Advice on Orb Prison Deck

[swiftusUD]

Hello Manadrain forum!  I am a newcomer to Vintage and would appreciate any advice (related to the topic or otherwise) that you guys care to offer.  Thanks!  Now, on to the deck.

I am trying to come up with a deck for a 9-proxy FNM T1 tournament, and have decided on playing a Winter Orb prison style deck (unpowered).  My budget is somewhat limited at the moment, but I am willing to take suggestions for the future when I have more money to spend.  I know that some guys are going to be playing Kobold combo, Oath, 1-(or 2) land Belcher, and probably some Goblins and other stuff (I wish I could be more specific).  Since I don't own Duals of any sort (except for the Kamigawa stay tapped ones and some uncommon Invasion ones) I figured on going mono-blue, splashing white for a few cards.  The only testing I have done has been goldfishing/solitaire to see how quickly I can get some kind of lock down, and how long after that I can get a win condition out with counter back up.

Lands (25)
17 Island
3 Plains
1 Forsaken City
1 Coastal Tower
1 Cloudcrest Lake
1 Rishadan Port
1 Teferi's Isle

Creatures (2)
1 Meloku
1 Air Elemental

Draw (10)
3 Catalog
2 Brainstorm
2 Opt
1 Mental Discipline
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gush

Enchantments and Artifacts (12)
4 Winter Orb
4 Icy Manipulator
1 Moat (Proxy 1)
3 Kismet

Counters (11)
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will (Proxy 2-5)
2 Foil (1x Proxy 6)
1 Power Sink

SB [incomplete and open to suggestions] (10)
2 Rout
3 Back to Basics
1 Blinding Angel
1 Exalted Angel
1 Moat (Proxy 7)
2 Coastal Towers

Um.  I really don't know which cards to explain, so I'll just pick ones that I think might raise some eyebrows:

Air Elemental - I wanted some kind of big finisher to supplement Meloku (*cough* Morphling *cough* I know, I know.  I just can't get ahold of him right now.  Maybe as my last two proxies.)

Mental Discipline - To get rid of extra Kismets and Orbs.  Hasn't really been all that useful, though. Probably marked for deletion.

Back to Basics - My attempt at some "tech" against those with the all the fancy, shiny nonbasic lands.  I was thinking of running this maindeck alongside the winter orbs, but that proved to be too redundant and often just locked me out of white mana.  Maybe just run one of these and 3 Orbs maindeck with two more in the board.

Blinding Angel, Rout, Moat - I'm afraid that I will be up against a lot of aggro in the tournament, probably from some of the younger players.


Some cards being considered:

Stifle - I know that there will be decks that use triggered and activated abilities (Kobolds, Oath, Belcher)

Swords To Plowshares - I am running white, am afraid of being overrun with creatures.

Galina's Knight - Pro-red dude that stops goblins. (except for Piledriver)

Enlightened Tutor - To search up Orb, Icy, Kismet, Moat.  Problem is, I ususally draw these before I would need, or have the mana, to tutor for them.

Propaganda - Easier on the mana than Moat.


I really think this deck needs some kind of better draw power, but I don't know what to do about that.


Thanks for the help guys! 

[yespuhyren]

No offense, but this deck is weak, has an old, outdated strategy, and the win conditions are terrible  With 9 proxies, you could play a much better deck than this.  A lot of combo decks like belcher can be made easily with 9 proxies, and will fare much better than something like this.  If you can borrow cards, then even a deck like TPS would be a lot better for you if you can find forces.  Its a shame to proxy cheap cards like Foils especially.

[Mr. Type 4]

9 Proxy FNM Type 1 tournament? That's crazy-sauce. 

This is the causal forum, and this is cool as a casual deck, but I have to agree with yespuhyren, I wouldn't play this in any sort of tournament, especially one that allows proxies.  I could acquire a better tournament deck in trade for your Rishadian Port and Melouku.

And why not just play Stasis?  You can play Forbidden City.  That ought to show up some bad aggro decks, although it's still like a Tier 5 deck.  You could kill with Black Vise and That other black vise that costs three mana. 

Are you not allowed to play with Power 9???  because I'd throw out any of your proxies to at least put in Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus... Are you sure this isn't Legacy, cause if it is you can't play Gush. 

[netherspirit]

what about using accumulated knowledge? they're pretty cheap and easy to get, and ive always found them extremely effective, just a suggestion though