This is actually the thing i'm most disappointed with so far. I'm not sure they've given us too many subtle things to work with. So far it's go big or go home. but my list of things i'd like to abuse include tymaret, cerberus, reaper of the wild, purphoros, and erebos and his whip
god i wish rescue from the underworld didn't have that damn exile clause. it would be archeomancer all day eryday
EDIT: oh hey i accidently said like the exact same thing as the guy right above me. oh well at least we're in agreement
4 tymaret
4 young pyromancer
4 act of treason
4 altar's reap?
2 showstopper (SHUT UP I KNOW IT'S BAD IM BUSY TRYING TO LIVE THE DREAM)
some ogre battledrivers?
any recursion they put in like that new "return from the underworld"
maybe barrage of expendables
4 shock
4 thoughtseize (maybe)
4 magma jet
4 doom blade
4 of the black boardwipe that they better f***ing put in theros
wait why can't he sac himself? for the second ability? it seems like he might be able bounce himself. Like pay the cost for the second ability, before the ability even comes on the stack he goes to the grave. then the ability resolves and he comes back to you. throw in some discard outlets too. i don't know what you people are smoking he is way cool
ashiok is cool chick. Black blue done nice and proper. Although i don't know that she's great at defending herself... but i mean if you're playing her you should be playing control with kill spells out the ass. Once we get that black board wipe (crossing fingers) esper will be restored to its rightful place at the top of the control pedestal
I feel like half of these cards are just gearing BTE to be better. I would not be willing to run gruul without some emissaries right now. The list i've been thinking about goes something like:
4x that new devotion land
4x purphoros
4x burning tree emissary
4x Xenagos
3x Domri
4x 1 drop mana dork
4x legion loyalist?
4x A new badass gruul/red 3 drop or boros reckoner
maybe some zhur taa druids, maybe the new dragon or ember swallower or something. I really like bte and anything with devotion together. Between xenagos and that devotion land on the field with early pressure you should be able to amass an impressive amount of mana. My plan is just to sink it into purphoros. Hopefully he'll be attacking too, with that many btes on the field. I guess this is more of an aggro list than really midrange. i dunno if it'll work i just can't stand how good bte is going to be.
i think you guys try and evaluate cards to absolutely. Like sure it has provisions and sure it has a lot of options but really it all depends on the deck. Like i would really like to see this in something like junk aristocrats, or some deck based around red elementals or definitely in archangel of thune. maybe it won't be an auto-inclusion in every deck in standard but i don't REALLY THINK THAT'S POSSIBLE. Plus every time you guys evaluate a card and use absolutes you just make yourselves look bad when it does see play in some minor decks. the versatility alone makes it valuable sideboard material. And you know, if wizards only printed cards that were very obviously good and would definitely see play this game would be seriously lame
that username though. "Valarinisacasual". He really doesn't seem to be... I think his definition of playable is dark confidant.
It's a horrible card. Illness in the Ranks and Ratchet Bomb are both in the format.
= Yo guys tarmogoyf is really bad because they printed assassin's strike
two horrible cards that will never see play. now if i were you i would make the argument that even though one of your example cards was stupid, ratchet bomb will be in everyone's sideboard. well that doesn't even really work since anyone playing black mana ramp (probably the only strategy that will use this card) will throw in a dark prophecy or 3. You can kill the harpies but they will still draw the cards. AND even if they use a card like ratchet on the harpies AND you didn't have a prophecy you still have a 6/6 flying demon left over and they've lost card advantage.
i also think it's silly when people think that sac a creature every turn is automatically a bad thing. You're playing monoblack people i'm sure you can make it work if you try
Thanks for the replies people! i really appreciate it. I probably will take out the tutors and maybe the death denied for night's whisper or sign in blood. mantle of leadership is also a really great suggestion.
tainted aether, angel's trumpet, and varchild's war riders are really fantastic ideas except i am trying to keep this in modern.
i didn't think i ever would need red until you guys said deathbringer thoctar. Now i just can't stand how good that is. now looking for more red badassery!
This is possibly my favorite deck I've ever made and/or played. It's very fun and somewhat competitive
When you boil this deck down, it's just Illness in the Ranks + Forbidden Orchard abuse. Basically constant token death. thanks very much to @blackserbian for being the first one to show me the wonder of Forbidden Orchard and Suture Priest. when trying to improve his combo, I thought of Illness in the Ranks, and then Blood Artist, and that was the origin of this deck.
I sent this deck to Gavin Verhey for "Modern on a Budget" and it was one of the honorable mentions.
Give them weenie tokens, profit from them with suture priest and blood artist, and eliminate them with things like illness in the ranks, orzhov pontiff, or zealous persecution. This pumps any twilight drovers you have to monstrous sizes and lets you get hunted trolls basically for free.
Best hand: 3x forbidden orchard (or whatever land really, as long as it can cast the things here), illness in the ranks, blood artist, twilight drover, hunted troll
first turn illness in the ranks with forbidden orchard
second turn blood artist
third turn twilight drover, the opponent loses 3 life you gain 3 life because of the orchards
fourth turn hunted troll the opponent loses 4-8 life and you gain that much, depending on how many orchards you tapped, your drover gets 4-8 +1/+1 counters.
after that just keep spamming out 0/0 tokens, and attack
This is one of the most elegant decks i've ever made.
i've tried many times to get shirei, heartless summoning, and things with etb and death effects to work reliably. This must be the 5th or 6th incarnation of such a deck, but it actually is the most consistent and powerful. If this thing gets running it is absolutely broken.
The deck right now is a blue black shell with about 32 cards that i deem essential. Another color is nice to have but not necessary. The color you may want to add depends on the meta that you want to compete in and your preference.
List of Possible additions/ Good cards in this setup:
WHITE: Wall of Omens, Mentor of the Meek, Stonehorn Dignitary
RED: Avalanche Riders, Mudbutton Torchrunner, Raid Bombardment, Master of Cruelties
GREEN: Any giant creature like Champion of Lambholt or Craterhoof Behemoth, Acidic Slime, Lumberknot
This deck is basically value etb and death effects stapled to small creatures. This is fun because with shirei and heartless summoning both on the field, they will come back at every endstep if killed, leading to absolutely ridiculous card advantage. To clarify, if you have shirei on the field, and you cast something that has 0 toughness, it does not come back infinite times during the end step. Instead, it comes back once, dies immediately, and then will come back again at the next end step. Another thing to be said on that note is that you obviously can't respond to the 0/0 going to the graveyard (like saccing it to an abyssal gatekeeper or bouncing it).
Although there are many good win conditions for this deck, you don't really need one. If you have enough of these value creatures coming back at the end of every single turn at some point your opponent will see the writing on the wall and give up. If they don't, just start attacking with the little one power monsters.
Some interesting mechanical things:
If you have heartless summoning and shirei, mulldrifter can be evoked for one blue to draw 4 cards in one turn.
Venser is not always necessary, but very cool and tricky in the long game. With heartless summoning you can use him to remand spells for UU. My favorite thing to do with him then is to sac him to abyssal gatekeeper only for him to come back due to shirei. Then you use his ability to bounce himself into your hand and you can remand more things.
Cryptic Annelid most often functions as a tutor in this deck. Usually when i use him i look for shirei by putting everything on the bottom of my library except shirei, more annelids, or mulldrifters
Golgari Thug's dredge ability can replace any single card you might draw. You can both get thug back and draw one card off a mulldrifter if you want.
.
Any suggestions on how to make this better would be greatly appreciated!
god i wish rescue from the underworld didn't have that damn exile clause. it would be archeomancer all day eryday
EDIT: oh hey i accidently said like the exact same thing as the guy right above me. oh well at least we're in agreement
4 young pyromancer
4 act of treason
4 altar's reap?
2 showstopper (SHUT UP I KNOW IT'S BAD IM BUSY TRYING TO LIVE THE DREAM)
some ogre battledrivers?
any recursion they put in like that new "return from the underworld"
maybe barrage of expendables
4 shock
4 thoughtseize (maybe)
4 magma jet
4 doom blade
4 of the black boardwipe that they better f***ing put in theros
you guys feeling it? you feeling the janky b/r?
am i reading this wrong?
4x that new devotion land
4x purphoros
4x burning tree emissary
4x Xenagos
3x Domri
4x 1 drop mana dork
4x legion loyalist?
4x A new badass gruul/red 3 drop or boros reckoner
maybe some zhur taa druids, maybe the new dragon or ember swallower or something. I really like bte and anything with devotion together. Between xenagos and that devotion land on the field with early pressure you should be able to amass an impressive amount of mana. My plan is just to sink it into purphoros. Hopefully he'll be attacking too, with that many btes on the field. I guess this is more of an aggro list than really midrange. i dunno if it'll work i just can't stand how good bte is going to be.
That's a beautiful thing that you're doing. And don't you let anyone tell you differently
50 bucks they print a card like so:
2g
MONSTER WORSHIPPER
tap: add to your mana pool
tap: add to your mana pool. Use this only to pay for monstrosity costs
1/1
the truth is you can't accurately evaluate things like this with a very obvious theme without seeing what support the theme gets.
two horrible cards that will never see play. now if i were you i would make the argument that even though one of your example cards was stupid, ratchet bomb will be in everyone's sideboard. well that doesn't even really work since anyone playing black mana ramp (probably the only strategy that will use this card) will throw in a dark prophecy or 3. You can kill the harpies but they will still draw the cards. AND even if they use a card like ratchet on the harpies AND you didn't have a prophecy you still have a 6/6 flying demon left over and they've lost card advantage.
i also think it's silly when people think that sac a creature every turn is automatically a bad thing. You're playing monoblack people i'm sure you can make it work if you try
tainted aether, angel's trumpet, and varchild's war riders are really fantastic ideas except i am trying to keep this in modern.
i didn't think i ever would need red until you guys said deathbringer thoctar. Now i just can't stand how good that is. now looking for more red badassery!
When you boil this deck down, it's just Illness in the Ranks + Forbidden Orchard abuse. Basically constant token death. thanks very much to @blackserbian for being the first one to show me the wonder of Forbidden Orchard and Suture Priest. when trying to improve his combo, I thought of Illness in the Ranks, and then Blood Artist, and that was the origin of this deck.
I sent this deck to Gavin Verhey for "Modern on a Budget" and it was one of the honorable mentions.
4 Blood Artist
4 Hunted Troll
2 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Suture Priest
4 Twilight Drover
Enchantment (4)
4 Illness in the Ranks
Instant (11)
2 Death Denied
3 Mercy Killing
2 Tragic Slip
4 Zealous Persecution
2 Diabolic Tutor
2 Sylvan Scrying
3 Timely Reinforcements
Land (22)
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Forest
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Plains
6 Swamp
4 Temple Garden
2 Woodland Cemetery
1 Asceticism
2 Disciple of Bolas
1 Killing Wave
1 Moonlight Bargain
1 Orzhov Pontiff
4 Thallid Shell-Dweller
2 Thoughtseize
2 Ratchet Bomb
Creature (19)
4 Blood Artist
4 Blood Seeker
4 Hunted Troll
3 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Twilight Drover
Enchantment (4)
4 Illness in the Ranks
Instant (5)
3 Mercy Killing
2 Zealous Persecution
3 Pharika, God of Affliction
Sorcery (2)
2 Maelstrom Pulse
Land (25)
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Forest
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Reflecting Pool
5 Swamp
4 Temple Garden
3 Temple of Plenty
3 Æther Vial
1 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Massacre Wurm
3 Stony Silence
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Blood Artist
4 Blood Seeker
3 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Varchild's War-Riders
Enchantment (4)
4 Illness in the Ranks
Instant (7)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Rakdos Charm
Sorcery (10)
2 Blasphemous Act
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Forbidden Orchard
1 Plateau
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Scrubland
9 Swamp
1 Taiga
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Æther Vial
3 Mercy Killing
2 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
How to Play:
Give them weenie tokens, profit from them with suture priest and blood artist, and eliminate them with things like illness in the ranks, orzhov pontiff, or zealous persecution. This pumps any twilight drovers you have to monstrous sizes and lets you get hunted trolls basically for free.
Best hand: 3x forbidden orchard (or whatever land really, as long as it can cast the things here), illness in the ranks, blood artist, twilight drover, hunted troll
first turn illness in the ranks with forbidden orchard
second turn blood artist
third turn twilight drover, the opponent loses 3 life you gain 3 life because of the orchards
fourth turn hunted troll the opponent loses 4-8 life and you gain that much, depending on how many orchards you tapped, your drover gets 4-8 +1/+1 counters.
after that just keep spamming out 0/0 tokens, and attack
This is one of the most elegant decks i've ever made.
i've tried many times to get shirei, heartless summoning, and things with etb and death effects to work reliably. This must be the 5th or 6th incarnation of such a deck, but it actually is the most consistent and powerful. If this thing gets running it is absolutely broken.
The deck right now is a blue black shell with about 32 cards that i deem essential. Another color is nice to have but not necessary. The color you may want to add depends on the meta that you want to compete in and your preference.
List of Possible additions/ Good cards in this setup:
WHITE: Wall of Omens, Mentor of the Meek, Stonehorn Dignitary
RED: Avalanche Riders, Mudbutton Torchrunner, Raid Bombardment, Master of Cruelties
GREEN: Any giant creature like Champion of Lambholt or Craterhoof Behemoth, Acidic Slime, Lumberknot
4 Abyssal Gatekeeper
3 Cryptic Annelid
3 Fulminator Mage
4 Golgari Thug
4 Mulldrifter
4 Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Spellskite
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Heartless Summoning
//Land (24)
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
2 Sunken Ruins
8 Swamp
2 Black Cat
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Nevermaker
2 Undercity Informer
This deck is basically value etb and death effects stapled to small creatures. This is fun because with shirei and heartless summoning both on the field, they will come back at every endstep if killed, leading to absolutely ridiculous card advantage. To clarify, if you have shirei on the field, and you cast something that has 0 toughness, it does not come back infinite times during the end step. Instead, it comes back once, dies immediately, and then will come back again at the next end step. Another thing to be said on that note is that you obviously can't respond to the 0/0 going to the graveyard (like saccing it to an abyssal gatekeeper or bouncing it).
Although there are many good win conditions for this deck, you don't really need one. If you have enough of these value creatures coming back at the end of every single turn at some point your opponent will see the writing on the wall and give up. If they don't, just start attacking with the little one power monsters.
Some interesting mechanical things:
If you have heartless summoning and shirei, mulldrifter can be evoked for one blue to draw 4 cards in one turn.
Venser is not always necessary, but very cool and tricky in the long game. With heartless summoning you can use him to remand spells for UU. My favorite thing to do with him then is to sac him to abyssal gatekeeper only for him to come back due to shirei. Then you use his ability to bounce himself into your hand and you can remand more things.
Cryptic Annelid most often functions as a tutor in this deck. Usually when i use him i look for shirei by putting everything on the bottom of my library except shirei, more annelids, or mulldrifters
Golgari Thug's dredge ability can replace any single card you might draw. You can both get thug back and draw one card off a mulldrifter if you want.
.
Any suggestions on how to make this better would be greatly appreciated!
4 Abyssal Gatekeeper
3 Cryptic Annelid
3 Fulminator Mage
4 Golgari Thug
4 Mulldrifter
4 Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Spellskite
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Heartless Summoning
//Land (24)
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
2 Sunken Ruins
8 Swamp
2 Black Cat
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Nevermaker
2 Undercity Informer