Simple 2 card combo that can be a turn 3 win, turn 2 with lotus petal or simian spirit guide. You do need just a bit of life gain to make that work though, as you can't pay 2 life if you are at 2. The KTK lands, Radiant Fountain or Kabira Crossroads take care of that. You can also use Assault Strobe, Tainted strike for the quick kill.
However this deck doesn't just go for the quick kill, so no tainted strike or assault strobe. Instead it's built for some resilience so it can just be at more life than the opponent and go off when it safely can.
And, he's no Harvey Keitel, but this guy, and his black brother get pretty nasty in the deck...
I think 5 is the right number, weather it's a 3/2 or 4/1 split. the 1/2 body of the lieutenant is much easier to keep around, but the life loss from blightspeaker can be crucial in some games.
We can then just win by recurring Riftwatchers and other rebels by getting them back into the deck via Gravepurge and Reinforcements if Plan A doesn't work out.
It's often better to search for the rebel card on your upkeep so you can draw something else. Casting Reinforcements and searching EOT is nice, but I do think Gravepurge is the better card here. Sometimes I think the deck wants 4 of each, but that would be overkill.
Using Children after a big attack or if you get hit with a heavily devoted Gary is often the right play, you need to stay ahead in life when ever you can!
I'm not sure if Journey to Nowhere and the searchable Bound in Silenceis the best removal suite or if it's enough. Unmake might be the better call.
Also Undying Evil can save a creature, or if needed Make Children usable twice if you are not ahead on life
Much of the deck is searchable through Shred Memory
Can't attack through with the hound? no problem! find Rite of Consumption
Right now in this Treasure Cruise heavy meta, shred memory can be good on it's own.
Duress and Castigate have been really good, though sometimes you just have to cross your fingers and go for the combo win. Transmuting for Castigate is great late game if you have the other pieces.
I'm not all set on the numbers here, but right now it looks something like this...
Felt pretty good about the deck being 3-1 in the 2 man Queues, So I dug in for a few more tries.
#5 opponent: Delver
Finally, been looking forward to playing out this matchup. I've faced it a number of times in the tourney practice room, but the builds (and sometimes the pilots) felt sub-par. Up until a week ago, I hadn't played magic in ~4 years, so I'm definitely a bit sub-par myself
Game 1: on the play I keep an okay hand, I think I had a mongrel a TE, a lot of land including cycle lands. My cycles just netted me more land however. My opponent drew a nuts hand. by turn 3 I was facing down a transformed delver, a sprite and two phantasmal bears. not much I could do.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5. I do however get TE down. My imp gets countered. no problem, I have an arrogant wurm in my hand. an instant speed 4/4 trampling grave digger is pretty nuts, I think I might be able to crawl back in after the mulligan to 5 here, if he counters the wurm on his turn, I maybe can force through something on my main phase. I Dredge.....
ZERO creatures!!! no targets to get my wurm out on his turn, instead I have to try for the imp again during my main phase - meaning he can counter, and then still keep up the pressure on his turn. bummer. My imp gets Repulsed this time. sigh. He dosen't play a creature on his turn. there is daylight. Dredge again. ZERO creatures again! My opponent even commented on how crappy those dredges were, he'd seen the wurm in my hand with a probe. Really unlucky. I get a ninja beatdown.
LOSS: 0-2
#6 Opponent: UrzaTron
Same guy as before. I didn't get a TE game 1 at all, which resulted in brutal defeat.
Game 2 he brings in LD, which definitely hurts - he's able to burn away my early pressure, and I'm unable to do anything relevant late game cause I've been earth rifted out of the game. Totally dominated.
Yeah I dropped the sideboaard out in an edit, will put it back up - shifting a few things around.
The shell is an experiment. It did cost me a game today, where a second brownscale would have kept me in it, so rethinking it. With gnaw, it seems like you'd always have enough lifegain, but, I dunno, he's not really thrilling me.
I have had situations where I've been able to get a few counters from the shell on a crypt rat. This is insanely good in a lot of matchups. Also a 2/3 imp is quite amazing as well. Moldervine cloak would actually do even better for that, but it doesn't interact with tortex.
But even in those games, I could have held up without that +1 counter. It does screw up undying but... that actually hasn't come up, and probably never will.
Thinking I'll drop the shell for a brownscale and have Modervain cloak in the SB.
THe shell is also decent against burn in that I can sac it to get dredge going to fuel gnaw. But another Satyr would likely be better there anyway.
I think I do cut the shell, it's cute but... a second brownscale is just too huge in many matchups
Went 8* and 1 in the tournament practice room yesterday.
(a number of opponents quit after losing game one for whatever reason)
Practice record.
Opponent Games
Boros 2-0
Boros 2-0
turbo fog / mill 1-2
Delver 1-0
Delver 1-0
Green 1-0
MBC 2-0
So I decided to do some 2 man queues today, it fun be be rogue.
#1 opponent: UB Teachings
I know this runs Crypt incursion main, so looks bad on paper. But no, My draws were Mongrel and Wurm heavy enough to just slug it out.
in game 2 he resolved crypt incursion in response to my Gnaw. and he also had 2 relics. but all the hate is useless against the beatdown.
Win 2-0
#2 opponent: UrzaTron
I've only run into this maybe twice in testing, and won both times via a huge fungus after both sides gaining tons of life. Total attrition battles where I was able to surprise my opponent a bit by having a 20+ p/t creature in play at the end of the game. they play crusher, I play Fungus, I finally manage to crypt rats the fanghorn's away. it's good times.
Game 1: everything went according to plan, however, I never found the brownscale or the shell, and ended up milling my self to a dangerous level with stinky. I was at 60+ life, 4 cards left in the yard, and enough damage to attack for the win next turn. My opponent finds Deep Analysis however, and targets me, twice. At that point I realize he's been setting that up for several turns. Bravo sir!
Game 2: My opponent only has about 7 minutes left, so I figure i'd win on time. After a few turns game 2, my opponent concedes, I guess he didn't like his position and realized he has to win quick or lose to time. Again Bravo!
Game 3: He gets a stupid early Crusher, turn 5 maybe, and I think I had missed a land drop. this is bad times. He's able to grind me down and rolling thunder me out of the game with maybe 18 seconds left on his clock.
I got beat here, and beat bad. I really do not mind being outplayed. was a good loss, almost worth the 2 tix. Now at least I know my feeling that this match-up was slightly in my favor was incorrect. I either got lucky, or faced poor players in my previos match-ups with this.
LOSS: 2-1 (and the 1 doesn't even count)
#3 opponent: MBC
All this deck needs to do is to resolve TE against mono black to win (and not get mana screwed) As long as the elements come together, every single card in the mono black deck is pretty much irrelevant against any dead dog build with TE. I am something like 12 and 1 against mono black with this. it's ridiculous. They would need so much graveyard hate, that it would weaken their deck against the field, so I don't see this changing. Chittering rats just becomes a 3 mana bear against dredge, every removal spell basically becomes an unsummon, and they do not have the tempo. This match up is murder for them.
WIN 2-0
#4 opponent: Burn
oh! man this matchup always puts me on edge. Most of my deck is irrelevant game 1. I end up doing stuff like disfiguring my own imps to get dredge going. I'll I have to do is gnaw, even a little bit, and the matchup swings my way.
Game 1: ouch. 20 points to the dome by turn 4 (maybe 5?). I attempted to Gnaw for 6 life when I was at 8, and I got volleyed and fireblasted out of the game.
Game 2: I play stinky on turn 3, thinking I was dead since I'd have to edict myself next turn in order to have a chance here. Fortunatly for me, my opponent kills it with Searing blaze. (the 3 to the dome still hurt ) I have gnaw in hand but it actually dosen't matter here - I find ravens crime and some land - my opponent fireblasts me in response, saccing his 2 mountains. he dosen't find another mountain, and I keep finding land for ravens crime. He concedes soon as I dredge a gnaw.
Game 3: I get my lone brownscale in the yard with TE out. Lucky me. he concedes on the spot.
Updated list - revamping sideboard after some testing. May need to use a transitional sideboard
This is working well in the current meta, good match up against current MBC builds since they don't pack much hate, if any. Much of their removal revolves around edict type spells, and a big fungus can hit through for the win, though often not even needed. You can out lifegain them and win through attrition. Builds with Oubilette fare better against this.
Also fares well against MUC - player skill depending on both sides - often they will let something like a treefolk resolve and then I rip their hand apart with Raven's Crime. As long as you can get rid of their early creatures, you should win as long as you can resolve TE.
This has not fared well against UR Fiend, and isn't great against Esper combo (in the right hands).
Elder takes care of Journey to nowhere, Oblivion ring, etc, which can be problematic. Expensive disenchant, but usually there is time, and the 4/4 body is very relevant. Interaction with fume spitter is great but rare to get it set up.
-1 Blind Zealot
+1 Faerie Macabre
Zealot was often good, never great though. THere just isn't a good cheap Nekrataal type effect at common worth playing (skinthinner? butcher? ) The 5 mana edict guy just didn't work well for me, but is an option.
The Faerie Macabre is just too nice not to have in the main. If anything, she can get herself into the graveyard if you ever need to just dump a creature in there to activate tortex. THE key card against familiar, helpful against firebolt, can just block an insect if need be. 2 more in the side board. Bring them in against anything playing Mnemonic wall and also against BURN cause you need a target in the graveyard and you can't count on them to kill your creatures.
-1 disfigure
+1 Ghastly Demise
Honestly this should probably just be Snuff out, but I don't have them. Playing one of each seems fine.
Traitor's clutch almost always surprises my opponent, even if it's been in the yard a few turns. smacking with huge shadowed fungus is great fun.
I have won even through graveyard hate on occasion, The deck just plays like a sub-optimal Rock deck in that instance, which can get the job done.
The counters on the fungus remain if you graveyard disappears, and also counts their creatures, so sometimes it's just a nice 4/4 or 5/5 on turn four, which hopefully sticks around.
You must draw (or dredge and have TE) Faerie Macabre against esper! And even still they can recover, man that deck is good.
plus it itself has flashback, and also cycles, so it's never dead.
Simple 2 card combo that can be a turn 3 win, turn 2 with lotus petal or simian spirit guide. You do need just a bit of life gain to make that work though, as you can't pay 2 life if you are at 2. The KTK lands, Radiant Fountain or Kabira Crossroads take care of that. You can also use Assault Strobe, Tainted strike for the quick kill.
However this deck doesn't just go for the quick kill, so no tainted strike or assault strobe. Instead it's built for some resilience so it can just be at more life than the opponent and go off when it safely can.
Children of Korlis just happens to be a REBEL. And so is this guy...
And, he's no Harvey Keitel, but this guy, and his black brother get pretty nasty in the deck...
I think 5 is the right number, weather it's a 3/2 or 4/1 split. the 1/2 body of the lieutenant is much easier to keep around, but the life loss from blightspeaker can be crucial in some games.
We can then just win by recurring Riftwatchers and other rebels by getting them back into the deck via Gravepurge and Reinforcements if Plan A doesn't work out.
It's often better to search for the rebel card on your upkeep so you can draw something else. Casting Reinforcements and searching EOT is nice, but I do think Gravepurge is the better card here. Sometimes I think the deck wants 4 of each, but that would be overkill.
Using Children after a big attack or if you get hit with a heavily devoted Gary is often the right play, you need to stay ahead in life when ever you can!
I'm not sure if Journey to Nowhere and the searchable Bound in Silenceis the best removal suite or if it's enough. Unmake might be the better call.
Also Undying Evil can save a creature, or if needed Make Children usable twice if you are not ahead on life
Much of the deck is searchable through Shred Memory
Can't attack through with the hound? no problem! find Rite of Consumption
Right now in this Treasure Cruise heavy meta, shred memory can be good on it's own.
Duress and Castigate have been really good, though sometimes you just have to cross your fingers and go for the combo win. Transmuting for Castigate is great late game if you have the other pieces.
I'm not all set on the numbers here, but right now it looks something like this...
4x Children of Korlis
4x Immolating Souleater
4x Aven Riftwatcher
3x Ramosian Lieutenant
2x Blightspeaker
Spells
4x Journey to Nowhere
2x Castigate
2x Duress
2x Undying Evil
2x Shred Memory
2x Gravepurge
1x Reinforcements
1x Rite of Consumption
3x Orzhov Signet
4x Radiant Fountain
4x Scoured Barrens
4x Kabira Crossroads
4x Evolving Wilds
6x Swamp
1x Plains
2x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Circle of Protection: Green
3x Disfigure
3x Ephemeral Shields (has been great against red removal)
1x Bound in Silence
2x Solemn Offering
2x Castigate
sac it on their draw phase for an instant speed mini hymn.
#5 opponent: Delver
Finally, been looking forward to playing out this matchup. I've faced it a number of times in the tourney practice room, but the builds (and sometimes the pilots) felt sub-par. Up until a week ago, I hadn't played magic in ~4 years, so I'm definitely a bit sub-par myself
Game 1: on the play I keep an okay hand, I think I had a mongrel a TE, a lot of land including cycle lands. My cycles just netted me more land however. My opponent drew a nuts hand. by turn 3 I was facing down a transformed delver, a sprite and two phantasmal bears. not much I could do.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5. I do however get TE down. My imp gets countered. no problem, I have an arrogant wurm in my hand. an instant speed 4/4 trampling grave digger is pretty nuts, I think I might be able to crawl back in after the mulligan to 5 here, if he counters the wurm on his turn, I maybe can force through something on my main phase. I Dredge.....
ZERO creatures!!! no targets to get my wurm out on his turn, instead I have to try for the imp again during my main phase - meaning he can counter, and then still keep up the pressure on his turn. bummer. My imp gets Repulsed this time. sigh. He dosen't play a creature on his turn. there is daylight. Dredge again. ZERO creatures again! My opponent even commented on how crappy those dredges were, he'd seen the wurm in my hand with a probe. Really unlucky. I get a ninja beatdown.
LOSS: 0-2
#6 Opponent: UrzaTron
Same guy as before. I didn't get a TE game 1 at all, which resulted in brutal defeat.
Game 2 he brings in LD, which definitely hurts - he's able to burn away my early pressure, and I'm unable to do anything relevant late game cause I've been earth rifted out of the game. Totally dominated.
LOSS 0-2
Overall was 3-3. not great at all.
Will still keep tweaking at it though
The shell is an experiment. It did cost me a game today, where a second brownscale would have kept me in it, so rethinking it. With gnaw, it seems like you'd always have enough lifegain, but, I dunno, he's not really thrilling me.
I have had situations where I've been able to get a few counters from the shell on a crypt rat. This is insanely good in a lot of matchups. Also a 2/3 imp is quite amazing as well. Moldervine cloak would actually do even better for that, but it doesn't interact with tortex.
But even in those games, I could have held up without that +1 counter. It does screw up undying
Thinking I'll drop the shell for a brownscale and have Modervain cloak in the SB.
THe shell is also decent against burn in that I can sac it to get dredge going to fuel gnaw. But another Satyr would likely be better there anyway.
I think I do cut the shell, it's cute but... a second brownscale is just too huge in many matchups
Went 8* and 1 in the tournament practice room yesterday.
(a number of opponents quit after losing game one for whatever reason)
Practice record.
Opponent Games
Boros 2-0
Boros 2-0
turbo fog / mill 1-2
Delver 1-0
Delver 1-0
Green 1-0
MBC 2-0
So I decided to do some 2 man queues today, it fun be be rogue.
#1 opponent: UB Teachings
I know this runs Crypt incursion main, so looks bad on paper. But no, My draws were Mongrel and Wurm heavy enough to just slug it out.
in game 2 he resolved crypt incursion in response to my Gnaw. and he also had 2 relics.
Win 2-0
#2 opponent: UrzaTron
I've only run into this maybe twice in testing, and won both times via a huge fungus after both sides gaining tons of life. Total attrition battles where I was able to surprise my opponent a bit by having a 20+ p/t creature in play at the end of the game. they play crusher, I play Fungus, I finally manage to crypt rats the fanghorn's away. it's good times.
Game 1: everything went according to plan, however, I never found the brownscale or the shell, and ended up milling my self to a dangerous level with stinky. I was at 60+ life, 4 cards left in the yard, and enough damage to attack for the win next turn. My opponent finds Deep Analysis however, and targets me, twice. At that point I realize he's been setting that up for several turns. Bravo sir!
Game 2: My opponent only has about 7 minutes left, so I figure i'd win on time. After a few turns game 2, my opponent concedes, I guess he didn't like his position and realized he has to win quick or lose to time. Again Bravo!
Game 3: He gets a stupid early Crusher, turn 5 maybe, and I think I had missed a land drop. this is bad times. He's able to grind me down and rolling thunder me out of the game with maybe 18 seconds left on his clock.
I got beat here, and beat bad. I really do not mind being outplayed. was a good loss, almost worth the 2 tix. Now at least I know my feeling that this match-up was slightly in my favor was incorrect. I either got lucky, or faced poor players in my previos match-ups with this.
LOSS: 2-1 (and the 1 doesn't even count)
#3 opponent: MBC
All this deck needs to do is to resolve TE against mono black to win (and not get mana screwed) As long as the elements come together, every single card in the mono black deck is pretty much irrelevant against any dead dog build with TE. I am something like 12 and 1 against mono black with this. it's ridiculous. They would need so much graveyard hate, that it would weaken their deck against the field, so I don't see this changing. Chittering rats just becomes a 3 mana bear against dredge, every removal spell basically becomes an unsummon, and they do not have the tempo. This match up is murder for them.
WIN 2-0
#4 opponent: Burn
oh! man this matchup always puts me on edge. Most of my deck is irrelevant game 1. I end up doing stuff like disfiguring my own imps to get dredge going. I'll I have to do is gnaw, even a little bit, and the matchup swings my way.
Game 1: ouch. 20 points to the dome by turn 4 (maybe 5?). I attempted to Gnaw for 6 life when I was at 8, and I got volleyed and fireblasted out of the game.
Game 2: I play stinky on turn 3, thinking I was dead since I'd have to edict myself next turn in order to have a chance here. Fortunatly for me, my opponent kills it with Searing blaze. (the 3 to the dome still hurt
Game 3: I get my lone brownscale in the yard with TE out. Lucky me. he concedes on the spot.
WIN: 2-1
more later
This is working well in the current meta, good match up against current MBC builds since they don't pack much hate, if any. Much of their removal revolves around edict type spells, and a big fungus can hit through for the win, though often not even needed. You can out lifegain them and win through attrition. Builds with Oubilette fare better against this.
Also fares well against MUC - player skill depending on both sides - often they will let something like a treefolk resolve and then I rip their hand apart with Raven's Crime. As long as you can get rid of their early creatures, you should win as long as you can resolve TE.
This has not fared well against UR Fiend, and isn't great against Esper combo (in the right hands).
3x Wild Mongrel
3x Stinkweed Imp
1x Undergrowth Scavenger
2x Krosan Tusker
2x Satyr Wayfinder
2x Tilling Treefolk
2x Crypt Rats
2x Fume Spitter
2x Arrogant Wurm
1x Golgari Brownscale
1x Shambling Shell
1x Grave Scrabbler
1x Faerie Macabre
1x Wickerbough Elder
4x Tortured Existence
2x Commune with the Gods
2x Chainer's Edict
1x Disfigure
1x Ghastly Demise
2x Gnaw to the Bone
1x Raven's Crime
1x Traitor's Clutch
Land 22
2x Barren Moor
2x Golgari Rot Farm
1x Tranquil Thicket
3x Evolving Wilds
5x Forest
9x Swamp
3x Ghastly Demise
2x Faerie Macabre
2x Spore Frog
1x Moment's Peace
2x Serene Heart
1x Battlefield Scrounger
1x Sylvok Replica
*Recent Changes in main deck:
-1 Undergrowth Scavenger
+1 Wickerbough Elder
Elder takes care of Journey to nowhere, Oblivion ring, etc, which can be problematic. Expensive disenchant, but usually there is time, and the 4/4 body is very relevant. Interaction with fume spitter is great but rare to get it set up.
-1 Blind Zealot
+1 Faerie Macabre
Zealot was often good, never great though. THere just isn't a good cheap Nekrataal type effect at common worth playing (skinthinner? butcher? ) The 5 mana edict guy just didn't work well for me, but is an option.
The Faerie Macabre is just too nice not to have in the main. If anything, she can get herself into the graveyard if you ever need to just dump a creature in there to activate tortex. THE key card against familiar, helpful against firebolt, can just block an insect if need be. 2 more in the side board. Bring them in against anything playing Mnemonic wall and also against BURN cause you need a target in the graveyard and you can't count on them to kill your creatures.
-1 disfigure
+1 Ghastly Demise
Honestly this should probably just be Snuff out, but I don't have them. Playing one of each seems fine.
Traitor's clutch almost always surprises my opponent, even if it's been in the yard a few turns. smacking with huge shadowed fungus is great fun.
I have won even through graveyard hate on occasion, The deck just plays like a sub-optimal Rock deck in that instance, which can get the job done.
The counters on the fungus remain if you graveyard disappears, and also counts their creatures, so sometimes it's just a nice 4/4 or 5/5 on turn four, which hopefully sticks around.
You must draw (or dredge and have TE) Faerie Macabre against esper! And even still they can recover, man that deck is good.
thanks for your time.