Blood Artist and Bloodthrone Vampire allow you to sacrifice everything for a substantial amount of lifedrain and then bring everything back with Immortal Servitude. This will most likely kill your opponent.
Lingering Souls provides additional sacrifice targets and acts as something to get more value out of your mills.
Thought Scour is a very efficient mill card. I tried Forbidden Alchemy, but it's rather slow and putting it in dilutes your mills of creatures, same for Think Twice.
Supreme Verdict acts as a stay-alive tool and sometimes as a kill condition. Time is all the deck needs. Destroying your own creatures is completely irrelevant in most cases.
Other:
Chronic Flooding is the most powerful self-mill card and single-handedly put enough creatures into your graveyard to kill your opponent.
Sideboard:
The sideboard needs tools to protect your combo against control decks. A card that's mabye worth a consideration is Gruesome Discovery. Erase is against Rancor, because I always lose to that card.
Any ideas for improvements? I haven't spent much time optimizing the list yet, but it's already operating alright.
I think snapcaster may be of use as like a 2 of? If you happen to lose immortal servitude and can't get another one in hand you might be screwed.
giving the slot to creatures with ETB effects might aid you more. sure butcher ghoul has undying... but it's really just a chump guy.
Do you think Ravenous Rats is better than Butcher Ghoul? Or do you just like the extra drain 1 x 2 the turn you combo off? I would test with those interchangebly.
Lingering Souls seems weak here, I get that your a combo deck and you just wanna survive and this plays well with Chronic Flooding and is a couple extra damage with blood artist... but it still doesn't feel right to me. I don't really know what to suggest as a replacement though. I'm tempted to say add some more 1cmc instant or sorceries and fit some snapcaster mages in but I don't really think thats better than lingering souls.
I'm also tempted to say Augur of Bolas.... Maybe theres a way this deck can be built to incorporate Augur, Ravenous Rats, Snapcaster, Duress, and a Restoration Angel or two for added value?
Anyways, I haven't put nearly as much thought into it as im sure you have, but hopefully ive given you a few things to consider.
I think the rats is a better deal because it is a 2 for one in that instance. it ETB with the discard then sac it for the life
I also think Blind Obedience might have a spot here?
maybe faith's reward at like a 1 or 2 of?
I know there is a deck circulating that is a version of standard eggs... where you immortal servitude, sac em all, then faiths reward, rinse and repeat.
War Priest of Thune is a good idea for the sideboard, maybe even (and that's embarassing) Silverchase Fox (because I f*ing hate Rancor :argh:). Ravenous Rats is maybe better than the stupid Ghoul, but I think I like Black Cat even more (random discard and sac on draw step).
I'm tempted to add green (either replace white (Supreme Verdict -> Mutilate) or blue, though Chronic Flooding has really the most raw mill power). Maybe 4 color, but that's really tough.
I don't think Snapcaster will work. If you reanimate it, you'll most likely have no mana to flash something back and Snapcaster + Immortal Servitude sounds kinda unrealistic (but then again with green ramp?). Ok, I'll try to put out a new list :).
Ravenous Rats is maybe better than the stupid Ghoul, but I think I like Black Cat even more (random discard and sac on draw step).
Random discard is certainly better but by the time your killing your cat the discard might be not be as potent... I definitely think the Rats are better.
You definitely might want to consider a little bit of the enchantment hate in the main (perhaps the two Foxes/War Priests) because as you pointed out your dislike for Rancor, it's running rampant and you want more than 2 hate cards for RIP post board. There's definitely a lot of directions Immortal Servitude can go.
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*I COLLECT EHAN106 ALTERS. GOT ANY?*
An actor without a director is but a mannequin.
While a director without a writer is unemployed.
But ultimately a writer without words is dead.
~R. D. Newman
"7,015 creatures in existence. They all die to removal."
Never before has a boy wanted more...zombie slaying.
one of the things I'm worried about too is slaughter games - or not having access to chroic flooding when we need it. The questions I feel are important are:
-Can this deck work without chronic flooding?
-Is there any other way to mill ourselves?
The reason humans can work is it's still a good deck without the mill. The focus of this IS to mill ourselves.
This deck does use thought scour - which is a super great card (in my opinion) Forbidden Alchemy maybe?
I don't thinking Lingering Souls needs to be a 4 of - I do like the card, maybe it can be a 2/2 split MD/SB?
Also - thoughts on Nephalia Drownyard?
would Snapcaster mage be of use here? Servitude would bring him back, not that it matters, because the main use would be if you reach that 7 mana mark to bring back servitudes.
Ok, here's my list with green in it. I reduced the blue to the flashback of Tracker's Instincts, so that I can run more Swamps for Mutilate. From what I can tell, this build is far superior. Mulch and Dawntreader Elk allow you to run very few lands, so your mills are far more filled with good stuff. Elvish Visionary and the dig spells allow you a steady stream of cards, where Chronic Flooding is card disadvantage.
On card choices again: Black Cat over Ravenous Rats: You can almost always make the cat die someway and you can decide when you want the discard. Also random discard is much better than normal. Let's say you bring back two cats and a bloodthrone with a Servitude. If your opponent is topdecking, just sac them both on the drawstep and you timewalk him twice.
Gone down to 3 Bloodthrone Vampire because the deck searches for creatures much more effectively than the last one and you only really need one.
Cartel Aristocrat has the same role as Bloodthrone Vampire, but is much less of a threat I think.
Burning-Tree Emissary doesn't combo that well with Immortal Servitude, but it lets you develop your hand much faster. Turn 2 Emissary into Dawntreader Elk is a pretty good start against aggro decks.
Sometimes we dig through our entire deck without finding an Immortal Servitude in our hand, but several in our graveyard. In those situations, one Mystic Retrieval should work wonders.
Yep, they somehow got lost in copy/paste :Psyduck:. Thx.
I'd play Screeching Skaab in a more blue-heavy version, but only five blue sources aren't really doing it (more would mean less Swamps => no Mutilate).
It seemed fun, you don't really need sack outlets when you constantly chump block and run 8 board wipes. I didn't really stick with it for terribly long though.
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Personally I kind of like Loyal Cathar just for extra sacs.
Sorry to kinda be jumping in here, but I've been theorycrafting servitude lists for a while.
I love me some gloom surgeon, but we don't really want to be exiling cards. Every blood artist we exile is one less that we can use to combo off.
If your manabase can support loyal Cathar, go for it, but it seems like a difficult fit to me. That's like the decks running green possibly running Stangelroot Giest, it good, as long as the mana can support it. (then again, with enough discard outlets, we may not NEED to have the mana to support it).
High priest is a good catch. It's as viable as Pack Rat, IMO. Maybe running 1 or 2 would be good.
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About Mindslaver rulings:
Quote from ebcubs03 »
so if i am that player do i get to sleep with his girlfriend ?
Esper immortal servitude has a lot of flexibility. Ive been trying to look for ways to do a zombie immortal servitude deck (3cmc creatures 6cmc immortal servitude, dreg manglers, geralf's) but esper might have better luck with saccing due to diregraf captain
My list. It's a little different from what you all are playing. I tried testing decks like the ones you have posted but it just seemed unstable so I went to an fnm and made tweaks.
I took a more control outlook on the deck using cards with death-touch instead of ramp like the elk to stall the board to make attacking unfavorable. Also Revenge of the Hunted is just silly in the list. You really want an overrun effect to make your 2 drops do damage.
Ogre Slumlord is something I am keen to test. Seems amazing with all my deathtouch and Cartel Aristocrat for silly amounts of value.
if you use immortal servitude on a clone can it copy another creature being brought in by immortal servitude at the same time?
Such as Immortal servitude for 4 and you get back a Clone, Evil Twin and Huntmaster of the fells. Can you double copy huntmaster for profit? or does the creature being copied by the clone have to already be on the field?
if you use immortal servitude on a clone can it copy another creature being brought in by immortal servitude at the same time?
Such as Immortal servitude for 4 and you get back a Clone, Evil Twin and Huntmaster of the fells. Can you double copy huntmaster for profit? or does the creature being copied by the clone have to already be on the field?
No, it doesn't work if the creatures enter the battlefield at the same time.
Not a fan. I don't see a reason to put Revenge of the Hunted in the deck. What is it supposed to do?
Since you're not milling anything, you'll be filling your graveyard much more slowly with creatures, and you'll have problems finding enough Blood Artists consistently.
Ogre Slumlord is worth a try; for slow and grindy matchups. I don't see it being good vs. aggro decks, so I would leave it in the sideboard.
No, it doesn't work if the creatures enter the battlefield at the same time.
Not a fan. I don't see a reason to put Revenge of the Hunted in the deck. What is it supposed to do?
Since you're not milling anything, you'll be filling your graveyard much more slowly with creatures, and you'll have problems finding enough Blood Artists consistently.
Ogre Slumlord is worth a try; for slow and grindy matchups. I don't see it being good vs. aggro decks, so I would leave it in the sideboard.
Revenge lets me force them to block while providing so much damage, it's a tempo card. My meta is just full of aggro and midrange decks and during my fnm I found that salvage wasn't even needed. Nearly every game went to a board stall, I needed to break that and overrun isnt in the format.
Going to test Orge, he seems great with killing wave. I really like him. I've even been playing around with the idea of cutting immortal all together and playing G/B/R with Gruul Ragebeast but that deck requires a different thread.
A self-mill combo deck, using only CMC 2 creatures.
4 Watery Grave
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Godless Shrine
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Vault of the Archangel
Creatures - 15
4 Blood Artist
4 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Butcher Ghoul
2 Augur of Bolas
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
4 Immortal Servitude
4 Lingering Souls
4 Thought Scour
4 Supreme Verdict
Other - 4
4 Chronic Flooding
2 Dispel
2 Erase
3 Vampire Nighthawk
6 Stuff
Creatures:
Instants and Sorceries:
Other:
Sideboard:
The sideboard needs tools to protect your combo against control decks. A card that's mabye worth a consideration is Gruesome Discovery. Erase is against Rancor, because I always lose to that card.
Any ideas for improvements? I haven't spent much time optimizing the list yet, but it's already operating alright.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
The point of Supreme Verdict isn't to combo, but to survive. Killing Wave doesn't help you with that.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
giving the slot to creatures with ETB effects might aid you more. sure butcher ghoul has undying... but it's really just a chump guy.
what about manor skeleton or ravenous rats?
maybe as a SB option - war priest of thune?
the concept is tricky with CMC.
going to 3 cmc means you can't get blood artist back...
but gives you access to
switching to 4 color also gives you more options.
take advantage of them entering the battlefield.
the haste is nice too because you can do immortal servitude, swing, sac.
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Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
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Do you think Ravenous Rats is better than Butcher Ghoul? Or do you just like the extra drain 1 x 2 the turn you combo off? I would test with those interchangebly.
Lingering Souls seems weak here, I get that your a combo deck and you just wanna survive and this plays well with Chronic Flooding and is a couple extra damage with blood artist... but it still doesn't feel right to me. I don't really know what to suggest as a replacement though. I'm tempted to say add some more 1cmc instant or sorceries and fit some snapcaster mages in but I don't really think thats better than lingering souls.
I'm also tempted to say Augur of Bolas.... Maybe theres a way this deck can be built to incorporate Augur, Ravenous Rats, Snapcaster, Duress, and a Restoration Angel or two for added value?
Anyways, I haven't put nearly as much thought into it as im sure you have, but hopefully ive given you a few things to consider.
I also think Blind Obedience might have a spot here?
maybe faith's reward at like a 1 or 2 of?
I know there is a deck circulating that is a version of standard eggs... where you immortal servitude, sac em all, then faiths reward, rinse and repeat.
Currently Playing
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Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
TRADE ME!!!
I'm tempted to add green (either replace white (Supreme Verdict -> Mutilate) or blue, though Chronic Flooding has really the most raw mill power). Maybe 4 color, but that's really tough.
What I'm interested in green:
Dawntreader Elk
Mulch
Elvish Visionary
Tracker's Instincts (if we keep blue)
I don't think Snapcaster will work. If you reanimate it, you'll most likely have no mana to flash something back and Snapcaster + Immortal Servitude sounds kinda unrealistic (but then again with green ramp?). Ok, I'll try to put out a new list :).
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Random discard is certainly better but by the time your killing your cat the discard might be not be as potent... I definitely think the Rats are better.
An actor without a director is but a mannequin.
While a director without a writer is unemployed.
But ultimately a writer without words is dead.
~R. D. Newman
"7,015 creatures in existence. They all die to removal."
Never before has a boy wanted more...zombie slaying.
GP Vegas: It was once in a lifetime!
On Vault of the Archangel
-Can this deck work without chronic flooding?
-Is there any other way to mill ourselves?
The reason humans can work is it's still a good deck without the mill. The focus of this IS to mill ourselves.
This deck does use thought scour - which is a super great card (in my opinion)
Forbidden Alchemy maybe?
I don't thinking Lingering Souls needs to be a 4 of - I do like the card, maybe it can be a 2/2 split MD/SB?
Also - thoughts on Nephalia Drownyard?
Currently Playing
UTron
Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
TRADE ME!!!
Also, no forbidden alchemy?
4 Watery Grave
4 Overgrown Tomb
6 Swamp
1 Island
2 Forest
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Dawntreader Elk
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Black Cat
4 Blood Artist
3 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Mulch
4 Tracker's Instincts
4 Mutilate
No sideboard yet, usual stuff I'd say.
On card choices again:
Black Cat over Ravenous Rats: You can almost always make the cat die someway and you can decide when you want the discard. Also random discard is much better than normal. Let's say you bring back two cats and a bloodthrone with a Servitude. If your opponent is topdecking, just sac them both on the drawstep and you timewalk him twice.
Gone down to 3 Bloodthrone Vampire because the deck searches for creatures much more effectively than the last one and you only really need one.
Cartel Aristocrat has the same role as Bloodthrone Vampire, but is much less of a threat I think.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
4 Blood Artist
4 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Ravenous Rats
3 Pack Rat
3 Butcher Ghoul
2 Vizkopa Guildmage
3 Chronic Flooding
4 Immortal Servitude
2 Supreme Verdict
Lands:
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Watery Grave
4 Godless Shrine
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Glacial Fortress
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=307188
Trade Thread
-4 Black Cat
+4 Burning-Tree Emissary
Burning-Tree Emissary doesn't combo that well with Immortal Servitude, but it lets you develop your hand much faster. Turn 2 Emissary into Dawntreader Elk is a pretty good start against aggro decks.
-1 Mulch
+1 Mystic Retrieval
Sometimes we dig through our entire deck without finding an Immortal Servitude in our hand, but several in our graveyard. In those situations, one Mystic Retrieval should work wonders.
-4 Swamp
+4 Blood Crypt
Pretty obvious. Allows us to flashback the Mystic Retrieval and makes casting Burning-Tree Emissary easier.
The current list:
4 Watery Grave
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
2 Swamp
1 Island
2 Forest
4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures - 19
4 Dawntreader Elk
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Blood Artist
3 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Grisly Salvage
3 Mulch
1 Mystic Retrieval
4 Tracker's Instincts
4 Mutilate
4 Immortal Servitude
3 Golgari Charm
2 Illness in the Ranks
2 Acidic Slime
3 Knight of Infamy
3 Nightshade Peddler
Plan against Smiter decks: Hide behind a bunch of Knights of Infamy and Nightshade Peddlers :tongue:.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
I'd play Screeching Skaab in a more blue-heavy version, but only five blue sources aren't really doing it (more would mean less Swamps => no Mutilate).
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Blood Artist
4 Azorius Arrester
4 Serra Avenger
4 Screeching Skaab
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Immortal Servitude
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Mutilate
Land
6 Swamp
4 Godless Shrine
4 Watery Grave
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 War Priest of Thune
4 High Priest of Penance
4 Duress
3 Planar Cleansing
It seemed fun, you don't really need sack outlets when you constantly chump block and run 8 board wipes. I didn't really stick with it for terribly long though.
Personally I kind of like Loyal Cathar just for extra sacs.
Sorry to kinda be jumping in here, but I've been theorycrafting servitude lists for a while.
I love me some gloom surgeon, but we don't really want to be exiling cards. Every blood artist we exile is one less that we can use to combo off.
If your manabase can support loyal Cathar, go for it, but it seems like a difficult fit to me. That's like the decks running green possibly running Stangelroot Giest, it good, as long as the mana can support it. (then again, with enough discard outlets, we may not NEED to have the mana to support it).
High priest is a good catch. It's as viable as Pack Rat, IMO. Maybe running 1 or 2 would be good.
About Mindslaver rulings:
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My list. It's a little different from what you all are playing. I tried testing decks like the ones you have posted but it just seemed unstable so I went to an fnm and made tweaks.
I took a more control outlook on the deck using cards with death-touch instead of ramp like the elk to stall the board to make attacking unfavorable. Also Revenge of the Hunted is just silly in the list. You really want an overrun effect to make your 2 drops do damage.
Ogre Slumlord is something I am keen to test. Seems amazing with all my deathtouch and Cartel Aristocrat for silly amounts of value.
Such as Immortal servitude for 4 and you get back a Clone, Evil Twin and Huntmaster of the fells. Can you double copy huntmaster for profit? or does the creature being copied by the clone have to already be on the field?
No, it doesn't work if the creatures enter the battlefield at the same time.
Not a fan. I don't see a reason to put Revenge of the Hunted in the deck. What is it supposed to do?
Since you're not milling anything, you'll be filling your graveyard much more slowly with creatures, and you'll have problems finding enough Blood Artists consistently.
Ogre Slumlord is worth a try; for slow and grindy matchups. I don't see it being good vs. aggro decks, so I would leave it in the sideboard.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Revenge lets me force them to block while providing so much damage, it's a tempo card. My meta is just full of aggro and midrange decks and during my fnm I found that salvage wasn't even needed. Nearly every game went to a board stall, I needed to break that and overrun isnt in the format.
Going to test Orge, he seems great with killing wave. I really like him. I've even been playing around with the idea of cutting immortal all together and playing G/B/R with Gruul Ragebeast but that deck requires a different thread.
Faiths reward
It allows you to cycle through your deck you can kill in a single turn if you get lucky.
I have a list somewhere
there
4 burning tress emissary
4 bloodthrone vampire
4 elvish visionary
3 blood artist
3 dawntreader elk
3 augur of bolas
3 alchemists apprentice
2 cartel aristocrat
4 faiths reward
3 immortal servitude
3 abundant growth
2 serene remembrance
lands
4 ghost quarter
3 temple garden
3 overgrown tomb
3 breeding pool
2 sunpetal grove
4 plains
1 island
1 swamp
1 forest
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own