily hardcast the jar.  Jar has also been called the best draw 7 in the game by several players.  If nessecary you could also play a collosus in there maindeck.

Here's a vintage academy deck I found on an article about a year ago :

Neo-Academy
Type 1 - Matt D'Avanzo

11 land
4 city of brass
4 gemstone mine
1 tolarain academy
2 undiscovered paradise

49 spells
2 abeyance (i already run defense grid)
1 ancestral recall
1 black lotus
1 braingeyser (only one, this must be old)
2 candleabra of tawnos
1 capsize
1 crop rotation
1 demonic tutor
1 fastbond (almost a crop rotation I guess)
4 force of will (i run defense grid so no counters in my build)
1 frantic search
1 grim monolith
4 helm of awakening (non-bo w/defense grid)
4 impulse
1 lotus petal
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
4 meditate (i ran this in my first academy deck a looooooooong time ago...)
1 mind over matter (he still ran this even w/the infinite candleabra/capsize/helm combo)
1 mox diamond
5 regualar moxen
1 mystical tutor
1 regrowth
1 sol ring
1 stroke of genius
1 time spiral
1 time walk
1 timetwister
1 vamparic tutor
1 wheel of fortune
1 windfall

Note in his build that even though he has access to the Lion's Eye Diamond, Tinker and/or Memory Jar, he doesn't run them. As I explained earlier, I don't think they optimal either. In fact, seeing the cards he runs over those 3 (Grim Monolith over Lion's Eye Diamond, Impulse/Meditate over Tinker/Memory Jar) leads me to believe that Lion's Eye Diamond, Tinker and Memory Jar are all overrated. Also winning by Colossus seems very janky in this sort of deck. I'd much rather have a win condition that is useful for my own deck development (Braingeyser.) I do appreciate your feedback however, thanks.

[Necrologia]

That list is ancient. The reason it doesn't run the vastly superior Tendrils kill is that it hadn't been printed yet. Aside from taking up less space in your deck, it only requires you to find 1 card in order to kill your opponent. Tendrils + spells is alot easier to assemble than Candleabra+Academy+Capsize+Braingeyser+sufficient artifacts.

As for

Lion's Eye Diamond, Tinker and Memory Jar are all overrated

You're pretty much just wrong. Again, that list is so old it predates people understanding the power of LED, and Memory Jar is the best draw 7 in the game. That said, this isn't type 1 so certain cards lose some of their power. Jar is amazing in type 1 because you can cast it then pass the turn to untap. Even if you draw crap off it, you don't end up stocking your opponent's hand. In unrestricted vintage, aka Type 0 you can get a turn 1 kill pretty darn close to 100% of the time, negating the whole "good when passing the turn" thing.

Mind's Desire is also absurdly powerful, but including that will lead you closer to an unpowered type 0 style deck rather than an updated academy list. Search the forums for Type 0 lists if you just want to win/punish your friends, if you're looking for a truly casual deck, build whatever you want, it's supposed to be fun right?

[xycsoscyx]

I may be wrong, but in a casual setting, does Academy need to be broken like this?  I think you're being a dick if you think you're the best in your group and "must" win to uphold that.  In my group, I have the largest pool of cards, including expensive things like a (almost) full set of P9, duals, tutors, Shops, etcetcetc.  I also have the skill to backup my decks, so they don't come down to broken hands.  The thing is, I love losing 'cause it takes the group to team up on me sometimes to beat me (I've taken 10 damage before I even drew my first card before).  It's a challenge to win under those circumstances, but I do it all with legal decks, 1x Demonic, 1x Academy, 1x Broken "Win" Card.  ANYONE can win if they pack their deck like that, it doesn't make you a better player in any way, and I would suspect it'll make your casual group want to play less with you (or make them all tag team you, then play slow games after you're dead, so you can sit there for an hour watching).  If you want a challenge, make a deck that can win with the same consistency, but still be legal in some format (Vintage, Legacy, Extended, etc, hell, even make it pre-rotation Extended legal with 1x Vampiric, but still make it legal), that actually takes skill to make and play, and doesn't make you a dick for building/playing it in the first place.  As a note, "casual" should still have a set of rules, though it's usually up to the group to decide.  In my group, we try to still follow either Vintage Restricted lists, or Legacy Banned lists (though no mixing and matching just to suit you).  I think playing a deck like you've listed will force the group to enforce rules like that, which makes it a waste of time and effort to assemble the deck in the first place.

Just my opinion, ciao.

[parallax]

I may be wrong, but in a casual setting, does Academy need to be broken like this?  I think you're being a dick if you think you're the best in your group and "must" win to uphold that.  In my group, I have the largest pool of cards, including expensive things like a (almost) full set of P9, duals, tutors, Shops, etcetcetc.  I also have the skill to backup my decks, so they don't come down to broken hands.  The thing is, I love losing 'cause it takes the group to team up on me sometimes to beat me (I've taken 10 damage before I even drew my first card before).  It's a challenge to win under those circumstances, but I do it all with legal decks, 1x Demonic, 1x Academy, 1x Broken "Win" Card.  ANYONE can win if they pack their deck like that, it doesn't make you a better player in any way, and I would suspect it'll make your casual group want to play less with you (or make them all tag team you, then play slow games after you're dead, so you can sit there for an hour watching).  If you want a challenge, make a deck that can win with the same consistency, but still be legal in some format (Vintage, Legacy, Extended, etc, hell, even make it pre-rotation Extended legal with 1x Vampiric, but still make it legal), that actually takes skill to make and play, and doesn't make you a dick for building/playing it in the first place.  As a note, "casual" should still have a set of rules, though it's usually up to the group to decide.  In my group, we try to still follow either Vintage Restricted lists, or Legacy Banned lists (though no mixing and matching just to suit you).  I think playing a deck like you've listed will force the group to enforce rules like that, which makes it a waste of time and effort to assemble the deck in the first place.

Just my opinion, ciao.

Or you could read the thread: The entire point of this deck is to force his casual group to adopt the very rules you're suggesting they adopt. His playgroup doesn't believe in playing by the Vintage or Legacy deckbuilding rules and he's trying to convince them to. If you read the thread, he says that he's not building a deck to play all the time just to stomp his playgroup into the ground. If he were doing so, he would just be a dick. The deck is meant to serve as an example.

Also, sometimes it's just fun to build something really broken, win one game with it, and agree to put it away for the rest of the night.

[Evenpence]

Byron, if you just want to punish your friends for not playing with banned/restricted lists, just play this list:

4 Swamp

4 Mana Vault
4 Mana Crypt
4 Sol Ring
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

4 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Yawgmoth's Bargain
4 Necropotence

4 Demonic Consultation
4 Demonic Tutor

4 Tendrils of Agony

You should win approximately 100% of these games.  If you want to switch out Necropotence for Duress if they're playing with Force of Wills, okay then.

[xycsoscyx]

Or you could read the thread: The entire point of this deck is to force his casual group to adopt the very rules you're suggesting they adopt. His playgroup doesn't believe in playing by the Vintage or Legacy deckbuilding rules and he's trying to convince them to. If you read the thread, he says that he's not building a deck to play all the time just to stomp his playgroup into the ground. If he were doing so, he would just be a dick. The deck is meant to serve as an example.

Also, sometimes it's just fun to build something really broken, win one game with it, and agree to put it away for the rest of the night.

True 'nuff, but that brings up the question of how powerful are those decks?  I play against a guy who packs 4x Demonic Tutor into every deck that can splash Black.  This doesn't make his decks broken or anything, in fact it doesn't seem to up his chances of winning any because the tutors aren't for broken cards (usually he tutors for lands, in fact).  I had a friend who (accidentally, but she played it for a month or so) ran 8x Wayfarer's Bauble, that's not exactly broken.  If you have people packing 4x Sol Ring into affinity, fine, but if you have people running 4x Crop Rotation in an Elf deck, who cares?  The deck he has posted is broken soley for the purposes of being broken, and it'll settle for nothing less.  The fact is, you can still make a broken deck that'll teach them a lesson, WITHOUT having to make the deck illegal yourself.

Also, he actually stated that he is a former tournament player and HAS to win to uphold is standing as the "best" player in his group (despite his throwing out it being an "enforcer" deck).  He's making a broken deck, broken soley for the purpose of being broken, just to win.  He wants to win soley for the fact that he thinks he's better than everything else and must win.  The funny thing is that he has to make a brokenly illegal deck just to keep that winning record.  XD  I win a lot in my play group, but I do so with legal decks, I don't need to break the decks just to win.  Yes, I lose, I lose a lot, I lose big times sometime, sometimes I scrub out so hard that my ass is sore for a week, but that doesn't means I'm going to put together JarGrim just to teach people a lesson and keep my winning status (though I'm tempted to 'cause I love Megrim).

[Byron]

Also, he actually stated that he is a former tournament player and HAS to win to uphold is standing as the "best" player in his group (despite his throwing out it being an "enforcer" deck).  He's making a broken deck, broken soley for the purpose of being broken, just to win.  He wants to win soley for the fact that he thinks he's better than everything else and must win.  The funny thing is that he has to make a brokenly illegal deck just to keep that winning record.  XD  I win a lot in my play group, but I do so with legal decks, I don't need to break the decks just to win.  Yes, I lose, I lose a lot, I lose big times sometime, sometimes I scrub out so hard that my ass is sore for a week, but that doesn't means I'm going to put together JarGrim just to teach people a lesson and keep my winning status (though I'm tempted to 'cause I love Megrim).

I never said I had to win all the time or that I would play broken decks all the time. I just want the respect in my group that I feel I deserve for the dues that i've paid in high level competition. I mean there's this guy who pretty much wins at every single fighting game we play but sometimes he messes around or gives himself handicaps and that how I see myself (MTG-wise) in the group. I don't gotta win all the time but everyone knows that I CAN win whenever i'm serious. I also don't want to discredit tournament players or make a fool of myself for stating that I used to play in tournaments by losing more thyan a few times.

I know that not every deck that breaks vintage rules by playing multiple copies of restircted cards are guaranteed to be broken but I still find the breaking of the rules to be an unfair advantage. I know there are shades of grey but the bottom line is everyone who plays something like 4 demonic tutor to make their deck more consistent also wants to wins more than s/he would otherwise. Therfore, they are willing to bend the rules in their favor to have more "fun" or as the bottom line would state: to win more.

In the end, isn't winning the untimate goal of any game? No one truly enjoys losing (although i'm willing to put up with it in order to learn and become a better play so I can win more down the line.) Even people who claim they only play for "fun" have their fair share of wins among their friends or else they would quit. And those who would bend the rules "for fun" are really only trying to win more. Why? Because winning is fun. Bottom line.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't support winning at all costs (cheating, unfair deck advantage, etc) but i'm willing and usually out there (these days as I plan to compete again since the prerelease weekend) to playtest decks from the same league (legacy for me.) Will I try my best to get the best cards for the best decks possible? Yes. But i'll also lend my opponents a deck of their choice if they don't have one they feel comfortable playing with. And I lend decks often.

[Byron]

Academy ver.3.0

mana
4 tolarian academy
4 tropical island
1 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 windswept heath
1 wooded foothills
4 lotus petal
4 sol ring
4 mana crypt
4 mana vault
4 lion’s eye diamond
4 crop rotation
3 mind over matter

card drawing
4 memory jar
4 tinker
4 time spiral
4 windfall
2 braingeyser

counterspell hate
3 defense grid

misc. info
49 restricted cards/13 separate cards
16 colored mana
16 colorless mana
14 blue spells

I'm playing this version b/c I still not quite sold on Mind's Desire yet. How does the storm mechanic for this card work anyway? Do you get to play all of the revealed cards or only the top card. And what happens when you reshuffle? Do you still get to play the unrevealed top cards? Also, I don't like splashing red/black for Burning Wish/Tendrils of Agony/Yawgmoth's Will b/c I took out the Mox Diamonds. And i'm playing Mind Over Matter b/c I like having lots of mana to Braingeyser my opponent out rather than Mind's Desiring for Cunning Wish for Stroke of Genius and hoping you have enough Crop Rotation mana to win.

Thanks go out to herbig for the idea of running a 2 color Academy deck.

Bargain ver.1.0

lands
8 Swamp

artifact mana
4 Mana Vault
4 Mana Crypt
4 Sol Ring
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox

instant mana
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

card advantage
4 Yawgmoth's Bargain
4 Yawgmoth's Will

tutors
4 Demonic Consultation
4 Demonic Tutor

finishers
4 Tendrils of Agony

disruption
4 Duress

misc. info
36 restricted cards/9 seperate cards
16 black mana
20 colorless mana
32 black spells

I goldfished 10 games with this deck and I got: 5) turn 3 kills, 3) turn 2 kills and 2) turn 1 kills! It plays exactly like the Bargain/NecroDonate decks of old. Step 1, get Bargain into play. Step 2, draw cards and win! Bargain seems a lot more consistent (though potentially weaker vs counters) than Academy.

Props go to Evenpence for the original decklist.

[parallax]

The cards revealed with Mind's Desire are removed from the game. You can play them any time that turn. Mind's Desire is super good.

[Byron]

Academy ver.3.1

-2 Braingeyser
-1 Mind Over Matter
-1 Defense Grid

+2 Mind's Desire
+2 Cunning Wish

SB
2 Stroke of Genius

I gotta test this out though i'm really starting to learn towards Bargain now as the uberdeck...

Bargain ver. 1.1

lands
8 Swamp

artifact mana
4 Mana Vault
4 Mana Crypt
4 Sol Ring
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox

instant mana
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

card advantage
3 Necropotence (just in case you can't afford to play Bargain)
3 Yawgmoth's Bargain
2 Yawgmoth's Will (hardly used these, usually either killed w/the first Tendril or used the first Tendril to draw into a second copy.)

tutors
4 Demonic Consultation
4 Demonic Tutor

finishers
4 Tendrils of Agony

counterspell hate
4 Duress (may cut down to 2 to make space for a fourth Necro & Bargain)

[xycsoscyx]

Mind's Desire

And storm. Does each storm spell counts as a another spell that you need to counter or willl countering the card itself stop it's storm effect. Also for a storm card like Mind's Desire, when you reveal the top cards of your library, do you reveal more than 1 at a time (meaning you have to play them in order?) Or do you reveal them all at once. And since they're removed from the game, are they face up so they oponent can see what you have? What if you draw cards or shuffle your library? What happends to the Desired cards then? And at the end of turn, what happends to all the cards you revealed? Do they stay removed from the game, get placed on top of your library in a certain order, or get shuffled back into your library?

Storm is a triggered ability when you play the spell.  The Storm itself can be stifled, but once you play the spell (IE, before any priority has passed), the Storm trigger is put on the stack.  Even if the original spell is countered, the Storm can still resolve.  As for the copies themselves, Storm puts copies of the spell directly onto the stack (it doesn't play these copies, but puts then right onto the stack), then each one will resolve seperately (and must be countered seperately).

As for Desire itself, technically, you follow the rules of the card for every copy that Storm created.  This means that you shuffle your library, reveal the top card, and remove it from the game, then shuffle your library, reveal the top card, and remove it from the game, etcetcetc.  In actual tournament (or even casual) play, you can typically shuffle once, then reveal and remove the top X cards (where X is the Storm count), just because it takes too long to shuffle 10 times, revealing and removing each time.

Lastly, keep in mine that Desire says you can play that spell without paying it's casting cost until the end of the turn.  This means that you don't have to play it right when you reveal it (and can't unless it's an instant, in fact).  When Storm resolves, all these copies are pushed onto the stack under any previous spell (all under the original cast spell, in fact, so all Storm copies will resolve before the original one does).  You can only respond in between copies with instants and abilities, including any instants you revealed off previous copies of Desire (so you CAN cast Instants revealed by Storm, while you still have more copies waiting to be resolved).

[Byron]

^ Thanks xycsoscyx.

Let me also take the time to revise my Bargain decklist:

Bargain ver. 1.2

-2 Duress
+1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
+1 Necropotence

The reasoning behind these changes are that I want more consistent goldfishing against decks not packing Force of Will, plus the extra Necro & Bargain should draw out counters anyways. And I still have 2 Duress (b/c I only run 2 Yawgmoth's Will as I almost never cast it.