The Wheel 2.1

[magic geek]

Lets look at the Restricted List

16 Blue
14 Artifact
7 Black
3 Land
3 Green
2 Red
1 White


Obviously Blue MUST be included.
And Lots of Artifacts.
And Black cards.
And the Lands, since they provide colourless as well as being broken.


Which leaves the red, green and White.
And, fewer colours makes life better, if possible.


Green has Channel, Fastbond, and Regrowth.
Red gets Burning Wish and Wheel of Fortune
White gets Balance.

Balance is Way Stronger than the others.
Balance looks at hand, creatures and land.

Burning Fish is all expensive and eats the sideboard.
Wheel of Fish is So random, doesn't sweep the graveyard, and is not Blue.

Channel eats life that wants to be spent on Necro or Bargain.
Fastbond just isnt that good in an artifact heavy environment for mana production.
Fastbond has real pain involved too, and eats a card.
Regrowth is solid. A solid staple.
But Blue has better toys, I think than red or green.




So. . .
16 Blue
7 Black
14 Artifact
3 lands. . .Library. . Tolarian Academy. . .Strip Mine
Balance

Tundra
4 Underground Sea


46 cards as a starting deck. . . .

Every card in it is individually powerful without any other card to help it.
Well, except there is not a single way to kill anyone.

Ancestral is truely unfair
Time Walk is unfair
Brainstorm is unfair
Timetwister is unfair
Fact or Fiction is unfair

Black Lotus is truely unfair
Blue Mox is unfair
Black Mox is unfair
Sol Ring is unfair
Mana Vault is unfair
The Academy is so powerful from so many artifacts it wants MORE.


Demonic tutor is unfair
Necropotence is unfair (but costs BBB)
Y's Will is unfair
Y's Bargain is unfair ((but costs 4BB)
Vampiric Tutor is Strong


Thirst for knowledge ? if there is lots of artifacts, and mana
Mystical Tutor ? If there is good things to find


Mind's Desire? nah.
Windfall can be AWFUL.
Trinisphere can hurt only you.
Mana Crypt? / NO! That can kill you.
Lotus Petal? nah too weak.
Lions Eye Diamond is Dumb (unless you is special)



RED mox . . .Nah, I want everything to be special.
GREEN mox . . .Cloured mana that is never used looks ugly
WHITE ? . . . This mox wants in, but . . .maybe
Memory Jar? Maybe if all Moxen . .



Imperial Seal? Hmmmm? nah too expensive
Demonic Consultation ? Nope.

Gush? Wants ways to put more islands into play, like Fastbond.
Gifts Ungiven?
Frantic Search?

Time Vault and Flash and Tinker look lonely.
But, that is because their natural partners are not there.
Voltaic key untaps the Time vault.
Flash gets Protean Hulk (or ...)
Tinker used to get Dark Steel Collossussus but now gets Inky Leviathans, maybe.
Of the three, only TInker is useful by itself.
Of the three partner cards only the Big Artifact creatures can be cast indpendantly as an easy win condition.
Of the Two Big Artifact creatures, my it is hard to choose.





Maybes . . . so put to one side
Voltaic key(s) + Time vault.
WHITE mox
Memory Jar
Gush
Gifts Ungiven
Frantic Search
Mystical Tutor
Thirst for knowledge
Imperial Seal








The Backbone of Unfair

Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Brainstorm
Timetwister
Fact or Fiction
Tinker for (Darksteel Collossus or Inky Leviathan)

Balance

Vampiric Tutor
Demonic tutor
Necropotence
Y's Will
Y's Bargain

Black Lotus
Blue Mox
Black Mox
Sol Ring
Mana Vault

Tolarian Academy
Strip Mine
Library Of Alexandria
Tundra
4 Underground Sea


26 cards

5 artifact Mana
8 lands

add 34 more cards and you are reinventing the Wheel 
At this point it starts to becomes judgement calls.
At this point is where pretty well everyone should agree, I reckon.


More Blue and Black Mana is needed.
More fetchlands are needed to be able to get the tundra for balance.
Wastelands are obvious, if they can be fitted.

Dark Ritual seems an obvious ways of casting Necropotence.
Dark Ritual seems an obvious ways of casting Yawgmoths Bargain.
Good thing they work on each other.


Cranking it over.. . .

Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Brainstorm
Timetwister
Fact or Fiction
Tinker
(Darksteel Collossus or Inky Leviathan)

Balance

Vampiric Tutor
Demonic tutor
Necropotence
Y's Will
Y's Bargain
2 Dark Rituals


Black Lotus
Blue Mox
Black Mox
Sol Ring
Mana Vault

Tolarian Academy
Library Of Alexandria
Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
Tundra
4 Underground Sea
3 Fetchland


35 cards


15 land is not enough since 5 is attacking
The 5 Artifacts are huge, but not quite enough for Tinker and especially Academy to shine.
There needs to be more artifacts, but not enough for it to be a vulnerablilty.
There needs to be more primary sources of Blue and Black
There needs to be more ways to kill people

But mostly there needs to be more restricted cards.
How do I get more Restricted cards?
Hey Look Ponder is Restricted now? Sure, lets play that too.

Why not pretend it was 1, 2, 5, 7, or 10 years ago and look at what has been restricted in the past.
This line of reason may end up with some odd cards. Good.
Some of those cards still seems kinda strong.

I am looking for land, artifacts and rude spells that affect blunt numbers of cards.


Now I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that
Maze of Ith,
Ivory Tower,
Crucible of Worlds
Zuran Orb
Braingeyser
& Mind Twist,
have all been rerstricted at some point.

All of these cards just slide into this style of play and deck building.
Crucible loves the Strip Mine and is happy with the wastelands and the fetchland too.
Mind Twist is borderline abusive, not sure if I would want a second though.
Maze of Ith is very narrow, dont want 2.
Zuran Orb is very narrow, no point in two. No point in One sometimes.

Ivory Tower . . . is a very debatable choice.
Ivory Tower works with Everything in this deck. Waiter! I'll take a Double!


Crank And Cranking. . .

Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Brainstorm
Ponder
Timetwister
Fact or Fiction
Tinker
(Darksteel Collossus or Inky Leviathan)

Balance

Vampiric Tutor
Demonic tutor
Necropotence
Y's Will
Y's Bargain
2 Dark Rituals


Black Lotus
Blue Mox
Black Mox
Sol Ring
Mana Vault

Tolarian Academy
Library Of Alexandria
Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
Tundra
4 Underground Sea
3 Fetchland




Crucible of Worlds
2 Ivory Tower,
Zuran Orb

Maze of Ith,
Braingeyser
Mind Twist,

43 cards


From there it is personal preference.


I believe the way to go is Blue.
If you go Blue, the deck will sort itself out.

4 Force of Will is rude
2 Sleight of Hand
1 Merchant Scroll (AKA Ancestral Threecall, but only 1 thanks)

These three cards are known and have featured.
For their mana costs they have obscene power.

Force of Will is unique in it's singular rudeness.
No other counterspell is quite so feared.

Sleight of Hand is technically a restricted card too, so play two.
Well, sorta, if you are drawing 2 cards from a deck with over half restricted cards it feels like a restricted card.

What else need to be included?
More land. More Mana sources, with Blue especially.
Must come into play untapped.
Well, unless it is some seriously good stuff.
What tricks, traps and toys can I have?
I want Blue spells and land that produces Blue, or funky lands that come untapped. Possibly a couple more black too could be nice, maybe more fetch.
Depends on how greedy you feel.


Maybe looking at the maybes again could help for the last cards . .

. . .Looking back at the maybes . . . .
Voltaic key(s) + Time vault.
WHITE mox
Memory Jar
Gush
Gifts Ungiven
Frantic Search
Mystical Tutor
Thirst for knowledge
Imperial Seal

To this list I think I would also include
Chain of Vapour
Capsize
Tezzeret the Seeker (seems good with Time Vault)
Mana Drain is an old staple too, but you need Two Blue.
This can be awkward at the best of times during their turn.



Land
An Island
Oboro (maybe)
Reliquary Tower
more fetch
Tundra
Scubland
Tolaria West
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (maybe)
Mishras Factory

Mishras Factory is first Man Land to include, if there needs to be one.
Very good with Tinker

Oboro is Sheer Greed, and has won a game.







Crank, Crank And Cranky. . .

Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Brainstorm
Ponder
Timetwister
Fact or Fiction
Tinker
(Darksteel Collossus or Inky Leviathan)

Balance

Vampiric Tutor
Demonic tutor
Necropotence
Y's Will
Y's Bargain
2 Dark Rituals


Black Lotus
Blue Mox
Black Mox
Sol Ring
Mana Vault

Tolarian Academy
Library Of Alexandria
Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
Tundra
4 Underground Sea
3 Fetchland




Crucible of Worlds
2 Ivory Tower,
Zuran Orb

Maze of Ith,
Braingeyser
Mind Twist,

4 Force of Will is rude
2 Sleight of Hand
1 Merchant Scroll


50 cards


Plus 10 of the following 23 cards.
Maybe 3-5 spells

13 Spells
Voltaic key
Time vault.
WHITE mox
Memory Jar
Gush
Gifts Ungiven
Frantic Search
Mystical Tutor
Thirst for knowledge
Imperial Seal
Chain of Vapour
Capsize
Futuresight
Tezzeret the Seeker


Maybe 5-7 of those 10 should be lands.
0 or 1 white source
0 or 2 black sources
0-7 being blue sources

10 land
Island
Reliquary Tower
Polluted Delta number 4
Tundra
Scubland
Tolaria West
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Oboro
Seat of The Synod
2 Mishras Factory





My current 10 from that list is

Voltaic key
Time vault
Tezzeret the Seeker

Island
Reliquary Tower
Polluted Delta number 4
Tolaria West
WHITE mox
2 Mishra's Factory


But it is changing, and has not faced a creature charge deck for a long time.

The Zuran orb seems weak in a purely type 1 environment.
Need some form of lifegain though, maybe the towers are enough.
Maze of ith seems bad too if everyone is playing infinite turns and invisible creatures. But I like the idea of having bigger creatures, and this deck is about trying to using restricted cards effectively, on mass. So the Darksteel is In. This deck is about showing off, winning is what happens after.

Now, to figure out a sideboard.
Zero cost artifacts look like the current problem.
Artifacts in general, and specifric.
Wonder how I Stop Inky, and stopping Them going infinite. . .
Nev's disk look like one of the only ways of stopping both.

Trying to make a sideboard, and actually sideboarding this monster is a nightmare.






X X X X   An Actual Decklist!   XX X X X





The Wheel 2.1    Rollin’   

Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Brainstorm
Ponder
Timetwister
Fact or Fiction
Tinker
Darksteel Collossus
Balance
Vampiric Tutor
Demonic tutor
Necropotence
Y's Will
Y's Bargain
2 Dark Rituals
Black Lotus
Blue Mox
Black Mox
Sol Ring
Mana Vault
Tolarian Academy
Library Of Alexandria
Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
Tundra
4 Underground Sea
3 Fetchland
Crucible of Worlds
2 Ivory Tower
Braingeyser
Mind Twist
4 Force of Will
2 Sleight of Hand
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Chain of Vapour
1 Voltaic key
1 Time vault
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Island
1 Seat of The Synod
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Marsh Flats (Black/White Fetchland)
1 Tolaria West
1 WHITE mox
2 Mishra's Factory



Sideboard
Zuran Orb
Maze of Ith
2 Energy Flux  maybe more
2 Hurkyl’s Recall      Boo Mr Inky!

[magic geek]

If you need to be rude, could you be rude somewhere else?

[magic geek]

The Wheel, 2.0

4x Force of Will
2x Sleight of Hand
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Ponder
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Timetwister
1x Tinker
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Braingeyser
1x Future Sight
1x Capsize



1x Mind Twist
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Yawgmoth's Bargain
1x Necropotence
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Dark Ritual

1x Balance

1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Crucible Of Worlds
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Zuran Orb
2x Ivory Tower


1x Tolarian Academy
1x Tolaria West
1x Maze of Ith
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4x Underground Sea
2x Tundra
3x Polluted Delta
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
2x Mishra's Factory
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Library of Alexandria



Sideboard Definites

2x Dystopia
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Energy Flux
1x Masticore

Lots of stupid blue instants


Specifics. . .

Library of Alexandra is unfair.
Library LOVES Tower and likes Reliquary.

Necro is unfair.
Necro likes Tower & Reliquary.

Yawgmoths Bargain is unfair
Bargain likes Tower & Reliquary.

Timetwister is unfair
Timetwister likes Tower.

Strip Mine is Unfair.
Strip mine likes Tower

Wasteland is fair, but kills unfair things.
Wasteland likes Tower

Ancestral Recall is unfair
(Fact or Fiction / braingeyser / Brainstorm / looking at cards) likes Tower & Reliquary

Tolaria West can get Reliquary, or Zuran Orb, Library, Lotus, Strip Mine, Academy, Tundra, Underground sea, Maze of Ith, Mishra Factory, Mox,

Zuran Orb is a very weak card, most of the time.
The difference is when you have just paid lots of life, and dont want to die. Playing a zero cost artifact that means you dont die this turn does not win games, but, it does mean I dont lose. Not losing one game in ten is worth including it. That one game in ten is the one I want to focus on.

YOU-> you should win next turn as thats what good Vintage decks do.
ME -> Next Turn? Zuran orb is this turn.

I am trying to not lose. There are other options.
Delusions of Mediocrity is plenty cool. But doesn't cost ZERO.
Fetching an "I dont lose" with the Tinker or Tolaria west is just fine too.
Works with fetch lands and as a way of kickstarting the Neco and Y-Will.

Ivory Tower.
Loves Library of Alexandria
Stops Black Vise from killing
Is Tinker fuel.
Helps Tolarian Acadamy
LOVES BARGAIN, Draw 15 cards?
Loves Reliquary Tower , Gain 40 life per turn?
Ivory Tower and Reliquary Tower do win games.
Cards like R.Tower are the little extra bits ya get to play with because the extra colours are not there.

Ivory Tower is not small amounts of life.
Ivory Tower is 3 cards a turn, or draw 15 cards in your upkeep.
Or instant win from Burn.


Often these cards were unrestricted because the second one really is not as special as the firts. Casting a second Mind Twist for 6 really is not very good. Placing a second Maze of Ith to untap the same Akroma is not good.

Maze of Ith is often a poor card at best. It also wins games instantly.
Untap the DS Colossus / Akroma / Thing. . . my go?
Untap the Factory, tap the factory, pump the factory . . .

Mishra's Factory are only the best man land ever made.
There was 4 for years, but they were just a bit fair.

Chain of Vapor is better than Echoing Truth.
But, I dont want just a singleton bounce spell, I want MORE.

Capsize . . . Is too slow to be a lock against type 1, legacy too, mostly.
It is a complete bastard against most everything else.
Turn 3 Capsize lock can happen.
And it is a Blue Spell.
You Tinker for Colossus, and I capsize, no buyback sounds like a fine place to start. This Inky guy looks interesting.
Capsize can still win one game in 10 in type one, outright.

Future Sight, may not be strong enough.
My it allows some silly turns, and it is FUN!
REALLY silly with a Necro or Y-Bargain in play, and it is a Blue Spell.
Likes Tower & Reliquary
Future Sight seems the weakest card left in the deck.
Sure, it is obviously strong, but it doesn't "just Win" like lots of the rest of the deck. It does do lots tho, so I am giving it a try.


Tinker for Darksteel is the easiest.
Strip mine / Wasteland + Crucible of Worlds
The capsize lock

The massed lifegain is the most fun way to win.
(Ivory tower + Necro or bargain + reliquary tower)
Ivory Tower turn one has caused instant concession from a burn player.
But, it is the weakest overall.

A couple of cards have been sliding in and out in the last couple of months. The Zuran Orb, Reliquary Tower, Seat, Tolaria West, the two sleight of hands and one or two others have recently made the grade. FutureSight is the current card of interest. The deck ended up using the restricted list as a shopping list, with extra ways of find the right cards. (Sleight of Hand often chooses between two restricted cards)


All the really abusive things ya wanna do in Type One can be done with this. Using the rest of the restricted list as a shopping list does work.
It used to be a whole lot more interactive, using toughtseize / duress / counterspells, and it started as a sprint black deck. This way is much faster and much more fun.



Energy Flux with Force of will Back Up.
Is it double counter or ( bounce & counter) . . .. or die ?
Flux is a no fun card that ruins large amounts of REALLY expensive cards.
Expensive cards dont like it.

Massed artifact hatred is a completely valid style of meta Type 1 antideck, I spoze. Energy Flux is Such a pain. Hurkyl's too. or massed Red or Green hatred

Tezz is lovely, but becomes VERY weak against massed artifact hatred. Trying to keep up with the current wording on Time Vault got dull a couple of years ago. Those two together would be Infinite turns I spoze. Which is a damn good place to start, but just not very reliable. Getting a Key, or a Vault by themselves, sucks.

Both Time Vault and Voltaic Key are not good enough by themselves. I dont want either because they dont work with enough other cards in the deck. For the same reason Fastbond keeps asking for inclusion, and not making it.

Tezz is kinda strong tho.
Affinity made type 1 Tezz very hard to play against the sideboard hate.
Affinity is a way for new players to play type 1, same with fully RED burn.

Trinket Mage is a quality Type 1 card. But, Four Cost Sol Rings are not so exciting. He should not go in here.

Stroke of Genius and Black Vise are Type 1 Quality, but I think Braingeyser is better. Black Vise does not beat Burn decks, and Ivory Tower can let me draw 15 cards in my upkeep.

A far more expensive Triple Mox plus Wheel of Fortune may be more impressive when it goes off, but far less reliable, and bad when looking at the wrong colours.

Fastbond for infinite life would be lovely, but a one trick pony that stuffs up the mana consistency.
Crop Rotation is simply not worth it. None of the 3 restricted lands are worth getting that way.
How this thing wins changes depending on the draw.

Diving Top just left because it was not good enough.
Talking about a metagame is just dumb when it comes to type 1, around here anyway. I am as likely to be playing against Moxen as I am Lightning Bolt or merfolk. Preparing for a specific match up is ridiculous.

Why do I have to defend Ivory Tower / Maze / Zuran Orb / Mind Twist / Balance / Braingeyser . . . ? ? ? ? These were restricted cards? do you not accept they are at least playable in type 1?
And DARK RITUAL in a deck with Necro & Bargain & Mind Twist & Geyser & Fact &. . . . Wow.


X Z X

Cards That Can Not be argued with . . . 26
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Timetwister
1x Tinker
1x Darksteel Colossus (or Inky Lev)
1x Brainstorm
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Library of Alexandria
4x Underground Sea
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Yawgmoth's Bargain
1x Necropotence
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor


Cards That Should Not be argued with . . .12
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Crucible Of Worlds
4x Force of Will
1x Ponder
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mind Twist
2x Dark Ritual


Cards That Might be argued with . . . 9
2x Sleight of Hand
1x Chain of Vapor
3x Polluted Delta
2x Tundra
1x Balance


Cards That Can be argued with . . .13
1x Tolaria West
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2x Mishra's Factory
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Maze of Ith
1x Zuran Orb
2x Ivory Tower
1x Braingeyser
1x Future Sight
1x Capsize


Can Not be argued with . . . 26
Should Not be argued with . . .12
Might be argued with . . . 9
Can be argued with . . .13



Total 60.


Some cards to think about.

Memory Jar
Mana Crypt
Imperial Seal
Frantic Search
Time Vault
Voltaic Key
Tezz
Trinket Mage
Fastbond
Wheel Of Fortune
Diminishing Returns
City of Traitors
Dust Bowl
Delusions of Grandeur
Delusions of Mediocrity
Hurkyls Recall
Recall
Crop Rotation
Engineered Explosives
Energy Flux
Gauntlets of Chaos.
Juxtapose
Control Magic
Meekstone


X X X

This deck kicks the crap out of pretty well anything ever made.
Sure, there are some decks that can go toe to toe.
Maybe 1% of all the decks ever made stand a chance against this.
Less would would have match ups in their favour.
Among Type One decks this easily holds it's own.
I pull it out sometimes as a way of showing people the Old Cards.

I got so fed up with not getting the right colours. Splashing Minor colours for a couple of outrageous effects was just not worth it.

Duress and Thoughtseize are two cards that have influenced the basic design of this. If every card is unfair, it does not matter if you nail one. If the basic theme is broken cards, nailing one almost at randon just doesn't matter.
x x x x

The Wheel is not scared of any sideboard cards.
Because aside from lite artifact destruction there aint a damn thing you can do to The Wheel. Sideboard in Anything. I am OK.
Pithing Needle is Very Not Scarey.
Well, I can think of 3 cards I dont wanna see, but I have outs, and counterspells. 

Name a sideboard card I should be worried about.
Is Hurkyl's recall or Energy Flux going to hurt you?

Having this thread has signifcantly affected my sideboard in that the only time I am going to need it is against full blown Type 1, so, nail type one if possible.

Misdirection, daze, and all the boring stuff . . . duress thoughtseize . . . and massed artifact hatred.

[magic geek]

I am happily playing with my cards. I do not need help.
Gentle suggestions are welcome.
But I tend to be a Rhinoceros, do not expect me to listen.

Why not just leave me alone?

I have lost all concept of how to sideboard this monster.
The mana ratio's are getting a little unsure too.
I have shifted a lot of cards without playing it enough.

[magic geek]

Trying to playtest this thing for play balance takes ages.

Trying to figure out if sideboarding is working is near impossible.
It just takes too long.

Trying to figure what to take out is the single hardest bit.
Trying to justify removing Restricted cards is really hard.


It is kinda fun working out what is going to destroy you, and only hurt me.

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