Mono-U/What else ?

[E.B.A.Wanderer]

Well, hi there TMD vintage community,
First things first: I don't know very much of the last 5 expensions. Also, I'm from Canada and I'm -French Canadian- so please bear with my broken english, I'm doing the best I can

Let's explain the situation a bit: I've played very much for 2 years of my life, playing from Zoo to Sligh to Survival.o.t.Fittest to Mono-U(the reason for my thread). I stopped playing about 1 year ago, just about when GAT was dieing, Affinity coming up and ST4X rampaging. I've (re) started playing bout 1 month ago now, and the new metagame as been getting me pretty much confused about deck choices. From my experience, control had always been the strongest archetype, but the new super fast combo decks seem to have made control supremacy falter. First of all, I would like to get an insight on what are the new stronger decks, the new staples, what should I be prepared for etc..

Secondly, I've always been a control player at heart. I juste prefer playing such decks and if Keeper was still a valid option, it would probably be the deck I would (try) to play. What are the still viable control decks ?  I've heard talking about EBA, but it seem like pretty dead to me...I've also ran across some Mono-U , but the general opinion is that they are pretty much out of the game and not competitive at all anymore...What are the other options ? What could I possibly play ?

Finally, I am currently playing a Mono-U (the one I was playing at the time I stopped, the list will be following.) Does anyone think it still carry an ounce of viability ? If not, what should I switch to ?

Here's the decklist:

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Mana Leak
3 Misdirection

4 Impulse
1 Fact or Fiction

4 Ophidian
2 Morphling

4 Powder Keg
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Back to Basics

4 Flooded Strand
4 Wasteland
14 Island
1 Sol Ring

Counter Base:
FoW and MD are just staples, they really can't be moved out...Misdirection was very, very strong when I stopped, free counter are also very welcomed in a mana hungry deck. I also love Mana leak for it's tempo and is, IMO, more solid in many case than a normal Counterspel.

Draw "Engine":
Impulse is by far stronger in pure Control than Brainstorm for it's ability to really -fetch- and -dig- in the library. What your are seaching when playing Control is answers over draw manipulation. Fact or Fiction is a staple IMO for an unpowered deck. Then we come across Ophidian...Some may argue that he is slow or easy to kill. Well, I think that ophidian makes a great creature in control for many reasons. It is a great blocker for swinging weenies, with cards with powder keg and the current environnement, the field is often empty and he can dance around, drawing you cards. Ophidian is probably my favourite creature, after Morphling

"Kill":
Morphling...Yep, you heard right. I think Superman still pack a punch! I heard so many times that he's outdated and such, could I hear opinions on that?

Board Control:
Back to Basics WAS strong, severing many mana sources from the opponent. Duals and non-basic in generals were running rampant..Is BtB still good ? Powder Keg speak for itself, it's the ultimate weenie/stompie management ( I, myself, love Nevinyral Disk, but came to the conclusion it was WAY too slow) Finaly, Chalice. Chalice is when playing it first turn for 0, shutting moxen/lotus etc down. When you don't have power, you really love it. Also, it can be used as aggro management, as played for 1, it stop many, many weenie deck.

There ya go, that's a very basic review but I don't want to argue on things I'm probably wrong about, since I'm most probably outdated I do NOT have the money for any P9 (unfortunately) or any card of the sort... That's why none of them are included...The list is pretty much classic, IMO. If there are any questions, feel free to ask 'em...

So this is the list ! Toughts ? If Mono-U is definately NOT viable, just forget it and move to the next step: options !

Well thanks in advance for any replies, comments, love post or flames !

[Kowal]

Hi there.  Welcome to TMD.

As you may have guessed, a deck lacking full power with no excuse other than lack of funding is not an optimized list.  As such, I'm moving this thread to the Vintage Improvement Forum[/color].  By no means consider this an attack on your deck!

That said, my comments:

I don't believe that monoblue is currently viable, given that your draw engine is
A) Very slow.
B) Very vulnerable.
C) Sorcery speed.

Compare it to the other draw spells, like Thirst for Knowledge.  They cost the same, but one draws three cards now at instant speed while the other draws zero cards now at sorcery speed.

If you like the long-term effect of Ophidian, you may want to check out Thug's list for TT Confidant Control.  Dark Confidant is basically just a much better Ophidian that doubles as a clock.  You can find that thread here:  http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=27225.0

[E.B.A.Wanderer]

Thanks a bunch for the -very- fast reply It is very much appreciated ! Also, I am very much interested in the TT Confidant control. Just a question, what does TT stand for 

Then, if we forget Ophidian, what about the remainder of the deck ? Is the "core" (BtB, Kegs, Superman, Chalice) usable, with a few improvements and revamping to get the new flavor(most probably vanilla) ?

Thanks again Kowal !

[pyr0ma5ta]

A couple of obv things:
Strip Mine.  Where is it?
Misdirection is pretty poor in metas where not every deck has islands in it (Stax for example).  I don't even run 1 in my gifts-oath meta, and 3 is just excessive.
Brainstorm is not overrated.  It's pretty much Ancestral Recall if you have a fetch, which you should be playing more of.
Thirst for knowledge is good.  Cut the 'phids (sad, but they're underpowered), add some artifact mana when you get a hold of some, and add the thirsts.
I really don't think this deck has any game, especially with Kegs being extremely weak.  Try building something gifts or slaver-ish.

I've never seen Chalice in a mono U list before, but then, I've never seen a mono U list unpowered, either.

Confidant is retarded in vintage.  Give it a try.