UBR Underworld Dreams / Megrim

[Oolie]

this is my UBR draw/discard deck, just looking for any way to improve it or speed it up. any criticism is welcome.

Land

4 Badlands
4 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy


Creatures

4 Magus of the Jar
2 Steel Wall
3 Wall of Souls


Instant / Sorcery

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
2 Wheel and Deal
3 Winds of Change


Artifacts / Enchantments

4 Teferi's Puzzle Box
4 Underworld Dreams
4 Megrim
1 Memory Jar
2 Isochron Scepter
2 Caltrops
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard

no official sideboard, i just kind of swap out cards as i feel the need. the deck seems pretty solid as is right now.

[Necrologia]

The idea of intentionally letting your opponent draw cards is a fundamentally flawed concept in Vintage. Given the power level of many decks, giving the opponent a fresh seven will probably get you killed before they die to Underworld Dreams. That said I'll do my best.

Your mana base is terribly vulnerable to Wastelands. Without Rituals you've got no way to consistently power out the Dreams itself.

You've also got a ton of worthless anti-aggro cards. Walls are never a good idea. Caltrops are alright if your meta is absolutely flooded with Ichorid decks, otherwise they should be almost anything else.

Your final weakness is a total lack of disruption. No Force, Duress, or Thoughseize means many decks will simply roll right over you before you can get your combo running.

[BC]

I agree with everything Necrologia said.  I would also like to add that you need to include cards that are always (or at least almost always) good.  For example, Wheel and Deal = 14 damage if you have Megrim in play.  However, if you haven't been able to draw or resolve Megrim, it is arguably the worst card you could ever play in a Vintage game.

Some specific changes I would make without changing the theme of the deck:

- several Dual Lands, City of Brass, Tolarian Academy
- all your creatures
- Wheel and Deal
- Teferi's Puzzle Box
- Isochron Scepter
- Caltrops

+ several (6+) Fetch Lands, a couple Basics
+ off color moxen, maybe Mana Crypt and/or Sol Ring
+ Dark Confidant (seems like it could be good in this deck)
+ Windfall (if you feel like you need more mass discard/draw)
+ 4 Force of Will
+ 4 Brainstorm
+ some combination of Duress/Thoughtseize/Daze/Mana Drain/Spell Snare

Even with all these changes, the deck is probably better suited for casual play than for Vintage.

[credmond]

There are some good ideas in the posted deck list and the deck will win eventually if the opponent does nothing. But you have to count on your opponent doing something and in vintage you have to count on a good player going broken if given the chance.

Some of the ideas could work but you will have to I think reconsider the fundamental flaw of trying to kill your opponent by giving them more cards. You should look at a card like Chains of Mephistopheles that has synergy with Megrim and any draw 7 effect to mindtwist both you and your opponent. With a Chains in play your deck is suddenly a whole lot nastier since it proactively cripples your opponent and his/her brainstorm, ancestral, or gush. Of course adding Chains will push the deck in a new direction. So, I would suggest focusing on Chains/Megrim as the cornerstone and designing around that. It probably won't get you to a super competitive high-level deck but a deck that will be scrappy enough to compete effectively.

Other cards to consider with Chains:

anvil of bogardan
duress/thoughtseize
extirpate
balance
swords to plowshares
enlightened tutor to set up the combo of Chains/Anvil/Megrim
replenish to play all enchantments in your graveyard for free
dark confidant (gets around draw)
necropotence (gets around draw)
squee (restocks your hand)
life from the loam (restocks your hand)
tormod's crypt (guards against gigantic yawgwill kill that your strategy has been giving to the opponent)
cephalid colliseum (target opponent with chains in play for uncounterable mindtwist; synergy with life from the loam)
strip/wastes (helps to punish the opponent for discarding land to any discard effect)
aven mindcensor (for additional locking of the opponent, making sure they can't just tutor for an answer to the prison)
yawgmoth's will (to take advantage of your huge graveyard)
jotun grunt (for a cheap 4/4 beatstick that controls your opponent's graveyard)
tarmogoyf (for a graveyard boosted beatstick)

These are just pulling some ideas out of the air that have some promising synergies with Chains.

The main thing to get from these ideas is that the problem with your deck list is that it doesn't disrupt your opponent enough. Adding Chains might give you the tool you need to take some of your posted ideas to an end product that can win a tournament.

At any rate, no one has really come up with a truly devastating build based on Chains of Mephistopheles but the potential I think really is there, so give it a shot. However, there is no guarantee that you will come up with anything truly high level. The thing about vintage is that its a format that revolves around broken cards like yawgmoth's will and tendrils of agony which simply outclass a lot of other nasty strategies (like Megrim) in sheer power and efficiency. I am not trying to discourage you from trying but just giving you a heads up on how tough the top level decks truly are.

[LotusHead]

this is my UBR draw/discard deck, just looking for any way to improve it or speed it up. any criticism is welcome.

no official sideboard, i just kind of swap out cards as i feel the need. the deck seems pretty solid as is right now.

Well, as far as the deck as listed, you can easily take out 2 Isochron Scepters as there are only 2 cards in the deck that you can imprint on it.  Then take out 2 Wheel and Deal. Trust me on that one.

That gives you room for 4 cards.

If you cut out or down on the number of say, Teferi's Puzzle Box and/or Jar Magus, that gives you room for 4 cards.

I would suggest for those 8 cards, 4 Dark Ritual and Black Vise. Your opponent will often have 7 cards if your game plan goes right.

[Dark_Planeswalker]

I used to play both

4 Underworld Dreams
4 Megrim

in my Sui-Black deck.  Worked well in casual type I was once I got into competitive they just turns out of be too slow.