If there are things from experience so far that I would want to drop its probably Prime Speaker and maybe the thoughtseizes. Underworld connections really helps to make Phenax active and combos well with Coursers to help you get a land drop, plus getting to use it twice as much with prophet is amazing.
The deck probably needs life gain the most at the moment so might need an option on that, Horizon Chimera might be the go on that.
At the moment the SB is mainly just hate against other decks, charms and duress against control, doomblades for gruul and Unravel the Aether against God decks.
Ok let me say this, without Preeminent Captain you shouldn't play Captain of the Watch! a 6 mana that isn't THAT impressive. Run Baneslayers if you have them I am going to give this version a chance
If you had Emeria out with the land to activate it and say two HotP, what would be better CotW or Baneslayer? Why run Emeria and not run CotW is the point I am making. So if you run Emeria you may as well have two in.
I have found many games I haven't needed her to win so it definitely isn't a case of needing her in the deck. When she has dropped it has either meant a win or making your opponent hold removal to get her which can also be a useful thing to have.
In the end I think it is important to note the land base. If you are running Emeria in your land, run CotW, its silly not to run something when you are playing cards that work late game and it is huge board advantage every time you bring her back. If you want to go full aggro, dont run either of them as it doesn't really fit to play for T6+.
I used to play B/W tokens a lot and this deck could have a play at mid-range with token generators and HotP boosting them, especially with the return of the wrath effect.
Just a comment on the Nighthawk. Many people are justifying dropping due to various reasons such as preferring first strike or having a glut of 3cmc casts already. From playing a lot of block I see it as in the very least a strong option for SB, if not the main deck, after seeing how strong the 5 color decks are there and the prevalence of Wall of Denial.
I was playing around with Alara block constructed, and I realized that only a couple of cards are really expensive in any deck, and it's rare that the deck can't be modified to function without them. As a thought exercise I came up with this:
The key benefit to this deck is that all the active cards together cost under $5, using mostly channelfireball.com prices. I've no idea how competitive it will be without the Ethersworn Canonist, Master of Etherium, or Tidehallow Sculler but I must say that the deck is a lot more difficult to sweep than any other aggro deck I've ever played. It relies extensively on piggy-backing on the opponent's mass removal. It requires Wrath of God, and in Block that's not going to happen.
What do you think?
I would think you would run Borderposts as well as they are common.
I would probably not go towards 6 land of each color but run either 5 of the plains and islands with 9 forests so you have 23 all up. With Bant aggro you really need a first turn forest and noble heirarch in your hand to get a solid chance of winning.
Third turn rafiq and hitting for 12+ is the way this deck wins.
Been reading here for a while but thought I would post some stuff.
Has anyone tried running Mask of Riddles in the SB? It would seem to be a good thing for pumping the glaze fiend and keep the cards coming for further pumpage. Also helps negate a Wall of Denial.
Also, anyone had much testing of Tezzeret in here as an alternate finisher?
The deck probably needs life gain the most at the moment so might need an option on that, Horizon Chimera might be the go on that.
Basically once you get a Prophet of Kruphix Consuming Aberration and Phenax, God of Deception out you win the game in about three untap phases.
This is what I am working with at the moment.
3x Consuming Aberration
2x Prime Speaker Zegana
4x Prophet of Kruphix
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Courser of Kruphix
3x Phenax, God of Deception
Enchantment
3x Underworld Connection
Sorcery
3x Thoughtseize
Instant
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Cyclonic Rift
2x Hero's Downfall
2x Putrefy
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Land
4x Breeding pool
2x Forest
1x Island
4x Overgrown Tomb
1x Swamp
4x Temple of Deceit
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Watery Grave
2x Doom Blade
3x Golgari Charm
1x Hero's Downfall
3x Unravel the Aether
3x Drown in Sorrow
3x Duress
At the moment the SB is mainly just hate against other decks, charms and duress against control, doomblades for gruul and Unravel the Aether against God decks.
Learn how Harm's Way actually works on there, has to be the most misplayed card on MTGO.
If you had Emeria out with the land to activate it and say two HotP, what would be better CotW or Baneslayer? Why run Emeria and not run CotW is the point I am making. So if you run Emeria you may as well have two in.
I have found many games I haven't needed her to win so it definitely isn't a case of needing her in the deck. When she has dropped it has either meant a win or making your opponent hold removal to get her which can also be a useful thing to have.
In the end I think it is important to note the land base. If you are running Emeria in your land, run CotW, its silly not to run something when you are playing cards that work late game and it is huge board advantage every time you bring her back. If you want to go full aggro, dont run either of them as it doesn't really fit to play for T6+.
I used to play B/W tokens a lot and this deck could have a play at mid-range with token generators and HotP boosting them, especially with the return of the wrath effect.
I would think you would run Borderposts as well as they are common.
Rafiq has exalted to so it would actually be 5/6 the first attack and 7/8 on the second making 24 dmg all up.
Third turn rafiq and hitting for 12+ is the way this deck wins.
Been reading here for a while but thought I would post some stuff.
Has anyone tried running Mask of Riddles in the SB? It would seem to be a good thing for pumping the glaze fiend and keep the cards coming for further pumpage. Also helps negate a Wall of Denial.
Also, anyone had much testing of Tezzeret in here as an alternate finisher?