EDIT: Won't edit this post for cohesive purposes, updated decklist (with sideboard) can be found on page 3.
How do we not have this thread yet?
I know that, in general, HS wasn't reliable in a phyrexian world of such low-mana costs. If you didn't draw it, you were dead. Plain and simple.
However, I was wondering how it would work post-rotation. Yes, the deck is losing some powerhouses (Praetors, Titans, Sad Robot, Myr Superion, etc), but I think we could work a place for him in RtR. I've approached the good ol' Black-Red.
Desecration Demon LINK
Chaos Imps LINK
Necropolis Regent LINK
As sideboard, I've got some ideas as Mutilate, Harvester of Souls, Tormod's, Distress, etc.
The point of it is early control even without HS (Geist-Slip Elf/Pilgrim/Delver), control even more with Olivia and Desecrated Demon (maybe with some damage from Aristocrat working as Blood Artist), to finally finish with Guild Imps and the new Vampire, as well as keeping card advantage on Bloodgift Demon to keep all those amazing 22 creatures running.
As a sidenote, most decks nowadays have at most 1 Enchantment SB (besides Oblivion Ring, that is), and past drop 4 or 5 losing HS isn't much of a constrain.
I did some playtesting and I was consistently able to ping Elves at EoT 1, as well as not missing land drops till turn 5 or so on most games.
I know that we still have important Rakdos cards to be spoiled like the man himself and the Charm, but what do you think? I'm believing on its viabilitity (and fun!)
I dont know if I would build it exactly like this, but there are a lot of nice ideas in this deck. It is going to be a labour of love - trial and error until we get the right mix.
In particular, hellrider and archwing dragon have a lot of potential. I wouldnt be too keen on including cards that are garbage without heartless summon in play - so a lot of the 5s and 6s are not too attractive. You will only have a turn 2 heartless about 40% of the time, so the cards need to be playable witout it.
Good luck with it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write for Channel Fireball now! Read my CFB articles here. Read my Dies to Removal articles here. Read the definitive Red Deck Wins Primer here.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Meh. I knew I would get an infraction in my first thread, I was sure of it. The newcomer's bait
On topic, fixed the links -.-
@zemanjaski: The alternative I thought about not having HS was controlling the opponent table with cheap removals, as with a good manabase, HS tends to be unnecessary at mid-game. Of the fatties, Zealous Conscripts is just a surprise disruption and Charmbreaker Devils a way to recur Slip every turn, but those are the ones I feel most inclined to swap out. Not sure what would be a good 2-drop, since most lowcost creatures simply die when HS enters play.
This is the way I am thinking of going right now. This list needs a lot of work, but I have learned that HS based decks need to be capable of operating well when the enchantment is off the table.
I like your approach on Nighthawk, but Stromkirk Noble suffers a lot if you don't begin the game and HS is at starting hand. It is essencially a dead card, prolly as all 1cmc creatures are.
Btw that's why I like the 8 1cmc removals. You can stop Ramp and Delver from doing their 1drop without losing creature value after HS enters play. Tbh, I think that is more paramount to the deck than having HS at starting hand. Geistflame is particularly good on that because its flashback is nothing to scoff at in the land of Shocklands. Sadly Pillar of Flame is a sorcery, so it's more of an Undying/Gravecrawler SB than anything.
Maybe also having those Dreadbores may help controlling when HS fail us. That's an elegant solution. But if we find space for Dreadbores, then we will prolly swap them for the Charm if it is at the same level as the others (and prolly it will be).
Heartless needs another form of ramp, something akin to the Sphere of the Suns that we're losing. Chromatic Lantern might work here, though it changes the dynamic of the deck somewhat.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
So, with virtually all relevant cards already spoiled, I thought about giving this another shot, and pretty much seems a good deck overall to start this season (despite that new hybrid disenchant).
Took out almost all 6cmc creatures in order to incorporate more disruption/control and push the deck back to Midrange if HS gets busted. The only one left is Mikaeus which has immediate board effect (reverting HS) and synergizes pretty well with 18 of the 21 creatures. Also prevents Wrath/Bonfire effects once.
The sideboard includes GoST hate (SG/TtH), Zombie hate (Charm, Pillar), Control in general (Duress, Devil's Play) and Aggro (Mutilate, Charm as well).
Any thoughts on it now that the spoiler is fully spoiled?
Heartless needs another form of ramp, something akin to the Sphere of the Suns that we're losing. Chromatic Lantern might work here, though it changes the dynamic of the deck somewhat.
Keyrings? MIght help a little and fix mana for the three color decks. Along with Lantern these would push the deck into more of a midrange territory.
Also, if you are in green you could try farseek.
This deck needs to focus on +1/+1 counter creatures i think. Slumbering dragon is a great 1 drop with corpsejack menace joining the party. The new vamp 6 drop, desc demon, all good for this. Radkos too maybe
I had a list scribbled down somewhere, ill see if i can find it
At my current iteration, I wouldn't dare playing Slumbering Dragon at Turn 1 since the mana must be open to respond mana Dorks/Delver/Noble, but I'd love to see a Jund-HS based on that idea.
For one drops for this deck I have been playing with Vexing Devil and Goblin Arsonist. The Devil survives a couple of HS on board or serves as reasonable burn whereas the Arsonist is a chump blocker when played early and a Geist Flame when played once HS is on the table. Stromkirk Noble did end up being rather underwhelming. It was fantastic if you managed to get it in for some damage before HS dropped but after HS was out it was absolutely useless.
So, with virtually all relevant cards already spoiled, I thought about giving this another shot, and pretty much seems a good deck overall to start this season (despite that new hybrid disenchant).
Took out almost all 6cmc creatures in order to incorporate more disruption/control and push the deck back to Midrange if HS gets busted. The only one left is Mikaeus which has immediate board effect (reverting HS) and synergizes pretty well with 18 of the 21 creatures. Also prevents Wrath/Bonfire effects once.
The sideboard includes GoST hate (SG/TtH), Zombie hate (Charm, Pillar), Control in general (Duress, Devil's Play) and Aggro (Mutilate, Charm as well).
Any thoughts on it now that the spoiler is fully spoiled?
Im liking the look of it so far not sure how I feel about Archwing Dragon. But that list looks really strong. More control oriented.
Keyrings? MIght help a little and fix mana for the three color decks. Along with Lantern these would push the deck into more of a midrange territory.
Also, if you are in green you could try farseek.
Maybe. I'm not sold on the keyrunes yet for Heartless. Not sure why, as they look to be good, but they just don't feel right yet.
I think Heartless was always a midrange deck. Surviving the early turns while setting up could be a problem, but once the pieces were assembled, a proper Heartless deck was really difficult to stop. It's interesting to see that the new cycle is probably going to feature slower decks, which makes midrange the place to be.
I primarily run a U/B build for the Havengul Lich. I'm slowly coming to the realization that U/B Heartless may not be viable until the next set comes out with Dimir-oriented cards. Though with the Chromatic Lantern, the Lich shines at being able to steal creatures from other graveyards.
I am really disappointed that Solemn Simulacrum wasn't reprinted. The sad robot was a perfect card for Heartless builds.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
For one drops for this deck I have been playing with Vexing Devil and Goblin Arsonist. The Devil survives a couple of HS on board or serves as reasonable burn whereas the Arsonist is a chump blocker when played early and a Geist Flame when played once HS is on the table.
Goblin Arsonist! For some reason I thought he wasn't printed in M13 and was due to rotate, but that's a good option indeed.
Although it bothers me a little bit that if you have him at T1 but NOT HS at T2, you are putting yourself at risk of not getting the opponents' T1 Dork/Delver killed, and that's what Geistflame aims to do. Relying on just Tragic Slip for a single extra point of damage is worrisome I think (not to mention Geistflame's Flashback at late game if needed), but we are getting into a nice place here.
Vexing Devil suffers from the same issue imo. It is an amazing chunk of damage if it enters at T1, but mostly a dead card later on. If your opponent can't take the burn, you will stand with a 3/2 creature that is easily manageable considering a late game, a Geistflame+Flashback would put yourself closer to victory than a 3/2 french-vanilla creature imo.
Quote from windstrider »
I primarily run a U/B build for the Havengul Lich. I'm slowly coming to the realization that U/B Heartless may not be viable until the next set comes out with Dimir-oriented cards. Though with the Chromatic Lantern, the Lich shines at being able to steal creatures from other graveyards.
I am really disappointed that Solemn Simulacrum wasn't reprinted. The sad robot was a perfect card for Heartless builds.
I gave up on UB after seeing all that absurd Yard hate. Like, srsly, there are way too much hate against Snappy/Frites/Zombies. So, let's get an advantage on it by not playing yard recursion mechanics, yey! Maybe Dimir/Orzhov will change HS decks, though.
And yes, I think Emo Robot is the biggest loss ever for HS. But as the format as a whole is slowing down, we will almost certainly get to a point where ramping won't be necessary for at least the next 3 months. And tbh I thank Wizards on that one, I prefer so much to be playing a slower-paced game, as it generally opens up space for more strategies/decks instead of what we have seen in the last 2 years.
Here is what Im looking to play right now I changed only a few things like adding back in Charmbreaker Devil and a Carnival Hellsteed. I really I like Charmbreaker as a finisher and the recurring of one your removal spells hopefully Tragic Slip or Dreadbore. Carnival Hellsteed probably isnt that great but who knows. I dont think the list as is is really good yet. Its still missing some stuff and some things may be more sideboard option like Zealous Conscripts might not be so great maindeck. I do think we need a solid turn 3 play if we dont see Heartless. Im thinking Vampire Nighthawk
Oh, I thought he was talking about playing a spell that is countering a spell with counters on it as it comes into play, but I see you guys were just discussing whether he was flashing a creature with flash in order to flash a flashback or just flashing a creature with flash but not needing flash in order to flashback a spell without flash.
Here is what Im looking to play right now I changed only a few things like adding back in Charmbreaker Devil and a Carnival Hellsteed. I really I like Charmbreaker as a finisher and the recurring of one your removal spells hopefully Tragic Slip or Dreadbore. Carnival Hellsteed probably isnt that great but who knows. I dont think the list as is is really good yet. Its still missing some stuff and some things may be more sideboard option like Zealous Conscripts might not be so great maindeck. I do think we need a solid turn 3 play if we dont see Heartless. Im thinking Vampire Nighthawk
Yea, Nighthawk in the Archwing/Charmbreaker slot is a solid choice and maybe another one in sideboard. Good value, doesn't suffer from HS since he's there to block anyway. I will give it a try, good point on that.
About Zealous Conscripts, that card is way more deceitful than it seems. It has turned entire games for me based on haste alone, and depending on the context, it's even better than Hellkite. But yes, maybe changing back to 1-of and adding a second Nighthawk wouldn't hurt.
Quote from "HammerAndSickled" »
Why not green? Golgari guys, but most importantly 3-mana Thragtusks?
Because losing Olivia Voldaren, Geistflame (can't stress enough how important is to have this at early turns) and the hasty dudes (Thundermaw especifically) hurts a lot the control part of the deck in case we don't see Heartless. I don't think Wolfir/Thrag/Corpsejack/Slitherhead compensate for the loss of control, but I'd love to see a Golgari/Jund list of this though.
Havengul Lich.... With Heartless summoning is rediculus. Casting a goblin arsonist 5 times from the graveyard is funny.
That seems like it could be a thing when Gatecrash hits. Grixis Heartless.
Ive considered Jund Heartless but atm the Im focusing on what I can do with B/r Heartless. I just dont think B/g heartless will have the control im looking for that B/r does.
Charmbreaker Devil yay or nay? Im really trying to figure out wether to keep it as a one of or not. I like its possibilities but at the same time I feel meh about it. I want to play atleast 3 Nighthawks. So im think cut one Zealous Conscripts and move it to Sideboard or possibly both. Then maybe only play 2 Bloodgift Demon. Or just move out something else. Im not sure I just want this set out now.
Charmbreaker Devil might be more of a meta-call, and just plain needs more testing.
I am currently working on a B/R Heartless Summoning Demon build. Focus's on more demons (with Rakdos as heartless 5-7) with some devil's thrown in for both flavor and their high power. Running some Cavern of Souls to make sure I hit those heavier costs. Can't wait until I get to FNM in a few weeks to try it out. Rakdos will be a nice way to avoid abrupt decay.
Essence Harvest has been testing well, especially against chump blocking tokens decks. It makes running Vexing Devil's and Charmbreakers well worth it.
Charmbreaker Devil yay or nay? Im really trying to figure out wether to keep it as a one of or not. I like its possibilities but at the same time I feel meh about it. I want to play atleast 3 Nighthawks. So im think cut one Zealous Conscripts and move it to Sideboard or possibly both. Then maybe only play 2 Bloodgift Demon. Or just move out something else. Im not sure I just want this set out now.
I was keen on Charmbreaker but if you consider that his impact on the board is null, you'd rather stay with Necropolis Regent or Mikaeus (the latter being better imo, real instant board impact)
About Desecration Demon, I think that's the one card, besides HS and Geistflame, we want to have 4-ofs, and surely no less than 3. By far the best benefit in a control shell, enabling Tragic Slip and comboing with Falkenrath. If you really wanna do 3 Nighthawks, I would cut Hellrider (3 down to 2), Charmbreaker (0) and Conscripts (2 down to 1). Cutting either Geistflame or Desecration Demon is not good imo. We gotta keep it as in control and on a low cmc.
Running 2 Bloodgift Demons can hurt the CA as they are the only extra draw source, but I'll concede that having more than two on the field is kinda useless, unless you use them to ping your opponent for the last points of damage.
I gave up on UB after seeing all that absurd Yard hate. Like, srsly, there are way too much hate against Snappy/Frites/Zombies. So, let's get an advantage on it by not playing yard recursion mechanics, yey! Maybe Dimir/Orzhov will change HS decks, though.
And yes, I think Emo Robot is the biggest loss ever for HS. But as the format as a whole is slowing down, we will almost certainly get to a point where ramping won't be necessary for at least the next 3 months. And tbh I thank Wizards on that one, I prefer so much to be playing a slower-paced game, as it generally opens up space for more strategies/decks instead of what we have seen in the last 2 years.
I'm not as concerned with 'yard hate for Heartless. The more situational hate there is means less hate for creatures in general. And the Lich is still a beater if nothing else. I'm concerned about the lack of good, cheap reanimation targets.
I'm also happy that the game looks to be slowing down. I prefer a more interactive game.
It looks like B/R Heartless got a nice present with the new Hellkite that makes 6/6 dragons each time it attacks. Costs 6RR normally. Hellkite + Clone effects would be a lot of fun to pull off. Too bad Mimic Vat won't be around for it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
How do we not have this thread yet?
I know that, in general, HS wasn't reliable in a phyrexian world of such low-mana costs. If you didn't draw it, you were dead. Plain and simple.
However, I was wondering how it would work post-rotation. Yes, the deck is losing some powerhouses (Praetors, Titans, Sad Robot, Myr Superion, etc), but I think we could work a place for him in RtR. I've approached the good ol' Black-Red.
2 Olivia Voldaren
3 Hellrider
3 Falkenrath Noble
4 Desecration Demon
1 Archwing Dragon
4 Bloodgift Demon
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Charmbreaking Devils
2 Gang of Devils
2 Chaos Imps
1 Necropolis Regent
4 Heartless Summoning
4 Tragic Slip
4 Geistflame
Lands
9 Swamp
7 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
Desecration Demon LINK
Chaos Imps LINK
Necropolis Regent LINK
As sideboard, I've got some ideas as Mutilate, Harvester of Souls, Tormod's, Distress, etc.
The point of it is early control even without HS (Geist-Slip Elf/Pilgrim/Delver), control even more with Olivia and Desecrated Demon (maybe with some damage from Aristocrat working as Blood Artist), to finally finish with Guild Imps and the new Vampire, as well as keeping card advantage on Bloodgift Demon to keep all those amazing 22 creatures running.
As a sidenote, most decks nowadays have at most 1 Enchantment SB (besides Oblivion Ring, that is), and past drop 4 or 5 losing HS isn't much of a constrain.
I did some playtesting and I was consistently able to ping Elves at EoT 1, as well as not missing land drops till turn 5 or so on most games.
I know that we still have important Rakdos cards to be spoiled like the man himself and the Charm, but what do you think? I'm believing on its viabilitity (and fun!)
In particular, hellrider and archwing dragon have a lot of potential. I wouldnt be too keen on including cards that are garbage without heartless summon in play - so a lot of the 5s and 6s are not too attractive. You will only have a turn 2 heartless about 40% of the time, so the cards need to be playable witout it.
Good luck with it.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
-mabberman
Mabbz on MTGO | Demgrinds on Twitch & Twitter | Helpdesk
On topic, fixed the links -.-
@zemanjaski: The alternative I thought about not having HS was controlling the opponent table with cheap removals, as with a good manabase, HS tends to be unnecessary at mid-game. Of the fatties, Zealous Conscripts is just a surprise disruption and Charmbreaker Devils a way to recur Slip every turn, but those are the ones I feel most inclined to swap out. Not sure what would be a good 2-drop, since most lowcost creatures simply die when HS enters play.
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Desecration Demon
4 Bloodline Keeper
3 Hellrider
3 Necropolis Regent
2 Zealous Conscripts
4 Heartless Summoning
3 Pillar of Flame (Tragic Slip?)
4 Dreadbore
3 Sever the Bloodline
Land (24):
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
9 Swamp
7 Mountain
GW Aggro
EDH:
BUG Damia Landfall
RW [Primer] Brion Stoutarm
R Bosh's Bash
Btw that's why I like the 8 1cmc removals. You can stop Ramp and Delver from doing their 1drop without losing creature value after HS enters play. Tbh, I think that is more paramount to the deck than having HS at starting hand. Geistflame is particularly good on that because its flashback is nothing to scoff at in the land of Shocklands. Sadly Pillar of Flame is a sorcery, so it's more of an Undying/Gravecrawler SB than anything.
Maybe also having those Dreadbores may help controlling when HS fail us. That's an elegant solution. But if we find space for Dreadbores, then we will prolly swap them for the Charm if it is at the same level as the others (and prolly it will be).
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
2 Olivia Voldaren
3 Hellrider
3 Falkenrath Noble
4 Desecration Demon
1 Archwing Dragon
3 Bloodgift Demon
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
4 Heartless Summoning
4 Tragic Slip
4 Geistflame
3 Dreadbore/Searing Spear
Lands
9 Swamp
7 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Devil's Play
2 Slaughter Games
2 Mutilate
2 Duress
2 Tribute to Hunger
3 Rakdos Charm
3 Pillar of Flame
Took out almost all 6cmc creatures in order to incorporate more disruption/control and push the deck back to Midrange if HS gets busted. The only one left is Mikaeus which has immediate board effect (reverting HS) and synergizes pretty well with 18 of the 21 creatures. Also prevents Wrath/Bonfire effects once.
The sideboard includes GoST hate (SG/TtH), Zombie hate (Charm, Pillar), Control in general (Duress, Devil's Play) and Aggro (Mutilate, Charm as well).
Any thoughts on it now that the spoiler is fully spoiled?
Keyrings? MIght help a little and fix mana for the three color decks. Along with Lantern these would push the deck into more of a midrange territory.
Also, if you are in green you could try farseek.
I had a list scribbled down somewhere, ill see if i can find it
GW Aggro
EDH:
BUG Damia Landfall
RW [Primer] Brion Stoutarm
R Bosh's Bash
Im liking the look of it so far not sure how I feel about Archwing Dragon. But that list looks really strong. More control oriented.
Maybe. I'm not sold on the keyrunes yet for Heartless. Not sure why, as they look to be good, but they just don't feel right yet.
I think Heartless was always a midrange deck. Surviving the early turns while setting up could be a problem, but once the pieces were assembled, a proper Heartless deck was really difficult to stop. It's interesting to see that the new cycle is probably going to feature slower decks, which makes midrange the place to be.
I primarily run a U/B build for the Havengul Lich. I'm slowly coming to the realization that U/B Heartless may not be viable until the next set comes out with Dimir-oriented cards. Though with the Chromatic Lantern, the Lich shines at being able to steal creatures from other graveyards.
I am really disappointed that Solemn Simulacrum wasn't reprinted. The sad robot was a perfect card for Heartless builds.
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.
Although it bothers me a little bit that if you have him at T1 but NOT HS at T2, you are putting yourself at risk of not getting the opponents' T1 Dork/Delver killed, and that's what Geistflame aims to do. Relying on just Tragic Slip for a single extra point of damage is worrisome I think (not to mention Geistflame's Flashback at late game if needed), but we are getting into a nice place here.
Vexing Devil suffers from the same issue imo. It is an amazing chunk of damage if it enters at T1, but mostly a dead card later on. If your opponent can't take the burn, you will stand with a 3/2 creature that is easily manageable considering a late game, a Geistflame+Flashback would put yourself closer to victory than a 3/2 french-vanilla creature imo.
I gave up on UB after seeing all that absurd Yard hate. Like, srsly, there are way too much hate against Snappy/Frites/Zombies. So, let's get an advantage on it by not playing yard recursion mechanics, yey! Maybe Dimir/Orzhov will change HS decks, though.
And yes, I think Emo Robot is the biggest loss ever for HS. But as the format as a whole is slowing down, we will almost certainly get to a point where ramping won't be necessary for at least the next 3 months. And tbh I thank Wizards on that one, I prefer so much to be playing a slower-paced game, as it generally opens up space for more strategies/decks instead of what we have seen in the last 2 years.
2 Olivia Voldaren
2 Hellrider
3 Falkenrath Noble
4 Desecration Demon
3 Bloodgift Demon
1 Charmbreaker Devil
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Carnival Hellsteed
4 Heartless Summoning
4 Tragic Slip
4 Geistflame
3 Dreadbore
Lands
9 Swamp
7 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
Here is what Im looking to play right now I changed only a few things like adding back in Charmbreaker Devil and a Carnival Hellsteed. I really I like Charmbreaker as a finisher and the recurring of one your removal spells hopefully Tragic Slip or Dreadbore. Carnival Hellsteed probably isnt that great but who knows. I dont think the list as is is really good yet. Its still missing some stuff and some things may be more sideboard option like Zealous Conscripts might not be so great maindeck. I do think we need a solid turn 3 play if we dont see Heartless. Im thinking Vampire Nighthawk
-regarding Snapcaster Mage.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Yea, Nighthawk in the Archwing/Charmbreaker slot is a solid choice and maybe another one in sideboard. Good value, doesn't suffer from HS since he's there to block anyway. I will give it a try, good point on that.
About Zealous Conscripts, that card is way more deceitful than it seems. It has turned entire games for me based on haste alone, and depending on the context, it's even better than Hellkite. But yes, maybe changing back to 1-of and adding a second Nighthawk wouldn't hurt.
Because losing Olivia Voldaren, Geistflame (can't stress enough how important is to have this at early turns) and the hasty dudes (Thundermaw especifically) hurts a lot the control part of the deck in case we don't see Heartless. I don't think Wolfir/Thrag/Corpsejack/Slitherhead compensate for the loss of control, but I'd love to see a Golgari/Jund list of this though.
GR Ramp Happy Valakut GR
That seems like it could be a thing when Gatecrash hits. Grixis Heartless.
Ive considered Jund Heartless but atm the Im focusing on what I can do with B/r Heartless. I just dont think B/g heartless will have the control im looking for that B/r does.
Charmbreaker Devil yay or nay? Im really trying to figure out wether to keep it as a one of or not. I like its possibilities but at the same time I feel meh about it. I want to play atleast 3 Nighthawks. So im think cut one Zealous Conscripts and move it to Sideboard or possibly both. Then maybe only play 2 Bloodgift Demon. Or just move out something else. Im not sure I just want this set out now.
I am currently working on a B/R Heartless Summoning Demon build. Focus's on more demons (with Rakdos as heartless 5-7) with some devil's thrown in for both flavor and their high power. Running some Cavern of Souls to make sure I hit those heavier costs. Can't wait until I get to FNM in a few weeks to try it out. Rakdos will be a nice way to avoid abrupt decay.
Essence Harvest has been testing well, especially against chump blocking tokens decks. It makes running Vexing Devil's and Charmbreakers well worth it.
I was keen on Charmbreaker but if you consider that his impact on the board is null, you'd rather stay with Necropolis Regent or Mikaeus (the latter being better imo, real instant board impact)
About Desecration Demon, I think that's the one card, besides HS and Geistflame, we want to have 4-ofs, and surely no less than 3. By far the best benefit in a control shell, enabling Tragic Slip and comboing with Falkenrath. If you really wanna do 3 Nighthawks, I would cut Hellrider (3 down to 2), Charmbreaker (0) and Conscripts (2 down to 1). Cutting either Geistflame or Desecration Demon is not good imo. We gotta keep it as in control and on a low cmc.
Running 2 Bloodgift Demons can hurt the CA as they are the only extra draw source, but I'll concede that having more than two on the field is kinda useless, unless you use them to ping your opponent for the last points of damage.
I'm not as concerned with 'yard hate for Heartless. The more situational hate there is means less hate for creatures in general. And the Lich is still a beater if nothing else. I'm concerned about the lack of good, cheap reanimation targets.
I'm also happy that the game looks to be slowing down. I prefer a more interactive game.
It looks like B/R Heartless got a nice present with the new Hellkite that makes 6/6 dragons each time it attacks. Costs 6RR normally. Hellkite + Clone effects would be a lot of fun to pull off. Too bad Mimic Vat won't be around for it.
The world is on fire
and you are here to stay and burn with me.