About Laboratory Maniac
2015年10月9日Today, I want to talk about Laboratory Maniac.
It’s difficult to read if you don’t have much Doomsday experience, sorry.
In the past, I think Doomsday was better than ANT.
The reason why is that Doomsday is good at playing long games. Recently, because of Past in Flames, ANT became good at playing long games, too.
However, still I like Doomsday because Doomsday can also play non-Storm win cards.
Most anti-Storm cards try to stop you from playing many spells in one turn.
So, it’s good to have the ability to cast one card and win!
The non-Storm win I choose is Laboratory Maniac.
First, let’s talk about how to win with Laboratory Maniac.
This is the normal Laboratory Maniac pile:
Ideas Unbound
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Sensei’s Divining Top
Gitaxian Probe
Laboratory Maniac
After Doomsday (BBB), this costs 1UU.
To start this combo, you need to play a spell to draw a card...
Or you can end the turn, and use your next draw step to draw a card.
"What about creature removal?"
If you’re afraid of Swords to Plowshares or other creature removal, use this pile:
Ideas Unbound
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Chromatic Sphere
Gitaxian Probe
Laboratory Maniac
After Doomsday (BBB), this costs 2UU.
Basically, for 1 more mana, Laboratory Maniac will not die.
Chromatic Sphere’s ability is very special: it’s a mana ability that draws a card.
Mana abilities don’t use the stack. No responses!
Cast Chromatic Sphere, Laboratory Maniac, activate Laboratory Maniac, win immediately.
Chromatic Sphere is weak before Doomsday, but it is still a draw spell, and making any color of mana can help.
Why play Laboratory Maniac?
Laboratory Maniac can win the game even when Tendrils of Agony can’t win:
+When you can’t cast Tendrils of Agony
(Leyline of Sanctity, Gaddock Teeg)
These cards do nothing against Laboratory Maniac.
Laboratory Maniac does not target, Doomsday is 3 mana, and Laboratory Maniac is a creature.
+When you can’t make enough Storm
→Because the opponent is targeting your hand
(Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach)
If Laboratory Maniac is in your deck, Doomsday can be a 1 card combo.
If you use your draw step to combo, you don’t need any cards in your hand after you cast Doomsday.
So, against discard...find land, then find Doomsday and cast it.
→Because your opponent gained life
(Batterskull, Griselbrand)
Life totals are not important. Laboratory Maniac says “You win the game.”
→Because your opponent is playing prison permanents
(Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Counterbalance)
It is hard for cards like Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance to stop Laboratory Maniac because the card is 3 mana.
Maniac also does not rely on other cards; you only need Maniac to win.
If you can’t play many spells in one turn, you can use your Doomsday to make your next 5 cards into Maniac and answers (Abrupt Decay, Hurkyl’s Recall, Duress, Flusterstorm, Island).
This also helps against opponents who attack your library (Surgical Extraction, Grindstone, Thought Scour)
If you have three lands, you can still win if you can draw Laboratory Maniac!
+I can hide information:
For example:
I cast Doomsday, and win the game with Laboratory Maniac.
The opponent looks at my exiled cards (all the cards in my library). The opponent sees I win the game with a creature, and I only have one in my deck.
Do you think the opponent will side out creature removal? (Removal is *very* weak)
Laboratory Maniac piles cost the same as Tendrils of Agony piles. I choose to win with Maniac instead of Storm as much as possible because less information = worse choices from opponents.
Some examples of when Laboratory Maniac is good:
Jund/Junk/Deadguy:
If your opponent casts Deathrite Shaman and Tarmogoyf or Stoneforge Mystic, your hand is safe and you can win with Storm.
If your opponent casts Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach, you can win with Laboratory Maniac because Doomsday is a 1 card combo (and your opponent played discard instead of creatures, so your life total is safe).
Combo:
Laboratory Maniac is good against Storm, Reanimator, and Show and Tell. Doomsday is not very fast, so it is hard to win before your opponent can combo.
However, Laboratory Maniac lets you win without a draw spell, so you can use your draw spells to protect yourself and stop your opponent.
You can wait for a good chance to cast Doomsday.
Miracles:
Counterbalance makes Storm very difficult for Doomsday.
Laboratory Maniac can still win, but it is difficult--if your opponent has Counterbalance and Force of Will, you’re in trouble.
After you sideboard, you can cast Doomsday, and put Abrupt Decay in your 5 card library, and protect Laboratory Maniac.
Before Dig Through Time was banned, I would side out all of my Dark Rituals and Lion’s Eye Diamonds to become a Laboratory Maniac control deck.
Honestly, a card like Emrakul is better against Miracles deck’s spells, but Laboratory Maniac is better than Tendrils of Agony.
Of course, there are also times when Laboratory Maniac is NOT good.
Laboratory Maniac’s main good point is that you can cast Doomsday quickly, and win the next turn.
Casting Doomsday and ending the turn is dangerous. You lose half your life, and your opponent has one turn to draw an answer + attack you.
Laboratory Maniac is not good against decks with good answers AND good attackers.
A good answer gives the opponent more turns. If your opponent can use those turns to attack, you are in trouble!
Some examples:
Burn:
Casting Doomsday and ending your turn = suicide.
If your opponent can’t kill you, they can probably kill Laboratory Maniac, and you don’t have time to use Chromatic Sphere.
Delver:
Delver is very fast, and Delver decks attack your mana at the same time.
If you cast Doomsday and end the turn, you might die to Delver + Lightning Bolt, or Wasteland, or Delver + Spell Pierce.
However, Storm is good against Delver, so you don’t need Laboratory Maniac.
(Storm versus Delver is a match where the player with more skill usually wins).
Death and Taxes:
This deck plays too many cards that are good answers if you cast Doomsday and end the turn.
Cards like Thalia, and Phyrexian Revoker can slow you down too much.
I also think that Laboratory Maniac is more useful than many popular Doomsday cards.
It is not wrong to play these cards because they are powerful, but they are very specfic, and I choose not to play them because Laboratory Maniac does many jobs.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn:
I like Laboratory Maniac more than Emrakul because Laboratory Maniac is one card, and Laboratory Maniac is castable.
Emrakul needs Shelldock Isle, and both cards are not useful before Doomsday.
15 mana for Emrakul is very hard, and you can’t play Shelldock Isle if you want to cast Emrakul.
Laboratory Maniac is also a card you don’t want to draw, but you *can* cast it to attack, block, or Flashback Cabal Therapy.
Emrakul in your deck means that you can cast Turn 1 Doomsday more often, but that takes 2 more turns to win, and I think it’s better to cast Doomsday and win that turn or next turn.
Emrakul is strong against decks like Miracles because Emrakul is uncounterable, but Shelldock Isle is also weak to cards like Wasteland, Pithing Needle, and Karakas.
Even Emrakul can fall to cards like Terminus or Ensnaring Bridge.
You must choose to lose to those cards, or use more card spots to protect Shelldock Isle (Pithing Needle, Cloud of Faeries).
I don’t want to play a lot of cards that are only good after Doomsday.
To protect Laboratory Maniac I play Chromatic Sphere, but I think Chromatic Sphere is actually more useful before Doomsday than Laboratory Maniac is.
Empty the Warrens:
Empty the Warrens is normally a Burning Wish card. You use it to make Goblins quickly so you don’t need to play long games.
However, Goblins take time to deal damage.
For example, Turn 2 Empty the Warrens = Turn 4 win. However, Turn 3 Doomsday = Turn 4 win, too.
I like Empty the Warrens, but for me, it is only good when I have no lands because I did risky things.
Time Spiral:
Time Spiral is normally a Burning Wish card. It has three uses: Making high Storm (against high life totals), drawing seven cards against discard, and shuffling an opponent’s graveyard into their library.
I like Laboratory Maniac because Burning Wish for Doomsday is as good as Burning Wish for Time Spiral.
You don’t need Storm to win so you don’t need high Storm, you don’t need to draw cards against discard because Doomsday wins.
Also, since I don’t play Silence, Time Spiral is very risky for me.
That’s what I think about Laboratory Maniac.
If you have any questions, please ask!
What should I talk about next?
分りやすい英語を使ってみた。思ったより難しい！言葉の問題、簡単にするアドバイスがあれば、聞きたいと思う。 （例えば、今度カードネームは英語版しか使わなかったけど、日本語版も必要か？）
It’s difficult to read if you don’t have much Doomsday experience, sorry.
In the past, I think Doomsday was better than ANT.
The reason why is that Doomsday is good at playing long games. Recently, because of Past in Flames, ANT became good at playing long games, too.
However, still I like Doomsday because Doomsday can also play non-Storm win cards.
Most anti-Storm cards try to stop you from playing many spells in one turn.
So, it’s good to have the ability to cast one card and win!
The non-Storm win I choose is Laboratory Maniac.
First, let’s talk about how to win with Laboratory Maniac.
This is the normal Laboratory Maniac pile:
Ideas Unbound
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Sensei’s Divining Top
Gitaxian Probe
Laboratory Maniac
After Doomsday (BBB), this costs 1UU.
To start this combo, you need to play a spell to draw a card...
Or you can end the turn, and use your next draw step to draw a card.
"What about creature removal?"
If you’re afraid of Swords to Plowshares or other creature removal, use this pile:
Ideas Unbound
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Chromatic Sphere
Gitaxian Probe
Laboratory Maniac
After Doomsday (BBB), this costs 2UU.
Basically, for 1 more mana, Laboratory Maniac will not die.
Chromatic Sphere’s ability is very special: it’s a mana ability that draws a card.
Mana abilities don’t use the stack. No responses!
Cast Chromatic Sphere, Laboratory Maniac, activate Laboratory Maniac, win immediately.
Chromatic Sphere is weak before Doomsday, but it is still a draw spell, and making any color of mana can help.
Why play Laboratory Maniac?
Laboratory Maniac can win the game even when Tendrils of Agony can’t win:
+When you can’t cast Tendrils of Agony
(Leyline of Sanctity, Gaddock Teeg)
These cards do nothing against Laboratory Maniac.
Laboratory Maniac does not target, Doomsday is 3 mana, and Laboratory Maniac is a creature.
+When you can’t make enough Storm
→Because the opponent is targeting your hand
(Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach)
If Laboratory Maniac is in your deck, Doomsday can be a 1 card combo.
If you use your draw step to combo, you don’t need any cards in your hand after you cast Doomsday.
So, against discard...find land, then find Doomsday and cast it.
→Because your opponent gained life
(Batterskull, Griselbrand)
Life totals are not important. Laboratory Maniac says “You win the game.”
→Because your opponent is playing prison permanents
(Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Counterbalance)
It is hard for cards like Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance to stop Laboratory Maniac because the card is 3 mana.
Maniac also does not rely on other cards; you only need Maniac to win.
If you can’t play many spells in one turn, you can use your Doomsday to make your next 5 cards into Maniac and answers (Abrupt Decay, Hurkyl’s Recall, Duress, Flusterstorm, Island).
This also helps against opponents who attack your library (Surgical Extraction, Grindstone, Thought Scour)
If you have three lands, you can still win if you can draw Laboratory Maniac!
+I can hide information:
For example:
I cast Doomsday, and win the game with Laboratory Maniac.
The opponent looks at my exiled cards (all the cards in my library). The opponent sees I win the game with a creature, and I only have one in my deck.
Do you think the opponent will side out creature removal? (Removal is *very* weak)
Laboratory Maniac piles cost the same as Tendrils of Agony piles. I choose to win with Maniac instead of Storm as much as possible because less information = worse choices from opponents.
Some examples of when Laboratory Maniac is good:
Jund/Junk/Deadguy:
If your opponent casts Deathrite Shaman and Tarmogoyf or Stoneforge Mystic, your hand is safe and you can win with Storm.
If your opponent casts Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach, you can win with Laboratory Maniac because Doomsday is a 1 card combo (and your opponent played discard instead of creatures, so your life total is safe).
Combo:
Laboratory Maniac is good against Storm, Reanimator, and Show and Tell. Doomsday is not very fast, so it is hard to win before your opponent can combo.
However, Laboratory Maniac lets you win without a draw spell, so you can use your draw spells to protect yourself and stop your opponent.
You can wait for a good chance to cast Doomsday.
Miracles:
Counterbalance makes Storm very difficult for Doomsday.
Laboratory Maniac can still win, but it is difficult--if your opponent has Counterbalance and Force of Will, you’re in trouble.
After you sideboard, you can cast Doomsday, and put Abrupt Decay in your 5 card library, and protect Laboratory Maniac.
Before Dig Through Time was banned, I would side out all of my Dark Rituals and Lion’s Eye Diamonds to become a Laboratory Maniac control deck.
Honestly, a card like Emrakul is better against Miracles deck’s spells, but Laboratory Maniac is better than Tendrils of Agony.
Of course, there are also times when Laboratory Maniac is NOT good.
Laboratory Maniac’s main good point is that you can cast Doomsday quickly, and win the next turn.
Casting Doomsday and ending the turn is dangerous. You lose half your life, and your opponent has one turn to draw an answer + attack you.
Laboratory Maniac is not good against decks with good answers AND good attackers.
A good answer gives the opponent more turns. If your opponent can use those turns to attack, you are in trouble!
Some examples:
Burn:
Casting Doomsday and ending your turn = suicide.
If your opponent can’t kill you, they can probably kill Laboratory Maniac, and you don’t have time to use Chromatic Sphere.
Delver:
Delver is very fast, and Delver decks attack your mana at the same time.
If you cast Doomsday and end the turn, you might die to Delver + Lightning Bolt, or Wasteland, or Delver + Spell Pierce.
However, Storm is good against Delver, so you don’t need Laboratory Maniac.
(Storm versus Delver is a match where the player with more skill usually wins).
Death and Taxes:
This deck plays too many cards that are good answers if you cast Doomsday and end the turn.
Cards like Thalia, and Phyrexian Revoker can slow you down too much.
I also think that Laboratory Maniac is more useful than many popular Doomsday cards.
It is not wrong to play these cards because they are powerful, but they are very specfic, and I choose not to play them because Laboratory Maniac does many jobs.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn:
I like Laboratory Maniac more than Emrakul because Laboratory Maniac is one card, and Laboratory Maniac is castable.
Emrakul needs Shelldock Isle, and both cards are not useful before Doomsday.
15 mana for Emrakul is very hard, and you can’t play Shelldock Isle if you want to cast Emrakul.
Laboratory Maniac is also a card you don’t want to draw, but you *can* cast it to attack, block, or Flashback Cabal Therapy.
Emrakul in your deck means that you can cast Turn 1 Doomsday more often, but that takes 2 more turns to win, and I think it’s better to cast Doomsday and win that turn or next turn.
Emrakul is strong against decks like Miracles because Emrakul is uncounterable, but Shelldock Isle is also weak to cards like Wasteland, Pithing Needle, and Karakas.
Even Emrakul can fall to cards like Terminus or Ensnaring Bridge.
You must choose to lose to those cards, or use more card spots to protect Shelldock Isle (Pithing Needle, Cloud of Faeries).
I don’t want to play a lot of cards that are only good after Doomsday.
To protect Laboratory Maniac I play Chromatic Sphere, but I think Chromatic Sphere is actually more useful before Doomsday than Laboratory Maniac is.
Empty the Warrens:
Empty the Warrens is normally a Burning Wish card. You use it to make Goblins quickly so you don’t need to play long games.
However, Goblins take time to deal damage.
For example, Turn 2 Empty the Warrens = Turn 4 win. However, Turn 3 Doomsday = Turn 4 win, too.
I like Empty the Warrens, but for me, it is only good when I have no lands because I did risky things.
Time Spiral:
Time Spiral is normally a Burning Wish card. It has three uses: Making high Storm (against high life totals), drawing seven cards against discard, and shuffling an opponent’s graveyard into their library.
I like Laboratory Maniac because Burning Wish for Doomsday is as good as Burning Wish for Time Spiral.
You don’t need Storm to win so you don’t need high Storm, you don’t need to draw cards against discard because Doomsday wins.
Also, since I don’t play Silence, Time Spiral is very risky for me.
That’s what I think about Laboratory Maniac.
If you have any questions, please ask!
What should I talk about next?
分りやすい英語を使ってみた。思ったより難しい！言葉の問題、簡単にするアドバイスがあれば、聞きたいと思う。 （例えば、今度カードネームは英語版しか使わなかったけど、日本語版も必要か？）
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