[Deck] Hentai (Dark Depths / Emrakul Combo)

[Kich867]

I've seen a handful of DD decks that just didn't seem that stellar. This one probably isn't either, but I'm wondering if the list has some merit to it. After playing Nic Fit for awhile I've wondered what other useful archetypes you can cram Explorer into, and the idea I had was a dark depths combo.

So, to start, some obvious necessities:

4x Vampire Hexmage
2-4x Dark Depths (I prefer 2)
4x Crop Rotation

That's the core of the combo.

Things I want to add:

4x Veteran Explorer
4x Cabal Therapy
2x Phyrexian Tower
1x Volrath's Stronghold
Lots of Basics

So at this point, the idea is simple. You ramp up to 4+ lands pretty quickly, this lets you realistically use Crop Rotation without fear of getting totally hosed (Life from the Loam plays a part here). It gives you flexibility and allows you to actually play all the shit you need to play, you don't care much about what the other person is doing because you're namely just trying to bomb their hand of removal / counters.

I'll just drop the list now and talk about what else I added to it: The deck's name is Hentai, a word synonymous with tentacles.

# Update 1 #
- Messed with the land to incorporate a Dryad Arbor.

# Update 2 #
- Dropped Liliana for Birds of Paradise

# Update 3 #
- Dropped Life from the Loam to fill out creature slots, without a way to abuse a Loam engine I saw no real need for it, it was very slow for what it did.
- Added 1 Birds, Fauna Shaman, and an Eternal Witness.
- Dropped Maze of Ith for another basic.
- Added Inquisitions of Kozilek for more discard.

Creatures: 17
3x Vampire Hexmage
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Veteran Explorer
4x Fauna Shaman
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Eternal Witness

Spells: 19
4x Duress
4x Cabal Therapy
3x Pattern of Rebirth
4x Crop Rotation
2x Living Wish
2x Inquisition of Kozilek

Artifacts: 3
3x Sensei's Divining Top

Lands: 21
2x Bayou
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Dark Depths
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Polluted Delta
4x Swamp
3x Forest

Major Factors:

- Veteran Explorer sac engine. This gives an absurd amount of mana and lands to work with. The lands are key here, you need to be able to crop rotate without fear of it being countered, so losing a land isn't the worst thing ever. Ideally, you'll be duressing / therapying before you drop it.

- Duress / Therapy. In general, these will be looking for swords to plowshare, otherwise, you're just getting counters out of their hand, or stifles or something.

- Pattern of Rebirth / Emrakul. Honestly, the sheer prospect of dropping Pattern of Rebith on a Vampire Hexmage and unleashing literally 2 of the 3 biggest badasses to ever walk the planes (Nicol Bolas died or some bullshit right?) is too interesting to pass up. And.. you know, the whole Veteran Explorer thing makes this no big deal. Liliana and Fauna Shaman help put him back in the yard if he's in your hand. Top's get around that too.

- Vampire Hexmage / Dark Depths. The namesake of the deck which I happily noticed is abbreviated "ADD". The nifty thing in this whole situation is that Hexmage is just an abusively powerful card...so long as you also run the Dark Depths with it. It auto-kills planeswalkers and is surprisingly good at blocking <shit in general>.

- Crop Rotation / Utility Lands. Let me know if there's any more utility lands I should pick up.

And that's pretty much the deck. Liliana feels sketchy, what with the deck not having any real removal, I could see her being replaced by something else.. like, either removal or more discard, or maybe even Unearth's. I'm not totally sure yet, Liliana seemed like a decent midpoint there, it's removal if I absolutely need it, it's discard to get emrakul back in the yard or just pressure their hand, it's an obvious counter-magnet, and for games that end up going long it's going to get a lot of mileage on her +1, LFTL makes it pretty much a nonissue on my side.

Optimal lines of play would be some variant of Nic Fit style ramp, EOT on their turn 2 rotate for dark depths and hexmage it then kill them on turn 3. Or, more realistically, blow up their hand of Swords / Counters and then.. you know.. do the nic fit ramp thing and unleash Cthulu or whatever.

*Note* I don't have a sideboard hammered out yet, I may include more Living Wishes (peace out Liliana) and have a very techy-side board with it, I'm not totally sure yet, but I do like it's inclusion and feel that it's correct. In fact, given the ramp of the deck, it could essentially just have most of the beaters of Nic Fit put in the side amongst an extra Hex Mage / Depths / Maze in there. That doesn't sound half bad. And then the standard "stop doing graveyard shenanigans" and "stop comboing" stuff.

[Darkenslight]

Why go for the Emmy when you can just get BSC? Because Pattern doesn't cast the creature, you don't get ther extra turn. With Pattern on Hex and DD out, you can basically play 'Pick your poison' turn 4: die from Poison or die to lethal damage.

Just an alternative to think about.

[Viridia]

Emrakul can't be StP'd incase they topdeck it ;)

[Asthereal]

There are two other quick unfair sneak-nasty-creature-into-play options:
- Buried Alive + Vengevines
- Natural Order + Progenitus
Both seem very interesting and deserve a closer look.

Let's do pro's and con's:

1. Pattern of Rebirth.
+ Gets the best dude out there (Emrakul)
+ The dude you get has evasion and pretty good protection from stuff
- Requires a sac-effect, so two card combo
- Enchantments can be destroyed
- Stifleable
- Having Emra in hand is awkward

2. Dark Depths.
+ One turn clock
- Two card combo
- Dies to Plowshares/Paths
- Stifleable
- Depths is Wasteable
- Combo pieces are rather bad without eachother

3. Natural Order.
+ Given you play enough green creatures, it's a one card combo
+ Proggy has awesome protection and good evasion
- None, really. Oh wait, there is one: having Proggy in hand is awkward

4. Buried Alive + Vengevines
+ The cheapest, at three mana setup
+ Hard to counter (only stopping Buried will do)
+ Quick clock (since Vengies have haste)
- Requires playing two creatures, which is not hard, but you need to play enough
- Graveyard-dependant (so after sideboarding, it gets rather vulnerable - perhaps you need to board it out often)
-Vengies have no evasion or protection (on the other hand you do get three at once, so that does compensate)

If I look at these stats, I must conclude you need to lose the Depths combo and choose between the other three options. :wink:

[Darkenslight]

Emrakul can't be StP'd incase they topdeck it ;)

Yup, but that can be said of the token as well. You ideally want two fat bastards in play, and Marit Lage, and one of Emrakul and BSC seem like the biggest turnaround. I'd be willing to say one of each seems like a really strong plan.

[Kich867]

Buried Alive vengevine isn't going to work, as I don't run enough creatures to do it and can't afford that many slots. Natural Order Progenitus won't do because I run.. 10 creatures not counting emrakul.

What does BSC stand for?

Why do I want 2 big bastards in play again? Marit Lage.. kills them. And Emrakul basically kills them. The token can be STP'd but that's what the mass discard is for. And if they do STP it, I can just slowroll into another combo setup. Or get Emrakul.

I won't be dropping the Dark Depths combo from the deck. You forgot to mention that the entire thing occurs at instant speed unlike the other two you mentioned, and that the only actually worthwhile combo that you brought up is NO/Prog, which I addressed. I don't run enough green creatures and I'm certainly not going to run Progenitus. I mentioned in the OP that the only actual flex spots are Liliana's, and I don't think adding 2 NO's and a Prog will be particularly beneficial. Pattern of rebirth is harder to use, for sure, but it's effects are more powerful and it fits with the theme of the deck.

The only change I'll be doing since reviewing my list for now is dropping a forest for a Dryad Arbor. With 2 towers, 4 hexmages, 4 therapies, 3 liliana's, and the ability to tutor a tower at will I honestly don't see finding a sac outlet particularly difficult.

[HokusSchmokus]

I believe they mean Blightsteelcollossus.
Which actually isn't the worst idea, but I'm not quite sure about it.

Your deck in general(the concept) is extremely interesting though, and I think I will give it a shot in the near future

[Kich867]

I believe they mean Blightsteelcollossus.
Which actually isn't the worst idea, but I'm not quite sure about it.

Your deck in general(the concept) is extremely interesting though, and I think I will give it a shot in the near future

I genuinely don't get why someone would get Blightsteel Colossus over Emrakul given the chance. Emrakul can't be removed by spells and while they don't "die" when he hits them they sure as hell aren't exactly "alive" either.

And thank you, the more I think about it the more I like it, I'll need to assemble some pieces and start testing, I was planning on investing in some pieces of Nic Fit but now I'm thinking I may just get this--there's an odd satisfaction playing a deck you personally built haha.

Also, to address stifle: one deck runs it and I'm not that worried about it. Against RUG the only thing I need to name / aim for with cabals and duresses are stifles.

[NeoTech]

I think Fauna Shaman is less than impressive in this deck. With only 11 creatures you might as well run Grizzly Bears in her place, especially since you want to cast the creatures that you do run... I would probably suggest the following:

-1 Vampire Hexmage (Move to SB)
-3 Fauna Shaman

+1 Living Wish
+3 Surgical Extraction / Ranger's Guile

Ranger's Guile is added protection for your Dark Depths creature or Vampire Hexmage, but I couldn't decide if it would be better over maindeck Surgical Extractions....
Not sure, but I think either would be more useful than Fauna Shaman, Unfortunatly this makes Pattern of Rebirth less effective, so maybe do -3 Pattern, +3 Worldly Tutor?

[Kich867]

I think Fauna Shaman is less than impressive in this deck. With only 11 creatures you might as well run Grizzly Bears in her place, especially since you want to cast the creatures that you do run... I would probably suggest the following:

-1 Vampire Hexmage (Move to SB)
-3 Fauna Shaman

+1 Living Wish
+3 Surgical Extraction / Ranger's Guile

Ranger's Guile is added protection for your Dark Depths creature or Vampire Hexmage, but I couldn't decide if it would be better over maindeck Surgical Extractions....
Not sure, but I think either would be more useful than Fauna Shaman, Unfortunatly this makes Pattern of Rebirth less effective, so maybe do -3 Pattern, +3 Worldly Tutor?

There is already a hexmage and dark depths in the side (mentioned in the OP, if I'm not mistaken) so I don't know why I would further decrease their number.

Fauna Shaman's function is vital to the deck; it is an outlet to discard emrakul and it's a way to find hexmages if need be. Furthermore, the alternatives you mentioned are unusable: what purpose does Surgical Extraction actually serve, why do I want Ranger's Guile just for Marit Lage?

Furthermore, you're suggesting I get rid of Pattern and put in Worldly Tutor--what does Worldly Tutor even do here? I genuinely don't get why I would cast that spell in this deck..

Note that if I need a creature, I can volrath's stronghold one into my hand.

I'm not really jiving or understanding these "Well why don't you just take out everything that makes your deck good and put in a bunch of bad stuff" suggestions.

I think I've made it fairly clear that really, the only flex spots here are Liliana of the Veil, everything else is in some form of ideal numbers and you'd need a rather good reason to change anything in it..

There's a strong argument for dropping Lilly's for Birds of Paradise. They serve as another creature, upping the count to 14, and further my ability to go kill them on turn 3. If I know they aren't packing swords or if they tap out I can EOT crop rotate and sac hexmage to kill them.

[Ppa0]

I agree with NeoTech on that Fauna Shaman is very weak here and that Living Wish has a potential. What I would like you to consider is something like this deck did;

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=966282

It is a control based deck but just look at the card choices and how interesting/versatile it they are. Specially the Entombs which can fetch you exactly what you need. Also what you can do is since you want to run Emrakul is to play Goryo's Vengeance. Yes you need 3 cards to get Emmy into play but still its pretty good IMO.

[Kich867]

I agree with NeoTech on that Fauna Shaman is very weak here and that Living Wish has a potential. What I would like you to consider is something like this deck did;

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=966282

It is a control based deck but just look at the card choices and how interesting/versatile it they are. Specially the Entombs which can fetch you exactly what you need. Also what you can do is since you want to run Emrakul is to play Goryo's Vengeance. Yes you need 3 cards to get Emmy into play but still its pretty good IMO.

I don't really see how Fauna Shaman is that weak, it's a tutor and discard outlet, if they want to remove her, by all means. Furthermore, it's another creature to put a pattern on and sac to Phyrexian Tower (which I can tutor..).

What exactly am I going to do with Entomb's? Fetch a hexmage then volrath's stronghold it into my hand?

That doesn't seem more complicated and mana intensive than just fauna shamaning it into my hand discarding a birds or explorer or another shaman or emrakul? Goryo's vengeance seems incredibly gimmicky and has virtually no other interaction in the deck.

Fauna shaman can block, it can eat removal, it tutors my win conditions, and it's a creature to sac for Pattern. I see virtually no downside in what this deck is trying to do. It does, almost literally, everything I could want in a card. Perhaps the intention of the deck wasn't clear enough in the OP?

I could almost see myself dropping a top for another wish, but let's be real here, shit often doesn't work out how it's supposed to. The top is vital to the deck winning. In longer games it just shits on jace's fateseal and it can cantrip for powerful EOT plays.

Living Wish certainly does have potential--I currently have them in the deck. This isn't a goodstuff deck though, you can't just throw cards at it. I mean, the suggestions so far? Blightsteel Colossus, Goryo's Vengeance, Surgical Extraction, Worldly Tutor, Buried Alive, Vengevine? What do any of these do to further the synergy and goal of the deck, why am I wasting mana on buried alive? What would half of these cards even realistically do in the deck? BA/VV doesn't fit here, I don't run enough creatures. BSC is completely irrelevant. Goryu's Vengeance is awful. Surgical Extraction. Worldly Tutor.

None of these things further the goal of the deck; abuse Veteran Explorer's ramp to abuse Crop Rotation and Fauna Shaman to fetch necessary win conditions. Pattern is strictly a backup win condition but it's perfectly alright. It's better than Natural Order because Progenitus is not as good as Emrakul. People can race Progenitus. Nothing races Emrakul.

Furthermore the deck's strength lies in the fact that this all occurs at instant speed at the end of my opponent's turn. Buried Alive Vengevine gives them like 3 turns to deal with it or prepare for it and I happen to need enough shit to play to recur them. Natural Order is a sorcery and can only grab Prog.

[NeoTech]

There is already a hexmage and dark depths in the side (mentioned in the OP, if I'm not mistaken) so I don't know why I would further decrease their number.

Your Origional Post had all 4 Vampire Hexmages in the main.


Fauna Shaman's function is vital to the deck; it is an outlet to discard emrakul and it's a way to find hexmages if need be. Furthermore, the alternatives you mentioned are unusable: what purpose does Surgical Extraction actually serve, why do I want Ranger's Guile just for Marit Lage?

Vital? If it is so vital you would have been at more than 11 creatures to begin with. If Emrkaul is your only reason, there are better alternatives to ditch him and better ways to get Hexmage.


Furthermore, you're suggesting I get rid of Pattern and put in Worldly Tutor--what does Worldly Tutor even do here? I genuinely don't get why I would cast that spell in this deck..

Reason why this is suggested: Its faster to get Hexmage. OK, so I breifly forgot that you want to get an Emrakul as well, but again 11 creatures for Pattern is low.


Note that if I need a creature, I can volrath's stronghold one into my hand.

I'm not really jiving or understanding these "Well why don't you just take out everything that makes your deck good and put in a bunch of bad stuff" suggestions.

I suggest that if you are going to put quotes on something, you make sure you properly quote what was said. Everything I suggested was to improve the protection of your combo, and I have even been testing a list based on everything mentioned in the thread thusfar. The deck can win, but it isn't consistently fast enough to beat many decks yet.

If you are going to shoot down every suggestion somebody has to improve a deck, especially blatant improvements, then don't post the deck, go and figure it out on your own.

[Kich867]

Your Origional Post had all 4 Vampire Hexmages in the main.



Vital? If it is so vital you would have been at more than 11 creatures to begin with. If Emrkaul is your only reason, there are better alternatives to ditch him and better ways to get Hexmage.



Reason why this is suggested: Its faster to get Hexmage. OK, so I breifly forgot that you want to get an Emrakul as well, but again 11 creatures for Pattern is low.



I suggest that if you are going to put quotes on something, you make sure you properly quote what was said. Everything I suggested was to improve the protection of your combo, and I have even been testing a list based on everything mentioned in the thread thusfar. The deck can win, but it isn't consistently fast enough to beat many decks yet.

If you are going to shoot down every suggestion somebody has to improve a deck, especially blatant improvements, then don't post the deck, go and figure it out on your own.

It didn't, it just says at the top that you need four of them, which I have. The only edits I've made to the deck were the inclusion of dryad arbor and birds of paradise...which I brought up as potential alternatives.

So realistically I'm running 15 creatures and with 6 green fetches it feels a lot more like 21 creatures. On top of Volrath's Stronghold to just top deck a creature whenever I need it, on top of top.

This is enough for pattern, and there's enough ways to sacrifice them in order to trigger it. The whole purpose of the deck, is that it can win very fast but doesn't have to. Removing all of the aforementioned cards is trying to make it some streamlined combo list that it isn't. Why would I even bother having Volrath's Stronghold or Life from the Loam if I planned on winning turn 3 every game. The point is that it's resilient, it's durable, and it can repeatedly, turn after turn, try to combo off.

Living Wish even, provides this fantastic method of being able to go into the lategame, by sideboarding cards like Grave Titan, Primeval Titan, Thrun, a wasteland or two, etc.

The point is is that it's flexible. And so far the suggestions have been blunt attempts at making it something that it isn't. There's lots of lines of play, it plays at instant speed, and it generally wins on my untap. Speed isn't something important, it just happens to be there.

I'm not saying this deck hoses everything, nor should it, nor do I care if it does, it was just my idea. I wasn't necessarily looking for people to try to tear the thing apart, I pretty explicitly said that the only slots I feel are flexible are Liliana's, which I no longer think are flexible after making her Birds of Paradise. Tops might be flexible, but they're a little too powerful to ignore in this deck.

Fauna Shaman does what I need her to do, there's no other creature that fetches other creatures. In this deck, for what it needs, there actually is not a better alternative to ditching emrakul. What, putrid imp? That definitely furthers the gameplan.

Cards need to work together, and while there may be a card that fetches hexmages better (sort of?) or a card that discards emrakul better, or a better creature, there aren't many creatures that fetch hexmages and discard emrakul together. Fauna Shaman won't win me every game, or most of them, but she'll do her work just fine.

Pattern is non-negotiable as the deck simply needs another win condition, and it needs those discard effects to ensure that it lands those conditions, so adding in Buried Alive Vengevine takes up too many slots--there's an argument for Natural Order Progenitus there for sure because it requires far fewer slots, but it also requires mostly green creatures and it's a sorcery speed effect for Progenitus--not emrakul, I'd rather have Emrakul and the difference between the two for this deck is pretty negligable. I can crop rotate for a phyrexian tower EOT, I can flashback therapy, I can just sac hexmage targeting anything.

The list is very tight, and I mostly like it the way that it is.

[Darkenslight]

I genuinely don't get why someone would get Blightsteel Colossus over Emrakul given the chance. Emrakul can't be removed by spells and while they don't "die" when he hits them they sure as hell aren't exactly "alive" either.

And thank you, the more I think about it the more I like it, I'll need to assemble some pieces and start testing, I was planning on investing in some pieces of Nic Fit but now I'm thinking I may just get this--there's an odd satisfaction playing a deck you personally built haha.

Also, to address stifle: one deck runs it and I'm not that worried about it. Against RUG the only thing I need to name / aim for with cabals and duresses are stifles.

That's fair enough. But if you're only playing one Emrakul, and it's stuck in hand, then having the second creature (whether it's Blightsteel of Progs) is really not a bad idea. And seeing as those two are the biggest, baddest creatures out there outside of Emmy, I'd suggest that both be tested as an extra for Pattern.

[John Cox]

hex parasite worth a shot?

[Mr. Safety]

I've been toying around with Hex-Depths in a loam/crop rotation build for a little while now. I ended up using Knight of the Reliquary and Terravore (and Wasteland) to take advantage of the synergy gained from the consequences of the combo (losing lands to Rotation) rather than go strictly for the combo. Its janky, but using the loam engine is pretty powerful (wastes, raven's crime, cycle lands).

Someone said that the combo pieces are fairly bad on their own...I disagree. Hexmage has first strike and hoses Jaces and Lili's. Depths is essentially a threat, not a land, It's ok if it needs another piece. Having two conditional threats in a deck isn't bad.

[Asthereal]

What I'm saying is that Depths/Mage is a rather weak combo. It also invites you to play awkward cards like Living Wish. Switch that for Natural Orders and a Proggy, and switch a few Wishes and Crop Rotations for Zenith, Arbor and Goyfs, and we have a very resilient aggrocontrol deck with two ways to combo for a fatty. Sounds quite good from where I'm sitting.

Blightsteel Colossus I think is a very bad idea. One swing with Emrakul always wins the game (annihilator 6 is quite good) and Emrakul has better protection. Blightsteel Colossus gets chumpblocked and then you get hit in the face with Goyf+Knight or an army of critters. And Blightsteel Colossus gets Pathed or Plowed, leaving you with nothing.

[Mr. Safety]

What I'm saying is that Depths/Mage is a rather weak combo. It also invites you to play awkward cards like Living Wish. Switch that for Natural Orders and a Proggy, and switch a few Wishes and Crop Rotations for Zenith, Arbor and Goyfs, and we have a very resilient aggrocontrol deck with two ways to combo for a fatty. Sounds quite good from where I'm sitting.

Blightsteel Colossus I think is a very bad idea. One swing with Emrakul always wins the game (annihilator 6 is quite good) and Emrakul has better protection. Blightsteel Colossus gets chumpblocked and then you get hit in the face with Goyf+Knight or an army of critters. And Blightsteel Colossus gets Pathed or Plowed, leaving you with nothing.

That is why I played threats like Knight and Terravore...if they are shooting StP/Path at those threats then they should be empty of options when Marit Lage makes an appearance. If they get Marit Lage, beat big with Knight/Vore. The disruption should handle some situations and a higher threat density (as you mention) should get you there. Loam allows you to try Hex-Depths again, too...which is why I think Eternal Witness is a gimme in a deck like this so you have a way to recycle hexmages.

[Tombstalker]

I like the concept and I think living wish deserves space here. Also why no GSZ? We all know how good it is and it allows for silver bullets of shaman, bop etc and even sb silver bullet hate and your already playing arbor and explorer. Hell it would be like maverick with a combo element.. scary. Or maybe ive been drinking to heavily idk. Anyway I like it so far.

[Kich867]

I like the concept and I think living wish deserves space here. Also why no GSZ? We all know how good it is and it allows for silver bullets of shaman, bop etc and even sb silver bullet hate and your already playing arbor and explorer. Hell it would be like maverick with a combo element.. scary. Or maybe ive been drinking to heavily idk. Anyway I like it so far.

Living Wish is in the deck, GSZ is replaced by Fauna Shaman because she's more useful to the deck, I don't see a point for silver bullets when I win via an instant-kill swing, and thank you, I like the deck as well.

[Mantis]

I had a very similar idea recently and incorporated some of your concepts and my own thoughts to create this:
4 [MM] Swamp (2)
1 [CS] Dark Depths
3 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 [R] Bayou
4 [ALA] Forest (4)
2 [ON] Polluted Delta
1 [ON] Wooded Foothills
1 [FNM] Cabal Coffers
4 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs

// Creatures
3 [ZEN] Vampire Hexmage
1 [CMD] Scavenging Ooze
4 [WL] Veteran Explorer
1 [M12] Primeval Titan

// Spells
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [FNM] Cabal Therapy
4 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
4 [JU] Living Wish
4 [JGC] Pernicious Deed
1 Acidic Slime or Deranged Hermit
2 [ZEN] Expedition Map

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [CS] Dark Depths
SB: 1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
SB: 1 [FNM] Cabal Coffers
SB: 1 [ZEN] Vampire Hexmage
SB: 1 [M12] Primeval Titan
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 1 [AVR] Griselbrand
SB: 1 [LG] Karakas
SB: 1 [M11] Grave Titan
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 [FUT] Yixlid Jailer

This deck is very far from perfect. The idea is that Hexmage/Depths can be an easy free win that can be searched for in a very consistent way thanks to Living Wish. However there are plenty of answers floating around in the format, so it can be really unreliable. You have 8 discard spells to try and get rid of their answer and if you can't you just build up a ton of lands, nuke the board with Deed and then try and win through searching Primeval Titan and then get a huge boost on mana with Urborg/Coffers and finish the game by either removing the counters of Depths or putting a Griselbrand into play. Not sure about the 2 Expedition Maps, they may be better off being more lands or Diabolic Intent with a singleton Dryad Arbor thrown in.

[Kich867]

I had a very similar idea recently and incorporated some of your concepts and my own thoughts to create this:
4 [MM] Swamp (2)
1 [CS] Dark Depths
3 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 [R] Bayou
4 [ALA] Forest (4)
2 [ON] Polluted Delta
1 [ON] Wooded Foothills
1 [FNM] Cabal Coffers
4 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs

// Creatures
3 [ZEN] Vampire Hexmage
1 [CMD] Scavenging Ooze
4 [WL] Veteran Explorer
1 [M12] Primeval Titan

// Spells
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [FNM] Cabal Therapy
4 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
4 [JU] Living Wish
4 [JGC] Pernicious Deed
1 Acidic Slime or Deranged Hermit
2 [ZEN] Expedition Map

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [CS] Dark Depths
SB: 1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
SB: 1 [FNM] Cabal Coffers
SB: 1 [ZEN] Vampire Hexmage
SB: 1 [M12] Primeval Titan
SB: 4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 1 [AVR] Griselbrand
SB: 1 [LG] Karakas
SB: 1 [M11] Grave Titan
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 [FUT] Yixlid Jailer

This deck is very far from perfect. The idea is that Hexmage/Depths can be an easy free win that can be searched for in a very consistent way thanks to Living Wish. However there are plenty of answers floating around in the format, so it can be really unreliable. You have 8 discard spells to try and get rid of their answer and if you can't you just build up a ton of lands, nuke the board with Deed and then try and win through searching Primeval Titan and then get a huge boost on mana with Urborg/Coffers and finish the game by either removing the counters of Depths or putting a Griselbrand into play. Not sure about the 2 Expedition Maps, they may be better off being more lands or Diabolic Intent with a singleton Dryad Arbor thrown in.

I feel like I should direct you to the Nic Fit thread: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?20983-Deck-Nic-Fit-%28GBW-Explorer-Zenith-Control%29&p=640977#post640977 I get the feeling you'd enjoy the deck as it's similar to what you're doing but a bit more refined.

[Mantis]

I know about Nic Fit, it's pretty much impossible to play Legacy and not know about Nic Fit these days.
I felt like the decks had some striking similarities in that we both play Explorer, Living Wish, Hexmage/Depths, Therapy and the same colors. Between the two threads, this was the right one to post my list in. This is not an attempt to hijack your thread or anything, I was just hoping that maybe with collective brain power we could create something that exceeds both our lists and maybe enjoy some tournament success in the long run.

[Kagehisa]

I'll just drop the list now and talk about what else I added to it: The deck's name is Hentai, a word synonymous with tentacles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hentai

lol

[Kich867]

I know about Nic Fit, it's pretty much impossible to play Legacy and not know about Nic Fit these days.
I felt like the decks had some striking similarities in that we both play Explorer, Living Wish, Hexmage/Depths, Therapy and the same colors. Between the two threads, this was the right one to post my list in. This is not an attempt to hijack your thread or anything, I was just hoping that maybe with collective brain power we could create something that exceeds both our lists and maybe enjoy some tournament success in the long run.

Ah sorry, I didn't see the veteran explorers in the list at first.

[Ppa0]

Mantis I like the deck, I think that maybe incorporating another Cabal Coffers or 2 will easily let you hard cast Emrakul so putting 1 in the sideboard might be really good. That way it will add to the threat count and if it gets bounced by karakas or something else... you can just replay it. I used to run Nic Fit with 2 Urborg, 2 Coffers and 1 Eye of Ugin and 3 Primevals and I could consistently cast Emrakul in reasonable amount of turns.

[Kich867]

On second thought, no, I don't think that list belongs here. I'm not trying to be rude, but look, this thread has actually gotten off track rather quickly.

If your list doesn't contain the following cards it doesn't belong here:

Vampire Hexmage
Dark Depths
Pattern of Rebirth
Emrakul
Veteran Explorer
Cabal Therapy

I'd prefer it to not be posted here. Nor am I really looking for more lists, I posted the list I intend to be testing very soon--I don't see the rampant need to remove the core or alter the core in some way.

If you want to post a suggestion, by all means, but make the suggestion about the list that I posted, make sure the suggestion actually goes to further that goal. The only valid concern I've heard for the deck is to remove Fauna Shaman, but I see no other alternative who can accomplish as much as she can--she's an extra 4 creature slots to work with Pattern and she can fetch hexmages or veteran explorers if I need them while ridding my hand of Emrakul if he happens to be there.

In fact, being able to pitch emrakul is a rather valid function she serves--instead of Volrathing or Life from the Loaming cards back into my hand or library I can simply pitch him to get everything back and tutorable.

I would prefer not to see suggestions that try to alter the goal or playstyle of the deck, or the flavor of it.

For instance, moreso than Fauna Shaman, Life from the Loam feels weak in retrospect without a way to really abuse it--maybe I could replace it with Diabolic Intent as a catch-all tutor and further sac outlet to Pattern. Or perhaps I could put in several very useful cards, such as Eternal Witness. I feel like:

2x Eternal Witness
1x Living Wish

would be a good replacement for that slot.

[Darkenslight]

Two cards that would seem to help your plan are Krosan Wayfarer and Thoughtpicker Witch. Both one-drops, both have a somewhat relevant ability (Though the Witch has a more synergistic ability with the Explorer already there).

[Kich867]

Two cards that would seem to help your plan are Krosan Wayfarer and Thoughtpicker Witch. Both one-drops, both have a somewhat relevant ability (Though the Witch has a more synergistic ability with the Explorer already there).

The witch would be fun tech to abuse vs brainstorm XD. These are some thought provoking suggestions. The Wayfarer is solid and perhaps warrants inclusion, he accels into the turn 3 Hexmage / Depths if it's safe to do so and he sacs himself to pattern, I almost prefer him over the witch because he costs nothing in order to do so. Paying 1 may not be doable vs the opponent at times before it gets removed, but that may be a risk one should take for a more powerful ability.

[MirrorMask]

I have a question. You do not run many creatures and they are not recycling themselves. Why do you run cabal therapy instead of thoughtseize for example? This deck isn't like dredge.