@ Slash
Spot removal is not good enough vs fast aggro decks, just wait and see next weekend when you are playing against aggro. You'll want board wipes then.
Underworld Connections is too slow to play in MB, good vs control. So if you are saying you only play against control then yes, play them.
Keep us posted about your results, I am interested in your findings. Especially 4x lifebane zombie MB (I run those too). And ofcourse the pack rats!
Also, just give Rakdos Keyrune a try. It will be your new friend.
I had Rakdos Keyrunes in there for a while (they were one of the first few things I put in lol), but I found they were only good for ramping since I could rarely turn them on so I ditched them. I agree that Anger is a great card against the hyper-agressive decks, but so far I've seen a trend towards control and midrange, as well as a few people picking up mono u (and GW aggro which I can race with rats and removal) so the lack of it was a meta choice, not a "I don't think the card is good/worth it" (because it obviously is if the meta calls for it ) I'll see how I go tonight and at FNM. I'm in a very competitive meta with people from my two LGS always doing really well at the bigger tournaments, so If the green devotion and hyper-agressive red decks pop up then I'll move towards anger of the gods and cards like mizzium mortars and modify the mana base like you suggested, and of course keyrunes will go back in.
@FrancusAurelius Trading Post is crazy good! For a while I was running 1 in the SB purely to bring back ratchet bombs and gain life. Was awesome.
@Slash:
Not playing Anger of the Gods is a big mistake, it is one of the cards to play black red for in the first place.
4 Sire of Insanity is overkill. I run 1 mb 1 sb for control. 1 MB to have a chance vs control since it's all about sticking a Sire or Rakdos's Return them. Not drawing those = loss vs control.
As I mentioned, Anger of the Gods is too mana intensive for what I'm going for. You want to be casting it turn 3, and I just won't get RR that fast. I also don't want to be diluting my mana for a card that won't further my own board presence, especially when I have hero's downfall, underworld connections, and lifebane zombie in the 3-drop slot as well.
The reason I run 4 Sire is because of the control decks where I play. As you mentioned, not drawing Sire or Return vs control = a loss. Running 1 or 2 just doesn't consistently give me the opportunity to cast them in time, and if I'm running so few and an Ashiok exiles them before I get to them myself, I may as well scoop there and then.
I guess if I was running a less creature intensive, even more heavy control build then I'd be playing them. But at the moment, I'm confident that spot removal and a constantly growing board presence of my own while I strip away their hand is the way to go.
I really like your list. Well... despite Pack Rat.
It looks like your the heavy control player early game. Then you win by getting your opponent into top deck mode with CA from Underworld Connections and Whip's. Not to mention Sire is a beast if your opponent has a dead board and no answer.
I really like it how's play testing going?
Also, no Anger of the Gods??? An why do you choose Underworld Cerebus in the SB?
Keep me posted on how well you do, looks interesting.
Yeah, heavy control forcing them into top-deck mode with some big beasts down. I went with 0 Anger of the Gods because I just can't get RR that often. There's been games where even getting R has been a challenge, and if not for pack rats...well... lol. That's one of the other big reasons he's there. Cerberus is there because he's a massive creature that is practically unblockable in the control/midrange match once you've stripped their hands. Against mono black devotion he completely shuts down their whip which is massive for them getting back into the game.
Testing has been going well so far. I've got a bigger tournament on this weekend that I can attend which will be the real test.
Pack Rat
Pack Rat was originally there because I was playing Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and I wanted the devotion to help push through bigger Rakdos's Returns and because they play well with Mutavault. I ended up taking out the Nykthos, obviously, because I wasn't really heavy on the devotion, and it just seemed like a win more card when I did get it off. What I learnt however, was that Pack Rat just helps you destroy aggro in the early turns and lets you get to the late game to do what you do best. You can also feel safe to discard creature spells when you have Whip of Erebos in the deck.
Sire of Insanity and Rakdos's Return
There has so far not been many instances where I have not wanted either of these, and for the times when I've had both in hand I've had options. I'll usually just hit their hand with Rakdos's Return to either bait out a counter or remove a kill spell before dropping the Sire. So far, I'm really happy with 4 and 2.
Underworld Cerberus
I know, I know. He doesn't play well with the rest of the deck. But he's a finisher. I will only drop him when they have nothing in hand and I'm certain that I have the kill. Against control, their only hope is to have a kill spell or a bounce spell and if their hand is completely empty there's much less chance of that happening. I've yet to have his downside hit me, and I'll admit I don't look forward to having it happen; but I have had such a good run with him so far, that I feel like I can continue to safely run him.
For a lot of matchups, timing is everything. Knowing when to play the right discard or creature spells is key. But everytime I play this deck I feel as though I have something very very powerful under my control. I'm in love with it.
@LeoninKha
I only play 1 Griselbrand. I haven't had a problem with it - there's a Cavern in the side to help cast it if I need, but it's a late-game card. By the time I draw it I can generally cast it, and if not it becomes Trading Post fodder in the direst of circumstances. I don't think rites is where I want to take this kind of a list.
Also, those aren't the only white cards I was thinking of. Of course cards like Lingering Souls, Oblivion Ring, Angelic Accord etc would be best, but I was talking about how far we can take the deck into white before it loses its core. We'd be mad to go into a colour and not think about how deep we can go to get the most power for our mana. I agree about the excess Ratchet Bombs, however, they're currently a meta choice because of all the BW Humans and Aristocrats at my store. They'll be the first thing I start to cull when I fit in Lillies, but I don't think I'll want to go below 2.
@LonelyPenguin
Clever. Faithless Looting isn't something I'd thought of using in this way. I assume it'd be mostly artifacts that you're dumping so that Trading Post can continue to do god's work? If GR aggro (and those goddamn Burning Earths) disappears from my LGS I may give this version a run
@CodeWalker
I think I have to agree with you about the Pithing Needles. They're pretty much dead against Mono Red, BW Humans, and Flash which are all pretty big. The card is great but I've tried it MB and hated it. That said, I'm a bit up in the air about Skyblinder... I've used it quite a bit in limited to great success, but I never thought about using it in constructed. I think its something I'm going to have to try to know where I stand on it though.
Sorry for the formatting on this one. I'll fix it up when I get home. Currently on my phone and just wanted to get my thoughts down.
The sideboard had Duress, Ratchet Bomb, Slaughter Games, Pithing Needle, Flames of the Firebrand, Staff of Nin, Trading Post and Demonic Rising...
PS: Lingering Souls is amazing, don't know why I ever stopped playing that card...
Grats on the good finish! Yeah, Lingering Souls is nuts in a deck like this and excellent Post fodder. I had a few games there against that BW Humans list where they'd token spam and pass, I'd play a single souls, bring back Ratchet Bomb, wipe the board and then flashback souls ready to do it all again. I also really like the Blind Obedience in that list. Seems perfect to help hold off the aggro front. I want to work on a BW version for myself but I really don't like the idea of losing Rakdos's Return since it's such a great mana sink. The main question I think I have is how much white? Enough gives us access to Terminus, Entreat the Angels, Angel of Serenity, but significantly weakens the heavy black that the deck has now. A little bit still lets us keep our heavy black but I don't think warrants the loss of Dreadbores and Rakdos's Returns. And I'm not sure if I want to be splashing a third colour...
I have 3-4 Liliana of the Veil I want to squeeze in there but as I see it I have two options: If I cut out artifacts main to fit her in, Phylactery Lich gets weaker post board (note I usually make a 4-4 switch with Volatile Rig), but if I cut the Lich's in side, the artifact count begins to feel a little overkill. As much as I have won with Lich's (they really are big game at the moment with near on no artifact removal) I prefer the second option overall, but I'm not sure where to go with it. The enchantments and kill spells counts are fine as is - I have never run into a problem with them.
Hahaha thanks for the help though I did completely change the list again yesterday xD... I didn't really have mana issues thanks to Prism, but the list just wasn't performing like I wanted it to. I still like Lich but I faced way too many 2-for-1's to keep playing them...
I think Plate Mail is probably a 2-of
I haven't really been the biggest fan of prism in this deck. I splashed white a few weeks ago to test out the angelic accord interaction and came to the conclusion that I prefer prefer two colours. That, and I really didn't like filling up my board with cards that didn't either further my board/hand themselves or deal with a threat. Post rotation I will probably push towards BW since the accord is a fine enough replacement for demonic rising and we'll have access to things like blood baron of vizkopa and sin collector.
Plate Mail seems correct at 2. Slipping a third into my sb because I really like it and want to see it a lot. No one besides jund is running artifact destruction (at my lgs at least) and they don't run nearly enough. That and they also aren't sure what to destroy.
I know the manabase is not "ideal" (yeah its horrible) but I haven't had issues with it for now thanks to Prophetic Prism which is a life savior. Blood Crypt should be a 4-of and instead of Sacred Foundry there should be Godless Shrines... (you can tell my base color was red hehe)
Edit: Would love some feedback on this
A few changes to that mana base would definitely help I think. With those exact cards, and the utilities you want, I'd have th land down as something like this:
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Godless Shrine
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Slayer's Stronghold
7 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Mountain
Doesn't change what you had very much, but increases the probability of you hitting BBB turn 3 like you want to without stopping you from realistically getting RRR for mortars.
As for what you said about dreadbore, do you have doom blades in the side at all? I run a 3:2 split of doomblade:dreadbore main and I don't like seeing the dreadbore quite as much. Unless you have a hell of a lot of superfriends at your lgs 4 dreadbore seems like a crazy amount to me, especially mb...
Sire of Insanity seems like a good include though, might try that this week. Also, I've got to say, I'm really glad that people still aren't cottoning on to the power level of haunted plate mail just yet. I started running it as a 2-of in my UW flash deck from the day it was legal, and I'm still trying to work out what the correct number is in my current post build (currently have 2 slotted in thd sb), but there's a good chance I'll run 2-3.
I like it man, looks mostly well built. I'll say the same thing I always do though, choose 1 "do-nothing" enchantment and stick with it (Seclusion or Rising). They work against each other. Another thing, 3 Dark Prophecy's and Underworld Connections seem like too much. I can see how an aggro deck wouldn't have it that hard to beat you with so many cards that don't affect the board.
I think they're fine against slower decks though.
Phylactery Lich should go maindeck, but I don't think you have enough artifacts nor the right manacost in artifacts to support them (Pithing Needle and / or Prophetic Prism would be ideal)
Boy, seeing all those Phylactery Liches in this thread make me want to play it !
Got a chance to play with this last night. I have had the same split of Rising and Seclusion in my deck for months and I find that they tend to work great together. Could you elaborate on how you think they work against one another? (Note, I tend to side one or the other out in certain matches, but if I can durdle I love to resolve both.)
I agree that the triple dark prophecy and connections main makes the aggro matchup harder than it needs to be. Currently I'm thinking of bringing the prophecy down to one and either bringing in haunted plate mail to main, or just giving myself a few extra kill spells. I used to run 3 Liliana of the Veil main, and I have to say I missed her a lot so there's also a good chance I'll bring her back.
I don't think I've posted in this thread yet, but I've loved playing around with deck for quite some time. There are so many options and lines you can take, and the thing I love the most about it is how resilient it is. Here's my post m14 update:
Any thoughts on what our weakest matchups are at the moment? I haven't played with this deck for about a month and a half or so, but the m14 cards that I have put into this really has me excited to play it again. My meta is usually pretty much SCG's top 4 and a few budget aggro decks, so I love taking things like this in. Sideboard is currently entirely theory. I was lazy and never built a sideboard before, despite still winning FNMs with it, just tweaked main, so sideboard is currently just cards which I have found useful in the past and one or two new additions I'd like to try.
Don't know if this would be a great idea. But we are playing nothing but wizard creature types and filling our graveyard dimir charm and thought scour why nothing run cavern and reckoner and harvest pyre.
I run caverns, but I personally don't run reckoner for 2 reasons. 1) All my other creatures are blue, so I don't even consistently hit RRR by turn 6 or an overloaded mortars let alone turn 3 for a reckoner. 2) I gave mine to my friend so that he could run them in UWR Flash (which I think is a better place for it). Just my 2c there.
When you play 16 or so creatures is lone revenant really triggering that often? I think id prefer niv-mizzet. The sorcery speed of dreadbore does hurt... Devour flesh? I recognize that this would make it more of a control rather than tempo based deck.
I don't play overly agressive with my creatures to be honest. If I flip a delver early, I'll ride it as long as I can, but I usually have at maximum 2 creatures on the board at any time. By the time I get Lone Revenant down, I usually put the others into block mode so that he can begin to trigger.
I tried devour flesh, but the life gain they get from it is sometimes just too much, I feel. It was fine in my Grixis Control deck when I ran Homicidal Seclusion to help keep up, but I don't think it has a place here. Murder is also really restrictive with BB since I don't actually run a lot of black. I don't know. This is something I want to find an answer for, but at the moment I think we just need to pray for something good in Dragon's Maze or M14... (Putrefy could be really good, but I don't want to splash green or lose red...)
What decks did you lose to? And would Talrand, Sky Summoner be better than the lone revenant out of the board? Or even perhaps better than Duskmantle Seer?
I lost to USA Midrange, Bant Midrange, and USA Delver (the first two were simply because they had much more value than me, the third because I misplayed a few times and kept a questionable hand in the 3rd game). I moved away from Talrand a while ago because he was a lot easier to kill and I could barely ever untap with him still around. That said, I was playing a BUG version of my deck then, and so had a much different list. I personally prefer Duskmantle Seer and Lone Revenant simply because they compliment each other so well (Duskmantle hits the junk reanimator and midrange lists hard and gives you more info for Slaughter Games out of the sideboard, whereas Lone Revenant helps you to dig for spells to boost pike and is resilient to spot removal if they simply just killed off the Seer or didn't worry about him in game 1.)
There is a doomblade... Its the card you had in yoursideboard
You mean Dreadbore? I guess so... It's a sorcery speed card, which is way too restrictive, especially in a deck which wants to have instant speed responses and combat tricks.
It's not you who forces him to sacrifice, he makes the choice, so he can sacrifice each creature he has instead of paying life... Not 100% sure, but...
Judge, can you get here please???
From Oracle text on Sigarda:
"If a spell or ability an opponent controls instructs you to perform an action unless you sacrifice a permanent (as Ogre Marauder does), you can't choose to sacrifice a permanent. You must perform the action. On the other hand, if a spell or ability an opponent controls instructs you to sacrifice a permanent unless you perform an action (as Killing Wave does), you can choose whether or not to perform the action. If you don't perform the action, nothing happens, since you can't sacrifice any permanents."
I had Rakdos Keyrunes in there for a while (they were one of the first few things I put in lol), but I found they were only good for ramping since I could rarely turn them on so I ditched them. I agree that Anger is a great card against the hyper-agressive decks, but so far I've seen a trend towards control and midrange, as well as a few people picking up mono u (and GW aggro which I can race with rats and removal) so the lack of it was a meta choice, not a "I don't think the card is good/worth it" (because it obviously is if the meta calls for it
@FrancusAurelius Trading Post is crazy good! For a while I was running 1 in the SB purely to bring back ratchet bombs and gain life. Was awesome.
As I mentioned, Anger of the Gods is too mana intensive for what I'm going for. You want to be casting it turn 3, and I just won't get RR that fast. I also don't want to be diluting my mana for a card that won't further my own board presence, especially when I have hero's downfall, underworld connections, and lifebane zombie in the 3-drop slot as well.
The reason I run 4 Sire is because of the control decks where I play. As you mentioned, not drawing Sire or Return vs control = a loss. Running 1 or 2 just doesn't consistently give me the opportunity to cast them in time, and if I'm running so few and an Ashiok exiles them before I get to them myself, I may as well scoop there and then.
I guess if I was running a less creature intensive, even more heavy control build then I'd be playing them. But at the moment, I'm confident that spot removal and a constantly growing board presence of my own while I strip away their hand is the way to go.
Yeah, heavy control forcing them into top-deck mode with some big beasts down. I went with 0 Anger of the Gods because I just can't get RR that often. There's been games where even getting R has been a challenge, and if not for pack rats...well... lol. That's one of the other big reasons he's there. Cerberus is there because he's a massive creature that is practically unblockable in the control/midrange match once you've stripped their hands. Against mono black devotion he completely shuts down their whip which is massive for them getting back into the game.
Testing has been going well so far. I've got a bigger tournament on this weekend that I can attend which will be the real test.
4 Blood Crypt
4 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Mutavault
15 Swamp
Creatures
4 Pack Rat
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Desecration Demon
4 Sire of Insanity
4 Thoughtseize
2 Dreadbore
1 Devour Flesh
2 Doom Blade
2 Pharika's Cure
1 Hero's Downfall
3 Underworld Connections
2 Whip of Erebos
2 Rakdos's Return
1 Pithing Needle
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Devour Flesh
1 Rakdos Charm
2 Ultimate Price
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Slaughter Games
4 Underworld Cerberus
A few notes:
Pack Rat
Pack Rat was originally there because I was playing Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and I wanted the devotion to help push through bigger Rakdos's Returns and because they play well with Mutavault. I ended up taking out the Nykthos, obviously, because I wasn't really heavy on the devotion, and it just seemed like a win more card when I did get it off. What I learnt however, was that Pack Rat just helps you destroy aggro in the early turns and lets you get to the late game to do what you do best. You can also feel safe to discard creature spells when you have Whip of Erebos in the deck.
Sire of Insanity and Rakdos's Return
There has so far not been many instances where I have not wanted either of these, and for the times when I've had both in hand I've had options. I'll usually just hit their hand with Rakdos's Return to either bait out a counter or remove a kill spell before dropping the Sire. So far, I'm really happy with 4 and 2.
Underworld Cerberus
I know, I know. He doesn't play well with the rest of the deck. But he's a finisher. I will only drop him when they have nothing in hand and I'm certain that I have the kill. Against control, their only hope is to have a kill spell or a bounce spell and if their hand is completely empty there's much less chance of that happening. I've yet to have his downside hit me, and I'll admit I don't look forward to having it happen; but I have had such a good run with him so far, that I feel like I can continue to safely run him.
Slaughter Games
Almost purely to deal with those annoying as hell, hard to kill creatures like Aetherling, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Obzedat, Ghost Council, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, and anything else that you can think of. The downside I've found to this deck is that if they don't have it in hand when you Thoughtseize, then you're at a bit of a disadvantage. Slaughter Games takes this problem away.
For a lot of matchups, timing is everything. Knowing when to play the right discard or creature spells is key. But everytime I play this deck I feel as though I have something very very powerful under my control. I'm in love with it.
I only play 1 Griselbrand. I haven't had a problem with it - there's a Cavern in the side to help cast it if I need, but it's a late-game card. By the time I draw it I can generally cast it, and if not it becomes Trading Post fodder in the direst of circumstances. I don't think rites is where I want to take this kind of a list.
Also, those aren't the only white cards I was thinking of. Of course cards like Lingering Souls, Oblivion Ring, Angelic Accord etc would be best, but I was talking about how far we can take the deck into white before it loses its core. We'd be mad to go into a colour and not think about how deep we can go to get the most power for our mana. I agree about the excess Ratchet Bombs, however, they're currently a meta choice because of all the BW Humans and Aristocrats at my store. They'll be the first thing I start to cull when I fit in Lillies, but I don't think I'll want to go below 2.
@LonelyPenguin
Clever. Faithless Looting isn't something I'd thought of using in this way. I assume it'd be mostly artifacts that you're dumping so that Trading Post can continue to do god's work? If GR aggro (and those goddamn Burning Earths) disappears from my LGS I may give this version a run
@CodeWalker
I think I have to agree with you about the Pithing Needles. They're pretty much dead against Mono Red, BW Humans, and Flash which are all pretty big. The card is great but I've tried it MB and hated it. That said, I'm a bit up in the air about Skyblinder... I've used it quite a bit in limited to great success, but I never thought about using it in constructed. I think its something I'm going to have to try to know where I stand on it though.
Sorry for the formatting on this one. I'll fix it up when I get home. Currently on my phone and just wanted to get my thoughts down.
Grats on the good finish! Yeah, Lingering Souls is nuts in a deck like this and excellent Post fodder. I had a few games there against that BW Humans list where they'd token spam and pass, I'd play a single souls, bring back Ratchet Bomb, wipe the board and then flashback souls ready to do it all again. I also really like the Blind Obedience in that list. Seems perfect to help hold off the aggro front. I want to work on a BW version for myself but I really don't like the idea of losing Rakdos's Return since it's such a great mana sink. The main question I think I have is how much white? Enough gives us access to Terminus, Entreat the Angels, Angel of Serenity, but significantly weakens the heavy black that the deck has now. A little bit still lets us keep our heavy black but I don't think warrants the loss of Dreadbores and Rakdos's Returns. And I'm not sure if I want to be splashing a third colour...
Here's my list as it currently is:
2 Mutavault
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
14 Swamp
Enchantments:
3 Underworld Connections
3 Homicidal Seclusion
1 Demonic Rising
Artifacts:
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Rakdos Keyrune
4 Volatile Rig
3 Trading Post
2 Haunted Plate Mail
1 Staff of Nin
3 Doom Blade
2 Dreadbore
4 Mutilate
1 Rakdos's Return
Creatures:
2 Desecration Demon
1 Griselbrand
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Appetite for Brains
3 Tragic Slip
1 Pithing Needle
2 Rolling Temblor
4 Phylactery Lich
1 Witchbane Orb
I have 3-4 Liliana of the Veil I want to squeeze in there but as I see it I have two options: If I cut out artifacts main to fit her in, Phylactery Lich gets weaker post board (note I usually make a 4-4 switch with Volatile Rig), but if I cut the Lich's in side, the artifact count begins to feel a little overkill. As much as I have won with Lich's (they really are big game at the moment with near on no artifact removal) I prefer the second option overall, but I'm not sure where to go with it. The enchantments and kill spells counts are fine as is - I have never run into a problem with them.
I haven't really been the biggest fan of prism in this deck. I splashed white a few weeks ago to test out the angelic accord interaction and came to the conclusion that I prefer prefer two colours. That, and I really didn't like filling up my board with cards that didn't either further my board/hand themselves or deal with a threat. Post rotation I will probably push towards BW since the accord is a fine enough replacement for demonic rising and we'll have access to things like blood baron of vizkopa and sin collector.
Plate Mail seems correct at 2. Slipping a third into my sb because I really like it and want to see it a lot. No one besides jund is running artifact destruction (at my lgs at least) and they don't run nearly enough. That and they also aren't sure what to destroy.
A few changes to that mana base would definitely help I think. With those exact cards, and the utilities you want, I'd have th land down as something like this:
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Godless Shrine
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Slayer's Stronghold
7 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Mountain
Doesn't change what you had very much, but increases the probability of you hitting BBB turn 3 like you want to without stopping you from realistically getting RRR for mortars.
As for what you said about dreadbore, do you have doom blades in the side at all? I run a 3:2 split of doomblade:dreadbore main and I don't like seeing the dreadbore quite as much. Unless you have a hell of a lot of superfriends at your lgs 4 dreadbore seems like a crazy amount to me, especially mb...
Sire of Insanity seems like a good include though, might try that this week. Also, I've got to say, I'm really glad that people still aren't cottoning on to the power level of haunted plate mail just yet. I started running it as a 2-of in my UW flash deck from the day it was legal, and I'm still trying to work out what the correct number is in my current post build (currently have 2 slotted in thd sb), but there's a good chance I'll run 2-3.
Got a chance to play with this last night. I have had the same split of Rising and Seclusion in my deck for months and I find that they tend to work great together. Could you elaborate on how you think they work against one another? (Note, I tend to side one or the other out in certain matches, but if I can durdle I love to resolve both.)
I agree that the triple dark prophecy and connections main makes the aggro matchup harder than it needs to be. Currently I'm thinking of bringing the prophecy down to one and either bringing in haunted plate mail to main, or just giving myself a few extra kill spells. I used to run 3 Liliana of the Veil main, and I have to say I missed her a lot so there's also a good chance I'll bring her back.
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mutavault
14 Swamp
Creatures
4 Volatile Rig
2 Desecration Demon
1 Griselbrand
Artifacts
3 Trading Post
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Rakdos Keyrune
1 Staff of Nin
3 Homicidal Seclusion
1 Demonic Rising
3 Dark Prophecy
3 Underworld Connections
Spells
2 Dreadbore
3 Doom Blade
4 Mutilate
1 Rakdos's Return
2 Appetite for Brains
3 Tragic Slip
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Rolling Tremblor
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Haunted Plate Mail
3 Phylactery Lich
Any thoughts on what our weakest matchups are at the moment? I haven't played with this deck for about a month and a half or so, but the m14 cards that I have put into this really has me excited to play it again. My meta is usually pretty much SCG's top 4 and a few budget aggro decks, so I love taking things like this in. Sideboard is currently entirely theory. I was lazy and never built a sideboard before, despite still winning FNMs with it, just tweaked main, so sideboard is currently just cards which I have found useful in the past and one or two new additions I'd like to try.
I run caverns, but I personally don't run reckoner for 2 reasons. 1) All my other creatures are blue, so I don't even consistently hit RRR by turn 6 or an overloaded mortars let alone turn 3 for a reckoner. 2) I gave mine to my friend so that he could run them in UWR Flash (which I think is a better place for it). Just my 2c there.
I don't play overly agressive with my creatures to be honest. If I flip a delver early, I'll ride it as long as I can, but I usually have at maximum 2 creatures on the board at any time. By the time I get Lone Revenant down, I usually put the others into block mode so that he can begin to trigger.
I tried devour flesh, but the life gain they get from it is sometimes just too much, I feel. It was fine in my Grixis Control deck when I ran Homicidal Seclusion to help keep up, but I don't think it has a place here. Murder is also really restrictive with BB since I don't actually run a lot of black. I don't know. This is something I want to find an answer for, but at the moment I think we just need to pray for something good in Dragon's Maze or M14... (Putrefy could be really good, but I don't want to splash green or lose red...)
I lost to USA Midrange, Bant Midrange, and USA Delver (the first two were simply because they had much more value than me, the third because I misplayed a few times and kept a questionable hand in the 3rd game). I moved away from Talrand a while ago because he was a lot easier to kill and I could barely ever untap with him still around. That said, I was playing a BUG version of my deck then, and so had a much different list. I personally prefer Duskmantle Seer and Lone Revenant simply because they compliment each other so well (Duskmantle hits the junk reanimator and midrange lists hard and gives you more info for Slaughter Games out of the sideboard, whereas Lone Revenant helps you to dig for spells to boost pike and is resilient to spot removal if they simply just killed off the Seer or didn't worry about him in game 1.)
You mean Dreadbore? I guess so... It's a sorcery speed card, which is way too restrictive, especially in a deck which wants to have instant speed responses and combat tricks.
From Oracle text on Sigarda:
"If a spell or ability an opponent controls instructs you to perform an action unless you sacrifice a permanent (as Ogre Marauder does), you can't choose to sacrifice a permanent. You must perform the action. On the other hand, if a spell or ability an opponent controls instructs you to sacrifice a permanent unless you perform an action (as Killing Wave does), you can choose whether or not to perform the action. If you don't perform the action, nothing happens, since you can't sacrifice any permanents."