Sleight of Hand

[Ufactor]

With the recent success of GAT2k9 and Stephen's article on SCG, Sleight of Hand seems some good.  I threw three of them into COMBO and had pleasing results.

1) Has anyone else tested this card in TPS, PL, or Ad Nauseam?

2) What cards did you take out?

3) Sleight of Hand is a "dig for mana card", similar to Ancestral or Brainstorm..  In other words, you can start out with one land and some bombs, then use Sleight to find some rituals.  Starting out with a mana-heavy hand and using Sleight of Hand to find your big combo engines seems like a recipe for disaster.  Anyone agree?

[DoubleDrain]

i tested it in Ad Naus but found it was too much of a tempo loss, and i almost never want to fetch out island in that deck - bassically it just isn't needed in that deck, as the cards you would cut are soo much better than sleight (dark confidant).

[honestabe]

Yeah, it's not an instant, so it's not that good

[AshThaReaper804]

try brainstorm or strategic planning or impulse

[Frenger]

In the one mana slot, I like Serum Visions much better than Sleight of Hand. While Sleight gives you a choice of two cards, it doesn't let you set up your next draw because it forces the card you don't take to the bottom of your library. That can suck if you wanted that card.

Serum Visions doesn't let you choose the card you dray, but it digs one card deeper and also lets you decide what to do with them, whether you want one on top one on bottom, both on top, or both on bottom. This lets it set up potentially your next two draws, or one draw, or no draws depending on whether or not you like what you see. With Sleight you never get to know what your next draw will be.

So as far as one mana sorceries go, i would choose Serum Visions over Sleight of hand.

[Tobi]

I have played Sleight of Hand in Horden Tendrils as a Brainstorm replacement and it worked quite well. (see http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36530.0 )

In comparison to Serum Visions I agree that Visions is the card that digs deeper, but Sleight is the card that is faster, giving you the better of two cards whih may enable you to do some broken stuff quicker.

[Ufactor]

Tobi:  Your input is very appreciated - this is exactly what I was looking for.  Would you still play a version of this deck in a tournament?

[Tobi]

Tobi:  Your input is very appreciated - this is exactly what I was looking for.  Would you still play a version of this deck in a tournament?

This is a good question 
I'd probably try something with Dark Confidants, like the list Mike Solymossy played recently. Confidants are quite good against Mystic Remora decks, which are very tough to beat otherwise.

[Ufactor]

This is a good question 
I'd probably try something with Dark Confidants, like the list Mike Solymossy played recently. Confidants are quite good against Mystic Remora decks, which are very tough to beat otherwise.

Soly is an excellent player and made the perfect call for his local meta, but I disagree with the deck choice for a larger tournament..

1) Combo decks without FoW will always be at a disadvantage.  This especially true against Stax and Fish, no matter how many bounce spells you have.

2) Currently the best use of Dark Confidant is in Gro, not GWSx.  You still get to set up a combo finish with Tendrils, but the small bursts of card drawing go a long way to put counters on Dryad.

[Purple Hat]

This is a good question 
I'd probably try something with Dark Confidants, like the list Mike Solymossy played recently. Confidants are quite good against Mystic Remora decks, which are very tough to beat otherwise.

Soly is an excellent player and made the perfect call for his local meta, but I disagree with the deck choice for a larger tournament..

1) Combo decks without FoW will always be at a disadvantage.  This especially true against Stax and Fish, no matter how many bounce spells you have.

I don't think that's necessarily true.  I played an ad naus list with confidant this weekend with no forces and it was extremely strong, agaisnt stax in particular.  3 chain of vapor and 1 hurkyls maindeck with 1 more in the side and a man plan of goyfs and jailers coming in allowed for an extremely strong stax match.  I played terribly, but the deck should have won every round in the hands of a mildly compotent pilot (I hadn't played tendrils since 2004 and picked up the deck with no testing).

[Diakonov]

I've always felt that the one mana draw spells don't mesh well with combo's inherent strategy.  Brainstorm and Ponder are not included, obviously, because their effects are too powerful to ignore.  The thing I'm always afraid of is fizzling while you're trying to go off, and if you decide to spend on looking at the top 2 cards mid-storm, that means you must be looking for something more.  Either you need mana or business, and the chances are pretty high that you'll whiff. 

Confidant is a whole different strategy that can help you set up for the win or recover fast after you fizzle out, so I can see the reasoning more there.

I'm not saying that Sleight is a terrible choice, but I've always preferred investing mana in more beefy spells.  If I've started to go off, I'd much rather maximize my chances of being able to keep going.

[M.Solymossy]

Soly is an excellent player and made the perfect call for his local meta, but I disagree with the deck choice for a larger tournament..

1) Combo decks without FoW will always be at a disadvantage.  This especially true against Stax and Fish, no matter how many bounce spells you have.

I have to disagree with you, UF, on the Large Tournament.  I'm quite upset I didn't have the funds for the 20ish hour drive to Connecticut, as I would have played GWSx.  I love the deck, it's kinda what I'm known for (or at least was, before Champs2k8).   

 This deck is at an advantage in my testing to everything except TPS.  The Remora Matchup is insane because Dark Confidant makes Remora and Meditate just awful, and Commandeer is awful against things like Timetwister, Windfall, and Wheel of Fortune.   I tested this matchup, and Game 1 was very favorable.  Game 2 was extremely favorable unless they are running the Smother Sideboard, because Xantid Swarm is a complete house. 

To be honest, I board OUT my force of will's against shop decks on the draw, because they're just awful.   I have a different play style than Steve with decks, as I almost never force of will sphere of resistance (Unless my hand is THAT good), so this is where we differ a bit, but I just sit back and grind the shop player down with my better blue/black cards.  GWSx takes this to the extreme.  There are games where I just sit on a dark confidant, with a bunch of busted cards in hand (think unable to kill them without a string of draw spells, not straight up I kill you) and a bounce spell, and I will just grind the confidant as long as possible, until I feel pressured.  The same is true against fish. 

[Smmenen]

 I have a different play style than Steve with decks, as I almost never force of will sphere of resistance (Unless my hand is THAT good), so this is where we differ a bit, but I just sit back and grind the shop player down with my better blue/black cards. 

Unless I am pre-board, my approach to the workshop match is very similar, except that i grind them out by playing lands as well. 

[M.Solymossy]

Unless I am pre-board, my approach to the workshop match is very similar, except that i grind them out by playing lands as well. 

Yeah we both play similar then.  I just let them resolve their spheres and whatnot, as I only care about their stuff that can kill me, or kill my permanents.    I grind them down with mana + confidants + spells.  (how obvious is that? haha)