There will be a Type 1 tournament in Toronto on Sunday May 19th at Hairy Tarantulas. It is usually a twenty dollar entry fee and a Mox as a first prize. We need all the support we can get to keep Type 1 alive here.
That being said I have a deck that I would like some input on. I tried the Casual as it is a bit rogue with a few replies and made some changes after more testing:
//Kill
4 Ashen Ghoul
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
Krovikan Horror
2 Masticore
// Counter, Control
3 Duress
2 Nev's Disk
2 Forbid
Diabolic Edict
The Abyss
Capsize
//Search - Utility
4 Intuition
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
Merchant Scroll
Fact or Fiction
Demonic Tutor
Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Yawgmoth's Will
Mystical Tutor
Teferi's Response
// Mana
Black Lotus
Mana Crypt
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Strip Mine
Library of Alexandria
4 Underground Sea
4 City of Brass
5 Island
6 Swamp
SB:
Capsize
BeB (4)
Diabolic Edict (2)
ReB (4)
Dwarven Miner (2)
Nev's Disk (2)
This deck has been tested and retested a number of times. Here are a few comments:
FoW, MisD and Mana Drains - all were in the deck originally but often blue mana was too hard to come by. In the end we used Forbids and Duress and a few counters from the side if needed. Really the deck plays well against control anyway.
Buried Alive and Zombie Infestation - really not needed. Ghouls and Intuition won out.
We added the red mana for the sideboard options. I tried Negators but liked Miners and ReBs better. Should I go back to Negators?
Against aggro we are currently using Abyss, Masticores and Disks. It seems to work well with our creature base.
I know we are missing a Jet. None available right now... we misplaced it in a deck somewhere.
Please comment.
Is Krovikan Horror your 4th Squee? Why?
Why are you running Mana Crypt? Please don't say it's for a first turn Intuition.
Where are your Wastelands? Couldn't find room because of the Bazaars? Slap your hand.
Forbid is not cool in this deck. Your two - count 'em - two counters and a Response won't save you. You need more disruption, probably discard.
What wins? Ashen Ghouls in the graveyard with creatures on top of them asap, right? How come your deck doesn't do that? It's not that Buried Alive is better than Intuition; it's that Dark Ritual makes Black mana.
This should be a B/u deck with U for Intuition (maybe) and the broken Blue spells. The Red is a mistake - Negators come out quick (if you put Rits in).
Red is useful for the sideboard and certain matchups but it is not needed maindeck other than the Wheel (which I forgot to include) which can be broken.
I have used Horror to ping and found it useful.
If I take your advice would this be better?
//Kill - 8
4 Ashen Ghoul
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
Krovikan Horror
// Counter, Control - 7
4 Duress
2 Nev's Disk
The Abyss
//Search - Utility - 16
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Intuition
3 Buried Alive
Fact or Fiction
Demonic Tutor
Ancestral Recall
Yawgmoth's Will
Time Walk
Wheel of Fortune
// Mana - 29
Black Lotus
Mana Crypt
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
4 Dark Ritual
5 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
4 City of Brass
3 Island
3 Wasteland
Strip Mine
Library of Alexandria
SB:
Capsize
Negator (4)
Diabolic Edict (2)
ReB (4)
Dwarven Miner (2)
Nev's Disk (2)
Zombie Infestation would prove a synergistic 'Plan B' win card.
Razor
How do you protect the Bazaar? Do you think that 4 Duresses will be enough? I love Bazaar, but it kept getting nuked by Wastelands when I played it (and I had even more control elements). I wish Wasteland hadn't been printed and Strip Mine was still unrestricted. I could usually tempt bad players into using up their strips on basic lands before I dropped the Bazaar
How do you protect the Bazaar? Do you think that 4 Duresses will be enough? I love Bazaar, but it kept getting nuked by Wastelands when I played it (and I had even more control elements). I wish Wasteland hadn't been printed and Strip Mine was still unrestricted. I could usually tempt bad players into using up their strips on basic lands before I dropped the Bazaar
The only thing you can do is tempt them to use their wastes and strips on the duals as you proposed. The original deck had more blue for FoWs and Mana Drains but really I did not find it any better. Maybe i should just abandon the whole idea. No one seems to like the Ghouls too much and I keep get suggestions to change it to a Zombie Infestation deck. That is not what I wanted to make.
Paul, don't get me wrong. It is a card-drawing demon. But, since they do keep Wasting the Bazaars on you, you might do well to add in a couple of Z.Infestations with which to keep abusing your Squees etc. albeit to create tokens instead of card-advantage.
Don't make it a straight up Zombie deck. Cards first, Zombies second.
Razor
Since you're already playing Blue, how about a couple of Teferi's Responses to protect your Bazaars? You should at least put a couple in the SB.
This problem screems for something like Sacred Ground. Problems is, Sacred Ground is white. Then again, a Bazaar destroyed with Sacred Grounds in play gives you another shot with it - if I remember correctly, the lands return untapped. (But which opponent does that,anyway?)
Response was already included in your first list, but only in singel copy. I agree to Zealot that you'd need at least two to protect Bazaars effectively.
However, you should certainly bring back the Masticores before using Zombie Infestation (like in your primary version) to get the best out of Squee. Why did you cut them anyway? They also provide the defense + win condition you sometimes seem to need when the Bazaar is ruled out by something as nasty as Wastelands.
Dozer
Dozer, I prefer to potentially write off the Bazaars by using Masticores in lieu of Teferi's Responses or Sacred Grounds. Masticores win.
Razor
Okay. now I'm totally confused. What do I take out for Teferi's Response, Infestations and Masticores Ray? The deck, either way, has little room for additions without removing useful cards.
Presumably this was a Ghoul/Bazaar deck.
Paul, unfortunately I haven't made the time to test this worthy deck. I don't know what it needs to do better. What is killing it? The 3 cards you're asking about are all synergistic as hell. If you can't justify them then you've probably tuned 'er up pretty good already. So pat yerself on the back.
8^)
Razor
PS. When I built a similar decklist I found it a very tight Controllish deck that flourished by about turn 4. I am hunching that your only threats are Control and Combo of course. I learned to call Z.Infestation "Black Moat that attacks!"
A friend of mine plays an all-blue deck with Bazaars and Squees. He uses Intuition to get the pieces he needs, and the Squees power his Forbids. The combo is quite formidable.
Boltbait is correct, the weakness of the deck is the Bazaar - waste those, and the deck quickly runs out of gas. In the FoF era, you could add 2 Gaea's Blessings and recurse everything, but that's not strong enough now.
Nick, please post your friends blue decklist. BTW, what do you think of adding in a couple of Zombie Infestation's to allow Paul to keep abusing his Squee-Horror recursion cards even when his Bazaars get inevitably Wasted?
Z.Inf. won't make cards but it certainly makes lemonade out of having your Bazaars wasted. The only other ways to go imo is to abuse Attunement instead of Zombie Infestation or to protect the Bazaars a bit with T.'s Response, or Sacred Ground.
Razor
Attunement is a *good* idea as a backup/replacement for Bazaar.
If you're going to stick with Bazaar, Sacred Ground is a good idea, but it sucks having to splash white in.
I don't recall the exact decklist, but the last time I played him it was mono-blue (plus 3 Squees). He used Counterspells, Mana Leaks, Force Spikes, FoW, FoF, 2 Morphlings for victory, 4 Intuition, Geyser, Stroke, Anc Recall, and a lot of nerve. I think there were Hydroblasts in the side.