Skeleton was kinda useless without the Idol, so I figure that instead of 2 mana for a 1/1, how about 1 mana for a 2/2? It's not as removal-resilient, true, but it's a decent beater, and the slight drawback shouldn't set us back more than a few points.
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
I made a gimmicky grixis bloodchief deck a while back that used staggershocks and bolts to bring bloodchief online, and then archive trap for the kill. See beyonds / preordains to search out combo pieces, mana leaks for a bit of defense. It could go off turn 5 fairly regularly but the wheels came off if I didn't see an ascension in opening hand or first preordain, or if they into the roil / O-ringed the ascension once active.
I have to say that if the deck is based on burning inquiry, which seems to be the key piece here - why not just run the liliana's caress deck and be much more successful?
Put differently - once bloodchief is online... now what? I used archive trap for instant kill, but in a r/b aggro deck what are you expecting out of your ascension? If you're making them discard it might as well be a caress really. And if you're going after their permanents - how? What are they playing and how are you blowing it up?
I ask this for those who have played it... I get that t2 gob guide/ascension followed by t3 staggershock = active BA turn 4... but so what? How are you benefiting from it now?
Using the lifegain to fuel sign in blood and tutelage?
Discard?
Land destruction?
Vapours?
I'm not a fan of the jinxed idol here... it belongs in the bazaar trader build.
Well, we've taken the Jinxed Idols out (or at least I have). Once we get Bloodchief online, we simply burn their creatures off the board. The Chief lets our creature destruction hurt the player as well, and if there aren't enough creatures to kill, we burn their faces. It's pretty versatile. Planeswalkers aren't really a threat (with the exception of Elspeth, and she's taken care of pretty handily with a 2 burn spells. The Burning Inquiry isn't the main feature of this deck, just a cool synergy with the Chief (and it screws with control players because the discard is random).
My main philosophy, in regards to deckbuilding, is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". And this deck is working pretty well so far (I need to test it against more control matchups though).
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
So guys, after playing this deck last night, I had a kinda bad flavor in my mouth. It was the taste of taking 5 mulligans and finally keeping a 0 land, 2 card hand. Every time, was some kinda land screw. No land, wrong colors, etc. It was terrible. I don't know if you guys think we should up the land count to ~20, currently we're sitting at 18. I hate to do it, but we need to make sure that doesn't happen in the future.
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
I'm currently sitting at 21. I dropped Burning Inquiry to 2, Goblin Guide to 3, and Punishing Fire to 3, giving us 3 more Mountains. The land count sits at 10 Mountain, 7 Swamp, 4 Dragonskull Summit. Also, given the increase in land, I believe we need another way to get through all of it to keep the consistency of burn spell draw. That said, I'm dropping TukTuk for 2 more Dark Tutelage.
i cant believe i did miss a thread about my ex-favorite card in standard... BLOODCHIEF ASCENSION!
this card look really good on paper and when your deck go well your like OMG THIS CARD IS TOO MUCH! im currently changing my Bloodchief for Abyssal Persecutor => the reason is simple this card is bad! i did all i can to make a potable deck with it but i end up with 2-2 and 1-3 during like 10 FNM... but i finish 3th on 40peoples last FNM but this one dont count as i had really easy match up except the last one => the biggest nightmare of my deck was and still is : UW control (or UWr control almost the same).
the key to make a good deck is to try to make the less possible dead card in your hand... so dont try the mill option archive trap or bruning inquiry option it doesnt work at all.
i find Lavaclaw Reaches REALLY usefull to make a counter on bloodchief ok its not the best creature but i have so many way to burn the field that this 2 damage is good The goal of this deck was to do the 6 damage the fastest way possible Hellspark and GG did wonder in that domain i did find Hideous End really bad after some testing compare to doom blade because you have to play your turn than stay open of 3 mana for that critical 2 damage even when Bloodchief is not in play.
In 2 week my actual bad list is getting worse but a bit blacker almost a vamp deck still untested... i might end up with a vamp deck. LOL
The reason i go almost Vamp is Feast of Blood for my Abyssal Persecutor i know i need more zombie for this but i cant lets GG go for a bad little vampire lacerator i might try to add Consuming Vapors at some point... just dont have any for now. and also Vampire Hexmage. I find myself really happy with the new add of Abyssal Persecutor because now i dont draw 3 Ascension anymore in my game and i cant draw 3 or 4 Persecutor...
Also @El Presidente : cutting Goblin Guide is a VERY BAD idea. i mean this card can win the game on its own... ever had the 2 mountain + 3 GG hand? => its GoodGame... and you need the Lavaclaw Reachs period. really cheap on Ebay. Mana fix and + 2 damage when you need i really dont like CitP tapped land but this one wins me a lot of game.
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Kakwann, Lvl 39 Sorcerer
Currently Playing
Standard:GWRU 4C Collected Company Modern:GUWRB Bloom Titan Legacy:BUG SHARDLESS BUG
EDH : GR BORBORYGMOS ENRAGED GU PRIME SPEAKER ZEGENA UWR ZEDRUU THE GREATHEARTED UBR MISHRA ARTIFICER PRODIGY B SHEOLDRED WHISPERING ONE R ASHLING THE PILGRIM
Well, I'll let you have your Persecutor deck lol. I see what you mean about not wanting the dead cards. I did take out Burning Inquiry, as all it really did was put burn spells in my graveyard. I also put the Goblin Guides back in, since my past experience with them has shown me that they are in fact game winners. I think I'll replace Hideous End with Doomblade in MB, simply because A.) I don't always have BB and B.) I like having 1 mana open at the end of my turn; it keeps them on their toes.
I don't think that Persecutor is ultimately better than Bloodchief. I think that, with the right deck around it, Bloodchief could be brutal. And I hear there's this thing coming up, some event, but I'm not supposed to talk about it (but if I were allowed to talk about it, I'd mention ways to make this deck better post-mysterious event).
One thing I considered for this deck was taking it in a more mill-like direction. With a charged Bloodchief, Tome Scour is 10 life stolen. I don't think that's the way to go right now, but it could become a more viable option later on.
I believe we need more creatures. The burn spells are great, but one or two more creatures couldn't hurt. I say we up the Vampire Lacerator count to 4, to fill the slots left by Burning Inquiry.
Also, to fight the mana flood, we can go ahead and toss in some filter lands. Playsets of Verdant Catacombs and Arid Mesa should work to help thin out the deck and help assure us that we draw something useful.
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
An interesting card I think we should consider is Manabarbs. Since this deck seems to be in the business of punishing players for playing spells, why not expound on that? With the current build, the most they stand to lose by playing a Titan is 2 life. What if we turn that into 8 life? Barbs would up our curve a bit, but with the majority of our spells being 1-2 costing, and doing at least that much damage, I think it's definitely a viable option. Perhaps 2 or 3 Barbs in the place of either Quest for the Gravelord or Inquisition of Cosi. I'm gonna test it out.
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
So guys. Manabarbs wins games. It helps us put easy counters on Bloodchief even with the White Leyline mocking us from the other side of the board. I did drop kinda low, and a Back to Nature would have royally messed up the day, but luckily we don't see too many of those ;D Valakut Ramp and U/W/b control both folded to the might of Burnchief Ascension today. Also, upping the Lacerators to 4 was a great move. With 8 1-dropping 2/2 beaters, we can keep most 2 land hands with impunity. Just thought I'd update you guys!
EDIT: Also just ripped apart Big Green. Quickest 2 games I've played in a while lol.
The only change I can see being made post-rot is switching out Manabarbs (which I hate to see go, because it wins games) for Galvanic Blast (Burst Lightning with metalcraft instead of kicker cost), and replace Quenchable Fire in the sideboard with Chandra's Outrage. This deck is pretty built to withstand the rotation.
If you guys can come up with a better card to fill Manabarbs' slot, that would be great. The only similar card I can find is Curse of Wizardry, which, frankly, is a terrible card. Not at ALL the impact of Barbs.
EDIT: Just saw the Painful Quandry spoiler, and that looks like it could be fun. Probably better suited for a more discard-oriented Bloodchief deck. This is, after all, Burnchief.
Well boys and girls, I may have found the perfect answer to control. Where Manabarbs shined in keeping them from playing their precious Planeswalkers or Titans or Sphinxes or Baneslayers at a heavy cost, Chandra's Spitfire is here to save the day! With as much burn as we're packing, we should be able to pretty consistently fly over walls for 4+ a turn. What do we say?
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
Well boys and girls, I may have found the perfect answer to control. Where Manabarbs shined in keeping them from playing their precious Planeswalkers or Titans or Sphinxes or Baneslayers at a heavy cost, Chandra's Spitfire is here to save the day! With as much burn as we're packing, we should be able to pretty consistently fly over walls for 4+ a turn. What do we say?
I kind of want to fit in 3/4 Vampire Nighthawk's for intimidation purposes.
A few things you might've missed from the rest of this thread: without a stable creature base, Jinxed Idol is essentially a dead card. Same for Burning Inquiry if you don't have a charged Bloodchief. And even then, the cards you're throwing away with Inquiry could be used to deal at least 2 damage each anyways. Ultimately, it's not a great tradeoff.
I feel like this build is in the right direction as far as B/U goes. I don't agree with taking out the other creatures, they provide a bit more consistency when it comes to putting counters on Bloodchief. But it maintains the burn, it provides some counter-magic, and it has some mill; I don't think we need ponder, though. We should be using that 1 mana for something else. One more thing, is I'd up the count on the U/B manland. Maybe drop an Island from the count. An unblockable body, a guaranteed 3 damage, is a good card.
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
I have tried this deck out, and it just falls flat on its face without a Bloodchief in the opening hand. I usually end up mulliganing into crappy hands and land screwing myself.
As much as I love the concept, I think it is far too inconsistent.
On the contrary, my experience has been that this deck doesn't need Bloodchief to win. I've played many games where Bloodchief is almost a "win more" card. It brings a lot to the deck, yes, but the rest of the deck functions (if less than ideally) without it.
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
With B/R, once Bloodchief goes active, they get shocked by every spell they play, they get bolted by fetchlands, and you kill their stuff with burn in the mean time. I feel like mill is the wrong way to go, because the deck has nothing to do without Bloodchief. Sure, you can mill them, but what good does that do you in the long run? You decrease their card quality (or increase it, depending on what you mill).
That's kinda why I like B/R. With or without Bloodchief, it wins games. Someone mentioned the fabled 2 Mountain, 3 Goblin Guide hand. Well, let's just say that Goblin Guide is abbreviated GG for a reason ;D
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
a turn 5 tome scour with one ascension online is -10/+10 as far as life goes. who cares what cards you hit. at the very least your opponent is at 4 life.
hatchling can definitely drop for gob guides. big error on my behalf.
burning inquiry is a POS compared to tome scour. -6/+6 life and i discard three cards myself? see ya.
bloodghast is iffy for me. the only time i think i would want him is at 10 life or less. otherwise hes a 2/1 for BB that cant block. i haven't play tested it so i may eat these words.
Honestly, bloodghast's lack of blocking power is a big issue. I know this from another deck I played that featured him heavily, and he simply doesn't cut it in a non-aggro deck. I agree that tome scour is pretty beastly with a charged Bloodchief. What I'm concerned with is an uncharged Bloodhief. I think that blue may have it in that scenario, but the deck should be able to hold up even with Bloodchief out of the picture. I'm also not a huge fan of tri-color decks. While it might be somewhat viable while Crumbling Necropolis is still standard, after that I don't think 3 colors will be able to hold up without mana fixing (something that B/R/u doesn't offer). We'd have to have more land, and maybe something like Khalni Gem or Prophetic Prism to fix the mana, which means taking out burn and thus decreasing the likelihood of getting Bloodchief online, which ultimately destablizes the deck.
For me, it comes down to what I'm gonna do without Bloodchief. Sure, mill takes the cake with a charged Bloodchief. But until that happens, it's just sitting on its thumbs. Also, I'll admit that part of why I'm less enthusiastic about Blue in general is that I refuse to run counterspells, which would be somewhat necessary in a blue build. However, I'm happy to offer constructive criticism on any blue builds you bring to the table.
I'd make the deck more creature-y, maybe almost taking it in an Allies direction. We know that Halimar Excavator works wonders; what about Hagra Diabolist? He's able to deal direct damage, and swing for a Bloodchief counter if no Allies drop. Putting those two with the current creature build could get us to a charged Bloodchief pretty quickly. As for spells, Tome Scour is a must, as well as a burn suite of 4 Bolt and 4 Burst, maybe 2-3 Staggershock as well. You could run some counter magic- I'd go with Negate, since we have nothing to fear from creature spells, and it's only got one U in the cost. We'd up the land count to 23-24, and maybe throw in Akoum Battlesinger as a nifty red Ally. Splinter Twin is always cool in Allies, and on a Hagra it's just beast. Tap, deal 4 to the dome and get a 3/2 that might as well swing for another 3, or a free blocker if you tap on their turn. Huge potential.
That's just what I would do if I took this in a blue direction. In the mean time, I'm gonna keep workin the B/R angle. Hope that helps though!
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Quote from Darth Nihilius »
El Presidente is like, I'm at 2 life. I take that goddamn shockland like a man!
Bloodghast i think is completely worthless in this deck. Yes, its a 2/1 body that comes back, but without blocking potential, there are so many better ways, that arent double black, that hit two life. Instead of kraken or halimar, use goblin guide. A 2/2 body, thats swinging every turn, and it can block? heads and shuolders above all three cards previously mentioned. Tome scour, though, is the kill in this deck. You can turn 5 kill.
T1: Swamp, Bloodchief
T2: Mountain, Goblin Guide, swing: 1 counter on Bloodchief, they're at 18
T3: Island(or Drowned Catacombs), Staggershock, Swing with Guide: 2 counters on Blood, theyre at 14.
T4: Stagger rebounds, theyre at 12. Land for the turn, Swing guide, maybe use a terminate.: Bloodchief at 3. Now its online.
T5: Tome Scour. GG. 5 cards to the Graveyard, 10 life is lost.
And thats slow. But it also depends on that 1st turn bloodchief. Tome Scour needs to stay though. Thats the kill for this whole deck. You're probably not going to kill with them just dropping spells everyturn. You need something that can finish them off, and still have mana for that mana leak you know is coming. And tome scour does that brilliantly.
Tome Scour > Burning inquiry. Hands down.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
4x Punishing Fire
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Burst Lightning
2x Hideous End
4x Staggershock
3x Burning Inquiry
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
Creatures - 8
4x Goblin Guide
2x Vampire Lacerator
2x TukTuk the Explorer
2x Dark Tutelage
4x Bloodchief Ascension
2x Elixir of Immortality
2x Quest for the Gravelord
Lands - 18
4x Dragonskull Summit
7x Swamp
7x Mountain
3x Chain Reaction
3x Archive Trap
3x Doomblade
4x Deathmark
2x Leyline of Punishment
Skeleton was kinda useless without the Idol, so I figure that instead of 2 mana for a 1/1, how about 1 mana for a 2/2? It's not as removal-resilient, true, but it's a decent beater, and the slight drawback shouldn't set us back more than a few points.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
I have to say that if the deck is based on burning inquiry, which seems to be the key piece here - why not just run the liliana's caress deck and be much more successful?
Put differently - once bloodchief is online... now what? I used archive trap for instant kill, but in a r/b aggro deck what are you expecting out of your ascension? If you're making them discard it might as well be a caress really. And if you're going after their permanents - how? What are they playing and how are you blowing it up?
I ask this for those who have played it... I get that t2 gob guide/ascension followed by t3 staggershock = active BA turn 4... but so what? How are you benefiting from it now?
Using the lifegain to fuel sign in blood and tutelage?
Discard?
Land destruction?
Vapours?
I'm not a fan of the jinxed idol here... it belongs in the bazaar trader build.
My main philosophy, in regards to deckbuilding, is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". And this deck is working pretty well so far (I need to test it against more control matchups though).
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
this card look really good on paper and when your deck go well your like OMG THIS CARD IS TOO MUCH! im currently changing my Bloodchief for Abyssal Persecutor => the reason is simple this card is bad! i did all i can to make a potable deck with it but i end up with 2-2 and 1-3 during like 10 FNM... but i finish 3th on 40peoples last FNM but this one dont count as i had really easy match up except the last one => the biggest nightmare of my deck was and still is : UW control (or UWr control almost the same).
My current list is until october
8 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
Creature (16)
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Abyssal Persecutor
2 Bloodchief Ascenssion
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
3 Earthquake
3 Staggershock
2 Burst Lightning
2 Sign In Blood
3 Duress
3 Volcanic Fallout
3 Doom blade
3 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
i find Lavaclaw Reaches REALLY usefull to make a counter on bloodchief ok its not the best creature but i have so many way to burn the field that this 2 damage is good The goal of this deck was to do the 6 damage the fastest way possible Hellspark and GG did wonder in that domain i did find Hideous End really bad after some testing compare to doom blade because you have to play your turn than stay open of 3 mana for that critical 2 damage even when Bloodchief is not in play.
In 2 week my actual bad list is getting worse but a bit blacker almost a vamp deck still untested... i might end up with a vamp deck. LOL
9 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
Creature (19)
4 Goblin Guide
3 Bloodghasts
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Abyssal Persecutor
2 Bloodchief Ascenssion
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Feast of Blood
3 Fireball
3 Staggershock
2 Burst Lightning
2 Sign In Blood
3 Duress
3 Pyroclasm
3 Deathmark
3 Combust
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
Also @El Presidente : cutting Goblin Guide is a VERY BAD idea. i mean this card can win the game on its own... ever had the 2 mountain + 3 GG hand? => its GoodGame... and you need the Lavaclaw Reachs period. really cheap on Ebay. Mana fix and + 2 damage when you need i really dont like CitP tapped land but this one wins me a lot of game.
Standard: GWRU 4C Collected Company
Modern: GUWRB Bloom Titan
Legacy: BUG SHARDLESS BUG
EDH :
GR BORBORYGMOS ENRAGED
GU PRIME SPEAKER ZEGENA
UWR ZEDRUU THE GREATHEARTED
UBR MISHRA ARTIFICER PRODIGY
B SHEOLDRED WHISPERING ONE
R ASHLING THE PILGRIM
I don't think that Persecutor is ultimately better than Bloodchief. I think that, with the right deck around it, Bloodchief could be brutal. And I hear there's this thing coming up, some event, but I'm not supposed to talk about it (but if I were allowed to talk about it, I'd mention ways to make this deck better post-mysterious event).
One thing I considered for this deck was taking it in a more mill-like direction. With a charged Bloodchief, Tome Scour is 10 life stolen. I don't think that's the way to go right now, but it could become a more viable option later on.
I believe we need more creatures. The burn spells are great, but one or two more creatures couldn't hurt. I say we up the Vampire Lacerator count to 4, to fill the slots left by Burning Inquiry.
Also, to fight the mana flood, we can go ahead and toss in some filter lands. Playsets of Verdant Catacombs and Arid Mesa should work to help thin out the deck and help assure us that we draw something useful.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
EDIT: Also just ripped apart Big Green. Quickest 2 games I've played in a while lol.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Burst Lightning
2x Punishing Fire
4x Staggershock
Creatures - 8
4x Goblin Guide
4x Vampire Lacerator
Other Permanents - 14
4x Bloodchief Ascension
2x Elixir of Immortality
3x Manabarbs
3x Dark Tutelage
2x Quest for the Gravelord
2x Dragonskull Summit
7x Swamp
10x Mountain
2x Lavaclaw Reaches
3x Chain Reaction
4x Deathmark
3x Leyline of Punishment
2x Doom Blade
3x Quenchable Fire
The only change I can see being made post-rot is switching out Manabarbs (which I hate to see go, because it wins games) for Galvanic Blast (Burst Lightning with metalcraft instead of kicker cost), and replace Quenchable Fire in the sideboard with Chandra's Outrage. This deck is pretty built to withstand the rotation.
If you guys can come up with a better card to fill Manabarbs' slot, that would be great. The only similar card I can find is Curse of Wizardry, which, frankly, is a terrible card. Not at ALL the impact of Barbs.
EDIT: Just saw the Painful Quandry spoiler, and that looks like it could be fun. Probably better suited for a more discard-oriented Bloodchief deck. This is, after all, Burnchief.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
I like the idea of Chandra's Spitfire, its basically a slightly better Kiln Fiend with evasion.
Anyone think this slightly budget version's usable?
3x Chandra's Spitfire
4x Bloodchief Ascension
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Sign in Blood
4x Burst Lightning
4x Burning Inquiry
4x Doom Blade
3x Staggershock
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Punishing Fire
4x Dragonskull Summit
3x Lavaclaw Reaches
8x Swamp
5x Mountain
I kind of want to fit in 3/4 Vampire Nighthawk's for intimidation purposes.
6x swamp
5x mountain
4x island
3x dragonskull summit
2x drowned catacomb
1x lavaclaw reaches
1x creeping tar pit
4x hedron crab
Instants/Sorcery
4x lightning bolt
4x burst lightning
4x staggershock
4x ponder
4x mana leak
4x bloodchief ascension
4x dark tutelage
Artifacts
2x elixir of immortality
this list utilizes blue to fix your draws (ponder), prevent early bombs (mana leak), and trigger bloodchief ascension (hedron crab).
if a player desires a creatureless build, swap hedron crab for tome scour.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
A few things you might've missed from the rest of this thread: without a stable creature base, Jinxed Idol is essentially a dead card. Same for Burning Inquiry if you don't have a charged Bloodchief. And even then, the cards you're throwing away with Inquiry could be used to deal at least 2 damage each anyways. Ultimately, it's not a great tradeoff.
I feel like this build is in the right direction as far as B/U goes. I don't agree with taking out the other creatures, they provide a bit more consistency when it comes to putting counters on Bloodchief. But it maintains the burn, it provides some counter-magic, and it has some mill; I don't think we need ponder, though. We should be using that 1 mana for something else. One more thing, is I'd up the count on the U/B manland. Maybe drop an Island from the count. An unblockable body, a guaranteed 3 damage, is a good card.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
As much as I love the concept, I think it is far too inconsistent.
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
5 mountains
5 islands
4 swamps
3 dragonskull summit
3 creeping tar pit
2 drowned catacomb
4 kraken hatchling
24 instants/sorceries
4 lightning bolt
4 staggershock
4 preordain
4 tome scour
4 mana leak
2 burst lightning
2 ponder
4 bloodchief ascension
4 dark tutelage
2 artifacts
2 elixir of immortality
this deck feels naked without blue. another poster mentioned this already, what do you do with just b/r once ascension is online?
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
+4 Burning Inquiry
Tome Scour isn't so good.
-2 Ponder
-2 Burst Lightning
+4 Bloodghast
Bloodghast is good with 22+ land helps with aggro. Kraken Hatchling is almost useless. If you just want to block, its better to have
-4 Kraken Hatchling
+4 Halimar Excavator
Excavator atleast helps mill them to activate Bloodchief Ascension, even Hedron Crab might be better towards your cause.
That's kinda why I like B/R. With or without Bloodchief, it wins games. Someone mentioned the fabled 2 Mountain, 3 Goblin Guide hand. Well, let's just say that Goblin Guide is abbreviated GG for a reason ;D
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
a turn 5 tome scour with one ascension online is -10/+10 as far as life goes. who cares what cards you hit. at the very least your opponent is at 4 life.
hatchling can definitely drop for gob guides. big error on my behalf.
burning inquiry is a POS compared to tome scour. -6/+6 life and i discard three cards myself? see ya.
bloodghast is iffy for me. the only time i think i would want him is at 10 life or less. otherwise hes a 2/1 for BB that cant block. i haven't play tested it so i may eat these words.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
For me, it comes down to what I'm gonna do without Bloodchief. Sure, mill takes the cake with a charged Bloodchief. But until that happens, it's just sitting on its thumbs. Also, I'll admit that part of why I'm less enthusiastic about Blue in general is that I refuse to run counterspells, which would be somewhat necessary in a blue build. However, I'm happy to offer constructive criticism on any blue builds you bring to the table.
I'd make the deck more creature-y, maybe almost taking it in an Allies direction. We know that Halimar Excavator works wonders; what about Hagra Diabolist? He's able to deal direct damage, and swing for a Bloodchief counter if no Allies drop. Putting those two with the current creature build could get us to a charged Bloodchief pretty quickly. As for spells, Tome Scour is a must, as well as a burn suite of 4 Bolt and 4 Burst, maybe 2-3 Staggershock as well. You could run some counter magic- I'd go with Negate, since we have nothing to fear from creature spells, and it's only got one U in the cost. We'd up the land count to 23-24, and maybe throw in Akoum Battlesinger as a nifty red Ally. Splinter Twin is always cool in Allies, and on a Hagra it's just beast. Tap, deal 4 to the dome and get a 3/2 that might as well swing for another 3, or a free blocker if you tap on their turn. Huge potential.
That's just what I would do if I took this in a blue direction. In the mean time, I'm gonna keep workin the B/R angle. Hope that helps though!
[MANA]UB[/MANA] Draw, Go BU
GULorthodonUG
RBGNext Level JundGBR
I collect Mirror of Fate (18) and Darksteel Relic (5)!
even though october is approaching, the b/r version should swap out doomblade for terminate
i want to say consider blightning, although, i think staggershock is strictly better because it rebounds.
another thought. as long as dark tutelage remains, the highest cmc should never go beyond 3.
i think this deck has extreme potential, and hope the discussion remains constant.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
Bloodghast i think is completely worthless in this deck. Yes, its a 2/1 body that comes back, but without blocking potential, there are so many better ways, that arent double black, that hit two life. Instead of kraken or halimar, use goblin guide. A 2/2 body, thats swinging every turn, and it can block? heads and shuolders above all three cards previously mentioned. Tome scour, though, is the kill in this deck. You can turn 5 kill.
T1: Swamp, Bloodchief
T2: Mountain, Goblin Guide, swing: 1 counter on Bloodchief, they're at 18
T3: Island(or Drowned Catacombs), Staggershock, Swing with Guide: 2 counters on Blood, theyre at 14.
T4: Stagger rebounds, theyre at 12. Land for the turn, Swing guide, maybe use a terminate.: Bloodchief at 3. Now its online.
T5: Tome Scour. GG. 5 cards to the Graveyard, 10 life is lost.
And thats slow. But it also depends on that 1st turn bloodchief.
Tome Scour needs to stay though. Thats the kill for this whole deck. You're probably not going to kill with them just dropping spells everyturn. You need something that can finish them off, and still have mana for that mana leak you know is coming. And tome scour does that brilliantly.
Tome Scour > Burning inquiry. Hands down.
WGB Teneb, the Harvester
I'm Still Confused How Progenitus, the giant godlike serpent can't get over a Moat...