Do you guys think its a waste to try to build a jund list using domri?
I have at least 24 creatures in the list, but i also have some removal in the mainboard, just not as much as your usual jund package.
at worse, Domri would be additional removal with his 'fight' ability. And if you can control the board to get his emblem, then that's extra spice for your soup!
Try it out, if it works or dont work, let us know. Once I get a few more cards, I'm going to try a different route for Jund. So many deck options right now!!
I think Domri has a chance to miss too often in a Jund midrange list. Domri works best when he represents pretty much the only non-creature spell in the deck. Our strategy works best with a great removal, disruption, and card advantage package IMHO.
I do like the idea of Nighthowler in the deck, I'm just conflicted if I were to have Scavenging Ooze or Deathrite Shaman as well. If you happen to draw both of them during a game it's a fight between exiling creatures for counters/life/damage or nighthowler counters.
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Standard: BG The Rock GB UW Control WU
EDH: RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern: UNBDU
Reaper of the Wilds - Comes down turn 3 or 4 as a solid wall that aggro has plenty of difficulty getting around. There is plenty of removal available to handle Hydras coming down mid-game and Reaper + Caryatid + Rakdos Keyrune do an exceptional job of locking up the board against most everything else. The Reaper has far exceeded my expectations so far.
Chandra, Pyromaster - Excellent source of CA. I've really enjoyed her so far in this list. Her 0 often equates to "draw a card" as there are so many strong/efficient top decks to hit.
Putrefy + Dreadbore - This combination has been serving me extremely well, with Dreadbore providing cheap unconditional removal, and Putrefy providing instant speed answers when necessary (Obzedat). Right now I think I'd rather play this combo over any mix of Hero's Downfall. I really think it would be a mistake not to play at least two Dreadbore main deck, especially given aggro and UW control's showing last weekend in Worcester.
There are a few line items here that I'm still unsure about:
Magma Jet - I've run into a few situations where I've been able to get clever with Magma Jet + Rakdos Keyrune to take down some large attackers or blockers, however sometimes I've found myself wishing I was holding hard removal instead. The ability to set up your next draw or two (especially with Chandra/UC) and to potentially sort out land drops are definitely positives, however.
Primeval Bounty - Definitely a bomb if it hits the board, but PB might fit better into the sideboard. Doing so would open up space for another Dragon/hand disruption/removal depending on the metagame.
Bow of Nylea is a card I'd like to try out here. The recurring lifegain and ability to buff up Caryatids seems like they could be good. The second ability can also put Desecration Demon within reach of Mizzium Mortars or opposing Stormbreath Dragons within reach of Magma Jet. Hasty deathtouch satyr tokens from Xenagos could also be fun.
I tested briefly with Deathrite Shaman, but so far I've been happier with Lifebane Zombie + Scavenging Ooze to push through damage and gain life. Shaman would definitely be a fit though if Reanimator becomes a thing again.
One last note -- the mana base here actually doesn't feel too bad. It will be nice to replace the guildgates with additional temples once we get the Golgari and Rakdos versions, but for now the CIPTs haven't seemed to impact the deck's tempo significantly.
not enough red mana...
red deck just wrecked me twice because i had the wrong mana to cast my spells...
I also dont see why people like Uworld connex
Ive been arguing against this card from the start
It's effectively
1BBx draw x card, pay x life, over x turns.
pretty abysmal. horrible tempo. just play sign on blood or whatever the equiv is. that scry card is way better. i feel like mind rot is even better than uworld
I do like the idea of Nighthowler in the deck, I'm just conflicted if I were to have Scavenging Ooze or Deathrite Shaman as well. If you happen to draw both of them during a game it's a fight between exiling creatures for counters/life/damage or nighthowler counters.
Pretty much this. Nighthowler has no upside, but nets some sort of CA in the form that the opponent always has to waste 2 cards to get rid of it. Late game is a very efficient beater, and can be bestowed even onto a token. Polukranos is impressive also: it's a 5/5 vanilla that blocks Blood Baron, but with ramp from Caryatid, Xenagos, and Keyrune he can dish out some damage and grow bigger. I'm liking it over Desecration Demon. Last, there's Pharika's Mender out there. I think this deserves some sort of mention since it has an average body for it's cost (not optimal but OK) and replaces herself with one card from your graveyard, be it your destroyed Whip, or Primeval Bounty, or Underworld Connections or just some creature. Can play well in decks using a reanimation and recursive subtheme with Deadbridge Chant, whip and Cerberus.
I upped the removal and played around with the mana base a little (read: got tired of hitting all the RG land in the world). I cut a Read the Bones because while it's great to see, more often than not, I'm NOT casting it on Turn 3, so I'd rather not see it early instead of another removal spell.
I'm still testing Xenagos before I jump ship onto the Chandra train. Speaking of testing, I moved the Abrupt Decays to the main, even though I do feel their targets are very narrow, but powerful (Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere), and obviously, small, annoying creatures. Speaking of which, I have two Anger of the Gods main now for that very purpose. If I decide to run this at States, which I'm still heavily considering, it may go up to 3 because if there's one thing we do well around here, it's abusing RDW.
Edit: I really need to find a place for two copies of Ruric Thar.
So I've been planning on making my own version of this deck, I'm just trying to think of ways this deck could beat someone playing a dimir control deck with plenty of counter and kill spells. Here's my decklist so far:
It's somewhat of a hodgepodge right now, as I'm going to see what cards work best later. For the dimir deck, the only cards I can specifically think of that would work best are black creatures (don't die to Doom Blade) and Mistcutter Hydra. Sylvan Caryatid has hex proof so they're good if I get them out T2, but does anyone else have ideas of cards that could counter control (and also might be good in other matchups)?
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Standard: BG The Rock GB UW Control WU
EDH: RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern: UNBDU
So I've been planning on making my own version of this deck, I'm just trying to think of ways this deck could beat someone playing a dimir control deck with plenty of counter and kill spells. Here's my decklist so far:
It's somewhat of a hodgepodge right now, as I'm going to see what cards work best later. For the dimir deck, the only cards I can specifically think of that would work best are black creatures (don't die to Doom Blade) and Mistcutter Hydra. Sylvan Caryatid has hex proof so they're good if I get them out T2, but does anyone else have ideas of cards that could counter control (and also might be good in other matchups)?
If your talking specifically about Dimir decks, which I haven't played against yet, then it may be slightly harder to play around. But, for U/W and Esper control, I am strongly considering Underworld Cerberus. On a lucky hand, you would have the puppy in your hand after the turn 4 board wipe. Drop a Cerberus while they are tapped out and they are forced to exile him or return him to your hand/deck. If they kill him, all your creatures returned back to your hand. So you can start dropping threats again either forcing their counter spells, or hopefully pushing through damage again.
If your talking specifically about Dimir decks, which I haven't played against yet, then it may be slightly harder to play around. But, for U/W and Esper control, I am strongly considering Underworld Cerberus. On a lucky hand, you would have the puppy in your hand after the turn 4 board wipe. Drop a Cerberus while they are tapped out and they are forced to exile him or return him to your hand/deck. If they kill him, all your creatures returned back to your hand. So you can start dropping threats again either forcing their counter spells, or hopefully pushing through damage again.
But if we're playing against Verdict, why would any sane player wipe the board on turn 4 with our one threat on the field (if it even hits)? We're not an aggro deck that vomits 3-4 creatures out in three turns. It's far more likely that we get into a 1-for-1 trade war between their counters and black-based kill spells than we are to get a Verdict out of them T4.
Plus, we don't really run enough creatures to get value out of Dog recursion anyway. Honestly, if going that route, we'd probably get more mileage out of the Whip, if only for the fact that it skirts counterspells.
What bothers me most is the most aggro matchup. We need a consistent source of lifegain. Deathrite and Ooze depend on cards on the Graveyard, Whip depends on creatures being on the battlefield, and Primeval Bounty on dropping lands. We should discuse the staples anyway, and I think there are 2 effective builds: a recursive, graveyard based strategy that works with Deadbridge Chant, Underworld Cerberus, Whip of Erebos and supporting cards, mainly Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze and Grisly Salvage, and the removal, beefy approach that we have now.
Here's my list. Its pretty standard from what I've been seeing on this thread. In my testing I've found Xenagos to be a little underwhelming. Ticking him up when we run so few creatures rarely nets more than 1-2 mana per turn.
Keyrune has been awesome every game. I started with one but quickly moved to two. Having a resilient threat/ramp/color fixing in one card is all you could ask for.
I tried using Reaper of the Wilds in place of Polukranos and I'm torn between the two. Reaper is much better for the control matchup and Polukranos for the aggro/midrange.
Stormbreath is awesome every single time. Would not play less than 4. Monstrosity is quite easy to achieve with the keyrunes and caryatids.
Has anyone considered running a few elves? Ramping is always good but makes Anger of the Gods even more painful.
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What bothers me most is the most aggro matchup. We need a consistent source of lifegain. Deathrite and Ooze depend on cards on the Graveyard, Whip depends on creatures being on the battlefield, and Primeval Bounty on dropping lands. We should discuse the staples anyway, and I think there are 2 effective builds: a recursive, graveyard based strategy that works with Deadbridge Chant, Underworld Cerberus, Whip of Erebos and supporting cards, mainly Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze and Grisly Salvage, and the removal, beefy approach that we have now.
I am curious as if you playtested the whip vs the bow. Before you said you preferred the bow, but I see you posted your latest brew with the whip. Care to provide insight on this choice? I, myself am still debating on one over the other. I like the utility the bow provides, but at the same time, it seems expensive to get life through all that mana pay.
I am curious as if you playtested the whip vs the bow. Before you said you preferred the bow, but I see you posted your latest brew with the whip. Care to provide insight on this choice? I, myself am still debating on one over the other. I like the utility the bow provides, but at the same time, it seems expensive to get life through all that mana pay.
I am still not decided. I'm going with the Whip for now because it requires no mana investment, but I would rather drop a Gorgon, Polukranos, Keyrune or removal rather than the Whip in order to block other threats, that's why it got cut back to 1. You also need some power in order to gain life, so Caryatid doesn't count, but with Xenagos tokens for chumping it's pretty much stellar, and if I drop a Dragon after a whip I can even race aggro with 8 life swings. On the other hand, Bow provides nice utility, specially in the graveyard recursive build with Cerberus and Chant, and lifegain is more stable and reliable. It even comes a turn before, but you have to tap 2 mana each time (which, with Xenagos, Caryatid and Rune might no be too much.)
I too have been pondering quite a bit over running the Whip or not. Currently, I actually run 2 Bows of Nylea because I like the versatility and guaranteed life gain that it offers. The Whip comes out a turn later, is dependent on creatures being in play/in grave, while the Bow beefs up early Caryatids to help us stabilize greatly.
I may try a 1/1 split of Bow/Whip though, since the Whip can still be quite useful for those larger life swings.
Im using domri rade in my jund deck and guys tonight showed very promising results for me. My deck is far from perfect, but man domri helped SO MUCH during EVERY game, sure he whiffed a couple times, but he hit prolly at least 85% of the time. I came in 1st at my fnm tonight, beating Rakdos, gruul, and grixis control twice.
Exava, rakdos blood witch- Was great, even considering a 3rd one, i never wanted her to block, she was always a 4/4 first strike haster.
Magma Jet- Saved me from land flooding every game I seen her.
Vraska- Everytime I seen her I needed her. Blow up a walker, blow up another walker... loved her.
Ghor-clan Rampager- Actually this card was lack luster, and i almost wanna take him down to 2 for the 3rd Exava... the blood rush was never a good option when i could just play him or something else.
All in all i know the deck needs work but i will be sticking with the domri route, and if my fnm results keep being promising, i will be entering the standard event coming up in late october
Im using domri rade in my jund deck and guys tonight showed very promising results for me. My deck is far from perfect, but man domri helped SO MUCH during EVERY game, sure he whiffed a couple times, but he hit prolly at least 85% of the time. I came in 1st at my fnm tonight, beating Rakdos, gruul, and grixis control twice.
Exava, rakdos blood witch- Was great, even considering a 3rd one, i never wanted her to block, she was always a 4/4 first strike haster.
Magma Jet- Saved me from land flooding every game I seen her.
Vraska- Everytime I seen her I needed her. Blow up a walker, blow up another walker... loved her.
Ghor-clan Rampager- Actually this card was lack luster, and i almost wanna take him down to 2 for the 3rd Exava... the blood rush was never a good option when i could just play him or something else.
All in all i know the deck needs work but i will be sticking with the domri route, and if my fnm results keep being promising, i will be entering the standard event coming up in late october
This is probably more of an aggro deck, the higher creature count makes Domri a lot more useful.
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Standard: BG The Rock GB UW Control WU
EDH: RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern: UNBDU
I saw this primer a couple hours before my fnm and kinda slapped this together, and it turned out really well. I came third out of a 30 person field; our FNM is one of the hot beds for States and the IQ players so the competition is stiff to say the least. G/w Aggro ended up taking the tournament but I am still confident in this deck and everything it can do.
This is the deck I did some casual testing with today. It did pretty well, but like others have reported a lot of my wins come down to the wire. It was pretty common for me to be down to ~5 life before taking board control and killing them in a few turns or getting the whip out and recovering.
It's a little more of an aggro deck, a lot more creatures then a lot of the deck lists here and it includes Domri. It includes a lot of the some creatures we'd like though.
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Standard: BG The Rock GB UW Control WU
EDH: RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern: UNBDU
Another list featuring Varolz, Domri, and a large variety of creatures with haste, or given haste.
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Nocturnal God of Chaos of The Æsir Probably the most random person you will ever meet. Trust me on this one. Well, I'm off to poop.
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"For some of us, easier Magic is good Magic, but if you are one of those 'intelligent types,' feel free to play your Hive Mind mirrors. The rest of us are here for the fireworks." - Kent Ketter
Playing in Type 2...BGRJundHearted
Hydras are more of a SB material, but every single game I've sided them in, they crush all the opposition. Alongside Dragon, and our disruption package they pretty much screw with all the U/W/x and Esper decks that are showing. Alongside Polukranos and Stormbreath they provide a very useful mana sink.
These are creatures that aren't core for the deck but provide some nice utility. DD is here because I strongly reccomend Polukranos over him if you're torn between both. Cerberus and Pharika provide some nice graveyard recursion which can be played alongside Shaman, Ooze, Whip and Shaman. Ruric nails Control and opposing Midrange even more alongside our MB fatties, and Sire is basically Rakdos's Return on a stick.
A combination of 7-8 of the above will form our removal package. Which one you pick depends on the meta, but Mizzium Mortars and Dreadbore have the higher priority, while Blade has the lowest one. Decay and Putrefy are needed in order to have instant-speed removal, and since all of these cards are multipurposal (they hit more than one kind of target), they won't be dead in most matchups. Mortars excels as doubling as a MB wrath if we overload it and cheap removal with a lot of reach if we don't. Anger is a staple and should always go in the 75.
This is the go-to removal if you're dealing with lots of aggro and weenies. Pharika's Cure sure is heavy color commitment, but the 2 life it provides is one of our few lifegain sources. Shock is the cheapest removal and can hit 1-drops, and Strike can kill pretty much everything Doom Blade does in aggro matchups. Flames can 2-for-1 and sometimes even 3-for-1 against weenies and RDW, which complements Anger and Golgari Charm's -1/-1 mode nicely.
This is our standard CA package. Chandra and Connections draw us cards, while Thoughtseize and Rakdos Return peck away cards in the opponent's hand. Both compliment nicely with Lifebane Zombie.
Read the Bones replaces Sign in Blood as card draw, and is less mana intensive. It also helps you filter your draws. Magma Jet kills bears or goes to the dome and filters our next 2 draws.
Keyrune and Xenagos provide ramp to come ahead against midrange matchups and to develop board presence as the same time we play removal against aggro. Both are also pretty solid since they can deal damage to the opponent repeatedly or block. Keyrune has first strike, while the tokens keep coming. Finally, Vraska gets rid of problematic permanents and can tick up to it's ultimate against control. Charm is a sideboard card, and our answer to Burning Earth. It also has a Shrivel mode for the same cost, so we can use it as a sweeper, and regenerate can save us from wrath effects. Bounty can be played in both MB and SB depending on your meta, but it has to be somewhere in the 75. It's very, very powerful, and it's really hard to deal with. The advantage it provides in the form of both life and creatures is just too good to pass, and the counters are just the icing on the cake. Whip is the most solid form of lifegan we can acces at the moment, and it lets us recur creatures, so it must be MB too.
Needle, Bomb and Gaze are meta calls for the sideboard. Bow can be split alongside Whip: it has more utility, can beef up Caryatids and gain us life, but requires mana investment. Finally, Chant can be used in a graveyard centered build.
Okay, this is what I've finally put together and started to test. First game online it took down someone's Junk (their DECK, not something else! ) Here's the list I used
Open to comments, definitely a work in progress, especially the sideboard
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This deck approaches midrange with a heavy control perspective and aims to maximize the value of Anger of the Gods. So far, I find the deck to be very synergistic and smooth to pilot. However, the one gripe I have is the (non-)interaction between spot removal and Chandra in certain situations.
I feel like some number of Stormbreath Dragons may be correct here, but I don't think they're better than Demon or Reaper. Stormbreath does best in a deck whose goal is to close out the game. This deck's goal is to drown the opponent in value while maintaining a solid defense. Tapping out on 5 for a Stormbreath that doesn't block cards such as Loxodon Smiter very well is a relative liability.
I'm also not sure whether I want Putrefy or Hero's Downfall. Putrefy is marginally easier to cast and we already have Dreadbore, which is why I've put it in the list to start. However, if Planeswalkers become problems then Hero's Downfall may need to take its place. Either way, the removal package can be tweaked depending on the expected metagame.
Looking at the sideboard, we have a total of 12 cards that interact poorly with hard control (non-dreadbore spot removal). We can board in nearly the entire sideboard against the 2 Aetherling control builds. Abrupt decay is great here as it hits Ashiok and Detention Sphere. An argument can be made for slaughter games in the board, as I don't believe this deck can beat Aetherling very easily.
Against aggro, we are already relatively favored due to 4 mainboard Anger of the Gods. However, the board of -2 Rakdos -1 Vraska -3 Putrefy +4 Deathrite +2 Abrupt Decay can be good here. Golgari Charm can also be brought in in place of Abrupt Decay if Burning Earth is expected.
I have dismissed the possibility of a Domri build because as far as I am concerned, Domri just performs better in Naya - they have better creatures. I certainly think that a Domri Jund build is fine, but it is outclassed by the Naya build no matter how I look at it.
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I have at least 24 creatures in the list, but i also have some removal in the mainboard, just not as much as your usual jund package.
Thanks you very much DarkNightCavalier for the Sig.
at worse, Domri would be additional removal with his 'fight' ability. And if you can control the board to get his emblem, then that's extra spice for your soup!
Try it out, if it works or dont work, let us know. Once I get a few more cards, I'm going to try a different route for Jund. So many deck options right now!!
BG The Rock GB
UW Control WU
EDH:
RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern:
UNBDU
not enough red mana...
red deck just wrecked me twice because i had the wrong mana to cast my spells...
I also dont see why people like Uworld connex
Ive been arguing against this card from the start
It's effectively
1BBx draw x card, pay x life, over x turns.
pretty abysmal. horrible tempo. just play sign on blood or whatever the equiv is. that scry card is way better. i feel like mind rot is even better than uworld
Pretty much this. Nighthowler has no upside, but nets some sort of CA in the form that the opponent always has to waste 2 cards to get rid of it. Late game is a very efficient beater, and can be bestowed even onto a token. Polukranos is impressive also: it's a 5/5 vanilla that blocks Blood Baron, but with ramp from Caryatid, Xenagos, and Keyrune he can dish out some damage and grow bigger. I'm liking it over Desecration Demon. Last, there's Pharika's Mender out there. I think this deserves some sort of mention since it has an average body for it's cost (not optimal but OK) and replaces herself with one card from your graveyard, be it your destroyed Whip, or Primeval Bounty, or Underworld Connections or just some creature. Can play well in decks using a reanimation and recursive subtheme with Deadbridge Chant, whip and Cerberus.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
1 Mountain
1 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
4 Blood Crypt
2 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Golgari Guildgate
2 Temple of Abandon
Creatures: 15
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Lifebane Zombie
4 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Desecration Demon
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Whip of Erebos
Planeswalkers: 2
2 Xenagos, The Reveler
Spells: 17
2 Read The Bones
3 Thoughtseize
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Putrefy
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Hero's Downfall
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Doom Blade
3 Pharika's Cure
2 Underworld Connections
2 Duress
1 Vraska The Unseen
1 Lifebane Zombie
1 Thoughtseize
2 Golgari Charm
I upped the removal and played around with the mana base a little (read: got tired of hitting all the RG land in the world). I cut a Read the Bones because while it's great to see, more often than not, I'm NOT casting it on Turn 3, so I'd rather not see it early instead of another removal spell.
I'm still testing Xenagos before I jump ship onto the Chandra train. Speaking of testing, I moved the Abrupt Decays to the main, even though I do feel their targets are very narrow, but powerful (Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere), and obviously, small, annoying creatures. Speaking of which, I have two Anger of the Gods main now for that very purpose. If I decide to run this at States, which I'm still heavily considering, it may go up to 3 because if there's one thing we do well around here, it's abusing RDW.
Edit: I really need to find a place for two copies of Ruric Thar.
GWURafiq of the TempoGWU
4x Blood Crypt
3x Forest
1x Mountain
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Stomping Ground
4x Swamp
4x Temple of Abandon
Instant (6)
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Hero's Downfall
2x Magma Jet
2x Putrefy
Planeswalker (3)
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Vraska the Unseen
1x Xenagos, The Reveler
2x Desecration Demon
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Polukranos, World Eater
4x Reaper of the Wilds
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Sylvan Caryatid
Sorcery (9)
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Dreadbore
1x Mizzium Mortars
2x Rakdos's Return
2x Read the Bones
Enchantment (2)
1x Bow of Nylea
1x Whip of Erebos
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Anger of the Gods
4x Doom Blade
2x Golgari Charm
3x Lifebane Zombie
2x Mistcutter Hydra
It's somewhat of a hodgepodge right now, as I'm going to see what cards work best later. For the dimir deck, the only cards I can specifically think of that would work best are black creatures (don't die to Doom Blade) and Mistcutter Hydra. Sylvan Caryatid has hex proof so they're good if I get them out T2, but does anyone else have ideas of cards that could counter control (and also might be good in other matchups)?
BG The Rock GB
UW Control WU
EDH:
RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern:
UNBDU
If your talking specifically about Dimir decks, which I haven't played against yet, then it may be slightly harder to play around. But, for U/W and Esper control, I am strongly considering Underworld Cerberus. On a lucky hand, you would have the puppy in your hand after the turn 4 board wipe. Drop a Cerberus while they are tapped out and they are forced to exile him or return him to your hand/deck. If they kill him, all your creatures returned back to your hand. So you can start dropping threats again either forcing their counter spells, or hopefully pushing through damage again.
But if we're playing against Verdict, why would any sane player wipe the board on turn 4 with our one threat on the field (if it even hits)? We're not an aggro deck that vomits 3-4 creatures out in three turns. It's far more likely that we get into a 1-for-1 trade war between their counters and black-based kill spells than we are to get a Verdict out of them T4.
Plus, we don't really run enough creatures to get value out of Dog recursion anyway. Honestly, if going that route, we'd probably get more mileage out of the Whip, if only for the fact that it skirts counterspells.
GWURafiq of the TempoGWU
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Golgari Guildgate
2 Temple of Abandon
3 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Creatures (15)
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Vraska the Unseen
Artifact (3)
2 Rakdos Keyrune
1 Whip of Erebos
Spells (11)
3 Thoughtseize
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Rakdos Return
1 Putrefy
2 Dreadbore
Enchantment (2)
2 Underworld Connections
1 Deathrite Shaman
3 Lifebane Zombie
3 Golgari Charm
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Vraska the Unseen
2 Primeval Bounty
2 Scavenging Ooze
What bothers me most is the most aggro matchup. We need a consistent source of lifegain. Deathrite and Ooze depend on cards on the Graveyard, Whip depends on creatures being on the battlefield, and Primeval Bounty on dropping lands. We should discuse the staples anyway, and I think there are 2 effective builds: a recursive, graveyard based strategy that works with Deadbridge Chant, Underworld Cerberus, Whip of Erebos and supporting cards, mainly Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze and Grisly Salvage, and the removal, beefy approach that we have now.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Rakdos Keyrune
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Magma Jet
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Putrefy
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Read the Bones
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
2 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Swamp
2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Underworld Connections
3 Golgari Charm
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Duress
1 Rakdos's Return
2 Slaughter Games
Here's my list. Its pretty standard from what I've been seeing on this thread. In my testing I've found Xenagos to be a little underwhelming. Ticking him up when we run so few creatures rarely nets more than 1-2 mana per turn.
Keyrune has been awesome every game. I started with one but quickly moved to two. Having a resilient threat/ramp/color fixing in one card is all you could ask for.
I tried using Reaper of the Wilds in place of Polukranos and I'm torn between the two. Reaper is much better for the control matchup and Polukranos for the aggro/midrange.
Stormbreath is awesome every single time. Would not play less than 4. Monstrosity is quite easy to achieve with the keyrunes and caryatids.
Has anyone considered running a few elves? Ramping is always good but makes Anger of the Gods even more painful.
Sig by DarkNightCavalier @ Heroes of the Plane Studios
I am curious as if you playtested the whip vs the bow. Before you said you preferred the bow, but I see you posted your latest brew with the whip. Care to provide insight on this choice? I, myself am still debating on one over the other. I like the utility the bow provides, but at the same time, it seems expensive to get life through all that mana pay.
I am still not decided. I'm going with the Whip for now because it requires no mana investment, but I would rather drop a Gorgon, Polukranos, Keyrune or removal rather than the Whip in order to block other threats, that's why it got cut back to 1. You also need some power in order to gain life, so Caryatid doesn't count, but with Xenagos tokens for chumping it's pretty much stellar, and if I drop a Dragon after a whip I can even race aggro with 8 life swings. On the other hand, Bow provides nice utility, specially in the graveyard recursive build with Cerberus and Chant, and lifegain is more stable and reliable. It even comes a turn before, but you have to tap 2 mana each time (which, with Xenagos, Caryatid and Rune might no be too much.)
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
I may try a 1/1 split of Bow/Whip though, since the Whip can still be quite useful for those larger life swings.
Here's my current list
4 Scavenging ooze
2 Gore-house Chainwalker
2 Lifebane Zombie
4 Dreg Mangler
1 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
3 Desecration Demon
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
1 Vraska the Unseen
2 Magma Jet
3 Dreadbore
2 Rakdos Return
1 Primeval Bounty
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
3 Blood Crypt
3 Temple of Abandon
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
3 Forest
this deck is far from perfect but i like it.
Exava, rakdos blood witch- Was great, even considering a 3rd one, i never wanted her to block, she was always a 4/4 first strike haster.
Magma Jet- Saved me from land flooding every game I seen her.
Vraska- Everytime I seen her I needed her. Blow up a walker, blow up another walker... loved her.
Ghor-clan Rampager- Actually this card was lack luster, and i almost wanna take him down to 2 for the 3rd Exava... the blood rush was never a good option when i could just play him or something else.
All in all i know the deck needs work but i will be sticking with the domri route, and if my fnm results keep being promising, i will be entering the standard event coming up in late october
Thanks you very much DarkNightCavalier for the Sig.
This is probably more of an aggro deck, the higher creature count makes Domri a lot more useful.
BG The Rock GB
UW Control WU
EDH:
RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern:
UNBDU
4x Blood Crypt
4x Overgrown Tomb
3x Stomping Ground
2x Temple of Abandon
2x Rakdos Guildgate
2x Golgari Guildgate
2x Mountain
3x Swamp
2x Forest
Creatures: 17
4x Desecration Demon
4x Reaper of the Wilds
2x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Lifebane Zombie
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Putrefy
2x Dreadbore
3x Read the Bones
3x Rakdos' Return
Artifact/Enchantment: 2
2x Bow of Nylea
Planeswalker: 3
2x Xenagos the Reveler
1x Vraska the Unseen
3x Duress
3x Mizzium Mortars
2x Pithing Needle
2x Gaze of Granite
3x Golgari Charm
2x Slaughter Games
I saw this primer a couple hours before my fnm and kinda slapped this together, and it turned out really well. I came third out of a 30 person field; our FNM is one of the hot beds for States and the IQ players so the competition is stiff to say the least. G/w Aggro ended up taking the tournament but I am still confident in this deck and everything it can do.
What do you guys think?
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Domri Rade
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
4 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Dreadbore
3 Rakdos's Return
2 Lifebane Zombie
2 Doom Blade
2 Golgari Charm
4 Shock
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Thoughtseize
2x Desecration Demon
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Polukranos, World Eater
4x Reaper of the Wilds
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Stormbreath Dragon
4x Sylvan Caryatid
Sorcery (9)
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Dreadbore
1x Mizzium Mortars
2x Rakdos's Return
2x Read the Bones
1x Bow of Nylea
1x Whip of Erebos
Land (24)
1x Ovegrown Tomb
3x Golgari Guildgate
4x Rakdos Guildgate
4x Gruul Guildgate
4x Swamp
4x Forest
4x Mountain
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Hero's Downfall
2x Magma Jet
2x Putrefy
Planeswalker (3)
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Vraska the Unseen
1x Xenagos, The Reveler
This is the deck I did some casual testing with today. It did pretty well, but like others have reported a lot of my wins come down to the wire. It was pretty common for me to be down to ~5 life before taking board control and killing them in a few turns or getting the whip out and recovering.
It's a little more of an aggro deck, a lot more creatures then a lot of the deck lists here and it includes Domri. It includes a lot of the some creatures we'd like though.
BG The Rock GB
UW Control WU
EDH:
RBU Nekusar UBR
Modern:
UNBDU
3 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple of Abandon
3 Rakdos Guildgate
3 Swamp
3 Forest
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Lotleth Troll
2 Spike Jester
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Dreg Mangler
2 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Ember Swallower
2 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Underworld Cerberus
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
3 Domri Rade
2 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Whip of Erebos
Another list featuring Varolz, Domri, and a large variety of creatures with haste, or given haste.
Oh, my username is the same on Xbox and Cockatrice, add me!
"For some of us, easier Magic is good Magic, but if you are one of those 'intelligent types,' feel free to play your Hive Mind mirrors. The rest of us are here for the fireworks." - Kent Ketter
Playing in Type 2...BGRJundHearted
4 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Sylvan Caryatid
Hydras are more of a SB material, but every single game I've sided them in, they crush all the opposition. Alongside Dragon, and our disruption package they pretty much screw with all the U/W/x and Esper decks that are showing. Alongside Polukranos and Stormbreath they provide a very useful mana sink.
These are creatures that aren't core for the deck but provide some nice utility. DD is here because I strongly reccomend Polukranos over him if you're torn between both. Cerberus and Pharika provide some nice graveyard recursion which can be played alongside Shaman, Ooze, Whip and Shaman. Ruric nails Control and opposing Midrange even more alongside our MB fatties, and Sire is basically Rakdos's Return on a stick.
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A combination of 7-8 of the above will form our removal package. Which one you pick depends on the meta, but Mizzium Mortars and Dreadbore have the higher priority, while Blade has the lowest one. Decay and Putrefy are needed in order to have instant-speed removal, and since all of these cards are multipurposal (they hit more than one kind of target), they won't be dead in most matchups. Mortars excels as doubling as a MB wrath if we overload it and cheap removal with a lot of reach if we don't. Anger is a staple and should always go in the 75.
This is the go-to removal if you're dealing with lots of aggro and weenies. Pharika's Cure sure is heavy color commitment, but the 2 life it provides is one of our few lifegain sources. Shock is the cheapest removal and can hit 1-drops, and Strike can kill pretty much everything Doom Blade does in aggro matchups. Flames can 2-for-1 and sometimes even 3-for-1 against weenies and RDW, which complements Anger and Golgari Charm's -1/-1 mode nicely.
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2-3 Thoughtseize
1-2 Rakdos Return
2 Underworld Connections
This is our standard CA package. Chandra and Connections draw us cards, while Thoughtseize and Rakdos Return peck away cards in the opponent's hand. Both compliment nicely with Lifebane Zombie.
Read the Bones replaces Sign in Blood as card draw, and is less mana intensive. It also helps you filter your draws. Magma Jet kills bears or goes to the dome and filters our next 2 draws.
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Keyrune and Xenagos provide ramp to come ahead against midrange matchups and to develop board presence as the same time we play removal against aggro. Both are also pretty solid since they can deal damage to the opponent repeatedly or block. Keyrune has first strike, while the tokens keep coming. Finally, Vraska gets rid of problematic permanents and can tick up to it's ultimate against control. Charm is a sideboard card, and our answer to Burning Earth. It also has a Shrivel mode for the same cost, so we can use it as a sweeper, and regenerate can save us from wrath effects. Bounty can be played in both MB and SB depending on your meta, but it has to be somewhere in the 75. It's very, very powerful, and it's really hard to deal with. The advantage it provides in the form of both life and creatures is just too good to pass, and the counters are just the icing on the cake. Whip is the most solid form of lifegan we can acces at the moment, and it lets us recur creatures, so it must be MB too.
Needle, Bomb and Gaze are meta calls for the sideboard. Bow can be split alongside Whip: it has more utility, can beef up Caryatids and gain us life, but requires mana investment. Finally, Chant can be used in a graveyard centered build.
Thoughts?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dreadbore
2 MIzzium Mortars
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Sylvan Carytid
1 Rakdos Keyrune
3 Putrefy
1 Underworld Connections
2 Boon Satyr
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
3 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Rakdos's Return
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple of Abandon
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
2 Forest
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Lifebane Zombie
1 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Primeval Bounty
2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Underworld Connections
Open to comments, definitely a work in progress, especially the sideboard
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Currently playing:
Standard BUG Control
Modern :UAffinity, GNyxWave
Legacy UBTezzAffinity
My Cube
4 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Desecration Demon
Artifacts
2 Rakdos Keyrune
1 Whip of Erebos
Instants and Sorceries
4 Anger of the Gods
4 Read the Bones
2 Dreadbore
3 Putrefy
3 Doom Blade
2 Shock
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Vraska the Unseen
Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rakdos Guildgate
3 Mountain
4 Swamp
2 Forest
1 Rakdos's Return
4 Thoughtseize
2 Underworld Connections
2 Golgari Charm
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Abrupt Decay
This deck approaches midrange with a heavy control perspective and aims to maximize the value of Anger of the Gods. So far, I find the deck to be very synergistic and smooth to pilot. However, the one gripe I have is the (non-)interaction between spot removal and Chandra in certain situations.
I feel like some number of Stormbreath Dragons may be correct here, but I don't think they're better than Demon or Reaper. Stormbreath does best in a deck whose goal is to close out the game. This deck's goal is to drown the opponent in value while maintaining a solid defense. Tapping out on 5 for a Stormbreath that doesn't block cards such as Loxodon Smiter very well is a relative liability.
I'm also not sure whether I want Putrefy or Hero's Downfall. Putrefy is marginally easier to cast and we already have Dreadbore, which is why I've put it in the list to start. However, if Planeswalkers become problems then Hero's Downfall may need to take its place. Either way, the removal package can be tweaked depending on the expected metagame.
Looking at the sideboard, we have a total of 12 cards that interact poorly with hard control (non-dreadbore spot removal). We can board in nearly the entire sideboard against the 2 Aetherling control builds. Abrupt decay is great here as it hits Ashiok and Detention Sphere. An argument can be made for slaughter games in the board, as I don't believe this deck can beat Aetherling very easily.
Against aggro, we are already relatively favored due to 4 mainboard Anger of the Gods. However, the board of -2 Rakdos -1 Vraska -3 Putrefy +4 Deathrite +2 Abrupt Decay can be good here. Golgari Charm can also be brought in in place of Abrupt Decay if Burning Earth is expected.
I have dismissed the possibility of a Domri build because as far as I am concerned, Domri just performs better in Naya - they have better creatures. I certainly think that a Domri Jund build is fine, but it is outclassed by the Naya build no matter how I look at it.