Muddy Buddies

[KivanKineas]

Muddy Buddies!

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=121155&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=430854&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=366353&type=card

Mud is a deck that utilizes fast mana via Sol Lands to power out powerful hate artifacts. The Dark Depths combo is utilized by quite a few decks to close out games with the powerful Marit Lage. This deck is a combination of those two strategies. I am calling in it Muddy Buddies since it is a Mud based combo-control that utilizes Mirage Mirror as an additional win condition.

The deck list:

Lands:
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Inventor's fair

Artifacts:
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Trinisphere
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trading Post
4 Mirage Mirror

Creatures:
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Thought-Knot Seer

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Helm of Obedience
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Powder Keg
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Winter Orb
1 Spellskite
1 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Endbringer
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

This is the list I piloted at our local legacy FNM last night and went undefeated. I beat Grixis Delver, Storm, and RG Lands. A few cards here I was not super impressed with were the Trading Post, Endbringer, and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale (While amazing did not feel necessary in this deck). I will be adding an additional Crucible to the main deck next week and probably a second Powder Keg to the Sideboard.

The card choices:

The Core of the deck is obviously the Dark Depths, Thespian's Stage, and Mirage Mirror are the win conditions of the deck. Mirage Mirror has been highly flexible and allows for becoming copies of all sorts of things (win conditions, additional taxing on opponents turn, Deathrite Shamans, Griselbrand, wastelands, etc.).

Second is the Mud half of the deck. The Sol Lands, Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, and Crucible of Worlds. These are your lock pieces that can lock your opponent out of the game and makes it nearly impossible for your opponent to deal with your Marit Lage token. Chalice stops Swords to Plowshares most notably along with the cantrips that make up the majority of the legacy format.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=288994&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=48326&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=194979&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=140166&type=card

Removal. Ratchet Bomb and Powder Keg allow the deck to deal with cards that have already hit the table and need answers such as Young Pyromancer, Deathrite Shaman, Pithing Needle, etc.

Sorcerous Spyglass acts as an upgraded Pithing Needle for us in this deck since it bypasses Chalice of the Void on one. It allows us to see if the coast is clear before deploying Marit Lage, can shut off wastelands if necessary, answers planeswalkers cleanly, and on occasion can lock someone out of the game that kept a sketchy one fetch-land hand.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=435407&type=card

Lodestone Golem is an amazing card in any Mud deck. It taxes our opponent and can close out the game all on his own.

Though-Knot Seer has been a staple in colorless decks since his printing. Thoughtsieze/Vendilion Clique on a 4/4 body is no joke.

Simian Spirit Guide. This was actually my last choice of fast mana. I started with Mox Diamond, but found that this deck really does not like throwing it's lands in the graveyard. It is also horrible when you have taxing effects. The second choice I had was Lotus Petal. This card was fairly good on turn one, but when you are trying to cast it through your own taxing effects it becomes lackluster. So now we arrive at the monkey. He does not require casting, is not counterable, and helps the deck power out it's most broken starts.

Speaking of Simian Spirit Guide. This card plus a sol land lets you put Mirage Mirror into play on turn one. Turn two you can float two mana and play Dark Depths making Marit Lage.

Urborg acts as a bridge allowing you to stop hurting ourselves from ancient tomb, makes it so you can combo off with Dark Depths and Thespian Stage on turn 3, and allows us to sideboard in the Leylines without having to deal with them getting stuck in your hand.

Inventor's Fair allows us to gain back some of the life we deal from Ancient Tomb and can be a tutor for any one of our lock pieces or Mirage Mirror for the win.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=417820&type=card

Wasteland and Crucible of Worlds has been used to lock people out the game for years and it never gets old!

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=4944&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=129480&type=card

This deck is amazing maindeck against most of the combo decks in the format with the inclusion of so much taxing and hate effects. The other half of this deck with Dark Depths is very good against the fair decks of the format.

Guide to playing the deck and how to mulligan coming soon.

[JackaBo]

I believe you when you say this deck is good. A combo finnish that avoids all your taking effects is exactly what stax needed. However, with more crucibles i believe moxes are better than Spirit guides. Perhabs sphere of resistance is better than thorns given that you play so few own creatures. You shouldnt dismiss the Tabernacle until you faced more creature based decks.

[sco0ter]

I like it! Mirage Mirror seems to be played in Vintage in a similar deck, too:

http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=24995&iddeck=196024

I'd also add more Crucibles.

Thorn seems to be bad with only 7 real creatures.

Maybe there are some more combos with Mirage Mirror?

[Amon Amarth]

This deck looks absolutely brutal against combo. Not just Storm but also Sneak and Show. Spyglass and Mirror are kinda nuts.

Looks like Sphere of Resistance would be better than Thorn.

SSG looks fine. I know how bad some opening hands can be with Mox Diamond.

Do you really want 4 Trinispheres? I think 3 feels better due to diminishing returns.

Can't think of much else. Deck looks good.

[gngpostalsrvc]

Deck looks sweet--I love Dark Depths. Is there any consideration to playing Ghost Quarter over Wasteland? In Turbo Depths, you have Needle for Wasteland and Ghost Quarter to clean up other problematic lands (Maze of Ith, Karakas, opposing Dark Depths, etc.).

[Dice_Box]

I ordered some Mirrors, I want to give this a spin. This is a very good idea with Mirror able to really cause hell. I like it.

[KivanKineas]

I agree with a lot of your suggestions. This week at our Tuesday night legacy I will try spheres instead of thorns. More crucible maybe less thought knots to make room(negative synergy with sphere).

I do love me some ghost quarter as well, but the only deck I can think of that it would be a strict upside would be delver, but that already feels super favorable if there is an obvious cut for them I'm in.

[sco0ter]

I played a few rounds with exactly the deck posted and unfortunately I was not impressed. I had to mulligan twice in 4 rounds and lost all games easily.
It was mainly against UW Stoneblade. They had answers against everything and made me feel miserable.
I hope it was my poor experience piloting the deck, because I really like it.

[LoveAndLockPieces]

this deck looks interesting! i saw the similar vintage list and am glad to see the idea transferring over to legacy as well. (it is also somewhat reminiscent of another vintage deck, 'two card muddy.')

it seems like consistency would be the downfall. the combo pieces come in 4 plus 8. fewer numbers than something like sneak and show and without cantrips to search for the depths piece. at that point you are left going long and hoping to draw into it. so is the general tactic here to mulligan for dark depths?

would it be possible to drop chalice and lean heavier on taxing effects to facilitate something like Expedition Map? (green provides a handful of ways to search as well, but likely disrupts the mana enough to be an entirely different deck.)

[gngpostalsrvc]

I do love me some ghost quarter as well, but the only deck I can think of that it would be a strict upside would be delver, but that already feels super favorable if there is an obvious cut for them I'm in.

I would actually recommend swapping the Wastelands for Ghost Quarters. Judging from my experience with Turbo Depths, there are some match ups such as Death and Taxes and Lands where you want to Sorcerous Spyglass Wasteland, but still have a way to kill other lands like Karakas, Maze of Ith, etc.

Also, and this is a bit of a stretch, do you think Ghirapur Orrery would be viable as a SB card? In grindier match ups, it seems like it could be a draw engine and a way to re-make Marit Lage every turn when used in conjunction with Crucible of Worlds.

[KivanKineas]

I would actually recommend swapping the Wastelands for Ghost Quarters. Judging from my experience with Turbo Depths, there are some match ups such as Death and Taxes and Lands where you want to Sorcerous Spyglass Wasteland, but still have a way to kill other lands like Karakas, Maze of Ith, etc.

Also, and this is a bit of a stretch, do you think Ghirapur Orrery would be viable as a SB card? In grindier match ups, it seems like it could be a draw engine and a way to re-make Marit Lage every turn when used in conjunction with Crucible of Worlds.

I also play turbo depths as my main deck in legacy. Your logic makes a lot of sense with the spyglass to name wasteland. Maybe I can try a 3 waste 1 GQ split with a second GQ in the board for the lands and D&T matchup especially since dark depths comes out against lands.

The Ghiraphur Orrery is a very interesting idea especially since under a trinisphere your opponent will likely struggle to cast all of their spells.

[Ciubulu]

I brewed a very similar deck. Main differences are:
4x thorn
2x expedition maps
2x crucible
3x waste/ 1xgq
Instead of 4x chalice 1x trinisphere 1x trading post 1x ratchet
Sb:
4x cotv
4x lotv
2x helm
1x tabernacle
1x gq
2x ratchet bomb
1x crucible
Deck works pretty well, it’s still a bit rough but it’s consistent vs the whole meta and sorceress spyglass is a great addiction because I can keep it in even when I board in cotv.