From my point of view three mana is just to much for the effect. You don't want to keep this mana open all time.

EDIT: You have to shuffle your entire library afterwards.

The reason people play daze is that it is possible to cast it for free. This is important becasue fishplayers want to spend the mana they have got to play creatures/disruption. In my eyes delay can not fulfil this role.
In some decks it might be an alternitive to remand or manaleak but nut daze.

Nothing to add.
A card should never be restricted for "being to skill intensive".

I think the effect is pretty good. Like a pimped Stifle.
The casting costs of 2 could be a problem. Stifle is good because its cheap. Keeping 2 mana open in a not pure reactiv deck like fish can be a problem. But time will tell.

Have you actually read the card?
"Counter target activated or triggered ability."

So i don't see your points.

However in my eyes Stifle is better.

Hi,
I'm Joachim Freitag and played a UW list very similar to Dave's list. He mentioned this before.
http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=471

The last months i played 5 color Staxx but without great success. So i wanted to play something else this time.
In the past our meta was dominated by:
- much TPS with Confidant
- UB or UBW Fish Style Decks
- Five Color and Uba staxx / Shop Aggro
- a bit Oath
- some Gifts and Slaver

I discovered Dave's Waterbury List and liked it. I just replaced 1 Isamaru with 1 daze because four are too much if you ask me and Mox Sapphire because i don't own one with a plain. Beside this i replaced the three Blue Elemental Blast from the Sideboard with True Believer because i don't fear much Goblins in you meta and True Believer was my weapon together with Chant vs TPS and Gifts.

Now looking back i must say i really like having both of them in these matchups. I boarded:
-3 Stifle
-1 Kataki
-2 Lions (don't like having Darkblast killing so many of my creatures)
+3 Chant
+3 True Believer

This was my typical boarding plan against TPS and Gifts. Sure, having six sideboardslots for this is heavy. But It worked out for me. True Believer was also useful against other UB or UBW Fishplayers just to have a 2/2 bear more in the deck.
So if you anticipate much Storm combo i can only say good things about True Believer + Chant in one Sideboard.

I'm trying two Jotun Grunts for one Ninja and one Lion right now. I think he has it's place in the deck but i need more experience with him to say more about this.

PS:
Thanks Dave for your work on the list. It's really a good and nice to play deck. I enjoy playing with it

Without saying that this deck is good or bad: I think you are looking at this from the wrong point of view.

This is not an aggro control deck like Fish or something like that. Its more a aggro combo deck like FCG. Disruption if needed  is in the Sideboard. So the focus of the deck is much more on winning fast than control your opponent and kill him slowly. Sure there are matchups you have to play a more contolish way but its not the primary goal.

Like Moxlotus said, you never want to leave UU open for a counterspell. I suggest trying daze or misdirection instead. Maybe even Stifel maindeck is an idea to try out. U is far easier to spare than UU.
-2 Counterspell
+2 Daze/Stifle/Misdirection

An onther thing that is problematic in my eyes is the manabase.
Cards that can use colorless mana are:
3x Ninja of the Deep Hours
3x Kataki
3x Null Rod
1x Time Walk
That are only 10 cards. If you count the factorys itself 14. And beside 4 factorys there are already 4 wastelands + 1 strip mine in the deck.
This is not like it should be. What about cutting the 4 factorys and play 3 more Fetchlands instead? That way you are down to 60 cards and fetchlands help to avoid unneeded lands in mid/lategame.
-4 Mishras Factory
+3 Fetchlands

I'm not an Oath expert. So my question:
Why do you not run Imperial Seal over Mystical Tutor?
Pro Mystical:
+ it's blue
+ no -2 Life
+ instant (is it really a big advantage in this deck?)

But the big con in my eyes is that it's not able to find an Oath of druids.

Great article! I really enjoyed reading. Keep on writing.

You somehow mist the whole point...
Only if you use more than a "set" number of proxys (for example 7)   you have to pay more entry fee for every proxy about the number.

I'm from germany, so no proxys over here. In my eyes there shoudn't be more than max. 10 Proxys allowed. And even 10 is a bit too high if you ask me.
I can see the benefits of proxys like a more competive enviroment and this is a good point! But there always has to be a reason to buy power. Otherwise it whould lose it's value excluding the collectors market. One way to go is the "prices for top 3 unpowered" decks for example. This gives every player a goal they can reach.

So the basic idea should be"A competiv turnament enviroment AND finding a way to bring people still spending money for magic".
So unlimit proxys can't be the way.

Hi, nice to so such a interesting decklist. I do have some questions/suggestions:

- What about Tinker/Darksteel Colossus? You play 10 artifacts and 4 brainstorms. So having to less artifacts or being annoyed by a Darksteel Colossus on hand should not be a big problem. It could add your deck a "random" very fast clock.

- You say you play Null Rod AND Chalice to get at least on of them every game. I understand that but on the other hand it looks a bit overkill to me. Have you tryed Kataki over Null Rod or over Chalice maindeck? It works against artefacts too but it has a boddy that can attack for two.

- What do you think about Samurai of the pale curtain? I don't like it as a maindeck card but it might be worth a sideboard slot. It can be used against others aggro decks too with its 2/2 + Bushido 1.

I'm not sure  if TFK is the right draw engine for this deck but assuming that a 3 cc Spell is the right Choice:
Why not try Compulsive Research?
The benefit: You run much more lands than artifacts. The big disadvantage Compulsive Research normaly has, it's only a sorcery not an instant, is no disadvantage for you. Like you said you are going to cast it after you played your other spells from hand. So you have nothing else that you could cast(e.g. mana drain) in this turn. This is a big difference to the "normal" control decks that run TFK.

I whould not place Pyrostatic Pillar in the tried and failed section.
It's a very good sideboardcard vs any storm based combo deck and vs many other combo decks like helm of awakening or salvager.

Congratz to your 16th place

edit: The Manabase is corrected now.

Right.
First, i agree about Seedtime, i whould never play it outside heavy blue meta. And even there you don't wanna sit there waiting for your opponent to play a spell and react which forces you to save 2 mana open all the time.

Weaknesses ?
1. Oath
Oath in generall. Salvager-Combo-Oath is much easier because we can hate the combo. But "normal" Akroma/SotN Oath is very hard. White or blue splah can help here. Some hate is availible in the sideboard but excluding naturalize there is not much that can be played maindeck. So you have to decide: Oath hate in SB that can't be used against much other decks or not and hope to fight no Oath the day.

2. Tinker
11/11 trample is a problem for this deck...what helps is a opponent already low on life that can be raced, Mutation, and white splash.

3. Exaulted Angel
Rarely played but against Landstill or Keeper you may face it. Kill it while it's a 2/2 as soon as possiple. If its a 4/5 and you can't handle it in 1 or 2 turns you have very bad chances.


Out of my R/G experince (yes i am nearly full powered) the first two are the main problems you see in a normal turnament. I don't want to say R/G hates everything away or something like that but it's still underrated by many people if you ask me.

I whould wonder if Staxx gets played by 60 or 70% of the people in a turnament but in my eyes you underrate R/G too much.
Yeah it is often played as a budget deck and yes it's often designed as a hat deck too. However good constructed, well metagamed and piloted by a skillfull player it is everthing else than a bad deck.
The problem is that that many of the R/G Decks / Players in the past didn't fullfill these criterias.

Good Article. Very interesing  thoughts about manabase and the attributes of casting costs. Go on! :top:

Short answer: Its bad for this deck.

If - if means that this is not a must - you want to run any kind of card draw i suggest Sylvan Library or SoFI but not Sensei. Sensei can be used in deck were you have the mana to use it EOT. This is not the case in RG Beatz.


About Hullbreach:
It has been discussed about 193 times before. Naturalize > Hull Breach. Simply because two facts:
1. Naturalize is an instant, Hull breach isn't.
2. In what situations can you destroy an artifact and an enchantment ? A very rare situation.

Cool report!
Congratulations.

Hm, sry but i'm a bit disapointed about many of the last "one or two line" questions 

Sure, ask questions if you have one but 75% of these questions have been discussed/answered in this topic before! So please be so kind and read the hole before you make a new post. Otherwise the topic only gets full on redundant posts more and more.

@ Cab:
You run Root Maze and Pillar maindeck ? You can put Null Rod in your sideboard too but you have to ask yourself:

• 1. In what matchups you want to sideboard it in ?
• 2. Do i need help in this matchup or is it good enough anyway ?
´

• 3. If you need help, do i have already other cards in my SB to do so ?
• 4. Do i have the space in maindeck to side all these things in ?

If you have a good answer to all these questions you might want to play Null Rod. At the moment i have chosen for myself to not use it to have more sideboard slots for other cards.

Great results! Congratz.

Some questions about you choices.
Why have you decided to play no Root Maze anymore and run the 4 Null Rods instead ? I'm using Root Maze and must say that i really like it.
Do you not miss maindeck Naturalizes against Oath/FCG or are the benefits against other decks su much better that it's justified in your eyes?

Rack and Ruin / Oxidize
I whould not suggest to use Rack and Ruin or Oxidize because of Artifact Mutation.
The Tokens it generates are very nice. It's not just a defens card like R&R or Oxidize, it can be used for offensive (by the way, we get tokens if we destroy a Darkstell Coloss. I think this should not be forgotten because tinker/Coloss is included in many decks at least in my meta).  2cc is no problem too. Thats why i play it over R&R or Oxidize.

Fire/Ice
I can only see Fire supiror vs Lightning Bolt vs FCG or Fishlike decks. Decks with many X/1 Creatures. That are situations it can show it's power because we get card advantage.
Aginst decks i normaly whould deal one damage to a creature and the other one to the player (beside goblin Welder i don't see many situations for this...?) i don't think it is better than Bolt. Why ?
Sure, i deal one more damage to the player. But if i cast the spell directly on my opponent to finish him i deal this one damage less. So it's balanced. But thanks to the higher casting costs of fire and the fact that i can't kill any X/3 creature with fire i prefer the Bolt.

Root Maze
I can only say one thing. It looks strong on paper and it's even stronger in real play. Just give it a try and test it.

Troll Ascetic
It's cool and very hard to handle for the opponent. I played it a while but in the end i decided to tokk him out again due to the fact of its relativ high cc AND the 2 mana it needs to combat savely. I use the Mongrel instead. It's cheaper and i don't need mana to save/pump it.

Rancor vs Pillar
pro Rancor:
- can make every of our creatures into a mighty threat

pro Pillar:
- is a threat on itself
- we get 3-4 Sideboardslots assuming that Pillar was in your SB before and we don't want Rancor in your SB

I really don't know whats better for this deck. Only based on this short list Pillar looks supiroir to me but from my experiance with many games the "every creature gets a migthy threat" argument is stronger than people may think.
The Metagame will effect the decision too. Many TPS & Co or other combodecks (Not dragon) in your meta whuld support the Pillarstrategy. Some more Roguedecks or other aggros whould be better with Rancor. Vs most controll decks both are good if you ask me.
Another question whould be if Rancor has be the card to cut for Pillar. In my eyes Pillar+Rancor can limit our self because we get more and more damage (if we play Rancor multiple times under a Pillar) but it whould be very aggro against the opponent too.


2nd Burn Spell:
The Chalice argument against Chain Lightning is a good one. Being sorcery doesn't make it better.
In my oppinion Chain Lightning is good because:
- It generally better fits better in the manacurve. I often can spare one mana to play a damage spell and still being able to regenerate my boa or cast a different spell.
- And a first Turn welder...without manaacceleration i can't cast my incinerate and he will be able to use the welder. But maybe this is not such an important situation with 4 Bolts MD and 6 (3xESG, Mox, Mox, Lotus) availible accelerations.

Mongrel:
I play 3 and i don't miss the skyshroud elite anymore. Sure the elite is very strong but the Mongrel is better. We have enought 1cc drops and mainly kird who does the same job as elite a bit better.

Pyrostatic Pillar:
I like it. I really like it. I tried 3 instead of 3 Rancor in my build and they had some very nice games. But in the end i decided to take them out again before i went to Paris because i didn't knew the meta. I whould still like to play 3-4 in maindeck but i don't find any slots to cut for. Only rancor. But Rancor is very strong too and helps in some matchups that are not so good like Oath and some Aggro/control like Madness.. So i'm a bit unsure about this.

Yes i will post this on Thursday, i have no time before :/


I don't play a Null Rod because i play Root Maze. I wanted to play some card that is effectiv against Combo but also usefull vs ofther decks. Root Maze simply has a effect on more decks compared to Null Rod. Every Deck plays fetchlands etc. Vs some decks the RootMaze works like a Null Rod (Sensei Sensei e.g). Together with Gorilla Shamane Root Maze works like a Null Rod again because the enemy will not get a chance to use his mox's before they are destroyed. Beside this Root Maze costs only 1 green Mana and is safer than Null Rod because of Artifact Hate.
So in my eyes Root Maze is supirior to Nul Rod in this Deck. It fits more in the hole Deckidea. And Root Maze + Null Rod are to many slots. Maybe 3 Null Rods in sideboard. But if you ask me i whould even not run them SB because i have the Pyrostatic Pillar that has more or less the same or even better effects in the matchups i whould side the Null Rod in (TPS, Salvager Combo, Sensei Sensei and Pillar can be used against Control + Aggrocontrol too).

4 Emerald Charms are very much thats right. Normaly i play 2-3 in SB. But during the Busjourney to Paris and the time before the turnament starts i saw very much Oath. So i decided to go up to 4 Chamrs. The matchups were i can use the Artifact Mutation are not so bad before boarding so 3 Mutations must be enought. Oath on the other side can be a very hard match so i wanted to have as much weapons as i can get for this matchup.

And yes i whould play exactly the same Deck+Sideboard again.
My two losses vs MonoUC were based on a heavy misplay from me in game 1, and a goodlike first turn tinker with forcebackup in game two after he mulliganed to 6. Vs CS i made a misplay too but i'm unsure if this was important or not because my situation was bad anyway. Game 3 i had to take mulligan down to 5 to see a single colored mana on my opening hand and he played a Chalice for 1 first turn. So If i had played without the misplays it could even be 8-1. But this was my fault, not a failury of the deck.

Yeah i was on of the guys with the blue "T1 Germany" shirts.

If you ask me it was a great event and i whould always visit it again.
So gogo Paris 2006

Mask of Memory is definetly a good card but i'm not sure if it is good for this deck. 4 Mana to get it working the first time seems a lot to me and another problem whould be the question what to cut for it.

I was in Paris the weekend with R/G and finished #18 out of 390-400 players. Here my Decklist:


Maindeck:
2x Forest
1x Mox Emerald
3x Mountain
1x Mox Ruby
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
3x Taiga
1x Black Lotus
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland

3x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x River Boa
4x Kird Ape
3x Wild Mongrels
4x Grim Lavamancer
3x Gorilla Shamane

4x Root Maze
4x Naturalize
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Chain Lightning
3x Rancor

Sideboard:
3x Artifact Mutation
4x Pyrostatic Pillar
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Pyroblast
4x Emerald Charm

My Matchups:
1. Round: unpowered Suicide Black with Red Sideboardsplash 2-1
2. Round: powered Control Slaver 2-1
3. Round: powered TPS 2-0
4. Round: powered U/R/W Staxx 2-1
5. Round: powered Mono Blue Control 0-2
6. Round: powered Salvager Oath 2-1
7. Round: powered Control Slaver 1-2
8. Round: powered Salvager Combo 2-1
9. Round: unpowered Bazaar Dragon 2-1

So i ended with 7 Wins 2 Loss and 0 Draws in the end.
Overall i'm very happy with the deck and sideboard too. I used every card in my board and no card from maindeck was useless. The only thing my really disapointed about is my 0-2 vs MonoUC. Game 1 i lost to a stupid error, i had neraly won the round and give it away because of my own fault :/. Game two he mulliganed to 6, forced my first turn Root Maze and played a first turn tinker coloss. Yeah....
But i think this shows again that R/G with RootMaze can be a very serious T1 Deck in a powered meta.

Sry Freelancer,
my post was more addressed at Imsomniac101. Not at you. I only wanted to give some more examples for a strong Root Maze after turn 1.

No it's not dead against all other decks. Also great vs CS, Stormbased combo, Staxx & Co, Charbelcher, Salvager and last but not least Affinity.

Beside this because of our 5 Strips/Wastes and the high number of fetchlands in most decks the manadenial effect is not only limited on a first turn Root Maze.