Tivit, Blink Boss

Chromaticus
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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

My first iteration of Tivit, Seller of Secrets was focused on artifact synergies - going nuts whenever I eventually got the commander out. The problem was that it didn't actually go down that way! Cards like Kappa Cannoneer, Marionette Master, Revel in Riches, and Cranial Plating wound up being atrocious if the commander was countered, or had sequencing issues.

I still think the mustache sphinx is sweet though, so my next attempt is using him at the top end of a blink shell.

I'm using a fair amount of inspiration from @pokken's fetchland abuse package in the deck to avoid using any mana rocks, since I loathe dead draws in the mid-late game.
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Some things to note about this initial draft - I've never involved black in a blink deck, so it's pretty under-represented.

I'm also looking for suggestions in the blink targets, control elements, and glaring omissions for this style of deck.

I will note that I'm avoiding tutors and combos in the early phases of the deck until I get a feel for playing it.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

(disorganized brain dump)

I think this is a prety solid start; one interesting thing to think about conceptually with Tivit is that you really don't need a ton of top end card draw with tivit I don't think. You can just crack all your stupid mound of clues. So stuff like Mulldrifter and Cloudblazer are kinda medium. What you really want to do (I think) is hit an Archaeomancer effect and a Ghostway effect so that you're able to spam stuff. The recurring blink spells are good enough I'd think about running Salvager of Secrets as a second effect, or Body Double potentially.

I think the Soulherder effects are mostly just worse than more blink spells or something like Recruiter of the Guard, or even the old standbye Deadeye Navigator who makes infinite clues which is kinda cool :P

Spirited Companion et al are fine because they help bridge your early game but might be straight up worse than Brainstorm / Ponder - so worth thinking about that.

The new Scholar of New Horizons isn't exactly an ETB creature but I would probably run it. It's solid with a blink package, if somewhat slow.

I might consider adding a mass reanimate spell just as a way to recover if you get blown out; Wake the Dead is pretty efficient.

In general, Akroma's Vengeance / Devastating Mastery are likely to overperform when you have 3-4 ways to turn it into a "combo."

All in all a really good start. I love the whole not needing to run mana rocks so you can keep your density of stuff high.

Chromaticus
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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Love that Spellseeker can grab Wake the Dead - that's sweet.

My biggest question was on stuff like Soulherder and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling - so that is good feedback.

I like having the little draw dorks for value when I get my Ghostway loops running, so I think those are probably going to stay. Leaning into the loops is probably the right call.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

Chromaticus wrote:
1 year ago
Love that Spellseeker can grab Wake the Dead - that's sweet.

My biggest question was on stuff like Soulherder and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling - so that is good feedback.

I like having the little draw dorks for value when I get my Ghostway loops running, so I think those are probably going to stay. Leaning into the loops is probably the right call.
Yeah seeker getting wake seems really good.

I think the 2 cmc cantrip critters are good, but 3+ I don't think are that good (even Mulldrifter I think is pretty iffy most of the time, but I can't imagine ever wanting to pay 5 mana for cloudblazer).

One I forgot that I find really good is Charming Prince - scry 2 is often better than draw 1, and its synergy with getting double blinks out of tivit sometimes is pretty dope.

2 cmc really is a magic number in this deck because you can 2 cmc spells with Tivit mana--so something you can do is like, Tivit, charming prince tivit, and that's basically free and sets you up for a potential double loop.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Dumping the instant blink options here from scryfall:

I think the 3 mana blink 2's are probably not where I want to be.

I'm also going to do a deep dive on the ETB critters.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

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Chromaticus
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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

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Took most of the suggestions — removed the repeatable blink effects, replaced spot removal spells with ETB effects, added a finisher, as well as more (hopefully) one sided board wipes.

I especially like Vanquish the Horde counting all my guys for the reduction, and then playing Ghostway or what have you to save them.

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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

Disorder in the court is one we missed that doubles as temp removal. It's amazingly good.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Get in here, new Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines! I wouldn't run it just for the Panharmonicon, but the asymmetrical Hushbringer effect takes it over the top.

Good suggestion on Disorder in the Court — what do you think of the balance between my one shot blinks and mass blinks - and where would you slot this one?

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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

Chromaticus wrote:
1 year ago
Get in here, new Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines! I wouldn't run it just for the Panharmonicon, but the asymmetrical Hushbringer effect takes it over the top.

Good suggestion on Disorder in the Court — what do you think of the balance between my one shot blinks and mass blinks - and where would you slot this one?
So I can pontificate a bit based on Feather (which uses a lot of the same stuff in my build)

* Slow blinks are for defense, they dodge sweepers. They accrue advantage more slowly
* Fast blinks are for offense, they dodge only targeted removal but they get the value now
* Some slow blinks can target opponents' stuff. these have some value defensively for stopping combos and stuff.

That's obvious I'm sure, but for me the priority is usually slow blinks - keeping Tivit on board is mostly what you want to do. Same with Feather.

On the current blink package I see for you
I think Siren's Ruse Turn to Mist, Flicker of Fate and Momentary Blink are a little iffy.

Otherworldly Journey is strictly better than at least one of them.

I would prioritize slow blinks over fast blinks at the 2 cmc slot, so play all the slow blinks first.

I think the 4 x 1 mana fast blinks is a great mix, but then I'd jam slow blinks over those.

I like the mix of ghostway/eerie interlude/semesters end/acrobatics for board blinks, might wijnd up cutting semesters end but it seems like a solid anthem honestly - blink your entire board then those counters add up! Acrobatics is also cuttable, might be better to just have Mystical Tutor.

I cannot seem to find incision of fate as a card. Is it a spoiler? edit: oh I found it Planar Incision -- seems fine but worse than a slow blink I think.

I suspect that "cast sweeper and slow blink tivit" is going to be a pretty common pattern for this deck that wins games.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Interesting - I hadn't thought in terms of dodging wrath's, despite building around them for the mass blinks. In this deck, it's not important at all whether I get the value instantaneously or at the end of the turn, so the upside of saving my creature from not only spot but mass removal is ideal.

It's neat that the fetchland abuse package doubles up on the "save my team from removal" plan. Makes sense- it's the actual intended use for most of those cards!

I think Lae'zel's Acrobatics is significantly better than Semester's End. The 50% chance to get double value is a much better upside than a +1/+1 counter.

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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

How's this deck working out? Feels like it might be a bit oppressive heh.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Yeah, first game out of the gate it got to the point extremely quickly where it was unassailable. Tivit, Seller of Secrets trigger is just absolutely busted.

I wound up combining the strongest elements of the artifact heavy version I had with this one and found out that Ruthless Technomancer is a beating and a half. The game ultimately ended when I had Academy Manufactor Tivit, Seller of Secrets Archaeomancer and Disorder in the Court looping on every turn. I was doing substantially more than the active player on every end step, and the table decided that was going to be enough to seal the deal.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Another game, another win. Hour of Revelation into a slow blink on Tivit, Seller of Secrets.

He may legitimately be one of the easiest permanents in the game to rebuild position from. No really, can you think of a single card that is more of a self-contained engine? Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is banned :p

Time Sieve is in the deck, but I'm kind of treating it as a mulligan unless the game's gotta end.

Another card I kept from the old list Universal Surveillance — last night I had an Illusion of Choice turn that enabled me to play Surveillance for 11, leaving up 2 treasures for a blink should I draw one. I drew 2, and had 11 mana left up afterwards.

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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

Yeah, I think Tivit, Seller of Secrets may be more powerful than Golos in the abstract. The ETB is so much more powerful and the Ward 3 is serious. Being a 6/6 with a combat damage trigger too makes the need for winconditions pretty moot most of the time.

My buddy's vision with Rise and Shine felt so self-contained it was nice.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

I had Rise and Shine in the artifact version. Probably better than Cyberdrive Awakener, though the flying does make math easier.

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

On person in my meta has a Tivit, Seller of Secrets I've played against a few times, and I will agree that it's extremely powerful. I don't quite think it's banworthy (unlike Golos), but it could definitely lose a few lines of text. Why does it have ward? Why does it trigger on both ETB and combat damage? Why does it give an extra vote? Why is it a 6/6 flyer for 6? It would be quite strong even without one or two of those attributes, but the combination of all of them pushes it over the top (and makes my own 6 mana Esper sphinx look very power crept).

Anyway, the tech I'll contribute to the conversation is Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh, who makes clues free to activate (once per turn).

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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

Mookie wrote:
1 year ago
lose a few lines of text. Why does it have ward? Why does it trigger on both ETB and combat damage? Why does it give an extra vote? Why is it a 6/6 flyer for 6?
yeah I said almost this same %$#% word for word. it reminds me of the first time my buddy played against Maelstrom Wanderer and he was like "where the hell does it say all your creatures have haste, in the flavor text?" like double cascade isn't enough :P

Ward 3 is damn close to Hexproof in commander, no one wants to set themselves back like that.

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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Playing blink spells with a ward 3 commander kind of feels like the ultimate punish - a lot like that Ruric Thar, the Unbowed player on this site playing the 1 mana protection spells. It's like, okay, I'll hold my nose and play this swords to plowshares on your guy, and you say, actually I'll have 2 treasures and 3 clues instead :D

Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh is good tech. Clues really are the best usage for him. Though I did enjoy seeing Lynch from I hate your deck spin Sensei's Divining Top on everyone's turn for 4 turn cycles in a row.
Last edited by Chromaticus 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.

Chromaticus
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Post by Chromaticus » 1 year ago

Ohhhh, Spellseeker can grab Rise and Shine. Time for the swap.

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