Well, hello to you fine folks of MTGS. Up until about a month ago, I had never even heard of Magic, but a chance encounter with Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 (and subsequently 2014) left me hooked, and itching to try and piece together a deck of my own.
Coming fresh from Duels, my thoughts were rather heavily influenced by 2013's Grim Procession deck, with a fair bit of tweaking. Unfortunately, it would seem I currently find myself with a fourfold dilemma: 1) the floodgates of Magic having been just opened before me, I find myself drowning in interesting cards, and subsequently having a hard time deciding where and what to cut to reduce my deck to a playable size. 2)Being, once again, completely new to Magic, there exists the very real possibility that there exist cards which would fit brilliantly into my deck that I don't even know exist. 3) There are a lot of cases where I have 2+ cards which do similar work and I've no idea which runs more smoothly. And finally, 4) Even with cards I'm certain I DO want to run, I'm still far from sure what a good deck ratio looks like in the first place
Thus without further ado, the deck and the thoughts behind some of the cards.
My basic concept with the deck was to use a number of lifestealers to keep my health up in the early game, whilst trying to keep the board free from any major threats by taking advantage of black's tendency to outright murder things. Barring that, Souls of the Faultless and/or High Priest of Penance serve to stall out until the bigger cards start coming into play. Once Deathbringer Liege hits the table, the lifestealing chumps become a tangible threat of their own, and nearly every spell in the deck gains free creature removal through liege. Finally, should Debtor's Knell hit the table, the large amount of removal in the deck begins to bring the enemy's greatest threats back to life on my side, as well as providing the option to resurrect any key monsters of my own which were removed.
Specific Thoughts:
Two Mana Drops:
While Nip Gwyllion (particularly alongside an Edge of the Divinity) and Vampire Nighthawk seem to fit in place just fine, I'm a bit stumped as to what would serve my ends the best for a two mana drop. Mourning Thrull provides turn 2 lifelink with evasion, and receives a hefty benefit from both Edge of the Divinity and Deathbringer Liege. High Priest of Penance serves as either an effective deterrent from attackers or a lightning rod for removal spells, in addition to being one of the few means the deck has to deal with non-creature permanents. Nantuko Shade on the other hand provides neither lifelink or removal (without a Vault of the Archangel, that is), but scales far better into the late game and provides a great output for the extra mana from Crypt Ghast.
Crypt Ghast:
On that same note, one card I'm a bit torn on is Crypt Ghast, as I feel that it stands to either be incredibly awesome, or dead weight depending on what cards stay. As it currently stands, I see it as an effective way to ramp up to both play and make use of the deck's card draw options, a means to utilize Vault of the Archangel without being forced off tempo, and a gate to an early Debtor's Knell. The fact that it brings extort along with it doesn't hurt either.
Necrotic Sliver:
This is a card I'm not too sure about. Having discovered that Vindicate is not in fact modern legal, this was as close a substitute as I know of (and at an effective six mana cost, a rather poor one at that). The only reason I'm looking to run this is because I don't know of any other cards which would allow me to easily deal with non-creature threats. Alternate suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Card Draw:
Having recognized that a reliable form of card draw would help worlds with this deck, Phyrexian Arena seems like a shoe-in. I've also been considering running either Bloodgift Demon, Harvester of Souls, or possibly Griselbrand. I'm not sure if the Arena alone should be sufficient, or which of the demons in question would work best: Bloodgift has consistency, Harvester is a 5/5 deathtouch with the potential to activate more than once a turn, and Griselbrand seems awesome, but rather dependent on already having a Crypt Ghast out to play him in a timely manner.
Sanguine Bond:
I'm still not sure if this card is superfluous or not. On one hand, between the massive amount of lifelink, the spattering of extort, and Exsanguinate, it doesn't feel like I'd be wanting for any number of ways to trigger this. On the other hand, part of me feels that for five mana, I already have a fair number of cards to play with, and I'm not sure if throwing this in would just be overkill.
Threat Control:
While Mortify seems like a solid way to deal with a number of threats throughout the game, I'm not quite sure where to go with the rest of the deck. Hide//Seek seems like Castigate on steroids, allowing me to deal with threats before my opponent can ever draw them (to say nothing of the fact that I can see his entire deck as well), while without something like Damnation or Zealous Persecution, I get the feeling that I'm wide open to any sort of aggro and/or token spam. Pillory of the Sleepless feels like it fits with the deck flavor-wise, and is a fun card to use if they don't have any means to deal with it, but I'm not sure if it's worth giving up the permanence that comes from Mortify or Unmake, especially at the same mana cost.
Anyways, I'm sorry for the wall of text, but I'm at of a bit of an impasse here, and I figured that those of you reading this would likely know far more about deck construction than I. I realize that a LOT of stuff is going to need to hit the chopping block, so fire away. Any suggestions at all are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and patience.
I would suggest keeping focus on either one or the other point. I like Debtor's Knell, but it feels like it's begging for reanimator or a more control point. (Damnation would bea nice addition here and with lots of hand disruptions, discard and kill spells, can work.)
I did make an aggressive Lifelink/Lifesteal deck actually.
More land and/or fewer cards. Most players swear by starting with 40% lands (or 24 of 60 cards), adjusting up or down based on average converted mana cost (cmc) of the deck. Most players also swear by running 60 cards (or whatever the minimum is for the format you're playing), to raise the odds of drawing what you want when you want it.
I mentioned format, and part of that includes whether or not you want your deck to be Standard or Modern (or other) legal. If you intend to take the deck to Friday Night Magic (FNM) at your local game store, you are likely to find the decks needs to be Standard legal, which means only the most recent cards, so your list would need to be heavily adjusted.
In addition, decks built for duels don't always fare well in multiplayer games, and vice versa. Some decks can flex between the two, but I find building specifically for one or the other is preferable.
Your decklist shows you've already learned an important lesson with Magic: life is as much a resource as lands and cards in hand. Phyrexian Arena should be ample draw in a 60 card deck, though a pair of either Bloodgift Demon or Harvester of Souls swing for lots while providing extra card draw.
As an aside, I really enjoyed the way you phrased your opening paragraphs - floodgates of Magic is perhaps the most appropriate phrasing I have seen in some time.
Cheers!
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If in the area, check out Gamers N Geeks and Mini War Games in Mobile, Alabama and Underhill's Games in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Well, hello to you fine folks of MTGS. Up until about a month ago, I had never even heard of Magic, but a chance encounter with Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 (and subsequently 2014) left me hooked, and itching to try and piece together a deck of my own.
Coming fresh from Duels, my thoughts were rather heavily influenced by 2013's Grim Procession deck, with a fair bit of tweaking. Unfortunately, it would seem I currently find myself with a fourfold dilemma: 1) the floodgates of Magic having been just opened before me, I find myself drowning in interesting cards, and subsequently having a hard time deciding where and what to cut to reduce my deck to a playable size. 2)Being, once again, completely new to Magic, there exists the very real possibility that there exist cards which would fit brilliantly into my deck that I don't even know exist. 3) There are a lot of cases where I have 2+ cards which do similar work and I've no idea which runs more smoothly. And finally, 4) Even with cards I'm certain I DO want to run, I'm still far from sure what a good deck ratio looks like in the first place
Thus without further ado, the deck and the thoughts behind some of the cards.
My basic concept with the deck was to use a number of lifestealers to keep my health up in the early game, whilst trying to keep the board free from any major threats by taking advantage of black's tendency to outright murder things. Barring that, Souls of the Faultless and/or High Priest of Penance serve to stall out until the bigger cards start coming into play. Once Deathbringer Liege hits the table, the lifestealing chumps become a tangible threat of their own, and nearly every spell in the deck gains free creature removal through liege. Finally, should Debtor's Knell hit the table, the large amount of removal in the deck begins to bring the enemy's greatest threats back to life on my side, as well as providing the option to resurrect any key monsters of my own which were removed.
Specific Thoughts:
Two Mana Drops:
While Nip Gwyllion (particularly alongside an Edge of the Divinity) and Vampire Nighthawk seem to fit in place just fine, I'm a bit stumped as to what would serve my ends the best for a two mana drop. Mourning Thrull provides turn 2 lifelink with evasion, and receives a hefty benefit from both Edge of the Divinity and Deathbringer Liege. High Priest of Penance serves as either an effective deterrent from attackers or a lightning rod for removal spells, in addition to being one of the few means the deck has to deal with non-creature permanents. Nantuko Shade on the other hand provides neither lifelink or removal (without a Vault of the Archangel, that is), but scales far better into the late game and provides a great output for the extra mana from Crypt Ghast.
Crypt Ghast:
On that same note, one card I'm a bit torn on is Crypt Ghast, as I feel that it stands to either be incredibly awesome, or dead weight depending on what cards stay. As it currently stands, I see it as an effective way to ramp up to both play and make use of the deck's card draw options, a means to utilize Vault of the Archangel without being forced off tempo, and a gate to an early Debtor's Knell. The fact that it brings extort along with it doesn't hurt either.
Necrotic Sliver:
This is a card I'm not too sure about. Having discovered that Vindicate is not in fact modern legal, this was as close a substitute as I know of (and at an effective six mana cost, a rather poor one at that). The only reason I'm looking to run this is because I don't know of any other cards which would allow me to easily deal with non-creature threats. Alternate suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Card Draw:
Having recognized that a reliable form of card draw would help worlds with this deck, Phyrexian Arena seems like a shoe-in. I've also been considering running either Bloodgift Demon, Harvester of Souls, or possibly Griselbrand. I'm not sure if the Arena alone should be sufficient, or which of the demons in question would work best: Bloodgift has consistency, Harvester is a 5/5 deathtouch with the potential to activate more than once a turn, and Griselbrand seems awesome, but rather dependent on already having a Crypt Ghast out to play him in a timely manner.
Sanguine Bond:
I'm still not sure if this card is superfluous or not. On one hand, between the massive amount of lifelink, the spattering of extort, and Exsanguinate, it doesn't feel like I'd be wanting for any number of ways to trigger this. On the other hand, part of me feels that for five mana, I already have a fair number of cards to play with, and I'm not sure if throwing this in would just be overkill.
Threat Control:
While Mortify seems like a solid way to deal with a number of threats throughout the game, I'm not quite sure where to go with the rest of the deck. Hide//Seek seems like Castigate on steroids, allowing me to deal with threats before my opponent can ever draw them (to say nothing of the fact that I can see his entire deck as well), while without something like Damnation or Zealous Persecution, I get the feeling that I'm wide open to any sort of aggro and/or token spam. Pillory of the Sleepless feels like it fits with the deck flavor-wise, and is a fun card to use if they don't have any means to deal with it, but I'm not sure if it's worth giving up the permanence that comes from Mortify or Unmake, especially at the same mana cost.
Anyways, I'm sorry for the wall of text, but I'm at of a bit of an impasse here, and I figured that those of you reading this would likely know far more about deck construction than I. I realize that a LOT of stuff is going to need to hit the chopping block, so fire away. Any suggestions at all are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and patience.
The core of the deck you posted is actually a deck very, very close to one that I have built as well. It does exceptionally well in 1v1 or group games. Granted, there are a few things different but the core of it is basically identical.
My playgroup on weekends actually told me to shelve it because it just absolutely wrecked people - so it's now just a once-in-awhile deck
The deck, if everything runs perfectly, looks something like this:
Turn 1 nip, turn 2 edge, swing for 4.
Turn 3 mimic, turn 4 edge, swing for 11
Your game from there, really.
It doesn't happen every game, but it happens more than you might think.
Good luck, and welcome to Magic
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I hate you Cz (ノಥ益ಥ)ノ ┻━┻ . Ok. let's all calm down and take a deep breath. ┬─┬ ノ( ゜-゜ノ). Better?
Coming fresh from Duels, my thoughts were rather heavily influenced by 2013's Grim Procession deck, with a fair bit of tweaking. Unfortunately, it would seem I currently find myself with a fourfold dilemma: 1) the floodgates of Magic having been just opened before me, I find myself drowning in interesting cards, and subsequently having a hard time deciding where and what to cut to reduce my deck to a playable size. 2)Being, once again, completely new to Magic, there exists the very real possibility that there exist cards which would fit brilliantly into my deck that I don't even know exist. 3) There are a lot of cases where I have 2+ cards which do similar work and I've no idea which runs more smoothly. And finally, 4) Even with cards I'm certain I DO want to run, I'm still far from sure what a good deck ratio looks like in the first place
Thus without further ado, the deck and the thoughts behind some of the cards.
4 Nip Gwyllion (1)
4 Mourning Thrull (2)
4 Nantuko Shade (2)
4 High Priest of Penance (2)
4 Vampire Nighthawk (3)
4 Necrotic Sliver (3)
4 Souls of the Faultless (3)
4 Crypt Ghast (4)
4 Voracious Hatchling (4)
4 Divinity of Pride (5)
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council (5)
2 Bloodgift Demon (5)
4 Treasury Thrull (6)
2 Harvester of Souls (6)
4 Edge of the Divinity (1)
4 Hide//Seek (2)
4 Zealous Persecution (2)
4 Batwing Brume (2)
4 Phyrexian Arena (3)
4 Pillory of the Sleepless (3)
4 Unmake (3)
2 Damnation (4)
1 No Mercy (4)
4 Exsanguinate (4)
4 Mortify (4)
2 Sanguine Bond (5)
2 Debtor's Knell (7)
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (4)
LANDS
12 Swamp
4 Plains
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Vault of the Archangel
My basic concept with the deck was to use a number of lifestealers to keep my health up in the early game, whilst trying to keep the board free from any major threats by taking advantage of black's tendency to outright murder things. Barring that, Souls of the Faultless and/or High Priest of Penance serve to stall out until the bigger cards start coming into play. Once Deathbringer Liege hits the table, the lifestealing chumps become a tangible threat of their own, and nearly every spell in the deck gains free creature removal through liege. Finally, should Debtor's Knell hit the table, the large amount of removal in the deck begins to bring the enemy's greatest threats back to life on my side, as well as providing the option to resurrect any key monsters of my own which were removed.
Specific Thoughts:
Two Mana Drops:
While Nip Gwyllion (particularly alongside an Edge of the Divinity) and Vampire Nighthawk seem to fit in place just fine, I'm a bit stumped as to what would serve my ends the best for a two mana drop. Mourning Thrull provides turn 2 lifelink with evasion, and receives a hefty benefit from both Edge of the Divinity and Deathbringer Liege. High Priest of Penance serves as either an effective deterrent from attackers or a lightning rod for removal spells, in addition to being one of the few means the deck has to deal with non-creature permanents. Nantuko Shade on the other hand provides neither lifelink or removal (without a Vault of the Archangel, that is), but scales far better into the late game and provides a great output for the extra mana from Crypt Ghast.
Crypt Ghast:
On that same note, one card I'm a bit torn on is Crypt Ghast, as I feel that it stands to either be incredibly awesome, or dead weight depending on what cards stay. As it currently stands, I see it as an effective way to ramp up to both play and make use of the deck's card draw options, a means to utilize Vault of the Archangel without being forced off tempo, and a gate to an early Debtor's Knell. The fact that it brings extort along with it doesn't hurt either.
Necrotic Sliver:
This is a card I'm not too sure about. Having discovered that Vindicate is not in fact modern legal, this was as close a substitute as I know of (and at an effective six mana cost, a rather poor one at that). The only reason I'm looking to run this is because I don't know of any other cards which would allow me to easily deal with non-creature threats. Alternate suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Card Draw:
Having recognized that a reliable form of card draw would help worlds with this deck, Phyrexian Arena seems like a shoe-in. I've also been considering running either Bloodgift Demon, Harvester of Souls, or possibly Griselbrand. I'm not sure if the Arena alone should be sufficient, or which of the demons in question would work best: Bloodgift has consistency, Harvester is a 5/5 deathtouch with the potential to activate more than once a turn, and Griselbrand seems awesome, but rather dependent on already having a Crypt Ghast out to play him in a timely manner.
Sanguine Bond:
I'm still not sure if this card is superfluous or not. On one hand, between the massive amount of lifelink, the spattering of extort, and Exsanguinate, it doesn't feel like I'd be wanting for any number of ways to trigger this. On the other hand, part of me feels that for five mana, I already have a fair number of cards to play with, and I'm not sure if throwing this in would just be overkill.
Threat Control:
While Mortify seems like a solid way to deal with a number of threats throughout the game, I'm not quite sure where to go with the rest of the deck. Hide//Seek seems like Castigate on steroids, allowing me to deal with threats before my opponent can ever draw them (to say nothing of the fact that I can see his entire deck as well), while without something like Damnation or Zealous Persecution, I get the feeling that I'm wide open to any sort of aggro and/or token spam. Pillory of the Sleepless feels like it fits with the deck flavor-wise, and is a fun card to use if they don't have any means to deal with it, but I'm not sure if it's worth giving up the permanence that comes from Mortify or Unmake, especially at the same mana cost.
Anyways, I'm sorry for the wall of text, but I'm at of a bit of an impasse here, and I figured that those of you reading this would likely know far more about deck construction than I. I realize that a LOT of stuff is going to need to hit the chopping block, so fire away. Any suggestions at all are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and patience.
I would suggest keeping focus on either one or the other point. I like Debtor's Knell, but it feels like it's begging for reanimator or a more control point. (Damnation would bea nice addition here and with lots of hand disruptions, discard and kill spells, can work.)
I did make an aggressive Lifelink/Lifesteal deck actually.
8 Plains
4 Tainted Field
2 Souls of the Faultless
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Nip Gwyllon
4 Mourning Thrull
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
4 Orzhov Charm
4 Edge of the Divinity
4 Mortify
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Castigate
1 Nip Gwyllon
4 Duress
I'm still working on the sideboard and still getting better cards hopefully for it too.
Of course you can always build around Vizkopa Guildmage/Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blod combo.
Sasky for the Sig.
I am in your [PACK]. Watching you... do... something.
The board ate my post, so I'll try again.
More land and/or fewer cards. Most players swear by starting with 40% lands (or 24 of 60 cards), adjusting up or down based on average converted mana cost (cmc) of the deck. Most players also swear by running 60 cards (or whatever the minimum is for the format you're playing), to raise the odds of drawing what you want when you want it.
I mentioned format, and part of that includes whether or not you want your deck to be Standard or Modern (or other) legal. If you intend to take the deck to Friday Night Magic (FNM) at your local game store, you are likely to find the decks needs to be Standard legal, which means only the most recent cards, so your list would need to be heavily adjusted.
In addition, decks built for duels don't always fare well in multiplayer games, and vice versa. Some decks can flex between the two, but I find building specifically for one or the other is preferable.
Your decklist shows you've already learned an important lesson with Magic: life is as much a resource as lands and cards in hand. Phyrexian Arena should be ample draw in a 60 card deck, though a pair of either Bloodgift Demon or Harvester of Souls swing for lots while providing extra card draw.
As an aside, I really enjoyed the way you phrased your opening paragraphs - floodgates of Magic is perhaps the most appropriate phrasing I have seen in some time.
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
4 Nip Gwyllion
4 Nightsky Mimic
4 Souls of the Faultless
3 Voracious Hatchling
4 Deathbringer Liege
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
4 Unmake
3 Mortify
ENCHANTMENTS: 7
4 Edge of the Divinity
3 Phyrexian Arena
PLANESWALKERS: 1
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
10 Swamp
4 Plains
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Vault of the Archangel
Something like this perhaps?
The core of the deck you posted is actually a deck very, very close to one that I have built as well. It does exceptionally well in 1v1 or group games. Granted, there are a few things different but the core of it is basically identical.
My playgroup on weekends actually told me to shelve it because it just absolutely wrecked people - so it's now just a once-in-awhile deck
The deck, if everything runs perfectly, looks something like this:
Turn 1 nip, turn 2 edge, swing for 4.
Turn 3 mimic, turn 4 edge, swing for 11
Your game from there, really.
It doesn't happen every game, but it happens more than you might think.
Good luck, and welcome to Magic
4 Nip Gwyllion
4 Tithe Drinker
3 High Priest of Penance
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Necrotic Sliver
3 Deathbringer Liege
2 Sun Titan
3 Tragic Slip
2 Consuming Vapors
3 Survival Cache
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Chalice of Life
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Fetid Heath
3 Godless Shrine
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Marsh Flats
4 Plains
4 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Ghost Quarter
Perhaps? If not there's at least some Ideas in there.
Reach out and torch someone . . .
RG 1-LAND BELCHER RG
UBRGW QUADLAZER DREDGE UBRGW
B THE GATE B
XX MUD STOMPY XX