"The Deck": for the current T2 environment

[Killer Joe]

Zadok001 replied to my thread about Disrupting Scepter and mentioned something about the classic deck called, "The Deck" (by Brian Weissman). I've never heard of that deck name but I have seen several variants of it. Thanks to Spiderman, who gave me a link to follow, for showing me a Mason Loring Bliss version of this classic deck. After looking at it I started to think of ways to build something like that in the current T2 enviornment.
Here's Bliss' 1997 version:

Mana Production
4x City of Brass
7x Island
3x Plains
1x Black Lotus (is this card any good? j/k)
3x Lotus Petal
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring

Card Drawing
1x Anscestral Recall
1x Timetwister
1x Time Walk
1x Gaea's Blessing
1x Regrowth
1x Braingeyser
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Jayemdae Tome
1x Library of Alexandria

Offense
1x Rack
1x Jester's Cap
1x Tormod's Crypt

A Lock
2x Disrupting Scepter
1x Amnesia (I forget what this one does )
4x Mana Drain
2x Counterspell

Defense
3x Blood Moon
1x Moat
1x The Abyss
2x Swords to Plowshares
3x Disenchant
1x Balance
1x Ivory Tower
1x Cursed Totem

(This is how Bliss typed it, not me)

I'm a hugh fan of Control via Stalling, so I attempted to put together a deck with "The Deck"'s objective in mind.

"A Deck": extremely loosely based on "The Deck"
2x Misdirection
4x Absorb
4x Counterspell
2x Disrupting Scepter
1x Teferi's Moat
1x Spiritual Assylum
2x Rout
2x Wrath of God
1x Restock
2x Fact or Fiction
4x Accumulated Knowledge
1x Soothsayer
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
2x Lobotomy
1x G/W Cameo
1x U/B Cameo
1x U/W Cameo
2x Disenchant
2x Jeweled Spirit
1x Rackling
1x Story Circle
4x City of Brass
1x Elfhame Palace
1x Brushland
2x Underground River
2x Adarkar Wastes
2x Coastal Tower
1x Kor Haven
3x Plains
6x Island

This deck is a working "Pile" in progress, but I am so fascinated by it's possibilities that I am 'play-testing' with it to see if it's remotely tournament worthy.
Any suggestions (besides, "Give it up YJ"), are welcomed.

 

[Spiderman]

and I still haven't found an original decklist for "The Deck" (apparently Library of Dominaria closed down) but I do remember:

It was very passive
It attempted to control almost every aspect of the game (card drawing and deprivation, creature control especially)

I remember the Serras were in because since they didn't tap, they were offense and defense.

There might have been a Mirror Universe in there too...

I don't know if that's what you're trying to do since I'm no good with current cards, but those are the goals of the original deck.

 

[Taysir]

The original point of "The Deck" was pure card advantage: To make your opponent's cards either go away or become worthless. I've been trying to work on a similar deck myself. I've seen a couple flaws in your design. First, the ONE Restock splashed in makes no sense. It's your only green card. Second, there are actually better cards than Jewelled Spirit to be a finisher for this deck. The Serra Angels in the original Deck discouraged the opponent from attacking. The Blinding Angel goes one better, making it impossible for the opponent to attack. With that in mind, here's my revision:

"A Deck": extremely loosely based on "The Deck"
1x Misdirection
4x Absorb
4x Counterspell
2x Disrupting Scepter
2x Teferi's Moat
1x Spiritual Assylum
2x Rout
2x Wrath of God
2x Fact or Fiction
4x Accumulated Knowledge
1x Soothsayer
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
2x Lobotomy
1x U/B Cameo
1x U/W Cameo
2x Disenchant
2x Jeweled Spirit
2x Blinding Angel
1x Story Circle
4x Salt Marsh
2x Adarkar Wastes
4x Coastal Tower
1x Kor Haven
5x Plains
7x Island

This is only a very cursory revision. I will try to do a better one when I'm not already late for class. Also, after Planeshift is released, this deck should have Meddling Mages added...

 

[Killer Joe]

...a single green card is uncalled for, however, Restock is a good choice because of what it does. I'll just have to get over it not being in the deck.
Here's a little more tuned deck (btw, I don't have any Blinding Angels,....yet.)
Spells
4x Undermine
4x Absorb
4x Counterspell
2x Disrupting Scepter
2x Wrath of God
2x Rout
1x Teferi's Moat
1x Story Circle
2x Lobotomy
1x Soothsayer
2x Fact or Fiction
4x Accumulated Knowledge
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
2x Disenchant
1x Spiritual Asylum
1x U/B Cameo
1x U/W Cameo
Creatures
2x Jeweled Spirit
1x Rackling
Land
2x City of Brass
4x Salt Marsh
4x Coastal Tower
4x Adarkar Wastes
5x Island
3x Plains

I really like the Rackling in there, it probably should go, I'll see.

 

[rkoelsch]

and not using Vampiric Tutor because of life loss?
Which is understandable but that should be the only reason as Vampiric is superior to the other tutors.
Here are some other cards to think about.
Seer Vision
Recoil
Ivory Mask maybe S/B
Armored Guardian works well with Blinding Angel

 

[krichaiushii]

Absorbs provide you life, so Vampiric Tutor should cause little concern.

Also, as the purpose seems to be to stall and frustrate your opponent into submission via a lock, instead of reducing his life to 0, you might be able to replace the Undermines with either a mono-blue counterspell of your choice, or another type of card entirely.

Also, regarding the new dual lands -- while you have very few 1 drops to worry about, getting a "come into play tapped" land could prove disastrous in mid or late game, especially if you are waiting to cast your Rout or something else before its too late. You might consider running 3 and 3, or even 4 and 2, should you cut the Undermines, reducing the need for black mana even more.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Duel]

I actually spent time making this, because The Deck is so interesting to watch. the first time I saw it, my response was "THIS is gonna WIN?!?" The Deck looks like a pile, but the key is card advantage, not card drawing. Every other card should provide card advantage (stop 2 of their cards)

The WHAT?!?!
3 Pulse of llanowar
1 Lobotomy
1 Story Circle
1 Teferi's moat
1 Tsabo's Web
1 Lotus guardian
1 Haunted crossroads
1 Soothsaying
2 Sterling grove
3 Vampiric tutor
2 Hannah, ship's navigator
1 Seal of cleansing
1 Disenchant
1 Parallax wave
1 Parallax tide
1 Seal of doom
1 Scorching Lava
3 Undermine
4 Birds of paradise
3 Counterspell
1 Ivory mask
1 Spiritual asylum
1 Millstone
2 Enlightened tutor
2 Pyre zombies

4 City of brass
5 forests
4 Plains
3 Islands
3 Swamps
2 Mountains