After a nice stint with Redkroma, I've decided to finally start brainstorming the Mono-Black I'd always intended to make. Decided to go with Ghoulcaller Gisa as I am fond of playing low-mid tier characters in everything, I've always wanted to make a Zombie tribal deck, and hot damn I am a fan of Karla Ortiz.
Tried to operate under a few rules, namely:
At least 15-20 Zombies.
All the nasty discard, as I finally want to go a "universal answers" route and discard is it.
No equipment with a mana equipment cost.
If it goes over $300 on Deckstats.net, it's too much.
I think the stars and the heavens must have aligned because my first opponent was... Geralf. His deck's strategy was to go for some kind of self-discard using looting effects to feed into and charge Grimoire of the Dead. Unfortunately for him, I forced him to discard more than he intended (thanks to Thoughtseize and a janknetic Augur of Skulls), plus I managed to get Grave Titan out before he could finish popping it, which was good because he managed to get a bunch of very nasty creatures in that graveyard. W
Next opponent was Teysa 1.0, who was actulaly running some kind of Shadowborn Apostle deck. She had an early Phyrexian Arena out, but I was running some draw myself with Erebos. She somewhat got going, managing to get through all my discard (and I was packing quite a bit of it) to drop a number of Apostles out along with Dictate of Erebos (which would be a pain to fight through). Fortunately, Erebos drew me into an All is Dust and some lands; after he sacced everything, he decided he didn't want to fight through it and it was GG. W
Didn't really fight him, but went up against a Yisan who mulliganed, got down to like 3, and then conceded. Probably didn't pray to RNGesus. W
Then I fought an Omnath 1.0, who I decided to get cute with. Had a hand with Gravecrawler plus equipment, tried to grow my creature versus his. Stupid decision, I know; he destroyed my Gravecrawler just as I had him down to half life, and then I just had nothing else to deal with the incoming face stomp. L
Something I'm realizing: all the Brago games I've ever done have been the most fun I've had on MTGO. That held true for the Brago player I fought today. T1 Duress let me discard his Mana Vault out, and I smacked his first Brago cast with a Dismember. However, he did manage to get a Sun Titan in play, allowing him to recur Terramorphic Expanse repeatedly. But on my side of the field was Liliana's Reaver, whom he wasn't willing to lose his Sun Titan too. So he ate discard but managed to get a new land out in play every turn. I manage to leap ahead of him in cards using Necropotence, which is the first time I've ever used it, and oh boy is it some special kind of ridiculous. Managed to dig through my deck hard, and it ate away at my life as I tried to find what I need-- which was mostly lands, which I managed to get. I manage to nab Cabal Coffers, Profane Command, and Temporal Extortion. Extortion brings him down to 11 life, my zombies take him down to 7; he manages to temporarily ruin my board with a second Brago cast I can't answer, BUT the Cabal Coffers give me just enough mana to squeeze out 7 life loss from Profane Command and win the game. W
Fought a Kruphix. When he kept his 7, I kind of figured he kept a hand that gave him a rather exact curve, so I did the silly thing of taking an opener with one Swamp, and two of my 1CMC Discards (Duress and Thoughtseize). Got rid of his Farseek and Sylvan Carotid; he had hardly any lands, didn't draw any more, and the rest of his stuff was mana intensive. After a Praetor's Grasp to try and snag myself a land, Kruphix conceded because it was the fourth turn and he was still at two lands with no ramp. W
This whole time, I never cast Gisa once. Zombies and discard are pretty strong.
Tried to operate under a few rules, namely:
Anyways, here's my first draft.
1 Ghoulcaller Gisa
//Zombies
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Gravecrawler
1 Blood Scrivener
1 Cabal Interrogator
1 Withered Wretch
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Cemetery Reaper
1 Geralf's Messenger
1 Lord of the Undead
1 Death Baron
1 Undead Warchief
1 Liliana's Reaver
1 Noxious Ghoul
1 Grave Titan
//Buffs
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Lashwrithe
1 Nightmare Lash
//Haste
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
//Card Advantage
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Sign in Blood
1 Night's Whisper
1 Damnable Pact
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Tragic Slip
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Dismember
1 Duplicant
1 Spine of Ish Sah
//Wipe
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 All is Dust
//Discard
1 Duress
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Mind Twist
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Augur of Skulls
1 Wrench Mind
//Utility
1 Necromancer's Stockpile
1 Darksteel Pendant
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Praetor's Grasp
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Temporal Extortion
//Ramp
1 Dark Ritual
1 Sol Ring
1 Charcoal Diamond
1 Jet Medallion
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Expedition Map
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
//Finishers
1 Profane Command
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Exsanguinate
//Lands
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Bojuka Bog
1 High Market
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Homeward Path
1 Strip Mine
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Myriad Landscape
25 Snow-Covered Swamp
Wanted to run this by you guys before I go for it. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
9/6/2015: -1 Snow-Covered Swamp, +1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
I think the stars and the heavens must have aligned because my first opponent was... Geralf. His deck's strategy was to go for some kind of self-discard using looting effects to feed into and charge Grimoire of the Dead. Unfortunately for him, I forced him to discard more than he intended (thanks to Thoughtseize and a janknetic Augur of Skulls), plus I managed to get Grave Titan out before he could finish popping it, which was good because he managed to get a bunch of very nasty creatures in that graveyard. W
Next opponent was Teysa 1.0, who was actulaly running some kind of Shadowborn Apostle deck. She had an early Phyrexian Arena out, but I was running some draw myself with Erebos. She somewhat got going, managing to get through all my discard (and I was packing quite a bit of it) to drop a number of Apostles out along with Dictate of Erebos (which would be a pain to fight through). Fortunately, Erebos drew me into an All is Dust and some lands; after he sacced everything, he decided he didn't want to fight through it and it was GG. W
Didn't really fight him, but went up against a Yisan who mulliganed, got down to like 3, and then conceded. Probably didn't pray to RNGesus. W
Then I fought an Omnath 1.0, who I decided to get cute with. Had a hand with Gravecrawler plus equipment, tried to grow my creature versus his. Stupid decision, I know; he destroyed my Gravecrawler just as I had him down to half life, and then I just had nothing else to deal with the incoming face stomp. L
Something I'm realizing: all the Brago games I've ever done have been the most fun I've had on MTGO. That held true for the Brago player I fought today. T1 Duress let me discard his Mana Vault out, and I smacked his first Brago cast with a Dismember. However, he did manage to get a Sun Titan in play, allowing him to recur Terramorphic Expanse repeatedly. But on my side of the field was Liliana's Reaver, whom he wasn't willing to lose his Sun Titan too. So he ate discard but managed to get a new land out in play every turn. I manage to leap ahead of him in cards using Necropotence, which is the first time I've ever used it, and oh boy is it some special kind of ridiculous. Managed to dig through my deck hard, and it ate away at my life as I tried to find what I need-- which was mostly lands, which I managed to get. I manage to nab Cabal Coffers, Profane Command, and Temporal Extortion. Extortion brings him down to 11 life, my zombies take him down to 7; he manages to temporarily ruin my board with a second Brago cast I can't answer, BUT the Cabal Coffers give me just enough mana to squeeze out 7 life loss from Profane Command and win the game. W
Fought a Kruphix. When he kept his 7, I kind of figured he kept a hand that gave him a rather exact curve, so I did the silly thing of taking an opener with one Swamp, and two of my 1CMC Discards (Duress and Thoughtseize). Got rid of his Farseek and Sylvan Carotid; he had hardly any lands, didn't draw any more, and the rest of his stuff was mana intensive. After a Praetor's Grasp to try and snag myself a land, Kruphix conceded because it was the fourth turn and he was still at two lands with no ramp. W
This whole time, I never cast Gisa once. Zombies and discard are pretty strong.
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget