MTG Salvation

I'm trimming down the number of decks that I'm maintaining, yet I've wanted to play with Hex, Spine of Ish Sah, Grim Discovery, Cabal Coffers, and Priest of Yawgmoth for some time, and wanted to keep my Dark Depths in active use, so decided to make an Emperor's support deck with all of it. I'm using a cult theme composed of vampire devotees of Marit Lage aligning with riff-raff Phyrexian elements looking for something powerful enough to end the sectarian infighting of New Phyrexia.

The idea is to cast some cheap creatures to help my wings while assembling my mana, but the obvious beater to send to the wings is Marit Lage herself. If Marit Lage gets stopped, I can unleash Hex, Larry Niven's Disk, and Spine of Ish Sah to help keep the game under control while setting up the next ritual to summon Marit Lage. Anyway, it seemed fun to have Hexes in a deck with Hexmages...

I'm not totally sold on the deck's cohesiveness, but I have all the spendy cards sitting unused and only need to buy about $10 of other cards. Any suggestions for either swaps or removals? I have a little extra $ I can spend.

Looks like a great deck list! I totally forgot that Vampire Hexmage could instantly get you Marit Lage with Dark Depth out. If I could offer suggestions I'd say you might want to include a couple copies of Thespian's Stage, since this will produce the same effect. If you are unfamiliar with how it works you can read about it here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/magic-rulings-archives/536851-dark-depths-thespians-stage
Also, you may want to consider Soldevi Adnate over Priest of Yawgmoth since it is a strict upgrade to Priest because Adnate can sacrifice your creatures as well as your artifacts. Hope that all helps!

The Priest has one advantage in this list, it can actually sacrifice the Spine (not a creature) to repetitively re-use the Spine, which the Soldevi Adnate can't.

Oh right, looks like I missed that part.

Added +3 Thespian's Stage and -3 Swamp to better use DD or Cabal Coffers. Nice Suggestion, Subject_X. Looks like my tutors will be going for land, first and foremost.

Nice list! I love me this deck archetype.

I'm with FGC - I'd personally cut the Spine of Ish Sah to 1 or 2, and up the disks to 4.
Disk arrives earlier in the game, potentially enabling your Priest of Yawgmoth's earlier. Black decks running a set of disks and ways to recur them can be oppressive, but I'm not sure how this would fit with Hex.
(I stopped playing with hex a while ago once my group started frequently playing with Dense Foliage-type perms.)

I would consider cutting Diabolic Tutor entirely for some Expedition Map to find your combo &/or Coffers. I always use at least 2 to 3 Coffers in my black ramp decks so I can use my tutor for other things. Since tutoring for land is a possibility, maybe another singleton like Rogue's Passage?

Lastly, since you're playing with Bloodghast, have you considered something like Ashnod's Altar?
If you're aiming to setup your Priests to cast a Spine or something else with a higher cmc, this could get you there.

Quote from slave »

Nice list! I love me this deck archetype.

I'm with FGC - I'd personally cut the Spine of Ish Sah to 1 or 2, and up the disks to 4.
Disk arrives earlier in the game, potentially enabling your Priest of Yawgmoth's earlier. Black decks running a set of disks and ways to recur them can be oppressive, but I'm not sure how this would fit with Hex.
(I stopped playing with hex a while ago once my group started frequently playing with Dense Foliage-type perms.)

I would consider cutting Diabolic Tutor entirely for some Expedition Map to find your combo &/or Coffers. I always use at least 2 to 3 Coffers in my black ramp decks so I can use my tutor for other things. Since tutoring for land is a possibility, maybe another singleton like Rogue's Passage?

Lastly, since you're playing with Bloodghast, have you considered something like Ashnod's Altar?
If you're aiming to setup your Priests to cast a Spine or something else with a higher cmc, this could get you there.

Thanks! I'm glad you like the list.

Believe me that I totally get what you and FGC say about Spine being mana hungry. It's one of the reasons I've always held off on deploying it before. The hard part of posting decks here is that you never really know how those suggestions will hold up in the meta. It depends on which decks are out, but there is in the meta artifact exile, counterspells, and even things like "exile card of your choice from target player's hand and all copies in graveyard and deck" shenanigans at extreme end of removal. If one of those don't take out the Spine, then one is all I need, just like I only need one Horde of Notions if it's not being targeted. But if they are, extra copies in the hand don't seem so bad then.

As for Hex, it is in Emperor's that I will use this in a center deck and against creature heavy decks. Tsabo's Decree is also a strong card to run here and my group rightly fears the Decree, but it does little against decks with mixed creature types. Hex helps in more cases because it's not just one wing at a time, and there is commonly (like every-game-commonly) where there are the requisite six targets, that and it fits thematically. If people ever go Dense Foliage style, then Spine may handle the shroud enabling enchantment, but I might also switch back to Decree since tribals are common in the meta. This way my own wings aren't nuked constantly via multiple Disks, which would not be a consideration in a normal FFA. Disk acts like a safety valve here rather than an offensive nuke, if that makes sense.

I hadn't updated the list online yet, but I had already added the Rogue's Passage to the assembling deck tonight, so your suggestion is spot on. I kind of disagree on the Diabolic Tutor removal in favor of Expedition Map, though. Early game = better, but late game I likely already have something going with mana, so a tutor for non-land or Yawg's Win is a much stronger play. I kind of like that flexibility, and as an Emperor I have some extra time to set that up where a Diabolic Tutor can be more situationally powerful.

Bloodghast is in there strictly to cover the fact that I only have 16 creatures and 25% of them are mana dorks (Priest when abusing Spine). Recurring Nightmare is the motor that will help me use those Bloodghasts efficiently to keep the other creature numbers up.

Turns out I only have singletons of the Disk, Coffers, and Stage, so the other land I added for now with Rogue's Passage is a single Strip Mine. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is seen in my group more than I care since a friend likes playing it in his white defense deck...ugh, and it usually wrecks face for my wings. But I will rotate that out when budget permits. If meta supports dropping Spine numbers, I can definitely then add the Ashnod's Altar (fits for a cult theme, too!)

I found it intriguing. I looked up demons in Amonkhet block and your big baddy included above from HoD did not come up. Now I get why you suggested him.

Sidisi can definitely replace a tutor eventually, though I just spent my available mad money upgrading a couple decks to include giving the Hypnotoad deck some new options to switch around. But now I must wait again.

Another option you had mentioned was an Exsanguinate. Fits the cult sacrifice/vampire theme anyway, and even a singleton could hammer enemy wings or even break weakened enemies.

To be honest, though, the Rune-Scarred Demon is the strongest candidate as there is no drawback with him, making Recurring a yummy train of stocking the hand slowly with tutored cards.

One option I'm strongly considering is going -1 Spine and adding one more tutor with these creatures. I seriously doubt there will be many games that I end up regretting not having a third Spine. The demon is a same mana option that draws me into a Spine, so that's a very playable option.

After some consideration, dropped the two Diabolic Tutors for the easily abusable Rune-Scarred Demon. I'm going to playtest with the three Spines and verify those are too many before replacing with one of the suggested cards, either Sidisi or the Ashnod's Altar. Great feedback everyone, it was really appreciated. Cheers.

Quote from Xyx »

Wurmcoil Engine, Shriekmaw, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Demon of Dark Schemes, Noxious Gearhulk, Sepulchral Primordial, Solemn Simulacrum and Grave Pact are great with Recurring Nightmare.

Oh yes, me and Recurring Nightmare have been buddies since the card came out. I've built decks around that card soooo many times as the central card, including a Black Market Rukh Egg deck way back long before mana burn was removed as a threat. Now, I've actually spread my playset out among various decks to act less as a center piece, and instead more like a last-chance safety net. I often pair it with Volrath's Stronghold.

@FGC: Rune-scarred Demon was a beater in a three person FFA where I never saw a single Dark Depths, Hexmage, or Spine of Ish Sah, but managed to pull out a win using Vampire Nighthawks, Bloodghasts, and the lone demon, though two Hexes kept the enemy field under control. Thanks for feedback everyone!

Sounds like you might want to run a little card draw extra.

By the way, great that you provide info on how your decks did!

So I’ve been having some problems with this deck in my group, with mana consistency, spot removal needs, a lack of creatures in the mid-range, and a lack of plan B for the Marit Lage combo. So, adding Gray Merchant and Skinrender adds needed beef, spot removal and big damage. Added with Recurring Nightmare, this will give me a pretty quick means of draining opponents pretty dramatically. Also took out Priest of Yawgmoth and decided to use Phyrexia’s Core to sac Spine of Ish Sah when the Gray Merchant or Marit Lage don’t close it out quickly. Dark Ritual was definitely too spotty, so figured on using Charcoal Diamond to ramp more consistently into the new mid-range zombies, as a second turn diamond curves easily for third turn plays.

Ravenous Chupacabra is almost strictly better than Skinrender so I'd make that swap if possible.

This isn't a good Bloodghast deck. The only thing that it offers is resilient Black plips for Gary which isn't what you need. I'd rather see things like Cuombajj Witches and Oath of Liliana.

Hex is strong but slow and conditional so 3 might be a stretch. I might cut 2 for something that comes out quicker.

Quote from Prid3 »

Ravenous Chupacabra is almost strictly better than Skinrender so I'd make that swap if possible.

This isn't a good Bloodghast deck. The only thing that it offers is resilient Black plips for Gary which isn't what you need. I'd rather see things like Cuombajj Witches and Oath of Liliana.

Hex is strong but slow and conditional so 3 might be a stretch. I might cut 2 for something that comes out quicker.

I quite like the Chupacabra, great suggestion. The Bloodghast is in there largely for use with Recurring Nightmare, to sac for bringing something back and then bringing out with an added swamp.

Quote from Boros_Blendo »

The Bloodghast is in there largely for use with Recurring Nightmare, to sac for bringing something back and then bringing out with an added swamp.

It's a 1-of, you can't tutor for it, and you have no way to dump critters in your GY early on. I like Bloodghast, the card is great, but this isn't the deck for it.

Even with previous changes like adding the Chupacabras, still don’t like its consistency. Keeping the Hexes for the Hexmage flavor, but lowering the curve by taking out Spines for Disks and Yawg’s Win. Added back the Dark Rits for the Yawg’s Win usage. I think it’s the first time in a decade I’ve had all five of black’s fab five in a single deck. Woot.