UB Midrange Goodstuff - Everything is a Bomb!

[MaximumC]

So, I was looking at what to bring to weekly Legacy last night, and I decided to try and force all the good cards I like playing with into a single pile, with a twist. I wanted a deck where every single permanent I drop is a massive haymaker. Here's what I came up with:

UB Midrange Goodstuff

Creatures (15)
-----------
The goal here was to play only creatures that are monster bombs on their own with the potential to take over the game if they are not quickly answered.

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
3 True Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Phyrexian Obliterator

Disruption (13)
------------
Standard issue UB package. Goal is to have a variety of answers pre-board and to have just enough little disruption to get to midgame. Originally I was running Innocent Blood to keep the lanes clear while I ramp up to my fatties, but on the whole, I think Deathrite is better than I.B. and you can't realistically play both.

1 Darkblast
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dismember
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozeliek
3 Force of Will
2 Arena

Here's the twist! Arena + Obliterator does a pretty fine Emrakul impersonation, and Arena + True Name chews up opposing creatures. In a pinch, Arena also locks down opposing monsters off of Show and Tell.

Walkers (4)
-----------
More good stuff! All the good stuff!
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
2 Liliana of the Veil


Card Draw (4)
-----------
Because you need to run brainstorm.
4 Brainstorm

Mana (20)
----------
Some neat things going on here. To handle running Arena, and to deal with the high curve of this deck and the need to get 1UU or 1BB for your three drop and then 2UU or BBBB for the four drop, I decided to up the land count and play a full playset of Mox Diamond.

4 Mox Diamond
1 Volrath's Stronghold
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

4 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
5 Swamp
2 Island

Sideboard
------------
Season to taste, but in my meta I want something like:
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Thada Adel, Master Acquisitor (against Stoneblade variants)
1 Force of Will
2 Flusterstorm
3 Dismember

Gonna take it out for a spin this weekend, but it seems to play reasonable well in goldfishing. It's pretty linear; the mana restrictions mean you are kind of locked into a particular sequence of play from the get-go. So, you open with Shaman or a Duress effect, then go into Bob or more of the same, with the goal of starting to drop game-ending bombs on turn 3. The mana feels fine in goldfish land, but I am keenly aware of the risk posed by Wasteland (hence all of the basics).

Thoughts?

[Megadeus]

This deck wants Urborg

[MaximumC]

This deck wants Urborg

Why, is removing Swampwalk that important?

I kid, I kid, I know what you're trying to say. You're actually completely right. I think I lose one Underground Sea and one Swamp for two Urborgs all day. (Change made)

[trollking21]

4 mox diamond and only 20 lands seems like you're going I have some awkward hands where you have mox diamond and no land to pitch/ no second land. This seems like a pretty mana-hungry deck so I would think something like 22 lands would be better. Maybe creeping tar pit, or some other utility land.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Dark Confidant with Obliterator is a bit dangerous.
One thing that bogs me is why Shadowmage Infiltrator is played no more. I remeber it from the days of old, and it'll be nice addition to all your card draw, especially once is starts to deal some real dmg with any Sword of This and That. But then again it's 3-toughness dude with cmc3. :/
Also, the manabase is not the best. I'd go as far as to ditch the Moxes, but yeah, turn1 DC seems too tempting... :)

[AggroControl]

13 blue cards and 3 Force of Will. 20 lands and 4 Mox Diamonds (Chrome Mox for what you are trying to do).

[MaximumC]

So I took this deck out for a spin. It was interesting, and stacked up pretty well against the field. I went 0-4, but it wasn't quite as bad as that makes it sound, and I punted at least one match away pretty hard.

Round 1 - Against Merfolk - 0 - 2

Even with the full removal suite, I am just slightly too slow each game. In each case we end up in a True Name race, and my Obliterator shows up to the party just one turn two late to make any difference.

Round 2 - Against Charbelcher - 1 - 2

Game 1, he mulls to 5. He probes me and sees a Force and a Blue card. I establish myself while he fills his hand, and then he starts farting out mini-Empties to try and get some pressure on me. I buy turns by casting creatures and eating things off of Deathrite Shaman. When he's down to only 3 goblins left, and I'm at 2 life, I manage to assemble Obliterator + Arena. The spectators went crazy and Oblit tech wrecked his board, letting me win.

Game 2, I mull to 4 to find hate. I get a Leyline in play, but in the time it takes me to get rolling he finds 16 Goblin tokens and I cannot recover.

Game 3, I open with Leyline, 2 Inquisition of Koz, and have two Forces and two Blue cards in hand. I trash his hand. We both go into topdeck mode then, and I cannot find a land or Mox Diamond to save my life. Six turns later I finally start playing lands. Three turns after that he manages to squeak ten or so Goblins into play and I cannot keep up this time.

Conclusion : Ah, so this is why people use Delver of Secrets. With a fast clock, I win all of those games.

Round 3 - Against BUGw, basically BUG Delver with Stoneforge instead of Delver - 0 - 2

I just punt this match. Both games are close. Game 2 I assemble Arena and Truename, to much applause. Truename then chews up his smaller creatures, but he has a Batterskull equipped to a steadily growing Chasm Skulker. Turns out that this is an awesome combo; swing with Truename, then tap down his Skulker before attack, he gains no life because Truename is OP. Then, a critical misplay; instead of playing an island to set up Jace TMS next turn, I hold the island back to disguise my play. Lily drops, denies me my mana instead of killing Truename -- which I could not possibly think he would do -- and I lose a few turns later.

Round 4 - Against MUD - 0 - 2

Again, closer than it looks. Each game is a trading match back and forth, and the MUD player manages to eventually get into topdeck mode with me, landing a threat and finishing me off before I can find an answer. Game 2 was the most fun. He opens with Lodestone, who eats a Dismember. He then lands Wurm, who gets Liliana'd and then one of the tokens gets Arena'd. Facing down Lily and True Name, he rips a Ratchet Bomb. Peh.

CONCLUSIONS - The cards in this deck really are rad, but there's a reason why people run Delver and they don't run Obliterator. It's just too slow without Dark Ritual. Doing 3 in the air early wins me almost all of these matches, whereas waiting until my 4 or 5 drop to start really pushing in damage just isn't good enough.

Arena is actually amazingly sick with True Name, regardless of whether you get the dream combo with Obliterator. This card is going in my standard rotation of Legacy playables now for sure.


13 blue cards and 3 Force of Will. 20 lands and 4 Mox Diamonds (Chrome Mox for what you are trying to do).

Actually, I had no problems with Mox Diamond at all during the tournament. My reasoning was that since I am running some spell-based lands like Arena, my land count is higher than normal for an aggro deck and I can use Diamond instead of Chrome. Might be wrong, but the Gods of Statistics were in my favor this week.

[MGB]

Wow. Arena + Obliterator is actually a really nifty combo. If only Arena tapped for mana instead of being a dead draw by itself, though. Urborg certainly helps with that, and maybe finding some way to play it as a 1-of with a tutor (Crop Rotation or Knight of the Reliquary?) makes it more viable in Legacy.

[AggroControl]

Go to 4 Arena's (to increase chance of combo and allow you to pitch an Arena to Mox Diamond). Replace the 3 Force of Will, 2 Jaces and 1 Dark Confidant with 2 Arena's, 3 Dark Ritual and the 4th Thoughtseize. The Forces are unreliable and I'll bet you will lose most of the games you cast them defensively anyway, just a turn or two later. The Jaces are strong but you have to be all-in on what you are trying to do if you want to make it work. The Dark Confidants are good but they're also a double-edged sword and they're not really a card you want two of in your opening hand without having some kind of permanent library manipulation available, or playing suicide.

The Dark Rituals work with Thoughtseize or IoK + Dark Confidant, DRS + Dark Confidant, Liliana of the Veil, Phyrexian Obliterator and to pay Arena costs. You'll have a really hard time casting them on the opening play without a Mox in play but you'll draw forces out of the opponent. Dark Ritual is a force magnet early on. Later on you'll find the Dark Rituals still draw counters in the mid game because the opponent is afraid of Thoughtseize + the unknown after that.