MTG Salvation

The list above is about as recent as it gets. Nobody wants to discuss this deck very much outside of the amulet of vigor, sadly

You could build a mono U tron varient. With tolaria west you can find your tron or a pact. You would want to be able to find hive mind all the time, which may or may not be an issue. It sounds like a budget version, but one that could actually do well.

I dunno if it's been mentioned in the history of anyone playing Hive Mind, Gifts Ungiven or both, but I had the damnedest moment of realization today:

Gifts Ungiven for:
Hive Mind, arbitrary Pact that the opponent can't pay for, Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Revival.

I wanted to run this by you guys, is that a sufficient condensation of a Hive Mind combo into the form of a Gifts payload to threaten a win state with?

That's cool as all heck. Love it.

Quote from DotMatrix »

I dunno if it's been mentioned in the history of anyone playing Hive Mind, Gifts Ungiven or both, but I had the damnedest moment of realization today:

Gifts Ungiven for:
Hive Mind, arbitrary Pact that the opponent can't pay for, Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Revival.

I wanted to run this by you guys, is that a sufficient condensation of a Hive Mind combo into the form of a Gifts payload to threaten a win state with?

Ok, this is a great idea.

I tested up a couple of versions of the hive mind / gifts deck and it just didn't feel as strong as other options. In a dedicated combo shell, it felt like 4 mana to set up to win a turn or 2 later wasn't all that strong and in a control shell, the deck just got too diluted and felt like it should just be either 4c gifts or American Control. Just my personal experiences. If people want me to post the versions I tried so that they can tweak them and try to find a better build, I can post them.

All in all. I was really excited by this concept, but it didn't feel as strong in practice as I had hoped.

i would run 4 ethereal usher because it's better than any other search engine card. all we need are the cards for the combo, and ramp, so maybe 3 tolaria west

Quote from DotMatrix »

I dunno if it's been mentioned in the history of anyone playing Hive Mind, Gifts Ungiven or both, but I had the damnedest moment of realization today:

Gifts Ungiven for:
Hive Mind, arbitrary Pact that the opponent can't pay for, Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Revival.

I wanted to run this by you guys, is that a sufficient condensation of a Hive Mind combo into the form of a Gifts payload to threaten a win state with?

? could yo explain this please?

With Gifts Ungiven you search your deck for up to four cards with differnt names, an opponenet chooses two of the cards to put in your hand, and the other two go to the grave. With the setup mentioned above, no matter what is put in the grave you can stil play it, there by nearly taking away the choices from you person sitting across from you.

oh. Thanks.

Since there hasn't been a post in this thread for, well, quite a long time, is this deck pretty much dead in the water? I only ask because a couple of my friends encountered a couple of versions of this deck at a recent tourney, and I was curious as to if it is still viable or not.

The deck is not dead fellow friends!

I run Ad Nauseam in Modern and Manaless Dredge in Legacy, so all I want is a non-interactive combo deck. Amulet Bloom and Grishoalbrand dont' interest me because I want a ''get the combo and win the game'' deck, which can be the case most of the time with the combo in these two decks, but not always. UR Storm and Bogles are absolutely non-interactive as well, but the first one is played by my friend (so I can borrow the deck) and the later is very boring (no offense).

I've been thinking about the Hive Mind combo for a while and I want to make it something. From now on, it's my deck to go on with testing in order to bring it to another level. Here's what I'm up to right now:


I'm really basing my deck building on Ad Nauseam. So for the combo, I want the same number of pieces :
* 4 Hive Mind being the 4 Ad Nauseam.
* 4 Pact of Negation and 4 Pact of the Titan being the 4 Angel's Grace and 3 Phyrexian Unlife.
* 2 Ethereal Usher and 1 Tolaria West being the 3 Spoils of the Vault.

Also, the same acceleration and cantrips:
* 4 Simian Spirit Guide.
* 4 Pentad Prism.
* 4 Lotus Bloom.
* 4 Serum Visions.
* 4 Sleight of Hand.

There are 5 flex spots in the mainboard I think, which are:
* 3 Gitaxian Probe could become 3 Anticipate.
* 2 Izzet Charm (which almost seems like a sure thing).

About the mana base, there is probably some of you frowning about the 4 Temple of Epiphany, but hold on, here's the explanation: as in Ad Nauseam, I think the deck needs to dig for the combo and scrying is a part of it.

The sideboard could change if needed (there's still 1 flex spot), but what is though when playing a combo deck (non-interactive over that) is hand disruption and counterspells, so I based my sideboard on this fact in order to protect the combo with things such as Dispel, Mana Leak and Spell Pierce. The rest of it is based on the most prevalent deck in the meta in order to have something to disrupt them. The 3 Gitaxian Probe and the 2 Izzet Charm are the most susceptible to be taken out for something in the sideboard.

Let me know what you think and if any of you are still out there testing this deck out, please share your thoughts and results here!

Cheers!

I've been testing tonight : 0-3. Report and major thoughts about the deck.

Report:
0-2 twice against UR Storm and 1-2 against Affinity. 4 out of the 6 loses were by a turn, meaning that I had everything in hand the turn after (the combo and the mana needed to go off). So I figured the deck needed ways to stay alive, so instead of going UR, UW is the way to go. New build for the upcoming testing:



In the mainboard:
1) Still 4 Hive Mind and 2 Ethereal Usher for tutoring (6 halves of the combo) ; 4 Pact of Negation, 4 Pact of the Titan, 2 Pact of Intervention and 1 Tolaria West for tutoring (11 halves of the combo).
2) Same acceleration and cantrips : 4 Simian Spirit Guide, 4 Pentad Prism, 4 Lotus Bloom, 4 Serum Visions, 4 Sleight of Hand.
3) Ways to stay alive : 4 Angel's Grace and 2 Intervention Pact.
4) Mana base is fixed up to be UW with some scrying effects (Temple of Enlightenment) for digging.

In the sideboard:
1) 3 Holy Day for extra protection.
2) 2 Silence when we combo off against control.
3) 1 Echoing Truth to bounce things that are dangerous or even creatures / planeswalker.

It's a major turnaround for the deck, but I prefer this one very much as it can survive longer games while being still able to get the combo with cantrips and such. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Cheers!

Quote from TomCourtenay »

I've been testing tonight : 0-3. Report and major thoughts about the deck.

Report:
0-2 twice against UR Storm and 1-2 against Affinity. 4 out of the 6 loses were by a turn, meaning that I had everything in hand the turn after (the combo and the mana needed to go off). So I figured the deck needed ways to stay alive, so instead of going UR, UW is the way to go. New build for the upcoming testing:

Figurative's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures (6) 4 Simian Spirit Guide 2 Ethereal Usher Spells (34) 4 Angel's Grace 4 Hive Mind 4 Lotus Bloom 4 Pact of Negation 4 Pact of the Titan 4 Pentad Prism 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 2 Intervention Pact	Lands (20) 4 Flooded Strand 4 Hallowed Fountain 3 Island 3 Temple of Enlightenment 3 Glacial Fortress 2 Plains 1 Tolaria West	Sideboard (15) 3 Holy Day 2 Dispel 2 Kor Firewalker 2 Hurkyl's Recall 2 Silence 1 Echoing Truth 1 Mana Leak 1 Slaughter Pact 1 Spell Pierce

In the mainboard:
1) Still 4 Hive Mind and 2 Ethereal Usher for tutoring (6 halves of the combo) ; 4 Pact of Negation, 4 Pact of the Titan, 2 Pact of Intervention and 1 Tolaria West for tutoring (11 halves of the combo).
2) Same acceleration and cantrips : 4 Simian Spirit Guide, 4 Pentad Prism, 4 Lotus Bloom, 4 Serum Visions, 4 Sleight of Hand.
3) Ways to stay alive : 4 Angel's Grace and 2 Intervention Pact.
4) Mana base is fixed up to be UW with some scrying effects (Temple of Enlightenment) for digging.

In the sideboard:
1) 3 Holy Day for extra protection.
2) 2 Silence when we combo off against control.
3) 1 Echoing Truth to bounce things that are dangerous or even creatures / planeswalker.

It's a major turnaround for the deck, but I prefer this one very much as it can survive longer games while being still able to get the combo with cantrips and such. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Cheers!

This looks like a cool new take on a deck most consider dead. However, what advantages does this have over something like Ad Naus?

I'm an Ad Nauseam player at heart : it is by far my most favorite deck and the thing I like the most about Magic. To me, Hive Mind is another way to play something like Ad Nauseam : unfair, non-interactive combo deck. So, I'd say that briefly, the disadvantages of Hive Mind over Ad Nauseam are these:
1) Can't go off at instant speed.
2) Even if the combo resolves, the mana cost of the pacts spent could be paid (I've played against Storm and with some ritual, the player was able to pay the mana needed for the pact).

Similar things to Ad Nauseam:
1) Same mana cost needed to go off (six mana with a Pact of the Titan or any other pacts and seven with a cantrip and Pact of Negation).
2) Same acceleration (4 Simian Spirit Guide, 4 Pentad Prism, 4 Lotus Bloom and same cantrips (4 Serum Visions and 4 Sleight of Hand) to dig for the combo.
3) Protection to stay alive with 4 Angel's Grace and 2 Intervention Pact (as well as 3 Holy Day in the sideboard).
4) Consistent turn 3 and very consistent turn 4 combo.

Advantages over Ad Nauseam:
1) More combo pieces : 4 Hive Mind and 2 Ethereal Usher for tutoring (6 halves of the combo when compared to 4 Ad Nauseam and now 3 Spoils of the Vault) as well as 4 Pact of Negation, 4 Pact of the Titan, 2 Pact of Intervention and 1 Tolaria West for tutoring (11 halves of the combo when compared to 4 Angel's Grace and 2 or 3 Phyrexian Unlife). Ad Nauseam is consistent, but this is really consistent with these numbers!
2) More protection : the 4 Pact of Negation can be used to protect the combo and there is a control package in the sideboard to make sure the combo resolves or to disrupt the opponent's gameplan (a bit more interaction than Ad Nauseam if needed or wanted with 2 Dispel, 1 Spell Pierce and 1 Mana Leak).
3) A sideboard that is configured to face the major decks in Modern : 2 Anger of the Gods to deal with heavy creatures deck, 2 Kor Firewalker to deal with Burn, 2 Hurkyl's Recall to deal with Affinity and 2 Silence to deal with control decks (as well as the small control package I've covered before) against control deck that want to stop us from comboing off.

Cheers!

Okay, so after goldfishing, I found that the mana base was a strain : having 4 Flooded Strand and 4 Hallowed Fountain can hurt the deck too much, just as in Ad Nauseam. I changed things around and updated the mana base as well as the mainboard:



In the mainboard and the sideboard:
1) -1 Pact of Negation for 1 Slaughter Pact. The reason is that both of them need a legal target, but at least Slaughter Pact can deal with creatures, so 3 Pact of Negation is a good control package to protect the combo.
2) -1 Spell Pierce, -1 Slaughter Pact and -2 Kor Firewalker for 4 Leyline of Sanctity : just to make sure we don't die to disruption or Burn.

Mana base:
1) 4 Gemstone Mine doing it all : they give us any color needed (blue or white) and they almost never get sacrified (turn 4 combo). If Slaughter Pact or Pact of the Titan resolves but don't kill the opponent and we don't have an Angel's Grace or some Pentad Prism/Simian Spirit Guide, then we can pay for it.
2) 4 Seachrome Coast because we're a turn 4 deck.
3) 4 Temple of Enlightenment to keep digging for the needed pieces.
4) 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea as a drawing engine.

What I'm considering:
1) Wear // Tear in place of Hurkyl's Recall.
2) Test Supreme Verdict maybe.

The list is getting closer and closer to be ready for a tournament, which could happen very soon. Thoughts and feedback about the deck would be appreciated!

Cheers!

Okay, so I went 3-1 tonight in playtesting against Affinity (1-1), UR Storm (2-0). I think it went better than it should, mostly because the mana base felt a bit uncomfortable. The 4 Gemstone Mine were okay, but in a UW shell, I overestimated how useful they could be. They need to be cut and the 4 Flooded Strand should be back as well as 3 Hallowed Fountain : to avoid the strain, fetch for basics!

Overall, the mainboard is pretty stock to me : I still have to figure out what to side out, which is a puzzle at the moment. However, I want to try this out the next time (so a new manabase):


The mana base is always changing and I know it. I'm still going through the process of getting it right, but I guess after all this testing, it comes to what should be best : 4 Flooded Strand are necessary to thin out the deck and get a dual if needed. 4 Seachrome Coast is the optimal number of fastland (I run 4 also in Ad Nauseam to great success, 8 in total when combined to 4 Darkslick Shores). A 2/2 split between Glacial Fortress and Temple of Enlightenment is sweet : some scrying and also some check lands.

Cheers!

Update on the list. It really is stock, but I'm always messing with the mana base...



Main reason for the change is that a shuffle-less version is way more consistent with 4 Serum Vision and 4 Sleight of Hand. Strangely, I'd say 4 Temple of Enlightenment is pretty good as it can be a great turn 1 card (or even turn 2 with no Pentad Prism).

The manabase feels better than ever because I hate fetching and shocking myself in a non-interactive combo deck : with two colours only, no need for that. 4 Island, 4 Seachrome Coast, 4 Temple of Enlightenment, 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All, 1 Gemstone Caverns, 1 Plains and 1 Tolaria West is the core of the mana base. There are 4 mana flex spot, which I now fill with Gemstone Mine, which is good after severall testings. But, I could see a split with anything such as:
- Adarkar Wastes
- Glacial Fortress
- Calciform Pools

I'm also going to test another version, which could be a bit better, but more unstable :



Here, the 4 Temple of Enlightenment become more relevant because of only 2 Sleight of Hand. Further testing will confirm which version is better.

Cheers!

why this deck is no longer popular? I think with ban Summer Bloom (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/january-18-2016-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2016-01-18) it would come to life again

Any update on this deck UW hive mind? Been wanting to build this deck wonder if it competes well with modern meta nowadays.

necrobump but gideon of the trials gives this deck a hilarious alternate wincon by being a permanent angel's grace. abusing pacts makes it more fun than a typical ad naus deck which is what its most similar to. watch out for abrupt decay!