Do you think so Death Cloud can be Tier 2 Deck in actual metagame? I tested it and it is really nice construction, I had only problems with Tron. Any suggestions?
Sorry for English level.
At one point, many years ago, Death Cloud was tier 1-1.5. I don't know that it can't be tier 2 but it would depend on the meta. I keep playing the deck because I'm so familiar with it that I just pick it up without practice and I can beat people. It's very solid and can win more than it's share of games if piloted right. It has a couple hands that are very hard for most decks to beat which is also a good thing. It does have some issues with super counter heavy decks. It shines versus agro and combo so if you don't have a ton of spell based control decks I would play it.
Even though Death Cloud is a fringe deck, it plays like a Rock deck especially in certain matchups. Sometimes I think Death Cloud is too brutally simple when I take a gander at other decks being piloted next to me during tournaments. G/B, in my opinion, is the best enemy dual color combination in terms of answers.
Do you think so Death Cloud can be Tier 2 Deck in actual metagame? I tested it and it is really nice construction, I had only problems with Tron. Any suggestions?
Sorry for English level.
At one point, many years ago, Death Cloud was tier 1-1.5. I don't know that it can't be tier 2 but it would depend on the meta. I keep playing the deck because I'm so familiar with it that I just pick it up without practice and I can beat people. It's very solid and can win more than it's share of games if piloted right. It has a couple hands that are very hard for most decks to beat which is also a good thing. It does have some issues with super counter heavy decks. It shines versus agro and combo so if you don't have a ton of spell based control decks I would play it.
If that is the case, shouldn't it be at least tier 1.5 right now online in a field of Affinity, Splinter Twin, Melira Pod, and Zoo?
Do you think so Death Cloud can be Tier 2 Deck in actual metagame? I tested it and it is really nice construction, I had only problems with Tron. Any suggestions?
Sorry for English level.
At one point, many years ago, Death Cloud was tier 1-1.5. I don't know that it can't be tier 2 but it would depend on the meta. I keep playing the deck because I'm so familiar with it that I just pick it up without practice and I can beat people. It's very solid and can win more than it's share of games if piloted right. It has a couple hands that are very hard for most decks to beat which is also a good thing. It does have some issues with super counter heavy decks. It shines versus agro and combo so if you don't have a ton of spell based control decks I would play it.
If that is the case, shouldn't it be at least tier 1.5 right now online in a field of Affinity, Splinter Twin, Melira Pod, and Zoo?
Yes. However it doesn't have a ton of guys playing it. Popularity plays a role in what tier your deck is. I really feel that the deck is better positioned than the small BG decks.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
I posted my version of death cloud on the Mono Black forum but maybe I should post it here too. Its called Black Death. It all mono black with recursion creatures and mana ramp with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Liliana of the Dark Realms. It actually plays like an aggro deck that uses Aether Vial to lay threats down fast and than combo into a Death Cloud or a Gray Merchant of Asphodel
So with my list I went with the following changes(found on page 13, I stink when it comes to posting in forums).
From the main:
-2 Grave Titan
-1 Death Cloud
+2 Primal Commnand
+1 Liliana Vess
From the side:
-3 Obstinate Baloth
-2 Gaze of Granite
-2 Relic of Progenitus
+4 Leyline of the Void
+1 Damnation
+2 Eternal Witness
Grave titan is good no question about it. But with Primal command I find it easier to stabalize gaining 7 life searching up a thragtusk. Or Bouncing lands/perms and fetching an eternal witness after board.
Liliana Vess, is something im trying. So far I got to resolve it a few times, and never been disapointed. Against u/w/r if it resolves is pretty much game over.
Leyline of the Void > then Relic of Progenitus. The mana cost should be no problem if its not in the opening hand either.
Eternal Witness, I put in the side because I only want it when playing against u/w/r or similar style decks, allows me to grind out control games where 8 targeted discad spells are not enough.
Someone mentioned bout the tron match up. If you can stick a Chalice of the Void at 1 counter on turn 2 against them. It shuts down so much of their deck. To me the only way I have lost to tron was the turn 3 Karn when I didnt have a thoughtsieze. Thou I havent run into tron much with the increase of Spreading seas, and blood moons lately.
Tron being on the decline is really good news for this deck. The Blue Moon deck is weak the BG version of this deck with a higher basic land count.
On the mono list: I would most likely play 1-2 more lands. Maybe another Urborg and a swamp.
I'm in the process of working through some brews and streamlining the rewrite for the Primer. I plan on covering some of the simpler play routes and some match-up analysis.
Thragtusk has been coming up more and more as a solid choice with all the Zoo and even UWR with its burn package. What are peoples thoughts on a couple Cavern of Souls? Also I'm considering a build that runs Night of Souls' Betrayal main.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Tron being on the decline is really good news for this deck. The Blue Moon deck is weak the BG version of this deck with a higher basic land count.
On the mono list: I would most likely play 1-2 more lands. Maybe another Urborg and a swamp.
I'm in the process of working through some brews and streamlining the rewrite for the Primer. I plan on covering some of the simpler play routes and some match-up analysis.
Thragtusk has been coming up more and more as a solid choice with all the Zoo and even UWR with its burn package. What are peoples thoughts on a couple Cavern of Souls? Also I'm considering a build that runs Night of Souls' Betrayal main.
I'm not sure if Cavern is the best choice, at least for me. One problem is that the creature type in my deck is very diverse (Ouphe, Ooze, Snake Shaman, Titan, etc.) which means I'll probably be using the colorless mana more often than not. I really suggest not using Cavern unless you run fetches. I run 2 Tectonic Edge in my mainboard and there are sometimes where one of them holds back my turn 2 Abrupt Decay.
I've found Grave Titan is pretty much the trump card against pure Aggro Zoo where they scoop immediately after I drop him on turn 4 after I stall their offensive. There are even some games where I can Death Cloud where I sac the extra zombies as fodder and retain Grave Titan as the sole survivor. Problem with Thragtusk is that it's a very weak body that is most likely going to trade for their Wild Nacatl. Sure it's the most resilient to removal in terms of getting its full value, but I think taking the risk to run Grave Titan instead is worth it.
The biggest problem I found against playing Zoo is Thundermaw Hellkite. None of my removal or creatures for that matter can touch it until I take 5 to the face. I was thinking of sideboarding one Hero's Downfall. Any thoughts?
Looking for alternatives to Choke:
- Autumn's Veil might be cool in 4-of Cloud lists, and has some limited application besides dodging that one crucial counter.
- Defense Grid could be an option given that this deck tends to be very sorcery-speed. It's probably just as effective as Choke and isn't restricted to blue. I feel like you could go for a really disruption-heavy list, perhaps with land destruction maindeck or something, lots of Pulses, play the whole game in your turn with Grid in the board. Proactive GB control. I know that's the direction the deck has been going in for a while, but it's still pretty midrangey.
I am definitely on the 4 STE/2 dork train now. I honestly think I've lost more games by being stuck 1 mana short of my crucial play than I have to gameplay, and that's sad. Grave Titan is ending games so fast now ("so fast" = "casual stroll", but that's still way faster than "snail") that I'm not sure if I want Witness any more. I don't know how necessary all the regrowing is. It definitely helps a lot against UWR at least. I dunno, maybe the control shell isn't the right direction. Curving out with Finks, Garruk, Command, Titan backed up with sweepers is just really good in itself.
Also yeah, I'm maindecking 1 Putrefy/Hero's Downfall too. Just having one bit of unconditional instant removal helps a lot.
I've been playing Putrefy in place of pulse as the ability to hit man lands is huge.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Looking for alternatives to Choke:
- Autumn's Veil might be cool in 4-of Cloud lists, and has some limited application besides dodging that one crucial counter.
- Defense Grid could be an option given that this deck tends to be very sorcery-speed. It's probably just as effective as Choke and isn't restricted to blue. I feel like you could go for a really disruption-heavy list, perhaps with land destruction maindeck or something, lots of Pulses, play the whole game in your turn with Grid in the board. Proactive GB control. I know that's the direction the deck has been going in for a while, but it's still pretty midrangey.
I am definitely on the 4 STE/2 dork train now. I honestly think I've lost more games by being stuck 1 mana short of my crucial play than I have to gameplay, and that's sad. Grave Titan is ending games so fast now ("so fast" = "casual stroll", but that's still way faster than "snail") that I'm not sure if I want Witness any more. I don't know how necessary all the regrowing is. It definitely helps a lot against UWR at least. I dunno, maybe the control shell isn't the right direction. Curving out with Finks, Garruk, Command, Titan backed up with sweepers is just really good in itself.
Also yeah, I'm maindecking 1 Putrefy/Hero's Downfall too. Just having one bit of unconditional instant removal helps a lot.
I've been playing Putrefy in place of pulse as the ability to hit man lands is huge.
Just curious, would Hero's Downfall be a better choice here? Hitting walkers seems to be a problem with this deck as only Maelstrom Pulse, creature damage, and sometimes Abrupt Decay can touch them. I never want to resolve a Death Cloud when my opponent still has a walker on the field.
In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Completely forgot about that card.
Not many people play Pod decks in my meta but since it recently won GP Richmond, I guess it should be the better choice to have.
Completely forgot about that card.
Not many people play Pod decks in my meta but since it recently won GP Richmond, I guess it should be the better choice to have.
My area has 8-10 Pod players. Most of the players kept their Pod decks from standard and it didn't take much to get the rest for Modern.
I'm going to start working on the Primer and I want to try to make some budget friendly lists for newer players. I just realized that the fetches are 90% of this decks value when you put them in. Honestly with BLood Moon all over the place I don't see why playing them is worth it. Goodness knows green has the basic land search to make this okay.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Depends on how you build it. Like many of the BG Rock decks this deck needs to be built with an expected meta in mind. MTGO is big with Pod/Affinity/Zoo. Luckily there are a lot of cards that overlap well versus all of these decks. I am trying 2 {c]Putrefy[/c] in my old Pulse slot and so far it's been great versus Pod. It's nice to be able to kill Pod itself. Some games the Pod player will keep terrible hands just on the strength of Pod. If you can stop the Pod once it is on the board you can really limit the crazy chains. Even though the deck is a value deck I think you can out value them with sweepers and well timed Death Clouds. I'm working up my build right now so I hope after a bit of testing to have a new fetchless list up.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Depends on how you build it. Like many of the BG Rock decks this deck needs to be built with an expected meta in mind. MTGO is big with Pod/Affinity/Zoo. Luckily there are a lot of cards that overlap well versus all of these decks. I am trying 2 {c]Putrefy[/c] in my old Pulse slot and so far it's been great versus Pod. It's nice to be able to kill Pod itself. Some games the Pod player will keep terrible hands just on the strength of Pod. If you can stop the Pod once it is on the board you can really limit the crazy chains. Even though the deck is a value deck I think you can out value them with sweepers and well timed Death Clouds. I'm working up my build right now so I hope after a bit of testing to have a new fetchless list up.
Other than Putrefy, what other cards are strong against Pod in here?
Depends on how you build it. Like many of the BG Rock decks this deck needs to be built with an expected meta in mind. MTGO is big with Pod/Affinity/Zoo. Luckily there are a lot of cards that overlap well versus all of these decks. I am trying 2 {c]Putrefy[/c] in my old Pulse slot and so far it's been great versus Pod. It's nice to be able to kill Pod itself. Some games the Pod player will keep terrible hands just on the strength of Pod. If you can stop the Pod once it is on the board you can really limit the crazy chains. Even though the deck is a value deck I think you can out value them with sweepers and well timed Death Clouds. I'm working up my build right now so I hope after a bit of testing to have a new fetchless list up.
Other than Putrefy, what other cards are strong against Pod in here?
Decay/Damnation/Discard/sweepers/Leyline out of the board.
I have been running the following list tonight and it has played very well. Granted my testing is against Cockatrice players and I'm very experienced with the deck so take that into account.
Wins so far are versus Affinity, Mono Green Devotion, and Zoo. The Zoo list was a fast list with lots of 1 drops. Affinity game 1 was the closest of the day. I had to sweat out a turn at 9 poison. Other than that the deck controlled the board quite well. I have never really been a fan of fetches in this deck with it being on the slower side. I would not play this build in a Tron heavy meta. I am choosing to ignore Tron for now until I see it more consistently.
Gaze has surprised me. I figured I would like it but it is really solid when played on a busy board. It almost acts like Death Cloud 5-6. I play the Punishment main do to its speed versus some of the top tier decks. It is really good versus tokens and Affinity with their god draws. I 4 for 1'd my Affinity opp game 2. To his credit he played on but it ended pretty poorly. I shaved the Primal Commands and Grave Titan to help speed the deck up a bit.
In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Depends on how you build it. Like many of the BG Rock decks this deck needs to be built with an expected meta in mind. MTGO is big with Pod/Affinity/Zoo. Luckily there are a lot of cards that overlap well versus all of these decks. I am trying 2 {c]Putrefy[/c] in my old Pulse slot and so far it's been great versus Pod. It's nice to be able to kill Pod itself. Some games the Pod player will keep terrible hands just on the strength of Pod. If you can stop the Pod once it is on the board you can really limit the crazy chains. Even though the deck is a value deck I think you can out value them with sweepers and well timed Death Clouds. I'm working up my build right now so I hope after a bit of testing to have a new fetchless list up.
Other than Putrefy, what other cards are strong against Pod in here?
Decay/Damnation/Discard/sweepers/Leyline out of the board.
I have been running the following list tonight and it has played very well. Granted my testing is against Cockatrice players and I'm very experienced with the deck so take that into account.
Depends on how you build it. Like many of the BG Rock decks this deck needs to be built with an expected meta in mind. MTGO is big with Pod/Affinity/Zoo. Luckily there are a lot of cards that overlap well versus all of these decks. I am trying 2 {c]Putrefy[/c] in my old Pulse slot and so far it's been great versus Pod. It's nice to be able to kill Pod itself. Some games the Pod player will keep terrible hands just on the strength of Pod. If you can stop the Pod once it is on the board you can really limit the crazy chains. Even though the deck is a value deck I think you can out value them with sweepers and well timed Death Clouds. I'm working up my build right now so I hope after a bit of testing to have a new fetchless list up.
Other than Putrefy, what other cards are strong against Pod in here?
Decay/Damnation/Discard/sweepers/Leyline out of the board.
I have been running the following list tonight and it has played very well. Granted my testing is against Cockatrice players and I'm very experienced with the deck so take that into account.
Not in this particular build. All three are solid card that do work well in the deck. Though each is over 5cc and for this first version of the deck I'm looking at a fast meta based on GP Richmond. Primeval Titan is also a good card to look at of you want to have a big drop. You could add a couple singleton utility lands if you went that route.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Courser of Kruphix is a card that has caught my eye lately. I love the 4 toughness as the r splashed players are trying to win with removal that does 3 damage. I may make a build focusing on that principle. I may even just swap out the 2 Witness for 2 Courser.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
I Just played modern this friday 5 rounds.... Very diverse meta at my store. Just a little imput from the rounds.
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: Played against my Buddy Andy. He usually runs u/w/r(non Ghiest), but he surprised me with b/g(non death cloud), traditional rock mid range. Bitterblossums,bob, goyfs and such. Game 1 lost kept a hand that was better suited for the u/w/r deck and couldnt beat the scavaging ooze with my finks. Game 2 we exchanged removal spells and ripping our hands appart till I got to resolved garruk then deathclouded, which left me 1 land and garruk to his no land bitterblossum. 3/3 smash harder then 1/1 flyers. Game 3 Like game 2 but was forced in a position to death cloud leaving nothing but 3 lands on each side, he recoverd better then I did.
Round 3: Played against a deck that me and Andy came up with when modern came out b/r. It contains Many Burn spells, Hand disruption spells, and the creatures are mana sinks like figure of destainy, Kargon dragonloard, and night hawks. Game 1 I cast 2 primal commands gaining 7 life and fetching 2 thragtusks. Gaining a billion life forcing his burn to take care of thrag, bought enough time to death cloud away 3 figure of destinys(which are huge at that point). Game 2 Went about the same way but torpal orb kept me from gaining life off of my creatures.
Round 4: Played u/w/r twin. game 1 he got the turn 4 win. On turn 2 he played spellskite so I knew exactly what he was. On my turn 3 drew looked at my hand and saw I had no way to stop the combo if he had it. Game 2 went forever didnt see any thoughtsieze or deathclouds. got him down to 1 life with just garruk beats and eternal witness/primal commands. till he eventually drew into the combo.
round 5: played b/w tokens. game 1 mull to 5 stuck on 2 lands for 4 turns. Game 2 mull to 4 suck on 3 lands. Not a good time.
Affinity and big zoo split for 1/2, Pod decks filled up other places, with my friends b/g rock deck amoung them.
All an all not bad, but I decided to add 2 scavaging oozes in place of my 2 wall of roots. the thought behind this is so I can transition better in the midrange plan, when I need to.
Night of soul's betrayal was awesome in sideboarding thou, in the b/g match up delt with bitterblossums and bobs nicely allowing me to focus removal on planeswalkers/goyfs/ozze.
And I am a fan of Hero's downfall, ran 1 in main and 1 in side. Litterly boarded them in every match up.
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Even though Death Cloud is a fringe deck, it plays like a Rock deck especially in certain matchups. Sometimes I think Death Cloud is too brutally simple when I take a gander at other decks being piloted next to me during tournaments. G/B, in my opinion, is the best enemy dual color combination in terms of answers.
Credit to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the Avatar & Miraculous Recovery for the Banner.
My 540 Card Cube (WIP)
If that is the case, shouldn't it be at least tier 1.5 right now online in a field of Affinity, Splinter Twin, Melira Pod, and Zoo?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Yes. However it doesn't have a ton of guys playing it. Popularity plays a role in what tier your deck is. I really feel that the deck is better positioned than the small BG decks.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
3x Blood Artist
2x Blood Scrivener
4x Bloodghast
4x Geralf's Messenger
4x Gravecrawler
4x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
2x Nether Traitor
Sorcery (10)
2x Death Cloud
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Smallpox
3x Thoughtseize
4x AEther Vial
Planeswalker (2)
2x Liliana of the Dark Realms
Land (21)
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
16x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Dismember
2x Go for the Throat
2x Lifebane Zombie
2x Rain of Tears
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Vampire Hexmage
3x Withered Wretch
I also have it here http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/black-death-03-03-14-1/
From the main:
-2 Grave Titan
-1 Death Cloud
+2 Primal Commnand
+1 Liliana Vess
From the side:
-3 Obstinate Baloth
-2 Gaze of Granite
-2 Relic of Progenitus
+4 Leyline of the Void
+1 Damnation
+2 Eternal Witness
Grave titan is good no question about it. But with Primal command I find it easier to stabalize gaining 7 life searching up a thragtusk. Or Bouncing lands/perms and fetching an eternal witness after board.
Liliana Vess, is something im trying. So far I got to resolve it a few times, and never been disapointed. Against u/w/r if it resolves is pretty much game over.
Leyline of the Void > then Relic of Progenitus. The mana cost should be no problem if its not in the opening hand either.
Eternal Witness, I put in the side because I only want it when playing against u/w/r or similar style decks, allows me to grind out control games where 8 targeted discad spells are not enough.
Someone mentioned bout the tron match up. If you can stick a Chalice of the Void at 1 counter on turn 2 against them. It shuts down so much of their deck. To me the only way I have lost to tron was the turn 3 Karn when I didnt have a thoughtsieze. Thou I havent run into tron much with the increase of Spreading seas, and blood moons lately.
On the mono list: I would most likely play 1-2 more lands. Maybe another Urborg and a swamp.
I'm in the process of working through some brews and streamlining the rewrite for the Primer. I plan on covering some of the simpler play routes and some match-up analysis.
Thragtusk has been coming up more and more as a solid choice with all the Zoo and even UWR with its burn package. What are peoples thoughts on a couple Cavern of Souls? Also I'm considering a build that runs Night of Souls' Betrayal main.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
I'm not sure if Cavern is the best choice, at least for me. One problem is that the creature type in my deck is very diverse (Ouphe, Ooze, Snake Shaman, Titan, etc.) which means I'll probably be using the colorless mana more often than not. I really suggest not using Cavern unless you run fetches. I run 2 Tectonic Edge in my mainboard and there are sometimes where one of them holds back my turn 2 Abrupt Decay.
I've found Grave Titan is pretty much the trump card against pure Aggro Zoo where they scoop immediately after I drop him on turn 4 after I stall their offensive. There are even some games where I can Death Cloud where I sac the extra zombies as fodder and retain Grave Titan as the sole survivor. Problem with Thragtusk is that it's a very weak body that is most likely going to trade for their Wild Nacatl. Sure it's the most resilient to removal in terms of getting its full value, but I think taking the risk to run Grave Titan instead is worth it.
The biggest problem I found against playing Zoo is Thundermaw Hellkite. None of my removal or creatures for that matter can touch it until I take 5 to the face. I was thinking of sideboarding one Hero's Downfall. Any thoughts?
Credit to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the Avatar & Miraculous Recovery for the Banner.
My 540 Card Cube (WIP)
I've been playing Putrefy in place of pulse as the ability to hit man lands is huge.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Just curious, would Hero's Downfall be a better choice here? Hitting walkers seems to be a problem with this deck as only Maelstrom Pulse, creature damage, and sometimes Abrupt Decay can touch them. I never want to resolve a Death Cloud when my opponent still has a walker on the field.
Credit to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the Avatar & Miraculous Recovery for the Banner.
My 540 Card Cube (WIP)
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Completely forgot about that card.
Not many people play Pod decks in my meta but since it recently won GP Richmond, I guess it should be the better choice to have.
Credit to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the Avatar & Miraculous Recovery for the Banner.
My 540 Card Cube (WIP)
My area has 8-10 Pod players. Most of the players kept their Pod decks from standard and it didn't take much to get the rest for Modern.
I'm going to start working on the Primer and I want to try to make some budget friendly lists for newer players. I just realized that the fetches are 90% of this decks value when you put them in. Honestly with BLood Moon all over the place I don't see why playing them is worth it. Goodness knows green has the basic land search to make this okay.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Other than Putrefy, what other cards are strong against Pod in here?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Decay/Damnation/Discard/sweepers/Leyline out of the board.
I have been running the following list tonight and it has played very well. Granted my testing is against Cockatrice players and I'm very experienced with the deck so take that into account.
2 Golgari Rot Farm
8 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
2 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Death Cloud
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Obstinate Baloth
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Harmonize
2 Crime // Punishment
2 Putrefy
3 Choke
2 Damnation
2 Duress
2 Gaze of Granite
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Drown in Sorrow
Wins so far are versus Affinity, Mono Green Devotion, and Zoo. The Zoo list was a fast list with lots of 1 drops. Affinity game 1 was the closest of the day. I had to sweat out a turn at 9 poison. Other than that the deck controlled the board quite well. I have never really been a fan of fetches in this deck with it being on the slower side. I would not play this build in a Tron heavy meta. I am choosing to ignore Tron for now until I see it more consistently.
Gaze has surprised me. I figured I would like it but it is really solid when played on a busy board. It almost acts like Death Cloud 5-6. I play the Punishment main do to its speed versus some of the top tier decks. It is really good versus tokens and Affinity with their god draws. I 4 for 1'd my Affinity opp game 2. To his credit he played on but it ended pretty poorly. I shaved the Primal Commands and Grave Titan to help speed the deck up a bit.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
No Primal Command, Thragtusk, or Grave Titan?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Not in this particular build. All three are solid card that do work well in the deck. Though each is over 5cc and for this first version of the deck I'm looking at a fast meta based on GP Richmond. Primeval Titan is also a good card to look at of you want to have a big drop. You could add a couple singleton utility lands if you went that route.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: Played against my Buddy Andy. He usually runs u/w/r(non Ghiest), but he surprised me with b/g(non death cloud), traditional rock mid range. Bitterblossums,bob, goyfs and such. Game 1 lost kept a hand that was better suited for the u/w/r deck and couldnt beat the scavaging ooze with my finks. Game 2 we exchanged removal spells and ripping our hands appart till I got to resolved garruk then deathclouded, which left me 1 land and garruk to his no land bitterblossum. 3/3 smash harder then 1/1 flyers. Game 3 Like game 2 but was forced in a position to death cloud leaving nothing but 3 lands on each side, he recoverd better then I did.
Round 3: Played against a deck that me and Andy came up with when modern came out b/r. It contains Many Burn spells, Hand disruption spells, and the creatures are mana sinks like figure of destainy, Kargon dragonloard, and night hawks. Game 1 I cast 2 primal commands gaining 7 life and fetching 2 thragtusks. Gaining a billion life forcing his burn to take care of thrag, bought enough time to death cloud away 3 figure of destinys(which are huge at that point). Game 2 Went about the same way but torpal orb kept me from gaining life off of my creatures.
Round 4: Played u/w/r twin. game 1 he got the turn 4 win. On turn 2 he played spellskite so I knew exactly what he was. On my turn 3 drew looked at my hand and saw I had no way to stop the combo if he had it. Game 2 went forever didnt see any thoughtsieze or deathclouds. got him down to 1 life with just garruk beats and eternal witness/primal commands. till he eventually drew into the combo.
round 5: played b/w tokens. game 1 mull to 5 stuck on 2 lands for 4 turns. Game 2 mull to 4 suck on 3 lands. Not a good time.
Affinity and big zoo split for 1/2, Pod decks filled up other places, with my friends b/g rock deck amoung them.
All an all not bad, but I decided to add 2 scavaging oozes in place of my 2 wall of roots. the thought behind this is so I can transition better in the midrange plan, when I need to.
Night of soul's betrayal was awesome in sideboarding thou, in the b/g match up delt with bitterblossums and bobs nicely allowing me to focus removal on planeswalkers/goyfs/ozze.
And I am a fan of Hero's downfall, ran 1 in main and 1 in side. Litterly boarded them in every match up.