Other options include Memoricide, Surgical Extraction and Extirpate (which when coupled with discard are pretty devastating). Unless your build is really removal-light, you shouldn't be dying to their creatures, and if you can remove their combo and other relevant stuff it's not a hard matchup.
I already have 2 Extirpate in the side. Memorcide is just to expensive to cast. Surgical can be stopped with schenanigans. My list has a more tempo-y feel. Hand and land hate. The board wipes seem relevant against alot of the aggro decks. Affinity and Pod have generally small butted creatures. I just gotta test more. Not giving up on this deck.
Seeing as how discard doesn't do much against the Pod matchup, I'd bring in more board control. Their creatures usually border on the smallish side anyway. 4 infest and a massacre wurm might be too much but I really hate that deck. The leylines didn't really do much for me as they would always kill it or I would keep drawing into them when I didn't need nor want them. And batterskull was just to slow. I was thinking grave titan or wurmcoil as a one of and went w/ the wurm as the lifelink is a very valid ability.
I've been playing this list with some moderate success. Just got into modern and wanted to play a deck that reminded me of my old Necro deck from back in the day. Lots of hand and land destruction and value creatures for the win.
Any suggestion would be appreciated. I was thinking of replacing batterskull with lashwrithe but the life gain seems very good as well as all the nonswamps I run tho I am running Urborg. The only thing I really feel it is lacking is more draw... but what to replace...
Combo has returned to standard. Purphoros, young pyromancer and beck equals win. All we need now are more supprt cards like draw and its a deck. Well this would be killer in modern for sure!
This card has been doing alot of work for me alnog with Mutavault and Demonic Rising in a Mono-B Control build. The zero activation is a blessing as I could Mutilate then activate into a creature, activate my Mutavault and then swing in. An all star for me for sure.
The plate mail/rising engine worked fantastic. People didn't see it coming. Originally I jad messenger in the list, but the last minute choice to play lifebane zombie proved better. My meta sees lots of green and white creatures being played. Both Lilys worked perfectly and I think they are at the right number for the deck.
The sideboard wasn't completely ideal. Bant hexproof was a horrible matchup. Really considering barter in blood. It would probably work too against dega midrange which I also had a problem with as my spot removal was almost rendered useless against them. Didn't see much control which I was expecting as this store usually has alot of. Sign in blood helped a little bit but I'm also considering 2 staff of nin and another corrupt to replace them but this ups my curve substancially. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Actually, this is a very straight forward deck. The choices speak for themselves. Judge's Familiar and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben work wonders together. Everyone wants to kill Thalia. Judge makes sure it'll wait just a tad longer as you assemble the army to kill them with. Bonds of Faith can either hold back that Thragtusk they played so you could alpha strike or just make your select guy bigger for said alpha strike.
Sideboard is in the works. 4 Knight of Glory for sure. maybe some number of Dryad Militant, though not sure on the correct number. Possibly some Cathedral Sanctifier could go in as well against other aggro decks.
As with all supper aggro decks, this dies to board wipes. It just all depends on the player and knowing when or not to overextend. So far this deck has consistently beaten my other deck, Jund Midrange. Will probably bring this to some weekly tournament to further test it's mettle before dabbling in some FNM.
Hold on to my GOFT, Tragic Slip and/or Duress seem pretty good to me. The real problem I've encountered so far is against supper aggro. Legionare would kinda hellp in that department...
Hahaha! Can't believe I forhot about Blade Splicer. Might do me good to rplace the messengers as 3 black can be tough. Haha can'y believe it slipped my mind...
I've gone through various versions of this deck in my head and play testing. Something about the concept and performance keep drawing me in. It's got a fine balance of aggro and control (potentially and ideally). This is it's current form. All creative criticisms are welcome and encouraged.
I've used this deck at my last FNM and got 2nd place (lost to Naya Pod in finals). This deck goes insanely fast and has a lot of outs for damage.
Just to give a brief synopsis of what I played at FNM:
Round 1 -- vs. U/W Delver
My opponent was not familiar with the mono red matchup and could not keep up with the aggro of my tokens + Goblin Chieftan. Krenko, Mob Boss was just icing on the cake with a Cavern of Souls out in play. Both games were won out of pure aggression by turns 4 & 5. Won 2-0.
The key to this match was to get my Arc Trail out the gate as soon as my opponent tapped out to resolve a Mirran Crusader. First game went in my favor with some hefty aggro. Then my opponent sideboarded in something unique to U/W Humans: Norn's Annex. It made me a little uncomfortable as Hero of Bladehold came onto the field with an Honor of the Pure and Mirran Crusader in his back pocket. I was EXTREMELY lucky to top deck an Arms Dealer on the very next turn. I played Arms Dealer and sacrificed my Goblin Arsonist to get rid of his Hero of Bladehold. I stalled a turn and managed to pull Burn At The Stake, tapping down 3 creatures to deal 9 damage to my opponent. Won 2-0.
Round 4 -- vs. Naya Pod
The acceleration of this deck is tremendously fast. By the time I was ready to pull off my Krenko combo, my opponent would be in arms reach for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. I just did not get the ideal first 5 turns for both my games, and by the time I was ready to unload Arc Trail and Reverberate it did not even matter. Out of desperation in our second game I decided to prematurely use Burn At The Stake for 4 creatures (12 damage) while holding an Arms Dealer in my hand. I only needed to stall for one turn and he had an Acidic Slime, Birds of Paradise, and Blade Splicer on the field. I was at 18 life so I was not concerned: at most I would take 6 damage from his creatures. What could possibly go wrong? The answer: Sunblast Angel. Blew me right out of the water. At that point I conceded and graciously took the loss. Lost 0-2.
In the end though I think the Goblins deck has a lot of potential. With sideboard development and some main deck tweaking I think we can see this do fairly well. PTQ level well? Probably not, but at an FNM this deck is a lot of fun. Burn At The Stake is a definite must for this deck. The amount of damage fueled with Krenko's token production is paramount.
This deck looks sooo much fun to play. A board wipe would totally wreck this deck but it seems really fun anyway. And cheap to build at that. Well, everything except the Caverns. I'm definitely gonna give this a go.
How come not too many people have considered MonoBlackAggro? With a strong 3 zombie core, nighthawk, skirge and lashwrithe with the draw of sign in blood and the various targeted removal, it seems like a strong idea.
I already have 2 Extirpate in the side. Memorcide is just to expensive to cast. Surgical can be stopped with schenanigans. My list has a more tempo-y feel. Hand and land hate. The board wipes seem relevant against alot of the aggro decks. Affinity and Pod have generally small butted creatures. I just gotta test more. Not giving up on this deck.
Out:
MB -1 batterskull
SB -4 leyline of the void
-2 pithing needle
In:
MB +1 wurmcoil engine
SB +2 shadow of doubt
+1 massacre wurm
+1infest
+2 deathmark
Seeing as how discard doesn't do much against the Pod matchup, I'd bring in more board control. Their creatures usually border on the smallish side anyway. 4 infest and a massacre wurm might be too much but I really hate that deck. The leylines didn't really do much for me as they would always kill it or I would keep drawing into them when I didn't need nor want them. And batterskull was just to slow. I was thinking grave titan or wurmcoil as a one of and went w/ the wurm as the lifelink is a very valid ability.
4 ash zealot
4 boros reckoner
4 chandra's pheonix
3 thundermaw hellkite
4 searing spear
4 pillar of flame
4 boros charm
4 warleader's helix
1 blasphamous act
4 clifftop retreat
4 sacred foundary
12 mountain
2 mutavault
4 skullcrack
3 rolling tremblor
3 mark of mutiny
3 volcanic strength
2 burning earth
We'll see how it goes. Not to sure about the single blasphamous act in the main.
4 vampire nighthawk
4 fulminator mage
4 phyrexian obliterator
1 batterskull
4 liliana of the veil
3 thoughtseize
3 inquisition of kozilek
3 abrupt decay
2 maelstrom pulse
2 dismember
3 phyrexian arena
4 verdant catacomb
4 tectonic edge
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 overgrown tomb
1 forest
4 swamp
4 leyline of the void
2 extirpate
2 shadow of doubt
3 infest
2 maelstrom pulse
2 pithing needle
Any suggestion would be appreciated. I was thinking of replacing batterskull with lashwrithe but the life gain seems very good as well as all the nonswamps I run tho I am running Urborg. The only thing I really feel it is lacking is more draw... but what to replace...
The plate mail/rising engine worked fantastic. People didn't see it coming. Originally I jad messenger in the list, but the last minute choice to play lifebane zombie proved better. My meta sees lots of green and white creatures being played. Both Lilys worked perfectly and I think they are at the right number for the deck.
The sideboard wasn't completely ideal. Bant hexproof was a horrible matchup. Really considering barter in blood. It would probably work too against dega midrange which I also had a problem with as my spot removal was almost rendered useless against them. Didn't see much control which I was expecting as this store usually has alot of. Sign in blood helped a little bit but I'm also considering 2 staff of nin and another corrupt to replace them but this ups my curve substancially. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Lotleth Troll
3 Blood Scrivener
4 Diregraf Captain
4 Geralf's Messenger
2 Evil Twin
3 Tragic Slip
3 Rancor
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Putrefy
3 Far / Away
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Swamp
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Breeding Pool
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Evil Twin
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Ghoulcaller's Chant
2 Sever the Bloodline
4 Cremate
I'll be playing this tonite. Details coming later.
4 War Falcon
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Precinct Captain
3 Elite Inquisitor
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Angel of Jubilation
2 Bonds of Faith
18 Plains
2 Cavern of Souls
Actually, this is a very straight forward deck. The choices speak for themselves. Judge's Familiar and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben work wonders together. Everyone wants to kill Thalia. Judge makes sure it'll wait just a tad longer as you assemble the army to kill them with. Bonds of Faith can either hold back that Thragtusk they played so you could alpha strike or just make your select guy bigger for said alpha strike.
Sideboard is in the works. 4 Knight of Glory for sure. maybe some number of Dryad Militant, though not sure on the correct number. Possibly some Cathedral Sanctifier could go in as well against other aggro decks.
As with all supper aggro decks, this dies to board wipes. It just all depends on the player and knowing when or not to overextend. So far this deck has consistently beaten my other deck, Jund Midrange. Will probably bring this to some weekly tournament to further test it's mettle before dabbling in some FNM.
3 Geralf's Messenger
3 Bloodline Keeper
3 Restoration Angel
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Lingering Souls
2 Sword of War and Peace
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Go for the Throat
4 Tragic Slip
3 Duress
4 Plains
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Revoke Existence
3 Doom Blade
3 Celestial Purge
2 Liliana of the Veil
This deck looks sooo much fun to play. A board wipe would totally wreck this deck but it seems really fun anyway. And cheap to build at that. Well, everything except the Caverns. I'm definitely gonna give this a go.
or maybe this artifact version would be better?
I like both fairly equally but am leaning towards the artifact build a little more...
What do you guys think of Essence Harvest in here in place of Go For The Throats?