Bishop's Painter: The Primer.
(Partly as an answer to the remora + hexmage thread.)
Long story short: In 2009, my brother and me developed Bishop's Painter (BP), which is a remora deck, based on Rich Shay's Shaymora. It is a remora control deck with commandeers.
the thread about that deck can be found here:
The Shaymora Primer and Discussion:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=37191.0Our deck looked like this at that point:
Spells: 39
4 Force of Will
3 pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Misdirection
3 Commandeer
4 Mystic remora
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Brainstorm
1 time walk
1 Gush
1 Ancestral recall
2 Thirst for knowledge
1 Fact or fiction
1 Gifts ungiven
1 timetwister
1 yawgmoth’s will
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 tinker
4 Painter’s Servant
2 Grindstone
1 Darksteel colossus
Mana 22:
5 moxen
1 Black lotus
1 Sol ring
1 tolarian academy
1 library of alexandria
3 Volcanic island
2 underground sea
2 island
1 snow-covered island
3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta.
The Sideboard:
3 planar void
1 yixlid jailer
1 relic of progenitus
1 tormod’s crypt
1 pithing needle
1 engineered exposives
1 engineered plague
1 darkblast
1 threads of disloyalty
1 psychatog
2 viashino heretic
1 hurkyl’s recall
This is a metagame hate deck. Not a normal control deck. It is designed for a metagame consisting mostly of Drains, TPS, dredge and fish with little stax and oath.
It is of course inspired by the meditation remora by rich shay. It was a totally reactive deck, which relied extremely on painter for the disruption and remoras to get the high costing bombs going.
The sideboard was aimed against aggro, dredge. The difference to shay's deck was that it was better against aggro, because of not running meditate and having painter + Blasts.
You can read about my epic fail (I got DQed) here:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=37907.0. The tournament report is quite entertaining and as you can see, the deck was nuts.
Well, it is another time of vintage now.
Workshop rears it's muddy head and walletsculpting jace is on his rampage. Gush is back. The metagame now is here in Europe, at a big Tournament like the Bazaar of Moxen consisting of mostly: a wide range of Big Blue; MUD; Dredge; Rest (from Rituals to Oath, Fish and budget hate decks: The decks that – let's be honest – are just not good enough in this meta but still appear).
And of course, the restricted list is a new one, there are new cards etc.
The Bishop's Painter 2011: Now with better spells and numbers!
Still 61 cards. Because it's cool and legendary.
Mana: 23
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Mountain
3 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
4 Scalding Tarn
1 flooded strand
1 misty rainforest
1 Black Lotus (The Best Card in Vintage)
1 Sol Ring
1 mana crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
Disruption: 14
4 Force of Will
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Mana Drain
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
1 hurkyl's recall.
Draw: 9
3 Mystic Remora
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Gush
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Timetwister
Tutors: 4
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 mystical tutor
1 merchant scroll
Win: 10
2 Jace, The Big General and 2nd Best Card in Vintage who wins all alone, even if you play really badly.
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Painter's Servant
2 Grindstone
1 Blightsteel Colossus
61st card:
1 Vendilion Clique
Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the void
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 pithing needle
1 engineered explosives
4 Ingot Chewer
1 viashino heretic (not good enough with duplicants/revokers, and slow. a rack and ruin might be better. A hurkyl's recall would probably be best. It combines nicely with remora/mindbreak trap)
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Misdirection.
The Mana Base, while not running a lot of mana, is really stable: a lot of basic lands, tolarian and strip mine. I picked strip mine over library because it's better against MUD and Dredge, and is good against Blue decks too, for disabling Drain, Tolarian, Library. Maindeck Mountain is picked over the white Mox.
this deck still has a lot of counters and they're even more free than before. The 3 Traps are really awesome, especially if you run them in large numbers. (Early Game Survival, Counter Wars, Lategame hardcounter that exiles.) This reduces your reliance on painters and is very much more resoucre-friendly in general. The two Drains are just solid. 4 Blasts are enough.
The misdirection from the side could be a mental missstep: against Blasts, Dredge, Swords to plowshares. They serve the same function. (Missstep would be a cool card to include a pair)
The draw:
There is no simple topdeck manipulation in this deck. All cards either disrupt, draw more than 1 or form part of winning.
It may seem a bit weird to see so many one-ofs. Gush isn't really good as a draw engine because of remoras and the combo needing enough mana on the table, but 1 is a huge Mid- to lategame advantage spell.
I'm not too sure of thirst. Somehow' it's still solid as it draws 3 and lets you discard colossus (if drawn thorugh remora while holding tinker) but it could be another spell: Repeal perhaps. Something not too expensive for some card advantage. The clique is another nice overall card, which can save many games. But as it's legendary, I would hesitate a bit to play 2.
Timetwister is so awesome in this deck.
No Gifts? Well, in a Tournament of 9 Rounds, you will be sweating over those piles. Why not just sit behind Jace and relax?
As for Hex Parasite: I do not see what you need that for. Winmore maybe? The deck alreads has good game against anything remora is good. And it destroys jaces reliably with 4 blasts.
The standard 4 Tutor package.
The win conditions:
2 Jace .
Painter Grindstone is a very good win condition in my opinion:
It is a 2 card combo whose parts are unrestricted (you always draw into them playing 3/2 and some draw spells) and are not dead alone.
It is unaffected by Lodestone Golem and by thorn (half of it.) and can be played and activated off drain mana.
It lets you win in the extra turns. Which vault-key often fails to.
Tinker into Blightsteel:
It is a 1 turn clock if unanswered. Shuffles back into your library.
How do you play this?
Well, it is rather easy:
Play mana. An early painter is always nice. Set it to blue. (unless you have stone in your hand and neither a blast nor a force.) So is Remora + Mox or having a fetch for REB open.
Then, leave mana open. Play draw spells at opportune moments, so that you can trick and trap them. Play a Midgame remora.
Destroy their Spells with Blasts. Play Jace. Activate. reveal your hand to opponent: GG.
play the cheap combo early or late. Activate. (Do this almost always, unless you have reason (NOT FEAR) to believe this might not be a good idea. Then wait for Ancestral or yawgmoth's will or activate in response to a draw spell which draws at least 2.)
Always know when to switch from the control route to combo mode!
Be aware of the so many insane plays you can do with this deck. Little synergies between the cards, like bounce + remora, trap, draw 7. Or Grindstone and Topdeck Tutors / Jace / Yawgmoth's Will.
The strip mine: Against the good lands or if someone misses a drop, as well as to deactivate drain for the turn.
This deck has very good matchups against Gush and all other blue decks, and TPS. If they don't run cionfidants it's really unfair.
You have a good matchup against dredge, as your combo is easy to find and rather quick and you run a lot of hate, including strip mine and twister maindeck.
Against MUD, you have a chance. But you have to play well. It is the one matchup where every mistake costs you the game. Not in the others.
Against Noble Fish: You have the better deck, especially post board.
Against Oath: Watch out for those grave shuffling effects, be a bit careful, have either nihil in play or ancestral or yawgmoth's will in hand.
The deck doesn't require much calculating / counting but you need a good sense of timing.
Sideboarding is really easy with this deck, because you either don't have to or know what to take out.
Dredge (on the play or if no chalice):
-3 mystic remora
-3 mindbreak trap
-1 Thirst for knowledge
-1hurkyl's recall
(-1 merchant scroll)
+4 Leyline of the void +1 pithing needle +1 nihil spellbomb +1 engineered explosives (+ mental misstep if you play that)
Leave in the Blasts. They're good against chain of vapor and for permanent destruction (white leyline, bazaars) with painter.
On the draw, facing possible chalices: + 4 ingot chewer, -3 Blasts, -merchant scroll
(because chalices win. Beware of white leyline though.)
MUD:
Out (On the play):
-3 Mindbreak Trap -1 Thirst for Knowledge -1 Merchant scroll -1 Vendilion Clique -2 Red Elemental Blast (leaving 2: For more destruction with painter, against phyrexian metamorph) -1 mystic remora
On the draw:
Leave in the Traps except if you think that your opponent will not play into them.
Take out the draw 7 and the remaining Mystic remoras.
In:
-4 Ingot Chewer -1 Pithing Needle -1 engineered explosives -2 Lightning Bolt -1 (insert MUD hate here: see above)
Against Blue:
out: Mystical Tutor, or a painter when playing against UBr
In: Misdirection (Mental Misstep),
... If UB Tezz: + Pithing Needle, -1 mindbreak trap
... If running Confidants: -1 Mindbreak trap -vampiric tutor +2 Lightning Bolt
Against Fish with blue and null rod:
-2 mindbreak trap
-3 Mystic remora
-1 hurkyls recall
-1 Thirst for Knowledge
+2 Lightning Bolt
+2 Ingot Chewer
+1 Pithing needle
+1 engineered explosives
+1 Misdirection / Missstep
Against critters without blue:
-3 Mystic Remora -3 Mindbreak Trap -Hurkyl's Recall -Timetwister
+ 2 Lightning Bolt + 1 engineered explosives + 1 pithing needle
+ 4 Ingot Chewer
Against Oath:
- 1 Vendilion +1Nihil Spellbomb
Against TPS:
Out: 1 Mountain,
In: 1 Misdirection /Missstep / Nihil.
You can of course vary that as you like it. That's just a general idea.
On To the quick Tourney report! erm...
We arrived with a bunch of other Swiss players (Benjamin "Qube" Bischof, Patrik Wild (T8), Marius Morger (T16), Mischa Dettwiler (4th Budget), Andreas Ganz) friday afternoon and checked in in our nice flat Patrik had rented.
Then, we went eating Beffsteak Tatare in towndrank, slinging cards at the lakeside, later drank a lot of Pastis. It was the only testing I got done. This may be because of my other commitments, such as Working, Studying, and playing Music with Europa: Neue Leichtigkeit. Here:
http://www.facebook.com/Europa.Neue.LeichtigkeitSaturday, I walked around at the location in my brown D&G suit and a panama hat, buying a black lotus, smoking and feeling awesome.
In the evening, we drank some more, tested some more and brought us to "next level", the right mood for tourney play.
Battle Day! Sunday, I was wearing a light green Suit tailored by a friend of mine, Armando Forlin. I had promised to do better then last time, and I would:
RD 1: against Brian with MUD
Game 1: I play T1 Mox Jet, Grindstone, Fetch.
He leads with strip mine, Sol Ring, Thorn.
I play Painter. GG.
Game 2: I screw up, playing strip mine for his shop Turn 1 when he has Crucible and I had the option for Mountain+ Chewer. Noob.
I lose the game with mana screw.
Game 3: An epic game. I go Island-grindstone. He leads with shop into worker, which gets forced (I pitch a force), have strip mine again, it is good again. My notes are shit, I'm sorry. What I remember is screwing up again:
he has lodestone out and i get greedy and play painter to remove his revoker later on and win. But that never happens as he wastes lands and plays chalice 1 at a later point so my 2 bolts in hand are turned off. I should just have bolted whatever I could. First Lodestone, then Revoker, then played painter, then activate.
0-1 nice!
RD 2: Davide with Noble Fish
I win in 2 Games, despite 1 for 2 ing in both games (trading a blast and a painter for a qasali pridemage).
Game 1 I win thorugh double painter beats, removing all his creatures with blasts, not walking into his counters and 4 for 2ing him:
He has magus of the unseen, I have 2 painters. He plays swords on one of them, I REB his magus in response, he plays double spell pierce into my trap. GG.
Game 2 I win after being hardcore flooded, playing a drain on something eot. Bouncing all my artifacts in mine and playing a safe 11/11 with my 14 mana and counter backup.
1-1
I don't really remember much more. My mind was fucked. Some Episodes:
I lost against another MUD deck by noobing out again and because he drew the right things. Matches I could have won if I played better. They were very close.
I won against another Noble Fish Decks and 1 Dark Times, those decks just are not powerful enough.
I won against dredge by cut-of-dooming him out of the game g1, losing g2 despite leyline+tinker (he was too quick) and winning g3 without seeing a piece of hate, but he kept a no-bazaar anti hate 7er because I kept my 7. Some early tinker I think.
I dominated some blue decks of which I can't really say what they played, some oath (which is a bad deck: I just went via Yawgmoth's Will and recall on him in resp. To the trigger) and other stuff which had no chance (absolutely none) against this deck. I made like 1000 small mistakes, but it didn't matter.
And I destroyed (out-lucked) a Grim Long deck with maindeck xantids: G1, he plays a Xantid, 3 or 4 cards in hand and some mana. I have remora and a bunch of cards that cant save me now, so I go into a twister, giving us both new 7, his xantid still in play. I find mox Sapphire and Vendilion FTW. He attacks, I play Vendilion, Take his only action spell from his hand (lots of rituals, moxen, lands and grim tutor...) I block, he can't find the win and doesn't resolve any other spell. GG
G2 he transforms to oath. I kill him with Jace ultimate. His 2 shuffle-creatures didn't help him.
So, a 7-2 at the end of the day. Position 32 out of 383. That's okay for a casual gamer.
I got 10 Boosters. Yay.
My deck was so awesome. I had insane draws all the time. If i was a better player, I could have top8'ed.
Try it out and tell me what you think. It's really a good deck. Discuss and ask questions!
my brother Benjamin "Qube" Bischof and me will try to answer them.
Jonas Bischof
P.S.: My Questions are:
Misdirection or missstep? I think the latter is better.
Thirst for Knowledge or another card? (repeal?) --> this deck likes card advantage
One more mana? (Mox pearl/Library) What to take out?
Which card to complement the MUD hate suite?
