Hi guys. I'm a regular FNMer and Prerelease attender, so I can't really say I'm a whizz at this game.
Before Onslaught rotated out, my pet deck was a U/W Control deck with a twist. It had no creatures, packed akromas vengeance, wing shards and ***, plus Isochron Scepter control with Boomerang, Mana leak etc, the two win conditions were Brain Freeze and Mesmeric orb. it won many games just because of surprise factor. After game one I would regularly side in raise the alarm, darksteel collossuss and proteus staff for extra surprises.
Anyway, that's all gone now, I needed a new pet deck, and my eyes were drawn to 8th edition super tech, I mean...no one expects 8th edition right?
here is my new deck (it's no way near perfect yet)
Aha yes, blood pet is strong, but I'm trying to keep this deck strictly type 2 (standard) and blood pet was not reprinted in 8th edition unfortunately.
Hey you are exactly right, The zubera would be a great addition, or maybe ravenous rats. The main reason I put royal assassin in there is because so many decks I've played against just don't expect him and find him nearly impossible to work around. Maybe he'll be good in the sideboard, I'll try the zubera or ravenous rats in his place.
Going down to 3 plaguelord seemed like a good choice but I played a few games and with this deck you pretty much want to ALWAYS draw a plaguelord because he's the most powerful creature and the games in which I didn't play Phyrexian Arena I found myself digging slowly praying for a plaguelord, so maybe I'll add a couple of Kokushos to power up the deck here's what I'll try next:
Here's a deck I posted over in the B/G thread that relies heavily on 8th...'geddon half, or in a mono deck all, their lands and set up Affinity, Harvester, or Dragon for the Kill.
Ramp up the mana base, drop Death Pit Offering, Natural Affinity and -2/-2 of your choice, lock with Greater Harvester.
-StrikeCanary
edit: After re-reading I saw your main focus to be Gravepact. I think switching out Assasins for Grafted Wargear would be pretty scary. Here come the 3/3 BoP...does he block or do the BoP trade 2-for-1. Can he even block a turn 3 3/3 flyer?
Did we count great, O soul, to penetrate the themes of mighty books,
Absorbing deep and full from thoughts, plays, speculations?
But now from thee to me, caged bird, to feel thy joyous warble,
Filling the air, the lonesome room, the long forenoon,
Is it not just as great, O soul?
Greater Harvester
and Death Cloud
Im guessing that your opponents dont usually have creatures so the harvester is a beast and its drawback can be a good thing.
Example: If you have a late game sakura or birds sacrifive it to the Harvester so your opp loses a creature than you can swing and unless they have something to throw at the harvester theree gonna take a big hit.
Deathcloud in your deck would force your opponent to lose 2x creatures because for everyone you lose they lose one also.
For your sideboard Molder Slug Hoses affintiy once you get it into play because they will lose at least one artifact a turn + ravanger has to be a 6/6 to beat it which is quite a bit.
Hope that helps
EDIT: Also consider fecundity and maybe even blasting station with beacon of creation Maybe just the beacon and Fecundity, but they will add dsome seirous pop to your deck. Especially with the plague lord.
4 Bottle Gnomes (sac a creature, I gain 3 life) 4 Myr Servitor (chump blocks, sac your creature, and he's chumping again) 4 Myr Retriever (same as above)
Did we count great, O soul, to penetrate the themes of mighty books,
Absorbing deep and full from thoughts, plays, speculations?
But now from thee to me, caged bird, to feel thy joyous warble,
Filling the air, the lonesome room, the long forenoon,
Is it not just as great, O soul?
Hey guys, Those are some great ideas, the ones I thought were the coolest are Grafted Wargear, Death Pit Offering and Greater Harvester. Death Cloud is cool, but I don't think it's for me.
I switched out the Assassins for Grafted Wargear, which worked quite well, especially if you have a birds of paradise out (I also tried out Loxodon Warhammer, which worked ok but a bit slow)
Oh and StrikeCanary, if I was to go mono black, a deck packing Plaguelords and Grave Pacts probably wouldn't have enough efficiency or reliability, and I would probably just have to go the death cloud route. I really like the power of Green with it's Birds, Eternal Witness and Sakura-Tribe Elders. along with the possibility of strong artifact destruction in the sideboard. But of course I'm not an expert on these things, So I'm just making a Mono Black grave pact deck now to try on MWS.
The FMN that I play at has got sick of affinity and tons of people are now playing green decks, especially with rude awakening and X/U decks. I'm starting to like my 4 main deck Viridian Shamans less and less.
Before Onslaught rotated out, my pet deck was a U/W Control deck with a twist. It had no creatures, packed akromas vengeance, wing shards and ***, plus Isochron Scepter control with Boomerang, Mana leak etc, the two win conditions were Brain Freeze and Mesmeric orb. it won many games just because of surprise factor. After game one I would regularly side in raise the alarm, darksteel collossuss and proteus staff for extra surprises.
Anyway, that's all gone now, I needed a new pet deck, and my eyes were drawn to 8th edition super tech, I mean...no one expects 8th edition right?
here is my new deck (it's no way near perfect yet)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
3 Eternal Witness
3 Viridian Shaman
4 Phyrexian Plaguelord
4 Phyrexian Arena
3 Royal Assassin
4 Echoing Decay
4 Rend Flesh
3 Grave Pact
13 Swamp
11 Forest
Sideboard:
Some oxidizes, and a bunch of stuff I haven't thought of yet
So anyway, cards I would also want to fit in somehow:
Diabolic tutor
Spawning Pit + Nuisance Engine
Kokusho the big dragon guy would also seem like a good fit (must get some)
Tell me what you think please! the main purpose of this deck is to make grave pact good in T2, and I think I'm getting close (maybe)
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
Going down to 3 plaguelord seemed like a good choice but I played a few games and with this deck you pretty much want to ALWAYS draw a plaguelord because he's the most powerful creature and the games in which I didn't play Phyrexian Arena I found myself digging slowly praying for a plaguelord, so maybe I'll add a couple of Kokushos to power up the deck here's what I'll try next:
-3 Royal Assassin
-1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
-1 Phyrexian Arena (I draw 2 way too often)
+ 2 Kokusho, the Evening Star
+ 3 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
4 Death Pit Offering
4 Natural Affinity
4 Rampant Growth
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Eternal Witness
3 Greater Harvester/Kokoshu
4 Echoing Decay
3 Hideous Laughter
2 Spawning Pit
12 Swamp
12 Forest
Ramp up the mana base, drop Death Pit Offering, Natural Affinity and -2/-2 of your choice, lock with Greater Harvester.
-StrikeCanary
edit: After re-reading I saw your main focus to be Gravepact. I think switching out Assasins for Grafted Wargear would be pretty scary. Here come the 3/3 BoP...does he block or do the BoP trade 2-for-1. Can he even block a turn 3 3/3 flyer?
Greater Harvester
and Death Cloud
Im guessing that your opponents dont usually have creatures so the harvester is a beast and its drawback can be a good thing.
Example: If you have a late game sakura or birds sacrifive it to the Harvester so your opp loses a creature than you can swing and unless they have something to throw at the harvester theree gonna take a big hit.
Deathcloud in your deck would force your opponent to lose 2x creatures because for everyone you lose they lose one also.
For your sideboard
Molder Slug Hoses affintiy once you get it into play because they will lose at least one artifact a turn + ravanger has to be a 6/6 to beat it which is quite a bit.
Hope that helps
EDIT: Also consider fecundity and maybe even blasting station with beacon of creation Maybe just the beacon and Fecundity, but they will add dsome seirous pop to your deck. Especially with the plague lord.
I've been thinking a lot about this deck, unfortunately I have no way of playtesting it right now. I think you could go mono-black a la:
4 Myr Servitor (chump blocks, sac your creature, and he's chumping again)
4 Myr Retriever (same as above)
4 Phyrexian Arena
4 Echoing Decay
4 Rend Flesh
3 Grave Pact
3 Wayfarer's Bauble (helps get that 4th swamp)
23 Swamp
-StrikeCanary
I switched out the Assassins for Grafted Wargear, which worked quite well, especially if you have a birds of paradise out (I also tried out Loxodon Warhammer, which worked ok but a bit slow)
Oh and StrikeCanary, if I was to go mono black, a deck packing Plaguelords and Grave Pacts probably wouldn't have enough efficiency or reliability, and I would probably just have to go the death cloud route. I really like the power of Green with it's Birds, Eternal Witness and Sakura-Tribe Elders. along with the possibility of strong artifact destruction in the sideboard. But of course I'm not an expert on these things, So I'm just making a Mono Black grave pact deck now to try on MWS.
The FMN that I play at has got sick of affinity and tons of people are now playing green decks, especially with rude awakening and X/U decks. I'm starting to like my 4 main deck Viridian Shamans less and less.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
I'd add another Viridian Shaman to the sideboard- four is probably the best amount versus affinity.
I agree that Royal Assasin isn't the right choice, and you should use Dripping-Tongue Zubera in its place.