Decree Keeper, what's it up to?

[BreathWeapon]

Has Decree Keeper been completely overshadowed by Germbus? Does a Control deck with an uncounterable Kill Condition have no place in the metagame?

We all know what Zherbus Keeper looks like, so I wont bother posting a list. My personal changes to the deck were, -2xStifle for 1xCunning Wish and 1xSkeletal Scrying (SB contains Scrying #4). I've been rather happy with the third Cunning Wish, IMO two is never enough to justify a Wishboard. The 3rd Scrying seems to be cycle bait, but so does the 3rd Decree. Keeper can't keep up with HULK, no pun intended, on a 2xScrying Count.

So I guess the question is, should Decree Keeper expand it's Cunning Wish and Scrying Count in the same manor as Germbus to keep up with the metagame? Sure, you'll be cycling that extra Scrying in the absence of Exalted Angel more often than not, but atleast it's there.

Has everybody been converted by the Angel?

[johnstown713]

So far it seems that 3 skeletal scrying in the maindeck are working very well for GermBus.  They do help keep you place and I believe that 3 is the magical maindeck number.  As far as cunning wish, I don't think you could ever have to many of those.  I do like to play with 3 but I guess 2 could also be siutable.  Decree Keeper is ok but I think the Germbus is just plain better.

Johnstown713

[CMass]

I think the Angel is finding a lot of converts because of the huge advance that it provides in the Tog matchup.  Angel puts a fat butt in Tog's way and then runs up your life count.  Trampling for the win is much harder.

That's pretty basic and far from an earth-shattering observation, but I'd say its accurate nonetheless.  Tog is still considered the deck to beat by a lot of people, so improving that match-up is a good argument for the Angel.

[Kowal]

It also makes you able to just randomly pull wins out of your ass by pushing out a turn one or two angel and unmorphing it in time to swing, in addition to being something to use that makes random aggro just lose.  Oh, and also, it makes Skeletal Scrying not dangerous.

[Klep]

Has Decree Keeper been completely overshadowed by Germbus?

Yes.

[goober]

Germbus>Decree Keeper>EBA

They are all 3 builds of the same deck, with a VERY visible ranking.  
There can be only one

Scrying is a lot better, and Angel is greater than Decree because of that interaction.  As well as making it a lot harder for aggro decks to kill you.

[Toad]

GermBus is just how we called our latest Keeper build anyways.

[Malhavoc]

Keeper should have answers in hand to play against the opponent. So the ability to draw is vital. Skeletal scrying is awesome, but need life to be used well (particularly against aggressive decks), and the angel gives you lot of life. The angel is also useful against aggressive decks since it providdes much more time to find answers, or even let you forget about it, since attacking with it you may make more life than the damage your opponents makes to you each round.

[BreathWeapon]

I just think it's amazing that there isn't a Control deck capable of using Decree in the environment right now. I'm not saying that the environment is suited especialy for Decree, but such an inherently powerful card HAS to have some application in the metagame somewhere. So, if Germbus (Matt I just think of this as the monicor for Angel/Keeper) and the Angel have overshadowed Decree Keeper entirely, what purpose does Decree ,by itself, serve in the metagame? The card is just so good, and I'm not talking about "Morphling" good, it seems wrong not to be using it in some fashion. Germbus, understandably, doesn't have the room for it, so in what deck will Decree find a new home?

Ofcourse, Scepters crapped out of the metagame to ... Maybe I'll just throw my Blood Moons, Scepters and Decrees into the same deck and call it "WorseThan4cAndHULK.Deck"

[Toad]

While working on the win conditions configurations with Zherbus and Ze germans, we thought hard about the split between Decree of Justice and Exalted Angels.

In my opinion, this is nothing more than a metagame call. Decree shines against Control and Angel shines against Aggro.
If your metagame is full of Aggro decks (or Combo decks, where the win condition does not matter at all), then running 3 Angels and 1 Decree, for example, is something that can be done. This is why Kim Kluck and Carsten Kotter ran that configuration in  Duelmen in May.
If your metagame is more Controlish, but still has a good proportion of Aggro decks, then a 2/2 split is fair. You need the Angel's life gain against Aggro, while Decree gives you chump blockers against Aggro (hence time, hence life) and an uncounterable win condition against Control. That's why I'm using that split in Paris.
And if everyone is playing Control or Combo, well, running no Exalted Angels can be done too because life is irrelevant in Control mirrors, and you can support 3 or 4 Decrees with your 20 life points. In such a metagame, Morphling is better than Angel because It pitches to FOW, is untargettable if needed (no one uses Edict anyways), and can kill an Angel and survive with a consequent mana investment.

[BreathWeapon]

I can't fit in a 2/2 split, I simply refuse to run less than 3 Cunning Wish in any deck with a Wish Board. So, it's 3 kill conditions for me. Is a 2/1 split suggestable? When I tried it, I really leaned against it. You just need 3 Exalteds to ensure 1 shows up in the matches you need it to show up, in a timely fashion. I don't mind only playing 1 Decree tho', because it's a Mystical Tutor friendly win condition.

What about boarding Decree(s)?

[scars4eyes]

i moved the fire/ice sideboard, to fit 1 morphling, 2 angels and 2 decrees, we have a good portion of aggro/control and aggro.  This is for testing purposes only but I think this config should be good, if anyone objects.  please list why.

[Doozer]

It seems we have come full circle!  I aggree with going back to morphling. Its a good choice + ive been haveing problems with people useing swords on my angels. im am skeptal of the 3ed scrying in the main. From my play testing as well as watching others play test this deck you seem to only go for 2 which i dont think is effective. I really do like fire/ice. its really a meta game choice were you decide to put it. I currently have one main and thinking of putting one in the side because i am haveing a hard time with tokens and such. also, i had a few months ago 3 cunning wishs and changed it to 2 realizing really quick it need 3. And for awhile i ran 3 decree's becauce i didnt like duress and it worked fine untell people stoped running duress so i droped it down to 2. another change was little one volcanice island out for a city of brass. it works fine one change im thinking about is droping a waste land, there again its a meta game choice. last thing i did was drop a mox monkey. for my meta game i only need one.  tell me what you guys think. p.s. 2 deree and 1 angel is fine

[PucktheCat]

Speaking as a Fish player I would LOVE it if Morphling became the new control win condition.  Consider me on the bandwagon.

Leo

[scars4eyes]

the reason i took out the 3rd angel was to add another card to possibly pitch, a card with the same evasion as angel, untargetability, blah.  But i found that finding 2 white sources was in some situations harder, so it was easier to add a morphling, instead of having a morphed creature for 2-3 turns before it flips.

I think decree is overall great, but there are some times that I get stuck with too many mana intensive spells, do i go beatdown cast decree, mindtwist, cunning wish, or skeletal scrye?  but uncounterable win conditions do rock.

[Toad]

I can't fit in a 2/2 split, I simply refuse to run less than 3 Cunning Wish in any deck with a Wish Board.

I think that statement is incorrect. Granted, GermBus runs a lot of instants in his sideboard, but I'm not calling that a Wishboard. For reference, my current BusBus sideboard is :

2 Disenchant
2 Rack and Ruin
3 Flametongue Kavu
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Null Rod
1 Skeletal Scrying

Most of these instants are maindecked game 2 and 3. Skeletal Scrying goes in against Control. Disenchant and Rack and Ruin against Workshop. REB against Control. Swords against Aggro. And Wishes often end up being all boarded out. Cunning Wish gets these cards game 1, but I'm not running that many instants because of Cunning Wish. It's just because I'm running reactive Control, and instants are a weapon of choice.

Furthermore, Wish is really bad for your tempo in many matchups, namely Tog, Combo decks, etc ... I hate drawing a Wish when I don't need one, hence the 2-Wishes only configuration.

[Kowal]

I think it's safe to let this topic die.