MTG Salvation

Deathrite Shaman is not for the faint of budget, but you don't necessarily have to use Onslaught/Zendikar fetchlands. Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse can grab a Forest (or basic land of whatever color you're splashing) or a Snow-Covered Swamp while the Mirage fetchlands -Bad River and Rocky Tar Pit- find Snow-Covered Swamp or Overgrown Tomb.

Voyaging Satyr is a step above Utopia Tree, but it doesn't help enable Withering Wisps. Wisps is limited not by black snow mana production but by the number of Snow-Covered Swamps you control.

Ah, I always forget about that extra drawback! Thanks for reminding me.

So I was contemplating a mono-black wisps shell, but got stuck on a more fundamental question. The basic shell was:

• 17 Snow-covered Swamp
  
• 4 Mishra's Factory
  
• 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  
• 1 Bojuka Bog
  
• 4 Withering Wisps
  
• 3 Beseech the Queen

10-12 additional dudes that keep wisps alive (Stillmoon Cavalier looks best of the lot, but a few 0-2 drops as well naturally)
18 additional black cards (removal, recursion and discard, and a few silver bullets for beseech)

But then I considered: Swarmyard. Pretty pricey at about 6-7 dollars (for a rat regenerator??) but you probably only want 2-3 of them anyway (since you can beseech them). To regenerate Crypt Rats of course. Think about it! Instead of a bunch of creatures to make sure wisps survives, you have everything in a neat package that takes up less than 10 slots with tutors in your deck. Grim Discovery gets back both pieces if something goes wrong. You might need Pariah to make sure you survive though, but otherwise Rats is its own win con. Or you could just use mono black life gain effects like pauper MBC does and enjoy rat regeneration as an extra bonus in a typical MBC shell.

So basically, my question is if Swarmyard takes regular MBC (which plays many rats as it is) to a level where the need to build around a reusable sweeping enchantment is kinda moot anyway?

Thanks for the great input!

There are much better tutors available for you than Beseech the Queen. Demonic Tutor is well worth the $13 you spend, and I absolutely adore Demonic Consultation (50 cents for a 1-mana, instant-speed tutor with a drawback you don't care about? yes...). There are many out there to choose from, and Beseech is definitely not the top dog.

Other than that, it seems like a really solid base!

I like your Crypt Rats/Swarmyard idea a lot! Very interesting. Someone earlier had suggested Vampiric Link, which would be a pretty cool addition to this combo. Jam it with win conditions and lifegain, and you have a deck! What I find happens here is that it centers the deck somewhere else, since you no longer really need to rely on this type of effect to win, and can just use other good cards and center the strategy on another idea. In a similar way, Pestilence can be as little as 4 cards in your deck, not meant as a guiding aspect of the deck. We see this sometimes in Pauper MBC lists. It's not about Pestilence, but rather about how good it is as a stand-alone card. This Primer focuses on Pestilence effects and how we can abuse them.

Let me know what you come up with, I'd love to see it. Will it be a Crypt Rats deck? Or will it be a Black Control deck with Crypt Rats?

There are much better tutors available for you than Beseech the Queen. Demonic Tutor is well worth the $13 you spend, and I absolutely adore Demonic Consultation (50 cents for a 1-mana, instant-speed tutor with a drawback you don't care about? yes...). There are many out there to choose from, and Beseech is definitely not the top dog.

Ah, my play group uses the Legacy ban list for almost anything as we find it pretty balanced (no random Sol Ring swinging the game in your favor immediately). It also mitigates problems with how much money you wish to spend so my Peasant decks don't have to up against P9 at least. I really think Beseech is a very decent tutor in mono black, especially if you curve out at 3 CMC which I intended for this build. It then becomes an unrestricted Demonic Tutor for 3 mana which is downright reasonable and you can have a full playset for the price of one Demonic Tutor so it's all good.

I like your Crypt Rats/Swarmyard idea a lot! Very interesting. Someone earlier had suggested Vampiric Link, which would be a pretty cool addition to this combo.

What about Basilisk Collar instead? So hilarious at the multiplayer table. Why yes, I will kill all your dudes, regenerate my rat and ping you for some damage while taking 8 life myself.

You know, I think I may envision this as powered-up Dimir Trinkets, which for you as a seasoned pauper player should be a scary proposition (it's not like that deck is kind and docile even with all commons). Trinket Mage finds the rats' collar instead of puny Sylvok Lifestaff, and Expedition Map which finds Swarmyard, Urborg etc. And Undying Evil is great with collared Crypt Rats. Instead of Fume Spitter we get Shriekmaw etc. You get the picture. Probably many more cards that can break this in half, but it's already off to a good start and you get an indication on what I'm going for.

I think this will take a while to research but I think I'm more inclined to look into it right now that keep developing a budget/casual Wisps shell. Any vintage restricted cards available to you will probably just make it even more brutal. I'll get back when I have more and feel free to suggest other suitable cards for the deck (such as higher rarity trinkets, creatures that Swarmyard regenerates, things that like Undying Evil etc.)

I am surprised that Sub Droplet did not make it into this primer! Since Pestilence is usually a multiplayer deck, this one has been MVP for me... So much so that I converted from B/W into monoblack by relying on this. Glacial Chasm has also been great for me (though only 2-3 is plenty... don't want it too early/more than one)

I my deck, I run pestilence along with crypt rats, and thrashing wumpus and plague spitter and some deathtouch/lifelink... I never forked over the cash for snoe-covered lands...

I have been experimenting with Demonic Rising along with Guardian Idol/Chimeric Idol/Phyrexian Totem.

Legacy Ban list? No problem. Cruel Tutor, Grim Tutor, Insidious Dreams and Rhystic Tutor have got your back (at a wide range of prices, too).

Basilisk Collar is definitely a possibility, especially if you decide to go the Trinket Mage way. It's a matter of mana efficiency versus durability, in this case. There's also Spirit Loop if you are BW. You can go a long way with Trinket Mage as a tutor, for sure.

Brittle Effigy could be an interesting Trinket target. Grafdigger's Cage and Pithing Needle are good silver bullets to have. Can't think of anything else that isn't common. Will have take a closer look.

For creatures, Chittering Rats seems like an obvious choice for its creature type and ETB ability. Many rats have ETB discard effects that could be used. Don't think you want squirrels or spiders in your deck.

Hi phlict,

Sorry I missed your post!

I tried Sun Droplet before and personally didn't like it. The more players there are, the better it is, but it just never seemed to be enough. I should mention it though, as it does make sense in a Pestilence deck because of the number of triggers it has.

I love Demonic Rising! I've actually never seen it before, but it would be a really easy card to include in lots of control lists with man-lands. Thanks for the tip!

I just finished a mono black pestilence deck, mainly for multiplayer purposes.



Some considerations:
- Avatar of Woe is simply incredible on multiplayer. This deck is essentially a board wiper, so it's not hard to cast her with just BB. Plus her ability helps taking care of troublesome creatures.
- Crypt Rats is Pestilence 5-7. On multiplayer cards like Disenchant and Naturalize run wild, so it's more likely you won't be able to rely on your Pestilence too often.
- I really don't like Orzhov Euthanist because he's only useful when Pestilence is on the field, and that usually means you are already winning. To me he's like a worse Gatekeeper of Malakir most of the cases.
- Dark Ritual is a must, because this deck lacks a lot of speed, which is not so bad in multiplayer, but at least this enables some cards earlier.
- As you can see I'm not running Treacherous Link nor Circle of Affliction because I really don't like them, they are only useful with Pestilence on the field and most of the times you would rather have a creature on the field.

So what do you guys think of this build? I'm not so sure about Tendrills of Corruption, it's a great card, but maybe I should use Vicious Hunger instead to have an earlier response.

You could use Snow-covered Swamps and use Withering Wisps instead of Crypt Rats for something a little more permanent. Or at least have them replace your current Pestilence.

If we're talking fatty creatures to win with, my personal favorite is Dread.

Orzhov Euthanist can definitely be something else (I agree he's not the most exiting thing to play). How about Consuming Vapors? This powerful edict-effect will take out two creatures and hopefully gain you a good bit of life.

Tendrils of Corruption is a perfectly acceptable spell, as the life it gets back usually makes up for your slower starts.

People tend to underestimate Treacherous Link. I think it's a very appropriate card to use. It will force an opponents' creature to stay on the battlefield (barring removal) and is usually a game-ending play. I could see it easily as a 2-of in your deck to finish off an opponent on the spot in the late-game.

Thanks for the reply Obermeir

Yeah, actually this deck originally used Withering Wisps instead of Pestilence, but snow lands are sooooo overpriced where I live that I changed back to Pestilence. At least with Pestilence I can fetch it using Dimir House Guard so it's not that bad.

Dread is a great card indeed. I think it's just my preference using Avatar of Woe, they are somewhat similar for this deck purpose.

Isn't Circle of Affliction better than Treacherous Link? I mean in the late game it does almost the same thing (kill your opponent without killing yourself). In my opinion circle is more versatile, it's harder to remove and can even be used earlier against the opponent's color to save some early damage. I'm considering running 2 Circle of Affliction to see if it's worth.

And what about Blood Artist? Does his ability trigger when we wipe out the board? If so he could be the replacement for Orzhov Euthanist in my build. In multiplayer it's not so hard to kill 6+ creatures with Pestilence in one swing, so it could be worth it.

You've given me something to think about here. I think Treacherous link might be a bit more versatile, but the Circle has the advantage of keeping your life total high. Link allows a creature to stay in play, though. It's a bit of a tearing choice.

I believe the triggered ability would trigger even if it was a board wipe, which would make him a pretty tasty card in multiplayer, though only as a single use. He's not exactly replacement Euthanist in function, though. Why don't you just go with more removal?

What happens if you put Treacherous Link and Pariah on the same creature?

I don't know if Blood Artist will work with Pestilence because it pings 1 damage per activation, killing it on the first damage. In order to make it really useful you'd have to use Crypt Rats (or something like Infest).

What do you think about suicidal removals like Vendetta or Ashes to Ashes? I like them a lot, but maybe it's a bit too much to use on a Pestilence deck.

I'm really fond of Unearth on MBC decks, 1 mana to get back your Crypt Rats or Cemetery Gate seems just beatiful.

Quote from j1nakamura »

What happens if you put Treacherous Link and Pariah on the same creature?

Beautiful things happen. All damage dealt to you is dealt to the creature's controller instead. It also can't be removed by damage. This means that every B spent on a Pestilence activation is 3 damage to the opponent. A very powerful combination that I've used often.

I'd stick to removal that gains you life instead, some of which you're already running.

Unearth needs to have a lot of targets in order to be good. If Rats and Gate were the only targets, I feel the cycling would probably be more useful (that's not exactly what you want the card to do). I'd think about using another creature instead.

So maybe something like this?



I'm a little worried about the creature count, because effectively there's only 11 creatures that can hit before Pestilence

I'd say 11 creatures is a bare minimum to not be worried about the creature count. If you count on the fact that you opponent will also be playing creatures, there shouldn't be a problem. Avatar of Woe does seem a little out of place, both in function and mana cost, though. But, multiplayer, right? Maybe Syphon Soul would be better as more removal with lifegain. I find it hard to justify, even in a multiplayer setting.

Did anyone consider adding Urza's Armor? I think it stacks well in the Pestilence deck.
Also I am trying to add up a BW Pestilence Deck for 2vs2 multiplayer (mostly casual but good cards overall). Any recommendations apart from the obvious ones?
Moreover pestilence deals 2 dmg on a 2vs2 game right?

Urza's Armor is already in the primer, under artifacts! Thanks though! If you're building a BW version, chances are Sphere of Grace will be a better choice.

I'd say go through the primer and take what you will from it! It's meant as a guide to building your own deck by browsing through cards I've listed and example deck lists I've made.

for the 2vs2... Good question! If they're sharing a life total, and they're two players... I would imagine so! Interesting thing I hadn't noted before, thank you!

How do you feel Unearth being paired with High Priest of Penance?
Perhaps I am reaching. In a deck that has a great way to clear boards, why use them? I figure it would be for more pinpoint removal that the deck can't touch, such as opposing enchantments, artifacts, and lands that can run rampant on casual tables. They could also be paired with crypt rats to make a pseudo pestilence deck type.

Anyone given this a try?

Quote from baldersmashed »

How do you feel Unearth being paired with High Priest of Penance?
Perhaps I am reaching. In a deck that has a great way to clear boards, why use them? I figure it would be for more pinpoint removal that the deck can't touch, such as opposing enchantments, artifacts, and lands that can run rampant on casual tables. They could also be paired with crypt rats to make a pseudo pestilence deck type.

Anyone given this a try?

You could even do a "pestilence" deck without Pestilence at all. Something like:

• Crypt Rats
  
• Plague Spitter
  
• Trashing Wumpus
  
• Unearth
  
• Reanimate
  
• Animate Dead
  
• Whip of Erebos
  
• Basilisk Collar
  

I don't think I would bother with that combo. I'd stick to a more straightforward removal spell that doesn't require multiple cards to have an immediate effect. Could be interesting in multiplayer to buy time though.

Definitely possible to build without Pestilence. You can make a really good deck just with Crypt Rats and constant sources of recursion.

Still, I think two priest in a rats build would give it some extra utility without taking away from the deck. I plan to make this deck happen! Looking at a one of Scythe of the Wretched just for rats.
I think I will throw a list in the casual forum and see what can come of it.

Howdy, I thought I had posted my list on this forum but I guess not. This was the old list:



It was pretty effective in kitchen table scenarios, and most common losses were due to lack of mana and library manipulation. The worst cards are Stuffy Doll (too costly) and Blood Pet (meant to function like turn 1 Deathrite Shaman into turn 2 Liliana, but so much worse). Fun tricks were equipping SoLaS to rats so (1) they don't die and (2) can attack into the open field after activation for Healing Salve and Raise Dead and Swampcycling then Animating Abomination for a regenerating 4/3. These are tricks I'd like to keep if possible.

I'm a bit surprised at the hate towards Beseech the Queen. No card disadvantage, no loss of life, no dependence on opponent having mana or not, etc. I don't see myself replacing it with any alternatives proposed thusfar.

I'm also surprised that people don't run more reanimation when we have so many tools to kill their stuff. Animate Dead is just something I happened to have lying around; I'm open to other options but Reanimate itself is expensive in both dollars and life.

Two cards I'd like to include are Basilisk Collar (almost better than SoLaS, but I dig the protection from black and white removal) and Disowned Ancestor.

I'm thinking something like:

-2 Shield Sphere
-3 Blood Pet
-2 Stuffy Doll
+2 Basilisk Collar
+2 Snow-covered Swamp
+3 Disowned Ancestor

Might also switch out Edicts for better (newer) Edict effects, but I like the combination of some instant speed and some flashback for extra hits.

I'm not adding much in terms of library manipulation and mana-ramp, but I'm slightly increasing land and reducing overall mana costs, plus Ancestor is a great candidate for holding equipment if I don't yet have Rats. I might even trade out all the Spheres for Ancestors.

I like the sword and rats combo!

You probably don't want to use Reanimate in a Pestilence deck. Dealing yourself tons of damage is not the best plan.

I actually like the sword more than the collar.

What "newer" edicts did you have in mind?

I think adding more lands and taking out Blood Pet are good ideas.

I love Disowned Ancestor. He can get so huge and hard to deal with.

ALSO, I cleaned up the primer a fair bit and made more purty with images and stuff. Check it out!

I just realized Outlast can only be played as a Sorcery. That makes it MUCH less enticing because you lose a blocker and two mana during their turn.

Also, I'm realizing that Basilisk Collar is less useful since I still have other creatures, most of which don't regenerate. Maybe useful in a more pro-Black build.

I guess Cruel Edict isn't an upgrade, so Geth's Verdict is it. I don't use non-black sources and have little need to sac my own creatures, so it's a free bit of reach over Diabolic Edict.

Other than adding some more Swamps, do you have any suggestions for mana acceleration or library manipulation? I could Transmute Dimir Machinations but I'd probably just add the fourth Beseech before that.

EDIT:

Changes now look like this:

-2 Shield Sphere
-3 Blood Pet
-2 Stuffy Doll
+3 Snow-covered Swamp
+4 Disowned Ancestor

Could really use some nice mana ramp tech. Where's our Black Wall of Roots? Is Scrying Sheets worth a copy or two for a snow deck? Heck, I'd even consider Charcoal Diamond at this point.