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Felipe Musco

Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 5:27 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

--- description ---
See a twisted card being put to twisted use!
--- end description ---

The very first time I set my eyes upon Mindmoil I thought: "Wow, now THAT’S a neat card, cycling for red!". But then, as I looked deeper into the card, I figured out the catch: what if you justhave the perfect hand? I mean, ditching it to the bottom of your library doesn’t seem at all that nice!
I had already forgotten about it, ’till I came around some copies of it during the Regionals, and then it struck me like thunder! Read the game text carefully: "Whenever you play a spell, put the cards in your hand on the bottom of your library in any order, and draw that many cards"! Ring any bells? When the simple fact of drawing a card is good, no matter what the price? When you have Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind on the table! Imagine the power of these two cards combined! After putting a lot of thought into how to make this combo playable, I give you:

Moil-Mizzet

MAIN DECK

22 Lands

1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Tower
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Steam Vents
4 Shivan Reef

3 Enchantments

3 Mindmoil

3 Creatures

3 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

4 Artifacts

4 Izzet Signet

11 Sorceries

4 Pyroclasm
4 Compulsive Research
3 Tidings

17 Instants

4 Mana Leak
4 Remand
4 Electrolyze
3 Repeal
2 Mnemonic Nexus

SIDEBOARD

2 Confiscate
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Blaze
1 Demonfire
1 Invoke the Firemind
1 Repeal
2 Hinder
3 Spell Snare

Now, on to explaining how this mean machine works:

Lands - Now, the mana base for this deck may seem a little strange, so I’ll begin explaining that. Why the UrzaTron? Well, the main reason is FAST and ABUNDANT mana, so this mana base, combined with the signets, can survive Wildfires easily. Also, when opponents are NOT playing LD, this deck can play A LOT of spells each turn (and trust me, with the card-drawing ability of this deck, you WILL have a lot of spells in your hand). This leads to the second weird thing: why Oboro? Well, as I played this deck, since the UrzaTron is somehow difficult to control once it’s out, I ended up taking some mana burn, so this Land lowers that risk. Also, it’s nice to simply bounce your land before an opponent try to destroy it (although I’m not quite sure someone would be that stupid). The last one is quite self-explainable: Minamo is used to untap Niv-Mizzet, so you can draw a card and attack at the same time, or attack and block, should you need to.

Mindmoil - This is the win condition of the deck. The deck CAN win without it, yes, but once you have Niv-Mizzet out, just play one of these the following turn. 2-turn kill guaranteed, without even having to swing once!

Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - Mindmoil abuser. Just imagine how much damage you can deal with this bad boy and Mindmoil both out, having a 7 card hand and playing Tidings! 11 damage for cycling your deck, and you didn’t even have to swing!

Izzet Signet - The most important tools of this deck, since you generate A LOT of colorless mana, and SOME spells need double-colored mana, specially our friend Niv-Mizzet. Without these, playing him in this deck would be almost impossible!

Pyroclasm - Let’s face it: aggro is a pain, and you don’t have early creatures to stall them, so this and Electrolyze are your only ways of stalling an early game assault.

Compulsive Research - What can I say? You don’t need all these lands, so the trade-off for this card make it a pretty good deal, and also, when you play Niv-Mizzet, drawing cards is ALWAYS good.

Tidings - The same as above, but this card is AWESOME in this deck. It costs double-colored, yes, but that’s blue, the most abundant color int he mana base, and let’s face it: drawing FOUR cards is pretty damn AMAZING!

Mana Leak - The best damn counterspell out there, and you WILL need it to protect your combo pieces, or even precious life-points.

Remand - Stall the game, even though it doesn’t rid you from the threat permanently, but gives you a card for that. So, basically, the trade-off is worth it.

Electrolyze - Kills weenies, tokens, Rusalkas, well you name it! And ALSO gives you a card to replace it. What’s not to like?

Repeal - Another way to stall aggro early game, or kill annoying tokens (although I would not recommend the latter use, unless you REALLY need it), WHILE giving you a free card. Pretty good, actually. Also, this card is the only way of beating things like Ivory Mask or Worship, and Blood Moon would simply KILL you without this card!

Mnemonic Nexus - With all this cycling, it’s always great to get back your cards, so you can try to use them again. However, this card plays two MAJOR roles in this deck: serving as a protection against Vore decks (not very important, though), and SHUFFLING YOUR LIBRARY! Yes, check the gametext on Mindmoil again: youjust pile your cards down on the bottom of your library, you don’t get to shuffle it, so it may come in handy sometimes.

Now, on to explaining the sideboard. This is not only a complementary sideboard, but also acts as a switchboard, should you need a surprise element, so let’s go through card-by-card analysis:

Confiscate - Does this one need any explaining? See something you like on your opponent’s board, TAKE IT! Be it a creature, an enchantment or even Umezawa’s Jitte, just take it!

Threads of Disloyalty - This is another good way of stopping aggro decks, cheaper than Confiscate, since you can "borrow" some nice things to defend yourself. Depending on the deck, you may even be able to steal a Carven Caryatid or a Drift of Phantasms, which is pretty good for a turn three drop...

Keiga, the Tide Star - What’s not to like about him? He’s big, he flies, he survives Wildfires AND he steal creatures. Not only that, but he costs a single colored mana, so it’s quite easy to play him in this deck!

Blaze - Torch opponents to death with all your spare colorless mana!

Demonfire - Same as Blaze, but if you manage to get hellbent, comes with an extra flavor... However, this is difficult to happen with this deck, so this is more to disrupt Cranial Extractions, making they choose: Blaze, Demonfire OR Invoke the Firemind.

Invoke the Firemind - Same as Blaze and Demonfire, PLUS allowing for EVEN MORE card-drawing. Talk about going fast through a library!

Repeal - Is you’re having trouble with Artifacts and Enchantments, board one more of these. It is fairly useful.

Hinder - In case you feel you need more counters.

Spell Snare - This is a GREAT early game staller, since it almost DISRUPTS your opponent’s whole strategy. Watchwolf? Don’t think so. Umezawa’s Jitte? Find another. Silhana Ledgewalker? Hum... no. Dryad Sophisticate? As good as dead. Mana Leak or Remand? Show them who’s the boss ’round here.

Please mind you that this deck is SUPPOSED to play around Mindmoil, so don’t bother suggesting taking it out, I know the deck CAN be stronger, but this deck is supposed to be fun, and to catch opponents off-guard, I mean, NOBODY will be expecting you to pull a Mindmoil instead of a Wildfire, once you start playing!
I’m still working on the Match-ups analysis, but as soon as I finish playtesting it, I’m posting the results here. So far, it has beat Ghost Husk (4-2), Heartbeat (4-1), Weenie (4-1), my Milling Deep deck (3-1) and a Boros Swift deck (4-0). The worst match-ups so far were Grail’s U/G Powerbeats and U/R Vore, but they’re still winnable matches, after you use the sideboard (3-3 so far against both). The next one is URzaTron Wildfire. Twisted Evil

I don't like YOU.

BrianBoitano

Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:39 pm

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

I’d first like to address what you first address: your mana base.
Playing the UrzaTron without land tutoring is sometimes... frustrating. More early (early early!) card draw would help this cause, so I would suggest something like Vision Skeins or Quicken (for when your counterspell mana would be wasted). Mishra’s Bauble (from Coldsnap) could even be useful.
I playtested this deck in Apprentice, and one thing popped out at me: playing Compulsive Research early kinda sucks. You have a good chance of having to discard 2 in order to avoid losing an urza piece.
Looks like fun when it works, but very frustrating when it doesn’t.

Felipe Musco

Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:05 am

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

I didn’t want to use Vision Skeins ’cause it helps opponents as well, but Telling Time could be nice, yes, and also Sleight of Hand, for that matter. But believe me, I tested them, and it works better like this. Also, didn’t quite gey what you meant by using Quicken... And I’m still not using any Coldsnap cards, I’m waiting ’till the final release to take a look at them all, who knows, I might find something even better!
You see, Brian, playtest it again, but this time do it like this: if you play Compulsive Research early and have to discar an Urza piece, do it. You see, that’s why there’s four copies of each piece, you only have to play ONE full set of the UrzaTron to make this deck work wonders, the only reason to want to keep it is when you board in Direct Damage cards, in which case I’d strongly recomend taking out exactly Compulsive Research, maybe boarding in Invoke the Firemind (to mantain some card-drawing, even if it’s little), Blaze OR Demonfire, and 2 Keigas. It disrupts the main idea of the deck a little, so that’s why they’re all in the SB, but plays really nice and this would be the only case in which you’d need to have MANY sets or UrzaTron out. Also, for the matter of discarding a Tron piece, Mnemonic Nexus can get them back, so no worries! Just try it again like this, and tell me if it worked any better.
Anyway, what did you think of the bombo, though? The entire Deck and the Article were written with that in mind, so I’d like to know your opinions. Did you get the combo to work anytime? How did it go? I used to get 2-turn kills, no matter WHAT was out on the board, once the combo was out, like, 90% of the time, and that considering I hadn’t swung even once thewhole match, just by abusing Niv-Mizzet’s ability! Very Happy

I don't like YOU.

BrianBoitano

Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:54 am

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

You’re right, Sleight of Hand is better than Quicken, and I believe Telling Time is much better than Compulsive Research as you’re using it. I cannot agree with you in the least that it’s okay to drop a one-of of the Urzatron just to keep 2 cards. Waiting for more Tron is without doubt the worst way to get them all out.
I’m really disliking the lack of colored mana. I was able to get the combo out, and it rocked when it did get out, but it’s just not easy to do.
As I’ve (painfully) learned in this community, an interesting combo with a decent deck built around it doesn’t make the grade. Points for originality and enjoyment, though.

Felipe Musco

Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:27 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

You’re missing one thing about Telling Time AND Sleight of Hand: they don’t draw cards. Assuming I can’t get the Mindmoil out, the deck would still be able to win with Niv-Mizzet, but to pull this out, you have to actually draw cards, so you’ll get to activate his ability. Other than that, I do think Telling Time is, a lot of times, better then Compulsive Research, although it does not provide all that acceleration. If this deck were about burning with the Tron, instead of killing with Niv-Mizzet, Telling Time would be a much better choice!

I don't like YOU.

Felipe Musco

Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:11 am

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

Comments anyone? Anyone? Guess only me and Brian are crazy enough to play these types of decks...

I don't like YOU.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:50 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

Sorry I didn’t see it here Very Happy

Nexus seems like overkill to me. I think you’re better off with an extra repeal/mindmoil. Looks like a pretty solid list.

When you’re playing this deck, remember that depending on the hand, it’ll be a whole lot better to not signet turn two, save it for turn three! That waym you can repeal/leak/remand turn two, then using the signet, you can again turn three!

One last thing. Perhaps you need some land search of some sort if you’re playing urzatron? I know, I know R/U doesn’t have any, and I won’t tell you to splash. I would suggest sensei’s divining top, however, for a little more mana base stability, and the bonus late game of extra searching.

BrianBoitano

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:26 pm

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

I agree with the Sensei’s Divining Top, as I also don’t particularly like depending on the "Draw into Urzatron" philosophy. Plus, who ever didn’t like using the Top?

"Not again" -Hans
Hello kind Sir or Madam, I am a polite sig virus. Please put me into your fine and dandy signature so that I might continue to replicate. Thank you for your time.

Felipe Musco

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:35 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

So what should I cut? Sensei’s Divining Top over Mnemonic Nexus? Looks interesting... Although, with Mindmoil putting cards on the bottom of my library, I’d rather have it shuffled than re-ordered... But who knows, might be ok. I’m testing it tonight, and posting the results here. Thanks for the feedback

I don't like YOU.

BrianBoitano

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:14 pm

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

you know, you might not want to reshuffle your library, if you play your cards right you can stack your deck pretty well! Imagine this: Each time you mindmoil, you ensure that every other card you put on the bottom is a spell. In this way, when you get to the point when you’ve gone through your entire deck (not impossible by any means with Mindmoil), you’ve ensured that you will NEVER again draw mana turn-after-turn, so-called "Mana pits", and you ensure that each mindmoil will give at least one more spell to set off Mindmoil again. Nexus is still very useful in case you mill yourself (or if an opponent uses mill Wink

), and two copies are needed to ensure your deck will run forever (theoretically, you play one Nexus, graveyard->library, nexus->graveyard, draw second nexus sometime later, old nexus+graveyard->library, repeat!), but maybe your deck doesn’t need to run forever? It’s ultimately your choice, but I think one Nexus would be enough to ensure you never mill yourself beyond repair. I think you can cut 1 or 2 Pyroclasm, as while it is a GREAT card, it doesn’t contribute enough to your theme. So my suggestion is -1 Pyroclasm, -1 Mnemonic Nexus, +2 Sensei’s Divining Top. Try that out and let us know how it goes!

"Not again" -Hans
Hello kind Sir or Madam, I am a polite sig virus. Please put me into your fine and dandy signature so that I might continue to replicate. Thank you for your time.

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