Guys, I believe Abrupt Decay is the most damaging card to Modern at the moment and would probably be the best card to have banned, should any be at all. Although I don't like DRS that much since all it did was slot into already existing decks to make them stronger; I acknowledge that AD punishes blue and actively pushed out Delver, Faeries, and Merfolk, and made permanents like Crucible of Worlds, Ensaring Bridge, and Vedalken Shackles much less reliable to use.
Abrupt Decay made it so blue based decks can't protect their threats from GBx, the most popular deck in the meta. It isn't the lack of Ponder/Preordain that keeps tempo from competing, it's this uncounterable instant that destroys everything low-curve tempo can play.
Unless I'm mistaken or a 3cmc "Exile target spell." counter is printed, Abrupt Decay does more to hurt diversity in the format then Nacatl by pushing out an entire archetype, thus should easily qualify for a banning; more so than DRS that couldn't hose Living End as some people expect it to.
I want pure tempo to be a viable tier 1 deck that isn't hard-countered by a fairly common spell. I want a Loam deck that doesn't get ganked by 3 maindeck cards in a popular archetype. I want a control deck that can protect itself with Ensnaring Bridge or Ghostly Prison, giving us an alternative to UWR draw-go. I want a more diverse format and I believe Abrupt Decay is the culprit behind us not having one.
To touch on the Bitterblossom thing, it just seems to me like a better on-colour Lingering Souls. GB Rock would slot it in immediately and get a substantial power boost that it doesn't really need. Of course, I haven't thought about it much so I'd be happy to be shown otherwise. I'd love to play Grixis Faeries in Modern
I suggest lowering your mana curve, meaning fewer high cmc spells.
The black and green commands are pretty bad and cost too much to be relevant every game. I don't really see much use for Lilianna either, sadly.
Now I think you absolutely need 4x Rancor and no fewer. What are you going to do with your infinitely big Quillspike (or meaty as hell Nantuko) without a Rite of Consumption in your hand? Neither have any evasion and could be chump blocked all day, meanwhile letting your opponent advance their gameplan.
Rancor not only allows your Quillspike to win for you on the spot, while also just being a great value card that can let you win without your combo through regular beats as a midrange/aggro deck.
Speaking of, Skinshifter wouldn't be a bad idea to include at all. He's a solid beater and a decent wall which can contribute to a flexible midrange style. Quillspike is easy to remove after all, so a strong backup plan won't make you sad to have.
I'd also finally suggest some solid low-cmc removal. I recommend Disfigure, Dismember, Victim of Night, Smother, Doom Blade, or Go for the Throat. All pretty cheap and all completely viable.
Especially Dismember and Disfigure (which kills a surprisingly lot) are good to include to get rid of mana dorks first turn before letting your opponent ramp. It can really matter.
Could Swan Song help out Merfolk? They already play Spell Pierce (unless that's changed recently) which this could straight replace, merfolk typically wouldn't be too concerned about dropping 2 more power on the opponents field as the deck is fast enough to race already, and the bird won't get in the way as a blocker with a lord online.
Could this and Tidebinder Mage from M14 push the deck closer to competitive?
As to Soldier of the Pantheon, it's going to see play hands down. Where? A human tribal deck, maybe one that tops out with Falkenrath Aristocrat like I've seen a bit online.
Plenty of cool cards for modern so far. This set's going to rock!
You have a poor gameplan. Principally for the fact that you're trying to pitch your hand to get marginal use out of only 8 cards. Demigod of Revenge doesn't help justify going Hellbent either, as he can be used just as well casting them one at a time from your hand or chucking them with Faithless Lootings, all without the drawback of not having any cards to play with.
Currently the biggest problem with your list is that there's just no reason not to use better creatures and build RDW, because your list lacks synergy.
If you want to stick with the theme, try to run more cards that actually use Hellbent rather then cards that help you achieve it. Use more cards that aren't dead when they hit the graveyard. Use cards with Madness to get more opportunities to make a play. Use cards with symmetrical discard effects like Delirium Skeins to both further your gameplan and set your opponents' back. Don't run an inefficient aggro deck that's made better by dropping what you're trying to build around.
Just to give you an idea of what I'm trying to say, take a look at this. Awhile ago I was on a budget deck building stint and made a Hellbent deck. It certainly couldn't hold up to the established decks of the format but it performed very well against other similarly costed budget decks.
I admit that Gibbering Descent was mostly only included because I wanted to use it. Getting rid of them, the deck would probably run smoothly with fewer Signets. As well, I couldn't get a hold of any Terminates. That aside...
The deck was designed so that discarding came with as little pain as possible while simultaneously getting as much use out of the act as I could. I wanted all of my creatures to be useful discarded with the only exception being Stronghold Rats. I felt they were too good to neglect, forcing discards, and could be fetched up with Grave Scrabbler.
I included discard directed solely at my opponent to disrupt their plays as I'd otherwise have almost no way interact with a combo or control-ish type of deck. Fall could've been Wrench Mind or Inquisition of Kozilek, but the card was cheap and I had no opportunity to use it before.
I thought Burning Inquiry was a weird choice, especially after having them replace Faithless Looting, but I wasn't happy with the lootings and decided to experiment. Playing one got more cards into my yard while pulling double-duty as pseudo discard holding the potential to wreck my opponent's opening hand. I've found that being indiscriminate when cutting down my hand was relatively forgiving with this deck.
The Signets weren't there originally, and as such the deck was too slow. I included them to accelerate my mana, enabling me to cast a Tibalt or even Raven's Crime, and hold 2 mana open to play out a creature right then.
In my first few drafts, I felt I didn't have enough repeatable discard to get full use out of my cards. Tibalt seemed to do exactly what I wanted for only 2 mana and he actually (to my very real surprise) wasn't the worst thing to exist. As I just mentioned, random discard is almost forgiving, but I did have to learn to be careful when I +1'd him. What I liked about him was that he did more then just enable other cards: his -2 was helpful, and I actually managed to stall out a board and win with his ultimate one time. He was disposable and wasn't so valuable a card that I didn't want to discard him. Perfect fit.
The deck synergized is what I'm trying to get across. Probably not in the most efficient way, and this definitely isn't the best theme to build around, but it's what I had come up with and it worked, relatively.
Now of course this was just the direction I went in; I'm not telling you to build my deck. You should try any direction you feel is best and makes most sense to you. I just wanted to try to give you some ideas and explain the thought behind some choices I made for you to understand.
I wasn't trying to be rude or haughty, so I apologize if I might have come off that way attacking your list and showing my own. These have just been my opinions and I encourage you to try what you think would work and experiment. Again, I just wanted to help and I hope I've done so, if only a bit
Have you thought about Wall of Omens? Great staller, excellent bounce target, fits perfectly at 2 mana. Blade Splicer would do well to get more power on the field which you seem to be lacking.
On your mana base, I personally tend to shy away from 4-of checklands, especially when I'm rocking 6+ non-Island/Plains. Again, just my personal preference to avoid awkward hands, I'd dial them down to 2 or 3 and include Adarkar Wastes (seeing as how fetchlands aren't really an option).
And on Delay; in my own testing, I've found that I'd almost always prefer Mana Leak instead provided it's supplemented with Remands. The issue I've always had with Delay is that it's pretty ineffective at stopping or significantly stalling an opponent's play, as the optimal way to get around it is to simply play out your spells quickly (Obviously baiting your counters out would be best, but that's not exlusive to Delay) and wait the 3 turns.
If you have Mana Leaks, it forces you opponent to always have extra mana open whenever you threaten to have it in your hand. To get around it, they would have to wait for 3 land drops rather then just the 3 turns for the spell to resolve.
As to your sideboard, why not Rest in Peace? It's the best graveyard hate in the format, I think, and hurts Snapcaster just as much as Grafdigger's Cage does.
Your sideboard is meant to be suited to your meta, so I can't really say what would fit best. But if I could make some suggestions to consider:
-Negate is handy to have if you feel you need more counterspell support, though I think you have that covered
-Phantasmal Image is your best tool for taking down Geist outside of black
-Despite what I said, Jotun Grunt would probably be your best option for graveyard hate as it's another large-ish creature you can Vial in rather then cast and doesn't need to attack your graveyard
-Auriok Champion is very valuable against aggro, burn, and Jund
-You don't look like you'd have a great time against any fast aggro, so lifegain in the form of Timely Reinforcements or Rest for the Weary could go a ways to helping out
-And lastly, you seem to have an excessive number of artifact/enchantment removal, so I suggest cutting down on or getting rid of the Disenchants.
I hope I could give you some options to think about at least.
You say you want to play a control role, but you run neither counterspells or discard. There is not a single card in your deck that suggests control. You'd be hard pressed stopping you opponent from killing you before you can do anything useful. Do note that Master Transmuter costs 4 mana and you won't be profitably advancing your gameplan or disrupting you opponents before then.
That said, in addition to other deck changes, you should definitely consider Dimir Signet or Talisman of Dominance to get Master Transmuter out a turn sooner.
What do you need 4 Phyrexian Metamorphs for? You don't have any decent targets that cost less than 6 mana, so are you going to be copying your opponent's creatures? Are you just going to hold onto them until you can get out a Wurmcoil? I can't see any reasonable use for it, especially as a 4-of.
And as has been pointed out, Triskelion isn't doing anything so drop it.
Spellskite, Tidehollow Strix, Metamorph, and Grand Architect (whom doesn't seem to do much of anything useful here) should be a combination of counterspells, removal, and discard. They would do far more in protecting you until you can win.
I know replacing artifacts with spells doesn't meld with Tezzeret, but using straight worse cards just for the benefit of drawing them with a 4 mana Planeswalker is a losing gameplan.
As to Devour Flesh versus Geth's Verdict, I find Verdict puts too much strain on the manabase and overall not worth using. Giving your opponent some life or taking 1 from them are both largely irrelevant abilities so the easier one to cast, to me, is the clear winner. If you find you can support Verdict easily enough then go for it as it is the better card, save for it's casting cost.
Oblivion Stone is the only reasonable answer in Mono B. That said, why not splash green or white, if only solely for sideboard options?
I can't see much reason why you wouldn't honestly. If budget is your concern then you can use the painlands like Llanowar Wastes and guildgates. If you plan to use cards like Mutilate and don't want to dilute your manabase then you can snag some Overgrown Tombs or an Urborg, Yawgmoth's Tomb. If you want to stick to Mono Black because of theme, then you'll just have to accept that you don't have any outs to Leyline of Sanctity other than an overly expensive artifact or by jamming in a bunch of creatures as a plan B.
Sublime's not so good and I feel is too expensive for it's effect. As well, as BobMcFail pointed out, it dies to Lightning Bolt which is a far bigger deal then you might realise.
The thing is, she encourages you to attack with a single creature that can be chump blocked or Path to Exile'd, saving your opponent all damage from that combat round. The only reasonable way I can see to make her work is with Invisible Stalker, and he is not where you want to be with this deck.
I recommend buying Hero of Bladeholds as they suit a token strategy much better and are pretty cheap to pick up. I'd also recommend dumping your Silverblades so long as they're still in Standard; they can be traded almost 1:1 with Hero's and you'll need only 2. Silverblades will drop way down in price after they rotate out, and this holds doublely true for the Archangels.
It's very easy to not run fetchlands, I'd just reconsider the utility of Grim Lavamancer. Deathrite Shaman I believe is the better card anyway and isn't hurt very much, so use those.
Needlebite Trap seems rather narrow and should never be maindecked if at all used. It's not easier to cast as you'd more often than not have only red mana then only black; especially if you lack fetches; and its casting is conditional. The advantage of Skullcrack is that, in the absence of lifegain, it's just a typical burn spell that can be played at your leisure. If you feel you need more life hate, it's worth trying in order to supplement Skullcrack. You should also experiment with 2 or so Flames of the Bloodhand or Rain of Gore to determine what you like best.
I'm not familiar with this deck and can't really find anything on it. Elaborate?
Abrupt Decay made it so blue based decks can't protect their threats from GBx, the most popular deck in the meta. It isn't the lack of Ponder/Preordain that keeps tempo from competing, it's this uncounterable instant that destroys everything low-curve tempo can play.
Unless I'm mistaken or a 3cmc "Exile target spell." counter is printed, Abrupt Decay does more to hurt diversity in the format then Nacatl by pushing out an entire archetype, thus should easily qualify for a banning; more so than DRS that couldn't hose Living End as some people expect it to.
I want pure tempo to be a viable tier 1 deck that isn't hard-countered by a fairly common spell. I want a Loam deck that doesn't get ganked by 3 maindeck cards in a popular archetype. I want a control deck that can protect itself with Ensnaring Bridge or Ghostly Prison, giving us an alternative to UWR draw-go. I want a more diverse format and I believe Abrupt Decay is the culprit behind us not having one.
To touch on the Bitterblossom thing, it just seems to me like a better on-colour Lingering Souls. GB Rock would slot it in immediately and get a substantial power boost that it doesn't really need. Of course, I haven't thought about it much so I'd be happy to be shown otherwise. I'd love to play Grixis Faeries in Modern
The black and green commands are pretty bad and cost too much to be relevant every game. I don't really see much use for Lilianna either, sadly.
Now I think you absolutely need 4x Rancor and no fewer. What are you going to do with your infinitely big Quillspike (or meaty as hell Nantuko) without a Rite of Consumption in your hand? Neither have any evasion and could be chump blocked all day, meanwhile letting your opponent advance their gameplan.
Rancor not only allows your Quillspike to win for you on the spot, while also just being a great value card that can let you win without your combo through regular beats as a midrange/aggro deck.
Speaking of, Skinshifter wouldn't be a bad idea to include at all. He's a solid beater and a decent wall which can contribute to a flexible midrange style. Quillspike is easy to remove after all, so a strong backup plan won't make you sad to have.
I'd also finally suggest some solid low-cmc removal. I recommend Disfigure, Dismember, Victim of Night, Smother, Doom Blade, or Go for the Throat. All pretty cheap and all completely viable.
Especially Dismember and Disfigure (which kills a surprisingly lot) are good to include to get rid of mana dorks first turn before letting your opponent ramp. It can really matter.
As for your sideboard, just try to include extra removal; some graveyard hate in Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, or Tormod's Crypt; artifact/enchantment removal in Nature's Claim or Deglamer (Naturalize is fine if you can only spend pennies); maybe Torpor Orb as it's handy against a bunch of things; maybe some specific hate like Creeping Corrosion for Affinity or Obstinate Baloth for BGx or heavy aggro/burn.
I hope I could help, even if just a bit. Good luck at your tournament next week!
Maybe you could post your deck for better feedback?
Do these fit your criteria?
Could this and Tidebinder Mage from M14 push the deck closer to competitive?
As to Soldier of the Pantheon, it's going to see play hands down. Where? A human tribal deck, maybe one that tops out with Falkenrath Aristocrat like I've seen a bit online.
Plenty of cool cards for modern so far. This set's going to rock!
Other good cards to consider are Kukemssa Pirates and Tandem Lookout and Fabricate to tutor for equipment.
Coalition Relic
Calciform Pools and Dreadship Reef kinda.
Currently the biggest problem with your list is that there's just no reason not to use better creatures and build RDW, because your list lacks synergy.
If you want to stick with the theme, try to run more cards that actually use Hellbent rather then cards that help you achieve it. Use more cards that aren't dead when they hit the graveyard. Use cards with Madness to get more opportunities to make a play. Use cards with symmetrical discard effects like Delirium Skeins to both further your gameplan and set your opponents' back. Don't run an inefficient aggro deck that's made better by dropping what you're trying to build around.
Just to give you an idea of what I'm trying to say, take a look at this. Awhile ago I was on a budget deck building stint and made a Hellbent deck. It certainly couldn't hold up to the established decks of the format but it performed very well against other similarly costed budget decks.
4 Rotting Rats
4 Brain Gorgers
4 Shambling Remains
3 Grave Scrabbler
3 Stronghold Rats
Spells
4 Rise // Fall
4 Burning Inquiry
1 Raven's Crime
2 Dismember
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
3 Rackdos Signets
Enchantments
2 Gibbering Descent
Planeswalker
2 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Lands
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Sulfurous Springs
3 Blood Crypt
4 Mountain
5 Swamp
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
1 Keldon Megaliths
I admit that Gibbering Descent was mostly only included because I wanted to use it. Getting rid of them, the deck would probably run smoothly with fewer Signets. As well, I couldn't get a hold of any Terminates. That aside...
The deck was designed so that discarding came with as little pain as possible while simultaneously getting as much use out of the act as I could. I wanted all of my creatures to be useful discarded with the only exception being Stronghold Rats. I felt they were too good to neglect, forcing discards, and could be fetched up with Grave Scrabbler.
I included discard directed solely at my opponent to disrupt their plays as I'd otherwise have almost no way interact with a combo or control-ish type of deck. Fall could've been Wrench Mind or Inquisition of Kozilek, but the card was cheap and I had no opportunity to use it before.
I thought Burning Inquiry was a weird choice, especially after having them replace Faithless Looting, but I wasn't happy with the lootings and decided to experiment. Playing one got more cards into my yard while pulling double-duty as pseudo discard holding the potential to wreck my opponent's opening hand. I've found that being indiscriminate when cutting down my hand was relatively forgiving with this deck.
The Signets weren't there originally, and as such the deck was too slow. I included them to accelerate my mana, enabling me to cast a Tibalt or even Raven's Crime, and hold 2 mana open to play out a creature right then.
In my first few drafts, I felt I didn't have enough repeatable discard to get full use out of my cards. Tibalt seemed to do exactly what I wanted for only 2 mana and he actually (to my very real surprise) wasn't the worst thing to exist. As I just mentioned, random discard is almost forgiving, but I did have to learn to be careful when I +1'd him. What I liked about him was that he did more then just enable other cards: his -2 was helpful, and I actually managed to stall out a board and win with his ultimate one time. He was disposable and wasn't so valuable a card that I didn't want to discard him. Perfect fit.
The deck synergized is what I'm trying to get across. Probably not in the most efficient way, and this definitely isn't the best theme to build around, but it's what I had come up with and it worked, relatively.
Now of course this was just the direction I went in; I'm not telling you to build my deck. You should try any direction you feel is best and makes most sense to you. I just wanted to try to give you some ideas and explain the thought behind some choices I made for you to understand.
I wasn't trying to be rude or haughty, so I apologize if I might have come off that way attacking your list and showing my own. These have just been my opinions and I encourage you to try what you think would work and experiment. Again, I just wanted to help and I hope I've done so, if only a bit
Good luck with what you do!
Blade Splicer would do well to get more power on the field which you seem to be lacking.
On your mana base, I personally tend to shy away from 4-of checklands, especially when I'm rocking 6+ non-Island/Plains. Again, just my personal preference to avoid awkward hands, I'd dial them down to 2 or 3 and include Adarkar Wastes (seeing as how fetchlands aren't really an option).
And on Delay; in my own testing, I've found that I'd almost always prefer Mana Leak instead provided it's supplemented with Remands. The issue I've always had with Delay is that it's pretty ineffective at stopping or significantly stalling an opponent's play, as the optimal way to get around it is to simply play out your spells quickly (Obviously baiting your counters out would be best, but that's not exlusive to Delay) and wait the 3 turns.
If you have Mana Leaks, it forces you opponent to always have extra mana open whenever you threaten to have it in your hand. To get around it, they would have to wait for 3 land drops rather then just the 3 turns for the spell to resolve.
As to your sideboard, why not Rest in Peace? It's the best graveyard hate in the format, I think, and hurts Snapcaster just as much as Grafdigger's Cage does.
Your sideboard is meant to be suited to your meta, so I can't really say what would fit best. But if I could make some suggestions to consider:
-Negate is handy to have if you feel you need more counterspell support, though I think you have that covered
-Phantasmal Image is your best tool for taking down Geist outside of black
-Despite what I said, Jotun Grunt would probably be your best option for graveyard hate as it's another large-ish creature you can Vial in rather then cast and doesn't need to attack your graveyard
-Auriok Champion is very valuable against aggro, burn, and Jund
-You don't look like you'd have a great time against any fast aggro, so lifegain in the form of Timely Reinforcements or Rest for the Weary could go a ways to helping out
-And lastly, you seem to have an excessive number of artifact/enchantment removal, so I suggest cutting down on or getting rid of the Disenchants.
I hope I could give you some options to think about at least.
That said, in addition to other deck changes, you should definitely consider Dimir Signet or Talisman of Dominance to get Master Transmuter out a turn sooner.
What do you need 4 Phyrexian Metamorphs for? You don't have any decent targets that cost less than 6 mana, so are you going to be copying your opponent's creatures? Are you just going to hold onto them until you can get out a Wurmcoil? I can't see any reasonable use for it, especially as a 4-of.
And as has been pointed out, Triskelion isn't doing anything so drop it.
Spellskite, Tidehollow Strix, Metamorph, and Grand Architect (whom doesn't seem to do much of anything useful here) should be a combination of counterspells, removal, and discard. They would do far more in protecting you until you can win.
I know replacing artifacts with spells doesn't meld with Tezzeret, but using straight worse cards just for the benefit of drawing them with a 4 mana Planeswalker is a losing gameplan.
Lastly, Platinum Angel is better than Platinum Emperion, and you'd probably want Sundering Titan as a target to fetch.
I realise your deck is about abusing Master Transmuter, but I suggest looking at the Tezzerator thread:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=350006
(The Primer's outdated, so I'd take a look at the last couple pages where Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is what's typical.)
and Mono-Blue Tron:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=496295
(useful to look over if only because a lot of their answers and big spells are artifacts)
You might be able to glean some ideas and generally helpful advice from the threads. Good luck!
That alone makes Devour Flesh a much better card.
As to Devour Flesh versus Geth's Verdict, I find Verdict puts too much strain on the manabase and overall not worth using. Giving your opponent some life or taking 1 from them are both largely irrelevant abilities so the easier one to cast, to me, is the clear winner. If you find you can support Verdict easily enough then go for it as it is the better card, save for it's casting cost.
I can't see much reason why you wouldn't honestly. If budget is your concern then you can use the painlands like Llanowar Wastes and guildgates. If you plan to use cards like Mutilate and don't want to dilute your manabase then you can snag some Overgrown Tombs or an Urborg, Yawgmoth's Tomb. If you want to stick to Mono Black because of theme, then you'll just have to accept that you don't have any outs to Leyline of Sanctity other than an overly expensive artifact or by jamming in a bunch of creatures as a plan B.
Good luck with getting started in the format.
The thing is, she encourages you to attack with a single creature that can be chump blocked or Path to Exile'd, saving your opponent all damage from that combat round. The only reasonable way I can see to make her work is with Invisible Stalker, and he is not where you want to be with this deck.
I recommend buying Hero of Bladeholds as they suit a token strategy much better and are pretty cheap to pick up. I'd also recommend dumping your Silverblades so long as they're still in Standard; they can be traded almost 1:1 with Hero's and you'll need only 2. Silverblades will drop way down in price after they rotate out, and this holds doublely true for the Archangels.
Good luck getting started.
Needlebite Trap seems rather narrow and should never be maindecked if at all used. It's not easier to cast as you'd more often than not have only red mana then only black; especially if you lack fetches; and its casting is conditional. The advantage of Skullcrack is that, in the absence of lifegain, it's just a typical burn spell that can be played at your leisure. If you feel you need more life hate, it's worth trying in order to supplement Skullcrack. You should also experiment with 2 or so Flames of the Bloodhand or Rain of Gore to determine what you like best.
Good luck finishing off your deck