Domain Game

[Matt]

When Ravnica first came out, I decided to make a deck to use one of my favorite new cards, Farseek. I also added in a bunch of other cards I had but was getting no use out of. Then I realized that since it played no duals, Farseek was strictly inferior to Rampant Grwoth - which, it turned out, I own zero of! So I got those and some other fun cards and made a control deck. I wanted to stick to Legacy B&R.

// Gamekeeper engine
    3 Gamekeeper
    1 Claws of Gix

    1 Darksteel Colossus
    1 Phantom Nishoba
    1 Pristine Angel

// Removal & control
    4 Evasive Action
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Collective Restraint
    2 Engineered Explosives
    2 Savage Twister
    1 Naturalize
    1 Void
    1 Global Ruin

//Draw spells & Recursion
    4 Brainstorm
    2 Sensei's Divining Top
    2 Allied Strategies
    1 Regrowth
    1 Reito Lantern

// Mana stuff
    7 Forest
    4 Island
    3 Plains
    2 Mountain
    2 Swamp

    1 Mirrodin's Core
    1 Thawing Glaciers
    2 Nantuko Monastery

    4 Rampant Growth
    1 Crop Rotation

There's a lot of little synergies here. There's a ton of shuffling effects (Thaw, 5 land fixers, Gamekeeper) to make use of the Brainstorms and Tops. Also, those same Brainstorms and Tops can keep me from drawing my fatties (espeically Colossus, tha hardest to cast) and put them back when I do draw them. Gamekeeper, who often dies to a Savage Twister, also fills the graveyard for Monastery to become active. Gamekeeper's death also often leaves me with few cards in my library and a full graveyard - a perfect way to abuse Reito Lantern to keep drawing Global Ruin or some such turn after turn! Also notice how my three fatties are all pretty impervious to Savage Twister - whether via protection from red and green, being indestructable, or just preventing the damage.

Claws of Gix is fun, and useful. It's the cheapest, easiest way to kill Gamekeeper on demand, and also has saved many Phantom Nishobas from Final Judgement (to be Reito'd back at a later date). And of course Global Ruin goes great with Restraints.

Void is pretty much there for one reason: I had black mana anyway, so I wanted to run a black card. But all the usual culprits were either unexciting (Last Gasp), double-black (Persecute, Haunting Echoes), or creatures (bad with Gamekeeper). I wanted some kind of big, bomb-y spell, and also one that didn't overlap with the rest of the deck (variety being fun). Mind Twist would be great, but not legal. This slot used to be Dromar's Charm, and I briefly flirted with Lim-Dul's Vault, but Void looked fun and I foudn one for like 75 censt so I picked it up and voila.

EDIT:

For my own records (which is why I'm not making a new post) here is the updated version:


// Gamekeeper engine - 7
    3 Gamekeeper
    1 Claws of Gix

    1 Darksteel Colossus
    1 Phantom Nishoba
    1 Pristine Angel

// Removal & control - 14
    3 Arcane Denial
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Collective Restraint
    2 Pernicious Deed
    1 Savage Twister
    1 Naturalize
    1 Void
    1 Global Ruin

//Draw spells & Recursion - 15
    4 Brainstorm
    2 Allied Strategies
    1 Regrowth
    2 Gaea's Blessing
    3 Living Wish
    3 Cunning Wish

// Mana stuff - 24
    4 Forest
    4 Island
    3 Plains
    1 Mountain
    2 Swamp

    1 Thawing Glaciers
    4 Terramorphic Expanse

    2 Rampant Growth
    3 Farseek

[x3n0n]

Looks like fun; just a couple of nit comments.

When I played a similar deck, Harrow was always my absolute favorite land fetcher:
    +2 Domain in the early game
    that's 2 more basic lands you're not going to topdeck
    instant speed (can leave counter/swords mana up, saves Pristine Angel)
    only costs 1 effective mana, since the two new lands come in untapped; turn 3 harrow still lets you make a 2-drop or counter
Of course, Harrow doesn't accelerate you into early 4-drops (like Collective Restraint), which is the biggest bonus for Rampant Growth.

If you don't expect to Lantern, the 1 less mana to activate Soldevi Digger may be worth it.

A singleton All Suns' Dawn looks like fun too.  "I'll take Void, Savage Twister, Allied Strategies, Swords, and Regrowth.  Go."

[Matt]

All Suns' Dawn looks fun, but I sometimes want to be able to Regrow my Lantern (and Lantern is definitely better than Digger, except for the art).

I thought about Harrow, but look at what important spells I have at four mana: Gamekeeper, Collective Restraint, and Savage Twister/Engineered Explosives at X=2. I also didn't like how you have to get three lands to use Harrow: it's okay to keep a hand with land, land, Growth but not land, land, Harrow.