The base of this deck was created Pre-WWK but after taking a good look around our current Standard environment and studying Chapin's UW Control deck... I decided to combine the strengths of Tectonic Edge in tandem with the CA machine that is Gavin's creation.
So without further ado, here's a decklist by yours truly.
Previously in the past threads, the Grim Discovery vs Sign in Blood was always a hot debate and I was an advocate of Sign in Blood until WWK. Tectonic Edge is simply too good of a card to pass up and seeing that you're in the right colors... this gives you a reason to run Creeping Tar Pit. The synergy that Grim Discovery provides in this deck is crucial to this deck and it will almost always ensure that you will have a land in your hand.
Also, I know that 28 lands seem a bit too steep but every land drop counts and you definitely don't want to get color-screwed so I feel that it's warranted.
Thus far, I've had no problem with the curves of this deck and it's been doing fairly decent but I haven't had a chance to play-test certain matchups.
Dralnu Tectonics could definitely use more testing but with any hope, we'll be able to establish this archetype into a tier deck.
So yeah, I came up with this idea! Kind of. Stifle said to make a UB deck with Edge and I said to throw it into Dralnu, and here we are.
I don't agree with all the choices [mainly the lack of cyclers or SiB, and the 28 lands - I'd definitely cut one, if not more]. But Dralnu's problem was that it would get outclassed by control or something lategame. With Edge, Dralnu can keep the other deck in the midgame until it wins vs. control, which it couldn't do before.
*edit*
So my edits from the MD:
-cutting a Gargoyle Castle for a fourth Nighthawk for a better early game vs. control
-cutting a single Soul Stair Expedition for a fourth Architects of Will
-cutting a second soul stair for a single Monstrous Carabid
Unsure about the last edit, but I feel really bad playing four cyclers in this deck. I mean, when you have to play Soul Manipulation and not get a guy back, it's really depressing. Turns it into a 3 mana Essence Scatter. Also, Soul Manipulation and Grim Discovery are a lot better than Soul Stair: they both do something right away, basically. Discovery is a Stone Rain with a Raise Dead attached to it and Soul Manipulation is a Dismiss. Soul Stair is nuts activated lategame, but I don't know if I want to see it early and midgame as much as I do these other cards.
I wish I didn't have to cut the Gargoyle Castle for the Nighthawk. But I really want four nighthawks. Maybe cut something else.
4 Countersqualls is definitely the way to go, lol, it's basically the entirety of your plan against control. 'Play Countersqualls and Tectonic Edges, and hope the opponent dies. before they play anything good.'
my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
I love the concept and I'll be testing it, but hasn't 12 creature recursion spells felt kind of excessive with only 12 creatures? It seems like the Soul Stair Expeditions would feel dead a lot of the time.
So yeah, I came up with this idea! Kind of. Stifle said to make a UB deck with Edge and I said to throw it into Dralnu, and here we are.
I don't agree with all the choices [mainly the lack of cyclers or SiB, and the 28 lands - I'd definitely cut one, if not more]. But Dralnu's problem was that it would get outclassed by control or something lategame. With Edge, Dralnu can keep the other deck in the midgame until it wins vs. control, which it couldn't do before.
Sam has it right on the spot with this. This deck would get totally hosed over Control decks in the lategame (i.e. Cruel Ultimatum) but a reusable Tectonic Edge definitely throws a Control deck's manabase off-guard.
Quote from Destruktiw »
I love the concept and I'll be testing it, but hasn't 12 creature recursion spells felt kind of excessive with only 12 creatures? It seems like the Soul Stair Expeditions would feel dead a lot of the time.
Not at all... you'd be surprised how often you get to cycle/re-cycle Architect of Will and not to mention that Vampire Nighthawk almost always eats removal the turn it comes out so... you don't have much of a problem of getting creatures to the graveyard.
Even with 7 blue sources and 17 black, I don't see the need to risk Countersquall over Negate, personally. The life loss doesn't seem worth it. Agony Warp definitely, as that card is too good.
With all the recursion, I'd probably up Architects to 4 even, as Soul Star nabs you 2 creatures. You're right, definitely not going to run out of targets.
Random question: Is the Marsh Flats/Verdant Catacombs split merely a bluff thing? Been seeing it a lot as of late in decklists...
With such a high land count, Treasure Hunt might fit in here. It also works nicely with Architects CIP ability. I like this deck idea. Done any testing yet?
Even with 7 blue sources and 17 black, I don't see the need to risk Countersquall over Negate, personally. The life loss doesn't seem worth it. Agony Warp definitely, as that card is too good.
With 17 black sources... the risk is virtually non-existant. I can't tell you a scenario where I've ever needed more black. The 2 life swing is also more relevant then you think, as it practically speeds up the game for you.
Quote from Squall »
With all the recursion, I'd probably up Architects to 4 even, as Soul Star nabs you 2 creatures. You're right, definitely not going to run out of targets.
Now this is some sound advice. I wasn't having any problems with drawing targets before but I suppose it's always better to be safe then sorry. I took out a single copy of Soul Stair Expedition for the last Architect. This card is so clutch/utility in this deck... there's no reason to NOT run 4.
Quote from Squall »
Random question: Is the Marsh Flats/Verdant Catacombs split merely a bluff thing? Been seeing it a lot as of late in decklists...
Part bluff, but it's really just more synergy with Grim Discovery and of course let's not forget it provides an extra quest counter on Soul Stair Expedition. I'm even considering the possibility of dropping a swamp for another fetchland.
Quote from SuperSaiyanXMike »
With such a high land count, Treasure Hunt might fit in here. It also works nicely with Architects CIP ability. I like this deck idea. Done any testing yet?
You don't really need anymore CA in this deck as the engine itself is enough. To me, it just seems like a waste of deck space as you could be using those deck spots to focus on the integral strategy of this deck. But if you wanna go ahead, feel free to playtest it with Treasure Hunt and tell me how it works out for you.
Anyway, just some quick updates guys from me guys.
I just went through UW Chapin Control and 2 - 0'd without dropping a sweat. The key here is to aggro ASAP on Game 1 with Gatekeeper and company. Then on Game 2, bring in the Bloodwitches and Hexmages and you should be good to go.
I don't know if this has been tested yet, but how would one or two copies of Sphinx of Lost Truths do in here? I could see them being just a card advantage machine in a build like this.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
""Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est"
(They can kill you, but the legalities of eating you are quite a bit dicier).
I had a deck similar to this but with SiB and no architect engine. The one thing I can say is that countersquall has won me 2 games lol. I was playing jund and rdw when I would swing with my sphinx until they were at 1 or 2 and they would have to attack and cast a blightning or lightning bolt to win that turn. Always liked the look on their face when they would cast it, just to get it countered and lose the game lol.
I was playing a draft match, and I had a Serra Angel out. I went to swing with it, and by accident made the motion to tap it. The other player untapped it and said:
"I know you want to tap that, but she's a respectable gal with vigilance."
Have you tested Jace, the Mindsculptor in the deck?Seem like a good finisher instead of the random Bloodwitch MD.How about a Quicksand or two to deal with weenie deck?
How is the deck doing against fast creature deck (like bushwaker)?You dont seem to have a lot of removal and drawing multiple recursion spell early on can realy cripple you.
Hmmm I'm considering playing this for my standard ptq in June.
I'm considering running flashfreeze > negates though, because flash freeze does so much more! Other than that, deck seems fine. More playtesting will tell.
I loved soul stair in dralnu, but I do think it's worse here.
Also want to suggest Quicksand. Just in case fast aggro's a problem? It shouldn't be.
@Zytz: There basically isn't any room. people ran SoLT in Dralnu until they realized they were playing it so they could draw Jwar Isle or Bloodwitch, so they could play Jwar Isle or Bloodwitch instead. That's basically how it'll go, I think.
my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
I don't know if this has been tested yet, but how would one or two copies of Sphinx of Lost Truths do in here? I could see them being just a card advantage machine in a build like this.
This.
All the recursion means you wouldn't even have to pay the kicker cost- you can just keep what you need right now, and dump other stuff to the GY to keep safe until you need it with Grim Discovery or Soul Stair.
Soul stair Expedition is great even if you draw it mid-game; you just need to drop a fetch and it's already on 2. Plus, you can bring back lands to add counters via grim discovery.
I was wondering whats how do the matchups fair? What decks is it good against and so-so. Has Infest been a really good card out of the side? What are the SB Strategies vs what decks? I'm curious because I might be playing in the SCG INDY next week and this looks like something that is right up my ally. I just put it in my deckbox on MWS and plan on testing it, might even play it at this weeks FNM. I think this deck has lots of promise.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Type 2
B/WR Dega Midrange B Mono B Devotion
Modern RBG Jund RG Tron
Great site below of a buddy of mine, if you love video game humor
Ships, I've only played 10 games-ish with this deck, but I can tell you my impressions:
-Tectonic Edge doesn't kill Jund, but it stops them from playing that large dragon guy, which is nice.
-You can also usually 2-for-1 a bunch of stuff.
So the Jund MU should be ... OK. I lost the one jund MU I played, but that's mainly because after 12 turns the guy I was playing against drew all of his basic lands while I drew 2 tectonic edges and a whole bunch of my own lands, basic or non-. I ended the game without a single Nighthawk or Gatekeeper being drawn.
Boros should be good too, because you have, basically, Vampires' anti-Boros tools - Warp is urge to Feed, and Gatekeeper/Nighthawk are what they are. Granted, you don't have Tendrils, but you do have Soul Manipulation to counter Ranger or Bushwhacker or w/e.
Control is better because of Edge.
...
To be perfectly honest, I have a kind of hard time determining if it has a bad MU against anything. Maybe against Grixis. Countersquall helps.
Infest is in the SB against swarms of tokens, since all of your answers are 1-for-1. If you let, say, a Conqueror's Pledge through, now you can actually recover from that without dying. It also kills Boros's swarms. It's pretty helpful.
With stifle's list, I'd side like so:
Jund:
+seas, 2 hexmage, 3 flashfreeze
-countersquall, 1 nighthawk, 4 warp[?!?/expedition?]
UW Control
+3 hexmage
+2 Bloodwitch
-4 Agony Warp
-1 Soul Stair
Boss Naya
[see Jund, only definitely take out the expedition and not the warps]
Though I'm usually complete rubbish from a sideboarding-during-tourney standpoint. Mainly because I don't like thinking in medias res. Hopefully this helps a little though [?].
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
So far I've played about 6-8 games so far and am loving it. It seems very good, a lot better than I expected it to be.
Match 1 was vs Boros. He won the first game because I got mana flooded, and I drew nothing helpful. Second game I won with just enough flashfreeze, agony warp, and soul manipulation to hold him back and get nighthawk online. Third game he ended up having to leave, so draw.
Match 2 was vs Jund. In general this seems 50/50, if not towards my favor with the counters. Went 2-1.
Match 3 was rather interesting, the guy seemed to be running some odd splice of this and green with Abyssal Persecutor. Game 1 he got mana screwed, game two flashfreeze prevented him from pulsing his persecutor, and I swung for win with a tar pits and recurring Architects of Will to stack his deck.
Do People Think Calcite Snapper is a good card for this deck? They struggle to get rid of it and if they are able to you get it back. It acts as an aggressive beater and a wall
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
[CENTER][/CENTER][CENTER]
EllE:
Because she's the hero standard deserves, but not the one it needs right now... and so we'll chase her... because she can take it... because she's not a hero... she's a silent guardian
Ships, I've only played 10 games-ish with this deck, but I can tell you my impressions:
-Tectonic Edge doesn't kill Jund, but it stops them from playing that large dragon guy, which is nice.
-You can also usually 2-for-1 a bunch of stuff.
So the Jund MU should be ... OK. I lost the one jund MU I played, but that's mainly because after 12 turns the guy I was playing against drew all of his basic lands while I drew 2 tectonic edges and a whole bunch of my own lands, basic or non-. I ended the game without a single Nighthawk or Gatekeeper being drawn.
Boros should be good too, because you have, basically, Vampires' anti-Boros tools - Warp is urge to Feed, and Gatekeeper/Nighthawk are what they are. Granted, you don't have Tendrils, but you do have Soul Manipulation to counter Ranger or Bushwhacker or w/e.
Control is better because of Edge.
...
To be perfectly honest, I have a kind of hard time determining if it has a bad MU against anything. Maybe against Grixis. Countersquall helps.
Infest is in the SB against swarms of tokens, since all of your answers are 1-for-1. If you let, say, a Conqueror's Pledge through, now you can actually recover from that without dying. It also kills Boros's swarms. It's pretty helpful.
With stifle's list, I'd side like so:
Jund:
+seas, 2 hexmage, 3 flashfreeze
-countersquall, 1 nighthawk, 4 warp[?!?/expedition?]
UW Control
+3 hexmage
+2 Bloodwitch
-4 Agony Warp
-1 Soul Stair
Boss Naya
[see Jund, only definitely take out the expedition and not the warps]
Though I'm usually complete rubbish from a sideboarding-during-tourney standpoint. Mainly because I don't like thinking in medias res. Hopefully this helps a little though [?].
This actually helps quite a bit I expect to see those decks in droves @ the 5K and in my meta....so I'm gonna give this a whirl I believe. Right now the build I have in mind is @ 26 lands I dropped the Gargoyle Castle for 4th Nighthawk and dropped a Soul Stair for a Carabid, but the SB looks very good, if G/W tokens get popular Infest is definitally away to clear that stuff after an Eldrazi Monument.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Type 2
B/WR Dega Midrange B Mono B Devotion
Modern RBG Jund RG Tron
Great site below of a buddy of mine, if you love video game humor
Do People Think Calcite Snapper is a good card for this deck? They struggle to get rid of it and if they are able to you get it back. It acts as an aggressive beater and a wall
It's a good card but I've only goldfished the deck a little and having access to Double Black & Double Blue on turn 3 is taxing it would seem. What would you cut though? Nighthawk and Gatekeeper are pretty awesome in the 3 slot.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Type 2
B/WR Dega Midrange B Mono B Devotion
Modern RBG Jund RG Tron
Great site below of a buddy of mine, if you love video game humor
SuperSaiyan, this basically _is_ UpDownDralnu, only it runs Tectonic Edge and Grim Discovery. So basically, it's Dralnu, with Dralnu's worst matchup [control] solved by running 4 more lands than it used to, and no Sign in Blood [which was pretty painful turn 2 sometimes anyways].
Also, it runs a lot less cyclers. Mainly because ... uhh ... it can get away with it? Yeah.
Also, Calcite Snapper is not for this deck. UU by turn 3 is nigh impossible. Heck, I struggle to get UU by turn 6, sometimes.
my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Welcome everyone~ to the discussion thread of a deck that I'd like to coin as Dralnu Tectonics!
So before I go in depths about this deck... the origin of this deck is inspired/derived off of Lesurgo's Up Down Dralnu deck.
(You can read more about his deck here.)
If you have not played a variation of this deck... the goal of this deck is simple. Cripple your opponent slowly with two-for-ones (i.e. Soul Manipulation, Grim Discovery, Soul Stair Expedition, Gatekeeper of Malakir) and beat face with finishers (such as Sphinx of Jwar Isle) after generating enough CA.
The base of this deck was created Pre-WWK but after taking a good look around our current Standard environment and studying Chapin's UW Control deck... I decided to combine the strengths of Tectonic Edge in tandem with the CA machine that is Gavin's creation.
So without further ado, here's a decklist by yours truly.
9 Swamp
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Island
2 Marsh Flats
1 Gargoyle Castle
1 Verdant Catacombs
Creatures:
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Architects of Will
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Agony Warp
4 Countersquall
4 Grim Discovery
4 Soul Manipulation
4 Soul Stair Expedition
4 Spreading Seas
3 Vampire Hexmage
3 Flashfreeze
3 Infest
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
Previously in the past threads, the Grim Discovery vs Sign in Blood was always a hot debate and I was an advocate of Sign in Blood until WWK. Tectonic Edge is simply too good of a card to pass up and seeing that you're in the right colors... this gives you a reason to run Creeping Tar Pit. The synergy that Grim Discovery provides in this deck is crucial to this deck and it will almost always ensure that you will have a land in your hand.
Also, I know that 28 lands seem a bit too steep but every land drop counts and you definitely don't want to get color-screwed so I feel that it's warranted.
Thus far, I've had no problem with the curves of this deck and it's been doing fairly decent but I haven't had a chance to play-test certain matchups.
Dralnu Tectonics could definitely use more testing but with any hope, we'll be able to establish this archetype into a tier deck.
Questions? Comments?
Feel free to contribue/playtest!
I don't agree with all the choices [mainly the lack of cyclers or SiB, and the 28 lands - I'd definitely cut one, if not more]. But Dralnu's problem was that it would get outclassed by control or something lategame. With Edge, Dralnu can keep the other deck in the midgame until it wins vs. control, which it couldn't do before.
*edit*
So my edits from the MD:
-cutting a Gargoyle Castle for a fourth Nighthawk for a better early game vs. control
-cutting a single Soul Stair Expedition for a fourth Architects of Will
-cutting a second soul stair for a single Monstrous Carabid
Unsure about the last edit, but I feel really bad playing four cyclers in this deck. I mean, when you have to play Soul Manipulation and not get a guy back, it's really depressing. Turns it into a 3 mana Essence Scatter. Also, Soul Manipulation and Grim Discovery are a lot better than Soul Stair: they both do something right away, basically. Discovery is a Stone Rain with a Raise Dead attached to it and Soul Manipulation is a Dismiss. Soul Stair is nuts activated lategame, but I don't know if I want to see it early and midgame as much as I do these other cards.
I wish I didn't have to cut the Gargoyle Castle for the Nighthawk. But I really want four nighthawks. Maybe cut something else.
4 Countersqualls is definitely the way to go, lol, it's basically the entirety of your plan against control. 'Play Countersqualls and Tectonic Edges, and hope the opponent dies. before they play anything good.'
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
EDH: URG Intet, the Dreamer
Sam has it right on the spot with this. This deck would get totally hosed over Control decks in the lategame (i.e. Cruel Ultimatum) but a reusable Tectonic Edge definitely throws a Control deck's manabase off-guard.
Not at all... you'd be surprised how often you get to cycle/re-cycle Architect of Will and not to mention that Vampire Nighthawk almost always eats removal the turn it comes out so... you don't have much of a problem of getting creatures to the graveyard.
With all the recursion, I'd probably up Architects to 4 even, as Soul Star nabs you 2 creatures. You're right, definitely not going to run out of targets.
Random question: Is the Marsh Flats/Verdant Catacombs split merely a bluff thing? Been seeing it a lot as of late in decklists...
With 17 black sources... the risk is virtually non-existant. I can't tell you a scenario where I've ever needed more black. The 2 life swing is also more relevant then you think, as it practically speeds up the game for you.
Now this is some sound advice. I wasn't having any problems with drawing targets before but I suppose it's always better to be safe then sorry. I took out a single copy of Soul Stair Expedition for the last Architect. This card is so clutch/utility in this deck... there's no reason to NOT run 4.
Part bluff, but it's really just more synergy with Grim Discovery and of course let's not forget it provides an extra quest counter on Soul Stair Expedition. I'm even considering the possibility of dropping a swamp for another fetchland.
You don't really need anymore CA in this deck as the engine itself is enough. To me, it just seems like a waste of deck space as you could be using those deck spots to focus on the integral strategy of this deck. But if you wanna go ahead, feel free to playtest it with Treasure Hunt and tell me how it works out for you.
Anyway, just some quick updates guys from me guys.
I just went through UW Chapin Control and 2 - 0'd without dropping a sweat. The key here is to aggro ASAP on Game 1 with Gatekeeper and company. Then on Game 2, bring in the Bloodwitches and Hexmages and you should be good to go.
(They can kill you, but the legalities of eating you are quite a bit dicier).
As for the difference in the split, I just meant run 3 Flats or 3 Catacombs. I just find the "bluff" funny is all.
Also, has there been any testing or consideration for Bloodhusk Ritualist? Recursive discard seems like a good thing with the engine.
How is the deck doing against fast creature deck (like bushwaker)?You dont seem to have a lot of removal and drawing multiple recursion spell early on can realy cripple you.
Romeo, O Romeo, can i haz romeo?
I'm considering running flashfreeze > negates though, because flash freeze does so much more! Other than that, deck seems fine. More playtesting will tell.
Currently recruiting weekly writers; just send me a pm!
It would have been a good choice, but there are simply better cards, and colour fixing isn't really that important. 2 colours isnt hard to fix.
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Architects of Will
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4 Countersquall
4 Grim Discovery
4 Soul Manipulation
Soul Stair is weak IMO. I played UpDownDralnu for awhile and unless you play it within the first few turns, its pretty lackluster.
Also want to suggest Quicksand. Just in case fast aggro's a problem? It shouldn't be.
@Zytz: There basically isn't any room. people ran SoLT in Dralnu until they realized they were playing it so they could draw Jwar Isle or Bloodwitch, so they could play Jwar Isle or Bloodwitch instead. That's basically how it'll go, I think.
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
This.
All the recursion means you wouldn't even have to pay the kicker cost- you can just keep what you need right now, and dump other stuff to the GY to keep safe until you need it with Grim Discovery or Soul Stair.
Currently recruiting weekly writers; just send me a pm!
Type 2
B/WR Dega Midrange
B Mono B Devotion
Modern
RBG Jund
RG Tron
Great site below of a buddy of mine, if you love video game humor
http://www.sickosonparade.com
-Tectonic Edge doesn't kill Jund, but it stops them from playing that large dragon guy, which is nice.
-You can also usually 2-for-1 a bunch of stuff.
So the Jund MU should be ... OK. I lost the one jund MU I played, but that's mainly because after 12 turns the guy I was playing against drew all of his basic lands while I drew 2 tectonic edges and a whole bunch of my own lands, basic or non-. I ended the game without a single Nighthawk or Gatekeeper being drawn.
Boros should be good too, because you have, basically, Vampires' anti-Boros tools - Warp is urge to Feed, and Gatekeeper/Nighthawk are what they are. Granted, you don't have Tendrils, but you do have Soul Manipulation to counter Ranger or Bushwhacker or w/e.
Control is better because of Edge.
...
To be perfectly honest, I have a kind of hard time determining if it has a bad MU against anything. Maybe against Grixis. Countersquall helps.
Infest is in the SB against swarms of tokens, since all of your answers are 1-for-1. If you let, say, a Conqueror's Pledge through, now you can actually recover from that without dying. It also kills Boros's swarms. It's pretty helpful.
With stifle's list, I'd side like so:
Jund:
+seas, 2 hexmage, 3 flashfreeze
-countersquall, 1 nighthawk, 4 warp[?!?/expedition?]
UW Control
+3 hexmage
+2 Bloodwitch
-4 Agony Warp
-1 Soul Stair
Boss Naya
[see Jund, only definitely take out the expedition and not the warps]
Though I'm usually complete rubbish from a sideboarding-during-tourney standpoint. Mainly because I don't like thinking in medias res. Hopefully this helps a little though [?].
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
4 Architects of Will
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Monstrous Carabid
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
3 Soul Stair Expedition
4 Agony Warp
4 Flashfreeze
4 Soul Manipulation
3 Grim Discovery
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Island
8 Swamp
2 Marsh Flats
3 Tectonic Edge
1 Gargoyle Castle
So far I've played about 6-8 games so far and am loving it. It seems very good, a lot better than I expected it to be.
Match 1 was vs Boros. He won the first game because I got mana flooded, and I drew nothing helpful. Second game I won with just enough flashfreeze, agony warp, and soul manipulation to hold him back and get nighthawk online. Third game he ended up having to leave, so draw.
Match 2 was vs Jund. In general this seems 50/50, if not towards my favor with the counters. Went 2-1.
Match 3 was rather interesting, the guy seemed to be running some odd splice of this and green with Abyssal Persecutor. Game 1 he got mana screwed, game two flashfreeze prevented him from pulsing his persecutor, and I swung for win with a tar pits and recurring Architects of Will to stack his deck.
EllE:
This actually helps quite a bit I expect to see those decks in droves @ the 5K and in my meta....so I'm gonna give this a whirl I believe. Right now the build I have in mind is @ 26 lands I dropped the Gargoyle Castle for 4th Nighthawk and dropped a Soul Stair for a Carabid, but the SB looks very good, if G/W tokens get popular Infest is definitally away to clear that stuff after an Eldrazi Monument.
Type 2
B/WR Dega Midrange
B Mono B Devotion
Modern
RBG Jund
RG Tron
Great site below of a buddy of mine, if you love video game humor
http://www.sickosonparade.com
It's a good card but I've only goldfished the deck a little and having access to Double Black & Double Blue on turn 3 is taxing it would seem. What would you cut though? Nighthawk and Gatekeeper are pretty awesome in the 3 slot.
Type 2
B/WR Dega Midrange
B Mono B Devotion
Modern
RBG Jund
RG Tron
Great site below of a buddy of mine, if you love video game humor
http://www.sickosonparade.com
Also, it runs a lot less cyclers. Mainly because ... uhh ... it can get away with it? Yeah.
Also, Calcite Snapper is not for this deck. UU by turn 3 is nigh impossible. Heck, I struggle to get UU by turn 6, sometimes.
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan