I won FNM with the aggro version posted a couple of pages back by ThoughtXRiot. Only a small eleven player event, but some good calibre players among them. I went 4-0, playing against:
1. Red Goblins 2-1. This was furiously quick to overwhelm me in the first round, but straightforward after sideboard. Virulent Plague crippled him and double rhino did the rest.
2. Black/Red home brew 2-0. It never got going and could not handle the density of threats I landed.
3. Sidisi Whip 2-1. Toughest match of the night. I lost the first round to a succession of whipped in fatties. Thoughtseize was a key component in games 2 and 3, and I was glad of the second and third Dromoka's Command from the board. In the second game a deathdealer went all the way, thanks to having plenty of mana to pay for pump/regeneration. In the third I held off his fatties with monstrous lion and extra removal, then flew home with Sorin's vampires.
4. Mono-white heroic. 2-0. The key to this one was to remove creatures as they landed. The deck had too many lands and not enough creatures, so the player ended the match with only lands and spells in hand and no critters in play.
What I learned:
Nothing about the value of Herald - sided it in a couple of times, but it never showed up. Come to think, I never saw a Warden either.
Murderous Cut was an all star. I was never unhappy to see it, and it took out some big threats. The Sidisi player was clearly surprised to see it when I took out his Sidisi with it.
The mana mix felt great - really pleased to see the back of the mana confluence I was previously including. I had been on 26 mana, but now feel 25 is the correct number.
The roc showed up in the final game of the final match. I was already in front, so it was just a win more finish.
4 x Abzan Charm is absolutely the right number. I used it for card draw, exiling creatures and pumping with +1's. So useful and so adaptable to common situations.
Really pleased with this deck right now, but I'm conscious of not having played Mardu or any of the G/R versions this time around.
Excellent analysis and suggestions for the aggro version. Many thanks. With a couple of minor tweaks I'll be taking your deck to FNM this week.
The main differences are that I'll be running one Elspeth and one Roc in the main. I do this on the grounds of flexibility as mentioned in a previous post. Looking at the sideboard plan, it's clear that Elspeth comes in against lots of different decks. So many, in fact that, despite your discussion of reasons to drop her entirely, I think you make a strong case for bumping one copy up into the main.
The other change is to have two Commands in the main as I find the utility so useful. I've relegated Herald to the side to make it possible. This is because I see Herald as most effective when played as a surprise addition, possibly after the opponent has sided out any enchantment removal.
I'm also running a very similar deck to Scasseden, but with Roc and Elspeth each having a single copy in the main and a second in the sideboard. I'm not saying that is a better plan, just that it grants a tad more flexibility.
Brimaz has been in and out of my deck too. There have been some matches in which I could not find the elusive second white mana, so he's presently out.
I'm playing a single copy of Virulent Plague in the sideboard because tokens are all over my meta, and I dislike the BB cost of bile blight. Despite the same 17 sources of black as Scasseden, I actually lost a game at FNM becasue I had not found one black mana source by turn seven.
Long time reader of this forum and its predecessors.
I took first place in the swiss element of a small tournament on Saturday with a death cloud deck. Went 3-0, then lost in the knockout stage to a graveyard recursion brew.
I'm using a GBW version, including white for Lingering Souls, Voice of Resurgence and a single Crime/Punishment. I use Stirring Wildwoods in preference to Treetop Village, which helps with the white requirement.
I particularly like the synergy of Voice with the rest of the deck as it comes back from a damnation/death cloud, gives control players headaches around playing spells in my turn and the elemental token gets huge with spirit and beast tokens. Surprised that the GBW version isn't getting more attention on here.
Played in a modern format FNM. First time in many months, and updated an old version of this deck that was posted by Pooping. I'll post the deck in full a little later, but just wanted to crow that the deck went 2-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-0. No one was prepared for it, and it had answers for everything I faced.
The very first thing all of my Death Cloud builds do is Stabilize. Liliana of the Vial is a key card to both pre-stabilizing and post-stabilizing. Liliana can help with the post stabilized game with her -2 effect. Where Liliana is absolutely insane and why I call her "My Main ***** Lilly", is when you do stabilize and you start dropping her +1 effect is destroys opponents. It turns every card in your hand into a blind Thoughtseize for free. If I have stabilized the board for the most part I don't need that land I top decks or the Tribe Elder. I need to Lock it down for the win. This is where she is amazing. She wins games.
If you deck isn't for the most part stabilizing prior to dropping Liliana, or very close to it, than you should reevaluate your build or playing style. Liliana is a staple.
Good points and well made, but an incomplete argument. Like you, I'd happily discard the STE or the unneeded land, but probably not the VoR, damnation or spot removal. Liliana does have a situational disadvantage, so we should recognise it and explore alternatives.
Perhaps we could agree that Liliana of the Veil is card advantage sometimes. What I can't get past is that her +1 hurts me as well as the opponent. Sure, I can throw souls into the graveyard from which to play it later, or discard an extra copy of Garruk, so the disadvantage can be mitigated, but not eliminated. More often than not I don't use the +1 because I'd rather keep all the cards in my hand than lose one for the payoff of the opponent losing one of their own.
That sits well with me. I've been playing with two Liliana of the veil but had reached the same conclusion - that I rarely got more than one use out of her. Liliana Vess appears to give the added value of multiple purposes and repeat use.
1. Red Goblins 2-1. This was furiously quick to overwhelm me in the first round, but straightforward after sideboard. Virulent Plague crippled him and double rhino did the rest.
2. Black/Red home brew 2-0. It never got going and could not handle the density of threats I landed.
3. Sidisi Whip 2-1. Toughest match of the night. I lost the first round to a succession of whipped in fatties. Thoughtseize was a key component in games 2 and 3, and I was glad of the second and third Dromoka's Command from the board. In the second game a deathdealer went all the way, thanks to having plenty of mana to pay for pump/regeneration. In the third I held off his fatties with monstrous lion and extra removal, then flew home with Sorin's vampires.
4. Mono-white heroic. 2-0. The key to this one was to remove creatures as they landed. The deck had too many lands and not enough creatures, so the player ended the match with only lands and spells in hand and no critters in play.
What I learned:
Nothing about the value of Herald - sided it in a couple of times, but it never showed up. Come to think, I never saw a Warden either.
Murderous Cut was an all star. I was never unhappy to see it, and it took out some big threats. The Sidisi player was clearly surprised to see it when I took out his Sidisi with it.
The mana mix felt great - really pleased to see the back of the mana confluence I was previously including. I had been on 26 mana, but now feel 25 is the correct number.
The roc showed up in the final game of the final match. I was already in front, so it was just a win more finish.
4 x Abzan Charm is absolutely the right number. I used it for card draw, exiling creatures and pumping with +1's. So useful and so adaptable to common situations.
Really pleased with this deck right now, but I'm conscious of not having played Mardu or any of the G/R versions this time around.
Excellent analysis and suggestions for the aggro version. Many thanks. With a couple of minor tweaks I'll be taking your deck to FNM this week.
The main differences are that I'll be running one Elspeth and one Roc in the main. I do this on the grounds of flexibility as mentioned in a previous post. Looking at the sideboard plan, it's clear that Elspeth comes in against lots of different decks. So many, in fact that, despite your discussion of reasons to drop her entirely, I think you make a strong case for bumping one copy up into the main.
The other change is to have two Commands in the main as I find the utility so useful. I've relegated Herald to the side to make it possible. This is because I see Herald as most effective when played as a surprise addition, possibly after the opponent has sided out any enchantment removal.
I'll report back afterwards.
Brimaz has been in and out of my deck too. There have been some matches in which I could not find the elusive second white mana, so he's presently out.
I'm playing a single copy of Virulent Plague in the sideboard because tokens are all over my meta, and I dislike the BB cost of bile blight. Despite the same 17 sources of black as Scasseden, I actually lost a game at FNM becasue I had not found one black mana source by turn seven.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
Spells - 18
1 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Lingering Souls
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Damnation
2 Death Cloud
1 Crime/Punishment
2 Liliana of the Veil
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands - 23
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Temple Garden
2 Godless Shrine
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Plains
3 Swamp
3 Forest
I took first place in the swiss element of a small tournament on Saturday with a death cloud deck. Went 3-0, then lost in the knockout stage to a graveyard recursion brew.
I'm using a GBW version, including white for Lingering Souls, Voice of Resurgence and a single Crime/Punishment. I use Stirring Wildwoods in preference to Treetop Village, which helps with the white requirement.
I particularly like the synergy of Voice with the rest of the deck as it comes back from a damnation/death cloud, gives control players headaches around playing spells in my turn and the elemental token gets huge with spirit and beast tokens. Surprised that the GBW version isn't getting more attention on here.
Land - 24
4 Verdant Catcombs
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Godless Shrine
2 Stirring Wildwoods
2 Plains
2 Temple Garden
4 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures - 15
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Lingering Souls
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
Planeswalkers - 6
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana Vess
Spells - 15
3 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Damnation
3 Death Cloud
1 Crime/ Punishment
Sideboard - 15
1 Crime/ Punishment
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Putrefy
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Crypt Incursion
2 Golgari charm
Good points and well made, but an incomplete argument. Like you, I'd happily discard the STE or the unneeded land, but probably not the VoR, damnation or spot removal. Liliana does have a situational disadvantage, so we should recognise it and explore alternatives.