Blueberry Zoo

[emidln]

I've been playing with this quite a bit since the weekend. I'll be upfront that this is a creation enabled by the good leaf (its named after the Dutch Blueberry I was smoking), but the basic concept is quite strong. The deck revolves around some of the best pure aggressive creatures ever printed (Nacatl, Kird Ape, Putrid Leech, Tarmogoyf) backed up by light utility with Jittes, Vendilion Cliques, and Spellstutter Sprites and a decent draw engine in Standstill. Because most of the deck happen to be creatures, Aether Vial is included as a way to sidestep control as well as accelerate the deck slightly. Myself and some friends have been testing this since Saturday and I believe that it has what it takes to compete with the tiered decks in Legacy.

4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Putrid Leech
4 Qasali Pridgemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Standstill
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Taiga
1 Plateau
1 Bayou
1 Scrubland

There has been some discussion about Kird Ape (because it's often difficult to play with only two red sources) being replaced by some combination of Isamaru, Carnophage, Skyshroud Elite, and Savannah Lions. This would leave the two red lands in place for Nacatl, but wouldn't require them to play anything in the maindeck.

Additionally, the manabase is sketchy. It plays 0 basics, although this hasn't been a problem in testing, even against stifle/waste decks. Colorfixing is provided by plentiful fetchlands and Aether Vial. The ratios appear correct, but may need slight tweaking.

We haven't fully developed a sideboard, although I believe that Divert is worth some slots as well as Krosan Grip and additional copies of Umezawa's Jitte.

We are in the process of trying Doran, Wholly Thoctar, Knight of the Reliquary in place of Vendilion Cliques to determine the best card for that slot. We previously had Vindicate in that slot with decent results, although I believe that we'd be better served by some sort of creature (to make Jitte even better and to give more high end threats outside of Goyf and Putrid Leech. Currently Vendilion Clique does most of it at the steep cost of UU.

[Nihil Credo]

I'll get a few quick ones in:

1) Assuming the board is enough in your advantage that you can play Standstill, wouldn't another pressure card have a comparable EV in that situation (while obviously being better when Standstill is dead)? Burn, Hymn, even Chant come to mind.

2) Does it ever happen that you play a 1-drop, untap, play Standstill, get it killed in response, proceed to bang head against wall? Or do you save Standstill for later and hope you correctly guess the turn at which your opponent will re-balance the board?

3) There is tension between Spellstutter Sprite and your other sorcery-speed drops (and the 16-land count). Without Vial, do you often find a Sprite stranded in your hand in the mid-game? Could Daze be more effective in that role?

4) Your creatures are already more or less as big as one can find and your land count is pathetic. Isn't Jitte clunky as hell? I'd take a look at Rancor.

5) Did you actually test Dark Confidant, or did you just assume it would be too much with the Putrid Leech? I suspect it wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem as it looks.

[emidln]

I believe there are 20 lands in the list posted.

Standstill tends to be better than an additional threat because it will often help me avoid mass removal like EE, Deed, and Wrath while drawing more than one threat a considerable amount of the time.

In every legacy aggro deck I've ever played Dark Confidant I've found that he dies easily and rarely will even pay for himself, let alone produce real card advantage.

[Willoe]

I believe there are 20 lands in the list posted.

Standstill tends to be better than an additional threat because it will often help me avoid mass removal like EE, Deed, and Wrath while drawing more than one threat a considerable amount of the time.

In every legacy aggro deck I've ever played Dark Confidant I've found that he dies easily and rarely will even pay for himself, let alone produce real card advantage.

Although it's pretty good to pick up some removal so your other dorks can beat the opponent. Won't you agree?

Anyway, perhaps I'll come with actual feedback later, I just don't have time now.

[Valtrix]

In every legacy aggro deck I've ever played Dark Confidant I've found that he dies easily and rarely will even pay for himself, let alone produce real card advantage.

I don't see how this is an argument against a card, and I've seen it used so much with confidant. "Well, I'd play it, but it just gets removed too much."

Even if he only gets one card he's producing real card advantage, since you've gotten a creature and a card out of one card. Perhaps he's less useful in a build with standstill, but I think he feels a niche that's lacking with most zoo, which is draw.

[Iranon]

The good die young.

An 1-2 mana creature that draws removal is only bad if the removal would have been ineffective against anything else you care about. Unless he's consistently biting the dust to something like Funeral Charm or Mogg Fanatic pings, it's not a problem.

[emidln]

A narrow duress for 1B isn't what I want out of my draw slots. If I wanted 1 for 1 trades, I'd simply play duress or thoughtseize. However, in my infinite greed, I want my draw spell to actually draw cards from my deck into my hand. This is something that dark confidant does far less consistently than standstill, hence the standstills.