Discussion Forum

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=318987

This is both the most competitive deck I've ever crafted and the worst deck to bring into a tournament I've ever crafted. It's got it all: beatdown, control, disruption, ramp, card advantage, you name it - but it seems really hard to play. I don't think I'm honestly good enough to play it.

The deck elements:

* The Core: Young Wolf, Doomed Traveler, Mentor of the Meek, and Suture Priest. This is all about life gain and card advantaged triggered by guys entering your side, combined with guys who enter your side multiple times. You will have a faster draw, more life, and a bunch of weenies to beat the other guy with.
* The Ramp: Birds of Paradise and Solemn Simulacrum. This will get you to fat mana supplies fairly fast, and works well combined with the Mentor's card draw engine.
* The Disruption: Fiend Hunter and Beast Within. These cards provide a good answer to a number of problems, and just as importantly, synergize with everything else in the deck. Beast can pop your Wolves and Travelers for Priest/Mentor activation, pop bad guys on their side to cause life drain from the Priests, get the card draw from your simulacrum, throw things into your vat, or hate on their lands. The Hunter is a great answer to Norn, a big help to the Priest with all the in-and-out it enables, and a fantastic combination if you catch it in the Vat. They even work with each other; if you give an opponent a Beast token, exile it with the Hunter and you don't need to worry about it coming back.
* The Explosion: Sun Titan, Mimic Vat, and Garruk Relentless. These are the cards that work with the rest of this deck to jaw-dropping effect. The Vat is awesome with just about every other creature in this deck, particularly the Titan and the Hunter. The Titan can bring every permanent besides Garruk and itself out of your yard. Both sides of Garruk have great uses: bringing in critters to trigger the Priest and Mentor, using sac or damage effects to pop the Wolves or Travelers, digging for Titans, and dropping an Overrun effect in the late game.
* The Land: This is weighted a bit more to the forests because of the Birds, but has all the white and green sources needed to hit our mana requirements. The deck runs 24 lands because its card advantage engine, the Mentor and Simulacrum, don't come in on turn 1. Gavony Townships are a fun way to dominate the late game once your mana base is solid.


The sideboard has Autumn's Veil to handle counterspells, Ray of Revelation to counter Tempered Virtue, Nevermore and Oblivion Ring to counter hate brought against you, another Beast for when you need to pop stuff, and another Vat for taking on Zombie Aggro decks and the like that need their critters in the yard. Elixir of Immortality is in there so we don't mill ourselves; with it in the deck, we can literally go on forever. Note that every permanent in the board can be recurred with your Titan.

So why does this deck worry me?

I don't know if it can adapt fast enough mid-game if I make the mistake of being too aggressive or not aggressive enough in the early stages. This may be my lack of play experience, but I am overwhelmed by the options, strategies, and plans you could execute with this deck. Any feedback from players with tourny experience in the current standard would be greatly appreciated.