So long and thanks for the Lich.

[Anonymous]

Hello, this is my first post and so on.
If you frequent #mtg on EFnet you might know me.

Below you see the lich deck we all know and love.
Basically what I have set out to discover is if this deck is viable in a powerless mode
And today I also relealised in what was almost a flash of brilliance that Convalescent Care comboes nicely with Lich netting your 4 extra cards per turn. The question is if it's worth it though, since when you have Lich in play you usually go off.
Anyway, I'm open to suggestions
Oh and the version I posted is almost two years old, so if anyone (Goldfish perhaps) has made any change, feel free to holler.
//NAME: Lich
        1 Glacial Chasm
   1 Library of Alexandria
        1 Strip Mine
   1 Tolarian Academy
        1 Crosis's Catacombs
        1 Volcanic Island
   4 Underground Sea
        1 Bayou
        4 Tropical Island
   4 City of Brass
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mirror Universe
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Scroll Rack
        1 Zuran Orb      
        1 Sterling Grove
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Lich
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Overgrown Estate
        3 FoW
   3 Brainstorm
        3 Intuition
        1 Time Walk
        1 Timetwister
        1 Time Spiral
   1 Fastbond
        1 Regrowth
        1 Forgotten Lore / Recall
        1 City of Solitude
        1 Wheel of Fortune
        2 Red Elemental Blast
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        2 Replenish

SB:  1 Cursed Totem (Gorilla Shaman, Frenetic Efreet, Morphling, Dwarven Miner)
SB:  3 Hydroblast   
SB:  1 mana short
SB:  1 Red Elemental Blast
SB:  2 Pyroclasm
SB:  3 Pyroblast
SB:  1 Seal of Cleansing
SB:  1 Circle of Protection: Black
SB:  1 Circle of Protection: Red
SB:  1 Mana Short

[Anonymous]

How fast does this go off on average? It looks like it would be too slow against any of the faster aggro decks and would just die to counterspell.

Maybe maindeck chants would help in both circumstances although your chances of getting WW early seem slim.

[Anonymous]

I've been obsessed with this deck recently, as anyone from Hadley crew can attest to (especially Moobius).  Anyway, the land base is COMPLETELY screwed up for this day and age.  My current list looks more like this.

2x Tundra
2x Tropical Island
2x Volcanic Island
4x Underground Sea
2x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
2x City of Brass
1x Undiscovered Paradise
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Bazaar of Baghdad
1x Glacial Chasm
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x City of Solitude
1x Fastbond
1x Lich
1x Overgrown Estate
1x Pursuit of Knowledge
1x Ancestral Recall
2x Brainstorm
1x Frantic Search
1x Impulse
1x Time Spiral
1x Timetwister
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Windfall
1x Scroll Rack
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Death Wish
3x Intuition
3x Duress
1x Replenish
1x Regrowth
1x Reclaim
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Time Walk
1x Mirror Universe

SB: 1x Peacekeeper
SB: 1x Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1x Pyroclasm
SB: 1x Cursed Totem
SB: 1x Hydroblast
SB: 1x Pyroblast
SB: 1x Null Chamber
SB: 1x Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1x Presence of the Master
SB: 1x Light of Day
SB: 1x Claws of Gix
SB: 1x Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1x Dust Bowl
SB: 1x Circle of Protection: Red
SB: 1x Vindicate

My sideboard looks like a bunch of decent cards just thrown together, and obviously they've been metagamed a bit.  Let me explain my maindeck differences from Goldfish a bit.  I obviously had his deck as a starting point and tweaked it more to my liking.  I replaced a Brainstorm with an Impulse, despite its lack of synergy with Pursuit of Knowledge.  I did this because all too often I'd brainstorm into three land, and need a tutor or answer of some variety and Impulse helps me dig deeper and improve my topdecking.  I also took out a Duress, which I was much criticized for doing, but I wanted to fit a Death Wish in the maindeck.  Extracts are all over the place and I want to be better prepared for them, and Death Wish helps that.  It also allows me to run one-offs in the sideboard, because Wish can find them.  And the land, oh my, the land.  First off, having everything use blue terrifies lots of inexperienced opponents into thinking you're holding back counts.  It also allows you to use all your more powerful effects extremely reliably.  The fetchlands were obviously necessary, and those god-awful Lairs had to go. The 2/2/2/4 dual land configuration has been working excellently so far for me.  Previously I was using a single Tundra and three Tropical Islands, but that was awful because I kept lacking white sources.

On to my weird sideboard choices.  Monogreen Stompy gives massive head trauma to this deck, as the combo doesn't go fast enough to race it.  Peacekeeper laughs at stompy.  A lot.  Tormod's Crypt is good against reanimator and worldgorger combo.  Pyroclasm was necessary to combat the white weenie and goblin decks going around.  Cursed Totem is, well, to be honest I can't justify it that much.  Obviously it makes morphling suck, and Mox Monkey just another dirty ape, but if Morphling hits the table you generally lost anyway, and Wish could be fetching a more permanent solution to your monkey problems.  I just couldn't cut it though.  Hydro/Pyro Blast are for Back to Basics and Blood Moon, though Blood Moon is a total disaster and you probably want to side in Hydroblast just so you can pray you have it around when Moon hits.  Null Chamber is just a funky card that happens to do a number on other combo decks, but you can work around it and/or just get rid of it.  Seal of Cleansing is obvious, and it gets rid of Parfait's Ivory Masks and your own Null Chamber from time to time.  Presence of the Master is a huge metagame choice, based around stopping Moobius' explosive squirrel combo.  If it hits, I can probably buy enough time to win, seeing as both of our win conditions become Replenish at that point, and my deck is better equipped to be using it.  Light of Day is kind of like Null Chamber in that I'm not taking it seriously and when it works it just works.  Claws of Gix is in case of Aggro, because once I had to bear the embarassment of killing myself with Mana Crypt.  Swords to Plowshares is for Mask or any other things that are annoying you greatly.  Dust Bowl is for anyone that uses as many duals as you do.  Circle of Protection:  Red is a no brainer, and lastly Vindicate can kill anything targetable and is often what I wish for, to solve a pesky problem like a super squirrelly land (again, Moobius).

So ignoring my weird sideboard, I feel the maindeck is strong.  However to answer your question, I must say no.  Without the power this is a very bad combo deck.  With the power it's a combo deck that's not good.  It is, however, a blast to play, and players that remember the days of Mirror Universe/Lich will share a laugh with you unless they're assholes.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and that guy above me posted while I was writing.

This deck has the potential to go off turn two, however it's far less likely than Academy.
It has the potential to go off turn three, however it's far less likely than Academy.
It goes off turn four, unless you're playing blue, in which case it maneuvers a lot and tries to assemble Duresses before it goes for the win.  Generally a hand of Duress, Duress, Duress, Replenish, Regrowth, Yawgmoth's Will ends the game against a blue player, although sometimes, it does just counter everything.  But then, Blue has the potential to do that to anyone.
A friend of mine, Adam, plays a very interesting aggro deck that's very fast and with the addition of Survival of the Fittest has the staying power to be a real contender.  He recently made top eight with it, which I think is pretty cool.  He's generally my gauntlet and so far Lich has beaten him three times and lost zero.  My recommendation is that you read Goldfish's primer and play around with it.  Proxy it up or play on apprentice and with some practice you'll see it really is a decent deck, just not quite enough for a stronger, powered metagame.  I feel that that could change however, and I will strive to that end.

[Anonymous]

Truth be told, I haven't played the deck in a long time (as evidenced by the decklist) but I'm seriously giving thought to returning to Type1.
It's just a bitch to get all the powercards.
I do however remember the deck being pretty stable and a total blast to play.
And of course the new fetchlands goes into the deck, it's funny how so many new cards goes nicely with an old geezer like Lich.
Fetchlands and the Death Wish is an obvious addition.
And it plays like a combo deck should, you spend a few turns surviving/setting up and then you TRY to go off. There's always the chance of misfiring, just like there should be in any combodeck.
But mostly, it's very funny.

[iceman]

I've never had to play against this deck. Could somebody give me a brief runthrough of it and its good and bad matchups. That would be great.

[MoreFling]

iceman : there's a Turbolich primer in the extreme vintage.

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