I usually didn't keep my life total in check at all since I was going all in with the Goyfs and tempo'd a lot harder than you. Also it'd be worth noting that when I was playing that deck it was against a very heavy combo meta.
I happen to be one of your brothers friends who has toyed around with hand sculpting decks like this and I have a few potential ideas you may like.
1: Smallpox? It'd have some interesting interactions with Atheros if he was out and you can always fall back on your manlands. Generally when playing a Pox style deck I'd play with Persist creatures , graveyard strategies , or manlands. You always have a little for the first and former.
2: Provided you like the Smallpox idea. Add Green for Treetop Village? I used to run a RocksPox list that was built around discard and you'd have a lot to gain from the Green Removal Suite (at least in the sideboard)in addition to one more creature you can cheat around Smallpox.
3: I always found 2 Swords to be to much and kept one in the main and another in the side.
Here's my B/G RocksPox list if you wanted some reference:
Need help , redone this list a few times and it's to the point that I've looked at it so much and I've thought it over so much that I've literally exhausted my knowledge on what I should do.
At this point it's mostly a 1v1 deck however I'm preparing for a multiplayer event and have significantly less experience in the Multiplayer format.
The deck does a few things very well , obviously it clears boards frequently and casts Walkers. It generally wins one of two ways; both ways create near unrecoverable board states by either 1: Having multiple Walkers out at once or dropping a Walker and immediately using its "Ultimate" by way of either Gilder Bairn and/or Doubling Season and then either winning out right or repeatedly using "Ultimates" if both happen to be in play.
My aim was to make something that regulates the board through wipes and pin-point removal that's versatile and could remove any non-land permanent. I am open to the idea of Counterspells in the deck however it wasn't necessarily the direction I was going for.
Cards that I've considered and am still on the fence about including yet not against suggestions of re-including them:
This is what I've brewed after sifting through article after article on the different styles of Infect, I'm still working on the sideboard though. I tried making it as versatile as possible while still remaining as explosive as ever.
Mainboard Spellskite rarely feels like a blank to me and when it does it's at worst nice wall and the Wild Defiance made Burn spells a non-issue when I had it out. The only think I'm not entirely sold on yet is the Distortion Strike as apposed to another Apostle's Blessing. Between those 3 , they're the only cards I've found to feel somewhat useless at times but amazing when they come through.
Sideboard wise I got 2 Phyrexian Crusaders for some protection against removal and burn in some of those more midrangey games. Illness in the Ranks cause my Meta has a lot of Lingering Souls and token decks for some odd reason.
Can't afford the Thoughtseize yet but it's in the works.
1: Smallpox? It'd have some interesting interactions with Atheros if he was out and you can always fall back on your manlands. Generally when playing a Pox style deck I'd play with Persist creatures , graveyard strategies , or manlands. You always have a little for the first and former.
2: Provided you like the Smallpox idea. Add Green for Treetop Village? I used to run a RocksPox list that was built around discard and you'd have a lot to gain from the Green Removal Suite (at least in the sideboard)in addition to one more creature you can cheat around Smallpox.
3: I always found 2 Swords to be to much and kept one in the main and another in the side.
Here's my B/G RocksPox list if you wanted some reference:
4 Bitterblossom
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Dark Confidant
4 Treetop Village
Discard Suite
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Smallpox
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
Alt Win-Con
1 Worm Harvest
2 Life from the Loam
Lands
2 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Twilight Mire
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Forest
2 Swamp
At this point it's mostly a 1v1 deck however I'm preparing for a multiplayer event and have significantly less experience in the Multiplayer format.
The deck does a few things very well , obviously it clears boards frequently and casts Walkers. It generally wins one of two ways; both ways create near unrecoverable board states by either 1: Having multiple Walkers out at once or dropping a Walker and immediately using its "Ultimate" by way of either Gilder Bairn and/or Doubling Season and then either winning out right or repeatedly using "Ultimates" if both happen to be in play.
1 Child of Alara
Artifacts
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Staff of Nin
Creatures
1 Eternal Witness
1 Gilder Bairn
1 Snapcaster Mage
Enchantments
1 Doubling Season
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Prismatic Omen
Instants
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bant Charm
1 Beast Within
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Far // Away
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
Planeswalkers
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Karn Liberated
1 Liliana Vess
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ral Zarek
1 Sorin Markov
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Down // Dirty
1 Grim Tutor
1 Guided Passage
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Imperial Seal
1 Decimate
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Terminus
1 Vindicate
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Regrowth
1 Rout
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 All Suns' Dawn
1 Catastrophe
Lands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Kor Haven
1 Krosan Verge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Strip Mine
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Tolaria West
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
My aim was to make something that regulates the board through wipes and pin-point removal that's versatile and could remove any non-land permanent. I am open to the idea of Counterspells in the deck however it wasn't necessarily the direction I was going for.
Cards that I've considered and am still on the fence about including yet not against suggestions of re-including them:
ALSO: Please don't suggest adding Mana-Rocks , I wipe artifacts away to often and wouldn't want to damage my own mana base while I do it.
Thanks for the help in advance.
Mainboard Spellskite rarely feels like a blank to me and when it does it's at worst nice wall and the Wild Defiance made Burn spells a non-issue when I had it out. The only think I'm not entirely sold on yet is the Distortion Strike as apposed to another Apostle's Blessing. Between those 3 , they're the only cards I've found to feel somewhat useless at times but amazing when they come through.
Sideboard wise I got 2 Phyrexian Crusaders for some protection against removal and burn in some of those more midrangey games. Illness in the Ranks cause my Meta has a lot of Lingering Souls and token decks for some odd reason.
Can't afford the Thoughtseize yet but it's in the works.
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Breeding Pool
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Forest
2 Pendelhaven
1 Cathedral of War
4 Inkmoth Nexus
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
3 Plague Stinger
1 Spellskite
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Mutagenic Growth
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Groundswell
3 Rancor
1 Distortion Strike
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Wild Defiance
3 Nature's Claim
2 Dismember
2 Spellskite
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Illness in the Ranks
2 Phyrexian Crusader
1 Abrupt Decay