Survival of the fittest anyone?

Arkane · Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 2

Well, first of all, I'm coming back to magic after a long break. I used to play ATS back then, and it was kinda dominant. But when I tried it over the internet it was a big turndown

I've decided to build it again but with a different approach. I was thinking of the old Meddling mage - Vial combo, and well survival just adds up. I have yet to test this deck seriously, I have just played 3 matchups, one of them being solidarity, and the other 2 were rogue decks, I won the 3.

Here's the list. It may need tweaking but any help is greatly appreciated.

AggresiveVialSurvival

20 Lands:

3 Flooded Strand
3 Windswept Heath
1 Island
4 Tropical Island
4 Savannah
4 Tundra
1 Forest

21 Creatures:

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Meddling Mage
4 Spell Stutter Sprite **
3 Tarmogoyf
2 Mystic Enforcer
1 Genesis
1 Brawn
1 Wonder
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

7 Draw:
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder

12 Other:
4 AEther Vial
4 Survival of the fittest

4 Removal:
4 Swords to Plowshares

** I went with Spellstutter because of the Vial, if I keep it at 2 I can always sneak a Tarmo, Mage or the sprite, I tried Mother of runes and Eternal Witness, but they didn't workout well.

I also have no Idea for the SB, All I can think of is Pithing Needle, but I dont know if its good in legacy. When I stopped it had just come out and never got a chance to see it in action.

Thanks in advance.

NahHolmes · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 576

I'm no survival expert but here goes...
Rootwala isn't that good, I'd replace
Meddling Mage sucks in this deck and isn't aggro enough if thats your game run 1x of the can't play cmc 4 or more legend and maybe 1 more in side if needed then you free up 3 slots and stop combo
Run 4 goyfs OMG
Vial isn't that good here, there's a new creature in the next set g/r g/r for a 2/2 that can't be countered and make a spell uncounterable for g/r run him instead but maybe not 4x
Brawn sucks, Wonder does this job better but I'd even cut that, Anger is the best of them all in survival decks and you run these over it? run Anger cut brawn for anything else (Mystic Snake, Rofellos, even Gigapede are all better in this deck) cut Wonder maybe if you can't Survival he sucks if you can you should win anyways maybe not though.
Eternal Witness is good as hell as a 1x, if they are about to kill survival you can survival up a witness and get back your power card.
Swords are not so great in a supposedly aggro survival deck.
Enforcer is not so great.
Maybe you should run FOW depending on your blue card count Counterbalance is popular now in survival i hear.

Either way you either need to commit to aggro, in which case cut white or blue (or maybe both) and seriously commit to aggro or utilize the toolbox that survival allows you better. Aggro survival will get easier to make after the next set most likely.

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 432

with this deck i dont see why you play survival, your not abusing it to its full potential like you could be.

KeySam · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 481

The most important thing about survival is toolboxing and you dont realy use that. You just use it as a card advantage engine. Here you can get an overview about some survival decks if you dont like what i am suggesting: http://www.deckcheck.net/list.php?type=Survival&format=Legacy

My favorite survival deck is the recurring nightmare version.(although i dont see them on the list there Razz

). If you dont know it, it takes Priest of Gix + Yosei to recur with recurring nightmare.(to lock out the oppoent) this works because the cards got re worded like the once where. It obviously didnt need to combo but its a very strong lock. Anyway i suggest look into the decks i sayed and you will find some i guess.

Malakai97 · Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Posts: 12

I'm not aware of any Meddling Mage+Aether Vial combo; vialing him out does not counter a spell, but it does prevent a card from being played for its madness cost. Too bad madness isn't good in legacy. I would cut him completely; despite what you might think, he is _not_ good.

I really don't see survival of the fittest resolving against Threshold or any other aggro-control decks, or pure control decks.

That new creature that makes something uncounterable is too slow; don't bother.

Keep the Swords to Plowshares.

Drop basking rootwalla, replace with either Llanowar, Birds, creatures for the toolbox, or maybe even Daze.

Run 4 Tarmogoyf.

Lose brawn, _maybe_ keep wonder, bring in Anger; he should be your first tutor target 99% of the time, usually followed by Rofellos for some ridiculousness. It's worth playing a mountain or two for him; haste is the best keyword ability in the game.

Loaming Shaman and Eternal Witness are both good 1-of's. I don't know if genesis is necessary...he may be a win-more card, you'll find out in testing. You currently don't run enough land for him anyway.

Cut Mystic Enforcer; Gigapede is better, and this frees up a slot.

Combo still beats you, even with SotF resolved. They tend to pack Thoughtseize or maindeck Chain of Vapor anyway.

You may want to consider running more basics, especially with the low land count, as Wasteland is common.

Spellstutter...you'll need testing.

At this point Threshold will just counter Survival, take out a goyf or two through counters or Swords, and will then ignore the rest of your deck as it crushes you with Tarmogoyf/Werebear/Nimble Mongoose.

Control will counter survival, might counter vial, and nothing else is relevant to them.

Pernicious Deed > you
Engineered Explosives > you

I don't think you have much of a game without SotF out. Most of your creatures don't have that great an impact on the board. Mage naming Tarmogoyf plus vial to put your own out is nice, but it requires you to do something bad, like play Meddling Mage in the first place.

I've tried SotF decks intermittently, and every time they haven't been able to compete since about 3 or 4 years ago. I think if you played more matches against the good decks or against good players you'd find that out, because you basically lose the tempo battle while they do whatever they have to in order to keep you from pressing your advantage.

And solidarity is crap compared to the other combo decks in the format.

Pete · Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

I still have a Survival of the Fittest deck put together. These are my suggestions:

Keep the Basking Rootwallas. Against Counter, they are a good one drop and if you sneak Survival in you are beating them down with 4 of them very soon.

I run Tortured Existence as a reverse Survival if I get stuff countered or removed. It tends to run them out of counters in hand if they have to keep countering the same card. Squee is key here.

I run Volrath's Shapeshifter with the Akroma/Phage combo out of the Library so I can win on the turn I bring the Shapeshifter into play. It goes something like:

(Shapeshifter in hand) End of their turn, Survival Squee for Akroma. Your turn, discard Akroma for Phage. Play the Shapeshifter, which becomes Akroma and swing for 6. When they can't block (of block effectively), let combat damage go on the stack and then discard Phage. You get arounf the "You Lose" effect and then Phage deals lethal damage.

I run utility to combat removal or Goblin-type fast swarms. My favorite care to run is Myojin of Cleansing Fire. Discard MoCF to get Shapeshifter and then cast it. Remove the Divinity counter and wrath the board. I run untargetable creatures to respond to them trying to remove the Shapeshifter.

The only thing that really hoses you is Lobotomy effects, Tormod's Crypt and Planar Void. You can recover from just about anything else. The deck can kill with Phage on turn 3 and very often on turn 4.