Yeah, I've read that text, I do love it, and it definitely fuels my interest in BUG, it's just unfortunate that Simic is so weak competitively, and Golgari is losing steam and getting almost no help from the next set.

You know thewyzman, I don't appreciate your pessimism about Simic =P (assuming you mean GU in general and not specifically Evolve). My biggest point of contention would be that it is "weak on offense;" any deck with Green creatures better not be weak on offense, and I honestly think that Simic has at least as much upside as any other guild in terms of sheer power, if not more. Because of that, as you said earlier Zicca21, removal and general counterspells aren't as necessary to Simic as most other midrange strategies since your guys will likely be bigger and badder as long as you can get them to stick.

If you want Simic, or any synergy-dependent build, to be competitive (I think I said this before but I can't remember), CARD ADVANTAGE is the key!!! Your opponent can easily Hero's Downfall your important pieces, but they'll have a hard time coming up with kill spell after kill spell if you have ample draw power reloading your hand. Counterspells and other protection are nice to have here and there, but if you're waiting around to have mana open to play them or for Prophet of Kruphix to show up, that's too slow and unreliable.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I want you to know that it is possible to make these kinds of decks competitive. Again, I might have posted this pre- comment reset but I can't remember; I have now made four Top 8's including two Top 4's, in fields of 40-60 people, with my competitive Simic deck My Prophet, Your Loss (Top 4 FNM). I honestly think the reason I have had success is due to the seven draw power engines, being Garruk, Caller of Beasts , Jace, Architect of Thought , and Prime Speaker Zegana . Due to their volume, I see at least one or two almost every game. Similarly, my pre-rotation Simic Elfhoof? Believe it (Top 4 FNM) had eight sources of hard-hitting draw power (Garruk, Caller of Beasts , Garruk, Primal Hunter , and Soul of the Harvest ) on top of Elvish Visionary and Civilized Scholar  ^Flip for filtering out threats. Believe me, it's a formula that works. If you're drawing enough cards, all the kill spells in the world won't stop your deck.

Sorry, ChrisHansonBiomancin, I'm a disgruntled Simic player (evolve version, as you called it, although sometimes I do refer to it as simply the G/U guild). I don't really call G/U decks Simic if they're not at least loosely hinged on counters. I don't have any Kalonian Hydra and cannot afford one. Much like AEtherling , it's practically its own win-con in any deck. There is a guy at my FNM that beats me every game, every week with it (and believe me, I can't save a kill spell for it, else he'll kill me surely with something else; it's a $300+ MGD deck). I also do not have any Jace, or Garruk.

Beyond that, check out all my Simic decks, because none of them have brought me to any Top 8. The only Top 8 I've ever been in was with my Jarad's Yard dredge deck. My FNM is about 40% aggro (W, R, or G/R) decks and 30% control (U/W) and no Simic deck I've come up with has withstood any of it.

Now, /end rant/ ...

Speaking of card advantage, I do think Prime Speaker Zegana should have a place in this deck as she shines with lots of creatures and especially a Corpsejack Menace or two in play. Just make sure you don't bring her in with a CJM and a Hydra such that you draw yourself out! I doubt you have enough black for a Underworld Connections , but if you don't want creature-based draw, I've seen a simple Divination change games in control decks.

Prime Speaker Zegana has been played in this build before but the problem was the amount of counters she would come in with. It isn't outrageous for a creature to come in as 16/16 and to try and put her on top of that she'll mill me out in no time! I put in Fathom Mage and we'll try that out as well as my Jace, Architect of Thought .

Thanks for be persistent in getting me to card draw, it will turn this game around. Bred for the Hunt is sometimes a little slow, and I like the creatures drawing me cards better then an enchantment. Because creatures are more consistent for me with Garruk, Caller of Beasts . But if I want another 3-drop, that may be in.

I love Bioshift in decks like this

Bioshift is best when CJM is out and you're shifting counters (doubley) from a dying creature.. but you don't typically want your creatures dying..... or removing them to clear off a Fathom Mage or Renegade Krasis for continued evolutions.

Simic is hardly weak in power as i have completed turn 4-5 kills in standard with simic, and adding black only makes it stronger. I have actually using corpse jacks,master biomancer and a lucky progenitor mimic summoned 64/64 elvish mystics for 1 green mana. Also same deck i had to play online simply so i could figure out calculations because some of my creatures were ENTERING THE BATTLEFIELD at over 1000 power. I do think bug is stronger than simic , but how could it not be. You have green ramp, beastly creatures, and enchant removal, blue counters or simic evolve triggers, and black brings the third piece of evolve with corpse jack and mono black removal plus golgari has best removal in the game in form of golgari charm, putrefy, and abrupt decay. I love 3 color decks and play Jund , Simic, and Rug mostly, all of which I have used and better than 50%of the time beaten esper control, mono blue devotion, and Mono black devotion at FNM and even bigger tournaments. And I play at a store that has people who have both top 4d ptq's and grand prixs multiple times, and has people playing next pro tour event.

Please, kingperry314, do share this Simic and/or BUG deck that beats the best decks in the world. I would much love to see a deck in those formats that can compete in a pro tour event. I have yet to see one.

Solid deck!+1 from me!