Hello! Here's a deck I starting building for Lorwyn Standard which I did simply out of flavor because I figured: Assassins are awesome.
The deck is basically an anti-creature creature deck. So it swings in, while taking out the opposing forces.
Okay, not all of them, some of them are downright over costed, or narrow, or complicated. There's a grand total of 18 of them so no reason not to do a rundown:
Listed based on Gatherer's Community Rating:
Thraximundar : 7 drop 6/6 haste repeatable edict on a stick that gets fatter? Awesome! Only it's two colors more than I'm willing to have go into this deck. That and paying 7 is a long ways off the curve. Running 0.
Royal Assassin : Nothing like the original. This says "Go on, attack". Gets the job done before the sparks start to fly. I wouldn't run too many of him though, since if we're going for aggro 1/1 wont cut it. Will run 2-3.
Big Game Hunter : I've personally never played this card, simply because I found it too narrow. I like my assassins to be able to take up pretty much any job tossed at them. Sideboard/Meta card at best as far as I'm concerned. Madness is cool, but everyone and their dogs run selective discard (Inquisition, Duress, Despise, Distress, Thoughtseize)
Nekrataal : Meta choice. Black isn't popular? Great! Costing at 4 mana to drop is a little bit excessive. I might rather run Shriekmaw, he doesn't look bad in your hand turns 2 and 3. And has evasion. Underwhelming.
Murderous Redcap : Kills a guy, trades, kills another guy, chumps. So much for 1 card. I've won games off this guy by chucking a Nameless Inversion at him as he persisted. Take 4? He's more mid-ranged than aggro. Run 2-4.
Kiku, Night's Flower : "Target creature fights itself". Square P/T? Bye. Takes out all sorts of fatties with the drawback of going online on turn 4 still. She's a scarier Royal Assassin. Run 2-3.
Guul Draz Assassin : Weenie stomper. Why yes I'll kill your dudes once per turn. Normally you'll want to stop at level 2, but if you've got nothing better to do with your mana, sink it in and get him across. Run 4. He's a 1 drop assassin!
Dark Impostor : This guy is new, I haven't gotten any testing in, but paying 6 to erase something, no questions asked, sounds pretty sweet. At 3 mana with a 2/2 body, that's about as reasonable as these Assassins will get. The only 3/3 assassins cost 5.
Nightshade Assassin : Interesting to say the least, but casting him at 4 mana, how many black cards are we hoping to still have in our hand anyway?
Scarblade Elite : Assassin Bear! Gives your dead guys another run at taking something out. Auto 4-of.
Lys Alana Scarblade : Too narrow, needs elves. Even elves wouldn't play her. Next.
Orzhov Euthanist : With it had flash. Your opponent knows you're up to something when you're swinging in a 1/1 into their 4/4. But mind games are good, and might get you a bunch of free shots. His haunt effectively gives your creature pseudo deathtouch. A bit too complicated to use, I'm not running any.
Thrill-Kill Assassin : The most aggresively costed assassin available. He's new, effective 2/3 beater who will always trade for something. Unless you swing him into a first striker, but who's going to do that? Run 4.
Garza's Assassin : Seal of Doom on a dude. He comes back if you're desperate. This is a meta/sideboard choice, I've found a lot of value in playing tap-out control with this deck since you want to have that threat of "Yes your creature will die the moment it hits the board". Run 2-3.
Final-Sting Faerie : Evasion is irrelevant. Your opponent isn't supposed to have anything to block with. Not any better than the Euthanist, and we're not really running him either.
Hunter of Eyeblights : Give your opponent a counter, and hope he doesn't just outright kill this? No thanks. Not even going to talk about how it costs 5. Oops.
Weed-Pruner Poplar : That's a mandatory trigger. Your 1/1's aren't pleased. And he's not killing anything very fast either.
Unliving Psychopath : "With power less"... 0/4 -> 3/1 tops.. So it kills things with power 2 and below. No.
So there we have it! Let's get to what I'm running:
The deck is basically an anti-creature creature deck. So it swings in, while taking out the opposing forces.
Okay, not all of them, some of them are downright over costed, or narrow, or complicated. There's a grand total of 18 of them so no reason not to do a rundown:
Listed based on Gatherer's Community Rating:
So there we have it! Let's get to what I'm running:
4x Guul Draz Assassin
4x Thrill-Kill Assassin
4x Scarblade Elite
4x Adaptive Automaton
3x Murderous Redcap
3x Royal Assassin
2x Kiku, Night's Flower
1x Dark Imposter
Other Creatures:
3x Gatekeeper of Malakir (Not an assassin, but it was either him or Geth's Verdict)
Spells:
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Wrench Mind
Lands:
3 Crypt of Agadeem
18 Swamp
Cards for consideration:
Coat of Arms : For that extra push.
Dark Impostor : Need to give this a shot.
So there we have it! Here's hoping Gatecrash brings in some more Assassins to play with if ever. Any thoughts on it would be appreciated.
Cheers!