Finding a deck

[The_Red_Panda]

I've been playing legacy for quite some time now, and I've built up a fairly large repertoire of decks. In the past I've played, and still have the cards for:

Tempo Thresh
UGW Countertop Thresh
Aggro Loam
Astral Slide.Dec
Survival Elves
Loam Control
Dreadstill
43Land
Rock Variants (Survival/NOprog/Bob/ect)
5c Eternal Garden


In all of these decks, however, I've yet to find one that actually does what I want it to do, which is essentially:

1) I want the deck to be somewhat resilient to graveyard hate. This doesn't mean that I can't run Loam. I love Loam. Like a child. I just don't want to auto-scoop to all of the Ichorid hate that's running through everyone's sideboards.

2) I don't want the deck to be too "All-in". This is the feeling I got when I was playing Dreadstill, and I ran a Nought into Pridemage. All-in is bad.

3) I want some kind of draw engine, meaning that I don't want to have turns where I draw a Trop, look at my board, and then pass the turn. The deck should do things on my turn.

4) I don't want to go to the draw bracket in the first round. This one's a little flexible, however.

5) I don't want to scoop to combo. I don't have to have a 90% win ratio, but I don't want to be making myself a sandwich every time someone plays tendrils.

With this in mind, does anyone have a suggestion as to what I should be playing next? I'm coming here because every time I go to build a deck, I consistently run into problems, and/or start to dislike the deck, take it apart and then start from scratch.

[jimirynk]

Lands
1 Island
2 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
4 Tropical Island
2 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest

// Creatures
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Rhox War Monk
1 Progenitus
3 Wall of Roots

// Spells
3 Firespout
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
4 Counterbalance
3 Natural Order

Sideboard
2 Krosan Grip
1 Trygon Predator
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Thwart
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Cryptic Command
3 Hydroblast

[FoulQ]

I agree with jimirynk. Some kind of bant thing fits all those conditions pretty well, probably with countertop and progenitus. You could add survival and play bant survival (don't know if people really play NO in that deck?) if you want to have a stronger draw engine than just top/brainstorm/fetches.

[4eak]

I'm not sure what you mean by "draw engine". If you consider cantrips/tops to be a draw engine (selection, but not necessarily raw CA), then Thresh decks seem to meet your criteria (although you've claimed they don't). They are always "doing things" during turns. Counterbalance itself should be viewed as a card advantage engine. Dark Confidant is sometimes splashed (although, it can be less useful against Zoo sometimes).

Merfolk also meets that criteria.




peace,
4eak

[The_Red_Panda]

When I said "Draw engine" I was referring to raw card advantage, not the selection provided by brainstorm or ponder. Something more akin to loam for three cards, or standstill/fact-or-fiction would be more in line with what I'm thinking of.

Merfolk is something I've considered, but I'm not too drawn to it.

[Forbiddian]

NoGoyf.


I'm not really sure what you mean by, 'I don't want to go all in.' Part of Magic is quantifying risk and reward and then acting to maximize your profits. I can see being averted to e.g. Belcher, but Dreadstill?

If you consider being out two cards and 1U for him being out 1 card and 1WG "all in" I really don't think there are any decks out there that you will be happy with.

[The_Red_Panda]

No all-in meant that I didn't want to open myself up for unnecessary 2-for-ones that are going to happen every game. That basically just means don't tell me to dump all my energy into one threat and protect it.

[Galroth]

I think many of the various Survival builds fit what you're looking for. I'd recommend taking a look into Bant Survival. A lot of the classic Survival Builds may also fit the bill.


http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13478

I see that you listed Survival Elves as one of your previous decks; so hopefully my suggestion isn't completely off base.

[Sevryn]

Merfolk seems pretty fitting. Good draw with Standstill, decent anti-combo with Force of Will and Cursecatcher, no graveyard reliance.

EDIT: for the record, "my deck" is Enchantress, but it loses massively to combo so I didn't mention it.

[Maveric78f]

As everybody proposes his own deck I'll propose also not mine but one I've played a lot and for which I've just made a primer: Bant Loam.
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16138

Its only weakness among the criteria you've enumerated is the folding to combo. A good tendrils player should win 80% of its matches (meaning something like 1/3 of the games) against Bant Loam, if he knows the list. You can reach an even MU against an average Tendrils player that does not know Bant Loam.

You can also adapt the commonly accepted Bant Loam build to make it more resilient against combo (but probably weaker against the remaining of the metagame), as I did in this list:


// Lands
4 [R] Tropical Island
1 [R] Tundra
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
3 [TE] Wasteland
1 [DK] Maze of Ith
1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 [ON] Tranquil Thicket
2 [R] Savannah
1 [9E] Forest (3)
1 [US] Gaea's Cradle
3 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest

// Creatures
4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
2 [MOR] Vendilion Clique
3 [FUT] Aven Mindcensor

// Spells
3 [SH] Mox Diamond
4 [R] Swords to Plowshares
2 [RAV] Life from the Loam
2 [TE] Intuition
1 [EVE] Worm Harvest
3 [ZEN] Spell Pierce

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [DK] Maze of Ith
SB: 4 [PS] Meddling Mage
SB: 2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [CS] Jotun Grunt
SB: 2 [ARC] Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 1 [UL] Crop Rotation
SB: 1 [CHK] Ghostly Prison
SB: 1 [TE] Propaganda
SB: 1 [5E] Hydroblast

[johanessen]

I also thought Bant Loam. You could try a version w/o Mox Diamond and add some Counterspells, like Old Control Loam but playing Bant Beaters

[Cyrus]

You could even play goblins, with a SB tuned for the combo matchups (which doesn't demand that many slots). Goblins has a draw engine in Matron, Ringleader and such.

[Goaswerfraiejen]

Although it's a more uncertain choice (since only three or four people seem to play it), you could always pick up UGB Intuition-Aggro Control (links in my signature). Just thought I'd mention it, since it was pet-deck naming time.


I would also point to Merfolk, which seems like it just about fits all of your criteria, and it's a blast to play. Relatively cheap, too!

[Kanabo]

Maybe Team America? though it is a weak against graveyard hate, but thats why we run stifles =]

[The_Red_Panda]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I've looked into a few of the decks you mentioned, and hopefully one of them is what I'm looking for.

[Kuma]

1) I want the deck to be somewhat resilient to graveyard hate. This doesn't mean that I can't run Loam. I love Loam. Like a child. I just don't want to auto-scoop to all of the Ichorid hate that's running through everyone's sideboards.

Bant Survival is hurt by graveyard hate, but it's not even close to an auto-scoop. You can just keep playing solid creatures until you win if your Squee gets removed.


2) I don't want the deck to be too "All-in". This is the feeling I got when I was playing Dreadstill, and I ran a Nought into Pridemage. All-in is bad.

Bant Survival doesn't need any one card or combo to win the game.


3) I want some kind of draw engine, meaning that I don't want to have turns where I draw a Trop, look at my board, and then pass the turn. The deck should do things on my turn.

Survival + Squee + Genesis is a pretty good draw engine.


4) I don't want to go to the draw bracket in the first round. This one's a little flexible, however.

Draws are pretty rare with Bant Survival.


5) I don't want to scoop to combo. I don't have to have a 90% win ratio, but I don't want to be making myself a sandwich every time someone plays tendrils.

Bant Survival doesn't have an amazing combo matchup, but between Force of Will, Loyal Retainers/Iona, and some combination of Spell Snare, Spell Pierce, Spellstutter Sprite, and Vendilion Clique, it doesn't auto-lose to combo by any stretch of the imagination.