[Deck] Turbo Depths

Sulfur Elemental is interesting idea .. it hoses DnT as well. Wish it would affect blue creatures also :D. Ok, on a serious note:

I am struggling with one or two choices and I would be grateful for your opinion, guys.

Lands (27)
4x Dark Depths
4x Thespian Stage
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Mana Confluence
4x Copperline Gorge
1x Gemstone Mine (or City of Brass?)
2x Maze of Ith
1x Forest
1x Sejiri Steppe
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Shizo, Death¨s Storehouse

4x Vampire Hexmage

4x Crop Rotation
4x Expedition Map
3x Sylvan Scrying
4x Pithing Needle
4x Sylvan Library
2x Thoughtseize
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Sensei's Divining Top
6x Pyroblast

SB:
2x Trinisphere
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Pyroclasm
1x Golgari Charm
1x Toxic Deluge
3x Slaughter Games
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Krosan Grip

I have cut Mishra's Factory as I've found it underwhelming. I can imagine playing 3 or 4 to give Miracles beating with it, but we can't afford enough SB slots .. I think. Usually Miracles will get Counterbalance online anyway and will keep one mana spell for our Pyroblasts. So going off with Clique in their hand is difficult. Sure, we have Sejiri Steppe, but it is difficult to get to it with CB lock. Shizo bypass any blockers as well as provide precious black mana for early discard or Hexmage. I know you have tested it some time ago and dismised the idea, but with miracles having 3 Cliques SB it's time to reconsider it. Another option is Karakas, but I am not sure as we name Karakas with Pithing Needle.

6 Pyroblasts: I don't know if to play 5 and 1 card from SB (Golgari charm to have MD hate for X/1 creatures and Enchantments or Ratchet Bomb as a catch all or singleton Maelstrom Pulse). Problem with Maelstrom Pulse is BG manacost, especially in the field where Miracles play Blood Moon.. I expect lot of Delver decks, DnT, Miracles and Omnishow in Prague. I am really eager to try singleton Maelstrom Pulse and move 6th REB into SB.

Another option is to change the approach against miracles and move some big ugly legendary creatures into SB that can be protected by Karakas. Cavern of Souls may ensure protection from counterspells. For example Tasigur or Titania. If they board in Monastery Mentors, we just extract their StP's and smash them. Counterbalance does mostly nothing against Titania and we have 6 REB for the counterspells. We don't play fetchlands, but Ghost Quarter or Depths Combo Lands do the job. Wish we would have a way to fetch them up.

so I played in the SCG event this past weekend in Columbus. In regards to the more variable slots I ran 1 bojuka bog, 1 slaughter games, 1 Mishra's, 4 pyroblast, 3 not of this world main. I started out 3-0-1 and then dropped 2 in a row and went home.

r1: lands (0-0-1) Yep, we didn't even finish game 1. I got a really early needle on wasteland. A pretty early needle on port and then a needle on maze later ( was gonna try the mishra's beatdown plan because I had a copied karakas). I also crop'd into bog to stop the life engine early and then slaughter games it about 5-6 turns later. Had I slaughter games punishing fire I think I win. Also, had I drawn any of my 3 not of this world's I win easy. With sylvan and lots of shuffling I couldn't hit one.

r2: pox (2-1) Mulled to 4 1 game and easily won the other 2.

r3: esper stoneblade (2-1) Pretty close match. Won g2 on the back of not of this world. game 3 he had a pretty good advantage off lilliana. I ended up just jamming it and hoping for the best and got there.

r4: lands (2-1) My familiarity with the match got me this one.

r5: rwu control (1-2) Got game 1 off Not of this World. Game 2 he Cliques me on the turn I drew Slaughter Games. :( I would have easily won had that not happened. Game 3 he got it off an early entreat. I'm pretty sure it's just correct to slaughter games entreat if you're running multiple entreats. Jace is relatively easy to deal with which gives you tons of time.

r6: elves (0-2) G1 he went off super quick. G2 I had expedition map and 2 lands (stage and ghostquarter) in play on turn 2. no lands in hand but k-grip and pyroclasm. He has an elf and drops sylvan. I mapped for copperline because I also have crop rotation. Maybe I should have just gone for depths. I still kind of think getting colored mana is the correct play. after 3 for 1 with pyroclasm he gets an ooze and starts beating down. I eventually get a token with him at 19. He does some elf shenanigans to generate enough mana to abrupt decay his own guy so he can eat 2 creatures with ooze. Thoughts on if Copperline Gorge is the correct call instead of jamming a depths and hoping for another land?

At this point I just dropped cuz I had a cookout I could go to.

Round 1 draw is our best strategy against combo btw. It was awesome. If only we could find a way to make miracles 60-40. I also know I'm in the minority thinking that NOTW is correct but I think it's great in this white/lands heavy meta.

How was the Mishras Factory, komondor? And what SB did you play?

I think a simplier way to hate both monastery mentor and counterbalance should be to play 2-3 decay maindeck.
We then can cut the ratchet bomb in side (with 4 krosan grip to answer blood moon/ounterbalance/omni.show) and decay which can answer needle.
So yeah Lio in your list I'ld likely cut the discard for decay.
Also right now I think we have to play 4 slaughter games in side. I'll be back with testing some swan song (for side).

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Originally Posted by Lio

How was the Mishras Factory, komondor? And what SB did you play?

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Factory was only useful against lands and he triple killed it. I did a bit of damage against the miracles deck but not much. I might drop it for another colored mana source. I hit a lot of games where I have issues with getting the right colors.

I ran 3 K-Grip, 2 Pyroclasm, 1 Toxic Deluge, 2 Sphere of Resistance, 1 Ancient Grudge, 1 Duress, 2 REB, 2 Slaughter Games, 1 Bojuka Bog.

Got back from Prague .. it was horrible :).

R1: 4C Delver 1:2 (0:1) - has has fast clock backed up with 2 Wastelands. Second game I am able to steal a win in last possible turn on behalf of Sejiri Steppe and Mazes. Third game my opponent resolves TNN and all I can do is looking at my Maze of Ith in the hand. After 6 turns I try to go off, but my opponent has Abrupt Decay for Needle and Wasteland for Combo. Not a great start of the day.

R2: RUG Delver 2:1 (1:1) - He has fast hand with lot of disruption while I kept mediocre hand. got punished for it. G2&3 were super easy with T1 Needle.

R3: RUG Delver 2:0 (2:1) - same as above

R4: ANT 1:2 (2:2) - In first game I make T2 token. G2 I die on second turn. G3 I die on 3rd turn after playing Duress and Pyroblast. Pyroblast doesn't help much in this match. Discard is way better.

R5: BUG Control (/w 2 wastelands..) 0:2 -G1: I have lost my motivation and from some mysterious reason I kept a hand with Maze, Depths and some business ... ofc got punished. G2: I think about conceding and dropping but then decide to give it a shot. I keep a good hand with Hexmages as only enablers. One Hexmage gets Thoughtseize'd and another countered. In one moment, I play Pithing Needle on Wasteland. Few turns later, I copy Wasteland with my Thespian Stage. One turn later I can kill him but realize my Stage is Wasteland now and can't be activated .. why the hell did I make such play? This is the last nail in to the coffin and from now on my plays are terrible and I lose Deathrite Shaman beating.

R6: Omni-Tell 1:2 (2:3) - G1 I open with Duress, seeing lonely UG fetch, 2x Show and Tell and some cantrips. I take out Gitaxian Probe. Opp makes a mistake here and plays Polluted Delta into Preordaion. In my turn I Needle Misty RAinforest and after few Pyroblasts later win the game. G2: I get T4 Show and Tell for Emrakul (had Krosan Grip). Concede after Crop Rotation getting countered. I would've won this one if I would put Karakas into my SB. Never leave home without single Karakas in board :). G3: I get Show and Tell'ed on 3rd turn, this time with Omniscience and me having combo on the table. Bonkers.

I would not comment on my plays in R5 because I can't explain them. But I am not satisfied with 6 REB / 2 Discard split. I would go 5/3 or even 4/4 with one REB in SB. There were moments I could go nuts like T1 urborg, T2 deths into hexmage. But had only Pyroblast as a backup and such line of play is very risky against Delver decks. Also discard spells would help me cast Sylvan Scrying or Sylvan Library on 2nd turn without worries from getting countered. Abrupt Decay was overperforming and I will keep one or two maindeck. I don't like Slaughter Games in SB. Only viable matchups are Miracles and some Stoneblade decks. You need 3 or 4 copies to reliably draw them, but one copy doesn't secure your win against Miracles. I might try Sphere of Resistance in that slot. And some Chokes. And last note - games where I lost were mostly caused by lacking second G/R mana to protect my spells with Pyroblasts. I had serious color issues yesterday which slowed me down by turn or two.

It's been a while since I've been able to offer anything remotely constructive, but I took the plunge and picked up the cards for my version of the deck online and have been testing it a bunch on MTGO the past couple of weeks. I've played in about 50 individual queue matches (winning just under 75%) and 5 daily events (going 3-1 in the first four and 4-0 earlier today). Modern Masters 2 thankfully made the EV much better for the majority of the testing I did in the individual queues. Here is the list I've been running:

4 Dark Depths
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Mox Diamond
4 Sylvan Scrying
3 Expedition Map
4 Crop Rotation
4 Thoughtseize
4 Brainstorm
4 Duress
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Polluted Delta
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Bayou
2 Gemstone Mine
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Mana Confluence
1 Tropical Island
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Underground Sea
1 Wasteland
1 Sejiri Steppe

Sideboard:
4 Pithing Needle
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Krosan Grip
2 Slaughter Games
2 Ethersworn Cannonist
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Abrupt Decay

Changes from before:
Karakas and Shizo become Sejiri Steppe and Bojuka Bog - Omnitell and Dig Through Time forced these changes. Karakas just didn't do enough anymore to justify the slot now that Emrakul almost always comes with a Time Walk attached. Adrieng was 100% correct on Steppe... It has been a enormous upgrade over Shizo. The black from Shizo has basically been replaced by Bog (with the slight CIPT drawback). Bog seems like a requirement as long as DTT is everywhere and gives additional game 1 action against other decks like Reanimator and Storm.

1 Map and 3 Inquisition of Kozilek left for 4 copies of Duress - Another ATM concession to the blue heavy decks, especially Omni. Creatures have rarely been an issue. Side benefits include taking broken spells like Natural Order, Jace, Ad Nauseam, etc that Inquisition missed.

SB (-1 NOTW, -1 Glacial Chasm, and two open slots from Duress and Bog heading to the main) - replaced by 2 Ethersworn Cannonists mainly for Storm and Omni and 2 Slaughter Games mainly for Miracles and Omni. I've moved one card per tourney out for a Flusterstorm as well which has worked very well in a bunch of matchups and no one ever plays around it or sees it coming.

The only matchup that has consistenly been very difficult is Miracles. The deck is currently 4-4 vs the Ponder version and 1-2 against the legends version. One of the Miracles decks even ran two copies each of Wasteland and Karakas which seemed super greedy, but was outstanding in that match. Slaughter Games has been great, but I haven't been able to talk myself into a third copy yet considering the board already has Grips, Decay, Needles, and 2 S. Games that are relevant in the matchup. Any suggestions for that matchup would be very welcome!

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Originally Posted by Negator77

It's been a while since I've been able to offer anything remotely constructive, but I took the plunge and picked up the cards for my version of the deck online and have been testing it a bunch on MTGO the past couple of weeks. I've played in about 50 individual queue matches (winning just under 75%) and 5 daily events (going 3-1 in the first four and 4-0 earlier today). Modern Masters 2 thankfully made the EV much better for the majority of the testing I did in the individual queues. Here is the list I've been running:

4 Dark Depths
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Mox Diamond
4 Sylvan Scrying
3 Expedition Map
4 Crop Rotation
4 Thoughtseize
4 Brainstorm
4 Duress
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Polluted Delta
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Bayou
2 Gemstone Mine
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Mana Confluence
1 Tropical Island
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Underground Sea
1 Wasteland
1 Sejiri Steppe

Sideboard:
4 Pithing Needle
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Krosan Grip
2 Slaughter Games
2 Ethersworn Cannonist
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Abrupt Decay

Changes from before:
Karakas and Shizo become Sejiri Steppe and Bojuka Bog - Omnitell and Dig Through Time forced these changes. Karakas just didn't do enough anymore to justify the slot now that Emrakul almost always comes with a Time Walk attached. Adrieng was 100% correct on Steppe... It has been a enormous upgrade over Shizo. The black from Shizo has basically been replaced by Bog (with the slight CIPT drawback). Bog seems like a requirement as long as DTT is everywhere and gives additional game 1 action against other decks like Reanimator and Storm.

1 Map and 3 Inquisition of Kozilek left for 4 copies of Duress - Another ATM concession to the blue heavy decks, especially Omni. Creatures have rarely been an issue. Side benefits include taking broken spells like Natural Order, Jace, Ad Nauseam, etc that Inquisition missed.

SB (-1 NOTW, -1 Glacial Chasm, and two open slots from Duress and Bog heading to the main) - replaced by 2 Ethersworn Cannonists mainly for Storm and Omni and 2 Slaughter Games mainly for Miracles and Omni. I've moved one card per tourney out for a Flusterstorm as well which has worked very well in a bunch of matchups and no one ever plays around it or sees it coming.

The only matchup that has consistenly been very difficult is Miracles. The deck is currently 4-4 vs the Ponder version and 1-2 against the legends version. One of the Miracles decks even ran two copies each of Wasteland and Karakas which seemed super greedy, but was outstanding in that match. Slaughter Games has been great, but I haven't been able to talk myself into a third copy yet considering the board already has Grips, Decay, Needles, and 2 S. Games that are relevant in the matchup. Any suggestions for that matchup would be very welcome!

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You listed Dark Depths twice. :)

Anyway, I really like your list. How hard has it been to cast Canonist out of the board with so few white sources? Also, I never seem to know what to name with Slaughter Games. Any advice for specific matchups?

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Originally Posted by TLK

You listed Dark Depths twice. :)

Anyway, I really like your list. How hard has it been to cast Canonist out of the board with so few white sources? Also, I never seem to know what to name with Slaughter Games. Any advice for specific matchups?

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Dark Depths is clearly that important! :)

It hasn't been an issue at all. The deck runs 11 straight up land tutors in a pinch and 4 Brainstorms, in addition to the 8 white sources in the main. It's not picture perfect, but I couldn't find room for a white dual. In one of the two most important matchups its for (Omni), you don't necesarily even need to cast it. Waiting for the Show and Tell to put it into play for free is almost always the right play unless you know (via discard spells) that the path is clear and they don't have a cunning wish or you want to draw out a counter. When it comes in off S+T, it generally gives you at least 1, sometimes 2 or more extra turns to kill them - more than enough for this deck. the early turns of that matchup should be spend firing off discard spells at them and setting up as quick a combo as possible.

Slaughter Games is mainly for Miracles with side benefits against Omni. Against Miracles, it is really situational. You generally can go after their answers (STP/Terminus) or try to rip out their win conditions (Entreat, etc). A lot of times you have knowledge of their hand via the 8 other discard spells, which can drive the decision too. If you are going after their answers, its Terminus if they have a top you can't answer since you have some play against swords via crop rotation into Steppe. If you have answered or needled top, STP is fine in that situation. Against Omni is pretty much game over if you don't die prior to casting it. Taking Emrakul will pretty much do it. S+T is fine too and is often an Extraction target after a discard spell, just be sure to stay above 15 in case they go for a Through the Breach. I seriously doubt they would board in Young Pyro's against this deck. Even if they do, Pyro has been too slow in Grixis against this deck... I imagine the same would apply here.

Were there any specific matchups you wanted thoughts on?

SO what is everyone's opinion on sylvan scrying versus living wish? Wish gives you more options in board and free's up main deck space.

It depends on your build. The wish takes away natural nut draws such as Urborg/Depths or 1 and Crop Rotation with Hexmage since a copy of the Depths will now have to reside in the sideboard. Even the odd Urborg/Depths/Stage natural draw is reduced. Plus - unless you are willing to double up on utility lands like Steppe, Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, Bog, Karakas, or whatever (1 each in the main and SB - not realistic given the space needed in the SB for certain matchups), the Wish actually restricts land fetching options in sideboarded games since those lands should be in your deck to fetch with Crop and Map. Obviously, its utility in grabbing creatures or sideboard lands G1 is nice though. The faster versions of the deck should probably avoid Living Wish imo.

What about a version that runs underneath standstill and spell pierces. Cuts the red for blue, replaces blackcleave cliffs for darkslick shores etc..

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Originally Posted by militiaman89

What about a version that runs underneath standstill and spell pierces. Cuts the red for blue, replaces blackcleave cliffs for darkslick shores etc..

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Running more blue is certainly an option and one that a few people were testing out a while back. I've only dipped my toes into blue for Brainstorms and sideboard Flusterstorm, so I can't give much feedback on a more blue based version.

I'm of the opinion that the Scars lands aren't where the deck needs to be at the moment though. Submerge was the primary reason mentioned for running the Scars lands, but its not a card I've run into often and is relatively simple to play around between discard (or blasts if you are running the red version), Crop Rotation to get rid of the Forest (as part of the cost), crop into Steppe to protect the token, or simply not playing a Forest before you combo(which can happen quite a bit). The downside of having a Scars land come off the top and come into play tapped when you need a 4th land to make the token is very real. The Upside of running fetch lands/duals for thinning and Brainstorm shuffling once you are running blue is obviously enormous.

Recently got 3rd at scg IQ with Dark Times aka G/B Depths

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=87633

Tombstalker is in it because I like the card, that's all. I don't recommend putting it in (or Angler/tsaguir) for a few reasons. If I was more serious about winning rather than killing with style I would go with my more traditional list with Loam or bujuka instead. Had a miserable time taking down dredge without bojuka bog.

Below is a camera match, they threw us on for the last game, we were 1-1. Big Red is obviously not in my favor. I misplayed in the beginning. I should have fetched with misty for forest turn one rather than verdant (was a long day), had to rewind and grab a bayou which made blood moon a real threat. Anyways link to the game 3 matchup with bigred playing depths is below.
#teamtusk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvEE...ure=youtu.be&a

1 Bayou
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Forest
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Dark Depths
1 Dust Bowl
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Taiga

3 Veteran Explorer
2 Titania, Protector of Argoth
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Crop Rotation
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Expedition Map

4 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast
4 Pithing Needle

SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Hymn to Tourach
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 4 Pernicious Deed
SB: 2 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Krosan Grip




4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Dark Depths
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Taiga
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Forest

4 Crop Rotation
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Expedition Map

4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Pyroblast
4 Cabal Therapy

2 Sylvan Safekeeper
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Titania, Protector of Argoth
4 Green Sun's Zenith

SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Hymn to Tourach
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 4 Pernicious Deed
SB: 2 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Krosan Grip


I have been testing these lists recently twice to a 4-1 record. I like the fact that I am less colored screwed than before thanks to the four off tops.
Cutting sylvan library needed a way to get around swods to plownshare which is titania. Top allows to find hate faster than sylvan library with fetches and so on.
I have 7 reb main which have been very good, submerge might be more or less a problem. Titania makes non blue.deck such as death and taxes/junk/jund way easier.
Also it gives deck a reach against deck like shardless if you can't go off with marit lage.

I've hae been messing around GB version and have been having pretty good luck lately. I almost always side in 4 goyfs. I did try the deck with +3 Liliana of the Veil -2 Sylvan Scrying -1 Expedition Map and that worked well also.

4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Dark Confidant

2 Sylvan Scrying
4 Crop Rotation
3 Expedition Map
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Hymn to Tourach
4 Thoughtseize
3 Sylvan Library
2 Life from the Loam
4 Pithing Needle

1 Forest
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Dark Depths
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Thespian's Stage
1 Ghost Quarter

2 Krosan Grip
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Karakas
4 Sphere of Resistance

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Originally Posted by porcupinetreeman

I've hae been messing around GB version and have been having pretty good luck lately. I almost always side in 4 goyfs. I did try the deck with +3 Liliana of the Veil -2 Sylvan Scrying -1 Expedition Map and that worked well also.

4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Dark Confidant

2 Sylvan Scrying
4 Crop Rotation
3 Expedition Map
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Hymn to Tourach
4 Thoughtseize
3 Sylvan Library
2 Life from the Loam
4 Pithing Needle

1 Forest
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Dark Depths
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Thespian's Stage
1 Ghost Quarter

2 Krosan Grip
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Karakas
4 Sphere of Resistance

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This is close to what my very first version looked like. It seems like a natural inclusion with the other cards but its not optimized for getting the combo out. You can win with or without it and thats alright. I moved to a more streamlined version with tutors and such because it let me focus on 1 strategy and pinpoint my specific weaknesses. You'll probably win fewer games overall with your list but if it works in your meta, have fun with it.



I've read the latest posts and it seems like there have not been any new cards that could be usable in here correct?

With these new bans the deck might be tier one.
I have played several list and optimizing them to the lattest one :


4 Copperline Gorge
3 Mana Confluence
4 Forest
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Dark Depths
2 Maze of Ith
1 Sejiri Steppe

1 Sylvan Scrying
4 Crop Rotation
4 Expedition Map
3 Pithing Needle

3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Veteran Explorer

4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Sylvan Library

4 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast


SB: 2 Titania, Protector of Argoth
SB: 3 Pernicious Deed
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 Trinisphere
SB: 3 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Pyroclasm
SB: 1 Veteran Explorer
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
1 Marit Lage
1 Elemental


Lot of problematic cards are now solved by this list :
The gsz zenith package solves the blood moon lock It can now be beaten with safekeeper+titania.
The top solves some colors issue the deck had without being too dependant of sylvan library against swords thanks to safekeeper.

The pernicious deed helps against miracle/aggro Loam/maverick/death and taxes. Where you just need to go for titania after side +veteran explorer.

The 4 forest or maybe 5? but it has been fine with 4 helps not been blood mooned with some answers to submerge.

The ghost quarter is not there anymore because I usually go for maze against wasteland.decks and the karakas has some answers into safekeeper/needle.

Not sure I need a reclamation sage/ooze in side/ 4th needle maindeck (meta dependant).

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Originally Posted by adrieng

With these new bans the deck might be tier one.
I have played several list and optimizing them to the lattest one :


4 Copperline Gorge
3 Mana Confluence
4 Forest
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Dark Depths
2 Maze of Ith
1 Sejiri Steppe

1 Sylvan Scrying
4 Crop Rotation
4 Expedition Map
3 Pithing Needle

3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Veteran Explorer

4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Sylvan Library

4 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast


SB: 2 Titania, Protector of Argoth
SB: 3 Pernicious Deed
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 Trinisphere
SB: 3 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Pyroclasm
SB: 1 Veteran Explorer
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
1 Marit Lage
1 Elemental


Lot of problematic cards are now solved by this list :
The gsz zenith package solves the blood moon lock It can now be beaten with safekeeper+titania.
The top solves some colors issue the deck had without being too dependant of sylvan library against swords thanks to safekeeper.

The pernicious deed helps against miracle/aggro Loam/maverick/death and taxes. Where you just need to go for titania after side +veteran explorer.

The 4 forest or maybe 5? but it has been fine with 4 helps not been blood mooned with some answers to submerge.

The ghost quarter is not there anymore because I usually go for maze against wasteland.decks and the karakas has some answers into safekeeper/needle.

Not sure I need a reclamation sage/ooze in side/ 4th needle maindeck (meta dependant).

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Deed makes for some very awkward plays with pithing needle in play. Of course you are not always going to draw both and 1 is in the SB just be ware. Deed is a great card for the deck other than that interaction. It hits tokens and wrecks affinity in addition to what you have named. The main issues is that it is a little slower and can get phyrexian revoked / pithing needled itself.

GSZ opens up a lot of possibilities. One of my favorites is adding 1 dryad arbor. It not that critical but it speeds you up one turn which could make a difference AND its a good wasteland target. Many people will wasteland that prematurely leaving your Stage and Depths less vulnerable.

Adding Teeg is probably the single most impactful card you could GSZ for. I would be very tempted to add knight of the reliquary to the deck just because if it sticks you can tutor your combo with that one piece. Opponent may recognize that they need to counter a crop rotation but maybe not a GSZ too. Its also a lot cheaper than Titania.

With 4 forests you are opening yourself up to submerge weakness. At what point do you think it would be better to just run fetch lands. Now that you are using SDT fetch lands gain ALOT of value.

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Deed makes for some very awkward plays with pithing needle in play. Of course you are not always going to draw both and 1 is in the SB just be ware. Deed is a great card for the deck other than that interaction. It hits tokens and wrecks affinity in addition to what you have named. The main issues is that it is a little slower and can get phyrexian revoked / pithing needled itself.

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Safekeeper is a better card to needle/revoker than deed against death and taxes where you also bring some krosan grips in case off. Here the trick is to kill with titania+safekepeer. Same thing for maverick.
I leave the sylvan library and bring in 2-3 deed against tempo decks where they want to needle stage.
It might be too slow against elf here I agree.

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GSZ opens up a lot of possibilities. One of my favorites is adding 1 dryad arbor. It not that critical but it speeds you up one turn which could make a difference AND its a good wasteland target. Many people will wasteland that prematurely leaving your Stage and Depths less vulnerable.

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This deck doesn't want dryad arbor ; the best cards are veteran explorer which enables titania+safekeeper. Good players keeps there wasteland for obvious reasons for stage+depth.

Teeg is a possibility but not sure it is enough to beat ant whith turn 3 teeg/trini might be too slow. Not sure it is better than the reclamation sage slot.

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With 4 forests you are opening yourself up to submerge weakness. At what point do you think it would be better to just run fetch lands. Now that you are using SDT fetch lands gain ALOT of value.

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In testing four forest doesn't make submerge a problem while can resolve the blood moon lock (where here you sometimes just draw/pass until find the forest). You have the crop rotation to get ride of the forest and safekeeper.
Playing a full set of fetches makes the RUG matchup which might see lot of play right now way harder.