The banning of Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe really hurt, but I still like this deck, so I've been tinkering with a list incorporating Arclight Phoenix that I like to call Bird of Young Frankenstein.
I haven't had a good chance to test it outside of some goldfishing, but this is where I'm at. Arclight Phoenix would have been better with Probe, but it still seems plenty strong without it. It plays really nicely with Cabal Therapy and you do get occasional nut draws with 2-3 phoenixes coming out on turn 2. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the 2 copies of Surgical Extraction, but free spells are pretty strong here with both phoenix and Young Pyromancer.
@Medea
It's completely possible that Renegade Rallier isn't quite good enough. It has been great for me so far, but I have done little enough testing that I may have just been running well. I'm primarily trying the green splash because I wanted access to Sylvan Library and Qasali Pridemage. Rallier is just some added spice.
I think you've managed to persuade me to try SoBaM, I'm going to try to pick one up as soon as I can. I've often had a hard time applying pressure through clogged board states against various BUG decks, but the sword would have solved all of my problems.
Side Note: Is there any merit to the new Deadeye Harpooner? It seems worse than Banisher Priest in a lot of situations, but I can envisions times where it would be better. It probably doesn't make the cut, I just thought I would bring it up since I hadn't seen it discussed yet.
Here's my list if anyone's interested. I've decided to try to mix thing up a bit and try out the green splash. I've only managed to jam around a dozen games so far, but Renegade Rallier has felt great almost every time I've drawn it. Turning on revolt isn't as hard as I thought it might be and the ability is great in any grindy match-ups.
If you could repeatedly recur Hope of Ghirapur with Scrap Trawler to stop your opponent from playing non-creature (non-instant) spells that would fit the shops plan alright.
Some lists have begun playing Spirit of the Labyrinth again. It is undoubtedly a powerful effect, but is it worth adding another 1-toughness creature to the deck? I've been seeing an unprecedented number of cards like Dread of Night and Night of Soul's Betrayal which has made me hesitant to try the spirit.
In the sideboard, is there any agreement on whether Faerie Macabre or Surgical Extraction is better? Both seem to have their advantages, but I only have room in my board for one. Are they good enough in the current meta to justify shaving a Rest in Peace to play more of them?
Just an amateur's opinion here but...
Spirit of the Labyrinth is certainly powerful, but I'm not currently running it because I'm main decking a Palace Jailer and I don't like the idea of the two hitting the board at the same time. It's also yet another x/1 like you said. If I wasn't running Palace Jailer, I'd very strongly consider Spirit.
As far as Faerie Macabre and Surgical Extraction go, I don't know if either one is significantly "better than the other", but both do what they do well. Faerie gets around Chancellor of the Annex on turn 0/1 but it's largely there only for Reanimator decks (it also has the bonus of being tutorable by Recruiter of the Guard). Surgical can neutralize decks that rely heavily on any one single card, but you have get the card you want to get rid of into the graveyard, something our removal doesn't do. I'm currently running a split of 2 Rest in Peace as general graveyard hate, 1 Faerie Macabre, and 1 Surgical Extraction just to see how I like the balance of those cards. I've also considered just running 3 Rest in Peace and accepting the losses to fast Reanimator starts, but this seems worth trying.
Thanks for the response. I also run Jailer, I didn't even think about that interaction. I think I'll leave spirit on the sidelines for now.
Just sticking with 3x Rest in Peace might be what I'll try for now. Reanimator isn't popular in my local meta, so hopefully I can just dodge it.
Some lists have begun playing Spirit of the Labyrinth again. It is undoubtedly a powerful effect, but is it worth adding another 1-toughness creature to the deck? I've been seeing an unprecedented number of cards like Dread of Night and Night of Soul's Betrayal which has made me hesitant to try the spirit.
In the sideboard, is there any agreement on whether Faerie Macabre or Surgical Extraction is better? Both seem to have their advantages, but I only have room in my board for one. Are they good enough in the current meta to justify shaving a Rest in Peace to play more of them?
I currently own legacy Death & Taxes, but I own few staples outside of that deck. I am finally ready to begin investing in another deck, but I can't decide what I'd like best.
I enjoy playing control/tempo decks that aren't blue. I've considered 4c Loam and Maverick, but I'm quite open to other options.
Ideally the deck would be something strong against Jund and/or Elves, which are prominent decks in my meta and horrendous match-ups for D&T.
Thanks for your input!
I think 4C Loam is a bit better than Maverick, but I don't have enough familiarity with it to know its match-ups against the mentioned decks.
I would mention Lands, especially RUG Lands as an option that will typically crush those two.
I also have a running plug for people to try Aluren as a control-ish midrange-ish combo-ish thing.
Thanks for your response. Aluren looks like fun, but it looks a little bit too "combo-ish" for my tastes. Lands, however, looks intriguing. I'll probably start picking up Mox Diamond, Grove of the Burnwillows and such, then I can decide later whether to build Lands or Loam.
I currently own legacy Death & Taxes, but I own few staples outside of that deck. I am finally ready to begin investing in another deck, but I can't decide what I'd like best.
I enjoy playing control/tempo decks that aren't blue. I've considered 4c Loam and Maverick, but I'm quite open to other options.
Ideally the deck would be something strong against Jund and/or Elves, which are prominent decks in my meta and horrendous match-ups for D&T.
Love the list. I've been thinking of doing something similar. Twisted Image is sweet tech I hadn't considered. I would recommend one or two copies of Sudden Shock in the side. It is very good against infect, affinity, and other delver lists.
@its0v3r9000 Opposition is pretty sweet tech. The list looks pretty solid to me for the most part. Honestly, I don't think Hour of Need is very good. I just get the feeling that it will lead to you getting blown out by removal. I could be wrong, because the deck could use some more muscle, but I think that Aven Mimeomancer should fill that role fine. Instead I might just use some cheap equipment, like Bonesplitter.
As a side note, I think that the new Spell Queller could slot nicely into the archetype. It counters Abrupt Decay and Supreme Verdict which I know are problems for me. In addition, with a couple of spirits in the list Mausoleum Wanderer could be better than Judge's Familiar in lists that don't care about birds. It isn't quite as easy to cast, but it scales a little bit into the late game, so I think that it is worth it. As was mentioned above, Selfless Spirit could be another potential inclusion.
I'm also interested in building a version of this deck.
I have two questions.
1)Should this deck be playing Dark Petition?
2) What are 3-4 of the most common piles in the UB build?
I also have a comment about the Shared Fate idea. Although you don't get to deck your opponent, you stop them from drawing cards for the rest of the game while you beat them down with their own deck, so it does have some merit if you want to try it for LOLs.
4x Badlands
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Marsh Flats
2x Arid Mesa
2x Mountain
1x Plateau
2x Scrubland
2x Swamp
4x Cabal Therapy
3x Collective Brutality
1x Dread Return
4x Faithless Looting
3x Lingering Souls
4x Reanimate
Creature (11)
4x Arclight Phoenix
1x Bloodghast
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Grave Titan
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Entomb
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Surgical Extraction
I haven't had a good chance to test it outside of some goldfishing, but this is where I'm at. Arclight Phoenix would have been better with Probe, but it still seems plenty strong without it. It plays really nicely with Cabal Therapy and you do get occasional nut draws with 2-3 phoenixes coming out on turn 2. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the 2 copies of Surgical Extraction, but free spells are pretty strong here with both phoenix and Young Pyromancer.
Lingering Souls was added in because it plays nicely with Faithless Looting, Collective Brutality, Cabal Therapy and Dread Return in addition to increasing spell density for phoenix.
This list cut Stoneforge Mystic (which could be wrong), but I wanted more slots to play with, so she's sitting out for the moment.
It's completely possible that Renegade Rallier isn't quite good enough. It has been great for me so far, but I have done little enough testing that I may have just been running well. I'm primarily trying the green splash because I wanted access to Sylvan Library and Qasali Pridemage. Rallier is just some added spice.
I think you've managed to persuade me to try SoBaM, I'm going to try to pick one up as soon as I can. I've often had a hard time applying pressure through clogged board states against various BUG decks, but the sword would have solved all of my problems.
Side Note: Is there any merit to the new Deadeye Harpooner? It seems worse than Banisher Priest in a lot of situations, but I can envisions times where it would be better. It probably doesn't make the cut, I just thought I would bring it up since I hadn't seen it discussed yet.
Here's my list if anyone's interested. I've decided to try to mix thing up a bit and try out the green splash. I've only managed to jam around a dozen games so far, but Renegade Rallier has felt great almost every time I've drawn it. Turning on revolt isn't as hard as I thought it might be and the ability is great in any grindy match-ups.
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Aether Vial
Creatures (24)
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mother of Runes
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Sanctum Prelate
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Renegade Rallier
2 Sylvan Library
Instants (4)
4 Swords to Plowshares
Lands (23)
3 Karakas
5 Plains
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Savannah
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Forest
1 Pithing Needle
2 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Rest in Peace
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Council's Judgment
Great! I'm looking forward to it. I've found your website to be really helpful so far. Also, Congrats on your finish in Louisville.
Thanks for the response. I also run Jailer, I didn't even think about that interaction. I think I'll leave spirit on the sidelines for now.
Just sticking with 3x Rest in Peace might be what I'll try for now. Reanimator isn't popular in my local meta, so hopefully I can just dodge it.
Some lists have begun playing Spirit of the Labyrinth again. It is undoubtedly a powerful effect, but is it worth adding another 1-toughness creature to the deck? I've been seeing an unprecedented number of cards like Dread of Night and Night of Soul's Betrayal which has made me hesitant to try the spirit.
In the sideboard, is there any agreement on whether Faerie Macabre or Surgical Extraction is better? Both seem to have their advantages, but I only have room in my board for one. Are they good enough in the current meta to justify shaving a Rest in Peace to play more of them?
I stumbled across this list playing jailer along side a one-of Spirit of the Labyrinth.
It took Colin Logan to a 9th place finish. I still don't know how good jailer is, but it seems like it's worth testing for sure.
Thanks for your response. Aluren looks like fun, but it looks a little bit too "combo-ish" for my tastes. Lands, however, looks intriguing. I'll probably start picking up Mox Diamond, Grove of the Burnwillows and such, then I can decide later whether to build Lands or Loam.
I enjoy playing control/tempo decks that aren't blue. I've considered 4c Loam and Maverick, but I'm quite open to other options.
Ideally the deck would be something strong against Jund and/or Elves, which are prominent decks in my meta and horrendous match-ups for D&T.
Thanks for your input!
As a side note, I think that the new Spell Queller could slot nicely into the archetype. It counters Abrupt Decay and Supreme Verdict which I know are problems for me. In addition, with a couple of spirits in the list Mausoleum Wanderer could be better than Judge's Familiar in lists that don't care about birds. It isn't quite as easy to cast, but it scales a little bit into the late game, so I think that it is worth it. As was mentioned above, Selfless Spirit could be another potential inclusion.
I have two questions.
1)Should this deck be playing Dark Petition?
2) What are 3-4 of the most common piles in the UB build?
I also have a comment about the Shared Fate idea. Although you don't get to deck your opponent, you stop them from drawing cards for the rest of the game while you beat them down with their own deck, so it does have some merit if you want to try it for LOLs.