Hello everyone. I wanted to share one of my latest decklists with everyone. Since Amonkhet had a -1/-1 counter theme, I had been working on a decklist for fairly casual multiplayer (and the occasional 1v1) games. Here is the decklist:
GAMEPLAN
So the gameplan is to play a bunch of early game creatures that somehow manipulate counters; for mana, killing off enemy creatures, and most importantly, making tokens. The tokens you create help get damage in by swarming your opponents, or leaving them up as blockers. With an attrition type of gameplan, you wear away at your opponent's board state then overrun them with a bunch of dudes. Liliana, Death's Manipulator is just kind of in there because she fits the role of the deck. She is kind of expensive, but useful, as is her Influence card. Midnight Banshee is absolutely insane when you have Nest of Scarabs, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, or Obelisk Spider in play. Necroskitter is just ridiculous when your opponents start to lose creatures.
ISSUES
So far, when the deck works, it really works. It has a tendency to go wild making tokens and killing off creatures. However, the deck does suffer in some areas. The first problem is that it seems very slow. The lack of card draw is hard on the deck, and so I've been testing Driven // Despair and Harvest Season as ways to filter out my deck by either drawing or ramping. Both cards are nice when I have a lot of creatures out. The deck also struggles against noncreature cards. Normally it's not a huge issue, as most decks are fairly creature heavy in my casual meta, but occasionally someone drops a nasty Trespasser's Curse or two, and suddenly my deck can't play without killing itself. The last issue is recursion, which I suppose isn't a huge deal, but I personally love playing graveyard strategies and being able to always get cards back again and again. I was considering adding some, but I don't quite know what to go with. The mana base is also sub-par, but it hasn't been too harmful as of yet.
SIDEBOARD
I currently don't have an actual sideboard, but rather just a bunch of cards that I've been substituting in to test them out. Here is that list:
So I guess my questions for all of you are this: What is my deck lacking? What cards am I missing? What are some good budget alternatives to power cards? Do any of you play a similar decklist?
What about corrosive mentor or Kulrath Knight? I'd definitely want to give the insect tokens wither, and the Kulrath Knight is pretty awesome with Midnight Banshee. The Ammit Eternal is an amazing card, but doesn't really feed the theme, and you could probably drop a Hapatra or two just to avoid drawing multiples.
DECKLIST
4 Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
4 Ammit Eternal
4 Banewhip Punisher
4 Obelisk Spider
4 Necroskitter
4 Midnight Banshee
2 Liliana's Influence
2 Liliana, Death Wielder
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Grasping Dunes
6 Forest
10 Swamp
GAMEPLAN
So the gameplan is to play a bunch of early game creatures that somehow manipulate counters; for mana, killing off enemy creatures, and most importantly, making tokens. The tokens you create help get damage in by swarming your opponents, or leaving them up as blockers. With an attrition type of gameplan, you wear away at your opponent's board state then overrun them with a bunch of dudes. Liliana, Death's Manipulator is just kind of in there because she fits the role of the deck. She is kind of expensive, but useful, as is her Influence card. Midnight Banshee is absolutely insane when you have Nest of Scarabs, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, or Obelisk Spider in play. Necroskitter is just ridiculous when your opponents start to lose creatures.
ISSUES
So far, when the deck works, it really works. It has a tendency to go wild making tokens and killing off creatures. However, the deck does suffer in some areas. The first problem is that it seems very slow. The lack of card draw is hard on the deck, and so I've been testing Driven // Despair and Harvest Season as ways to filter out my deck by either drawing or ramping. Both cards are nice when I have a lot of creatures out. The deck also struggles against noncreature cards. Normally it's not a huge issue, as most decks are fairly creature heavy in my casual meta, but occasionally someone drops a nasty Trespasser's Curse or two, and suddenly my deck can't play without killing itself. The last issue is recursion, which I suppose isn't a huge deal, but I personally love playing graveyard strategies and being able to always get cards back again and again. I was considering adding some, but I don't quite know what to go with. The mana base is also sub-par, but it hasn't been too harmful as of yet.
SIDEBOARD
I currently don't have an actual sideboard, but rather just a bunch of cards that I've been substituting in to test them out. Here is that list:
So I guess my questions for all of you are this: What is my deck lacking? What cards am I missing? What are some good budget alternatives to power cards? Do any of you play a similar decklist?
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
If you were playing 1v1, I'd look at contagion engine or even contagion clasp over the Liliana's Influence and Liliana, Death Wielder.