[Deck] UBGx Landstill

How do people like Maelstrom Pulse in this deck?

I cut the 3rd spell snare for the 1st pulse, and I've been digging it thus far

I like Maelstrom Pulse in MD as a 1of.. it gives versatily against planeswalkers and helps to save your Deeds to remove 2 or more permanents from the table.It is also good dealing with tokens(read EtW and Siege-Gang Commander/Warmarshall)

I played in a GPT yesterday, scrubbing the main event, but top 4 split the 30- person side event. Report is up in the report section.

I went to time 5 times in the 9 rounds that I played, which sort of makes me want another win condition. Granted, I ran pretty bad, and just never drew Jaces or Factories, but none the less, I want a way to end the game quickly. Initially, I came up with elspeth as a possible answer, but another player at the tournament said he used to run a 1-of Garruk, to help ramp his mana and provide a fairly quick win condition. What do you guys think?

Also, I did end up cutting the 3rd Spell Snare for the 1st Maelstrom Pulse and it was awesome all day.

I really think this deck is going to change a lot with the advent of mental misstep, and I'm beginning testing w/ new Phyrexia tonight. I'll test a few decks and post whatever has some potential

Pro player Calosso Fuentes earned the indignity of 9th place at Charlotte SCG Open, with the following list, which the coverage team foolishly categorized as "Bant":


Maindeck:

Artifacts
1 Crucible Of Worlds
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Sensei's Divining Top

Creatures
3 Knight of the Reliquary

Enchantments
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Standstill

Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Response

Planeswalkers
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Basic Lands
1 Plains

Lands
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
1 Maze of Ith
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland

Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Counterbalance
3 Engineered Plague
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Go for the Throat

Now, after some testing, the Teferi's Response was too much in the area of "the danger of cool things", so I replaced it with a second Jace, which turned out pretty well. The bad thing about running knights is that, suddenly, all your opponents removal is turned on, but on the plus side, you can do all sorts of sick stuff with it.

The list runs extremely smoothly, and I would appreciate your thoughts on it.

Fast forward a few days, and Drew Levin posted the following list in his article, post NPH, which feels better in testing:

Artifacts
1 Crucible Of Worlds
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei's Divining Top

Enchantments
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Standstill

Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Swords to Plowshares

Planeswalkers
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sorceries
1 Innocent Blood

Basic Lands
1 Island

Lands
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
2 Mishra's Factory
3 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Dark Confidant
3 Counterbalance
1 Humility
2 Enlightened Tutor
3 Hydroblast

(Note: I'm not sold on the confidants post board, and I would try to squeeze at least another top in the SB, plus some Plagues/a Moat.)

The one thing that I'm uncomfortable with is the number of lands, as I've flooded countless times with 25 lands. I think dropping 1 (1 Sea maybe, or 1 Scrubland?) for another SOMETHING (maybe another Innocent Blood) would prove to be a good change.

Any ideas?

I'm going to be playing Ubg Landstill once New Phyrexia is legal.

Drew's list is way to greedy going 4 color, white is simply unnecassary. Once you focus on Ubg the deck practically builds itself with a few decisions to make on which counterspells and removal you want, the sideboard being in flux of course. IT's basically 12 counters - 12 removal - 12 draw - 24 land with factories. I like the Countertop sidebaord plan for combo with Leylines and Grips.

I predict a surge in Merfolk and Junk decks, both of which Deedstill should be able to handle.

For the manabase try:
4 Factory
2 Waste
2 islands
1 swamp
3 sea
2 trop
1 bayou
9 fetch

A question for you guys, I currently own 2 Seas and 0 Polluted Deltas. Is it better to buy 4 Deltas and 1 Sea, 2 Seas, just 4 Deltas?

Thanks!

I would focus on getting 2 seas, zero deltas first. Deltas can be swapped for other blue duals.

As far as those 4 color lists, I agree the mana base is just way to greedy, while powerful yes, it will be to easy to be screwed over by a timely wasteland and would rather be more solid at UBg then Ubgw.

For reference here is my list post NPH:

3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Island

4 Pernicious Deed
4 Standstill

3 Jace, the mind Sculptor

1 Crucible of Worlds

1 Life from the Loam
3 Innocent Blood

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
2 go for the throat
3 Spell Snare
3 Mental Misstep

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SMR0079

I'm going to be playing Ubg Landstill once New Phyrexia is legal.

Drew's list is way to greedy going 4 color, white is simply unnecassary. Once you focus on Ubg the deck practically builds itself with a few decisions to make on which counterspells and removal you want, the sideboard being in flux of course. IT's basically 12 counters - 12 removal - 12 draw - 24 land with factories. I like the Countertop sidebaord plan for combo with Leylines and Grips.

I predict a surge in Merfolk and Junk decks, both of which Deedstill should be able to handle.

For the manabase try:
4 Factory
2 Waste
2 islands
1 swamp
3 sea
2 trop
1 bayou
9 fetch

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I agree with you that white is unnecessary. However, i've tested the countertop sideboard plan countless times and it just doesn't work, combo players will just wait (cause you usually don't present enough pressure) until they can make enough storm count that it doesn't really matter that you have countertop and then kill you with tendrils or brain freeze. I think the answer for this match-ups are either stifles or mindbreak trap. I've been testing a sideboard with stifle, negate and spell pierces and i have greatly improved my G2 & G3 percentages against storm decks. With stifle, storm players can no longer sit back until they can make enough storm count and, in the early game stifle can be pretty awesome to deny their mana too. Also Negate is pretty awesome against noncreature based decks, especially since this deck has somewhat awkward mana from time to time and you are often stuck with just 1 blue source and wastelands+factories for some turns.

Oh and Merfolk will never be an easy match-up but it's not impossible either, especially since some merfolk lists nowadays are discarding spell pierces to improve their match-ups against aggro decks and including StP and Jittes which you don't really care about.

I've been playing ubg landstill for quite a while now and have had some success with it (http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/busqued...o%20Alveirinho).

Regards

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jparula

I agree with you that white is unnecessary. However, i've tested the countertop sideboard plan countless times and it just doesn't work, combo players will just wait (cause you usually don't present enough pressure) until they can make enough storm count that it doesn't really matter that you have countertop and then kill you with tendrils or brain freeze. I think the answer for this match-ups are either stifles or mindbreak trap. I've been testing a sideboard with stifle, negate and spell pierces and i have greatly improved my G2 & G3 percentages against storm decks. With stifle, storm players can no longer sit back until they can make enough storm count and, in the early game stifle can be pretty awesome to deny their mana too. Also Negate is pretty awesome against noncreature based decks, especially since this deck has somewhat awkward mana from time to time and you are often stuck with just 1 blue source and wastelands+factories for some turns.

Oh and Merfolk will never be an easy match-up but it's not impossible either, especially since some merfolk lists nowadays are discarding spell pierces to improve their match-ups against aggro decks and including StP and Jittes which you don't really care about.

I've been playing ubg landstill for quite a while now and have had some success with it (http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/busqued...o%20Alveirinho).

Regards

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Possibly, but they still need to generate a ton of mana, which is hard to do when you have them locked at 0-2, not to mention JAce will clock them

So, for the new meta, I cut white from the list I played at the GPT, and opted for a more standard BUG Landstill list. However, I also tested a UWr version and liked it. A LOT. The aggro matchups just seemed so much better when I had not only Wrath and EEs as sweepers, but better spot removal (swords) and game breakers (Elspeth and Humility). My testing partner said he prefered to play against the UWr version because it didn't have deed, but I thought it was stronger. The results didn't lie, as I was winning much more with the UWr version. I tried testing online, and played against (and got rolled against) a lot of the Trinisphere stompy decks and Stax variants, and decided that I wasn't playing a deck without deed. Finally, I stumbled upon a really sexy 4 color Landstill deck that won a GPT. It was essentially UW landstill that splashes for deed and some wishboard cards. I added some mental missteps and have absolutely digging the deck thus far. It runs surprisingly smooth, and is possibly the strongest standstill list I've played. Ever.


// Lands
2 [B] Underground Sea
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [B] Tundra
3 [R] Tropical Island
1 [U] Scrubland
2 [MPR] Wasteland
3 [AQ] Mishra's Factory (1)
1 [MR] Island (2)
1 [6E] Plains (2)
4 [ON] Flooded Strand

// Spells
1 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
4 [AT] Swords to Plowshares
1 [OD] Innocent Blood
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 [JU] Cunning Wish
4 [MM] Brainstorm
3 [OD] Standstill
4 [JGC] Pernicious Deed
3 [NPH] Mental Misstep
4 [AL] Force of Will
3 [B] Counterspell
1 [TE] Humility
1 [FD] Crucible of Worlds

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
SB: 1 [IN] Tsabo's Decree
SB: 1 [DS] Pulse of the Fields
SB: 1 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 1 [B] Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 1 [ZEN] Ravenous Trap
SB: 1 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 [ARE] Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 [ARE] Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 [IN] Dismantling Blow
SB: 1 [CFX] Path to Exile


The Basic Island and Plains are there so you can wish up dismantling blow/Path to Exile and cast it with kicker to blow up Blood Moon/Magus of the Moon. I normally hate (I mean really despise) the Cunning Wish engine, (in fact, when I first picked up BUG Landstill, it was the first thing I ever cut, and never went back) but it's just really, really good here.

Have you considered using Moat (assuming you have access to one) either MD or SB?

Really like the list, but have you considered going -1 Deed +1 EE in order to broaden your sweepers and be able to play against Pithing Needle shenanigans when you are Wish-Less.

What are your thoughts on Beast Within in the wishboard?

Honestabe, I think you are referring to my list which has been doing very well for me in testing and in tournament play. I won an Iowa City GPT and a small cash tournament around a month ago with an almost identical list. I am pretty excited with the new version with MM and hopefully I will be playing at either SCG Louisville (most likely) or the GP (hopefully, but still working on a ride).

Treefolk,

I run 2 EE, 3 Deed in my current setup and I like it a lot. EE is a lot better against stuff like Zoo because of its speed and it doesn't force you to search up b or g duals in addition to the problem of Needle like you said.

I like Moat, but I wouldn't play one before a first Humility. Against stuff like Goblins and random decks like Elves I prefer Humility and there isn't much space for one in the main-you already run so many expensive spells and you don't want to have too many WW spells, the mana base is good enough, but you don't want to stretch it too far. Cutting a Deed for one might work. If I played one I don't think I'd play it in the sideboard, the creature matchups are pretty good already and you want as many slots in the board for the combo, it's definitely the worst matchup game one.

Beast Within as a Wish target was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the card. I feel it isn't needed, the only permanent that doesn't have an answer out of the Wishboard are planeswalkers, and they see little play. Jace 2 definitely sees the most play, and we have more hard counters than other Jace decks (Thopters/Counterbalance), as many or more Jace, and more card advantage spells to help put us over the top to win counter wars and resolving our own Jace. Not too mention Decree of Justice (or Elspeth, if you prefer that) does a great job of killing Jace. Even though it costs more mana, I feel Rootgrapple is much better as a Wish target than Beast-the 3/3 drawback is very relevant. Pat Chapin does a really good job in a article from this or last week talking about this card, if you have Premium, I'd recommend reading that part.

Here is the list I ran at the GPT, for reference:

4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Tropical Island
1 Scrubland
2 Underground Sea
3 Tundra

2 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
2 Spell Snare
1 Path to Exile

3 Standstill
3 Counterspell

1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Cunning Wish

1 Humility
3 Jace, The Mindscultpor
2 Decree of Justice

4 Force of Will


1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Pierce
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Path to Exile
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Tsabo's Decree
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Extirpate

I've made a few adjustments but nothing too different with the addition of New Phyrexia outside of Mental Misstep, of course.

I've been doing quite a bit of grinding lately, but I finally think I settled on a sweet list. I decided to revert back to 3 colors; I expect a LOT of Blood Moon and Wasteland, and wanted a manabase that can fight through that. So, without further ado;

4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Forest
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory

3 Standstill
4 Pernicious Deed

3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

1 Engineered Explosives

3 Innocent Blood
1 Life From the Loam

4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
3 Mental Misstep
4 Brainstorm
2 Go For the Throat

That makes 58. There's been 2 slot's I've been messing around with. One configuration I've been using is +1 Standstill, +1 Garruk, Wildspeaker. It's better against midrange, and Garruk is a good way to end the game quickly, which is one area that the deck usually is awful at. Making Beasts can have some dissynergy with Deed, but it can be played around, and often, you just want him to ramp a few times, and then overrun 2 Factories to seal the deal.

The 2nd configuration is +1 Standstill, +1 Sensei's Divining Top. It is sort of decent against everything. Top is almost a catch-all and is a pretty "ok" draw at any point of the game. It also has some dissynergy with Deed.

The 3rd and sauciest configuration (and the one I am still testing) is +1 Gifts Ungiven, +1 Regrowth. Af a Vintage player, I know just how insane Gifts can be. And although you won't be making the piles Ancestral, Time Walk, Demonic Tutor, Black lotus, Gifts is still a force to be reconed with. Imagine you're playing against goblins, or merfolk and falling behind. You can gifts for:
Pernicious Deed
Regrowth
Innocent Blood
Go For the Throat

Now this pile will put you right back into the game. They simply can't give you Deed, and if they give you regrowth, you can just get deed back, so they can't give you that either. So, out of this particular pile, 19/20 times, you're paying 3U at instant speed to get 2 top-knotch removal spells. Seems Good. Now imagine you're playing against that same deck, but the game state is more even, with them having maybe 1 or 2 creatures in play. You can get a pile like this:
Pernicious Deed
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Standstill
Go For The Throat

You'll probably end up with Standstill and Go for the Throat, which is just an insane investment of your 4 mana and 1 card.

It gets even more insane post-board, when you can gifts up
Engineered Plague
Pernicious Deed
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Go for the Throat

The possibilities just get endless.

It's also insane against the other control decks, when you can make a pile of
Standstill
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Counterspell
Regrowth

It gets even sexier when you already have regrowth in your hand, and your opponent doesn't know it.

The sideboard looks like this:
4 Engineered Plague
2 Thoughtseize
2 Extirpate
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Smother
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Krosan Grip
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Kitchen Finks

I wish I could fit either Damnation or Perish into the board, but I just don't know what to cut. I'm thinking it's going to be Relic, just because Dredge is such a bad MU anyway, I just don't think it's worth having one slot for. Also, the matchups I want extirpate in, Relic just doesn't really do anything.

Thoughts?

Hi, everyone. I played BUG Landstill yesterday at a 14-person Legacy event. I've been trying a few decks and attempting to settle on something that I want to play for a while and try to "master." I tried out CounterTop Thopter, Merfolk, ANT, Reanimator and UR control along the way. As you'll see below, my results were atrocious. However, I think they were variance/build-related and I like the idea of settling on this deck for the long haul.

Here's the list that I ran:

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Mental Misstep
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
3 Ghastly Demise
2 Go for the Throat

2 Innocent Blood
1 Life from the Loam

4 Standstill
3 Pernicious Deed

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
2 Wasteland
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Forest

SB:

4 Leyline of the Void

2 Krosan Grip
Tsabo's Decree
Ravenous Trap
Diabolic Edict
Extirpate
Submerge
Mindbreak Trap
Echoing Truth
Stifle
Back to Nature

In a nutshell, I went 0-2 drop and didn't win a game:

Round 1 - Emily (teammate) w/ MUD (blue w/ Thoughtcast and Staff)

Game 1 - One land and Brainstorm, but no Deed or Standstill and a Go for the Throat. Not going to get there. Mulligan. One land after mulligan, I think, and I draw a Factory but irrelevant as she barfs out a turn 1 Forgemaster, I don't have Innocent Blood or FoW (she presented nothing to Misstep) and I get Blightsteeled to death.

Game 2 - A keepable hand with two land! And I get stuck at two. And then I lose.

Round 2 - Jimmy P w/ BUGw Landstill

Jimmy is a really good, high-ranked, prize-winning player and also happens to usually host or organize these events. I figured I was screwed, but would try my hardest and would learn as much as I could.

Game 1 - No land. Mulligan. One land w/ Brainstorm, risky but so is going to 5. I keep. Brainstorm reveals no land. I lose handily.

Game 2 - One Factory. Mulligan. This time, I have land. However, he still has a full grip and is on the draw. I lose handily.

---

So, I talked to Jimmy P for a bit afterwards and made some changes to my deck. Going in, I didn't like the wishboard, but I didn't really have the cards for an actual sideboard nor a clear picture of what one should look like. So I had already planned to take out the wishboard. In the end, I changed the main deck thusly:

-3 Cunning Wish (GTFO)
-1 Putrefy (good card, but not good when there are mana issues and I feel like I just need land more)
-1 Counterspell

+1 Engineered Explosives (some variance for Needle)
+1 Ghastly Demise
+1 Creeping Tar Pit (need more land)
+2 Spell Snare

and I made a new sideboard thusly:

3 Vendilion Clique (debated this vs. Revokers, but I don't like tapping out in the main phase for some strange reason - also, this is better against Jace, honestly)
3 Duress
3 Extirpate
2 Perish (debated this vs. Shackles and also cutting this and Llawans for 4x Engineered Plague but ended up with this)
2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
2 Krosan Grip

Also, I would play another Tropical Island over an Island and possibly another Sea over the Swamp, but those are card availability limitations. In the long game, the basics are actually flat out awesome, but not so much in the short game.

In the meantime, my teammate keeps borrowing my Burn deck and placing in prize slots with that. He and Emily took 3rd and 4th, respectively. Perhaps I should give up and Just Play Burn. But, no, I'm a control player at heart and I <3 Jace pretty fiercely.

3 weeks ago I won a Tournament with Ubg Landstill:

//24 lands
2 island
1 swamp
1 forest
4 sea
2 trop
3 mishra
3 waste
8 fetchs

//36 spells
3 Jace
4 deed
4 innocent
3 GftT
4 fow
3 MM
3 Counterspell
3 spell snare
3 standstill
4 brainstorm
1 pulse
1 loam

SB was junk but have 1 MM , 3 seize(for Hightide/combos/mirrors), 2 extirpate e 3 BeB and removals(see a lot of folks and aggros).

I did 3-1-1(suiss), lost to hightide and draw in last round with Junk(with witness and more lategame recurring engines), and went to he finals(split with Junk), MM was very good, BeB come in just against Zoo at Top8 but was safe since I have more ways to stop ReB and PoP.

The deck is very solid but I think I'll go back and play 4 Jace, TMS .. it is just to good.. mas become better with MM.. also Loam will go to my SB..and I'm think about playing Tarmogoyfs at my SB.. to deal with combo and surprise aggros.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by justindz

Game 1 - No land. Mulligan. One land w/ Brainstorm, risky but so is going to 5. I keep. Brainstorm reveals no land. I lose handily.

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How long did you wait to brainstorm? Against the mirror (or any deck thats not applying pressure) if I need a 2nd or 3rd land, I will usually wait until I will have to discard until I cast a Brainstorm. Just because once you cast Brainstorm for lands and whiff, you've lost the game; especially with this deck

Quote:

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and I made a new sideboard thusly:

3 Vendilion Clique (debated this vs. Revokers, but I don't like tapping out in the main phase for some strange reason - also, this is better against Jace, honestly)

2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress

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You don't want creatures in your sideboard, or anywhere in your deck really. They just have zero syngergy with Pernicious Deed (which is an auto 4-of) and Innocent Blood (which you should be playing at least 3 of). Thoughtseize has a simaler effect as v-clique and is easier to cast. For Merfolk, I like 4 Engineered Plagues, as they're also good against goblins and elves. The only exception to the "no creature" rule is Kithcen Finks, as you actually want it to die

Quote:

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Also, I would play another Tropical Island over an Island and possibly another Sea over the Swamp, but those are card availability limitations. In the long game, the basics are actually flat out awesome, but not so much in the short game.

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I wouldn't reccomend playing basics in this deck unless you're really, really familiar with it. I've been playing this deck for almost a year, and have just added basics to it last week, and I still fetch poorly with them. The Bayou should be another Trop, for sure, and so should the swamp. A 1-of Island should be fine for you. You also want either 24 or 25 lands, 23 just isn't enough, as you simply don't ever want to miss a land drop for your first 7 turns. I'd also add another Wasteland if I were you, often, my biggest problem against Merfolk is thier manlands, as they can dodge Innocent blood, and they can play around pernicious deed with them.

Quote:

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In the meantime, my teammate keeps borrowing my Burn deck and placing in prize slots with that. He and Emily took 3rd and 4th, respectively. Perhaps I should give up and Just Play Burn. But, no, I'm a control player at heart and I <3 Jace pretty fiercely.

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Don't play burn!!!!!

Hope I helped you out
-Abe

Regarding Brainstorm, I think in both cases I had a fetch and a Brainstorm in my opening hand. I waited one or two turns (depending on the match) and then fired off the Brainstorm because I was clearly either 1) dead on board unless it revealed something good OR 2) I was going to be too far behind to recover in the mirror. I am definitely in the camp that holds the Brainstorm as long as humanly possible. Against MUD, though, I can't sit at one land and hold a Brainstorm with a Blightsteel Colossus on the board. I pretty much had to dig into Innocent Blood or lose, you know.

I'm pretty good at playing with Brainstorm as I've played a Brainstorm deck of some form for years (not counting the years I spent playing Ice Ages itself, haha). I think I did everything correctly and just couldn't get land in my top 12 cards all day.

Re: Vendilion Clique, I would be bringing this in largely against Jace decks where Deed is not very good anyway. For example, in the mirror, I think Clique is pretty good. Deed is not so hot there, being sorcery speed, requiring the hardest color combination to assemble and really only hitting activated man-lands, not helping at all against Jace, etc. I would also see it coming in against things like Show and Tell that may not play Jace, but where Clique is good and Deed is pretty bad.

Jimmy was boarding in Meddling Mage in his sideboard (and he's a really, really good player). That's kind of where I got the idea, except that I prefer Flash and am obviously not playing the color white. I will take your advice as a healthy dose of skepticism and test this thoroughly before I pull the trigger and take it to an event, though. I suspect the worse anti-synergy is with Innocent Blood and Jimmy doesn't have that problem since he's using STP instead. I suppose I could cut them for E. Plague and rely on Duress, Extirpate and better draws to fight Jace mirrors.

Regarding the changes you recommend, from my updated build (24 land, on which I solidly agree), here's how I would interpret your suggestions:

-1 Ghastly Demise, +1 Innocent Blood -- seems like a slam dunk
-1 Mental Misstep, +1 Jace OR Wasteland? -- is this what you would recommend, and if so would you fit the 4th MM in the SB?

And do you think 3 Deed/1 EE is better than 4 Deed? I went with this split in order to give me some play around Pithing Needle since I was cutting the Putrefy (which many of you have as Maelstrom Pulse, but I liked instant speed and was comfortable against Empty the Warrens anyway).

Regarding the basic lands, as I said that's a card availability issue, so that's how I'd roll unless I could borrow or acquire another Tropical and Sea. I certainly don't think that's optimal, although I have found the one Island and the Forest for Loam to be quite solid and never disappointing. This is just one of those things where I'm going to double down on the deck and do some trading towards the last few lands (e.g. trade up my NM- Volcanic for a Trop or unload all my pimp Reanimator stuff now that it's cool again).

And, yeah, I'm venting. I don't want to play Burn. I built that deck so that when we get Legacy going at FNM, I can lend it to someone who wants to play but doesn't have a few thousand $$ lying around ;-).

Thanks a ton for the help. I really want to play this deck for the long haul. I've played control forever and even when it craps out on me, I feel like I had more of a chance than playing a less consistent combo deck.

@Justindz: I play Pulse over Putrefy cause it can deal destroy planeswalkers(I really want to take some Elspeth or opposing Jace some time).
Also Clique is a good ideia if you are facing too many combo or pure control mirrors in your metagame.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shimi

@Justindz: I play Pulse over Putrefy cause it can deal destroy planeswalkers(I really want to take some Elspeth or opposing Jace some time).
Also Clique is a good ideia if you are facing too many combo or pure control mirrors in your metagame.

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Okay, thanks. I might consider that for the sideboard as I mostly play against non-Planeswalker decks, though.

Personally, I run 4 Deed and 1 EE. I understand the wanting to play around needle, but against half of the field, if you just resolve deed, you win, and I can't bring myself to not run the set.

I'd definitely cut one demise for another innocent blood. Innocent blood is the stones against reanimator and show and tell, as well as being strong against Team America/Canadian/Bant Tempo.

As far as demises go, I just run Go for the Throat, as it gets around Mental Misstep and can kill bob/tombstalker, but thats just a personal choice

I'd definitely want another wasteland in your deck, as manlands are just too much of a pain in the ass. I have tried 4 Jaces, and I'm not too big of a fan. They can get pretty clunky, and Jace wars just don't happen in Legacy as much as they do in t2. Plus, with the huge countersuite the deck runs, protecting him isnt that hard, and with brainstorms and standstills, finding him isnt that hard either.

I also don't run 4 missteps, just because the only 1-drops the deck really cares about are vial and goblin lackey, both of which can be easily dealt with by deed, and mental misstep is just an absolute brick in the late game