"Balance" A deck introduction

[Xanthophobia22]

I first had the idea for this deck when I was going over a deck here on mtgthesource called "I will survive" which ran an explosive combo involving saffi eriksdotter and loyal retainers. I liked the idea and the raw power of loyal retainers and survival of the fittest, but I hated the inconsistancy and weakness of a deck with no insurance. I thought "why stray so far from a survival build?" So I set out to break Loyal Retainers. The following list is what I came up with:

4 Loyal Retainers
4 Saffi Eriksdotter
2 Asmira, the Holy Avenger
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Anger
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Shriekmaw
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Llanowar Elves
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Enlightened Tutor
2 Mirri's Guile
4 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy

4 Windswept Heath
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Savannah
4 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Scrubland
1 Badlands
1 Taiga
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains

SB

4x Krosan Grip
X Needles
Meta slots

Card Choices:

Loyal Retainers-
Clearly the best card in the deck as it gets turn three akromas and turn 4 100/100's via Saffi and Asmira.

Thoughtsieze/Cabal Therapy-
Hand discard is very important in the early game in order to size up your opponent and keep them from disrupting your win conditions. Cabal Therapy is so amazingly powerful in this deck because the 6x mana creatures you can sac once you dont need them. Also you can sac "extra" Saffis.

Survival/Tutor/Mirri's Guile-
This is the "get survival fast and consistantly" package. Trust me mirri's guile is better than top in this deck. Imagine a turn one guile into a turn two survival. This gaurentees that everyturn you will be pondering for G and drawing an extra card via the search. You cant afford to pump mana into top since this deck is so mana hungry, and you dont have instants anyways.

Anger-
Personally I think this is the weakest card in the deck. Seems like an auto include but since Asmira isnt big until EOT anyways, it only gives red akroma haste. Seems lame since I have to run 3 red land however further testing will show if hes worth his rep or not.

Deck Analysis-
Right now the deck is in the early stages of building and has some problems. Maybe it is just MWS but I have to mull a lot. This seems wierd since i run 20 land and 6 mana bodies. Also there are a large number of hands with no guile, survival, or tutor. Thats just not right... right?

Another problem I see is the 4 saffis. If your not going to combo off and just getting an akroma she serves less of a purpose. She lets a retainer get two legends, but I dont know if that is worth running 4. Possibly -2 Saffi +2 Eternal Witness. People have also suggested more shriekmaw to get through the early game.

Finally, as i had stated earlier, anger could be unworthy since this deck does not run creatures that could use haste like the other survival builds do. Possibly -1 Anger +1 Mirri's Guile (yeh its that freakin good!)

Conclusion

So there you have it. I understand this is a great community and I am glad to be a part of it. Lets see what all the great minds here at mtg the source can do for me!

Thanks to all contributors in advance,
Xanthophobia22

[kilukru]

Buried alive sound good in here, mostly as a sideboard option, it allows you to perform well under k-grip/needle on survival situation.

I know im gonna suggest "classic card" but they do fit in there : STP for your early game is always a must, also a "reset button" might be needed to allow you to combo peacefully, EE and deed are both real good in there.

Also, I would go Duress over Therapy, granted when you can combo Therapy is way better in there, but your aim is early game disruption and Therapy just isnnt good at that (well game 1 anyway). Another possibility would be sidebording Therapy for more board control MD (STP EE DEED) and board them in against combo and control, but this is close to a meta call.

All in all, deck look real nice!

[Isamaru]

Lets see what all the great minds here at mtg the source can do for me!

Ask not what mtg the source can do for you, but what you can do for Isamaru.

Mirri's Guile is fun, but not when you draw 2 in your opening hand. Most people on the thread the first time it came up preferred Sylvan Library over it, though I see the benefits of both.

The rest of the things you brought up have already been discussed, so you could have posted this on my thread (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8245).

[Xanthophobia22]

Yeh I sure would if it was the same deck, which its not... its like over 20 cards different.... akward.

[Isamaru]

You threw in Enlightened Tutor into my deck, and then chose some disruption instead of redundancy.... akward.

If the deck was seriously that different than the one I'm already discussing, I guess I could see starting a new Thread right above it, but all you did was change the name.

[Xanthophobia22]

I dont mean to insult you or your deck isamaru, but to say that these two decks are the same is like saying all versions of ThreshThreshThreshThreshThresh are the same deck. Or that landstill with green and black is the same as a version with just white and blue. Just because they both contain the same core does not make them the same deck. Im just trying to work out a deck that better suits the current meta. I am even thinking about using one essence warden to tutor for inf life, even though i didnt like it before.

Anyways, I give you full credit for Loyal Retainers. That card is house and I thank you for finding it, but im making a new deck using it.

And to kilukru- I like your ideas, but i dont really see a need for STP (im not sure that the GW deck ran it...) because what creatures will I need to kill? My opponent can get a tarmogoyf all they want and it will never beat my akroma. I think that hand disruption is better because what I really need to clear is disruption like opponent's STPs and Counters. I also have to disagree on EE and Deed... do you really want to use either in a deck that runs mirri's guile and survival? even deed for one to get a needle is bad because it kills my mana guys and mirri's guile. You might be right about silvan library though ill try it.

[Solpugid]

"I will survive" was built to abuse the interactions of Saffi, red Akroma, and Loyal retainers. It says so in the introduction to that deck. Because of this, I'm pretty sure your list could fit into Isamaru's thread, although I'm obviously not in a position to enforce that.

If anger isn't helping you all that much, you could try dropping red for a blue splash. This would allow you to switch mirri's guile for brainstorm, which seems like a much better first-turn play.

[Xanthophobia22]

Threshold decks all win with tarmogoyf and abuse the interactions of cantips and consistancy. I guess lets put them all in the same thread too..

[Isamaru]

Golly! For someone so happy to conform, you sure are fiesty about it, arentcha. ^_^6

[MTG Guru]

I think Isamaru is right. For you to title the thread "a deck introduction" is rather pompous, since you're acting like we never heard of this concept. All the important combo peices are the same regardless of the "differing" staples that you use. I think you're wrong for going about it the way that you did and it astounds me that you actually have the nerve to try to defend yourself.