I'm quite biased as well but I would pick ANT/TES. If you find ANT to linear I would suggest TES or BW ANT (if you like playing basics/C ritual). But the truth is that once you get to play the deck to a certain level it really isn't all that linear and to play this deck to a fullest you will need to know and use every single trick in the book. The thing I like about the deck is finding those small windows in which you can win and using them leaving your opponent with a though of "how the fuck did I just lose that game..".
This is the reason I have been playing this deck for more than 4 years straight.
But it all depends in what you enjoy in this game. If you love a more aggro control approach like you find in stoneblade decks I would defenitely go for that. Imo stoneblade is here to stay, you will maybe have to change up some cards or sometimes add or remove a color to be optimal for the metagame but in the end these kinds of decks will be viable for a long time I think.
Originally Posted by 'Nilla Pac
UR Dreadstill creator and BRx WGD Combo Pioneer
I would avoid decks with a lot of cards that you won't be able to use elsewhere, such as Sneak Attacks and SNTs. Don't buy into BUG; the deck is one of the more expensive and doesn't put up the results. I think UWR Delver is probably one of the stronger choices. It's probably a toss up between UWR and Esper. Esper is a control deck leaning towards being a midranged deck. UWR is a Delver tempo deck with a Stoneforge late game. Would you rather cast Delvers, Lightning Bolts, and Spell Pierces or Thoughtseizes, Snapcasters, and Jaces? Either deck is a good fit in the meta and, should the meta shift, both will leave you with a plethora of good staples to use in your next deck.
Also, once you'll acquire the staples, it's pretty easy to switch between UWr Miracles and UWR Patriot. I'd say that RiP is very well positioned now when Goyfs and DRS are all over the place.
So, my advice is:
- if you want to save money and save yourself of tinkering, go for Can Thresh. You may upgrade it to BURG later. (But yeah, you wrote you don't like the decks, so...)
- if you wnat to have powerful (though linear) deck that needs lots of decisions and is quite funny, build ANT and TES (of money cards, those differ only in Burning Wishes). Sad thing is that you won't use LEDs, ITs and rites anywhere else then in combo.
- Esper Control. Who would not love to bother himself with control...
- or the UWR doubledeck.
And lands. TES typically runs 3 blue fetches and 2 Underground Seas, whereas ANT runs at least 7 fetches, including 4 Polluted Delta, more duals like Volcanic Island, Tropical Island, Bayou, and Badlands, and even Karakas.
Karakas is played in both sb, isn't it?
True remark, thouh, I completely forgot about the lands issue.
TES: 2 USea, Volc, 3 Delta (ok, ok, I know...)
ANT: 2 USea, Volc, 4 Delta, then Trop, Bayou, Badlands and 3-4 fetches.. hm, these decks don't really overlap.
Btw, my above post is a perfect example of how the Legacy distorts view: I mean, it isn't completely strange to forget about USD 500 worthy of cards, as long as they are "mere" lands...
Team America should be good, no? And it'd give a solid base to go for Shardless BUG if TNN gets the hammer, and gets you the most expensive part of ANT for the most part. Doesn't seem that bad of an idea to me.
I would buy beta duals and other good reserved list cards and make my own deck.
Right? I lol @ Standard decks and their piddling 2-3 hundred dollar price tags. I could trade my mana base for the entire meta, lol.
So, out of the things you mentioned in your post, I would highly recommend you put together Patriot. For one, tempo decks prey on the format itself, not so much specific decks, so they are as a result good in almost every meta. Furthermore, you get a good number of staples together, making it easier to convert to other delver decks, Death and Taxes, or whatever else you should desire.
Looking at the power level of the colors, Team America should be good, but the results usually miss the mark. I'm pretty sure that Lightning Bolt is just as important to the tempo/Delver plan as cards like Daze and Wasteland. Deathrite helps get some reach, but apparently it isn't quite the same. UWR or RUG Delver just put out much better results on average.
If you build UWR Delver, you have the complete mana base for UWr Miracles already, you have a lot of the mana base for Esper, and most of the mana base for RUG. Not to mention you'll have a full set of Wastelands, SFMs, FoWs, Dazes, Plows, Brainstorms, Ponders, Pierces, and Bolts. All of which will be staples in tons of decks for years to come. Even though UWR Delver can use any Blue fetches, I would try to get the full set of Flooded Strands because they can be ported to the most decks.
Patriot + goyfs/trops. Face it, RUG will always be a tier 1 metagame contender, but if it's not to your liking, then patriot has enough staples (stoneforge, equipment, TNN) that it too will be around for a while.
I agree.
This why I'm on bUrg. I rather be greedy and splash red for bolt, than to play tempo without. Deathrite Shaman + Bolt = yummy! So much reach.
I personally think that Team America is a more solid deck than people give credit for. It puts up more good finishes in Europe, which is probably a result of it being more popular there than in the States. My point is that I think what's keeping the deck in Tier 1.5 status in the states is that it's just underplayed because UWR and RUG are just more popular here. We have the some good players of the deck (Dan Signorini most notably, one of the creators of the archetype), but I think tournament variance just pushes the deck down since not enough people play it for it to top 8 more consistently. I know Dan Signorini missed the Top 8 at GP DC on account of tiebreakers and got 9th instead. Another good example of how much people play deck can affect its performance are Storm decks (ANT/ TES) in general. They've always been at least Tier 1.5 in the American meta and ANT in particular seems to put up better results in Europe, which I think is in large part due to the fact that the deck is very popular there. I know we have some damn good storm players in the U.S., but Show and Tell decks just seems to be the more popular combo archetype.
In regards to Legacy:
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