son of dryad

[timmy]

i have been playtesting this deck for quite some time and let me tell you it is easily a tier 1 deck
here is the list

creatures
4 wild mongrels
4 forgotten ancient

Enchantments
2 standstills

Spells
4 peek
4 predict
4 sleight of hand
4 smother
4 counterspell
4 circular logic
3 force spike
3 complicate
4 call of the herd

Land
4 island
1 lonely sandbar
2 forest
2 tranquil thicket
2 underground river
4 grand colesium

sideboard
3 delusions of mediocrity
2 callous oppressor
4 naturalize
4 aether burst
2 silklash spider


Against most other t2 decks this is in a good matchup
it beats tog about 85% of the time no this isn't an exaggeration
it has about 50-60% matchups versus u/g madness, r/g beats, and sligh
it does have trouble against slide and cunning wake decks
but you have 4 naturalizes in the board
also most matches become even better after boarding

one other issue is the land count
while it only runs 16 this is not a problem
it easily ramps up to 4 or 5 in a short number of turns with all your library manipulation

finally the sideboard is tuned to handle a wide variety of decks
it possibly should be fine tuned against certain metagames.

i know this is mainly casual players but if anyone is going to a grand prix or pro tour anytime soon i ask and encourage you to play this deck and prove how good it is
if you do this be sure to playtest it alot before hand
and of utmost importance is to credit me as the deck builder

 

[Reverend Love]

Hey there Tim-Tim, pretty interesting deck..looks like a funky mix of U/G Madness and Tog.

I noticed your land count and unless I'm wrong there's only 15 land there..not 16. That's a pretty rough land ratio. Even in type 1 where you've got all kinds of free powered goodies, 15-16 land is still sometimes hard to get away with. It's just a suggestion but maybe tweaking the land base a little would even further improve it. Maybe something like 20 land...because like you said with all your card drawing you'll be able to chew through your deck fairly quickly.

Another thing is maybe swap out Sleight of Hand for Deep Analysis. Think about it, once you discard it to the Mongrel you can pay 3 life to get 2 cards..not a bad deal!

Other then that looks like a fun deck!

 

[train]

I noticed the lad also, and the deck looks like it could do well...

I'd run 2 more standstills though, just to draw more cards... Everything's cheap anyhow...

 

[Rooser]

Fetchlands dude, fetchlands. You can run up to 20 land without getting mana flooded, plus it's a much more graceful way to splash black. And if you're splashing black, run edicts, (but not bloods, of course), or at least run bounce; Smother is a strange choice as the ONLY creature control in the deck.

 

[timmy]

i missed the final land
also i swapped out the cycle lands
its land count now looks like this

5 island
4 forest
1 yavimaya coast
2 underground river
4 grand colesium

also i was thinking of taking something out for
riptide survivor instead of some of the card drawing
what do you think

 

[Nightstalkers]

Good call Thames, I only use cycle lands when getting too much land at 1/3

 

[Mikeymike]

I think I'd drop the Standstills in here. The main killer in your deck is the Forgotten Ancient which wants you (and you opponent) to play many spells, while Standstill does the exact opposite.

I'm not sure why you've got Predict in here, it is the type of card that you really want to run in a particular type of deck (one that allows you to know the top card of someone's library. You don't have 1 card in here that either A) looks at the top X cards of someone's library or B) returns card to the top of the library.
If you are meta-gaming it for a particular deck (Tight Sight?) it'd probably be better off in the Sideboard, although I don't think its necessary there either.

I'd replace it with 4 Krosan Tuskers, gets you land (put in a few more basics) and a card...much more reliable card advantage than Predict, and gives you another solid turn 3 play. I know you say the 16 mana isn't much of a problem, but with 4 necessary turn 4 casts (13 if you count Call of the Herd, the Spider and Delusions) I can see you stalling on 2-3 lands fairly frequently.

Also, are the Smothers that necessary in here that you need to run a 3rd color? Cutting down to 2 colors in an already mana-deprived deck would help smooth things out considerably.

I think Riptide Survivor might be worth a shot, although its tough to rely on it as a discard outlet (you've usually got to wait a turn to do the pitch which gives your opponent a turn to kill it). Still its a cool little card.

Hope this helps.

 

[timmy]

this deck does need the smothers otherwise it can't win against tog
also ill try krosan tusker even though the cycle effect isn't a spell

i was using predict because it was a decent cantriped instant that would help the ancient grow.

 

[Rooser]

this deck does need the smothers otherwise it can't win against tog

You're a dirty rotten liar.

Smother will not be the difference between winning against 'tog and not, perhaps you've just never played against somebody who knows how to play it right.

This is how they do it:

Nine land in play. Tap it all, cast upheaval, float three mana. Cast Psychatog. Drop an island. Wait with circular logic in hand.

You have nothing in play. The best you could do is drop a swamp and cast innocent blood, or drop an island and cast unsommon or chain of vapor. Either way, you're not casting smother off one land. And any of those other spells will probably get circular logicked.

Smother as your only black is a foolish choice. Either play more black to validate the color, or just drop the color.

The counterspells you are already playing with give you a better chance against 'tog than smother ever will.

Also:

i was using predict because it was a decent cantriped instant that would help the ancient grow.

If that's all you're looking for, obsessive search is MUCH better.

BTW: Yavimaya Coast is not T2 legal.

 

[timmy]

first of all you can counter their upheaval
which they will have to respond to
then you can float 2 mana
and smother the tog on their turn when they tap out to counter your counter

also smother also helps alot against
goblins, ug madness, and gr burn

so smother is a good card to splash for

 

[Edge911]

I have a very similar T2 deck. From experience I think 3 Forgotten Ancient is better than 4. Compulsion also tends to help the deck.
Versus control decks like the kind you had trouble with some extra help can come in if you go somewhat thresholdy. I know it sounds crazy, but it works. I often end up swinging with a big Nimble Mongoose against slide and sometimes against Burning Wake. Nimble Mongoose can't be slided or burned. It also can't be bounced against Cunning, but Cunning usually finds a way over it (counters often).

 

[timmy]

that sounds interesting edge
could you post your decklist
thxs

 

[Edge911]

4 Wild mongrel
3 Forgotten ancient

3 Standstill

4 Peek
2 Spy network
4 Sleight of hand
4 Smother
4 Memory Lapse
3 Circular Logic
4 Force Spike
2 Counterspell
4 Call of the Herd

7 Island
2 Lonely Sandbar
6 Forest
2 Tranquil Thicket
4 City of Brass

Sideboard
2 Nimble Mongoose (takes care of slide and burning wake)
2 Werebear (Cunning wake and other control decks)
1 Silklash Spider
2 Counterspell
4 Naturalize
4 Unsummon

 

[train]

Just a question... Why the sleights?...

Try running Disrupts... for non-type II


And Ghastly Demise might do you well in place of Smother...

Tog - you can just counter...

 

[Edge911]

The sleights are good, cheap spells. Demise hurts the black matchup, I've been rather happy with my smothers so far anyway.

 

[train]

Okay - good cheap spell...

Instead of sleights, why not giant growth?... That way the ancient gets even bigger... or the mongrel...

 

[timmy]

the sleights are good as they help the ancient grow and they help u find the cards you need

i don't know about the networks and standstills
you want players to be casting spells and not stuck behind a standstill
aslo the networks arent that great because the don't replace themselves

finally the other card u should use is krosan tusker
ive playtested it quite a bit and 3 really help the deck