Purple haze

[Hysteric]

In an article found on Team Covenant's website, Will Morgan proposed a core 67-71 card list for a deck he called purple haze. Here it is, for reference:
2 Elitism
17-21 Obsession

4 Basic Node
4 633fy 31f
4 Hub Node
4 700160x 31f
4 Quotidian Ejector
4 Micromajig Maker

4 Luteoderm Prototype

4 I Got the Gear!
4 Quotidian Assassination
4 Spontaneous Displacement
4 Forget
4 12 Man Brunch of Doom


I've taken this core and played with the deck a few times and currently I'm playing this:

2 Elitism
17 Obsession

4 Basic Node
4 633fy 31f
3 Hub Node
4 700160x 31f
4 Quotidian Ejector
3 Micromajig Maker
3 Gnat
1 Micromajig Shipping Container

4 Luteoderm prototype
1 Napiform Protuberance
1 Lugubrious Finger Trap

3 I got the gear!
4 Quotidian Assassination
4 Spontaneous Displacement
4 Forget
4 12 man brunch of doom
2 Quotidian Disappearance
4 Stolen Inspiration
1 Precise Sabotage

If you don't quite get the deck, check out Will's article. It explains it fantasticly well. I'm going to an invitational and was thinking of taking this but wanted to talk about it with some players from a different meta (serious players in Savannah are lacking)

[Arzakon]

Side Note: Where you you guys from Savannah going? Atlanta or Orlando?

[Hysteric]

There's only 3 of us that are serious about the game and we're going to Atlanta. Many others are qualified but they don't take the game seriously and they are either not going or going to the Carolinas. A handful of them are going to atlanta (3 or 4 id say)

PS i enjoyed your article

[CodyD1024]

hey hysteric I'm not really a fan of the deck, although it could work. However, to make it better I would suggest;

1. I would switch the makers to masters, only for the sheer fact that they cost 3, you start 2 elitism, making them a nice clean 1st turn drop, and you can later int eh game tutor if need be.

2. You need to make the deck more consistent, you have many 1 of's and alot of 2 of's. You will only see some cards in some games, I know you can tutor for them, but you cannot rely on that.

3. I don't really like SPontaneous Displacement, Gnat, stolen inspiration or Dissapearence in this deck. I would say max out your shipping containers, add in 133ts, and senior research assistants. Im also a HUGE fan of violating anamoly.

[Hysteric]

The deck has potenital, when I first saw it I dismissed it, but it has been playtesting well. I usually play SiN or Warlord/Arcanist dragon beats, but the meta in atlanta doesn't look favourable for either, so i'm experimenting with everything right now and this deck is fun to play and can be crazy, at times.

As for your points,

1) I've thought about that and haven't tested it yet. the masters also give extra tokens if i were to bounce them (though i'd much rather bounce one of my opponet's creatures). The makers haven't been fantastic in testing, they've really been subpar defensive creatures.

2) The one of's that are equipment can be fetched with I got the gear. THe shipping container is just an efficent win condition that can be tutored for with prototype and, more importantly, can be used to stop martial artists, something this deck needs (barring quotidian disappearance when and if they have nothing on the field and then discard). THe one precise sabotage is going to be sufficent since I can bounce most any problem item, but in case i do need spot item removal, it's there. Chances are I won't need it.

3) Displacement is fantastic, as it allows me to bounce a character with prototype and play a prototype for free, essentially making it quotidian assassaination 5-8, allowing me to tutor and stall while 633fy or hub node swing. Gnat is experimental, it's a solid one drop and bouncing it with a prototype on it generates some fantastic card advantage. Stolen inspiration helps take care of creatures that I need a solid answer to and allows me to take care of problem tactics or items. Also, I get a free prototype off it too, making it quite good, in my mind and it has been great during my playtesting. Dissappearance is a tough call. In the somewhat rare case that martial artist is the only creature my opponet controls, i can bounce it and force them to discard it. If i'm going second, it can help me bounce their t1 play, play a 1 drop and then a 633fy. It's been very useful early game and mid game. late game, it's not as good, but still decent.

As for 1337's and research assistants, they don't really help the goal of the deck much. I considered running a single violating anamoly but decided against it ultimately due to the sheer power of MCS

[CodyD1024]

I understand you want to do all the bounce, the only problem i see with that deck is that it is to slow, while you are bouncing all of their cards, depending on the deck, they could be weenie swarming you, I know you will be tutoring for cards, but how many bounce cards can you effectively play in a turn?

I guess this is all about the meta then, where I play elitism and speed is the king, if you know that that deck can play agianst decks in your meta go for it, But from my area it would be too slow.

[redstarbaron]

I, for one, will vouch that this deck works very well and it operates very quickly. You'll notice than none of the characters cost more than 3, and the theft-bounce/discard cards like Displacement or Stolen Inspiration accelerate your board position while slowing your opponent down.

[Tanis143]

You'll notice than none of the characters cost more than 3,


Um, MSC for 6?

[redstarbaron]

Um, MSC for 6?

The original version doesn't use MSC. That's Hysteric's mod.

[Tanis143]

Well, when you post a generic statement such as "I will vouch this deck works well" one can only assume that you mean the revised decklist.

[Hysteric]

the deck is pretty quick- you drop your threats turn 1-2 and then you ride them to victory while bouncing everything your opponet plays that's bigger than your beefy. Basic nodes can play defense very well and there are very few creatures that hurt this deck turn 1-2. Also, the gnat and micromajig maker can help stall until you can play 2 bounce spells a turn. Weenie rushes are tough, but you have bigger creatures and your nodes will be more effective since most weenie rushes are SiN and SiN rarely packs removal. Around 85% of the meta i'm going to is some warlord/x-shriever attack-play one big, efficent creature a turn and that's where this deck shines (or at least that's what my semi-reliable scout told me). I played against one player piloting the warlord dragon/arcanist deck last night who could never attack- i 12 man brunched of doom his smaller creatures, bounced his more expensive ones, and I just won with hub node. He would waste his own bounce spells on his own creature to destroy prototype, but i have 4 prototypes and 7 ways to tutor for them... It was a slaughter

As for the speed of the deck, it is very quick, MSC does slow down the deck, but I only run one as a tutor target. It's a decent response to martial artist and if they kill it, i have an even better clock. It's just a card to help out with the late game, should it come to that.

[CodyD1024]

Yeah Hysteric that deck would run through anything which drops one character a turn (schrpoing deck?), and even a warlod type deck. I am still not sure how it will fair with other weenie rush decks, because SiN is not the only one. Before the invitational I would start building other decks, and play against them to try and figure out what your deck needs.

[Brad Meine]

This deck seems not-so-good. Someone want to get on irc/mws and play?

[Hysteric]

I don't know of many weenie decks barring SiN- everything around Savannah is slower. SiN is a pretty even matchup, it depends if I can discard SiN and put enough pressure on them. It also comes down to speeds and I can usually hold off their 4 speed guys with 12 man brunch of doom and bounce.

I've been playtesting the deck, but, once again, the Savannah playerbase is very limited and the decks aren't that great.

@Brad Meine- I can test in 12 hours ish :-P

Also, CodyD1024, do you have any ideas to help this deck against the weenie rush?

[warallthetime]

I can't believe Cody is putting this deck down its beaten his Schpriong. The deck is very control oriented and I've seen it smoke creature based decks over and over again. The only way to beat it is to try and get rid of the prototypes and when i say get rid of them I mean all of them at once. It plays a single tri-pole to pull back the luetoderm so heist planners and good item removal play correctly in response to bounce. The deck has had success in our area and I've tested the deck, it takes to much thinking in my opionion. Doesn't make it a bad deck, just not a deck for newer players, its all timing based.

[Hysteric]

Heh, this deck is fun to play against schpriong :P It is control oriented but you can't play it as a normal control deck- you need to begin the beats early and carry them out because, eventually, when your opponet gets more resources and can drop several creatures a turn, you game becomes a lot more difficult. However, if you've been bashing with a node and a 633fy since turn 2, you'll be fine. The deck does involve a lot of strategy and thinking and requires that you maximize your resources. But, I've always enjoyed decks that make you do that (as long as I have enough sleep... otherwise it's SiN ftw).

I've made the following changes to my list:
-3 Gnat
+1 Micromajig Maker
+1 Tri-Pole Magnet
+1 Degenerate Molestation

Micromajig maker just helps me stall vs super aggressive decks and the discard effect of gnat has been nice but not fantastic. Tri-pole magnet is useful. Degenerate molestation may seem confusing to a lot of people but i can easily get 10 resources out while keeping a big hand size in this deck and it takes out their entire hand, which is normally useful, but even more useful when the majority of creatures that they've drawn during the game are in their hand.

[wmorgan]

Gnat is very interesting. I considered it but didn't test it. It's cheap and trades with a lot of the guys in a Strength in Numbers deck, but it's not really good against anything else, and the discard effect just doesn't matter most of the time.

I have a half-baked theory that, in this game, 2-cost and 3-cost stuff basically cost the same. It stems from an empirical observation that when you play stuff for 2 you leave one resource open a lot of the time. So this would argue in favor of Micromajig Master over Maker. I go back and forth. In my current build, I have Obsessive Compulsion which allows you to tap out more often, so I've stuck with Maker. Master has the search thing going for it too which is sweet.

I like the one-of gears. Along with Tri-pole magnet they keep I got the gear from being a dead draw late late in a game vs Heist Planners.

When Poisoning was a big concern I played two Degenerate Molestations, you know in case they made me discard one. I also tried Stolen Inspiration in that build and found that, most of the time, I'd rather do something else. Seeing their hand is a big plus, though.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Quotidian Disappearance is wretched. Nodes and Strength in Numbers are this deck's toughest matchups, and Disappearance does next to nothing in those situations. For every time you pull off a turn 2 Prototype-Disappear-633fy...wait a minute, that's a pretty slick play. Hm...

[Hordak]

I've also noticed quite often that 2 and 3 cost cards both cost you 3. I've tried to tailor my play to use only 3/4, or 1/2 in early turns to maximize resource usage.

[Tanis143]

Yeah, nothing sucks as much as having 3 resources and only a 2 drop, that third resource is just left hanging, poor thing.

Though in mid to late came a 2 cost vs a 3 cost can be critical, but not by too much.

[CodyD1024]

Hey war, I know its a good deck, but then again my old schproing deck was kind of horrible looking back on it, al my eggs in one basket and all.

I'm still not sure why you would rather maker of master. Your post basically sums up what i felt about it, that a 2 drop almost always wastes a resource, this game is all about combinations of 3s and 4s. Also, the master is a nice first turn drop, leaving you without wasted resources, and can even let you tutor if that container pops.

[Arzakon]

This deck played incredibly well today in Atlanta piloted by the OP of this thread. It made Top 4, with its loss in T4 coming to his only loss in Swiss. The losses were to a Deception/Elitism deck that if I didn't know the player didn't read the forums or netdeck, looks like a copy of Pile. That deck ended up taking a solid first place.

[Pantomime]

grats on the top 4 =)

[Hysteric]

heh, thanks Arzakon. I'll give a little summary of the tournament but first here's the list I used:

2 Elistism
16 Obsession

1 Gnat
4 Basic Node
4 633fy 31f
3 Micromajig Master
4 700160x 31f
2 Hub Node
4 Quotidian Ejector
1 Micromajig Shipping Container

3 I got the gear
2 Quotidian Disappearance
4 12 man brunch of doom
4 quotidian assassination
4 stolen inspiration
1 precise sabotage
4 spontneous displacement
4 forget
1 degenerate molestation

4 luteoderm prototype
1 tri-pole magnet
1 napiform protuberance
1 ashes of zenobia

Round 1: Jeff of Morning Stat Games
Jeff was playing a rogue/banker control deck starting two deception for such fantastic t0 plays as orgy den smoke out and forced recruitment on erotic assassain. I kept a decent hand with a solid t1 micromajig master. He orgy den smoked me t0 and then t1. during my second turn, I dropped a node and then a 700160x 31f fetched a prototype. He then plays a garbageman and an erotic assassain on his 2nd turn. I then play a prototype on the 700160x and swing for three. He blocks with assassain, I stack damage, bounce toolbox to my hand with assassination and then fetch a resource and another assassination. Starting the next turn I could bounce whatever he played and tutored for whatever two cards I wanted, every turn. I would pick a resource and an assassination so that I could prevent his field from developing while bashing for damage with the micromajigs. Once i had 8 resources I would get a spontaneous displacement and a 633fy and play them every turn. He couldn't draw enough removal.
1-0

Round 2: Rob of The Gaming Pit
Rob was playing a thief doyanne/luteoderm goliath combo with plenty of 13/12/4 martial artist trainees. Silly tri-pole magnets. Luckily bounce vs doyanne is fantastic. After an early stolen inspiration, I knew what he was playing so I attacked with 3 1/1/3s into his martial artist trainee which was on defense. The round was pretty easy after he traded his trainee for two 1/1/3s. had he not, though, I feel I would have been fine. After all, I could bounce the goliath and trade a node for a trainee. the tokens kept on swinging till I won while the bounce kept everything off the ground.
2-0

Round 3: Santa?? of the Gaming Pit
Grah. I hate draws and I hate slow turns. Though, Santa was not entirely responsible for it; he apoligized after the tournament about his slow playing. It was unintentional- he hadn't slept in a while and was playing a combo deck. Which, might I add, is a very good one. I can't give many details about the match due to secrecy but I managed to break the combo and Santa made an error with a forget that would have cost him the game... But time was called (I needed one more turn to win...) A good 5 minutes of the match was spent walking around the table... That was frustrating...
2-0-1

Round 4: I completely forgot his name, most likely because he beat me twice and I don't like bad memories...
So... yoink on prototype followed by rapine on prototype hurts me a lot... Especially when rapine takes my beefy and he does it three times in a row... Despite that (i bounced back my beefy and played them again), I would have won had it not been for a schproing and a MCS on the field. I needed one more turn to swing for the win so I drew three cards, trying to draw a bounce for the schproing. I drew three 12 man brunch of doom.
2-1-1

Round 5: Josh of Morning Star Games
Josh was 3-1 and playing a mono warlord i don't like your face so i'm going to beat it in deck. Luckily, I'm very protective of my face. He plays one creature a turn. Very good creatures, 5/3/2s, 3/3/4s, 3/3/3s, 5/4/3s, etc. In other words, my deck is the antithesis to his. I started bouncing things and playing beefys. Pretty standard game for the deck. My favourite play was block rudo with 633fy, stolen inspiration discarding a plodding brute, put luteoderm prototype on 633fy.
3-1-1

Top4: Round 4 Opponet
My opening hand was decent but only had one obsession. In round three, I had none, mulligan'd 7 and still had none and didn't get any for a long long time. So i sent 5 under because i need two threshold in obsession. I drew 3 obsession, ashes of zenobia, and a degenarate molestation. Woohoo. I drew a lot of cards and took a lot of damage the first few turns and managed to stabilize at 1 life. Until he went and rapine'd a node killing all mine, followed by playing a contriving engineer. his board was 2x contriving engineer, 1 sudden osprey, and 1 martial artist trainee. I went, played my last basic node, a quotidian ejector, and a 633fy elf. He attacks with an engineer, I bounce it with ejector. He attacks with osprey, I play quotidian disapperance and he bounces it, he attacks with trainee, I block with 633fy. He attacks with engineer, I block with ejector. He plays a haxor, and I cry. I would have stabilized the next turn. In retrospect, I should have played 633fy off of the stolen inspiration in my hand so I could've taken haxor out (I knew he had a 5+ drop in his hand because he had three open at the end of his turn and didn't use them). In any case, I'm fine with my 10 points, i've only been playing for three weeks.

The major problems I faced with this deck were yoink, hasty guys (in general), and my poor shuffling ability. I would recommend the deck for everyone whose willing to spend the time to test it. It's not an easy deck to pick up, by any means, and it requires a lot of thinking. I wish I had had more time to playtest but I couldn't. I literally got about 5 games in with the deck before the invitational. I feel if I had the oppurtunity to playtest more, I would have done a lot better since I made several playmistakes.

I would also make the following changes to the above list:
-1 Gnat
-1 Ashes of Zenobia
-1 napiform protuberance
- 700160x 31f
+1 Finger Trap
+1 I got the gear
+1 Micromajig Master
+1 Quotidian Disappearance

the whole gnat + ashes combo never came around and by the time it did, it would be more of a win more combo. A quotidian disapperance and micromajig master would help the deck with consistancy and just be better overall. 700160x elf was decent, but I don't like bouncing it to get prototype. I'd much rather have an I got the gear- it saves me a lot of resources, a card, and can tutor finger trap and tripole. Fingertrap takes care of hasty guys which, in my mind, makes it better than protuberance. MCS never saw play- against Martial artists I just used discard and disapperance. The 4th disapperance might be better than MCS. I need to playtest it more though. Damn work and lack of time to playtest...

Please feel free to discuss this deck, I'd like to get an active thread. If you have any questions feel free to PM me, though Will Morgan came up with the idea. I just liked it :P

PS: thanks pantomime