Im playing the CVM list; Minus 1 Spear and plus another Brave as I think having brave will be extremely important, although it can do nothing if you draw all spells I think the amount of play anger will see will warrant the 4th BTE.
I really like the deck and has some really hard lines to deal with.
At the moment, I feel that Athreos is just incredible in this build. Since I can flood a lot of creatures on the board he does generally swing at least once a game. But really he shines because every time I've had a creature die, I've gotten them all back in my hand while my opponents tried stalling to find a way to deal with him. So right now my feeling towards him is that he takes the Necromancer persistence that we have and turns the volume up to 11. Having both of them on the table is just... It almost feels dirty doing that to people. Magma Spray and Pillar will still be issues for my build since I run enough black to make Brave easily dropped (it was in my earlier build). As my local meta develops I'll start looking into way to try and ensure creature resiliency against those cards if needed, but right now I feel like he really pushes this decks viability up a notch.
I actually managed to get my hands on all the cards in my current deck just today after some trading/bargaining, plays like a charm, practiced vs my friends who had a u/w control deck and another with rdw prophets and won both decks w/o much problems...would love to test it out vs mono black/blue, monsters etc later, anyway my current 75.
It's very consistent and quite a few games you win by simply flooding them out, i did manage to get athreos online a few games and it was pretty brutal, dictate of erebos is a card I feel like being a good 1-of in this dck, still not fully figured out my sb yet tho :/
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Currently Playing:
Standard: Mardu Midrange, Jeskai Wins, Naya Walkers, Boss Sligh, Mono Black Aggro
Modern: RUG Scapeshift, Burn, UG Infect
Legacy: Death n Taxes, Burn, Tendrils
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Krenko, Mob Boss, Narset, Enlightened Master
I'm thinking of going for something along these lines--not entirely sure on 2-drops (there are so many playable 2-drop humans), or what kill spells and other utility I want main and side.
I was also considering Sightless Brawler at the 2-drop slot, which would actually play a lot better with coinsmith, probably enough to run 4, but really, it's going to come down to how much I tend to damage myself with lands and TS and Pain Seer to decide which is a 4-of, and how advantageous it is to have the additional colored mana symbols to turn Athreos on (cutting Precinct Captain for brawler if not...?).
Plus coinsmith gives a bit of lategame push to get the last few points of damage in (especially against a deck like turbofog which seems to be gaining popularity, at least locally).
Hera are a few other comments I wanted to throw out based on things I've noticed from other lists:
- Thoughtseize is a sideboard card for this deck. Game one against an unknown, we want to be applying as much pressure as possible in the early turns, not using a black mana and two life to look at their hand.
- I don't understand why people are running Tormented Hero. I get that it's a 2/1 for B, but you will virtually never activate Heroic and bringing it back with Orzhov Charm doesn't seem that great.
- Also on that subject, I don't care for Orzhov Charm in general. I was toying with Esper Humans earlier in the block and I always found the card to be underwhelming and the absolute last thing I wanted to draw late in the game.
- I don't understand why people are running Tormented Hero. I get that it's a 2/1 for B, but you will virtually never activate Heroic and bringing it back with Orzhov Charm doesn't seem that great.
A Savannah Lions that triggers Xathrid Necromancer is all it is. And worth it for that. With this deck I really want to be at 12 one drops to put early pressure on control. Dropping three two drops in the first two turns and then curving into Xathrid or Athreos is good.
Honestly, I am considering running Brimaz as an additional target for all of the DSpheres out there, just so there are less to hit Athreos and Xathrid.
I see your point about the Hero, and it's not a bad one. I'll keep that in mind going forward.
TBH, I'm not too worried about Detention Sphere. Not only is Banishing Light a great answer to it (and will probably be widely-played), but I think that and Deicide are going to push Mono-Blue and B/W Devotion out of Tier 1. Those decks are badly crippled if they lose Thassa, God of the Sea.
Went 2-1 tonight, beating Naya Control, UW Control, and losing to Blue Devotion. Double and triple Master trumps everything we got. I kept sideboarding in Thoughtseize and so maybe they should be main deck, but I kinda love the ability to overrun opponents out of the gate. Ran 3 Hero's Downfall for answers to big things and Master of Waves. It wasn't awful.
I'm not sure what the sideboard should look like or what comes out.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
What are your thoughts on Vizkopa Guildmage and Whip of Erebos? I've been trying them out and it's been working well for me locally. Sometimes it's just enough to edge out a board locked creature wall. Might be too situational, and it puts the deck in a more midrangey state, but I've been happy with it.
In the game we just incidentally played on Cockatrice, I felt Vizkopa Guildmage warranted an answer when you had Whip of Erebos out. However, I do feel like it is just a bear without the Whip and as you said, probably too situational when there are a glut of good 2-drops to be playing.
Went 4-1 on Friday night with my B/W humans build. Had just finished building the deck 20 mins before round 1 and was unfortunate to have to mull to 5 g1 and 6 g2 against R/W burn on the first round, but proceeded to wipe the rest of my matches very well. I believe had i been on a full 7 both games I would have won my match against R/W burn. Round 2 Was against BUG control 2-0, round 3 against G/B dredge going 2-1. Round 4 against Esper Control going 2-0. I finished round 5 against Mono Blue Devotion going 2-0 as well.
Seeing as it has been a few days since the last post, which was mine. I would like to drum up some discussion on a few cards in the deck and potential additions should anything shift in the meta:
First off I want to address the use of Cartel Aristocrat. The Aristocrat can fill a great role in the deck of an elusive beater that also plays well off of both Xathrid Necromancer and Athreos, God of Passage. However in the current standard meta I feel there are only a few decks against which we would value her capacity to push damage through. Most of the decks where her protection is relevant also make her hard to abuse by keeping your board clear (MBD, RGb monsters, Esper/UW control). My newest decklist, which I will be posting later today, hopefully, has actually cut her entirely for some more aggression in the main board, bringing my count of banisher priest up to 3 and necro up to 3, as well as filling out a playset of Precinct Captain in the mainboard. Additionally I feel a card that can be substituted for her entirely would be Gift of Orzhova as our life total can certainly take a big hit in the first few turns with thoughtsieze, shocklands, mana confluence and Pain Seer all pinging us early.
I am at work currently but would love to hear more thoughts on the Aristocrat. as well as other cards that i may not have given full time to such as Daring Skyjek. Thoughts? Thanks guys.
Seeing as it has been a few days since the last post, which was mine. I would like to drum up some discussion on a few cards in the deck and potential additions should anything shift in the meta:
First off I want to address the use of Cartel Aristocrat. The Aristocrat can fill a great role in the deck of an elusive beater that also plays well off of both Xathrid Necromancer and Athreos, God of Passage. However in the current standard meta I feel there are only a few decks against which we would value her capacity to push damage through. Most of the decks where her protection is relevant also make her hard to abuse by keeping your board clear (MBD, RGb monsters, Esper/UW control). My newest decklist, which I will be posting later today, hopefully, has actually cut her entirely for some more aggression in the main board, bringing my count of banisher priest up to 3 and necro up to 3, as well as filling out a playset of Precinct Captain in the mainboard. Additionally I feel a card that can be substituted for her entirely would be Gift of Orzhova as our life total can certainly take a big hit in the first few turns with thoughtsieze, shocklands, mana confluence and Pain Seer all pinging us early.
I am at work currently but would love to hear more thoughts on the Aristocrat. as well as other cards that i may not have given full time to such as Daring Skyjek. Thoughts? Thanks guys.
Skyjek is decent, but not amazing. He hits for a little more than your other guys on an empty board and in a cluttered board state him going in the air can finish games even if the guys beneath him get butchered.
As for Cartel Aristocrat, I don't think that she is necessary, but once Anger of the Gods sees more play sac-ing in response to it will be necessary and also a really good play.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
You bring up a good point re: life loss, but rather than adding an aura (maybe ok to have in the sideboard for certain matchups, though?) that doesn't play very well with the rest of the deck, I've been considering adding some number of Fiendslayer Paladin.
Custom sig done by Me :3 Current Standard decks
Mono Blue Devotion (MUD)
Dimir Control
Mono Black Devotion (MBD) Current EDH decks
Slivers combo
Vorosh the hunter
Sharrum, the Hedgemon
Start of MTG videos and stuff like that http://www.youtube.com/user/mnmpackchannel
Been running this for a bit in testing, LGS doesnt play standard to often so havent used in awhile. Toughest matchup has been against BB since i tossed red.
Well my testing of this deck turned out....less then pleasing. Went 2/2 at fnm. Beat Jund Monsters, some sort of GW aggro who got stuck on mulling to 5 both games and never drew a second land, and lost to mono white weenie (hall of triumph and spear game 1, mulled to 5 and never hit a third land game 2) and lost to G/B midrange due to witchstalker and 3/6 Sylvan Caryatid (yay dreg mangler)
My list is such:
Originally I had 2 Daring Skyjek MB but I always sided them out for Imposing Sovereign since that actually helps stop blockers where skyjek does not.
I like the Aristocrat since it helps turn on Athreos and I've actually been able to stop a Deicide or two by saccing athreos to her.
I went up to 4 Mutavaults to put my lands at 23 since hitting that third land is REALLY necessary and there have too many games where I dont get it (granted there are also too man games where I just flood out which makes no sense).
I'd like to thoughtsieze MD or God's Willing but then I'd have to drop Boros Elite. Yes, I would drop boros elite before tormented hero. I HATE the elite. In my gaming he is 9 out of 10 times a 1/1 human. If it weren't for the fact the only other "good" (thats stretching the word) 1 drop human atm is the Nyxborn Shieldmate he wins out on the rare chance he is a 3/3.
I really hate hexproof with this deck. Its so bad that I'm thinking of dropping the banisher priests for dictate of erebos.
Guess I am the only one not liking precinct captain for the deck. I'd have to drop the cartel for him.
Found out the hard way with Mana Confluence in my playtesting of having 3 in your opening hand is REALLY bad. Thats why I only run 3 instead of 4.
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"We cannot join. We cannot rest. Our lives, our souls, endure. We have been returned."
Standard RBUGrixis Tutelage BR Devoid Beatdown Modern RAffinity B 8 Rack Legacy 0 Dredge EDH RBBladewing's Zombie Dragons BUGRW Sliver Legion's Overrun
Anyone test Silence vs control? Upkeep it and make them burn a counterspell and 3 mana (so they can't Verdict you turn 4-7) or allow you to hit for another 6+ damage and play a Xathrid Necromancer or Athreos.
So, I'm throwing my list in to the ring. I realize that everyone's been doing this and not responding. So I'll try to include some discussion on card choices in relation to other people's lists/posts. Anyways, to start off here's what I'm going to be toying with:
Don't pay much attention to the sideboard. It's a bunch of random stuff I want to test with, more than actual cards for different match ups. My meta is still settling from the introduction of Journey anyways. So I have no idea what I'll be playing regularly.
So, I was initially running a list similar to Koopa's but with fewer Sovereigns. I didn't really care for their role in the deck. It never seemed to do much for me as I ended up playing more mid-range/grindy attrition games than full on aggro. So I decided to drop her for more aggressive cards. Initially I thought about throwing in Daring Skyjeks and going more full-aggro but I think the real potential of this deck lies in the grindiness of it. Cartel Aristocrat is really strong here and it reminds me a lot of Etched Champion from Tempered Steel years ago but rolling in for 2 a turn seemed too slow. This led me to consider ways to power it up. I didn't like the 3cmc on Spear of Heliod. Then I remembered Civic Saber and having a 4/2 with pro-whatever seemed really good. However, to make Civic Saber, better than just +1/+0 on the rest of the deck, I cut Precinct Captains for Underworld Coinsmith. Who will become a 4/2 that gains me life and drains the opponent. I also swapped Banisher Priests for Sin Collectors. The extra removal was nice but it was a bit of a non-bo with Cartel Aristocrat because I didn't want them getting their guy back. Sin Collector's ETB effect is good enough to make them not want to get hit with it more than once and he has the upside of also getting buffed by Saber. Brain Maggots ended up going in over some test cards (Brave the Elements and Orhov Charm) that ended up being mediocre. So the deck became more of a hand hate/mid-range list. I think it looks promising but I won't get to test it until Monday.
Hopefully that hit on some of the decisions you guys have been looking at as well. I see a lot of Pain Seers. Has he been working well for you? I was thinking about it and he gets out classed (size-wise) by a lot of creatures and won't be getting to untap much. Plus he doesn't make the opponent mind all that much if he comes back as a random 2/2 chump blocker. Maybe it's just because I'm looking at the Constellation on Coinsmith but Underworld Connections has to be substantially better, right? The down side being that it costs 1 more and the 3 slot is pretty tight. With Coinsmith you gain a life and the consistency of the card draw over Pain Seer has got to be overwhelming for opponents.
Also, from some limited testing with my original list, 4 Mutavaults gave serious color issues. However, it is really good with Necromancer. I think 3 is a solid number there. I originally had 21 lands but bumped up to 22. Though I think 23 may be the right number. Hitting 3 or 4 lands is pretty important to allow you to cast 2 spells per turn. I found myself funneled for mana too often but the games where I hit 4-ish lands by turn 4 the deck worked really well.
Ok, enough wall-o-text. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.I hope testing is going well for you all.
Ended up going 3-1, first round was against a homebrew deck, not much of anything there, easy win.
Second round, Naya aggro, 2-0. Soldier does a ton of work gaining life with everything they play being multicolored. Saw 2x Xathrid Necromancer both games, just overran him with zombies. Imposing Sovereign was pretty big here, allowing the last couple points of damage through.
Third round, lost 2-0 to Jund Monsters. Too much removal, Courser just shuts down our attacking--maybe an argument for skyjek?, and he was maindecking Scoozes so no Athreos triggers.
Fourth round, against Monoblue Devotion, went 2-1. First game, got stonewalled by Frostburn Wierds, until he ended up dropping a Master of Waves for 10 followed by a Hall of Triumph and another Master. Game 2, nailed his Thassa with a Deicide and just beat down with an active Athreos. Game 3, Banishing light on Thassa, Bile Blight on MoW, and just beat down again, also gaining lots of life with Soldiers to offset shocks/Mana Confluence.
All in all, I like how the deck plays, especially against removal light decks when you can just go wide and overwhelm them.
This has been a continues work in progress. I was running Sin Collector But in an attempt to speed my deck up I pulled it out with Banisher Priest. At last weeks tournament running this I went 3-2 with one of my losses coming off my own missed trigger. I had just put precinct captain in and forgot all about his trigger. That trigger would have helped me sustain against a Mogis, God of Slaughter trigger.
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I really like the deck and has some really hard lines to deal with.
Standard:RWUJeskai WinsRWU
Modern:GWBMelira PodGWB
Legacy:WDeath & TaxesW
4x Boros Elite
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Tormented Hero
4x Daring Skyjek
4x Pain Seer
2x Imposing Soverign
4x Xathrid Necromancer
2x Banisher Priest
2x Athreos, God of Passage
4x Orzhov Charm
2x Ultimate Price
2x Doom Blade
At the moment, I feel that Athreos is just incredible in this build. Since I can flood a lot of creatures on the board he does generally swing at least once a game. But really he shines because every time I've had a creature die, I've gotten them all back in my hand while my opponents tried stalling to find a way to deal with him. So right now my feeling towards him is that he takes the Necromancer persistence that we have and turns the volume up to 11. Having both of them on the table is just... It almost feels dirty doing that to people. Magma Spray and Pillar will still be issues for my build since I run enough black to make Brave easily dropped (it was in my earlier build). As my local meta develops I'll start looking into way to try and ensure creature resiliency against those cards if needed, but right now I feel like he really pushes this decks viability up a notch.
Cheers
4 Mana Confluence
4 Godless Shrine
3 Mutavault
4 Temple of Silence
4 Plains
5 Swamp
Creatures: (28)
3 Xathrid Necromancer
4 Tormented Hero
4 Boros Elite
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Imposing Sovereign
4 Daring Skyjek
3 Cartel Aristocrat
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Bile Blight
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Banishing Light
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Dictate of Erebos
1 Spear of Heliod
2 Banisher Priest
4 Duress
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Sin Collector
2 Deicide
It's very consistent and quite a few games you win by simply flooding them out, i did manage to get athreos online a few games and it was pretty brutal, dictate of erebos is a card I feel like being a good 1-of in this dck, still not fully figured out my sb yet tho :/
Standard: Mardu Midrange, Jeskai Wins, Naya Walkers, Boss Sligh, Mono Black Aggro
Modern: RUG Scapeshift, Burn, UG Infect
Legacy: Death n Taxes, Burn, Tendrils
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Krenko, Mob Boss, Narset, Enlightened Master
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Tormented Hero
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Underworld Coinsmith
3 Pain Seer
3 Precinct Captain
1 Imposing Sovereign
4 Xathrid Necromancer
3 Athreos, God of Passage
Spells: (7)
2 Thoughtseize
2 Bile Blight
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Immortal Servitude
1 Banishing Light
4 Godless Shrine
4 Mana Confluence
3 Temple of Silence
2 Mutavault
5 Plains
5 Swamp
2 Sin Collector
2 Banisher Priest
2 Banishing Light
2 Thoughtseize
2 Deicide
1 Orzhov Charm
2 Doom Blade
1 Immortal Servitude
1 Spear of Heliod
I'm thinking of going for something along these lines--not entirely sure on 2-drops (there are so many playable 2-drop humans), or what kill spells and other utility I want main and side.
Plus coinsmith gives a bit of lategame push to get the last few points of damage in (especially against a deck like turbofog which seems to be gaining popularity, at least locally).
4 Boros Elite
4 Daring Skyjek
4 Pain Seer
3 Imposing Sovereign
3 Xathrid Necromancer
3 Cartel Aristocrat
3 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Banisher Priest
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Banishing Light
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Immortal Servitude
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
2 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
5 Plains
3 Swamp
Hera are a few other comments I wanted to throw out based on things I've noticed from other lists:
- Thoughtseize is a sideboard card for this deck. Game one against an unknown, we want to be applying as much pressure as possible in the early turns, not using a black mana and two life to look at their hand.
- I don't understand why people are running Tormented Hero. I get that it's a 2/1 for B, but you will virtually never activate Heroic and bringing it back with Orzhov Charm doesn't seem that great.
- Also on that subject, I don't care for Orzhov Charm in general. I was toying with Esper Humans earlier in the block and I always found the card to be underwhelming and the absolute last thing I wanted to draw late in the game.
What I've been brewing:
4 Temple of Silence
4 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
8 basic lands
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Tormented Hero
4 Boros Elite
4 Precinct Captain
4 Pain Seer
3 Daring Skyjek
1 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Imposing Sovereign
4 Xathrid Necromancer
3 Athreos, God of Passage
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Banishing Light
Honestly, I am considering running Brimaz as an additional target for all of the DSpheres out there, just so there are less to hit Athreos and Xathrid.
TBH, I'm not too worried about Detention Sphere. Not only is Banishing Light a great answer to it (and will probably be widely-played), but I think that and Deicide are going to push Mono-Blue and B/W Devotion out of Tier 1. Those decks are badly crippled if they lose Thassa, God of the Sea.
I'm not sure what the sideboard should look like or what comes out.
Worth considering/testing, though.
My decklist for friday was as follows:
4 Boros Elite
4 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Precinct Captain
2 Imposing sovereign
4 Pain Seer
3 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Banisher Priest
2 Xathrid Necromancer
4 Thought Seize
2 Doom Blade
2 Ultimate Price
4 Mutavault
4 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Silence
4 Godless Shrine
7 Plains
2 Precinct Captain
1 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Sin Collector
3 Reprisal
1 Banisher Priest
2 Banishing Light
2 Deicide
2 Glare of Heresy
First off I want to address the use of Cartel Aristocrat. The Aristocrat can fill a great role in the deck of an elusive beater that also plays well off of both Xathrid Necromancer and Athreos, God of Passage. However in the current standard meta I feel there are only a few decks against which we would value her capacity to push damage through. Most of the decks where her protection is relevant also make her hard to abuse by keeping your board clear (MBD, RGb monsters, Esper/UW control). My newest decklist, which I will be posting later today, hopefully, has actually cut her entirely for some more aggression in the main board, bringing my count of banisher priest up to 3 and necro up to 3, as well as filling out a playset of Precinct Captain in the mainboard. Additionally I feel a card that can be substituted for her entirely would be Gift of Orzhova as our life total can certainly take a big hit in the first few turns with thoughtsieze, shocklands, mana confluence and Pain Seer all pinging us early.
I am at work currently but would love to hear more thoughts on the Aristocrat. as well as other cards that i may not have given full time to such as Daring Skyjek. Thoughts? Thanks guys.
Skyjek is decent, but not amazing. He hits for a little more than your other guys on an empty board and in a cluttered board state him going in the air can finish games even if the guys beneath him get butchered.
As for Cartel Aristocrat, I don't think that she is necessary, but once Anger of the Gods sees more play sac-ing in response to it will be necessary and also a really good play.
4 Mana confluence
4 Godless shrine
5 Swamp
8 Plains
Creatures:38
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
3 Nyxborn Shieldmate
4 Tormented Hero
4 Boros Elite
3 Pain seer
3 Imposing sovereign
3 Athreos, God of passage
3 Banisher priest
4 Precinct Captain
3 Underworld coinsmith
4 Xathid Necromancer
1 Spear of Heliod
3 Deicide
3 Ultimate price
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Sin collector
3 Banishing light
Custom sig done by Me :3
Current Standard decks
Mono Blue Devotion (MUD)
Dimir Control
Mono Black Devotion (MBD)
Current EDH decks
Slivers combo
Vorosh the hunter
Sharrum, the Hedgemon
Start of MTG videos and stuff like that
http://www.youtube.com/user/mnmpackchannel
4x Boros Elite
4x Pain Seer
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Xathrid Necromancer
4x Underworld Coinsmith
3x Imposing Sovereign
2x Banisher Priest
1x Athreos, God of Passage
Spells(12)
4x Banishing Light
4x Thoughtseize
2x Orzhov Charm
1x Spear of Heliod
1x Ultimate Price
5x Plains
4x Godless Shrine
4x Temple of Silence
3x Mana Confluence
3x Mutavault
3x Swamp
3x Duress
2x Banisher Priest
2x Dark Betrayal
2x Lifebane Zombie
2x Sin Collector
1x Athreos, God of Passage
1x Deicide
1x Doom Blade
1x Spear of Heliod
Been testing this. Thoughts?
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
4 Godless Shrine
1 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
7 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence
Creatures
4 Boros Elite
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Tormented Hero
4 Daring Skyjek
2 Imposing Sovereign
4 Pain Seer
4 Precinct Captain
2 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Banisher Priest
4 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Banishing Light
2 Spear of Heliod
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
2 Banishing Light
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Fortify
3 Rootborn Defenses
2 Sin Collector
My list is such:
5 Plains
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
4 Mutavault
3 Mana Confluence
3 Swamp
Creature 30:
4 Boros Elite
4 Tormented Hero
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Pain Seer
3 Imposing Sovereign
4 Xathrid Necromancer
3 Athreos, God of Passage
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Banishing Light
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Spear of Heliod
4 Thoughtsieze
3 Sin Collector
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Banisher Priest
2 Deicide
1 Banishing Light
1 Whip of Erebos
Originally I had 2 Daring Skyjek MB but I always sided them out for Imposing Sovereign since that actually helps stop blockers where skyjek does not.
I like the Aristocrat since it helps turn on Athreos and I've actually been able to stop a Deicide or two by saccing athreos to her.
I went up to 4 Mutavaults to put my lands at 23 since hitting that third land is REALLY necessary and there have too many games where I dont get it (granted there are also too man games where I just flood out which makes no sense).
I'd like to thoughtsieze MD or God's Willing but then I'd have to drop Boros Elite. Yes, I would drop boros elite before tormented hero. I HATE the elite. In my gaming he is 9 out of 10 times a 1/1 human. If it weren't for the fact the only other "good" (thats stretching the word) 1 drop human atm is the Nyxborn Shieldmate he wins out on the rare chance he is a 3/3.
I really hate hexproof with this deck. Its so bad that I'm thinking of dropping the banisher priests for dictate of erebos.
Guess I am the only one not liking precinct captain for the deck. I'd have to drop the cartel for him.
Found out the hard way with Mana Confluence in my playtesting of having 3 in your opening hand is REALLY bad. Thats why I only run 3 instead of 4.
Standard
RBUGrixis Tutelage
BR Devoid Beatdown
Modern
RAffinity
B 8 Rack
Legacy
0 Dredge
EDH
RBBladewing's Zombie Dragons
BUGRW Sliver Legion's Overrun
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Boros Elite
4 Underworld Coinsmith
4 Cartel Aristocrat
3 Brain Maggot
4 Xathrid Necromancer
3 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Sin Collector
Spells: 10
4 Thoughtseize
3 Bile Blight
2 Banishing Light
1 Civic Saber
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
4 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
3 Swamp
4 Plains
2 Deicide
1 Pithing Needle
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Celestial Flare
2 Doom Blade
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Underworld Connections
Don't pay much attention to the sideboard. It's a bunch of random stuff I want to test with, more than actual cards for different match ups. My meta is still settling from the introduction of Journey anyways. So I have no idea what I'll be playing regularly.
So, I was initially running a list similar to Koopa's but with fewer Sovereigns. I didn't really care for their role in the deck. It never seemed to do much for me as I ended up playing more mid-range/grindy attrition games than full on aggro. So I decided to drop her for more aggressive cards. Initially I thought about throwing in Daring Skyjeks and going more full-aggro but I think the real potential of this deck lies in the grindiness of it. Cartel Aristocrat is really strong here and it reminds me a lot of Etched Champion from Tempered Steel years ago but rolling in for 2 a turn seemed too slow. This led me to consider ways to power it up. I didn't like the 3cmc on Spear of Heliod. Then I remembered Civic Saber and having a 4/2 with pro-whatever seemed really good. However, to make Civic Saber, better than just +1/+0 on the rest of the deck, I cut Precinct Captains for Underworld Coinsmith. Who will become a 4/2 that gains me life and drains the opponent. I also swapped Banisher Priests for Sin Collectors. The extra removal was nice but it was a bit of a non-bo with Cartel Aristocrat because I didn't want them getting their guy back. Sin Collector's ETB effect is good enough to make them not want to get hit with it more than once and he has the upside of also getting buffed by Saber. Brain Maggots ended up going in over some test cards (Brave the Elements and Orhov Charm) that ended up being mediocre. So the deck became more of a hand hate/mid-range list. I think it looks promising but I won't get to test it until Monday.
Hopefully that hit on some of the decisions you guys have been looking at as well. I see a lot of Pain Seers. Has he been working well for you? I was thinking about it and he gets out classed (size-wise) by a lot of creatures and won't be getting to untap much. Plus he doesn't make the opponent mind all that much if he comes back as a random 2/2 chump blocker. Maybe it's just because I'm looking at the Constellation on Coinsmith but Underworld Connections has to be substantially better, right? The down side being that it costs 1 more and the 3 slot is pretty tight. With Coinsmith you gain a life and the consistency of the card draw over Pain Seer has got to be overwhelming for opponents.
Also, from some limited testing with my original list, 4 Mutavaults gave serious color issues. However, it is really good with Necromancer. I think 3 is a solid number there. I originally had 21 lands but bumped up to 22. Though I think 23 may be the right number. Hitting 3 or 4 lands is pretty important to allow you to cast 2 spells per turn. I found myself funneled for mana too often but the games where I hit 4-ish lands by turn 4 the deck worked really well.
Ok, enough wall-o-text. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.I hope testing is going well for you all.
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Tormented Hero
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Pain Seer
4 Precinct Captain
2 Underworld Coinsmith
2 Imposing Sovereign
3 Athreos, God of Passage
4 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Spear of Heliod
2 Banishing Light
2 Immortal Servitude
Lands (23)
4 Godless Shrine
3 Temple of Silence
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
6 Plains
6 Swamp
2 Sin Collector
2 Banisher Priest
4 Thoughtseize
2 Doom Blade
2 Bile Blight
1 Godsend
2 Deicide
Ended up going 3-1, first round was against a homebrew deck, not much of anything there, easy win.
Second round, Naya aggro, 2-0. Soldier does a ton of work gaining life with everything they play being multicolored. Saw 2x Xathrid Necromancer both games, just overran him with zombies. Imposing Sovereign was pretty big here, allowing the last couple points of damage through.
Third round, lost 2-0 to Jund Monsters. Too much removal, Courser just shuts down our attacking--maybe an argument for skyjek?, and he was maindecking Scoozes so no Athreos triggers.
Fourth round, against Monoblue Devotion, went 2-1. First game, got stonewalled by Frostburn Wierds, until he ended up dropping a Master of Waves for 10 followed by a Hall of Triumph and another Master. Game 2, nailed his Thassa with a Deicide and just beat down with an active Athreos. Game 3, Banishing light on Thassa, Bile Blight on MoW, and just beat down again, also gaining lots of life with Soldiers to offset shocks/Mana Confluence.
All in all, I like how the deck plays, especially against removal light decks when you can just go wide and overwhelm them.
4 Tormented Hero
4 Boros Elite
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Precinct Captain
4 Brain Maggot
4 Daring Skyjek
3 Imposing Sovereign
4 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Athreos, God of Passage
4 Hero's Downfall
3 Launch the Fleet
Land
6 Plains
6 Swamps
4 Temple of Silence
4 Godless Shrine
3 Bile Blight
3 Thoughtseize
3 Devour Flesh
2 Gift of Orzhova
2 Master of the Feast
2 Whip of Erebos
This has been a continues work in progress. I was running Sin Collector But in an attempt to speed my deck up I pulled it out with Banisher Priest. At last weeks tournament running this I went 3-2 with one of my losses coming off my own missed trigger. I had just put precinct captain in and forgot all about his trigger. That trigger would have helped me sustain against a Mogis, God of Slaughter trigger.