Turn-One Tendrils 2008

I’ve had an updated version of Turn-One Tendrils, better known as Meandeck Tendrils, sitting on my coffee table for the past week. Whenever I have a few minutes to spare—before work, after brushing my teeth, between dinner and dishes, etc.—I’ll goldfish it. The deck is ridiculous, but I’m not sure if that’s in a good, powerful, broken way or just in an unreliable way.

Here’s the list I have put together:

4x Ponder
4x Brainstorm
4x Spoils of the Vault
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Chromatic Star
4x Repeal
4x Land Grant
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Tendrils of Agony
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Black Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
1x Lion’s Eye Diamond
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Tropical Island
1x Bayou
1x Polluted Delta
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Hurkyl’s Recall

You might notice that it consists of 40 four-of unrestricted cards and 20 other, mostly restricted cards. With Ponder, Brainstorm, and especially Spoils of the Vault in the deck, this seems to be about the way to go; you want to have the basic tools of your deck readily available when you need them. Even within those four-ofs there are redundancies. Ponder and Brainstorm provide similar functions, as does Chromatic Sphere with Star and Dark Ritual with Cabal.

Repeal is probably my favorite card in the Tendrils. It seems like it was made specifically for the deck. With a mox in play, it simply trades mana colors, then it draws a card and increases storm by two. Fantastic! Actually, with any of the permanent artifact mana, it nets mana or is at least mana neutral.

Ponder is another huge boost; there are so many times where it acts like a tutor with all the redundant four-ofs in the deck. I’d like to say that I wish I could run eight Ponders and no Brainstorms, but that’s not quite true. Though Ponder can look at four cards, Brainstorm can fix an entire hand, letting you hold on to all but the two worst cards in your hand. Together, Ponder and Brainstorm let you look at seven new cards, and for only two blue mana, that seems retarded good.

Spoils of the Vault is another fun one. It’s a card that you just have to believe in, even when you look at your situation and realize the only card you can use at the moment is restricted. Spoiling for Yawgmoth’s Will or Black Lotus is just good fun. I’ve even Spoiled for Mox Sapphire if I have a handful of Repeals in hand. Admittedly, the most Spoiled for cards are probably Dark or Cabal Ritual, Ponder or Brainstorm, and Tendrils of Agony.

Oh, and once again, Demonic Consultation proves just how insane it is at getting what you need when you need it. When you need to win the game right now, and there’s only one card that will save you, Demonic Consultation is your best friend.

Actually, the only problem I’ve had with the deck is that, in the infrequent cases I get to play Yawgmoth’s Will and am on my way to victory anyway, Chromatic Star won’t draw a card. It just gets removed from the game instead. It could be replaced with Darkwater Egg to alleviate the issue, but the situation comes up infrequently enough and the Star is so much easier to play and activate, that it’s probably not worth it. I guess it’s more a minor annoyance than a problem.

As for playing the deck through hate, I just don’t see how it can be done. Well, okay, I see how it can be done, but it seems like more of that would be luck and chutzpa than the deck’s ability to cope. Playing against UW Fish, I’ve played through Force of Will and Meddling Mage on Tendrils, but it’s definitely a tricky deal. Usually with Force of Will you expend your first hand, your opponent Forces, then you hope to draw or dig into something broken (Ancestral Recall, Yawgmoth’s Will, or Black Lotus and some draw spells) to start the process again.

Something like Meddling Mage basically just means trying to get Chain of Vapor through, which relies on lots of things, like them not having a counter, you having not already lost, and having all the mana available without tipping your hand to Land Grant.

Playing around Sphere of Resistance and its kin seems next to impossible. The deck is very mana tight most times; usually you’re able to Tendrils with just the right amount of mana. Hurkyl’s Recall and Chain of Vapor are amazing, but you have to be able to cast them as well, which is a chore in itself. My recommendation: win the die roll, then win the game.

Post sideboard, your deck will look exactly the same. Who cares about the sideboard? You’re winning the die roll, then winning the game, right?

Okay, the sideboard that got played about this time two years ago was—

1x Necropotence
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
2x Chain of Vapor
4x Force of Will
1x Bayou
3x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Black Vise
1x Chrome Mox

Unfortunately, I can find nothing that explains how to play this deck post sideboard, but most of this sideboard makes sense. Necropotence can be played off of Dark Ritual or a mox and a Cabal Ritual and should beat any control deck if it resolves. Force of Will, or possibly Pact of Negation now, can come in to bolster that matchup as well. Hurkyl’s Recall and Chain of Vapor should come in against Stax to bounce pesky spheres and other troublesome artifacts. Bayou should come in too, so you can cast them.

Tormod’s Crypt I’m not sure about. Sure it doesn’t clog up your hand when you’re trying to go off, but I can’t see it doing much now except against Ichorid, which I would plan on just racing. If you want to keep them, you would bring them in against other, slower Tendrils combo and Ichorid.

Chrome Mox and Black Vise won’t hurt your ability to combo off either. Black Vise gives you an extra threat against control decks since they’ll certainly take some damage while they store up counterspells. Plus, you can now play up to four Vises. Chrome Mox will give you the precious colored mana you need to win. The drawback is that you’ll have to pitch a threat or business card to power it up.

If I were to make up a sideboard based on this, it would be like so:

1x Bayou
1x Tropical Island
1x Necropotence
2x Chain of Vapor
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
2x Force of Will
3x Pact of Negation
3x Elvish Spirit Guide


That would give you another big threat against Control in Necropotence, plus some efficient counterspells to back up your plays. Just make sure you win when you cast Pact of Negation!

Against Stax, especially on the draw, and especially against decks with nine Spheres, you’ll have to bring in a few more cards. Nine to be exact—the two lands, all the bounce, and the three Spirit Guides. I have a feeling the Spirit Guides will help you cast your bounce at the end of turn.

As for what to take out, I would start with the Chromatic Stars. They seem to be the weakest link. You’ll be bringing in extra on-colored mana against Stax, and against control you’ll want all the blue cards you have to support Force of Will. Beyond the Stars, you can probably take out some Spoils of the Vault against Stax since you’ll be waiting longer and will be able to sculpt a hand somewhat. And against control, you can drop Hurkyl’s Recall.

Any time you’re on the play, though, you’ll want your combo to remain mostly fast and lean.

You may wonder where Street Wraith is in all this. I haven’t tested it, but it doesn’t seem to fit. Unlike other combo decks, question marks in your opening hand are bad because you’ll have to play mana, cards, and storm count very tight all the way through. The two life lost will also be a hindrance since you’ll be tutoring with Spoils of the Vault, which already has a high enough potentiality for death.

Anyway, I think Turn-One Tendrils has some potential in the current metagame. If you’re not afraid, that is. Except for Flash, there are no decks that you can’t race. Statistically, this deck should go of first turn 65% of the time, and your opponent will only have first turn Force of Will or first turn Sphere of Resistance around 45% of the time. That’s a sizable gap that you can take advantage of.

Plus, it’s been out of the format long enough that people will be unsure how to play against it. It’s not as though people are testing this matchup regularly, and if you can bait them into the wrong counter target or just catch them unawares, you win right away.

For more information on playing Turn-One Tendrils, check out these primers written for the 2005 version of the deck. Most of the primer is still relevant, since the strategy is still stable.

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/8929.html
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/8825.html
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/8884.html

Check it out! And may fortune smile while you Ponder.