BMoors's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage



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Pojo's MTG MTG Home Message Board News & Archives Deck Garage BMoor Dolf BeJoSe Columnists Paul's Perspective Jeff Zandi DeQuan Watson Jordon Kronick IQ Aburame Shino Rare Hunter Tim Stoltzfus WiCkEd Judge Bill's Corner Trading Card Game Card of the Day Guide for Newbies Decks to Beat Featured Articles Peasant Magic Fan Tips Tourney Reports Other Color Chart Book Reviews Online Play MTG Links Staff		BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage Chains of Mephistopheles Deck November 1, 2007 Hi BMoor, I want to start out by saying that I visit your deck garage very often, most often just to get ideas on general deck building strategies, and in that respect it has helped tremendously. I have been working on this deck going on three months, and it has frustrated me every step of the way. No matter what permutation of cards I use, I can't seem to get the combo to work the way I planned (as I have come to realize it is, in fact, a combo deck). I'll explain more about my problems after the deck list. Lands 22 4 Watery Grave 4 Tainted Isle 4 Underground River 10 Swamp Enchantments 18 4 Chains of Mephistopheles 3 Underworld Dreams 3 Megrim 3 Words of Waste 3 Psychic Possession 1 Pendrell Mists 1 The Abyss Artifacts 8 3 The Rack 2 Howling Mine 3 Teferi's Puzzle Box Sorceries 8 3 Braingeyser 3 Prosperity 2 Urza's Guilt Instants15 4 Dark Ritual 3 Wheel and Deal 3 Impulse 3 Arcane Denial 2 Telling Time Total 71 As you can see, this is quite a deck list. I believe that the size of the deck is actually one of my major problems, not being able to get the cards that I need. So, the combo here is Chains with Braingeyser or prosperity or the like along with psychic possession to keep myself from drawing anything other than one card during a draw phase. Teferi's puzzle box and howling mine accomplish the same thing while serving the dual purpose of finding my combo pieces in the beginning. Wheel and Deal is one of my favorites in this deck to be honest. The rack, underworld dreams, and megrim are simply for the damage. Words of waste serves a similar purpose as psychic possession, with an added bonus. Pendrell mists and the abyss (another of my favorite cards) do exactly as they are designed to do, eliminate any creatures which may cause trouble. Impulse and Telling time seem to work very well in this deck, I've never been upset to find them in my hand. And Arcane denial is simply counter magic. Before this deck list I experimented with cards such as Forget, Wistful Thinking and Windfall for card draw and Ensnaring bridge for troublesome creatures. In the past I have had the most problems with straight burn decks, fast goblin and artifact decks, and this one pesky mono blue control which I have never beaten before and dont expect to any time soon. At this point in the process I am utterly stuck, Which is how I have come to turn to you for aid. Your help would be more than greatly appreciated. I should probably point out that the tournament which I play at is Legacy format, which is why Necropotence is noticeably absent, even though I feel that it has a natural synergy with Chains of Mephistopheles. Thank you greatly for your time. -Nick Glad to be of service, Nick. This deck actually reminds me of a homebrewed deck from my old playgroup-- a Megrim deck with no discard spells at all. I might've told this story before... At any rate, I'm quite confident I can have this deck running like a perpetual-motion machine in no time at all. Even better in fact, because your deck will actually exist. The principle is pretty straightforward: make your opponent draw and discard until he has no cards left in hand or library. The Chains of Mephisto will help drive through your opponent's deck in a rush, while Words of Waste shelters you from your own misdeeds. Just one hitch, though... You see, the Chains of Mephisto (Mephisto being a common, easier-to-spell nickname for Mephistopheles) replace everyone's draws with its little milling minigame, except for the first card they draw during their own draw step. While Psychic Possession lets you piggyback your draws off an opponent, it makes you skip your own draw step-- the one draw that the Chains can't hold down. Psychic Possession won't save you from the Chains unless your goal is to never draw another card again. Otherwise, it's anti-synergistic. Psychic Possession can go. Fortunately, Words of Waste does work the way you think it does, along with its little blue sister Words of Wind. The only problem is that they replace your draw. I have a feeling that this may be a clue to why you're not doing better-- you do actually need a fresh supply of cards if you expect to win. If you get down to zero cards in hand, the Chains will never let you draw again outside your draw step. The solution? Cards that replace your draw with something that actually has you put a card into your hand. The classic example is Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar. With this out, not only do you get the best of the top three every time you draw, but you never technically draw a card. You can't lose through decking, and the Chains will never tie you down. In a similar vein, Fathom Trawl is a solid card that can help you draw without saying "draw". These cards will not only ensure you can get out from under your own Chains, but they also help you find the Chains faster. Since you mentioned "not being able to get the cards that I need" as a main problem of the deck, another solution would be black's battery of tutor spells. Diabolic Tutor is the obvious example, followed closely thereafter by Transmute spells (which come in both black and blue, luckily). Another option would be Liliana Vess, who can esily rip apart an opponent's hand and then search for whatever card you want. There's her third ability too, which would probably be an absolute rout if you can get it to go off (what with your opponent discarding a lot of cards), but I have a feeling that any opponent would kill Liliana before you were able to do that. Give her a shot though-- you won't be disappointed. And as long as were playing with Planeswalkers, Jace Beleren syncs up perfectly with what your trying to do as well. He lets everyody draw cards (which under the Chains of Mephisto is a curse in disguise, but you've got Words of ____ to keep you safe), and then shreds your opponent's library. He also goes well with Liliana in many various ways. Finally, you're currently playing creatureless. A gutsy move that puts you at risk of creature rushes. You're going to need some way to defend yourself (and lack of it is likely your other biggest problem). There's always spot removal like Terror, Last Gasp, Nekrataal, and Shriekmaw. Or you could try Evacuation to further mess with your opponent's hand. Evacuation also works with Shriekmaw. But if you want this deck to really purr, you're going to need to bring the mana costs down. Sure, Chains costs a mere two mana, and you've got Dark Ritual, but you've also got X spells in Braingeyser and Prosperity. And there the fact that Underworld Dreams costs BBB in a two-color deck. So what can you do? Well, a few Dimir Signet couldn't hurt. Maybe a few cheap cantrips like Sleight of Hand (which also doesn't actually say "draw")? Even Phyrexian Totem would be a boon here, especially as it also provides a way to potentially swing for 5 if necesssary. So what do you pull for all this? Well, obviously not Chains of Mephisto. Wheel and Deal, Braingeyser, and Prosperity should also stay, as should Words of Waste (it's the other half of the combo). Other than that, pretty much anything could go if you wanted it to. Sometimes, you just have to be ruthless. Good luck! ~BMoor
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