It's really not that good against control, since most control decks pack 4x STP and can find them with ease. While I'd agree it does avoid the Cog hate, it's not the best choice.

I'm going to go out on a limb and ask this:

Why is this deck better than The Game? It's more open to hate, has a weaker mana base, and lacks the control element. Cogs wasn't a very good deck to begin with, doesn't giving it the Gamekeeper engine make it better?

2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Meddling Mage

3 Lightning Bolt
4 Fire // Ice
1 Oxidize
2 Stifle

1 Balance
1 Null Rod
1 Regrowth
1 Time Walk

4 Force of Will
3 Red Elemental Blast

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune

1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus

4 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Taiga
2 Tundra
2 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland

//Sideboard:
3 Arcane Laboratory
2 Null Rod
2 Oxidize
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Viashino Heretic


This started out as a really janky-looking bad deck from 1996 and ended up as a still janky-looking deck that performs unreasonably well.

It's an aggro-control deck slightly similar to Fish...in fact, it's a pile of tech from various decks. Mox Monkey, Grimmy, and Pikula end the game with beats. Yes, it's a really slow win condition, but that hasn't mattered for me.

Sadly, I haven't been able to test against any good players other than one of my friends who's semi-competitive. That's skewed my testing a little bit, but so far, I've been able to win pretty consistently.

After playing The Game for a while, I find the likenesses between it and Oath even funnier after seeing Salvager Game.

Tainted Pact seems inferior to Night's Whisper. I'd much rather have 4 Whisper and 2 Pact than 2 and 4. Other than that, the maindeck seems pretty damn solid.

The SB seems a little too Wishboarded. Landstill is going to be a real pain in the ass without any hate. It's not a good matchup for The Game, either.

One last thing: What matchups did you board the transformational 2x Darkie Cs in for? Unlike The Game, you're not as prepared for creature threats (you don't play board sweepers or much creature removal at all), so he's less effective, and you don't play Dragon Breath, either.

As shorele mentioned, me, him, Laplie (who made the original Extended version), and another person have been workin on a different list. This is that list:

Dancing Golem v2 (AKA "Pogo Christ")

3 Corpse Dance
4 Composite Golem
3 Brain Freeze

3 Cunning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Intuition
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Brainstorm
2 Deep Analysis
1 Frantic Search
3 Reanimate

4 Duress
4 Force of Will

7 SoloMoxen
1 Mana Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Swamp
3 Island

SB:
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Coffin Purge
1 Corpse Dance
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Entomb
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Intuition
1 Misdirection
1 Stifle
2 Extract
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Tormod's Crypt

We looked through Laplie's Extended build. He used Reanimate, which helps power out a turn-2 win without Lotus. Deep Analysis is the other major addition. It's a nice target for Intuition, allows for acceleration. The addition of more Intuitions also helps fetch the combo pieces. The change has made it a little slower, but more consistent.

Because I'd rather run a combo that can't be shut down by any artifact or enchantment removal...?

I think I might switch Intuition back to Frantic Search. It wastes a turn.

I disagree about needijng 4 Forces, however. Therapy is great for discarding your Golem in case you have it in your hand without a Careful Study.

Getting hands with only off-color moxen and spells is getting annoying. I'm wondering if I should drop a couple moxen for lands.

The main reason I use Therapy over FoW is that I can toss my own Golems if need be.

Fitting in the rest of the Solos...they were in here before, but I took them out for Rits. I suppose putting them back in would be a good idea.

How does this look?

-1 Entomb
-1 Frantic Search
-1 Cabal Therapy
-1 Duress
-2 Flooded Strand
-2 Swamp
-1 Island

+1 Intuition
+3 Force of Will
+1 Mana Crypt
+4 Rest of SoloMoxen

SB:

-1 Echoing Truth
-1 Force of Will
+1 Entomb
+1 Misdirection


EDIT:

After testing, the problem I predicted (which is why I originally took the SoloMoxen out) keeps coming up. I keep drawing hands with only off-color Moxen and spells. I think I'm going to switch some of them back to lands.

I had TFK in here before, but it ended up being ~really~ bad, and Entomb came in for it. It's a 3cc card, and unlike Frantic Search, it doesn't let me go off after I play it. Intuition actually sounds like a good idea, though. Should I drop the Frantic Search and move the Entomb back to the SB for 2 of it?

I thought about Bazaar, also, but while it's good in Dragon, it's not as good here because:

1. I'm not playing Squee, and playing Squee would require the deck being a LOT weaker.

2. There aren't as many things I want to pitch.

3 Corpse Dance
4 Composite Golem
3 Brain Freeze

4 Cunning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Intuition
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study

3 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
3 Force of Will

7 SoloMoxen
1 Mana Crypt
4 Dark Ritual
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
2 Island

SB:
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Coffin Purge
1 Corpse Dance
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Entomb
1 Misdirection
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Stifle
2 Extract
1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Tormod's Crypt


For those that have never heard of Dancing Golem, it was a deck made during last Extended season by Laplie over at Magic-League (I assume this. I had never seen it before). The combo of the deck was Corpse Dance + Composite Golem. First, find some way to put Golem in your graveyard. Then, you play Corpse Dance with buyback on it. Then, sacrifice the Composite Golem and use the mana to play the Corpse Dance again. This is, of course, an infinite spells combo. Then, you just drop a Brain Freeze at your opponent for the win. This deck is a port. This deck's usual win turn is 3.

I haven't had enough time to test this thoroughly, so I don't know how it fares against the tier 1.

There are a couple things I'm concerned about:

1. Mana. A couple of times in my goldfishing I've had problems getting 5 mana to play Corpse Dance with buyback. Replacing the missing 4 SoloMoxen with Dark Rits seemed to help, but I have problems occasionally.

2. Frantic Search. I really need a better draw-discard card. Careful Study is nice, but it's only so good.

Comments/fixes are appreciated.