The legacy format is one that is constantly changing. Because of this, the primer here is in need of some updating. If you want to take over this primer or write up a new one please contact me.
I. Introduction
-What is Cephalid Breakfast?
-The History of Cephalid Breakfast
II. Card Pool and Explanations
-The Core
-Searches and Cantrips
-Protection
-The Sideboard
III. Deck Lists
-Original Lists and Evolution
-Example Lists for each win con
-Personal Opinions
-Budget Lists
IV. How to Play Cephalid Breakfast
-Comboing Out
-Board Awareness
-Common Threats
-How to Cabal Therapy
-How to Cantrip and Search Effectively and Safely
-Example Hands and Plays
V. Matchups
VI. Videos
VII. Additional Reading
VII. Updates and Edits Log
I. Introduction
What is Cephalid Breakfast? Cephalid Breakfast is a creature based combo deck that works to achieve victory through a series of interactions between the cards Cephalid Illusionist and Nomads en-kor, as well as others. The combo works like so-
- Because damage is not required to actually use the activated ability of Nomads en-kor, you are allowed to target any creature with his ability any number of times, at any time.
- By choosing to target Cephalid illusionist with nomads en-kor an arbitrary number of times it is possible to mill every single card in your deck to your graveyard.
- After the milling occurs a number of Narcomoeba will hit the field.
- Using the Narcomoeba as fuel for the flashback cost, dread return can be cast from the graveyard targeting a win condition, traditionally a Sutured Ghoul made lethal by Lord of Extinction and hasted by Dragon Breath.
History of the Deck Cephalid Breakfast was first designed as an extended deck way back in late 2004 early 2005 by Javier Dominguez and his team of Spaniards. The deck debuted with a top 16 finish at Pro Tour: Columbus. The story goes that after seeing and playing Lucas Glavin’s deck, Cephalid Life, Javier fell in love with the ability to infinitely target creatures. Javier soon discovered however that Glavin’s deck was too distracted, trying to concentrate on two separate combos at once was too much, as you would constantly find yourself with the combo pieces of 2 separate combos that did nothing together. Javier needed something more mainstream. He needed a deck that knew what it wanted, and got it with force. Enter cephalid breakfast. After its top 16 debut the deck made a few impressive finishes during its time in extended, but was just getting started. As the 2007 legacy worlds rolled around it was clear that cephalid breakfast was one of the main decks to beat in the legacy scene. The deck was representing some of the top players in the world, and performed to most their expectations.
Sometime after worlds though, the deck faded away. It popped up here and there, but was considerably underplayed overall, dropped in favor of faster and more flashy combo decks such as TES. People had forgotten the deck ever existed. However, when the survival madness decks started to invade the format in late 2010 people began to look for combo decks to combat the menace. While most chose either to play tendrils storm decks like ANT or fall to the pressure and play survival madness itself, some noticed the severe lack of removal in the format, and recognized cephalid breakfast as a strong contender.
Now that Survival is banned, we are in a new age of legacy. The format has been broken wide open, and is itching to welcome breakfast back.
II. Card Pool and Explanations
The Core
Nomads En-Kor/Shuko:Combo Piece number one. Because damage is not required to actually use the activated ability of Nomads en-kor, you are allowed to target any creature with his ability any number of times, at any time. Shuko is an alternative to Nomads. It is easier to cast because of the colorless cost and is more difficult for your opponent to remove, but cannot be used at instant speed and is more difficult to search for.
Shamen en kor: Alternative to Nomads. Great for the counterbalance matchup, as it costs two mana to play, thus making it castable if the counter-top package hits the field. Also nice if you are staring down a Pithing needle that is inhibiting Nomads. Usually ran as a "one of" because it can easily be searched for.
Cephalid Illusionist:The Namesake of the deck. When combined with the infinite targeting provided by Nomads this guy allows for the breakfast player to mill his own library entirely.
Dread Return: Allows you to reanimate your win condition by using it's flashback ability off of narcomoeba.
The Searches and Cantrips
Worldly Tutor: Searches for your combo pieces. Alternative to Eladamri’s Call, it costs only one green mana and is instant speed, but puts your target on the top of your deck.
Eladamri’s Call: Searches for your combo pieces. Alternative to Worldly Tutor, As a double color two cost spell, it is harder to cast than its alternative but puts your target in your hand to potentially be cast the same turn.
Vedalken Aethermage: Uncounterable search for Cephalid Illusionist. Though it costs 3 mana to do the search its nice to use this card if your meta is counter spell heavy.
Ponder: One of the best Cantrips in the game. This card searches for combo pieces or protection and is usually used in all builds, regardless of mana base.
Brainstorm:Brainstorm is the best cantrip in the game, so its no surprise that its used in the deck. This card searches for combo pieces or protection and can also serve to put combo pieces that need to be in your graveyard back into your deck. Usually used in builds that run a fetch + duel land base so that its cantripping can be used to maximum effect. Usually replaced by Preordain in builds that run a rainbow land base.
Preordain:This card searches for combo pieces or protection. Usually used in builds that run rainbow lands that can't perform multiple shuffles to maximize the effect of brainstorm. Usually replaced by Brainstorm in builds that run a fetch + duel land base.
Lim Dul's Vault: Used much in the same way as Ponder and the others. Digs deeper and can achieve multiple digs at the cost of life. A great addition to any version of the deck as long as you don't fear the life loss.
Careful Study: Draw power to find combo pieces and protection. Also acts as a discard outlet and gets rid win conditions that you draw into and need in the graveyard.
The Protection
Force of Will: An obvious inclusion to any combo deck, Force of Will Provides protection for your combo from your opponent’s own counter spells or removal at anytime you are tapped out of mana. Great for keeping your opponent from interacting with you during your combo as well as from doing anything particularly nasty during their own turns.
Daze: Used for the same purpose as Force of Will but less often. Only used in builds that run the fetch + duel land base.
Pact of Negation: Often considered a "poor man's" Force of Will, This card has its own advantages in that it does not require another blue card to be cast and does not cause the loss of life. The downside to this card however, is that it usually cannot prevent your opponent from doing potentially harmful plays at any time other than during your combo.
Orhim's Chant: Stops your opponent from casting counterspells or removal on the turn you try to win. Can also be used in the aggro or combo matchups to stay alive just long enough to win. Also a strong sideboard option for your zoo matchup.
Silence: A poor man's version of Orhim's Chant. Serves the same purpose but it cannot delay attacks.
Abeyance: Another alternative to chant. Costs one more than silence but stops guys like Grim Lavamancer from burning a combo piece.
Stern Proctor: An answer to any kind of hate that is present on the board when you want to combo out. Used mostly because he is easily found in a deck running multiple creature searches like worldly tutor.
Aether Vial: Used to flash combo pieces into play so that they cannot get countered. Frees up mana, allows you to get a turn 2 win and acts as a lure to your opponents counter spells if nothing else. This is the key card in your countertop matchup.
Cabal Therapy: Used to protect your dread return and other cards from counterspells or removal. Also be used to discard anything in your hand that needs to be in the graveyard by targeting yourself. A more complex breakdown of how to use the card properly is included later on in the primer.
The Land Base
Savannah, Tropical Island, Tundra, Underground Sea:
Used in varying Numbers based on what you decided to keep main board and what your win con is, these are the optimal lands to choose from.
Breeding Pool , Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb , Temple Garden , Watery Grave:
Poor man's versions of the real duel lands. Because this is a combo deck, the potential life loss of these cards is often negligible.
Gemstone Mine, City of Brass, Tarnished Citadel , Forbidden Orchard, Tendo Ice Bridge:
Rainbow lands usually used in budget versions of the deck. When using a rainbow land base you are limited to sub par brainstorms and no dazes, but have the plus of never having off color mana issues.
Miscellaneous Cards
Bridge from Below: When run, Bridge from Below is usually used as a "one of" to ensure that all cabal therapies can be used while still having enough fuel for dread return on the same turn. Some win conditions use this card to produce large numbers of zombies through various interactions, which are discussed later on.
Tarmagoyf: Sometimes used in the Sutured Ghoul version of the deck to make ghoul lethal and serve as an alternate win con, this card has fallen out of favor in modern versions of the deck for Lord of Extinction, who take up less slots, allowing for more searches and protection to be used main board.
The Win Conditions
Sutured Ghoul, Dragons breath and Lord of Extinction/Tarmagoyf:
This is the traditional and most popular win condition for the deck. After Comboing out the player uses 3 narcomeoba to fuel dread return. Sutured Ghoul is reanimated and, because thier power and toughness abilities are active in any zone, eating the Lord of Extinction or Tarmagoyf in the graveyard will make him lethal size. Upon entering the field, Dragons Breath will be equipped straight from the graveyard because its cool like that, allowing for a hasted swing with a lethal fatty with trample.
Karmic Guide, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and Pestermite/Sky Hussar:
This Version works much in the same way as the first, but can be considered safer or cleaner for a variety of reasons. After going off in the same way as the first win condition, the player will Dread Return his Karmic Guide, then return Kiki-Jiki into play with the guides ability. When Kiki-Jiki hits the field he is used to make another Karmic Guide, which targets Pestermite to come back into play. Next, the player uses the Pestermite to untap Kiki-Jiki in loop to make infinite Pestermite, which can swing for lethal that turn. when comparing to the sutured ghoul list that runs 4 tarmagoyf, it can be noted that this version’s win con only takes up 3 slots in your deck, 4 if you count Dread Return, and can fly over nasty cards like Moat or Mother of Runes.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Thermopod and Kumano, Master Yamabushi:
This version of the deck is rather uncommon, but still has some tournament success. The deck is milled, until all narcomoeba are onto the field. The first dread return flashes back off of the moeba and grabs Thermopod. Emrakul is milled into the graveyard, forcing the graveyard to be reshuffled into the deck. The deck is milled again, bringing the narcomoeba back onto the field, ready to be used again. this time until Dread Return targets Kumano and brings him onto the field. Any remaining narcomoeba are sacrificed to Thermopod to generate mana. The player repeats the Emrakul shuffle to infinitely recycle the narcomoeba which allows them to generate infinite mana from Thermopod. The mana is used to burn the opponent for infinite damage from Kumano. While this version of the deck ignores the combat phase entirely and happens mostly at instant speed, it can be seen as weaker than its counterparts simply because it requires more spaces in the deck as well as 2 dread returns.
Necrotic Ooze, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Dwarven Strike Force, and Mog Fanatic/Bile Urchin/Death Cultist:
This is a brand new win con that was discovered/constructed here in the posts of this primer by TheRogue and perfected (hopefully) by the rest of the members of the forum. Simply reanimate the Necrotic Ooze in the same way as the other win cons. Ooze gains the abilities of kiki jiki and the others. The haste ability of dwarven strike force is used to rid your ooze of summoning sickness. Since kiki jiki's ability only specifies that you cannot copy a legendary creature, ooze can copy himself, generating infinite ooze. All the ooze that you create however, will be tapped. This is where the abilities of Mog fanatic or whomever else you chose comes into play, simply create infinite copies of your ooze and sac them for infinite damage. This version of the deck Ignores the attack step and goes off entirely at instant speed, which means it runs through a large amount of hate. However, this win con also uses 4 cards, unlike the pestermite version or the ghoul version, which only run 3. This means less slots in the deck for protection and searches, and more chances for dead draws. Just like every other win con, this version has its strengths and its weaknesses.
The Sideboard
As an introductory note, a sideboard is meant to be constructed based on a specific meta, don't just copy a sideboard I present and think it will get you to top 8. using my suggestions, build your own board based on what you know you will be playing against.
Choices Choices Choices
Duress: Helps control combo decks that are faster than your own. Can also be used to remove threats such as Counter spells or removal. Side in against ANT, Belcher, Standstill varients and other decks you feel it will help against.
Thoughtseize: Serves a similar purpose as Duress, but can also hit creature threats.
Meddling Mage: The perfect silver bullet. This guy at his best stops Force of Will or Path to Exile and at his worst eats a counterspell for you. You can tutor mage with most of your searches, making him a perfect fit for the deck.
Way of Revelation: Used against prison decks like stax, standstill varients and enchantress. Usually used as a "two of" that can be used when drawn into as well as after you have comboed out.
Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares: If used, path is usually boarded in against goblins to deal with goblin lackey turn one or a lethal goblin piledriver. The card can also be used on troublesome Meddling Mages or Peace Keppers. Whether you choose Swords or Path depends entirely on your win condition and whether the life gain from swords is relevant.
Orhim's Chant: Already mentioned as a mainboard option for the deck. Acts as protection and is amazing in the zoo matchup.
Abeyance: Also already mentioned. Serves the same purpose as Silence but can be used to stop the abilities of troublesome creatures as well.
Echoing Truth: Stern Proctor in instant form. Can't be tutored as easily but can target creatures and bounce more than one threat.
Crippling Fatigue: Used after comboing out to kill any hate bears keeping you from winning.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: Though relatively expensive in terms of mana, this guy can really help a matchup against zoo or something similar. Stops removal form hitting your combo pieces.
In most metas you will run into some kind of graveyard based deck like dredge, Lands.dec, aggro loam or the one this primer is dedicated to. Because of this its good to have some graveyard hate in your board. Usually, 4 cards will be fine, especially with all the cantrips and searches that cephalid breakfast runs. Dredge sometimes uses pithing needle for anti-hate, so having an inconsistent number of each graveyard hate card makes it harder for them to answer the hate. A typical graveyard hate package could look something like this.
However, this graveyard package is actually sub par for a breakfast deck. why? The graveyard package presented is nice yes, but is not synergistic with the deck. While tormods crypt is probably fine because of its 0 casting cost, spellbomb and relic can be replaced by Yixlid Jailer simply because he is able to be grabbed by a tutor and is also on color. Another option is ravenous trap, because dredge has no answer to it besides forcing you to use it by naming it with cabal therapy and its usually free for you. An ideal graveyard hate package would look something like this...
From here, you can have 2 choices for the skeleton of the rest of the sideboard. You can decide to go with the basic sideboard that most decks would use, or you can choose to use a sideboard that completely changes the decks win condition in games 2 and 3 to a painter/grindestone kill. This is done simply because in games 2 and 3 your opponent will be bringing in graveyard hate or other hate relevant to your first win con and switching win cons can net you a win simply by using the surprise factor.
Evolution
The deck has gone through quite a bit of changes over the years. Back when it was in extended, the deck would have looked something like this.
Later on however, A rulings change would change the deck forever. It was decided by wizards that characteristic defining abilities like that of tarmagoyf are defined no matter what zone they are in, including the graveyard. This meant that Goyf could be used to beef up Ghoul, and a magic relationship was born. During 2007 the deck would have looked something like this...
Since 2007 pilots of the deck have realized the inconsistencies goyf presents to the deck as well as new and improved win conditions. Thus, we have the modern versions of Cephalid Breakfast.
Budget Lists
Something really cool about this deck is that forming a budget version is actually not that difficult and really doesn't hurt the strength of the deck all that much. Budget versions of the deck will cost anywhere between $150-250 depending on how you construct it.
There are mainly 2 ways to construct Budget Breakfast, The rainbow land version and the Shock land version.
The rainbow versions are usually faster and cheaper than the shock land versions, but are also much less consistent and run much less protection.
I have conducted extensive testing on this deck. As I write this primer I am learning more and more about this archetype, even after playing it for a decent amount of time. All the information I have gathered while doing all this writing and testing has resulted in me arriving at a number of conclusion. They are as follows.
-The inclusion of Tarmogoyf is just not meant to be. Breakfast is a combo deck, not a beatdown deck. Trying to transform it into one halfway through the game just makes it a deck of all trades, but master of none, even if using the goyf as a "backup plan". Whats worse is that Tarmogoyf take up a ridiculous 4 slots in the deck, just to buff up Sutured Ghoul. Combo decks must, without question, be streamlined and dedicated, and this card accomplishes neither goal.
-The inclusion of Stifle and Dreadnaught is just as bad. While these cards provide a clever alternative to your main plan, they just occupy too many valuable slots, ultimately slowing down a potential Ghoul. If your opponent has the resources to stop your Ghoul plan, then he almost certainly has them to stop a Dreadnaught switch.
-Sutured Ghoul Just does not cut it anymore. Sure, hes flashy, but that's about it. He is without a doubt the easiest of all the win cons to stop. One Swords to plowshares, one moat, one elephant grass, one peacekeeper all stop him, and I could go on. Ghoul was good while he lasted, but sticking to tradition causes the deck to fall to sub par levels. There is no reason to run ghoul when there are win cons that exist that take up less slots in the deck, occur at instant speed and ignore a multitude of hate cards that ghoul does not.
While all of this is just my opinion, I would like to think that my opinion matters at least a little bit, otherwise I would not have put so much time and effort into this primer.
Comboing Out
In order to Combo out correctly and safely in order to ensure a win, the breakfast player must follow these basic guidelines.
1. Pay attention to the whats on the board. Board awareness can mean the difference between smacking your opponent for infinite damage, or looking like a fool when your nomads en-kor gets shot by a Grim Lavamancer the second he hits the field. Look at all their permanents. Do they have an untapped white or red mana source? If so, expect a swords to Plowshares or Lightning Bolt. Are there any threats on the board currently? Attempting to combo out when Grim Lavamancer or humility is on the field really doesn't work out. Try to know what is on the field that poses a threat to your combo and try and get rid of it before you attempt to combo out.
3. How to Cabal Therapy
When playing This deck it should be noted that every single game should involve the use of BOTH cabal therapies BEFORE you cast your dread return from the graveyard. If the therapies are not targeting you in order to remove needed win cons, they need to target your opponent in order to protect the win cons. What you name with the therapy will usually be one of the "hate" cards mentioned above, but really depends entirely on what kind of deck you are facing.
If it is game one and you don't know what you are facing, check the land base. If there are blue producing lands then you will name force of will. If there is a zoo land base, name Path to exile, if there is a mainly black land base, name smother or Edict, if you see a badlands or mountains you are most likely facing goblins, whose only interaction with you is Gempalm Incinerator.
After your first therapy, which hopefully hit something, you should know what other potential threats exist in your opponents hand and you should be able to get them with your second therapy.
Note that it is not illegal to write down what you see in your opponents hand after casting therapy. If you play the card through the course of the game, write down everything you see and cross it off one by one as your opponent plays it, that way when its time to combo out, you have a better idea of whether or not you can protect it because you know a few of the cards that are still in your opponents hand.
If you have NO idea what your opponent is playing, name force of will.
3. How to Cantrip and Search Effectively and Safely
Knowing how to cantrip and search effectively and Safely can mean the difference between a loss and a win. Here are a few pointers.
- When playing with brainstorm and fetchlands don't forget that the fetchlands produce a shuffle effect for you. It is a very powerful play to play brainstorm, grab what you need and then crack a fetch afterwords to shuffle away everything you didn't want. This can be used as a way to eliminate turns of dead draws that brainstorm sees, as well as help to dig through the deck more effectively.
- When playing Worldly Tutor and Eladamri's call it is good to play the spells at the end phase of your opponents turn. This way, you can respond to discard spells by playing worldly, so your combo piece is safe. Waiting until your opponents end phase allows you to change any tool boxing decisions based on any plays they made during their turn as well. The end phase of your opponents turn is also the time when a spell is most likely to resolve. Though it is not always the best play to cast the spell during your opponents turn, more often than not, it is. Brainstorm is also a great card to play on your opponents end phase.
-Don't forget while cantripping that you are not only looking for combo pieces, but also cards to protect them, depending on the match up.
Turn 1: set your fetchland. On your opponents end phase fetch a land that can tap for green and then use worldly tutor to search up cephalid illusionist.
Turn 2. Draw illusionist, set your other fetchland and end. At the end phase of your opponenets turn brainstorm then fetch again either then or at the beginning of your turn, depending on what brainstorm saw.
Turn 1: You don't know what type of deck you are up against. Your choices are as follows. Set the turn one tundra, Ponder into searches and combo pieces or play the turn one vial. Alternatively, you can place the Misty for fear of a turn one wasteland by the opponent. I chose to Play the vial off of a basic Island that my Misty Fetched, if it gets countered, that's one less counter that I have to worry about and they cant follow up with a wasteland on my basic, so little tempo is lost.
Turn 2: Assuming Vial sticks, it goes to one. Draw into a Polluted Delta. Play it, and fetch for a Tropical Island. Play one of the Ponders off of the basic island. It sees a worldly tutor, which you grab. End turn and tutor at their end for nomads.
Turn 3: Vial stays at one. Draw into nomads. Set the tundra. Play the Orhim's Chant off the tundra, your only white source and reason vial stayed at one. Play illusionist with no fear. vial in nomads and win.
IV. Matchups
Rated as Bad-Fair-Good
Goblins- Good- You are just plain faster than them. A turn one aether vial on their end really never matters. A turn one goblin lackey can hurt, but as long as you play smart you will do fine. Usually their only instant speed removal that has potential to disrupt the combo is gempalm incinerator, however, most of the time the goblin player will be tapping out in an attempt to fill up his field and out race you. In any event, your cabal therapies should be targeting the gempalms, and sometimes goblin piledriver if you fear a lethal swing. Game 2 you should sideboard in removal like swords to plowshares to deal with turn one lackey or a large goblin pile driver as well as Orhim's chant to slow them down and stop large swings. echoing truth is also an option.
Enchantress- Good- As long as you are not running the sutured ghoul win con this matchup is a breeze. Sure, they can put down an elephant grass on turn one or two, but if you are running the Kumano or Ooze win con, it doesn't matter. The only card you have to worry about is solitary confinement, which can be answered game one with a tutored stern proctor or wispmare. In games 2 and 3 be ready to get hit by ground seals and Wheel of sun and moon. Sideboard out your pact of negations, they do nothing for you, 1 or 2 silence can come out as well. Bring in Way of revelation, echoing truth and the like. If you need to, you can hard cast the way of revelation, then use it, and any more that you brought in, after you combo out by flashing them back. Echoing truth helps by clearing away the annoying double sterling grove trick that they can pull off from time to time.
Merfolk- Fair- The good thing about this matchup is that most merfolk decks run zero removal, so you can play your combo pieces in separate turns without having to worry, which can speed up your wins. however, they run so many counterspells that winning a counter war is almost impossible. Play your combo pieces with open mana to play around daze and if you run silence, use it as bait to lure out spell pierce. without spell pierces in their hand, you have a better chance of winning a counter war. If you play aether vial, do everything you can to get it down. If vial hits, their only option is to try and counter your searches, so you will have a high chance of winning the match. Game 2 should include siding in more protection like duress and anything else you think may be useful as bait to lure out their counterspells.
CounterTop Varients- Bad- Very hard match to win. If they get the countertop package going your only chance is to bounce the counterbalance with echoing truth or stern proctor and win any counter wars that ensue on the same turn as you try and combo out. Vial will play a huge role in the matchup if you run it, as well as Shamen en-kor, which, as a 2 cost, makes the counter top synergy less effective. sideboard in Duress and the like to try and protect your combo and keep the counterbalance from hitting the field.
Dreadstill- Bad- This is also a rough matchup. The mainboard stifle really hurt your combo, not to mention the large number of counterspells and the counter-top package. Having Aether vial is extremely useful in this matchup. In games 2 and 3 board in Swords to plowshares if you have it, as well as Way of revelation and/or ancient grudge. Way can hit the counterbalances and Grudge can hit any Phyrexian Dreadnoughts that hit the field. Try to lure out their counterspells and play around daze. If you play smart, you can win the match.
While a little dated, the article “Cephalid Breakfast: Its design and how to play it” by Javier Dominguez has a nice look at the history of the deck, as well as a few pointers from the creator himself.
An article by MTGSali’s very own StevieT92 titled “The year of the rogue decks”, while also a little dated, talks of another option on how milling yourself infinitely can actually net you a win, as well as combining breakfast with another legacy combo deck known simply as “life”.
Though dated. This article titled "Unlocking Legacy- Breakfast of champions" by Adam Barnello talks about the deck, its power, specific cards like Lim Dul's Vault and even goes into some match-up analysis.
VII. Updates and Edits Log
3-12-2011 - 3-13-2011: Major changes to the layout and wording of the primer. Added sideboard options list, table of contents, history of the deck, evolution of the deck and lists, opinions on optimal list construction, and a how to play the deck section, as well as countless other changes.
3-17-2011: Fixed some errors in spelling and references. Added a "How to Cantrip and Search Effectively and Safely" sub section.
3-19-2011: Fixed some Spelling errors and added another sample hand to the sample hands section.
wow this deck looks insane. Feels like Dredge though, so, what does this deck have over Dredge decks?
Much faster. This is a 2 card combo deck, which means a turn 1or turn 2 win is possible. Also, it runs much more protection in the form of counterspells and it is less vunerable to graveyard hate, expecially in post board games.
How is this able to go off turn 1? Or do you mean that the set up only takes 1 turn normally? Dredge generally goes off turn 3, with 2 as a pretty good possibility.
If you're using Emrakul wouldn't using flame-kin zealot/madrush cyclops over thermopod/kumano not be more efficient. Infinite 1/1 flying haste tokens equals instant win but one less slot. Its also not susceptible to leyline of sanctity.
How is this able to go off turn 1? Or do you mean that the set up only takes 1 turn normally? Dredge generally goes off turn 3, with 2 as a pretty good possibility..
Depending on how you construct the deck, mana accelerators like lotus petal or chrome mox allow for turn one kills if you have the hand for it.
@capitacom: you are missunderstanding how the combo works. You don't get infinite narcos, you use emrakuls graveyard trigger to infinitly recycle the ones that hit the graveyard after being sacced. At most you will only have 4 on the feild at a time.
@Alfiriel: if you look at the top 8's provided, each list is recent by up to a month. The deck had been seeing more play during vengevines reign simply because metas lacked the removal they once had and the deck was faster than vengi-survival. Now that survival is banned we will have to see what happens, but we can't ignore the fact that the deck still gets top 8's.
So basically its a less consistent Dredge deck? I mean sure it can win on turn 2. But that's only if you draw the two combo pieces and you aren't disrupted in anyway. Dredge can also this. While the combo looks fun it seems far less competitive than Dredge.
So basically its a less consistent Dredge deck? I mean sure it can win on turn 2. But that's only if you draw the two combo pieces and you aren't disrupted in anyway. Dredge can also this. While the combo looks fun it seems far less competitive than Dredge.
Its a very consistant turn 3 kill, more consistant than dredge. I try to keep opinions inside, butim a dredge player and I enjoy dredge more. However, I have both played and played against this deck and its nothing to laugh at. It is hard to disrupt because of the number of counterspells it plays and its fast. It only needs 2 cards on the field and it wins.
I don't understand how this is any more consistent then stuff like Painter's Stone? I mean you have Force of Will and Daze but both of your pieces of your combo are extremely fragile. Any creature removal and countermagic just beats you. I'm open to new ideas but I just want to know how this is more consistent than dredge when most of your cards are just dead without the combo.
Once again I'm a dredge pilot, so my opinion is biased for dredge. However, I feel the need to defend the deck to some point. I think something we are missing is that this deck IS NOT dredge. In fact, its NOTHING like dredge. I have piloted it, though not very many times, and it plays much more like belcher or tes. The deck is not constructed so that its pieces can do things by themselves, it is consructed with the goal to combo out, every card in the deck is either a combo piece, something to search out a combo piece or something to protect the combo. Thinking based on these giudlines, tes and belcher are the exact same thing. The deck is not meant to play like or be anything like an aggro deck like dredge. It is meant to find its combo pieces sasp, play them safetly and combo out. But I digress.overall we can't agrue with its recent success ir at the least the insane success it had in 2007.
After thinking for a little bit, this deck is extremely susceptible to removal since you do not Dread Return back creatures like Iona or have high threat numbers like FKZ. Cabal Therapy becomes even more important as a result. I feel that you more or less have to use up 2 Therapies just to be sure your opponent can not do anything. And given that decks like Zoo can answer the Kiki combo with 3-4 different spells, it seems like it is actually only more resilient against decks like Solitaire where they try to resolve a quick moat. Also, Elephant Grass is devastating against all configurations except Kumano.
Also, maybe you should add Dragon Fangs or Dragon Wings to ensure evasion if you are running Lord of Extinction, since it requires the least cards.
After thinking for a little bit, this deck is extremely susceptible to removal since you do not Dread Return back creatures like Iona or have high threat numbers like FKZ. Cabal Therapy becomes even more important as a result. I feel that you more or less have to use up 2 Therapies just to be sure your opponent can not do anything. And given that decks like Zoo can answer the Kiki combo with 3-4 different spells, it seems like it is actually only more resilient against decks like Solitaire where they try to resolve a quick moat. Also, Elephant Grass is devastating against all configurations except Kumano.
Also, maybe you should add Dragon Fangs or Dragon Wings to ensure evasion if you are running Lord of Extinction, since it requires the least cards.
Sutured ghoul has trample, so you don't need evasion. He's gonna be a 50/50 trample. Cabal therapy and the free counterspells of the deck are in there for the exact reasons you said. Of course you use the therapies. Any good player would. Before you rez the ghoul you sac a moeba or 2 in order the flashback the therapies in the deck and eliminate any threats, then you continue on winning.
@egyeiger: reading the explanation of the sutured ghoul variation should explain how you win pretty well, but here is an example hand and play.
Pact of negation, nomads en kor, worldly tutor, tundra, brainstorm, misty rainforest, polluted delta.
Turn 1: set your fetchland. On your opponents end phase fetch a land that can tap for green and then use worldly tutor to search up cephalid illusionist.
Turn 2. Draw illusionist, set your other fetchland and end. At the end phase of your opponenets turn fetch again.
Turn 3: set your tundra, Play nomads and cephalid in the same turn and use pact of negation to protect them. Once they both hit the field, combo out.
It's a fairly consistent combo deck with wins potentially as fast as other combos in the format, and it can run FoW/Pact of Negation/Misdirection to disrupt and protect your combo along with whatever your opponent is doing.
That's the big thing that you gain by having a combo inherently easier to disrupt: Access to the cards that Wizards doesn't like combo decks ever having.
I did, however, come across some situations where i needed an abeyance and didn't draw one. It got me thinking...what can i cut for a 4th one in the main? ( having them main saved my butt quite a few times). I'm gonna dump the p.deeds in the board for an Iona and another Pithing Needle/ Krosan Grip. Any other advise would be appreciated.
I did, however, come across some situations where i needed an abeyance and didn't draw one. It got me thinking...what can i cut for a 4th one in the main? ( having them main saved my butt quite a few times). I'm gonna dump the p.deeds in the board for an Iona and another Pithing Needle/ Krosan Grip. Any other advise would be appreciated.
That's a very interesting mainboard. In my opinion, have 3 abeyance is fine but if you want 4...maybe even cut vial down to 3? I mean, I hate drawing into extra vials, and you are only running 15 lands. I'm not sure what else to cut. Also, why not go silence instead of abeyance?
Edit: hhmm, I only count 59 cards in that list. Am I crazy?
i prefer orim's chant over abeyance
i'll reduce vault to 3 too
The problem with running only 3 vaults is that's he's not running any actual tutors to search for his combo pieces, only cantrips, so reducing the count of vault reduces the speed/consistancy of the deck.
I love how easy it is to add a card to a decklist containing 59 cards...being able to play a deck in a tournament, legally, is something I will always do.
If you only have one mana cantrips to find combo pieces in this deck, you will be bound to lose some games due to cantripping into more cantrips without a shuffle effect on hand.
This deck is definitely established IMO. Dredge is such a ☺☺☺☺-tastic deck at times; that's why I stopped playing it, and the deck folds to unanswered hate. With breakfast this isn't the case if you build it right. I really like the UWg builds packing tarmogoyf as a backup win con. Eladamri's call is also the tech apparently it is demonic tutor at instant speed in this deck. Green also helps against grave hate the most with nature's claim, k grip, and naturalize effects. The great thing about this deck is that once the opponents hate is gone, you can just combo out and win in the same turn unlike dredge which needs a breakthrough to power out a win and sometimes even that doesn't work. And also, having FoW and daze protection is sweet. Unlike dredge. And dredge can't pack tarmogoyf; this deck can, and can just win with goyf beatdown which doesn't rely on the GY that much. That plan is only bad if they have relic but even then it's just a speed bump because goyf is a great creature that can grow quickly.
Also, worldly tutor is great in builds packing green. And please don't run lord of extinction; 4 tarmogoyfs along with all those other creatures should be enough to take them down with sutured ghoul. If you really want to though run emrakul. That makes ghoul big enough always. And enables the thermopod, kumano, and infinite mana off of narcomoeba trick. And yes, that combo is good against some decks while others you can just beat face with the ghoul pumped extremely large.
Also this deck plays a lot different than dredge. It is a more resilient dredge deck; people just don't know about it/can't afford the duals, forces, and goyfs.
On aether vial. Sometimes the card is a very good card. At other times, drawing multiples makes you cry because it isn't FoW fodder being nonblue. I think 3 is the right number in here; 4 only if your metagame is EXTREMELY control oriented and I mean extreme. Like if you face control 80% of the time or more in the matches you play. Even then, would you prefer another aether vial or another eladamri's call/worldly tutor to help you set up the combo a 2nd time.
Also worldly tutor and eladamri's call are sick at nabbing anti hate cards via fetching shriekmaw for hate bears, wispmare for enchantments, stern proctor for enchantments/artifacts, almost any evoke creature, or creatures with ETB triggers or activated abilities that destroy artifacts/enchantments. Qasali pridemage is golden generally speaking though. Helps you win goyf wars and blow up annoying stuffs.
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This deck looks outstanding and I'm going to give it a try, but I have a question regarding the core combo.
In order for it to go off, do you need to wait until your opponent attacks you so there is damage to re-direct, or can you use either of the en-Kor's ability immediately with Cephalid regardless if there is damage available to re-direct? I'm under the impression you can just use the en-Kor ability immediately with the Cephalid, but I want to make sure.
correct you can combo out immediately, there doesn't have to be damage being dealt. if that were actually the case then this deck and life.dec would be completely impractical for competitive play.
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Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
I love how easy it is to add a card to a decklist containing 59 cards...being able to play a deck in a tournament, legally, is something I will always do.
If you only have one mana cantrips to find combo pieces in this deck, you will be bound to lose some games due to cantripping into more cantrips without a shuffle effect on hand.
This deck is definitely established IMO. Dredge is such a ☺☺☺☺-tastic deck at times; that's why I stopped playing it, and the deck folds to unanswered hate. With breakfast this isn't the case if you build it right. I really like the UWg builds packing tarmogoyf as a backup win con. Eladamri's call is also the tech apparently it is demonic tutor at instant speed in this deck. Green also helps against grave hate the most with nature's claim, k grip, and naturalize effects. The great thing about this deck is that once the opponents hate is gone, you can just combo out and win in the same turn unlike dredge which needs a breakthrough to power out a win and sometimes even that doesn't work. And also, having FoW and daze protection is sweet. Unlike dredge. And dredge can't pack tarmogoyf; this deck can, and can just win with goyf beatdown which doesn't rely on the GY that much. That plan is only bad if they have relic but even then it's just a speed bump because goyf is a great creature that can grow quickly.
Also, worldly tutor is great in builds packing green. And please don't run lord of extinction; 4 tarmogoyfs along with all those other creatures should be enough to take them down with sutured ghoul. If you really want to though run emrakul. That makes ghoul big enough always. And enables the thermopod, kumano, and infinite mana off of narcomoeba trick. And yes, that combo is good against some decks while others you can just beat face with the ghoul pumped extremely large.
Also this deck plays a lot different than dredge. It is a more resilient dredge deck; people just don't know about it/can't afford the duals, forces, and goyfs.
On aether vial. Sometimes the card is a very good card. At other times, drawing multiples makes you cry because it isn't FoW fodder being nonblue. I think 3 is the right number in here; 4 only if your metagame is EXTREMELY control oriented and I mean extreme. Like if you face control 80% of the time or more in the matches you play. Even then, would you prefer another aether vial or another eladamri's call/worldly tutor to help you set up the combo a 2nd time.
Also worldly tutor and eladamri's call are sick at nabbing anti hate cards via fetching shriekmaw for hate bears, wispmare for enchantments, stern proctor for enchantments/artifacts, almost any evoke creature, or creatures with ETB triggers or activated abilities that destroy artifacts/enchantments. Qasali pridemage is golden generally speaking though. Helps you win goyf wars and blow up annoying stuffs.
I really like your views on the deck. I enjoy worldly tutor over eladamris call because of the mana cost difference.
And your views on vial are mine exaclty.
However, I would much sooner run lord of extinction over 4 goyfs because it allows me to run more protection for the combo. To me, if my combo doesn't win me the match, my goyfs are not going to.
Sometimes goyf can just get there though. And what's more, goyf can buy you time against aggro decks to set up the combo longer if you lack it in hand by blocking a lot of the creatures in the format and not dying. While lord of extinction will very rarely get hardcasted/hit the 'battlefield'. But this is a playstyle difference. Having more than one path to victory can be better than just one path that path being combo'ing out in this case. It comes down to this though you either run 3 protection spells and a LoExtinction or you run 4 goyf. I just believe the latter to be better due to goyf being unstoppable at times.
Abeyance < Chant and silence IMO. The cantrip is nice and all, but chant and silence cost less and can't get spell snare'd. Costing less also makes you slightly more daze proof which is always nice especially if you run a low count of land. And that's another point if you get wasted and could go off if you had chant instead of abeyance you feel terrible having the cmc 2 card over the cmc 1 card. Wasteland is a very relevant card in legacy no matter what the meta looks like there will be no shortage of wasteland I can tell you that unless they unban all the combo pieces like yawg's win, yawg's bargain, black lotus, demonic and vampiric tutor...which of course the DCI won't do seeing as how they just axed survival.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
I was missing an island. oops...i'll edit my post.
The reason abeyance is used over chant/silence is it shuts down graveyard hate such as tormod's crypt, faerie macabre, and others, as it stops activated abilities.
I don't play goyfs because i don't own any. I don't plan on buying any anytime soon. What's the fun of running a combo deck without taking risk anyway...I agree on using more protection for the combo.
Having 4 vaults is always nice. It, being the only tutor in the deck, should definitely be ran as a 4 of. You can basically set up your entire library...which is ridiculously powerful.
I have a question... Doesn't Sutured Ghoul say that on the cards removed X = 0? Wouldn't this mean that if you remove Lord of Extinction or Tarmogoyf for Sutured Ghoul, it's power + toughness would count as zero?
I'm guessing this isn't the case, but I was wondering why...
Basically it's a difference between X and *.
Tarmogoyf and Lord of Extinction have static abilities that define their power/toughness. These abilities do not care if the creature is in play, it could be in your hand, graveyard, or library.
I had a more detailed answer but my app crashed on my iPad. I hope this helps.
Tarmogoyf and Lord of Extinction have static abilities that define their power/toughness. These abilities do not care if the creature is in play, it could be in your hand, graveyard, or library.
I had a more detailed answer but my app crashed on my iPad. I hope this helps.
That's basically it. Their abilities are static, so they count no matter where they are. Its like if a creature with flying is in the graveyard, it still has flying while its there.
I. Introduction II. Card Pool and Explanations III. Deck Lists IV. How to Play Cephalid Breakfast V. Matchups
VI. Videos
VII. Additional Reading
VII. Updates and Edits Log
Cephalid Breakfast is a creature based combo deck that works to achieve victory through a series of interactions between the cards Cephalid Illusionist and Nomads en-kor, as well as others. The combo works like so-
History of the Deck
Cephalid Breakfast was first designed as an extended deck way back in late 2004 early 2005 by Javier Dominguez and his team of Spaniards. The deck debuted with a top 16 finish at Pro Tour: Columbus. The story goes that after seeing and playing Lucas Glavin’s deck, Cephalid Life, Javier fell in love with the ability to infinitely target creatures. Javier soon discovered however that Glavin’s deck was too distracted, trying to concentrate on two separate combos at once was too much, as you would constantly find yourself with the combo pieces of 2 separate combos that did nothing together. Javier needed something more mainstream. He needed a deck that knew what it wanted, and got it with force. Enter cephalid breakfast. After its top 16 debut the deck made a few impressive finishes during its time in extended, but was just getting started. As the 2007 legacy worlds rolled around it was clear that cephalid breakfast was one of the main decks to beat in the legacy scene. The deck was representing some of the top players in the world, and performed to most their expectations.
Sometime after worlds though, the deck faded away. It popped up here and there, but was considerably underplayed overall, dropped in favor of faster and more flashy combo decks such as TES. People had forgotten the deck ever existed. However, when the survival madness decks started to invade the format in late 2010 people began to look for combo decks to combat the menace. While most chose either to play tendrils storm decks like ANT or fall to the pressure and play survival madness itself, some noticed the severe lack of removal in the format, and recognized cephalid breakfast as a strong contender.
Now that Survival is banned, we are in a new age of legacy. The format has been broken wide open, and is itching to welcome breakfast back.
The Core
Nomads En-Kor/Shuko:Combo Piece number one. Because damage is not required to actually use the activated ability of Nomads en-kor, you are allowed to target any creature with his ability any number of times, at any time. Shuko is an alternative to Nomads. It is easier to cast because of the colorless cost and is more difficult for your opponent to remove, but cannot be used at instant speed and is more difficult to search for.
Shamen en kor: Alternative to Nomads. Great for the counterbalance matchup, as it costs two mana to play, thus making it castable if the counter-top package hits the field. Also nice if you are staring down a Pithing needle that is inhibiting Nomads. Usually ran as a "one of" because it can easily be searched for.
Cephalid Illusionist:The Namesake of the deck. When combined with the infinite targeting provided by Nomads this guy allows for the breakfast player to mill his own library entirely.
Narcomoeba: Fuel for dread return and cabal therapy after your deck has been milled. Not much else to them.
Dread Return: Allows you to reanimate your win condition by using it's flashback ability off of narcomoeba.
The Searches and Cantrips
Worldly Tutor: Searches for your combo pieces. Alternative to Eladamri’s Call, it costs only one green mana and is instant speed, but puts your target on the top of your deck.
Eladamri’s Call: Searches for your combo pieces. Alternative to Worldly Tutor, As a double color two cost spell, it is harder to cast than its alternative but puts your target in your hand to potentially be cast the same turn.
Vedalken Aethermage: Uncounterable search for Cephalid Illusionist. Though it costs 3 mana to do the search its nice to use this card if your meta is counter spell heavy.
Steelshaper's Gift: Searches out Shuko if you use it in your deck.
Ponder: One of the best Cantrips in the game. This card searches for combo pieces or protection and is usually used in all builds, regardless of mana base.
Brainstorm:Brainstorm is the best cantrip in the game, so its no surprise that its used in the deck. This card searches for combo pieces or protection and can also serve to put combo pieces that need to be in your graveyard back into your deck. Usually used in builds that run a fetch + duel land base so that its cantripping can be used to maximum effect. Usually replaced by Preordain in builds that run a rainbow land base.
Preordain:This card searches for combo pieces or protection. Usually used in builds that run rainbow lands that can't perform multiple shuffles to maximize the effect of brainstorm. Usually replaced by Brainstorm in builds that run a fetch + duel land base.
Lim Dul's Vault: Used much in the same way as Ponder and the others. Digs deeper and can achieve multiple digs at the cost of life. A great addition to any version of the deck as long as you don't fear the life loss.
Careful Study: Draw power to find combo pieces and protection. Also acts as a discard outlet and gets rid win conditions that you draw into and need in the graveyard.
The Protection
Force of Will: An obvious inclusion to any combo deck, Force of Will Provides protection for your combo from your opponent’s own counter spells or removal at anytime you are tapped out of mana. Great for keeping your opponent from interacting with you during your combo as well as from doing anything particularly nasty during their own turns.
Daze: Used for the same purpose as Force of Will but less often. Only used in builds that run the fetch + duel land base.
Pact of Negation: Often considered a "poor man's" Force of Will, This card has its own advantages in that it does not require another blue card to be cast and does not cause the loss of life. The downside to this card however, is that it usually cannot prevent your opponent from doing potentially harmful plays at any time other than during your combo.
Orhim's Chant: Stops your opponent from casting counterspells or removal on the turn you try to win. Can also be used in the aggro or combo matchups to stay alive just long enough to win. Also a strong sideboard option for your zoo matchup.
Silence: A poor man's version of Orhim's Chant. Serves the same purpose but it cannot delay attacks.
Abeyance : Another alternative to chant. Costs one more than silence but stops guys like Grim Lavamancer from burning a combo piece.
Stern Proctor: An answer to any kind of hate that is present on the board when you want to combo out. Used mostly because he is easily found in a deck running multiple creature searches like worldly tutor.
Wispmare: Alternative to Stern Proctor. While he only casts one mana to play, he cannot target artifact hate such as Tormods Crypt.
Aether Vial: Used to flash combo pieces into play so that they cannot get countered. Frees up mana, allows you to get a turn 2 win and acts as a lure to your opponents counter spells if nothing else. This is the key card in your countertop matchup.
Cabal Therapy: Used to protect your dread return and other cards from counterspells or removal. Also be used to discard anything in your hand that needs to be in the graveyard by targeting yourself. A more complex breakdown of how to use the card properly is included later on in the primer.
The Land Base
Savannah, Tropical Island, Tundra, Underground Sea:
Used in varying Numbers based on what you decided to keep main board and what your win con is, these are the optimal lands to choose from.
Breeding Pool , Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb , Temple Garden , Watery Grave:
Poor man's versions of the real duel lands. Because this is a combo deck, the potential life loss of these cards is often negligible.
Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Windswept Heath , Misty Rainforest , Scalding Tarn:
Fetch lands used to find your Duel, Shock or basic lands. Also allow for a free shuffle to make brainstorm more effective if needed.
Gemstone Mine, City of Brass, Tarnished Citadel , Forbidden Orchard, Tendo Ice Bridge:
Rainbow lands usually used in budget versions of the deck. When using a rainbow land base you are limited to sub par brainstorms and no dazes, but have the plus of never having off color mana issues.
Miscellaneous Cards
Bridge from Below: When run, Bridge from Below is usually used as a "one of" to ensure that all cabal therapies can be used while still having enough fuel for dread return on the same turn. Some win conditions use this card to produce large numbers of zombies through various interactions, which are discussed later on.
Tarmagoyf: Sometimes used in the Sutured Ghoul version of the deck to make ghoul lethal and serve as an alternate win con, this card has fallen out of favor in modern versions of the deck for Lord of Extinction, who take up less slots, allowing for more searches and protection to be used main board.
The Win Conditions
Sutured Ghoul, Dragons breath and Lord of Extinction/Tarmagoyf:
This is the traditional and most popular win condition for the deck. After Comboing out the player uses 3 narcomeoba to fuel dread return. Sutured Ghoul is reanimated and, because thier power and toughness abilities are active in any zone, eating the Lord of Extinction or Tarmagoyf in the graveyard will make him lethal size. Upon entering the field, Dragons Breath will be equipped straight from the graveyard because its cool like that, allowing for a hasted swing with a lethal fatty with trample.
Karmic Guide, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and Pestermite/Sky Hussar:
This Version works much in the same way as the first, but can be considered safer or cleaner for a variety of reasons. After going off in the same way as the first win condition, the player will Dread Return his Karmic Guide, then return Kiki-Jiki into play with the guides ability. When Kiki-Jiki hits the field he is used to make another Karmic Guide, which targets Pestermite to come back into play. Next, the player uses the Pestermite to untap Kiki-Jiki in loop to make infinite Pestermite, which can swing for lethal that turn. when comparing to the sutured ghoul list that runs 4 tarmagoyf, it can be noted that this version’s win con only takes up 3 slots in your deck, 4 if you count Dread Return, and can fly over nasty cards like Moat or Mother of Runes.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Thermopod and Kumano, Master Yamabushi:
This version of the deck is rather uncommon, but still has some tournament success. The deck is milled, until all narcomoeba are onto the field. The first dread return flashes back off of the moeba and grabs Thermopod. Emrakul is milled into the graveyard, forcing the graveyard to be reshuffled into the deck. The deck is milled again, bringing the narcomoeba back onto the field, ready to be used again. this time until Dread Return targets Kumano and brings him onto the field. Any remaining narcomoeba are sacrificed to Thermopod to generate mana. The player repeats the Emrakul shuffle to infinitely recycle the narcomoeba which allows them to generate infinite mana from Thermopod. The mana is used to burn the opponent for infinite damage from Kumano. While this version of the deck ignores the combat phase entirely and happens mostly at instant speed, it can be seen as weaker than its counterparts simply because it requires more spaces in the deck as well as 2 dread returns.
Necrotic Ooze, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Dwarven Strike Force, and Mog Fanatic/Bile Urchin/Death Cultist:
This is a brand new win con that was discovered/constructed here in the posts of this primer by TheRogue and perfected (hopefully) by the rest of the members of the forum. Simply reanimate the Necrotic Ooze in the same way as the other win cons. Ooze gains the abilities of kiki jiki and the others. The haste ability of dwarven strike force is used to rid your ooze of summoning sickness. Since kiki jiki's ability only specifies that you cannot copy a legendary creature, ooze can copy himself, generating infinite ooze. All the ooze that you create however, will be tapped. This is where the abilities of Mog fanatic or whomever else you chose comes into play, simply create infinite copies of your ooze and sac them for infinite damage. This version of the deck Ignores the attack step and goes off entirely at instant speed, which means it runs through a large amount of hate. However, this win con also uses 4 cards, unlike the pestermite version or the ghoul version, which only run 3. This means less slots in the deck for protection and searches, and more chances for dead draws. Just like every other win con, this version has its strengths and its weaknesses.
The Sideboard
As an introductory note, a sideboard is meant to be constructed based on a specific meta, don't just copy a sideboard I present and think it will get you to top 8. using my suggestions, build your own board based on what you know you will be playing against.
Choices Choices Choices
Duress: Helps control combo decks that are faster than your own. Can also be used to remove threats such as Counter spells or removal. Side in against ANT, Belcher, Standstill varients and other decks you feel it will help against.
Thoughtseize: Serves a similar purpose as Duress, but can also hit creature threats.
Meddling Mage: The perfect silver bullet. This guy at his best stops Force of Will or Path to Exile and at his worst eats a counterspell for you. You can tutor mage with most of your searches, making him a perfect fit for the deck.
Way of Revelation: Used against prison decks like stax, standstill varients and enchantress. Usually used as a "two of" that can be used when drawn into as well as after you have comboed out.
Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares: If used, path is usually boarded in against goblins to deal with goblin lackey turn one or a lethal goblin piledriver. The card can also be used on troublesome Meddling Mages or Peace Keppers. Whether you choose Swords or Path depends entirely on your win condition and whether the life gain from swords is relevant.
Orhim's Chant: Already mentioned as a mainboard option for the deck. Acts as protection and is amazing in the zoo matchup.
Silence: Poor man's Orhim's Chant.
Abeyance: Also already mentioned. Serves the same purpose as Silence but can be used to stop the abilities of troublesome creatures as well.
Echoing Truth: Stern Proctor in instant form. Can't be tutored as easily but can target creatures and bounce more than one threat.
Crippling Fatigue: Used after comboing out to kill any hate bears keeping you from winning.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: Though relatively expensive in terms of mana, this guy can really help a matchup against zoo or something similar. Stops removal form hitting your combo pieces.
Grindstone: Used for a Grindestone + Painter's Servant alternate win con for games 2 or 3 to catch an unsuspecting opponent off guard.
Painter's Servant: See Grindestone
Trinket Mage: Also used in the Grindstone alternate kill. Can be tutored for so that you can tutor for grindstone.
Gilded Drake: Can be tutored for to answer Emrakul, The Aeons Torn or Blazing Archon.
Llawan, Cephalid Empress: Can be tutored for to answer merfolk.
Tormods Crypt, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Ravenous Trap, Yixlid Jailer: Graveyard hate for your matchup against anything that uses the graveyard. Jailer is optimal because he can be tutored for by the typical searches that breakfast runs.
Notes on graveyard hate
In most metas you will run into some kind of graveyard based deck like dredge, Lands.dec, aggro loam or the one this primer is dedicated to. Because of this its good to have some graveyard hate in your board. Usually, 4 cards will be fine, especially with all the cantrips and searches that cephalid breakfast runs. Dredge sometimes uses pithing needle for anti-hate, so having an inconsistent number of each graveyard hate card makes it harder for them to answer the hate. A typical graveyard hate package could look something like this.
2 Tormods Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
However, this graveyard package is actually sub par for a breakfast deck. why? The graveyard package presented is nice yes, but is not synergistic with the deck. While tormods crypt is probably fine because of its 0 casting cost, spellbomb and relic can be replaced by Yixlid Jailer simply because he is able to be grabbed by a tutor and is also on color. Another option is ravenous trap, because dredge has no answer to it besides forcing you to use it by naming it with cabal therapy and its usually free for you. An ideal graveyard hate package would look something like this...
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ravenous Trap
From here, you can have 2 choices for the skeleton of the rest of the sideboard. You can decide to go with the basic sideboard that most decks would use, or you can choose to use a sideboard that completely changes the decks win condition in games 2 and 3 to a painter/grindestone kill. This is done simply because in games 2 and 3 your opponent will be bringing in graveyard hate or other hate relevant to your first win con and switching win cons can net you a win simply by using the surprise factor.
An example of a traditional Breakfast Sideboard-
2 Way of Revelation
2 Meddling Mage
3 Duress
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ravenous Trap
3 Orhim's Chant
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
An example of a Grindestone Breakfast Sideboard-
4 Grindstone
4 Painter's Servant
1 Trinket Mage
3 Duress
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Yixlid Jailer
Evolution
The deck has gone through quite a bit of changes over the years. Back when it was in extended, the deck would have looked something like this.
1 Brushland
1 Caves of Koilos
4 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Riftstone Portal
2 Tarnished Citadel
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Underground River
2 Yavimaya Coast
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Gilded Drake
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Krosan Cloudscraper
4 Nomads en-Kor
2 Shaman en-Kor
1 Sutured Ghoul
4 Chrome Mox
Enchantments
1 Dragon Breath
Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Vampiric Tutor
4 Worldly Tutor
Sorceries
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Exhume
2 Reanimate
1 Krosan Reclamation
Later on however, A rulings change would change the deck forever. It was decided by wizards that characteristic defining abilities like that of tarmagoyf are defined no matter what zone they are in, including the graveyard. This meant that Goyf could be used to beef up Ghoul, and a magic relationship was born. During 2007 the deck would have looked something like this...
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
Creatures
4 Cephalid Illusionist
3 Narcomoeba
4 Nomad en-Kor
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Stern Proctor
1 Sutured Ghoul
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Aether Vial
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dragon Breath
1 Dread Return
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Force of Will
3 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
Since 2007 pilots of the deck have realized the inconsistencies goyf presents to the deck as well as new and improved win conditions. Thus, we have the modern versions of Cephalid Breakfast.
Sutured Ghoul List
4 Aether Vial
Creatures
4 Cephalid Illusionist
3 Narcomoeba
4 Nomads en-Kor
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Stern Proctor
1 Sutured Ghoul
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Dragon Breath
Instants
4 Brainstorm
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Force of Will
4 Worldly Tutor
1 Orhim's Chant
Sorceries
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
4 Ponder
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
Sky Hussar List
4 Aether Vial
Creatures
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Karmic Guide
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Narcomoeba
4 Nomad en-Kor
1 Sky Hussar
1 Wispmare
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
3 Eladamri's Call
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
2 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
4 Windswept Heath
Kumano List
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Thermopod
1 Emrakul, The Aeons Torn
4 Narcomoeba
4 Nomad en-Kor
2 Vedalken Aethermage
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Dread Return
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
4 Daze
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
2 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
4 Windswept Heath
Ooze List
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Death Cultist
1 Kiki Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Dwarven Strike Force
3 Narcomoeba
4 Nomad en-Kor
1 Shamen En-Kor
1 Stern Proctor
3 Aether Vial
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Pact of Negation
4 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
3 Orhim's Chant
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
2 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
3 Windswept Heath
Budget Lists
Something really cool about this deck is that forming a budget version is actually not that difficult and really doesn't hurt the strength of the deck all that much. Budget versions of the deck will cost anywhere between $150-250 depending on how you construct it.
There are mainly 2 ways to construct Budget Breakfast, The rainbow land version and the Shock land version.
The rainbow versions are usually faster and cheaper than the shock land versions, but are also much less consistent and run much less protection.
Rainbow List
4 Lotus Petal
2 Shuko
Creatures
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Lord of Extinction
4 Narcomoeba
4 Nomads en-Kor
1 Stern Proctor
1 Sutured Ghoul
1 Dragon Breath
Instants
4 Worldly Tutor
4 Pact of Negation
2 Spell Pierce
1 Silence
Sorceries
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 City of Brass
2 Forbidden Orchard
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Tarnished Citadel
2 Tendo Ice bridge
2 Seachrome Coast
Shock List
3 Aether Vial
Creatures
4 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Karmic Guide
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Narcomoeba
4 Nomad en-Kor
1 Pestermite
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return
2 Eladamri's Call
4 Pact of Negation
4 Ponder
4 Worldly Tutor
3 Daze
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Breeding Pool
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
Notes on Construction of the deck
I have conducted extensive testing on this deck. As I write this primer I am learning more and more about this archetype, even after playing it for a decent amount of time. All the information I have gathered while doing all this writing and testing has resulted in me arriving at a number of conclusion. They are as follows.
-The inclusion of Tarmogoyf is just not meant to be. Breakfast is a combo deck, not a beatdown deck. Trying to transform it into one halfway through the game just makes it a deck of all trades, but master of none, even if using the goyf as a "backup plan". Whats worse is that Tarmogoyf take up a ridiculous 4 slots in the deck, just to buff up Sutured Ghoul. Combo decks must, without question, be streamlined and dedicated, and this card accomplishes neither goal.
-The inclusion of Stifle and Dreadnaught is just as bad. While these cards provide a clever alternative to your main plan, they just occupy too many valuable slots, ultimately slowing down a potential Ghoul. If your opponent has the resources to stop your Ghoul plan, then he almost certainly has them to stop a Dreadnaught switch.
-Sutured Ghoul Just does not cut it anymore. Sure, hes flashy, but that's about it. He is without a doubt the easiest of all the win cons to stop. One Swords to plowshares, one moat, one elephant grass, one peacekeeper all stop him, and I could go on. Ghoul was good while he lasted, but sticking to tradition causes the deck to fall to sub par levels. There is no reason to run ghoul when there are win cons that exist that take up less slots in the deck, occur at instant speed and ignore a multitude of hate cards that ghoul does not.
While all of this is just my opinion, I would like to think that my opinion matters at least a little bit, otherwise I would not have put so much time and effort into this primer.
Recent Top 8's
2nd place out of 216 people at the SCG LA Open 3/27/11
6th place 18/12/2010 of 19 people
5th place 23/10/2010 of 42 people
3rd place 07/08/2010 of 28 people
7th place 07/11/2009 of 22 people
2007 Worlds
1st place 15/01/2011 of 21 people
7th Place 6/03/2011 of 22 people
Comboing Out
In order to Combo out correctly and safely in order to ensure a win, the breakfast player must follow these basic guidelines.
1. Pay attention to the whats on the board. Board awareness can mean the difference between smacking your opponent for infinite damage, or looking like a fool when your nomads en-kor gets shot by a Grim Lavamancer the second he hits the field. Look at all their permanents. Do they have an untapped white or red mana source? If so, expect a swords to Plowshares or Lightning Bolt. Are there any threats on the board currently? Attempting to combo out when Grim Lavamancer or humility is on the field really doesn't work out. Try to know what is on the field that poses a threat to your combo and try and get rid of it before you attempt to combo out.
2. Common threats to the combo that should be noted are as follows.
Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Daze, Force of Will, Moat, Humility, Extirpate, Tormod's Crypt, Counterbalance, Peacekeeper.
All of these can be played around easily, but they remain threats nonetheless.
3. How to Cabal Therapy
When playing This deck it should be noted that every single game should involve the use of BOTH cabal therapies BEFORE you cast your dread return from the graveyard. If the therapies are not targeting you in order to remove needed win cons, they need to target your opponent in order to protect the win cons. What you name with the therapy will usually be one of the "hate" cards mentioned above, but really depends entirely on what kind of deck you are facing.
The cards that you will most often name with cabal therapy are...
-Force of Will
-Swords to Plowshares
-Smother
-Diabolical Edict
-Daze
-Path to Exile
-Gempalm Incinerator
If it is game one and you don't know what you are facing, check the land base. If there are blue producing lands then you will name force of will. If there is a zoo land base, name Path to exile, if there is a mainly black land base, name smother or Edict, if you see a badlands or mountains you are most likely facing goblins, whose only interaction with you is Gempalm Incinerator.
After your first therapy, which hopefully hit something, you should know what other potential threats exist in your opponents hand and you should be able to get them with your second therapy.
Note that it is not illegal to write down what you see in your opponents hand after casting therapy. If you play the card through the course of the game, write down everything you see and cross it off one by one as your opponent plays it, that way when its time to combo out, you have a better idea of whether or not you can protect it because you know a few of the cards that are still in your opponents hand.
If you have NO idea what your opponent is playing, name force of will.
3. How to Cantrip and Search Effectively and Safely
Knowing how to cantrip and search effectively and Safely can mean the difference between a loss and a win. Here are a few pointers.
- When playing with brainstorm and fetchlands don't forget that the fetchlands produce a shuffle effect for you. It is a very powerful play to play brainstorm, grab what you need and then crack a fetch afterwords to shuffle away everything you didn't want. This can be used as a way to eliminate turns of dead draws that brainstorm sees, as well as help to dig through the deck more effectively.
- When playing Worldly Tutor and Eladamri's call it is good to play the spells at the end phase of your opponents turn. This way, you can respond to discard spells by playing worldly, so your combo piece is safe. Waiting until your opponents end phase allows you to change any tool boxing decisions based on any plays they made during their turn as well. The end phase of your opponents turn is also the time when a spell is most likely to resolve. Though it is not always the best play to cast the spell during your opponents turn, more often than not, it is. Brainstorm is also a great card to play on your opponents end phase.
-Don't forget while cantripping that you are not only looking for combo pieces, but also cards to protect them, depending on the match up.
Sample Hands
Hand 1:
Pact of negation, nomads en kor, worldly tutor, tundra, brainstorm, misty rainforest, polluted delta.
Turn 1: set your fetchland. On your opponents end phase fetch a land that can tap for green and then use worldly tutor to search up cephalid illusionist.
Turn 2. Draw illusionist, set your other fetchland and end. At the end phase of your opponenets turn brainstorm then fetch again either then or at the beginning of your turn, depending on what brainstorm saw.
Turn 3: set your tundra, Play nomads en-kor and cephalid illusionist in the same turn, using pact of negation to protect them. Once they both hit the field, combo out.
Hand 2:
Cephalid Illusionist, Aether Vial, Orhim's Chant, Tundra, Ponder, Ponder, Misty Rainforest.
Turn 1: You don't know what type of deck you are up against. Your choices are as follows. Set the turn one tundra, Ponder into searches and combo pieces or play the turn one vial. Alternatively, you can place the Misty for fear of a turn one wasteland by the opponent. I chose to Play the vial off of a basic Island that my Misty Fetched, if it gets countered, that's one less counter that I have to worry about and they cant follow up with a wasteland on my basic, so little tempo is lost.
Turn 2: Assuming Vial sticks, it goes to one. Draw into a Polluted Delta. Play it, and fetch for a Tropical Island. Play one of the Ponders off of the basic island. It sees a worldly tutor, which you grab. End turn and tutor at their end for nomads.
Turn 3: Vial stays at one. Draw into nomads. Set the tundra. Play the Orhim's Chant off the tundra, your only white source and reason vial stayed at one. Play illusionist with no fear. vial in nomads and win.
Rated as Bad-Fair-Good
Goblins- Good- You are just plain faster than them. A turn one aether vial on their end really never matters. A turn one goblin lackey can hurt, but as long as you play smart you will do fine. Usually their only instant speed removal that has potential to disrupt the combo is gempalm incinerator, however, most of the time the goblin player will be tapping out in an attempt to fill up his field and out race you. In any event, your cabal therapies should be targeting the gempalms, and sometimes goblin piledriver if you fear a lethal swing. Game 2 you should sideboard in removal like swords to plowshares to deal with turn one lackey or a large goblin pile driver as well as Orhim's chant to slow them down and stop large swings. echoing truth is also an option.
Enchantress- Good- As long as you are not running the sutured ghoul win con this matchup is a breeze. Sure, they can put down an elephant grass on turn one or two, but if you are running the Kumano or Ooze win con, it doesn't matter. The only card you have to worry about is solitary confinement, which can be answered game one with a tutored stern proctor or wispmare. In games 2 and 3 be ready to get hit by ground seals and Wheel of sun and moon. Sideboard out your pact of negations, they do nothing for you, 1 or 2 silence can come out as well. Bring in Way of revelation, echoing truth and the like. If you need to, you can hard cast the way of revelation, then use it, and any more that you brought in, after you combo out by flashing them back. Echoing truth helps by clearing away the annoying double sterling grove trick that they can pull off from time to time.
Merfolk- Fair- The good thing about this matchup is that most merfolk decks run zero removal, so you can play your combo pieces in separate turns without having to worry, which can speed up your wins. however, they run so many counterspells that winning a counter war is almost impossible. Play your combo pieces with open mana to play around daze and if you run silence, use it as bait to lure out spell pierce. without spell pierces in their hand, you have a better chance of winning a counter war. If you play aether vial, do everything you can to get it down. If vial hits, their only option is to try and counter your searches, so you will have a high chance of winning the match. Game 2 should include siding in more protection like duress and anything else you think may be useful as bait to lure out their counterspells.
CounterTop Varients- Bad- Very hard match to win. If they get the countertop package going your only chance is to bounce the counterbalance with echoing truth or stern proctor and win any counter wars that ensue on the same turn as you try and combo out. Vial will play a huge role in the matchup if you run it, as well as Shamen en-kor, which, as a 2 cost, makes the counter top synergy less effective. sideboard in Duress and the like to try and protect your combo and keep the counterbalance from hitting the field.
Dreadstill- Bad- This is also a rough matchup. The mainboard stifle really hurt your combo, not to mention the large number of counterspells and the counter-top package. Having Aether vial is extremely useful in this matchup. In games 2 and 3 board in Swords to plowshares if you have it, as well as Way of revelation and/or ancient grudge. Way can hit the counterbalances and Grudge can hit any Phyrexian Dreadnoughts that hit the field. Try to lure out their counterspells and play around daze. If you play smart, you can win the match.
Example of a Cephalid Life deck that uses Shuko and tarmogoyf/Ghoul Win con as well as the traditional Life.dec combo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrD_VFFn8vA
Mike Flores Playing Breakfast at SCG New Jersey on 3/10/11
The Long and Winding Road – Legacy Combo: It’s What’s for Dinner!
by Matt Elias
While a little dated, the article “Cephalid Breakfast: Its design and how to play it” by Javier Dominguez has a nice look at the history of the deck, as well as a few pointers from the creator himself.
An article by MTGSali’s very own StevieT92 titled “The year of the rogue decks”, while also a little dated, talks of another option on how milling yourself infinitely can actually net you a win, as well as combining breakfast with another legacy combo deck known simply as “life”.
Though dated. This article titled "Unlocking Legacy- Breakfast of champions" by Adam Barnello talks about the deck, its power, specific cards like Lim Dul's Vault and even goes into some match-up analysis.
3-12-2011 - 3-13-2011: Major changes to the layout and wording of the primer. Added sideboard options list, table of contents, history of the deck, evolution of the deck and lists, opinions on optimal list construction, and a how to play the deck section, as well as countless other changes.
3-17-2011: Fixed some errors in spelling and references. Added a "How to Cantrip and Search Effectively and Safely" sub section.
3-19-2011: Fixed some Spelling errors and added another sample hand to the sample hands section.
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Much faster. This is a 2 card combo deck, which means a turn 1or turn 2 win is possible. Also, it runs much more protection in the form of counterspells and it is less vunerable to graveyard hate, expecially in post board games.
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You can also use Shuko in addition to Nomad.
BRWC Mardu Shops - Tymna and Akiri Artifacts BRWC
Depending on how you construct the deck, mana accelerators like lotus petal or chrome mox allow for turn one kills if you have the hand for it.
@capitacom: you are missunderstanding how the combo works. You don't get infinite narcos, you use emrakuls graveyard trigger to infinitly recycle the ones that hit the graveyard after being sacced. At most you will only have 4 on the feild at a time.
@Alfiriel: if you look at the top 8's provided, each list is recent by up to a month. The deck had been seeing more play during vengevines reign simply because metas lacked the removal they once had and the deck was faster than vengi-survival. Now that survival is banned we will have to see what happens, but we can't ignore the fact that the deck still gets top 8's.
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BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Its a very consistant turn 3 kill, more consistant than dredge. I try to keep opinions inside, butim a dredge player and I enjoy dredge more. However, I have both played and played against this deck and its nothing to laugh at. It is hard to disrupt because of the number of counterspells it plays and its fast. It only needs 2 cards on the field and it wins.
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BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
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Also, maybe you should add Dragon Fangs or Dragon Wings to ensure evasion if you are running Lord of Extinction, since it requires the least cards.
Sutured ghoul has trample, so you don't need evasion. He's gonna be a 50/50 trample. Cabal therapy and the free counterspells of the deck are in there for the exact reasons you said. Of course you use the therapies. Any good player would. Before you rez the ghoul you sac a moeba or 2 in order the flashback the therapies in the deck and eliminate any threats, then you continue on winning.
@egyeiger: reading the explanation of the sutured ghoul variation should explain how you win pretty well, but here is an example hand and play.
Pact of negation, nomads en kor, worldly tutor, tundra, brainstorm, misty rainforest, polluted delta.
Turn 1: set your fetchland. On your opponents end phase fetch a land that can tap for green and then use worldly tutor to search up cephalid illusionist.
Turn 2. Draw illusionist, set your other fetchland and end. At the end phase of your opponenets turn fetch again.
Turn 3: set your tundra, Play nomads and cephalid in the same turn and use pact of negation to protect them. Once they both hit the field, combo out.
I just gold fished this. That was a turn 3 win.
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That's the big thing that you gain by having a combo inherently easier to disrupt: Access to the cards that Wizards doesn't like combo decks ever having.
4 Nomads en-Kor
3 Narcomoeba
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Lord Of Extinction
1 Sutured Ghoul
4 Aether Vial
1 Dragon's Breath
1 Dread Return
3 Abeyance
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force Of Will
3 Ponder
2 Cabal Therapy
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
3 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Scrubland
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Pernicious Deed
1 Crippling Fatigue
2 Echoing Truth
4 Leyline Of Sanctity
3 Pithing Needle
2 Krosan Grip
I did, however, come across some situations where i needed an abeyance and didn't draw one. It got me thinking...what can i cut for a 4th one in the main? ( having them main saved my butt quite a few times). I'm gonna dump the p.deeds in the board for an Iona and another Pithing Needle/ Krosan Grip. Any other advise would be appreciated.
That's a very interesting mainboard. In my opinion, have 3 abeyance is fine but if you want 4...maybe even cut vial down to 3? I mean, I hate drawing into extra vials, and you are only running 15 lands. I'm not sure what else to cut. Also, why not go silence instead of abeyance?
Edit: hhmm, I only count 59 cards in that list. Am I crazy?
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The problem with running only 3 vaults is that's he's not running any actual tutors to search for his combo pieces, only cantrips, so reducing the count of vault reduces the speed/consistancy of the deck.
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If you only have one mana cantrips to find combo pieces in this deck, you will be bound to lose some games due to cantripping into more cantrips without a shuffle effect on hand.
This deck is definitely established IMO. Dredge is such a ☺☺☺☺-tastic deck at times; that's why I stopped playing it, and the deck folds to unanswered hate. With breakfast this isn't the case if you build it right. I really like the UWg builds packing tarmogoyf as a backup win con. Eladamri's call is also the tech apparently it is demonic tutor at instant speed in this deck. Green also helps against grave hate the most with nature's claim, k grip, and naturalize effects. The great thing about this deck is that once the opponents hate is gone, you can just combo out and win in the same turn unlike dredge which needs a breakthrough to power out a win and sometimes even that doesn't work. And also, having FoW and daze protection is sweet. Unlike dredge. And dredge can't pack tarmogoyf; this deck can, and can just win with goyf beatdown which doesn't rely on the GY that much. That plan is only bad if they have relic but even then it's just a speed bump because goyf is a great creature that can grow quickly.
Also, worldly tutor is great in builds packing green. And please don't run lord of extinction; 4 tarmogoyfs along with all those other creatures should be enough to take them down with sutured ghoul. If you really want to though run emrakul. That makes ghoul big enough always. And enables the thermopod, kumano, and infinite mana off of narcomoeba trick. And yes, that combo is good against some decks while others you can just beat face with the ghoul pumped extremely large.
Also this deck plays a lot different than dredge. It is a more resilient dredge deck; people just don't know about it/can't afford the duals, forces, and goyfs.
On aether vial. Sometimes the card is a very good card. At other times, drawing multiples makes you cry because it isn't FoW fodder being nonblue. I think 3 is the right number in here; 4 only if your metagame is EXTREMELY control oriented and I mean extreme. Like if you face control 80% of the time or more in the matches you play. Even then, would you prefer another aether vial or another eladamri's call/worldly tutor to help you set up the combo a 2nd time.
Also worldly tutor and eladamri's call are sick at nabbing anti hate cards via fetching shriekmaw for hate bears, wispmare for enchantments, stern proctor for enchantments/artifacts, almost any evoke creature, or creatures with ETB triggers or activated abilities that destroy artifacts/enchantments. Qasali pridemage is golden generally speaking though. Helps you win goyf wars and blow up annoying stuffs.
Currently Playing:
Retired
In order for it to go off, do you need to wait until your opponent attacks you so there is damage to re-direct, or can you use either of the en-Kor's ability immediately with Cephalid regardless if there is damage available to re-direct? I'm under the impression you can just use the en-Kor ability immediately with the Cephalid, but I want to make sure.
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I really like your views on the deck. I enjoy worldly tutor over eladamris call because of the mana cost difference.
And your views on vial are mine exaclty.
However, I would much sooner run lord of extinction over 4 goyfs because it allows me to run more protection for the combo. To me, if my combo doesn't win me the match, my goyfs are not going to.
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Abeyance < Chant and silence IMO. The cantrip is nice and all, but chant and silence cost less and can't get spell snare'd. Costing less also makes you slightly more daze proof which is always nice especially if you run a low count of land. And that's another point if you get wasted and could go off if you had chant instead of abeyance you feel terrible having the cmc 2 card over the cmc 1 card. Wasteland is a very relevant card in legacy no matter what the meta looks like there will be no shortage of wasteland I can tell you that unless they unban all the combo pieces like yawg's win, yawg's bargain, black lotus, demonic and vampiric tutor...which of course the DCI won't do seeing as how they just axed survival.
Currently Playing:
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The reason abeyance is used over chant/silence is it shuts down graveyard hate such as tormod's crypt, faerie macabre, and others, as it stops activated abilities.
I don't play goyfs because i don't own any. I don't plan on buying any anytime soon. What's the fun of running a combo deck without taking risk anyway...I agree on using more protection for the combo.
Having 4 vaults is always nice. It, being the only tutor in the deck, should definitely be ran as a 4 of. You can basically set up your entire library...which is ridiculously powerful.
Basically it's a difference between X and *.
Tarmogoyf and Lord of Extinction have static abilities that define their power/toughness. These abilities do not care if the creature is in play, it could be in your hand, graveyard, or library.
I had a more detailed answer but my app crashed on my iPad. I hope this helps.
That's basically it. Their abilities are static, so they count no matter where they are. Its like if a creature with flying is in the graveyard, it still has flying while its there.
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