Damnation also seems rather out of place here, maybe Dusk // Dawn can work better though I don't think a creature-dense deck like this one
(with rather limited recursion, especially without Relentless Dead) should run maindeck sweepers.
I don't know how you can call this a "tested" list when Solemnity isn't even out so it doesn't really mean that much.
You either want the feedback or you don't.
Sure if you have exactly Gravecrawler and Blasting Station (and enough mana) then it is good but it does nothin in multiples and is mediocre at best in other instances without the 3-card combo. Nantuko Husk is a zombie that can attack/block, sac' your board (Blasting Station can only sac' one creature at a time) with a Plague Belcher and generally complicates blocking/combat math for opponents.
Butcher Ghoul is a garbage card no matter how you put it and I won't be convinced otherwise.
The combo is nowhere near good enough to justify runnning cards like these.
I don't know how you can call this a "tested" list when Solemnity isn't even out so it doesn't really mean that much.
You either want the feedback or you don't.
What a world you live in where you only can playtest after the set comes out.
Sure if you have exactly Gravecrawler and Blasting Station (and enough mana) then it is good but it does nothin in multiples and is mediocre at best in other instances without the 3-card combo.
You're forgetting it's interaction with Geralf's Messenger, Plague Belcher, and Butcher Ghoul. Blasting station is a great card in a zombie deck...if you can afford it.
Nantuko Husk is a zombie that can attack/block, sac' your board (Blasting Station can only sac' one creature at a time) with a Plague Belcher and generally complicates blocking/combat math for opponents.
Nanutko husk dies to the more common removal, and lacks trample. Station has reach, is a house with gravecrawler, and get get good results without.
Alright, after a lot of soul-searching I decided to go all-in with the "discard for value" package on my previous list by playing Prized Amalgam, the new one will be looking something like this:
Your list looks solid. If you are worried about DS you should up the fatal push count by, maybe 1 or so vs dismember. and i would also try a singleton Lost Legacy vs those decks, naming things you can't deal with, like Smasher, Past in flames or Kharn. I have used lost legacy to great effect in my 8rack deck, and i think it would suit here nicely.
@Meyhoff: I have to be very wary of Lost Legacy since it's always net card disadvantage and literally my whole deck is built around the premise of "discard for value". The cool thing however, is that in matchups where I'd want a Lost Legacy, I'll be playing 9 sources of discard and 7 cards to look at their hand, this should give me enough information to manage to turn Surgical Extraction into pseudo-discard. I will test this theory next time I go into a tournament. Regarding Push vs Dismember, you're probably right, my initial reason for those dismembers was a way to try to deal with Smasher since it's one of the few relevant creatures in modern that push misses. But DS is a thing, so I need to be prepared for it too.
@Shelldell I'd been shying away from the green splash because Mutavault is such a powerful card here. It brings back Gravecrawlers (And thus bringing back Amalgams) It crews a Copter, it taps for Cryptbreaker and in desperate situation it eats a bullet for Belcher. I will try to make my manabase work that green splash while still running Urborg + Mutavault, and if I can't make it work, I pick Mutavault over Loleth Troll. I'd however like to know what cards you'd cut for the Troll.
@Horse Yeah, if I can manage to get green going with a certain level of consistency it opens up a whole new world of sideboard options and mainboard removal. I wanna test the theory of Glissa vs Big Creature decks.
@Shelldell I'd been shying away from the green splash because Mutavault is such a powerful card here. It brings back Gravecrawlers (And thus bringing back Amalgams) It crews a Copter, it taps for Cryptbreaker and in desperate situation it eats a bullet for Belcher. I will try to make my manabase work that green splash while still running Urborg + Mutavault, and if I can't make it work, I pick Mutavault over Loleth Troll. I'd however like to know what cards you'd cut for the Troll.
I found that once I went Aggro enough finding Zombies to tap for Cryptbreaker became more challenging and I ended up cutting it. Perhaps you've had a different experience, but as an experiment I'd start by swapping the Cryptbreakers for Trolls. In my list I also had to choose between Thoughtseize and removal in the main -- I settled on 3x Brutality for at least some hand disruption, 3x Push, 1x Dismember, 2x Decay. (The rest of my list is here.)
And I found casting Geralf's Messenger to be the biggest issue with Mutavault. Tossing an Overgrown Tomb (and maybe a couple Caverns) instead of your 8th Swamp doesn't really change that.
Blasting Station, you will notice, is also not a Zombie. Don't be so devoted to the theme that you eschew other quality options because they don't fit thematically. Being a zombie gives the following synergies: Gravecrawler, Pumped by a Lord, Plague Belcher, Relentless dead, Wayward Servant. Of these, you only have two, so It's OK if you have a non-zombie. If you had more, (such as an additional layer of redudency that Relentless Dead can provide) then the "not a zombie" argument would have more weight.
As for the creature count: Yes, 20 is little low but not necessary. It's up to you where you want your deck to be, more combo-ish or more aggro-ish. If you think things are too slow, push the creature slider closer to 24. If you're more devoted to the combo, you could even go down to 18.
As for the board control: Here's a rundown of your options:
Damnation; hits everything. Best against decks with a lot of mana.
Black Sun's Zenith; Expensive, but a -1/-1 counters hit even indestructable creatures. Best against small tokens.
Mutilate; Scales better late game, useless against the cheatiest creatures. I'm not sure you have enough swamps to make it work. Best with reliable Uraborg.
Drown in Sorrow; Cheapest option. Has scry. Gets out-paced really fast. Best against fast creature decks.
Yahenni's Expertise; Value town. Wipe the board, and get one of your many 3 drops onto the field? Yes please! But -3/-3 isn't always enough. Best against anything smaller than a goyf.
Killing Wave; Combo option. Very versitile, especially late game when your opponent is unlikley to pay the 2/3 life. You don't care because your creatures come back. Best with "dies" triggers...which you don't have.
All black Wraths are pretty much inferior to Damnation in every way.
Dusk // Dawn might be an interesting option to deal with boards of bigger creatures though, it can miss some of the smaller zombies in the deck and has a reanimation mode as well.
I found that once I went Aggro enough finding Zombies to tap for Cryptbreaker became more challenging and I ended up cutting it. Perhaps you've had a different experience, but as an experiment I'd start by swapping the Cryptbreakers for Trolls. In my list I also had to choose between Thoughtseize and removal in the main -- I settled on 3x Brutality for at least some hand disruption, 3x Push, 1x Dismember, 2x Decay. (The rest of my list is here.)
And I found casting Geralf's Messenger to be the biggest issue with Mutavault. Tossing an Overgrown Tomb (and maybe a couple Caverns) instead of your 8th Swamp doesn't really change that.
I've tested the deck extensively, including now two tournaments and never had an issue with casting the Messenger. Urborg let's me cast him off Mutavaults and un-popped fetches, so I save fetching exclusively for turning on Push or bringing back Bloodghast. I could throw a couple shocks in instead of swamps but I'm not gonna be able to cast Loleth Troll off Urborg and Mutavaults like I do everything else.
Cryptbreaker vs Loleth troll is something to consider however, I will give Lol-troll a shot next time and see how he behaves. It'll speed up my clock for sure. I will miss being able to frantically dig for answers vs combo, but maybe a faster clock means I won't have to.
The Thoughtseizes will stay, they are what allows a T2 deck to sit in front of three-turn clocks and not lose. I have five slots for removal, and if I will be playing green I wanna know what's the most efficient way to distribute Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay and Dismember in those 5 mainboard slots.
Eternal of Harsh Truths: 2U
2/2 Zombie Cleric
Afflict 2.
When Eternal of Harsh Truths attacks and isn't blocked, you may draw a card.
You had me until that cost. *sigh*. Couldn't you be just one mana cheaper?
It's part of a cycle though.
The Black one has 2B, Discard a card: +2/+2 until of end of turn. The Red one costs 4 and has firebreathing.
Round one vs Death's shadow:
I lost the die-roll and game one. I got him to 3, and if I had one more turn I'd have been able to play and kill a messenger.
Game two I had to mul to five, during which I had 0 lands, 0 lands, 5 lands...ugh.
We played two more games, just for fun, and I managed to win them both. The die-roll was responsible for the first of these two, and I eeked him out the next game when Relentless dead and gravecrawler achieved value.
0-1 (only on account of villainy!)
Round two vs Jund:
I lost the first game when after a few early plays I hit a land pocket and couldn't play them fast enough.
The next game I pushed a goyf, and Gravecrawler and Wanderer just made his Lilliana of the Veil look silly. Even when he ultimated her the creatures just shrugged and came back.
Game 3 was much like game 2, but I think he made a mistake in assuming that I'd go after Lilli when he was near 9 with an empty board and edict'd my Messenger. I didn't take the bait (because I had no cards in hand, and after a gravecrawler from the yard lethal on board) and he lost when I top decked a Relentless dead green light to attack recklessly.
1-1.
Round Three VS Burn:
Game one he made a mistake on a fetch and missed a turn of Lightning Helix Meanwhile, His Goblin Guide gets me a pair of lands before I push it, and Plague Belcher got to throw up onto a wanderer making it big enough to not die to bolt and end the game real fast.
Game two I had a turn zero ley-line which bricked his hand. I also had 3 Verdicts in hand which was more than enough. I ended the game on Messenger, verdict self, messenger.
Round Four Death's Shadow
Game one, I stared down a Yahenni's expertise the whole game, and this time put him to 4. Had I seen a Verdict at any point earlier in the game I am confidant I would have managed to pull it off, but I didn't until the last turn when it was too late. Oh weel.
The next game I was stuck on 2 lands, and only drew spells that cost 3 or more. As an added bonus one of those lands was my lone blood-moon island, and my hand included 2 Geralf's messengers. I still got to play, at least because my hand did include a grvaecrawler, a wanderer and a countersqual but I drew nothing else of relevence and lost straight out the door.
Summary: Despite going 0-2 against Death's shadow, I maintain the matchup isn't bad, and as cute and fun as Expertise is, the meta currently calls for Damnation, if it swings back to coco or affinity or something where the best deck can be blown out by Expertise I'll switch back. Please see my poll on which Damnations are worth acquiring.
Hm, I'm starting to like the idea of Damnation in the side more and more. It seems like it could really slow down affinity, shadow and 'drazi. I was worried about it in the main since it does nothing against combo and is too slow vs burn, but I'm very sold on how efficient it is when our threats are very recursive.
How is Relentless Dead treating you btw? I feel like if I play him on curve, he gets nuked the instant I tap out, but if I play him too late he's sorta irrelevant as a 2/2. He's also a bit of a brick against some decks, but I can see how he does great against Shadow merely by chumping for days. I mean, I get how in -theory- he can be a value engine, but for some reason he just isn't playing as one for me in actual games.
Hm, I'm starting to like the idea of Damnation in the side more and more. It seems like it could really slow down affinity, shadow and 'drazi. I was worried about it in the main since it does nothing against combo and is too slow vs burn, but I'm very sold on how efficient it is when our threats are very recursive.
How is Relentless Dead treating you btw? I feel like if I play him on curve, he gets nuked the instant I tap out, but if I play him too late he's sorta irrelevant as a 2/2. He's also a bit of a brick against some decks, but I can see how he does great against Shadow merely by chumping for days. I mean, I get how in -theory- he can be a value engine, but for some reason he just isn't playing as one for me in actual games.
Getting it killed when you tap out on t2 feels bad, but it's actually A-OK.
So here's the lines of play:
If you played a one drop, you're already introducing pressure, and the follow-up dead suddenly adds recursion. He must be answered, because once you untap, he's a threat for life. What this means is that the much better 3 drops then have one less spell to worry about. Relentless dead eating a path is far more acceptable than the same happening to messenger, gravecrawler, wanderer. It's sort of a mental block you need to get over, knowing that it's bait.
That said, you don't need to throw it away. Playing a kill-spell, or discard+second one drop is almost always a better play. Swing for 2, and then next turn play it with a black up, or play something better and save him for later.
@FourDogs - Prowess starts to become (unreliably) useful at 12x spells and becomes more consistently good above 16x spells, especially if those spells are 1cc. I don't think it's where you want to be for this decks, especially after you consider the cost of splashing blue.
@Orangesilk - I think that Relentless Dead's value lessens as you play more low CMC recursive creatures. He also feels much better with Vial. Overall I think he's "ok".
I'm gearing up for a large event, so I have sacrificed my Legacy night in order to get in more Modern playtesting. Tonight's results were 2-2, with an asterisk on that second two.
[/spoilers]
Round 1 V Ad Neaseam.
Lol, blown out two games with no real fight. Game one I kept a hand with 3 verdicts, game two he got to play plenty of dig spells to have a pact for my lone Countersqual. This is how I just assume the match up is supposed to go, but historically I have managed to sneak my way to a win.
0-1.
Round 2 V Abzan.
Game one had early pressure from a pair of 2/1s he had trouble keeping off the table where as I had no problems just killing his guys with verdicts and pushes.
Game two he mulligans down to 5, has his mana-dork killed, and doesn't offer much resistance.
1-1, four blowouts in a row.
Round 3 V COCO.
Game one was a Doozy where he put his Knights of Relequary out of reach for Expertise (I know I said I need damnation. I ordered the Damnations, they're just not here yet) but I was managing to stay alive by recuring Relentless Dead and Plague Belcher (It only takes six mana to have blockers to infinity and beyond!) It didn't last as he eventually drew more creatures but mana was fully invested in chump blocking. I had some gravecrawlers and Wanderers in the yard, but I couldn't do anything.
Game 2 I played a turn zero leyline, and he didn't expect his guys to be 2/2s, and couldn't deal with my 2/1s when Geralf's Messenger backed them up.
Game 3 was about to be a blowout when I top-decked Horobi. I managed to also get a Blasting Station, and I almost had things turned around when he drew into a pair of Surgical Extractions. One for a Messenger, one for Gravecralwer, But Horobi is still a 4/4, and after the Knights died everything could die to Yahenni's expertise and here is where I done goofed. While at 1 life, I wipe the board with Expertise, and put in a Wanderer on the free cast. He persists a Kitchen finks, and for some reason I passed the turn letting him untap his Gavony Township. This means I now have zero blockers and his creature is out of range for my Blasting Station. Oops.
1-2.
Round 4 V Death's Shadow
Game one I beat him when my deck simply curves out, and thanks him kindly for killing himself for me. Horobi showed up on turn 5 so I could cast push on Tasiger and swing for lethal.
Game two my hand is slower, and he has some hate for the graveyard and after the top-deck-of-the-match he manages to rip a Snapcaster to respond to my geth's verdict. I know he ripped it because on my last turn I Thoughtseized the other one into the graveyard. Snap up a push, and there's only so many hits from a 5/5 supported by a 10/10 a deck can take.
Game three is an explosive start for me, and his hand-disruption wasn't expecting a hand full of recursion. The downside is it was a one lander, two lands by turn 3. But with 4 Gravecrawlers/Wanderers and a blood artist to make the most of them I still mange to keep the pressure on and Death's Shadow's knack for killing itself means that when I rip land number 3 off the top on turn 5, the messenger puts him at 2, and the Belcher/Lord in my hand are definately going to end the game if Messenger somehow doesn't. It did and the tournament ended.
2-2.
Summary: Hobrobi is actually cool and good and gets more mileage than obliterator in a meta where they both die instantly. He is great against white spot removal that says "Exile", and Absolutely shuts down Boggles (does anyone still play this deck?). Giving death-touch to Blasting Station isn't something to be sneezed at, and is just yet-another-synergy with recursion. I already owned one, and I planned to experiment with 2 in the list. So I ordered one. (two actually, because who am I to resist a foil version of the guy on my first ever box of magic cards?)
Addendum, I need those Damnations yesterday. Which is about when I ordered them. Maybe it was Saturday? Hopefully they'll be here by Thursday with the second Horobi.
Also, Butcher Ghoul is terrible and isn't worth it even with Solemnity.
There is no reason to run it over Relentless Dead (can bring back a dead Nantuko Husk).
Damnation also seems rather out of place here, maybe Dusk // Dawn can work better though I don't think a creature-dense deck like this one
(with rather limited recursion, especially without Relentless Dead) should run maindeck sweepers.
Also you creatures just come back, no one else's will. (Offer not valid against dredge)
You either want the feedback or you don't.
Sure if you have exactly Gravecrawler and Blasting Station (and enough mana) then it is good but it does nothin in multiples and is mediocre at best in other instances without the 3-card combo.
Nantuko Husk is a zombie that can attack/block, sac' your board (Blasting Station can only sac' one creature at a time) with a Plague Belcher and generally complicates blocking/combat math for opponents.
Butcher Ghoul is a garbage card no matter how you put it and I won't be convinced otherwise.
The combo is nowhere near good enough to justify runnning cards like these.
What a world you live in where you only can playtest after the set comes out.
You're forgetting it's interaction with Geralf's Messenger, Plague Belcher, and Butcher Ghoul. Blasting station is a great card in a zombie deck...if you can afford it.
Nanutko husk dies to the more common removal, and lacks trample. Station has reach, is a house with gravecrawler, and get get good results without.
3x Cryptbreaker
4x Prized Amalgam
4x Smuggler's Copter
3x Geralf's Messenger
3x Plague Belcher
4x Bloodghast
4x Thoughtsieze
2x Fatal Push
2x Liliana of the Veil
3x Dismember
2x Collective Brutality
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Marsh Flats
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Mutavault
1x Watery Grave
4x Ghost Quarter
1x Duress
1x Collective Brutality
3x Gifted Aetherborn
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4x Surgical Extraction
1x Phyrexian Arena
I'd like to hear your critiques. The matchups that I have the most doubts about are: Death's Shadow, Storm, Dredge, Tron and Eldrazi.
@Meyhoff: I have to be very wary of Lost Legacy since it's always net card disadvantage and literally my whole deck is built around the premise of "discard for value". The cool thing however, is that in matchups where I'd want a Lost Legacy, I'll be playing 9 sources of discard and 7 cards to look at their hand, this should give me enough information to manage to turn Surgical Extraction into pseudo-discard. I will test this theory next time I go into a tournament. Regarding Push vs Dismember, you're probably right, my initial reason for those dismembers was a way to try to deal with Smasher since it's one of the few relevant creatures in modern that push misses. But DS is a thing, so I need to be prepared for it too.
@Shelldell I'd been shying away from the green splash because Mutavault is such a powerful card here. It brings back Gravecrawlers (And thus bringing back Amalgams) It crews a Copter, it taps for Cryptbreaker and in desperate situation it eats a bullet for Belcher. I will try to make my manabase work that green splash while still running Urborg + Mutavault, and if I can't make it work, I pick Mutavault over Loleth Troll. I'd however like to know what cards you'd cut for the Troll.
@Horse Yeah, if I can manage to get green going with a certain level of consistency it opens up a whole new world of sideboard options and mainboard removal. I wanna test the theory of Glissa vs Big Creature decks.
I've read someone has tested zombies with Solemnity, and with this new one can even be better!
And I found casting Geralf's Messenger to be the biggest issue with Mutavault. Tossing an Overgrown Tomb (and maybe a couple Caverns) instead of your 8th Swamp doesn't really change that.
As for the creature count: Yes, 20 is little low but not necessary. It's up to you where you want your deck to be, more combo-ish or more aggro-ish. If you think things are too slow, push the creature slider closer to 24. If you're more devoted to the combo, you could even go down to 18.
As for the board control: Here's a rundown of your options:
Damnation; hits everything. Best against decks with a lot of mana.
Black Sun's Zenith; Expensive, but a -1/-1 counters hit even indestructable creatures. Best against small tokens.
Mutilate; Scales better late game, useless against the cheatiest creatures. I'm not sure you have enough swamps to make it work. Best with reliable Uraborg.
Drown in Sorrow; Cheapest option. Has scry. Gets out-paced really fast. Best against fast creature decks.
Yahenni's Expertise; Value town. Wipe the board, and get one of your many 3 drops onto the field? Yes please! But -3/-3 isn't always enough. Best against anything smaller than a goyf.
Killing Wave; Combo option. Very versitile, especially late game when your opponent is unlikley to pay the 2/3 life. You don't care because your creatures come back. Best with "dies" triggers...which you don't have.
Dusk // Dawn might be an interesting option to deal with boards of bigger creatures though, it can miss some of the smaller zombies in the deck and has a reanimation mode as well.
I've tested the deck extensively, including now two tournaments and never had an issue with casting the Messenger. Urborg let's me cast him off Mutavaults and un-popped fetches, so I save fetching exclusively for turning on Push or bringing back Bloodghast. I could throw a couple shocks in instead of swamps but I'm not gonna be able to cast Loleth Troll off Urborg and Mutavaults like I do everything else.
Cryptbreaker vs Loleth troll is something to consider however, I will give Lol-troll a shot next time and see how he behaves. It'll speed up my clock for sure. I will miss being able to frantically dig for answers vs combo, but maybe a faster clock means I won't have to.
The Thoughtseizes will stay, they are what allows a T2 deck to sit in front of three-turn clocks and not lose. I have five slots for removal, and if I will be playing green I wanna know what's the most efficient way to distribute Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay and Dismember in those 5 mainboard slots.
Eternal of Harsh Truths:
2U
2/2 Zombie Cleric
Afflict 2.
When Eternal of Harsh Truths attacks and isn't blocked, you may draw a card.
You had me until that cost. *sigh*. Couldn't you be just one mana cheaper?
It's part of a cycle though.
The Black one has 2B, Discard a card: +2/+2 until of end of turn. The Red one costs 4 and has firebreathing.
In honor of that here's my latest tournament report:
4 Gravecrawler
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Relentless Dead
1 Blood Artist
4 Geralf's Messenger
2 Plague Belcher
2 Diergraf Captain
2 Phyrexian Obliterator
//15 Spells
3 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
4 Geth's Verdict
2 Blasting Station
2 Yahenni's Expertise
9 Swamp
1 Island
4 Waterey Grave
4 Polluted Delta
3 Darkslick Shores
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Leyline of the Void
4 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Countersqual
1 Inquisition of Kozeliek
Round one vs Death's shadow:
I lost the die-roll and game one. I got him to 3, and if I had one more turn I'd have been able to play and kill a messenger.
Game two I had to mul to five, during which I had 0 lands, 0 lands, 5 lands...ugh.
We played two more games, just for fun, and I managed to win them both. The die-roll was responsible for the first of these two, and I eeked him out the next game when Relentless dead and gravecrawler achieved value.
0-1 (only on account of villainy!)
Round two vs Jund:
I lost the first game when after a few early plays I hit a land pocket and couldn't play them fast enough.
The next game I pushed a goyf, and Gravecrawler and Wanderer just made his Lilliana of the Veil look silly. Even when he ultimated her the creatures just shrugged and came back.
Game 3 was much like game 2, but I think he made a mistake in assuming that I'd go after Lilli when he was near 9 with an empty board and edict'd my Messenger. I didn't take the bait (because I had no cards in hand, and after a gravecrawler from the yard lethal on board) and he lost when I top decked a Relentless dead green light to attack recklessly.
1-1.
Round Three VS Burn:
Game one he made a mistake on a fetch and missed a turn of Lightning Helix Meanwhile, His Goblin Guide gets me a pair of lands before I push it, and Plague Belcher got to throw up onto a wanderer making it big enough to not die to bolt and end the game real fast.
Game two I had a turn zero ley-line which bricked his hand. I also had 3 Verdicts in hand which was more than enough. I ended the game on Messenger, verdict self, messenger.
Round Four Death's Shadow
Game one, I stared down a Yahenni's expertise the whole game, and this time put him to 4. Had I seen a Verdict at any point earlier in the game I am confidant I would have managed to pull it off, but I didn't until the last turn when it was too late. Oh weel.
The next game I was stuck on 2 lands, and only drew spells that cost 3 or more. As an added bonus one of those lands was my lone blood-moon island, and my hand included 2 Geralf's messengers. I still got to play, at least because my hand did include a grvaecrawler, a wanderer and a countersqual but I drew nothing else of relevence and lost straight out the door.
How is Relentless Dead treating you btw? I feel like if I play him on curve, he gets nuked the instant I tap out, but if I play him too late he's sorta irrelevant as a 2/2. He's also a bit of a brick against some decks, but I can see how he does great against Shadow merely by chumping for days. I mean, I get how in -theory- he can be a value engine, but for some reason he just isn't playing as one for me in actual games.
Getting it killed when you tap out on t2 feels bad, but it's actually A-OK.
So here's the lines of play:
If you played a one drop, you're already introducing pressure, and the follow-up dead suddenly adds recursion. He must be answered, because once you untap, he's a threat for life. What this means is that the much better 3 drops then have one less spell to worry about. Relentless dead eating a path is far more acceptable than the same happening to messenger, gravecrawler, wanderer. It's sort of a mental block you need to get over, knowing that it's bait.
That said, you don't need to throw it away. Playing a kill-spell, or discard+second one drop is almost always a better play. Swing for 2, and then next turn play it with a black up, or play something better and save him for later.
Spellweaver Eternal
2/1 [mana]1U[/card]
Zombie Naga Wizard
Afflict 2
Prowess
How many non-creature spells is enough for Prowess to be be worth it? I think it has potential, but I probably won't be picking any up.
@Orangesilk - I think that Relentless Dead's value lessens as you play more low CMC recursive creatures. He also feels much better with Vial. Overall I think he's "ok".
So nothing?
4 Gravecrawler
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Relentless Dead
1 Blood Artist
4 Geralf's Messenger
2 Plague Belcher
2 Diergraf Captain
1 Horobi, Death's Wail
//15 Spells
3 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
4 Geth's Verdict
2 Blasting Station
2 Yahenni's Expertise
9 Swamp
1 Island
4 Waterey Grave
4 Polluted Delta
3 Darkslick Shores
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Leyline of the Void
4 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Countersqual
1 Inquisition of Kozeliek
[/spoilers]
Round 1 V Ad Neaseam.
Lol, blown out two games with no real fight. Game one I kept a hand with 3 verdicts, game two he got to play plenty of dig spells to have a pact for my lone Countersqual. This is how I just assume the match up is supposed to go, but historically I have managed to sneak my way to a win.
0-1.
Round 2 V Abzan.
Game one had early pressure from a pair of 2/1s he had trouble keeping off the table where as I had no problems just killing his guys with verdicts and pushes.
Game two he mulligans down to 5, has his mana-dork killed, and doesn't offer much resistance.
1-1, four blowouts in a row.
Round 3 V COCO.
Game one was a Doozy where he put his Knights of Relequary out of reach for Expertise (I know I said I need damnation. I ordered the Damnations, they're just not here yet) but I was managing to stay alive by recuring Relentless Dead and Plague Belcher (It only takes six mana to have blockers to infinity and beyond!) It didn't last as he eventually drew more creatures but mana was fully invested in chump blocking. I had some gravecrawlers and Wanderers in the yard, but I couldn't do anything.
Game 2 I played a turn zero leyline, and he didn't expect his guys to be 2/2s, and couldn't deal with my 2/1s when Geralf's Messenger backed them up.
Game 3 was about to be a blowout when I top-decked Horobi. I managed to also get a Blasting Station, and I almost had things turned around when he drew into a pair of Surgical Extractions. One for a Messenger, one for Gravecralwer, But Horobi is still a 4/4, and after the Knights died everything could die to Yahenni's expertise and here is where I done goofed. While at 1 life, I wipe the board with Expertise, and put in a Wanderer on the free cast. He persists a Kitchen finks, and for some reason I passed the turn letting him untap his Gavony Township. This means I now have zero blockers and his creature is out of range for my Blasting Station. Oops.
1-2.
Round 4 V Death's Shadow
Game one I beat him when my deck simply curves out, and thanks him kindly for killing himself for me. Horobi showed up on turn 5 so I could cast push on Tasiger and swing for lethal.
Game two my hand is slower, and he has some hate for the graveyard and after the top-deck-of-the-match he manages to rip a Snapcaster to respond to my geth's verdict. I know he ripped it because on my last turn I Thoughtseized the other one into the graveyard. Snap up a push, and there's only so many hits from a 5/5 supported by a 10/10 a deck can take.
Game three is an explosive start for me, and his hand-disruption wasn't expecting a hand full of recursion. The downside is it was a one lander, two lands by turn 3. But with 4 Gravecrawlers/Wanderers and a blood artist to make the most of them I still mange to keep the pressure on and Death's Shadow's knack for killing itself means that when I rip land number 3 off the top on turn 5, the messenger puts him at 2, and the Belcher/Lord in my hand are definately going to end the game if Messenger somehow doesn't. It did and the tournament ended.
2-2.
Addendum, I need those Damnations yesterday. Which is about when I ordered them. Maybe it was Saturday? Hopefully they'll be here by Thursday with the second Horobi.