How viable is Doomsday?

[herbig]

I was wondering if Doomsday, as played by Steve Menendian is still a viable combo deck.  In looking over the decklists of notable tournaments of the past year I see virtually no Doomsday decks even being brought.  Is this because the deck is too hard to play, are other combo decks much more powerful, or is there something else I'm overlooking?  I'm interested to hear opinions on whether or not the deck is still a contender and what considerations would go into a current build.

[roberts91rom]

Doomsday folds faster then superman on laundry day to control, and even with a resolved doomsday, you can still be hated. Jester's Cap, Extract, FoW, Chalice, Mana Drain>Doomsday. Any deck that doesn't auto-lose to combo that doesn't include these cards? I'm seriously laughing my ass off at extract and a resolved cap vs. Doomsday.

[Kevin Folinus]

Usually you wait to cast Doomsday until you know there hand is empty of threats. I'm not saying it is a good deck though, I played it at my first T1 tourny and learned to hate it. I now know how poorly I probably played. I was wondering if anyone had put Conifdant in the deck to see what it can do.

[Combotogs]

The has a really strong disruption sweep and is not all that terible if you go off with it when it is safe. Yes you can hate out the deck just like you really can hate out most any combo if you know how it reaches it's goal. Its just a lot more out there and in your face with doomsday. Not to mention that you also don't need to cast doomsday to win a majority of the games you'll win with doomsday. The deck is perfectly fine with just throwing storm out there and just casting tendrills.

[roberts91rom]

I believe doomsday focuses on going broken with stacking Ancestral, Lotus, Yawgwin, mind's desire, beacon of destruction. Of course you can stack it with other 5-card piles, but i believe thats why the deck is called Doomsday, and not Long.dec featuring a bad card.

[Combotogs]

Actually the deck isn't that focused on going off with that stack. that is your basic stack you need to have all of the other stacks ready in order to go off with the deck if your going to cast doomsday for the win. Every time I have played with and agains the deck it has only won games with tendrills. It is a hard deck to play because you do need to know the stacks and you need to be able to tell when you can use what and when. You should also be able to tell hos just to storm out and even then there are some times when you need to use your own forces and stupid stuff like that to get the storm but the deck really doesn't need to go with the doomsday.

[Pitlord]

Doomsday decks are by nature very easy to hate. Not only do they catch normal hate for combo decks, but they have a weak combo plan without actually casting doomsday. They can, theoretically combo off without it, but your opponent basically needs to counter 4-5 spells, through little or no disruption, and find some way to win. The deck can't auto win turn 1 either, which is a big factor in combo. Being able to oops I win turn 1 is huge in a world of force of will, mana spheres, and drains. If doomsday could find a way to be über consistent, it might be viable, but as we know it today, I don't think it is.

[Smmenen]

It's insanely hard to play too.  I wrote an article talking about umpteen different doomsday stax that you could make depending upon the disruption you expect to face. 

[warble]

And to make matters worse, why would you not play 4 grim tutors instead of 4 doomsdays?  That way you don't have dead cards in your deck, so you have more disruption, more mana, and use tendrils to win.  Okay I'm just ghetto for stating the obvious.