[Deck - CaNG II WINNER] NDW - an ATS evolution

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

When ATS started, well, sucking, I was disappointed, as I'd started building the deck. In a few weeks it wouldn't matter, as my collection would be stolen. But with the support of The Lucky Frog, Team Scrabs, the Hatfields, Jesse Krieger, Jander and Kaddy, and even, yes, Calosso, I obtained and borrowed enough cards to throw together Enchantress and ATS. It was at this time I started questioning some of the presuppositions that I think influence the ATS decklist.

My list developed into the following;

4x SotF
4x Mana Leak
4x FoW
4x Brainstorm
4x Eternal Witness
3x Wall of Blossoms
3x Basking Rootwalla
2x Tradewind Rider
2x Stifle
1x Squee
1x Genesis
1x Anger
1x Rofellos
1x Seedborn Muse
1x Deranged Hermit
1x Caller of the Claw
1x Manowar
1x Uktabi Orangutan
1x Mystic Snake

4x Tropical Island
2x Taiga
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
8x Forest

I abandoned mana acceleration because they were useless against control and Birds especially because it was fragile. Ranger I kept for a short period, but without Birds it was subpar. Caller and Rootwalla were there for combat tricks. Hermit was muscle and a fresh line of blockers when needed. Witness and Leak were upped to 4 to give the deck more control sans the Survival.

I had a favorable record vs Goblins and went about 50-50 with Solidarity. After a while, I noticed the Stifles being pretty mediocre, but I didn't want to lower the blue count, so whatever replaced them had to be blue. Eventually I decided on 1x Ninja of the Deep Hours, and 1x Mistblade Shinobi. The Ninjitsu mechanic had strong synergy with the deck; come into play abilities could be reactivated, creatures could be fed to Survival, and Rootwalla especially had synergy. With this version I went 7-9 verse goblins, and 5-3 verse UGR Gro. But there were still problems. I noticed that my creatures were generally fragile and not very strong, and my only answer to Lackey on the draw was Rootwalla. In addition, I lost games because of mana screw; I was playing only two Taigas and without Survival I'd often hold onto dead cards. In an efford to fix the various problems, I made some dramatic changes to the deck.

NDW; Ninja Deck Wins.

4x Mana Leak
3x Eternal Witness
4x Nimble Mongoose
4x Brainstorm
3x SotF
3x Cabal Therapy
3x Basking Rootwalla
2x Werebear
1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
1x Throat Slitter
1x Skullsnatcher
1x Okiba-gang Shinobi
1x Bone Shredder
1x Krovikan Horror
1x Genesis
1x Wonder
1x Mystic Snake
1x Uktabi Orangutan
1x Caller of the Claw
1x Dimir Infiltrator
1x Spike Feeder

4x Bayou
4x Tropical Island
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
5x Forest

SB:
4x Engineered Plague
2x Scrabbling Claws
2x Phyrexian Furnace
1x Tormod's Crypt
3x Duress
1x Spore Frog
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Nezumi Graverobber

I'm still in the process of getting actual numbers, but preliminary testing has been positive against Goblins, both with Burrows and Port. Black has given me solid utility, and thus far I haven't ever been impaired by the switch from Squee to Horror.

Card explanations;

4x Mana Leak; it lets me play the aggro-control role.

4x Eternal Witness; though weak vs. Goblins, it shines verse everything else, garnering impressive card advantage and quality.

4x Nimble Mongoose; amazing vs. Goblins, it's a cheap beater that's hard to kill, and in the mid-late game it's easy to get all 4 on the board and smash.

4x Brainstorm; the best available draw spell, with 7 fetches and 3x SotF.

3x Basking Rootwalla; a solid trick with Survival that buys time, and often a potent threat on its own.

3x Cabal Therapy; I switched to Therapy over FoW for three reasons; less card disadvantage on average, its proactive, which is important vs Solidarity, and it means I can lower my blue count freely.

2x Werebear; a little bit of mana accel and/or muscle.

Tradewind Rider; sometimes a useful answer, but not the heart of the deck anymore.

Ninja of the Deep Hours; very solid draw, plus the utility of the Ninjitsu mechanic. Returning Witness to your hand to smack with Deep Hours is hot.

Mistblade Shinobi; not impressing me, honestly, but I haven't tested the new build vs Gro, so we'll wait and see.

Throat Slitter; has in my limited experience always created a 2 for 1.

Skullsnatcher; anti-Thresh tech.

Orangutan; usually a 2 for 1, and an answer to various threats. His erstwhile compatriot Lyrist was not included, because the prime target would be Humility, which, yeah.

Caller of the Claw; a combat trick and anti-removal ace in the hole.

Mesmeric Fiend; Therapy #4 that's tutorable and lets me see their hand if they're playing something unexpected.

Bone Shredder; the tutorable kill has come up quite a lot.

Mystic Snake; again, a 2 for 1 most of the time. I like card advantage.

Krovikan Horror; honestly, I never used Squeer more than a few times a game. I get the same mileage out of Horror, plus he doesn't suck on his own.

Genesis; still an MVP vs Control.

Wonder; Great synergy with the Ninjas and an aswer to flyers, which were problematic beforehand.

Running Tally;
Goblins 4-1
Burn 0-3
RGZoo 1-1
ASStompy 1-0
Solidarity 1-0
MUCStasis 1-1

Testing changes;
-1 Mesmeric Fiend
-1 Tradewind Rider
-1 Mistblade Shinobi
+1 Okiba Gang Shinobi
+1 Dimir Infiltrator
+1 Spike Feeder