Alright the past two months I have been very interested in having a {Maze's End} deck be some what competative. I feel as though my decklist has reached that point where it is competitive enough and can be a serious contender. Now this deck started off very cheap at around thirty dollars I have added to it a lot and added a sideboard and now the deck is around 50 dollars so it is still very budget. I am inlove with this deck and I hope you are too this forsure will be the deck I run with until rotation in october.
Here is the decklist:
Lands x27
{Golgari Guildgate} x2
{Simic Guildgate} x2
{Dimir Guildgate} x2
{Selesnya Guildgate} x2
{Azorius Guildgate} x2
{Izzet Guildgate} x2
{Rakdos Guildgate} x2
{Gruul Guildgate} x2
{Orzhov Guildgate} x2
{Boros Guildgate} x2
{Forest} x4
{Maze's End} x3
Creatures x8
{Avacyn's Pilgrim} x4
{Saruli Gatekeepers} x4
Noncreature spells x25
{Supreme Verdict} x4
{Lingering Souls} x4
{Verdant Haven} x4
{Door to Nothingness} x1
{Faithless Looting} x4
{Ral Zarek} x1
{Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker} x2
{Obzedat's Aid} x3
{Far // Away} x2
Im going to talk about the main deck in detail before showing the sideboard.
The Lands:
So I obviously need two of every {Guildgate} and three to four {Maze's End} but the four {Forest} is key in this deck it comes in untapped which huge also a turn one {Avacyn's Pilgrim} is very huge for this deck another powerful play is turn one red guildgate turn 2 forest so you can {Faithless Looting} and drop {Avacyn's Pilgrim} sets up for a turn four {Nicol Bolas}
The Creatures:
{Avacyn's Pilgrim} is the best mana acceleration in this deck it speeds up the deck by a turn and speeds up my stabilization a turn earlier. {Saruli Gatekeepers} is very good against almost all decks in standard right now seven life and a powerful blocker is nothing to laugh at. You might be thinking where is {Gatecreeper Vine}? And my answer is that he is just got good enough he doesnt block all that well and he doesnt add mana to my mana pool.
The NonCreature spells:
Well when your LGS doesnt have {Urban Evolution} you get stuck playing {Obzedat's Aid} or atleast thats what I thought when I had to get {Obzedat's Aid} but I found out it is a million times better it lets me have insane cards in my deck like {Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker} come into play on turn four or five it lets me play additional lands if I discard them with {Faithless Looting} it lets me gain 7 more life off of {Saruli Gatekeepers} or bring back a discarded {Door to Nothingness}, {Obzedat's Aid} is a very powerful card I once ultimated {Ral Zarek} brought him back and ultimated him again without my opponent being able to do anything. {Verdant Haven} is another card people shrug their shoulders at but it is very relevent two life is enough life to keep me alive against aggro decks and the ramp is insane. {Supreme Verdict} and {Far // Away} are very good with dealing with my opponents creatures and im running eight creatures so losing one isn't that bad. {Lingering Souls} is one the best addition to the deck spirits can block all day and it gives me something to pitch to {Faithless Looting} if I have nothing else.
The Sideboard
{Oblivion Ring} x3
{Acidic Slime} x4
{Angel of Serenity} x1
{Ground Seal} x3
{Obzedat's Aid} x1
{Devour Flesh} x3
The sideboard was thrown together very fast but it turned out to be very good {Oblivion Ring} answers everything except Bant hexproof and it answers all planeswalkers. {Acidic Slime} is in here pretty much for the mirror and some control decks can be really hurt by losing a land. {Angel of Serenity} is for Junk it is hard for them to deal with her and I can use it to reuse my other creatures. {Ground Seal} over {Rest in Peace} every day it draws a card which is huge in a deck like this. {Obzedat's Aid} goes in if they are playing control because they eventually run out of answers if you just bring all your win conditions back from the grave. {Devour Flesh} is probably the worst card in my sideboard and im looking to get ahold of replacememts for it the best thing its good for is against Jund killing {Falkenrath Aristocrat} becauss that card is way good against us, I will probably be adding {Terminus} in the near future.
This deck isnt the best but it definetly will put up a fight its very skill intensive too knowing when the best time to cast spells is very key for this deck. The worst record I had at an FNM was 3-1 and the best was 4-0 this deck has a hard time with the blitz decks but everything else it beats fairly easy. I have been having a blast playing this deck I am a very huge fan of budget decks in standard where we get to just have fun. Im scared for after rotation I love this deck and play it every chance I can get. Thanks for reading!
Quote from: Taysby on June 25, 2013, 03:12:55 PM
what about the guy that taps to untap a gate?
He was replaced by {Lingering Souls}
Is {Urban Evolution} and {Chromatic Lantern} good?
Quote from: bravado883 on June 25, 2013, 03:54:42 PM
I'm still thinking {Gatecreeper Vine} does good work in letting you tutor for a specific gate, but I suppose if you can stall long enough it's unnecessary. My only question revolves around my favorite, almost made me want to play gates gate card: {Crackling Perimeter}. My question is simply this: Why no {Crackling Perimeter}!?!?!
Also...i think I may totally build a Maze's End deck for pre-rotation shenanigans. Nice list!
It is definetly good im not saying its bad I just have other better ways to win games {Door to Nothingness} I think is a better {Crackling Perimeter}
Quote from: Dudecore on June 25, 2013, 03:45:38 PM
Is {Urban Evolution} and {Chromatic Lantern} good?
{Obzedat's Aid} with support is better than {Urban Evolution}. And I orginally had {Chromatic Lantern} but it was replaced by {Verdant Haven}
Have you seen my list it was extremely competitive going 4 -0 on modo