A few of you asked to see what a laboratory maniac deck looks like, and since I managed to draft one tonight, I thought I would post it--and yes, it was a blast to play. This was my first time with the deck, and it was very challenging, reminding me a bit of pod in modern where you are a solid value deck, but sometimes you just go off and kill someone.
It was the most fun I've had with sun titan as he gets back laboratory maniac, altar of dementia, and Skaab Ruinator. Combined with dread return and Corpse connoisseur, it was pretty open ended the types of plays you could setup, and very difficult to just shut the deck down.
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Ultimate Trump Card
This deck was super nutty and just felt like the ultimate trump to whatever my opponents were doing. The sideboard had relevant cards that I swapped in and out depending on what the matchup was.
I really like the idea of a bug ramp deck but this one looks really weird. I feel like it's been a long time since I saw a deck less suited to Lightning Greaves. The Elvish Demistify is also kinda curious but I could see in this day in age how it might be less awful than it used to be, though one would think you'd be cool with zenith + sage. Pharika is also supes weird but I guess I can't argue with results!4 man 3-0 Deck was BUG Ramp. 2-1 (me) was RWB control, 1-2 was WG aura/human, 0-3 was RG beats.
I don't remember the lands. This might no have been the exact main deck. He also had Young Wolf and Grim Affliction that saw play out of the sideboard or might have been maindeck in place of Safekeeper and Boneshredder. Affliction is either way.
Skulker never got a counter on it, which is a decent sign of its power level. Yavimaya Dryad is still amazing. Reclamation Sage's "May" clause has already been important in a game. Ant Queen kinda sucks, but in small pools, you make do. He didn't take swarmyard. Pharika got GSZ'd for in a game and it wasn't a stupid decision. I had a decent matchup against the deck, but Spreading Seas soundly punished my 3 color mana base in game two and even with 10 (!) removal spells I couldn't control his ramp.
Bug Ramp
Well, my cube runs over 100 non-god enchants, so Lyrist is a pretty solid pick. I'm considering shaving off the tap symbol like I did on Tragic Poet to make it more consistent with Ronom Unicorn. I think the Greaves were easily the worst card in the deck and he should have been playing whichever black removal card wasn't in the main deck in the main deck (or the Condescend in his board!). Pharika is pretty decent, I mean its not ophiomancer (which I don't run), but a deck with 19 creatures, most of which are disposable thats a lot of snakes. She swung as a 7/7 in one game thanks to Liege.
Also remember this is a 4 man draft (32 pick westchester) so that means you're bound to get some marginal includes. We usually do 40 picks, but time was an issue.