[Deck] The Servant's Stone

[Clark Kant]

If you read what I posted, it should be clear that this was never meant to replace F. Stompy. It was built as a fun diversion from it.

No if you go the combo route with F. Stompy, you SHOULD play both combos.

By going the combo route, you have to cut yourself off from Chalice of the Void and maindeck Brainstorm.

At that point, you might as well maximize how badly you can abuse Trinket Mage to fetch 1cc combo pieces.

[revenge_inc]

this was never meant to replace F. Stompy. It was built as a fun diversion from it.

I could see the latest decklist you posted in this thread was not entirely serious but I was looking at it (and the combo(s)) from a competive standpoint.

[Clark Kant]

Few combo deck start out competitive ie. tier one out of the gate. I haven't yet seen a build that I think would be "competitive" You have to try a lot of different approaches before arriving at the best one.

Now, while I readily admit that the build I posted isn't a tier one deck like F. Stompy is, I don't think it's half bad either. It can do a lot of broken things in alot of broken ways very early. It can attack your opponents from multiple directions and gives you a lot of flexibility. I think the deck with a little adjustment could easily be tier two.

So yes, I do think it's worth trying.

And frankly, I don't think this combo will ever rise beyond a tier two status at best anyways. You can quote me on that.

[dahcmai]

It's too bad Jeska has such a large target on her head, she's a walking Pyroblast. I really like that card, but I don't think I've ever got her to stay alive long enough to get rid of summoning sickness even once in any format.


As for the FS build, it makes me sad I sold off my Sea Drakes while they were hot.

[Soulles]

Because of how Grindstone works, one of Crypt maindeck answers both Cane and any number of blessings.

The repeating process is all one resolution, so if you have crypt in play you can respond to all of the blessing triggers at once with one activation.

How is it an all in one resolution?

If i read grindstone, it says repeat the process if the 2 cards share color. So doesn't there needs to be some sort of SBE check before it triggers again?

I mean it has to check every 2 cards for color right?

[Sanguine Voyeur]

No, the entire library would be milled in one resolution. There would be no opportunity for spells or abilities until two cards don't share a colour.

[Willoe]

Isamaru! I read your decklist, and it's pretty good looking! I was about to post in the MTGS forum, but somehow my 'net crashed. But it works now (of course, else I couldn't post, just sp you know and I saved the reply from yesterday. I post a copy of it, so here goes:

(The text in the quote box is the text that you also can find as a reply on MTGS. I want to keep the discussion up at as many sites as possible, as I really see potential in this combo.)

What to drop? At first, I'd drop 1 Grindstone. The card is dead without the servant and vice versa. Cut 1 of each and add an Engineered Explosives so you have an even greater game against combo. Against Ichorid, this deck seriously loses. He actually gets an advantage from your mill as he can replace the draws with dredging effects. I think a Dreadnought would do in this deck. My current test version is:

[DECK]
4 Trinket Mage
2 Painter's Servant
3 Phyrexian Dreadnought

2 Grindstone

4 Stifle
2 Trickbind

1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle

4 Force of Will
4 Daze

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Sensei's Divining Top

3 Counterbalance

4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
4 Island
2 Academy Ruins

SB:
4 Swords To Plowshares
4 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Chalice of the Void[/DECK]

Due to the fact it's monoblue, it's a little weak at tutoring up the combo. I dropped Enlightened Tutor because it only really finds one thing: The Servant. The deck could also go UG like this:

[DECK]
3 Trinket Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Phyrexian Dreadnought

1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grindstone

4 Living Wish
4 Stifle
2 Trickbind

3 Counterbalance

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Force of Will

4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
3 Island

SB:
1 Nimble Mongoose
1 Painter's Servant
1 Trinket Mage
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Trygon Predator
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Æther Spellbomb
1 Seat of the Synod
4 Krosan Grip[/DECK]

I like the Uw build the most. It's the most consistent. The UG just seem like a spacy version of NQG.

What do you think of the two builds?

[puddn]

i like the second version with green for tarmo and living wish
why not Llawan, Cephalid Empress in SB for living wish? it seems be good to lock

[Isamaru]

haha Llawan is where the deck starts getting fun As long as you're playing Survival or Living Wish, she's worth including 1x.

Thanks, willoe. I like your first list better than the second one because the second one has too few ways to assemble the combo or Wish for a bomb, but I think you should reconsider E.T. in the first one... it gets so incredibly much.

I will post a GWu list later tonight.

[Willoe]

The only problem with this deck that it has to include so many different effects to make room for extra pieces. That makes the various decktypes rather narrow.

Isamaru: I love that UGw is really possible! Isamaru, I'm looking forward to see the decklist!

The only two concerns I have by making >2 lists without too much countermagic is The Moon and the Moonman. I just picked up Dragon Stompy and I love to see my opponents whine because of that bloody moon. But on the other hand, losing the game because of 1 enchantment that doesn't even deals damage is just plain frustrating.

[TheKingslayer]

I would like to suggest that I believe a more black build would be ideal for protection, as krosan grip and shattering spree have made it somewhat difficult to protect artifacts with counters.

Perhaps I'll put together a list later, or you can all shoot the idea down.

some notable cards may be:
unmask
or
(kind of expensive but cool to think about an early one of these).....

Persecute :)

[Michael Keller]

Persecute is just fine. In fact, it works well by itself.

[Happy Gilmore]

I would like to suggest that I believe a more black build would be ideal for protection, as krosan grip and shattering spree have made it somewhat difficult to protect artifacts with counters.

Perhaps I'll put together a list later, or you can all shoot the idea down.

some notable cards may be:
unmask
or
(kind of expensive but cool to think about an early one of these).....

Persecute :)

Let me go ahead and flex my deck building muscles...

4 Painter's Servant
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Dark Confidant

3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Torach
4 Dark Ritual
3 Duress
2 Enligtened Tutor
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Jitte
2 Grindstone

4 Scrublands
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
8 Swamps


If your Going that rout I would rather just play affinity. But in all likely hood, CB protection is going to be the best for the deck.

[xsockmonkeyx]

I would like to suggest that I believe a more black build would be ideal for protection, as krosan grip and shattering spree have made it somewhat difficult to protect artifacts with counters.

You could always try sticking it in a Death Clock shell. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the combo.

[Clark Kant]

I really like the idea of a b/w suicide build of the deck with enligtened tutor. Dark Ritual and Discard goes great into any combo deck but especially into this combo.

I definately think such a build should play 4 Tombstalker and probably Beseech the Queen as well.

Tombstalker in my opinion should go into every black deck playing discard and fetchlands. It wins so many games all by itself on the back of your discard. Here you can even use Grindstone to feed your yard for it if you get desperate.

Without blue, I'm not sure enlightened tutor isn't enough tutoring for the combo. Adding Beseech to the build makes it that much more consistent.

Here is a quick thrown together build...

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scrubland
4 Wasteland
4 Dark Ritual

4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Thoughtseize
3 Duress/Hymn to Tourach
3 Grindstone
2 Snuff Out
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Tainted Pact/Beseech the Queen

3 Nantuko Shade
4 Painter's Servant
4 Hypnotic Spectar
4 Tombstalker

As nice as Persecute is with a Servant on the board. It can be weak without a Servant since so many decks run upwards of three colors. And it's pretty mana intensive. I just felt Duress/Hymn was generally more disruptive.

It was important to me that the deck retained the traditional brokeness of Suicide Black. The combo is there as a backup plan, but one that you often draw into and resolve while your opponents are busy worrying about your other threats.

I'm not sure what to use as the two of tutor. Beseech is perfect but it costs a lot of mana.

Tainted Pact has the bonus of being cheaper and being an instant.

So at the end of your opponents turn, you can cast Tainted Pact, and try to tutor into either Enlightened Tutor or your second combo piece. Enlightened Tutor is an instant as well so you could cast it immediatley after too, and thus draw the card during the start of your turn. And if you have neither combo piece in hand, Pact at the end of your opponent's turn into a Thoughtseize, or more beats is a solid play as well.

[electrolyze]

dude, you just posted alomst the same list in 4 different topics on the forum, dont you think its a little too idiot.

about the list, its clearly you used somewhat of an eva green shel but that shell is made for tempo so you dont need such as a combo to win the game. just kick the hell out of your opponent by beating with a t3 stalker or something. maybe you could fit it in a very controllish deadguy build WITH confidant but not in a shell like this one.

[Isamaru]

Maybe we should just start a Clark Kant forum so that we can consolidate the musings?

[Clark Kant]

I've been suggesting that same thing (my very own forum for all my decklists) for years now

The plan IS to beat the crap out of your opponent. The combo is the back up plan should that original plan fail.

Or another way to look at it, is this is a combo deck, but with an extremely strong aggro backup to distract your opponent or win through a Stifle/Gaea's Blessing.

The fact is, this deck can support both the combo and aggro routes very well. It has more than enough tools that it can consistently go with either goal in mind.

That kind of flexibility is hard to come by and in my opinion undervalued.

The one thing I will change with the list, is that I will add a singleton Lurebound Scarecrow (or Phyrexian Warbeast or Sarcomancy or Bitterblossom or Engineered Explosives or Jitte) to the list to grab with Enlightened Tutor in a pinch.

This is because Lurebound Scarecrow is a very strong and solid beater in this deck. And it can be tutored up with Enlightened Tutor should the combo route fail you thanks to an Extripate or something. Thus, the E. Tutors never become dead cards.

I didn't want to use the deadguy shell because the deadguy shell is slow, sucky and largely defunct imho.

[Barook]

Aside from the Grindstone, what else color-specific cards become a beating with Painter in play?

So far, I only found Compost and it's rather meh without the Painter.

[dahcmai]

Just Reap, I guess you could re-build a weird version of Solidarity.

To be honest after reading all of this it just starts seeming like more of a cute combo than anything.