My favorite all-time EDH deck to play was probably Glissa, the Traitor. The deck ran a ton of incremental card advantage engines and removal, and was quite good at grinding out wins in long games. She stomped every aggro deck, and had a good matchup against control. Unfortunately, Glissa was a big underdog to Zur (seeing how she fails to interact with him at all). The Animar matchup was also absolutely unwinnable. Being unable to compete with a couple of the top decks took a lot of the enjoyment out of the deck, and I regretfully shelved it.
Now, a new champion has arisen. Varolz, the Scar-Striped has single-handedly inspired me to return to EDH, and boy is he good. I feel quite confident in saying that Varolz is the best new commander printed since Maelstrom Wanderer/Animar, Soul of Elements, and I think he has the potential to be top-tier. Including games with earlier drafts of the deck, my match record is currently 4-0 against Evergreen’s Iname, 2-1 against Animar, 1-1 against Zur, 2-0 against Hulk-Flash, and X-0 against almost every other competitive deck I’ve played against (20+ complete matches). This deck can hang with the big boys. Zur and Animar are the worst matchups I’ve encountered so far, and though I obviously need more testing they both feel approximately 50-50, which really isn't bad, considering.
So, what makes this little troll so good? He’s not a powerhouse on the face of things. The sole reason to play Varolz is because of his rather degenerate interaction with Death’s Shadow and Phyrexian Dreadnought. For 2 mana, you can give Varolz (or another creature) 12-13 counters. That produces an insanely large threat for a tiny amount of mana, and this synergy is the heart of the deck.
The other piece of the puzzle that really puts the deck over the top is Inkmoth Nexus. Scavenging onto the Nexus threatens a 1-shot kill, and this can happen out of nowhere (especially with end-of-turn Crop Rotation). Starting around turn 4 or 5, the deck is capable of going from nothing but basic lands in play to an instant kill. There are also several 2 card combos in the deck that can produce a turn 3 kill.
By the way, the weakest/most untested cards (the ones that I could potentially see cutting for something else) are Boreal Druid, Eternal Witness (really), Tarmogoyf, Deathmark, Last Rites, Veteran Explorer, Plague Stinger, and Elvish Spirit Guide. That's not to say that all those cards are bad or are going to get cut...most of them are very strong. Those are just the slots that I consider somewhat flexible. Everything else on the list is core as far as I'm concerned, and I can't imagine myself cutting them any time soon.
I’ve seen several people suggest a Skullbriaresque heavily aggro style of playing Varolz. Such a deck might be viable (or even good), but it’s obviously not the way I decided to go. I think that my approach is the most powerful and consistent way to play him.
Tips:
There’s a lot of finesse in playing this deck that probably only comes from trial and error in practice, but I’ll try to give some hints on what I was going for here.
The curve is extremely low (average cmc: 1.80!). This is intentional: while this deck doesn’t mind the game going long, it’s really trying hard to kill by turn 5 or 6. This is totally achievable by most hands, depending on how much you have to play around disruption and whether your opponent gives you a window. Even when the game goes long, this deck doesn’t need big spells. The most powerful turns are those where you can play a bunch of cheap things at once. Varolz enables scavenge the turn he comes into play, so sometimes if your opponent taps out you can play him and win with Nexus in the same turn. Berserk is also ridiculously swingy and contributes to many wins out of nowhere, since it lets Varolz 1-shot opponents even through a chump blocker.
The low mana cost also enables you to dig really deep with Ad Nauseum (nothing else in the deck costs more than 4). I’ve yet to lose a game where I resolve Ad Nauseum…it typically draws at least 12 cards, and then I untap and win. It’s possible that there are some 5+ cmc cards that are upgrades (like Shriekmaw), but I’m really loathe to add them simply because of how important that extra margin of safety on Ad Nauseum is.
Don’t forget that Varolz can regenerate for 0 mana. It’s much more useful than you’d expect against many decks. The majority of black and red removal that sees play allows for regeneration. Just watch out for Damnation and Dismember. If you suspect that an opponent is saving removal, it’s frequently best to make sure you have a mana elf or other expendable creature out before you play Varolz. Remember that an uncracked green fetchland serves the same purpose, since you can get Dryad Arbor at instant speed.
Be pretty careful about going for the kill with Varolz or Inkmoth Nexus. Occasionally you just have to hope they don’t have anything, but usually you can afford to wait for a safer opportunity. There are exceptions, but you usually don’t lose out on much by waiting to combo (especially if they don’t know you have the big creature ready). If you go for it and they do have an answer, it’s not the absolute end of the world but it is pretty damn bad. Try to avoid that when you can afford to.
I would estimate that I win about 55% of my games by smashing with a huge Varolz in 1 or 2 hits, 35% with a 1-shot Inkmoth Nexus, 5% with a massive Thrun, and the last 5% by whatever I can scrape together. It’s good to have a plan, but be open to change: sometimes you’ll be setting up an attack with Varolz, then you topdeck Thrun and change your plan completely. Things happen.
Unless you’re on a turn 3-4 kill and think you need every single mana every turn, it’s typically correct to hold onto Phyrexian Dreadnought/Death’s Shadow/Entomb until the turn you “go off.” If they don’t know you have it, they’re more likely to tap out and give you a window. You’re also less vulnerable to graveyard hate that way, and there are several ways to discard them for value anyway (Survival/Fauna Shaman/Last Rites/Liliana)
Speaking of graveyard hate, despite looking like a “graveyard deck,” this list is extremely resilient to the hate as long as you take care to play around it. Even if they have Scavenging Ooze or whatnot in play, you can still get the Dreadnought in your graveyard and scavenge it without passing priority, so long as you cast or Entomb it (it doesn’t work with Survival/Fauna Shaman though, so be careful). My rule of thumb is to never put a big creature into the graveyard until I’m going to use it if I’m playing against a green deck, since they all have Scavenging Ooze and ways to get it, and losing a big creature before you can use it really sucks. Against most other decks you’re usually okay, but still play it safe if you can.
Try to keep hands with a plan. Ideally, you want to have a big creature or a way to get one, or a source of card advantage like Phyrexian Arena. Sometimes it’s important to have at least one removal spell, as against Zur. One mana elf is a big benefit, but extras can usually be mulled away. This deck can operate on few lands, so I’ll usually go down to just 2 (sometimes 1 and a mana elf) if I’m mulling away a bunch of cards. Just be wary about keeping a hand with some land, an elf, a couple removal spells, a Tarmogoyf…it looks good at a glance, but hands like that have the potential to not actually do anything. You can’t always get it, but you really want a hand with a plan, if possible.
Some comments on individual cards:
Brawn: This guy looks so underpowered, but he’s actually perfect in this deck. It turns out that having a creature source of evasion is really important, since that’s often the secret missing piece of the combo. A 15/15 Varolz or 13/13 Inkmoth Nexus don’t match up too well to a simple Bitterblossom by themselves. Brawn works well with Buried Alive and Survival of the Fittest, and I think it’s an important part of the deck.
Mesmeric Fiend: Note that you can sac this to Varolz with the ability on the stack to exile a card permanently. To be honest though, this rarely comes up, since it’s often better to have an extra creature to regenerate and I frequently win the turn I play Fiend anyway.
Tarmogoyf: Note that Tarmogoyf retains its p/t in the graveyard, so it’s actually the 3rd most efficient scavenge enabler as well as a decent beater.
Thrun, the Last Troll: This is sort of a Plan B if for whatever reason you can’t combo. Along with Tarmogoyf and Treetop Village, you can usually scrape together enough damage to still win if everything else goes wrong. Thrun is also sometimes the best scavenge target if you’re playing against an extinction sort of deck with lots of removal, and a lot of decks have a very hard time dealing with him.
Viridian Corrupter: This rarely actually kills anyone, but it’s easily tutorable and very dangerous if not dealt with immediately. It tends to produce a lot of value.
Buried Alive: Completely ridiculous in this deck. Getting Death’s Shadow, Phyrexian Dreadnought, and Brawn produces an unfailingly lethal amount of evasive damage out of nowhere.
Survival of the Fittest: This is obviously an extremely powerful enabler, but keep in mind that the creature count in this deck is quite low. If you have a hand with Survival or Fauna Shaman but only 1 creature, at least think about holding onto that creature so you’re not reliant on drawing another one to do anything. It feels wrong, but in some hands it’s correct to not play the turn 1 mana elf.
Berserk: This card is just crazily overpowered on Varolz, and frequently steals games when people think they’re safe to take one hit or to chump. It presents quite a dilemma for your opponent because it’s almost impossible to play around Berserk and advance your gameplan at the same time, but if you don’t play around Berserk you risk just outright losing every turn. Don't forget that it can be used as (very bad) removal on your opponent's attacking creature if you're desperate.
Crop Rotation: This enables so many kills out of nowhere by getting Inkmoth Nexus when they think they’re safe. It’s also the best card against graveyard combo like Hulk Flash when paired with Bojuka Bog, and can practically win games against those decks by itself.
Green Sun’s Zenith: Relatively bad in this deck, compared to most green decks. The green creatures restriction is very limiting, and we rarely want to use it for acceleration (since our curve is so low), but it’s still fine. I almost always use it to get Fauna Shaman (to go off) or Sylvan Safekeeper (to make sure I can go off safely).
Notable exclusions:
Force of Savagery and similar: While Death's Shadow and Phyrexian Dreadnought are the heart of the deck, and I would surely play a 3rd and probably 4th creature like that if I could, nothing else comes close, and it's folly to try. Force of Savagery is the most similar creature, and it's so much worse that it's barely even comparable. It doesn't pump enough to make Varolz lethal in 2 hits or Inkmoth Nexus lethal in 1, and the power to mana ratio is only 2.66...compared to Phyrexian Dreadnought's 12. Don't even try it.
Sword of Feast and Famine: Surprisingly does nothing here. When we invest 5 mana to do something before we attack, we just win the game. This deck isn’t well suited to grind out incremental advantage from the sword (since neither trigger is particularly relevant), and the protections even interfere with Varolz’s scavenge. Pass.
Aggro creatures in general: This isn’t an aggro deck. I’ve tried various things that seem synergistic but essentially just attack, from Bloodghast to Great Sable Stag to Lotleth Troll to Silhana Ledgewalker. None of them do enough.
Bramblewood Paragon: This is a reasonable alternative to Brawn, but Brawn is better in most situations, and I don’t think I need both.
Faerie Macabre: This would be a good inclusion if I start having trouble with graveyard decks. For now, between Crop Rotation and Scavenging Ooze, I’ve found my matchup against these decks to be good, but this would be the next inclusion if I need more help.
Lotus Cobra and other 2 mana accelerants: These just aren’t on curve. I don’t want to go from 2 to 4 or 5…I want to go from 1 to 3 to dead. As such, I’m maxed out on 1 drop mana producers, and passing up on 2 drops and moxes.
Mindslicer: I played this for a while and kind of liked it, but it’s still pretty situational. It’s out for now, but it’s a good tool to keep in mind against classic control decks, and if I start losing to those it will probably come back in.
Beast Within: Giving them a token is relevant enough in this deck, where I frequently find myself attacking for 15 on the ground, that I think it’s worth playing slightly more narrow removal instead.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Tried him out in my first draft, but both the extra mana and the beasts are really pretty irrelevant. I only liked him for the trample, and Brawn is basically strictly better for that in this particular deck.
Beseech the Queen: Played this and liked it, but it’s too dangerous with Ad Nauseum. I’m currently trying out Rhystic Tutor instead, it’s been okay so far.
Distress: I would really like to have another discard spell, but I tried this and was dissatisfied. BB is kind of hard sometimes, and it really doesn’t fit the curve. I frequently found myself mulling it away out of my opening hands because I just needed more action or something easier to cast, and that’s a bad sign for a card staying in.
Matchups:
Zur: A close match, and one that plays out very differently depending on your hand. Ideally, you want a hand that has the potential to kill quickly, so you can put enough pressure on him to keep him from going all in on Zur quickly. Having 1-2 pieces of removal that kill Zur (there are 9 in the deck, plus all the tutors) is a big help. You should play as if you have the kill in hand even if you don’t, because it’s a big help if you can make him afraid to tap out for Zur. It’s also extremely important to have a big creature or a way to find one early, because we can’t end the game quickly without one. We have a good chance of killing him before he can get Zur going, especially if we have some disruption or a good hand, but in this match if the game goes very long we’re likely to lose our edge. (On a weird note, remember that Berserk can actually be used to kill Zur sometimes. It’s never the play you want to make, but sometimes it’s the play you have to make.) This is probably the worst/hardest matchup I’ve played so far.
Animar: The other tough matchup, Animar is annoying simply because he’s so hard for us to kill. Very occasionally you can get him with Diabolic Edict, Liliana, or Berserk, but don’t count on it. It’s also hard to get through on the ground, since Animar effectively blocks a non-trampling Varolz all day. I’ve found winning this match to be heavily reliant on getting there with the Inkmoth Nexus combo. It’s not easy, but there are enough tutors to consistently find it, and enough discard/removal to slow down Animar’s combo, that in my experience so far I’ve been able to kill the Animar player before he can kill me at least half the time. The games do tend to be extremely close though (Most of the games I lost, I would have won given 1 more mana or 1 more turn. Most of the games he lost, he probably could have won given 1 more turn.)
Iname: This is a good matchup. We have several ways to blow out the graveyard when he tries to combo, and for the most part Varolz matchs up well against black removal. I tend to play these matches for the long game and not go for the kill unless I’m pretty sure it’s safe. I’m more likely to try to get there over a few turns with Varolz than to risk everything on connecting with Inkmoth Nexus.
Aggro: I’ve played against several different aggro decks and not had any trouble with them thus far. We do something unfair, they don’t. We have a lot of removal to keep them in check, and a big early Varolz tends to be hard for them to deal with. Aggro decks also tend to tap out every turn, so they leave a lot of opportunities to safely win with Inkmoth Nexus.
Control: I’ve played against Geist, Ruhan, and GAAIV so far, and beaten all of them (Geist 3 times, Ruhan 2 times). You kind of just have to play good magic, but the deck has the tools to both prevent them from winning and eventually maneuver the game into a position where you can combo for the win. Inkmoth Nexus and/or Sylvan Safekeeper tend to be important in these matchups, and I’d almost never try to get there with a 15/15 Varolz. Bounce and white removal both ignore regeneration too effectively, so you have to play more conservatively. These decks tend to give you time to do so though.
Anyway…that’s where this deck stands right now. If you like smashing with 15/15 monsters that sometimes turn into 30/15 trampling monsters, or 13/13 infect fliers, then this might be the deck for you! It's definitely competitive and I find it so much fun to play that I haven't picked up another deck since I started testing this.
Suggestions for cards I might have missed, or questions about why something is or is not included, are always appreciated. If you have a strategy question about how to play a certain match, I'm happy to talk about that too.
If there are enough lands to run to make Tainted Pact a thing, I highly recommend it. I've never seen it done SUPER well in bicolor decks, where you have to pull mediocre lands out of the woodwork, but it answers troublesome spots in a pinch. Tricolor decks it's outstanding.
you may want to add ground seal, replaces itself and protects your creatures in GY from being exiled.
Hmmm, that is tasty indeed!
Tainted Strike is probably too cute, right? It is probably just worse than Berserk, and it doesn't help you evade any blockers, but if Berserk is amazing then this has the potential to be okay.
EDH:
Currently Piloting:
Dama, Sage of Stone | Karador, Ghost Chieftan | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound | Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Genju of the Realm | Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
It's funny, as I was lying in bed last night the idea of Tainted Pact popped into my head, and then I come here and everyone's mentioning it. It's a little bit of a pain to mess with my basic lands, but the card is so powerful in this deck that I think I'm obligated to include it. It's probably better than Demonic Tutor in this deck, no joke, since being instant speed makes it very likely that I'll be able to find what I need (big creature, discard, Berserk, etc) at their EoT, and then win immediately.
I'm currently running 12 basics, 6 of each. Snow-covered lands are an easy swap...the other 8 slots are harder. I don't think there are 8 good enough nonbasics that I would play, since colored mana is so important. I think I can stand playing 2 of each basic and snow-covered basic...there's some risk of fizzling the Tainted Pact there, but it's very low, and I can mitigate it with fetchlands. That leaves me with 4 replacements to make. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers and Centaur Garden are fairly easy replacements for Forests. I don't like the life loss from Centaur Garden, but I think it's okay. I don't mind adding Reflecting Pool either.
The last slot kind of has me stuck. The best things I can come up with is something like Jund Panorama, and that seems miserable. Golgari Guildgate is an option, but I hate playing tapped lands in this deck: the curve is so tight and low that they usually slow me down an entire turn. Mosswort Bridge and Vesuva would both be sort of interesting otherwise, but I'm afraid they're too slow. Volrath's Stronghold wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but I don't think I need it, and I'm afraid to add more colorless mana. In the absence of a better option, I think I'm going to try just shaving a land and putting Tainted Pact in the last slot. I added Expedition Map recently without cutting a land, so hopefully that will compensate. I'm prepared to add another land later though if this feels too low (and it might). Tainted Pact is definitely going to make the deck better though, and I could always just cut Rhystic Tutor for some sort of land if necessary. Any thoughts on nonbasics I'm missing? I don't particularly want to play Tendo Ice Bridge, Forbidden Orchard, or Tarnished Citadel (though that last one might not be too bad).
Quote from Maluleca »
I also haven't seen Life from the Loam in the list, yet I am sure you thought about including it at some point. Is it really not good enough?
Yes, I've thought about it, though I never actually tried playing it in this deck. Though I love Life from the Loam, it just doesn't fit what we're trying to do. Dredge isn't particularly advantageous to us, and this deck is tuned such that it frequently uses every single mana available every single turn until it wins. Basically, if things go right, Life from the Loam will be a dead draw every time. If things go wrong, it's not terrible...but it's still not that great here, and I wouldn't count on it to win any games.
Quote from SamuraiMunky »
you may want to add ground seal, replaces itself and protects your creatures in GY from being exiled.
This is an interesting thought. I kind of like it, but the thing is I'm not all that worried about protecting my creatures in the graveyard. For one thing, this really only protects them from Scavenging Ooze (not Bojuka Bog, Relic of Progenitus, etc), and for another, I can typically protect those creatures pretty easily just by playing intelligently and holding them in my hand until I'm ready to use them. I actually like Ground Seal more because it interferes somewhat with opponents who are trying to reanimate or do graveyard tricks, but I think overall the card isn't high enough impact, and the curve is tight enough that there often won't be a good time to play it, even though it cantrips. I'll keep the idea in the back of my head, but I don't think it's going to make the cut right now.
Quote from SamuraiMunky »
what about living wish to get death's shadow or dreadnaught back after you exile it?
Way too narrow. 95% of the time, a single scavenge is enough to win. When it's not (or if I get one big creature Castigated or something), I still have a second one I can dig up. In all the matches I've played with this deck, I've only had one game where I used up both creatures and my opponent wasn't dead, and that situation is so rare that's it surely not worth including a card just for that kind of scenario.
Quote from SamuraiMunky »
rite of consumption could be a good alt-win card. in case of anti-attack effects or pacifisms.
Very win-more (and not even all that good at winning). Rite of Consumption does the damage, so it's useless with Inkmoth Nexus, and Varolz has to get really really big to actually kill someone with this. He usually doesn't get that big without a Berserk. I haven't had problems with anti-attack effects or pacifisms yet, and I think those are issues better handled by stuff like Maelstrom Pulse anyway.
Quote from Emether »
The only thing that scares me is bounces.
Indeed, bounce is scary. One of the toughest matches I've played was actually against an Azami deck that seemed to be running something like 15 bounce spells. Luckily, most decks don't play that much bounce, but you have to be really careful to get discard and make sure the coast is clear if you suspect it (especially if you've already tried once and lost a scavenge). Thrun, the Last Troll and Inkmoth Nexus help a lot in these matchups, since Thrun can't be touched by most things and Inkmoth Nexus is immune to much of the bounce that commonly sees play (like Into the Roil and Cyclonic Rift). So it's not like this deck rolls over and dies to bounce, but it certainly is something to respect and be careful to play around.
To be honest, this is a very recent addition and I've only had a few games with it so far. In theory, it seems pretty good to me, but I don't know yet. I'm going to try to play several more games with the combo, but if it's not pulling its weight I have no qualms about cutting it. Time will tell.
Quote from Emether »
Have you considered playing Swiftfoot Boots? Umezawa's Jitte doesn't look mandatory in your build, and the boots allow you to protect your commander while still being able to Scavenge en him.
I thought about the Boots, but not very hard. You know...it might actually be okay, though haste isn't particularly important and more incremental mana costs do add up. I have a feeling that it won't play very well, but I'll try to give them a chance soon. Umezawa's Jitte is indeed not mandatory, but I still think it's good enough to play (and better than Swiftfoot Boots, if that's what you were implying). Some decks just have a really hard time dealing with it, and even when it's bad, it's usually not that bad. It's a card that can't be ignored. I can imagine cutting it, but right now I think I like having it around.
Maze of Ith is indeed very strong against Varolz. Luckily, no one seems to play that card I've only encountered it once so far, and I was able to find Wasteland to get around it anyway. Between Wasteland, Rishadan Port, and 3 land-specific tutors, I think I have enough answers so that Maze of Ith doesn't scare me. Tectonic Edge is something I've thought about, though I don't especially like it because colored mana is really important (I have heavy requirements in both green and black) and the critical turn of this deck is often around turn 4 or 5. Rishadan Port is actually a recent addition too, and I'll see how it plays, having another colorless land. In general, I think it's probably better than Tectonic Edge in this deck, since it's better at making life difficult for control opponents who are trying to not give me a window. The ability to tap one of their lands end of turn, untap, and tap another one in my upkeep seems pretty strong to me.
Reap and Sow costs way too much mana for what it does here I think. I can't even imagine entwining it. Jarad's Orders almost costs too much already, and that card is practically a double Demonic Tutor in this deck. I already have enough land tutors I think, and I'd sooner just play Sinkhole I think if I was especially worried about particular lands. That might not be a bad addition, actually. Something to think about at least.
Quote from Emether »
While Null Rod is a card I love, I think it might still be the wrong solution, because the two most annoying artifacts you can face have no activated abilities: Pithing Needle and Cursed Totem. You'll have to destroy them. Cursed Totem is very rare, but Pithing Needle isn't underplayed. You still run many artifact removals, though, so I might be wrong on this.
Is that really a reason not to play Null Rod though? Of course it doesn't stop everything, but I have other cards that can do that. I've yet to play against Cursed Totem, but I have encountered Pithing Needle (though just once, so far). It is indeed very annoying (better against this deck than most), but I think we have enough ways to get around it. I don't completely hate seeing Needle either, since if people rely on it to contain Varolz and let him sit in play, I'm very likely to get a window to destroy the Needle at their end of turn and then untap and win. That's what happened the one time I played against Pithing Needle so far, at least.
I've been reasonably happy with Null Rod in most matchups so far, since most decks play at least some equipment, some mana rocks, or both, and sometimes you go against a deck like Maelstrom Wanderer or Iname where Null Rod shuts down half their mana. It's one of the better answers to Sword of Feast and Famine, which is fairly important since everyone plays that card and likes to tutor it against me (I'm proud to say that I've yet to lose a game to it though).
Quote from Emether »
To protect your Scavenge target, what about Ranger's Guile? And what about City of Solitude? It prevents everything, including taking mana in pool, so that you can be totally sure you can freely assemble your kill. A turn two City of Solitude on the play against a blue deck looks like a crazy play.
I've thought about Ranger's Guile and decided it's probably too narrow, though I never actually tried it. I think it would be hard to use, because mana tends to be very tight on the turn I win. I'm not exaggerating...I think it's fair to say that in most games I win I have no mana left over the turn I win, and in several of the games I didn't win the reason I lost was because I was 1 mana short. That's actually why I was playing Elvish Spirit Guide for a while. I'm reasonably sure that playing Ranger's Guile would lead to many situations where I could go for the kill now without any mana up, or pass the turn and hope to get a window later. I don't think that's a good position to be in, since waiting has its own dangers. I'd almost rather play Not of this World, but of course that doesn't work if they respond to my scavenge.
City of Solitude on the other hand is something that I hadn't considered, but I like it a lot. I do have a lot of instants, which makes it slightly annoying, but it's still probably worth it since I don't have to worry about any tricks when it's in play. I wonder if I can get away with Dosan the Falling Leaf instead? I've never particularly liked him in other decks, but in this one he might be perfect, since I have several creature-tutors and am trying to maximize my creature count for Survival of the Fittest anyway. I will definitely have to give him a try, and maybe City of Solitude as well. The blue decks are going to hate me. Just have to figure out what to cut...
Quote from Emether »
Considering you are playing a good number of creatures and you are not afraid to sacrifice them if it grants you a path to victory with Varoltz, why not try Cabal Therapy?
I'm hesitant about this one because I really don't have all that many creatures, and I tend to need the ones I do have. It's rare that I want to sacrifice them unless it's going to directly produce a win or save Varolz. A problem with Cabal Therapy is that I often have only one extraneous creature...and if I'm trying to clear them of removal (which is what discard is frequently for), they might just kill Varolz after I sacrifice the creature that could have regenerated him. My gut says that the flashback cost is too hard for this deck, though that doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong. It's the same reason I'm not playing Diabolic Intent though, as much as I'd like to.
Quote from Emether »
I'm not very fan of Fleshbag Marauder. It's basically a bad Chainer's Edict. I know it allows you to scavenge a +3/+3 for three mana, but is it really worth paying one more mana for the "edict" effect?
I think Fleshbag Marauder is very good in this deck actually, much better than Chainer's Edict (which I would never ever be able to flashback, for the record). The biggest upside of the Marauder is simply that it's attached to a creature, so if I need to get removal for Geist or Zur with Survival of the Fittest or Worldly Tutor or whatever, this can do it. None of the other Nekrataal-type creatures can. That's why I don't mind paying 1 extra for an edict. The easy +3/+3 is just a nice bonus that comes up sometimes.
Quote from Emether »
If you are looking for unconditional two mana removals, you might like Devour in Shadow.
There enough things that cost me life in this deck (most notably Ad Nauseum) that I have to be very careful with spells I like this. I don't think the benefit outweighs the cost in this case. If I had room for another removal spell, I'd use Grasp of Darkness, which I've played in the past and been satisfied with, before Devour in Shadow. I don't think I have room though.
Quote from Emether »
The interaction between Mesmeric Fiend and Varoltz is really nice. Being able to sacrifice it in response to the trigger makes it awesome.
Mesmeric Fiend is indeed awesome, although as I mentioned, I've found that I very rarely sacrifice it in response in actual play. Either I want to play it on turn 2, or having another creature around outweighs the risk of them possibly getting the card back. The best thing about Mesmeric Fiend is just being able to use your creature tutors to get discard (it always feels bad, but I find myself using Demonic Tutor or whatever to get Thoughtseize very often, because frequently I already have the kill and just need to ensure that I won't get disrupted.
Quote from Emether »
Is Sylvan Safekeeper really good? If you scavenge for +13/+13 and your opponent casts a removal in response, giving Shroud to your creature will counter the Scavenge ability.
Hmm. He's been quite good thus far, but to be completely honest, I never realized how easily he incidentally counters scavenge. I'm not sure any of my opponents ever have either, since that interaction has yet to come up in any of my games. Now I'm not sure what I think about him. It might still be okay, since I often use him to make sure Varolz can sit in play and not get messed with until I can go off with additional insurance, but you are correct that Sylvan Safekeeper is a lot worse than I thought it was :(. I'm going to keep him in for now and keep an eye on him, but there's definitely a chance that he may not be good enough now that I'm more aware of his flaws. That does make me somewhat more inclined to play something like Swiftfoot Boots or Ranger's Guile, though I still don't want to play those cards. Maybe Dosan the Falling Leaf and City of Solitude will be sufficient? I'm getting pretty close to cutting Green Sun's Zenith, though Dosan may provide enough incentive to keep it around.
Quote from d0su »
Tainted Strike is probably too cute, right? It is probably just worse than Berserk, and it doesn't help you evade any blockers, but if Berserk is amazing then this has the potential to be okay.
Yeah, I think it's too narrow. Most of the reason Berserk is so amazing is because it provides surprise evasion as well as lethality. If I'm in a position where Tainted Strike is going to do anything, I feel like I'm already a 99% favorite to win that game even without it.
Why? It suffers from the same issues as Living Wish, and while being a creature helps it, shuffling the card in makes it a lot less effective. This deck doesn't have problems with running out of scavenge targets, so it doesn't need Riftsweeper.
Thanks for all the suggestions! Definitely some good thoughts here. For right now, I'm going to try the following changes:
and we'll see how that goes. I don't really want to cut Grisly Salvage (it usually just finds a land, but sometimes you get lucky and get a good land or get really lucky and flip a big creature into the graveyard), but I do think it's expendable. I anticipate adding City of Solitude too once I get more of a sense for how useful Dosan is, but right now I'm not sure what to cut for it and we'll take things 1 step at a time. I'm going to keep a close eye on my lands and see if it feels like I have enough.
Edit: On slightly further reflection I think that Arbor Elf is now too inconsistent with the land changes necessitated by Tainted Pact. It was somewhat sketchy but always worked out okay before...with 2 less Forests, I don't like it any more. There's nothing worse than an Arbor Elf with no Forests. I'm going to try replacing it with Boreal Druid for right now...if I hate it as much as I think I will (color is really important), it may get replaced by Tarnished Citadel or something.
Nice post, nice decklist (focused and aggressively costed), and especially nice to see Khymera back. Besides the obvious power of the deck and your great initial results, it sounds like the deck is FUN to play and that is just as important.
I like the addition of Dosan, and if it works out well and that type of effect is useful for you, I would also second City of Solitude. Though it may be unnecessary. Testing will tell.
Seal of Primordium seems to be popular in many decks right now. Worth considering if you need arti/ench kill.
I think Skullclamp needs to go in.. possibly over Null Rod. Clamp just sounds like a slam dunk to me: your commander is a sac outlet. I know it's not what you want to be doing but the card advantage is great. Plus it improves bitterblossom which you are not so keen on?
Interesting to see you tried mindslicer - that does sound brutal and you're right about it being good against control.
I also like that you are giving depths/hexmage a go. I haven't seen that combo for ages now and I do like it, hope it works out.
I will end on a couple questions: is there a protean hulk combo to be had here? is birthing pod worth considering (i'm thinking token into dreadnought? repeatable scavenge fodder for the same cost as buried alive - not the same immediate impact but better in the long run) I have no idea if either is a good idea, just curious.
Lotus Cobra and other 2 mana accelerants: These just aren’t on curve. I don’t want to go from 2 to 4 or 5…I want to go from 1 to 3 to dead. As such, I’m maxed out on 1 drop mana producers, and passing up on 2 drops and moxes.
I understand the no moxes mentality but Jeweled Amulet is another beast entirely, have you considered it?
If you are worried about colored mana, there is always Gemstone Mine. I'm not sure if it's good enough though.
On a second thought : What about Murmuring Bosk? I am not sure if it's allowed to be played in Black Green. Plus the fact that it comes tapped probably makes it not good enough even though it can be fetched.
Gemstone Mine is almost reasonable in this deck, but I think not quite enough. While it should be sufficient for the average game, the problem is that it's really bad if you have to lean on it as the sole green or black source in an opening hand, and it could easily backfire on you if the game goes long vs control. Murmuring Bosk isn't legal without white.
Quote from kwiznek »
Seal of Primordium seems to be popular in many decks right now. Worth considering if you need arti/ench kill.
Fine card, but no particular synergies here, and I think I already have about the right amount of artifact/enchantment kill. I think I'd play Viridian Zealot first, since all the creature tutors find it. (I've actually tested Viridian Zealot for a while, and it was fine but I think unnecessary.)
Quote from kwiznek »
I think Skullclamp needs to go in.. possibly over Null Rod. Clamp just sounds like a slam dunk to me: your commander is a sac outlet. I know it's not what you want to be doing but the card advantage is great. Plus it improves bitterblossom which you are not so keen on?
I've thought about it, but I really don't think it's so good here. Get a few games in with this deck and see how often you want to throw away a creature for 2 cards. It's almost never happens. Creatures in play are a precious resource. If the game is going well, Skullclamp is too slow, and if the game is going poorly, it's very unlikely to be good enough (or even do anything). Bitterblossom has to pull its weight alone (and may well get cut soon).
Quote from kwiznek »
I also like that you are giving depths/hexmage a go. I haven't seen that combo for ages now and I do like it, hope it works out.
To be honest, it's been bad so far, partially because it's because weak to the same things Varolz is, so it doesn't really provide a different way to win, and partially because Dark Depths is so bad on its own. I'm giving it a little more time, but I don't think it's going to stick.
Quote from kwiznek »
I will end on a couple questions: is there a protean hulk combo to be had here? is birthing pod worth considering (i'm thinking token into dreadnought? repeatable scavenge fodder for the same cost as buried alive - not the same immediate impact but better in the long run) I have no idea if either is a good idea, just curious.
I've thought about Protean Hulk but I can't think of a way to do it without totally revamping the deck, and I doubt the Hulk deck is better than what I'm playing. I don't think there even is a winning Hulk combo in these colors, and if there was it would involve Triskelion, Phyrexian Devourer, and Necrotic Ooze. I'm just not sure how to get those all into play. It does bear some thinking about, because Buried Alive and Survival of the Fittest are good with those cards, and because Triskelion is kind of cool with scavenge anyways, but I haven't tried it. You have to add a lot of high cmc cards, which screws up the curve and makes Ad Nauseum a lot worse. Maybe there's a deck there (probably with Natural Order too). It might even be good. I've also thought about using the Triskelion/Mikaeus, the Unhallowed combo, but again, it just seems too clunky and expensive for what this deck is trying to accomplish. You'd probably want Natural Order and maybe even Tooth and Nail too. A deck like that might be good, and I might try something like that eventually, but I don't have to time to mess with such a list right now. Why don't you try it?
Birthing Pod isn't good here I think. It's pretty slow and inconsistent...there aren't enough tokens (or creatures in general) to make it do what we need.
Quote from Brackenlord »
I understand the no moxes mentality but Jeweled Amulet is another beast entirely, have you considered it?
I think Jeweled Amulet is generally worse than a Mox. It's only good, in my experience, when you have a deck where it's extremely important to accelerate the general out quickly. This isn't really that deck, since we need mana the turn after we play Varolz too.
Quote from SamuraiMunky »
how reliably do you get urborg? if you find yourself getting that land alot, it may be worth it to switch braun for filth.
Urborg is very unreliable. There's always something more important to tutor for, so I never specifically search it up. It doesn't seem like it would be, but our creatures get so big that trample is just as good as unblockable 95+% of the time. I don't think I've ever had a game where Brawn didn't grant sufficient evasion. It's so much easier to activate that I think it's definitely better than Filth, and I'm happy with its effectiveness.
Quote from Virtus »
Have you tried out Pernicious Deed? Seems more useful in the Animar matchup than Jitte. Equipping Jitte on T3 doesn't seem fast enough.
I haven't, but Deed just seems too slow and contrary to our plans. We don't really want to wipe the board, we just want to go right over whatever they have in play. Deed is one of those cards that would be absolutely dead in a good hand, where we have a plan and can implement it. I don't think it's worth playing cards like that. I'd rather just have another spot removal spell. It's true that Jitte is usually too slow against Animar, but Deed is slow too. The way to win the Animar matchup is really just to outrace him with Inkmoth Nexus or Berserk, not to rely on controlling Animar. To be honest, Jitte has been incredibly underwhelming recently, and I'll be cutting it soon.
Tests with the most recent changes have been mixed, and I need more games. Ironically, after cutting a land, I got horribly flooded in every single game I played yesterday, and had multiple instances where I kept a pretty good hand and then drew 5+ lands in a row. Some of those hands were good enough to win regardless, some weren't.
Today, I played a few games, and I've gotten completely manascrewed every time. I've had to mull repeatedly to find more than 1 land, and didn't once draw lands when I wanted them. I've also been seriously colorscrewed, twice drawing every single colorless producing land in the deck but missing on double black or double green.
I think I also got extremely unlucky with Tainted Pact in my first go-round. I played a game against Griselbrand where I had a win together, and he only had 2 lands untapped on his turn, with 2 cards in hand. I just needed discard to make sure he didn't have removal, and the game was mine. I'd pulled out of my deck 1 Swamp, 1 Snow-Covered Swamp, and 1 Forest by this point in the game. Of course, I flipped over the 2 Snow-Covered Forests (consecutively) in the top 10 cards before seeing any discard. I had to go for it anyway, he had the removal, and I subsequently lost that game. I won the next game, and then in the 3rd one he had a hand of all lands and mana artifacts...a few turns in, he had 3 Swamps and 4 mana artifacts, including Gilded Lotus, and no hand. I had a hand that was set to win in a couple of turns. I used Tainted Pact to try to find Null Rod, and I'm certain I would be able to win if I got it...but of course my Pact fizzled on basics again, and then Griselbrand came down and Varolz couldn't quite beat 21 extra cards.
Obviously my recent games have just been variance and some bad luck, and I need to play some more to get a sense of what's actually going on. I do think I might have to figure out a way to get rid of at least 2 more repeat basics though, because fizzling on Tainted Pact when you're set to win is just about the worst thing ever. I'll play some more games, and see if my luck turns around.
Sucks that Pact couldn't help you. I would suggest on keeping it despite of getting 1% chance on getting those lands since that card can definitely dig deep enough to grab answers.
what about living wish to get death's shadow or dreadnaught back after you exile it?
Since the exile zone is a part of the game (thanks M10 rules changes!), a Wish can't fetch such a scavenged card because it isn't "outside the game". Pull From Eternity could...but not in these colours.
To be honest, I haven't had much time to test since posting this. I'm in the middle of an exam week right now, and I'm preparing to take the biggest test of my life in a month. Varolz has been a low priority. I intend to keep working on this deck, but progress is going to be very slow for a while.
My (few) game results after adding Tainted Pact have been more mixed than my earlier games. I feel like I've been fighting my mana base a lot more. Almost every game I've lost has been due to not drawing black mana, not drawing green mana, or just not drawing the last land I need to win. I'm currently trying Gilt-Leaf Palace (pretty good in this list, should have been playing it before), Golgari Guildgate, Urborg, and Tarnished Citadel in place of the last 4 repeat basics, just so that Tainted Pact can never miss. I'm also trying out City of Solitude over Umezawa's Jitte, since Jitte has been really irrelevant for me recently. These changes are as of yet almost completely untested, so I don't know if they're any good yet. I'm also going to cut Vampire Hexmage/Dark Depths, which has been predictably disappointing, but I'm not sure for what exactly yet. Maybe a land (no idea which) and Bloom Tender...or maybe Abyssal Persecutor? I kind of want to try Veteran Explorer, which has considerably synergy with Varolz, but I'm afraid about ramping my opponent that much.
I don't want to play artifact lands in this deck, it's just too suicidal when I'm playing Null Rod. I still think Null Rod is worth playing (it's been extremely relevant in recent games).
I've thought about Phyrexian Crusader. Never tried it, because I'm not convinced the protections are relevant enough to make it a solid win-condition (and it's not useful for anything else). In the right meta it might be a good choice but I don't like it right now.
I don't like Devoted Druid or Gaea's Cradle at all here. Devoted Druid is cute but rather pointless, since I really can't afford to waste a scavenge on it. I don't have any use for that much mana either. It's better to scavenge onto win conditions. I don't think have nearly enough creatures to make Gaea's Cradle any good. It's relatively rare for me to have more than 2 creatures out, and I frequently have 1 or 0.
I discussed the whole Protean Hulk/Natural Order thing in my last post. Reanimation fits into a similar category: it's not as simple as just adding reanimation spells, I also have to include good reanimation targets, since I currently don't have any. The more I think about it, the more I think there might be a good deck along those lines, that can win by nuking with Varolz or via reanimation or perhaps Hulk. By necessity though, such a deck would have less slots for draw, removal, tutors, etc, so I don't know that it would be a stronger deck than this one. It would certainly have less focus. It's an interesting idea and one I intend to try eventually, but I don't have time to make it right now. It has no place in this version of the deck, which is purely focused on abusing Varolz's scavenge synergies to win as quickly and consistently as possible.
Not much time to test, but major changes nonetheless.
It sounds obvious, but I realized that this deck is most successful when it wins fast. Though it can certainly still succeed in a longer game, one of the greatest strengths of this deck is the potential for speed. Notably, that's also the best way to beat the top decks (especially Animar), since the way we win those matchups is usually by straight-up racing.
To that end, I've tried to trim the top-end, clunkier side of things, while adding more mana sources and accelerants to be as explosive as possible. I'm also including additional cheap protection for my creatures, so I can be more consistent about powering through removal early-on.
Expedition Map ended up being clunky. 3 mana turns out to be too much to pay to find a land, and while drawing 1 land tutor is very good, drawing 2 is not at all. I don't think I'll miss the Map.
Null Rod is a card I'm fond of, and it's quite good against certain matchups (notably Maelstrom Wanderer, Griselbrand, and anything equipment-centric), but ultimately it's a reactive card in a deck that's become extremely proactive. It turns out I'd rather try to ignore my opponent's artifacts and just steamroll over them.
Umezawa's Jitte has been surprisingly terrible recently. It just isn't relevant against any of the good decks right now.
Sylvan Safekeeper has been pretty much doomed ever since Emether pointed out how poorly he interacts with scavenge
The Vampire Hexmage / Dark Depths combo was worth a try, but it just isn't good enough. If Marit Lage was usually sufficient to win the game, I would play it, since I can consistently assemble the combo if I want to...but every deck can deal with Marit Lage in numerous ways. It doesn't win, which means it doesn't really do anything, and the combo isn't worth the effort.
Bitterblossom, despite providing nice sacrifice fodder for Varolz, is extraordinarily low-impact in this deck, even more so now that Jitte is gone. It just doesn't help us win. The best part about playing Bitterblossom is that it tends to make opponents freak out and blow removal on it, because everyone thinks it's much better than it is, but that's not a good enough reason to keep playing it.
Diabolic Edict isn't particularly good right now. It's too frequently screwed up by an elf or a Stoneforge Mystic or something. It's only really good against Geist of Saint Traft, but Geist turns out to be a good matchup anyway. I'm keeping Fleshbag Marauder though, because attaching the edict to a creature makes it much easier to find when I do need one, and I don't think any of the other 187 creatures are good enough.
While Garruk Relentless seems awesome for this deck, he tops out the curve, and in real games he's been underwhelming. 99% of the time, he comes down, makes a wolf or kills something, then dies immediately. This deck just isn't very good at defending a planeswalker, and Garruk doesn't do quite enough to protect himself. It's the flip-side of this card that we really want to play, and Garruk almost never survives long enough for us to make use of that card. He's not terrible or anything, but I don't think he's worth 4 mana right now. In all the games I've played with this deck, Garruk has contributed substantially to literally 0 wins.
Jarad's Orders and Rhystic Tutor are both decent, but a little too clunky. Jarad's Orders costs a little too much for what usually amounts to a fancy Entomb. Usually you only really need 1 creature, so the second half of the card tends to be mostly irrelevant. It usually takes a ton of mana to play Jarad's Orders and win in the same turn, so more frequently you have to pass, and that just leads to many ways for things to go wrong. Rhystic Tutor is okay when it works, but not even that amazing (it's still very slow relative to the speed of this deck). And when you can't cast it when you want, which comes up fairly often, it's obviously terrible.
The extra basics got the axe because I really, really hate whiffing on Tainted Pact. Unlikely as it is, I've proved that it still certainly happens, and that's a really easy way to lose games you otherwise were almost sure to win. I could see maybe adding 2 more basics in future if need be (since you can usually fetch out at least 1 before using Tainted Pact), but right now I don't even want to mess with the risk.
Even though the Moxes don't necessarily fit the ideal curve, they're still fast mana. I like fast mana. There are plenty of situations where an extra mana early produces a kill a whole turn faster, and that's huge. I can't realistically play any more 1 mana elves, and the Moxes are the next best thing. Elvish Spirit Guide is back in (for now), and is joined by Dark Ritual to push this fast mana thing as far as possible and see what happens. Any of these additions can result in landing an Arena effect a turn or two sooner, which is very strong, or can just produce a kill when I otherwise wouldn't quite have the mana.
Veteran Explorer is kind of a wild-card slot that could easily get cut again, but I want to try it to see how it plays. I have so much protection now (especially Dosan the Falling Leaf and City of Solitude) that it might be good. If I have defenses in place, it acts as another ritual when I'm going off. Even if I don't, I might still be able to finesse the timing of the sacrifice with Varolz such that it puts me into position to win before my opponent can effectively use the mana. It's a high risk/high reward card that may or may not work out, but it's a powerful enough effect that I'll give it a try for a while and see if I can make it work.
More protection. With the extra accelerants I've added, hopefully I'll be able to keep an extra mana up for protection more often when I'm going for the kill. City of Solitude is just really strong, and guarantees that nothing nasty is going to happen. I'm preemptively adding the new card Savage Summoning because it does just enough that I think it's going to be very strong in this deck. It's another one of those cards, like Berserk or Crop Rotation, that fundamentally changes what the deck is capable of, and thus messes with an opponent's capability to try to play around me just winning out of nowhere. Random uncounterability is situationally nice, but the important part of this card is enabling an end-of-turn Varolz, giving us a lot more flexibility to play him and go off when we get any kind of window. More often than not, I think it's going to be essentially another ritual, letting us effectively play Varolz for free (and potentially hasted) when we try to win, but that's very powerful already. Savage Summoning has just enough power and versatility to be good, and the price is definitely right.
Plague Stinger is another wild-card slot like Veteran Explorer that I'm going to try out in this version and see how it plays. With so much extra protection, I think there's a lot to be said for having a cheap evasive creature that threatens to end the game in 1 hit. It's certainly not a card that can be ignored. Even though it doesn't do much by itself, we now have so many ways to protect creatures that I think it presents enough of a threat to be worth playing.
I was playing Golgari Guildgate for a while, but that had to go. CIPT lands are so so bad when you really need an untapped land. There are just enough elves in the deck that I think Gilt-Leaf Palace is fine though. I'm pretty leery about Tarnished Citadel, but it hasn't killed me yet, so I'll deal with it for now. I dislike the artifact lands, but I'll try them out now that Null Rod is gone. If I find them screwing me over a lot, I'll replace them (maybe just with basics), but for now Tainted Pact dictates that they get a chance.
These changes add 2 extra land-equivalents (an extra land and Chrome Mox) to the deck, plus a handful of accelerants, so hopefully the mana should be a lot more consistent now, as well as a bit faster. That can only be a good thing. I also like what these changes did to the overall curve: we cut a total cmc of 23, and added back only 13 (10 if you count Elvish Spirit Guide as 0, the way it plays). Average cmc is down to 1.8! That too can only be a good thing.
It'll take some more games and probably some more fine-tuning, since these are some major changes with fairly little testing, but I think the deck looks even more fast and deadly now. I think I succeeded in trimming the fat and maxing out on what Varolz does best. I'm looking forward to being able to play this deck some more.
If you're looking for more discard, have you tried addle ? I believe it has been played in some Zur builds, and the drawback doesn't seem too hard, since you probably know what you want to get rid of. Otherwise, unmask is painful with ad nauseam but works well the turn you want to combo off.
And also skullclamp seems a good way to recycle your dorks and works well with varolz since you can sacrifice any creature with him. Skeletal scrying is another good draw spell that could deserve testing.
If you're playing elvish spirit guide, maybe you can try blood pet, not really a good card, but it's acceleration you can cycle with clamp, survival or fauna.
Hatred is an interesting thought. I seriously considered it, even though it costs 5, but my thinking for now is that the associated life cost is keeping it from working here. This deck takes a lot of self-inflicted damage, and it also takes a lot of damage when playing against aggressive decks (we win those matchups by just winning faster). It's fairly rare that I end a game with a high enough life total that Hatred on Varolz would be useful, and I think it's too narrow with just the infect creatures. Hatred is such a strong card that I think it always has to be under consideration in a deck like this, but I don't think it will work.
I've thought about the City of Solitude issue. I don't think it's much of a problem though. If I scavenge onto something else, Varolz doesn't even need to be in play until the turn I win. Not allowing Varolz to regenerate is relevant, but not that big a deal. That said, I've only drawn City of Solitude once in all the games I've played since I added it, so I still have to see how it really plays.
Thank you for your suggestions as always Emether.
I haven't tried Addle, but I'm not a huge fan of 2 mana discard. I tried Distress for a while and it was awful. Partly that was because of the BB cost, but also because it's just too hard to fit that kind of discard into the curve without slowing down the kill a turn. Addle might conceivably be better than Distress here, but I still don't think it's good enough.
I do like Unmask, but I don't think I play enough black spells I'm ever willing to throw away to support it.
Maybe I'll try Skullclamp sometime since everyone suggests it, but I still don't think it's good here. This deck needs its mana dorks. I can't afford to throw them away for cards. My problem with Skullclamp is its awful if things are going according to plan, and if things are going badly, I probably don't have creatures so it's awful there too. I get that Skullclamp is an absurd card that has synergy with Varolz, but I still don't think it fits this deck.
Skeletal Scrying strikes me as too slow for this deck. It has potential though. I may give it a try, though I really am starting to get concerned about all the life loss.
Blood Pet...thanks, but no. I'm not yet sure if Elvish Spirit Guide is even good enough, and Blood Pet is much worse.
I've only had time for a few games since making changes. I went 2-0 against 2 different Zur players (hooray), and 1-2 against Skullbriar (very close games). I've liked the new changes overall (Dark Ritual has been absolutely stellar). I think Veteran Explorer is probably too dangerous, though it's possible that I've been overly cautious about using it on turn 1, and I should just go for it more often.
I'm seriously considering cutting Green Sun's Zenith too, because there just aren't enough worthwhile targets anymore. I usually wind up getting Fauna Shaman with it, but that's not a very good play (I need to have a creature to throw away in hand, and they need to not have removal). I may try Chord of Calling or Jarad's Orders again instead.
Hi ! Some ideas inspired by other good decks (jester's and evergreen's respectively)
To ramp on turn 1, have you tried wild growth and utopia sprawl ? It's probably not as good as in animar, but it's still llanowar elves that won't get hit by pyroclasm. Playing this you should renounce to tainted pact because of the manabase, but it might worth it.
Also, what about plunge into darkness ? It digs really nicely and the life loss is not a problem if you win one turn after resolving it.
Land-enchantments are a lot worse than mana elves in this deck, since they can't regenerate Varolz. I think that Utopia Sprawl is too limiting (I'd definitely play Arbor Elf first, and I can't even play that anymore) and Wild Growth just isn't strong enough. I prefer even Boreal Druid here. That said, the new Elvish Mystic will be a great addition, and should put me at about the right level of 1-drop accelerants.
Plunge into Darkness doesn't do it for me. It's more of an Impulse than a real tutor, and major life-loss effects like this get significantly worse as you add more of them to a deck. I already have a lot. If Plunge into Darkness could always get me the card I need I would still play it, but it usually won't. Usually I need a very specific piece to win: either Death's Shadow/Phyrexian Dreadnought/Entomb, or Berserk, or Buried Alive. Even if I go to 1 off Plunge, the odds are pretty high that I won't hit what I need, and in that circumstance I'm probably just dead. Evergreen's deck can get away with it because he only ever needs one kind of effect for his combo, so he has more redundancy, but even in his deck I don't think Plunge is especially good.
My few games of recent testing have been good. I played 2 sets against 2 different Animar pilots (both using Jester's list, but neither of them Jester) and went 4-1 and 2-1. My favorite moment was when I was able to use Vines of Vastwood to ambush an attacking 4/4 Animar with my Llanowar Elves. Both games I lost were so close that I certainly would have won if I had been on the play. I think that every game I won, I won by turn 5. This is starting to feel like a pretty good matchup, since the decks kill with comparable speed but we have more disruption.
I think I'm going to try to work Lignify in, because another cheap removal spell that happens to be good against most of the top decks seems worth a try, even if it can be slightly awkward when I have to attack with Varolz. I might also mess around with Swiftfoot Boots, since Ranger's Guile and City of Solitude have both been a little underwhelming (they're very narrow cards), and I could see the Boots being more versatile. I wish I could just play 4 Inquisition of Kozilek.
At this point, I'm very much liking the way the deck plays. The biggest thing I'm looking to add are more cheap ways to find Death's Shadow or Phyrexian Dreadnought, since access to one of those cards is the most frequent thing I find myself lacking (and this deck really doesn't win without finding one). I've considered Sylvan Tutor, but I hate the sorcery speed top of deck tutor, because giving my opponent a whole turn to know what's coming and prepare makes it too hard to get an attack through. I've tried Jarad's Orders, which is okay, but I don't like it much since it's so slow. I've been trying out Chord of Calling as a glorified Entomb since it has the big advantage of being instant speed, but I've found that it can be really hard to find an opening to cast, and I haven't liked it much. Can anyone think of some cheap tutors for these creatures that I'm missing?
You probably already run the best tutor you can play in these colors. A very good missing one is diabolic intent but I don't know if you can afford the sacrifice cost.
There is also mwonvuli beast tracker that can look for dreadnought but it is as slow as sylvan tutor and more expensive...
Your deck is legitimately scary. I hope you keep learning how to improve it. It seems like the slightest misplay can change from winning right then to possibly losing. On the otherhand my deck is significantly easier to pilot. heh. GGs
I do think the sacrifice on Diabolic Intent is a bit much. If I could consistently win the turn I played it, it would be fine of course, but that usually involves Inkmoth Nexus. Assuming I tutor for a big creature (and already have Varolz in play), that requires a total of 6 mana. I think that's a bit too much, since 5 generally seems to be the sweet spot. Having to sacrifice a turn before I try to win is fairly ugly, since that probably subtracts from my mana on the critical turn, and I usually need every mana.
Mwonvuli Beast Tracker is pretty cute (I had forgotten that Dreadnought even tramples, since it's so completely irrelevant), but there's no way it's good enough.
Honestly, I think my best bet for a tutor at this point is just to hope that Vampiric Tutor might get unbanned. I don't think it's completely out of the question, considering, that black decks are weak right now and Demonic Tutor is legal. That would be awesome for this deck.
Failing that, I think I'm just going to roll with one less tutor than I'd like for right now, since playing expensive tutors hasn't been any good (they rot in my hand all game).
The "misplay" Bbearz is talking about was that I had a 15/15 Varolz (already hit once) and Fauna Shaman in play, and just needed one more hit for lethal. I was stuck on 4 mana, only one of it green. My plan was to get Brawn, ditch it to get Dreadnought, and attack for 27 trample damage. Unfortunately, right after I got Dreadnought, I realized that I had no forest in play. Damn you Okina! Had I gotten Bramblewood Paragon instead (which I recently added and was testing), that would have been a win right there. Unfortunately, he landed a Tangle Wire right after that, which locked me down for long enough for him to win (since I didn't draw a forest).
The games I won against Thrun were fairly typical hands with a plan (turn 4-5 kill each time I think). The games I lost were rather frustrating examples of what I meant when I said try to only keep hands with a plan. The first game, I kept a hand with 3 lands, Dark Confidant, and 3 removal spells. I figured the removal would kill everything but Thrun, Dark Confidant would survive, and would draw me into some action in time. I then proceeded to draw something like 10 lands and 2 more removal spells, no action at all, while Thrun beat me down 6 points at a time. The top card of my deck the turn he killed me was Buried Alive, which would have won the game on the spot
I lost another game where I kept a hand with Plague Stinger, Inkmoth Nexus, Pendlehaven, and some other irrelevant cards (I forget what). Again, I drew absolutely no gas to use with Varolz, and was only able to attack him to 9 poison before a combination of Thrun, Jitte, and Winter Orb was able to overpower me. Any creature would have been enough to get there (a neat trick against Jitte is to sac a blocker to Varolz before damage, prevented it from gaining counters), but I just whiffed again.
Anyway, besides Thrun, I've gone:
2-1 against another Animar (should have been 3-0, but the guy had the 4 most insanely perfect topdecks in a row. I had a funny game where I killed him by sacrificing my Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant to Varolz in order to scavenge them both onto Inkmoth Nexus for the win)
2-0 against Lyserg's Karador (I still like my matchup against graveyard decks, and I had pretty good hands. He probably could have made it harder for me if he played more defensively, but he went for his combo both games, I went for mine, and mine was faster)
2-0 against Red Akroma (both games went turn 4 attack with huge Varolz, turn 5 win. He had removal both games but regeneration was enough to save Varolz and let me scavenge).
How do you guys feel about Oxidize? I'm seriously considering trying it, because 1 mana instant speed removal is so clutch (Nature's Claim is fantastic). Oxidize deals with Umezawa's Jitte, other equipment, Spellskite, Phyrexian Metamorph (disrupting Animar), Pithing Needle and generally at least a couple of the most high-impact/scariest cards in any deck. I've never seen anyone play it before, but I feel like it might be good in this deck. I could actually see replacing Maelstrom Pulse with it, since 3 mana on my turn for removal often feels incredibly expensive for this deck (it's like giving my opponent a Time Walk!). I've even considered cutting Phyrexian Arena/Dark Tutelage, which seems crazy (anyone who's watched me play Glissa knows how much I love Arenas), but these are actually very bad cards when the game ends on turn 5, as it so frequently does in this deck.
I think smelt is ok when you play red, because you can't afford better than just destroy target artifact usually (actually vandalblast or shattering spree are better, but it's still 1 mana and a card to destroy 1 thing). But as you play green you should afford better versatility.
Actually if you want to replace Pulse, you can try seal of primordium. For one more mana than oxydize, you have a real disenchant effect, but it's actually much better because you can use your mana on it even lacking a target. Furthermore you will make your opponent slow down because he probably wants to deal with it before casting his swords, or skullclamp, or whatever. In fact, it is really rare to draw a seal and be disappointed by it (excepted against ezuri maybe).
I think also cutting arenas is not that good because it's worth X cards for 3 manas, X being easily more than 2. And if drew on turn 5 it's not that great, t1 dork into t2 arena is probably a really good option to win the game.
Otherwise, considering how important it is to dig into your combo, have you tried barren moor or tranquil thicket ? Or even Maze of Ith ? They are 0 mana cost spells, and can help digging or buy a few turns. Maze work also well with land tutors if you already have your infected creature in hand.
Now, a new champion has arisen. Varolz, the Scar-Striped has single-handedly inspired me to return to EDH, and boy is he good. I feel quite confident in saying that Varolz is the best new commander printed since Maelstrom Wanderer/Animar, Soul of Elements, and I think he has the potential to be top-tier. Including games with earlier drafts of the deck, my match record is currently 4-0 against Evergreen’s Iname, 2-1 against Animar, 1-1 against Zur, 2-0 against Hulk-Flash, and X-0 against almost every other competitive deck I’ve played against (20+ complete matches). This deck can hang with the big boys. Zur and Animar are the worst matchups I’ve encountered so far, and though I obviously need more testing they both feel approximately 50-50, which really isn't bad, considering.
So, what makes this little troll so good? He’s not a powerhouse on the face of things. The sole reason to play Varolz is because of his rather degenerate interaction with Death’s Shadow and Phyrexian Dreadnought. For 2 mana, you can give Varolz (or another creature) 12-13 counters. That produces an insanely large threat for a tiny amount of mana, and this synergy is the heart of the deck.
The other piece of the puzzle that really puts the deck over the top is Inkmoth Nexus. Scavenging onto the Nexus threatens a 1-shot kill, and this can happen out of nowhere (especially with end-of-turn Crop Rotation). Starting around turn 4 or 5, the deck is capable of going from nothing but basic lands in play to an instant kill. There are also several 2 card combos in the deck that can produce a turn 3 kill.
Enough talk, let’s look at the latest list.
1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Artifact: (2)
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
Creature: (24)
1 Abyssal Persecutor
1 Bloom Tender
1 Boreal Druid
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bramblewood Paragon
1 Brawn
1 Dark Confidant
1 Death’s Shadow
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Plague Stinger
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Viridian Corrupter
Enchantment: (5)
1 Dark Tutelage
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
Instant: (19)
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ad Nauseum
1 Beast Within
1 Berserk
1 Crop Rotation
1 Dark Ritual
1 Devour in Shadow
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dismember
1 Entomb
1 Go for the Throat
1 Grasp of Darkness
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Oxidize
1 Putrefy
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Tainted Pact
1 Victim of Night
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Pit
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Centaur Garden
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forest
1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rishadan Port
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Swamp
1 Tainted Wood
1 Tarnished Citadel
1 Tree of Tales
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Liliana of the Veil
Sorcery: (11)
1 Buried Alive
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Grim Tutor
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Night’s Whisper
1 Sign in Blood
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Thoughtseize
1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
The Kill:
1 Death’s Shadow
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Plague Stinger
1 Brawn
1 Bramblewood Paragon
1 Berserk
1 Abyssal Persecutor
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
The Tutors:
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Grim Tutor
1 Tainted Pact
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Buried Alive
1 Crop Rotation
1 Sylvan Scrying
The Protection:
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
The Draw:
1 Dark Confidant
1 Dark Tutelage
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Sylvan Library
1 Ad Nauseum
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Night’s Whisper
1 Sign in Blood
The Removal:
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Beast Within
1 Devour in Shadow
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
1 Grasp of Darkness
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Oxidize
1 Putrefy
1 Victim of Night
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Duress
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
The Mana:
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Bloom Tender
1 Boreal Druid
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Dark Ritual
The Land:
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Pit
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Centaur Garden
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forest
1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rishadan Port
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Swamp
1 Tainted Wood
1 Tarnished Citadel
1 Tree of Tales
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
Changelog:
-4 Swamp
-4 Forest
- Grisly Salvage
- Arbor Elf
+2 Snow-Covered Swamp
+2 Snow-Covered Forest
+ Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
+ Centaur Garden
+ Reflecting Pool
+ Tainted Pact
+ Dosan the Falling Leaf
+ Boreal Druid
5/21/13
- Expedition Map
- Null Rod
- Umezawa's Jitte
- Sylvan Safekeeper
- Vampire Hexmage
- Bitterblossom
- Diabolic Edict
- Garruk Relentless
- Jarad's Orders
- Rhystic Tutor
- Dark Depths
- Swamp
- Forest
- Snow-Covered Swamp
- Snow-Covered Forest
+ Chrome Mox
+ Mox Diamond
+ Elvish Spirit Guide
+ Dark Ritual
+ Veteran Explorer
+ City of Solitude
+ Ranger's Guile
+ Vines of Vastwood
+ Savage Summoning
+ Plague Stinger
+ Gilt-Leaf Palace
+ Tarnished Citadel
+ Urborg
+ Vault of Whispers
+ Tree of Tales
6/11/13
- Veteran Explorer
- City of Solitude
- Ranger's Guile
- Savage Summoning
- Green Sun's Zenith
- Last Rites
+ Elvish Mystic
+ Bramblewood Paragon
+ Lignify
+ Swiftfoot Boots
+ Skeletal Scrying
+ Cabal Therapy
6/18/13
- Eternal Witness
- Deathmark
- Vines of Vastwood
- Swiftfoot Boots
- Cabal Therapy
+ Abyssal Persecutor
+ Lotus Cobra
+ Mindslicer
+ Seal of Primordium
+ City of Solitude
7/22/13
- City of Solitude
- Lotus Cobra
- Tarmogoyf
- Mindslicer
- Lignify
- Rancor
- Treetop Village
+ Bloom Tender
+ Grasp of Darkness
+ Diabolic Edict
+ Devour in Shadow
+ Beast Within
+ Oxidize
+ Exotic Orchard
I’ve seen several people suggest a Skullbriaresque heavily aggro style of playing Varolz. Such a deck might be viable (or even good), but it’s obviously not the way I decided to go. I think that my approach is the most powerful and consistent way to play him.
Tips:
The curve is extremely low (average cmc: 1.80!). This is intentional: while this deck doesn’t mind the game going long, it’s really trying hard to kill by turn 5 or 6. This is totally achievable by most hands, depending on how much you have to play around disruption and whether your opponent gives you a window. Even when the game goes long, this deck doesn’t need big spells. The most powerful turns are those where you can play a bunch of cheap things at once. Varolz enables scavenge the turn he comes into play, so sometimes if your opponent taps out you can play him and win with Nexus in the same turn. Berserk is also ridiculously swingy and contributes to many wins out of nowhere, since it lets Varolz 1-shot opponents even through a chump blocker.
The low mana cost also enables you to dig really deep with Ad Nauseum (nothing else in the deck costs more than 4). I’ve yet to lose a game where I resolve Ad Nauseum…it typically draws at least 12 cards, and then I untap and win. It’s possible that there are some 5+ cmc cards that are upgrades (like Shriekmaw), but I’m really loathe to add them simply because of how important that extra margin of safety on Ad Nauseum is.
Don’t forget that Varolz can regenerate for 0 mana. It’s much more useful than you’d expect against many decks. The majority of black and red removal that sees play allows for regeneration. Just watch out for Damnation and Dismember. If you suspect that an opponent is saving removal, it’s frequently best to make sure you have a mana elf or other expendable creature out before you play Varolz. Remember that an uncracked green fetchland serves the same purpose, since you can get Dryad Arbor at instant speed.
Be pretty careful about going for the kill with Varolz or Inkmoth Nexus. Occasionally you just have to hope they don’t have anything, but usually you can afford to wait for a safer opportunity. There are exceptions, but you usually don’t lose out on much by waiting to combo (especially if they don’t know you have the big creature ready). If you go for it and they do have an answer, it’s not the absolute end of the world but it is pretty damn bad. Try to avoid that when you can afford to.
I would estimate that I win about 55% of my games by smashing with a huge Varolz in 1 or 2 hits, 35% with a 1-shot Inkmoth Nexus, 5% with a massive Thrun, and the last 5% by whatever I can scrape together. It’s good to have a plan, but be open to change: sometimes you’ll be setting up an attack with Varolz, then you topdeck Thrun and change your plan completely. Things happen.
Unless you’re on a turn 3-4 kill and think you need every single mana every turn, it’s typically correct to hold onto Phyrexian Dreadnought/Death’s Shadow/Entomb until the turn you “go off.” If they don’t know you have it, they’re more likely to tap out and give you a window. You’re also less vulnerable to graveyard hate that way, and there are several ways to discard them for value anyway (Survival/Fauna Shaman/Last Rites/Liliana)
Speaking of graveyard hate, despite looking like a “graveyard deck,” this list is extremely resilient to the hate as long as you take care to play around it. Even if they have Scavenging Ooze or whatnot in play, you can still get the Dreadnought in your graveyard and scavenge it without passing priority, so long as you cast or Entomb it (it doesn’t work with Survival/Fauna Shaman though, so be careful). My rule of thumb is to never put a big creature into the graveyard until I’m going to use it if I’m playing against a green deck, since they all have Scavenging Ooze and ways to get it, and losing a big creature before you can use it really sucks. Against most other decks you’re usually okay, but still play it safe if you can.
Try to keep hands with a plan. Ideally, you want to have a big creature or a way to get one, or a source of card advantage like Phyrexian Arena. Sometimes it’s important to have at least one removal spell, as against Zur. One mana elf is a big benefit, but extras can usually be mulled away. This deck can operate on few lands, so I’ll usually go down to just 2 (sometimes 1 and a mana elf) if I’m mulling away a bunch of cards. Just be wary about keeping a hand with some land, an elf, a couple removal spells, a Tarmogoyf…it looks good at a glance, but hands like that have the potential to not actually do anything. You can’t always get it, but you really want a hand with a plan, if possible.
Some comments on individual cards:
Mesmeric Fiend: Note that you can sac this to Varolz with the ability on the stack to exile a card permanently. To be honest though, this rarely comes up, since it’s often better to have an extra creature to regenerate and I frequently win the turn I play Fiend anyway.
Tarmogoyf: Note that Tarmogoyf retains its p/t in the graveyard, so it’s actually the 3rd most efficient scavenge enabler as well as a decent beater.
Thrun, the Last Troll: This is sort of a Plan B if for whatever reason you can’t combo. Along with Tarmogoyf and Treetop Village, you can usually scrape together enough damage to still win if everything else goes wrong. Thrun is also sometimes the best scavenge target if you’re playing against an extinction sort of deck with lots of removal, and a lot of decks have a very hard time dealing with him.
Viridian Corrupter: This rarely actually kills anyone, but it’s easily tutorable and very dangerous if not dealt with immediately. It tends to produce a lot of value.
Buried Alive: Completely ridiculous in this deck. Getting Death’s Shadow, Phyrexian Dreadnought, and Brawn produces an unfailingly lethal amount of evasive damage out of nowhere.
Survival of the Fittest: This is obviously an extremely powerful enabler, but keep in mind that the creature count in this deck is quite low. If you have a hand with Survival or Fauna Shaman but only 1 creature, at least think about holding onto that creature so you’re not reliant on drawing another one to do anything. It feels wrong, but in some hands it’s correct to not play the turn 1 mana elf.
Berserk: This card is just crazily overpowered on Varolz, and frequently steals games when people think they’re safe to take one hit or to chump. It presents quite a dilemma for your opponent because it’s almost impossible to play around Berserk and advance your gameplan at the same time, but if you don’t play around Berserk you risk just outright losing every turn. Don't forget that it can be used as (very bad) removal on your opponent's attacking creature if you're desperate.
Crop Rotation: This enables so many kills out of nowhere by getting Inkmoth Nexus when they think they’re safe. It’s also the best card against graveyard combo like Hulk Flash when paired with Bojuka Bog, and can practically win games against those decks by itself.
Green Sun’s Zenith: Relatively bad in this deck, compared to most green decks. The green creatures restriction is very limiting, and we rarely want to use it for acceleration (since our curve is so low), but it’s still fine. I almost always use it to get Fauna Shaman (to go off) or Sylvan Safekeeper (to make sure I can go off safely).
Sword of Feast and Famine: Surprisingly does nothing here. When we invest 5 mana to do something before we attack, we just win the game. This deck isn’t well suited to grind out incremental advantage from the sword (since neither trigger is particularly relevant), and the protections even interfere with Varolz’s scavenge. Pass.
Aggro creatures in general: This isn’t an aggro deck. I’ve tried various things that seem synergistic but essentially just attack, from Bloodghast to Great Sable Stag to Lotleth Troll to Silhana Ledgewalker. None of them do enough.
Bramblewood Paragon: This is a reasonable alternative to Brawn, but Brawn is better in most situations, and I don’t think I need both.
Faerie Macabre: This would be a good inclusion if I start having trouble with graveyard decks. For now, between Crop Rotation and Scavenging Ooze, I’ve found my matchup against these decks to be good, but this would be the next inclusion if I need more help.
Lotus Cobra and other 2 mana accelerants: These just aren’t on curve. I don’t want to go from 2 to 4 or 5…I want to go from 1 to 3 to dead. As such, I’m maxed out on 1 drop mana producers, and passing up on 2 drops and moxes.
Mindslicer: I played this for a while and kind of liked it, but it’s still pretty situational. It’s out for now, but it’s a good tool to keep in mind against classic control decks, and if I start losing to those it will probably come back in.
Beast Within: Giving them a token is relevant enough in this deck, where I frequently find myself attacking for 15 on the ground, that I think it’s worth playing slightly more narrow removal instead.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Tried him out in my first draft, but both the extra mana and the beasts are really pretty irrelevant. I only liked him for the trample, and Brawn is basically strictly better for that in this particular deck.
Beseech the Queen: Played this and liked it, but it’s too dangerous with Ad Nauseum. I’m currently trying out Rhystic Tutor instead, it’s been okay so far.
Distress: I would really like to have another discard spell, but I tried this and was dissatisfied. BB is kind of hard sometimes, and it really doesn’t fit the curve. I frequently found myself mulling it away out of my opening hands because I just needed more action or something easier to cast, and that’s a bad sign for a card staying in.
Animar: The other tough matchup, Animar is annoying simply because he’s so hard for us to kill. Very occasionally you can get him with Diabolic Edict, Liliana, or Berserk, but don’t count on it. It’s also hard to get through on the ground, since Animar effectively blocks a non-trampling Varolz all day. I’ve found winning this match to be heavily reliant on getting there with the Inkmoth Nexus combo. It’s not easy, but there are enough tutors to consistently find it, and enough discard/removal to slow down Animar’s combo, that in my experience so far I’ve been able to kill the Animar player before he can kill me at least half the time. The games do tend to be extremely close though (Most of the games I lost, I would have won given 1 more mana or 1 more turn. Most of the games he lost, he probably could have won given 1 more turn.)
Iname: This is a good matchup. We have several ways to blow out the graveyard when he tries to combo, and for the most part Varolz matchs up well against black removal. I tend to play these matches for the long game and not go for the kill unless I’m pretty sure it’s safe. I’m more likely to try to get there over a few turns with Varolz than to risk everything on connecting with Inkmoth Nexus.
Aggro: I’ve played against several different aggro decks and not had any trouble with them thus far. We do something unfair, they don’t. We have a lot of removal to keep them in check, and a big early Varolz tends to be hard for them to deal with. Aggro decks also tend to tap out every turn, so they leave a lot of opportunities to safely win with Inkmoth Nexus.
Control: I’ve played against Geist, Ruhan, and GAAIV so far, and beaten all of them (Geist 3 times, Ruhan 2 times). You kind of just have to play good magic, but the deck has the tools to both prevent them from winning and eventually maneuver the game into a position where you can combo for the win. Inkmoth Nexus and/or Sylvan Safekeeper tend to be important in these matchups, and I’d almost never try to get there with a 15/15 Varolz. Bounce and white removal both ignore regeneration too effectively, so you have to play more conservatively. These decks tend to give you time to do so though.
Suggestions for cards I might have missed, or questions about why something is or is not included, are always appreciated. If you have a strategy question about how to play a certain match, I'm happy to talk about that too.
Enjoy!
what about living wish to get death's shadow or dreadnaught back after you exile it?
rite of consumption could be a good alt-win card. in case of anti-attack effects or pacifisms.
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Uril, The Miststalker
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Agreed on Tainted Pact. I would give it a shot especially since your critical combo pieces, Death's Shadow and Dreadnought, are somewhat redundant.
Hmmm, that is tasty indeed!
Tainted Strike is probably too cute, right? It is probably just worse than Berserk, and it doesn't help you evade any blockers, but if Berserk is amazing then this has the potential to be okay.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
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But this looks pretty good
EDH:
Currently Piloting:
Dama, Sage of Stone | Karador, Ghost Chieftan | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound | Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Genju of the Realm | Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
I'm currently running 12 basics, 6 of each. Snow-covered lands are an easy swap...the other 8 slots are harder. I don't think there are 8 good enough nonbasics that I would play, since colored mana is so important. I think I can stand playing 2 of each basic and snow-covered basic...there's some risk of fizzling the Tainted Pact there, but it's very low, and I can mitigate it with fetchlands. That leaves me with 4 replacements to make. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers and Centaur Garden are fairly easy replacements for Forests. I don't like the life loss from Centaur Garden, but I think it's okay. I don't mind adding Reflecting Pool either.
The last slot kind of has me stuck. The best things I can come up with is something like Jund Panorama, and that seems miserable. Golgari Guildgate is an option, but I hate playing tapped lands in this deck: the curve is so tight and low that they usually slow me down an entire turn. Mosswort Bridge and Vesuva would both be sort of interesting otherwise, but I'm afraid they're too slow. Volrath's Stronghold wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but I don't think I need it, and I'm afraid to add more colorless mana. In the absence of a better option, I think I'm going to try just shaving a land and putting Tainted Pact in the last slot. I added Expedition Map recently without cutting a land, so hopefully that will compensate. I'm prepared to add another land later though if this feels too low (and it might). Tainted Pact is definitely going to make the deck better though, and I could always just cut Rhystic Tutor for some sort of land if necessary. Any thoughts on nonbasics I'm missing? I don't particularly want to play Tendo Ice Bridge, Forbidden Orchard, or Tarnished Citadel (though that last one might not be too bad).
Yes, I've thought about it, though I never actually tried playing it in this deck. Though I love Life from the Loam, it just doesn't fit what we're trying to do. Dredge isn't particularly advantageous to us, and this deck is tuned such that it frequently uses every single mana available every single turn until it wins. Basically, if things go right, Life from the Loam will be a dead draw every time. If things go wrong, it's not terrible...but it's still not that great here, and I wouldn't count on it to win any games.
This is an interesting thought. I kind of like it, but the thing is I'm not all that worried about protecting my creatures in the graveyard. For one thing, this really only protects them from Scavenging Ooze (not Bojuka Bog, Relic of Progenitus, etc), and for another, I can typically protect those creatures pretty easily just by playing intelligently and holding them in my hand until I'm ready to use them. I actually like Ground Seal more because it interferes somewhat with opponents who are trying to reanimate or do graveyard tricks, but I think overall the card isn't high enough impact, and the curve is tight enough that there often won't be a good time to play it, even though it cantrips. I'll keep the idea in the back of my head, but I don't think it's going to make the cut right now.
Way too narrow. 95% of the time, a single scavenge is enough to win. When it's not (or if I get one big creature Castigated or something), I still have a second one I can dig up. In all the matches I've played with this deck, I've only had one game where I used up both creatures and my opponent wasn't dead, and that situation is so rare that's it surely not worth including a card just for that kind of scenario.
Very win-more (and not even all that good at winning). Rite of Consumption does the damage, so it's useless with Inkmoth Nexus, and Varolz has to get really really big to actually kill someone with this. He usually doesn't get that big without a Berserk. I haven't had problems with anti-attack effects or pacifisms yet, and I think those are issues better handled by stuff like Maelstrom Pulse anyway.
Indeed, bounce is scary. One of the toughest matches I've played was actually against an Azami deck that seemed to be running something like 15 bounce spells. Luckily, most decks don't play that much bounce, but you have to be really careful to get discard and make sure the coast is clear if you suspect it (especially if you've already tried once and lost a scavenge). Thrun, the Last Troll and Inkmoth Nexus help a lot in these matchups, since Thrun can't be touched by most things and Inkmoth Nexus is immune to much of the bounce that commonly sees play (like Into the Roil and Cyclonic Rift). So it's not like this deck rolls over and dies to bounce, but it certainly is something to respect and be careful to play around.
To be honest, this is a very recent addition and I've only had a few games with it so far. In theory, it seems pretty good to me, but I don't know yet. I'm going to try to play several more games with the combo, but if it's not pulling its weight I have no qualms about cutting it. Time will tell.
I thought about the Boots, but not very hard. You know...it might actually be okay, though haste isn't particularly important and more incremental mana costs do add up. I have a feeling that it won't play very well, but I'll try to give them a chance soon. Umezawa's Jitte is indeed not mandatory, but I still think it's good enough to play (and better than Swiftfoot Boots, if that's what you were implying). Some decks just have a really hard time dealing with it, and even when it's bad, it's usually not that bad. It's a card that can't be ignored. I can imagine cutting it, but right now I think I like having it around.
Maze of Ith is indeed very strong against Varolz. Luckily, no one seems to play that card I've only encountered it once so far, and I was able to find Wasteland to get around it anyway. Between Wasteland, Rishadan Port, and 3 land-specific tutors, I think I have enough answers so that Maze of Ith doesn't scare me. Tectonic Edge is something I've thought about, though I don't especially like it because colored mana is really important (I have heavy requirements in both green and black) and the critical turn of this deck is often around turn 4 or 5. Rishadan Port is actually a recent addition too, and I'll see how it plays, having another colorless land. In general, I think it's probably better than Tectonic Edge in this deck, since it's better at making life difficult for control opponents who are trying to not give me a window. The ability to tap one of their lands end of turn, untap, and tap another one in my upkeep seems pretty strong to me.
Reap and Sow costs way too much mana for what it does here I think. I can't even imagine entwining it. Jarad's Orders almost costs too much already, and that card is practically a double Demonic Tutor in this deck. I already have enough land tutors I think, and I'd sooner just play Sinkhole I think if I was especially worried about particular lands. That might not be a bad addition, actually. Something to think about at least.
Is that really a reason not to play Null Rod though? Of course it doesn't stop everything, but I have other cards that can do that. I've yet to play against Cursed Totem, but I have encountered Pithing Needle (though just once, so far). It is indeed very annoying (better against this deck than most), but I think we have enough ways to get around it. I don't completely hate seeing Needle either, since if people rely on it to contain Varolz and let him sit in play, I'm very likely to get a window to destroy the Needle at their end of turn and then untap and win. That's what happened the one time I played against Pithing Needle so far, at least.
I've been reasonably happy with Null Rod in most matchups so far, since most decks play at least some equipment, some mana rocks, or both, and sometimes you go against a deck like Maelstrom Wanderer or Iname where Null Rod shuts down half their mana. It's one of the better answers to Sword of Feast and Famine, which is fairly important since everyone plays that card and likes to tutor it against me (I'm proud to say that I've yet to lose a game to it though).
I've thought about Ranger's Guile and decided it's probably too narrow, though I never actually tried it. I think it would be hard to use, because mana tends to be very tight on the turn I win. I'm not exaggerating...I think it's fair to say that in most games I win I have no mana left over the turn I win, and in several of the games I didn't win the reason I lost was because I was 1 mana short. That's actually why I was playing Elvish Spirit Guide for a while. I'm reasonably sure that playing Ranger's Guile would lead to many situations where I could go for the kill now without any mana up, or pass the turn and hope to get a window later. I don't think that's a good position to be in, since waiting has its own dangers. I'd almost rather play Not of this World, but of course that doesn't work if they respond to my scavenge.
City of Solitude on the other hand is something that I hadn't considered, but I like it a lot. I do have a lot of instants, which makes it slightly annoying, but it's still probably worth it since I don't have to worry about any tricks when it's in play. I wonder if I can get away with Dosan the Falling Leaf instead? I've never particularly liked him in other decks, but in this one he might be perfect, since I have several creature-tutors and am trying to maximize my creature count for Survival of the Fittest anyway. I will definitely have to give him a try, and maybe City of Solitude as well. The blue decks are going to hate me. Just have to figure out what to cut...
I'm hesitant about this one because I really don't have all that many creatures, and I tend to need the ones I do have. It's rare that I want to sacrifice them unless it's going to directly produce a win or save Varolz. A problem with Cabal Therapy is that I often have only one extraneous creature...and if I'm trying to clear them of removal (which is what discard is frequently for), they might just kill Varolz after I sacrifice the creature that could have regenerated him. My gut says that the flashback cost is too hard for this deck, though that doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong. It's the same reason I'm not playing Diabolic Intent though, as much as I'd like to.
I think Fleshbag Marauder is very good in this deck actually, much better than Chainer's Edict (which I would never ever be able to flashback, for the record). The biggest upside of the Marauder is simply that it's attached to a creature, so if I need to get removal for Geist or Zur with Survival of the Fittest or Worldly Tutor or whatever, this can do it. None of the other Nekrataal-type creatures can. That's why I don't mind paying 1 extra for an edict. The easy +3/+3 is just a nice bonus that comes up sometimes.
There enough things that cost me life in this deck (most notably Ad Nauseum) that I have to be very careful with spells I like this. I don't think the benefit outweighs the cost in this case. If I had room for another removal spell, I'd use Grasp of Darkness, which I've played in the past and been satisfied with, before Devour in Shadow. I don't think I have room though.
Mesmeric Fiend is indeed awesome, although as I mentioned, I've found that I very rarely sacrifice it in response in actual play. Either I want to play it on turn 2, or having another creature around outweighs the risk of them possibly getting the card back. The best thing about Mesmeric Fiend is just being able to use your creature tutors to get discard (it always feels bad, but I find myself using Demonic Tutor or whatever to get Thoughtseize very often, because frequently I already have the kill and just need to ensure that I won't get disrupted.
Hmm. He's been quite good thus far, but to be completely honest, I never realized how easily he incidentally counters scavenge. I'm not sure any of my opponents ever have either, since that interaction has yet to come up in any of my games. Now I'm not sure what I think about him. It might still be okay, since I often use him to make sure Varolz can sit in play and not get messed with until I can go off with additional insurance, but you are correct that Sylvan Safekeeper is a lot worse than I thought it was :(. I'm going to keep him in for now and keep an eye on him, but there's definitely a chance that he may not be good enough now that I'm more aware of his flaws. That does make me somewhat more inclined to play something like Swiftfoot Boots or Ranger's Guile, though I still don't want to play those cards. Maybe Dosan the Falling Leaf and City of Solitude will be sufficient? I'm getting pretty close to cutting Green Sun's Zenith, though Dosan may provide enough incentive to keep it around.
Yeah, I think it's too narrow. Most of the reason Berserk is so amazing is because it provides surprise evasion as well as lethality. If I'm in a position where Tainted Strike is going to do anything, I feel like I'm already a 99% favorite to win that game even without it.
Why? It suffers from the same issues as Living Wish, and while being a creature helps it, shuffling the card in makes it a lot less effective. This deck doesn't have problems with running out of scavenge targets, so it doesn't need Riftsweeper.
Thanks for all the suggestions! Definitely some good thoughts here. For right now, I'm going to try the following changes:
-4 Swamp
-4 Forest
- Grisly Salvage
- Arbor Elf
+2 Snow-Covered Swamp
+2 Snow-Covered Forest
+ Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
+ Centaur Garden
+ Reflecting Pool
+ Tainted Pact
+ Dosan the Falling Leaf
+ Boreal Druid
and we'll see how that goes. I don't really want to cut Grisly Salvage (it usually just finds a land, but sometimes you get lucky and get a good land or get really lucky and flip a big creature into the graveyard), but I do think it's expendable. I anticipate adding City of Solitude too once I get more of a sense for how useful Dosan is, but right now I'm not sure what to cut for it and we'll take things 1 step at a time. I'm going to keep a close eye on my lands and see if it feels like I have enough.
Edit: On slightly further reflection I think that Arbor Elf is now too inconsistent with the land changes necessitated by Tainted Pact. It was somewhat sketchy but always worked out okay before...with 2 less Forests, I don't like it any more. There's nothing worse than an Arbor Elf with no Forests. I'm going to try replacing it with Boreal Druid for right now...if I hate it as much as I think I will (color is really important), it may get replaced by Tarnished Citadel or something.
I like the addition of Dosan, and if it works out well and that type of effect is useful for you, I would also second City of Solitude. Though it may be unnecessary. Testing will tell.
Seal of Primordium seems to be popular in many decks right now. Worth considering if you need arti/ench kill.
I think Skullclamp needs to go in.. possibly over Null Rod. Clamp just sounds like a slam dunk to me: your commander is a sac outlet. I know it's not what you want to be doing but the card advantage is great. Plus it improves bitterblossom which you are not so keen on?
Interesting to see you tried mindslicer - that does sound brutal and you're right about it being good against control.
I also like that you are giving depths/hexmage a go. I haven't seen that combo for ages now and I do like it, hope it works out.
I will end on a couple questions: is there a protean hulk combo to be had here? is birthing pod worth considering (i'm thinking token into dreadnought? repeatable scavenge fodder for the same cost as buried alive - not the same immediate impact but better in the long run) I have no idea if either is a good idea, just curious.
I understand the no moxes mentality but Jeweled Amulet is another beast entirely, have you considered it?
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Gemstone Mine is almost reasonable in this deck, but I think not quite enough. While it should be sufficient for the average game, the problem is that it's really bad if you have to lean on it as the sole green or black source in an opening hand, and it could easily backfire on you if the game goes long vs control. Murmuring Bosk isn't legal without white.
Fine card, but no particular synergies here, and I think I already have about the right amount of artifact/enchantment kill. I think I'd play Viridian Zealot first, since all the creature tutors find it. (I've actually tested Viridian Zealot for a while, and it was fine but I think unnecessary.)
I've thought about it, but I really don't think it's so good here. Get a few games in with this deck and see how often you want to throw away a creature for 2 cards. It's almost never happens. Creatures in play are a precious resource. If the game is going well, Skullclamp is too slow, and if the game is going poorly, it's very unlikely to be good enough (or even do anything). Bitterblossom has to pull its weight alone (and may well get cut soon).
To be honest, it's been bad so far, partially because it's because weak to the same things Varolz is, so it doesn't really provide a different way to win, and partially because Dark Depths is so bad on its own. I'm giving it a little more time, but I don't think it's going to stick.
I've thought about Protean Hulk but I can't think of a way to do it without totally revamping the deck, and I doubt the Hulk deck is better than what I'm playing. I don't think there even is a winning Hulk combo in these colors, and if there was it would involve Triskelion, Phyrexian Devourer, and Necrotic Ooze. I'm just not sure how to get those all into play. It does bear some thinking about, because Buried Alive and Survival of the Fittest are good with those cards, and because Triskelion is kind of cool with scavenge anyways, but I haven't tried it. You have to add a lot of high cmc cards, which screws up the curve and makes Ad Nauseum a lot worse. Maybe there's a deck there (probably with Natural Order too). It might even be good. I've also thought about using the Triskelion/Mikaeus, the Unhallowed combo, but again, it just seems too clunky and expensive for what this deck is trying to accomplish. You'd probably want Natural Order and maybe even Tooth and Nail too. A deck like that might be good, and I might try something like that eventually, but I don't have to time to mess with such a list right now. Why don't you try it?
Birthing Pod isn't good here I think. It's pretty slow and inconsistent...there aren't enough tokens (or creatures in general) to make it do what we need.
I think Jeweled Amulet is generally worse than a Mox. It's only good, in my experience, when you have a deck where it's extremely important to accelerate the general out quickly. This isn't really that deck, since we need mana the turn after we play Varolz too.
Urborg is very unreliable. There's always something more important to tutor for, so I never specifically search it up. It doesn't seem like it would be, but our creatures get so big that trample is just as good as unblockable 95+% of the time. I don't think I've ever had a game where Brawn didn't grant sufficient evasion. It's so much easier to activate that I think it's definitely better than Filth, and I'm happy with its effectiveness.
I haven't, but Deed just seems too slow and contrary to our plans. We don't really want to wipe the board, we just want to go right over whatever they have in play. Deed is one of those cards that would be absolutely dead in a good hand, where we have a plan and can implement it. I don't think it's worth playing cards like that. I'd rather just have another spot removal spell. It's true that Jitte is usually too slow against Animar, but Deed is slow too. The way to win the Animar matchup is really just to outrace him with Inkmoth Nexus or Berserk, not to rely on controlling Animar. To be honest, Jitte has been incredibly underwhelming recently, and I'll be cutting it soon.
Tests with the most recent changes have been mixed, and I need more games. Ironically, after cutting a land, I got horribly flooded in every single game I played yesterday, and had multiple instances where I kept a pretty good hand and then drew 5+ lands in a row. Some of those hands were good enough to win regardless, some weren't.
Today, I played a few games, and I've gotten completely manascrewed every time. I've had to mull repeatedly to find more than 1 land, and didn't once draw lands when I wanted them. I've also been seriously colorscrewed, twice drawing every single colorless producing land in the deck but missing on double black or double green.
I think I also got extremely unlucky with Tainted Pact in my first go-round. I played a game against Griselbrand where I had a win together, and he only had 2 lands untapped on his turn, with 2 cards in hand. I just needed discard to make sure he didn't have removal, and the game was mine. I'd pulled out of my deck 1 Swamp, 1 Snow-Covered Swamp, and 1 Forest by this point in the game. Of course, I flipped over the 2 Snow-Covered Forests (consecutively) in the top 10 cards before seeing any discard. I had to go for it anyway, he had the removal, and I subsequently lost that game. I won the next game, and then in the 3rd one he had a hand of all lands and mana artifacts...a few turns in, he had 3 Swamps and 4 mana artifacts, including Gilded Lotus, and no hand. I had a hand that was set to win in a couple of turns. I used Tainted Pact to try to find Null Rod, and I'm certain I would be able to win if I got it...but of course my Pact fizzled on basics again, and then Griselbrand came down and Varolz couldn't quite beat 21 extra cards.
Obviously my recent games have just been variance and some bad luck, and I need to play some more to get a sense of what's actually going on. I do think I might have to figure out a way to get rid of at least 2 more repeat basics though, because fizzling on Tainted Pact when you're set to win is just about the worst thing ever. I'll play some more games, and see if my luck turns around.
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Since the exile zone is a part of the game (thanks M10 rules changes!), a Wish can't fetch such a scavenged card because it isn't "outside the game". Pull From Eternity could...but not in these colours.
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My (few) game results after adding Tainted Pact have been more mixed than my earlier games. I feel like I've been fighting my mana base a lot more. Almost every game I've lost has been due to not drawing black mana, not drawing green mana, or just not drawing the last land I need to win. I'm currently trying Gilt-Leaf Palace (pretty good in this list, should have been playing it before), Golgari Guildgate, Urborg, and Tarnished Citadel in place of the last 4 repeat basics, just so that Tainted Pact can never miss. I'm also trying out City of Solitude over Umezawa's Jitte, since Jitte has been really irrelevant for me recently. These changes are as of yet almost completely untested, so I don't know if they're any good yet. I'm also going to cut Vampire Hexmage/Dark Depths, which has been predictably disappointing, but I'm not sure for what exactly yet. Maybe a land (no idea which) and Bloom Tender...or maybe Abyssal Persecutor? I kind of want to try Veteran Explorer, which has considerably synergy with Varolz, but I'm afraid about ramping my opponent that much.
I don't want to play artifact lands in this deck, it's just too suicidal when I'm playing Null Rod. I still think Null Rod is worth playing (it's been extremely relevant in recent games).
I've thought about Phyrexian Crusader. Never tried it, because I'm not convinced the protections are relevant enough to make it a solid win-condition (and it's not useful for anything else). In the right meta it might be a good choice but I don't like it right now.
I don't like Devoted Druid or Gaea's Cradle at all here. Devoted Druid is cute but rather pointless, since I really can't afford to waste a scavenge on it. I don't have any use for that much mana either. It's better to scavenge onto win conditions. I don't think have nearly enough creatures to make Gaea's Cradle any good. It's relatively rare for me to have more than 2 creatures out, and I frequently have 1 or 0.
I discussed the whole Protean Hulk/Natural Order thing in my last post. Reanimation fits into a similar category: it's not as simple as just adding reanimation spells, I also have to include good reanimation targets, since I currently don't have any. The more I think about it, the more I think there might be a good deck along those lines, that can win by nuking with Varolz or via reanimation or perhaps Hulk. By necessity though, such a deck would have less slots for draw, removal, tutors, etc, so I don't know that it would be a stronger deck than this one. It would certainly have less focus. It's an interesting idea and one I intend to try eventually, but I don't have time to make it right now. It has no place in this version of the deck, which is purely focused on abusing Varolz's scavenge synergies to win as quickly and consistently as possible.
It sounds obvious, but I realized that this deck is most successful when it wins fast. Though it can certainly still succeed in a longer game, one of the greatest strengths of this deck is the potential for speed. Notably, that's also the best way to beat the top decks (especially Animar), since the way we win those matchups is usually by straight-up racing.
To that end, I've tried to trim the top-end, clunkier side of things, while adding more mana sources and accelerants to be as explosive as possible. I'm also including additional cheap protection for my creatures, so I can be more consistent about powering through removal early-on.
Cuts:
- 1 Expedition Map
- 1 Null Rod
- 1 Umezawa's Jitte
- 1 Sylvan Safekeeper
- 1 Vampire Hexmage
- 1 Bitterblossom
- 1 Diabolic Edict
- 1 Garruk Relentless
- 1 Jarad's Orders
- 1 Rhystic Tutor
- 1 Dark Depths
- 1 Swamp
- 1 Forest
- 1 Snow-Covered Swamp
- 1 Snow-Covered Forest
Expedition Map ended up being clunky. 3 mana turns out to be too much to pay to find a land, and while drawing 1 land tutor is very good, drawing 2 is not at all. I don't think I'll miss the Map.Null Rod is a card I'm fond of, and it's quite good against certain matchups (notably Maelstrom Wanderer, Griselbrand, and anything equipment-centric), but ultimately it's a reactive card in a deck that's become extremely proactive. It turns out I'd rather try to ignore my opponent's artifacts and just steamroll over them.
Umezawa's Jitte has been surprisingly terrible recently. It just isn't relevant against any of the good decks right now.
Sylvan Safekeeper has been pretty much doomed ever since Emether pointed out how poorly he interacts with scavenge
The Vampire Hexmage / Dark Depths combo was worth a try, but it just isn't good enough. If Marit Lage was usually sufficient to win the game, I would play it, since I can consistently assemble the combo if I want to...but every deck can deal with Marit Lage in numerous ways. It doesn't win, which means it doesn't really do anything, and the combo isn't worth the effort.
Bitterblossom, despite providing nice sacrifice fodder for Varolz, is extraordinarily low-impact in this deck, even more so now that Jitte is gone. It just doesn't help us win. The best part about playing Bitterblossom is that it tends to make opponents freak out and blow removal on it, because everyone thinks it's much better than it is, but that's not a good enough reason to keep playing it.
Diabolic Edict isn't particularly good right now. It's too frequently screwed up by an elf or a Stoneforge Mystic or something. It's only really good against Geist of Saint Traft, but Geist turns out to be a good matchup anyway. I'm keeping Fleshbag Marauder though, because attaching the edict to a creature makes it much easier to find when I do need one, and I don't think any of the other 187 creatures are good enough.
While Garruk Relentless seems awesome for this deck, he tops out the curve, and in real games he's been underwhelming. 99% of the time, he comes down, makes a wolf or kills something, then dies immediately. This deck just isn't very good at defending a planeswalker, and Garruk doesn't do quite enough to protect himself. It's the flip-side of this card that we really want to play, and Garruk almost never survives long enough for us to make use of that card. He's not terrible or anything, but I don't think he's worth 4 mana right now. In all the games I've played with this deck, Garruk has contributed substantially to literally 0 wins.
Jarad's Orders and Rhystic Tutor are both decent, but a little too clunky. Jarad's Orders costs a little too much for what usually amounts to a fancy Entomb. Usually you only really need 1 creature, so the second half of the card tends to be mostly irrelevant. It usually takes a ton of mana to play Jarad's Orders and win in the same turn, so more frequently you have to pass, and that just leads to many ways for things to go wrong. Rhystic Tutor is okay when it works, but not even that amazing (it's still very slow relative to the speed of this deck). And when you can't cast it when you want, which comes up fairly often, it's obviously terrible.
The extra basics got the axe because I really, really hate whiffing on Tainted Pact. Unlikely as it is, I've proved that it still certainly happens, and that's a really easy way to lose games you otherwise were almost sure to win. I could see maybe adding 2 more basics in future if need be (since you can usually fetch out at least 1 before using Tainted Pact), but right now I don't even want to mess with the risk.
So that's a lot of cuts. What did I add?
- 1 Chrome Mox
- 1 Mox Diamond
- 1 Elvish Spirit Guide
- 1 Dark Ritual
- 1 Veteran Explorer
Even though the Moxes don't necessarily fit the ideal curve, they're still fast mana. I like fast mana. There are plenty of situations where an extra mana early produces a kill a whole turn faster, and that's huge. I can't realistically play any more 1 mana elves, and the Moxes are the next best thing. Elvish Spirit Guide is back in (for now), and is joined by Dark Ritual to push this fast mana thing as far as possible and see what happens. Any of these additions can result in landing an Arena effect a turn or two sooner, which is very strong, or can just produce a kill when I otherwise wouldn't quite have the mana.Veteran Explorer is kind of a wild-card slot that could easily get cut again, but I want to try it to see how it plays. I have so much protection now (especially Dosan the Falling Leaf and City of Solitude) that it might be good. If I have defenses in place, it acts as another ritual when I'm going off. Even if I don't, I might still be able to finesse the timing of the sacrifice with Varolz such that it puts me into position to win before my opponent can effectively use the mana. It's a high risk/high reward card that may or may not work out, but it's a powerful enough effect that I'll give it a try for a while and see if I can make it work.
- 1 City of Solitude
- 1 Ranger's Guile
- 1 Vines of Vastwood
- 1 Savage Summoning
- 1 Plague Stinger
More protection. With the extra accelerants I've added, hopefully I'll be able to keep an extra mana up for protection more often when I'm going for the kill. City of Solitude is just really strong, and guarantees that nothing nasty is going to happen. I'm preemptively adding the new card Savage Summoning because it does just enough that I think it's going to be very strong in this deck. It's another one of those cards, like Berserk or Crop Rotation, that fundamentally changes what the deck is capable of, and thus messes with an opponent's capability to try to play around me just winning out of nowhere. Random uncounterability is situationally nice, but the important part of this card is enabling an end-of-turn Varolz, giving us a lot more flexibility to play him and go off when we get any kind of window. More often than not, I think it's going to be essentially another ritual, letting us effectively play Varolz for free (and potentially hasted) when we try to win, but that's very powerful already. Savage Summoning has just enough power and versatility to be good, and the price is definitely right.Plague Stinger is another wild-card slot like Veteran Explorer that I'm going to try out in this version and see how it plays. With so much extra protection, I think there's a lot to be said for having a cheap evasive creature that threatens to end the game in 1 hit. It's certainly not a card that can be ignored. Even though it doesn't do much by itself, we now have so many ways to protect creatures that I think it presents enough of a threat to be worth playing.
- 1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
- 1 Tarnished Citadel
- 1 Urborg
- 1 Vault of Whispers
- 1 Tree of Tales
I was playing Golgari Guildgate for a while, but that had to go. CIPT lands are so so bad when you really need an untapped land. There are just enough elves in the deck that I think Gilt-Leaf Palace is fine though. I'm pretty leery about Tarnished Citadel, but it hasn't killed me yet, so I'll deal with it for now. I dislike the artifact lands, but I'll try them out now that Null Rod is gone. If I find them screwing me over a lot, I'll replace them (maybe just with basics), but for now Tainted Pact dictates that they get a chance.These changes add 2 extra land-equivalents (an extra land and Chrome Mox) to the deck, plus a handful of accelerants, so hopefully the mana should be a lot more consistent now, as well as a bit faster. That can only be a good thing. I also like what these changes did to the overall curve: we cut a total cmc of 23, and added back only 13 (10 if you count Elvish Spirit Guide as 0, the way it plays). Average cmc is down to 1.8! That too can only be a good thing.
It'll take some more games and probably some more fine-tuning, since these are some major changes with fairly little testing, but I think the deck looks even more fast and deadly now. I think I succeeded in trimming the fat and maxing out on what Varolz does best. I'm looking forward to being able to play this deck some more.
If you're looking for more discard, have you tried addle ? I believe it has been played in some Zur builds, and the drawback doesn't seem too hard, since you probably know what you want to get rid of. Otherwise, unmask is painful with ad nauseam but works well the turn you want to combo off.
And also skullclamp seems a good way to recycle your dorks and works well with varolz since you can sacrifice any creature with him.
Skeletal scrying is another good draw spell that could deserve testing.
If you're playing elvish spirit guide, maybe you can try blood pet, not really a good card, but it's acceleration you can cycle with clamp, survival or fauna.
I've thought about the City of Solitude issue. I don't think it's much of a problem though. If I scavenge onto something else, Varolz doesn't even need to be in play until the turn I win. Not allowing Varolz to regenerate is relevant, but not that big a deal. That said, I've only drawn City of Solitude once in all the games I've played since I added it, so I still have to see how it really plays.
Thank you for your suggestions as always Emether.
I haven't tried Addle, but I'm not a huge fan of 2 mana discard. I tried Distress for a while and it was awful. Partly that was because of the BB cost, but also because it's just too hard to fit that kind of discard into the curve without slowing down the kill a turn. Addle might conceivably be better than Distress here, but I still don't think it's good enough.
I do like Unmask, but I don't think I play enough black spells I'm ever willing to throw away to support it.
Maybe I'll try Skullclamp sometime since everyone suggests it, but I still don't think it's good here. This deck needs its mana dorks. I can't afford to throw them away for cards. My problem with Skullclamp is its awful if things are going according to plan, and if things are going badly, I probably don't have creatures so it's awful there too. I get that Skullclamp is an absurd card that has synergy with Varolz, but I still don't think it fits this deck.
Skeletal Scrying strikes me as too slow for this deck. It has potential though. I may give it a try, though I really am starting to get concerned about all the life loss.
Blood Pet...thanks, but no. I'm not yet sure if Elvish Spirit Guide is even good enough, and Blood Pet is much worse.
I've only had time for a few games since making changes. I went 2-0 against 2 different Zur players (hooray), and 1-2 against Skullbriar (very close games). I've liked the new changes overall (Dark Ritual has been absolutely stellar). I think Veteran Explorer is probably too dangerous, though it's possible that I've been overly cautious about using it on turn 1, and I should just go for it more often.
I'm seriously considering cutting Green Sun's Zenith too, because there just aren't enough worthwhile targets anymore. I usually wind up getting Fauna Shaman with it, but that's not a very good play (I need to have a creature to throw away in hand, and they need to not have removal). I may try Chord of Calling or Jarad's Orders again instead.
To ramp on turn 1, have you tried wild growth and utopia sprawl ? It's probably not as good as in animar, but it's still llanowar elves that won't get hit by pyroclasm. Playing this you should renounce to tainted pact because of the manabase, but it might worth it.
Also, what about plunge into darkness ? It digs really nicely and the life loss is not a problem if you win one turn after resolving it.
Land-enchantments are a lot worse than mana elves in this deck, since they can't regenerate Varolz. I think that Utopia Sprawl is too limiting (I'd definitely play Arbor Elf first, and I can't even play that anymore) and Wild Growth just isn't strong enough. I prefer even Boreal Druid here. That said, the new Elvish Mystic will be a great addition, and should put me at about the right level of 1-drop accelerants.
Plunge into Darkness doesn't do it for me. It's more of an Impulse than a real tutor, and major life-loss effects like this get significantly worse as you add more of them to a deck. I already have a lot. If Plunge into Darkness could always get me the card I need I would still play it, but it usually won't. Usually I need a very specific piece to win: either Death's Shadow/Phyrexian Dreadnought/Entomb, or Berserk, or Buried Alive. Even if I go to 1 off Plunge, the odds are pretty high that I won't hit what I need, and in that circumstance I'm probably just dead. Evergreen's deck can get away with it because he only ever needs one kind of effect for his combo, so he has more redundancy, but even in his deck I don't think Plunge is especially good.
My few games of recent testing have been good. I played 2 sets against 2 different Animar pilots (both using Jester's list, but neither of them Jester) and went 4-1 and 2-1. My favorite moment was when I was able to use Vines of Vastwood to ambush an attacking 4/4 Animar with my Llanowar Elves. Both games I lost were so close that I certainly would have won if I had been on the play. I think that every game I won, I won by turn 5. This is starting to feel like a pretty good matchup, since the decks kill with comparable speed but we have more disruption.
I think I'm going to try to work Lignify in, because another cheap removal spell that happens to be good against most of the top decks seems worth a try, even if it can be slightly awkward when I have to attack with Varolz. I might also mess around with Swiftfoot Boots, since Ranger's Guile and City of Solitude have both been a little underwhelming (they're very narrow cards), and I could see the Boots being more versatile. I wish I could just play 4 Inquisition of Kozilek.
At this point, I'm very much liking the way the deck plays. The biggest thing I'm looking to add are more cheap ways to find Death's Shadow or Phyrexian Dreadnought, since access to one of those cards is the most frequent thing I find myself lacking (and this deck really doesn't win without finding one). I've considered Sylvan Tutor, but I hate the sorcery speed top of deck tutor, because giving my opponent a whole turn to know what's coming and prepare makes it too hard to get an attack through. I've tried Jarad's Orders, which is okay, but I don't like it much since it's so slow. I've been trying out Chord of Calling as a glorified Entomb since it has the big advantage of being instant speed, but I've found that it can be really hard to find an opening to cast, and I haven't liked it much. Can anyone think of some cheap tutors for these creatures that I'm missing?
You probably already run the best tutor you can play in these colors. A very good missing one is diabolic intent but I don't know if you can afford the sacrifice cost.
There is also mwonvuli beast tracker that can look for dreadnought but it is as slow as sylvan tutor and more expensive...
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
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Mwonvuli Beast Tracker is pretty cute (I had forgotten that Dreadnought even tramples, since it's so completely irrelevant), but there's no way it's good enough.
Honestly, I think my best bet for a tutor at this point is just to hope that Vampiric Tutor might get unbanned. I don't think it's completely out of the question, considering, that black decks are weak right now and Demonic Tutor is legal. That would be awesome for this deck.
Failing that, I think I'm just going to roll with one less tutor than I'd like for right now, since playing expensive tutors hasn't been any good (they rot in my hand all game).
The "misplay" Bbearz is talking about was that I had a 15/15 Varolz (already hit once) and Fauna Shaman in play, and just needed one more hit for lethal. I was stuck on 4 mana, only one of it green. My plan was to get Brawn, ditch it to get Dreadnought, and attack for 27 trample damage. Unfortunately, right after I got Dreadnought, I realized that I had no forest in play. Damn you Okina! Had I gotten Bramblewood Paragon instead (which I recently added and was testing), that would have been a win right there. Unfortunately, he landed a Tangle Wire right after that, which locked me down for long enough for him to win (since I didn't draw a forest).
The games I won against Thrun were fairly typical hands with a plan (turn 4-5 kill each time I think). The games I lost were rather frustrating examples of what I meant when I said try to only keep hands with a plan. The first game, I kept a hand with 3 lands, Dark Confidant, and 3 removal spells. I figured the removal would kill everything but Thrun, Dark Confidant would survive, and would draw me into some action in time. I then proceeded to draw something like 10 lands and 2 more removal spells, no action at all, while Thrun beat me down 6 points at a time. The top card of my deck the turn he killed me was Buried Alive, which would have won the game on the spot
I lost another game where I kept a hand with Plague Stinger, Inkmoth Nexus, Pendlehaven, and some other irrelevant cards (I forget what). Again, I drew absolutely no gas to use with Varolz, and was only able to attack him to 9 poison before a combination of Thrun, Jitte, and Winter Orb was able to overpower me. Any creature would have been enough to get there (a neat trick against Jitte is to sac a blocker to Varolz before damage, prevented it from gaining counters), but I just whiffed again.
Anyway, besides Thrun, I've gone:
2-1 against another Animar (should have been 3-0, but the guy had the 4 most insanely perfect topdecks in a row. I had a funny game where I killed him by sacrificing my Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant to Varolz in order to scavenge them both onto Inkmoth Nexus for the win)
2-0 against Lyserg's Karador (I still like my matchup against graveyard decks, and I had pretty good hands. He probably could have made it harder for me if he played more defensively, but he went for his combo both games, I went for mine, and mine was faster)
2-0 against Red Akroma (both games went turn 4 attack with huge Varolz, turn 5 win. He had removal both games but regeneration was enough to save Varolz and let me scavenge).
I've been testing some new cards (Bramblewood Paragon, Elvish Mystic, Swiftfoot Boots, Lignify, Skeletal Scrying, Cabal Therapy). So far I've only liked Elvish Mystic and to some extent Bramblewood Paragon, but I'll try them all a bit longer.)
How do you guys feel about Oxidize? I'm seriously considering trying it, because 1 mana instant speed removal is so clutch (Nature's Claim is fantastic). Oxidize deals with Umezawa's Jitte, other equipment, Spellskite, Phyrexian Metamorph (disrupting Animar), Pithing Needle and generally at least a couple of the most high-impact/scariest cards in any deck. I've never seen anyone play it before, but I feel like it might be good in this deck. I could actually see replacing Maelstrom Pulse with it, since 3 mana on my turn for removal often feels incredibly expensive for this deck (it's like giving my opponent a Time Walk!). I've even considered cutting Phyrexian Arena/Dark Tutelage, which seems crazy (anyone who's watched me play Glissa knows how much I love Arenas), but these are actually very bad cards when the game ends on turn 5, as it so frequently does in this deck.
Actually if you want to replace Pulse, you can try seal of primordium. For one more mana than oxydize, you have a real disenchant effect, but it's actually much better because you can use your mana on it even lacking a target. Furthermore you will make your opponent slow down because he probably wants to deal with it before casting his swords, or skullclamp, or whatever. In fact, it is really rare to draw a seal and be disappointed by it (excepted against ezuri maybe).
I think also cutting arenas is not that good because it's worth X cards for 3 manas, X being easily more than 2. And if drew on turn 5 it's not that great, t1 dork into t2 arena is probably a really good option to win the game.
Otherwise, considering how important it is to dig into your combo, have you tried barren moor or tranquil thicket ? Or even Maze of Ith ? They are 0 mana cost spells, and can help digging or buy a few turns. Maze work also well with land tutors if you already have your infected creature in hand.