You have to remember that the colourless requirement is itself a colour for deck building purposes, even if every card only needs one source you still need to respect that. Playing a 3 colour deck without green to fix or copious amounts of card draw to help you dig for lands seems to be really difficult to pull off consistently, and like I said, grasp of darkness is the best spell in the deck, probably the best removal spell in standard right now.
Here is a list that I have been messing around with. So far not bad as far as casting concerns go. All creatures are devoid and trigger Mimic. This list improves mimic over my previous list and actually makes Crossroads better. There are still enough mana resources for Grasp.
I have to disagree, apart from the fact that disintegration costs one more mana and pushes you into red, it destroys the creature. With Avacyn and the indestructible if sacrificed geist (forgotten the name) running around in the blue/white flash deck being able to shrink creatures is way more valuable. Also, being able to hit a smuggler copter on the draw before it gets to trigger is huge.
I have to disagree, apart from the fact that disintegration costs one more mana and pushes you into red, it destroys the creature. With Avacyn and the indestructible if sacrificed geist (forgotten the name) running around in the blue/white flash deck being able to shrink creatures is way more valuable. Also, being able to hit a smuggler copter on the draw before it gets to trigger is huge.
Grasp of Darkness can handle the UW Flash creatures probably more effectively since indestructible doesn't protect against Grasp. While Unlicensed Disintegration is great, I don't think it is great enough to red. Murder fulfills the same role as Unlicensed Disintegration.
I feel like I want to go red over white instead but the RB manabase is so ate up if trying to Eldrazi. Having Flow and Unlicensed seems too good to pass on.
I'm working on another list, BG Eldrazi. Still a work in progress.
I feel like I want to go red over white instead but the RB manabase is so ate up if trying to Eldrazi. Having Flow and Unlicensed seems too good to pass on.
I'm working on another list, BG Eldrazi. Still a work in progress.
Still got to say that 6 sources of colourless is not enough even for T5. However wouldn't be hard to get that to 10x with Aether Hub, which is roughly where you'd like to be for T5 anyway.
You need 13 sources, at least, per color (per channelfireballs numbers man). More is better.
The above listed deck is a black red deck with 6 colorless sources. To bring that up to 13-14, +4 Aether Hub, +4 Unknown shores/corrupted crossroads and you lose 8 basics. Now the RB lands are less effective.
I'm a huge of disruption, so I'm taking a more control-like approach and focus on emerging the Mindbenders. Plus they can trigger Sanctum of Ugin that we can use to find Smasher, Seer, or another Mindbender.
I'm also no longer playing land that come in tapped (Mirrorpool, Ruins of Oran-Rief, etc.). This deck has a relatively high curve with a good number of creatures costing 4/5 mana, and I really didn't want it to be slow. Before I've found that having a land that comes in tapped really holds me back a turn or two, which is huge.
I'm also cutting Drana. Drana is powerful but I've noticed that having her does slow down this deck, because she doesn't do anything the turn she enters and will almost certainly die from removal the next turn. I'm not a fan of playing 3 mana to cast a creature that, functionality, serves more as a removal magnet; it just seems too inefficient.
I'm also including Pilgrim's Eye, which is good for mana-fixing and emerge fodder. Bearer of Silence is also useful against the Aetherworks decks.
Looking forward, I'm interested in possibly doing BG Eldrazi, mainly to be able to have enchantment/artifact removals. But maybe in that case, it's just better to go BG Delirium. I'll have to see...
The mana has been working well. 16 colorless sources, 16 lands that can give B in a pinch, and the caravans and crawlers. Ramping to a turn 4 Skysovereign is about as fun as you'd expect. Dropping a turn four Thought-Knot and sending him for a ride in the caravan is also pretty sweet.
With 8 rainbow lands and the crawlers we could probably also go a little deeper in the sideboard. Any sweet tech that I'm missing?
At the risk of sounding too ambitious, I've been toying with adding white for a B/w build. So far the mana base hasnt been a problem in my testing but that could just be luck.
If you're running a white splash I think it's asking a bit too much to get Thraben Inspectors out consistently on turn one. I'd only splash in the stuff that you expect to need on turn four or five.
In other news after some further refinement I believe I have found one of the grindier aggro decks out there:
The basic concept is that the vehicles make any 3/x creature into a legitimate threat. The vehicles are also hard for most opponents to interact with directly.
Cards not in the deck: Reality Smasher... I like a 5/5 hasted trampler as much as the next guy, but both the haste and the 5/5 are redundant if you have a caravan sitting around unpiloted. The protection is nice but too often all it means is that your opponent discards an extra land they were hanging on to.
Hedron Crawler... doesn't do anything by itself and doesn't pilot a vehicle. If it were a 1/1 I'd try to include some copters but as it is it literally only ramps. It can emerge mindbender faster than other two drops but that's a pretty niche case. A turn 3 TKS is nice but it's not so much better than a 3 drop as to warrant the wasted spots. I lost a couple of games where crawlers sat on the board doing nothing and noticed in general I was always much happier to have Scroungers than Crawlers and would look to cast anything in my hand over a Crawler.
Cards in the deck: Sea Gate Wreckage full set is included because it's ridiculously good in any kind of long game.
Blighted Fen is wonderful. In a grindy game being able to use your land to eat a creature is amazing. Especially against those decks that look to kill you with one massive threat. The fen swallows hydras and gearhulks and can't even be countered.
Unknown Shores is kind of meh. On the other hand, Grasping Darkness is still solid at 1BB and I'd rather be slightly overpaying than be unable to cast a spell at all.
Syndicate Trafficker made the cut initially because he's a two drop that can pilot the vehicles. After playing with him I've come to appreciate him a bit more. He can fizzle energy spells or unlicensed disintegration pointed at your artifact creatures and the threat of becoming indestructible is often handy. The main point is still the three power but the little tricks available are nice.
I'm going to run this through some league play and see how things go.
If you're running a white splash I think it's asking a bit too much to get Thraben Inspectors out consistently on turn one. I'd only splash in the stuff that you expect to need on turn four or five.
I might take out the inspectors actually, but so far I haven't experienced much issues with hitting them on turn 1, and it really doesn't disrupt the rhythm of the deck if I don't get it on Turn 1. Plus the Clues do speed things up a bit, and 1 mana for even just a chump blocker late game isn't bad in my opinion.
Again, I'm looking to make this deck faster. Some other low-cost creatures I've considered include Reaver Drone and Pale Rider of Trostad. Anyone tried those out?
Syndicate Trafficker has three power for two mana. It comes with a power that sometimes come in handy but mostly it's good at applying pressure or trading.
U/W spirits is giving me fits with the copter. I'm thinking about going deep with something like Olivia, Mobilized for War, Inverter of Truth, or Smothering Abomination just so I can fight them in the air. I don't know. Anybody have any luck matching up against them? Inspector -> Copter -> Snare/Reflector/Queller is just so good.
Syndicate Trafficker has three power for two mana. It comes with a power that sometimes come in handy but mostly it's good at applying pressure or trading.
U/W spirits is giving me fits with the copter. I'm thinking about going deep with something like Olivia, Mobilized for War, Inverter of Truth, or Smothering Abomination just so I can fight them in the air. I don't know. Anybody have any luck matching up against them? Inspector -> Copter -> Snare/Reflector/Queller is just so good.
Copter is precisely the reason why I made the decision to go B/W. Black has no artifact removals.
Syndicate Trafficker looks like nice but it really requires you to have artifacts to get the most value. If you don't want the secondary effect, Asylum Visitor may be better. Olivia would really only do well in a madness deck; the discarding effect is more likely going to harm us than benefit us.
Inverter of Truth and Smothering Abomination are both going to make us lose faster...
Asylum Visitor is a good call. I wanted Olivia mostly for the fact that she's a 3/3 flier but ultimately I yielded to the fact that a creature deck not running Smuggler's Copter is probably wrong. I've been having more success with a revised list (old list went 3-2 in a friendly modo league):
Even though the curve tops out at four you will have plenty to do with your mana as the game goes on. Generally the strategy is to grind the opponent out of resources and keep pressure on them with an unending stream of 3/x guys, some of whom drive caravans and some of whom pilot copters.
Matchup notes:
This deck eats Electrostatic Pummeler decks for breakfast. Too much removal for them to overcome.
It also does quite well against anybody looking to drag out the game and win with one big threat. Blighted Fen and Sea Gate Wreckage are the all stars in that kind of matchup. The recursion of Scrapheap Scrounger and Eternal Scourge mean you never run out of gas.
Spirits/Flash has been a challenge. I haven't run in to a top tier version of the deck since I switched to the copters. The problem is that (a) all of their removal is exile/bounce, negating the Matter Reshaper and Scrapheap Scrounger, (b) they put a lot of pressure on though the air, and (c) their bombs are really good. Thraben Inspector -> Smuggler's Copter -> Spell Queller or Reflector Mage or Stasis Snare. Playing around one of the three drops means playing in to the others. I'm hopeful that early pressure, timely removal, and Smuggler's Copter can turn the tide.
RG Energy Beats is tough but doable. If they get a hyper fast start then I need to get lucky on the removal. A more normal game usually turns in my favor over the long haul once it becomes a grind. Unlike Spirits the Matter Reshaper is a champion blocker here.
In general the deck is both competitive and fun to play. You can have stuff going on in the graveyard, from exile, from your lands, from your artifacts, from your creatures, and from your hand. The game feels very interactive between all of the removal and the Thought-Knot Seer. It's rare for the opponent to land a single threat that you flat out can't deal with.
I've decided that going B/W was too ambitious. Even the slightest delay ended up slowing down big time. Will be going back to mono black, and pray that the next set will give us some artifact/enchantment removals...
This deck plays very much like aggro, not as fast as B/R or R/G Aggro, but still quite aggro. It can take out control decks quite easily but can still switch into a more control deck itself against more aggro opponents.
Unnatural Endurance is also an overlooked card, in my opinion. It can boost your creatures and provide a one-time indestructible effect.
I've decided that going B/W was too ambitious. Even the slightest delay ended up slowing down big time. Will be going back to mono black, and pray that the next set will give us some artifact/enchantment removals...
This deck plays very much like aggro, not as fast as B/R or R/G Aggro, but still quite aggro. It can take out control decks quite easily but can still switch into a more control deck itself against more aggro opponents.
Unnatural Endurance is also an overlooked card, in my opinion. It can boost your creatures and provide a one-time indestructible effect.
Update: this deck performed terribly at my last game night. Went 0-3.
Game 1: vs. UW Flash - Never had a chance. This deck is too good and probably the best in standard right now.
Game 2: vs. BG Delirium - Lost because of lack of ways to get rid of Grim Flayer early on. Need to put back the Dead Weights.
Game 3: vs. Temur Aetherworks - Lost from opponent topdecking Aetherworks Marvel and getting screwed on colorless mana. Need to have 12 sources of colorless (I was running 10 at the time).
I'm surprised you are not running any Spatial Contortion. That and Grasp give the deck a lot of early interaction. I would also consider lowering your curve with Mimic to give yourself a better matchup against UW.
I'm surprised you are not running any Spatial Contortion. That and Grasp give the deck a lot of early interaction. I would also consider lowering your curve with Mimic to give yourself a better matchup against UW.
Spatial Contortion cost the same as Grasp, and I didn't want to take up space in the deck for what is essentially just another removal.
Lowering to Mimic wouldn't help against UW since all of its creatures are flyers. Plus Mimic is still a terrible thing to have in the late game.
I'm responding to your own comment about wanting more early removal. You can use Contortion on Seer and Smasher as a pump when it isn't relevant.
Also, I don't know how much you've played with Mimic. Card looks bad on paper, but is actually very good at applying early pressure, and performs better than most similar early game plays in the late game.
Edit: Also, the key to beating the Flasgh midrange deck is to get on the board early and pressure them to catchup. Once they are at board parity or ahead they can sit back on Quellers and Avacyns and blow you out when you try to do anything.
I'm responding to your own comment about wanting more early removal. You can use Contortion on Seer and Smasher as a pump when it isn't relevant.
Also, I don't know how much you've played with Mimic. Card looks bad on paper, but is actually very good at applying early pressure, and performs better than most similar early game plays in the late game.
Edit: Also, the key to beating the Flasgh midrange deck is to get on the board early and pressure them to catchup. Once they are at board parity or ahead they can sit back on Quellers and Avacyns and blow you out when you try to do anything.
Then what would you recommend taking out for Mimics? Also if we're talking about early game pressure, doesn't Scrapheap Scrounger already do that? And by then time I get enough lands to drop my bigger guys, they'll probably have counterspells at the ready.
If we want even more early game pressure, maybe I could also try Reaver Drone?
Here is a list that I have been messing around with. So far not bad as far as casting concerns go. All creatures are devoid and trigger Mimic. This list improves mimic over my previous list and actually makes Crossroads better. There are still enough mana resources for Grasp.
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Flayer Drone
2 Dominator Drone
4 Dust stalker
2 Reality Smasher
4 Spatial Contortion
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
Lands 24
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Corrupted Crossroads
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 mountain
5 swamp
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Grasp of Darkness can handle the UW Flash creatures probably more effectively since indestructible doesn't protect against Grasp. While Unlicensed Disintegration is great, I don't think it is great enough to red. Murder fulfills the same role as Unlicensed Disintegration.
The List
4 Bearer of Silence
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Eternal Scourge
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Matter Reshaper
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Declaration in Stone
4 Spatial Contortion
4 Hidden Courtyard
4 Inspired Vantage
4 Aether Hub
4 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Corrupted Crossroads
2 Unknown Shores
2 Ruins of Oran-Rief
I feel like I want to go red over white instead but the RB manabase is so ate up if trying to Eldrazi. Having Flow and Unlicensed seems too good to pass on.
I'm working on another list, BG Eldrazi. Still a work in progress.
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Fleetwheel Cruiser
4 Spatial Contortion
3 Titan's Presence
Like I said, work in progress. I don't like the green cards, especially with Titans Pres.
T3 TKS or Fleetwheel seems sick, followed by Reality on 4. maybe swap Advocates for Mimics? Bearer oS? T3 sac a creature works, too.
Just an idea.
Another idea I had
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Lupine Prototype
Hi Vode R/b Eldrazi is actaully easy to pull off. As you probably seen a previous post:
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Flayer Drone
2 Dominator Drone
4 Dust stalker
2 Reality Smasher
4 Spatial Contortion
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
Lands 24
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Corrupted Crossroads
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 mountain
5 swamp
The devoid Cmana is where it starts to get sketchy. but this list has been consistent.
In your GGogariB list you could go with Sylvan Advocate and Hedron Crawler at 2cmc. Catacomb Sifter is good at the 3cmc. You could top out with 4x Seer and 4x Smasher. There is main deck room for Liliana, the last hope and Kalitas, Traitor of ghet. Trade out Titan's Presence for Grasp of Darkness. G/b mana base can easily support the BB with Hissing Quagmire and Blooming Marsh
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
The above listed deck is a black red deck with 6 colorless sources. To bring that up to 13-14, +4 Aether Hub, +4 Unknown shores/corrupted crossroads and you lose 8 basics. Now the RB lands are less effective.
That's the problem with RB Eldrazi Aggro.
The Hendron Crawler was considered but it can't crew a vehicle. The 2/2 body is also better than Deathcap Cultivator's 1/1.
C Long Live Eldrazi C
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13445&writer=Conley Woods&articledate=8-10-2016
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-mono-black-eldrazi-29632#paper
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Scrapheap Scrounger
4x Matter Reshaper
3x Distended Mindbender
3x Reality Smasher
3x Bearer of Silence
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Pilgrim's Eye
Planeswalker(1):
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
Instants(6):
4x Grasp of Darkness
2x Murder
2x Live Fast
2x Transgress the Mind
1x Harsh Scrutiny
1x Ruinous Path
Land(23):
4x Aether Hub
2x Blighted Fen
2x Sanctum of Ugin
14x Swamp
1x Wastes
3x Flying Tendrils
2x Harsh Scrutiny
2x Lost Legacy
2x Dead Weight
2x Collective Brutality
1x Transgress the Mind
1x Ruinous Path
1x Reality Smasher
1x Ob Nixilis, Reignited
I'm a huge of disruption, so I'm taking a more control-like approach and focus on emerging the Mindbenders. Plus they can trigger Sanctum of Ugin that we can use to find Smasher, Seer, or another Mindbender.
I'm also no longer playing land that come in tapped (Mirrorpool, Ruins of Oran-Rief, etc.). This deck has a relatively high curve with a good number of creatures costing 4/5 mana, and I really didn't want it to be slow. Before I've found that having a land that comes in tapped really holds me back a turn or two, which is huge.
I'm also cutting Drana. Drana is powerful but I've noticed that having her does slow down this deck, because she doesn't do anything the turn she enters and will almost certainly die from removal the next turn. I'm not a fan of playing 3 mana to cast a creature that, functionality, serves more as a removal magnet; it just seems too inefficient.
I'm also including Pilgrim's Eye, which is good for mana-fixing and emerge fodder. Bearer of Silence is also useful against the Aetherworks decks.
Looking forward, I'm interested in possibly doing BG Eldrazi, mainly to be able to have enchantment/artifact removals. But maybe in that case, it's just better to go BG Delirium. I'll have to see...
Edited to add: Just to flesh things out a bit more, I've been having some success with this.
4 Hedron Crawler
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Bearer of Silence
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Reality Smasher
2 Distended Mindbender
Vehicles:
4 Cultivator's Caravan
3 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Spatial Contortion
Lands:
8 Swamp
4 Aether Hub
4 Blighted Fen
4 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Unknown Shores
2 Bearer of Silence
2 Spatial Contortion
3 Warping Wail
4 Transgress the Mind
2 To the Slaughter
2 Flaying Tendrils
The mana has been working well. 16 colorless sources, 16 lands that can give B in a pinch, and the caravans and crawlers. Ramping to a turn 4 Skysovereign is about as fun as you'd expect. Dropping a turn four Thought-Knot and sending him for a ride in the caravan is also pretty sweet.
With 8 rainbow lands and the crawlers we could probably also go a little deeper in the sideboard. Any sweet tech that I'm missing?
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Scrapheap Scrounger
3x Reality Smasher
3x Thraben Inspector
3x Matter Reshaper
2x Distended Mindbender
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Pilgrim's Eye
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Sorcery (8):
2x Declaration in Stone
2x Transgress the Mind
2x Live Fast
2x Fragmentize
Instants (4):
3x Grasp of Darkness
1x Anguished Unmaking
Planeswalker (1):
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
4x Aether Hub
4x Concealed Courtyard
2x Shambling Vent
2x Sanctum of Ugin
2x Blighted Fen
6x Swamp
3x Plains
1x Wastes
1x Transgress the Mind
1x Fragmentize
1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2x Fleetwheel Cruiser
2x Skywhaler's Shot
2x Ruinous Path
2x Lost Legacy
3x Harsh Scrutiny
The reason I decided to also go white was due to the fact that Black has no good sweepers and no artifact/enchantment Removals.
In other news after some further refinement I believe I have found one of the grindier aggro decks out there:
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Syndicate Trafficker
2 Bearer of Silence
4 Eternal Scourge
3 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Distended Mindbender
Vehicles (7):
4 Cultivator's Caravan
3 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Spatial Contortion
Lands (24):
4 Aether Hub
4 Unknown Shores
4 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Blighted Fen
8 Swamp
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Transgress the Mind
2 To the Slaughter
1 Spatial Contortion
2 Bearer of Silence
2 Ruinous Path
2 Flaying Tendrils
The basic concept is that the vehicles make any 3/x creature into a legitimate threat. The vehicles are also hard for most opponents to interact with directly.
Scrapheap Scrounger and Syndicate Trafficker put on the early pressure. Eternal Scourge never goes away. Cultivator's Caravan fixes your mana and gives everybody virtual haste. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship gives a little evasion and can take over some games. The main deck removal is optimized for killing Smuggler's Copter. The sideboard switches over to Gearhulk/Hydra/Planeswalker killing or to a discard plan.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers is an experimental swap for the Distended Mindbender in matchups where late-ish discard isn't as good as rebuying removal.
Cards not in the deck:
Reality Smasher... I like a 5/5 hasted trampler as much as the next guy, but both the haste and the 5/5 are redundant if you have a caravan sitting around unpiloted. The protection is nice but too often all it means is that your opponent discards an extra land they were hanging on to.
Hedron Crawler... doesn't do anything by itself and doesn't pilot a vehicle. If it were a 1/1 I'd try to include some copters but as it is it literally only ramps. It can emerge mindbender faster than other two drops but that's a pretty niche case. A turn 3 TKS is nice but it's not so much better than a 3 drop as to warrant the wasted spots. I lost a couple of games where crawlers sat on the board doing nothing and noticed in general I was always much happier to have Scroungers than Crawlers and would look to cast anything in my hand over a Crawler.
Cards in the deck:
Sea Gate Wreckage full set is included because it's ridiculously good in any kind of long game.
Blighted Fen is wonderful. In a grindy game being able to use your land to eat a creature is amazing. Especially against those decks that look to kill you with one massive threat. The fen swallows hydras and gearhulks and can't even be countered.
Unknown Shores is kind of meh. On the other hand, Grasping Darkness is still solid at 1BB and I'd rather be slightly overpaying than be unable to cast a spell at all.
Syndicate Trafficker made the cut initially because he's a two drop that can pilot the vehicles. After playing with him I've come to appreciate him a bit more. He can fizzle energy spells or unlicensed disintegration pointed at your artifact creatures and the threat of becoming indestructible is often handy. The main point is still the three power but the little tricks available are nice.
I'm going to run this through some league play and see how things go.
I might take out the inspectors actually, but so far I haven't experienced much issues with hitting them on turn 1, and it really doesn't disrupt the rhythm of the deck if I don't get it on Turn 1. Plus the Clues do speed things up a bit, and 1 mana for even just a chump blocker late game isn't bad in my opinion.
Again, I'm looking to make this deck faster. Some other low-cost creatures I've considered include Reaver Drone and Pale Rider of Trostad. Anyone tried those out?
U/W spirits is giving me fits with the copter. I'm thinking about going deep with something like Olivia, Mobilized for War, Inverter of Truth, or Smothering Abomination just so I can fight them in the air. I don't know. Anybody have any luck matching up against them? Inspector -> Copter -> Snare/Reflector/Queller is just so good.
Copter is precisely the reason why I made the decision to go B/W. Black has no artifact removals.
Syndicate Trafficker looks like nice but it really requires you to have artifacts to get the most value. If you don't want the secondary effect, Asylum Visitor may be better. Olivia would really only do well in a madness deck; the discarding effect is more likely going to harm us than benefit us.
Inverter of Truth and Smothering Abomination are both going to make us lose faster...
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Asylum Visitor
2 Bearer of Silence
3 Matter Reshaper
4 Eternal Scourge
4 Thought-Knot Seer
Vehicles (8):
4 Cultivator's Caravan
4 Smuggler's Copter
3 Spatial Contortion
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
Sorceries (2):
2 Ruinous Path
Land (24):
8 Swamp
4 Aether Hub
4 Unknown Shores
4 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Blighted Fen
4 Transgress the Mind
3 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
2 Distended Mindbender
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Bearer of Silence
1 Ruinous Path
1 Unlicensed Disintegration
Even though the curve tops out at four you will have plenty to do with your mana as the game goes on. Generally the strategy is to grind the opponent out of resources and keep pressure on them with an unending stream of 3/x guys, some of whom drive caravans and some of whom pilot copters.
Matchup notes:
This deck eats Electrostatic Pummeler decks for breakfast. Too much removal for them to overcome.
It also does quite well against anybody looking to drag out the game and win with one big threat. Blighted Fen and Sea Gate Wreckage are the all stars in that kind of matchup. The recursion of Scrapheap Scrounger and Eternal Scourge mean you never run out of gas.
Spirits/Flash has been a challenge. I haven't run in to a top tier version of the deck since I switched to the copters. The problem is that (a) all of their removal is exile/bounce, negating the Matter Reshaper and Scrapheap Scrounger, (b) they put a lot of pressure on though the air, and (c) their bombs are really good. Thraben Inspector -> Smuggler's Copter -> Spell Queller or Reflector Mage or Stasis Snare. Playing around one of the three drops means playing in to the others. I'm hopeful that early pressure, timely removal, and Smuggler's Copter can turn the tide.
RG Energy Beats is tough but doable. If they get a hyper fast start then I need to get lucky on the removal. A more normal game usually turns in my favor over the long haul once it becomes a grind. Unlike Spirits the Matter Reshaper is a champion blocker here.
In general the deck is both competitive and fun to play. You can have stuff going on in the graveyard, from exile, from your lands, from your artifacts, from your creatures, and from your hand. The game feels very interactive between all of the removal and the Thought-Knot Seer. It's rare for the opponent to land a single threat that you flat out can't deal with.
Here's my updated list:
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Scrapheap Scrounger
4x Matter Reshaper
3x Reality Smasher
3x Bearer of Silence
2x Distended Mindbender
1x Pilgrim's Eye
Artifacts (2):
2x Fleetwheel Cruiser
Sorcery (6):
2x Transgress the Mind
2x Live Fast
1x Harsh Scrutiny
1x Ruinous Path
4x Grasp of Darkness
2x Unnatural Endurance
1x Murder
Planeswalker (1):
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
Lands (23):
4x Aether Hub
2x Blighted Fen
2x Sanctum of Ugin
1x Corrupted Crossroads
13x Swamp
1x Wastes
1x Ruinous Path
1x Murder
1x Transgress the Mind
1x Ob Nixilis, Reignited
2x Collective Brutality
2x Harsh Scrutiny
2x Lost Legacy
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3x Flaying Tendrils
This deck plays very much like aggro, not as fast as B/R or R/G Aggro, but still quite aggro. It can take out control decks quite easily but can still switch into a more control deck itself against more aggro opponents.
Unnatural Endurance is also an overlooked card, in my opinion. It can boost your creatures and provide a one-time indestructible effect.
Update: this deck performed terribly at my last game night. Went 0-3.
Game 1: vs. UW Flash - Never had a chance. This deck is too good and probably the best in standard right now.
Game 2: vs. BG Delirium - Lost because of lack of ways to get rid of Grim Flayer early on. Need to put back the Dead Weights.
Game 3: vs. Temur Aetherworks - Lost from opponent topdecking Aetherworks Marvel and getting screwed on colorless mana. Need to have 12 sources of colorless (I was running 10 at the time).
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Scrapheap Scrounger
4x Matter Reshaper
3x Reality Smasher
3x Bearer of Silence
2x Distended Mindbender
1x Pilgrim's Eye
Artifacts (2):
2x Fleetwheel Cruiser
Enchantments (2):
2x Dead Weight
Sorcery (6):
2x Transgress the Mind
2x Live Fast
1x Harsh Scrutiny
1x Ruinous Path
4x Grasp of Darkness
1x Murder
Planeswalker (1):
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
Lands (23):
4x Aether Hub
2x Blighted Fen
2x Sanctum of Ugin
3x Corrupted Crossroads
11x Swamp
1x Wastes
1x Ruinous Path
1x Murder
1x Transgress the Mind
1x Ob Nixilis, Reignited
2x Collective Brutality
2x Harsh Scrutiny
2x Lost Legacy
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3x Flaying Tendrils
I also noticed that I could have delirium pretty quickly so I may also try to slip in a Mindwrack Demon.
In other news, I just saw this list from Conley Woods, who has played Black Eldrazi for a long time now:
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13609&writer=Conley Woods&articledate=11-9-2016
The list honestly looks pretty subpar, but maybe it can be a source of some inspiration.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Spatial Contortion cost the same as Grasp, and I didn't want to take up space in the deck for what is essentially just another removal.
Lowering to Mimic wouldn't help against UW since all of its creatures are flyers. Plus Mimic is still a terrible thing to have in the late game.
Also, I don't know how much you've played with Mimic. Card looks bad on paper, but is actually very good at applying early pressure, and performs better than most similar early game plays in the late game.
Edit: Also, the key to beating the Flasgh midrange deck is to get on the board early and pressure them to catchup. Once they are at board parity or ahead they can sit back on Quellers and Avacyns and blow you out when you try to do anything.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Then what would you recommend taking out for Mimics? Also if we're talking about early game pressure, doesn't Scrapheap Scrounger already do that? And by then time I get enough lands to drop my bigger guys, they'll probably have counterspells at the ready.
If we want even more early game pressure, maybe I could also try Reaver Drone?
Scrounger helps of course. Indeed having more 2-drops let's you potentially get early use from a Ruins.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)