Angel Pact aka Angel Control

phesago · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 17

I know for the most part ML doesnt really have a vintage scene but i saw some one make this comment...."by warwizard87 on 2008-06-15 17:02 MDT

angel pact? i would like to see that. "

and i thought i would show them a list or two. Now, since i have been playing this deck alot as weel lately, i will post two different lists. one being the one i have been playing, and the other for post 6-20 restrictions.

3 platinum angel
1 "big nig" darksteel colossus
1 tinker
1 mystical tutor
1 fact or fiction
1 ancestral recall
1 timewalk
4 brainstorm
3 ponder
4 force of will
4 pact of negation
4 mana drain
4 thirst for knowledge
2 pithing needle
3 back to basics
1 echoing truth
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
5 moxen
1 lotus(of the black variety)
2 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
1 tolarian academy
1 library of alexandria
6 island
1 underground sea

just in case your wondering my sideboard may have had black cards in it, thoughtseize or duress depending on the one you liekz moar. its easy to see that this is basically a mana drain deck. it did really well against the following decks: workshop of any kind, dredge, tendrils, GAT, and control slaver. oath was kind of a toss up, but over all pretty good. anyway, lets get to the updated version, which is pretty much the same, but with more options open to you....

3 P-angel
1 big nig
3 back to basics
4 pact of negation
4 force of will
4 mana drain
1 ponder
1 brainstorm
1 ancestral recall
1 tinker
1 fact or fiction
1 timewalk
1 merchant scroll
4 accumulated knowledge
4 thirst for knowledge
1 echoing truth
2 pithing needle
1 engineerred explosives
1 sol ring
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
5 moxen
1 black lotus
2 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
6 island
1 tolarian academy
1 library of alexandria
1 underground sea

Now this list is still up in the air so to speak, but it still does the same thing and it still does well. the only thing i may change is the E-E, and possibly into mystical tutor or a misdirection. i have been putting alot of thought into intuition, seeing in how i run AK but i would have to play at least two, not to mention my only targets for that would be AK and rather dead after that. meh. anyway, i doubt warwizard87 will read this, but feel free to tell me what you guys think.

cheesypirate · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 90

i dont think "big nig" is a racially appropriate nickname

i dont play vintage so i couldn't really give thoughtful adice on the format. i think pact of negation is a dead card w/o the angel, and i dont know how easily you could ramp up to 7 mana. maybe you could run workshop

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 869

its actually easy to get to 7 mana. ak seems rly weak with out intuition maybe u can add 2 intuitions and it will be better. i dont see qhy u have 2 needle and an explosive md. u also dont need the underground sea. and back to basics isnt that good in this deck.

phesago · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 17

actually, back2basics is amazing. its auto wins alot of the time. i have watched many different decks get wrecked by it. even though gush can kind of work its way around it, it still slows those decks down significantly. but then again gush is going to dissappear again altogether so you dont really have to worry about that. needle is obviously good for this deck, and they are way too many things to name that are actually relevant. i do however agree with the thought of adding intuition to the post 6-20 list, but i dont like only being able to fetch AK or FOW.

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 869

why do people always assume that u have to get 3 of the same card. u just go get like fact recall and smt else rly good with intuition. i never said b2b wasnt good, just that the deck doesnt rly take advantage of it, your not drawing cards off ophidian etc.

phesago · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 17

seriously? recall, fact and sumthing else? i am pretty sure that if i were that dumb to literally throw away the best draw spells in the deck like that, whatever the third card was, would always be hands down what they give me. i think merchant scroll does a better job of finding the good draw spells. Ophidian? Really? *facepalm* this is why we cant have nice things.........

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 869

you misunderstood my post. i meant that people auto get 3 of the same spell with intuition when it has more uses than just a tutor. i never said to play ophidian in ur deck i was just saying that ur not really doing anything with b2b that makes it worthwhile. like the old mono blue decks would lock people down with b2b then draw cards with ophidian then play morphling. ur playing b2b just cuz its good but it doesnt rly have any synergy with ur deck, the deck is basically trying to turbo out angel and b2b doesnt do that.

phesago · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 17

i think i understood quite well what you were saying. At times you do turbo out angel, and other times you actually hard cast it. Weird uh? I dont think you understand how crushing that card is in the current meta of vintage play. And comparing this with a deck from ten years ago is barely an example. with a field full of relevant nonbasic lands, its quite ludicrous to say that b2b doesnt have any synergy at all with a control deck, not tooo mention that it inherently takes FULL advantage of the game state with all the top dekcs. Seems like you would make the same arguement about slaver....turbo out slaver, take over from that point, thats what the deck does. That, however, is niether here nor there. Point being is that i think you have a neglect of purpose and functionality, possibly mislead by the main win condition.

ZW · Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 153

I don't understand how this is a good matchup versus workshop. Are you on the play every game and going lotus, mox, tinker? Because that is a horrible matchup for you. It doesn't seem like your deck can handle a turn 1 Sphere, turn 2 Thorn/Tangle Wire, Turn 3 Threat. Really a turn one Sphere or Thorn by workshop ruins your deck, as you have one way to get rid of it, Force of Will. Platinum will never get cast versus workshop, as you need to get incredibly lucky to play it before their disruption. Back to basics is actually not very good at all. Against workshop, it usally ends up costing 5 mana, and you'll rarely drop it, it is awful against other control decks, which have mostly islands. I'm almost sure your deck cannot beat tendrils, save an incredibly lucky turn 1 or 2 Platinum. You have so many dead cards vs, it. Lastly, thirst for knowledge has no place here. You usually play your moxen, lotus, other sources, to play your thirst, and are you seriously going to discard angel to it? On the same note, Tolarian Academy is poor in this deck. While it can be very good, with only 9 cheap artifacts, it will sometimes be worse than an island, and will usually be just as good.

All in all, the deck is not very competitive, as it cannot power out angel as quickly as you think it can, and you have 4 juicy dead cards in the pacts when you don't draw one of three platinums. Why the hell play 4 cards that only work when you have a card you only have three of? Also, the deck is an epic fail against red green hate, and I would pay money to watch the game just to see your deck get demolished vs. them. Also, sure your dredge matchup is good when you get turn 1 or 2 platinum, but that is probably one out of every 50 games, as you need to have incredible luck to pull that off.

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 869

you still dont understand what im saying

ZW · Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 153

Also phisago, you have no idea what gypsy is talking about. Rolling Eyes

warwizard87 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 47

meh. anyway, i doubt warwizard87 will read this, but feel free to tell me what you guys think

i did see it Wink

not a bad deck i have seen it before just did not know what it was called. I like the deck alot i just hate the reliance on p-angel i can see how powerful the combo is but its easy to disrupt, bounce removal ect.

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 869

how much bounce and removal do you think is in the format? most blue decks play 1-3 bounce spells

warwizard87 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 47

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 869

this deck has more counters than any deck in t1, and they bounce angel u just recast it. its not like pact is a bad card you can still pay the pact if u need to, and you only need to counter certain spells anyway