I love this list, I took first place last weekend and the weekend before both with a variety of match-ups from GR dragons, Mono Red, Esper control, Abzan everything. It does well against all.
The idea behind the deck is to play threats. Mean threats. Threats that make the other player facepalm. Bestowing a Chromanticore on to Dragonloard Ojutai is quite hilarious especially when holding Nighthowler.
It might not be a bad idea to start building post rotation lists now just to be ready.
The largest obstacle i can see post rotation would be putting cards into the graveyard.
Using Sidisi might be the best thing as much as i dont want it to be true haha.
@ SUPERSWENS - How are your matchups against control and Mardu? I remember when I was running this deck (prior to Dragons), Mardu was a tough matchup because of Crackling Doom. Now that Mardu is much more represented in the meta, I'm assuming Crackling Doom (and to a lesser extent Foul-Tongue Invocation) poses a larger problem. Also, U/B and Esper control with cards like Perilous Vault, Aetherspouts, Ugin, etc. are also seemingly problematic. Do you have any insight on these matchups?
@ SUPERSWENS - How are your matchups against control and Mardu? I remember when I was running this deck (prior to Dragons), Mardu was a tough matchup because of Crackling Doom. Now that Mardu is much more represented in the meta, I'm assuming Crackling Doom (and to a lesser extent Foul-Tongue Invocation) poses a larger problem. Also, U/B and Esper control with cards like Perilous Vault, Aetherspouts, Ugin, etc. are also seemingly problematic. Do you have any insight on these matchups?
When playing against control decks the biggest tip i can give is to make sure that you keep pressure on your opponent, and to never over extend. playing fast and loose is NEVER the correct option, waiting for your opponent to tap out to play a spell is the perfect time to react, cast a soulflayer or what not.
Lastly with the sweapers, My goal is to force my opponent to crack their Perilous Vault, or cast Aetherspouts. when its most convenient for me. make the deathmist raptors and and den protectors go to town before dropping som
In any kind of control always bring in Pharika, God of Affliction and Xenagos, God of Revels. They provied resiliance against kill spells and can potentially turn on for the over kill.
So i took more of a BUG Delve take on this deck idea to help make my games more consistent. Im open to all help on the mana base. But i have found that in my play testing that Disdainful Stroke works best against ABZAN where as Negate works better against Mardu (Negate handles that pesky Crackling Doom). Also by runing a 1 of Sidisi, Undead Vizier in the side allows me to effectively run "4" of what ever card i side in. Thinking of replaceing the Thoughtseize with Hornet Queen or Hornet Nest Just haven't decided what to do in that spot. Let me know what yall think.
So I'm going to be bold and play this deck at GP: San Diego. I will be testing SUPERSWENS' version extensively between now and then. The only thing I'm unsure about is which - if any - cards to test from Origins.
So I'm going to be bold and play this deck at GP: San Diego. I will be testing SUPERSWENS' version extensively between now and then. The only thing I'm unsure about is which - if any - cards to test from Origins.
Lily might be good. The life link on her body works when shes delve material for us. She allows us to discard when she flips (Which we want). Our deathmists or what ever can be used to block to make her turn.
So I tested a bit tonight, and Goblins (post-Origins) seemed to be a problem. That deck is just so incredibly fast. Circle of Flame in the board might be an option.
So I have been playing chromantiflayer for the past 2-3 months, tweaking the deck from a slow initial starting point to its current form. I still tweak it week by week, and currently have it configured to be strong against early aggro. The latest version of my deck last took FNM 3-0, with 3 consecutive 2-0's against abzan aggro, a mono-black brew, and atarka red. Earlier versions were less successful, but this was the games I brought it out after adding in the den protector and the rhino's.
3 Siege Rhino's. These are my latest addition to my deck, and I would up it to 4 if I could find a 4th copy. They are outstanding in the deck, and I rarely cut them.
1 Deathmist Raptor. A lot of people are scared of raptors right now, so this guy is enough to get many to blow exile based removal they might otherwise save for more important creatures - like hard-casted chromanticores. I would up this, but it is both expensive and hard to find, so at the moment 1 is all I can manage (and I pulled him from a pack...).
My God package. I had all 4 gods, 4 murderous cuts, and no ultimate price's mainboard at my last FNM. I since switched that out because I expect a lot more in the way of aggro decks, and I wanted cheap interaction available for that. I tend to board out pharika against control, and xenagod against aggro, as I want the payoff of actually casting them to be high enough to be worth it. Against midrange decks, I tend to board out the raptor and ultimate prices to bring in all 4 gods, whip, and the other murderous cut. This can sometimes vary a bit depending upon exactly what my opponent is showing me. However, Xenagod allows me to hit hard and fast if I land him, giving whatever big creature I play haste and doubling his power. This gives me an effective draw against control decks allowing me to get damage in before they can respond with planeswalkers. Pharika is better against aggro decks because surprise 1/1 deathtouch blockers are annoying and enough to stop many attacks in their tracks.
Lastly, the mana-base. Previous iterations of this deck had me splashing red, and running a good bit of both blue and white. This latest iteration is much more green/black focused, but I haven't adjusted the mana base to compensate for it yet. However, the current mana base is good enough to get me black/black or green/green by turn 3, and proper sequencing + caryatid regularly has me landing hard casted chromanticores on turn 4/5. Despite the number of pain lands the deck is running, I generally take only 2-3 points of painland damage before casting chromanticore, which quickly brings it back for me.
As for origins, I haven't seen too much that really says "PUT ME IN THIS DECK". The only one that really stood out was gather the pack as a replacement for commune with the gods. Other cards need to be tested better before being deemed worth putting in.
Awesome post. How would you change up your deck if you could add a 4th Rhino and picked up more Raptors? In other words, what would be your ideal configuration?
You should really get some Mana Confluences. Would make your land base a lot better. This is very similar to my initial list I was running but with 2 Rhino's and 2 Shaman of the hunts.
Adding the 4th rhino, I would probably take the raptor out of the main board, and the raptor would take the place of whip of erebos. The three additional raptors would then take the place of the two drown in sorrows, and either the sideboarded ultimate price, or one of the bile blights. That spot would probably change around week by week, depending upon how it seems like the meta is shifting. Note that exact decisions there may change depending upon what the current meta is and what new problem decks crop up.
Together with that change, I would look to change the landbase as follows:
Personally, I don't like mana confluence. With the current deck layout, I can manage a tapland turn 1, and a painland turn 2, then drop one of my many two drops for no damage. Then turn 3 I can drop another tap land, and use another of my two drops. From there onwards, it is relatively easy to adjust the lands based upon what you have, hit colorless from pain lands, but having that extra land needed, and just generally be able to easily balance my mana base. Specifically, my goals with my lands are to be able to have a high chance of hitting black black on turn 2, 1 and green on turn 2, green/green on turn 3, green/white/black on turn 3/4, and one of each color on turn 4/5. Mana confluence does allow for this, but only in a very painful manner. It is needed if you are running fetchlands, because then you are running a mix of fetches and basics, which limits what you are able to do for hitting the colors you need on each turn. Now, if we had green/black fetches, I would be much more behind the idea of using them in this deck - but because we don't, I don't see a need to limit our options that much.
I've tested my version of the deck out against a few new strategies that have popped up.
Problem A. The deck gets absolutely hosed by languish. Previously, having a hexproof/indestructible chromantiflayer with 1-2 other guys out to protect against foul tounge invocation was basically game over. With any deck running languish though, you just get hosed, and this deck doesn't recover from that fast enough.
Problem B. decks are getting faster. Previously, this deck could handle RDW short of a god hand because landing either a chromanticore or soulflayer was enough to recover. Now though every single red deck has sped up enough that they just run this deck over short of you starting with your own god hand (and sometimes even then).
Problem C. There are new decks that can go over it or straight through it. Two examples here that repeatedly stomped my list: Elves and Constellation. The elf deck was able to ping early, and then set up for massive swings with shaman of the pack. Double nuking for 8 each on turn 4-5 was easily enough to seal most games, and obelisk of urd backing them up had them attacking and not loosing guys to a single chromanticore/soulflayer. There isn't enough board wipe power available to clear them off. Constellation was even worse though - they just straight up out valued you and then proceeded to drown you in angels for lethal.
Now, it is possible that we could go ahead and adjust this deck to handle the above problems. My conclusion after a bit of testing though is that the deck just doesn't have the juice to survive against all the new problems. If someone out there can prove me wrong on that note, I will be more than happy to put my chromantiflayers back together. But until that time, I'm putting the deck down. Part of that though may be getting absolutely crushed 35/40 test games against elves, constellation, RDW, and abzan control...
Yeah, I figured Languish would be an issue. I also tested against Goblins and came to the same conclusion: it's just too fast.
I'm not really sure how to adjust from here. More maindeck removal/sweepers (Bile Blight, Drown in Sorrow) might be worth looking into against RDW and Elves. Stubborn Denial against Languish is worth a shot.
So this deck placed 23rd at the most recent SCG Open. The list looks pretty interesting with a built-in sacrifice engine based around Butcher of the Horde and Evolutionary Leap, which are both different additions. I believe the deck was on camera in one of the later rounds, but I didn't see how the match ended.
So I want to build a deck like this for some upcoming events. I don't want to spend a whole lot of money probably around $100. This is my deck list so far.
So I want to build a deck like this for some upcoming events. I don't want to spend a whole lot of money probably around $100. This is my deck list so far.
Some notes about your build:
Sidisi, brook tyrant: I tried him. Overall, he doesn't come down early enough against most aggro decks, and he isn't threatening enough against midrange decks. If you are wanting to run him, drop him to a 2 or 3 of.
Double strike is cool, but entirely unnecessary. If you ever get a doublestrikeing soulflayer, it will feel awesome. But 99/100, it is completely unnecessary to actually win - getting the soulflayer out with either indestructable or hexproof, and preferably with a chromanticore is much better.
Sagu Mauler and Silumgar generally come down too late if you try to hard cast them, and don't get into the graveyard regularly enough to be worth running most of the time. I would keep them in the sideboard.
Nyx weaver is... ok, but rarely will you get use out of him. You would do much better to run den protectors to pull things back from the graveyard.
Torrent elemental is a sideboard card only.
Monastery seige is cute, but it ends up slowing you down too much. I eventually cut this from my testing list.
The last thing to note is that you need to have some way of combating languish. Previous sweepers we were able to just have an indestructible creature out and laugh it off. And hexproof allows us to have something that they can't remove with targeted removal. Languish however kills our entire board. This is where we need to have more ways to get damage in fast - specifically, what we need is haste. This is what the last deck before yours posted (the one that took 22nd at SCG richmond). Having flamewake pheonix as a recurring threat means he doesn't care about sweepers, and we can delve him out to get a hasty chromantiflayer. Butcher of the horde can land as early as turn 3 and put the opponents on a 4 turn clock right away by himself - a threat that must be answered. Additionally, we can run creatures like seige rhino, who though aren't great for adding to the soulflayer, are threats that can ignore languish, and are also enough to win games on their own.
I would recommend looking at the last list that I posted, and the list just above yours to see what choices were made there, and then start tuning your list to a budget version of one of those. But you need to have faster early interaction, and you need ways to combat languish, so you are going to need to make some serious adjustments.
Thanks for the suggestions! I was thinking that I needed a better early game. I actually love Monastery Siege it allows me to put chromanticores or other cards into the graveyard and draw more cards, or if they are playing a control deck it makes them have to use more mana. I like the interaction of of Nyx Weaver and Sidisi too. Here's an updated list, though I don't know if I want to drop the money on Raptors.
Probably going to run this at Regionals tomorrow as I highly doubt anyone will be expecting it, and it's a deck that has performed well for me in the past. Though to be honest, I haven't tested much in the post-Origins meta, and by "much" I mean "not at all." YOLO, though. This is probably what I'll end up running:
Ideally that is what I'd like to run, as I think there is great synergy between Den Protector/Deathmist Raptor/Butcher. I realize I am quite a few cards over, so I'd probably have to cut the Rhinos and the Dragonlords. Maybe I could cut a number of the Raptors/Den Protectors so that I can keep a few Rhinos/Dragons.
I've tested my version of the deck out against a few new strategies that have popped up.
Problem A. The deck gets absolutely hosed by languish. Previously, having a hexproof/indestructible chromantiflayer with 1-2 other guys out to protect against foul tounge invocation was basically game over. With any deck running languish though, you just get hosed, and this deck doesn't recover from that fast enough.
Problem B. decks are getting faster. Previously, this deck could handle RDW short of a god hand because landing either a chromanticore or soulflayer was enough to recover. Now though every single red deck has sped up enough that they just run this deck over short of you starting with your own god hand (and sometimes even then).
Problem C. There are new decks that can go over it or straight through it. Two examples here that repeatedly stomped my list: Elves and Constellation. The elf deck was able to ping early, and then set up for massive swings with shaman of the pack. Double nuking for 8 each on turn 4-5 was easily enough to seal most games, and obelisk of urd backing them up had them attacking and not loosing guys to a single chromanticore/soulflayer. There isn't enough board wipe power available to clear them off. Constellation was even worse though - they just straight up out valued you and then proceeded to drown you in angels for lethal.
Now, it is possible that we could go ahead and adjust this deck to handle the above problems. My conclusion after a bit of testing though is that the deck just doesn't have the juice to survive against all the new problems. If someone out there can prove me wrong on that note, I will be more than happy to put my chromantiflayers back together. But until that time, I'm putting the deck down. Part of that though may be getting absolutely crushed 35/40 test games against elves, constellation, RDW, and abzan control...
I agree with this analysis. Not to mention that Abzan Rally is faster, has a better grind game, and runs 4-6 edict effects between Fleshbag Marauder and Merciless Executioner, and that Turbo-Fog is also growing in popularity and a.) can ignore everything in the deck but Rhino and b.) giggles with delight when the opponent mills themselves...
I just think Chromantiflayer is really poorly positioned right now, with brutally fast aggro below it and really tough control archetypes above it, and a midrange deck that's more or less strictly better than it. I love the idea of Chromantiflayer, it's a brilliant deck and really satisfies the Johnny in me by milling myself to assemble this freakish, unstoppable Voltron monster. But it seems like you wind up dying the turn before you would win most games.
The idea behind the deck is to play threats. Mean threats. Threats that make the other player facepalm. Bestowing a Chromanticore on to Dragonloard Ojutai is quite hilarious especially when holding Nighthowler.
The largest obstacle i can see post rotation would be putting cards into the graveyard.
Using Sidisi might be the best thing as much as i dont want it to be true haha.
When playing against control decks the biggest tip i can give is to make sure that you keep pressure on your opponent, and to never over extend. playing fast and loose is NEVER the correct option, waiting for your opponent to tap out to play a spell is the perfect time to react, cast a soulflayer or what not.
Lastly with the sweapers, My goal is to force my opponent to crack their Perilous Vault, or cast Aetherspouts. when its most convenient for me. make the deathmist raptors and and den protectors go to town before dropping som
In any kind of control always bring in Pharika, God of Affliction and Xenagos, God of Revels. They provied resiliance against kill spells and can potentially turn on for the over kill.
With 4 copies of; Satyr Wayfinder, Deathmist Raptor, Den Protector, and Sylvan Caryatid the deck handles fine against Foul-Tongue Invocation but it does have a more difficult time against Cracking Doom. My recommendation would be to remember not to over extend. Same goes for Perilous Vault, and Aetherspouts.
3 Deathmist Raptor
3 Den Protector
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Soulflayer
4 Chromanticore
2 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
3 Sultai Charm
2 Murderous Cut
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Mana Confluence
2 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Island
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Disdainful Stroke
3 Negate
2 Crux of Fate
3 Thoughtseize
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Den Protector
1 Deathmist Raptor
3 Siege Rhino
4 Soulflayer
4 Chromanticore
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Pharikia, God of Affliction
Spells
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Murderous Cut
3 Ultimate Price
3 Opulent Palace
3 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Triumph
4 Yavimaya Coast
3 Llanowar Wastes
3 Caves of Koilos
1 Shivan Reef
1 Murderous Cut
1 Ultimate Price
3 Bile Blight
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Pharikia, God of Affliction
1 Torrent Elemental
4 Negate
1 Whip of Erebos
A few points about my deck:
3 Siege Rhino's. These are my latest addition to my deck, and I would up it to 4 if I could find a 4th copy. They are outstanding in the deck, and I rarely cut them.
1 Deathmist Raptor. A lot of people are scared of raptors right now, so this guy is enough to get many to blow exile based removal they might otherwise save for more important creatures - like hard-casted chromanticores. I would up this, but it is both expensive and hard to find, so at the moment 1 is all I can manage (and I pulled him from a pack...).
My God package. I had all 4 gods, 4 murderous cuts, and no ultimate price's mainboard at my last FNM. I since switched that out because I expect a lot more in the way of aggro decks, and I wanted cheap interaction available for that. I tend to board out pharika against control, and xenagod against aggro, as I want the payoff of actually casting them to be high enough to be worth it. Against midrange decks, I tend to board out the raptor and ultimate prices to bring in all 4 gods, whip, and the other murderous cut. This can sometimes vary a bit depending upon exactly what my opponent is showing me. However, Xenagod allows me to hit hard and fast if I land him, giving whatever big creature I play haste and doubling his power. This gives me an effective draw against control decks allowing me to get damage in before they can respond with planeswalkers. Pharika is better against aggro decks because surprise 1/1 deathtouch blockers are annoying and enough to stop many attacks in their tracks.
Lastly, the mana-base. Previous iterations of this deck had me splashing red, and running a good bit of both blue and white. This latest iteration is much more green/black focused, but I haven't adjusted the mana base to compensate for it yet. However, the current mana base is good enough to get me black/black or green/green by turn 3, and proper sequencing + caryatid regularly has me landing hard casted chromanticores on turn 4/5. Despite the number of pain lands the deck is running, I generally take only 2-3 points of painland damage before casting chromanticore, which quickly brings it back for me.
As for origins, I haven't seen too much that really says "PUT ME IN THIS DECK". The only one that really stood out was gather the pack as a replacement for commune with the gods. Other cards need to be tested better before being deemed worth putting in.
Together with that change, I would look to change the landbase as follows:
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Yavimaya Coast
3 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Opulent Palace
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Malice
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Plenty
Personally, I don't like mana confluence. With the current deck layout, I can manage a tapland turn 1, and a painland turn 2, then drop one of my many two drops for no damage. Then turn 3 I can drop another tap land, and use another of my two drops. From there onwards, it is relatively easy to adjust the lands based upon what you have, hit colorless from pain lands, but having that extra land needed, and just generally be able to easily balance my mana base. Specifically, my goals with my lands are to be able to have a high chance of hitting black black on turn 2, 1 and green on turn 2, green/green on turn 3, green/white/black on turn 3/4, and one of each color on turn 4/5. Mana confluence does allow for this, but only in a very painful manner. It is needed if you are running fetchlands, because then you are running a mix of fetches and basics, which limits what you are able to do for hitting the colors you need on each turn. Now, if we had green/black fetches, I would be much more behind the idea of using them in this deck - but because we don't, I don't see a need to limit our options that much.
Problem A. The deck gets absolutely hosed by languish. Previously, having a hexproof/indestructible chromantiflayer with 1-2 other guys out to protect against foul tounge invocation was basically game over. With any deck running languish though, you just get hosed, and this deck doesn't recover from that fast enough.
Problem B. decks are getting faster. Previously, this deck could handle RDW short of a god hand because landing either a chromanticore or soulflayer was enough to recover. Now though every single red deck has sped up enough that they just run this deck over short of you starting with your own god hand (and sometimes even then).
Problem C. There are new decks that can go over it or straight through it. Two examples here that repeatedly stomped my list: Elves and Constellation. The elf deck was able to ping early, and then set up for massive swings with shaman of the pack. Double nuking for 8 each on turn 4-5 was easily enough to seal most games, and obelisk of urd backing them up had them attacking and not loosing guys to a single chromanticore/soulflayer. There isn't enough board wipe power available to clear them off. Constellation was even worse though - they just straight up out valued you and then proceeded to drown you in angels for lethal.
Now, it is possible that we could go ahead and adjust this deck to handle the above problems. My conclusion after a bit of testing though is that the deck just doesn't have the juice to survive against all the new problems. If someone out there can prove me wrong on that note, I will be more than happy to put my chromantiflayers back together. But until that time, I'm putting the deck down. Part of that though may be getting absolutely crushed 35/40 test games against elves, constellation, RDW, and abzan control...
I'm not really sure how to adjust from here. More maindeck removal/sweepers (Bile Blight, Drown in Sorrow) might be worth looking into against RDW and Elves. Stubborn Denial against Languish is worth a shot.
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Soulflayer
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Chromanticore
2 Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Commune with the Gods
2 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Frontier Bivouac
1 Llanowar Wastes
4 Mana Confluence
2 Nomad Outpost
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Soulflayer
4 Chromanticore
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
1 Prophetic Flamespeaker
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1 Sagu Mauler
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
2 Nyx Weaver
1 Torrent Elemental
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Murderous Cut
3 Monastery Seige
Lands:
1 Mana Confluence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Opulent Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Frontier Bivouac
4 Yavimaya Coast
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Malady
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Island
Some notes about your build:
Sidisi, brook tyrant: I tried him. Overall, he doesn't come down early enough against most aggro decks, and he isn't threatening enough against midrange decks. If you are wanting to run him, drop him to a 2 or 3 of.
Double strike is cool, but entirely unnecessary. If you ever get a doublestrikeing soulflayer, it will feel awesome. But 99/100, it is completely unnecessary to actually win - getting the soulflayer out with either indestructable or hexproof, and preferably with a chromanticore is much better.
Sagu Mauler and Silumgar generally come down too late if you try to hard cast them, and don't get into the graveyard regularly enough to be worth running most of the time. I would keep them in the sideboard.
Nyx weaver is... ok, but rarely will you get use out of him. You would do much better to run den protectors to pull things back from the graveyard.
Torrent elemental is a sideboard card only.
Monastery seige is cute, but it ends up slowing you down too much. I eventually cut this from my testing list.
The last thing to note is that you need to have some way of combating languish. Previous sweepers we were able to just have an indestructible creature out and laugh it off. And hexproof allows us to have something that they can't remove with targeted removal. Languish however kills our entire board. This is where we need to have more ways to get damage in fast - specifically, what we need is haste. This is what the last deck before yours posted (the one that took 22nd at SCG richmond). Having flamewake pheonix as a recurring threat means he doesn't care about sweepers, and we can delve him out to get a hasty chromantiflayer. Butcher of the horde can land as early as turn 3 and put the opponents on a 4 turn clock right away by himself - a threat that must be answered. Additionally, we can run creatures like seige rhino, who though aren't great for adding to the soulflayer, are threats that can ignore languish, and are also enough to win games on their own.
I would recommend looking at the last list that I posted, and the list just above yours to see what choices were made there, and then start tuning your list to a budget version of one of those. But you need to have faster early interaction, and you need ways to combat languish, so you are going to need to make some serious adjustments.
2 den protectors
2 deathmist raptors
4 Soulflayer
4 Chromanticore
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Satyr Wayfinder
3 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
2 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
2 Nyx Weaver
4 Commune with the Gods
2 Murderous Cut
3 monastery seige
Mana:
1 Mana Confluence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Opulent Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Frontier Bivouac
4 Yavimaya Coast
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Malady
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Island
4 Chromanticore
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Siege Rhino
4 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Den Protector
4 Deathmist Raptor
2 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
2 Dragonlord Dromoka
2 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
Ideally that is what I'd like to run, as I think there is great synergy between Den Protector/Deathmist Raptor/Butcher. I realize I am quite a few cards over, so I'd probably have to cut the Rhinos and the Dragonlords. Maybe I could cut a number of the Raptors/Den Protectors so that I can keep a few Rhinos/Dragons.
I agree with this analysis. Not to mention that Abzan Rally is faster, has a better grind game, and runs 4-6 edict effects between Fleshbag Marauder and Merciless Executioner, and that Turbo-Fog is also growing in popularity and a.) can ignore everything in the deck but Rhino and b.) giggles with delight when the opponent mills themselves...
I just think Chromantiflayer is really poorly positioned right now, with brutally fast aggro below it and really tough control archetypes above it, and a midrange deck that's more or less strictly better than it. I love the idea of Chromantiflayer, it's a brilliant deck and really satisfies the Johnny in me by milling myself to assemble this freakish, unstoppable Voltron monster. But it seems like you wind up dying the turn before you would win most games.
--Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., who is up in Heaven now. EDH WUBRG Child of Alara WUBRG BGW Karador, Ghost Chieftain BGW RGW Mayael the Anima RGW WUB Sharuum the Hegemon WUB RWU Zedruu the Greathearted RWU
WB Ghost Council of Orzhova WB RG Ulasht, the Hate Seed RG B Korlash, Heir to Blackblade B G Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer G *click the general's name to see my list!*