Blood Donor

[BruiZar]

Here is my latest contraption. Hope you like it, its raw as hell and needs refinement. This thread will undergo constant adjustments. Every bit of constructive advice is welcome.

Blood Donor
Revision 3

Mana Base
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained mire
2 island
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
(15)
Acceleration
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
(6)
Combo
4 Blood Funnel
3 Donate
1 Illusions of Grandeur
(8)
Creatures/Sack Outlets
3 Bloodghast
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Bitterblossom
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
(10)
Search/Setup
3 Intuition
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
(5)
Utility / Draw
2 Skullclamp
1 Jace, The Mindsculptor
1 Frantic Search
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
(7)
Permission
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
(10)

Total: 61
Sideboard:
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Hurkyll's Recall
2 Energy Flux / Gate to Phyrexia
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Yixlid Jailer
2 Bitterblossom
(15)

Interactions

The Combo


Funnel Fodder


Card Explanation / Other Interactions:
Frantic Search
It is used to dump Bloodghasts or Deep Analysis in the graveyard. When Blood Funnel is online it costs   to draw 2 cards, discard 2 cards, and untap 3 lands. It´s a super handsculpting blue ritual with the ability to go untap academy for the nuts!

Blood Funnel - Bloodghast
it´s a double Helm of Awakening! Now my donate costs only   to cast! And I have plenty of fetch to trigger the landfall of Bloodghast so I can keep sacrificing!

Blood Funnel - Donate
Now your opponent has a double Helm of Awakening! Plus all his spells are countered cause you´re countering every creature he´s casting  (he´s running only a tinker bot and oathies). FUN-FACT: He can't counter back when he hardcasts a creature cause, he can't sack a creature to cast the counter! The beautiful thing is, this card has built in protection from cards like Nature's Claim, Krosan Grip, Reverent Silence, Serenity, etc. The only card that can get rid of it safely and consistently is a Qasali Pridemage or a Smokestack that resolved before the combo, in which case you should've gone for Illusions of Grandeur, try Smokestacking that!

Other very situational uses of Donate
He stripped you out of your combo and you're almost dead! If you attack him, he will be on one life. Donate your Bitterblossom for that last point of damage! This can also help disable fetch land, mana crypt, ancient tomb, vampiric tutor and imperial seal. You don't have a Bitterblossom but he's about to vault key you? Nearly got him? Give him your confidant and hope it will seal the deal. This may not happen often, but it is a line of play to keep in mind. Donating Mana Crypt helps you speed up the clock once you tie him down with Blood Funnel.

Intuition
Intuition is a really good card when it only costs  .
Piles: (Perhaps I should add 1 Dakmor Salvage to the list, so that I can have a nice intuition pile with Bloodghast, Cabal Therapy and Dakmor Salvage EOT)
2 Bloodghast, 1 Cabal Therapy
1 Bloodghast, 2 Cabal Therapy
3 Bloodghasts
3 Donate
3 Blood Funnel

Spellstutter Sprite
Spellstutter Sprite is a counterspell that can sack for Cabal Therapy and Blood Funnel.

Bitterblossom
This gives you a creature every turn. It makes you less dependent on the graveyard and the Bloodghasts. It´s great against Stax and Workshop Aggro. It´s also a win condition. If loss of life is threathening you, either Donate it or cast Illusions of Grandeur to gain 20 life (And then Donate Illusions)

Illusions of Grandeur
If Ghasts don't make it through, this will. There are times where this will be dead. I suggest pitching it to FoW in that case. The reason why I included this is more because of the life gain and the fact that some decks have troubles paying the upkeep. Also, when you´re vault/key´d, the cumulative upkeep will ramp up so quickly that your opponent will probably lose. FUN-FACT: 20 life is a lot, even in Vintage. Requires a bunch more storm and a bunch more beats before you die. Just don't cast this thing with Qasali Pridemage staring down at you.

Tinker
This is actually one of the weaker cards in the deck, but tinkering for only can´t be bad. Time Vault and Voltaic key are sort of, not good enough here, even though you can plop them down for free with funnel in play. I feel like this deck can use a better tinker target than Inkwell Leviathan cause it just seems not fast enough. Right now, the tinker bot is Sphinx of the Steel Wind which can gain me some life against aggro decks, since Bloodghasts suck at blocking.

Force of Will
A logical inclusion, but it warrants some explanation. Multiple donates are usually dead. Preferably you would draw into 1 funnel and donate it as soon as possible. A second donate could be used for Illusions of Grandeur to ensure a quick and safe win even through vault key, if for some reason your opponent establishes a vault/key lock on you (Tezzeret hit the board before you could donate Blood Funnel him). This is better than Tinkering for a creature, because that will result in a game loss. That said, donate in multiples can safely be pitched to FoW.

Spell Snare
There are several options for secondary counter spells. I chose Spell Snare. If you have any insights on why that is not the best choice, please let me know. Let's consider the options:
Instants
1) Daze - Allows you to play a first turn combo part or threat. These are Bitterblossom, Intuition, Dark Confidant. If you cast a Blood Funnel, you will lock yourself up since you can't counter back if they counter your Dark Confidant. If you've got a Blood Funnel online, hardcasting Daze will only cost  , so it takes some advantage of the Helm effect. It can also help you get landfall by returning an island to your hand.
2) Spell Snare - Counters Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst, Time Vault, Qasali Pridemage, Oath of Druids, Demonic Tutor, Merchant Scroll, Dark Confidant, Mana Drain
3) Spell Pierce - Counters most of the things I want to counter, except creatures. I need to have a counterspell that can counter creatures so that I can keep my lock in place.
4) Mana Drain - Mana Drain doesn't capitalize on Blood Funnel's reduction and it doesn't come online turn 1.
Creatures:
5) Cursecatcher - It can be played through Blood Funnel, can be sacked for Blood Funnel / Donate, but it only counters Instants and Sorceries. Can't counter creatures.
6) Spiketail Hatchling - It can be played through Blood Funnel, and counters any type of spell. It doesn't have flash.
7) Glen Elendra Archmage - Persist is very nice with Blood Funnel, and it gets to counter 2 spells. The problem is its casting cost, it is not affected by funnel so even post funnel it's too expensive, and it can only counter non-creatures.
8) Spellstutter Sprite - It is the only creature with flash. It is good early game, but also late game because of the synergy with Bitterblossom. It has a comes into play affect instead of a sacrifice effect so it has a double use (I can sack it for Blood Funnel after I countered a spell with it, and I can sack it for Skullclamp, to recoup 2 cards.) and it counters any type of spell I'd like and it negates the drawback of Blood Funnel before Bloodghast or Bitterblossom has been setup.

Skullclamp
It is free to play with Blood Funnel online and it can clamp every creature in my deck. I don't want more than 2 because Skullclamp in multiples are bad but good enough to want to see one every game.

Jace, The Mindsculptor
1) He´s a draw engine.
2) He can bounce a creature in your mainphase, so that you can safely cast a spell without the fear of your opponent´s Force of Will/Spell Snare/Spell Pierce/Mana Drain.
3) He can filter all topdeck creatures from your opponent, ensuring a hardlock until it ramps for ultimate.
4) He is a win condition.
5) He costs   with Blood Funnel on your side.


Sideboard Considerations
Red Elemental Blast
Having access to an efficient hard-counter against blue control decks is nice. It's also a destruction spell against Tezzeret and Jace, The Mindsculptor.

Rebuild
With Funnel it costs   and it gets around Leyline of Sanctity.

Hurkyll's Recall
Cheaper than Rebuild, easier to cast in a meta filled with Spheres.

Leyline of the Void
In your opening hand, this blanks Dredge. When you have a Blood Funnel in play, it only costs   to hardcast. Sacrificing creatures to Blood Funnel helps you remove Bridge From Below.

Yixlid Jailer
Together with Leyline of the Void, this is the best hate card against Ichorid. It's also a creature, so I don't need to setup Bloodghast recursion to play this through my own Blood Funnel.

Bitterblossom
This card is very nice against Workshop decks. It's good against tangle wire and smokestack. Can chump Karn, Silver Golem all day long.

Gate to Phyrexia and Energy Flux
*Energy Flux takes advantage of Blood Funnel and wipes the board faster

*Gate to Phyrexia is cheaper without Blood Funnel, but doesn't take advantage of Blood Funnel's cost reduction. It doesn't wipe the board as effectively as Energy Flux, but gives me very targeted removal.


Reason to play the deck:
It´s extremely fun

So, what is this deck good against?
I haven´t tested this contraption anywhere near sufficiently to make any good calls on this. It´s a theoretical design that I plan on testing thoroughly in the near future (My foil donates are incoming!). That said, I will try to explain the strategies I envision for the main archetypes. These could be totally wrong, but as I will be testing this deck, changes will be made to reflect practice instead of theoretical matchup analysis.

Oath of Druids
Pre Board
This deck takes advantage of your opponent's Forbidden Orchard. You have a mainboard sack outlet so he can't trigger his Oath of Druids as long as you play enough spells to sacrifice all your creatures. Spell Snare is a hardcounter against Time Vault and Oath of Druids. They don't run any creatures except 3 oath/tinker targets so once you donate Blood Funnel, your opponent can scoop. There is literally no out besides hardcasting creatures which will be hard since they will walk into your counterspells and can't counter back. Their planeswalkers are constantly pressured by your creatures.

Post Board
Orchards already provide you with fodder, you don't want to enable your opponent's oath. Instead, 2 Red Elemental Blasts can help you get rid of Jace and Tezzeret, as well as countering Ancestrall recall, Force of Will or Gifts.
-2 Bitterblossom
+2 Red Elemental Blast


MUD/Workshop Aggro
Pre Board
I'm not really sure how this matchup will go. Blood Funnel nullifies Trinisphere and 2 Sphere Effects. Bloodghast nullfies Tangle Wire and Smokestack (if they run it). Bitterblossom also wins the permanent race. Karn, Silver Golem can animate their artifacts to sacrifice for another spell. Bloodghast can't block, but Bitterblossom can block Karn, Silver Golem without dying and it can chump Lodestones. I think the best strategy post-board is to try and establish a Bloodghast/Bitterblossom, stall out the game so that you can get Blood Funnel online to negate their spheres, and try to ramp up mana to cast Illusions of Grandeur and Donate. Their workshops are useless and if they have cast a Chalice of the Void for 0, they probably won´t have access to all their Moxen. You gain 20 life to survive the next couple of turns until your opponent can´t pay their upkeep. If he has Smokestack in play it´s very dire for your opponent, because he can´t sack illusions of Grandeur but he also can´t sack moxen (He needs to pay the upkeep) Another option is to Tinker for Sphinx of the Steel Wind and use life link and first strike to gain the advantage. Duplicant is usually a sideboard card so it´s probably safe.

Post Board
+3 Hurkyll's Recall / Rebuild
Use Hurkyll´s Recall / Rebuild and bounce EoT. Donating Blood Funnel is a good option now, because it will blank 4 Sculpting Steel, 8 SoLoMoxenCrypt, 4 Tangle wire, 9 Spheres, 4 Smokestack, 4 Staff of Domination.

Stax
Pre Board
It's important to counter Goblin Welder, because he can cheat countered artifacts into play and only costs R. That said, there is no way for Stax to deal with enchantments, and it is usually much lighter on sphere effects. Bitterblossom and Bloodghast ensure that Tangle Wire's damage is relatively low. Smokestack is pretty bad against you if you donate Illusions of Grandeur. Sacking moxen is a bad idea and so is sacking Illusions, most likely, Smokestack will get welded out or sacks itself as soon as possible. I think this matchup is favorable because Stax is relatively slow. Strip recursion can be painful.

Post Board
+4 Leyline of the Void is you're suffering from strip Recursion / Welder
+3 Rebuild/Hurkyll's Recall
-I have no idea

Fish
Fish isn't what it used to be anymore. There are so many different configurations that it is impossible to write anything meaningful. An important hate card against this deck is Qasali Pridemage, and it should be kept off the table no matter what. If your opponent plays AEther Vial, be careful not to cast Illusions of Grandeur blindly, because he may Activate Vial and blow up your Illusions in response to Donate. Bitterblossom is really good against fish although Noble fish uses exalted and island walk as a draw engine. Board in 2 Red Elemental Blasts to get rid of Cold Eye Selkie. Use Spellstutter Sprite as a way to counter their creatures and clamp cards/trade confidants. Tinker for Sphinx of the Steel Wind.

Storm
I don't have enough experience against storm to say anything useful. I usually just get raced with whatever deck I play. That said, Blood Donor has a very fast combo as well costing only   to lock him up for good. Unless he plays confidants, he's dead. If he does play Confidants, his only out is sacking a confidant to cast a Chain of Vapor or a Tinker, in which case you can Force of Will, which he can't counter back. I don't think this match up is favorable because in my experience, the only deck Storm loses against is 1.000.000 spheres and juggies.dec.

Blue Control / Vault Key

Dredge
Pre Board
I think this is one of the most exciting matchups. Postboard you have Blood Funnel and Skullclamp to remove Bridge from Below. You have a lot of counterspells to beat their dread returns but cabal therapy hurts. You can´t Donate Blood Funnel so the only way to win is through Illusions of Grandeur. This game is all about being faster then them. You have 2 (max 3) turns to combo out. Chumping their Golgari Grave-Troll may give you an extra turn.

Post Board
+4 Leyline of the Void
+3 Jixlid Jailer
+1 Illusions of Grandeur
-4 Blood Funnel
-2 Donate
-2 Bitterblossom

Other considered cards
Dark Confidant - Too slow
Deep Analysis - I rather run Cabal Therapy
Echoing Truth - No space, Jace can do it as well in most cases.
Show and Tell - No big things to cheat in play, also you don't want your opponent to cheat things in play when they are locked
Reassembling Skeleton - Haven't really tried using it but figured he is too mana intensive and doesn't have any disruptive features on its own
Undiscovered Paradise - There's plenty of fetch to go around. Only slows down your progress
Yawgmoth´s Will - It's expensive to cast, and what do I cast with it anyway.. Therapies have flashback, Ghasts don't need will and I can only make 1 land drop a turn. The only thing this does is give me an extra time walk. Even grabbing recall isnt so fancy if you've got clampghast in play. even if it costs   with Blood Funnel in play, Sacrificing Bloodghasts will remove them from the game.
Ponder - Does nothing but give my opponent a timewalk. I would rather seize/therapy or keep counter mana open
Brainstorm - Does nothing but give my opponent a timewalk. I would rather seize/therapy or keep counter mana open
Strip Mine - Needlessly complicates what the deck wants to do. Prefer to keep a strong mana base.
Chain of Vapor - The copy circumvents Blood Funnel which will simply just bounce Blood Funnel getting them out of the lock.
Ingot Chewer - Donate is a sorcery, so I don't want this card.
Shattering Spree - I would splash red, and that would mean I'd lack the   to make use of this
Rack and Ruin - Interesting, takes maximum advantage of funnel and solid on its own.
Red Elemental Blast - Great sideboard card
Pyroblast - Great sideboard card
Empty the Warrens - Interesting inclusion, needs to be tested, may be win more
Cursecatcher - Can´t counter moxen, and moxen pay for Cursecatcher´s sacrifice effect.(I was considering utility creatures costing one mana)
Grim Lavamancer - Scrapped. Too much of a meta game answer to fish (I was considering utility creatures costing one mana)
Goblin Welder - Scrapped (I was considering utility creatures costing one mana)
Tarmogoyf - It's competing with other 2-drops and it has 0 utility
Regrowth - Regrowth on Time Walk is the best play I can think of,  Yawgmoth's Will goes in before splashing a color for regrowth
Fastbond - Win more.
Nature´s Claim - Strong card, period but I don´t like the green splash.
Trygon Predator - Also a disruptive card, but for 3 mana I'd rather run Flux (which can also be cast for  )
Dryad Arbor with a Fetch - As long as I don't get it in my opening hand, I would love to do this. But it's really weak in your opening hand.

[Delha]

Awesome, I like it!

My first thought... How much does Undiscovered Paradise help rather than hurt? Do you typically need landfall badly enough that more fetches wouldn't do the job?

[TheBrassMan]

come on dude, where are the skullclamps?

[vassago]

At a quick glance all I saw was donate. I am sold.   

[BruiZar]

Thanks for the nice feedback. Donate just begs to be broken. If it´s not with Blood Funnel, it will be with a soon to come printing. I have hardly tested this build because I was so excited for finding the interaction that I wanted to share it as soon as I could. I hope we can refine this deck until it can get moved out of the creative board and into the real boards.

Brassman suggested removing Dark Confidant and adding Skullclamp, which I completely missed while making the deck. Skullclamp is only 1 mana and it serves as a nice draw engine with Bloodghast. It does however make me more reliant on Bloodghast, which I sort of fear. Perhaps a single reassembling skeleton is worth it, it costs   to return but the spells i play cost   less which means that the mana decrease is canceled out from Blood Funnel, but reassembling skeleton can also return without landfall, which means I can return him in my opponent's turn, or multiple times per turn. Also, Reassembling Skeleton can block.

Dehla@ Especially if we include Skullclamp, Undiscovered Paradise isn´t really needed anymore.

[TopSecret]

Also, when you play Reassembling Skeleton with Skullclamp, you get as many uncounterable Counsel of the Soratami as you want.

Another option is playing Bitterblossom. Might as well go all in, eh? haha
 

[covetousrat]

How about Bitterblossom? Skullclamp target and Blood funnel outlet.

[FlyFlySideOfFry]

I don't care how badly this deck fails bringing donate back is like 500 thumbs up.

I would suggest not running Skullclamp because this deck has enough interactions that if you can get an active Bloodghast you're in a good enough position. Dark Confidant also gives you a way to use Blood Funnel+Donate (by the way best hard lock ever I love you) without getting Bloodghast online.

I'd definitely use Bitterblossom if not in the main then at least in the side vs Shops and Fish.

There should also probably be Drains somewhere in there with all of the colorless mana your deck can abuse and it can also hard counter all creatures. Also Drain is just awesome.

As for your Tinker target I would suggest Sphinx because your main engine is pretty weak against Fish.

[Dnine]

Without bloodghast I think you will be in big trouble.  Sure you have dark confidant but you really don't want to be sac'ing your draw engine and if you are forced to then you are in top deck mod locked under your own blood funnel.  If you hold blood funnel until you get a bloodghast then your stuck with a bunch of high casting cost spells that you can't cast and delaying your game plan.  Since you can't run more then 4 you need another card that interects well with blood funnel.  These are the leading options that I can see.

Options:
bitterblossom. 
Upside:A steady stream of one creature per turn.  Creatures can be clamped.  On color.  doesn't rely on graveyard
Downside.  Costs 2, and can't be cast after blood funnel.  Only one creature per turn.  No creature on turn cast.

Myr Servitor
Upside.  costs only one.  Can be clamped.  Has limited graveyard recursion.
downside.  Creature must be in play during upkeep to recur. Must run 4 to get full value out of them.  Need 2 to be able to recurr

reassembling skeleton
upside:  on color, can be clamped.  graveyard recursion.
downside:  mana intensive.

Mogg war marshal
upside:  3 creatures available same turn cast, not graveyard depandent
downside:  must add third color.

I love bitterblossom as it's pretty good in several matchups on it's own.  It also isn't graveyard dependent which helps if you are facing graveyard hate.   If you run bitterblossom I can see you dropping down to 3 blood funnels and 3 donates as you won't be casting either turn one and they bolth suck in multiples.  You'll also need clamp to replace the bob draw engine which sould be fine.  Mogg war marshal seams to be the most interesting option just for the speed it gives you creatures.

Mana:
1   Mox Jet
1   Mox Sapphire
1   Mox Pearl
1   Mox Ruby
1   Black Lotus
1   Sol Ring
1   mana crypt (seems better then petal with only 22 mana sources)
3   scalding tarn (more fetches instead of paradise)
4   Underground Sea
4   Polluted Delta
1   Tolarian Academy
2   island
2   Swamp (up to 23 mana sources)

4   Blood Funnel
3   Donate (removed one donate as you don't need it early)
1   Illusions of Grandeur
4   Bloodghast
3   bitterblossom  (Replaced bobs)
2   Intuition
1 thirst for knowledge (replaced one intuition with one thirst)
1   Demonic Tutor
1   Vampiric Tutor
1   Merchant Scroll
3  skullclamp (removed jace and 2 deep analysis
4  Force of Will
3  Spell Snare ( I don't think these should be in here as you do too much on your main phase, removing them for duresses seems right, but it may lower your blue count too much to support FOW.  Not sure what to do here)
1  Time Walk
1  Ancestral Recall
1  Frantic Search
1  Tinker
1  Echoing Truth
1 Tinker Target

[BruiZar]

*I would play Thoughtseize over Duress, since creatures are what make my opponent able to get out of my lock, and it's especially useful against MUD. That said, spell snare is much better because it hardcounters alot of plays. Duress/Thoughtseize only leads to your opponent playing another spell, where as Spell Snare will simply counter the Sphere of Resistance, Oath of Druids or Qasali Pridemage that is being played. I was considering exchanging Spell Snare for Daze, which helps me speed up the deck and gives me extra land fall synergy.

*Red: I have thought about red. It is a shame Bazaar Trader doesn't trade Enchantments, otherwise my list would already have supported red. I like red for it's ability to run sideboard Red Elemental Blast. Mogg War Marshall doesn't do enough on it's own to warrant inclusion imo.

*Jace, TMS should stay in. He can manipulate card draw from my opponent putting creatures on the bottom of his library until he can go ultimate. Also, Jace for UU is insane, he's already good for his normal mana cost.

*Bitterblossom: I will have to test it. The card seems good. The only thing I don't like is that I must cast it before Blood Funnel.

[LotusHead]

Seriously? Blood Funnel? I can count on one finger the total times I've ever heard of this card.  Please, if you post a list with a new, non-discussed before in vintage terms card, please let us know what it does.

Now I have to decide between looking up this card and say, doing whatever it is I usually do on the intarwebs at 3am. :/

[BruiZar]

@lotushead: Updated the thread.

[Killane]

This is sooo creative! I think it's a very neat idea, and even has some competitive possibilities.

I think you shoudl run Bitterblossom. it's quite strong vs Workshop decks and has excellent synergy with your plan.

Jace shoudl definitely stay in! He keeps random critters off your opponents board, fateseals them away to maintain the lock, wins after a few fateseals, and only costs you UU which is sooooooo nuts since even at 2UU he shown to be insane in every format.

[BruiZar]

Thanks Killane. I hope this deck can see some competitive play some day. I know I'll be playing with this deck for some time to come

I've made some changes to the original deck list. The confidants are replaced for Spellstutter Sprites and I've added 2 Skullclamps and Bitterblossoms. I still have to remove 2 more cards but I'm not sure which ones those should be yet. I don't want to remove Deep Analysis because Intuition for Deep Analysis + 2 Bloodghasts is a strong play. For the sideboard, I'm considering Gate to Phyrexia against workshop decks. I think it's nicely costed and benefits from my entire creature package. Any thoughts about the sideboard?

[silvernail]

I do recommend running at least 2 undiscovered paradise. Having landfall on a clamp+ghast situation every turn is sure to overwhelm opponents with CA. Another small bit to add could be fleshbag marauder and volrath's stronghold to give you repeatable sac effects against oath or other creatures.

[Erayo5989]

First, I'd like to express how interested I am in the concept and play style of this deck.  It's a great start to something that could become even stronger.

Now I agree with having maybe 2 copies of Undiscovered Paradise to hit the Landfall triggers. The land base you have now will run out of steam when you're powering out Skull Clamps on Bloodghasts.  However, with the counter magic being played here

 along with Jace, the Mindsculptor, I don't see the need of having something slow and janky as Fleshbag Marauder.  And Deep Analysis is nice and better with Blood Funnel out, but the point of this deck is not to just keep Blood Funnel on our side, but to

Donate it as fast as possible to keep them locked down, right? And playing 1 copy of Deep Analysis doesn't feel like it'll do very much.  Another main deck concern I have is Strip Mine.  Now I know how powerful it is and all but I don't find it as powerful

when you don't run Crucibles or Wasteland along side it.  So is it a necessity?

As far as the SB is concerned, it would really depend on your meta. For example, my meta is a more Stax/MUD heavy meta so I might drop -3 Yixilid Jailer and replace them with +2 Gate to Phyrexia / +1 Helm of Obedience? I'm not saying this is the best of

ideas but If you're forced to board in +4 Leyline then why not add in Helm as an alternate win condition? Also I think Gate to Phyrexia combos out great with Bloodghast especially since they have no answers to it except for spheres. And it blows up their

Lodestones and Karns. Just be careful of Mono R Stax but that's rare in my area.

Anyways, I digress, this idea is really transforming into something very competitive. Hope this info helps you out.

[BruiZar]

Thank you Erayo. Deep Analysis is a card that I removed but readded to the list for the intuition pile. I am clearly not sure if it's good enough yet and it is on the chopping block as I need to remove 2 more cards. I may go -1 Intuition -1 Deep Analysis.

Strip Mine is an auto-inclusion and I must say I haven't put much thought into its inclusion. This is something I will test.

I would like to point out the interaction between Jace, the Mindsculptor and Spellstutter Sprite. You can bounce your Spellstutter Sprite so you can cast it again and counter a spell. Jace's bounce doesn't cost any mana, and Spellstutter Sprite costs only   . This makes it very affordable to bounce and replay sprite.

Another card I´m still debating is Vendillion Clique. I am leaning towards not playing it, since Jace, the Mindsculptor can already manipulate my opponent´s draws, but the card is very strong. It trades with Lodestone Golems and can remove a bomb before it gets played. That said, I will probably not play it but it does require some testing,

I am also considering playing Mana Crypt over Sol Ring as an alternative win condition. If my opponent can´t play spells, Donating Mana Crypt can be a lightning bolt every turn, also, it doesn´t cost any mana, unlike sol ring, so I can have a first turn Spellstutter Sprite online, or Frantic Search into Bloodghast so I can combo out on turn 2.

[BruiZar]

After initial testing, Undiscovered Paradise is not needed at all. Also, Deep Analysis stays. I might add 1 Careful Study. I´m currently testing the build with 2 thoughtseize and 2 spell snare. I removed 1 Bloodghast. I´m thinking of testing Grim Lavamancer as a good one drop, and as a way to deal with Golems. My graveyard is very full each game so I might as well utilize it.

[Malhavoc]

Very nice idea! Always been a fan of the old Trix.

Since you think about reducing the number of ghasts to three already, have you thought about running intuition along with a good amount of sets of 3 cards, to use intuition as a quick tutor? Something like 3 bitterblossom, 3 skullclamps and such? Same thing with the sideboard choices. And with such configuration, I would up the number of intuitions to 4.

I have some concerns however with running a full set of blood funnels: even if this is central to the deck, it seems a very weak card to have in your starting hand: if you don't have a ghast or a bitterblossom it is too risky to cast it, hoping to draw a ghast later. And even if you have just one of the two, you can easily be locked out of the game if your opponent removes your bitterblossom or gets down some gy hate. Running three of them wouldn't if you ran one more intuition too.

If you are afraid of losing too many resources or key cards on intuitions you could also run a single time twister, but it's not probably needed (it can also be a nice card game 1 against ichorid btw).

I'm not totally convinced by spell snare however, on the other hand have you thought about cabal therapy? On one hand you are probably going to need a good amount of creature fodder for blood funnel already, but therapy would help destroying your opponent's hand with ghasts and fairies before dropping and otherwise risky blood donor or illusion.

Another good thing about therapy is it's just devastating to intuition for three of them when you have got some creature fodder on the field.

As for other minor tips, I noticed you are lacking brainstorm and yawgmoth's will, and using instead merchant scroll, which seems subpar looking at possible targets in your deck (mystical is probably better, but it's probably not worth including either). Ah, and you are running 62 cards, so you should probably cut a couple.

BTW, according to your tests, do you find more useful to donate the blood funnel as soon as possible (in which case running a complete sets of both could be more meaningful) or make good use of the funnel and donate it just as a finishing move (in which case, I would lower both in number)?

[BruiZar]

I have no idea what I should Yawgmoth's Will in this deck. Brainstorm proved to  be pretty useless except for grabbing an occasional land or finding a fow. I don't run enough restricted cards to support brainstorm i think.

My ideal games are ones where I play a Spellstutter Sprite to counter something, then follow up next turn with funnel/donate, or clamp the sprite to get card advantage. I run only 3 ghasts because I either intuition for 3, or intuition for 2 and a deep analysis. Deep analysis. Therapy is a card I'd like to give a try, because it helps strengthen my intuition and frantic search and doesn't impact my mana curve. Merchant typically tutors for recall, intuition, spell snare or FoW. That said, it may get the axe.

I try to aggresively donate my blood funnel. Sometimes, if the game allows, I intuition for ghasts first, then drop a land and donate funnel for a total cost of  . I would like a creature drop that costs one mana to help speed up the deck and make it more consistent. It needs to have a comes into play ability. I thought about Grim Lavamancer and Inogt Chewer (Sadly enough, you can't donate in response to evoke because donate is a sorcery, but you can cast intuition sacrficing ingot chewer when you evoke it.

The deck plays kind of like bug fish where you stall and counter his stuff. The difference is that this deck has blowout potential through the combo. Skullclamp was a super solid card btw.

[Malhavoc]

Yawgmoth's will is always a great card, apart from the very beginning of the match. Much more into a deck which can have a helm of awakening effect to really play all its graveyard out. Even if you can't cast for an instant win, you can use it to gain a huge advantage. Or just to replay a funnel-donate you've got countered before.

Brainstorm is great to look for a force, but also to shuffle away cards uneeded at the moment, and this deck could have plenty (donate, the tinker target, and others), or just to search for an additional land drop and mana somtimes.

BTW, in order to discard ghasts and the like, even Thirst for Knowledge could be quite interesting.

If you look for a 1cc card to make some consistant plays, you could also consider Sage of Epityr. It is nothing flashy but can help sometimes. Personally I wouldn't run it though.

So you plan to play into the funnel-donate aggressively? If that's the case I would probably stick to 4 of each for redundancy, but I think it's quite a risky move: if they counter your donate you may risk be dangerously under your own lock. That's why I would have thought about something more slow as a control shell with counters, therapies and intuition to get the lock down pieces just when you know you're safe to go. Both plans have they good and bad sides of course.

I also noticed you aren't running a full set of mox, but just 4, what's the reason for this? I agree that Mana Crypt should be included anyway, since donating it to a locked opponnent is a clear win.

[BruiZar]

The thing is, with Funnel you have to sacrifice creatures that get removed by Y. Will. I don´t particularly like that. The reason I am running 4 moxen is because I want to draw into business and otherwise I want to trigger landfall. I´m not sure if this is correct or not. The deck needs so much testing still.. Multiple Donates are usually pitched to Force of Will and I don´t really mind discarding even Tinker/Tinker Bot to Frantic Search. I know I can put it on the top of my library, but I'd rather have more discard outlets such as Thirst for Knowledge or Careful study. Win conditions become irrelevant if you've got such a nasty hard lock in place. Often I donate a second blood funnel to my opponent just in case he manages to hardcast a tinker bot. I can take my time finishing off my opponent when I donate the first Funnel. I considered Sage of Epityr, but it doesn't do anything. Cursecatcher does something but he leaves me without a body, which sucks. Then again, he can stall your opponent from casting something so you can go off turn 2 with a mox.

[serracollector]

Very nice idea.  I was look at the old donate decks a while back, and I couldn't figure out anything competitive with it, this looks like it has merit.

I would definitely add the last mox and mana crypt.

Moxen of any color or Crypt turn 1 enable

Confidant
CounterFairy
Blossom
thirst
Intuition


If I were to splash a color, I would splash green

Gives you autumn's veil to help protect your donate.

Gives you trygon predator, at least as a sideboard card.

Gives access to pernicious deed, boom stick is good still.  Especially when ghasts come back anyways, or if you need to erase moxen so they cant pay that upkp on illusions.

Gives you seal and claim.

Gives you regrowth, which would be very good in this deck.

Another great option in my opinion is playing 1 Dryad Arbor, and 1 crucible of worlds, this allows you to constantly have a creature to sacrifice also, and helps return lands for ghasts.  

Also, this card maybe be more "fun" than playable, but who knows in this deck, but Mitotic Slime new token guy from M11, and 1 Animate dead, could lead to some crazy things happening.

And ofc can give you the goyf beats if wanted.

Also, I would find some way to fit in Imperial Seal, you have so much draw, its silly not to play it i think, this is mainly a combo deck after all.

And also, if you side or maindeck leyline of the void, you should play the helm of obedience combo as well.  With the Funnel and 2 creatures in play, you can win with 5 mana.  3 if you already got leyline in play.  Thats the same cost as vault/key.....



Good luck and keep up the work.  Nice job.

[waffles]

totally forgot about donate, i was using blood funnel to make armageddon clock/winter orb cheaper

[Delha]

I would like a creature drop that costs one mana to help speed up the deck and make it more consistent. It needs to have a comes into play ability. I thought about Grim Lavamancer and Inogt Chewer (Sadly enough, you can't donate in response to evoke because donate is a sorcery, but you can cast intuition sacrficing ingot chewer when you evoke it.

What was it you didn't like about Cursecatcher in this slot? Was the inability to counter permanents too crippling?

Also, did you ever consider Nether Traitor? Might be too mana intensive, but just throwing it out there.

[Malhavoc]

I've tried to follow your idea of going for a turbo funnel, without trying to control the match first. It may be dangerous, but it may be worth the risk.

I've been quite satisfied with this list:

// MANA 15+8 = 22
    2  Island
    2  Swamp
    3  Underground Sea
    4  Polluted Delta
    2  Windswept Heath
    1 Tolarian Academy

    1  Black Lotus
    1 [BIN] Mana Crypt
    1  Sol Ring
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Sapphire

// CREATURES = 9
    3  Bloodghast
    3  Spellstutter Sprite
    3  Bitterblossom

// DRAW: 5
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1  Brainstorm
    3 [V09] Skullclamp

// TUTOR: 6
    1 [DDC] Demonic Tutor
    1  Vampiric Tutor
    4  Intuition

// PROTECTION: 8
    1  Chain of Vapor
    3  Cabal Therapy
    4  Force of Will

// COMBO: 8
    4  Blood Funnel
    3  Donate
    1  Illusions of Grandeur

// BROKEN STUFF: 2
    1  Time Walk
    1  Yawgmoth's Will

// Sideboard
SB: 1  Bitterblossom
SB: 3  Gate to Phyrexia
SB: 1  Helm of Obedience
SB: 2  Illusions of Grandeur
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 3  Yixlid Jailer
SB: 1 [ARB] Sphinx of the Steel Wind
SB: 1 [V09] Tinker


The plan, depending on the situation and cards in hand, may be:

- go for a a ghast or bitterblossom and cast intuition for skullclamp for a solid draw engine

- if you've got skullclamp already, cast intuition for three ghasts and go nuts, winning in a couple of turns while you fill your hand with protections unless your graveyard is hated or skullclamp is destroyed/blocked

- go for some ghasts/faeries, then possibly after some discards or covered by counter magic, go for a quick funnel->donate to cripple your opponent. From this point on, you should worry only about his creatures, but faries should block them and you should be able to seal the deal donating an illusion and bouncing it. While he's under funnel you should develop quite well and also be able to cast a second funnel to quicken your plays

- if you are good with your draw engine already, or really need to cripple your opponent fast, cast intuition for 3 cabal therapies and rape your opponent with recurring ghasts and spawning faeries.


I've gone for some serious modifications so I'll talk about the reasons:

- a full set of artifact mana to power early bitterblossom/intuition and to make skullclamp stronger, since you can easily draw into moxen to draw a solid stream of cards

- a full set of funnels to not being forced to tutor for it,and a full set of intuitions for all the great things this card can do here


I removed some important cards however (space was lacking) in order to include a good set of discards and countermagic (4 force, 3 spellstutter, 3 cabal):

- deep analysis: I either want to tutor for skullclamp (to use it with either ghast or bitterblossom) or for ghasts if I have skullclamp already. And if I have skullclamp I don't need DA.

- Thirst/ frantic: these are awesome when I've got funnel in play, but they are often win more in that case. Without funnel they would be nice mostly to discard ghasts. That's something I can achieve easily with a skullclamp in play just going over 7 cards.. or casting the ghast at worst. TfK could also discard a second skullclamp, but if I have one on the ground I'm probably winning anyway. These would be more useful when I'm just out of useful cards in general, and I'm just digging for something. Alas, something has to be dropped to get to 60

- Tinker/bot: this was an hard decision, but when I'm comboing out it's just faster to win with an illusion/donate combo, or even simple beatdown. Still, it deserves a place in sideboard against fish.

- Jace: win more. Good to keep a lock bouncing spellstutters, or to bounce some opposing creature. I just prefere a simple bounce spell to either bounce the illusion, or some hate card. This deck in fact lacked any bounce spell against possible hate cards like meddling, null rod, leyline of the void, chalice, etc.. I've chosen chain of vapor since it seemed the one better suited for the job (weak only if your opponent has funnel on his side already, but in that case you would probably just need to chain the donated illusion)

- YWill: it's true that it does not work so well with funnel/ghasts, but the sheeer power is clearly known. This card can't be dropped from the list, particularly in a deck running 4 intuitions: after your first funnel-donate you could easily have all your donates in the graveyard, so this is just needed to donate a second funnel or an illusions. For just this reason, if you ever think you don't want Yawgmoth's WIN, at least switch it for a Timetwister.

Sideboard: still uncertain, it's just a draft list, but I would like to stick to as many 3-of as possible to maximize Intuition's potential.


BTW, if you feel to need creature spot removal, you could run Krovikan Horror. It should work quite well with the ghasts (for example: intuition eot for this and 2 ghasts, then get this into hand) and can wreak havoc on your opponents' creatures with all the ghasts and faries you can sac. Still more of a 1-of sideboard card I'd think. It can also shot directly at your opponent, just in case you need a quicker win (but shouldn't be necessary usually).

[RecklessEmbermage]

This deck is really neat!

I was looking for relevant one-drops to feed an early blood funnel. There isn't much out there, but: Enclave cryptologist is mana intensive, but does something your deck wants. Veteran explorer gives the opponent mana, which isn't great, but can also give you additional landfall, pay for a hardcast bloodghast or whatever. As long as it dies on your turn, you get to use the mana first.

A non-creature token producer seems like it could take you over the top if you got blood funnel out. Empty the warrens, notorious throng (could be broken with a few more rogues) or acorn harvest might be worth a single slot.

EDIT: Came to think about one thing: Blood funnel only counters the cards you play, not extra copies of spells on the stack. Something silly like mind's desire (chuck a bunch of spells into your own counterwall, then drop desire for 2UU) or bitter ordeal (as a sideboard card) could be pretty good here.

[waffles]

leyline of anticiptation might do quite well in this deck, as you could go moxen>funnel>donate

[Delha]

...Something silly like mind's desire (chuck a bunch of spells into your own counterwall, then drop desire for 2UU)...

At which point Desire lets you chuck even more spells into your own counterwall. So good!

Sorry, couldn't resist. Side note: Bitter Ordeal doesn't work either, since gravestorm ramps off permanents, not spells.

[BruiZar]

I will respond tomorrow in more detail. Today I was thinking of EtW as well. Empty the Warrens is something I definately want to try out, because it can force creatures on your board through funnel for  even if you have no creatures. It´s also very powerful with Skullclamp, speeds up the decks kill, is good against workshop decks (which are among the most creature heavy).

I like red very much because it has such strong artifact removal.

These are all cards I consider very powerful in red
Ingot Chewer
Shattering Spree
Rack and Ruin
Red Elemental Blast
Pyroblast
Empty the Warrens
Grim Lavamancer
Goblin Welder

Whereas green gives me
Tarmogoyf (Not good enough imo)
Regrowth
Fastbond
Nature´s Claim
Trygon Predator
Dryad Arbor with a Fetch so I can always cast Donate through Funnel