This deck is an attempt to transport the long forgotten Winds of Chains deck from the Old School 93/94 format to Legacy and to adapt it to the current meta as much as possible, knowing that this deck probably will never become a top tier Legacy deck.
The aim of this deck is to prevent the opponent drawing cards and to punish him with The Rack. So, it is a different approach to 8Rack.
The combo shell is Chains of Mephistopheles + Winds of Change which results to: Each player discards their hand and mills 7 cards, instead of drawing them. From there on, you have to try to keep the opponent‘s hand empty with Hymn to Tourach spells and Anvil of Bogardan.
For those not familiar with CoM, the card basically says: if you would draw an additional card, instead discard a card and then draw a card. If you can‘t discard a card (because of no hand cards), instead mill a card. With two CoM in play it becomes: before you draw an additional card, you now discard two cards first, and draw that card. So, the more CoM are on the field, the more you have to discard first, before you can draw a Single card. So that card basically shuts down card advantage from Brainstorm effects. That‘s why this deck is playing Dark Confidant, because he technically isn‘t drawing you a card. The dredge mechanic could be another way to Break the symmetry to your advantage.
Deck Design
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With Urza's Saga to tutor The Rack, Shrieking Affliction is not included on purpose.
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Orcish Bowmasters, currently considered as auto include in every black deck, is not considered here, as the strategy is to prevent the opponent to draw any card.
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Currently trying to figure out, which (Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond) and how many moxes, I want to play. Lotus Petal at least does not require to sac or exile a hand card.
Weaknesses
- You want to play the combo shell consistently and asap. So, I am still trying to figure out which (black) tutor would better fit into this deck without including other colors. At the moment, I am thinking about Infernal Tutor vs Beseech the Mirror vs Grim Tutor. With the inherent hellbent mechanic of this deck, I consider Infernal Tutor. Draw effects might be an alternative but both options are not often seen in Legacy environments, at the moment (because to Slow?).
Sources
https://timewalking.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/some-fun-with-chains-of-mephistopheles/
https://web.archive.org/web/20161025054156/http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/chains-mephistopheles-2004-09-10
https://ragingbullseries.com/index.php/2020/01/10/decktech-chains-of-mephistopheles/
Recommendations welcome!
