Puschkin

LGS? Lesbian Gay Sex?

I would do the following:
Build 2-colour decks (so colour IS a factor but not too complicated). They should all be of roughly the same build:
- one third lands, one third creatures, one third support cards
- the support cards should cover the basic things (removal, life gain, creature pumpers, some recursion) and some spells that are iconic for the given colours, so, direct damage for red, discard for black etc.
- spells and creatures should have a mid-range mana curve with a few exciting high casting cost creature that act like "bosses"
- simple, predominantly combat oriented creatures with mostly common (keyworded) abilities like flying, trample, haste etc.
- give the deck either a simple theme/focus or non at all.
- mana base should include 4 identical duallands (doesn't really matter which) and one non-basic land that has a special ability, the rest should be basic lands
- only use cards of low value that you don't mind giving away. Players should play with different decks. After some time let them pick a deck and tell them they can keep it.

Do NOT use tribals, block mechanics, control, combo, lock etc. - they have to grasp the basics first. That could be a problem, though, since these days tribes and block mechanics are so dominating and it would be good to build the decks with cards o current sets, however, if they want to learn the high art of deckbuilding, they shouldn't be spoiled with concepts they don't really understand yet.

I am currently wasted since I am with buddies over a weekend of oldschool magic.

As for you missed some of these: I play since 1994 nonstop, this is kindof an advantage. Stay tuned!

Then again, if you see a deck, do you really want to check entire Vault if there is a similar deck out there? It might have a weird deck name and you'll never find it anyway.

Take the damage, play Shared Fate and then play something bigger or removal from the opponents deck.

Because the Ritials were added later in the process-

Actually, no.

1) The opponent won't die if your library is empty since he doesn't draw anymore. He just won't get to exile stuff but where is the difference? You don't have anything useful in your deck he could get anyway. So Leveller doesn't do much besides denying him the access to more land. Leveler or not, in both cases, with Shared Fate out, your worries are the cards the opponent has already played and the card he still holds in hand.

2) You need to have Leveler in your hand prior to casting Shared Fate because once Fate is in play you won't "draw" into Leveler anymore. This makes things more complicated than it should be, the Fate has to hit play as early as possible, you can't wait to draw combopieces. But if you add Leveler, then you MUST wait for it because:

3) If your deck contains Levelers and play your Shared Fate without having it, then your opponent will eventually "draw" into leveler, play it and exile his own library.

4) If the opponent holds an enchantment removal spell in his hand by the time you cast Shared Fate and sticks to it, a Leveler would mean instant loss for YOU!

Magic of the Hot Page. Once it's there it won't go. Likes are given at whim. That's how MTGVault rolls.

I disagree on the Dark Ritual: You need that "burst" mana to actually play Share Fate asap. And once Shared Fate is in play, you do not longer care about Dark Rituals being in your deck since you won't draw them anymore. Also disagree on the Coral Atoll since it slows your down. Chromatic Lantern, however, are a good addition (so are Fellware Stones).

Let me share the experiences I made with my own Shared Fate deck:

1) You absolutely need more mana acceleration, Shared Fate has to hit play asap

2) You don't have the time to wait for the matching mana producers, you should provide them on your own. I used Fellwar Stone, Chromatic Lantern, Exotic Orchard and Undiscovered Paradise (the latter retuns to MY hand if the opponent uses it!).

3) DON'T play cards like Telling Time! Once Shared Fate is out, if the opponent exiles and casts this, he will get cards from HIS library!

4) If the opponent happens to hold a disenchant effect in hand by the time you play that Shared Fate, you are screwed. If he is clever he will hold back on to it, play all your card drawers until your library is empty and THEN nuke the Shared Fate.

5) It just doesn't work in multiplayer. Having said that I had some very weird and fun (albeit the twisted kind of "fun") games with my deck but I have never won. Once the other players realize whats going on they won't "draw" from your deck anymore. If a player loses, he and all cards he owns leave the game. This means, if opponent B has permanents from opponent C in play, he might not want to kill C because then B would lose that permanent.

Overall, it was a fun experience but I have retired the deck now. There are some players of my group that outright hate it, even if they win against it, because they "want to play with their own cards, dammit!". We also had some quarrels during play due to the problem described above - nobody plays as he should. I just think Shared Fate decks are not healthy for any group of regulars.

For reference, more explanations and evolution of Shared Fate: http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/shared-fate/

Hm, okay, I think they changed the text of Sylvan Library once again. But anyway, early game is what counts! If you use Brainstorm and Sylvan to set up something nasty, who cares that they will be dead later on?
But okay, next suggestions would be:
- Scroll Rack, it's great both for setup and for later. Another would be
- Necropotence since it doesn't draw, you put the cards into your hand - but we just wanted to eliminate black and this costs BBB. So scratch that and look into
- Fact or Fiction: It doesn't draw, too, and is therefore good both before and after Omen. It also goes well with the Welder (we keep him, right?).
- Mind Bomb could be used to discard Omen (for Welder) while annoying your opponent at the same time. Or
- Thirst for Knowledge. But you only run two Omens because you plan to tutor for it ... hm.
- Wheel and Deal would Mind Twist all opponents with Omen out :)
- Diabolic Vision: Doesn't draw AND sets up your lib
- Ancestral Knowledge: Probably the best setup card out there!

Respite also gains you life on top of a Fog effect but is one mana cheaper and therefore fits on Isochron Scepter. And all suggested Fogs are better than vanilla Fog. That's what started the discussion.

WHy not then make a deck that focusses on Omen? With things like Brainstorm and Sylvan Library. Or maybe we can do that in this deck - but to make room we would have to ditch the Blood Artists and Suture Priests (and we could cut some of the tutors then).

Riot is worse than Respite, too, plust it doesn't fit on Iso.

I don't plan to build this deck, I came here because the author asked for reviews, that's all.

IF. Why does everybody always assume they get their god-hand every game? He runs Isochron Scepter which costs 2 to activate regardless of the cc of the card you imprint. I see no reason why you would run a regular Fog in a setting like this when there are clearly better alternatives. Also, if the casting cost of jus one mana was the deciding factor, then explain why he runs Riot Control which costs 3.

But I just saw the "Modern" tag and that may be the reason. I always thought "Modern" = "New card face" and therefore thought cards like Respite should be okay because they have been reprinted with the new card face, in the case of Respite in Conspiracy, but it still isn't legal in Modern for some reason.

I just don't get why you want to take the detour via Omen Machine. This adds no less than 3 different cards, another colour and the risk you take giving your opponent stuff for free. Just to accelerate the Legion a turn or two every 20 games where you got it together? Why not just good old mana acceleration? A mix of Grim Monolith, Elvish/Simian Spirit Guide, Dark Ritual and such would get your enchantments out as fast but without the risk and by far more consistently. Heck, using things like Eladamri's Vineyard is less risky than Omen!

Why Fog again? I don't get it. There are dozens of variants of Fog out there and most of them are way better, even taking into account that they cost a bit more mana. Constant Mists, Respite, Moment's Peace, Tangle - all of them way better than Fog and still cheap enough to be put on a stick (Iso). Unlike that Riot Control BTW.

Also, you might be fine against creatures but you run zero artifact and enchantment removal which is kindof strange for a control deck with Howling Mine that aims for longer games where most players have seen more than half of their library.

You said we shouldn't butcher but ... just read your description again, you need no less than 4 different cards between your opening hand and your first 1-2 draws! And that's just to get started and not even counting lands. One of these cards is a 1/1 creature that needs to be active. If you don't draw a Welder or if he gets bolted/pathed/swordsed/whatever then your entire plan crumbles.

Other problems: This is like two decks in one, an Omen Machine deck and a token deck with Blood Artist/Surture Priest. But both parts don't work together. Omen Machine lets you cast stuff for free but the two enchantments you actually want to have in play cost just 5 (and the creatures only 2). So, why going through the trouble of adding a second combo (Welder-Entomb) to get a cc6 Artifact in play if all you use it for is casting cc5 cards? If you have Omen you could Enlighten Tutor for Blightsteel Colossus if you understand what I mean. In fact, if you had an active Welder and Entomb you could have put the Colossus into the grave and exchange it directly with Welder ... your deck is like 3 levels of unecessary Inception :)
That's not even touching all the other issues with Omen Machine. Yeah, your opponent doesn't draw cards anymore but he also gets to cast from the top of his library for free! Your deck doesn't run any kind of removal whatsoever. Even if everything works as planned I don't see your deck being fast enough. By the time Omen Machine hits play he will have drawn about 9 cards he can work with plus one card for free from then on. Do the math, any creature deck will overrun you before you get going, even if they play nothing but vanilla creatures! Here (and I will be generous with all odds in your favour, you going first and all):

Turn 1
You: Land, Welder, Amulet.
Opponent: Land, 1/1 creature.

Turn 2
You: Land, Entomb, activate Welder to get Omen in play
Opponent: Gets a card from Omen, lets say a 2/2, plays a land and plays another 2/2, attacks for 1.

Turn 3
You (19 life): In Upkeep Enlighten Tutor on Assembly the Legion, play Legion.
Opponent: Gets a card from Omen, lets be generous and say it's a land this time. Plays a land, has now 4 mana and casts a 4/4. Attacks for 5.

Turn 4
You (14 life): In upkeep you get your first token, yay! Also, tutor for Doubling Season, play Season
Opponent: Gets a card from Omen, lets be generous again and say it's a 1/1. Let's be even more generous and say he doesn't hold any more creatures. Swings for a total 9 damage, you can either kill the 1/1 and eat 8 or chumpblock the 4/4, you'll probably do the latter.

Turn 5
You (6-9 life): Finally you get going, 4 tokens! You are lucky again and Omen into a Blood Artist.
Opponent: Attacks with everything and you have to block and lose all your tokens again.

So, you will have stabilized by turn 5 but as you can see this is a perfect draw against the most basic of all decks and assumes all sorts of things.
- If the opposing creatures trample, you'll die
- If the opposing creatures fly, you'll die
- If the opponent has direct damage, you'll die
- If the opponent Omens into a fatty, you'll die
- If the opponent kills your Welder early on, you'll die
- If the opponent destroys the Legion, you'll die
- If the opposing creatures pump each other (like all of the tribes and block mechanics do), you'll die
- If the opponent is playing combo himself, well, that's hard to calculate, but odds are ... you'll die

Basically if the opponent looks funny at you, you'll die.

So, sorry, but I would HAVE to butcher! Either focus on the Omen and make this a lock deck (I think Omen Machine is an intresting card, didn't know it before) or cut all the chaff and focus on your tokens, adding midrange creatures that help you survive until Legion hits play.

Remove 2 Demonic Tutors to make this Vintage legal or all three for Legacy. Right now it isn't legal in any format.

It would also be helpful if you added a deck description. An experienced eye can see the Dark Depths/Hexmage combo but many potential viewers are not familiar with it. A useful deck description and tags should be added befor marking a deck as "unloved" ... your deck might have gotten no attention for exactly this reason!

What to cut for Living Death? Since it also brings back your creatures you could cut on one of the many reanimation cards you have. My pick would be the Oversold Cemetary - you have so much recursion that it'll be hardto activate, also, it has bad synergy with Living Death.

Mortician Beetle: Let's put it this way, I had him once in my Sacrifice/Squee deck but it was among the first I had to replace. It wasn't bad but I needed room for better stuff. But, if it was a choice of heart, then please keep this little bugger!
BTW, if you haven't done it in the past, you might want to check out said Squee deck because it has s strong sacrifice theme as well, there might be a few ideas in it:
http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/squee-tactics/