What is the best deck for an unpowered, non-proxied tournament?

[PltnmNgl]

After hearing about a tournament that didn't except P9 or any proxies, my first instinct was to play ichorid. However, graveyard-based strategies would seem to be the first to be hated out if there is no power. Playing normal aggro seemed a bit too stupid, but most forms of control wouldn't really do justice, either. Thoughts?

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

R/G Beats would work too if you load it up with Spirit Guides instead of Moxen and Lotuses.  Just a thought

Peace,

-Troy

[Moxlotus]

Oath would be pretty good in a creature environment.

Could try High Tide.  That's a combo deck that can go off turn 3-4 and doesn't need power.

[feyd]

Some forms of fish are actually better off without power because they run null rod, meddling mage, and the usual gambit of hate cards/creatures.  In an no-proxy metagame where most players don't own power I would say that either Ichorid, Fish, or goblins are the best call.  But, still, Ichorid does usually need 4 bazhaar of bahgdad to run smoothly and a playset of bazhaars would run you a lot of money; If yu have bazhaars but not power play ichorid.  The next best thing is probably fish.  It is a budget deck that does particularly well, in some iterations, of fighting power and, generally, "high-tier" decks.  Null rod is a huge hoser, pyroclasm really could hose some decks.  Depending on what you expect people to play you could build a fine-tuned fish deck that could massacre the entire tournament.  Goblins doesn't need to run power, doesn't usually care about opposing power, and has a beastly clock.  The deck, in certain forms (mainly black/red), can handle oath, certain combo decks, stax, and most other aggro decks. 
     One of the most important things to take into account, though, is how you sideboard.  You could take any list with a sideboard tweeked for proxy tournament and do terribly with it in an unpowered, non-proxy tournament.  One option is to build multiple decks and decide which one to play/what sideboard configuration to run just before the tournament starts so you can get a better idea of what people are playing.  Scouting can be a powerful tool (which I have just recently come to realize). 

[Thicketman]

GOBLINS!!!!!!

[Grand Inquisitor]

GOBLINS

I agree that Goblins probably has the highest power level and consistency among decks that don't require p9.  It also has a lot of design space to pack whatever metagame hate you need.

Some forms of fish are actually better off without power

This may be true, but Fish's existence is based on hating top tier decks.  If most of your opponents will also be going the budget route, it's probably not a good idea to bring Fish.

[Smmenen]

GOBLINS

I agree that Goblins probably has the highest power level and consistency among decks that don't require p9.  It also has a lot of design space to pack whatever metagame hate you need.

I still think your best shot is Flash.  You can run Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, and even Chrome Mox along with ESGs to accelerate out Scrolls, etc. 

[nero angelo]

Not in particular order:

Goblins (I run an unpowered one. )
Flash (as what Smmenen said, it could run Rings and Chromes...)
Oath
Sui-Black

to some extent, Fish (No-drains, No moxen...)

Based on experience.

[RobPro]

What about Landstill? Is Drain/Disk too slow, even in an unpowered environment?

[GUnit]

If you think playing aggro is too stupid, you'll really dislike playing flash.