I got my Drains, now wtf do I play?

[cryolyte]

I played Food Chain Goblins for a long time. Now I have finally taken the next step and invested in 4 Mana Drains. Seemingly, I have stepped into a whole new world (control) and am not sure what deck to play. My metagame consists of:

2x Dragon (1 has witness kill)
1x Belcher
1x AuriOath
2x Tps
1x Stax
1x Tog
2x Fish
1x Bird Sh*t
2x Control Slaver
1x Sensei2

Goal: to have a really good chance at winning while learning the ropes of control and/or combo-control.

The environment is unlimited proxy so I can build whatever I like.

What do you think?

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

Try this  :lol:

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

4 Aether Vial
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg Flunkies
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Matron

4 Volcanic Island
4 Shivan Reef
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Polluted Delta
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Lotus Petal

ITS INSANE!!!!!!111

but seriously, there are a lot of things to consider when choosing your deck.

playability
viability
budget
etc etc

[cryolyte]

LOL, that's a pile method (I know you were joking)

Pertaining to:

playability - It doesn't have to be mindless, as I read a lot of strategy. Like I said, I'm new to control and up to this point I have been playing budget aggro in FCG.

viability - I want something that could win, given good play.

budget - I have the all the lower end cards to build any competitive Vintage deck. I proxy power and LOA/Berserk type things. As I said in the initial post, it is an unlimited proxy environment. If you were looking for examples, these are the decks I am considering:

Sensei2
Oath (Auri or Meandeck)
3cc
Control Slaver (but I would rather not join the dark side)
Shortbus Severance Belcher
BBS

I can build any of them, but which best suit my metagame?

[crazynlazy]

SSB has a good matchup against a lot of decks and is IMO more fun than CS was. when everyone finds out the meandeck version of SSB that was played by CrazyCarl (i think) you should check it out, he did really well with it. But since your meta is so all over the place you're SB will make the difference.

[Outlaw]

SSB has a good matchup against a lot of decks and is IMO more fun than CS was. when everyone finds out the meandeck version of SSB that was played by CrazyCarl (i think) you should check it out, he did really well with it. But since your meta is so all over the place you're SB will make the difference.

Ahem you cant really say Meandeck SSB... SSB stands for Shortbus Severence Belcher therefore wouldnt it be Meandeck Severence Belcher?

[Disburden]

You can also try Ninja Sword, which is alot of fun IMO. You played FCG and this deck is aggro-control so you may like it a lot.

Plus it's a list that uses Aether Vial that isn't a joke 

[Ape]

from: crazynlazy on Today at 04:11:43 PM
SSB has a good matchup against a lot of decks and is IMO more fun than CS was. when everyone finds out the meandeck version of SSB that was played by CrazyCarl (i think) you should check it out, he did really well with it. But since your meta is so all over the place you're SB will make the difference.

Ahem you cant really say Meandeck SSB... SSB stands for Shortbus Severence Belcher therefore wouldnt it be Meandeck Severence Belcher?

Well, therefore he talks about it as the MeanDeck version, and not as Meandeck SSB 

Ape.

[StarOrc]

If you check out the Waterbury Updates thread in the tourney results forum it will tell that the version Carl was playing was the European version not Meandeck.... but thats not the point... there are multiple versions of Gifts Severance Belcher and all of them are competative. Just pick one and start the winning...

Star

[Outlaw]

Check out Sensei, current testing has given me ridiculous results.  Top 4 in 2 events and top 8 in one event in the 4 that I have played it in.  Thats definitely good enough for me.

[crazynlazy]

Ahem you cant really say Meandeck SSB... SSB stands for Shortbus Severence Belcher therefore wouldn't it be Meandeck Severance Belcher?

Okay I won't call it meandeck SSB but that would be an awesome name: Meandeck version of shortbus severance belcher AKA MVOSSB. I'll stop with that now. but yeah, sensi is amazing. So now that you have drains I would suggest MVOSSB/SSB or sensi.

[Luiggi]

Check out Sensei, current testing has given me ridiculous results.

Outlaw: are you just running the Sensei list that top-8'd at the Syracuse StarCity tournament? I know people that played it were complaining of no maindeck kill card, so did you add a Brain Freeze to the maindeck? Any other noteworthy changes from the Syracuse list?

Luiggi

[chippi0069]

I say you should start off with SSB or Sensei.  They are both very consistent, but you test both.

[warble]

Oath has more counters for those combo matches, and with only 1 mirror that means you'll be able to play a minimal waste/strip count meaning...you get to run Auriok Salvagers if you want yay.  Plus, pyrite won't be dead against CS and Fish/Bird dookie, so that build looks superior.

Considering you have to look at a combo matchup, both SSB and Sensei will be inferior to Oath because of the additional counters.

Against aggro like fish/bird$h|t Oath won't draw dead hands as often as SSB/Sensei (stupid turn 1/2 disruption really hurts when your early game is already weak)

[Draven]

I have to say Drain/Salvagers is really good. Here is the list I am playing right now:

Counter/Disruption

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Duress
3 Cranial Extraction

Draw/Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Cunning Wish
2 Intuition
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Skeletal Scrying
4 Brainstorm

Win/Pwnage
2 Auriok Salvagers
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Mana Base
7 SoLoMox
1 Mana Crypt
6 Fetch (3 Polluted/3 Flooded)
2 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
I don't remember the board right now.

I am at work right now, so this decklist is off by like a 1 card over (I don't remember what I took out or something so I am sorry.) This deck is really fun. The Cranial Extractions are questionable by they are fun to play any how. he great part about the deck is the "oops, I win" factor. Tinker/DSC is another "oops, I win" factor. First turn DSC puts a really fast clock on the game. Personally, if I had a turn one colossus or combo with a duress, I would Duress turn 1, and combo/collossus turn 2 (unless of course you have Force back up.) Good luck and have fun... Now that you have the drains, you are in the big leagues.

One final question, if you are playing unlimited proxies, what is the motivation to buy any card? Why not play a 60 card proxy deck? Just curious... Good luck.

[goobafish]

I have the same question as the starter of this thread. What to play with drains. I have drains and 2 moxes (and a twister) What is the best deck to play?

[jshields]

siiigh - I got 4 Drains, 1 Mox Emerald, and 1 Ancestral recall, but traded away my beat to crap underground seas in part of the deal to get the Mox.  However, once I got my drains, I made control slaver and found that the versions that ran black were actually pretty good.  (I only ran 1 Demonic Tutor, 2 Duress, 1 Yawg Will Main and sometimes Vampiric Tutor main, as well as an extra Duress or Coffin Purge SB).  At this point, I have had the same dilemma and want to try mono blue myself, seeing as Meandeck Oath does or did not have enough removal (sorry, but that premium article stuff is a total rip off) for me to deal with the largest threats in our area, Nevinyrral's Disk and Platinum Angel.  If anything else, my only other recommendation would be maybe oath of salvagers

[cryolyte]

Thank you all for the information. To the person who questioned my need to buy cards at all in a full-proxy environment: The weekly tournament isn't the only place I ever want to play. I would like to venture to the next SCG in Chicago, and I'm not far from Canada/Detroit and I hear they have a pretty good T1 scene. I want to play, so I need the cards. 'Sides - reading 60 plains cards sharpied up doens't make for much fun - especially for your opponent.