[Free Article] Team Tusk Presents: Bulletproof Monk

[nedleeds]

When Monastery Mentor was spoiled I immediately knew it was the kind of card that could draw me away from my lord and savior, Mishra. Find out why and how at Eternal Central! Or don't!



http://www.eternalcentral.com/team-tusk-presents-bulletproof-monk/

#TeamTusk

[tito del monte]

Sweet list Sean - and found the explanation of your building process really clear and useful.

Overall, how happy were you with the Caverns over running either Gushes or Mana Drains? Is the trade-off worth it? Also, did you consider an early game draw engine like the Remora that others have been adopting?

Great read overall. Thanks for perking up my Tuesday morning.

[H]

Great stuff Sean, thanks for the article, welcome back from the Dark (colorless) Side.

Trinket Mage plus EE makes me happy in my pants.  I just got my Mentors in last week and I was focusing on Legacy before I went to Houston, so I have not gotten to try anything out yet and this gives me a good place to start.

I think that it is fair to possibly go -1 StP and +1 Mana Drain, depending on how many creature decks are in your meta however.

[nedleeds]

Sweet list Sean - and found the explanation of your building process really clear and useful.

Overall, how happy were you with the Caverns over running either Gushes or Mana Drains? Is the trade-off worth it? Also, did you consider an early game draw engine like the Remora that others have been adopting?

Great read overall. Thanks for perking up my Tuesday morning.

Thanks for the feedback, I didn't honestly test Gush that week. I think it pulls the deck in a different (possibly better) direction. I can tell you that Cavern vs. RUG is quite good, they can't remove it barring the misers Strip Mine. It allows you to plot out your turn much better knowing your man is going to resolve (I wasn't playing around hardcast Mindbreak Trap). I think I could have supported a Drain or 2, but it's mostly a decision about consistency. Over let's say an 8+ round event I think the worst case of decisions like that are going to rear their head. This event was expected to be 5 rounds or so.

I think walking away from Cavern, adding another basic Island and Tundra or fetch and adding Gush would push me more towards Remora. I haven't played Remora in years but the synegy with Gush and more pitch magic is obvious. I'd eschew Trinket Mage to squeeze in this stuff and I'd have a very different deck.

[nedleeds]

Great stuff Sean, thanks for the article, welcome back from the Dark (colorless) Side.

I'm not sure how long I'll be here but getting a couple of awful hands at EW with shops and being on the draw to explosive starts made me promise myself to bring blue to the next paper event I had a chance to get out to.

Trinket Mage plus EE makes me happy in my pants.  I just got my Mentors in last week and I was focusing on Legacy before I went to Houston, so I have not gotten to try anything out yet and this gives me a good place to start.

EE isn't a hammer, it's an exacto knife. But it's really good at solving a bunch of narrow problem cards. On the draw if you are staring down Chalice 1 you can work towards clearing the field and then building your board. You can skirt spheres (though sometimes it's tough to tweak the sunburst) and get 2/3-for-1's. It's also a (suboptimal) answer to Oath game 1 along with your Cage and countermagic.

I think that it is fair to possibly go -1 StP and +1 Mana Drain, depending on how many creature decks are in your meta however.

Yeah, STP is pretty good these days but there were moments where I would have rather had a drain. Maybe some generic bounce (Repeal), and or Merchant Scroll (to get Fire // Ice).

Thanks for reading.

[H]

Blue is never a bad place to be, 

Indeed, EE versus Shops is very spicy.  I also like that it can be a boardwipe versus Creature decks too.

Was Skullclamp considered for the deck?  Seems like it might be good, since Trinket Mage, but I'm not sure.

[nedleeds]

Skullclamp certainly has a high ceiling but it can get awkward with prowess. I would run a second top before clamp. Either would require cutting something, likely cage. That means pretty much conceding game one to dredge, you could argue I am there already. I just think a cage in play shuts off so many tactical options in vintage its worth its very low floor.

[nyghtrunner]

Thoughts on cutting the 3 Containments in the s/b for 3 more Cages? They serve similar purposes, and Priest is probably more resistant to removal where it's relevant (Dredge/Oath, although don't some Oath lists run Abrupt Decay?), but outside of SnT, it seems like Cage shuts the door a lot harder on Dredge and Oath if it resolves. Cage is a bit more fragile in matches where it's relevant, being an artifact, and having a CC of 1, but you end up having an effective 7 Cages with the Trinkets, along with the other goodies you can fetch in the s/b or main.

I've been looking for a place to play Mentor, and have largely looked at/tinkered with updating Pyromancer lists, but in those decks, Mentor really feels somewhat like a worse Pyromancer to me unless it hits the board on t1 or t2, so I'm really interested in messing around with your list, but at present don't have the Priests. The obvious swap to me is Cage, but since cost is a bit of a concern to me right now, and I have the Cages, I was thinking of trying those. But I'm interested in your thought process for choosing the 3 Priests over the 3 Cages in the s/b, and what ultimately pushed you towards Priests. In the article, you somewhat gloss over the selection of Priest, just noting it hits Dredge/Oath, and is a superb s/b card.

[thecrav]

Thoughts on cutting the 3 Containments in the s/b for 3 more Cages? They serve similar purposes, and Priest is probably more resistant to removal where it's relevant (Dredge/Oath, although don't some Oath lists run Abrupt Decay?), but outside of SnT, it seems like Cage shuts the door a lot harder on Dredge and Oath if it resolves. Cage is a bit more fragile in matches where it's relevant, being an artifact, and having a CC of 1, but you end up having an effective 7 Cages with the Trinkets, along with the other goodies you can fetch in the s/b or main.

I don't know what the correct balance of these two cards is but I think Containment Priest being uncounterable with Cavern is definitely relevant. I don't think I'd cut it all the way to 0.

[nedleeds]

Thoughts on cutting the 3 Containments in the s/b for 3 more Cages? They serve similar purposes, and Priest is probably more resistant to removal where it's relevant (Dredge/Oath, although don't some Oath lists run Abrupt Decay?), but outside of SnT, it seems like Cage shuts the door a lot harder on Dredge and Oath if it resolves. Cage is a bit more fragile in matches where it's relevant, being an artifact, and having a CC of 1, but you end up having an effective 7 Cages with the Trinkets, along with the other goodies you can fetch in the s/b or main.

I don't know what the correct balance of these two cards is but I think Containment Priest being uncounterable with Cavern is definitely relevant. I don't think I'd cut it all the way to 0.

I'm going to side with Priest for a number of reasons.

1) Not counterable period with cavern out

2) Not misteppable, misstep is the most miserable "Whoops! <fling poop>" counter ever printed. I fucking hate it's very existence. It's so dumb dredge players are starting to play it

3) Cages don't have flash. Chain of Vapor is a brick if you have mana up and play smart.

4) 2/2. It can just attack and block. Especially against Oath where just ending the game as fast as possible is paramount and they can't usually block until the Show or Oath. Having a cage out vs. Oath is this waiting game where you are trying to win before they can decay/claim/grudge/hurkyl your cage. At least Priest is beating until then

5) Dredge has fewer ways to kill it period. Normally Chain, Firestorm, Dismember

6) It plays very well with Meddling Mage. Mage on Decay and a Priest in play means just focusing all your attention on countering show

Cage is amazing, but it does just sit there and do nothing. If you expect tons of Oath and Dredge it's certainly up for debate. Priest also performs admirably at killing Jace -- unsure if you'd ever bring it in just for Tinker->Bot but ...

I'm biased because I have the sweetest Meddling Mages in the world and they save my ass constantly.

[Smmenen]

Keep writing Sean!  Great to see the Great Sean O'Brien still active in this format.

[nyghtrunner]

I'm going to side with Priest for a number of reasons.

1) Not counterable period with cavern out

2) Not misteppable, misstep is the most miserable "Whoops! <fling poop>" counter ever printed. I fucking hate it's very existence. It's so dumb dredge players are starting to play it

3) Cages don't have flash. Chain of Vapor is a brick if you have mana up and play smart.

4) 2/2. It can just attack and block. Especially against Oath where just ending the game as fast as possible is paramount and they can't usually block until the Show or Oath. Having a cage out vs. Oath is this waiting game where you are trying to win before they can decay/claim/grudge/hurkyl your cage. At least Priest is beating until then

5) Dredge has fewer ways to kill it period. Normally Chain, Firestorm, Dismember

6) It plays very well with Meddling Mage. Mage on Decay and a Priest in play means just focusing all your attention on countering show

Cage is amazing, but it does just sit there and do nothing. If you expect tons of Oath and Dredge it's certainly up for debate. Priest also performs admirably at killing Jace -- unsure if you'd ever bring it in just for Tinker->Bot but ...

I'm biased because I have the sweetest Meddling Mages in the world and they save my ass constantly.

I wouldn't have really thought about it in conjunction with Pikula, but I can see that.

I guess I was thinking that having redundancy with a virtual 7 Cages maybe being more reliable. Although the more I think about it, I think Priest is better against Dredge than I originally realized. I knew it largely stopped Bloodghast, Ichorid, and Narco, but didn't think it would stop the shenanigans with the bridges. But... If Priest is in play, they would have to hard cast any critters to get bridge chains going. That makes Priest a lot more valuable than I was originally thinking she would be in that matchup.

Anyway, thanks for the reasoning response. I'm still pretty new to modern Vintage, so this sort of thing is really helpful to me.

Cheers!

[Chubby Rain]

I guess I was thinking that having redundancy with a virtual 7 Cages maybe being more reliable. Although the more I think about it, I think Priest is better against Dredge than I originally realized. I knew it largely stopped Bloodghast, Ichorid, and Narco, but didn't think it would stop the shenanigans with the bridges. But... If Priest is in play, they would have to hard cast any critters to get bridge chains going. That makes Priest a lot more valuable than I was originally thinking she would be in that matchup.

I think redundancy when it comes to hate is somewhat overrated. If you look at Sean's list, he has 3 Trinket Mages, 1 Cage, 1 Tormods, 1 Needle, and 3 Containment Priest (maybe EE) against Dredge. Each of these pieces requires a different piece of antihate and interacts slightly differently. Containment Priest shuts down their creatures, Tormod's interacts with the actual graveyard, and is a great "late" game play. Pithing Needle hits Bazaar which slows them down AND stops them for digging for hate piece. Combine any two of these and your Dredge opponent is going to have a bad day. Also, good luck naming the right hate piece with Cabal Therapy (no one ever names Vedalken Aethermage or Mystical Teachings  ). With Oath, you have Needle, Priest, Cage, Wear/Tear, etc. Before casting Show and Tell, your opponent has to consider whether or not you have a Priest to flash in off Cavern or a Needle to drop with the Show and Tell + Jace to bounce Griselbrand. This complicates sideboarding and tutor lines for the opponent and can make them play around cards you do not have. For instance, I used to run Sower of Temptation in a UW control deck. My Oath opponent was rightly concerned that I would drop it off Show and Tell and steal his Griselbrand (he would have drawn 7 in response, but I would have drawn 14 and had 9 power on the board). He sat there for several turns trying to hit a Thoughtseize with Show and Griseldaddy in hand, even though I was bricking hard and had nothing but lands.

@Nedleeds, great article - I really enjoyed the reasoning behind your deck choices and your impression of Mentor in designing the deck. With the card being so good according to your report, is it worth considering a fourth copy? Keep the hits coming 

[TheMonadNomad]

Great article - the deck looks like a blast to play as well!

[brianpk80]

@Nedleeds, great article - I really enjoyed the reasoning behind your deck choices and your impression of Mentor in designing the deck. With the card being so good according to your report, is it worth considering a fourth copy? Keep the hits coming 

When I experimented with Mentor lists, I found the fourth copy to be excessive.  I never wanted to see more than one in my opening hand (and sometimes even less) given that, this being Vintage, there is the omnipresent risk of rushing that guy out, passing the turn, and outright losing to something far more dangerous (Tendrils, Vault, Griselbrand).  Establishing control and ensuring early game survival was the first order of business after which the Mentors appeared naturally to seal the deal.  Preordains, Probes, Counterspells, and Sensei Tops advanced this plan in an opening 7 whereas Mentor, Mentor, Land, Land, Land, etc. did not.   

[thecrav]

Assembled this on MTGO with a couple changes last night. I played all cages in the side not because they're better but because Containment Priest costs almost twice as much as Mox Pearl

That being said, I did like the fact that with Trinket Mage, you can effectively play 7 cages.

[Chubby Rain]

When I experimented with Mentor lists, I found the fourth copy to be excessive.  I never wanted to see more than one in my opening hand (and sometimes even less) given that, this being Vintage, there is the omnipresent risk of rushing that guy out, passing the turn, and outright losing to something far more dangerous (Tendrils, Vault, Griselbrand).  Establishing control and ensuring early game survival was the first order of business after which the Mentors appeared naturally to seal the deal.  Preordains, Probes, Counterspells, and Sensei Tops advanced this plan in an opening 7 whereas Mentor, Mentor, Land, Land, Land, etc. did not.   

I respectfully disagree. I have lost far more games to not drawing a Mentor than I have to drawing multiples...establishing control is less important when your opponent is consistently dead on turn 2-3. Then again, I have been running him in different shells.

[enderfall]

Agree with needing 4 Mentors. Mentor decks that lean heavily on Mentor to be the win condition durdle around and do nothing without a Mentor. If anything, I'd like to have a 5th Mentor in such decks (i.e. a single Pyromancer). Drawing multiple Mentors isn't the worst thing in the world. A single top deck of a Mox is 2 1/1 Prowess tokens and pumps the Mentors as well.

[nedleeds]

I think 4 Mentors is fine. But it's vintage and each card choice is magnified, and as I say in the article -- once you commit to Trinket Mage it becomes very tempting to add 1 of's that hedge your bad match ups. I was playing a lot of defensive cards, so I maybe could shave an STP. An extra STP vs. a creature light deck is somewhat dead but not as dead as you might think, you can STP a summon sick Monk to Morale your other Monks and just replace the token with another sick Monk. I mean what monk doesn't dream of self immolation anyway? You might think it's a colossal difference but it's really not, in an opener (and I'd debate that you even want him in your opening 7 unless you are flush with moxes) running 3 you are looking at ~28% to have one, or around ~31.5% to have between one and 3, running four bumps you to the well known constant in magic of 39.95% to have between 1 and 4 (and 33.6% to have one and only one). As I state in the primer I'm less interesting in banking on him as a turn one play but I'd prefer to establish good mana and have a spell to play while I have priority after he resolves. I really don't want more than 1 in my opener either, and the chances of having an explosive mana opener with 2 monks gets really small.

This is the push and pull I think you'll find with Remora and him, he's an expensive creature for vintage so it'll be tough to maintain remora upkeep and play him with some mana up. You can mitigate this with pitch magic of course. I think if I were playing him with Remora and Gush I might want to pair him with a different creature (instead of the more static trinket mage) Lotus Cobra. But that will have to wait for another event. Storm Shadow / Cobra Commander Assault Squad.

[nyghtrunner]

I tried out your list in one of the MTGO Dailies yesterday, with 1 change. I cut 1 STP for 1 Misdirection. I ended up going 2-2, with both losses coming to Monks, although they were both pretty different from this list. Major differences I saw:
1) Looked like both were straight U/W
2) Both were running Gush
3) 1 of them ran some number of Mystic Remoras, possibly just in s/b

The second match loss was 0-2, and in G2, my deck just failed to deliver a 3rd mana source in timely fashion on a possibly iffy keep.

I would guess both of those lists were playing the full 4-some of Mentors.

Largely, what happened both matches was that they were eventually able to land a Mentor, and because they laid theirs first, were able to build too much of an army before passing the turn that I just couldn't deal with it, even when I was able to remove the Mentor and/or land my own.

My observation largely came down to this:
We were both doing very similar things, but their decks were more streamlined, and simply did those things better. Where I would sometimes be stuck without a whole lot of proactive business to boost my Monks, they were refilling their hands and gaining monks with gushes and such, which just gave them a power edge in a pseudo mirror. Certainly a small sample size, and I don't think I'm anywhere near the best Vintage player in the world, but this deck does seem to be a bit of a dog to a streamlined mirror build.

The people I lost to both seemed to have largely used the U side of the U/R Delvermancer shell, cutting all Delvers, and using only the monks as win cons.

The 2 decks I beat were Burning Tendrils (with a really odd s/b plan that included Young Pyromancer as a backup... Which 1 monk was able to destroy, even though he had 2 YPs with a 2 turn head start before I found a Monk. Monk pwns YP HARD), and a Grixis Control build using multiple Gifts, and even with a minor misplay on my part here and there, I was able to pretty much trounce them. I will also note that I almost lost to the Pyromancers because I couldn't find a Monk. I found 2 Trinkets and Snappie to help keep me alive, and it helped that my opponent had to kill Jace before he could move to me, since that bought me a couple of turns, but I was looking for a Monk for 4-5 turns with Top and Jace active for part of that, and simply couldn't find one. It's just 1 game, but combined with the losses to the Mentors in the other 2 rounds, it left me thinking that a 4th might actually be the right call to make sure you get 1. I also think Balance might be a solid addition to help clear the board if someone does land a Mentor via Cave before you do, or if you get caught without an STP to deal with it immediately (which might be too late, to be honest... If they have a bunch of instants, or can bait you into a counter war...).

The only other observation I had was that Spell Snare seemed a lot like a dead card in all of the matchups I had, and at least twice, when it was in my hand, I was wishing it was Spell Pierce or something like Preordain. I think Snare gets better against Shops and Oath, and probably some things I'm missing. But I didn't play any of those, so I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. I also felt a few times like I'd have wanted Pithing Needle over Cage as a 1-of main. But then I did run into a Library (t1, g1), opposing Jace, Necropotence, Yawg Bargain, Sensei's Top, and a few other random things I'd have loved to have a chance to shut down with a resolved Trinket Mage in the first game. But I didn't hit the matchups where Cage shines. Anyway, I feel like Cage v. Needle might at least be somewhat meta dependent.

Anyway, I was hoping this info might help others out tinkering with this type of build. It's a lot of fun to play.

EDIT - Misdirection came up twice, and was helpful both times. Once as a 5th FoW, and once to save one of my mana sources. I liked having access to it a good deal, but not sure it's really necessary.

[nedleeds]

Thanks for the feedback, I don't play MTGO, but what you are saying makes sense. You saw no Workshops, BUG or Dredge (or Time Vault Control it seems). Trinket Mage powering up your mana vs. U/w tempo isn't super exciting. I'd argue the cantrip laden versions with no mages suffer more vs. shops. Maybe some sideboard spots need to be changed given the lack of shops online. You could board your own Remora's in and the 4th Misstep. You could crank up creature removal with Sudden Shock, Wing Shards, Path (also helpful vs. shops). Even something like Ghostly Prison might stomp a mana light Gush Mentor list. The only issue I have is that cards like Prison don't let you punch through.

Balance is certainly a powerful card, my issue with it is normally in creature decks it's impact wanes, it's a high ceiling / low floor card. You can engineer situations, and chump block to create a wrath. It also dodges Misstep and can pull out otherwise unwinnable situations.

Spell Snare is absolutely more powerful vs. Shops, Oath, and Burning Wish variants, as I state in the article I think the counterspell package is a great space for metagame customization. I expected Oath and Shops. If you can get Mana Drain online and win a counter war a drained Gush is a massive boost in your next main phase.

Or ditch your Mentors completely, board Peacekeeper and Meddling Mage Swords to Plowshares ... :p

[nyghtrunner]

Thanks for the feedback, I don't play MTGO, but what you are saying makes sense. You saw no Workshops, BUG or Dredge (or Time Vault Control it seems). Trinket Mage powering up your mana vs. U/w tempo isn't super exciting. I'd argue the cantrip laden versions with no mages suffer more vs. shops. Maybe some sideboard spots need to be changed given the lack of shops online. You could board your own Remora's in and the 4th Misstep. You could crank up creature removal with Sudden Shock, Wing Shards, Path (also helpful vs. shops). Even something like Ghostly Prison might stomp a mana light Gush Mentor list. The only issue I have is that cards like Prison don't let you punch through.

Balance is certainly a powerful card, my issue with it is normally in creature decks it's impact wanes, it's a high ceiling / low floor card. You can engineer situations, and chump block to create a wrath. It also dodges Misstep and can pull out otherwise unwinnable situations.

Spell Snare is absolutely more powerful vs. Shops, Oath, and Burning Wish variants, as I state in the article I think the counterspell package is a great space for metagame customization. I expected Oath and Shops. If you can get Mana Drain online and win a counter war a drained Gush is a massive boost in your next main phase.

Or ditch your Mentors completely, board Peacekeeper and Meddling Mage Swords to Plowshares ... :p

I think ultimately the Grixis control player was looking to lock up with a resolved Gifts into a Vault kill pile. He resolved a Gifts in G2, but it was after a counter-war over one of the lock pieces which hit the yard, and it seemed he had no way to get it back in time with the pile he left me to choose. I forget the exact split on the pile, but I was able to give him 2 cards that, while helpful to him, would not just win the game. I think the pile was something along the lines of Key, Ancestral, Snapcaster, and YawgWin, with the Vault (or possibly Key or YawgWin) in the yard. I forget which and why. Anyway, it resulted in me having an option to give him 2 cards that were beneficial, but not a guaranteed win, even over time.

I honestly wonder if he boarded out other win cons, because while the game went on for a while after that, he never threatened me with anything else for the duration, and I just had a feeling that he couldn't lock up the game anymore. Anyway, it's kind of a moot point. From my perspective, it seemed like a bad Gifts from him, since the pile that seemed like it was going for the win left me with an out. If you're going for the win off Gifts, you shouldn't leave the opponent an out. If you can't guarantee a win off the pile, it seems like you should just go for a bunch of draw spells/tutors, and try to dig for your win, rather than put it in the GY with no reliable way to get it back.

You're probably right with regards to the cantrip Young Delvermancer Mentor builds being softer to things like Stax, especially since it looks like they try to work on a similar land count to actual Young Delver builds (14 w/Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, and Lotus), so it's maybe a bit of a trade-off there. The difference between 2 and 3 is a LOT more pronounced v Stax decks in my limited experience.

I do like the theory-side of Balance in the pseudo-mirror, just because it does give a possible out to an opponent resolving Mentor before me. It might be that I'd want access to it in the s/b at least if it looks like the meta really does shift online to lots and lots of Mentor decks. I agree with you that it's a bit weaker in a critter deck, but if you truly are playing the control route, you may very well be able to leverage the power of the card. Gush in response is a bit scary, though. I could see trying to splash Black for Deluge instead, perhaps, since that's a bit more control-able, doesn't auto-fail to Gush, and black gives you access to the B tutors, but I wouldn't want to go changing the list that much on my own yet.

Wing Shards is an extremely interesting idea. I've never looked at that card in competitive light (I was not playing when OLS came out, but am very familiar with the card from Prismatic and EDH, where I've seen it be an absolute blowout), but since their entire goal is to chain spells on the attacking turn, something like that even just going on to the stack should absolutely wreck an opposing Mentor player sans Flusterstorm. It'll leave them with some monks, but should still be something of a blowout, since they are probably emptying a large portion of their hand expecting to win. I like it a lot more than Ghostly Prison effects, since it actually removes the threats and should be a surprise. Even if they know you have it in your deck, its existence seems like it would force them to play far less aggressively on their turn, which should give you some more time, at least.

I'm not really sure what the answer is. I'm still pretty woefully inexperienced with modern Vintage, and while I've been playing the game for 21 years or so (off an on), for the last 10 of that, I've largely been a casual player. I'm now trying to get back into competitive, just to see if I can actually do it now that I'm an adult, and Vintage is attractive because it has access to all of the old power cards I used to love playing back in the day, but I still have so much to learn.

As for the Peacekeeper/Meddling package, might I suggest adding in Elixir of Immortality to make sure you can deck your opponent as your win-con? You can even grab it with your Trinkets!
(I'm totally not serious in case it's not obvious)

[nedleeds]

In the article I gloss over the other color choices, I didn't have the word count to go into them at length but my summary is that

Red is a strong hedge vs. shops since Chewer (arguably) is the best card vs. shops in a vacuum. Red also provides a hedge vs blue control in the form of REBs, REBs have taken a hit in the last few years with the ubiquity and idiocy of Mental Derpstep but they are still trading one for one on bombs like Tinker, Gifts, Dig and other back breakers. The deck I presented is certainly splashing red, so I'm advocating Swords to Plowshares over the more versatile (arguably) Bolt. I hedge this a bit by including Fire // Ice. I also think Izzet Static Caster is a fair choice if you are both committing to red and to 2+ Caverns. I think in red the best card to specifically deal with a Mentor Tempo match is Sudden Shock. They just can't do anything if they pass priority. Nothing. If they get wise to it they might play a Gush and retain priority but ... let me know when that happens.

Black is a strong hedge vs. control and maybe tempo. You get targeted discard including Cabal Therapy which can get way out of control. You get the power of the tutors. You get Notion Thief (assuming you are still on Cavern here). You could even play Dark Confidant, he might hurt your density of non-creature spells but one trigger makes up for it and he more often than not will Duress the STP / Decay from an opponents grip. You also get the overwhelming insanity of Yawgmoth's Will which can salvage games from the pits. I'd argue black doesn't add much to your sideboard outside of Dredge hate ... which Containment Priest and / or Rest in Peace are sufficient.

Green is just meh all around. You get some shops hate in the form of Claim and Predator. This cross cuts vs. Oath, but Claim vs. Oath is honestly miserable in a world with Derpstep. It's very unreliable. Sylvan Library? Anyway, not super compelling assuming you are still on the Cavern plan. I think you could scrap things and build a deck around Mentor's and Cobras but that's a pretty different animal, no caverns, +Gush ...

Anyway, thanks again for giving the deck a spin. If you get some run against Workshops or Oath I'd love to hear detailed feedback.

Regards,
Sean O'Brien

[nyghtrunner]

I'm going to maybe tinker with it a bit, and will hope to give it another go this weekend.

I'm a little torn on the Sudden Shock v Wing Shards for the tempo matchup, so I may give both a whirl. I just really like the blowout potential of Shards, but it's going to leave Monks. And while I'm a little worried about them just making tokens before I get priority, as you point out, that's not likely going* to happen.

Anyway, thanks very much for the feedback and pointers. I don't have a clan or playgroup at present, so a lot of this is me trying to Absorb as much information as possible, and filter it down on my own, and compare it all with my own experiences, which is a little daunting, to be honest. So getting feedback like this, especially as a friendly bit of a back and forth with regards to the original list, article, and broader tips is EXTREMELY helpful.

If I do get to give it a run, I'll let you know how it goes.

*EDITED - Realized what it was you actually said about the priority thing.