Grim Tutor TPS

RThomas · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 384

A quick list I've cooked up, and have really liked in the 50 or so goldfishes so far:

// Lands
1 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [B] Underground Sea
3 [B] Swamp
1 [P3] Island
1 [US] Tolarian Academy

// Creatures
3 [RAV] Dark Confidant

// Spells
1 [UD] Yawgmoth's Bargain
4 [IA] Brainstorm
1 [A] Ancestral Recall
1 [A] Timetwister
1 [B] Time Walk
3 [TO] Cabal Ritual
1 [SC] Mind's Desire
1 [US] Yawgmoth's Will
1 [MI] Lion's Eye Diamond
1 [IA] Necropotence
1 [B] Black Lotus
1 [PR] Mana Crypt
1 [A] Mox Emerald
1 [A] Mox Jet
1 [A] Mox Pearl
1 [A] Mox Ruby
1 [A] Mox Sapphire
1 [A] Sol Ring
1 [P3] Imperial Seal
1 [B] Mana Vault
4 [B] Dark Ritual
3 [ST] Grim Tutor
1 [B] Demonic Tutor
1 [VI] Vampiric Tutor
4 [US] Duress
1 [TE] Lotus Petal
1 [UL] Tinker
1 [UL] Memory Jar
1 [UL] Rebuild
1 [SC] Tendrils of Agony
1 [AQ] Hurkyl's Recall

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [DS] Darksteel Colossus
SB: 1 [DS] Sundering Titan
SB: 3 [US] Annul
SB: 2 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [AQ] Energy Flux
SB: 1 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 2 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [AQ] Hurkyl's Recall

funny story: I was thinking of cards to put in the sideboard of Steve's newest list, Meandeck Mask, and thought it'd be really cool to make a transformational sideboard to Grim Tutor combo. After I discovered how much it sucked, I just took out all of the bad cards in Steve's list and replaced them with Grim Tutors and combo stuff.

It's basically TPS without Force of Will and with Dark Confidant and Grim Tutor. It's been pretty quick so far; with the extra tutors and Confidant drawing power, it might go off turn 2 or 3.

Some problems I've been having:

-not enough protection for the combo. I really miss Force of Will. I'm going to try Unmask, because you can pitch extra Confidants to it, but it still seems bad. In theory, the deck loses to Stax.

-Confidant is ass so far. He's really been underwhelming, to tell the truth. He doesn't influence the game for 2-3 turns at least, which is why I feel like he's better off in a list like TT Confidant, which is more controlling and can maximize his drawing power.

Thoughts?

Anti-Christ · Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 46

I've never been a fan of Grim Tutor, overall it just seems weak and I've never liked it in any of my builds. It just costs 1 less than Diabolic Tutor...
Dark COnfidant seems to work better in Gifts builds better simply because they control more, spreading out the turns setting up their combo and hand while gaining huge card advantage from Confidant.
You're just using him to get 1-2 cards out of him as it seems considering you want to combo off as fast as possible.
Truthfully, the deck seems alright but why choose it over Gifts? TPS?(TPS with Drain > without Drain) Grim Long?

Grim Long imo is what you're aiming at. It combos off faster than this deck and is more consistent.

Stryfe- · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

In my opinion you should try grimlong.. Confidant slows you down in the shortrun because grimlong uses turns 1-2 to tutor, then it wins. BTW when I played grimlong at my local tourny I knew there was a stax heavy meta so I md 2 rebuild.
I didn't win but I beat all the stax decks. Against Uba Stax i won turn 1 game 1 and turn 2 game 2. Against a build of stax that i cant define i won turn 3 game 1 (miracle) and turn 2 game 2.

This deck has potential but you dont need confidant unless you want to play confidant TPS, heres a list of confidant TPS that i modified to be good.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
4 [7E] Island (1)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [U] Underground Sea
1 [U] Volcanic Island
1 [US] Tolarian Academy
1 [B] Swamp (1)

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant

// Spells
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [LG] Mana Drain
1 [MI] Mystical Tutor
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [NE] Accumulated Knowledge
1 [OD] Recoup
2 [SC] Tendrils of Agony
3 [TE] Intuition
1 [U] Ancestral Recall
1 [U] Black Lotus
1 [U] Demonic Tutor
1 [U] Mox Emerald
1 [U] Mox Jet
1 [U] Mox Pearl
1 [U] Mox Ruby
1 [U] Mox Sapphire
1 [U] Sol Ring
1 [U] Time Walk
1 [UD] Yawgmoth's Bargain
2 [UL] Rebuild
1 [US] Yawgmoth's Will
1 [5E] Mana Vault
1 [PR] Mana Crypt
1 [IN] Fact or Fiction
1 [ON] Chain of Vapor

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [MM] Energy Flux
SB: 2 [RAV] Darkblast
SB: 2 [US] Annul
SB: 1 [UL] Tinker
SB: 1 [DS] Darksteel Colossus
SB: 1 [NE] Massacre
SB: 3 [US] Duress
SB: 2 [SOK] Pithing Needle

Try it out and see if you like it. It wins turn 3-5 consistantly while controling. I've won turn 2 before.

RThomas · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 384

Thanks for the opinions.

Koloran · Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 11

3 grim tutors is a bit much. Try Perplex in one's place.

Koloran · Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 11

and if your playing tinker, theres no reason not to free up a spot for DSC

MTGFAN911 · Joined: 25 Jun 2006 Posts: 162

confidant in combo in type 1 is really really bad. i cant stress how bad it is. think of it like this , you want to combo NOW. confidant says you want to combo LATER. see?

Anti-Christ · Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 46

Malhavoc · Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 158 Location: Italy

I've never liked Confidant too much in TPS-like builds. If you plan to win quickly (2-3 turns AT MOST after playing confidant), then night whisper is strictly better, plus it's not a dead draw when you've decided to combo out. If you think about the fact you've so few protections (only 4 duress), you HAVE to combo out quickly, or you'll die to control decks; BUT you run Confidant, which shines only if you avoid to combo out the very first turns.

The lack of FoW is something unbearable IMHO, but of course it depends on the metagame (opponent's first turn plays are unable to be stopped without FoW, but if you don't care about them..).

But the big issue in the maindeck is the totally lack of responses to an opponent's "trouble card": what if he casts something like pyrostatic pillar or meddling (which, without force, you can't even counter, so it's unavoidable if topdecked)? Rebuild can take away things like chalice, spheres, null rod and such, but not everything. Something like chain of vapor/echoing/cunning maindecked seems a must IMHO (chain in particular, since it's sinergic with the storm mechanic in general).

bb_bart · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Posts: 79

Dr_Moo · Joined: 26 Nov 2004 Posts: 950

Confidant seems horrible in that deck. Confidant is only good if he sticks around for at least 2 turns. How often do you want to wait that long to win? How long can you with so little relevant disruption? There are probably 20 cards just strictly better than Bob here. I would cut the 3 Bobs and Imperial Seal for 4 Unmask, I think. Maybe Night's Whisper.

also, @Koloran - DSC is bad. Anytime Tinker resolves, you'd rather get Jar and just win, rather than win 2 turns later if your opponent does nothing.

Malhavoc · Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 158 Location: Italy

Dr_Moo · Joined: 26 Nov 2004 Posts: 950

Malhavoc · Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 158 Location: Italy

Dr_Moo · Joined: 26 Nov 2004 Posts: 950

I don't believe that someone would leave Swords in against this deck even if you killed them in game 1 with Colossus.