Originally Posted by
Derayler
I think the most important thing right now is not finding lists we like for reasons that we can't explain or may not be as valid as we thought. For now I think the most important thing is to realize what parts of the meta are growing and how hard the matchups are so we know how our deck should be built to combat it.
I don't think that the Hexmage Depths combo is really that great. I mean you win times, but often trying to combo them is just not good in most situations you're in. The thing is that the combo is just inherently good against Jace, and the way the control decks are working now. LftL gives you comparable card advantage that constantly attacks their manabase where their card advantage is to deal with all sorts of problems being they are the controlling decks. Next, GSZ isn't as powerful in this deck as it is in all the other decks that use it. NO RUG uses it as a toolbox/acceleration which is extremely vital to their plan. Other NO decks us this the same way. Zoo decks have also stopped using GSZ because it is really easier just to run more creatures than trying to find specific ones. The next unconventional thing that most people are too ingrained to think about is that Tarmogoyf is often weak in several matchups. Goyf is actually weak against most slow U control decks. Often you never really beat them by just playing a few guys and smash them down, but whenever I played them in Richmond I always beat the U control decks by recurring Loam and destroying their lands and drawing a bunch of cards off Bob.
Just FYI, reasons why I think Depths combo is good against Jace
1. Hexmage can just nuke Jace
2. If you have a Hexmage and a Depths/Active Knight than they can't try to play Jace and bounce a creature. The best thing they can do is just try to brainstorm for an answer or they have to play a flying dude to block. Often the right play is to just activate knight to get a Maze so it will keep them off Jace while at the same time being able to attack every turn.
3. Having extra 2 power creatures means it's easier to have out 2 creatures and on an empty board than they can't play Jace reasonably.
To me NO RUG is a weird matchup. While attacking the opponent’s manabase is not always the right path, this is generally the only path I go down against this deck. I attempt to MM, swords, and unless you have to take something else thoughtseize their mana creatures/GSZ. I also wasteland them as aggressively as a possibly can without trashing my own game plan. Loam is also very strong in this matchup. An important thing to try and do is play down a couple Goyfs or a Knight as they will generally be bigger than all of their creatures and can race a Clique.
All these reasons were why I think that increasing the number of Loams and Diamonds is good in this deck. We aren't trying to be an aggroloam deck, but the Diamonds give us the necessary "extra land drop" we need to play Knights faster and be able to wasteland quickly and Loam gives us the card advantage of recurring wastelands we need.
While this was all food for though, I think all you guys should be able to see the valid points that I brought up and that the structure of the deck itself needs to change to keep up with the metagame.
