sindbad - Atlantic

Mazes. Because of the many synergies in this deck, few games play exactly the same and you can push different strategies depending on your opponent and the tempo of the game. The main deck I consider pretty solid, but there are a few flex spots in the fourth Maze & Sylvan, the Crumbles and the number of 1/1 flyers. 

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You can watch me fumble a bit here.

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The real innovation I made is #1 Maze of Ith and #2 Flying Men. The Mazes let you stall your opponent, giving you time to create value from Sylvan, Sindbad or, of course preferably, the combination of the two. But the Mazes also synergize with the Sindbads because of the way Maze is worded: you can attack with Sindbad and after damage but still in combat untap with Maze. This lets you attack and draw (or block) with a pumped sindbad. Maze is also great with Factories. If you have multiple, you can declare an attack, untap any blocked factories, and use them to boost the unblocked. With multiple mazes, Factories, Sprites, and Pendelhavens you create some intricate and powerful combat board states that are both fun and challenging to navigate. 

The other key card is the Flying Men, or Scryb Sprites if you prefer. You are “missing” land drops because of Maze, you play UU counterspells and, most likely, three colors, so you really want 1 drops. They smooth your curve, put on much-needed pressure, synergize with Pendelhaven and eat up bolts and swords, leaving room for your sindbads. You will also find many games to go long and dib simply hurts you too much. 

If you want a more aggressive build, I recommend this red version from Nicolai Herring who top8d Tron Wars 2.0.

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MEMORIES FROM PLAYING IT?

I have two clear memories. One is against Juice where I lost because he had altered his Sol Ring to look like a Chaos Orb, tricking me into revealing my Crumble. The second was in the Danish OS championship top8 where Morten Benzon vomited his entire hand t1 with moxen and vises into a balance. Both those guys I really want to stall out with Mazes to the point they drop and go drinking instead of bullying Sindbad players.

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MATCHUPS?

You can win almost any fight but I have yet to solve The Deck matchup. I think the key might be to go aggro because you cannot out-value The Deck before or after sideboard, even with four Energy Flux (I’ve tried). Field of Dreams is a new sideboard tech against The Deck. It’s quite powerful to know their hand and it destroys The Abyss.

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SIDEBOARD SUGGESTIONS?

Control magic. Together with Mazes and Psi Blast, you win so many “big-creature” matchups. Angels, Djinns, and Juzams all fold to this overload of removal. In the same vein, 1-of Terror is a great sideboard card and has won me many games.
That said, though the main deck is solid, the sideboard is always in flux.

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source: Martin Birket-Smith​

picture: @oldschoolmtg