Mono blue storm, brought to you by retract

[silvernail]

I suppose we can call this either Veda Storm or Retract and Reload

    1 Tolarian Academy
    9 Island
    1 Chrome Mox
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mana Vault
    1 Time Walk
    1 Ancestral Recall
    3 Tormod's Crypt
    4 Vedalken Archmage
    4 Force of Will
    4 Meditate
    4 Retract
    4 Brainstorm
    3 Merchant Scroll
    3 Brain Freeze
    4 Thoughtcast
    4 Remand

The goal of the deck is to use retract to replay 0 cc or 1 cc artifacts to generate large storm counts and finish with a brain freeze. It has the benefit of being mono blue, but that could change if it seems needed.

I mostly ported this deck from legacy, and instead of mana artifacts I had 0 cc creatures, but it wasn't working because I never had enough mana. So I figured Vintage had mana artifacts so this deck might work better in that format.

Its almost 1 am so I have no idea how this deck fairs vs most vintage decks, but what do you think ?

[emidln]

Why not take advantage of Timetwister?

[netherspirit]

Tinker and Memory Jar would be awesome in here! I'm messing about with something similar but it uses black as well; giving me Yawgmoth's Bargain, Tendrils of Agony, and the black tutors. These are all things you could look into.

[Hydra]

Thorme made something similiar back in 2005, that may be a good starting point on what could be worth trying.

I'd definitely watch out against Drain decks though, they'd have a field day with the large number of targets you provide for their Drains.

[Guevara59]

I used to make a deck like this but i used a differnet  route.  Cards like reset, timespiral, turnabout, high tide, and frantic research.  This take on the deck has little artifatcs allowing you to win on their turn with reset, you always untap  your lands with the cards i mentioned above and play other cards.  I have a rough decklist below.

1x Timespiral
4x High Tide
4x Turnabout
1x Frantic Research
4x Rewind
4x Reset
4x Brainstorm
3x Brain freeze
4x Meditate
1x Ancestral Recall
4x FoW
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
2x Impulse
1x Lotus Petal
21x Island

This is an older version and let me know if it helps!!

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

sensei's top and archmage is pretty broken.

[Duncan]

What will you do against chalice@0? Hurkyl's recall or rebuild might be of your interest.

[silvernail]

The deck has lots of issues, but first and fore most the concept is artifacts + retract or maybe some Hurkly's Recalls to generate storm. Not yawgmoths bargains or high tides and turnabouts.

TimeTwister gives my opponent cards and so does Memory Jar, and right now I don't think the deck has the counter magic to protect itself if I give my opponent a hand full of cards.


Tinker + Collossus is something I may add though.

That other list however might be a good way to modifiy the deck.

[netherspirit]

TimeTwister gives my opponent cards and so does Memory Jar, and right now I don't think the deck has the counter magic to protect itself if I give my opponent a hand full of cards.

Replace Remand with Misdirection and you're fine.

[Harlequin]

REPEAL!!

OMG where are your x4 Repeals!   It answers chalice and combos very nicely with Mox Sapphire.

[silvernail]

Based on that other list I went back and modified my current list to this

    1 Tolarian Academy
    4 Island
    2 Tropical Island
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Vedalken Archmage
    1 Darksteel Colossus
    1 Mox Diamond
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mana Vault
    1 Time Walk
    1 Ancestral Recall
    3 Retract
    2 Brain Freeze
    4 Thoughtcast
    2 Tormod's Crypt
    2 Remand
    2 Defense Grid
    2 Hurkyl's Recall
    3 Repeal
    1 Tinker
    1 Grim Monolith
    1 Chrome Mox
    1 Mind's Desire
    1 Frantic Search
    4 Conjurer's Bauble
    1 Crop Rotation
    1 Gush
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Defense Grid
SB: 4 Xantid Swarm
SB: 3 Echoing Truth
SB: 4 Mystic Remora


Its a hybrid between my list and his, and seems to own things that don't run duress or force of will so far on MWS. That's not saying much though.

[Methuselahn]

my brevity will reflect this entire thread.

Retract is garbage.  Talk about way too narrow.

How does this build beat (Pitch Long) as today's top combo deck?

[silvernail]

I dont know if it can or not, Haven't gotten to test it very much. I posted it here so it might get some improvements.

[wethepeople]

I played a deck like this over the summer. It's kill was fairly-consistent, though it was disrupted easily.

Originally, the list used Retracts, but soon turned into Hurkyl's Recalls to get around various hate-spells. It may slow the deck down a turn or so, but that is minor.

Repeal is made for this deck, afore-mentioned by Harlequin. It cantrips, allows you to get by hate, and can be used to generate Storm.

Rather than playing Brain Freeze, I personally would play Empty the Warrens. I tried using Freeze, but found it difficult to win, unless that is, you go off without any disruption. Tendrils was my primary-kill, although this all took place prior to the release of Time Spiral. I would use ETW if I were to play the deck now, because I often times found myself generating a mini-storm, but not a lethal Tendrils.

This deck feels similar to a less-consistant than Belcher, but still has similar issues. In this deck, Vedalken Archmage is the equivalent to Goblin Charbelcher, although it less-commonly results in a win. What do you do when they Force of Will your Archmage?

Tinker/Sundering Titan are good for an alternate win condition. Titan is better than DSC because it leaves a permanent effect on the opponent, thus making it harder for them to win, even after it is removed from play, whereas DSC does not. Enough said.