Mini-Primer: Miroir Magique (New budget combo deck)

[Chiz]

With Shards of Alara, I saw (like many others), one card with big potential for a new type1 archtype Lich's Miror:

Lich's Mirror 5
If you would lose the game, instead shuffle your hand, your graveyard, and all permanents you own into your library, then draw seven cards and your life total becomes 20.

Yeah, you know this card and you know that it combo well with Channel, because Channel gives you the opportunity (until end of turn) of paying 1 life to have one colorless mana. I saw it in Doomsday, but I never saw a deck completely resolving around the Lich's Mirror. I wanted to build one, so me (with the help of one of my teamate) tried some builds and I have good results with the build I'm playing Right now. I wrote an article before, but I wanted to share this pretty fun deck with all of you!
(Sorry, that's in french!!)

http://www.mtgquebec.com/viewtopic.php?t=3990

We wanted to build a deck resolving entirely around Lich's Mirror. We wanted our deck to play like this:

1- Tutor Channel (because it's restrict...)
2- Play Channel.
3- Play Lich's Mirror (With Channel's colorless)
4- Kill yourself by adding lot of colorless in your mana pool (Thanks to Channel!!)
5- Doing steps 3 and 4 the number of times needed.
6- Killing the opponent with the absurd number of colorless.

With that game plan, we lookedwhat could be put into our deck. The most important thing is to find Channel, so some tutors are welcome:
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Imperial Seal
Mystical Tutor
Those are auto-included... But with the last unrestriction, we can now play with:
4 Personal Tutor.

All those card are pretty good at fiding Channel. Channel is really the key card of this deck, so it's important to have it the more times possible in the deck. Here, we have 9 Channel (8 tutors and Channel), so that's what makes the deck works.


With Channel in hand, we need Lich's Mirror.
4 Lich's Mirror
That's obviously auto-included! With only 4 Lich's Mirror, the deck doesn't work properly... We need to increased the number of Lich's MIrror. Yes, we have the black tutors that can tutor Lich's Mirror too, but that wasn't enough. So we add:
4 Fabricate

Yes, 4 Fabricate. With fabricate, that's easy to combo out. You need    mana in play.   for Channel, 2 lives and for Fabricate (And 5 lives for Lich's Mirror. Not too bad! With 4 Fabricate (And black tutors), we had enough Lich's Mirror in our deck.

Before talking about the kill card, we have be sure that we will be able to do the step 5 of our gameplan: Replay Lich's Mirror enough times to have enough mana to kill the opponent (or to draw our kill card). That's not that much easy to do it constantly with only 4 Lich's Mirror in our deck (You have only 40% of chance to have a Lich's Mirror when you draw 7 cards from Lich's Mirror). Sure, we have some tutor, but when comboing out turn 2 or 3, we don't have access to too much colored mana to play lots of tutors. The next card we add to the deck is:
4 Seinsei's Divining Top

The Top is really good to replay the Lich's Mirror again and again. First, it's an artifact, so we can cast easily Top with the colorless from Channel. We can look at the top 3 card (and draw one of those) with Top, so it makes you look at the top 10 cards (instead of top 7) of your Library to find another Lich's Mirror, which let you replay Lich's Mirror a lot easier. We found that the Top, played turn one, can help you a lot to build your combo and that's not bad at all! A very good card in the deck.

I talked about the colored mana being an issue when comboing turn 2-3. So we wanted some fixing to be able to replay constently our tutors (Which makes you able to replay Lich's MIrror again and again...) So we add:
4 Chromatic Star

The star helps you to fix your mana (The stars cost you 2 colorless to have one mana of the color of your choose, not a bad trade!!) and it lets you draw 1 card. That's important when comboing out too! The star were really good in the deck! The star are a lot better than Chromatic Sphere in the deck, we will talk about it later...

To have more tutor, we tried:
Planar Portal.

It costs a lot of mana, but when comboing, it's paying 12 lives to tutor a Lich's Mirror and 5 lives to play the Mirror. So, we have +3 colorless and another Lich's Mirror's iteration. It helps us to find the kill condition a lot more easier too! That seems interesting to us at the first look. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough. That's a totally dead card before comboing. This card was in the firsts builds we made, but was the first card to be cut from the deck.

Before talking about win condition, we have to talk about protection. That's good to have a combo, but if you always loose to one Force of will or Mana Drain, the deck won't probably be good. For the protection, those cards seems obvious for us:
4 Pact of Negation
4 Force of Will

Pact is an auto-include... Pact protect so well your combo, since you don't care that mush about your next upkeep! Force of Will is good in the deck too, with Fabricates, Personal Tutors, Mystical Tutors, there is enough blue cards in the deck to play Force of Will.

The first version had another random disruption maindeck:
1 Duress

Yes, the Duress was random (one of). It was random good! We had one random duress, because we can tutor it with Personal Tutor, but we just never tutor for it, so it doesn't make the deck now.


OK, now we need a win condition! With lot of colorless mana, we can kill probably be able to kill the opponent... Let's see what we can play:

Magman Mine
That's a kill condition using only colorless mana, which is good! Unfortunately, killing a player with 20 lives required 81 manas! That's possible to make 81 manas with the deck (We have generally access to 25-50 manas when we win), but 81 manas required more Lich's Mirror's iteration. That takes more times and is more risky (each time you draw 7 with Lich'S Mirror you have a chance of crapping out, drawing 7 lands for example...). This card is probably not the best kill condition.

Tendril's of Agony
Here we have an unconterable win condition!! Since we cast lot of spells when comboing out, the 10 spells played requirement should be not to hard to have. Unfortunately, this card required to cast. Having two colored mana is a big downside for this deck. This was an ok kill condition, but we though we can have a better one.

Rolling Earthquake
With Lich's Mirror in play, we don't care that much to do 20 damages to everyone! This card requires only one to play, which is good! This card can deal with annoying creatures (Canonists, Aven Mindsensor, Platinum angel, etc), so it's a good card! But it requires to have both Lich's MIrror in play and Rolling Earthquake to kill the opponent.

Karveck's Torch
Only one colored mana required, can kill the opposing creature too (Canonists, Aven Mindsensor, Platinum angel, etc), really good. And it takes to colorless to target Karveck's Torch? A good added value against Misdirection. That's the best kill condition we think.

Memory Jar
Yes, that's a win condition!! With Lich's Mirror, we reshuffle our hand in our deck, but the opponent doesn't, so if we activate Memory Jar again and again, our opponent will be decked. One advantage of Memory Jar is that's an artifact, making you able to combo with a canonist on the table (Your only non-artifact spell played this turn being Channel!!). What makes Memory Jar good too is that it thin your deck. You will set aside your useless cards (like your lands...), so each time you draw 7 with Lich's Mirror you have more chance of getting another Lich'S Mirror / Memory Jar. You can Tinker Memory Jar if needed too! Memory Jar is a good card in the deck. But one downside of Memory Jar is that it let your opponent draw cards, so he can "topdeck" a Force of Will to (maybe) stop you. But all in all, that's a good card in the deck!!

There is a possibility to play an alternate kill (in the case you care too much hated). The better one in my opinion is:
Tinker
Platinum Angel

Tinker allow you to search for a Lich's Mirror too, which is not bad at all! With the Angel into play, you can cast your Pact of Negation without paying , which is a good added bonus. But play the Angel wisely: With the Angel into play, you won't be able to combo out, since the Angel prevent you from dying. That sayd, having a Platinum Angel and a Lich's Mirror both into play isn't that bad, the opponent will have to kill the Angel, and if he does, Lich's MIrror lets you "restart the game".


To complete the deck, some draw would be welcome, so we add those good cards:
Ancestral Recall
Brainstom
Ponder
Timetwister

Timetwister need an explication I think. If our Channel is being countered (or discarted), it's harder to win... Twister allows us to reshuffle our Channel. Twister is better than Regrowth in this deck, since Regrowth does nothing when you combo out and Twister let's you draw another 7 cards (if needed). So Twister is better than Regrowth.

Well, we need some mana sources... We always want to be able to cast Channel. So we always want to have access to on turn 2, but we want either or  on the first turn to cast Personal / Mystical / Seal / Vampiric / Demonic Tutor... So, let's go with a 5 colors mana base:
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Forbidden Orchard

We need more lands... And some power!! 
3 Tropical Island
Mox Emerald
Mox Sapphire
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal

Not all mox are played in this deck! This deck required lots of colored mana and not that much colorless... And we have all the colorless mana we want with Channel! There is only 19 mana source in the deck, 19 seems to be the good number for the deck to run smoothly, but if your mana is full of Stax and Aggro hate (playing Waste and Null Rod), playing a 4th Tropical Island is a good choice.

After some playtesing, here is my current build: (Sorry, the deck name is in french!!  )
 

Martin Bonneville
Deck: Miroir Magique (From team Québec)

Ancestral Recall
Brainstom
Ponder
Timetwister
Tinker
Platinum Angel
Karveck's Torch
Memory Jar
4 Pact of Negation
4 Force of Will
4 Chromatic Star
4 Seinsei's Divining Top
4 Fabricate
4 Lich's Mirror
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Imperial Seal
Mystical Tutor
4 Personal Tutor
Channel
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Tropical Island
Mox Emerald
Mox Sapphire
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal

I made 3 tournaments with this deck so far. I wanted to play this deck to have fun, since that's a lot of pleasure to play it! The more I play this deck, the more I see that's a good deck that's far more resistant to hate that we can think of. Before saying this deck is a crap deck, please play it (of play against it). That's a completely diffrent deck that we see normally, it's really hard to see how it really works without seeing it in action!
I made a top4 in a small 16 person tourney, a top4 in a 40 players tourney and a final split in a 25 players tourney yesterday (January 24th). The deck is really constent (if you can play it well). There is a lot of "tricks" you need to know when playing this deck that can makes you win a lot of games...

Here is some tricks for you:

Trick 1: Tutor a card with Mystical or Vampiric Tutor with Chromatic Star

You have no colored mana available in play other than a Chromatic Star with Mystical Tutor or Vampiric Tutor.
Action: Activate the Star to have the desired mana. The triggered ability of drawing goes on the stack (Which is why Chromatic Star is far more better than Chromatic Sphere in this deck!). In response to drawing, play the Mystical/Vampiric.
Effect: You will draw immediately the tutored card.


Trick 2: Comboing with Sensei's Divining Top and Chromatic Star

Channel was played this turn and you have both Lich's Mirror and the Top into play.
Action: If you have a lot of mana, activate the Top to look of you have someting good on top of your Library (like a Lich's Mirror). If so, draw the Lich's Mirror and do the trick 4 (see below). If nothing good is on top, do the following:
1- Put all draw effect you have on the stack (Sensei's Divining top / Chromatic Star)
2- Pay  in response of all draw to look at the top 3 cards with the Top (To draw the card you want)
3- In response, kill yourself (by getting colorless mana with Channel).

Effect: You will draw 7 from Lich's Mirror, and then, look at the top three and draw 1 from them. You will see at least 10 cards (instead of 7), so you will be able more easily to continue to combo off.


Trick 3: Comboing with the Right manas with Chromatic Star.

Action: Add the mana in your pool in that order:    (That's better to have  or  ), then  (only 1 required) and then  .
Effect: You will be able to cast fabricate/Personal Tutor more easily. Fabricate allow you to draw another "free" 7 cards if needed. Personal Tutor can tutor Fabricate (if needed) or you win condition (Karvck's Torch). There is only 3 black cards in the deck, so having a black mana is not that much important.


Trick 4: Killing yourself with a spell on the stack

You have Lich's Mirror in play (With channel played this turn), and you have another spell that let's you have another Lich's Mirror's iteration (2nd Lich's Mirror, Fabricate, Demonic Tutor, etc.)
Action: Play that spell and, in response, kill yourself (By taking mana in your pool)
Effect: You will draw 7 from Lich's MIrror, then your spell will resolve.
IMPORTANT: Your spell stay in the stack when you reshuffle with Lich's Mirror. That's really easy to forget it and reshuffle the spell in your deck.


Trick 5: Killing yourself in mana source

You have Lich'S Mirror into play (with channel played this turn) and an opponent plays a spell/effect that you don't like (Ex: Extirpate on a Chromatic Star, Tormod's Crypt, Krosan Grip the Lich's Mirror, etc...)
Action: kill yourself (By taking mana in your pool)
Effect: You will reshuffle all cards and the spell/ability will stay on the stack... Extirpate and Krosan Grip will be countered on resolution (since no target) and Tormod's Crypt won't bother you (since no graveyard at all!).  Remember that killing yourself by taking Colorless mana from Channel is a mana source... You don't give priority when taking mana source!!  (Oh, and remember that you can always use mana source when someone plays a split second card!!  )


Trick 6: Play a spell/ability by having just enough mana/life to do it.

You have Lich's Mirror into play with channel played this turn. You want, for example, play a Chromatic Star with 1 life and 0 mana in your pool.
Action: Declare that you will play the Chromatic Star and then, pay 1 life to play the Star.
Effect: The rules allow you to declare the spell/ability you want to play and then, pay the cost for it. So, here, You will reshuffle every thing with Lich's MIrror with the Chromatic Star. Note that you will "die" immediately after playing the Chromatic star in stated-based effect, so you won't be able to do anything else before "dying" (you won't be able to do trick 2 if you have a Top into play for example).


Trick 7: "Dying" with Orchard tokens into play

You "die" with Lich's Mirror into play and you gave Token With Orchard at your opponent.
Effect: You will "reshuffle" the tokens in your deck, so the won't be into play anymore. The tokens you gives at your opponents are permanents you "own".
NB: If you "die" with Orchard's Tokens from your opponent's Orchard, you will keep them (Since your opponent "owns" them).


There is some advice I want to gives you to play the deck too...
- Usually, it's bad to kill yourself with a "top tutor" in the stack (Ex: Personal Tutor). You have a good chance to draw a draw effect in your 7 cards from the Mirror (Top or Chromatic Star), but it's not always the case... If you don't draw a draw effect, you just used a  for nothing. Keep in mind that the colored mana are really important, don't waste them.

- If you don't have a Top into play, kill yourself with the Chromatic Star in the stack rather than with the draw of the Star in the stack. That's better for 2 reasons: 1- You will be able to choose the color of mana you need with your next "hand", 2- It allows you to have a draw effect. This is important if you have a "top tutor" in your next "hand" (like personal tutor). You will be able to personal tutor (for Karveck's Torch for example) and activate the Star to draw the Torch (and have the  to cast it).

- Don't play channel too fast. Unless really needed, don't play channel with only a Sensei's Divining Top as your only business card in hand after the Channel.

- Don't forget that Fabricate can tutor Black Lotus for some colored manas.

- Don't Sideboard too much cards in (unless you sideboard out the Pacts of Negation), since you will weaken too much your combo.


Well, talking about sideboard... The sideboard I have now is:
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Balance
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Shattering Spree
4 Xantid Swarm (They will probably be cut...)
1 Aether Spellbomb (Against Canosit mainly)
3 Extirpate

The sideboard could be better probably, but it worded well (outside of Xantid Swarm, which are not so good...)


Mirroire Magique is a good deck and really cool to play! There is lots of weird play that happens! Here is some I did in tournaments:
- 1st turn "old school" kill With: Land + Black Lotus + Channel + Karveck's Torch (backed with 1 Pact of Negation!)
- Killing myself with balance in the stack, clearing my opponent's board and keeping my best 3 cards (out of 8). I won the same turn since I had a good hand, but it will have be better if I crapped out.
- Seeing the mirror match up... That's pretty stupid! One game, both gets FoW their channel and died 2 times each with Lich's MIrror in play (With Orchards token and City of Brass).

There is probably other funny things I don't remember of... Anyway, this deck is real pleasure, give it a try! The deck is far more consistent and competitive that it may look on paper!


I want to thanks my teamate, Simon Guérette, for his help in the deckbuilding and playtesting this deck with me.


PS: The deck's name come from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Yes, that the name of the Mirror in it.

[AmbivalentDuck]

How is this better than Belcher?  You need a lot of colored mana to go off...and then you're extremely Draw7 dependent.  If you fizzle, you have no permanents in play, not even lands to try going off again next turn.

[Chiz]

How is this better than Belcher?  You need a lot of colored mana to go off...and then you're extremely Draw7 dependent.  If you fizzle, you have no permanents in play, not even lands to try going off again next turn.

That's the kind of reply I  though people will have...

That's more resistant to hate and probably, more consistent. I never played Belcher, so I can't talk that much about the comparaison... But I saw this deck comboing with Aven Minsencor and Null Rod into play, pretty impressive.
That said, I only crap out 1 game (not match, one game) in each of my tournament. It don't occur that much if you play the deck carfully (See my tricks). And 2 out of 3 times I crapped out in comboing, I win 2-4 turns later. It's not impossible to try to combo off again (but it requires you to have 2 lands in play normally, so it takes at least 2 turns...)

Anyway, I don't claim this is the best in type1. It's probably not. But that's a really good deck that can win tourney for sure.

[policehq]

On paper and with limited testing, it seems the deck would be even more resistant to hate than Belcher if you played Spirit Guides in place of some other mana sources. A couple Simian Spirit Guides and perhaps Manamorphose, maybe even Elvish Spirit Guides also, would allow the deck to fix its mana and win with Kaervek's Torch through a Null Rod. Currently you only have Force of Will to answer Null Rod and no bounce if it resolves.

If Null Rod does resolve, you have to wait until you can trigger Lich's Mirror with an untapped 5c land in play or a land drop available in your turn and get R22 available, with Kaervek's Torch in your hand, and without any Fabricate, black Tutor spells, or hand-fixing from Sensei's Divining Top or Chromatic Star.

Have you done any testing with a Spirit Guide/Manamorphose configuration that is less sensitive to Null Rod?

[Chiz]

Have you done any testing with a Spirit Guide/Manamorphose configuration that is less sensitive to Null Rod?

Elvish Spirit Guide have not been tested at all, but Manamorphose did. I don't like the Spirit guide that much, because he only produce . I don't know what to cut to include them (probably the 3 Tropicals), but while it would be good when your comboing out (Spirit guide remove themself from your deck), in setting the combo it's worst. A first turn Personal Tutor is a really common play. If you have only 2 mana sources in your opening hand (which happens often, since only 19 mana sources...), you won't be able to do 1st turn Personal (For channel), then 2nd turn Channel with the following combination of mana:
2 Spirit Guide
1 Spirit Guide + 1 Lotus Petal
1 Spirit Guide + Black Lotus

Not that good... With my mana base, you could always to it with only 2 mana source. 
The Spirit guide could help you for a first turn Channel, but you need Channel, Spirit Guide, another Mana source and Lich's Mirror in your opening hand, that's pretty marginal.

As for the Metamorphose, I just prefer Chromatic Star. The deck usually play 1st turn tutor, 2nd turn Channel. With that setup, your Manamorphose in your opening hand is useless unless you have 3 mana source (one being a Spirit Guide). Chromatic Star can be use right away, activate for a  and, possibly, allowing a 2nd turn kill with Fabricate which Manamorphose wouldn't be able to do.
The other thing I don't like about Manamorphose is it's casting cost... It required you to always have in your pool when comboing. Let's say you have only 3 lands, you cast Channel and Mirror. Before dying, you add a mana in your pool. You have no choice to take a  , since you need to have colored mana. In your other 7 cards, you don't have Manamorphe, nor Mirror, but you have a Fabricate... Too bad, you just crapped out because you play Manamorphose...
(You can take instead of in the example above, saying you will have a Spirit Guide and a Manamorphose, but I don't think That's the best decision).


And... Against deck that play Null Rod, you have some times to setup your combo. If there is a 2nd turn Null Rod, I usually don't expect to be killed before turn 5. That lets you time to find lands, and try to combo off with (and preferably with some ) that your lands will give you.  And if they put too much pressure / too much hate, go with plan B (Tinker-Platinum).

If there is a lot of Null Rod in your meta, you can always put a Shattering Spree Maindeck, but I don't find it usefull enough...

[policehq]

I'll bet you're looking forward to the release of Banefire!

Banefire
   xr
Sorcery   Rare
Banefire deals X damage to target creature or player.
If X is 5 or more, Banefire can't be countered by spells or abilities and the damage can't be prevented.

This deck does seem to be a lot more resilient than Belcher. It doesn't mulligan nearly as poorly, and each Draw-7 is as consistent at finding the next combo piece as Flash opening hands. It's pretty hard to be completely without an option, with all the Fabricates, Spheres, Tops, Tutors, etc. to find another Mirror. Also it has game against Spheres of any kind.

The sideboard could try to address Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon a little better, because GG is very difficult without the use of your non-basics. Sudden Shock, Slaughter Pact, etc. could replace the Xantid Swarms that did not do so well before.

[Xyre]

The problem with Banefire is that it is prone to Misdirection and (now, thanks to Meditate-Remora) Commandeer. I think the Memory Jar solution, while a bit more fragile, is unquestionably brilliant. I haven't had a chance to test this deck, but it looks worthwhile.

[Chiz]

The problem with Banefire is that it is prone to Misdirection and (now, thanks to Meditate-Remora) Commandeer.

That's exactly what I think! Anyway, in whcih case the opponent will still have his counterspell when we play our lethal Karveck's Torch!? He will probably have tried to counter our Channel (or Lich's Mirror) with his counterspell. But, if he only have a Misdirection in hand, he would have let resolve the channel and Lich's Mirror and the first target for his Misdirection would probably be Karveck's Torch. Add the fact that you can cast a little Tarveck's Torch (For kiling a Magnus of the Moon for exemple), and I think that shows that Karveck's Torch is supperior to Banefire.

Speaking of Meditate-Remora, I played against this deck once... You have to remember that, thanks to channel, you can pretty much always pay 4 colorless when comboing to not let the opponent draw cards 

The sideboard could try to address Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon a little better, because GG is very difficult without the use of your non-basics. Sudden Shock, Slaughter Pact, etc. could replace the Xantid Swarms that did not do so well before.

I agree. There should be at least one (or more) Pyroclasm to deal with Magnus of the Moon and wennies. As for Blood Moon, I don't know what to bring in... I won the only time someone played me a Blood Moon, but I had the Sapphire and I Fabricated a Black Lotus to combo out, normally it would be harder agains Blood Moon... Any suggestions!?

[neotrophy]

Nice deck.  The single point of failure worries me though.  You resolve Channel, or you fail to win, pretty much.  Yes, you can tinker for Plats, but that will only buy so much time.  While I do think that Platinum Angel is a better choice than Darksteel Colossus, it does lead to an interesting dissynergy ; you can't combo out with Platinum Angel in play.  It does seem feasible that the extra turns that you give your opponent while you're forced to hit them with a comparatively small flying beatstick could let them back into the game.  Have you found that at all in testing?  It doesn't seem like a great problem most of the time, but if a different alternate kill presents itself, it might be worth looking into.

[Harlequin]

Any thoughts about how this deck compares to the Doomsday version of it?  It seems like a deck running 4-mirrors, 4-personals, 4-fabricates.... and at the end of the day can still fizzle would be not as good as running 4 DDays, 1 Mirror, Rits, Duress, and other good storm/combo cards.

For referance:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36621.0

Reply #19 at the bottom of page one has some important developments to help streamline the win.

[policehq]

This deck is slow enough to allow the opponent, ESPECIALLY games 2 and 3, to prepare themselves for the 2 mana requirement for Kaervek's Torch, allowing them to play Force of Will, Misdirection, Commandeer, or possibly even Mana Drain, Mana Leak, whatever else. Banefire limits some of that potential at least. If you're concerned about Commandeer or Misdirection, simply replay Lich's Mirror before attempting to win with Kaervek's Torch or Banefire, and you can "go off" all over again with Channel still active once they rename you as the target. The worst thing that can happen then is that they're able to change the target to a creature they control.

Have you tested Regrowth in place of something like Top or Tutor? The deck does hinge on the resolution of Channel.

[Wagner]

This deck is slow enough to allow the opponent, ESPECIALLY games 2 and 3, to prepare themselves for the 2 mana requirement for Kaervek's Torch, allowing them to play Force of Will, Misdirection, Commandeer, or possibly even Mana Drain, Mana Leak, whatever else. Banefire limits some of that potential at least. If you're concerned about Commandeer or Misdirection, simply replay Lich's Mirror before attempting to win with Kaervek's Torch or Banefire, and you can "go off" all over again with Channel still active once they rename you as the target. The worst thing that can happen then is that they're able to change the target to a creature they control.

Have you tested Regrowth in place of something like Top or Tutor? The deck does hinge on the resolution of Channel.

Do you really think any player is going to let Channel resolve and be ready to pay 2 to counter Torch? Seriously?
Also, Mana Leak? You do realise paying 3 more life with channel is irrelevant.

And the deck does run 8 counters to deal with opposing counterspells.

Nice deck.  The single point of failure worries me though.  You resolve Channel, or you fail to win, pretty much.

Well, yes and no, the deck does recover ok, I once played Channel 3 times in a game against a Control Deck.
1st one got countered.
Played Twister, tried again, but I fizzled after 1-2 Mirror.
Tried a 3 time and got it.

Also, Twister is very very easy to get so the reset plan isn't that hard.


On a side note, I have played the deck in 2 tournaments, so maybe 10-14 rounds and so far I managed to combo through (on separate occasions):
Chalice for 0
Chalice for 1
Null Rod
Aven Mindsencor
Mindlock Orb
Aethersworn Canonist (post board)
Sphere of Resistance (although once Channel resolve it becomes irrelevant)

[policehq]

Do you really think any player is going to let Channel resolve and be ready to pay 2 to counter Torch? Seriously?
Also, Mana Leak? You do realise paying 3 more life with channel is irrelevant.

One of the methods of finding a play every time Lich's Mirror triggers is to activate Memory Jar. That or Timetwister can give your opponent a counter. A single Misdirection or Commandeer are only relevant if your opponent has a creature in play, such as Old Man of the Sea or Ophidian. Other than these cases, you can play a Mirror before casting Kaervek's Torch and continue going off as normal.

And remember, Kaervek's Torch still doesn't really prevent Misdirection nor Commandeer from working game 2 and 3 after the general public is made aware of this deck's strategy. The colored mana requirement and top deck tutors prevents this from operating very quickly, consistently, so the opponent can build up to 2 mana for Misdirection, Commandeer, or any counterspells your opponent may have gained in the process of you going off. Knowing that counterspells + Misdirection/Commandeer > Misdirection/Commandeer, I don't think Banefire is absolutely not worth testing. But these are all very specific scenarios.

[nineisnoone]

While it's 2 mana slower, have you considered Muddle the Mixture over Personal Tutor?  Muddle the Mixture can be transmuted for  to search out your Channel.

[Wagner]

While it's 2 mana slower, have you considered Muddle the Mixture over Personal Tutor?  Muddle the Mixture can be transmuted for  to search out your Channel.

This deck is about speed, not about cards. You want to get that 1st turn Personal Tutor into 2nd turn Channel before a Drain or Rod hits the board. At turn 4, it's probably too late.

Also, it's not like people actually counter Personnal Tutor. And, Muddle the Mixture doesn't get Timetwister, Tinker or Torch, 3 reasonable targets.

[Chiz]

While it's 2 mana slower, have you considered Muddle the Mixture over Personal Tutor?  Muddle the Mixture can be transmuted for  to search out your Channel.

I'm sorry, but I don't see why it would even be good in this deck... This deck has 19 mana sources, so you won't always have 3 lands by turn 3. Muddle the Mixture is at least 2 turns slower and it doesn't even find your win condition (Karveck's Torch) when comboing out (Most of the time, you finish by Top tutor your Torch, than draw a card with Star/Top/Recall/Brainstorm, etc...).
The only good thing about Muddle the Mixture is that you can't counter it, but I prefer to see my Personal tutor (especially FoW turn 1...) than my Channel. It's much worst to have channel in your graveyard than in your library!

One of the methods of finding a play every time Lich's Mirror triggers is to activate Memory Jar. That or Timetwister can give your opponent a counter.

You understand that this is only one (ok, two with Timetwister) methods of finding a play after a Lich's Mirror!? You understand that against blue based deck, this is the last thing you will try to do (ie, you will do it only if you have no other possible option!?). Being uncounterable is almost irrelevant, since most of the time, your opponent will have tried to counter the Channel and won't draw any cards after Channel resolved.
And by the way... If you activate Jar against blue decks, you play 8 counterspells to protect your play... And maybe he will try to counter a Lich's Mirror you played before the Torch.

Have you tested Regrowth in place of something like Top or Tutor? The deck does hinge on the resolution of Channel.

Yes, Regrowth was played in our first version. Regrowth doesn't no anything when comboing (Since you shuffle your grave). Regrowth usually don't do anything before you cast Channel. Regrowth is a dead card that is there only if the opponent counter your Channel.
Regrowth was cut to play Timetwister. That's far supperior in this deck. It allows you another draw7 when comboing. It allows you a draw7 before comboing (If you have a crappy hand). It allows you to reshuffle your Channel and, most of the time, gives you a Channel in your 7 cards (Remember that you play like 9 Channel with your tutors). Timetwister pitch itself in Force of Will.

Any thoughts about how this deck compares to the Doomsday version of it?  It seems like a deck running 4-mirrors, 4-personals, 4-fabricates.... and at the end of the day can still fizzle would be not as good as running 4 DDays, 1 Mirror, Rits, Duress, and other good storm/combo cards.

For referance:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36621.0

Reply #19 at the bottom of page one has some important developments to help streamline the win.

I've never played this deck... But to me, that's a completly different deck! To me, it's almost like comparing Aggro-Workshop and Stax.
If you play carfully the deck, it's hard to fizzle when comboing (It happened to me maybe 3 times in 3 tournaments!). Ad Nauseam can fizzle only by casting Ad Nauseam, it doesn't mean that it's unplayable!  Oh, by the way, there is more than the percentage of times you will fizzle when comboing out when comparing decks. This deck plays Force of Will and can protect you from a broken 1st turn, your deck don't. There is the speed of the deck. The resistance to hate. I don't say mine is strickly better (I can't say that without playing your deck to be sure), but I can say for sure that mine is competitive (That said, your's is probably too).

Nice deck.  The single point of failure worries me though.  You resolve Channel, or you fail to win, pretty much.  Yes, you can tinker for Plats, but that will only buy so much time.  While I do think that Platinum Angel is a better choice than Darksteel Colossus, it does lead to an interesting dissynergy ; you can't combo out with Platinum Angel in play.  It does seem feasible that the extra turns that you give your opponent while you're forced to hit them with a comparatively small flying beatstick could let them back into the game.  Have you found that at all in testing?  It doesn't seem like a great problem most of the time, but if a different alternate kill presents itself, it might be worth looking into.

In those extra turns, you can search with Devining Top for lands, fabricate a Lotus, etc... And be able to cast a Lich's Mirror, juste in case. It happens once that I lowered my opponent to 8 with Platinium angel, my Angel gets killed. The next turn, I tutored up the Torch and Torch for 8 (Thanks to that Frabricated Lotus!).
Anyway, I have to go with the Planinum plan rarely... And against some matchup, I sided it out. But like you said, I think that's better than Colossus.

[John Jones]

After playing this deck over and over and over tonight, I fail to see how this deck even wins. I understand HOW it wins but I dont see how it wins against another deck. You are trying to go for speed yet you dont run full moxen/vault/crypt/monolith. If you cast channel and don't draw into a) lich's mirror or b) Jar then you pretty much lose.

I playtested this deck tonight against Ctrl Slaver, Stiflenaught and my shoprack deck and it only won one game by accident because I thoughtseized wrong (my bad). Chiz, you owe me .60 cents because I wasted 60 commons to proxy this deck up.

[policehq]

Why did you keep casting Channel without Lich's Mirror in hand or a way to get it out that turn?

EDIT: If you mean while the decking is going off not finding Lich's Mirror or Memory Jar, that is really pretty rare with all the ways to find a sorcery that will put Lich's Mirror in play plus all the ways that will find Lich's Mirror, or at least all the ways to draw a couple extra cards for more chances.

[Chiz]

You are trying to go for speed yet you dont run full moxen/vault/crypt/monolith.

I explained why those aren't in the deck... What Grim Monolith and Mana Vault would do in this deck anyway!? Channel  gives you all the colorless you need, no!?    And what would a 1st turn Mana Vault accelerate into!? A 2nd turn Lich's Mirror!? Is that really good to have a 2nd turn Mirror without Channel!? I don't think so...
This deck can go for speed, but it can take his time and setup his combo too... Trying to always to a 1st turn Top Tutor and a 2nd turn Channel Without protection is not the way to play this deck...

If you cast channel and don't draw into a) lich's mirror or b) Jar then you pretty much lose.

I find it funny that you say me that and policehq said that:

This deck does seem to be a lot more resilient than Belcher. It doesn't mulligan nearly as poorly, and each Draw-7 is as consistent at finding the next combo piece as Flash opening hands. It's pretty hard to be completely without an option, with all the Fabricates, Spheres, Tops, Tutors, etc. to find another Mirror. Also it has game against Spheres of any kind.

I think you don't understand fully how to play the deck... Did you read all my mini-primer!? Especially my Tips & Tricks? At least , go read tricks #2, #3 and #4.

Chiz, you owe me .60 cents because I wasted 60 commons to proxy this deck up.

John Jones, you owe me .60 cents because I wasted 5 minutes of my time to tell you that you are wrong (and probably playing the deck pretty baddly...)

[Tha Gunslinga]

I faced this online a few months ago.  It was the most horrifyingly slow deck imaginable.  One highlight was my opponent playing Personal Tutor for Merchant Scroll.  Next turn Merchant Scroll for Recall, which tapped him out.  Next turn Recall, which I Misdirected with backup, not that I needed it.

In another game he Personal Tutored for Channel, which I let resolve.  He paid 5 life for Lich's Mirror, which I Drained.

This deck is so awkward and unwieldy, it's unbelievable.  It uses so many subpar and questionable cards.  I don't even know where to begin, except that I see more bad card choices than good ones.

[Chiz]

I faced this online a few months ago.  It was the most horrifyingly slow deck imaginable.

You faced it online? really? You never faced me for sure, as I don't play online, nor my teamate. Maybe someone build something simillar, but probably not as good as this deck and/or was not playing the deck correctly. Like it or not, this deck isn't slow... I have some tournaments results to backup what I say. Here are some decks I won against in tournaments:
- Tezzeret
- Remora-Meditade-Commander deck
- Dredge
- R-G beatz
- Ad Nauseam
- Stax
- Workshop aggro
- Tyran Oath
Etc...
If I always manage to make top8 with this deck, and won against those deck, why this deck would be the most horrifyingly slow deck imaginable!?
And by the way... I read everywhere that people have problem with people playing online... There a lot of scrubs there that don't know the rules. This deck required some rules knowledge to work well (see my tricks), so I doubt he wasn't playing the deck perfectly. Give it a try, this isn't as slow as you pretend.

One highlight was my opponent playing Personal Tutor for Merchant Scroll.  Next turn Merchant Scroll for Recall, which tapped him out.  Next turn Recall, which I Misdirected with backup, not that I needed it.

Merchant Scroll clearly shows that you never face our deck, since we never include this card (It don't tutor anywthing good except Recall, FoW or Pact) and is very slow. It may surprise some people, but I found that tutoring for Recall in this deck isn't a good play most of the time. With that kind of hand, we would have to mulligan (unless he already mulligan down to 5...). That said, he shouldn't play Merchant Scroll, that's garbage in this deck.

In another game he Personal Tutored for Channel, which I let resolve.  He paid 5 life for Lich's Mirror, which I Drained.

He clearly misplayed that game... He tried to combo 2nd turn without protection while you had  open and playing some counters... Not a good play at all... Every players that played combo (or faced combo) know that, no!?
By the way, if he would have cast Channel with 2 Pact of Negation (Or Pact and FoW), would you still say that this deck si still the most horrifyingly slow deck imaginable!?

This deck is so awkward and unwieldy, it's unbelievable.  It uses so many subpar and questionable cards.  I don't even know where to begin, except that I see more bad card choices than good ones.

Which questionable cards!? Tell me which cards shouldn't be in t hat deck. I can tell you there isn't that much. Every card are there for a reason and, togeter, they make a good deck, like it or not. I know that you have prejudices against the deck, but be a little more open-minded ... This decklist (while played correctly) works very well and compete with any deck currently played. Like it or not, that's the truth.

Your argument clearly proves nothing, since your only player had a bad decklist and played poorly. You even fail to identify which card shouldn't be in the deck. I don't tell I have all the truth, this deck could probably be better (Maybe I forgot 1-2 card that could be very good in this deck...), but I have 3 tournaments played myself with this deck (and some others from other players) and I see myself (and other) winning with this deck. Prove me that I'm wrong (with good arguments this time!).

[Wagner]

I faced this online a few months ago.  It was the most horrifyingly slow deck imaginable.  One highlight was my opponent playing Personal Tutor for Merchant Scroll.  Next turn Merchant Scroll for Recall, which tapped him out.  Next turn Recall, which I Misdirected with backup, not that I needed it.

In another game he Personal Tutored for Channel, which I let resolve.  He paid 5 life for Lich's Mirror, which I Drained.

This deck is so awkward and unwieldy, it's unbelievable.  It uses so many subpar and questionable cards.  I don't even know where to begin, except that I see more bad card choices than good ones.

Personal in Scroll in Recall was just a bad play, no arguing there.

But for the next one, how different is it to say "He played Vampiric for Y. Will, then I drained Y. Will." He wasn't backed, that happens, to any deck.

Also, in most of the cases, the correct play in to counter Channel, I have already won because my opponent let Channel resolve thinking he would do a 2 for 1 and I happened to have 2 Mirrors or Mirror + Fabricate, or simply Torch to cast for 19 (rare, but happens).

[Magnum Innominandum]

I faced this online a few months ago.  It was the most horrifyingly slow deck imaginable.  One highlight was my opponent playing Personal Tutor for Merchant Scroll.  Next turn Merchant Scroll for Recall, which tapped him out.  Next turn Recall, which I Misdirected with backup, not that I needed it.

In another game he Personal Tutored for Channel, which I let resolve.  He paid 5 life for Lich's Mirror, which I Drained.

I also play bad player with good deck online, does that make good deck bad? Walking into drain without offering resistance when playing a 5cc card look like an awful play to me.

This deck is so awkward and unwieldy, it's unbelievable.  It uses so many subpar and questionable cards.  I don't even know where to begin, except that I see more bad card choices than good ones.

Could you be more specific when you say that the deck is so awkward and that it uses so many subpar/questionable cards (which one and what are the better card in those case)?

I guess when something new popup everyone bash on it and doesn't try to master it. I remember when I first saw post on TPS and some detractor where dismissing it as a pile, still results proved that they were wrong, but the deck in my opinion is still underplayed probably due to the high curve to master it perfectly, Tezz deck are so widely play because there  are so easy to play and forgiving on mistake.

This deck still made two top 8, for sure there surprise factor surely help him the first time, the second tournament result was a prize split in a 24 peoples tournament in the same league so the best players where probably aware of the existence of this deck and knew better how to play against it.

[BruiZar]

Off topic:
Don't dismiss the deck without giving any concrete arguments. Back up your ideas and give us substance.

On topic:
How often do you kill with Kaervek's Torch versus Memory Jar? Memory Jar seems like a risky deal. I can imagine playing jar one or two times just to grab the right hand, but milling through someone's deck is opening yourself to Force of Will's needlessly, although I doubt with all the filtering that you run into a hand without any pacts.

I would suggest to replace the Kaervek's Torch with Banefire from Conflux for an even saver kill condition:
Banefire
Sorcery   
Banefire deals X damage to target creature or player.
If X is 5 or more, Banefire can't be countered by spells or abilities and the damage can't be prevented.

EDIT: Have you tried Brainfreeze? It reduces the requirements for non- mana and has some synergy with jar the same way confidant beats has synergy with tendrils.

EDIT 2: If you have a Jar and a Sensei in play, you can take the top card of your library before cracking your Memory Jar to replay it and up your storm count by 1 which helps a tiny bit with brainfreeze

[John Jones]

Okay well I wasn't playing the deck wrong but that still doesn't change my opinion on the deck.
The problem with the deck is that it gets hurt a lot by a turn one thoughtseize/duress and especially if that person has counter back up. There were a few times yesterday when I went first turn Personal for Channel, my buddy went turn 1 thoughtseize which I forced because I needed to keep the mirror I had. So next turn, I play channel, he resolves it I pay 5 life, and then lose the game beacause he stopped my mirror. The biggest problem with the deck is that it is not explosive (which you generally want a combo deck like this to be) enough so that it can get around the turn 1 duress/seize. Also, FORGET trying to run this deck against shops unless you plan to be on the play everygame and have force backup because if you dont coutner their turn 1 sphere you will lose (as of my testing with my horrible shop rack deck)

[policehq]

Why did you try to play Lich's Mirror without any attempt to protect its resolution?

This deck actually really isn't bad against Sphere of Resistance effects. Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon must be addressed in the sideboard, though.

Gunslinga's post seems to suggest that there are no bad players online, so if there were problems the deck produced during his games, it must have been the deck. Clearly this is illogical and not useful for the thread.

What exactly happened when you got Duressed or Thoughtseized John? This deck is so redundant. Don't misunderstand me, this deck is no Flash. But the combo pieces are as redundant as those found in Flash. If you have Channel in your opening hand, AND if your opponent has Duress, AND if you are not able to counter the Duress, AND you can't resolve Timetwister after Channel is discarded, then you are in trouble, but that's a lot. Particularly more often, you use a topdeck tutor to ensure that Channel will be in your hand during the main phase in which you are ready to play it. Being ready also means to have Force of Will and/or Pact of Negation.

[BruiZar]

[Dnine]

I was reading your post and remembered the discussion that started when the card was first spoiled.  I like the idea of the deck and have been brainstorming some cards for it and was wondering if you thought of them or tested them.

First of the kill I always thought goblin cannon was the way to go for a colorless kill.  It will cost you 44 mana which may be too much, but it seems possible and may be easier then finding a colored mana.  Also cutting down to 3 colors would allow you to switch to a fetch land mana base which will make your tops more useful.

Next I liked cards that not only helped you keep the combo going, but also helped you find channel for colorless mana.  I agree top is the best bet for this, but have you thought of supplementing it with a few scroll racks?  It's a colorless investment that not only lets you did 5-7 cards deeper, but can come down early to help you find channel or protection from channel in the first place.  May be worth testing in a few of the fabricate slots. 

 

[Negator13]

It seems like you might be better served by running more artifact acceleration and 4 Chromatic Spheres to go with the stars, maybe replacing the Tops.

[Wagner]

It seems like you might be better served by running more artifact acceleration and 4 Chromatic Spheres to go with the stars, maybe replacing the Tops.

Could you please elaborate on that?