MTG Salvation

Knight of Glory

Cost: 1W
Creature Type: Human Knight
Power/Toughness: 2/1
Abilities: Protection from Black; Exalted

In a W, G/W, R/W, or Naya aggro deck, does this belong - alongside, or in opposition, to Fiendslayer Paladin even? He blocks Olivia and is immune to her shot/snatch, as well as blocks / swings through a pretty large amount of the field. I think he may be better than his 3 cmc cousin because of the relevant protection alone.

In a G/W shell, would you run this guy over Rancor if you only had room for one or the other?

Quote from stahmxv

GW Humans was a thing pre-Gatecrash and was a solid tier 2 deck, IIRC. Your list seems to be veering extremely close to that and you might want to consider going that route. To that end, dropping Dryad Militant for Experiment One or Champion of the Parish would be a way to increase your aggressiveness. From there, you're looking at a minimum of 14 humans with no other changes. Bringing in Mayor of Avabruck could then be a welcome addition.

Just a thought.

--

As for your mana base, replacing Forest with Stomping Ground would help you be able to cast your Boros Reckoners without compromising your other colors or slowing you down (at the cost of 2 life). This is done in R/G Aggro for the same reason (except replacing Forest with Temple Garden). The only issue with this is that Burning Earth appears to be a sideboard option for R/G Aggro. If you feel this will be a thing in your meta, I might would drop the Boros Reckoner all together.

First of all, thank you for your counsel and clarification, stahmxv -- I appreciate you taking the time to swing by the thread and lend me some advice.

I'm not certain a human theme, or even subtheme, would benefit me. I think that the Dryad is a solid start against Reanimator, Rites, and Snapcaster decks, and while the Champion / Experiment are more aggressive, they're very reliant on other creatures (whereas the threats I aim to drop are superior along the curve, fast, and all benefit from Brave the Elements.

I'm considering running Stomping Ground, now, however, and for the very reason you suggested - it seems faster and would smooth out my Reckoner's playability dramatically, even if I never tap them for R for any other reason. I'm not too worried about Burning Earth. If they side that in as opposed to more removal or more threats I think my deck will race them in spite of it.

I'll be posting a newer version of the deck soon now that I've been playtesting more heavily.

Quote from jwatkins

mayor of arbock all i need to say to this deck

As far as I am concerned this is spam and in violation of this forum's rule against suggesting objectively inferior cards (much less done in utterly poor taste). You clearly didn't take the time or put forth the effort to read my first post, much less my deck list. The Mayor would be useful less than half the time, as half my creatures are not humans. On top of that, you didn't give any genuinely constructive advice -- no quantities, no substitution suggestion, nothing of value.

Please don't post in this thread again. Thank you.

Kollegah, you're a gentleman and a scholar.

Alright, so for a sideboard let's go with this, then:

3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Rootborn Defenses
3 Celestial Flare
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Purify the Grave
1 Imposing Sovereign


--


I've been sitting here, writing up sideboard plans and options against just about every deck in the format; and just now I deleted it all because I think there may be a flaw in my deck.

I think Thalia, Guardian of Thraben belongs in my main deck.

She is tempo, and awesome tempo at that -- the advantage she gives is against literally every deck in the format. Her and Imposing Sovereign just seem too good in the matchups where this deck might have problems, and they're still good against everything else. That being said, I'm wondering now what I should cut from my deck to include Thalia. It seems like the smart choice would be to pull Rancor or Selesnya Charm. I don't know if I like that, as they both give me reach. That, or I could pull Boros Reckoner or Fiendslayer Paladin, but both of those give me extreme advantage against aggro.

Whatever the case is, I find myself again stuck.

EDIT: I think I may have found the issue. Fiendslayer Paladin belongs in the sideboard, not in the maindeck. With him out the deck appears much more aggressive and smoother -- more focused, even. The Paladin is great game 2 against any deck running red or black, but he just isn't making the cut as of this moment because he is counter-removal and lifegain to counter aggro. As of this moment I'm working with:

Alright, guys - I did a bit of goldfishing and a bit of thinking.

Right now, I think I'm going to do this:

-3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
-1 Imposing Sovereign

And add:

+4 Voice of Resurgence

For an aggro deck, have a good, fast curve is incredibly important. Also, having an aggressive, resilient creature helps me in literally every matchup. There's no reason not to run it.

Reckoner is still playable. Easily, actually. I've been surprised how often I can drop him on turn three or, if not, turn four. Since he's a 3-of it makes it easier to play him when I get a chance. Being able to play Reckoner, Fiendslayer, Voice, Loxodon, and Silverblade all in the same deck really should do a number on any aggro matchups.

As far as sideboard material:

4 Celestial Flare
4 Ray of Revelation
3 Purify the Grave
4 Rootborn Defenses

I really appreciate the advice, guys. It's good to know the MTGSalvation community is willing to take a moment to help someone out who is legitimately attempting to improve their deck / game.

Over the course of the next month I will be playing in eight tournaments. The decklist above is what I currently have and intend to use -- a GW Beats deck with a "White Weenie" subtheme to make the use of Brave the Elements, which is an incredibly powerful card. Here is what I am looking for:

1.) Advice for numerical advice on cards / my mana curve. I'm aware that more two drops would be better. If you have a suggestion for a two drop, tell me what card, how many, and what I would take out of my current list to fit it in (and why).

2.) Advice on my mana base. I decided that I couldn't run Voice of Resurgence and Boros Reckoner safely in the same deck, and the Reckoner's power against aggro won that toss-up for me. Still, an expert's advice on my land counts and colors would be appreciated.

3.) My sideboard is clueless. I'm sure I'd want 1-ofs the 3-count creatures I have, as well as Ray of Revelation against Bant Hexproof. However, I'd like some serious advice on what to include, in what quantity, for what purpose. So far Silence seems like a good option, buying a turn against a board wipe or a Gruul deck.

Thank you in advance for your help. I'm hoping to top 8, if not win, at least one of these tournaments; but having a deck that can get me there is the first step.

Quote from Kollegah

And what was the problem now, I said it works so why should we leave GW (don't get me wrong but i don't understand your input here)

Ah -- I read your prior statement as "Brave the Elements doesn't work for them. My bad!

Quote from Kollegah

Lands were 8duals, 3 forests and 12 Plains. Just going to WW makes no sense to me because we have so good GW creatures like voice or Smiter and brave the elements does work for them anyways. I could try to cut the advents and add 3-4 Brave the elements here and I would cut the fencing aces for imposing souvereigns but first I have to get some of these.

Voice of Resurgence, Loxodon Smiter -- Brave the Elements. Read these cards carefully. Yes, Brave does work for them. They are white creatures.

It allows you to play around board wipes, removal, and do silly combat tricks. It's pseudo-haste at worst, and at best will keep a Doom Blade off your Boros Reckoner.

I've tested this with Voice of Resurgence, and I'm on the fence about the card. It just feels so good when they forget and give you a 4/4 token by casting on your turn, or by trying to kill it; but against better players it just doesn't seem to do much for me. Also, the WG manacost means either it or Reckoner are relegated to less spots (if any) due to the integrity of the mana base.

EDIT: If I was to replace the Restoration Angel, I'd play Sigarda, Host of Herons instead, I think.

Cards in Question: Vexing Devil; Fling

The way I understand casting spells and their resolutions, when I cast Vexing Devil it resolves and is existent on the battlefield. When it arrives, my opponent chooses whether or not to take the damage and purchase its sacrifice. Thus, if they decide to take the hit, shouldn't I be able to Fling the devil at them before the purchase causes it to be sacrificed?

Brave Selesnya -- a new take on White Weenie.

Quote from kensanity

this list is bad.

Archie's list is the closest to something remotely playable in this standard format and even then, i'm inclined disagree with some of the choices.

I think you can't go full black and be comfortable in this format. You still need to splash outside a bit. I could see somethign like B/w or B/r including the already popular B/g seeing play. But I'm most interested in a truly mono black build with a reliance on artifacts.

Staff of nin is great, so is underworld connections. But both are matchup dependent.

a singleton liturgy of blood I could get behind, but not a 4 of corrupt. It ruins your curve, and it does too little at that point in the mana game.

I also like lifebane zombie but do not feel as if it belongs in the main deck. this deck wants to play mutilate turn 4 so how does this turn 3 drop be effective against anything that is not g/w with creatures? weak mb choice for this particular list.

Perhaps think about main board cremate instead of crupt incursion, and look at some number of devour flesh.

I'd also want to look at some number of trading post and somethign like bubbling cauldron or idk. maybe even the whole trio of newt, witch and cauldron wtih teh post. it could be surprisingly effective.

The x4 Corrupt was a typo, and clearly so - 14 sorceries with 4 Corrupt doesn't equate. However, thanks for your constructive criticism. It's really helping the thread at large.

Lifebane Zombie is absolutely a 4-of maindeck. It's a 3/1 body with intimidate for three, which is good anyway. However, it pulls a vast majority of threats currently run in Standard. Let's make a list:

-Acidic Slime
-Angel of Serenity
-Centaur Healer
-Fiend Hunter
-Banisher Priest
-Frontline Medic
-Loxodon Smiter
-Restoration Angel
-Silverblade Paladin
-Sublime Archangel
-Thragtusk
-Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
-Blood Baron of Vizkopa
-Boros Reckoner
-Dreg Mangler
-Geist of Saint Taft
-Ghor-Clan Rampager
-Huntmaster of the Fells
-Obzedat, Ghost Council
-Prime Speaker Zegana
-Sin Collector
-Varolz, the Scar-Striped


... and that's just the relevant stuff. Oh, and it doesn't go to your graveyard. It gets exiled.

And it's sideboard material for a MBC?

Archie,

First, thank you for sharing my thoughts. Second, thank you for helping me re-analyze and focus my own deck idea. Originally my creatures had been for utility; but, alas, the days of Gatekeeper of Malakir are long gone. The Assassin and the Scrivener were to stall aggro and to refill my hand, but for a control deck, Sign in Blood and more removal is just plain better. That being said, here is the new and improved MBC Deck I'd intending to play.

Mono-Black Control


I think two cards your list is missing are Corrupt and Liliana's Reaver. The former kills planeswalkers, any creature in the format that isn't hexproof, gives reach to a control deck, and helps us stabilize via lifegain. It's too good in this deck to not run at least two of it. It's expensive, though. so more than two is likely not good. Liliana's Reaver, however, is an awesome win condition. Sure it trades with just about anything. However, it demands an answer immediately - especially in a control matchup, where their low-creature count will hurt them. It gives board advantage every time it hits; and with deathtouch, it might hit more often than you'd think. I'll have to playtest and see, but for right now, I really like this guy.

Liliana of the Veil honestly seems like it would do more harm to us than good. Almost every time we cast it we'd rather be -2'ing than +1'ing. And even if there was nothing to sacrifice on their board, +1'ing when our hand is full of answers would be bad. I like Liliana of the Dark Realms much better. At best she finds swamps (which improved her -3, Corrupt, and Mutilate, as well as ensure a healthy mana base); at worst she's 4 mana for "Destroy Target Falkenrath Aristocrat / Boros Reckoner." You can also slap her boost onto a creature of your own, Mutilate, and profit.

I don't know if I'm sold on Underworld Connections yet. I like the premise, but it feels like a terrible top-deck. Staff of Nin and Liturgy of Blood just seem like bad cards. Of course, you could convince me otherwise with a tenable argument.

I'm a bit confused as to why this is a thread for Mono-Black Control and the decklists given aren't Mono-Black. That being said, I've thrown together a Mono-Black Control deck were all my lands tap for Black Mana (or colorless, but those will likely be tapping for other reasons):

Mono-Black Control

I think main-decking Ral Zarek adds consistency, more control, and a mid/late-game win condition. Once he hits you get reach and control, and if he sticks for his ultimate (which shouldn't be difficult), you win the game.