I tried 1 main and was fine with it, two is bit harder since they're clunky in your opening hand, so they do influence mulligan decisions. One on the board is great in having additional threats against decks that are time sensitive.
Clique is much better in a counter-heavy deck that runs 3+ Remand and 3+ Mana Leak because it lets you have your counter shield up, and if your opponent just durdles, deploy a threat EOT that's much more powerful than Snapcaster. I know that if Treasure Cruise is banned, I would probably try a Dig Through Times variant with Snapcaster, Delver, Tarmogoyf, and Vendilion Clique as the creature base.
Agreed on not playing RUG for the Mandrills. Playing RUG hurts the mana base a ton, and Mandrills feel pretty average. 4/4's are outclassed by Siege Rhinos, and because Mandrill isn't coming into play until turn 3 for the most part, there's really not much space for it to dominate the board. On the other hand, a 2/3 Goyf on turn 2 with a land and a sorcery in the graveyard is going to be really hard to deal with, and that Goyf can grow up to a 5/6 against Affinity and sometimes Pod or Burn.
The hand is probably worth keeping, it has plenty of interaction and you can play 4 of the spells with just the Steam Vents. It's not a strong keep, but I think it's just as good as your average 6.
Keranos is not where you want to be in a Treasure Cruise meta, I didn't use him at all all day. Funny you mention Savage Knuckleblade, I just bought a foil with the store credit. Do you know which match ups you would bring him in? I don't really like Batterskull right now to be honest, it feels too slow and low impact.
I like Flame Jab just fine, I just didn't face a single UR Delver both tournaments despite playing next to them the whole time. It's also decent against Pod and other creature decks, so there's that too. It's great synergy with all the lands from Treasure Cruise and the Prowess triggers from Swiftspear. I guess for now it should probably be relegated to the sideboard instead.
Twisted Image is pretty good in my opinion, at the very worst it's a +1/-1 for your Goyf or Swiftspear, but it's also great against Pod (Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Wall of Roots) and Affinity (Signal Pest, Ornithopter, Cranial Plating). It also enables you to kill some of the more annoying creatures like Restoration Angel, Linvala, and Exarch with a Lightning Bolt. Being able to kill Spellskite guaranteed for 1 mana that also cantrips is one of the best feelings.
Game 2: I mull to 6, I win because of his 2x Treasure Cruise draw.
Game 3: I mull to 5 and keep a hand with no lands and 2 Serum Visions. I draw into the Steam Vents, but I misplay Bolting his Monastery Swiftspear instead of waiting for the Eidolon. The Eidolon does 4 extra damage to me, I lose.
Round 2: BRWG Burn
Game 1: I'm on the play with a triple Swiftspear hand, and he's stuck on one mana the whole game. Next game.
Game 2: His Eidolon, Goblin Guide, and Monastery Swiftspear prove too much to me.
Game 3: I'm able to stabilize at 2 life, he's at 12 with a Swiftspear and 2 lands in play. I Serum Vision swing in with two 2/3 Swiftspear and Tarmogoyf, he chump blocks with his Swiftspear. He top decks a Volcanic Fallout, which he cannot cast at 2 lands due to his Shard Volley. I take the Lightning Bolt that I kept on top with the Serum Vision and take it home Swiftspear.
Round 3: B/R Death's Shadow brew
Game 1: I mistakenly bolt a Nivgamus Elementa to which he exiles a Phyrexian mana spell to make it a 3/4. I'm unable to find Vapor Snag after searching through almost half my whole deck and lose from 2 9/9 Death's Shadow and a huge Nivgamus Elemental.
In: Threads of Disloyalty, Engineered Explosives, Vendilion Clique
Out: Pillar of Flame, Forked Bolt, Electrolyze
Game 2: There's no pressure on the board, so I Treasure Cruise a couple times and win off the back of 3x Lightning Bolt plus Snapcaster Mage.
Game 3: Another long and grindy game, he lands a Monastery Swiftspear and hits me for 1 every turn. I eventually find Engineered Explosives and preemptively set it on 1 to avoid a Thoughtseize. I manage to draw a couple Delver of Secrets that eventually flip after about 6 looks (ghetto Fetchland scry action).
Round 4: Mono B Rack
He's 1-2 in record, so he concedes to me, but we play for fun.
Game 1: He's stuck on 1 land but does manage to play 2x Duress and a Inquisition of Kozilek. Swiftspear and Tarmogoyf beats get me there in time before he gets his second land.
In: 1x Vendilion Clique, 1x Negate, 1x Spell Pierce, 1x Keranos, God of Storms, 1x Threads of Disloyalty
Out: 2x Vapor Snag, 1x Pillar of Flame, 1x Forked Bolt, 1x Flame Jab,
Game 2: He keeps a hand of 6 with Leyline of the Void. We play some Magic, I eventually find a threat, he draws a ton of lands with Raven's Crime, and I discard my copies of Tarmogoyf and Treasure Cruise. I Spell Pierce his Ensnaring Bridge, and that's it.
Result: I'm 4th with terrible tiebreakers, but enough to double up my store credit.
Sunday:
Round 1: Red Deck Wins
Game 1: I'm playing against a home brew with Boggart Ram-Gang and Burning-Tree Emissary in addition to Eidolon of the Great Revels, Vexing Devil, and Hellspark Elemental. I win the game after he top decks two lands while I'm on 2 life.
Game 2: I mull to 6 and lose to an early Eidolon, which I have no removals for.
Game 3: I stabilize at 10 life with a Tarmogoyf and Swiftspear in play. I've Treasure Cruised, so I have extra Vapor Snags for his creatures. Another Swiftspear joins the party and takes it home.
Round 2: BRWG Burn (same guy from Saturday)
Game 1: He's stuck on 1 land, and I manage to find a couple threats. He's unable to race with 1 land, and that's game.
Game 2: I'm on 2 life, and he top decks a Rakdos Charm, which is enough to give him the win.
Game 3: I'm on 1 life, and he top decks a Boros Charm, but luckily I have a Dispel left. I top deck a Treasure Cruise, and that's enough for lethal.
Round 3: Affinity
Game 1: He lands a Cranial Plating because I needed to save my Spell Snare for his Arcbound Ravager. He gets 5 Infect on me with Inkmoth Nexus and Cranial Plating. I'm missing the third land for my Electrolyze, so I Serum Vision and find a land, but I still don't have a response for the Inkmoth Nexus, so I bluff a Scalding Tarn. He takes the bluff and develops his boards, and now I have Electrolyze and Snapcaster in hand. I manage to land a couple Tarmogoyfs and attack with them, and he trades them with his creatures equipped with Cranial Plating. He tries going for the kill again, but I have a Vapor Snag lined up for him. The game goes on for a few more turns, but eventually I hit my 4th land so that I can start adding pressure on the board.
Game 2: He mulls to 5 and keeps a sketchy hand with no turn 1 plays. I keep my 7 and start adding pressure right away with Tarmogoyf and Swiftspear. He lands a Signal Pest, Mox Opal, and Glimmervoid, and I'm able to blow them up with a Lightning Bolt and a Destructive Revelry.
Round 4: Melira Pod
We draw to split 1st and 2nd, but we play 1 game. I Treasure Cruise 3 times and wipe all of his board except for a Siege Rhino, and 3 Tarmogoyf is too much for the single Siege Rhino.
Usually Delver unless you're suspecting a turn 1 removal. Flying is relevant against most decks such that I would usually value Delver higher than Swiftspear. I feel like Probe gives you enough info such that you would be willing to Probe before the Swiftspear, it obviously depends on the match up. Especially on the draw, it's important to know when to leave up Fetchland Spell Snare rather than turn 1 Delver or Swiftspear.
I think our match up is pretty good against Burn already without any dedicated sideboard.
I had a game 2 against Burn that went like this:
Turn 1:
me - Fetch Breeding Pool tapped
him - Steam Vents untapped, Lightning Bolt
Turn 2:
me - Gitaxian Probe, Mountain, Tarmogoyf
him - Eidolon of the Great Revels
Turn 3:
me - Lightning Bolt Eidolon, swing for 5, second Tarmogoyf
him - GGWP.
Currently I'm running a couple Dispels, a couple Negates, and a couple Magma Sprays. I'm thinking about taking out the Dragon's Claw because Tarmogoyf is already a trump card in the match up, I'd rather have a Spell Snare, which is a much more open card. Lots of Burn players are expecting us to side in either Spellskite and Dragon's Claw and preemptively siding in Smash to Smithereens, which we can make into a dead card.
I would setup Serum Visions. Like LSV said, Serum Visions is a card that takes a turn to setup, so you really want to play it as soon as possible. You NEED to make your second land drop to have a good chance in this otherwise bad match up.
Playing Delver isn't great in this match up because you're not going to threaten lethal anytime soon. It's more important to get your key cards and control the board.
4 Vapor Snag means you're going to have a ton of dead cards, I'd prefer 1 Twisted Image in the mix. I also don't like 3 Gut Shot, taking 2 damage to deal 1 is pretty awful. I would take out 1 Gut Shot for another Misty Rainforest and another Gut Shot for a Flame Jab. Pillar of Flame is definitely an option to consider if there are players running Voice of Resurgence or Kitchen Finks in your meta.
Young Pyromancer is so fragile, he almost always dies the turn he comes into play. Tarmogoyf, on the other hand, is a solid turn 2 play that without Spell Snare is difficult to interact with.
You're really underestimating Geist of Saint-Traft. A resolved Geist basically means a race is commencing because it's so easy for UWR to keep the board clean with 4 Path, 4 Helix, 4 Bolt, and X Electrolyze.
I think if you want to play a control build, Blue Moon is better with Blood Moon and Vedalken Shackles mainboard. Zemanjaski from CFB posted a list a while back on reddit, see thread here.
-1 Sulfur Falls, -1 Mountain, +2 Island. I think the Treasure Cruise build is fine too, I'd cut a Vapor Snag to add another burn spell though like Pillar of Flame. Some more long game options in the board like Keranos and/or Batterskull on the board would be nice, or at least a Flame Jab, which I really like in Treasure Cruise builds when you flood out on lands.
You honestly don't need to make such dramatic changes to beat Affinity.
-2 Spell Pierce, +2 Burst Lightning/Pillar of Flame/Forked Bolt, -1 Vendilion Clique, -1 Treasure Cruise, +2 Electrolyze. Add another Engineered Explosives on the sideboard for Bogle and Affinity, cutting the Teferi (terrible in the aggro/tempo meta right now), and you should be good to go.
I think you need some number of Thought Scour to make effective use of Treasure Cruise, but maybe that's just me. I still prefer the Dig Through Time Snapcaster ('Nap Time) build over the Monastery Swiftspear Treasure Cruise (T Swift) build especially you're going to be playing counters like Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, and Remand. That being said, I personally prefer to be on the control side of the spectrum for Tempo builds, and that differs from person to person.
Faithless Looting is bad because it's card disadvantage for the sake of card selection. We don't really need the card selection.
I hope you can get your hands on Serum Vision. I can't believe Serum Visions are $7 median now, I bought the Arena Promos for $8 each less than a year ago and now they're $25 each for the NM copies, that's bananas.
Clique is much better in a counter-heavy deck that runs 3+ Remand and 3+ Mana Leak because it lets you have your counter shield up, and if your opponent just durdles, deploy a threat EOT that's much more powerful than Snapcaster. I know that if Treasure Cruise is banned, I would probably try a Dig Through Times variant with Snapcaster, Delver, Tarmogoyf, and Vendilion Clique as the creature base.
The hand is probably worth keeping, it has plenty of interaction and you can play 4 of the spells with just the Steam Vents. It's not a strong keep, but I think it's just as good as your average 6.
I like Flame Jab just fine, I just didn't face a single UR Delver both tournaments despite playing next to them the whole time. It's also decent against Pod and other creature decks, so there's that too. It's great synergy with all the lands from Treasure Cruise and the Prowess triggers from Swiftspear. I guess for now it should probably be relegated to the sideboard instead.
Twisted Image is pretty good in my opinion, at the very worst it's a +1/-1 for your Goyf or Swiftspear, but it's also great against Pod (Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Wall of Roots) and Affinity (Signal Pest, Ornithopter, Cranial Plating). It also enables you to kill some of the more annoying creatures like Restoration Angel, Linvala, and Exarch with a Lightning Bolt. Being able to kill Spellskite guaranteed for 1 mana that also cantrips is one of the best feelings.
My list:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Treasure Cruise
1 Forked Bolt
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Flame Jab
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Thought Scour
2 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Snare
1 Twisted Image
1 Spell Pierce
1 Remand
1 Electrolyze
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Flooded Strand
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Magma Spray
1 Negate
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Spell Pierce
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Dispel
1 Flashfreeze
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Spellskite
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Flame Slash
1 Hibernation
Saturday:
Round 1: UR Burn
Game 1: He's on the play, I mull to 6. Tarmogoyf is too late to the party, and I lose before I start swining at him.
In: 1x Negate, 1x Flashfreeze, 1x Flame Slash, 1x Spell Pierce, 1x Dispel, 2x Magma Spray
Out: 3x Gitaxian Probe, 1x Treasure Cruise, 1x Flame Jab, 1x Twisted Image, 1x Pillar of Flame
Game 2: I mull to 6, I win because of his 2x Treasure Cruise draw.
Game 3: I mull to 5 and keep a hand with no lands and 2 Serum Visions. I draw into the Steam Vents, but I misplay Bolting his Monastery Swiftspear instead of waiting for the Eidolon. The Eidolon does 4 extra damage to me, I lose.
Round 2: BRWG Burn
Game 1: I'm on the play with a triple Swiftspear hand, and he's stuck on one mana the whole game. Next game.
In: 1x Negate, 1x Flashfreeze, 1x Flame Slash, 1x Spell Pierce, 1x Dispel, 2x Magma Spray
Out: 3x Gitaxian Probe, 1x Treasure Cruise, 1x Flame Jab, 1x Twisted Image, 1x Pillar of Flame
Game 2: His Eidolon, Goblin Guide, and Monastery Swiftspear prove too much to me.
Game 3: I'm able to stabilize at 2 life, he's at 12 with a Swiftspear and 2 lands in play. I Serum Vision swing in with two 2/3 Swiftspear and Tarmogoyf, he chump blocks with his Swiftspear. He top decks a Volcanic Fallout, which he cannot cast at 2 lands due to his Shard Volley. I take the Lightning Bolt that I kept on top with the Serum Vision and take it home Swiftspear.
Round 3: B/R Death's Shadow brew
Game 1: I mistakenly bolt a Nivgamus Elementa to which he exiles a Phyrexian mana spell to make it a 3/4. I'm unable to find Vapor Snag after searching through almost half my whole deck and lose from 2 9/9 Death's Shadow and a huge Nivgamus Elemental.
In: Threads of Disloyalty, Engineered Explosives, Vendilion Clique
Out: Pillar of Flame, Forked Bolt, Electrolyze
Game 2: There's no pressure on the board, so I Treasure Cruise a couple times and win off the back of 3x Lightning Bolt plus Snapcaster Mage.
Game 3: Another long and grindy game, he lands a Monastery Swiftspear and hits me for 1 every turn. I eventually find Engineered Explosives and preemptively set it on 1 to avoid a Thoughtseize. I manage to draw a couple Delver of Secrets that eventually flip after about 6 looks (ghetto Fetchland scry action).
Round 4: Mono B Rack
He's 1-2 in record, so he concedes to me, but we play for fun.
Game 1: He's stuck on 1 land but does manage to play 2x Duress and a Inquisition of Kozilek. Swiftspear and Tarmogoyf beats get me there in time before he gets his second land.
In: 1x Vendilion Clique, 1x Negate, 1x Spell Pierce, 1x Keranos, God of Storms, 1x Threads of Disloyalty
Out: 2x Vapor Snag, 1x Pillar of Flame, 1x Forked Bolt, 1x Flame Jab,
Game 2: He keeps a hand of 6 with Leyline of the Void. We play some Magic, I eventually find a threat, he draws a ton of lands with Raven's Crime, and I discard my copies of Tarmogoyf and Treasure Cruise. I Spell Pierce his Ensnaring Bridge, and that's it.
Result: I'm 4th with terrible tiebreakers, but enough to double up my store credit.
Sunday:
Round 1: Red Deck Wins
Game 1: I'm playing against a home brew with Boggart Ram-Gang and Burning-Tree Emissary in addition to Eidolon of the Great Revels, Vexing Devil, and Hellspark Elemental. I win the game after he top decks two lands while I'm on 2 life.
In: 2 Magma Spray, 1 Flashfreeze,
Out: 1 Spell Pierce, 3 Gitaxian Probe
Game 2: I mull to 6 and lose to an early Eidolon, which I have no removals for.
Game 3: I stabilize at 10 life with a Tarmogoyf and Swiftspear in play. I've Treasure Cruised, so I have extra Vapor Snags for his creatures. Another Swiftspear joins the party and takes it home.
Round 2: BRWG Burn (same guy from Saturday)
Game 1: He's stuck on 1 land, and I manage to find a couple threats. He's unable to race with 1 land, and that's game.
Game 2: I'm on 2 life, and he top decks a Rakdos Charm, which is enough to give him the win.
Game 3: I'm on 1 life, and he top decks a Boros Charm, but luckily I have a Dispel left. I top deck a Treasure Cruise, and that's enough for lethal.
Round 3: Affinity
Game 1: He lands a Cranial Plating because I needed to save my Spell Snare for his Arcbound Ravager. He gets 5 Infect on me with Inkmoth Nexus and Cranial Plating. I'm missing the third land for my Electrolyze, so I Serum Vision and find a land, but I still don't have a response for the Inkmoth Nexus, so I bluff a Scalding Tarn. He takes the bluff and develops his boards, and now I have Electrolyze and Snapcaster in hand. I manage to land a couple Tarmogoyfs and attack with them, and he trades them with his creatures equipped with Cranial Plating. He tries going for the kill again, but I have a Vapor Snag lined up for him. The game goes on for a few more turns, but eventually I hit my 4th land so that I can start adding pressure on the board.
In: 1 Ancient Grudge, 1 Flame Slash, 1 Engineered Explosives, 1 Destructive Revelry, 1 Spellskite, 2 Magma Spray
Out: 3 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Remand, 1 Pillar of Flame, 1 Spell Pierce, 1 Treasure Cruise
Game 2: He mulls to 5 and keeps a sketchy hand with no turn 1 plays. I keep my 7 and start adding pressure right away with Tarmogoyf and Swiftspear. He lands a Signal Pest, Mox Opal, and Glimmervoid, and I'm able to blow them up with a Lightning Bolt and a Destructive Revelry.
Round 4: Melira Pod
We draw to split 1st and 2nd, but we play 1 game. I Treasure Cruise 3 times and wipe all of his board except for a Siege Rhino, and 3 Tarmogoyf is too much for the single Siege Rhino.
I had a game 2 against Burn that went like this:
Turn 1:
me - Fetch Breeding Pool tapped
him - Steam Vents untapped, Lightning Bolt
Turn 2:
me - Gitaxian Probe, Mountain, Tarmogoyf
him - Eidolon of the Great Revels
Turn 3:
me - Lightning Bolt Eidolon, swing for 5, second Tarmogoyf
him - GGWP.
Currently I'm running a couple Dispels, a couple Negates, and a couple Magma Sprays. I'm thinking about taking out the Dragon's Claw because Tarmogoyf is already a trump card in the match up, I'd rather have a Spell Snare, which is a much more open card. Lots of Burn players are expecting us to side in either Spellskite and Dragon's Claw and preemptively siding in Smash to Smithereens, which we can make into a dead card.
Playing Delver isn't great in this match up because you're not going to threaten lethal anytime soon. It's more important to get your key cards and control the board.
I'm currently playing Temur with 4x Tarmogoyf, 4x Delver of Secrets, 4x Young Pyromancer, 2x Snapcaster Mage, and 3x Dig Through Time.
You're really underestimating Geist of Saint-Traft. A resolved Geist basically means a race is commencing because it's so easy for UWR to keep the board clean with 4 Path, 4 Helix, 4 Bolt, and X Electrolyze.
-1 Sulfur Falls, -1 Mountain, +2 Island. I think the Treasure Cruise build is fine too, I'd cut a Vapor Snag to add another burn spell though like Pillar of Flame. Some more long game options in the board like Keranos and/or Batterskull on the board would be nice, or at least a Flame Jab, which I really like in Treasure Cruise builds when you flood out on lands.
-2 Spell Pierce, +2 Burst Lightning/Pillar of Flame/Forked Bolt, -1 Vendilion Clique, -1 Treasure Cruise, +2 Electrolyze. Add another Engineered Explosives on the sideboard for Bogle and Affinity, cutting the Teferi (terrible in the aggro/tempo meta right now), and you should be good to go.
I think you need some number of Thought Scour to make effective use of Treasure Cruise, but maybe that's just me. I still prefer the Dig Through Time Snapcaster ('Nap Time) build over the Monastery Swiftspear Treasure Cruise (T Swift) build especially you're going to be playing counters like Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, and Remand. That being said, I personally prefer to be on the control side of the spectrum for Tempo builds, and that differs from person to person.
I hope you can get your hands on Serum Vision. I can't believe Serum Visions are $7 median now, I bought the Arena Promos for $8 each less than a year ago and now they're $25 each for the NM copies, that's bananas.