Recommending just one deck for keeps

[kazu000]

Hi people,I have not been playing mtg for as much as I wanted to because of other issues in life. There have not been enough tournaments around my area to keep my interest going much also.

With that in mind,I would like to ask for recommendations on a deck to keep such that I can pimp it and take it out to play in a tournament whenever I feel like playing. My question is,what would be the safest deck choice to keep? As in,most likely to not suffer too much from future bannings,changing its deck shell by a lot and being decent throughout?

1. Would like a blue deck recommendation if possible.I do like playing aggro-control or slightly more to the control decks side.

Thanks!

[luckme10]

Merfolk is my hibernation deck of choice. It never really goes away. The cards that aren't legacy staples are relatively cheap.

[Einherjer]

But Merrow is AGGRO-CONTROL at its best, If I had enough money Id try Team America

[dahcmai]

I'd have to side with Merfolk also. It's an impressive aggro control deck that isn't likely to get better critters or get accidental wizards hate either.

[hyc8028]

Merfolk. With MM and Dismember, it seem like it is going to be a contender for a while.

[jamesh]

Merfolk is soooooooooooo boring - who wants to play this deck forever.
Why not bant, the build may vary a bit and it won't always be the absolute best deck, but it's fun and is flexible enough to have a long future.

[god_campbell]

BUG landstill, because its such an awesome deck.

But ya, Merfolk is prob your best bet, as it will contain your playset of fows and wastes and the cards in it are not likely to be obsoleted by new cards.

[Taurelin]

Solidarity (more classy) or Spiral Tide (stronger).

Pros:
Both are mono-blue.
New editions hardly ever bring relevant new cards.
Both are combo-decks that can ignore the meta.
Both are relatively cheap, with the more expensive cards being staples (FOW, fetchlands) that will maintain their value.
Both are extremely fun to play.
You can even play Solitaire vs the Goldfish whenever you feel like.

[Purgatory]

Merfolk is soooooooooooo boring - who wants to play this deck forever.

Looks like someone has been beaten by blue lords one time too many, 'eh? ;)

In all seriousness, my money's on Merfolk too, it is right now seriously powerful, it can, depending on your opponent, play both the aggro and control roles fairly well, and I find the newer lists wth Misstep and Dismember to be great fun to play, since you can almost always react to your opponent's actions, even while tapped out and Merfolk will often come out on top. It can deal with the tempo loss from Daze a lot better than Team America (the other deck I've been playing a lot lately), because of Vial.

All this said, the only really expensive cards are FoWs and Wastelands and to an extent Vials, and they are all staples, and they are unlikely to drop in price (unless banned, obv). The rest of the deck is fairly cheap, and it's not too difficult to play though some of the more subtler aspects of it will take some time (like, when to keep a counter or a Dismember, for example). There's more to it than just vialing in Lords EOT.

[kazu000]

Thanks for all the inputs! Seems like almost everyone is recommending merfolk. With regards to cost of any deck I want to form, it is no problem for me since I have pimp versions of all the staples but I only want to keep one deck. Tournaments around my area tend to attract only 20-30 people per month and merfolk used to be very popular because of its relatively low cost until everyone started boarding in lots of hate for the merfolk decks. Well,guess I would just play merfolk once every few months when I feel like it then.

[I am the brainwasher]

Another option for you might be Canadian Threshold.
There are just a handful of decks where the whole 75 hasnt changed much since it was created and its one of the decks that was, is and will be competetive, regardless of what your meta looks like and rewards work/time you put in it very much.
Besides that it includes some of the most iconic cards from Legacy and looks amazing when you got it pimped. None of the cards will loose value (besides Goyf, however it wont become cheaper than 42$ IMO) and you arent as vulnerable as with Merfolk to some decks/strategies. Right now it is very hard to compete in the upper ranks with it, but that may change and is possible if pilot it well.
Another point is that you have a choice which cards artwork you like the most, (Fire/Ice, Ponder, Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt etc.) an option Merfolk doesnt offer that much (the alternate Art of Reej is for the bin, Aether Vial isnt much impressive either).
I cant think of decks where you benefit from as a longtime-player as much as CAN Thresh and you have equal chances in an open meta. Seems like the plan to me because its also Aggro-Control and doesnt have such a hard time in front of Zoo and Stoneforgedecks.
GL with your choice, I can really see myself at the same point in the near future.
Greetings!

[Ozymandias]

Dredge. I've literally changed the maindeck 3 cards from when it was an Extended nightmare, and I only changed the sideboard so I could get Firestorm, etc. in there.

[dahcmai]

Well, if you have enough staples to pull it off, just keep enough cards for BUG Landstill and enough to convert it over to UW Landstill. It's rarely bad and you can always adjust over the years to counteract just about anything. Plus, it makes you a damned good player while you play control through the tide of even when control isn't all that great.

On top of that, it's guaranteed to retain value and do nothing but raise price later.

[Admiral_Arzar]

If you like Blue Aggro-Control, you can just put together all the cards necessary to make Canadian Thresh, Dark Tempo, and Team America and call it good. Maybe add in the Merfolk stuff as it's just cheap creatures mostly.

For me (I like storm) I would just set aside all the cards for ANT, TES, and DDFT as they share a lot, and be done. It all depends on what you enjoy most, because that's what you're going to want to go back to time and time again.

[Admiral_Arzar]

If you like Blue Aggro-Control, you can just put together all the cards necessary to make Canadian Thresh, Dark Tempo, and Team America and call it good. Maybe add in the Merfolk stuff as it's just cheap creatures mostly.

For me (I like storm) I would just set aside all the cards for ANT, TES, and DDFT as they share a lot, and be done. It all depends on what you enjoy most, because that's what you're going to want to go back to time and time again.

[CorpT]

What Admiral said. Don't limit yourself to just the cards for one particular deck as you may need to change some things around. Keep a deckstyle worth of cards so that you can make small adjustments and adapt. This is also how I recommend people get into Legacy. Start with a simple Zoo list and start expanding into Bant, then into Canadian Thresh sort of decks. If you keep a few extra cards, you can give yourself a lot more options while still getting rid of most of your cards.

[spartan117]

Another option for you might be Canadian Threshold.
There are just a handful of decks where the whole 75 hasnt changed much since it was created and its one of the decks that was, is and will be competetive, regardless of what your meta looks like and rewards work/time you put in it very much.
Besides that it includes some of the most iconic cards from Legacy and looks amazing when you got it pimped. None of the cards will loose value (besides Goyf, however it wont become cheaper than 42$ IMO) and you arent as vulnerable as with Merfolk to some decks/strategies. Right now it is very hard to compete in the upper ranks with it, but that may change and is possible if pilot it well.
Another point is that you have a choice which cards artwork you like the most, (Fire/Ice, Ponder, Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt etc.) an option Merfolk doesnt offer that much (the alternate Art of Reej is for the bin, Aether Vial isnt much impressive either).
I cant think of decks where you benefit from as a longtime-player as much as CAN Thresh and you have equal chances in an open meta. Seems like the plan to me because its also Aggro-Control and doesnt have such a hard time in front of Zoo and Stoneforgedecks.
GL with your choice, I can really see myself at the same point in the near future.
Greetings!

I agree 100% with this guy.
If there's a deck outside there that could stay competitive for the years to come, it surely is canadian threshold.

[lorddotm]

I agree 100% with this guy.
If there's a deck outside there that could stay competitive for the years to come, it surely is canadian threshold.

Can Thresh is dead. Mental Misstep killed it.

[spartan117]

Mental Misstep is played basically by blue decks only, which are still an even-positive MU. I agree that stifle lost some of its original power, but the deck slightly improved its MUs against zoo and maverick thanks to Mental Misstep itself because of the option to counter an early manadork or nacatl without putting yourself behind when playing wasteland or bolting the hierarch.

I do still understand what you mean when someone simply missteps your stifle and you are unable to counter back...

[Piceli89]

Can Thresh is dead. Mental Misstep killed it.

Some would say that Mental Misstep has killed Ad Nauseam Tendrils and Spiral Tide more than Canadian Threshold. You should know that all have received a hit, but are still good choices.

[troopatroop]

Can Thresh is dead. Mental Misstep killed it.

Where Canadian Thresh died, Blue Zoo rose from it's ashes. Helloooo, Grim Lavamancer! ;)

Play Blue Zoo.... Somebody! :P

[lorddotm]

Some would say that Mental Misstep has killed Ad Nauseam Tendrils and Spiral Tide more than Canadian Threshold. You should know that all have received a hit, but are still good choices.

Dave Caplan has said that it is unplayable now.

ANT and Spiral Tide have fiends that play the decks, so it doesn't matter what is printed since fiends will still play Storm.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

You will not be able to build a deck that is never obsolete or requires upgrades. I would recommend starting with a blue-white-green aggro-control deck utilizing Goyfs, Brainstorms, StPs and Forces as a starting base and with some other cards as you feel like tinkering with, as such a deck will require relatively modest changes over the time; any single card being banned or obsoleted will leave the rest intact and still quite playable, whereas Merfolk will sink or swim, as it were, as an entire deck, more or less.

[bruizar]

Something with jaces and fows. Please don't build merfolk. It's a one-sided deck that only puts up good finishes because of tournament attendance.

[Tacosnape]

I'd build BW Confidant or Bant Aggro. The changes these two decks will require over time to stay competitive will be minimal. They are decks whose true core cards and strategies are in very little to no danger of becoming obsolete.

[Dark Ritual]

...How is Can Thresh obsoleted by misstep? Canadian thresh itself runs mental misstep since misstep is great in tempo decks like Can Thresh. The deck is just very hard to pilot but if you're a talented Can Thresh player you can always put up results same with storm same with any deck as long as the premise of the deck isn't pure shit. Can Thresh is quite a solid metacall ATM to take on merfolk since properly built can thresh should smash merfolk. Just play grim lavamancer and boom the merfolk MU improves a lot.

[troopatroop]

...How is Can Thresh obsoleted by misstep? Canadian thresh itself runs mental misstep since misstep is great in tempo decks like Can Thresh. The deck is just very hard to pilot but if you're a talented Can Thresh player you can always put up results same with storm same with any deck as long as the premise of the deck isn't pure shit. Can Thresh is quite a solid metacall ATM to take on merfolk since properly built can thresh should smash merfolk. Just play grim lavamancer and boom the merfolk MU improves a lot.

Nimble Mongoose just loves playing with Grim Lavamancer...