MTG Salvation

Here's a fun deck I brewed up a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to make a deck that would be a headache for removal heavy decks. Most the creatures in the deck have natural recursion in the form of Undying or Persist and similar effects. Then we bounce, blink or Unearth the creatures to reset them again!

Here's the list:



This deck can really grind out the game and still keep a lot of steam. Loyal Cathar, Butcher Ghoul and Safehold Elite are the big headache cards. Butcher Ghoul actually blanks some of the usual removal cards like Doom Blade and Victim of Night as does a flipped Cathar. Aven Riftwatcher gains a lot of life here and Kor Skyfisher gives us some bounce.

Augur of Skulls gives us a resilient creature that has the added utility of hand disruption and it can be brought back with Unearth, but I'm not sure if he should stay or should I run Duress/Castigate instead.

I'm also wondering if I should put a couple of Standard Bearers in the deck to lightning rod removal.

Any comments, suggestions or advice?

Have you thought about Scarscale Ritual? It interacts well with Cloudshift and Skyfisher (just use it on something you are blinking), or on a Riftwatcher that is going to fade soon or even to reset a Butcher Ghoul's undying.

Regarding the Augur of Skulls, I'd rather see some kind of ETB creature that could work as disruption faster than waiting til your upkeep. I'm thinking something like Blister Beetle or Ravenous Rats not only will do more than the Augur, but also interact better with Unearth, Cloudshift and Skyfisher. Wakedancer is a solid beater that could replace the Augur, but it would push the curve slightly upwards.

How did I not remember Scarscale Ritual while making the deck? I need to find space for that!

You may be right about Augur, but making them discard 2 cards is really nice. I'll test the Rats or even Liliana's Specter. I also forgot Wakedancer is Pauper legal thanks to Conspiracy! I'll have to do some testing with her as well.

Deck looks good, I'm loving the theme. Thoughts on Doomed Traveler? It fits your theme and provides a resilient, evasive creature that demands an answer. Along the same lines, this deck screams for a playset of Undying Evil. If you decide to keep Augur in, there's noting like making an opponent discard four cards for one mana and one creature. It also makes Safehold Elite practically immortal!

Good points! Doomed Traveler definitely fits in, but I don't feel I'd have the s[pace for him. I already have some evasive beaters though, so I feel I could do without him. I'll test him out though.

Undying Evil will definitely find a spot in the deck and it will work especially well with Scarscale Ritual also (once I find room for it as well).

This is actually the main premise of most White Weenie decks nowadays. Consider the all powerful Squadron Hawk. It's a very valid strategy overall.

Wouldn't Scarscale Ritual be bad with Undying, though? There are only 4 cards with that ability, but still.

Cool deck!

Scarscale actually works great with Undying! Undying only checks for +1/+1 counters. Putting the -1/-1 counter on a creature removes the +1/+1 so it resets undying. It'll interfere with Persist though, which means Safehold Elite doesn't mesh well with it.

Squadron Hawk would help flood the board, but I'm not sure if I want to have them right now. They don't really play into the strategy as much as my current choices and I don't even know what to cut. If I fell I need to increase the competitiveness of the list then I'll fit them in.

Woops, I meant persist!