I took this version of the deck to FNM this past Friday, and placed 7th overall. I was rather pleased with it, but there where several things that irked me. I've got a detailed review for you of the matches and a skim of how they played out. My sideboard was very wierd so I am not gonna post it, I didn't have the cards I needed so I just gummed up a few things that I thought would work in a pinch.
Round one, I can't really remember what he was playing, I just remember I won 2-0.
Round 2 vs U/R Control 2-0
Game 1: On the play, I kept a pretty quick hand of Swamp, WC, WC, Grave, Mulch, and Dreg. After he knocked off a few creatures, I was able to stick a Jarad, swing in on the next turn, and finish off his last 2 with a reanimated GC sac.
Game 2: A bit more difficult this go round, but I started off similiar, only with a slightly slower hand, after having my first GC pillared I decided to play a Lotleth and just pitch 'em. He got in a few damage. I started baiting out counters/kills to fill my yard, and eventually windmilled a Ghoultree. Next turn I rancor'd it up, and took a swing, he went down to 8. He thought twice about it on my end step, drew and scooped.
Round 3 vs Wreckdos (B/R Control)
This was by far the most excrutiating match of the night. I had never faced this deck before and found it to be an uphill battle the whole way. This was the only match for me that has ever gone to time.
Game 1: On the play, I zerged the field out of the gate, I drew into 3 Dregs before he managed to kill one, with a rancor'd up GC it was an easy win. I didn't sideboard as I didn't really have any kind of information on his deck.
Game 2: This is where I got to see what his deck could do, every threat I played was dismantled with kill spells, I eventually died to a Chandra and a Bloodhall working me down. I made him play out the whole thing and forced him to show me everything he had by continiously playing threats.
Game 3: I discerned that his entire deck was kill spells, a couple of Chandra's and a Bloodhall. I worked him down to 7 before he finally stablized, wiping the board, and playing a Curse of Death's Hold on me. I had to wait 5-6 turns, and finally got a Dreg Mangler to go hard in the paint on him to drop him down to 5. On turn 3 of time, he played a Vraska and attempted to kill my Mangler. I had sided in Ranger's Guile and windmilled it down, he was left with one mana open. On my turn I scavanged my mangler in the yard, and swung for game.
Round 4 vs Naya Blitz 0-2
This game was pretty awful on my part, as I really got hosed both times. A Mull to 5, and then getting stuck on 3 lands was pretty bad. This game doesn't even warrant a evaluation.
Round 5 vs Junk Reanimator 1-2
I had the option to 1-1-1 this, but I wasn't sure if I would be knocked out, having been 0-2'd in the previous round. So I went ahead and played it out. I still managed to top 8, but I wanted to test the waters against one of the more popular decks in the format.
Game 1: I was on the play and came out of the gate swinging hard, and eventually overwhelmed him before he could started graveyard shenanigans. He eventually died to a super rancored Dreg Mangler. No sideboard here.
Game 2: On the play, he started off early, I salvaged all I could but really couldn't hit enough tempo to get the job done. I got him down to 8, before I got a look at one of his sideboarded cards Crypt Excursion. He nailed me, then got a Angel of Serenity out of his yard, took all me threats and beat me to death. Sideboard -2 Varolz, +2 Silklash
Game 3: Pretty much went the same as the 2nd game, with me starting out strong, then pittering to a Angel. I had to Putrefy the Angel twice, but eventually I got overwhelmed when an Aurelia came in and took over the game, and me with no removal in hand.
Top 8
vs. Naya Blitz 1-2
Rematch, only this time I put up a bit of a fight.
Game 1: He mulled to 5, and just couldn't get his tempo up, and when he did finally manage to get board presence, I just putrefied his threats, or blocked with Lotleth regens. I managed to go deep in the paint with a rancor'd Ghoultree. Side -2 Drown in Filth +2 Gaze of Granite
Game 2: Good start for Blitz, was impossible to keep up with him, swing for 19 on turn 4.
Game 3: Was an excellent game, we were throwing punches at each other left and right, but eventually he overwhelmed the board and with a battlefiend medic, gaze in granite was a late draw.
All in all there are a few things wrong with the deck. I'll throw a few of my major complaints out there, but other then these following few, the deck worked extremely well:
Drown in Filth
I often found myself having this in my hand when I would have really enjoyed just plain old fashioned spot removal. With alot of the meta in standard, I really don't think that it's right just yet. Sure it pitches into our graveyard, but alot of the time I found it pitching lands that I really needed or wanted, and it's counterproductive to our mulches. I'm taking it out and adding something new and docking this in a sideboard.
Varolz, the Scar Striped
I don't think this guy pulls his weight either. I'll be honest, I ran 2 maindeck, and saw him once the whole night, and I pitched him to Lotleth. I'm sure this guy has a home, but when we want to be pulling zombies back out, we really don't want him to be eating them.
So I think I'll be running this version next Friday.
In theory, we build a pillow fort with cheap enchantments that work for us, (damage, mana fix, card draw, and life) and sit behind sphere of safety until we can get our wincons out.
I enjoy the interaction between Gatecreeper and Cloudshift, it's going to allow us to go fish for those one-of gates that we are going to need. It also allows us to abuse thragtusk if we need to.
We have 3 win conditions in this deck:
Enchantment Pinging with Crackling Perimeter and Curse.
Door the bastards.
Maze the bastards.
I agree, I would take out Rot Farm, and maybe add 2 Jarad, Golgari Lichs. He seems to have alot more synergy with what we are trying to do. Also, you can sac a ghoultree for soviet damage!
I enjoy Ghoulcaller's Chant here, the antisynergy here is actually too small to not warrant it. We're using it mainly to bring them outta the yard in case we pitch it anyway.
So having said that, why not try -4 Rot Farm Skeletons, and +2 Jarad, Golgari Lich, and +2 Farseek/Mulch to make it look something like this:
I don't really understand putting the combo pieces in the sideboard. Most decks don't main board graveyard hate so if you don't run the combo in game 1 why would you side into it for game 2. Every single deck has easy access to graveyard hate so unless your opponent didn't have a sideboard you could never safely side into it.
I would also say there is a little problem with your mana. 9 red sources isn't enough to reliably cast your Faithless Looting or Izzet Charms early and you need double red for your Spark Troopers. The 8 black sources could also hold you up.
This, and if your opponent is slaughter gaming, then Seance will more than likely be the target.
I would not put the combo in the sideboard and instead use the sideboard for more beneficial cards such as Nevermore, that at least gives us a chance to get out of a potential gamebreaker.
My sideboard usually includes 2 Nevermores, and I'm working on a transitional planeswalkers/miracle set up.
Has anyone ever attempted a BUW list / or 4 color list (BUWR)? utilizing linger souls to buy time and dimir charm for more of a control?
Also i feel, with out playtesting this deck yet that UWR lists that utilze spark trooper is extremely powerful.
Spark Trooper is a freakin' Allstar in UWr lists. He has performed past my expectations since I have added him to this list. Also, Boros Charming him while Aurelia is on the field can led to an extremely nasty combat step.
That's what I thought, I figured the Clean up Step was the end of the turn, we had just had a discussion about it and wanted to make sure that we were 100% accurate.
I have been a frequent player of Bant Seance, but I started looking at a few things and decided to go with a UWr build.
I took a "Lucky Charms" approach to this build, and grabbed a few ideas from the board and just revamped the whole thing. Gonna try it next friday and I'll let you guys know how it works out.
4x Goblin Arsonist
4x Foundry Street Denizen
4x Spike Jester
4x Mogg Flunkies
3x Hellraiser Goblin
2x Pyrewild Shaman
2x Krenko, Mob Boss
4x Bump in the Night
4x Searing Spear
4x Weapon Surge
2x Skullcrack
2x Burn at the Stake
1x Reforge the Soul
2x Curse of Stalked Prey
Lands
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Blood Crypt
2x Cavern of Souls
12x Mountain
3x Ghoultree
2x Varolz, the Scar Striped
4x Dreg Mangler
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Gravecrawler
2x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
4x Putrefy
3x Grisly Salvage
Sorceries
4x Drown in Filth
2x Mulch
2x Ghoulcaller's Chant
Lands
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Woodland Cemetery
8x Forest
7x Swamp
I took this version of the deck to FNM this past Friday, and placed 7th overall. I was rather pleased with it, but there where several things that irked me. I've got a detailed review for you of the matches and a skim of how they played out. My sideboard was very wierd so I am not gonna post it, I didn't have the cards I needed so I just gummed up a few things that I thought would work in a pinch.
Round one, I can't really remember what he was playing, I just remember I won 2-0.
Round 2 vs U/R Control 2-0
Game 1: On the play, I kept a pretty quick hand of Swamp, WC, WC, Grave, Mulch, and Dreg. After he knocked off a few creatures, I was able to stick a Jarad, swing in on the next turn, and finish off his last 2 with a reanimated GC sac.
Game 2: A bit more difficult this go round, but I started off similiar, only with a slightly slower hand, after having my first GC pillared I decided to play a Lotleth and just pitch 'em. He got in a few damage. I started baiting out counters/kills to fill my yard, and eventually windmilled a Ghoultree. Next turn I rancor'd it up, and took a swing, he went down to 8. He thought twice about it on my end step, drew and scooped.
Round 3 vs Wreckdos (B/R Control)
This was by far the most excrutiating match of the night. I had never faced this deck before and found it to be an uphill battle the whole way. This was the only match for me that has ever gone to time.
Game 1: On the play, I zerged the field out of the gate, I drew into 3 Dregs before he managed to kill one, with a rancor'd up GC it was an easy win. I didn't sideboard as I didn't really have any kind of information on his deck.
Game 2: This is where I got to see what his deck could do, every threat I played was dismantled with kill spells, I eventually died to a Chandra and a Bloodhall working me down. I made him play out the whole thing and forced him to show me everything he had by continiously playing threats.
Game 3: I discerned that his entire deck was kill spells, a couple of Chandra's and a Bloodhall. I worked him down to 7 before he finally stablized, wiping the board, and playing a Curse of Death's Hold on me. I had to wait 5-6 turns, and finally got a Dreg Mangler to go hard in the paint on him to drop him down to 5. On turn 3 of time, he played a Vraska and attempted to kill my Mangler. I had sided in Ranger's Guile and windmilled it down, he was left with one mana open. On my turn I scavanged my mangler in the yard, and swung for game.
Round 4 vs Naya Blitz 0-2
This game was pretty awful on my part, as I really got hosed both times. A Mull to 5, and then getting stuck on 3 lands was pretty bad. This game doesn't even warrant a evaluation.
Round 5 vs Junk Reanimator 1-2
I had the option to 1-1-1 this, but I wasn't sure if I would be knocked out, having been 0-2'd in the previous round. So I went ahead and played it out. I still managed to top 8, but I wanted to test the waters against one of the more popular decks in the format.
Game 1: I was on the play and came out of the gate swinging hard, and eventually overwhelmed him before he could started graveyard shenanigans. He eventually died to a super rancored Dreg Mangler. No sideboard here.
Game 2: On the play, he started off early, I salvaged all I could but really couldn't hit enough tempo to get the job done. I got him down to 8, before I got a look at one of his sideboarded cards Crypt Excursion. He nailed me, then got a Angel of Serenity out of his yard, took all me threats and beat me to death. Sideboard -2 Varolz, +2 Silklash
Game 3: Pretty much went the same as the 2nd game, with me starting out strong, then pittering to a Angel. I had to Putrefy the Angel twice, but eventually I got overwhelmed when an Aurelia came in and took over the game, and me with no removal in hand.
Top 8
vs. Naya Blitz 1-2
Rematch, only this time I put up a bit of a fight.
Game 1: He mulled to 5, and just couldn't get his tempo up, and when he did finally manage to get board presence, I just putrefied his threats, or blocked with Lotleth regens. I managed to go deep in the paint with a rancor'd Ghoultree. Side -2 Drown in Filth +2 Gaze of Granite
Game 2: Good start for Blitz, was impossible to keep up with him, swing for 19 on turn 4.
Game 3: Was an excellent game, we were throwing punches at each other left and right, but eventually he overwhelmed the board and with a battlefiend medic, gaze in granite was a late draw.
All in all there are a few things wrong with the deck. I'll throw a few of my major complaints out there, but other then these following few, the deck worked extremely well:
Drown in Filth
I often found myself having this in my hand when I would have really enjoyed just plain old fashioned spot removal. With alot of the meta in standard, I really don't think that it's right just yet. Sure it pitches into our graveyard, but alot of the time I found it pitching lands that I really needed or wanted, and it's counterproductive to our mulches. I'm taking it out and adding something new and docking this in a sideboard.
Varolz, the Scar Striped
I don't think this guy pulls his weight either. I'll be honest, I ran 2 maindeck, and saw him once the whole night, and I pitched him to Lotleth. I'm sure this guy has a home, but when we want to be pulling zombies back out, we really don't want him to be eating them.
So I think I'll be running this version next Friday.
3x Ghoultree
2x Geralf's Messenger
4x Dreg Mangler
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Gravecrawler
2x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
2x Ultimate Price
4x Putrefy
3x Grisly Salvage
Sorceries
3x Mulch
2x Ghoulcaller's Chant
3x Rancor
1x Deadbridge Chant
Lands
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Woodland Cemetery
8x Forest
7x Swamp
I'm also considering giving Rot Farm Skeleton another look-see as well as Treasured Find over Ultimate Price.
I hope you guys enjoyed the review, and thanks to the OP for the deck idea. Any suggestions, critiques, flames are always welcome.
-Spectre
4x Verdant Haven
4x Abundant Growth
4x Crackling Perimeter
2x Blind Obedience
3x Curse of the Pierced Heart
4x Oblivion Ring
3x Sphere of Safety
3x Cloudshift
Creatures
3x Saruli Gatekeepers
3x Gatecreeper Vine
2x Thragtusk
Artifacts
1x Door to Nothingness
Lands
3x Maze's End
3x Boros Guildgate
3x Gruul Guildgate
3x Selesnya Guildgate
2x Orzhov Guildgate
2x Azorius Guildgate
2x Simic Guildgate
1x Dimir Guildgate
2x Rakdos Guildgate
2x Golgari Guildgate
1x Izzet Guildgate
In theory, we build a pillow fort with cheap enchantments that work for us, (damage, mana fix, card draw, and life) and sit behind sphere of safety until we can get our wincons out.
I enjoy the interaction between Gatecreeper and Cloudshift, it's going to allow us to go fish for those one-of gates that we are going to need. It also allows us to abuse thragtusk if we need to.
We have 3 win conditions in this deck:
Enchantment Pinging with Crackling Perimeter and Curse.
Door the bastards.
Maze the bastards.
3x Ghoultree
2x Varolz, the Scar-striped
4x Dreg Mangler
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Gravecrawler
2x Jarad, Golgari Lich
4x Putrefy
3x Grisly Salvage
Sorceries
3x Drown in Filth
2x Farseek
2x Ghoulcaller's Chant
3x Rancor
1x Dreadbridge Chant
Lands
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Woodland Cemetery
8x Forest
7x Swamp
I enjoy Ghoulcaller's Chant here, the antisynergy here is actually too small to not warrant it. We're using it mainly to bring them outta the yard in case we pitch it anyway.
So having said that, why not try -4 Rot Farm Skeletons, and +2 Jarad, Golgari Lich, and +2 Farseek/Mulch to make it look something like this:
3x Ghoultree
2x Varolz, the Scar-striped
4x Dreg Mangler
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Gravecrawler
2x Jarad, Golgari Lich
4x Putrefy
4x Grisly Salvage
Sorceries
4x Drown in Filth
2x Farseek/Mulch
2x Ghoulcaller's chant
2x Rancor
Lands
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Woodland Cemetery
8x Forest
7x Swamp
It runs Avacyn's Pilgrims, Gyre Sages, Acidic Slimes, Sylvan Primordials, Lone Revenants, Clones and Conjuror's Closets.
It is extremely interesting and effective, and most people groan when they get paired with him. I will post the deck list when I can get it.
This, and if your opponent is slaughter gaming, then Seance will more than likely be the target.
I would not put the combo in the sideboard and instead use the sideboard for more beneficial cards such as Nevermore, that at least gives us a chance to get out of a potential gamebreaker.
My sideboard usually includes 2 Nevermores, and I'm working on a transitional planeswalkers/miracle set up.
Spark Trooper is a freakin' Allstar in UWr lists. He has performed past my expectations since I have added him to this list. Also, Boros Charming him while Aurelia is on the field can led to an extremely nasty combat step.
Thanks for the responses, guys
So let's say I Seance a Angel of Serenity on my upkeep.
Under the Angel, I place my Molten Primordial under it for the exile trigger.
When Seance's exile effect hits at the end of my turn, Molten Primordial comes back into play.
My question is, the creature I inssurect comes in during the end step, does it go back to my opponent, or does it stay until his end step?
Thanks
I have been a frequent player of Bant Seance, but I started looking at a few things and decided to go with a UWr build.
I took a "Lucky Charms" approach to this build, and grabbed a few ideas from the board and just revamped the whole thing. Gonna try it next friday and I'll let you guys know how it works out.
4x Armored Skaab
4x Alchemist Apprentice
3x Spark Trooper
1x Angel of Serenity
1x Molten Primordial
1x Aurelia, the Warleader
1x Laboratory Maniac
1x Mirror-Mad Phantasm
4x Faithless Looting
3x Azorius Charm
3x Boros Charm
3x Izzet Charm
3x Supreme Verdict
1x Terminus
1x Psychic Spiral
Enchantments
3x Seance
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Clifftop Retreat
4x Sulfur Falls
1x Desolate Lighthouse
3x Island
1x Mountain
2x Plains