Hello all, I've been putting together a mono-black aggro deck & I'm hoping to get some feedback. There's overlap with WB Zombie Copter lists but I'm trying a mono-B version that plays a few more creatures & 16 Zombies in total. Thanks!
Nantuko Husk over Rotting Rats is a good idea, thanks for the suggestion. Blasting Station is nice & I could see in working it certain situations. Plague Belcher is interesting, a friend also recommended it to me. Doesn't quite fill the sac outlet role but killing a creature would be a bonus for me, 5/4 with menace is sweet, plus you get a pseudo-Zulaport Cutthroat effect...what's not to like?
Renegade rallier is pretty sweet though, since it can get back both pieces of our new combo when (not if) they kill it.
Not sure you actually need more than 1 witness to get back a chord etc.
I think cutting the melira and going 3 vizier might be right though, melira is so awkward when you have the other combo..
2x Eternal Witness in the deck is great if you combo off using Duskwatch Recruiter while Chord of Calling is in your graveyard. Plus I like the idea of having a 2nd one if I already have Collected Company and Witness #1 in the yard and pull off the Duskwatch combo. I also like 2 Witnesses for Company hits in general.
Thinking more about Renegade Rallier, I do think a 2nd Rallier is a better choice for this deck than a 2nd Duskwatch Recruiter. More than 2 Ralliers and I'd have to make deeper cuts, but I think a 2/2 split between Witness and Rallier is what I'll be testing with 1x Duskwatch Recruiter.
@Swindley - Agreed on Voice of Resurgence, I main 3 now and dropping it was a source of hesitation for me. So your 1st draft looked very interesting because you don't give up much.
Even still it would be interesting to see if dropping Voice or other value/toolbox cards gives you a critical mass of combo cards to push through removal. Honestly I'm thinking it wouldn't work because Vizier could become an Achilles heel, and the balanced approach you posted may prove to be best.
There's literally zero reason to run craterhoof over ballista that makes 0 sense
Please don't run bad/dead cards in the deck to use infinite mana. Duskwatch recruiter is enough. it should be something that can be hit with coco at least. If you really need something, then mirror entity is the one to use.
The deck needs to function well even if you don't draw the combo imo.
This will be my first draft for testing. It can grind well, while having many "oops I win" combos. (need 1 cut from sideboard atm)
I think having so many different combos in the deck actually make the deck really hard to play against. Some combos use the graveyard, some don't.
The best card against us is probably anger of the gods and you can setup game 2/3 to not be as vulnerable to it.
This list helped me see the argument for the new combo, now that I've spent more time looking at it.
I like that you only used 1x Duskwatch Recruiter. You don't dilute your main combo and get a new 2-2-1 three-card combo for the cost of 1 flex spot and a downgrade to Wall of Roots.
I still don't like the idea of opening hands like Druid/Anafenza/Voice/dork/3 mana but I'm hoping you'd net more new good opening hands than bad ones. Interesting!
Edit: Using your list as a starting point, I'd also be interested in trying 4-3-2 with Vizier-Duskwatch-Druid, 0 Anafenza, 0 Melira, 0 Voice of Resurgence, 0 Orzhov Pontiff. This is what I was initially visioning but there's definitely some tradeoffs.
@Ludafish & Torpf - True, removing Melira or Anafenza isn't really any harder, I just meant that removing Vizier would away a card from your "other" combo too so it seems like the impact would be greater (as compared to Angel/Feeder or a toolbox approach).
Plus there aren't non-combo creatures in the deck that demand immediate removal (e.g. Tireless Tracker)so your opponent can just save those spells.
An opponent could hold their removal spells for Vizier because it's hard to accomplish much without it. With all the cheap removal and targeted discard around Vizier seems easier to disrupt compared to the standard combo + toolbox cards or even the Angel/Feeder 2nd combo
For me it's that people keep putting up really good results with Rallier.
Others have mentioned that the deck needs to be played differently when using this card; I haven't spent enough time with it yet to really figure it out.
Creature (24)
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Gravecrawler
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Bloodghast
4 Geralf's Messenger
Artifact (4)
4 Smuggler's Copter
Instant (4)
4 Fatal Push
Sorcery (8)
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Collective Brutality
Land (20)
20 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
2 Bile Blight
2 Collective Brutality
2 Geth's Verdict
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Pithing Needle
3 Ratchet Bomb
4x Thoughtseize
4x Fatal Push
4x Gravecrawler
2x Dread Wanderer
2x Butcher Ghoul
3x Blood Artist
3x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Relentless Dead
4x Geralf's Messenger
3x Viscera Seer
2x Blasting Station
1x Bontu the Glorified
2x Plague Belcher
4x Marsh Flats
18x Swamp
Just hoping to get some feedback on a mono black Zombie-heavy deck I've been working on for fun. Suggestions appreciated, thanks!
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/07-06-18-paint-it-black/?cb=1528399766
2x Eternal Witness in the deck is great if you combo off using Duskwatch Recruiter while Chord of Calling is in your graveyard. Plus I like the idea of having a 2nd one if I already have Collected Company and Witness #1 in the yard and pull off the Duskwatch combo. I also like 2 Witnesses for Company hits in general.
Thinking more about Renegade Rallier, I do think a 2nd Rallier is a better choice for this deck than a 2nd Duskwatch Recruiter. More than 2 Ralliers and I'd have to make deeper cuts, but I think a 2/2 split between Witness and Rallier is what I'll be testing with 1x Duskwatch Recruiter.
The main deck is very similar but with a few tweaks (2 Eternal Witness & 1 Renegade Rallier instead of 1 & 3 respectively, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast, +1 Vizier of Remedies; +1 Duskwatch Recruiter, +1 Viscera Seer
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/abzan-company-amonkhet/
Looking at the list you posted yesterday, I think I'd add a 3rd Viscera Seer before the 4th Devoted Druid.
Even still it would be interesting to see if dropping Voice or other value/toolbox cards gives you a critical mass of combo cards to push through removal. Honestly I'm thinking it wouldn't work because Vizier could become an Achilles heel, and the balanced approach you posted may prove to be best.
This list helped me see the argument for the new combo, now that I've spent more time looking at it.
I like that you only used 1x Duskwatch Recruiter. You don't dilute your main combo and get a new 2-2-1 three-card combo for the cost of 1 flex spot and a downgrade to Wall of Roots.
I still don't like the idea of opening hands like Druid/Anafenza/Voice/dork/3 mana but I'm hoping you'd net more new good opening hands than bad ones. Interesting!
Edit: Using your list as a starting point, I'd also be interested in trying 4-3-2 with Vizier-Duskwatch-Druid, 0 Anafenza, 0 Melira, 0 Voice of Resurgence, 0 Orzhov Pontiff. This is what I was initially visioning but there's definitely some tradeoffs.
Plus there aren't non-combo creatures in the deck that demand immediate removal (e.g. Tireless Tracker)so your opponent can just save those spells.
An opponent could hold their removal spells for Vizier because it's hard to accomplish much without it. With all the cheap removal and targeted discard around Vizier seems easier to disrupt compared to the standard combo + toolbox cards or even the Angel/Feeder 2nd combo
I've been trying it out lately and like it but the testing hasn't been extensive.
For me it's that people keep putting up really good results with Rallier.
Others have mentioned that the deck needs to be played differently when using this card; I haven't spent enough time with it yet to really figure it out.
Accepting lower probabilities is certainly your call but 15 sources does seem low.