Subject: MoM & how to break it + [DECK] 'GOD' - broken MoM deck Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 12:06:39 -0400 From: "MacAmhalghaidh, Stiofain" Folks, This post is about MoM & why it is a broken card... at least until Urza's rotates in, and about the deck which I've called GOD for reasons you'll see later which I've designed to use MoM in a broken state. I have now tested, or had tested for me life-gain versions of this deck, green swarms, black swarms, white swarms, red DD, stasis versions, removal versions (hand, land, library, permanents, several of these or all of them) I have come to the conclusion that the fastest, simplest & most effective kill available through MoM is the one-turn wholesale decking approach. It requires the least combo cards & as the intention is to draw all cards, you are sure of drawing that single Cane, Stasis, Peace Talks, Peacekeeper or whatever you are after as your lock card to protect you through to your opponent's draw. Anyway, here's the combo that makes it work. I guess you all are aware of the Prosperity-Cadaverous Bloom combo, allowing you GG or BB for each card removed from your hand? This combo allows you play progressively larger & larger Prosperity yes? An excellent combo, but with a few drawbacks: 1) it requires three colours of mana to get into play - black, green & blue 2) it is rarely big enough a mana producer to allow you draw the whole library in one turn 3) the Bloom's effect forces you to remove the cards discarded from hand out of the game 4) the mana it produces is either black or green only 5) it allows you produce two coloured mana per discarded card, not one or three or four Now, most of the above are, for a Prosp-Bloom deck, really not a major issue, but MoM allows you break ALL of the above restrictions & enables you to fill your hand with cards via Prosperity which all double as Black Lotuses. I hope that sounds insane to you, because it did to me when I saw it. THE COMBO The key to abusing MoM in this way is actually a land card. The following explains how this core combo works. The cards used are Mind Over Matter, Prosperity, Lotus Vale & (optionally) Scorched Ruins. The theory is: with Lotus Vale and MoM in play, play Prosperity & discard to your graveyard each card in hand, each time untapping the Vale via the MoM's ability. If you have 3 cards in hand other than the Prosperity you get 9 mana of any colour you wish (in this case presumably you'll go for blue), allowing you draw 8 cards, as opposed to the 6 Cadaverous Bloom allows. This combo is therefore both more powerful than CadBloom+Prosp and is mono-Blue, allowing you keep the rest of the deck hard-core blue control. Consider the above example again assuming a Scorched Ruins in play also. You could, with your three discards, produce 11 mana - almost double the Bloom's output. To expand on this, and with reference to the five points above: 1) it requires only one colour of mana to get into play - blue 2) it is regularly big enough a mana producer to allow you draw the whole library in one turn 3) unlike the Bloom, discards are to the graveyard, allowing Feldon's cane recursion 4) the mana it produces is of any colour you want 5) it allows you produce one, two or three coloured mana for each discard, or up to 4 colourless for each discard In every way MoM outstrips the Bloom here, and all for just one extra mana. Effectively, each discardable card becomes a potential Black Lotus - three mana of any colour you want... but unlike the Lotus it's uncounterable. With this in mind almost anything is possible in one turn - play 2 Leviathans, 2 Force of Natures & 4 Flings to do 36 red damage, or a 100 point Drain Life or Fireball using Ersatz Gnomes to avoid CoPs, or play Sacred Mesa & produce 80 1/1 tokens in one turn, or play Ashnod's Altar with it & make over 100 tokens. Basically, it makes almost any deck strategy into a one-turn hit. Sudden Impact or Breathstealer's Crypt also become a LOT of fun. My favourite use of this combo so far has been to use 4 MoM & 4 Prosperity to set up a draw-all-cards Prosp, followed by Mind Warping your opponent's entire hand, Feldon's Cane all your library back, play a Stasis & say 'done'. Your opponent has no hand to play, can't untap anything and can't draw. You have a full library, a full hand and virtually unlimited mana. Hence the deck name. THE DECK: 'GOD' Combo (8) 4 MoM 2UUUU 4 Prosperity xU Kill (3) 1 Mind Warp x3B 1 Stasis 1U 1 Feldon's Cane 1 Helpers (8) 4 Natural Balance 2GG 3 Vampiric Tutor B 2 Mystical Tutor U Control (15) 4 Counterspell UU 4 Propaganda 1UU 4 Daring Apprentice 1UU 3 Interdict 1U Mana Sources (26) 10 Island 4 City of Brass 3 Gemstone Mine 3 Reflecting Pool 4 Lotus Vale 2 Mox Diamond TECHNIQUE The objective is to play Propaganda & Pendrell Mists for creature control & mana control, keeping counters for critical non-creature threats only. All of these are stalling agents only, & disenchanted Props or Mists are as useful in using up Disenchants etc. as they are in controlling the environment. Meanwhile, using Lotus Vale, Natural Balance, Tutors and artifact mana build your available mana pool to the point where you can play MoM & protect it with a counter from on-the-table mana sources. Once this is in place, it is simply a case of Prosperity for as much as you can repeatedly until you draw your whole library, play the Mind Warp as required to remove your opponent's hand, play the Stasis and Cane your graveyard back into your library. As for any cards you have left in hand (usually way more than 7 anyway), ideally you want to keep counters & discard the rest... not that it makes a blind bit of difference at this stage anyway. Now, I know it's obvious that you could Prosp your opponent's library away, Cane yours back & repeat so that they lose by not being able to draw for the Prosp... but that's not as much fun, and both are equally possible anyway, so why not toy with your victim a bit? CARD ANALYSES Natural Balance - though it's not needed as such, it does speed things up immensely, especially if you have gotten lucky & placed two Vales by turn 4. Even turn 3 with a Vale & Diamond in play allows you get 4 Islands, which gives you 8 mana on turn 4. The off-colour problem is swallowed by the Vale, Cities, Diamonds, Pools & Mines - 16 sources in total in the deck. I've never had the opportunity to use it & found myself stuck for the GG. Mox Diamond - because of the 'discard a land' in it's casting cost this dude does hurt the cards in hand aspect of this deck. Because of this, I've put only 2 in. I really like the Diamond, and I'd have 3 in there if it didn't cost a card to play it. I have toyed with Lotus Petals in these slots as the Diamonds generally get used for one or two turns only... but the Diamonds are more secure. A matter of taste really, unless you are up against a strong control deck - which is when the Diamonds really pay off. Vampiric Tutor - in here the ability to search for a Lotus Vale or your next Prosperity is more than worth the 2 lives in the cost. I'm currently paying attention to the Tutors in this deck to try & establish if 4 Vampirics & 1 Mystical is acceptable. The 3 ~ 2 split seems ok for now, though. Propaganda - this has been switched back & forth with Pendrell Mists & Mana Chains, combined with one or both of these etc etc... and really it comes out as the king of the three. I love this card. With no creatures for defense, it is a life saver. Daring Apprentice - this guy is nice in this deck, allowing you tap out for the first Prosp knowing that it's sitting there ready to cover your back. Just what's needed, hence 4. the rest of the stuff is fairly evident, I think. btw, yes I DO want feedback, particularly comments on the MoM-Prosp-Vale mix, ideas for other uses, & critiques of the control aspect. That's it. have fun & speak soon, MAQQI MUCOI AMALGADO