Omniscience 2013

[DubDub]

About a year ago there was discussion in two threads (here and here) related to Omniscience.  Much was made of Academy Rector versus Show and Tell.  Discussion didn't restart when Enter the Infinite was printed.  I believe that was likely a mistake.

*** I want to pause to make clear that in no way am I looking for credit for this deck idea.  My only contribution was seeing the discussion on TheSource and believing it to be worthwhile to port to Vintage. ***





The idea, in short, is to construct a deck such that resolving Show and Tell should equal winning the game.  Obviously Griselbrand/Emrakul deserve mention, you may be asking why we would go the Omniscience route when we could get a Legendary creature-bomb and win off that.  In reading some excellent discussion of the deck on TheSource it is my belief that the Omniscience route is more resilient: it can (with the Cunning Wish plan) remove or deal with obstacles to winning at instant speed and then continue to win immediately.

The major impediments to winning are:
Krosan Grip - the best response - which sees little to no play due to the general lack of necessity for Split Second, and the greater efficiency of Nature's Claim.
Nature's Claim - can be dealt with with spare countermagic in hand, or instant speed responses through Cunning Wish.
Gaddock Teeg - Cunning Wish can grab Wipe Away or Slaughter Pact to deal with Teeg, allowing the combo to continue.
Notion Thief - Cunning Wish can grab Wipe Away to deal with Notion Thief, allowing the combo to continue.
Thalia - Cunning Wish can grab Wipe Away or Slaughter Pact to deal with Thalia, though the combo will be slowed down by taxing while she's in play.
Oblivion Ring / Detention Sphere - Cunning Wish can find Trickbind in response to the trigger, or you may already have the maindeck Trickbind in hand.
SHOPS - an extreme impediment, that deserves to be discussed in detail in the section adapting the deck to Vintage.

Background, stolen shamelessly from TheSource's emidln and Lejay, see in greater detail beginning here.

/// Main Deck /// [Note that emidln allows for overlap in the below.]
// Enablers
4 Show and Tell
4 Dream Halls

// Make Spells Free
4 Dream Halls
4 Omniscience

// Wins on the spot if spells are free
4 Enter the Infinite
4 Cunning Wish

// Protection and Utility
3 Force of Will
3 Pact of Negation
1 Flusterstorm
1 Trickbind
4 Cunning Wish

// Extra copies of all of the above
1 Intuition

// Cantrips
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain

// Lands
3 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
6 Island
1 Underground Sea

/// SIDEBOARD ///
// Tutor stuff
1 Intuition
1 Firemind's Foresight

// Ends the Game
1 Research / Development
1 Laboratory Maniac

// Protection
1 Force of Will
1 Pact of Negation
1 Trickbind

// Removal
1 Wipe Away
1 Echoing Truth
1 Slaughter Pact

Additionally, I'd play the following that I consider meta-specific:

4 Thoughtseize
1 Surgical Extraction

Note that emidln/Lejay also play 4x Dream Halls, which with Ancient Tomb can be fast enough for Legacy on it's own.  I believe Dream Halls should stay in the Vintage version.  This gives 8x Enchantments that allow for a game win on the spot (Dream Halls having slightly higher restrictions) when put into play on the first turn with Show and Tell, plus 4x Dream Halls that could be cast on the first turn, though that's highly dependent on Black Lotus.

So, what needs to be adapted for Vintage?

Brainstorm and Ponder are restricted, and the manabase.

There are some obvious replacements for the 6 slots freed up by Ponder and Brainstorm:
Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Mystical Tutor

One could discuss making the black splash more significant by adding Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, and Yawgmoth's Will to the maindeck.  I believe that, as will be discussed in further detail below, a more optimal addition for Vintage is a way to handle Shops.

3x Hurkyl's Recall

Other options include Rebuild, which can cycle when not facing Shops, Steel Sabotage, though that may be better in place of some of the other countermagic (in particular, Pact of Negation), and potentially Energy Flux, though that's not the recommendation I would make.  The question is: if an EOT Hurkyl's on the turn before winning will be undone by Show and Tell (though untapping with an empty board into a hardcast Dream Halls can be excellent against Shops), versus the ability to pay for Rebuild/Hurkyl's post-S&T.  If S&T'ing on the play the tax should be at most (note: what's the interaction between Trinisphere and Omniscience, must be paid?).

For the time being let's leave it at 3x Hurkyl's Recall.

The manabase of the Legacy Version above has 19 slots.  Our manabase can be improved to:

Black Lotus
Mox Sapphire
Lotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Sol Ring
Mana Vault
4x Off-Color Moxen (?)
9x Lands (perhaps 4x Fetches, 1x Underground (if maintaining the black sideboard splash for discard), 4x basic Islands.)
?x Ancient Tombs of our own, though mana is more likely to be the chokepoint for the Vintage version.

Other countermagic worthy of discussion:
Mental Misstep, which is banned in Legacy and hence not part of their discussion.
Flusterstorm, which appears as a one-of above, but may be better in Vintage, as our opponents are already more likely to be playing it themselves.
Mana Drain, can offer another form of acceleration into Show and Tell or Dream Halls, but very likely to be in a more generally controlling version of the deck.  Drain would be better against Shops, Draining a lock piece and sinking the mana into S&T and the first few taxes can potentially ease that matchup.

Other cards generally worth consideration:
Burning Wish for a sideboarded Enter the Infinite, as opposed to the mono-blue Cunning Wish version.  I believe that the Cunning Wish version is more resilient, as I'm more impressed by Cunning Wish's range of answers (Trickbind, Countermagic, Bounce) and in particular the ability to respond to Oblivion Ring's / Detention Sphere's trigger (though those are rarely played in Vintage).
Red would offer sorcery speed artifact destruction that could also be sideboarded: Shatterstorm, or Obliterate (for post Omniscience).  Red would also offer instant speed artifact destruction in the form of Rack and Ruin.  Obviously adding Red (or any other color) would limit options when winning through Dream Halls instead of the preferred Omniscience.
Merchant Scroll - This can be a turn one play for Ancestral's value, or to setup upkeep-Mystical Tutor for S&T and turn-2 S&T.
Yawgmoth's Bargain - This could be a "9th" enchantment that wins the game on the spot when Show and Tell, though it's worse here than in Ritual Combo (because the way to actually win would likely involve a second Show and Tell).  Also, this opens the door to whether Griselbrand is preferable (though the Legendary nature of Griselbrand can be a drawback with S&T), and the corresponding host of questions about Oath of Druids etc.

In a curious turn of events, Mind's Desire is pretty bad here when compared with Enter the Infinite.  Under either cost reducing enchantment Enter the Inifinte is basically a pre-set Desire FOR YOUR DECK.  There's no really reason to run Desire (except in the narrow case that you're playing Burning Wish, and the opponent has countermagic saved for a wished Enter the Infinite that isn't Mindbreak Trap or Flusterstorm.

Conclusion
I feel that with the printing of Enter the Infinite there is a compelling reason to plan to Show and Tell Omniscience instead of Griselbrand/Emrakul.  I feel it's a very elegant deck that avoids any/all hate for the graveyard and all creature hate that can't be dealt with by having one's deck in one's hand.  Winning through Laboratory Maniac is in many ways preferable to trying to make the opponent lose (because what stops you is Platinum Angel, and Sudden Shock/Death on LabMan, as opposed to the various and sundry ways to gain shroud (against Grapeshot, Tendrils, etc) or ways to kill creatures that need to attack (as Grisel/Emrakul ultimately need to)).

Fundamentally, I believe the time is drawing short for Show and Tell.  There simply can't be much more printed that will essentially say "you win the game" like Omniscience, Enter the Infinite, Emrakul/Griselbrand.  I can foresee a future ~5-12 months from now where this deck or something like it is responsible for Show and Tell's restriction (and possibly its banning in Legacy as well/separately).  I have no way of knowing whether that will come to pass, and admittedly restrictions are always unlikely, but there's no question in my mind that the raw power level is there.  If this deck or its cousin figures out how to deal with Shops I think it could prove very difficult to expunge from top-8s.  Honestly I'm a bit scared of it.

*** I would like to reiterate that in no way am I trying to claim credit for this.  All credit should flow back to TheSource's emidln and Lejay and any others I've failed to name who've made significant contributions to the deck there. ***

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

This type of deck has been seeing play at xtreme games, typically without enter the infinite or wish, and doing ok. You can check morphling for the list Richard plays. I heard Jaco was playing some variant this month as well.

[Mith]

Mono U is fine for Legacy (though why you'd play this over Sneak&Show is beyond me), but way too slow in Vintage.

There are better ways to run Omni if you want to play it, but I'd rather focus on it bringing advantage over trying to combo out.

[DubDub]

This type of deck has been seeing play at xtreme games, typically without enter the infinite or wish, and doing ok. You can check morphling for the list Richard plays. I heard Jaco was playing some variant this month as well this month.

Here's a morphling.de search link for those interested.  It seems like most of the decks that have been played have gone the Academy Rector route, which was the focus of discussion last year.  It's my personal opinion that Enter the Infinite versions playing more Show and Tell more Omniscience and the Omniscience backup Dream Halls are better.

Mono U is fine for Legacy (though why you'd play this over Sneak&Show is beyond me), but way too slow in Vintage.

There are better ways to run Omni if you want to play it, but I'd rather focus on it bringing advantage over trying to combo out.

Well, mono-U is wasteproof (provided you're dropping Ancient Tomb the turn you're trying to win).  And I have my doubts that it's too slow for Vintage.  This isn't mono-U control lists from a decade ago that win once they have complete control of the game and 6+ islands in play.  This deck can and will win on turn one with a fast Show and Tell.

I don't understand your last sentence.  When you can combo out post-Show and Tell with a single Enter the Infinite, or Intuition, or Cunning Wish, why would you be looking for value instead anyway?

[JACO]

Mono-blue in Vintage is pointless because you lose all of the relevant Tutors for 1 and 2 mana, and are instead left with Cunning Wish, which is 3 mana. Yes you can get basic Islands, but that's a huge difference in a Workshop-infested format, especially when you still have to pay the Sphere tax for all of your 'free' spells with an Omniscience in play. You can still play basic lands in your Show and Tell deck and not be mono-blue, with the advent of fetchlands X years ago.

I played a deck to T4 last weekend that was a Rector-Omniscience deck, based on Richard's deck, with a number of changes. I think the best ways to go about getting Omniscience into play are:
1) Show and Tell
2) Rector sacrifice
3) Burning Wish for Show and Tell
4) Any tutor chain for Show and Tell
5) A tutor chain for Rector
6) Dream Halls --> mana requirement sucks, as does 5 mana casting cost

Mith was playing a Burning Wish based version a couple of months ago at Xtreme that I thought had merit.

What is meant by gaining value with your other spells is that if you have a deck full of crappy cards like Enter the Infinite and Cunning Wish sitting in your hand until you have an Omniscience in play, then you don't have as many in-game options. You just have crappy uncastable cards in hand. If you have other cards with more value, like Jace, Tinker, etc., then you can still have many other lines of play and alternates to winning.

I'm not sure any of this is better than just playing a Tezzeret deck, but it sure is fun.

[PeAcH]

I goldfished some Mono U decklists and the result really amazed me.

The amount of 2nd and 3rd turn kills was spectacular.

This is my starting decklist:

Enter the Show

1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mistical Tutor
1 Sensei Diving Top
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
3 Intuition

4 Show and Tell
4 Dream Halls
4 Omniscience
4 Enter the Infinite

3 Spell Pierce
4 Force of Will

2 Hurkyl´s Recall

3 Emrakul, the Aeon´s thorn

5 Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
5 fetchland
4 Island
2 Ancient Tomb

De Mars sideboard (untested)

Sideboard:

4 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Flusterstorm
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ancient Tomb

I guess a list with Black splash (Vampiric, Demonic, Will and possibly Imperial Seal) could also be viable.

Maniac is not an option to win, as a lot of people play the Abrupt Decay.

Anyone wants to share the decklists?

[John Cox]

I've never had this come up, -how does trinisphere affect spells after omniscience resolves?

[Nastaboi]

You still have to play three extra. It's the same as with every other alternative casting cost, e.g. Force.

[John Cox]

So is there an advantage to this deck over other combo decks? -IE Tezzeret, Doomsday, Gush.

[DubDub]

Mono-blue in Vintage is pointless because you lose all of the relevant Tutors for 1 and 2 mana, and are instead left with Cunning Wish, which is 3 mana. Yes you can get basic Islands, but that's a huge difference in a Workshop-infested format, especially when you still have to pay the Sphere tax for all of your 'free' spells with an Omniscience in play. You can still play basic lands in your Show and Tell deck and not be mono-blue, with the advent of fetchlands X years ago.

I played a deck to T4 last weekend that was a Rector-Omniscience deck, based on Richard's deck, with a number of changes. I think the best ways to go about getting Omniscience into play are:
1) Show and Tell
2) Rector sacrifice
3) Burning Wish for Show and Tell
4) Any tutor chain for Show and Tell
5) A tutor chain for Rector
6) Dream Halls --> mana requirement sucks, as does 5 mana casting cost

Mith was playing a Burning Wish based version a couple of months ago at Xtreme that I thought had merit.

What is meant by gaining value with your other spells is that if you have a deck full of crappy cards like Enter the Infinite and Cunning Wish sitting in your hand until you have an Omniscience in play, then you don't have as many in-game options. You just have crappy uncastable cards in hand. If you have other cards with more value, like Jace, Tinker, etc., then you can still have many other lines of play and alternates to winning.

I'm not sure any of this is better than just playing a Tezzeret deck, but it sure is fun.

A black splash for Vampiric, Imperial, Demonic Tutor and Consultation (high redundancy, no threat of exiling the win, which is already in the sideboard, unless you hit all four cunning wish) indeed seems very attractive.  Would probably solidify a high percentage of turn two wins.

Dream halls is primarily an alternative to Omniscience, not the sixth best enabler for it.  You win with ETI and a blue card (provided no taxes), or a Cunning wish or Intuition and two blue cards etc.  You can win directly on turn one with Dream Halls Shown and Told.  The idea is not Rector->Dream Halls->Omniscience.

So is there an advantage to this deck over other combo decks? -IE Tezzeret, Doomsday, Gush.

Resolve one spell = win, with minimal restrictions and little chance of fizzling.  That's the advantage.  Other things like profitably playing Pact of Negation, if that's right for the deck, are a bonus.

@PeAcH
You can win in response to Abrupt Decay with Brainstorm or Ancestral, though it's possible both would have been used already.  Misdirection would be another option, as you wouldn't have to counter Decay in order to render it ineffective.

[DubDub]

The Legacy version of this deck won BOM yesterday, showing its incredible power.  In the final game it overcame Cabal Therapy nabbing two Show and Tell, and then won with runnerX3 Show and Tell, Omniscience, and Enter the Infinite (as the first card from a Ponder).  It used the Laboratory Maniac kill.  As I said above, if the shop matchup can be addressed, this deck will make waves in Vintage too.