When the full spoiler for SOI came out, Skeleton Key caught my eye as something that could be "broken." A turbo self-mill deck with Graveblade Marauder could equip the Key to a 1-power creature (Marauder) that actually hits for outrageous amounts of damage if you've milled enough creatures into your graveyard. I played a similar deck for the entire run of Satyr Wayfinder in Standard, using Nemesis of Mortals and Nighthowler to attack with unreasonable monsters, and it was great. I tried putting a list together with Gather the Pack and Vessel of Nascency, but it never seemed to actually dump many creatures in the 'yard. Back in the day I always had 10-11 good enablers, in the form of some number of Satyr Wayfinder, Grisly Salvage, Commune with the Gods, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, or Gather the Pack. I didn't find enough this time around and I moved on to the next shiny bauble of a deck idea. Still, I think the Marauder-Key combo is an interesting one, and I wonder if anyone else thinks it could be viable, and how you might put the list together.
That's a pretty good idea, since Graveblade Marauder dodges the usual low-power removal spells like Fiery Impulse, Draconic Roar, and Fiery Temper. Thrown in Call the Bloodline then jam the deck full of low-cost black creatures; there will be 25 individual creatures in mono-black with a CMC <= 2 once KTK and FRF rotate out so there are plenty of options, including Rancid Rats, Fetid Imp, Qarsi Sadist, and Zulaport Cutthroat. This gives you the option of throwing out small deathtouchers or discarding the creatures to get some 1/1 lifelinkers while also increasing the damage the Marauder will do. The Marauder also dodges Flaying Tendrils as well as Avacyn's transform-related ability.
This sort of deck would probably be vulnerable to threats in the air and more powerful sweepers like Languish but as long as you are trying to fill your graveyard with cheap creatures, anyway, and you are running mono-black you might as well throw in a surprise Inverter of Truth or two just to shake things up a bit.
I was also thinking about the potential of this card + double strike (via Uncaged Fury). With +1/+1 and double strike, you only need 8 creatures in the graveyard to deal 20 damage.
Jund is of course what I had in mind. However the problem is the sheer amount of powerful removal in this new standard. Without access to blue we will have a hard time protecting the combo. I would definitely try to play 3x Duress and 3x Thought-Knot Seer to make sure the coast is clear.
Dark Dabbling and Unnatural Endurance can protect your key creatures using only B. The latter option is the better one, of course, since it is less expensive to cast.
Zombies fit perfectly as all your mill cards are also creatures since you want a critical mass to hit as hard as possible as fast as possible. I believe Forgotten Creation is probably the fastest way to fill your graveyard. All the other creatures are there to put more cards into your graveyard.
Behind the Scenes is more questionable, but it adds more ways to give skulk and simultaneously allows you to use a "go wide" strategy if necessary since Diregraf Colossus also makes tokens.
I don't think there's enough natural resurrection in the deck to reliably abuse Prized Amalgam. At least not without changing the focus of the deck.
Slip Through Space is an interesting idea. Maybe sideboard? Personally I prefer the inevitability of a tough to remove, evasion granting permanent. For instance, Rogue's Passage serves a similar purpose.
Zombies fit perfectly as all your mill cards are also creatures since you want a critical mass to hit as hard as possible as fast as possible. I believe Forgotten Creation is probably the fastest way to fill your graveyard. All the other creatures are there to put more cards into your graveyard.
Behind the Scenes is more questionable, but it adds more ways to give skulk and simultaneously allows you to use a "go wide" strategy if necessary since Diregraf Colossus also makes tokens.
How quickly can you enable delirium? I'm asking because it might be worth it to play Pick the Brain to protect the combo.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet might also be worth putting into the mainboard, as he can quickly become a huge threat and offers a sac outlet to fill the graveyard a bit more.
Heir of Falkenrath and Pale Rider of Trostad
are both discard outlets you can use which bring a threat with them for only 1B each.
A 3/3 Skulk or 3/2 Flyer both push the attack and help you fill the yard.
Stitchwing Skaab Might be a good 1 or 2 of as well. Pretty easy to cast from Graveyard to get you a threat.
Zombies fit perfectly as all your mill cards are also creatures since you want a critical mass to hit as hard as possible as fast as possible. I believe Forgotten Creation is probably the fastest way to fill your graveyard. All the other creatures are there to put more cards into your graveyard.
Behind the Scenes is more questionable, but it adds more ways to give skulk and simultaneously allows you to use a "go wide" strategy if necessary since Diregraf Colossus also makes tokens.
Diregraf Colossus gets bigger with each zombie card in your graveyard, but the Skeleton Key works best when you have low power, surely?
I've been running Skeleton Key + Graveblade Marauder in a modern budget deck of mine and its been doing wonders. Recently I added Westvale Abbey to my list as an alternative sacrifice outlet, big demon and harder hitting Marauder makes for a good combo when paired with low drop creatures.
Wouldn't a better skulk exploit be Assault Formation and Behind the Scenes? I mean, there are a ton of 0 power creatures with huge butts that can really wreck.
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That's 6 almost unblockable dmg for 3 mana. Hard to beat.
Wouldn't a better skulk exploit be Assault Formation and Behind the Scenes? I mean, there are a ton of 0 power creatures with huge butts that can really wreck.
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That's 6 almost unblockable dmg for 3 mana. Hard to beat.
That's pretty damn fine! But I count 8 mana there, not three...
sorry. I was just talking about the creature being 3 mana. The other two are both enchantments, so you don't have to spend all that mana on a single turn. As a matter of fact, When I imagine playing those cards together. I imagine sitting behind those big butts and getting Assault Formation out as soon as possible, and then when I have killing damage on the board, drop Behind the Scenes and swing for the win.
There are Assault Formation/Behind the Scenes decks floating around. It's not hard to find 0 power creatures in the colors you'd want. Plus each color splash can add a different dynamic to the deck.
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This sort of deck would probably be vulnerable to threats in the air and more powerful sweepers like Languish but as long as you are trying to fill your graveyard with cheap creatures, anyway, and you are running mono-black you might as well throw in a surprise Inverter of Truth or two just to shake things up a bit.
Jund is of course what I had in mind. However the problem is the sheer amount of powerful removal in this new standard. Without access to blue we will have a hard time protecting the combo. I would definitely try to play 3x Duress and 3x Thought-Knot Seer to make sure the coast is clear.
Corpse Churn
Grave Strength (hey its backup!)
Sudden Reclamation
Taigam's Scheming
Scout the Borders
other fun stuff that could work located at
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text= [put]+[the]+[top]+[cards]+[of]+[your]+[library]+[into]+[your]+[graveyard]&format=+[%22Standard%22]
can't hyperlink it cause brackets and HTML text doesn't work together
that being said you will defiantly want ways to protect your dude(s) as exile and outright removal is rampant in standard at the moment. Good luck!
You only need Gather the Pack or Corpse Churn anyway. Plus ideally you would play creatures that self-mill like Crow of Dark Tidings
4 Graveblade Marauder
2 Mindwrack Demon
14 creatures
4 Skeleton Key
2 Shard of Glass
[Instants]
4 Negate
2 Corpse Churn
3 Unnatural Endurance
4 Call the Bloodline
[Land]
21 cards
4 Screeching Skaab
4 Diregraf Colossus
2 Mindwrack Demon
3 Forgotten Creation
4 Relentless Dead
4 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Graveblade Marauder
2 Crow of Dark Tidings
1 Behind the Scenes
[Artifacts]
4 Skeleton Key
[Instants]
3 Corpse Churn
3 Compelling Deterrence
[Lands]
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Choked Estuary
4 Island
4 Swamp
2 Rogue's Passage
I think focusing solely on Graveblade Marauder is too fragile of a strategy. However, Diregraf Colossus also benefits from a self-mill deck.
Zombies fit perfectly as all your mill cards are also creatures since you want a critical mass to hit as hard as possible as fast as possible. I believe Forgotten Creation is probably the fastest way to fill your graveyard. All the other creatures are there to put more cards into your graveyard.
Behind the Scenes is more questionable, but it adds more ways to give skulk and simultaneously allows you to use a "go wide" strategy if necessary since Diregraf Colossus also makes tokens.
Slip Through Space is an interesting idea. Maybe sideboard? Personally I prefer the inevitability of a tough to remove, evasion granting permanent. For instance, Rogue's Passage serves a similar purpose.
I'm glad you mentioned this, I couldn't remember the name off the top of my head. But yeah this card would be sweet in this deck.
How quickly can you enable delirium? I'm asking because it might be worth it to play Pick the Brain to protect the combo.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet might also be worth putting into the mainboard, as he can quickly become a huge threat and offers a sac outlet to fill the graveyard a bit more.
are both discard outlets you can use which bring a threat with them for only 1B each.
A 3/3 Skulk or 3/2 Flyer both push the attack and help you fill the yard.
Stitchwing Skaab Might be a good 1 or 2 of as well. Pretty easy to cast from Graveyard to get you a threat.
A pretty good first drop that you can sacrifice whenever and draw a card.
That's 6 almost unblockable dmg for 3 mana. Hard to beat.
In terms of putting creatures in the graveyard, perhaps a Revenant or two might help the deck?