I don't play Keeper ... so here's my Survival Deck

Beyond Dominia: The Type One Magic Mill: I don't play Keeper ... so here's my Survival Deck

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By Nikodemus (Nikodemus) on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 12:28 pm:

I figure since everyone is posting their pet-decks, I'd join in.

McGoo’s Closet (Survival)

Mana Acceleration:
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Wall of Roots

Engines of Brokeness:
4x Survival of the Fittest
1x Oath of Ghouls
1x Recurring Nightmare
2x Gaea’s Blessing
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Squee, Goblin Nabob
1x Krovikan Horror
1x Sylvan Library

The Toolbox:
1x Spike Weaver
1x Spike Feeder
1x Gorilla Shaman
1x Dwarven Miner
1x Monk Idealist
1x Monk Realist
1x Elvish Lyrist
3x Ashen Ghoul
2x Mystic Snake
1x Deranged Hermit
1x Phyrexian Plaguelord
1x Wood Elves
1x Quirion Ranger

Mana:
7x SoLoMox
1x Strip Mine
2x Wasteland
1x Library of Alexandria
4x Tropical Island
2x City of Brass
4x Bayou
1x Taiga
1x Savannah

Sideboard: (changes regularly)
1x Uktabi Orangutan
1x Tradewind Rider
2x Emerald Charm
2x Oath of Ghouls
3x Academy Rector
2x Ivory Mask
1x Opposition
1x Rising Waters
1x Moat
1x City of Solitude


By Izihobip, Tamer of the Sphinx (Caplan) on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 02:25 pm:

No Vampiric Tutor?


By Nikodemus (Nikodemus) on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 02:54 pm:

Haven't really needed it, most of the problems I run into can be covered with a survival on the table.

I used to run it, V Tutor and Regrowth were both replaced by the Blessings when I began to realize that late-game strength seemed more important.


By Kirdape3, the Court Jester of Beatdown (Kirdape3) on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 03:51 pm:

Having played Survival a ton over the last couple of months, how do you deal with Balance? Sure, Oath of Ghouls is nice, but you only have one with minimal tutoring power (it can't be Survivaled for because you have no Rectors). Two Mystic Snakes just aren't going to cut it when they either have defeated your attempts to put Survival on the table or are planning to wipe your board clean with Abyss or Balance.

For what I would consider a proper Survival build, please refer to JP Meyer's excellent primer in the archives of this mill.


By Nikodemus (Nikodemus) on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 04:26 pm:

Most decks that will Balance are Keeper-types. I lose my creatures, but I survival up more creatures afterwards. Unless they go right into a new hand of 5 counters afterwards I'm usually ok.

The Snakes are mostly there to prevent a game 1 autoloss to combo decks as they are often lax about their set-up against survival.

No disrespect intended to JP, but his Survival build in the primer is completely powerless and basically giving up game 1 to combo. The real weapon that this version has against keeper or combo is in the Shaman / Miner / Oath of Ghouls area, and with this set up, I get to have broken turns right along with the other control decks.

As regards the tutoring, the usual first thing I go for is the Sylvan. That with a survival on the table turns into an impulse for "G" every turn.

Sure, sometimes every survival I cast gets countered. It happens about as often as Keeper gets mana-screwed against a deck with miners and shamans. I didn't say I win all the time, just that the deck usually manages to hold it's own.


By Matt the Great (Matt) on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 06:29 pm:

Survival has always been fairly weak against explosive combo decks. It occurs to me that perhaps instead of Mystic Snake-type counterspells could Survival's best plan be something more proactive?


By Gzeiger (Gzeiger) on Friday, April 19, 2002 - 02:05 am:

Like Duress...

I am utterly baffled by your Gaea's Blessings. Wouldn't those be better off as more immediate recursion like a third and fourth Recurring Nightmare and/or Hell's Caretaker.


Quote:

Haven't really needed [Vampiric Tutor], most of the problems I run into can be covered with a survival on the table.



That seems overly optimistic - this deck should have few or no problems with Survival in play, but what about when it isn't in play? It looks to me like you auto-lose to control if they can counter the first enchantment you play. You don't even have Regrowth. There has to be some way to fight for Survival before you have the toolbox available (and also lack the mana the engine gives you).


By Nikodemus (Nikodemus) on Friday, April 19, 2002 - 08:36 am:

The regrowth used to be in place of the other Blessing. Perhaps it is the environment that I play in, but most of the permission players in my area seem reluctant to counter everything I play the first few turns. When the environment was full of BBS style decks, I ran a much simpler G/B survival with 4 duresses.

The Keeper players seem to want to let it hit and then deal with it. My usual sideboarding plan against permission decks is to bring in the other 2 Oath of Ghouls and the City of Solitude.

I'm certainly open to suggestions, but I started with a deck very much like the primer example and have tweaked it through playing. This particular version is designed for a long game against semi-powered Keeper / OSE type decks as well as the occasional suicide / sligh / combo appearances.

The proactive solution to any multicolored deck is the Shaman / Miner team. In this respect, I play it much like the Keeper players who concentrate on each others mana base.


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