Root Maze Prison

[Laser Brains]

Hey guys, I've got a deck here that should actually turn out to be pretty dang good even though it doesn't look like it at first glance. It's predecessor, which is mono green, was having pretty good results in my play testing. It's a prison deck that locks down with card combinations such as Winter Orb, Root Maze, Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance, Suppression Field etc.. It finishes with Black Vise and has Howling Mine to not only dig for more lock pieces but also further Vise damage.

There are a number of synergies here and one "nombo". We'll get the "nombo" out of the way first. While Root Maze plus Winter Orb is an awesome soft lock (lands come into play tapped and then don't untap), the nombo is that Winter Orb comes into play tapped thus giving your opponent a turn of mana. This nombo is annoying but over all it usually is just a hiccup in the game plan. Often you cast them in the reverse order anyway and it doesn't matter. Your best turn one play by far is Root Maze though.

Some awesome strengths and synergies:

1). This deck hates on fetchlands. A turn one Root Maze or Suppression Field can literally wreck your opponent. Easily buys you time to set up lock pieces.
2). Elvish Spirit Guide is awesome for quick mana under a Root Maze or Sphere lock! You often get opening hands such as Forest, ESG, cast Birds, then cast Root Maze (which essentially Time Walks you). This sets up your next turn with two mana while opponent is struggling.
3). It should hold up to combo quite well. I'll be testing this a lot in the next few weeks. A turn one Root Maze very much slows greedy Lotus Petals and LEDs, as does Thalia, Sphere of Resistance and Trinisphere.
4). Our mana base isn't hurt all that much under Winter Orb being that we run Sol Lands, Mana Dorks and ESGs.
5). Suppression Field is awesome by itself for shutting down fetch lands but also it soft locks planeswalkers, Aeither Vials, Emrys, Wastelands, Ports, Altar of Dementia, SFM, Walking Ballista etc..
6). Winter Orb + Ghostly Prison is really good!
7). Howling Mine is one sided if my opponent can't cast spells.

Some weaknesses:
1). Chalice of the Void. Although this card hurts, it only hurts a little bit. I've played around it in my mono green predecessor build.
2). Other decks that run Sol Lands such as Eldrazi. I gotta play against this.

A couple of things to point out in the list. The deck doesn't totally rely on Black Vise for the kill. You also get Thalia and or BoP with Noble Hierarch. Here's the deck:

WINTER MAZE STAX: 60

LOCKDOWN:
4x Root Maze
4x Winter Orb
4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Suppression Field
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Trinisphere

UTILITY:
4x Ghostly Prison
4x Howling Mine

KILL:
4x Black Vise

RAMP:
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Elvish Spirit Guide

LAND:
2x Ancient Tomb
2x City of Traitors
5x Forest
4x Savannah
2x Temple Garden

I haven't fleshed out the sideboard quite yet but expect Collector Ouphe, Tangle Wire, Static Orb..

Here's the old mono green build. I had decent results with it! This deck I was really monopolizing on Winter Orb's synergy with Wild Growth and Arbor Elf. I could get so much more mana but I was unable to splash colors because you don't want to stack Wild Growths and Utopia Sprawls on non-basic lands such as Savannahs as they can easily become Wasteland targets. I literally had results written down with this build but I now cannot remember where I placed the list. When I find it I will post it. I was however going toe to toe with Esper Vial, Goblins and even Artifacts Blue.

Anyway, I'll post some results in the next couple days with this GW build if anyone is interested. I'm fairly confidant I've thought of most other cards that should be in this deck but if you think of something or have any advice please feel free to chime in. Thanks in advance!

[Fox]

Cut green and Ghostly Prison, upload Soldier Stompy. Upgrade Soldier Stompy to DnT. Upgrade DnT to Goblins or Esper Vial [this is a stopping point].

Your deck can’t overcome topdecking redundant Root Maze, do-nothings like Winter Orb, and a glut of mana dudes (which you will topdeck and have nothing to cast).

[Laser Brains]

I already own DnT. This beats it. In fact DnT is one of it's best matchups. That aside every deck has bad matchups. This is one of DnT's.

I'm going less Stompy here, more Stax.

I get it though. You're essentially saying: "why play this when you can play something better?"

[FTW]

I remember the green version, which struggled with viability. Adding white looks like a solid upgrade with Suppression Field + Thalia choking their mana.

In the older version some patience could overcome the Root Maze/Orb lock while you topdeck do-nothings, but these resistors make it harder for the opponent to ever recover.

Quirion Ranger was a big part of making the mana assymetrical in the green version, untapping a mana dork and returning a tapped land to hand. Can you incorporate that into this build? The colorless stompy lands seem unnecessary if you have mana dork acceleration, since you're not playing Chalice @ 1 and your curve caps at 3 anyway.

Sphere and Trinisphere are also too symmetrical when you really want to be breaking symmetry here. Maybe SB but not main, and Thorn of Amethyst still probably takes the spot first.

Is Sylvan Library good enough here even without fetchlands?

Vise + Howling Mine seems too much of a liability in a format running 6x Force. You draw them free cards, they can play free spells to stop your win conditions, and their hand size stays small to dodge Vise. There must be some better draw engine and win condition. Maybe a planeswalker.

On the mana dork + Thalia package, you probably want fewer noncreature wincons/durdle and more creatures, otherwise your own Thalias will work against you. Hatebears could be good.
- 4 Vise
- 4 Mine
- 2 3sphere
- 2 Prison
+ Leonin Arbiter
+ Thalia, Heretic Cathar
+ Archon of Emeria

With Noble Hierarch you could considering splashing for Oko

Razorverge Thicket is probably better than Temple Garden in a low-land Winter Orb deck.