A yet to be named deck

[Pastorofmuppets]

So essentially the story of the deck goes a little like this. Mr. X is playing Vial Goblins because he can and it's a fun deck. He stares at that elf-chick dangling the shiny vial in front of her face on Aether Vial. He thinks to himself "where else is this nice little toy useful?" He diddles with White Weenie for about a week thinking "blech, there's just not enough ways out of certain things," The biggest problem was, Mr. X loves his Thoughseize/Duress as much as the next guy. He stares at Thoughtseize, then Vial, then Thoughtseize, then Vial. Suddenly, his brain says "hey, use Tidehollow Sculler with Vial to get an instant speed Castigate, genius." And so the deck takes shape, as more threats are traded off for awesome 2-drop creatures. Finally, the inclusion of Living Wish and a Sideboard of tools cemented the deck where it is now.

Creatures (26)
3 Somnomancer
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
3 Elvish Visionary
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Meddling Mage

Stuff (15)
4 Aether Vial
4 Living Wish
4 Path to Exile
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Krosan Grip

Lands (19)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
2 Plains
1 Forest
1 Flooded Strand
2 Scrubland
2 Tundra
3 Wasteland

Sideboard/Wish List
1 Auriok Champion
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Black Knight
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Spectral Lynx
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Stigma Lasher
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Monk Realist
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Gilded Drake
2 Krosan Grip
1 Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

So here's the deal.
-Somnomancer has won me games. I tried it once, and I haven't turned back since. Eot tapping their Tarmogoyf or big fatty is nothing to mess with
-Knight of the White Orchid is great, and only gets better when you're on a budget.
-Teeg Shuts down Force of Will, Chalice, and Engineered Explosives, along with other bull that people will diddle with. 1 MD is critical, and 1 SB if you need him in a pinch.
-Wren's Run Vanquisher is a sizable threat at its cost, and I like it so much that my Silvergill Adepts became Elvish Visionaries to give him a little help on the hardcast. If you're in a heavy graveyard-based meta, they can be easily switched for Jotun Grunt without any complaints.
-Tidehollow Sculler is useful in every format except vintage. its full potential is yet to be realized.
-Living Wish and Vial are the two keys to this deck.
-Path can be switched out for STP.
-Scryb Ranger shuts out Land Destruction to some extent.
-Pridemage is pretty much required in here. Pithing Needle, Engineered 'Splodeds, Pernicious Deed, Chalice of the void, among others all need to know what the 5 fingers say to the face
-Stigma Lasher combats life-gain decks, if you ever need to deal with them. He also makes STP have no drawbacks. The wither is usually arbitrary but I'm probably missing something.
-Monk realist is still a maybe. Just an extra answer to Enchantments.
-Jotun Grunt is your dredge/reanimator hoser. Make sure he stays alive, if nothing else. If you run him MD then Vanquisher takes his Spot.
-Tabernacle seems weird in such a creature-heavy deck, but just trust me. It saves you.
-Gilded Drake is just plain mean in here. I have nothing else to say about that.

Also, first post. Whoo.

[MTG-Fan]

Vial + Tidehollow is pretty cool. This is a good deck.

A while back I was playing with something along the same lines, i.e. Vial + two mana white weenies:

// Lands
4 [A] Scrubland
4 [GP] Godless Shrine
1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 [WL] Lotus Vale
1 [DK] Maze of Ith
7 [US] Plains (3)

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
4 [ALA] Tidehollow Sculler
4 [TSP] Serra Avenger
4 [ON] Weathered Wayfarer
2 [CS] Jotun Grunt

// Spells
3 [PY] Abolish
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [SH] Mox Diamond
4 [CFX] Path to Exile
4 [B] Winter Orb
3 [PT] Gift of Estates
2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [IA] Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 [PY] Abolish
SB: 4 [GP] Leyline of the Void
SB: 2 [FUT] Yixlid Jailer
SB: 4 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [IA] Circle of Protection: Red

My list focuses alot more on the Winter Orb/Weathered Wayfarer/Mox Diamond interaction, however. It's pretty powerful until you run into Wastelands, which is why the Pithing Needle is in the SB.

[Roman Candle]

The deck in the OP is way to reliant on Vial. Somnomancer is only good with Vial (and even then, Twiddle sucks.), and you can rarely play Vanquisher for 2.

I would play Dark Confidant, Jotun Grunt, and Qasali maindecked.

[dearleader]

So what happen's when you don't draw vial? or do you try to mull into it most games? With all your other spells costing 2 or more, with 4 living wish and 2 jittes, and running only 16 land that can get colored mana in a 4 color deck, can the deck still be effective without vial? Since everything other than vial costs 2, chrome mox could help you make a turn 1 play.

I'm not sure what approach this deck could take, but it looks like it could use Thoughtseize for a potent 1 drop, or maybe even Brainstorm to smooth out your draws.

Without some turn 1 plays, it seems like it would have a tough time winning on the draw.

[eq.firemind]

I think this deck needs 4 Noble Hierarch. Also, Path + Wasteland = error.
And I don't think it is worth run :u: for just Meddling Mage.
So in respect of opening post list I'd make the following changes:

-3 Meddling Mage, -1 Elvish Visionary, - 2 Tundra, -1 Flooded Strand, -4 Path
+4 Noble Hierarch, +1 Forest, +1 Scrubland, +1 Bayou, +4 Swords to Plowshares

[Pastorofmuppets]

I think this deck needs 4 Noble Hierarch. Also, Path + Wasteland = error.
And I don't think it is worth run :u: for just Meddling Mage.
So in respect of opening post list I'd make the following changes:

-3 Meddling Mage, -1 Elvish Visionary, - 2 Tundra, -1 Flooded Strand, -4 Path
+4 Noble Hierarch, +1 Forest, +1 Scrubland, +1 Bayou, +4 Swords to Plowshares

I like that alot, I know the deck isn't nearly done. And if I'm running the Heirarchs, then I'm already in Blue, so why drop Meddling Mage? Also I had blue to leave myself open to the possibility of Brainstorm since sometimes the Vial just dies and I need some gas. I know MWS is a bad place to test but so far here's the deck's record with the list I posted

Goblins 2-4
Reanimator Strategies 4-0
Stifenaught 2-0
Ichorid 1-2
42land and variants 1-2
Coatl Gro 6-3 (alot of people use Groatl apparently)
Some really bad Astral Slide deck 2-0
Thresh 1-2
Landstill 1-4
Vial Merfolk (or something) 2-4
Ultimate Walker 2-1
Sligh 1-3-1 (error midmatch)

[eq.firemind]

I like that alot, I know the deck isn't nearly done. And if I'm running the Heirarchs, then I'm already in Blue, so why drop Meddling Mage?
You need to drop one color. Not because it's bad, but because Legacy is a world filled with Stifle, Wasteland, Moon, Price of Progress...

[MTG-Fan]

In your testing, what have you found are the biggest problems for this deck?

[Pastorofmuppets]

You need to drop one color. Not because it's bad, but because Legacy is a world filled with Stifle, Wasteland, Moon, Price of Progress...
I know. Most of the time you're only sitting on 2-4 lands anyway though so Price isn't a problem. WL is a different Story however.

Also, my major problem is anything that can rush at me with a horde. I can't handle big boards too well. I guess I need to drop Blue... Thoughtseize in place of Meddling Mage?

[HdH_Cthulhu]

While i like the idea of the deck, vial + weenies + living wish, you run some realy weird creatures.

--Kotwo: If you have WW shouldnt it be enogh? You dont need extra lands, especially if it is conditional!
--Somnomancer: Wtf? Dont tap tarmos kill them...
--Mmage: I like Teeg more..

I think your deck needs more big scary finishers and less utillity creatures.

@Roman Candle: YES! + Serra Avenger and Spectral Lynx (not only in the wishboard)

[MTG-Fan]

I think this deck does better if it runs Doran, the Seige Tower.

I've been most recently playing with this deck, and it's pretty brutal because of the combined effect of all the fat and all the disruption:

// Lands
3 [TE] Wasteland
4 [A] Scrubland
2 [LRW] Swamp (3)
3 [A] Savannah
1 [LRW] Forest (4)
1 [LRW] Plains (3)
4 [ON] Windswept Heath

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
4 [ALA] Tidehollow Sculler
4 [TSP] Serra Avenger
4 [LRW] Doran, the Siege Tower
3 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf

// Spells
4 [IA] Swords to Plowshares
3 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
1 [US] Duress
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
3 [JU] Living Wish

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [FUT] Yixlid Jailer
SB: 4 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender
SB: 1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 [PS] Meddling Mage
SB: 2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
SB: 1 [SHM] Vexing Shusher
SB: 3 [SHM] Wheel of Sun and Moon

[Pastorofmuppets]

So since I started the thread can I name the deck? I was thinking something suggestive.

@ Mtg-Fan: Your sideboard is missing Mr. Goyfyblock himself, Spectral Lynx. And Serra Avenger feels really dead in there, I'd still run Vanquisher, but I guess its preference. Also, are there any creatures in this deck's "budget" of CC2 to shut down thresh other than Jotun Grunt?

[Pastorofmuppets]

Okay so here's my new list I'm testing with. I sort of don't like Doran, since he's not much more than big, and he makes tarmo a little bigger, but you can't argue with progress I guess.

Lands
4 Windswept Heath
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Scrubland
3 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Forest
3 Wasteland

Creatures
2 Jotun Grunt
3 Wren's Run Vanquisher
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Doran, the Seige-Tower

Spells
4 AEther Vial
4 Living Wish
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
1 Krosan Grip
2 Umezawa's Jitte

And the SB is the same, only with lasher swapped for Jailer.
He already won me 2 games against Dredge =3

[MTG-Fan]

Serra Avenger is amazing. Vigilance is handy against alot of creature decks, and the flying ensures that late-game you can seal the deal with her easily if they have a blocker.

Vanquisher is kind of bad, imho, because there will be times when you don't have Vial, and you want to hardcast him, and you're out of luck. Whereas with Avenger, it's not a problem.

Also, I've found during testing that Jitte is so freakin' good that you need at least 3.

Also, I would run more Doran. He's just such an insanely under-costed 5/5 that randomly makes things like Goyf better and things like Goblin Piledriver worse. And I'm calling this deck "Vial Doran", because I don't think that Doran has ever been used in Legacy alongside Vial.

[Paradigm Shift]

Just play Thornweald Archer or Deadly Recluse instead of Vanquisher. Sure, you lose the butt of 3, but is that really why you were playing him?

[boris13]

Name it the drunken mastewr deck.

[Pastorofmuppets]

I was thinking Test Tube Babies after a little bit of consideration for the name of the deck.

[Pastorofmuppets]

Just play Thornweald Archer or Deadly Recluse instead of Vanquisher. Sure, you lose the butt of 3, but is that really why you were playing him?

Actually yes, I was. But I'll test with avenger for now I guess.

[(nameless one)]

i like test tube baby

[Pastorofmuppets]

So yeah. What's a good answer to Countertop style decks?

[Darkenslight]

So yeah. What's a good answer to Countertop style decks?

Serenity, Null Rod, and Purify. Also, there's Disk, but somehow I don't think you want to play it.

EDIT: Also, there's EE at one/two counter(s).

[Pastorofmuppets]

Serenity, Null Rod, and Purify. Also, there's Disk, but somehow I don't think you want to play it.

EDIT: Also, there's EE at one/two counter(s).

Null rod shuts out my Vial and EE at two insures that I wipe my board. The only thing I can think of is to run 2 Duress for 10 instances of hand disruption. That should shut out almost any problems. Teeg does nicely, and Meddling Mage used to help with the matchup. Force of Will tears me to pieces on the first turn. If they let me resolve my Vial then I'm almost guaranteed to hit the board with Sculler or Teeg which helps the matchup. I'm finding some games being decided on dropping Vial or TS on the first turn.

[Pastorofmuppets]

So if anyone wants to help me test on MWS, PM me. I'm getting really excited about this deck and how it didn't get the normal "sod off" most original deck makers get on forums.

Also, I just made a 40k Dawn of War reference. Yay me.

[Pastorofmuppets]

I need answers to zoo, or more specifically Grim Lavamancer. most of the time my Grunts get 2-pieced by a Bolt and Lavamancer before I can put the stopper on him.

[Pastorofmuppets]

So after bending Progeniturd over and ravaging it, I was thinking about Xantid Swarm as a card in the wishboard, at least