Skaab Depths

[Goaswerfraiejen]

I've been having some moderate success on MWS with the following list, but it's far from perfect. In particular, there are some issues with consistency, especially in the land department. Thought I'd drop it off here for some input.

4x Skaab Ruinator
4x Vampire Hexmage
4x Coralhelm Commander
4x Cursecatcher
4x Faerie Macabre

4x Aether Vial
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
3x Counterspell
2x Go for the Throat
2x Darkblast
1x Unearth

4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
4x Swamp
3x Island
2x Dark Depths
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Misty Rainforest


SB
4x Spell Pierce
3x Perish
3x Wipe Away
2x Infest
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Go for the Throat

As you can see, the idea is fairly simple; to use Vial in a fairly aggressive manner and with lots of fliers. If the Depths combo goes off, so much the better. While it's fairly easy to fill up the yard to hardcast the Ruinator, the idea is obviously not to have to do that at all. Counterspell used to be Spell Pierce, but it turned out that the Pierce just wasn't being helpful enough.

There are definitely problems with the current configuration. One is with the balance of non-creature spells. FoW has not actually been stellar, and I don't think that the balance of removal is right. I really want to fit in Unearth, since it's so good, but right now I'm thinking that another Go for the Throat is more important.

Another issue is with the creature base. I really like the ideas informing them--for one thing, I've got easy maindeck answers to the graveyard, planeswalkers, and combo, all while furthering my own ends--but on the other hand, they're not all that scary, especially alone or topdecked. And since the Hexmage combo isn't the most consistent of all...

I should add, however, that Skaab Ruinator and Coralhelm Commander are real stars in this deck. They fit really nicely, and represent real problems for the opponent.

I guess one thing that I'm wondering is whether it may not just be worthwhile giving up on much of the control plan (aside from a few pieces of removal) and just go all-in with the UB aggro portion. Fliers could be prioritized (Tombstalker could find inclusion), and more room could be made for cantrips. Any thoughts? Any ideas on what would fit in nicely if that were the route I went down?

[catmint]

I played against you (or someone else with this deck) playing Team America. :)
I can't remember exactly but I think my deck had very good draws and denied any significant board development, so I won 2:0.

Unfortunately i had no chance to talk about your deck afterwards, because I found it very interesting and had no idea what I was up against. :)

Not sure if the deck will be really good in the end but here are my first thoughts:

I would definetly run more creatures to make it more of an aggro control deck with a combo finish, to abuse vial more and to "naturally" feed skaab. Therefore if tempo is important, I would cut counterspell for daze.

Faerie macabre? I dont think skaap justifies to play her. If you play vendilion clique, the deck will get better immediately.

Other creatures coming to my mind are dark confidant and maybe some efficient beater.

Darkblast seems to have a good synergy because of dredging, but I thin it is more important to make sure the other creatures die.

Volraths stronghold: played with this tech in a control deck and it was even too slow there....

intiution seems to be nice for skaab. Unfortunately to abuse the combo with intuition you need to splash green for loam.

beeing able to tutor up the combo seems important. Again green would help here...

[Esper3k]

Yeah, I think Intuition and Loam should also be auto includes for a deck like this. If you have either Hexmage or Depths, you can also just Intuition for Loam+Volrath's+Missing piece to get the combo.

[P-E]

no street wraith good draw accelerator and target for skaab ^^

[Esper3k]

no street wraith good draw accelerator and target for skaab ^^

Oo I like this one!

[Moduloc]

What Is the point of the merfolk lord, I don't see the point. Would some top evoke like shriekmaw help with synergy?

[Lord_Cyrus]

What about Mulldrifter? I know 2 cards for 2U at sorcery speed isn't normally good enough for Legacy, but when you think about powering up your Ruinators at the same time... it has some appeal. I like the idea of Shriekmaw as well. I think any evoke creature gains power when you consider Ruinator as your goal.

Personally I would dump the Hexmage/Depths. It doesn't belong here at all. Improve your mana and play wasteland. I would also take a serious look at Snapcaster Mage. I think it will soon be very hard to justify playing any blue based-creature deck without him. The effect is just way too strong. Brainstorm is probably the best card in Legacy. Doubling your brainstorms-per-game is just insane.

[TarmoRhox]

What about a couple of Crop Rotations + a couple of Life from the loam? It can cycle Dark Depths and its dredge mechanic can fill our grave with creatures

[Narluin]

Seems a bit intressting with a blue black aggro/control deck :)

What u want too do is put more creatures in the deck that are both usefull in kill the opponent and feeding the Skaab.

E.g. Delver of Secrets, Dark Confidant, street wraith, Shriekmaw, Mulldrifter
, Fleshbag Marauder, Fume Spitter, Phantasmal Image, Vexing Sphinx.

Som random cards that might be good and usefull to the deck.

But what have been aldready mentioned is adding green. It is the best way to increase the consistency of this deck. And ofcourse with the intuition and life of the loam combo :)

[mordraid]

The deck got some potential but it tries to do two different things. Either you focus on dark depth or on Skaab ruinator.