[Free Article] So Many Insane Plays -- The Parfait Ambush!

[waywreth]

I would definately love to see that matchup.  I've played the Parfait vs. Slaver/Tezz deck and lose over 75% of the time.  While Parfait has a great combo matchup, and a decent aggro matchup, the control matchup isn't a good one.

[brianpk80]

What are this decks best available weapons vs. U/B/W and U/B/G Fish?

Swords to Plowshares on an Isochron Scepter.  Red Elemental Blast on an Isochron Scepter.  Humility.  Goblin Trenches.  Land Tax is good in this match-up too. 

Does it ever have a prayer vs. R/G or R/G/W Beatz?

Not usually.  Opponent's Gorilla Shaman is particularly brutal on this. 

[neotrophy]

I think that the secret to the control matchup is that you have the better draw engine.  You basically have to play to stop them winning, then trust the draw engine to throw up more inconveniences than they can deal with.

Basically, this deck has the best draw engine around.  Cards win in the control matchup.

[brianpk80]

No, this deck is not a joke.   Yes, it is the real deal.   You shouldn't take my word for it though.  You should try it for yourself.   I've put countless hours into this deck.   The printing of Ethersworn Canonist and unrestriction of Mox Diamond has given Parfait the tools to compete.   I won't spoil the rest of the decklist, but you can take a look for yourself

I don't know if there's too much I have left to add to the thread here, but in closing, I should point out while it's easy to meticulously pick apart individual card choices in a deck like this, you should be credited for recognizing the opening that materialized for Parfait with the printing of Ethersworn Canonist coupled with the unrestriction of Mox Diamond.  Good work. 

[TheOrangePet]

Magus of the Moat vs. Moat

and...

Ghost Quarter vs. Wasteland

Preferencial choices?

[lastbeliever]

So, if anyone is still reading this thread, I have some new results from testing to offer up, While I found Blood Moon to be effective, Stevens statement of Back to Basics being better struck me as something worth challenging. So I swapped my two Blood Moons and my lone Mountain for two Back to Basics and a single Island and shuffled up. The version I was using was the original posted version -1 Swords to Plowshares and -1 Argavian Find for the two B2B. When Back to Basics resolved, it almost singlehandedly won. While not as dominant against the storm decks in our gauntlet as Blood Moon, it was much more effective than its red cousin against Workshop decks and Fish decks; Chant into Back to Basics against a tapped out Stax or Stiflenaught build (seemingly the most popular of the Fish variants in Northern California) all but wrapped up the game. Over all, I think Back to Basics to be the superior choice for the main deck over Blood Moon. Is either of them the optimal choice for their two card slots? Unfortunately testing time is short and I cannot accurately of definitively answer that question. I feel there is certainly some merit to a long term-mana denial slot or two. I understand this is not the most extensive post and this is not the hot thread anymore, but I felt my meager findings worth posting. I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and I hope Worlds shakes up standard...

[ArthurKing]

I've been playing around with this and it is really fun to play. Does anyone else have a problem with the win condition? 8x 2/* creatures seems just too slow for me. Not that I don't love their abilities, but with them, I can't beat jank. Combo is simpler, but jank comes and just wins. Has anyone tested the angel?

[islanderboi10]

So has there been any new testing or results with this deck?
How about a splash color?
I am thinking about building this deck as it seems pretty fun and new.
Thoughts?

Is mono white the best way to go?
Or is a splash red? Blue?

Or what about running the plainswalker Elspeth, Knight-Errant as a win condition?
Do you think it is too slow?

Thanks!

[saspook]

I do like this deck, but it often seems to run out of steam very quickly with the next ten turns being draw go without a tax/rack in play - So I would like to add more creatures, the obvious one being Glowriders.

Using the latest decklist
+3 Glowriders
-1 Trinisphere
-1 Argivian Find
-1 Zuron Orb

[ArthurKing]

Glowriders really fit well into the deck's concept, but I would be skeptical for another 1 toughness creature.
I did not read the article, but I found that Mistveil Plains are great for recycling cards and shuffling them back in with tax.

[Namingway]

It seems to me that Glowriders would slow this deck down quite a lot, since most of Parfait's spells are non-creature ones.

By the way, what do you think of the following card for Parfait?

Path to Exile
W
Instant
Uncommon
Remove target creature from the game. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put it into play tapped, then shuffle his or her library.

The card is in MTG Salvation's partial Conflux spoiler.

[saspook]

It seems to me that Glowriders would slow this deck down quite a lot, since most of Parfait's spells are non-creature ones.

This is true, but it affects us less than trinisphere does, as there are very few cards that cost 3 or more.  Glowriders also stacks with Aura of Silence, while Trinishpere and Aura are redundant.

[BruiZar]

It seems to me that Glowriders would slow this deck down quite a lot, since most of Parfait's spells are non-creature ones.

By the way, what do you think of the following card for Parfait?

Path to Exile
W
Instant
Uncommon
Remove target creature from the game. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put it into play tapped, then shuffle his or her library.

The card is in MTG Salvation's partial Conflux spoiler.

I see the synergy with Land Tax, and the fact that it comes into play tapped means that if you use it during your opponents turn you benefit from land tax before your opponent benefits from the additional land. Also, boarding in 4 extra STP's means you should have very little problems with any aggro deck you encounter.

[BruiZar]

After testing, I've come to the conclusion that Jotun Grunt is an obsolute neccesity for the deck. It puts back cards such as balance, swords to plowshares, chants, abeyance and abolish as well as basic lands in your upkeep, after that you trigger tax, search for 3 lands and shuffle your library. The odds that the cards on the bottom of your library are now on the top seven are pretty big. Once you draw a card / use scroll rack to draw into business spells. Besides that, Jotun Grunt clears graveyards for Tarmogoyfs and serves as a clock. Aura of Silence is very underwhelming in my experience.

[VideoGameBoy]

Ghost Quarter vs. Wasteland

Preferencial choices?

I'm surprised no one jumped on this the first time you brought it up.  It might be due to the inherent antipathy most Spike players have against drawback cards.

Just brainstorming:
Pros
1) It is obviously nuts against decks with limited or no basics (e.g., combo), as the card becomes Strip Mines 2-5.
2) It possesses slighlty more synergy with the Land Tax engine (ensuring you have fewer lands than your opponent), although the search is optional.  It is slightly better than Wasteland with Tax in play in that you can nuke one of your own lands and effectively only reduce your manabase by 1 instead of 2 if desired.  This effect can also be used to trade for colored mana by replacing a tapped land.
3) It is arguably more synergistic with Crucible of Worlds, which has been admitted to be very includable.
4) It can help with smoothing your own manabase when you go for the color splash, as it a fetch that costs you a land drop.

Cons
1) This Parfait build has a ton of combo hate already, and sans the Tax engine in effect it is generally inferior to Wasteland in the same matchups because of the drawback.
2) Wasteland is superior to Ghost Quarter against a deck sporting a good number of basics, as you are possibly helping them thin their deck and smooth their manabase.

I think the card overrall has more flexibility and versatility than Wasteland, but the fetch drawback may simply be a net detractor in too many matchups to warrant it being an unconditional inclusion.

[ArthurKing]

Video Game Boy:
I tested Ghost Quarter a few times and while Wasteland takes out tapped lands without a problem, Ghost Quarter actually puts in an untapped land under your opponent's control giving them the ability to play additional effects when otherwise tapped out. I otherwise agree with most of your pros and cons, and still I concluded that Wastes were the superior choice.

BruiZar:
I would love to see your parfait list, I am still building off my old lists and I have not yet tested Grunt, but it seems like it would be a fantastic addition. I liked the recycling ability of Mistveil Plains, but Grunt does the job far better, swings for 4, and also hits goyf. Do you have a moat in the side? If so, what is your win condition? I am still looking for a flying win condition for when I slam down a moat and Serra Avenger came to mind. Opinions? Is she completely inferior to Exalted?

Finally has anyone tried Dust to Dust? Steve is right in that I always find myself short on artifact control, as a sorcery its no Rack Ruin but it allows me to keep it monoW.

[Raph Caron]

Finally has anyone tried Dust to Dust? Steve is right in that I always find myself short on artifact control, as a sorcery its no Rack Ruin but it allows me to keep it monoW.

Abolish is probably the best option. You could also try Replenish to reuse all those Seals/Auras.

[CephalidHunter]

Well, I have been playing Parfait for many years (maybe five or so) until i stopped playing a year or two ago. I played alot of MWS and in tourny's up in New England. I almost always used a W/r or W/r/b build that when i last stopped playing looked alot like this:

9 plains
5 mountains

4 swords to plowshares
4 orim's chant
4 lava dart
4 red elemental blast
3 hide/seek

4 land tax
4 scroll rack
4 isochron scepter
4 goblin charbelcher

1 balance
1 seal of clensing
1 enlightened tutor
1 goblin trenches

1 mox pearl
1 black lotus
1 lotus petal
1 mox ruby
1 mox diamond
1 sol ring
1 chrome mox


This deck operated a lot differently, using the belcher-tax combo while using efficient stall tactics with scepter to live long enough to "combo" out. Lava dart was key in killing problem creatures while triggering tax, and with no nonbasics would allow belcher to kill in one hit. Hide/seek added versitility and another thing to add to a scepter to make it more dangerous. The one downside of your build is that triggering tax is a lot harder and zorb isn't usually good enough.

This new version looks better, and this new version alone will make me reconsider quitting the game. So thanks.

[Phele]

Sorry for bringing back this thread, but I think there is a reason to revitalise it.

Enlightened Tutor is unrestricted and I think this deck is the best place for it. Any ideas for a good configuration.

I will test some new lists in the next days and post results then. Maybe others will start being interested in this deck again as well.

[Monomax]

I found argivian find to be way behind Enlightened Tutor.

I found that Trinisphere was good... but it cant block 7/11 so I remove it and Im happy with the change.

Finally, I will play Silence over Abeyance when M10 will be out since its WAY better with  instead of  ... Its gives you opportunity to first turn silence, second turn drop aura of silence which completely slow your opponent down.

Moat is also a good friend in alots of match-up so with 2 Moat +3 enl. tutor... you always have what you need to prevent walking creature. Exalted Angel nicely support the combat team with her flying ability.

I have Steve initial list

-3 Argivian Find
-1 Trinisphere
-1 Tormod's Crypt

-4 SB Abeyance

+2 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Exalted Angel
+1 Runed Halo
+1 Seal of Cleansing

+4 SB Silence

Rune Halo is trully excellent... you always have the card near your hand with the 3 tutor. Its a tutorable enchantment that prevent Belcher, Tendrils, 7/11, 11/11 or anything that could get you by speed (since you cant tutor balance or Swords)

Im actually toying with adding a fourth enl. tutor in exchange with Exalted or Runed Halo... but they actually are doing the job so I dont know yet.

[Random Noob]

Could it be that this Deck would be vitalized by 4 Enlightened Tutor, and maybe Key/Vault Combo ? It came into my mind after myself testing along with Canonist and Null Rods. Then those days I played against a white Legacy Painter running 4 Enlightened, that brought me to this idea. I didn't ever played with or against Parfait, so I just would like to ask this question to Players that have some experience with it.

Greetings

[covetousrat]

Has anyone thought of playing Parfait now with so many Stax variants and Tezz decks around. The decline of combo variants most notably TPS/Long variants proves another strong point. Parfait runs maindeck Seal of Cleansing and Aura of silence and strong creatures; Mindcensor and Cannonist. This is the deck that Im testing with the inclusion of TimeVault and Key.

10 Islands
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

4 Ethersworn Cannonist
4 Aven Mindcensor

1 Balance
3 Swords TP
3 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura of Silence
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Senseis Divining Top
1 VOltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Pithing Needle
3 Enlightened TUtor
2 Argivian Find
4 Land tax
1 Trinisphere
4 Scroll Rack

1 Black Lotus
1 Sol ring
4 Mox Diamond
4 Mox Pearl, Emerald, Sapphire, Jet

SB
2 Pithing Needle
3 Tormods Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Aura of silence
2 Orims Chant
1 Abeyance
1 Rule of Law
1 Moat
2 AUra of silence

[zeus-online]

Honestly, the decline of combo is probably unfavorable for this deck, seeing as it runs 4 canonist and 4 mindcensors.

[clayparson]

I was thinking about this deck today, and I wondered if anyone has tried porting the Parfait card advantage engine (Land Tax+Scroll Rack) into another deck. I mean using white cards to create a soft lock is fun and all, but considering you have a card drawing engine that (if unmolested) outstrips any other engine around it seems like there are more broken possibilities.  Land Tax seemingly makes an opportunity for a solid 5 color mana base (consisting mainly of basic land, and last I heard Wasteland gets played a fair bit) and once you start Scrolling for tons more cards than your opponent, you can probably do some pretty insane stuff.
Any thoughts?  This will be my pet project of the week for sure.

[Troy_Costisick]

I was thinking about this deck today, and I wondered if anyone has tried porting the Parfait card advantage engine (Land Tax+Scroll Rack) into another deck. I mean using white cards to create a soft lock is fun and all, but considering you have a card drawing engine that (if unmolested) outstrips any other engine around it seems like there are more broken possibilities.  Land Tax seemingly makes an opportunity for a solid 5 color mana base (consisting mainly of basic land, and last I heard Wasteland gets played a fair bit) and once you start Scrolling for tons more cards than your opponent, you can probably do some pretty insane stuff.
Any thoughts?  This will be my pet project of the week for sure.

Other decks require maximum card slots devoted to disrupting your opponent's strategy.  Playing Land Tax and Scroll Rack does not interefere with your opponent's goals at all.  In fact, you're giving him an extra turn or two to set up his combo and find countermagic backup.  By the time the Tax/Rack engine can come online for any effect, he's already got all the cards he needs to win.  You have to drop threat after threat after threat to stay ahead of the top decks in this format.  A good number of deck rely on cards-in-play advantage, not cards-in-hand advantage.

Peace,

-Troy

[nataz]

thats not a fair at all. Like intuition AK or TFK or any other pure card drawing mech does anything to your opponents strat? The only draw engine that is commonly played and meets your standard is DC.

The real problems with tax/scroll are lots of sub optimal lands, based on an artifact, requires two cards to function, and requires you to be down on land.

If you can solve those problems, or at least mitagate them, you're on your way. Who cares about interaction?

[Raph Caron]

I was thinking about this deck today, and I wondered if anyone has tried porting the Parfait card advantage engine (Land Tax+Scroll Rack) into another deck. I mean using white cards to create a soft lock is fun and all, but considering you have a card drawing engine that (if unmolested) outstrips any other engine around it seems like there are more broken possibilities.  Land Tax seemingly makes an opportunity for a solid 5 color mana base (consisting mainly of basic land, and last I heard Wasteland gets played a fair bit) and once you start Scrolling for tons more cards than your opponent, you can probably do some pretty insane stuff.
Any thoughts?  This will be my pet project of the week for sure.

Funny. I was thinking about REMOVING tax / rack from my parfait list, as it is so vulnerable to all the Null Rods around.

[BruiZar]

I was thinking about this deck today, and I wondered if anyone has tried porting the Parfait card advantage engine (Land Tax+Scroll Rack) into another deck. I mean using white cards to create a soft lock is fun and all, but considering you have a card drawing engine that (if unmolested) outstrips any other engine around it seems like there are more broken possibilities.  Land Tax seemingly makes an opportunity for a solid 5 color mana base (consisting mainly of basic land, and last I heard Wasteland gets played a fair bit) and once you start Scrolling for tons more cards than your opponent, you can probably do some pretty insane stuff.
Any thoughts?  This will be my pet project of the week for sure.

Funny. I was thinking about REMOVING tax / rack from my parfait list, as it is so vulnerable to all the Null Rods around.

1 word

abolish

[japankralsam]

Hello this is our decklist which we made in 2006-08 it is own mind property of Brothers of Fire from Czech Republic

Engine:
4x Scroll Rack
4x Land Tax
3x Zuran Orb

Protection:
3x Aura of Silence
1x Seal of Cleansing
4x Orim's Chant
2x Blood Moon

Anti-Creatures:
4x Sword to Plowshares
2x Humility
1x Moat
1x Balance

Tutors:
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
3x Tithe

Kill:
4x Goblin Charbelcher

Art.Sources:
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
2x Chrome mox  /Mox Pearl and/or Ruby
2x Mox Diamond
1x Lotus Petal    /Black Lotus

11x Plains (prefer pieces from Tempest set)
1x Mountain (Mirrage)
1x Swamp (euroland)
1x Scrabland
1x Plateau

SB is influenced by local field or type of tournament:

3x Engineered Plague / on  my field exist many of merfolks or goblins (mono raced) or vs Oath
1x Aura of Silence
2x Abolish / Seal of Cleansing
1x Rack and Ruin
3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Argivian Find
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Relic of Progenitus

This deck is drafted on Budget style to get a prices. I played him before many years alot, because Parfait was suitable for creature field and old times are old times. But in my opinion this build or any similar have chance to disrupt modern field.

Auras, seal, permanents, swords - again Mud style
Masive artifact destroyment again all Tezz, controls etc.
Humility rape all kind of Fish or Gush Dryads - or u get enough time
Ichorid, i hope i have enough cards in SB - humility is too good
Combos - i dont know mby Orim or Auras

But i had and have fun with this deck. If you have an idea how to pimp my deck, please let me know.



Jiří Piňos

[The Atog Lord]

japankralsam, this thread is quite old. Please do not reanimate ancient threads which have seen no posts in a long time. If you would care to write about this deck, please start a new thread. Thank you.

Thread Locked.

Rich