MTG Salvation

So I'm looking a building a Seasons Past control deck. The obvious Dark Petition engine to cast it every turn. A bunch of different CMC removal/tutoring/ramp, etc...

I think Liliana of the Veil would be sweet here. Maybe 1-2 Explorations. Budget isn't a concern, but Legacy B&R is strict.

How do you all build it?

Quote from iemsparticus »

How do you all build it?

Using the cards that you've listed? Seems pretty obvious that Life From the Loam is the way to go.



Something like this, except preferably using a build that wasn't whipped up in 30 seconds.

"Return any number of cards with different converted mana costs from your graveyard to your hand. Put Seasons Past on the bottom of its owner's library."
Seasons Past can already grab a land for you from the grave. Saying that, I agree that Loam is good.

I'd consider another option might be a mana engine, given you could potentially fetch up the tools every time you use Seasons Past.
Dark Ritual or Culling the Weak, together with something you could sac each turn like Skyshroud Cutter @ 4cmc, or even something dumb like Khalni Garden if you have a land-sac option like Zuran Orb.
At 2cmc you have heaps of options - Prid3 has listed a lot of good ones, another might be Cabal Ritual. Pernicious Deed works at 3 for a recurring bomb, & Dark Petition @ 5. Seasons Past of course won't be in the grave unless you want it to be @ 6

From here I guess you just need a win-con.

If going the land route, the Gitrog monster may work. Otherwise there is always exsanguinate.

Quote from CoolLink19 »

If going the land route, the Gitrog monster may work. Otherwise there is always exsanguinate.

5 drops finishers are heinous in Seasons Past control decks given that Dark Petition consumes that recursion slot. Obviously Worm Harvest doesn't qualify because you never need to recur it to your hand.

I get that Worm Harvest has sweet synergy with Loam, but is it better than, say, Rise of the Dark Realm? I suppose it might be since it's basically free to cast and nobody is going to have enough (any?) blockers.

One thing in your list I didn't think of were LDs... Pretty sick. Gamble is also pretty sweet in this shell.

Here's what I have so far:



Trimmed Liliana down to one in order to fit a couple more finishers in... with all the tutors and recur, I'm pretty sure a singleton is plenty. If I need more of her in there, I can always add later.

Put a couple utility lands in there, because Loam.

Quote from iemsparticus »

Put a couple utility lands in there, because Loam.

You may as well play 2-3 total copies of things like Barren Moor/Tranquil Thicket.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Roots of Life is alternative 3 CMC lifegain engine.

Quote from Prid3 »

You may as well play 2-3 total copies of things like Barren Moor/Tranquil Thicket.

Ah... true, true. Pretty obvious oversight on my part. That's an easy sub for some number of the basics.

Quote from Prid3 »

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Roots of Life is alternative 3 CMC lifegain engine.

Hmmm... good point. I think I will try them both. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a possible oversight anyway, as it turns on all of my fetches even when I have no fetchable lands.

Quote from Xyx »

Quote from Prid3 »

Worm Harvest

Is this your favorite Worm Harvest shell? I was thinking of building a Worm Harvest deck again but it's so easy to get sidetracked with Life from the Loam and Dark Depths and whatnot that eventually Worm Harvest is no longer the A-plan or even the B-plan.

If you have access to Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage then there's no compelling reason to waste a deckslot on Worm Harvest. The only reason why I suggest it is because it's both budget friendly and beats any quantity of creature removal. Assuming that the game devolves to a "do nothing" board state you'll have have the option to clear the board (with Pernicious Deed or whatever) and jam enough 1/1s to eventually clear the table out.