Hi Drinkard,
No sorry, I wasn't very clear - how do I "calculate" what fetches to put in my deck in the first place!!?? I mean, wooded foothills is an auto, as is marsh flats. But I don't have a wealth of money / fetches available to me, so I'm thinking about which to pick up.
I do have some windswept heath and bloodstained mire. I assume a mix of these is right, to make up the land count?
Are we all still on 17 land 4 fetches?
Glad to get your insight on temple + crypt. I know the hands take a bit of thinking through with fetches, but I was running 4 windswepts, which lead me to trying to grab blood crypt with the other fetches whenever possible. Seemed to make sense!
Nice results online, going well! Glad you two are playing the deck regularly, as my playtime is pretty low atm. I do love this deck though
The two best fetches are the ones with the same colors as the two shocks you aren't playing. So if I'm playing Sacred Foundry, Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, Blood Crypt, the two shocks missing are BW and RG. Marsh Flats and Wooded Foothills can get any shock in my deck. The rest of the 5 should just be balanced between the needs. If money weren't an issue, it would be three fetches that would get Temple Garden or Blood Crypt and 2 that would get Sacred Foundry or Overgrown Tomb in my deck.
If you have Windswept Heath and Bloodstained Mire at 4 of, I would worry less about what fetches you need and more about getting the shock configuration so that those 8 would get any of your 4 shocks. So you need Sacred Foundry, Overgrown Tomb, Godless Shrine, Stomping Ground, then 5 on color fetches. Get Wooded Foothills @4 of and one more until Battle For Zendikar. You could probably play 1 Forest there too.
Is Vexing Devil good enough to make the 75? It's also a great Postmortem Lunge target. And as I have read through the posts, all of you have made it a point that trample is relevant. Then why not play Rancor?
Please don't make crap up. This is such an obvious word vomit it's ridiculous. Something about the internet and people thinking they need to say something to fit in..
Is Vexing Devil good enough to make the 75? It's also a great Postmortem Lunge target. And as I have read through the posts, all of you have made it a point that trample is relevant. Then why not play Rancor?
Sometimes when you're not trampling, your opponents are still having to throw their dudes under the bus to stay alive. It's not necessarily such a bad situation to be in. MasterSplinter is an mtgo user that plays 2 Rancor though, and he has cashed a couple of times for published results.
This deck seems on the rise: couple of 4-0 on MTGO, a very decent 5-2 at the MTGO PTQ and a 10th place at a recent SCG IQ. If it keeps coming up in the next months (like until the end of Summer), I might build the deck! It seems very effective with an all-in aggro strategy.
I've been back to playing a little more this weekend and I'm running fling as a 2 of. This card is hilarious. I haven't figured out if it's gimmicky or not yet but it definitely helps with more consistent turn 3 kills especially with titan's strength. I love it against removal heavy decks and I love the ability to use it after block step and not as a combat trick. It really helps push that extra bit of damage. It offers some other utility compared to temur battle rage. I might go to a 3-3 split as I would definitely prefer fling in creatureless matchups with heavy removal and battle rage in anything is blockers. Just my two cents. If anyone has he ability to play with it let me know what you think. It's definitely a pet card of mine but I'm liking it.
I'm not quite sure what you guys last decided on being most efficient but this is what I ran yesterday when I played in queues. I definitely want to squeeze in another Titan's strength.
I just picked up the last few cards to build this deck. It looks very exciting. I haven't even played a real game with it yet, so take my comments as a complete greenhorn
One bit that throws me about everyone's list. Steppe Lynx is the only white card in all of them. Is that really the answer? I get that he hit 4/5 pretty easily, but the extra color and the sharp drop off as you run out of lands.... He hardly seems worth it.
I do like the Titan's Strength idea over the Rampagers. All that synergy and filtering. Seems super solid.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you always do what you always did, then you'll always get what you always got.
So I have been playing this for awhile now. I have 4-0d and 3-1d about a dozen dailies so far with it... But it just seems to be missing something. The sideboard is also always in a state of semi-flux. The deck has a very good matchup against most other decks in the meta. It is able to get in under almost anything, able to win on turn 3 the majority of games. The toughest matchup is probably Abzan.
Basically the plan is to win as quickly as possible through pumping your guys and casting Battle Rage. To this end, we have a bunch of cantrips. As the cantirps cost life to cast, they facilitate a turn 1 or 2 Death's Shadow and draw us the combination of spells we need to win. Seems straightforward but there is a lot of nuance to the deck. Especially against other aggro decks and people running burn, we need to be careful about how big we try to go. To this end, probe and thoughtseize are extremely helpful. Probe might be the best card in the deck. It gives us information, pumps our guys and draws us a card. The majority of my losses have come against Abzan control, because they have so much cheap removal that isn't damage-based and Liliana... That being said, let's see the matchups against some of the more common decks.
UrzaTron
I have never lost to Tron with this deck. For R/G Tron, their only answer is a turn 2 pyroclasm. Such a draw for them is unlikely and also doesn't always kill our guys as Shadow will be too large and a mutagenic growth or any instant pumps our guys above the damage. We simply get in there too fast for them. For Blue Tron, they do have repeal which can be annoying and sometimes they have white and thus path to exile. But typically we will have at least 2 critters to their one removal spell and several pumps to get around their one counterspell. Again just too fast for them. Not really a lot to change against them. Sometimes I'll side in 2 revelry, taking out the guile and a goblin guide. I like to side out one guide against decks that are land hungry when I'm on the draw.
Twin
Twin can be tough sometimes. Game one is probably 70% for us. You have to be careful not to go below 7 life as double bolt to face is a way to lose. Die roll is kind of important here... going first game one can be a huge benefit. If you're on the draw, it can be tough if they curve out into the combo, tapping down your death's shadow on your turn so it can't attack, turn 4 playing twin and winning. Postboard it doesn't get any easier. I haven't played twin much lately so the sideboard is more tuned against the Abzan decks. Gitaxian probe and thoughtseize are always good here for the information.
I typically go -2 Bolt, -1 Street Wraith, -1 Goblin Guide, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Abrupt Decay. +2 Destructive Revelry.
Abzan
This is by far the worst matchup for us. Path to exile and abrupt decay, which they have a lot of, are quite problematic for us. And ooze makes it tough for us to get enough cards in the yard for become immense. Sometimes we just get in there too fast for them. Especially game one, due to the rogue aspect of the deck, if they kept a hand light on removal, we have a shot. If they are running Liliana and Finks it is going to be really tough to win. The problem going to board is there are a lot of cards we want to put in and not a lot we want to take out. Thankfully, lately I haven't seen too many Lilianas.
SB: Usually -1 Become Immense, -4 Street Wraith, +2 Guile, +1 display of dominance and decay +2 smiter if they have Liliana, +1 blessing, +2 beckon apparition +1 magma spray if they have finks.
Burn
Burn is an interesting one. If you have a death's shadow in this matchup, you win. They can't get rid of it and end up making it huge and you just win. Our deck is typically faster than burn. We do have to be careful not to try to cantrip too much, wasting life, as they will do the damage for you. And this might be the only match where you fetch basics. I have had turn 2 wins on the draw and play against burn. Die roll is HUGE against them. If you go first you will almost certainly win. And since they aren't interested in blocking, our creatures usually get to swing free, with pump putting them out burn range and battle rage for the win. I used to have leylines of sanctity in SB for this match, but it took up too many slots and messed with deck synergy. I bring in the guile and blessing and side out some wraiths typically.
Living End
This isn't a bad matchup at all. They don't really have removal so game one is like 90% in our favor. Moreover, we have Street Wraiths, so sometimes even if they Living End, even just to wrath us, we get critters out of it- sometimes they're even unblockable. I definitely bring in the beckons as they can save you from a spirit guide fueled early Living End. I used to have rakdos charms, but the two mana cost was difficult sometimes to keep held up.
Delver
I'll lump both Grixis and UR together here as they are pretty much the same. The Grixis version is definitely a lot tougher. UR delver really only has bolt to deal with our guys, which we can grow out of reach, electrolyze is too slow to do anything. Sometimes they even get in an early delver swing in to help us drop a death's shadow. All our spells are more mana efficient than their answers basically. Now grixis does have terminate which is a beating sometimes, especially if they snapcast it back and kill our 2nd shadow. Additionally, getting in those last few points of damage, without a battle rage, can be difficult due to angler and pyromancer tokens. I bring in the guiles and blessing, beckons, and pyroclasm.
Affinity
I have played Affinity only 3 times, going 2-1... The loss preventing me from going 4-0 which was lame. As long as they don't have one of their godhands as affinity will have from time, this is certainly winnable. Using a bolt on one of their key guys, keeping a plating-equipped from attacking, can be important. If you can make it to three mana, you typically win as they have no real answer for become immense into battle rage. Sometimes galvanic blast can be a pain but it can be played around, especially if you know about it.
Podless
This seems to be the new deck out there, the latest form of birthing pod. Now they use Anafenze, Kin-tree Spirit mostly to fuel infinite persist combos. This is a similar match to Abzan but a lot better for us. A timely bolt can cancel their combos. They have a lot less removal pre-board than regular Abzan, so game one especially is in our favor. Our deck is a lot faster than theirs although an early siege rhino can be problematic if you don't have battle rage. Again if you can make it to three mana and they're at about 16 life you should be able to win. Post-board they have more removal but you have beckons and magma spray for the persist guys and your plan is still quicker than theirs.
Martyr/Lifegain
I've actually played this deck several times, which is weird because I don't think it's that popular. The matches have gone probably 60/40 in my favor. I will say that my deck does a good job of keeping them under 30 life. We can do so much damage in one turn that we can usually prevent the Serra Ascendant from being 7/7. Sometimes it becomes an attrition fight, and we will see more of our deck than them. Winning game one is pretty important as postboard they typically have a lot of good cards to bring in against us. Pyroclasm has come up huge for me in the past.
Elves
This is also a pretty easy matchup. Especially if you save a bolt a for the archdruid. You're going to win before they get a chance to cast collected company, or chord for ezuri, most of the time. They don't have removal for our guys and we can finish them off before they get a good enough board state to go off. This is also a matchup where pyroclasm has been huge.
Merfolk
Merfolk can be tough. Especially postboard when they bring in dispel. If they are running white for path it is especially tough. Thankfully it is not that common and I've only played it once. Pretty sure I lost...
Infect
Our deck's are very similar in style. I'd say this matchup is truly 50/50. I've gone 2-3 in my games against infect. It comes down to whether or not you're able to bolt one of their key guys and win on turn 3, because you're not going to get many games that go longer than that. On the plus side, the self-inflicted life loss is not that important... Postboard they bring in dispel which is an issue.
So any tips/ideas about the deck? Any feedback would be good. If you want me to describe matchups against other decks in the meta, let me know.
Well our creatures are more resilient for one thing. The deck actually starts out looking like burn, putting a lot of pressure on the opponent. They feel like they have to react. Then you drop a shadow or kiln fiend and win.
There is also the fact that infect is lame and I have disdain for it. Moreover, the rogue aspect cannot be overstated- at this time. A lot of the time people have no idea what you're up to and you just steamroll them.
So any tips/ideas about the deck? Any feedback would be good. If you want me to describe matchups against other decks in the meta, let me know.
I'm merging this with the existing thread. If you want to make this into a "full/official" primer with card descriptions, sideboard strategies, history, etc., then PM me and we can work something out. But right now, this is just a matchup explanation for the existing thread, so I'm merging it until that changes.
Are you MasterSplinter? Your deck is interesting. It definitely wins the award for "most 1-ofs that drinkard has to look up."
I think this can get its own thread. The two decks are two different archetypes on mtggoldfish after those results he mentioned were posted. Also, this is Jund, with no Wild Nacatl or Steppe Lynx (this is more significant than it sounds). To merge the two discussions is going to be very messy. There are 11 different non-land cards maindeck in the two archetypes, and the nature of this message board already has people deckbombing threads that don't even include the 11 cards worthy of discussion.
I haven't been able to play in as many dailies lately, but I'm profiting in 8-mans with suicide zoo. It's a different deck, and its ability to go wide is very helpful in your troublesome abzan matchup. Similarly, I've never lost to Twin in ranked play. After looking through your results and matchups, I'm convinced that Suicide Zoo is better. All of the same easy matchups exist, but Suicide Zoo (four color) shores up the two matchups you label more difficult.
In the meantime, what the heck are your sideboard cards about?? (If you're mastersplinter) You've experimented with a lot of cards (the 1/1 flying rogue that can't block for B for example). How did they go?
This is the version I have been working on lately. I added some cards to the posted deck that need some explanation:
Altered the mana base: First, I added a Basic Forest and a Swamp. These lands are not able to maximize the self pain. I put them in the deck because some match-ups (like Burn and attrition based decks) actually require a more conservative approach to life. In other situations, Death's Shadow is not available and life pain becomes less meaningful. They also prevent Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter from becoming efficient undercosted creature/land removal with no downside. However, the shock-lands are still there for those moments when life loss is important. Second, removed Dryad Arbor because it was too often hit by removal spells, which slowed me down quite a lot.
Added Dismembers. The face of your opponent when they leave a creature back just in case you do any shenanigans with your life total with Death's Shadow in play, when you destroy the blocker and give your guy +4/+4. All of this with just a colorless mana
Added Apostle's Blessing. This guy counters spot removal (which is really handy because creatures in this deck are not very evasive), allows for a final attack without blockers getting in the way, even if you are playing against affinity. And it pumps Death's Shadow.
Sleeved this deck up for the first time and took it to a 16-man SNM. I had a blast and split top 4.
Beat: Elves(too easy), Jund Scapeshift, and Mono-White Eternal Dominion(nail biter in top 8).
Lost to: Jeskai Tokens (So much removal), and Mono-White Eternal Dominion(Same guy, pre top 8).
I has afraid that managing the life loss would be very difficult, but I got the swing of things very quickly. I simply had too much fun. This deck just got on my "potentials" list for Charlotte
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you always do what you always did, then you'll always get what you always got.
The two best fetches are the ones with the same colors as the two shocks you aren't playing. So if I'm playing Sacred Foundry, Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, Blood Crypt, the two shocks missing are BW and RG. Marsh Flats and Wooded Foothills can get any shock in my deck. The rest of the 5 should just be balanced between the needs. If money weren't an issue, it would be three fetches that would get Temple Garden or Blood Crypt and 2 that would get Sacred Foundry or Overgrown Tomb in my deck.
If you have Windswept Heath and Bloodstained Mire at 4 of, I would worry less about what fetches you need and more about getting the shock configuration so that those 8 would get any of your 4 shocks. So you need Sacred Foundry, Overgrown Tomb, Godless Shrine, Stomping Ground, then 5 on color fetches. Get Wooded Foothills @4 of and one more until Battle For Zendikar. You could probably play 1 Forest there too.
I'm not playing Assault Strobe, but it is sweet.
Sometimes when you're not trampling, your opponents are still having to throw their dudes under the bus to stay alive. It's not necessarily such a bad situation to be in. MasterSplinter is an mtgo user that plays 2 Rancor though, and he has cashed a couple of times for published results.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I'm at phone at the moment so I can't embed my deck but here's the tapped out link http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/13-03-15-suicide-zoo/
I'm not quite sure what you guys last decided on being most efficient but this is what I ran yesterday when I played in queues. I definitely want to squeeze in another Titan's strength.
One bit that throws me about everyone's list. Steppe Lynx is the only white card in all of them. Is that really the answer? I get that he hit 4/5 pretty easily, but the extra color and the sharp drop off as you run out of lands.... He hardly seems worth it.
I do like the Titan's Strength idea over the Rampagers. All that synergy and filtering. Seems super solid.
4 Death's Shadow
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Goblin Guide
4 Street Wraith
2 Kiln Fiend
1 Silhana Ledgewalker
Spells
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Become Immense
4 Temur Battle Rage
4 Mutagenic Growth
1 Ranger's Guile
1 Crimson Wisps
1 Thoughtseize
Lands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Ground
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Rending Volley
1 Magma Spray
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Pyroclasm
1 Display of Dominance
2 Ranger's Guile
2 Loxodon Smiter
1 Sacred Foundry
Basically the plan is to win as quickly as possible through pumping your guys and casting Battle Rage. To this end, we have a bunch of cantrips. As the cantirps cost life to cast, they facilitate a turn 1 or 2 Death's Shadow and draw us the combination of spells we need to win. Seems straightforward but there is a lot of nuance to the deck. Especially against other aggro decks and people running burn, we need to be careful about how big we try to go. To this end, probe and thoughtseize are extremely helpful. Probe might be the best card in the deck. It gives us information, pumps our guys and draws us a card. The majority of my losses have come against Abzan control, because they have so much cheap removal that isn't damage-based and Liliana... That being said, let's see the matchups against some of the more common decks.
UrzaTron
I have never lost to Tron with this deck. For R/G Tron, their only answer is a turn 2 pyroclasm. Such a draw for them is unlikely and also doesn't always kill our guys as Shadow will be too large and a mutagenic growth or any instant pumps our guys above the damage. We simply get in there too fast for them. For Blue Tron, they do have repeal which can be annoying and sometimes they have white and thus path to exile. But typically we will have at least 2 critters to their one removal spell and several pumps to get around their one counterspell. Again just too fast for them. Not really a lot to change against them. Sometimes I'll side in 2 revelry, taking out the guile and a goblin guide. I like to side out one guide against decks that are land hungry when I'm on the draw.
Twin
Twin can be tough sometimes. Game one is probably 70% for us. You have to be careful not to go below 7 life as double bolt to face is a way to lose. Die roll is kind of important here... going first game one can be a huge benefit. If you're on the draw, it can be tough if they curve out into the combo, tapping down your death's shadow on your turn so it can't attack, turn 4 playing twin and winning. Postboard it doesn't get any easier. I haven't played twin much lately so the sideboard is more tuned against the Abzan decks. Gitaxian probe and thoughtseize are always good here for the information.
I typically go -2 Bolt, -1 Street Wraith, -1 Goblin Guide, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Abrupt Decay. +2 Destructive Revelry.
Abzan
This is by far the worst matchup for us. Path to exile and abrupt decay, which they have a lot of, are quite problematic for us. And ooze makes it tough for us to get enough cards in the yard for become immense. Sometimes we just get in there too fast for them. Especially game one, due to the rogue aspect of the deck, if they kept a hand light on removal, we have a shot. If they are running Liliana and Finks it is going to be really tough to win. The problem going to board is there are a lot of cards we want to put in and not a lot we want to take out. Thankfully, lately I haven't seen too many Lilianas.
SB: Usually -1 Become Immense, -4 Street Wraith, +2 Guile, +1 display of dominance and decay +2 smiter if they have Liliana, +1 blessing, +2 beckon apparition +1 magma spray if they have finks.
Burn
Burn is an interesting one. If you have a death's shadow in this matchup, you win. They can't get rid of it and end up making it huge and you just win. Our deck is typically faster than burn. We do have to be careful not to try to cantrip too much, wasting life, as they will do the damage for you. And this might be the only match where you fetch basics. I have had turn 2 wins on the draw and play against burn. Die roll is HUGE against them. If you go first you will almost certainly win. And since they aren't interested in blocking, our creatures usually get to swing free, with pump putting them out burn range and battle rage for the win. I used to have leylines of sanctity in SB for this match, but it took up too many slots and messed with deck synergy. I bring in the guile and blessing and side out some wraiths typically.
Living End
This isn't a bad matchup at all. They don't really have removal so game one is like 90% in our favor. Moreover, we have Street Wraiths, so sometimes even if they Living End, even just to wrath us, we get critters out of it- sometimes they're even unblockable. I definitely bring in the beckons as they can save you from a spirit guide fueled early Living End. I used to have rakdos charms, but the two mana cost was difficult sometimes to keep held up.
Delver
I'll lump both Grixis and UR together here as they are pretty much the same. The Grixis version is definitely a lot tougher. UR delver really only has bolt to deal with our guys, which we can grow out of reach, electrolyze is too slow to do anything. Sometimes they even get in an early delver swing in to help us drop a death's shadow. All our spells are more mana efficient than their answers basically. Now grixis does have terminate which is a beating sometimes, especially if they snapcast it back and kill our 2nd shadow. Additionally, getting in those last few points of damage, without a battle rage, can be difficult due to angler and pyromancer tokens. I bring in the guiles and blessing, beckons, and pyroclasm.
Affinity
I have played Affinity only 3 times, going 2-1... The loss preventing me from going 4-0 which was lame. As long as they don't have one of their godhands as affinity will have from time, this is certainly winnable. Using a bolt on one of their key guys, keeping a plating-equipped from attacking, can be important. If you can make it to three mana, you typically win as they have no real answer for become immense into battle rage. Sometimes galvanic blast can be a pain but it can be played around, especially if you know about it.
Podless
This seems to be the new deck out there, the latest form of birthing pod. Now they use Anafenze, Kin-tree Spirit mostly to fuel infinite persist combos. This is a similar match to Abzan but a lot better for us. A timely bolt can cancel their combos. They have a lot less removal pre-board than regular Abzan, so game one especially is in our favor. Our deck is a lot faster than theirs although an early siege rhino can be problematic if you don't have battle rage. Again if you can make it to three mana and they're at about 16 life you should be able to win. Post-board they have more removal but you have beckons and magma spray for the persist guys and your plan is still quicker than theirs.
Martyr/Lifegain
I've actually played this deck several times, which is weird because I don't think it's that popular. The matches have gone probably 60/40 in my favor. I will say that my deck does a good job of keeping them under 30 life. We can do so much damage in one turn that we can usually prevent the Serra Ascendant from being 7/7. Sometimes it becomes an attrition fight, and we will see more of our deck than them. Winning game one is pretty important as postboard they typically have a lot of good cards to bring in against us. Pyroclasm has come up huge for me in the past.
Elves
This is also a pretty easy matchup. Especially if you save a bolt a for the archdruid. You're going to win before they get a chance to cast collected company, or chord for ezuri, most of the time. They don't have removal for our guys and we can finish them off before they get a good enough board state to go off. This is also a matchup where pyroclasm has been huge.
Merfolk
Merfolk can be tough. Especially postboard when they bring in dispel. If they are running white for path it is especially tough. Thankfully it is not that common and I've only played it once. Pretty sure I lost...
Infect
Our deck's are very similar in style. I'd say this matchup is truly 50/50. I've gone 2-3 in my games against infect. It comes down to whether or not you're able to bolt one of their key guys and win on turn 3, because you're not going to get many games that go longer than that. On the plus side, the self-inflicted life loss is not that important... Postboard they bring in dispel which is an issue.
So any tips/ideas about the deck? Any feedback would be good. If you want me to describe matchups against other decks in the meta, let me know.
There is also the fact that infect is lame and I have disdain for it. Moreover, the rogue aspect cannot be overstated- at this time. A lot of the time people have no idea what you're up to and you just steamroll them.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/596672-suicide-shadow
Active:
BGRock/Jund/JunkRW
GRTron
0Affinity0
WGRZoo
I'm merging this with the existing thread. If you want to make this into a "full/official" primer with card descriptions, sideboard strategies, history, etc., then PM me and we can work something out. But right now, this is just a matchup explanation for the existing thread, so I'm merging it until that changes.
Glad to see more people on this awesome deck!
I think this can get its own thread. The two decks are two different archetypes on mtggoldfish after those results he mentioned were posted. Also, this is Jund, with no Wild Nacatl or Steppe Lynx (this is more significant than it sounds). To merge the two discussions is going to be very messy. There are 11 different non-land cards maindeck in the two archetypes, and the nature of this message board already has people deckbombing threads that don't even include the 11 cards worthy of discussion.
I haven't been able to play in as many dailies lately, but I'm profiting in 8-mans with suicide zoo. It's a different deck, and its ability to go wide is very helpful in your troublesome abzan matchup. Similarly, I've never lost to Twin in ranked play. After looking through your results and matchups, I'm convinced that Suicide Zoo is better. All of the same easy matchups exist, but Suicide Zoo (four color) shores up the two matchups you label more difficult.
In the meantime, what the heck are your sideboard cards about?? (If you're mastersplinter) You've experimented with a lot of cards (the 1/1 flying rogue that can't block for B for example). How did they go?
Rage on!
4 Marsh Flats
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
Creatures
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Death's Shadow
4 Steppe Lynx
2 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Hooting Mandrills
4 Street Wraith
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Temur Battle Rage
4 Become Immense
4 Thoughtseize
4 Nourishing Shoal
3 Hooting Mandrills
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Faith's Shield
2 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Death's Shadow
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Street Wraith
2 Blistercoil Weird
4 Goblin Guide
4 Become Immense
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mutagenic Growth
2 Dismember
2 Apostle's Blessing
Sorceries
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Thoughtseize
4 Assault Strobe
2 Thoughtseize
4 Postmortem Lunge
4 Vault Skirge
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Dismember
This is the version I have been working on lately. I added some cards to the posted deck that need some explanation:
Altered the mana base: First, I added a Basic Forest and a Swamp. These lands are not able to maximize the self pain. I put them in the deck because some match-ups (like Burn and attrition based decks) actually require a more conservative approach to life. In other situations, Death's Shadow is not available and life pain becomes less meaningful. They also prevent Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter from becoming efficient undercosted creature/land removal with no downside. However, the shock-lands are still there for those moments when life loss is important. Second, removed Dryad Arbor because it was too often hit by removal spells, which slowed me down quite a lot.
Added Dismembers. The face of your opponent when they leave a creature back just in case you do any shenanigans with your life total with Death's Shadow in play, when you destroy the blocker and give your guy +4/+4. All of this with just a colorless mana
Added Thoughtseize. Takes care of everything, fits the mana curve, and pumps your Death's Shadow.
Added Apostle's Blessing. This guy counters spot removal (which is really handy because creatures in this deck are not very evasive), allows for a final attack without blockers getting in the way, even if you are playing against affinity. And it pumps Death's Shadow.
Removed Mishra's Bauble because it was too slow.
Replaced Temur Battle Rage by Assault Strobe. Assault Strobe is a Sorcery and does not give creatures trample. But replacing Temur Battle Rage allowed me to top my curve at 1 mana, which is significant. Too often I was not able to cast Temur Battle Rage because 2 mana was too much for a pump spell. I don't find Trample relevant as my version has Dismember, Thoughtseize, Apostle's Blessing and, if needed, Lightning Bolt in order to remove blockers.
I'm also tempted to replace Temur Battle Rage and Assault Strobe for Giant Growth altogether. The reason for this is because a double strike pump is sometimes useless, specially when Death's Shadow is not in play and when it is not a big creature.
http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/05/linear-primers-suicide-zoo-part-1/
Beat: Elves(too easy), Jund Scapeshift, and Mono-White Eternal Dominion(nail biter in top 8).
Lost to: Jeskai Tokens (So much removal), and Mono-White Eternal Dominion(Same guy, pre top 8).
I has afraid that managing the life loss would be very difficult, but I got the swing of things very quickly. I simply had too much fun. This deck just got on my "potentials" list for Charlotte
Part two, sideboarding and match analyses.
Anything anyone here wanting to know more about the deck?