I just sat down with my usual deckbuilding tools - a pen, a pad, a complete Magic checklist (I know what they all do, just need their names. Although having said that I had to stare at blank space for five minutes to remember what Sacred Guide did.)
Made a list of the cards I wanted to use - the cards that would draw me to playing that colour, but also made a mental note of cards that might support other ideas as I went throuhg, then immediately got to work because a number of ideas had cropped up for working decks.
Marmalade On Toast
2 Quirion Ranger
4 Skyshroud Elves
4 Heart Warden
3 Bottle Gnomes
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Uktabi Orangutan
4 Academy Rector
3 Tradewind Rider
1 Masticore
2 Verdant Force
4 Rampant Growth
2 Goblin Bombardment
4 Pattern Of Rebirth
1 Opposition
2 Treachery
1 Yawgmoth`s Bargain
1 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Skyshroud Forest
1 Vec Township
1 Thalakos Lowlands
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Island
9 Forest
Tradeweenie Rider
4 Sacred Guide
4 Longbow Archer
4 Soltari Monk
2 Soltari Priest
2 Freewind Falcon
4 Man O War
4 Tradewind Rider
4 Cursed Scroll
2 Gerrard`s Battle Cry
3 Disenchant
2 Honorable Passage
3 Power Sink
2 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Thalakos Lowlands
4 Island
12 Plains
(Sigil of Sleep SB?)
I think that a fast Sligh is possible, but it has to totally commit itself to not seeing the fifth turn. Furnace Of Rath/Fireblast is probably key, as might be Song Of Blood and Goblin Bombardment. But with Chill and all the white hate available (Passage, CoP, Warmth, Prot:Red dudes) I think it would be very easy to push red out of the environment, that`s pretty much what happened during TSE block.
Possible locks to look at:
Humilty/Nature`s Revolt
Humilty/Orim`s Prayer
Dream Tides/Nature`s Revolt (a personal favourite)
John`s Draw-Go deck is probably missing Scent Of Brine and Power Sink, and it has far too many big spells overall. Look at it, 12 searchers, but then 4 Masticore? Hmm, no, probably not. More counters, then sit back and outdraw them with Whispers. When it comes to blue decks I subscibe to Randy "Nobody likes basic land as much as CMU does" Buehler and play with 26 land and Whispers.
Possibly reduce the creature count a bit because I think Magpies are really weak without significant countermagic to back them up. A turn 6 play (at earliest), not a turn 4 play.
Say:
-4 Legacy`s Allure
-2 Thieving Magpie
-2 Masticore
-4 Stalking Stones
+3 Scent Of Brine
+3 Power Sink
+4 Quicksand
+1 Island
+1 Rainbow Efreet
Hmm, have I gone too far in removing anti-creautres stuff? Possibly, but I think the main aggro decks are pretty unhappy to see Quicksand, and Legacy`s can go into the SB. Maybe I`d play with the mix and drop a couple back in, but my basic direction for blue would be towards Draw-Go, no Ophidian-style.
Bt, back to Caveman`s original point. All the decks John and myself have thrown together have been remembered as much as created. Because we have both been around the tournament scene since man learnt how to make fire, and have both been primarily deckbuilders during that time, we have an extensive catalogue of decks that have proven themselves to be effective strategies. The individual cards might change, but the ideas remain the same and we can modify themt o the new environment.
John keeps saying how a deck is 'like Player-X`s deck from PT-whenever', and my own suggestions are based on, in turn:
A mixture of Breakfast and Rector Gadget (from the UBC block constructed).
A variant on the 3c/4c WWeenie decks that cropped up in MiViLite/Tempest TypeII, only without Mines and CoBrass I am unable to splash further than blue, and must do without Uktabi`s and Firestorms.
And our blue decks are striking a balance between the two strongest drawing engine decks - Forbiddian and Draw-Go - which varied on whether you used Ophidian or Whispers. I personally would go with Whispers over Ophidian, and certainly over Magpie.
My mention of Song Of Blood is because I remembered one of John`s classic "I`m playing it this week, everybody else will be playing it next week, and in two weeks time it will be hosed out of the field" extravaganzas, which used Song Of Blood and mucho Goblins to kick you very hard in the head on the fourth turn.
The point of all this wistful reminiscing? That we are working as much from memory as from creation. John and myself are tweaking and adapting - we are not working from nothing, but embellishing existing structures.
