The New* Miracle Grow

(Work in Progress. Most recent update: 4/12/19)

Only 6 non-land rare cards!

 This is a re-imagining of the archetype popularized in the 1997 PTQ. This deck plays a minimal amount of lands, a high amount of low cost non-creature spells, and a few creatures with high synergistic value. This deck was built with this Wizard's of the Coast article by Alex Shvartsman in mind.

  The 1997 PTQ list:

Land: 12 Total

4 Tundra
4 Tropical Island
2 Flood Plain
1 Island
1 Savannah

Creatures: 16 Total

4 Werebear
4 Quirion Dryad
2 Mystic Enforcer
2 Merfolk Looter
4 Meddling Mage

Spells: 32 Total

4 Sleight Of Hand
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Foil
4 Land Grant
3 Winter Orb
4 Gush
3 Swords To Plowshares

Shvartzman summarized the general idea of the deck, writing, "...  Miracle Grow - a blue weenie deck splashing green for Land Grant and Quirion Dryad - which would grow quickly thanks to the many one-casting cost library manipulation spells." 

Our gameplan remains the same as that of our precursor's. Minimize land counts and grow your creatures. Thanks to Deeproot Champion we have access to a replacement for Quirion Dryad.

The rest of the deck can similarily be built on the framework the 1997 PTQ finalists refined. Let's take a look at what some of the cards in the original list tried to accomplish.

Quirion Dryad is one of most obvious cards with a current substitution in  Deeproot Champion

Werebear can be substituted for Incubation Druid, which is arguably an upgrade to the original slot. That said, I'm not 100% sold on the necessity of Incubation Druid.

Mystic Enforcer is a durable four-mana beatdown. We don't yet have a direct replacement, and I'm currently running Murmuring Mystic in this slot. Galloping Lizrog is an option (great synergy with Pteramander), and the new expansion card Roalesk, Apex Hybrid may even be a consideration.

Merfolk Looter can be substitued for Surge Mare, Gateway Sneak, Nightvale Sprite or the upcoming cards Augur of Bolas , Erratic Visionary , or Spellkeeper Weird.

Currently testing Curious Obsession in this spot.

We don't have a direct replacement for Meddling Mage in purpose. However, we do have Pteramander which burns a bit more rubber and can provide some serious offensive clout.

SLEIGHT OF HAND 

U (CMC), Sorcery

"Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other on the bottom of your library."

Sleight Of Hand unfortunately doesn't work with the image code here, so you'll have to click the link. Its fairly even to Opt and both have their advantages. I'd call this a 1-for-1 replacement.

We have no direct replacement for Swords to Plowshares. Right now, the list is running Blink of an Eye in its place.

No replacement exists for Winter Orb. I'd like to believe it would be less useful now than it was in 1997 (high prevalance of Mono-Red and Mono-Blue), but I'd be fooling myself. Winter Orb or a close replacement would be amazing. The most similar that I've been able to come up with would be either Sorcerous Spyglass or Amulet of Safekeeping, but that's really r e a c h i n g. Maybe War of the Spark will bring a reprint. 

The other cards are in a bit of a flux, and subject to change. Right now, I'm really enjoying the utility and protection of Dive Down and Spell Pierce. We also have very good options available for both land tutoring and low-cost card draw.

**One important thing to keep in mind**

You ideally want at least two mana sources in your starting hand.

That could mean one land and one land-tutor. Don't be afraid to mulligan.

You may see some changes to this write-up and the list. This is a work in progress, and I hope that anyone interested in bringing back this archetype will help contribute. So far its extremely rewarding to play, albeit quite difficult. Comment below, and I'll try to respond quickly. 

EDIT: 3/10/19 - Dropped some lands. Added Curious Obsession which has excellent synergy with Incubation Druid as well as the other creature spells.

 THIS IS VERSION 1.3. More to come.