Just wondering, if I use Hazoret's Favor ability on Lathnu Hellion, can I still use two energy counter at the beginning of end step to make it survive?
I have been following this thread for a while, but I did not change my own build much.
I have always been more of a midrange player, so I felt the madness sub-theme decks posted here do not suit my play style.
I enjoyed having cards in my hand, and play removals and burn spells whenever the need arises.
My deck employs the following lesser discussed cards: Collective Defiance - Proved vital in burning out last few points of damage, getting rid of most creatures (including Kalitas), replaced opponent's hand when you know opponent is going to combo off next turn. Night Market Lookout - Proved very useful in crewing vehicles, and against creature-less decks. This card usually deals 6-8 damage before being removed or suicide attack to bring back Scrapheap Scrounger. Rush of Vitality - Saved Copter so many times from Harness Lightning, Immolating Glares, and other removals. Lifegain saved me a couple of times too. Usually sideboarded out against BG delirium since they play Grasp. Looming Spires - The +1/+1 has won me so many games to deal the 20th damage. First strike was critical in one match as it allowed my Scrapheap Scrounger to attack into a Kalitas. Opponent chose not to block and I burnt him out for the win. Lathnu Hellion - Always sideboarded in against control decks and against decks that play Radiance Flames. Played 3 copies because the first always gets killed, but the second one feeds off the extra 2 energy from the first.
Cards I tested but did not like: Key to the City - I started testing with 2 copies, before going down to 1 copy and eventually replacing it with Rush of Vitality. Aether Hub - My build is too reliant on double red, or double black for sideboard. Aether Hub stumbled me so much during testing I ran Smoldering Marsh playset instead. Harness Lightning - Never felt the need to have more creature removal. Needed more creatures instead. Incendiary Flow - Same reason as Harness Lightning Reckless Bushwhacker - My build is not an all-in build. Card did not fit strategy.
Went 4-1 in Swiss for Games Day.
1st Match: WB Midrange (Won 2-1)
First game, opponent had very nice draws. Most creatures played got removed. Removed Kalitas & Avacyn but could not deal enough damage before losing to 2nd Kalitas.
Second game was won in a breeze. I could not recall much.
Third game, opponent kept a sketchy hand. After opponent played 3 turns only playing lands and Harsh Scrutiny, I played Trangress the Mind expecting a Kalitas. Hand was Succumb to Temptation, Bruna, Lost Legacy and 2 Lands.
I took Succumb to Temptation, and he top-decked a Liliana which was taken down promptly by Cruiser. He drew an Anguished Unmaking removing my Cruiser but my Copter was bringing opponent down to burn range. On turn 7, he played Bruna with 7 life remaining. I had a Night Market Lookout, Copter, and another 3-power creature. Lookout crewed Copter, attacked with both creatures, and escalated Collective Defiance took out both Bruna and opponent.
2nd Match: Mono-Blue Eldrazi (Lost 1-2)
First game was won in a breeze. I flooded the board with creatures.
Second game, I kept a slow hand and got killed by Spatial Contortions, Thought-Knot Seers, and 2 Reality Smashers.
Third game, after a mulligan, I kept another slow hand. Opponent removed my Copter with Spatial Contortion, casted Eldrazi Skyspawner, then Thought-Knot my hand, and then casted 2 Drowner of Hope.
I could not deal with the second Drowner and he tapped my creatures and beat me down.
3rd Match: Bant Midrange (Won 2-1)
First game, I mulliganed to 4 hands and could not recover. Either no lands or all lands hands.
Second & third game, Heir of Falkenrath did a lot of work flying over everything.
Saw Sylvan Adocates, Tireless Trackers, Reflector Mages, Spell Queller, Verdurous Gearhulk, but anything that could fly was removed for the win. Rush of Vitality helped in trades on ground creatures and I was never in low health.
4th Match: UW Flash (Won 2-0)
First game, we traded creatures for a while before I won with 2 Cruisers back to back.
Second game, Night Market Lookout did tons of damage against an empty board. Opponent lost about 9 life before he dealt with the Lookout. Rest was easy.
5th Match: RB Control (Won 2-0)
First game, everything I played got removed. Eventually brought him down to 9 life and was keeping 3 copies of Unlicensed Disintegration and 1 copy of Fiery Temper in hand with a uncrewed Copter in play.
His winning condition is Red and Black Gearhulks. Drew a Lookout, tried crewing and lost Copter to Grasp. Then he played black Gearhulk and removed the Lookout. Managed to draw a Scrapheap Scrounger and played Unlicensed Disintegration for 3 damage. He followed by playing another black Gearhulk on Scrapheap Scrounger. I brought Scrounger back and played Unlicensed Disintegration for 3 damage. Drew a Collective Defiance and burnt him out.
Second game, the pressure from Lathnu Hellions was good. After the Hellions died, they provided fuel to keep bringing back Scrounger. The removals could not keep up with the onslaught.
Quarters: WG Midrange (Won 2-0)
First game, I was seeded higher and went first. GW did not have much removal and Copter + Heir of Falkenrath flew over easily.
Second game, I kept a very slow hand (turn 3 Copter) and got into a damage race. Eventually, Opponent was at 13 life and I was at 10 life. I had a Copter and flipped Heir of Falkenrath. Opp had 5 lands, an Advocate and a Verdurous Gearhulk with 2 +1/+1 counters on each.
My hand was Pia Nalaar, Rush of Vitality, Inventor's Apprentice, and a couple of cards I cannot remember.
I took a risky play and it paid off. I play Inventor's Apprentice, crewed Copter and attacked with both Heir and Copter. Casted Rush to bring opponent to 6 life while my life is now at 14 but an open board.
I was hoping opponent did not have anything to add to the board. Opponent played a land and brought me down to 2 life. Next turn, I suspected an Avacyn, so I casted Pia Nalaar before combat with both flyers.
Sure enough, an Avacyn flashed in but I sac'ed the thopter to make Avacyn not block and won the game.
Semis: UW Flash (Won 2-0)
Was same opponent in 4th match.
First game, opponent could not deal with recurring Scrapheap Scrounger. Any Avacyn was promptly Unlicensed Disintegrated.
Second game, opponent mulliganed once and did not have much creatures to trade. After 2 Glimmer of Genius, he extended his hand.
Finals: WR Vehicles (Lost 2-1)
Opponent was first seed and chosen to play first.
First game, both of us was trading damage for a while. After I brought opponent down to 9 life, board became stalled.
I had a Copter, Heir and a thopter from Pia as flyers, while opponent had a Selfless Spirit.
I realized an opportunity after my opponent spent all but one mana to play Cruiser.
I had a Lookout on the board, casted another one and double crewed Copter to bring opp to 7 life. Played Looming Spires from hand to make Copter 4/4, sac'ed thopter to make Selfless Spirit cannot block and attacked with Copter and Heir for the win.
Second game, I mulliganed and kept a slow hand. Took lots of damage from Exemplar and Copter before I landed a Kalitas on turn 4. I was down to 7 life and facing a 5/5 Copter from Depala and Veteran crewing. Spent all my mana next turn to cast 2 Copters and I decided to attack with Kalitas. Opponent was eager to trade Depala & Inspector with Kalitas. Thinking back, I might have made a fatal error of attacking with Kalitas. Opponent attacked the following turn with 4/4 Copter crewed by Veteran Motorist, and I double blocked with both Copters. Opponent later took out my second Copter with Galvanic Bombardment. I haven't seen any of my removals and my opponent continued to draw gas while I drew lands. After opponent played Gideon, I started drawing my Galvanic Bombardments in succession but could not defend the board.
Third game, I had to mulligan with a no land hand. My 6-card hand was decent so I kept and scryed. We traded creatures for a while until I started drawing lands and my opponent started drawing removal after removal and then Gideon. After a couple of Gideon attacks, I revealed my hand of lands and extended my hand.
Overall, I had a good run with the deck. Many of the audience I talked to after Finals told me both decks in Finals are good and they could not tell who will win until late game.
Some of the players thought RB Aggro was better than RW Vehicles after seeing the play out, but I suffered from bad draws in the last game.
After Games Day, I don't think I will change much to the main deck, but thought Galvanic Bombardment did not play out that well. Lost Legacy would likely be reduced as 1-of as I did not feel its importance as much.
I'm looking at Grasp of Darkness and Essense Extraction, but am worried of the double black mana.
Help on sideboard will be appreciated. Thanks.
I would like to check if there is any interaction between Pyxis of Pandemonium and Secret Plan.
Would turning cards face up with Pyxis trigger Secret Plan card draw if they are permanents?
GJ on the results. I do question some of the artifact choices you mentioned. I think you can do a little better. Instead of Skyblinder Staff, what about a couple Pithing Needles?, same mana cost, shuts down a lot of stuff, and you can still get around blockers if you play 1 or 2 Rogue's Passage. You have a lot of swamps right now I don't think it would be a problem. But if it was I'd just fit in a couple Prophetic Prisms. Not only they cantrip but they'd insure you hit triple black despite running a couple colorless lands.
After that I'd cut 1 Demonic Rising for a Trading Post. The versatility of post is worth it as it can give you an endless stream of creatures to keep Homicidal Seclusion (and Demonic Rising) active or just let you draw cards or gain life as needed.
Edit: I don't like Ring of Thune here, but I understand why you're using it, after all I do the same with Slayers' Stronghold except it doesn't take slots in the deck.
I originally built this deck with 3 Prophetic Prism instead of Ring of Thune. After playtesting, Prism was the weakest card in the deck. The only things going for it are cantrip and if you cast it turn two with Mutavault as 3rd mana source. Ring of Thune is useful the entire game and helps stabilize the board as early as turn 4. That's what a huge portion of games are won from. I wasn't sure myself that Ring of Thune would work initially, but from playtests, it immediately proved itself and with equip cost of 1, leaves mana open on turn 4 for removal or Sign in Blood. Slayers' Stronghold can't do that. Stronghold also gives colourless mana, which contradicts playing Lich. I'm already playing the minimum 2 Mutavault, and consistency wins games.
Rogue's Passage isn't in for same reasons mentioned above. It's not an early game artifact, which this deck wants. Skyblinder Staff curves beautifully from turn 3 Vampire Nighthawk into turn 4 cast Staff + Equip. Helps to cast Lich by Turn 3. Makes Demon tokens unblockable late game. It's just something you have to playtest to know how good it is.
I haven't felt the need for Trading Post, but I definitely need at least 2 Demonic Rising. Trading Post doesn't curve out well in this deck too.
Pithing Needle just can't justify itself mainboard. I have only found myself wanting it against specific decks. Usually name Aetherling against Control decks, Glor-Clan Rampager for Gruul decks, against Planeswalker. I prefer cards that are useful throughout the game. The effects all stacks, so you can end up with an indestructible 9/6 Lich with Lifelink, Vigilance and can't be blocked by flying creatures. It's devastating for my opponent but creates lots of entertainment value for spectators.
I decided to post my decklist here as this is probably the only thread that is talking about Phylactery Lich.
I formed this deck two weeks ago and it has performed beyond expectations.
This deck curves out very well and is extremely fun to play.
Brought it to two FMNs and so far, my only match loss was to a friend whom I play-tested with and designed his deck around mine.
A few card choices:
3 Devour Flesh - The main reason Devour Flesh is 3-of is that sometimes, you just want to sac your own creature. It may be a Phylactery Lich that has a Pacifism on it, or you want to kill one of two Demon tokens from Demonic Rising to give the remaining token Homicidal Seclusion bonus. Also works well against Bant Enchantment decks.
3 Haunted Plate Mail - Very powerful with Demonic Rising and curves well from turn 3 Vampire Nighthawk or Lich. I feel 3-of is the max I can go with this deck.
3 Ring of Thune - A major weakness of playing low creature count is you usually have to choose between attacking or blocking. Ring of Thune curves beautifully from turn 2 into turn 3 Lich into turn 4 equip and attack. Won RDW and Gruul Aggro with this massive wall.
2 Skyblinder Staff - Everyone I played against picked this card and read it whenever this hits the board. And then, they read it again. It doesn't do much early game and helps brings out the Lich. But it helps Lich goes through Lingering Souls and Restoration Angels, and it makes Vampire Nighthawks and Demon tokens unblockable. That's scary. Not to mention, it give +1/+0 too. My late-game MVP.
1 Inquisitor's Flail - This wins over Fireshrieker for a couple of reasons. It costs only 2cmc, which is important. Its cons does not affect Lich. Many times, without means to trample, double strike does not gain you the same amount of life as dealing double the damage.
Plenty of Apostles to chump block to ensure you survive to start everything.
4 Dimir Cluestone to accelerate a turn to your 6 mana sources.
3 Diabolic Tutor to find that Sphinx.
2 Psychic Spiral to ensure you can draw it. (you don't have to draw-mill your entire library, just enough to mill your opponent's)
1 Dispel just in case your opponent tries to disrupt Spiral.
Gravepurge can be included to stack your dead Apostles again on top of your library just in case the drawing manage to stop halfway, but it won't survive rotation.
Only opponents can redirect damage to planeswalkers. You cannot redirect damage you deal to yourself to a planeswalker you control
Oops. You're right.
It seems logical you can't use planeswalker as meatshield or it'll be detrimental to the game.
Good thing you have pointed that out before I tried that. Thanks.
Also i will try to fit 1 assembly the legion (really good againts some deck), making 2/2 with legion, 3/3 if you got 2.
Olivia as a 1 of seems great and you can combo with high priest if you want.
GL
I have tried Mizzium Mortar before Merciless Eviction, and Merciless Eviction is way more powerful. The flexibility of Mortar is useful, but Mortar doesn't deal well with Aristocrats, Voice, Boros Reckoner. I use Eviction mainly as a finisher, and I find myself going from 2 Merciless Eviction to 3-of. It's one of those cards you have to play it to know how good it is.
4 Legion's Initiative may be an overkill here. I have multiples in play lots of times and 5/5 Boros Reckoner is a boss. I might reduce 1 count to put more of other cards.
Olivia has the major weakness of doing nothing on turn 4. She works if opponent doesn't have an answer, but I think new Chandra works better here. Definitely testing a lot on this.
Instead of Dreadbore, I'm thinking more of Doom Blade here.
Assemble the Legion is something I haven't test yet. Might really work well here. Thanks.
I play a Dega Midrange deck which is very different from all the other Dega decklists.
There are currently 3 Merciless Eviction and 4 Legion's Initiative in my deck.
Couldn't find on any other website any deck that resembles it, so I frequent this thread to understand card choices and try to finetune the deck myself.
With the discussion of Merciless Eviction coming up, I thought I can share some information on using the card in Dega Midrange.
My deck is designed to stall, taking a control approach, wipe your opponent's board (without wiping your own), and then beatdown with staple creatures.
First of all, this is the decklist I intend to test when M14 is released.
I'm aware there are quite a few subpar cards in this build, but they have good synergy with each other. Definitely need plenty of testing and further finetuning.
Legion's Initiative is a card I haven't seen being actively discussed. It offers the following benefits:
It drops well on turn 2.
It makes Boros Reckoner a 4/4 (wins Smiter).
Makes Blood Baron a 4/5 (Lots of decks depend on Mizzium Mortar to remove Baron, but they don't work here).
Creates an anti-wipe board state once resolved.
Turns your tapped board state into untapped board state by triggering on end of opponent's precombat main phase (prevents attack & free hit by Thundermaw Hellkite)
Blink your own ETB creatures (Sin Collector & Thundermaw Hellkite in this case)
Saves your creatures from combat tricks (Baron attacking into Wurm)
Set up the one-sided board wipe
Makes your opponent think really, really hard (and hope he makes a mistake)
From testing, you don't need a lot of creatures to bring out the potential of Legion's Initiative. Just 1-2 quality creatures is enough to affect the board state by a lot.
Blood Baron is near untouchable here when you can't Mizzium Mortar it (5 toughness), can't Far//Away or board wipe it (just Blink it), can't counter (2 Cavern of Souls).
During matches, one of my opponent chose to Abrupt Decay Legion's Initiative over Boros Reckoner as he can't handle a 4/5 Baron, so in a way, it makes your creatures last longer too.
Merciless Eviction is, in my opinion, the best board wipe along with Terminus. It kills a few deck archetypes outright. The only setback is the 6 CMC. While your opponent is trying to build board presence to overcome your stalling creatures, trigger Legion's Initiative at end of opponent's turn, cast Merciless Eviction on your precombat main phase, and on your combat phase, all your creatures come back with haste (& check out his hand for combat tricks if you still have Sin Collector). Extremely hard for opponent to recover after that. I am never unhappy to see 1 in my starting hand. And I have always managed to cast it as this deck can hold pretty well against aggro.
High Priest of Penance becomes a 1/2 with Legion's Initiative, which means you can ping it to remove stuff aside from it being an aggro stopper. But with the current cards in Standard, there aren't a lot of options to choose from. Olivia is a sitting duck on turn 4. I'm still testing Geistflame for now. I do feel High Priest of Penance is a subpar card which depends on more subpar cards to be effective, but it always help me to stall aggro decks long enough to use Merciless Eviction. May be replaced eventually with better options.
Chandra, Pyromaster seems to have a home here. I'm looking forward to pinging my own High Priest to destroy stuff. If you are wondering about the 1 damage to target player, you can actually redirect that damage back to Chandra herself so she's effectively a 4 Loyalty planeswalker all the way. She does what Olivia can't, start pinging on turn 4. I would think of her 0 ability to be similar to Faithless Looting, late game card searching. She has potential, but needs lots of playtesting to confirm that.
I'm also testing Firemane Avenger as 1-of. She does seem inconsistent in this deck even as a 4/4.
Vampire Nighthawk is a staple in my deck even though it doesn't have bonus power/toughness from Legion's Initiative. The flying, lifelink and deathtouch is so important early game.
Deck is really fun to play, and does well against the current meta, with exception to Bant Hexproof (I'm not sure on how to handle against that deck). My sideboard is still a total mess (currently has Rest in Peace, Slaughter Games, Mind Rot, Flames of Firebrand, can't decide on rest). And this is how I play Merciless Eviction in Dega Midrange.
This deck needs lots of improvement, so tips and hints are certainly welcome.
I took your decklist and gave it a overhaul. I didn't add any new expensive rare cards, unless you consider Gavony Township to be one. I don't see Armada Wurm coming out with 20 lands so it has to go. I bumped land count up to 22. I removed Thragtusk as it doesn't really serve much purpose in this deck.
I play a token deck as well and it is based around Wayfaring Temple.
Your best play would be:
Turn 1- land into mana dork
Turn 2 - land into Wayfaring Temple
Turn 3 - land, Wayfaring Temple attack and cast Midnight Haunting like a Giant Growth effect. You now have a 5/5 Temple and 3 1/1 flying Spirits. With 1 mana spare for either Rancor to trample thru or Faith's Shield protection. Or go Wayfaring Temple attack into cast Advent of the Wurm. Leaves chump blockers behind.
There are plenty of instant tokens to play around with.
Even without Wayfaring Temple, this deck functions well.
What turns out to be among my most crucial cards in my deck is Faith's Shield.
For 1 white mana, it stops Detention Sphere from wiping your tokens and save a creature. It also allows Wayfaring Temple to attack thru by giving it colour protection. Most people forgot that card exists.
I chose Boros and got Azorius as ally. Went aggro with mainly 3-drops and 4-drops. Won games (getting opponent life to 0) on turn 6 or 7. Having a good pool helps a lot.
Here is the decklist.
2 Insolent Neonate
4 Inventor's Apprentice
3 Night Market Lookout
4 Heir of Falkenrath
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Pia Nalaar
Spells (11)
1 Rush of Vitality
4 Fiery Temper
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Collective Defiance
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
Lands (23)
2 Looming Spires
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Foreboding Ruins
7 Swamp
6 Mountain
3 Galvanic Bombardment
2 Rush of Vitality
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Lost Legacy
1 Make Obsolete
3 Lathnu Hellion
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
I have been following this thread for a while, but I did not change my own build much.
I have always been more of a midrange player, so I felt the madness sub-theme decks posted here do not suit my play style.
I enjoyed having cards in my hand, and play removals and burn spells whenever the need arises.
My deck employs the following lesser discussed cards:
Collective Defiance - Proved vital in burning out last few points of damage, getting rid of most creatures (including Kalitas), replaced opponent's hand when you know opponent is going to combo off next turn.
Night Market Lookout - Proved very useful in crewing vehicles, and against creature-less decks. This card usually deals 6-8 damage before being removed or suicide attack to bring back Scrapheap Scrounger.
Rush of Vitality - Saved Copter so many times from Harness Lightning, Immolating Glares, and other removals. Lifegain saved me a couple of times too. Usually sideboarded out against BG delirium since they play Grasp.
Looming Spires - The +1/+1 has won me so many games to deal the 20th damage. First strike was critical in one match as it allowed my Scrapheap Scrounger to attack into a Kalitas. Opponent chose not to block and I burnt him out for the win.
Lathnu Hellion - Always sideboarded in against control decks and against decks that play Radiance Flames. Played 3 copies because the first always gets killed, but the second one feeds off the extra 2 energy from the first.
Cards I tested but did not like:
Key to the City - I started testing with 2 copies, before going down to 1 copy and eventually replacing it with Rush of Vitality.
Aether Hub - My build is too reliant on double red, or double black for sideboard. Aether Hub stumbled me so much during testing I ran Smoldering Marsh playset instead.
Harness Lightning - Never felt the need to have more creature removal. Needed more creatures instead.
Incendiary Flow - Same reason as Harness Lightning
Reckless Bushwhacker - My build is not an all-in build. Card did not fit strategy.
Went 4-1 in Swiss for Games Day.
1st Match: WB Midrange (Won 2-1)
First game, opponent had very nice draws. Most creatures played got removed. Removed Kalitas & Avacyn but could not deal enough damage before losing to 2nd Kalitas.
Second game was won in a breeze. I could not recall much.
Third game, opponent kept a sketchy hand. After opponent played 3 turns only playing lands and Harsh Scrutiny, I played Trangress the Mind expecting a Kalitas. Hand was Succumb to Temptation, Bruna, Lost Legacy and 2 Lands.
I took Succumb to Temptation, and he top-decked a Liliana which was taken down promptly by Cruiser. He drew an Anguished Unmaking removing my Cruiser but my Copter was bringing opponent down to burn range. On turn 7, he played Bruna with 7 life remaining. I had a Night Market Lookout, Copter, and another 3-power creature. Lookout crewed Copter, attacked with both creatures, and escalated Collective Defiance took out both Bruna and opponent.
2nd Match: Mono-Blue Eldrazi (Lost 1-2)
First game was won in a breeze. I flooded the board with creatures.
Second game, I kept a slow hand and got killed by Spatial Contortions, Thought-Knot Seers, and 2 Reality Smashers.
Third game, after a mulligan, I kept another slow hand. Opponent removed my Copter with Spatial Contortion, casted Eldrazi Skyspawner, then Thought-Knot my hand, and then casted 2 Drowner of Hope.
I could not deal with the second Drowner and he tapped my creatures and beat me down.
3rd Match: Bant Midrange (Won 2-1)
First game, I mulliganed to 4 hands and could not recover. Either no lands or all lands hands.
Second & third game, Heir of Falkenrath did a lot of work flying over everything.
Saw Sylvan Adocates, Tireless Trackers, Reflector Mages, Spell Queller, Verdurous Gearhulk, but anything that could fly was removed for the win. Rush of Vitality helped in trades on ground creatures and I was never in low health.
4th Match: UW Flash (Won 2-0)
First game, we traded creatures for a while before I won with 2 Cruisers back to back.
Second game, Night Market Lookout did tons of damage against an empty board. Opponent lost about 9 life before he dealt with the Lookout. Rest was easy.
5th Match: RB Control (Won 2-0)
First game, everything I played got removed. Eventually brought him down to 9 life and was keeping 3 copies of Unlicensed Disintegration and 1 copy of Fiery Temper in hand with a uncrewed Copter in play.
His winning condition is Red and Black Gearhulks. Drew a Lookout, tried crewing and lost Copter to Grasp. Then he played black Gearhulk and removed the Lookout. Managed to draw a Scrapheap Scrounger and played Unlicensed Disintegration for 3 damage. He followed by playing another black Gearhulk on Scrapheap Scrounger. I brought Scrounger back and played Unlicensed Disintegration for 3 damage. Drew a Collective Defiance and burnt him out.
Second game, the pressure from Lathnu Hellions was good. After the Hellions died, they provided fuel to keep bringing back Scrounger. The removals could not keep up with the onslaught.
Quarters: WG Midrange (Won 2-0)
First game, I was seeded higher and went first. GW did not have much removal and Copter + Heir of Falkenrath flew over easily.
Second game, I kept a very slow hand (turn 3 Copter) and got into a damage race. Eventually, Opponent was at 13 life and I was at 10 life. I had a Copter and flipped Heir of Falkenrath. Opp had 5 lands, an Advocate and a Verdurous Gearhulk with 2 +1/+1 counters on each.
My hand was Pia Nalaar, Rush of Vitality, Inventor's Apprentice, and a couple of cards I cannot remember.
I took a risky play and it paid off. I play Inventor's Apprentice, crewed Copter and attacked with both Heir and Copter. Casted Rush to bring opponent to 6 life while my life is now at 14 but an open board.
I was hoping opponent did not have anything to add to the board. Opponent played a land and brought me down to 2 life. Next turn, I suspected an Avacyn, so I casted Pia Nalaar before combat with both flyers.
Sure enough, an Avacyn flashed in but I sac'ed the thopter to make Avacyn not block and won the game.
Semis: UW Flash (Won 2-0)
Was same opponent in 4th match.
First game, opponent could not deal with recurring Scrapheap Scrounger. Any Avacyn was promptly Unlicensed Disintegrated.
Second game, opponent mulliganed once and did not have much creatures to trade. After 2 Glimmer of Genius, he extended his hand.
Finals: WR Vehicles (Lost 2-1)
Opponent was first seed and chosen to play first.
First game, both of us was trading damage for a while. After I brought opponent down to 9 life, board became stalled.
I had a Copter, Heir and a thopter from Pia as flyers, while opponent had a Selfless Spirit.
I realized an opportunity after my opponent spent all but one mana to play Cruiser.
I had a Lookout on the board, casted another one and double crewed Copter to bring opp to 7 life. Played Looming Spires from hand to make Copter 4/4, sac'ed thopter to make Selfless Spirit cannot block and attacked with Copter and Heir for the win.
Second game, I mulliganed and kept a slow hand. Took lots of damage from Exemplar and Copter before I landed a Kalitas on turn 4. I was down to 7 life and facing a 5/5 Copter from Depala and Veteran crewing. Spent all my mana next turn to cast 2 Copters and I decided to attack with Kalitas. Opponent was eager to trade Depala & Inspector with Kalitas. Thinking back, I might have made a fatal error of attacking with Kalitas. Opponent attacked the following turn with 4/4 Copter crewed by Veteran Motorist, and I double blocked with both Copters. Opponent later took out my second Copter with Galvanic Bombardment. I haven't seen any of my removals and my opponent continued to draw gas while I drew lands. After opponent played Gideon, I started drawing my Galvanic Bombardments in succession but could not defend the board.
Third game, I had to mulligan with a no land hand. My 6-card hand was decent so I kept and scryed. We traded creatures for a while until I started drawing lands and my opponent started drawing removal after removal and then Gideon. After a couple of Gideon attacks, I revealed my hand of lands and extended my hand.
Overall, I had a good run with the deck. Many of the audience I talked to after Finals told me both decks in Finals are good and they could not tell who will win until late game.
Some of the players thought RB Aggro was better than RW Vehicles after seeing the play out, but I suffered from bad draws in the last game.
After Games Day, I don't think I will change much to the main deck, but thought Galvanic Bombardment did not play out that well. Lost Legacy would likely be reduced as 1-of as I did not feel its importance as much.
I'm looking at Grasp of Darkness and Essense Extraction, but am worried of the double black mana.
Help on sideboard will be appreciated. Thanks.
A pity though.
It would have been a great fun deck for casuals if the interaction worked.
Would turning cards face up with Pyxis trigger Secret Plan card draw if they are permanents?
Thanks in advance.
I originally built this deck with 3 Prophetic Prism instead of Ring of Thune. After playtesting, Prism was the weakest card in the deck. The only things going for it are cantrip and if you cast it turn two with Mutavault as 3rd mana source. Ring of Thune is useful the entire game and helps stabilize the board as early as turn 4. That's what a huge portion of games are won from. I wasn't sure myself that Ring of Thune would work initially, but from playtests, it immediately proved itself and with equip cost of 1, leaves mana open on turn 4 for removal or Sign in Blood. Slayers' Stronghold can't do that. Stronghold also gives colourless mana, which contradicts playing Lich. I'm already playing the minimum 2 Mutavault, and consistency wins games.
Rogue's Passage isn't in for same reasons mentioned above. It's not an early game artifact, which this deck wants. Skyblinder Staff curves beautifully from turn 3 Vampire Nighthawk into turn 4 cast Staff + Equip. Helps to cast Lich by Turn 3. Makes Demon tokens unblockable late game. It's just something you have to playtest to know how good it is.
I haven't felt the need for Trading Post, but I definitely need at least 2 Demonic Rising. Trading Post doesn't curve out well in this deck too.
Pithing Needle just can't justify itself mainboard. I have only found myself wanting it against specific decks. Usually name Aetherling against Control decks, Glor-Clan Rampager for Gruul decks, against Planeswalker. I prefer cards that are useful throughout the game. The effects all stacks, so you can end up with an indestructible 9/6 Lich with Lifelink, Vigilance and can't be blocked by flying creatures. It's devastating for my opponent but creates lots of entertainment value for spectators.
I formed this deck two weeks ago and it has performed beyond expectations.
This deck curves out very well and is extremely fun to play.
Brought it to two FMNs and so far, my only match loss was to a friend whom I play-tested with and designed his deck around mine.
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Phylactery Lich
Spells (14)
4 Mutilate
3 Devour Flesh
2 Victim of Night
1 Ultimate Price
3 Sign in Blood
1 Corrupt
3 Homicidal Seclusion
2 Demonic Rising
Artifact (11)
3 Haunted Plate Mail
3 Ring of Thune
2 Skyblinder Staff
2 Codex Shredder
1 Inquisitor's Flail
Lands (23)
2 Mutavault
21 Swamps
3 Pithing Needle
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Duress
3 Knight of Infamy
2 Crypt Incursion
1 Demonic Rising
A few card choices:
3 Devour Flesh - The main reason Devour Flesh is 3-of is that sometimes, you just want to sac your own creature. It may be a Phylactery Lich that has a Pacifism on it, or you want to kill one of two Demon tokens from Demonic Rising to give the remaining token Homicidal Seclusion bonus. Also works well against Bant Enchantment decks.
3 Haunted Plate Mail - Very powerful with Demonic Rising and curves well from turn 3 Vampire Nighthawk or Lich. I feel 3-of is the max I can go with this deck.
3 Ring of Thune - A major weakness of playing low creature count is you usually have to choose between attacking or blocking. Ring of Thune curves beautifully from turn 2 into turn 3 Lich into turn 4 equip and attack. Won RDW and Gruul Aggro with this massive wall.
2 Skyblinder Staff - Everyone I played against picked this card and read it whenever this hits the board. And then, they read it again. It doesn't do much early game and helps brings out the Lich. But it helps Lich goes through Lingering Souls and Restoration Angels, and it makes Vampire Nighthawks and Demon tokens unblockable. That's scary. Not to mention, it give +1/+0 too. My late-game MVP.
1 Inquisitor's Flail - This wins over Fireshrieker for a couple of reasons. It costs only 2cmc, which is important. Its cons does not affect Lich. Many times, without means to trample, double strike does not gain you the same amount of life as dealing double the damage.
22 Shadowborn Apostle
4 Sphinx of the Chimes
Artifact (4)
4 Dimir Cluestone
3 Diabolic Tutor
2 Psychic Spiral
1 Dispel
4 Watery Grave
4 Dimir Guildgate
8 Swamp
8 Island
Plenty of Apostles to chump block to ensure you survive to start everything.
4 Dimir Cluestone to accelerate a turn to your 6 mana sources.
3 Diabolic Tutor to find that Sphinx.
2 Psychic Spiral to ensure you can draw it. (you don't have to draw-mill your entire library, just enough to mill your opponent's)
1 Dispel just in case your opponent tries to disrupt Spiral.
Gravepurge can be included to stack your dead Apostles again on top of your library just in case the drawing manage to stop halfway, but it won't survive rotation.
Yes, it's an interesting build that is more control-based. The only issue with Terminus is that it's due to rotate out in couple of months.
Please test it out and we can discuss more about it together.
Thanks.
Oops. You're right.
It seems logical you can't use planeswalker as meatshield or it'll be detrimental to the game.
Good thing you have pointed that out before I tried that. Thanks.
I have tried Mizzium Mortar before Merciless Eviction, and Merciless Eviction is way more powerful. The flexibility of Mortar is useful, but Mortar doesn't deal well with Aristocrats, Voice, Boros Reckoner. I use Eviction mainly as a finisher, and I find myself going from 2 Merciless Eviction to 3-of. It's one of those cards you have to play it to know how good it is.
4 Legion's Initiative may be an overkill here. I have multiples in play lots of times and 5/5 Boros Reckoner is a boss. I might reduce 1 count to put more of other cards.
Olivia has the major weakness of doing nothing on turn 4. She works if opponent doesn't have an answer, but I think new Chandra works better here. Definitely testing a lot on this.
Instead of Dreadbore, I'm thinking more of Doom Blade here.
Assemble the Legion is something I haven't test yet. Might really work well here. Thanks.
I play a Dega Midrange deck which is very different from all the other Dega decklists.
There are currently 3 Merciless Eviction and 4 Legion's Initiative in my deck.
Couldn't find on any other website any deck that resembles it, so I frequent this thread to understand card choices and try to finetune the deck myself.
With the discussion of Merciless Eviction coming up, I thought I can share some information on using the card in Dega Midrange.
My deck is designed to stall, taking a control approach, wipe your opponent's board (without wiping your own), and then beatdown with staple creatures.
First of all, this is the decklist I intend to test when M14 is released.
3 High Priest of Penance
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Sin Collector
4 Boros Reckoner
1 Firemane Avenger
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
Spells (8)
2 Geistflame
3 Warleader's Helix
3 Merciless Eviction
Artifact & Enchantment (5)
1 Rakdos Keyrune
4 Legion's Initiative
Lands (25)
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Clifftop Retreat
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Godless Shrine
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Slayers' Stronghold
I'm aware there are quite a few subpar cards in this build, but they have good synergy with each other. Definitely need plenty of testing and further finetuning.
I'm not going into details on all the cards, but specifically Legion's Initiative, Merciless Eviction, High Priest of Penance, and Chandra, Pyromaster.
Legion's Initiative is a card I haven't seen being actively discussed. It offers the following benefits:
- It drops well on turn 2.
- It makes Boros Reckoner a 4/4 (wins Smiter).
- Makes Blood Baron a 4/5 (Lots of decks depend on Mizzium Mortar to remove Baron, but they don't work here).
- Creates an anti-wipe board state once resolved.
- Turns your tapped board state into untapped board state by triggering on end of opponent's precombat main phase (prevents attack & free hit by Thundermaw Hellkite)
- Blink your own ETB creatures (Sin Collector & Thundermaw Hellkite in this case)
- Saves your creatures from combat tricks (Baron attacking into Wurm)
- Set up the one-sided board wipe
- Makes your opponent think really, really hard (and hope he makes a mistake)
From testing, you don't need a lot of creatures to bring out the potential of Legion's Initiative. Just 1-2 quality creatures is enough to affect the board state by a lot.Blood Baron is near untouchable here when you can't Mizzium Mortar it (5 toughness), can't Far//Away or board wipe it (just Blink it), can't counter (2 Cavern of Souls).
During matches, one of my opponent chose to Abrupt Decay Legion's Initiative over Boros Reckoner as he can't handle a 4/5 Baron, so in a way, it makes your creatures last longer too.
Merciless Eviction is, in my opinion, the best board wipe along with Terminus. It kills a few deck archetypes outright. The only setback is the 6 CMC. While your opponent is trying to build board presence to overcome your stalling creatures, trigger Legion's Initiative at end of opponent's turn, cast Merciless Eviction on your precombat main phase, and on your combat phase, all your creatures come back with haste (& check out his hand for combat tricks if you still have Sin Collector). Extremely hard for opponent to recover after that. I am never unhappy to see 1 in my starting hand. And I have always managed to cast it as this deck can hold pretty well against aggro.
High Priest of Penance becomes a 1/2 with Legion's Initiative, which means you can ping it to remove stuff aside from it being an aggro stopper. But with the current cards in Standard, there aren't a lot of options to choose from. Olivia is a sitting duck on turn 4. I'm still testing Geistflame for now. I do feel High Priest of Penance is a subpar card which depends on more subpar cards to be effective, but it always help me to stall aggro decks long enough to use Merciless Eviction. May be replaced eventually with better options.
Chandra, Pyromaster seems to have a home here. I'm looking forward to pinging my own High Priest to destroy stuff. If you are wondering about the 1 damage to target player, you can actually redirect that damage back to Chandra herself so she's effectively a 4 Loyalty planeswalker all the way. She does what Olivia can't, start pinging on turn 4. I would think of her 0 ability to be similar to Faithless Looting, late game card searching. She has potential, but needs lots of playtesting to confirm that.
I'm also testing Firemane Avenger as 1-of. She does seem inconsistent in this deck even as a 4/4.
Vampire Nighthawk is a staple in my deck even though it doesn't have bonus power/toughness from Legion's Initiative. The flying, lifelink and deathtouch is so important early game.
Deck is really fun to play, and does well against the current meta, with exception to Bant Hexproof (I'm not sure on how to handle against that deck). My sideboard is still a total mess (currently has Rest in Peace, Slaughter Games, Mind Rot, Flames of Firebrand, can't decide on rest). And this is how I play Merciless Eviction in Dega Midrange.
This deck needs lots of improvement, so tips and hints are certainly welcome.
Thanks for reading.
I play a token deck as well and it is based around Wayfaring Temple.
Your best play would be:
Turn 1- land into mana dork
Turn 2 - land into Wayfaring Temple
Turn 3 - land, Wayfaring Temple attack and cast Midnight Haunting like a Giant Growth effect. You now have a 5/5 Temple and 3 1/1 flying Spirits. With 1 mana spare for either Rancor to trample thru or Faith's Shield protection. Or go Wayfaring Temple attack into cast Advent of the Wurm. Leaves chump blockers behind.
There are plenty of instant tokens to play around with.
Even without Wayfaring Temple, this deck functions well.
What turns out to be among my most crucial cards in my deck is Faith's Shield.
For 1 white mana, it stops Detention Sphere from wiping your tokens and save a creature. It also allows Wayfaring Temple to attack thru by giving it colour protection. Most people forgot that card exists.
Hope this helps.
4 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Wayfaring Temple
1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
1 Scion of Vitu-Ghazi
Spells (19)
2 Faith's Shield
3 Selesnya Charm
4 Call of the Conclave
4 Midnight Haunting
3 Rootborn Defenses
3 Advent of the Wurm
3 Rancor
Land (22)
4 Sunpetal Grove
1 Gavony Township
10 Forest
7 Plains
3 Purify the Grave
2 Sundering Growth
4 Centaur Healer
3 Unflinching Courage
3 Oblivion Ring
I chose Boros and got Azorius as ally. Went aggro with mainly 3-drops and 4-drops. Won games (getting opponent life to 0) on turn 6 or 7. Having a good pool helps a lot.