Keeper?

[Milton]

Hey everyone.  I'm back.  It's been a few months since I posted but I have been reading everything and attending quite a few tournaments.  I thought I'd share my most recent deck and discuss my most recent tournaments.

3cc (I suppose this could be considered Neo-OSE?)
-Blue
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fire/Ice

-Black
4 Skeletal Scrying
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yag Will

-Red
3 Gorilla Shaman

-Artifact
4 Engineered Explosives
1 Platinum Angel
1 Darksteel Collosus
1 Crucible of Worlds

-Mana (26)
5 Moxes
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus
4 Wastelands
1 Strip
1 Library
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Uncerground Sea
3 Volcanic Islands
2 Islands

-Board
3 Fire/Ice
4 Red Blasts
4 Rack and Ruin
4 Gilded Drake (anti Oath tech)

I built this deck based on a few assumptions:

1) Redundancy is required for a control deck to survive against a varried metagame
2) Gorilla Shaman is way too powerful in an environment going to 10 proxies
3) Skeletal Scrying is broken
4) 4cc can't survive an environment with so many Wastes, 3cc can
5) Cunning Wish is just too damn slow in a deck that likes to Wasteland early
6) As good as white is right now, it can be cut

So, Engineered Explosives was my answer.  Four might seem like too many, but it isn't.  First turn, setting Engineered Explosives at 2 against Oath or Dragon, at 1 agaisnt Fish or Slaver, at 0 against Belcher can really throw an opponent off.  It can be as good of a first turn play as Challice.  Sure, EE doesn't kill lands, which is a big drawback with Fish, but Wasteland does a nice job.

My win is pretty simple.  Vamp, Mystical or Demonic for Tinker, when appropriate, and cast Darksteel.  With all of the draw, it's pretty easy to do.  Sometimes I rely on Monkey beatdown.  With three Shaman, it happens quite a bit.

So, last three power tournaments went like this:

Dreamer's in April 5-1 through swiss, T4

Dreamer's in June 5-0-1 through swiss (#1 seed) T8 (first round of final 8 I took a rando loss to a first turn Oath w/ FOW back-up games 2 + 3)

Guild in June 4-1 through swiss, T4 (loss to Slaver in T4.  He outcountered and outdrew me).

Deck does pretty well against everything.  Redundency in the contrlo game, combined with mana denial and disruption and the explosiveness of an early Tinker makes this a pretty solid deck.

There are some weaknesses.  It needs more blue to support Force of Will.  It can't deal well big permenants, such as a first turn Tinker/Darksteel because there is no white to support Swords.  Still, the Explosives allow it to stack up pretty well against Fish, Food Chains, Madness...

So, any thoughts?

[Zombie Shakespeare]

Looks like a very strong list.

How have the Guilded Drakes been working out against Oath? I thought most versions board in Pristine and Iridescent Angel against control games 2 and 3?

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

I've been thinking about keeper again, and it seems very promising with saviours. I'm currently tinkering with a 4cc list that runs only 1 strip mine and 4 pithing needle. I found that 4cc had major issues with the manabase, and pithing needle set on wasteland was a very good counter. Plus, the only matchup where I missed wasteland was vs. Bazaar decks, and there, pithing needle is house. Also, pithing needle completely shuts down fish/WTF, hitting cards like Mishra's Factory, Wasteland, Aether Vial, Jitte, Mongrel, Bouncer, and rootwalla.

I don't think keeper can afford to cut white, as Balance is so crucial to the deck. Also, like you said, StoP is simply amazing right now with the amount of creatures in the format.

Also, about the draw engine. If you run enough artifacts (4 needle, 7 SoLoMox, 1 DSC, 1-4 EE), you might want to think about thirst for knowledge. It's more efficient, and still lets you see 3 cards. I am running a combination of 3 thirsts and 2 scryings, and it's been working out pretty well.

-Bob

[Dralock]

I've been playing with and against keeper, and have decided that since the difference between keeper and slaver is

-4 scrying
-3 shaman
-4 explosives
-1 angel

+4 welder
+3 slaver
+1 pentavus
+4 draw

Couldn't you call slaver the evolution of keeper? Or SSB? They all basically play the same, but with welders added you have a huge lock advantage, or a quick and decisive win condition (that isn't 11/11)

[Milton]

Couldn't you call slaver the evolution of keeper? Or SSB? They all basically play the same, but with welders added you have a huge lock advantage, or a quick and decisive win condition (that isn't 11/11)

Well, you have to rely on Welders for a win condition.  Welders can be somewhat fragile in the current meta.  Also, I don't know many Slaver decks that try to lock down a mana base with Waste, Crucible, Explosives, Monkey. 

Slaver and Keeper are different decks.  Different strengths, weaknesses and strategies.  Slaver has a very tough time against Oath, doesn't it?  Doesn't Slaver have a tough match-up against Fish?  If your argument is that Slaver is supposed to be the evolution of contro, I just have to disagree.  People said the same thing about Tog two years ago, and where is Tog now?

As for this:

I've been thinking about keeper again, and it seems very promising with saviours. I'm currently tinkering with a 4cc list that runs only 1 strip mine and 4 pithing needle. I found that 4cc had major issues with the manabase, and pithing needle set on wasteland was a very good counter. Plus, the only matchup where I missed wasteland was vs. Bazaar decks, and there, pithing needle is house. Also, pithing needle completely shuts down fish/WTF, hitting cards like Mishra's Factory, Wasteland, Aether Vial, Jitte, Mongrel, Bouncer, and rootwalla.

I don't think keeper can afford to cut white, as Balance is so crucial to the deck. Also, like you said, StoP is simply amazing right now with the amount of creatures in the format.

Also, about the draw engine. If you run enough artifacts (4 needle, 7 SoLoMox, 1 DSC, 1-4 EE), you might want to think about thirst for knowledge. It's more efficient, and still lets you see 3 cards. I am running a combination of 3 thirsts and 2 scryings, and it's been working out pretty well.

White.  To cut white or not?  That is the question.

Option 1: Add white, cut Wastelands, go with the Needle and possibly Medling Mage and control the opponent's spell base.

Option 2: Cut white, go with Wastelands - Shaman - Crucible - Explosives and control the opponent's mana base.

I like controling the mana base.  I find it to be far more reliable when you don't know what your opponent is playing.  That's not to say that White is wrong.  I just found that it was all too easy for my opponents to disrupt MY mana base when playing 4cc instead of 3cc.  Also, I think the Needle isn't as good as many seem to believe.  I feel it is a card that is handy against some decks, but it's uses are narrow agaisnt an extremely varried metagame.  What do you do with your first turn needle agaisnt round 1 rando?  If you know your opponent it's a very handy card to have.  But in a field of unknowns...

I don't think I'd cut Scrying for Thirst.  I hate the discard aspect of Thirst and I love the fact that I can drain into a big Scrying.  Still, I might add one Thrist for now (in place of the rando Fire/Ice) and see how it goes.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

What do you do with your first turn needle agaisnt round 1 rando?  If you know your opponent it's a very handy card to have.  But in a field of unknowns...

This is my issue with people criticizing needle. Against randomness, you win. Period. Also, dropping a blind needle turn 1 is absolutely horrible. It's not like cabal therapy/extraction/mage at all, in that it's a REACTIVE card, not a proactive one. It's the perfect answer for keeper. You keep it in your hand until your opponent plays a threat (think bazaar, vial, salvagers, welder, slaver, etc.). It may not find a home in keeper, but i think the idea certainly has merit.

Also, if you do run a thirst/scrying configuration, you up your blue count for FoW, which is a huge plus in a multicolor control deck.

-Bob

[Matt]

It needs more blue to support Force of Will.  It can't deal well big permenants, such as a first turn Tinker/Darksteel because there is no white to support Swords.

1. I don't see Fact or Fiction anywhere. Replacing one Scrying with that could up your blue count - and FoF is probably better anyway.
2. Diabolic Edict? With so many decks killing via DC, this could be a really good option for nonwhite (nonSTP) decks. Alternately, you could run bounce, which is a little better versus Oath decks, and would agian up your blue count.

[absolute]

Couldn't you call slaver the evolution of keeper? Or SSB? They all basically play the same, but with welders added you have a huge lock advantage, or a quick and decisive win condition (that isn't 11/11)

Well, you have to rely on Welders for a win condition.  Welders can be somewhat fragile in the current meta.  Also, I don't know many Slaver decks that try to lock down a mana base with Waste, Crucible, Explosives, Monkey. 

Slaver and Keeper are different decks.  Different strengths, weaknesses and strategies.  Slaver has a very tough time against Oath, doesn't it?  Doesn't Slaver have a tough match-up against Fish?  If your argument is that Slaver is supposed to be the evolution of contro, I just have to disagree.  People said the same thing about Tog two years ago, and where is Tog now?

As for this:

I've been thinking about keeper again, and it seems very promising with saviours. I'm currently tinkering with a 4cc list that runs only 1 strip mine and 4 pithing needle. I found that 4cc had major issues with the manabase, and pithing needle set on wasteland was a very good counter. Plus, the only matchup where I missed wasteland was vs. Bazaar decks, and there, pithing needle is house. Also, pithing needle completely shuts down fish/WTF, hitting cards like Mishra's Factory, Wasteland, Aether Vial, Jitte, Mongrel, Bouncer, and rootwalla.

I don't think keeper can afford to cut white, as Balance is so crucial to the deck. Also, like you said, StoP is simply amazing right now with the amount of creatures in the format.

Also, about the draw engine. If you run enough artifacts (4 needle, 7 SoLoMox, 1 DSC, 1-4 EE), you might want to think about thirst for knowledge. It's more efficient, and still lets you see 3 cards. I am running a combination of 3 thirsts and 2 scryings, and it's been working out pretty well.

White.  To cut white or not?  That is the question.

Option 1: Add white, cut Wastelands, go with the Needle and possibly Medling Mage and control the opponent's spell base.

Option 2: Cut white, go with Wastelands - Shaman - Crucible - Explosives and control the opponent's mana base.

I like controling the mana base.  I find it to be far more reliable when you don't know what your opponent is playing.  That's not to say that White is wrong.  I just found that it was all too easy for my opponents to disrupt MY mana base when playing 4cc instead of 3cc.  Also, I think the Needle isn't as good as many seem to believe.  I feel it is a card that is handy against some decks, but it's uses are narrow agaisnt an extremely varried metagame.  What do you do with your first turn needle agaisnt round 1 rando?  If you know your opponent it's a very handy card to have.  But in a field of unknowns...

I don't think I'd cut Scrying for Thirst.  I hate the discard aspect of Thirst and I love the fact that I can drain into a big Scrying.  Still, I might add one Thrist for now (in place of the rando Fire/Ice) and see how it goes.

1. Welder is not always the primary kill condition of slaver...a well placed tinker will win the game in some matches. The Oath matchup from boath sides is very close, the Oath player is hoping that welder doesn't bring out Platz, and the slaver player is trying to counter Oath itself, and slow down their plan. I have to disagree with saying that tog is not a naturally weak deck, it is just a somewhat worse oath deck at the moment. Slaver itself runs the control game until it wins or creates it's lock, and currently is playing a great deal like 3-4cc (packing Gorilla Shaman and atleast one fat ass win condition.

2. White is something I agree needs to stay. The ability to use Mage, Seal, StoP, and Blance is a big deal with most of the matchup's in the current metagame. The only decks that are really random right now are fish and workshop aggro, so knowing what to name with needle is not the issue... knowing how good needle is the current question on most people's mind.

3. Thirst is a very useful draw engine, and fits in many more decks than those that revolve around welder or reanimation, and will dig further than most cards that are being used right now. Skrying is much less attractive in keeper without Exalted making it a somewhat fair tradeoff.

Overall I like the idea of keeper in the current metagame, but in reality it needs a decent clock.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

I don't think I'd cut Scrying for Thirst.  I hate the discard aspect of Thirst and I love the fact that I can drain into a big Scrying.  Still, I might add one Thrist for now (in place of the rando Fire/Ice) and see how it goes.

Here's the thing, you're running tinker-colossus as a win. Instead of trying to gain card advantage, the goal should be to protect tinker-colossus and win in two turns. Thirst is perfect here because it digs earlier and is more efficient than scrying. Scrying for 2 has always felt like ass to me and casting it for 3 means your already in the mid-game. I'm not saying scrying is bad, I'm just comparing the two draw engines. As I've said earlier 3 thirst 2 scrying has been working extremely well for me. Thirst has the added benefit of discarding DSC, which can be huge.

Another thing that I've been pondering is Cunning wish. I don't see it in your build, but in keeper, I've always loved it. It gives the deck basically an out to any situation. I think it's def. worth testing.

While I understand the inclusion of wastelands (you are a reactive deck trying to drag other decks into the late game), I think they are unneeded with the inclusion of pithing needle. Pithing needle seriously is an answer to your weakest problems (stops mana denial in the form of wasteland and shaman, stops bazaars, and stops pithing needle).

My biggest gripe with the deck is that it's basically a weak version of gifts. Sure you have more draw, but gifts runs more disruption (duress) and can win after casting a single spell (and not to mention, supports tinker-colossus better). Keeper has never really had a problem with Fish and workshop, it just lost big to Tog and slaver. Until keeper can find a way to out control the best control decks in type 1, I think it's still tier 2.

-Bob

[Revvik]

Looking at the list in the beginning, I would probably cut Platinum Angel, Crucible of Worlds, and Vampiric Tutor for 3 Duress to be able to combat the draw-concentrated control decks of today.  This deck looks interesting, I'll probably take some of the ideas here into consideration (Tresserhorn's Thirst/Scrying configuration) and give it a whirl.

I have to disagree with saying that tog is not a naturally weak deck, it is just a somewhat worse oath deck at the moment.

I'd have to disagree with it being a worse Oath deck.  By running a set of 2-3 Duress and 3 Cunning Wish, plus an Explosives main, 'Tog has the capacity to be the best control deck in the format, it just dies to its own manabase on occasion and a random Mindslaver.

I really like the idea of running 3 maindeck Gorilla Shaman in this deck, it's pretty powerful against a lot of decks right now.

[Sean Ryan]

Taking some of the various points on this thread, along with Ultima's Tog thread -  I came up with the idea of combining the strengths of both Keeper & Tog into a multi-color control deck. 

The current enviorment is ripe for a control deck that has access to answers in both the maindeck and sideboard.

The mana base is the biggest issue when designing multi-color control.  Having access to all your colors while retaining enough basics is difficult but manageable.  I liked the idea of dropping wasteland and trying Needle as an answer to wasteland.  This is definitely an area that needs to be tested.  Here is a possible manabase:

4 fetch
3 sea
3 volcanic
2 Tundra
2 Island
1 LOA
1 Strip
7 SoloMox
Lotus Petal??? or 5th fetch?

Without Wasteland Needle is needed maindeck along with other answers/removal:

2 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Shaman
2 Cunning Wish
1 Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares

Counter/Disruption: 11 slots - FOW,MD,Duress, possibly Mindtwist

The Needles, Wishes, and E.E. act as flexible reactive solutions.  Balance is so strong right now that it almost justifies the inclusion of white alone.  If Needle does not work out Wasteland should return as a 2-3 of along with Crucible.

The addition of more artifacts also facilitates the use of TFK into the draw engine:
4 BS
2 TFK
2 Scrying
1 Fact
1 A. Recall
1 MT
1 DT

This combination of draw/tutor/search is a little different but, retains the same percentage or core of casrd drawing included in most control decks.

Bombs & kill conditions:
WILL
Walk
Tinker
Colossus
Tog

When looking at the initial list posted by Milton I was unhappy with Platz as a secondary kill and though going with the lone colossus is just to risky.  By adding a single Tog you allow for a more aggressive Tinker Colossus in the early game knowing you have back up if needed.  Tog can also be dropped in the early game as a hindrance to aggro.  Regardless, Will is going to win more games than probally either of the aforementioned cards so dropping them early is not so bad.

The toolbox sideboard is dependant upon the metagame but, the inclusion of more Needles, E.E., Arcane Lab should all be considered.

How do think this would fair in the current metagame?
Why would this be better or worse than Tog, other Keeperesque builds, or C. Slaver?

Thanks

Sean
 

[Ufactor]

My biggest gripe with the deck is that it's basically a weak version of gifts. Sure you have more draw, but gifts runs more disruption (duress) and can win after casting a single spell (and not to mention, supports tinker-colossus better). Keeper has never really had a problem with Fish and workshop, it just lost big to Tog and slaver. Until keeper can find a way to out control the best control decks in type 1, I think it's still tier 2.

While I agree that Keeper looks like a weak version of Gifts (this was my train of thought, too...cutting a couple of cards from Toad's last public list to add Balance, et. al.), the changes actually help fix the old problems that the deck was having.  Cunning Wish->Gush helps against Wasteland.  Mind Twist main is much more relyable than having to wish for it.  I like Decree or Platz better as a secondary win condition than Charbelcher.  And also just plain versatility and staying power goes along way.

[MaxxMatt]

I appreciate a lot the direction that Milton took to revamp a bit the Keeper-esque "Juggernaut"

I would like to point out only a few points, that don't strictly connect themselves with the list proposed, but that can be discussed to focus of some weakness that I realized playing this deck ( similar strategies of course, not the exact deck ).

1) Skeletal Scrying is powerful
2) Skeletal Scrying is your only Drawer
3) Skeletal Scrying is mana Intensive

If you consider the number of real drawers of your deck you can easily see that their density, compared to the ability to fecth for them is really low.

You could think that playing with 4 Skeletals an Ancestral and the FoF too is enough to have at least one of them in your initial hand and some tools to protect them.
You should carefully think about playing some of your drawers if they are not well protected, because your deck can be easily reduced in a topdecking mode simply by countering one or two of them during the early game.

OTOH, the goal of the modern MtG's plan consist on attacking the opponent's strategy contemporarily or, better, before he can impose the one he is playing to you.

I see a plan in your draw-strategy that can be reassumed into ( excluding broken plays ) :

1) Land + Brainstorm
2) Land + Drain or Wasteland + FoW
3) Skeletals ( plus maybe FoW backup )

While this strategy seems really effective especially because the inherently broken plays are excluded, they are the whole things that you are going to do during the entire first three turns of the game!
You are planning on defending your only strong plays almost NOT considering what can be done by the opponent during HIS first three turns.
If one of those steps went to trash, you would be entirely smashed down because the deck Topdeck badly.
The deck ( keeper juggernaut ) topdeck badly since YEARS!

It is strong if any steps he is planning to do are executed correctly.
To be sure to execute any step correctly and positively during any MtG's games, you should play alone...
So there are things that should be done in the weak directions of the deck, not in the ones he is able to win.

Skeletal scrying is terribly mana intensive compared with other Drawers.

TFK digs you three cards for 3 mana with a net of 2 cards added if you build your deck correctly
AK digs you at least three cards for 2 mana because when used without being coupled with Intuition you are considered a Scrub
Skeletal can dig youmore than those two other cards, but with the difference that it cannot be used COUPLED with other things, because to be really effective it should use all the mana that you have available.

When in the past, ( the Americans, the Germans, the French one and me ) we collaborated each other to assemble a good 3C-build, we realized that Skeletals could be optimized ONLY by Duresses and FoWs and not by Drains. If you are going to resolve a large Skeletal ( that is your ONLY way to survive at some point ) you should have been supported by a previous Duress AND  possibily a FoW too.
In the early game, Drains AND Skeletals usually mean that you are going to draw a number of cards that are not adguate to the mana investiment done.

I played TOO TIMES Skeletal for one or luckily for two ONLY to optimize the Drain that I had in my hand.
And I feel like I was BOTH wasting my Drawer and contemporarily not being able to do anything better!
Playing mana intensive spells is really frustrating when your opponents are able to resolve plenty of the ones that they have in their hand while you are forced to play ( ..and play carefully... ) only one of them.

Any deck attack your slow draw-strategy with a quick Duress/Welder plus a following Intuitions/Gifts/TFKs that are tremendously stronger and cheaper and quicker than the plan that you are going to support.



After saying so many words, I don't feel that your work is a waste of time.
Adding a couple of Wishes and maybe the maximum number of Duresses is as simple as it appear in my mind.
OTOH, even this additions, simply would not minimize your worst "troll": you cannot prevent frequent bad topdecks.

The raw and shining power of drawing a lot of cards off a resolved Gifts or Intuitions is completely obscured by other subtle aspect of those cards, that it is usually not considered because it is invisible:
Intuitions let you Tutor for 3 specific cards. Any single Intuitions avoid you from drawing at least 3 useless things from your deck, once resolved
Gifts lets you Tutor for 4 specific cards. Any single Gifts avoid you from drawing at least 4 useless things from your deck, once resolved.

Skeletals are stronger maybe than any other drawers but they cannot prevent you from drawing useless things among the ( possibly high ) amount of cards.
Skeletal is massive but his power can be felt ONLY when drawing A LOT.
A Skeletal for two that net you 2 lands can be common because the total amount of cards in the deck is almost the same.
An AK after an Intuition usually net you better cards, because the total amount of cards in the deck is decreased, rising the "quality" and giving you "Quantity" with a cheap mana investiment.
The same argument can be used for Gifts, but the results are even stronger but more mana intensive.


So which are the hints that I can suggest after all that reasoning?

1) 26 mana fonts are too many.
2) a full set of Wasteland can be considered overkill because of the high amount of basics used nonwadays
3) Waste+CoW is Slow. Gorilla+Waste+CoW+E.E. is good but complicated to achieve.
4) E.E. die under Rod. Relying only on them is a bit risky from my point of view, excluding the case you are not facing Fishes or Rods.dec at all.
5) Duresses and Drains and FoW and some Wishes are needed to better support your good drawers
6) Topdecking lands during the midgame is equal to die to anyone
7) If possible I would rise a bit the number of drawers.

You can try this thing, if you want.

4 Drains, FoWs, Brainstorms, Skeletals
3 Duress,
2 Wishes, E.Es, Shamans
1 Walk, Ancestral, CoW, Mystical, FoF, Demonic, Tinker, DSC, Memnarch/Platz, MIndtwist,Y Will
24-25 Mana Fonts
15 Sideboard cards


If you want to cut the denial plan ex-abrupto, you can add more drawers and optimize the mana base.
More Wishes and more TFKs can be added to rise the goal of winning the draw wars.
In my opinion, Balance and a single Tundra could be incorporated without too many difficulties

Good Job!
MaxxMatt

[Milton]

Wow, Maxx, good analysis.  I do, however, disagree with some of your logic.

You should carefully think about playing some of your drawers if they are not well protected, because your deck can be easily reduced in a topdecking mode simply by countering one or two of them during the early game.

OTOH, the goal of the modern MtG's plan consist on attacking the opponent's strategy contemporarily or, better, before he can impose the one he is playing to you.

I see a plan in your draw-strategy that can be reassumed into ( excluding broken plays ) :

1) Land + Brainstorm
2) Land + Drain or Wasteland + FoW
3) Skeletals ( plus maybe FoW backup )

While this strategy seems really effective especially because the inherently broken plays are excluded, they are the whole things that you are going to do during the entire first three turns of the game!
You are planning on defending your only strong plays almost NOT considering what can be done by the opponent during HIS first three turns.
If one of those steps went to trash, you would be entirely smashed down because the deck Topdeck badly.
The deck ( keeper juggernaut ) topdeck badly since YEARS!

This is overly simplistic for many reasons.  First, Skeletal is not an early game card drawing spell.  It is generally a mid-game spell.  The early game is for Wastes, Gorilla Shaman, EE's, Tutors and Brainsorms.  The strategy is simple, as you mentioned.  ATTACK THE OPPONENT'S STRATEGY.  How?  It's not that hard.

- Build-up a mana base while denying a mana base to the opponent.
- Get your opponent to stall out
- Find a win condition

Now, of course it doesn't always work that way.  That's overly simplistic.  Still, in most of my games I have found that EE and Gorilla are excellent at denying an opponent's strategy.  EE can generally come down unmolested against aggro decks (Food Chains) and can do some serious damage to decks like Fish.  It's inexpensive and can be fueled with Moxes, allowing Wastes to hinder the opponent's mana development.  That means I can dedicated land drops to Wastes while using EE to act as a semi-board sweeper. 

But, yes, if ALL I do is Brainstorm, waste and hold on to a Mana Drain for three turns and hope to topdeck into answers, then I will most likely lose agasint other decks.

When in the past, ( the Americans, the Germans, the French one and me ) we collaborated each other to assemble a good 3C-build, we realized that Skeletals could be optimized ONLY by Duresses and FoWs and not by Drains. If you are going to resolve a large Skeletal ( that is your ONLY way to survive at some point ) you should have been supported by a previous Duress AND  possibily a FoW too.
In the early game, Drains AND Skeletals usually mean that you are going to draw a number of cards that are not adguate to the mana investiment done.

Aah.  Here is the problem.  My deck has a pretty low mana curve compared to other Keeperesque decks.  No 4cc spells, like Exalted, and very few mana intensive spells (4xScrying).  I am not counting Platinum Angel and Darksteel here.  I usually end-up Tinkering them out.  So, if I draw a bunch of cards off a Scrying, I'm going to fill my hand with Shaman, Brainsorms, EE's, counterspells and mana.  I won't have useless Cunning Wishes that I can't cast.

This brings me to my next point.  CUNNING WISH IS ASS!  It is not a very good card in control decks.  I used to love Cunning Wish, but it has fallen out of favor with me tremendously.  It's soooooo slow and it is very mana intensive.  Most of the answers in the board are black or red.  That means if you are going to Cunning Wish early you need blue, but it can't be a basic Island ulness you have the moxes to support your wish target.  You can't Cunning Wish early for Edict, for example, because by the time you Fetch an Island and then Fetch again for an Underground Sea, the equiped Rootwalla has hit you and it's too late.  EE is just better.  Especially in the current Fish-laden metagame.  Further, with 5x Wastelands maindeck, Cunning Wish is sub-par.  4xEE is far better, I have found. 

Also, in this Fish laden (multi-color Fish, none the less) metagame, 5 Waste/Strip is a must.  Most decks running Fetchlands will have two or three basics.  They can fetch a basic land, or two, but Wastelands can cut off a color again.  When Pithing Needle comes into the format, one of the first plays for most decks will be to play Needle naming Wasteland.  (Shaman and EE in my deck take care of the Needle).

So, we profoundly disagree on the nature of a control deck.  I feel that Cunning Wish is horrible right now.  I feel that Duress, while a good card, is not good in the current metagame.  I feel that the Waste/Shaman/EE strategy of controling an opponent's mana base is superior.  EE/Shaman provides tremendous card advantage and redundency.  You feel that the deck should be about the flexibility of Cunning Wish combined with a tremendous number of card drawing spells.  It's all about card advantage.  I just see it in a different way.

[Dozer]

CUNNING WISH IS ASS!  It is not a very good card in control decks.  I used to love Cunning Wish, but it has fallen out of favor with me tremendously.  It's soooooo slow and it is very mana intensive. [...]
Also, in this Fish laden (multi-color Fish, none the less) metagame, 5 Waste/Strip is a must.

Milton, good work! I have been tinkering with the 3cC-idea for a while now, and come to the same conclusions concerning these two areas. Control decks really can't afford to be slow anymore, even though the four mana slot offers a lot of power, too. I like your mana base and the straight appliance of Explosives + Shaman, which looks extremely solid.

A couple of minor points, before I get to a more fundamental question:
Fact or Fiction should go in there regardless of the mana cost because it is flat out better than Scrying. You swap a powerful drawer for another one that is less limited, doesn't eat into your life buffer and is blue to pitch, so yeah.
Have you considered swapping one Fetchland for a City of Brass? It enables your Explosions better and makes your manabase less vulnerable to Needle while not really hurting it. Plus, it is (small but sometimes important) Titan-proof.
I am not convinced of maindeck Plats. I never liked it and don't do yet, because DSC wins better and only against Goblins is the Plats any better. You have Shamans as alternate win, and Crucible as virtual win condition. If you really feel the need, try Masticore, which is more universal than Platinum Angel and cheaper to boot. (Tinker goes for Colossus or Crucible anyway in most cases.)

The fundamental question is the fourth color. I said above that I have been experimenting with 3cC as well, but I chose the U/B/W-route, preferring White over Red. I will not clutter the thread with a list*, but I'd like to elaborate on the question a little anyway. What is it that Red gives you that White does not offer? The only thing is reusable artifact destruction in the form of Gorilla Shaman. The other cards, or rather their effects, can be found in the other colors as well. Fire/Ice becomes Swords to Plowshares, Red Elemental Blast becomes Duress, and Rack and Ruin becomes Disenchant. As you see, the deal means giving up 2-for-1 advantage for higher flexibility in the cases of Rack and Ruin and Fire/Ice, and exchanging proactive-ness for reactiveness in case of Duress vs REB.

That is not an admirable deal. However, White gives you Balance and the option of including Exalteds and of course enchantment removal and the ability to deal with any creature as opposed to small ones. I prefer that in an aggro-environment, as the removal base is pretty strong. However, Gorilla Shaman is still there and yells "you can't replace me, sucker!". Boy, is he right. It cannot be replaced. What I am wondering is if Engineered Explosives coupled with some (read: 2-3) maindeck Disenchants would not be as effective and give you a stronger overall removal base... I have had good results with Disenchants, and there are other beauties like Aura of Silence and Dust to Dust that could be used.

I am also using a transformational sideboard with Exalted Angels and Damping Matrix. That is where the true beauty of White comes in. On the other hand, everytime I draw a Disenchant I am happy but thinking "what if this was a Shaman"? I am not entirely sure, although I know that in an aggro environment, I prefer White over Red. I will for sure add some number of Explosives to my deck now, though, and test that, since I absolutely dig the idea!

Milton, have you ever tried the deck without Red? Would you, even?

Dozer


*If you want it, PM me.