[G-Tech] Empty-Hand Lock Decks
------------------------------
Jonathan W. Mills
jwmills@cs.indiana.edu
With illuminating comments by:
Dave Meeson, Green Mage
Founding Member of The Chimera Project
meesond@stelnj.com
Disclaimer
----------
This is a "Guerilla-Tech" posting for novices. Combos and playing suggestions
may be well-known to experienced players. Paraphrased card text is given as a
help to new players. Refer to the database at www.moxperl.com for full text.
Suggestions and corrections from readers who are expert strategists and deck
builders are greatly appreciated.
The decks described in this article are T2 tournament-legal, but not strong
enough to be competitive except in friendly play. If I'm wrong about that,
please tell me about your win!
Highlights of This Note
-----------------------
- Six empty-hand lock deck listings (four T2, two Rath Cycle)
- An analysis of the decks and their combos, including what did
-not- work
- Graphical results of playtesting
- Suggestions for playing the decks
Introduction
------------
Robert Hahn predicted that empty-hand lock decks would be a future trend in MtG
(Sep 98 Duelist, page 60). Because many of this kind of deck's components are
artifacts (Cursed Scroll, Ensnaring Bridge, Null Brooch, etc.) a colorless
artifact-only deck looked like a good but extreme position from which to start
-- all of the design flaws would show up quickly.
The original deck evolved into a colorless deck with splashes of white and
black and lost its artifact-only theme after extensive playtesting. The design
process is described to show how the deck evolved, and to stimulate other
players to build better decks of this type. (What would you bet that Robert
Hahn already has a killer empty-hand lock deck on his desk? :-)
To start the deck design I searched the web and the newsgroups to see if anyone
had already posted an empty-hand lock deck. It seems no one has, although
William Burns, a member of the PlanesWalker League, said in his directory
entry's notes that he had created a colorless artifact deck, and that it worked
well. He didn't post a deck listing, and I'm not sure if it's good manners to
ask him for it. Besides, by this time I wanted to see what I could come up
with.
************************
*
* Note: I found two decks in the Deck Workshop on The Dojo that were posted
* on August 23rd, after I had started this project. Both are empty-hand lock
* decks, and offer two different slants on the design. "Bridge Brooch" by Dan
* Lang is a mono-red deck that uses direct damage for early and mid-game
* creature removal, and Scalding Tongs as a finisher. You can find this deck
* at:
*
* Linkname: Bridge Brooch 0822
* URL: d984/dk.980822dla.txt
*
* "Pit Lock" by John Lindsey is a mono-black deck that uses Bottomless Pit and
* Volrath's Dungeon for discard advantage, Bottle Gnomes for early life gain to
* slow the game, and Cursed Scroll for the kill. "Pit Lock" is particularly
* interesting because it uses a transforming sideboard to dump the lock combo,
* and switch in a black weenie rush. This deck is located at:
*
* Linkname: Null Pit 0823
* URL: d984/dk.980823jli.txt
*
************************
Now let's see how a different slant on empty-hand deck design evolved. Here is
the first version of "Scroll Lock", a barely-playable slow deck that starts out
at the extreme end of the design spectrum: colorless and artifact-only.
"SCROLL LOCK v1" colorless
--------------------------
Artifacts
---------
These cards make up the core of the deck.
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Cursed Scroll 1 3,T: opp picks card, if chosen 2 damage
4 Scroll Rack 2 1,T: swap X cards from hand to library top
4 Null Brooch 4 2,T: discard hand, counter noncreature spell
4 Lotus Petal 0 T: sacrifice for 1 mana any color
3 Scalding Tongs 2 if cards in hand <4, deal opp 1 damage
3 Winter's Orb 2 players can't untap >1 land during untap phase
3 Altar of Dementia 2 sac creature: target player puts # cards equal
to creature's power into his graveyard
3 Mindless Automaton 4 1: discard card, add 1/1 counter
remove 2 1/1 counters, draw card
2 Fountain of Youth 0 2,T: gain 1 life
These cards configure the deck. This configuration deals with weenie decks.
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
3 Ensnaring Bridge 3 3,T: opp picks card, if chosen 2 damage
3 Portcullis 4 1,T: swap X cards from hand to library top
2 Iron Star 1 1: gain 1 life once per red spell cast
2 Ivory Cup 1 1: gain 1 life once per white spell cast
Land
----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Urza's Tower T: 3 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
4 Urza's Mine T: 2 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
4 Urza's Powerplant T: 2 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
4 Ghost Town 0: Return to owner's hand during opponent's turn
2 Maze of Shadows T: 1 colorless mana; T: untap target attacking
creature w/shadow; neither deals/receives damage
2 Volrath's Stronghold T: 1 colorless mana; T: put target creature card
from your graveyard on top of your library
Sideboard
---------
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Bottle Gnomes 1 sacrifice bottle gnomes: gain 3 life
4 Sphere of Resistance 2 all spells cost 1 more to cast
2 Crystal Rod 1 1: gain 1 life once per blue spell cast
2 Throne of Bone 1 1: gain 1 life once per black spell cast
2 Wooden Sphere 1 1: gain 1 life once per green spell cast
2 Fountain of Youth 0 2,T: gain 1 life
ANALYSIS
--------
"Scroll Lock" builds an engine during play whose pieces are "loose combos" that
begin to work as cards are discarded. The player's goal is to end up with an
empty hand that creates a lock on the opposing player. The win can then be
obtained leisurely -- or so it is hoped! Sometimes it even works. :-)
The deck includes only two artifact creatures, Mindless Automaton and Bottle
Gnomes, to prevent disruption by anti-creature spells such as Unsummon, Wrath
of God, etc. Two variations were designed, one for play against a creature-
oriented deck, the second (configured from the sideboard) for play against a
sorcery-oriented deck.
Here is what the pieces are intended to accomplish.
Card Advantage
--------------
Scroll Rack, Mindless Automaton
In the first few turns Scroll Rack lets you look at an extra five to eight
cards, and pull out the lock's spells and enough mana to play them. In the mid-
to late-game Scroll Rack lets you exchange the card you drew for another, or
"walk" a card down into the deck to save it for use later. Mindless Automaton
helps get the cards into play quickly, keeps your hand empty and speeds the
rate at which you can look through your library.
Fast Mana
---------
Lotus Petal, [Urza's Tower + Urza's Mine + Urza's Powerplant]
Four each of the Urza's lands and Lotus Petal boost mana in the early game.
You should be wary of sending out an unprotected artifact without the mana to
play its abilities. That means that you should play the Lotus Petals to empty
your hand of artifacts in a short "mana burst" after you have at least three
lands in play.
A disadvantage of this deck is that artifacts have relatively high casting
costs. Your game will develop slowly, and you must play defensively. You can
very easily be mana screwed even with four lands in play if you don't get the
Urza's combo. City of Shadows is a possible replacement for the non-Urza's
lands, as it builds mana during your upkeep.
Counterspelling
---------------
Null Brooch, Ghost Town, Maze of Shadows
Null Brooch protects your developing lock. An obvious threat before your hand
is empty is b:Megrim. The artifacts in the lock are easy targets for single and
mass artifact removal spells. Disenchant and Shatter will slow your lock in the
early game, while a mid- or late-game Shattering Pulse with buyback, or a
Shatterstorm, can finish you.
Ghost Town is an Armageddon counter. If your opponent plays Armageddon, the
zero-cost ability to return Ghost Town to your hand will give you some mana on
the next turn. Or, if you have several, you can draw, then pay for Scroll Rack
to look into your library for something better.
Maze of Shadows can be tapped to prevent damage from one attacking creature
with shadow. There are enough players using shadow to make this a better-than-
nothing choice when playing a creature deck.
Card Discard
------------
Null Brooch, Mindless Automaton
Null Brooch empties your hand as part of its ability's cost, which is fine once
the lock is in place. Using it too early can disrupt the developing lock, bad
news during a weenie rush. Mindless Automaton needs cards to generate counters,
so it sits idle if Null Brooch is played before it during your turn.
Gain Life
---------
Fountain of Youth, Ivory Cup (w), Crystal Rod (u), Throne of Bone (b),
Iron Star (r), Wooden Orb (g)
These cards slow down the game, dragging it out long enough (you hope!) to get
the lock into place. Sideboard in the charm for your opponent's main deck
color(s), or add more Fountain of Youths. You can build up a nice balance of
life as your opponent successfully casts spells, or buy more life outright
using the Fountain.
The Lock
--------
[Winter Orb + Ensnaring Bridge + Portcullis + (Null Brooch, Mindless
Automaton)]
The lock is established by playing Ensnaring Bridge, then emptying your hand.
Winter Orb slows the game down so that your opponent cannot deploy a lot of
creatures, while Portcullis keeps them out of the game even if he tries. Play
Mindless Automaton before Portcullis if possible, so that you can use the
Automaton's discard abilities.
The Kill
--------
Cursed Scroll, Scalding Tongs,
[Mindless Automaton + Altar of Dementia + Volrath's Stronghold]
"Scroll Lock" has several paths to a win, but none of them are first or second
turn killers. All of them depend on the lock being established, then whittling
your opponent's life down.
Use Cursed Scroll with one card in your hand to damage your opponent for 2. The
Scroll can also open a "slot" for Mindless Automaton by killing an opponent's
creature when Portcullis is in play. If you can't make a slot, discard the
Automaton to the graveyard and bring it into play later, when a slot is open,
with Volrath's Stronghold.
Scalding Tongs will continuously deal your opponent one damage as long as you
have three or fewer cards in your hand.
The combination of Mindless Automaton + Altar of Dementia + Volrath's
Stronghold, with a Lotus Petal or two for black mana, can let you clear massive
numbers of cards out of your opponent's library late in the game, causing him
to lose by being unable to draw a card ("decking" himself). If Portcullis is in
play, be sure you have enough mana to bring the Automaton back into play during
your turn, or your opponent might be able to cast a creature spell and lock the
Automaton out. This will prevent you from discarding cards, and your opponent
might be clever enough to NOT cast any non-creature spells so that Null Brooch
won't help you discard cards either.
Mana Burn
---------
To avoid mana burn plan how you tap lands to pay for artifact abilities. For
example, if you need to activate Null Brooch, but only the three-mana Urza's
Tower is untapped, you are going to lose one life unless you can find something
to spend the other mana on. Possibilities are to do a null turn of your library
with Scroll Rack, or tap another land (or play a Lotus Petal) to gain a life by
tapping the Fountain of Youth.
PLAYTESTING
-----------
I playtested "Scroll Lock" against the Exodus pre-constructed deck "White
Heat", a white weenie deck with red direct damage spells and creature
abilities, such as shadow, flying, and enchantment removal. This deck also has
Shattering Pulse, an artifact destruction spell with buyback that hurts "Scroll
Lock" in the mid- to late-game. Although "White Heat" is not tournament-level
quality (it's usually too slow), it -can- send out a bunch of white weenies
quickly with the right draw, and it -can- do direct damage like a burn deck. It
was also cheap. $200 or $300 for playtesting is a bit much. :-)
"Scroll Lock" was slow to get started, taking me about 7-10 turns to get the
lock into place. Once it was established then it took another 12-15 turns to
finish off my opponent.
I made some mistakes while learning to play the deck due to my haste to deal
damage to my opponent. If, for example, Null Brooch is in play, always leave it
enough mana to counter a spell, even if that means losing your first or even
second Cursed Scroll to a discard, or even not playing it for a turn and taking
some damage.
Example life-mana curves for a win and a loss are shown below:
HOW TO IMPROVE THIS DECK
------------------------
Speed
-----
The deck starts out slow, and makes itself slower with Winter Orb. A weenie
deck is fast, fast, fast. It can get within kill range in four turns, which
means "Scroll Lock" has to get REALLY lucky to get cards out quickly. Playing
Scroll Rack may help, and can be a good tactic to improve a bad hand, but it
wastes time. Even worse, Winter Orb doesn't hurt a low-casting cost weenie
deck as much as it hurts a high-casting cost artifact deck. Since most artifact
abilities cost one to four mana to use, Winter Orb effectively locks you out of
play.
Creature Removal
----------------
The only creature removal spell is Cursed Scroll. Your opponent will go for it
with Shatter, Disenchant, etc. If Null Brooch is not in play, you are in
trouble quickly. Maze of Shadows will stop a creature with shadow, but not
remove it, while taking one mana away from you during your turn. Your life
total drops geometrically as more creatures are put into play, attack, and
aren't removed.
Gain Life
---------
Fountain of Youth and the "Lucky Charms" looked good, but weaken the deck
because they increase the mana needed to run it. Even though you may believe
you are benefiting from your opponent's spellcasting, if you have to pay to
gain life, you aren't.
Focus
-----
While the deck focused on a -theme- (colorless artifact-only), I missed the
more important -strategic- theme: an empty-hand lock. Looking at the
playtesting results, my first reaction was that the deck needed more mana
quickly in the early game to get the artifacts cast.
Green does this well, so I added land enchantments to pump up the mana, and
produced a significantly faster deck. The new deck centered on Manabond to play
lands and simultaneously discard cards from your hand, moving closer to the
strategic focus.
"SCROLL LOCK v2" colorless(G)
-----------------------------
Artifacts
---------
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Cursed Scroll 1 3,T: opp picks card, if chosen 2 damage
4 Ensnaring Bridge 3 creatures w/power>[cards in hand] can't attack
4 Null Brooch 4 2,T: discard hand, counter noncreature spell
4 Mindless Automaton 4 1: discard card, add 1/1 counter
remove two 1/1 counters, draw card
3 Scroll Rack 2 1,T: swap X cards from hand to library top
3 Bottle Gnomes 3 sacrifice bottle gnomes: gain 3 life
3 Wall of Spears 3 First strike; counts as a wall
Fast Mana
---------
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Lotus Petal 0 T: sacrifice for 1 mana any color
4 Wild Growth g tapped enchanted land produces
one additional green mana
3 Manabond g put all lands in hand into play during your
discard phase; discard rest of hand
2 Overgrowth 2g tapped enchanted land produces
two additional green mana
Land
----
# Card Text (see card for full text)
-- ------------------ -----------------------------
10 Forest
4 Urza's Tower T: 3 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
4 Urza's Mine T: 2 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
4 Urza's Powerplant T: 2 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
ANALYSIS
--------
"Scroll Lock" v2 was definitely faster, and played better against "White Heat".
Although it improved the strategic focus, it still was a miss in the areas of
creature removal and damage to the opponent. I really missed the important role
that card discard plays: a discard can do double duty to establish the lock
and pay for desirable effects without spending mana.
Counterspelling
---------------
I learned -- again! -- to save two mana to activate at least one Null Brooch.
It's better to wait a turn without doing damage (and possibly take a little
with one card in hand) than it is to lose protection from artifact destruction
spells, like Shatterstorm (a Wrath of God for artifacts).
Gain Life
---------
Bottle Gnomes were chosen, but they aren't reusable in this deck because I had
no way to pull them back from the graveyard without Volrath's Stronghold.
The Lock
--------
With fair reliability I could get the lock into place somewhere within turns 4
to 7 by drawing an early Ensnaring Bridge, before being swamped by weenies or
nuked by spells. Portcullis was left out of the deck because it was redundant,
and also locked out Mindless Automaton, Wall of Spears, and Bottle Gnomes.
The Kill
--------
Cursed Scroll finished the game because Ensnaring Bridge kept Mindless
Automaton from attacking in the mid- to end-game.
Mana Burn
---------
Casting Overgrowth on an Urza's land early led to mana burn problems later when
the Urza's lands combo was established. I was sometimes forced to generate more
mana than I could spend.
Speed & Fast Mana
-----------------
Manabond fit the strategic theme of an empty-hand lock. With Wild Growth and
Overgrowth I was able to get 5 to 12 mana out by turn three or four, more than
enough to put the lock in place.
Card Discard
------------
Cards are discarded by:
- feeding them to the Mindless Automaton
- casting artifacts & land growth spells, and
- playing lands.
One problem became apparent. If a spell can not be cast due to lack of the
correct colored mana, then the lock breaks and lets a weenie rush through. This
causes lots of damage if your opponent has been playing creatures and waiting
for just this opportunity.
Creature Removal
----------------
Cursed Scroll, and sometimes an early blocking Bottle Gnome, were used.
Problems cropped up due to the opponent's creatures' evasion capabilities
(shadow, flying). The deck is "tight" already, and the idea of adding a
Phryxian Splicer or Skyshaper weakens it.
Creature Defense
----------------
Early defense against a rush is provided by Wall of Spears, which has first
strike. It is a weak defense, as it is only 2/3. It doesn't last long in play,
and often wasn't drawn when needed. Nor does it contribute to the lock.
PLAYTESTING
-----------
"White Heat" was the opposing deck again, as well as a red deck ("Lock Killer")
especially constructed to kill "Scroll Lock" by overloading it with direct
damage and artifact destruction spells. A few observations:
1. Playing a land-only draw sometimes works, since there is probably a
Manabond or Scroll Rack available in the first few turns.
2. Limited Resources can actually help you win. Let your opponent
play it, then add growth enchantments to your lands. Also, discard
lands to the Automaton until you can get an Urza's lands combo going.
3. Use Scroll Rack with Mindless Automaton to snoop into your deck, but
be careful not to get stuck with cards in your hand (unless you've
killed all your opponent's creatures). You will open the lock.
Example life-mana curves for a win and a loss are shown below:
HOW TO IMPROVE THIS DECK
------------------------
Dave Meeson volunteered to take a look at "Scroll Lock". Here are his
suggestions.
Comments by Dave Meeson
-----------------------
> The idea for empty-hand lock decks came from Robert Hahn's
> September column in Duelist. I noticed that there are so many powerful
> artifacts that an artifact-only strategy might work.
It's true that there are a LOT of good artifacts, especially with what Exodus
added - probably the strongest of the bunch, Null Brooch and Mindless
Automaton. Wizards really went bonkers with this whole "empty-hand" stuff.
Decks that overload artifacts present too many threats to be taken
care of. Often, if you are able to remove one artifact, another is on
its way to replace it.
> I spent the day splashing different colors into the deck. It looks like
> green is the winner, since the colorless deck was very slow.
You might also consider White. Lemme see what all you've got for green. Hrm.
White can give you a number of nice addins to this deck - Aura of Silence, for
example, and/or Disenchant should your opponent also be using artifacts. Tithe
can help you get more lands. Hanna's Custody (iffy) can help protect against
massive removal like Shatterstorm or Seeds of Innocence. Argivian Find can let
you dig up a piece of the lock that's been put in the graveyard.
> After that, with fair reliability, I can get the lock into place
> somewhere within turns four to seven.
Just make sure you're playing SOMETHING each turn. *laugh* The way the
Standard environment is now, everything revolves around getting your
monkeys in order as fast as possible. Hatred and White Weenie and
Deadguy Red (or Sligh) can often get you within kill range in the first
four turns.
> There is not too much I can do against a lucky quick kill by
> Pandenought decks, though.
Same with the lucky third-turn ProsBloom explosion. I think with both
decks its either one or the other - either you go off early, or you die
before you get your act together. *laugh*
Against either of these decks, you might consider Jester's Caps in the
sideboard. An early cap can remove a good portion of their threat cards
(remove the Drain Lifes or the Pandemoniums, say) and still stick with
your all-artifact theme.
> Then you just crunch your way down through the library, discarding
> to the Mindless Automaton
The Automaton is an excellent sink for cards, but almost ensures you
have to use the Scroll as your kill card (since he can't attack because
of the Bridge). Either that or gnomie beatdown. =)
> I think it's better to wait a turn without doing damage (and take a
> little with one card in hand) than it is to lose protection from artifact
> destruction spells like Shatterstorm.
Shatterstorm (and its green brother Seeds of Innocence) don't see that
much tournament play. Or, at least they didn't up until all these cool
artifacts came out. I presume the Shatterstorm was in the red deck
built explicitly to beat you? [Yes, and it was -nasty-! -JWM]
I'll touch on two quick points.
One: Null Rod. These are going to be all over the tournament scene, in my
opinion, due precisely to Null Brooch. You need to have some way to deal with
them, or your Brooches and Scrolls are useless, and you can't discard cards to
the Automaton. I'm going to again suggest adding White to the deck instead of
Green - that'll give you access to Disenchant and Aura of Silence, which could
be a big help against other artifacts in general.
Two: Either of the Orbs (Static or Winter) might also pose a mana problem,
allowing you to either counter or scroll, but not both. This is, of course,
only if they get past the Brooch to begin with, and that's entirely possible.
I think if I was looking at a deck like this, I'd drop my Winter Orb as soon as
possible in hopes of locking down.
The Next Version
----------------
I used Dave's suggestion to splash white and came up with this intermediate
version of the deck.
"SCROLL LOCK v3" colorless(W/G)
-------------------------------
Remove:
# Card
- ------------------
3 Wild Growth
1 Manabond
1 Urza's Tower
1 Urza's Mine
1 Urza's Powerplant
5 Forest
Add:
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Disenchant 1w Destroy target artifact or enchantment
4 Reflecting Pool Produce 1 mana of any type of land you control
4 Vec Township T: 1 colorless mana; T: G or W; does not untap on
your next turn
ANALYSIS
--------
I splashed white and tried to keep the green by using Vec Townships and
Reflecting Pools, but this deck didn't work well. The fast mana effects were
diluted because I'd substituted Disenchants for the land enchantments, and the
deck was still slow because of the artifacts.
A new problem was that Disenchant is a targeted spell. Without a target it
cannot be cast, and if Mindless Automaton is not in play, or there is no spell
for Null Brooch to counter, the Disenchant in hand opens the lock. As the game
progresses, the increased probability of getting a second Disenchant opens the
lock wider, and makes it more difficult to get rid of it into your library
using Scroll Rack.
PLAYTESTING
-----------
The inability to discard a targeted spell usually killed me.
Example life-mana curves for a win and a loss are shown below:
This experience forced me to recognize the importance of card discard in the
strategic theme. I began to look for "double-duty" spells that would allow me
to discard -and- obtain a beneficial side-effect by doing so. I also recognized
the importance of b:Bottomless Pit (which Hahn had mentioned in his column),
and saw how it would work into a colorless(W/B) deck. Black can also produce
fast mana with Dark Ritual, so it seemed like a good choice.
Here is the T2-legal empty-hand lock deck, this time colorless(W/B).
"SCROLL LOCK v4" colorless(W/B)
-------------------------------
Artifacts
---------
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Cursed Scroll 1 3,T: opp picks card, if chosen 2 damage
4 Ensnaring Bridge 3 creatures w/power>[cards in hand] can't attack
4 Null Brooch 4 2,T: discard hand, counter noncreature spell
3 Scroll Rack 2 1,T: swap X cards from hand to library top
4 Lotus Petal 0 T: sacrifice for 1 mana any color
White
-----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
3 Disenchant 1w destroy target artifact or enchantment
3 Hidden Retreat 1w discard card to library: prevent damage
from instant or sorcery
3 Peace of Mind 1w pay W: gain 3 life
3 Wrath of God 2ww bury all creatures
Black
-----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Dark Ritual b add 3 B mana to your mana pool
4 Megrim 2b opponent dealt 2 damage whenever discards card
3 Bottomless Pit 1bb each player discards card at random during upkeep
Land
----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Urza's Tower T: 3 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
3 Urza's Mine T: 2 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
3 Urza's Powerplant T: 2 mana if control Tower, Mine, Powerplant
4 Reflecting Pool 0: add 1 mana any color produced by land you control
4 Salt Flats comes into play tapped; T: 1 colorless mana;
T: add W or B mana for 1 damage
ANALYSIS
--------
White and black are the right choices for this empty-hand lock deck. I used
Disenchants, Hidden Retreats, Peace of Minds, and Wrath of Gods, and from black
Megrims, Bottomless Pits, and Dark Rituals. The mana comes from Salt Flats
(T:1, T:W or B, 1 damage), Reflecting Pools and the Lotus Petals, with Urza's
lands providing the rest (and sometimes a mana "jump" when the combo kicks in).
Mindless Automaton is gone, with card discard provided by Peace of Mind, Hidden
Retreat, and Bottomless Pit.
The deck is artifact oriented, but can get a lock going or Wrath the board by
turn three or four, or slow the effect of a weenie rush by buying life. The
ability to empty your hand quickly improved. For example, it is possible on the
first turn to play:
1 Salt Flats (which you can't use this turn)
1 Lotus Petal (for the black mana)
1 Dark Ritual
1 Ensnaring Bridge
You are ready on the next turn to play another land, a Hidden Retreat or Peace
of Mind, and to put the lock on by turn 3. Hidden Retreat is a great protector
in the early game (prevent damage from instants or sorceries by discarding card
to library), and Peace of Mind buys time for the lock or buffers against direct
damage (gain 3 life by paying one W and discarding a card).
PLAYTESTING
-----------
"Scroll Lock" v4 never lost to "White Heat" during playtesting -- although
that's just a matter of time. It's also possible that I learned to play the
deck better, too. Both short and long games developed, and there were two
paths to a kill: Megrim + Bottomless Pit, and Cursed Scroll.
Example life-mana curves for a win and a loss are shown below:
HOW TO IMPROVE THIS DECK
------------------------
Dave and I talked about this deck some more. Here are his comments.
More Comments from Dave Meeson
------------------------------
> While I was thinking about your ideas, it struck me that once the
> Bridge is in place, it would be possible to play an N-handed lock
> deck using Infinite Hourglass to pump up everybody's creatures. The
> risk is that your opponent would pay to have enough tokens taken off
> that his creatures could attack. But this could let you keep some
> spells in hand to counter attacks on the lock.
If you're worried about protecting the Bridge, you might try Ertai, Wizard
Adept. Coupled with the Null Brooch, you should be able to fend off most
spells that would threaten your artifacts.
> Also Elkin Bottle would let you play a card each turn without it
> ever getting into your hand. Safer than the Hourglass, but I got
> nailed playing TSL with a splash of blue and white because I hadn't
> got the Automaton out yet, and was stuck with spells that I couldn't
> play because they didn't have a target (Disenchant; Counterspell;
> Spell Blast).
Elkin Bottle's an interesting choice - would allow you to draw a card at the
beginning of your opponent's turn to afford you a little bit of protection. Of
course, your opponent's going to know what the card is ... *laugh*
The main reason I suggested White was for something like Aura of Silence.
Since you're going the overload route (putting more permanents in play than
your opponent can handle), enchantments are the way to go. Aura makes it harder
for your opponent to play his own artifacts, plus you can sac it to take out
something threatening.
Back to Jon for a minute
------------------------
I agree that Aura of Silence is a good choice, although a bit more expensive to
cast at 1ww. But Aura doesn't need a target to be cast, and so won't open the
lock like Disenchant does, and won't clog the top of your library. Even better,
once cast it sticks around until you need it to destroy an opponent's artifact
or enchantment that can cause you trouble, such as Null Rod, Touchstone,
r:Goblin Bombardment, or g:Primal Order. Substitute Aura for the three
Disenchants. You might even want to use four, and drop one Hidden Retreat.
Back to Dave
------------
Another possibility in the Artifact department: Erratic Portal. You can use it
to bounce back things to your hand if they're going to be destroyed ...
Another thing you might not be aware of is that, if a continuous artifact
becomes tapped, its powers are turned off. For that you could use Mind Games
(Blue instant, U, Buyback 2U, tap target artifact, creature, or land), or, if
you aren't playing Type 2, Icy Manipulator (Artifact, 4, 1T: tap target
artifact, creature, or land). You can tap the Bridge at the beginning of your
turn and attack, then untap it after you're done. A little mana-intensive
though.
BUT! You'll want to avoid having this used against you. Touchstone (Artifact,
2, T: tap target artifact you do not control) will probably see a lot of
sideboard use against decks like this, as it can be used to turn the Ensnaring
Bridge against the owner. It's also a good defense against Winter Orb, keeps
Brooches from countering ... you get the idea. Aura of Silence is perfect
against these. *laugh*
Wraths are an excellent choice for this deck - you can probably take a
little damage before dropping the lock, but too much would be bad, and
the Wraths will let you keep control of the board until you're able to
put the lock down. I'm not so sure about the Black half (although the
Pits help you to empty your hand for the lock) - you'll have to let me
know how it works out.
> The deck is artifact oriented, still a little slow, but can get a lock
> going or Wrath the boards by turn three or four. Hidden Retreat is a
> great protector in the early game (counters instants or sorceries for
> a card discard), and Peace of Mind buys time for the lock or a buffer
> against direct damage (gain 3 life by discarding a card).
How often do you get stuck having to discard a piece of the lock just to
stay alive? In other words, how often do you have one of these two
cards in play, and instead of automatically playing one of the
artifacts, you think to yourself, "Hrm, I oughta hold on to this just in
case I need to counter something/gain life"? You might look at Hanna's
Custody, a white enchantment that makes it so artifacts cannot be the
target of spells or abilities - that'll also help protect a good portion
of your deck from Disenchants, etc., and forces another step in the
Disenchant ladder, which means one less to take out part of the lock.
> To play the deck in Rath Cycle constructed I might:
>
> - substitute Rod of Ruin for Cursed Scroll, and replace Bottle
> Gnomes with Scalding Tongs. This combo can still deal two damage
> to your opponent for 3 mana each turn.
Another viable route would be to use Grindstones and deck your opponent.
Anything they'd be able to get out would be held at bay by the Bridge or the
Automatons; anything real dangerous to the artifacts can be countered by the
Null Brooch. Since there's no Uktabi Orangutans in Rath Cycle, Null Brooch is
nigh unstoppable.
> - splash a little red into the green, and substitute r:Fling
> for Cursed Scroll. Fling deals damage to your opponent equal to
> the power of the creature sacrificed. Use a pumped Mindless
> Automaton, protected by Null Brooch, and the game is over.
I like this idea too. Another way you can do this in Rath Cycle is with Hornet
Cannon (Artifact, 4, 3T: Put a 1/1 Hornet token with flying and celerity into
play; at the end of turn, destroy token) and Goblin Bombardment (Red
Enchantment, 1R, sac a creature: Goblin Bombardment does 1 damage to target
player). With an empty-hand, draw a card, activate the cannon, attack with the
hornet token (you have one card in hand so it can get past the Bridge), then
sac it to the bombardment. A little combo-y, a little expensive to get out,
but has the same activation cost as Cursed Scroll, plus it keeps adding to the
Artifact theme.
Back to Jon
-----------
So, working from Dave's suggestions, here are two Rath Cycle constructed empty-
hand lock decks. "Sting Lock" uses [Hornet Cannon + Pandemonium + Goblin
Bombardment], a combo that can be developed during the longer games this deck
produces, to deal 3 damage for three mana. The Lotus Petals help to cast
the red cards. Scalding Tongs deals damage ahen you have less than four cards
in hand. Megrim + Bottomless Pit add to your opponent's damage as the game
develops. You may be able to deal 6 to 9 damage in a single turn, and do so by
turn 8.
"Sting Lock" v1 colorless(W/B)
---------------------------------
Artifacts
---------
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Lotus Petal 0 T: sacrifice for 1 mana any color
4 Ensnaring Bridge 3 creatures w/power>[cards in hand] can't attack
3 Null Brooch 4 2,T: discard hand, counter noncreature spell
3 Hornet Cannon 4 3,T: put 1/1 hornet token into play with flying
and celerity; bury token at end of turn
3 Scroll Rack 2 1,T: swap X cards from hand to library top
3 Scalding Tongs 2 if cards in hand <4, deal opp 1 damage
White
-----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Peace of Mind 1w pay W: gain 3 life
3 Hidden Retreat 1w discard card to library: prevent damage
from instant or sorcery
2 Disenchant 1w destroy target artifact or enchantment
Black
-----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Dark Ritual b add 3 B mana to your mana pool
3 Megrim 2b opponent dealt 2 damage whenever discards card
3 Bottomless Pit 1bb each player discards card at random during upkeep
Red
---
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
2 Goblin Bombardment 1r Sacrifice creature: deal 1 damage to opponent
1 Pandemonium 3r Creature may deal damage=power to opponent when
it comes into play
Land
----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
5 Plains
5 Swamps
4 Salt Flats comes into play tapped; T: 1 colorless mana;
T: add W or B mana for 1 damage
2 Reflecting Pool T: add 1 mana any color produced by land you control
2 Cinder Marsh T: add 1 colorless mana; T: B or R mana for 1 damage
ANALYSIS
--------
"Sting Lock" does not have the targeted creature removal in the early game that
"Scroll Lock" gains from Cursed Scroll, so Peace of Mind becomes very important
to keep you alive during the weenie rush. Shooting hornet tokens helps some,
but doesn't deal with shadow creatures.
The Hornet Cannon plays just as Dave Meeson suggested: with one card in
hand, attack with a 1/1 hornet token, then sacrifice the token to Goblin
Bombardment for one more damage. Pandemonium is put in as a "sweetener" for the
late game to increase the damage to three. With Bottomless Pit and Megrim in
play, you can generate four to eight damage per turn, and the game ends
quickly. Cinder Marsh, Reflecting Pool, and Lotus Petal provide the mana for
the very tiny splash of red, losing only two potential white mana to Cinder
Marsh.
PLAYTESTING
-----------
"White Heat" was the test deck again, and lost every time, although "Sting
Lock" will lose over time, and with a bad draw! The lock decks are approaching
decent playability for friendly play, with what seems to me to be a good mix of
defensive and offensive spells, speed, and robust-but-flexible ways to play
various draws.
Example life-mana curves for two wins are shown below:
Building these things is addictive! Here's another Rath Cycle constructed deck,
this one a bit slower (ugh!) but with a nice smorgasbord of discard options and
lots of "loose combos".
"Combination Lock" v1 colorless(W/B)
------------------------------------
Artifacts
---------
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Lotus Petal 0 T: sacrifice for 1 mana any color
4 Scalding Tongs 2 if cards in hand <4, deal opp 1 damage
4 Ensnaring Bridge 3 3,T: opp picks card, if chosen 2 damage
3 Null Brooch 4 2,T: discard hand, counter noncreature spell
3 Scroll Rack 2 1,T: swap X cards from hand to library top
White
-----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
3 Peace of Mind 1w pay W: gain 3 life
3 Hidden Retreat 1w discard card to library: prevent damage
from instant or sorcery
3 Disenchant 1w destroy target artifact or enchantment
1 Limited Resources w players sac all but 5 lands; no lands may be
played as long as 10 lands are in play
Black
-----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
4 Dark Ritual b add 3 B mana to your mana pool
3 Megrim 2b opponent dealt 2 damage whenever discards card
3 Bottomless Pit 1bb each player discards card at random during upkeep
3 Volrath's Dungeon 2bb any player can pay 5 life to destroy; controller
chooses & discards card: target player returns
card to top of his library
1 Evincar's Justice 2bb (BB:3) deal 2 damage to each creature & player
Land
----
# Card Cost Text (see card for full text)
- ------------------ ---- -----------------------------
6 Plains
8 Swamps
4 Salt Flats T: 1 colorless mana; T: untap target attacking
creature w/shadow; neither deals/receives damage
ANALYSIS
--------
"Combination Lock" adds extra punch to the Bottomless Pit + Megrim combo with
Limited Resources. This enchantment forces players to sacrifice all but five
lands apiece, then forbids playing lands as long as 10 or more are in play.
When Bottomless Pit and Megrim are out, your opponent must discard land cards
and take two damage. Without Limited Resources an opponent will play the land
instead of holding it.
Just for grins I swapped out the four Scalding Tongs for two Dauthi Horrors
and two Dauthi Cutthroats. Against a white weenie deck the Horror provided
early damage. It could be played with two cards in hand to attack, followed
by closing the lock to everything except 1/1 creatures, and continuing to
discard to Peace of Mind to keep the weenies from having an effect. This
technique also kept Soltari Visionary from dealing any damage and destroying
any of my enchantments.
As I learned to play the deck better, you can see that there are tricks
that let you open and close the lock to attack your opponent. Of course,
for this to work well, you need the "discard advantage" that these decks
have.
PLAYTESTING
-----------
"White Heat" was the test deck again, and lost every time. The range of card
discard options, and the side effects that can be obtained with them, are IMHO
the ultimate key to designing and playing empty-hand lock decks. Here's what I
finally ended up with to gain "discard advantage":
- Hidden Retreat prevent damage from instant or sorcery
- Peace of Mind pay W: gain 3 life (slows game)
- Volrath's Dungeon return cards from own or opponent's hand to library
- Null Brooch counter noncreature spell
- Bottomless Pit real advantage is damage that Megrim deals opponent
- Scroll Rack swap a card to discard from hand to library
All of these pieces work together to keep your hand empty. You'll have more
options the longer the games goes on, as your increasing discard advantage can
stretch out the game by gaining life, establish and protect the lock, save a
card that you'll need later, prevent direct damage to yourself, and slow your
opponent's rush.
You can even tune this deck to use Cataclysm. Replace Evincar's Justice with
Cataclysm, and substitute two Maddening Imps for one Megrim and one Bottomless
Pit. When you have these cards in play:
- Ensnaring Bridge
- Maddening Imp
- Peace of Mind
- Salt Flats
then use Cataclysm to clear the boards. Kill off all non-wall creatures while
you wait to draw your kill cards. It's unlikely that you'll get these cards out
early, and it's a very risky strategy, but hey, why not live dangerously now
and then? OK, OK, it was a stupid idea! :-)
Example life-mana curves for two "Combination Lock" wins are shown below:
HOW TO IMPROVE THESE DECKS
--------------------------
"Scroll Lock" v4, "Sting Lock" v1, and "Combination Lock" v1 need sideboards. I
have focused on the main decks to tune them for the white/red environment, and
probably black, too, but the blue and blue/green decks are unknowns. Advice on
sideboards, especially backed up by playtesting, would be greatly appreciated.
Cursed Scroll is so good during the entire game that its removal leaves me
feeling, well, -naked- out there! Without creature removal, you might want to
merge the deck with a suicide black deck to feel less exposed (as did John
Lindsey in "Pit Lock"). Here are some ideas for some combos/cards that work in
T2, and others in Rath Cycle constructed.
Maddening Imp + Ensnaring Bridge: Force non-Wall creatures to attack (but they
can't because of Ensnaring Bridge) so they destroy themselves. This does work,
and is legal. A longthy discussion on the newsgroup finally led to the
realization by some of us poor, confused newbies that the "must attack" (but
cannot) effect of the Imp is separate from the "destroy all non-Wall creatures
that did not attack" wording. This is a delightful combo that fits the
strategic theme perfectly, and is re-usable each turn.
Bounty Hunter: Destroy creatures like walls that the Imp misses.
Pit Imp, Vampire Bats, Frozen Shade, Carrion Ants: Any 0/1 pumpable creature
can be used to attack even with no cards in hand (cool!), and then can be
pumped up -after- blockers are declared. This can also be used against you.
Choosing blockers is a real bear, too, because the attacker can choose how to
pump -after- blockers are declared. I predict that there will be a lot of
sneaking creatures under the Bridge if empty-hand lock decks become playable
and popular.
(Bad Moon or Infinite Hourglass) + Ensnaring Bridge : Raise the power of all
black creatures so they can't attack. But be sure to kill them ASAP before
Goblin Bombardment or Fling kills you -- almost the only thing your opponent
can do to you, especially if the Brooch or Hidden Retreat isn't out.
Hatred + Peace of Mind + <any 0/1 creature>: Slip the creature under the
Bridge, then cast Hatred on it.
Conclusion
----------
The deck is evolving away from an artifact-only theme because of the need
for speed. The synergy between white, black and artifacts helps establish and
maintain what is basically a huge combo deck. It seems to work, though. I'm
ready to explore it with a Deadguy Red and a Suicide Black deck from the
tournament winners. If it can stand up to those, then we might have something!