So budget Counter-Burn...I used to have a blast playing Counter-Phoenix and another Forbid/Squee/Masticore deck that I still wish I'd taken to the PT instead of Oath way, way, way back when I was good at this game. So...a subject close to my heart for sure...but today the tools are weak. No Hammer, no Shard Phoenix and weaker counterspells. But that's not to say we can't have some fun with it...
You've clearly stated it's a budget deck, so I'll lay off on drastically reconfiguring your land and insisting you run Cryptic Commands and Figure of Destiny...however, there are some other changes I think you have to consider.
Faery Trickery is not a solution you are looking for...especially not against what is bound to be the most popular deck in the format. Options include Cancel, Negate, Remove Soul and Broken Ambitions. I'd be inclined to look hard at BA as the clash may help you filter away chaff.
I think you have to look at some kind of bounce for the deck and maybe some kind of sweeper too...Evacuation is in 10th and as rares go is about as budget as you can get. SCG has them from $1 and lots in stock from older sets (7th, 8th, Stonghold, etc.). Otherwise...Boomerang's never a bad idea in this kind of deck. I'd also give some serious thought to Crag Puca. For three mana he's going to do the same kind of job Finks does in other decks. Early speed bump and he can turn on the aggro when the time comes.
You've said you want to finish with Mulldrifter, and to my thinking "why not?" Once you have total control of the game you can finish it off with whatever you want. But getting control is going to be difficult and you may want to consider splashing B for Mannequin to make sure that you have drifters to finish with.
That all said...Because I can't help myself, my non-Budget version of this would look something like this:
23 lands is far, far to few for a deck like this. As I recall, the original toast ran 26, and after it started using charms upped that number. Either way, 23 is small for many aggro decks, let alone control. Your list looks pretty tight, I'm not sure what I'd take out of it for the extra lands. If you've got them, throw in 4 Reflecting Pools and take out a Mountain. I'd also throw in some Lashouts instead of Incinerate, unless you're worrying about planeswalkers. Otherwise, how often do you really burn to the face. I'd use a counterspell somewhere, be it in the sideboard or maindeck. Negate sideboard should help greatly against the Toast sorta-mirror.
Thanks for giving it some thought rastercaster...I agree that 23 lands is a little light...especially in a deck featuring Retrace spells. Lashout is an interesting idea, and I'll give it some testing time. Generally, I prefer Incinerate for several reasons...you aren't dependent on your opponent playing a creature to use it, it can go directly to the dome and, yes, I am worried about pesky plainswalkers. 5C Control is starting to run MD Jace, Kithkin runs Elspeth and/or Ajani, Green things run Garruk. I've also seen Sarkhan and Tezzeret in decks I would consider competitive, if not established as top tier yet.
I am not really trying to build an alt.QnT deck. This is supposed to be something flexible enough to play on the front foot against control and force them to come up with answers to some of the worst spells in the format for them, while hanging around long enough against the weenie aggro decks to come up with a meaningful counterpunch. All while using and reusing it's powerful cards. If it were alt.QnT I would definitely be in full aggreement with you and look to run more counters, At least a full suite of Cryptics and Broken Ambitions...in Fact the Cryptics may not be a bad idea anyway...but I'd have to take out Burn for them and I'm never going to win a counter war against 5C control so that just compromises a good match-up for little benefit against the weak ones.
Looks good. Are you able to consistently pump FoD to 4/4 when you need it though? Seems like color is an issue. Also, has Oona's Grace been working for you in testing? I'd rather have another two removal spells myself. Perhaps Agony Warp to set up some juicy two-for-ones.
Hey Azriel, thanks for the comments. All the lands produce Red mana, so pumping FoD is never a problem. It can sting a little though with so many painlands.
I've been looking at Agony Warp, especially as you rightly point out its two for ones against annoying things like Kithkin -- BFT is the difference in that match-up -- but I'm having trouble reconciling the BU casting cost with my mana. I really think all the land should produce R for FoD and trying to get B and U on an early turn is going to be difficult. Now, more Shriekmaws is another proposition altogether...
Oona's Grace has been okay so far, but not stellar. It's really a late game card, as you do not want to pitch lands until after you have at least six in play. I think you are right to call it out though. It seems to really shine in the control match-ups as who really wants to counter Retrace X three at the end of their turn? But those match-ups are already heavily favorable. It really does nothing at all in the bad match-ups like Kithkin...even hurting you as you have to burn time cantripping it away.
I'm trying to come up with a competitive deck that abuses the Unearth mechanic. The initial idea came from a deck that showed up at UK regionals called Quicker Toast which used a QnT bana base and structure, but beat down with Demigods instead of Cloudthreshers and Oona. I'd love some input...
Here's what I've got so far. I'll make some comments on performance after the decklist.
Other cards I've tested in the deck include Thoughtseize (Raven's Crime) and Broken Ambitions. I found that with the Ambitions, every time I drew it I dropped into "control mode" and held back when I should have been aggressively drawing cards and playing threats so I cut them.
Cards I have thought about but not trried yet include River Kelpie, Makeshift Mannequin, Ghastlord of Fugue
Before sideboarding Kithkin rips it apart, but it can't seem to lose to 5C Control, which just can't handle the combination of Figure, Land D, instant burn spells and Demigod's reanimate ability. Haven't really tried it against anything else yet.
A buddy of mine has been playing a pretty competitve treefolk deck at FNM for a couple of months. It pretty much kicks ass against everything but my Toast/5C Control decks -- and then I only really have the edge because I run 6 Condemn/Bant Charm and bring 2 Hallowed Burial out of the board. Of course, there is almost no Fae in my store so take that for what it's worth.
Anyhow, despite my friend's success with it, I would run something like this:
So, some comments on choices (not all of them, as I'm sure most are pretty obvious):
Troll -- Good at both ends of the ice...Blocks Gouger/Collosus all day. Immune to Condemn/Bant Charm!!! And Hammer on a Troll is usually GG.
Overrun -- Garruk is in most decks in this slot, but he needs a turn to enable the game finishing Overrun capability. The Sorcery is clunkier in almost every respect...except it wins games off the top. Garruk does not. And for me being able to sing "Surprise! You're Dead!" by Faith No More while you win makes it superior.
Sheild of the Oversoul -- makes any of your guys indestructable. Which can be key against Wrath-based decks.
Wilt Leaf Liege -- Could be something else, but I get the impression that between Reveilark, 5C Control and some Fae builds there are going to be a lot of Esper Charms floating around. Wilt Leaf makes them very sad. And he's good for the rest of the team when he comes out to play, so he's not as narrow as other options.
What you should absolutely expect to see and how this deck beats them:
Fae -- Collosus, Troll, Hammer, Treetop -- Raw Speed
Kithkin -- Again, you need Trample to win, or they are too fast with the chump blockers who get very big very fast.
5C Control -- Troll is your big buddy here.
RDW -- you should win this easily, unless they get the stupid multiple Demigod + lots of burn draw against you.
seems just as slow as normal toast, if not slower, and not as powerful or flexible. also, you cant unearth something every turn, read unearth, '...remove it from the game... if it would leave play...'. that means it gets to come back once. on turn 6 when sedris finally comes out. not impressive.
Maybe this is the wrong place for this, and if so forgive me, but I'm wondering if anyone has thought about trying to update the Quicker Toast deck that showed up at one of the British Nats Qualifiers. For reference:
And in the new environment I can't think of a good reason to keep Redcaps and I'd probably go to one Halo.
Instead, you can add in:
2 Ultimatums
4 Mulldrifters
4 Fulminator Mage/Shriekmaw - I really like the Mage.
4/5 Charms
Increase the number of lands to 26
And I've been thinking a little about Sedris. Is he total crap, or is he busted with all the CIP effects (F. Mage comes back every turn!!!)
I, too, am a long-time control player. Lark and Merfolk are the only two decks that I have played since the first of the new year. I flirted with the original build of Kithkin just after Lorwyn came out, then switched to Merfolk. I am sad to note that both of my favorite decks of the past year will be dying with the rotation next month. *sigh* I am working on one of the new Kithkin builds for next month, since they lose nothing of importance and may even gain something from Shards. Oh, well. Life goes on.:rolleyes:
I totally agree with you on all of that. I haven't played Fish in years because it has been crap, then all of a sudden it isn't and I think, "Hey, why not? I've got all the damned cards." But it's all one big tease.
In the immediate post-rota world I think it's going to be Q'n'T for me. Anything solid in block will continue to be playable in Standard and this deck loses nothng really significant. Or maybe something interesting will happen with Elementals. I've been picking up Primal Beyonds in junk rare poker.
I just wanted a break from what I've been playing all year. And to use my Goyfs which have never seen tourney play (!!!), Collossi (same thing!) and Psi Blasts (insert, never aimed at a tourney oppo here too!). In testing last week I told my oppo that I auto-win cause I had $200 worth of cards on the table to his <$10 (elf-ball is a cheap deck).
Thanks for the heads up on where to find the UG content. Saves me a lot of wading through stuff I'm not going to care much about.
You are making several card selections that would, likely, mean no space for Stonybrook Banneret. That doesn't mean that you need to refer to it as a "bad card" or say it does nothing else...(clip for space)...That being said, you have the right of every other deck pilot out there to make your own choices for you deck list. Just don't call Banneret a bad card...most of the rest of us (Merfolk players) will definitely take offense at that.
Hey WeatherGuy,
I certainly didn't mean to give offense to anyone and apologize if I did. Clearly there is a place in the right deck for Banneret where it will make a significant difference to performance. And in fairness, my point about Colossus being a good card on its own merits is a valid one.
But that brings us to a very interesting strategic question and one I've been struggling with. How do you build Merfolk to survive in the current metagame. If you want to play straight out Beatdown then the best deck to play is RDW or maybe Kithkin. I am a control player at heart and spent a lot of months with Rev (yeah, I know, more combo than control, but there you have it) and Q'n'T, switching eventually to RDW because my meta was full of Fae. Then three weeks running I run into the main reason I hate straightout aggro decks: 1) I got out aggro'd. Sigh. It happens sometimes, but in my case I lost to a 10-yr-old adding insult to injury. Double sigh. 2) I ran into mana problems. That happens too. 3) I ran into a random deck that I managed to get down to 3(!!!) life only to watch empty-handed while he plays the same freaking Riftwatcher 3 times (thanks to 2x Profane Command) in Gm 1 and drop a Warhammer on a Paladin en-Vec in Gm 2. WTF??? (turns out he was trying to build something Toasty but with severely limited card pool.) I had no answers and no outs. And knew it three turns before he finished me.
By nature Aggro decks shoot their wad and if you're dead it's all good, if you aren't then that's it...doesn't really matter what the aggro player draws after that, you are golden.
So, ex-nay on the Ggro-ay. It's just not me. I prefer resilience and having a chance to pull it out until the last card. It allows for more skill-based games and for me in my area that usualy means more wins. Hence my flirtation with Merfolk...an aggro feel, but with tricks and options. And this is why the Banneret doesn't make my deck, because it's just trying to be the beatdown and doesn't add any other dimension to the deck.
I'm also thinking of pulling Garruk. Overrun is nice and all, but he doesn't do anything against RDW, get's swarmed by Fae and the Mirror and just generally fails to impress. Again...more tricks and tempo. And as your CC example below points out, you have better options for that. So is green even worth playing? Colossus is a great card in the deck, without a doubt one of the best creatures in the format, but do you play green just for him and some man lands? I'm sure this has been debated earlier in the thread, but the format has changed since then and I'm at work so don't have the time to go digging through. (I'll do it later though.)
Your last line shows that you get the complete picture of Cryptic Command. They are heads and shoulders better than anything else you could run in your deck...including both Snake and Ruse.;) I only very rarely use the "counter target spell" mode on Cryptic. I was lucky enough, once, to draw into three consecutive Cryptics. Each time, I bounced a threat and tapped down his team. The attacks with my small army made short work of that dude.
No doubt! I bet he had a very similar expresion to me against my 10-year-old oppo from RD(doesn't)W week one.
The general point of playing chameleon colossus in merfolk is so that stonybrook banneret enables you to play it for GG, a very good deal for a 4/4 (if not larger) creature.
Thanks for the comment. Although I really don't think you play a bad card in a deck because it makes an already good card better. That's like a microcosm of 'win-more.' You play CC because he is ridiculous. Apart from the Medallion effect delivered by the Banneret, it does nothing. It doesn't draw cards, doesn't pump anyone else, doesn't even beat face at 1/1 and on T2 I'd rather be dropping LoA or Silvergill Adept or even 'Goyf -- though he won't be very exciting at that point, he will force a response from a control deck. Speaking of which the 'Goyf slots are the ones where the Baneret would have to hang out and I'd really rather have a bigger late game beater than a T6-8 Banneret.
I think the trick with this deck is going to be finding the happy balance between resilience and aggro that gives it game against the faster aggro decks and still put pressure on the more dedicated control decks. The Blasts and counters and maybe maindecking Warhammers is a solution to the former, and the sick card advantage should be good at the latter. I don't know...far from comfortable with the balancing act so far.
The Snakes are in to combo with the Ruse, but I will be switching them out for Commands, and maybe dropping the Ruses altogether. they are too situational, while the Commands may not come online until T4 at earliest at least they have multiple uses. Counter that, pick that up, cantrip and finally and probably best in this deck...Falter anyone?
So haven't played aggro in a long time, however I do like the look of UG Fish, which is more a mid-range tempo deck than out and out control. Looking for thoughts on the following construct.
Sideboard to be sorted out after I know what the maindeck is weak against and how the deck interacts with the metagame, however it will include at least three Fairie Macabre as I think it will autolose to Rev. Right now this deck tends to draw an insane number of cards, ut are they the right cards? And while the idea of dropping a couple of quick threats and protecting them with counters is generally appealing, it is not possible to drop more threats than RDW or Kithkin so so sitting on Lord, Reejerey, 'Goyf and a counter is not so good if Oppo has more/bigger dorks in play already.
The deck loses a lot with the rotation, but could still be intriguing.
So budget Counter-Burn...I used to have a blast playing Counter-Phoenix and another Forbid/Squee/Masticore deck that I still wish I'd taken to the PT instead of Oath way, way, way back when I was good at this game. So...a subject close to my heart for sure...but today the tools are weak. No Hammer, no Shard Phoenix and weaker counterspells. But that's not to say we can't have some fun with it...
You've clearly stated it's a budget deck, so I'll lay off on drastically reconfiguring your land and insisting you run Cryptic Commands and Figure of Destiny...however, there are some other changes I think you have to consider.
Faery Trickery is not a solution you are looking for...especially not against what is bound to be the most popular deck in the format. Options include Cancel, Negate, Remove Soul and Broken Ambitions. I'd be inclined to look hard at BA as the clash may help you filter away chaff.
I think you have to look at some kind of bounce for the deck and maybe some kind of sweeper too...Evacuation is in 10th and as rares go is about as budget as you can get. SCG has them from $1 and lots in stock from older sets (7th, 8th, Stonghold, etc.). Otherwise...Boomerang's never a bad idea in this kind of deck. I'd also give some serious thought to Crag Puca. For three mana he's going to do the same kind of job Finks does in other decks. Early speed bump and he can turn on the aggro when the time comes.
You've said you want to finish with Mulldrifter, and to my thinking "why not?" Once you have total control of the game you can finish it off with whatever you want. But getting control is going to be difficult and you may want to consider splashing B for Mannequin to make sure that you have drifters to finish with.
That all said...Because I can't help myself, my non-Budget version of this would look something like this:
4 Broken Ambitions
2 Dream Fracture -- why not? I've never tested it, but cantripping counter spells are always interesting. Hope they get a land and you get business. ;-)
4 Lash Out
4 Magma Spray
2 Flame Javelin
3 Evacuation
3 Tidings
4 Murderous Redcap
4 reflecting pool
4 crumpiling necrotopolis
4 cascade ruins
4 shivan reef
4 faerie conclave
3 island
3 mountain
26 land (Aman's land base was almost perfect)
Thanks for giving it some thought rastercaster...I agree that 23 lands is a little light...especially in a deck featuring Retrace spells. Lashout is an interesting idea, and I'll give it some testing time. Generally, I prefer Incinerate for several reasons...you aren't dependent on your opponent playing a creature to use it, it can go directly to the dome and, yes, I am worried about pesky plainswalkers. 5C Control is starting to run MD Jace, Kithkin runs Elspeth and/or Ajani, Green things run Garruk. I've also seen Sarkhan and Tezzeret in decks I would consider competitive, if not established as top tier yet.
I am not really trying to build an alt.QnT deck. This is supposed to be something flexible enough to play on the front foot against control and force them to come up with answers to some of the worst spells in the format for them, while hanging around long enough against the weenie aggro decks to come up with a meaningful counterpunch. All while using and reusing it's powerful cards. If it were alt.QnT I would definitely be in full aggreement with you and look to run more counters, At least a full suite of Cryptics and Broken Ambitions...in Fact the Cryptics may not be a bad idea anyway...but I'd have to take out Burn for them and I'm never going to win a counter war against 5C control so that just compromises a good match-up for little benefit against the weak ones.
Hey Azriel, thanks for the comments. All the lands produce Red mana, so pumping FoD is never a problem. It can sting a little though with so many painlands.
I've been looking at Agony Warp, especially as you rightly point out its two for ones against annoying things like Kithkin -- BFT is the difference in that match-up -- but I'm having trouble reconciling the BU casting cost with my mana. I really think all the land should produce R for FoD and trying to get B and U on an early turn is going to be difficult. Now, more Shriekmaws is another proposition altogether...
Oona's Grace has been okay so far, but not stellar. It's really a late game card, as you do not want to pitch lands until after you have at least six in play. I think you are right to call it out though. It seems to really shine in the control match-ups as who really wants to counter Retrace X three at the end of their turn? But those match-ups are already heavily favorable. It really does nothing at all in the bad match-ups like Kithkin...even hurting you as you have to burn time cantripping it away.
Here's what I've got so far. I'll make some comments on performance after the decklist.
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Mulldrifter
2 Shriekmaw
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Sedris the Traitor King
3 Raven's Crime
2 Oona's Grace
2 Profane Command
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
3 Pyroclasm
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulferous Springs
4 Cascade Bluffs
4 Shivan Reef
3 Mountains
3 Pithing Needle
1 Shreikmaw
3 Infest
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Everlasting Torment
Other cards I've tested in the deck include Thoughtseize (Raven's Crime) and Broken Ambitions. I found that with the Ambitions, every time I drew it I dropped into "control mode" and held back when I should have been aggressively drawing cards and playing threats so I cut them.
Cards I have thought about but not trried yet include River Kelpie, Makeshift Mannequin, Ghastlord of Fugue
Before sideboarding Kithkin rips it apart, but it can't seem to lose to 5C Control, which just can't handle the combination of Figure, Land D, instant burn spells and Demigod's reanimate ability. Haven't really tried it against anything else yet.
Any comments? Insight? Suggestions? Opinions?
Anyhow, despite my friend's success with it, I would run something like this:
4 Wilt Leaf Liege
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Bosk Banneret
4 Llanowar Elf
3 Leaf Crowned Elder
2 Leaf-Crowned Elder
4 Chameleon Collossus
3 Sheild of the Oversoul
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Overrun
4 Treetop Village
4 Wooded Bastion
4 Brushland
8 Forest
1 Plains
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Cloudthresher
3 Crib Swap
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Vexing Shusher
So, some comments on choices (not all of them, as I'm sure most are pretty obvious):
Troll -- Good at both ends of the ice...Blocks Gouger/Collosus all day. Immune to Condemn/Bant Charm!!! And Hammer on a Troll is usually GG.
Overrun -- Garruk is in most decks in this slot, but he needs a turn to enable the game finishing Overrun capability. The Sorcery is clunkier in almost every respect...except it wins games off the top. Garruk does not. And for me being able to sing "Surprise! You're Dead!" by Faith No More while you win makes it superior.
Sheild of the Oversoul -- makes any of your guys indestructable. Which can be key against Wrath-based decks.
Wilt Leaf Liege -- Could be something else, but I get the impression that between Reveilark, 5C Control and some Fae builds there are going to be a lot of Esper Charms floating around. Wilt Leaf makes them very sad. And he's good for the rest of the team when he comes out to play, so he's not as narrow as other options.
What you should absolutely expect to see and how this deck beats them:
Fae -- Collosus, Troll, Hammer, Treetop -- Raw Speed
Kithkin -- Again, you need Trample to win, or they are too fast with the chump blockers who get very big very fast.
5C Control -- Troll is your big buddy here.
RDW -- you should win this easily, unless they get the stupid multiple Demigod + lots of burn draw against you.
/M
Hmmm....sudden RTFC moment. My bad.
1 Dreadship Reef
4 Reflecting Pool
4 River of Tears
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Marsh
4 Murderous Redcap
1 Nucklavee
1 Oona
4 Careful Consideration
4 C. Command
2 Mindspring
4 P. Lens
4 Pyroclasm
4 Rune Snag
3 Runed Halo
This deck loses:
4 Careful Consideration
4 Rune Snag
4 Lens
5 Lands
And in the new environment I can't think of a good reason to keep Redcaps and I'd probably go to one Halo.
Instead, you can add in:
2 Ultimatums
4 Mulldrifters
4 Fulminator Mage/Shriekmaw - I really like the Mage.
4/5 Charms
Increase the number of lands to 26
And I've been thinking a little about Sedris. Is he total crap, or is he busted with all the CIP effects (F. Mage comes back every turn!!!)
/M
I totally agree with you on all of that. I haven't played Fish in years because it has been crap, then all of a sudden it isn't and I think, "Hey, why not? I've got all the damned cards." But it's all one big tease.
In the immediate post-rota world I think it's going to be Q'n'T for me. Anything solid in block will continue to be playable in Standard and this deck loses nothng really significant. Or maybe something interesting will happen with Elementals. I've been picking up Primal Beyonds in junk rare poker.
I just wanted a break from what I've been playing all year. And to use my Goyfs which have never seen tourney play (!!!), Collossi (same thing!) and Psi Blasts (insert, never aimed at a tourney oppo here too!). In testing last week I told my oppo that I auto-win cause I had $200 worth of cards on the table to his <$10 (elf-ball is a cheap deck).
Thanks for the heads up on where to find the UG content. Saves me a lot of wading through stuff I'm not going to care much about.
Hey WeatherGuy,
I certainly didn't mean to give offense to anyone and apologize if I did. Clearly there is a place in the right deck for Banneret where it will make a significant difference to performance. And in fairness, my point about Colossus being a good card on its own merits is a valid one.
But that brings us to a very interesting strategic question and one I've been struggling with. How do you build Merfolk to survive in the current metagame. If you want to play straight out Beatdown then the best deck to play is RDW or maybe Kithkin. I am a control player at heart and spent a lot of months with Rev (yeah, I know, more combo than control, but there you have it) and Q'n'T, switching eventually to RDW because my meta was full of Fae. Then three weeks running I run into the main reason I hate straightout aggro decks: 1) I got out aggro'd. Sigh. It happens sometimes, but in my case I lost to a 10-yr-old adding insult to injury. Double sigh. 2) I ran into mana problems. That happens too. 3) I ran into a random deck that I managed to get down to 3(!!!) life only to watch empty-handed while he plays the same freaking Riftwatcher 3 times (thanks to 2x Profane Command) in Gm 1 and drop a Warhammer on a Paladin en-Vec in Gm 2. WTF??? (turns out he was trying to build something Toasty but with severely limited card pool.) I had no answers and no outs. And knew it three turns before he finished me.
By nature Aggro decks shoot their wad and if you're dead it's all good, if you aren't then that's it...doesn't really matter what the aggro player draws after that, you are golden.
So, ex-nay on the Ggro-ay. It's just not me. I prefer resilience and having a chance to pull it out until the last card. It allows for more skill-based games and for me in my area that usualy means more wins. Hence my flirtation with Merfolk...an aggro feel, but with tricks and options. And this is why the Banneret doesn't make my deck, because it's just trying to be the beatdown and doesn't add any other dimension to the deck.
I'm also thinking of pulling Garruk. Overrun is nice and all, but he doesn't do anything against RDW, get's swarmed by Fae and the Mirror and just generally fails to impress. Again...more tricks and tempo. And as your CC example below points out, you have better options for that. So is green even worth playing? Colossus is a great card in the deck, without a doubt one of the best creatures in the format, but do you play green just for him and some man lands? I'm sure this has been debated earlier in the thread, but the format has changed since then and I'm at work so don't have the time to go digging through. (I'll do it later though.)
No doubt! I bet he had a very similar expresion to me against my 10-year-old oppo from RD(doesn't)W week one.
Thanks for the comment. Although I really don't think you play a bad card in a deck because it makes an already good card better. That's like a microcosm of 'win-more.' You play CC because he is ridiculous. Apart from the Medallion effect delivered by the Banneret, it does nothing. It doesn't draw cards, doesn't pump anyone else, doesn't even beat face at 1/1 and on T2 I'd rather be dropping LoA or Silvergill Adept or even 'Goyf -- though he won't be very exciting at that point, he will force a response from a control deck. Speaking of which the 'Goyf slots are the ones where the Baneret would have to hang out and I'd really rather have a bigger late game beater than a T6-8 Banneret.
I think the trick with this deck is going to be finding the happy balance between resilience and aggro that gives it game against the faster aggro decks and still put pressure on the more dedicated control decks. The Blasts and counters and maybe maindecking Warhammers is a solution to the former, and the sick card advantage should be good at the latter. I don't know...far from comfortable with the balancing act so far.
The Snakes are in to combo with the Ruse, but I will be switching them out for Commands, and maybe dropping the Ruses altogether. they are too situational, while the Commands may not come online until T4 at earliest at least they have multiple uses. Counter that, pick that up, cantrip and finally and probably best in this deck...Falter anyone?
4 Flooded Grove
4 Treetop Village
1 Mutavault (only own 1)
2 Forest
2 Terramorphic Expanse
6 Islands
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Chameleon Colossus
3 Cold Eyed Selkie
2 Mystic Snake (Really think Cryptic Command will be vastly superior)
4 Ancestral Visions
4 Psi Blast
3 Familiar's Ruse
Sideboard to be sorted out after I know what the maindeck is weak against and how the deck interacts with the metagame, however it will include at least three Fairie Macabre as I think it will autolose to Rev. Right now this deck tends to draw an insane number of cards, ut are they the right cards? And while the idea of dropping a couple of quick threats and protecting them with counters is generally appealing, it is not possible to drop more threats than RDW or Kithkin so so sitting on Lord, Reejerey, 'Goyf and a counter is not so good if Oppo has more/bigger dorks in play already.
The deck loses a lot with the rotation, but could still be intriguing.
/M