When a friend tells you they're 43-7 with a deck, it's probably best to pay attention.
Stefan Schütz (a.k.a. MentalMisstep) took a little break from Magic, but he's back with a vengeance! He's been deep in the workshop brewing up some wild / decks, including a hilarious (and surprisingly powerful) Minotaur Painter brew (link here). The list we're talking about today is a bit more serious.
If you remember back to the Modern days of yore, the best decks didn't dedicate themselves to the combo. Instead, they played this very reasonable fair midrange game plan, and forced their opponent to play suboptimally by threatening the combo at all times.
The thesis for Stefan's RUG Snow Painter list is very similar. You present the very powerful "Snow" gameplan of and , throw in with a pile of s, and threaten to win the game on the spot with a activation.
The opponent has to respect your fair midrange gameplan while balancing not losing to the combo, while your plans even synergize with each other! Oko is great at Elking pesky Painter hate-pieces like or , while presents a bunch of 1-mana split cards of /, propping up the fair game plan.
The downside? These sort of hybrid combo decks are classically hard to play, as you also have to weigh and balance your two game plans in both play and sideboarding. In the interest of learning, I gave it a shot and launched this deck into a Legacy League! Decklist and video below: