JensDagon

Same reason that Burn in Legacy runs Fireblast, the alternative casting cost has no mana requirement. I wouldn't put it on the same level as Force of Will, but manaless casting is still a big deal, even if it's not a counter.

It's quite epic. Islandwalk, Shroud, Trample? Yes, very yes!

That's about right, actually. Another thing that can be said about it is that it's not unlike the music of Frank Zappa, it's bizarre nature often finds it being lost on people.

It's certainly been a while, and quite a nice run so far. :)
http://i.imgur.com/TLN38i6.gif

Honestly I enjoyed Inkwell most, it could have only been more amusing if it had been a Kraken(for reasons of Liam Neeson sound clips). This is quite fun, but honestly the Doomsday Gush deck is still my favorite for Vintage. Winning with Laboratory Maniac is just such a blast, whereas this is just "lolz, big robot kills you".

D&T and Maverick are amongst the banes of MtG to me, they're like Fish, in that they're not necessarily actually very good decks, they're just solid. Oh, and obnoxious.

The best results I've had against such decks is aiming for Blind Obedience and Meekstone. Then disrupting their Æther Vials, not that it will stop that mana base, but it will slow them down to a more manageable pace.
Amusingly though, while Stox dies to D&T in a brutal fashion, I've had a good success rate against them with Contamination builds.

I think they became such a hit because they're quite enjoyable to pilot, without being exceedingly about winning like some decks. Certainly they win, and they do it with good regularity, but they're not at all like Storm; it's not simply a race to win, it's a game to play.

And Sorin is quite good, I think honestly that's what surprises me the most. I never thought of sticking a walker in these designs, except maybe Liliana of the Veil.

I'm not sure what surprises me more, Sorin, Blood Artist, or that these things have become a bit of a pet project for the vault.

Dream Halls decks are one of those silly things I can never hate, my first combo deck had been the Conflux version, so much fun.
When I tried Omniscience I wound up doing it with the Academy Rector and Living Wish variant, it was surprisingly enjoyable. I may or may not have gone with that simply because it was enjoyable convoluted...

Enter the Infinite and Lightning Greaves make for surprise wins, I quite like it.

I wouldn't go with it, it'd be mana ramp, in a deck that plays elves.

Of course not, as I said, it wasn't originally my idea, so it'd be quite odd of me to think ill of you taking from it!

I know at least you haven't offended me, it's quite a nice sentiment.

No Wasteland, no Cursecatchers in the main, and a playset of Ponder? It seems like you're trading the traditional power of Merfolk for the pure aggression of True-Name, which I think is a shame.

Nice. I'm quite interested to see how things go down with all the matches I need to do @_@

Grim Monolith is one of the best methods of ramp in Stax in my opinion. Metalworker takes a turn, and dies, Sol Ring is banned in Legacy, and that continues on with Mana Crypt and Mana Vault, leaving Grim Monolith the easiest accelerant for the deck. I've had opponents simply fold after opening with a Sol land, and going Grim Monolith into Trinisphere.

Yeah, and it's actually nowhere near as ANT+ feeling as I expected. I still don't enjoy it as much as the less sculpted, more engineered luck version I'm used to, but it'd certainly be less of a headache at tournaments.

-Quite true, I stuck it in because I'm a sucker for Iggy. It allows wins we simply should not have.

-Eeeergh, I really hate the UU cost, but again, you have much more experience in this variant.

-The card disadvantage is biting, but the fact that it's a non-land reusable mana source is not. Certainly we can't make use of it as well as PactSI or ANT, but honestly I'd not mind having a second of it. But being able to Brainstorm away excess Cantrips is just as well as turning them into mana when running Rain of Filth.

Bushwhacker can be really powerful in Young Pyromancer builds of any sort, right now though I'm testing Memnites because it's a free creature for Infernal Plunge, and it feels a bit like SI. Well, as much as Modern allows.
It's something I was thinking of putting in the SB, but I will be testing them vs Memnites over the next few days.

I saw somebody using that, and I like the idea, but the only thing I could honestly agree with trading out for it would be Desperate Ravings. I'm trying to talk to some people who use it to see how well it's doing for them, and testing a version without it as a parallel.

Yeah, I actually had almost exactly that happen last night...

I'm not jamming Shallow Grave in the deck, I think it's more useful than Animate Dead. I putting a third Grisly in, over Jin-Gitaxias, that point I concede. Jin-Gitaxias doesn't scale appropriately with Grisly.

Hapless Researcher is old tech, every time I played them back in the day I would rather have had something that dug me as far as a Careful Study. Faithless Looting had many people excited over the idea of what it would do in Dredge, I was happy to have something that digs more than one card deep.
Reanimator tech is moderately cyclic, in that regard, and many others. For a good while Blitz was ridiculed, whereas before that(and now to a point) it is the preference.

Stifle isn't even in there for Graveyard hate anymore, it's there because my friends exist. Taxes, Hive Mind, Forgemaster, and more. If I know they're not there, Stifle becomes Surgical Extraction, Pyroblast goes down to three, and I add another bounce spell.

Because Terravore is still massive regardless, and has Trample. If I could fit Wasteland in without ruining the landbase, I would, and love Terravore more yes, but it's still a beautifully powerful creature given its cost.

Sometimes there are things that even Elesh Norn or Griselbrand can't stop from beating you into submission(Zoo, Maverick, or Affinity all with good pilots usually), and for these things I play Empyrial Archangel. Previously the soup du jour was Blazing Archon, making for a lovely day against Sneak & Show, but then everybody realized it wasn't worth having the better game one against them(which we already had) to eat a Path to Exile and get swamped.
(Ab)using Grisly with less fear is a reason she's played, but the first is of far greater significance.

The quote is a personal favorite of mine from music, which is saying a lot considering how many great quotes exist in music. Such an astute observation of humanity, and a thought I often have in "the bible belt".

Burn at the Stake is an interesting win condition, how often do you find yourself hitting the terminal seven creatures for that win condition? I understand it's trivial post-EtW, but I'd be more concerned with how it acts /without/.

I think I may have to go up to three copies of Battle Hymn after seeing this. Not certain though, as it's a tad situational, even with Young Pyromancer since I'm using Infernal Plunge.

Easier to cast turn one because of only single red mana requirement, and larger size. First/Doublestrike is nice, but being eaten a Goyf is not. And I have to say that since it moved away from actually playing Dragons, I quite like the deck, but still feel guilt for calling it Dragon Stompy.

You drive me crazy with that boogie oogie oogie oogie oogie!

Chains of Mephistopheles with Underworld Dreams and Liliana's Caress is so cold I can scarcely believe it.