In my first look over the commons, I'd suggest Auras. There's some decent auras (Nimbus Wings, Grasp of the Hieromancer, Suppression Bonds, Infectious Bloodlust, Inferno Fist), a few decent targets for auras (Topan Freeblade, Skyhunter Skirmisher, Mage-Ring Bully and a handful of other 'reasonable' targets too - things with first strike etc), a few cards that grab them or return them (Heliod's Pilgrim, Auramancer, Ironclad Slayer) and then some reasonable interaction cards (Celestial Flare, Gideon's Reproach. Fragmentize. Angelic Purge, maybe Solemn Offering, Fiery Impulse, Shock, Galvanic Bombardment, Twin Bolt) and then there's other options too like pump etc. Since lands aren't being restricted, it'd give access to Needle Spires and any other one you want to squeeze for improvement (Skirmisher & Spires with an aura or pump could steal a win). Seems like there could be a deck there that actually could be playable.


elk

those aura tutor / recur are too slow. against vehicles or snake aggro they are too slow. Against control the recurring and tutoring aren't powerful at all. Your idea is great if it's pauper tourney since there's not many card advantage cards or efficient instant speed removal in the card pool. That's exactly why I asked the question vs pauper or ladder. To hope the deck steal wins against normal meta decks, we have to go extreme. i.e. mono red with weenies, burns, auras, steal creature etc and top curve at 4 drop (maybe splash blue, add equipments with the hex 4/4 improvise.) white can only + topan freeblade and nimbus wings, which aren't powerful enough to shake the aggro mana base.

If we talk about vs. AI, we roughly have an idea how AI decks work, right? They put creatures down and jam the board. Sometimes their creatures are decent. We can go steal and sac, or we can go a tempo approach, steal, weenie, add blue for disperse, send for inspection etc. I think vs. ai testings could be fun.

As a previous poster mentioned, I like the idea of a crats deck with a flash of red for steal and sac, plus this format makes my favorite green card viable again, bloodbriar! Still in the making but a rough draft that I've already won a few games with:

1cmc- 12
Blisterpod x4
Implement of Ferocity x4- this could be more steal and sac cards
Titan's Strength x4

2cmc- 12
Elvish Visionary x2
Primal Druid x2 - still can't figure out the right 2 drop creature for this deck
Alter's Reap x3
Wrangle x3
Larger Than Life x2 - trample for husk and briar

3cmc - 11
Nantuko Husk x4
Bloodbriar x4
Act of Treason x3

4cmc -3
Eyeless Watcher x3 - fodder for final swing

Not gonna post mana, but wilds and rogue's are in there.

I love the premise of these posts, brilliant for out of the box thinking. Watching deck construction from some of the super talented deck architects has been fun.

I've had some ideas as well; we'll see which one I'll submit as I didn't have the time to test them all. Current leader is G/W beatsticks.

Playtesting on the ladder is painful, especially when you get creamed by Mythic/rare goodstuff cards and your spike opponents have to pull out all their tricks to beat you...
Anyway, I did manage to beat a R40... Who was hopelessly mana-screwed at 1 Land (no idea why he kept that hand), but I actually got a good curve and may have had a chance anyway.
So I went 1-3 with the izzet deck and it isn't that bad, but definitely has its weaknesses (lilly, harvesters, to name a few...) still at R38, wonder where I'll end up...

I told you it could be extreme. Haven't tried anything yet, but at this point testing vs ai seems the best choice.

I'm committed to trying these on the ladder, can't wait

Something tells me you'll be singing a different tune once you've played a few games

I don't know what that tune will be but I have a hunch about the lyrics.

"You allll.... are horribllle dehhhkbuilderrrrs!"

I'm 2-0 with mine so far, but it's Xbox and I don't think either win was against someone over Rank 15.

I also like the direction my deck is taking... but I'm having some issues with the removal portion. For competitive play, the removal is going to be difficult, IMO - as most of the common level removal is geared against aggro decks - and that really isn't the meta. Still, this is a fun challenge.

I built a red based aggro deck with splash white for borrowed grace.
the deck features 12 1 drop creatures, titans strength, dragon foddler, thriving grubs, mage ring bully, aether chaser, bloodlust, and 4 borrowed grace.
20 lands. i manage to use hubs, clifftop and basic lands to reach 14 red (turn 1 red untapped) and 11 white (turn 3 borrowed grace).

it was a struggle on ladder. With some luck i can win occasionally but all losses were miserable.. sometimes i manage to fight but just inevitably loses as the game streches long and opponent getting their radiant flames, languish or good stuff like kalitas, gisela, thalia. any of these is almost auto loss. People pack anti-aggro stuff for the meta and my strategy is trash.

then if i add more removals, bombardments, fiery impulses, those reduces my creature count. opponent just throw to me some random removals. my weenies can't deal any damage any more.

any planeswalker hit the floor = GG.

Nantuko Husk is apparently a build around but deck has very few other threats to attract removal. even if im extremely lucky to accomplish steal and sac, the deck runs out of gas almost right away.

Alright, my decklist just beat planeswalker.dec. Not the best iteration of it and I needed to draw 3 of my Suppression Bonds, but it is possible.

Anyways, since some people have already posted their current lists, here's mine:

Creatures (20)
4 x Audacious Infiltrator
4 x Topan Freeblade

4 x Glint-Sleeve Artisan
4 x Thriving Rhino

4 x Peema Outrider

Non-creature spells (18)
2 x Fragmentize
4 x Enshrouding Mist

4 x Rabid Bite

4 x Wildsize

4 x Suppression Bonds

Lands (22)
5 x Plains
9 x Forest
4 x Sandstone Bridge
4 x Evolving Wilds


Not 100% sure this is the list I'll submit. I might end up changing some cards like Thriving Rhino or cut some Rabid Bite or Wildsize for other stuff the deck might want.
Another idea I had was Sigardian Priest, but she didn't really impress me.

Omg can't wait to try whatever Modulo comes up with

Ok, so here's the breakdown so far:

First Instinct is to go aggro, because most aggro decks run quite a few commons and some of the more powerful ones available. This is an ok approach, that can producing some low-curve fast decks that can pull off some wins if your opponent durdles, falters and can't find Answers. But, the decks are ok at best and totally outclassed by other aggro decks on the ladder and susceptable to removal heavy decks that are rampant. So decks suffer much the same difficulties that other aggro decks suffer but with a much lower power level.

So what next? Synergy decks.
That's where I'm at, atm. I've got a couple of brews a-cookin'.
First: mono-blue counter-bounce-aggro

This is a spin-off of the izzet deck I posted, but the burn got replaced by counters and bounce. Mono makes the mana simpler.
The idea is similar to the Spirit decks, but with much less access to Flash creatures, drop an evasive threat T1/T2, Then T3 onward counter and bounce anything that will make you lose the race.

Next, mono-red artifacts.

This is a poorer version of another deck I'm working on without the limitations, called rakvolutions. Compared to that version, this deck looses a lot of Artifact recursion options, but tries to make up for that being more aggressive.
The key card is Reckless Fireweaver and the idea is to cycle quickly through your deck, while dropping threats and Vehicles. With the low curve, the maps are fuel for the Cathartic Reunions, to keep the threats coming.
This deck probably needs tuning, and not drawing Fireweavers or getting them killed hurts, but the deck works.

And the third candidate: Dimir energy AKA the guns of Navarone or live fast and die young.

This deck started by me looking at all the Common Energy cards and choosing the colors with the most versatile effects. The idea is kind of crazy, with nearly every card in the deck generating energy and thus fueling each other. Add some blink and recursion and those Turrets will be blasting every turn. Still untested, but the idea seems fun and a great way to do those energy daily quests.

Man, I love how most of us are sharing the info before the contest, this is super-interesting for me, lol

Yesterday I had a lot of spare time, but no PC...so I was thinking and brewing pen-and-paper a bit, and got to many of the same conclusions as you... I'm gonna make a thread just for this kind of discussion...of course you are particularly invited to participate

I thought maybe some like this, after elves failed:

Main Deck (60)
Creatures (14)
4 x Mage-Ring Bully
4 x Thermo-Alchemist
4 x Umara Entangler
2 x Pyre Hound

Spells (24)
1 x Dispel
4 x Implement of Combustion
4 x Shock
4 x Slip Through Space
4 x Twin Bolt
3 x Touch of the Void
4 x Fiery Temper

Lands (22)
1 x Highland Lake
2 x Sulfur Falls
2 x Wandering Fumarole
3 x Aether Hub
5 x Island
9 x Mountain

How is it doing? I tried the Prowess aproach, but it didn't convince me too much Do you consistently get to 4 landrops with just 22 lands? Does it matter?

Well it crushes the AI lol

I don't know, I'm still testing it, tbh. I might not join in on this one, as I'm running out of time, and I don't want to force people to play with an auto loss deck in vs.

4th land doesn't seem to be an issue and the deck doesn't really need it anyway - with only 2 4 drops. It's got plenty of cantrips to help it along.

Prowess does seem decent, if you want my opinion, but prowess really isn't my kind of deck, so I'm not the best person to try to build it.