You’ve heard of the Spanish Inquisition, right? In 1500’s, tribunal officers went door-to-door asking the question “Is Jesus Christ divine?” hoping to purge Spain and Portugal of Jews and Christian heretics. Well, SI and its derivatives ask a similar question: “Do you have Force of Will?”
No we SI players aren’t purposely beating the ☺☺☺☺ out of Jews and Christian Heretics. Actually, we just indiscriminately beat the ☺☺☺☺ out of anyone that doesn’t play Force of Will.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to torture your opponents either while they scream for repentance. It’s over very quickly. We are kind.
Actually, this is merely a hilarious coincidence and was not how the deck got its name. Rather, the creator, Colby Evenpence, chose to name it the Spanish Inquisition because he planned on winning so quickly that his opponents would say "I wasn't expecting that," then Colby could reply, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!" Sadly, nobody ever expects SI because only a handful of people play it in real life. Next to Solidarity and NLS, SI is considered one of the hardest decks to master in the entire format. In fact, most people doubt its viability simply because they don’t understand how it works.
Spanish Inquisition’s greatest strength and the reason to play it instead of another deck is its unmatched speed. SI is by leaps and bounds the fastest deck in the format; not even Belcher or Hulk Flash can hold a candle to it. In particular, PSI pushes +60% turn 1 kills in the hands of skilled pilot while I and a few other pilots have claimed as high as 70% turn 1 kills. However, there isn’t one set list you ought to play. There are several lists each with slightly different supplemental strategies. Each list is capable of consistently going off by turn 3 and due to the nature of its unique draw 4 engine, SI and its variants mulligan better than any other deck in the format. These claims might seem outrageous at first glance; however, the secret to the consistency at speed kills lies in SI’s ability to go off with relatively few resources. While a deck like Belcher will often invest its initial 5-7 CARD going off, SI can go off with as few as 3 CARD (i.e. Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain). Therefore, mulligans become powerful when the new 6 need only yield a few redundant resources to facilitate a lethal spell chain. In theory, the deck can win on the first turn after a mulligan to 3. I have yet to pull this off but I have gotten the first turn kill a few times from 4 CARD, and 5 card first turn wins are not uncommon. In addition to great mulligans, investing few resources also enables SI to go off multiples times. A draw 4 that yields jank will still yield 4 CARD worth of resources. A few topdecks later, SI can easily explode again. This principle also applies to countermagic. A single piece of countermagic will not keep SI down. Even if SI doesn’t get to keep the resources from its draw 4 (like in the previous case), it will often still have resources in its hand to go off again in a few turns.
As I mentioned before, SI runs a unique draw 4 engine but it also runs a unique piece of acceleration that facilitates this engine: Culling the Weak. Culling the Weak adds a whopping BBBB to your mana pool at the expense of a creature. Storm combo that runs creatures? What you say?
Different lists run different culling fodder. The original list ran this configuration:
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
Back in the day when Goblins was the dominant aggro deck, these so called Tallmen acted as both Culling the Weak fodder for acceleration, Cabal Therapy fodder for protection, and blockers to give you a few turns to comfortably set up the kill against aggro. They are still quite good at holding creatures at bay for the first couple turns; however, the advent of Zoo made this plan significantly weaker. A few of the lists still play this configuration, but in early 2008, Breathweapon shared a truly innovative list that did not run a single Tallman from the old configuration. Instead he ran the following configuration:
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Vine Dryad
4 Summoner’s Pact
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
The configuration is known as the Pact list. Instead of laying down Tallmen as potential blockers, the Culling the Weak fodder instead acted as protection against Daze and facilitated a better chance at an early Cabal Ritual.
Also, in 2008, Pulpfiction suggested that Manamorphose be run in the Pact list. It was immediately added in as a tuning mechanism, turning your draw 4 into a draw 5 as well as color fixing with Elvish Spirit Guides. The Manamorphose slots in the Pact list are now considered flex slots but in my experience it makes goldfishing a little easier.
Wild Cantor acted as either Culling the Weak fodder or as a color fixer for opening hands without a starting black source like ESG + Pact or x2 Pact. I dropped it from my build but it’s a fine replacement for Manamorphose or even Odious Trow.
Eternal Witness is a very tricky piece of theresurrection’s build. With enough spare mana it could be cast to return whatever was necessary to continue the spell chain whether it be the win condition, acceleration, starting mana, or business. Previously unplayable draw 4’s like Tallman x2, LED x2 were now playable with Pact, ESG, LED x2; play both LEDs, remove ESG, then play Pact for Eternal Witness, breaking the LEDs in response for BBBGGG. Then return business to your hand to keep the spell chain going.
At some point in my own testing of the Pact list, I became fascinated with D7 effects like Diminishing Returns and Slithermuse. I removed some of the MD win conditions from Pact SI and replaced them with Burning Wish. The list was fantastic at first, but after more testing it proved to be more volatile than I was comfortable with. Recently, Direlemming began testing his own variation on this Burning Wish build with maindeck Tinder Walls. This build is still being fine-tuned but it is very promising.
Obviously SI wins with Tendrils of Agony; however, the faster lists also play either Empty the Warrens or Goblin Charbelcher as an alternative win condition. The original Land Grant SI and Pact SI tend to play Goblin Charbelcher while SITES always plays EtW. QSI used to play Brainfreeze in the board and sometimes plays EtW postboard as well.
IGG also serves another purpose. If played on the first turn, IGG acts as a pseudo-Mindtwist, forcing the opponent into a mulligan to 3. It would be virtually one sided as well since you can drop mana sources, tallmen, LED’s, etc, and then return acceleration and/or business to your hand. This play is particularly strong because it turns back the opponent’s clock significantly, especially considering you could drop tallmen to hold whatever creatures the opponent had at bay. In 2010, I suggested replacing Ill-Gotten Gains with Slithermuse. I found that games where I would play IGG as Mindtwist, I would much rather not go into topdeck mode. If IGG resolved against control, then why would I bother going into topdeck mode when I could simply win with Slithermuseon the spot? I tried out Slithermuse in the Pact list and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, the Pact list is the only list where it is playable because you have such a high chance of going off on the first few turns of the game. If you have to wait a turn it becomes a D5 instead of a D7. I didn’t find it difficult to win after drawing 7 CARD instead of completing the IGG loop. Also, it would allow me to still get the win when I had the ‘wrong ritual’ in the graveyard. Returning something like Dark Ritual, LED, IT is certainly strong, but when your acceleration is Cabal Ritual or Culling the Weak, the IGG loop doesn’t always work because you may not have enough mana floating after you cast IGG. Slithermuse makes more opening hands keepable than in the IGG version, and it also has an occasional interaction with Culling the Weak. However, its gets weaker if you are on the play or if you don’t go off in the first few turns of the game. It’s a personal choice though and I don’t recommend it unless you are very comfortable piloting the Pact list.
Now, not every SI variant plays this IGG configuration. The list that doesn’t is the anti-control list known as Quasi-Spanish Inquisition (QSI). Its not nearly as fast but has a pretty consistent kill rate between turns 2 and 3. As you can probably imagine, the IGG loop is terrible against control; its akin to putting all your eggs in one basket, banking on the opponent not having an answer for IT, as well as giving the opponent back their countermagic through IGG. QSI takes a different approach:
4 Meditate
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
The QSI list also plays Underground Seas and Polluted Deltas to facilitate multiple attempts at a lethal spell chain. Meditate at the end of turn is one of QSI’s strongest plays against control. Either your opponent uses up his counterspell and you can go off after you untap, or you can go off on your turn with 11 CARD in hand. Brainstorm and Ponder allow you to sculpt a decent hand before you go off or help you dig deeper on your combo turn. QSI also plays a good protection suite:
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Shield Sphere
4 Phyrexian Walker
Often you should just name Force of Will or Counterbalance. Tallmen enable you to play the flashback. Therapy is an excellent piece of protection because you can use it twice if you need to go off more than once or you can remove multiple pieces of protection from your opponents hand before going off. The tallmen also enable you to block for the first few turns of the game while you play your cantrips, protection, and hit your land drops.
- How to Play -
Due to the volatile nature of the draw 4 engine, SI is a very difficult deck to play. Whenever you have invested resources into a draw 4, you must constantly evaluate the odds. How much business is left in the deck? What do you need to continue the spell chain? Do you have mana floating? These are obviously very important questions, but there are two questions that are significantly more important:
- Should I mulligan?
- Should I continue the spell chain?
As I mentioned earlier, SI mulligans better than any other deck in the format; its one of SI’s greatest strengths. Knowing when to mulligan and when to keep is crucial to playing SI. When looking at your 7, you ought to quickly identify initial mana sources, business, and acceleration. If you cannot identify a keepable hand quickly, your opponent might put you on combo and mulligan for hate.
Now, trying to explain how to play SI is entirely list dependent. A PSI line of play will be completely different from a QSI line of play. In general, I will speak of the faster lists. QSI is a completely different animal but it is not hard to judge how to play QSI if you learn first how to play the faster, more volatile lists.
In game 1 against an unknown opponent, you should try to get a fast hand. If your hand is all mana sources and acceleration, you might want to mulligan that hand for a hand that can go off on the first turn. Then again, a hand with perpetual resources can be very powerful. Getting down some early land and Chrome Mox will allow you to go off multiple times. Such hands with perpetual resources are great against control because they allow you to go for the throat more than once, while one-time-use mana sources like Lotus Petal only allow you to go off once. If you can scout ahead and put your opponent on a deck, then you can better decide how to mulligan. In general, you should let non-disruptive aggro play first, and even non-disruptive combo like Belcher. Being on the draw makes going off much easier. Against control, try to win before they have access to resources other than FoW. If you are on the draw against control, try to mulligan into a hand with perpetual resources, or a hand that requires few resources to go off, or a hand with protection (if you play it).
Now, SI’s speed is its greatest strength, on the field and off the field. Against non-FoW decks, your games will likely be brief. I’ve had matches end in less than 5 minutes. That gives you a lot of time to scout and put players on decks, even watch them board. In smaller tournaments where scouting is actually relevant, fast games work to your advantage because your opponents will not be able to see what you are playing or how you are boarding. Even if you are known as ‘the SI guy’ in a local metagame, the MD and the SB are both very flexible and allow you to play different tech whenever you feel like it.
- Boarding -
One of the most common tech players switch between is playing a post-board protection plan or a man-plan. Protection plans vary quite a bit but they usually run a few of the following CARD:
- Cabal Therapy
- Duress
- Unmask
- Pact of Negation
- Xantid Swarm
Cabal Therapy and Xantid Swarm see the most play because both provide protection in more than one instance; however, Therapy can sometimes miss and requires you to play multiple creatures while Swarm is vulnerable to creature removal. Unmask and Pact are both free protection, but Pact of Negation is bad with LED and Unmask requires you to pitch something.
Recently, Autumn’s Veil was unveiled in the M11 spoiler. This is the best protection spell we could have ever hoped for. Not only is it a virtual Orim’s Chant, protecting our spell chains from countermagic, it doesn’t have to be played before we go off. If the opponent responds to a spell with FoW, we can respond with Veil. Once Veil resolves, FoW can no longer legally target your spell. In that sense, we aren’t forced to play Veil until we need to. This is a huge advantage as we might need the Veil to imprint on Chrome Mox later in the spell chain or we might need the green source to play a Cabal Ritual. It also protects our Xantid Swarms from blue and black removal (though this is marginal as we usually encounter white removal STP or PtE).
Phyrexian Negator was great in the days of Landstill but it doesn’t see much play these days. Death’s Shadow is decent as a 1 of’; you need to lose life before its playable so its not good to see these guys in multiples. Tomb of Urami is easily the best part of the man-plan. After the first game, the opponent will usually let you play your acceleration and try to counter the business. Unfortunately for them, you can drop your Tomb after you hit 4 mana and then crack it. I have yet to test Lich but it looks pretty good. Avatar of Discord is probably the worst, second only to Negator, for obvious reasons. Tombstalker requires CARD in the grave, but conveniently you can remove the rituals and mana sources you use to accelerate into it.
Dark Confidant is great; drawing an extra card each turn allows you to sculpt a great hand against control. It can also be pitched to Culling the Weak or Cabal Therapy. Carpet of Flowers is amazing tech. It acts as both a potential ritual mid combo and as a perpetual resource to facilitate multiple attempts at going off. Carpet has errata that enables you to choose which main phase you’d like to add the mana. So if your opponent has a few islands and you play it in your mainphase while going off, you can pass to your 2nd mainphase to add mana like a ritual. Its bad against Daze because then the opponent will have fewer islands, but even adding just 2 mana per turn is worth it in SI. Death Mark is great for taking out hatebears like Meddling Mage, Ethersworn Cannonist, and Gaddock Teeg. Usually you can just win before these guys hit play, but if a deck like Bant Survival or UW Tempo packs both bears and countermagic, it becomes a much stronger choice post-board. Rebuild is usually played in QSI as an answer to Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void. Wipe Away is QSI’s answer to CB. Chain of Vapor is good both as a potential storm generator and as an answer to hatebears. Chain of Vapor can generate storm in QSI by playing out some artifacts, and then sacrificing lands to bounce the artifacts back to your hand. A few of these utility CARD are usually run in addition to the man plan or the protection plan.
- Lists -
The different versions of SI are as follows. I will provide some example list but please note that each list is particularly flexible.
- The Original List (SI) -
Colby Evenpence’s original list with some outdated tech. SI
Initial Mana Sources
4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
- Land Grant SI (LGSI) –
Emidln and Team Blitzkrieg’s variation on the original list. It plays minimal protection in the form of Cabal Therapy, usually plays a man-plan post-board, and plays Goblin Charbelcher as an alternative kill condition. It has a 50% turn 1 kill rate. LGSI
Initial Mana Sources
2 Bayou
4 Land Grant
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
- Glimpse SI (GSI) –
Iranon’s variation on the LGSI that runs Glimpse of Nature as a supplemental draw engine. It’s a little faster than the classic LGSI list but foregoes protection for this additional speed boost. GSI
4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
- Quasi-SI (QSI) –
Emidln’s variation (props to Marit for contributing an updated list) on SI that lacks the IGG loop, but plays Meditate and cantrips to improve the control matchup. It has a relatively low turn 1 kill rate but kills consistently on turns 2/3.
- Draw-7 SI (DSI) -
An experimental variation on PSI that Direlemming and I have been working on that runs Burning Wish and Infernal Tutor, which adds additional speed through a D7 engine in the wishboard. Its still in its developmental stages but the most recent list is pushing a 70% turn 1 kill rate. No list available ATM. Still in developmental stages.
- Potential Tech -
This is a section for tech you can use in your lists that may not necessarily be in any of the conventional lists. If something isn't on this list that you think could go here, give it a test and tell us about it.
- Matchups -
This section is entirely list dependent. I will have some basic percentages up at some point but I will leave it blank for the moment. Just know that the close to PSI the list is, the worse it probably is against control. SITES falls in the middle, and QSI is great against control.
H1: Pact, Pact, Dark Ritual, Land Grant, Cruel Bargain, Culling the Weak (mull to 6)
Land Grant--> Bayou, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain
Draw4: Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox (IT), Pact-->ESG, Pact--> Odious Trow, ESG--> Trow, Culling the Weak (BBBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBBBBB), Infernal Tutor--> Tendrils for 22.
Notice that another line of play allows you to go first for Culling the Weak line of play, then Dark Ritual, which allows you to Infernal Tutor for Cabal Ritual for extra storm.
Also, please note that I have not played either of the 2 Pacts until after I’ve drawn 4. This is not always the optimal play. Considering Culling the Weak is already in hand, we know that we are going to play Pact-->ESG and Pact-->Odious Trow; however, I played this hand more conservatively. If played a Bargain into no Business, then it might be a better plan to wait until you draw a business spell, having already had Bayou in play. The other option is to fetch those 2 CARD out of your deck and play Culling the Weak before you play the D4. This increases your chances of not drawing those CARD off the D4 itself. The other down side to this would be not having access to the Eternal Witness line of play if you drew a topdeck like LED, LED, Trow, Lotus Petal. It’s a trade off and ultimately up to the pilot, who should take into account if he needs a win now situation, or a more conservative line of play.
H2: ESG, Lotus Petal, Infernal Contract, Tendrils, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor
ESG, Lotus Petal (BG), Cabal Ritual (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: LED, Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Cabal Ritual
Chrome Mox (Tendrils) (BB), Chrome Mox (nothing), Cabal Ritual, LED, Infernal Tutor (breaking LED in response for BBB) --> Tendrils for 20.
Notice that another line of play allows you to imprint Cabal Ritual on Chrome Mox, and Infernal Tutor for Belcher. You will be mana short of activating it, but you already have 2 mana in play and mostly mana sources in the deck. Yet another option would be to break LED for UUU and find Slithermuse, drawing 7 CARD.
H3: ESG, Tendrils, Manamorphose, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Infernal Contract (mull to 6)
ESG, Chrome Mox (Tendrils) (GB), Manamorphose (BB) draw--> Tendrils of Agony, Dark Ritual (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Pact, Chrome Mox, LED, LED
LED, LED, Chrome Mox (Tendrils), Pact (breaking LED’s for GGGBBB) --> Eternal Witness--> Infernal Contract (BB)
Draw 4: Tendrils of Agony, Infernal Contract, Culling the Weak, Land Grant
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBBB), Tendrils for 24.
H4: Pact, Pact, Pact, Slithermuse, Lotus Petal, LED (mull to 6)
Pact--> ESG, Pact--> ESG, Pact--> ESG, LED, Lotus Petal (GGGU), Slithermuse (breaking LED in response for BBB)
Draw 7: Culling the Weak, Tendrils of Agony, Tendrils of Agony, Chrome Mox, Infernal Tutor, Land Grant, Culling the Weak
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBBBB), Chrome Mox (Culling the Weak) (BBBBBBB), Tendrils for 20.
H5: Pact, Pact, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Cruel Bargain, Infernal Contract
Pact--> Odious Trow, Chrome Mox (Trow) (B), Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract
Draw 4: Land Grant, Land Grant, Pact, Culling the Weak
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Manamorphose, Eternal Witness, Slithermuse, Chrome Mox
Pact-->ESG, Pact--> ESG, Manamorphose (BBU) drawing Culling the Weak, Chrome Mox (Culling the Weak) (BBBU), Slithermuse
Draw 6: LED, ESG, Pact, Manamorphose, ESG, Lotus Petal
LED, ESG, Pact--> ESG, ESG (GGG), Manamorphose--> (BGG) drawing Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual (BBBGG), Lotus Petal (BBBBGG), Eternal Witness (BBB)--> (breaking LED in response for UUU) Slithermuse (BB)
Draw 7: Land Grant, Chrome Mox, Bayou, Infernal Tutor, Tendrils of Agony, Infernal Contract, Cabal Ritual
Chrome Mox (Infernal Tutor) (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBBBB), Tendrils for 44
H6: Pact, ESG, Manamorphose, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, LED (mull to 6)
Pact--> ESG, ESG, Manamorphose (BB)--> Land Grant, Land Grant--> Bayou, (BBB), Dark Ritual (BBBBB) LED, Infernal Tutor (breaking LED in response for UUU) (BBBBBU) --> Slithermuse (0)
Draw 7: Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, ESG, Land Grant, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox (Land Grant), Petal x2 (BBBBG), ESG, (BBBBGG), Dark Ritual (BBBBBBGG) Infernal Tutor--> Tendrils for 24.
H7: Land Grant, Land Grant, LED, Dark Ritual, Chrome Mox, Goblin Charbelcher (mull to 6)
Option 1:
T1: Land Grant-->Dryad Arbor, pass
T2: Draw Chrome Mox, Land Grant--> Bayou (BG), Dark Ritual (BBBG), LED, Belcher, activate for the kill.
Option 2:
T1: Land Grant--> Bayou, Chrome Mox (Land Grant) (BG), Dark Ritual (BBBG), LED, Belcher, activate for 28.
The first option has less risk of a misfire. Even so, you have both Land Grant and Bayou in play in option 2, which means you have a high probability of a 2nd activation if the first misfired.
H8: Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain, Infernal Contract, Tendrils of Agony, Land Grant (mull to 6)
Lotus Petal (B), Dark Ritual (BBB), Infernal Contract (0),
Draw 4: Culling the Weak, Culling the Weak, Chrome Mox, Belcher
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Chrome Mox (Tendrils) (B), Culling the Weak--> Arbor (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Bayou, Pact, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual
Dark Ritual (BBB), Pact--> Odious Trow (BB), Culling the Weak (BBBBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBB BBBB), Belcher, activate for the kill
H9: Land Grant, ESG, Infernal Contract, Cabal Ritual (mull to 4)
T1: Land Grant--> Bayou, ESG (GB), Cabal Ritual (BBB), Infernal Contract
Draw 4: Land Grant, Belcher, Culling the Weak, Culling the Weak
Pass
T2: Draw--> LED
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBB), Belcher, LED, activate for the kill
H10: Infernal Contract, Infernal Contract, Culling the Weak, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, ESG, Dark Ritual
Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Infernal Tutor, Pact, Pact, Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual (BBB), Pact--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBB BBB), Pact--> ESG (BBB BBB G), Infernal Contract (BBB G)
Draw 4: Infernal Tutor, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox, Culling the Weak
Chrome Mox (Culling the Weak) (BBBB G), Infernal Tutor--> Cabal Ritual (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBB BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBB BBB BBB), Infernal Tutor--> Tendrils for 30.
Yes there used to be a thread here for it, written by Emidln, but people stopped posting in it, playing in it, etc. so it got moved to the archives. With ANT gone, these variants become great options, as well as flexible options if you want to play something as dangerous as SI in your local meta.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
BUG Pact Spanish Inquisition BUG U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life: http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
One question about Pact SI-given that once you play a Pact you are essentially "all in", so a big thing is having business (or more draw) in your hand such that if you get a hand that's nothing but mana sources (no draw, no business), you aren't left having to pass the turn and die on your upkeep because of GG.
So, in terms of considering mulliganing, compare the two hands:
Pact, ESG, Manamorphose, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, LED (mull to 6)
and
Pact, ESG, Manamorphose, Dark Ritual, LED, Cruel Bargain (mull to 6)
I still think I keep the second hand because I will draw five cards (one off of Manamorphose, four off Bargain) and have very good odds drawing into business or more draw. Correct?
However, if the hand looks like this:
Pact, ESG, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, LED, Cruel Bargain (mull to 6)
Then I basically have to Pact to Trow, Chrome Mox imprint Trow, Rit, Cruel Bargain and only get four cards to draw into business and still need to get five more spells to hit lethal storm. Hand seems weak and I'd ship it back.
I'm mostly trying to understand the Pact SI mulliganing strategy. You're definitely right that it mulligans well, but learning the less-obvious "good" hands seems pretty key.
Yes you will die to Pact sometimes. However, this doesn't even always happens. Hell one time in a tournament I only raised the storm count to 20 only to meet FoW on the 10th copy from Dredge post-board. I was sitting on Chrome Mox and LED. I break the LED and tap mox to save myself. 3 Turns later, I have the following hand: Infernal Tutor, Dark Ritual, LED --> GG
You aren't always out of the game if you have extra resources, but yeah usually you're SOL.
Both are great hands. MM-->Drit-->LED-->IT-->Slithermuse
or the other hand has the same thing only with Bargain instead of IT. Having BBB floating after LED is really strong. Even if you draw all mana sources, if you have a LED and another Pact in there, you can just pursue the Ewit line of play, and you'll be fine.
The 3rd hand is just a risky hand. Honestly, I'd keep it. You have a starting play if you are in a must-win situation against CB or Stax, and you have Daze protection. If you are against non-disruptive aggro, you might as well just be on the draw that way you have an extra card, not counting whatever you might cycle into via Manamorphose.
Note that good scouting increases your mulligan power. At the tournaments I bring Pact SI to, I either win quickly or lose quickly, a powerful virtue. If you can put your opponent on a deck in game 1, you have that much more information. You pretty much always want to be on the draw against non-disruptive decks that way you increase your chances @ a turn 1 win to like 80%. Honestly, its so much easier to goldfish this deck when you start with 8 cards in hand. Even against Belcher, I let them play first and its been working out for me so far, unless its Spoils Belcher. They often just play Empty the Warrens for 6-20 tokens and win turn 2-4. Too bad we win turn 1.
I'll put this bluntly. If a really cool, unique guy went up to a normal girl, and is ugly, he's weird. if he goes up and is hot, then he's cool and unique.
Standard
It's like watching grass grow, except it's ridculously expensive.
awesome primer, seems like a pretty consistent combo too.
Only if you know your craft well. Playing SI is like manipulating clay. You have to practice quite a bit before you can sculpt without the clay drying up, falling apart, or melting in your hands. But when all goes well, its really is a beautiful sight. I've had people's jaws drop to the floor after completing a spell chain. Unfortunately, nobody has ever asked me to do it again.
I'll leave this thread here, but next time you want/need something for Proven, please ask. Posting lists in Proven isn't allowed(otherwise we get a bunch of people posting stuff in Proven and it turns into a mess).
Countermagic has a significantly more difficulty picking SI apart optimally. They just have to counter what they see in the moment. Sometimes you might have a hand like Petal, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Bargain, Bargain, in which case, the initial mana source is the most important. Then again, I might have a hand where the initial ritual is the most important, while the same might go for the Infernal Tutor/Diabolic Intent, etc. Then again, you might also have a hand like Petal, Pact, Culling the Weak, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain, LED, Infernal Tutor, in which case, even if you Force the Cruel Bargain, you can still play Infernal Tutor + LED into Slithermuse. With discard, it entirely depends on what the opponent has in hand.
Also, I feel its better to answer your question in a vague way. Going into a thread and asking 'how do you play against your deck?' is a pretty dick thing to do. Figure it out or at least pretend like you are playing combo.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
BUG Pact Spanish Inquisition BUG U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life: http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
After your reply, I see how my prior post may have come off as "a dick move" and for that I apologize, but in all honesty, that was not my intent. I've been an avid aggro player for many years so you may begin to understand my hatred for control decks and my ignorance about combo. Contrary to what you may have perceived from my previous comment, with a deck like SI and a primer like yours, I was very much intrigued and would like to try my hand at combo. I understand that a jumping into combo with a deck such as SI may not be the best idea but I'm willing to take the time to learn.
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Don't drink and drive; you might spill your beer.
My Decks, past, present, and future: RGVial GoblinsRG GNO ElvesG RRed Deck WinsR BGRPact SIBGR
Remove Guide (G), Grant for Bayou, Tap Bayou (BG), Cabal Ritual (BBB), LED, Pact for Slithermuse, Sac LED in response (UBBBB depending), Evoke Slithermuse and draw 5-7 cards with B remaining for a ritual.
let's see, I'm going to play it as safe as possible and draw as many cards as I can without going straight for petal>dark rit>bargain:
petal>dark rit>tutor a morphose...
Then tutoring a Manamorphose makes you loose 2 mana, and we're pretty tight on mana already...
mox, bayou, cabal, pact, tutor, witness, morphose
It might have been safer to wait till turn 2. Mox (Witness), Bayou, Tutor something, another Pact perhaps (depends on what you draw after).
Anyway, that aside, I'll agree with you that I will sometimes mulligan into oblivion. Perhaps not that often, but still more then I'd like.
Also, you claim 60% turn 1 wins. But what's turn 2 win%? Turn 3%? Never? Mulligan frequency? Also, if the opponent does have a FoW/Duress, and uses it correctly, what becomes of these %?
Sometimes it's better to just play a land, swarm, and pass the turn instead of trying to go all in on T1. Getting an extra land drop or even just an untap of a bayou is a really big deal. Not to mention the extra card.
Anyway a couple of issues I noted after goldfishing this for a couple of days, going off the MD Xantid Swarm Pact SI build. I swapped a MD Xantid Swarm for Wild Cantor, which was a definite upgrade.
a) Diabloic Intent is somewhat clunky. The lack of free dudes means that you have to use basically two cards (an ESG/Creature, ESG/Pact, or Pact/Pact) then two mana to get an arbitrary tutor. In practice this is difficult. This barrier to actually getting critters out also affects Culling the Weak.
b) A lot of times I get stuck with a fetchland I can't get rid of and this prevents Infernal Tutor from getting Hellbent.
c) The list can definitely go off T1, but it aches and groans to get there, especially on the play.
d) Slithermuse is awesome.
e) I'm bad and my issues are almost certainly pilot error.
Being a control player by practice, I definitely think that the deck's configuration post-board is pretty nightmarish and would not want to face that package (which is what drove me to experiment with it0.
@pinguster: maybe its just terrible luck where you open with a dryad arbor in hand. Also the MWS shuffler I hear is ultra crappy when it comes to actually shuffling your deck, maybe proxie the deck up IRL to goldfish it that's what I did.
If you could pact for slithermuse this deck would probably be over the top since a 0 mana tutor for a storm engine is pretty great with LED especially all it would take would be 3 cards and those 3 would be land, pact, and LED and you could combo out or the land could be petal or any IMS to get things rolling turn 1 with a draw 7 which has a high chance of drawing more IMS's and business spells even with 0 mana floating. But back on topic.
SI isn't the most consistent combo deck out there and you have to dedicate yourself to learning the deck and learning how to mulligan when you have bad hands. If you keep getting bad hands from mulligans, either your build of the deck is bad or you are a truly unlucky person and should play another deck that is more consistent than this one. Combo decks CAN fizzle, even ANT could fizzle from 20 life when they cast AN.
Also this deck is very tight when it comes to mana so spending 2 mana to get another morphose would be a mistake mid combo unless you have a great abundance of mana at which point you should be winning anyways because you have so much mana to combo out and so much business spells in the MD.
I have also found diabolic intent to be kind of lackluster in goldfishing today when you cannot get a creature out in play to use it with same with culling the weak. If only there was a green kobold that cost 0 mana other than dryad arbor....or any green creature that costed 0 mana for that matter because it would be AMAZING in this deck as a 1 of or more. *sigh* Maybe I should stop trying to force the turn 1 wins unless they are absolutely there in my opening hand with a low chance of fizzling mid combo because dying to pact during the upkeep is bad.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
I'll put this bluntly. If a really cool, unique guy went up to a normal girl, and is ugly, he's weird. if he goes up and is hot, then he's cool and unique.
Standard
It's like watching grass grow, except it's ridculously expensive.
I have also found diabolic intent to be kind of lackluster in goldfishing today when you cannot get a creature out in play to use it with same with culling the weak. If only there was a green kobold that cost 0 mana other than dryad arbor....or any green creature that costed 0 mana for that matter because it would be AMAZING in this deck as a 1 of or more. *sigh* Maybe I should stop trying to force the turn 1 wins unless they are absolutely there in my opening hand with a low chance of fizzling mid combo because dying to pact during the upkeep is bad.
Green Kobold? Try using Skyshroud Cutter. You need a land in play, but if you do, the 6 life is trivial as the deck normally tendrils for 30+ when it goes off. I found Diabolic Intent to be great as a 2 of. It can fetch anything in the deck, namely, LEDs.
If you find yourself dying too much, play more conservatively until you can work your way up to fast wins.
Also, now that I have people who are willing to test lists... I put together a Living Wish list a while back. The idea was, you could use it to find Magus of the Moon and shut down decks without basics right away. Pulpficition played it in Belcher and it worked pretty well. It also gives you access to Slithermuse, Kobolds, Xantid Swarm, etc. Lots of options. You can even break some LEDs --> Turn 1 Multani, Maro Sorcerer. Shroud fatty = awesome. If anyone is willing to work on this list, let me know.
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Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life: http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
I'll definitely give it a try. The only problem I had with it is that you NEED a land in play. Thats a pretty big qualifier if you think about it. I guess having the option is good but its quite dead in your hand if you don't have Land Grant/Fetch. If its working out well, I'll definitely give it a shot.
Also, in regard to the hands you posted above. The MWS shuffler really does shuffle horribly. Its sad. Try putting some proxies into sleeves and play around with it IRL. I find it much easier to get good hands.
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Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life: http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
Skyshroud cutter is the card for me I guess, casting him by having them gain 3 life essentially (it is +1 storm) is no drawback in here because like you said vacrix when we tendrils someone, we tend to deal over 30 because of how much storm we generate with slithermuse and draw4's. I'll definitely put him in my list as a 1 of for now and possibly upping the count if I need more. I'll probably cut a diabolic intent because like I said earlier I can find my hand clogged with 4 IT and 3 diabolic intent in the MD or uncastable draw 4's though this means I probably kept a lackluster hand to begin with so its my play mistake most likely. I'm still learning SI vacrix so I probably shouldn't test it against other decks/a gauntlet until I get the hang of the deck and how it works completely and am comfortable with it.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Most lists never run pact because it is anti-synergystic with LED shenanigans. In lists with pact, it would have to be QSI because it hates on control decks by aiming for a longer game plan that is very inevitable.
Also ghekon maybe replace a meditate with a cruel bargain? I'm no expert on the SI variant known as QSI by any means but it seems better because when comboing off you have infinite black mana while you have very little blue mana unless you get a lot of lands in play and draw a lot of moxen and petals. This might be why but I really like the end of their turn, cast meditate so you can go off with 11 card sin hand next turn you take or they counter it, leaving an opening for you to storm out and win. As for not drawing the tendrils, it could be bad luck since you are playing 3 you should reasonably see one after 2 draw 4's. I don't really have an explanation for that though other than bad luck.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Has anyone tried the SB of tombstalkers etc? i'm considering using it in my next tourney in a rather aggro meta. Which seems like a bad idea given people will possibly have lots of StP and PtE for the aggro meta. Though they would most likely side out those in g2.
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- Introduction –
You’ve heard of the Spanish Inquisition, right? In 1500’s, tribunal officers went door-to-door asking the question “Is Jesus Christ divine?” hoping to purge Spain and Portugal of Jews and Christian heretics. Well, SI and its derivatives ask a similar question: “Do you have Force of Will?”
No we SI players aren’t purposely beating the ☺☺☺☺ out of Jews and Christian Heretics. Actually, we just indiscriminately beat the ☺☺☺☺ out of anyone that doesn’t play Force of Will.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to torture your opponents either while they scream for repentance. It’s over very quickly. We are kind.
Actually, this is merely a hilarious coincidence and was not how the deck got its name. Rather, the creator, Colby Evenpence, chose to name it the Spanish Inquisition because he planned on winning so quickly that his opponents would say "I wasn't expecting that," then Colby could reply, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!" Sadly, nobody ever expects SI because only a handful of people play it in real life. Next to Solidarity and NLS, SI is considered one of the hardest decks to master in the entire format. In fact, most people doubt its viability simply because they don’t understand how it works.
Spanish Inquisition’s greatest strength and the reason to play it instead of another deck is its unmatched speed. SI is by leaps and bounds the fastest deck in the format; not even Belcher or Hulk Flash can hold a candle to it. In particular, PSI pushes +60% turn 1 kills in the hands of skilled pilot while I and a few other pilots have claimed as high as 70% turn 1 kills. However, there isn’t one set list you ought to play. There are several lists each with slightly different supplemental strategies. Each list is capable of consistently going off by turn 3 and due to the nature of its unique draw 4 engine, SI and its variants mulligan better than any other deck in the format. These claims might seem outrageous at first glance; however, the secret to the consistency at speed kills lies in SI’s ability to go off with relatively few resources. While a deck like Belcher will often invest its initial 5-7 CARD going off, SI can go off with as few as 3 CARD (i.e. Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain). Therefore, mulligans become powerful when the new 6 need only yield a few redundant resources to facilitate a lethal spell chain. In theory, the deck can win on the first turn after a mulligan to 3. I have yet to pull this off but I have gotten the first turn kill a few times from 4 CARD, and 5 card first turn wins are not uncommon. In addition to great mulligans, investing few resources also enables SI to go off multiples times. A draw 4 that yields jank will still yield 4 CARD worth of resources. A few topdecks later, SI can easily explode again. This principle also applies to countermagic. A single piece of countermagic will not keep SI down. Even if SI doesn’t get to keep the resources from its draw 4 (like in the previous case), it will often still have resources in its hand to go off again in a few turns.
All SI variants play the following shell:
4 Cruel Bargain (D4)
4 Infernal Contract (D4)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
X Tendrils of Agony (ToA)
0-4 Lion’s Eye Diamond (LED)
0-4 Infernal Tutor (IT)
As I mentioned before, SI runs a unique draw 4 engine but it also runs a unique piece of acceleration that facilitates this engine: Culling the Weak. Culling the Weak adds a whopping BBBB to your mana pool at the expense of a creature. Storm combo that runs creatures? What you say?
Different lists run different culling fodder. The original list ran this configuration:
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
Back in the day when Goblins was the dominant aggro deck, these so called Tallmen acted as both Culling the Weak fodder for acceleration, Cabal Therapy fodder for protection, and blockers to give you a few turns to comfortably set up the kill against aggro. They are still quite good at holding creatures at bay for the first couple turns; however, the advent of Zoo made this plan significantly weaker. A few of the lists still play this configuration, but in early 2008, Breathweapon shared a truly innovative list that did not run a single Tallman from the old configuration. Instead he ran the following configuration:
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Vine Dryad
4 Summoner’s Pact
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
The configuration is known as the Pact list. Instead of laying down Tallmen as potential blockers, the Culling the Weak fodder instead acted as protection against Daze and facilitated a better chance at an early Cabal Ritual.
Also, in 2008, Pulpfiction suggested that Manamorphose be run in the Pact list. It was immediately added in as a tuning mechanism, turning your draw 4 into a draw 5 as well as color fixing with Elvish Spirit Guides. The Manamorphose slots in the Pact list are now considered flex slots but in my experience it makes goldfishing a little easier.
The Pact list got a facelift in 2010 when theresurrection shared his list, which further abused Summoner’s Pact with the following three CARD:
1 Eternal Witness
1 Odious Trow
1 Wild Cantor
Odious Trow quickly proved its worth as a replacement for Vine Dryad. Though Vine Dryad could remove spare Land Grants, Summoner’s Pacts, and Elvish Spirit Guides, Odious Trow could be cast with spare green mana OR spare black ritual mana. Also, Trow enabled Summoner’s Pact to fetch a black card to imprint on Chrome Mox.
Wild Cantor acted as either Culling the Weak fodder or as a color fixer for opening hands without a starting black source like ESG + Pact or x2 Pact. I dropped it from my build but it’s a fine replacement for Manamorphose or even Odious Trow.
Eternal Witness is a very tricky piece of theresurrection’s build. With enough spare mana it could be cast to return whatever was necessary to continue the spell chain whether it be the win condition, acceleration, starting mana, or business. Previously unplayable draw 4’s like Tallman x2, LED x2 were now playable with Pact, ESG, LED x2; play both LEDs, remove ESG, then play Pact for Eternal Witness, breaking the LEDs in response for BBBGGG. Then return business to your hand to keep the spell chain going.
At some point in my own testing of the Pact list, I became fascinated with D7 effects like Diminishing Returns and Slithermuse. I removed some of the MD win conditions from Pact SI and replaced them with Burning Wish. The list was fantastic at first, but after more testing it proved to be more volatile than I was comfortable with. Recently, Direlemming began testing his own variation on this Burning Wish build with maindeck Tinder Walls. This build is still being fine-tuned but it is very promising.
Obviously SI wins with Tendrils of Agony; however, the faster lists also play either Empty the Warrens or Goblin Charbelcher as an alternative win condition. The original Land Grant SI and Pact SI tend to play Goblin Charbelcher while SITES always plays EtW. QSI used to play Brainfreeze in the board and sometimes plays EtW postboard as well.
Another defining characteristic of SI is known as the IGG loop, originating in the old school combo deck IGGY Pop. The IGG configuration looks like this:
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
2 Ill-Gotten Gains
X Tendrils of Agony
First you would play some acceleration, usually Dark Ritual, to begin the loop. Then you would play Lion’s Eye Diamond, followed by Infernal Tutor, breaking the LED in response for BBB. Then you find Ill-Gotten Gains, play it, and return Dark Ritual, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Infernal Tutor to your hand. This play would allow you to build up storm, and then repeat the loop, eventually finding Tendrils of Agony for the win. IT + LED would also allow you to go for Empty the Warrens or Belcher, depending on the situation.
IGG also serves another purpose. If played on the first turn, IGG acts as a pseudo-Mindtwist, forcing the opponent into a mulligan to 3. It would be virtually one sided as well since you can drop mana sources, tallmen, LED’s, etc, and then return acceleration and/or business to your hand. This play is particularly strong because it turns back the opponent’s clock significantly, especially considering you could drop tallmen to hold whatever creatures the opponent had at bay. In 2010, I suggested replacing Ill-Gotten Gains with Slithermuse. I found that games where I would play IGG as Mindtwist, I would much rather not go into topdeck mode. If IGG resolved against control, then why would I bother going into topdeck mode when I could simply win with Slithermuseon the spot? I tried out Slithermuse in the Pact list and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, the Pact list is the only list where it is playable because you have such a high chance of going off on the first few turns of the game. If you have to wait a turn it becomes a D5 instead of a D7. I didn’t find it difficult to win after drawing 7 CARD instead of completing the IGG loop. Also, it would allow me to still get the win when I had the ‘wrong ritual’ in the graveyard. Returning something like Dark Ritual, LED, IT is certainly strong, but when your acceleration is Cabal Ritual or Culling the Weak, the IGG loop doesn’t always work because you may not have enough mana floating after you cast IGG. Slithermuse makes more opening hands keepable than in the IGG version, and it also has an occasional interaction with Culling the Weak. However, its gets weaker if you are on the play or if you don’t go off in the first few turns of the game. It’s a personal choice though and I don’t recommend it unless you are very comfortable piloting the Pact list.
Now, not every SI variant plays this IGG configuration. The list that doesn’t is the anti-control list known as Quasi-Spanish Inquisition (QSI). Its not nearly as fast but has a pretty consistent kill rate between turns 2 and 3. As you can probably imagine, the IGG loop is terrible against control; its akin to putting all your eggs in one basket, banking on the opponent not having an answer for IT, as well as giving the opponent back their countermagic through IGG. QSI takes a different approach:
4 Meditate
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
The QSI list also plays Underground Seas and Polluted Deltas to facilitate multiple attempts at a lethal spell chain. Meditate at the end of turn is one of QSI’s strongest plays against control. Either your opponent uses up his counterspell and you can go off after you untap, or you can go off on your turn with 11 CARD in hand. Brainstorm and Ponder allow you to sculpt a decent hand before you go off or help you dig deeper on your combo turn. QSI also plays a good protection suite:
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Shield Sphere
4 Phyrexian Walker
Often you should just name Force of Will or Counterbalance. Tallmen enable you to play the flashback. Therapy is an excellent piece of protection because you can use it twice if you need to go off more than once or you can remove multiple pieces of protection from your opponents hand before going off. The tallmen also enable you to block for the first few turns of the game while you play your cantrips, protection, and hit your land drops.
- How to Play -
Due to the volatile nature of the draw 4 engine, SI is a very difficult deck to play. Whenever you have invested resources into a draw 4, you must constantly evaluate the odds. How much business is left in the deck? What do you need to continue the spell chain? Do you have mana floating? These are obviously very important questions, but there are two questions that are significantly more important:
- Should I mulligan?
- Should I continue the spell chain?
As I mentioned earlier, SI mulligans better than any other deck in the format; its one of SI’s greatest strengths. Knowing when to mulligan and when to keep is crucial to playing SI. When looking at your 7, you ought to quickly identify initial mana sources, business, and acceleration. If you cannot identify a keepable hand quickly, your opponent might put you on combo and mulligan for hate.
Now, trying to explain how to play SI is entirely list dependent. A PSI line of play will be completely different from a QSI line of play. In general, I will speak of the faster lists. QSI is a completely different animal but it is not hard to judge how to play QSI if you learn first how to play the faster, more volatile lists.
In game 1 against an unknown opponent, you should try to get a fast hand. If your hand is all mana sources and acceleration, you might want to mulligan that hand for a hand that can go off on the first turn. Then again, a hand with perpetual resources can be very powerful. Getting down some early land and Chrome Mox will allow you to go off multiple times. Such hands with perpetual resources are great against control because they allow you to go for the throat more than once, while one-time-use mana sources like Lotus Petal only allow you to go off once. If you can scout ahead and put your opponent on a deck, then you can better decide how to mulligan. In general, you should let non-disruptive aggro play first, and even non-disruptive combo like Belcher. Being on the draw makes going off much easier. Against control, try to win before they have access to resources other than FoW. If you are on the draw against control, try to mulligan into a hand with perpetual resources, or a hand that requires few resources to go off, or a hand with protection (if you play it).
Now, SI’s speed is its greatest strength, on the field and off the field. Against non-FoW decks, your games will likely be brief. I’ve had matches end in less than 5 minutes. That gives you a lot of time to scout and put players on decks, even watch them board. In smaller tournaments where scouting is actually relevant, fast games work to your advantage because your opponents will not be able to see what you are playing or how you are boarding. Even if you are known as ‘the SI guy’ in a local metagame, the MD and the SB are both very flexible and allow you to play different tech whenever you feel like it.
- Boarding -
One of the most common tech players switch between is playing a post-board protection plan or a man-plan. Protection plans vary quite a bit but they usually run a few of the following CARD:
- Cabal Therapy
- Duress
- Unmask
- Pact of Negation
- Xantid Swarm
Cabal Therapy and Xantid Swarm see the most play because both provide protection in more than one instance; however, Therapy can sometimes miss and requires you to play multiple creatures while Swarm is vulnerable to creature removal. Unmask and Pact are both free protection, but Pact of Negation is bad with LED and Unmask requires you to pitch something.
Recently, Autumn’s Veil was unveiled in the M11 spoiler. This is the best protection spell we could have ever hoped for. Not only is it a virtual Orim’s Chant, protecting our spell chains from countermagic, it doesn’t have to be played before we go off. If the opponent responds to a spell with FoW, we can respond with Veil. Once Veil resolves, FoW can no longer legally target your spell. In that sense, we aren’t forced to play Veil until we need to. This is a huge advantage as we might need the Veil to imprint on Chrome Mox later in the spell chain or we might need the green source to play a Cabal Ritual. It also protects our Xantid Swarms from blue and black removal (though this is marginal as we usually encounter white removal STP or PtE).
The man-plan, pioneered in LGSI by B.C., runs a configuration of a few of the following CARD:
- Tomb of Urami
- Tombstalker
- Avatar of Discord
- Phyrexian Negator
- Phylactery Lich
- Death’s Shadow
Phyrexian Negator was great in the days of Landstill but it doesn’t see much play these days. Death’s Shadow is decent as a 1 of’; you need to lose life before its playable so its not good to see these guys in multiples. Tomb of Urami is easily the best part of the man-plan. After the first game, the opponent will usually let you play your acceleration and try to counter the business. Unfortunately for them, you can drop your Tomb after you hit 4 mana and then crack it. I have yet to test Lich but it looks pretty good. Avatar of Discord is probably the worst, second only to Negator, for obvious reasons. Tombstalker requires CARD in the grave, but conveniently you can remove the rituals and mana sources you use to accelerate into it.
In addition to protection spells and man-plan, there are several utility spells that the SI board can use.
- Dark Confidant
- Carpet of Flowers
- Death Mark
- Rebuild
- Wipe Away
- Chain of Vapor
Dark Confidant is great; drawing an extra card each turn allows you to sculpt a great hand against control. It can also be pitched to Culling the Weak or Cabal Therapy. Carpet of Flowers is amazing tech. It acts as both a potential ritual mid combo and as a perpetual resource to facilitate multiple attempts at going off. Carpet has errata that enables you to choose which main phase you’d like to add the mana. So if your opponent has a few islands and you play it in your mainphase while going off, you can pass to your 2nd mainphase to add mana like a ritual. Its bad against Daze because then the opponent will have fewer islands, but even adding just 2 mana per turn is worth it in SI. Death Mark is great for taking out hatebears like Meddling Mage, Ethersworn Cannonist, and Gaddock Teeg. Usually you can just win before these guys hit play, but if a deck like Bant Survival or UW Tempo packs both bears and countermagic, it becomes a much stronger choice post-board. Rebuild is usually played in QSI as an answer to Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void. Wipe Away is QSI’s answer to CB. Chain of Vapor is good both as a potential storm generator and as an answer to hatebears. Chain of Vapor can generate storm in QSI by playing out some artifacts, and then sacrificing lands to bounce the artifacts back to your hand. A few of these utility CARD are usually run in addition to the man plan or the protection plan.
- Lists -
The different versions of SI are as follows. I will provide some example list but please note that each list is particularly flexible.
- The Original List (SI) -
Colby Evenpence’s original list with some outdated tech.
SI
Initial Mana Sources
4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
Tall Men
4 Ornithopter
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
Acceleration
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
Business
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Diabolic Intent
2 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Tendrils of Agony
SB
4 Naturalize
4 Massacre
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Defense Grid
- Land Grant SI (LGSI) –
Emidln and Team Blitzkrieg’s variation on the original list. It plays minimal protection in the form of Cabal Therapy, usually plays a man-plan post-board, and plays Goblin Charbelcher as an alternative kill condition. It has a 50% turn 1 kill rate.
LGSI
Initial Mana Sources
2 Bayou
4 Land Grant
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
Tallmen
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
Acceleration
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
Protection
4 Cabal Therapy
Business
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Ill-Gotten Gains
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Goblin Charbelcher
SB
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Tomb of Urami
4 Tombstalker
3 Phylactery Lich
- Glimpse SI (GSI) –
Iranon’s variation on the LGSI that runs Glimpse of Nature as a supplemental draw engine. It’s a little faster than the classic LGSI list but foregoes protection for this additional speed boost.
GSI
4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Shield Sphere
4 Phyrexian Walker
2 Ornithopter
4 Infernal tutor
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
2 Glimpse of Nature
2 Ill-Gotten Gains
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Goblin Charbelcher
- SI-TES –
A variation on LGSI that drops Charbelcher for Empty the Warrens and Land Grant for a Fetchlands/Badlands suite. The current lists also play Burning Wish. It has about a 40% turn 1 kill rate but can often just land an early Empty the Warrens and win on turn 2.
SITES
Business
1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Empty the Warrens
2 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
Acceleration
4 Crimson Kobolds
3 Kobolds of Kher Keep
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Badlands
1 Bayou
SB
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Balance of Power
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Deathmark
1 Meltdown
1 Shattering Spree
1 Reverent Silence
1 Thoughtseize
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Autumn’s Veil
- Quasi-SI (QSI) –
Emidln’s variation (props to Marit for contributing an updated list) on SI that lacks the IGG loop, but plays Meditate and cantrips to improve the control matchup. It has a relatively low turn 1 kill rate but kills consistently on turns 2/3.
QSI
Lands
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
Creatures
3 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
Spells
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
3 Cruel Bargain
3 Meditate
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Dark Ritual
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Infernal Contract
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ponder
SB
1 Meditate
4 Dark Confidant
4 Rebuild
2 Island
2 Wipe Away
2 Swamp
- Pact SI (PSI) -
Breathweapon’s variation on LGSI that plays Summoner’s Pact and Elvish Spirit Guide in place of the tallmen. It is the fastest list with a turn 1 kill rate of 60-65%.
PSI
Business
1 Slithermuse
2 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
Mana
1 Eternal Witness
1 Odious Trow
2 Manamorphose
4 Summoner's Pact
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Land Grant
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor
SB:
4 Carpet of Flower
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Duress
2 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Tomb of Urami
- Draw-7 SI (DSI) -
An experimental variation on PSI that Direlemming and I have been working on that runs Burning Wish and Infernal Tutor, which adds additional speed through a D7 engine in the wishboard. Its still in its developmental stages but the most recent list is pushing a 70% turn 1 kill rate.
No list available ATM. Still in developmental stages.
- Potential Tech -
This is a section for tech you can use in your lists that may not necessarily be in any of the conventional lists. If something isn't on this list that you think could go here, give it a test and tell us about it.
Null Profusion - Decent as a 1'of engine. Works better in Land Grant lists
Manamorphose - Color fixing cycler
Living Wish - Facilitates a wish board in PSI
Death Wish - A decent supplement to Infernal Tutor
Grim Tutor - See above
Oxidize - Artifact removal
Slaughter Pact - Creature removal
Serum Powder - Improve mulligans post-board
Pact of Negation - Free protection
Unmask - Free protection
Defense Grid - Protection that doesn't die to creature removal
Planar Void - Cheap way to hose decks that like graveyards
More to come...
- Matchups -
This section is entirely list dependent. I will have some basic percentages up at some point but I will leave it blank for the moment. Just know that the close to PSI the list is, the worse it probably is against control. SITES falls in the middle, and QSI is great against control.
- Sample hands -
- PSI Sample Hands -
PSI
Business
1 Slithermuse
2 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargain
Mana
1 Eternal Witness
1 Odious Trow
2 Manamorphose
4 Summoner's Pact
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Land Grant
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor
H1: Pact, Pact, Dark Ritual, Land Grant, Cruel Bargain, Culling the Weak (mull to 6)
Land Grant--> Bayou, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain
Draw4: Infernal Tutor, Infernal Tutor, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox (IT), Pact-->ESG, Pact--> Odious Trow, ESG--> Trow, Culling the Weak (BBBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBBBBB), Infernal Tutor--> Tendrils for 22.
Notice that another line of play allows you to go first for Culling the Weak line of play, then Dark Ritual, which allows you to Infernal Tutor for Cabal Ritual for extra storm.
Also, please note that I have not played either of the 2 Pacts until after I’ve drawn 4. This is not always the optimal play. Considering Culling the Weak is already in hand, we know that we are going to play Pact-->ESG and Pact-->Odious Trow; however, I played this hand more conservatively. If played a Bargain into no Business, then it might be a better plan to wait until you draw a business spell, having already had Bayou in play. The other option is to fetch those 2 CARD out of your deck and play Culling the Weak before you play the D4. This increases your chances of not drawing those CARD off the D4 itself. The other down side to this would be not having access to the Eternal Witness line of play if you drew a topdeck like LED, LED, Trow, Lotus Petal. It’s a trade off and ultimately up to the pilot, who should take into account if he needs a win now situation, or a more conservative line of play.
H2: ESG, Lotus Petal, Infernal Contract, Tendrils, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor
ESG, Lotus Petal (BG), Cabal Ritual (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: LED, Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, Cabal Ritual
Chrome Mox (Tendrils) (BB), Chrome Mox (nothing), Cabal Ritual, LED, Infernal Tutor (breaking LED in response for BBB) --> Tendrils for 20.
Notice that another line of play allows you to imprint Cabal Ritual on Chrome Mox, and Infernal Tutor for Belcher. You will be mana short of activating it, but you already have 2 mana in play and mostly mana sources in the deck. Yet another option would be to break LED for UUU and find Slithermuse, drawing 7 CARD.
H3: ESG, Tendrils, Manamorphose, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Infernal Contract (mull to 6)
ESG, Chrome Mox (Tendrils) (GB), Manamorphose (BB) draw--> Tendrils of Agony, Dark Ritual (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Pact, Chrome Mox, LED, LED
LED, LED, Chrome Mox (Tendrils), Pact (breaking LED’s for GGGBBB) --> Eternal Witness--> Infernal Contract (BB)
Draw 4: Tendrils of Agony, Infernal Contract, Culling the Weak, Land Grant
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBBB), Tendrils for 24.
H4: Pact, Pact, Pact, Slithermuse, Lotus Petal, LED (mull to 6)
Pact--> ESG, Pact--> ESG, Pact--> ESG, LED, Lotus Petal (GGGU), Slithermuse (breaking LED in response for BBB)
Draw 7: Culling the Weak, Tendrils of Agony, Tendrils of Agony, Chrome Mox, Infernal Tutor, Land Grant, Culling the Weak
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBBBB), Chrome Mox (Culling the Weak) (BBBBBBB), Tendrils for 20.
H5: Pact, Pact, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Cruel Bargain, Infernal Contract
Pact--> Odious Trow, Chrome Mox (Trow) (B), Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract
Draw 4: Land Grant, Land Grant, Pact, Culling the Weak
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Manamorphose, Eternal Witness, Slithermuse, Chrome Mox
Pact-->ESG, Pact--> ESG, Manamorphose (BBU) drawing Culling the Weak, Chrome Mox (Culling the Weak) (BBBU), Slithermuse
Draw 6: LED, ESG, Pact, Manamorphose, ESG, Lotus Petal
LED, ESG, Pact--> ESG, ESG (GGG), Manamorphose--> (BGG) drawing Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual (BBBGG), Lotus Petal (BBBBGG), Eternal Witness (BBB)--> (breaking LED in response for UUU) Slithermuse (BB)
Draw 7: Land Grant, Chrome Mox, Bayou, Infernal Tutor, Tendrils of Agony, Infernal Contract, Cabal Ritual
Chrome Mox (Infernal Tutor) (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBBBB), Tendrils for 44
H6: Pact, ESG, Manamorphose, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, LED (mull to 6)
Pact--> ESG, ESG, Manamorphose (BB)--> Land Grant, Land Grant--> Bayou, (BBB), Dark Ritual (BBBBB) LED, Infernal Tutor (breaking LED in response for UUU) (BBBBBU) --> Slithermuse (0)
Draw 7: Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal, Lotus Petal, ESG, Land Grant, Infernal Tutor, Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox (Land Grant), Petal x2 (BBBBG), ESG, (BBBBGG), Dark Ritual (BBBBBBGG) Infernal Tutor--> Tendrils for 24.
H7: Land Grant, Land Grant, LED, Dark Ritual, Chrome Mox, Goblin Charbelcher (mull to 6)
Option 1:
T1: Land Grant-->Dryad Arbor, pass
T2: Draw Chrome Mox, Land Grant--> Bayou (BG), Dark Ritual (BBBG), LED, Belcher, activate for the kill.
Option 2:
T1: Land Grant--> Bayou, Chrome Mox (Land Grant) (BG), Dark Ritual (BBBG), LED, Belcher, activate for 28.
The first option has less risk of a misfire. Even so, you have both Land Grant and Bayou in play in option 2, which means you have a high probability of a 2nd activation if the first misfired.
H8: Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cruel Bargain, Infernal Contract, Tendrils of Agony, Land Grant (mull to 6)
Lotus Petal (B), Dark Ritual (BBB), Infernal Contract (0),
Draw 4: Culling the Weak, Culling the Weak, Chrome Mox, Belcher
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Chrome Mox (Tendrils) (B), Culling the Weak--> Arbor (BBBB), Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Bayou, Pact, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual
Dark Ritual (BBB), Pact--> Odious Trow (BB), Culling the Weak (BBBBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBB BBBB), Belcher, activate for the kill
H9: Land Grant, ESG, Infernal Contract, Cabal Ritual (mull to 4)
T1: Land Grant--> Bayou, ESG (GB), Cabal Ritual (BBB), Infernal Contract
Draw 4: Land Grant, Belcher, Culling the Weak, Culling the Weak
Pass
T2: Draw--> LED
Land Grant--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBBB), Belcher, LED, activate for the kill
H10: Infernal Contract, Infernal Contract, Culling the Weak, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, ESG, Dark Ritual
Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Contract (B)
Draw 4: Infernal Tutor, Pact, Pact, Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual (BBB), Pact--> Dryad Arbor, Culling the Weak (BBB BBB), Pact--> ESG (BBB BBB G), Infernal Contract (BBB G)
Draw 4: Infernal Tutor, Cabal Ritual, Chrome Mox, Culling the Weak
Chrome Mox (Culling the Weak) (BBBB G), Infernal Tutor--> Cabal Ritual (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBB BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBB BBB BBB), Infernal Tutor--> Tendrils for 30.
Old Threads:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?6099-%5BDeck%5D-Spanish-Inquisition-%28B-x-Storm-Combo%29
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=58807
U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
Standard
Blows
Modern
BWUTeachingsBWU
GUGU TempoGU
WLifeW
RWValakut ControlRW
UBModern MillUB
Legacy
UMUCU
BPoxB
BWRTokensBWR
Pauper
UBGRW Domain UBGRW
Vintage
RVise-Burn!R
"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight was ever made" - Immanuel Kant
Was thinking to ask cabal about this archetype but you got there first =)
Legacy Competitive
BUReanimatorUB
RUSneaky ShowUR(Dismantled)
GBUReanimatorUBG(Retired)
(Pre-Mystical Tutor Banning)
{RIP:July 1, 2010}
Legacy Casual
UWBag Of TricksWU
GWEnchantressWG(Budget/In construction)
WSoul SistersW
Legacy Casual - Retired
UBT.E.S. - The EGG-pic StormBU
BGrave ExistenceB
Sig by Me =)
U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
So, in terms of considering mulliganing, compare the two hands:
Pact, ESG, Manamorphose, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, LED (mull to 6)
and
Pact, ESG, Manamorphose, Dark Ritual, LED, Cruel Bargain (mull to 6)
I still think I keep the second hand because I will draw five cards (one off of Manamorphose, four off Bargain) and have very good odds drawing into business or more draw. Correct?
However, if the hand looks like this:
Pact, ESG, Chrome Mox, Dark Ritual, LED, Cruel Bargain (mull to 6)
Then I basically have to Pact to Trow, Chrome Mox imprint Trow, Rit, Cruel Bargain and only get four cards to draw into business and still need to get five more spells to hit lethal storm. Hand seems weak and I'd ship it back.
I'm mostly trying to understand the Pact SI mulliganing strategy. You're definitely right that it mulligans well, but learning the less-obvious "good" hands seems pretty key.
You aren't always out of the game if you have extra resources, but yeah usually you're SOL.
Both are great hands. MM-->Drit-->LED-->IT-->Slithermuse
or the other hand has the same thing only with Bargain instead of IT. Having BBB floating after LED is really strong. Even if you draw all mana sources, if you have a LED and another Pact in there, you can just pursue the Ewit line of play, and you'll be fine.
The 3rd hand is just a risky hand. Honestly, I'd keep it. You have a starting play if you are in a must-win situation against CB or Stax, and you have Daze protection. If you are against non-disruptive aggro, you might as well just be on the draw that way you have an extra card, not counting whatever you might cycle into via Manamorphose.
Note that good scouting increases your mulligan power. At the tournaments I bring Pact SI to, I either win quickly or lose quickly, a powerful virtue. If you can put your opponent on a deck in game 1, you have that much more information. You pretty much always want to be on the draw against non-disruptive decks that way you increase your chances @ a turn 1 win to like 80%. Honestly, its so much easier to goldfish this deck when you start with 8 cards in hand. Even against Belcher, I let them play first and its been working out for me so far, unless its Spoils Belcher. They often just play Empty the Warrens for 6-20 tokens and win turn 2-4. Too bad we win turn 1.
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Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
Only if you know your craft well. Playing SI is like manipulating clay. You have to practice quite a bit before you can sculpt without the clay drying up, falling apart, or melting in your hands. But when all goes well, its really is a beautiful sight. I've had people's jaws drop to the floor after completing a spell chain. Unfortunately, nobody has ever asked me to do it again.
U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
Well crafted deck and well written primer. I look forward to watching this go off over and over, while learning to play it.
Good name too, the SI was one of those things in history that you just look at and go wtf just happened
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
My Decks, past, present, and future:
RGVial GoblinsRG
GNO ElvesG
RRed Deck WinsR
BGRPact SIBGR
Also, I feel its better to answer your question in a vague way. Going into a thread and asking 'how do you play against your deck?' is a pretty dick thing to do. Figure it out or at least pretend like you are playing combo.
U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
My Decks, past, present, and future:
RGVial GoblinsRG
GNO ElvesG
RRed Deck WinsR
BGRPact SIBGR
I think you can play in the following manner :
Remove Guide (G), Grant for Bayou, Tap Bayou (BG), Cabal Ritual (BBB), LED, Pact for Slithermuse, Sac LED in response (UBBBB depending), Evoke Slithermuse and draw 5-7 cards with B remaining for a ritual.
Then tutoring a Manamorphose makes you loose 2 mana, and we're pretty tight on mana already...
It might have been safer to wait till turn 2. Mox (Witness), Bayou, Tutor something, another Pact perhaps (depends on what you draw after).
Anyway, that aside, I'll agree with you that I will sometimes mulligan into oblivion. Perhaps not that often, but still more then I'd like.
Also, you claim 60% turn 1 wins. But what's turn 2 win%? Turn 3%? Never? Mulligan frequency? Also, if the opponent does have a FoW/Duress, and uses it correctly, what becomes of these %?
This doesn't work.
Sometimes it's better to just play a land, swarm, and pass the turn instead of trying to go all in on T1. Getting an extra land drop or even just an untap of a bayou is a really big deal. Not to mention the extra card.
a) Diabloic Intent is somewhat clunky. The lack of free dudes means that you have to use basically two cards (an ESG/Creature, ESG/Pact, or Pact/Pact) then two mana to get an arbitrary tutor. In practice this is difficult. This barrier to actually getting critters out also affects Culling the Weak.
b) A lot of times I get stuck with a fetchland I can't get rid of and this prevents Infernal Tutor from getting Hellbent.
c) The list can definitely go off T1, but it aches and groans to get there, especially on the play.
d) Slithermuse is awesome.
e) I'm bad and my issues are almost certainly pilot error.
Being a control player by practice, I definitely think that the deck's configuration post-board is pretty nightmarish and would not want to face that package (which is what drove me to experiment with it0.
If you could pact for slithermuse this deck would probably be over the top since a 0 mana tutor for a storm engine is pretty great with LED especially all it would take would be 3 cards and those 3 would be land, pact, and LED and you could combo out or the land could be petal or any IMS to get things rolling turn 1 with a draw 7 which has a high chance of drawing more IMS's and business spells even with 0 mana floating. But back on topic.
SI isn't the most consistent combo deck out there and you have to dedicate yourself to learning the deck and learning how to mulligan when you have bad hands. If you keep getting bad hands from mulligans, either your build of the deck is bad or you are a truly unlucky person and should play another deck that is more consistent than this one. Combo decks CAN fizzle, even ANT could fizzle from 20 life when they cast AN.
Also this deck is very tight when it comes to mana so spending 2 mana to get another morphose would be a mistake mid combo unless you have a great abundance of mana at which point you should be winning anyways because you have so much mana to combo out and so much business spells in the MD.
I have also found diabolic intent to be kind of lackluster in goldfishing today when you cannot get a creature out in play to use it with same with culling the weak. If only there was a green kobold that cost 0 mana other than dryad arbor....or any green creature that costed 0 mana for that matter because it would be AMAZING in this deck as a 1 of or more. *sigh* Maybe I should stop trying to force the turn 1 wins unless they are absolutely there in my opening hand with a low chance of fizzling mid combo because dying to pact during the upkeep is bad.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Green Kobold? Try using Skyshroud Cutter. You need a land in play, but if you do, the 6 life is trivial as the deck normally tendrils for 30+ when it goes off. I found Diabolic Intent to be great as a 2 of. It can fetch anything in the deck, namely, LEDs.
If you find yourself dying too much, play more conservatively until you can work your way up to fast wins.
Also, now that I have people who are willing to test lists... I put together a Living Wish list a while back. The idea was, you could use it to find Magus of the Moon and shut down decks without basics right away. Pulpficition played it in Belcher and it worked pretty well. It also gives you access to Slithermuse, Kobolds, Xantid Swarm, etc. Lots of options. You can even break some LEDs --> Turn 1 Multani, Maro Sorcerer. Shroud fatty = awesome. If anyone is willing to work on this list, let me know.
U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
Also, in regard to the hands you posted above. The MWS shuffler really does shuffle horribly. Its sad. Try putting some proxies into sleeves and play around with it IRL. I find it much easier to get good hands.
U Solidarity U
Luck is a residue of design.
I'm an aspiring Psychedelic Trance musician. Please feel free to enjoy my sense of life:
http://soundcloud.com/vacrix
Currently Playing:
Retired
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
Also ghekon maybe replace a meditate with a cruel bargain? I'm no expert on the SI variant known as QSI by any means but it seems better because when comboing off you have infinite black mana while you have very little blue mana unless you get a lot of lands in play and draw a lot of moxen and petals. This might be why but I really like the end of their turn, cast meditate so you can go off with 11 card sin hand next turn you take or they counter it, leaving an opening for you to storm out and win. As for not drawing the tendrils, it could be bad luck since you are playing 3 you should reasonably see one after 2 draw 4's. I don't really have an explanation for that though other than bad luck.
Currently Playing:
Retired