CTC by prof.chaos
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Click the arrow to download the above deck in .txt formatOn paper, Cinammon Toast Crunch is a super-exciting Classic combo deck that combines Helm/Line, Tinker/Leviathan, and Painter/Grindstone into one list. If you want to check out a primer, then there’s a decent writeup here. I’m a HUGE sucker for decks that are really two or three decks in one, so I was super psyched to try this one out.
Unfortunately I didn’t have the best experience in the 2-man tournaments. The major issue I found with CTC is the deck’s susceptibility to really awkward draws. It’s very frustrating to open up a hand of Land, Land, Land, Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, Thoughtseize, and Extirpate and then mulligan into Land, Land, Hurkyl’s Recall, Helm of Obedience, Inkwell Leviathan, and Dark Ritual. Sure all decks have similar risks, but CTC is pushing thirty mana sources and a bunch of combo parts that aren’t terribly useful on their own – this (at least in my test matches) lead to some particularly brutal draws.
The other somewhat unexpected bummer I found in testing CTC was the ineffectiveness of Inkwell Leviathan in the current Classic metagame. This isn’t a fact specific to the deck, but just a general observation on the format. Turn one Tinker -> Inkwell Leviathan is just pathetic against Dredge unless you also have Leyline of the Void or some other significant disruption. Winning on turn four is just too slow in this situation. If you’re playing against Oath then you need to be prepared to deal with Platinum Angel at that point – which is not easy for CTC to do. In the primer linked above, whiffy penguin recommends removal of Inkwell Leviathan — with which, after testing, I entirely agree.
While this deck may be strong, I didn’t have as much fun playing it as I had expected. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
Ad Nauseum by SICKSICKSICKSICKSICKSICKSICK
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Click the arrow to download the above deck in .txt formatI used to be a regular combo deck player in Legacy and Vintage, and Ad Nauseam Storm is an extremely powerful version of this archetype. With everyone aiming their hate hardcore towards the graveyard, Storm decks have an opportunity to sidle into the format and dodge a lot of the specific hate that’s normally aimed towards them.
Things aren’t totally rosy for Ad Nauseam right now though, even if the deck manages to dodge specific hate. The Dredge matchup seems to be pretty decent, since Ad Nauseam can play the beatdown role effectively. Oath is much, MUCH harder. Combo always has a tough time with Control, and Oath can afford to slow things down and focus on disrupting Ad Nauseam before deploying Oath of Druids. Ad Nauseam is a great deck to play right now if you can manage to dodge the Oath matchup.
SICK’s deck avoids any sort of Orims Chant/Abeyance effects, which are very common in Ad Nauseam decks, and instead focuses on speed/redundancy along with a few protection elements in Echoing Truth for zombie tokens and Slaughter Pact for Ethersworn Canonist and Gaddock Teeg. The sideboard contains Tormods Crypt as ammo against Dredge, Sadistic Sacrament to fight Oath, and a full Painter’s Servant/Grindstone combo to side in – although I’m honestly not sure for which situations the Grindstone package is intended. If someone has better information, please leave a comment!
Mox Aggro by whiffy penguin is just the type of deck I was trying to build! But I was doing it wrong, because I don’t have any Mox Diamonds. Doh. About that same deck, what are the Null Rods in the sidebaord for? I noticed that the smallpox deck had them too.
Thanks for the decklists and summaries!
Null Rod can shut down Painters Servant/Grindstone, Helm of Obedience, Skullclamp/Cranial Plating/Umezawas Jitte, Lotus Petal/Mana Crypt/Lion’s Eye Diamond, Goblin Charbelcher, and others. Sure it isn’t the powerhouse that it is in Vintage (just yet), since it can’t prey on Black Lotus or Moxes – but it still has its uses.
Although it does shut down the deck’s own Mox Diamonds, Jittes, and Tormods Crypts – so be careful about that.
Null Rods were a hold over from the original vintage deck. in classic they function as a further way to beat up on combo decks. The uses are exactly as spg said. They do turn off your own Mox Diamonds, however turning off every win condition in painter/stone and helm line, while also slowing belcher and storm to a crawl from turn 1 make it worth it.
@Katastrophe – Mox Diamond is essential to the decks performance. In vintage these four slots are 3 moxen and a Lotus, obviously better then Diamond but i work with what i have. They with the help of Elvish Spirit Guide it allows you to be fast enough to actually disrupt decks that don’t play “fair”. In addition to this they turn off Wasteland and Strip Mine in the decks that do play “fair”. In essence they give you the speed that “fair” decks lack to actually compete against dredge oath and combo.
Also you side out the Jittes if u side in the Null Rods, but anyone who follows “Decks of the Week” or mtgonline will notice that I dropped them from the sideboard for the 1st event of the new year.