I wanted to play an interesting, offbeat deck at a vintage tournament I'm going to next month, and I decided to brew something based around Psychogenic Probe. The deck turned out to be more about Cosi's Trickster, but the Probe is still present. Here's the decklist I'm working on:
I'll talk a bit about card choices and such before I open the floor to criticism.
Basically you're trying to win via Cosi's trickster beatdown or Psycho Probe over several turns. The main issue with this idea is that the cards that make your opponent shuffle need to do other things as well or they're not worth playing. That is why cards like Extract and Surgical Extraction are here. They're disruptive, cheap, and make the deck work. Praetor's Grasp is awesome, but the BB in the cost makes it hard to play sometimes, or else I'd play 4 for sure. Snapcaster Mage is great with all the cheap instants and sorceries. Rootwater Thief gives me another threat, albeit a slow one, and helps grow Tricksters.
The Control and Draw sections of the deck need little explanation. Portent over Preordain because I can make my opponent shuffle. Path to Exile is strong card and perfect for the deck.
The sideboard is sort of a mish mash of useful things. The fourth Surgical, some counterspells, Cages, and the Needles and Meddling Mages as catch-all answers for the unexpected.
My main question is about Ghost Quarter. Do you think it's worth it? It weakens the mana base, but it's pretty strong. Staring down a 6/6 Trickster makes one think twice about grabbing a basic, and it means you have 4 maindeck Strip Mines vs. decks with no basics. I know a lot of vintage decks don't play all that many basics, but sometimes the loss in tempo just isn't worth it. It would be better if I could squeeze Crucible of Worlds into the deck, but there isn't much room.
Is no Mox Jet deliberate? Or card availability issue.
I like the approach I am not sure how much easier it is then Key Vault, but it does approach the beatdown issue from another avenue and has control and disruption.
No mox jet is part oversight, part card availability. I'm running on 15 proxies, and I own no power, no duals, no fetches, and only 2 Forces. So everything's a bit tight. But I might cut an UgSea or Tundra for the Jet, since having the fast mana may prove more valuable.
What do y'all think of changing my disruption to have Duress? It plays nicely with Surgical Extraction, and might be more useful than Mental Misstep.
If you need a name for the deck, I once had a friend with a Psychogenic Probe deck he called "Shuffleupagus" (after the Sesame St character).
I tried experimenting with the Probe in an Extended format some years ago. Tried to kill by sacrificing goblins with Skirk Prospector then casting Bitter Ordeal for a large Gravestorm. Never got it to be successful, just dropping the idea.
When I first started building the deck, I had 2 of her, then I cut back to just 1, and then I cut her completely. I suppose I can fail to find an artifact, so even if they have nothing I want I can still get the shuffle. And she's less mana commitment over time than Rootwater Thief, and will almost always be unblockable. Maybe I'll go back to a 1-1 split of the Thief and Thada. Since she's legendary, I probably don't want more than 1, no matter how great stealing Lotus or exiling Blightsteel would be.
Edit: I also just realized that being able to steal Key/Vault from someone's deck is freaking hilarious. A lot of decks around here are running it, so I think Thada Adel has a place here.
4 Cosi's Trickster
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Rootwater Thief
2 Psychogenic Probe
4 Extract
2 Praetor's Grasp
3 Surgical Extraction
Draw/Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Portent
1 Brainstorm
Control
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Path to Exile
2 Spell Pierce
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Swamp
2 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Surgical Extraction
3 Pithing Needle
2 Dismember
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Steel Sabotage
2 Flusterstorm
2 Meddling Mage
I'll talk a bit about card choices and such before I open the floor to criticism.
Basically you're trying to win via Cosi's trickster beatdown or Psycho Probe over several turns. The main issue with this idea is that the cards that make your opponent shuffle need to do other things as well or they're not worth playing. That is why cards like Extract and Surgical Extraction are here. They're disruptive, cheap, and make the deck work. Praetor's Grasp is awesome, but the BB in the cost makes it hard to play sometimes, or else I'd play 4 for sure. Snapcaster Mage is great with all the cheap instants and sorceries. Rootwater Thief gives me another threat, albeit a slow one, and helps grow Tricksters.
The Control and Draw sections of the deck need little explanation. Portent over Preordain because I can make my opponent shuffle. Path to Exile is strong card and perfect for the deck.
The sideboard is sort of a mish mash of useful things. The fourth Surgical, some counterspells, Cages, and the Needles and Meddling Mages as catch-all answers for the unexpected.
My main question is about Ghost Quarter. Do you think it's worth it? It weakens the mana base, but it's pretty strong. Staring down a 6/6 Trickster makes one think twice about grabbing a basic, and it means you have 4 maindeck Strip Mines vs. decks with no basics. I know a lot of vintage decks don't play all that many basics, but sometimes the loss in tempo just isn't worth it. It would be better if I could squeeze Crucible of Worlds into the deck, but there isn't much room.
Tell me your thoughts.
Shout out to commandercast for keeping me entertained.
I like the approach I am not sure how much easier it is then Key Vault, but it does approach the beatdown issue from another avenue and has control and disruption.
What do y'all think of changing my disruption to have Duress? It plays nicely with Surgical Extraction, and might be more useful than Mental Misstep.
I tried experimenting with the Probe in an Extended format some years ago. Tried to kill by sacrificing goblins with Skirk Prospector then casting Bitter Ordeal for a large Gravestorm. Never got it to be successful, just dropping the idea.
I think I need to squeeze Duress in here, but I want to keep Misstep as well. Any suggestions on what to ditch?
When I first started building the deck, I had 2 of her, then I cut back to just 1, and then I cut her completely. I suppose I can fail to find an artifact, so even if they have nothing I want I can still get the shuffle. And she's less mana commitment over time than Rootwater Thief, and will almost always be unblockable. Maybe I'll go back to a 1-1 split of the Thief and Thada. Since she's legendary, I probably don't want more than 1, no matter how great stealing Lotus or exiling Blightsteel would be.
Edit: I also just realized that being able to steal Key/Vault from someone's deck is freaking hilarious. A lot of decks around here are running it, so I think Thada Adel has a place here.