Hi guys,
Long time fan of decks that win with the depths combo. I have been playing around with a version that is a little less focused on the combo and a little more focused on utility. (to be honest, I am not even sure if this is where I should be posting it-- If not, guide me in the right direction please ).
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Vampire Hexmage
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Mox Diamond
2 Sylvan Library
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Life from the Loam
4 Living Wish
3 Punishing Fire
3 Crop Rotation
1 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Barren Moor
2 Savannah
2 Thespian's Stage
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Dark Depths
1 Tranquil Thicket
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Maze of Ith
1 Taiga
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Horizon Canopy
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1 Qasali Pridemage
SB: 1 Vampire Hexmage
SB: 1 Thalia
SB: 1 Sejiri Steppe
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 Dark Depths
SB: 1 Thespian's Stage
SB: 3 Sphere of Resistance
SB: 1 Grove of the Burnwillows
SB: 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 Deathrite Shaman
A few things to note about my deck:
1). I have a GSZ package for grabbing creatures from CMC 1 to 3 (dryad, DRS, gaddock teeg, and knight). I feel the redundancy is great for the grindy matches while also giving me what I need in the moment. GSZ is great for stopping FOW, Turnabout, Natural order, entreat, jace, dread return, and many others that make him worth the inclusion. Yes there may be a slight bit of anti-syngery if you draw another GSZ but I think the utility is well worth it. I have been testing a 1 of DRS lately and I really like it for mirror matches or getting him down early against a deck wanting to abuse treasure cruise. GSZ acts as Knight 5-6 as well. And GSZ on turn 1 for dryad has been a great tempo boost.
2) I am using the living wish board to make the combo more consistent while also giving myself some silver bullets.
3) I utilize MD crop rotation for adding particular lands to my MD for games 2-3. Examples of these would be Sejiri steppe (not so great as a wish target, but there have been a few times where it has allowed me to push through my 20/20 past a delver, strix, or angel token), bojuka bog, and tabernacle while siding out lands I don't need. The rest are meant as strictly being wish targets. While this can be risky (drawing a wish when you SB'd in the land you need) I feel the benefit of instant speed crop rotation without cluttering the MD with the silver bullets helps the consistency.
4) I play a fourth color for 3 punishing fires MD and 2 groves. I play a third grove in the SB as a wish target.
The benefit of not being so reliant on the depths combo is that I don't need to MD pithing needle meaning I can play my own wastelands as disruption as well. I feel that having more lines gives you a better chance of winning when someone does draw into a hate piece for the combo. An example of this would be the last game I just played vs miracles. I made at least 4 20/20's that all died to swords to plowshares and terminus. I eventually top decked a knight who won the game for me as a 16/16.
Any thoughts?
Your deck is probably more suited for the Junk thread, but I used to play Junk Depths to much success back when Mental Misstep was legal. It's definitely a really solid deck with a core of legit threats that also has the "oops, I win!" combo at its grasp. Being more of a midrange shell means it can be more controlling and not as fragile, but you may encounter different matchup analysis than what you've read in this primer. I have more experience with a deck like yours than the one I'm trying to contribute to now. It's definitely a good deck.
I would try to stick a Wasteland in your board so you can find it with both Living Wish if you don't have a Crop Rotation.
this is probably better suited for another thread. The goal here is to actually be an all in deck. i agree with what TLK said. Your version has its own merits and is just a strategy the people on this thread are probably not looking to embrace. it plays a much more grind game than i think we are looking for.
really your deck is almost a dark maverick that just for lack of better term, "half asses" the combo.
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
So, good news. Went undefeated tonight at my LGS' weekly Legacy tournament, splitting first place with a Lands deck also running the combo. Go figure. It was my first time piloting the deck in a non-casual environment, so I may have made some misplays, but if I did, they didn't seem to cost me.
Round 1: Death and Taxes. I win 2-0. First game was fairly easy. I played my lands in such an order that I don't think he really knew what I was doing. Second game, he landed Batterskull and gained some life before I could find my combo pieces. That bought him some time, as did StP on my first token, Flickerwisp on my second. I finally get there with my third token.
Round 2: Painter. Game 1 I win on I believe the third turn. Game 2 I lose to Magus of the Moon. Add that to the list of problematic cards. Game 3 I won via REB on his FoW on my Crop Rotation for Thespian's Stage. Woo!
Round 3: Tezzeret Helm Combo. Game 1 I make a token on turn 2, much to the dismay of my opponent. Game 2, he gets unlucky and mulls to 5. I have two discard effects so he basically folds to my combo on the third/fourth turn.
Round 4: Split top prize with Lands running Depths/Stage.
Deck was amazing. Only dropped a single game. I love playing this deck already! I'll comment more later on the matches/sideboarding/problem cards, but it's late and wanted to share my first real experience with the deck.
Nice performance. DnT is difficult matchup if they have good Wasteland/Karakas draws.
I wouldn't consider Magus of the Moon as a problematic card. We have two options here:
1) just play Pyroclasm with the Mountains. I bring Grudges, Seize, some Pyroclasms, Grip/Sage against them and I feel like they just can't win post board. I've tested this matchup a LOT and I've lost one game post board to combo(1 of 10 or so). Pyroclasm kills all creatures except Painter (which dies to Grudge) and buys you significant amount of time to set the Ratchet Bomb up.
2) Play Ratchet Bomb and blow up at 3. Their hate costs exactly 3 mana - Bridges, Magus, Blood Moon. Sweet :).
What is more annoying is MonoR Painter player who is familiar with our deck and just plays Blood Moon and kills us with Simian Spirit Guide. Unless he sets Painter@Blue, we can't win G1. Btw I board Pyroblasts out in this MU if my opponent knows what is going on or had seen Pyroblasts in G1.
I'm a bit late to the party, being a Dark Depths connoisseur myself, just want to say mad props to Lio for the Prague Eternal 2nd place.
Very impressive!
And a followup question, during the course of the tournament, how often did you feel the opponents knew what kind of deck they were facing?
What I'm asking is, how often did your opponents make mistakes (in your view) that gave you a significant advantage, because they could not properly identify what they were up against?
Thanks!
Admittedly they didn't know what I am up to in the most cases in the first games. Sometimes my opponents asked me what the hell do I play. But after the first game they correctly sideboarded and bring in land and token hate. So yes, I had an advantage. But sometimes this advantage was useless as my opponent played T1 Delver, T2 Wasteland and countered all my spells. What else to do with Delver, right? He would do the same if he knew my deck. In other cases they probably had a clue what I am up to, but they couldn't do much with it :D. Needle for Wasteland into Discard, find a combo piece on T3, T4 token with granted 'unblockability' with Sejiri Steppe. The biggest mistake made my DnT opponent who Wastelanded my early useless land drops to put himself in a bad spot when I needled his Vial. I've reached second place not because my opponents made (mostly) mistakes due to the rogue factor, but because this deck is really strong. And the lady Luck was on my side as I did several mistakes through the course of the tournament. (you can see the video ..).
good point about playing your lands in a special order. adding that to the primer. its something i do but didn't think to communicate.
you are generally favored in the lands matchup because their deck is readily identifiable but ours isn't so much. if they play depths you can just copy it with a stage. be careful that doesn't happen in the reverse. if you are able to bog away their loam its a lack luster deck. needle on stage and u can make the token with hexmage.
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
Yeah, I was really careful not to let the cat out of the bag in game 1s until I had the combo, which paid off.
Lands player was sitting next to me most of the night so he had an idea what I was up to. Pretty sure I could've won but all his matches went to time and I didn't feel like being there another hour as it was already late haha.
list that won a grinder for gp nj. This leads me to believe the deck has much greater potential than is being represented right now. This list seems terrible. Dark ritual and lotus petal seem like wasted cards. if speed is what he wanted it seems like he should have taken a different approach like my list in the op.
Creature (4)
4 Vampire Hexmage
Sorcery (10)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize
Instant (21)
4 Brainstorm
4 Crop Rotation
4 Dark Ritual
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Spell Pierce
Artifact (4)
4 Lotus Petal
Land (21)
2 Bayou
4 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Wasteland
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Depths
1 Thespian's Stage
Sideboard (15)
1 Wasteland
1 Thespian's Stage
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Karakas
1 Life from the Loam
2 Not of the World
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Surgical Extraction
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
And thank you for the extensive reply!
I was in no way trying to insinuate that your placing was simply due to the rogue factor or anything like that, sorry if it came of as that.
Was simply asking out of curiosity. I’ve played Dark Depths in Loam Pox, Junk/Knight midrange and, currently, Lands and would guesstimate that somewhere between 5-10% of my wins come from opponents not making the correct choices. Which is, in my mind, a lot.
The misplays come not so much because of the combo itself, but rather the ways we tutor, protect and disrupt.
So I was simply wondering how it is down on the Continent in regard to this :)
i would say that you will probably steal some games due to rouge factor. It happens quite often because they don't know whats in your deck, or sideboard. if game 1 ends very quickly they may not anticipate pithing needles or expedition maps. if they only see hexmage, an early pithing needle might name that instead of stage.
you will even steal games from players who do not understand the rules because dark depths is worded weirdly. (stifle dark depths sacrifice trigger). you never have a good feeling when that happens, but in competitive play like a GP, winning is winning.
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
if anyone has any information on the 2 Dark depths's decks that made it to Day 2 of GP NJ I'd love to know.
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
I didn't want to post the list and such here just because its not really all in on dark depths but I've been trying to formulate a chalice of the void deck with sufficient consistency and i think i might be close. It runs Dark depths combo, with natural order. Has some really strong t2-t3 plays, slightly faster than the current list in the OP and different strategy wise.
you can view the thread here
Last edited by apple713; 11-18-2014 at 05:10 PM.
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
Going to try to defend my crown tonight at our weekly Legacy event. If I can get my hands on Toxic Deluge beforehand I will fit 2 into my board. If not, I'll run the same 75.
Finished 3-1 tonight. Misplayed badly in round 3.
Round 1 vs Junk home brew
Nothing much of note here. He was on a budget deck without Wasteland. Easy 2-0.
Round 2 vs Elves
Discard effects bought me enough turns to make a token in game 1. Game 2 he mulls and keeps a 1-lander with Deathrite. I Needle Deathrite and he drops an Arbor and another elf. My turn 2 I cast Pyroclasm to clear his board of all but a land. He drops a few elves over the next few turns as I try to cobble up my combo pieces. He finds Needle for Stage the turn before I can go off, but Sylvan Library finds me a Ratchet Bomb and a turn later I blow up the Needles and all his elves and make my token the following turn. 2-0 win.
Round 3 vs Burn
I fall to 2 and make a token to win game 1. Game 2 I could've made a turn 3 token but he had Swiftspear and Guide in play with only 1 land, so I decide to try to slow him down and postpone the combo a turn by Crop Rotating into Tabernacle. Turns out I boarded it out so I grabbed a Maze instead. I ended up being a turn too slow. Game 3 I have the combo but double Mana Confluence made the Stage activation lethal. :/ Definitely could've won that match but it was without a doubt tough.
Round 4 vs Landstill
Easy 2-0 after Needle on Wasteland and discard effects.
Deck performed well and I easily beat myself in the third round.
4 Expedition Map
4 Pithing Needle
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Crop Rotation
3 Sylvan Scrying
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Duress
4 Sylvan Library
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
2 Maze of Ith
4 Mana Confluence
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Ghost Quarter
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Sejiri Steppe
Board is:
3 Pyroclasm
2 Toxic Deluge
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Thoughtseize
1 Karakas
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Krosan Grip
2 Ancient Grudge
I've considered cutting the Karakas because it hasn't really been useful in my meta. Not sure what to replace it with, though. There hasn't really been a deck I've been overly worried about so far, though Burn gave me the most trouble despite my play mistakes.
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