Optimizing Control Slaver in the Fall 2k6 metagame

[Moxlotus]

I don't know if this has already been discussed but has anyone tried Mana Leak to improve the early game.  Maybe 3 would be good.  It's not uncommon to have a blue land drop and an off color mox.  3 Leaks would help the Slaver keep in control of the early game while setting up.  4's too many cause you pretty much only want it early and as maybe a 1-of.  3 should consistently get one in your opening hand.  2 may not be worth the space cause it may not be consistent enough.  A lot of people run Lotus Petal to help the odds of a blue artifact and blue land drop turn one for Drain but maybe Leak would be better than trying to depend on cards like Petal for the early game.  I don't want to lost a colored mana source that early in the game.

Ugo Rivard has won 2 SCGs on the back of 3 Mana Leak.Slaver

[MaxxMatt]

I tested and play this C-S version.
It has a simple but effective plan.

You can notive the armonic proportion among the key spells, their williing resolutions and the turns since they are playable.


A) Resolve Welder.
B) Resolve Thirst and Weld things in.
C) Resolve Gifts and Weld other things in if needed


A is necessary to do something LETHAL since your 2nd turn. Is it don't show up, you don't need it to feed B and C as cards' advantage engine.
B isn't necessarily the second turn spell. It can be sustituted with Drain or other business ( or broken ) spells.
C can be played to search for 4 cards ( just in case you need gas and utilities ) or for 2 cards ( just in case you need to weld the right things in ).

While A, B, C are simple board/cards positions to achieve ( especially because they are maindecked in multiple copies ), their deadly interaction isn't needed, in order to win.

As C-S usually play, you can randomly play A, B, C in casual order and THEN, piloted correctly, find the way to win.
You aren't strictly forced to play those spells in that better order:
Thirsts always remain cards advantage, Welders can bait counters by themselves and enhance hardcasted artifact's threats, Gifts are inherently broken.

Mana base isn't worse or better than other Gifts.dec or C-S.dec: you have the needed basic lands to setup correctly and then *go off*

Maindeck has a lot of tools that can seal games and an high bombs' density that would put a lot of pressure to any opponent.

Among the possible artifacts' targets for Gifts and TFKs, I opted to play the ones that give me guarantees of not being *dead* in some matchups and that can give me better flexibility.
Those artifacts and the pletora of ways to let them hit the board are the reasons not to play maindeck solutions.

Welder plus anyone of the following artifacts' recursion can be considered *game over* for a well built opponent's deck.
Titan = Armageddon
Triskelion = Reset the critters
Jester's Cap = Kill the ones with few winning conditions
CoW = Kill opponents' lands and protect your own ones.
Slaver = You are mine

You are going to use Gifts differently from any other Gifts.dec, even if you have *almost* the same tools.
You can grab things to enhance huge Y Will or simply tutor for Business Spells. Differently from other Gifts.dec, you can opt to grab the right configuration or artifacts or spells too! That last part of the gameplan leave opponent's completely hopeless since the first turns of the game.

If old Welders/Intuitions switches were broken, new Welders/Gifts ones can be considered even more effective. They would let you search for 4 spells and usually the rest of the deck would let you instantly dispose of them all!
This is an huge difference between Gifts use of GiftsUngiven and the one that can be done here.

It looks to me MORE effective and possibly game breaking even into the early game.
Any other deck would optimize the first Gifts in a worse way during these early games starts.

You can feed opponent's counters with Welders and TFKs only to be able to resolve Gifts Ungiven soon after. You are the *Aggro* part almost in every matchup. You can almost stop combo/control/aggro from working correctly selecting the right tools and frantically searching for them.


A lot of decks have grave hate.
You can selectively force them to crush your grave AND THEN restart filling it with bombs and tools.

You have Y Will for long term wins and Restricted Tutors for quick and winning choices.

You can went through hate simply by spreading your threats.
You can kick the opponents over cards' advantage, over Bombs Recursions and over Board Control.
Counterspells give you the needed time to set up.

This is the list that I described until now.





You can read my deck's name with BarryWhite voice in order to give to it the needed depth...

"...Weld my Gifts, Baby....."


(8)
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

(14)
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact of Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

(10)
4 Goblin Welder
1 Sundering Titan
1 Crucible of the World
1 Stripmine
1 Triskel(ion)/(avus)
1 Jester's Cap
1 Mindslaver

(4)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

(24)
10 Mana Artifact
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Academy



Enjoy
MaxxMatt

[hitman]

Moxlotus - Thanks for the reply.  I saw a foreign tournament report and the winning Slaver deck had 3 Mana Leaks in it.  I thought that made a lot of sense.

[poncho930]

i have a a silmple question does anyone like academy ruins. ive found it it to be very useful in  tight situations, and good in regular situations as well

heres a list i came up with

mana
5 mox
1 lotus petal
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 black lotus
1 sol ring
3 island
3 volcanic island
2 underground sea
3 poluted delta
2 flooded strand
1 academy ruins
1 tolarian academy

counter
4 fow
4 mana drain

draw some cards / tutors
4 brainstorm
4 thirst for knowledge
1 vamp
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 gifts

good cards

1 tinker
1 yawgmoths will
1 burning wish
1 ancestral recall
1 chain of vapor
1 mindslaver
1 tormods crypt 
1 time walk

guys

3 goblin welder
1 gorilla shaman
2 bots of your choice

sideboard
changes more than i change my pants

tear it apart if you like

[Wudil]

@MaxMatt: I don't see the point of running Mystical over Vampiric, could you explain this choice please? (Except that you can trash it to FoW of course). Is it "only" to avoid getting a dual with black on the board instead of an island in the first turns?

I liked your way to explain how any single welded (or resolved) artifact can be an ending in Slaver and the comparison can be made with Stax.

I was just disappointed with Trisk (in Stax & Slaver) since it's a creature and takes any removal from artifacts & creatures and sometimes don't have time to do its job the way we would like it to be (i.e taking a Plow on it while it only killed a single creature for example).

I found that Duplicant was more multi-purpose and at least removed its target from the game preventing our opponent to get it back in any way.

For the same purpose as Triskel, I found Granite Shard better since it couldn't be removed as easily as Triskel and it could ping any creature with 1 in thoughness each turn but I shall admit it's way easier to play it in Stax so maybe you wouldn't like to consider it in Slaver.

Thanks anyway for your insight.

Wud'

[warble]

This is the list that I described until now.

I feel sad for reading your list, because you have 0 board control answers (Echoing Truth, Pyroclasm, etc)  Your deck will obviously have more draw power, welders and control than a typical Control Slaver list because it scoops to null rod, pithing needle, meddling mage, true believer, and (dare I say it) life.  Saying Control Slaver shouldn't have board control is the equivalent to stating that combo wants to win on turn 3 or later.

[MaxxMatt]

@warble

If you feel like this, then do this simple change

+1 Chain of Vapor
-1 Something

On the other hand, my only fear for game 1 is a combination of opponent's hate: while opponents' singletons can slow you down, your plan would hardly be blocked at all. As I said to you, you can play different roles during the entire game and play different plans, according to opponent's plays.

If I see that I'm playing against Fish ( Rods ) or Control.Gifts ( Needles ) I would mimic the control role as long as I can.
I would establish mana base and cards in hand, progressively sculpting god-hands without needing to pass through Welders or grave. Y Will or massive cards advantage would put me head even if I letopponents resolve hate.

Multiple hate cards cannot be played easily, so I feel that a lot of problems can be solved simply by putting you head on cards advantage and countering key spells. The deck is really strong on doing such a plan and it can keep playing the control role for a lot of turns.

On the other hand, if you feel "nude" without a single removal for "inevitability" feel free to put it in, changing the worse card among the ones maindecked now.




@Wudil

Nice to hear props from you.
My choice on Mystical Tutor is exactly the one that you referred in yuor last post.
I have to often fetch for Volcanic Island and THEN I can be forced to search for U.Sea, in order to optimize fast Vampiric Tutor or Mystical one. This proces can leave you too open to denial and I don't want to run this risk.


Triskelion is a must in my own metagame, were I have to face some critters that can be killed in multipls by a single Triskelion and without the need of Welders in play.
While I built a deck that perform greatly WITH Welders in play, I leave me an escape door for the nasty situations during which I can't have them active or alive.
I tested Dup and put them in side.
When I can safely switch them or they are needed to copy fatties, then Dups would make their appeareance from the side.

Maindecking them would not let me kill D.Conf and block critters with instant speed or play Tricky matches against opponents Welders and to eventually kill opponents faster.



@About the deck.

I completely missed my sideboard.
It can help you figure how I planned to win post side with this C.S build.

3 Lavadart
3 Duress
3 R&R
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Shaman
1 LoA


My deck's sideboards ideas are:

-Lavadarts are there for Gifts interactions, */1 instant kills and weenies in general
-Duresses are too good against combo not to be played
-R&R are needed to kill MW fatties and lock pieces when they are smart at not putting Weldable ones into their grave.
-T.Crypts are for heavy opponent's grave interactions such as Friggorid, Zombie or opponents Welders
-The last cards' group can be switcehd in to get rid of opponents Needles or Crypts or doom the control mirror or add more flexibility to your contrl board.


IMHO, these choices aren't the best ones but they can cover and keep in touch almost any commonly played opponent's decks with ease. No way to add more than 3 or 4 cards in during any game so don't hyper-sideboard or you'll lose usual deck's consistency and threats density

 

[diopter]

This is the list that I described until now.

I feel sad for reading your list, because you have 0 board control answers (Echoing Truth, Pyroclasm, etc) Your deck will obviously have more draw power, welders and control than a typical Control Slaver list because it scoops to null rod, pithing needle, meddling mage, true believer, and (dare I say it) life. Saying Control Slaver shouldn't have board control is the equivalent to stating that combo wants to win on turn 3 or later.

The need for board control in Control Slaver is dictated strictly by the metagame. MaxxMatt's list looks decidely weak against fish, but it's increased draw power gives it better game against the non-interactive decks in the format like Gifts and Long. Perhaps that is his goal.

Perhaps a bounce spell in the maindeck would be nice in a metagame where Fish is expected - however, I like the line of thinking that MaxxMatt is pursuing, whereby he sacrifices a bit of board presence in order to increase his ability to exploit the Welder engine.

Saying Control Slaver must have board control, is like saying Keeper must be the best deck because it packs answers to everything.

[forests failed you]

This is because after the initial turns, our Gifts will win with protection just as easy as the Gifts player's Gifts.  That means more win conditions for Control Slaver, at instant speed.  That's a heck of a reason to play Gifts in CS.

But this isnt quite true, because when I cast Gifts (I am a dedicated gifts player) I am going to win the game.  When a CS player casts Gifts it may put them in a position to win the game, but lacking cards that Gifts has prevents them from sealing the deal on the spot. 

This is a brazen overstatement.  Gifts does not 'just win' when it resolves Gifts Ungiven.  There is plenty of opportunity to disrupt them from this point.  Explain to me how you 'just won' If I have a Tormod's Crypt on the board when you cast Gifts?  Or, I cast TFK in response and bring in something stupid like Slaver or Titan cutting you off the mana to Recoup Will.  From my experience playing Gifts it is more often than not the second resolved Gifts that actually ends the game.  The first Gifts is setting up for the second Gifts; which is very similar in the sense that Slaver's Gifts sets it up to win the game; just not via a second gifts but rather through other means.

i have a a silmple question does anyone like academy ruins. ive found it it to be very useful in tight situations, and good in regular situations as well

heres a list i came up with

mana
5 mox
1 lotus petal
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 black lotus
1 sol ring
3 island
3 volcanic island
2 underground sea
3 poluted delta
2 flooded strand
1 academy ruins
1 tolarian academy

counter
4 fow
4 mana drain

draw some cards / tutors
4 brainstorm
4 thirst for knowledge
1 vamp
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 gifts

good cards

1 tinker
1 yawgmoths will
1 burning wish
1 ancestral recall
1 chain of vapor
1 mindslaver
1 tormods crypt
1 time walk

guys

3 goblin welder
1 gorilla shaman
2 bots of your choice

sideboard
changes more than i change my pants

tear it apart if you like

What you meant to say is:  This is the list Brian DeMars came up with but with two bad cards inserted instead of good cards.

-1 Echoing Truth/Hurkyls Recall
-1 Strip Mine
-1 Darksteel Citadel

+1 Merchant Scroll
+1 Academy Ruins
+1 Polluted Delta

THIS IS NOT YOUR NEW SLAVER LIST, THIS IS MY BURNING SLAVER LIST ALMOST CARD FOR CARD.  Give credit where credit is due.

You have added two cards to the maindeck:  A random Merchant Scroll, and an Academy Ruins which is awful.  Ruins does less than nothing, and gives you the same ability as a Goblin Welder for the low low price of nine more mana.

[Outlaw]

THIS IS NOT YOUR NEW SLAVER LIST, THIS IS MY BURNING SLAVER LIST ALMOST CARD FOR CARD.  Give credit where credit is due.

And your "Burning Slaver" List is just Short Bus' Severence Belcher with -1 Belcher, -1 Recoup, +1 Crucible, +1 Darksteel Citadel?  Give credit where credit is due.

[The Atog Lord]

Let's not get into a discussion of which Slaver list is original and whose isn't.

Especially since TMD rules specifically prohibit this kind of thing. Warnings to FFY and Outlaw, but not demotions.
-Jacob

[poncho930]

THIS IS NOT YOUR NEW SLAVER LIST, THIS IS MY BURNING SLAVER LIST ALMOST CARD FOR CARD.  Give credit where credit is due.

so what your trying to tell me is that because im new to this whole type one thing and have never even looked at this board berfore that i can possibly have put the same cards into a deck as you.

oh and i never said new.

AND YOU FORGOT NO CRUCIBLE

so stop trying to tell me i cant possibly think on my own when thats exactly what happened.

but if thats what u think happened so sorry for almost copying your deck mr. demars

This is a very, very bad second post. You're violating several board rules, not the least of which those regarding proper spelling and punctuation. Also: please use the "quote" function properly. The more important infraction, however, is the fact that you continued to discuss a subject while a moderator has already told you guys to let it go. I'm giving you an official warning. And to the rest of you: this thread will be watched closely.
- Bram

[Kirika]

The list to play really is totally dependant on your metagame based on where you play.

I play at a local shop where proxies are not allowed so there is alot of random aggro and people playing legacy decks.  So my list will be pretty different then people who play online or at 10 proxy events.

I have to deal with creatures and staying alive on a constant basis so I ended up with this list.  I play platinum angel if I don't see many control players that day and if its all aggro that day I just play oath instead.  Triskelion is really good for killing weenies.  I tried Triskelivus and its terrible cause you have to pay mana.

I don't play Shaman because there isn't too many moxes to eat.

Spheres I still have cause people still play storm combo abeit like high tide and ritual seething storm combo.

I would play a slightly different list if I went to starcity games but I haven't been able to coordinate my schedule to go to a star city event.

Artifact (5)
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Collosus
1 Memory Jar / Platinum Angel
1 Mindslaver
1 Triskelion

Blue (22)
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

Black (4)
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Nights Whisper
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Red (5)
1 Burning Wish
3 Goblin Welder
1 Recoup

mana 25
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
3 island
1 Academy Ruins
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Strip Mine
1 Seat of Synod
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard 15
1 Darkblast
1 Deep Analysis
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Pyroclasm
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Razormane Masticore
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tormod's Crypt

I feel that if your going to run 3 gifts you might as well run a gifts engine based deck.  I just have it cause its nice to play if you have an active welder or welder in hand.

[Bubbydan]

  Has anyone who has run Mana Leaks ever thought about Rune Snag?

   For anyone that doesn't know, Rune Snag says
   
    U1
    Counter target spell unless its controller pays 2 plus an additional 2 for each card named Rune Snag in each graveyard.

  So the first one is generally has a little less strength than mana leak, but as the game goes on it gains in power. It seems to stay somewhat usefull in the late game where Mana leak stays at 3 the whole way through.

Dan

[President Skroob]

I think the argument against Rune Snag is that it requires its numbers to be powerful. There is a bit of subtle flexibility in Mana Leak because you don't have to play 4 of them like you do Rune Snag. Basically, with only 3 Rune Snags, you'd be committing yourself to not seeing them too often and, thusly, having them be worse than plain old Mana Leak much of the time. Also, assuming you were trying to decide whether to include Mana Leak or Rune Snag as a 4 of, you'd have to keep in mind that while sideboarding, you can feel free to cut only a few of the Mana Leaks, but with Rune Snag you pretty much are either all in or all out.

I think Rune Snag is alright, don't get me wrong, but I do think the flexibility issue is an important one.

[AJFirst]

Also there's no downside to pitching your second leak to Force, but with Snag you may need to making only the THIRD one you see better than leak.

Also, people play spells with 2 mana open all the time in order to play their drain on your counter. With Leak, you make them use their drain, but with Snag they can just pay it. Then you still have to counter it but they still have their drain.

I'ts not as good as leak in many ways, and i'm not even going to get into sideboarding options. It's a good card, just not in here.
-AJ

[Metman]

I've been playing around with my Slaver list for a while now and have felt like it needed a boost in power.  I fully understand it's role as the last of the dying breed of control decks that utilize cards that manipulate the board.  In the past it has done this very well but is it efficiant enough to pull off wins?  It has for some but recently I feel like there have been too many dead cards in the MD of game one to make a significant difference towards to the outcome.  Games two and three get better, but I really want to be the one ahead 1-0. 

Therefore, I tested out MaxxMatt's proposed list and put my own little twist on it.  I am very attracted to the list because of it gets back to the basics.  It utilizes the decks original synergy of Welder and Thirst.  In addition, I really like Gifts Ungiven as a card, it's super powerful as a tutor, entomber, and enabler.  I see it as psuedo Thirsts with a twist if you catch my drift.  Looking at the originally proposed list I had to make changes.  First off, Fact or Fiction has been "meh" for me for too long.  With increased Thirsts and Goblin Welders I put Memory Jar in it's place.  Second I never liked Crucible and Strip Mine in Slaver.  I tested it for a long time and never felt like Crux made a big enough difference even in matchups where it's supposed to be an allstar.  I replaced the Crux with Tormod's Crypt.  It's too good in the format at the moment plus it's cheaper.  Finally, I felt naked without at least one catch all solution to whatever the oppenent could play.  As was argued earlier Tormod's Cypt, Null Rod, and Meddling Mage all proprose much more significant problems without more cards MD that effect the board.  I am split on it's replacement though.  The two cards I am considering in the spot of MaxxMatt's third Gifts Ungiven are Wipe Away and Burning Wish.  Each card serves as a solution to potential problems.  Wipe Away gets anything but only one at a time and Burning Wish can get just about anything and sometimes in multiples.  Wipe Away is currently in my list but it seems that numerous times in testing I wish it were BS.  BS does allow Tendrils to be played in the side as I often find in the late game that a Tendrils for 12-16 would finish the oppenent off.  On the flip side it butchers the SB by requiring too many sub optimal sorcerys to be played. 

I did some limited testing and really liked how the deck felt in my hands.  All of a sudden, with more artifacts and more grave fillers the Goblin Welders were welcomed in multiples, which was allways something I dreaded.  Before, the Welder relationship was love/hate.

So, before all of you jump on the list toting that the deck has very little board control give it a try, make some adjustments and test.  I did, and found a preliminary list that I really like; it gets back to what made Slaver such a strong deck, the inharent synergy of Goblin Welder, Thirst for Knowledge, and the biggest and most game altering artifacts in the game.

[Eandori]

Read through most of this thread.  Lots of good info here, and good discussions.

I hosted a thread over a year ago talking about how good Gifts Ungiven and Crucible of Worlds were in Control Slaver.  I still absolutely stand by that statement.  The list I play changes very little in different metas and those 2 cards are always pillars of my game play.  Of all the times I have seen people complain about Gifts Ungiven in CS builds, they seem to miss the point of that card in Control Slaver.

I have probably had a gifts pile including just about every card in my decklist.  It's ENTIRELY about reading the situation, guessing what your opponent is trying to do, and making a game plan to do your best job of locking him down, stalling him, or setting up your board/graveyard. 

Crucible is HUGE in CS.  Mana-denial recovery, Searchlands turn Brainstorm into Ancestral, Gifts/Thirst/Fact cares less about pitching lands, no slaver lock is easier then citadel/seat/1 welder, stripmine/waste for the win, etc.  On literally hundreds of games my Gifts Pile included Academy/Strip Mine/Citadel/Library then I just abused them with those lands until I could safely win.  Opponents don't often fear Crucible in slaver as much as they should.

For the record, like it or not, CS has an aspect of Combo deck in it.  Vampiric tutor gets key combo pieces, and does not give away your game plan.  I will always pick Vamp over Mystical.

Like many others have already said, one of the greatest things about CS is the huge number of slots for a specific metagame.  The only reason I go on and on about Gifts and Crucible is because I truely believe that used properly they are pillars in just about any CS build.

Cheers,

[Eandori]

"Second I never liked Crucible and Strip Mine in Slaver.  I tested it for a long time and never felt like Crux made a big enough difference even in matchups where it's supposed to be an allstar.  I replaced the Crux with Tormod's Crypt."

I'm guessing that your meta is huge on GY.  Tormod's Crypt is a bomb against some decks, and absotutely utterly a dead card against other decks.  Oath, Fish, Stax, CS, Gifts, and others can deal with it pretty easily most of the time.  I love that card in my sideboard, but definately not main deck.  Not unless my meta was VERY narrow.

Remember, the Crucible is NOT just there for strip mine.  It's usefull against all vintage decks, and a bomb against some.  In my eyes, thats much more well rounded maindeck then a card thats bomb/dead.

Just a thought.

[Gekoratel]

How is Crucible better than Tormod's Crypt in the current environment.  Against two of the top decks in the format Gifts and Pitch Long I would much rather have Tormod's Crypt in my pile of 60 cards than Crucible.  Crucible does less than nothing against combo because you would need to tap out in order to cast it.  I suppose it discards to TFK but what doesn't?  I think you may be thinking the CS vs. Gifts matchup is all about mana advantage which is true to some extent but CS also needs to worry about slowing down Gifts by containing Yawgmoth's Will and Crypt serves this role quite well.  I don't play much CS so these may just be nonsensical ramblings.

[forests failed you]

I like to view Crucible of Worlds as a Howling Mine that targets me.  The bonus is that it can randomly Slaver lock (which is more relvent that you may think) and lock somebody out with a Strip Mine.  The reason to play CS is that it has inevitibility in every single match up.  That means the longer the game goes the more likely it is that CS will be able to win.  The cards that people bitch about, for not being good enough or fast enough for the metagame (Goblin Welder, Crucible, Mindslaver, Robots, et Cetera) are the cards taht give you this kind of ability to always win late.  CS's role is to push the game as long as possible and then rely on these late and midgame bombs to crush an opponent who has been disrupted to the point of not being able to win.  This is the list I would propose.  I recently split a Black Lotus with it in Michiagan and Finished 10th in VA with it.


Burning Slaver

4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

3 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman

1 Burning Wish
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth/Hurkyl's Recall
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1Time Walk
1 Tinker

1 Mindslaver
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Duplicant
1 Sundering Titan
1 Tormod's Crypt

1 Strip Mine
1 Darksteel Citadel

2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Snow Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea

1 Tolerian Academy

1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire

1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt

1 Black Lotus

Sideboard

3 Duress
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyro Blast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Fire Ice
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Solem Similacrum
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Shattering Spree
1 Hurkyl's Recall/Echoing Truth
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Deep Analysis
1 Pyroclasm

[Windfall]

Wow, that's beautiful dude...  That list is a freakin' ecosystem, totally unreliant on the world outside of it.

I am totally in love with your idea of running Tormod's Crypt, Hurkyl's Recall, Duplicant, Titan, and Chain of Vapor in the mainboard.  You have all of these answers, which is solid.

My only concern is your combo matchup.  At first glance, it looks like your worst matchup.  By no means unwinnable, but still your worst.  I'd probably go ahead and cut the lone Blue Blast in the board and bring in an additional Tormod's Crypt, a lone Stifle, or even a Triskelion (Trike is good in other matchups too, and probably good enough for the SB) for Xantid Swarms.

Slaver has come a long way, adjusting to the metagame like a doppleganger, and I'm glad to see it's still filling the role of the best control deck in the format ^.^

[hitman]

What do you guys think about Jester's Cap in the sideboard against combo/Gifts and other decks with few win conditions in it?  Maybe one or two would be right.  Shattering Spree and Burning Wish is really good.  It's really good against Gifts because it keeps them off their mana and it always gets through to hit something.

[Prometheon]

I agree that the list looks excellent, but doesn't the exclusion of Jar (and to a lesser extent FoF) make the entire Burning Wish--> Tendrils plan a lot more difficult to actually execute? The more this list becomes refined, the more it seems a little unneccesary.

Also, has anyone considered running a singleton Factory in the Citadel slot? It can still become an artifact to weld, but also interacts with Crucible to create infinite chump block fodder (and Fish deterant), or act as one more game winning threat in long games.

I personally use a Seat of the Synod in that slot, because I don't like not having blue mana available. Seat and factory get hurt by wasteland, whereas citadel does not. However, factory is a sort of middle ground. It still gets hit by waste, like seat, but does no get shut down by Null Rod, unlike Citadel.

[Metman]

On the Crucile argument, I played it for a while and stood by it hapharzardly the entire time.  In the end though, it showed up and didn't do enough quick enough for me to justify playing it.  I fully understand that Slaver wants to put the game into turns 7+ where it can stabalize the game and take control.  Crucible is great at protecting the mana base as well as hindering there's but I found that it sat in my hand when I was playing other, more important spells.  I can see it's strengths but found that my style of play exposed it's weaknesses too much.

I'm guessing that your meta is huge on GY. Tormod's Crypt is a bomb against some decks, and absotutely utterly a dead card against other decks. Oath, Fish, Stax, CS, Gifts, and others can deal with it pretty easily most of the time. I love that card in my sideboard, but definately not main deck. Not unless my meta was VERY narrow.

Tormod's Crypt hits too many decks in the nuts.  Sure, a swift kick to the groin won't kill anybody, but it cripples the unlucky long enough to beat the crap out of them while they are down.  Besides, it's cheap, it's an artifact, and they now come in foil.   How many decks suffer from a resolved Crypt?  Slaver, Gifts, both Long variants, Ichorid, Stax, and even Fish can suffer from it.  It can shut off Grunt and if you happen to be facing Ghoul Fish you can shut off their little engine.  Albiet it's not a game ender but in the first game it serves a productive catch all purpose.  It's way too strong right now; I'm surprised more decks don't find a place for a zero cc artifact that does the damage it is capable of. 

On a side note, has anybody done extensive testing with Wipe Away?  In my recent testing I can't tell you how many times my oppenents complained about it being faster than their counters.  It has served as an amazing way of taking care of Oath of Druids, Null Rod, Tormod's Crypt, and Meddling Mage without the use of countermagic.

[Windfall]

Re: The Tendrils plan w/out Jar
You don't actually PLAN on running the Tendrils for 20 game with this deck, it's just there.  In fact, I believe the ONLY reason it's there is so you can win in turns, and it just happens to win other games on the spot when the situation allows.

Type 1 is a format where you really want to be able to "just win," which is one of the weaknesses I've been experiencing with Oath.

Re: The Crucible plan
Crucible of Worlds is in the deck for two reasons.  One, it gives you a mana advantage.  Two, it allows you to Slaver lock.  Gifts Ungiven is also a more powerful card because of Crux.  Slaver likes to have lots of mana, and when you have more mana than your opponent, you usually end up winning.  On a side note, discarding lands to Thirst is less painful when you have Crucible.

Re: Citadel over Seat/Factory
You're forgetting one key card - Gorilla Shaman.  The original reason for including Citadel back in the day was to ignore Gorilla Shaman.  Citadel is better for several reasons.  The first being it discards to Thirst.  Two, it doesn't die to Shaman or Wasteland (two very prominent cards).  Finally, it is better with Welder (Welder makes mana by welding it in/out for another artifact mana source).  The deck is more synergistic with Citadel, and that makes it the wiser choice.

[forests failed you]

Cap can miss.  Especially if they have Tendrils in hand.

Crypt, Duress, and Slaver always hit!!!

[Wudil]

Cap can miss. Especially if they have Tendrils in hand.

Crypt, Duress, and Slaver always hit!!!

Except against Oath for example which is still prominant here in France, even if it makes so little Top8... or (a bit less) with the "new" combo list called "Ze Br4in Storm" one of our best player is running actually which makes really good results (you can find a list of it hereor there).

I've been toying with different lists of Slaver and was finally surprised to see my prefered one is the same as yours ffy with theses changes:

- Tormod's + Jester's (mostly due to metagame choice)
- Vault + Petal (since I prefer having colored mana and reusable artifact via Y-Win)

and - E-Truth + C-Wish (I'm testing right now with the sideboard changed to support it)

Sideboard being (with more and more Ichorid and Oath in France):

SB:  1 Trickbind (If opponent doesn't run Duress or having an attacking Xantid, he loses)
SB:  1 Tendrils of Agony
SB:  1 Shattering Spree (best removal in Sorcery)
SB:  1 Rolling Earthquake (in place of Pyroclasm)
SB:  1 Razormane Masticore (Best removal creature that doesn't care about Null Rod)
SB:  1 Rack and Ruin
SB:  1 Misdirection (to get on C-Wish, would be replaced by a Duress if I wasn't running C-Wish in the maindeck).
SB:  1 Fire / Ice / Tormod's
SB:  1 Rebuild / Hurkyl's Recall / E-Truth / Rushing River (Would prefer Hurkyl's but Rebuild would be better to escape CoTV@2, depends on the meta)
SB:  1 Deep Analysis
SB:  1 Brain Freeze (to kill in response to Tendrils or another BrainFreeze in "surprise")
SB:  2 Duress
SB:  2 Blood Moon (Metagame slot)

I'm really pleased with this list even if I'm still tempted to run Memory Jar MD but this would maybe lead to run one more Welder to abuse its power and the overall artifacts power...

[Kirika]

@Crucible - I been running Crucible since the days of AK-slaver.  Its awesome with strip and fetch lands and allows for a slaver lock which you can gifts/intuition for if you have a welder.  It is true crucible isn't too good in the short game but it enables slaver lock and is easier to cast then a penta/triska-vus if you don't have a welder.

@Tormod's Crypt - seems really good in a powered enviroment.  I don't run it cause I end up playing alot of aggro in a non proxy local shop metagame.

@Citadel/Seat.  I tried Seat for awhile I didn't like it cause it would get wasted or monkeyed too much so went back to Citadel.

@Jester's Cap - It is pretty good against control but against combo I rather have my sphere's of resistance. Cap tends to be too slow against combo baring a really fast accellerated hand or thirsting it and welding it.   It has no affect on the board or hand which is why I wouldn't run it maindeck but not a bad sideboard against control with few win conditions.

@Cunning Wish is a nice idea but space in the maindeck and then in the wishboard is pretty limited.  Running cunning wish for just misdirection, trickbind and brain freeze?  I used to run cunning wishes in keeper awhile ago. its nice to run to wish for removal or card drawing though.  Not to sold on the wish for answer to combo.   Prefer spheres, labs are a little to slow.  Xanthids and duress ruin the wish for answer plan.  Sphere they either have to have alot of mana or bounce the sphere and they need to find bounce usually which gives you time to win.

@Rolling Earthquake - that seems like a really nice idea instead of pyroclasm  i'm not to sure as the taking damage might be relavent since I run nightwhispers for mroe draw power since i sort of miss the draw power of AK slaver.

@Shattering Spree - its really nice but in slaver we really don't have all that much red to abuse it.  Since you are running cunning wish maybe run the shatter with buyback.  I forget the name off the top of my head.

@Bloodmoon - thats really cute would try to get in at least 4 basics though to support it better.

Caltrops is really good against ichroid since most of their creatures are X/1 so if ichorid is popular in your area. Board 1 or 2 Caltrops.   I had taken caltrops out of my board for ftk to kill jotun grunts.   The one powerless ichorid player at our local shop doesn't show up every time.

[Roxas]

@Crucible - I been running Crucible since the days of AK-slaver.  Its awesome with strip and fetch lands and allows for a slaver lock which you can gifts/intuition for if you have a welder.  It is true crucible isn't too good in the short game but it enables slaver lock and is easier to cast then a penta/triska-vus if you don't have a welder.

The problem with this is that what you call the "short game" is becoming increasingly important in Vintage. Meandeck Gifts and Pitch Long usually could not care less if you resolve a Crucible, even if it is accompanied with a Strip Mine. The card is amazing against Stax, yes, but does Control Slaver really need that kind of help in an already good matchup that is becoming increasingly scarce?

@Jester's Cap - It is pretty good against control but against combo I rather have my sphere's of resistance. Cap tends to be too slow against combo baring a really fast accellerated hand or thirsting it and welding it.   It has no affect on the board or hand which is why I wouldn't run it maindeck but not a bad sideboard against control with few win conditions.

Cap is too often to slow to do anything in just about any matchup, even as a sideboard card. Gifts decks can often manage to Gifts their good cards into the hand and graveyard once they see the Cap, Oath beats it to the table by a large margin, combo tends to win before it actually gets activated, and so forth.

Caltrops is really good against ichroid since most of their creatures are X/1 so if ichorid is popular in your area. Board 1 or 2 Caltrops.   I had taken caltrops out of my board for ftk to kill jotun grunts.   The one powerless ichorid player at our local shop doesn't show up every time.

Caltrops does absolutely nothing against the Dread Return variants, though. Recurring Tormod's Crypts are probably your best bet in that sort of matchup; make sure to board in artifact destruction as well in order to deal with Chalice.