Graveyard recovery in 4cc

[Emerald]

In my group we have multiplayer games, sometimes in teams. We usually use "tournament" decks as blueprints and then tweak them to our individual likings, so there competition level is not insanely high. The metagame is basically lots of zoo/gro/Rock type decks, with some people splashing a bit of countermagic.

Recently, I've been playing sort of a 4cc deck. Here's the list.

3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
3 Scrubland
2 Volcanic Island
2 City of Brass
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland

5 Moxes

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Standstill
2 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Counterspell
1 Morphling
1 Balance
2 Disenchant
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Vindicate
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Burning Wish
2 Gaea's Blessing
 
The sideboard varies, of course. I usually have my finishers here. Either Urza's Rage or Haunting Echoes.

On to the question. I've been using Gaea's Blessing to avoid decking myself, but lately I've found it's too clunky and most of the time it is more of a nuisance than anything else. First of all, it makes me splash green, which I don't like. Then, I usually have to cast one Blessing early on and then, when I get the second one midgame Ihave to either stick to it until the end or else cast it (always with counterspell backup, which also sucks). The thing is, 25% of the games I run the risk of decking myself, so I figured I need some sort graveyard recursion. Timetwister is out. I just hate how it helps others as much as it helps me. Since I'm not sold on Gaea's Blessing and I'd much rather pass on Twister, what do you people recommend? Because I'm entering Feldon's Cane territory here, and that scares me.

[Matt]

I would reccommend winning before the game ever hits that state. Perhaps you could add a combo element to your game - 1x Grim Monolith, 1x Power Artifact, and have some X spell (or Decree of Justice!) handy (either maindeck or by wishing for one). That way you can insta-kill your opponent on turn 40 instead of having to Blessing yourself.

[Dream_Merchant]

i see you run permanent light but what about soldevi digger. its much slower then blessing but it works with the standstills. or if you are really desperate feldon's cane variants like the cane itself or thran foundry or reminisce. The thing with the blessings is that it works with FoF. so i guess its up to you.

also think of time spiral. even though it helps your opponents it gives you the first option of casting stuff and unless you are facing another control matchup with FoWs a mind twist or standstill can make sure that the balance is broken. + you can fetch it back with burning wish

[Emerald]

Well, thanks for the tips. I forgot about graveyard recursion completely and went for a couple more finishers. I added two Decree of Justice and it played really well. I love the synergy with Mana Drain. It makes the deck a little more "kinetic".

Soldevi Digger could work, since there is a lack of artifact removal in the environment, but in the end I think I would run into the same situations I face with the Blessings.

Also I replaced the Standstills with Brainstorm and added a couple more fetchlands. So far so good. I'd like to try the Exalted Angel - Skeletal Scrying tech, although there's too much creature removal in the environment for the Angel to survive long enough.