My main worry about your deck is that it has initial disruption, but then does not kill fast. It also kills lands, but there is no lock. I imagine it would be very frustrating to have combo decks rebuild from no cards and kill you since you give them a lot of turns. Also control decks will stabilize in that time frame. The old way to add speed was with chrome moxes, mirran crusaders or that guy that makes buffed attacking dudes. And as a pox player you know the common lock cards are nether void and trinisphere.
Probably the best way to go midrange would be to "go green" Get some goyfs and abrupt decay and deathrite type stuff.
Cards like smallpox are control cards- if you want to go midrange, pretty much everything needs to be a threat or disruption that doesnt slow you down.
Hero of bladehold I assume is the guy that makes attackers? He's great, but you can't really run more than 1 of them, since they'll push your Bob damage way up. I think Deathrites or Goyfs are good ideas, but I've always found them together to be a little anti-synergistic.
I think we're slowly building towards the deck known as The Gate. Seems to be similar to what you're looking for, maybe check out some builds of that to see if it gives you any ideas.
Private Mod Note
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"Wait, I'm having one of those things... you know, a headache with pictures!"
"you mean an idea?"
Is Deadguy Ale still viable compared to a BW D&T deck in the current meta? I know they look similar but are very different in execution, but I'm stil undecided if I should make the switch from mono W D&T to BW or Ale.
I'm wondering the same thing, and am looking at both of the decks you mentioned as an intro into legacy. Curious if BW/Ale is still a viable option as the format has evolved?
I played a BWg stoneblade list in SCG Philly that's deadguy ale-ish, but it plays out more like a Midrange deck than an aggro deck, which is why I posted it in the BWx stoneblade thread in the midrange forum and not here. I went 6-2-1, tying for 65th and thus barely not making Day 2, beating infect twice, miracles, shardless, esper mentor, goblins, and losing to miracles and lands and drawing against nic fit. I think the archetype is totally viable, as it has good matchups against all the fair decks and, because of white's SB and black's disruption, some decent game against unfair decks too.
I think DGA is still totally viable. Its got game against most of the field, with a lot of solid matchups, and a lot of fair matchups that will be determined based off player skill and draws.
that being said, I don't think ayli or karlov are where this deck wants to be. both are too cute and don't really impact the board much if at all. my list runs deathrite, bob, sfm, sculler, and a singleton hero. all of them have pretty immediate impact, or have to be answered immediately. putting in karlov + soul sisters would dilute the deck and turn it into something else entirely, and ayli would mean you have a 2/3 deathtouch that needs you to keep mana up to use the effect (which isn't very relevant most of the time). I think this deck is already struggling to fit everything it wants as it is so I personally wouldn't run either. Of course, you're free to try and report back with your findings, but based off the card text alone I think there are better options.
as for the mentor plan, I think it is worth a test, but imo blue based decks have way too much advantage for triggering mentor. the list looks good, though i'd personally drop the 4th hymn for another thoughtseize or iok
I never formally tried the mentor plan out, but agree blue's cantrips make it way better for blue decks. It's too slow here.
Every time I put a tidehollow sculler into the deck I take it out. I think sculler is great in decks that want to aggro out their opponent. My builds always tend to be grindier/slower, so I'm not a fan of it.
I also think if I was to put a 4-drop into the deck, it would be Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Being able to pump out a crapton of tokens is a huge game, and it's much harder to remove than hero.
Painful Truths is The Truth. It is so, so good. Every game I cast Painful Truths I win, unless I am so far behind there's really no hope.
I like playing 3 Hymns. T1 Deathrite into T2 Wasteland+Hymn just wins games. It crushes all fair decks and usually puts unfair decks off their game or forces them to force+pitch a spell, which is still a 2-for-1 and provides valuable information.
I really like this deck. It's simple, but requires you to play a near-perfect game.
Hello, I've been assembling a BW Stoneblade/Deadguy Ale deck for the past couple of weeks and intend on taking it to my LGS for some legacy fun. I'm posting here because the BW Stoneblade thread looks dead and Deadguy Ale was the original inspiration for me building it. I just happen to play it with a more midrange style. I'm not splashing green for the time being, just going straight BW, and I was wondering if anybody had any advice on sideboard options for some of the decks that I've found to be bad matchups in testing. The main deck I have in mind is Miracles. I found in testing that the only hope I felt I had against Miracles were god hands that destroyed their lands and stole their options within the first couple of turns. I'm currently running 4 IoK, 3 Hymn, 3 Wastelands and 3 Vindicates, and my best games are when I can play at least 3 of the 4 in the first 3 turns. Active Jace TMS is game over if they have countermagic or a way to dig it seems. Anybody else have a problem with this deck? How do you all handle it?
Miracles has a hard time dealing with resolved planes walkers and also with 3-cmc stuff. I beat miracles through a combination of hand disruption and quick threats and not over-extending, but they're still a hard matchup. Mostly you beat miracles players because most miracle players aren't that good at playing miracles.
Your list is similar to mine but there are a few differences. I have been playing Lily as my only walker. I will have to playtest with Gideon. I also notice you're using DRS which I don't have in the deck. Is it that good to be running it without a dedicated green source or two? In that place I have a pair each of Hero of Bladehold and Vampire Nighthawk, the latter of which I'm considering swapping for Mirran Crusader. Last but not least, my maindeck has a couple extra kill spells because my meta is so heavy on aggro/midrange and light on combo and control. I can see what you say about Miracles players not being that good, but just from having lightly tested it online I was frustrated with how long games could go just because the deck was able to keep my dudes off the board. And don't even get me started on fateseal when I don't have Bob up. What about your sideboard?
Sideboards are very meta dependant, so I usually don't post mine. (My last event was SCG Philly and I was playing green, so I my SB was waaaaaaay different too.)
If you're playing against a lot of aggro/midrange decks, then some number of Zealous Persecution and at least one Toxic Deluge is going to be a house. If you're really worried about Miracles, pithing needle is good, though the matchup gets so much worse when you don't have access to abrupt decays, krosan grips, and choke, which is why I suggest playing green. I'd also play containment priest, and have been tinkering with the idea of playing humility too. Engineered Plague is going to be great against certain decks, and surgical extraction and RiP and grafiddger's cage are usually good too.
I would always play DRS in my main. He's the source of your most powerful starts--T1 DRS, T2 Wasteland+Hymn is so good. Following that up with Vindicates and Liliana is almost always game. He also wins the game if left unanswered.
7 removal spells + 2 Lilianas seems like a lot already, that's a huge creature meta if you have to play more removal.
Have you thought about playing Mother of Runes? She's also a great T1 play. T1 Mom T2 SFM is really powerful.
I would definitely go with a green splash, it adds a lot to the deck in terms of both maindeck goodies and sideboard cards.
Against miracles I think abrupt decay is better than vindicate. You can blow up their counterbalances/tops. If you find yourself needing a faster answer or an uncounterable answer, I would go with decay over vindicate. I run both of them though I'm still tweaking my numbers depending on how my meta is shaping up.
DRS is nuts as well. It can singlehandedly win games if your opponent doesn't answer it. One of my favorite cards in the deck for sure. I would even run it without having green mana, though a minimal splash is easy to do and doesn't hurt the manabase much.
Also, I wouldn't run nighthawks anymore, and maybe drop one of the heroes too. I personally play with 1 hero and 1 gideon ally of zendikar as my 4 mana finishers. Mirran crusaders can be great depending on meta.
And as for painful truths, I heard good things about it (esp in nic fit), but haven't tested it in DGA yet. I'll definitely have to give it a shot now. I'll replace a bob with one but iono what to cut if a running 2 is correct.
Played a couple matches at the LGS last night. One competetive, one for fun. I tested and brought DRS in. Love it. Vampire Nighthawk turned in Mirran Crusader. I should have mentioned earlier, I intend on going with a green splash, I just haven't found a build I like yet. I'm still testing stuff. So B/W Ale looked better against Lands than I expected. Surgical Extraction is boss against this. I did not do as well against Shardless BUG as my tests lead me to think I would. Game 1 was a good fight that ended when I couldn't kill his tarmogoyfs fast enough. Game 2 was a bad time where I couldn't draw lands after his early Wasteland assault. I'm adding another Extraction and a kill spell or two to the side.
Split top 2 at a 35 player tournament with this. Only lost one round all night.
2-0 vs 4Color Delver
2-0 vs Burn
0-2 vs Omnitell
2-1 vs Merfolk
2-0 vs Esper Deathblade
2-1 vs D&T
2-1 vs Grixis Delver
2-0 vs Grixis Delver
So how the hell do you beat Omni? I'm thinking of dropping the Kor Firewalker and stupid-dangerous-with-bob Ashen Rider for 4 more Oblivion Ring variants in the 75.
what are your opinions on the addition of Natural Selection.
Cutting out one of the hand hate cards for natural selection, it can almost gurantee x turns where lilli is safe. Fate seals opp, and most importantly (to me) you can forcefully shuffle the top of miracles when they try to flip terminus.
NecraBlade
Posting here because Deadguy is the established deck that most closely resembles it.
This deck began ~7 years ago as a discard build, and gradually evolved into its current form, though it retains a heavy discard-based control shell. I have been playing this version for three years now, with occasional minor adjustments to the sideboard (most resent revision was adding Ensnaring Bridge, which I have not had an opportunity to test.)
It generally has even to good matchups against builds, as well as most fair decks & combo builds.
It is weakest against Burn, as well as turn 1 decks like Oops & Goblin Charbelcher
I have not had an opportunity to test against Eldrazi.
Currently, the sideboard is over by 1 card (the addition of Bridge). Most likely to be cut is either Rest in Peace or Choke.
Rest in Peace because I am running 2x Surgical Extraction, and 1x Grafdigger's Cage with 2x Enlightened Tutor; I am uncertain I need that much graveyard hate.
Choke because it honestly feels like 'win more'.
Of course, I would be removing Ensnaring Bridge instead if it doesn't feel meaningful after testing.
And noticed 3 deadguy ale decks, and all of them play GWB, though they also all run copies of polluted delta instead of more copies of verdant catacombs. Can anyone explain their reasoning behind this?
It looks like it only misses the Savannah, compared to what Catacombs would get.
It's probably because it was reprinted and costs less. Or maybe they were all influenced by each other/the same source.
Marginal reasons I can think of:
1. Diversify so 1 Pithing Needle can't hit them all.
2. Trick people into thinking you're playing a blue deck turn one.
3. Maybe sometimes they run 1 Tundra instead of a Plains for their Engineered Explosives and didn't feel like changing the fetches.
I can easily answer that question seeing as I got third.
For my specific build, After the Marsh Flats (the only fetch for me that I need to run 4 of), I only need black based fetchlands. I could have gone with Bloodstained Mires but I didn't because on the low percentage chance someone mistakes my deck for either blue based deck like say Deathblade or a deck like Maverick (an opponent recently thought I was Maverick based on what he saw and took out Spell Pierces as a result). If I ran Mires, people would be less likely to mistake my deck for Deathblade or Maverick. And for the record, I do have playsets of every Fetchland. It's not a matter of cost either, on the MTG the Source someone thought my choice of fetchlands was based on budget. It's not.
Also as JustWhie stated it's on the low chance that someone names Delta or Verdant Catacombs with Needle or Surgicals one of them. Very low chance of it happening but it has happened to me.
No, I've never run Tundra in the deck. I did once thought of playing an Underground Sea to splash for Notion Thief during the Treasure Cruise era but decided against it.
Lastly, both other builds are based on my version of the deck. Brian's maindeck is very close to mine, whereas Alexander has gone with a Savannah main and a few other cards in the main are different from mine and Brian's. In his case, Catacombs should be favored over Deltas because of the Savannah. Again, for me it's fairly irrelevant.
Whoa, thanks for the info! I'm actually trying to build the deck you ran in that tournament right now. I have been out of Magic for ages but will be playing this deck on a small local tournament tomorrow, with a few substitutions as I hunt down harder to find cards and wait for a couple to arrive in the mail.
Do you have any tips for a first time pilot of this deck/ someone returning from a long break of magic?I read one of your tournament reports from a while ago and it had some fairly useful information.
-against unknown opponents and you have the option of either Shaman or discard turn 1, I go with Discard....unless it's Cabal Therapy.
-against decks you know are fair I usually go Deathrite Shaman, unless it's Miracles on the play so I can hopefully discard their Sensei's Diving Top.
-Fetch basics first unless either absolutely necessary to get duals because of what's in your hand or if you are against a deck that isn't going to screw with your manabase (like Elves or game 1 vs Miracles).
-I usually end up Imprinting (assuming you run Chrome Mox) either Vindicate or Shriekmaw or Liliana. I rarely imprint Stoneforge or Bob, even if I have multiples.
-Don't be afraid of overloading on removal post board. Like say vs Infect or Elves. You need all the removal you can get, the deck works best in that matter. With few or no threats on opponents side, it will buy time for your deck to win.
I guess since you are getting back into MTG, remember that you can only pile shuffle once, at the beginning of the game. They just recently changed the rules on that.
Hey, thanks! I'll keep all these things in mind. I didn't realize they switched up shuffle rules.
Edit*
Went 3-1 at my local game store last night. A nice surprise. I think I had some good luck and also caught a lot of people off guard with deadguy ale. First match was 2-1 to a dark depths deck, second match was 2-1 to death and taxes, third I lost 0-2 to storm. I was clearly super unprepared for that match. Aside from boarding in some extra hand disruption I was pretty well screwed. Last match I won 2-0 to a goblins/ burn type deck.
Overall pretty decent time. Can't wait to finish off this deck.
Probably the best way to go midrange would be to "go green" Get some goyfs and abrupt decay and deathrite type stuff.
Cards like smallpox are control cards- if you want to go midrange, pretty much everything needs to be a threat or disruption that doesnt slow you down.
Just some of my thoughts . . .
I think we're slowly building towards the deck known as The Gate. Seems to be similar to what you're looking for, maybe check out some builds of that to see if it gives you any ideas.
"you mean an idea?"
4 dark confidant
2 stoneforge mystic
4 monastery mentor
3 sensei's divining top
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
2 thoughtseize
4 swords to plowshares
4 hymn to tourach
3 lingering souls
2 liliana of the veil
4 marsh flats
4 verdant catacombs
4 wasteland
3 scrubland
2 bayou
1 savannah
1 karakas
2 swamp
1 plains
that being said, I don't think ayli or karlov are where this deck wants to be. both are too cute and don't really impact the board much if at all. my list runs deathrite, bob, sfm, sculler, and a singleton hero. all of them have pretty immediate impact, or have to be answered immediately. putting in karlov + soul sisters would dilute the deck and turn it into something else entirely, and ayli would mean you have a 2/3 deathtouch that needs you to keep mana up to use the effect (which isn't very relevant most of the time). I think this deck is already struggling to fit everything it wants as it is so I personally wouldn't run either. Of course, you're free to try and report back with your findings, but based off the card text alone I think there are better options.
as for the mentor plan, I think it is worth a test, but imo blue based decks have way too much advantage for triggering mentor. the list looks good, though i'd personally drop the 4th hymn for another thoughtseize or iok
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Dark Confidant
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Tarmogoyf
Instants/Sorceries (18)
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Thoughtseize
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Painful Truths
3 Lingering Souls
1 Sylvan Library
Artifactes (3)
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Liliana of the Veil
Lands (22)
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
2 Scrubland
1 Karakas
1 Shambling Vent
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Swamp
I never formally tried the mentor plan out, but agree blue's cantrips make it way better for blue decks. It's too slow here.
Every time I put a tidehollow sculler into the deck I take it out. I think sculler is great in decks that want to aggro out their opponent. My builds always tend to be grindier/slower, so I'm not a fan of it.
I also think if I was to put a 4-drop into the deck, it would be Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Being able to pump out a crapton of tokens is a huge game, and it's much harder to remove than hero.
Painful Truths is The Truth. It is so, so good. Every game I cast Painful Truths I win, unless I am so far behind there's really no hope.
I like playing 3 Hymns. T1 Deathrite into T2 Wasteland+Hymn just wins games. It crushes all fair decks and usually puts unfair decks off their game or forces them to force+pitch a spell, which is still a 2-for-1 and provides valuable information.
I really like this deck. It's simple, but requires you to play a near-perfect game.
The Gate
B/W Stoneblade
Spiral Tide
4 Dark Confidant
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Hymn to Tourach
4 Lingering Souls
3 Vindicate
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
4 Wasteland
4 Marsh Flats
2 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Scrubland
2 Shambling Vent
1 Karakas
2 Swamp
1 Plains
Miracles has a hard time dealing with resolved planes walkers and also with 3-cmc stuff. I beat miracles through a combination of hand disruption and quick threats and not over-extending, but they're still a hard matchup. Mostly you beat miracles players because most miracle players aren't that good at playing miracles.
The Gate
B/W Stoneblade
Spiral Tide
If you're playing against a lot of aggro/midrange decks, then some number of Zealous Persecution and at least one Toxic Deluge is going to be a house. If you're really worried about Miracles, pithing needle is good, though the matchup gets so much worse when you don't have access to abrupt decays, krosan grips, and choke, which is why I suggest playing green. I'd also play containment priest, and have been tinkering with the idea of playing humility too. Engineered Plague is going to be great against certain decks, and surgical extraction and RiP and grafiddger's cage are usually good too.
I would always play DRS in my main. He's the source of your most powerful starts--T1 DRS, T2 Wasteland+Hymn is so good. Following that up with Vindicates and Liliana is almost always game. He also wins the game if left unanswered.
7 removal spells + 2 Lilianas seems like a lot already, that's a huge creature meta if you have to play more removal.
Have you thought about playing Mother of Runes? She's also a great T1 play. T1 Mom T2 SFM is really powerful.
Against miracles I think abrupt decay is better than vindicate. You can blow up their counterbalances/tops. If you find yourself needing a faster answer or an uncounterable answer, I would go with decay over vindicate. I run both of them though I'm still tweaking my numbers depending on how my meta is shaping up.
DRS is nuts as well. It can singlehandedly win games if your opponent doesn't answer it. One of my favorite cards in the deck for sure. I would even run it without having green mana, though a minimal splash is easy to do and doesn't hurt the manabase much.
Also, I wouldn't run nighthawks anymore, and maybe drop one of the heroes too. I personally play with 1 hero and 1 gideon ally of zendikar as my 4 mana finishers. Mirran crusaders can be great depending on meta.
And as for painful truths, I heard good things about it (esp in nic fit), but haven't tested it in DGA yet. I'll definitely have to give it a shot now. I'll replace a bob with one but iono what to cut if a running 2 is correct.
The Gate
B/W Stoneblade
Spiral Tide
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Karakas
4x Marsh Flats
2x Plains
1x Scrubland
4x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Wasteland
4x Lingering Souls
4x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Dark Confidant
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Hymn to Tourach
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Batterskull
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Vindicate
2x Disenchant
2x Kor Firewalker
2x Rest in Peace
2x Ashen Rider
2x Zealous Persecution
2x Pithing Needle
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Engineered Plague
Split top 2 at a 35 player tournament with this. Only lost one round all night.
2-0 vs 4Color Delver
2-0 vs Burn
0-2 vs Omnitell
2-1 vs Merfolk
2-0 vs Esper Deathblade
2-1 vs D&T
2-1 vs Grixis Delver
2-0 vs Grixis Delver
So how the hell do you beat Omni? I'm thinking of dropping the Kor Firewalker and stupid-dangerous-with-bob Ashen Rider for 4 more Oblivion Ring variants in the 75.
Cutting out one of the hand hate cards for natural selection, it can almost gurantee x turns where lilli is safe. Fate seals opp, and most importantly (to me) you can forcefully shuffle the top of miracles when they try to flip terminus.
Posting here because Deadguy is the established deck that most closely resembles it.
This deck began ~7 years ago as a discard build, and gradually evolved into its current form, though it retains a heavy discard-based control shell. I have been playing this version for three years now, with occasional minor adjustments to the sideboard (most resent revision was adding Ensnaring Bridge, which I have not had an opportunity to test.)
It generally has even to good matchups against builds, as well as most fair decks & combo builds.
It is weakest against Burn, as well as turn 1 decks like Oops & Goblin Charbelcher
I have not had an opportunity to test against Eldrazi.
Currently, the sideboard is over by 1 card (the addition of Bridge). Most likely to be cut is either Rest in Peace or Choke.
Rest in Peace because I am running 2x Surgical Extraction, and 1x Grafdigger's Cage with 2x Enlightened Tutor; I am uncertain I need that much graveyard hate.
Choke because it honestly feels like 'win more'.
Of course, I would be removing Ensnaring Bridge instead if it doesn't feel meaningful after testing.
2 Plains
3 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Scrubland
1 Bayou
4 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
Creature (11)
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Liliana of the Veil
Instant / Sorcery (21)
3 Lingering Souls
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Hymn to Tourach
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Vindicate
1 Zealous Persecution
Enchantment (2)
2 Bitterblossom
Artifact (2)
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Containment Priest
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Rest in Peace
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Engineered Plague
1 Choke
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
A Dying Wish
To Rise Again
Chainer, Dementia Master
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=14546&d=287273&f=LE
And noticed 3 deadguy ale decks, and all of them play GWB, though they also all run copies of polluted delta instead of more copies of verdant catacombs. Can anyone explain their reasoning behind this?
It's probably because it was reprinted and costs less. Or maybe they were all influenced by each other/the same source.
Marginal reasons I can think of:
1. Diversify so 1 Pithing Needle can't hit them all.
2. Trick people into thinking you're playing a blue deck turn one.
3. Maybe sometimes they run 1 Tundra instead of a Plains for their Engineered Explosives and didn't feel like changing the fetches.
For my specific build, After the Marsh Flats (the only fetch for me that I need to run 4 of), I only need black based fetchlands. I could have gone with Bloodstained Mires but I didn't because on the low percentage chance someone mistakes my deck for either blue based deck like say Deathblade or a deck like Maverick (an opponent recently thought I was Maverick based on what he saw and took out Spell Pierces as a result). If I ran Mires, people would be less likely to mistake my deck for Deathblade or Maverick. And for the record, I do have playsets of every Fetchland. It's not a matter of cost either, on the MTG the Source someone thought my choice of fetchlands was based on budget. It's not.
Also as JustWhie stated it's on the low chance that someone names Delta or Verdant Catacombs with Needle or Surgicals one of them. Very low chance of it happening but it has happened to me.
No, I've never run Tundra in the deck. I did once thought of playing an Underground Sea to splash for Notion Thief during the Treasure Cruise era but decided against it.
Lastly, both other builds are based on my version of the deck. Brian's maindeck is very close to mine, whereas Alexander has gone with a Savannah main and a few other cards in the main are different from mine and Brian's. In his case, Catacombs should be favored over Deltas because of the Savannah. Again, for me it's fairly irrelevant.
Do you have any tips for a first time pilot of this deck/ someone returning from a long break of magic?I read one of your tournament reports from a while ago and it had some fairly useful information.
Thanks!
-against unknown opponents and you have the option of either Shaman or discard turn 1, I go with Discard....unless it's Cabal Therapy.
-against decks you know are fair I usually go Deathrite Shaman, unless it's Miracles on the play so I can hopefully discard their Sensei's Diving Top.
-Fetch basics first unless either absolutely necessary to get duals because of what's in your hand or if you are against a deck that isn't going to screw with your manabase (like Elves or game 1 vs Miracles).
-I usually end up Imprinting (assuming you run Chrome Mox) either Vindicate or Shriekmaw or Liliana. I rarely imprint Stoneforge or Bob, even if I have multiples.
-Don't be afraid of overloading on removal post board. Like say vs Infect or Elves. You need all the removal you can get, the deck works best in that matter. With few or no threats on opponents side, it will buy time for your deck to win.
I guess since you are getting back into MTG, remember that you can only pile shuffle once, at the beginning of the game. They just recently changed the rules on that.
Edit*
Went 3-1 at my local game store last night. A nice surprise. I think I had some good luck and also caught a lot of people off guard with deadguy ale. First match was 2-1 to a dark depths deck, second match was 2-1 to death and taxes, third I lost 0-2 to storm. I was clearly super unprepared for that match. Aside from boarding in some extra hand disruption I was pretty well screwed. Last match I won 2-0 to a goblins/ burn type deck.
Overall pretty decent time. Can't wait to finish off this deck.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.