GiftsBond - 9th Place MTGO P9 Challenge

[desolutionist]

         Minutes before the MTGO Power 9 challenge, I was looking over my deck list and realized that playing fairly was a losing proposition.  I was about to walk into a field of Pyromancer and Mentor decks; I knew what was coming so I had to act on it.  I decided to take a risk and play an old fall back strategy that has been obsolete over the past few years.  I wanted to go over the top with Tendrils of Agony and end games on my terms.  If you don’t go over the top, it’s difficult to battle against the prowess creatures because they can end the game so quickly.  They’re basically mini-colossi that would otherwise have to be answered by deck-diluting creature removal.

   I wasn’t about to just play some standard TPS list either, because I know the stock strategy to be inconsistent and lacking in sustain — ever since Brainstorm was restricted.  Since the feel of this new metagame has become reminiscent of “old” vintage, I decided to slap together a deck that I would have played “back in the day”.  The Gushbond engine provides another outlet for “going off” that can help play around things like Stony Silence or Grafdagger’s Cage as well as stand in as basic card advantage for the long grind games.    

   From my time playing with a singleton Gifts in GAT and Gush Storm to East Coast Wins, I always knew that the Gushbond engine played to the strengths of Gifts Ungiven very well.  I have spent a lot of time Gifting for piles of Gush, Merchant Scroll, and other blue goodies; the ceiling is very high.  The question was not if the deck had potential, but if it could actually execute its game plan.  At last, it seems that the execution has arrived.  Based on what I’ve seen in this tournament and testing for this tournament, 4 mana instants are a little bit better than what they’ve been in recent times.

   In construction, I combined elements of Ritual Gifts, Gush Tendrils, TPS, and what’s been working for me in testing for the event: Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy and Mana Drain.  If only I had been able to put some time into testing with the deck, I might have been able to make a deeper run and probably win the whole tournament.  I started 5-0 afterall, without losing a single game.  Then I lost to Dredge and Shops, I think because my sideboard wasn’t very refined.  This landed me in 9th place.  A perfect run.

   Here’s the decklist I played:

4 Force of Will
3 Flusterstorm
4 Gush
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Dark Ritual
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Fastbond
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Timetwister
1 Necropotence
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Hurkly’s Recall

5 Mox
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolarian Academy

-Sideboard-
4 Mana Drain
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Island


The Mana Drains came in almost every round for combinations of Tinker, Jar, BSC, Ritual, and Jace.  But otherwise this is a poor sideboard and likely responsible for my two match losses.  

My two losses were only to two people in the top 8 (s4mmich and doomfinite)

The Dredge problem isn't too much of a problem.  Just add more Ravenous Traps would be my solution.  However, for Shops, someone needs to come up with a creative solution.  The threat of Lodestone is just too much for Hurkyl's alone.  There might be something that's really good now that Chalice is restricted.  Something Tarmogoyf/Pack Rat-esque?

[Islandswamp]

Congrats on the finish 

I wasn't able to play unfortunately, but I'm really glad that so many people showed up. This means that they'll continue to do these things and I think the Vintage community can thrive.

I don't have a ton of experience playing Storm decks, but I'm impressed at how well you did with this one. Not having to worry about Chalice must have helped.

I think I own almost all of the cards for that list, maybe I can try it out and report back to you.

[Ten-Ten]

@desolutionist
Congrats on the finish.

Would you be able to give more detail on the matches you lost?
Have you considered some sort of Thoughtseize or duress mix alongside the counter suite in this list?
Are dark ritual necessary in the deck or will it be more a metagame call?

[desolutionist]

Ten-Ten- I wasn't in any of the games.

Game 1 vs. Dredge: I kept a hand that would be good against blue, but not against Dredge.  He had turn 1 Bazaar and turn 2 Bazaar.

Game 2 vs. Dredge: I mulliganed to 5 trying to get a Leyline of the Void but didn't get one.  Instead I got a turn 2 Tinker, which he was able to chump block until he could kill me.  Turn 1 Bazaar and turn 2 Bazaar again.

Game 1 vs. Shops: Locked out by Spheres and beat down by Lodestone Golem

Game 2 vs. Shops: Locked out by Spheres and beat down by Lodestone Golem.  Kept off Hurkyl's by 1 mana.

I considered 2 Thoughtseizes to start with but decided against it because it just gets beaten by Mental Misstep.  Everyone plays 3-4 Mental Misstep.  Flusterstorm is a lot better when it comes to defending your combo because it cannot be misstepped, and always gets their Force of Will and a blue card rather than just Force of Will.  It's also reactive, so you may not even have to waste the mana.

Dark Ritual isn't necessary, I don't think.  Sometimes it accelerates out Gifts Ungiven or Necropotence.  But you could probably build a slower version of this deck with main deck Drains; it would just lack explosiveness and the ease of casting Tendrils/Bargain/Desire/Necro.

[Ten-Ten]

Awesome. Thank you for the reply.

[TheMonadNomad]

In retrospect, how would you sideboard differently?

[desolutionist]

I'd either move Drains to the maindeck or not play them at all in order to make room for more Shops and Dredge hate.  I 3-1ed the daily yesterday (without facing Shops or Dredge, but losing to Lampalot on BUG Fish).

My sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ravenous Trap
4 Nature's Claim
1 Forest
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Toxic Deluge

Maybe now that Dark Depths has proven to be quite good, Pithing Needle could find a slot over Ravenous Trap.  

I tested Lotus Cobra in the main deck over Dark Rituals but was very unimpressed. One of the advantages of Dark Ritual is to use it on the stack to draw out Mental Misstep and then 2-for-1 with Flusterstorm or just using Ritual to power out Gifts at instant speed allows you to put FoW or Flusterstorm into the Gifts pile, making it that much easier to win.

[dangerlinto]

I'd either move Drains to the maindeck or not play them at all in order to make room for more Shops and Dredge hate.  I 3-1ed the daily yesterday (without facing Shops or Dredge, but losing to Lampalot on BUG Fish).

My sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ravenous Trap
4 Nature's Claim
1 Forest
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Toxic Deluge

Maybe now that Dark Depths has proven to be quite good, Pithing Needle could find a slot over Ravenous Trap.  

I tested Lotus Cobra in the main deck over Dark Rituals but was very unimpressed. One of the advantages of Dark Ritual is to use it on the stack to draw out Mental Misstep and then 2-for-1 with Flusterstorm or just using Ritual to power out Gifts at instant speed allows you to put FoW or Flusterstorm into the Gifts pile, making it that much easier to win.

Even if you land a Leyline (and mulling is not great sauce for the deck I'm guessing), the deck isn't really great at protecting Leylines from Claim and Wispmere or Serenity anyway. 

Rav trap is better for this deck, I think.

Or crazy thought - don't even bother with trying to stop dredges plan.  Play 4x Dream Salvage and get four extra recalls vs dredge.

[desolutionist]

I feel comfortable mulling to 5 with this deck.  The new scry rule really helps with that.  But you're right that I don't have Mental Missteps to protect Leyline from Claim.  I believe they've actually cut Claim for Serenity now, so Misstep wouldn't help anyway.  I thought 4 Drains, 4 Forces, 3 Flusterstorms and the ability to kill quickly would all help.  (If they're spending two turns to play lands to cast Serenity, I'm in pretty good shape)  But I was wrong.  4 Ravenous Traps is a good idea, since I really only need to slow them down a turn or two and stop them from Therapying my hand away.  Maybe 4 Traps, 3 Needles would be better.

Half the dredge decks transform into Dark Depths; that's something to consider as well.

[Islandswamp]

I built this deck finally. I love the hell out of it too. I've been playing so many different GushBond decks, each with its own merit. This one is just a ton of fun, and I felt in a commanding position much of the time.

I've added Toxic Deluge to the Sideboard, and I might make some little tweaks, but for the most part it has ran great for me. Albeit in a small sample size, but still I'm thinking it's a pretty good deck.

[birds of paradise]

Should stream this deck in saturdays megatournament.

Is vault key not good in those kind of decks? Seems to draw alot of cards.

[desolutionist]

Birds,

Your post has inspired me to set up a stream.  I'm still working out the bugs, but if I can get everything panned out by Saturday, I'll stream the tournament. Here's my channel: http://www.twitch.tv/shawnthehero

Vault Key can be good in these kinds of decks but I've chosen to exclude it.  The reason is because I like having as few dead draws as possible.  Cutting BSC for Time Vault is definitely a consideration though.

Another reason for the exclusion of Vault Key is Null Rod/Stony Silence.

[birds of paradise]

Birds,

Your post has inspired me to set up a stream.  I'm still working out the bugs, but if I can get everything panned out by Saturday, I'll stream the tournament. Here's my channel: http://www.twitch.tv/shawnthehero

Vault Key can be good in these kinds of decks but I've chosen to exclude it.  The reason is because I like having as few dead draws as possible.  Cutting BSC for Time Vault is definitely a consideration though.

Another reason for the exclusion of Vault Key is Null Rod/Stony Silence.

Super excited about this!  Haven't seen a good gush-bond deck in ages beeing streamed, so looks like brassman & Rich got some competition!

Also, since you already play a BSC, another one in the board might be worth it vs the painters.
Maybe even illness to combat mentor/pyro infested online-meta.

A note on twitch:  There should be a button which you have to click which says something like "save broadcast" or simular. Othervise streams wont be saved and i know alot of people in europe would be happy since event goes through all night.