Ok, The Keeper has definately had better days -- and perhaps is at it's lowest ebb in some time.
My Keeper was getting stomped by everything I played against competitively except JP's Patriot. Here is what I've been losing too: Red Tubbies, Trix (50/50), Blue (surpise).
Here is what I was playing:
// Mana Sources
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
2 Underground River
3 Wasteland
4 City of Brass
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
// Countermagic
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
// Paths to Victory
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Morphling
// Searching and Drawing
2 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
// Discard
4 Duress
1 Mind Twist
// Recursion
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Timetwister
1 Regrowth
// Removal
1 Vindicate
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Balance
1 Moat
1 The Abyss
It just hasn't been working.
I'd lose to Blue every time a Back to Basics hit in extended game. Even with effectively 14 counterspells counting Duress and the very helpful Misdirections.
I'd lose to trix becuase my deck was too slow to defend itself against well timed abeyances, duresses, and pyro's galore. Trix would just go off too fast and the misdirections were bad. Merchant scroll is worse than horrible in this match up -- not to mention abyss, moat, and edict and timetwister is sub-optimal (I'd rather it be a counterspell).
Enough about my specific deck -- taking a look at the most damaging cards from the three decks : Back to Basics, Blood Moon, and Illusions (necro and bargain really) -- what do they all have in common?
They are enchantments. So if I lose because of the speed of the trix and the damage of b2b and blood moon. I need an immediate defense. After all that is what "the deck" is about - having an answer. Big Blue (acc blue) is most vulnerable in the first two or three turns. My possible solution and the one I'm testing is Seal of Cleansing -- in multiples. It's a card I'm beginning to love.
A first turn seal drop can save me from being locked down by blue, give me an autowin against trix, and slow down red tubbies. Not to mention that seal kills the beast.
Here is the deck I've built so far:
//NAME: The Hammer v.6
// Mana Sources
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Underground River
2 Wasteland
4 City of Brass
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
// Countermagic
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
// Paths to Victory
2 Morphling
// Searching and Drawing
3 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
// Discard
4 Duress
1 Mind Twist
// Recursion
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Regrowth
// Removal
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Moat
1 The Abyss
Try to ignore the sideboard if you can.
// Sideboard
// Keeper/Mono Blue
SB: 1 Balance
SB: 3 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
// Aggro- Sligh, Zoo, Pox
SB: 2 Zuran Orb
SB: 3 Hydroblast
SB: 1 Moat
SB: 2 Swords to Plowshares
// Combo - Pox
SB: 2 Seal of Cleansing
My Keeper is less 4/5 color than W/B/U now with white in the core. While I like the deck alot I need help with the mana base.
But beyond my speicific deck needs, and more about the genaral idea,
What do you all think?
Stephen Menendian
Steven, I was having the same problem with my Keeper deck. It got to a point where I was getting beaten by everything; sligh, zoo, Pox and Mono-Blue. Mana Denial was the key. Sligh and Zoo would Wasteland and Gorilla me to death, Pox would sinkhole me and Mono-blue would BToB me. I thought about more enchantment removal, but that didn't really solve the problem. In today's metagame, the mana base of Keeper is just too fragile to withstand three Wastelands.
My solution was to strip the deck down and add Ophidians. I also upped my basic land count to five Islands. A first or second turn Ophidian solves all of my problems. After the Phid goes to work for a few turns I find that I have no problem gaining control of the matchup. I can also run just fine with BtoB in play and I even run Bloodmoon in my own sideboard.
I really think that Keeper's day is past. I honestly believe that it has become obsolete.
Oh, and about your mana base:
-1 Tundra
-3 Underground River
-1 Adakar Waste
-1 Undiscovered Paradise
for
+4 Islands
+2 Wastelands
You will find that with Islands in play you will have a much easier time establishing your mana base in the face of Wastelands.
Good luck.
I agree that the mana base is part of it's fragility, and some of the changes I've made in the mana base reflect that , ie, the removal of tolarian and less wastelands and the extra rivers to support duress.
The only way I could put in basics is if I removed the duresses and put in islands and impulses instead. But at this point I'm not that desparate. I think Keeper is salvagable w/ Duresses. Until I'm convinced that it's not I will do something more radical.
Stephen Menendian
Sorry I can't offer more than one line of semi-intelligent babble, but its dinner time, but: There is a reason OSE has been played more often lately: Mana, Mishra's Factories, and the fact that everything you need is still there.
-Eric