Bob Tendrils 2011

[voltron00x]

Since I couldn’t find an existing thread to put this in, I thought I’d start a new one.

I still believe there’s a lot of life left in this archetype.  Bob Tendrils is versatile.  The additional land count and use of Bob gives it some resistance to Workshop decks compared to TPS, and similarly, avoiding Gush improves that match-up as well.

The list I played with last fall was based on LSV’s build, notable by its use of Force of Will and Duress.  The basic idea inherent in that design was that you’re set up to out-draw control opponents, pushing draw engines – Jace, Bob – through opposing counters and eventually taking over the game.

Generally accepted deck design for this build says that you want either Duress OR Force in the main, not both, and with a diversified field as we now see in most areas, it makes sense to go back to that.  The power and popularity of MUD suggests rather strongly that Force of Will is the card that needs to stay main.  Removing 3 Duress from the deck opens up some space; what might make sense?

The list below cuts Yawgmoth’s Bargain and 3 Duress for a 14th land, Tinker, Myr Battlesphere, and Memory Jar.  The first three are designed to improve the Workshop match-up, while Jar helps make Tinker relevant beyond just Battlesphere, especially in the case where you need to win immediately.

If you’re not comfortable with Tinker/Robot main, I’d suggest cutting Jar, Tinker, and Battlesphere, adding another Jace, and possibly moving Nature’s Claim into the main.  The ability to gain life to help counteract Bob or Necro (or to destroy Necro, to take a page from Mr. Demars) is pretty appealing, as is the maindeck removal for resistors or Time Vault.  As an alternate to that, consider playing more Preordain.  The card is heavily underrated.

Bob Tendrils

1 Memory Jar
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Tinker  
4 Dark Confidant
4 Force of Will
4 Dark Ritual
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Preordain
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mind's Desire
1 Timetwister
1 Necropotence
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Tropical Island
2 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:
4 Yixlid Jailer
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Bayou
1 Island
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Nature's Claim
3 Duress

One other note:  I've played this deck against Dredge with a more typical 4 Leyline, 2 Jailer approach and found it really lacking.  I'm testing 3-4 Jailer and 2-3 Relic right now and find it to be a lot better, for a number of reasons.  First, this deck isn't that good at protecting Leyline considering most Dredge builds have at least 8 ways of getting it out of play, and flipping Leylines with Bob or drawing them with only a single black source came up over and over.  Jailers are easy to power out and very few people actually play more than 6 answers for them.  Some have as few as 4.  Having GY removal somewhere in the list is really important IMO.

[vassago]

So, I like this deck idea a lot. I remember when a few good guys were tearing up with this, and I seem to remember a few cards I dont see in your list. So, let me ask a few things:

What about D.consultation? Is it not your kind of card? It seems to be a bomb for the most part, but would like to hear what you think.

Why no "Top?"

Is three main deck bounce spells enough?

[Bomberman!]

might be just me...but i see all this blue decks ALL THE SAME. besides the 4 "dark Ritual's" this deck is not that different from jace control and so fourth.

why not got a different route?  i mean it's in the ritual base combo thread, but goes the speed of a  control...
 i'm thinking of adding more speed...  maybe going for 2 cabal ritual's, and taking out 2 jace. followed by the entry of imperial seal, and 1-2 grim tutor's. i suggest moving the big robot in side.

[personalbackfire]

Generally accepted deck design for this build says that you want either Duress OR Force in the main, not both, and with a diversified field as we now see in most areas, it makes sense to go back to that.  The power and popularity of MUD suggests rather strongly that Force of Will is the card that needs to stay main.  Removing 3 Duress from the deck opens up some space; what might make sense?

I don't actually think this is the case. There have been a ton of Bob TPS style decks that have run Duress and Force in the past. I do agree though that you should evaluate the meta that you expect and make choices based off that. If you are fearing Workshops a ton it makes a lot of sense to run a Tinker target main deck and no Duress. However, I might ask how is having 2 Tendrils and a big man? It seems that it would be a bit on the clunky side. Is the second Tendrils doing enough to warrant its inclusion?

I can understand why you would want Tinker/Robot but in testing in the past Memory Jar has always been a bit on the bad side in this type of deck. Do you not think that Bargain would be better? I also question if Cabal Ritual wouldn't be better than the Mana Vault.

So, I like this deck idea a lot. I remember when a few good guys were tearing up with this, and I seem to remember a few cards I dont see in your list. So, let me ask a few things:

What about D.consultation? Is it not your kind of card? It seems to be a bomb for the most part, but would like to hear what you think.

Why no "Top?"

@ Demonic consultation: For the most part it is a liability. The only targets you are looking to get off it is Ritual, Tendrils, and maybe Force. When you are only running 2 Tendrils main deck the incentive to play consultation goes way down in my opinion.

@ Top. This deck doesn't really need top. Its goal is just to play a Bob and gain a few extra cards making it easier to reach a lethal Tendrils. Also being as you are atendrils deck you aren't really worried that you are going to die to bob flips.

[Commandant]

@personalbackfire

I believe you answered your own question regarding the second Tendrils of Agony; at least in my experience having the flexibility to drop a mini Tendrils to power more Confidant flips is worth the slot.

-

For what it's worth Matt I found a 4 Jailer 1 Pithing Needle 1 Ravenous Trap configuration was best. Being forced to mull into hate when playing a combination deck sucks and Jailer sided nicely with Dark Confidant.

[hitman]

I can understand why you would want Tinker/Robot but in testing in the past Memory Jar has always been a bit on the bad side in this type of deck. Do you not think that Bargain would be better? I also question if Cabal Ritual wouldn't be better than the Mana Vault.

I agree with this based on my experiences with Confidant Tendrils.  I love Jar.  It's clearly the best draw seven in my opinion but in this deck, I always draw Confidants and bounce spells.  In your list, you have the added liability of drawing things like Battlesphere and Jace, as well.  I haven't tried this deck out but based on my previous experiences with this type of deck, Jar will be extremely frustrating. 

At the last RIW tournament, I played Dredge and had to play Brian but we ID since we were undefeated.  I pulled out my combo deck that was altered to be better against Shops to see how it would hold up against big blue decks.  Keep in mind that my storm deck has more bombs than this deck, too.  I bring this up because the list I was playing was very similar to voltron's.  He smashed me and it wasn't even close since I always had a hand full of blanks.  I'd keep a solid hand but it wouldn't pan out because the cards I'd draw into were lands, bounce spells  and things like this.  Since his deck was all about value, I could never catch up.  It was the first time I can remember thinking that there's no point to even play storm decks right now.  It's too much of an uphill battle on all fronts.  Gush decks play a million Duresses and Force with a quick-to-recover draw engine, the big blue decks don't have to worry so much about the explosiveness of your deck since it's full of bounce spells, Confidants, lands and Jaces, and Workshops are just crushing you from the first turn even though your deck is full to the brim with "answers".  I tested the storm v. Shop matchup with some friends and I was going slightly higher than 50-50.  I thought those numbers seemed weird so I went home and proxied up Espresso Stax and two-hand tested the matchup.  While I know this isn't necessarily the ideal way to test, it was far more revealing than testing with friends.  I didn't win a single game with the storm deck.  It wasn't even close. 

After contorting the mainboard to beat Shops, I found I still lost to them and now I'm losing to big blue decks and Gush decks whereas, before, I was beating both big blue and Gush decks but getting smacked around by Shops.  I have a lot of experience with storm decks so take my testing results for what you will but I'm not a slouch combo player.  This is the first time I've ever played Vintage and thought that dedicated storm decks were completely unviable. 

If I could make a suggestion, perhaps you should try a transformational sideboard into Oath and drop the clunkier mainboard cards.  That would give you the best percentages postboard against Shops, which you're probably still unfavorable against game one anyway,  but still allow you to have significant game against the blue decks. 

[brokenbacon]

I strongly agree with personalbackfire. This deck is about drawing spells with Bob, bashing face, and getting off a Tendrils for lethal after a few turns. Jace provides a consistent engine, and Bob is, in my opinion, one of the best plays on turn one in the meta today. Tinker/Robot is good versus MUD and Dredge, but it is garbage game 1 v. Blue.dec. It is too slow for the deck to win with. Bob Tendrils is meant to be very fast. If we give other decks an inch they will take a mile. Jar is a good card with Tinker in the deck, but this is a TPS play. Bob provides more than enough draw power. I also agree with personalbackfire on the topic of Duress. Matt, in your build, if you run 4 Force and 0 Duress with Tinker Bigman, you are not exhausting their threats. They will lay down a Hurks or Rebuild effect no problem, and the deck is left high and dry. Most decks can utilize this distraction, such as Tezz. They plan it such that the opponent focuses on the Robot staring them down while they assemble Vault Key, all the while providing both disruption and beats. Bob Tendrils worries about that g2, not g1, and only against MUD, Dredge, and Fish. Against all the other decks, it provides more disruption in the form of SB cards (Duress, Seize) to stop the opponent's counterwall. Here is the list I have been playing for a while now:

2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Dark Confidant
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Preordain
4 Force of Will
3 Duress
1 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Ritual  
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
2 Swamp

SB
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tinker
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Hurkyl’s Recall

About the cards:
Cabal Ritual: I have found this card to be win more. Sure, it beats the living hell out of the opponent after Yawg Win and powers out Necro more consistently, but I think digging power in the form of Preordain is a lot more useful. True, cantripping into a cantrip sucks, but an opening hand consisting of little action and a Crit is a lot more appetizing when the Crit is a Preordain.
3 Duress: Yes. Yes. Yes. This card is a star player. It provides a consistent window through which we can propel our threats.
2 Jace: When Jace hits the table, the game becomes that much easier.
Gifts: It is easily one of the most powerful cards in the deck. A resolved Gifts, when well played, will give us an easy win.
2 Tendrils: Side 1 out for Tinker/Bigman. 1 is enough when we have Tinker. We keep both in vs. Blue.dec.

Sideboard Choices:
4 Leyline 2 Yix: Matt, you may be right about your Dredge configuration - I honestly do not play often vs. Dredge. This configuration seems to work, however, with the help of Sphinx, a true pro vs. Dredge.
Duress + Thoughtseize: More disruption vs. Blue. Always works.
Basics, Chain, Hurks: MUD

I have found this deck to be consistent, streamlined, and exceedingly powerful. Turn one Bob results in a game win a very high percentage of the time, but with the other juice (Gifts, Necro, Will) Mr. Maher is not entirely necessary.
My two cents.

[voltron00x]

I wouldn't want to play this deck with 1 Tendrils, the ability to mini-tendrils or double-tendrils is too valuable.

I basically went through the configuration for you if you don't like Jar; I would play a 3rd Jace over Bargain based on the way my last tournament and last 2 testing sessions with the deck went.  I would then move Tinker/Robot to the SB.  I like Mana Vault more than Cabal Ritual.

Steve (and others), a lot of what you're saying is looking at the deck through the lens of, what do I want against blue decks?

This list is purposefully looking at the lens of, what do I want against Workshop decks?  That's the main reason why you might want Bargain / Cabal Ritual (or even Duress main) where I want Tinker/BSphere and Mana Vault, and more land.  It isn't as if I've banished Duress from the 75!

There isn't a "right" build here; I just look at results like, say, the Bloomsburg where 6 of 8 decks in the top 8 were shops, and I think, man I really want to make sure I'm drawing lands, hitting land drops, and have enough blue cards to support Force of Will, and I want an easy win condition like Tinker->Battlesphere or Tinker->Jar that I can deploy quickly. Rather than try to say, "Isn't X right?" I think it makes more sense to say, "If you're more concerned with beating deck X, probably adjust the list with cards Y and Z."  That's just me, though.



Playing Top is quite reasonable; I could easily see playing one over a Preordain.

[voltron00x]

might be just me...but i see all this blue decks ALL THE SAME. besides the 4 "dark Ritual's" this deck is not that different from jace control and so fourth.

why not got a different route?  i mean it's in the ritual base combo thread, but goes the speed of a  control...
 i'm thinking of adding more speed...  maybe going for 2 cabal ritual's, and taking out 2 jace. followed by the entry of imperial seal, and 1-2 grim tutor's. i suggest moving the big robot in side.

So, basically you're asking:  why Bob Tendrils?

1 - It is the best Storm deck to play against Workshop decks.

2 - It is probably the easiest and most forgiving Storm deck to play.

3 - It combines the card draw ability of a deck like Trygon Tezz with the quick-kill potential of something like TPS (while admittedly not being as specialized as either, of course).

Essentially, it is a flexible, powerful deck that has few, if any, unwinnable match-ups.  I sort of view it as The Rock of Vintage.

If you want to make the changes you suggest, that deck exists:  TPS.

[voltron00x]

@personalbackfire

I believe you answered your own question regarding the second Tendrils of Agony; at least in my experience having the flexibility to drop a mini Tendrils to power more Confidant flips is worth the slot.

-

For what it's worth Matt I found a 4 Jailer 1 Pithing Needle 1 Ravenous Trap configuration was best. Being forced to mull into hate when playing a combination deck sucks and Jailer sided nicely with Dark Confidant.

I would definitely consider this configuration.  I think the key is 4x Jailer.  I was not at all happy with 4x Leyline.  I think my win % against Dredge with this deck was around 50% (something like 2-2-1 or 3-3-1) but I don't consider that good enough, and several of the games I lost I would have won had I had Jailers in place of Leylines.

[voltron00x]

One side point here that I'm not sure is obvious:  the use of Battlesphere, and not another robot, is intentional.  I'm not playing Sphinx here.  You can actually resolve Battlesphere pretty easily against anything but Workshops.  BSphere is awesome against Jace and tremendous against Workshops as a g1 tinker target.

In any case, if I were specifically building for a blue-heavy meta, I would play this:


-Jar
-Tinker
-Battlesphere
-fetch
-mana vault

+cabal ritual
+bargain / Jace (again, I like Jace given out the last batch of testing and tournament matches against other Blue decks went, but either one is fine)
+3 Duress

Another card to consider, which I know Brad Granberry played in the past, is Gifts Ungiven.  This was his list in August. I really like it except I don't like the Dredge hate and I'm not sure it has enough play against Shops as configured.

Bob Tendrils - Brad Granberry - August 2010 (Top 8 Blue Bell)

4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
3 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
5 Moxen
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Force of Will
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Rebuild
4 Dark Confidant
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Sideboard:
4 Duress
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tinker
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Island
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Echoing Truth
1 Yixlid Jailer

EDIT:

Also, re: the transform Oath board, I tried it and it was ok at beating MUD, but it sure eats up a lot of space and leaves you in bad shape against everything else.  At least, that was my findings.  Do you have one you could suggest?

[personalbackfire]

I wouldn't want to play this deck with 1 Tendrils, the ability to mini-tendrils or double-tendrils is too valuable.

I basically went through the configuration for you if you don't like Jar; I would play a 3rd Jace over Bargain based on the way my last tournament and last 2 testing sessions with the deck went.  I would then move Tinker/Robot to the SB.  I like Mana Vault more than Cabal Ritual.

Steve (and others), a lot of what you're saying is looking at the deck through the lens of, what do I want against blue decks?

This list is purposefully looking at the lens of, what do I want against Workshop decks?  That's the main reason why you might want Bargain / Cabal Ritual (or even Duress main) where I want Tinker/BSphere and Mana Vault, and more land.  It isn't as if I've banished Duress from the 75!

There isn't a "right" build here; I just look at results like, say, the Bloomsburg where 6 of 8 decks in the top 8 were shops, and I think, man I really want to make sure I'm drawing lands, hitting land drops, and have enough blue cards to support Force of Will, and I want an easy win condition like Tinker->Battlesphere or Tinker->Jar that I can deploy quickly. Rather than try to say, "Isn't X right?" I think it makes more sense to say, "If you're more concerned with beating deck X, probably adjust the list with cards Y and Z."  That's just me, though.



Playing Top is quite reasonable; I could easily see playing one over a Preordain.

Matt, I am not looking through the deck in the lense of what do I want to beat blue decks I was just offering suggestions.

The reason why I wouldn't want the second Tendrils in your list is because I think the configuration of 2 Tendrils and a Bigman is clunky, not because I don't see the value in having a second Tendrils. So under my logic that its clunky I would cut down to one Tendrils since you are making Tinker/Bigman part of the game plan, where it wasn't before. If you are building a deck to beat Workshops how does having the second Tendrils fit into that? From experience, casing Tendrils is a bit hard in that matchup without setting up a bounce scenario and I have to believe that your game plan is resolve Battlesphere more times than not.

As far Bargain... I have always found the card to be fine against shops and never board it out because often times it means you win. I know some don't share that opinion and thats fine, just from my past I have always liked it. It is also Black, which I think is important since its easier to cast off rituals.

I am not sure what is better against shops Mana Vault, or Cabal Ritual. They both have their beneifts but I wouldn't say that Cabal Ritual is bad in that matchup. I think that ability to +3 on a thresholded Crit is actually good in said matchup. Maybe I just like Crit more than Vault which is fine, we are allowed to disagree.

As I tried saying earlier, I agree with you that you should build your deck around what you want to beat or expect.

[voltron00x]

I like Mana Vault since its an investment into mana on the next turn, which can be enough to power a bounce effect through resistors, and it supports playing Tinker.

Regarding the second Tendrils, it definitely isn't there for the Shop match-up, that's just one card I'd be really hesitant to cut b/c it is so good in every other match-up.  

I think there's probably more value out of posting an entire alternate list rather than looking at a few cards; most changes in a deck like this have subtle but significant cascade effects through a list.

EDIT:  I do like Brokenbacon's list, above, if you're gaming against Tezz / Gush.  The Preordains and extra Jace, and Duress main, really help in those match-ups.

[voltron00x]

Here's an example of a successful Bob Tendrils list with maindeck Tinker/Robot and Jar, just in case anyone thinks I'm theorizing in a vacuum.  This deck uses Top with Preordain, as well as Frantic Search, but does not play Jace (or Bargain / CRit).

http://morphling.de/printview.php?c=1356&d=1

Zürich 14.11.2010
- 45 players
1. Jonas Walther

Maindeck (60):
Spells (47):
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Frantic Search
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
2 Preordain
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

Lands (13):
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea


Sideboard (15):
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Island
2 Perish
3 Ravenous Trap
1 Rebuild
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Thoughtseize
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Yixlid Jailer

[Rico Suave]

I strongly endorse Frantic Search in this sort of deck. 

The primary reason to play Bob Tendrils is due to the interaction between its namesake cards - Bob and Tendrils.  When we play a Bob we can draw an assortment of cards and this will help produce a lethal Tendrils.  While we're drawing cards we can also attack with Bob, making the Tendrils mission a bit easier to achieve.  And lastly the weaknesses of Bob include life loss, which is not so much of a problem when we can cast a Tendrils to recoup all the life lost and easily outrace a number of strategies that might attempt to attack our life total.

Frantic Search, however, brings a few more interactions to each of these cards.  Where before we had a duo of awesomeness, Frantic Search has made it a trio.  And three is always better than two - just ask the Musketeers who cared about them before they added that 3rd guy, or why a dynasty in the sports world starts with 3 championships and not just 2.

Frantic Search when paired with Tendrils is fairly easy to see.  When casting a Frantic Search we are generating storm while untapping 3 land so our available mana on that turn does not decrease, thus letting us cast more spells.  Frantic Search also helps us dig for the Tendrils itself, which is important too.

But perhaps more important is the interaction between a Dark Confidant and a Frantic Search.  Bob is certainly nice when he has drawn us a few cards, but he may not always give us exactly what we want.  Here is a quote from earlier in this very thread that illustrates the point exactly:

"He smashed me and it wasn't even close since I always had a hand full of blanks.  I'd keep a solid hand but it wouldn't pan out because the cards I'd draw into were lands, bounce spells  and things like this."

Bob gives us resources, but we may not be able to take advantage of all of these cards we draw.  This is where Frantic Search comes into the picture.  When we cast Search, we can draw two and do not have to worry about the discard because we are unloading dead cards - essentially we are filtering useless spells into useful spells. 

So it is for a variety of reasons that I would strongly urge people who are interested in playing this deck to test Frantic Search, because it's actually quite good.  I always felt that this sort of deck tended to be about a turn 4 deck if it was winning through Bob, but a Frantic Search speeds this up by basically a full turn.  Also, it happens to be blue which is important for this deck.

[Bomberman!]

So, basically you're asking:  why Bob Tendrils?

1 - It is the best Storm deck to play against Workshop decks.

2 - It is probably the easiest and most forgiving Storm deck to play.

3 - It combines the card draw ability of a deck like Trygon Tezz with the quick-kill potential of something like TPS (while admittedly not being as specialized as either, of course).

Essentially, it is a flexible, powerful deck that has few, if any, unwinnable match-ups.  I sort of view it as The Rock of Vintage.

If you want to make the changes you suggest, that deck exists:  TPS.

No, i must of explained myself wrong.  i too think it's the best storm deck to play against Workshop, and really like it fot the current meta.  what i was saying was, i see big clunky spells like Jace,Tinker,robot, and maybe even merchant for a faster "Combo" style of play. Those change's were the first that popped in my mind, then i tried what i said but did not like it... now I'm playing

Maindeck (60):
Spells (47):
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
2 cabal ritual
2 repeal
3 duress
1 gift

Lands (13):
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea

a more tps style of approach, only with the confidant solid draw engine.

[Bomberman!]

i really like the whole frantic search idea

[voltron00x]

Testing Jar a bit more extensively, it is sometimes awesome, and equally often it is either win-more or awkward.  Without CRits, there are many hands w/out enough Rituals to make it effective.  I am going to test two different versions.   One build utilizes green.  That version will have Trygons in the board and some number of nature's claims main/board split; I think this will be pretty effective against a metagame with over 10% oath and where MUD is the #1 deck.  The second version will be a Frantic Search build. 

[ErtaiAdept]

Though I am by no means an experienced Bob - Tendrils Player, I can say that this past weekend running a build which included Memory Jar, and tinker-bot I often found jar as a useless draw I find it far too clunky to be effective very often and there were a few times when it was pulled while trying to storm out and it was a very undesired draw.

[voltron00x]

Here's a test Frantic Search list, if anyone wants to give this a spin on MWS / Cockatrice, or better yet, in real life.  I haven't had a chance to actually play with this yet, so keep that in mind.  I have another interesting list that I'll post later on.

Frantic Bob TPS

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Frantic Search
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Chain of vapor
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Preordain
2 Cabal Ritual

SB: 3 Duress
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 Island
SB: 1 Swamp
SB: 4 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Tinker
SB: 1 Myr Battlesphere

[A.-1.]

@Matt
After testing a few games with the first list you posted, I would second moving Tinker/Bot to the board and cutting Jar.  Jar was far too inconsistent, and Battlesphere (which was also the bot we tested) was either irrelevant or a dead draw.

The only issue of concern with the new list is the ability to deal with True Believer or Leyline of Sanctity.  How have you dealt with these cards in the Noble Fish and Dredge match ups?

[voltron00x]

You can beat True Believer (and and other duders like Canonist and Children of Korlis) via Jace, but Leyline is a problem with that list as posted.  Adding an Echoing Truth to the SB might make sense. 

I finally found a list I really like, it has Tinker/Bot in the board and plenty of answers to the cards you mentioned.  I'll have it up here in the near future once I test a bit more.

[Tobi]

This leads to an interesting question: Where is the Chain of Vapor in your list?

[brokenbacon]

1 Mind's Desire...1 Yawgmoth's Bargain

I don't think this is right. Two 6cc game enders is a little much. You should choose one and stick with it, don't take both.
And Tobi is right, you need Chain of Vapor in your list somewhere.
I look forward to testing this with Frantic in there though! An interesting innovation, to say the least.

[voltron00x]

That's a deck list error,  take out 1 6cc for Chain.

[brokenbacon]

Honestly, I have been testing and this is SICK. Like, it works really well. However, I don't know about Twister. It's like, what with Will, Search, Crit, like they all beg for graveyard. I've only tested so much, but Bob might not even be needed..... I don't know. I'm gonna test a bunch more, but so far Frantic Search and Crit are extremely op. Keeping in 2 6cc might be right, take out Twister for Chain? I'm trying that.....

[voltron00x]

Here's what I played today at Blue Bell, ending up at 4-2.  Both matches I lost were my fault, I played pretty poorly all afternoon.  I beat Oath, Stax, Bob TPS with Frantic Search, and a Gush Vault deck, and lost to ANT and a G/B/W hate deck.  This deck felt very balanced, and well-suited to this metagame (which remains impressively wide-open).  The concept was to leverage the strength of Bob Tendrils against a broad field, and focus the sideboard on beating Workshops and Oath by transforming into something similar to Owen.dec.  I'll write about this more in an article, but to give you an idea why I believe this is  a good strategy, the top 4 at this Blue Bell was Oath and Mono-Red Stax in the finals, with TPS and MUD in the top 4.

4 Dark Confidant
4 Force of Will
4 Dark Ritual
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Preordain
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Necropotence
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Nature's Claim
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
3 Duress
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
3 Polluted Delta

SB: 4 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 3 Trygon Predator
SB: 1 Tinker
SB: 1 Myr Battlesphere
SB: 1 Virtue's Ruin
SB: 1 Forest

[Phele]

Nice, balanced build. The approach to slow the deck down after boarding in certain matchups to control their game is quite impressive. So you don't seem to have really weak matchups. Also nice to see such a diverse metagame. What kind of Oathes did you meet and top4ed, Tyrant or Elefant?

[voltron00x]

The Oath deck in the finals was Jeff Folinus, playing Elephant Oath with Emrakul.

The one I beat was also Elephant Oath as far as I know. He never got Oath active against me in either game.

[brokenbacon]

Ok so is it just me, or is Bob Tendrils getting wrecked by the new printings? Oath/Tezz (with Tinker) gets Blightsteel Colossus, MUD gets Myr Welder and Phyrexian Revoker. And that's only so far. Basically, the already hyped decks get even more cards to hype about. It looks like our two worst matchups are getting a lot of fun new KILLER toys. We only get Steel Sabotage to combat MUD, and that is only really good preemptively, i.e. Claim is better.