Know the meta game, need the deck...

[Lasse]

I will soon be playing at a "large" tournement. I know what the meta game is... almost... but i have problems finding the right deck, so i hope somebody here will help me

The meta game out of 70 decks:
15 Landstill
5-8 Gay fish  w Red
5 Sligh
6 Slavery
4 Hulk Smash
1-3 Dragon
4 Keeper
2 Scepter Keeper
2 Mono Blue controle
1 Madness
1-2 TnT
the rest, i bealive to be random decks such as Elves etc.
Most of the decks are unpowered, all landstill, Fish etc are mostly without power

I have been thought about playing 3 different decks:

Deck 1:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16865
//GermBus ZherbMans
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
2 City of Brass
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Skeletal Scrying

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Time Walk

2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Balance

2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Exalted Angel

SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Flametongue Kavu
SB: 2 Rack and Ruin
SB: 1 Damping Matrix
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Gush
SB: 1 Vampiric Tutor
SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Skeletal Scrying
SB: 1 Blue Elemental Blast

Deck 2:
http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=146
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Animate Dead
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Entomb
3 Necromancy
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Deep Analysis
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Stifle
1 Time Walk
1 Crop Rotation
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Worldgorger Dragon

Lands (17):
2 Bayou
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
But i have not had the time to adjust it to my personal needs yet:)

Deck 3:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15444&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
3 x Mindslaver
2 x Pentavus
4 x Goblin Welder
2 x Gorilla Shaman
4 x Force of Will
4 x Mana Drain
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Thirst for Knowledge
1 x Fact or Fiction
1 x Memory Jar
1 x Tinker
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Yawgmoth's Will
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Time Walk
8 x SoLoCrMoxen
1 x Mana Vault
4 x Volcanic Island
5 x Island
1 x Tolarian Academy
1 x Library of Alexandria
2 x Underground Sea
4 x Polluted Delta

Side Board:
4 x Flametongue Kavu
3 x Red Elemental Blast
2 x Gorilla Shaman
2 x Blood Moon
2 x Rack and Ruin
1 x Duplicant
1 x Platinum Angel

The reason why I have not thosen a deck is because i havent had time to test it yet, and i don't have time to test em' all, så I have to do my testings with the right deck..

I hope somebody can help me out here, i know this isen't the best way to choose a deck, but because of my school, i don't have alot of time right now;)

[Gaea]

So we can say that you can find:

32-35 counter decks
6 ws.dec (8 with tnt)
6 aggro (8 with tnt)
1-3 combo dragon

So i see that you have to run for sure a deck that have good matchups VS control and some vs artifact (i don't think so few sligh and dragon can be such a problem to modify your choice).

I think that the first keeper or 4c control as you like to call can be a good choice, cause in a heavy control metagame i think you won't take care of brass and skeletal damages so much, i would do just some changes for the sideboard:

3 ReB
1 Fire ice
1 Coffin Purge
1 Cop Red
1 BeB
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Gush
1 Disenchant
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Swords To Plowshares
2 Dwarven Miner (this old guy can do his job in a 5 waste, 2 shaman deck in a so spoilered metagame full of keeper, landstill and hulk)

[Moxlotus]

I would play 7/10 split.  The deck hardcore kicks fish in the ass and does very well against control.

[kirdape3]

Otherwise known as you'd play Slavery since that deck runs Force of Will.  Both are very good, but you'll just mad lose a lot without the Force to something that's faster.

Why not just run Tog and overwhelm the Landstill players with it's goodness?

[Eastman]

I'm with kirdape, tog looks like a good choice. Perhaps 3 color to avoid of landstill's wastes.


Keeper is an absolutely horrible plan against landstill. Landstill is very tricky to beat with keeper.

Hulk, however, will just run landstill over with draw, it's your best bet in that field.

[outta_names]

Given that he's playing alot of control and weak aggro, wouldn't either TnT or UG Madness be appropriate? Tweak the boards with Ground Seal and go to 4 Null Rods (vs Dragon and Nevinryall's Disk/Moxes/Scepters, respectivly).

Tog is the premiere control deck, but instead of out-controlling the (lesser) control decks, which IMO is a risky deal, why not just play an archetype that control has difficulties with (i.e.: aggro).

peace,
-outta

[kirdape3]

You're not so much outcontrolling them (you have inevitability over Landstill since eventually they'll have to tap mainphase mana and attack you, reducing the number that they have to defend against you going utterly berserk with a Will) as you are just playing your deck correctly.  Tog is pretty easy.

[defector]

food Chain Goblins with a graveyard hating sideboard should wreck most of what your dealing with.
defector

[SliverKing]

I agree with MoxLotus.  7/10 Split is definetly the way to go over Slavery.  Mindslave landstill... watcha gonna do?  animate their lands for them?? Instead of bad situational cards (pentavus, force of will, mindslaver) use badass game breaking cards (titan, draw7's)

In the environment he mentioned though I think Hulk would be better than either workshop deck.  Hulk ruins slower control decks and will still be fine against the random aggro decks.  I'd put some tsabo's web's in the board though if you honestly expect THAT much fish/landstill.  Or maybe revert to the 3 color tog and use B2B.

[Bobduh]

Combo is negligible, and the field contains a great deal of aggro, making control an unsavory option.

Control is heavy- roughly half the field. Combo probably wouldn't be great either, except for perhaps FCG. It might never go off, but even as RandomRed.dec it's a force to be reckoned with, and it will own the other aggro.

TnT would be a very fun choice- the landstill/gayfish/r decks probably won't be able to handle your constant threats, and the aggro runs punier creatures than you. Plus, TnT is just a really fun deck to play, and the right tools will wreak havoc on any deck you may come across.

[JACO]

Combo is negligible, and the field contains a great deal of aggro, making control an unsavory option.

Control is heavy- roughly half the field. Combo probably wouldn't be great either, except for perhaps FCG. It might never go off, but even as RandomRed.dec it's a force to be reckoned with, and it will own the other aggro.

TnT would be a very fun choice- the landstill/gayfish/r decks probably won't be able to handle your constant threats, and the aggro runs punier creatures than you. Plus, TnT is just a really fun deck to play, and the right tools will wreak havoc on any deck you may come across.

@Lasse: TnT is absolutely the way to go, especially if you build a good sideboard. Bodduh made some good points already, but I would play RG TnT with 2-3 main deck Blood Moons, which are good in most of the matchups you described. Plus Goblin Welders and sideboard hate (like Viashino Heretic, Artifact Mutation, Gorilla Shaman, Naturalize) should help you more than control any artifact-based matchups you should encounter.