Mr. Fantastic
12-20-2009, 05:46 PM
Hello all. As a brief disclaimer, this is my first time posting a deck on TheSource and I have been out of the Magic scene for a very long time (2003-2009, just getting back into it recently). So if a few of my choices seem incredibly dated, please, forgive me. I am learning that many of the cards, decks, and strategies I once relied on as a player are now completely obsolete as about 5k or so cards have been printed in the interim between my competitive days and now. Still, I am enjoying the process of learning to play Magic all over again and this deck has been a fulfilling pet project that has been evolving steadily.
This deck is currently a pseudo-casual deck that is on the cusp of being competitive. It started out as a fun challenge to see if I could actually build a competitive mono green combo-control deck. Eventually I decided I could not, but that there were elements in the deck that could work well in a multi-colored strategy.
Here is the deck list and a brief history of its development, followed by a rundown of cards, match ups, and weaknesses. Any advice is appreciated.
Polaris v. 3.5
The Engine
4 Exploration
4 Horn of Greed
4 Crucible of Worlds
3 Life from the Loam
Board Control/Removal
4 Drop of Honey
3 Firespout
2 Krosan Grip
Manipulation
4 Sensei's Divining Top
Win Conditions
4 Terravore
1 Worm Harvest
1 Gigapede
Land
7 Forest
4 Wasteland
7 Fetch lands
3 Taiga
3 City of Traitors
2 Ancient Tomb
Sideboard as of 12/20/09
4 Compost
1 Krosan Grip
1 Firespout
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Calming Verse
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Thornling
Burgeoning was originally used as a way of dumping dead lands from hand once Crucible was in play with a fetch in the 'yard. I was underwhelmed by Burgeoning's lack of synergy with Horn but maybe it belongs anyway?
This deck is capable of some crazy plays. For instance, if you get out the trio of Horn, Crucible, and Exploration you can use Wasteland twice a turn to blow up two lands and draw two cards while simultaneously making Terravore larger and larger. Or just replay fetches twice a turn to get two lands, draw two cards, and thin your deck. Or you can use a pair of City of Traitors to generate 6 mana to cast whatever else you have in your hand and make multiple Top activations. You can also play a fetch land from your graveyard after stacking your deck with Top, put the Horn trigger on the stack, and sac the fetch to shuffle before you draw your card (re-activating Sensei in the interim if you so desire). This lets you search your deck in a manner that is almost comparable to old Parfait combo of Scroll Rack-Tax.
Originally I was quite taken with the Life/Tranquil Thicket combo and immediately rushed to build a deck around it. It wasn't long before I discovered that this engine was A) very slow and B) very easy to disrupt. The original deck list and my thoughts on it at the time can be found here (http://community.wizards.com/mr_fantastic/blog/2009/12/08/the_joys_of_insomnia), for those interested in its evolution. This original list was described by BrassMan as "incoherent," "a huge step in the wrong direction," and having a draw engine that was "tacked on." In hindsight, I find it difficult to disagree. As you can see, the original deck was much more defensive, with 4 Drop of Honey, 4 Powder Keg, and 4 Kitchen Finks. The newest version (which is changing every day) is more mid-range-ish, with 4 Terravores as the main win condition and general threat, in addition to the Gigapede and Worm Harvest which provide the deck with a second life in the very late game; depending on the situation, it can be played aggressively or defensively. Basically it's a control-combo deck, with the goal of drawing lots of cards and blowing stuff up before beating down with a large Terravore. After sideboarding, the graveyard recursion elements are taken out for surprise Thornlings and whatever else is appropriate, leaving your opponent with largely dead sideboard hate. Let me walk you through some of the choices.
Exploration—tremendous synergy with Horn, Crucible, and Life. A card you are always happy to see in the opening hand and on the top of your library once you have any other piece of the engine.
Horn of Greed—a little dated, I know, but I eventually found that this card was too synergetic with the other components to be ignored. I dislike that it helps your opponents obviously, but it combines nicely with Exploration, Crucible, and Life. If your opponent is playing mostly or all non-basics, you can occasionally color screw/outright mana deprive him or her to the point where a large number of the cards they draw are dead. Really, a tough choice either way to include or exclude. I'm interested in what the rest of you have to say.
Crucible of Worlds—at a glance this requires no explanation at all as it combines so nicely with Horn, Life, and Exploration but I'll take this time to also point out that this card is largely resistant to graveyard hate, much more so than one might expect. All you ever need for this card to be active is a single fetch, Waste, or City of Traitors. While Lifes are taken out for games 2 and 3, this stays in.
Life from the Loam—this is a much less integral part of the engine than I originally intended it to be and can now be viewed as a supplement to the other business spells that busts you out of a slump when in need. Gone are the Tranquil Thickets. They were self disruptive when you needed a land drop instead of a cycle, Life/Cycle was very slow, and there just wasn't enough room after making space for all of the other lands required; more on this shortly. But Life is still an incremental Ancestral with a Horn in play. With Exploration, it obviously becomes much better. If you have a Crucible but no lands in the graveyard, I find it is often worth it to play an empty Loam (you can target zero lands) just to set up Dredge. This also fills up the graveyard with fodder for Worms and will usually mill Gigapede somewhere along the way, obviously. There are times when you just don't need Life but those are generally the times you are winning anyway so it is hardly detrimental. With that said, 3 might be one too many.
Krosan Grip—removal for unpleasant permanents, specifically Chalice and Smokestack; completely useless vs. black aggro and most Zoo/Naya Burn with no equipment main deck. The inclusion of this main deck was necessitated by the losses to bad Stax variants without it, crushing those same decks with it. Obviously it is also good vs. CounterTop though that match is currently an auto-loss barring the Horn/Exploration draw against no FoW/Daze. I believe this can be changed by adding black for Raven's Crime and Thoughtseize but I'm not sure where to find space.
Drop of Honey—a throwback to the original list and a pet card from way back when. I strongly believe this card to be superior to Innocent Blood more often than not as it A) frequently generates card advantage, B) creates an interesting dynamic by stunting opponent's board development if they wish to play around it, and C) sets up insane Firespouts if they attempt to race your green Abyss. With all of that said, this card is vulnerable to Qasali Pridemage, the same annoyance that has made Powder Keg largely obsolete. I am not opposed to dropping this card completely though I really like that with a Thornling in play, you have a permanent one-sided The Abyss. :)
Worm Harvest—quite useless in the early to mid game but a game breaker later on, obviously. It's a fickle card and one I am either overjoyed or crestfallen to see depending on when it is drawn; seldom is my reaction in between. I'm not sure what else needs to be said about it.
Fire Spout—originally I was losing badly to bad Elf decks that could race Drop and Dragon Stompy builds with 6-8 main deck Magus/Blood Moon effects that prevented me from obtaining double green to cast blockers. I expect this to rectify that situation a bit. Also useful against Merfolk and Goblins, obviously. The number to include and whether to sideboard them or main deck them is largely dependent upon what is known about the meta in any area.
Sensei's Divining Top—Sensei is extremely useful with fetch lands, as you well know. In a deck that can replay fetches, it is especially good. On the topic of manipulation/draw, I toyed with the idea of Sylvan/Abundance but that combo has never really been put to good use without Enlightened Tutor; Abundance isn't that good on its own and you'd have to run multiples to draw it consistently without Enlightened Tutor. I am not opposed to the idea of adding white for Tutor and cutting extra copies of certain components but that would obviously slow the deck down and further open it up to disruption. Sylvan remains a possible sideboard slot against control since it is an Ancestral or better if it resolves.
Terravore—this card is amazing by itself. Right now the average Legacy deck plays 3-8 fetches, and I frequently find this thing is a 5/5 or 6/6 if I need to cast it as a blocker early. With Life dredging, this is usually a 15/15 or better in the late game. Plainly a good creature. Tarmogoyfs have been in and out of the deck as a supplement to Terravore as a blocker and late game finisher. I'm not sure where to find room for them but they're probably worth keeping in.
Gigapede—like Worms, this is sort of an insurance policy in the late game. Basically you will always have a way of finishing your opponents in game one, and I like that. I'd like it more of course if this somehow survived my own Firespouts but c'est la vie.
And now, for the tough part: lands. Lands have been as low as 26 to as high as 30 (with 4 Tranquil Thickets). Generally there have been 27-28 on average. This deck has two 3cc artifacts that need to resolve as quickly as possible, necessitating the inclusion of Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors. I find City to be far more tolerable than Tomb as its so called drawback is negligible to non-existent with a Crucible in play and can in fact be exploited to generate 4 mana a turn. With that said, the multiple City opening hand was self disruptive, thus I've included no more than 3 copies. I'd like to find room for a 3rd Tomb somewhere though I'm not sure what to take out. I was getting Stifle'd to death vs. Threshold and am reluctant to cut basic Forests/Taigas. Crucible isn't that good without adequate fetches and Wastelands. I'm also unsure of what the mana base should look like with Raven's Crime and Thoughtseize. Help?
Sideboard Choices
If you have the benefit of knowing what decks to expect in any given environment, the sideboard could obviously be a lot more focused. Here is the generic list I have been using.
4 Compost—absolutely necessary vs. Black decks. I find the first will frequently be Thoughtseized, Duressed, or Hymn'd and it is actually the second copy that sticks around long enough to level the playing field.
3 Ravenous Trap—Ichorid is such a good deck that I don't really think 3 Traps alone are enough to make more than a dent, except when inexperienced players overextend by dumping all of their dredge cards at once, leaving themselves with only an Imp and a land. In that case, this card is almost an auto win since you can then Waste their land and Firespout their Imp while setting up your draw engine. This has also been quite good against Stax (foiled a game breaking Second Sunrise) and Enchantress (anti-Replenish tech after a Calming Verse). Originally I was using Nevinyrral's Disk vs. those same decks plus Eternal Garden variants but I found it was too self disrupting as the deck came to include more permanents.
1 Krosan Grip
1 Firespout
2 Ancient Grudge—I wouldn't mind finding room for a 3rd copy of this card as an anti-Ravager slot in addition to being good vs. Stax and co.
2 Calming Verse—under the latest rules (no mana burn) this is truly a one sided Tranquility. Quite good against Enchantress, Stax, and theoretically playable vs. CounterTop since they have only Sower as a 4cc card (again, CounterTop is still basically unbeatable with this current list; black is needed to overcome the deficit). Smart Stax players will sideboard out their Ghostly Prisons for Aura of Silence and this takes care of that threat nicely. Another card I wouldn't mind having 3 of.
2 Thornling—contrary to the impression the original list may leave viewers with, this deck is less dependent upon graveyard recursion than one might expect. You'll still have the Exploration/Horn engine and any fetch land brings Crucible online. You can take out your Terravores for Thornlings and 2 other cards and make as a surprise transformation. Thornlings are quite good with oodles and oodles of mana, and again, can be used in conjunction with Drop for a one sided Abyss in the late game. I don't like that this transformation makes the deck more vulnerable to Swords though. Thoughtseize/Duress/Raven's Crime helps, but the only way to stop targeted spell removal for sure would be counter magic or shroud effects, i.e., Dense Foliage/Lightning Greaves. I don't really see there being room for the latter in the current incarnation of the deck.
And now, briefly, a rundown of the match ups based on my testing thus far.
MonoW/RW/GW Stax—this is a tough match to lose. They have no disruption to shut down your draw engine game one. You can hardly count on it but if you're lucky enough to draw or mill them in the mid to late game, Worms makes Smokestack obsolete. Game two they'll be bringing in Tormod's Cryps etc. while you bring in Thornlings. I've been keeping in 2 Terravores simply because even after multiple Relic/Crypts, they frequently grow quickly to 5/5. Take out your Drops and Firespouts, obviously, as they are useless, and bring in Calming Verse and Krosan Grip/Ancient Grudge. Ravenous Trap is devastating vs. Second Sunrise and also gives opposing Crucibles a hard time occasionally, though perhaps it is too inflexible a card to warrant bringing in more than one copy. I brought one in as an experiment and it was pretty good, but I'm not sure. Overall this match up is heavily in your favor as Calming Verse destroys Oblivion Ring/Aura of Silence/Ghostly Prison and you have artifact destruction for Smokestack/Crucible.
Zoo—There might be some debate over what exactly is a Zoo deck. I am referring specifically to decks with Kird Apes, Tarmogoyfs, Grim Lavamancers, Wild Nacatl, and occasionally Watchwolf, plus burn. Firespout/Drop make it tough for them to keep a creature on the board. Terravore is usually a 6/6 or so by turn 4 simply from fetches on both sides, so you can block Goyfs with ease and then eventually get a second Terravore/Worms/Gigapede to and go on the offensive. The only real risk is being burned out via the triple-bolt-effect-plus Fireblast, and it can happen. Originally I had a single Zuran Orb main deck to combat this but it was pretty useless against non-burn decks so I removed it.
Eva Green/Heavy Black discard—Game one is tough simply because they can disrupt you with discard then drop critters and use Vindicate/Maelstrom Pulse on Drop of Honey. The real threat is Tombstalker which you have no way of removing unless you topdeck a Drop. Game two, with Compost, I am 40/60 or so in testing so far. Still a tough match up but winnable, especially if you can just get a huge Terravore into play and force them onto the defensive after they've wasted a removal spell (Vindicate/Maelstrom) on an engine piece. It happens more than you might think. Overall though, I feel a heavy overhaul is needed. Life can be very good game one, btw, since they have no way of dealing with it other than to just drop a Tombstalker and kill you.
Elf Beatdown—in my opinion this is one of the worst decks you can play in Legacy since it has no disruption or way of stunting the opponent's development. You are just trying to overwhelm people and while it can happen, eh, Firespout just kills Elves. Caller of the Claw is a concern, I guess. Overall I've been having a hard time testing vs. Elves since most Elf players in MWS quit immediately after losing or even winning game one (no clue why; this happens with other decks/players, obviously. I just see it mostly with Elves).
Canadian Threshold—Stifle is usually a 1 mana instant speed Stone Rain. Drop's slowness allows them to get in good damage with Goyfs and Mongeese. Firespout doesn't kill Goyf. Really, a tough match up. If I knew more about how the deck plays I'd have a better idea of what to bring in against it but I've seen a lot of disparity in lists and haven't run into it very often.
If you don't see a deck up there, I haven't tested against it yet. I'll try to update this thread when I get the chance, if anyone is interested.
Well, I put a lot of effort into making this post. Any advice is appreciated.
Specifically, I would like to find room to add black and get some help with the mana base on a 3 color version. I just hope no one will respond with a single sentence to the effect of "Hey, just go play Eternal Garden instead, it's basically the same deck."
This deck is currently a pseudo-casual deck that is on the cusp of being competitive. It started out as a fun challenge to see if I could actually build a competitive mono green combo-control deck. Eventually I decided I could not, but that there were elements in the deck that could work well in a multi-colored strategy.
Here is the deck list and a brief history of its development, followed by a rundown of cards, match ups, and weaknesses. Any advice is appreciated.
Polaris v. 3.5
The Engine
4 Exploration
4 Horn of Greed
4 Crucible of Worlds
3 Life from the Loam
Board Control/Removal
4 Drop of Honey
3 Firespout
2 Krosan Grip
Manipulation
4 Sensei's Divining Top
Win Conditions
4 Terravore
1 Worm Harvest
1 Gigapede
Land
7 Forest
4 Wasteland
7 Fetch lands
3 Taiga
3 City of Traitors
2 Ancient Tomb
Sideboard as of 12/20/09
4 Compost
1 Krosan Grip
1 Firespout
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Calming Verse
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Thornling
Burgeoning was originally used as a way of dumping dead lands from hand once Crucible was in play with a fetch in the 'yard. I was underwhelmed by Burgeoning's lack of synergy with Horn but maybe it belongs anyway?
This deck is capable of some crazy plays. For instance, if you get out the trio of Horn, Crucible, and Exploration you can use Wasteland twice a turn to blow up two lands and draw two cards while simultaneously making Terravore larger and larger. Or just replay fetches twice a turn to get two lands, draw two cards, and thin your deck. Or you can use a pair of City of Traitors to generate 6 mana to cast whatever else you have in your hand and make multiple Top activations. You can also play a fetch land from your graveyard after stacking your deck with Top, put the Horn trigger on the stack, and sac the fetch to shuffle before you draw your card (re-activating Sensei in the interim if you so desire). This lets you search your deck in a manner that is almost comparable to old Parfait combo of Scroll Rack-Tax.
Originally I was quite taken with the Life/Tranquil Thicket combo and immediately rushed to build a deck around it. It wasn't long before I discovered that this engine was A) very slow and B) very easy to disrupt. The original deck list and my thoughts on it at the time can be found here (http://community.wizards.com/mr_fantastic/blog/2009/12/08/the_joys_of_insomnia), for those interested in its evolution. This original list was described by BrassMan as "incoherent," "a huge step in the wrong direction," and having a draw engine that was "tacked on." In hindsight, I find it difficult to disagree. As you can see, the original deck was much more defensive, with 4 Drop of Honey, 4 Powder Keg, and 4 Kitchen Finks. The newest version (which is changing every day) is more mid-range-ish, with 4 Terravores as the main win condition and general threat, in addition to the Gigapede and Worm Harvest which provide the deck with a second life in the very late game; depending on the situation, it can be played aggressively or defensively. Basically it's a control-combo deck, with the goal of drawing lots of cards and blowing stuff up before beating down with a large Terravore. After sideboarding, the graveyard recursion elements are taken out for surprise Thornlings and whatever else is appropriate, leaving your opponent with largely dead sideboard hate. Let me walk you through some of the choices.
Exploration—tremendous synergy with Horn, Crucible, and Life. A card you are always happy to see in the opening hand and on the top of your library once you have any other piece of the engine.
Horn of Greed—a little dated, I know, but I eventually found that this card was too synergetic with the other components to be ignored. I dislike that it helps your opponents obviously, but it combines nicely with Exploration, Crucible, and Life. If your opponent is playing mostly or all non-basics, you can occasionally color screw/outright mana deprive him or her to the point where a large number of the cards they draw are dead. Really, a tough choice either way to include or exclude. I'm interested in what the rest of you have to say.
Crucible of Worlds—at a glance this requires no explanation at all as it combines so nicely with Horn, Life, and Exploration but I'll take this time to also point out that this card is largely resistant to graveyard hate, much more so than one might expect. All you ever need for this card to be active is a single fetch, Waste, or City of Traitors. While Lifes are taken out for games 2 and 3, this stays in.
Life from the Loam—this is a much less integral part of the engine than I originally intended it to be and can now be viewed as a supplement to the other business spells that busts you out of a slump when in need. Gone are the Tranquil Thickets. They were self disruptive when you needed a land drop instead of a cycle, Life/Cycle was very slow, and there just wasn't enough room after making space for all of the other lands required; more on this shortly. But Life is still an incremental Ancestral with a Horn in play. With Exploration, it obviously becomes much better. If you have a Crucible but no lands in the graveyard, I find it is often worth it to play an empty Loam (you can target zero lands) just to set up Dredge. This also fills up the graveyard with fodder for Worms and will usually mill Gigapede somewhere along the way, obviously. There are times when you just don't need Life but those are generally the times you are winning anyway so it is hardly detrimental. With that said, 3 might be one too many.
Krosan Grip—removal for unpleasant permanents, specifically Chalice and Smokestack; completely useless vs. black aggro and most Zoo/Naya Burn with no equipment main deck. The inclusion of this main deck was necessitated by the losses to bad Stax variants without it, crushing those same decks with it. Obviously it is also good vs. CounterTop though that match is currently an auto-loss barring the Horn/Exploration draw against no FoW/Daze. I believe this can be changed by adding black for Raven's Crime and Thoughtseize but I'm not sure where to find space.
Drop of Honey—a throwback to the original list and a pet card from way back when. I strongly believe this card to be superior to Innocent Blood more often than not as it A) frequently generates card advantage, B) creates an interesting dynamic by stunting opponent's board development if they wish to play around it, and C) sets up insane Firespouts if they attempt to race your green Abyss. With all of that said, this card is vulnerable to Qasali Pridemage, the same annoyance that has made Powder Keg largely obsolete. I am not opposed to dropping this card completely though I really like that with a Thornling in play, you have a permanent one-sided The Abyss. :)
Worm Harvest—quite useless in the early to mid game but a game breaker later on, obviously. It's a fickle card and one I am either overjoyed or crestfallen to see depending on when it is drawn; seldom is my reaction in between. I'm not sure what else needs to be said about it.
Fire Spout—originally I was losing badly to bad Elf decks that could race Drop and Dragon Stompy builds with 6-8 main deck Magus/Blood Moon effects that prevented me from obtaining double green to cast blockers. I expect this to rectify that situation a bit. Also useful against Merfolk and Goblins, obviously. The number to include and whether to sideboard them or main deck them is largely dependent upon what is known about the meta in any area.
Sensei's Divining Top—Sensei is extremely useful with fetch lands, as you well know. In a deck that can replay fetches, it is especially good. On the topic of manipulation/draw, I toyed with the idea of Sylvan/Abundance but that combo has never really been put to good use without Enlightened Tutor; Abundance isn't that good on its own and you'd have to run multiples to draw it consistently without Enlightened Tutor. I am not opposed to the idea of adding white for Tutor and cutting extra copies of certain components but that would obviously slow the deck down and further open it up to disruption. Sylvan remains a possible sideboard slot against control since it is an Ancestral or better if it resolves.
Terravore—this card is amazing by itself. Right now the average Legacy deck plays 3-8 fetches, and I frequently find this thing is a 5/5 or 6/6 if I need to cast it as a blocker early. With Life dredging, this is usually a 15/15 or better in the late game. Plainly a good creature. Tarmogoyfs have been in and out of the deck as a supplement to Terravore as a blocker and late game finisher. I'm not sure where to find room for them but they're probably worth keeping in.
Gigapede—like Worms, this is sort of an insurance policy in the late game. Basically you will always have a way of finishing your opponents in game one, and I like that. I'd like it more of course if this somehow survived my own Firespouts but c'est la vie.
And now, for the tough part: lands. Lands have been as low as 26 to as high as 30 (with 4 Tranquil Thickets). Generally there have been 27-28 on average. This deck has two 3cc artifacts that need to resolve as quickly as possible, necessitating the inclusion of Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors. I find City to be far more tolerable than Tomb as its so called drawback is negligible to non-existent with a Crucible in play and can in fact be exploited to generate 4 mana a turn. With that said, the multiple City opening hand was self disruptive, thus I've included no more than 3 copies. I'd like to find room for a 3rd Tomb somewhere though I'm not sure what to take out. I was getting Stifle'd to death vs. Threshold and am reluctant to cut basic Forests/Taigas. Crucible isn't that good without adequate fetches and Wastelands. I'm also unsure of what the mana base should look like with Raven's Crime and Thoughtseize. Help?
Sideboard Choices
If you have the benefit of knowing what decks to expect in any given environment, the sideboard could obviously be a lot more focused. Here is the generic list I have been using.
4 Compost—absolutely necessary vs. Black decks. I find the first will frequently be Thoughtseized, Duressed, or Hymn'd and it is actually the second copy that sticks around long enough to level the playing field.
3 Ravenous Trap—Ichorid is such a good deck that I don't really think 3 Traps alone are enough to make more than a dent, except when inexperienced players overextend by dumping all of their dredge cards at once, leaving themselves with only an Imp and a land. In that case, this card is almost an auto win since you can then Waste their land and Firespout their Imp while setting up your draw engine. This has also been quite good against Stax (foiled a game breaking Second Sunrise) and Enchantress (anti-Replenish tech after a Calming Verse). Originally I was using Nevinyrral's Disk vs. those same decks plus Eternal Garden variants but I found it was too self disrupting as the deck came to include more permanents.
1 Krosan Grip
1 Firespout
2 Ancient Grudge—I wouldn't mind finding room for a 3rd copy of this card as an anti-Ravager slot in addition to being good vs. Stax and co.
2 Calming Verse—under the latest rules (no mana burn) this is truly a one sided Tranquility. Quite good against Enchantress, Stax, and theoretically playable vs. CounterTop since they have only Sower as a 4cc card (again, CounterTop is still basically unbeatable with this current list; black is needed to overcome the deficit). Smart Stax players will sideboard out their Ghostly Prisons for Aura of Silence and this takes care of that threat nicely. Another card I wouldn't mind having 3 of.
2 Thornling—contrary to the impression the original list may leave viewers with, this deck is less dependent upon graveyard recursion than one might expect. You'll still have the Exploration/Horn engine and any fetch land brings Crucible online. You can take out your Terravores for Thornlings and 2 other cards and make as a surprise transformation. Thornlings are quite good with oodles and oodles of mana, and again, can be used in conjunction with Drop for a one sided Abyss in the late game. I don't like that this transformation makes the deck more vulnerable to Swords though. Thoughtseize/Duress/Raven's Crime helps, but the only way to stop targeted spell removal for sure would be counter magic or shroud effects, i.e., Dense Foliage/Lightning Greaves. I don't really see there being room for the latter in the current incarnation of the deck.
And now, briefly, a rundown of the match ups based on my testing thus far.
MonoW/RW/GW Stax—this is a tough match to lose. They have no disruption to shut down your draw engine game one. You can hardly count on it but if you're lucky enough to draw or mill them in the mid to late game, Worms makes Smokestack obsolete. Game two they'll be bringing in Tormod's Cryps etc. while you bring in Thornlings. I've been keeping in 2 Terravores simply because even after multiple Relic/Crypts, they frequently grow quickly to 5/5. Take out your Drops and Firespouts, obviously, as they are useless, and bring in Calming Verse and Krosan Grip/Ancient Grudge. Ravenous Trap is devastating vs. Second Sunrise and also gives opposing Crucibles a hard time occasionally, though perhaps it is too inflexible a card to warrant bringing in more than one copy. I brought one in as an experiment and it was pretty good, but I'm not sure. Overall this match up is heavily in your favor as Calming Verse destroys Oblivion Ring/Aura of Silence/Ghostly Prison and you have artifact destruction for Smokestack/Crucible.
Zoo—There might be some debate over what exactly is a Zoo deck. I am referring specifically to decks with Kird Apes, Tarmogoyfs, Grim Lavamancers, Wild Nacatl, and occasionally Watchwolf, plus burn. Firespout/Drop make it tough for them to keep a creature on the board. Terravore is usually a 6/6 or so by turn 4 simply from fetches on both sides, so you can block Goyfs with ease and then eventually get a second Terravore/Worms/Gigapede to and go on the offensive. The only real risk is being burned out via the triple-bolt-effect-plus Fireblast, and it can happen. Originally I had a single Zuran Orb main deck to combat this but it was pretty useless against non-burn decks so I removed it.
Eva Green/Heavy Black discard—Game one is tough simply because they can disrupt you with discard then drop critters and use Vindicate/Maelstrom Pulse on Drop of Honey. The real threat is Tombstalker which you have no way of removing unless you topdeck a Drop. Game two, with Compost, I am 40/60 or so in testing so far. Still a tough match up but winnable, especially if you can just get a huge Terravore into play and force them onto the defensive after they've wasted a removal spell (Vindicate/Maelstrom) on an engine piece. It happens more than you might think. Overall though, I feel a heavy overhaul is needed. Life can be very good game one, btw, since they have no way of dealing with it other than to just drop a Tombstalker and kill you.
Elf Beatdown—in my opinion this is one of the worst decks you can play in Legacy since it has no disruption or way of stunting the opponent's development. You are just trying to overwhelm people and while it can happen, eh, Firespout just kills Elves. Caller of the Claw is a concern, I guess. Overall I've been having a hard time testing vs. Elves since most Elf players in MWS quit immediately after losing or even winning game one (no clue why; this happens with other decks/players, obviously. I just see it mostly with Elves).
Canadian Threshold—Stifle is usually a 1 mana instant speed Stone Rain. Drop's slowness allows them to get in good damage with Goyfs and Mongeese. Firespout doesn't kill Goyf. Really, a tough match up. If I knew more about how the deck plays I'd have a better idea of what to bring in against it but I've seen a lot of disparity in lists and haven't run into it very often.
If you don't see a deck up there, I haven't tested against it yet. I'll try to update this thread when I get the chance, if anyone is interested.
Well, I put a lot of effort into making this post. Any advice is appreciated.
Specifically, I would like to find room to add black and get some help with the mana base on a 3 color version. I just hope no one will respond with a single sentence to the effect of "Hey, just go play Eternal Garden instead, it's basically the same deck."