Life from the loam IS the hate. (aggro/control list)

[Kieranwolf]

The build evolved slightly, then I decided to try out some of those evil, evil green enchantments...

-1 Diabolic Edict
+1 Duress

I tested (post-board style) against Gifts, with the following changes:

-1 Polluted Delta
-1 Wooded Foothills
-3 Shadow of Doubt
-2 Pernicious Deed
-1 Unearth
-1 Cabal Therapy

+1 Forest
+1 Swamp
+3 Choke
+4 Root Maze

I've decided that 2 Deeds and one Unearth would be what I side out for Choke, normally. SoD was taken out because I wanted to see if it was needed against Tinker.

The results:

Choke is freaking insane!

Root maze is hardly even needed when I can drop this thing. First turn choke makes blue cry. I think that with choke in here, my matchup is pretty much stabilized against Gifts. Despite the fact that my local meta is still aggro central, I may place it in the mainboard just so that I will have a chance at winning game 1 against CS or Gifts. Otherwise, I have to expect to lose more than fifty percent of my games against decks that draw lots of cards and can win fast with Tinker.

Root maze, though, seems really good against Dragon and Aggro. However, with Fetches it absolutely BLOWS. I lost a game to having one mana for the entire early game after stripping once.

I have (finally!) decided to try out the cycling lands, Barren Moor and Tranquil Thicket, instead of the fetches next time. With Maze in play they have no drawbacks except that they are nonbasic. With Loam, they become awesome if I need to keep drawing threats. If I happen to have no threats down and no hand, they don't make as awful a topdeck as a fetch does.

No fetches means no deck thinning, but also no life-paying. Also, without Root Maze in play, cycling lands do kind of suck. Two of each should be enough for more tests...

Otherwise, this deck seems to play...slow. Lotus can make for awesome opening plays, but the build still needs to drop massive hate in order to win. Or Mongrel. Time will tell whether this deck can compete with a percentage greater than 50% against the best blue decks out there.

I will continue to rock the house at local events with it, meanwhile.

[Kieranwolf]

More testing needed, as always.

Without fetches, you may be able to predict what kinds of bad hands I draw. However, the cycling lands still help as long as I draw other colored mana sources. This deck needs to drop hate as fast as possible, though, or it will lose to a strong opening from the other side of the table.

So, I'll mix them up for the next round. Here's my current testing list:

Beats:
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Basking Rootwalla

Recur:
3 Life From The Loam
2 Eternal Witness
1 Regrowth
2 Unearth

Hate:
4 Duress
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Diabolic Edict
3 Null Rod
1 Pernicious Deed
3 Root Maze

Card Advantage:
4 Dark Confidant

Tutors:
1 Crop Rotation
1 Demonic Tutor

Mana Sources:
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
4 Bayou
2 Barren Moor
2 Tranquil Thicket
2 Wooded Foothills/Windswept Heath
2 Bloodstained Mire/Polluted Delta
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Sideboard:
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Darkblast
4 Seeds of Innocence
3 Choke

Root Maze seems crucial here against decks that run Yawg Will, especially Gifts. It's easy to drop, and WRECKS fetch lands. I've found that I need more than one threat that needs bouncing in order for my opponent to win. Echoing truth targetting Choke buys time, but if I have Maze out as well, they won't get a Tendrils kill during their turn and their DSC will come in to play tapped, granting me a crucial extra turn for beats. If I have Rod out, that also prevents a big Tendrils, and it prevents the Flame Vault kill too.

Four fetches will still interact badly with Root Maze, and four cycling lands may still make for lots of sucky openings, but it's worth a try. I cam always take them down to two each and just add basics again. I'm still a bit alarmed at the lack of four-ofs in the whole list. There's just too little room for additional hate.

Hopefully this week will yield more insightful tourney results. If anyone has any results of their own, please post! I'd like to see this deck do well, though it's obvious that it isn't at the power level of some of the more popular and well-known archetypes.

However, it is fun as Hell to play, and first turn lotus makes this deck explode (as you may expect). I will relish the look on my blue opponent's face when I resolve Choke and/or Maze this time around.