[Deck] Infernal Bargain - A different view on Tendrils

[Danarim]

Cards from portal are tech. Cruel Bargain may be an example. It may seem nothing new, because there is already a card with exactly that effect and cost, but now we're allowed to run 8 of them. I seriously consider it as a new base for a tendrils deck - I think the first results are promising. There are many skilled combo players on this forum (Nausea the prove), I count on your feedback ;).

Draw4 v.1.01

Lands:
3 Bayou
6 Swamp
4 Land Grant

Mana:
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Lotus Petal
2 Mox Diamond

Draw&tutor:
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Night's Whisper
3 Diabolic Intent

Free food:
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
2 Ornithopter

Win:
4 Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard:
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Compost
3 Seedtime

Some card choices:

Cruel Bargain/Infernal Contract/Night's Whisper
The huge advantage of those cards is the fact that thay have no drawback of the meditate sort - you can play them before going off and it's quite a good business. The lifeloss drawback isn't that big as it may seem - you can play a totally sufficient amount of them during the game, if your opponent isn't playing Burn. The walls additionally protect you from random small creatures in the first three turns. Furthermore, if you happen to fizzle, it's not a tragedy - you can often tendrils for 10, then try again the next turn, with a 7-cards hand.

Diabolic Intent/Culling the Weak + free crits
8x rituals is definitely not sufficient for this deck. Culling the Weak tries to solve it and does it quite well. The synergy of the free crits with the strategy of the deck is brilliant, they create a nice storm amount, defend your hit points and above all they feed the 'demonic tutor', which strongly increases the deck's consistancy.

Mox Diamond
The 'random mox diamonds' are there for situations (that happen quite often) when you played a bunch of draw and you have some lands in your hand that do just nothing. Worked well for me.

Swamps
Running mostly basic lands is good. This is a thing that Nausea doesn't.

Some results:

Results of goldfishing with the actual version of the deck:
Turn 1 0
Turn 2 IIIII
Turn 3 IIIIIIIIIIII
Turn 4 IIIII
Turn 5 0
Fizzle IIIII
Suicide 0

It still sucks vs red gro variants and burn, but I think it's worth working on it.

Comments and critique welcomed.

Edit: Changed blood pet into orni and raised the land grants numer.

[Rood]

This deck was created by me about 2 months ago. It uses the portal/mirage drawing spells. Well let me post the deck.
Muck-Tide v1(Created By the Roodmistah)
Lands:(17)
4x Bloodstained Mire
13x Swamps
Artifacts:(11)
4x Lotus Petal
3x Candelabra of Tawnos
4x Defense Grid
Instants/Sorceries:(32)
4x Cruel Bargain
4x Infernal Contract
3x Night's Whisper
2x Desperate Research
4x Dark Rituals
4x Cabal Rituals
4x Bubbling Mucks
3x Rain of Filth
4x Tedrils Of Agony
Sideboard Choices:
4x Nevinyrral's Disk
4x Powder Keg
4x Engineered Plague
3x Duress
And now for my card choices:
Swamps: They're basic and untargetable by wasteland.
Bloodstained Mire: Good for cabal ritual and land thinning.
Lotus Petal: Free mana Excel for my bubbling muck and it has the ability to do alot of good duing mid-combo when u need just 1 mana.
Candelabra of Tawnos: Bubbling Muck + This is insanely godly.
Bubbling Muck:Allows all my lands to produce more mana and it's really good.
Defense Grid: What your playing GRO? What you're playing any counter/burn deck. Well that's nice for you. First turn Grid Easy.
Infernal Contract: Lost Half my life for 4 cards. Quite easily very broken.
Cruel Bargain: Same cards tech from portal.
Desperate Research: Digs for missing combo essentials such as bubbling muck and dark rituals. In Mid-combo u fetch and a tendrils and it's game
Dark Ritual/Cabal ritual: Mana Excel.
Rain Of Filth: With 3 lands turn 3 it's just like a dark ritual and i can sac my lands to boost up the threshold for my cabal rituals.
Tendrils of Agony: Broken. End of story.
Sideboard Choices:
4x Nevinyrral's Disk: It gets rid of any threats(Meddling Mage, Chalice, Trinisphere, anything.)
4x Powder Keg:It also gets rid of any threats with disk.
4x Engineered Plague:Tribe decks like gobbos cripples them.
3x Duress: Hand manipulator very good against most decks.
Post replays and tell me what u guys think!

[vanele]

could we have ur Matchups please?
and towrds the G/b version why donesnt ur sideboard have any creature destruction enchantment or arifact hate, what would u do if u got matched up against pillar or believer or sphere?

[Danarim]

Muck-Tide v1(Created By the Roodmistah)

First, thanks for your feedback. Nice to see that someone already have worked on the idea. However, I have many doubts on the bubbling muck engine. With no bubbling muck + candelabra on hand, you have no chances to win turn 2 - you absolutely need the three lands. That also means you have to run more of them - the influence on the deck is bad. Rain of filth is also problematic - it needs multiple swamps, and it sucks when you draw two of them during the game - it will happen quite often. Sacrificing your lands isn't the best thing in the world when you hope drawing the candelabra/bubbling muck combo. Does desperate research work good for you? I have the feeling that it fizzles too often to be worth playing. Is there a reason for running md defense grids instead of duress? Duress cannot be destroyed, costs less and can fight random combo hate.

4x Bloodstained Mire

I do not recommend paining yourself, while it means you can play less draw spells. If you like fetching, play Land Grant.

I doubt that you have a stable three turns clock, but I agree that bubbling muck + candelabra could be a nice base to build a deck around.

and towrds the G/b version why donesnt ur sideboard have any creature destruction enchantment or arifact hate, what would u do if u got matched up against pillar or believer or sphere?

You're absolutely right. A combination of naturalizes/smothers (any other suggestions?) may fit well, in the place of the composts.

could we have ur Matchups please?

I'll put them as fast as I'll build a decent sideboard ;).

[Nightmare]

From a quick round of Goldfishing this deck, I'd say it's strength is in its ability to "go off" without actually losing the game when it fizzles. A bunch of times, I hit a less than lethal Tendrils, only to regain a ton of life, then Contract or Bargain into the rest of the win on the next turn. The "Gain 2 life" part of Tendrils is this deck's best friend. One problem I've found is that it seems to be short on creatures occasionally. I've cut 1 Night's Whisper and added 1 more Walker. That's been showing positive results so far, as Whispers are basically bad Contracts in this deck. With unrestricted Demonic Tutor in the deck, you really need at least 2 creatures to go off; 1 to sack for mana, and at least one for the oh shit button when you need Tendrils now.

Edit - Blood Pet Sucks ass. I'd always rather have Ornithopter or a Kobold. His techy sac for B is basically worthless, as at best he'd sac for Intent or Culling, and at worst, he takes a hit from Lackey. Thopter has the advantage of surviving that hit, so I would run him.

[Hoojo]

Has anyone tested Lion's Eye Diamond? It might not work the way this deck is set up, but cracking one in response to your own Bargain/Contract is a good way to get mana and add +1 storm for free.

[Grollub]

Wow. Great minds think alike. I've been pondering an almost exact same decklist..
Have you tested Cabal Therapy as a way to clear your opponent's hand easily, as well as adding two storm for just one mana. :)

Creatures - 10
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
2 Ornichopter

Disruption - 4
4 Cabal Therapy

Draw/Search - 12
4 Infernal Contract
4 Cruel Bargains
4 Diabolic Intent

Test Slots:: 4
4 Night's Whisper

Kill - 4
4 Tendril's of Agony

Speed - 16
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Lotus Petal

"Lands" - 10
4 Land Grant
2 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
2 Bayou

Sideboard::
4 Xantid Swarm
Go Blue!
1 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Echoing Truth
2 Chain Vapor

How's the Mox Diamonds been working for you? I so much wish we could have Skullclamp in this deck. :-P

[Danarim]

One problem I've found is that it seems to be short on creatures occasionally. I've cut 1 Night's Whisper and added 1 more Walker. That's been showing positive results so far, as Whispers are basically bad Contracts in this deck.

That's not a bad idea, I can't disagree with the fact that whispers is one of the weakest pieces.

Blood Pet Sucks ass. I'd always rather have Ornithopter or a Kobold. His techy sac for B is basically worthless, as at best he'd sac for Intent or Culling, and at worst, he takes a hit from Lackey. Thopter has the advantage of surviving that hit, so I would run him.

Lackey is a good argument, but I can't agree with you on the uselessity of blood pet's ability. When you have no ritual+contract in hand, blood pet is the best first turn drop so far. But still, with goblins beeing a horde in the metagame, I won't discuss.

Has anyone tested Lion's Eye Diamond? It might not work the way this deck is set up, but cracking one in response to your own Bargain/Contract is a good way to get mana and add +1 storm for free.

I was waiting for that :). Yes, I did. I have tested 2x and 4x LED, and found it strictly worse than any of the rituals we're running. LED in response to contract is cool, but the fact you're freezed when you have no other ritual in hand or when you want to tendrils incredibly sux. While playing this deck, you have too often a huge hand to leave it in the grave like that. As it was said, culling the weak does the job better.

Wow. Great minds think alike. I've been pondering an almost exact same decklist..

That's nice to hear. The builds are in fact incredibly similar (mention the colored lands in the sideboard!).

Have you tested Cabal Therapy as a way to clear your opponent's hand easily, as well as adding two storm for just one mana. :)

Of course I did, that's just the eternal question - main or sideboard. I have to test it more.

How's the Mox Diamonds been working for you?

Quite well - it's almost petal, this deck loves free dark ritual enablers. However, with main therapy, I think I would cut them.

4 Land Grant

I'm still unsure if it is better to have more land grants, because of bayou's vulnerability to wasteland, but I think I'll finally add them.

2 Polluted Delta

I must say no. Polluted Delta means 'you can play one less draw spell during the game'. 1 HP does not make the difference very often, but fizzling for such a reason is unacceptable.

[Nightmare]

So, I just tested your first list with my adjustments:

-4 Blood Pet
-1 Night's Whisper
+4 Ornithopter
+1 Walker

Twenty Games of Fishing, these were the results:

Turn 1: I
Turn 2: III
Turn 3: II
Turn 4: IIII
Turn Dead: III
Fizzle: IIIIIII (7)

What happenned? Well, when I went to turn dead, twice it was because of having Zero Draw spells until turn 6 or 7. Once it was because of a one land game, trying to go off turn 4 on ritual mana alone.

Two fizzles i wrote down. The first was running out of creatures at 2 life, with Whisper and Intent in hand, plenty of mana, and Ornithopter 2 cards down. The second was me at 4 mana and 8 spells, needing to choose between Tendrils and Contract. Missed the Culling off Contract, lost. This happenned more than one time. I think it might be worth it to Tendrils in this situation in the future, and hope to Contract into the win.

The turn 1 win was with the following hand:

Bayou
Tendrils
Culling
Ornithopter
Bargain
Lotus Petal
Shield Sphere

Here's how it played:
Play Bayou. Ornithopter, Cull it (BBBB)(2). Bargain into dark Ritual x2, Phyrexian Walker, Lotus Petal (B)(3). Petal, Petal (BBB)(5). Ritual, Ritual, Free dudes (BBBBBBB)(9). Tendrils for 20. Pretty much the god hand.

Here's what I think. Test Blue in the place of Green. Land Grant isn't that great. Hurkyl's Recall could be NUTS in this build. Here's a test list:


4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
2x Island
4x Swamp

4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Culling the Weak
4x Lotus Petal

3x Cruel Bargain
3x Infernal Contract
3x Meditate
4x Diabolic Intent
2x Hurkyl's Recall/Rebuild

4x Phyrexian Walker
4x Shield Sphere
3x Ornithopter

4x Tendrils Of Agony

[Rood]

If you try test playing a non culling version it may be a more stronger build for you. I find my build to be able to go off turn 3 almost every game, but it doesn't have the ability to go off turn 2. It's a sacrifice im willing to take.

[Danarim]

Twenty Games of Fishing, these were the results:

Turn 1: I
Turn 2: III
Turn 3: II
Turn 4: IIII
Turn Dead: III
Fizzle: IIIIIII (7)

What happenned? Well, when I went to turn dead, twice it was because of having Zero Draw spells until turn 6 or 7. Once it was because of a one land game, trying to go off turn 4 on ritual mana alone.

That's disapointing. Maybe you're playing something wrong, but the situations you are describing seem really to be no way ones. The deck's weakness seems to be the lack of library rearanging/cantrips and I have no idea how to fix it - I found nothing better than diabolic intent (tested tainted pact, for example). However, I'm still an optimist. I made a little goldfishing just minutes ago (10x), for testing 4x land grant, and here are my results.

T2 III
T3 IIIII
T4 I
Fizzle II

Concerning the strategy, I usually try to concentrate on the third turn. It means that I play 1st turn or 2nd mana accel only if I have a contract. If not, I play calmly whispers and intent.

Here's what I think. Test Blue in the place of Green. Land Grant isn't that great. Hurkyl's Recall could be NUTS in this build.

That's worth testing but has its evident disadvantages. I'd probably run mox diamond.

Edit:

If you try test playing a non culling version it may be a more stronger build for you. I find my build to be able to go off turn 3 almost every game, but it doesn't have the ability to go off turn 2. It's a sacrifice im willing to take.

I will try to goldfish it, but I'm sceptic (especially while you're not presenting arguments), mainly because you're running many cards that are dead in dozens of situations (rain, bubbling muck, the tapping artifact). Since you have a constant 3rd turn kill, I'll be glad if you post here some goldfishing results.

[Rood]

Denarim, your focus should be on a turn 3 kill, which should be pretty easy seeing as though you run tutors to search for your missing combo essentials. Still, what do u have on lets say control deck or sly/burn decks. It still needs some revising which is why i would strongly suggest running at least defense grids in the SB of 4x.

[Danarim]

Denarim, your focus should be on a turn 3 kill, which should be pretty easy seeing as though you run tutors to search for your missing combo essentials.

So, you have two turns for building a hand/board able to let you go off - three swamps, draw spells, rituals that work. Could you explain me how do you do it, mentioning that your only manipulation/search spell is 2x desperate search? I don't know if you realize, but drawing into multiples grids, rains, candelabras without bubbling muck, bubbling mucks without candelabra or whatever of that kind kills you, not mentioning simple situations when the 'working' cards you have are not sufficient. That's what is called 'lack of consistancy'. That said, I'm still very curious of your goldfishing results.

Edit:
Overall, Mr Nightmare is perfectly right on blood pet's suckiness, its lack of synergy with culling the weak is in fact a too big disadvantage, when compared to thopter. 2x Ornithopters welcome.

[Evil Roopey]

How does this deck do against counters? I haven't got around to testing it, but it seems solid. Also, the deck should be called Draw4, because that would be awesome.

Roop

[Nightmare]

I was thinking the exact same thing for the name. Like the Uno card. Hurkyl's is out, by the way. It doesn't work nearly as well as I had hoped. However, Blue is still worth running, if for nothing other than Meditate. How many Draw4's can you fit in here? Now testing my last list -2 Hurkyl's, +1 Meditate, +1 other Draw4.

Edit - Got another turn 1 win. Swamp, Ritual, Petal, Meditate, Ritual, Shield Sphere, Intent for Tendrils, Thopter, Cull, Cabal Ritual, Tendrils for 20.

Edit #2 - Did we just make Legacy Long.dec??

[Danarim]

the deck should be called Draw4, because that would be awesome.

Good point :). Changed the name in the topic.

How does this deck do against counters?

First, the 1st turn ritual + draw4 is a devastating play. If fowed, it's 2 cards vs 2, and it's easy to recover after. If not, it practically wins the control match. If you have to set up your hand first, it's more difficult. The must counter spells are contract and bargain, so it gives you the possibility of casting whispers and diabolic with no harm, allowing to build a decent hand quickly. Then, consequently play draw4 each turn you can, hoping it won't be countered a day. Postboard, the terapies help a lot, I believe them to be much better here than duress. I tested the deck against landstill and it worked quite well. The biggest problem aren't really counters, the things I'm worried are stifle, lock artifacts and instant burn spells.

Did we just make Legacy Long.dec??

Haha, it would be great :).

Edit:
I have to agree that (boarded) chain of vapors are simply awesome, with maindecked blue sources it leaves many sb slots. 4x chain, 4x therapy, do we need something more?

[Lukas Preuss]

Wow. This deck definitely looks interesting. How does it do against aggro-control like Threshold?

[Evil Roopey]

do we need something more?

Burning Wish. It is probably the main reason to run Nausea over this. I have done some testing, but I haven't added red yet. I'll get back to you when I come up with my final list.

[Nightmare]

Just wanted to point out that with my newest list (see a few posts up) I just won turn 2 Vs. Goblins with NO LAND. I like this deck a LOT.

[Bane of the Living]

I definitly wouldn't run this deck over Nausea yes, being that it has burning wish for its 'outs'.

This deck seems to crumble if it relys on a draw 4 and it gets countered. I also lose games straight up to meddling mage. Try to work red in for burning wish, fuck blue. Red gives you crazy goodies like gamble in addition to wishes.

Lions Eye Diamond was discussed but only breifly. LED could actually make way for Death Wish. Death Wish is rare power at the hands of anyone thats played Long Death. Death Wish's ability to tutor you any card is actually very abusable. I would rather play diabolic intent if your not playing LED of course.