These articles give some excellent background on Draw-Go, and definitely help to reference when trying to bring this archetype to Standard.
I think that the best color combination for a deck like this is U/B, because ultimately we win through slowly grinding out card advantage and letting our opponent resolve as few spells as possible; thus, Blue (increase our own resources) and Black (deplete our opponent's) seems like the most logical choice. Ultimately, I think that the more patient members of the Standard-playing community could have a very viable deck on their hands.
Time to look at our potential card picks.
The Draw:
As the name implies, drawing cards is very important to this deck. It's one of our primary functions, and being able to do so substantially more times than the opponent is how we accrue card advantage and win games. So, here are the cards that can get us more cards.
Think Twice: This is the one at the forefront of everybody's mind right now, so I'll go ahead and discuss this one first. For those of you not in the know, instant-speed card draw is a VERY good thing. It allows you to leave mana up on your opponent's turn (and thus be able to counter their threats), and if they don't do anything you feel like countering, you can then get an extra card draw for that turn. Think Twice itself is pretty iight. Let's say it takes them a while to get going, and their first 2 plays are "Tapland, go". That means that you're casting this on turn 2, already putting your self ahead in CA right out of the gates while also putting this card into your graveyard (which, with the Snapster, will basically be your second hand). There's been a lot of discussion about "5 mana for 2 cards" not being worth it, but that's looking at it the wrong way. It's 2 mana for a card, and 3 mana later for another card, and it's all at instant speed. The bottom line is this: if you're not running this card, you're not running the best Draw-Go deck that you can, given the current card pool.
Forbidden Alchemy: Another instant-speed draw, except this time we're getting 1 card for 3 mana the first time around; the important difference, though, is the selection. We get to dig 4 cards down for whatever it is we're looking for, and then dump the rest to our second hand (So for example, if we pick a Consecrated Sphinx up, and dump 3 Think Twice, we basically just drew 4 cards, at instant speed, for 3 mana. Not too shabby, eh?). If this were a sorcery, I would consider it unplayable in this deck. But given it's speed, and relatively low mana cost (albeit at the upper limit of "low") it may merit inclusion (I wouldn't run more than 1-2 though).
Blue Sun's Zenith: Continuing along the instant-speed trend, we come to what will be, if we put it in, the most expensive draw spell in the deck. This is obviously a "sit in the hand til late game" card (the way Preordain should have been played in 90% of cases- but I digress). I think that, as a 1- or 2-of, this will be a very powerful tool in our arsenal. It's expensive, yeah, but late game when we're sitting on, say, 7 lands (which is at least what we should have by the late game), this spell is gonna be pure value. As I'm sure you're aware, 4 mana for 1 card is terribad. 5 mana for 2 cards isn't too hot either. 6 mana for 3 cards; well, you could do better (see: Jace's Ingenuity) but it's not awful. 7 mana for 4 cards, at instant speed, is okay if you have the mana laying around (especially considering that to get a guaranteed 4 cards out of one instant in the past, you'd have to skip your next turn- that tells me that it's a pretty cool effect).
Visions of Beyond: "Hey, more instant-speed draw! Let's put 4 in the deck!" Wrong-o. While this has the potential to be an absolutely insane card, this is not the deck to unlock that potential. Even far into the game, graveyards will not be exceeding 20 cards. Ours certainly won't (given that flashback exiles the card once you've used it), and our opponents simply won't get the chance to get halfway through their decks. While this may make an appearance in the 75 (if mill or self-mill becomes popular, for example), it's certainly not getting any mainboard love.
Tezzeret's Gambit: Welp, looks like it's time to move on to the sorcery end of the card pool. Here we have what appears to be simply 2 cards. BUT. With the board presence that we intend to cultivate, this becomes more than 2 cards. With a Liliana on the board, for instance, this can be the difference between getting one more Edict out of her or having to force a discard to bring her back up to strength. That means that Gambit has now been worth 3 cards (not bad for 3 mana and 2 life, or 4 mana). However, builds that eschew Liliana and any other counter-based cards may not get as much value out of Gambit; ergo, it may not be the best choice for those lists. Ultimately, this one's at your discretion.
Caress of Phyrexia: The first thing that comes to mind, for me, is "costly". This is definitely an expensive spell. Not only is it 5 mana on your own turn, but if you're playing against infect, it will probably be the difference between life and death. Even if you're not, it's still 5 mana and 3 life for 3 cards, when instead, for 6 mana, no life, and at instant speed, we could get the same value from Blue Sun's Zenith. I don't think this makes the cut, in my opinion.
Gitaxian Probe: This one is interesting. If it were, say, Snapped back, this would definitely be cool (4 mana (or 2 and 4 life, etc) we get 2 cards and 2 peeks). However, without the Snapster, who I'm sure will be flashing back more relevant things anyways, I think we will find this card underwhelming. I know some people are big fans of the card, so I will leave it to your discretion; though I know that I won't be running it.
Ponder: Finally, we arrive at the new, and frankly unimproved, Preordain. Our 1-cmc dig/draw for this Standard season is certainly less stellar than last year's- anyone worth his salt will tell you that, if you're not a dedicated combo deck, Preordain is simply better. We don't have Preordain, though, so let's look at Ponder on it's own merits. It's 1cc, it replaces itself, and it lets us set up our next few draws. Or, if there's nothing particularly appealing, we can ship all of it back and get some random, shiny new card off the top of our freshly shuffled library. What makes Ponder playable in current T2 is fetchlands. With them, we have the ability to grab the one card out of the three that we want, and then shuffle the chaff away by cracking a fetch. Dropping a Squadron Hawk is another popular way to get those lands off the top and give yourself a better shot of drawing business; though again, we aren't gonna have that tool available to us post-rotation. So, are there any other ways that we can reliably shuffle our library without dedicating cards specifically to doing so? We have a few options. There's the USZ, but with only one or two copies, I'd hardly call this one "reliable". If we choose to include Wurmcoil Engine, then we get another 1-2 of in Treasure Mage. Solemn Simulacrum, also helps to shuffle stuff away, so at this point we have 6-8 shuffle effects. Elixir of Immortality, maybe with some Trinket Mage action... meh. I think it comes down to the simple fact of not having anything else in the 1cc draw-fixing spot. So, piss-poor as it is, I'll take it.
Mind Unbound: Bet you didn't see that one coming. Just looking at this card, you can see the raw potential for power that it brings. The first upkeep, it's drawing you a card. That means that even if it gets removed, as long as you untapped with it, you're up a card. From there it just gets nuts, even going so far as to synergize with Tezzeret's Gambit. I wouldn't play more than one of this bad boy, if you're going to run it, but one is all you need.
That's all I've got for draw, any more discussions on card picks can be added later. Until then, let's move on to the next section...
The Counters:
Probably the next most important element in a "Draw-Go" deck, after the drawing, is the counters. Countermagic is how we make the Magic happen; or rather, how we keep the Magic from happening. Funny, isn't it? We play a card game where the point of the game is to play cards and make things happen, and yet we've got a deck that deliberately tries to keep the game of Magic: the Gathering from being played by anyone but us. As a purist, this is the most disgusting, selfish archetype imaginable. Anyways, enough of my musings. On to the business.
Dissipate: Counter target spell. You don't find too many spells more effective at stopping magic than this. Over the years, there have been ones that are cheaper, ones that do other stuff too, but ultimately the phrase "Counter target spell." complete with a period at the end, is a powerful one, and it makes this card what I believe to be a worthwhile inclusion in the deck. Also, the whole "exile" thing is pretty cool with all the recent increase in the relevance of the graveyard.
Mana Leak: For 1U, we have here a very powerful tempo counter. Even if your opponent has the mana to pay for it, you can rest assured that it's all they will be doing that turn. I don't think we really have a choice BUT to run this card. It's pretty much the most powerful counterspell we have available, so we may as well use it to the fullest extent possible.
Psychic Barrier: Given the power creep and creature-pushing that Wizards has been going at as of late, I can understand why initially, this might look like an acceptable pick in a list that's desperate for counterspells. However, I think that, given that we're also running Black, we can afford to run real removal that's useful after a creature has hit the board. If you're on the brink of death, Go for the Throat can save you, but Psychic Barrier certainly won't. This card gets a no from me.
Negate: Now we move to the opposite end of the spectrum, the non-creature hard counter. I think this card definitely has a place in the list, since non-creature permanents are the most difficult for our slices of the color pie to remove (Blue can maybe bounce it, but that's certainly not a permanent solution -bad pun intended- and with Hexmage out of the picture, Black doesn't have much to say about planeswalkers, and they never had any real game vs artifacts or enchantments to begin with). Negate keeps our opponent from dropping that sword, from removing our Sphinx, from combo'ing out, etc. I think that it will supplement our existing counter and removal package really nicely; 1 mainboard (2 if you have a really control-heavy meta) is fine.
Now that we've got our counters taken care of, let's pop on over to the next section, where we deal with things after the fact. That's right, it's time for...
The Removal:
Creatures are the name of the game, and since killing the game is what this deck aims to do best, let's take a look at our options and see how best we can keep the board clear of enemy fun-providers.
Doom Blade: An old favorite and a veteran killer. It's no Terminate, but it's gotten the job done in the recent Standard metagame. However, with the way this set is shaping up, pushing zombies and other critters of the darker persuasion out into the spotlight, I think we can safely pass on Doom Blade in favor of its cousin. If you want, do what I do and run 1, just in case.
Go for the Throat: Relatively new to the scene but an instant MVP, Gofer has fallen out of use in recent times, mostly due to Tempered Steel and the rising popularity of Inkmoth Nexus. However, I think that with the new creatures Innistrad is bringing to the table, Gofer will see a resurgence of usefulness. Titans, Sphinxes, Werewolves, Vampires and Zombies are all fair game for this card, so I think it will definitely shine in post-rotation Standard.
Dismember: It's difficult to decide how relevant this card is going to be. On the one hand, we lose Twin Combo so the need for a maindeck hoser is no longer apparent. Also, Sphinxes,Titans and Ruinators dodge Dismember pretty well (but who knows, maybe we'll end up in a format where there are other relevant non-hexproof creatures). I think that a diverse removal cast is healthy, so I'd probably throw a few of these in to complement the Gofers, but I wouldn't advise that you include more than 2-3 if you include it.
Black Sun's Zenith: Of course, as a Draw-Go deck, we're going to need sweepers. It is an inevitable fact of life that at some point in a matchup against an aggro deck, that they are going to have multiple creatures on the board; thus, it can also be construed that a requirement for a sweeper is an inevitable fact of life. Be it zombies, werewolves, vampires, goblins, or what have you, there's going to be a lot of them that all need killing. Also, with the recent hexproof stint that we're on, having a way to kill those annoyances too should be useful. So, 2 BSZ's in the maindeck should put a stop to that. Even at 3cc or 4cc, we can play this spell, clear the board of weenies, and be able to leave our counter mana up.
Liliana of the Veil: This lady is interesting. She comes down and immediately either forces the opponent to sacrifice one of their hard-won resolved critters, or she starts grinding away at their hand. And, if she just so happens to stick around for a while, could end up blowing up a significant portion of the opponent's lands. I definitely see the justification for her as a singleton. She's not something you want every game, but when she pops up she can really swing the game in your favor.
So, now that we have everything we need to thoroughly frustrate the person across the table, let's figure out how we're going to kill them. In this section, we'll be discussing...
The Creatures:
Solemn Simulacrum: Ahh, our good buddy the sad robot. This guy is a great card. An absolutely great card. The question is, does he fit here? He draws us a card, he increases our land count (thus supplementing our ability to play main phase spells while presenting counters), and he makes a nifty chumper. I'd say that he merits inclusion, albeit in low numbers (we do want to keep our sorcery-speed spells to a minimum).
Snapcaster Mage: There are multiple threads, with multiple pages of discussion, about why this guy is good. He's so good. He has Flash, he lets us re-use our spells, he has Flash, and he's a 2cmc 2/1 with Flash that lets us get double value out of our spells. 2UB for an instant-speed 2/1 and a Gofer? I'm sold. 2UU for a 2/1 and a Mana Leak? Count me in. This. Guy. Is. Good.
Consecrated Sphinx: This guy is raw card advantage. Untap with him, and you've at least 3-for-1'd your opponent by the time they remove it. He is one of the best creatures we could put into this deck, and is definitely worth the cost.
Wurmcoil Engine: I really like Wurmcoil Engine. Like, so much. It's one of my favorite creatures. I don't know if he fits in this list, but I think the sheer setback that his existence poses to aggro makes him a nice 1-of, with a few Treasure Mages there to supplement the draw potential.
Darksteel Sentinel: ...Wait, what? Look at this guy for a second. He's a 3/3 with vigilance. He's INDESTRUCTIBLE! And, what else does he do? That's right, he comes into play on our opponent's end step. Or their declare attackers step. Nice sword bro, hope you don't mind if I block forever; while also attacking. Does this guy to Dismember? Yes. But at that point, he was still worth 4 life and a card, and that's only if we let the Dismember resolve. This guy is a 1-of that I'm going to experiment with, and I think that with a pair of Treasure Mages floating around we should have no problem getting him when we need him. He's also not an awful clock, and can chip away at opposing planeswalkers like nobody's business. This guy is a giant middle finger to Garruk, and also couldn't care less about Gideon. Come at you bro? If you insist. Oh you wanna swing at me now? Bring it.
Grave Titan: I'm gonna be short and sweet here. As badass as this guy is, I don't think we need him. I think that Wurmcoil and Sphinx will be enough to finish off the opponent, and I'd honestly rather have either of them than Grave Daddy any day of the week.
Azure Mage: Let me tell you, this baby does work. In multiples it's terribad, which is why I only have 1. But that one provides me either a nice body vs aggro, and a crazy draw engine/mana sink vs control. Very good, but if you don't include it it's not the end of the world. I'd call her gravy.
Now, what you take from this next section is up to you, and (as always) depends on your local meta. Whoops, just let slip that famous disclaimer. I guess that means it's time to discuss...
The Sideboard:
Here we'll talk about the best cards to give you a strong game 2 and allow you to keep 2-0'ing your way to the top. I suppose counterspells are as good a place to start as any.
Flashfreeze: A hard counter against almost half of the color pie? I really don't think this one needs much explaining. The most popular aggressors of the format may not be in Red or Green, but this is a handy spell to have around. Goblin Grenade? Yeah, let's not.
Negate: If your meta is dominated by control or combo, this is one you won't want to leave home without. It's even maindeckable, meaning you're not committing too much sideboard space to rounding out your playset of Negates. If you're in a pretty evenly split or aggro-dominant meta, then I wouldn't have more than 3 of this card total amongst the 75.
Steel Sabotage: This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you see lots of artifacts, run this guy. Puresteel Paladin? Lawlnothx on the sword. Tempered Steel? I'd rather you not play creatures.
On to the hate:
Memoricide: While this may come to be an EXCELLENT sideboard card, as it was in pre-rot Standard, I don't think this is a staple for our 75 right now. If any combos emerge later in the season, we may bring this bad boy back, but until then, we'll leave it in the binder.
Despise/Distress: Targeted discard, I think, could definitely find a home in a Draw-Go list. When you're up against control, what better way to mess up their game plan than to yank their precious Gideon or Sphinx or Titan right out of their hand? I wouldn't bring even Despise in vs aggro, for the simple fact of, I'd rather bring other cards in and there's only so much I can take out of the deck. That said, if you can find room for these cards in your maindeck, go for it. It's always nice to have something to do on turn 1 before you can counter things.
Surgical Extraction: I can definitely see the viability of this card. Not only are we getting rid of that Skaab Ruinator for good, we're also making sure you don't have any other ones, while also checking for any other traps or tricks that may give us some valuable knowledge. Rifling through your opponent's deck is a powerful effect, and when you can even get it potentially for free (at instant speed, no less) it's hard to turn down the card. If a deck hinges off specific cards being in the graveyard, as opposed to just having a big grave, this is your guy.
Nihil Spellbomb: While it doesn't give you a peek inside your opponent's hand and library, this card does cantrip and get rid of their entire graveyard. If you're staring down a Reanimator deck and they've got a whole toolbox full of corpses, Spellbomb will come in handy.
Anti-aggro measures:
Wurmcoil Engine: Ah, my favorite card of all time. He was discussed previously, but I figure he's worth mentioning again, because let me tell you: this guy simply WRECKS aggro. There are few decks that will be able to attack a Wurmcoil Engine profitably. One creature will get blocked and die, and you will gain 6 life. That means they will have to, between their remaining attackers, deal at least 7 points of damage. And even if they manage to kill it, they now have TWO Wurms to deal with. This. Card. Is. Nuts.
Black Sun's Zenith: This deck's sweeper of choice. It allows us to clear the board of annoying weenies as early as turn 3, and like fine wine, only gets better as time goes by. The best part though, is that it even scales to help us deal with bigger threats in the late game. It doesn't deal damage or use the term "destroy", so even Thrun isn't getting out of this one. HexBlade is going to get prevalent, and when all of our spot removal is useless, we're going to want plenty of copies of this bad boy.
This is also a slot where you could fill in your Doom Blade / Go for the Throat / Dismember slots.
Now, everything into consideration, let's look at a sample decklist.
The sideboard is mostly to combat aggro, since Draw-Go should be able to outmaneuver your typical Control lists; however, I threw in the Praetor to shore things up on that end. Spellbombs are there for the sure-to-come graveyard shenanigans, Flashfreeze for anything in this format that wants to be terribly aggressive (as well as handling your midrange strategies pretty nicely), BSZ for swarm-type lists and Hexproof.dec, and Wurmcoil and Journal to create an insurmountable wall of lifegain (and are they gonna bring in artifact removal out of the board? Heeeell NAW).
The above decklist is a very experimental one. It encompasses a LOT of card picks, enabling us to see exactly what gets the job done best (with multiples only in things we either know are good or strongly predict will be).
Any cards that you guys feel should/shouldn't be included, do a write-up on them and I'll be happy to post it in this here primer thingy.
Another card to note: Nephalia Drownyard. Those of you who read the articles posted know this, but I'll go ahead and enlighten the ones too lazy to read them. In the Draw-Go of days past, Millstone was often used as an alt. win-con. With that in mind, I've included a few Nephalia Drownyard (the new mill land) into the deck. Color shouldn't be that big of a deal, and between that and a few Inkmoths, we all of a sudden have two alternate win conditions just from the lands. Will these come into play often? Ideally, no. But having that mana sink / alternate win-con available is the kind of thinking that separates man from Craw Wurm.
Update: Spoiler tags added for neatness.
Update: Decklist updated. Card write-ups on the way.
Why did you decide to include Nephalia Drownyard? It doesn't generate colored mana and its effect isn't really relevant unless you're milling away a bad ponder (You're not actually going to do that, are you?).
I understand the flexibility of think twice, but I don't think it's curved out well at all. You I don't ever want to pay 2 to draw 1 card. I don't care if I can do it again later, because it's not efficient the first time. If ponder/divination/gitaxian probe aren't enough then I'd rather run more answers. Having a negate or doom blade seems like a far better investment. Just sucks that ingenuity is rotating. I feel like all the draw options are subobtimal after rotation.
I have been working on optimizing UB Control for post rotation. I don't like Think Twice, but I am going to try it out anyways. Forbidden alchemy I have tested and that card is nuts, especially with Snapcaster Mage. You grab a planeswalker or creature, dump the instants and sorceries, and then use Snapcaster to flash them back. Here is my current list:
If I took out Think Twice, it would probably be for 1 Forbidden Alchemy, 1 Snapcaster Mage and 1 Dissipate. I can't see myself taking much more than that out though. To be honest I would like to run 2 BSZ mainboard just because of Hexproof things. Would make life a lot easier.
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So, this may be a terrible idea, but I've been trying to think of a deck you could actually play Grimoire of the Dead in, and I think Esper is about the only way to do it in a remotely competitive fashion.
I dub this: NecronomiControl!
I'm thinking Forbidden Alchemy will help fuel the graveyard by putting fatties and flashback cards, try to get a Grimoire down and protect with countermagic while tossing more fatties / flashback cards to charge it up. Not sure if proliferate would fit, but I could see using Unburial rights to bring down earlier threats at a cheap enough cost that you can keep countermagic up, or just use as a stalling tactic.
Guessing this is probably FNM jank at best, but the name alone is worth posting
Edit:
Also good synergy w/ Lili, and Unburying a Grave Titan or Wurmcoil on turn 4 could be pretty beast, even if you are tapping out. Guess this would tend towards more of a midrange build?
Double Edit:
I see that would also require a white splash, which may be stretching things a bit much.
I understand the flexibility of think twice, but I don't think it's curved out well at all. You I don't ever want to pay 2 to draw 1 card. I don't care if I can do it again later, because it's not efficient the first time. If ponder/divination/gitaxian probe aren't enough then I'd rather run more answers. Having a negate or doom blade seems like a far better investment. Just sucks that ingenuity is rotating. I feel like all the draw options are subobtimal after rotation.
Think Twice isn't a "curve" card. This isn't even a "curve" deck, really. See, mana curves are for decks that spend their mana on their turn. We really aren't that type of deck. I really recommend reading the articles linked near the top of the primer, they should give you a better understanding of what it means to play "Draw Go".
Would Azure Mage be any good in this deck? It's cheap and lets you repeatably draw cards without tapping out.
Azure Mage is actually a very interesting card. It would definitely be a later drop (2-coster means we aren't playing it til turn 4-5). But I do like the idea of another mana sink. Worth testing, I'd say.
Why did you decide to include Nephalia Drownyard? It doesn't generate colored mana and its effect isn't really relevant unless you're milling away a bad ponder (You're not actually going to do that, are you?).
It doesn't generate colored mana, this is true; but that shouldn't be too problematic. I'll go ahead and include the write-up for this card (I posted it in the New Card Discussion thread earlier).
ALSO:
I wasn't quite sure what cards to use for the big card pictures. If anyone has any suggestions for cards they would like in those slots, please let me know. I know I want Blue Sun's Zenith in there, but the other two I could see being other things.
The Frightful Delusions are there as more or less a test. Sure, It won't be great lategame, but at the very worst, they're down a card. If it hits a spell though, its a VERY brutal 2 for 1.
I'm a little leery of Jin though. In our lists, we have to win in less than 3 turns by the time we play him, or we self-deck. Not sure if I want to risk that; though removing an opponent's hand EoT appeals to me...
Lily's there as a 1-of, more often than not I'll just let her eat a creature, then pose as a target for a burn spell. If my opponent looks to be a little low on their hand count though, I'll start chugging away at that.
Wurmcoil is good, but we don't need Treasure Mage in order to get it. We're doing nothing but counters and draw; we'll get one eventually. That, or any of the other finishers.
Nephalia Drownyard is for the mirror match, and slower decks in general. Options are always nice, and the most restrictive mana costs in this deck are on Lily, Black Sun's Zenith, and Army of the Damned. You will never play Lily turn 3 to begin with, (NEVAR TAP OUT ON YOUR TURN. SRSLY.) and by the time you have 8 lands out, at LEAST 3 should produce black.
Army of the Damned is there just for funsies, to be perfectly honest. I just like the thought of throwing out 13 zombies. Better have a Pyroclasm or Slagstorm ready to blast them, or take 26 damage. Then you better have another when I flashback dem zombies next turn. Not that I'm going to tap out for it, of course.
The Frightful Delusions are there as more or less a test. Sure, It won't be great lategame, but at the very worst, they're down a card. If it hits a spell though, its a VERY brutal 2 for 1.
I'm a little leery of Jin though. In our lists, we have to win in less than 3 turns by the time we play him, or we self-deck. Not sure if I want to risk that; though removing an opponent's hand EoT appeals to me...
Lily's there as a 1-of, more often than not I'll just let her eat a creature, then pose as a target for a burn spell. If my opponent looks to be a little low on their hand count though, I'll start chugging away at that.
Wurmcoil is good, but we don't need Treasure Mage in order to get it. We're doing nothing but counters and draw; we'll get one eventually. That, or any of the other finishers.
Nephalia Drownyard is for the mirror match, and slower decks in general. Options are always nice, and the most restrictive mana costs in this deck are on Lily, Black Sun's Zenith, and Army of the Damned. You will never play Lily turn 3 to begin with, (NEVAR TAP OUT ON YOUR TURN. SRSLY.) and by the time you have 8 lands out, at LEAST 3 should produce black.
Army of the Damned is there just for funsies, to be perfectly honest. I just like the thought of throwing out 13 zombies. Better have a Pyroclasm or Slagstorm ready to blast them, or take 26 damage. Then you better have another when I flashback dem zombies next turn. Not that I'm going to tap out for it, of course.
Any thoughts?
I do like the look of this list. I included Treasure Mages for two reasons. #1, it's a 2 for 1. We draw into Mage, we can drop it turn 5 and we know we have our Wurmcoil for later. That means we also can have board presence without tapping out. If Mage eats a burn spell or trades with an attacker, he just became a 3-for-1 (and if they spend any cards on the Wurmcoil, well, you get the idea). He's pretty card advantageous. The other reason I included him, is that he gives us selection with our 6-drop artifacts. I'll admit, if I wasn't running Darksteel Sentinel, I'd be running 2 Wurmcoil, 1 Mage, and the last spot would go to another Simulacrum.
Now, I have a question for you: what's the reasoning behind Doom Blade and Gofer 2:1 instead of the inverse? It seems like black is going be getting much more prevalent, while artifacts are taking a serious step back.
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I'm running grave titans as win conditions, mainly because one oblivion ring will make wurmcoil engine useless. It takes Doj to knock out a titan completely. I'm also trying out divination over think twice. Its a sorcery, but its much more cost effective. Not a bad snapcaster mage target either.
Just ask if you want clarification over any specific choices.
Could you illustrate why you chose to use Forbidden Alchemy? Also, why do you feel that Ratchet Bomb merits maindeck inclusion? Finally, Ghost Quarter in the lands but no Inkmoth or Drownyard?
I'm running grave titans as win conditions, mainly because one oblivion ring will make wurmcoil engine useless. It takes Doj to knock out a titan completely. I'm also trying out divination over think twice. Its a sorcery, but its much more cost effective. Not a bad snapcaster mage target either.
The idea is, of course, that by the time you're dropping Wurmcoil, you have counter mana ready for that Oblivion Ring; and if they're going to double o-ring it, fine. They've removed it. We keep on chugging and play a Consecrated Sphinx, or Darksteel Sentinel, next turn, or in a few turns; or we poison/mill them to death. Just because Wurmy gets removed, does not mean that we're without options.
Also, guise. What do we think about a singleton Elixir of Immortality?
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
The only other build I really considered was one using 4 mirror-mad phantasm, snapcaster and trinket/elixir so the dmg from phantasm would be minimal and you would have a flying creature that can protect itself for only 1U. That says permission or "draw. go." to me, especially after reading that article. I will being doing this if I happen to get 4 mirror-mad. I love his 1 toughness, it will suck against ghosts, but it will bait soooo much removal. In this guild gtits just does his thing with his new sidekick Snapcaster mage. Batterskull for board spellskites, mage and inkmoth wins. IMO has the best counters and draws as well. Think twice might be worth reconsidering though, time will tell.
Could you illustrate why you chose to use Forbidden Alchemy? Also, why do you feel that Ratchet Bomb merits maindeck inclusion? Finally, Ghost Quarter in the lands but no Inkmoth or Drownyard?
The idea is, of course, that by the time you're dropping Wurmcoil, you have counter mana ready for that Oblivion Ring; and if they're going to double o-ring it, fine. They've removed it. We keep on chugging and play a Consecrated Sphinx, or Darksteel Sentinel, next turn, or in a few turns; or we poison/mill them to death. Just because Wurmy gets removed, does not mean that we're without options.
Also, guise. What do we think about a singleton Elixir of Immortality?
by the time you have mana to pay for wurmcoil engine and a counter, they probably have enough mana to pay for the leak, so thats out. I just think Oblivion Ring is going to be around quite a bit, so that makes grave titan better. The lifelink from wurmcoil does not matter as much to me as red lost quite a lot in rotation. I dont even think rdws is viable at this point. Tempered steel lost alot as well, so I dont think they are that great anymore.
I don't think wurmcoil engine is the answer to play against decks running o-ring so consider having GTitans as a sideboard option in those match ups.
Anyone think deceiver exarch might be a SB option against sligh aggro decks? It has the advantage of flash, 4 toughness for blocking, and can be cast on 4th turn while leaving 2 mana open for mana leak / think twice or can tap down an opponents threat.
Edit: also anyone else think it's funny that if UB draw go becomes too prevalent it could make werewolves seem somewhat decent?
what do you think about Sorin's Vengeance in a draw go deck as the finisher of choice. with that no need for wormcoil engine, and the decks that you WOULD need the lifegain against probably wont be running counterspells to stop it anyhow.
not to mention u can also snapcaster it back to kill them. thoughts?
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UCHIHA ITACHI FLOWCHART
1) Genjutsu before battle. Did it work? if yes go to 3 If not go to 2
2) Tsukuyomi if worked go to 7 if not go to 4
3) Attack the confused enemy. If it worked, go to 7, if not go to 2
4) Ninjutsu. If it worked go to 7 if not go to 5
5) Amaterasu. If it worked go to 7, if not go to 6
6) Susano'o. If it worked go to 7, If not go to 8
7) Itachi wins
8) Itachi loses
The problem with Sorin's Vengeance is that we need some sort of redundancy to kill them (2 draws of the spell, or 1 draw and Snapster), which is just inefficient. Why spend 2 cards killing the opponent when you can kill them with 1? Also, the key part of Wurmcoil Engine is how he keeps the opponent from attacking in the first place. Because he's a difficult creature to attack profitably into, you can keep the other guy on his side of the table until you're ready to race him; speaking of which, Wurmcoil also races like a boss, and is great at pulling you out of the hole and putting you in a winning position. One attack is a 12 point life swing, 2 attacks and it's a 24 point swing.
Besides, it's like I said. If they do manage to successfully Oblivion Ring our Wurmcoil, we keep on chugging. We'll draw into more threats, guaranteed; and if they can resolve 2 O-Rings against you, you're doing it wrong.
I just prefer grave titan overall, since he laughs at spot removal. I'd rather save my counters for my opponents threats than having to save my own guy all the time. Also, what other threats are you talking about? Your other win conditions are consecrated sphinx which is fragile, and the darksteel guy who seems horrible. That said, this is just my opinion. I'm working on my own list, which is similar to most lists here, except I'm trying out divination. My list is a little more tapout, with only 6 mainboard counters.
I think I like Delver of Secrets in here... with almost half the deck being instants or sorceries, it will often transform and be able to attack turn 2. Protect it with countermagic and you put a clock on them. Here is my list:
I just prefer grave titan overall, since he laughs at spot removal. I'd rather save my counters for my opponents threats than having to save my own guy all the time. Also, what other threats are you talking about? Your other win conditions are consecrated sphinx which is fragile, and the darksteel guy who seems horrible.
Grave Titan laughs at spot removal? Congrats, you just played an overcosted Moan of the Unhallowed that you can't flash back. Sphinx isn't fragile, he's just as robust as any Titan (or did the 6 toughness escape your notice?) and after initial playtesting, Darksteel Sentinel has been amazing. He's not the greatest creature in Standard, and is nowhere near the damage output level that Grave Daddy is, I'll admit that. But Draw-Go used to win games with Stalking Stones; I think Sentinel is an acceptable clock. Also, let's not forget the lands that are win-cons on their own: Nephalia Drownyard and Inkmoth Nexus.
Anywho, let me know how Divination works out, I am eager to hear about that card. As for playing a little more tapout, there is a very fine line between Draw-Go and Control, and I think that if you find yourself tapping out on your turn at any point in the game after turn 1, you're playing Control and not Draw Go.
Oblivion Ring is a legitimate concern - and so is that new white Faceless Butcher, and Leonin Relic-Warder. Grave Titan is better in those situations. Plus it's just a house, he seems like he'll win the game pretty quickly. Wurmcoil is a tank, but he's a tank most aggro decks will likely be packing hate for. Of course, if you're playing the deck correctly and being patient, anything with Flash and/or some form of evasion can take it home for you. I like Lantern Spirit for example, but he feels just a little underpowered.
Is there anyone else who wants to use Inkmoth Nexus and other Infect guys to poison them for the win? That seems relatively solid. Especially with Skittles.
Regarding the big card pics, how about Snapcaster Mage, Forbidden Alchemy, and Dissipate? Kinda sums up the point of the deck while giving a quick reference to some Innistrad cards we can't card tag yet.
I think I like Delver of Secrets in here... with almost half the deck being instants or sorceries, it will often transform and be able to attack turn 2. Protect it with countermagic and you put a clock on them. Here is my list:
I was thinking that, but I was under the impression that it would transform back. Also, it might be too flimsy and just be a target for otherwise dead removal/burn. In permission you want to outlast and exhaust your opponent. Something like mirror-mad phantasm or grave titan will allow you to do this since they are more difficult to get rid of (for different reasons obviously).
Edit: I see his transformation is a 1 way, pretty sick considering the evasion. I would consider Delver of secrets a solid choice for this deck, but like I said, he will die uber easy so make sure you have control first.
So guys, after having tested a while with this list, I've come to a few conclusions.
#1. Think Twice is still awesome.
#2. Darksteel Sentinel is a boss.
#3. BSZ works better at 2-of with a GftT and a Doom Blade to supplement.
#4. Could use moar counters.
#5. Forbidden Alchemy = ick.
#6. This deck is way more fun than I anticipated, and quite effective. It was shocking how often I found myself with a close to, if not completely, full grip while my opponent dwindled on 1-2 cards.
So, addressing the issue of more counters. I'll be cutting Alchemy for a final Dissipate (also, I made a miscount in the original list, it was 62 cards, so another Alchemy is gone).
Also, while Mind Unbound was absolutely the tits when it came to card draw (6 cards in 3 turns, 10 cards in 4), I would have been just as happy with another Sentinel, since I'd rather pay my 6 on the opponent's turn, or a Wurmcoil, to keep the other guy off my back. I think the problem is that for Mind Unbound to be put to best use, it needs a few turns to build up, while not doing much impressive stuff immediately; however, when playing against non-control decks, we need something that gives us immediate value if we're going to be spending 6 mana. As such, I've brought the aforementioned big robots into the picture. Mind Unbound is now occupying Jin's sideboard slot.
Also, in regards to the giant card pics: the high-res scan images like the ones you see now are the scans on magiccards.info, so no Innistrad cards can go in there right now. What are the currently Standard-legal cards we could use? Or are we simply satisfied with the ones we have now (Cancel, USZ, Sentinel)?
"What's 'updog'?"
Ahahaha, classic. Anyways, let's talk about U/B Draw Go.
"Draw, Go."
First, recommended reading:
An Avalance of Card Advantage
Draw, Go, Esper
These articles give some excellent background on Draw-Go, and definitely help to reference when trying to bring this archetype to Standard.
I think that the best color combination for a deck like this is U/B, because ultimately we win through slowly grinding out card advantage and letting our opponent resolve as few spells as possible; thus, Blue (increase our own resources) and Black (deplete our opponent's) seems like the most logical choice. Ultimately, I think that the more patient members of the Standard-playing community could have a very viable deck on their hands.
Time to look at our potential card picks.
The Draw:
Think Twice: This is the one at the forefront of everybody's mind right now, so I'll go ahead and discuss this one first. For those of you not in the know, instant-speed card draw is a VERY good thing. It allows you to leave mana up on your opponent's turn (and thus be able to counter their threats), and if they don't do anything you feel like countering, you can then get an extra card draw for that turn. Think Twice itself is pretty iight. Let's say it takes them a while to get going, and their first 2 plays are "Tapland, go". That means that you're casting this on turn 2, already putting your self ahead in CA right out of the gates while also putting this card into your graveyard (which, with the Snapster, will basically be your second hand). There's been a lot of discussion about "5 mana for 2 cards" not being worth it, but that's looking at it the wrong way. It's 2 mana for a card, and 3 mana later for another card, and it's all at instant speed. The bottom line is this: if you're not running this card, you're not running the best Draw-Go deck that you can, given the current card pool.
Forbidden Alchemy: Another instant-speed draw, except this time we're getting 1 card for 3 mana the first time around; the important difference, though, is the selection. We get to dig 4 cards down for whatever it is we're looking for, and then dump the rest to our second hand (So for example, if we pick a Consecrated Sphinx up, and dump 3 Think Twice, we basically just drew 4 cards, at instant speed, for 3 mana. Not too shabby, eh?). If this were a sorcery, I would consider it unplayable in this deck. But given it's speed, and relatively low mana cost (albeit at the upper limit of "low") it may merit inclusion (I wouldn't run more than 1-2 though).
Blue Sun's Zenith: Continuing along the instant-speed trend, we come to what will be, if we put it in, the most expensive draw spell in the deck. This is obviously a "sit in the hand til late game" card (the way Preordain should have been played in 90% of cases- but I digress). I think that, as a 1- or 2-of, this will be a very powerful tool in our arsenal. It's expensive, yeah, but late game when we're sitting on, say, 7 lands (which is at least what we should have by the late game), this spell is gonna be pure value. As I'm sure you're aware, 4 mana for 1 card is terribad. 5 mana for 2 cards isn't too hot either. 6 mana for 3 cards; well, you could do better (see: Jace's Ingenuity) but it's not awful. 7 mana for 4 cards, at instant speed, is okay if you have the mana laying around (especially considering that to get a guaranteed 4 cards out of one instant in the past, you'd have to skip your next turn- that tells me that it's a pretty cool effect).
Visions of Beyond: "Hey, more instant-speed draw! Let's put 4 in the deck!" Wrong-o. While this has the potential to be an absolutely insane card, this is not the deck to unlock that potential. Even far into the game, graveyards will not be exceeding 20 cards. Ours certainly won't (given that flashback exiles the card once you've used it), and our opponents simply won't get the chance to get halfway through their decks. While this may make an appearance in the 75 (if mill or self-mill becomes popular, for example), it's certainly not getting any mainboard love.
Tezzeret's Gambit: Welp, looks like it's time to move on to the sorcery end of the card pool. Here we have what appears to be simply 2 cards. BUT. With the board presence that we intend to cultivate, this becomes more than 2 cards. With a Liliana on the board, for instance, this can be the difference between getting one more Edict out of her or having to force a discard to bring her back up to strength. That means that Gambit has now been worth 3 cards (not bad for 3 mana and 2 life, or 4 mana). However, builds that eschew Liliana and any other counter-based cards may not get as much value out of Gambit; ergo, it may not be the best choice for those lists. Ultimately, this one's at your discretion.
Caress of Phyrexia: The first thing that comes to mind, for me, is "costly". This is definitely an expensive spell. Not only is it 5 mana on your own turn, but if you're playing against infect, it will probably be the difference between life and death. Even if you're not, it's still 5 mana and 3 life for 3 cards, when instead, for 6 mana, no life, and at instant speed, we could get the same value from Blue Sun's Zenith. I don't think this makes the cut, in my opinion.
Gitaxian Probe: This one is interesting. If it were, say, Snapped back, this would definitely be cool (4 mana (or 2 and 4 life, etc) we get 2 cards and 2 peeks). However, without the Snapster, who I'm sure will be flashing back more relevant things anyways, I think we will find this card underwhelming. I know some people are big fans of the card, so I will leave it to your discretion; though I know that I won't be running it.
Ponder: Finally, we arrive at the new, and frankly unimproved, Preordain. Our 1-cmc dig/draw for this Standard season is certainly less stellar than last year's- anyone worth his salt will tell you that, if you're not a dedicated combo deck, Preordain is simply better. We don't have Preordain, though, so let's look at Ponder on it's own merits. It's 1cc, it replaces itself, and it lets us set up our next few draws. Or, if there's nothing particularly appealing, we can ship all of it back and get some random, shiny new card off the top of our freshly shuffled library. What makes Ponder playable in current T2 is fetchlands. With them, we have the ability to grab the one card out of the three that we want, and then shuffle the chaff away by cracking a fetch. Dropping a Squadron Hawk is another popular way to get those lands off the top and give yourself a better shot of drawing business; though again, we aren't gonna have that tool available to us post-rotation. So, are there any other ways that we can reliably shuffle our library without dedicating cards specifically to doing so? We have a few options. There's the USZ, but with only one or two copies, I'd hardly call this one "reliable". If we choose to include Wurmcoil Engine, then we get another 1-2 of in Treasure Mage. Solemn Simulacrum, also helps to shuffle stuff away, so at this point we have 6-8 shuffle effects. Elixir of Immortality, maybe with some Trinket Mage action... meh. I think it comes down to the simple fact of not having anything else in the 1cc draw-fixing spot. So, piss-poor as it is, I'll take it.
Mind Unbound: Bet you didn't see that one coming. Just looking at this card, you can see the raw potential for power that it brings. The first upkeep, it's drawing you a card. That means that even if it gets removed, as long as you untapped with it, you're up a card. From there it just gets nuts, even going so far as to synergize with Tezzeret's Gambit. I wouldn't play more than one of this bad boy, if you're going to run it, but one is all you need.
That's all I've got for draw, any more discussions on card picks can be added later. Until then, let's move on to the next section...
The Counters:
Probably the next most important element in a "Draw-Go" deck, after the drawing, is the counters. Countermagic is how we make the Magic happen; or rather, how we keep the Magic from happening. Funny, isn't it? We play a card game where the point of the game is to play cards and make things happen, and yet we've got a deck that deliberately tries to keep the game of Magic: the Gathering from being played by anyone but us. As a purist, this is the most disgusting, selfish archetype imaginable. Anyways, enough of my musings. On to the business.
Dissipate: Counter target spell. You don't find too many spells more effective at stopping magic than this. Over the years, there have been ones that are cheaper, ones that do other stuff too, but ultimately the phrase "Counter target spell." complete with a period at the end, is a powerful one, and it makes this card what I believe to be a worthwhile inclusion in the deck. Also, the whole "exile" thing is pretty cool with all the recent increase in the relevance of the graveyard.
Mana Leak: For 1U, we have here a very powerful tempo counter. Even if your opponent has the mana to pay for it, you can rest assured that it's all they will be doing that turn. I don't think we really have a choice BUT to run this card. It's pretty much the most powerful counterspell we have available, so we may as well use it to the fullest extent possible.
Psychic Barrier: Given the power creep and creature-pushing that Wizards has been going at as of late, I can understand why initially, this might look like an acceptable pick in a list that's desperate for counterspells. However, I think that, given that we're also running Black, we can afford to run real removal that's useful after a creature has hit the board. If you're on the brink of death, Go for the Throat can save you, but Psychic Barrier certainly won't. This card gets a no from me.
Negate: Now we move to the opposite end of the spectrum, the non-creature hard counter. I think this card definitely has a place in the list, since non-creature permanents are the most difficult for our slices of the color pie to remove (Blue can maybe bounce it, but that's certainly not a permanent solution -bad pun intended- and with Hexmage out of the picture, Black doesn't have much to say about planeswalkers, and they never had any real game vs artifacts or enchantments to begin with). Negate keeps our opponent from dropping that sword, from removing our Sphinx, from combo'ing out, etc. I think that it will supplement our existing counter and removal package really nicely; 1 mainboard (2 if you have a really control-heavy meta) is fine.
Now that we've got our counters taken care of, let's pop on over to the next section, where we deal with things after the fact. That's right, it's time for...
The Removal:
Doom Blade: An old favorite and a veteran killer. It's no Terminate, but it's gotten the job done in the recent Standard metagame. However, with the way this set is shaping up, pushing zombies and other critters of the darker persuasion out into the spotlight, I think we can safely pass on Doom Blade in favor of its cousin. If you want, do what I do and run 1, just in case.
Go for the Throat: Relatively new to the scene but an instant MVP, Gofer has fallen out of use in recent times, mostly due to Tempered Steel and the rising popularity of Inkmoth Nexus. However, I think that with the new creatures Innistrad is bringing to the table, Gofer will see a resurgence of usefulness. Titans, Sphinxes, Werewolves, Vampires and Zombies are all fair game for this card, so I think it will definitely shine in post-rotation Standard.
Dismember: It's difficult to decide how relevant this card is going to be. On the one hand, we lose Twin Combo so the need for a maindeck hoser is no longer apparent. Also, Sphinxes,Titans and Ruinators dodge Dismember pretty well (but who knows, maybe we'll end up in a format where there are other relevant non-hexproof creatures). I think that a diverse removal cast is healthy, so I'd probably throw a few of these in to complement the Gofers, but I wouldn't advise that you include more than 2-3 if you include it.
Black Sun's Zenith: Of course, as a Draw-Go deck, we're going to need sweepers. It is an inevitable fact of life that at some point in a matchup against an aggro deck, that they are going to have multiple creatures on the board; thus, it can also be construed that a requirement for a sweeper is an inevitable fact of life. Be it zombies, werewolves, vampires, goblins, or what have you, there's going to be a lot of them that all need killing. Also, with the recent hexproof stint that we're on, having a way to kill those annoyances too should be useful. So, 2 BSZ's in the maindeck should put a stop to that. Even at 3cc or 4cc, we can play this spell, clear the board of weenies, and be able to leave our counter mana up.
Damnation: If only.
Liliana of the Veil: This lady is interesting. She comes down and immediately either forces the opponent to sacrifice one of their hard-won resolved critters, or she starts grinding away at their hand. And, if she just so happens to stick around for a while, could end up blowing up a significant portion of the opponent's lands. I definitely see the justification for her as a singleton. She's not something you want every game, but when she pops up she can really swing the game in your favor.
So, now that we have everything we need to thoroughly frustrate the person across the table, let's figure out how we're going to kill them. In this section, we'll be discussing...
The Creatures:
Solemn Simulacrum: Ahh, our good buddy the sad robot. This guy is a great card. An absolutely great card. The question is, does he fit here? He draws us a card, he increases our land count (thus supplementing our ability to play main phase spells while presenting counters), and he makes a nifty chumper. I'd say that he merits inclusion, albeit in low numbers (we do want to keep our sorcery-speed spells to a minimum).
Snapcaster Mage: There are multiple threads, with multiple pages of discussion, about why this guy is good. He's so good. He has Flash, he lets us re-use our spells, he has Flash, and he's a 2cmc 2/1 with Flash that lets us get double value out of our spells. 2UB for an instant-speed 2/1 and a Gofer? I'm sold. 2UU for a 2/1 and a Mana Leak? Count me in. This. Guy. Is. Good.
Consecrated Sphinx: This guy is raw card advantage. Untap with him, and you've at least 3-for-1'd your opponent by the time they remove it. He is one of the best creatures we could put into this deck, and is definitely worth the cost.
Wurmcoil Engine: I really like Wurmcoil Engine. Like, so much. It's one of my favorite creatures. I don't know if he fits in this list, but I think the sheer setback that his existence poses to aggro makes him a nice 1-of, with a few Treasure Mages there to supplement the draw potential.
Darksteel Sentinel: ...Wait, what? Look at this guy for a second. He's a 3/3 with vigilance. He's INDESTRUCTIBLE! And, what else does he do? That's right, he comes into play on our opponent's end step. Or their declare attackers step. Nice sword bro, hope you don't mind if I block forever; while also attacking. Does this guy to Dismember? Yes. But at that point, he was still worth 4 life and a card, and that's only if we let the Dismember resolve. This guy is a 1-of that I'm going to experiment with, and I think that with a pair of Treasure Mages floating around we should have no problem getting him when we need him. He's also not an awful clock, and can chip away at opposing planeswalkers like nobody's business. This guy is a giant middle finger to Garruk, and also couldn't care less about Gideon. Come at you bro? If you insist. Oh you wanna swing at me now? Bring it.
Grave Titan: I'm gonna be short and sweet here. As badass as this guy is, I don't think we need him. I think that Wurmcoil and Sphinx will be enough to finish off the opponent, and I'd honestly rather have either of them than Grave Daddy any day of the week.
Craw Wurm: Just kidding.
Azure Mage: Let me tell you, this baby does work. In multiples it's terribad, which is why I only have 1. But that one provides me either a nice body vs aggro, and a crazy draw engine/mana sink vs control. Very good, but if you don't include it it's not the end of the world. I'd call her gravy.
Now, what you take from this next section is up to you, and (as always) depends on your local meta. Whoops, just let slip that famous disclaimer. I guess that means it's time to discuss...
The Sideboard:
Here we'll talk about the best cards to give you a strong game 2 and allow you to keep 2-0'ing your way to the top. I suppose counterspells are as good a place to start as any.
Flashfreeze: A hard counter against almost half of the color pie? I really don't think this one needs much explaining. The most popular aggressors of the format may not be in Red or Green, but this is a handy spell to have around. Goblin Grenade? Yeah, let's not.
Negate: If your meta is dominated by control or combo, this is one you won't want to leave home without. It's even maindeckable, meaning you're not committing too much sideboard space to rounding out your playset of Negates. If you're in a pretty evenly split or aggro-dominant meta, then I wouldn't have more than 3 of this card total amongst the 75.
Steel Sabotage: This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you see lots of artifacts, run this guy. Puresteel Paladin? Lawlnothx on the sword. Tempered Steel? I'd rather you not play creatures.
On to the hate:
Memoricide: While this may come to be an EXCELLENT sideboard card, as it was in pre-rot Standard, I don't think this is a staple for our 75 right now. If any combos emerge later in the season, we may bring this bad boy back, but until then, we'll leave it in the binder.
Despise/Distress: Targeted discard, I think, could definitely find a home in a Draw-Go list. When you're up against control, what better way to mess up their game plan than to yank their precious Gideon or Sphinx or Titan right out of their hand? I wouldn't bring even Despise in vs aggro, for the simple fact of, I'd rather bring other cards in and there's only so much I can take out of the deck. That said, if you can find room for these cards in your maindeck, go for it. It's always nice to have something to do on turn 1 before you can counter things.
Surgical Extraction: I can definitely see the viability of this card. Not only are we getting rid of that Skaab Ruinator for good, we're also making sure you don't have any other ones, while also checking for any other traps or tricks that may give us some valuable knowledge. Rifling through your opponent's deck is a powerful effect, and when you can even get it potentially for free (at instant speed, no less) it's hard to turn down the card. If a deck hinges off specific cards being in the graveyard, as opposed to just having a big grave, this is your guy.
Nihil Spellbomb: While it doesn't give you a peek inside your opponent's hand and library, this card does cantrip and get rid of their entire graveyard. If you're staring down a Reanimator deck and they've got a whole toolbox full of corpses, Spellbomb will come in handy.
Anti-aggro measures:
Wurmcoil Engine: Ah, my favorite card of all time. He was discussed previously, but I figure he's worth mentioning again, because let me tell you: this guy simply WRECKS aggro. There are few decks that will be able to attack a Wurmcoil Engine profitably. One creature will get blocked and die, and you will gain 6 life. That means they will have to, between their remaining attackers, deal at least 7 points of damage. And even if they manage to kill it, they now have TWO Wurms to deal with. This. Card. Is. Nuts.
Black Sun's Zenith: This deck's sweeper of choice. It allows us to clear the board of annoying weenies as early as turn 3, and like fine wine, only gets better as time goes by. The best part though, is that it even scales to help us deal with bigger threats in the late game. It doesn't deal damage or use the term "destroy", so even Thrun isn't getting out of this one. HexBlade is going to get prevalent, and when all of our spot removal is useless, we're going to want plenty of copies of this bad boy.
This is also a slot where you could fill in your Doom Blade / Go for the Throat / Dismember slots.
Now, everything into consideration, let's look at a sample decklist.
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Treasure Mage
1 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Azure Mage
Spells - 24
4 Think Twice
3 Ponder
4 Mana Leak
4 Dissipate
1 Negate
2 Go for the Throat
2 Doom Blade
2 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Inkmoth Nexus
9 Island
5 Swamp
1 Buried Ruin
The sideboard is mostly to combat aggro, since Draw-Go should be able to outmaneuver your typical Control lists; however, I threw in the Praetor to shore things up on that end. Spellbombs are there for the sure-to-come graveyard shenanigans, Flashfreeze for anything in this format that wants to be terribly aggressive (as well as handling your midrange strategies pretty nicely), BSZ for swarm-type lists and Hexproof.dec, and Wurmcoil and Journal to create an insurmountable wall of lifegain (and are they gonna bring in artifact removal out of the board? Heeeell NAW).
The above decklist is a very experimental one. It encompasses a LOT of card picks, enabling us to see exactly what gets the job done best (with multiples only in things we either know are good or strongly predict will be).
Any cards that you guys feel should/shouldn't be included, do a write-up on them and I'll be happy to post it in this here primer thingy.
Another card to note: Nephalia Drownyard. Those of you who read the articles posted know this, but I'll go ahead and enlighten the ones too lazy to read them. In the Draw-Go of days past, Millstone was often used as an alt. win-con. With that in mind, I've included a few Nephalia Drownyard (the new mill land) into the deck. Color shouldn't be that big of a deal, and between that and a few Inkmoths, we all of a sudden have two alternate win conditions just from the lands. Will these come into play often? Ideally, no. But having that mana sink / alternate win-con available is the kind of thinking that separates man from Craw Wurm.
Update: Spoiler tags added for neatness.
Update: Decklist updated. Card write-ups on the way.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
You might want to mention desperate ravings. It is effectually think twice 5-8.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Level 1 Judge (yay)
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Nephalia Drownyard
6 Swamp
7 Island
Creatures 7
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Grave Titan
3 Despise
2 Go for the Throat
3 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Dismember
4 Dissipate
4 Mana Leak
2 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Think Twice
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Ratchet Bomb
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Spellskite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Distress
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
//Instant
4 Mana Leak
3 Think Twice
2 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Go for the Throat
1 Doom Blade
1 Dissipate
3 Despise
3 Ponder
1 Black Sun's Zenith
//Planeswalker
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Karn Liberated
1 Jace, Memory Adept
//Land
9 Island
6 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Visions of Beyond
3 Flashfreeze
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Negate
2 Disperse
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Memoricide
If I took out Think Twice, it would probably be for 1 Forbidden Alchemy, 1 Snapcaster Mage and 1 Dissipate. I can't see myself taking much more than that out though. To be honest I would like to run 2 BSZ mainboard just because of Hexproof things. Would make life a lot easier.
Standard: B/x Devotion
Modern: Death & Taxes
Top 8 - TCGPlayer Qualifier 7/23/11
Top 4 - Free $500 FNM 10/2/12
Top 8 - Star City Games OT 4/20/13
Top 8 - Star City Games Super IQ 5/25/13
Top 8 - TCGPlayer 1k 10/5/13
Top 16 - TCGPlayer Diamond 5k 4/5/14
I dub this: NecronomiControl!
I'm thinking Forbidden Alchemy will help fuel the graveyard by putting fatties and flashback cards, try to get a Grimoire down and protect with countermagic while tossing more fatties / flashback cards to charge it up. Not sure if proliferate would fit, but I could see using Unburial rights to bring down earlier threats at a cheap enough cost that you can keep countermagic up, or just use as a stalling tactic.
Guessing this is probably FNM jank at best, but the name alone is worth posting
Edit:
Also good synergy w/ Lili, and Unburying a Grave Titan or Wurmcoil on turn 4 could be pretty beast, even if you are tapping out. Guess this would tend towards more of a midrange build?
Double Edit:
I see that would also require a white splash, which may be stretching things a bit much.
OldSchool on Cockatrice
UW "Nancy" - U/w Tempo UW
BUG Damia Self-Mill Multiplayer BUG
BRW Kaalia 1v1 BRW
Think Twice isn't a "curve" card. This isn't even a "curve" deck, really. See, mana curves are for decks that spend their mana on their turn. We really aren't that type of deck. I really recommend reading the articles linked near the top of the primer, they should give you a better understanding of what it means to play "Draw Go".
Azure Mage is actually a very interesting card. It would definitely be a later drop (2-coster means we aren't playing it til turn 4-5). But I do like the idea of another mana sink. Worth testing, I'd say.
It doesn't generate colored mana, this is true; but that shouldn't be too problematic. I'll go ahead and include the write-up for this card (I posted it in the New Card Discussion thread earlier).
ALSO:
I wasn't quite sure what cards to use for the big card pictures. If anyone has any suggestions for cards they would like in those slots, please let me know. I know I want Blue Sun's Zenith in there, but the other two I could see being other things.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Solemn Simulacrum
Finishers - 6
2x Consecrated Sphinx
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Army of the Damned
Drawstuff - 9
4x Think Twice
3x Ponder
2x Forbidden Alchemy
Countersuite - 8
4x Mana Leak
2x Dissipate
2x Frightful Delusion
3x Dismember
2x Doomblade
1x Go for the Throat
1x Black Sun's Zenith
Walker - 1
1x Liliana of the Veil
Lands - 23
7x Island
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Swamp
3x Darkslick Shores
3x Nephalia Drownyard
2x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Flashfreeze
3x Mental Misstep
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Go For The Throat
The Frightful Delusions are there as more or less a test. Sure, It won't be great lategame, but at the very worst, they're down a card. If it hits a spell though, its a VERY brutal 2 for 1.
I'm a little leery of Jin though. In our lists, we have to win in less than 3 turns by the time we play him, or we self-deck. Not sure if I want to risk that; though removing an opponent's hand EoT appeals to me...
Lily's there as a 1-of, more often than not I'll just let her eat a creature, then pose as a target for a burn spell. If my opponent looks to be a little low on their hand count though, I'll start chugging away at that.
Wurmcoil is good, but we don't need Treasure Mage in order to get it. We're doing nothing but counters and draw; we'll get one eventually. That, or any of the other finishers.
Nephalia Drownyard is for the mirror match, and slower decks in general. Options are always nice, and the most restrictive mana costs in this deck are on Lily, Black Sun's Zenith, and Army of the Damned. You will never play Lily turn 3 to begin with, (NEVAR TAP OUT ON YOUR TURN. SRSLY.) and by the time you have 8 lands out, at LEAST 3 should produce black.
Army of the Damned is there just for funsies, to be perfectly honest. I just like the thought of throwing out 13 zombies. Better have a Pyroclasm or Slagstorm ready to blast them, or take 26 damage. Then you better have another when I flashback dem zombies next turn. Not that I'm going to tap out for it, of course.
Any thoughts?
I do like the look of this list. I included Treasure Mages for two reasons. #1, it's a 2 for 1. We draw into Mage, we can drop it turn 5 and we know we have our Wurmcoil for later. That means we also can have board presence without tapping out. If Mage eats a burn spell or trades with an attacker, he just became a 3-for-1 (and if they spend any cards on the Wurmcoil, well, you get the idea). He's pretty card advantageous. The other reason I included him, is that he gives us selection with our 6-drop artifacts. I'll admit, if I wasn't running Darksteel Sentinel, I'd be running 2 Wurmcoil, 1 Mage, and the last spot would go to another Simulacrum.
Now, I have a question for you: what's the reasoning behind Doom Blade and Gofer 2:1 instead of the inverse? It seems like black is going be getting much more prevalent, while artifacts are taking a serious step back.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
My list is a bit tight though - If those Frightful Delusions under-perform, I may take them out for a Mage or two. Time will tell.
Could you illustrate why you chose to use Forbidden Alchemy? Also, why do you feel that Ratchet Bomb merits maindeck inclusion? Finally, Ghost Quarter in the lands but no Inkmoth or Drownyard?
The idea is, of course, that by the time you're dropping Wurmcoil, you have counter mana ready for that Oblivion Ring; and if they're going to double o-ring it, fine. They've removed it. We keep on chugging and play a Consecrated Sphinx, or Darksteel Sentinel, next turn, or in a few turns; or we poison/mill them to death. Just because Wurmy gets removed, does not mean that we're without options.
Also, guise. What do we think about a singleton Elixir of Immortality?
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
2 doom blade
2 go for the throat
2 dismember
4 mana leak
2 dissipate
2 stoic rebuttal
1 negate
1 psychic barrier
1 blue sun's zenith
2 forbidden alchemy
Sorceries
1 gitaxian probe
2 despise
1 duress
4 ponder
4 snapcaster mage
1 batterskull
2 grave titan
Artifact
1 runechanter's pike
Land
4 darkslick shores
4 drowned catacomb
4 ghost quarter
2 inkmoth nexus
7 island
4 swamp
2 evil twin
1 wurmcoil engine
1 duress
1 surgical extraction
2 black sun's zenith
2 ratchet bomb
3 spellskite
1 buried ruin
1 negate
1 sorin markov
The only other build I really considered was one using 4 mirror-mad phantasm, snapcaster and trinket/elixir so the dmg from phantasm would be minimal and you would have a flying creature that can protect itself for only 1U. That says permission or "draw. go." to me, especially after reading that article. I will being doing this if I happen to get 4 mirror-mad. I love his 1 toughness, it will suck against ghosts, but it will bait soooo much removal. In this guild gtits just does his thing with his new sidekick Snapcaster mage. Batterskull for board spellskites, mage and inkmoth wins. IMO has the best counters and draws as well. Think twice might be worth reconsidering though, time will tell.
by the time you have mana to pay for wurmcoil engine and a counter, they probably have enough mana to pay for the leak, so thats out. I just think Oblivion Ring is going to be around quite a bit, so that makes grave titan better. The lifelink from wurmcoil does not matter as much to me as red lost quite a lot in rotation. I dont even think rdws is viable at this point. Tempered steel lost alot as well, so I dont think they are that great anymore.
Anyone think deceiver exarch might be a SB option against sligh aggro decks? It has the advantage of flash, 4 toughness for blocking, and can be cast on 4th turn while leaving 2 mana open for mana leak / think twice or can tap down an opponents threat.
Edit: also anyone else think it's funny that if UB draw go becomes too prevalent it could make werewolves seem somewhat decent?
not to mention u can also snapcaster it back to kill them. thoughts?
UCHIHA ITACHI FLOWCHART
1) Genjutsu before battle. Did it work? if yes go to 3 If not go to 2
2) Tsukuyomi if worked go to 7 if not go to 4
3) Attack the confused enemy. If it worked, go to 7, if not go to 2
4) Ninjutsu. If it worked go to 7 if not go to 5
5) Amaterasu. If it worked go to 7, if not go to 6
6) Susano'o. If it worked go to 7, If not go to 8
7) Itachi wins
8) Itachi loses
Besides, it's like I said. If they do manage to successfully Oblivion Ring our Wurmcoil, we keep on chugging. We'll draw into more threats, guaranteed; and if they can resolve 2 O-Rings against you, you're doing it wrong.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
Creatures
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Consecrated Sphinx
Draw
3x Ponder
4x Think Twice
3x Forbidden Alchemy
Counters
4x Mana Leak
3x Dissipate
1x Negate
2x Go For the Throat
2x Dismember
1x Black Sun`s Zenith
Extra Win Condition
1x Sorin`s Vengeance
Lands
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacombs
3x Nephalia Drownyard
3x Inkmoth Nexus
8x Island
3x Swamp
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Ratchet Bomb
4x Flashfreeze
2x Negate
2x Dismember
2x Black Sun`s Zenith
Grave Titan laughs at spot removal? Congrats, you just played an overcosted Moan of the Unhallowed that you can't flash back. Sphinx isn't fragile, he's just as robust as any Titan (or did the 6 toughness escape your notice?) and after initial playtesting, Darksteel Sentinel has been amazing. He's not the greatest creature in Standard, and is nowhere near the damage output level that Grave Daddy is, I'll admit that. But Draw-Go used to win games with Stalking Stones; I think Sentinel is an acceptable clock. Also, let's not forget the lands that are win-cons on their own: Nephalia Drownyard and Inkmoth Nexus.
Anywho, let me know how Divination works out, I am eager to hear about that card. As for playing a little more tapout, there is a very fine line between Draw-Go and Control, and I think that if you find yourself tapping out on your turn at any point in the game after turn 1, you're playing Control and not Draw Go.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
Is there anyone else who wants to use Inkmoth Nexus and other Infect guys to poison them for the win? That seems relatively solid. Especially with Skittles.
Regarding the big card pics, how about Snapcaster Mage, Forbidden Alchemy, and Dissipate? Kinda sums up the point of the deck while giving a quick reference to some Innistrad cards we can't card tag yet.
I was thinking that, but I was under the impression that it would transform back. Also, it might be too flimsy and just be a target for otherwise dead removal/burn. In permission you want to outlast and exhaust your opponent. Something like mirror-mad phantasm or grave titan will allow you to do this since they are more difficult to get rid of (for different reasons obviously).
Edit: I see his transformation is a 1 way, pretty sick considering the evasion. I would consider Delver of secrets a solid choice for this deck, but like I said, he will die uber easy so make sure you have control first.
#1. Think Twice is still awesome.
#2. Darksteel Sentinel is a boss.
#3. BSZ works better at 2-of with a GftT and a Doom Blade to supplement.
#4. Could use moar counters.
#5. Forbidden Alchemy = ick.
#6. This deck is way more fun than I anticipated, and quite effective. It was shocking how often I found myself with a close to, if not completely, full grip while my opponent dwindled on 1-2 cards.
So, addressing the issue of more counters. I'll be cutting Alchemy for a final Dissipate (also, I made a miscount in the original list, it was 62 cards, so another Alchemy is gone).
Also, while Mind Unbound was absolutely the tits when it came to card draw (6 cards in 3 turns, 10 cards in 4), I would have been just as happy with another Sentinel, since I'd rather pay my 6 on the opponent's turn, or a Wurmcoil, to keep the other guy off my back. I think the problem is that for Mind Unbound to be put to best use, it needs a few turns to build up, while not doing much impressive stuff immediately; however, when playing against non-control decks, we need something that gives us immediate value if we're going to be spending 6 mana. As such, I've brought the aforementioned big robots into the picture. Mind Unbound is now occupying Jin's sideboard slot.
Here's the list I'm now playing with:
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Treasure Mage
2 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Spells - 22
4 Think Twice
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
3 Ponder
4 Mana Leak
4 Dissipate
1 Negate
2 Go for the Throat
2 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Liliana of the Veil
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Nephalia Drownyard
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Inkmoth Nexus
7 Island
4 Swamp
Also, in regards to the giant card pics: the high-res scan images like the ones you see now are the scans on magiccards.info, so no Innistrad cards can go in there right now. What are the currently Standard-legal cards we could use? Or are we simply satisfied with the ones we have now (Cancel, USZ, Sentinel)?
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!