So on my 8-hour drive from Ohio to New York today I thought of two different ways to abuse one of my favorite cards from Zendikar: Bloodghast. I view it almost as a mini, repeatable Demigod of Revenge.
Basically, the idea is to use a multitude of sweepers and some select spot removal to continually clear the board, leaving it open for waves of Bloodghasts returning from the 'yard after you drop/fetch a land.
Violent Outburst, while not a great card on its own, fulfills a really key role in the G Cascade list: it serves as a tutor for the 2cmc spells - Bloodghast and Rampant Growth. Thus, with every Violent Outburst, you will also get a free creature, or several free creatures at instant speed.
Grow up, man. All cards have hosers. ALL decks can be hosed. Every serious MTG player knows that. It would all boil down to what decks are in the current metagame. The sideboards will help, too.
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Life it seems will fade away...
Life's for my own, to live my own way...
Currently playing:
EDH
:symu::symr::symw: Ruhan the Combolicious
Momir Vig Elfball combo
Kemba tokenator/voltron
Omnath, locus of muscle
i do like the basic premise of using Bloodghast to make the deck resilient against board sweepers. however, i don't think that its necessary to make your own deck's theme to sweep the board. all things considered Bloodghast would rather stay in play and just attack instead of having to rely on a combo situation of Sweep+Landfall.
i'd love to see this idea developed further because its got alot of potential. i'd definitely be more interested in keeping it aggressive though.
i'd be going for something like this, more or less
Level 31 Invoker
Pride is a powerful tool; it makes us fight harder when we are weak as does it cut us down while we are at our prime.
If you are a player in the Lancaster, PA area or go to school at Millersville University there is a Magic Club that holds all kinds of events! Checkout our Facebook Page or message me, Austin Rittle! http://www.facebook.com/groups/170267396386812/
Actually, the big problem with Bloodghast is that's an average card as long as your opponent have more than 10 life. You need to chump that first half to get running... before that... you're stick with a 2/1 that CAN'T BLOCK and that probably won't pass their defenses anyway.
Something as simple as a Cudgel Troll (or any other regenerable creature) could mess your whole plan sooo easily. You need more beaters to make this works and/or more burn.
I agree that we need a quick way to lower the opponent's life to 10. That's where Hellspark Elemental and Blightning come in. In the Cascade list, I really wanted to play Bolt (not to mention Earthquake), but I didn't want to mess up the synergy I had with Bloodghast + Rampant Growth.
I do think that the deck could benefit from more creatures/board presence. Now that persist is rotated out, along with Spitemare (my previous pet card), its tough to find creatures that can swing, and either benefit from being swept away (like Finks, Redcap, Sprouting Thrinax), or can keep coming back (Hellspark, Hell's Thunder, Anathemancer, Magma Phoenix).
I do think that the general strategy of the deck is solid. Swing. Sweep. Swing. Sweep. It's got enough tools to deal with the most rampant of aggro decks (Elves, Goblins, and maybe Vamps). We just need to work on its offensive capabilities against control or midrange strategies.
What type of Sideboards are you running for each deck?
Either deck can support Anathemancer, Goblin Ruinblaster, and Gatekeeper of Malakir - all good sideboard options. A few of the new Traps, and Pithing Needle, too.
Actually, the big problem with Bloodghast is that's an average card as long as your opponent have more than 10 life. You need to chump that first half to get running... before that... you're stick with a 2/1 that CAN'T BLOCK and that probably won't pass their defenses anyway.
Something as simple as a Cudgel Troll (or any other regenerable creature) could mess your whole plan sooo easily. You need more beaters to make this works and/or more burn.
I wouldn't say it's an average card, but I see your point. I originally ran Sarkhan Vol, to ensure it could swing right away, even if the opponent had more than 10 life.
The point of this deck is that they won't HAVE any defenses after the relentless sweeping. Neither will we, but we have creatures that keep coming back in waves.
Why're you using 4 Verdant Marshes and only 1 forest and swamp respectively? Wouldn't that make two+ dead lands once you get the lone swamp and forest out?
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Phylactery Lich will forever be known, to me at least, as Pimpin' Lich. Get up on it, suckas.
Do you think its possible that the bloodghast could revive something similar to the Black and Blue nether-spirit control deck?
90% counterspell & control
10% creatures that are hard to get rid of?
IIRC most versions of Nether Spirit ran 2-3 spirits, and a few Top 8 lists ran only a single Spirit main with a second in the Board for the mirror. Truly it was a variant of U/W control, with nether spirit as a win con. Even so, lets say there were a way to build it. It ran 2 probes as a way to get the spirit into the GY if you needed to. There's no real equivalent at the moment.
I'm working on this variant, but if not deliberately, WoTC seems to have done a good job of hiding the methods of abuse. The closest thing to useable I've found is the Chandra Ablaze/Pyromancer's Ascension list, since you're maindecking lots of draw (so 'mise land on the draw' or blightning targetting yourself isn't the only practical way to get him into the yard.)
It works well. I think this is a different way of thinking of Bloodghast, including him in a burn deck/haste deck wins build, instead of a generic aggro/vampire build. The truth is, he works well in any deck with black in it but plays best with other hasty guys and burn so he can be hasty too.
Do you think its possible that the bloodghast could revive something similar to the Black and Blue nether-spirit control deck?
90% counterspell & control
10% creatures that are hard to get rid of?
If Bloodghast could block, then this would be a workable idea. Sadly, a huge part of Nether Spirits power was that he was an early, eternal blocker when needed.
still getting my head around ob-nixliss, a 5 mana 3/3 that lightning bolts an opponent and gets a permanent +3/+3 for every land drop? Sounds very breakable to me.
I'm old school, about as OLD school as they get. think 4th Edition/Ice Age old school. Unfortunatley in the "Real world" you cant Incinerate your bank manager and sadly now I have joined the ranks of the older population, and my time is taken up by things like reasearching Mortgage Refinance Rates and where to get the best possible mortgage quotes. I have however discovered the joys of Online Forex Trading which at least allows me to keep the bills in check!
That said, here are the two separate lists:
BRW
4 Bloodghast
2 Ob Nixilis, The Fallen
4 Sign In Blood
4 Blightning
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Day of Judgement
3 Earthquake
3 Path to Exile
4 Arid Mesa
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Dragonskull Summit
6 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Plains
CASCADE BLOODGHAST
RGB
4 Great Stable Stag / Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Sarkhan Vol
4 Rampant Growth
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Jund Charm
3 Violent Outburst
4 Verdant Marsh
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Dragonskull Summit
6 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Forest
Basically, the idea is to use a multitude of sweepers and some select spot removal to continually clear the board, leaving it open for waves of Bloodghasts returning from the 'yard after you drop/fetch a land.
Violent Outburst, while not a great card on its own, fulfills a really key role in the G Cascade list: it serves as a tutor for the 2cmc spells - Bloodghast and Rampant Growth. Thus, with every Violent Outburst, you will also get a free creature, or several free creatures at instant speed.
Let me know what you think!
currently playing:
LEGACY
loam/depthsBG
Sneak showUR
LED DredgeUBR
ReanimatorUB
landsBURG
EDH
DoranWBG
JhoiraUR
Life's for my own, to live my own way...
Currently playing:
EDH
:symu::symr::symw: Ruhan the Combolicious
Momir Vig Elfball combo
Kemba tokenator/voltron
Omnath, locus of muscle
i'd love to see this idea developed further because its got alot of potential. i'd definitely be more interested in keeping it aggressive though.
i'd be going for something like this, more or less
4 Duress
4 Blightning
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Earthquake
(18 spells)
4 Bloodghast
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Anathemancer
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Big Guys (Ob Nixilis or something)
(18 creatures)
24 lands (preferably with a good helping of utility lands)
edit: corrected land count
Pride is a powerful tool; it makes us fight harder when we are weak as does it cut us down while we are at our prime.
If you are a player in the Lancaster, PA area or go to school at Millersville University there is a Magic Club that holds all kinds of events! Checkout our Facebook Page or message me, Austin Rittle! http://www.facebook.com/groups/170267396386812/
Something as simple as a Cudgel Troll (or any other regenerable creature) could mess your whole plan sooo easily. You need more beaters to make this works and/or more burn.
BLOODGHAST
BRw
4 Bloodghast
2 Ob Nixilis, The Fallen
4 Sign In Blood
4 Blightning
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Day of Judgement
3 Earthquake
3 Path to Exile
4 Arid Mesa
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Dragonskull Summit
6 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Plains
CASCADE BLOODGHAST
RGb
4 Great Stable Stag
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Rampant Growth
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Violent Outburst
3 Jund Charm
4 Verdant Marsh
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Dragonskull Summit
6 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Forest
I agree that we need a quick way to lower the opponent's life to 10. That's where Hellspark Elemental and Blightning come in. In the Cascade list, I really wanted to play Bolt (not to mention Earthquake), but I didn't want to mess up the synergy I had with Bloodghast + Rampant Growth.
I do think that the deck could benefit from more creatures/board presence. Now that persist is rotated out, along with Spitemare (my previous pet card), its tough to find creatures that can swing, and either benefit from being swept away (like Finks, Redcap, Sprouting Thrinax), or can keep coming back (Hellspark, Hell's Thunder, Anathemancer, Magma Phoenix).
I do think that the general strategy of the deck is solid. Swing. Sweep. Swing. Sweep. It's got enough tools to deal with the most rampant of aggro decks (Elves, Goblins, and maybe Vamps). We just need to work on its offensive capabilities against control or midrange strategies.
Either deck can support Anathemancer, Goblin Ruinblaster, and Gatekeeper of Malakir - all good sideboard options. A few of the new Traps, and Pithing Needle, too.
I wouldn't say it's an average card, but I see your point. I originally ran Sarkhan Vol, to ensure it could swing right away, even if the opponent had more than 10 life.
The point of this deck is that they won't HAVE any defenses after the relentless sweeping. Neither will we, but we have creatures that keep coming back in waves.
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90% counterspell & control
10% creatures that are hard to get rid of?
IIRC most versions of Nether Spirit ran 2-3 spirits, and a few Top 8 lists ran only a single Spirit main with a second in the Board for the mirror. Truly it was a variant of U/W control, with nether spirit as a win con. Even so, lets say there were a way to build it. It ran 2 probes as a way to get the spirit into the GY if you needed to. There's no real equivalent at the moment.
I'm working on this variant, but if not deliberately, WoTC seems to have done a good job of hiding the methods of abuse. The closest thing to useable I've found is the Chandra Ablaze/Pyromancer's Ascension list, since you're maindecking lots of draw (so 'mise land on the draw' or blightning targetting yourself isn't the only practical way to get him into the yard.)
Mainboard:
4 Bloodghast
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
3 Earthquake
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Crumbling Necropolis
6 Mountain
7 Swamp
Sideboard:
4 Archive Trap
4 Duress
4 Pithing Needle
3 Manabarbs
It works well. I think this is a different way of thinking of Bloodghast, including him in a burn deck/haste deck wins build, instead of a generic aggro/vampire build. The truth is, he works well in any deck with black in it but plays best with other hasty guys and burn so he can be hasty too.
If Bloodghast could block, then this would be a workable idea. Sadly, a huge part of Nether Spirits power was that he was an early, eternal blocker when needed.
Harrow and this guy are going to be good buds.
This is where you gentlemen want to be looking, the deck is absolutely brutal.
Pauper EDH: ~ Rhox War Monk ~ Scornful Aether-Lich ~ Ashenmoor Gouger ~ Ascended Lawmage ~ Nightscape Battlemage ~ Warden of the Eye ~ Hedge Troll ~ Dinrova Horror ~ Renata
Pauper 60: ~ Caw Blade ~ MonoU Delver ~ MonoW Monk Fish ~
Standard: ~ Boros Knights ~ RDW ~
Pioneer: ~ U BControl ~
Modern: ~ UB Control ~
Legacy/Vintage: ~ MonoU Delver ~
93/94: ~ Erhnamgeddon ~