Obfuscated Deck Challenge II

[thorme]

The idea is to come up with a deck that is tough to figure out how it wins.  Your challenge is to figure out how the decks win, or to come up with an Obfuscated Deck of your own!

Obfuscated Deck Challenge:
==========================
- No minimum/maximum deck size
- Vintage card set and B/R list, sideboard allowed with a maximum of 15 cards
- Players begin with their entire deck in hand and there is no maximum hand size
- Players do not lose the game as a result of not being able to draw a card
- Goldfish opponent plays perfect magic and is trying to thwart you - they make all choices accordingly
- Goldfish opponent begins with 20 life, and 0 cards in hand, graveyard, and library
 
I've included several decks below for your enjoyment.  It's often pretty easy to spot the gist of the idea, but the devil is in the details, so don't post a solution unless you've worked it out.  Also, these things are tough (for me anyway) to put together and I hope I haven't made too many mistakes.


A couple warm-up exercises:

Deck 1
============
1 Show and Tell
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Forbidden Crypt
1 Sky Diamond
1 Psychic Purge
1 City of Traitors
1 Stifle
 

Deck 2
=============
1 Inexorable Tide
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Tanglebloom
1 Vesuva
1 Spell Crumple
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Lotus Petal
1 Helix Pinnacle
1 Forsaken City  
1 Marrow Shards
 

I think we're warmed up...lets start cooking...


Deck 3:
=============
2 Relearn
1 Island
1 Souldrinker
1 Mistform Mask
1 Upwelling
1 Lush Growth
1 Donate
1 Orim's Prayer
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Sneak Attack
1 Skull of Orm
1 Sol Ring
1 Vine Trellis
1 Mirari
1 Rolling Stones
1 Arcum's Whistle
1 Creature Bond
1 Revive


Deck 4:
==============
4 Vassal's Duty
1 Plateau
4 Leyline of Singularity
1 Hornet Sting
3 Angel's Grace
4 Aether Flash
1 Safe Haven
1 Petrified Field
1 Guardian Zendikon
1 Hollistic Wisdom
1 Minamo Scrollkeeper
1 Tidal Bore
1 Tropical Island
1 Mirror Universe
1 Mind Stone
 

The below one I made for the original Obfuscated Deck Challenge, but no longer works now that the wishes can't get exiled cards.  If you imagine the wishes worked like they used to though, its a nice challenging one.
 
Bonus Deck
===============
4 Burning Wish
4 Golden Wish
1 Sunglasses of Urza
1 Reiterate
1 Blasting Station
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Phyrexian Grimoire
1 Irrigation Ditch
1 Decimate
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Reconnaissance
1 Hidden Path
1 Spiny Starfish
1 Serra's Sanctum


Ok folks, that's all I got (no...brainpower....left....).   Have fun w/ them, and please post your own Obfuscated Deck for us to work out if you want to try your hand at creating one!

[Nefarias]

Deck 1
============
1 Show and Tell
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Forbidden Crypt
1 Sky Diamond
1 Psychic Purge
1 City of Traitors
1 Stifle

Unless I'm missing something, I don't think this one works anymore because Forbidden Crypt's abilities have been errata'ed to replacement effects, not triggers.

[Wagner]

Deck 1
============
1 Show and Tell
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Forbidden Crypt
1 Sky Diamond
1 Psychic Purge
1 City of Traitors
1 Stifle

Unless I'm missing something, I don't think this one works anymore because Forbidden Crypt's abilities have been errata'ed to replacement effects, not triggers.

Also, Psychic Purge is a sorcery, not sure why Isochron is in there.

[boggyb]

You're supposed to isochron the stifle to prevent the forbidden crypt trigger from resolving, but it doesn't work any more since forbidden crypt's RFG drawback has been errata'd to be a replacement effect instead of a triggered ability.

[thorme]

Well shucks...wasn't aware of that errata.  Thanks for the head's up fellas.

[Nefarias]

Deck 2
=============
1 Inexorable Tide
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Tanglebloom
1 Vesuva
1 Spell Crumple
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Lotus Petal
1 Helix Pinnacle
1 Forsaken City  
1 Marrow Shards

T1: Play Gemstone Mine
T2: Play Vesuva, choose Gemstone Mine
T3: Play Forsaken City, play Sapphire Medallion tapping the 2 Gemstones Mines (2 counters each)
T4: Play Lotus Petal, tap all three lands and sac Lotus Petal to play Inexorable Tide (Forsaken City tapped, Gemstone Mines = 1 counter each, hand =Spell Crumple, Helix Pinnacle, Marrow Shards, Tanglebloom)
T5: Pay 2 life to play Marrow Shards, trigger Inexorable Tide to proliferate Gemstone Mines to 2 counters. After triggers resolve but before Marrow Shards does, tap both Mines (1 counter each) to Spell Crumple, triggering Inexorable Tide on the Mines again. (Cards in hand: Tanglebloom, Helix Pinnacle/ Library: top card Marrow Shards, next card Spell Crumple/ In play: Inexorable Tide, tapped Forsaken City, 2 Gemstone Mines with 2 counters each).
T6: Draw Marrow Shards. Play Helix Pinnacle, tapping a Mine and trigger Inexorable Tide. One Mine now has three counters, the other has 2. Use the one with three to put a counter on Helix Pinnacle. (Helix Pinnacle has one counter, both Gemstones have 2, Marrow Shards and Tanglebloom in hand, 18 life)
T7: Draw Spell Crumple. Play Tanglebloom, Proliferate Mines and Pinnacle. Use other Mine to gain a life. (19 life, Shards and Crumple in hand, Mines at 2 counters, Pinnacle at 2 counters).
T8: Tap a Mine to activate Tanglebloom. (20 life, one Mine at one counter, other at 2)
T9: Pay 2 life to pay for Shards, proliferate Mines to 2 and 3 and Pinnacle, Use Mines to Crumple, proliferate keeps them at 2 and 3.
T10, T11: Draw Shards and Crumple, use the Mine at 3 to gain 2 life from Bloom. Leaves you with a Mine at 1, a Mine at 2, Shards and Crumple in hand, Tide, Bloom, and Pinnacle in play, and at 20 life.
Repeat turns 9, 10, 11 until Pinnacle reaches 100.

NOTE: If the goal is to do it in as few turns as possible, you can speed up the process by a few turns by skipping some Tangleblooms and stabilize at 4ish life, and by pumping extra mana/gemstone counters into Helix Pinnacle (which you would get by skipping 16ish Tanglebloom activations).

[thorme]

Nicely done Nef!

[Delha]

Deck 3:
Play Island, exile ESG for to cast Lush Growth on Island.
Cast Sol Ring, Vine Trellis, Upwelling, Skull of Orm, Arcum's Whistle.
Float mana across turns as needed to take future actions:
Cast Mirari.
Loop:

• Cast Creature Bond & Mistform Mask on Vine Trellis
• Donate to Trellis to opponent.
• Activate Mask to make Trellis a non-Wall creature (which still has defender).
• Target Trellis with Whistle. (Trellis dies, opponent loses 4 life)
• Revive targeting Trellis, Activate Skull to return Creature Bond & Mistform Mask.
• Relearn targeting Revive (in future turns, copy Relearn w/ Mirari, targeting other copy of Relearn).
• Relearn targeting Donate, copy w/ Mirari to target other copy of Relearn.

********************
********************

Deck 4:
Begin with Leyline of Singularity in play.
Play Plateau, Tropical Island, Petrified Field, Safe Haven.
Cast Mind Stone, Vassal's Duty.
Cast Guardian Zendikon on Plateau.
Cast Holistic Wisdom (Float , bounce Trop for Tidal Bore, replay Trop for second )
Holistic Wisdom: Angel's Grace #1 for Tidal Bore.
Cast Aether Flash (Tap Plateau for , Tidal Bore to untap Plateau for second )
Holistic Wisdom: Angel's Grace #2 for Tidal Bore.
Cast Mirror Universe (Using Tidal Bore for extra mana)
Cast Minamo Scrollkeeper, activate Vassal's Duty to absorb Aether Flash dmg (18 life)
Use Safe Haven to exile Plateau (Zendikon falls off), Scrollkeeper
Holistic Wisdom: Vassal's Duty #2 for Guardian Zendikon.
Sac Safe Haven. Absorb Aether Flash dmg on Scrollkeeper (16 life)
Cast Zendikon on Petrified Field. Use Field to return Safe Haven. Replay Field.
Loop:

• Holistic Wisdom to retreive Zendikon.
• Cast Zendikon on Safe Haven.
• Use Safe Haven to exile Scrollkeeper.
• Sac to return Scrollkeeper, absorb dmg from Aether Flash

Need to complete loop 8 times: Pitch Vassal's Duty x2, Leyline x3, Aether Flash x3
On last loop, only absorb 1 dmg, leaving you at 1 life.
Activate Mirror Universe
Hornet Sting targeting opponent

********************
********************

Bonus Deck:
Play Gaea's Cradle, Serra's Sanctum, Irrigation Ditch
Cast Sunglasses of Urza, Candelabra of Tawnos, Reconnaissance (Sanctum:).
Sac Ditch and tap Sanctum for Crucible of Worlds. Replay Ditch.
Repeat to cast Spiny Starfish (Cradle: )
Cast Blasting Station, Phyrexian Grimoire.
Tap out (sac Ditch): . Replay Ditch. Pay to Candelabra for Ditch, sac again: .
Decimate (using Sunglasses for ) targeting Station, Starfish, Recon, Cradle. Put Recon on top of graveyard.
Regenerate Starfish (Cradle: ). Replay Cradle.
Grimoire for Decimate & Recon. Assume opponent exiles Decimate.
Burning Wish #1 for Decimate.
Cast Hidden Path (Sanctum ).
Decimate targeting Sunglasses, Starfish, Recon, Cradle. Put Recon on top.
Regenerate Starfish (Cradle: ). Replay Cradle.
Grimoire for Decimate & Recon. Assume opponent exiles Decimate.
Grimoire for Station & Sunglasses. Assume opponent exiles Sunglasses.
Golden Wish #1 for Sunglasses. Golden Wish #2 for Station.
Replay Sunglasses & Station.
Burning Wish #2 for Decimate.

You have enough mana Burning Wish and Reiterate with buyback. This lets you net 1 exiled sorcery per iteration and return copies of Burning Wish or Golden Wish as needed. Between Wishes & Grimoire, you can Decimate repeatedly for more Starfish tokens to feed through Blasting Station and dome opponent.

I've remember trying to dream up one of these before, but never finished. Maybe this time I will.

[thorme]

Nice Delha!

On Deck 3, you can be particularly cruel to your goldfish opponent by turning the Vine Trellis back into a wall after hitting it with the Whistle (though I can't figure out how to force you to need to do this).  That leaves them their choice...tap the Trellis for mana causing it to die from Whistle at EOT and taking the Creature Bond damage...or attacking you causing you to gain a life.  Enough turns of that and you can kill them with one hit from a Sneak Attack'ed Souldrinker.

[boggyb]

Sweet job Delha!

Maybe interesting if you add in the restriction that you aren't allowed to attack? So that you could use more interesting creatures. (Hex Parasite? Undying dudes? Sweet.)

[Katzby]

********************
********************

Bonus Deck:
Play Gaea's Cradle, Serra's Sanctum, Irrigation Ditch
Cast Sunglasses of Urza, Candelabra of Tawnos, Reconnaissance (Sanctum:).
Sac Ditch and tap Sanctum for Crucible of Worlds. Replay Ditch.
Repeat to cast Spiny Starfish (Cradle: )
Cast Blasting Station, Phyrexian Grimoire.
Tap out (sac Ditch): . Replay Ditch. Pay to Candelabra for Ditch, sac again: .
Decimate (using Sunglasses for ) targeting Station, Starfish, Recon, Cradle. Put Recon on top of graveyard.
Regenerate Starfish (Cradle: ). Replay Cradle.
Grimoire for Decimate & Recon. Assume opponent exiles Decimate.
Burning Wish #1 for Decimate.
Cast Hidden Path (Sanctum ).
Decimate targeting Sunglasses, Starfish, Recon, Cradle. Put Recon on top.
Regenerate Starfish (Cradle: ). Replay Cradle.
Grimoire for Decimate & Recon. Assume opponent exiles Decimate.
Grimoire for Station & Sunglasses. Assume opponent exiles Sunglasses.
Golden Wish #1 for Sunglasses. Golden Wish #2 for Station.
Replay Sunglasses & Station.
Burning Wish #2 for Decimate.

You have enough mana Burning Wish and Reiterate with buyback. This lets you net 1 exiled sorcery per iteration and return copies of Burning Wish or Golden Wish as needed. Between Wishes & Grimoire, you can Decimate repeatedly for more Starfish tokens to feed through Blasting Station and dome opponent.

I've remember trying to dream up one of these before, but never finished. Maybe this time I will.

Except that you can't wish for exiled cards, which invalidates this solution and I suspect makes this one impossible.

Edit: Oh, sorry.  Nevermind.

Katzby

[Delha]

Except that you can't wish for exiled cards, which invalidates this solution and I suspect makes this one impossible.

Read the OP.

[thorme]

Maybe interesting if you add in the restriction that you aren't allowed to attack? So that you could use more interesting creatures. (Hex Parasite? Undying dudes? Sweet.)

There are still a number of ways to get around the fact that your creatures can attack.  

Exhibit A:

Hex Parasite
Nearheath Stalker
Glare of Subdual
Forbidden Orchard
Serra's Sanctum
Freyalise Supplicant
Gaea's Cradle
Crackdown


Exhibit B:

Gnarled Effigy
Geralf's Mindcrusher
Mishra's Workshop
Sisay's Ring
Searing Touch
Tolarian Academy
Ensnaring Bridge
Phyrexian Altar


Though come to think of it, most of them come down to a pretty small number of lands that enable you to play a lot of creatures and have them not attack, so it would open things up quite a bit.  I think there is plenty of space for creativity though even with the current constraints.