Team G.A.P.P.I.U.

Brewin’ (Primer for my post-rotation deck)

So here’s what I’m dreaming up. It’s a UB control shell that looks to abuse the Forbidden Alchemy/Visions of Beyond/Snapcaster Mage synergy as a draw engine that’ll hopefully draw you out into game-winning spells.
 
Instants
3x Go for the Throat
3x Doom Blade
4x Mana Leak
 
These should be fairly obvious. Control the board, disrupt their game plan, etc etc. Perhaps the list could look to fit some Dismember.
 
4x Visions of Beyond
4x Forbidden Alchemy
 
Part of the engine. Forbidden Alchemy feeds the graveyard while streamlining your draws, Visions of Beyond will hopefully be a 1-mana Ancestral Vision.
 
Sorcery
3x Duress
2x Despise
2x Sorin’s Vengeance
 
Without any testing, I’m currently unsure of the hand disruption package. I’m wondering if Mind Rot would simply be better in these slots just to feed their yard more, and with Obstinate Baloth rotating this is less of a liability despite it being a slightly worse spell.
 
Sorin’s Vengeance, however, is the win condition I’m set on currently. It’s a sorcery so you don’t mind dumping into the yard off of Alchemy, as you can always flash it back with Snapcaster Mage. Another possibility is Army of the Damned, but is a bit more mana-intensive.
 
Creatures
4x Snapcaster Mage
 
Easily the coolest card in the set, and the necessary means to abuse things getting dumped into your graveyard. It essentially means you’re running 16 Mana Leaks, 8 Sorin’s Vengeance, etc.
 
Planeswalkers
4x Liliana of the Veil
2x Jace, Memory Adept
 
Both these guys feed your graveyard and provide tremendous card advantage. Again, you don’t card about dumping some spells into the yard off of Liliana’s +1 ability, and Jace will activate Visions if he’s allowed to live for two turns.
 
The manabase is fairly straight forward. Our curve is pretty low (sans the Sorin’s Vengeance) so 25 seemed sufficient to me, with all the appropriate UB duals. A land I find interesting is Nephalia Drownyard for the turns where the deck has nothing else to do and needs to feed the yard some more. I’m not sure 4 is the right number but it’s my number for now.
 
So here’s the list altogether:
 
Instants (18)
3x Go for the Throat
3x Doom Blade
4x Mana Leak
4x Visions of Beyond
4x Forbidden Alchemy
 
Sorcery (7)
3x Duress
2x Despise
2x Sorin’s Vengeance
 
Creatures (4)
4x Snapcaster Mage
 
Planeswalkers (6)
4x Liliana of the Veil
2x Jace, Memory Adept
 
Lands (25)
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Nephalia Drownyard
8x Swamp
5x Island
 
Problems I see right away: Lack of creatures. I have a creeping feeling that the format is going to be very creature-heavy, especially with Tempered Steel not losing much its former glory. Thus we’ll have a very limited interaction with the early game if we don’t draw the right removal or hand disruption.
 
Cards I’m considering to fix this problem: Err…I’m not exactly sure. I think Jace’s Archivist belongs in the deck to help dig and feed the graveyard, but again is not very interactive with aggro since you want him to stick around.
 
EJ suggested Deranged Assistant which is something I can get behind to ensure early mill as well as ramping into earlier Jaces.
 
Black Sun’s Zenith is a definite, and will definitely find its way into the 75 since it’ll buy us some time to stabilize.
 
I’ve also considered the more traditional finishers in Consecrated Sphinx and Grave Titan. Evil Twin also looks like an exciting option, but not necessarily fitting in the deck. The only reason I’m hesitant about adding more creatures is that it interferes with the game’s plan—namely, dumping spells into the graveyard that Snapcaster can use.
 
Of course, all this is really speculative, as the set isn’t even fully spoiled and the format is in no way defined. That being said: how about some feedback?

Can’t find some of the cards I’m talking about? Here’s the link to the visual spoilers.

posted by Andrew