MTG Salvation

This is the current Ooze version I've been testing, does well against anything that isn't fast combo or affinity, but in those match-ups has a really difficult time due to lack of interaction. My sideboard in a bit of flux, but has always included 4x Through the Breach as a transformative change against heavy graveyard hate and 4x Thoughtseize for any deck with dedicated control or combo elements. I would love suggestions that make the Twin and Affinity match-ups better. (I do board a single Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite which does wonders against Twin and Affinity alike, but is still on the slow side of cards against them, since you really want to unburial rites her rather than goryo's, which often will just fog them)
Is anyone else still testing/running the ooze version? I believe it is still a contender, and would like help improving my own list.

As someone who plays with a few graveyard-order matters cards, I care if I notice my opponents re-arranging their yards, but as EDH is a casual format, I think the only thing one should have to say is 'Hey, I have things that care about graveyard order, don't mess with it" and that should be end of discussion. It's not a hard rule to follow, and anyone who says otherwise is just whining and being lazy.

Withering Boon is probably my favorite card ever if I'm not playing blue.
No one expects it unless they've played it before and it is so satisfying to stop that blue mage from comboing off with a well placed essence scatter in mono-black.
A close second is Riptide Replicator because the card is bonkers fun. I have a deckbox just for the shenanigans tokens I make with it and I include it in every deck that can make a decent amount of mana. (Blue Pegasus - Rainbow Dash or Black Dragon - Godzilla tokens anyone?)

• Blackcleave Cliffs
  
• Darkslick Shores
  
• Etched Champion
  
• Etched Monstrosity
  
• Hex Parasite
  
• Lashwrithe
  
• Morbid Plunder
  
• Swamp #170 from New Phyrexia
  
• Sword of Feast and Famine

Divinity of Pride would replace one of my mono-black big-stuff Ob Nixilis, the Fallen 's heavy beaters, Debtor's Knell would find a home somewhere in the 99, and Unmake would replace Doom Blade.
Next on the consideration list would be Oona, Queen of the Fae , Memory Plunder, Shadow of Doubt, and Worm Harvest, but I would need to be more accommodating to fit most of those in, as good as they are, my list is pretty tight for what it wants to do.
All in all, the only card I truly want from hybrid is Debtor's Knell, simply because I love the card and don't yet have a WB deck to run it in.

I wish the Nephilim were legendary so I could play my deck anywhere without prior approval, even though I've yet to be called out for playing it it's annoying to need that stamp, as it were. (But that is another reason I have other decks)
Blood Baron of Viskopa because I don't like the other options for commanders in WB.

All for calling Cerberus RAGEtusk? This standard is gonna be awesome.

I love all the cards! I want that Cerberus badly but I expect it to be an expensive card right out of the gate. The land is great for my (and everyone else's) monoblack EDH. Read the bones seems super playable without knowing the meta, let's see if that pans out.

Not sure if we're allowed to link, but I like using the online deckbuilders like MTGDeckbuilder, you get to see the cards you're adding, they're automatically sorted by type, there's an in-site card search and it's easy to save multiple copies of the deck on your account and make adjustments to see how your deck has evolved over time. It also has a function for goldfishing.
More generically when I start planning a deck I usually start with 37-38 land; depending on the generals casting cost this can be less or more, but I like hedging for more until I playtest regardless. Then I add the 5-20 cards I know I want to play, whether this is for power reasons (Sol Ring in most decks, Rooftop Storm in Grimgrin, Corpse Born, Liliana of the Dark Realms in Ob Nixilis, the Fallen,etc.), flavor, or pet-card status (Withering Boon goes in all my non-blue, Black decks for instance) and from there search by card type for the things that will best support my deck, usually in the order of Creatures=Planeswalkers>Artifacts>Instants/Sorceries>Enchantments.

Unnatural Selection combos well with Dismiss Into Dream but isn't that good by itself unless you have some way to abuse creature types.
Zephyr Charge is decent offensively, Barl's Cage is similarly good/ok defensively.
Cauldron of Souls becomes a repeatable wrath with upside for your side of the board.

Quote from gmail

Re: Burst of Focus
This is just an obscene storm combo piece. Why?


What makes this ability degerate is the ability to bring back a giant creature on turn 2 or 3 reliably. That's just not the case here, as it has to be a zombie and there aren't that many giant zombies - let alone giant zombies worth cheating into play - to target.

Sure, mid to late game you get back Gravedigger, lose 2 life, and get back another creature you can cast... but while that's cool, it's not quite as obscene as "Turn 2 Akroma, swing"
At this point about the best you can do is bring back a top tier changling, but that's in an older format where doing that's not quite as degenerate.

Spiteful Demise B
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature. Lose life equal to its power.
(again: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=530158)

I don't build sets with Storm interactions in mind, if the card makes storm a better deck in modern, it'd get banned, there is no storm in my set. I want to know if the card is worth playing in a non-storm deck.
[CARD]
Thraximundar[/CARD] is probably just as or more powerful to reanimate turn 2 as Akroma, and it's modern legal. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed has some infinite and non-infinite combos and wants to be cheated out early on. Heck, even Ghoultree is a vanilla 10/10 that could be playable as a target with this card. (Though it is a hella lot more fragile since it's 1 mana + 10 life for a "dies to removal")
Spiteful Demise seems fine, comparable to Vendetta. Works well against black's enemy walls in White and is fair removal elsewhere.

Query U
Instant (C)
Look at the top two cards of your library, you may put those cards on the bottom of your library in any order, if you do, draw a card. Otherwise put those cards back on top of your library in any order.

Quote from gmail

Akrosian Tactics - Wow, neat! I really like this card. I wonder if it could give +2/+0 and/or trample as well...

Darkmore CharmB
Instant (C)
Choose 1 - Exile target player's graveyard, or target creature gains deathtouch until end of turn, or return a zombie creature from your graveyard to the battlefield and lose life equal to its power.

From here: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=530158

First two modes are fine, but reanimate is far above current power levels, even if you restrict it that much, especially at instant speed. As a black zombie player, I want this card in print but it's just so strong I don't think it ever would be.


Burst of Focus
4U
Instant (R)
Noncreature spells you cast this turn cost up to 3 less to cast.
(Originally I had it as instants and sorceries only, is it too strong for affinity-style decks like this?)

I ran him for a long time in GB zombies and he was always a house with gravecrawler and slitherhead, but my meta became very controlly and now between Far//Away and Azorius Charm it's harder to keep him around than you'd think. Now with Scavenging Ooze in standard I could see him making a bit of a comeback as that is a quaint synergy but it does lose you a lot of card advantage so you need to be wary.
He's better than people think, but not as good as he was originally touted to be when zombie decks were at the top of the heap for a while there.

Painful Quandary is a personal favorite, Contamination is classic when paired with Reassembling Skeleton and the new Tenacious Dead. Blood Moon can randomly hose people while still not being touted as being as unfun/unfair as Ruination. Wound Reflection is mean, though a tad expensive mana-wise. Pain Magnification is beautiful with Kaervek.

If you're going to be running a lot of artifact removal anyway, Liquimetal Coating can make enchantments (and everything else!) into artifacts and thus a lot easier to blow up. I like using Karn, Silver Golem to animate artifacts in my mono-black decks for the same reason; because killing creatures is so much easier for the color.