Snakes on a Plains

[FatPow]

I'm looking for help on this decklist! It seems to be fairly well-rounded, with a good match-up against a lot of combo, and a decent match-up against fair decks other than Death and Taxes. Help me make it better! So far it's gone 3-1 in a Daily online twice, but I know it can be better.


2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Island
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Karakas
2 Flooded Strand
3 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Mystic Snake
4 Restoration Angel
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
4 Force of Will
4 Aether Vial
4 Brainstorm


Sideboard:


4 Veteran Explorer
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Rest in Peace
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Krosan Grip


With this list you generally have options on what to do with your open mana at the end of their turn if you didn't counter something, i.e., if you didn't have to use a Mystic Snake, you could Restoration Angel a Stoneforge Mystic for another equipment.

The other idea I had was to incorporate Spirit of the Labyrinth with Mikokoro, Center of the Sea in order to have something to do with your mana no matter what, but this deck lacks heavy hitters and isn't nearly as tested.


4 Flooded Strand
3 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
3 Plains
6 Island
2 Karakas
4 Tundra

1 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mother of Runes
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Vendilion Clique

4 Dream Fracture
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Force of Will
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Aether Vial


Let's see what we can do, I think the Snakes on a Plain concept has some promise as long as we can improve the non-combo matchup.

[Megadeus]

I love mystic snake. I really love Angel blinking mystic snake. I have no clue why Veteran Explorer is in the board though.

After discussing it with my buddy, we think snapcaster, swords, and maybe some cheap counter magic like spell pierce might be good. Maybe over Aether vial imo. I actually may try this out at the legacy challenge on saturday...

My Quick (obviously untested) thoughts would be something like:

4 Noble
4 Spellstutter
3 V Clique
3 SFM
3 Mystic Snake
3 Angel
3 SNapcaster

4 Swords
4 BS
3 Force
2 SPell Pierce

SFM package, possibly eschewing BSkull
21-22 lands?

[Esper3k]

I've really been wanting Restoration Angel to work in Legacy too! I've also fiddled around with Aether Vial because it's just so nuts with SFM, SCM, and SSS. Sadly though it doesn't work very well with Restoration Angel.

I had been playing just UW but maybe Nobles are the answer? I tried a few Ancient Tombs too to try and accelerate out Angels and equipment but that damage does add up...

[Sardukar]

i think you should play Riptide Laboratory, it's amazing with sprites, cliques and savant :cool:

[FatPow]

i think you should play Riptide Laboratory, it's amazing with sprites, cliques and savant :cool:

I tried that but I found it too mana intensive, and it's also really good with Snapcaster Mage but we don't have many instants, our creatures are instants.

Lately I've kept the list the same but put the Batterskull in the sideboard, a Sword of War and Peace in the main as a hedge against Death & Taxes, and replaced the Veteran Explorers in the sideboard with Composts and an additional Venser. The Veteran Explorers were for Pox but Compost seems much better as a swap for our Force of Wills.

[Esper3k]

Are you finding the Pox decks to be that big of a problem? I mean with all your creatures pretty much being Flash guys, it's hard for them to catch your guys with their sorcery speed removal before you can drop another guy down and protect it.

[FatPow]

Are you finding the Pox decks to be that big of a problem? I mean with all your creatures pretty much being Flash guys, it's hard for them to catch your guys with their sorcery speed removal before you can drop another guy down and protect it.

It's true when I played Pox last time I went 2-1 without too much difficulty and no Composts, but Force of Will is definitely useless so may as well swap that out for something better in the match-up. I still don't know what the real weaknesses of the deck are, so I don't know if I should be throwing in Oblivion Rings for Show and Tell or Composts for Pox. I like that it's a pretty well-rounded deck, we now have the whole rainbow of colors in our Swords to fight the fair decks, we have Aether Vial -> Mystic Snake for Miracles, a whole host of anti-combo cards, and Restoration Angel gets in there against Delvers after the initial onslaught. I thought about including Skylashers for Delver but I haven't found it to be too much of an issue, especially with Aether Vial -> Restoration Angel.

[Esper3k]

It's true when I played Pox last time I went 2-1 without too much difficulty and no Composts, but Force of Will is definitely useless so may as well swap that out for something better in the match-up. I still don't know what the real weaknesses of the deck are, so I don't know if I should be throwing in Oblivion Rings for Show and Tell or Composts for Pox. I like that it's a pretty well-rounded deck, we now have the whole rainbow of colors in our Swords to fight the fair decks, we have Aether Vial -> Mystic Snake for Miracles, a whole host of anti-combo cards, and Restoration Angel gets in there against Delvers after the initial onslaught. I thought about including Skylashers for Delver but I haven't found it to be too much of an issue, especially with Aether Vial -> Restoration Angel.

I think if you can Vial in a Restoration Angel against an opposing Delver, you should have your phone ready to take a picture of your opponent's face.

[FatPow]

I think if you can Vial in a Restoration Angel against an opposing Delver, you should have your phone ready to take a picture of your opponent's face.

You don't think it's realistic? I've had it happen a few times. Maybe should we be swapping our Forces for Plumeveil?

[Esper3k]

You don't think it's realistic? I've had it happen a few times. Maybe should we be swapping our Forces for Plumeveil?

I think most of the time, you'd want it set on 2 or 3 and then tick it up to 4 if you draw an Angel or something. I just think it'd be awesome when it works.

I don't believe you can cut FoW from the main - it's just too important against combo.

[FatPow]

I think most of the time, you'd want it set on 2 or 3 and then tick it up to 4 if you draw an Angel or something. I just think it'd be awesome when it works.

I don't believe you can cut FoW from the main - it's just too important against combo.


I meant swap the FoW for Plumeveil in the sideboard, or maybe just Skylasher.

After some more experience with the deck, I've gone to Sword of War and Peace in the main for D&T, and I made a few adjustments including the new sweet tech of Azure Mage. If you're sitting on Snakes and Angels, but they don't do anything of consequence that turn, just draw a card instead. I found drawing more than one Vendilion Clique annoying, so that's cut to 1, and I added 1 Draining Whelk since the games tend to go long. Draining Whelk on an Entreat the Angels is the dream.


2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Island
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Karakas
3 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand

4 Mystic Snake
4 Restoration Angel
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Draining Whelk
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Azure Mage

1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Aether Vial
4 Brainstorm





Sideboard:


2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Compost
4 Skylasher
4 Rest in Peace
1 Batterskull
2 Krosan Grip


I wonder if we can find anything better than Stoneforge Mystic and equipment to complement the flash creatures, preferably more flash creatures.

[Mystical_Jackass]

What about Mother of Runes?

Momentary Blink is also strong with Snake and those creatures. It's essentially 8 counterspells that's also creature protection.

[from Cairo]

@ Azure Mage: isn't Sylvan Library a better selection/draw option against fair decks where you're looking to improve your mid-late game. It's immunity to Creature control options and you have 10ish shuffle options with Fetches and SFM. Thinking particularly against other control strategies - Miracles or Jund - the mage is just going to drop with Terminus/Verdict or Punishing Fire.

[somethingdotdotdot]

No removal preboard seems a bit loose. I understand that the plan is to counter stuff, but your curve for countering starts at 2 most of the time (spellstutter). It seems like a resolved delver with some counter-magic and bolts would take you out of the game.

[FatPow]

I prefer to have all 5 colors worth of swords instead of mother of runes.

It's true Azure Mage dies to Terminus, but can you equip a Sylvan Library with Sword of Fire and Ice?


No removal preboard seems a bit loose. I understand that the plan is to counter stuff, but your curve for countering starts at 2 most of the time (spellstutter). It seems like a resolved delver with some counter-magic and bolts would take you out of the game.

The pre-board plan against Delver is Restoration Angel. We have aether vial against their counterspells, and bolt doesn't do much. Post-board we get some Skylshers replacing our Force of Wills. Having some swords to plowshares would save us some damage against a delver, but that might be spell pierced anyways, and I absolutely cannot stand to have 4 swords to plowshares in the main deck and end up playing sneak and show or omnitell, or ad nauseum or high tide or any of the other decks when it's just completely dead. Delver is manageable enough I find with some mid-game restoration angels.

[Mystical_Jackass]

Azure Mage is just awful. For the cost you might as well just have Coiling Oracle.

I agree with SomethingDotDot, the clear weakness is the lack of removal for dealing with early threats and board. The decks seems like it's borderline Modern, you almost want some StP's or some mass bounce to deal with opponent, then lock them out. It almost seems like you need some Man-O'-War'ish creatures in there, or Jace, or something to deal with Board. Like I mentioned before, I'm almost kind of iffy if Mystic/Swords are what the deck needs to win, since there's clear holes in other areas that need to be filled and not enough draw.

[FatPow]

Azure Mage is just awful. For the cost you might as well just have Coiling Oracle.

I agree with SomethingDotDot, the clear weakness is the lack of removal for dealing with early threats and board. The decks seems like it's borderline Modern, you almost want some StP's or some mass bounce to deal with opponent, then lock them out. It almost seems like you need some Man-O'-War'ish creatures in there, or Jace, or something to deal with Board. Like I mentioned before, I'm almost kind of iffy if Mystic/Swords are what the deck needs to win, since there's clear holes in other areas that need to be filled and not enough draw.

So are Esper Deathblade and Death & Taxes bad decks since they "need" Stoneforge Mystic? Also, against Death & Taxes, what is a Swords to Plowshares going to do just sitting in your hand against a Mother of Runes? Why not just have a Sword of each color in your main deck, tutor up Sword of War and Peace, and finish the game?

In Modern there are pretty much always creatures on the other side, and there's no Mother of Runes, so I would definitely play some Path to Exile there.
I'll try something like this:


4 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea

1 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mystic Snake
4 Restoration Angel
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Draining Whelk
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth

4 Path to Exile
4 Dream Fracture
4 Aether Vial

[Mystical_Jackass]

So are Esper Deathblade and Death & Taxes bad decks since they "need" Stoneforge Mystic? Also, against Death & Taxes, what is a Swords to Plowshares going to do just sitting in your hand against a Mother of Runes? Why not just have a Sword of each color in your main deck, tutor up Sword of War and Peace, and finish the game?

No, but you're talking about decks that run a really low curve, your deck is infested with cmc 4 & 6 cards which is absurd for Legacy, the fact that you'd even run Draining Welk in a format that kills you in 4 turns shows you obviously don't understand this format.

StP is practically staple removal in any deck that splashes white, you'd have to have a really good reason to not run it, and when your deck had no removal it brings up an obvious point. As far as Mother of Runes, are you kidding? MOM doesn't have haste, you can kill it when it ETB, that's the sole reason you want removal is for those situations, and for every other deck that doesn't you need a way of dealing with threats. Then again, most of your deck doesn't make sense to me... like why you'd run Spirit with Dream Fracture, or the 3 copies of Mikokoro, or why your avg cmc is so high ensuring they'll already have their threats out before you can counter them, or why you don't run FoW/BS, or why you're running mana elves and Aether Vial together (vial out on turn 5?).