Explorations #11 - See the Mage in his Tower

Steve Gargolinski

Some Quick History

A few years ago, a combo deck called Project X was somewhat popular during Regionals/Nationals (Time Spiral/Ravnica Standard).  Here's a decklist:

Project X

Michael Bennett - US Nationals, 3rd

Creatures 1 Teneb, the Harvester 1 Withered Wretch 1 Harmonic Sliver 4 Dark Confidant 3 Essence Warden 2 Crypt Champion 3 Saffi Eriksdotter 4 Loxodon Hierarch 2 Elves of Deep Shadow 4 Wall of Roots 4 Birds of Paradise 1 Ghost Council of Orzhova 30 cards Other Spells 3 Castigate 4 Chord of Calling 3 Glittering Wish 10 cards

Lands 1 Selesnya Sanctuary 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Plains 2 Forest 2 Gemstone Mine 1 Pendelhaven 4 Overgrown Tomb 4 Temple Garden 1 Godless Shrine 1 Llanowar Wastes 1 Caves of Koilos 1 Brushland 20 cards Sideboard 2 Extirpate 3 Slaughter Pact 2 Shimian Specter 1 Teneb, the Harvester 1 Saffi Eriksdotter 1 Castigate 1 Congregation at Dawn 1 Mortify 1 Putrefy 1 Teysa, Orzhov Scion 1 Glare of Subdual 15 cards

 This deck revolves around the Saffi Eriksdotter / Crypt Champion combo.  I'm going to go through this combo step-by-step, so feel free to skip ahead if you already know how it works.  It's not completely intuitive, and relies on some fairly tricky timing - but there are some cool interesting parallels between Project X and the deck we're going to work on today.

Let's say that you have Saffi already in play, and you cast Crypt Champion (without spending R). This causes both of the Crypt Champion abilities to go on the stack - "When Crypt Champion comes into play, each player puts a creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less from his or her graveyard into play." AND "When Crypt Champion comes into play, sacrifice it unless R was spent to play it." When abilities trigger simultaneously, you (the active player) are able to choose the order that they get stacked.  Here's how you want the abilities to stack: top of stack When Crypt Champion comes into play, each player puts a creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less from his or her graveyard into play. When Crypt Champion comes into play, sacrifice it unless {R} was spent to play it. bottom of the stack In response to all of this, you want to sacrifice Saffi - sending that little feminina to the graveyard, and stacking her ability on top of everything: top of stack When target creature is put into your graveyard from play this turn, return that card to play. When Crypt Champion comes into play, each player puts a creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less from his or her graveyard into play. When Crypt Champion comes into play, sacrifice it unless {R} was spent to play it. bottom of the stack

From here you allow the top ability (Saffi's) to resolve, naming Crypt Champion, and setting up a delayed trigger for when Crypt Champion goes to the graveyard later on in this sequence. 

Here's the stack:

• top of stack
• When Crypt Champion comes into play, each player puts a creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less from his or her graveyard into play.
  
• When Crypt Champion comes into play, sacrifice it unless {R} was spent to play it.
  
• bottom of the stack
  

Next, allow the top Crypt Champion ability to resolve, and return Saffi to play.  Now the stack looks like this:

• top of stack
• When Crypt Champion comes into play, sacrifice it unless {R} was spent to play it.
  
• bottom of the stack
  

Let the final ability to resolve, forcing you to sacrifice Crypt Champion.  Saffi's ability triggers, returning the Crypt Champion to play.  You didn't pay R for Crypt Champion, so this entire sequence triggers over again. Repeat this as many times as you'd like!

Alright, so at this point we've gone through a complicated exercise and ended up pretty much where we started - that doesn't sound so great, does it?  Well, whenever we're doing something an infinite number of times in Magic there's usually some way to exploit it.  The first thought in a situation like this is something like Empty the Warrens, but we're not actually casting any spells during this process.  However, plenty of creatures are going to the graveyard and coming back into play.  There are three main cards that were used to exploit this combo.

Each of these three cards provides a different function.  Essence Warden allows the Project X player to gain infinite life, Teysa, Orzhov Scion creates an infinite number of creatures, and Bitter Ordeal can remove the opponent's library from the game.

Essence Warden was probably the most common card used alongside the Saffi/Crypt Champion combo.  Project X also runs a decent package of strong creatures (Loxodon Hierarch, Teneb, the Harvester), and it's pretty easy to win via beatdown when you've got 1,000,000,000 life to work with!

Teysa and Bitter Ordeal are more direct kills.  Teysa, Orzhov Scion allows Project X to create infinite 1/1 flying creatures as early as turn four.  Here's an example game opening where we not only gain infinite life, but also create infinite 1/1 creatures:

Turn one:  Forest, Essence Warden
Turn two:  Plains, Saffi Eriksdotter
Turn three:  Swamp, Teysa, Orzhov Scion
Turn four:  Swamp, Crypt Champion, combo, gain infinite life, put infinite 1/1 tokens into play

All of that sounds great, doesn't it?  There's one big problem though - this combo doesn't work great on MTGO.

One Difference Between MTGO and Paper Magic

The entire process described above (Saffi, Crypt Champion, etc.) only takes us through a single iteration of the combo.  If we're on the Essence Warden (infinite life) plan, then how many iterations do we want to go through?  In paper Magic, we would just demonstrate a loop and then announce, "Repeat this one billion times, gain one billion life."  Unfortunately, nothing like this currently exists in MTGO.

Taking the time to run through this iteration twenty, thirty, fifty, or even one-hundred times isn't really a game winner when it comes to gaining life.  In fact, it's not usually something that you want to do at all.  Sure, it's a strong move in an ideal world - but throwing away your entire clock to gain some life isn't the way to win tournament Magic.  The Teysa and Bitter Ordeal combos on the other hand ARE direct wins and don't rely on doing anything an infinite number of times (twenty, thirty, or forty times should be more than enough), but they still require clicking through an intricate series of steps without making a mistake.  One misclick and the loop ends. Due to the interface and chess clock, a deck like Project X can't really be played in Magic Online. This is a real bummer. Infinite combo time difficulties don't come up in every format, but there are potential metagame contenders (and just really fun decks!) that are immediately disqualified from the online world due to this deficiency.  Not because these decks can't make the grade, or because they're poor against the metagame, or for any other legitimate reason - but because the MTGO interface can't recognize or handle loops.  This doesn't disqualify a deck like Project-X (very loop intensive, tough clicking-requirements, potential time problems) from being played on MTGO - but it sure makes it more difficult than it needs to be. Hopefully somewhere down the line we'll see some sort of a macro system incorporated into MTGO v3, but for now Johnnies are a little bit handcuffed as they explore infinite loops in Magic.  What does this have to do with the deck we're going to play today?

Today I want to focus on a few infinite combos that can be played on MTGO without any problems.  Let's check it out.

One Tough Win Condition to Remove

Helix Pinnacle is a weird card.

 These cards are not exactly running all over Standard these days.  Austere Command is definitely the biggest worry on this list, but it's a known threat and something that we can work around.

This short list also means that a deck based around Helix Pinnacle definitely does not need to be a pure-speed combo deck.  Lots of combo decks rely on putting a bunch of resources into resolving a sequence of spells to win - think of decks like Dragonstorm, High Tide, Heartbeat, or pretty much any deck that wins with Tendrils of Agony or Brain Freeze.  If a key spell is countered while these decks are 'going off', then there's a significant chance that they will either 'fizzle out' or tuck their tails, regather their resources, and attempt to win on a later turn.  These decks are usually in a bad position if they are forced to try again later.  They're usually built mostly for speed, and aren't well equipped to thrive in the late game.

As stated above, a deck based around Helix Pinnacle does not need to be built for speed.  Since there are such a small number of answers to the Pinnacle in this format, we can definitely work on a deck that's more geared towards the long game.  That being said, the odds of getting together one hundred mana the old-fashioned way is not appealing to me - so this deck is definitely going to include some sort of combo.

The most obvious way to generate tons of mana is either through the Urzatron or Eight-Post.

Whenever Magic players want to generate a really high (but not infinite) amount of mana, they start at the Urza lands.  Unfortunately neither the Urza lands nor Cloudpost are available in Standard, but they are sure available in Extended. If you're interested in winning with Helix Pinnacle in a format other than Standard, these lands are as good of a starting point as any.

Back in Standard, there are two combos that I want to try out.

Two Different Combos

Remember last week when I talked about working on a deck where color matters in a whole different way?  This comes into play with the first combo.

Umbral Mantle gives us a way to untap a creature over and over again, assuming that we have both a way to tap the creature and a way to generate three mana.  Bloom Tender solves both of those problems - as long as we have at least four colors worth of permanents in play.

1. Cast Bloom Tender and equip with Umbral Mantle.
2. Tap Bloom Tender for four or more mana.
   
3. Use three mana and the Umbral Mantle ability to untap Bloom Tender.
   
4. Repeat.
   

Each cycle through this with four colors of permanents in play nets one mana.  If we only have three colors in play, then we can still create an infinite loop - it just won't produce any mana.  Thankfully, getting four colors worth of permanents into play isn't too difficult.

Umbral Mantle isn't really a great card, and will probably only be included as a combo piece - but Bloom Tender is generally useful.  There are plenty of strong, multi-color cards in Shards of Alara that are awesome targets as something to accelerate into. 

Producing one hundred mana this way is definitely doable on MTGO.  If you yield to the Bloom Tender triggers, then it's just a few quick clicks per iteration.  The interactions we're dealing with are also much simpler than Project X, and the chances of a misclick are much lower.

Time for combo number two.

Doubling Cube is a card that people really seem to want to like, but for one reason or another it usually fails to deliver.  To make it profitable we need some up-front mana, and a way to repeatedly untap the Doubling Cube.  The ability to repeatedly untap an artifact isn't something that Wizards takes lightly, and there are very few cards around that can fulfill that requirement.  Thankfully for our combo, they printed one in Shards of Alara.

I didn't even know that Filigree Sages existed until I did a search on gatherer for "untap target artifact".  These Sages cost four mana, and are on the fragile side (with Incinerate/Lash Out/Flame Javelin around) - but they do produce an infinite mana combo alongside Doubling Cube.  Here's what we do:

1. Start off with a bunch of mana in your mana pool.
2. Use Doubling Cube to double it.
   
3. Use some of this mana to untap Doubling Cube with Filagree Sages.
   
4. Repeat.
   

Each loop through this combo requires six mana to keep going (three for Doubling Cube and three for Filagree Sages), but if we don't start with enough, the mana left over eventually dwindles below six.  There's a initial amount of mana that we need in our pool to make this an infinite loop.  So how much do we need to get started?

Here's an equation that describes how much mana we end up with after each loop through the combo:

resulting mana = 2 * (starting mana - 3) - 3

So let's say that we start off with six mana in our pool.  We spend three on Doubling Cube and then double the remaining three mana to six.  We spend three on Filigree Sages to untap Doubling Cube, and then have three mana left for the next iteration through the combo.  This clearly isn't even enough to go through the combo again - and we're definitely not turning a profit!

Here's the above example run through our equation:

resulting mana = 2 * (6 - 3) - 3
resulting mana = 2 * 3 - 3
resulting mana = 3

The break-even point for this combo comes with nine mana.

resulting mana = 2 * (9 - 3) - 3
resulting mana = 2 * 6 - 3
resulting mana = 9

As you can see, when we start off with nine mana and then go through one loop of the combo - we end up right back where we started with nine mana.  So what happens when we start off with ten mana?

resulting mana = 2 * (10 - 3) - 3
resulting mana = 2 * 7 - 3
resulting mana = 11

This nets us one whole mana.  Great.  The good news is that next time through, we're going to get more.  Here's what we get with our eleven mana. resulting mana = 2 * (11 - 3) - 3 resulting mana = 2 * 8 - 3 resulting mana = 16 - 3 resulting mana = 13 ... and if we reinvest our thirteen mana... resulting mana = 2 * (13 - 3) - 3 resulting mana = 2 * 10 - 3 resulting mana = 17 ... and again ... resulting mana = 2 * (17 - 3) - 3 resulting mana = 2 * 14 - 3 resulting mana = 25 ... and again ... resulting mana = 2 * (25 - 3) - 3 resulting mana = 2 * 22 - 3 resulting mana = 41 We're already up to forty-one mana after just five iterations through the combo.  Two more loops and we'll have more than enough mana to win via Helix Pinnacle.  We can easily pull off this combo within MTGO time restrictions, it's no problem at all.

There are definitely other available combos to use with Helix Pinnacle, but these are the two that I want to focus on today.  Shroud is a blessing and a curse when it comes to combos and Helix Pinnacle.  Something like Gilder Bairn is appealing, but his ability cannot be used to target Helix Pinnacle - in the same way, that Naturalize becomes a dead card.

So How Do We Make a Deck From This?

It may seem greedy to run two different infinite mana engines in our Helix Pinnacle deck, and maybe it is, but there is a decent amount of overlap that makes this a bit easier.  Three of the four cards involved (Filigree Sages, Doubling Cube, and Umbral Mantle) are artifacts, and there's a big bad new Planeswalker around who loves to search up artifacts.  In addition to Tezzeret the Seeker, there's a whole artifact sub-theme in Shards of Alara to leverage.

So what about the fourth combo card, Bloom Tender?  Bloom Tender isn't an artifact, and relies on us having lots of different color permanents in play.  There are plenty of decks running around that have lots of different colors of permanents.  Let's take a look at one.

Five Color Control

Gerry Thompson - Standard Legal

Creatures 4 Kitchen Finks 4 Mulldrifter 1 River Kelpie 1 Oona, Queen Of The Fae 10 cards Other Spells 2 Story Circle 2 Bant Charm 4 Cryptic Command 4 Esper Charm 2 Oona's Grace 3 Remove Soul 2 Firespout 4 Wrath Of God 23 cards

Lands 2 Island 2 Adarkar Wastes 2 Cascade Bluffs 4 Mystic Gate 4 Reflecting Pool 2 Sunken Ruins 1 Underground River 4 Vivid Creek 2 Vivid Marsh 4 Vivid Meadow 27 cards

 The problem with using this deck as a template is that it is very light on the permanents, only twelve in the entire deck.  Bloom Tender relies on us having four colors of permanents in play, and I don't think that twelve is going to cut it.  There are two main things that we're going to take from Five Color Control:  the manabase and the control philosophy.

Based on what we've already discussed, there are a bunch of slots in the deck that are already spoken for. In: 4x Bloom Tender 3x Helix Pinnacle 2x Doubling Cube 2x Filigree Sages 1x Umbral Mantle 2x Tezzeret the Seeker These numbers are a bit wonky, I agree, and I will try to optimize them a bit after a few test games.  Tezzeret the Seeker tutors for most of our win conditions, which is why I'm only running a single Umbral Mantle.  Filigree Sages are sort of in the same class as Umbral Mantle - but they can be used to fend off creatures - so it doesn't seem terrible to run more than one copy. Since we're developing a control deck, I'm going to plan on twenty-six lands.  In a deck this heavy on land, Oona's Grace is always a strong choice.  I want to run at least one copy.  I'm not going to detail out the exact lands yet, ; obviously I'll wait until the rest of the deck is chosen.

In:
26x Land
1x Oona's Grace

At this point, forty-one cards are spoken for in our deck.  This leaves us nineteen slots to fill out the list.  Here's a rundown of some cards I thought about to fill out this sixty.

Cryptic Command
The best card in Standard.  If you're playing a control deck, and you're not on a budget, then you need to look very hard for a reason to not run this card.

Plumeveil
Excellent defense, takes out just about every early-drop aggro creature, eats Kitchen Finks, ambushes blind attackers.

Wrath of God
The original mass creature removal.  This could be a strong card depending on how creature-heavy our deck ends up being.

Story Circle
Great defense against all different types of threats.  Very strong in this metagame with lots of bleed between colors.

Bant Charm / Grixis Charm / Esper Charm / Naya Charm / Jund Charm
All of the charms in Shards of Alara are excellent.  They have fantastic utility and can bail us out of all sorts of different situations.  Our manabase should allow us to cast any of them without too much trouble.

Courier's Capsule
Decent card-draw that has some synergy with Tezzeret.

Executioner's Capsule
Creature removal that has just as much synergy with Tezzeret.

Sharuum the Hegemon We've mentioned a decent number of artifacts already, and Sharuum will help us recur them.  This big guy shouldn't be too hard to cast assuming that we get a Bloom Tender in play, and can definitely be used as an alternate win condition if the Helix Pinnacle plan doesn't work out. Tidehollow Sculler I'm a huge fan of Duress, Castigate, Thoughtseize, and other cards of that variety.  Tidehollow Sculler fits in well here, beats down, and blocks if we need him to. Remove Soul / Negate / Broken Ambitions If you're interested in more countermagic, then here you go. Mulldrifter Evasive beater with double cantrip and super-cycling.  It's pretty obviously by now how good Mulldrifter is. Kitchen Finks Strong anti-aggro, tough to kill, comes with lifegain.  Fights for a spot in this deck with Plumeveil.

Here's my first shot at a list:

The Mage in His Tower

Steve Gargolinski - Standard Legal

Creatures 3 Plumeveil 2 Sharuum the Hegemon 3 Tidehollow Sculler 2 Filigree Sages 4 Bloom Tender 14 cards Other Spells 4 Cryptic Command 3 Bant Charm 2 Story Circle 1 Oona's Grace 2 Executioner's Capsule 2 Tezzeret the Seeker 1 Umbral Mantle 3 Helix Pinnacle 2 Doubling Cube 20 cards

Lands 4 Reflecting Pool 4 Vivid Creek 2 Vivid Grove 2 Vivid Meadow 1 Vivid Marsh 2 Fetid Heath 3 Mystic Gate 2 Sunken Ruins 2 Flooded Grove 1 Yavimaya Coast 2 Island 1 Forest 26 cards

I decided against Wrath of God, mainly because I'm running so many utility creatures.  The hardest non-inclusion for me is definitely Mulldrifter, but I don't really know what makes sense to cut for it.  I guess that Tidehollow Sculler is the most obvious target, but I really love that hand disruption.  I'll play a few games and see how it goes.

Game 1 vs Manascrewed B/W

I have to mulligan to five, not exactly off to a great start, but my opponent gets stuck on just one Swamp.  I cast double Tidehollow Sculler, ripping away double Nip Gwyllion, and just beat down for the win.

Analysis:  What can I say?  I beat up someone with no land.

Game 2 vs Elf Tokens with Blue

My opponent plays out Llanowar Elves, and I land Tidehollow Sculler - grabbing Imperious Perfect.  He topdecks a second Perfect and brings the Elf Lord into play.  I flash out Plumeveil to ambush and kill the original Llanowar Elves.  My opponent uses Rampant Growth to tutor up an Island.  I bring Bloom Tender into play and then Umbral Mantle, Helix Pinnacle, and finally Sharuum the Hegemon.

While I was busy assembling these pieces, my opponent played out Hunting Triad and Gilt-Leaf Ambush.  He took out my Plumeveil with Eyeblight's Ending and got some damage through the red zone - but I'm ready to combo off with counter protection.  I'm not sure why my opponent has Islands, but I'm assuming it's not just for fun.  I start messing around with Umbral Mantle/Bloom Tender and four colors in play, generating mana for Helix Pinnacle.  My opponent tries to Unsummon Bloom Tender, but I use Cryptic Command to counter.  He casts Negate on Cryptic Command, but I have Bant Charm for the win. Analysis:  Remember above when we talked about how a Helix Pinnacle deck doesn't need to be pure speed?  This game was a great example.  I had perfect control over this game when I won.  Double counter backup on turn seven is not bad at all! Game 3 vs Green Warriors My opponent starts off with Mosswort Bridge, Bramblewood Paragon, and then Civic Wayfinder.  I play out Doubling Cube, use Bant Charm to take out the Civic Wayfinder, and then ambush Bramblewood Paragon with Plumeveil.

I cast Filigree Sages and then start stalling with Cryptic Command.  I use the "Tap all creatures your opponent controls.  Draw a card." four times in a row to hold off the attack (at three life) while my opponent puts some pretty scary stuff into play.  Loxodon Warhammer, and double Chameleon Colossus hit the board, but I'm safe for a while behind my shield of Cryptic Command (I had all four!).

Eventually I reach the ten land threshold and start to combo off.  My opponent apparently doesn't like this and stops responding.  Bummer.

Analysis:  Quadruple Cryptic Command makes most games a lot easier.  This is definitely one game where I wish I had Wrath of God - that Sorcery would have taken a considerable amount of pressure off of me.

Game 4 vs Demigod Deck Wins

I keep a slowish hand and start to squirm as my opponent plays out Mogg Fanatic and Stigma Lasher.  I play Tidehollow Sculler and grab Boggart Ram-Gang, but my opponent has a hand full of direct damage.  I figure that the best I can do is get him to use his damage spells on my Scullers instead of on me.  He uses Incinerate to blast my Sculler, as anticipated, and then bashes me.  I grab the Ram-Gang again with the Sculler, and once again the 2/2 goes down to Incinerate and I take four.

I use Plumeveil to ambush Boggart Ram-Gang and then Bant Charm to bury Demigod of Revenge, but I'm running low on life.  I use Bloom Tender to chump block and then finally draw a Story Circle, but it is much too late.

Analysis:  Demigod Deck Wins is a very tough matchup for this deck if you fail to draw Story Circle, or draw it much too late.  If you manage to land a Story Circle on turn three, then you should be able to win.  This is definitely your most important card in the matchup.  If you don't, then it's going to be a pretty difficult fight to survive into the late game.

Game 5 vs Jund Big Creatures

My opponent starts off with Llanowar Elves and then I hit him with Tidehollow Sculler.  I see another copy of Llanowar Elves, a Mountain, Orcish Artillery, double Jungle Weaver, and Shivan Dragon.  I take the Shivan Dragon, cast another Tidehollow Sculler to grab the Orcish Artillery, and follow up by using Bant Charm to take out his original Elf.  With his resources crippled, I play out double Bloom Tender and Doubling Cube - and then follow up with Tezzeret the Seeker. By this point my opponent has gotten out of his mana problems after cycling away both of his Jungle Weavers.  He taps out for Shivan Dragon, but I have Cryptic Command.  I use Tezzeret to seek up Filigree Sages and the Bloom Tenders give me more than enough mana to combo off and win. Analysis:  This game is a testament to the power of the Tidehollow Sculler.  Those two little 2/2s turned my opponent's hand from a potential turn three Shivan Dragon draw (with plenty more fatties coming) into a loose collection of uncastable monsters.  Bant Charm also helped.  This deck doesn't play a ton of creature removal, so it's important to pick off the important pillars in your opponent's army.  Do your best to figure out which cards are going to make the game the most difficult for your to win, and then remove them like a surgeon with a scalpel.

This is also the first time that I used Bloom Tender as acceleration for the Doubling Cube / Filigree Sages combo.  I didn't even think of that synergy originally, but I'm definitely glad that I found it!

Budget Time

This is not a trivial deck to budgetize (is that even a word?), at least not without making some pretty serious changes.  So that's what I'm going to do!

There are a few major problem areas with the budget of this deck:  Cryptic Command, Bloom Tender, Tezzeret, and the manabase.

Cryptic Command = $10.75
Bloom Tender = $4.00
Tezzeret = $4.75
Reflecting Pool = $15.75
Fetid Heath = $9.75
Flooded Grove = $7.75
Mystic Gate = $4.50
Sunken Ruins = $5.50

One way to fix this situation is to forget about the Bloom Tender combo and focus on the Filigree Sages / Doubling Cube combo.  This removes the expensive Bloom Tenders from the list, and also allows us to focus in on fewer colors and an easier manabase.  I'm going to take out the Bloom Tender combo, lots of the multi-colored cards, and everything non-blue (except for Helix Pinnacle) - and then build my way back up from there.

Out:  the entire manabase, 4x Cryptic Command, 1x Umbral Mantle, 4x Bloom Tender, 2x Sharuum the Hegemon, 2x Story Circle, 3x Bant Charm, 2x Executioner's Capsule, 3x Tidehollow Sculler

That leaves us with this list:

3 Plumeveil
1 Oona's Grace
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
2 Filigree Sages
3 Helix Pinnacle
2 Doubling Cube

From here, we're looking at some sort of blue control build with a green splash.  I decided to leave in Tezeeret the Seeker as the one semi-expensive card in the list.  If we go with twenty-five lands, then we've got twenty-two cards left to fill out the list.  I'll start off by adding in a few Mulldrifters and then adjusting numbers with one copy of Plumeveil and Doubling Cube, and two more Filigree Sages.

Out:  1x Oona's Grace
In: 3x Mulldrifter, 1x Plumeveil, 2x Filigree Sages

This deck relies on ramping up to ten mana, which is no easy achievement.  There are two cards that I want to add in order to make this easier:  Mind Stone and Upwelling.  Mind Stones are classic colorless acceleration, and also have solid synergy with Tezzeret.  We can untap them with the planeswalker for additional acceleration, tutor one up if we need to, and even turn our Mind Stones into 5/5 beaters if necessary.

Upwelling is a double-edged sword, potentially providing our opponent with a charge of mana - but it also makes it much easier for us to hit that ten mana threshold, which means game over. In: 4x Mind Stone, 2x Upwelling The loss of Cryptic Command is tough, but there are some other decent counterspells available in Standard these days.  I'm going to add in a variety of counterspells, which can be adjusted based on your metagame. In: 2x Negate, 2x Remove Soul, 2x Broken Ambitions This deck is capable of generating a large amount of mana, and I wanted something to be able to pour it into.  Mind Spring is the 'fixed' Braingeyser/Stroke of Genius and should help us reload our hand and give us an outlet for all of this generated mana. In: 2x Mind Spring

We took out Sharuum the Hegemon, which ran at around $3.00 - but we still want some sort of alternate win condition for this deck.  To finish off this list I'm going to add two copies of Oona, Queen of the Fae.  Oona is a huge flying monster, can produce an army of tokens for attack or defense, and is not easy to kill.  A solid addition to any control deck.

In: 2x Oona, Queen of the Fae

The only thing left to do is add a manabase.  It's a little hard to say just how many green sources we need, playtesting should help determine the correct number of Forests, Vivid Creeks, and Terramorphic Expanse.  I'm going to take a first shot at it.

In: 15x Island, 2x Forest, 4x Vivid Creek, 4x Terramorphic Expanse

Here's the final budget list. 

Budget Mage in his Tower

Steve Gargolinski - Standard Legal

Creatures 4 Plumeveil 3 Mulldrifter 4 Filigree Sages 2 Oona, Queen of the Fae 12 cards Other Spells 2 Negate 2 Remove Soul 2 Broken Ambitions 2 Mind Spring 2 Tezzeret the Seeker 3 Helix Pinnacle 3 Doubling Cube 4 Mind Stone 2 Upwelling 23 cards

Lands 15 Island 2 Forest 4 Vivid Creek 4 Terramorphic Expanse 25 cards

 ... and the cost breakdown (courtesy of mtgotraders.com):

This deck comes in at a total of about $16.

A Mage in his Tower is a good example of a deck relying on unique-enough effects that a straight budget translation isn't really possible.  I think that the version I came up with is strong enough, though, and seems like fun.  I've had some requests to play a few games with the budget versions that I make, so here we go.

Game 6 vs RB Beatdown

I start off with double Mind Stone into Doubling Cube while my opponent plays out Deathgreeter, Dragon Fodder, and starts to beat down.  I've accelerated my mana enough to hardcast Mulldrifter for defense and then Mind Spring for five to refill my hand.  My opponent hits my twice with Blightning, but thankfully I've got plenty of cards to go around.  I cast out another Mulldrifter and then Oona, Queen of the Fae.

I start beating down with my fliers, making Faerie tokens for defense.  My opponent plays out another Deathgreeter, and starts gaining a bunch of life.  Eventually my flying creatures take my opponent down.

Analysis:  During this game I had Tezzeret in hand, Doubling Cube, and Filigree Sages - but no Helix Pinnacle!  It was a major bummer to be *this close* to comboing off and not be able to get that last piece together.  I'm going to adjust the numbers a bit.  The artifact pieces of the combo don't need as much redundency since I'm running two copies of Tezzeret.

Also, I have no idea how I went so long through these deck evolutions without running a full playset of Mulldrifter.  there's really no excuse for that!

Out:  1x Filigree Sages, 1x Doubling Cube
In:  1x Helix Pinnacle, 1x Mulldrifter

Budget Mage in his Tower v2

Steve Gargolinski - Standard Legal

Creatures 4 Plumeveil 4 Mulldrifter 3 Filigree Sages 2 Oona, Queen of the Fae 13 cards Other Spells 2 Negate 2 Remove Soul 2 Broken Ambitions 2 Mind Spring 2 Tezzeret the Seeker 4 Helix Pinnacle 2 Doubling Cube 4 Mind Stone 2 Upwelling 22 cards

Lands 15 Island 2 Forest 4 Vivid Creek 4 Terramorphic Expanse 25 cards

Game 7 vs Gb Mana Ramp

I play out Helix Pinnacle and Mind Stone while my opponent plays Fertile Ground and Overgrowth.  I use Remove Soul on Dauntless Dourbark and then cast Mulldrifter - my opponent uses Dramatic Entrance to put Broodmate Dragon into play and then start some serious beatdown.  I cast out Plumeveil, but it's much too late and I go down hard.

Analysis:  The pressure put on was just too early, too often.  I should have saved mana to counter Dramatic Entrance, then there's a possibility that I would have won the game.  It was probably a mistake to cast out Mulldrifter, I was too focused on digging to assemble my combo.

Game 8 vs Five Color Something

I play Helix Pinnacle, Mind Stone, and then Plumeveil.  My opponent plays down double Windbrisk Heights, a few Alara shardlands, and then Reflecting Pool alongside double Farhaven Elf.  I cast a second Mind Stone and then play out Oona, Queen of the Fae.  Oblivion Ring takes out Oona - and I play out Doubling Cube alongside Mulldrifter.  On the following turn I play out Upwelling and Filigree Sages, my opponent comes back with Kitchen Finks, and then I combo off for the win.

Analysis:  Alright, this was the combo finish I was looking for with this budget deck.  I think that the control package of this deck needs a bit of work.  The 2x Negate, 2x Remove Soul, and 2x Broken Ambitions setup isn't really fantastic, and I continually miss Cryptic Command.  I'll leave this update as an exercise for the reader.  I wonder if there's a "turbo" version of thie deck somewhere?  I bet it's out there somewhere, but I'd be amazed if it's fast enough to compete with something like red deck wins.  Maybe I'm wrong?

Leaving the Tower

This Helix Pinnacle experiment was defintiely fun, but it is hard to win with a combo like this.  Most of the time, in the games I played, a traditional control finisher strategy would have just been easier - and required fewer deck slots.  Helix Pinnacle is super-difficult to remove, but the cards that make up the infinite combo sure aren't.  That being said, if you want to win with some style, then not much beats one hundred tower counters.

It seems that people will either love this deck or hate it.  Johnny-style infinite combos definitely split the player base into disctinct segments.  Some people get off on one hundred mana and some people think it's a waste of time.  If you're not bashing in with creatures, then what's the point?  Hopefully this deck has given at least some of you something to think about.

Thanks for reading!

Steve Gargolinski
spgmtgo@gmail.com