Chrome mox in aggro control

[Guli]

Part I, the opening

A couple of months ago I started experimenting with Aether Vial. Not for the first time in my life though but rather the first time that I seriously tested and deepened my understanding of the aspects and functions of the Vial. Vial is a great Tempo card that is dangerous for decks that are not aiming to win the early turns. It can make prison/stax decks completely futile in their attempts to deny the resolution of your creatures. But the best thing about vial is that he gives you flexibility,speed and shroud against counterspells. Another and last thing I will mention is the ability of gaining tempo in the long run. Now this is important because the tempo advantage is not present WHEN you cast vial but will only be visible a turn later. (kinda like Dark Confidant when it comes to manipulating draw)

I think the restrictions of a lot of blue fuel cards woke up a lot of people. They redirected their attention to other potential cards that were never really explored. In that way I am glad that the restrictions were made. However slowly cards like Impulse, Intition are seeing more and more play. Negate has become a solid counter because people generally don't care about 'creatures'. In a sense that is a valid argument unless the creatures contain a wide range threating ability.

The goal of this thread is to get a discussion going about chrome mox. Combo/Naus is a good place for chrome for reasons that I am not going to point out in this article. But can there be another home for chrome? It is acceleration no matter what the prize is it will be a great tempo play. I want to mention that if you don't want this kind of acceleration the other route is Null Rod. I stated in previous topics that you either can go Vial-Fish or Rod-Fish. Well the idea of replacing Vial with Chrome came to me. The principle is still the same, you get more mana and gain tempo. Basically it comes down to getting your stuff hit faster and harder. If you play 3 colors for example you will have 8 cards that will give the ability to drop a turn 1 bear with an ability. (Canonist, TeeG, Shusher, Confidant, Glowrider, Magus of the Moon, ...) Being able to drop your dudes faster means you are improving your clock as well. And in many situations that mana drain isn't active yet and you get the chance to at least avoid drain in that critical turn 1.

Zoom out for a sec and let us try to look at the bigger picture. Assume you are playing with 25-30 creatures and say every creature has its purpose to answer a couple of match ups. This means you will always have a couple of creatures that can be pitched to chrome. You know what else this means? Chrome creates an universal synergy between ALL your creatures. You will be able to pitch the ones you don't need in a certain match up to get in the ones that spell trouble for the opponent. Another thing I want to note here is that there are a lot of multi colored high quality creatures out there. This means that you can choose the color imprinted on chrome mox which translates into color fixing.

Practical illustration:
You cast a magus of the moon and fix yourself the color green with chrome mox by pitching a second gaddock teeg.

Vexing Shusher, Meddling Mage, Gaddock TeeG, Azorius Guildmage and Sculler are examples of powerful multicolored/hybrid creatures.

I would like to hear pros and contras with argumentation in this thread. I am not interested in a deck list at all. In fact I am not even posting one because I have none to present for the time being. (I am working on it) I also have no tournament reports to give you at the time being. So the thread is about the IDEA of chrome mox and fire off a discussion about the possibilities and risks.

Questions that I am struggling with right now are:

Do I need to compensate for the quantity loss by adding draw?
Or do I better focus on the quality of the creatures I drop and try to control the game from that point?
Is responding ,with acceleration for myself, to all the quick decks out there better than trying to shut their acceleration/winconditions down (null rod)?

So let's get this discussion started. If you have a list I will be happy to take a look at it, just send a PM. If you have a deck WITH with chrome mox (NOT null rod or Vial) and have insights to share (tournament play) then I say go ahead post it in public here but back it up.

Thanks for your time!

Guli

note I will be adding more into the discussion as the thread grows.

[neotrophy]

Quick answer.  Yes, it is a good card for fish type decks that don't run Null Rod.

Fish decks' number one problem is losing before they establish their board control.  Their number two problem is giving the opponent too much time to win, even with the disruption that they're putting down.  Chrome Mox helps with both of these by getting critters on the board faster, where they can have their disruptive effect, and where they can be a lcok of an extra turn.

As far as card draw goes, I believe that you should be playing a fair amount anyway in any fish deck, but it becomes even more vital when playing Chrome Mox.  Having to imprint a spell means that you have one avenue of attack against your opponent's strategy.  You need to be able to quickly shut down as many lines of play as possible, and you simply can't rely on the luck of the top deck to give you the next component; you need to dig for it.  Playing Chrome Mox puts you into top deck mode a turn earlier, and the virtual card advantage of your disruptive pieces isn't adequate compensation.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Fish decks' number one problem is losing before they establish their board control.  Their number two problem is giving the opponent too much time to win, even with the disruption that they're putting down.  Chrome Mox helps with both of these by getting critters on the board faster, where they can have their disruptive effect, and where they can be a lcok of an extra turn.

Fish does have a problem in that it usually can't draw cards worth much, though, and Chrome is card disadvantage.

[Dr.KnowMaD]

Chrome Mox is a good card but it is not only card disadvantage but also dead to Null Rod which is rampant.  So thats double dead for this card at the moment.  If the Nulls go, I think this could make an addition in more decks in general.

Personally I like the Diamond more.


later,
Dr.KnowMaD

[Guli]

You can't just dismiss artifact acceleration because Null Rod exists. Vial is also affected by Rod but with 25+ creatures the effect of ROD wasn't rampage at all. I don't think that the opponent will be that happy to draw a Rod against an aggro deck. It shuts down 1 card on the board and can most likely be destroyed by creatures or instants.

Are you really worried about Null Rod when playing aggro? It is annoying at best but it doesn't make me crumble or anything.

[nineisnoone]

Are you really worried about Null Rod when playing aggro? It is annoying at best but it doesn't make me crumble or anything.

That's sort of the point.  You are right.  Normally you don't care about Null Rod when playing Aggro.  But when you are running a card disadvantage Mox, you suddenly do care about Null Rod.  You care about it a lot.  Why open yourself up to that?  Aether Vial is infinitely better than a Mox anything in a aggro deck.  Aether Vial is typically an unrestricted color generating Sol Ring with the bonus advantage of giving all your creatues "uncounterable" and "flash."

There is basically almost no reason to ever go for Chrome Mox over Aether Vial.  And there is never a reason why you would want to run both.  Mox Diamond is slightly better because the lands become discarded meaning that there are ways (Crucible and Life from the Loam) that they can still be useful.

The only aggro deck that I would consider Chrome Mox for is an all-in red type deck (or basically first turn Magus of the Moon), which I don't especially consider to be a good deck.  But can work as a sort of rogue/catch-them-with-their-pants-down sort of deck.  Most decks these days are very good about getting basic lands into play early. 

Or Belcher.

[Troy_Costisick]

That's sort of the point.  You are right.  Normally you don't care about Null Rod when playing Aggro.  But when you are running a card disadvantage Mox, you suddenly do care about Null Rod.

Absolutely Right.  And also Chalice and Gorrila Shaman and all the other artifact hate out there.  Given the chance, an opponent would love to deny you access to your mana and force you to card disadvanatage yourself a second time to replay it.  The Spirit Guides, Aether Vial, and Lotus Petal are all probably better choices IMO.

Peace,

-Troy

[salthecarp]

To make up for the card disadvantage of chrome mox, Dark Confidant seems like a natural choice and with 5 regular moxes plus 4 chrome, Black Lotus and maybe lotus petal, a first turn Dark Confidant should be an option pretty often.

It seems like there are only 2 commonly played decks that use chrome mox right now: Belcher decks and Ad Nauseam decks. These are very different from the type of deck that you are trying to build. One of the ways they are able to leverage chrome mox as an advantage is that it generates storm for free whether you imprint a card on it or not. While creature-based aggro-control decks generally do not care about building up storm count there is one card that might fit in a deck like this where the number of spells counts: Erayo, Soratami Ascendant.

With Dark Confidant and Erayo, you have two cards that can start generating significant card advantage from the first turn. These cards were played together in the old Sullivan Solution deck so there may be other ideas worth looking at from that deck as well. That being said, I hope I haven't opened up a can of worms that will wind up with a discussion of how discussing the Sullivan Solution in the context of aggro-control decks is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way SS works and how to play it.

-Peter

[nineisnoone]

That being said, I hope I haven't opened up a can of worms that will wind up with a discussion of how discussing the Sullivan Solution in the context of aggro-control decks is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way SS works and how to play it.

-Peter

Oh, no.  You didn't just go there did you?  Don't make me.... (j.k)

The problem is that those are long-term card advantage engines.  The problem isn't long term card disadvantage as that can be solved in any number of ways, but rather short-term card advantage.  Ad Naus and Belcher either recoup the hand quickly or simply don't go the long term, that's why the card works in those decks. 

[Guli]

@Peter

Sounds to me you are on to something. And to sneak in a little idea I have, Canonist and Erayo are cute once active. Artifacts don't care about canonist. Bounce would have been interesting but won't be a good idea considering the chromex and erayos. Though you could most likely be able to flip erayo but you won't be able to feed chrome.

I think feeding chrome is being exaggerated. If you can do some serious card advantage in return to compensate for the loss of 1 card I don't see any problems.

One of the important functions of chrome in ad naus is that he gives you black mana, that is color fixing. You barely get 5 mana and then try to find that 1 black to ritual and rest will follow. Chrome is not just a mox he can give you the color you desire in most cases.

Now mox diamon required to play more lands than usual and chrome gives you the route to play less land. Another good argument if you ask me.


PRO arguments until now

1. Acceleration, Tempo (time walk)
2. Color fixing
3. Creates universal synergy between all cards in deck
4. Legendary creatures and hybrid creatures work well with chrome

CONTRA

1. Like any artifacts it is vulnerable to artifact hate or bounce
2. You lose a card

INTERESTING

1. Erayo and Confidant seem 'natural' picks
2. Maybe even Canonist + Erayo with lots of artifact acceleration
3. Master of Etherium?

Keep it coming

Guli

[Guli]

Another thing that can be done is to make the opponents draw less effective and even useless. This can be done by directly attacking draw spells and by limiting their spells.Chains of Mephistopheles can do the first and Canonist can do the latter.

Confidant and Chains of Mephistopheles don't interact with one another so I don't see any reason not to play confidant.

Chain is a silver bullet and is extremely good in SPECIFIC matchups but will be useless in others. And I think this is were the chrome comes in. You can pitch useless cards to get in your bullets in faster.
With Chain I am a bit scared of dredge. So Yilid Jailer could be used with the same mentality as Chain. You use it when you see bazaar. You never want to pitch Confidant of course. Always good.

So I think chrome invites the builder to create 2 types of cards. Cards that you do not want to pitch and cards that are bullets and should be pitched given the situation. With that in mind I think chrome based aggro control should be a partly hate deck.

It seems black is a color that goes well with chrome mox for some mystical reason. Or maybe it is pure logic.

I am thinking in the lines of Confidant, Canonist, Chains of M. I think Erayo is hard to pull of.

I am also not sure that blue is a correct color to implement. Green offers Tarm and TeeG both acting as spell deniers in their own fashion.

Another interesting way to turn a low quantity in your hand into an advantage is Infernal Tutor. This way you can practically have 5 demonic tutors at your disposal and that can be very very dangerous for the opponent. This way you can also run more silver bullets without having to play multiple copies.

Guli, trying to get this topic going.

Cya

[Fester]

Vintage aggro cannot play chrome mox.  The acceleration it provides is not worth the card disadvantage it generates combined with the artifact splash damage you're going to be exposing yourself to in this meta.

The only lines of play where I can see Chrome Mox being useful is when the extra acceleration helps power out T1 Magus or the extra spell helps power a turn Erayo.  And then it's gg if you get forced since you are now probably in or close to topdeck mode.  The only two aggro decks that I can recall that worked well with Chrome Mox was Goblins, because of Goblin Ringleader, and UG Madness with it's DAs.

This plan seems like you're bending over and asking someone to kick you in the balls from behind and then asking people what was the best way to bend your knees to soften the blow. 

[Stormanimagus]

Another thing that can be done is to make the opponents draw less effective and even useless. This can be done by directly attacking draw spells and by limiting their spells.Chains of Mephistopheles can do the first and Canonist can do the latter.

Confidant and Chains of Mephistopheles don't interact with one another so I don't see any reason not to play confidant.

Chain is a silver bullet and is extremely good in SPECIFIC matchups but will be useless in others. And I think this is were the chrome comes in. You can pitch useless cards to get in your bullets in faster.
With Chain I am a bit scared of dredge. So Yilid Jailer could be used with the same mentality as Chain. You use it when you see bazaar. You never want to pitch Confidant of course. Always good.

So I think chrome invites the builder to create 2 types of cards. Cards that you do not want to pitch and cards that are bullets and should be pitched given the situation. With that in mind I think chrome based aggro control should be a partly hate deck.

It seems black is a color that goes well with chrome mox for some mystical reason. Or maybe it is pure logic.

I am thinking in the lines of Confidant, Canonist, Chains of M. I think Erayo is hard to pull of.

I am also not sure that blue is a correct color to implement. Green offers Tarm and TeeG both acting as spell deniers in their own fashion.

Another interesting way to turn a low quantity in your hand into an advantage is Infernal Tutor. This way you can practically have 5 demonic tutors at your disposal and that can be very very dangerous for the opponent. This way you can also run more silver bullets without having to play multiple copies.

Guli, trying to get this topic going.

Cya

Hey, Guli. Storm here.

Let me preface this by saying I love how you are enthusiastic about innovation. If more Vintage players had your attitude I think the format would be more vibrant and interesting than it is now. However, I do not think that now is the time for a Chrome mox based deck that doesn't already run Dark Ritual (I.E Ad Nauseam.dec). As has been stated earlier Null Rod is at an all time high, and Chrome mox doesn not like Null Rod. I liked some of your Vial Fish builds more, but I also really believe that a more basic Fish Build could be successful right now. Like either UWb or UWg with Goyf. There are some interesting new cards from Conflux as well.

Path to Exile is interesting as you could have 6-8 Swords To Plowshares after SB for the Oath/Mirror match. It's also randomly good against DSC.

Kederekt Parasite could also be amazing in a more TMWA style fish deck with Hide/Seek.

I also think Bloodhall Ooz has potential but it is a really bad late game draw so maybe not.

Anyway, just some food for thought. Keep brainstorming ideas !

[Guli]

Vintage aggro cannot play chrome mox.  The acceleration it provides is not worth the card disadvantage it generates combined with the artifact splash damage you're going to be exposing yourself to in this meta.

The only lines of play where I can see Chrome Mox being useful is when the extra acceleration helps power out T1 Magus or the extra spell helps power a turn Erayo. 

Thanks for the input but all of these things have already been said. Repeating former arguments is just... repeating them. Nothing more nothing less.


@Storm

Both Vial and Mox are vulnerable to artifact hate. Realizing that I am opting for Dark Confidants. Dropping him almost every game turn 1 with so many acceleration is not surrealistic it is real. They can not target both your confidant and get rid of moxes in 1 turn. The Confidant can stabilize your position even if you lose chrome or if they cast null rod. Thing is targeting my artifacts will not get rid of my creatures so you are not losing any primary cards. You will be disrupted but any deck is when they are denied mana. I just have to play around the hate. I get the feeling that some people are saying that losing 1 mox will devastate me. Sure it looks terrible to lose a card to mox and then lose the mox as well. If you had no means of refilling your hand then this was true. But fortunately for us we have means of draw available.

I understand the concerns I really do. But isn't it a little bit too much fear of artifact hate. Not every deck runs them. Fear is a good thing but in limited substances.

I ll be back with more

Guli

[BruiZar]

Chrome Mox is a dangerous choice I think. Yesterday I ran into so much artifact disruption/removal pre-sideboard that I'm doubting if I should even play a workshop deck anytime in the near future. I can see your point with confidant restoring your imprinted card the next turn. Wouldn't you rather want to open with something like thoughtseize or duress? Tinstreet Hooligan, Krosan Grip, Echoing Truth, Gorilla Shaman, Karn, Ancient Grudge, Spree, Null Rod, Engineered Explosives and so many other cardss all deal with your Mox. Having your confidant countered can make you run out of steam very quickly and that Chrome Mox is bound to get disrupted.

[Guli]

4x Chrome Mox
1x Black Lotus
5x Jet/Pearl/Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

10 cards to get at least 2 mana at turn 1

4x Confidant
4x Chains of Mephistopheles

1x Demonic Tutor
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Balance

I would start from there. None of these cards can be categorized as bad and the tutor package with Balance is deadly.

What I would do is add Unmask to make it even more suicidal. However you will get that force or drain out of their hand before you can Balance.

I would use green to use Tarm as a clock. He will be very fat in this approach. I don't see any reason to add more win conditions. These card choices (rough list) are the translation of what goes in my mind. I think chrome mox can be dangerous indeed. But not just for the user. You just have to find the correct cards to transform your weakness into an advantage, which is what magic is about. This still doesn't answer any artifact hate. But I don't think that is unsolvable.

To any readers, just trow in your ideas and thoughts don't hesitate. Just be sure to back up your remarks with arguments

I would like to hear critics about the direction I am thinking. Cards like Chain, Balance, Infernal Tutor in combination with chrome/unmask. Add in a big clock and some draw and you got something going.

Catch ya later dudez

[bluemage55]

Thanks for the input but all of these things have already been said. Repeating former arguments is just... repeating them. Nothing more nothing less.

People repeat them because you don't acknowledge them and give legitimate reasons why you persist with this strategy.

If Person A tells Person B not to drive on the wrong side of the road because it's dangerous, and Person B does not give a legitimate reason why they are doing so, then Person A will persist in repeating to Person B.

Just because you started this thread doesn't mean it belongs to you.  If posters believe the entire premise of your plan is flawed, you cannot demand that they simply stop disagreeing and try to help you anyway.  If someone wanted to build a Drain deck without FoW, the proper thing to do is to first convince them to use FoW.  If they refuse to see the light, then there is no point in trying to help them further.

[Guli]

All right here are my remarks after testing and reflecting.

Dark Confidant is a must.
Magus of the Moon is the kind of creature you want to play with acceleration like this.
This means you have a seccond color red.
Tarmogoyf is the clock you want making green your third and last color.

After reading through the forum (some threads not all, the ones that Interest me) I got some inspiration.

Chalice of the Void + Vexing Shusher

The principle is that you want to have all kinds of solid drops that cost 2 mana or above. And frankly those are the more powerful ones anyway. The deck will pack 0 cards with 1cc making a turn 1 Chalice@1 possible every time you have a mox + Chalice. This will prevent Shaman from entering and Chalice@0 stops things like Explosives. Anyway Chalice@1 is extremely strong anyway it will hurt a lot of T1 decks I do not need to go into detail.

Vexing Shusher is powerful with things like Chalice and Magus of the Moon. Every Chalice I draw can be set. You start with 1 then hit 0 or 2 depending on the situation and mana available. You can always play around chalice yourself.

Infernal Tutor (and demonic tutor) is amazing. How can I put this on other words. It gets your Tarm or extra Tarms when you feel like you have momentum. It gets a Magus when you feel like it. I removed white so balance is gone but I added Wheel of Fortune instead as a 'bomb' target.

Confidant
Tarm
Magus of Moon
Vexing Shusher

That is the creature base that should be used with Brg-chrome-chalice.

The disruption package:

Chalice
Chain of M
Unmask

Now the next issue is to do something about things like Oath of Druids/Chalice/Null Rod/creatures... (removal)

Terminate is not a bad way to deal with aggro. He has multicolor so makes a good pitch for chrome when you know you aren't playing aggro.
Krosan Grip is also nice. The 3cc is good to get rid of Chalice on the other side of the board. He gets rid of Oath and helps vs shop. Being an instant and splitS is relevant. Gives you the option to tap your moxes in response to a resolving Rod. That is why I don't want to go for Hull Breach. Also a multicolor that can do cute card advantage but it is a sorcery. You have plenty of choices out there to be honest. I am using terminates and Krosan in my testings.

That is about it you are close to 60 if you use 22-24 mana sources. That is another topic I am not sure off. What is the correct number of lands and mana sources in total that should be used with 8 moxes (-sapph/-pearl)

That's it for now from my part,

hf

[fractal7221]

The problem with Chrome Mox in an aggro deck is not fear that null rod will hose you, but as an aggro deck in this environment you most likely want to be running null rod yourself.

[FlyFlySideOfFry]

Have you tried going UWB? It gives you Dark Confidant, Dimir Cutpurse, and Augury Adept as an up to 12 card draw engine. You did say you loved confidant so why not run more of them and dedicate the rest of your deck to either infernal tutor and bombs or pure control. Also I think you definitely need to run Chalice if you're not running Null Rod in a fish deck.

[LordHomerCat]

I'm pretty sure trying to run 12 creatures to draw you cards along with Infernal Tutor is a terrible idea.  Either you are never going to want to attack with your dudes or you are never going to cast hellbent tutors (and non-hellbent is ridiculously bad).

[FlyFlySideOfFry]

I'm pretty sure trying to run 12 creatures to draw you cards along with Infernal Tutor is a terrible idea.  Either you are never going to want to attack with your dudes or you are never going to cast hellbent tutors (and non-hellbent is ridiculously bad).

Well his original idea was to run it along side chrome mox/unmask/chains of meph which doesn't make it hard to dump your hand while mutilating your opponent. I mean you won't be tutoring while your hand is full (barrring restricted tutors) but you'll likely be drawing into more cards that are cheap and bring down your hand so you can tutor for more "draw". This would likely be the deck to break chains of meph since all 3 of those guys either draw you cards without activating chains or make your opponent discard in addition to the draw. Then again cutpurse would be suicide with multiple chains so idk. I've always wanted to see a deck break chains. XD

[Guli]

Just want to comment on the infernal tutor. When you are playing a deck with lots of 4x tutoring without the hellbent is very acceptable. For example if you are running 4x tarms getting an additional tarm is a strong play against for example aggro.

Chains is not strong right now. Most 'draw' spells these days are reveal or 'look at top X' or simply tutor it with intuition.

I like the idea of more 'draw' creatures. They are all above 1 mana anyways so the Chalice@1 plan is still very strong.

You always get 2 mana with so many acceleration. Combine the acceleration with cards that make you see more cards and you can generate a lot of energy. That energy can be transformed into strong solid and cheap disruption while you keep going.

The idea of 4x Dark Confidant and 4x Dimir Cutpurse looks nice. Dedicating 8 cards should be enough though.

[nataz]

I think even better then going from 1 mana on turn one -> 2 mana on turn 1 is the turn two boost/turn 1 boost w/ utility land you get from chrome mox.

I've been playing chrome mox in ichorid over rainbow lands b/c you can go t1 bazaar + chrome, which allows turn 1 fatestichers OR turn 2 cephalid collisum activations. Other interesting lands are Maze of Ith, waste/strip or things like cabal pit which can be situationaly useful. Another reason to focus on bazaar would be as a draw engine. Things like squee, Deep A, or even flashback/retrace/unearth cards all provide CA. 

Having 3 mana on turn 2 opens you up to a lot of different lines of play. Trinket mage and cutpurse come to mind as 3cc options, as well as things like juggs, trini, mangus, in the eye of chaos, rushing river, chalice of the void, tangle wire etc. I'd say focus less on 2cc creatures and more on 3cc effects which tend to be more powerful anyways.

 

[BruiZar]

I would go with the following base:

4x Chrome Mox -> acceleration, first turn conf, first turn thorn
4x Chalice -> On the play, drop after accelerating into Mox
4x Thorn of Amethyst -> Doesn't bother your creatures, but does bother them! Gives time for Confidant to draw into business and Rakdos Augermage to immunize bombs

Rakdos Augermage -> Augermage can discard bombs before they go off in combination with a first turn Thorn. With Dimir Cutpurse they will just discard jank. First Strike kills jugs and every fish creature besides Grunt and big Goyfs

Dark Confidant -> First turn will get your cardloss from imprint back. Solid draw and beats
Gorilla Shaman -> Shoot moxen and Voltaic Key. Can also get rid of your chalice should it bother you
Magus of the Moon ->Shaman ate their moxen, not ours, and now they only have mountains!
Simian Spirit Guide -> Accelerate into Thorn or Confidant, if all else fails, imprint or beat.


Other Considerations:
Sideboard Big Game Hunter -> Shoots oath and Mud/Workshop beasts, Madness occasionally comes in handy with Rakdos Augermage.
Raven's Crime - Puts opponent in top deck mode because you will be drawing into lands with Confidant

With all that discard, you'd want to play green for Goyf as well as ancient grudge, but i have really found a way to include that in the deck.

[Guli]

I was looking at the Parfait modern white weeni, the draw engine and acceleration works because of the next cards:

mox diamond
land tax
scroll rack

This engine is also very vulnerable to artifact hate especially null rod. But this problem is solved by using aura of silence and seals. There are even white regrowth effects to make things even more interesting. There is an inbound insurance in that deck. The disruption also protects the decks engine.

Can something similar be done with chrome mox? Mox diamond only works well with land tax. So it is not like the Parfait route isn't card dependent. It works though, because there is a lot of synergy present and the cards are all good on their own but still to make them really work they need each other.

The card disadvantage from chrome mox should not be ignored, however in vintage these things happen a lot. Force of Will and misdirection even commandeer are being played. Unmask, Spirit guides, Waterfront bouncer, Bazaar, ... there are a lot cards out there that turn card disadvantage into some kind of threat, disruption. The topic here is turning it into ACCELERATION 'aka' TEMPO.

Suggestions are welcome!