First tests... and tournament!

A big motivation to try the premodern format was that a RL tournament was announced in Quebec City, at La Boutique Mythique (themythicstore.com) on September 26th, 2021. I was quite excited to play in a competitive event after so many years! This is what my first PM Parfait list looked like:

 

Oath Parfait

– Oath Package –

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Phantom Nishoba

2 Oath of Druids

1 Greener Pastures

– Alternate Kill – 

1 Jester's Cap

1 Sacred Mesa

– Tax/Rack Engine –

4 Land Tax

3 Scroll Rack

1 Sylvan Library

1 Zuran Orb

– Parfait Recursion –

4 Enlightened Tutor

2 Sterling Grove

3 Argivian Find

1 Replenish

1 Gaea's Blessing

– Removal and Silver Bullets –

4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Aura of Silence

1 Seal of Cleansing

1 Humility

1 Ivory Tower

1 Phyrexian Furnace

1 Armageddon

– Mana Base –

4 Mox Diamond

3 Undiscovered Paradise

1 Serra's Sanctum

11 Plains

1 Forest

1 Archaeological Dig

1 Crystal Vein

// Sideboard

2 Engineered Plague

1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer

1 Pariah

2 Orim's Chant

1 Ivory Mask

1 Tormod's Crypt

1 Aura of Silence

1 Phyrexian Furnace

1 Arenson's Aura

3 Defense Grid

1 Replenish

When learning about the PM metagame, I realized that Oath of Druids was a great anti-creature silver bullet. The recommended creatures were Akroma and Nishoba. I wasn't quite sure about those two, but I tried them anyway and found them better that I thought. However, having them Sworded was an issue that I kept thinking about. I added a Multani, Maro-Sorcerer to my sideboard against decks that would play Swords. I also tried Greener Pastures as a way to make Oath trigger against decks that run no creatures. The result wasn't that impressive.

When I was playing mono-w Parfait, I used to run a Soldevi Digger for recursion. The Digger is so slow though, and using it takes mana that would be better spent on other things. With Oath of Druids and Gaea's Blessing, that problem is solved! There's a few tricks you can do as well, like using Argivian Find in response to the Gaea's Blessing trigger, making Argivian Find a very nice tutor effect. Your Argivian Find is even shuffled back into your Library! 

Another big difference with classic Parfait is the inclusion of Undiscovered Paradise. I used to choose to draw back in the days, but with U. Paradise and M. Diamond, you can easily play Land Tax on your first turn without playing a land, which is a very strong first turn play that allows you to keep one-landers as starting hands. The Paradise has great synergy with Land Tax and Mox Diamond. The Archaeological Dig and Crystal Vein are there to provide mana without having them returning to our hand, which is sometimes annoying with U. Paradise. 

Expecting Survival/Elves and Goblins, I played 2 Engineered Plagues in my sideboard. Arenson's Aura was supposed to deau with Pernicious Deed, a card that I thought could wreck me. I actually never sided it in during the tournament. I eventually made it to the finals of the 13-person tournament, losing to Balancing Tings.