Help! Need advise on Exotic Control Slaver Deck...any ideas?

[mrrou]

Heres the deck:

Land:

2 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polutted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Wasteland

Blue Spells:
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Rebuild
1 Misdirection
1 Tinker
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Echoing Truth
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor

Black Spells

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

White Spells:

1 Swords to Plowshares

Red Spells:

2 Goblin Welder

Artifacts:
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
2 Tormads Crypt's
1 Mindslaver
1 Darksteel Colossus

There are several ways to bring out the Darksteel or the Mindslaver. Unless you want to hardcast the Mindslaver or Darksteel Colossus yourself, (tolarian academy + manadrain) you need to get the tinker in your hand. Mystical tutor or Merchant scroll can get the ball rolling if I am lucky enough to get one in my hand. But mainly I would want to Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor for the tinker. If I can get Darksteel Colossus in play on my 3rd-4th turn I am doing well, but I want to lower it to 2nd turn if possible? If Darksteel Colossus somehow ends up in my hand I can always draw to the point of discarding it.

The deck can also win by Mindslaving the opponent on a regular basis (quite fun by the way) using the goblin welder. Although this is an old Deck concept, I am an old player starting again after a few years, so I am not as familiar with the new cards as I should be.

I try to be prepared for everything, including empty the warrens by using echoing truth to return all permanents with the same name to my opponents hands, but I also added alittle flavor with Misdirection and chain or vapor.

I added a small splash of white in with Swords to Plowshares to account for anything unexpected. I can use a polutted Delta or a Flooded Strand to get out my single tundra.

There is plenty of Draw power along with Counters to handle anything nasty my opponent brings out.

There is ONE wasteland if I need it (Tolarian Cradle etc)

SO here are my quams with the deck:

I want it to be able to handle anything my opponent dishes out, so i want to add some things, and not take away from the value of the deck.

I want to replace my island with a 2nd tundra incase the first one is destroyed, but then I will have no basic land.
I want to put 2 Psyonic Blast's in to give myself alittle burn if I need it. (they can always be discarded with force of will)
Should I add alittle more red in there to put in an empty the warrens?
I want to put in a memnarch, but will this detract from the deck?

Thoughts or Suggestions please, I want to take this to my first Vintage Tourny as an old player starting anew...Thanks!

[Shock Wave]

1 Wasteland

There is ONE wasteland if I need it (Tolarian Cradle etc)

I think you meant one "Strip Mine". 

[mrrou]

1 Wasteland

There is ONE wasteland if I need it (Tolarian Cradle etc)

I think you meant one "Strip Mine". 

Yes, sorry for that typo

[TopSecret]

     I would consider playing one Triskelion or Sundering Titan,
perhaps instead of the Darksteel Colossus.

     Triskelion is very good against aggro, hardcastable, and weldable.
     Sundering Titan can reck mana bases against control decks and the like.

     Darksteel Colossus cannot be welded, and is difficult to hardcast,
making him dead in hand without Tinker.
The other two creatures combine well, not only with Tinker,
but also with Thirst for Knowledge and an active Welder.

     Memory Jar may deserve some testing as well.

     I am not sure how effective Balance is.
You are using White, so it may deserve consideration.
Also, one Engineered Explosives may be very useful if you expect
Empty the Warrens and various aggro to show up.

     If you wanted to further emphasize the Tinker - Colossus plan,
you could add Personal Tutor, Imperial Seal,
or more Merchant Scrolls to find Mystical Tutor.

     Good luck with the deck, and the tournament!

[mrrou]

     I would consider playing one Triskelion or Sundering Titan,
perhaps instead of the Darksteel Colossus.

     Triskelion is very good against aggro, hardcastable, and weldable.
     Sundering Titan can reck mana bases against control decks and the like.

     Darksteel Colossus cannot be welded, and is difficult to hardcast,
making him dead in hand without Tinker.
The other two creatures combine well, not only with Tinker,
but also with Thirst for Knowledge and an active Welder.

In the original deck, there were 64 Cards (currently 60 in deck) that included a Triskelon and a Memory Jar. Now should I up it to 64 Cards and include a Sundering Titan, Triskelon, Imperial Seal, and Balance? This would be 64 Cards...I could replace the last island with a Tundra making 2 Tundras? Also with the Darksteel AND Sundering Titan in play, I could use whichever would be the most benefit at the given time.

Also are the Flooded Strand's Immune to the Entrance effect of the Sundering Titan?

[TopSecret]

     The Flooded Strands are not hit by Sundering Titan's ability.

  The single Island is a good target for the Strands if your opponent is playing Wastelands.
  If you expect zero Wastelands, then the Tundra may be worth it.

     I wouldn't suggest upping the deck to 64 cards.
  However, if some of the cards in the deck are usually weak when drawn,
I would suggest experimenting with different cards in their slots.

  It all depends on what you expect to see at the tournament.
Balance and Triskelion are very good against creature decks,
while Sundering Titan is a better card in the Control Mirror.

     I do not play Control Slaver,
but looking at your list, I notice that you only have one large artifact to weld in.
Your Welders won't be much of a threat unless you discard your one Mindslaver.

  If you are looking for some cards to cut from your list,
 I would consider cutting 1 Tormod's Crypt, a Draw Spell (Thirst, Fact...etc.), and/or a Swords to Plowshares.

   If you wanted to add Memory Jar, it might be worth cutting Twister for it,
  because they are both draw sevens, and Jar is an artifact.

   I would also encourage you to question just how effective Colossus and Mana Vault are,
in comparison to some of the other cards available,
     but that is only because I have a personal bias against them.

     If you have a Mana Crypt, I think that it would be more useful than a Mana Vault.
    You can always weld it away or sacrifice it to Tinker if it becomes dangerous.
    If you decided to play both Crypt and Vault,
      Empty the Warrens would be better as an alternate win condition.

     I hope my advice is helpful! Good luck!

[Crankster]

You really should run balance since you play tundra

[someone_unimportan]

In my opinion, Sundering Titan (aka 7/10) >>>>> Darksteel Colossus. They are about equivalent in terms of being able to protect, and 7/10 is just exponentially better if you are playing against Drains or Fish. The ability to nuke your opponent out of the game as soon as it comes into play is much more important than DSC being a turn faster, IMO. Also Weldability is a plus.

[mrrou]

Okay ive updated the deck to try and be more adaptable to other formats, and removed the white entirely

Land:

2 Underground Sea
3 Flooded Strand
1 Polutted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Island
4 Volcanic Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

Blue Spells:
4 Brainstorm
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Tinker
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Gifts Ungiven
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor

Black Spells

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony

Red Spells:

2 Goblin Welder
1 Empty the Warrens

Artifacts:
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
2 Tormads Crypt's
1 Mindslaver
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelon

Now I have mostly played against other Slaver decks and have had little experince playing against Agro, as I know few people who play it. I removed chain of Vapor and Echoing truth. Would chain of Vapor be good against Agro?

Also I am thinking of adding a 3rd Welder and possibly a 2nd Triskelon. I am hoping to do this to increase the chance of drawing them, since that seems to be a good combination to hold off Agro decks...or should I put extra's in my sideboard?

I am highly considering replacing a thirst of knowledge with a mana crypt. I would want the mana crypt because of how easy it is to weld, its casting cost and its addition for a storm count, but do I bring it in play early on if I need the extra colorless? Or only when I can weld it. It seems like it can hurt me pretty quickly. Should I remove another Thirst for Knowledge (leaving me with 1) and just add my 3rd welder there?

In the games I have played I usually finish the game and get a win by Tinkering a Collosus early on. If the collosus somehow gets disabled I am able to Weld in a Triskelon to keep my opponents creatures at bay until a Sundering titan can be welded in. If all else fails I can cast a few spells and yawgmoths will my graveyard for a good storm count on empty the warrens or a tendrils.

In the last 9 games (3 sets of 3 games all against a single aggro deck) I didnt use the Mindslaver once!!! Why is it even in here? I realize its importance, but should this be on the sideboard for a specific kind of deck? And if so which kind?

I looked at the sideboard of a deck I found on themanadrain, Rich Shay's Control Slaver deck.(http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=31626.0) See #4

3x Empty the Warrens
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Lava Dart
4x Leyline of the Void
1x Shattering Spree
1x Red Elemental Blast
2x Trickbind)

While I am familar with sideboards, I do not know which cards I could replace in this deck with cards from the sideboard to adapt to other players decks. All the cards I have seem to important. I know my thoughts are all over the place...thanks for reading this far.. Any help would be appreciated!!